The Money Jar

Giveaway Thursday

>> Thursday, March 11, 2010

It's Giveaway Thursday here at The Money Jar. I host a MckLinky here each Thursday so you can share your blog giveaways. If you are hosting a giveaway, please leave your link. If you know someone hosting a giveaway, tell them to stop by and leave their link. Thanks! Please keep giveaway links family friendly.

While you're here be sure to enter my Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk Giveaway.

Winner

>> Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Congratulations to Shelley! Shelley is the winner of the Betty Crocker Fruit Flavored Snacks and $25 donation to OLPC Giveaway. Please contact me within 48 hours to claim your prize.

Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk Review & Giveaway

As a mom who regularly buys organic milk for my family, I was very interested when I was contacted by Horizon via my membership at The Product Review Place to try out their Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk with DHA Omega-3. I wasted no time in picking some of this up after receiving my two coupons to try it free. I poured the first two glasses for my girls and then one for myself. The first thing I heard was "Mmmmmmm" from my girls. They loved it and I did too. I enjoyed it so much I ended up pouring myself a second glass as soon as I finished the first. It's incredibly rich and creamy. The next day I offered my husband some and he agreed it was as tasty as the girls and I thought it was. We are definitely looking forward to drinking more of this yummy treat.

About Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk with DHA Omega-3

Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk with DHA Omega-3 provides a great tasting and easy way to add calcium and DHA to your family's diet. DHA Omega-3 is an important nutrient that helps support heart, brain and eye health, and it's available in lowfat half gallons.

DHA belongs to a category of healthy fatty acids known as Omega-3's. Found in high concentrations in the tissues of the brain and eye, DHA Omega-3 is thought to help support healthy function in these areas. DHA has also been shown to help support heart health.

DHA provides a nutritional boost for children's growing minds and bodies. Children's brains grow incredibly fast. In fact, the brain nearly quadruples in the first five years of life.

DHA is a key structural component of the brain, yet many young children don't get their recommended daily amount of DHA as it is found in a limited number of food sources.

Horizon Organic Milk Plus DHA Omega-3 is fortified with a natural, 100 percent vegetarian and sustainable source of DHA - a safe, wholesome, delicious way to bring more of this important nutrient into your family's diet.

Go here for more information.

Win It!

Two lucky readers of The Money Jar will each receive 4 coupons from Horizon-2 coupons for a free 1/2 gallon of Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk with DHA Omega-3 and 2 coupons for $1 off 1/2 gallon of Horizon Organic Lowfat Chocolate Milk with DHA Omega-3.

To enter please leave a comment below.

For an additional entry, tweet about this giveaway and leave a comment below. Please put @FrugalFocused1 in your tweet so I will know you tweeted.

You can receive up to two (2) entries in this giveaway.

Contest open to U.S residents only 18 years of age and older.
Contest ends at 10 p.m. CST, March 18,2010.
Winner will be chosen by random number generator at random.org.
Winner has 48 hours to contact me after contest ends or another winner will be selected.

Disclosure: I was contacted by Horizon who provided me with coupons for two(2) free 1/2 gallons of Horizon Organic Lowfat Milk with DHA Omega-3 to try and review the product. Horizon also provided me with product information for this review as well as sponsorship of the giveaway. All views and opinions expressed are my own.

Homemade Frugal Fail - No Cheese Crackers For Us

If you're a regular reader then you know I'm making an attempt to cook from scratch more often these days. This commitment includes our snack foods as well. We all love cheese crackers here but I hate all the unpronounceable ingredients in many of the well known brands. We love Annie's Cheddar Bunnies as an alternative but they can be pricey. So last week I attempted to make some cheese crackers from scratch. I found a recipe to try online. They looked so pretty. I gathered the ingredients together-so excited to be making something that would be a treat for the kids. But even though I followed the directions to a T, we never got to enjoy any crackers. In fact, they never even made it into the oven. The dough was just too crumbly to work with. I added more melted butter than recommended when I realized I was still dealing with crumbs and not dough but that didn't help. It finally came together as dough but crumbled every time I tried to work with it. I chilled as directed and then chilled it some more. Still nothing but crumbs. So finally I gave up and just tossed it. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong but I just couldn't get the recipe to work.

Thankfully, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies are on sale for $2 a box at Target right now. We have some cheese crackers to tide us over until I can find another recipe. If any of you have a great cheese cracker recipe or any other healthy snack recipe that would be great for school lunches/snacks feel free to share them. I think I'm going to whip up some banana muffins for snacks this afternoon but would love a savory snack to try later this week.

Drugstore Freebies 3/7-3/13

>> Monday, March 8, 2010

Here's a list of what you can get free this week at CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid.

CVS

Nivea Lip Care $2.99
ECBs $2.99
Free after ECBs

Oral B Cross Action Toothbrush $4
ECBs $4
.75/1 Oral B Cross Action, Pulsar or Advantage Toothbrush 2/7 or 2/21 PG
Free plus overage after Q and ECB

Nabisco Crackers 4-6 oz. $1
$1/1 Nabisco Crackers 6 oz. + 1/24 SS
Free after Q

Stayfree pads Regular 24 ct. $3.89
ECBs $2
B1G1 Stayfree 1/3 RP
$1/1 Stayfree printable
Deal Idea
Buy 2 Stayfree pads $7.78
Use B1G1 Q
Use $1/1 printable
Pay $2.89
Receive $4 ECBs
Free plus $1.11 overage after Qs and ECBs

Walgreens

Dr. Scholl's Messaging Gel Heel Cushions $6.99
RR $10 when you spend $20 on Dr. Scholls
$3 off Dr. Scholls In Ad Q
$2 of Dr. Scholls printable
Deal Idea
Buy 3 Dr Scholl's Messaging Gel Heel Cushions $20.97
use $3/1 In Ad Q (takes off $9)
use (3) $2/1 printable
Pay $5.97
Get $10 RR
Free plus $4.03 overage after Qs and RRs (If you can only get 2 of the printables you will still get overage.)

Olay Body Wash or Bar Soap 4 pk. $3.99 each
$1/1 Olay Body Wash or Bar Soap 2/14 RP
$15 Olay Rebate wyb 3 products
Free after Qs and MIR

Rite Aid

Cover Girl Cosmetics B1G1
B1G1 Covergirl 2/7 PG
2 Free after Q if store allows use of B1G1 on B1G1

Be sure to stop by Southern Savers and I Heart Saving Money for all the coupon match ups.

Rebate Roundup 3/7-3/13

My friend Greta at Friend Family Fun has the lastest Rebate Roundup ready. Be sure to stop by her blog for all the ways you can maximize your savings through rebates this week.

Lessons in Frugality from a Lady Named Grace

>> Saturday, March 6, 2010

image credit: Chicago Tribune online

Have you heard about Grace Groner? She lived her life in a small, one bedroom home and died in January at the age of 100. She worked for Abbott Laboratories for 43 years as a secretary and lived a very unassuming life. Growing up in the Depression, she knew all about living frugally and saw no need to live any other way during her life. When she died she left $7 million to Lake Forest College, her alma mater. In 1935 she bought $180 worth of stock in Abbott, it split multiple times and she just keep reinvesting the dividends. You can read more about her story here and you can watch the news story that gives additional detail here.

We don't all have to live as simply and frugally as Grace Groner but I think we can be inspired by her. Her life wasn't about surrounding herself with stuff just because she had the money to do so. She had what she needed and used the rest to bless others. While I aspire to live frugally and bless others with my abundance, there are certainly lessons I could learn from this lady named Grace and perhaps you could too.

1) Be wise with your money. She didn't spend her life chasing after every dollar she could make and making all kinds of investments in hopes of scoring big. She worked as a secretary for 43 years. She took a $180 investment and just kept reinvesting it until she had accumulated considerable wealth. No, we won't all be so fortunate to make an investment in a company like Abbott Laboratories but we can educate ourselves and learn to invest our money wisely to make the most of the money we do have.

2) Live below your means. We don't all have to live in one bedroom homes and never drive a car but I think most of us in today's society have more than we really need. Many live beyond their means and those who live within their means seem to be ahead of the game by today's standards. But we all really could live with less. Grace Groner had the means to live an extravagant lifestyle but chose not to do so. We can make that choice too.

3) Enjoy the blessing. Grace Groner didn't just stuff the money she had accumulated away. She knew what was important to her and allowed herself to enjoy what she had. Her happiness didn't come from material possessions. She surrounded herself with friends and stayed connected to her alma mater. She attended football games and cultural events at the school. She also traveled widely after retirement. What's really important to you? Is it the latest tech gadget or spending money on a fun outing with your family. Decide how your money is best spent and put the money there. For me, I love family outings and taking my kids different places and allowing them to have different experiences. I'd much rather spend my money that way than have the latest cell phone or designer clothes. The key is to keep that idea in mind when I'm facing the temptation to spend on something that doesn't fit with that priority.

4) Bless others with your abundance. So we may not all end up with $7 million to give away when we die but for the most part, we do all have an abundance to share with others. Grace didn't just give her money, she gave her time as well, volunteering for decades at a church. She blessed others through service, friendship and through her giving-both anonymously to needy families as well as her scholarship fund. So share your abundance whether it be time given to your children's school or a local food pantry. Or perhaps money to help a child living in poverty around the world. Or a meal to a friend who just had a baby or a neighbor you just lost a loved one. We all have something to give from our own personal abundance.

Grace's story has certainly given me pause. Since reading it yesterday morning I've thought a lot about how I'm really living out my priorities. Do my spending habits and saving habits truly reflect what is important to me? I'm not so sure they do. I've got some work to do. My goal has always been to bless others with my abundance but I really think I can do a much better job than I'm doing. Just looking around my house, I know I can do a much better job. So it's time to get to it and thank Grace for her lessons in frugality.

WeeklyDeals

This wasn't a super week for deals. Publix really didn't have any deals this week to draw me in. And Winn Dixie really didn't have a lot either. I ended up using pretty much all my budget though because I bought some pricier organic products with some of the extra.

CVS-I find this purchase amusing. Candy and mouth rinse. The candy's for my oldest daughter's class though not my kids. ;)

I bought:
1 Listerine Smart Rinse $3.99
2 Gold Emblem Candy $1.76
Qs
$1/1 Smart Rinse
$1/2 Gold Emblem CRT
$2 ECBs
Total OOP: $2.06

Food World-When going through my coupons I realized I had a .50/1 Q for the rice instead of the .75/1 listed in the database which means I got the rice free. I hope my Food World ad readers got that too.

I bought:
2 Marcal TP $2
1 Mahatama Brown Rice $1
1 garlic .79 cents
Qs
2 $1/1 Marcal TP
1 .50/1 Mahatma rice doubled
Total OOP with tax: .94 cents

Winn Dixie

I spent: $46.63
I saved: $25.47

Weekly Total: $49.63
2010 Total: $450.47
9 week avg:$50.05

This post is linked to:
Southern Savers Friday Finals
Money Saving Moms Super Savings Saturday
I Heart Publix Weekly Totals

Goodwill Shopping Deals

We had a new Goodwill open here this week. I've been anticipating it's opening for over a month now as I drive by it frequently and they've had the sign up announcing the grand opening date. I was even more excited last week when I received a $5 off $20 purchase coupon in the mail for their grand opening. So I decided to brave what I was sure to be absolute craziness and go on the opening day. It proved to be even more crazy than I thought it would be. You couldn't really dig around for deals since there were so many people there but I did find some things we could use. I went there specifically looking for clothes for me, work shirts for my husband, summer clothes for my girls and some decorative items for our house. I also keep a running list in my head of things we could use and look for them at Goodwill and on clearance racks. I managed to make it out of there with only one impulse buy.

I bought:

1 Mini Boden top $1.50(for oldest daughter)

1 khaki bermuda shorts $1.50(for oldest daughter)

1 plaid bermuda shorts NEW $1.50 (for oldest daughter)

2 pair of sandals NEW $7.98 (for daugthers)

1 pk. spoons NEW $1.99(I'll use these in the girls lunches. We're down to just two spoons for lunches so these will be very useful. Also, I'm hoping the bright colors will keep them from tossing them.)

6 cloth napkins .79 cents (for lunch boxes)

Photoshop 6 for Dummies $1.99 (This was my impulse buy. I have had Photoshop 6 for years. I figured there might be something I could learn about it after all this time.)

1 medium white vase .89 cents

2 small white vases $1.18

Total with tax: $20.58

Minus $5/$20 Q

Total OOP: $15.58

This post is linked to:

Southern Savers Friday Finals

Money Saving Mom's Super Savings Saturday