The Daily Dog Bone

Tomorrow is Max-a-doodle's birthday. What a handsome boy!

Save Me Some Moola! Money Saving Tips

Ok, as promised, here are some tips and resources to help save money on groceries. Grocerysavingtips.com has some great advice, printable coupons and recipes for stretching your budget. I like that the site is categorized by grocery shopping aisles for easy reference and they offer a newsletter if you'd like to have monthly tips emailed to you. The author also offers budgeting ideas and more frugal living resources on her sister site, betterbudgeting.com. Another site with a slew of great tips is save-money-on-groceries.com. Lots of common sense advice here like don't shop when you're hungry. But, some other tips I hadn't thought of as well. An easy read and worth the time. Here's an interesting article, by Alanna Kellogg with loads of down to earth advice. And if you are willing to make a few lifestyle changes, you may not need those coupons after all! And this article shows how one family thrives on just $20 a week by using coupons. Other ways I save money are through earning points for gift cards and freebies. I am a member of mypoints which gives points to members for reading emails and for purchases through their site. I only occasionally purchase items online that I would be buying anyway and that are cheaper than in store (ie pet meds). I earn enough points for 3-4 gift cards per year worth $25 -$50. These come in handy for gifts or extras. I often use my points for Barnes and Noble gift cards which I use to purchase books for my kids online through mypoints so that my points are earning more points (10 per dollar for B&N, so my $25 free gift card earns me another 250 points). Used wisely they add up quickly. It's worth the few minutes a day to open emails (usually 4-5 a day). I also am a member of e-rewards which "pays" members for online surveys. When I first signed up I was unimpressed with the reward selection (mostly airline points and magazines, which I don't use) but after a few months I realized that by completing just 3-4 surveys, I could accumulate enough reward money for 6 free Blockbuster movie rentals. I am on my 3rd set of free rentals in less than a year. The reward comes in the form of printable coupons, one per month for 6 months. Plus, when I use my Blockbuster rewards card to rent movies I also earn free rentals through Blockbuster's program, by renting my free e-rewards movies. So, I rarely pay for movie rentals. (I also collect Pampers points on diapers and have gotten 2 free Blockbuster gift cards for 2 movies, 2 coke products and a bucket of popcorn.) Needless to say, we watch a lot more movies than we used to, and for free! Other sites that pay well include ebates.com and surveysavvy.com. If you'd like to sign up for any of these sites, email me (melissabrich@gmail.com) and I'll send you a referral link. I have a printable coupon for $5 off a $25 purchase at Target as well, if you want that.
That's all I have for now. I hope this helps you fatten your wallet and enjoy some cheap eats and entertainment. I'll keep searching out great deals and keep posting them here so stay tuned. Please, post your great finds in comments!
And, if you missed my first post on grocery saving tips click here.

Wordless Wednesday

A rousing game of Hop on Pop...
Happy Father's Day!

Check out More Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom.

What are you giving Dad as a Father's Day gift?

Save Me from this Sweltering Heat & How Can I Save Some Money?!

I think the heat has gotten to me. It's hot in this house and miserable outside. Even I'd-live-outdoors-if-you'd-let-me Aiden says it's too hot to play outside, so you know it's Africa hot. And, now I've got kids bouncing off the walls. I'm just feeling a little weary.

The birthday was a blast and Brynie now owns just about every Go Diego Go product on the market. She's a happy "bid free year old dirl." I can't believe she's three! I'm feeling old.

Sorry to be light on content...I'll get it together soon, I promise. I have been scouring the internet for money saving resources and ideas. The cost of living has made me down right grumpy. I would love to hear from you about what you're doing to save money and what you do to make some cash. Once I compile all of my resources I'll post them here to share the wealth, so to speak.

For a few quick tips, check out my previous post on saving money on groceries. And check out the Hillbilly Housewife (love her!). I recently found this site and love it. There are some great ideas for eating cheap and well and it's all laid out with shopping lists and to do lists...if only I was as organized with everything ;)

I'm off to try for a good night's sleep...for a change. Tomorrow morning brings well baby visits and immunizations x 2, what fun! At least it's cold at the hospital ;P
Stay cool,
~M

The Daily Dog Bone

Why the long face Max?

Yipee for Me I'm Turning Three!

Happy Birthday Brynie!