Saturday, October 31, 2009

My First Blog Awards

During my few days absence, I received two awards. So I would like to take this time to recognize them.





My first award, One Lovely Blog Award, was given to me by "Deal"ightfully Frugal. This is my first blog award ever.
 
The rules are:

*Accept the award

*Post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.

*Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. (Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.)

So I am passing this award to the following blogs:








Sisterly Savings

STL Mommy




I was given this award by Tanya over at The Grab Bag
Thanks so much for the award!

The Blog Award Rules Are:
To accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great! Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

And the Award goes to....

Wonderfully Chaotic

Kenzie Poo

Barefoot Angel

The Fabulous Finds

Boutique Stitches

2 Toddlers and Me

The Surburban Jungle

Three Pumpkins Little

For the Mommas

My Memphis Mommy

One Bored Mommy

Just One Chic Mommy

The Budget Mommy

Mission Mommy

Mommy Life and Me

Please take the time to show some blog love to these blogs. Congrats to all of you!









Thursday, October 29, 2009

My Absence...

This past Saturday night, my grandmother who lives with me for now, had to be rushed by ambulance to the ER. Her heartrate was in the 30's. After many test they discovered that her beta-blocker that she had been on for 10 years had caused the episode. She is still in the hospital and I am going between home and the hospital a lot. She is hopefully going to be released today or tomorrow and things will get back to normal after then. She is 85 and has been, for the most part, healthy. She is diabetic but has learned how to live comfortably with it. She gave me a huge scare that night. I lost my mother, her daughter, almost 6 years ago and I couldn't stand how close she came to leaving us. So to all my readers, don't forget to tell your grandparents and parents how much they mean to you because you never know what can happen. Life happens, don't let it pass you by.

On a side note, I was given two blog awards this week. I will post more on them later today or tomorrow.

Happy Halloween everyone!







Tuesday, October 27, 2009

And The Winner Is...........

Nancy!!!! Congrats on winning The Couponizer. I am sure that you will enjoy it. Thanks to everyone who entered.














Saturday, October 24, 2009

What Do Your Kid's Do for Halloween?

Halloween is a fun time of year for us. It is a kick off of the holiday season for us in a way. My daughter's birthday is 7 days after Halloween so she begins to get excited about it around then. She has decided she is going to be "Belle" from "Beauty & the Beast". I found her the cutest costume on eBay for around $20. To celebrate Halloween we will go to some fall carnivals that are in the area. I don't know how it happened but in our area over the last 10 years people have stopped doing the traditional door-to-door Trick-or-Treating. The local churches have replaced it by offering a night of fun carnival games and after you play each game they give you a handful of candy. My daughter still comes home with a pumpkin full of candy this way. I was telling her earlier about my earliest memories of trick-or-treating and she said, "How come no one does that now". I told her that maybe it was that it was easier to go from game to game rather than house to house. She accepted that answer and said that it made sense, so I guess I did alright answering her. Either way she has fun and that is all that counts.

Throwing this out to my readers, Do any of you still do the door-to-door trick-or-treating or do you do like us and go to fall carnivals on Halloween?







Thursday, October 22, 2009

Do You Meal Plan?

At the end of each month I plan my meals for the following month. That's right, a whole month. This is important since I do only one major grocery shopping trip a month. I use a day planner that has each day broken down individually. I started doing this 2 years ago and can't imagine living without the meal plan. Of course things happen along the way on a night or two, but for the most part we stick to it. After I write my meal plan out. I do a search for ingredients in the pantry and that is how my grocery list comes to life. This method helps me stay on budget and still have enough meals to last until the next month.

So I am throwing this out there to all of you. Do you go by a meal plan or do you just wing it? Also, does that method work for you and your family?






Freebies, Deals, and More!

Freebies


Get 11 issues of Parenting Early Years Magazine

 Free Sample Of L’Oreal EverPure

“Cooking With Stock” 6th Edition (Has Over 50 Recipes)

Being Girl Sample (Includes 7 free feminine products & coupons)

Dove Heat Defense Therapy or Intense Damage Therapy

Get a Copy of “Low Fat Favorite Recipes” after filling out a short survey

Get the free Chicken Casserole Recipe eBook & Newsletter

Can’t Miss Deals

Amazon Toy Clearance- Great time to pick up some gifts for Christmas- There are toys from well known brands such as Hannah Montana, Vtech, Bakugan, Hasbro, High School Musical and many, many more.

Don’t forget that it is Mega Swag Bucks Day on Swag Bucks Every Friday. If you are not a member join here today.




Coupons


 Hasbro Coupons (These are great for Christmas Purchases)










Tuesday, October 20, 2009

It's Giveaway Tuesday!

List your blog or website GIVEAWAYS here so that others can enter to win. Please keep it family-friendly and enter it as follows:

Prize-Website it is on-Date it ends

This will make it easier for all to find the giveaways that interest them.

Good Luck to all of you!









Monday, October 19, 2009

Couponizer Review & Giveaway


If you follow my blog, you know how important saving money is to me. Using coupons with our purchases is a way for all of us to save at the register. To maximize the use of coupons, you will need an effective coupon organizational plan. I am lucky enough that Amy Bergin, with The Couponizer, has sent me one to review for all of you and allowing me to offer one lucky reader a chance to win one.


First a little background on my shopping habits so that you will see what direction my thoughts are coming from. I generally make a major grocery run at the beginning of the month. I have found I spend less monthly by doing so and I have the storage room for the items when I get home (wouldn't recommend it unless you have ample storage). Each week I will go and get bread, milk, and any can’t miss out on deals. Using this method of shopping I cut my grocery bill in half. Now that you know that, here is what I think of The Couponizer.


What is The Couponizer? It is a coupon organizational system that is put together in a way to maximize your savings. The system comes with: The Couponizer, shopping list, CoupTracker, a pair of scissors, sleeves for your store loyalty cards, CoupStacker, and a clear carrying bag that zips. The Couponizer is set up in three sections of organization for ease, they are labeled My Coupon Supply, My Other Savings, and My Results. It currently retails for $19.95.



The Couponizer size is small enough that you can throw it in your bag when you go shopping. I personally have been carrying my binder organizational system in a tote bag when I go grocery shopping and love the idea of something more compact.  


 
The shopping list that come with The Couponizer is a great idea. They give you lines to list your items and a box at the end of each line to check off if you have a coupon to use for the item. I have a spreadsheet that I do my shopping list on that is broken down in categories including a spot to mark if I have a coupon and the final cost of the item. I personally think for my home, the shopping list that come with The Couponizer, will be great for my weekly short shopping trips.
 
 
One feature that I immediately feel in love with is the CoupStacker. It is a strip that you lay out on your table and then you can stack your coupons in each category to make placing your coupons easier. I will use this with my binder system as well as The Couponizer.
 
 
 At the front of The Couponizer you will see where they have a place for you to put your store loyalty cards, which I think is great, and a place where you can put your coupons that you know you are going to use as well as a place to put all of the coupons that you are actually going to hand to the cashier. These are wonderful to have, you will definitely love these features after you start using it.
 
 
The “My Coupon Supply” section is broken down into the same categories that the CoupStacker is. Each category has a pocket to place your coupons in. I used The Couponizer this weekend for a short shopping trip and found using these pockets made my shopping easy.


In the “My Other Savings” section, you can place any coupons that you have for fast food and restaurants, entertainment and travel, household services, rewards, gift certificates and shopping passes, and rebates and refunds. I will definitely continue using this section. It seems like we have been getting a lot of these type of savings lately and this will keep me from losing them.

As someone who has been trying to save money, I save my receipts for about a month so that I can compare savings. In the “Results” section they have a place to keep receipts and the CoupTracker. It is a list that gives you the place to list the date of the transaction, store you went to, amount you paid, and the savings that you had. For me it is fun to see the difference I am making in my shopping bills so I will be wearing out the CoupTracker. Once you get The Couponizer you also will have access to downloadable coupons located through their website and a place to order refills for The Couponizer.




My overall feeling about The Couponizer is that it is a wonderful tool for coupon’ers. For someone like me I will personally use it on my short shopping trips only because I always have a lot of coupons for my major shopping trip. I usually average on my large shopping trip around 40 to 50 coupons or more being used. I also would personally recommend for those of you who are just starting out couponing to get this organizational system. I remember when I first started out how fustrating it was to go shopping and look through my bundle of coupons for the ones that I needed.

Giveaway
*This giveaway is courtesy of The Couponizer.

Rules

This Giveaway Will End on 10/26/09 @ Noon and there will be 1 winner that is chosen at random by random.org. This giveaway is open to U.S. Residents and to all ages. Each entry should be in a separate comment. Winner will be announced on 10/27/09 by email to winner and post on site.


PLEASE LEAVE AN EMAIL ADDRESS IN EVERY POST OR MAKE SURE THERE IS ONE IN YOUR BLOGGER PROFILE SO THAT YOU CAN BE NOTIFIED YOU ARE A WINNER

1. Check out The Couponizer site and tell me what other products interest you and why. THIS IS A MANDATORY ENTRY.

2.Subscribe to my blog (Look for link in left sidebar)

3. Follow my blog (Look for link in left sidebar)

4. Grab My Button and post on your blog or website (Look for link in left sidebar)

5. Follow me on Twitter and leave me your Twitter ID (Look for link in left sidebar)

6. Tweet about the giveaway and leave me a status link on the tweet. You can tweet this up to 4 times a day and post a separate comment with the link. Here is an example of a possible tweet, feel free to use it:
Win a Couponizer from Mommys Money Cents Ends 10/27/09  http://tinyurl.com/ylqv7nb


7. Follow me on Facebook (Look for link in left sidebar)

8. Blog about this and leave me a direct link to your post


Good Luck to All!


Disclosure: I received The Couponizer free to review. This did not sway my opinion or affect the review. This review is made of honest views and thoughts from me about the product. For more details on my disclosure click here.




My Blog Disclosure Policy

This policy is valid from 19 October 2009


This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. For questions about this blog, please contact marylavent31@gmail.com.


This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.


To get your own policy, go to http://www.disclosurepolicy.org






Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Get 1 Year of Good Housekeeping for Only $3.99!


You can pick up a 1 Year Subscription of Good Housekeeping for only $3.99. It is currently on sale on Amazon for $7.97, but you can get it for $3.99 by entering coupon code OCTMAG50 now.

Good Housekeeping is great for finding recipes, tips for the home, and they have some great coupons in every issue.

So CLICK HERE to take advantage of this offer.





Amazon Deal Alert: Select Video Games Are Buy Two, Get The Third Free

If you have video games to get as Christmas gifts you need to take advantage of the deal Amazon has until 10/17/09. Currently when you Buy Two select video games you get the Third select Video Game FREE. There are games that are eligible for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo WII, XBOX 360, Playstation 2 & 3, and the Sony PSP. Below is an example of some of the games that are included. So hurry on over and grab some before the deal is over.

Nintendo DS: Mario & Luigi Bowser's Inside Story

Nintendo DS: Pokemon Platinum 

 Nintendo WII: Disney's Bolt

Nintendo WII: Guitar Hero 5







Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Christmas Frenzy 40% off @ River Street Gourmet


They have received their first shipment of Christmas merchandise and are offering 40% off of the products that are listed on the "Christmas Frenzy" tab.

There is also a sale on select Drink mixes, these are located on the "End Of Summer Blowout" tab. While you are there check out the "Bargain Bin" where there is markdowns on cocoa mixes, cappuccino mixes, dessert mixes, and more.

If you are not familiar with River Street Gourmet, they are a gourmet and specialty food gift shop. There is a wide array of products that include: drink mixes, bread mixes, dessert mixes, cheese ball mixes, BBQ Sauces, Jams & Jellies, and more.

To go to River Street Gourmet CLICK HERE.





It's Giveaway Roundup Tuesday!

List your blog or website GIVEAWAYS here so that others can enter to win. Please keep it family-friendly and enter it as follows:

Prize-Website it is on-Date it ends

This will make it easier for all to find the giveaways that interest them.

Good Luck to all of you!








Monday, October 12, 2009

Can't Miss Printable Coupons for Hasbro/Playskool Toys at Coupons.com

Currently on Coupons.com you can find coupons for select Hasbro and Playskool toys. These don't expire until 1/15/2010 so they will be great to print and save for the holiday sales that are coming up.

Here is a list of items that are included on the coupons:

$5 Dino-Roars Hatchlings

$10 Dino-Roars Stompers

$5 Mr. Potato Head Spud Buds

$5 Mr. Potato Head Silly Suitcase

$2 Mr. Potato Head Toy

$10 Musical Sit ‘n Spin

$5 Playskool Activity Bal

$5 Playskool Busy Ball Popper

$3 Playskool Gloworm

$5 Playskool Step Start Walk’nRide

$5 Swing ‘n Score Baseball

$5 Tumble ‘n Twirl

$10 Dance Cam








Sc Johnson is Offering a $5 Rebate

You are eligible for a $5 Rebate if you buy any 3 SC Johnson Products.

Participating brands are:

Ziploc
Glade
Windex
Scrubbing Bubbles
Pledge
Shout
Fantastik
Drano
Raid
Off
Saran
Nature's Source

Click this link to download the rebate form. All that is required is for you to send UPC barcodes and the original reciept. Your receipt needs to be dated 10/01/2009 through 6/30/2010.






Friday, October 9, 2009

It's MEGA Swag Bucks Day!


Search & WinWhat does that Mean? Well, it means that if you are not a member of Swagbucks, today is the day to join. MEGA Swagbucks happens every Friday. You will have a chance to get 5, 10, 20, 50, or 100 Swagbucks on random searchs.

For those of you who don't know what Swagbucks is, Swagbucks is a search engine that rewards it's members by giving Swagbucks to random searchs. As a member you can take your Swagbucks and trade them in for Swag. There are gift cards to popular places, band or artist swag, video game stuff, airline miles, Amazon e-certificates, and more. Click Here or Click the Banner to Join today.






Thursday, October 8, 2009

Do You Use Upromise? If Not Your Missing Out

Upromise is a rewards company that gives you money for education when you shop online, buy groceries, travel, even fill your gas tank. Upromise helps people like us pay for future college costs or eligible student loans. It is FREE to join and with this economy they way it is now, every bit of savings for college can make a difference. So go today and join by clicking here.




Saturday, October 3, 2009

Are You a Food Network Nut?

I am guilty for the fact that I turn on Food Network on Saturday morning and enjoy it. I hardly watch T.V. but I usually watch it while I am baking on Saturday. My favorite has to be my hometown favorites The Neelys. I have to say that I have learned some neat recipes and tricks from watching my favorite shows. I thought we would do a poll to see who your favorite is, since I am curious. The poll is in the left sidebar of this site, so please come and choose one.




Friday, October 2, 2009

Places to Download Coupons To Your Store Loyalty Card

Do you have a store loyalty card? If so, did you know that you can download e-coupons to your card that will activate when your card is scanned at the register and the specific item is purchased? This is a great way to cut down on the coupons that you have to organize and carry around. All that you have to do is register your card number and then you can begin to marking the e-coupons that you want to use with your card.

All of these sites use your zip code to bring you the valid e-coupons that are available for your area. They are all FREE to join and are quick and easy to use. Check out these sites below to get started.

Shortcuts Participating stores are: Kroger, Baker's, Carrs Safeway, City Market, Dillions, Gerbes, Dominick's, Fry's Marketplace, Genuardi's, Hilander, Jay C Food Stores, King Soopers, Owens, Pavillions, Pay Less Super Markets, QFC, Ralph's, Vons, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Smith's.

Cellfire  Participating stores are Kroger, Bakers, Carrs, City Market,Dillons, Dominicks, Fry's, Genuardi's, Gorbes, Hilander, Jay C Food Stores, King Soopers, Owen's Pay Less, Pavillions, QFC, Ralph's, Randalls, Safeway, Scott's, Smith's, Tom Thumb and Vons.

Coupons.com  Participating stores are: Safeway, Vons, Genuardi's, Carrs, Randall's, Dominick's, Pavillions, and Tom Thumb.

P&G eSaver offers this service for The Kroger Family of Stores and Safeway retailers.

If anyone knows of any other sites that offers this service leave the link in comments for everyone to see.