Fourteen years ago my husband and I got our first house.  It was a tiny bungalow in the bad end of town.  We loved it.  It had a small backyard with a little retaining wall.  We didn’t have the tools to create a proper garden, so when I got a little pamphlet in the mail advertising EarthBox I decided to take a risk and order one.  We set it up in the backyard and planted two tomato plants in it.  I quit watering it around September when school got busy, but the tomatoes kept growing!  I was taking Ziploc bags full of tomatoes to my friends at work.

When was the last time your plants continued to thrive when you quit watering them????? [Read more…]

Have you visited Be Frugal yet?  I recently came across it when the owner emailed me and told me about the printable coupons and discounts that are featured on the site.  I browsed the site and really like the tabs at the top that make it easy to find what you’re looking for.  It also allows you to search by store.   BeFrugal also offers cashback at certain stores.  When I looked at a few stores, it seemed like Be Frugal offers better cashback rates than Shop At Home.  I’m always looking for a good deal.  BeFrugal is a great place to start.   You can join by clicking the banner or my link, and best of all it’s FREE!

Here are some good deals that I found while looking around this morning……

Lots of restaurant coupons—online deals and printables.

High-value printable grocery coupons

Back-to-school printable. No need to take a survey for this deal!

So what do you think?  Are you willing to try a new savings site, or are you sticking to the old faithfuls?  I’d love to hear your opinions on BeFrugal.com

Disclosure: This post contains referral links that benefit Savings in Seconds when you join through them. It doesn’t cost you a penny.  Thanks!

My children live in their Keens during the school year, so I was waaaaay excited to see the deal on Zulily!!  Many of their Keens sandals are around $19.99 depending on color, style, and size.  Since our Keens should get us through the fall, I bought the next size up for for my son and a pair of boots for my daughter.  I browsed again tonight and saw that plenty of choices were left, although the items I purchased are now sold out.  Shipping is a little spendy ($8.95 for my order) but the great thing is that you can add to your order until midnight, so you have a little more time to shop if needed.  You might even consider asking a friend if they want to split the shipping with you, then add their order to yours.   The Keens sale ends Monday.  Don’t forget to go through Shop At Home for some cashback (10% right now….see my note below).

Looking for back-to-school shoes?  This Zulily sale is the best deal I’ve seen on Keens for kids.

I bought my kids’ Keens on ShoeBuy a few weeks ago and used SAH and $10 gift certificates that I had from a survey and STILL paid more.

Here’s what I ended up getting, paying about $60 before shipping.

Green H2, $22.99 (reg. $50)

Boots $29.99 (regular price=$65)

cute bag $6.99

My cashback should be about $3. Shop At Home has 10% cashback right now through the special Premium Cash Back special, so be sure to click that link if you use Shop At Home.

Speaking of Shop At Home, they’ve got a good sale on Tide right now under the Coupons tab.  If you are already ordering $25+ at Drugstore.com or if you have ShopRunner, you can get Tide TotalCare for $4.49 after cashback.  This is for the 20 load bottle, which makes the detergent about 23 cents per load.  Not bad!

Disclosure:   These are my affiliate links.  When you click through them, it benefits this site. Thank you!

Imagine being a young unwed mother.  You live in a very strict Mennonite community.  Although you’re not officially shunned, your reputation is shattered and you don’t have the support of your family.  What would you do?

Lizzie Engel was faced with this situation in Inescapable My sister-in-law offered to review the book and shared her thoughts with me today.  In her opinion, Inescapable had enough suspense to keep the reader guessing.  It wasn’t completely predictable.  Also, it had just enough romance to make the story good but not dripping with sap.  She said it took a while to get into the book but then she became interested in the story.  In fact, she’s looking forward to reading the second book to find out what happens to the characters.   The “God factor” was pretty high in this book.   Lizzie’s relationship with God, including learning the lessons of grace and forgiveness, was the primary element of the story.  Are you a fan of this genre?  I’d love to hear your thoughts on books like Inescapable.

Inescapable is available on Amazon.  You can also view the book trailer below.

  I am a sixth-grade history teacher, so it’s kind of in my interest to read historical books.  I teach ancient civilizations so Jackson by Paul Vickery wasn’t the typical book I would check out.   But you know what?  I would read this even if I didn’t teach social studies!!   This was the kind of biography for a reader like me—-someone who wants the high points in story form with a bit of humor and entertainment.  Jackson by Paul Vickery had enough factual information to keep me interested yet was easy to read.  I enjoyed reading the section on Jackson’s genealogy.  Sometimes biographies start with the birth of the subject; in this case, the familial background seemed to make an impact on Jackson.    I appreciated learning about his at-home personality and that he was an excellent host.  It’s hard to imagine that when reading about his battle experiences.   One could argue that they don’t make men like Jackson anymore.  Whether that’s a good thing or not is another story.  In this biography, Jackson is presented as almost on a pedestal.  Fresh from reading this book, I would say that he probably deserved that in most cases.

Is history something that you’re interested in?   Do you have a child who will study the Civil War era?  This might be a good option for you to consider for background information.  While it’s not meant for the serious researcher, it’s perfect for someone who needs the basics or just beyond.  The only thing that was missing for me was a larger section with photographs.  There were a few illustrations sprinkled in but not nearly enough, in my opinion.

Recently my husband surprised me with the grand gesture—a new HE steam washer/dryer!  I haven’t been caught up on laundry since my mother-in-law last visited.  It was even worse this summer because we had company quite often and had extra towels, swimsuits, etc. to wash.  I swear our clothes reproduce like Gremlins overnight.   My husband surprised me by getting me a really great set that washes/dries about 3x the amount of clothes that my old set did.   It makes things go so much more quickly!!    I don’t mind doing the laundry, but it’s so helpful when the task is done a bit quicker.  I’m saving lots of time with my new washing machine and dryer.  [Read more…]

Thrifty Thursday:  Using Gas Points

When you’re already budgeting, it’s hard to find new ways to cut the spending even further.  Have you been using your store shopper card to earn free gas points?  Many of our local grocery stores offer this deal and it has saved us a lot of money in our gas purchases.   Here’s an example…..

At Food City, we get 15 cents off per gallon when we earn 100 points (which is usually 1 gas point for each dollar spent.).  We typically earn this amount in one week, sometimes more.  I usually wait to fill up our gas tank when the tank is just below ¼ tank.  This is about 12 gallons worth of gas, which is approximately $8 in savings per month for one car.  In one year, that’s about $90 in gas savings!   When we do this with both cars, it’s even bigger savings.  Consider it as driving the car for free for a few weeks!

If you’re a Kroger shopper, you can even get $1 off your gas when your points add up to 1000 or more in one month.  Now, you don’t actually have to spend $1000 to get that savings, of course.  Pay attention to their gift card deals and you’ll often have an opportunity to earn 4x the gas points when you purchase gift cards.   Go ahead and purchase gift cards for places that you normally eat or shop at, or get a head start on your Chirstmas gift card purchases.   Use those savings at the gas tank to maximize your budget.

This is just one way that you can save a little extra on things you would be buying anyway.  If your grocery store has a similar savings program, I’d love to hear about it!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Famous Footwear. All opinions are 100% mine.

Do you really need a reason to shop for shoes?  If so, let me help you out.  I just found out about the Famous Footwear FREE rewards program. You can earn discounts and certificates just for signing up and buying your shoes at Famous Footwear.  With so many styles of shoes, you’re bound to find something you love with a price you can love, too.  The current promotion is going to help lots of parents grab some great shoes for their kids going back-to-school……15% off plus BOGO half off. Go ahead and print the coupon so you have it ready for your in-store shopping trip between 8/2 and 8/18.  BOGO + 15% off Famous Footwear Coupon You can even make the discount 20% if you sign up for the Reward program or if you’re already a member. Pretty sweet!   This would help me a lot because both of my kids need new shoes for school, plus I usually end up getting a pair for my husband and/or myself when we shop.  Knowing that I’ll earn reward points for my purchase is definitely going to help soften the back-to-school blow.

Here’s how the Rewards program works.  You earn 1 point for every $1 spent, whether you shop in the store or online.   Your points can be redeemed for certificates.  You could earn up to $100 in certificates per year!  That’s a lot of money to spend on shoes.   You get special discounts just for signing up, like the one I mentioned above.  And you also get other special discounts and perks for being a rewards member.

My kids love to shop at Famous Footwear because it doesn’t take us a long time.  When we shop there, the sales rep is always ready to get my kids’ sizes and help us find the style we need.  I don’t have to run all over the store trying to find a pair of great shoes.  If the shoe I want isn’t available in the store, Famous Footwear will even ship it to my house.  Now that’s customer service.  I remember driving all over town looking for a certain pair of sparkly shoes that my daughter just had to have.  I wish I’d known about the wonders of Famous Footwear at that time.  You can also order online and have your shoes delivered to your nearest Famous Footwear store for pick-up at no charge.  This would be a great opportunity to maximize your cashback savings!

Our local Famous Footwear is located in our mall.  It’s right next to the ice cream shop. I think we might even head over there for some fun shoe shopping and spend our savings (both time and money) enjoying ice cream afterwards!

What’s your talent?  What’s your passion?  And more importantly, what are you doing with it?

I received the book Live to Give: Let God Turn Your Talents into Miracles  and came away a better person.  For one thing, I am in awe that the author was just a child when he had the dream to help others.  He made that dream a reality by doing something that he loves!   I have lots of interests, including writing and sharing deals with others.  When I read Live to Give I had to ask myself, “How am I using this gift to help others?”   It was a cold hard look at my heart that needed to be made.

Austin is wise beyond his years.  His message spoke to me and made me want to do more with my talents.  I would highly recommend this as a youth group book study.  It’s perfect for inspiring kids to think BIG and make a difference. This would even be a good book to read with your children as it can help facilitate conversations about spiritual gifts, how to handle bullying, and goal-setting.     Live to Give is appropriate for all ages, but there are lots of high school references such as packing Lunchables for lunch and other nuances that really target young people.  I especially enjoyed the humor in Austin’s writing; it made his voice authentic and not over-edited.   I think we can all expect to see great things from Austin Gutwein for years to come.

I participated in the Live to Give blog tour.

A few weeks ago it was HOT in Kingsport.  With temps over 100 several days in a row, we found ourselves wanting to be indoors all the time.  We decided to try Leaping Lizards off of Wilcox Drive.   This is an indoor bounce house with a separate area for toddlers.   There are about five giant bounce houses to enjoy with a seating area in the middle.  If your kids need a break from bouncing, they can enjoy the Plasma Car area.  There are also five party rooms off to the side.

First of all, let me say that Leaping Lizards was a good option when you need an indoor activity.  The entry fee was comparable to similar businesses—I think we paid $16 for two kids.  Socks are required, so make sure you take some along.  I loved that Leaping Lizards had an ice water dispenser available for free.  The little ones get so hot when jumping around and having free water was a great perk.  Other concessions were a great deal, too, like the unlimited popcorn and free refills on soda.  My kids got Nathan’s hot dogs and liked those a lot…I mean, who wouldn’t.  The entire area seemed very clean and there was adequate supervision inside the play area.

What I didn’t like so much was how hot it was in the building.  It’s in a warehouse-type building so there doesn’t seem to be much insulation to keep in the cool.  Like I said, it was about 100 degrees outside, so that day might not have been a good indicator of what it’s normally like.  I also wasn’t really keen on the arrangement of the play place.  It was a little hard to keep an eye on our kids while seated, so hubby and I followed them around (much to their chagrin).  Leaping Lizards didn’t seem to have any security measures in place such as parent-child matching wristbands.  Lastly, I noticed that several parents were getting in the bounce houses with their kids.  While I understand that very small children might need assistance, I’m not comfortable with any strangers getting in the back of a bounce house with my kids.  This is another reason that my husband and I hovered like helicopters around our children the whole time.  So there is some room for improvement at Leaping Lizards, but it definitely has potential as a fun activity in Kingsport.

(Note: I received no compensation for writing this review.)