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Shared Jul 22, 2013 comment

6 Goals for This Week

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 22, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We had a full week last week (see a few pictures of our week on Instagram), but it was so good.

This week promises to be a bit more relaxing — lots of wonderful summer activities for our family and a special trip to Colorado for me to spend time with Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson. I’m looking forward to soaking up every moment and so I’m planning only six goals to help me do just that!

Last week’s goals:

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals

1. Read 3 chapters of The Borrowers to the children. ~~Read 3 chapters of Viking Adventure with Kathrynne, read three chapters of Hugh Pine with Kaitlynn, read a few picture books with Silas.~~

~~2. Write a love note to Jesse.~~

~~3. Go to the rodeo as a family.~~

Personal Goals

~~4. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-19.~~

5. Exercise six times. Run 10 miles total. {I only made it to 8 miles since I didn’t get a chance to work out while we were on our trip to Kansas City.}

6. Finish The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Hidden Places, and I Still Believe.

7. Eat 7 servings of fruits & veggies every day. {I did this every day but one day.}

Homemaking Goals
~~8. Work for 30 minutes on my embroidery project.~~

This week’s goals:

Family/Marriage/Mothering Goals

1. Read 3 chapters of The Borrowers to the children. Read 3 chapters of Viking Adventure with Kathrynne, read three chapters of Hugh Pine with Kaitlynn, read a few picture books with Silas.

2. Write a love note to Jesse.

Personal Goals

3. Work on memorizing & reviewing Romans 1:1-20.

4. Exercise six times. Run 10 miles total.

5. Finish The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Hidden Places, Crazy Busy, and Seasons of a Mother’s Heart.

Homemaking Goals

6. Work for 30 minutes on my embroidery project.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!

You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

Shared Jul 22, 2013 comment

Reader Tip: It Pays to Review Your Bills

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 22, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Tammy emailed in the following tip:

I recently moved and had to switch over my internet and phone service. When I got my bill, I was a little shocked — and after careful review, I figured out why my bill was $160 (compared to my usual bill of about $50).

I usually don’t check my bills to often, but after this experience I started checking every little charge on all of my bills.

As it turns out, I was charged twice for an insurance for the house wiring. I called the phone company and told them about this and they removed BOTH charges.

Then, I noticed I was being charged $95 for a phone jack that should have been covered by that insurance! So I ended up calling back the same day and asked about this. It was also a mistake and they refunded the $95.

After all of this, the representative informed me he would give me a credit for my inconvenience, so he went ahead a gave me a $35 credit.

After my 2 phone conversations, my original $160 bill was only about $15 — so it truly does pay to review your bills!

photo source

Shared Jul 22, 2013 comment

Links I Loved: Monday Morning Edition

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 22, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Happy Monday morning! I hope you had a fantastic weekend — I know we did!

We got to spend time in Kansas City with Ruth from Living Well Spending Less and her family (that’s both of us pictured above). She’s a dear friend of mine, so it was such a blessing to get to hang out together — even if our hours together seemed all too short.

Our children had a blast together at the Deanna Rose Farmstead. They got to bottle-feed goats, ride ponies, go fishing, ride on a hayride, and mine for gems. It was so much fun!

Links I Loved

I read a few great posts this morning that I had to pass along if you have a little extra time to read today. Enjoy!

Much About Doing Nothing — “When did summer vacation become so complicated? When did summer begin to feel rushed, frantic, hurried, exhausting? When did we make summer about squeezing in as much entertainment, fun, and activities as the schedule could manage?”

The First Thing You Must Do on Monday Morning — “If there is only one thing you do this Monday morning before beginning your week, it’s this: Do Nothing. Yup, you heard me. It’s not fancy advice, and it doesn’t require a set of instructions, a coach or an app on hand. Instead, it’s just a few simple words.”

She Says I’m Honest — “Can we all just exhale and be honest with each other? This is real life. This is my life, and quite frankly, it’s not always ‘pinnable’…”

How was your weekend? Have you read any great posts recently? If so, share the link in the comments!

Shared Jul 19, 2013 comment

Now You Can Connect with Money Saving Mom® on Google+!

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 19, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I resisted joining Google+ for a long time because it just felt like one more social media network to keep up with. But thanks to the encouragement of Jimmie Lanley and my amazing assistant, Lisa, I finally made the plunge. And I’m really happy I did, because I’m actually coming to love Google+ — believe it or not!

So if you’re on Google+, we’d love to have you come over and follow the Money Saving Mom® Google+ page. It’s another way for you to get easy access to all of the coupons, deals, freebies, money-saving tips, frugal ideas, intentional living information, and other resources that I post here on MoneySavingMom.com. It’s very similar to our Facebook page — but on Google+!

But that’s not nearly all!

I’m incredibly excited to let you know that we also set up a Money Saving Mom® Google+ Community! This online community is an upbeat and encouraging place for frugal folks to hang out, share your money-saving wisdom, ask questions, post pictures of great bargains you’ve snagged, and inspire each other as we seek to wisely manage and stretch our resources.

I’ve always wanted to start some sort of community where Money Saving Mom® readers could regularly connect — and now we’ve done just that! We want this community to be a vibrant place – your go-to spot for connecting with like-minded folks — so please join in the fun!

Lisa will be updating and moderating both pages for me. We’ve been beta-testing things for the past few weeks before publicly announcing the page and community and she’s been doing a fantastic job. You’ll love her and will be in very good hands with her at the wheel there. 🙂

By the way, if you don’t already have a Google+ account, you’ll need to sign up for one in order to participate in the Money Saving Mom® Google+ Community (don’t worry, it’s free!). You can do that by navigating to the community, clicking on the red “Join Google+” button at the top of the page, and then clicking on “Create an Account” on the right side of the page.

Also, mark your calendars! On Thursday, August 22, 2013 from 3:00pm – 4:00pm EST I’ll be doing a live Q&A on the Money Saving Mom® Google+ page! More information is to come, including how to watch and participate, submit questions ahead of time, and grab the recording of the Q&A session if you aren’t able to tune in.

P.S. I also have a personal account on Google+ where I will be posting a few links to articles that I’ve loved or other tidbits from life. You’re welcome to follow me there, too.

Shared Jul 18, 2013 comment

Reader Tip: No-Grate Powdered Laundry Soap

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 18, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Rachel emailed in the following tip:

Your recent guest post about how to make liquid laundry soap without grating the soap got me thinking. I make my own laundry soap but I prefer to make the dry version. I use Ivory soap bars — and I really despise the grating part.

Anyway, I recently did the “microwave a bar of ivory soap” experiment with my daughter. After you microwave it, it is very crumbly. I microwaved a bar today, put it in a zip-top bag and crumbled it easily with my fingers. The pieces were small, but not as fine as I like them. I then used my rolling pin on the bag as if I were rolling dough. That turned it into a fine powder!

The whole process (including the microwave part) took less than ten minutes. My fingers are not sore from grating nor did I lose any skin! Score!! 🙂

photo source

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Shared Jul 18, 2013 comment

Julie’s CVS Shopping Trip: Spent $0 out of pocket, Got $8 ECBs back!

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 18, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Julie emailed in her CVS shopping trip:

CVS Shopping Trip

2 Colgate Total Mouthwash at $5.99 each
-Used (2) $2/1 coupons

2 Edge Shaving Gel at $3.19 each
-Used BIG1 coupon (only took off $3, I don’t know why)

3 Right Guard body wash at $4.99 each–On Sale B1G1 Free
3 Dry Idea deodorant at $4.19 each
-Use (3) $1.50/1 Right Guard from 7/14 RP
-Use (3) $1.50/1 Dry Idea from 7/14 RP

Used $2/$8 Oral Hygiene CVS coupon from coupon printer
Used $3/$10 Bodywash CVS coupon from coupon printer
Used $12 ECBs from Huggies deal 2 weeks ago

Total before coupons and ECBs: $45.90
Total after coupons and ECBs: $0.00 ($12 ECB was adjusted to $11.53)
Got back $6 ECBs from Colgate and $2 from Edge

(It was also in my plan to get the Playtex Tampons for $7.99 and get $3 ECBs, but I couldn’t find my FREE product coupon I received in the mail. Otherwise I would have ended up with $11 ECBs total. I will keep looking for that coupon!)

See the full list of deals at CVS this week.

Have you gotten a great deal thanks to a tip you’ve found here on MoneySavingMom.com? Take a picture of your deal/purchase and write a short post on the deal details and submit it here. If your submission is chosen to be posted, I’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card! Note: the more creative, unique, and well-written your post, the more chance it will have of being posted.

Shared Jul 18, 2013 comment

Do It Yourself: Homemade Instant Chocolate Pudding Mix

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 18, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Whisk Together shows you how to make homemade instant chocolate pudding mix.

Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it here.

Shared Jul 17, 2013 comment

10 Guaranteed Ways to Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas (#3)

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 17, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Missed the first posts in this series? Check them out here.

#3 Write Daily

With the exception of Sundays and the very occasional day off, I blog every single day. This might seem exhausting to some people, but honestly, I’ve found that I’m much more inspired and creative when I’m regularly exercising my writing muscles.

In fact, it seems the more I write, the more inspiration I have to write. When I was in the middle of writing my book, I felt like my brain was going to explode with all the post ideas coming to me everywhere I turned.. There wasn’t time enough to write half of them, so I just had to tuck them away for later.

Truly, creativity breeds creativity. If you want to blog regularly, don’t wait until you’re feeling inspired to write… just write!

Schedule a Daily Writing Time

Set a daily scheduled writing time, put it on your calendar, and train yourself to keep that commitment like your life depends upon it. Soon, it may become such a habit that you would be able to imagine going through your day!

Eliminate Distractions

When you sit down to write, you’ve got to focus on the task at hand. This is not the time to be checking social media, answering emails, or surfing the internet.

I’ve found that I work best when I shut down email and all other online distractions, set the timer for 15 or 20 minutes, and just dive in and write until it goes off. I’m amazed at how much I can get done when I just shut everything down and work in concentrated chunks. {Since I usually write in the early mornings, I can usually accomplish this without worrying little people walking in and needing their mama right then. :)}

Create Conducive Conditions

What are your ideal writing conditions? If you don’t know, now’s the best time to find out — especially because you’ll want to schedule your writing time when you’re going to be at peak performance.

Some questions to ask yourself/things to experiment with:

Where do you do your best writing? Try writing in different rooms in your home and in different work spaces. I don’t write well sitting at a desk, so I have a big comfy writing chair in my office that most all of my posts are composed from.
When do you do your best writing? I am usually freshest first thing in the morning,
Do you write best with a pen and paper or do your ideas flow best when you’re typing on your computer? I do some of both — I usually outline my posts with pen & paper (more on that in a later post) and then type up the complete post on my laptop.
Does music enhance or detract from your creativity? For me, most of the time it detracts. But I know that certain kinds of music really gets some people’s creative juices flowing.
Do certain actions fuel your inspiration? I find that washing dishes, showering, and exercising are often times when I get great writing inspiration and ideas. I often exercise right before my writing time — it seems that getting my heart rate up really gets my brain cells firing, too!

You can’t always hit our ideal conditions every day, but put forth effort to do everything you can to make your environment as conducive for great writing can go a long way in making your writing time more productive.

Do you write daily? Why or why not? What are your ideal writing conditions?

Shared Jul 17, 2013 comment

Gretchen’s $44 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 17, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Health Food Store

I stopped by a different Health Food store this week than I normally do to check out their prices. I wasn’t super impressed and only ended up getting some organic apples.

1.66 lbs Organic Apples @ $1.45/lb – $2.41 (pictured above)

Total with tax: $2.58

Dillons

Items part of the Mega Sale (Buy 4, Get $4 off instantly):

2 Green Giant Veggie Chips – $0.99 each, used 2 $0.50/1 coupon from the 6/9 SmartSource insert (doubled) – Free after coupons

2 Mott’s Fruit Snacks – $1.49 each, used 2 $0.50/1 printable (doubled) – $0.49 each after coupons

Other items:

2 Kroger Canned Green Beans – $0.69 each

1 Kroger Flour – $1.69

1 Kroger Honey Nut Blitz Cereal – $2.49 (special request from my husband)

1 Lance XtraFulls Peanut Butter Crackers – $2.99, used $2.78/1 printable (my cashier went ahead and took off $2.99) – Free after coupon

1 Kraft Marshmallows – $1.25

1 Orville Redenbacher’s Pop Crunch – $2.69, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon

0.83 lbs Broccoli @ $0.99/lb – $0.82

1 Kroger Applesauce – $2.19

2 Kroger Shredded Cheese – $1.67 each

2 Kroger Tortillas – $1.79 each (I didn’t have time this week to go to Aldi otherwise I would have purchased these there.)

4 Starburst Candies – $0.50 each, used 2 $0.50/2 coupon from the 6/2 RedPlum insert (doubled) – Free after coupons

4 Skittles Candies – $0.50 each, used 2 $1/2 coupon from the 6/2 RedPlum insert – Free after coupon (I love it when I can get free candy. I stash it away for when we have company and then set out a bowl for our guests to enjoy.) 🙂

1 Kroger Picante Sauce – $1.50

1 Kroger Canned Tomatoes (diced) – $0.69

1 Kroger Potatoes (5 lbs) – $2.49

1 Kroger Garlic Salt – $1

5 Beechnut Fruities Pouch – $1 each, used 2 $1/1 printable, 2 $0.50/1 printable (doubled) and 1 $0.75/1 printable (doubled to $1) – Free after coupons

1.54 lbs Sweet Potatoes @ $1.09/lb – $1.68 (I cook these with carrots and then mash them up and freeze it in small servings. My toddler loves it and it’s a great thing to have around for snacks.)

1 Kroger Enchilada Sauce – $0.99

4 Organic Oranges @ $0.69 each – $2.76

4 Yoplait GoGurt – Marked down to $1 each, used 2 $0.75/2 coupon from the 6/23 SmartSource insert (doubled to $1) – $0.50 each after coupons

1 Quaker Granola Bars – $2.40, used Free e-coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon

1 Kentucky Legend Ham Steak – $2.79

2.02 lbs Bananas @ $0.52/lb – $1.05

1 Dillons Milk (gallon) – $1.99

Total before sales and coupons: $78.30

Total with tax after sales and coupons: $41.32

Total for all grocery items: $43.90

Menu Plan for this Week

Breakfasts

Cereal, Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (I’ll use this bread recipe and make it into muffins), Oatmeal with Applesauce, Toast

Lunches

Cheese Quesadillas, Leftovers, Fruit, Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches, Scrambled Eggs

Dinners

Homemade Pizza (Will triple the recipe and freeze a bunch of smaller pizzas for my husband’s lunches), Breadsticks, Tossed Salad (I still have lettuce from the past 2 weeks of shopping.)

Breakfast Burritos, Hashbrowns

Grilled Tilapia (from Crystal), Biscuits, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

Chicken & Rice Casserole, Tossed Salad

Crock Pot Ground Beef Noodle Casserole (I’ll just use regular noodles for this), Fruit Salad, Veggies (I still have some leftover from last week)

Brown Bag Burritos (I’m planning to make a bunch to freeze for my husband’s lunches as well.), Steamed Broccoli

Dinner with my in-laws

Shared Jul 17, 2013 comment

We’re Saving $1100 by Ditching Cable — and We Now Have More Shows to Watch!

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 17, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I loved this post over on Cubicle Sherpa:

It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to convince my husband that we should ditch the cable. We had just switched back to DirecTV from ATT-Uverse, and we were still forking over nearly $150 a month in cable bills. I’d heard about the Roku on MoneySavingMom.com in April.

Boy, did it get me thinking!! With some minor research, some number crunching, and a few weeks of convincing [hubby], we vowed to take the plunge and see how well it would work for us.

One of our biggest fears…

“Will there be anything to watch”?

Let me tell you- we actually have more to watch now than we did with cable… Read the rest of the post here.

It just might inspire you to consider ditching cable once and for all. 🙂

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

Click here to download!

Shared Jul 17, 2013 comment

Gretchen’s Target Shopping Trip: Paid $1.58 for $9.42 worth of products

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 17, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Target Shopping Trip

1 bag Organic Carrots – $1.09, used $1/1 Target mobile coupon – $0.09 after coupon

3 Kiwi @ $0.39 each – $1.17, used $1/1 Target mobile coupon – $0.17 after coupon

2 Up & Up Hydrogen Peroxide – $0.52 each, used 2 $0.50/1 Target printable – $0.02 each after coupons

2 Up & Up Hand Soap – $0.89 each, used 2 $0.50/1 Target printable – $0.39 each after coupons

1 Friskies Wet Cat Food – $0.47, used Free coupon (no longer available) – Free after coupon

2 Always Liners – $0.94, used $1/1 coupon from the 7/7 P&G insert – Free after coupons

1 Wet One Wipes – $1.99, used $0.75/1 printable AND $0.50/1 Target printable – $0.74 after coupons

Total before coupons: $9.42

Total after coupons: $1.58

See the full list of deals at Target this week.

Shared Jul 17, 2013 comment

Gretchen’s Walgreens Shopping Trip: Spent $1.46 for $13.89 worth of products!

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 17, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Walgreens Shopping Trip

3 Kleenex – $0.89 each
Used $0.50/3 coupon from the 7/14 SmartSource insert

2 Mitchum Deodorant – $1.99 each
Used $1/1 coupon from the 7/14 SmartSource insert (I only had one of these coupons.)

2 Nestle Crunch – $0.39 each
Used $0.50/2 coupon from the 6/30 SmartSource insert

Used $4.50 Register Rewards from my last shopping trip

Total before sales, coupons and Register Rewards: $13.89

Total with tax (7.3%) after sales, coupons and Register Rewards: $1.46, plus received 2,000 (like $2) Balance Rewards (for buying 2 Mitchum Deodorants)

See the full list of deals at Walgreens this week.

Shared Jul 17, 2013 comment

Gretchen’s CVS Shopping Trip: Spent $1.88 for $19.99 worth of products!

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 17, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

CVS Shopping Trip

5 Garnier Fructis Hair Products – $3 each
Used 5 $1/1 coupon from the 7/14 RedPlum insert and printable
And used $3/$15 CVS coupon from in-store coupon machine

1 Revlon Nail Polish – $4.99
Used $1/1 coupon from the 6/23 SmartSource insert

Used $10 ECBs from last week’s shopping trip and $0.50 quarterly ECBS

Total before coupons and ECBs: $19.99

Total with tax (7.3%) after coupons and ECBS: $1.88 PLUS received $5 ECBS (for buying 5 Garnier Fructis products) and $3 ECBS (for buying 1 Revlon product)

See the full list of deals at CVS this week.

Shared Jul 16, 2013 comment

10 Guaranteed Ways to Never Run Out of Blog Post Ideas (#2)

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 16, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Missed the first posts in this series? Check them out here.

#2 Read Voraciously

If you want to be a good writer, the best thing you can do is to immerse yourself in good writing. Surround yourself with well-written books by authors that inspire you to think, dream, and do.

Writers and bloggers are constantly pouring out words to the world. If you don’t replenish your creativity supply, your well will soon run dry.

Yes, You Have Time To Read

You might be saying, “But I don’t have time to read!” Can I encourage you to evaluate if that statement is really true? I believe everyone, no matter how full their life, can make reading a priority — even if it’s just a few pages from a book every day.

You usually always have time for what you want to have time for. As has well been said, “If it’s important to you, you’ll make time for it. If it’s not, you’ll make an excuse.” So in most cases, it’s not a matter of not having time; it’s a matter of choosing to use your time differently.

Could you cut out some of your Pinterest-hopping, Facebook-viewing, or TV-watching? Or, what about finding ways to add reading to things you’re already doing?

A few examples:

Listen to audiobooks while you’re driving or cleaning.
Read the classics aloud to your children at the dinner table (even just 5 minutes every night).
Always carry a book with you in case some free minutes open up in your day.
Be a little crazy like me and read on your iPad while walking & running on the treadmill. 🙂
Find many additional ideas and ways to fit more reading into your day here.

Read From a Wide Variety of Perspectives

In addition, I think it’s important to be challenging your mind from different perspectives. I try to always be reading a few well-written blogs and books from a broad spectrum of genres. This allows me to continually be exposing my mind to new ideas and inspiration.

I usually have 3-4 books going at one time — each from a different genre. For instance, right now I’m reading a novel by Lynn Austen, a spiritually challenging book, a biography, a homeschooling book, and I’m getting ready to start a new business book.

I do something similar with my blog-reading. I follow about 20 blogs total: a few deal blogs, a few blogs on simple living, a few blogs on leadership/business, a few blogs on parenting & homeschooling, and a few book review blogs. Since each of these blogs approach things from different perspectives, I’m challenged and inspired in unique ways each day.

Evaluate Everything You Read

One very effective way to grow as a writer is to always evaluate what you’re reading. Analyze how the blogger or author is communicating their points.

If I’m really enjoying a post or book, I’ll often ask myself, “What is the author doing to effectively draw me in and keep me reading?” This simple question can teach you so much about how to write well.

By making reading a priority, exposing myself to new ideas, challenging my mind, and analyzing what I read, it not only is helping to hone my writing craft, but it also sparks many, many new blog ideas!

Real-Life Example #2

When I was reading One Question by Ken Coleman, this quote stuck out to me: “Good questions inform. Great questions transform.”

As I mulled over it in my brain for a few days, he not only inspired me to ask more questions of people, but also to encourage you all to ask more questions, too. And that’s where part of my answer to How Do You Develop Goals That Are At the Same Time Stretching But Also Realistic? came from.

What are some of your favorite well-written books, blogs, and authors to follow/read? I’d love to get some new ideas & inspiration!

Shared Jul 16, 2013 comment

Swagbucks Got My Business Started

Published: by Crystal Paine on July 16, 2013 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Today’s Swagbucks success story is from Elise who blogs at FrugalFarmWife.com:

I’ve enjoyed making soap for our own use as well as for gift-giving for quite some time. Recently however, I began toying with the idea of starting an artisan soap business.

There are a lot of this soap makers out there however, and we weren’t really sure how successful the venture might be. So unfortunately, we couldn’t justify taking money for start-up supplies out of our already meager budget.

The idea was firmly in my head though, and I just couldn’t let it go. It just seemed so logical for someone with extra goat milk on hand to make and sell goat milk soap!

For years, I’ve used Swagbucks for purchasing diapers, birthday gifts, and books, most of the time by exchanging them for Amazon.com gift cards. But recently, I’d been letting them pile up, not sure what to do with them.

So I started looking at supplies like lye and essential oils, and as it turns out, everything I needed could be found through Amazon.com! I got to work right away, exchanging Swagbucks for gift cards and ordering my supplies.

Thanks to Swagbucks, I now have a fledgling, profitable, soap-making business selling in artisan markets, and am working on opening my own etsy shop. I can honestly say that if it weren’t for Swagbucks, I’d still be collecting pennies for that first sodium hydroxide purchase.

Elise is a farmer’s wife and mom blogger who loves making things from scratch, living “off the land”, all things health and fitness, goat keeping, cloth diapers, and writing. You can read about her adventures at FrugalFarmWife.com.

2hr Cleaning Checklist

2hr Cleaning Checklist

FREE DOWNLOAD: 2-Hour Cleaning Checklist!

Links I Loved

But that’s not nearly all!

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

CVS Shopping Trip

#3 Write Daily

Schedule a Daily Writing Time

Eliminate Distractions

Create Conducive Conditions

Do you write daily? Why or why not? What are your ideal writing conditions?

Health Food Store

Dillons

Menu Plan for this Week

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

One of our biggest fears…

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

Target Shopping Trip

Walgreens Shopping Trip

CVS Shopping Trip

#2 Read Voraciously

Yes, You Have Time To Read

Read From a Wide Variety of Perspectives

Evaluate Everything You Read

Real-Life Example #2

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