Last week, my family and I went camping for the long 4th of July weekend. Camping is one of the best frugal vacations there is (well, I guess staying at home would be even more frugal). We only paid $21/night for our site and we are able to cook and eat at our site (no restaurant expenses).

My boys LOVE camping. As you can see from the picture, they can get as dirty as they want (and stay dirty…since there were only 8 showers shared by 219 campsites). We hiked, biked, played in the dirt, made Reese’s peanut butter cup s’mores, served as mosquito bait, and went to watch a local airshow.

Although my husband and I were excited about the airshow, the kids were only minimally interested in it. That’s where we made a great investment. We purchased a set of 12 small planes for the boys to play with during the airshow….so we got to enjoy the real planes.

Fore more ideas that work for others, please visit We are THAT Family.

I have been a member of MyPoints for about a year. Like the name suggests, you earn points for doing various activities such as:

• Read e-mails – 5 points just for clicking on the periodic e-mails that MyPoints sends
• Surveys – 10 points if you don’t qualify, 50+ points if you do qualify
• Offers – some of the e-mails include offers…like sign up for such and such and earn x points – depending on what it is, I don’t usually sign up
• Games – you can earn points when you play their games – I’ve never done this
• Shopping – you can earn points when you shop through the MyPoints site – I’ve never done this, because using the cash-back sites seems a better deal.

However, by just reading MyPoints e-mails and doing a few surveys over the past year (very minimal effort and time), I’ve been able to earn 3 $10.00 BP gift cards and 2 $10 Panera Bread gift cards.

The $10 gift cards require about 1400-1500 points, so I usually qualify every couple of months just from doing the above (e-mails and surveys). They have many different gift cards available like Amazon, BP, CVS/Pharmacy, iTunes, Kohls, Shell, Panera Bread, and many more.

I am also a member of SendEarnings and InboxDollars, but I find that the MyPoints gift cards at seem to add up a lot faster than clicking on the e-mails for the other programs (although one day I will actually get the $30 needed for payout at SendEarnings and InboxDollars).

Have you ever tried MyPoints? What did you think? Are you a member of a similar program that might be worth trying? For more ideas that work for others, please visit We are THAT Family.

The last couple of weeks, I wrote about how to save money at CVS and Rite Aid. I’m saving Walgreens for last, because it’s the store that I have the most problems with. It seems (to me anyway) like many of the coupon policies are decided at the store level, so it varies from store to store.

Recently, Walgreens did away with the Easy Saver Rebate program, which was one of my favorite parts about shopping at Walgreens (because it was easy, and I never had problems with it). Apparently they plan on replacing the program with something else, but they have not announced anything new. I will edit this post when that changes.

However, Walgreens does have several different programs:

Register Rewards – these are similar to the CVS ECB’s, since you need to make a purchase of a certain item, and a catalina coupon will print out at the end of your order called a Register Reward (RR). The RR is treated like a coupon when you pay for your next purchase. Usually, the RR’s are valid for about 2 weeks. There are a few caveats for RR’s:

• RR’s are not tied to a loyalty card, so you can make a purchase and receive RR’s as many times as you wish.
• You cannot roll RR’s. What this means is that you cannot get RR’s for doing a Kellogg’s deal and then use the RR’s you just received to pay for the Kellogg’s deal again. If you do that, your RR’s will not print the second time. However, you could use them to do another RR deal from a different manufacturer and then roll the RR’s between the 2 deals.
• Some stores vary on whether you can use more than one RR to pay for your purchase. I was told once that I could only use 1 RR coupon per transaction. However, that seems to vary by store (and possibly cashier).
• I can’t seem to get any consistency on the RR’s printing out for me. Sometimes when I use coupons, they won’t print, even though I purchased the correct item. Other times, I have no problems. When the RR’s don’t print, and I know they should have, I will ask to speak with a manager to see if they can get the RR’s to print for me. If they still don’t print, I will usually ask to return the item (since I’m usually only making the purchase because of the RR deal). Some managers have told me that you can’t use coupons and still get RR’s, but I believe that varies widely by store.

In Ad Coupons - The weekly store flyer usually includes several in-ad store coupons that you can stack with manufacturer coupons for even greater savings. Usually, you will only need 1 in-ad coupon even if you are purchasing multiples of that item (up to the limit on the coupon).

The Art of Using a Coupon at Walgreens – it can be tricky sometimes to use coupons at Walgreens, and there is a strategy to it:

• Have as many items as you have coupons – the registers are set to beep if you have more coupons than you have items. So, if you have a manufacturer’s coupon, an in-ad store coupon, and a RR when you are checking out, you will need to have at least 3 items in your transaction. Find some filler items that you can add to your purchase that are inexpensive (and needed).
• Give your coupons to the cashier in this order: RR’s, then manufacturer coupons, then in-ad store coupons to avoid any problems with your order. You might want to keep them in bundles and hand each bundle to the cashier at a time.

Have you had a good experience at Walgreens? Did I miss any tips that you find useful at Walgreens? Have you changed your shopping habits at Walgreens since they discontinued the Easy Saver Rebate program? For more ideas that work for others, please visit We are THAT Family.

For many families, food and toiletry items are the largest variable expense each month in their budget. According to the US Department of Labor, the average American family of four spends $8,513 per year on groceries (about $709 per month).

I find that figure to be extremely high. I’m sure that there are families that spend that much, but we average (much) less than $400 per month for food and toiletries. How do we do it?

We stock up on grocery and toiletry items when they are at “rock-bottom” prices, not just when we need them.

What is a “rock-bottom” price?

A rock-bottom price is the lowest price available for that item. Many times, I’ll purchase the item when it is at its lowest sale price, plus I’ll use a coupon for the item to save even more.

How do you know when it’s a “rock-bottom” price?

1. One method to keep track of prices is by creating a price book for your staple items. Basically, you want to keep track of the prices over time of some of your staple items at various stores where you shop to determine what the best price is, so that you know when it’s a good price for stocking up. Amy @ Mom’s Advice has a great price book printable here.
2. Another method for those of us that don’t have the patience for a price book (me), is to use a service like the Grocery Game. The Grocery Game lets me know when an item is at “rock-bottom” price and matches coupons, so I can add that item to my stockpile. You can get a 4 week trial for $1, and it costs about $1.25 for 1 store after that. If you do sign up, please use my e-mail address as a referral (ctermors at hotmail dot com).

Here are my Best Methods for Saving on Groceries:

• Menu Plan – each week (or month) plan your menus so you know exactly what your going to eat any given week
• Make a Grocery List – Shop your stockpile and determine what you need to purchase for your week’s menu plan
• Stockpile items at “rock-bottom” prices

If you follow these steps, you’ll have a plan so you don’t waste food or order carry-out at the last second, and you’ll have purchased your items at the best prices.

How do you save money on groceries? For more frugal ideas that work for others, please visit We are THAT Family.

Last week, I explained the ins and outs of shopping at CVS. It can be really confusing to new shoppers at CVS.

However, Rite Aid (aka Longs, Brooks, and Eckerds) is a lot easier program to shop. Here are the basics:

• Rite Aid has a monthly rebate program called the Single Check Rebate (SCR). You can either pick up a rebate book from the front of the store each month or look at the list online here (click on View Offers). Many times, the best rebates are only good for a week period and the item is on sale also.

• Rite Aid also added a rewards program, called +UP Rewards.  When an item qualifies for a +UP Reward, it will print on the bottom of the receipt to be used for your next purchase.  Find out more information about the program at +UP Rewards 101.

When you make a purchase that’s eligible for an SCR, you can either enter your receipts online or save up all the receipts and mail them in at the end of the month. You can only make one check request for the month, so it’s best to wait until the end of the month. You will receive your check a couple of weeks after requesting it. It will come on a postcard, and you can either deposit it at your bank or use it to make a purchase at Rite Aid.  Please note: I usually have trouble depositing the check at the ATM, but I’ve never had a problem when I deposit it through the drive-thru.

• In the weekly flyer, Rite Aid usually offers in-store coupons. These are Rite Aid coupons (unless they specifically state Manufacturer Coupon) and they can be stacked with manufacturer coupons (and combined with an SCR).

• Rite Aid accepts manufacturer’s coupons. In the past, the official policy was that they did not accept internet printables (although some stores did), but they have recently changed that policy so that they now ACCEPT internet printables (up to $5) as well as coupons from the newspaper inserts.
  

• Occasionally, Rite Aid will also offer a coupon such as $5 off a $25 purchase that can be stacked with the other coupons and SCRs. You will want to purchase $25 worth of goods and give the $5 off $25 purchase coupon first and then hand the cashier the rest of your coupons.

Do you shop at Rite Aid and take advantage of the SCRs? Did I miss anything in my tutorial?

Although I blog about CVS all the time, I realized that I have never actually written a post about how shopping at CVS works.

CVS is my favorite drugstore, since it usually offers some of the best deals and it has the easiest coupon policy of the 3 drugstores (CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid).

How Does CVS Work?

• Sign up for an Extra Care Card – It’s free to sign up, and basically just involves filling out a form with some personal information about yourself such as name and address. You will get an Extra Care Card that you will need to give to the cashier so they can scan it every time you check-out at CVS. All the sale prices and Extra Care Bucks (ECB’s) require you to use your Extra Care Card. You are only allowed to have one Extra Care Card per household.

• When you purchase advertised items, you can earn Extra Care Bucks (ECB’s) that can be used toward your next purchase. Each week, I post the ECB deals for the week, as well as any coupons that can be used for your purchase to lower the out of pocket (OOP) even further. So, when I do my coupon matchups, I’ll list it like this:

Edge Infused Comfort or Hydrate Shave Gel 7 oz. $2.89 (limit 1)
Get $2.89 ECB’s
Total after ECB’s: FREE

This means that the Edge shave gel costs $2.89 and you will receive $2.89 in ECB’s when you make your purchase. In this case, you can earn the $2.89 in ECB’s for the shave gel only 1 time. So, I would pay $2.89 in cash, and then $2.89 in ECB’s would print out on my receipt to be used on my next purchase.

• The goal is to “roll” your ECB’s, so you pay as little out of pocket as possible. I demonstrate the “rolling” principle when I create my CVS $5 Challenge scenarios. I usually create 3 different transactions to purchase products. That way, you can use the ECB’s that you earn from each purchase in your next transaction to keep the out of pocket (OOP) as low as possible. I usually start my transactions assuming you have no ECB’s to start (to make it less confusing and to help newbies who have never done this before), but if you have ECB’s from previous transactions, you will pay much less than $5 OOP.

How to Use Coupons at CVS

• CVS e-mailed me with their official coupon policy. You can find it here.

• There are 4 different types of coupons that you can use at CVS:

1. $/$$ purchase CVS coupon – for example, Get $5 off a $15 purchase
2. CVS coupon – usually prints on the bottom of your receipt after a purchase or from the price scanner machine when you scan your Extra Care Card
3. Manufacturer’s coupon – coupons that are reimbursed by the manufacturer (will state on the coupon) that can be found in the Sunday paper, on tearpads throughout the store, etc.
4. ECB’s – ECB’s are like a coupon for money off your purchase

• If you have a $/$$ coupon, you need to purchase the required amount of items (before coupons) and hand the cashier this coupon first before any other coupons reduce your purchase amount.

• You can stack CVS and manufacturer’s coupons for the same item (meaning you can use both coupons on 1 item). One of the coupons is paid for by CVS and the other coupon is paid for by the manufacturer.

• Give your ECB’s to the cashier last. You cannot use your ECB’s to pay sales tax on your purchase, so before I hand over my ECB’s, I’ll ask the cashier for my subtotal and try to match my ECB’s as closely as possible to that amount without going over.

Do you have any other CVS tips that I missed? Or do you still have any questions how shopping at CVS works? For more tips that work for others, please visit We are THAT Family.

During the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing some of my ideas for celebrating Easter with your kids such as making a chocolate cross for their Easter basket, various books, CD’s, and DVD’s that we use to share the meaning of Easter, and some kitchen fun that we have with Resurrection Buns.

In my last post in my Easter series, I plan on sharing some verses that you can read from the Bible each day of the week leading up to Easter Sunday.

Palm Sunday – Jesus enters Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-11)

Monday – Jesus clears the temple (Matthew 21:12-17)

Tuesday – Jesus teaches (any passage from Matthew 21:23-24:51)

Wednesday – Jesus’ death foretold (Scripture says nothing about what Jesus did this day. Read Isaiah 53:1-12)

Thursday – Jesus celebrates Passover (Matthew 26:17-30) and Jesus is arrested and tried (Matthew 26:31-27:26)

Good Friday – Jesus is crucified (Matthew 27:27-66)

Saturday – Jesus lies in the tomb (Scripture says nothing about what Jesus did this day. Discuss what Jesus’ followers might have thought and felt).

Sunday – Read about the women going to Jesus’ tomb from Matthew 28:1-15 and celebrate Christ’s triumph over death.

What do you do the week before Easter? How do you celebrate? For more ideas that work for others, visit We are THAT Family. For more Easter ideas, visit Keeping the Kingdom First.

Two weeks ago, I shared how we make chocolate crosses for our boys’ Easter baskets, and last week I listed the books, movies, and music that we use to share the Easter story with our kids. This week, I’m going to put you and your kids to work in the kitchen.

Each Easter, we make Resurrection Buns (which several readers have since shared with me that they also do!). I think they are a GREAT illustration of the Easter story, especially for little kids, and they taste wonderful.

Resurrection Buns

1 pkg. Rhodes frozen bread dough rolls (or crescent rolls or Grands biscuits)
24 large marshmallows
Melted butter or margarine
Sugar mixed with cinnamon

Thaw 24 rolls. Flatten a roll to about 3″ in diameter. Take a marshmallow (which represents the body of Christ) and dip it in the butter (which represents oils). Then cover the marshmallow with the cinnamon/sugar mixture (which represents the spices put on Christ’s body). Place the marshmallow in the center of the dough and pinch the dough together around it (make sure you seal it tight), forming a soft ball. Place the ball on a greased cookie sheet and let it rise until it doubles in size (about 30-60 minutes). Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Just like the tomb on Easter Sunday, these buns are empty! These are great fun to make with your children, and they’re a great illustration of the empty tomb (plus they taste good).

Some other ideas include:

• Make a cross cake. In this great article, not only do you make a cross cake, but you add extras to the cake as illustrations of Easter.
• Easter cookie recipe – It’s similar to the resurrection buns, but with cookies.

Next week, I’ll finish up my Easter series with a list of Bible verses that you can read with your kids for the week leading up to Easter.

Do you have any other great Easter recipes that you make with your kids? For more ideas that work for others, visit We are THAT Family. For more Easter ideas, visit Keeping the Kingdom First.

As I wrote last week, I try to make sure that we teach our boys about what Easter really means – how Jesus died on a cross to save us all from our sins and rose again. One of the ways we do this is by giving the boys a chocolate cross in their Easter baskets, but we also reinforce the Easter idea through books, music, and videos long before Easter day.

I thought I would share some of our favorite Easter books, CD’s and DVD’s. Most of them probably are geared toward younger kids (since mine are 5 and 2).

• Resurrection Eggs -  Each of the eggs has a small object that has significance to the Easter story, such as nails, crown of thorns, an empty egg, etc. to help kids visualize the Easter story. Plus, there’s now a book Benjamins Box : The Story Of The Resurrection Eggs that goes along with the eggs.

Books – ranked in order of my favorites

• God’s Easter Love (BOZ Series) – my 2 year old LOVES Boz, and this book is great at comparing the new life found in nature (like leaves on the trees, a baby egg) to the new life that we can have in Jesus.
• What Is Easter? – talks about how it’s ok to celebrate Easter with new clothes, candy, etc., but emphasizes what Easter is really about
• The Legend of the Three Trees: The Classic Story of Following Your Dreams – I love this story of the three trees that had big dreams that they thought were cut short, but they were fulfilled by God in ways they couldn’t even imagine.
• The Story of Easter – another great board book that helps illustrate the Easter story
• The Parable of the Lily: Special 10th Anniversary Edition
• Things I See at Easter – this book was recommended by a reader, but it looks interesting.

Our Favorite Bibles – can read the story of Easter from the Bible…or possibly an idea for an Easter basket gift

• NIrV Read with Me Bible – my kids love for me to read to them from this Bible, and the illustrations are cute, too.
• The Big Picture Story Bible – this Bible helps kids understand the entire story of the Bible from the Old Testament to the New Testament

Music

• Easter Favorites – the Cedarmont Kids sing Easter hymns
• VeggieTales: A Very Veggie Easter – a Veggie Tales Easter CD with narration and songs
  
• Handel: Messiah (Highlights) – would any list of Easter music be complete without Handel’s Messiah?

Video

• VeggieTales – An Easter Carol – this is a great Easter DVD

Next week, I plan on sharing some more ideas for Easter that you can do with your kids (such as the Resurrection Buns), etc.

What are some of your favorite ways to share the Easter story with your kids? Do you have any favorite books, CD’s, or DVD’s that I haven’t listed? For more ideas that work for others, please visit, We are THAT Family. For more Easter ideas, visit Keeping the Kingdom First.

As a mom of 2 young boys, I try to make sure that we are celebrating Easter for the right reasons. Although we give the boys Easter baskets, decorate Easter eggs, and have an Easter egg hunt, I want them to know that we are celebrating the fact that Jesus rose from the dead rather than the other things.

One of the ways that I try to reinforce Christ in Easter is by giving my boys a chocolate Easter cross rather than an Easter bunny. When I first thought of this idea, I was unable to find any chocolate crosses in the store (last year, they could be found in a few stores). So, I bought a chocolate mold from Ebay and made my own! For a couple of dollars spent on the mold the first year and a couple more on chocolate melts each year, I’m able to give my boys an inexpensive gift. As you can see from the picture on the left, my now 2 year old enjoyed his cross immensely last year!

If you’re interested in making your own chocolate cross this year, you can read my tutorial on making chocolates here. Believe me, the cross is very easy to make. You basically just melt the chocolate and pour it into the mold.

If you need a chocolate cross mold, there are many available on Ebay.  You can pick up chocolate melts at JoAnns or Michaels using the 40% off coupons that they always have in the Sunday paper.

I know that Easter is still about a month away, but I wanted to give you time to order your molds without the stress of hoping they came in time for Easter. I plan on doing a series on Easter ideas in about a week or so.

What do you do for Easter? Do you give your kids chocolate Easter bunnies or something else? How do you reinforce the message of Christ in your home? For more Easter ideas, visit Keeping the Kingdom First.

Do you donate items to a non-profit organization like Salvation Army or Goodwill? If so, do you claim those items on your taxes (if you itemize)?

Valuing non-cash contributions can be difficult to do, since we all have such differing views on how much an item is worth (just visit any garage sale). Here are some ways to help you maximize your contribution and stay legal in case of an audit.

• When I have a donation ready to drop off, I enter every item in It’s Deductible Online (it’s free to use). You can see the value of every item that you enter and print off a list to keep with your tax documents.
• I also take a picture of my pile of stuff to donate as visual proof in case of an audit.
• When I make the drop off (or an organization picks it up), I make sure that I get a receipt with the date and I staple my list to the receipt.
• File your receipts in your 2009 tax file (you have one, right?)
• At the end of the year, you can log in to your account and see the valuation of all your donations for the year. Use that information to enter your deductions for taxes (if you itemize).

That’s how I keep track of my non-cash donations. A few other sites that list values are:

• Salvation Army
• Goodwill
• IRS pub. 561 – Determining the Fair Market Value of Donated Property

How do you keep track of your non-cash donations? For more ideas that work for others, visit We are THAT Family.

Of course, please consult your tax professional regarding the tax laws and your situation. These are just examples of how I organize my non-cash contributions.

As part of my quest to save money for my family, I enter my information online for A LOT of freebies, coupons, surveys, etc. Over time, it can add up to a lot of typing. However, I have found a great tool to eliminate much of the work each time that I sign up for an offer.

It’s called Roboform. It’s a free program that you download onto your computer. Once it’s downloaded, you enter all the profile information about yourself (such as name, address, phone number, etc.) and save it. Then, when you need to enter this information on a form later, you just click on your profile name in your internet browser toolbar, and presto, the form has been filled out for you.

Roboform also has a password organizer that stores your password for each site that requires a password. So, if you have a hard time remembering all your passwords for the gazillions of sites that you use, you can keep them in one handy place. For security, you have a master Roboform password to get into your password section.

If you’ve never used Roboform before, click here to go to the download page and choose the first Roboform version (for your computer). I have only ever used the free version, so there’s no need to pay money for the Pro version.

Do you have any handy tips that you use when filling out forms online? Roboform works for me. For other ideas that work for others, please visit We are THAT Family.

With 3 aunts, 2 sets of grandparents, 2 great-grandmothers, and a mom and dad, my kids have way more toys than 2 little boys should have. One of the ways that I save my sanity is by rotating their toys.

Have you ever noticed at preschool that teachers have perfected the art of rotating the toys? One week, the kids are learning about outer space, and voila, a space shuttle appears with all the astronauts and accessories. My son was thrilled to play with them! Can you imagine the toy would hold his interest if he was able to play with it all year? No, it’s because it was new and different.

I try to do that at home with all the toys that we’ve collected as gifts. I have various containers that I use to group “like” toys (like the Little People, Legos, Matchbox cars, etc). Then, I put those containers away for a period of time. They still have plenty of toys to play with, but they “forget” about the toys that have been put away. After awhile, I’ll bring back the toys from storage (and put away the current toys). You would think it’s Christmas at our house again – the interest they show in their “new” toys.

What do you do to keep your kids’ toys from overtaking your house? For more ideas that work for others, check out Rocks in My Dryer.

Last week, Amazon had a sale on kids’ shoes. The prices were pretty good with free shipping, so I bought a couple of pairs for my boys to grow into. But, the best part was…they didn’t cost me a dime. Why, you ask? Because I had earned enough Amazon gift cards from Swagbucksto pay for them.

What is Swagbucks?

Swagbucks is a search site, where you can search the internet on any topic, and you receive results using Google and Ask.com. Periodically, you will be awarded a Swagbuck during your search. The Swagbucks are in denominations of 1-1,000. You can then redeem your Swagbucks for items such as an Amazon gift cards (my favorite), Starbucks GC, ITunes GC, etc.

How Do you Earn Swagbucks?

• Search with Swagbucks and periodically, you’ll win Swagbucks. I can usually win at least 10 Swagbucks a day, just by doing my normal searches.
• Swagbucks often releases free Swagcodes. Often, they’ll be available for a limited period of time. You can subscribe to their blog, newsletter, become a fan of them on Facebook or a follower on Twitter to increase your chances of getting the free Swagcodes.
• Invite friends to search on Swagbucks, and you’ll earn Swagbucks when they do up to 1000.
• Daily Polls – Earn 1 Swagbuck each day just for taking a second to vote in the daily poll.
• Shop in the Swagstore and earn 2 Swagbucks for every $1 dollar you spend. I, personally, have never shopped through their store, since I prefer to earn cash-back through Ebates, ShopAtHome, Big Crumbs, or UPromise.

If you’re like me, you have hundreds of photos on your computer (or camera) that have not been printed yet. Although my kids love looking at a slideshow on my computer of themselves, they like looking through photo albums even better.

One way to cut the costs of printing photos is to register for photo sites and get new member free photo offers. Here are a few of them out there right now:

• Get 75 Free 4×6 prints when you join the Kodak Gallery – offer ends 2/13/09

• Get 50 Free Digital Camera Prints and only 9 cents per print at Snapfish

• Register with Clark Color: Get 40 free 4×6 prints with your first order. Additional prints for as low as 8¢ + unlimited storage.

• New Members Offers – Get 25 Free 4×6 Prints when you join Shutterfly. Limited Time Offer.

• 25 Photo Prints Absolutely FREE from PhotoWorks. Click Here.

• 50 Free 4×6 prints when you sign up at SeeHere.com. Enter promo code: prints-6 at checkout.

If you prefer the brick & mortar stores, here are some of my favorites:

• Costco – $0.13 a print and ready in an hour
• Walmart – starting at $0.15 a print for one-hour with an order of 100 or more prints. As low as $0.09 a print for home delivery
• Sam’s Club – $0.13 a print

What is your favorite place to get pictures printed? I, personally, usually use Snapfish if I have a big order I can wait for, and Costco if I need the pictures quickly (or have a small order). Although, I think I’m going to try out some of the new member offers above to get some of the pictures off my computer.

For more ideas that work for others, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, more than 100 billion plastic shopping bags are used in the United States every year. The bags are not biodegradable, which causes the landfills to grow ever larger each year. Plus, it uses oil to produce the bags, which could be used for gas or heating.

Although I’m probably not considered very “green” (I do recycle, but I use paper towels, etc), I do use cloth grocery bags when I go to the store. My community recently added plastic shopping bags to their list of recyclables, but before they did, I wasn’t comfortable with the number of plastic bags that were ultimately thrown away at our house. I do like to keep some plastic bags for things such as holding dirty diapers, etc, but I didn’t need the multiple bags that I was collecting each shopping trip.

Over time, I purchased reusable shopping bags from my normal grocery store for $0.99 (obviously, Meijer, from the picture). I was able to pick one of them up for free from a deal at the store (Buy x, get a free bag). However, there are more frugal ways to get these bags. For example, Cost Plus World Market was giving away reusable tote bags at their store on 1/25. Or, you could make your own bags. Also, some divisions of Kroger offer incentives if you use your own bags (around $0.04 to $.05), so these incentives add up over time to reimburse you for the cost of purchasing the bag.

I originally was resistant to the idea of using these bags, because I didn’t think I’d remember to use them. However, I have a system in place to help me remember: as soon as I unload groceries, I stack up the bags and immediately put them back in my trunk. Then, when I get to the store, I just need to remember to pull them out of the trunk and bring them in.

Do you use cloth shopping bags? Do you have any frugal tips on acquiring them? How do you remember to use them? For more tips that work for others, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Do you want to help your kids or grandkids pay for college when it’s time for them to go? Or do you already have a Sallie Mae student loan that you’d love to get help paying for? Then, UPromise is perfect for you! It’s a free program where you earn money for college just by doing the things that you are already doing – like buying groceries and toiletries, buying/selling a house, shopping online, etc.

As a SAHM of 2 children, I find it difficult to find the money to save for my boy’s college (although I do also save on my own). I discovered the UPromise program about 8 years ago, and have earned $1,458 so far. I haven’t done it all on my own, since you can invite friends and family to help you out. Both my parents and my in-laws also use UPromise to help send my boys to college. As you earn money, it is held in your UPromise account. Each quarter, your money will get transferred into your Upromise 529 account (you have to open that separately).

There are many ways to build up your earnings. How does it work?

• Sign up and link your loyalty cards and credit cards (so UPromise can keep track of your earnings).

• Shopping Online – when you shop online, simply go to UPromise’s website first (or install the Upromise toolbar for Internet Explorer, and it will tell you when you are shopping on a Upromise website). You can search for either an item that you plan on purchasing or the store. Click through the link, and when you make a purchase the % earnings for that store will be deposited into your UPromise account.

• Ecoupons – Each month UPromise has some Ecoupons available that you can load onto your grocery/drug store loyalty card (I have CVS, Kroger, and Meijer). When you purchase that item, the amount of the coupon is automatically added to your college earnings without you having to clip any coupons (you do have to use your loyalty card at check-out).

• Grocery/Drug Store Savings – UPromise has several partners where you can get additional earnings when you shop at the grocery/drug store. For example, you get 3% back when you purchase Nestle products, 2% for Beech-Nut baby foods, 2% for Listerine, etc.

• Gas - When you purchase gas from Exxon/Mobil gas stations, you get a penny per gallon. You need to make sure that your credit card is registered on the UPromise site to get the rewards. Or, you can use a linked Speedpass.

• Upromise Credit Card – we signed up for the Upromise credit card and use it for practically every purchase we make (we get 1% of our purchases in UPromise earnings). We ALWAYS pay our balance in full each month, and it works for us, because we still have a budget that we adhere to. I keep careful track throughout the month of how much we’ve spent in each budget category through Microsoft Money. Having a credit card does not work for everyone, though.

• Other services – Get insurance quotes and save $5 through Liberty Mutual or $2 through Insurance.com. If you buy or sell your house through a Upromise-affiliated agent you earn a percentage of the home sale price. You can get a mortgage through Chase or Quicken Loans and earn 0.25% of your loan.

There are many additional ways to earn through UPromise. Check out their site for other ideas. Earning for college through UPromise works for me. It helps my family to save for my boys’ future just by shopping, getting gas and other things that we have to do anyway. For more ideas that work for others, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

How do you save for college? Do you already use Upromise? If so, what are some of the best ways that you have found to save?

Every so often (usually when my insurance rate goes up about $50 or more for a 6-month period), I’ll compare my auto (and homeowners) insurance rate to that of other companies to see if I’m getting the best deal. How do I do it?

• Go directly to the insurer’s website to get a quote (or call an agent). It’s best to have your current policy information so that you get a quote on the exact same collision and comprehensive coverage that you currently have (so you can compare apples to apples). Some of these sites include Allstate, State Farm, Liberty Mutual, Farmer’s Insurance, Progressive, and Geico.

• Earn UPromise money and get a Liberty Mutual quote. If you call 1-888-717-5644 and mention Upromise, you will get $5.00 in your UPromise account (whether you switch or not). You can also earn $2.00 in Upromise money by requesting an auto quote from Insurance.com through Upromise. Sign into your account, click on Earn Rewards, then Auto, and scroll through the Auto Partners until you find Insurance.com. If you’re not a UPromise member, click here to sign up (it’s free) or for more info, click here.
  

• Shop through a website that gives rates for several insurance companies like Insure.com or Netquote.
  

Other general tips for reducing insurance costs:

• Consider increasing your deductible amount. You want to make sure that you have money to cover the deductible in your emergency savings fund.
• Ask about any membership or alumni discounts. For example, I have a discount through Liberty Mutual through my university.
• Consider covering your auto and home under the same company to get multiple policy discounts. For example, my homeowner’s insurance is higher with Liberty than with my previous company, but I switched, because the total package was less expensive with both auto and home.
• Pay for your entire premium in one payment. If you make monthly payments, you are usually charged a service fee each month. Although it’s only a couple of dollars, those couple of dollars add up fast. Instead, set money aside each month, so that you have the money ready when your premium is due.

How do you save money on auto and homeowner’s/renter’s insurance? For more ideas that work for others, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

Photo courtesy of clix at stock.xchng.

Do you get tons of junk mail everyday? Do you want to eliminate some of it? I dislike junk mail for several reasons (besides the obvious…that it’s junk):

• Junk mail wastes resources (paper to print and gas to deliver).
• Junk mail wastes my time, even though it’s ultimate destination is my trash…I still have to sort through it.
• Credit card applications sitting in my mailbox could be an identity theft hazard.
• If you have a problem with debt, it may be too tempting to receive credit card applications in the mail.
• Catalogs waste lots of paper.
• Catalogs are like window shopping…you may be tempted to buy something you don’t need just because you saw it.

There is a way to eliminate much of your junk mail. It’s a free service called, ProQuo. They claim they have saved over 25 million pounds of junk mail waste in 2008, which is the equivalent of 64 jumbo jets. You choose which marketing companies you want to eliminate (so you can continue to get the coupons in your mail), they give you information on how to stop the credit card offers through the credit companies, and you can manage your catalog subscriptions, so they quit coming.

I signed up last summer through them, and I barely get any junk mail (except for the coupons, which I allow to come). I have not gotten a credit card offer for as long as I can remember. I still need to sign up some of my catalogs (you have to enter some info about each catalog), but I plan on doing that soon. Otherwise, my way of avoiding temptation is to send it directly to the recycling pile. I’d rather they never printed it to begin with.

Reducing junk mail works for me. For more ideas that work for others, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Photo courtesy of lizerixt at stock.xchng

As the saying goes, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes”. As the year comes to an end, we all have to prepare to file our taxes.

Here are some things that you can do to make tax season a little bit easier.

• Make sure that you make any charitable contributions (both cash and non-cash) by 12/31 to count for the 2008 tax season. I wouldn’t recommend waiting until 12/31 to donate to the Salvation Army, because the drop-off line gets really long (wonder how I know that, huh?).

• You also need to make any contributions to your 529 plan before the end of the year (you have until 4/15 to contribute to your IRA). If you don’t contribute to your own state’s 529 plan, it’s probably not deductible on your state taxes, so it doesn’t matter when you contribute.

• If you itemize, pay all tax deductible bills before the end of the year. I also usually schedule my January mortgage payment for a day or two before the end of the year to make sure that it is processed as a December payment. Also, since my birthday is in January, I usually get my car registration (personal property taxes) at the end of December. I pay it before the end of the year to claim it on the this year’s tax bill. If your property taxes are due early in the year, you may want to pay them before the end of this year, if possible.

• Make sure that you use up all your 2008 Flexible Spending Account (FSA) money before the end of the year (and claim it by the deadline for your plan). An FSA, is a “use it or lose it” plan, so if you have money left over at the end of the year, you lose it. If you don’t have an FSA, you might want to look into it for next year. It’s basically a plan where you can contribute money pre-tax to an account where you use the money to pay for medical expenses. Since you’ll lose it, if you don’t use it, I’m usually conservative in how much I contribute, but I always add known expenses like well-child visit copays, my contact lenses, etc.

• If you are going to have a large capital gain (ha! ha! this year), then you might want to sell some loser stocks to offset the gains.

• Gather all your receipts. If you did any online surveys or had any blog income, you need to claim that money as income, even if you don’t get a 1099 form from the company. You can, however, claim any expenses that you paid to earn that money, though, like a percentage of your internet bill, advertising, etc.

• Keep track of your final tax result (balance due or refund). For the past 5 years or so, I’ve kept an Excel spreadsheet where I track what my tax refund (or amount owed) is expected to be at any time. Although my husband’s salary and tax contributions are steady, I was working from home, and I made different amounts each month with no tax deductions. So, I wanted to make sure that we weren’t going to owe a lot of money at the end of the year.

That’s what works for me! For more ideas, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

Every Christmas, my mom hangs a laminated copy of the above Family Circus comic strip on her fridge to remind the family that Christmas is not about all the other things, like shopping, gifts, food, and Santa. Christmas is about Baby Jesus. Over the years, I’ve compiled a list of ideas to help my family keep our focus on Jesus, instead of all the other stuff.

Nativity Set

• Make the nativity the first decoration that you pull out to show that it is the most important part of the Christmas celebration
• Have a nativity set that your children can play with. You could cut out figures from old Christmas cards and attach magnets on back and they can tell the story on the refrigerator. We have the Little People Christmas Story Nativity Scene Playset, so my kids can play with it. I dream of one day having the Willow Tree set, but this is perfect for us now.
• Place Mary and Joseph away from the nativity, and each day move them closer to “Bethlehem”. You can talk about the long journey they took.
• Have an empty manger. Leave the manger empty and put a box of straw or yarn beside it. When someone does something that pleases Jesus (like obey or show kindness), let them place a piece of straw in the manger. This will soften the bed before Jesus is placed in it on Christmas morning. Please note: as one person pointed out in the comments, luckily for us, our salvation is not dependent on “works”. But, Jesus is still pleased when we obey Him through our actions.
• One evening, place a different figure from the nativity set in front of each member’s plate. They can think about it during the meal and then share what their figure had to do with the Christmas story.

Countdown to Christmas

Take seven days to tell the Christmas story, adding a new piece to the nativity each day.

• Mary – read Luke 1:28-38
• Joseph – read Matthew 1:19-25
• Donkey – read Luke 2:1-5
• Baby Jesus – read Luke 2:6-7
• Shepherds – read Luke 2:8-12
• Angel – read Luke 2:13-14
• Wise men – read Matthew 2:1-12

Christmas Video

Two years ago, I bought a great Christmas video called, The Very First Noel. It is a computer animated story (narrated by Andy Griffith) from the perspective on one of the wise men. The story is great, and the music is also wonderful. I wish they had a soundtrack available. It’s only $6.99 at Amazon, and eligible for free shipping (with orders over $25)

What God Wants for Christmas

Last year I purchased a great item from Family Christian called What God Wants For Christmas. It contains seven gift boxes that the children open up, and the last gift has a mirror in it. What God wants for Christmas is you.

Christmas Books

We have lots of Christmas books that we read to our kids to try to keep the focus on Jesus. Some of them include:

• What Is Christmas?
• The Pine Tree Parable: Special Edition
• God Gave Us Christmas (God Gave Us…)
• The Legend of the Three Trees: The Classic Story of Following Your Dreams

Christmas Crafts and Activities

• Here’s a great site with all kinds of links to Christmas crafts and activities to do with your kids.
• For the last two years, my son’s preschool class has done a Star Walk. Basically, they were the wise men searching for Jesus. They painted crowns, and followed a star held by the teacher. They walked throughout the school looking for Jesus. At then end of their long walk, they found Jesus. I thought it was a fun way to reenact the Christmas store for younger kids, so they can identify with the story.

Retailers seem to want us to forget about Thanksgiving and just skip straight to Christmas (except for day after Thanksgiving sales). Even on my blog, I seem to focus on Christmas only (but only because I’m trying to plan ahead so I can celebrate the true meaning of Christmas).

But, Thanksgiving deserves our full attention, too. It is a day most of us spend with family and friends, reflecting on all that we are thankful for. It’s a time for family traditions, whether it’s a big turkey dinner with all the trimmings, fun with family, football, long naps, walks around the neighborhood, football in the backyard, etc.

We usually go to my in-laws house for the long weekend. We start out Thanksgiving morning with the Macy’s Day parade, and then we have a huge turkey dinner with the extended family. The men (and a few women) watch the football game, and then by evening, we’ve pulled out the Christmas movies and start watching them.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, I wanted to share some websites that have activities that you can do with kids to reinforce the meaning of Thanksgiving.

• Family Fun has some great foods, crafts, games, etc. to do with kids.
• Annie has some ideas for faith-based Thanksgiving ideas.
• Kaboose also offers some fun facts about Thanksgiving as well as the history of the day.
• This article has some great ideas on teaching your kids to be thankful.

How are you teaching your kids to be thankful? What are some of your favorite Thanksgiving traditions?

For more ideas that work for others, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Have you ever started wrapping your Christmas gifts and found out that you had way too many gifts for one person because you forgot about several gifts you purchased for them throughout the year? I haven’t had that happen to me (yet), but one year my mom purchased some perfume as a gift for Christmas, and forgot to even wrap it, because she had hidden it so well.

One of my strategies for frugal gift giving is to purchase gifts for friends and family throughout the year to take advantage of great deals and clearances that I find. However, it’s very easy to lose track of how much you’ve purchased for someone and go over budget or buy more than you were planning for that person.

I use a Christmas gift list to keep track of the presents that I have already purchased (with the item, the price, and who it’s for), so I can plan what I still need to buy. I keep all the receipts for gifts in an envelope, so I can easily make any returns. I also create another list to keep track of the presents that I intend to make, so that I can get them finished before the last minute. There’s nothing like creating scrapbooks for family members at the last minute (believe me…I’ve done it before!). Each year, my goal is to have the majority of my Christmas shopping and handmade gifts done by Thanksgiving so that I can relax and enjoy the Christmas season.

Here are some resources to help you with your Christmas gift list:

• Organized Christmas has a huge Christmas planner that you can print off and make. Here’s the master gift list printable and the Gifts to Make list.

How do you keep track of what you’ve purchased each year? For more ideas, please visit Rocks in My Dryer.

This time of year, with the holidays coming, we usually take time to remember those who are less fortunate. There are food drives for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, toy drives for Christmas, etc. I fully support participating in those drives to help others enjoy Thanksgiving and Christmas.

• Purchase toys on clearance and save them for the Toys for Tots collection in Nov/Dec
• Purchase food and toiletries at the grocery stores and CVS/Walgreens/Rite Aid when they are free or almost free and donate them to food pantries/etc.

Often times, people who are going through a rough economic situation can qualify for food stamps. But, food stamps don’t cover the basic toiletries that people need to live like toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste. So, I purchase those items when I can get them for great prices and donate them. I, personally, am currently donating my items to a family member and neighbor who are going through rough times. But, I have also given items to my church’s food pantry.

How are you helping others in need? Where do you donate your items? For more ideas that have worked for others, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

A box of items ready to go…

Are you looking for a great toy for your little boy that will be used over and over? Geotrax is what has worked for me!

When my son was about 3, we bought him a train table for Christmas. It was fun to play with, but he couldn’t really do much with the tracks. It was really meant to remain stationary while you drove your trains around the track so he quickly lost interest.

We had been at several other boys’ houses that had Geotrax, and my son loved to put the tracks together and drive the train around. So, last year for Christmas we bought him a Geotrax set (when he was 4).

He has really loved playing with it. He started out asking us to help him build the train tracks just like the pictures that came with the set. Now, he is getting creative and building it himself in different formations. The track is pretty easy for little hands to put together and take apart. Since then, he has received some more track and trains for his birthday. Even his little 2 year old brother had to have his own train!

Geotrax is the toy that has held a 5 year old’s interest for almost a whole year and counting… It’s not going to be sold in a garage sale any time soon.

For more great toy ideas, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

Although gas prices have stabilized, I still try to save money on my fuel expenses each month. I want to get the best price I can on gas without driving all over town wasting gas looking for the best deal.

Should I stop at the Mobil station near my house that usually has good prices (and I get 3% UPromise savings from my UPromise Mastercard, plus a penny a gallon UPromise savings) or should I drive my Costco station where the price usually beats everywhere else (and I get 3% cash back on my Costco American Express)? Or should I go somewhere else altogether for the best deal?

When I know that I’m going to need gas, I will check the internet for the best gas prices at each of those stations, plus others that I will pass on my normal route. That way, I know where to stop for the best price. Most of the time, it may only save me a penny or two per gallon, but those pennies add up.

Plus, when gas is either increasing quickly or lowering fairly quickly, there are sometimes large differences in price at each gas station. For example, today, I saw gas pricess while I was driving ranging from $2.19 to $2.53. I sure wouldn’t have wanted to fill up at the $2.53 station just because I didn’t know what the current low price was.

Here are some websites that can help you with your gas price search:

• Gas Buddy – you can click by state and they have either state or city web sites – this is my favorite site
• Gas Prices on Mapquest – shows you a map with stations and their prices
• Gas Price Watch – also a map with gas prices. It doesn’t seem to be as updated as Gas Buddy

Do you check gas prices? How do you make sure that you get the best price?

For more ideas that work for others, check out Rocks in my Dryer.

This past summer, my husband and I were ready to purchase a new (to us) vehicle. However, we were replacing my husband’s car, so we needed to do something with it first. We were planning on trading it in to the dealership when we bought our car, but we knew that we would not get as good a price for it as if we could sell it ourselves.

But, were we ready for the hassle of trying to sell a car ourselves? We had never done it before, so we weren’t really sure what to do. We envisioned paying for advertising, hanging signs on the car, and spending lots of money trying to sell it.

Enter…Craigslist. I had heard of Craigslist before when a friend of mine was selling kid’s outdoor play items. I knew that she had gotten a better price for them on Craigslist than she would have if she had sold them at her garage sale. I checked Craiglist out, and they had lots of car advertisements.

So, on a whim, I listed my husband’s car on Craiglist at the high end of the Kelly Blue Book range (since it was free). I emphasized the gas mileage (since gas was over $4/gallon at the time) and added some pictures. We immediately began to receive phone calls about the car and ended up selling it two days later! For only $200 less than we had asked for it!

So, Craiglist worked for us. We saved money selling our car, and made more than we would have gotten at the dealership. How has Craigist worked for you?

For more ideas, visit Rocks in my Dryer.

Although my mom was a wonderful cook when I was growing up, I didn’t have much interest in making meals for my family. So, when I became a young(ish) wife, I didn’t have too much experience in making dinners. When I would do my grocery shopping, I would usually walk around the store and say…”Hmmm, that sounds like a good meal for dinner”. Then, I would try to remember what all the ingredients were and whether I had any of them in stock at home already. That led to many extra trips to the store for missing ingredients and extra spending due to impulse buys.

Fast forward to the present. Each week, I sit down and make a meal plan at the beginning of the week. My family is not too adventurous, so it usually doesn’t vary too much from week to week. But, at least I know what I’m going to have each and every day for dinner before 4 pm. I know when to pull meat out of the freezer several days ahead of time (I have an aversion to defrosting in the microwave or on the counter). It’s come in very handy lately, since I’m taking a tax class 2 nights a week, and have to have dinner ready right at 5 pm, so I can leave for my class. If I didn’t have a meal plan, it might be very tempting to order take-out, which could ruin my budget.

As I’m planning, I check out my wall calendar, to see what activities we have going on throughout the week to plan easy dinners, etc. when I know I won’t have much time to cook. I also plan ahead for other activities where I may need to bring a dish, such as bringing brownies to a church small group meeting or making dinner for a new mom at church, etc. to ensure that I have the ingredients in the house when needed.

I also use my menu plan to make my grocery shopping list. For each meal, I’ll shop my pantry, fridge, and freezer first to see what items I need to purchase. Often, I will have many of the items already stocked. Then, I add the items I do need to my list as well as the basic staples that we need like milk, bread, etc. and check Coupon Mom to see if there’s a coupon to go along with the item. I also compile a list, using the Grocery Game (if you sign up, please use centsablemomma at att dot net for your referral), of items that I wish to stockpile (to build up my pantry and freezer at rock-bottom prices), but I’ll write more about stockpiling next week. When I have a list at the grocery store, I can resist the urge to purchase impulse items, thus saving even more money.

For more related articles, check out:

• How I Organize My Coupons
• Recipe Binder

How do you plan your meals? Do you find that it saves you money?

I have lived in several different places throughout my life, so I have many friends that I don’t get to talk to on a regular basis. I love to send and receive Christmas cards. Many times, it is the only time that I am able to catch up on what is going on in my friends’ lives, and they are able to catch up with my family. On average, I send out about 60 cards a year. So, that would be a LOT of work to address all the cards.

About 5 years ago, I decided to create a simple database in Microsoft Works Database (a free program that came on my computer) to create address labels that I could print out each year. I try to make the labels as personalized as possible by adding a cute digital picture to plain labels. Basically, the fields in my database are split into the following:

• First Name
• Last Name
• Address 1
• Address 2
• City
• State
• Zip
• Country
• Comment – like “Need new address”, if I know they’ve moved, but I don’t have the new address
• Date updated – so I know when I’ve updated a new address for the next year
• Then 1 column for each year and a Y if they’ve sent me a card that year

When I’m ready to send my cards, I’ll do a mail merge in Microsoft Word to create address labels and stick them to each of the envelopes when I’m compiling my Christmas cards. It’s much easier than writing everyone’s name and address each year.

I also use the database to keep track of who sends me cards each year. Since the card, the letter, envelope, label and stamp all cost money I try to condense my list each year. If someone does not send me a card year after year, I might delete them from my list. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule. I might not ever get a card from someone, but they are special to me (like an aunt) or I know I may never get a card from a single guy, so I won’t cut them. Each Christmas card that I receive, I will keep the envelope and update the year column as well as check the return address against what I have in the database to update any mistakes that I’ve made or any new addresses.

My database works for me in making my Christmas season more sane, so I can keep the focus on Christ, while still sending out Christmas cards. How do you make it easier on yourself to send Christmas cards?

For more ideas that work for others, visit Rocks in My Dryer.

I grew up eating homemade spaghetti sauce, so I don’t think that the jarred stuff tastes good (no matter how much my MIL tries to doctor it up with meat). However, I do have to admit that the jarred stuff is very easy to make. I don’t always have an hour to cook the days that we want to eat spaghetti.

• 6 oz. tomato paste
• 28 oz. crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 onion
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 lb. ground beef or turkey
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1 tsp. oregano
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (try a smaller amount the 1st time to make sure it’s not too spicy for you and your kids)

Chop onion and green pepper. Put in pan with hamburger and sautee. Drain fat. Add tomatoes, paste and spices. Simmer for half an hour.

For more ideas on things that work for other people, check out Rocks in my Dryer. For more recipes, check out The Grocery Cart Challenge and Life as Mom.

So, this afternoon my 2 year old proudly pointed out where he had taken a black crayon and done “art” throughout the house….on the walls, door frame, door, hardwood floor, and wooden tool bench. Rather than worry about what to do, I grabbed my Magic Eraser and went to work. It took all of it off without much scrubbing effort (except the door frame…but I didn’t try too hard, since I think my husband still has to do some touch up paint from putting in a new door).

It has worked other times in a pinch…like when the same “artist” decided to use permanent marker on my nice wood coffee table. There is still some shine on the polish probably from its use, but that’s much better than permanent marker, right? And it’s barely noticeable. Now, I’m not claiming it can take off old permanent marker, since I did catch him at it right after it occurred.

I also use the Magic Eraser for normal cleaning tasks. It’s awesome at taking fingerprints off the fridge door handle and cleaning the entire surface of the fridge. No, I am not getting paid to write this…I just love my Magic Eraser . You can get a free sample of a mini eraser here.

For more tips, head to Rocks in my Dryer.