Sun, 11 Jul 2010 07:58:15 -0800WeeblyFri, 12 Feb 2010 18:49:57 -0800http://frugalexperiences.weebly.com/1/post/2010/02/cvs-shopping-trip.htmlI really didn't need anything at CVS today but I did want to get some cereal since Cheerios were B1G1.

2 Boxes of Chocolate Cheerios B1G1
Priced $4.49 each.
Also had two $1.25 coupons.

Final price was $1.99 for both or about $1 each.

Covergirl Exact Eyelights Eye Shadow Buy one, Get one 50%
Priced $8.49 & $4.49

Had a coupon for B1G1 so it was worth $8.49
Also had a coupon for $1.00 off two Cover Girl products.

Final price was $3.49

Bought 5 Starburst packs for 50 cents (regularly priced 89 cents)


Had a coupon for $4 if you spent $20 (that would be why I bought the Starburst in the first place).

Final price before coupons was $19.49.
Final price out of pocket was $3.85. Unfortunately I did not get any Extra Rewards but that is alright with me this week.Fin
]]>Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:26:45 -0800http://frugalexperiences.weebly.com/1/post/2010/02/prizes-for-february.htmlAlthough I do enter a lot of sweepstakes throughout the week, I haven't really won very much for time. I enter 10 sweepstakes a day either through specific websites or other blogs.  I spend a good amount of time going through the sweepstakes at Sweeties Sweeps although I do find sweepstakes to enter from other websites.

Today I logged into my email to find the following email:

Congratulations!  You have been selected to receive a prize in The Learning Adventure Sweepstakes sponsored by LeapFrog, and administered by ePrize.

You have been selected as the winner of a Tag™, the #1 Best-Selling Reading System for kids 4 to 8.  Please see the attached Official Rules for further prize details and eligibility requirements.  This prize has an approximate retail value of $49.99.

Prize fulfillment will begin within 8-10 weeks after promotion conclusion. It will be mailed to the address you provided on the registration form.  No further action is required on your part. Should we need additional information from you, we will contact you at this email address.

Please refer to the Official Rules of the promotion for any questions you may have.  Should you have any additional questions, please feel free to contact Prize Fulfillment Services by replying to this email.  Please be sure to keep the original subject line.

If you are unable to open the linked PDF files you can download Adobe Acrobat Reader from the Adobe website for free. The URL is http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Congratulations again and thank you for your continued patronage of LeapFrog.

Prize Fulfillment Services
fulfillment@eprizefulfillment.com

Needless to say that I was quite excited. So excited in fact that I haven't even finished reading my email yet and have to log on and blog about this great reward. Anything that gives me an incentive to blog is well worth it to me until I get into the swing of things. Hopefully things are just as beneficial for the rest of the month since this is the shortest month of the year.]]>Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:42:18 -0800http://frugalexperiences.weebly.com/1/post/2010/01/baking-day.htmlIn all seriousness, I have been wanting to do a baking day for a couple of weeks. I have not had much motivation to sit down and actually plan out a list of stuff that I wanted to do and organize the supplies, get whatever else I needed from the store, you get the idea.

I do enjoy cooking and I do enjoy making healthy meals for my family (usually that just consists of me and my husband). However, when I get home from work the last thing I want to do some days is to cook. I have a great convection oven that can cook meals from frozen in under 20 minutes and I do dearly love that machine. But sometimes I would like to be able to pull something out of the freezer (and already prepared meal ready to go) in the morning and when I get home in the afternoon it will be dethawed and ready to put in the oven or reheat.

Although I am a generally organized person (sometimes obsessive) I do not use a menu to plan my meals. I can stick to the menu but I do not do all the cooking. My husband hates the menu. He hates it with a real passion. It doesn't help that the menu contains healthy foods and foods that he doesn't necessarily like all the time. Did I mention that he also does not give me any input on the menu at all.


So for my first baking day this year, I am going to start somewhat small.

Breads and doughs are actually my main concern at the moment. I love the smell of bread and I really am tired of wasting my money at the grocery store buying rolls, breads, muffins, etc. I am also a little frustrated with the amount of pre-processed foods we consume in this household.

My goals for baking day:
4 loaves of white bread
2 loaves of french bread
1 batch of chocolate chip muffins
1 batch of banana muffins
1 batch of pizza dough
2 batches of dinner rolls
2 batches of baking powder bisciuts

Going to use up the last of my potatoes before they start to look any worse.........
Homefries/Hashbrowns
]]>Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:44:22 -0800http://frugalexperiences.weebly.com/1/post/2010/01/first-post.htmlI really am excited about moving over to weebly.com for all my blogging needs. I do have a blog with blogger.com but it does have it's limitations. I do enjoy having the ability to have a website with a blog integrated into it. It is just so much more convenient than having everything on one page.

I haven't committed to blogging before this year partly because I haven't had the time to do anything other than spend time some time with my family and go to work. Until December, I was working two full-time jobs. I just couldn't agree with the philosophy of one of my jobs, so I quit. There are others that needed that job more than I did and I do enjoy my other job much more than I ever did the other.

I was sitting today thinking of what I would write today. I figured I'd write about my some of my New Year's Resolutions since blogging is one of them.

My New Year Resolutions are very generalized. I have never had any luck actually committing to my resolutions for the entire 12 months needed but since I do have extra time (approximately 40 hours a week) I'm sure I can find the time to commit.

1. Start a blog and keep with it. Update it at least three times a week with my frugal goals, experiences, failures, and my favorite tidbits and other websites.

2. I want to get into shape. My previous New Year's Resolutions have always been to lose 'x' pounds but I figured it really doesn't matter how much I weigh as long as I'm shape and healthy.

3. Start on a debt-free plan and reduce our debt by at least 10% by the end of 2010. I do have quite a bit of students loans ($80,000) between my Bachelor's and Master's degrees and even though that is a great deal of money, we do owe other debt. Debt like the car payment, Eric's bills that he's obligated to pay from his divorce, and the ever popular credit cards.

4. Devote some time to reading and bettering myself as an individual. I am not the most religious person, neither is Eric. I am fine with that. I do believe that bettering myself as a person does not have to be religious but spiritual.

5. Get my house organized and keep it that way. I am naturally an organized person, however, my husband and stepchildren are not. I am hoping to come up with an organization plan that works for everyone without me being bald from pulling hair out in frustration.

6. And finally, work on getting a full-time teaching position in my area. This is a resolution every year but this year I am going to buckle down even more and apply for anything and everything I am qualified to do.
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