Today is September 9, or 9/9 and that means that 99 Cents Only is celebrating with some pretty good deals.
I’m going to grab some eggs and Pringles for sure.
Did you know that 99 Cents Only has an app with coupons and otherwise unknown deals?
I wrote all about it here.
I’d love to hear about what you score at 99 Cents Only today.
I’ve got two kids. Thinking about them going to college is a ways off, but, despite that, we have a 529 savings account set up for both. A 529 is a college/higher learning savings account.
If the thought of saving for your kid’s education has you feeling anxious, Ohio 529 Plan (you don’t need to live in Ohio to take advantage of this) has an upcoming FREE webinar where you can learn all about how 529 plans work. You can learn more here.
If you already know about 529 plans, and are looking for a simple way to boost a 529 accounts earnings, check this out!
I’ve had a Upromise account for 15+ years. It’s a great way to earn and save money for college. I used my earnings/savings to pay for my college textbooks and parking pass when I finished my AA’s a few years ago.
The Upromise savings tools and automatic transfers let you set goals and transfer your earned rewards into college savings plans.
Receive a $5.29 bonus when you sign up for a free Upromise account.
Receive a $30 Welcome Bonus when linked to a 529 account. A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for future education costs.
Upromise® Mastercard® – Cardmembers earn 1.529% cash back rewards on purchases when their Upromise Program account is linked to an eligible College Savings Plan, or 1.25% cash back rewards on purchases if their Upromise Program account is not linked. Apply today at upromisemastercard.com
There are a lot of ways to earn money with Upromise: Shop online through their portal or add their Chrome Shopping extension to earn extra money. Upromise also has a Dining program, where you can earn cash back for dining at specific restaurants and paying with linked cards.
If you are looking for other money saving tips when it comes to college/higher learning, check out my post here.
I showed this to the kids last night- They are both stoked to try this game with their friends. I mean, who doesn’t love zombies?
We’ve been participating in Tryazon events for three+ years. We’ve gotten to try all sorts of fun toys, games, and food. You can learn more about Tryazon here.
The chase is on with this Tryazon Featured Party opportunity, from PlayMonster, featuring the new Zombie Chase board game! Zombie Chase is a beginner strategy game with two ways to win, as a human or as a zombie. Aged at 7+, Zombie Chase is a perfect game for family game night, and one thing is for sure: to win, alive or undead, you’ll be needing plenty of brains!
** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
Is it Sweater Weather where you live yet?
It’s not quite here, but the evenings are cooling down, and I do love a cozy sweater!
This week Cents of Style wants us to embrace the cozy- Grab one of these soft, comfy sweaters! Or, grab more than one- There are three styles to choose from.
Remember to use coupon code OBSESSED at checkout to save 20%. These sweaters come in sizes xs-3xl.
This sale goes through 9/14/2021 at Midnight.
What color are you getting? I’ve picked up an eggplant/dark purple. I can’t wait to pair it with my black pencil skirt.
Do you have preschool-age kiddos? WarnerMedia Kids & Family is inviting all preschoolers, parents, caregivers, and educators across the country to enjoy a free VIP virtual birthday party for Cartoonito, a new preschool block launching on HBO Max and Cartoon Network.
The one-hour interactive event coined as “Nito’s Birthday Party,” will take place at Cartoonitoparty.com on Monday, Sept. 13 at 10:00 a.m. PT / 1:00 p.m. ET and will feature exciting sneak peeks, breaking news, and special guest appearances from the stars and creative teams behind upcoming Cartoonito shows. RSVP to the VIP experience HERE.
This looks pretty exciting. I love educational cartoons. Even though my kiddos are older, I sometimes put on educational cartoons on the TV when we are doing crafts or building legos in the living room as background noise. You’d be surprised how much kids brains suck up when they have their hands occupied. We have HBO Max, so I’ll be putting on Cartoonito in the next few weeks while we are painting rocks (the next requested craft).
Most of us Gen X kids remember shrinky dinks. They’re still around. You can buy craft kits at Dollar Tree, Five Below, local craft stores, or on Amazon.
Recently I found LOL Surprise shrink plastic kits at dollar tree and I picked a couple up.
We were also recently given shrinkable plastic by the sheet. And this is great because you can draw your own designs, cut them out, hole punch them, shrink them in the oven, and end up with all sorts of cool stuff.
If you’re not familiar with Shrink Plastic, it is super fun and simple craft with anyone who can color can do. However, it does require adult supervision at some point during the craft, cause you have to use the oven.
To do this craft you will need the following items:
You are looking to make a specific design, you will need to print that image out onto a piece of white paper. And then you will trace it onto the shrinkable plastic using a pencil. Word of advice: most shrinkable plastic shrinks significantly if you start with an image that is the size of a silver dollar, it will come out about the size of a dime.
Also important to note, punch a hole if desired, in the plastic before you shrink it. Once it has shrunk and is hard, it is almost impossible to put a hole in it. Especially without damaging the plastic.
Once your design is traced/drawn onto the plastic, color it with permanent markers. I like these markers.
Once your design is colored, punch a hole in it as desired/needed. Then cut your image/design out of the sheet, trim up any sharp/pokey edges. Use a nail file if needed. You can also file the plastic after it has been baked/shrunk and cooled down.
Most shrinkable plastic sheets will come with the heating/baking directions for the plastic, but it’s usually less than 10 minutes. And you will need to keep an eye on it. That is the step where you do not want small children around.
In the past, I’ve made wine charms, this year I made all kinds of cool stuff, including zipper pulls for the kids’ backpacks, I made keychains, I drew our family’s SCA heraldry/devices. I also made some little charms for a charm bracelet for my daughter.
Next up I will be drawing food and making little toy food for my son’s Playmobil characters to eat. While some of his sets have come with food, he is missing things like french fries, hamburgers, pizza. All things that the Playmobil guys in his adventures want to eat.
AO Opinions is another Market Research company that I get information from. Right now they are recruiting for an upcoming research study on the subject of Heart Conditions.
I love the bacon and Gruyere Sous Vide Egg Bites at Starbucks, but… I’m frugal and those little dudes ain’t cheap.
So Sunday night, I set out to see if I could make them. This was a test batch, so I only did 6. I’ll be making more in the future. They are super easy to make, and you can customize them with ingredients you like.
Ingredients:
NOTES:
I used small glass bowls from dollar tree, but you can use a muffin tin, custard cups, whatever fits into a shallow baking dish (I used a 9×13 baking dish).
Directions:
Store in fridge for 4-5 days. Reheat in microwave for 30 seconds-1 minute.
Substitutions:
Have you heard of the new movie, Queenpins? It opens on September 10, 2021 in select Cinemark Theatres, and streaming exclusively on Paramount+ on September 30, 2021.
You catch the trailer here. It looks pretty funny. I love Kristen Bell!
Inspired by a true story, QUEENPINS is an outrageous comedy about a bored and frustrated suburban homemaker, Connie (Kristen Bell), and her best pal JoJo (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), a vlogger with dreams, who turn a hobby into a multi-million dollar counterfeit coupon caper. After firing off a letter to the conglomerate behind a box of cereal gone stale, and receiving an apology along with dozens of freebies, the duo hatch an illegal coupon club scheme that scams millions from mega-corporations and delivers deals to legions of fellow coupon clippers. On the trail to total coupon dominance, a hapless Loss Prevention Officer (Paul Walter Hauser) from the local supermarket chain joins forces with a determined U.S. Postal Inspector (Vince Vaughn) in hot pursuit of these newly-minted “Queenpins” of pink collar crime.
Additionally, the QUEENPINS team is hosting an incredible sweepstakes. QUEENPINS is giving away $500 a day for 21 days starting September 9th through September 29th.
Visit Queenpins.Movie to enter the Golden Coupon sweepstakes. Enter daily to increase your chances to win.
Happy Labor Day! I hope you all had a fun, relaxing weekend. The kids and I spent most of it playing with Legos, or swimming with friends.
No trip to the grocery store this week- I did go buy ice (our icemaker is STILL broken- Looking at you Sears) and popsicles, but we have enough groceries to get us through the week. I may have to buy milk… We’ll see.
Getting the fam to eat more fruits and veggies has been my personal mission this year, and thankfully, Yasukochi Family Farms has my back.
Veggies and fruit are delivered by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $25, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $25. Seriously. It’s a deal. I did a great deal of meal prep today after the box was delivered- You can see some of what I did over on Instragram.
And I’ve been getting a lot of really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods.
For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for a kitchen inventory printable, I have made my own and you can find them for sale here on my Etsy Store.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. They are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. The Ancient Grain bagels from Einstein Bros. are the current family favorite. I pick them up on Mondays when a dozen is only $7. I slice them and freeze them to keep them from going bad too quickly.
Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I’m back to packing lunches again. However, school lunches are free this year, but so far, there is nothing on the menu that appeals to the kids.
Dinner: We’ve got a pretty good schedule down for dinners. We have nuggets (vegetarian for the boy child, chicken for the rest) on the nights that we have respite. It’s quick prep and clean up, and I can serve it on our cafeteria trays with other fingers foods (we have trays like these) like cut-up fruit, crackers, and cheese. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.
Please stay safe you guys!
Hewes Family Fun 