This week, I invited Michelle Madhok, the founder of Shefinds.com and MOMfinds.com, two websites I love when I’m looking for a deal, to guest post about her tips for shopping for children’s items online.
We’ve all complained about circling the mall for a parking spot, and having to pile the car seat, diaper bag, changing pad, and bag of snacks into the car just for a simple shopping trip. But these days, that’s all pretty unnecessary: Moms can find better bargains – in less time – online.
This week, I asked Erin Chase, a fellow blogger and the author of The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook, to join us with a guest post. She’s a master at putting inexpensive – and easy – meals on the table, and offered to share two of her favorite recipes.
When it comes to making dinner in my kitchen, I’m always on the lookout for the easy, convenient and of course the least expensive way to get dinner on the table. I love this White Chicken Chili recipe because it is made from scratch, it slow cooks all day, and it satisfies the hungry masses come dinner time!
Making your own sauce from scratch saves both time and money. I recommend making up a large batch of homemade white sauce and freezing it in plastic containers, in 2 or 3 cup portions. I substitute 1 can of “cream of” soup for 2-3 cups of homemade white sauce.
Also, cooking dried beans in large batches, then freezing in meal size portions, adds to your time and money savings. Rather than cooking 1 cup of dried beans at a time, prepare the entire bag, drain, cool, then freeze the cooked beans in 2 cups portions. I find that 2 cups of cooked beans is the equivalent of 1 15 ounce can of beans. Cooking dried beans costs 50-75% less than buying canned beans.
By making your own sauce and cooking dried beans, this White Chicken Chili meal comes in well under the $5 mark! More…
I’ve been teaching shoppers how to save money with coupons for a decade, and the most common complaint I hear is that it takes too much time to clip, organize, sort and find coupons when you need them. Most shoppers give up in frustration after just a few weeks of trying to use coupons. It’s no wonder that 99% of grocery coupons are thrown away each year!
If you’d like to get your share of the over $300 billion worth of grocery coupons thrown away annually, then I suggest you take advantage of easy tools on the Internet to simplify using coupons. Last year we saw the greatest annual increase in coupon usage–a staggering 27% increase in coupon redemption. I believe this was partially due to the fact that more shoppers are using the Internet to find and organize coupons. More…
Every holiday season I do a segment on “Today” to show viewers some of this year’s hottest gifts—and lower priced alternatives to fit almost any budget (miss the segment? You can check it out here). I love doing this segment, but there’s just one problem: there are always too many great gifts and not enough time (or space on the set!) to show them all. Here are some of the gifts that we loved, but didn’t quite make it into the segment:
Are you looking to give some of the season’s hottest gifts without breaking the bank? We searched high and low for this year’s “it” items and found them at price points that will fit almost any holiday budget. Check out the video below to see how you can get everything from infinity scarves to iPod speakers for less.
Last week I was on Today with Stacy Morrison, editor of Redbook magazine. We talked about things you can do to keep that holiday budget of yours under control (the first thing, of course, is to actually have a budget. If you’re not sure what the appropriate amount is for you to be spending, use my holiday budget calculator).
I bring up this segment again because I love some of the tips Redbook collected from its readers, and I wanted to share:
“I buy sets of things and break them up. Last year on QVC, Valerie Parr Hill was selling sets of holiday candles that came with gift bags, tissue, and tags. I bought a set of five and broke them up into five individual gifts.” —Denise Gaylord, 55, New Bern, NC
“Board games make great family gifts: one gift for four people! I once gave Scrabble to a family, and they loved it because they began spending a lot more time together. Monopoly is another classic.” —La’Tonya Hocker, 34, Bowling Green, KY
It’s Thanksgiving Tuesday, which means most of you are busy shopping for your turkey and all the trimmings. Others of you have an entirely different kind of shopping on the brain: Black Friday shopping. To help you map out your Black Friday shopping strategy, I went right to a pro—The Coupon Mom, Stephanie Nelson. Here are some of Nelson’s favorite tips for getting the most bang for your buck on both Black Friday and all holiday season long.
Shop online. “Shopping for gifts online is a stress-free way to shop for the holidays because you avoid traffic and crowds, and you can get a lot done in one sitting,” says Nelson. According to Nelson, the web is a great place to save thanks to things such as coupon codes, free shipping offers and printable mail in rebates. “For example, Amazon.com notes in the item description if there are any “special offers” that go with item, so pay attention. The Special Offer section will list specific coupon codes, free shipping, or rebate details,” she adds.
Search for printable coupons. “When I go out to local stores, I always search for a printable coupon by entering the name of the retailer and the term “printable coupon” in a search engine,” says Nelson. She also makes a habit of scoring her newspaper flyers for department store coupons.
Change it up. According to Nelson, many people don’t realize that some coupons are interchangeable between different stores. “Craft stores tend to More…
Nervous about breaking the bank this holiday season? Luckily, there are things you can do to stop holiday spending before it even starts. Watch the video below for some of my tips, and be sure to check out my Holiday Budget Calculator to see how much you can afford this year.
I think of the scene in You’ve Got Mail. Meg Ryan gets to the front of the cash-only line at a store New Yorker’s recognize as Zabar’s on the Upper West Side when she discovers she doesn’t have enough cash, only plastic. “I don’t have any money,” she is forced to admit. “Only this.” The cashier (a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Sara Ramirez) doesn’t want to bend the rules and swipe her card. Tom Hanks, whom Meg is trying desperately to avoid, turns on the charm and Ramirez relents. But we’re meant to think she’s mortified. The same sort of mortified you feel when your credit card is declined in a restaurant or a chic boutique.
Well, for the record, I like this movie. It’s one of those — like the American President or Serendipity — I watch every time it’s on TV. But the embarrassment factor? I don’t think so. More…
I joined Matt on the Today show this morning for believe it or not-a segment on holiday shopping. Retailers are already starting to push the holiday deals. Watch the video below for tips on how you can cash in on the best bargains.
We’ve all complained about circling the mall for a parking spot, and having to pile the car seat, diaper bag, changing pad, and bag of snacks into the car just for a simple shopping trip. But these days, that’s all pretty unnecessary: Moms can find better bargains – in less time – online.
The gift: 
It’s Thanksgiving Tuesday, which means most of you are busy shopping for your turkey and all the trimmings. Others of you have an entirely different kind of shopping on the brain: Black Friday shopping. To help you map out your Black Friday shopping strategy, I went right to a pro—
