Frugal Living Archives - Page 5 of 5

Light up Flashing Glowing Shoelaces

Current price: $2.21

Thanks Cleverly Simple!

SODIAL- Vintage style colorful Owl charm necklace

Current price: $1.93

Thanks I am That Lady!

Vintage Owl Pendant Long Bronze Chain Necklace Clothes

$1.37 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Handlebar Mustache Vintage Adjustable Double Ring

$1.17 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Lovely Vintage Jewelry Crystal Peacock Hair Clip

$1.47 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Fashion Bronze Peacock Feather Long Chain Retro Necklace

$1.88 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Spring Retro Oversized Slouch Ladies Warm Stretch Beanie Bobble Hat, Black (I have this hat!)

$3.99 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Funky Fun Colorful Magnetic Letters A-Z Wooden Fridge Magnets Kid toys Education

$3.51 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Silver Kitty Rhinestone Crystal Fashion Jewelry Set with Pink Bow – Ring Earrings Necklace 3 in 1 Set

$2.59 SHIPPED

Thanks Thrifty Jinxy!

Handbag Pouch Bag in Bag Organiser Insert Organizer Tidy Travel Cosmetic Pocket

$3.95 SHIPPED

Multi Vintage Colorful Crystal Peacock Bracelet Bangle By Buyincoins

$4.00 SHIPPED

LE Fashion Leopard Pattern Shawl Scarf Wrap for Women (I have this – love it!)

$3.90 SHIPPED

Wilton Disposable 12 Inch Decorating Bags, Pack Of 24

$3.80 SHIPPED (With Amazon Prime/Amazon Mom)

Christmas On Sale! Vintage Owl Necklace Long Pattern Necklace Coat Chain, Gift Idea, Gift Box Included

$1.89 SHIPPED

Vintage cute crystal eye bronze owl stud earrings jewelry retro diamante

$3.00 + $1.99 Shipping

Adjustable Vintage Retro Nickel Silver Pewter Owl Ring

$3.78 SHIPPED

Antique Alloy with Colour Crystal Owl Long Prendant Necklace~*~

$2.87 SHIPPED

Retro Elegant Peacock Necklace 862

$4.57 SHIPPED

Silver Glitter Sparkly Sports Headbands – Glitter Headband Store

Current price: $1.70 SHIPPED (If you scroll down to see what others bought you will see lots of colors including a zebra one!)

Thanks Sarah’s Deals!

I love you heart and key couple key chains

Current price: $2.68 SHIPPED

Thanks Super Coupon Lady!

1.5mm 1800 Nail Art Rhinestone Glitter Tip Mix Gems

$1.75 SHIPPED

SODIAL- 12 Pack Self Adhesive Assorted Fake Moustache / Mustache Set Fancy Dress Party Birthday Stylish

(How fun would a family ‘stache picture be?) 🙂

$1.59 SHIPPED

SODIAL- 3 Pack of Black Blue Pink Stylus Universal Touch Screen Pen for Ipad 2 Ipod Iphone 4,4S,3g ,3gs, Kindle Fire,Motorola Xoom, Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 10.1, Blackberry Playbook HTC Flyer Evo

$1.01 SHIPPED

OWI Frightened Grasshopper Kit – Solar Powered

$2.98 SHIPPED

Solar Car – World’s Smallest Solar Powered Car – Educational Solar Powered Toy

$1.95 SHIPPED

Angel Kiss Couple Keychain & Keyring

$1.29 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Amaranth Twist Holder Clip Bun Hair Twist Braid Too

$1.79 SHIPPED!

SODIAL- Strawberry Folding Fold up Reusable Compact Eco periodic duty Recycling use Shopping Bag

$1.72 SHIPPED

Mickey Mouse Face Shape Cookie Cutter

$1.22 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Newton’s Cradle, Metal Balance Ball

$3.06 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Solar Energy Powered 6 in 1 Robot Kit

$4.48 SHIPPED

Solar Powered Dancing Flower

$3.28 SHIPPED

Nail Tattoo Sticker Christmas / Xmas – Santa Claus Nail Tattoos

$2.49 SHIPPED

iPhone 4S 4 Hot Pink Splash Silver Bling Hard Plastic Case (1 Pc.)

$3.20 SHIPPED

SODIAL- Black Premium PU Leather Flip Case for Apple iPhone 4S / iPhone 4

$2.73 SHIPPED

HM Pink Polka Dot Flex Gel Case for Iphone 4 & 4S

$1.17 SHIPPED

SODIAL For Apple iPhone 4 Hello Kitty Design Polycarbon Hard Case

$1.64 SHIPPED

For Apple iPhone 4S 4 Black Zebra White Hard Plastic Snap On Case Cover Faceplate

$1.36 SHIPPED

eForCity 4 Bling Glitter Hard Case Skin compatible with iPhone® 4 4G Version iPhone® 4S – AT&T, Sprint, Version 16GB 32GB 64GB, with 2 screen protector free

$3.52 SHIPPED

Luxury Designer Bling Crystal Leopard Cheetah Fur Hard Case Cover for Apple IPhone 4 4S

$2.47 SHIPPED

SANOXY Silicone Cassette Tape Case / Skin / Cover for iPhone 4

$1.02 SHIPPED

Hand Made Lace and Pearl Green Hard Case Cover for iPhone 4 4G 4S

$2.20 SHIPPED

Nintendo Game Boy Gameboy Silicone Case For iPhone 4 4G

$1.45 SHIPPED

3d Sanrio- Hello Kitty Case/cover/protector Pink Ribbon with Light Green & Pink Outfit Fits All Models of Iphone 4 & 4s

$4.00 SHIPPED

Elmer’s 3D Washable Glitter Pens, 10 Classic Rainbow and Glitter Colors (E199)

$4.88 ships free as an add on item for Amazon Prime members

May contain affiliate links.

How to freeze cheese & why you should

October 15, 2012

Did you know that you could freeze cheese? I’ll admit I didn’t for the longest time! If you were to ask about about what some items that would be great for stockpiling cheese wouldn’t have even been on my radar. But now….Now I know! Saturday I was at Target (to get a printer….and only a printer….) strolling around the food section and what caught my eye? But a little red tag inside the dairy case. Kraft cheese, on clearance! I looked closer and saw that the bricks of mild cheddar cheese were only 66 cents each!! What is wrong with them? Nothing – it’s not even close to the expiration date! So I picked up 6 and resisted all urge to do a little happy dance right in the middle of Target. I was already getting an odd look from the lady watching me put 6 blocks of cheese in my cart. (I told her – only 66 cents each she should get one. She didn’t. Sigh. Some people just don’t get it.)I brought them home and opened them up. Then I shredded them. If we are going to eat cheese and crackers we are more extra sharp cheddar lovers, but mild cheddar is perfect for homemade mac and cheese, casseroles and baked potatoes!

Now each block of cheese was 8 oz. – the same that would be in a bag of shredded cheese you would buy in the store. So after I shredded each block I put into a sandwich bag. Then I put all of the sandwiches into a freezer bag.

This week Kraft shredded cheese isn’t on sale at my stores, but the generic brands are.

Kroger brand $1.88

Marsh brand $1.98

My cost: $0.66

By stocking up when I saw this awesome deal I saved $7.32 compared to the Kroger brand!

So WHY should you stock up on cheese?

1. It saves you money!

2. It saves you time – no more having to make trips to the store for 1 item. I don’t know about you but those 1 item trips end up usually costing me at least $20! I always find something else.

3. It’s easy!

So here are a few tips:

1. Hard cheeses freeze better. These are cheeses like cheddar and not like goat cheese.

2. Shredded cheese freezes the best. Sometimes when you freeze cheese the texture changes a little bit (it sometimes will crumble a little bit) so start out with freezing cheddar cheese. It’s going to get melted anyways!

3. If you want to freeze cheese but not shredded, cut it into slices. I have a Food Saver (FoodSaver V2244 Advanced Design Vacuum Sealer, Black) (which I LOVE and highly recommend Honestly, it pays for itself!) so after I slice the cheese I vacuum seal it and don’t have any problems with any change of texture. If you are using regular freezer bags wrap it in plastic wrap tightly and then put it into the freezer bag.

4. Let the cheese defrost in the refrigerator prior to use.

5. Stock up and save!! 🙂

My favorite ways to earn cash & gift cards online – part 2

September 25, 2012

Yesterday I told you how I cash out mysurveys & other online reward programs and what I do with the money.

Now you want to know what programs I use and how much I honestly get from each one? Well here they are! Hopefully you can find some that work for you!

Swagbucks

I’m sure you’ve heard of Swagbucks. But if not – it’s a free site to sign up on. You use it like Google. When you search for things you earn Swagbucks. You can also earn Swagbucks about a million other ways. You can answer the daily poll (just one question!), watch TV (confession I usually don’t have the sound on! I just have the shows running while I blog, check my email and such. Earning Swagbucks while doing my regular stuff!), playing games (I let Josh play! He has fun I get Swagbucks!) and more. There are so many ways to earn! You turn your Swagbucks into prizes from the SwagStore. I chose to get Amazon gift cards with mine.

I’m a numbers person. You can get:

a $5 Amazon gift card for 450 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 90 Swagbucks).

a $25 Amazon gift card for 3,150 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 126 Swagbucks).

a $50 Amazon card for 5,900 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 118 Swagbucks).

a $100 Amazon gift card for 11,599 Swagbucks (Or $1for 116 Swagbucks).

Or a $500 Amazon gift card for 54,995 Swagbucks (Or $1 for 110 Swagbucks).

Obviously the $5 gift card is the way to go! I earn about 30 Swagbucks a day (about 11,000 Swagbucks/year) so I am able to get 24 $5 gift cards for a total of $120. If I just saved my points and cashed out all at once I would only be able to get $100 worth of gift cards (2 $50 cards). Or if I cashed out each time I had enough for a $25 card I would only be able to get $75 worth!

Sometimes I earn more than my 30 Swagbucks a day! But 30/day is the minimum that I earn. (if Josh plays games or if a friend signs up. Invite your friends! Swagbucks will match the bucks your friend earns to your account up to 1,000 bucks! This year I reffered 12 friends which means I got an additional 12,000 Swagbucks! It doubled my bucks! So I will actually earn an extra $120 worth of Amazon gift cards just from my friends!!)

If you want to sign up for Swagbucks you can do so here. (This is my referral link just so you know! I do get points for you signing up – but I promise you will like Swagbucks!)

Total Estimated earnings for this year: $240 worth of Amazon gift cards

E-Rewards

I signed up for E-rewards about 3 years ago. It is an online survey company. You earn virtual dollars for doing surveys and then you can exchange them for gift cards. They have switched it to being an invitation only company. I earn about $50 worth of gift cards each year (and for Gamestop!) If you get an invitation I would recommend signing up!

Total estimated earnings each year: $50 worth of Gamestop gift cards

ValuedOpinions

Valued Opinions is an online survey company. I earn about $10/month for doing surveys. I get mine back as Amazon gift cards (There is a $20 minimum threshold that you need to meet before cashing out.)

Total estimated earnings: $60 worth of Amazon gift cards

ShopAt Home

Shop at Home is a site that rewards you for shopping. I do spend money while I’m here but I earn money as well! Each day they have a “wild deal”. Lots of times they are for personal care products like toothpaste, deodorant, soap and so on. Sometimes they are for other things. Most of the time the items have free shipping, free store pick up or a very low shipping cost (Walmart does $0.97 shipping).

Here is how the deal works. Let’s say today’s wild deal is deodorant from Walmart. It’s on sale for $1.97 and has free store pick up. You buy the deodorant through the site for $1.97. In a few days Shop At Home credits your account $1.97 for buying something through their site. That makes for free deodorant! (Except for sales tax – which even if you used a coupon at a store to get free deodorant you would still have to pay Uncle Sam!)

Each day is a new “wild deal”. Generally I only do the deals that end up being free and if it has a free shipping option. Sometimes though they have just great deals. I’ve gotten a 10 pack of sharpies for about $1 (including shipping), a pack of 2 flashlights for $3 (free site to store shippings) among other things. So while I may not be making money from them – I think of it as a virtual savings account. I deposit money in and in turn get free items that we can use.

I would say I do about 2 deals a week. They usually aren’t high dollar amounts – probably $2-$5 each (on average). Shop at Home sends checks so you have to cash out earlier than most places. To get your money by December 1^styou need to cash out by 9/30. You have to have $20 in your account to cash out.

Estimated yearly cash back: $520 ($10 a week)

Jingit

Jingit is a new company for me but one that I am SO excited about!! Jingit pays you to watch ads online. Also, if you have a smart phone or a tablet you can use their app to ‘check in’ and scan items in the store. If you shop at Walmart this should be a must for you! There is a weekly earning limit of $10 but it isn’t that hard to get to. I’ve been hitting my $10 limit (or very close to it) nearly each week I’ve been using it.

$10 may not sound like much but it adds up to $520 a year! Not too shabby!!

Estimated yearly cash back: $520 ($10 a week)

InboxDollars

InboxDollars is a survey site and it pays you to read your email. It takes a little longer to get your cash because they send a paper check but they do pay and I’ve never had a problem! I actually like them quite a bit. I earn about $1 a day. One dollar? Yes – one dollar – or $365 a year! Little things add up! Sometimes I have to remind myself of that. Reading the emails & filling out a quick little survey may sound silly but it ends up being a free month of groceries. Now it’s worth it huh? J

Estimated yearly cash back: $365

Plink

I’m so cheap that fast food and movie theaters freak me out. For the 3 of us to go to McDonalds it’s about $18 (3 value meals at $5 each plus $1 each for a drink). $18!! For some chemically made “food”. I spend about $50 a week (or less!) at the grocery store so this is a lot! The movie theater is the worst! $4 for a drink? Are you crazy!?! Obviously I am because we go once a month….

I know that just because I’m a penny pincher that doesn’t mean we can’t go and have fun! That’s where Plink comes in. Plink is a company that you earn points for shopping at places like the movie theaters, Taco Bell, Burger King and more. I’ve heard rumors that they are in talks with Target. How awesome would that be?!?!

You do have to register your credit/debit card. Then when you use your card at one of their retailers you earn points which you can redeem for gift cards. I was a little nervous about it at first but I’ve never had a problem.

You can earn a $5.00 gift card for 500 points. A trip to the movies alone earns us 400 points! We go to the movies once a month either as a date for Andy & I, a mom or dad & Josh day or for a family trip so this program is a good one for us. We earn a $5 gift card each month.

Estimated yearly cash back: $60 in Amazon gift cards

So the grand total for all of my programs: $1,815!! $1,405 of that is cash, $360 is in Amazon gift cards and $50 is in GameStop gift cards.

Is it worth it? I think so!!

Do you use any other programs? What are your favorites to use?

Is it worth signing up for surveys & online programs? Part 1

September 24, 2012

You see them all over the place. Sign up for this and earn money for doing surveys! Search using this company and you can get points. Use this app to check into the store and earn cash!

So you sign up and you earn $1.50 in the first week. Is it really worth it?

HECK YES IT IS!!!

I use a variety of programs all year long. I do some surveys, search online, watch TV, check in when I walk into the store, and read emails. I know it sounds like a lot but honestly these things take about 5 minutes or less. And some of them I would be doing anyways!

Usually in November I ‘cash out’ all of my rewards (some of the places I use I cash out earlier to ensure they will be here by Dec 1^st). December has become my favorite month. It is so EASY and FUN. I never stress out in December! Holiday vacation is here so Josh is home from school, family events are happening and of course Christmas. And I get to enjoy them all and not stress out about finances.

Last year I got about $300 in cash/gift cards back without much effort. I thought – how stinking easy is this? So I stepped it up a tiny bit. This year it should be more like $1055 in cash/gift cards. And I’m already excited about next year! I’ve started using (in the past few months) 2 new programs that are adding up cash FAST! (My estimate for next year is over $1800 in cash/gift cards!!!!)

I shop for Christmas all year long so my Christmas shopping is done way before December but there is always that hot Christmas gift that I want to get. I use my gift cards to make the purchase.

That leaves me with the cash (my favorite!). I use half of it to catch up on/pay in advance on some bills. Sometimes things happen and we get behind. In a perfect world it would never happen but it does. And it is a horrible feeling. I hate getting behind! It’s stressful. It doesn’t happen much but when it does it’s hard to get ahead again! So if we do get behind this is when I catch it up. If we aren’t behind or we have left over money I pay extra on our electric bill. Then when the January bill comes it says you owe nothing – or you have a $50 credit. WOO HOO!!!

The other half of the cash I use to buy gift cards. I get $50 gift cards for Kroger & Walmart. I chose those two place because where we live you can get gas & groceries at each location. I buy the gift cards mid December and throw them in a drawer in the kitchen. Honestly, I usually forget about them! I like doing this because if something were to happen and either we don’t have enough money in our emergency savings fund or we would rather not dip into it we can change around our monthly budget to help. We can take out our grocery budget or our gas budget for a few weeks because it’s already been paid for with the gift cards!

And the following December when I’m getting my new gift cards/cash I remember oh yeah. I have $150 in gift cards in the drawer! It’s like a bonus. We don’t have to buy gas that week. Or groceries. It’s already done!

Before Andy and I got together I was a single mom. Money was really tight. So I used to buy gift cards when I got my tax check. I would buy $1000 worth of gift cards in February. I bought my in case of emergency cards (like I have now except I did $100) for Kroger, Walmart, Gas card & Target. And I also bought 2 extra $100 gift cards each for Walmart, Target & Gamestop. I put $100 Walmart, Target & Gamestop cards in one of the totes of Christmas decorations. That way I knew that no matter how tight money was my son would have a good Christmas. I didn’t have to worry about paying rent & coming up with the extra money for gifts. I did the same with the other set of Walmart, Target & Gamestop cards – I saved them for his birthday. Having the piece of mind that Christmas and birthdays were paid for and I had a month’s worth of groceries/gas cards in case I needed them was so nice.

Come back tomorrow to find out what programs I use and how much I earn from each one!

Frugal Friday! How to make your fabric softener last forever! (Or a really long time anyways…)

September 21, 2012

Hooray it’s Friday! Here is this week’s frugal idea:

So as you know I coupon. I love using coupons for our cleaning and personal care items. They don’t expire (or have super long shelf life!) and most of the time I can get them for free or close to free.

$10 for a razor? I don’t think so! $20 for a bottle of Tide? Not a chance. $7 for a bottle of shampoo? Have you lost your mind??? I just can’t do it. I’m able to stock up on these things pretty easily for 90-100% off the retail price. But for some reason – dryer sheets and fabric softener don’t seem to get the same awesome deals that the other products get.

So a few years ago a friend told me this tip on how to turn your fabric softener into a dryer sheet. And it makes your bottle last forever a really long time! This bottle of Snuggle was I am going to guess about $3 for 40 loads. And the bottle has lasted us oh gosh, at least a year. Maybe more?

Here is what you do:

Take a washcloth (I do 2 at a time so I can rotate my ‘dryer sheets’) and put it in a bowl (or a bowl lid like I did!).

Then you just pour the fabric softener on top – soak it! Make sure to flip your washcloth over so both sides get nice and covered. Then just let it dry. It will take awhile to dry – remember we soaked it! About halfway I flip it over and that seems to help it dry a little faster. Last night it was just still damp (but dry enough not to be dripping all over the place!) and I put it draped over a box fan we had – it dried in no time! AND our house smelled so clean! I love that clean smell!!!

When it’s dry, just toss it in with the laundry like a regular dryer sheet. Except don’t throw it away when you are done! Keep reusing it!

I would guess that I do at least 10-11 loads of laundry a week. (That’s 572 loads a year! If you poured the fabric softener in each load you would need over 14 bottles!! Yikes!) I do 2 ‘dryer sheets’ at a time so I can rotate them and I make a new batch of ‘dryer sheets’ about every 6 months. So each one lasts about 3 months. Compared to the bottle saying it lasts 40 loads – this is a huge improvement! And our clothes still smell good! 🙂

Amount this saves my family/year:

$53

Don’t let the small number fool you! Simple, little changes like this add up! For not a lot of effort! By doing this it’s like not having to pay my cell phone bill for a month! Who wouldn’t take a free month of service?

How to get rid of cable (and still watch your favorite shows)

July 21, 2012

About two months ago I took the plunge and canceled our cable. Am I crazy? Well Andy and Josh would have told you I was, two months ago. In fact, when I told them that I had cancelled the cable their reactions were well, not very good.

“Whatever. Just do it after the NBA finals.” (Oops. How am I supposed to know when game 7 was?)

“What?! You’re cancelling Cartoon Network just to save money?” (Thanks Josh for your support.)

Alright well it was cancelled. Let’s look at why it was cancelled. I had my work cutout for me – I had to convince my two guys that it was going to be ok – no wait, better this way.

We had our cable, Internet & home phone bundled together. After taxes and charges we were spending $160 a month. That’s $1920 a year. That’s too much for the frugal mama.

I kept our Internet on for and upgraded the speed (yeah!) for $25 a month.

Then I had to figure out how to get those boys happy!

First I signed up for Netflix. I know you’ve heard of Netflix. It streams right through our Xbox and the Wii. But it also streams right through Josh’s 3DS and my computer. Unlimited streaming of movies and television shows for $7.99. Plus you get 1 month free!

Then, I signed up for Hulu Plus. It also streams through our game system and the computer. I have to say, I’m not much of a fan of Hulu’s movies but I watch the television shows ALL THE TIME! I love that they have classic shows, but they also have current shows. In fact, I’m watching Days of Our Lives right now! (Some shows are streamed the very next day!) It has tv networks like Fox, CBS, MTV, CW, A&E and shows like Law & Order SVU, Desperate Housewives, The Today Show & more. You get current seasons as well as past seasons. All for $7.99 a month. Plus try it and get 1-week FREE trial week!

Boys are happy. But then Andy thought about his basketball. Turns out that he could watch it online. And he was able to connect the lap top up to our tv. Most networks have live, full episodes online.