TD Bank has announced that they are once again sponsoring a summer reading program. This is a particularly rewarding experience; kids 18 and under who read 10 books this summer will get $10 deposited into a Young Savers account!

Moms, you will need to share this post with your hubbies!

Did you know that some energy providers off lower rates for off-peak hours? One frugal gal I know told me that hers does and she saves a lot on her electric bill by running her large appliances (washer, dryer, dishwasher) in the evening.

Give them a call and see!

There is a fabulous Italian bistro that me and the hubby used to frequent on date nights that had the best house salad. Now don't be fooled by what they called it because it was not your ordinary house salad. It was a simple, yet delicious combination of flavors that I loved almost as much as the entrees there! I started thinking about it recently and decided to try to recreate the essence of this Tuscan treat at home. Enjoy.

Tuscan Salad

Ingredients

• black olives
• cannelini beans
• roasted red peppers
• lettuce of your choice
• vinagrette (I love the Garlic flavored one from Aldi!)

Directions

Drain a can of black olives and slice them. Rinse and drain a can of the beans. Roughly chop the roasted peppers. Wash and tear lettuce leaves and put all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Drizzle with vinagrette and toss.

You might also want to sprinkle some fresh Romano cheese on this!

Would you like more points for Pampers Gifts to Grow?

Try entering this code:

The winner of the Vistaprint Giveaway is:

You water bill could be lower. Here's how you can cut it down with very little effort.

Buy and install a low-flow shower head. They typically cost about $15. These restrict the flow of the water and mix more air into the water stream. Regular shower heads use about 6 gallons of water per minute, whereas a low-flow model uses half that amount. A savings of $50-75 a year will be seen on your water bill.

Easy peasy.

Spend some time creating memories with your family this weekend!

Mother's Day is coming! Make mom a present that will show her a lot of love without spending a whole lot of money.

Thanks to the generous folks over at One2One network, I am offering a special discount on Kodak's Picture Movie DVDs. Click here to get a BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE coupon. This special offer is available bow through May 9th.

The best part is that it doesn't take much computer savvy to make one of these fabulous videos! Visit a Kodak kiosk near you, choose a heartfelt song, upload 30-60 photos you love. That's it. It couldn't be easier. Within minutes you will have a fabulous gift for mom. Give the second one to another special woman in your life or keep a copy for yourself.

Happy video making!

Mailboxes are plagues with so much unwanted junk. So many temptations, so many ways to spend and pile up debt. Can you get around it?

Yes you can!

Head on over to OptOutPrescreen and you can opt out of pre-approved credit offers and whatnot for 5 years or permanently. You can always opt in later if you change your mind. you'll need to fill out an online form, print a form that verifies you are opting out permanently and mail it to:

Opt-Out Department
P.O. Box 2033
Rock Island, IL 61204-2033

Just think how green you are going to be, too. How many trees can you save by electing not to get all this junk mail sent to your house?

If you have kids you know the magic of the wonderful world of Disney. And if you are anything like our family, you are building a library of family-friendly videos. Let's face it...there aren't a lot of appropriate choices these days. At least there is one good thing with shelling out the money for these; you can enter in the codes found on each DVD or BlueRay online and earn points. At Disney Movie Rewards you can redeem these points for neat "prizes".

You can also take surveys to get even more points, bringing you closer to earning the goods!

And even better, there have been freebie codes floating around online that anyone can enter for additional points!

Huggies' Enjoy the Ride program helps you earn points to enter sweepstakes and play instant win games on their site.

One cool thing is that you don't have to wait 'til the next time you buy Huggies to start enjoying the perks of this program! Here are some bonus codes right now that you can enter:

BJBNWFHCHRFFPGB (5 pts)

Do you have a wish list? You should!

I carry a small notebook in my purse at all times. In my book there are several pages for categories of wishes, or items I would like to have someday. Here is an example of my categories I have right now:

• Books
• Clothing (page for me, page for hubby, page for son)
• Household
• Crafts
• Family Fun
• My Preschool Classroom

When I am out and about shopping or running errands and I think of something I would like to buy, I put it on the proper wish list page. This way whenever I am out, whether it be at a yard sale, thrift shop, or a good clearance event at a store, I can refer to the list. Sometimes I put things on the list and decided a few weeks later that I really do not want the item afterall. So I cross it off and move on. This keeps me from making impulse purchases.

Where on earth have my menu plans been?!? First I got really down and out sick (yucky stomach virus and awful eye infection) and then I had a big family wedding (Congrats to hubby's little brother, who finally tied the knot!) These last 2 weeks have been super hectic and I totally fell off the MPM bandwagon, but I am back...

Breakfasts

Whole grain rice cake with peanut butter, milk

Special K Protein Plus cereal/Kashi Strawberry Fields cereal, milk

Scrambled egg, sausage links, wheat toast

Lunches

Tuscan salad (recipe to come this week!)

Red beans and rice, side salad

Best-ever Tuna Salad

Dinners

Turkey Burgers with homemade wheat buns (p.40), cole slaw, pickles

Beef Broccoli over rice, side salad

Homemade chicken stew (double batch)

Taco salad with homemade salsa and guacamole

Ham omelets, sliced tomatoes, wheat toast

Soup and sandwich night

Dinner out (date night)

Snacks

Hummus with stone-ground wheat crackers

Fresh mozzarella with roasted red peppers

Baked tortilla chips with homemade salsa

Broccoli and carrots with dip

Hard-boiled eggs
Almost Nutra Grain Bars (made with reduced sugar mix)

Fruits

(choice of, eaten with each meal)

Clementines

Kiwi

Applesauce

Mandarin oranges

Pineapple chunks

Niño bananas

Desserts

Reduced Sugar Brownies (Pillsbury mix)

Sugar-free Popsicles

Breyer's Carb Smart ice cream/Fruit Sorbet

Don't forget to head on over to

Organizing Junkie

for hundreds more menu plans and recipes!

The weather is turning much nicer outside and that means families are heading out for more fun activities. Don't get stuck overspending for those must-have special items. Start stocking up NOW for those things kids always ask for when you visit the circus, fireworks shows, baseball games, etc.

Dollar Tree (and other dollar and discount stores) are a wonderful source of inexpensive goodies like cotton candy, glow sticks/necklaces, and the like. Buy them now and toss a few in your purse the next time your gang heads out for some family fun. You could end up paying $5-7 a piece for the same items elsewhere! And that just isn't frugal.

Starting today, Save-A-Lot will be offering a $5 off $25 purchase coupon for folks who sign-up for the Smart Shopper Club. Already a member? Refer up to five of of your friends to the program. For each one that signs up you'll receive a $5 coupon, so that means you can grab up to $25 worth of coupons to Save-A-Lot!

It is darned hard to keep up with the Joneses.

In a world when all your kid's friends are renting out entire bounce houses and play places, what on earth do you do? Seriously, some of these parties are over the top. I recently heard about a service where the birthday girl and her friends can be picked up in a pink stretch limo and escorted to a salon for primping. The aforementioned birthday girl (who shall remain nameless) was only 7 years old. Not a Sweet Sixteen, but a second grader!

But there remain some affordable options for folks who just don't want to do the whole house party thing (My tiny house stuffed with all those kids? No thank you...). Think old school. Roller rink parties and bowling parties are still fairly reasonable and include pretty much everything you need. I just booked my preschooler's upcoming party at the bowling alley. For $60 per lane you get 2 bowling games, shoe rentals for all the kiddos, a large pizza, beverage pitcher, party paper goods, and invitations. All you bring is cake. My kid will feel like king for a day and I will not have to pay for a party the same price as my car payment!

May 1st marks a very special day for comic book lovers everywhere: FREE Comic Book Day.

This weekend you still have a chance to visit your favorite national park admission-free! It looks like National Park Week will finish with some great spring weather (well, here anyway).

Do you "invest" your money?

When you find yourself with an extra ten or fifteen bucks, what do you do with it? Do you spend it on a couple of lattes for you and your hubby? Does it flitter away at the concession stand at the ball field? Do you pick up some lottery tickets on the way home from work?

Next time you find yourself with a few extra bucks why not try to invest in something valuable? How about family time? The same amount that could quickly slip through your fingers could ALSO buy...

• a few treasured classic novels to read aloud nightly
• a fun new board game
• a movie rental and a pizza
• a bat and a ball

P.S. Don't miss my photo book giveaway!

Seems like everyone has gone digital these days, doesn't it? Moms, Dads, and even Grandmothers are uploading pics and posting them on social networking sites. Call me old fashioned, but I still love to be able to hold a photo book in my hot little hands. I like to brag on my baby (okay, my "baby" is almost 5) at work and family gatherings.

Alert, alert!

Are your flower beds and garden patches in need of some fertilizer?

Be sure to check over at Craigslist under your city's FREE section. This time of year local farmers and ranchers are giving away tons of horse manure, aka garden gold. It is organic and all-natural since horses are herbivores.

How do decide what to keep and what to toss in your closet?

There are many, many ways to declutter your wardrobe but here is an old favorite of mine. Put all your hangers in your closet backwards. As you wear an item, wash it and hang it back up facing the hanger forward. Those items that never get turned around after a few months? They gotta go!

Decluttering is the frugal thing to do because when you can clearly see what you have, then you know whether or not you really need those new purchases. Never buy a duplicate item again!

On April 28th, you can get a scoop of ice cream for just 31 cents over at Baskin-Robbins (formerly 31 flavors). Proceeds from this family fun event go to National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

I don't know if you've heard, but Thursday, April 22nd is Earth Day!

Everyone is joining in on the Earth Day fun! Stop in to Wegmans on April 24th and bring them a bag of tightly packed plastic Wegmans bags to exchange for a beautiful reusable shopping bag.

Are you fixin to buy something online? Stop!

Before you check out, put the brakes on your virtual shopping cart and check for online discount codes. A few good places to look is Retail Me Not and Savings.com .

Remember when I told you all about how to download your very own FREE e-Book reader for your iPhone, iPad, or computer?

It isn't so cheap to watch your health. When buying canned goods, the low or no-salt varieties of veggies and fruits in juices rather than heavy syrups can cost up to 50 cents more PER CAN! But there is a solution to avoid paying all that extra money for healthier canned goods. Buy the regular kind and rinse the veggies and fruits before eating. Yep, wash that extra salt and sugar away!

Be a Friend For Change at Disney Store on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22nd!

Receive an Exclusive FREE Eco-Friendly Baseball Cap when you bring in 6 empty plastic water bottles or soda cans to be recycled.

*Limit one cap per Guest, while supplies last.

Would you like more points for Pampers Gifts to Grow?

Try entering this code:

GTGSPRINGFREE10 (10 points)

The winner of the Fruit2O giveaway is...

Target is going green for Earth Week! Trade in 5 plastic bags for 1 reusable bag!

See your printed Circular on April 18th for details:

Or send 5 bags to:
Terracycle
121 New York
Avenue Trenton, NJ
08638

I keep coming across lots and lots of FREE downloads for Kindle books. But as much as I adore reading, this bibliophile is too darned frugal to put out all that dough for a Kindle, a unitasker if there ever was one!

Did you know there are two types of flowers? There are annuals which you plant in your garden and only last the season. Then there are perennials which come back year after year.

Perennials are the better choice in the long run. If you buy them from your local nursery they will cost a little more than annuals, but will keep blooming every year. I have also received perennials from generous folks on Freecycle and Craigslist. Another great thing about these plants is that they spread every year and you can easily split them and get more plants for your garden space every year for free!

A few of my favorites are day lilies, sedum, hostas, black eyed Susans, and dianthus. For a picture dictionary of more popular perennials click here.

Earth Week begins on April 18th! To mark the occasion, Target will be giving away a FREE reusable shopping bag with any purchase. The newly designed bags are made of recycled plastic bottles.

Did you know that our country has exactly 392 national parks? Wow, me neither! That is a whole lotta parks.

I learned about Swagbucks from Money Saving Mom. All you do is register (it's free) and use their search engine for all your internet searching. Certain searches can win you some Swagbucks, in demoninations of 1-5, 10, 20, 50, or 100. Swagbucks can be traded in for gift cards to great places.

Since joining I have earned over $500 in gift cards! As a frugal gal I had to give up my guilty pleasure of overpriced java, but with free gifts I can indulge at Starbucks. I also like to redeem my 'bucks for Amazon gift cards to score cheap books. Whoo-hoo!

Click here to sign up today. And once you join up you can refer friends and earn even more Swagbucks. How great is that?

Do you have a usual spot you head to when the kiddos want to hit the playground? Change it up and hunt for a new place to get your play on using KaBOOM! Challenge your family to hit as many different playgrounds as you can this season.

April 17th is YMCA's Healthy Kids Day!

With the weather perking up it is a great time to do something outdoors with the family. Why not pick up a new hobby?

• Make this the year you all learn to rollerblade, ride bikes together, etc.
• Try your hand at gardening, whether it be a veggie patch or a flower bed
• Become bird watchers. Make or buy bird feeders for the trees in your yard. You can smear peanut butter or shortening on pine cones or old bagels and roll in bird seed, then hang on a branch for feathered friends. Keep all your stale bread, crushed crackers, and crumbly cereal and toss it on your lawn to keep birds coming, too.
• Explore the world of geocaching.
• Take the family on a nature hike. Find a nearby trail here.

Barnes and Noble has made their summer reading program super easy:

Would you like more points for Pampers Gifts to Grow?

Try entering these codes:

getstartednow10 (10 POINTS)

One question I hear over and over again is, "Doesn't frugal living get you down sometimes?"

Well, it is all in how you look at things. If you always focus on what you cannot afford or the things you do not have, then yes, you will get down. But if instead you focus on what you already have, and what you can do with what you've got then that can make all the difference. Here is a little quote that gets me by...

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want."

Acme wants to help customers get a boost on their grocery savings during tax season. Now through April 15th you will get a bonus gift card worth $20 when you buy a $250 gift card, and a $30 gift card when you purchase a $300 gift card.

Have you heard about KIDS BOWL FREE? It is a fantastically frugal program that lets kiddos bowl 2 free games* every day, all summer long. We signed up our preschooler last year and he loved it! Whenever he wanted to have a playdate with a buddy we always had a no-fail solution even when the entertainment budget was low...let's go bowling!

Got a stinky garbage disposal? Don't buy those special cleaners or tablets to eradicate yucky kitchen odors. Here are several ideas that will get the stink out using things you already have at home:

• Generously sprinkle some baking soda in and around the drain/disposal. Slowly pour in some white vinegar. Let it foam and sit for 10 minutes. Flush it out with hot water.
• Toss in a tray full of ice cubes. Flip the disposal switch and let the ice fragments grind away gunk stuck inside.
• Put citrus peels down the drain and flip the disposal on. Grinding up those peels will let loose the peel's natural oils.

On April 15th, bring your own reusable mug to your nearby Starbucks and get your coffee FREE.

A good gardener knows that potted plants need drainage. Many put gravel or pebbles in the bottom and then fill with dirt. A frugal gardener doesn't need to buy bags of rocks for her container garden. She uses packing peanuts under the soil, which cost nothing and as an added bonus, are much lighter so pots are easier to move.

My thrifty friend Trish tells me that Dollar General is now accepting coupons are all varieties, including printable coupons. Here is their official coupon policy.

A perfectly good pot of soup, ruined!

Every now and then I will realize my soup or stew is just too darned salty. Cooking with a small child on your leg will distract a cook. Don't throw that soup out. Simply put a raw potato in the pot and it will absorb the excess salt. Dinner disaster averted. No waste, no reason to order take-out.

Some of the very best freebies come to me from fellow frugalistas. Frugally Fabulous Mom shares how to get a FREE photo of your kiddo with the tooth fairy. This site usually charges $9.99 for these pics so this is a great opportunity to check out iCaught's services, which also include pics with Santa, The Easter Bunny, and Cupid.

*This popular series was originally posted April 2008. Here it is once again for your reading pleasure!

Ah, yard sale season. I love the thrill of the hunt. Waking up on a cool morning...coffee in hand...eager to snatch up the "trash" that is to become my treasure.

My mom is my favorite yard sale companion. She, much like myself, is not a morning person. At all. She knows how to behave on such an occasion as yard sale hunting. The first stop is always COFFEE. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. This part is not optional. You need to be alert and ready. Oh, you didn't know that yard sale hunting is a competitive sport?

Here are some tips to make your hunt a successful one:

1. Plan you route the night before. You have to get up early so you need to know exactly where you are going to be efficient. Pick up a few newspapers, check Craigslist, and jot down the order you will hit the sales that appeal to you. But be prepared to be flexible, because sometimes you find some winners by word of mouth while at other sales.

2. Have the right money on you. Do not go to yard sales with $20 bills or people will beat you with a stick. These are not stores, shoppers! Try and have ones, quarters, and dimes on you.

3. Keep a little list in your pocket of clothing sizes of your family members, names of games, and titles of books you are on the lookout for.

4. Speak up. Don't be afraid to haggle prices down, check an electronic in an outlet, or ask if there is a collection of whatever it is you are looking for. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, people!

5. Pack snacks and drinks so you can refuel throughout the day in your car.

6. The early bird gets the worm. Bigger and more desirable items go fast and go early.

7. Dress for the occasion. Wear comfy shoes, preferably sneakers. It is dewy in the morning and flipflops will leave you with wet feet as you trek across people's lawns. A ponytail or baseball cap is a good idea. Don't waste precious shopping time applying makeup or fixing hair. Don sunglasses.

8. Toss some bags in your trunk. Sometimes people plain forget to keep some old bags around for their yard sale so bring your own!

9. Apply the same principles as you would if you were shopping in the stores. Do you really need the items? Don't buy junk you won't use no matter how great the price is.

10. Go often. I like to think I will go every weekend, but I usually don't make it. I do try and go several times a month though. Yard sale shopping is one of those hit or miss things. Sometimes my mom and I come home with nothing, sometimes we can barely shut the trunk.

So there you have it. That's the end of Part 5 to my Yard Sale Series. What's that? You missed the other 4? Not to fear, my frugal friends. Check them out:

Part 1: Preparing to hold a yard sale
Part 2: Getting shoppers to your sale
Part 3: Setting up to maximize sales
Part 4: Yard sale leftovers dilemma

Does your savings need some help?

I once met a woman who told me she had a rule with cash...she never spends dollar bills. She will use 5's, 10's, 20's, etc. but when she finds her wallet with a dollar bill in it she puts it aside to deposit into her savings account. At the end of the month she would have an extra $30-50 to save.

How many times have you had dollar bills in your wallet and wasted them on stuff you didn't need anyway? Gum, soda, coffee, vending machine junk...What a painless way to save!

Have you ever met one of those moms who just always knows what is going on in your area? I mean, every little family event in your neck or the woods, and many of them free. How the heck does she do it?

I'm willing to bet she keeps tabs on her local parenting publications. What are they? They are free mags that feature parenting articles, book and movie reviews, health info, and local event calendars. Sometimes they even have coupons for reduced admission to your favorite places to play! I have a lot of luck finding them at the pediatrician's office, our library, and our local children's museum. Not sure your area has any? Check this nifty database for some listings. But don't forget to also check those places I mentioned. My area only listed one mag and I regularly read 3 different ones!

Looking for an inexpensive, healthy snack? How about yogurt?

Not those individual cups. Most of them are full of all kinds of unnecessary ingredients (like high fructose corn syrup, modified food starch, and gelatin to name a few) and take away from the natural goodness of yogurt. Buy the plain yogurt in large tubs (I like low-fat) and then add in your own flavors. Real flavors like fresh fruit or all-fruit spread. Y/ou stir in your own sweetener, too, but I found it didn't need it after adding the fruit.

It is much cheaper than buying packs of yogurts and the creaminess is unbelievable! So much better for your body and your wallet.

While I typically grocery shop at edited supermarkets like Aldi and Save-A-Lot, sometimes I will revert back to an old favorite like ShopRite. Especially pre-holiday. These are the times of the year when you spend a certain amount to earn a "free" dinner entree. I do all my grocery shopping at ShopRite and other shopping, too, to rack up my points. Don't worry, frugal friends, I don't spend any money I don't already have in my budget to make this happen. Besides my groceries I will go there to buy flowers (love that their hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips are 3 pots for $10), gift cards for future birthday presents and baby items for upcoming shower presents.

Now through May 31st, you can get a FREE Scholastic book when your purchase one of the following:

• Pampers Easy Ups Trainers
• Kandoo Product

Just mail in the original UPC code from either package along with your full name, phone number, email address, and mailing address to:

Pampers Book Offer
557 Broadway
PO Box 711
New York, NY 10012

Hershey's has a new offer valid between 4/1/10 and 6/30/10 …buy 4 bags of chocolate candies and get a free movie ticket from Fandango, using this form. The following candies are eligible:

1. HERSHEY’S KISSES Chocolates
2. REESE’S Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures
3. HERSHEY’S MINIATURES Chocolate Bars
4. YORK Peppermint Patties

Hit up the post-Easter markdowns and get your candies for next to nothing, then go catch a flick!

Today I was surfin' my usual haunts online for freebies and came across a sample of Suave shampoo and conditioner...from Target!

Attention, attention!

When at all possible, take a friend shopping with you. Especially when you are making a pricey purchase. It is good to get an honest second opinion. A good friend with be real with you and talk you out of frivolous purchases. A salesperson will talk you into whatever will drive up her commission.

One of my least favorite chores is packing lunches. Ugh!!!