Save 25% off select sweats at Roots.

Valid until May 22, 2012.

Spring cleaning is in full swing and since I’ve been resting for 6 weeks, taking care of a newborn, this house has gotten a bit out of control. I’m very eager to get it clean and organized for the summer!

I plan on tackling 1 spring cleaning task every day (except Sundays), for 3 weeks. They will be kitchen tasks, bedroom tasks and around the house tasks.

I hope you’ll join me in this process!

Here is Task #13:

Clean inside kitchen cabinets and top of refrigerator.

Take everything out of your kitchen cabinets and clean them out. If there is space above your cabinets, clean the top of them as well.

Get rid of anything you no longer need from inside and on top of your cabinets.

Also, wipe down the top of your refrigerator (if possible).

Come back later tonight for an update on my progress with this task.

Please share your progress in the comments!

Looking for all the tasks in this series? Click here.

Save 20% off select food brands and 25% off Swiss Natural Vitamins at Well.ca right now.

Valid for a limited time only.

Also, save $10 off your purchase of $30 or more when you enter promo code SAVE10WELL at checkout.

All basic tanks are only $2 at Old Navy.

Valid in store, from May 17-20, 2012.

Find an Old Navy Canada location near you.

Receive a FREE 5-day supply of Clinique Stay-Matte Oil-Free Makeup from The Bay with this printable coupon.

Valid until May 21, 2012.

Find a Bay Canada location near you.

I love books, but refuse to keep them if they will only be read once, so I often get rid of them.

I guess I must have done a purge of my books more recently than I remembered, because there weren’t too many to say goodbye to today.

My book shelf in the office was a mess, though.

I took all of the books down, dusted them and cleaned the shelves.

I only found 3 books to get rid of (I actually had a duplicate of Clutter Rehab, so 1 of those is gone now).

Finally, I re-arranged the books on the shelf.

Much better.

If you joined in on this spring cleaning task, how did you do? Please share your progress in the comments so we can all motivate and inspire one another!

Looking for all the tasks in this series? Click here.

Receive a FREE bag of Doritos 3rd Degree Burn at any 7-11 location.

Valid May 17, 2012 only. You must be 16 years of age or older to get this freebie.

Find a 7-11 Canada location near you.

Save $5 off Veet EasyWax Roll on Kit with this new printable coupon.

You must have the coupon printer installed in order to print this coupon.

(Thanks, Canadian Daily Deals)

This is a guest post from Patti at Poverty with Style

There was recently a public transit strike where I live. I was one of the many people affected by it.

During the 6 week strike, finding affordable rides to work was problematic and there were some days that I was unable to get to work at all.

All of this added up to lots of hassles, plenty of inconvenience and financial hardship for me.

But there were also valuable financial lessons to be learned from it.

While I have always lived a frugal lifestyle, the loss of income I suffered during the strike made me realize that there is still room for improvement.

Here is what I learned:

Saving money should always be a priority.

When the strike got underway I thought it would last a week or 2. It didn’t. As the weeks went on, I was so thankful that I had money in my savings account – because I needed that money to sustain me.

I remained afloat because I had saved money for a rainy day. Now that the strike is over I have turned into a saving machine!

Even if you can only save a bit of money at a time, do save.

Yes it would be wonderful if we could all set aside a huge chunk of money every month for our savings, but for many families this is just not possible.

Saving money is never in vain so even if you start with just a few dollars a month – start saving.

You never know what circumstances are waiting around the corner.

Nobody knows what will happen to derail their finances in the future. I had heard rumours about the strike 2 weeks before it took place, but I was not as financially ready for it as I could have been.

I had a credit card that I was carrying a balance on, and before long – not enough money to pay it off in full.

Interest charges plagued me. This was a lesson learned. If you have at least one credit card then you should not charge more on it than you can pay off in full each month.

I should have known better. Now I do.

Simplifying your life does not have to cost a lot.

During the weeks of the strike I dropped my spending down to practically zero. I had to in order to keep up with my bills.

At first I thought that having no money to spend would be horrendous, but it wasn’t. I simplified my life and I took the time to walk more, read more and meditate more. It was nice and it did not cost me a cent.

There are always financial lessons to be learned from life’s problems. Just as there are growing pains in life in general so must there be growing pains to contend with in regards to money.

The bright spot in all of this is that if you can be as prepared as possible for financial downturns (and you can see these hurdles as opportunities to grow and improve), then you will come out on the winning end of things and not the losing end.

Hopefully, though, you can learn these lessons without suffering through a bus strike like I did!

Patti Illsley shares her tips for saving money and living well on a lower income on her blog Poverty with Style. Her money saving advice is geared at keeping more of your money in your pocket.

photo credit

This is one of my favourite recipes. My husband is the one that actually makes these “wings”, because I have to admit, he’s better at it than I am. I am kind of terrified of deep-frying.

You can use any type of sauce for these, but we love spicy chicken wings so we usually use a spicy sauce.

Ingredients:
- Oil For Deep Frying
- Dash of Pepper
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- Dash of Garlic Powder
- 3/4-1 Cup Flour
- 1/4 Cup Butter
- 1/4 Cup Hot Sauce
- 1 Egg
- 1 Cup Milk
- 2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut into Small Strips/Chunks

Instructions:
1. Combine butter, hot sauce, salt, pepper and garlic powder in a small pot over low heat. Stir together until butter is melted. Remove from heat and set aside.

2. Heat oil in large pot until it reaches about 375F.

3. Whisk together egg and milk.

4. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then flour. Repeat.

5. Fry each chicken piece in hot oil for about 5 minutes, or until juices run clear.

6. Pour sauce created in step #1 over cooked chicken, mixing to coat.