Free Kotex Sample

Sign up here to receive your FREE sample pack complete with a Kotex® Ultra Thin Pad with Wings, Kotex® Lightdays® Pantiliner (individually wrapped), and two Kotex® Security® Tampons.

I think this might be a great little emergency pack to keep in your purse or diapper bag!

Sunday Meditations

Here are a few verses to think on today from Proverbs 22:1 & 7

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches....

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.

I hope you will take some time to meditate on these verses today. If you have a favorite verse or a thought you'd like to share, post it below.

Free Summer Movies

Click on the picture it will take you to a list of participating theatres.

Back Home

I'm back from visiting my family. We had a great time and did a lot during our visit. Little Z really liked our time at the New Jersey Shore. We stayed a few blocks off the bay of Cape May.



We also spent some time on the Boardwalk in Wildwood. Little Z had a great time riding some of the rides on the pier - thanks to his Auntie!




I will be spending the rest of this week with my dad - who drove with me and the kids back home to Indiana, (my husband was only able to stay part of the time and returned home early) and I will be trying to get things unpacked and back to normal so we can resume or regular schedule here at home next week.

"The Savings Swap" in the News

"The Savings Swap - Saving Instead of Spending - Workshop", recently made the front page of the Community Courier of Elverson, Morgantown and Honey Brook, PA. You can read the article and see a picture here.

You can see more photos here.

You can read my first few posts about "Becoming a Thrifty Shopper" here.

Vacation - (My Bloggy Break)

I’ve been on a bloggy break, I am still out of state visiting family. We are currently at the New Jersey Shore. I do not have any Internet access so I will be posting very few posts this week and may be longer than usually in answering my emails. I thank you for your patience and should be resuming regular posts next week.

Here are a few ideas for saving money on your vacation.

1. Rent a condo or house.
We have often found that it is just as expensive or sometimes less expensive to rent a house or condo rather than a hotel room. It is much nicer to stay in a place that has a living area and a kitchen where you can cook some meals.

2. Bring your food.
We brought along a lot of our own food. This way we were able to shop our stash and pick out items that would be easy to fix for lunches and dinners. We also brought our own snack food (free Chex mix!) and bottled water. I would also suggest bringing food that dosen’t spoil - such as canned spaghetti sauce, pasta, tuna in a can or pouch. That way you can take home any food you don’t use and not have a lot of waste.

3. Be selective about your eating out.
It can be very expensive to eat out - so be selective and choose something special or your favorite restaurant when you eat out. If you eat every dinner out and grab lunch at the drive-thru it can add up quickly. I would suggest you only eat out one night - that way it is special!

4. Take your coupons!
You don’t know what you might run out of or forget. I somehow forgot to pack any sunscreen! UGH - I have a ton of it at home - but I had to buy some here! We found an Acme down the street that doubles coupons up to .99. We’ve been able to save on a few things that way.

5. Share a vacation.
Go in with a friend or family member to share a house or split a week. I was invited to come along with my sister’s family for a few days of their week at the shore.

6. Plan ahead
Use the Internet to find free things to do where you are vacationing. We hope to go to the Cape May Zoo for free this week.

7. Take rainy day / hot day activities.
It can be an expensive outing to take the whole family to the movies - because it is raining or 102 degrees! Plan ahead and have a few movies and games packed along, just in case! My sister brought along about 10 movies from the library - all kinds of stuff for us and the kids and the teens so everyone has something!

8. Remember that you’re on a vacation!
Plan times to do nothing - except relax! (It’s free) Watch the sunset - or sunrise, go for a walk, read a book, take a nap, enjoy yourself. Don’t stress out (and run up the credit card) by going from one activity to another.


Do you have any great money saving vacation ideas? Post them here or give us a link to a post on you blog!

Dollar General Rebates

Dollar General is now doing rebates. You can find out all the information and get a rebate form on their website here. You can save up to $100.00 with 37 mail in rebates available.

CVS Shopping 6/3/08

This week I am away visiting my family and will be watching my oldest nephew graduate from high school. I did however, stop at CVS yesterday to pick up the Pampers diaper deal. I also got a few of the monthly items. My OOP was $7.60. Which is a little higher than normal because I did not have my computer to print coupons - if I did I would have purchased a few things differently to lower my OOP. All things considered, I am happy with these deals and bought around $86 for $7.60, which is less than the cost of 1 package of diapers!
I started today with 8.69 in ECBs from last week.

See the photo in the previous post for a picture of this week's shopping items.

Transaction #1-------------------------
1 Dawn (1.00)
1 Gillette Fusion (9.99)
2 Listerine Smart Rinse (3.49 ea)

Coupons
3/15
.20 off Dawn
2/ 1.00 off Smart Rinse
4.00 off Gillette Fusion

8.69 ECB
.08 Cash
Receive 12.98 in ECBs (4 & 6.98)

Transaction #2-------------------------
2 Pampers Wipes (2.99 ea)
2 CVS Band-Aids (1.99 ea)
2 CVS Cotton Swabs (3.19 ea)

Coupons
3/15
3/10 CVS Brand
2.00 off 2 Pampers wipes

6.98 ECBs (from last transaction)
1.36 Cash
Receive 7.98 in ECBs (3.98 & 4)

Transaction #3---------------------------------
1 Pampers Diaper (7.99)
1 Glade
1 Oral B 2 pack

Coupons
3/15
1.00 off Glade
1.00 off Pampers

7.98 in ECB
2.88 Cash
Receive 6.99 in ECB

Transaction #4---------------------------------------
1 Dawn
1 Pampers Diaper
1 Oral B 2-pk
1 Huggies Baby Wash

Coupons
3/15
1.00 off Pampers
.20 off Dawn
1.00 off Glade

12.99 in ECB’s
3.28 cash

(Note: if I had my computer and printer I could have done 2 bags of Chex Mix instead of the Huggies wash and reduce my OOP to around 1.00 on this transaction)
Receive 14.99 in ECB for next week (5, 6.99, 1 & 2)

The Savings Swap - Saving Instead of Spending Workshop

A big thanks to everyone who came to the "Savings Swap - Saving Instead of Spending - Workshop". It was fun being able to share what I've learned about frugal shopping. If you'd like to learn more about "Becoming a Thrifty Shopper" read my posts here.

Thanks also to the Village Library and to their Librarian Andrea Berstler (she is standing in the second photo) for asking me to speak.

If you attended the workshop session and have any comments or questions I would love to hear from you. Please post below or email me at TheSavingsSwap@sbcglobal.net

Also, I will be posting my CVS deals pictured above in a day or so!

This Week!

I may not be posting too much the beginning of this week because I am preparing to hold "The Savings Swap - Saving Instead of Spending - Workshop" on Tuesday. I will do my best to resume regular posting later this week. And will try to include an update on how the workshop goes!

If you have any deals that you'd like to share feel free to post below.