FREE $10 Credit at bTrendie!

This might be the hottest online deal around right now!!  bTrendie is offering a $10 credit into your account just for creating an account with them!  Its as simple as your name and email address and the credit shows up instantly!  You can use it for any of their great daily deals. CLICK HERE to sign up now!

I signed up today and ordered this adorable umbrella for SuperGirl…I’m going to give it to her for Easter! It is on sale for $7.99 and shipping is $6.95 …using my $10 credit I got it for $4.94 shipped!! You don’t have to use the credit today… but I would sign up right away!

They have all kinds of really adorable items I’m going to have to keep my eyes on!  Check them out and sign up today!!

Special thanks to my friend Keri Lyn at She Saved and to Susan at OrganicDeals for the heads up on this one!

Right At Home Spring Cleaning Gift Pack

If you aren’t a member of Right @ Home this is the time to check them out!  They often have great printable coupons and quite often they send out “gift packs”…this time its a Spring Cleaning Gift Pack that includes:

• One Box Quart-Sized Ziplock Bags
• One Box Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel
• One Package Pledge Multi-Surface Wipes

Go HERE and fill out the form… only the first 10,000 who apply will get the free Gift Pack!  When you subscribe to Right @ Home they send you these deals in your inbox…when you click on them you are automatically registered…kind of nice not to have to re-enter your information again and again

Do you suppose this now means I should clean my  house? ….

Wordless Wednesday: Brothers

Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops – $12.95!

YummyEarth Organic Lollipops are back on sale at Amazon again! I ordered these the last time they came around and they ARE yummy!!  My kids love these….and I feel a little less guilty about letting them eat the candy   I looked on the container and a serving size is 3 lollipops… so I don’t feel so bad if they have one every *other* day!

YummyEarth Organic Lollipops are nearly 1/2 price at Amazon right now… $12.95 for a 150 ct. container!  Includes: Pomegranate Pucker, Razzmatazz Berry, Cheeky Lemon, Orange Squeeze, Wet-Face Watermelon. USDA organic.

Here is what the manufacturer has to say: YummyEarth was born out of our commitment to feed our babies, Jonah and Rose, a diet rich in delicious organic foods that are free of yucky chemicals, pesticides and dyes. YummyEarth tastes much better than mass produced chemical candy because we choose real fruit extracts and plant friendly organic ingredients to sweeten our lives and yours. Certified organic. No chemical dyes. 100% Natural colors. 100% Natural flavors. Real fruit extracts. 100% Vegan. Allergen-free. GMO-free. Soy-free. Nut-free. Gluten-free. Wheat-free. Dairy-free.

If you are anything like me, you want to know what, exactly, the ingredients are:  Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Non-gmo Citric Acid, Organic and Natural Flavors (Watermelon, Lemon Oils, Pomegranate, Raspberry, Orange Oils), Organic and Natural Colors, Red Cabbage, Purple Carrots.

These qualify for free Super Saver Shipping (orders over $25)… why not order two and share with a friend to get the free shipping?!

$100 P & G Coupon Book

With the largest ever P & G brandSaver appearing in your Sunday Paper this weekend and a great CartBuster Sale at Dillon’s…now is the perfect time to take advantage of the P & G Thank You Mom campaign.  When you spend $50 on P & G products between February 1 – April 15, 2010 you can submit your receipts for a $100 coupon booklet from P & G.  There are a wide variety of product coupons…several of some of the best ones…and of course there are a few B1G1 coupons thrown in just to make you happy.

Here is what you do:

Spend $50 on P & G products between February 1 and April 15, 2010. (Purchases do NOT need to be all on one receipt)

Download the Savings Form and print it off.

Fill out the form, circle the purchases on your original receipts and submit the form by April 30, 2010 (postmarked by this date) to get your coupon book chalk full of goodies.

Be sure to visit ThankYouMom.com to see a full list of the coupons that will be available to you in the booklet.

Weekly Menus: March 7 – 13

I’m going to try to do a little experimenting this week…a few items on my menu that I’ve never tried before.  I’m going to use some recipes I’ve found on the web and see what fits with what is in my pantry…just to keep things a little more interesting!

Monday - Hamburgers, French Fries, carrot sticks and ranch

- Ok. So this is not interesting…nor unique…but it is going to be a rock star kind of day and I’m looking for simple and fast.  Venison from our freezer, french fries from the massive stock up sale price I found several months ago.  I will need to buy some carrot sticks and hamburger buns.

Tuesday - Make Ahead Spinach Manacotti, broccoli, mixed fruit salad.

- I won’t even be home for dinner on Tuesday so I thought I would make it as simple as possible for my husband.  I have this in the freezer.  I will need to buy some spaghetti sauce but will pull it out of the freezer on Monday and pour the sauce on…he will just need to pop it in the oven.  Green Giant Steamers vegetables are on sale at Dillon’s this week and next: with a coupon you can get them from about $0.28/bag. I have a bag of frozen fruit salad I got at Aldi about a month ago.

Wednesday - Asian BBQ Chicken Thighs, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes and Homemade Dinner Rolls

- I found this recipe this past summer and made it with salmon on the grill.  (I’m desperately looking for the link to this and will post it as soon as I locate it!)We were so pleased with the flavor, it really is amazing!  The ingredients, when purchased all at once, can be quite costly.  I happen to have them all on hand…I’ve purchased them over time for various recipes.  You can often find these ingredients at an Asian Market for a much cheaper price than your local grocer.  My kids LOVE green beans…I do to.  In fact, I can’t wait until we get fresh from the garden green beans this summer.  In the meantime…I’m bored.  Plain green beans are getting old.  I found this great recipe at Savor The Thyme and will definitely give it a try! If they look good, I’ll buy fresh green beans this week…if not I will use the Green Giant Steamers.  Potatoes I bought last week for a dish and have enough remaining to make mashed potatoes this week.  I ran out of flour and sugar last week so I purchased some on Saturday night.

Thursday - Mexican Casserole

- A meal all in itself!  This is my biggest experiment this week.  I found this reciepe at Succeeding As Mom and it sounds really good to me!  It actually includes three separate recipes, one for Rice Wheatberrie Bake, one for Meatless Taco Filling, and then the Mexican Casserole recipe.  I will need to hit up the bulk section at the Merc for some wheatberrie and TVP … although I may use Bocca Crumbles instead as I have a coupon for one bag FREE.  I believe I actually have everything else on hand!

Friday - Sticky Chicken, Roasted Cauliflower, Rice/Carrots/Peas, Left Over Homemade Dinner Rolls

Saturday - Brinner! Eggs, Biscuits and Gravy, Fruit Salad

- An all time favorite fun dinner at our house.  The kids (and by kids I mean Eric and I) really like this.  We get our eggs from a farm in Topeka (someone at Eric’s office) so we always have those around….I will make biscuits and I will need to buy a packet of Country Gravy mix… I don’t do gravy very well.

So what does my “essentials” grocery list look like for the week?

Hamburger Buns

OrrowWheat Sandwhich Thins

Ground Black Pepper

Fresh Green Beans

Fresh Cauliflower

1 each Red/Green/Banana Pepper

Onion

Spaghetti Sauce

Bananas

Strawberries

Vanilla Yogurt

Orange Juice

Fat-Free Milk

When I figure out what I have spent I will be using the remainder to stock up on frozen vegetables.  The sale at Dillon’s is amazing and I can use them and use them and use them until our garden is ready this summer.

What is on your menu this week?

When a Deal is NOT a Deal: Recycling

So the big news in Lawrence is that Deffenbaugh Recycling is coming to town.  Everyone seems overjoyed that they can finally get curbside recycling…and for only $5 a month…what a deal!

Oh wait.  We could already get curbside recycling in Lawrence….it is slightly more expensive.  I pay $18/mo for weekly pick up and *GASP* I have to sort it myself.  I use Sunflower Curbside Recycling and I am more than happy with the service I receive from these LOCAL folks.

When Deffenbaugh decided to come to town Chris Scafe, owner of Sunflower Curbside Recycling, sent out an email to all of his patrons.  He had some great points…and I feel like sharing.  Lucky me…its my blog and I can do that!

Chris says that Deffenbaugh offered to buy his business from him when they came to town.  He also admits that he has toyed with the idea of service that offers “no sorting”.  This is what he discovered:

“At first, I thought about buying my own trash truck to pick up single-stream recycling, then I visited the materials recovery facility to see for myself how the recyclables are sorted.  I came away with concerns about the quality of their output because all the bales I witnessed were contaminated, for example, bales of newspaper also had aluminum, chipboard, and cardboard mixed in. ”

Chris says that contaminated bales are rejected by the buyers…and doubts that they are re-sorted once they are baled.   I assume that bales of recycling that are not sellable will become trash…despite the good intentions of the patrons.

What does this mean?  $5 a month seems like a great deal for curbside recycling.  I’m the FIRST ONE to jump on a good deal.  But in my opinion, this is NOT a good deal.  If the recycling that you set out becomes trash anyway…you are paying a second business to pick up your trash.

It also seems a bit of a double edged sword:  If you are not already recycling…I guess that any bit that gets through rather than sent to a landfill is progress.  However…if you already recycle and you switch to a service like the one offered by Deffenbaugh, you will be moving backwards.  Your previously recycled materials are now landfill fodder.

While their prices are not competitive at this stage of the game, here are some other ways that Sunflower Curbside Recycling is a better deal:

• Sunflower Curbside Recycling is a local company.  Deffenbaugh was bought  by a Credit Swisse a few years ago.
  
• SCR will pick up glass (Deffenbaugh will not).
• SCR picks up plastic bags.
• SCR does not require you to cut up your corrugated cardboard.
• SCR accepts ALL kinds of metals, not just cans.
• SCR picks up at commercial sites and at apartment complexes (Deffenbaugh will only serve single family residential sites).

I sincerely hope that everyone will recycle.  I am also sincerely hoping that each person or family will put a little extra consideration into HOW they chose to recycle.  Our family stands by Sunflower Curbside Recycling.  The price may be higher but the assurance that my intended purpose is being fulfilled is greater to me than the price tag.

As for sorting your own materials.  Really?  It is NOT that difficult.  The kids and I do it in about 5 minutes each week.  I simply toss them different types into separate plastic bags.  This also turns recycling into a teachable moment for my kids.  They learn to sort and organize.  They learn the value of recycling as we talk about WHY we are doing it every week (I have a toddler and a preschooler so yes, I answer this question EVERY week!).  This makes it one heck of a good deal.

Free Sample of Enfamil

Click on the banner above to get your FREE sample of Enfamil.  It is a printed coupon… there is no request for information from you.  As always… I believe breastmilk is BEST for any baby… but it doesn’t always work for everyone.  I nearly threw in the towel with SuperBaby because it was SUCH a struggle… so I get it.  If you don’t need the formula…don’t you think someone out there does? For many its an expense that is very difficult to deal with.  Why not get your sample and donate to your church or local shelter?

1 Yr Weight Watchers Mag $3.65

Best Deal Magazines has fantastic deals on Magazines…including a Deal of the Day.  Today its a 1yr Subscription to Weight Watchers Magazine for just $4.69!  Add to that the discount code PXSS37 for an additional 15% off and you can get it for just $3.65!

I am in constant need of reminders and motivation in my struggle journey to weight loss … and I’m a huge fan of Weight Watchers.  I’m definitely going to take advantage of this offer.  Not only does it have great tips and recipes, but my friend Jaycie at Coupon Geek told me she found quite a few nice coupons in it as well!

This offer will end today at midnight EST.

Fitness Friday: Your Chance to Receive a FREE Nintendo Wii/Wii Fit Plus!

If you don’t know by now…you SHOULD know that I am one of the co-founders of the Wii Mommies. A Ning community that is based on the idea of virtual fitness we are there to support everyone in their fitness and weight loss journeys. My co-founders Sarah Pinnix and Julie Maloney and I are all Mommies…thus the name. The great thing? We have a very diverse population in our community! Men, women, moms, dads, single folks… they are all there supporting each other! Check it out!

Don’t have a Nintendo Wii game system? It just might be your lucky day! Today is the last day to enter our Citizen Journalist Program. We will be choosing FIVE individuals to receive and review a Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board! You will receive the product and be asked to post weekly at Wii Mommies for three weeks as well as do one radio interview with us on Blog Talk Radio. Sound great? Get on over and apply today!

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