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Freebie:Redbox movie rental code

It's March Movie Madness month for Redbox. Every Wednesday in the month of March Redbox will provide a free movie rental code on their Redbox blog to be used for one nights rental code. See the Redbox blog for more information. Here is today's code: GTL456

What Are Your Plans For Spring Break?

It's Spring Break here, and after only one day I'm already getting the “there's nothing to do mom”. Luckily I thought about the week the kids were going to be home ahead of time, and planned a few things to do that wouldn't break the bank. Monday the kids played outside with bubbles, but I know that won't last the whole week. We're also planning a couple of movie days with all the shades drawn to give it that movie like feel and a bag of microwave popcorn. Our favorite place to rent movies is from Redbox because we think it is such a great value; check here for more about Redbox.

We're also planning to purchase a membership to our local zoo (The Oklahoma City Zoo) this week which will give us access to the zoo for a full year. The upfront cost of the membership is $50, but if we didn't purchase the membership and we went as a family to the zoo, it would cost $32. The membership pays for itself on the second visit and we can go to the zoo anytime we want for the next year. Our zoo is open 362 days a year, has free parking, and allows any picnic items to be brought into the zoo (excluding glass containers). Since summer is almost here, I know that we'll really put the membership to use then.

Baking From Scratch

I love baking from scratch and this week I had the ingredients to make a loaf of Cranberry Orange Bread. I usually don't purposely go out and purchase ingredients to make a specific item, I just take inventory of what I have and figure what ingredients can be combined. It helps to have a constant supply of staples in my pantry of things that I regularly cook with, and keeping my pantry stocked allows me to be creative in my baking. It's also always nice to occasionally add some things to the pantry or freezer that will make a special baked item. We frequently make peanut butter cookies at my house, but my kids get tired of these and want something different every once in awhile.

One of the main reasons I enjoy cooking is because of the quality I get out of the baked goods, without a huge out of pocket expense. I could probably purchase something similar at Panera Bread or Starbucks, but of course I would be charged for the ambience and charm of their establishmet. Why pay for their ambience when I can enjoy the charm my own home offers with my sons toys scattered from his bedroom into the living room. It looks like I'll be baking Banana Bread in a couple of days since the bananas are quickly beginning to look like a science project.

Here's a list of what I keep in the pantry and what I try to keep on hand in the refrigerator:

Sugar

Flour

Salt (Iodized & Kosher)

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

Vanilla

Almond Extract

Powdered Sugar

Brown Sugar

Sweetened Condensed Milk

Evaporated Milk

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Cream of Tartar

Instant Coffee

Almonds

Pecans (stored in freezer to keep them from going rancid)

Honey

Peanut Butter

Light Corn Syrup

Jell-O

Cornstarch

Refrigerator Items:

Cream Cheese

Heavy Whipping Cream

Unsalted Butter

Milk

Eggs

How Can Recycling Save You Money?

Reduce the number of trash bags you use. Most cities have a recycling program that allows you to recycle your glass, plastics, and papers to reduce waste, and help the environment. We actually have curbside service so our family has no excuse when it comes to recycling since they practically come to our door to get our recyclables. While all cities do not have curbside service, there are many recycling centers available that will allow you to leave your recyclables at either a facility or large dumpster. We've been living in our new house for about six months now, and we've received approximately five phone books during that time. If it keeps up this way, I may end up with twelve phone books by the end of the year, and many of those phone books will end up in our recycling bin. Recycling all of my glass, plastic, newspapers, and alluminum allows me to use fewer trash bags since these things now go in the recycling bin.

Recycle your metal for money. I remember as a kid scouring the neighborhood, side roads, and any other place I thought I could find an aluminum can and thinking about the money I could make by recycling those cans. I never made a huge amount of money, but the thrill of getting a few dollars was worth it as a kid. In today's economy every little bit helps, and there may be hidden treasures in your attic, garage, or backyard that can be recycled. Contact a local recycling center to see if they will accept any of your old metal such as refrigerators, washers and dryers, and outdoor grills.

Reduce the number of trash bins you get from the city. Hopefully by increasing the amount of items that you recycle, you can reduce the number of trash receptacles that you need. It is standard in our area for our utility service to issue two trash receptacles, and an additional trash bin would be an increase on your utility service.

Give your recyclables a new use. I save the plastic food trays from our frozen dinners to use as art trays when my kids do arts and crafts. These can be rewashed and used over and over, and it keeps my dishes from being ruined by some art project that my daughters dream up. While we aren't able to recycle old towels, we reuse them for multi-purpose cleaning (washing cars, using as rag for heavy duty cleaning) this extends the life of the “good towels” and if the old towel is ruined it can just be tossed. Many of my old towels actually arrive in the “old towel” pile when my husband or kids have figured out some way to ruin the “good towels”.

All About Creating A Stockpile

Why Create a stockpile: Very frequently, I get the question, “Why create a stockpile?”. My answer is always that I want to purchase a product at the price I want to pay, not what the retailer wants me to pay. For example, if I know that every month I need to purchase a bottle of bodywash, this is an item that I know I need to stockpile. Let's say that the bodywash cost $3.00 retail, but I know that occasionally the bodywash goes on sale for $2.00, I would want to wait for the sale and buy enough at the sale price so that I don't pay regular retail on the bodywash. Let's also say that in addition to the bodywash being on sale, there is a coupon available for $.50 off of the bodywash, which would make the final cost $1.50. The sale and the coupon would be the optimum time to stock-up on the bodywash so that you begin to create a stockpile until the next sale. Here's an example of what the math would look like purchasing 5 bottles in all three examples:

Regular Retail Item On Sale Item On Sale w/coupon
$15 $10 $7.50

In addition to purchasing the item on sale, you are also paying less sales tax on the sale item than if you had paid regular retail for it. At first glance the math doesn't seem to make a huge difference, but in the long-run if other needed items are purchased using the savings from the item that was on sale, this will eventually help reduce expenses in the future. Stockpiling allows you to reduce the amount you spend on one item and spend that money on another needed item.

Everyone's stockpile will be different and will depend on what your family's needs are. When I attempted to start stockpiling I felt like I would never reach a point where I could see a difference in my budget or an increase in my stockpile inventory. It did take approximately six months to stockpile certain items, and I really could see the difference in my budget as I continued my stockpile. Stockpiling sometimes starts out slow in the beginning because you have to wait on sales, and the right coupon. Over time, you will begin to notice a cycle at the store regarding items going on sale. Since the sale prices are cyclical, you will need to determine or have an idea of how much stockpile you need before the next sale.

At times I've really had the opportunity to stockpile something because it was being clearanced out, and I also had a coupon for the item which made it a really great deal. Think about the good things to stockpile and things that you should have only a small inventory of until the next sale to avoid spoilage of items, particularly food. Perishables are obviously something that you should have a small inventory of, and while most things can be frozen for later use, you won't want to have so much inventory that it goes bad in the freezer, refrigerator, or pantry before you are able to use it.

Freebie:Redbox movie rental code

Each Monday Redbox will text a free movie code to your cell phone. Enter the code at any Redbox to redeem for a free movie rental on Monday, return Tuesday before 9:00 p.m. to avoid any rental fees. Here's todays free movie rental code: MS72K3