My Memories Suite Online Code and Giveaway!

Hello Frugal Friends!  I know that there are many of you out there that are crafty as well as frugal.  There aren't too many things that we can't find a great deal on, right?  Right!  Here's a great deal that I want to share with you.  You can get the #1 rated digital scrapbook software in America with an awesome discount right now.

Head over to My Memories Suite and use the code: STMMMS95032 to get a $10 discount on the digital software and $10 coupon for the My Memories online store.  This code is specifically just for Saving Money: 101 frugal friends! 

I have been given an opportunity to "test drive" this software so that I can let you all know what it's like, before you buy it.  I have to say, it's super easy to use and there is an abundance of different themes to choose from.  You can pick a designer template already created, or design your own project with really cute backgrounds, adorable embellishments and different fonts and shapes. Even though I have only played around on this software a short time, I can tell that the possibilities are endless!  This can not only be used for scrap booking, but I could see some awesome paper craft projects come together with this software.  Head over to the My Memories website and take a look around.  If you are a seasoned scrapper or a creative new paper crafter, I think you will be impressed. 

My Memories have offered a giveaway for one lucky Saving Money: 101 frugal friend.  I am hosting a giveaway for one free download of their really awesome software!  You can enter as many times as there are options.  Please make sure to leave your e-mail address in each entry so I can contact you with the code and instructions to download your software once I choose a winner.  Winner will be chosen at random (most likely by my husband or son picking a number) on Saturday, 10/8/11.

Here's the many ways how you can enter:

1.  Get one friend to "like" Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money 101 on Facebook.  Once they have, come back here and leave a comment with their name.

2.  Post a deal (free, cheap, match-up, price match, whatever!) on the Sharing the Wealth Facebook wall and come back here and leave a comment.

3.  Leave a comment stating what your favorite digital scrapbooking kit over at My Memories is.

4.  Leave a comment stating how long you have been scrapbooking/paper crafting.

5.  Leave a comment on how long you have been couponing.

There you have it, 5 different ways to enter!  You have a week to check out this creative software and get your entries in....GO!  

Join Us On Facebook!

Head on over to Facebook and "like" Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101.  Going forward all the regular deals posts have been transferred over there.  Feel free to share with your friends and have them "like" us too!  The more the merrier!  If you have some great finds, please share them.....post your deals on our wall so everyone can benefit.  See you there!

Two New Money Saving Blogs

Hello Frugal Friends!  I just wanted to point out to you that I have added two new money saving blogs under our list of favorites.  For my frugal friends who like to shop organically, you are going to LOVE these!  There aren't too many money saving blogs that are centered toward organic deals so I was super excited to find these.

The first one is Your Green Helper and this site offers tons of tips on getting started with being more "green" and shopping organically.  There are deal scenarios for places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, two stores in our area that are really centered toward organic/healthy eating.  I know a couple of my frugal friends are planning trips to these stores soon, so I was super happy to find this one for them.  By the looks of these scenarios, shopping organically can be affordable!  You can like them on facebook here.

The other is a forum called Organic Grocery Deals.  You have to sign up for this one, and log in every time you want to check in on deals.  It's a format similar to Couponers Wanted, so if you use that site a lot, you will feel comfortable here.  There's lots of info at this site too, not only on deals but getting started and ideas for many ways to "green" your life.  You can like them on facebook here.

I was surprised at the number of my frugal friends who shop organically, I had no idea!  Had I known, I would have incorporated more money saving blogs ages ago!  And for those that don't shop organically, don't worry, this blog is not turning into an organic only blog....I promise there will be lots of deals to share that are not for organic products still, right now I am concentrating on that area in my own life so I just happen to be finding lots of new info in that area.  In the meantime, "like" Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101 on facebook and share some of your own great finds on the wall.

All Natural "Green" Cleaning Products

In my efforts to make our diet and  home healthier, I discovered the importance of ridding our environment of harmful chemicals.  These toxins actually accumulate in your plasma and make you feel miserable.  I am the kind of person who has to see things to believe them, and I saw first hand through my own live blood analysis the effects of toxins in your plasma.

While we were renovating our rental house for our frugal adventure I spent A LOT of time at Menards.  Of course the deal seeker in me had me always making my way through the grocery and cleaning products aisles (probably why I spent way more time than I should have in the store!) to see if there was something I couldn't pass up.  It was there that I did find something that I couldn't pass up; all natural "green" cleaning products, made in the USA that were REALLY affordable, even without coupons!!

The company name is Resolution and is distributed through Menards.  They have TONS of products from laundry detergent to dish soaps.  There's a natural degreaser, window wash, tub & tile cleaner, and many more.  These are all plant based products that have no bleach, phosphates, harsh fumes or residues.  They are not tested on animals and are all totally biodegradable.  The list of ingredients includes things like purified water, natural plant based oils and organic salts, just to name a few.  Sounds great, right?  Sounds expensive, right?  WRONG!  The regular prices on these products are amazing!  A large 32 oz. bottle spray bottle of cleaners ranges from $1.50 to $3.00 each.  That's cheaper than the original price on many of the name brand toxic products out there, and almost cheaper than what you can get lots of those products for with coupons.  The great thing is that when Menards had them on sale it was even better!

I have tried a couple of these products already and I think they work great!  The one that I would NOT recommend is the dish soap.  It just doesn't hold any suds whatsoever, and a couple minutes into washing dishes you are left with a sink of just water.  Everything else so far passes with flying colors!  So, if you are looking for a very cost effective way to clean with less toxic chemicals, I highly recommend checking out Resolution products at Menards.  It's easy on your environment and your pocket book!

Time for Change

A lot is changing in my life and around our house.  Life has been extremely busy lately, and I just feel like I can't get ahead or even keep up any more.  Summer seems like it's passing me by and I have not yet had a chance to enjoy it.  I talked with several of my frugal friends this morning and it seems as if no one has had time for much deal seeking or coupon shopping.  I am so thankful for my stockpile now more than ever.  I have a stack of inserts to look through from 5/1 thru present!!!  In the midst of all this busy-ness, I am making lots of changes in our lifestyle, habits and routines.

Due to some recent health issues, I have become very interested in what I am putting into my body and on my family dinner table.  I starting seeing a N.D. (Naturpathic Doctor) and I love it!  The first change I am making is our eating habits.  I have been very interested in eating better lately and trying to feed my family better.  A few sources that I learned a lot from are the documentary Food Matters and the book The China Study.  I highly recommend both of these to anyone that is interested in the quality and value (by value, I mean nutritional, not dollars and cents) of your food.  Food Matters is available on Netflix and you could probably get it through your local library also.  You can check out more info on the documentary here, and even catch a snippet of the film.  The book The China Study can also come from the local library or book store.  I picked mine up on Kindle for iPad through Amazon.  This book offers hard evidence and many years of studies and research to back up it's nutritional information.  There is a documentary based on this book just being released now that I would love to see, it's called Forks Over Knives.   You can check out release dates and info about it here.  I also learned quite a bit from my neighbor, friend and farmer, Jim Evans of Ready Jam Farms.  Jim runs a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture co-op that offers locally grown, non genetically modified, totally organic produce to his customers each week through the co-op and our local farmer's market.  He's an individual farmer with respect for the environment and land, and most of all his customers.  


With that being said, I have made a commitment to do two things to start out.  One is to buy organic when I can get it.  Sometimes it's just not convenient and I won't be able to, but if it's available I will buy all my fruits and veggies organically grown, or grow them myself.  Two, is to eat AT LEAST 50% of each meal as raw, whole foods, from plant based sources.  That means fresh fruits, veggies, nuts with every meal, and 50% of what I am consuming.  Yes, I am starting out slow.  That is because if I try to do too much at once I will get overwhelmed and give up.  I am trying to make changes to last a lifetime, and trying to do it right.  Does this mean I am going to throw away everything in my stockpile and start new, no.  Another reason I am starting out slow.  We will use up as much from our pantry as we can first and then replace with better products as we run out.  I don't want to be wasteful and if I make these subtle changes gradually over time rather than overnight, my family will be less resistant to the change also.  Does this mean I won't be deal shopping any longer, no!  I will be seeking out deals on organic items, and still getting the best deals that I can.  It will change the deals that I blog...more about that a little later.  


You are probably thinking right now, how much more expensive this is going to be on our family food budget.  Organic foods are generally higher priced than the more readily available foods.  You are right, it is going to be more costly up front, right now.  But I am thinking into the future.  If I put forth the extra efforts now, I will save on health care costs in the future.  It's a balancing act and one that I think is a very good investment.  


So, with the time it takes to change habits and learn new ones, grow a garden, learn new recipes and educate myself even more, there's been less and less time for me to coupon shop or post deals on this blog.  That brings me to the next change.  I am changing up the platform for sharing deals with my frugal pals and I think that you will enjoy it.  I have created a Facebook page for deals and frugal finds.  You can "like" the page Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101 here and YOU can share your frugal finds on the wall also.  This means there is a potential to find MORE deals if we all start to share our shopping successes.  This blog and all it's info will still be here.  You can still print coupons from here, find links to great money saving blogs, see the Sunday Coupon Preview and have all The Basics right at your finger tips.  I would never take all that great info away!  


So, take this as your personal invitation to join Sharing the Wealth! Saving Money: 101 and start sharing YOUR great finds! I just ask that you only post deals that are tried and true, and you make sure to include as much info as you can in your post.  Make sure to be specific and give inserts or links of where the coupons needed for the deal can be found.  If you are posting about finding coupons such as WT's, peelies, blinkies, etc, make sure to give store names and locations so others can take advantage of them too!  Links to money saving blogs with deal write ups or scenarios for local stores are also welcome.  I am looking forward to interacting with all my frugal friends through Facebook!  See you there! 

John Frieda MM @ Wags

There's some good deals at Wags this week, I found one in particular that I wanted to share with you.

John Frieda products (one of my favorites) are on sale B1G150% OFF.  Most of the products I found were priced around $6.49 each, which means the second product would be $3.25 each; or $9.74 for two.  In the 6/5 SS insert there's some good John Frieda coupons.  There's one for $5.00 off any one Full Repair product.  If you have two inserts, pick up two of these products (pictured above) and use two of the coupons for a .26 MM and some nice FREE salon type products.  Even if you only have one insert, using any combination of those John Frieda product coupons would make for an awesome deal.

Don't Miss This One!

I love Tuesday's for my mail.  We get the weekly RedPlum advertisements in our mail, and usually included are ads for Jewel, Farm & Fleet, and our little local mom and pop grocery store, Wisted's (Centrella).  I browse through all the flyers, even if I have no intension of shopping at the stores.  I check out prices and scope out extra coupons.  I always find lots of interesting extra coupons like this one that came today.  It's for one free gallon of milk (up to $3.75) with the purchase of 4 Dannon multi-packs.  It's a manny Q so it can be used anywhere.  Well, guess what?!?  I was planning on buying some yogurt when I went to Walmart for some necessities tomorrow!!  Bonus!!  Make sure you check your local ads for lots of good coupons like this one.  I know some of the other smaller stores (Valli, Pacemaker, etc) put these same coupons in their ads too.

There are some Dannon coupons in the 6/5 RP & 6/5 SS to make this deal even sweeter!  Use those coupons on your 4 multi-packs and you have yourself some cheap milk and yogurts!

Frugal Adventure Update

Renovations are done!  Well, 99.9% done anyway.  The inside is completely done,and the tenants moved in over Memorial Day weekend.  There are just a few minor projects outside that we need to wrap up, but those are small and will take no time at all to complete.  I am just SO happy the inside is done, and was completed on time for our renters.  WHEW! We have come a long way!!  Our renters happen to be one of my frugal friends, Corinne, and her family.  I wish them many years of happiness in their new home!

I have lots of photos to share with you, all of the completed project.  If you would like to start by checking out what it looked like before we started, check here, here and here.

Let me take you on a tour!

We will start upstairs with the Master Bedroom......

Lovely large closet!! 

 Next, one of the other two bedrooms....

refinished existing wood floor

new closet doors, when we started there was no door or framing for one

 The other bedroom.....

 The Hallway....

 looking up

looking down

 The upstairs bath....

 The living room (that is the doorway to go upstairs)...

new wood floors (see comment below)

new front door

 The dining room...

replaced ugly light with a nice ceiling fan

The kitchen.... (my favorite part of the project)

all new: cabinets, appliances, flooring - you name it, it's new!

that is the door that goes to the basement

extra cabinet space in an open area that we didn't know what to do with

cabinets open on both sides on the peninsula with an overhang for a breakfast area

a new addition...a large pantry

(I was sure to make it nice and large since Corinne is a couponer!!)

 The main bath (downstairs).  This did not exist before.

 The outside....(not much changed there, cleaned up and put up the shutters)

The carpet upstairs and the wood floors in the living room and dining rooms were installed by my frugal friend, Nicole's husband.  Chris Vincent of Vincent Carpeting, Inc. did a great job!  He was very reasonably priced and worked quickly.  He was able to get us scheduled right away when we requested it and was very professional about the entire project.  I highly recommend Vincent Carpeting, Inc.  You can reach Chris at 815-978-6911 if you need any kind of flooring work done, you won't be disappointed!

I love how light everything is now, one of the things that I just could not stand in this house is that everything...every room, every nook and cranny, was SO dark.  I had to do everything I could to lighten up the house and make it more cheery and airy.

I haven't tallied up any figures to know where we are at in our challenge, but I do know with the work that we decided to do it will take a little longer than expected!  Property taxes are higher than we expected as well as the insurance policy needed on a rental property.

Our next step is to have our "Estate Sale" or "Resale" to sell off some of the items that we obtained from the inside of the house.  We have begun setting up in our barn for this sale, but it's still going to be a little while to sort through all the stuff.  Man that guy had A LOT of stuff!  As soon as we have a date set in stone I will post about it so if anyone wants to come check it out they can.

FREE Wilkinson Disposable Razors @ Walmart

It seems as if I have been at Walmart everyday for the past few days!  With opening our pool and needing chemicals, unexpected prescriptions to pick up and a few necessities I think I have been there for three days in a row.  I hope to have a break tomorrow.

Anyway, I have a money making FREEBIE for you!  The 4 pack of Wilkinson Classic Twin disposable razors for men or women are .97 each.  Use the $1.00 off coupon from Coupons.com at zip code 62946 to get these FREE with .03 overage to do with as you please.  These may be a little hard to find, look on the bottom row of the razor aisle, in the bins, not on pegs with the expensive razors.  There is a men's version in a blue bag, and the women's version is pictured above.  My store had plenty of stock on both of these.

While I was there I noticed they restocked the Nexcare bandages, so I grabbed a few more of these also.  At least now if I cut myself shaving with these FREE razors, I have plenty of bandages to use!  :)

FREE Nexcare Bandages @ Walmart and an Update

Just in time for all those summertime cuts and scrapes we have FREE bandages!  Use this $1.00 off coupon at Walmart for these Nexcare $1.00 bandages. This is a .pdf coupon so print as many as you think you need for the summer, and think back-to-school too! You might want to save this one to your computer for future use, it has a nice long expiry date.   (note: if you are shopping at MY Walmart there's only two left on the shelf)

And then an update on the $1  blackberries I posted about yesterday;  they are gone!  The new shipment came in and now they are $2.48.  I wanted to get a few more packages because they were delish...I missed the boat on that one.  :-(

I did, however price match some more soda for 4/$8.  Even with no coupons that is a great sale!  We are stocked for most of the summer now with all types of soda.