Got a Move in Your Near Future? Here's How To Save 10% Off Your Next Purchase at Lowe's

 

 

Lately I've been in the habit of doing a google search, before I buy anything, to see if I can find a coupon to print or a discount code to use online. It usually pays off a little, but I was pleasantly surprised to come across this handy feature that Lowes.com has. If you are moving, they offer a 10% off  coupon for your entire next purchase up to $5,000.00. Which means, that you could save up to $500 bucks. With the financial stress of a move, saving 10% can be a lifesaver!
 

This is totally legitimate!
 

 I used my coupon last Saturday to replace the interior doors that we've been meaning to get to for a while...at least the next owner of the house can enjoy them ;). Here's what you need to do if you'd like to save too.
 

Go to the following link:
 

(this link was taken directly from the source)
 

Fill in your information and submit...that's it!
 

It took a couple of days for mine to show up in my email inbox, (they do note that there is a processing time) but there it was and it worked perfectly! Make sure to share this info w/anyone that is moving soon. Happy Saving!

 

Why I Pack Pineapple Juice in my Hospital Bag

 

 

When I was pregnant with my first baby, a friend (thanks Denise) gave me some advise to make my experience with breastfeeding much more pleasant. She told me that when having problems with blocked milk ducts or engorgement, many women drink Pineapple Juice. This is because Pineapple Juice is a natural anti-inflammatory. I must admit that I was a bit skeptical at first, but I drank some every day for a couple of weeks (as a preventative measure) and never had a problem with nursing.  But, fast forward to when I decided to ween my baby.  I was a total idiot and decided to just ween her cold turkey. By the second day I was in so much pain that I just sat there and cried and cried... Then I remembered PINEAPPLE JUICE! Immediately, I had my husband go to the store and picked some up. I then chugged a bunch of it. Within about three hours I was nearly pain free. I couldn't believe it!  This information was a God-send for me, so I thought that I would share because it could help someone else out there too.

 

 I made sure to have some handy at all times while nursing baby #2 as well and I  never had any issues with blocked ducts or engorgement.

 

 I just picked some up last week, so now I am prepared for that aspect of having baby #3. I bought the individual little cans so that I can just drink one a day. If you decide to try some just make sure that you buy the kind that says 100% Pineapple Juice Not From Concentrate (and shake well before you open it).    

 

*Make sure to share this post with anyone that might find it helpful!*

 

Here is an Organic option if you decide to go that route. 

Crockpot Jambalaya...The Way I Do It.

 This pregnancy I've been doing a ton of Crockpot meals. This has been great as far as my stress level goes, but there at the beginning it was a little rough smelling food cooking all day...gag! Thankfully, this recipe wasn't one that made me want to lose my lunch while waiting for it to cook. I've switched it up enough from the original recipe that I decided that I need to be able to print it out so I thought I'd share. Enjoy!   

 

 

 

Printable Version 

Jambalaya:

 

I use my 6 Quart Crockpot for this portion, will need lots of room to add the rice once they are both done cooking. Grease your Crock, then add:

 

1 LB Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

(cut into 1 inch cubes)
1 LB Smoked Turkey Sausage

(sliced, a 13 oz pkg works just fine)
1 (28 ounce) Can Hunt's Diced Tomatoes w/Basil, Garlic, and Oregano
3 T Dried Minced Onion

1 tsp Chicken Base dissolved in 1 cup Water
2 tsp Cajun Seasoning
1-2 Cups Chopped Bell/Sweet Peppers

 

Mix well, cover, and cook on High for 3-4 hours or 5-6 hours on low.

 

Rice:

 

For this part I use my 3 Quart Crockpot so that the rice and Jambalaya can be cooking at the same time. Anyway, here's what I do.

 

Add the following to the Crockpot in this order:

 

2 T Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A few shakes of Salt (I use Iodized Sea Salt)

2 Cups Brown Rice that has been rinsed thoroughly

(Gotta get most of the gluten off or your rice cooks funny and will be a gooey glob. I know from experience!)  

6 C Water

 

Mix well, cover,and cook on High for 3-4 hours or low 5-6.

 

When both crocks are done cooking, add the rice to the Jambalaya, mix well, and serve.

 

 

*In case you aren't sure what kind of diced tomatoes to buy, here's a pic.

Invest in a Burn Barrel

 

 

My husband and I have been setting aside all of our "to-shred" documents for the past several years and we finally decided what to do with them. Burning them seems much more cost effective than going with a shredder, which jams and you never know how long the motor in a shredder is going to last.  I started pricing out burn barrels and the cheapest/best reviewed one I could find online was this one. However, with a baby on the way, trying to pay off our final credit card as quickly as possible, AND taking care of some home improvements lately, I hoped that I could find something even less expensive locally because I need every penny. My husband suggested that I see if IFA carried anything that would work, so I went in and asked. Much to my surprise, I left with a barrel that would not only work, but is more functional than the other one (it's not as pretty, but it'll do the job) and was a fraction (1/3rd when counting shipping) of the cost. This purchase also supported a local business...another plus. Anyway, just thought I'd share this awesome find in case anyone else out there is looking to buy a burn barrel. This one is 1/3rd the height of a large drum (which makes it easy to move around/empty the ash) and the guy at IFA told me they are frequently purchased to to be used as a portable fire pit for camping, though I plan on digging a pit at my next house and putting the drum in there for an inexpensive built-in fire pit, but until then we'll take it with us camping.  If you go in to an IFA and ask for an empty Crystalyx drum they should be able to get one ready for you. I'm sure that prices vary from store to store, but mine was 12 bucks +tax. (any store that carries feed items for cattle should have one). Side-note, the first time you burn in the barrel it's a bit more stinky because the paint on the exterior needs to burn off, but the second burn is much better. :) Enjoy!

*Remember to check fire restrictions for your area before you burn and be very careful!* 

 

Sorry if things were worded strangely...it's my first post in a couple of months and I'm not really back into the swing of it yet. 

Update for the blog

Hey everybody, just letting you know that I'm taking a break from blogging for a little while. I may pick it back up here and there, but it most likely won't be regular until I have this baby and get settled in a few months.

A Fun, New Addition To Any Play Kitchen

This is what the crock pot looks like...it's teeny. I couldn't take a picture w/the playkitchen because the girls took a crayon to it and it needs repainted before I show it to anyone again.

 

My girls have been trying to steal my smallest crockpot since I got it at a yard sale last summer. It's cute that they want to be like their mom, but it scares me to find it plugged in in random places around the house.  I've decided that since I've only used it once in the year that I've had it, I don't mind giving it to them for their play kitchen. The only issue was to make it not work so that they don't burn themselves or the house down.  This was solved by a simple snip to cord on the back and voila...they now have a cute addition to their play kitchen. I've never seen anyone else do this, so I thought that it might be a fun addition for other play kitchens.  These "little dipper" crockpots are at thrift stores and yard sales frequently, but keep in mind that if you paid more than a buck you got a bad deal. 

LIFECHANGING: A Healthy Way to Clean that Crockpot that just doesn't want to get clean.

 

 

You know how sometimes when you cook a meal in your slow cooker and, even if you greased it prior to adding your ingredients, no amount of scrubbing, soaking, or praying is going to get that thick ring of crud off the sides. It was so bad earlier this week, that I just had to use it as it was...as clean as I could get it, with a nasty baked on ring from the previous days meal. Gross, I know, total over share, but I didn't know what else to do. This was even with having googled "how to clean the crockpot" and trying several suggestions that I had found online. I had seriously tried to clean that thing for hours this week, to no avail. But...

 

I had an epiphany last night!

 

The kind that is going to save me a considerable amount of time and  headache in the future. Especially since a week ago, I started Crockpot freezer cooking and use my Crockpot almost every day now. Anyway, here is what I discovered.

If you have already gotten your crockpot as clean as you can and the RING OF CRUD just won't budge, try this.

1. Fill your crockpot with HOT water until the water level  is just above the ring of crud (not all the way full). 
2. Add about one cup of distilled white vinegar.
3.  Then, slowly, a spoonful or so at a time, add about a cup of baking soda. (It is key during this step to add it a little at a time, let the bubbles die down, and then add a bit more. Repeat until the whole cup has been added).
4. Turn your crockpot on the low setting, Cover and walk away. Let this sit for approximately 4 hours or so.
5. Turn off the Crockpot, let it cool enough so that you won't burn yourself, then empty it in the sink and clean it out with soapy water and some light scrubbing. That should do it.

  After obsessing about how to get that sucker clean for a few days, I couldn't just leave it alone, at step 4, any time I went in the kitchen I used a spatula and gently tried to scrape off the gunk and then I'd let it sit for another half hour or so and do it again. I don't think that it was necessary to do that though, as the vinegar/baking soda mixture really attacks the gunk. Anyway, I left mine overnight and when I woke up this morning, I emptied it in the sink, used some hot soapy water, a scrubber with literally almost no elbow grease and washed it out(this was basically just cleaning out the baking soda residue). Every trace of the ring was gone!!!  I couldn't believe it!  I really don't think that overnight was necessary either, but a good 4 hours or so should do the trick. Anyway, I'd really like to hear if this works for anyone else. For me, this removed the ring of crud that had been baked on there twice. For someone that plans on using their Crockpot nearly every day, this may be life changing for you too. No freaky chemicals, and you get a clean crockpot!

 

*Be careful! Don't burn yourself.

Nearly Hassle-Free Under Sink Project

I can't be the only one out there with an under the kitchen sink area that looks this nasty. Especially in an older home, it is very common to have water damage under here. Now that I've lived in this home for going on six years, I can no longer blame it on the previous owners... it's on me, I haven't taken care of it yet. Anyway, a while back I saw that people are just using the peel and stick vinyl tiles to cover this area and I've wanted to do it ever since. Unlike painting it, once you install the tiles you can immediately load the cupboard back up, no waiting for two days for paint to cure properly. Plus, it provides full coverage and there is no risk of the stain seeping through and having to repaint it.  

I totally forgot to take my before picture before I started, but you can still see how nasty the stains/water damage looks. 

 

This took all of maybe 20 minutes once I had gathered supplies and got going (even with my kids coming in to pester me a few times).

Supplies Used:

Vacuum

Dry Cloth

Utility Knife

My Quilters Ruler & Cutting Mat

9 Vinyl Tiles (It would have been 8, but I had a special moment and cut one wrong;) 

These are the tiles that I used, 72¢/piece you can't beat that.

(Don't mind the diaper pattern on the cutting mat) 

Grand total was under $7

and I think that it looks a million times better than it did previously. One more to-do is now checked off the list, Yay!

I'm not going to do a tutorial as it was ridiculously easy to do, but I will provide you a link to a tutorial on how to install vinyl tiles, here. 

*Tip: Make sure to start at the front of the cupboard and work your way back, you'll get much cleaner lines where people will actually see it when the cupboard gets opened.* 

Please note: There is a special type of grout that can be used for this type of flooring, but I recently read a blog post of a woman that laid some in her laundry room and it had flooded a couple of times, and she had not grouted it, and did not have any issues, so I'm not too worried about grouting it for such a small project.

Refilling Your Printers Ink Cartridge at Costco. How to, and Is it Worth It?

I was recently doing some thinking on additional ways to trim the budget, and decided that I'd give refilling our printers ink cartridge a shot.  This was mainly sparked by me not wanting to shell out some serious cash(as I buy them in bulk when we need them) that would come out of money that I could spend on Christmas presents. I remembered a while back that I had seen that Costco does this service, it was advertised in their coupon book. Though it didn't say where you take it inside the store. Once I decided that I needed to price it out, I did a simple google search and here's what I came up with. 

 

 

Where do you take the ink to get it refilled?

To the photo center.

 

How long does it take?

They offer a 1-hour option, unless they tell you otherwise (like when they're slammed).

 

How much does it cost?

There is actually a spreadsheet that I found online that tells you what types of cartridges they have the ability to refill and it lists the prices. Here is a link to that spreadsheet. 

 

Will it really save me money?

This one you're going to have to do on your own as every cartridge's upfront and refill costs differ.  For me, a new black cartridge is usually between $12 and $15, and a refill is $8.00. It makes sense to me to drop it off, do my shopping, and come back and grab it on my way out of the store. It's a quick easy way to save at least $4.

 

What is the print quality like?

I honestly haven't noticed a difference, but we mainly only print coloring pages for the girls, coupons, and recipes.  I'd say that if you have a more professional need for printing, give it a shot once and see what you think. 

 

 

As with the majority of my posts, this is just a suggestion on how to stretch your dollars a bit further. I figure that if I didn't know how/where to take my cartridge at Costco, there is probably someone else out there that didn't know either. Oh, also, if you're still on the fence about whether or not to even get a Costco membership, don't forget my post about Buying in Bulk, You Can't afford not to and keep in mind that the gas at Costco is usually 8-10 cents less per gallon, which for me, pays for the membership just in gas savings. Happy saving everyone! Sorry if anything is worded funny. Pregnancy brain is out in full force.

Where To Put That Lint Brush/Roller

For my birthday this year, I got my first ever wool coat. Yay! Thanks Nick! Though I never knew how much they attract EVERYTHING!  This means that I also had to purchase a lint brush (I went with a reusable one). 

 

  

Since I bought it, the lint brush has been sitting on my counter and frequently walks off with one of the girls. This has been driving me totally crazy not having a designated place to keep it. My solution was to tie a seasonal ribbon onto it so that it can now hang on the coat rack next to my coat. How simple is that? Now it doesn't grow legs and walk off. Just one more thing I thought I'd share that is making my life a little easier. Happy winter everyone!

(*the coat rack is always overflowing, but I emptied it out for the photo;)

Family Recipe: Fruit Dip

This is one of my favorite family recipes, but for some reason it's one of those dishes that are only made for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  My mom taught me how to make this, and it's really simple yet delicious.

 

 

Printable Version

 

 One Package Cream Cheese

(I use reduced fat, 8 oz)

One Bottle Marshmallow Cream

(7 oz)

The Zest of One Orange

 

Mix well and that's it! Serve with your choice of fruit. I like it with oranges and strawberries. I've never had enough leftovers to need to store it (it's that good), but I imagine that it should be good if stored covered in the refrigerator for a few days. I hope this becomes one of your family favorites too. Please remember to share the recipe;)

 

How Much Should I Give My Children For Christmas?

I've really been struggling these past few years, wondering where to draw the line with Christmas gifts for our children. How much is too much? How much is too little? I don't want to give them so much that they become spoiled (entitled) little brats... what to do, what to do. Thankfully, a few months ago I ran across a pin (on pinterest) that mostly solved the problem. It was just a graphic that simply said:

 

 

 

 

I LOVE this suggestion!  Four dedicated gifts that each serve a purpose. The only thing that I would add is to use a spending budget of $100 or less per child and then I would do their stocking as well. This year, I am trying out doing Christmas Eve Pajama's as the "Something To Wear" and then a Christmas book also given on Christmas Eve as the "Something To Read". (Thankfully, my kids are still small enough that I can experiment a bit with this method of giving)  This leaves two larger gifts on Christmas morning and also their stockings to open.  It may not sound like much to some, but it sounds like plenty to me.  Especially since the kids are going to be getting presents from grandparents and cousins and friends, it won't feel like a teeny Christmas. We keep a $30 budget for the girls birthday presents and they are always thrilled with their gifts. I feel that doing Christmas this way will help them to be thankful for what they have been given. Which should enable them to concentrate on the true meaning of Christmas.