Kelly's Thrifty Tips - When It Snows...Make ICE CREAM!

With the snow outside, I thought it might be fun to post a recipe that you can do with the kids on a snowy day.

Fill a gallon freezer bag halfway with snow and add six teaspoons of salt in with the snow
Fill a quart freezer bag with:
1/2 cup of half and half
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 tablespoon of sugar

After you put all the ingredients in the quart sized freezer bag, squeeze out as much air as you can, and seal it. The best trick I have found for doing this is filling your sink up part way with water and dipping the bag in the water. This will push most of the air out. Just be careful not to get water in the bag. Put the quart bag into the gallon freezer bag (again squeeze as much air out of the freezer bag as you can). Seal the freezer bag. Put on some gloves and squeeze the bag until the ice cream is frozen.

A nice, easy treat to make using snow without worrying about the dirt. :)

Here is a link to a recipe from Paula Deen for snow ice cream. This is a little sweet for me, but uses real snow. If you can get good clean snow try it out. Well...you can use shaved ice too.

LINK: Paula Deen Snow Ice Cream

With 2011 coming up quickly, I have been really thinking about what to do this year or brush up on this year to help me financially. One thing that is a real must is a small notebook to write down expenses. The new year is coming, this is a perfect opportunity to get a handle on exactly where every dime is going. Does your doctor's office give out those little pocket booklet calendars? If so they are the perfect size for writing down what you spend each day. Here are a few other things you might like to check into to get a good handle on your finances.

One of the tools that has been indispensable with our budget is mint.com. It is safe and secure. You do not have to download anything. You can categories and track all your spending. You will see if you are working in your budget or beyond it and figure out how to make changes. Check out their website where you can watch a video and learn more.

LINK: Mint.com

Have a need to write things down? If so, I have found the website for you. I have connected you to the Organized Christmas site in order to get Christmas planning in line, but now it is time to hit the ground running for 2011 by checking out Organized Home. Follow the link below to a list of printables to make a fabulous household notebook. This thing will help you organize and fly through your Spring cleaning, menu planning, weekly planning, shopping, camping, yard sale planning and more! Seriously you are going to love these printables.

LINK: Printable Pages For Your Household Notebook from Organized Home.

And in the upcoming weeks, I will be taking some online coupon classes. After I review them, I will post again to let you know what ones I recommend.

FREEBIES


Allure Magazine will have some fun freebies starting January 1st. The first day is a contest where one winner will win $1,138 of Shiseido Skin Care and Makeup. Each day will have a different prize for the first 500 Allure readers to sign up at noon EST. If you are near a computer, you might want to give this a try. Just make sure to CHECK NO next to the request to sign you up for a year subscription or you will get signed up. Here is a link to their sign up page which shows you the dates and prizes for January 1 to January 7.

LINK: Allure giveaways

If you like Gucci perfumes, you just might like to try out a free sample of Gucci Guilty. Just follow the link below to their Facebook page and free sample link.

LINK: Gucci Guilty

While supplies last, sign up for a free sample of Purina One for dogs or cars at Walmart.

LINK: Purina One

Kelly's Thrifty Tips - October 21

I have talked about ways to save money, win prizes and get free stuff. Right now I just wanted to mention a few ways to give. These are easy as can be and totally free.

Go to Target and make a pledge to take time to read with a child, and Target in turn will donate a book to children in need. You will be doing good in two ways. One by reading to a child and the second by getting a book into the hands of another child. Pretty cool. :) Follow the link below to make your pledge.

LINK: Target Reading

If you head to The Hunger Site you can click and give. There are several causes that you can click on and each click will give a donation from sponsors. They also have items you can purchase there which enables the sponsors to give more. Again though, you don't have to pay a thing to give. You can give for hunger, literacy, child health, breast cancer, the rainforest, and animal rescue.

LINK: The Hunger Site

Goodsearch is a search engine that you may have heard about on Radio Shine. It is very easy to do, and can be a huge benefit to the nonprofit you search for. To do a search you can simply go to goodsearch.com and put in the name of your charity in the box where it asks who are you searching for. Put the charity name in and click verify. That is it! Then you just do your search. You don't have to constantly fill this in if you use it frequently. Each search will give a one cent donation to your charity. It may sound small, but it really adds up.

Check this out:

Charity or School Size	Number of Supporters	Average Searches Per Day	Estimated Revenue/Year from Search	Amount Purchased Per Person/Year via GoodShop	Average % of Sale Donated	Estimated Revenue from Shopping	Total Donation/Year
Small	100	2	$730	$500	3%	$1,500	$2,230
Medium	1,000	2	$7,300	$500	3%	$15,000	$22,300
Large	10,000	2	$73,000	$500	3%	$150,000	$223,000

One of the cool features is you can also check on your charity and see how much money has been raised so far.

Goodsearch also has Goodshop which is a shopping link that allows you to shop online and a portion of those proceeds also go to your charity at no extra cost to you! These are stores you probably already shop at online. Stores like Amazon, 1-800-CONTACTS, Barnes & Noble, bebe, Best Buy and many more. PS Radio Shine is a Goodsearch Charity so feel free to search and bless today! :)

LINK: Goodsearch

Free Rice gives just that. Free rice. You go to the site and you answer the quiz vocabulary questions. For each right answer ten grains of rice is donated. Sounds like a small amount to you? Since its inception Free Rice has donated nearly 83 billion grains of rice. Read more here: Donation Impact

LINK: Free Rice

FREEBIES

For this one you have to pay for shipping, but it is definitely an awesome freebie. Right now you can get a hardcover photo book at Picaboo. New customers qualify for this freebie that will definitely make an awesome Christmas gift for someone special!

LINK: Picaboo Free Hardcover Photo Book

New Release Tuesday members can download lots of free songs, but the special can't miss song this week is Third Day's "Make Your Move" from their new CD "Move."

LINK: New Release Tuesday

If you want you can also listen to "Move" this week at NRT. Click the link below. LINK: New Release Tuesday Listen to "Move"

FreeCCM has a free download of Lincoln Brewster's song "Reaching For You" as well as several other songs AND an opportunity to download 10 free songs! Crazy cool! Got to love being a member!

LINK: FreeCCM free song download

iTickets.com has two free downloads including "Love Amazing" by Circleslide and "Let Us Go" by Konviction. Remember you have to be a member, but it is a great site. I find out about lots of great concerts thanks to iTickets.com.

LINK: iTickets Free Music

Taster's Choice is STILL giving you the chance to try their instant coffee packets. They do come in great flavors. I got mine last week. If you have been passing this by...commit now!

LINK: Taster's Choice Sample

While the offer lasts, you can join Rewards Gold take a brief survey and get a subscription to Men's Fitness. I have picked up many free magazine subscriptions through Rewards Gold. Give it a shot.

LINK: Rewards Gold

If you have a Kindle and you want to get a little more financially savvy, you can take advantage of a free Kindle edition of 16 Expert Lessons for Successfully Managing Your Personal Finances (Collection). This is free for a limited time. Of course you do have to have a Kindle reader.

LINK: 16 Expert Lessons for Successfully Managing Your Personal Finances

SHOPPING DEALS

Get a $5 Target gift card from Real Simple while supplies last when you spend $15 or more on a combination of Target Wise Buy products in one transaction at Target. Products that you can purchase are:

Silk Soy Milk Reach
Access Flosser
Oxyclean Versatile Stain Remover
How to Train Your Dragon on DVD and Blu-ray
Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bars
Eucerin DAILY SKIN BALANCE Skin-Fortifying Body Lotion
Curel Sensitive Skin Remedy Lotion
Garnier Skin Renew The Brusher Gel-Cleanser
Garnier Ultra-Lift Anti-Wrinkle Moisturizer SPF 15
Garnier Skin Renew Anti-Dark-Circle Roller
Garnier Ultra-Lift Pro Gravity Defying Cream
Colgate Total
Bertolli Frozen Meals
all Small & Mighty

If you are planning on buying some of these items, why not take advantage of the gift card opportunity? You can use it for yourself or maybe make it a nice little stocking stuffer.

Make your $15 purchase in any of the above combinations between October 5, 2010 and November 12, 2010 (I recommend getting it done ASAP as it is while supplies last). Oh this needs to be postmarked by November 13th. Again...I wouldn't wait long.

Mail your receipt and your name and address printed clearly on a 3" x 5" card to:

Real Simple Smart Shopping GiftCard Offer
c/o DW Direct
P.O. Box 5067
South Hackensack, NJ, 07606

There you go. Nice and easy. Take advantage of this deal if these are products you will use. There is no point in spending $15 on products you don't need or use in order to get a gift card. Want more details? Follow the link.

LINK: Real Simple $5 Target GiftCard

Pier One has two printable coupons that are good until November 7th. One is for $10 off a $30 dollar purchase and the other is for a free reusable bag with a $25 purchase. You can get some awesome Christmas gifts here. I personally love their candles and their table settings.

LINK: Pier One Coupons

Okay, we covered freebies, some coupons, ways to give, and lastly I would like to share a cool giveaway. Chicago Coupon Confessions has a giveaway for $150 in Safeway gift cards! One winner will win a $75 gift card and three will win a $25 gift card. One of the ways I stretch my budget is by keeping an eye out for giveaways like this. So head on over to Chicago Coupon Confessions. The giveaway ends on October 31st and the winners will be emailed so you need to include your email in the entry. You will notice how other entrants spell out parts of their email (like AT instead of @). That is a trick to keep spiders from grabbing your email. So be sure to put your email like that.

LINK: Chicago Coupon Confessions Safeway Gift Card Giveaway

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Good morning!!!!! I have some awesome things to share today. I have been looking up some ways to save money with cooking substitutes, play substitutes and even some grooming substitutes. I also have some more job hunting sites to share with you today, because you really just can't stop at seasonal sites. And finally I have some awesome freebies for you to peruse. Take a little stroll through this post. I think you will see something you'll like. :)


This week I made fried chicken for the first time! Let me tell you, I was beyond proud. At first I was a little scared as I had never made it before. Honestly it is amazing what you will try to make in order to give your husband a little smile! At least that is how I am.

See the plan went like this...Saturday afternoon my husband and I were driving home from the Shepherding Your Teen conference (which was amazing), and he told me he was craving fried chicken. This mainly translates to expensive fast food eating. In all fairness I should admit I do enjoy a little KFC now and then (though I was a bigger fan when they tried skinless fried chicken). At this time of my life, I just don't enjoy the prices. On a whim, I decided to make it myself. Truly I thought for a moment that I had made a big mistake, but once at home I found a great recipe and there really was no stopping me...I was committed. There was only one problem, I needed buttermilk. I don't buy a lot of buttermilk. No that isn't true. I NEVER buy buttermilk. I purposely avoid buttermilk and have ever since I was seven and mistook buttermilk for eggnog. BLECH. In fact, I don't even think I have seen buttermilk at my local store. They probably have it, but then again, maybe not. This is not an item that rings very high on my shopping list. I recalled a recipe that you can use to make a buttermilk substitute. I jumped on line and found it.

All this searching made me decide to show you a few substitutes that you can easily make in order to save money or make when you don't have certain things on hand.

Buttermilk - Mix one cup of milk with one tablespoon of lemon juice (we usually keep those plastic lemons full of juice in our fridge). Let sit for five minutes and then use as recipe requires. I used this in the fried chicken recipe and it was GREAT!

Mayonnaise - Honestly I wanted to do this because I have a thyroid condition and soy is bad for my thyroid. Soy has been a main ingredient in just about every mayonnaise I have found so I hunted for a recipe I could make on my own. Follow this link for very easy mayo instructions: Mayonnaise recipe

Fingerpaint - When my son was little, he just loved fingerpainting. It wasn't very expensive. We just ran out a lot. I wish I had these recipes back then: Make your own fingerpaint

Playdough - No matter how hard we tried, our Play-doh would always dry up or get mixed up into an ugly purplish-brown color, and no one would want to use it. So I got in the habit of making our own playdough. Here is a link to a very easy recipe: Make Your Own Playdough

Natural Dye for Playdough - Honestly food coloring always worked for us, but if you want to go that route there is a nice instruction guide here, and the colors are lovely: Natural dye for homemade playdough

Shaving Cream for ladies - Now this substitute has nothing to do with mixing an item with another. A while back I mentioned using conditioner for shaving cream (talking to you ladies out there). I have to say that this truly is one of the best substitutes I have ever come across. You don't even have to go pricey. Last week Suave shampoo and conditioners were on sale for 99 cents. I bought two huge bottles of strawberry conditioner and totally replaced my shower shaving cream. It smells great, works great and you don't step out of the shower with dry and itchy legs.

SHOPPING TIP - Did you know that you are more likely to purchase an item when you physically touch it? Ohio State University did a study that found that people who handled an item were more likely to buy it. It takes about 30 seconds to already "feel" like an item is yours. Keep that in mind the next time you go shopping especially Christmas shopping. :) Here is a link to an article from MSN about this study: If you touch it, you buy it

WEBSITE TIP- Where the jobs are

A few weeks ago I gave a couple of websites that are great for seasonal job hunting. Today I wanted to give you a website that is helpful for the job hunt in general. Check out Simplyhired.com. This is an amazing search engine that enables you to search for jobs in broad terms by state or more specific by keyword or category. Definitely give it a look and pass it along. It is a great tool.

LINK: Simplyhired.com

Another awesome site is LinkUp.com LinkUp goes though thousands of corporate sites and posts the jobs that you may not normally stumble on. Again it is another fabulous resource to take advantage of.

LINK: LinkUp.com

Remember you do not have to own a computer to use these sites. Simply go to the library where you can have access to computers and the internet for free.



FREEBIES

Start Sampling which is totally one of my favorite sample sites has a huge listing of freebies. Follow the links below for each one:

Crest Pro-Health Clinical Gum Protection (quiz to qualify)

Cottenelle Fresh Flushable Moist Wipes

Redken for Men Clean Spice 2-in-1 Conditioning Shampoo

Gas-X Prevention

True Lemon (also orange and lime - great in H2O)

Sun Crystals

PowerBar Energy Gel Blasts

Dove Ultimate Go Fresh Deodorant (Sam's Club Membership # required)

Lanacane Anti Chafing Gel (Brief Survey)

John Frieda Root Awakening Shampoo and Conditioner

OXY Clinical

Dove Daily Treatment Conditioner

Nature's Bounty Your Life Multi Adult Gummy

Shout Color Catcher

HUGO BOSS Cologne Sample

Eucerin Daily Skin Balance (facebook sample)

Gas-X Thin Strips

Garnier Fructis Ant-Dandruff Shampoo

Emergen-C Vitamin D & Calcium

And some more samples from around the web...

Ester-C Gummies

The First 10,000 entries will win a FREE studded bracelet from Seventeen. Entries are limited to females ages 13 to 29. This is while supplies last. A notice will be posted when they reach 10,000 entries.

Make Me Chic Studded Bracelet


Kashi still has two of their snack drive samples left if you haven't gotten in on this freebie.

Kashi Snack Drive Sample

Vaseline Intensive Rescue sample while supplies last (giving away 1 million samples)

Vaseline Intensive Rescue

Printable Coupon for two free 5 x 7 instant HP Photo Cards from Walmart. Print your coupon, bring your best photos and leave with two awesome cards.

Coupon for 2 free 5 x 7 instant HP Photo Cards

My son is taking Japanese, and one of the things he has toyed with is oragami. When I saw the free samples of Origami paper from Everything In Paper Crafting. I knew I had to check it out. They have tutorials too so you might want to check it out yourselves. One thing after I entered for the paper it mentioned a sample for comet. It was one of those participation samples (register, complete offers, and get samples)...don't do it.

Free Origami paper

FREE REDBOX MOVIE CODE

There is another free Redbox code circulating: CHANCEMONOP This code can only be used once per account. The code is supposed to last until it has been used 1 million times.


Well, that is all for today. See you next week!

Difficulties Give Us A Testimony

Difficulties give us a Testimony

1 Peter 1:3-7

³Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. ⁷These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Your struggles and problems are for a reason. Sometimes they are the result of making decisions in the flesh instead of in the Spirit. In Romans 8:5 we are told that those who live in the flesh have their minds fixed on things of the flesh, but those who live in the Spirit have their minds set on the things of God. When we slip into making decisions without seeking the Lord, we often make mistakes that lead to difficulties.

However, not all of our problems are the result of not seeking and hearing from God. When we go through difficulties, keeping a steadfast faith in God with a heart of praise and thankfulness, we grow spiritually. Problems of the past prepared you to deal with the struggles of today. And victoriously going through today’s issues will prepare you for the problems of tomorrow.

Many people mistakenly think that when you turn your life over to Jesus Christ and invite Him to be the Lord of your life, that you will breeze through life without difficult challenges. However this is far from true. Throughout Scripture we read that those who walk with God have had and will have difficult times. In 1 Peter 1:5-7 we are told that we are kept by the power of God through faith, and that we can greatly rejoice even when we have trials. The genuineness of our faith gets tested by “fire” to show that it’s real.

As you trust God, stay close to Him, pray, praise Him, and read His Word. Then the testings will result in spiritual growth. You’ll see God’s hand putting together the details and bringing victory through the trials. Then you’ll have a testimony to share with others about the faithfulness of God.

One key to finding victory in the midst of struggles is being able to enter into true worship. Tell God how wonderful He is and how much you love Him. Concentrate on His attributes. Call on the name of Jesus and repeat His name. The sound of His name and your worship change the atmosphere. Miracles have to be birthed. They come through the spiritual atmosphere before they are manifested here on the earth.

Just as birthing in the natural realm is not easy, birthing in the heavenly realm can be difficult. Many of God’s people have travailed in prayer and ascended in worship for weeks, months, or years before they see the miracle they’ve been expecting. Remember, the battle is the Lord’s, and the victory will come from Him. So develop your intimate relationship with Him and watch for what He is doing. Build yourself up with the promises in Scripture and thank and praise Him for what He is doing. Read devotionals that will inspire faith and broaden your understanding of Scripture. Let Him renew your mind so that you don’t concentrate on your circumstances, but instead concentrate on Him.

Others will see how you go through tough times with an attitude of faith, joy, and expectancy. Your testimony of how God is taking you through may be the very thing that leads others into a relationship with Jesus Christ

"He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog,

and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure."
Psalm 40:2 ESV

Kelly's Thrifty Tips -

This is how I feel. Not really how things are though. I am just dramatic. :)

I apologize for not getting this posted at my usual time, but I have been kind of in non-stop mode. We are heading off to the Women of Faith conference today. I had to pack this morning, put laundry away, get my son set for school, and inform him of what he needs to do for tomorrow (as he will be heading off on his own to the bus). My husband will be home for backup, but as a mom, I worry. And as a mom, I will probably be calling or texting my son tomorrow to make sure he is okay. Ahhhh me...such is life. :)

For the past few weeks, I have kind of dabbled in prepping for Christmas. Last week, I talked about getting some seasonal jobs. This week I thought it would be a good idea to bring up one of my favorite Christmas links. Organizing Your Way has a free Christmas Planning ebook as well as some fabulous printable planning sheets that can really take the edge off of your Christmas planning. There is a To-Do list, a Christmas Card List, a Shopping List, Budget Planner, Baking Planner and more. I mentioned this fabulous resource last year, and I wanted to give you the heads up again. All of these will really help you get it together for Christmas. I highly recommend checking these out. The holidays go so much more smoothly when we take a little time to just plan.

LINKS: Organizing Your Way Christmas Planning Printables

FREEBIES -

FREEBIES TO NOSH

ZonePerfect is giving away Cookie Dough Nutrition bars through their facebook page starting at 3pm ET (we are talking noon in AZ) to their first 40,000 fans to sign up. :)

LINK: ZonePerfect

You can get free chips and a regular fountain soda at Quiznos when you buy a regular sub, large sub or a regular chopped salad! Follow the link to print your coupon which also has all the details. This coupon expires 10/10/2010.

LINK: Quiznos Coupon

DOLLARS OFF

Check out the Dollar General's facebook page for a printable for $5.00 off the purchase of $25 or more! This coupon is only good for 9/30, 10/01 and 10/02.

LINK: $5 off $25 Dollar General

FREE PRETTY

Get a free 10-day supply of Get a free 10-day supply of your ideal liquid foundation shade from Estee Lauder starting October 1st to October 31st. The offer is of course good while supplies last so I wouldn't hold out too long. For locations go here: http://www.esteelauder.com/storelocator For more info check out their facebook link below.

LINK: Estee Lauder

RANDOM FREENESS

Okay this is a freebie you give. You can send a friend, loved one, or even a co-worker a package of Kleenix. I suppose this may seem kind of silly, but let's face it, cold season is hitting, and who wouldn't like a little box of Kleenix on hand. Again this isn't a freebie for you, it is a freebie to give. Of course you can ask someone to send you one. :)

LINK: Kleenix Softness Worth Sharing

Earth's Best Organic has a free sample of their baby formula. Just like them on facebook to get the deal. This is again the kind of freebie that comes in handy for say...the diaper bag. Follow the link below.

BABY CUTIE FREEBIES

LINK: Earth's Best Organic Formula

Get a Beechnut Stage 4 Toddler Welcome Kit when you sign up for Beechnut's newsletter.

LINK: Beechnut Toddler Welcome Kit

MUSIC

FreeCCM's new download for the week is "Sometimes A Begger" by Caedmon's Call. And you can still get free downloads from Bart Millard, Disciple, The Afters, Phil Wickham and Sara Groves.

LINK: FreeCCM

iTickets.com has a download of "Real Life" from Lincoln Brewster and Jesus Is My Denomination by Mike Abrams.

LINK: iTickets

Sign up for the Hear It First newsletter and get free music downloads every week. This week I got Michael W. Smith's "You Belong To Me" and "Children of the Light" by Lecrae.

LINK: Hear It First


LISTEN FOR FREE

Want to check out Michael W. Smith's new CD "Wonder"? You can listen now at New Release Tuesday.

LINK: New Release Tuesday

PICTURE PERFECT FREEBIE

Head on over to Walgreens website to order a free 8 x 10 Collage Print. Use the code FBCOLL at checkout and set it up to pick up at the store so you pay no shipping. :) This is good TODAY only (10/01). Well it was good yesterday, but I'm not on the air on Wednesday. This can make a really cute gift for grandparents. :)

LINK: Walgreens 8 x 10 Collage

That is all for today folks. I have something special cooking up for next week though. See you then!

Kelly's Thrifty Tips - School Planning

Has anyone else looked at the calendar recently and realized school is just around the corner? It is time to get prepared my friends! Seriously, it just creeps up on you! So let's start working on the back-to-school planning.

First step - Clothes

If you have one child you can do this in one day. If you have more than one, I suggest tackling this project in several days so you don't exhaust yourself and so that nothing gets missed. But focus on one child per day.

Go through everything. Check shoes for fit and wear and tear. Clean out the closets and dressers. Have your child try EVERYTHING on. My son hates this part, but in the long run it saves us money, and can I also add that we have found items we didn't even know we had? As your child is trying on clothes, make three piles.

PILE ONE - This is for everything that fits and is suitable for school. I am talking everything from shirts and bottoms to underclothes and socks.

PILE TWO - This is the pile for everything that fits that your child can wear outside of school. In other words play clothes.

PILE THREE - This is the pile for what simply does not fit. At a later date you can sort this pile and figure out what you can donate, pass along to a sibling or friend, or even sell at a yard sale or consignment shop.

Okay once you have your school pile set aside, go through everything and figure out what you need to buy to supplement this wardrobe. Do not just figure out just the amount of certain clothing items you have but how many outfits you can make out of these pieces.

Now you can make a list and pop that list in your wallet or pocketbook. Keep that list at the ready for those times you are shopping and those unexpected times when you are out and see a great deal. This way you don't have to rely on just memory and buy possibly more than necessary. Saving on back-to-school clothes now, means you can purchase during the extra discounts later.





FREE SAMPLES

Calm facial redness with Dr. Andrew Weil for Origins Mega-Mushroom Skin Relief Advanced Facial Serum. Sign up to get a free 1.5 ml sample.

LINK: Mega-Mushroom Skin Relief

Okay since I post these on Thursdays, I am giving you this one now which you should act on next Monday. You can send a friend a greeting (via facebook) which will come with a printable coupon for a Coke while supplies last (and fresh supplies are offered up after 3 pm EST on Mondays). So keep it in mind and send a friend a greeting with a soda treat. Maybe they'll be kind enough to send one back your way!

LINK: Ahh Giver

Okay this one is FREE with rebate. Purchase Neutrogena Clinical SPF 30 Night or Eye between 7/11/2010 and 7/18/2010, mail in the rebate form by 7/31/2010 and you can get the purchase price up to $40 back! So this kind of goes with free and rebates. Either way it is a bargain! Be sure to follow all the directions on your rebate form.

LINK: Neutrogena Rebate

This week's new download from Free CCM is "It is Well With My Soul." You also still have opportunity to download music from Laura Story, Jeremy Horn and Derek Webb.

LINK: Free CCM - Free Music Download

You might also like to join Hear It First. They send a different download to members each week. This week's free download was The Newsboys "One Shot" from the album Born Again. They email you these downloads in their newsletter. Also they have some GREAT contests.

LINK: Hear It First

Walmart.com has a free sample of Huggies Goodnights while supplies last.

LINK: Huggies Goodnights

Free Axe Body Spray Sample is available for Sam's Club members. Membership number is required.

LINK: Axe Body Spray Sample

Sign up for emails from Albertsons and enter the code FREEBREAD, and when you confirm your subscription, you will get a printable coupon for free bakery bread. PS - They ask for a customer number. My Albertsons doesn't use loyalty cards, and I didn't put anything there and still got the coupon.

LINK: Albertsons free Bakery Bread

Grace to You and John MacArthur have a wonderful free offer. You can choose "Cultivating a Godly Child," or "Saved Without a Doubt." Follow the link below for details.

LINK: "Cultivating a Godly Child" or "Saved Without a Doubt"

John Frieda samples of Root Awakening Shampoo and Conditioner. I just got this via email. Follow the link below.

LINK: John Frieda

Okay this is not a buy one get one free deal, but you can buy one Barnes and Noble Smoothie and get one free! Just look at the picture on the coupon, and I think you will be tempted. There are also some other great printable coupons at this link. The coupons expire on July 19th.

LINK: Barnes & Noble Coupon

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Today I thought I would share a great money saving site. Here is an awesome site you MUST check out. Billshrink.com can check all available cell phone plans in your area to see if you can get a better deal and can calculate your switching fees. It also does the same for cable, credit cards, savings and CDs and you can even check gas prices from your commute. This is something VERY cool. There is even a business section to work out business savings. Check them out at the link below:

LINK: Bill Shrink

Okay we know that there are a lot of pets up for adoption right now at the Humane Societies. That is because there are a lot of pets out there having pups and kittens. Some times it just seems like it is too expensive to spay or neuter your pet. Here are some links that will give you a listing of some lower priced spay and neuter clinics for your pet. When in doubt, call the humane society. They can probably recommend a place for you.

LINK: Low cost spay and neutering list
Spay USA
Friends of Animals


You might also like to check out the Absurdly Cool Freebie Finder which has links to lots of awesome freebies every day!

LINK: Absurdly Cool Freebies

FREEBIES

Okay this first one is a freebie which also is a contest entry. I love contest entries that include extra perks. Veria has a giveaway for a trip for two to Hawaii and entrants receive a free organic vanilla lip balm. I'm happy with even the lip balm (it takes so little to make me happy). Check it out at the link below.

LINK: Veria Organic Lip Balm and Hawaii vacation contest

I have absolutely no idea how long this is going to last, but if you do the Coke Rewards you are going to want to look this up. Right now you can get a 12 pack of Coke products. What you do is go to My Coke Rewards (I'll link it below). Log in and then go to "spend your points." At the next page go to "View by Points" and click on 0-10. The reward is 0 points! How cool is that? A coupon will be sent to you in 5 to 6 weeks. Again, I have no idea how long this will last so I suggest you head on over to that link now. :)

LINK: My Coke Rewards free 12 pack

Get a free sample of SMOOTHSMOOTH shampoo and conditioner by Eric Prautsch. Minimum 1 sample per household. Follow the link for more details.

LINK: SMOOTHSMOOTH Shampoo and Conditioner sample from Erik Prautsch

Got a pup? While supplies last you can get a free Grandma Bowser's dog treat. Grandma Bowser started making these dog treats for a healthy alternative for those dog lovers out there. Again while supplies last you can request a sample. Follow the link below. The sample request is at the bottom of the page.

LINK: Grandma Bowser's dog treat samples

Free CCM has more free music for you to download. It is all safe and legal. This week's treat is "Now is the Time" by Jeremy Horn, and you can also listen to his entire praise and worship album at Free CCM right now. In addition, you can still download songs from Derek Webb, Addison Road, Vicky Beeching, and Carlos Whittaker, Follow the link below.

LINK: Free CCM Jeremy Horn download

iTickets.com has free downloads of "Our God Is Love" from Hillsong Live album "A Beautiful Exchange," "Protection" from Future of Forestry album "Travel III," and "Around the World" by Reilly from the album also titled "Around the World." Follow the link below.

LINK: iTickets free music downloads

Get a free sample of True Lemon. These little packets have a powerful punch. Follow the link to give them a shot. They are really great when added to tea, water or one of my faves they have True Orange which tastes awesome in sodas like Sprite.

LINK: True Lemon


Check with your local McDonalds because many are offering free Frappe Fridays. There are two left on July 2 and July 9 you can get a free yummy McDonalds Frappe from 7 am to 7 pm. I recommend calling your local McDonalds to make sure they are participating.


GOOD DEALS

AMC movie theaters are offering a coupon for July 4th for any size fountain drink or popcorn for $1.00 each. Follow the facebook link for this deal.

LINK: AMC $1.00 each for any size fountain drink or popcorn!

Lettuce wraps from P.F. Chang's. Submit your email address and P.F. Chang's will email you a coupon for their yummy lettuce wraps free with the purchase of an entree! The coupon expires on July 31, 2010.

LINK: P.F. Chang's Lettuce Wraps


Here is a link to a great coupon for $5.00 of a $25.00 purchase at Build A Bear. I don't know about you, but I love Build A Bear. Their stuffed animals are so cute, and really things are fairly inexpensive. I'll reveal a little secret to you. I have a lamb that I built myself five years ago, and I LOVE IT! :) This coupon expires July 4, 2010.

COUPON LINK- Build A Bear

GROCERY COUPON LINKS:

These sites have some great printable coupons. Check with your store regarding their coupon policies. Some accept printables and some do not.

Betty Crocker has some amazing coupons that you can print right now. You do have to be a member. Check out the link below:

LINK: Betty Crocker Printable Coupons

You can also get some wonderful Pillsbury coupons from General Mills at the link below. Again don't forget to check on your store's coupon policies.

LINK: Pillsbury

Check out Red Plum who you might recognize as one of the regular inserts from Sunday's paper. Follow the link below to some great printables.

LINK: Red Plum

Get more great coupons from Smart Source which you can always specialize for your area. Link below.

LINK: Smart Source

REBATES:

Home Depot has a rebate for $5 back from a purchase of a one gallon can of Behr paint or $20 back from a purchase of a 5 gallon bucket. Nice deal if you are looking to do some summer painting.

LINK: Home Depot Behr Paint Rebate

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Two weeks ago I posted some tips for having your own yard sale or garage sale. Last week we focused on Father's day. Now I am going to refocus on yard sale tips but this time as the savvy buyer. Or semi-savvy buyer which I tend to be. I haggle minimally. Some people (like my fabulous sister-in-law) can haggle like a pro. I just don't have it in me, but I will if I feel motivated.



Okay off to the tips:

1- Plan your yard sale route. Most newspapers will have online postings and newspaper ads for yard sales, garage sales, estate sales and church rummage sales. Look them up and decide where you want to go. If you do this online you can map things out fairly simply with mapquest.


2- Start early. This is pretty obvious, but the fact is the really cool stuff gets snatched up. Of course if saving the most money is your goal, starting late works too. You can get a lot of great deals at the end of the day when a seller is not interested in packing there stuff up. Ages ago I read "Saving Money Any Way You Can" by Mike Yorkey, and one of the things that stuck with me was this woman Mike knew who purchased things for their church. She had like a free shop for people. She would go to yard sales at the end of the day and offer them a flat amount for everything they had left. If you do this, be sure you have the transportation to pull it off and some containers to do some sorting.


3- Shop with smaller bills. If you are planning on purchasing some high priced item, by all means carry the bills you think will be necessary, but do be sure to have plenty of denominations below $20 and some change too. This is simply a point of being considerate.


4- Carry a list of your family's clothing sizes and shoe sizes. You never know what you are going to find.


5- If you are looking for certain movies or books bring a list of those items. I can't tell you how many times I had stumbled on an amazing pile of books with some of my favorite authors and new authors I had recently discovered and I was a bit unsure of what I had and what I wanted.


6- If someone is having a bag sale (where you purchase a bag and fill it up), roll the clothes to get the most room. They also wrinkle less this way.


7- If you are hitting yard sales for a specific need, write that need down and the price range you are willing to go. This way you are ready if you come across the item you want. When I moved into my first apartments, I needed everything. I purchased everything too through yard sales and thrift stores. When you arrive at a sale and don't see what you are looking for be sure to ask.


8- When shopping for baby. Do not purchase car seats, cribs, bouncy swings...etc. The fact is so many things have been recalled that it is just wise to go new for those items. Do buy clothing and toys, but keep in mind choking hazards. Most of my son's clothes were purchased through yard sales and thrift stores because baby's frankly don't have the time in the clothing to ruin them. I also would resell his clothes at yard sales, thrift stores and consignment stores. Always use your judgment.


9- Keep some bags on hand for your finds. Some sellers will have bags and some will not.


10- If you aren't sure if you want an item, walk around with it while you shop. You don't want to set it down and have someone else pick it up just when you decide you do want it.

11- BE POLITE AND CONSIDERATE - This is one of the reasons I mention bringing smaller bills. Also watch how you park your car. Don't block a neighbor's driveway. Look both ways before bolting across the street. Don't cross in someone's lawn to get to a person's yard sale. Be polite to the other shoppers. My being polite helped me score a color television over a rude shopper which I sold eight years later for the same price I paid.

Also by being polite, don't get cranky if someone doesn't want your haggled down price. Some people have a set price and that is it. The year I was moving cross country, I had a yard sale in which I sold comic books at 25 cents each. A man tried to get me to sell my boxes (250 per box-no joke I was a collector at the time) for $5 each. Basically about two cents a comic. He yelled at me when I politely told him my price. He proceeded to yell that he was a comic book dealer and he knew prices. I informed him that I was a collector and I too was well aware of the prices and had no intention of going any lower than I already had. I had been to far too many comic book shows and knew for myself what those comics could sell for at any show and that any dealer would charge at least double my 25 cents and more likely prices of up to $1.00 for most of my inventory (yes I was a comic geek).

His rudeness eventually got him removed from my yard by another shopper who was highly irritated at this man's actions.


11- Carry tools with you like a measuring tape, screw driver, tape, rope and pliers. You never know when you are going to need to take an item apart, tie it down, or measure it to see if it will fit.


12- If you don't need it, do not buy it. This goes for yard sales and any kind of shopping. A great deal isn't a great deal if you don't need the item.


13- If you are looking for collectibles. Study up on what you are looking for. You can get some great deals that way.


Now onto something cool. It has been my dream for probably the past ten years now to go to the World's Longest Yard Sale which is also known as the 127. This sale is a four day yard sale extravaganza that had its humble beginnings in 1987 as a way to bring people to the less traveled highways of Tennessee and Kentucky. This year's sale is to extend from Hudson, Michigan to Gadson, Alabama and runs August 5th to August 8th. Check out the map of the sale below:



For more information about the 127 Corridor Sale follow the link below:


LINK: 127 Corridor World's Longest Yard Sale or 12 Corridor World's Longest Yard Sale (2)



FREE SAMPLES


While supplies last you can get a free sample of Biore Steam Activated Cleanser or Makeup Removing Towelettes. They take 8 to 10 weeks to arrive.


LINK: Biore Samples


If you are a dad, John MacArthur and Grace to You have a hard cover copy of "The Quest For Character." This very generous offer for dads expires on June 27th.


LINK: Grace to You - The Quest For Character


Walmart has another sample of Starbucks VIA. If you find yourself to occasionally desire a little coffee but don't want to make a full pot, this is a great way to go. Follow the link below:


LINK: Starbucks VIA


Free Samples of Gas X Thin Strips. Beat the tummy grumbles with Gas X. Give it a try at the link below:


LINK: Gas X Thin Strips Sample


From IKEA Wednesday June 23 to Monday, July 5 Kids Eat Free. Here are the details from the website:

Wednesday, June 23, 2010 tp Monday, July 5, 2010

Kids Eat FREE!

Fill up their tummies with a free meal 11am until closing!

Valid Wednesday, June 23, 2010 - Monday, July 5, 2010. No adult purchase necessary. Choose any three kid-sized items to create a meal, including five meatballs, mac and cheese, PB&J sandwich, kid's yogurt, two cookies, chocolate milk, and more! Kids under 12 only. A $2.49 value.

Always check with your local store first. This is from the Tempe IKEA.




REBATES


Buy $50 worth of Olay facial care productss including their cleansers, moisturizers and specialty treatments and get a $20 rebate. This is definitely worth the time if you like Olay products. The products must be purchased by June 30th and postmarked by July 16th.


Rebate link: Olay $20 Rebate


Get a $5 rebate from Clorox if you buy the Clorox Toilet Wand System. Expires 2/1/11.


Rebate Link: $5 Clorox Toilet Wand


While supplies last mail your receipt from the purchase of Cover Girl Lash Blast and get a free Elle Mirror (very cute). Again this is while supplies last. Follow the link for directions.


LINK: Free Elle Mirror with CoverGirl Last Blast Receipt


Get a free reusable grocery bag mailed to you from Jolly Time popcorn when you send in 3 UPCs while supplies last. Get details on the website at the link below. I totally recommend picking this up. I got a great one a while back from Sunsweet, and these bags are amazing. They hold way more than your typical grocery store reusable bag.


LINK: Free Jolly Time reusable grocery bag with 3 UPCs


Send receipt with purchase price circled and UPC from Just for Men - Touch of Gray and get $9.50 back. Know someone who'd like to try this out? This is a great way to give it a shot.


LINK: Just for Men $9.50 rebate


Get a $15 rebate when you buy any Neutrogena Clinical. Neutrogena has long been known for their excellent skin care. Try their new Clinical Treatments and get $15 back. Purchase needs to be made by August 31, 2010 and postmarked by September 14, 2010. Follow all the directions on the form.


LINK: $15 rebate on Neutrogena Clinical


Schick Hydro will give you up to a $10.99 rebate just for trying Schick Hydro. Mail the original sales receipt, UPC, and rebate form (not valid on purchases from Sam's Club or BJ's Wholesale Club). Always follow the directions to get your rebate. Receipts need to be dated between 6/14/2010 and 8/18/2010.


LINK: Up to a $10.99 rebate for trying Schick Hydro


Get $5 back by mail when you purchase any three SC Johnson Products. Products listed here:


Ziploc
Glade
Windex
Scrubbing
Bubbles
Pledge
Shout
Fanastik
Draino
Raid
Off
Saran
Nature's Source

Must be postmarked by 7/15/2010 and received by 7/30/2010. Follow the link below for the rebate form and all the details. Remember follow all the directions.


LINK: SC Johnson Rebate download



Buy $25 worth of Aveeno products in a single purchase (yes SINGLE purchase - very important to remember in other words can be more than one item but only one receipt), send in certificate, receipts with items and purchase prices, write in UPC codes on the space provided on the form, and send it in. The items must be purchased between 6/14/2010 and 7/18/2010. Follow the directions to the letter.


LINK: $10 Rebate from AVEENO for $25 in AVEENO products purchase.


The word at A Full Cup is that there is a Snapple rebate pull off at several grocery stores that gives you a full rebate up to $6.99 for the purchase price of a Snapple 6 pack. I haven't seen it yet, but I thought I would give you the heads up. This would be a tear off thing. One per household so just take one if you find it. :)


Don't forget to check out the newest coupons from Cellfire that you can download directly to your store's loyalty cards. Follow the link below.


LINK: Cellfire

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Now is the time of the year to start saving money with yard sales. Actually yard sales go on a lot all year round, but summer really is THE season. When I lived in Rhode Island, my family had yard sales about once a month. It was the way my mom and grandma came up with extra cash. Here are some tips I learned from them for doing a yard sale.

Make a bank -- Have change on hand. Do not assume that all the people who go to your yard sale will have small bills. My mom and grandma actually had a seasonal thing with yard sales so they set aside a bank for the entire season. Typically they would start off with about $150 in $10s, $5s, $1s, and plenty of change. After the sale, they would first count the bank money out, and their profit would be what was left. I highly recommend a bank, because truly it is much better to have the change on hand for those people with larger bills. I can't tell you how many times someone would come up with a $20 to buy a $1 book. And speaking of that bank. My mom and grandma always held the cash in a fanny pack. You can pick these up cheap at just about any thrift store. It was a lot easier to have the money on them rather than some cash box that could be snatched. Lastly...don't accept checks. It is really not a good idea.

Plan your sale -- Do not just wake up one day and decide to have a sale. Give yourself a few weeks in order to plan what you want to sell and why you want to sell it. Are you trying to make money? Are you trying to declutter? A few weeks of planning can really make the difference in the success of your yard sale. You also can use this time to figure out how you will advertise your sale.

Know your prices -- It is perfectly fine to do some dickering over prices, but you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to charge for the things you are selling. It isn't like someone else is picking the items out of your home for the sale. You are the one doing it. So figure it out while you are setting the items aside for sale. If you are really not sure how much you should charge for an item. Go to some yard sales before you have yours and see what other people are charging. Ticket your items. We wouldn't ticket things like books. We usually had a set price for hardcovers and another for soft and would have that posted.

Have a power supply handy -- We often sold items like radios and televisions at our yard sales. We made sure to have a power supply so people could test out what we were selling. The last thing you want is to leave your sale area to bring a stranger into your home to see if a toaster works.

Do not be intimidated -- Set your ground rules. If you do not want early birds, don't allow it. If you have a certain level you will drop your price to and you don't want to go lower, don't (remember to look around at other sales and see what kinds of prices similar items are going for). We were pretty rigid with our prices until later in the day. That was when we were more likely to haggle. I was a little harder edged than my mom and grandma. I truly had no interest in haggling with a woman holding a coach wallet, but at the same token, I was a complete pushover for a dad buying some Barbies and clothes for his little girls. Choose your battles. :)

Know when to sell -- My grandma and mom would usually hold their yard sales on Saturdays or Sundays. I don't quite understand the yard sales on weekdays. I know I see it a lot out here, but to me it always seemed more the early bird approach where you are quite likely to be hit by dealers rather than people looking for a deal. My family also avoided yard sales on holidays, but now with more and more people not traveling far, you may want to try it

Combine sales with neighbors -- If at all possible, work with your neighborhood and have a neighborhood sale. There was a neighborhood in my town in Rhode Island that would do one neighborhood sale for a weekend in the summer. It was great because you could park your car and just walk all over the neighborhood from sale to sale. It also kept the neighborhood yard sale traffic down throughout the rest of the year. Another cool thing was a lot of the children had cookie and lemonade sales during the weekend. Let me tell you, they did well!

Display -- Never underestimate the power of displaying your items nicely. First, keep things clean. Do not sell items that are so dingy no one would even want to touch them. Think about what makes you want to look and what makes you not want to look. My mom hung clothes off a portable clothing rack and on our fence. Other items she put on tables. She always had a box of clothing people could go through as well, but the nice stuff was displayed and displayed well. Also think about what appeals to men, women, children and teens and set up areas accordingly. Also display eye-catching items where people can see them when they drive by. My mom always made a point of putting large exercise equipment and yard tools like weed whackers up front to draw in the men who might not be as willing to browse as their female companions were.

What sells -- To save aggravation, it is a good idea to get an idea of what sells. I found a pretty awesome list at thefuntimesguide.com Guide to Household Tips. Follow the link below for a great list of what sells and to whom. :)

LINK: What Are The Hottest Yard Sale Items?



FREEBIES:

This is sooooo cool. The American Museum of Natural History and NASA have an awesome freebie for educators. It is the DVD "Journey to the Stars." Here are details from the site:


"Educators and parents: Are you ready to take a Journey to the Stars? The American Museum of Natural History and NASA have joined forces to produce a planetarium show about the amazing variety of stars that dot our cosmos--exploding stars, giant stars, dwarf stars, neutron stars, even our own star! But you don't have to go to a planetarium to experience this mind-blowing journey. NASA will send you a DVD, and Educators Guide for free!"

When my son was younger, we got some amazing weather maps from NASA. I guarantee you are going to want to alert any educators you know. Follow the link below:

LINK: Journey to the Stars

Humana is offering a free "Retirement for Dummies" or "Well-Being for Dummies" when you register with Humana.

LINK: Human free book offer

Follow the link below for five freebies from Walmart.

LINK: Walmart Free Samples


Earlier last weekend I posted a free sample for Starbucks VIA. If you haven't picked that up yet, here is the link: Starbucks VIA (mind you they could be all gone) Now if you are a Costco member, I have another opportunity for you to get a sample of Starbucks VIA. Follow the link below, but remember you do need a membership number for this one.

LINK: Starbucks VIA sample for Costco members

Free CCM has a free song download for "Jesus Saves" this week from Carlos Whittaker as well as still having free song downloads from Addison Road, Jonny Diaz, 33Miles, and Mike Farris. Don't wait for these to disappear. Follow the link.

LINK: Free CCM Song Downloads

More music? If you enjoy country music or would like to give a country music CD to a friend check this out. If you write a letter to a soldier and take it to your local Ram truck dealer, you can get a free CD "Breaking Southern Ground." They are looking to get 1 million letters written to soldiers. Details and a way to find a dealership near you are available by following the link below. Also if you download a song directly from the site, Ram truck dealers will make a donation to Soldiers Angels with EVERY DOWNLOAD!

LINK: Letters for Lyrics




National Parks are offering a few more free days this year. For this summer, take advantage of free entry on August 14 and 15. Other free days include September 25 (Public Lands Day) and November 11 (Veteran's Day). Follow the link for participating parks state by state: Free National Park Entry

Check out the National Parks page for events that will be held all summer. Most events are free though there is a charge for entry to the parks. This link takes you to Arizona National Park Events: Arizona National Park Events

Kelly's Quick Freebie Tip - Feed Granola

I love, love, love granola! I have never tried Feed Whole Grain Granola, but now I have the chance! Well, many of us do. Check out the opportunity for a free sample now while supplies last at their website. Linkage is below!

LINK: Free Sample Feed Whole Grain Granola

Big thanks to Cut Them Coupons and to For the Mommas for the heads up!

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Today I thought I would talk a little bit about composting. With the use of composting, you can make your soil better for a good garden. And remember you can garden at any size whether you use pots, a raised garden, or even have a good stretch of land to cultivate.

Composting tips:

How to make a composter out of a garbage can. There are links all over the place for this fairly easy composter. Below is a very easy to follow article from About.com

LINK: Make a Trash Composter

You can also purchase a repurposed garbage can from the city of Phoenix at a city disposal facility for just $5! Follow the link below for details:

LINK: Phoenix Composter

The University of Missouri also has a great page with how to make several kinds of composters. Check it out below.

LINK: University of Missouri - How to Build a Compost Bin

What to compost?

It is suggested that you avoid meat, dairy, fecal matter from household members including pets (just didn't really know of a gentler way to say it than that), weeds, bones, diseased plants, needles from evergreens, eucalyptus, walnuts, charcoal, cooked food waste, dishwater, fish scraps and grains. This list I got from Jonnie McCoy's book Frugal Families.

FREEBIES

Give a pint, get a pint: United Blood Services and Blue Bell Creameries are partnering to thank Arizona blood donors! From June 1 to July 5 blood donors will be thanked with a voucher for a free pint of Blue Bell ice cream in appreciation for their giving. To make an appointment call 1-877-448-GIVE or visit www.UnitedBloodServicesAZ.org. Enter your zip code for the site near you.


Dove has a free sample of Intensive Repair Daily Treatment conditioner while supplies last. I would click on the link below before it is gone!

LINK: Dove Intensive Repair Daily Treatment

Summer is the perfect time for picnics and sandwiches. Kraft has a way to jazz up those sandwiches with their new Sandwich Shop Mayo, and they are offering free samples while supplies last. Follow the link.

LINK: Kraft Sandwich Shop Mayo

On June 1st through 7th you can request to Glidden paint samples for you and then request 2 for a friend. All for free. A great way to check a color out before you commit.

LINK: Glidden paint samples

You can also print out the coupon at the link below for a free 2 oz sample of Benjamin Moore paint. You must bring this to an authorized Benjamin Moore paint dealer. Limit 1 per customer, must be 18 years of age or older, and coupon expires on June 30, 2010.

LINK: Benjamin Moore Paint Sample Coupon


Nexcare bandaids is trying to inspire others to give blood, and they are asking for help. Sign up and they wills end you two Nexcare "give" bandages to help spread the word and inspire others to donate.

LINK: Nexcare Give Bandaids

Free Admission to Museums from Memorial Day through Labor Day for active duty military personnel and their families.

Blue Star Museums is a partnership among Blue Star Families, the National Endowment for the Arts, and more than 600 museums in all 50 states to offer free admission to active duty military personnel and their families from Memorial Day, May 31, 2010, through Labor Day, September 6, 2010. Follow the link for more details and particulars.

LINK: Free Museum Admission

Free Museums In Arizona:

Arizona State Museum
Tucson, AZ

Desert Caballeros Western Museum
Wickenburg, AZ

Heard Museum
Phoenix, AZ

Museum of Northern Arizona
Flagstaff, AZ

Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix, AZ

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art
Scottsdale, AZ

The Mini Time Machine Museum
Tucson, AZ


Jiffy Mix has a new recipe booklet out with new recipes, nutrition facts and even some camping recipes. One per household. Get yours by linking below.

LINK: Jiffy Mix Recipe Booklet

Okay you know how bacon has become the new condiment? I have seen bacon flavored lip gloss and scented candles. You can get in on the bacon trend without the extra calories by trying
J & D's bacon salt. I bet that it would taste good on a tomato sandwich. Get a sample of J & D's Bacon Salt and some stickers (not sure if they are just plain or smell like bacon) by hitting the link below. You know you want to!

LINK: J & D's Bacon Salt Sample

While supplies last you can sign up for a sample of Nature's Made Chewable D just for signing up for Nature's Made Wellness Advisor.

LINK: Nature's Made Chewable D

John Frieda has a Sheer Blonde Highlighting Activating Shampoo and Conditioner sample giveaway at their website while supplies last. Give it a go by following the link below.

LINK: John Frieda Sheer Blonde



Don't forget about signing up your children ages 5 to 12 for the Home Depot Kids Workshops. Saturday, June 5th workshop will be for a wooden soccer game.

LINK: Home Depot Kids Workshops




Saturday May 29th Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic project is a race care with a Memorial Day paint theme, and on June 15th the project is an awesome picture frame that will make a great gift!

LINK: Build and Grow Clinic

Do you have kids who like stickers and motorcross. You might want to sign up for the free O'neal Motorcross stickers. When I was a kid I would have plotzed over this!

LINK: O'neal Motorcross

FreeCCM.org is offering a free download of Jonny Diaz song "Love Like You Loved." They also still have free downloads by 33Miles, Mike Farris, Joy Whitlock and Mark Harris.

LINK: FreeCCM

Get some amazing free summer music from Tooth & Nail Records, BEC Recordings and Solid State Records! 15+ songs! Fill out your information and they will email you the download link.

LINK: Summer Music from Tooth & Nail, BEC & Solid State

Five free CD downloads from ionworship.com. Follow the link and click on "Shop" (left side bar). Once you are on the shop page click on Freebies.

LINK: ionworship.com free music

Head over to one of my favorite sites, New Release Tuesday and download a copy of Jimmy Needham's "Moving To Zion" as well as

LINK: New Release Tuesday

Check out Homeschool Freebie of the Day to download a PDF of "Making the Most of Your Summer Break." This is a great resource compiled from over 200 homeschooling families. You will definitely want to save the site, because Homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com is always full of great resources.

LINK: Home School Freebie of the Day "Making the Most of Your Summer Break"