Articles for Coupons & Savings

With summer vacation right around the corner, I thought I’d post a reminder of this idea from last year.

You might consider sitting down with the kiddos and making a list of all the things you would like to do this summer.

The list can be whimsical, simple, complicated… whatever works for your family. The idea behind this is to make your summer a little more intentional because we all know the time just goes so fast when you have little ones.

I know I am a terrible procrastinator so things like this are helpful to me to live in the moment instead of putting things off until it is too late.

In our house, my oldest is starting Kindergarten in August so this summer is especially important to me.  This is the last chance we have to plan things at the spur of the moment and to really enjoy my girls before school starts.

So we sat down a few weeks ago and started thinking of all those things we wanted to do but hadn’t made the time for.  I included some bigger things- like a day trip to San Francisco and a lot of small things like making homemade fruit snacks and homemade playdoh.

I also tried to think of fun things from my childhood that my girls have not had a chance to do- like visiting an old-fashioned ice cream parlor.

I included trips to the water park, planting a little garden, going to the movies to see Brave, visiting 3 new parks…. just whatever came to mind that might be fun for the entire family.

I also put in some of those things I have been putting off- like finishing a redecoration in my little girl’s room, taking new family pictures and so on…  If you are stumped for ideas, consider being a tourist in your own city.  We put a train ride and horse carriage ride on our chart because those are things that can be done downtown.  I know I lived in Seattle for 8 years and went to the Space Needle a total of one time.  Those are the types of activities that you might want to think about.

I did this on poster board and taped it up at Kid Central in the garage.  Last year I posted the same concept with a chalkboard in the playroom.

You could also type up your list and keep it on the computer or print it out to put on the fridge.  Whatever works for your family- and believe it or not we have already done several of the things I have on the list!

PS: In case you might be wondering, my 4 year old mentioned going to Chuck E Cheese…. repeatedly… and my 2 year old wanted bubbles… lots of bubbles… so that was their contribution to the list .

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{Photo Credit}

I thought I might round up a few ideas for Brunch for those of you planning a little Mother’s Day celebration on Sunday.

We are having my Mother in Law over for brunch so hopefully a few of these recipes go over well.

{Spinach and Gruyere Strata}

I made this for Easter and it was really delicious. My husband is not a fan of either spinach or stinky cheeses and he really liked this dish.

{Customizable Bread Bowl Eggs} 

This might be better for smaller groups but let people choose the filling and then bake away!

{Baked Spinach Bread Bowls} 

I have made these a few times and they are really delicious!

{Spiced Bacon Twists} 

A little fancier way to serve bacon.

{Stuffed French Toast Cupcakes}

These are a little more complicated but just a simple cobbler could be served in these little reusable cupcake liners.  I am going to do something similar with just fresh fruit and a tiny bit of whip cream on top.

{Skillet Fruit Cake}

I made this not too long ago and it was simple and really delicious.  I don’t have a skillet so I just used a pie plate to bake it.

{Lightened up version of Monkey Bread}

And the adorable Best Mom printable pictured at the top can be downloaded in several color choices and printed for free from A Profittable Life.

{Cheese and Onion Salad with Creamy Dressing} 

{Photo Credit: Party Pinching.com}

And here is an idea for a simple table setting.  I love the tiny little vases with tulips.  You can actually get the Starbucks Frappucino bottles that are sold in a 4pk for about $4.00 and peel the label off and tuck flowers inside for a super simple presentation.

(If you decide to do that, the Archer Farms version of those drinks at Target has a label that is way easier to remove.)

{Photo Credit: Style Me Pretty}

I love Mason jars for flowers too and this would be a really sweet idea for Mother’s day.

And personally I like to serve prosecco, orange juice and coffee.

You could give the iced coffee recipe a try!

And you can head over here if you need a few last minute simple Mother’s Day gift ideas.

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Since Mother’s Day is fast approaching I wanted to pass along a few ideas.  This will be the first of a few posts with ideas for you.  For those that are inclined toward crafty or homemade gifts, here are a few ideas I found that I thought were very cute.

Just click below to see several ideas!

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I mentioned some cute Teacher Gift ideas awhile back and I finally finished all our gifts.  I thought I would break down for you how my gifts worked out and the prices.

Just a reminder that next week (May 7th) is the start of teacher appreciation week and it is a nice time to get a little something for the hard working teachers out there.

My first project was for my children’s regular preschool teachers- we have 4.  Since I have little ones, I wanted bright and cheerful and fun colors so here is what I did:

I bought (4) reusable water cups from Walmart $4.96 each
Took the premade tags template and ordered a copy from Staples $.56 (see below)
1 bag M&Ms for the bottom of the cups $2.00
(4) Jamba Juice gift cards $5.00 each
and I already had some ribbon on hand

So the grand total for all (4) cups was $42.40 or $10.60 each.

This was such a simple project to do and if you want to give a larger gift card, my Costco has (5) $10 Jamba Juice gift cards for $39.99.

I also bought a picture frame for $2.95 at Walmart.  I used a can of blue paint we already had and ordered the adorable free Subway Art template to be printed for just $.56 from Staples.

That will go to the set of teacher’s for my oldest and for  $3.51, I thought that was really a cute gift.

The idea and the free downloadable template for the water cups is courtesy of Tatertots and Jello.

The idea and the free downloadable template for the Subway art is courtesy of Eighteen25 blog.

I have found ordering color copies from places like Staples or Costco can be a lot cheaper and a lot nicer looking than I can get from my home computer.

The next set of gifts I wanted to give were to the day care providers at our church.  I wanted to just get something small for them and also I wanted to get something small and fun for the Mom’s in my MOPS group.

So I did the same thing for everyone- I bought a box of Mason jars and tied ribbon around the mouth.  I filled the jars with M&Ms and made little tags that said:

“Prescription: The contents of this jar are to be used strictly for the treatment of stress due to teaching. When symptoms arise, wait for recess, lock the door, hide under the nearest desk and consume immediately.”

I did a small variation for the Mom’s in my MOPS group in honor of Mother’s Day:

“Prescription: The contents of this jar are to be used strictly for the treatment of stress due to Motherhood. When symptoms arise, head for the closet, lock the door and consume immediately.”

So I thought these turned out really cute and again they were super simple to do.

12 pint size Mason jars $7.49 at Walmart
54oz bag of M&Ms from Costco $8.89
Small gift bag from Target $.56
3 more bags of M&Ms $2.00 each after coupon
Ribbon, tissue and little note tags I already had on hand

I just typed up the instructions in Word and printed on card stock at home.

This idea is a variation on the way cuter idea from Our Best Bites.  They have a little more complicated option as well as a free printable tag available.  Time was an issue for me so I just did this cheater way.

The final price was $1.87 per jar plus the $.56 for the little pink gift bags.

And the very last thing in my pile, is a note to the head of our school just letting her know how much my children enjoyed their teachers this year.  This idea was courtesy of reader Tanya.

If you were lucky enough to have a fantastic teacher you might consider sending a little note to the principal and/or superintendent of the school.  Everyone likes to be acknowledged for hard work so that is one thing that is completely free to do!

You can see more Teacher Appreciation gift ideas here.

PS: In case you care, the Costco M&Ms worked out to 56oz for $8.89 or .15 per oz.  The price of the M&Ms was $2.50 at CVS and I used a $1/2 coupon, so $2.00 for 14oz.  That is $.14 per oz.  Pretty comparable actually and I recommend buying A LOT more candy then you think you need!

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Now that it is officially May, here is your latest May Sales and Grocery Guide to download and print.

This has the in season fruit and veggies that you will likely see great prices on. I can’t wait for the corn sales myself- usually they go as low as $.10 each and I cook up a bunch and then just slice the kernels off to freeze for later.

There are lots of stock up sale deals available this month as well- you want to keep an eye out for outdoor living items, picnic items and BBQ stuff in particular.

This week there will be lots of sales for Cinco de Mayo items- keep an eye out for salsa deals, chips, cheese and lots more.

Finally, for those of you looking out for Grills and outdoor furniture- Target is typically my favorite spot for clearance deals in the summer.

Typically Target starts marking things down in mid-June.  Last year my store went to 30% off on June 23rd.

Now I have seen incredible deals- as low as 75% off at Target but last year I remember things hit 30% and pretty  much all sold out.  I am really hoping this year we see the big clearance sales again because Mama needs a new chaise lounge!

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