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14 Reuses for a Phonebook

I just got two phone books in the mail that I know we won't use. Why bother when we can google?? I found this article and thought I'd share! (be sure to check for coupons before repurposing-sometimes there are some good ones in there!

14 Reuses for a Phonebook

FREE Better Homes & Gardens Magazine Subscription

       FREE Better Homes & Gardens Magazine Subscription

Thanks to Coupon pro for this deal!! -

Yay! Hurry over to score a FREE 1 year subscription to Better Homes and Gardens magazine, courtesy of FreeBizMag! Prepare to give some info on your profession or under industry choose “Other’ then select ‘Homemaker” if your a stay at home mom. You can have the magazine mailed to your home. Make sure to say “No Thanks” to all the offers. If you receive a renewal notice, ignore it, it is not a bill.

(thanks @Adam)

Freezer Cooking Take Two

One way I plan to save both time and money this year is through freezer cooking. Freezer cooking allows you to buy things in bulk quantities when they are cheap or marked down when they are close to their date, cook them up and store them as quick go-to meal alternatives.

It not only saves money on the ingredients, but it makes it less tempting to eat out for dinner when there are lots of quick options in the freezer, which is a great money-saver.

Another bonus is that prepared freezer foods you buy in the store are much more expensive and LOADED with preservatives. The next time you buy one of those bagged premade stir fries read the sodium content- yikes!!

During week one of freezer cooking I managed to cook down and shred 8 pounds of split chicken breasts, freeze 4 dozen chocolate chip cookies all ready for baking, 6 cups chicken broth, and 4 pounds of baked beans! I did this all in roughly 2 hours and it has been great having all these meal helpers in the freezer.

My freezer is NOT this clean LOL I stole a picture-

Today I plan on making chicken enchiladas, chicken stir fry, pancakes,and more cookies. Stay tuned to see if my kids cooperate lol.

Check out these links for some great freezer cooking ideas:
Once a Month Cook
Money Saving Mom-Look specifically for the freezer-friendly section.
Once a Month Mom


Do you freeze meals ahead? I would love your recipes and ideas!

My 2012 resolution-declutter my life...

Despite the fact that I am a naturally organized person-my home does not reflect this. Unannounced guests are welcomed with stacks of old mail, a mantle full of things that I have rescued from the puppy, a sink full of dishes, and an apology for "the mess". While I try not to judge myself to harshly on these factors, I recently was reminded of something I saw on TV a few years back. I used to LOVE reality TV-I am burned out nowadays-but if nothing else it gave me this point. While watching one of the countless home makeover shows that used to fill my dvr, one of the designers said something that cut right at my core." If your house is this cluttered, so is your mind. A person's house is a direct reflection of their mind, finances, and life. " Ouch.

As much as I don't want to believe this point, I think it is true for me. My entire life has become "cluttered". Yes there are "things" that need to be purged, but also thoughts, commitments, time-squanderers, money-wasters...It is time for a full purge of my life.

In order to do this, I am turning to some guide books. One is Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. If you don't own this book, and are not currently happy with your financial life, BUY IT. It has changed our lives so much already and I can't wait to see what will happen in a few years! Oh and when you tell yourself that cash is too much work and that you can do just as good with a debit card...well you're wrong LOL We though the same thing, but cash is cash. There is no better way to get on budget than to ONLY use cash. Period. Ever. Dave's program has taught me many things but most of all it has changed my focus from What can I buy? to What can I cut?

I also have a debt calculator app on my Ipad that can show me exactly where my money is going and EXACTLY when I will be debt free-including my home. It makes me excited to cut corners and watch that date become closer and closer.

My second guidebook is The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine. I love her blog and her book is a great resource for simplifying and downsizing your life. It discusses everything from cleaning strategies, to coupon shopping, and becoming debt free. I think the most valuable part for me was her discussion on goal setting. She suggest setting a goal of where you want to be in 15 years and then to break that goal down into bite-sized pieces. So-if my goal, for example, is to eliminate ALL of our debt in 15 years, I would then divide our debt amount by 15 to see how much we need to be able to pay off per year. Next divide by twelve to find our monthly pay-off amount, then I went even farther and divided by four to get a weekly amount. While these numbers will not be totally accurate-unless you know how to figure in the interest being accrued during that time, it does show you one thing-the little things you tell yourself DON'T hurt your budget---well they do.

Let's say you spend $40 a week eating out with your family each Friday night. $40 meal x 52 weeks x 15 years= are you read for this $31, 200!!!!!!!! If you took that same amount and put it in an envelope each week you would have $31,000 in 15 years! If you put it into an interest bearing savings account-you would have even more! Little money=big spending over time. You should just see what a difference budgeting for groceries can make!

I will be talking about this more as the year progresses. While I won't be sharing any financial details, I will tell you that this year's resolution will be the biggest, toughest one EVER. But hopefully 2013 will find me healthier and happier with less debt, less stuff, more time, and more peace:)

What are your resolutions this year? Share them below!

Let's Go Krogering:)

I have been slacking on my couponing duties since my son, Aidan, was born 8 months ago. Life has just seemed so crazy and I haven't had the time or energy to get back on the "coupon wagon", so to speak. But, after I saw the great deals in their ad this week for the gameday mega deals, I couldn't help myself. I sorted my coupons, ordered some more, and boy was it worth it! Here is what I got for under a hundred dollars!

2-Kleenex Hand Towels
1-Loaf of bread
3-Finish dishwasher tablet packages
6-packages Oscar Meyer Deli Meats
3-packages turkey bacon
2-lunchables
6-Orville Redenbacher popcorn
1-saltines
1-dole salad
1-pack yoplait yogurt parfait
6-pepperidge farm garlic breads
3-BIG boxes fruity pebbles
1-gerber yogurt package
2-cans pumpkin
6-krusteez cookie mixes
2-cans wolf chili
1-bic mechanical pencil set
2-chichi tortillas
12-uncle bens rice
2-tropicana orange juice
2-french's mustard
1-heluva buffalo dip
2-pancake mix
1-muffin mix
1-swanson flavor concentrate
6-kft american singles packs
6-ken's salad dressings
3-franks thick hot sauce
1-gallon milk
1-bag mixed fresh veggies

my total SHOULD have been-$264 and I paid 99.63!
I have had much higher savings percentages, but I am super excited because this all stuff we actually will USE, plus it is so hard to get a good price on meat and the bacon and lunch meats were great deals!

Stretch Your Budget by Stretching your Food!

I recently read a post where a blogger talked about stretching her food budget and she suggested to stretch meat by using other proteins or grains mixed into them to stretch them further.  I began thinking about how true this simple idea was. For instance I only buy the leanest ground beef which is almost $4.00 a pound. Imagine how excited I would get if I found it half price! I would fill my cart with it and freeze it all up for later. But, in essence, you can almost half the price yourself by only using half the amount. If you use a healthy filler you are also adding nutrition and protein without all the added fat! Although I was skeptical I gave it a try.

 My first attempt was to make and prepare a bag of black beans (I had never done this before) and mix them half and half with our taco meat. The black beans were only under $2 for 2 lbs which made a HUGE batch.

I could see the distrust on my husbands face when I told him we were eating a taco "mixture" for dinner but he agreed to try-he knows when it comes to my money saving ideas resistance is futile.

Honestly-IT WAS AWESOME. I seasoned the beans with cumin, salt, chili powder, and taco seasoning, seasoned the taco meat like normal and mixed the two together. Maya and I liked them BETTER than normal and even Travis admitted he didn't miss the extra meat at all! The best part is we still have half the meat left and 3/4 of the beans left ( I didn't mix them all in, just enough to make it a 50/50 ratio. I froze up two more bags of black beans since I prepared them all AND a bag of taco mixture for another nights dinner. Delicious, affordable, AND healthier than our normal tacos-I can't wait to try more! If you are interested, I can give more specifics on how to prepare the beans-it is not as hard as it sounds!