Archive for the ‘Money & Finance’ Category

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Freebie Friday: March 20, 2009

Friday, March 20th, 2009

A big thank you to Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, for helping us this week with our Freebie Friday list. Be sure to take a peek at Heather’s scoop on earning money through viewing ads and her sweepstakes feature where she gathers the best sweepstakes on the web and puts them in one great post for you! Her readers, in particular, seem to have the best luck so be sure to read that list!

While you are browsing around, take a moment to enter our new contest and win a copy of the new Twilight DVD and visit our Apron Full of Giveaways and get your name in for all of these great giveaways on the web.

Health & Beauty

Bare Escentuals free 10-day bareMinerals foundation and brush (in-store offer)
Celine Dion Sensational fragrance (Walgreens)

Food

Dunkin’ Donuts Original Blend

Entertainment

Bear when you complete Gift Registry at USA Baby
Bread Breakthrough Recipe Book (Fleischmann Yeast)
Campbell’s Tomato Seeds (with code from can of soup)
$25 Staples Gift Card (for teachers & schools)
Tips for Financial Security by Kim Danger (free eBook)
Homebrewing (free Quamut PDF, register for free download)

Upcoming Freebie Events:
Please call your local store or restaurant to confirm they are participating in these freebie events.

MARCH

20 – Borders Twilight DVD Release Party – starts at 10 pm
21 – Lakeshore Crafts for Kids – Colorful Kite 11 am to 3 pm
21 – Toys ‘R Us Little People 50th Birthday Party – free Little People DVD 12 to 2pm
26 – The Home Depot Do-It-Herself Workshop – Floor Tile Basics 7 to 8:30pm

APRIL
4 – The Home Depot Kids Workshop – Make a window birdhouse 9 to Noon
4 – Michaels The Knack – 3D Monsters vs Aliens crafts for kids 5-12 from 10 to 2pm
4&5 – Museums on Us – Free admission for Bank of America accountholders
6 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free small coffee
7 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free medium coffee for all 39-year-olds
18 – Michaels The Knack – Spring Critters for kids 5-12 from 10 to 1pm
23 – Take Our Daughters and Sons To Work Day
26 – National Pretzel Day – free pretzels at Pretzelmaker and Pretzel Time

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Posted in Freebies | 5 Comments »

Simplifying Your Money Management Resource List

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Another big round of thanks to Julie for joining us in this half hour and sharing her expertise on money management. I hope you will be able to pick up her book and learn more about our emotional responses towards money and how we can improve our lives through these discoveries. The player above highlights the past few shows, but you can visit MomAdvice Simplified where all of the shows have been archived and be listened to or even downloaded to your iPod!

Here are some of the resources that were highlighted in today’s episode:

The Emotion Behind Money: Building Wealth from the Inside Out– Julie offers valuable advice in this book on understanding our emotions behind money and how to gain control of our finances. Please be sure to check out her book or visit her site for more details about what this book has to offer!

CheckFree– Julie discussed automating those bills to make it easier for moms. If your bank does not offer free bill-paying services, CheckFree is a great option that has worked for my family for years. It is a free bill-paying service and they have the relationships with the companies. I am sent an email alert when bills are due and I pay each of them manually. You can also set it up to automatically take it out of your account. Feel free to share in the comments below if you have found a great service through your bank or a third party service that has worked for you.

No Spend Challenge– This was a challenge that our family embarked on to get our finances back on track. Scroll to the bottom to start the journey from the beginning and don’t be scared to tackle a no spend challenge of your own.

Free Monthly Budget Sheet– You will find this great budget sheet to be helpful to your family in getting those family finances back on track. Visit our resources section for many downloads to help with your home management needs.

On next week’s show…

Next week we will be joined by Stephanie Vozza, the Founder of The Organized Parent and organizational expert, she will be giving us simple and affordable techniques and tools that moms can used to stay organized in our home. Stephanie knows that most mothers have been in the workplace (or still are) before their “mom lives” began. She also recognizes that in corporate and home offices, there are tools and standard practices to structure a workday. But when it comes to organizing your personal life, it’s every mom for herself! Stephanie is going to guide us in this journey towards getting our mom lives as organized as our corporate lives were. That podcast will be airing next Thursday at 2PM EST so if you are looking to get your life organized again, be sure to tune in for that episode.

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Posted in Money & Finance | 1 Comment »

MomAdvice Simplified: Simplifying Money Management

Thursday, March 19th, 2009


This week on MomAdvice Simplified, my weekly podcast for moms, we are joined by Julie Murphy Casserly to discuss tips on simplifying money-management. Julie will help us identify our preconceived thoughts and feelings about money, how to overcome negative thoughts and put ourselves on a path to a positive financial future. Julie is a CLU, ChFC, CFP® and a 14-year veteran of the financial services industry and author of the new book, The Emotion Behind Money: Building Wealth from the Inside Out.

Julie’s mission to “financially heal America” by helping people understand their emotions behind money, and how these attitudes affect how they earn, spend and save – or, conversely, accumulate debt. She delves into the emotion and psychology behind her clients monetary issues.

Just as a reminder, you can listen to the show live every Thursday at 2PM EST or you can listen later right here on my the left sidebar! Check back after the show for our resource list so you can explore all of the great links to the books and advice that we share during our half hour.

During this podcast, we are going to be offering one lucky listener a copy of Julie’s book! I know this would be an invaluable tool for money management so I hope you will tune in live to hear Julie’s wise words for understanding our feelings behind our spending.

Julie will be joining us live so if you have any questions you would like me to ask her, please leave those here in the comments and I will ask them on the air!

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Posted in Money & Finance | 2 Comments »

Apron Full of Giveaways 03.17.09

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009


I am back from Austin and just trying to play catch-up on all of my email, laundry, and phone calls. Thank you all for your sweet travel wishes and I can’t wait to share my pictures from our SXSW adventure. I came home to a sick child and a mounting amount of to-do’s, but I am so happy to be home with my children again.

We are wrapping up our great LeapFrog Tag Reader giveaway so make sure to get your entries in by 8PM EST! We also have a new giveaway up for ten copies of the Twilight DVD.

As an aside, this is the coolest apron in the world. Can someone please make this for me?

Follow the links below to find out how to enter to win these fabulous giveaways!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!

To enter, please follow the links below. (photo credit: filsetficelles)

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The Cost of a Homemade Happy Meal

Tuesday, March 17th, 2009

I admitted to you that we had a problem eating out too much and one of the places that I have felt we spent far too many dollars over the years is McDonald’s. It is just down the road, it is inexpensive, and it is quick. I will say that it is also not good for me, not always warm, and I never feel that great after eating it.

I wanted to show you the cost difference on a store-bought Happy Meal versus the cost on a homemade Happy Meal. I do use the term “homemade” quite loosely because I am purchasing the chicken nuggets so if you wanted to save even more, you could definitely make a batch instead.

McDonald’s Happy Meal

4-Piece Chicken Nuggets
Apples
Reduced Fat Milk
Small Toy

Total Cost of Store-Bought Happy Meal- $3.19 plus tax (this is in Indiana, costs may vary depending on location)

Here is my homemade version for my children that I made for them. I have included exactly what would be included in the meal, but made at home.

Tyson 100% All Natural Chicken Nuggets- 45 per package, cost $6.55 (at our local supermarket, price may vary- I had a great coupon that I will not include in the total!)
4 Piece Nugget Equivalent- .15 each x 4= $.60

1 Gallon of Milk- 16 cups in 1 gallon, cost $1.99 (current price at our local Aldi)
1 Cup of Milk Equivalent- $.12

Apple Slices- 3 pounds for $2.99 (current price at our local Aldi)
Apple Slices- $.25 (generous amount considering how few are in the package)

Total Cost of Homemade Happy Meal- $.97

While $2.22 difference might not seem like much, if you times that by the amount of children that you have in your family plus the amount that you spend on your own meals, there is a huge cost savings to making even your own fast food at home. We try to stick to the $1 Double Cheeseburgers, but Trent, at The Simple Dollar, breaks down the cost of making those double cheeseburgers at home and found that even that price could be beat.

For me, it is hard to get out of the mindset that I shouldn’t have prepackaged foods in my house. We keep our grocery budget low by making things at home. If I am out of commission or we have had a hectic night, I am often wishing that we had a few more convenience foods in our house.

A couple of bags of chicken nuggets in the freezer for these nights would still be more cost-effective than running out to McDonald’s.

And to my poor math teacher that had to tutor me every single day after math class, I would like to thank you for believing in me and working with me over those difficult years in high school. Who would have ever dreamed that I would be putting together a story problem daily that makes my husband shake his head and roll his eyes at me? I have become obsessed with the subject I hated the most so thank you, Mr. Rossi, for never giving up on me! Thanks to your thoughtful tutoring, I have become a human calculator and can crunch numbers on diapers, price per ounces on cans, and dare I say it…even Happy Meals that would make you so proud.

Related Posts:

Boo to McDonald’s
Cracking the McDonald’s Coffee Code

Is anyone else plagued with the human calculator syndrome? What has surprised that is more cost-effective to your household budget?

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 35 Comments »

Freebie Friday: March 13, 2009

Friday, March 13th, 2009

At this moment, I am flying in a plane and heading to Austin for three days with my husband to South By Southwest Interactive. I would love to kindly thank my sponsors- Abbott Zone Perfect and Walmart for sponsoring me so I can learn more great tips and tricks to make my website successful.

A huge thanks also to Johnson’s, Tyson Foods, and Fast Fixin’ for supplying food and products for my family in my absence. It was great to not have to worry about food or restocking the first aid kit (we shall pray no one needs it) thanks to these thoughtful inclusions from these great companies.

And most importantly, thank you Grandma for watching our kids so my husband & I can run away on a geek honeymoon. It is our first time attending a conference together and we are both so excited about all we will learn while we are there and all our great friends we will see.

One more huge round of thanks to Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, for generously sharing her freebie list with us each week. Aren’t we lucky? Be sure to enter Heather’s Yo-Plait Yo-Plus Giveaway and her list of new Cellfire coupons to use on your Kroger shopping.

Don’t forget to enter our amazing LeapFrog giveaway. We are offering one lucky winner a LeapFrog Tag Reader plus five books AND another set to give away to your local library all just for pledging to read to your children. Our Twilight giveaway is really rocking with over $150 worth of movie loot for you or a super fan in your life. We also have our weekly Apron Full of Giveaways where you can find all of the latest giveaways on the web. How cool is that?

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone!

Health & Beauty

Caress Evenly Gorgeous Body Wash

Emergen-C

Entertainment
Mandy Moore song download from new album Amanda Leigh
Seven Mile Breakdown by Taylor Hicks (free song download at Amazon.com)
Sacred Sounds Music free MP3s
Rosetta Stone Irish Language lessons (thru March 19)
Carnival House Party
Monsters vs Aliens free movie poster at Office Depot

Home & Garden

aerie Any One Undie Free (in-store coupon, no purchase required)
Lucy Free Socks (in-store coupon, no purchase required)
Red Gold Tote Bag (OH and WI residents only)

Upcoming Freebie Events:
Please call your local store or restaurant to confirm they are participating in these freebie events.
MARCH

11-14 – Pottery Barn Kids Sing Along
14 – Toys ‘R Us Barbie’s Birthday Bash – Decorate a Barbie Party Hat Noon to 2 pm
14 – Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinic – Make a Tabletop Basketball
20 – Borders Twilight DVD Release Party – starts at 10 pm
26 – The Home Depot Do-It-Herself Workshop – Floor Tile Basics 7 to 8:30 pm

APRIL

4 – The Home Depot Kids Workshop – Make a window birdhouse 9 to Noon
4&5 – Museums on Us – Free admission for Bank of America accountholders
6 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free small coffee
7 – Seattle’s Best Coffee (and Borders) – free medium coffee for all 39-year-olds

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Posted in Freebies | 5 Comments »

Simplifying Your Grocery Day Podcast & Resource List

Thursday, March 12th, 2009


A HUGE thank you to Aviva Goldfarb for joining us this week on MomAdvice Simplified. I hope you can take a half hour out of your day to listen to Aviva’s advice on simplifying your grocery day. Aviva has some really excellent advice for what to stock in your pantry, meal ideas for those crazy nights when you don’t know what to fix, and ideas for how to streamline the menu planning process.

Congrats to our lucky winner, Genevieve, on winning a 6-month subscription to the menu planning service. We hope it relieves the stress of planning for their family.

Here is today’s resource list from the show:

The Six O’Clock Scramble– This is Aviva’s menu planning service that you can use to plan your family meals. Each recipe is tried and true and will include a grocery list to make those grocery trips easier.

The Six O’Clock Scramble Cookbook– Aviva shares her recipes and menu plans in this handy cookbook and I would definitely recommend that moms check this out for some menu planning inspiration!

Grocery Shopping– This article gives you some quick & easy tips for simplifying your grocery day and staying on track with your budget.

35 Ways to Save on Grocery Day– This is my absolute favorite post on ways to save with links back to recipes and tips for ways to save money on your groceries.

On next week’s show…

Next week This week we will be joined by Julie Murphy Casserly to discuss tips on simplifying money-management. Julie will help us identify our preconceived thoughts and feelings about money, how to overcome negative thoughts and put ourselves on a path to a positive financial future. Julie is a CLU, ChFC, CFP® and a 14-year veteran of the financial services industry and author of the new book, The Emotion Behind Money: Building Wealth from the Inside Out. Julie’s mission to “financially heal America” by helping people understand their emotions behind money, and how these attitudes affect how they earn, spend and save – or, conversely, accumulate debt. She delves into the emotion and psychology behind her clients monetary issues.

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 3 Comments »

MomAdvice Simplified: Simplifying Grocery Day

Thursday, March 12th, 2009

On MomAdvice Simplified, my weekly podcast for moms, I will be speaking with Aviva Goldfarb on simplifying our grocery day. Aviva is the author of the book, “The Six O’Clock Scramble” and founder of TheScramble.com and I am sure she is going to be sharing a wealth of information for our listeners.

Aviva will be sharing some of her tips for making dinnertime healthier while saving time and money along the way. She will also be discussing time-saving tips for planning your dinnertime meals in advance, how to maximize your time and budget at the grocery store and how to waste less food each week. I am really looking forward to sharing that interview with you!

Please be sure to tune in because Aviva is going to be sharing with our readers a chance to win a free six-month membership to The Six O’Clock Scramble dinner planning services just for those who listen in!

Just as a reminder, you can listen to the show live every Thursday at 2PM EST or you can listen later right here on my the left sidebar! Check back after the show for our resource list so you can explore all of the great links to the books and advice that we share during our half hour.

Aviva will be joining us live so if you have any questions you would like me to ask her, please leave them here and I will try to squeeze them into our show!

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Posted in Frugal, Money & Finance | 2 Comments »

Apron Full of Giveaways 03.10.09

Tuesday, March 10th, 2009

Welcome to The Apron Full of Giveaways for this week. We have a couple of great giveaways going on this week that I can’t wait to share with you. You can enter this week in a contest for a case of the new V-8 V-Fusion and a great little L.L. Bean V-Fusion tote bag, but you will need to hurry and enter by 8PM EST tonight!

Our latest giveaway is for one Green LeapFrogTag reader + 5 books (chosen by LeapFrog) for personal use, as well as an expanded-memory LeapFrog School Tag reader + 10 books (chosen by LeapFrog) to donate to your local library.

We are also giving away two Twilight gift packs to two lucky readers!

Follow the links below to find out how to enter to win these fabulous giveaways!

Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we aren’t giving away the aprons, but feel free to check out the Etsy seller to find out how to buy these cute aprons and apron patterns! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Children’s Movies).”

Please let me know if you have any questions and good luck to each of you!

To enter, please follow the links below. (photo credit: Becky Striepe)

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Redbox Code & Bonus Codes This Month

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Today’s free Redbox code is F3T9L6. This code can be used all day until midnight at any Redbox location.

I also some really great news for Redbox fans! You can now get a free movie code each Wednesday for the month of March just by visiting the new Redbox blog. This blog will give you some insight on the new releases that are coming out and reviews and information on all the movies available by visiting your local Redbox.

Every Wednesday during the month of March, if you visit the Red Blog, you will find a free movie Wednesday code!

You can’t beat a free movie rental so schedule some fun family nights and check out what Family Films are available.

Side Notes:

– If you want to rent more than one movie for free, bring more than one credit/debit card. You can use the same promotional code, you just will need different cards to charge it to. The charge will be zero as long as you return your movie on time for the next day.

– When entering in your free movie code, you need to enter it FIRST before picking the movie. On the very first screen, click the, “Rent with Promo.” Enter in the above code and then make your selection- the amount should then total zero.

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Posted in Freebies | 14 Comments »

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