Thrifty Florida Mama

Wii you please help this mama out? (meaning me)

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:40:00 +0000

I've signed up for the "popularity contest" at Classy Mommy. If I win my family will receive a complete Wii system for Christmas. I can't tell you how much that would mean to my kids! It would just rock. You can help just by casting your vote for me at this website. And tell all your friends and they can tell their friends and they can . . .

Thanks so much to my fabulous bloggy friends and readers. I love ya!

Christmas and Gifts on Clearance @ At Home

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:55:00 +0000

At Home is a company that I've ordered from before and have loved every single item I ordered. I've only ever bought stuff from their "attic/clearance" section online but it seems that they are a home-based, show type company similar to Home Interiors or Southern Living. I've never seen anyone around my area selling this brand, however.

They have some really great prices in their clearance section right now.

Like these beautiful amber candle holders. They were originally $21.99 and are now $3.99. Looks like a great hostess gift if you need one.

Or this beautiful feather tree. Now only $7.99

Check out their clearance section and you might find yourself a great deal.

Celery Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 02:04:00 +0000

Image from alibaba.com

How's that for a boring post title? Nothing about celery excites me except knowing that it will be in my dressing/stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner. Do ya'll eat dressing or stuffing? There is a difference in my opinion. Stuffing is more like individual clumps of bread cubes held together loosely with moist goodness and herbs and spices. Dressing is more like a batter of all that good stuff baked in a pan like cornbread and you can just cut square pieces out. I love my granny's dressing. It is better than anything else at the entire meal. Dressing at granny's goes fast, be there first or you may do without.

Anyway here are my celery tips:

1. Buy any celery. It's all just about the same. I don't spend more money on celery hearts because you can use the leafy ends of the regular celery to make a great addition to a simmering broth.
2. Once you bring home the celery, break or cut off the stalks and wash them thoroughly. They are dirty things. (If you just want to put it in the refrigerator go to tip #4)
3. If you have the time go ahead and chop up all the celery stalks into pieces. It will save time later.
4. If you don't have time to chop your celery, wrap the entire thing in aluminum foil tightly and refrigerate. The foil will keep it fresh for up to 2 weeks.
5. If you did chop your celery into pieces place them into a plastic storage bag and then fill the bag with water. The celery will stay fresh and crisp. I don't know why, but this works great!
6. Now you are ready to cook with celery.

Free Purell

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 02:41:00 +0000

This Freebie will probably go fast since it is prime cold and flu season. Get a free bottle of Purell just for answering a few survey questions.

Run to Amazon.com: Britax Marathon Car Seat $43, normally $279

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:19:00 +0000

This could be a price mistake but my order went thru and I got confirmation. FREE Shipping too!

Britax Marathon Convertible Car Seat

Look on the right side and find the one from Target.com

Walgreens Deals Nov. 16-22: Good stuff + free candy

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 23:07:00 +0000

The best deal is this: Free Turtles candy!!

The 3.5 oz. boxes are priced at $1.50 and in today's paper there were $1.50 off any Turtles coupons!!!!

My Starke store had an entire bin of these. There are also 7 oz. boxes on sale for $2.50 so $1 after coupon. I know a few teachers who would love to get these as gifts from students and you probably know some people in your life you could gift these to also. Tie them up with a candy cane and it is a great little gift. **The coupon clippers have these coupons in stock. I just ordered too many to list because I would be sooo embarrassed!**

Best Deals with the Walgreens in-ad coupons:
Buy 4 Pepsi Product 2 Liters at 4 for $5 and get 1 Free 2 Liter of Sierra Mist (including the new Cranberry flavor, yum!) Use this printable for even more savings.

All $9.99 TOYS now just $5.99 with coupon. They have a cute tape recorder/player for little kids that could be a nice gift.

Butterball Chicken Broth $.39 per can

Royal Gelatin 5 for $1 (good for holiday recipes)

Green Giant Vegetables $.59 each can

Mandarin Oranges $.50 per can (my kids love these!)

Christmas pencils 8 for $1 (great for stockings)

Good deals with in-ad coupons and Sunday newspaper coupons:
~~Skippy Peanut Butter 2 for $3
Use $.40 off coupon in today's paper and get it for $1.10 per jar

~~Hershey's Chocolate Bars $.39

Use the BOGO coupon from 9/28 or 11/09 and get both for free because the register will take off $.79 from the coupon

~~Clorox Bleach BOGO for $1.49
Use this printable coupon for buy 2 Clorox and get Wipes free

Makes it only $1.49 for all 3 products

~~Blistex $.99

Buy 2 and use the $1 off 2 in today's paper for $.50 chapstick (great for stockings)

~~Chex Mix $.99

Use $.50 coupon from 11/09 and get it for $.49

~~Honey Nut Cheerios $1.99

Use this $1 printable and pay just $.99

Register Reward Deals (Thanks to Deal Seeking Mom)

::BUY Just For Men Touch Of Gray at $7, GET $7 RRs

Use this $2 printable and make $2

::BUY Kellogg’s Nutrigrain Bars, Special K Bars, or Rice Krispies Treats at 2/$5, GET $2 RRs

::2/$3 after RRs!

::BUY Bertolli Frozen Meals at 2/$10, GET $2 RRs

::$1.75/1 Bertolli Oven Bake Meals, exp. 12-6-08 (V 10/12/08)

$2.25 ea. after coupons and RRs!

My One-stop Shopping Plan:

5 Pepsi Products $5

4 cans mandarin oranges

5 Royal Gelatins

2 Cans Chicken Broth

16 Christmas pencils (stocking stuffer)

2 Skippy Peanut Butter

2 Hershey Bars (stocking stuffer)

2 Clorox Bleach

1 Clorox Wipes

2 Blistex (stocking stuffer)

2 Honey Nut Cheerios

1 Just for Men and

30 boxes of Turtles Candy!!! (some to keep, some to share)

Total should be around: $25 and I will get back $7 Register Rewards

Sunday: What I'm doing to save money

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:33:00 +0000

We are all at home this morning since we didn't want to infect anyone at church with the nasty stomach bug that has been cycling through our family so I decided to count my blessings and name how I'm using God's blessing of being frugal-minded to save money in and around our house today. I am so thankful that God has given me a passion for simplicity and saving money and allowed me to be blessed with wise, Christian friends who share a like passion. Sometimes I get too obsessed with seeing how much money is in the out-going category and don't focus on how much more money would be going out our door if I was not applying the principles God has taught us. So here is what I'm doing today.

1. Made a gallon of sweet tea with 3 tea bags instead of the recommended 4 in the microwave. We will drink this today instead more expensive sodas.
2. Washing clothes in cold water with half the recommended detergent.
3. Shared a bowl of oatmeal with baby Camryn. She likes oatmeal but doesn't eat a full serving so I divided it into two bowls and I had the other half.
4. Kids are playing "make believe" games with laundry baskets and towels.
5. No heat on today even though it is 45 outside, it is a nice 73 inside.
6. Planning a trip to CVS and maybe Walgreens.
7. Lunch and dinner will be chicken potpie or chicken soup from yesterday's cooking session.

More to come. . .

Meat Sale: Time for some Freezer Cooking

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 16:54:00 +0000

Yesterday a local supermarket had a fabulous meat truckload sale. Here's what I was able to snag for $140:

40 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast
10 pounds of ground chuck,
6 pounds of bacon,
10 pounds of Boston Butt Roasts,
15 pounds of sirloin steak, and
15 pounds of boneless porkchops

All of that averages out to about $1.50 per pound. And since I'm having a lazy Saturday after being sick on Friday, I am doing some Freeze Cooking with the chicken and ground chuck.

Here's what I'm planning to make:

Ground Chuck recipes:
3 meatloaves, 1 gallon bag of meatballs, 5 packs of cooked hamburger for making chili, spaghetti, tacos, etc.

Chicken Recipes:
5 packs of plain diced or shredded chicken for easy chicken salad, soup, tacos, or quesidillas
Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Chicken Tetrazinni
Chicken Divan
2 Pot Pies
Brocolli, Rice and Cheese Casserole
Chicken Hot Pockets

I should have enough meals and meat to last many, many weeks.

Free Photobook from Snapfish and Oprah- Hurry expires soon

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 11:11:00 +0000

On Oprah's Clean Up Your Messy House Tour, you saw how our custom cover photo books easily organize and showcase everything from your favorite photos to your children's artwork. Now you can get organized too!
Simply create an account or log in to your account to receive this offer.

Click Here to get the code and begin creating your book. These make great gifts. Shipping costs will be around $7-8 but the book is worth $30 on its own.

Hurry because the code is only good through Friday and you must redeem the code by Sunday at midnight.

Fine Print:

This offer is only good for one standard 20-page 8" x 11" custom cover photo book per household. Coupon dispersal ends on Friday, November 14, 2008 at 11:59pm PST. Free photo book must be redeemed by Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 11:59pm PST. Offer does not include customary shipping & handling charges or additional pages. Offer applies only to US customer accounts and mail-order delivery to U.S. customers. Offer cannot be combined with other coupon codes. Coupon cannot be resold or otherwise transferred, and is void on the earlier of redemption or the offer end date.

Homemade Holiday??

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:31:00 +0000

It seems that homemade is a definite theme for this year's Christmas gift giving across our economically depressed land. (Did you see that Starbucks's profits were down 97% for the 3rd quarter? I guess people really are giving up that daily latte.)

If you are looking for some great, easy ideas for homemade ideas check out these sites:

Chris, of the fabulous "Just a Girl" blog, hosted a "I can make that" party and so far over 80 bloggers have linked up to show gift ideas and crafts that really anyone can make. I am so doing several of these ideas! I spent much of my Tuesday morning pouring over the ideas listed, making notes on paper of which ones I want to try and what materials I need to get.

Check it out but make sure you are in a comfy spot because you won't be getting out of your seat for awhile!What did you find that you can make?

Frugal Thanksgiving Crafts

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 02:03:00 +0000

It's only 2 weeks until Thanksgiving! I. love. Thanksgiving. Love it. Always have. I'm really trying to stress Thanksgiving to my kids this year, as I am especially aware of everything we have been blessed with and should be thankful for daily. After searching some of my favorite sites here are a few things we are doing;

Thankful Tree

We are making this on Saturday from stuff we already have around our house. Cost= FREE

Items you need: a bare tree branch, construction or scrapbook paper, ribbon or ornament hooks, flower pot, sand or florist foam

How to make it:

1. Find a tree branch in your yard or nearby woods.

2. "Plant" the branch in a flower pot with sand, dirt, or foam. Cover with moss or crumpled up paper.

3. Make leaf shapes from your paper.

4. Write one thing you are thankful for on each leaf. We are adding a Bible verse of thanksgiving or praise on the other side.

5. If you have guests over for Thanksgiving have them also write on a leaf.

6. Tie or hang the leaves onto the tree.

7. Read the leaves during or after Thanksgiving dinner.

Cornprint Place Mats

Items you need: ears of corn, fabric paint, fabric for placemats or premade placemats

How to do it:

1. Break your corn into smallish pieces

2. Coat the corn with paint and roll across the placemats in different directions

3. Overlap with different colors of paint

More Ideas:

Skip to My Lou shows us how to make:

Leaf Prints

Make and Takes Shares these ideas: Thankful Banner made from Natural Materials, and finally use up your Halloween Candy with these Turkey Favors

Shopping for an ipod? Check out the refurbished ones.

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:42:00 +0000

If you or the one you are shopping for doesn't have to have "the latest" technology of ipods check out the refurbished, previous generations for a great deal. Two years ago, I, along with several of my dear friends, bought refurbed ipod shuffles for our then, elementary-school aged girls. They worked perfectly, came with new headphones, new software, and in a great box.

Now we are graduating to the ipod Nano, or maybe the ipod classic. Of course, I'm going with refurbed again because of the success we've had with the other ones.

Here are some I found at the Apple Store:

refurbished ipod shuffles (1G) in purple, silver, green, blue for $39, (2G) for $59

refurbished ipod Nano (4G) in silver, $79, (8G) in many colors for $99

refurbished ipod classic (30G) for $159, (80G) for $169

There are even refurbished ipod touch products!

Ebates offers 1% back from Apple Store and Mypoints offers 2 points per dollar spent.

New to ebates? Click here to sign up.

Update: Since My Husband Quit His 2nd job

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:10:00 +0000

My husband used to work two jobs. He taught during the day and loaded trucks at UPS at night. He quit his UPS job in August, even though we were not debt free. He had worked there for 2 years and we made a lot of progress toward our financial goals. Now that he has been home from UPS for 3 months, I've noticed a few things.

First, we are busy most of the time. Having daddy home hasn't really allowed us to have more "quality time" together. From the time we get home from school our hours are packed with homework, extra activities such as dance and football, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and getting ready for the next day. It's literally a race to the finish for bedtime.

Second, we have not been in debt pay off mode. We are still making a "snowball" payment but we have not been focused on debt payoff. We're spending every dime we make due to rising costs and now paying for daycare and health insurance. Currently we are focused on Christmas gift-buying and it will be at least mid-January before we refocus on debt payment. Sad, but hey, it is the truth of our situation for this season. We have not changed our goals and we will never use "debt" again. We are just taking a breather.

Third, our eating out has gone way down. Now that everyone is home, I cook almost nightly. We try to reserve eating out for special occasions only. Sometimes "It's Tuesday" is a special occasion but for the most part, we eat at home.

Fourth, my husband has had the opportunity to make extra money by creating websites. He loves to develop sites using Dreamweaver and Flash and now has time to do that. He has been steadily getting more business but for now it is just a glorified hobby.

And that's about all the changes I've noticed. I'm glad he is home, even if life is just "status quo" for now. At least he's home to help wash the dishes!

And the winner of the holiday cards is. . .

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:13:00 +0000

Rebecca, post #18

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:18
Timestamp: 2008-11-09 23:13:03 UTC

For anyone who didn't win, I would like to encourage you (if you were planning to buy photo cards anyway) to spend your money at Cutie Pie's Custom Creations. She is a fellow frugal mom and I would love to help her home-based business flourish this holiday season.

Stay tuned for our next giveaway, a $15 gift certificate to a place most everyone shops. Details tomorrow.

Local Readers: Frugal, Family Fun This weekend and beyond

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 21:46:00 +0000

If you live in the Starke, Gainesville, Lake Butler area, then the following activities may just be what you are looking for in terms of good, clean, frugal, family fun.

Friday and Saturday- Nov. 7-8

Monster Trucks on Mission- FREE ADMISSION at the Starke Fairgrounds. Bring earplugs!

Saturday, November 8

Bradford County Farmer's Market- 8 am until noon Located at the Bradford County Health Department on US 301

Fishing for Success- Located at the University of Florida Fisheries near Millhopper Park. Here's the description:
November 8th will be the last "Family Fishing Day" for 2008 here at the UF ponds. The fishing has been great so come on out and enjoy a morning of fishing fun! Like always, this event is free, open to the public, and catch-and-release. The fishing starts any time after 8 a.m. and will wrap up about noon. We will be serving a hot dog lunch and have our regular free raffle for the kids for some fishing prizes. We will have cut liver, cut hotdogs, and cut bacon to use for bait and loaner poles available, but everyone is welcome to bring their own bait and equipment. We will also have our famous casting competition where everyone who participates gets a prize. We have seven stocked ponds with channel catfish, bream, and largemouth bass.

Saturday and Sunday, November 8-9th

Gainesville Downtown Festival of the Arts
Celebrating its 27th anniversary in 2008, the Downtown Festival & Art Show presented by the City of Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, is one of the nation’s premier outdoor fine arts Festivals. The streets of historic downtown Gainesville, from City Hall to the Hippodrome State Theatre, will be transformed into a celebration of art and creativity on Saturday, November 8 and Sunday, November 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Downtown Festival & Art Show is Gainesville’s most beloved tradition and a nationally-recognized event. Since its creation, the Festival has risen to historic heights in national rankings, and since 1996, Sunshine Artist magazine has consistently recognized the Downtown Festival & Art Show as one of the top 200 shows in the nation

This weekend thru January 11, 2009

Florida Natural History Museum in Gainesville Hosts "Grossology"
Adults $7.50 FL Residents $6.50 Seniors & Students $6 Children 3-12 $5.50 Members FREE!

Get ready to be grossed out while exploring why the human body produces mushy, oozy, crusty, scaly and stinky gunk at "Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body" during its appearance at the Florida Museum of Natural History Sept. 27 through Jan. 11, 2009.
Based on the best-selling book "Grossology," by Sylvia Branzei, this exhibition uses sophisticated animatronics and imaginative exhibits to tell visitors the good, the bad and the downright ugly about runny noses, body odor and much more.

Friday, November 14th

Starke Elementary School Fall Festival- 6-8 pm. BINGO, games, inflatables, cake walk, animal walk, food and prizes. Tickets on sale 4 for $1.00

If you know of anything else to add to this calendar, please email me. I will happily post your community or church events!

Christmas Light Trade In at Home Depot Nov. 8-9th

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:39:00 +0000

Home Depot is offering a Christmas Light trade-in this Saturday and Sunday only. Here are the details that I heard on a radio commercial. Bring in your Christmas lights, working or not, and receive a $3 discount on a new set of LED lights which use 90% less energy. Limit 5 per customer. I don't know how much the LED light sets are but this might be a great incentive to switch out the lights to energy efficient ones. Lower electric bills during the holiday season are always a great thing!

Also, through November 11th, active duty military, retirees, and veterans receive 10% off their total purchase at Home Depot.

Residents of Florida and LA, MA, NC, RI, NJ, SC: Get a free $20 gas card

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 11:35:00 +0000

I found this posted by Carrie at Money Saving Methods, a great blog designed to save you money and earn you money in very easy ways. I love her site. Check it out.

Here's the deal for the gas card.

New Speedpass customers in FL, LA, MA, NC, NJ, RI and SC will receive a $20 ExxonMobil Cash Card (or a $20 ExxonMobil Credit Card statement credit if Speedpass is linked to an ExxonMobil Credit Card) for activating a new Speedpass account.

Click here to sign up.

And be sure to read this original post by Carrie where she explains how you can save even more money on gas purchases by being a member of Upromise.

Publix: Preview for this week's upcoming sale

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:29:00 +0000

Thanks to Hot Coupon World for the preview!

The following items will be Buy One Get One free beginning

Thursday, November 6th.

Pompeian Olive Oil
Pillsbury Moist Supreme Cake Mix
Ragu pasta sauce
Quaker Cereal
Kraft or Seven Seas Dressing
Campbell's Select Soup
Hunt's Tomatoes
College Inn Broth
Muellers Pasta
Pasta or Rice A roni
Nestle Toll House Morsels
Chatham Village Croutons
Doritos
Hersheys Kit Kat and Reeses
Nabisco Premium Saltines
9 Lives Cat Food
Lysol Sanitizing Wipes (printable coupons here)
Natures Own Bread
Scotch magic Tape
Bacardi Fruit Mixers
Swish Miss Pudding
Land-o-Lakes spread
Pillsbury Savoring (Print $1 off coupons here)
Florida Grape Tomatoes
Bertolli Skillet Pasta and Sauce
Mrs. T's Peroggies
Ray's NY Bagels
Edwards Pie and Cheesecake Slices
__________________
Order the following coupons from The Coupon Clippers and get multiple items for cheap!

~~$1 off 9 Lives Cat Food
~~$1 off when you buy 2 Ragu and 1 dry pasta (combine with Ragu and Muellers for cheap dinner)
~~$.55 off when you buy 2 Hunt's tomatoes
~~ $1 off 2 packs of Nestle Morsels
~~$1 off 1 box of Mrs. T's peroggies
__________________
***Go to your Upromise account and load up your e-coupons for Nestle Morsels and Lysol Wipes and earn $2 toward college funds. (Every bit helps right!) ***

New to Upromise, click here to sign up:

My plan:

10 Savorings

10 Ragu Pasta

10 Mueller's Pasta

4 Box's Peroggies

10 bags chocolate chips (you can freeze these)

10 Hunt's Tomatoes

4 Lysol Wipes

Today's Best Deals at Amazon- DVDs, Toys, Video Games

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:03:00 +0000

Amazon has a few great deals running right now.

First, choose any 2 of the DVD's on these pages and get them both for $10. Most of them are normally $13-$40 each. Choose from lots of "The Firm" videos, good, old-fashioned kids stuff like Benji, and documentaries.
DVDs on sale

This toy/game "Wild Planet Hyper Dash" has great reviews and a great price. The best part is that it says it improves math and athletic skills and can be played solo. Normally $29.99, now 50% off.

Some of you have been looking for a good deal on the "Smart Cycle". Amazon has it with free shipping for $82.98
Fisher-Price Smart Cycle Fisher-Price Smart Cycle'>

If you are shopping for a Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit, or Mario Kart for Wii, I would recommend going ahead and buying it now. These get very scarce the closer Christmas gets and Wii Fit is hard, hard, hard to find.

Wii System

Mario Kart with Wii Wheel. My kids have this for Nintendo DS and loooooove it!

Wii Fit (limit 3 per household)

This week's giveaway: 25 Matte Finish Photo Cards from Cutie Pie's Custom Creations

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 11:31:00 +0000

This week I have partnered with Jennifer, a fellow frugal mama and owner of the so cute
Cutie Pie's Custom Creations, to bring you a giveaway of 25 Matte Finish Holiday Photo Cards. Jennifer is a mama and teacher's wife (you know I love teachers and teachers' spouses!) who specializes in custom stationary products.

Cutie Pies Custom Creations specializes in custom, personalized stationery for all occasions with a *cute* touch. They carry everything from cute & fun stick people notepads, labels, notecards, calling cards, teacher stationery, sweet custom birth annoucements, trendy & classic photo invitations, holiday cards & more, as well as great marketing tools for "momprenuers!" ...lots of great gift ideas for the holidays!

Here's how to enter this giveaway:
1. Visit Cutie Pie's Custom Creations, look around the site, and view the Holiday Card Collection.
2. Leave a comment telling me which design you would pick and how you would use them.
3. Earn an extra entry by mentioning Jennifer's site on your blog. I love supporting moms in business! Leave a link in a seperate comment please.
4. Good Luck! I will choose a random number winner on Saturday afternoon.

And the winner is . . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:56:00 +0000

The winner of the ING direct code for a free $25 when you open an orange savings account is:

Nina! You were entry #11 and here's the number random.org produced:

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:11
Timestamp: 2008-11-01 20:45:51 UTC

I'll be emailing you shortly with the code. Thanks to everyone who entered. I will be posting another contest tonight. Stay tuned!

Good Deal at Bath and Body Works: Three items shipped for $8

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:02:00 +0000

From Fishing for Deals:

Buy the "Brown Sugar and Fig" shower gel, on sale for $5, get a free spray with it, then get either a free aromatherapy, cashmere lotion or True Blue Spa gift up to $15 for free with code: ATSPA
This code will also give you flat shipping rate of $3.

Here is the link to the shower gel. After you add the gel, the spray choices should be listed on the same page, add one and it is free. Then go to the spa/aromatherapy section and pick out a gift up to $15.

At checkout use ATSPA and total will be $8 plus minimal tax.

Here's my order:
Shea Cashmere Foot Cream FREE
Body Splash FREE
Shower gel $5
Shipping $3
Tax $.30
Total: $8.30
Value: $30.50
Savings: 73%

Giveaway Time! 2 Giveaways this week!

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:56:00 +0000

I love saving money and I love getting free money. What is better than free money? Not much.

I'm happy to be participating in the official "bloggy giveaways"! Click the button below to see over 1000 blogs giving away a ton of cool free stuff! Then look below for my giveaway!

This week I am having two giveaways. The first is a code for a free $25 when you create a savings account at ING Direct. This code is unique in that there is no minimum amount you must deposit to get the free $25, in the past a new account holder had to deposit $250 to get the $25 bonus. So, if you've waited to create a savings account at ING and would love a free $25 for doing so, leave a comment with your name and email address. I will use the randon number generator to pick a winner on Saturday afternoon.

For those of you already saving with ING Direct, watch the blog tonight when I post information about the second giveaway which will be something anyone celebrating the upcoming holidays will love!

Deals on Nintendo DS, games, digital picture frame and lots more!

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 14:40:00 +0000

So, yesterday was October 25th and all. And it hit me that it was just 2 months until Christmas. Then I had to go into the attic to get our long-sleeve clothes down because it is actually susposed to be cold this week in North Florida and our huge Christmas tree box fell over. My daughter asked if we should try to stand it back up and I replied, "No, we'll just be getting it down next month" and it hit me again. I've got to do more shopping. I will not wait until the end. I will shop now. I must find good deals now. Here are a few:

Through Wednesday, Amazon is offering the Nintendo DS lite for $119 in these colors: Crimson/Black, Silver, white, rose, Cobalt, and pink ribbon. These rarely go on sale so $10 off is actually a good deal.

To go with the DS system, Amazon is offering the deal of buy 2 select DS games, get 1 free. Many titles to choose from including Mario Kart, Super Mario, Brain Age, Nintendogs, and Zelda. This deal is good thru November 8th but shop early for the best selection of game titles.

Get both of those deals here: Nintendo DS deals

This digital photo frame would make a great "grandparents" gift. Load up a memory card with pictures of your kids and give it as a gift. This received 4 out 5 stars and the reviews say if you are not a "showcase" photographer and just take normal, daily, family type photos it works out great. Normally $69.95, Now on sale for $34.99 Click the photo to go to the full description and review.

Need some deals for your Wii, X-box 360, or PS3?

Wal-mart has select games 2 for $30. Go to the specials page here.

And last, I love these! Lands' End is offering these Santa bags at clearance prices with free monogramming and free shipping!

Small size: Was $20.50, Now $7.99

Medium size: Was $29.50, Now $12.99

Large size: Was $49.50, Now $19.99

I'm ordering 4 of the small sizes for my kids. Now "Santa's gifts" will come straight from the North Pole in a toy sack. I'm putting the kids' names on them but you could just buy 1 large one and put your last name on the sack. Or even "Ho, Ho, Ho" or something more generic. Check the website for details about the sizes. The small ones are 19" by 29".

Free shipping codes (2 uses per code per person): (Thanks fishing for deals!)

Promotion code: LEAF PIN: 7568 Valid through 11:59 p.m. CDT 10/28/08.

Promotion code: BRISK PIN: 2850 Valid through 11:59 p.m. CDT 10/28/08.

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Shame on You, Omaha Steaks!

noreply@blogger.com (Thrifty Florida Mama) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 17:44:00 +0000

Bad customer service is a big pet peeve of mine and when a company just royally screws up and refuses to accept it, I am really peeved! After many readers emailing me with their responses from Omaha that at first they couldn't combine offers (or some such non-sense) and then others having their ordered cancelled totally, I tried to contact their customer service myself. Not an easy feat, as many of you have realized. Here is my list of grievances and reasons why I will never buy from them again, even though I received my complete order, including free items.

First, the original offer was from Geico, not even from Omaha Steaks. How can Omaha Steaks put restrictions on the offer from another company, regarding the $25 gift card? I understand that the two companies worked the deal out to increase customers to both sites but did they really not think this out ahead of time? Don't they know about the power of word of mouth on the Internet? Of course they do! Otherwise they would not have offered the original deal. They wanted word to spread so that both companies could benefit!

Second, here are the original terms of the "reward code" from my email on Sunday, October 19th:
Terms: Your Omaha Steaks $25 Reward Gift Card is a one-time use code and may be used on one customer transaction. This code must be entered at checkout to apply your discount. You may only use one Reward gift Card per order. Reward Gift Cards may not be used to purchase Omaha Steaks Gift Cards, e-Gift Cards or wine. This card may not be applied to previous sales, has no cash value, is non-transferable and will not be replaced if lost or stolen. This offer can only be redeemed online or by phone. This card is void if altered, defaced, copied, transferred or sold through any auction. Card expires 12/31/08.

This in no way states that it can't be combined with any other offer.

Third, everyone I know who did this deal on Sunday, October 19th or before has received their entire, complete order including the cutlery set. If it wasn't allowed then how did so many of us get the complete offer? It is because it was a valid order! Only after the company got slammed with so many orders did they pull this awful customer service stunt!

As for Omaha Steaks, I'm afraid this poor performance has left a bad taste in potential repeat customers' mouths. I won't be ordering from them again and I know many of you will not be either. And for those of you whose orders were cancelled, you haven't missed out on much. We tried the burgers last night and there is no way they were worth much more than the $3.98 I paid for them. I would never order them at even their sale price after having tasted them. So yuck to the burgers and double yuck to their poor, ridiculous customer no-service!

If you want your voice to be heard, leave a comment. I promise to send this thread directly to the CEO after leaving it up for 1 week of comments.