http://www.walmart.com


Check out this great deal on composition notebooks.  Pick them up in your local store after you place your order and you don't have to pay for shipping.  Great price just before you head back to school!

How to organize you coupons???

Here is a link to a site that gives some great ideas on how to get those wonderful, money making coupons in order.  Watch the short video and enjoy the free downloads that she offers.  I am going to start a Coupon Keeper...I think it will help me keep my sanity!  Enjoy!


http://www.passionforsavings.com

Duck Tape Pool Party Bag

Rebekah is turning 6 this next week.  We decided to have a pool party to celebrate.  One of the things that we will make for each of our special friends is this really cool duck tape beach bag.  This isn't my original idea.  I found it on the http://familyfun.go.com/crafts site.  It was simple, easy and really fun.  I made one change though...I re-enforced the side seams.  When I pulled both cords the side seam started to rip.  I taught Rebekah to pull one knot on each side to cinch the bag.  This worked much better and put less pressure on the side seam.  Here are the steps that it took to make this cool summer bag for the pool or beach.

Turn an 8 gallon garbage bag into a large sheet by cutting along one side seam and the bottom seam off. Tape the sheet flat to your workspace and draw a 16- by 30-inch rectangle on it with permanent marker. Cover the rectangle with slightly overlapping strips of colors of duck tape.  When you have finished that, flip it over and trim it along your maker lines.

With the tape side down, lay 2 pieces of cording (each 2 feet long) across one of the short ends of the rectangle about an inch in. Fold that end over the cording and tape it down to make a casing. Repeat this at the opposite end with the other pieces of cording.

After you have the casings made, fold the rectangle in half and tape the sides together to form the bag.  I did this step twice on both sides to make stronger seams.  To make the drawstring, pair up one cord from each casing and knot them together at both ends. Repeat with the remaining 2 cords, then pull one knot at each side to cinch the bag.

Enjoy your new bag!

Peaches!!!

Tomorrow night we will undertake a great project.  We purchased 4 lugs of peaches.  (Lugs are the big boxes you see at the grocery store this time of year.)  The peaches are ripe.  We are going to can these after we get home from the play that the boys are performing in.  I will post pictures of the finished product after they have cooled and sealed.  There is nothing that tastes better than home canned peaches in the middle of winter!

Easy Brownie Fruit Dessert

Use your favorite brownie box mix and prepare as directed on box.  I only used 2/3 of the batter in the 9x13 pan.  You can put the rest of the batter in another small pan.  This makes the brownies a bit thinner and will require less time to cook.  Keep an eye on them so they don't get over cooked.

Make sure to chill the brownies in the fridge.  After well, chilled cut into 24 pieces.

In a bowl, beat 8 oz. of room temperature cream cheese.  Add about 1T. milk and 1-2 tsp. of almond flavoring to start thinning your drizzle.  Add powder sugar and milk until you get the right consistency and sweetness.  Use a fork and dip it into the drizzle.  Let it run off of your fork over the top of the brownies.  After you have placed the fruit of your choice on the brownies add more drizzle.

Everyone will enjoy this simple and fast treat.

What will $100 buy?

 

With money tight in everyone budget, $100 needs to go a long way.  You can see what I got for my $100.  Some of the things I might not have bought but they were money makers or free so I will use them or give them away.  $8 of this total was spent to satisfy a fussy baby (drink boxes, baby puffs and baby doll) so I could make it through my shopping trip.  I purchase 4 Sunday Star and Tribune papers and then also have a store that gives me their recycled papers on Monday.  Along with that I use http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/ to help me find the best deals.  I got some gifts this time...Easy Bake Cookie Cutters for girls, Cat in the Hat silly bands and Dove chocolates.  There are school supplies...tape, pens and Post It tabs.  I got lots of toilet bowl cleaner, storage containers, Q-tips, razors, baby ibuprofen, shampoo/cond. along with mousse and hairspray that will all get used up.   Yes, that is a LOT of deodorant.  I do have three males in this house so the men's will go faster than you might think.  The cookies and orange gummy rings are decorations for Rebekah's birthday cake.  The Nutri-grain bars and Rice Krispie treats are an added bonus.  Lots of great things that will last our family for many months to come so I won't have to quick run to the store and buy it at full price.

Great Deals at Target, Walmart, and Cub Foods

Steven went with me last night to help me score some great deals!  Here are the pics and prices...I love great deals!

 

Cub Foods:

Printed a $5 off of 5 boxes of any Kellogg's cereal a little while back.  I was able to print 2 for each computer (We have 2 computers).  Cub has these product on sale with a Cub coupon making them $1.88 before the manufacture coupons.

20 large boxes of cereal - $ .88/each

8 boxes of Granola Fudge bars - $1.13/each

2 boxes of Mini Crisps Pop Tarts - $1.18/each

Grand Total : $29.00

 Target:

The Ortega taco shells - $ .50/box
Jiff To Go: FREE 
Off Clip On Refills - $1.79/each
Tums - made $ .08/each


Walmart: 

Tide - made $ .03/each
Cascade - made $ .03/each
Ivory Soap - $ .74 each
Tic Tacs - $ .29/each

Grand Total:  $11.57

Cub:

The creamers: FREE
Milk and Cookies combined with coupons were: $11.88
That is $1.48 each for milk and cookies!

Cub:

The Rio movies were $11.95 after a $3.00 coupon off of the kids menu at Apple Bee's Restaurant.
The Hawaiian Punch and Little Debbie treats were free with a coupon on the Rio display at cub.
Grand Total: $24 for all of this!

Fast and Fun Summer Floats

This is an easy way to have a great treat to beat the heat.  

1.  Two scoops of ice cream, we used vanilla

2.  Your favorite pop to top it off!  **Think outside of the box here.  Root Beer is great but you can have fun with Orange, Cherry and Cola flavors also!**

Enjoy a cool and refreshing float with your family!

Lost Lake Lodge Raspberry Muffins

We are thankful and feel very blessed to have a bumper crop of raspberries this year.  One of the recipes that we enjoy using our berries in comes from a good old church cookbook.  (Often where you can find the best kept secret recipes.)  I am giving you this one in the low calorie version and in parenthesis I am adding the original version.  The lower cal muffins turned out really good but I have to admit that the extra oil, butter, and sugar in the original recipe really do create a taste sensation.  You will have to decide for your self which you like the best.

1c. milk
1/2 c. applesauce (1/2 c. oil in original recipe)
1/4 c. - 1/2 c. water to create muffin batter consistency.  (Omit for original recipe)
2 eggs
3 c. flour
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. sugar (use 1 c. sugar for the original recipe)
4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 c. fresh raspberries

In a bowl, combine milk, applesauce, water, beaten eggs and vanilla.  Add flour, 1/2 c. sugar, baking powder and salt.  Stir muffin batter until flour is well moistened.  Fold in the raspberries.  Fill greased muffin pan 2/3 full.  Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes.  (For the fuller calorie version...When you remove muffins from oven, dip tops in butter and then into sugar to coat.)

You will get about 1 1/2 dozen muffins from this recipe.  If you are a calorie counter you will be happy to know that one muffin weighs in at 114 calories.  They are a real treat!  Pictured below are the lower calorie version.  I am not sure why but they all have funny little lumps on them.

These are the full calorie version.

Melon Coolers

This is a delightfully, amazing, refreshing treat to beat the heat.  Not only is it wonderfully tasting but also nutritious.  With summer fruit available in plenty this is a great time to try this satisfying  mix.

What you will need:

1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. water
3 lbs. honeydew, cantaloupe or watermelon, rind removed, seeded and cut into 1 in. pieces (about 4 cups total)

1. In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer (do not stir) until the sugar dissolves.  2 to 3 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool completely.

2.  In a food processor, puree the cooled syrup and the melon until smooth.  Pour fruit pulp into metal loaf pan, cover and freeze until firm, about 3-5 hours.  The original recipe had you strain the juice out of the pulp before freezing.  We have done it both ways and love leaving the pulp in.  There really isn't much of a texture difference and you keep all of the great nutrition!

3.  When ready to serve, remove the pan from the freezer and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes.  Using a fork, scrape the surface of the melon ice to create flakes; divide among glasses and serve.

Just so you don't think that I am some crazy, creative person, you must know that I found this recipe in a Women's Day Magazine while I sat in the dentist office.  The great thing about modern technology is that I snapped a picture with my phone so that I could try it when I got home.  I hope you enjoy this one as much as my family does!  A+++

Great Deals at Target and Cub this week!

I love finding great deals!  Coupons have helped stretch our family budget and helped free our dollars to be used elsewhere.  Many of the coupons I used were found on http://coupons.target.com   I found the matching manufacturer coupons by following the instructions and links on the site called Pocket Your Dollars.  http://www.pocketyourdollars.com    On this site Carrie Rocha and her staff will lead you to the best deals, including many free items.  She reviews many different stores and matches their prices/sales with both Internet coupons and coupons from sources like Smart Source, Red Plum and others.  It might take some time but it has benefited our family greatly! 

From Target: 

Sharpie Markers - FREE 

Paper Mate Pens - FREE  I forgot that these cost $ .02 / package...sorry!

Bic Pens - $ .49/ package

Kid's Jeans - $1.74

Adult Tank Top - $1.00

160 Photos - FREE 

Scotch Tape (These were found in the school section for $1.00) - Made $ .50 / roll  = $2.00 off of my total bill - BETTER THAN FREE!!! 

2 Suave Lotions - Got on a deal from Face Book - FREE 

From Cub: 

4 bags of chips
2 - 2 liters of pop
$ 3.22 total!!!!!

This was a great price for chips and pop with all of the cooking out we like to do in the summer.  I hope you have fun looking here and it encourages you to check out how you can make a few clips with the scissors and save your hard worked for dollars!