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Money Saving Mom

Money Saving Mom®

Saving Families Money Since 2007

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List.

Summer Bucket List

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Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 21, 2011 comment

Today’s Aldi, Dillon’s and Health Food Store Shopping Trips

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Today’s Aldi, Dillon’s and Health Food Store Shopping Trips

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We stopped at the health food store, Aldi and Dillon’s today. Here’s what we bought:

Health Food Store Shopping Trip:

4 bags of chips marked down to $0.99 each
2 bags of Edamame marked down to $0.99 each
1 bag of Rudi’s hot dog buns marked down to $0.99
1.81 lbs. Pears — $0.99/lb.
3.89 lbs. of Pink Lady Apples — $0.99/lb.
6.7 lbs. of Blue-taped marked down organic bananas — $0.39 per pound
1 Brown Cow yogurt — marked down to $1.99

Total: $18.37

Aldi Shopping Trip:

Corn Chips — $0.99
Tomatoes — $0.99 per bag
Cantaloupe — $1.49
Tortillas — $0.99
Carrots — $0.99
Cheese — $1.99
Freezer Bags — $1.89
Onions — $0.69
Corn — $0.99

Total: $12.88

Dillon’s Shopping Trip:

Watermelon — $3.99
2 heads of lettuce — $1.89 each
3 (1+ pound) packages of ground beef — $3.69/lb.

Total: $23.26

And other than a trip to Target to pick up some of the deals, I think we’re set for the week. In case you missed it, our weekly menu plan is here.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 21, 2011 comment

Do-It-Yourself: Taco Seasoning

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Do-It-Yourself: Taco Seasoning

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Taco seasoning is one of those things I never buy unless it’s free or pennies per packet. Why? Because you can so easily make you own! Smashed Peas and Carrots shows you how to make Homemade Taco Seasoning.

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.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 21, 2011 comment

31 Weeks to a Better Grocery Budget Video Series: How I Organize My Coupons

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31 Weeks to a Better Grocery Budget Video Series: How I Organize My Coupons

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.


This video explains my newly-revamped coupon organization system. You can see my old system here.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 20, 2011 comment

This Week’s Menu Plan

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This Week’s Menu Plan

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Impromptu brownie-making today — I think more brownie batter ended up getting eaten than actually made it into the pan, but we had a lot of fun regardless. 🙂

Breakfasts
Pancakes, scrambled eggs, strawberries
Spinach Oven Omelet, 1-Minute Berry “Ice Cream”
Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, scrambled eggs, fruit
Cinnamon Roll Biscuits (using Homemade Baking Mix — these were a huge hit last week. I’ll share the recipe on Thursday.), fruit
Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal, fruit
Blueberry Streusel Muffins, hard-boiled eggs
Cereal

Lunches
Lunch at extended family’s house for Father’s Day
PB&J Sushi, apple slices, carrot sticks
Lunch out for a birthday celebration
Corn Dog Muffins, pear slices, peas
Leftovers x 2
Egg salad sandwiches, frozen veggies, fruit smoothies

Snacks
Watermelon Frosties
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies
Popcorn
Fruit/Veggies

Dinners
Southwest Rollups, steamed veggies, fruit salad
Italian Pasta Bake, Homemade French Bread, edemame, watermelon
Steak on the grill, steamed veggies, Homemade French Bread
Asian Barbecue Chicken, rice, steamed veggies, fruit salad
Beef Hot Dogs, corn, Seasoned Baked Potato Wedges, watermelon
Build-Your-Own Haystacks, fruit
Dinner Out

Freezer-Cooking-In-An-Hour Plan (I’ll share pictures/details on how this goes on Thursday!)
Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge
Whole-Wheat Blueberry Streusel Muffins
Taco Meat

What’s on your menu this week? Feel free to leave a link to your plan in the comments!

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Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 19, 2011 comment

Super Savings Saturday: 10 lbs. of raw sugar, 5 cartons of almond milk + more!

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Super Savings Saturday: 10 lbs. of raw sugar, 5 cartons of almond milk + more!

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Dillon’s: Spent $13.78

There wasn’t much we needed to buy in the way of groceries this week, so I just made a quick trip to Dillon’s and the health food store to get some of the deals.

The Health Food Store: Spent $20.15

Two of my children are currently off milk, so I was thrilled to be able to get these markdown prices on the hemp, almond and rice milk! We’ll use the chocolate milk to make Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies. It’s a delicious treat for a hot afternoon. I want to get some popsicle molds so I can freeze it and make homemade fudgsicles, too.

Also shown in the picture is the raw sugar my friend Angie found clearanced to just $1.25 per pound at another Dillon’s location. She picked up 10 pounds for me. (It’s such a wonderful thing to have fellow frugal friends who are always on the lookout for deals and willing to snatch up extras when they find them!)

___________

Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 17, 2011 comment

Cloth Diapering 101

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Cloth Diapering 101

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Guest post by Brittany at Mom Answers With Brit

More and more parents are choosing to use cloth diapers instead of disposables. They are more comfortable for the baby, they are good for the environment and, in most cases, they save you money. I must be honest, the main reason we chose to use cloth diapers is the last one.

As I started researching cloth diapers online I was instantly overwhelmed. I was blessed to have friends and family around to help guide and teach me the “diaper lingo.” After much research (and convincing my husband) we decided to change to cloth diapers, and now we are addicted! Using cloth actually makes changing diapers, dare I say it, fun.

How to get started using cloth diapers:

1. Calculate how much money using cloth diapers will save you.

The Diaper Pin has a cloth diaper calculator online to see how much you will save by using cloth diapers. This is a great tool to use to determine if it is worth it for you to switch to cloth diapers and to decide how much you want to invest upfront. The calculator computes water/electricity usage for cleaning them.

The total we spent on our infant was $550 (this is with choosing a more expensive kind of cloth diapers, and choosing to use sized and not one-size diapers). If you normally purchase diapers on sale with coupons, you’ll probably spend at least that much — if not more — in a year by buying disposables. While you still have to add in the water and electricity costs for washing the diapers, if you plan to use them for longer than a year and if you use the same cloth diapers for multiple children you can save a significant amount of money by using cloth diapers.

2. Decide what kind of diapers to use.

As you start looking online, you will see that there are several different types/brands of cloth diapers. Most people I know use either an AIO (all-in-one) or a pocket diaper.

We chose to use FuzziBunz pocket diapers, and we absolutely love them! Be encouraged that there is definitely not one perfect brand or type. It was very overwhelming for me to decide, and our primary reason we chose FuzziBunz Pocket Diapers was because I found a good deal on them. Many parents are happy with many different types/brands of cloth diapers.

3. Find the best deal on cloth diapers.

Most of the best cloth diaper deals are found online, but some areas also have local cloth diaper stores. In Kansas City, we are blessed to have a wonderful cloth diaper store and we found it very helpful to actually go to the store and see the diapers face-to-face instead of just reading about them online.

It is sometimes hard to find really good deals for cloth diapers, but there are sales out there. The Diaper Pin has a list of cloth diaper sales and deals on their homepage.

If you are expecting and someone will be throwing a shower for you, ask for them for shower gifts or request gift cards to online cloth diaper companies.

If you want to get creative, here’s an article on How to Cloth Diaper for Practically Free. Or, you can also read how to make your own cloth diapers.

4. Don’t buy accessories that you don’t need.

Don’t feel like you need everything out there (like the diaper sprayer). I would say the basics are: diapers, extra liners for night-time use, pail-liners, bacteria killing spray and detergent. I also enjoy having a wet bag for the diaper bag, but if you don’t go out much, a plastic bag will work just fine!

Cloth diapers are not for everyone, but I hope to encourage you to look at them a little differently. You don’t have to get your hands gross or worry about poking your baby with a pin. Today’s generation of cloth diapers have improved immensely from what our parents/grandparent’s experienced.

Brittany Grim is a wife and mother to her son, Isaiah. She works full-time in the insurance industry in addition to blogging at Mom Answers With Brit. She loves to share what she has experienced and researched with other moms. She loves God, her family and reading!

photo from Baby Hoots

Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 17, 2011 comment

Reader Tip: We save $100 a year by simplifying our children’s wardrobes

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Reader Tip: We save $100 a year by simplifying our children’s wardrobes

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Ashley emailed in the following tip:

One of the ways our family saves $100 per year is by simplifying our children’s wardrobes. Each of our four children have 4-5 play outfits, 2 “nice” or church outfits, a nice pair of shoes, a play pair of shoes, a package of underwear and a package of socks.

I have found that maintaining a simple wardrobe for our children compared to having a closet full of clothes, many which are hardly worn, saves me at least $30 per child per season. In a year, it saves $90-$120 per child!

An added benefit of fewer clothes is that you can’t get very far behind on your laundry, so you’ll never again have mountains of dirty laundry sitting around! -Ashley

photo credit

Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 17, 2011 comment

Cloth Cash Envelope Pattern

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Cloth Cash Envelope Pattern

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

A reader emailed in a link to these cloth cash envelope patterns. I know there’s no way I could make something like this, but I thought I’d pass it along for those who may be interested in purchasing it (or using it as inspiration to re-create something like it on your own!)

Find more posts on how to set up a cash envelope system here.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 16, 2011 comment

Freezer Cooking In An Hour: Corn Dog Muffins, Chicken Stuffing Casserole, Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, Italian Pasta Bake

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Freezer Cooking In An Hour: Corn Dog Muffins, Chicken Stuffing Casserole, Oatmeal Raisin Muffins, Italian Pasta Bake

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Well, I sort of cheated for yesterday’s Freezer Cooking In An Hour session. First off, I baked the chicken during dinner the night before to save me time and then I gave myself two hours to accomplish my list instead of one. But I still got a lot done in a shorter amount of time — and that’s truly the point of why I challenge myself to do Freezer Cooking In An Hour each week.

4:00 — I set the timer, tied on my apron, pulled my hair back and got to work. I put the dough in the bread machine for Failproof Bread Machine French Bread. I started the ground beef, mixed the oats and yogurt for the Oatmeal Raisin muffins and started mixing up the Honey Cornbread recipe.

4:20 — While the ground beef was cooking, I chopped the onion to add to it and then went back to finishing the Honey Cornbread. I assembled the Corn Dog muffins and stuck them in the oven and then started the pasta boiling.

4:45 — In the middle of mixing up the Oatmeal Raisin muffins, I heard the familiar “mo-o-o-o-o-ma” coming from Silas’ room. I got him up and made popcorn for a snack for all the children and then sent them downstairs to play.

5:10 — The pasta was done, so I assembled the Italian Pasta Bakes and then took a break to clean up the kitchen. I really wanted to make the Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and the Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge, but I was running out of time and energy. So I opted to just finish up what I already had started and save those to make later in the week.

5:25 — I pulled the oatmeal muffins out of the oven — yum! — and then started chopping up the chicken while the water was boiling for the stuffing. I couldn’t believe the children were still downstairs playing quietly! It’s a rare occurrence that all three of them play together for longer than 20 minutes without someone getting hurt or a fighting ensuing (we’re working on it, but it seems to be a slow learning process!).

5:35 — The chicken was finally chopped, so I put together the Chicken Stuffing Casseroles together. I then went to pull the French Bread dough out of the bread machine. So much for it being failproof. The dough was really stiff — way too stiff for French Bread. I tried to make it work, but I finally gave up. I think I better find a different French Bread recipe! (Anyone have a more proven failproof recipe to share? Or a suggestion of why mine didn’t turn out?)

5:45 — Finally done!

4 pans of Chicken Stuffing Casserole

12 Corn Dog Muffins (I used my Honey Cornbread Recipe and Beef Hotdogs. These are very yummy — for kids and adults alike!)

I small pan of Honey Cornbread

12 Oatmeal Raisin Muffins

3 pans of Italian Pasta Bake

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Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 16, 2011 comment

Do-It-Yourself: Half and Half Girl’s Skirt

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Do-It-Yourself: Half and Half Girl’s Skirt

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Looking for a fun and easy sewing project? Try making the Half and Half Girl’s Skirt.

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 Jun 16, 2011 comment

Thrifting Tips: Lessons Learned From My Thrift Store Shopping Experience

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Thrifting Tips: Lessons Learned From My Thrift Store Shopping Experience

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Looking for thrifting tips to help you on your next thrift store shopping trip? This simple advice is great to keep in mind!

{Planning to take your kids? Read this before you go!!}

Lessons Learned from my First Thrift Store Shopping Trip

Guest post by Carrie Hurst at My Favorite Finds

I went to Goodwill for the first time in my life today. Here are a few thrifting tips I learned…

If you’re going to pay for it — even if it’s secondhand — make sure you love it.

If I buy five pairs of jeans for $3 each without trying them on and go home and find that only two of them fit, I’m out $9. I don’t justify secondhand purchases with “It’s only $3.” By doing so, I waste money and I’m disappointed.

Don’t be afraid to walk away from a “great” bargain.

This afternoon, I tried on a pair of COACH canvas slip-on shoes. I loved them! They were only $22, and I wanted them badly.

However, they were a bit too tight in the toes. I ended up not getting them because of this and the high price tag. Even though I loved them, I left them behind because I wasn’t willing to pay for something that I wasn’t 100% convinced about.

Look for brands you are familiar with.

If I’m going to buy something secondhand, I want it to be decent quality and have a history of lasting. Today, I got a Land’s End swim top/trunks for my boys, two pairs of Banana Republic shorts for me, a pair of Saucony sneakers, a pair of American Eagle flats, a Baby GAP tank top for my daughter, an Old Navy polo for my boys, a pair of plaid Cherokee shorts for my boys, a Circo swimsuit for my daughter, and a Rare, too dress for my daughter. I got all of this for less than $30!

I chose these based on what we needed andwanted, but also based upon brands that I know we’ve liked and felt have held up to wear and tear in the past.

What thrifting tips do you have? I’d love to hear in the comments!

Carrie is a pastor’s wife, and a mom of twin boys and a toddler girl. She loves the Lord, and tries to be an example for Him. Visit her blog, My Favorite Finds.

photo credit


Money Saving Mom
Shared Jun 16, 2011 comment

How to Make Money Blogging: 10 Ways to Build & Increase Your Readership (Part 2)

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How to Make Money Blogging: 10 Ways to Build & Increase Your Readership (Part 2)

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

photo credit

Read Part 1 if you missed it.

6. Host giveaways.

Readers love giveaways. It’s a way to generate buzz for your site, give something back to your readers and get additional traffic by linking up to giveaway link-ups (ours goes up every Monday afternoon).

If you are a new blogger and wondering how on earth you get started hosting giveaways, it’s really very simple. Read my other post for some tips and suggestions for getting started offering giveaways.

If there’s one thing I want to encourage with giveaways, it’s this: don’t overdo and don’t make people jump through a bunch of hoops to enter. Okay, that was two things, but I think they are both vital for giveaway success.

Giveaways are great — in moderation. Unless your blog is primarily a product review blog, any more than 10 to 20% of a ratio of giveaways to regular posts is probably too much. And make it simple for people to enter. I promise your readers will appreciate it.

As a side note: be honest in your reviews if you’re including them with a product. If you didn’t love something, there’s no need to gush up and down about it.

Your readers appreciate honesty and forthrightness. Show pros and cons. But, as I’ve learned the hard way, if you only have critical things to say about a product, it’s probably better to skip the giveaway altogether since most companies aren’t really excited about sponsoring a giveaway where the blogger just posts a very negative review of the product.

7. Interact on Facebook and Twitter.

A year and a half ago, my husband suggested I set up a Facebook Page. I wasn’t too sure if it was worth it, but I went ahead and did it. I was shocked at how much traffic it generated from the start and how many people signed up as fans!

The beautiful thing about a Facebook Page is that when someone interacts on your page, it shows up on their personal page. Many people have told me they originally found my blog through a friend on Facebook.

In addition, my Facebook Page is one of the highest generators of traffic to my blog each month. Needless to say, I’m listening more carefully when my husband suggests I add something to my blog. 🙂

A successful Facebook Page doesn’t sit dormant. It should be updated at least once a day, preferably a few times per day. Post links to all your blog posts, share posts from the archives and throw in the occasional picture or real-time funny story, quote or question. The more you interact with your fans, the better.

By the way, I recommend posting your links manually on Facebook, instead of using an auto-post set up. Not only does this cause you to see if people are commenting or leaving questions, but this also shows up more readily in people’s feeds (auto-post tends to bury posts so people never see them).

8. Link liberally to other bloggers.

Want to know one way to have people find your blog? Link to their blog!

Most bloggers track their stats and incoming links and will click over to see if someone has linked to them. They might just end up linking back to you if they like what they see.

Now, I’m not advocating a “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” sort of mentality here, but I know that some bloggers are so scared they might lose traffic if they link to another blog. I’ve found the exact opposite to be true.

If you find a great blog or blog post that you think your readers would love, share it on your blog or Facebook Page! Don’t keep a good thing to yourself.

I got a little long-winded with these three, so I’ll save the final two ways to build and increase your readership for next week.