Something I have decided to implement this New Year is a more frugal way of living. And in my journey to become frugal, I plan to share my tips that I’ve learned and try,  on to you!

I think with the economy like it is right now, it would be in ALL of our best interest to find ways to save money. With that said……..

Coupons and Comparisons

• 1.  Use Coupons! A big ol’ duh but you really should!  I have even added a cool widget to my sidebar and each post so that you can print right from there!  SO COOL and I’ve printed a whopping 12 today!
• 2.  Watch for rebates or freebies with minimum store purchases.  Two great places to find out more about this stuff are Deal Seeking Mom & Kingdom First Mom, two friends of mine who know how to SAVE YOU MONEY!
• 3.  Check your newspapers and flyers for additional coupons.
• 4.  Only use coupons for items you would buy anyway!!  Just because there’s a coupon for it, doesn’t mean you should buy it.
• 6.  Stock up on sale products when you can.
• 7.  Be on the lookout for unadvertised specials and trust me, they are there!
• 8.  Get a rain check if the sale item is out of stock.  I’m sure you think of this when buying a product like a stereo or something but you should apply it towards grocery items as well!
• 9.  Buy the smallest size/quantity that the coupon allows.
• 10.  Check comparable brands to be sure you are getting a bargain.
• 11.  Want to try a new product? Search for a coupon first.  There are endless coupons and no sense in paying full price if you aren’t sure about it.
• 12.  Match store sales/coupons with manufacturer’s coupons for the same item.  Walmart is awesome at matching sale ads!!!

Shopping Tips

• * Don’t shop hungry obviously. There have been studies showing you’ll spend 17% more on your groceries.
• * Don’t shop on paydays or just before the holidays.
• *Shop for items before you run out of them.  Waiting until you run out means you’ll end up having to pay whatever the store is charging at the moment.
• * Study the sales and how they run.   Know when to expect certain items to go on sale like condiments in early summer and baking supplies just before Christmas.
• * Buy foods in season. They’ll be top quality and likely less expensive than imported foods.
• * Do one bulk  trip a month for staples. I’m a monthly shopper, always have been and I truly believe in this.
• * Frequent trips will be necessary if you shop for “soon-to- expire” items. Don’t buy on impulse.

In the Store

• Shop alone!!!  DON’T take the kids or even your spouse!..LOL  They will be a huge distraction and will either A) throw things in the basket that you don’t need B) break your concentration C) throw tantrums and embarrass you.
• Become a regular to the bakery, meat and produce departments.  Get to know the staff and you’ll get dibs on recently marked down groceries that are “day old”.
• Use a cash back credit card to gain cash back from your purchases.  JUST REMEMBER TO DEDUCT the amount from your budget!
• Be sure to check out both top and bottom shelves.  More expensive products will be at eye level.  It’s a fact.

Extras

• **USE reuseable shopping bags.  I recently seen the ones my mom uses that are from Sam’s and they are awesome! Not only that, she can actually carry those things FULL and without the strain on the arms.
• **Clean your fridge before you go shopping.  It will make it so much easier to put things away!
• **Put away frozen then refrigerated…..freeze bulk items in smaller meal packages.  We buy huge packs of ground beef and split it up into smaller portions.  You can do this with so many items and a vacuum sealer becomes VERY handy so I recommend you get one.
• **Watch the scanner for errors!  This does happen so keep your eyes wide open during checkout.
• **Keep a list!  I’m in LOVE with my SmartShopper Grocery List Organizer but regular pen and paper works well too.  If you are interested in the list organizer, I did a review of it.
• **Keep a price record.  Say Walmart has Tide at $6.99 for so many ounces and Albertson’s has it at regular price for $7.99.  You might have a coupon for $1.00 off…by having the record, you would know that even though it’s at Albertson’s for a dollar more than Walmart, you would also know that Albertson’s doubles coupons making it $5.99!    Cool huh:)

I make these every Christmas. They are a big hit with the kids. I believe the recipe came form Pillsbury originally, but you can use any sugar cookie dough.

INGREDIENTS
1 roll refrigerated sugar cookies
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup vanilla ready-to-spread frosting (or make your own)
64 small pretzel twists
64 semisweet chocolate chips (about 1/4 cup)
16 gumdrops, cut in half

DIRECTIONS
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, break up cookie dough; work flour into dough until well blended. Shape roll of cookie dough into triangle-shaped log. (If dough is too soft to cut, place in freezer 30 minutes.)
2. With thin sharp knife, cut dough into 32 (1/4-inch-thick) triangular slices; place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 7 to 11 minutes or until set. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4. Frost cookies with frosting. Place 2 pretzel twists on each triangle near corners for antlers. Lightly press 2 chocolate chips into each cookie for eyes and 1 halved gumdrop for nose. Store between sheets of waxed paper in tightly covered container.

Christmas is almost here but as for most, it won’t be much.  We went with quality of quantity this year so one kid only has 2 gifts to open.  Of course little man will make out this year but he’s two and was actually in need of some fun toys!  A couple of things that he doesn’t have are boots and jeans but we’ll probably hit the stores after the holiday to get that stuff and any other hot deals.

Speaking of shopping after Christmas, are you planning on doing any?  Would it help if you had a $100 Walmart Gift Card?  heehee

Okay, so to enter, all you need to do is leave a comment telling me how you would spend it at Walmart.   That’s it!  If you want additional ways to enter, stumble–twitter–and/or blog this giveaway.

As you can see, I’m writing this in regular format instead of giveaway format just to see how many of you actually read my posts;)  This giveaway ends on December 28th and for details on how my giveaways work, read the fine print.

Happy Holidays!

So how many of you watch Stars on Ice or even ice skating in general?  We do and always have so on this Christmas Day , the 25th (on NBC), we will be watching the “Hot Ice, Cool Sounds” presented by Smucker’s.  Aside from all the talented skaters like Brian Boitano and Sasha Cohen, Mr. Peter Cetera will be there singing away for us!   It will be a blast of a show and something fun to watch with the family.  I always wanted to be an ice skater….secretly of course but to be able to do those jumps and wow the crowd would be so much fun!

In honor of this fun ice skating event, I’m giving you the chance to win a fantastic prize bundle worth close to $200.!  Prize includes:

Hot Ice, Cool Sounds Gift Basket

• One Smucker’s gift basket with a variety of products
• One $25 gift certificate to the Smucker’s Online Store
• One Hot Ice Cool Sounds autographed limited edition event program
• One scarf with an embroidered Hot Ice Cool Sounds logo
• One autographed Peter Cetera CD

There will be 5 winners!

Lots of great things and I really love that you’ll be getting autographed items as well!  So now you’re wondering how to win huh?

This one is a little more work but is so worth it!

Below, you’ll find 4 trivia questions. The answer to those trivia questions will be found throughout the Stars on Ice show (presented by Smucker’s) which airs on Dec. 25th on NBC at 3-5pm EST.

So you have to watch the show and then email me your answers to these trivia questions!  Answer as many as you can correctly!

1) Which orchestra played during the show?
2) Name one song Peter Cetera performed during the show.
3) How many skaters performed (couples count as two)?
4) What is your favorite Smucker’s product and why?

It’s actually much simpler than it might seem!  One of them doesn’t even require watching the show.

EMAIL YOU ANSWERS TO lori (at) thecowboyshack (dot) com and try to put  ” smuckers ” in the subject please!

This giveaway ends on Dec. 28th.  That gives you until the day after Christmas to get me your answers! So tivo the show just in case!!

What’s the holidays here, music is a must!  We love to listen to music during this season, well I do for sure and getting my home ready for company will be so much more fun with the sounds of Il Divo.  My mom loves the group as well as myself.

I have both “The Promise” and “The Christmas Collection“.  They both are fabulous!  OMG, the Christmas album was a breath of fresh air and sounded amazing.  Some of the songs included on that album are:

1. O Holy Night – Il Divo, Adam
2. White Christmas – Il Divo, Berlin
3. Ave Maria – Il Divo, Schubert
4. When a Child Is Born – Il Divo, Zacar
5. Adeste Fideles (O Come All Ye Faithful) – Il Divo, Traditional
6. Over the Rainbow – Il Divo, Arlen, Harold
7. Panis Angelicus – Il Divo, Franck
8. Rejoice – Il Divo, McCutcheon
9. Silent Night – Il Divo, Gruber
10. The Lord’s Prayer – Il Divo, Malotte

WIN BOTH ALBUMS!

Leave a comment telling me one thing about the group or group members of Il Divo. Need a little help?  Look here and here

Giveaway ends on Dec. 22.  Read rules for giveaways

In need of a very good treat to give for the holiday?  Almond bark, popcorn, pretzels, peanuts oh my!!  This is the perfect, affordable treat that when wrapped in cute holiday buckets and plastic goody bags, will make anyone smile!   You can make it small and large batches and even use different themed bags & buckets for different holidays.

INGREDIENTS:

• *Air pop corn popper-because my husband is a freak and thinks that Microwave ovens (along with everything else in this world) cause cancer.  I think that SEX causes cancer and that we need to keep that out of our house too!!!!! (lol)
• *Vanilla Almond Bark
• *Spanish peanuts
• *Pretzels
• *Popcorn

DIRECTIONS:

I melt one entire block thingy of Almond Bark on my stove top (again the microwave issue with the man) in a plain ole pot on LO to MEDIUM LO, until completely melted. While the candy is melting, Me & Orville Redenbacher get the poppin’ party started!! I fill the popcorn to the level indicated 2 times. This usually gives me enough popped corn for a full batch of Goodies. I used a fairly HUGE bowl.. Add popcorn, peanuts, & pretzels. When the candy is completely melted (whew, my arm is tried of stirring occasionally to prevent scalding) I add the melted candy and mix until completely covered.

Pour onto a wax paper to cool, as a little holiday cheer, I sprinkle red and green candy decor (sugar) over popcorn goodness before it cools.. Fill up your favorite holiday gift bags, add a cute lil bow or ribbon. There you have a perfect scrumptious homemade gift.

I also have a picture of just a Christmas candy that I make, just excluded the popcorn. Mix candy, pretzels, and peanuts until covered, and plop down on wax paper until cool. I also add the colored sprinkles for some holiday flare…..Get your filthy hands outta there I am taking a picture…….

Get your filthy candy grabber’s outta there, you no microwave wanting Nymph…or you’ll pull back a stump..

Happy Holidays Ya’ll!!

Okay, so this isn’t about real food but I couldn’t help but bring it up with Christmas is around the corner.  I mean, reindeer have to eat too!

If you don’t already know, there’s a VERY cool site where you can choose from different packages that include a letter from Santa Claus and even reindeer food!  With 3 different packages, anyone can afford it, but to get the reindeer food, you have to get a bigger package. It’s well worth it in my opinion.  My sister-in-law did this for my niece..put out reindeer food and all, and she was so excited about it.  Their face just lights up.

I absolutely love the little touches that this site does like using a stamp from the North Pole, a special return address label and all in handwriting fonts.  It gives for a more real and authentic look.  The shiny gold and green envelopes are fun and pretty.  Kids love shiny things you know!

The Reindeer Food

• 100% natural, non toxic Reindeer food!
• Comes in special Collector’s Tin!
• Feeds 8 to 10 hungry Reindeer!
• Guaranteed Magical blend!

This is where you can let your kiddos spread it out on the yard before they go to sleep.  They’ll think it’s so cool to see that the reindeer ate the food.

Assuming you have more than one child in the same household, you might be wondering if each child will get the same letter but they won’t.  Each Santa letter is unique so you can get more than one and not worry about letting the “cat out of the bag”.

I realize that this is sorta off topic but I wanted to share this fun site with you guys.  It’s all about the kids and see they’re faces light up from amazement.

So order you a package and, if you can afford it, get the Deluxe one with the reindeer food because Santa is not the only one that likes to eat!!!

I’ll be doing this next year for sure.  This year, my little man is too young to understand what’s going on really.

Do you guys do anything special like this for your children?  Has your child ever received any Santa Claus letters or put out reindeer food before??

Do you have a great product or provide a service that is somehow food, cooking, or kitchen organization related???  If so, you can submit it for consideration to be included in My Wooden Spoon’s 2008 Holiday Gift Guide.

The Holiday Gift Guide will be launching right before Thanksgiving to help families gear up for the upcoming gift giving season and we are looking for great gifts for babies, kids, moms, dads and grandparents that are related to food or cooking in some way.  It can be anything from a dish soap dispenser to a movie bundle that includes popcorn, snacks, and drinks!

If you know of someone who might be interested in submitting their product  or service, please consider passing along this link.  I look forward to seeing some fun gift ideas for the holiday season! The holiday season is approaching fast and before you know it, it will be here and you will not have done any shopping.  This will be a great way to get your product noticed and your one stop source for wonderful gift ideas.

Submit your product or service for consideration in the Holiday Gift Guide