Have you tried Swag Bucks out yet? All you have to do is use them like you would any other search engine and certain search terms earn you rewards! Happen upon them randomly, or find them out through the grapevine. A little bird told me that BeMine is a winner currently!

What do you do with all these rewards? Well, you redeem them for gift cards and more. Just for searching the world wide web. How easy is that? I love that doing something I already do every day can pay for my Starbucks addiction. Because that certainly isn't frugal!

What's better than a day of window shopping at IKEA? Free breakfast at IKEA!

Free breakfast until 10:30 am Jan 30-Feb 1. Limit 1 per customer. One small breakfast (0.99 value) and one cup of coffee (0.99 value).
*Offer not valid at IKEA Hicksville, IKEA Houston, IKEA Pittsburgh and IKEA Direct.

Don't miss out on my Weekly Freebie Round-Up!

Sorry for the extreme lateness this week! Guess what? I am officially diagnosed as a Borderline Diabetic, so things will be changing around these parts!

Breakfasts

*Whole wheat breakfast burrito

*Glucerna almond cereal, nonfat milk

Lunches

*Tuna salad, whole wheat crackers, side salad, orange

*Chicken salad on whole wheat pita, trail mix, carrot sticks

*Whole Wheat bean burrito, apple

*Glucerna shake, yogurt, grapes

Dinners

*Spicy grilled chicken, potato wedges, side salad, peach

*Dinner over a friend's home

*Pork stirfry, brown rice, orange

*Pasta e fagioli, side salad, grapes

*Whole wheat pasta with chicken/broccoli/mushroom sauce, side salad, apple

*Steak, green beans, baked potato, side salad, orange

*Grilled lemon-pepper fish, brown rice, broccoli, grapes

Snacks

*Graham crackers and yogurt

*Open face sugar-free PBJ on whole wheat

*Popcorn and soynuts

*Celery and cream cheese

Check out what's cookin' over at Organizing Junkie!

Once again Rocks in My Dryer is hosting their weekly edition of Works for Me Wednesday. It is chock full of great tips from other mom bloggers. And everyone knows that mom bloggers rock!

Anyway, I digress...

Ya know what works for me? Clearance candy. After each holiday loads and loads of perfectly good candy is exiled to the clearance bins for quick sale. I used to wonder what on earth people wanted with holiday wrapped candies after the holiday. Now that I am a homemaker, and a frugal one at that!) I know better. You see, once you take off those wrappers Hershey Kisses are just giant baking chips. Bar candies can be chopped up for add-ins for baking cakes, cupcakes, brownies, and more. The possibilities are endless.

Some frugalites tell me they actually freeze the chocolate candies til the following year and dig them out again. I have issues with freezer smells seeping into sweets at our house (could be all those flash frozen onions we have going on), but hey whatever works for ya.

My favorite clearance candy are candy canes. If you are patient you can get them for 10-25 cents a box. Guess what 2 candy canes strategically placed together make? Yup, a heart! And in Valentine's Day colors too. Tape them on some paper and you have some sweet Valentines for the kiddos to take to school.

Hello there, strangers. I know, I know. I have been AFK for a bit now dealing with some personal family stuff. And I have not updated on our attempt to have a 2nd successful no spend month.

It will probably not surprise you that is was a fair sized flop.

We did adopt a few good practices, like skipping treats like Starbucks and the movies unless we had gift cards to use from presents past. We batch cooked and ate at home for the most part. We signed up for our church's monthly family night/potluck dinner. But we had lots of unexpected costs that popped up, including but not limited to a host of visits to several doctors. Sigh.

Here's to next time!

And here's to Amy from over at Mom Advice, who is planning to do this in February--may she fare better than our family did this time around.

Hi there, my frugal friends! Sorry I have been a bit sparse around here lately. Just dealing with some family stuff around here.

Be sure to head on over to Happy to be at Home for my Weekly Freebie Round-Up!

Breakfasts

*Scrambled eggs, whole grain toast

*Oatmeal with bananas

Lunches

*Grilled cheese, tomato soup, bananas

*PBJ, carrot sticks, peaches

*Ramen noodle soup, crackers, steamed veggies, bananas

*Pizza, carrot sticks, apples

Dinners

*Macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, pickles

*Dinner over a friend's home

*Soup and sandwich night

*Pepper steak over rice

*Eggs, sausage, pancakes

*Pinto Bean Soup, corn bread

*Date Night (go out..yay!)

Snacks

*Saltines with ginger ale

*Toast with jam

*Pretzels

Check out what's cookin' over at Organizing Junkie!

...K6W3G4


For detailed information on how Redbox kiosks work, check out The Magic of Rebox!

It's not just about cheap stuff at Save-A-Lot these days, it is about being healthy at a price you can afford. Take a look at some of the healthier options available now:

Low/No Fat

Act II 94% Fat Free Butter Popcorn	Activia Yogurt
Baker's Harvest Reduced Fat Wheat Crackers	Boca Meatless Burgers
Bromley Green Tea	Choc-Coolots Devil's Food Cookies
Coburn Farms Eggzactly	Ensure Nutritional Drink
Healthwise Fruit Juice Bar	Healthy Choice Chicken Margherita
Healthy Choice Grilled Whiskey Steak	Healthy Choice Salisbury Steak
Healthy Choice Turkey & Stuffing	Hunt's Ketchup - No Salt Added
Lean Cuisine Chicken Fettucini	Lean Cuisine Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
Molly McButter Butter Flavored Sprinkles	Murray Sugar Free Fudge Dipped Wafers
Nuefchatel Lite Cream Cheese	Quaker Chewy Granola Bars
Ovenbaked 100 Calorie Packs Shortbread Cookies

Low/No Sodium

Grassland Unsalted Butter	Hunt's Tomato Sauce - No Salt Added
McCormick Less Sodium Brown Gravy	Morton Lite Salt
Mrs. Dash Original Blend	Red Gold Tomato Juice - No Salt
S & W Diced Tomatoes - No Salt Added

Low/No Sugar

Carnation Instant Breakfast - No Sugar	Glasier Sweetener
Hershey's Sugar Free Dark Chocolate	Home Brand Chocolate Syrup with Splenda
Home Brand Sugar Free Syrup	Hunt's No Sugar Added Spaghetti Sauce
Jello Sugar Free Chocolate/Vanilla Swirls	Jello Sugar Free Strawberry
Libby's Fruit Cocktail with Splenda	Libby's Peaches with Splenda
Murray Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies	Nestle Sugar Free French Vanilla Coffee Mate
Reese's Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cups	Ruby Kist Light Cranberry Juice
Smucker's Grape Jam - Sugar Free	Smucker's Strawberry Preserves - Sugar Free
Sweetwise Ice Cream Bars	Wyler's Light Singles To Go Drink Packets
Musselman's Apple Sauce - No Sugar Added

Whole Wheat

Heartland Whole Wheat Penne

Heartland Whole Wheat Spaghetti

How does a free 2 year subscription to Parents magazine sound to you? Yeah, I was all about it too! Free reading materials is always a nice surprise when you hit the mailbox every day. And lately there are scads and scads. Enjoy!

Be sure to check out my guest post over at Happy to Be at Home...it is a weekly freebie round-up that is chock full of goodies!

Head on over to a Seattle's Best Cafe near you on January 24th (2-4 p.m.) for a Tea Tasting. Try their flavorful teas and a new dessert called an OvenSong Raspberry Thumbprint Scone.

Want a free subscription to KIWI magazine? Join up for Moms Meet today and get yours, plus some great coupons for Earth's Best products, along with access to a community built to inspire parents who want to go green.

Have you heard about Earth's Best new promotion, Celebrate the Firsts? All you need to do is save the receipts from your Earth's Best purchases and send them in to redeem them for rewards from them and Fisher Price. How easy is that? This promo runs until March 31st.

Today is the day to visit Sauve and get your coupon for a free bottle! Hurray for full sizes freebies!

Remember last spring when I posted about Caregivers Marketplace? Cash back for products you have to buy to care for your family is A-okay in my book. Well, according to Baby Cheapskate they are lowering the amount they give back. But it's better than nothing, eh?

Head on out to your local Starbucks today at 2 p.m. to a special TeaTime Event. Customers can sample the new Tazo Tea Lattes and some yummy snacks for free!

...H48MX2


For detailed information on how Redbox kiosks work, check out The Magic of Rebox!

Cooking and enjoying a meal with friends and family brings us together. So Save-A-Lot is having a contest to see who can come up with a good recipe with a great story behind it. One winner will receive a year's worth of groceries, and 7 others will receive a $250 gift card.

Each entry must contain:

• Your Name
• Email Address
• Category
• Meal Solution Title
• Ingredients
• Directions
• Yield
• Story Behind the Meal

Click here to enter, or fill out a form in-store. Good luck!

Breakfasts

*Oatmeal with brown sugar and maple

*Hardboiled eggs, tomato juice

Lunches

*Soup, crackers, bananas

*Ham spread, crackers, cheese, peaches

*Hot dogs, baked beans, bananas

*Tuna salad, peaches

Dinners

*Sloppy Joes, oven fries, pickles

*Pork roast, steamed veggies, rice

*Meatballs and spaghetti, spinach with garlic

*Eggs over easy, pork roll sausage, whole grain toast

*Tuna casserole

*Turkey stew, biscuits

*Batch Cooking: Ham & 16 Bean Soup, corn bread

(Italicized menu items will have recipes later this week)

Snacks

*Sugar-free jello

*Beef jerky

*Baby carrots

Check out what's cookin' over at Organizing Junkie!

Coming to a Petsmart near you...FREE potty training seminars on January 13th and 24th. Accredited Pet Trainers will cover topics such as potty training, puppy household manners, and other related topics. Call your local store for exact times.

This is a $15 value!