In case you’re wondering, I haven’t disappeared. School started back last week. Things started out fine and then somehow I got sick with some terrible allergies or a cold (not sure which). It’s been a tough week for me as I haven’t had any energy when I get home. Today is day 7 of the sickness so I hope that I’ll be feeling better soon. I look forward to posting some money saving tips or sales this weekend.

I hope you all are well!

Do you ever sit around and watch old commercials onYouTube? I do.  I think they’re quite hilarious and honestly, they take me back to my childhood.  Sometimes I show the old commercials to my kids and they get a good giggle from watching.  Of course then, I have to hear the questions like, “Did they have electricity when you were a kid?”.  haha

Here’s an old commercial from Wisk. Wow, does that take me back! The thing back then was ring around the collar. It would have been a terrible thing for a woman’s husband to show up to work with stains on his collar. It would have been a reflection of her ability to keep house.

I know that my mom always kept a bottle of Wisk in our home. We referred to it as “the good stuff”. Many times we would use the other detergents to wash with and then we’d get out the Wisk for the tough stains. We’d apply the detergent directly to the stains and rub it in.

Detergents have come a long way over the years. Check out this new detergent from Wisk. I’m excited to try it.

I think moms today have just as many stain worries as they did back then. Kids will be kids. Children will still get grass and chocolate milk stains on their clothes. Many times I feel badly for getting on to my kids so much. I’m just so worried about ruining another outfit with their stains. Hopefully, the new Wisk with Stain Spectrum Technology can help me to put my worries aside and let my kids have a good time.

What do you think . . . do you think the stains you tackle today are the same as the stains your mom faced?

Disclaimer: This post is being sponsored by Wisk and I am being compensated for this post, but all ideas and opinions are my own.

For a limited time, the Never Ending Pasta Bowl is back at Olive Garden.  Enjoy endless pasta and sauce, salad and breadsticks for only $8.95.  Add unlimited meatballs, Italian sausage, or roasted chicken for $2.95.

One of the newest products in green living are reusable gift bags.  These bags are durable and as you can see from the picture, they are attractive as well.

There are some pros and cons of reusable bags to consider.

Pros: 

1. The gift bags are reusable.
2. They come in many attractive designs and colors.
3. You could use them for other purposes such as a tote bag or lunch bag.

Cons or things to consider:

1. You can also reuse paper gift bags that others give to you and wouldn’t need to buy any.
2. Since these bags are new on the market, you probably won’t find them on clearance.  You can find regular paper gift bags on clearance.
3. Would you hang on to the bag and use it again and again, or would it just become more useless clutter?

I’m not saying that these reusable bags are the wrong choice.  I actually like the idea.  The thing is, I have a whole under-the-bed box full of other paper gift bags so it’s unlikely that I’ll be buying any of the reusable bags soon.  Also, at $2.99 each, I probably wouldn’t purchase them.  Some people may pay $3-5 for a gift bag, but that’s not my kind of thing.  I’m sure there are other places to purchase the bags for a more affordable price.  Who knows, may the Dollar Tree will start carrying them soon.

What are your thoughts on the reusable gift bags?

image (c) Karen Weideman

Sign up for the Chili’s newsletter and receive a coupon for Free Chips & Queso.  Yummy!

Enjoy the freebie!

“This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.” ~Earl Wilson

As a person who suffers with eczema, I can tell you I have been using Eucerin for years.  While I was at BlogHer earlier this month, I met up with some of the people from Eucerin.  They have offered us a Eucerin sample, THREE gift bag giveaways, and some other helpful information.  Yay! 

• Like Eucerin on facebook and get a free sample.
• Find out more about the Eucerin skin first pledge. 
• Take the Eucerin skin first IQ quiz.
• You can also follow Eucerin on Twitter.

To enter to win one of the Eucerin gift bag giveaways, simply leave a comment below.  Additional entries can be made by blogging about the giveaway, tweeting it , following @thriftymommy on twitter, following The Thrifty Mommy on facebook,  and through other social networking.  Please leave a comment for each thing that you do (as it makes it easier to count the entries) and leave a link to your tweets, etc.  (You can tweet three times per day, if you’d like.)

This contest is being sponsored by Eucerin and it ends Sunday, September 5, 2010.  The winners will be contacted via email and will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be chosen.  The contest is available to those with a U.S. shipping address.

Good luck!

One of the most effective ways I have found to cut our budget is through saving money on our grocery budget.  One of the techniques I use is building a stockpile, also known as the buy ahead principle.  What this means is that when groceries or other regularly used items are significantly cheaper than normal, I buy enough to last me a few months.  In my home, I try to never ever pay retail for anything!

For example, a few weeks ago Harris Teeter had their Colgate Total toothpaste on sale for $2.50 per tube.  It was also super double coupon week and I had $1 coupons. After coupons and the sale, I paid only $.50 per tube for Colgate toothpaste.  Also last week and this week, CVS had their Crest Pro Health toothpaste on sale for $2.99 and you got back a $2 Extra Care Buck (ECB).  I also had $.50 and $.75 coupons for the toothpaste.  After the sale, ECBs, and coupons, I paid $.25-$.50 per tube.  Did I need five tubes of toothpaste right now?  Of course I didn’t.  But I know that over the next year my family will need the toothpaste.  I also know that soon I will be filling shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse and our church is always collecting food and toiletries for the needy.  This allows me to get toothpaste for my family and others for less than the price of one tube at regular price.

As you can see in the picture above, I have over 10 bottles of laundry detergent.  I don’t plan on doing 300 loads of laundry this week, but I couldn’t resist stocking up because of the deal I found.  Some of the bottles were buy 1 get 1 free and I had coupons.  Many of the bottles cost me than $1 per bottle. 

I have heard others say before that they can’t afford to stockpile; that they only have money for the things that they need that week.  What they don’t truly realize is that when you stockpile, you can make your grocery budget go further and have more supplies on hand. 

If you still say you can’t afford to stockpile, then I suggest that you start small.  A stockpile isn’t built overnight anyway.  Allow yourself an extra $5 or $10 to try to purchase things while they’re at rock bottom prices so that you won’t have to purchase them later.  For me, an example of this would be when I purchase canned tomatoes.  I know that I’m going to need canned tomatoes.  I know that Target has the cheapest prices on them.  So, when I visit Super Target, I purchase 6-12 cans.  The amount I purchase depends on my stockpile at home.  And if you’re getting items for free or almost free (with sales and coupons) that will only allow your grocery budget to go that much further so that you can cut your grocery budget or purchase other things your family needs.

Stay tuned for more tips on stockpiling.  Do you stockpile groceries?

images (c) Karen Weideman

A few months ago, I attended a party which introduced the new all Oxi-Active laundry detergent.  During this kid-friendly event, we were invited to decorate cupcakes, play, paint grass stains onto shirts, and more.  We were encouraged to get as dirty as possible. 

After we dirtied up some shirts and painted them with grass stains, the ‘all team treated and washed the clothes with the new all Oxi-Active laundry detergent. 

Laundry scientist Mark Granja shows us that the shirts washed in all Oxi-Active came clean.

Mark also did another laundry experiment with two grass-stained cloths.  He took one of the cloths and added only one capful of the all Oxi-Active.  To the other cloth he added FOUR capfuls of another leading detergent.  He swished them around and as you can see, the all one came clean.

all showed us that we should let kids be kids.  Let them run, play, and get dirty.  We can let ‘all take care of the stains.

I decided to give the all Oxi-Active a try myself. I had a few white shirts that were stained with yellow looking stains. I have no clue what my kids spilled on the shirts. And since I didn’t know about the stains, the shirts were put into the dryer. Here is a picture of one of the shirts before being washed in all Oxi-Active.

I put the Aall Oxi-Active directly on the stains and I used a brush to scrub the stains a bit.  I let the detergent sit on the garment for about 20 minutes before washing. 

As you can see, the all Oxi-Active lightened the stains quite a bit.  They are almost completely gone.  Considering that these were yellow stains, which are almost impossible to remove, and that it was dried in the dryer, I was pretty impressed.  I think that one more stain treatment with the Oxi-Active and these stains will be removed.

Have you tried all Oxi-Active?

School starts back this week and so I need to get back on track with some organization on meal planning. I certainly can’t walk in the door at 3:00 and wonder what’s for dinner. I’m sure the menu will get moved around some, but so long as I have the ingredients in the house and the meats are thawing in the refrigerator, everything will be fine.

 Here what I have planned for this week:

Sunday – easy stuff (the youth are coming over)
Monday – barbeque chicken pizza and pepperoni pizza, broccoli salad
Tuesday – meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls   Indian food
Wednesday – spaghetti, salad, garlic bread    leftovers
Thursday – hotdogs, baked tater tots, fruit   meatloaf (menu from Tuesday)
Friday – tatertot casserole, broccoli
Saturday – breakfast casserole, hashbrowns, fruit

What are you having this week?

image sxc