Lane Bryant is having a great sales on Cacique Bras now through January 12th. Buy two and get two for free. I have been very happy with this brand. They fit and support well, and they are made to last. I took advantage of this sale and made it even better with coupons and rebates
A Google search brought me Coupon B and a 25% off coupon code. The code is 000251082. Through Ebates I will earn another 3% cash back. When it is all said and done, I got four bras for about $12 each including tax and shipping. It is a great deal!
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deals
It seems to happen every year. I get a great start on all my Christmas shopping. Things are coming together, and then I get stuck. There always a few people on the list that are hard to shop for, and the last minute panic ensues. Luckily for me, we won't be exchanging Christmas gifts with these people until after Christmas. I have a little more time, but what to buy?
I try really hard to give useful gifts that the recipient will appreciate. I'm wondering if I should just throw that all out the door, and go with something quirky and fun. Gifts, like singing toilet paper, a bald man's comb, or maybe Travelocity Gnome for the Amazing Race fan on my list, might be fun and memorable. Should I forget the practical and meaningful, and go for the laughs?
I still have a little time to figure it out. :) Anyone else having last minute gift panic?
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gifts
Yesterday, I attempted homemade turtles for the first time. They are one of my husband's favorites, and I was really looking forward to making them. Turtles seem pretty simple. I mean after all they are just pecans, caramel, and chocolate.
I found a recipe that said simply to arrange the pecans, place the caramels on top, and then place in the oven until the caramels melt. Then it said to let them cool a bit, and cover the whole thing with melted chocolate.
They look pretty good don't they? Looks are deceiving.
The first problem came when I tried to get them off the baking sheet. I had to pry them off with a knife, breaking many of them in the process. That problem will be easily fixed, I think, by putting them on waxed paper next time. That is how I do all my other candies, and am not sure why I deviated from that routine this time. The second problem I do not know how to fix.
They are hard as rocks. They taste pretty good, if you don't break your teeth eating them. Tim resorted to warming them a little in the microwave first.
Some of the other recipes I saw suggested melting the caramel in a double boiler with some cream or milk. Does this help keep them soft? Any experienced turtle makers out there want to share their secrets? Our teeth would sure appreciate it.
Packing your lunch is one of the best tips for saving money that I can give. If you work outside the home, packing your lunch only makes sense. Even if you eat cheaply, lunch can easily run five dollars. Five dollars times five days a week times times 52 weeks equals $1300 a year. Of course lunch from home isn't free, but leftovers feel like they are. Even if you buy convenience food for your lunches, they cost a fraction of the expense of going out to eat.
If you are with the family for errands or fun, eating out adds up quickly. If you have a family of six, like mine, eating out can take a huge chunk out of the weekly budget. It just makes sense to take a few minutes to pack a lunch, and save eating out for special occasions.
Packing your lunch can even be fun and stylish. Recently, Simply-Bags, makers of all sorts of personalized tote bags, sent me one their lunch bags to review. They sent me an insulated zebra lunch tote.
I have to admit zebra print would not have been my first choice, but the bag is cute, and came nicely monogrammed with the lettering of my choice. They do have a good selection of other lunch tote designs. I think the lunch cooler bag is rather cute.
I was nicely surprised by the size of this lunch tote. It is very roomy. It will easily fit a light lunch or snacks for the kids and I when we are running errands. I really like that it is large enough for that use, but still flexible to be folded down to store. Much nicer than some of the hard sided coolers that we have of a similar size. I do think that we will get a lot of use out of this lunch tote.
Eating out regularly takes a heavy toll on the finances. Packing lunch does take a little time, and around here by the time it is errand day, it also takes a little creativity, but it is time and energy well spent.
Today I'm feeling overwhelmed.
We are working hard. We are paying off debt. And I am tired.
It truly is worth all the effort, and I don't mind the little sacrifices. Sometimes, though, it is just nice to think about what life may be like after this debt is gone. I don't imagine much would will change. Living frugally is pretty much ingrained in our brains, and we are not frivolous by nature, but there are a couple of things that I would love to put our hard earned money toward when it is no longer going toward debt.
The first would be traveling. I love to travel, and to see new things and places. There are so many places I'd like to see. In our early years of marriage, Tim and I both thought we would be teaching when we reached this point in our lives. We dreamed of buying a RV and traveling the country every summer. It still sounds good to me, though finding the time for that may be a problem considering the life we lead right now. Animals and gardens don't let you leave for a summer at a time. Our travels will have to come in a different form, I guess, someday.
The other little luxury I'd love to indulge in would be a someone to clean the house. I don't mind most household chores. I'm happy to stay in the kitchen and cook for the better part of the day. Tending the garden is pleasurable most times. Even laundry is tolerable, or it would be if there wasn't so incredibly much of it in this family of six. But I simply don't like to clean.
I enjoy a clean house. I function better in a clean house, but I'll find almost any excuse to not clean my house. Wouldn't it be nice to hire a commercial cleaning company to come in to take care of all those responsibilities for me? While they dust, I can bake cookies. When they are mopping the kitchen floor, I'll be out in the garden. I'll find the a little more time for writing and reading while they scrub my bath tub. Oh that would be pure bliss wouldn't it?
Someday.... but not today. Today is a little overwhelming. There is so much to do, and now that I've indulged my little fantasies a bit, I'm off to scrub my own toilet.
-Who says you can't wipe your face on your shirt?
We made the switch to cloth napkins some time ago. I found some nice napkins in a clearance aisle and bought those for our dining room napkins. For the kitchen we used old baby washcloths and cut up towels. I prefer cloth napkins to paper, and love not having to buy paper napkins all the time.
Those original kitchen napkins have gotten a lot of use. It was time for something different.
My husband had several dress shirts that had various stains or small rips making them unsuitable to wear to work. I had them in a pile, not quite sure what to do with them. Then it occurred to me that they would make good napkins. I broke out the scissors and the sewing machine and got to work.
The first step was to cut up the shirt. I wasn't worried about exact measurements for these napkins. I cut squares that are roughly 10x10 inches.
Next I ironed the squares, and folded the sides over about a 1/4 inch and ironed the fold. Then it was simply a matter of sewing the folds. I used a zigzag stitch to sew it all up.
With use, I have noticed some fraying. To prevent this, I should have made my zig zag right on the edge, or folded and sewn the edges over a second time. The fraying is minimal, and it really doesn't bother me that much for these everyday use napkins, though.
The final product. Sixteen napkins were made from two shirts in a couple of hours.
I enjoy using cloth napkins. They work better, and save us money. Making them from old shirts makes them practically free. It also is a source of great amusement for my kids sitting around the lunch table. They find it hilarious that they get to wipe their face on daddy's shirt.
Old Navy has some great deals going on right now. Check out their 60 Gifts for under $6. Use code ONSAVE20 for 20% off your entire order, and shipping is FREE with every order over $50. And to make a great deal even better, shop through Ebates, and earn a 10% rebate on your purchases!
While at Ebates, be sure to check out the list of stores that are currently offering double the normal rebate. The list includes Wal Mart, Target, and Kohl's among many others.
Happy Shopping!
Labels:
deals
Paying off debt is not easy. It takes dedication, thought, and hard work. But I think that the hardest part about trying to pay off debt is the lack of consistent momentum. You set up a plan and put it to work. Debt is chipped away, and WHAM something pops up that side tracks you from the plan, and debt reduction has to slow way down.
It seems like that has happened to us quite frequently in the last few months. Cars need repairs. Christmas gifts need purchased, and things just don't go quite as planned. The latest item to pop up into that list is a mattress.
Our mattress is old, but we really didn't have plans to replace. Making do with old stuff is part of our debt reducing plan. After several weeks of us both feeling not quite rested and a little stiff every morning, it finally occurred to us that perhaps the mattress was the problem. So, now we are shopping for mattress sets.
There certainly are a lot of choices out there with a huge range of price tags. So, here is where I am looking for a little input from you. Do we go memory foam, pillow top, or eurotop? I'd love a little feed back about your mattress shopping experiences.
These detours from our debt reduction plan are down right frustrating to me. I wish that we could just put everything else on hold until we are debt free. Life doesn't work that way, though. It is satisfying to remember that things "popping" up like this were all paid with credit a short time ago. Now, that we have a better handle on our finances, and a plan, these things can be paid with cash. That is a good feeling.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Birdfeeders.com. All opinions are 100% mine.
This year I got a great jump start on my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. It feels so good to have so much done, and with gifts that I think people will really enjoy. I like to pick out gifts that are special for each individual, not just something general. Sometimes, that can be hard to do.
Fall gardening is a relatively new concept to me. It is one that I am growing to love.
This year we planted more in the fall than ever. And since this seems to be the year of new things in the garden, we tried a few new veggies. Not everything in the fall garden was a success, but for the most part the fall garden plants flourished with a minimal effort on my part.
I am amazed that in early December, after several hard frosts, that I still have broccoli, curly chard, lettuce, cabbage, turnips, and radishes growing in the garden. The broccoli has been the star of the fall garden. The plants have required minimal care. In fact after planting the only thing I've really done is pick caterpillars off them. That work will be eliminated next year with the use of row covers. The plants have produced good sized flower heads. Even two plants, that were practically destroyed by some rogue ducks who had escaped their enclosure, were productive. The large flower heads have all been harvested, and the plants still are sending up more yummy broccoli for us to enjoy! Next year I would like to plant a lot more of this wonderful veggie.
Do me a favor though would you? Next year around August when I am completely worn out by the summer garden and wanting to put it all to bed for the year, remind me of my December harvest. Remind me of how good the broccoli was, and how worthwhile planting at the end of the summer is. Thanks!
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gardening
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