Rice Bag For Sore Muscles

I was talking with a friend last night and she was saying how her shoulder was just aching her.  It was keeping her up at night and it was well....a pain in the neck.  I had asked her if she had a rice bag for it and she looked at me like I was crazy.  Rice bags are awesome!  It is a cotton bag filled 1/2 way with rice and you heat it in the microwave.  

The heat is so good for 

• sore muscles
  
• breast feeding moms to help with engorgement
• arthritis
• fibromyalgia
  
• keeping your feet warm in bed
• relieving sinus pressure and pain

The wonderful thing is this is such a penny pinching project!!  Use a clean, hole-free tube sock and fill it 1/2 way with dry rice. Knot it or sew it shut and microwave it 1-2 minutes, depending on the size of the sock and the strength of your microwave.

Another project is to sew a square or rectangle with 1/4" seams.  Turn inside out and fill 1/2 way with dry rice.  Sew the fill hope shut and microwave as directed above.

Rice bags make wonderful gifts.  Use pretty fabric and add lavender oil or tea tree oil to the rice before you add it to the bag.  Once microwaved you will have the added benefits of the essential oils!

Here are some pictures of my 4 year old making a rice bag for my friend.  Yes, I allowed a 4 year old use a sewing machine.  I was right there talking her through the whole thing.  She even signed her work and I wrote the microwaving instructions on the bag so she would know exactly what to do.

Pay only $2 for a $25 gift certificate at Restaurant.com expires 2/28

 

Click on this link and pay only $2 for a $25 gift certificate at Restaurant.com

Certificates do not expire for a full year, stock up now!

It's not too early to think about Mother's Day and Father's Day gifts at this price.

Be sure to use code: DINE

If you missed out on the Valentine's Special today is a great day to get an awesome deal!

Now Save 80% Off with every order of $25 Gift Certificates. Use code DINE and pay $2 thru 2/28/09.

Cosmopolitan for $5 for a year subscription

My husband sent me this link and I had to share with you!  I think it is a pretty good deal.  Who wouldn't want a year magazine subscription for $5?

Cover Price: $51.48
Price: $5.00 ($0.42/issue) & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. 

Details You Save: $46.48 (90%)
Issues: 12 issues / 12 months
LINK

Photo from Amazon.com

I ROCKED Target!

Well it wasn't an actual take over of penny pinching fabulousness at Target but it was an awesome deal. The Kashi people have a yummy new bar called the Soft Baked. HERE is a link for $2 off. You do have to download their coupon printing program and you can only print 2 per computer. Then go HERE and download the in store coupon for $1 off Kashi.

My store had them on special for $2.75
                                  Target coupon -1.00

                                  Kashi coupon - 2.00

                                                             FREE**

I bought 2 boxes.  My total before coupons was $5.50 ( thanks to the boxes being of temporary price cut.)   They took off both of the Kashi coupons and one of the Target coupons.  **They would have taken both of the target coupons off but they are not allowed to have a $0 balance due.** Sooooo if I had picked up a pack of gum (or anything worth .50) not only would I have gotten my boxes of bars for free but I would have gotten my gum free as well.  Was that clear as mud?  By adding the .50 item it would have brought by amount due to the exact amount of my coupons.  Lesson learned.

Photo from Kashi.com

FREE Movie night!

Today only 2/16/09 you can get a free DVD rental at your local REDBOX use code: M7DM23 . You’ll need to enter a credit card to check out. But you will not be charged as long as you return your movie by 9:00 p.m. the following evening.
(2/17/09) I think you have to hit "redeem code" or "redeem coupon" when you first start your transation. Have a penny pinching Monday!

Restaurant.com does it again!!!

Starting today, YOU can save 70% off when they try our new coupon code "PREZ". It can be used on both of our most popular products, Dinner of the Month Club and our $25 Gift Certificates. This offer is valid February 16th through February 19th!   That is right!!! A $25 Restaurant.com Gift Certificates for $3.00.
Click this link or the graphic above to go straight to the site!
Take 70% Off with every order of $25 Gift Certificates. Use code PREZ and pay $3 thru 2/19/09.

Chex & Redbox have a treat for you!

When movie time meets crunch time. 

Better get a big bowl. 

Here's the scoop: purchase any 2 Chex Mix, Cheerios Snack Mix, Gardettos or Buggles products and you'll receive a free one-night rental from redbox. Feel free to mix and match. Share, too. Plenty to go around. The offer's good 2/15/09 through 2/28/09 at all Giant Food Stores. 

Don't forget to use coupons on the above items to make it an even better penny pinching purchase.

Valentine's Day Dessert

In our penny pinching days we don't go out to eat much these days....if ever.  So going out on Valentine's Day is out of the question.  My husband is a chocolate fan so I wanted to give him something yummy and chocolaty for dessert tonight.  I remember seeing THIS recipe in a magazine over christmas.  I did a google search and found it.  Let me tell you this is a WINNER!!!!!  You would be paying upwards of $10 for this dessert in a fine dinning restaurant.  I added cut up strawberries on the side and it was heaven on earth!  I did omit a few spices and the wine (I didn't have any on hand) and it was wonderful!!!  The cakes even oozed like they did in the photo.  MMMMM.   But if you are a recipe diehard refer to the link above. We will be making this one again and again. Let me know if you make it and how you like it!!

4 ounces chocolate
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
6 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Butter 4 (6-ounce) custard cups or soufflé dishes. Place on baking sheet.

2. Microwave chocolate and butter in large microwavable bowl on HIGH 1 minute or until butter is melted. Whisk until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in wine, vanilla and confectioners' sugar until well blended. Whisk in eggs and yolk. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour batter evenly into prepared custard cups.

3. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or until sides are firm but centers are soft. Let stand 1 minute. Carefully loosen edges with small knife. Invert cakes onto serving plates. Sprinkle with additional confectioners' sugar. Serve immediately.

Make Ahead: The chocolate mixture can be prepared up to 10 hours ahead of time. Pour the batter into prepared custard cups; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.

Nutrition Information Per Serving:
Calories: 567 Sodium: 209 mg
Fat: 35 g Carbohydrates: 57 g
Cholesterol: 219 mg Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 6 g

**photo from McCormickgourmet .com

We are back from Old Navy

We just got back from Old Navy and the girls had a great time looking at all the items. We were almost going to get Valentine t-shirts but Emily spotted the soccer balls on the way to the register. Turns out this was the best deal of all. (They do not need another shirt but it was free...who am I to complain?) 

Here is the breakdown:

Original price of ball: $8.50
In Store Promotion:    $2.00 ($6.50 discount)
$5 Coloring Coupon:   $5.00
_____________________
                                               FREE

With the balls being $2 we 'splurged' and go 2 per girl. We walked out of the store with 4 balls (sticker price$34) for FREE.  I don't know what the girls like more,  getting the $5 certificate or walking out the store with their own bag.  Got to love free.

Restaurant.com Promo Code Included!

I have been asked a few questions about Restaurant.com. How it works, is it legit, etc., etc.? So here is the long and the short of it:

How does it work?

It’s so easy. Just use the search to find a restaurant. Many of our participating restaurants have different offers, so pick the place that suits you best. They provide handy descriptions and even menus to help you decide. Follow the instructions for purchasing a gift certificate and print it out. In minutes you're all set for a night out for less!


What if....

Worried that the restaurant might not honor your certificate? The restaurant partners want you to be happy. After all that’s the whole point, to bring in and keep a new customer. So rest assured, they back up what they say. You have an unconditional guarantee. If something isn’t right with your certificate, just contact customer service by phone or email and we’ll take care of it right away. We want you to come back over and over again.

*Save on Restaurant Gift Certificates to local restaurants worth $25 for $10.
*Dinner of the Month Club! Join the club for 3, 6, or 12 months for as low as $30.00 and you save 60% when you dine out.
*Freedom from shipping + a gift in seconds with click to print or e-mail.
*Access detailed restaurant information, view menus and wine lists, and make FREE online reservations

Here is a promotion that expires 2/15/09... so get it while the get'ns good!

60% Off + $15 FTD reward with every order of $25 Gift Certificates. Use code TREAT and pay $4 thru 2/15/09.

Why Didn't Any One Tell Me!?

Possibly it is because you thought I knew but I didn't.  Turns out Walgreens has this program called "Easy Saver".  You aren't kidding me!  This month they have 6 items that are free after rebate.  PLUS you can do your rebate on line I was in today and I was able to get the multi-purpose solution, the shampoo and the cold care lozenges.  They were out of the other three.  Go figure.  But I will be back don't you worry!  In fact while I was there a clerk was ordering more of the lip gloss and the foundation.  She said that they are not able to keep the free items in stock.  Not a surprise.  She also told me that you are able to use a manufacture coupon on top of the Wallgreens in store coupon.  (This is called stacking coupons.)

Once you have gotten your freebies go through the little easy saver booklet and check out the other money saving coupons.  Keep in mind because they are Wallgreens coupons you can stack THESE coupons with manufacture coupons!  PLUS...it gets better...through out the month these items in the booklets will go on SALE.  Did you get that? On sale, Wallgreens coupon and then stack it with a manufacture coupon.  How cheap can you get it?

**Photos from Wallgreens.com

60% off at Restaurant.com

I am a fan of Restaurant.com.  My husband and I have gotten certificates from them in the past and it is a great deal!!  They are helping us out yet again and offering another coupon code TREAT.  This will get you 60% off your gift certificate purchase of $25.  For those math challenged that is a $25 certificate for $4!!!!

See website fore more information and complete details.  It is an awesome deal! Hurry, coupon only valid until February 15.

Photo from Restaurant.com

LOVE Old Navy

I was spending the morning at a friends' house and our kids were having a wonderful play date.  We were comparing our latest finds and freebies and she introduced me to the coloring give away at Old Navy.  This is how I understand this promotion to work:

Pick up the coloring page at Old Navy (or just color it in the store)

Turn in the coloring page to the store for them to display.

Old Navy will give you a $5 coupon to be used on Valentine's Day!

How awesome is that!?  Have your kids do the coloring and let them go shopping for something worth $5!  Or you do the coloring and use the $5 for something sweet for yourself!  Just be sure to use your coupon ON Valentine's Day.  That is the only day it is valid!

Draft Dodger

I have a large slider door in my kitchen and I have noticed that I call feel cold air leaking in at the bottom. The air is coming from the trough where the door slides back. So what do i do about it!? Block it! Or as Martha would say "Dodge it!" Here is a video that inspired my draft dodger. For my fabric I used cream flannel. Cream because it 'blended' with the framework of the door but you can use what ever you have on hand. I was fortunate to have fabric on hand. I come from a sewing family so finding scrap fabric never seems to be a problem.

Now Martha uses some sort of expensive earth friendly kitty litter. I am all for earth friendly thing but these are penny pinching times and I am not going out to buy kitty litter when I don't have a cat! So I filled my draft dodger with rice. Dry rice that is! I have a huge 25 pound bag of rice from Bj's and I just scooped enough to fill my tube about 3/4 full. I am sure you could get creative and add essential oils like lavender or cinnamon but as I said before these are penny pinching times and I don't have those in stock right now.

You can make these for any door or window that has a draft. I don't know if it will make a huge difference in our gas bill but at least my tooties won't be cold when I walk by the slider!

My Pic Tales

I have been on the hunt for a penny pinching way to print my digital scrapbook pages. Ideally they would be in an 8x8 bound book but I was getting to the point of finding a way of printing the pages individually and them putting them in a book.... old school style. Searching and searching the internet. Finding sites that are awesome but didn't fit my entire bill of sale.

Here were my parameters:
-Easy upload and/or easy software usage.
-8x8 hard bound book. (high quality and customer reviews are a given)
-MUST have an allotment for more than 100 pages. (I have more than 100 pages... how can I cut any memories!?)
-The price HAD to be under $100.

I was finding two out of the four or three out of the four but it wasn't until I came upon My Pic Tales did I hit 4 out of 4!! After some initial struggles with the software (my own learning curve) and working through some of my own server issues I am sure I will have what I am looking for.

A quote from their web site regarding the features of the photo book:
Made of Silk coated or Glossy paper - 100 lb text or 80 lb cover (for wire-o)
Laminated custom covers or Black leatherette standard hard covers
Laser Printing
Glue bound or Wire-O Bound
Sizes: available in Landscape, Portrait and Square

And here is a quote from the same page about the hard bound photo books reguarding prices:

Minimum Price:

4.25 X 4.75 (The Brag Books) - $10.99 additional page - $0.50
5X7 (The Handy Dandy) - $19.99 additional page-$0.50
8X8 (The Scrap Book) - $19.99 Additional page - $0.50

Custom Hard Cover $5.99 extra

8.5X11 (The Classic) - $29.99 additional page-$0.50
10X10 (Square) - $29.99 additional page-$0.50
12X12 (The Legend) - $39.99 additional page-$1.00
11X17 (The Panorama) - $49.99 additional page-$1.00

Custom Hard Cover $10 Extra


I ended up getting a hard case, 8x8 (the Scrapbook), no custom cover, 108 pages and the cheapest shipping they had available. I did note that they are having a special on their hard cover books. 50% off!! (valid only until January 31, 2009) Check the front page for the code. So I got my entire book for $36.57. Shipping included. I was happy with that. If I had ordered my book through shutterfly it would have been over $100 and I wasn't able to get all 108 paged included!

Oh and another feature of My Pic Tales....they don't put their logo on you book! In fact if you have a logo they will put it on for FREE! I will let you know when my book arrives if it was worth my hunting all over the web to find this deal.


Just in case you are wondering... I do NOT work for My Pic Tales. I just came upon them and wanted to pass this information onto my other penny pinching friends!

Cupid Poo(p) Another Tic-Tac Box Wrap

Here is a cute quick craft for you to make for your sweetie or for a bunch of sweeties. My daughter will be taking these to preschool as her Valentine treat. I used the small Tic -Tac box. Pictured are the white Tic-Tacs but red or pink would work as well.

HERE is your download.

Step 1. Print out the page on card stock.
Step 2. Cut them apart.
Step 3. Score them 1 1/2" from the left and the right side.
Step 4. Cut 12" of 1/8" ribbon. I used white but red, pink or silver would be nice as well.
Step 5. Apply double stick tape width wise on the back of the wrap. I used 1/2" width of this brand.
Step 6. Center your ribbon on the tape and press to adhere.
Step 7. Wrap the Cupid Poo(p) wrapper around a small box of tic-tacs. Press the tape onto the box. This will help when you tie the ribbon.
Step 8. Tie ribbon.

If you are feeling super creative you can use a heart punch at the bottom under the envelope. I don't have one but you might!

Squeaky Clean

For some strange reason I got motivated today to clean my bathroom. Upon inspecting the mirror, in desperate need of attention, I reached for my glass cleaner. Low and behold I was out. (I wonder if that I why the mirrors were so bad? Probably not. I am just lazy.) So as not to loose my momentum I hit the internet in search of home made window cleaner.

Here is what I found:
Step 1
Mix 2 cups of water with two cups of rubbing alcohol and 2 tbsp. dish washing liquid. Shake or stir until the mixture is well blended.

Step 2
Pour the window cleaning solution into a clean spray pump bottle. It's fine to reuse bottles from other cleaners as long as you wash them out well.

Step 3
Spray the solution just as you would commercial window cleaner. Wipe dry with newspapers until dry. Newspaper cleans best and it leaves a lightly protective film that causes water to bead.

Step 4
Remove stubborn spots by using vinegar. You can spray it full strength on the spot or dab it on. Wipe the stubborn spot away and then clean the area with the window solution if you need to remove streaks.

Step 5
Wash the inside of your windows in one direction and the outside in the opposite direction. If there are streaks you will see whether they go from side to side or up and down and you'll immediately know which side needs further cleaning.

Step 6
Don't clean windows in direct sunlight because the windows can dry from the sun before you've had a chance to clean them thoroughly. Make sure to clean on overcast days or move around the house washing the windows not facing the sun.



I found that if I crumpled the newspapers up and flattened them out, crumpled up again and repeated a few more times they were easier to handle. This way they were 'softer' and more cloth like. So pinch a penny and clean a mirror!

Adventures in Making Laundry Soap

I just made another batch of homemade laundry soap. My last batch lasted since the end of October. Not bad for .94! But when I made this batch it turned out a lot more gelatinous than the first batch. The only thing I can figure I did different was I brought the mixture to a simmer in attempts to be sure everything was equally dissolved. The end result was a big pot of congealed soap. Picture a large runny jello mold. There was no way this was going to easily pour out of my container.

So my daughter and I used my food processor to puree the gelatinous mass. Bit by bit we got the whole thing pureed. I would have liked to have had a immersion blender. But mine had broken a long time ago from over use making baby food.

So if you have the same results this is how I have resolved this problem. My only hope is that it doesn't re-congeal!

Do You Know About Red Box?

Have you discovered Red Box movie rentals? It is a vending machine that dispenses DVD's and the machines are located in convenient locations. For me my local Redbox location is at my grocery store. The great thing about Redbox is that each DVD costs $1 to rent per day. So if you are picking up some groceries and want to take home a movie to watch that night it is right there and it will cost you $1. No additional stops to the movie store and it is cheaper than the movie store. The trick is you have to return it by 9 p.m. the day after you rent the DVD or they will charge you an additional $1 (plus tax). The penny pincher in me wanted to see if there were any deals or specials to be had. So I went on their web site and found that if you sign up for their SMS alert you get a text message to your phone with Redbox offers. Recently it has been a free DVD rental on Mondays. There is also an offer for first time renters to receive a free movie rental via e-mail. Both are wonderful offers. So pinch a penny in the new year and snuggle up with your loved one and a DVD rental from Redbox!

photo by ShawnblogLicense: Creative Commons

Stretch Your Holiday Gifts

Here is what I have done with that sweater that was the wrong size and how I made the most out of my penny pinching Christmas dollar. In case you haven't noticed retailers are desperate for your dollars! This is such a good thing for you, the Penny Pincher.

I am very fortunate that I have relatives that attach gift receipts to each piece of clothing that they gift. I take the sweater to the counter and get the clerk to scan the gift receipt to see how much was spent on it. Have the clerk put the amount on a store credit or a gift card. You now have your gift on a gift card/store credit. Now you are able to get full advantage of the after Christmas deals. For example an extra 25% off the entire store! So if you did indeed change your mind on that sweater you just returned you can get it for the sale price, plus 25% off. Your penny pinching relative would want it this way. The catch is you HAVE a gift slip or the actual receipt. Other wise you will get the price the item is selling for that day.