frugal living

Faith Chapel’s Meet The Need is Drive Through Today 4/5/2020

Abby H.

I’ve posted about Meet The Need at Faith Chapel before– It’s a great way to pick up some groceries if times are tough for you. Usually, there is a little fellowship and the chance to pick up second-hand household goods and clothing (and they usually have diapers too- you just have to ask). Paster Josiah and his helpers aren’t letting the current crisis stop them from helping those in need!

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This Sunday Meet The Need drive-thru. In an effort to abide by the safety health ordinances within San Diego County due to the COVID-19 crisis, they are changing how they serve the community but certainly will not stop serving it. They will be providing a ready to eat meal & groceries this Sunday from 1:00pm-3:00pm.

The food will be distributed through your car window, so no need to leave your car, at the flagpole, outside the main sanctuary in the upper parking lot. They’ll be taking above and beyond precautions for health safety and social distancing.

No need to sign up in advance- all sign ups will be done on site!

New PinchMe Samples Drop 4/7/2020!

Abby H.

Set your iCals to remind you that the new PinchMe samples drop on 4/7/2020 at 9am Pacific Time!

Sneak Peek of April’s samples:

  • Caliper CBD Dissolvable Powder
  • Eva NYC Mane Magic 10-in-1 Primer
  • Dr. Dennis Gross Alpha Beta® Extra Strength Daily Peel
  • InTune CBD Peanut Butter Dog Treats
  • Nexcare™ Tegaderm and Tegaderm™ + Pad Waterproof Transparent Dressings
  • Nexcare™ Max Hold Waterproof Bandages
  • SlimFast Diabetic Weight Loss Nutty Caramel & Chocolate Cluster Snack
  • Lumify® Redness Reliever Eye Drops
  • Acne Wipeout™
  • Skylar – Salt Air Eau de Toilette Rollerball

New To 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.

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!

3/13/2020 Friday Freebies and Deals!

Abby H.

bright boxesI won’t be posting any in-store events or freebies this week, or for the foreseeable future. It will all be online deals (like Amazon), or freebies that you can request to be mailed to you. Better safe than sorry.

I will probably be posting more ways to make money at home (surveys, online research studies, etc) too.

Legit Online Research Studies/Money Making opportunities:

 

Samples and Goodies:

 

Deals:

 

Have a good weekend friends! Be Safe and Wash your hands!

Coffee House Copycat Recipes & Enter to French Roast K-Cup® Pods!

Abby H.

I love Cross Country Cafe! They always have great deals, contests, and recipes!

Barista Prima French Roast K-Cup® Pods box of 24Right now, they are running a contest for FOUR full-size boxes of French Roast K-Cup® coffee pods! Enter to win before March 30th, 2020.

One of the ways that we stay on budget is to limit how many coffee shop beverages we have each week.  I load $25 every two weeks onto my Starbucks card. Honestly, it’s usually used on treats for the kiddos.

I make a big pot of French Roast Coffee each morning and make our coffee shop style beverages with it as the base. Here are a few of our favorites:

Quick & Easy Misto (aka a Cafe au Lait)

Ingredients:

  • 20 ounces Hot Coffee (prepared however you like)
  • 1 cup milk (whatever kind you like, I prefer whole or 2%).
  • Sweetener, if desired
  • Ground Nutmeg or Cinnamon, if desired

Directions:

  1. In a heatproof cup, heat milk for approx. 30 seconds in the microwave.
  2. Froth milk in a Magic bullet, blender, or using a Milk Frother. This takes about 30 seconds. The more fat the milk contains, the foamer the milk gets. Fat-free milk (either dairy or non-dairy) does not get too frothy.
  3. Pour Hot Coffee into your serving cup. Add your sweetener and stir. This is a great time to try a new sweetened syrup!
  4. Using a spoon, Push frothed milk to the side and pour milk over the coffee.
  5. Top with Foam if desired.
  6. Get extra fancy and sprinkle the top of the foam with nutmeg or cinnamon!
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Hot, frothy milk!
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The finished product, time for breakfast!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick & Easy Mocha: If you love a Cafe Mocha to start your day, simply add 2 T. of your favorite Chocolate milk mix or instant hot chocolate (I like this dark chocolate hot chocolate) to the milk before your heat and froth it. Follow the same directions as above.

Caramel Macchiato: Pour 1 cup, hot frothed milk into your mug, followed by 6 ounces of very strong hot coffee. Top with a little more foam, and drizzle caramel syrup over the top of the foam.

Cinnamon Dulce Latte: Pour Coffee into mug, add steamed milk and two pumps/Tablespoons of Brown Sugar Cinnamon Syrup. Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon.

Cooled/leftover coffee makes GREAT iced coffee. Simply pour over ice, add any milk and sweetener/syrup you’d like and serve. YUM!

For an Iced Mocha, mix 2 T. of your favorite Chocolate milk mix to the milk before adding it to your ice and coffee.

I love the Torani Sugar Free syrups, they come in over 40 flavors and most of them are great in coffee. We like the following flavors:

  • Irish Coffee (it’s non-alcoholic)
  • Caramel
  • Hazelnut
  • French Vanilla
  • Brown Sugar Cinnamon
  • Almond
  • Pumpkin Spice
  • Coconut (it’s good in a mocha)

unnamed.pngAnd Cross Country Cafe has a new recipe on their blog: Almond Milk Honey Flat White. Yum!

If you start your morning with a protein shake, here are a couple recipes for coffee drinks that use protein powder in place of milk.

Looking for fun for your littles? Check Out Uptown Tot!

Abby H.

I’m taking the littlest one this week for Upotwn Tot!

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When the older kids are away, the little ones will play! Visit Uptown Jungle for a discounted playtime event where the little ones get the entire park to themselves!
Exclusive Toddler Playtime
Ages: 5 & Under Only
When: Wed 10am-1pm (Excludes holidays & school breaks)
Admission: $10. Additional sibling: $5. All parents play free!

And don’t forget- If your kiddos love Uptown Jungle and you visit frequently, consider checking out their memberships! Ifor and a discount code can be found here.

3/19/2020 is the First Day of Spring- It’s Freebie Time!

Abby H.

71974a65b7f49aee0070fc46f9a63d4aSpring brings warmer weather, flowers, baby animals, and freebies.

Two of our favorite freebies will be available on the first day of spring:

Free Italian Ice at Rita’s on March 19th: Celebrate the arrival of spring with our favorite annual tradition – FREE Rita’s Italian Ice!

Stop by Rita’s for the First Day of Spring FREE Italian Ice giveaway on THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020, from noon to 9 PM (local time)

All guests who visit Rita’s will receive a FREE Italian ice in the available flavor of their choice served in our special First Day of Spring cup!

Free Small Ice Cream Cone at Dairy Queen on March 19th: Keep your eyes peeled for more details on their social media channels, but this deal has been going on for YEARS.

March 2020: New Month, New Coupons!

Abby H.

file000786402730Here is your monthly reminder!  A new month means new printable and electronic coupons!

Check out the following sites:

One of my favorite websites is the Sunday Coupon Review.  It helps me plot out scenarios in advance and I can email friends to ask for coupons in advance. Remember if clipping coupons isn’t your thing, but saving money is, check out my list of Smartphone apps that can save you the big bucks! New offers are added on the Smartphone Savings Apps all the time!

Here are a few of my favorite new coupons:

Save $1.50 off ONE (1) Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough Chunks

Save $2.00 on the purchase of two (2) BIC® Stationery Products (Redeemable at Walmart)

Save $1.00 on any ONE (1) LISTERINE® Mouthwash (400mL or higher)

Put the FUN in Fundraising with Uptown Jungle!

Abby H.

86723436_2767364806686857_2639936442016464896_o.jpgWhen you’ve got kids, fundraising is part of life. Wrapping paper, candy, cookie dough are just a few of the things that kids have to peddle these days.

If you are looking for a new fundraiser, check out Uptown Jungle!

Uptown Jungle provides a fast and easy way for groups, schools, churches, teams, and nonprofit organizations to raise some serious cash, just for playing around and having fun.

You keep 35% of your group’s admissions! Having done a lot of fundraising in my time, that is a great return.

There are two ways to fundraise:

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Uptown Jungle is a great place for kids of all ages to play! With a special tots area for littler kiddos, you can rest assured that your littles will be safe and have fun. Bigger kids can bounce, run, climb and explore safely. And parents who don’t want to play can chill in the parents lounge. Oh yeah, there is free WiFi.

Cash Back on GAS with Checkout 51!

Abby H.

file7371256164536.jpgYou read that right!

Save on every fill-up at participating gas stations, every single week (yeah, seriously!) with  Checkout 51!

Head to the app to find a station near you. I’ve done it for the past month, and I’ve gotten almost $10 cash back!

New to Checkout 51? Check out my post with more details here.

Checkout 51 is sweetening the deal too- When you sign up here and scan in your first receipt, you’ll get a $5 bonus!

If you are already a Checkout 51 user, refer your friends and you’ll earn $10 when a new user scans in their first receipt (and they still earn $5).  Everyone wins!

2/24/2020 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgI forgot to push PUBLISH yesterday. OOPS. Well, last week I juggled stuff around and only posted the meal plan on Instagram. I may go back to that in the future, I’m not sure. I post on Insta about once a day, so not a lot, and I promise it’s not a feed full of perfectly polished, curated pics. It’s usually me, the cat, or craft projects pics taken with my iPhone 4S. Yes, I have a 4s. It still works, it’s a little slow (and small), but if it ain’t broke…

Back to the meal plan- I did a quick grocery trip on Sunday to stock up mostly on kiddo lunch goodies. I picked up a couple items we had run out of, like cream cheese and milk.

While rummaging through the freezer I found what I think is veggie soup, but we’ll find out once it thaws. Whatever it is, it’s for dinner tonight! This is a reminder to label the food in the freezer.

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 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 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: You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian (well, the big kid is, but the rest of us aren’t), but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.

Breakfast: I’ve gone back to a protein shake or coffee with a scoop of protein powder and a few pumps of Sugar-Free Syrup for me, and pancakes or something along those lines (Dave’s Killer Bagels are also a popular request for breakfast) for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix).  I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.

Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me and Bitty. The big kid takes his lunch to school, but once in a while, I can convince him to buy his lunch. Usually on pizza day.

I’m fixing to make a big fruit salad today- We’ve got a lot of fruit and I don’t want it to get funky.

  • Monday: Leftover Fritatta and fruit
  • Tuesday: Vegetable Soup (or whatever I took out of the freezer)
  • Wednesday: Chicken Soup, Grilled Cheese sandwiches
  • Thursday: Casserole (I’m thinking about Chicken Tetrazzini)
  • Friday:  Pizza & Fruit
  • Saturday: Leftovers
  • Sunday:  Beans, Rice, and Cheese bowls (with roasted peppers and onions)

Talk Back: What are you cooking for dinner this week?