Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Happy Thursday! First of all, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who has been taking the time to sponsor a child through this Thursday and Friday's Shine4Kids to Shine to Shine God's Love in Guatemala through Food For The Hungry. One of the reasons we try to save money in our home is in order to give more to those in need.

Thanksgiving is coming up, and there are some families and individuals out there may not be able to afford to have the traditional Thanksgiving at home or may not have anyone to share it with. Communities and churches have been stepping forward with Thanksgiving celebrations for those who might not otherwise have the opportunity. These dinners offer food, fellowship, and the opportunity to share time in celebration with one another. There are two I'd like to mention here. If you know anyone who would be blessed by dinners such as this, check out my list below:

Chino Valley:

TUESDAY 11/24---- Word of Life Assembly of God is hosting a Thanksgiving dinner on 11/24 at 4:00pm to 7:30 pm. This is their seventh annual Thanksgiving At Our House Free Community Thanksgiving dinner. Anyone is invited to come on down, spread the word and bring friends!
Address: Word of Life Assembly
590 W. Road 1 North
Chino Valley, Arizona

WEDNESDAY 11/25---- Sprngs Church will be providing Thanksgiving Dinner to the residents of Spring Valley, Cordes, Mayer and the surrounding communities. The dinner will be served at the Mayer High School from 4:43 pm to 7:30 pm,

Address: Mayer High School
17300 E. Mule Deer Drive
Mayer, Arizona

More Money Saving Tips---

Sandwiches-- Making your sandwiches out of meats from your butcher department is really a smart way to save. Think about it. Cook's Spiral Sliced Half Ham is on sale this week at Fry's for 1.47 a pound. It is already sliced up. This is definitely a deal over lunch meat prices. If you buy your chicken, roasts and ham on sale, and make sandwiches out of your left overs...we are talking huge savings.

FREEBIE UPDATES---
I have an update for the 50 free photo cards from See Here is now limited to 4 x 8 cards. The shipping is still free and the end date is November 30th. Again, a HUGE thank you to Freebies4Mom for spreading the word on this great deal! Once again, the coupon code is freebies4mom-1109. Linky: See Here

FREE SAMPLES---

Kashi TLC Chewy granola bar! These are absolutely delicious! Get clicking while supplies last!
Linky: Kashi TLC Chewy Granola Bar

Another big thanks to Freebies4Mom for that little deal!

Amazing pile of free samples at Vive Mejor! Right now you can get samples of Hellman's and Best Food's Lite Mayonnaise, Caress Skin Care, Ponds Rejuveness, and New Degree Women Fine Fragrance Collection. Get them while they last! Link: Vive Mejor

BARGAIN PRICING!

A few weeks ago there was a plethora (at least I think plethora is an adequate word) of great magazine deals at Amazon.com! There is a really awesome one right now. You can get or give TWO years of Redbook for just $5.00. That is because right now, Amazon has it for $10.00 with a special deal today for an additional $5.00 off. This would definitely make a great and inexpensive gift! I think this is just for today so you definitely want to act now. PS on this one...the one year is $8.00!!!!
Link: Redbook Magazine 2 year sub

GIFT IN A JAR RECIPE OF THE WEEK!


This week's gift in a jar recipe is for Snow Ball Cookies.


Snow Balls Mix

A favorite recipe to share with friends.

1/2 C powdered sugar
2 C all-purpose flour
1 C chopped pecans

Combine the confectioners sugar and flour and place into a 1 quart canning jar. Put the chopped pecans on top.

Include the following instructions with your gift:


Snow Balls Mix

Preheat the oven to 325° F. Grease cookie sheets. In a medium bowl, cream together 3/4 cup of shortening and 1/4 cup of margarine. Stir in 2 teaspoons of vanilla extracts. Add the contents of the jar, and mix well. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool, and roll in confectioner sugar. Makes 4 dozen.

Another great freebie I love is printable gift tags. My son and I are especially fond of the Suessville gift tags. We have been using them since he was quite young. One of the things we like to do as a craft together is print them up and then color them with colored pencils. I have looked around for some others you might want to try out.

GIFT TAGS:


Suessville - Great gift tags you can color that are lively and fun. You can use a hole punch to add a ribbon or just tape them directly to the gift. Again, these are black and white which really make for coloring fun.

Mint Printables - These are in color. There are Santas, snowmen, angels, and more. Again, just pick and print.

Free Printable Gift Tags - There are too many to even described. These again are already colored. They have a number of tags you can print out for any occasion.

MAKE YOUR OWN GIFTS


Well, really you aren't making your own. You are making them for others. I found an absolutely fabulous craft in Family Fun magazine for what they call Snowball Soap Surprise. This is sooooo easy and a great craft for the kids. I also found it at several other blogs. Here are the directions:

Snowball Soap Surprise

What You Need:
Food processor or cheese grater
4 (4.5-ounce) bars of Ivory soap
8 tiny plastic toys (you can get some little action figures, toys at a thrift store, little rubber balls, or toy rings. Really there is no limit to what you can pick up for this suprise).

1. Use a food processor fitted with the grater attachement to shred four bars of Ivory soap (you can also grate the soap with a hand grater). Pour all the pieces into a large bowl.

2. With your hands, mix in about a half cup of lukewarm water, a little bit at a time, until the mixture is squishy and claylike.

3. For each snowball, scoop up a heaping handful of soap and mold it into a ball. Poke a deep hole n the center with your finger, insert a toy, and refill the hole. Lay the finished snowballs on a cookie sheet and let them dry thoroughly.

Once they dry they even look kind of flakey.

I have seen some variations on this idea. Aunt Pitty Pat soaks her soap bars over night and has the kids form them into balls with no suprises but a really cute poem. Link: Aunt Pitty Pat Snowball Soap. The New Unschooler uses pretty much the same recipe. She adds 1/4 cup of water per cup of grated soap, puts a toy in and has the soap dry out in the sun.

Felt Finger Puppets
These are adorable and I have found crafts that you can sew or glue. These are simple to make and easily will make the kids smile. I found two sites that really had some awesome ideas, but trust me, there are plenty out there.

Make and Takes has an awesome craft to make felt Star Wars finger puppets, and they are darling! All the directions are at their site. Link: Make and Takes

eHow also has a great set of instuctions for finger puppets that require a little bit of sewing. Check it out at their site: Link: eHow


GROCERIES

Don't forget to load up your loyalty cards with the new Cellfire coupons. They are up now! Link: Cellfire

What is for sale?
This week I was pressed for air time so I only have a top six. That is two for each store.

Fry's--
(Manufacturer coupons all value at $1.00. Accept competitor's coupons)
-- Jennie-O Frozen Turkey 37 cents a pound
-- Cook's Spiral Sliced ham $1.49 a pound

Safeway
-- Broccoli and Cauliflower Crowns 68 cents a pound
-- 10 pound bag of Russet Potatoes for 97 cents each

Albertsons
-- Asparagus and greenbeans 99 cents a pound
-- Betty Crocker Cake Mix or Ready to Serve Frosting 69 cents each when you buy 5

Lastly, if you are having Thanksgiving in your home and are going to have children at the dinner, you may want to check out this awesome website I found. It is the Thanksgiving Page from Holiday Zone. There are loads of printables from cross word puzzles, word searches, coloring pages, and a Thankful list.
Link: Holiday Zone - Thanksgiving Page



Have a great weekend! Since I wont be back for two weeks, I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving too!