Photo by Svadilfari
Stock up on your Pepsi products at Walgreens this week! 12 Packs of Pepsi products are 5 for $15. Get $5 Register Rewards rewards. Send your receipt and UPC codes to Pepsi and receive $15 in Pepsi coupons!
Photo by iandeth
Get the Pepsi Superbowl offer details here.
CVS has Altoid tins buy 1 get 1 free for a total of $1.99. Altoid tins currently have $1 off coupons on the tin. Use the coupon from each tin and get both tins for free! Sweet deal.
Spreadable butter is delicious, convenient, and when store bought – expensive. You can make your own spreadable butter at home from stick butter and water.
Let one stick of butter soften at room temperature. Once it’s soft, slowly beat the butter and gradually add 1/2 cup of water until all the water is absorbed. Store the resulting butter in a reusable container in your refrigerator.
Note: This butter is to be used as a spread and is not appropriate to use in baking.
The purchase of a brand new calendar is the perfect time to schedule your appointments for the year. It’s easy to put off vital semi-annual and annual appointments. Make scheduling all of your appointments a priority with the start of the new year (and new calendar). Don’t forget annual checkups with:
for each member of your family.
Now would be great time to schedule veternarian appointments for your pets as well!
You can save a lot of money by preparing cleaning products at home. Homemade cleaning products are healthier for your family and the environment because they do not contain the harsh chemicals used in commercial products. In my opinion, they work better as well.
Ingredients
1 tsp borax
1/2 tsp washing soda
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 cup hot water
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a spray bottle and shake until dissolved. This mixture will store indefinitely.
Due to the acidity of lemon juice, you should not use this cleaner on natural stone. This includes granite and marble counter tops.
A spray bottle can be purchased at your average dollar store. You can also find spray bottles near the “travel” toiletry items in larger stores.
The washing soda you need is pictured here. Be careful to purchase “(Super) Washing Soda” and not a different type of “soda”.
You can save a lot of money on groceries each week by planning out a menu before heading to the grocery store.
To make it easier for you to create your own menu, I’m going to provide my personal template for download:
Do you know the hardness of your tap water? It actually pays to know whether you have hard or soft water. One major benefit to soft water is it will save you on your laundry expenses. Soft water requires much less detergent and lower pretreatment amounts.
Research Your Water Hardness
There are two main ways to learn the hardness of your water.
Interpreting Your Water Hardness Level
Water test kits are easy to read, and often the results are shown in terms of “soft” or “hard”. Water hardness from your city, however, is reported in terms of parts per million (ppm).
Soft water has a degree of hardness less than 50 ppm. Anything higher becomes hard water. Hardness above 200 pm is very hard water.
What if I have soft water?
Soft water requires less soap, shampoo, and detergent. This means you will need less than the recommended amounts. According to softwater.com, you only need to use 1/2 the recommended amount. This knowledge can cut your cleaning supply budget in half!
What if I have hard water?
Hard water can actually damage your laundry causing your clothes to turn grey or yellow and become stiff. To help alleviate the affects of hard water, you can add water conditioner to your laundry water.
Target has 38lb. Tidy Cat Litter on sale for $11. To top this sweet deal, if you buy 2 pails, you get a free $5 gift card.
Walgreen’s has Progresso soup 4 for $5. Coupon.com has a printable coupon for $1.10 off 3 cans of Progresso soup. Yesterday’s newspaper had a coupon for $.50 off 2 cans Progresso soup. Use a combination of these great deals and stock up! Later this week I will share my easy 2×4 Minestrone Stew featuring Progresso Minestrone soup.
CVS has Huggies jumbo pack diapers for $9.49. They also have 20 roll (16+4 bonus) packs of Cottonelle Double Roll toilet paper at rock bottom pricing. If you buy 1 pack for $12.99, you get $4.00 back in Extra Care Bucks. That’s like buying 20 double rolls for $8.97!
Now is the perfect time to stock up for Christmas. Most stores’ clearance rack are at the 75% off and higher mark. Target is at 90%! Head out and buy the things you know you will need for next Christmas:
Be careful when browsing the ornaments and decorations. Do you really need them? Don’t buy something just because it’s a good deal. You aren’t saving money if you didn’t need the item in the first place. Do keep in mind friends and family when you find a great deal, though. Some after Christmas clearance items make for great gifts next Christmas!
Photo by Avoir Chaud
2 cups self-rising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
5 Tbsp oil
After Christmas clearance time is the perfect time to stock up on storage containers for your Christmas decorations. Storing your Christmas items in red and green totes is the perfect way to save time in years to come. Not only will your items be organized for easy decorating and wrapping, but they will be easy to recognize amongst your stored belongings.
This year I saw many new (and old) storage bins created specifically for Christmas.
Some notable containers include:
Ornament Storage Tote – They come in various sizes and styles, but the one common feature is ornament size compartments that keep each ornament protected from breakage and each other. Breakable ornaments are always a concern, but intricate glitter details are also at risk without proper storage. An ornament bin will save your valuables and your money.
Divided Storage Tote – Containers like the one pictured here allow you to save and store non-ornament decorations such as ribbon, cords, and tinsel, as well as odd shaped ornaments that will not fit in the average ornament divider.
Wrapping Paper Storage Tote – I’ve had a tote like this one for years and it truly makes every gift giving occasion easier. The large compartment on the bottom houses your rolls of paper, gift boxes, and gift bags. The smaller compartment on the top is perfect for gift tags, scissors, tape, and ribbon.
Wreath Storage Tote – This is the perfect way to keep your wreaths safe and dust free. It’s a great way to keep your wreaths gorgeous year after year.
Your table and home decorations can be stored in regular sized, green or red Rubbermaid style containers.
