WOW – time has flown

It really has been a while since I updated either of my blogs. One of my resolutions was to do better this year. – I didn’t say work harder at this – I want it to be fun.

Going to start by going to Jyl’s twitter party at The Post-It Place tonight.

Planning a move? Here’s a way to save.

If you’ve already found your dream home and are planning projects for it or last minute fixes to sell your current place, you might want to check out this offer from Lowes. You can receive a 10% off coupon good on a purchase up to $5,000.  The spring project bug has hit our home and anyway we can save counts.

Speaking of spring… aren’t these pretty. I’m loving the spring blooms.

Win a Photo Book

Looking for a great gift idea that’s very personal for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg? I’ve made a couple of photo books for myself and for my mother-in-law. I’ve been wanting to try MyPublisher but haven’t yet and I wouldn’t mind winning the free book that Reviewin’ It Up is giving away this month. They are offering a book worth up to a $40 value. Entry is easy and someone has to win, right? Why not me… or you. If you’re worried about whether you can make the book yourself, don’t. The photo book sites keep getting easier all the time, whether you want a book where you just choose themes, upload photos and drop in the text or do a fully custom book using photo-editing software.

Baking bread

In an effort to keep within our food budget, we’ve been baking more of our own bread. Or should I say that my hubby has been baking – I just choose the variety. After reading parts of “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” I asked him to try his hand at French bread and the results were stupendous. The loafs were beautifully shaped and the texture and flavor perfect. It’s sad that a book about staying slim will lead to my adding five pounds. C’est la vie!

Anyway, the most expensive part of the breadmaking is the yeast. I’ve bought the little single-serve packs (usually around $.75 per pack) and I’ve purchased the jars which are roughly 4 oz for around $3.00 I think – and make several loafs of bread and pizza crusts. etc. Through in one or two batches of Cinnabon-clone cinnamon rolls and the cost of yeast adds up. Fortunately, DH was watching Good Eats with Alton Brown who mentioned buying yeast in bulk. Who knew? I had never thought of buying two pounds at a time, but the cost difference is extraordinary. Two one-pound packages of yeast at Sams Club are $4.50… less than three cents per comparable small yeast packet. And the second bag stays vacuum sealed and good for a good long time.

We haven’t been members of Sams for several years because we tend to buy things that we wouldn’t ordinarily buy because “it’s such a great deal!” Heaven save us from all the great deals we see in life. lol Anyway, Allstate Insurance has been advertising a one-day pass for Sams on their commercials so I combined two things – a free pass to experience Sams and a chance to get a better insurance quote (though the quote is not mandatory).

So, it was a free afternoon of entertainment for us to tour Sams and taste the samples. (We are so pathetic.) I must say we ended up with more than yeast, as expected. Hubby had to replace his rechargeable double-A battery stash because the price was very good (8 AAs and 4 AAAs for just $2 more than the AAs would have been elsewhere). and I had to add in some of the new Trident Xtra Care gum – 12 packs for $9.99. My talented dentist says the Recaldent^® is supposed to be good for tooth enamel.

At least now we have enough yeast to last us through ’til next year. More reason to make bread!

Redbox addiction

Oh boy. I love that Redbox movie rental kiosk. The one in front of McDonalds in Perryville was the first one we found and we’d use it when we took road trips north because we could rent there and drop off anywhere there’s another box… and there happens to be a box really close to the in-laws’ house. Great entertainment for the rugrats across the miles.

Several blogs have been posting free movie codes on Mondays, and Redbox is now offering free movie codes on Wednesday in March if you subscribe to their emails.  Free is good and as long we get the movie back before 9 p.m. the next evening we don’t have to pay the regular $1 fee unless we want to keep the movie an extra day. We watch how many we rent because it can add up quickly if we’re not careful.

I am curious why the Perryville McDonalds box will let you buy movies but none of the other ones around will. We bought Ratatouille for $7 from that one a while back. It didn’t have the package but the DVD was in great shape.

We do rent most of our movies (mostly Thomas the Tank Engine over and over) courtesy of the Riverside Regional Library branches. You can’t beat the price there – once again, free is good. But sometimes the call of new releases brings us back to the Red Box. We’ll probably be there more this month since the Jackson branch of the library is moving starting Monday, March 16th and will be closed for two to three weeks. I’m looking forward to the new location next to Quiznos and Nearly Perfect Shoes. My poor car hated the entry into the old parking lot – scraped every time. BTW, if you’ve never been in the Jackson branch you should go in just to meet the great ladies in the a/v section – they’re the bomb.

I noticed that Schnucks has a different kind of rental box in their entry but I’ve never tried that one. Must fight the addiction.

Old Navy coupons

Last week I was reading one of my favorite blogs and there was a post about Old Navy coupons. I’ll see if I can find who mentioned them. Anyhoo, Old Navy has their new coupons up for this week. Visit Old Navy Weekly and click around and you might find a good coupon to use in store at West Park Mall or your favorite shopping venue. Happy hunting.

Got books?

I’ve had a pile of paperbacks and miscellaneous books sitting in the corner for a while now waiting for the chance to carry them off somewhere. I recently saw an article on the web about www.paperbackswap.com. It’s free to join. You post the books you are willing to mail and when you have 10 posted you earn two credits to use toward books. When someone requests one of your books, you agree to mail it and have five days to get it sent off. You pay the shipping on books you mail. When you use your credits, the person agreeing to send the book to you pays the postage. I’ve received my first book and mailed one already. It’s a sweet idea and I received a nice copy of a book I wanted  and would have paid about $12 for at Amazon plus s/h. Postage is less than three bucks for most books. Here’s a screenshot:

They have audio books – which use up two credits. You can purchase credits if you want a book and don’t have enough. They also offer a Box-O-Book program where other box-o-book participants can offer to trade several books at a time without using credits and save postage at the same time. The swap site also offers printable postage on their mailing labels which is a time saver.

I’m interested in their sister sites for movies and books as well.

A new blog…

I’ve been reading several interesting blogs lately that offered information on savings, coupons and all things frugal. I thought it might be useful to have a place to post local savings and good deals for the Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois region. We’ll see how this evolves as it goes along. Thanks for looking.