Six Fast and Easy Ways to Save Money when Shopping Online.

I am a HUGE fan of online shopping.  It helps me with my busy schedule to get things done.  I also love saving money!  Here are my favorite tools that I use to save when I shop online.

1. Amazon Prime
If you have not already heard, about the great thing called Amazon Prime.  Please allow me to educate you.  It is amazing!  Here are the highlighted benefits.

• Free 2 Day Shipping on most Amazon Products
• Free unlimited streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows
• Free books for Kindle owners (up to one per month on select devices)
• Membership cost: $79 per year

I did all online shopping for my kids this year.  Ordering with free 2 day shipping means that I got my gifts quickly, and was easily able to take advantage of the deals and not have to add in pricing.  It ALSO provides free streaming of movies.  It has a great selection, some of it crosses over with Netflix (which we have and love), but Amazon has Nickelodeon shows, and more BBC options, and we LOVE Doctor Who.  It is also CHEAPER than Netflix for one year, and has a rental option for those who are cheap, and don't do cable.  If you are a mom who has kids in diapers, than you may want to look into Amazon Mom, while it doesn't include the streaming or other freebies, it does offer you great prices (20% off!) on things you use all the time, without having to leave your home with kids in tow.  Our family has easily covered and more than the Amazon Prime's $79 membership cost, and save tons of money and time this year!

2. Ebates
A free program where you get a percentage of cash back for shopping online!  Did I mention it is FREE!!!  All you do is signup for free, and then shop from the ebates link provided.  You still qualify for any other discounts the site is offering and then each quarter you get either a check or money into your PayPal account.  Here is the other GREAT thing, you can still use discount codes, or anything else a regular shopper would!  For example, if you knew you were going to make a BIG purchase at a place like Home Depot, you could easily buy it through ebates, and then select the "pick up in store" option.  You get an extra percentage back in cash (currently it is 3%), plus if you use a rewards credit card, you can usually get an additional 1-5% back.  Which will significantly drop your overall cost.  LOVE IT!  It also provides great coupon codes for you to use for additional savings!

3. Retail Me Not
If you haven't used this before, you are missing out!  It has a fabulous site with great coupons, and also has a great mobile app for in stores.  I always check this site before ordering on line.  It is such a fast and easy way to save money!

4. Free Shipping
This site gives you some great codes for free shipping that you can use to get your goods to you for free!  Sometimes it even has extra coupon codes as well!

5. Member Sites
There are lots of these sites, the ones that i have used personally are Joss & Main for home goods and Zulilly for kids/home.  It is FREE to sign up/join.  They are great because you can get brand name items for half the cost!  They each have "events" which only last a set amount of time and they only have selected products, but if you are patient and wait you can find KILLER deals on great products that rarely go on sale anywhere else.

6. YOU!
As the consumer you have the power!   Plan ahead, spend a few minutes to google a coupon code, or wait for sales and you can save your family tons of money.  I don't know about you, but I love saving money, the more the better!  The best way for you to save money online shopping is by being smart, spending a few minutes going through these tips, or even better discover your own!

What tips do you use when shopping online?  How have you saved money?

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Oreo Junk

After I made Cherry Junk for my Dad's birthday last summer, my hubby and I were talking about other no bake desserts we could make for game night.  He was not a fan of Cherry Junk, mostly because he is not a fruity dessert person.  I jokingly told him he would only like it if it was covered in oreos.  That lead to the creation of Oreo Junk, a new family favorite!

This recipe is so easy!  First thing you need to do is to make the crust.

Toss 1 1/2 - 2 sleeves of Oreos into the blender, and grind them up.

Melt a stick of butter,  mix the Oreo grounds, and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

Now mix up 2 packages of Dream Whip according to the box.

Now add 14oz of softened cream cheese to the Dream Whip and mix.  I usually toss a kitchen towel over my mixer so it doesn't get everywhere.

Now pour the Dream Whip/ cream cheese mixture over your Oreo crust, it should be somewhat thick.

Spread evenly over the whole pan.

Now take a package of Jello Oreo pudding and mix according to package directions.

Then evenly spread it on top, don't worry if it isn't perfect, it is called "junk" for a reason, and the extra Oreo's will cover up any unevenness.

Now place another 1 1/2 - 2 sleeves of Oreos into a gallon size baggie.  Then pound it a bit with a rolling pin, so they look like this...

Then spread them out on the top.

Stick it in the fridge for a few hours (best over night), and dig in!

This is an amazing, no bake dessert!  I hope you enjoy it as much as my family!

Linking up with these fabulous blogs: Bloom Designs,

Menu Monday

Last week was absolutely crazy.  My sweet boy took a nasty fall after church and required an ER trip.  He hit his head and 5 minutes later stop responding to me, threw up and wouldn't stay awake.  It was a really scary drive to the ER and waiting.  Thankfully all is well, he perked up a bit while waiting for his CAT scan, and by the time we got the results he was his normal self.  SO THANKFUL!  I stayed home with him on Monday, to make sure he didn't show any other head tram signs.  He is fine.  This boy mom is unsure of how long she can restrain herself from flinching any time he climbs, goes "reeeeaaallllly sup'r fast" or does the other boy things.  I think that every mom who has a boy, should get two free ER trip coupons!  Regardless, it through my entire week off, and I was already behind, but I know that other busy moms have no clue about that stuff, right? (lol)

I discovered a GREAT new meal planning tool that I have been using for a few weeks now.   I LOVE IT!  I honestly was leery about it, but it makes my life SO easy!  If you have not signed up for Plan to Eat, DO IT!  It makes things so easy, you can use any recipe you enter/find online, you get a custom shopping list, and can view your meals in week, or month.  Also, the cooking view for while your cooking is AMAZING.  You can even get a free trail for 30 days.  I know that you will love it as much as me!



On to this weeks eating:
Monday: Cheesy Baked Shells and Broccoli
Tuesday: Slow Cooker Enchiladas
Wednesday: Pulled Chicken (crock pot)
Thursday: Mustgo night!
Friday: Chicken Brest Stuffed with Bacon & Feta

If you have been around here much, you will notice that all of these are NEW recipes!  It is thanks to Plan to Eat, it made me get out there and look for some new stuff, and it was so easy to get the ingredients for!  If I find stuff that has ingredients I normally don't buy, I usually skip it, but this has made it easy.

As always, I'm linking up with OrgJunkie!  Hope that you enjoy your week!

Those days

Have you ever had a day that starts bad and gets worse?  When by 9am you are already bracing yourself for the next bad thing to happen, you know it is bad.

I have been having a lot of those days lately.  Things happen like...

My kids have turned into tantruming monsters in the morning because they REFUSE to sleep past 6am.

Anything I try to do to get the house in order before work in the mornings causes hysteria because I am not holding/cuddling/catering to the every whim of my 3 year old or almost 18 month old.

Discovering that you left two gallons of milk (from costco) out over night, because the kids wouldn't cooperate and let you put the groceries away.

Finding that the "fun holiday" creamer flavor you thought you would try is actually horrible and completely ruined your coffee, but you are in desperate need of caffeine so you drink it anyways.

Having two children pound on the door and scream the entire time you are doing laundry so that everyone has clean clothes to wear.

Your 17 month old have three meltdowns after saying no to everything you offer her.  Only for her eventually eat what you put in front of her in the first place.

Got a notification that our checking account was in the negative, because I forgot to transfer funds, and we had 3 things that I didn't know about come out all at the same time.

All of this happened before 7am this morning.

But what also happened is:

My wonderful husband got up to help me handle it.  When I was sitting on the couch taking a "mommy time out" my sweet three year old said, "mommy I love you" from the breakfast table.  Even when he is pushing all of my buttons, he seems to know when I have had it and attempts manages to melt my heart.   I successfully put away the kids laundry, and everyone left for work/daycare fairly unscathed, clothed in weather appropriate attire.  My husband took the kids to daycare so I got 15 minutes of a completely silent home to pray, and recompose myself after the hectic morning.  I was able to get ready and out of the door and to work on time.

We have so many blessings that we tend to forget when our day gets started off on the wrong foot.
Today, I am remembering that I have...

Two sweet amazing kids, who even though some mornings they drive me crazy.

An amazing husband who supports me as much as he can.

A great home, a great job, and wonderful people in our lives.

I am thankful for this season of Advent when we can take time to focus on the coming of Jesus.

This has been my life the last two weeks (today was just a small example).  My son got sick, I got sick, we had thanksgiving.  Life keeps moving.

Hope that you all have faired better than us.