Goodbye Webkinz

Today was the third strike for Webkinz.
My kids have really enjoyed taking care of their pets
and playing games in a nice, kid-friendly environment.
Or so I thought.


The first strike came a few months ago
when my son approached me
and asked me if there was a bad word
that sounded like "dam".
Um...
When I inquired further why he was asking,
he told me he had heard it on Webkinz in a joke.
I reviewed the Webkinz video that contained the joke
and was shocked to see that he was indeed correct.
The joke says: What did the fish say when he swam into a wall?
The answer is the aforementioned word in question.
Really?!?!
I didn't think my kids would be learning bad words on Webkinz!


The second strike was a month or so ago
with a maternity ad which had a woman in a bra!


And today my daughter let me know that
there was another ad on there this afternoon
with a woman in a bra.


I've read that Webkinz edited the video with the joke
and that you can inform them about
inappropriate content in their ads,
but isn't that their job?
After all, they are the ones making the money
on the animals and the ads combined.
If they say they're providing a kid-friendly environment,
shouldn't they make sure that is true?
Shouldn't they be the ones who are making sure
that their ads are aimed at the right target audience?

They don't care about my kids.
They care about money, but they won't get any more from us.

For my family, I can no longer risk being surprised
by what we might stumble upon on Webkinz.
And with that, we bid Webkinz,
"Adieu!"

What I'm Busy Doing

I'm busy with life and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. The main things that I am concentrating my time and attention on right now are growing in my faith, raising my children, homeschooling, keeping house, couponing, saving money, and eating healthy.


In efforts to carve more time out of my day, I have been eyeing the possibility of doing once-a-month-cooking. I'm getting closer to making that a reality and my mom is going to do it with me. I've read that having a partner makes it more enjoyable and I can't think of anyone else I'd rather do it with. =)

The main website I have been looking at is Once a Month Mom. There are a few different styles of menus to choose from and although I can't see myself using all of the recipes in one menu, there are some great ideas. The whole foods menu appeals to me the most, as it has the least amount of processed foods and is more made-from-scratch cooking, which is more my style. There is a new menu each month and it is definitely a great tool to check out.


Right now I'm in the process of using up the food I have in my freezer and I'm not buying meat right now. When you do this monthly cooking, you want to use fresh as much as possible. I'm getting closer to having the room in my freezer that I will need to store the food I end up cooking.


At any rate, I'm at least going to give this a try and see if it gives me a little more time during the day. I'm hoping that it does, but I won't know until I do it. If anything, it will give my mom and I something to do together and make some memories. =)


Have you ever tried once-a-month-cooking? Do you have any tips or suggestions?

Drugstore Coupon Shopping Notes 5/22

I just got back from my trip to Walgreens and CVS and I had a few notes to share with any one else who is doing this whole coupon adventure.
First of all, I did extremely well in spite of some hiccups.

I ended up spending a total of: $38.45 OOP
I received back $40 in Register Rewards from Walgreen's.
I think that's pretty awesome! =)
Here's some things I found out today that are mentionable:
1. The BOGO Suave Body Wash coupon that a whole bunch of matchup lists said would be in the 5/22 Red Plum Unilever insert... NOT in mine. It's possible that this is a coupon in other states, but I had 4 copies of the paper and I went through that insert 5-6 times (trust me, I was desperate to find it) and it wasn't in there. Anyhoo, if you happen to live in AZ and actually found it, would you please let me know where exactly? I would love to know if I'm blind for real! =P
2. The $2 off any Revlon Color Cosmetic coupon DID NOT work on the nail polish at CVS. So, I politely (and calmly) asked the cashier to take those off of my order... I hope my embarrassment wasn't too noticeable. ;-) It's possible this might work at a different location, but I thought I should let you know about my experience.
3. I had $3 off of Rimmel Stay Matte Foundation that I got HERE and I had 2 of these coupons. At my CVS, these were 75% and so when they rang up, they OWED ME $1.50ish! I used this overage and another coupon to buy some Cover Girl eye shadow. Anyways, with this coupon, it seems like you can get a pretty good deal on this makeup. I am getting close to empty on the stuff I'm using right now, so this was great for me!
4. I have read Arizona Walgreen's coupon policy, but it didn't mention how many transactions a customer is limited to. That said, when I went to checkout today and told the cashier I would have 4 separate transactions and that I would be happy to get back in line for each one, she informed me that she is only supposed to do 2 transactions. She was very nice and it wasn't a heated discussion or anything. She did say she would go ahead (even though I told her it was okay not to). At the end, I did ask her about that and she said they're not supposed to, but it depends on how busy they are and what time of the day it is and if you let them know you have more than 2, it's okay. Okay, I thought I did that when I checked out... hmm? That's not very clear, but I think I will keep it to 2 transactions next time.
5. The Complete Contact Solution deal and the Scunci Hair Elastics are an awesome deal at Walgreen's this week. They end up being FREE with rewards you get back, but make sure you go back and spend your rewards on another great deal during the week or next week (before the reward expires) or the contact solution and hair bands don't end up being free.
6. Even though I've done hardly any shopping at CVS, I scanned my CVS card at the kiosk in the store and a coupon for a free bag tag printed up, so definitely take the extra couple of minutes to scan your card... you might get something good!
7. Finally, here's the matchup lists I used for my shopping this week. Both of them are from The Coupon Counselor. <---- thank you! =)
CVS coupon matchups and deals
Walgreens coupon matchups and deals
So those are my shopping notes from my drugstore shopping today! How did you do?

linked up with Living Well Spending Less

Saved From the Garbage Muffins

Okay, that's not the REAL name of these muffins, but I was trying to get your attention.
But seriously, the whole reason why I made these muffins was to save certain ingredients from the garbage can!
Over the past few days, I have been cleaning food out of my refrigerator and instead of throwing food away, I've been coming up with a way to use it. I've come up with some pretty yummy eats doing this and the great thing is that I'm not throwing food away, so I'm saving money! Cha-ching! =)


Here's what I wanted to use up:

Okay, let's see... we've got some applesauce, a couple of overripe bananas, a zucchini that's almost rotten, and a bit of crushed pineapple.


Here's what I came up with and they turned out delicious!!

The recipe is loosely based on THIS ONE from allrecipes (which is delicious, btw), but you will see that my version is an entirely new creation! TONS less oil, less sugar, and more yummy, nutritious ingredients. I would have loved to have used a combination of whole wheat flour and white, but I had no whole wheat flour on hand... boo! =( That would have increased the nutritional value of these muffins a bit. Feel free to try it with whole wheat flour and add whatever you want! I also think I could have gotten away with less sugar. I will probably try a bit less next time. I think these would be fantastic with nuts, but I planned on letting Baby Girl have some, so I left those out. Enjoy!

Better-For-You Zucchini Banana Muffins
Click here for a printable version
Makes approximately 18 regular-size muffins or 3 dozen mini muffins


Ingredients:

2 bananas, mashed
⅓ C. unsweetened applesauce
⅛ C. canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
¾ C. sugar
1-1/2 C. flour
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. baking soda
½ TBS. ground cinnamon
1 zucchini, grated
⅓ C. crushed pineapple
½ C. raisins


1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease muffin pan or line with muffin liners. (Note: I had much better success without the liners. I just gave each muffin cup a light grease and they came out easily. The ones in the paper liners stuck really bad to the paper and the muffins didn’t come out too nicely from the paper. FYI!)

2. Combine the first five ingredients in a medium-size mixing bowl. Mix until well combined. Add the sugar and mix until combined.


3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and ground cinnamon. Mix to combine.


4. While stirring, add flour mixture to wet mixture until ingredients are well combined.

5. Add in the zucchini, pineapple, raisins, and any other chunkier ingredients at this time. Stir to combine and distribute fruit evenly throughout batter.

6. Distribute among muffin cups and bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Serve piping hot out of the oven or cold. They’re good either way!

Here's the skinny on these muffins according to caloriecount: 1 serving/1 regular-size muffin: 109 calories, 2.1 grams fat, 21 mg cholesterol, 13.4 grams sugar, 1.8 grams protein.

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Muffin Monday

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Wise Shopping Trip Results 5/12

I wanted to share my shopping results with you from yesterday's trip. It's not too late to get in on the deals and it's kind of fun and challenging to save money. I even made a video of my shopping trip which is at the bottom of this post. It was fun to do.

I will mention that wise shopping isn't just using coupons. It's shopping the store deals and when possible, matching up that great deal with a coupon. I really didn't use a whole lot of coupons on this last shopping trip (about a dozen), but I still saved 78%.

Here's the goods:

$110.34 worth of groceries for $24.02!!

Here's the run down:

Walgreen's

Total: $19.61

Savings: $20.54

Rebate & Reward: $19.00

This shopping trip ended up costing $0.61!!

Check out the matchup list for Walgreen's HERE.
Deals for Walgreen's end Saturday!

Basha's

Total: $8.67

Savings: $13.57
Check out the matchup list for Bashas' HERE.

Fry's

Total: $4.38

Savings: $12.98
View the matchup list for Fry's HERE.

Albertson's

Total: $10.36

Savings: $20.23

View the matchup list for Albertson's HERE.

My silly video!!

Hope you enjoyed today's post!

Grocery Deals for 5/11 - 5/17

Here's some links where you can go to see what's on sale this week here in AZ. Follow the links to find the lists for the deals.

Fry's - Go HERE


Bashas' - Go HERE

Albertson's - Go HERE

Safeway - Go HERE

A friend of mine also told me about this site: GrocerySmarts

This Week's Menu

This is what is going to be on our plates this week.

Weekly menu planning is a great way to save money.

You not only use up what you have,

but you don't make as many trips to the grocery store

where you inevitably buy items you

weren't originally planning on buying.

Those extra shopping trips add up!

Monday

Chicken & Veggie Stir-fry

(my way of cleaning out the vegetable bin)

Leftover Mongolian Beef

Fried Rice

Tuesday

Corned Beef & Cabbage

Wednesday

Grilled Salmon

Rice Pilaf

Sweet Potato Oven-baked Fries

Thursday

Skillet Beef & Noodles

Carrots w/ Garlic

Friday

Leftovers

Saturday/Sunday

More Leftovers!! :D

What's on your menu this week?

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Thanks so much for stopping by!