Frugal Friday With Marsha-- Meal Planning

 First of all, happy Good Friday to everyone.   We have family/church plans to go the Alley this afternoon and then the Good Friday service at church this evening.

This past week we finally got our acts together to do something we should have done months ago, that is start meal planning.

This week wasn't frugal as my daughter asked the children what they wanted to eat for the week.  She then went and bought all the foods from the plan.   We, or she, can't do that again for awhile, so for next week we will have to look at foods we have on hand and then plan the meals.

It's been so nice to look at the list and know what will be fixed over scrambling to decide at the last minute each evening!
For now we will be using a sheet of notebook paper stuck on the fridge, but I hope soon to order a magnetic meal planning board.

I love the 99 cent ebooks added to my kindle app, so I've added this one to my collection of frugal type books to my app:


There are lots of choices of kindle books to choose from on this subject.  I wish I could order and read them all for motivation.  If you would like to check some of them out, just click HERE.

I hope to give you an update next week that we have actually followed through with our plans!

Save $1 on Dole's Fruitocracy!

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Want more information about Fruitocracy?  Click HERE to visit their website.






Disclosure:  This information was sent to me to share with my readers, including images.  I was not compensated for this post, however it does contain affiliate links.

WIP Wednesday 3/23/16

I didn't end up getting a post written last week with the chaos surrounding my family.  I didn't get much done this week on my quilting/sewing/crafts, so it's a good thing that I have some things to share with you from the week before.

This past week I have been working on the Arkansas Crossroads quilt.  I've just been putting lines on to prepare to make the half square triangles and didn't take a picture of that.  However, at sit n' sew at the quilt shop I did get some of the half square triangles completed, and put together 3 blocks.

I got in some more crocheting on the prayer shawl:

I pulled out the t-shirt rug I started one movie day at church.   Yes, I know, it's no wonder the rugs don't get done when I am flipping back and forth working on 3 or 4 different ones, but we are having another movie day at church soon where I will work on this one again.

Last but not least, I did pull out my purple hexagons for the soscrappy color this month, and got several of those made.  I apologize for my photo being darker and blurred.  I took the picture with just my lamp on after grandkids had already fallen asleep here in the living room.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
3 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug--plus more to sell
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
T-shirt toothbrush rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper

2016 Finishes:
Smaller pink 4 patch quilt for charity
Pink 4 patch quilt for charity
Hexagon flower table runner

I am linking up with the following blogs:

Frugal Friday with Marsha-- Gardening on a Shoestring-- Book Review

So far my few gardening attempts this year are failing.  My seedlings never did sprout.   I rec'd the book Gardening on a Shoestring- 100 Fun Upcycled Garden Projects in and knew it would fit perfectly for this weeks Frugal Friday post.



Gardening on a Shoestring is exactly what we need around here!
This book is just pretty awesome.  Not only is it full of cool ideas, it also has sections with great gardening tips.

Chapters include:
How to be a Shoestring Gardener
Pots for a Pittance
Style on a Shoestring
Grow Food for Peanuts
How to Make New Plants for Free
How Not to Waste Money on Gardening Supplies
Keep Your Garden Healthy for (Almost) Nothing

I can't wait to read this book cover to cover, take notes, and most of all give some of these things a try.
What stands out to me right now is how to make starter pots with toilet paper rolls and newspapers.  I love those ideas!  Another idea in the book that I see that I know I will use is making raised beds from bricks.  I already have the black roll that you lay on the ground to help prevent weeds, and we have stacks of bricks in our garage just waiting to be used.

The tips alone throughout the book should really help me to know what I'm doing.   My dad was such an awesome gardener, and he gardened on a shoestring.  He grew up very poor, living with 5 brothers and a sister in a  tiny shack in a field in Missouri.  He learned hands on.  I wish I had paid more attention.  I see in this book how I can make my dream come true of gardening like my dad did.
I also hope to make use of several of the landscaping ideas in the book as well.

If you are a gardener, or like me, and want to be one, I highly recommend this book!




Disclosure:  I rec'd this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way and any opinions are my own.  This post does include affiliate links.

Frugal Friday With Marsha--Trip to the Casino

A trip to a casino and frugal just somehow don't seem to go together.  However, I took a day trip with my daughter and her friend this week to the Boot Hill Casino.
The original plan was that we were going the week of the 27th when my husband could go too.  That's his vacation week.  We found out that the tour company didn't have a bus going the Tuesday of that week.   We still wanted to go, so we did.

See, Village Tours, is having a special this month.  As long as you bring at least 2 friends with you, everyone rides free.  It's normally $35 a person for the day trip.  How can you pass up riding free when you still get the $25 in free play at the casino and the $10 food voucher?

I took along $30.  I had some good luck on my very first spin.  I spent $1.50 max bet on a quick hits machine and won $67.25 on my first spin.  I vowed I was going to save that cash out voucher and not cash it in until leaving.....but I didn't.  
What I did have was a LOT of fun.

Not a bad day out for $30.  I got the ride on the bus to the casino, $25 in free play on the slots, and a good lunch for that $30.....not to mention a day away that was lots of fun.  In the end I was literally playing a penny at a time on the slots....and wondering why I didn't do that all the time. Now I am itching to go back to do it.  Hubby and I do plan on going on a trip of our own in April for our birthdays and free steak dinners.

We discovered that the bus has 110 plug ins as well as a free wi-fi hot spot.  I was already doing some things on my phone like rabadaba and tsu on the bus ride with mobile data.  On the way home I used the wi-fi.  So, I still earned some pennies while gone, but had I known about the wi-fi, I would have brought my tablet and did some traffic exchange clicking too.

I took this picture as we were leaving.  That's the bus we were on.  It's a 2 hour bus ride each way then 5 hours at the casino for the day trip.

intelliARMOR 4-Port USB Charger Fits Our Family Needs

When I seen the intelliARMOR 4-Port USB Charger I knew it was something this family needs.  With 8 of us living in the house, and all of us having devices that need to be charged, it really is a need. (In fact, we need a second one  LOL)

Someone is always asking where an open plus is for charging.  Now with intelliARMOR we can just use one socket and 4 devices or other items can be charged all at the same time.

As you can see in my photo, it works not only for phones and tablets, but for other items as well.  We are charging a vape pen and a Playstation controller as well, all at the same time.

The charger is going to really come in handy when we go on our family camping trips.  We use the vehicle battery to charge with a unit plugged into the power port.  However, there is only one outlet and one USB port on it.  Now we will be able to use the outlet so that 4 devices can be charged at once.  No.....we can't go camping and not still use our devices.  Yes.....that is the world we live in now.  :)


*INPUT: 100-240V 50/60Hz 0.4A 

*OUTPUT: 5V 5A 

*Get Quality Charging Catered Directly Toward Your Devices' Charging Needs 








Disclaimer:  I rec'd this product in exchange for my honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.  Affiliate links are included.

WIP Wednesday --Back to My Schedule?

I decided Sunday I was going to try to get back to the schedule I made myself for getting things done.  I'm feeling a little out of control by not having set routines.

Sunday I pulled out the t-shirt latch hook rug to work on.

Monday I got out the 3 inch squares for the Arkansas Roads quilt so that I could start making the lines for the half square triangles.  That didn't work out well.  I got them out of the box and drew one whole line.  It's sit n' sew at the quilt shop this Friday night so I plan on working on something on it there.

Tuesday is doll sets and I went on the bus trip to the Boot Hill Casino again so took those along.  I did get a little work done on the rugs on the ride.  I carry this little bag in my purse so I can work on these in any down times---if I would just do it instead of messing on my phone.

I didn't restart my schedule until Sunday so that really is all that I got done since last Wednesday.
I did forget to mention last week that I finished the Hexagon Flower table runner.  Hopefully I will soon have it listed for sale in my etsy.

Wednesday is my day to work on the color of the month with the soscrappy blog scrap challenge.  It's purple this month so I will pull out purples in hexagons (which are my project to work on Saturday) and work on the purple 4 patches that I started last time the color was purple.

I have Thursdays to be to work on any other UFO.  I haven't decided yet which one that will be.  Then Friday is yo-yos.  

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
3 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug--plus more to sell
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
T-shirt toothbrush rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper

2016 Finishes:
Smaller pink 4 patch quilt for charity
Pink 4 patch quilt for charity
Hexagon flower table runner

I link up with the following blogs:

February 2016 Online Earnings

I have February tallied up.  I did do better in February than I did in January.  Now I just need to keep increasing the amount each month.

In February I received:

Viral traffic Games -- $9.83 paypal
PerkTV --$5 amazon (Use my code 860efbf6 and get 50 bonus points)
ReceiptHog -- $5 paypal  (use flend875 for the referral code for bonus spins)
Bing Rewards -- $5 amazon
Postmanhits -- $10.02 paypal
Lucktastic -- $5 amazon
viewpointforum -- $10 check
TrafficDynamite -- $18.00 paypal
Swagbucks  -- $25 amazon $50 paypal
TEPromos -- $4.62 paypal
AtomicMailer -- $13.44 paypal
Magical Journey Downline Builder -- $4.55 paypal
apptrailers -- $4.62 paypal (if you sign up, bonus code predictableuranus2 for bonus points)
zubeezone $3.21 paypal
squirlytraffic -- $5.32 paypal
TrafficMagician -- $13.74 paypal
Social Insiders  -- $50 Visa gift card

This comes to a total of $242.35

I paid out upgrades--$2.99 for Orbital traffic, $3.74 for squirly traffic, $2.50 for hotflashhits, $6.90 for postmanhits, $6.99 for traffic magician, and $2.50 for zubeedownlines.  I also joined chalkboard ads for a $1 lifetime.  I also chose to take the one time offers of $37 for lifetime on the first upgrades at redstagmailer and bigfootmailer.  
These come to a total of $100.62 of which $75 of it will never be paid again.

This takes my total to $141.73 for the month.

January I only ended up with $105.57 'in my pocket', so this is a good improvement.  Like I said, I want to see what's in my pocket continue to increase each month!

If you ever have any questions regarding my earning online, please don't hesitate to email me or you can contact me through the Wow app chat too!

WIP Wednesday--Yep, It's All Still in Progress

Oh my.  I'm pretty sure that I only managed to find time to work on one thing this week.  In fact, I don't even really have time to write this blog post!

My husbands mother passed away early Sunday morning.  We knew ahead of time and family had gathered over the weekend.  You can imagine that it's been pretty hectic with preparations and all that goes with it on top of my normal busy life.

Anyway, I got out my little brown squares with good intentions of putting together the ones from the mini charm pack for a table topper and then to get the rest of them in to 4 patches throughout the week.   My sewing machine and little ironing board and iron have set here next to me all week.
I did get the table topper started.  It will now be put away, probably until the quilt retreat.  I will try to find something for sashing, backing, and binding and pack it in a bag to take then. (At least that is my plan)

Hopefully things settle down again starting Friday----at least back to the normal about of being busy anyway!

Time to check in with the soscrappy blog and see what the color is for March.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
3 sets of doll blanket, pillows and rug--plus more to sell
Hexagon flower table runner
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
T-shirt toothbrush rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper

2016 Finishes:
Smaller pink 4 patch quilt for charity
Pink 4 patch quilt for charity

I'm linking up with:

New Renuzit Sensitive Scents--Step In For Your Chance To Win a Free Coupon

Welcome to Renuzit's newest line--Sensitive Scents.  Sensitive Scents is dermatologist tested and designed to perform without overpowering.

I am one that is sensitive to scents but I love scenting up my house.....my whole house!  I have just "put up with" the issues that the scents cause me.  I can honestly say that I have not had the issues with the Renuzit Sensitive Scents line.

Sensitive Scents are available in stores now and are offered in 3 scents:  Pure Water Blossom and Cucumber, Pure Ocean Breeze, and Pure White Pear and Lavendar.  Also available in 3 forms:  adjustable cones, universal scents oils and trigger spray.

I have Pure Blossom and Cucumber in the adjustable cone, which is now sitting in my bathroom.

Pure Ocean Breeze is in the plug-in.  Which, by the way, is a universal, meaning the oil will fit in any brand plug-in.

And, the super odor neutralizer trigger spray I have is the Pure White and Lavender.  I love using this spray all over the house, both in the air and on the furniture and drapes and curtains.

Of the 3 scents, I can't say that one is my favorite because I like them all.  I also like all off the products as well.  I would say that the trigger spray is my favorite since  I do take it all around the house with me.   I know that I will be purchasing more of the sensitive scents in the future.

Would you like the chance to try the New Renuzit Sensitive Scents for yourself?  Enter using the rafflecopter form below and 3 lucky winners will each receive a free coupon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Disclosure:  The Renuzit brand provided me with samples of Renuzit Sensitive Scents in exchang for a product review.  However, all opinions expressed are my own.