frugal

Free Food Resources for October 2022(San Diego County)

Abby H.

Woo! A new month means a reminder about all of the free food options there is here in San Diego County.

Keep in mind there are still supply chain issues, so there may not be a lot of food at some distributions, especially those that serve a large portion of the community.

I recommend showing up a little early with a bottle of water and a book and waiting in line. Time passes quickly in these lines, and it’s a great time to learn from others about community food options. Remember to socially distance and follow local masking regulations.

You can find resources here for Central and East County, and Here for North County.

Our friends at Faith Chapel are super ahead of the game and sent out information regarding their 2022 food distributions early on in the year.

If you are located outside San Diego County, call 211. If you are not familiar with 211, here is their website and it can point you in the right direction.

San Diego Food Bank Distributions for October 2022 can be found here. Enter your address (or just your zip code) and the map will show you all of the distributions in your area or closest to you. You can filter by the days of the week to find food when you are available. If there is an income requirement/limit to participate, each location/listing will say such. You can learn more here about the Feeding San Diego Together Tour.

Neighbor distributions are intermixed with the San Diego Food Bank Distributions, however, they have no income requirements, and you come as you are. These Distributions are primarily fruits & veg, however, some locations may also distribute canned goods, dairy, and bread.

If you know of other resources, please leave a comment! And feel free to share this post with anyone you may know in need.

Focus Group Connections: Kids11-17 Cell Phone Usage Project $50

Abby H.

Focus Group Connections is a research company located in Southern California. They conduct studies and surveys all over the US.

Focus Group Connection is looking for kids 11-17 to participate in a Focus Group on the topic of “Cellular Applications.”
This study requires the download of an informational app to your child’s cell phone for 9-days.

Focus Group Connection is doing a study to learn more about how pre-teens and teenagers use their mobile devices and how this usage may correlate with their health. To get this information, we would 11-to-17-year olds to answer a survey and download a study app onto their devices for 9 days. We expect it to take about 15 minutes to complete the survey. We expect it to take about 5-10 minutes to install and enroll into the study app, which then runs automatically in the background.

The study app, collects mobile device usage data from cellular devices. This app only tracks mobile device use in terms of whether the phone is on or off, which apps are running, and the time of day the apps are used. It does not collect personal information, phone contacts, the content of any texts or emails, what websites are visited, or other specifics such as which videos are watched on YouTube. For example, the app would know you used the Google Chrome app, but not what you searched for or what websites you visited.

 If you and your child are interested – they will send a short survey link for you (Parent) to complete. If you have a qualifying child, we will email the instructions for the app installation. If selected to participate, your child will receive $50 for their participation. 

If you would like to include your child in this study – Please click here to fill in a short pre-screen. Note it says “August/September”, but they are looking for candidates for October/November.

Sprouts Monthly Sampling Program is Ending!

Abby H.

That’s right, the Sprouts full-size sampling program has been canceled. Honestly, it was really hard to get them on the app or find them in the store, so I’m not at all surprised that this program is closing.

BUT- Never fear! With in-app coupons from the Sprouts app, as well as savings/cash back apps (find my favorites here), there are still tons of ways to save at Sprouts!

Awesome Breakfast Deal at IHOP 2x2x2 just $5

Abby H.

IHOP has a great deal right now, and it’s ending soon!

Last call for one of the sweetest IHOP deals ever, the 2x2x2 Breakfast Combo for just $5!* Dine in today for 2 eggs your way, 2 custom-cured hickory-smoked bacon strips, or 2 pork sausage links, and 2 fluffy buttermilk pancakes. Don’t sleep on this yummy deal – it ends soon and is available all day, every day. Dine-in only.

Find your local IHOP here.

MyPoints: Refer Friends and You Both Earn 300 Points!

Abby H.

I’ve been using MyPoints since 2011, and I’ve earned a lot of cashback just by doing my normal online shopping through MyPoints. About $550, to be exact.

Right now they are offering a great deal! When you refer a new user, and they earn 300 points, you both get a 300-point bonus. It’s easy to earn 300 points!

I love using MyPoints. I can earn points shopping online and utilizing in-store pick-up with stores like Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and JCPenney.

  • I ordered Christmas Gifts and earned 1200 points.

There are so many point-earning opportunities.

You can double dip on earning points or cash back by using a point earning credit card like American Express or Discover Cards or taking advantage of a points program that rewards you for purchases on their website, like JCP Rewards.

I love that I can earn gift cards which I use to offset the cost of holiday gifts.

Talk Back: What is your favorite Cashback program?

Recipe: Spicy Szechuan Style Green Beans (a la PF Changs)

Abby H.

In our recent Yasukochi Family Farms CSA box, we received 5 fistfuls (about a pound) of fresh green beans. I cleaned them, put them in a large ziploc bag in the fridge until I could be struck by inspiration.

I was doing the end-of-week veg prep Sunday morning (to make room for the new box arriving Monday), and I came across the green beans. I was watching tik tok last night and saw a video for spicy green beans. I decided to give it a go.

To start, I searched online for a bunch of recipes and Frankestein’d together a recipe using what we had on hand, which wasn’t much. Our fridge died last summer and I still haven’t replaced all of the condiments, in part because of supply chain issues, and also because of freaking inflation.

Spicy Szechuan Style Green Beans

Ingredients

  • 1 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
  • 2 T. your favorite cooking oil (I used grapeseed)
  • 2 T. Diced Garlic (It’s ok to use the stuff in a jar)
  • 1 T. Chili Paste or Sriracha (whatever you have)
  • 2 t. onion powder
  • 1 green onion, white and light green parts only
  • 3 T. Soy sauce (I used low sodium)
  • 1/4 c. water
  • 1 T. rice vinegar (or white- whatever you have)
  • Juice of half an orange

Optional, but tasty

  • Sesame Seeds
  • Red Pepper Flakes

Directions

  1. In a large pan or wok, heat oil.
  2. Cook green beans for 5-8 minutes, or until they start to brown and wilt. If your green beans have been stored in the fridge, it will take longer.
  3. While the beans cook, add the 1 T. garlic, chili paste, onion powder, and green onion to a small bowl and combine.
  4. After the beans have browned and wilted, add the chili/garlic mixture and combine/coat the green beans. Cook for 3-ish minutes on medium until the garlic is fragrant.
  5. Add the remaining liquid ingredients (I poured all of them into a mixing cup and set it aside until this step, but you can pour them directly into the pan/wok), cooking on low until some of the water evaporates. Remove from heat, and add sesame seeds and red pepper flakes (less than 1 tablespoon each).

This is a great side dish for any Asian food. I served it for breakfast -grown ups only- over basmati rice, topped with a jammy egg. It was very filling.

This recipe is vegan/vegetarian. If you are sensitive to gluten, replace your soy with tamari or coconut aminos.

Amazing Deals at The Children’s Place In Store and Online!

Abby H.

Bitty Bird and I went to the mall after school on Thursday, and after a brief detour to the food court for a snack (Sbarro), we decided to check out The Children’s Place.

I haven’t been in there in a while, but they are having a really good sale right now, and that includes clearance.

Our local mall has a pretty small location, but we were still able to find a few dresses in her size on sale, in fact, this one was her favorite:

This dress is less than $10!

Such a great deal for a cute skater dress. This is her favorite style right now.

Their online clearance section is huge and as a bonus, The Children’s Place offers free ship to the store! Place your order online, once it’s ready, you’ll get an email once it’s ready to be picked up. It’s super quick and easy. And with ship to store, not only is the price of shipping waived, but you’ll also receive 10% off! That makes a sweet deal even sweeter!

 

$50 Eyewear Credit with Warby Parker!

Abby H.

Warby Parker makes incredibly tasteful and fashionable eyewear, they also sell contact lenses, and they’ve got a great deal!

Buy an annual supply of contact lenses, and receive a $50 eyewear bonus! No matter the brand or lens type, receive a $50 credit—good to use on any eyeglasses or sunglasses—when you buy an annual supply of contacts from Warby Parker.

The adults in our family wear Warby Parker glasses and Scout Contact Lenses (You can score a free sample of Scout contacts here).

Warby Parker has cool frames, regardless of your style or frame size requirements.

It’s almost that time for new glasses in our house, so I’ll definitely be checking out this deal myself!

Using CVS Offers to Your Advantage! How I Paid $5.47 for Over $50 in products!

Abby H.

I have posted about it before, and I am a huge fan of CVS. They have their CarePass, which is pretty inexpensive ($5-ish a month or $48/year if you pay for it all at once).  One of the perks is you get a $10 ExtraCare Bucks each month, for a total of $120 per year. I posted about it before but I got more information here, and overall I think it’s a pretty great deal.

You probably also remember one of the reasons that I love CVS is they have Pharmacy and Health Rewards. When you fill 10 prescriptions at their pharmacy you receive a $5.00 ExtraCare Bucks that you can spend any place in the store.

With the number of prescriptions my family has, we earn a $5.00 ExtraCare Bucks every two months. Which is pretty decent. Between the CarePass, and Pharmacy and Health Rewards, we usually have between 10 and $15 in “free“ money to spend at CVS at any given time.

I went in this morning to go pick up a prescription and noticed that they had a lot of snacks on sale/marked down, and with ExtraCare Bucks rewards. I quickly scrolled through my CVS app and noticed I had six dollars off any purchase of $30 or more and my $10 CarePass ExtraCare Bucks, and a $5.00 Pharmacy ExtraCare Bucks Reward.

Knowing that we needed both cereal and snacks and I walked up and down the snack/cereal aisle and quickly set upon a plan.

  • Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies are 2/$7 or 2/$8 (depending on the product) this week. When you buy two select, you’ll receive a $2 ExtraCare Bucks (limit one per person/account). My kids loved both Oreos and Chips Ahoy, so I picked two of each.
  • We were also out of Motts fruit snacks, and they are buy one get one free so I snagged two boxes as well.
  • Rice crispy treats are buy one get one free, so I grabbed two of those.
  • Cereal was on sale buy one box get one free with select Kellogg’s varieties, so I grabbed two boxes as well.

Now, this may look like a lot of junk food, but this is about three weeks’ worth of stuff to go in lunches (and about 2 weeks worth of cereal for me). The cereal is for me, but the rest is going to go in kid’s lunches or be available for snacks- I portion out the snacks and put them into the snack box in the cupboard. I will be hiding about half of it so that they don’t know we have tons of it and just mow through it.

As you can see by looking at the video about and all the stuff I got, it’s a pretty substantial amount. I ended up paying $9.47 out of pocket, and I received $4.00 back in ExtraCare Bucks.

$2.00 for purchasing to select Nabisco Oreo cookies, and a second $2 ExtraCare Bucks for purchasing two chocolate bars, cookies, select chips ahoy, or premium crackers.

Making my grand total after ExtraCare Bucks $5.47. That is one heck of a deal. I’ve also submitted my receipt to Fetch Rewards for points, and to Receipt Hog for points!

And I was in and out of the store in less than 20 minutes (including time to wait in line to pay). Doing drug store deals doesn’t have to be long and tedious. And sometimes it’s a small deal.

It’s worth the time to download the CVS app, join the ExtraCare club to save money, and join CarePass. You’ll find deals weekly (or monthly in my case when I go in). You’ll be saving money in no time!

9/16/2022 Friday Freebies and Deals

Abby H.

This week has been busy with kid and family stuff, and as a result, I haven’t had much time for blogging.

Never fear, I’ve got Freebies and Deals for you!

Don’t forget all of the 2022 Birthday Freebies! Make sure to check this article out and sign up for birthday freebies at least 2-3 weeks before your birthday.

 

Freebies:

Free Estee Lauder Double Wear Stay-In-Place Foundation
Free Subscription to Elle Decor Magazine
Free Entree at The Old Spaghetti Factory
25 Free Disney Movie Insiders Points
Free Domino’s Gift Card Giveaway
Free Highkey Dark Chocolate Candies After Rebate
Free $10 ThredUP Credit = Free Womens & Children Items
Free Gratsy Pajama Party Box
Free Let There Be Hemp Superfood Hemp Chips
Free 2023 Thrivent Calendar
Free ShiKai CBD Cream
Free Samples of ZURU Edge Dietary Supplements
Free Tena Sample Kits
Free Smile Movie Screening
Free Sample of Dark & Lovely Blow Out Cream
Free Fresh Cravings Salsa
Free Advil Dual Action at Select Stores
Free Free2b’s Allergy Friendly Halloween Party Pack
Possible Free Moonage Daydream Movie Ticket
Free Veeam T-Shirt
Free Sample of L’Oreal Brilliant Eyes Liquid Eyeshadow
Free Givenchy Irresistible Eau de Toilette Fraiche Sample
Free Body Skincare Product + $50 Amazon Gift Card
Free Welch’s Fruit Snacks Best Kids’ Lunch Box Party Pack
Free Sample of M&M’s Crunchy Cookie
Free Sample of Zaffi KETO Taffy Candy Snack
Free Subscription to LEGO Life Magazine
Free Sample of Xyzal Allergy 24H
PrismPop – Free Beauty Products
4+ Free Disney Movie Insiders Points
Free Goody Bag at buybuy BABY Stores
Free Holiday Gifts of Appreciation Sample Kit
250 Free Kool Rewards Points
100 Free Microsoft Rewards Points
Free Call of Duty Modern Warfare II for Xfinity Rewards Members
Free Crayola Fall Coloring Pages

Deals:

Halloween Costumes Extra 20% Off Coupon
5-Tier Heavy Duty Shelving Unit ONLY $59 (Reg $120)
Crafters Train Case ONLY $23.30 (Reg $67)
KidKraft Wooden Outdoor Playhouse ONLY $199 (Reg $449)
Learning Resources 12-Pc Learning Lab Set ONLY $15.49 (Reg $30)
Simpson’s Arcade Game ONLY $199 (Reg. $500) – Save 60%
Michael Kors Jet Set Zip Tote ONLY $99 (Reg $198)
Decathlon Mountain Bike ONLY $98 (Reg. $398)
Women’s Faux Suede Leather Jacket ONLY $28.79 (Reg. $48)
Dermablend Loose Setting Powder ONLY $14.50 (Reg. $30)
Sherpa Fleece Blanket ONLY $24 (Reg. $60)
Satin Neck Scarves 2-Piece ONLY $7.49 (Reg. $15)
Halloween Decor as low as $0.98 Shipped at Walmart
LED Halloween Lantern ONLY $5.07 (Reg. $18.84)
Fold-In-Half and Outdoor Table ONLY $29.68 (Reg $46)