Don’t have any idea what I am talking about? PinchMe! Join PINCHme and receive free samples that you can provide feedback on.
PinchMe is awesome! Once you are signed up, they will email you reminders when new samples are about to drop, and remind you when it’s time to leave feedback.
May’s Samples include:
Moroccanoil, ONE MINIS™ Bars, Nature Nate’s, Eva NYC, Organic Valley, Hartz, John Frieda, Bella, Compeed®, Lumify, Sebastian, Bahlsen, Biotrue®, Living Proof, SSkeeter Hawk, and MORE!
Answer a series of questions about your household and shopping habits in the Member Profile. PinchMe learns what you like and offer samples just for you.
Once you’ve had a chance to try the samples, complete a short feedback survey to tell PinchMe what you think of the samples.
What are you waiting for? Sign up here and get on the free sample bandwagon! I’ve gotten all kinds of awesome sample/trial size items, as well as full-sized items to try out from PinchMe!
I’m a little slow moving this morning. I had my second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine yesterday afternoon (Team Pfizer!), and I feel like my arm lost a fight. We’ve got some good freebies and deals this week.
If you are looking for birthday freebies, fret not! I put together a list new for 2021- Check it out here.
Most of these freebies and deals are online. I am not encouraging anyone to go into stores or go out into public. Mask up, wash your paws, stay socially distanced, get vaccinated when it’s your turn!
If you’re like me, you’ve been socially isolated/staying home for the better part of a year, wearing the same clothes, and it’s getting a little repetitive.
But at the same time, you don’t want to go to the mall. And as much fun as shopping on Amazon is, it’s hard to buy clothes on Amazon sometimes.
Last week, after I dropped the kids off at school and ran a couple errands, I found myself in South Bay. I remember that there used to be a discount/mark-down clothing store off of Palomar Road and interstate five, so I decided to drive down and see if it was still there. It is! And it’s even better than I remembered. It’s called Everything’s A Deal (it used to be Everything’s $5.00) and they’ve changed their store again.
The address is: 1141 Bay Blvd, Chula Vista, CA 91911
In a true wholesale try store the more you buy the cheaper the price per item becomes. If you buy between five and 10 items it’s $27.50+ tax for all 5 to 9 items. And the prices go down from there. Unlike a lot of discount clothing stores (I’m looking at a Ross) it’s not mostly trash/fast fashion/awful sweatshop crap.
Originally $44, marked down to $5.99!I love this brand! They make such cozy sweaters and jackets. Originally sold at Nordstrom’s Rack.
Everything’s A Deal buys lots from well-known retailers (Sears, JCPenney, Nordstrom‘s Rack, or fifth Avenue, just to name a few) and they have a large warehouse-style store where everything is separated by size. All the plus sizes are together, all the small, medium, large, etc.
The nice thing is that the sale prices are for everything. Shoes, accessories, purses, close. They have kids’ clothes in men’s clothes too. So conceivably you could read your entire family there and some really cute outfits and not break the bank. Everything is new with tags. I bought five items and spent $29.99 after tax out the door. I got a jacket, address, two new T-shirts, and a really cute vest that I’m going to tie-dye.
All five items are name brand, and the jacket is a brand that is sold at Nordstrom rack. I googled the RN number and discovered that the original price of my brand new coat was $89.99. My two shirts had the tags still attached, my vest is from a brand I remember seeing at Macy’s, and my new dress, which is adorable, is from a brand that target sells.
Super Cute Sweater from A.N.A. a JCPenney BrandThis sweater, originally from JCPenney started out life at $47, and is now $5.00! Such an amazing deal!
There’s another location on Broadway in Lemon Grove (7696 Broadway Lemon Grove, CA) if South Bay is too far of a jog for you. Honestly, the stores are a great help for us, they help me stretch our clothing budget for new items. I’m able to afford better quality items for the same price that I would be paying at Walmart. And because the clothing swaps are going to be not happening for probably the next year or two, we won’t be able to pick up hand-me-downs or other secondhand clothing and household goods.
Clothing swaps are one of the ways that we are able to save a lot of money and keep the kids’ clothes. The kids are starting to grow out of the clothing that they have been wearing, and because there’s been no clothing swap this year, I don’t have clothing in the next size ready. I am going to have to purchase clothes.
I have been doing buying clothes and replacing our wardrobes little by little when I find stuff on sale and clearance that kids and I will like. This is mostly through jcp.com because they have such great sales and coupons. And I can combine those with cashback deals from online aggregators like top cashback, MyPoints, and Honey.
The CSA emails us in advance to give us a heads up as to what may be in our boxes each week, and that really gives me an upper hand when it comes to meal planning for the week.
Veggies and fruit are delivered each Monday 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 spend about an hour on Monday afternoon cleaning and prepping veggies for the rest of the week.
Over the weekend, I did some meal prep: I made a batch of potato cheese soup on Saturday evening, and yesterday I cooked rice, made a big salad, cooked marinated chicken thighs, and refilled the snack/school lunch box to make morning lunch prep even easier.
I’m planning on making a couple batches of soup today or tomorrow. I’ll freeze half, and the other half will go into the fridge for my lunch throughout the week. Broccoli Cheese Soup and Copycat Zuppa Toscana are planned (most of the ingredients will be coming in the CSA box today).
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 like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
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. The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.
Lunch: Kids take lunch to school. I eat leftovers. Everyone rejoices.
Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.
Sunday: Leftovers and roasted veggies (it was Brussels Sprouts and onions with bacon)
Monday: Chef Salad, Grilled Croissants (halved, buttered and cooked on the flat top), smoothies
Hot Damn! I love garlic. I decided to celebrate with a new recipe: Roasted Garlic (below), and a round-up of recipes that feature garlic.
Roasted Garlic is easy to make and is great in recipes that call for garlic. It’s very mellow, rich, dare I say, creamy? It’s also super good on toast or warm, crusty bread.
Roasted Garlic
Ingredients:
1 or more (I suggest more) heads of garlic
Your favorite cooking oil
Directions:
Remove the excess papery skin on the garlic heads, leave the bulb intact.
Slice off the pointy tops (about 1/4-1/2 inch)of the garlic bulbs. You want to expose the garlic.
Brush the heads of garlic with oil and wrap them in foil.
Bake at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes. The garlic is cooked once it is tender (poke it with a toothpick or knife usually after 40-ish minutes). but you can continue to roast it until all of the sugars caramelize, and it turns a light brown color. This caramelization makes the garlic very mellow and slightly sweet.
You can store the garlic in the fridge for 10-14 days, but it won’t last that long. It’s good in dips (like hummus), on its own, in soups, or any recipe that calls for garlic. Use roasted garlic in recipes where garlic is called for 1:1.
The CSA emails us in advance to give us a heads up as to what may be in our boxes on Monday, so that’s helped me be able to meal prep.
The kids and I went to the store this morning and picked up milk and some stuff for their school lunches. OH YEAH- School starts full-time TOMORROW!!!
This past week we didn’t follow the meal plan because a mystery illness swept the household. Everyone is better, so hopefully, this week will easier. and also now with 50% more SCHOOL!
Veggies and fruit are delivered each Monday 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 spend about an hour on Monday afternoon cleaning and prepping veggies for the rest of the week.
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 like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
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. The kids are nuts about pancakes. The Big Kid has been on a protein shake kick in the AM.
Lunch: Kids take lunch to school. I eat leftovers. Everyone rejoices.
Dinner: Usually, I do a crockpot meal on Mondays, but now that we are home all the time, we’ve been having an odd combination of fully home-cooked, scratch meals, and frozen entrees and veggies. I have been posting our meal plans on Instagram too- As well as pics of stuff we are doing to keep busy.
Sunday: Leftovers and roasted veggies
Monday: Breakfast for Dinner (Sausage, eggs, pancakes)
Tuesday: Dream Dinners Meal and Salad
Wednesday: Soup and Snacks!
Thursday: Dream Dinners and veggies
Friday: Pizza/Takeout Night
Saturday: Meal o’ Snacks and Protein Shakes
Please stay safe you guys!
Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?
Fetch Rewards is hooking us up with a great deal to celebrate the day!
Buy 1 Sargento Sliced Cheese and 1 Sara Lee product, any variety through 4/12/2021 and you’ll earn 1000 points!
And if you are new to Fetch Rewards, you can sign up and earn a 2000 point bonus when you scan in your first receipt. And you probably have a receipt in your purse or wallet.
If you are new Fetch Rewards, learn more about it here. What I love is that it is not store specific, which is great. Use my code ND2TB when you sign up and share the love (and referral points!). When you sign up, leave your referral code in the comments!
Tryazon has another really cool party/event opportunity- perfect for families that are homeschooling, distance learning, or are a teacher in school.
Clean up the kids’ clutter while fighting germs with Tryazon Featured Party opportunity, from Deflecto. Featuring a diverse line of antimicrobial storage and organizational products for kids specifically designed for the art, craft, and education markets. Deflecto’s kids storage now includes SteriTouch® an antimicrobial agent used to inhibit the growth of odor-causing microorganisms, mold and mildew. Durable, stackable and washable storage to keep parents and teachers organized!
Tryazon has100 hosting spots open for this opportunity! Those selected get to receive a party pack valued at $75+ with a variety of Deflecto products to share with friends and family! Learn more and apply here.
If, you’ve never heard of Tryazon (pronounced Try-uh-zon ☺), Tryazon is a service dedicated to getting innovative products into people’s hands and mouths, in fun settings like the party we had today. They offer excellent product samples and savings for all who participate.
Get ready to race with this Tryazon Featured Party opportunity, from Spin Master, featuring the BIGGEST RC Grave Digger ever – The Monster Jam, Official MEGA Grave Digger – measuring at over 2 feet long! This opportunity also includes the gravity defying Air Hogs Zero Gravity Laser race car, and the Monster Jam, Official Grave Digger Remote Control Truck with a range of up to 250 feet!
They have 100 hosting spots open for this opportunity! Those selected get to receive a party pack with a variety of Spin Master RC cars and other extras to share with friends and family! Learn more and apply here.
If you’ve never heard of Tryazon (pronounced Try-uh-zon ☺), Tryazon is a service dedicated to getting innovative products into people’s hands and mouths, in fun settings like the party we had today. They offer excellent product samples and savings for all who participate.
We’ve had so many Tryazon sampling events and parties in the past two years.
By the time this post goes live, we’ll know if our kids here in my town are going back to school full-time for the rest of the year. I’m really excited for them. I have full faith in our local school district- they have the kids’ (and teachers’) best interests in mind.
The highlight of this week is that I got my first dose of the Covid-19 Vaccine (Team Pfizer here). If you are still waiting for your vaccine, or are having a hard time finding a vaccine appointment, keep at it! More vaccines and appointments are becoming more available each week.
A new year means new birthday freebies. I put together a list for 2021. Check it out here.
Most of these freebies and deals are online. I am not encouraging anyone to go into stores or go out into public. Mask up, wash your paws, stay socially distanced!
PinchMe is awesome! Once you are signed up, they will email you reminders when new samples are about to drop, and remind you when it’s time to leave feedback.
Hot Damn! I love garlic. I decided to celebrate with a new recipe: Roasted Garlic (below), and a round-up of recipes that feature garlic.
Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day!
Buy 1 Sargento Sliced Cheese and 1 Sara Lee product, any variety through 4/12/2021 and you’ll earn 1000 points!
Hewes Family Fun 