Sisterly Savings

Hi Everyone!! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and got everything you wanted! My family was very blessed this year and the kids had a wonderful Christmas with plenty of presents to open despite the lack of money with me being out of work.

It’s been  a very busy couple of weeks which is why there has been a lack of posts of late but I am working on a lot of new things to bring you in 2010 at which time you’ll be getting regular posts everyday several times a day.

I’m sorry I have gotten off track lately but I am committing to it!! It’s to be my New Year’s Eve Resolution, among other things:)

I also wanted to let you know that I have a job interview tomorrow with a Christian Based Company and I am soo excited. After being laid off on vacation for almost 7 months, I  am ready to go back to the workforce. So please keep your fingers crossed and any prayers sent my way would be awesome! I’ll keep you updated on how I do!

I don’t know when I’ll be posting the deals again, I am hoping to get everything situated by January 1st as well as relax from all this flurry of activity and family, so please don’t go anywhere!! We’ll be here, with bells on!!

While we’re at it, is there anything you would like to see on SisterlySavings in 2010? Leave us a comment with your request and we’ll see if we can accomodate it!

Also, I am looking for a little extra help with our blog on a daily basis and the position is a paying one,albeit small, so if your a money savvy blogger who can commit for at least 3-4 months, please email me and we can discuss the matter further!

In school, kids are encouraged to create, draw, color, paint and build. These activities can certainly stimulate children, and help them grow.

Very often, these masterpieces that your children create are brought home and proudly displayed. But what do you do when all of the artwork begins to take over your home? Here are 7 great ideas:

1. FIND THE DIAMONDS. Rather than keeping every single piece of artwork your child creates, sit down with your child on a regular basis and ask him to choose the one or two he likes best. By the end of the year, you should have no more than 5 pieces of artwork that your child believes to be his ‘best’ pieces. This will help keep the artwork under control, and will still give you an opportunity to save his creations for future memories.
2. A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. Take photos of the artwork that your child creates and keep these photos in a scrapbook. This way, even if the artwork is discarded for space purposes, you’ll still have the memory!
3. KIDS FILE STORAGE BOX. Office supply stores carry portable file boxes that hold hanging file folders. These generally have a cover and a handle for easy portability. Help your child create her very own filing system. Perhaps one file folder for 2nd grade artwork, one for 3rd grade artwork, and so on. Now, all the drawings, and any type of artwork that lays flat, will be kept safe and organized. You’ll even be teaching your child filing skills! It’s never too early!
4. KEEP IT CONTAINED. For other artwork that does not lay flat, the perfect container may be a large, plastic container with a lid. Your child will have a space for shadowboxes, and other artwork that won’t fit into a file folder. Again, be choosy. If you keep every single piece of artwork your child brings home for the next 15 years, your house is going to be overflowing with it.
5. HANG IT. Get your child his very own artwork bulletin board so he can display his favorite artwork in his bedroom. When organized on a nice cork board, this really adds a nice touch to a child’s room. Plus, your child can very easily switch one piece of art, with another.
6. SUPPLY MANIA. If your child produces a lot of artwork at home, she probably has tons of crayons, markers and other art supplies. Keep it all in a portable box, light enough for your child to be able to transport it from one room into the next. In addition, separate and organize the supplies into separate Zip-lock baggies before putting them in the box. This will keep everything organized and easily accessible.
7. THE PERFECT GIFT. Kids artwork makes the perfect gift for grandma, grandpa, sister Jane, Aunt Sue, Uncle Jim, and so on. Rather than buying gifts for your child to give to family members, encourage them to give their creations away as special gifts to special people.

This year, my goal is to do do more activities online that will hopefully earn me a little extra money that I can put away for Christmas next year, like I did this year. There are so many opportunities available online to make money like Swagbucks (where I was able to get kids a Wii this year for Free!!) to surveys that are totally legitimate and while your not gonna get rich overnight, every little bit helps and can really add up!

To start off with, Twitter has become a venue where you can earn a little extra money and there are currently 3 that I know of and have joined:

Sponsored Tweets: I have been with this company for a few months and to date I have made $28.30 so far.

How It Works: Once you sign up , you’ll receive offers from advertisers for you to tweet via email. You then get to choose whether you want to accept or decline an offer. This method was slow starting in the process as I only got a few offers the first 2 months, but lately I have gotten quite a few offers all at once. I generally get offers that are relevant for me to tweet out, however there were a few that I did decline because it wasn’t in my readers interests.

Twittad: I have been with Twittad for several months now and have a total of  $15 to date.

How it Works: Twittad offers campaigns that are matched up by your profile. Once a campaign is matched to you, you have the option to accept or decline it. If you accept , then your Twitter background will display the advertiser for a set amount of days. Once the campaign is over, your background will go back to your usual profile. So far it has been slow moving for me and I don’t get too many campaigns. Generally I get about 1-2 campaigns a month at best.

Ad.ly: I just joined this today and it appears to be the same concept as Sponsored Tweets as they match you with a sponsor and the ad gets tweeted out via your twitter account. One feature that I find interesting is that I can choose to have my earnings donated to a charity! I’ll have to keep you updated on how well I do with this program!

While I do realize these are all small amounts,  they are relatively easy and don’t  take a lot of time or effort. However, I do think these opportunities will increase as more advertisers sign on with these companies because Twitter has become so popular!

One word of advice: I do highly recommend that you only accept offers that are relevant to your Twitter followers though and that you are not just advertising just for the sake of earning a little extra money. I know your followers will thank you for it!

Have you had any success with any of these Twitter Programs? Or do you know of another company where you can earn money via Twitter? If so, we’d love to hear about it!!

Print this coupon for a FREE Fresco Taco at Taco Bell! There are 100,000 coupons available so I’m pretty sure we all will be able to score a Free Taco!!

Limit 1 print per person.

Friendly’s has 2 new printable coupons that are out!! There is a Kids Eat Free coupon and one to save $5 off a $25 meal!! Limit 1 coupon per party ,per visit. Coupons are valid until 1/31/10 so you have plenty of time to use them:)

(Thanks, Melody!)

I am a big fan of BJ’s Wholesale Club. Me and my sister shop there about 2 times a month and we really do save a lot of money by buying in bulk. My shopping list usually contains the same items each time I go:

1 case of Kraft American Cheese (which is 5 lbs) for only $8.99- Down here, the price for 1 pound of deli cheese is $6.99 and we go through a lot of sandwiches with the kids and school lunches!

1 case of juice either Kool Aid or Capri Sun for $7.29- these come with (4) 10 pks inside which makes it only $.18 per juice compared to $1.25 for 1 bottle that the school’s cafeteria charges!

30 Rolls of Scott Toilet Tissue for only $17.99, I actually marked down on the calendar when I bought them to see how long it lasts my family and we are currently going on 2 months so far without having to buy more!!

Those are just a few on my list that I always buy from BJ’s and nowhere else. The convenience of not having to run out to the market a lot is a huge timesaver and I definitely do see the savings.

I also like the convenience that almost everything is practically pre packaged for you! The perdue chicken  comes in a 24 pk and is already packaged in 4’s so all you do when you get home is place right in your freezer. No more separating the meat and dealing with baggies! The frozen waffles are pre packaged for you so all we do is pull out a few for quick breakfasts and then store the case in our freezer in the basement.

Speaking of freezers, it is a very good idea to have one when you shop at BJ’s because of all the deals you get when you shop in bulk! Just ask my sister who plans on purchasing one next year as her freezer is too full!!

And another benefit of joining BJ’s Wholesale Club is you also can shop for gifts as well! There are an abundance of great gift baskets ( we had our eyes on the Godive Chocolate Gift Baskets,mmm) , a HUGE selection of toys, books and clothing all reasonable priced.

Here are some of the deals at BJ’s Wholesale Club for the holidays:

-Keep Mom caffeinated for her busy days with our Mr. Coffee 12-Cup programmable coffeemaker for only $29.99

-Give Dad the gift of music with our BOSE around-ear headphones bundle currently on sale

-Children everywhere will want to play with our Accelerator PC Trainer 5 First Laptop loaded with games, music and educational activities priced at $39.99

Which means you can shop for groceries and get those last minute gifts you need all in one convenient trip!!

And it doesn’t end there,because you can also find an awesome bakery with freshly baked goods from cakes to muffins to pies. The pies are huge and my sister’s fave is the Apple Pie which she is addicted to and for only $7.99 (and it is HUGE), its a bargain for a holiday party!

If you would like to try getting your last minute shopping done while checking out all that BJ’s has to offer, you can print a coupon for a Free 60 Day Trial to try it out. Membership only costs $45 per year and you can add another family member or friend for free (or you can split the cost like me and sis did, it’s even cheaper!).

Giveaway!!

BJ’s is offering 1 lucky reader a $25 GiftCard to go shopping with! To enter, just leave a comment telling us what would interest you most about shopping at BJ’s!!

Giveaway will end on 12/26!!

Disclosure: I was given a $25 Gift Certificate to Shop at BJ’s Wholesale, however this does not affect my review as I already was a Club Member and truly do enjoy shopping there!!

The bread became very soft after soaking all night in the egg/milk mixture!

Ingredients

1/2 French loaf, sliced (and stale, as in my case!)
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
dash of cinnamon
Handful of Blueberries

Directions
1. In bowl, whisk the milk, eggs, sugar and cinnamon.
2. Cut bread into 1/2 inch slices and spread on bottom of 8×8 baking dish or equivalent.
3. Pour egg mixture over bread. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
4. In the morning, preheat oven to 350. Uncover and sprinkle with blueberries. Bake 35-40 minutes, until golden brown on top and eggs have cooked through. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm with syrup and fruit!

Love to cross stitch or know someone who does? Sign up as a DMC Mentor and receive FREE  BONUS DMC Cross Stitch Mentor Kit with 4 mini cross-stitch starter kits that feature a beautiful floral design to be used for your first lesson.

The DMC Cross Stitch Mentor Kit also includes a Mentor Design Brochure that features nine additional projects for subsequent lessons. As a gift to you, DMC has included your own DMC Mentor Pin and business cards to identify you as an official DMC Mentor. Sign up to become a mentor here.

Restaurant.com is having a Feed it Forward 2009 Program where now through Christmas, where you can send a FREE $10 Restaurant.com Giftcard to 30 different people, per day!! What a great and FREE Christmas Gift!!

Dear valued customer:

The team at Restaurant.com is honored to bring you our giving site so that you can
“Feed It Forward”.

Sincerely,

Cary Chessick, President and CEO of Restaurant.com

There are 2 ways to participate, you can either send by email or via facebook. I’ll be sending all my Facebook friends one as a Christmas gift! Yay!!

If your out & about this weekend trying to catching those after Christmas sales, you’ll be able to get a Free Breakfast at Ikea, starting Saturday December 26 all the way through January 3rd! This free breakfast offer is valid until 11 am.

And while your there, the kids eat free too! Kids get to choose from 3 different kid sized items to make a meal: 5 meatballs, mac & cheese, PB&J, kid’s yogurt, chocolate milk, cookies, etc. This offer is valid starting at 11 a.m.-close for kids ages 12 & under!

It’s a great way to unwind after the holidays that is cheap and thrifty!!

Recently, I posted about the Secret Santa Program that I am participating in thanks to TJ Maxx & Marshall’s.

My gift arrived today from my “Secret Santa” and I am so in love with it that I just had to share with you all!

My Secret Santa made me a ” Cookie/Baking” gift basket that was just so adorable! In the package, I received the following:

Large Melamine Mixing Bowl
1 Cookie Dough, 100 Cookies- Recipe Book
2 piece Potholder Set
1 jar of Pearlescent Shimmer Dots
1 jar of Jewel Shimmer Sprinkles

All was placed inside the large mixing bowl and beautifully wrapped to make a gorgeous gift basket for only $25 when you shop at TJ Maxx or Marshall’s. Just another reason why you need to head on over to see what you can get!!

Now I don’t now how my “Secret Santa” knew, but I love baking, and cookies are on our to-do list which makes this the perfect gift!!

On another note, I had to run out this morning to get my teen daughter a gift and lo and behold, they were already placing Valentine’s Day gifts out,lol!! I was shocked, but still had to browse over the gifts as pink is my fave color and there were so many items that I really did want to pick up, but I had to stay focused on the task at hand!! I found a lovely jewelery box that was perfect for her and for only $12.99, it was just the right price too!!

Hurry!!

Soft Scrub is now taking applications for 200 mom bloggers to become Soft Scrub Club Captain!

They are looking for  200 true clean enthusiasts to become Soft Scrub Club Captains. Applications are now open, but only for a limited time so don’t miss out!

As a Soft Scrub Club Captain, you will

• get to try a brand new Soft Scrub product before it hits the store shelves.
• get access to an online toolkit to help you review products and publish your opinion to your online communities.
• get access to additional special promotions and offers not available to the general public.

We are looking for people with great personalities, a comprehensive understanding of online communications, and of course, a passion for cleaning!

If this sounds like you, go to http://application.softscrub.com/ and fill out an application.

Good Luck!! This sounds like a great program and I hope I get picked:)

Does Tabby want a new kitty bed, or maybe Fido wants a new doggie bone! Are you looking to buy your other family members (Your pets,lol) a few gifts as well?

Use this $5/$25 PETCO printable coupon. There is also a  $10/$50 printable coupon to help you save even more on bigger purchases!

Thanks to all who entered our giveaway for the (SEED)+ Bath & Body Products Giveaway!

Our winner is #78- Idaho Jill!

Congrats! An email has been sent to winner. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be chosen!

Thanks to all who entered our giveaway for the $15 Save-a-Lot Giftcard!

Our winner is #9: Steph

Congrats! An email has been sent to winner. Winner will have 48 hours to respond before a new winner will be chosen!

Hot Giftcard Offer! The Starbucks $10 giftcard has been lowered from 210 Swagbucks to only 100!! You’ll definately want to snag a few of these at this hot price!!

Print a coupon good for 1 Free Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner Refill when you buy one! Hurry and print yours, it’s sure to go fast!!

If your short on time and still need a few last minute gift ideas, then head over to Holiday Gift Guide at the BoxTops MarketPlace for some unique gift ideas that are organized by hobbies so you can find the perfect gift for that special someone, no matter what their area of interest.

You’ll find lots of ideas for the gamer, the book worm, the fashionista and more on your list!

Additionally, help stretch your Holiday Budget with these helpful tips:

Give Back Without Spending Extra: The Marketplace includes leading brands like Dell, Victoria’s Secret, Target, Best Buy—you name it. Simply join BTFE.com and choose a school to support. When you start your shopping trips through the Marketplace, a percentage of your purchases automatically goes directly to your school!

Shop for your Teachers: Looking for the perfect way to make your kids’ teacher smile this holiday? Find out if they have a My Class Essentials registry and shop for the classroom supplies they really need. All December long we’re offering FREE shipping on orders more than $10! Plus, 2 percent of each purchase goes back to your school.

Deals and Discounts: Who doesn’t love them? We’ve partnered with more than 100 of your favorite stores to bring you new offers almost every day. Check out our Deals and Discounts Page or follow us on Twitter to receive a daily update.

I think the My Class Essentials was a great gift idea for my daughter’s teacher this year, and with free shipping on orders over $10, it was a bargain that I know the teacher will appreciate. And if I can rally up some other parents to donate only $1 each for a total of $30, it will make for a nice gift indeed!!

{Please Note: A gift card  was provided for review purposes. This has no impact on my review and any comments are my own personal opinion.}

Become a fan of Rayovac on Facebook to get a printable coupon via email good for  $3/1 off Rayovac Batteries. Definately a coupon worth having as we are all going to need them for Christmas!!

Hurry! International Delight is offering Facebook Fans a coupon good for a Free pint to the FIRST 100,000 fans that register!