Monday, August 30, 2010

Win 4 tickets to the Arkansas VS. Tennessee Tech season opening game!

Petit Jean Meats is giving away FOUR tickets to the Arkansas VS. Tennessee Tech season opening game!   It's this Saturday so people need to register by this tomorrow (8/31) at 4:59 p.m. Go here to enter

Head over to their facebook fan page ( http://www.facebook.com/petitjeanmeats ) where it has details for the contest as well.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

1 week left to win $25 gift card and 50 Box Tops


Don't forget about the contest I have going on right now. You can win a $25 gift card to any Safeway store (Tom Thumb, Vans, Safeway, Dominick's, Genuardi's, Randall's, Pavillions, Carrs). You will also get 50 Box Tops for your school. Go here and enter. Only 1 week left!

Restaurant coupon for $2, 80% off, act fast!

I used one of these when we went on vacation this summer and I must say, it was awesome for a family of 5 to eat out, at sit down restaurant, and pay less than $20. Click here and find your restaurant. Just put CLEARANCE in the promo box at checkout and get it for $2. What a bargain. But hurry. This end August 31st.

Get a $3 coupon from Purina Pro Plan Selects

Click here for your $3 coupon for Purina Pro Plan Selects dog food. I have not seen this dog food before so I have no idea how much it is. I hope, because it looks like a new item, it will be on sale and we can get this for real cheap or even free, dare I say it? You will have to register to access this coupon.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

5 simple things you can do for your child to help keep their smiles healthy and bright."

 I am a big believer in oral health and have been taking my kids to the dentist since they were little. I had a lot of problems when I was a teenager with crooked teeth and didn't my kids to face the same kind of problems. So when it comes to keeping your child's smile bright and teeth healthy, what do you do?

Here are 5 things I do:

1. Brush twice daily. Yes, it's a no brainer but there are times when it feels like a tug of war and you have to stay on them to make sure it's done right.

2. Let your kids pick out their toothbrush and toothpaste. It will make them more likely to use them if they've picked them out.

3. Floss. There are new, what I call, flossy-picks out that are easy for your kids to use and they can really do a good job with them I find.

4. Go to the dentist. As soon as your child cuts his/her first tooth, take them to the dentist. Get them used to the smells and sounds of the dentist office so when they do need to get work done it won't frighten them.

5. Chew sugarless gum or eat an apple after a meal when you get to your toothbrush. I call them 'nature's toothbrush'.


“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Trident blogging program, making me eligible to get a $25 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.” (link to: http://trident.twittermoms.com/about)

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Safeway Back-To-School Spark Contest



The Safeway family of stores (which includes Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons, and Genuardi’s) is making it simple to give back with “2 Ways 2 Earn” cash for your schools with Box Tops for Education and the “10% Goes Back to Schools” program.

Box Tops for Education has already given away over $320 million to help the more than 69 thousand schools participating. And if that wasn’t enough, earning Box Tops is even easier this year with four new brands participating in the program: Progresso Soup, Totino’s Pizza, Betty Crocker Cake Mixes and Gold Medal Flour.

To help your local schools even further just look for the “10% Goes Back to Schools” yellow school bus tags on over 2,000 of your favorite items throughout Safeway from August 11th – September 14th. When you purchase participating products with your Club Card, Safeway will give 10% of the purchase price to the local school of your choice.

Here’s how it works:


  • Check your receipt from August 11 – September 14. The total will be updated each time you shop.
  • Beginning on September 18, a redemption code will be printed at the bottom of your receipt.
  • Visit backtoschools.escrip.com before October 13 to choose your favorite participating local school, then simply enter your redemption code to make your donation.

To learn more about Box Tops for Education and Safeway’s “10% Goes Back to Schools” program, visit www.2ways2earn.com. And while you’re there, don’t forget to enter the Safeway Bonus Box Tops Sweepstakes for a chance to win 1,000 Bonus Box Tops for the participating school of your choice! 



You could also win a $25 Safeway gift card (also valid at Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Vons, and Genuardi’s) that you can use to purchase your favorite Box Tops items, in addition to a Bonus Box Tops certificate with a value of 50 Bonus Box Tops. 

Also, check out Box Tops for Education on Facebook today! Visit Box Tops for Education on Facebook to “Like” the program and keep up with the latest news from Box Tops.

(Please note  the Safeway gift card, Bonus Box Tops certificate, information and giveaway were all given to me from Safeway and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.)



To enter this contest please leave me a comment telling me why you’ve entered the Safeway Bonus Box Tops Sweepstakes for 1,000 Bonus Box Tops and how your local participating school could benefit from winning.

For extra entries you can do the following, and then come back and leave me a separate comment for each one you do.
1. Tweet about it
2. Follow me on Twitter
3. Blog about it
4. Subscribe to my blog
5. Follow me on Google

Thank you for all of your interest. This contest will end Sept 5th at 11:59pm CST. Start spreading the word.........

Thursday, August 12, 2010

10 tips for saving money during the back-to-school season

It's hard when you have kids going back to school and the list for each of them is as long as your arm. TwitterMoms has joined with Staples to try to help make it a bit easier for moms and dads this year.
Here are my 10 tips for saving money during the back to school season....

#1. Don't wait for the back to school season. Periodically through the year things your kids will need for school go on sale. Stock up then. When your kid comes home with a note saying 'Little Johnny needs xyz' then you have to run out and find whatever you can and inevitably pay a lot more for it.

#2 Sign up for emails from companies. I just got an email in my inbox this morning for a 20% discount off of Dell computers. I get emails from Staples and many other places letting me know of upcoming sales with coupon codes to buy online, etc.

#3. At the end of the year your child (at least MY child) will get a list of supplies your child will need for the upcoming school year. Stick it in your purse and carry it around with you just in case you come across a good sale.

#4. ThredUP I found this website and it's awesome! It's a website where you can trade off clothing your child has outgrown for clothes that will fit. You list a 'box' of clothes for others to get. They pay the shipping, you send the box. Then, you pick a box of clothes that will fit your child, pay the shipping and you get the box in your mailbox. No shopping involved. I just got my first box in the mail the other day and it was fantastic!

#5. Garage Sales/Yard Sales. I haven't been out this year, but in the past I was able to get a lot of clothes for my son at yard sales. When kids are small they don't have a lot of time to wreck their clothes before they're outgrown so this works very well.

#6. Match coupons with sales. This is likely the only time of the year where you will find coupons for things like pens etc. Take advantage of it and get free pens, stick it notes and more.

#7. CVS. My favorite 3 letters in the alphabet. Go to CVS, scan your Extra Care Card and get coupons for things you can buy in the store. This time of the year they have a lot of stationary coupons that print out, and along with the sales they have every week, you can nearly stock up for an entire year on some things. I still have pens from shopping there last year.

#8. Hand me downs. I know it sounds simple but a lot of people don't have kids they can hand clothes down to. Reach out to your extended family, like cousins and such. There must be someone. Offer them something your child has grown out of for their small ones. It all pays off in the long run.

#9. Join Freecycle. I can't tell you how many times I've given things away or received things from this website. It's an online swap. If you need something, ask for it, you just never know. If you have something, offer it. Even though it's no good to you, it might be perfect for someone else.

#10. Your county. I've seen so many places in my area (near Dallas) that hold 'back to school clinics'. They offer free school supplies, free shoes, free haircuts, free immunizations, free dental and free eye checkups. If I lived closer I would have gone. There is one in my county as well, I just have to find out where. Call your local Chamber of Commerce to find out where your closest one is.



“I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Staples blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.” (make sure you link to: http://staples.twittermoms.com/about)

Monday, August 2, 2010

My favorite ways to earn money and gift cards online

I must admit, about a year ago when I started filling out surveys and doing reviews I did it only sporadically so I didn't reap too many rewards for it. Since I decided to concentrate on a few specific places and do every survey that was thrown at me, wow, it's become so much more profitable.

Of course, we all know about Swagbucks. Just use their search engine and get 'bucks', easy as that. Get enough swagbucks and you can get prizes, including gift cards to places like Amazon (my favorite) and Paypal. And now they even have surveys you can do to get to your points goal faster!

There is Opinion Outpost, which is one of my top 3 survey sites. Typically, a survey is around 20+ points. You need at least 50 points to be able to cash out. My favorite way of cashing out is by getting an Amazon e-certificate. For 50 you get $5. For 65 points you get $6.50 etc. I just bought my son's 'back to school' shoes from Amazon by using money I earned from Opinion Outpost. I love, love, love this site. And you can do it fast too. There are times when I can earn $10 in a week!

Lightspeed Panel is another good one for earning gift cards. I generally get CVS or sometimes Amazon from them. They send their cards out quick too. It's a little harder to qualify for their surveys and you have to act quick or they're 'filled up' but you can earn points quick on here too if you qualify for the survey.

Ipsos I-Say is a quick earner too but they don't have as many surveys that come out. It takes a bit longer to earn the points but if you get a few good surveys it happens fast. I just got a $10 American Express gift card in the mail after doing only 3 surveys. Not too shabby! And I got the card fast too, so that's a good thing.

My Points is an easy way to earn points too. All you have to do is sign up and click on emails you get. Each time you do that you get 5 points. You'd be surprised how quickly it can add up too. There are also surveys you can take. You can buy things through participating websites (too many to mention) to earn more points too. You can get Target, Walmart, CVS gift cards as well as Paypal and Amazon e-certificates too.

I think my all time favorite is Expo TV. They send you an 'invite' to a product. You decide if you want to review it. If you do you earn points. You have to have the product and show it to review on video but these are items that I almost always have at home. Here is my feed if you want to get some idea what I mean. This is THE BEST place to earn enough points for gift cards or other things.
There is also a program associated with them called Tryology where you get free products if you will post a video review of them. It's awesome!
I can't rave enough about Expo TV. Soon they'll be coming out with more ways to earn points too. I love this place. That's why I saved the best until last!!