Shop Hop Saturday 5/21/11

I don't have any new crafts listed, or new zazzle items to announce this week.
It turned into a crazy week with a lot of time away from home.  I tried to complete the quilt, and I'm still working on it.  I decided in the end that it needed more tieing than I had originally planned.

I'm in the progress of finishing up an order for dish scrubbies and washcloths.  As soon as I am done with that order I will be making one of the Minnie Mouse hats for an order.  After that I have some dish scrubbies that need to be made and sent out to a couple of friends.

I hope this next week brings more time to work on "business".  However, my business doesn't just include things that I make to sell.  What I consider to be my business is all the things that I do online to earn.  With that said, I want to do something a little different this week.  

I recently joined Varolo in the village of a gather friend.  Varolo is a really cool and fun earning website.  You watch videos to earn points which you may redeem for various items such as Wal Mart Cards, memory sticks etc.  As you earn points you also earn entries for the $500 drawings.
If you have any more online time in your schedule, I ask if you will please join my village on Varolo.

http://www.varolo.com/village/MarshaS32

Thank you.

And thank you to Ruthi of abitosunshine for hosting this weekly Shop Hop.  Please click the button below and join in.

Score Four and Twenty Swag Bucks Promotion

Swagbucks, the best place to get free stuff from searching and more is celebrating Memorial Day next week with a special Score Four and Twenty Swag Bucks promotion - they'll have 4 special Limited Edition collector's bills available, and if you can snag all four by the end of Thursday, you'll get a bonus 20 Swag Bucks. ALSO, this Thursday they're have a Swag Code Extravaganza, a day filled with fun, games and the opportunity to snag over 40 Swag Bucks worth of codes throughout the day. Be sure to visit Swagbucks all this week for opportunities to win big!

Not a member yet? Sign up through my referral link and enter the code MEMORIALDAY when prompted - it'll pad your account with an extra 50 Swag Bucks on top of the 30 that everyone starts with. Get started earning your reward points today!"

I've had so much fun with swag bucks for 2 years now.  My favorite thing to cash out for is amazon gift codes! 

Frugal Friday's With Marsha 5/20/11

Here we are to Friday again.  I hope to see lots of you sharing your frugal type posts in the linky this week.   I'm sharing 2 of my shopping posts in the linky, as well as my Mailbox Monday post.

This week has been a rainy week so I've not been able to hang clothes out to dry.  However, so far I've only done one load of laundry too.  Procrastinating as I wait for a non-rainy day.  I had to do one though to get myself clean jeans.

We've done a lot of shopping this week because our amended return came in.  I can't say that we were super frugal in the shopping, although we did buy the cheapest brands we could on a lot of the items.  My daughter, Jasmine, and I were in need of some clothing.  Jasmine did try to only choose clothing from the clearance racks, so I'm pretty proud of her for that.  She knew how much she was given to spend and worked to make the most of it.  What she didn't spend on clothes at Wal-mart, she was able to pick up more at the Goodwill store.

I also bought a few things at the Goodwill store as well.  I bought 2 bags of stuffing (I have some super cute little crocheted creatures I'm going to be making soon) and a skein of black yarn.  Out of my whole tote of yarn, I was out of black....and it's a color I need for a lot of those critters too.  I also picked up a package of thank you cards for my middle daughter as well.

I also chose to shop at Aldi for our stock up of groceries.  No coupons, and no sales to speak of there, but we all know that for the most part it's the cheapest place to shop.  I spent $159 and some change.  I plan on taking my receipt and making myself out a listing to carry with me.  Then I will price compare when shopping.  If the items at Aldi are cheaper, even with sales at the grocery store, then to Aldi I will go for those items.

We cut some spinach leaves out of the garden this week.   It's a good thing that we aren't dependent on our garden for food, but it would be nice to be.  The dirt here isn't good at all.  I'm working on attempting a compost pile.  I've never done one is all my life.  Jasmine and I have been reading gardening books and watching gardening videos for over a year now.  Anyway, I hadn't even ever eaten spinach, but I tore some of it up into my regular lettuce salad and will keep doing so.  Spinach is growing well in the garden.  I only planted a bit of it, saving more to plant later so that we will have it all summer.   The peas seems to be doing well enough.  We have some strawberries that are turning red.  The onions are also doing very well.   I severely need to get all the weeds out of the garden.
Our first spinach "harvest":

 

P.S. If anyone can tell me how to fix the coding for my button, please do. It comes up funny if you paste the full coding that is there. Thanks!

Cascade Wal Mart Gift Card and Sample Winners!!

Thanks to everyone who entered!


First of all, the lucky winner of the $15 Wal Mart gift card is:

Small Footprints said... 102

I like you on facebook (I'm Sml Footprints)

May 15, 2011 5:24 PM  

 

 Congrats to Small Footprints!

The 5 winners of the sample packs are:

My4boysand1 said... 31

I would love to see it clean up after my hubby's fried chicken! Yikes!

May 6, 2011 9:03 PM  

 

 

Mami2jcn said... 1

I'd like to see it clean up after lasagna.

May 6, 2011 7:26 AM 

 

 

 

shala_darkstone said... 108

I "like" Marsha's Spot on facebook (FB name: Maddie Brubaker).

May 16, 2011 4:20 AM

 

JC said... 11

google friend connect follower

May 6, 2011 2:57 PM

 

 

 

Night Owls Perch said... 93

posted 2 of my giveaways on your giveaway linky from www.nightowlsperch.com

May 14, 2011 8:18 AM 

 

Congrats again to all the winners.  Don't forget to enter my other current giveaways:

 

Inside the Minds of Car Dealers--Review and Giveaway!

 

Amanda Lamb Highwire Album Review and Giveaway! 

Scott's Liquid Gold Review and Spring Cleaning Survival Kit Giveaway!

 

 

Scott's Liquid Gold Review and Spring Cleaning Survival Kit Giveaway!

Scott's Liquid Gold to me is a household name.  I've known about and heard about the product for years. They've been around since 1951 after all.  I can't honestly say that I've ever used it myself until I was given the opportunity to do this review.  My husband, on the other hand, made these comments when the package of products arrived: "Scott's Liquid Gold is good stuff.  It's great for wood.  My mom always used it when I was growing up.  I've used it myself in the past on my wood furniture too."

I was thrilled to be chosen to do the review since we are in our new house.  We already had the dining room table set that we had purchased at a yard sale, but once moving in, some friends gave us a nice coffee table as well as large end tables.  I didn't really have a product to use on them.
Also, we have a nice rec room in the basement with wood floors and walls.  The kitchen floor looks like wood, but it's a linoleum.

One thing that I didn't realize is just how many different products Scott's Liquid Gold offers.  Along with the 2 products I was sent for review, I received a flyer with all the products.  Scott's Liquid Gold offers their standard aerosol as well as pourable, Wood Wash in both ready-to-use spray and concentrated liquid, Gold Wood Wipes, Clean Screen and "Little" Screen Clean, Mold Control 500, and Touch of Scent concentrated air freshner.

I was so impressed with all the products (can't wait to try more of them, especially the Touch of Scent!)  I'm also impressed that the pricing of the products is so reasonable.  Even if you order online or through the mail, the shipping is also so very reasonable as well.

You can find all the information on the company and products on their website:  Scott's Liquid Gold 

Here are the products that I received for review:

 I used the Scott's Liquid Gold Spray on our dining room table as well as the coffee table so far.  I love the results.  Below you can see the dining table after using the product, and the before and after photos of the coffee table (yep, the before coffee table photo was after I uncovered it)

I used the Wood Wash on the floor in the rec room in the basement.  The products came just in the nick of time for mopping down there too.  We had sent 6 children down there to play while we had a baby shower.  There was spilled soda and Kool-Aid both on the floor.  Below if the after the mopping shot.  I loved it!  There is no over powering odor to the product like some cleaners have.  There was no residue left on the floor after mopping either.  Wood Wash isn't just for wood floors.  It also works on simulated wood and painted surfaces.  It's safe to use on linoleum, tile, porcelain, vinyl, chrome, brass, and fiberglass.  A very versatile product!!

 Are you ready for the giveaway?  Scott's Liquid Gold has graciously offered up a Spring Cleaning Survival Kit to one of my lucky blog readers.  The winner will receive the prize pack shown below:

 Rules:
Giveaways begins Thursday May 19, 2010 and ends Thursday June 2, 2010 at 8 pm CST.
Winner will be drawn using random.org.
Winner will have 48 hours to contact me with their mailing information or another winner will be chosen.
Mandatory entry must be completed first  before bonus entries.
Leave a separate comment for each means of entry.


Mandatory entry:  Visit Scott's Liquid Gold on facebook and "like" their fan page.




Other ways to enter once the mandatory entry is completed:


1.  Visit Scott's Liquid Gold website and come back and tell me in comment what product you would love to try.


2.  Follow my blog with google friend connect.


3.  Subscribe to my blog by email.


4.  Take part in one of my "blog hops", or list your own giveaway to my ongoing giveaway linky. (Squidoo blog hop, Frugal Friday with Marsha, and the giveaway linky, so there are 3 entries possible here)


5.  Share this giveaway on twitter, facebook, your own blog, or any other website or message board that allows.  Leave the URL to your post in comment.  (This can be done up to 4 times during the duration of the giveaway for up to 4 entries)


Good luck!!




I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.

Squidoo Hopping 5/19/11

With bloggers down time last week it seems my Squidoo blog hop post also disappeared.

I did learn some things last week while hopping around.  The first thing was that we can place our own affiliate coding in to the modules.  That sure would have been something to know all along!  I have my work cut out for me to go through all my lenses and change these out.  I do sell things in amazon from time to time.  

I built a lens yesterday putting in my own AISN number for amazon.
This Day in History April 30 is what I chose to build.  I need to keep up with these, not just doing days that are of importance in history to me.  I have lots of dates throughout the year that have meaning to me, but right now those are few and far between.  Next up is my brothers birthday next week, so I hope to do another date before that.


I went in this morning to update my Bicycle Hostel--Hutchinson, KS.  I was in hopes of adding links to directories of hostels around the US.  What I found in search was about nothing!  If by chance you know of any bike hostel listings, please let me know.  I found lots of hostel listings, but not specifically for bicyclists, and certainly not free.  I do also realize that many of them along the bike route are not free to stay like the one at my church is.


I'm going to close for now, but I should have a lot of updated lenses to list next week as well as hopefully a couple of newly built ones as well.


Please remember that I appreciate a link back to my post if you hop along, whether it's a link withing your post, or if you use my button in your post, or have the button on your sidebar.  Thanks!

Amanda Lamb Highwire Album Review and Giveaway!

 

I was sent Amanda Lamb's album Highwire through LaFamos PR to review.  One lucky winner will receive their own copy of the album.  See the giveaway at the bottom of my post.

Highwire is Amanda Lamb's debut album.  It was released November 5, 2010.

Amanda started singing in choirs at the age of 5 and playing the piano at the age of 56.  She began finding her own voice at the age of 12 and began formal vocal training at the age of 14.  At the age of 16, the album Highwire was released.

The genre is pop, which she embraces while infusing her songs with genuine emotion and unexpected metaphors.

Song List:

1. Kiss Me Now

2.  Lave Hate

3.  Infinity

4.  Fallen

5.  The Life of an Aerialist

6.  Hypnosis

7.  I'll Be Your Moonlight

8.  Banish Love

9.  Funny Disaster

10.  Don't Get Me Wrong

Don't Get Me Wrong is my personal favorite on the album.  Listening to the album, I never would have guessed Amanda to just be 16 years old.  Not only by listening to the lyrics of the songs, but also listening to her voice.   This is a really nice album!

You can find Amanda all over the web:

Facebook 

Twitter

Myspace

and

Amanda Lamb's Website

Enjoy this Youtube video and links before heading to the giveaway.

 

Now on to the giveaway!  One lucky blog reader will win a copy of Amanda Lamb's Highwire.

Giveaway open to U.S. Residents only.

Giveaway starts Tuesday May 18, 2011 and ends Tuesday May 31, 2010 at 8 pm CST.

Winner will be drawn using random.org.

Winner will have 48 hours to contact me or another winner will be chosen.

Leave a separate comment for each entry.

Ways to enter:

1.  Follow my blog by google friend connect.

2.  Subscribe to my blog by email.

3.  "like" Marsha's Spot on facebook

4.  Friend me on facebook

5.  Follow me on twitter

6.  Follow me on networked blogs

7.  Join my blog frog community

8.  Vote for me on the fence

9.  Place my button on your website--leave URL where it can be found. (3 entries)

10.  Post about this giveaway on twitter, facebook, gather, your own blog, or anywhere else where it is allowed. (This can be done daily for one entry per day at the site of your choice)

Good luck!!

Disclaimer:  LaFamos PR sent me the album via download for the purpose of my review as well as the album to be used for the prize.  I was not compensated for this review.

WIP Wednesday 5/18/11

Welcome to WIP Wednesday.  I've tried to stay  busy around a busy schedule outside of the house.

I laid my quilt out and got the binding put on it.  That's as far as I got, but it won't take me long to sew around the edge and put in just a few more ties here and there.  It will then be listed in my etsy store.

This is how far I've gotten on my toothbrush rug.  I made my goal of putting in all the strips that I already had ready.  I also made my goal of getting a bunch more strips ready.  I'm in hopes that once I put in the strips that I have out now, it will be large enough for the floor space I intend it for.

I got an order in on Monday for dish scrubbies and washcloths, so I am working on those.  My goal is to have the order in the mail by Saturday morning.  After that, I have an order for one of the Minnie baby hats.

That's all for me this week.   Please click the buttons below to join one, or all of the WIP Wednesday blogs that I participate in.  It's very inspiring to see what others are making.

Oliver's Labels--Review

Today I would like to tell you about Oliver's Labels.

I was sent a sampling of the labels for children.   I chose to have my youngest grandson's name on the labels. (I wish I had thought to have first and last name instead of just his first name)  I chose the transportation theme.

Upon receiving my sample pack I was very impressed.  These are high quality labels and do just what they say!

Here are a couple of photos of how we used the labels:

Again, I am impressed.  So far, the glass has been through the dishwasher twice and the label is still stuck on, and still looks new.  The shirt has been washed once with the same results.

All stickers come with instructions for their use.

One benefit that I didn't take advantage of when getting my sample pack was putting on the Found-It Tracking System coding.  When ordering I was thinking mostly of labeling his drinking glasses over everything else. (another reason I didn't think about the last name)  But just think how many things you can label, and then, if the item is lost, the person who finds it can go online, put in the code and you are sent an email stating your item was found.  This is free, and a very valuable service offered.

There are a lot of design themes to choose from.  These are not just made to be for pre-schoolers!  I am seeing these used on your teens gym uniform and bag, or even your own work out items.  The list is limitless on what you can use these labels for.

You have a choice of buying one type of label in a set, or buying a variety of package sets.  Pricing is very reasonable.

Upon looking around the website I see that they also offer date labels, Kosher Kitchen labels and pantry labels.   Other products include:  Safety Wristbands, large and mini bag tags, and iron on clothing labels.   They also offer gift cards.   Great gift idea! 


I hope you will hop over to Oliver's Labels and check them out today.




Disclaimer: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com created by WebBizIdeas.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. Tomoson Product review & giveaway Disclosure.
 

Walgreen's and Wal Mart Shopping 5/16/11

At Walgreen's:

Sure deoderant--on sale with Walgreen's coupon for $1.50--used $1 coupon making it .50
Dove for Men Deoderant, on sale for $3.99--used $1 coupon  making it $2.99 and got $3 back in RR's making it a 1 cent money maker.
Finish Gel Tabs--on sale for $3.49, used .75 coupon making it $2.74 and got back $1.50 in RR's.

I spent $6.95 and saved $4.24 with coupons, plus have $4.50 in RR's for my next trip.

I had intended to make this a 2 transaction trip, however, I had planned Duncan Hines brownie mix on sale for $1 and to use a .50 coupon, and the Dole Fruit Crisps on sale for $1 and use a .75 coupon.  Oh, go figure, my Walgreen's doesn't carry either of those products.   I'm thinking it's time to write a letter to Walgreen's corporate.  I'm going to complain about this as well as complain about them always being out of the sale items that are the best deals!


I then had a thought!  Hey, I'm heading to Wal Mart, so I will take my 2 coupons and the Walgreen's ad and get Wal Mart to price match those 2 items.  Great plan until I realized as we were pulling in to Wal Mart that I left the ad at home!  GGRRRRR  go me....I'm so good at messing my shopping up.

Anyway, here is what I ended up with at Wal-Mart:

Carnation Instant Breakfast, $4.58, used $1 coupon making it $3.58
2-Wilkinson 4 pack razors for ..97 each.  I used 2-$1 coupons making them free.
2-Spic and Span spray cleaner for .97 each, used $1/2 coupon making them just .47 each.
3 pack of Ivory Soap for .97, used $1 coupon making it free.

I spent $5.19 and saved $5 with coupons.  I'm pretty impressed on this one.  I do like how as of yet, the cashier just checks the coupon when the register tells her too and even though the item was .97, still takes off the $1.  I'm enjoying looking for the good deals at Wal-Mart online now.
Not to mention....I printed 4 of the coupons from Inboxdollars so will get .10 each into my account.

Thanks for reading!

 

Dillon's (Kroger) Shopping 5/16/11--52% Savings

I can't seem to get much over just 50% savings on my shopping, but I'm working on it.  It's pretty easy to do a huge % savings when you are ONLY buying the good things with coupons.  However, there are things we need that there aren't coupons for (for the most part).

Dillon's is having the Mega Buy 10 Items get $5 off your order sale.  I bought 20 items getting $10 off total.  Pricing includes the .50 additional off each item.  My store doubles coupons, not to exceed $1 off.

Mega Event items:

4-Kraft BBQ sauce at .49 each (no coupons)
Ronzoli Smart Taste Pasta $1.49, used $1 coupon--.49
Puffs $1.48, used .50 coupon--.48
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice--$1.25, used .75 coupon--.25
Ragu Pasta Sauce  $1.17 (no coupon)
Dole Salad $1.99 (no coupon)
American Beauty Pasta .49 (no coupon)
Jello Refirdgerated Pudding, $1.99, used .60 coupon--.99
2-Cap'n Crunch cereal at $1.99 each, used 2-.50 coupons--.99 each
2-Gillette Shave Gel at $1.49 each, used 2-.55 coupons--.49 each
Philadelphia Cooking Creme--$2.29, used $1.50 coupon--.79
Freschetta Pizza--$4.99, used $2 coupon--$2.99
1 Gillette Body Wash and 1 Gillette deoderant--Body was was $2.99, used $2 coupon--.99-----I then used a Buy the Body Wash, get the Deoderant free coupon---taking off $3.90 (deoderant was $3.40 after .50 off with Mega Event savings, so I ended up with both items for just .49 each)


(Here is where I messed up--somehow miscounted on how many items and ended up paying the .99 each for 2 more  bottles of the BBQ sauce---this really ticks me off when I do things like this--$1.98 plus sales tax that I did not need to spend)


Other good deals:
Pantene shampoo on sale for $3.33, used $2 coupon--$1.33
gallon milk on sale for $2.99
Potatoes and strawberries were to total cost of $5.28, I used a $1 off coupon so both together cost me $4.28
Mentos--sale $1, used .35 coupon--.30
Kraft 2% cheese slices on sale for $1.79, used $1 coupon--.79
Kroger Ice Cream (my indulgent item), on sale for $2.50, used store coupon for .40 off--$2.10


In total, with sales tax I paid $49.16 for the items in the photo (notice that my daughter ate the Lunchable on the way home from the store)
I saved 52% including sales and coupons.   Including the $10 extra as coupons, I saved a total of $32.10 with coupons.


As much as I would like to get my % of savings higher, I am still very pleased with what I did get for the money.  Tonights supper---Freschetta pizza, Dole salad, and strawberries--yum! yum!  and at a total cost of $6.47 plus tax not including the milk we will drink.  Not bad at all!!

Mailbox Monday 5/16/2011

Another great week of mail this past week.
Magazines:
Sports Illustrated
People
Time
Entertainment Weekly
Forbes
Bloomsberg Businessweek
Ok! (I paid $2 for this subscription)

Other mail:
several pieces of hausernet mail
Scott's Liquid Gold Spray and Wood Wash to review
Book-Financial Recovery to review
Purex with Zout sample and $1 coupon
Postcard for a free drink at Starbucks
Zantac 150 sample and coupons
Pampers coupons
Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats Touch of Fruit sample box and coupons
Enchanted Movie stickers (used some of my Disney Reward points for these)

In my email:
$8.72 paypal from squidoo

Sunday Social Network Exchange with Frugality is Free

Are you looking for more connections with Twitter, Facebook, Networked Blogs, and/or Blog Frog?
Frugality is Free is the place to be on Sunday's!

She offers a separate linky for each of the 4 listed....choose one, or choose all.   Connections are important.  

Click the banner and hop on over to add your links, and connect with others on the lists.

Then stop back by her blog on Monday for the Monday morning google friend connect hop!