Money Saving Meal Planning

Money Saving Mom has a guest post about how to save money by meal-planning.

I agree with a lot of what she has to say, especially when she outlines some of the benefits of meal planning:

You save time and money at the grocer when you do go shopping, because you’ve got a plan!

You spend far less dining out or picking up takeout.

I do my meal planning a little differently, as is outlined by my November meal plan experiment. I made a list of about 15 dinners, based on what I had in my freezer. I tried to pick days on the calendar to make them, but my minor OCD rose to the surface and I couldn't do it. So instead, I just put the list of meals on the refrigerator next to my calendar of the month, and wrote them in as I went along. It actually worked out quite well.

The article is definitely worth reading!

Happy New Year to All!

Happy New Year to all my readers! I hope 2008 was good to you.

I plan on having a great 2009! I hope you'll continue to grow with me as we strive to live frugally and naturally, blessing others in the process!

My Donations to a Battered Women's Shelter

This week has been crazy, full of writing deadline and a cranky 15-month-old who may be getting some teeth. So I'm totally behind on blogging and reading my blog roll.

But I wanted to share with you a picture and a list of all the stuff I donated to a women's shelter yesterday.



2 Children's Dimetapp
1 Children's Advil
2 Citreshine hair care products
1 charles Worthington Dream hair conditioer
2 L'oreal Pro-Calcium lotions
1 L'oreal Revitalift cream
1 St. Ives Body Wash
2 blood sugar monitors
3 boxes Benefiber drink mix
1 Chloraseptic max spray
2 bottles Excedrin
2 Orajel cold sore brushes
1 box Sucrets herbal
1 bag CVS cough drops
1 box Alka-Seltzer Cold Plus
1 box Zucol cold care
1 box Comtrex Cold & Cough
1 bottle Simply Saline Mist
1 bottle Theraflu Warming Relief

Everything above, I got for free, and some things I was paid to take, with one exception: the CVS cough drops. We had those here, so I decided we didn't need them.

It felt great to be able to share my free finds with those who really need them!

Deals of the Week

There are a few deals this week that I want to pick up.

Rite Aid has free St. Ives products after rebate. I also haven't picked up my free power strip yet, as I didn't realizt that deal was going on all month.

Deal-seeking Mom has highlighted some of the CVS deals. I don't see anyone who has blogged about Walgreens, and Hot Coupon World isn't loading, so I'll have to check that later.

And don't miss this recipe for homemade laundry detergent!

Meal-Planning & Saving Money

This goes right along with the meal-planning month in my other blog.

Using Your Freezer and Cooking from Scratch to Save Money

Check it out!

Meal-Planning & Saving Money

This goes right along with the meal-planning month in my other blog.

Using Your Freezer and Cooking from Scratch to Save Money

Check it out!