In the past couple of years I’ve gotten rid of pretty much ALL chemical cleaners in our house. All of a sudden I started to get sinus infections pretty often and they always happened within hours (sometimes within minutes) of using a chemical-based cleaning product from a spray bottle.

And y’all… sinus infections are AWFUL. You can’t breathe, you can’t sleep because you can’t breathe, you can’t talk, you walk around in fear that you are going to embarrass yourself with major nasal drippage. Like I said, awful.

Well, I decided one day to just completely throw out any non-natural cleaners. Yes, ALL of the ones that I had gotten for free too. And I have to say it was COMPLETELY WORTH IT!

And I never deal with sinus infections anymore!

Well, unless, like this past weekend, I’m around chemical spray cleaners.

I have been pretty miserable the past couple of days with major sinus pressure and drainage that I am positive is the direct result of being around some kind of spray cleaner this past Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning with the sneezing (it always starts with sneezing) and by Monday morning it was a full-blown sinus infection.

I hadn’t dealt with one in a while so I hadn’t done any research on natural remedies for sinus infections. I immediately did a few saline nasal rinses (I used the WaterPic SinuSense – and wow, I just looked at the reviews and saw that several people were having issues with the water getting into the battery section?? I’ve been very happy with mine though and no issues) but it had already progressed so much that the rinses didn’t help.

I was still feeling pretty awful this morning and ask a few of my blogging friends if they had any advice. Well, my friend Holly from iGOBOGO (who provides us with her great Publix coupon matchups each week!) suggested that I try boiling some water with Tea Tree Oil on the stove and breathing in the vapors.  (BTW, that link is to Tea Tree Oil on Amazon, but if you haven’t used your $10 credit on Vitacost yet, which is still available when you sign up here, then you can get Tea Tree Oil for pretty much just the cost of shipping which is $4.99!)

Sure, why not?  I would’ve tried just about anything at that point and I just so happened to have Tea Tree Oil in my cabinet!

To be honest, I was fairly skeptical. Yes, I know Tea Tree Oil is pretty powerful stuff (keep in mind that it should never ever ever be swallowed!), but I really thought my sinus infection had progressed to the point of no return and that I would just have to wait it out until it cleared up.

But I did it.

And guess what?

IT CLEARED UP!! I was completely floored!

Now, I do have to say that it HURT at first. It was more of a burning sensation, and it did not feel good at all. So don’t expect any nice soothing feelings when you stick your head over the pot.

But I got past the burning, and kept my head over the pot for a few minutes and slowly but surely it started to clear up. And I’d say within about 10 minutes or so after doing it I could actually BREATHE. Yes, through BOTH nostrils!

It’s been several hours now and I’m STILL clear. WOW!

So, THANK YOU Holly for sharing the tip with me and now I’m sharing it with you guys in hopes that it will help one of y’all out!
 
Pin It

To recap the “how to” part:

1.  Boil some water in a pot on the stove.

2.  Add several drops of Tea Tree Oil to the boiling water.

3.  Breathe in the steam for a few minutes.

Disclaimer: The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources, and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on this website. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.

This post is part of the Survival Tip Tuesday series! Be sure to check out more Survival Tip Tuesday articles!

No related posts.

A couple of months ago I was driving up to North Dallas with a friend of mine to go to a book signing by the author of one of my favorite blogs, Cake Wrecks!! Seriously, go read it! Jen (the author) is hilarious!

On the way I felt a tickle in my throat, and by the time we got up to our exit it was more than a tickle… it was definitely a sore throat.

I told my friend how I was feeling and she told me how whenever she starts to get a sore throat she takes Wild Oregano Oil and it always makes it better.

You guys know how much I love natural remedies, so I figured I would try it. We just so happened to pass a Vitamin Shoppe on the way so I made a quick stop to see if they had any Wild Oregano Oil and they DID!

I immediately took 3 capsules and within an hour or so my throat had completely stopped hurting.

I’ve had the same thing happen a few other times since then, have taken around 3 capsules each time, and again it completely goes away.

Since then I’ve done a little more research on Oregano Oil and it turns out that it is a potent antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic oil. And it has been used effectively for skin infections, digestive problems, sinus congestion, and colds and sore throats for many many years.

Now, I’m definitely not saying that it would work every time. And I’m not giving ANY medical advice at all whatsoever (of course you should always contact your doctor before taking anything).

But it really might be worth a try!

This is the one that I’ve been using (Source Naturals) and I’ve been very happy with it. AND, the price right now on Amazon is pretty awesome!! (I have no idea what the 1 reviewer there is talking about though… I don’t think it has an aftertaste at all).

Have you tried Oil Of Oregano before? I’d love to hear your experiences too!

Disclaimer: The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources, and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on this website. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.

This post is part of the Survival Tip Tuesday series! Be sure to check out more Survival Tip Tuesday articles!

No related posts.

Just in case anyone was wondering, going two weeks on Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet is HARD! You pretty much can’t have any sugar, any breads or pastas, any fruit, or any starchy vegetables.

I posted before about how one of my New Year’s goals for 2012 is to break my sugar/carb addiction and how I used Phase 1 of the South Beach diet to jump-start it! I’m very glad I did it, but I’m definitely thankful to be out of phase 1.

I lost around 10 pounds (my first goal is to lose 30 pounds so I was excited to see that) and my jeans feel a ton looser (although I haven’t completely dropped down a size yet).

I know lots of you guys have let me know that you are also going through South Beach, or you are about to start, so I wanted to share with you some of the things that I’ve found helpful in making it through Phase 1.

Garbanzo Beans are your friend.

I have found my new favorite food! Okay, maybe not my FAVORITE food, but Garbanzo beans are a new staple in our house. Especially Garbanzo Bean Flour!

In a moment of weakness during week 1 while shopping at our local Sunflower Farmers Market I grabbed a (fairly tiny) bag of Garbanzo Bean Flour for around $3.25. Anything with the word “flour” in it sounded amazing and the Garbanzo Bean Flour was the least expensive of the flours that I could have.

I used the Garbanzo Bean flour to make homemade Falafels and OH MY… seriously one of the best things I’ve eaten! (Okay, maybe my judgement is a little clouded since I haven’t had ANYTHING sweet in 3 weeks, but it sure tastes heavenly when you’re on Phase 1 of South Beach!) I’ll be sure to post the recipe and pictures within the next couple of days!

You can also use the flour to make Hummus, as well as a filler for hamburgers (I always put in some type of “filler” like oatmeal or panko bread crumbs to make it go a little farther). And after my oldest daughter ate the burgers she said “Mom, these are the best hamburger patties EVER!” Yep, garbanzo bean flour was my secret ingredient.

But instead of buying the tiny bag for $3.25, you can buy a bag of dried Garbanzo Beans and grind it into flour yourself using a strong blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec) or a food processor.

Drink LOTS of water.

I was lamenting on Facebook about how much I was craving carbs during the beginning of Phase 1 and one of y’all suggested for me to drink a big glass of water every time I had a carb craving. I’ve been doing that and it DEFINITELY helps!

Also, in order to help myself to drink more water, I’ve been putting a little lemon juice and stevia in my water and it has really helped with my desire to drink more. I have no idea why, but it’s worth a shot!

Use lots of spices.

While your diet is pretty restricted on Phase 1, you can pretty much use as much and as many spices as you would like! The food on its own can be pretty bland and spices really do make all the difference in the world. I don’t think I ate much of anything without AT LEAST garlic powder, onion powder, pepper, and a little salt. Those pretty much go with everything so you can just add on from there.

South Beach recipe sites like Kalyn’s Kitchen are a HUGE resource for finding great-tasting phase 1 (and beyond) recipes. Kalyn’s South Beach recipes are full of flavor and have amazing reviews from pretty much everyone who comments on her site! And right now she is actually doing a whole month of awesome Phase 1 recipes!

Make food in advance.

As much as you can, chop and cook foods in advance. It’s so much easier to have a grilled chicken salad for lunch when the lettuce is already washed, the veggies are already cut, and the chicken is already cooked! Just have a big grilling day the Saturday or Sunday before you start and grill several chicken breasts, or steaks (mmm… steak salads are my fav!) so that you have salad meat on hand.

I also love this idea (and of course, I found it on Pinterest) for making salads in mason jars at the beginning of the week that way you can just grab it from the fridge already prepared!

Look at it as a lifestyle change instead of a “diet”.

This is probably the hardest thing to do, but, in my opinion, it has to be done for South Beach to be successful. We made this mentality change the first time we did South Beach back in 2005. We cut out refined sugar, switched to 100% whole wheat everything, and increased our protein consumption…. FOR LIFE! South Beach diet isn’t something that you do for a while and then go back to the way things were. It’s a complete lifestyle change. And I promise that it’s worth it! Not only for weight-loss but for overall health too.

So why am I doing this again in 2012? Two reasons: 1) I have pretty miserable pregnancies and am pretty sedentary during the last trimester from back pain and 2) I didn’t limit my intake of food to make up for that. So I ended up gaining around 60 pounds during my last pregnancy and only had lost around 30 when I start South Beach (now I’ve lost 40!!)

Be prepared to learn more about yourself.

As I’ve added a few more carbs into my diet these past few days (I started Phase 2 this past Sunday) I’ve noticed something. Whenever I have wheat, my stomach hurts. {sigh}

I still want to test it out some more, but I’m preparing myself for at least having a Gluten sensitivity.

I honestly never imagined that I would be someone on a gluten-free diet, but with the way things are going it looks like I might have to be. And it could also be a reason why I have had such trouble losing weight this past year even while eating healthier foods.

I would LOVE some advice from any of you guys who are currently gluten-free or have someone in your family who is. Feel free to leave any links to websites that you think are helpful in the comments below!

Find a weight loss community.

I’ve been posting my progress on the Surviving The Stores Facebook page and it has really helped out a ton to have such a supportive community behind me! Your advice and encouragements have been AWESOME and have definitely helped me get through the past couple of weeks!

One of the websites/apps that you guys recommended is one called My Fitness Pal. I actually just signed up today and I am BLOWN AWAY. Seriously, it is super easy and tracks EVERYTHING for you. I can only imagine how much less I will be tempted by things knowing that I will have to enter exactly what I ate onto my profile!

And if I can give just one piece of advice it’s to (cue 80s music) DON’T STOP BELIEVING that you can do it. Really, you CAN. It seems impossible, and yes, the first several days are REALLY hard. But it’s totally worth it.

Now, I’m not saying that week 3 is a piece of cake. Yes, you can slowly start adding more carbs into your diet, but in some ways it really does take a lot more self-control than Phase 1 because on Phase 1 you could pretty much eat as much as you wanted of all of the foods that were “approved”. On Phase 2 you can eat a bigger variety, but you really have to LIMIT how much of it to eat on your own.

For those of you who have done South Beach before (or are doing it now), what suggestions do you have for those who are thinking about it, or are in the trenches right now?

Photo Credit: nkzs

This post is part of the Survival Tip Tuesday series! Be sure to check out more Survival Tip Tuesday articles!

This post is also linked up to: Monday Mania, Show It Off Monday, Fat Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday, and Real Food Wednesday. Be sure to visit all of these sites for more inspiring ideas!

No related posts.

Cutting back on your monthly budget is always one of the biggest new years resolutions every year.  I guess in general people overspend on the holidays (hopefully none of you did! ) and try to hunker down in January to live off as little as possible to make up for the excessive November and December spending.

So, I thought I would use this week’s Survival Tip Tuesday post to tell you guys about a few great resources to help with your budgeting goals for this year.

1.  Mint

Mint.com is owned by Quicken and gives you a one stop place to see all of your banking information for FREE.  You add your checking accounts, savings accounts, paypal accounts, mortgages, credit cards…. and they give you a complete summary of your spending.  You can set up a monthly budget for different categories and Mint will give you updates on if you are meeting your budget or going over.

And the best part? (…at least for me)  I didn’t have to do a THING after I created my account and entered my info!!  I can log on at any time and it pulls all of our updated info so that I can see exactly where we are financially at all times.  Yeah, I’m not very good at keeping up with financial information that I have to enter on a daily, or really any kind of regular basis.

They have bank-level security on their site, so it is extremely secure.

You can sign up for your FREE Mint.com account here.

2.  Manilla

 Another great FREE option for having all of your accounts in one place is Manilla.com!  It works very similarly to Mint, is also extremely secure, and adds the feature of being able to add in all of your rewards accounts, loyalty programs, Groupons (yes, you can see your available Groupons there!), Netflix subscriptions, and more.

Manilla grabs the information from all of your different accounts and consolidates it into one organized website. It lets you know your current balances, payments, upcoming bills, rewards points available, etc… all in ONE place!

You can find more information and sign up on the Manilla Website.

We are actually signed up with both Mint and Manilla because I really like the features of both (and they are both FREE)!

3.  Budgeting Spreadsheets

Overall Budgeting Spreadsheets

There are a ton of options for budgeting spreadsheets that you can download to your computer.  Here are a few that were listed on Get Rich Slowly, but I’d definitely recommending heading over to see the full list of budgeting spreadsheets:

• Of Zen & Computing has a very bare-bones budgeting spreadsheet that you can use with any spreadsheet program for free.
• Pear Budget is a GREAT online tool for having a budget that’s completely done for you where you don’t have to mess with a spreadsheet at all.  There is a fee of $4.95 per month, but you can get that fee waived for each friend you refer to their site.  You can also do a free 1 month trial to test it out, AND you don’t have to input any credit card info for the trial which is nice!
• Microsoft has many different finance templates for Excel including several spreadsheet templates for budgets!  The ones I saw (there are several) looked really nice with pretty colors and everything.  :)

Grocery Spending Spreadsheet

I remember the first time I saw my friend Stephanie over at Couponing 101‘s grocery spending spreadsheet (yes, we are friends in real life too!)  :)  I was completely blown away!  She has EVERYTHING that she spent on her grocery listed out by week, as well as how much she would have spent, and how much she saved.  WOW!

Sound complicated?  Actually it’s not complicated at all because she has the spreadsheet set up to do all of the adding, subtracting, and percentages for you.

You can click here to download the Grocery Spending Spreadsheet.

Meal Planners With Expense Tracking

Erin over at $5 Dinners has a ton of great meal budgeting resources (of course!)  If you’re looking for ways to help with keeping tracking of what you spend for specific meals, check out this great list of meal planning resources!

Not only does Erin have a Grocery Shopping List with Meal Plan and Expense Tracking printable, but she has handy printable organization sheets for overall meal planning, pantry staples, and even planning for your garden!

What do you use to keep track of your budget each year?  Do you use an online website, spreadsheets, or pen (or pencil) and paper?

Let us know what you use in the comments below!

*NOTE:  The giveaway has ended.* 

This post is part of the Survival Tip Tuesday series! Be sure to check out more Survival Tip Tuesday articles!

Official rules: There will be ONE winner for the $25 Amazon Gift Card!  Limit 1 entry per person. This giveaway will end on Wednesday January 4th, 2011 at 11:59 pm CST.  The winner will be randomly chosen and contacted via email. No purchase necessary to win.  You must be 13 or older to enter and have a mailing address within the United States to enter.  Odds of winning depend on number of comments. Employees of Surviving The Stores are not eligible for participation.  CrossNetwork Media, LLC is not liable for any injury or damage to persons and/or things as a result of the acceptance of the prize offered. This contest is in no way associated, administered, sponsored or endorsed by Facebook.  Feel free to also check out our disclosure policy!

No related posts.

I’ve been reading some things lately about hand sanitizers and I am NOT happy about what I’m reading.

It looks like there are some ingredients in hand sanitizers, specifically one named Triclosan, that there’s a ton of controversy around right now.  And until they get it all figured out, I’d personally prefer to just stay away from it altogether.

So what are the alternatives?  Well, there’s just plain old-fashioned washing your hands with soap and warm water.   But what about those times where that’s not an option?

Sarah over at Renaissance Mama has an awesome recipe for Chemical-Free Homemade Hand Sanitizer that uses only 3 ingredients!  (And I actually think I have ALL of them in my bathroom cabinets right now!)

This post is part of the Survival Tip Tuesday series!  Be sure to check out more Survival Tip Tuesday articles!

No related posts.

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is almost here again? Turkeys, naps, football, sweets, and SHOPPING!

I absolutely love going out on Black Friday each year (although I skipped last year since I had a 1 week old newborn!), not necessarily for the deals, but to PEOPLE WATCH. People watching is one of my favorite things, and Black Friday is the perfect time to do it.

I typically just go to Walmart since it’s the closest store to me, they will price match other ads, and there are plenty of people to watch there, lol!

So if you are planning on participating in the Black Friday craziness this year, here are my top 5 tips for surviving Black Friday:

1. Make A Holiday Shopping Budget

Yes, just like ANYTHING else that we spend money on, we need a budget for holiday shopping too.

It’s so easy to just grab all of the great deals that we see, but too many great deals and you can still go WAY over budget!

I highly recommend determining exactly how much you can afford to spend this holiday season and then take out that amount of CASH (or a certain amount each month).

Then make all of your holiday gift purchases (in store) with cash.

If you’re going to be doing a lot of online shopping, then you’re definitely going to have to be more disciplined to stay on track.

You might even want to consider asking your bank if they have any prepaid credit cards that you can use (not to mention that it’s safer to use these online anyway!)

2. Make A Per Person Gift List

List out exactly what you want to buy for each person on your list.

Or at least the maximum you can spend.

Then make sure that your list doesn’t add up to more than your holiday budget!

Things sure seem to add up quickly when you do this and I’m always shocked at what my final total is when I add this up. And then I have to go and adjust the amount that I was thinking of spending WAY down.

Then, when you get to the store, STICK TO YOUR LIST! If you’ve already reached your spending amount for someone, don’t buy another gift just because it’s a great deal.

Be sure to download all of the great Christmas Planning List resources over at Christmas Your Way!

3. Make Your Shopping List

Hopefully we’ve made this a little easier for you with the Black Friday printable shopping lists!

Just look through the Black Friday ads and match up the items on sale with people on your list. Remember NOT to get an item that doesn’t match up to something that you are already planning on purchasing if you are trying to stick to a budget.

Look through the “Top Deals” (most of the stores should have a “Top Deals” star) and use the checkboxes to make your shopping list (and you can use the “Notes” section on the print screen to add any extra items).

Then ONLY get what’s on your list! The stores will be using their best marketing strategies to try to get you to buy more and they will have other items in very strategic locations. RESIST!!

4. Make A Store Plan

Now that you know exactly what you are going to buy, make a plan for the stores you want to go to!

First check the opening times of the stores you want to go to, prioritize, and map it out. If you HAVE to be at one store when it opens at 5 am, then you probably don’t want to go to another store across the city at 4:30 am.

Be sure to also check the number of items available for a specific promotion. Sometimes each store will only have a few of the “doorbuster” items, so be prepared with a back up plan if the product you are wanting to buy is out of stock when you get there.

If you can, bring a friend (or a few friends) with you so that you can be in two (or more) places at once! I know at Walmart each year, they unwrap the doorbuster displays all at the same time, so it’s helpful to have a friend there who is grabbing the items from your lists on one side of the store while you are on the other.

While not everything can be price-matched (like store brand items), you CAN still price match at Walmart and Target for pretty much anything on Black Friday! This is super helpful if the items on your list can be found anywhere, and Walmart will price match right there in the check out lane!

5. Make Your Purchases Online Instead

Black Friday in-store shopping isn’t for everyone. And it really might not be for MOST people.

Well, there’s a solution! You DON’T have to miss out on all of the great deals!

If you’d prefer to shop in your PJs (although, ha, at least in my city people go to the store in their PJs anyway) then you can do the majority of your Black Friday shopping right from the comfort of your home.

Just check out the “Shop Online” buttons on the Black Friday Deals page! Also, many of the online stores will be starting their Black Friday ads online on THURSDAY, so you might just be completely done with your shopping by the time Friday hits.

Don’t forget to sign up for Ebates too so that you can get cash back on the majority of your holiday online purchases!

**And be sure to follow Surviving The Stores on Facebook, Twitter, and/or Email to stay up-to-date on all of the latest Black Friday deal news.**

This post is part of the Survival Tip Tuesday series!  Click over to read more Survival Tip Tuesday articles!

Related posts:

1. Mega Swagbucks Friday!!

We got an AWESOME deal on our dining room table 7 years ago. It was a wood table that sat 10 people, came with 8 chairs, and looked great too! All for around $400 at a used furniture store.

Four kids and lots of dinners later, the table has a *few* extra imperfections.

Like huge white spots in the middle.

Apparently these white spots are from putting things that are too hot directly on the wood. I’m not sure exactly why it happens (anyone know?), but I DO know how to get rid of it thanks to google!!

Here’s how to get rid of them in 4 easy steps:

1. Clean the piece of furniture.

2. Wet a clean thick cloth or piece of material.  (If you don’t want to wet it, you can use the steam setting on your iron).

3. Place the cloth over the spot.

4. Turn your clothes iron onto one of the medium settings and go back and forth on the cloth for around 20-30 seconds. DO NOT just leave it in one place.

Remove the cloth and the spot should be gone! At least, it was for me!!  It looks like in the picture that there’s a white ring around an area, but it ONLY shows up with the camera (you can’t see it when you look at the table).

This post is part of the Survival Tip Tuesday series!

No related posts.

I don’t know if this is true for everyone, but for us, little kids = scratched DVDs.  I know, we should be better about keeping them out of their reach, and we did REALLY good on this with the first two kids.

But now we have 4 kids.  And lots of scratched DVDs.

So last night I had finally had enough of trying to find a DVD that actually would play all the way through, and I bought a $7.88 container of CD/DVD scratch remover at Walmart.

And it really did help with the DVD I used it on (Little Einsteins).  It wouldn’t play more than a couple of minutes before I used the scratch remover, but we put it in after using it and it played ALL the way through without an issue!  WOOHOO!

But I noticed something when I opened up the $7.88 (SMALL) bottle of scratch remover.  It smelled suspiciously JUST like car wax.

So I did something that I should’ve done before I went to Walmart to buy the scratch remover.  I googled it!

And oh my, you come up with all kinds of crazy ideas when you google something.  Using a banana?  Toothpaste?  LOL!  Sure, why not?

So I looked through our garage, kitchen, and bathroom to see what we had in there and this is what I found:

A banana, toothpaste (the paste, not the gel), armor all, car wax, and scratch out.

And I tried them all!  Here are the directions I used for each:

Banana: Cut off a piece of ripe banana and rub the banana around the DVD (or CD) in a circular motion.  Then rub the inside of the banana peel around the DVD in a circular motion.  Finally, buff (again, in a circular motion) with a dry cotton towel.

Toothpaste: Squeeze a small amount of PASTE toothpaste onto the DVD.  Rub it in pretty well and let sit for around 5 minutes.  Wash the toothpaste off the DVD and then spray with window cleaner and buff in a circular motion with a cotton towel.  Let dry.

Armor All, Car Wax, & Scratch Out: Apply to the DVD and rub it in in a circular motion with a cotton towel.  Let sit for at least 5 minutes.  Buff off in a circular motion with a dry towel.

At first I tried them on different DVDs, and looked at the results.  Several of the DVDs looked MUCH better.  The only DVD that DIDN’T at least look better was the one that I used the banana on.

The banana pretty much did nothing.  Actually, it might have made even MORE scratches on the DVD.  Goes to show that you can’t just trust Youtube!

I had used the banana on the worst of the DVDs which was our ABC signs Signing Time DVD.  ALL of our kids have been obsessed with Signing Time since they were toddlers, and the ABC signs one was especially well-worn.

So since I had used the banana on the worst one (and it made it worse), I thought I’d use the Signing Time DVD to work my way through the other methods.

The toothpaste did okay.  I could tell that there were fewer scratches on the DVD, but there were still a bunch of skips when I tried to play it.

The armor all made absolutely no difference.

Then I tried the car wax and there was a huge (HUGE) difference!  We could play through the letter D on the DVD (that’s where it always would stick).  I was thrilled!  But later in the DVD (around half way through) it started skipping again.

So on to the Kit Scratch Out.  I rubbed it in, let it sit for around 5 minutes, and then buffed it out with a cotton cloth.

And the DVD played ALL THE WAY THROUGH!  First the first time in years.

The Kit Scratch Out is around the same price as the “official” DVD/CD scratch remover, but has 3 1/2 times MORE product in it!  And you likely have some sitting in the garage somewhere!

I would love to hear your experience with getting rid of scratches on your DVDs or CDs!  Are there any other methods that I didn’t cover?

Disclaimer: This is only my experience.  Others may have a different experience when using these products or others.  Surviving The Stores makes no guarantees, either written or implied, that any particular methods will work to get scratches out of CDs or DVDs.  Always consult a professional before attempting pretty much anything.  :)

No related posts.

I bet no one is surprised that we print A LOT of coupons here at our house. Even if we don’t use them ourselves, we will many times print them off to check the terms, specific wording, or expiration dates for you guys!

We decided about a year ago to invest in a pretty nice laser printer. We LOVE it and are very happy with the brand that we purchased (it is a Brother MFC 7840W… and if I remember correctly, I think we got it on sale for around $250).

One of the benefits of having a laser printer is not having to buy ink as often as you do with an ink jet. So one of the reasons that we felt comfortable paying this much for a printer is that we knew that the cost savings over time would more than make up for the higher price of the printer.

About 7 months after we started using the printer regularly, we got a message saying that we needed to replace the toner cartridge before we could continue printing. And the printer WOULD NOT let us print without replacing the toner!

So Ryan got on Amazon (where we bought it) to check the price of cartridges and saw a comment by someone else who owns this same printer who was saying that you could continue to use your toner cartridge for a longer amount of time if you just put some tape (we used duct tape, but electrical tape would work great too) over the sensor that lets the printer know that the toner is low.

Y’all…

We got FIVE MORE MONTHS of use out of that toner cartridge!!

We finally JUST replaced the toner cartridge after around a year of very regular use.

From what I’ve read, this works with most Brother toner cartridges, and I’d be surprised if there wasn’t something similar that you could do to extend the life of other brands as well.

If we would’ve replaced the cartridge when the printer told us it needed to be replaced, we would’ve just bought our SECOND toner instead of our FIRST!

No related posts.

Okay, so maybe it’s not technically a “money-saving app.”

But it’s my new favorite one.  (By the way, if you are looking for the “real” money-saving apps, my friend Erin has a HUGE list of money-saving apps!)

And if you stretch it… it COULD be a money-saving app.  Because it might mean NOT buying a new phone! 

It’s called “Where’s My Droid” and it has saved. my. life.

Okay, maybe that’s a stretch too.  But it sure feel like it has!!

It’s a pretty simple concept… you download the app (it’s called “Find My iPhone” for the iPhone and “Where’s My Droid” for Android phones) and then set up a certain phrase that you can text to your phone from either email or from another phone.  Then, even if your phone is on silent, once it receives the text with the “special phrase” it will turn up your volume and ring so that you can find your phone!!

So, for example, if your special phrase was “Find my phone” then you would just text that to your phone and it would start ringing LOUDLY within minutes!!

Isn’t that the greatest thing ever??

I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had to use it since I loaded the app.

Just open up the Android Market or Apple App Store to find the app for your phone.  And both of them are FREE!! 

No related posts.

I have been searching for a good recipe for homemade mosquito repellant for a while now and I think I finally found one!!

First off, though, I have to say that I have tested it up here in the Dallas area, but NOT where I grew up in the mosquito-haven of southeast Texas (high heat + super high humidity = an insane number of mosquitoes).

That said, this homemade mosquito repellant has worked GREAT up here in Dallas and I’m thrilled to have found something that isn’t full of chemicals AND that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg (like, for example, California Baby Natural Mosquito Repellant at $16.99 a bottle).

So here’s the recipe:

(And yes, in typical Rachel fashion I totally guessed on the measurements for each ingredient)

• Lavender Essential Oil (probably around 15 drops or so)

• Homemade Vanilla Extract (around 3-4 Tbsp… which is why I recommend making your own so it’s inexpensive!)

• Lemon Juice (4-5 Tbsp also)

Mix all of the above ingredients in a spray bottle and fill the rest up with water.

Spray away!!

And I LOVE the smell of this mixture too! No need for perfume, lol.

I would recommend reapplying fairly often as well.

There are a few other options that you could use as well instead of the above ingredients (although it might not smell as nice). Instead of the lavender essential oil you could use cinnamon oil, lemon eucalyptus oil, or citronella oil, and instead of vanilla you can just use your favorite cooking oil, witch hazel, or just plain vodka (my homemade vanilla extra was made in vodka).

Have you tried making your own mosquito repellent? I’d love to hear other recipes too!

And let us know if you try this one and it works for you!

No related posts.

Tip #6: Learn How To Do Coupon Match-ups

We’ve got our menu planning down, we know where to find coupons, and we now know to SAVE those coupons for a good sale instead of just using them immediately.

Today, we’re going to talk about doing your OWN Coupon Match-ups!

**I wrote this post originally last year, so instead of having two posts on the exact same topic, I changed this up a little and am reposting it along with all of the great comments below!

Coupon Match-up: Pairing a particular coupon for an item with a store sale to get maximum savings!  You literally “match” the coupon “up” with the store sale.

Why would you want to do your own coupon match-ups? Here are a few possible reasons why you might want to:

1.  Because you can’t find blogs that do match-ups for your local stores. Some smaller grocery chains aren’t covered by bloggers (yet!) and if you have one in your area, you might want to figure out what the best deals are there.

2.  Because you can’t find coupon match-ups for products that you want to buy. Yes, your store might be covered somewhere, but there are products that you see in your local ad, or products that you need to buy, that aren’t on your favorite grocery blogger’s match-up list.

3.   Because (gasp!) I might miss some deals sometimes! I know, I know, I should be able to post every deal all the time, right?  But there are definitely times where you will see an item in your drug store or grocery store ad and think to yourself, “I know this is a good price and I know there’s gotta be a coupon out there for it, why didn’t Rachel list it?”  I can give you an answer… are you ready?  I make mistakes…. I miss deals…. I miss things in the ad.  It happens.  I try my best to not miss things that would be a good deal, but I’m human.

If you fall into one of those categories, then this post is for you!  Honestly, coupon match-ups are pretty easy, they just take a little bit of time.

I’m going to share with you what I’ve found to be the best way for me to do coupon match-ups, but definitely don’t feel like it has to be done this way… do whatever works best for you!

Step 1: Get your weekly ad (or print it out from the store’s online site) and glance through the entire ad. First go through and circle the deals that are exceptional prices.  You will usually find these on the front page and back page of the ad (although there will likely be some inside the ad too).  Then, go through the ad again and look for any special sales like “Buy 10, Get $5 off instantly” type sales.  Circle the products that are listed under those special sale sections.  Next, go through a third time and circle the items that you either were planning on buying anyway, or that look like they are at least a decent price.

Step 2: Pull up the Coupon Database on your computer and search for each item that you circled.  If there is a coupon available for the item you searched for, then write down either on a separate piece of paper, or on the ad itself, where that coupon is found.  If it is a printable coupon and you haven’t printed it yet, then you can click on the link in the database to print the coupon immediately.

Step 3: Subtract the amount of the coupon from the price in the ad and voila!  You have your final price!  If it’s a price that you feel comfortable paying and it’s a product you need then go for it.  Clip the coupons that you need and paper clip them to the ad. Remember, don’t just buy it because it has a coupon!

Then you’re done (well, except for the whole going to the store part)!!  It definitely gets easier with practice and you start to learn which products likely have coupons out and how much that brand typically releases coupons for.  It will take much longer when you are first starting out than it will after you get some practice.

Again, don’t feel like you have to do it exactly how I’ve lined it out here.  This is the way that works best for me, but you find the way that works best for you!

Real quick, I know this post is getting pretty long, but there’s one more thing you need to know:  how to read the coupon wording on the database.

So in the example above I searched for “Seventh Generation” in the Coupon Database.  The columns tell you the description of the coupon, the value of the coupon, the expiration date of the coupons, where to find the coupons and any limitations on the coupons.  Most of it is pretty self explanatory, but the one thing that I wanted to point out to those of you who are new to couponing is in the “Source” column where it says “RP 01/10/10″. All that means is that the coupon came from the January 10, 2010 Red Plum coupon insert that came in the paper.  Sometimes it will say “SS” (which means the Smart Source insert) and sometimes it will say P&G (which means the Proctor & Gamble insert).

WHEW!!  That was a lot to cover in one post, huh?  If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them below.  I really hope that you are able to find the Coupon Database feature useful while you survive the stores!

No related posts.

I got a question from a reader a couple of weeks ago that I thought would be good to answer here on the blog instead of just in an email!

Here’s the gist of the question:

I’m going to be traveling to Pensacola for vacation this summer and I was wondering how to save money on eating out while we are there?

I know lots of you guys will be headed to cities other than your own this summer, and are looking to save money in all of the ways that you can.

Here are my top 5 ways to save money on going out to eat just about anywhere you will be traveling to!

Restaurant.com

Restaurant.com is a restaurant gift card site that offers discounted gift cards up to 80% off. The gift cards go on sale 70 – 80% off typically 1 – 2 times per month, and we make sure to post about it when they do.

You can always get a $25 Restaurant gift card for $10 on Restaurant.com, but during these sales you can get $25 restaurant gift cards for just $2-$3.  You typically have to spend a minimum of $35 to be able to use the gift card (which would not be a problem for a family going on vacation). So that translates into a $35 meal for only $12 or $13 plus gratuity (which is usually a required 18%).

Groupon

Groupon is another great way to plan your restaurant visits well in advance and save a good amount off your check. The way to do it most effectively is to subscribe to the city you know you will be traveling to and check the daily email for any restaurant deals that you see that day.

If a deal looks good to you then you can follow the link provided by Groupon to the restaurant’s website and see if the restaurant looks like a place you’d like to eat. Always make sure to check Google or any number of other online review sites to make sure the restaurant has good reviews (we’ve definitely learned this the hard way!)

Also, be sure to check the Groupon expiration date to make sure the voucher doesn’t expire before you get there!

You can sign up for Groupon here: Groupon Sign-up Page

Restaurant Coupons Database

The Surviving The Stores Restaurant Coupons Database is a great way to find printable coupons for national restaurant chains in pretty much any city you will be traveling to. To find a coupon for a restaurant, go to the database page and if you see a logo for a restaurant then there’s a printable coupon for it! Then click on the logo to view and print all of the coupons that are available for that restaurant.

With the restaurant coupons database, however, you cannot plan months in advance with it as many of the coupons expire within a couple of weeks or less of being posted. You will want to make sure to visit the database right before your trip to see what coupons are available.

Also, sometimes a restaurant will let you use the coupon if you pull it up on your smart phone, but you will want to call the restaurant ahead of time to make sure they will accept the coupon through your phone.

Other Local Group Buying Sites

I put Groupon in its own category above because it seems they have at least 1 new restaurant deal every day in most cities. But, there are lots of other daily deal sites that have great restaurant deals to from time to time.

Most daily deal sites that have restaurant deals will offer them for at least 50% off the regular price, so you could definitely save some big money here. I highly recommend looking at the menu of a restaurant online before buying a voucher because you don’t want to get a $20 voucher to a restaurant where all of the entrees are $25 each!

You can go ahead and sign up for the Group Buying Sites for the city (or cities) that you will be traveling to.

Entertainment Books

We love having the Entertainment Book for here in Dallas, but did you know that you can get one for ANY major city? Most of the restaurant coupons in the Entertainment Book are for around 50% off, so the $15 you’ll spend for the Entertainment Book is definitely worth it when you count up the cost of those meals!

Plus, you can buy your Entertainment Book through ShopAtHome to get 20% Cash Back (That’s $3 back on your $15 book making it only $12!)

Do you have any other tips for saving money eating out while on vacation? Please share them in the comments section below!

Related posts:

1. Restaurant.com Gift Cards 80% off + 15% Cash Back! ($25 gift cards as low as $1.70!)

With all of the big flower promotions going on right now, I thought I’d get one of our local florists here in Dallas to share why she thinks that buying flowers locally is a much better deal than buying from a large flower chain online.

——————————————————————————–
The following is a guest post by Domonie at Sabrina’s Flowers in Rockwall, TX:

There are several options for ordering Mothers Day flowers:

Option #1: Calling your local florist for delivery in another area.
Option #2: Ordering online through a flower supply middleman
Option #3: Call the first listing in the phone book (usually a full page ad)
Option #4: Search out a local florist with a physical location where the person you want to send flowers to lives.

In my opinion, option #4 gives you the best arrangement for you money.

Here’s why:

1. When you go local, no “middleman” takes a cut. The local flower shops can fill your order to exactly what you pay – more flowers for less money.  Ordering through a middle-man means that you end up paying a pretty steep “service fee.”  This service fee is NOT the delivery fee.  The ‘delivery fee’ (approximately $7) is bundled into the price of the florist-delivered flowers shown on the site. The delivery fee (usually $20+ for major holidays) is just for forwarding the order to a local florist.

2. Your local florist knows what flowers they have in-stock that look awesome.  I recommend always asking the florist what they would send to their own mom – you’ll get the best product that way.

3. Going local means no phone tag if there is a problem.  If there is a concern about delivery they can call you direct and it gets sorted out immediately so that your mother gets her flowers ASAP.

4. Going local usually means the person who takes your order fills your order.  They know what is in season in that area, what the best bang for your buck is, and what is most popular.  (And who knows, they might even know your mother!)

5. Mom & Pop shops are the heart of a community and going local means supporting the local economy, which benefits everyone in the community!

To find the best place to buy flowers locally, use Google Places, Yelp or your favorite review site to find a good local flower shop if you don’t know of one.

Did you know that there are companies online that set themselves up to look like a physical store even though they don’t have a physical address?  They even have “City Name Flower Shop” or something similar when you look it up on Google. If you’re wondering how to find a REAL Local Flower Shop, check out the tips over at The Flower Detective for more information.

Domonie Mattson is the manager at a Dallas Flower Shop named Sabrina’s Flowers in East Dallas and is committed to making quality arrangements that fit your budget!

What do you think?  I’d love to hear your comments on buying locally vs. buying from a large online middle-man site!

No related posts.

Many of you might remember my post last year about Ryan losing his job. It was definitely a tough adjustment at for us, since Surviving The Stores was nowhere close to the point of being able to support us full-time.

THANKFULLY we had both been taught about living below our means in order to put as much money into savings as we possibly can.

We had been putting money into savings thinking it was unlikely that we would actually need it one day, but I’m SOOO glad that we listened to the advice of those who had already walked through many years of life and who knew through experience why saving up for unexpected circumstances is so important!

Over the past year as I’ve watched tweets on Twitter, looked through Facebook status updates, and talked to friends, it seems that layoffs are now just a part of life.

Even those who thought they would always have job security in their field are facing cut-backs in their sector.

We’ve been there… and it can be a very scary place.

This morning, I read a post by my friend Connie over at Smockity Frocks. Her husband got laid off right before Easter weekend this year and they are putting together a plan of action on how to survive this time (with EIGHT kids) without losing their home.

Connie is starting a new series over at Smockity Frocks on How To Survive A Layoff. If any of you have gone through a layoff, are going through a layoff, or could go through a layoff (that would be pretty much everyone, right?) I definitely encourage you to read through her post today and consider signing up for her email newsletter to keep up with the weekly series.

What about you all? What tips would you give someone who is facing a layoff?

No related posts.

One of the questions that I get most often in my inbox from STS readers is how to tell if a certain coupon is legitimate or not.

With coupon usage on the rise (especially since the airing of Extreme Couponing) this is definitely a question that needs to be addressed!

Here are a three tips for spotting a fraudulent coupon:

1.  Stay away from “FREE item” printable coupons.

It is rare that a company will put out a pdf or jpg coupon for a free product.  In the past 3 (almost!) years that I’ve been running STS I’ve seen legitimate free product pdf or jpg coupons only a handful of times… and it usually ended up in a mess.

99.9% of the time, a free item printable coupon is not legitimate.

Here’s an example from the Coupon Information Corporation of a coupon that has been tampered with and distributed on Ebay and via email:

2.  Be very careful about the pdf and jpg coupons you use.

Our policy here at Surviving The Stores is to only post about pdf or jpg coupons that we are certain came directly from the manufacturer.  If you see a coupon that you can print multiple times (like a pdf or jpg) and it’s hosted somewhere other than the company’s website, the company’s Facebook page, or a marketing website (some companies publish and host their coupons through marketing companies), be warned that it could very likely be fraudulent.

Also, it is much more likely that you will see pdf and jpg coupons for Restaurants and Retail Stores.  Multiple-print coupons for actual products at the grocery stores are the ones that are the concern.

Here’s an example of a coupon that was likely photocopied and then distributed on message boards and via email:

3.  Check with the CIC’s fraudulent coupon list.

The Coupon Information Corporation keeps an up to date list of the fraudulent coupons that are circulating the web.

Just like we all go to Snopes.com when we get an email that sounds fishy, we can go to the CIC’s website when we see a coupon that looks like it’s not legit.

On most of the coupons that the CIC lists they also have an explanation of why the coupon isn’t valid.

Feel free to share any other tips in the comments section for recognizing fraudulent coupons!

No related posts.

Does your skin get crazy dry in the winter like mine does?

My feet, my hands, my face, my legs, my arms… and we don’t even have super cold weather here in Texas like those of you who live up north do! I can’t imagine what my skin would be doing if we lived in a colder area!

Those of you who have been reading STS for a while now know that I love natural remedies. When possible, I try to choose products for our family that are found naturally and while I’m far from an expert in this area, I do know that so many of the ingredients in most lotions are surrounded by controversy right now and I’d really just rather not chance rubbing those ingredients INTO my skin.

You guys know how big of a fan I am of coconut oil, and it turns out that it helps tremendously in getting rid of the itchiness and even the dry skin altogether!

You can rub it directly onto your skin, or you can do what I do and take a bath with a few Tablespoons of coconut oil! Taking a bath in coconut oil has been one of my favorite things to do this winter.

I’ve also found that it doesn’t make my skin super greasy like other oils do. Obviously it’s greasy right at first but it always absorbs really well and within minutes the greasy feeling is gone!

We typically buy the Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil on Amazon because they usually have great deals with subscribe & save. Plus, you can use it for lots of other things like tortillas with coconut oil instead of shortening and homemade coconut oil deodorant!  But any other coconut oil brand would also work for helping with dry skin.

What other things do you guys do to help with dry skin on your face and body in the winter?

More Natural Living ideas!

Disclaimer: The information on this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please confirm any information obtained from or through this web site with other sources, and review all information regarding any medical condition or treatment with your physician. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking medical treatment because of something you have read on this website. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.

No related posts.

I have been wanting one of these Bissell Little Green Deep Cleaners for a while and Ryan got one for me for Christmas!  Yay!!  One of the “Christmas presents” I typically ask for every year is to have our carpets cleaned for the holidays because with 3 kids running around the house they get dirty pretty quickly and end up with lots of stains in a year’s time.

But having your carpets professionally cleaned just gets so expensive and since you can get your own cleaning machine at less than half the price of a professional cleaning we decided to do that this year instead.

The only thing I was concerned about was the carpet cleaner for my new machine since it’s full of chemicals that I’d prefer not to have in my house.

So I did a little research on organic/natural carpet cleaners and they are WAY EXPENSIVE.  Definitely out of our price range.

I did a little more research and put together a great homemade recipe for carpet cleaner/shampoo that worked great on our carpets.  It was super easy to make and smells great!

Here’s what you need (measurements should fit the Bissell Little Green Deep Cleaner):

Pin It

1 1/2 quarts of hot (NOT boiling) water
1/4 cup of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide (it’s the regular hydrogen peroxide that you can get at any store)
1 1/2 Tablespoons of White Vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons of Dish Soap (we use Seventh Generation and it worked great)
About 1/8 of a teaspoon of your favorite essential oil(s) – either just one or a combination.  Vanilla and lavender would be a good one.  I had ginger and lavender on hand so I used those, but I’m going to get vanilla for next time.

Mix all of the ingredients together (be sure to add the dish soap to the water and not the water to the dish soap) and pour into your carpet cleaning machine… then clean like the directions tell you to.

I love knowing exactly what’s in the things I use in my house!

Do you enjoy tips like these? Then click “Like” below to follow Surviving The Stores on Facebook!

No related posts.

Have you guys heard of something called “no poo”?  It’s getting more and more popular these days as more people get frustrated with all of the chemicals that are in their everyday shampoo and conditioner.  While there are many organic/natural shampoos and conditioners on the market, they are typically VERY expensive.

So, in comes the “no poo” concept.  The theory behind it is that our hair only gets greasy because we strip the natural oils from it everytime we shampoo our hair.  Our scalp then has to overcompensate, so it releases more oils than it should and our hair ends up looking super oily until we wash those excess oils out again.  The proponents of “no poo” say that if we allow our scalp to readjust to not having shampoo and conditioner (which usually takes around 1-2 months) then our hair will look shiny, clean, and non-greasy all the time without the use of shampoos and conditioners.  They still use things (like baking soda, lemons, vinegar, etc…) to wash their hair, just not anything with chemicals.

I tried the “no poo” concept a few times several years back and could never get past the adjustment stage.  There would always be somewhere that I had to go to during that time where I just couldn’t get away with not having my hair shampooed.  So I would cave in and be back to square 1.  (Plus, I just REALLY like the smell of shampoo and conditioner!!)

So… I’ve decided to compromise.  I use shampoo and conditioner 1-2 times per week, and the rest of the time I just use baking soda as a dry shampoo to keep the oiliness in check.  It has worked out great so far and I am very pleased with the results.

Here’s how I use it:

1st – flip your head upside down over the tub (baking soda is great for your skin, so I like it in the tub much better than on the bathroom floor)

2nd – pour about 1/8 of a cup of baking soda in your hand

3rd –  distribute the baking soda with your hands evenly through your hair starting close to your scalp (but not on your scalp)

4th –  flip your head right side up and brush or comb your hair until it gets back to its normal color (btw, if you haven’t started to go gray yet, be prepared for the shock when you look in the mirror of seeing what you will likely look like in 10-20 years)

5th – style your hair like you usually do

Be careful not to get the baking soda actually ON your scalp.  In my experience it’s next to impossible to get it off your scalp without just washing your hair out.

If you want to try out the “no poo” concept, my friend Crystal over at The Thrifty Mama has been doing it for a while with great success (i.e. her hair looks great!!)  She has it all lined out step by step how it works, so if you are wanting to go in that direction, I highly recommend reading through what she has to say about going no poo.

So, what do you think?  Are you brave enough to try the “no poo” thing?  What about dry shampoo?  Is there anything else you use on your hair instead of regular shampoo and conditioner?

More Natural Living Ideas

No related posts.

The cost of fruits and vegetables can, at times, completely kill a family’s food budget.  Stores rarely have coupons for fruits and veggies, so it can sometimes seem like you are stuck paying full price.  So what can you do?  How can you make the most of your budget in regards to produce?

Here are a few tips that I have found helpful:

1.  Stock up when produce is in season and the price is low.

Different plants have different seasons and when there is an abundance of one fruit or veggie then the price typically goes WAY down.  Usually the in-season produce is on the front page of a store’s weekly sale ad so you can see which fruits and veggies to stock up on that way.  Or you can know ahead of time which fruits and veggies are going to be in-season by looking at charts like this one (where you can see what’s in-season by state) and this one.  Stock up when the prices are low and freeze (or can if you want to) the extra for use later.

2.  Store produce properly to avoid spoiling.

If you are going to be stocking up on fruits and veggies and freezing them for later, then you will definitely want to take a look at these two charts from The University of Minnesota on How To Prepare Vegetables To Freeze and How To Prepare Fruits to Freeze.  Sometimes you have to pre-cook certain vegetables so that they will freeze correctly.

If you are going to be using your produce soon, then you will want to know where to store your produce for maximum shelf life (this is a great resource from Mint.com, a site that I would HIGHLY recommend checking out if you haven’t already.)

3.  Plan your meals around in-season produce, not what you are in the mood for.

Sure, you might be in the mood for guacamole, but if Avocados are $2 each, then you might want to wait until the price comes down.  You will see a huge difference in your produce spending if you only plan your meals around what’s in-season… and you’ll get to try out all kinds of fun new fruits and vegetables too!

4.  Use your meat budget to buy more veggies!

Did you know that one serving size of meat is only 3 ounces??  That means that a 12 ounce steak could feasibly feed 4 people!  Use that extra money that you are not spending on meat to buy extra veggies, which are healthier for you than meat and veggies don’t cost anywhere close to as much per pound!

5.  Buy from local farmers and vendors.

Buying local is one of the best things that we have done to reduce our produce budget.  We have some great farms near us that harvest and sell fruits and veggies all through the year.  If you live in a larger city, be sure to check out the prices at your local Farmer’s Market as well.  Many times they are much less than the supermarket, especially if you buy in bulk.

6.  Find or start a fruit and veggie food co-op.

7.  Grow your own.

I will be the first to admit that gardening and me don’t go very well together.  At all.  I’ve tried and tried, but for some reason I just can’t get the hang of it!  Now that Ryan is home during the day though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he started up a garden this next spring… I think the plants would like him a lot better than they seem to like me.

The friends of mine who have successfully had a seasonal garden have all sworn by a method called Square Foot Gardening for gardening in small places (where you don’t have a few acres to plant a crop).  Just make sure you know which planting zone you live in and when to start your seeds so that you don’t plant too late or too early.

8.  Buy your fruits and veggies the way God made ‘em.

Yes, I love pre-cut fruits and veggies too… but… if you are wanting to save money on your fruits and veggies then the way to do that is by cutting them yourself.  Convenience is great at times, but those extra dollars saved can really go a long way.

What are your tips for cutting the costs of produce?

No related posts.

When I first started couponing 2 1/2 years ago I was so excited that I bought just about anything that ended up being free after coupons. I remember one trip where I got tons of Windex, Lysol and other cleaners completely free and I was absolutely thrilled! Before couponing I tried to stay away from the non-natural cleaners, but when it was free…. I found it much harder to resist.

So, I started using these non-natural cleaners and would get major sinus infections each time. It took me a couple of times to see the connection, but I ended up throwing all of these free cleaners away.

But then there was this dilemma… how could I go back to paying the price I was before for all of the natural brands? As much as I love Seventh Generation products, goodness, they are expensive!!

I did some research online and talked to a few friends and found out that it is SUPER easy and SUPER cheap to just make your own non-toxic cleaners and all you need to have on hand are a few products that you likely will have in your pantry anyway!

To get a natural cleaning supply going you will need:

	White Distilled Vinegar (store-brand works great too)
	Baking Soda
	Various Essential Oils (*optional)
	Water

Yep, that’s it! There are other things you can add in later if you want to, but I haven’t found it necessary to have anything besides the ingredients above.

Counters and Floors:

Mix 1/2 cup of vinegar per 1/2 gallon of water. Add several drops of your favorite essential oil (I use tea tree oil). Mix it right in an empty spray bottle for counters, or in a bucket (or the sink) for cleaning your floors. You can also add some Rubbing Alcohol into the mixture if you want to.

Tubs & Showers:

Scrub with Baking Soda and Water. That’s all! There’s really no measurement for this, just however much you think you need to scrub the soap scum off.

Sink & Counter Scrub:

Mix baking soda with some drops of your favorite essential oil (I like peppermint oil for this!). Use the baking soda mixed with a little bit of water as a scrub.

For those of you who make your own cleaners, what do you use? What’s your favorite essential oil to use in your cleaners? Any tips or tricks that you would recommend?

**Note: DO NOT mix vinegar with bleach products for any reason. It will create a toxic chlorine gas.

No related posts.

The cost for trips and vacations sure can add up.

Hotel room: $150/night
Rental car: $60/day
Airfare: a whole whole lot!

Not to mention all of the random expenses like going out to eat or any fun activities you want to do while you are gone.

Since I’m pretty sure I might be insane, I agreed to leave the morning after I got back from a blogging conference in Colorado to go with my husband and children on a trip to ANOTHER conference in another state. Yes, insane.

But with the insanity of taking two back to back trips, I have felt a little more sane knowing that we could save a whole lot of money by using the “name your own price” section of Priceline.com along the way.

So what exactly is Priceline?

It’s a website that lets you name your own price for hotels, rental cars and flights! You can pick any price you want and they will check their system to see if a company would be willing to go that low.

But there is a catch…

You can’t choose which hotel you stay in, which rental car company you use, or which airline you fly when you use the “name your own price” option. You pick the quality you want, or the size car you want, and then Priceline assigns you to a hotel or car rental company that meets your selection requirements.

We have scored some incredible deals by using Priceline like my rental car last weekend being 50% off, and the hotel we are staying in tonight being almost 70% off (for a VERY nice family-friendly hotel).

I mentioned on the Surviving The Stores Facebook page earlier today that I found a great deal on our hotel for tonight and a couple of readers posted two sites that are helpful when determining what price to bid (so that you don’t go too low or too high):

BiddingForTravel.com
BetterBidding.com

Both of these sites list what people have paid in cities across the nation by using Priceline, as well as giving you an idea of which hotel/rental car company/airline you are likely to receive when you bid.

I’d love to hear your Priceline experiences! Have you have good experiences? Bad experiences? What other sites do you use to find the best travel deals?

Related posts:

1. Top Weekend Retail Coupons! (2/10/12)

Does anyone else out there hate fruit flies as much as I do?

I have tried a few different methods over the years to try to get rid of them, but this past weekend I heard about a new method (new to me) from some friends of ours using apple cider vinegar and dish soap!

Since the ACV/dish soap method is much easier than the paper funnel method that I had settled on in the past, I decided to try it.  So last night before I went to bed I put out a bowl of apple cider vinegar and poured a decent amount of dish soap in with it.

When I woke up this morning, most of the fruit flies in the house were at the bottom (see picture at the top of the post)!!  VICTORY!!

There are still a few left who are refusing to get in the apple cider vinegar, but hopefully they will get desperate enough and dive in soon.

I’d love to hear from you guys on this topic! What do you use to get rid of fruit flies?

No related posts.

I am in love.

I never really thought I would say that about a website.  Some websites (like Facebook) I have a love/hate relationship with.  But I can say that I have 100% fallen in love with Mint.com.

I hadn’t heard about it until a couple of months ago and I wanted to test it out for a little while before telling you guys about it.

So… what is Mint.com?  Mint.com is owned by Quicken and gives you a one stop place to see all of your banking information for FREE.  You add your checking accounts, savings accounts, paypal accounts, mortgages, credit cards…. everything and they give you a complete summary of your spending.  You can set up a monthly budget for different categories and Mint will give you updates on if you are meeting your budget or going over.

And the best part? (…at least for me)  I didn’t have to do a THING after I created my account and entered my info!!  I can log on at any time and it pulls all of our updated info so that I can see exactly where we are financially at all times.  Yeah, I’m not very good at keeping up with financial information that I have to enter on a daily, or really any kind of regular basis.

They have bank-level security on their site, so it is extremely secure.  I know that some of you guys will not want to use it because it means your info is somewhere online…. but really, all of our info is somewhere on some company’s server at all times anyway.

So, if you are interested in signing up, you can go to the Mint site HERE and get started. It was very easy to set up our accounts and took around 15-20 minutes.

Since using Mint, I have seen so many areas where we can cut back on our budget which is why I’m putting it under the “Survival Tip Tuesday” category.

Let me know what you guys think and if you love it as much as I do!

No related posts.

I was inspired by this post on Homemade Butter that I saw the other week and decided to try it myself! Crystal made her butter by shaking it in a carton, but I’m a little too lazy for that and decided to use the food processor instead.

Organic Whipping Cream is on “manager’s special” pretty often at my local Kroger, so it’s possible that you could make organic butter (and a little bit of buttermilk) for very cheap.

I looked up a few other techniques and did the following:

1. Pour 1 carton of Heavy Whipping Cream into the food processor.

2. Turn the food processor on high and let it mix for around 3 minutes or so. The liquid will go from foamy, to soft whipped cream, to thick whipped cream, and then it will eventually turn yellow and separate. Let it mix a little while longer and then take off the top. You will have two parts… the butter and the buttermilk.

3. Strain out the buttermilk (I used a coffee filter). My 1 pint of Whipping Cream made 1 cup of buttermilk, which is the perfect amount of buttermilk to make Homemade Scones!!

4. If you want to, put the butter back into the food processor and add some water. Mix it all up again and strain it one more time. You can keep adding water and straining until it’s clear… but I was ready to have some bread and butter so I stopped after one time.

5. Put your strained butter into a container and store it in the fridge.

6. Enjoy!! And OH MY! Homemade butter is SOOOO much better than store bought!

No related posts.

It has been a LONG time since we have had a membership to to a warehouse club store.  So when I got an email question last week about it, I thought, “This is a question for my awesome readers to answer!”

Here’s the question from reader Nicole:

Is it a better savings to buy from Sam’s Club/Costco than to buy food, etc. with coupons? With the membership fee and storage issues, which is a better value?

As of now, we have chosen to skip the warehouse memberships, but from what I’ve heard from others you can get some pretty great deals on bulk meat, dog food, produce, and some other items.

What do you guys think? Why have you (or why have you not) chosen to get a warehouse membership? What are the items that you save the most on?

No related posts.

As I’m sure all of you guys know, going out to eat instead of cooking meals at home is EXPENSIVE! Even just two people going out to eat 3 times a week (spending an average of $7 per person) adds up to $2,184 a year. But what do you do if you don’t know how to cook?

That was me. When my husband and I first got married almost 10 years ago, I had no idea how to cook. None. At all.

I was so busy with band, choir, tennis, school, and tons of other activities in high school that I just never watched my mom cook. It’s not that I chose not to watch her and learn how to cook, it honestly just never crossed my mind. Then I went to college and, seriously… who cooks in college?

So when I got married the summer after my sophomore year, I was completely clueless.

I still remember my first attempt at a “home-cooked meal”. I had bought one of those box meals that has the rice, spices and sauce in it. All you have to do is add the chicken. So you put the rice/spices in the bottom of a 9×13 pan, pour a specified amount of water in, lay the boneless/skinless chicken breasts on top of the rice, pour the sauce over the chicken, and then bake. Easy enough, right? I cooked it for the right amount of time and it came out looking and smelling wonderful! Ryan and I sat down for dinner and cut into the chicken, only to find that it was still VERY pink through the middle. Oh…. wait…. you’re supposed to THAW the chicken before you put it on the rice??? Yeah, I was clueless. BUT, lesson #1 was learned: thaw meat before you cook it!

One of our wedding presents from my mom was a recipe book with several of the recipes that she had made for us growing up. Several of my favorite recipes (like Homemade Chicken & Dumplings) were in there, so I was excited to try some! I knew exactly what these recipes were supposed to look and taste like, so I felt more confident trying these first (BTW, recipe books without pictures are one of my BIGGEST pet peeves!) There were a few recipes that I got correct right off the bat (like the Hawaiian Chicken) and then some that took me several attempts to master.  But through my trial and error, lesson #2 was learned: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!

So at that point I had a few recipes under my belt and I could make a pretty mean spaghetti (i.e. ground meat and Ragu)…. but I was in desperate need of more options. I’m still amazed that I never once thought during my high school/college years, “Hey, it might be a good idea if I learn how to cook BEFORE I get married.” Not once. {sigh}

My next discovery was the Betty Crocker Cooking Basics Cookbook (I have the 1998 version, the one I linked to is the 2008 version). I’m pretty sure we got this as a wedding present, but it didn’t come off the bookshelf until at least year 2 of our marriage. This cookbook has huge, colorful pictures of every recipe, as well as step-by-step instructions for all kinds of basic cooking skills. With the Cooking Basics Cookbook I learned how to broil/grill/pan sear meat, make a glaze, make bread crumbs, cook fish, steam asparagus, make baked potato wedges, okay… I really could go on and on. This cookbook was a lifesaver for me, and I would recommend it to anyone starting out their learning to cook journey. So… to the wonderful lady that got us this cookbook…. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

After going through the Basics Cookbook, I had the confidence to try more things, and even to change some things up (like using different spices from what the recipe called for). These next few years weren’t without error, but it was such a huge learning experience to try different things.

I have definitely learned to enjoy cooking (other than when I’m pregnant), but I am still FAR from a master chef. I watched Julie & Julia a couple of months ago and, oh my… the things that they made were just incredible! I really don’t think I will ever, EVER be at that level. But I love experimenting with different spices and recipes, and I’m no longer fearful of failing.

That is probably the biggest thing that I’ve learned in my cooking journey: it’s okay to fail. It’s okay to fail a lot. But if you keep trying, you will get it and you will be so glad that you didn’t give up!

I am truly so grateful for my mega-gracious husband who has eaten all of my experiments over the past 10 years. He has even eaten things that I wouldn’t eat! As far as I still have to go, I definitely wouldn’t be where I am in the cooking-realm without his support and patience.

So, that’s my journey so far. I still have TONS of things that I want to learn (like canning, sprouting, gardening, and making my own pasta, to name a few) and I look forward to looking back in another ten years and seeing all of the new recipes that I have under my belt!

What’s your cooking story? I would love to hear it!

No related posts.

I was so excited when my friend Crystal showed me this post over at Passionate Homemaking on how to make coconut oil deodorant!! I’ve been using Tom’s of Maine for a while now, but that stuff is seriously expensive. I definitely think Tom’s of Maine is one of the best options out there for store-bought deodorant, but if I can make it myself for practically nothing…. well, I’d rather do that!

I know a lot of you guys are concerned (like I am) with the aluminum that’s in most deodorant/anti-perspirants on the market today. While there are conflicting viewpoints on the research, the concern remains the same and honestly I’d just rather not take any chances.

In my opinion, the coconut oil deodorant has worked great since I’ve been using it and I plan on continuing to use it from now on. And the best part? It’s SUPER easy to make!

You can put the finished product into a jar and apply it with your fingers, but I had tons of deodorant in my linen closet (only bought because they were money-makers) so I took the aluminum-filled stuff out and put the coconut oil deodorant in instead.

Here’s what you need: (modified from Passionate Homemaking’s recipe)

5 Tbsp. of Coconut Oil (I used the Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil)
1/4 – 3/8 cup of Baking Soda (the original recipe calls for 1/4 cup but I ended up needing 3/8 cup to get it to the right consistency)
1/4 – 3/8 cup of Cornstarch (you can also use Arrowroot powder, but I didn’t have any on hand)
Essential oils (optional)

Here’s what you do:

1. Empty out your deodorant containers (if this is the way you want to store it). I twisted the deodorant all the way to the top and then scraped it off with a knife. It came off very easily. Then screw the plastic part back down.

2. Put the Baking Soda and Cornstarch (or Arrowroot) in a bowl and mix. Then add the coconut oil and any essential oils that you want to go in there. I used Rose scented oil, but I don’t think I used enough because I can’t smell the rose at all.

3. Mix thoroughly until it becomes a paste. You can add more baking soda and cornstarch in equal amounts if it doesn’t seem thick enough to you.

4. Using a spoon or spatula, put the coconut oil mixture into the empty deodorant cases. Clean off the rims (they will get messy as you can see in the picture below) and then put the lids back on to store. I totally expected it to only make enough for those two travel size cases, but I ended up having to get another trial sized container and two full-size containers to hold it all!  This should last us for a LONG time!

5. Apply like you would any deodorant.

Since I live in Texas and it gets MEGA hot here in the summer, I decided to store my containers in the refrigerator. Coconut oil turns to liquid when it gets above 76 degrees, and our house easily reaches that during the summer. If you live in a different area of the country where it doesn’t get as hot then you might be able to just store it in a cabinet.

So, what do you think?  Do you think I’m completely nuts?  Have any of you guys made homemade deodorant before? Feel free to post any different recipes or tips in the comment section below!

Coconut oil is a staple ingredient in our house.  I use it for deodorant, dry skin, and homemade tortillas (works much better than Olive Oil for a shortening-free option)!  Plus, it regularly goes on sale on Amazon with the subscribe & save option!

More Natural Living Ideas!

Do you enjoy recipes like these? Then click “Like” below to follow Surviving The Stores on Facebook for more!

No related posts.

I get this question A LOT, so I figured that it might be time to turn the answer into a post.

We’ve all had it happen to us, I’m sure. We KNOW that we have bought the item or items that we were supposed to buy, and we KNOW that there is a promotion going on, but that little piece of paper (called a Catalina Coupon) doesn’t print from the machine that it’s supposed to come out of.

If you know that you bought the right items and that your coupon or Register Reward (if you’re shopping at Walgreens) was supposed to print but it didn’t, you have a couple of options:

The first (and the easiest) thing to do if it was an advertised promotion is talk to the manager or to customer service. Explain to them that you were expecting the Register Reward or Catalina Coupon to print, but it didn’t. Show them your receipt and show them where the promotion was advertised (either the sales flyer or next to the product on the shelf). Most of the time they will give you a hand-written coupon or a catalina coupon that they had behind the register (or sometimes even cash back) if you can prove that you were supposed to receive one. Keep in mind that this will likely only work if it was an advertised promotion.

Your second option is calling or emailing the Catalina company. If the Catalina or Register Reward promotion wasn’t advertised, or if you have trouble convincing the store’s Customer Service that you should receive the coupon (we’ve all been there!), then this will be what you need to do. Catalina Marketing is the company that is in charge of all of these promotions. You can call them at 1-888-8COUPON (option 3) and give them your receipt info, or you can use their Online Contact Form. If you can’t get your coupon from the store, then they are the only ones who can help you.  They will have you send in your receipt to verify that you made the correct purchase, and then they will mail you your Catalina!

I hope that helps to answer some of your questions about Register Rewards and Catalina Coupons!  Please leave a comment below if you have any additional questions or comments about this issue.

No related posts.

{ring ring}

Ryan: Hello?

Me: Hey sweetie! How’s is going?

Ryan: Oh, it’s going okay…

Me: Did everything go okay at work today?

Ryan: Well….. I actually just got laid off.

Me: {shocked silence}

Ryan: And I promise I’m not kidding, I wouldn’t joke about something like this…

I honestly thought it wouldn’t happen to us. But that was the conversation between my husband and me last Wednesday afternoon around 4:45 pm.

{Sigh}

So what do you do from there? Where do you start? How do you make a budget that works in the interim between jobs?

I definitely don’t have all of the answers, but one thing that I do know is that I am thankful that we prepared for a job-loss possibility WAY in advance. We have consistently been living under our means and saving as much as possible for the last two years to build up our emergency fund (thanks to my mom and to Dave Ramsey for instilling that in us!)

In light of our recent experience, I would love to share with you guys a few things that have been top on our priority list this past week:

• Looking at our budget and cutting back on everything we possibly can. My husband has definitely been on top of canceling any extra services that we are able to cancel. This would also include limiting any travel to a bare minimum and encouraging family to visit you instead of traveling to visit them.
• Calling companies that we have a contract with and asking if they have any type of delayed payment program for those who have experienced a job loss. Many companies will work with you on this.
• Filing for Unemployment Benefits (do a web search for unemployment benefits in your state). In many situations, if you get laid off then you can file for unemployment benefits and receive a percentage of your salary every month. It’s not anywhere close to enough to cover all of your expenses, but it certainly helps in extending your emergency fund longer.

I really can’t stress enough the importance of planning ahead for a job loss. Even if you don’t think that it’s a possibility for your family…. we didn’t think it was either.

While this job loss will definitely put a huge strain on our budget, we are excited about the potential doors that could open up ahead of us. God has been faithful thus far to lead us into exactly what we need to be doing, so we trust that He will continue to lead us. We plan and prepare, but our desire is that in our planning and preparing we stay free from worry and anxiety.

Here are a few verses from the Bible that have really encouraged me during this time. Feel free to skip over them if you aren’t interested, I promise I won’t be offended. But hopefully they will be an encouragement to you all as well, whether you have experienced a job loss or not!

For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. — Matthew 6:25-34 (NASB)

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB)

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. — 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NASB)

For those of you who have experienced a job loss in your family, what were some of the things that you did to prepare ahead of time, and what were the steps that you took once it happened? I’d love to hear your experiences and encouragements!

No related posts.