Save Money on Gas + Fuel Rewards Giveaway

April 19, 2013 By 45 Comments
FRN Card

save money on gasGas is so expensive! As the price has gone up and down over the years, I’ve come up with some easy habits that help me save money on gas. I bet you have a few, too! Here are my top 5 tips:

  1. Bundle your errands. Choose one day a week to get them all done, and plan to hit a shopping center that has everything you need (grocery, post office, etc.). Bundling errands can be challenging with small children. While you may be able to tackle more stores in one run, they often can’t handle the in-and-out of the car and endless carts. Pack snacks, handheld activities, and some “rewards” for good little helpers.
  2. Stay home more. Instead of meeting out at the mall playground or restaurant, host a playdate at your house for backyard fun (sprinkler, baby pool, or bubbles) or an indoor potluck. Kids love playing with “new to them” toys!
  3. Choose a car with better mileage. We have two cars, a minivan and a late-model sedan. Since the sedan gets better mileage, I use it for longer drives or whenever I don’t need to carry the kids around. It’s a small savings, but every little bit helps.
  4. Use gas programs. Many grocery stores offer cents-off gas when you buy certain products or spend a certain amount. I’m excited to have another option–Fuel Rewards Network Program–to test out.
  5. Know where gas costs less. Where I live, the inner gas stations have lower prices than those next to the highways. You can also check apps like  GasBuddy for price comparisons, especially helpful when you’re traveling.

save money on gas

I knew my MoneywiseMoms readers would be thrilled to hear about Fuel Rewards Network Program, a new way to save money on gas nationwide at Shell stations. You can earn savings per gallon by linking your grocery store loyalty card to your FRN card, linking up a payment card to earn while dining out, or for shopping online through the FRN website. Plus, each time you shop at a Shell station (i.e. car washes), you earn savings. On average, FRN Members are saving .31 per gallon on fuel at Shell through the Fuel Rewards Network.

save money on gas

Five lucky MoneywiseMoms readers will each win a pre-loaded Fuel Rewards Network card with $1.00/gallon of fuel savings, up to 20 gallons!

You have three ways to enter. Leave a separate comment for each task that you complete:

1)  Tell me one way you save money on gas.

2) Visit Fuel Rewards Network online and sign up for a card (it’s FREE).

3) Follow both MoneywiseMoms and Fuel Rewards Network on Twitter and tweet about the giveaway: Win a pre-loaded @FuelRewards card from @MoneywiseMoms #giveaway  http://bit.ly/Z51ASV

I’ll choose the five winners of this giveaway on Friday, April 26th at 11:00pm EST. Thanks for reading MoneywiseMoms, and good luck!

 

**Update: This giveaway is over! Congrats to winners Tina, Nooreen, Pat, Jennifer F., and Livivua!

 

Disclosure: This giveaway is provided by Fuel Reward Network, and I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways

Stick to a Tight Budget for Variable Expenses

April 17, 2013 By 1 Comment
Stick to a Tight Budget

I am blogging on behalf of Visa Prepaid and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Discover more at http://www.VisaPrepaid.com or view more Visa Prepaid videos at http://www.youtube.com/visaprepaid.

Stick to a Tight Budget

How do you stick to a tight budget for variable expenses like clothing? It’s so easy to impulse buy, especially for the kids. For years, I shopped the big consignment sales or yard sales for my kids’ clothing, but now that they’re older, it’s very difficult to find used clothing in great condition. I’ve switched to online shopping for my kids’ clothing, but I still buy low and stick to my monthly budget. Try these strategies:

  • Shop off-season: You can get clearance prices at the end of season for clothing like swimsuits and shorts. By buying a size or two up, get winter wear for your kids in the spring.
  • Shop clearance sections: Every online store has a tab for clearance and sale merchandise. I usually buy multiples of the same item once I know it fits my kids well.
  • Watch for free shipping and other offers: Sign up for emails from your favorite online retailers, and you’ll be notified for free shipping and offers like $40 of $100 that bring your clothing prices down even further. I always shop smart online by combining free shipping with coupon codes and shopping through a cashback portal like Ebates.
  • Set and stick to a budget: I have an amount set monthly for our clothing budget, and I work within it to replace shoes and clothing for all five of us. It can be challenging!

stick to a tight budget

One tool to help you stick to a tight budget when shopping online is the Visa Prepaid Card. You can load your card with a set amount, and use it at stores locally or online when shopping for your family. Look how easy it is to activate and load your card:

With a Visa Prepaid card, you can stick to any of your variable budget categories each month–clothing, grocery shopping, eating out, etc.–just by loading an amount and sticking to it.

How do you stick to a tight budget for variable expenses?

 

Original image by LizMarie_AK at Flickr

Disclosure: I am blogging on behalf of Visa Prepaid and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s. Discover more at http://www.VisaPrepaid.com or view more Visa Prepaid videos at http://www.youtube.com/visaprepaid.

Filed Under: Online Shopping Tagged With:

Honey Wheat Banana Bread

April 16, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Honey Wheat Banana Bread

This Honey Wheat Banana Bread is a great example of how changing a few ingredients in a favorite recipe can increase the nutritional value. I switched the regular flour to whole wheat and added some ground flax seed for additional fiber. It’s still a treat, but it’s better for you. With a base recipe like this, you can add chopped walnuts or mini chocolate chips, whatever your family enjoys.

Honey Wheat Banana Bread

Print
Honey Wheat Banana Bread
 

Ingredients
  • 1 3/4 whole wheat flour
  • 2 Tbsp ground flax seed (optional)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 3 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees, and prepare a loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. In a bowl, combine the flour, flax seed (if using), baking soda, and salt.
  3. Cream oil and honey in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, bananas and water, and blend well.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing well.
  5. Pour into greased loaf pan, and bake for 55-60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

My kids love a small piece of Honey Wheat Banana Bread with a hard-boiled egg for breakfast, or with a cold glass of milk as an afterschool snack. Need more ideas? See this great list of 25 Healthy Afterschool Snacks contributed by readers on the MoneywiseMoms Facebook Page.

 

Honey Wheat Banana Bread is linked up to Happy Hour Friday at Happy Hour Projects, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam and Fluster’s Creative Muster Party at Fluster Buster.

Filed Under: Recipes

Tax Day Freebies for 2013

April 13, 2013 By 2 Comments
tax day freebies

tax day freebies

This Monday, April 15th, is Tax Day! Plan to grab a few of these Tax Day Freebies and Deals to get a little perk for yourself:

AMC Theatres: Get a FREE Small Popcorn all tax weekend with printable coupon, good today through April 15th.

Arby’s: Choose from a  FREE Value Sized Curly Fries or Potato Cakes with printable coupon from their FB page, good Monday, April 15th, only.

Boston Market: Get their IRS (Incredible Rib Special) of two rib meals for just $10.40, no coupon needed, all day on Monday, April 15th.

Bruegger’s Bagels: All tax weekend, get a Big Bagel Bundle for $10.40 with printable coupon from their FB page.

Cinnabon: Get FREE Cinnabon Bites at participating locations on Monday, April 15th only.

Great American Cookie Co: Get a FREE Birthday Cake Cookie, no coupon needed, at participating locations.

HydroMassage: Get a FREE Hydromassage with printable coupon, April 15-19th, at a HydroMassage location near you.

Office Depot: Use one printable coupon to get a FREE Black & White Copy of your tax return. You can use another printable coupon for up to 5 lbs. of FREE Shredding on April 16th. They have another coupon out for shredding that runs through May 1st.

Panda Express: For some reason, they’re offering their Tax Day Deal on Wednesday instead–get a  FREE Samurai Surf & Turf on April 17th with coupon (or show on your phone).

Schlotsky’s: Get a FREE Original Sandwich with purchase of 32oz Fountain Drink and chips, no coupon needed, on April 15th only.

Sonic: Get Half-priced Drinks and Slushes  all day on Monday, April 15th.

 

Know of any other Tax Day Freebies?
Please let us know in the comments below!


Original image by StockMonkeys.com

Filed Under: Store Deals

Financial Goals Review–End of 1st Quarter

April 12, 2013 By 6 Comments
Quarter 1 Review

financial goals reviewTime for an update on our 2013 Financial Goals. I’ve had my head down, working hard at a bunch of side hustles to bring in extra money, and I’m struggling a little bit to keep up with it all. But it’s worth it! We are so close to being debt-free except for our mortgage.

Here’s our list of 2013 Financial Goals and the progress we’ve made on each one:

  1. Pay off student loan debt by the end of July. ON OUR WAY!
    I’ve been working so, so hard on this, doing everything I can to keep us on budget and earn extra money wherever I can–doing childcare, mystery shopping, selling on Craigslist and my neighborhood FB group–and we’re still on track to get this done. Very exciting!
  2. Fully fund our emergency fund with 3 months of salary by the end of December. WAITING FOR #1
    Once we make the last debt payment in July, we’ll start piling that money and anything extra I can earn into our savings so we have a fully-funded emergency fund.
  3. Learn about our retirement options by the end of March. DONE!
    This was put on the list because we’ve been procrastinating, so setting the goal really made a difference. We educated ourselves on how much we’re depositing now through my husband’s job and how we’ll proceed after we’ve accomplished goals 1 & 2. It feels good to have that figured out.
  4. Set and utilize budgets for four quarterly expenses: new tires, a new couch, a beach trip, and Christmas (we are traveling this year). CHANGED
    Somehow I didn’t realize how dumb this goal was–where do we get the money for these things when every cent is budgeted and going towards debt payoff? I had to buy the new tires, so that’s done, but the couch will wait until after we get the emergency fund established (#2). The beach trip is happening for less than we thought and as a celebration of accomplishing #1. Christmas will have to be planned for, but I can’t save for it until #1 is done.
  5. Meet more often to go over monthly expenditures and quarterly/yearly progress. ONGOING
    So far, so good. Last year, we were lazy about having regular conversations about monthly expenses and changes (like insurance costs going up, etc.). We’re talking more regularly and remembering to celebrate progress–like when our student loan (#1) went under $15k and when I won a grocery gift card from a raffle. That means another $50 can go toward the debt!

How are you doing on your 2013 Financial Goals?

 

 Image from Calsidyrose at Flickr

Filed Under: Family Finance

Thinking Ahead to Summer

April 10, 2013 By 6 Comments
Twins Hiking

Thinking Ahead to Summer
There are only 42 days left in the school year, as my son has figured out. It’s 90 degrees here today, the community pool has just been cleaned and filled, and the kids are itching for summer already. What happened to spring? I admit–I’m thinking ahead to summer, too. The season will run smoother when I plan ahead for:

  • how we’ll work our schedule around swim team (including my volunteering as head of concessions)
  • how we’ll eat healthy and stay on budget with late nights & laziness
  • finding free/low-cost activities I can do with older kids (two 7yo’s, a 9 and a 10)

What’s on your mind about the summer?
What do you expect to be challenging?

Filed Under: Kids

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

April 9, 2013 By 5 Comments
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

When you have kids with food allergies, you get used to cooking from scratch so you can control the ingredients. Even if you don’t have dietary restrictions, I encourage you to make your own foods so you can avoid the negatives of processed foods (high sodium, MSG, and corn syrup) and add nutrition where you can. It’s very easy to add veggies to this Homemade Spaghetti Sauce, and you can use it as a base for vegetable-heavy meals like pizza or Vegetarian Ziti.

Homemade Spaghetti Sauce

Print
Homemade Spaghetti Sauce
 

Ingredients
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 28oz can crushed tomatoes
  • 18 oz can tomato paste (or 3 small cans)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 Tbsp basil
  • 1 Tbsp oregano
  • 1 Tbsp thyme
  • 1 Tbsp parsley
  • 1 Tbsp sugar (to reduce acid)

Instructions
  1. Over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic until softened.
  2. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, and water.
  3. Reduce heat to low. Stir in seasonings, cover, and simmer 1-2 hours or until sauce is desired consistency.

I usually double this recipe and end up with enough sauce to make multiple meals for the freezer (like baked ziti or stuffed shells) along with dinner that night and a little container’s worth for homemade pizza or calzones. It depends on the size of your family and how saucy you like your meals!

If homemade spaghetti sauce is not your thing, there are plenty of other ways to save money by making your own versions of processed foods. Watch my quick video Make it Yourself for more ideas.

Linked up to Recipe Link Up at The Newlywed Table, Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts, Fluster’s Creative Muster Party at Fluster Muster, Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty & Bedlam and Cookit Blogit at Diary of a Frugal Family.

Filed Under: Recipes

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway & 100 Swagbucks to New Members {Expired}

April 8, 2013 By 121 Comments
swagbucks signup bonus

I always love sharing an Amazon Gift Card giveaway with you, but this one comes with a bonus! If you’re a regular MoneywiseMoms reader, you know I’ve been earning Swagbucks and redeeming them for gift cards (like Amazon, Starbucks, Lands End, and more!) since 2009. With just a few clicks and searches a day, I’ve been able to add to my family budget to the tune of hundreds of dollars a year!

amazon gift card giveaway

What is Swagbucks?
Swagbucks is a search engine where you earn “Swagbucks” randomly each time you search, plus there are tons of other ways to earn via the Swagbucks website. Redeem those bucks for all kinds of rewards, like magazine subscriptions, video games, or gift cards. I usually turn my Swagbucks in for $5 Amazon GCs, because that’s the best trade-in ratio in the program, but I’ve always gotten Starbucks cards (for teacher gifts), Lands End gift cards, and more.

How do I earn Swagbucks?
Watch my videos to see how I earn Swagbucks that I redeem for gift cards: How to use the SB Toolbar and How to earn doing 3 Daily Tasks.

Join Swagbucks Now
If you sign up with Swagbucks by this Friday, April 12th, with special code MONEYWISE70 you’ll get a bonus that starts you off with 100 Swagbucks. Make sure you enter my special code in the box that says “Sign Up Code” when you get there. Those bonus bucks are a great way to get started! Then you can start doing a few searches or clicks a day to start earning more. It only takes 450 Swagbucks to get a $5 Amazon Gift Card, and there are lots of other prizes you can earn.

What’s New at Swagbucks
In addition to the usual ways to earn, check out the Shop & Earn section, where you earn Swagbucks for shopping online through their portal. You can earn 3 times the Swagbucks for shopping Walmart.com during the month of April. There’s also a new look for SBTV, which lets you run videos in the background while you work (or you can do it on your phone), earning Swagbucks all the while. I do this on my phone with the SBTV app and it earns me a lot each day!

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Giveaway: Two $25 Amazon Gift Cards
Swagbucks has generously offered me a $25 Amazon Gift Card to giveaway to two lucky MoneywiseMoms readers! If you’re reading this post in email or RSS feed, you’ll need to click over to the blog to comment. Leave a comment for each of the entries you complete.

THREE CHANCES TO WIN:

1) If you’re already a Swagbucks member, leave a comment below telling me how you earn Swagbucks. If you’re not, sign up with Swagbucks now and tell me your username.

2) Like MoneywiseMoms and Swagbucks on Facebook so you can stay in touch.

3) Subscribe to my email newsletter to get MoneywiseMoms updates, and leave a comment letting me know you have done this. If you are already subscribed, just say so.

 

I’ll choose the two winners of this giveaway on Friday, April 12th at 11:00pm EST. Thanks for reading MoneywiseMoms, and good luck!


Disclosure: This giveaway is provided by Swagbucks. All opinions are my own. When you sign up with my referral link, I earn Swagbucks along with you up to your first 1,000. Thanks for supporting MoneywiseMoms at no cost to you!

Filed Under: Giveaways, Points Programs Tagged With:

Free Photo Greeting Cards from Shutterfly

April 6, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Grad Announcement

Get 10 FREE Photo Greeting Cards from Shutterfly when you use coupon code SPRINGCARDS at checkout. Choose from a huge selection of 6×8 (new size!), 5×7, 5×5, or 4×8 flat stationery cards, or 5×7 folded greeting cards. Make them all the same, or do 10 different cards. You will need to pay shipping, which is around $5.99. Think of all the reasons you’ll need cards in the next few months: Teacher Appreciation Week, Birthdays, Mother’s Day, and Graduation.

free photo greeting cards

This offer is only good through midnight PST on Monday, April 8th, so head over to Shutterfly to get started. What will you choose for your FREE Photo Greeting Cards?

 

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Thanks for supporting MoneywiseMoms at no cost to you!

Filed Under: Online Shopping

Western Birthday Party

April 4, 2013 By 3 Comments
Western Birthday Party

Western Birthday Party

Happy 7th Birthday to my twin girls! As they have been obsessed with horses for many months, since we read the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, they’ve wanted a “horse party.” They very much wanted to be a part of the planning, especially the games and food. My goal was to keep it simple. We ended up with a fun Western Birthday Party that was easy to pull together.

Western Birthday Party

Decor
Our party decorations were simple and fun! I strung up turquoise, red, and white bandanas on a piece of twine to make a bandana banner. They weren’t permanent, so later in the party, each child chose one to wear and then take home. Balloons are another easy decoration, so I picked out Mylar balloons for just $1 each at the Dollar Tree, as opposed to the $3-7 at the party store. We’re still enjoying them three weeks later!

Western Birthday Party

Food
To feed a crowd, I made a huge bowl of popcorn and sprinkled it with some kettle corn seasoning. Since I’d already done a homemade chocolate cake on their actual birthday, we made horse cupcakes for the party. I used a star frosting tip to make “grass” and put a little horse on each one.

Western Birthday Party

Games
We were lucky with a nice weather day, so we spent quite a while outside in the sun. I picked up a giant horsehoes set at ToysRUs with a coupon, which we’ll use again. We changed Duck, Duck, Goose to “Pony, Pony, Horse” and we played freeze tag with Cowboys chasing Cows. Inside, we played Pin the Tail on the Horse, of course! My husband drew a big horse on a piece of packing paper, and the kids stuck on a tail while blindfolded with a bandana. We also did Freeze Dance to some country music. With so many little bodies, we kept them active.

Western Birthday Party

Photo Opp
My favorite part was taking photos of the kids in our giant Wanted Poster. This was so easy! I printed this Martha Stewart printable on four pages, glued it to a posterboard, and we colored it in brown. I cut a hole for the face, and then I made some funny mustaches for each child to pose with. I just cut out mustache shapes from black cardstock and hot glued them to straws.

Western Birthday Party

Craft & Goody Bags
Each child decorated a brown gift bag with horse stamps and stickers that we had on hand. As the party went on, this is where they collected their goodies–the little horse off the cupcake, their mustache and their bandana. I slipped a lollipop and jump rope (again, from the Dollar Tree) into each bag. They’re learning to jump rope in PE this year in first grade, so I thought it was a good idea, just didn’t want to encourage anyone to use it as a lasso!

This party was a lot of fun, for the adults and the kids. My girls were thrilled!

This Western Birthday Party is linked up to Show Off Your Stuff Party at Fireflies and Jellybeans and Happy Hour Friday at Happy Hour Projects.

Filed Under: Crafts/DIY, Kids

Butterscotch Blondies

April 2, 2013 By 3 Comments
Butterscotch Blondies

Even thought I’m a huge chocolate fan, it’s nice to try something different once in a while. These Butterscotch Blondies have a brownie texture but with a buttery flavor–yum! I changed this Hershey’s Kitchen recipe a bit by using wheat flour. It doesn’t make them any less sweet, but it gives you a teeny bit of fiber with your indulgence. I figure anywhere I can get fiber into my family, the better.

Butterscotch Blondies

5.0 from 1 reviews

Print
Butterscotch Blondies
Serves: 24-36
 

Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup butter or margarine
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour (or half white/half wheat)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 bag butterscotch chips

Instructions
  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees, and spray a 9×13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Beat butter with sugars in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs and beat well.
  3. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add gradually to butter mixture, beating until well-blended. Stir in butterscotch chips.
  4. Spread in prepared pan, and bake 30-35 minutes or until top is golden brown and center is set. Cool completely in pan before cutting into bars.

Butterscotch Blondies is linked up to Motivating Monday at CEO of Me, Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty & Bedlam, Cook It Blog It at Crazy With Twins, Show Off Your Stuff at Fireflies & Jellybeans, and Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts.

Filed Under: Recipes
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