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Shared Oct 12, 2014 comment

Weekend Giveaway: doTERRA Essential Oils Introduction Kit (Lemon, Lavender, Peppermint) 6 Winners

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 12, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I know that many of you are very interested in essential oils, so I’m excited to bring you another essential oils giveaway — this time for a doTERRA Introduction Kit courtesy of Stacia Stuart.

This is a great kit for beginners! It includes an introductory audio CD and booklet highlighting the uses of essential oils, and a 5 ml bottle of dōTERRA’s Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® Lavender, Lemon, and Peppermint essential oils. There are also suggested uses for the oils included to help jumpstart you on your journey of using essential oils.

I’ve become a huge essential oil fan over the past year (my poor friends have been so patient with me as I’m often whipping out my travel oil bag and saying, “I have an oil for that! Here just try this!” ;)), but I’m not partial to any brand specific brand. In fact, I really like many of the oils from many different brands. However, since we’re talking about doTERRA for this giveaway, my favorite doTERRA oils are:

Elevation — I love to diffuse this oil when I need a pick-me-up.

Whisper — This smells like perfume to me and I wear it as perfume sometimes and people often ask me what brand I’m wearing! Such a great oil for having a calming affect.

OnGuard — Of all the doTERRA and other brands of oils on the market, this one is one of my very favorites and probably one of the ones we use most of all at our house. I never travel without it, either. I have prevented multiple illnesses by rubbing this on the bottoms of my feet when I felt like I was starting to come down with something. I’ve been amazed at how well it seems to work!

Deep Blue — This is a great oil to rub on sore and achy muscles.

DigestZen — This was the oil that turned my husband from essential oil cynic to essential oil convert. If you have an upset stomach or even just feel bloated, you can rub it onto your stomach and it works wonders!

Here are a few of our favorite ways to use essential oils:

Diffuse them — it’s so fun and mood-boosting to have them wafting through the house!
Rub them on our feet and then put socks on before we got to bed. I seem to sleep better every time I do this.
Put a few drops in our Homemade Foaming Hand Soap. Peppermint is especially fun around Christmas time!
Put a few drops into a warm bath for a relaxing at-home spa experience.

For more information on doTERRA essential oils, visit Stacia Stuart’s site here. If you’d like to purchase any oils, you can check out the option to purchase a wholesale doTERRA membership and get 25% off the retail prices for one year. Just click on join in the upper left corner for details. You can also follow Stacia on Facebook

Stacia is also offering anyone who signs up as a Wellness Advocate with an enrollment kit of 150 points value, a free Mini-Modern Essentials Usage Guide. Signing up as a Wellness Advocate gives you the opportunity to earn commissions and free products by sharing about doTERRA with others.

Would you like to win a free doTERRA Introductory Kit? Just click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. 6 winners will be chosen and posted early next week. This giveaway ends Monday, October 13, at 11:59 pm, CST.

Shared Oct 12, 2014 comment

Healthy Blueberry Crisp Recipe

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 12, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I “Trim Healthy Mama-fied” the Blueberry Crisp recipe from Bread & Wine a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve made it a few more times to tweak it and get it just right.

Many of you asked me for this recipe, so I’m happy to share it. Please note that if you’re not familiar with the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating, this recipe might just look really weird to you… and it might even have a few ingredients you’ve never heard of before.

I get that, because I was pretty cynical of the whole THM way of eating for a number of months. But now that I experimented with it, I’ve fallen in love with it. And seeing as it’s been going on five months of eating this way, I think it just might be a new lifestyle. 🙂

Healthy Blueberry Crisp

1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup oat fiber (non THM folks, you replace this with flour or almond flour)
1/2 cup xylitol (non THM folks: you could replace this with sugar)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted (non THM folks: you could replace this with melted butter)
1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh blueberries (can also use frozen or other types of berries)

Mix all ingredients together, except for the berries. Sprinkle half of the oat mixture on the bottom of an 8×8 pan. Sprinkle berries over. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubble and lightly browned. Serve warm or cold.

Please note: This has a higher fat content than a typical THM E meal. You can either eat just a small amount for a meal, eat it as part of a Crossover meal or snack, or use twice as much fruit to the crumb topping ratio.

Shared Oct 11, 2014 comment

How I Saved Today: Making do instead of buying new

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 11, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

This whole week has been full from start to finish. As a result, I’ve been just focusing on one day at a time. Today we had to get up early to drive quite a ways to be at an early swim meet for Kathrynne. {Most of you parents are so used to this kind of routine… but for us, this whole arena of sports and activities and competitions is very new.}

So we made it through the morning and early afternoon and then I realized: We were supposed to go to a friend’s 30th birthday party tonight and I kind of forgot to actually plan a side dish to bring tonight nor had I bought ingredients for it.

Since it’s been a week since we last went grocery shopping, I kind of panicked, thinking we probably wouldn’t have enough ingredients to actually make anything presentable. And I considered just running by the store on our way to the party and picking up a veggie tray.

But then I decided to see what I could scrounge up with the odds and ends of veggies we still had on hand. I surprised myself that we had more than enough to make a veggie tray!

This was a good reminder to me to challenge myself to always try to make do with what I already have instead of rushing out to buy something new.

~~Share How You Saved & You Could Win a $50 Starbucks Gift Card!~~

~~Who wants to have some coffee dates on me? Leave a comment on this post telling us how you saved today — either in a big way, a small way, or multiple ways.~~

~~I’ll choose one winner on Monday and will send them a $50 Starbucks gift card!~~

This giveaway is over with. The winner is: Becky {t_3_st@}

The winner of yesterday’s $50 Amazon gift card is: nktimmerman@. You should have received an email with details on claiming your prize.

Shared Oct 11, 2014 comment

Gretchen’s $31 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 11, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Homeland

1 Herbal Essence Bodywash – $2.49, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – $0.49 after coupon

1 Herbel Essence Conditioner – $2.49, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – $0.49 after coupon

2 Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal – $2.29 each, used $1/2 printable (doubled) – $1.29 each after coupon

1 Hiland Cottage Cheese (24 oz) – $1.99, used $0.50/1 coupon from the 8/10 SmartSource insert (doubled) – $0.99 after coupon

1.05 lbs Tomatoes @ $0.89/lb – $0.93

1 Nestle Pure Life Water Bottles – $2.99, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – $0.99 after coupon

10 Red Gold canned Tomatoes – $0.69 (Buy 10, Get $4 off instantly), used 2 $0.55/3 printable (one of them doubled) – $0.12 each after coupons (I’m stocked up for fall soups and chili!)

Total before coupons and sales: $43.47

Total with tax after coupons and sales: $7.72

Dillon’s

Pssst Sugar – $1.99

1 Kroger Just Fruit Jelly – Marked down to $0.99

2 cans Beans – $0.60 each

1 Cucumber – $0.89

1 Lettuce – $0.99

1 pkg Kroger Bacon – $2.88

1 pkg Pork Loins – Marked down to $3.65

1 bag Potatoes – $2.69

1 bunch Bananas @ $0.52/lb – $0.72

1 bunch Asparagus @ $1.99/lb – $2.38

1 pkg Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs – $3.97

1 Milky Way Bites – Free with Free e-coupon (no longer available)

2 heads Broccoli @ $0.99/lb – $1.28

Total after coupon and sales: $23.63

Total for all both stores: $31.35

Menu Plan for this Week

Breakfasts

Cereal, Scrambled Eggs & Bacon x 2, Toast with Jelly, Oatmeal

Lunches

Peanut Butter & Jelly on Rice Cakes, Tossed Salad with Cottage Cheese, Baked Potatoes & Broccoli, Cheese Quesadillas, Leftovers

Dinners

Chicken Fajitas, Homemade Applesauce

Mexican Casserole, Steamed Peas

Steak, Biscuits, Tossed Salad

Meat Potato Quiche, Pumpkin Bread, Steamed Broccoli

Black Bean Quesadillas, Tossed Salad

Crock Pot Pork Loins, Homemade Bread, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus

Chicken & Rice Casserole, Steamed Broccoli

Shared Oct 11, 2014 comment

9 Ways We Cut Back to Afford More on One Income

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 11, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post from Jennifer

After being a stay-at-home mom for almost 2 years, my husband and I had to make a decision of where our first child would go to school. Although we were excited about sending her to a private school, we were also a bit overwhelmed wondering if could afford it on one income.

I know there are many families out there living on one income and “affording more” of what’s important to you because of budget cut-backs in other areas of your life. And after looking at our own budget, we found several areas we could cut back to make a private school tuition work on one income:

1. Debt:

We had already purposefully eliminated all credit card and car loan debt, so we only owe money on a reasonable mortgage.

2. Entertainment:

We use a TV with bunny ears, so we do not pay for cable, Netflix, etc.
We check out movies and books at the local library for free!
We do cheap dates (sometimes sharing an entrée at a restaurant to be able to eat out).
We are blessed to have grandparents in town who babysit for free.
We limit our eat-out budget, and drink water when we go out.
We only have one smart phone in our family.
We called our phone company to get a promotional rate on internet.

3. Clothing:

I shop for my kids’ clothes at garage, consignment, and thrift store sales. I also buy ahead for the next size up at the clearance racks at the end of a season.
I consign my kids’ clothes (and old toys) at a local sale three times a year. I price the clothes and make 70% of what they sell for and they do the work of selling them.

4. Groceries:

I shop primarily at Aldi, with some items bought at Dillon’s with sales and coupons.
I have started making more things from scratch, and I love using my bread machine (inspired by this blog!). My kids love “Mama Jenny’s Pizzeria”.

5. Gifts

I make many gifts (birthday cakes, burlap wreaths, bracelets, baby blankets).
I shop for gifts year round.
I recycle all old gift bags and tissue paper that are in good condition.

6. Gas

We buy gift cards at Dillon’s for specific purchases and get fuel points to get discounts on gas.
We fill up both cars at once to take full advantage of fuel discounts.

7. School Credit for Reloadable Gift Card:

Our school offers credit towards tuition for purchases bought with a reloadable Dillon’s gift card, including money spent on gas. We make about $3.75 for each $100 spent and every little bit adds up!

8. Hair:

I highlight my own hair and cut all four of our hair.

9. Home repairs:

I am blessed to have a handy husband who can do most home repairs and lawn maintenance with only a few trips to Home Depot.

I realize that all of these tips will not work for everyone, but I hope this is inspiring to many readers who read MoneySavingMom.com for more ideas to cut back to afford more!

Jennifer is a stay-at-home mom of two children, 6 and 3, whose mom, out of necessity, taught her to be frugal growing up. She enjoys looking for more ways to save money, crafting, reading, teaching children at church, and spending time with her family.

photo source

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Shared Oct 10, 2014 comment

How We Saved Today: Watching baseball games without cable!

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 10, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We are staunch Kansas City Royals fans… and have been for years. So we are thrilled that they have made it this far into the post-season!

There’s only one problem: the post season games aren’t on non-cable TV. So we’ve had to get creative. 🙂

Jesse purchased a subscription to MLB.com at the beginning of baseball season, so he was able to hook the video feed from that up to our TV. Then, he was able to get the audio feed from cable TV through MLB.com, too. The video and audio feed don’t match, but between the two of them, it’s almost like watching it live on cable.

It’s so fun to come up with creative solutions like this. Okay, so it’s not quite as great as watching the actual TV coverage — especially because the camera angles aren’t as great — but it works and it’s a lot less expensive than paying a cable bill every month. 🙂

This has nothing to do with saving money, but this was our excitement for the day…

We noticed our ceiling was all bubbled up and wet last night. We weren’t sure what was going on, but we discontinued using the bathroom/shower/tub right above that spot and called our landlords.

They sent a handyman out to investigate today. He checked our shower, our tub, and cut into the ceiling to see what was going on up there.

He ruled out some possibilities, but we still aren’t sure what’s up as nothing was conclusive. However, we’re watching it carefully and hoping to get to the bottom of things soon.

We’ve had so many interesting house issues recently: earwig infestations, drainage issues, pipe issues, caulking issues, refrigerator issues, and now this leak. Between all of this, it’s almost becoming abnormal to not have some repair person working at our house on any given day!

We’re so grateful for our kind and gracious landlords. They are certainly getting their money’s worth on the home warranty they purchased for this rental house. Yikes!

We feel so badly that we keep having to call them with another issue. And yet, we know it’s better to take care of things right away than to let them fester or grow worse.

~~Share How You Saved & Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card~~

~~How did YOU save today? Share a way that you saved money today and you could win a $50 Amazon gift card. Just for fun, I’ll choose one winner from the comments and will post that winner tomorrow.~~

This giveaway is over with. The winner is: nktimmerman@. You should have received an email with details on claiming your prize.

Yesterday’s winner was Sally {sallycoupons@}. You should have received an email with further details on how to claim your prize.

Shared Oct 10, 2014 comment

This Week’s Amazon Order: Pumpkin & Foil

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 10, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

As I’ve mentioned before, we usually make a few bulk purchases on Amazon each week using gift cards earned through Swagbucks. This week, I bought a box of canned organic pumpkin and two rolls of foil.

I’m guessing that the pumpkin should last us through the Fall baking season. And the foil will probably last us for months.

I love being able to use my Swagbucks credit to buy quality items from Amazon. And it’s so nice to make bulk purchases of things we use often so that I don’t have to worry about replenishing my supply as often!

Shared Oct 9, 2014 comment

This Week’s $130 Grocery Shopping Trip & Menu Plan

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So, I told you last week that we’ve recently more than doubled our grocery budget. Here’s a picture of what $130 in groceries looks like for us.

We shopped at Aldi and Harris Teeter this week. And I somehow misplaced the Aldi receipt (dug through the trash and everything to try to locate it) and it’s nowhere to be found.

So I’m not going to give the break down of prices, because I’m not completely sure what they were. But I will try to do a better job of saving the receipt (maybe I’ll snap a photo of it as soon as I get home?) this coming week so that I can give you a detailed description of everything we bought and what we paid for it.

I also downloaded the Snap App and got $1.75 in cashback for these purchases. I loved that the Snap App gives you cashback for items purchased at any store — including ALDI — unlike some of the cashback apps that require you to purchase at a specific store. Plus, I got $1.75 back from Checkout 51 for the above purchases. Yay!

This Week’s Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Bacon & Eggs or Oatmeal

Jesse also made Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Eggs & Cheese one morning. It was a new recipe and it was SO good. It might sound weird, but it was amazing!

Lunches

Sandwiches or Leftovers

I also made a Healthy Blueberry Crisp that I ate as lunch two days (recipe coming on the blog tomorrow — hopefully!)

Snacks

Popcorn
Fruit/Veggies
Cheese
Apples with Almond Butter
Snacks sent to us from Wild Oats Organic
Protein Shakes
Healthy Cake in a Mug

Dinners

Crustless Quiche
Crockpot Triple Cheeseburger Creation
Crockpot Stuffed Peppers with Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Chicken Pineapple Kabobs
Stuffed Chicken
Italian Sausage with Potatoes and Vinegar
Dinner with friends (we’re bringing a side dish — probably a veggie tray)

What’s on your menu this week? Leave a link to your menu plan or tell us in the comments.

Shared Oct 9, 2014 comment

How I Saved Today: Mending My Favorite Green Sweater (and share how you saved today and you could win a stack of books I loved!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

See my green sweater above? I ordered it sweater awhile back — I can’t even remember from where. I think it was from credit I’d earned by sharing a really hot deal to ThredUp?

At any rate, I’ve fallen in love with it. I love the color green, it fits me perfectly, and it’s a great way to add pop to a few of my outfits.

Well, we went on a double date with some new friends of ours here the other night and I wore it with my navy and white polka dot dress. I thought it looked so cute.

Then I got home and discovered that the sweater sleeve had a huge hole in it. And I’d worn it like that the whole night long. Yes, I’m such a fashionista. 😉

Even though I have limited sewing skills, I decided to try to mend it. I didn’t have any green thread, so I just used the grey thread I had on hand.

I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. It only took me about 10 minutes total to fix (and I played Swagbucks videos and earned some Swagbucks while doing so because I’m all about multi-tasking like that!)

~~Share How You Saved a Win Some Books!~~

~~How did YOU save today? I recently cleaned out my books and came up with a stack of books I have duplicates of or have gotten through PaperBackSwap that I’d like to pass onto a good home.~~

~~In this stack of books:~~

~~The Saturdays~~

~~Rhinestone Jesus~~

~~The Mouse and the Motorcycle~~

~~Mom’s Night Out~~

What’s In the Bible? DVD #12

In This House, We Will Giggle — I ordered a copy of this book and then the publisher sent me one, too! I haven’t read this yet, but am looking forward to soon!

Say Goodby to Survival Mode — This is an extra copy I had that is a little scuffed up.

~~Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook~~

It Will Be Okay — We love this book!

~~So, just for fun, one person who leaves a comment sharing how they saved today will win the stack of books shown above. I’ll choose and post a winner tomorrow.~~

This giveaway is now closed. The winner is Sally {sallycoupons@}

Shared Oct 9, 2014 comment

Why You Should Stop Saying “I Can’t Afford That”

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 9, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I loved this post from Andrea Dekker and thought it was so thought-provoking:

About 2 months ago, I shared a post about one of my pet peeves — when people complain about “not having enough time” for various activities.

The point of that post (which you can read in its entirety here) is that I almost never say “I don’t HAVE time for ______” because I know that if I really wanted or needed to, I could MAKE the time for that activity.

Instead I say, “I’m choosing not to MAKE the time for ___________ right now as I have other priorities.”

By simply changing the way I phrase things, I feel much more empowered, more in control of my time, and less defeated by everything I don’t get done each day. I know that I made the choice to do something else — whether it was tending to a sick child or taking advantage of really nice weather instead of doing my work or opting to make a big fancy meal instead of enjoying more free time — it was my choice.

Similarly, I almost never say, “We can’t afford that.”

This is not because we are “loaded” or have unlimited financial resources. It’s simply because I know that in almost every situation…”

Read the full post here.

Personally, I think that while there are legitimate things we cannot afford and in the early years of our marriage, there were many things we didn’t have room for in our budget, we’ve found that saying “We’re choosing to spend our money differently” helps us to remember that these are choices we are making based upon priorities we’ve pre-determined. And this causes you to approach your finances with a completely different mindset.

In addition, I agree with Andrea that it makes you feel empowered. Your money is not in control of you; you are in control of your money. You are choosing how to spend it. Even if you only have a little bit of money to spend, you still can choose to spend that little bit as wisely as possible.

Do you agree with this article? Why or why not?

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!

Shared Oct 8, 2014 comment

How I Saved Today: A Laundry Party while listening to the free Psalty album!

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

This was actually from last night, but I wanted to share it anyway. 🙂

Remember the free Psalty album download I posted earlier this week? Well, we downloaded it and listened to it during last night’s Laundry Party. It was so fun to introduce my kids to songs from when I was a little girl.

Also? Laundry parties are one of my secret house-cleaning tips. We have so much fun and get so much done when we all work together. And when Mom’s excited about it, the attitude is usually contagious! 🙂

Want to see a video clip of my girls jammin’ and foldin’? Here you go. Notice their outfits? Cracks me up how two girls in the same family can be so, so different from each other! 🙂

Oh and thanks for your Swagbucks tips yesterday. I was excited that we earned 55 Swagbucks today — with very little extra time or effort. I scored 11 Swagbucks on my first search try and that helped bump up our total!

How did YOU save today? Did you have any frugal fun at your house?

Shared Oct 8, 2014 comment

Costco Price Comparison List

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Want to know what the Costco prices are to decide whether it would be worth it to have a membership or purchase items at Costco? Queen Bee Coupons has compiled a list of 850+ items at Costco and how much they cost per ounce to help you out.

Shared Oct 8, 2014 comment

3 Books I’m Reading This Week + What I Read Last Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I took a few weeks off from posting my book updates because in between life and writing my own book, I’ve just not found a lot of time to read more than 5-15 minutes per day, if that. At that rate, it takes me quite awhile to get through books! But I finally have an update for you!

Books I’ve Finished Recently:

All In — I’ve been so blessed by all three of the Mark Batterson books I’ve read so far and was excited to dive into this one. It did not disappoint. Mark always motivates me to dream big, aim high, and jump out and do. It’s not enough to plan or dream if I never do anything with those plans or dreams. This book challenges you to go “All In” for God. To not hold back. To not settle for less than everything you’ve got. You might not agree with everything you read (I rarely do when I read Batterson), but I guarantee you’ll be challenged.

Eight Twenty Eight — I knew very, very little about this couple before this book showed up on my doorstep from the publisher. Honestly, I’m not sure what I think about it. I didn’t particularly care for the writing style as it kept jumping back and forth between different time periods making it feel disjointed. I also don’t know what I think about marrying someone who was just your boyfriend and you’d only known for 10 months before the traumatic brain injury. I get why Larissa (his now wife) would want to stay by his side, because she genuinely loved him, but the book just left me feeling unsettled and hurting for her. That said, I don’t know them personally and it’s not my place to question decisions they’ve made. You can watch a video of Ian and Larissa here.

Manage Your Day-to-Day — This book came highly recommended to me by a friend whose book recommendations I value, and I found it to be very worthwhile. It inspired me to evaluate how I’m spending my days and make sure I’m putting first things first. I loved the differing perspectives and thoughts from multiple voices in this book.

Own Your Life — Since the time my children were babies, I have been so challenged by reading Sally Clarkson’s writings. She’s inspired me to embrace each day, find simple ways to cultivate beauty in my home, and take time to invest in myself so that I can better nurture and bless my family. If you are a busy woman who longs to live a life of meaning and purpose, you’ll be blessed by reading Own Your Life. It’s packed with heartfelt encouragement and practical strategies to savor life more and make each moment count. {I received a pre-release copy of this book. It releases in a few months.}

Books I Hope to Finish This Week

I Thought It Was Just Me (But It Isn’t) — I’ve had this one started for quite awhile, and it’s good. It’s just deep and it’s taking me awhile to get through!

A Proper Pursuit — I’ve not started this book yet, but am hoping to have some down time some evening this week so I can actually read a fiction book from cover to cover. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve done that and I’m itching to just get lost in a good story!

Love, Skip, Jump — Multiple readers have told me I must read this book. It looks good and I can’t wait to dive in!

Podcasts I Listened To:

Brilliant Business Moms — So someone suggested this podcast to me when I first started writing my next book (it’s on how to increase your income, increase your impact, and not lose your joy in the process). I turned on one episode and listened for a bit and wasn’t all that impressed. So I turned it off. In all honesty, I was just going to delete it off my iTunes playlist, but then, a few more people highly recommended it, so I listened again — this time to most of an episode. And I loved it.

I’m glad I gave this podcast a second try as I’ve learned so much and been inspired in very practical ways from it. Highly recommended — and be sure to listen to more than just 10 minutes of one episode. I’ve found that the value in these is really in listening to an entire episode. Hearing these women entrepreneurs unpack what has and hasn’t worked and share their stories is highly educational and beneficial!

Movies We Watched:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier — We’ve loved all of the movies in this series and, once again, we not disappointed with this one. I loved that there was a clear good versus evil storyline, that the film was very clean, and that it was action packed. In fact, Jesse and I were planning to watch half of it one night and then finish it the following night. But we got so caught up in it that we just couldn’t turn it off! 🙂

And, of course, we’ve been watching lots and lots of baseball. How about our Kansas City Royals?? Silas and Jesse are HUGE fans and it’s so fun for me to see their team doing so well in the post-season. 🙂 We’re pretty stoked about Friday night’s game! 🙂

What have you read recently? What are you planning to read this week? Any good book recommendations for me?

Shared Oct 8, 2014 comment

Gretchen’s Target Shopping Trip: Spent $3.94 out of pocket for 10 items!

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 8, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Target Shopping Trip

2 Pledge Floor Care – $3.50 each, used 2 $2/1 printable AND $2.50/2 Target printable AND $1 rebate from Checkout 51 – Free plus $0.50 overage after coupons and rebate

1 NYC Mascara – $1.97, used $1/1 printable – $0.97 after coupon

1 NYC Concealer – $1.79, used $1/1 printable – $0.79 after coupon

2 Celestial Seasonings Tea – $2.33 each, used 2 $1/1 coupon from the 10/5 SmartSource insert AND 20% off Cartwheel coupon – $0.86 each after coupons

4 Tresemme Hair Care (On Sale Buy 3, Get $5 Target gift card) – $3.99 each, used 2 $5/2 coupon from the 9/28 RedPlum insert – $0.24 each after coupons and “gift card” (The gift card sale did not ring up at the checkout and my cashier kindly offered to just take $5 off instead. So it ended up being $0.24 each after coupons and money off.)

Total before coupons, rebate and sales: $35.47

Total after coupons, rebate and sales: $3.94

Shared Oct 7, 2014 comment

A Week of Weight-Loss-Friendly Dinners for Under $35

Published: by Crystal Paine on October 7, 2014 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Amanda at Full Plate Living has a great post up on how to make A Week of Weight-Loss Friendly Dinners for Under $35. Here’s a snippet:

Maybe $35 isn’t an impressive price point for you. That averages out to $5 per dinner for two people. However, some of these recipes would serve 4 at my house. And I can pretty much guarantee there would be leftovers.

Perhaps $35 sounded good to begin with, and I just made it sound even better. You’re welcome.

Either way, you have a week of high-fiber dinner recipes just ahead.

Click here to read the full post.

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

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Healthy Blueberry Crisp

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Homeland

Dillon’s

Menu Plan for this Week

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

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This Week’s Menu Plan

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Similarly, I almost never say, “We can’t afford that.”

Do you agree with this article? Why or why not?

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How did YOU save today? Did you have any frugal fun at your house?

Books I’ve Finished Recently:

Books I Hope to Finish This Week

Podcasts I Listened To:

Movies We Watched:

Target Shopping Trip

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