Great Gifts

I found the website Personalization Mall.com last year and I fell in love with them. They have gifts for every occasion all year round.  Their prices are reasonable. I ordered something for everyone in my family. I just love personalized gifts. It means more to me when the gift was picked out for me and it has been personalized just for me. 

Last year I ordered the Can and Bottle wrap for all the men in the family in their favorite teams color and put their name on it. To this day this is my husbands favorite can wrap and he uses it all the time. I also ordered a monogrammed cutting board for my brother that he loved!


What better gift to send than a personalized gifts this season. I am glad I can offer this great deal to my readers. There are also a couple coupon codes you can use:


SHOPEARLY before 11/20/11 for 15% off
PMALL15D before 11/20/11 for $15 Off $75


This may contain affiliate links.

Tips 4 Tuesday

First I would like to make sure you are getting all you can from Pounds4Pennies. I offer additional savings information and HOT coupons on my Facebook page and in my BlogFrog community. Please be sure to LIKE me on Facebook to keep up with the latest coupons and savings deals. I also offer additional tips and coupons on BLOGFROG. If you do like my site be sure to click Top Mommy Blogs and vote for me. One click = one vote. I am 108 and would love to get into the top 100 this week just eight more places to go. I know all my fabulous readers can take a few moments to vote for me. THANKS in advance.

I have a few tips to share with you about not throwing things out. My wonderful husband and I try to avoid throwing anything away. If something is about to spoil or we don't think we will use it in time, we just pop it into the freezer. Why let something go bad and have to throw it away. You might as well take that money and throw it in the trash that you purchased that food with. It is basically the same thing.

Do you ever make a pot of coffee and have some left over? Don’t throw it out. My husband and I love ice coffee. We make a little extra during the summer, so we can have ice coffee in the afternoons. We take the left over coffee and put it a plastic cup or make ice cubes out of it. We use plastic cups, since this is water and it will expand and break a glass container. We then put confectioners sugar and creamer and blend to make a great tasting frappe or just have iced coffee. The confectioners sugar dissolves quickly in ice coffee and you don’t have to worry about the grainy texture from granulated sugar.

What do you do with the left over heels of a piece of bread? Again don’t throw them out. There are several great uses for these. I put some butter on them and toast them in the toaster. Then I place them in my food processor to finely chop them up. I never need to buy bread crumbs. Another thing I do with the bread is make croutons. I butter them and cut them into cubes. Then place them on a cookie sheet and put the oven on broil. Watch very closely as these can burn quickly. I even sprinkle some seasonings on them to make them extra tasty. The kids all time favorite is to save these for duck food. We also keep a bag in the freezer and put left over hot dog buns, hamburger buns or bread crusts in there. When we want to go to the park we automatically have duck food ready for the kids to feed the ducks. This also make a great time for family photos.

My husband and I try not to throw anything out. I hope you will be able to use these tips in the future. Do you have any great tips on how to save or use the extra things you might consider throwing out? I love your comments and I would love to hear from you.

Money Making Ops

I know a few of you are interested in how can you make money online in time for Christmas? Wouldn't it be great to pay for Christmas with gift cards this year? There are a couple of websites I use on a regular basis to earn FREE gift cards or Money. A great site is Swagbucks and  another is Inbox dollars.

 

Swagbucks is an awesome site where you can earn points for doing all kinds of tasks. There is the daily poll to earn 1 point each day. Then other categories include games and watching commercials. One of the best features is every time you print a coupon and it is redeemed you earn 10 points. This is makes your coupon more valuable. You can also use their search engine to search for topics and earn points. Fridays are great, since they are Mega Swagbucks days. You will earn more for searches on Friday than any other day.

After you have accumulated points you can cash them in for various items. I like a $5.00 Amazon Gift card for 450 points. It can take anywhere from two to four weeks to earn 450 points. It depends on how frequently you use this account. I have gotten several gift cards and used them.

The next way I would like to share with you how to earn money on the internet is InBoxDollars. Just for clicking above and signing up you will get $5.00 in your account. I recommend setting up an email account you use for your coupons to keep this separate from your personal account. You will receive emails several times a day to click the email and look at offers sent directly to you. The more offers and surveys you complete the quicker your money will grow. Inbox also has a coupon area to print coupons. Every coupon you print and redeem you will earn $.10. This makes a more valuable coupon. What a great way to coupon and make money while you are couponing. It is like a little savings bank. You will need to get up to $30.00 before you can receive a check, but it doesn't take long.

Pay online at your bank and earn Cash Back

eBillme is a free payment service that helps people pay safely online and save money with Cash Back rewards.

Shop at over 800 online retailers or the eBillme Gift Card Mall, then pay for your order using your bank's online bill pay service, just like a utility bill. No personal or financial information is shared.  Get a jump start on all those Black Friday deals. 

Save money. Earn up to 10% Cash Back!

For every dollar you pay through eBillme, you will earn cash back.

• Earn rewards at eBillme retailers and on gift cards
• At $10 earnings you can create a coupon
• At $50 earnings you can get a check by mail

eBillme Cash Back Program

Not only does eBillme help you stay safe when shopping online, we help you save money too. Our free Cash Back rewards program allows you to earn on every order(For a limited time earn up to 10% - see offers) that can be redeemed for coupons on future eBillme orders, or get a check by mail when you have earned $50. Plus you can now earn even more! Tell a Friend and earn extra cash back rewards.

How to Join

Sign up is free and easy.

• To join, simply pay your bill, and click the ‘JOIN CASH BACK’ button on your bill or receipt. Or fast track and click the 'JOIN CASH BACK' button below.
• Once you have joined the program your points will be automatically added to your account with each paid order.

Friday Finals 11/11/11 Kroger Mega Event

To all veterans, including my dad, THANK YOU for my freedom. Happy Veterans Day on this 11/11/11. I have heard there are a lot of marriages and other celebrations going on this landmark day. Do you have anything fun planned?

I have had sick kids all week this week. The little got the stomach bug too. AUGH! So for two days I have been cooped up in the house and have not done much shopping this week. But I plan on going out this weekend and getting a few more things from other stores. I will list them here next week.

Be sure to check out these ladies posts. They had awesome savings last week and were the top three clickiest:

Frugal Stepmom

Couponing Away Debt

Weekly Grocery Shopping

Kroger Mega Event

MEI = Mega Event Item -$0.50 off each item listed

1 Kroger Cheese - $1.99

3.69 lb Bananas @ $0.39 lb - $1.44

6 Aunt Annies Mac and Cheese $1.19 – MEI, $0.75/1 Printable Coupon Facebook

            -Final $0.56 average each

2 International Delight Creamer $2.49 – MEI

            -Final $1.99 each

4 4lbs Bags of Domino Sugar $2.49 – MEI, 4 $0.50/1 Domino Sugar RP 10/16/11

            -Final $1.49 each

1 Idaho Potatoes $1.00 – FREE All You Magazine Oct.

            -Final FREE – I love FREE

16 Campbells Condensed Soup $1.00 – MEI, 4 $0.40/4 Campbells Coupons SS 10/09/11

            -Final $0.40 each

8 Ricola Cough Drops $1.49 – MEI, 4 B1G1 Ricola Cough Drops 10/02/11, 4 $0.75/1 Ricola Cough Drops

            -Final $0.12 each

1 Hillshire Farms lunch Meat $3.49 – MEI, $0.35/1 Lunch Meat RP 10/16/11

            -Final $2.64

2 Hormel Turkey Pepperoni $2.50 – MEI

            -Final $2.00 – Printable coupon now available. PRINT NOW!

Altogether I spent $33.19 and saved $49.64 on $82.83 worth of retail grocery products. I know I don’t need 8 bags of Ricola Cough Drops, but I would like to give this as a gift along with some soup (I am picking more up next week) for friends who might be sick. There are several of us moms whose husbands travel from time to time and no matter what someone gets sick when the husband is gone. I can run this by quickly and cheer them up a bit.

CVS – FREE this week

Nov. 5^th

1 Shick Quatro Razor refill $8.99

1 Milk $3.99

Used:

$5.00 ECB

$1.00 ECB

$5.00/1 Shick Quatro Razor or refill Printable

OOP

$1.98

Recieved:

$4.00 ECBs 

I spend $1.98 and saved $11.00 on 12.98 worth of retail items at CVS this trip. I didn’t realize milk went up to $3.99. Ouch! This is really good milk and I had $5.00 ECBs that were expiring so I combined it with an extra $1.00 to get the price of Milk down.

Nov. 7

1 Illy Coffee Drink $2.00

2 Hydro 5 Razors $10.49 each

Used:

$2.00 ECB

$1.00 ECB

$4.00 ECB

$3.50 ECB

$2.49 took off - FREE Illy coffee drink printed Nov. 5^th.

2 $5.00/1 Shick Hydro razor

Received:

$10.00 ECB for Razors

$1.00 ECB for Bag Tag

I paid $0.00 for $22.98 worth of retail products at CVS this week. I LOVE FREE!


Sprouts - Farmers Market

.49 lb Peanuts - $0.98
1 lb Raisins - $1.49 - Great price on Raisins
1 Yogurt - $2.00
1 Pk Cinnamon $1.25
1 Broccoli - $1.05
1 Bell Pepper - $0.49
3 Lemons - $1.00
3 Limes - $0.50
1.74 lbs Onions - $0.85


Bag credit -$0.10


Total $9.51 on fresh produce and dairy.

All together I spent $44.68 and saved $83.72 on $128.40 worth of items this week. I think I have my groove back. I had 65% savings overall savings for this week. Unlike some couponers, I do buy fresh produce nearly every week. Fresh is better than canned or frozen. I usually budget around $10.00 for Sprouts.

How did you do this week? Link up your awesome savings below. I can't wait to see how you did this week. It is great to see how others shop to learn how to save.

Kids

My daughter has been battling a stomach bug, since last Wednesday. She has occasionally thrown up, nothing consistent. In case you are wondering, I don’t clean up throw up. YUCK. It  becomes two messes for me to clean up and I really don’t need more to clean. I am glad that she is finally at the age that she knows she better run with all her might to make it to the bathroom in time. And YES! she has made it each time. I gave her a washcloth to clean off the seat of the toilette and another for her mouth. I even got her some water to rinse her mouth out with. All from afar. I have a very weak stomach for that. I am happy to say we only had one mess this time.

I had a lot of energy yesterday and planned on getting all caught up on clipping my coupons, I am about 3 weeks behind. AUGH! I put little face down and of course he did not go to sleep right away. I then get a call from the school nurse she has done it again. Before I leave the house to get her I call the dr. to make an appointment. Something is obviously wrong. What she eats needs to stay down. Meanwhile I got a call that morning that my stepson was not feeling well either and that I may need to pick him up if he is sick.

So I ask the nurse if she had seen him and she said yes, but he was not running any fever so she sent him back to class. I get little miss and we all head to the dr. The Dr. did some tests and determined it must be a virus and gave us some nausea medicine. My daughter hates the word medicine and all forms of it. She was not excited.

As we are leaving the Dr. I get a call. It is time to pick up child number two. So I head back to the school once again to pick up sick child number two.  He did not throw up, but just felt bad. Again no fever. So on our way home, which is about 5 min. Little face falls asleep in the car. It is 2:00 way past nap time. More like wake up time and he is out. I get little face out of the car very carefully and place him in bed. Get all sick children on the couches. I always make sure I provide them with a large open container to catch anything that might come up. I also make sure this is as close to their mouth as possible and inform them of appropriate places of disposal if needed. If they move they must carry the bucket with them. This is their new best friend until the queasiness passes. I am serious!

After a couple of hours little face wakes up and no incidents have happened, so on to homework. They have gotten into math homework I do not understand. I am glad they were both here so I could cheat and look of f of each other’s papers to see how they did it. My daughter and stepson are in the same grade and go to the same school. This makes it easier when they do homework and planning for family vacations.

And all of this to say, I got nothing done yesterday that I wanted to do. So is the life of a mother.

Money Saving Monday - CVS

If you haven't read my other couponing 101 articles over the past weeks I suggest you start at the first post and read through. This is a lot of information. Take some time to read each section and go over it before you dive right in. 

1. Part 1 How and Where to get Coupons 

2. Part 2 Go Shopping

3. Part 3 How to Save Big on Your Grocery Bill

Part 4 Drug Store Shopping

Shopping at the drug store is different than shopping at the grocery store. Most drug stores print their own money at the register. They want you to use this money at their store. Walgreens has Rapid Rewards RR, CVS has Extra Care Bucks ECB’s and Rite Aid has Single Check Rebate Program SCR’s. I am going to be mostly informing you on CVS today.

With the money they print for you at the stores, you can roll this each time you check out and not pay a lot of your money out of pocket, OOP.

HOW IT WORKS for CVS

First of all you want to make sure you get a CVS card. Ask for one when you enter the store before your first purchase. To register your card complete the form on line. You will receive additional coupons and sometimes ECBs through email. You can load these onto your card so next time you enter the store you can use your savings and not worry about finding a piece of paper.

Now you will need to scan your circular to see if there are any items you want or need that print ECB’s. Now look to see if you have a coupon to matchup with this item to bring your total OOP down even further. Please keep in mind the ECB prints at the end of the transaction. At first it is difficult to get started. Please check out Simply CVS for beginner $5 & $10 OOP scenerios she posts each week. Once you have checked out you will have ECB’s you can use towards your next transaction. Please be considerate of others

I roll my ECB’s a little differently than other people. I like to have ECB’s left over at the end, so I can get my items for the advertised price or free. I try to do all my purchases in one transaction with all my ECB’s and coupons at one time. This way I don’t have to worry if they are out of an item in order for all my transactions to work. I also know what I am going to spend before I get there. My budget is $5.00 on toiletries and $5.00 on diapers when I can get it.

THE LITTLE RED BOX

There is a little magic red box when you walk into CVS. This is a coupon dispensing machine. It spits out extra CVS coupons. You can stack or combine these with any additional coupons you may have to get items for free or really cheap. It frequently gives away free items. You just need to make sure you print it out. This is the first thing I always do when I walk into the store and see if it gives me anything good. This is a must in my book.

BAG TAG

CVS has a bag tag program. You can purchase this little tag or sometimes it gives you a free one at the magic red box. Every four times this is scanned it will print you a $1 extra buck. Yup that is FREE money just for visiting the store. You can only use it once each day and it only will scan after an item is scanned.

BEAUTY CLUB

On more program CVS has is the Beauty Club. This is free to sign up. To sign up look near the register to see the Beauty Club tear pad. Just hand this to the cashier when your make your first purchase. For every $50.00 you spend you will receive $5.00 back.

QUARTERLY EARNINGS

CVS will add up all your purchases before ECB’s and Coupons and give you 2% back at the end of every quarter. You can receive this at the little red box or it will print at the register. Again free money you can use to purchase additional items at the store.

Things you need to do when you go to CVS:

1. Get a CVS card – Sign Up on line

2. Get a Bag Tag – You may need to pay $1.00

3. Sign up for the Beauty Club – FREE tear pad at registar

4. Scan the red box when you go to the store.

Items I often get at CVS:

Razors – FREE

Make up – FREE or $1

Nail Polish – FREE or $1

Food – FREE or CHEAP

Milk – CHEAP when on sale

Hair Care – CHEAP

Diapers – CHEAP

Friday Finals 11 4 11

I wanted to thank everyone who voted for me at Top Mommy Blogs. I am now #3 on the Frugal Living page and I am ranked 116 overall.  It only takes a second to vote by clicking Top Mommy Blogs and that gets me one vote. Let’s see if my readers can get me into the top 100 this week! I would be so delighted. Now on to shopping…

Last week the most viewed were:


1. Weekly Shopping
2. Saving a Bundle
3. Saved by the Sale

Stop by these ladies sites to view some awesome savings!

I went shopping at Kroger twice this week, since my parents came into town and I needed a few things. Hence, the tiny shopping trip listed first.

Kroger shopping

1 Kroger corn chips $1.00
4 Barrilla pasta $1.00 - 4 $0.55/1 Barrilla Pasta SS 09/18/11
            - Final $0.45 each
2 lunchmeat $2.99

I spent $8.78 and saved $3.72 on $12.50 worth of retail food. My parents came into town and we wanted sandwiches. I didn’t have any lunch meat, so I had to go to the store.

Kroger # 2

3 Kuerig coffees 12 Pack $4.49 clearance rack reg. $11.88 each
2 Sour Cream $1.00 each
2 lbs Cheese $2.99 each
1 Planters Peanut butter $2.50 - $1/1 Kroger eCoupons
            -Final $1.50
1 Package Sliced Cheese 1lb. $2.99
1 lb carrots $1.00
1 turkey @ $0.59 lb $6.82

$35.74 and saved $18.12 on $53.86 worth of groceries retail. This is more savings, since the Kuerig coffees did not reflect as savings on the receipt. I could add another $15.00 in savings and value. I bought peanut butter because of the $1.00 ecoupon and the Peanut crisis. I have enough to last until June. So if any more sales come up. I will get some more. 

Walmart Shopping

No Pic

1 Huggies Slip on Diapers $9.49 - $3/1 Huggies slip on diapers

            -Final $6.49

Overall this week I spent $51.01 on family needs and saved $24.84 on $75.85 worth of Grocery needs. This is more savings, since the Kuerig coffees did not reflect as savings on the receipt. I could add another $15.00 in savings and value.

I need cheese. If anyone has any good cheese deals out there PLEASE let me know. I am having a difficult time.

I didn’t feel like I got a whole lot for my money this week. I seem to be in a bit of a slump. Does anyone else feel there are not as many GOOD deals out there as there used to be?

How did you do this week? Please share your shopping trips below so others can see and learn how to save. 

Whatever Wednesday - Popcorn Cake

I know some of you have been wanting to know how to make the fabulous Popcorn Cake I made for my daughters 10^th birthday movie party. Today I am going to share the simple instructions on how you can make this cake on your own for a Movie Party or Popcorn Birthday Party. You can see the other decorations I used for her Movie Party.

Popcorn Cake

Movie Party Ideas

1. First I started by baking two cakes. One butter and one chocolate. Click to print Betty Crocker cake and icing coupons. You can decide based on what you already have in your pantry. I think butter is the best tasting cake. Let’s face it, it’s cake who is counting calories anyway. I used two 9" cake pans for each cake. To make sure they have the same amount of batter in each pan, use an ice cream scoop and alternate between pans. The cakes will come out even. 

2. After I baked the cakes, I took them out of the oven and let them chill for 10 min. I inverted them on a cooling rack, then set them to cool in the fridge. If I have time I chill them over night. Otherwise it is best to let them sit for at least two hours in the fridge to cool.

3. I cut the tops off the cakes with a serrated knife to even them out. I just eye balled it, but if you have a cake leveler, then use that. Since, I never throw anything out. I kept the leftover cake to bribe little face when he goes on the potty. It worked great. We are almost there!

4. Then I stacked the cake layers alternating butter and chocolate onto a round cake pan. In between each layer I placed a small amount of icing to glue them together. Next is the hardest part of the whole cake. I placed my serrated knife at an angle and cut turning the cake stand to keep the knife at the same angle around the entire cake to make the Popcorn bowl shape for the cake.  Wipe gently to remove any remaining crumbs around the edge and wipe your cake stand free of crumbs. Again you can discard the cake, but that is a crime in my house. I mean it is cake! When you are done this should resemble a Popcorn Bowl.

5. I used nearly an entire can of icing on the outside of the cake with a cake knife. Be a little generous here. You want to capture all the crumbs in this layer of icing. Place in the fridge for about 10 min or more.This is the crumb coat. Don’t worry about all the little chocolate flakes you see in the icing. They will disappear in the next coat. A cake knife is a great purchase if you plan on making cakes. Spreads icing like a dream. 

6. Yes you will need another tub of icing. I used nearly ¾ a tub icing the next layer. This will make all those crumbs disappear. Generously spread icing over the cake again. Now you should have a white cake.

7. This is where the magic happens. Get the strawberry Fruit by the foot. I opened every package until I found the one with the straight lines. Then I measured the cake from the stand to the top. I cut many strips to this length. To create the smaller lines, I cut one strand in half lengthwise.  Start placing them on the Popcorn cake. Two small lines then one thick one, alternating in this pattern around the outside of the cake. Once finished let the kids eat the fruit roll ups this helps keep them quite while you are concentrating on the cake.

8. I took some of the icing and used a red tint to make it red. Be sure you make enough. It is difficult to get the same color. I don’t have a pastry bag, so I placed the icing in a sandwich baggie and cut a small tip and fed the icing through. This is where you can get decorative. I just used small circles at the top of the cake to cover where the fruit rollup stripes end and a straight line at the bottom with the red icing to seal it to the bottom.

9. Now what you have been dying to know is, how did you make that popcorn on top? While you are doing all the above steps, have the birthday person and extra help squeeze two small marshmallows together with their fingers until they stick. Squeeze hard. I used nearly half a bag of marshmallows. This makes awesome looking Popcorn for the top of the cake.

10. Finally I got another Ziploc bag to place all the Popcorn marshmallows in and sprinkled it with yellow decorative sugar. This made it look like buttered popcorn. Shake the bag to get the yellow sugar everywhere the marshmallows stuck together. Keep them in the bag. 

11. Cut from and extra popcorn bag or print the words "POPCORN" in red ink to make the popcorn logo. Glue it to the cake with some icing. 

12. Right before the party started I let my daughter decorate the top of the cake with the Popcorn marshmallows. The more the better. You want to do this last, otherwise you have crunchy marshmallows, instead of soft ones to eat. I normally don’t like candy on cakes, but this was just right and  tasted fabulous for her movie party.

When cutting this Popcorn Cake remember only small pieces are needed, since this is a four layer cake. This picture is one I made for a friend who also had a Movie Party and this Popcorn cake served over twenty guests. 

Please share if you make one. I would love to see your pics.

Friday Finals 10-28-11

Wow what a night. First my daughter had a soccer game after the cold front blew in while it was raining. The sign of a true athlete will play in the freezing rain. The sign of true love is the parents who sit there and cheer them on.  It was very cold and it took me a long time to warm up. Then to come home and stay up late to watch the Rangers loose last night makes for a very slow day today. Lots of caffeine has been consumed to write this post. Since I normally prepare my shopping post on Thursday evenings, I just didn’t have time last night. I will post what I spent and how much I saved. Then maybe later tonight I can update this post.

I still would like to see how everyone else did this week, so LINK UP below! Here are the entries with the most links:

Saved by the SALE

Grocery Shop for FREE

Weekly Grocery Shopping

Frugal Stepmom

Walmart

I spend $31.27 and saved $17.10 plus more, since I did several price matches, on $48.37 retail.

Sprouts

$2.28 on fresh produce

Tom Thumb

I spent $12.43 and saved $22.80 on $34.72 worth of retail.

CVS

I spend around $10.00 Saved $6.00 on $16.00 retail at CVS.

I spent around $56.00 and saved $45.90 on $101.90 retail.

How did your shopping trip go this week? Link UP below

Whatever Wednesday - Movie Party Birthday Bash

First I wanted to say thanks for all of you who voted for me at the Top Mommy Blogs. I went from 480 to 127, and I am listed in the top five on the Frugal Living page. You can vote daily. Thanks to all my visitors!

This year my daughter turned 10. Yep she is double digits now. I can't believe it. Where did the time go? I remember she was born a little over two weeks after 9/11. I was thinking of what kind of world was I bringing her into. Things have not changed as drastically as I thought they might.

MOVIE PARTY IDEAS

She picked her party theme "A Night at the Movies." She wanted this to be a red carpet event. So I did my best to give her a fabulous Movie Party event on an extreme budget.

The Menu

We are talking eight 9-10 year old girls, so I wanted to keep the menu simple. My first thought is what do you get at the movies? Hotdogs are served at the movies. Remember the nearly 20lbs of hotdogs I purchased around memorial day? I still had some in the freezer. Then I thought nachos. My all time favorite and hers too. I purchased processed cheese for this event. One of the most expensive things for the party. I had plenty of salsa from this trip and I bought some chips. Then of course the most obvious thing at the movies popcorn. I didn't want to spend my time popping a million bags of popcorn in the microwave. I knew they could eat a ton from the last party she had. So I borrowed a hot air popper from a friend. I popped five batches of popcorn. Yes that is a lot of popcorn. Then I got all sorts of candy from CVS from their sale a couple of weeks ago and chocolate chips to mix in the popcorn purchased here.

Menu:

Hot Dogs & Buns

Nachos

Popcorn

Candy

Chocolate Chips
Popcorn Cake

By the way the plain chocolate chips were a big hit. Who knew? Hint hint if you are throwing a party soon, chocolate chips are cheaper than candy.

And of course, since it is a birthday party you will need a cake. I didn’t feel like buying one from the store. So I decided to make one instead. It is a Popcorn cake. Click the link to see how to make this fabulous cake. Super cute. I even made a Popcorn Cake of these for a friend who had a Movie Party.
 

She enjoyed putting the "popcorn" on the cake.

Decorations

I purchased a generic silver star set from the party store last year. I choose this since it would go with a lot of party themes and not be a one time purchase. We just recycled these and hung them around the house. I found a cheap red carpet at the party store we place outside our door. I colored large yellow stars with sidewalk chalk in front of the house to make it look like the Hollywood walk of Fame. (If I had a little more time I was going to write the girls name who were attending the party in the stars).

 I made her  a banner for her birthday. Her name is at the end, I do not want to share it to protect her identity. She loved it.

I found the popcorn buckets at Target for $1.00 each. And the paper ones at hobby lobby for 8 for $2.49. I couldn't find my coupon or it would have been cheaper. They made their popcorn buckets and filled them with candy and popcorn and everything. I didn't care what they ate as long as they had a great time.

For the table I used a red table cloth. I covered my cake dish with black tissue paper for the stand where the popcorn gift bags were. I also covered a bowl with black tissue paper to place the Popcorn cake on. I thought it looked fabulous for a movie party idea.

Entertainment

My husband borrowed the projector from his work and we hooked it up outside and put a large white sheet on the back of the house. He used a staple gun to tack it up. It looked great. I spread several blankets outside on the lawn where they could lay down eat popcorn and watch the movie. (not too much movie watching happened) They even had a popcorn fight and I didn't care since all of this was outside. I just picked up the blankets shook them off and I was done with clean up. Super easy.

Everyone had a great time! This was fun for me too, since most of the party took place outside I didn’t have a lot to clean up inside.

Money Saving Monday

Step 3: Big Savings on your Grocery Bill

If you have been following my couponing series the past couple of weeks, you should have accumulated tons of coupons by now. You can read my previous two posts:


1. How to start couponing. Coupoing 101
2. Go Shopping


If you do not have a lot of coupons you can PRINT COUPONS for free. If you have started trying to acquire coupons, you have probably printed a ton off the internet in order to create a nice coupon stash. I know I did when I first started. I had stacks and stacks of coupons to cut. I had the whole family cutting them out for me for a while. Now it is under control.

Now that you have quite a few coupons and you have made your first trip to the store, you are ready to take it up a notch. How did you feel the first time you scored saving 60-70%? It felt great, right? I know it was great for me, since we needed food and we needed food fast.

Maximizing Grocery Savings
Let's talk about your next trip to the store where you are going to do a larger shopping trip and make a larger list. Go to a matchup website such as Saving Well Spending Less or Southern Savers and pick the items where you can save 60-70% on items. Now that you have more coupons you should find more items to matchup. You will want to find items at the lowest price, then purchase as many of them as you have coupons for. This way you will save the most on that particular item until it goes on sale again.  The major grocery stores have sales that are discounted below Walmart price to entice you to go there and do your normal shopping buying items on sale and items that are not on sale.

Make a Grocery List
Now it is a good idea to gather your coupons from the matchup sites and make or print your list. Keep your coupons in a separate folder or envelope. Before you check out, check your coupons to see if they match according to brand size and type. Count the number of items in your cart and make sure you have the same number of corresponding items to match the coupons you have clipped. Then proceed to the check out. Be nice to your cashier as you check out. Find out if they would like coupons as they scan the items or after they scan.

When you are checking out pay close attention to the scanned price of an item and also make sure all your coupons are scanned. This is much easier to do if you don't have your kids with you, but if you are like me, most times that is not an option. If not try to review your receipt before you leave the store. I saved over four dollars on a trip because something didn’t ring up correctly and went to customer service for my refund.  Always be courteous, especially if you can calmly explain the error they will give a refund.

My standard price to buy an item is below Walmart price or 50% or higher. It is a good idea to know your prices when you are shopping for an item. Walmart claims to have the best price. What that really means is they have the better than the stores normal price. I will share a price list with you in a later post. It is not quite complete, since many rock bottom prices are going up. The only thing I normally buy that is not on sale is milk.

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1. How to Start Couponing. Couponing 101


2. Step Two Shopping


4.  Step Four Drug Store Shopping - CVS

Have you tried the first two steps in my series? Do you have any questions? I will do my best to help answer any questions you may have.