A freebie from your utility company? Sounds weird, but it’s true. If you live in San Diego County, you can score a Complimentary Water And Energy-Savings Kit. It includes a brochure with tips, three faucet aerators, and a low-flow showerhead to help you save energy and water. These devices allow air to enter into the water stream, maintaining a high-pressure flow while reducing water usage.
To get started, fill out the form here.
I get asked a lot, “How do you get so much awesome stuff for free?” I could lie and tell you it’s my good looks, but really, it’s because I belong to a couple of really awesome Word of Mouth Marketing companies. Word of Mouth (WOM) Marketing- It’s not a new concept, but nowadays companies are starting to realize how powerful consumer recommendations can be. Remember the “I told two friends, and they told two friends” commercial from the 1980’s? That’s word of mouth marketing. Since the invention of the internet, WOM marketing has been amplified.
There are companies that connect consumers with companies and products looking to market directly to a specific cross-section of the population. What does that mean for you? Sign up with a WOM Marketing company and when they have products that someone like you would like and use, and they will have you complete a brief survey and send you the product.
Often times, the product they will send you will be full size. Additionally, they will send marketing materials with talking points for you to share with friends. Depending on the product, samples and coupons may be included! Once you receive your kit, you try out the products and “bzz” about them by posting on FB, Twitter, G+, or on your blog. You can also “bzz” face to face. When I get a lot of coupons in a kit, often times I’ll “Coupon Fairy” when I’m at the store (that’s a term for leaving coupons on the shelf next to the corresponding item). You report back to Bzzagent when you share/”bzz”.
My favorite WOM Marketing by far is Bzzagent. Bzzagent was founded in 2007 and they work with a lot of great national brands. In the past I’ve received diapers, wipes, beer, frozen food, razors, cereal, and tons of other awesome stuff to try and share with my friends.
The Campaign I’ve got right now is for Kroger brand products. For those of you who are thinking, “Kroger??” Kroger is the company that owns a bunch of grocery stores across the US, including Ralphs and Food4Less here in So. Cal. Like most major grocery store chains, they have quite a number of private label (formerly known as generic or store) brands.
Kroger is no slouch, check out the wide variety of their Private Label Brands:
Kroger® Brand: The classic Kroger® Brand has you covered with the products you love most in every section of your local store.
Private Selection™: Each Private Selection item has been carefully crafted to delight your senses — from the artisanal breads and cheeses to prime meat cuts and decadent desserts.
Simple Truth™ & Simple Truth Organic™: Every Simple Truth product is free from 101+ artificial preservatives and ingredients — taking the worry out of what’s in your food.
HemisFares: Kroger’s culinary explorers traveled the globe to bring you an extraordinary collection of authentic, regional food specialties.
Everyday Low Price Brands: On a tight budget? Look for P$$T…™, Check This Out…™ and Heritage Farm™ items throughout your local store to discover great prices on everyday essentials.
My BzzKit contained:
This morning I made the Brownies up as cupcakes (perfect for portion control). They are super fudgey and chewy- YUM! I’m setting the rest aside for dessert tonight- I’ll be pairing them with fresh berries and Fat Free Cool-Whip.
I’ll be cutting up the tortillas and baking them to give them some crunch to top our taco salads tonight.
There are quite a few other WOM Marketing Companies such as Smiley 360, Houseparty, Influenster, MomsMeet, and VocalPoint, but I find that overall Bzzagent provides the better campaigns and they have more kits to supply so more people can try out products. Some other WOM Marketing companies make you jump through hoops to get campaigns for example: Locate products on shelves and take a selfie with them in store, post to your blog, FB, or other Social Media outlets before you are considered or approved for a campaign. That’s just too much work for my tastes, especially when you aren’t guaranteed a spot if you do all of those things!
WOM Marketing is just one way I score free stuff to share with others and stretch our family budget.
For those who do not have a close friend or family in the military, the commissary is the on-base grocery store. The Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) operates the military Commissaries throughout the world. Active duty military, guard and reserve members, retirees and qualified family members may shop there. Authorized shoppers need only show proper military ID to use the commissary.
There are 5 commissaries in San Diego:
MCAS Miramar (Mira Mesa/Miramar), Naval Base 32nd Street (Downtown), North Island NAS (Coronado), Imperial Beach, and Camp Pendleton. There is a Commissary withing 30 minutes of where ever you live in San Diego. There is also a small PX/snack shop/gas station in the military housing up at Murphy Canyon (off interstate 15 at Aero Drive).
If you don’t live in the San Diego, CA area, don’t fret there may be a commissary close to you! To find the commissary closest to you, visit here.
Commissaries charge the wholesale price +10-20% for goods sold in the commissary, and there is a 5% surcharge at the end of your order. What this means for military families is that you can buy food and toiletries for much less than you can at the civilian grocer. The surcharge covers the payroll for cashiers, the electricity bill and other administrative costs.
Without using coupons, the average commissary shopper saves 30% over civilian grocery prices. When you combine the lowered prices at the Commissary with coupons, you will be saving 60-70% over civilian grocery prices. To learn about the coupon policy for the commissary, visit this page. It also includes a lot of great FAQ and some videos.
If you are new to base shopping, here are some things you need to know:
The commissary has a website. DeCA’s website has a lot of great info, including sales information, shopping lists, and did you know that the commissary also has a savings card that you can load e-coupons onto? You can pick the card up in the commissary, and register it online, load coupons and you’ll be saving even more in no time.
The commissary is a full service grocery store. Most larger locations have butchers and grind their own hamburger/ground beef several times each day, a full produce department (with limited organic produce), a bakery, and a service deli where you can get meats and cheeses sliced, and even a deli sandwich made to order! Most commissaries have organic food, gluten free food, various ethnic foods (South American, Pan Asian, European), and a large variety in name brands. There is no generic brand as DeCA does not manufacture food.
Most commissaries are very large. At MCAS Miramar for example, if you are to walk up and down each aisle in the entire store, you will have walked 1 mile at the end of your trip.
Most Commissaries have a case lot sale each year. Commissary Case Lot Sales are held during both the May and September timeframe each year. The sale dates for each store will be available at least a few weeks prior to the sales commencing. Check your local store during the April and August timeframes for more information.
If you have never shopped at a commissary before and you have base privileges, I recommend that you go at least once. You’ll be surprised.
Oh, one last thing… Don’t forget the scratch and dent section! The one at MCAS Miramar is pretty big.
How do I know so much about the commissary? I grew up in a military family, in a military town, and I grew up shopping on base with my mom. Occasionally when she has a large shopping trip, I go with her as her guest and push the cart (it gets really heavy too!!). I can’t buy anything, as my military dependent ID card has long since expired, but I get a good insight to prices, deals, and sales. It’s a very fun store to coupon fairy at!
One of my goals for this blog is to show you all how to save money and continue to eat the same healthy foods you already eat, or give you new avenues for saving so you can afford more of the healthy foods you like that you can’t find coupons for.
Today I went to Ralphs. For $7.30, I bought all of this:
That’s 10 1 lb. packages of Driscoll’s Strawberries and 3 cartons of Dream Blends nut milk. I used ten Driscoll’s coupons I earned from the Driscoll’s Advisory Panel and three Dream Coupons that I printed from a recent Facebook Campaign (they are no longer available).
The Strawberries were $1.48 on sale and I used a .75 off coupon on each package, for a total of $.73/each.
The nut milk was marked down to $1.79/each and I had $2.00 off coupons. Because the coupon price was greater, the cashier adjusted the amount of the coupon on her register, so I received the nut milks for free.
But, what am I going to do with 10 lbs of fresh fruit? I’ve already chopped up 5 lbs and put them into snack size Ziploc bags. They are chilling in the freezer, perfectly portioned for smoothies or to go into yogurt.
Henry is taking two pounds to school tomorrow to share with his class (his school has a no baked goods/candy for birthday celebrations rule).
One pound we will eat tonight, and the remaining two will be served at Henry’s birthday party on Saturday. Ten pounds of fruit doesn’t go all that far when you have two guys that LOVE fruit!
If you follow a healthy diet and are looking for more coupons on the products that you regualrly purchase, here are a few suggestions:
Bisque. It’s gotten a bad rap. Rich, creamy, laden with calories.
If your refined palette demands a creamier texture here is a secret cooking ingredient: Evaporated Milk. It’s got a rich, velvety mouth feel that mimics cream in soups, but it’s got a fraction of the calories. And it’s shelf stable, so you can always keep a few on-hand.
Butternut Carrot Bisque
Ingredients:
Directions:
This also freezes really well, so if you have leftovers, freeze them for a night that’s begging for soup!
Having spent a few years as an esthetician, I’ve seen and heard of people using all kinds of weird things on their skin (like the lady who scrubbed her face with Comet and used Listerine as toner), but the one thing I’ve always recommended for most people is using Essential Oils in their homes for skin and body care.
Unfamiliar with Essential oils? Wikipedia defines them as, “An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile aroma compounds from plants.”
Very few oils are ok to use neat (straight out of the bottle), most need to be diluted with another compound to be safety used on the skin. I like essential oils because not only do they smell great, but many can help with health issues.
I wanted to highlight a few essential oils and give you a few ideas on how you can incorporate them into your life. Because you don’t need many drops for most uses, one bottle will last you a while. And most of the other ingredients for the recipes below include items that you may already have in your home! Thanks to InstaNatural and Tomoson, I was able to try Lavender and Peppermint essential oils for free recently.
Lavender: It is great for helping you relax, and to lull you to sleep.
Linen spray is awesome for helping you unwind after a long day. Spray your pillows and bedclothes about 20 minutes before bed. Take a few deep breaths when you get into bed and you’ll be sleeping like a teenager (we all know that babies don’t sleep well) in no time. I like mixing 20 drops Lavender oil with 1 part vodka (the cheap stuff or rubbing alcohol), and 2 parts distilled water. Pour into a spray top bottle (like these).
Relaxing body moisturizer is wonderful way to calm down a child that doesn’t want to go to bed. Just mix 3 T. of room temp. coconut oil with 10-20 drops of Lavender oil. Let the mixture sit overnight. Scoop out a little bit and work it between your hands until it’s melted and massage it onto your clean kiddo. I do this for Lil’ Man on those days when he just won’t go to sleep. I rub it onto his back, shoulders, and chest. By that time, he’s pretty calm and ready for bed!
The InstaNatural Lavender oil was very mild- Perfect for use right after a bath on Lil’ Man’s back and feet. He slept for 13 hours, I think that might be a new record!
After Lavender, my next favorite essential oil is Peppermint. It’s very invigorating, and clean smelling.
Body Scrub can be made with any Essential Oil, but I love using Peppermint oil. Mix 1 cup sugar (white or brown, your choice), with 1/4 c up of room temperature shea butter or coconut oil, and 20 drops of essential oil. Mix together and store in a jar with a tight fitting lid. You can also use salt, but it’s a lot more abrasive.
Decongestant A simple DIY trick to help release that awful stuffy nose you or the kiddos have is to drop a few drops of Peppermint Oil into a diffuser (like this one) and breathe deeply. Peppermint oil really helps you breathe when you are all congested. You can also drop a few drops into a basin of very hot (steaming) water, put a towel over your head, lean over the bowl (using the towel as a tent) and breathe in the steam. You’ll be feeling better in no time! If you have very sensitive eyes or skin, I’d avoid the “steam tent”.
I used theThe InstaNatural Peppermint oil this morning! I whipped up a batch of peppermint scrub this morning, using kosher salt and coconut oil in a repurposed cream cheese tub. I’ll be using it to give my self a pedicure tonight. The abrasiveness of the kosher salt will really help exfoliate the dry, rough spots on my heels. I’m breathing clearly just from smelling the oil while mixing up my batch. I’ll report back with an update after my pedicure tonight!
I want to thank the great people over at InstaNatural and Tomoson for the chance to review these essential oils. I was not financially compensated to review these products, however I received a bottle of each oil free to facilitate my review. I only recommend products and services that I feel may be a good fit for my readers.
Everything in life changes, it’s true. To that end, because of all of the changes coming up in my life, I have decided to turn a new page in my blogging career.
I feel as though over the past year I have gotten away from my roots, my raison d’être. Instead of helping others on their savings journey, I was posting mindlessly about deals, sales, and products I didn’t care about and was not invested in.
Why? Well, to be honest, I was caught up in the thrill of trying to earn some money and give myself some sense of importance. I guess I needed to prove that I was more than just a “mommy blogger” (which btw- I really mislike that term, like all things that parents do- regardless of their gender- they are more than just their career or hobby), I was a serious entrepreneur. So, to do that, I was trying to monetize anyway I could.
In the end, it only ended up hurting myself and my family. I spent hours in front of the computer, posting deals and coupons for stuff I’d never buy or use, or honestly, couldn’t afford. When I really should have been playing trains with Lil’ Man, doing crafts or coloring, or spending family time bonding and having adventures doing stuff we like to do.
So what will this new blog be about? Well, for one, our family! Activities we like to do, places we like to go, recipes, crafts, and what really fuels my passion: tips and strategies to help YOU save money, live frugally, and have the type of lifestyle you want to have WITHOUT breaking the bank.
And for the most part, this blog won’t be monetized. I will be posting about my E-book, once I get it published on Amazon, but that will probably be the end of the monetization (for now). I will definitely keep up the product reviews, as long as they are relevant to my family and our life. I love sharing fun stuff!
So Welcome to the Hewes Family Fun Blog!
Hewes Family Fun 