February is Over

I am doing a little dance today because when I wake up tomorrow February will be gone and March will be here. I know February is a short month but it always seems so long and dreary up here in the North. I love the beauty of the snow and I appreciate each season but by the time mid February rolls around I am ready for all the snow to go away. This winter has been a long and hard winter and I think most people I know are feeling it and ready for it to be over. The month of March gives us hope that warmer weather is on the way and Spring will be here in a few weeks.

This winter has been a hard one for me physically as well. That could be a post all of it's own. I am doing much better now but am still in physical therapy at least for a few more weeks. I am excited to get outside and walk and play and ride bikes with my kids. In just a week we will have longer days with Daylight Savings Time which always thrills me. Welcome March, may you bring warmer and sunny days.

Frugal Friday~Free Movies

It is getting to be that time of year again where Movie Theaters offer free kids movies for families. Going to the movies can be so expensive so it always a fun day to be able to go to the movies for free. Our family lives in the Ann Arbor, MI area and our local Goodrich Quality Theater offers free Spring and Fall Matinees on Saturdays and Sundays at 10 and 11 am. Goodrich Quality Theaters are located in Michigan, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

The free movies start this Saturday with Are We Done Yet? You can go here to check out the full list of movies in the free matinees. Enjoy some free fun with your family.

For more frugal ideas be sure to visit Biblical Womanhood.

Ecostore USA Review and Giveaway.

 

 

There will be new products on the shelf this week at Meijer.  Ecostore USA  started selling their products on February 22 at Meijer stores.  I recently had the oppurtunity to try 3 of their products.  I have am very impressed with their products and very excited to tell you about them.  Ecostore USA is a eco friendly company that started in New Zealand and is proud of having "NO Nasty Chemicals" in their products.  Their cleaning products are plant-based and their bath and baby items are gentle on the skin.

 

I was able to try the Citrus Spray Cleaner which I really liked.  It smelt wonderful and worked good.  It felt good knowing that I was cleaning without all the toxic chemicals.  It is antibacterial spray so it is great to get rid of the germs that are lurking this time of the year without all the toxic fumes.  This is a cleaner that is good for your body and good for the earth!

 

I also tried the Coconut Soap which I loved.  I have used it in the bath several times and it leaves my skin feeling so smooth.  I even used it to shave my legs which never works well for me with soap.  The gentle coconut milk and strands helps exfoliate and replenish the skin yet it is mild enough to be used daily for hand or all over the body cleaning.  I loved the smell, I felt like I was bathing in a tropical paradise. 

I also received the Lemon Rinse Aid but I have not tried it yet because my dishwasher is currently full of rinse aid.  I am very excited to try it though. 

Thanks to ecostore USA I am giving one of their products.  Since I am so in love with the Coconut Soap I wanted to give one of my readers a chance to try it.   To enter go and visit ecostore USA and leave a comment here telling me which product you would most like to try.

To get extra entries

• Follow my blog
• Post on your blog about this giveaway
• Follow me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway 

Leave another comment for any of your extra entries.  Make sure in your comment you leave a way I can contact you.  This contest will end Friday March 6 at 11:59pm  EST.

My Fruit Roll-Ups Giveaway

I recently had the chance thanks to My BlogSpark to order my own Fruit Rolls-Ups at My Fruit Roll-ups. When my kids saw the site they were so excited to be able to design their own Fruit Roll-Ups. The love Fruit Roll-Ups and they thought it was so cool to design their own. After I showed them we had a busy couple of weeks and never got around to it. I then decided that I wanted to do something special with them and surprise the kids. I decided that I would give them out to the boys in my husband's Weeblos den(which includes my son) when they all have earned their Weeblos badge. This is the design I created.

It has a picture of the 4 boys. I am sure they are going to be shocked when they open them. So if you know them don't tell them. One day I will let my kids design their own but I wanted to be able to share these with these well deserving boys.

With customizable My Fruit Roll-Ups you can create one-of-a-kind, personalized messages and designs that help to make birthdays, holidays, or any occasion just a little more special. The My Fruit Roll-Ups site has more than 400 graphics to choose from, or you can even upload your own photo, artwork or logo to make a treat that is truly customized.

For a limited time you can design your own Fruit Roll-Ups and receive free shipping. I am also giving away a box 0f 30 Fruit Roll-Ups from My Fruit Roll-Ups. This prize has a value of $29.99.

To enter, visit My Fruit Roll-Ups and then leave a comment here telling me how you would design your Fruit Roll-Ups. You can get extra entries for

• Following my Blog
• Following me on Twitter and twitting about this giveaway
• Blogging about this giveaway

Make sure you leave another comment letting me know you have done one of these things. This contest will end Monday March 2 at 11:59pm. EST. Be sure you leave a way I can contact you if you win.

Tea and Friendship

A very neat thing happened to me this past week, an act that will never be forgotten. I am a huge fan of twitter . Through my searches on twitter I have found some great tea companies selling all sorts of tea. One of the happen to be 52teas. Every week they blend a new flavor of tea. This week it was Chocolate Raspberry, which was calling my name. So I decided to order some and I posted on twitter that I did. By chance another person on twitter also ordered the tea and saw my post. She added me as a follower and we started chatting. I was having a rough day and we were talking about it. This lady on twitter is known as TheTinyJEWELBox and her name is Jewel. Jewel told me about these great raspberry chocolate brownies from a company called Fairytale Brownies. I wrote her back and told her that she they sounded yummy and jokingly said she could buy me some anytime. She wrote me back and told me to send her my address and she would send me some. After a bit more conversation I sent her my address and on Thursday my brownies arrived. Let me tell you they are YUMMY. If you want an excellent brownie you need to check them out. I am waiting until I get my tea to have the raspberry brownie.


I wrote Jewel back that day with tears in my eyes and told her how much I appreciated her generosity and kindness. I believe over tea Christ brought us together that day. I needed her act of kindness that hopefully I will be able to repay someday. She did more than send me brownies that day she showed me the love of Christ by doing something kind for a stranger. We have chatted many times since and I feel we have formed a frienship. I know she will read this so I want to say Thanks again Jewel. I hope someday we can share a cup of tea together.

Wordless Wednesday

We love tea. Even more so together.

For more WW go here or here.

Walk For Your Heart

Most of us know that February is American Heart Month. It gets us thinking about things we can do for better heart health. For me that meant losing weight. In 2006 I got serious about getting in better shape and lost 85 lbs. One of the things that has helped me is a pedometer. When I was pregnant with my daughter I did an exercise study which required me to wear a pedometer everyday. The habit has stuck and 6 years later I still wear one. The one I use now is the Omron HJ-112 Digital Premium Pedometer. I love it. Not only does it tell me how many steps I have taken but it also records aerobic steps. It also save your steps taken each day for a week. You can clip to your pants or put it in you pocket which is a great feature.

Recent guidelines say that the we should get 10,000 steps a day. Many people get only between 2000 and 3000 which is quite sedentary. There are little things you can do to get more steps into your day.

• Take a walk with your spouse, child, or friend
• Walk the dog
• Walk to the store
• Walk in place during commercials
• Use the stairs instead of the elevator
• Park farther from the store
• Get up to change the channel
• Window shop
• Walk over to visit a neighbor
• Get outside to walk around the garden or do a little weeding

Put a few more steps in your day and do you heart some good.

Super Saving Saturday~Meijer

This is what I bought for $10.22 at Meijer this week. About half of it was the clearance jacket for my daughter. The Chex Mix and frosting were free after coupons. I got the Dr.Pepper free with a coupon I posted about here. Everything else was a $1 or less.

To see how others have saved this week visit Money Saving Mom.

Cheap Coffee from Gevalia

Right now Gevelia has an offer to get 3 boxes of coffee and a free travel mug for $3. This is a great deal for some great coffee. Just go here to get your own coffee for $3. Hurry because I am sure this deal won't last long. Thanks to The Thrifty Mama for the information on this deal.

This offer signs you up for their monthly program so if you don't want to keep receiving coffee you must cancel your account. This is very easy to do online.

To see how other frugal ideas be sure to visit Biblical Womanhood.

I am a huge fan of Amazon's MP3 Store. The often have free MP3's and I have even received free credits for past purchases. If you are still looking for a Valentine gift for the special some one you can send them a MP3 Gift Card. You can print a Gift card off of your computer at home or e-mail a gift card to the recipient. Why not give the gift of music?

Freebies at Meijer this Week

First I want to welcome those who arrived here through BeCentsAble after watching Good Morning America. There are a few Freebies you can find at Meijer this week.

Chex Mix is $1 per bag. Use the printable coupon found here and it is FREE.

Betty Crocker Frosting is also on sale for $1 use the 50 cent coupon from the 2/8 General Mills coupon insert and the Frosting is Free.

The Grocery Gathering~ Meijer

Meijer Deals 2/8 thru 2/14

Progresso Soup 8/$10
$1.10 coupon here
Final Price is 15 cents

Fiber One Chewy Bars 4/$8
.50 coupon (doubled) 1-25 ss exp.3-21
Final Price is $1 per box

General Mills Cheerios 4/$8
.50 coupon(doubled) 02-08 GM exp.03-21
Final Price is $1 per box

Bisquick Baking Mix 40oz. $1.99
.60 coupon here
Final Price is $1.39 per box.

Rice-A-Roni or Pasta-A-Roni 9/$10
$1/4 coupon 01-04 R1 exp.02-28
Final Price is 86 cents per box.


DanActive Yogurt 2/$4
$1 coupon 01-11 S exp.04-30
Final price is $1 per pk.

Dannon Activia Yogurt 2/$4
$1 coupon 01-11 S exp.04-30
Final Price is $1 per pk.

Yo-Plus Yogurt 4 pk 2/$4
$1.50 coupon here
Final Price is 50 cents per pk.

Yoplait Kids Yogurt 2/$4
$1.50 coupon here
Final Price is 50 cents per pk.

Sargento String Cheese 1/2 price
.55 coupon 01-04 S1 exp.03-31

Pillsbury Ready to bake Cookie Dough 2/$4
$1/2 coupon 02-08 GM exp.05-02
or $1/2 coupon here
Final price is $1.50 per package

Pillsbury Toaster Strudels 5/$10
$1 coupon here
Final price is $1 per box.


Rosetta Filled Pasta 1/2 price
$1 coupon here

Super Pretzel Products 1/2 price
$1/2 coupon 01-25 RP exp.03-25


Macaroni Grill Dinners $2.99
$1 coupon here
Final price is $1.99 per box.

General Mills Chex Mix 5/$5
.50 coupon(doubled)
$1 coupon here
Final Price is Free.

Lindor Truffles Trio .69
BOGO coupon 02-01 S exp.05-31
Final price is .35 per pk.

Melitta Cone Filters .99 cents
.50 Meijer Mealbox coupon
Final Price is 49 cents per box.

Softsoap soap .99 cents
.35 coupon(doubled) 02-01 S exp.02-21
Final Price is .29 cents per bottle.

For more deals from your favorite stores visit BeCentsAble.

Free Jim Brickman sending You Love CD sampler

Love is in the air and no one does romance better than Jim Brickman. Jim Brickman is a great piano player who is known for his love songs. If you haven't heard him or just love him like me, you can go here to sign-up to receive the free Sending You Love 4 song CD sampler. It includes the songs

• Angel eyes


• Sound of Your Voice


• All I Ever Wanted


• If You Believe

His new album Ultimate Love Songs-The Very Best Of Jim Brickman would also make a great Valentine gift to buy for that special someone in your life. It features Jim’s greatest vocal collaborations including the song Valentine.

Wordless Wednesday

Looking back to younger years.

For more WW go here or here.

Meijer Deals Feb.1 to Feb.7

Meijer Brand 10 for $10 sale-11th item free.

Avocados

Del Monte Fruit Naturals 8 oz

Flat or Curly Leaf Spinach 10 oz

Meijer 8 ct Pastry Treats

Meijer Fruit Snacks

Meijer Brown & Serve White or Wheat Rolls 12 ct pkg

Meijer Crescent Rolls

Meijer Big & Flaky Biscuits

Meijer Cinnamon Rolls

Meijer Pizza Crust tube

Meijer Old Fashioned Soft Cookies 10-11 oz

Meijer Essentials Paper Towels - 1 roll

Meijer Facial Tissue

Meijer Fruit in Juice or Syrup

Meijer frozen Ground Turkey 16 oz pkg

Meijer Lemonade, Pink Lemonade, Fruit Punch or Limeade 12 oz - frozen

Meijer Organics Whole White or Whole Mini Bella Mushrooms 8 oz pkg

Meijer Original, Thick & Chunky or Bean & Corn Salsa

Meijer Plastic Spoons, Fork or Combo 48 ct

Meijer Pretzels 9-15 oz

Meijer Shells & Cheese Dinner or Deluxe Mac & Cheese Dinner

Meijer Split Top White or Wheat Bread

Meijer Tomato or Vegetable Juice 46 oz can

Meijer Frozen Vegetables 16 oz

Yellow Onions 3 lb bag


Other Deals

Ceneral Mills Cinnamon Toast Crunch $1.89
.55 coupon here
Final price is $1.34 per box

Meijer Ice Cream or Sorbet pints 3/$6
$1 Meijer Mealbox Coupon
Final Price is $1 per pint.

Smart Balance Buttery Spread
$1/2 coupon 02-01 RP exp.04-30
$1/2 Meijer Mealbox coupon
Final Price is $1 per tub

Silk Soymilk 2/$5
$1/2 coupon 01-11 S exp.02-28
Final Price is $2 per carton.

For more deals from your favorite stores visit The Grocery Gathering over at BeCentsAble.

Valentine's Day Gift Guide and Giveaway.

Are you still looking for the perfect Valentine's gift? Be sure to check out the Valentine's Day Gift Guide over at Mom Central. Not only do they have a great gift guide but they are giving away some great items daily so you will want to check it out. If you don't know, Mom Central is a one-stop web resource dedicated to providing busy moms with smart household and parenting solutions.