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Heads up! Beginning Sunday July 29th, Office Max is offering Backpacks and Messenger Bags for $0.01 after MaxPerks Rewards. This will be available online and in stores and will likely sell out quickly. There is a limit of two per MaxPerks Rewards account. Thanks, For the Mommas! Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
Download the Pocket Zoo app for free today. Here’s the description: Pocket Zoo™ with LIVE Animal Cams is a wonderfully wild portable zoo for kids & nature lovers. Find out what it’s like to have your very own zoo at your finger tips with brilliant animal photos, videos, sounds, fun facts and LIVE Animal Cams. FEATURES:
✔ 30+ Live Animal Cams!
✔150+ Amazing wildlife videos!
✔ 40+ Original illustrations, beautiful photos, real animal sounds and fun facts!
Thanks, Amanda! Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
Jessica emailed in the following tip: Summer is in full swing and like many bargain hunters, I love a good garage sale. It's like a treasure hunt. Looking though one box or pile after another, searching for that one needed item. Garage sales, however, can have their downsides as well. Here are three pitfalls to avoid when going to a garage sale: 1. Don't buy what you don't need. Just because it's cheap doesn't mean you need it. Spending a $1 on a set of curtains may be a great deal but if you have three sets of curtains at home and have no need for another why waste the money. The best way to garage sale is to have a list of items that you need and are looking for. I also try to make a list of my children's clothing sizes so I can purchase a size up of off season clothing they will need in the future. Also remember to travel with a tape measure this will keep you from buying that item you just knew would fit but turns out to be too big for your space. 2. Try before you buy. If you are going to buy electronics, kitchen appliances, yard equipment, or anything that requires electricity or batteries, make sure you try before you buy. In my experience garage sale hosts are happy to demo an item for you to show you all the bells and whistles. Make sure you run it through all the cycles and ask if the owner has had any problems with the item. I may just be blessed but I have never had a bad experience buying any items such as these at a garage sale most people are honest with the things they sell but you always want to do your due diligence. 3. Watch your mileage. When you go out hunting for your treasures have a plan. Look through your local sale papers, check Craigslist, and look online for other garage sale postings in your area. Most will have a list of items that they are selling and this will help you decided on a route before you leave the house. Driving around on a Friday or Saturday morning just searching for signs or going all the way across town for a sale that turns out to be nothing can be hard on your gas tank and eat up your garage sale savings. Garage sales can be a lot of fun and a great way to stretch the family budget. Just remember to set some simple guidelines for yourself before you start and you can really watch the savings add up.
Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
Use coupon code MONEYSAVING to get a one-year subscription to Country magazine for $3.99 per year. You can purchase up to four years at this price. This offer expires tonight (July 27, 2012) at midnight EST. About: Celebrate the people, places and stories that make country life so special. Experience the essence of America through color photographs of landscapes and scenes, reviews of country inns and vacation spots. (Note: The links in this post are my referral links. Read my disclosure policy here.) Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
We've been talking about ways to have more energy this week. If you missed the first two posts in this series, read them here. 10. Laugh Often It’s well been said, “Laughter is the best medicine.” It’s amazing how smiling, laughing, and seeing the humorous side of life can just make life more enjoyable — and give you much more zest for life! We laugh a lot at our house. We laugh at ourselves, we laugh at each other, and we sometimes laugh for seemingly no reason at all — or at least we forgot what it was that we were first laughing about.  Yes, sometimes we’re just a bit on the crazy side around here — like when Jesse and I decided to create a good night cheer for the kids before bed the other night. We were all pretty much rolling on the floor after our attempts at putting together a cheer with chant, jumps, hand motions, and all.  However, we believe life is meant to be savored — and sometimes being silly just makes it a whole lot more fun! I’m always on the lookout for a funny story to share with Jesse from something the children say or do. If I find some funny photo or saying on Pinterest, I’ll email it to Jesse or save it to show him when he comes home. And we also love to watch comedy clips or funny movies as a family. Look for the humor in life — and you’ll probably start to find it just about everywhere! 11. Clear the Clutter Whether it’s paper clutter, an overloaded email inbox, or lots of stuff in your house that you don’t love and use, clutter can drain you, bog you down, and zap your energy and creativity. Everyone has a different level of clutter tolerance, but if you’re tripping over excess stuff at your house and struggling to find stuff in piles of unopened mail, chances are your home could use a little purging. Going through my house from top to bottom twice a year and doing a complete clutter overhaul is something that has been extremely effective in helping us keep a handle on clutter. I also find it helpful to ask myself five questions about what I own: ::Do I need this item?
::Do I use this item on a regular basis?
::Do I like this item?
::Is this item taking up space I don’t have?
::Could I bless someone else with this item?
12. Stop Worrying We can waste precious amounts of time, energy, and thought worrying. And how much of the time do the things we worry about actual come to pass? Instead of letting yourself just go round and round fretting over what probably never will be, redirect that energy into something positive. Anytime I catch myself worrying, I try to instead pour that energy and time into something more productive: reading, writing, exercising, listening to an audiobook, cleaning, singing, or serving someone else. Most of the time, I quickly forget about what I was worrying about! As a Christian, I also have made a commitment to pray instead of worry. When I start mulling over something and being concerned or fearful over what might be, I try to remember to refocus my thoughts on what I know to be true: God is in control and He will give me grace for whatever situation comes my way. And then I pray and commit that situation over to Him — and I get busy doing something else that’s much more important and productive than worrying. 
…To be continued tomorrow. photo courtesy of BigStock Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
I saw this recipe for making “Cinnamon Rolls” in the crockpot the other day and I was very intrigued. So naturally, I had to try it for myself. But in typical Crystal fashion, I had to tweak the recipe a bit, too. I was really happy with how they turned out. They were yummy, easy to make, and with the alterations I made to the recipe, they are good for you, too. Best of all, we had hot biscuits without heating up the house! Now I’m all inspired to try making other breads in the crockpot! 
I let Silas make his own biscuits with some of the leftover dough! While the original recipe calls these Cinnamon Rolls, since they aren’t rolled up in any manner, I changed the name of the recipe to Cinnamon Biscuits, as that seemed better suited. 
Crockpot Cinnamon Biscuits - 1 recipe of your favorite biscuit dough (I used Homemade Whole-Wheat Baking Mix mixed with enough milk to make it into a biscuit dough.)
- 1/4 cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup raw sugar (you could also use brown sugar or regular sugar)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Thoroughly grease the crockpot with butter or shortening (I use palm oil shortening). Melt butter in the microwave or on the stovetop and stir vanilla into it. Pour into a small bowl. Combine sugar and cinnamon in another small bowl. Roll out biscuit dough and cut into biscuits with a biscuit cutter or glass. (Or, be lazy like me, and just pull off pieces and pat them into the shape that somewhat resembles a circle. ) Dip biscuits into melted butter mixture, then into cinnamon sugar mixture. Put in crockpot in a single layer. Cover the crockpot with a tea towel or paper towel (to reduce condensation) and put lid on. Turn crockpot on low and bake biscuits for 2-3 hours until done. You can glaze with a powdered sugar & milk glaze, if you’d like. Or you can leave them unglazed like I did. I thought they were plenty sweet without the glaze! Recipe adapted from Get Crocked
Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
We went to the health food store and Walgreens today. Here were our purchases: The Health Food Store Shopping Trip Ezekiel Sprouted Tortillas –$3.99
Raw Cheddar Cheese from a local farm — $5.93
Quinoa — $2.42
Pears — $0.99/lb. — $1.69 total
Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seeds (we’re going to use these for some Olympics-themed activities — I was looking for an alternative to M&Ms and these fit the bill!) — $6.70 Total with tax: $22.24 I’ve never purchased quinoa (can you believe it?!) and have been wanting to try it. I was surprised at the price tag on it from the bulk bins, so I’m going to be on the hunt for a better deal on it since I’ve heard it’s really good and good for you. If you have a recommendation for where to get a good deal on it, I’d love to hear! 
Walgreens Shopping Trip 10 Memo/Composition books — $0.20 each with coupon
5 Highlighters — $0.19 each with in-ad coupon
Glue — $0.39
Jumbo Glue Stick — $0.39
Erasers — $0.39
2 packages Sticky Page Markers –$0.39 each
2 packages of Wexford Dividers — $0.39
3 Clear School Boxes — $0.49 each with in-ad coupon (2 not shown as they were snagged to be put to use by two eager kiddos as soon as we got home!)
Total with tax : $8.21 Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
Stephanie emailed in recently and I thought you’d be inspired by what she shared: Have you ever thought about simple, small ways in which you can use the resources in your community to save, and also to teach your children simplicity and the basics of life? The reward of hunting and gathering is immense. Here are a few of the ways we’ve used the resources available to us in our community to save money and keep life simple: –My husband hunts. That provides considerable deer, hog, bullfrog and fowl meat for us. We also fish. –My 6-year-old son and I have collected at least a gallon of mulberries in the last two weeks and we are freezing those for future use. –We collect black walnuts (we live in Kansas) in the fall, let them sit all winter, then crack them in the spring. –We pick rhubarb from my husband’s grandmother’s house, it comes up every year. –A kind farmer let us ride his combine and gave us a bucket of wheat which we will grind into flour. –I save the crusts off his bread and make my own bread crumbs. –We save rain water and use it for our garden (though the drought has hindered that some!)
What are some ways that you save money by using the resources available to you in your community? photo source Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! 
From the reports I’m hearing, Target has been clearancing a bunch of their toys for 70% off! Heather from Family Friendly Frugality got $763.14 worth of toys for $230.66! You can read more details about her toy haul and see a picture of everything she bought here. Now please remember that just because something is a great deal, if you don’t need or can’t afford it, it’s not a good deal for you. However, if you have the money in your budget (and the storage space!), the Target Toy Clearance is a great way to stock up on gifts for birthdays and Christmas — at a great discount! Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! Many states are offering Tax-Free Weekends during the month of August. Here’s a list of the states and dates for the Tax-Free Weekends: Alabama (August 3-5) – Certain school supplies, Computers, and Clothing
Arkansas (August 4-5) – Clothing and School Supplies
Connecticut (August 19-25) – Clothing and Footwear
Florida (August 3-5) – Clothing and Books, School Supplies
Georgia (August 10-11) – School Supplies, Clothing, Computer
Iowa (August 3-4) – Clothing
Louisiana (August 3-4) – All TPP
Maryland (August 12-18) – Clothing and Footwear
Mississippi (July 27-28) – Clothing and Footwear
Missouri (August 3-5) – Clothing, Computer, School Supplies
New Mexico (August 3-5) – Clothing, Computers, School Supplies
North Carolina (August 3-5) – Clothing, School Supplies, Instructional Material, Computers, Other Computer, Sports Equipment
Oklahoma (August 3-5) – Clothing
South Carolina (August 3-5) – Clothing, School Supplies, Computers, Other
Tennessee (August 3-5) – Clothing, School Supplies, Computers
Texas (August 17-19) – Clothing, Backpacks and School Supplies, Diapers
Virginia (August 3-5) – Clothing, School Supplies
Thanks, Stuff for Y’all! Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today! | 
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