The magic of facebook....

I have to admit, I was so hesitant to get a facebook account. I figured it was just like Myspace: tweens pretending to be teens, people who are way to old to have an account saying "wuddup" to us youngsters, etc. I was dead wrong.

Now the reason I see facebook as magic is that when it come to us frugal-nistas, it's the place to be! Besides companies offering freebies to their "fans"(like free starbucks ice cream and free pizza hut appetizers), I can see awesome updates from my frugal friends. Or better yet, my non-frugal friends.

Just yesterday afternoon, I found out that a friend of mine is moving in less than a month and needs to get rid of most of her furniture. Uh, jackpot! Within minutes she had 6 people offering to take things left and right. One of those friends was me. We scored a less than 6 month old sectional couch(it's huge!) for 150 bucks. Plus, because she's my girl and could care less about the amount of money she gets, I get to "rummage" her items she offering for free and take whatever I want.

Like I said, I love facebook....

How about you all? Do you have facebook accounts? What do you use them for?

Frugal Magazine Tips- June/July

I decided that with all the wonderful, FREE, subscriptions I get to great magazines, I should share the best frugal tips and blurbs from them. Also, this will give me a place to reference back for my favorite tips without keeping loads of magazine pages on file somewhere. Every month I'll do this rundown, and hopefully you all can learn something too!

Ok, I've been slacking on this series but to my defense, I haven't had time to read magazines! I decided to dedicate some time to reading a few of these free magazines(which have been piling up!) and pick my favorite frugal tips.

From Woman's Day:
Buying happiness is actually attainable, when you know what to spend on. Using your extra spending money on experiences rather than things, makes you more satisfied and happy. By using your "play" money to creating memories instead of buying material items, you can keep that euphoria with you that you felt during that girls night out or trip to the aquarium with the kids.

Frugal reason to become a "flexitarian"(a diet that is mostly plant-based with little meat): non-meat proteins cost so much less! By building you meals around beans, eggs or low-fat diary, you automatically cute your grocery budget down to a fraction of the price.

From Glamour:
Fight frizz with dark beer- pour it onto just washed hair, let sit for 2 minutes, rinse, then use your conditioner.

Shrink your pores with egg whites- smooth on egg whites on your face and let stand on 10 minutes. Once done, if you have any, swipe your skin with some witch hazel(I looooove this stuff!). The egg whites shrink your pores and the witch hazel cleans them out so they stay invisible.

Stop breakouts with aspirin- Once you are done washing your face, crush an aspirin tablet and dissolve in a bit of water(aspirin is the solid form of that salicylic acid that the sell to us for 20 dollars a pop). Put the paste on your blemish and leave for 3 minutes. I used to take an aspirin pill at the start of a blemish but it's cool to know that I can just crush it up and put it right on it!

CVS gift card giveaway!

Lisa over at "Living Easy" is doing a great giveaway this week! In honor of her blogiversary, she's giving away a 10.00 CVS gift card. Now you know how much us frugal shoppers love CVS and 10.00 dollars goes quite a long way.

Head on over to Lisa's blog and enter. You have until August 3rd so hop to it!

Quotable Wednesday

"History, despite it's wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

-Maya Angelou

Our favorite(new and free!) entertainment

This past weekend, we found our new favorite place. Can you guess where this is? No, it's not down the New Jersey Shore and no, it's not Florida or California. It actually is a secluded beach about 15 minutes from our home. Who knew?! Well, apparently my Husband did, or had an idea.

A few years ago, my most intelligent husband paid attention to the building of some very expensive but beautiful condos and houses a few towns from us. The plus for the building of these complexes is that they would be giving the public instant access to beaches that were unattainable in the past. The best part is that most of the public still don't know that these beaches are available to them! We ended up spending most of our day here, with only a few other people "in the know."

This free find got me thinking: what other free family outdoor entertainment do we have in our area?

Right in our own complex is the complex pool. Since the fee for this is already included in our rent, I see this as an awesome freebie for my family. They provide lifeguards everyday and there is a wonderful little lawn surrounding the pool with plenty of chairs and shade. Sonny Boy and I have been trying to spend a few hours every other day there. Last year, we even had (one of) his birthday parties here and invited the guests to go down to the pool to relax. It did cost us 5 dollars per guest, but it provided them with unlimited pool time until dusk.

One great find is a local, but large, county park right up the highway from us. It's located near the local mall and is not only a huge park, but they offer many free activities. They have a petting zoo for the kids, ice skating, tennis, and musicals(and shakespeare!)in the park at night.

Another is the actual park near our secluded beach. It's another county park that has a full football and baseball field, a large jungle gym play area for the kids, a giant gazebo for parties, clean bathrooms and plenty of parking. All for free. We decided yesterday that this is where we'll be having Sonny's party next year.

I also just found out that we have a very large state park right in our county. It's still a bit of a drive, but because we are a military family. we get into the park for free. There is a lake there for swimming and plenty of places to cook out and chill out.


A few tips to help you take advantage of free entertainment:

1. Be prepared! In the summer, this is an easy thing to do. Make sure you have a blanket, a towel, sunscreen, small first aid kit, and a few extra pieces of clothing for each person in the family. Keep these items right in your trunk. When the daily plan is to conquer the free outdoor park, pack some snacks and lots of water or box juices. Freezing a few of the bottles and putting them all in a re-usable bag will help keep them cold. Since you aren't going far, this would be a great night to put a slow cooker meal together. By the time you all get back and are super hungry, dinner will be waiting for you.

2. Check for websites and special events. Some local parks sponsor lots of free festivals and shows. Car shows, farmers markets, sports tournaments, are all things that you can do for free in your area. Keep a look out when you drive through your town for signs for free entertainment. Go online and find the site for your town or county. You'd be surprised at how many events are held every weekend!

3. If you're not an outdoor person, sign up for indoor clubs. For example, if you're big on going to the movies, but hate the price, sign up for movie club cards for the theaters in your area. They send out newsletters to let you know when the free movie premieres are. You'll have to get there early to make sure you get a seat, but it's free, air conditioned, entertainment. You can't beat that!

How about you all? Have you discovered any great, free entertainment right in your area? Ever been to a free movie premiere? Are you lucky enough to have a beach nearby?

Meal Plan Monday!

This is the week before I have to back down to the base, so I want to really COOK and get it out of my system. I'll be stove-less for a whole week, so I want to do meals that are delicious and fun to make. Being over the stove most of the week won't effect me that much, but I'll get a few things done on monday, so I don't have to be over the stove everyday.

Monday: Filet Mignon with mashed potatoes and carrots
Tuesday: turkey sausage with peppers and onions
Wednesday: Chicken adobo with rice and peas
Thursday: homemade hamburger helper with sweet corn
Friday: Garlic cheesy bread! *slurp* With an italian tossed salad
Saturday: Off to my cousin's surprise party at the lake. Plenty of food to eat all day!
Sunday: Slow cooker peachy chicken with garlicky green beans

Dessert of the week: Peach cobbler
Bread of the week: Chocolate buttermilk bread(similar to pumpernickel)

Shop Rite Deals 7/26 to 8/1

Dollar Days are back! I feel like we just had them, but this time should be fun. With every deal, you also get a free re-usable bag again. I love these and have been using in place of gift bags. So far, these are the deals I see:


Buy 15 General Mills products, get 10.00 back
Yoplait yogurts- .50 each
Buy 15 yogurts
use 2 coupons for .40/6 doubled from 6/7SS
pay 5.90 and get back 10.00 catalina
4.10 money maker
EDIT: This deal is a no-go. Just got back from the store, and of course, it was a "misprint." They've been having a lot of those on the good deals lately lol.

Buy 5 Pompeian products, get 5.00 back
pompeiian cooking wines- 1.25
pompeiian olive oil- 3.00
buy 4 cooking wines
buy 1 olive oil
use .50/1 printable for cooking wines(4 of them) doubled
use 1.00/1 printable for olive oil
pay 3.00 and get back 5.00 catalina
2.00 money maker

Buy 3 blue bunny products, get 3.00 back
blue bunny pints- .99
buy 3 pints
use .75/1 coupon from June 26th All You magazine doubled
pay 1.47 and get back 3.00 catalina
1.53 money maker(if you don't have the coupon, it's still a .03 money maker)
Big deal alert: you can buy as many as you want in one transaction! Buy 6, get 6.00 in catalinas, buy 9, get 9.00 in catalinas! No need to get 3, buy them, then get back in line to buy another 3.

Buy 5 Advantage products, get 5.00 back
starkist tuna pouches- 2 for 3.00
buy 5 packets
pay 7.50 and get back 5.00
.50 for each pouch

NEW! Great scenario to roll the above 5.00 catalina:
9 lives cat food- 4.00
buy 4 bags of cat food
buy 1 tuna pouch
use 4 .75/1 coupons from 7/26RP doubled
use 5.00 catalina from first tuna transaction
pay 6.50 and get back another 5.00 catalina!


Other deals:
fisherboy fish sticks- .99
use .75/1 printable coupon doubled- FREE

NEW-bumble bee tuna pouches- 1.00
use 1.00/1 coupon from 6/14SS- FREE

colgate plus toothbrush- .88
use .40/1 coupon from 7/25SS doubled- .08

colgate kids toothpaste- 1.99
use .75/1 coupon from 7/25SS doubled- .49

playtex gloves- 1.49
use 1.00/1 coupon from 5/3SS- .49

sara lee pound cake 1.99
use 1.00/1 coupon from 5/17RP- .99

Melitta ground coffee- 3.00
use 2.00/1 coupon from 5/17SS- 1.00

4 day price break(Wednesday to Saturday)
luigi's italian ice- .99(limit 4 per variety)
use .75/1 coupon from 5/10RP doubled- FREE
speed stick deodorant- .66(limit 4 per variety)
use .75/2 coupon from 7/26SS- 2 FREE

meats and produce:
tyson chicken leg quarters- .69/lb(good sale price; rock bottom is .59/lb)
collard greens- .79/lb
New Jersey peaches- .99/lb(be careful! prima peaches are 1.29 this same week! check which peaches you grab)
limes- 10 for 1.99
cherries- .99/lb

Cheap Eats: Beans

Me oh my how I love beans. A staple in this house, beans are not only yummy but extremely frugal. If you know how to properly take care of dried beans, any meal you make from them will cost pennies and pack lots of protein and flavor.

It seems with the economy and the on-coming triple digit days of summer, beans are hitting everyone's dinner tables. And I of course, love it.

Wanna know how to soak and cook beans without using so much heat and energy? Stephanie from A Year of Slow Cooking showed us a while back how to use our slow cooker for this purpose. I have done this time and time again now, and I freeze the beans to be used for later meals.

Famous Food writer Mark Bittman recently re-thought the versatility of canned beans. He's very discerning, so the fact that he's giving them another chance says a lot. The canned version aren't as frugal as the dried version, but they are definitely still a frugal staple for those that may not have time for bags of beans.

Just think of the many situations you can use them! Got friends popping over? Take whatever beans you have in the cupboard, grab any spice packet you may have in there(taco seasoning packets are the best!) and throw them into the food processor or blender. Thin it out with a little bit of water or stock and a drizzle of oil; add chips, crackers or veggies, and you've got a party!

Want an easy soup? Dump 2 cans of beans in a pot along with a can of broth(chicken, beef, whatever). Add salt, pepper, two dashes of hot sauce and a bay leaf(or add another seasoning packet! Such a great staple). Simmer for 10 minutes. Take out the bay leaf. Throw half of the soup in the blender and pulse a few times. Add back to the pot, stir and eat! I do this meal a lot in the summer with black beans and taco seasoning. I also add in a bit of turkey meat to make it the ultimate winter meal. It's also great cold in the summer!

Or, you can make our all time favorite bean meal, red beans and rice. This utilizes that summer hot dog stockpile you may attain, along with yummy beans. It's a belly buster meal full of flavor and a little bowl goes a long way.

So what are your favorite, frugal meals to make with beans? Are you a chickpea fan? Let's talk about it! :o)

Quotable Wednesday

"Life is a combination of magic and pasta."

-Federico Fellini

Blog Spotlight- Saving Daily

Today's blog spotlight is a great one. GrannyKaren over at Saving Daily posts quick little treasures to give us great information. Quick recipes, lifelong tips, and things to remember are put up by Karen and boy do I love it! Her most recent quick post is about teaching your kids about handling money by letting them see how you incorporate it into life. She teaches in 3 paragraphs. How great is that?

Check out Saving Daily for more of Karen's wonderful posts. Karen, thank you so much for following my blog and keep those blogging gems coming!

Welcome Swaggrabers!

I just wanted to say a quick hello to all of you who are taking a peek at 4 Hats and Frugal for the Swaggrabber/Old Navy contest. Hello all! So glad to see you here!


To view my full list of recipes, click here. Also, please note that you don't have to post the full recipe as your entry over at swaggrabber. Just post the name of the recipe, and that counts as a valid entry! Sheri is allowing multiple entries for the contest, so feel free to let her know all of the recipes you love.

Contest ends tonight at 8pm EST, so get to browsing!

Thanks again for visiting and I hope to see you again soon...

Meal Plan Monday!

Ok, I know i'm a little late with this one, but hey, I worked yesterday. I was still thinking about what to make while driving. Gotta multi-task, ya know.


Monday: Teriyaki Salmon with wild rice and carrots
Tuesday: Beef Tenderloin Salad with garlic bread
Wednesday: Chicken Picata with rice pilaf and spinach
Thursday: Hot Dogs with french fries and a side salad
Friday: Pizza Day!
Saturday: roast beef sandwiches with chips
Sunday: Leftovers!

Bread of the Week: Wheat
Dessert of the Week: Peanut butter no bake cookies

And the winner is....

As chosen by random.org's True Random Number Generator, the winner of the 50.00 American Stationary Gift Certificate is......

Entry number 45! Jennysmom!

This is hilarious to me because I think that she was one of the only people that actually entered the allotted 8 times(2 on the first day, and 1 on each day after). So.....it pays to come back and enter!

I do plan on having another BIG giveaway to celebrate something great that is coming up. So, when I post that one, maybe everyone will remember to keep entering :op

But, for those of you that did not win, don't fret! American Stationary gave me a code to pass on to you all. Use the code 79992 and get 10% off of any order. Here's a hint: check out their clearance section! They have really cute items in there for wonderful prices.

Thank you all for entering!

Choco-nana pie!

What do you do when it's your kid's birthday, you don't wanna turn on the oven and you wanna let him help with the making of his big day treat? You make choco-nana pie!

My sweet boy loves chocolate. I mean he LOVES chocolate. And bananas. He LOVES bananas too. So, when his birthday was coming and I had this horrible feeling of not wanting to make him a cake in a hot oven, I knew I had to come up with something. I searched around the kitchen and saw some hot chocolate packets and a few ripe bananas. The light bulb went off. And it exploded when we tasted it. Amazing and simple. This week, I let Sonny help mama again so we could take pictures for all of you folks. Let's go through the steps:


Thinly Slice 2 bananas and have your little munchkin place them on the bottom of a graham cracker crust. He's doing such a good job, isn't he?
It should look like this. *slurp* I love bananas.



Place 2 packets of hot chocolate mix(didn't think you'd see this stuff until winter, huh?) in a large bowl and add a 3rd of your whipped topping. Let your kiddo stir like crazy until the powder is mixed into the topping. Then, place the rest of the topping in the bowl and gently fold into the chocolate mix until there are no more dark brown streaks. This is a job for mama, so you do it. Place the whipped topping mix on top of the sliced bananas. But, once your done, let your tiny little energy ball have a taste of that spatula. They deserve it.


Garnish if you please. I placed some banana chips in the middle and some nestle crunch bits around the sides. Shaved milk chocolate or a dusting of powdered cocoa would be awesome too.



We did let this pie "rest" for about 4 hours...only because we had to have dinner and digest a bit. It was heaven on a plate and I hope you have the same experience!

Hubby's favorite yogurt pie

Or, as we call it around here, "The pie that almost ended a friendship."

Here's the back story:

Many moons ago, when Hubby and I were still a lovey-dovey single couple, before the engagement ring, I made this pie. And he loved it. At the time, he was living with his 2 best friends, Mark and Mike. They were brothers and Hubby was their brother from another mother. These friendships were serious. When I made the pie, Hubby and I pretty much ate the whole thing right on the couch. I fed it to him like the sick puppy I was, and he was content. Until it was almost gone and he realized I was leaving the next day to go back home.

That's when he asked me to make him one as a parting gift. I did so the next morning, right before he took me to the airport. When he got back home later that day, he licked his chops in anticipation for the first slice of his yogurt pie only to open the fridge door and see it gone. Poof. Missing. At this same time, Hubby turned around and saw his best buddy, Mark, turning the corner to the kitchen with the pie in hand, his face covered in the messy middle and the biggest spoon they had in the place. Still to this day, Hubby almost cries when I bring up that fateful day. They are still best buddies(Mark was the best man at our wedding), but the Hubs admits he will never look at his "brother" the same way again.


Yogurt Pie

1 graham cracker pie shell(or make your own with leftover cereal!)
1 tub of whipped topping(make sure it's not frozen! Keep in fridge overnight if you have to)
2 cups of your favorite yogurt flavor

Pour the yogurt into a medium sized bowl. Take one third of the whipped topping and stir together with the yogurt. Put the rest of the whipped topping into the bowl and FOLD it into the yogurt mixture. Do this until you dont as many white streaks.
Put the mixture into the pie crust, smooth down the top, cover with plastic wrap, and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

*Tip- if you want it really hard and yummy, place it in the freezer for the 2 hours. It's to die for! Also, this dessert is so easy to make into something low-fat and great for diets. Choose a reduced fat crust, reduced fat whipped topping and a low calorie yogurt. I've made this for friends on weight watchers a few times and they love how many points they save by having this for dessert.

Quotable Wednesday- Oatmeal edition

Oatmeal is entering a golden age, and shoot, who's complainin'? Cheap, easy, and stickable to your bones, oatmeal is like that hot chick every party wants. She's down for whatever (soy milk, syrups, nuts, dried fruits), can look hot in a few minutes (three? sure), and isn't remotely pretentious (just a peasant food behind all the toppings).

-SeriousEats.com

Love this quote!

Mini blueberry crumb cakes

I just love blueberry season. There are just so many ways to use them up and because they are so good for you, I NEVER feel bad about adding tons of sugar to them and making desserts. Or making breakfast items. Or making something that can be both. Hence, the mini crumb cakes. They're cupcakes, they're muffins, they're breakfast, they're dessert. They're just plain good and if used for dessert, deserve to be warmed up and have vanilla ice cream as a supporting actor. I started out using a barefoot contessa recipe for this but found that it was just too much of everything: steps, prep, flour, butter and sugar. Yes, I said sugar. So, I reformed it and included more oil, less butter and sugar, yogurt instead of sour cream, and made them into mini cakes so you don't feel so guilty about eating one.

Mini Blueberry crumb cakes
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa


Crumb topping:
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger(optional)
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons veggie oil(or whatever you have)
1 cup all purpose flour

Cake:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs room tempurature*(see note at bottom)
1 teaspoon vanilla
6oz cup of plain or vanilla yogurt(blueberry could work too!)
1 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of flour, separated
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray your muffin tin with cooking spray(if you have baking spray time to use it!), including the top of the pan. The muffins will spread at the top, so you want the whole thing greased.

Grab 2 bowls. Place the 6 tablespoons of butter into your stand mixer bowl, and the last 2 of the tablespoons into another bowl.
Add the 3/4 cup sugar to the 6 tablespoons and turn the mixer on medium. Let the butter and sugar mix for 5 minutes.

While the mixer is going, add the rest of the crumb topping ingredients to the bowl with the 2 tablespoons of butter. Mix with a fork or pastry cutter. Set aside.

In the 3rd bowl, add all the dry ingredients, except the 1/4cup of flour, for the cake. Mix together with a whisk or a fork.

Take the 1/4 cup of flour and toss the berries with it.

Once the butter and sugar is well mixed, after 5 minutes, add in one egg at a time. Add in the yogurt. Then, gradually add in the dry ingredients until it's all incorporated.
Turn off mixer, get spatula, and fold in the dusted blueberries.
Place the cake mixture in the muffin tins. Take the crumb topping and cover each muffin with some of the mixture. The whole top of the muffin should be covered with it and you should pat the crumb topping onto the muffins.

Bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted butter knife comes out clean.

Let cool for 15 minutes, and carefully pull the cakes out of the tin. Place on a cooling rack to let them cool completely.

*note: if you don't have time or forget to take the eggs out, you can get them to room temperature by doing this: place the eggs in a mug and cover with warm, not hot, water. Let the eggs sit while the butter and sugar are mixing and by the time you need to use them, they will be room temperature.

Meal Plan Monday!

I'm so bad....I just got a tiny stockpile of tuna, and I plan on using it up this week. I have to start making the recipes on here that don't have pictures to them. The poor babies just seem naked without pictures, and i'm not rich enough to just spend a day cooking them all just to take pictures of them. I leave that luxuriousness for THE PIONEER WOMAN. He He. So, this week, we'll focus on my faux crab cakes and a picture of my teriyaki sauce on yummy chicken wings. That should suffice for now. Also, because of Sonny's free birthday dinner, our meals were pushed back a day. The slow cooker meatloaf will be our first meal this week. Carrots will be the main veggie all week since it's what I got on clearance last week. .99 for 5 pounds...can't beat that!

Monday: Slow cooker meatloaf with mashed potatoes and braised carrots
Tuesday: Faux crab cakes with rice pilaf and carrots
Wednesday: Teriyaki chicken wings(made quick in the broiler!) with steamed broccoli
Thursday: Turkey Sausage spaghetti with garlic butter topped brioche
Friday: Pizza! Thinking of making white pizza this week. Should have recipe posted that day.
Saturday and Sunday: Mama is off to serve her Country! The boys will kill off the leftovers.

Bread of the week: Wheat
Dessert of the week: Blueberry crumb cake(new recipe this week!)

Shop Rite 7/12-7/18

McCormick grinders- .99
use the 1.00/1 coupon from 5/10 RP- FREE

Bumble bee premium albacore 3oz pouch- 1.00
use 1.00/1 coupon from 6/14SS- FREE

soy or rice dream milks- 3 for 5.00
use .75/1 printable coupon doubled- .16 each

hefty foam plates - 1.19
use .50/1 coupon from 6/21RP doubled- .19

hefty one zip bags- 1.19
use 1.00/1 coupon from 5/17RP- .19

zatarains rice mix- 1.00
use .75/2 coupon from 6/7RP doubled- .25 each

Dole canned pineapple- 1.00 each
use .55/2 coupon from 6/28SS doubled- .45 each

Airwick freshmatic starter kit- 4.49
use 4.00/1 printable coupon- .49

Luigi's Italian Ice- 1.99
use .75/1 coupon from 6/28RP doubled- .49

Hefty Easy Grip Cups $1.99
use .75/1 coupon from 5/17RP doubled- .50

pop secret popcorn- 1.00
use .50/2 coupon from 6/14SS doubled- .50 each

peter pan peanut butter- 1.50
use 1.00/1 coupon from May 22nd All You magazine- .50

Hormel compleats- 2.00
use .75/1 coupon from 7/12SS doubled- .50

Chi-chi's Salsa- 1.64
use .55/1 coupon 5/17SS doubled- .54

chef boyardee pasta- 1.00 each
use .35/3 coupon from 5/31SS(DND-5)- .76 each if your store doubles it anyway

Schick quattro titanium razor- 4.99
use 4.00/1 coupon from 6/14SS- .99

Hot pockets, subs, or croissants- 2.00
use .50/1 coupon from 5/17SS doubled- 1.00

President Feta- 2.50
use 1.00/1 coupon from 5/3SS- 1.50

pam spray- 2.50
use .35/1 coupon from 6/21SS doubled- 1.80


other deals:
farm flavor apple juice- .99
watermelon- .39/lb
spanish onions- .79/lb

$50.00 gift certificate for American Stationary

One of my lesser known obsessions is stationary. I know, it seems weird, but just love getting little thank you cards or cute pieces of writing paper with my name on it. Maybe it's because I love my married name. Maybe it's because I love to write notes of any kind. Maybe it's because I enjoy the little things in life like rough edges on pretty colored paper. I don't know why. Don't judge me.

The only thing about my obsession is that it can be very expensive. It's one of those luxuries that you love but dread paying for. Now, for one Christmas, a dear sweet friend of mine, someone I call my second Mother-In-Law(she's the cutest woman and loves DH and I like we are her own kids), purchased some stationary for me from American Stationary. It was the first Christmas that I was Mrs. Paul Bunyan, so I was so excited to see my married name on well crafted paper and beautiful envelopes.I immediately asked her to tell me where she ordered them from. After using up all of my stationary and staring at their site for over an hour, I was so impressed that I ended up using them for the announcement of our sweet baby boy's arrival, and do plan on using them for any upcoming *ahem* announcements we may make in the future.

Now, because of my love for American Stationary, and because I showed them how much of a geek I am for their products, they are allowing me to give one lucky reader 50 dollars to spend on their site! How cool is that?!

Now, to get started on your gifts for the Holidays, you can order stationary for a newlywed couple you know, or maybe order a memo set for a new college student. Hey, you can just hoard the gift card and get YOURSELF something nice. It's your prerogative, baby!



There are 3 ways to enter:

1. Go to American Stationary and tell me which item tickles your fancy the most. Is it the ink stampers? The organic items? The embroidered guest towels? I'm dying to know.

2. Go back through my Christmas In July mini-series and let me know one tip that you plan on taking advantage of the rest of the year. The English teacher in me wants to see if you learned at least one thing while reading. Post it as a whole other comment separate from the comment about your favorite American Stationary item(it will be easier for me to track your entries this way).

3. Now, because I haven't done a giveaway in a while, and because I love you all, and because American Stationary rocks, I'm going to let you all enter once DAILY! So, come back to the blog everyday and re-enter(a link to the giveaway will be at the top right). Just type "another entry" or "day (whatever) entry" and you get another chance to win.


Please make sure to leave your (junk) e-mail WITH EACH ENTRY! If you are on blogger, you don't have to worry about it. I can get your e-mail through your screen name. Please don't forget this. I would hate to have to pick another winner because you didn't leave your e-mail.

The contest will end next Thursday, July 16th, at 11:59pm EST.

Christmas In July- Buying all year

This is most definitely not a ground breaking idea, but if you pay attention to store and online sales all year, you can create a great head start to your holiday shopping. Paying attention to liquidation sales, clearance sales, and stores who constantly give out coupons for their patrons will put you one step ahead.

I find that online deals seem to be the best option for "stockpiling" holiday gifts. With the many codes out there for free shipping and percentages off at certain sites, we can easily come out ahead. If you are able to turn this into a year-round routine, by Autumn you will be swimming in various options for the holidays and may even be able to increase your gift list.

One of my favorite blog sites to view for all year deals is Swaggrabber. Sheri constantly posts wonderful deals for 70, 80 or even 90% off items at various sites. One of my favorite sites that she posts deals for is amazon.com. One, because they offer such a great variety of items that when they have clearance sales, you're able to choose from a plethora of goodies. And two, because I can combine the amazon.com gift cards that I get with my swagbucks, with the clearance sales and get lots of gifts for next to nothing.
Sheri usually has 2 or more great deals a week, so you can easily dedicate a month or so to stocking up on gifts and end up spending next to nothing.

Now, if you plan on buying anything online, you should make sure that you check sites like ebates or cashbaq to see if they offer a percentage back for your purchases. Here's the way these sites work: if you plan on buying from an online store, you check their list of vendors. If that store is on their list, they will give you a percentage back on whatever you purchase at that site. You will have to connect to the site through ebates or cashbaq(they will have a link for you to click so you get credit for your purchases), but thats a small price to pay for getting money back.

Planning on traveling during the summer or for the holidays? Cashbaq and Ebates also give you money back for booking a room at your favorite hotel. Last holiday season, we ended up getting back 100 dollars from ebates for our hotel reservations for thanksgiving and Christmas AND for the last few gifts I ordered online. Not bad for money we weren't expecting to get back.

Hopefully everyone learned one or two things from this quick series. Do you use ebates or cashbaq? Have you tried any of the deals posted on swaggrabber? What was your experience?

We interrupt this program....

To announce that A&P, Superfresh and Walbaums are having triple coupons starting today!

So, needless to say, as you read this, I will be at the store searching out deals.

Come back this afternoon for the last installment of Christmas In July, and for Shop Rite match ups for next week.

Also, after you've had your dinner, come back for a wonderful 50 dollar giveaway I am doing to celebrate my lil old mini-series. 50. Bucks. From one of my favorite sites. Interested?

Come back and see me!

Love y'all!

-4 hats

Christmas In July- The Freebies!

Now, that we've touched on making money off of your old electronics and making your change and dollar bills work for you, let's touch on ways to create gifts without using any money.

Whether you know it or not, there are quite a few sites that "pay" you with points just for reading e-mails they send off to you. One of my favorite sites that does this is called mypoints.
Mypoints sends you e-mails and asks you to click certain buttons to view the main page of their sponsors. You do get extra points for signing up at these sites or ordering from them, but that is NOT an obligation. With every e-mail, you attain 5 points. Now here is the way to really get this going: mypoints also sends you little surveys to do. If you qualify for the whole survey, you can earn up to 50 points, and if you don't, you still get 10 points. Little Known Fact: This is yet another way I do giveaways on here! Since I started in February, I have gotten 7 gift cards!

The best part of getting all of your points is that you can trade them in for wonderful gift cards. Itunes, TGI Fridays, Restaurant.com, Regal Cinemas, they are all available. They even have gift cards for my two favorite national drug stores, CVS and Walgreens.

Another great site that I just discovered is Zoom Panel. After you fill out a short form about yourself, they send you surveys that they need your particular opinions on. Although the surveys can be long, you can take as long as you want to do them. The best part about this site is that their prizes aren't just gift cards. Collect enough points and you can trade them in for earrings, toasters, coffee makers or even bluetooth items. I've only been at it for less than 2 weeks and already have 480 points. Since you need at least 1000 points to be able to pick from the prizes, I am well on my way to getting a good gift from just sitting on my bum at home.

Do you find yourself googling like crazy all day for all types of things? What if you could get paid bucks for doing so? Let me introduce you to swagbucks. I love swagbucks. You use their site to do your online searches, and for certain searches that you do, you get "swagbucks." Sometimes it's for 1 buck, sometimes it's for 3 bucks and sometimes you are even picked at random to recieve 100 bucks. If you are going to search online anyway, this is a great way to attain goodies. Swagbucks also gives away gift cards, but they also exchange your bucks for credits towards online stores. This is wonderful when the holiday seasons roll around and the online sales start. You will be able to have instant money waiting for you without having to spend a dime. I call that a good deal.

How to take full advantage of these sites

Now when it comes to all three of these, the more you use them, the more points you will attain, obviously. For mypoints and zoom panel this is especially true. The more e-mails you answer, the more you will get back. They will send you quite a few a day, so leave your (junk) e-mail up on your computer and try to get to them when you can. I've had a few people say that they signed up for mypoints but didn't get enough e-mails to make a difference. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Every little bit counts, and once they see that you are regularly answering the e-mails, they will start to send you the survey opportunites to help you attain even more points. Diligence and patience recieves the best rewards!

When it comes to swagbucks, you may want to add the small swagbucks toolbar to your screen. Where you have a google or msn search engine(usually at the top right of your screen), you can change that to a swagbucks search engine. This will help remind you to use it instead of google, MSN, or yahoo. Also, Fridays are the best days for searching! Swagbucks does Mega Bucks Fridays, where your searches can earn you from 3 bucks to 50 to 100 bucks. Some chat rooms, like the one on swaggrabber.com, does trivia games on fridays that revolve around you searching for the answer via swagbucks.


Now these may seem like little, tiny, tedious steps to getting gifts for the holidays, but just think of it this way: if you start with at least one of these methods now, by november you should be able to cross off 2 or 3 people from your gift list without using a dime of your own money. You can't tell me that doesn't intrigue you! If you can't do all 3, make a vow to at least give one a try. Choose one that will be easiest for your lifestyle and just go with it. You won't regret it once December rolls around.

Now what if you have some funds for the Holidays but want to stretch it as much as possible? Stay tuned tomorrow for the last part of the mini-series!

Christmas In July- Make the money work for you

If you missed Part One of the mini-series, scroll down or click here.

Now that we've got some "fundage" from handing in those old electronics, what should you do with it?

How about a Christmas Club at your local bank? These popular bank accounts from the 70s and 80s are finally making a comeback due to the high interest rate they offer. Most banks offer a higher interest rate on their Christmas Clubs then they do for their regular savings accounts.

Not really wowed by your bank's Christmas Club? Create an ING account. ING is awesome because you can schedule for payments to be taken from you account and if you come into a windfall of money, you can easily transfer it into the account. This is what we use for our "Christmas club" account and have small payments of 10 dollars a week taken out of our bank account. By the time Christmas rolls around, we are ready for any extra gifts that may pop up. The best part is that if we don't use all of the savings, they can be rolled over for next year, or rolled into another sub-account that may need extra money. It's a win-win situation!

Speaking of money, what about all of your change? Do you collect it? What do you do with it once it's all together? By collecting change, you can easily save up hundreds of dollars a year. Some take the time to roll their change and deposit into a savings account. Others have wonderful banks with change machines that will count the change for them and deposit into the account. What do we do with our change? We take it to the coinstar machine. No, not to get money back(they take .08 of every dollar you put in there!), but to exchange it for gift cards! I actually do this 2 to 3 times a year and save them up for Christmas. They can also exhange your change for amazon.com gift certificates. Little known secret: this is one of the ways I do giveaways on here!

Another great tip is to create a dollar jar. Dollars are something that we take for granted when spending, so coming home and emptying your wallet of those dollar bills shouldn't make too much of a difference. Before you know it, you'll have another amount to add to your Christmas Club account. On average, when I did this last year, I saved around 50 dollars a month just from dollar bills. Some months, it was even more. We had an extra 700 dollars to use as we pleased during the holiday season. This year we are saving 5 dollar bills instead. We see them less, but we've saved quite a bit already. I could tell you how much so far, but what's the fun in that?

But what if you have no extra money to even start a holiday savings? There's still hope...tune in tomorrow!

Christmas In July- Getting paid for your Junk

When we attain quite a bit of electronic items and don't know what to do with them once they start taking over, we tend to panic. Why did I get this? Why did I keep this? Where can I put it? Then we realize the value of the internet and try to find ways to get rid of them for somewhat of a profit.


Well, we know of sites like ebay and craigslist, but there a few other ways to not only get rid of items and make money, but to do something for your fellow man and save the environment.

Flipswap is a company that will buy back your old cell phones and properly refurbishes them for later use. They take pride in recieving phones, offering you a fair price, and making sure old phones don't end up in landfills. If you have old phones WITH the chargers and/or owners manual, flipswap is your best bet.

Gazelle is a similiar company to Flipswap, but they take more than cell phones. Old cell phones, mp3 players, laptops, camcorders, movies, and more, are accepted by gazelle. If you have higher priced items that are just taking up space, you will want to check out gazelle and find out their price range.

The best part of all this is that they pay for shipping.

Now what does this have to do with the holidays? Flipswap offers to take your cell phones and change them into charitable donations. For someone that has everything, giving a donation in their name is a great gift. And, of course, the money you would get back from handing in these items can be saved for frugal, yet fabulous, gifts.

Now that we have the money, how do we shop? More on that tomorrow....

P.S.- I am in no way affiliated with the two websites mentioned here, I just like the cut of their jib.

Happy Birthday, Sonny Boy!!

The birthday boy with his birthday crown eating his birthday breakfast....

Christmas in July- The mini series

Well, it's that time of year again. No, not Christmas, but it is time to start thinking about it. I know, it's 5 months away, but if you don't start now, you'll regret all the extra money spent trying to get all the gifts you need for those on your list. Why not be proactive and save in the process!

This is why, for the rest of the week, I will be doing a mini-series on the best ways to get Christmas done....in July. That's right, you can finish up those gifts, or at least get a great start, during the rest of this month.

I touched on this idea last year in this post, but I want to delve into the idea even more this year. Plus, at the end of the week, I have a wonderful giveaway to get you all started some great, personalized gifts.

So, stay tuned and get ready to start preparing for a frugal holiday!

Meal Plan Monday!

This week my boy turns 4! My ovaries are aching right now. No more babies in the house. What ever will I do? Before I decide to create another, I have to celebrate the birth of this one, so Mama's gonna make two of his favorite items on Tuesday for the big day. I do love to make him cuppy cakes for his birthday, but I think this year, he deserves something different. Something chocolate. Let's see what I come up with.

Monday: Mustard Thyme Tilapia with carrots and yellow rice
Tuesday: Sonny Boy's 4th Birthday! Making his favorites: beefy enchilada bake and something chocolate for dessert...no idea what yet :o)
Wednesday: Chicken Thigh spaghetti
Thursday: Beans(made with smoked turkey) and Cornbread
Friday: Hubs and I are going out...all night! Leftovers for all before Sonny goes to Grandma's
Saturday: Pizza! Like for real pizza! We haven't had tried and true pizza in a few weeks
Sunday: Slow cooker meat loaf(from freezer meatloaf) with mashed potatoes and carrots

Bread of the week: Breadmaker Brioche and Cornbread
Dessert of the Week: Whatever I made for the boy's birthday? Chocolate frosting brownies? Chocolate monkey bread? Chocolate popcorn? Who knows..... :o)

June grocery savings

Total items purchased: 296
Total coupons used: 158
Total before coupons and discounts: 680.43
Total out of pocket: 193.75
Total savings: 486.68
Total number of free items: 97
Re-usable bag credits: .75
Total amount received from rebates: 83.50
Total OOP after rebates: 110.25

Organic items total before savings: 46.85
Organic items total after savings: 0.00
Organic savings: 100%

This was a big stock up month for us, so we actually had an OOP this month. Plus, I didn't get a lot of rebates back this month, so that was another factor. I can't comlplain though. If you look at my stockpile list(bottom right), I have all of that stocked right now in the pantry, fridge and freezer. Also, did you see my organic savings? That's all organic lemonade! I've been getting it for free all month and will continue to get it for free during July. The coupon that allows me to get it free after the double coupon policy doesn't expire until 7/31, so I got alot of stockpiling to do!

Independence Day Goodies!

To start off the festivities, I thought I would re-post some of the best goodies that compliment the grilling season. Whether the party's at your place, or you're off to some else's abode, these recipes should get you in good graces.


NEW: Slow Cooker BBQ baked beans
Homemade spice rub
Chocolate frosting brownies
Slow Cooker caramelized onions
My apple pie
Honey Bun cake
Easy Teriyaki Marinade
Greek Style Chicken Breast
Toasted Oats Cereal Bars
Quick Lemonade

What are you all making for the big grilling day? Anything new?

Slow cooker BBQ baked beans

1 bag dry navy beans(or great northern beans)
2 bottles of your favorite BBQ sauce(around 18oz each)
1 small onion, chopped small
3 cups of the bean water, reserved
1/4 cup sugar
optional: half pound bacon


Place the beans in a large tupperware container(or even in your slow cooker). Cover with at least 6 cups of water and soak for at least 8 hours in the fridge. This step is so important; if you don't soak them long enough, they won't get as soft as they should once they are done cooking.
After the soaking period, chop the onion into small cubes and place on the bottom of the slow cooker sleeve.
Drain the beans but keep 3 cups of the bean water. Place the beans in the slow cooker sleeve.
Pour the two bottles of BBQ sauce on top of the beans and then slowly pour the reserved water on top of everything else.
Turn on high and cook for 12 hours, stirring halfway through.
At the end, throw in the sugar and stir.
Optional: you can also cut up half a pound of bacon(pork or turkey) and add it to the mixture. If you do this, I suggest microwaving it in between two paper towels for 30 seconds, then chopping it up. Putting it in raw will create too much grease in the bean mixture once it's cooked.

It's that easy! Now keep in mind, these won't taste like those canned mushy beans. If you've ever been camping or REALLY camped in the woods, and have made baked beans in a dutch oven over a fire, then you'll remember these. If you haven't, you're in for a wonderful surprise. These are firmer than the canned beans and have an amazing taste just like they were made over a wood fire.

I recommend that you soak the beans the day before you are going to serve them and put them in the crockpot the night before the party, right before you get ready for bed. Since they take such a long time, you can have them cook while you sleep, stir them as soon as you get up, and then turn them off a few hours later. OR, you can just do the whole process a few days before the shindig, and reheat them in the crockpot the day of. It's up to you.

Stockpile Double Agent series- BBQ sauce

This time of year, those of us that stockpile get overwhelmed with the amount of BBQ sauce we attain. Sometimes we get scared of stocking up because you have to think about how you're gonna use up all of it! Well, I think I have a few ideas:


Add green onions, soy sauce and ground ginger to make it into an Asian sauce. This is too yummy on barbecued chicken wings or breasts.

Add canned tomato sauce, a bay leaf and shredded beef to a bottle of your favorite sauce and 2 cups of water. Instant BBQ soup! This will be a great recipe addition in the winter, when you miss that barbecue taste but don't want to go out in the cold to grill. You can also use cubed chicken or leftover ground beef instead of the shredded beef.

Last but not least, make slow cooker BBQ baked beans! Wanna know how? Click here to see the recipe.

Do you do anything different with your BBQ sauce besides basting and using as a dipping sauce?