Kelly's Thrifty Tips - Give A Little Bit

Before I get started with some thrifty tips, I wanted to offer up a few ways that you can give in a way that will bless and cost you nothing.

Dress For Success: Dress for Success is an organization that is all over America as well as moving on in some other countries as well. Dress for Success strives to help disadvantaged women achieve independence by providing attire, career assistance and also networking support. From today, February 24 to 27 they are having SOS Weekend which stands for Send One Suit. You can bring a nearly-new dress suit in to any Dress Barn to donate to Dress For Success. They have all kinds of needs too. Suits, pocketbooks, and shoes. Check out the Dress For Success website for more and for Dress Barn locations go to Dress Barn's website.

LINK: Dress For Success
LINK: Dress Barn

Donate used cell phones to Shelter Alliance for recycling. Domestic violence shelters can earn up to $30. Go to the website to print out a prepaid shipping label.

LINK: Shelter Alliance Donate Cell Phones

Are you an avid reader? Consider donating your books to soldiers. Books For Soldiers helps you donate to a soldier or a whole unit. For soldier's security, you do need to register. Get details and get started at the link below.

LINK: Books For Soldiers


GREAT GIVEAWAY SITE


How long has it been since I have posted a cool giveaway site. I think it has been a while so how about a fabulous one? Check out Blog Giveaway Directory which truly can be your one stop, blog giveaway place. I have mentioned time and time again how much I love blogs and how you can not just learn a thing or two but also win a thing or two. Check out Blog Giveaway Directory where they will point you to some amazing giveaways. You can win clothing, gift cards, food, entertainment items like books and movies. The possibilities are endless!

LINK: Blog Directory Giveaway


FREE SAMPLES

While supplies last you can sign up for a free sample of New Fragrance Shampoo from Creme of Nature. We are talking yummy Sunflower and Coconut! Doesn't that sound amazing?

LINK: Creme of Nature Shampoo

Join Kraft First Taste and you can take advantage of some amazing offers. It is lots of fun getting the chance to try a new product and give your opinion. If you haven't signed up, check them out and sign up. If you have signed up in the past, go sign in and check your account. You may have an offer for a coupon for free Philadelphia Cooking Creme.

LINK: Kraft First Taste

Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic has another event this weekend. The Build and Grow Clinics are a great activity for the kids. This Saturday they will make a wooden race car with a pull back motor and on March 12 they can build a shoot around basketball game. These are all free fun for the kids. Don't miss out. Follow the link below to sign up.

LINK: Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics

Another fun free event is at Target. Target will be hosting Dr. Seuss Story Time from 9 am to 11 am at your local Target. Encourage your child's love of reading and maybe get some fun giveaways and snacks too. Contact your local Target to see where their reading event will be located.

LINK: Target Read Across America

More awesome music awaits at Free CCM. You can download Cloverton's "Take Me Into The Beautiful" as well as Know Hope Collective "Build Us Back," Parachute Band "Peace On Earth," Jonny Diaz "What I'm Waiting For," Todd Agnew "Reach Down," and Sara Groves "When It Was Over." The Cloverton song requires you to go on a special link and put in your name and email and the download link will be sent to you. The other downloads are free on the FreeCCM website.

LINK: Free CCM Free Music Downloads

iTickets.com has a free download of Brian Doerksen's "The Jesus Way"

LINK: Free Music at iTickets

Learn to make some tasty restaurant treats in a healthier way. Not only are these recipes better for you, they will eliminate your need for some of the more pricey restaurant options because you can make them at home. Download the free ebook from Fave Diets called "28 No-Guilt Copy Cat Restaurant Recipes." Making these great recipes at home will definitely help take a bit of a load off of your wallet. When you go to the page just click to download you do not have to join anything even though a pop up opens. Just close it.

LINK: Recipe Book

Go to the Redbox Facebook page and click on Freebie today to get your free code for a free movie tonight! Remember it is only good for today (February 24th)

LINK: Redbox Freebie

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

After all the yummy candy indulgence that Valentine's Day brought, I thought I would share with you an awesome fitness site. FitDay.com is amazing. It is a free online diet and fitness journal that helps you keep track of calories, exercise, goals and lots more. Seriously it is a fabulous fitness tool that you can enjoy for free. It has very extensive information that will really help you make wise decisions and stick to your fitness goals.

LINK: FitDay


Lately I have been thinking about preservatives along with prices. Prices are still one of the highest concerns for me. This has caused me to start looking into what I can make at home rather than pay for the convenience of premade. Here are a few recipe links that I have found.


MEATBALL RECIPE



Back in the day, I used to make meatballs, sausage and peppers. For convenience sake, I stopped making my own meatballs and started buying frozen. They were definitely convenient, but not necessarily a good value. One of the good things about frozen meatballs was that they taste great. I had no idea that they did. I finally realized that if I can make meatballs fresh, I can certainly make them and freeze them for later. There are a lot of great recipes out there, but one that I liked is from Tammy's Recipes. Tammy has a lot of fabulous recipes. Even if you do not want to try your hand at meatballs take a browse around her website. You will not be disappointed. The link here is for a spaghetti and meatball recipe, but it is separate so check out the meatballs they are good for anything. I also have a great Italian meatball recipe that I got from Cooks.com that is pretty awesome too.

Freezing is super easy too. I fill the sink up half way with water, put the meatballs in a freezer bag, and submerge the bag enough in the water to get the air out and also making sure the water doesn't go in. This has worked like a charm.



HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP


Another thing I have wanted to make of my own is laundry soap. I have found lots of great recipes and this one below I have found all over. This one in particular I got from the Duggar's Favorite Family Recipes. :)

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (can get at some grocery stores and many hardware stores)
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is not baking soda make sure you buy the right stuff)
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

HOMEMADE YOGURT


I am a true lover of yogurt, and though I am thankful to find it on sale fairly often, I was thrilled when I found a totally easy recipe. This is from one of my favorite bloggers, Kristen The Frugal Girl. This is a recipe that you can do without any fancy equipment. Check it out here.

GRANOLA BARS

Kristen also has a fabulous recipe for granola bars. I only by these when they are on a super sale and I have coupons with this recipe, I won't have to. My son loves them. Check it out here.




FREEBIES

Okay this is again one of those deals that you need to go to Facebook for and you need to be there at a certain time. To show appreciation to their fans, Tide is offering a bottle of Tide Stain Release to the first 5,000 fans to respond at 3:00 pm EST. Give it a shot by following the link below. Don't forget to "like" them.

LINK: Tide Facebook Freebie

Join P&G Everyday Solutions, and you can request a huge variety of coupons that will be mailed to your door. They also have a great quarterly free sample program.

LINK: P&G Everyday Solutions

If you didn't order these last week, I highly recommend ordering Love Handles Cards from Dr. David Jeremiah. I ordered mine last Wednesday, and I got them this Wednesday. They are really cool. You get to see how men and women approach things and how to merge those ways together to better your relationships. Truly I highly recommend this set.

LINK: Love Handles Cards

Join Benihana's Chef Table and you will get a $30 Benihana Birthday Certificate.

LINK: Benihana

Sign up with Rewards Gold, refer three friends, take a survey and do two reviews, and you can get a subscription to Forbes magazine. It is VERY simple. I have been fortunate to get many subscriptions through Rewards Gold, and I cannot recommend it enough. Follow the link below.

LINK: Rewards Gold subscription to Forbes magazine



Download the Parachute Band's "Peace On Earth" at FreeCCM. As usually FreeCCM still has some of their amazing download offerings from the last few week's artists Jonny Diaz, Todd Agnew, Sara Groves, Phil Wickham, Chris Rice and The Afters.

LINK: Free CCM Music downloads

iTickets.com has some wonderful music downloads this week with "Show Me" by Audrey Assad, "Attention" by Know Hope Collective, and "Be Lifted High" by Bethel Live.

LINK: iTickets Music downloads

New Release Tuesday Members can download "Skeleton" by Hawk Nelson from their new CD "Crazy Love" and "Gave It All" by Parachute Band from their CD "Love Without Measure." Join up, it is free to join, you get great music and great CD previews too.

LINK: Free Music Downloads from New Release Tuesday

Tips on a good Dining out Experience

Some interesting tips provided by waiter's and waitresses to help you have a better dining experience. Click here to read the entire article.

Credit Card Crisis

Here are some credit card purchases that experts say cash-strapped consumers should avoid at all costs. Click here to read the entire article.

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Here is a great website for saving money. Mashupmom.com. Mashup Mom is a website with all kinds of valuable information. There are printable coupons, e-coupons, store deals and freebies, and information on working from home. Seriously, this is a fine site that you are going to love.

LINK: Mashup Mom


RECYCLING ORGANIZING TIP

It is cold and flu season which means if your family is anything like my family, you are using a lot of tissue. Instead of just throwing the empty boxes out, consider cutting the tops off and using them as organizers in the various drawers around the house. They are great in the bathroom to organize make up, brushes, curling irons and hair accessories. They also work great to keep an underwear and sock drawer in order. Don't cut the tops off and use them to hold the plastic bags you take home from the store for later use. Keep them in the laundry room to toss in lint from the dryer. When it is filled up, toss it out.

Or don't toss out that dryer lint. There are actually some things you can do with it.

Dryer Lint Crafts - PlanetPals.com has some craft recipes that help you make clay, paper, and paper mache.

Dryer lint can be used as a compost ingredient.

Dryer lint can be left in the trees for birds to use as nesting materials. This works great for the birds but the draw back is it also provides some cozy materials for mice. Weigh this into the equation before you spread the lint out for this use.

I have also seen dryer lint suggested as a great fire starter for camping or for the fireplace. Some suggest putting some lint inside toilet paper or paper towel tubes, and filling the ends of the tubes with newspaper. The tubes can be inserted into the wood as kindling. I also read about filling up cardboard egg carton slots with dryer lint, covering the lint with melted wax, letting this dry and then separating each egg cup by tearing them apart and using those as starters as well. Some are for these methods and some are against it. Do you own searching and check it out. By the way, safety was not an issue. Some people just felt it didn't work well where others felt it did. I do know that one of our listeners, BJ uses egg cartons and melted wax as starter so that definitely does work. The lint is just an added part. If you do use dryer lint for burning, I have been told that cotton lint is the way to go. Stay away from polyester lints as they can be smokey.






FREE SAMPLES

Walmart.com has another free sample of Maybelline FIT Me foundation. Sign up and get all 18 shades. This is a whiles supplies last so don't wait on it.

LINK: Maybelline FIT Me Foundation

FREE FOOD

Taco Bell is giving a coupon to the first 1 million people to like them on Facebook. This coupon is worth one free crunchy taco. You do have to print the coupon. You will probably notice that they have over a million people already liking them, but this is new so give it a shot.

LINK: Taco Bell Free Taco

Like Cheez It on Facebook and vote for their new flavor, and while supplies last you can get a free sample. I love Cheez-Its so this is a freebie, I couldn't pass up. Hurry though.

LINK: Cheese It Sample via Facebook


FREE FAMILY RESOURCE


Dr. David Jeremiah has Love Handles. No not the belly kind, the kind that can lead to relationship bliss. Here is a quote from the website: Love Handles” provides twenty-five key topics where the two divergent views can be looked at and the “perfect blend” can be found to promote harmony in a relationship. Learn how to “get a grip on bliss” with “Love Handles.”

LINK: Love Handles

FREE ENTERTAINMENT

I just love, love, love FreeCCM. They always have interesting music news, interviews and even devotionals, and of course there is the plethora of free music! This week's newest free be is Jonny Diaz song "What I am Waiting For." There are still some great flashback tunes from Todd Agnew, Sara Groves, Phil Wickham, The Afters, and Chris Rice.

LINK: Free CCM Music

For a limited time you can download a 4 song EP from Abandon Kansas via Amazon.

LINK: Abandon Kansas download

If you are new to Amazon On Demand you can sign up and get $5 credit. This credit has to be used by March 31, 2011 and cannot be used on every video on demand (the video will tell you this). The credit will be applied to qualifying purchases through their video on demand.

LINK: Amazon Video On Demand promo

Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics has a special project on February 12th. Your child can build a music box with a heart shaped lid. It is very, very cute. While at the sign up page you might also like to sign up your child for the class on February 26th to build a pull-back #48 race car. Check out the link for all the details and to sign up. Classes begin at 10:00 am, and remember you must follow the link to register.

LINK: Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics

Send a virtual Valentine from an app on the Redbox facebook page, and you will get a code for a free Valentine's movie rental for you and your recipient will get one too! This rental code will only be good on Valentine's day. There are several varieties to send, and they are awfully cute. Even the intro is pretty sweet.

LINK: Free Redbox rental code when you send a Valentine

The Nose Knows

Find out 5 everyday scents that may help you in weight loss, upping your workouts and may help you sleep better. Click on the title above to read the entire article.

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Whether you are all about Valentine's Day or not, I thought it would be nice to share some ideas and links for inexpensive Valentine gifts and crafts, because it is always nice to show the ones we love how much we love them. If money is tight, do not spend more than you can afford. There are lots of ways to share your love with the ones you love if you just get a little creative.


KID CRAFTS

When I was a child, I loved crafts. Kaboose has some amazing crafts for the kids that are fun and frugal. Follow the link below to get lessons on making Valentine Cards, a Valentine Pinata, paper crafts (I just love the puffy paper heart) and candy rings. Seriously, you and your child can get lost for hours making fun treats to share. You will also notice on the right of their web page a video loop of fun crafts from Family Fun.

LINK: Kaboose Valentine Day Crafts


TREATS FOR YOUR SWEETHEART

If you would like to spoil the love of your life with some yummy treats, Kaboose is the place for you too. They have scads of fabulous recipes for you to play around with. I was extremely intrigued by the dessert pizza and the cappuccino truffles really called to me. Of course I plan on making the treats and giving.

PRINTABLES

Mint Printables has free printable Valentine stationary that might be just right to make a sweet note for the ones you love.

Presentation Magazine has some lovely printable free Valentine Cards. All you need is some card stock and a printer.

I found some nice romantic coupons at parenting.leehansen.com. These are of the Breakfast in Bed, A Hug For No Reason variety with two coupons you can write in. Might I suggest the coupon for winning one argument no questions asked. That is a nice gift to give.

I can't draw a heart. I should correct that statement. I can draw a heart, but I cannot draw an even heart. My hearts always end up somewhat lopsided. This caused me to look around for some simple heart templates. I found one at Family Fun. This will work great for any kind of craft where you need a nice, perfect heart.

RANDOM ACTS OF VALENTINE'SNESS

Here are a few other things you can do for Valentine's Day. Surprise your children or spouse with love notes. This requires planning. Take the time to write some small love notes and leave them in various places where your loved ones will find them. Put them in pockets, under pillows, in lunch boxes, the car, silverware drawer, the bathroom mirror and wherever else it will be a surprise. Even if your loved one doesn't find the notes all in one day, it will be nice for them to randomly find these sweet notes from you.

Does your spouse like coffee? Send them off to work with their favorite blend.

Create a love jar. Pick up a Mason Jar or even recycle a jar you have at home. Fill this jar with candies (Hershey kisses, jelly bellies, those candy hearts with the sayings on them), little love notes from you, and some coupons like the printables above.

If your love likes crosswords, buy them a puzzle book. My husband loves Arizona Highways Magazine so one thing I like to do when at Thrift Stores is look for old issues so he can have fun looking at the past. Make a mixed CD of songs that remind you of him/her.

Hand massages. Yep. Hand or feet really, but if you are squeamish with feet, I totally recommend a hand massage. My husband didn't even know he liked having his hands massaged until I did that for him.

Instead of doing dinner which can be pricey and definitely crowded, go out for lunch or make a dinner at home. Rent a movie that will make your spouses day, and pick up their favorite theater treats and have a fun date night at home.

Always keep in mind that it is not what you do but who you do it with. Shower the people you love with kindness and love all day. You will all reap the benefits.

FREEBIES

Looking to get your Omega 3 vitamin kick, but not sure what to buy? Walmart has a sample on their site for MegaRed Omega 3 Krill Oil. Follow the link below. Don't forget that these deals are available only while supplies last.

LINK: MegaRed Omega 3 Krill Oil

I am always looking for the next best thing to make my skin feel amazing. I jumped on the chance to get a free 1.5 ml sample of Origins Plantscription anti-aging serum. Like them on Facebook and you are in!

LINK: Origins Plantscription

If you like almonds, check out this deal. On game day, February 6 at 6pm EST, you can go to Planter's Mr Peanut Facebook page and get a coupon for free Flavor Grove Almonds. They are giving 25,000 coupons away.

LINK: Planter's Flavor Grove Almonds

February 4th is free Coffee-Mate day. Coffee-Mate will be giving out 100,000 coupons for a free bottle of Coffee-Mate on February 4th at 9:00 am PST. You can sign up at their website or their facebook page. You can even text them for deals, but I would stick to the FB or website. Like them on Facebook now so you can get the signal when they start the giveaway.

LINK: Coffee-Mate Website or Coffee-Mate Facebook

Perhaps back by popular demand, but quite possibly not around for long, Walmart has Breathe Right Strip samples. Follow the link below, but don't wait too long.

LINK: Breathe Right Strips Sample

FREE TAX PREP

H&R Block and Turbo Tax are offering free simple form tax online tax filing. When filing was simple, I was all about Turbo Tax. It is not so simple anymore for us, but if it is for you or you know someone who can use it, lead them to these links.

LINK: H&R Block and Turbo Tax

MORE KINDLE FREEBIES

I hope that you were able to take advantage of some of the awesome free Kindle books that I posted a few weeks ago. They do change fast, and I have to say that I am glad that I picked the ones I did while I had a chance as many aren't free now. Remember you do not have to have a Kindle to get the free books. You can get the program on your iPhone, Windows PC, Mac, BlackBerry, iPad, Android (that is what I have), and Windows Phone 7 just go to this link.

Here are a couple free books that you might want to check out while they are still available.

The One Year Book Of Devotions For Couples by Teresa Ferguson (This could be a nice thing to kick off together on Valentine's Day. You don't have to start with January after all)

After The Leaves Fall by Nicole Baart

The Choice by Suzanne Woods Fisher

FREE MUSIC

Blast to the past continues at freeCCM with Todd Agnew's "Reached Down" from his CD "Grace Like Rain." You can still get downloads from Sara Groves, Phil Wickham, The Afters, and Chris Rice.

LINK: Free Christian Music

Members at New Release Tuesday can download "Give It All " by Parachute Band and can still snag "New Beginnings" by Luminate.

LINK: New Release Tuesday Music Downloads