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If you are on a budget, there are still plenty of fun and inexpensive or free things to do if you live near Clearwater Beach, Florida. Unfortunately, I don’t live in Florida but we do try to vacation there often as you will probably be able to tell from the wide range of pictures I have below. The sand is some of the most brilliant, white, and soft sand you will find., which is one of the many reasons we love to visit Clearwater Beach.

The Pier

Photo Credit: Aunt Beth

One of our favorite things to do during the day or during the evening while in Clearwater is to visit the Pier. There is a playground for the children or take a walk down the Pier and watch the boats come in or see what the fishermen are catching. There is oftentimes free entertainment in the evenings as well as vendors set up along the Pier and surrounding sidewalks. Check out Sunsets at Pier 60 to see the latest information.

When we were here on Spring Break this year, they had some blow up water attractions near the Pier that were inexpensive for the kids to enjoy! It was around a $1 a turn, which I thought was decent when you compare the cost of a water park. Enjoyment without spending your entire day gone from the beautiful beach.

There are many artisans along the Pier and will vary from time to time including musicians, street performers, and artisans. The kids – even the big one – had some balloon animals created by a nice man, who was only asking for donations. This year we were able to watch part of a man-eating fire show before the rain started. There is always a variety of entertainment!

Clearwater Marine Aquarium

Save 25% when you buy your tickets online for the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. General admission includes entry to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium and the Winter’s Dolphin Tale Adventure along with a FREE Jolly Trolley ride to and from! In case in you didn’t know, Winter is the dolphin that inspired the movie Dolphin Tale!

 The Beach

The beach is FREE, just find yourself a place to park and you can have an entire day of enjoyment in some of the most beautiful sand you will find in the world. Sand toys are inexpensive and cups and bowls always work too! I will admit that when we go to the beach, I sort of become a bum. I would personally be happy to stay on the beach the entire day just enjoying the sand, the fresh air, and relaxing with a good book.

Find a seashell or two. Hey it’s free entertainment. The best kind, right?

Photo Credit: Aunt Beth

Plus, you will find these fun spots to take photos with your kids! They are all over the beach for your photo enjoyment.

Parks

It seems like no matter which area we stay at in Clearwater Beach, Florida, there is always a nice park nearby with play equipment for the kids. If you know my family, you will know these are super old photos as the kids are still so little.

Our typical day is usually hitting the beach, grabbing a bite to eat, and enjoying a walk around the Pier area and down the main drag. Let me know your favorite things to do in Clearwater Beach!

Come back tomorrow to see links for staycation ideas for over 80 cities!

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I’m back on the wagon! I’m taking it one day at a time. So far, I’m 5 days in a row for staying within my calories and on the program! I’ve also exercised 3x in these 5 days so this is progress. I am laughing that YouTube automatically set this as “Comedy” category. Ha ha. I wasn’t trying to be funny and I don’t really think I was!

Read more about my fitness and weight loss journey as well as specific posts with the Shaklee-180 program.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating. My opinions are my own. People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week. This Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor.  Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

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So, it’s time to come clean. I fell off the wagon. I was doing great for the first 3 weeks on the program with sticking to my healthy eating plan, exercising, and getting my water in. Then vacation happened.

You know the whole I’m out of my routine and I’m going to try to be so good attitude. It lasted for about 3 days. Then vacation mentality started. I mean, my FitBit was logging me at over 10,000 steps per day so I deserved to eat whatever I wanted all day long, right? Um, no.

The last three weeks I’ve done horrible. I have many excuses. We’ve been busy with sporting events, practices, and the like. It’s been rainy out. I’m stressed out. I left all of my meal plans and snack bars in our condo on vacation so I don’t have my convenience go to foods. (I did do this but it’s not an excuse since I still had my smoothee mix!) “So many others are having success and now I feel like a failure” type of mentality. I could go on and on about my excuses for not getting back with the program.

I’m honestly afraid to step on the scales at this point. I don’t want to know if I’ve gained back the 5 lbs I lost at the beginning of the program. I’m guessing yes based on the way my ring fits!

I’m sure many of you have been there and done this circle of shame. Actually for the last week, I’ve done decent until about 5 p.m. every day. Then it all goes downhill. There is something about my complete lack of control as soon as I pick up my kids. It is so easy to stick to my plan when I’m at the office where I bring my snacks and lunch and don’t have unlimited access to the refrigerator and pantry and I don’t have kids screaming and fighting with each other, which makes me want to reach for the comfort of my Reese’s cups.

So today, Monday, April 29, 2013 I resolve to stick with the plan. This means:

• No more fancy coffees. (I started back up on this habit. I’m now 4 days without caffeine so I think I can stick with this one!)
• No more soda/pop.  Yeah, I started back up on this one again too. Something about the ballpark makes feel like I have to have a fountain drink.
• Get back to walking/jogging 3-5x per week.  I feel better when I do this so it will help me stick with the plan!

This month is about motivation. I’m going to motivate myself right back into this program…..

Read more about my fitness and weight loss journey as well as specific posts with the Shaklee-180 program.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating. My opinions are my own. People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week. This Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor.  Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

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After time, towels can lose their absorbency and become stiff. I’ve read that the main reason for this is the build up of fabric softeners. Once they start to get stiff, it’s harder to clean your towels and you may notice a musty type of smell no matter how often you clean your towels. The reason is this build up and there is an easy fix for it instead of going out and buying all new towels!

The fix? 

Our friend vinegar which is around $0.80 at ALDI or you can buy in bigger bulk at the discount warehouse stores. Just add around 1 cup during the rinse cycle or put in your fabric softener slot in your washing machine.

If you are worried about your towels smelling like vinegar, you shouldn’t worry as I’ve been adding vinegar to my laundry for awhile now and the clothes come out smelling fresh and nothing like vinegar.

Find more DIY Household Cleaners and Spring Cleaning and Organizing posts.

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Spring is here and the need to freshen up your weekly dinner recipes may be part of your “spring cleaning“. The “what are we having for dinner” moment can be a source of dread and frustration for many people. As a mom of four kids who are extremely active in everything, I feel your pain.

Here’ are some of my favorite meal planning tips to help you save both time and money:

Gather 15-20 family favorite meals

Sit down with your family and ask them what their favorite meals are. You may be surprised by some of the meals they love or some that just don’t appeal to their taste buds. The last thing you want to do is waste time and money by preparing meals that your family doesn’t enjoy. Organize your recipes with a notebook, spreadsheet, or use bookmarking sites like SpringPad.com, Ziplist, or Pinterest.

Once you have the family’s preferences on meals, inventory your pantry and freezer to see if there are ingredients on hand you can utilize for your plan. Be sure to check to see what items you could possibly substitute in your recipes, such as rotini for macaroni. Oftentimes, you can make adjustments based on what you already have on hand to fit the recipe.

Create your menu

Write your menu on a blank calendar or simply on a piece of notebook paper. Write out each day of the week with slots for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If you are a beginning meal planner, consider starting with just dinner to keep things simple.

Consult your family calendar and make any notes of specific activities for certain days. This helps to have written out when deciding which meal is best suited for a particular night. Do you have a baseball game? Is there a school program? Take these into account when planning your menu as you want to make it as easy as possible on busy nights.

Create a shopping list

Create your shopping list by consulting weekly circular for your favorite grocery store or use free coupon match-up site. There are also list creating sites such as Ziplist.com, which will help you create a shopping list online and will even create your list based on the recipes you choose.

Fast 5 meals

Fast 5 meals are meals that you can quickly make at home and get on your table in less time than it takes to order take-0ut. Tape a list of your fast five meals on your refrigerator or pantry door. You will save time and money because you won’t be tempted to stop for fast food as you know you have these items in your pantry. Meals that are good for this list are quesadillas, spaghetti, pizza croissants,  tacos, and a new household favorite pepperoni pizza balls. These will be things you know your family likes and things you normally have stocked in your pantry.

Freezer meals

Make a double batch of your family’s favorite meals each time you cook to quickly create a freezer full of home-cooked meals. I love to make a double batch of lasagna, enchiladas, chili to name a few. You can save so much money by preparing your own freezer meals  that also do not contain all the preservatives of store purchased freezer meals.

Bulk cook and freeze meal components. I often do this with ground beef or chicken breasts. I will cook a double, triple, or quadruple batch and freeze to use on another day. Doing this makes it easy for beef tacos to be on our fast five meal list. See if there is a Zaycon meat delivery in your area for $1.79/lb chicken!

While these tips may seem simple, the savings in dollars and time can be significant. Before you know it, you could cut your grocery bill in half while ensuring you are providing your family with healthy and delicious meals every night of the week.

How do you plan for busy evenings?

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Photo Credit: ewan traveler

What to buy in April?

You will find quite a few great deals in April. Stock up or purchase these items that you need now.

Produce:

• Broccoli, Strawberries, Arthicokes, Asparagus, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Spring Peas, Rhubard

Grocery Items:

• Eggs, Ham, Frozen Pies, Cake Mix, Pie Crust
• Will start to see sales on grillin’ items
• Cleaning supplies

Household Items:

• After Easter Candy Clearance
• Digital Cameras
• Vacuum
• “Green” products
• Grills

What other items are you finding a good deal on in April? 

Download the complete list of When To Find the Best Deals for the entire year.

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We are headed on a road trip! Trips inside the convenience stores can add up and take a toll on your vacation budget especially when you are traveling with 4+ kids. This is why I prefer to load the car up with own own snacks and drinks to save as much as possible.

Here’s a Few Snack Travel Tips: 

• Plan accordingly. Don’t pack food that will spoil before you can get to your destination and know food preferences of the people who are riding along.
• Healthy Snacks. Just because you are traveling, doesn’t mean you have to skip healthy fruits and vegetables. I like to pack apples, bananas, and grapes because these are easy to transport and don’t make a big mess. Cucumbers and carrots are also good veggies to transport. If you have something like the Pack-It, you could add small portion containers of veggie dip.
• Fun Snacks.  Make a batch of your family’s favorite cookies or muffins before your trip. CVS also has a wonderful selection snacks within their Gold Emblem product line that make it easy to travel such as Dark Chocolate Covered Cashews (yum!), Chocolate Chip Cookies, Whole Raw Almonds (great for protein!), and throw in some fun Gold Emblem Gummy Worms.  By purchasing these snacks before you get your trip started, you will save money on expensive convenience store goodies as well as having those foods handy when your cravings strike.
• Beverages. I like to pack several bottled waters (the smaller ones) and bring flavor packets if we want something a little different. We might also throw in a few cans of pop in there too!  Bring along a few reusable water containers too if we need to split drinks. The reusable bottles are also nice for the hotel!
  
• Trash Collection. Be sure to keep a few plastic bags in your car for trash collection during your trip. This makes it easy when you stop to refuel to empty out one bag. Plus, you won’t get those crumblies on your floor.

Save money by buying the CVS/pharmacy Gold Emblem brand of snacks. CVS/pharmacy has a rigorous taste-testing process that includes in-house tasting panel and an independent third-party panel of professional taste testers. Compared to the national competitors you will save a bundle without noticing a difference in quality!

Products were provided by CVS in order to facilitate this review. Post was written 100% by me and was not edited by the sponsor. Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

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I’m taping a segment for Fox 59 this morning and I wanted to share a few tips that I will be discussing! This will be a sticky post today so scroll down the latest deals! 

The average family spends at the minimum $150 a week on groceries. With a few savvy shopping tips, you can cut your budget by 50% or more. I’m going to share a few simple tips to get you started without using ANY coupons. Yep, I said it. No coupons required but it does still require a shopping plan!

When I shop at grocery stores, I usually whip out my couponizer. When I’m in a time crunch, I love to shop at ALDI for everyday value without sacrificing quality. Otherwise, if I shop at a store that accepts coupons, I just feel guilty that I didn’t have time to clip my coupons for the week.

Use your smart phone: If coupon clipping sounds overwhelming, start by downloading a mobile savings app like the Grocery Nation app from Savings.com, which is available for Android phones in the local market. Money saving experts like myself have hand selected some of the best local deals and coupon match-ups each week to help you save as much money as possible. You can also find these same deals here at BargainBriana.com/stores and can pull it up on your mobile device’s web browser! Make your weekly shopping list, print it out or email it to yourself and get shopping!

Here’s what a list from ALDI looks like on the Savings Nation app:

I like to plan my meal plan around what I already have in the pantry and what is on sale for the week as well! For this shopping trip, I’m sticking to a simple meal plan for dinner for 7 nights and breakfast. If I don’t have a plan, it is too easy to grab take-out or eat out . When making your plan, consider the activities you have going on for that particular evening as well. For this upcoming week, we have a high school basketball semi-state game to go too, middle school awards, father-daughter dance, and multiple practices and tryouts for different kids. It gets CRAZY here in the spring!

Stock up on Pantry Items: Save on pantry staples like sugar, flour, pasta, tortillas, pasta sauce, and more with ALDI every day low prices. Also, they do have weekly sales so take full advantage of any additional mark downs.

Save by Buying Private Store Brands: ALDI exclusive brand products meet or exceed the quality and taste of than the national brand. As you may remember, I have participated in the past in the ALDI Switch & Save taste tests and most of the items I couldn’t tell the difference or thought the ALDI brand was better.

ALDI offers 1,400 of the most commonly used grocery and household items. I find that we can find most of the items we shop for on a regular basis at ALDI. If I’m trying out a new recipe, I may need to head to a store with a larger selection to find exactly what I’m looking for. Otherwise, by sticking to ALDI that doesn’t have several brands to choose from I can save time as opposed to a mega store. I also save money because I’m not adding extra items to our cart that we don’t need!

Check out my Top 10 Reasons I Love ALDI shopping for additional tips and tricks on ALDI shopping! Just remember your quarter for cart rental, your own reusable bags, and cash or debit card!

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I’m sure you can all relate to having a basket full of stray socks! Where do the pairs go? They seem to disappear quite frequently in our house. Usually I find socks under the bed, behind the couch, in a toy box, even rolled up in a sweatshirt occasionally! So it’s no surprise with six people in our household the stray sock basket can get quite full.

Instead of doing this every six months or so, I should make more of an effort to do this monthly. Since it was on my decluttering list, I went ahead and sorted the socks. I had a huge basket full of strays!

I started with sorting by color, black socks, white socks, colored socks, fuzzy socks. Then I tried to sort by person – moms, dads, boys, girls, etc. Then I started matching up. It’s kind of like memory match in a way! Sofia always likes to help me with this game! :)

The sorting game:

As I was sorting, I also made a pile of socks that should be trashed. Either because they are too small, have holes, or oops got washed with the jeans! There were also a few pairs that I knew had been in the random basket for probably a year or more so I put those in the trash pile as well. I’m sure there is something you could do to re-purpose socks but I just wanted them out of my house at this point.

TRASH Socks:

I found quite a few matches and promptly put away in the applicable drawers. There is still quite a few randoms in the basket but I’ve reduced it quite a bit. I’m guessing once I start decluttering the kids rooms, I’ll find many of these matches!

A basket full of sock matches:

I’ve heard of people only buying the same brand of socks so they don’t have to match up socks like this as often. I’ve tried to buy the same brands but it seems like even if you go back in a couple months, they’ve changed their design or material just enough to notice.

Read more on the Decluttering Your Home: Start Small, Really Small series as well as reading the most recent decluttering posts as part of my Spring Cleaning!

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Recently I added a Tipton Library educational program on Spring Cleaning. Some of the many tips that were compiled was making your own cleaners. I’ve been trying out several of the recipes and will be sharing them here on the blog. All of the ones I will share will be easy to make, work as well or better than store bought cleaners, and will save you money.

This recipe claims to be a year’s worth of laundry detergent. Time will tell for our household of six if this does last us a year.

• 1 box Borax – $3.38
• 3 bars Fels-Naptha Soap – $0.97/each = $2.91
• 1 box Washing Soda – $3,24
• 2 cups Baking Soda – $0.56 (8 cup box costs $2.24)
• 1  containers of Oxyclean  - $7.52
• Fabric softener crystals (optional) – $5.99 on sale at Meijer

Total Cost: $23.60

Use 1 – 2 tablespoons per load of laundry. If you have a HE washing machine, put directly in with your laundry. I haven’t had any issues with my laundry or my washing machine do so.

So if I did my math correctly, this makes this laundry detergent around $0.07 per load. For comparison purposes, Amazon sells Tide with Downy powder detergent for $17.90. This makes 53 loads or $0.33 per load! If you used coupons or bought an inexpensive brand, you could save even more on your store bought detergent.

Looking at these numbers, making your own at home seems to have significant savings and it takes less than 30 minutes to make. The part that took me the longest was going to the store and finding the ingredients. Walmart seems to have everything you need. The Meijer I went to first, did not have the Fels-Naptha or Zote, which you can use in lieu of the Fels-Naptha. The Walmart I did visit only had a 5-6 bars of Fels-Naptha left even in their store.

You can hand grate the Fels-Naptha soap or you can use a food processor or a Ninja Kitchen Prep like I did. Be careful using your food processor because I’ve read that some people have ruined their food processors trying to do this. The Ninja Kitchen Prep handled it with ease, though! :)

Several pulses with my Ninja and it looked like this….

Note: I rinsed with hot water several times before putting in the dish washer. It doesn’t have a soapy taste to it at all. In fact, it looked cleaner than it has for awhile! LOL

After that is done, mix all the other ingredients together in a large container or use a kitchen trash bag if you don’t have a large container.

Then you can put it in smaller containers for your laundry room. I used a ice cream bucket that I knew I was saving for a reason.

I purchased several measuring cups and spoons for $1 and I”m using the tablespoon to measure out for the detergent.

Find more DIY Household Cleaners and Spring Cleaning and Organizing posts.

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I’m slowly decluttering my house! This area focused on the upstairs linen closet, which was a mess with towels and blankets just stuffed in the closet. It still could use a little work but I’m happy with the room I was able to make in this closet.

What I did: 

• Removed all the nasty and torn bath towels. These can be used as rags and will be stored in a container in the garage.  Plus, the kids had way too many towels they were using at a time, which clogged up their laundry baskets and I think has caused them not to re-use their towels as often. Less towels hopefully equals less laundry! 
• Removed unused sheets and comforters. We had quite a few extra comforters in the closets, which were just taking up space. I have a hard time parting with stuff but it’s not worth it to keep these items around if it’s just cluttering up areas. I was able to sell quite a few sets of sheets and comforters on the Facebook garage sale boards in my local area. Made a little extra cash while cleaning out this area!
• Top shelf is sentimental blankets and quilts that I can’t get rid of! These include items made by grandmas, aunts, and great-grandmas including a few things that belong to my husband and I when we were babies. Top shelf so they are out of the way.

Read more on the Decluttering Your Home: Start Small, Really Small series as well as reading the most recent decluttering posts as part of my Spring Cleaning!

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When I visit my dentist office, I not only get great dental care, I come home with cleaning tips for my home! Somehow we got talking about homemade cleaners and Mindi told me about this great trick she found on Pinterest for cleaning your tub and shower. It really works and I know many of you can find cheap or free Dawn dishwashing detergent to use with this homemade cleaner.

Find more DIY Household Cleaners and Spring Cleaning and Organizing posts.

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Photo Credit: Flickr via Willow Gardeners

Did you know there is an unlimited amount of ways you can decorate Easter Eggs? Personally, I have a hard time even getting around to doing a basic dying of eggs for the holiday. I do think these ideas are all super cute. I’ve pinned over 50 of my favorite Easter Egg Decorating Ideas to this Pinterest Board. I’ve also compiled the links to the sites directly below.

• Easter Egg Phrase Ideas or view on Pinterest
• Black & White Phrases or view on Pinterest
• Pastel Letters or view on Pinterest
• Making Characters with Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Egg Dyeing Basics or view on Pinterest
• Surprise Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Crayon Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Painted Rocks or view on Pinterest
• Silk Dyed Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Marbleized Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Washi Tape Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Monogram Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Easter Egg Heads or view on Pinterest
• Elegant Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Bling Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Chalkboard Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Easter Egg Truck or view on Pinterest
• Stained Glass Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• DIY Ukrainian (Pysanky) Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Easter Fools Eggs Filled with Jello or view on Pinterest
• Flower Glitter Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Tissue Paper Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Doily Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Easter Eggs Rubber Cement or view on Pinterest
• DIY Easter Eggs with Text and Stickers or view on Pinterest
• Dye-ving Dudes or view on Pinterest
• Super Mario Brothers Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• DIY Melted Crayon or view on Pinterest
• Dot Flower Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Embroidered Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Marbled Easter Egg Cake Balls or view on Pinterest
• Spring Showers Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Chevron Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• DIY Glitter Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Black & White Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• Subway Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest
• More Glittery Easter Eggs or view on Pinterest

View more on my 50+ Easter Egg Decorating Ideas Pin Board!

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I completed my first Shaklee vlog. There is always room for improvement but please be patient with my vlogging skills. I HATE, HATE to watch myself or listen to my own voice, which I why I never watch myself when I do a news segment. AND, I always say, when I lose weight, I’ll do more vlogging…the time is now folks….

Read more about my fitness and weight loss journey as well as specific posts with the Shaklee-180 program.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating. My opinions are my own. People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week. This Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor.  Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

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It’s spring time and many of us are thinking of spring cleaning and organizing. I feel like I live in a house full of clutter. I feel overwhelming evening thinking of where to start! Anyone else feel like this?

I read Amy Clark’s book The Good Life for Less and one of her tips, which is so simple, is to start small – really small. Taking this advice, I created a list of over 40 very specific areas to declutter knowing when I have a little extra time, I can work on these areas and feel like I’ve accomplished something by crossing even the smallest task off my list. The list seems extremely long right now but I know with time it will diminish.

Part of my organizing issue is once I get started or I’m in the mood to organize and clean, I can’t stop. So a simple task of cleaning out the junk drawer will lead me to the laundry room which will lead me to cleaning out behind the laundry to cleaning out the washing machine and then my day is gone and I have messes everywhere. My style of decluttering is it has to get worse because it gets better so I will have piles around the house trying to organize where items go or a giveaway pile or even a pile of lost and found items from friends and family.

My Decluttering Plan: 

• Create a list of small steps.
• Complete at least one small step on the list daily.
• Reuse, recycle, donate, sell, or giveaway items I find within one week.
• Spend 10 minutes a day ensuring the areas I have already decluttering do not get cluttered again.

This is exactly what happened to me on Sunday when I started this list. I got distracted but I was able to accomplish quite a bit on my decluttering list.

Here’s My Start Small, Really Small List:

1. Junk Drawer
2. Silverware Drawer
3. Utensil Drawer
4. Plasticware Cabinet
5. Pantry
6. Drawers beside stove
7. Pan Cabinet
8. Spice Cabinet
9. Medicine Cabinet
10. Coffee Cabinet (Just my description of the area  - there is WAY more than coffee in that cabinet!)
11. Dishes & Glass Cabinet
12. Island Cabinet
13. Hall Closet (Done)
14. Bathroom Drawers and Cabinet Half Bath (Done)
15. Bathroom Drawers Master Bath
16. Cabinets in Master Bath
17. Bathroom Drawers Boys Bath
18. Books in Living Room
19. DVDs in Living Room
20. Wine Cabinet
21. Wii Games in Living Room
22. Shelves in Office
23. Cabinets in Office
24. Master Closet (My Side)
25. Master Closet (His Side)
26. Master Drawers (Mine)
27. Master Drawers (His)
28. Master Under the Bed (Incentive: I’m sure I’ll find a ton of lipbalms hiding under there!)
29. Sofia’s Closet
30. Sofia’s Drawers
31. Sofia’s Toy box
32. Sofia’s Toy Stand Organizer
33. Sofia’s Books
34. Boy’s Closet (Major Project)
35. Nightstand
36. Laundry Room Above W&D
37. Laundry Room (Drawers under W&D) – Done
38. Laundry Room Cabinets – Done
39. Laundry Room Shoe Area – Done
40. Upstairs Linen Closet – Done
41. Sock Basket – Done
42. Baskets on top of Washer & Dryer

I’m sure I’ll be adding items to this list as time goes on. Hopefully, once I cross the item off, it stays decluttered until at least I finish the entire list.

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Recently I added a Tipton Library educational program on Spring Cleaning. Some of the many tips that were compiled was making your own cleaners. I’ve been trying out several of the recipes and will be sharing them here on the blog. All of the ones I will share will be easy to make, work as well or better than store bought cleaners, and will save you money.

The recipe of dishwashing detergent is very simple with just three ingredients: Borax, baking soda, and unsweetened lemon Kool-Aid packets. If you can find citric acid, you can use that instead but it’s easier to find and probably cheaper to use the packets.

Mix together and use 2 tablespoons per dishwashing load. Use 1 tablespoon if you are only doing half a load. I’m finding my dishes are just as clean if not cleaner than they were when using the packets.

I even used my old tablet container to store my new mix in, which saves money on not having to buy a new container. I picked up a few sets of measuring spoons for just $1 for each set at the Deal$ store.

I wrote in Sharpie on the top of the container the instructions so when the kids use the dishwasher, they will know exactly what to measure out.

So easy!

It cost around $8 for all of the ingredients but I didn’t even use half of the box of borax or baking soda! Be sure to pick up those lemonade packets when they go on sale for 10 for $1!

Find more DIY Household Cleaners and Spring Cleaning and Organizing posts.

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This centerpiece is super easy to make and just under $10 for the project!

Here’s What You Will Need:

• 6-7 bags of Crazy Candy Company Assorted Jelly Beans @ $0.69 ($4.14 – $4.83)
• Easter Grass from Deal$  - $1
• Easter Eggs on Sticks from Deal$ – $1
• Glass Vase from Deal$ – $1
• Square Platter – from home (cost around $1.99 at Target)

Method:

1. Simply layer the glass container of your choice with jelly beans.
2. Top off the layered glass container with decorations of your choice.
3. For extra fun I added in a package of Choceur chocolate eggs from ALDI for just an extra $1. 

The fun part about this centerpiece is it is mostly edible and you can reuse the glass containers. It took me less than 30 minutes to create this centerpiece. The kids loved it and they could be very helpful in sorting the jelly beans.

I had also purchased a small square container at the Deal$ store for just $1 and wanted to do something fun with it. So I added the remaining Choceur chocolate eggs to that container and topped with the package of Choceur bunnies and ducks I had purchased for just $1/each!

The finished complete centerpiece with the additions looks like this….

Seriously so cute and so gone in two days!

I’m not the most creative person but this project was super easy for even me to create and less than $10 to create!

A gift certificate was provided for ALDI for me to gather these materials. Rest assured, this Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor. Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

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I’ve been needing some incentive or something fun to get myself exercising. The past few weeks I’ve had a million of excuses like the weather is too cold, it’s snowing, my hip hurts (from that one time at Zumba), I hate exercising indoors, the lady at the gym obviously didn’t want me there with her nasty stares, etc. etc. Since the weather is so back and forth right now in Indiana, I needed something to get me going again!

Some of my fellow Shaklee-180 had been talking about the Fitbit. I finally decided I was going to join the Fitbit cult and I had some Amazon bucks saved up to help out with my purchase. I read the reviews on Amazon first before ordering and 964 5 star reviews can’t be wrong, right?

The Fitbit tracks steps, distance, calories burned, and stairs climbed as well as monitoring how long and how well you sleep. You can set goals, view progress, and earn badges. I love it because it’s small enough to fit right inside my bra without me even thinking about it being there!  Plus, it syncs wirelessly with your computer or your smart phone when the Fitbit is within range.

The first day I wore the Fitbit, I was at the office. Oh my, I didn’t realize how sedentary I was at the office. This made me realize I need to get up and walking around every once in awhile. Taking out the trash was never so much fun as when you see the number of steps count increase! I set my goal at 10,000 steps per day. I haven’t quite made it there yet but I’m pretty sure I will make it there today as I am to 7,300 already at almost 3 p.m.

You can also set goals on the number of floors you wish to climb. I have it at the default of 10. Today, instead of dreading going up and down the stairs to the kids rooms, I’m wanting to get my goal of 10 so I do it with delight! ;)

The FREE app for your iPhone also has a food plan component but I still like to use MyFitnessPal for tracking calories. You can sync your Fitbit activity with the MyFitnessPal app, which is super cool. You have to make sure to follow the steps to do so and enter in the time of any additional exercise. This will allow your Fitbit activity to adjust automatically with MyFitnessPal.

As many of you know, getting enough sleep is an important component to lose weight as your body needs to recharge. I know I lack in this area so it’s cool to be able to monitor it through the Fitbit sleep tracker. I was afraid wearing the wrist band would disturb me but I don’t even notice it is there. I didn’t realize how many times I was waking up in the middle of the night or at least moving around.

I’m a numbers and stats geek so I love to see exactly how I’m doing with activity with Fitbit! I’m also finding it very accurate as far as mileage and such! I’ve been using this for a few days now and I can see a change in my pattern of activity just from these few days. It would be so interesting to use this on when visiting a theme park.

>Do you use a activity tracking device like a pedometer or a Fitbit? What are your thoughts? Does it get you to be more aware of your activity level?

Read more about my fitness and weight loss journey as well as specific posts with the Shaklee-180 program.

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Last week, I shared photos of me that I really don’t want to share but I did. Knowing that I had posted these photos motivated me throughout the entire week along with the rest of my #Shaklee180 bloggers!

This past week I stayed within 1200-1500 calories every day. Closer to 1500 calories I would say. In the past, I’ve always tried to stay at 1200 calories and I would go over that allotment. Then I would get discouraged. Staying at the 1500 calorie plan has really helped me to stay on track.

Here’s my typical day on Shaklee180:

Breakfast

Smoothie: 2 Scoops Shaklee Smoothee Mix, 1 cup Almond Milk, 1 cup fruits or veggies

I’ve been using spinach, bananas, frozen raspberries, frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, PB2 in my smoothies. See more of my Shaklee 180 Recipes here.

Morning Snack

Apple (most of the time I skip the morning snack as I get busy)

Lunch

Shaklee Smoothee using one of my favorite recipes or a Shaklee meal replacement bar. I prefer the a smoothie but in a time crunch the meal replacement bars are very filling.

Afternoon Snack

Shaklee Snack Bar, apple, cucumber, orange, carrots, greek yogurt & Shaklee Tea

Dinner

Veggies, Rice, and a vegetarian protein…one night I made this awesome Zucchini Spinach Lasagna (no noodles) which was absolutely delicious and only 277 calories for 1/8 a pan!

After Dinner Snack

An occasional Benita Frozen Coconut Bar (ALDI) :)

Lots of water! 

I’m getting plenty of nutrients and I’m feeling very satisfied during the day. Carrots are starting to taste good again! Crazy, I know.

The results have been encouraging – down 4.2 pounds and 3.5″ in my waist, hips, arm, and bust . I know much of what you lose the first week on any new change is water but it’s always encouraging to see the scale going down.

One thing I did not do and haven’t been doing for the past couple of weeks is exercising. This upcoming week, I’m going to transition exercise back into my daily routine. I wanted to get settled with the new eating plan before adding in exercise. With me, exercise makes me incredibly hungry – one step at a time!

Read more about my fitness and weight loss journey as well as specific posts with the Shaklee-180 program.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating. My opinions are my own. People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week. This Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor.  Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

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Join me on WTHR today to focus on meal planning tips and trick as well as strategic shopping tips while shopping!

Meal Planning:

• Meal in a Box: Create a box in your pantry with popular pantry staple foods like pasta, tomato sauce, or diced tomatoes so you always have a quick meal in a box ready when your fresh out of ideas!
• Fast 5 Meals: Tape a list of your “fast five meals” inside your pantry or directly on your refrigerator so you will have always ideas for a quick dinner idea!  These meals are tells you can fix quicker than it takes to order take-out. Since you know these meals will be pantry staples, don’t forget to download and check out the Grocery Nation app for Android phones, which can pinpoint local deals on these items while you are out and about. Visit GroceryNation.com to download.
• Plan a Menu: Sit down with your family and create a list of your family’s top 30 meals and use the list to start planning for the week or even the month! This will save you time and money you would spend on excess items you don’t need at the grocery store.
• Make Dinner before Breakfast: Make dinner before or right after you eat breakfast. Use your slow cooker and cook your favorite roast or chicken dish before you even start your day. This way when 5 pm rolls around you don’t have to even think about the dreaded, “what am I going to cook for dinner?”

Check out BargainBriana.com and Savings.com for more great savings tips and deals!

Strategic Shopping: 

Use your smart phone: If coupon clipping sounds overwhelming, start by downloading a mobile savings app like the Grocery Nation app from Savings.com, which is available for Android phones in the local market. Money saving experts like myself have hand selected some of the best local deals and coupon match-ups each week to help you save as much money as possible. You can also find these same deals here at BargainBriana.com/stores and can pull it up on your mobile device’s web browser!

Outsmart the Marketers: Don’t let savvy marketers outsmart you with flashy packaging, seasonal displays, or promotional gimmicks like buying multiple items in order to get a sale price! These are meant to grab your attention and doesn’t necessarily mean it’s discounted, so pay attention!

You don’t have to buy 10 to get the items for $1/each! Don’t overbuy if you don’t need the items! Unless the ad or display specifically states that you need to purchase X number of items you can safely assume that it isn’t required.

Don’t be tricked by strategically placed displays! Have ya’ll seen the Pinterest photo of this chocolate display in the feminine products aisle?

Know per ounce or per unit pricing. Most of the time you think that buyer the bigger item will be cheaper per ounce or unit. In this particular case it is NOT true! Be sure to check those per unit/ounce labels or calculate it on your own.

Use your stockpile! I’ve been sharing the recipes that I have been creating with items found in our pantry!

Embrace Shopper Loyalty Programs: Sign up for grocery or drug store’s loyalty cards for discounts. You will get the sale price on items plus many stores print out specialized coupons just for you based on your buying habits! If you register your loyalty cards online, you will also get specialized digital coupons emailed to you from many stores!

Buy in Bulk: Stock up and buy things your family eats often in bulk, when they are on sale!

Generics and Store Brands: When possible, buy generics and store brand items. Often times you are paying more just for the name brand! Shopping at ALDI has saved me time and money even though they don’t offer any coupons or additional savings. Just everyday low prices on their private label products.

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At the beginning of the year I told you about my new year fitness and healthy eating goals. January was great. February I started to slip off track due to the extremely cold weather here in Indiana but that doesn’t excuse my eating binges. March is a new month and I’m starting it with the Shaklee 180™ program with a great group of bloggers, which is gonna keep me on track!

As part of the blogging program, I will be sharing my experiences with you. This is going to include pictures.  Pictures are a great motivating tool. Since, I’m going to get it all out on the web, this should give me some really good motivation to stay on track. I was considering not sharing these right away. However, I think I need to just get it over with and not wait until the after picture to share because in the past waiting until the after photo just hasn’t worked out.

There are certain elements to a good before picture that you must know including:

• No makeup. Makeup is for after pictures only. In fact, the greasier and oiler you are, the better of a before picture you will create.
• Hair messy or in a ponytail. Have you ever seen a before picture where someone has done there hair?
• Tight clothing that exposes every fat roll possible. Many people go for the sports bra, swimsuit, or bra pose.  I will spare you that as I’m not ready to be that open here and people that I have to see everyday do read my blog – like the parents of my kids’ friends or their teachers. I’ll spare ya’ll that mental image!
• No smile. In fact, look as miserable as you probably feel.

The best before pictures, people look like they rolled out of a dumpster after a long night of binge eating. True story. ;)

Knowing these things about before pictures, I really wanted to make sure I look my worst. I mean really, really bad. Keep this in mind when I share these photos! I wanted to get this so right I even tried a couple different outfit combinations to see which one was a more accurate depiction of my actual profile.

As you can see, you get a better before picture if you don’t wear black pants. They hide too much. In real life, that is exactly why I love to wear black. I also noticed that a certain famous reality television star – Kim something or another often wears all black.

Over the next few months, this is the outfit I will be wearing in these poses to show you exactly how the Shaklee 180™ program is working for me. This is going to keep me motivated and accountability to the entire internet.

My goals: 

• Eat healthier to feel healthier.
• Exercise 3-5x a week for 30 minutes+.
• Follow the Shaklee 180™ program every single day, which includes two protein smoothies or meal replacement bar a day, healthy snacks, and a healthy dinner with lean proteins, grains, and fruits and vegetables.
• Lose weight focusing on mini weight loss goals. 1st goal – 10% of body weight.
• Feel comfortable actually wearing the above shown tank top that hopefully doesn’t get stretched out with these photos since it is 2-3 sizes too small.
• Post my updates here every two weeks to let you know how things are going. If you don’t see a post from me, CALL ME OUT ON IT!

Read more about my fitness and weight loss journey as well as specific posts with the Shaklee-180 program.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post as part of the Shaklee Corporation blogger program. I have received free products, online support and incentives for participating. My opinions are my own. People following the weight-loss portion of the Shaklee 180™ Program can expect to lose 1-2 pounds per week. This Post was written by me and was not edited by the sponsor.  Read more on my Disclosure Policy.

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As part of our 2013 goals and resolutions, I’m working with cooking more at home and eating from our pantry. I decided last week would be a good week to plan a couple of mini-cooking plans for freezer meals. Our spring is about to get extremely busy and I would love to continue eating a majority of our meals at home and skipping out on fast food and convenience foods.

I’ve done freezer cooking in the past and doing an entire month’s of meals at one time does not work for me. It is exhausting and I get burnt out quickly. Plus, the last time I did this it took me two full days and I was physically exhausted and sore.  I recently purchased Not Your Mother’s Make Ahead & Freeze Cookbook , which I’m absolutely loving. In the book there are 10 freezer plans to fit your needs, which include your shopping list and instructions on which order to complete your meals. I choose the 2 hour breakfast plan and the 2 hour vegetarian plan.

I also had two recipes I wanted to try from the Fix, Freeze, Feast cookbook for potato soup and mashed potatoes as well as a bulk cooking recipe for spaghetti sauce. I was extremely pleased with the one recipe I had used from the Fix, Freeze, and Feast cookbook for the Pecan Crusted Chicken tenders, which I had frozen a couple of weeks ago. This cookbook doesn’t have any freezer day plans but there are tons of suggestions on how to create your own plan in both books.I shopped and cooked on two separate days, which I highly suggest. I shopped at three different stores. I picked up a few things at Sam’s and Meijer but was able to fulfill most of my shopping at ALDI. I used Ziplist to combine all the ingredients I need into one manageable plan.

The two hour breakfast plan included the following: Individual Greek Egg Casseroles, Better Instant Oatmeal Packets, Bulk Batch Pancake Mix, Cinnamon Banana Bread, and Mix & Match Muffin Mix. This plan took me right around 2 hours and filled my freezer with 10+ meals for at least 4 people! This two hours also included 15 minutes to clean out a spot in the freezer for all my new meals. I was able to save quite a bit of time by using my KitchenAid Stand mixer for mixing and kneading. Already, we’ve sampled the oatmeal packets, cinnamon banana bread, and the muffin mix, which we made into blueberry muffins!

Next up was the vegetarian meal plan in 2 hours or less. This did take me longer than 2 hours as I had quite a bit of stuff to chop up and dice. I used my Ninja Prep quite a bit for chopping.  I would guess around 3 hours. This included: Spice Mix, Pepper Jack and Chile Burritos, Stovetop Ratatouille, Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto, Pizza Kits including homemade pizza dough. Some of these recipes we can add meat to later like the Ratatouille, the pesto, and the pizzas. Otherwise, having vegetarian meals in the freezer will save me from having to make two separate meals most nights.

If I do this again, I will make sure I make copies of all the recipes ahead of time so I can flip easily. The menu plans have instructions on what to do but they aren’t specific, you have to reference the recipe within the book, which can be messy and time consuming flipping page to page!

I then took a few hours break before I tackled the potato project. I had 20 lbs of potatoes, which I had purchased for $1.99/bag. Awesome deal, right? I was most certainly not looking forward to all that peeling, though. I get a little crazy and impatient with the peeler and have numerous times cut myself with that silly gadget. I was happy to discover once I dug into the recipes that one called for baking the potatoes and scooping out and the other for peeled potatoes. If the kid didn’t freak out at the site of brown in their potato soup, I probably wouldn’t even peel them as I prefer a chunky unpeeled potato. Again, the KitchenAid Stand mixer came in quite handy for the mashed potatoes.

I completely spaced on the bulk slow cooker red sauce and did this one a few days later as it didn’t require any fresh ingredients.

Overall, I’m pleased with my freezer and bulk cooking plans. We’ve eaten several of the items I’ve cooked and nobody has cried yet! (Kind of inside joke as often someone in the house will cry or a throw a fit about something I have cooked. I promise I don’t make them eat anything that is disgusting or I wouldn’t eat if I was a carnivore!) I’m going to start doing this a couple of times a month to save on time and money!

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I’ve had a fairly productive Friday morning, I think! How about you? I’ve cooked, prepped, labeled items, cleaned, and now I’m working on the never ending laundry piles!

This week at Marsh Supermarkets, they had chicken on sale for $1.87/lb. Of course, as a savvy shopper, I picked up several packages of this chicken at the nearly rock bottom price. I also have an order for pick up in April for just $1.79/lb with Zaycon Chicken. On Wednesday, I made a crockpot meal with rice and green beans that wasn’t very flavorful but the kids did eat the chicken. Everyone just dumped ketchup or barbecue sauce on it to suit their own needs!

I still had a couple of packages left. I decided to go ahead and put a few more pounds in the slow cooker to cut up and freeze cooked for easy meals. I still had a complete package. I just purchased Fix, Freeze, Feast and browsed through it to see if there was a recipe that we had ingredients on hand and that wouldn’t make my kids cry!  Bingo, there was a recipe and it was items from the pantry that we needed to use anyway!

This morning, I prepped, chopped, and mixed for the Pecan-Crusted Chicken Strips in the book. The recipe calls for honey, brown mustard, olive oil (which I now realize I completely forgot to add), salt, pepper, garlic and chicken. Then in a separate bag you put in the panko breadcrumbs and the finely ground pecans. When I unthaw this, I’m going to have to remember to add a little olive oil to each package! oops!

These condensed down to three gallon freezer bags very nicely in my freezer. This should work out to the main dish of three meals for my four meat eaters.

This only took about 20 minutes to prepare and should save me 20-30 minutes each night that I cook these meals as I won’t have to do all of this preparation!

I have chicken in the crockpot….

I cooked around 3 pounds of ground sausage to use tonight for calzones as well as freezing the remainder in smaller portions for easy pizza nights, to add to spaghetti sauce, and many other ideas. The kids actually like it when I use the sausage for tacos…weirdos! It happened accidentally once and they thought it was the best!

I cleaned out the fridge and freezer. Threw out the items that were expired or starting to look nasty. I came across this pizza crust that had exploded. The best by date was Feb 3, 2013 but I’ve never had that happen like that before. Bummer….but luckily, I had purchased two so it won’t affect tonight’s dinner.

I labeled some of the items I had cooked in bulk and put in freezer in January that I didn’t want to forget what it was! I really like to flat freeze in freezer bags instead of using containers but I’m all out of quart bags right now. We have spicy vegetarian chili, lentil loaf, black beans, vegetable broth, taco meat, and a spicy pepper mixture. All labeled now!

I also pulled out a banana bread that my mother-in-law gave us for the holidays that we knew we wouldn’t be able to use right away. I’m thawing that out and I know the kids will eat it right up, probably after school.

I really want to do some additional freezer cooking with the Fix, Freeze, Feast cook book. It has really good recommendations. I also have been using Jessica Fisher’s Not Your Mother’s Make-Ahead and Freeze Cookbook. We’ve had success with adapting the vegetarian chili. I made the cinnamon braid and the kids ate it but I don’t think it had enough cinnamon. It needed something extra…maybe I missed an ingredient again.

I know freezer cooking, bulk cooking, and slow cooking is going to be a must this spring! We have a upcoming crazy spring with High School Tennis and rec soccer, middle school track, baseball, and golf! Oh my, it’s going to be busy! I love being busy but it also means we slack on cooking at home. If I can get some meals in the freezer, we won’t have a reason to grab fast food on our way home. I’m sure many of you can relate!

Now, I’m off to finish up that mega laundry situation we have going on here!

Have a great Friday!

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The U.S. Postal Service just announced that it is cutting Saturday mail services to home and businesses starting on August 5, 2013. They will still continue to delivery packages and postal office boxes will still continue to receive mail on Saturdays. The U.S. Postal Services states the changes will result in $2 billion savings annually.

I don’t think this will affect me all this much as I forget to the get on Saturdays – especially if we don’t leave the house!

What do you think about this? Will this affect you? 

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BargainBriana.com has some exciting news and changes within the grocery store shopping lists. Some of you may have already noticed these changes but I wanted to give all of you a full update. Plus, at this time I’m having some technical difficulties in updating my navigation bars so I want to make sure you have the most updated information in one place.

We now have dedicated pages for all the major store lists that we cover in just one click. All you will have to do now is bookmark your favorite pages and check those pages before you go shopping to get the most updated shopping list.

Here’s the stores covered under this new list making feature – more to come in the future:

• ALDI (Sunday – Saturday ad)
• CVS 
• Giant Eagle
• Kroger - Cincinnati
• Kroger – Great Lakes
• Meijer – Ohio (Sunday – Saturday ad)
• Meijer – Indiana (Thursday – Wednesday ad)
• Rite Aid
• Target
• Walgreens

New Icons

This is a new feature to our site, which I hope will make it easier for you to look at the list and find the items you want or should be purchasing for the week.

The Gold Star means it is a top deal, which is something you will want to stockpile for the week since the price is at a very low price.

The Green Keyhole means it is an unadvertised deal. These are not deals found in the weekly circulars. There are people visiting the stores each week to find these unadvertised deals to give you the best possible deals weekly! Please share in the weekly posts, on Facebook, or in the Facebook group if you find an advertised deal so we can all save!

Expandable Shopping List View

On our previous list tool, you were only able to add the items to your list. The new list will allow you to add the item as well as expanding the view so you can print the coupons directly from your list. No more opening a new page to print your list!

Socialize or Share Shopping Lists

The new shopping lists has easy ways to socialize, share, or email lists. Simply use the buttons at the top of the list to share or socialize. It’s great because you can share with the person who is doing the shopping in your household for the week and it tells them exactly what to buy.

Upcoming Deals List

Another awesome feature is the upcoming deals list. You will notice a tab on many of the lists that the next week’s ad is ready! This means you can plan your shopping trip the night before or know maybe you should wait until the next ad starts before buying a certain item.

If for some reason you are not seeing these updates, you may need to do a hard refresh of every deal page. It’s really easy to do:

• Mac computers: Hit Ctrl+Shift+R at the same time while you are on the particular page
• Windows Computers: Hit the Ctrl+F5 at the same time while you are on the particular page

We still will be using the previous list system for Marsh Supermarkets, Kmart, and Kroger (Central) at this time.

Let me know what you think about these changes!

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As part of the 2013 goals and resolutions, I’m working on cooking with ingredients we already have on hand in our pantry and freezer. Here’s a few of the things I’ve found this week for recipe ideas.

There was about 3/4 cup left of Italian bread crumbs, which I used in a double batch of Italian meatballs using ground sausage from the freezer. I cooked the meatballs and then bagged in freezer-friendly bags for future use.

Lentils! I’m starting to LOVE lentils. I recently made lentil loaf (will be posted soon) and I used these in a three bean vegetarian chili that was spicy and delicious. This recipe will be posted soon too!

We have several cans of black beans, red beans, and adobe chilies that I used in the three bean vegetarian recipe I discussed above. I promise I will be posting the recipe soon. It was so spicy good!

This sad little onion has been in the refrigerator long enough. I ended up using it in the three bean chili. That wonderful chili was quite the pantry cleaner outer.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with this whole wheat flour. I ended up making a bread that wasn’t recipe worth that was about half eaten. It’s gone, though!

I hate when I find something in the pantry and I don’t remember what recipe I was planning on using it in. You know how you think something looks good or sounds good in a random recipe. Then when it’s time to cook it, you don’t feel like making said recipe. Then somehow in the shuffle, the recipe, the idea, it gets lost. I have a pantry full of these types of ingredients. This Hulled Hemp Seed happens to be one of those ingredients. Bob’s Red Mill has a Hemp Burger and Hemp cookies that I may try this out on.

Again another ingredient I found that falls into the same situation as the Hulled Heep Seeds are these two packages of coconut flour. I used these in a brownie recipe, which was delicious and I will post soon. I still have quite a bit of this left and I’m looking for new recipes to try this in!

This 10 Grain Pancake & Waffle mix is perfect for breakfast! The kids LOVE pancakes and even though these were brownish when cook, they were all eaten up. Haha, they were eating something healthy drowning in something unhealthy (maple syrup.) I made a double batch and still have quite a bit leftover, which will make for more breakfast yumminess!

This is just a few ideas with some of the things we have in the pantry! I’m posting them to remind myself what we have available! What’s in your pantry that you need to use?

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I know it’s not Monday! For some reason I missed posting this on Monday! :)

As part of the 2013 goals and resolutions, I’m working on cooking with ingredients we already have on hand in our pantry and freezer. I haven’t done a Meal Plan Monday post in years (March 15, 2009 to be specific) and thought I’d start back up! However, instead of telling you what we are going to eat for the week, I’m going to tell you what I cooked last week. Otherwise, it’s just a little much when people we personally know tell the kids what we are having for dinner and it’s too much pressure to stick to that schedule!

We’ve done very well sticking with the items in the pantry and freezer. I’ve only had to purchase a few things this month and have spent under $15 at the grocery store so far. We needed more milk – had a free mPerks for a gallon of Meijer Milk. I also had to spend $5 on lunch meat, $2 on bread, $3.19 for shredded cheese, and $2 worth of bananas. The shredded cheese price was shocking to me. There was no sale going on at my local store and yikes….but shredded cheese is a must when for taco night!

I had $12 in Alco rewards to use so I used those rewards to buy two boxes of cereal ($4 total), two bottles of juice ($4 total), and reusable bottles for the kid’s lunches ($4 total.) The ones they were using were leaking all over their bags so I didn’t want to use them in their lunch boxes anymore.

Total out of pocket cost at the grocery store for Jan: $12.19. Wowser!

This being creative with the stockpile thing is fun! We are halfway through the month and I’ve only spent $12.19 on groceries using just the things in our stockpile! At this point, I’ve barely made a dent in our stockpile so we should be good for several more weeks of just buying the necessities.

Here’s our meal plan from last week using items from our pantry:

Breakfast:

Cereal, Cinnamon Coffee Cake (Baker’s Corner Mix in pantry from ALDI), toast, Homemade Peppermint Mocha

Lunch:

Turkey & Bacon Wraps, PB&J, pretzels, applesauce, yogurt bites, chips, juice or water

Dinner:

• Homemade Mac & Cheese with Velveeta Queso Blanco. I offered this two nights. For me, I spiced mine up with the Tastefully Simple Black Bean & Corn Salsa – yum! It reminded me of my favorite pasta from Ruby Tuesdays that they no longer serve. +Steamed Broccoli
• Beef & Noodles: Used up some homemade noodles from my mother in law along with some thinly sliced sirloin steak from the freezer
• Tomato Basil Soup (made with my own homemade veggie broth) & homemade veggie nuggets (recipe to be posted soon!)
• Frozen Pizza Night (my lazy night!)
• Taco Night – this one is always a hit! Though, that night the two little ones couldn’t wait for me to finish up the tacos so had cereal as their so called appetizer. Funniest appetizer I’ve ever heard. I make taco meat in large batches using my homemade taco seasoning then freeze to make taco nights a breeze.
• Homemade chicken nuggets using chicken tenderloins from freezer and Italian bread crumbs

Snacks:

Cheese & Crackers, pretzels, cottage cheese, bananas, brownies, carrots

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What to buy in January?

You will find quite a few great deals in January. Stock up or purchase these items that you need now.

Produce:

• Apples, Oranges & Pears

Grocery Items:

• Oatmeal & Diet Foods

Household Items:

• Toys & Holiday Decorations (after holiday clearance sales)
• Organizing Items
• Furniture & Linens
• Exercise Equipment & Healthy Living Items
• Kindle & Tablet Accessories

What other items are you finding a good deal on in January?

Download the complete list of When To Find the Best Deals for the entire year.

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Getting fit and losing weight is always on my New Year’s Resolution list. I’d love for it NOT to be on there one year but I’m guessing there will always be room for improvement. At this point, I need to lose weight for my health and to feel better about myself. I’ve already taken several steps over the past months but there is still a long way to go. Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be sharing what has been working and what hasn’t been working for me. Hopefully, you will share how it’s going for you too!

One of the easiest and inexpensive ways to get healthier is to reduce sugary drinks and up water intake. I used to be addicted to diet soda. I would probably drink a 2 liter of diet pop a day. Hey, it was diet, right so no harm done. Studies have shown that you trick your brain when you drink diet drinks can actually make you crave more sugar. I do think this was the case with me because I’d had to have some sort of chocolate along with my diet drink.

Studies aside. I know from personal experience that since I’ve eliminated my diet drink run from my daily routine, I have felt so much better. I mostly drink water with the occasional coffee or sparkling water type of drink. I’m also saving money by not spending that $2-$3 on soda pop a day.

I’ve also been running quite a bit. I’ve improved my 21 minute jogging mile to my personal best of under 11 minutes. This has taken several months to accomplish. I started in August jogging even if it was a very slow job – obviously at 21 minute per mile. However, by keeping it on it, I was able to improve. I’d like to improve to under 10 minute mile. My normal run is around 12-13 min/mile. I normally do 2-3 miles per day, 4-5x per week. If I can improve my speed, then I can increase my mileage.

To keep myself motivated, I’ve signed up to do several 5Ks in my area. Doing these with friends is so much fun and a great Saturday or Thanksgiving Morning activity. We also did the Santa Hustle, which was super fun with decent weather in December.

Things I need to work on to achieve goals:

• Take vitamins on a regular basis.
• Add another serving of vegetables a day.
• Drink protein shake in morning on a regular basis.
• Reduce chocolate intake. (LOL – I’m on a post-holiday sugar detox at this point.)
• Increase mileage to 3 miles per day and try to do it in 35 minutes or less.

So what are your fitness & healthy eating goals for 2013?

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As part of the 2013 goals and resolutions, I’m working on cooking with ingredients we already have on hand in our pantry and freezer. Here’s a few of the things I’ve found this week for recipe ideas.

We always have an abundance of tortillas. For lunches this week, I’m going to cook up some bacon from the freezer and use it for Bacon-Turkey-Ranch Wraps. Once the bacon is cooked, these will be very easy.

Pasta always makes a easy and quick dinner. This is a weekly staple at our household. I also have the ingredients for lasagna, spaghetti & meatballs, or just plain old spaghetti. We have a variety of noodles but the rotini noodles are always easy for the kids to eat.

I bought this Velveeta Queso Blanco thinking I would use it for chip dip during the holidays. Since that never materialized, I’m going to try it for macaroni & cheese the way Eli likes it…except it will be with the white cheese. I’m sure we will have more than enough of this so it would also make a good topper for enchiladas or rice & beans. All of these things we have “in stock” as well.

I had a coupon to buy this Campbell’s Skillet. We have some Sirloin steaks in the freezer as part of our 1/2 cow purchase so this would be a good way to utilize the meat. The non-meat eaters can eat a meat substitute with rice that night!

A friend was moving and gave up several huge cans of tomato juice. These are great for soups, chili, chili mac, among a few ideas. Chili is normally our Sunday afternoon food.coco

I have around 5 cans of coconut milk in the pantry. I have no clue why I bought these or why I bought so many. I think maybe coconut rice, which I could do a batch or two of! If anyone has ideas, let me know in the comments!

I’m not even sure how many cans of Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Celery we have. I rarely use them anymore so I’m not sure what to make with them at this point. I’m thinking I can make this chicken casserole one night…but what else???

This is just a few ideas with some of the things we have in the pantry! I’m posting them to remind myself what we have available! What’s in your pantry that you need to use?

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This week I was trying to a use a free coupon for a Peppermint Mocha from my local McDonald’s. I was sad to find out they are out of season now. However, they did substitute a caramel mocha. Still, I crave the peppermint!

One of my lovely Facebook Fans reminded me of this DIY Peppermint Mocha from Amy Clark (MomAdvice.com.) She is a Indiana gal and we’ve met up a few times at events and conferences and I remember her telling me about her coffee experimentations. She also has a brand new released book called “The Good Life for Less: Giving Your Family Great Meals, Good Times, and a Happy Home on a Budget.” It is around $10 on Amazon right now. I will save that by making just 3 fancy coffees at home!

Let me tell ya, this recipe does not disappoint. I was able to make this in less than 10 minutes, which for me is less time than it would take for me to drive to a coffee shop and drive back home. Plus, it is just a fraction of a price. Did I say it was super easy?

You need coffee, milk, sugar, cocoa powder, and peppermint syrup to make this recipe. I had all of these things in the house. You don’t need a fancy coffee machine as I was able to do it with my regular brewer and I made my steamed milk by shaking it in a jar for about 30 seconds and then warming up in the microwave for 45 seconds. See the complete recipe instructions over at MomAdvice.com.

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It’s New Year and I’m sure many of you have been thinking about your New Year goals and resolutions. I have been thinking on a personal and business level for my goals for 2013. There are so many things and so little time!

Here are my goals for 2013….

Budget and stick to it.

As long as you have enough money to pay your bills and  are still able to have a little fun, you don’t need to budget, right? Wrong! This is how we have been rolling for awhile and while we do have savings and investments, there are still so many “leaks” in our system and need to get a handle on it before it’s out of control.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been setting up our budget on Mvelopes.com, which is the online virtual envelope system. I know that cash envelopes would just not work at our house. With Mvelopes.com, I can set up our budget and fund the envelopes virtually. So far, it’s pretty cool with integration with my bank accounts. Paying attention to the categories is really helping me say no to things.

For example, on the kid’s last day at home, I had to drive to Indianapolis to pick up a final payment for a project at work (my other non-blogging job.) It was around lunch time and I knew the kids would be hungry. Instead of shelling out $15-$20 for lunch and drinks, we used our free hamburger coupons we had from the Halloween booklets. I brought a reusable bottle of water and wheat thins for a snack. I had a coupon for a free mocha. Our cost for lunch was zero. Yeah, I know Mocha for lunch isn’t really a lunch, right? I had a protein shake before leaving the house and the peppermint mocha was my treat. If I hadn’t been thinking of my envelope plan, I may have let them get drinks or a order of french fries. Things they don’t really need and are leakage in my cash.

Since we were in the area, we picked up our FREE Meijer gallon milk and picked up $5 worth of lunch meat for school lunches next week. School lunches are another huge cash leakage area. It’s around $2 for a lunch per child per day. Multiple that by 4 kids x 20 school days in a month. Add in a the extra milks, extra drinks, occasional snacks, and we are over $200/month for school lunches. If we make lunches at least 3-4 times a week, that will be a huge cost saving. We have already been doing this for the months of November and December.

Another place we stopped was Barnes & Noble because the two little kids wanted to spend some Christmas money on books. I can’t argue with them wanting to spend money on books. Plus, I love just browsing the book store. However, I usually can’t leave without buying a cookbook or two, which I then never use or forget about. I have way too many cookbooks especially considering I find most of my recipe inspiration online. Okay, so I held myself back and found the author’s names on a book I was interested in and low and behold she has a website with a recipe I wanted to try. Yay! I jotted down a few titles to look at later too!

The kids spent within their budget and the littlest had a little change left over. I was impressed that they were highly interested in the bargain book shelves and didn’t throw a fit when I said no on $17 activity books, even though they had enough money. I was even impressed that the littlest said “This book is a rip-off, it’s $18.” Okay, it was super cute and very nicely illustrated but we have too many of those books at home already so they are already learning!

Use Pantry and Freezer Stockpile in January.

Our pantry cabinet is overflowing. Hey, I get good deals, ya’ll. It really needs to be trimmed down. After posting a picture of my after pantry this fall, I had several commentators suggest getting rid of the shelves in front of the shelves, which I need to do. This will save space and probably help me cook from the pantry more because it will be more organized.

This month so far, we’ve done good at using items in the pantry. I cooked my White Bean Chili using black beans instead of white beans since that is what we had in the pantry. I created a Lentil loaf using a package of lentils that had been in the pantry. I will post the recipe later this month. Those are just a couple of example of how we have tried to use our stockpile this month.

The freezer is another task. We have so much meat in there because we bought half a cow and a some huge amount of pig. According to my family, this is the best meat and it the beef usually averages to around $1.99/lb for every cut of meat. This saves me from having to buy meat throughout the year. This also means we have a huge freezer full of meat. Yum (haha from the vegetarian.) I will be making plans for the ground beef and sausage to make week night dinners easier.

Cook from Scratch.

Going along with the clean out the pantry is more cooking from scratch. Some things are much more inexpensive to make yourself at home than the buy pre-packaged at the store. For example, I love cooking up huge batches of black beans using homemade taco seasoning. More recently, I discovered how easy it is to make vegetable broth. I’m learning these things that many of you probably already know how to do. These are small things that are just as easy to do at home.

To get a little head start in the kitchen, I organized and cleaned out my cabinets surrounding the oven. I organized my spices and made sure the things I use most often are the most accessible.

Share These Changes, Recipes, and Organization with You.

Lastly, I’d like to share all of these changes, recipes, and organizational changes I make with you on the blog on a consistent basis. I already have a back log of recipes and organization to share with you from the last couple of months. Bargains and coupons are great but I think these frugal living tips will be just as important as a quick deal! It will probably take some time away from me doing the deal posts, which means you will just be getting the best of the best of the deals and bargains!

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Here’s a look back at the top 20 (non-time specific) posts for 2012. I hope to bring you more recipes, healthy living, and general money saving tips in 2013!

1. 50 DIY Halloween Costume Ideas
2. Coupon Database
3. How to Make Your Own Taco Seasoning
4. Slow Cooker Oatmeal Recipe
5. Scam Alert: U.S. Airlines Letter
6. Buying Coupons from a Clipping Service
7. Free Things to Do in Kissimmee Florida & Other Local Attractions
8. Daily Deal Sites
9. Free Kindle Downloads
10. DIY Disney Iron-on Shirts
11. Facebook Scam Alert: Promise of Free Product Coupons
12. Coupon Organization
13. Tips for Printing Coupons
14. Sesame Ginger Tofu Recipe
15. What to do with Small Balances on Gift Cards?
16. Before and After Pantry Clean Out Pictures + Pantry Challenge
17. 10 Reason I Love to Shop at ALDI
18. Coupon Fraud Ring Busted: How to Spot Fake Coupons
19. 5 Reasons Why I’m Not an Extreme Couponer
20. Conserve Energy and Save Money with Belkin Conserve Power Switches

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Okay, so I’m going to hit a touchy topic in some circles. Recently, SavingStar changed their terms to indicate that their eCoupons are not intended to be stacked with paper coupons. This is a recent change in the past few months but it is a change nonetheless that many of us in the blogging and frugal community have been made aware.

From the FAQ Page: 

Do SavingStar eCoupons stack with in-store discounts or manufacturer’s coupons?

SavingStar eCoupons will work whether or not you combine them with other services’ coupons, but they are not intended to be used this way. Generally, manufacturers state that it is against their policies for shoppers to redeem more than one manufacturer’s coupon for the same purchase. Using in-store coupons in combination with SavingStar eCoupons is not a problem.

In the future, we may implement mechanisms to limit the combination of SavingStar eCoupons with other manufacturer coupons.

SavingStar is sort of giving mixed messages, right? They can’t stop you from stacking the paper the coupons with their eCoupons at this time but they want you to know their eCoupons are not intended to be used in this way.

Does that mean you should do it anyway? Personally, I want to keep things as ethical as possible here at BargainBriana.com so I do not actively promote deals that require stacking the eCoupons with paper coupons unless allowed by a particular store. Since SavingStar specifically states that this is not the way their coupons are intended to be promoted, you will not see these particular deals here.  Am I saying it’s unethical to use these coupons in this manner? It’s really a gray area but my interpretation on the side of caution is to not actively promote the stacking of manufacturer paper coupons and manufacturer eCoupons.

Stacking could happen very easily by accident if you activate all your eCoupons in a month and forget about a particular eCoupon that you have activated. This to me is unintentional and can be hard to track when you use multiple eCoupon services. Something you activated on December 1, may be hard to recall that it was activated when you go to buy the product on December 31.

If any of you have been around for awhile, you know you use to be able to stack Cellfire eCoupons until Cellfire and the manufacturer’s caught on to the practice. Many of the manufacturer’s were not happy to know that the savings were being duplicated over multiple channels.  Cellfire, however, was able to figure out a way to kick out the paper coupons with their system.

What are your thoughts? 

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Black Friday is really creeping up on me early this year. In a few years, Black Friday Deals will start the day after Christmas. That is just how ridiculously early they will start.  Regardless of which winter holidays you celebrate, there are some great upcoming retail and restaurant deals to take advantage of in-stores and online.

Over the past few years, I have written posts on Black Friday Savings Tips, Black Friday Apps, and Black Friday Preparation. My theme remains the same as I don’t usually go in-stores on Black Friday. It’s not worth the risk and stress for me when I can get most of the same deals online from the comfort of my own home.

If you do go in-stores on Black Friday, prepare, prepare, prepare. I can’t stress this enough.

Preparation is the key. Do not go out without a plan of attack. My first Black Friday, I had no plan, no idea what to expect, and thought I could just browse. Uh, big fat wrong. I was seriously walking in circles in some sort of haze trying to figure out what I even wanted to buy.

If you don’t know what you want to buy, just stay home. The people who come out on Black Friday are the shopping ninjas. They will eat you alive. I joke about this but it really isn’t funny when you consider some of the injuries and deaths that have occurred on Black Friday.

Prepare

Preparation is the key. Do not go out without a plan of attack. My first Black Friday, I had no plan, no idea what to expect, and thought I could just browse. Uh, big fat wrong. I was seriously walking in circles in some sort of haze trying to figure out what I even wanted to buy.

If you don’t know what you want to buy, just stay home. The people who come out on Black Friday are the shopping ninjas. They will eat you alive. I joke about this but it really isn’t funny when you consider some of the injuries and deaths that have occurred on Black Friday.

After all my Black Friday shopping negativity, if you still want to brave the waters, I do have some tips that can help you before you head out. Or you can just be like me this year and shop the Black Friday online sales!

Scour the ads before you shop. I have several ad previews with coupon match ups list on my Black Friday Deals Page.

Be sure to price check all the items you want to buy against prices online. I recommend using the Savings Lifestyle Black Friday database.

You may find the online price is not much different than the advertised Black Friday “deal”. Only you can determine if the savings is worth braving the madness!

:: Other Tips

• If you have a smart phone, you will want to check out my recommended Apps for Black Friday.
• Prioritize the items on your list. Start at the store where you are going to maximize the most savings.
• Factor in drive time, finding a parking space, and additional crowds and traffic.

For More Holiday Bargains Bookmark the Hot Holiday Deals Page

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The holidays are coming up and often times people give gift cards such as Visa Prepaid or American Express Prepaid gift cards. If you are like me, you often are left with a few dollars on the gift card. Sometimes you may have issues redeeming the card at certain stores if you don’t know the balance on the card. I have a solution for Amazon.com fans that is easy and will make sure you don’t waste any of your gift card.

What I do with those small balances is purchase a Amazon.com virtual gift card and apply it to my Amazon.com account. I’m always finding great deals on Amazon or purchasing a book for Kindle here and there so these can really add up.

Here’s How: 

1. Find the balance on your prepaid Visa or American Express gift card. You can check the back of the card to see what url to visit to find your balance.
2. Purchase a gift card from Amazon in that exact amount and sent to yourself. Simply enter in your own email. Use that prepaid gift card to purchase the gift card.
3. In a few minutes you will receive a email containing the gift card code. Simply click on the button that says “Redeem Now.” You will then be sent back to Amazon and click on “Apply to My Account.”
4. Shop Amazon and get a great deal plus use up those small balances!

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Earth Fare is celebrating their grand opening of the Noblesville Store with a FREE Tote bag for all who come into the **new** location today (11/7) only. This is just one of the MANY fabulous deals and coupons they have going on for you at this healthy supermarket!

Don’t forget if you signed up for the email newsletter, you will receive weekly coupons as well as this coupon good for the grand opening week for a FREE chicken or veggie burger. You can still get this coupon by signing up now. It is valid through November 14, 2012.

Here’s the FREE chicken you can get:

I received a really quick tour this past week and I’m so excited to start shopping at Earth Fare. Not only because of their coupons, deals, and sales but because of their commitment to making healthy eating convenient, affordable, fun, and delicious!

If you are concerned about healthy eating or have special dietary needs, Earth Fare has a entire list of things they don’t offer, such as any products containing high fructose corn syrup, artificial trans fats, artificial colors and sweeteners, and synthetic growth hormones in milk and milk.

You will notice they only label things as local if they are made within 100 miles of that store.

Check out all the cheeses….

Earth Fare has their own brands which are less than the traditional brands for the same quality.

I love the soap blocks and bath salts! They look like so much fun. Scoop out or have them cut exactly how much soap you want. It’s a great way to try new things.

These would make great gift ideas and check out these holiday gifts and decorations too.

Here’s what the reusable bags look like – super cute!

I don’t know about you but I’m excited for this grocery store! Stop in today and get your FREE tote and FREE chicken!

This pistachio bin is near the front. It looks so pretty but I’m guessing kids will want to get their hands in it! :)

Let me know what you think of the new store at Hamilton Town in Noblesville, IN!

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One of our readers, Beth, sent us this question via email….

I have been watching the ads but haven’t seen anything. I was wondering if you knew if Marsh Supermarkets were going to be running a triple coupon event ? I know last year they did but since they have closed some stores I wondered if they would not do another one. I thought you might have some insight into this! I just want to be prepared. Last year’s triple coupons was very helpful for our family since we were going through some tough financial times.

My gut says we will not see another Marsh Triple Coupon sale. However, I just don’t know. I don’t have any insider knowledge to predict too far in the future. However, I can go on what we do know….

1. We have not seen a Marsh Triple Coupon sale for almost a year now.
2. Marsh Supermarkets has been closing down stores.
3. Three CEO’s in a little over a year and a half and currently has interim CEO not an permanent CEO.

These signs to me say that no we shouldn’t expect a Marsh Triple Coupon sale anytime in the near future.

We can hope, though, right?

I really enjoyed those days too!

Do note that if there is a Marsh Triple Coupon Sale, you will hear about it hear at BargainBriana.com/Category/Marsh.

What do you think? Anyone have any inside scoop? 

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With Hurricane Sandy approaching my friends on the East Coast, some of you may be considering what you would do in the case of an emergency. I know it always makes me wonder if we would be prepared if disaster strikes. You always know something is impending when all the milk and bread is gone from the stores! If you are a couponer and stockpiler, you will probably already have many of the things you need stocked up in your home.

Here’s a few Emergency Preparedness Tip Sheets:

• Create a Emergency Preparedness Plan
• Create a Emergency Preparedness Plan with Your Family
• Create a Emergency Preparedness for Your Pet
• What Happens After Disaster Strikes?

Important Links: 

• FEMA: Tips to prepare before a disaster, what to do after, applying for assistance
• Weather.gov: Latest weather forecasts and alerts
• CDC Emergency Preparedness: Includes not only natural disaster preparedness tips but tips for disease outbreaks as well.
• Emergency Kits from Amazon: Everything you may need in one box!

Please be safe and I pray that the weather isn’t as bad as they are predicting! 

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Pantry clean out and challenge time. Not only was our pantry out.of.control as you can see from the before pictures, we were buying food items that we already had in our pantry. This was very annoying and not money saving.  I keep wishing for a bigger pantry but since that’s not going to happen nor would it probably help, I need to get control over the pantry I do have. It’s still not perfect but that’s where the pantry food challenge is going to come in!

I spent almost an entire day removing everything from our pantry. I combined some boxed items into stackable OXO food organizers, which also are much more eye appealing too. I also put in the Organize It Can Rack that I purchased from Zulily a few weeks ago, which is no longer available. There is a great deal on Amazon right now on these pantry can racks. Mine hang over the shelf just a bit but so far it’s working nice. If you don’t have multiples of the same canned item, you probably don’t want to use something like this but for canned tomatoes, veggies, fruits, cream soups, and such this is perfect as we have multiples of all of these items.

There was a few items found that are perfect for donation. For example, crunchy peanut butter that I paid less than $0.75 for, who knew that the people in my household absolutely hate crunchy peanut butter. Not me. So that is being donated. There was a bottle of Welch’s sparkling juice that someone opened, drank half of the bottle, and then put back into the pantry.  Huh? Yeah, ruined – trashed. Other than that, just the normal wrappers, crumbs, etc.

My family’s reaction was excited “we can walk in our pantry now,” “if there is a tornado, we can hide in the pantry,” “wow.” Everyone was pretty excited to see a organized and clean pantry. Now let’s keep it that way guys!

Now to the challenge….

I’m going to try really hard to cook from our pantry for the next 2-3 weeks to clean it out a bit. We will still need to buy some of the staple items like bread, milk, fresh fruits and veggies. However, there is so much that we need to use in our pantry that I’m making it my mission to start using it up before the holidays. This is not only money saving but it will help reduce some of the clutter we have in our kitchen!

We have so much pasta, beans, and canned tomatoes so this may get really interesting!

Tonight’s dinner…..

• White Rice (pantry) w/leftover vegetables from the refrigerator
• Cut up Chicken – pan fried in canola oil plain or with fish batter from the pantry (from a fishing trip my husband went on years ago.)
• Morningstar ‘Chicken” for us vegetarians
• Pampered Chef Beer Bread was the appetizer for the kids. Thank goodness I made this earlier in the day because our youngest was starving and the bread was a nice touch to keep her settled down.

Then later, we made confetti cake mix in ice cream cones…topped with icing found in the pantry. I’ll share those pictures later as they were so pretty they deserve their own post.

I’ll be sharing more of our pantry challenge photos, recipes, and ideas in the coming weeks! Stay tuned….