The holidays are over!!!

It sounds kind of funny, but to me the Holidays are Over. Finally. I look forward to it every year...that time right before New Year's and right after Christmas where I can take down my decorations (yeah, I do it that early), and get my house to look as normal as possible with the additional amount of toy's and other things....

I've never been a big fan of the Holidays. I've experienced a lot of let downs in my life that I've never fully got over (when you've been lied to and let down as a kid, the hurt stays for a very very long time), so the Holidays are just another time where I remember the hurts that I had to go through to get me here. Of course, that doesn't stop me from plastering on an almost fake happiness and putting on an act for my family!

Obviously I love seeing the happiness on my kids when they're opening up presents from Santa, and I love spending time with my family....the whole thing is just really exhausting though.

I need pajama days until New Years. I don't want to go out anywhere. I want to get everything done that I hadn't got a chance to do for the week of Christmas. The Holidays are the main reason why I haven't been posting, or scouring for coupons, etc. It's not an excuse....I know that. I explained to at least 10 people about what I do online, and my blog, and the influencer programs that I'm a part of...I don't know if they get it or not, I just answer the questions as they are! I hope that they do get it though....different generations I guess.


"How many minutes until you're done?"

That was my oldest, Bean, asking about when I was going to be done "working"...you can tell I booted him off of the computer for this post (insert giggle here.).

It's really doubtful anyone can fully understand the amount of hard work that I actually put into this entire blog thing. I wasn't really expecting it to grow to as many people as it did....same with the Facebook group. I'm really kicking myself for my past choices that COULD have bettered the blog or got it out there more, and I chose not to participate because I wasn't completely confident in what I was doing (I was confident in what I was doing, but I wasn't fully confident about giving other people the confidence that THEY could do it....your fails are my fails!).

So today, I've decided to overhaul this blog. Make some changes for sure. In the New Year I'm going to be trying to give you guys the best and most effective advice I can possibly give, and if you guys don't understand you can ALWAYS e-mail me (I check my e-mails all the time!!)! That's my personal new year's resolution. 

Coupon Binder Organization! Guest post by Justine Wright!

Coupon Organiztaion Binder Method.

I use to just throw whatever coupons I had in the back zipper pocket of my purse, causing me to dig through all these random coupons trying to find that one I needed, knowing that I had it but I just didnt no where it went, It just got to the point where I needed a new and better system than that, so I sat down and started thinking, and well I had a random binder from the dollar store, and my boyfriend had all these baseball card holders for his hockey cards, so I put 2 and 2 together and thought of a binder for my coupons!!
So now I'm sharing with all of you how I made my binder!
1. BINDER- I have a three ring binder from the dollar store, depending how many coupons you have and how big of a binder you need, going to walmart or staples for one that zippers is also a great idea! I dont no how many times my 1 yr old has tiped mine upside down and droped all of my coupons on the floor!! (my fault for leaving it in her reach!)
2.DIVIDERS, I also found these at the dollar store for a buck!! you will need these so you can divide each section to make things alot easier to find, right now mine are dived as :
Food
Baby
Bathroom
Cleaning
Smells
Randoms
Target coupons
Trades (the coupons i wont use and i trade them for ones I will use)
Now when I get more of a coupon collection I will divied them differently, for an example
Baking items
Canned goods
Beverages
Fozen foods
Meats
Shaving needs
Shampoos/soaps
But you can organize them however you feel is best for you.

3. PENICAL CASE- A 3 holed penical case! Now I dont have this in my binder yet but I am going to get one!! I am always looking for scissors, penicals/pens, calculator! having a penical case snaped into your binder with all the things you need in it to do your couponing is a great idea!

4. BASEBALL/HOCKEY CARD HOLDERS!- Again found at the dollar store for a buck! you can also find them at places like target, or walmart. It is an amazing way to keep your coupns organized, you can see the coupons clearly, some you may have to fold them to fit, you can stuff them pretty good as well! I always put whatever coupon expires first in the front to make sure I dont use any that expires last.

5. I also like to put a list at the front of my binder of all the sites you can print/mail coupons from, as I tend to forget atleast one website and that can cause me to miss out on a very good coupon!

This method may not be for everyone, but I love how easy it is to find my coupons, how easy it is to carry around with me (because well you never no what you will find on sale that was not in the flyers!) and I can just look at the divider find what section I need, and pull out the coupon! Also love the space you have in a binder for all the coupons you can possibly have!

Justine Wright

New Years Resolution.

It’s almost that time of year again, the time to make up new fun resolutions that may or may not get done in the New Year.  Why not resolve to save money? There are so many resources you can use to save money, and they can all be a bit confusing.  You might be thinking that because you’re on a set income, the Social Assistance program or are a single parent, you can’t afford to do things like stock up. You might think you don’t have time to spend hours slumping over a table clipping out coupons, and while coupons might help save hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars a year, they’re hard to manage and quite time consuming. There are other ways that you can save money!

When you lower your grocery bill, you can use that extra money to put towards other things that are in need of attention. Things like cash-back apps, and price matching can save you a ton of money on your grocery bill. Apps like Checkout 51, Zweet, Snap , Cartsmart and now Save.ca offer cash back rebates that you can get if you buy items on their offer’s list. After you have at least $20, you can request for them to send you a cheque and then you can cash the cheque and then BAM! Extra money in your pockets!

If you do shopping online, websites like Swagbucks, Viewpoints, InstaGC, and Gifthulk will offer you points that you earn by doing surveys, tasks, polls, and even inviting your friends to join.  After a certain amount of points, you can “cash out” and receive e-gift certificates that you can use on a variety of websites like Amazon, the Gap, Old Navy, and sometimes even Babies R Us.

Price matching varies from store to store, but Target has the best price matching policy that I can find. You can price match Canada-wide, meaning if that can of soup is cheaper in B.C. you can show the cashier your flyer (online of course), and they’ll honor it.  If you find the Burt’s Bees lip balm cheaper to buy on Amazon.ca, just show them and they’ll price match. Yes, they even price match from Amazon.

Before you turn down couponing completely, just remember that couponing has changed a lot through the years. Most coupons you can pick and choose to print from places like save.ca, smartsource, websaver.ca, and gocoupons. This ensures that you can get a variety of coupons to choose from and you’re not wasting ink on coupons that you’ll never use. Print Smartsource coupons by scrolling to the bottom and printing them out from the Thrify NBer's coupon portal now!

This year make a resolution we can all make the resolution to save money! 

Target Tidbits: how you can save money at Target.

Everyone knows the Target coupon policy of their coupons plus an Internet coupon can get you maximum savings. But if you're not a Couponer, saving money at Target can seem impossible unless you're buying everything on sale. Here's a couple price matching facts about Target that anyone can use without using coupons to save a ton of money at target.

Price match. Not only does Target price match, but they will allow you to use your smart device to price match CANADA WIDE. This means that if you find a lower price for that can of juice at a grocery store in British Columbia, you can show them the advertised price in the grocery stores flyer, and they'll honor it and adjust the price accordingly. Even though this might take a little bit of extra time, it'll save you so much money!

Amazon.ca. Did you know that Target price matches from sources like Amazon.ca? Neither did I until I called and questioned them. I scoured the Target store policy, and couldn't find anything about price matching using Amazon.ca, but as long as the source is Canadian, target seems to honour it! As we all know, Amazon.ca can have some of THE cheapest sales around. So if you're looking to make a purchase on something ex. Burts bees lip balm, check Amazon.ca first for the lowest price, and then show the cashier the page it's on. If you bring up the Amazon.com page, it will not be honoured, so make sure you're on the canadian Amazon.

That frozen doll that your daughter wanted for Christmas? Chances are somewhere in Canada those dolls are on sale, including Amazon.ca. If you spend the extra 10-15 minutes checking around, you're going to save money and get the best possible deal. 

Day 6 of 30!!

I honestly can't believe it's day 6 already!!!

My grandmother taught me how to knit, crochet, sew, cook, etc. from a very young age. She learned how to do those things young, so she taught me over the course of winters and rainy days. She always believed that just because you have little or no money, you shouldn't have to go without. If you learn to knit or crochet, your kids can lose all the mittens they want and you have the ability to whip them up a pair the night before. If you learn to cook with cookbooks made from the 30's era recession, your meal cost will be lower. If you stock up on groceries (buy more than you have to for the MONTH.), if you run into a financial problem say....around Christmas....you won't be going without food.

The same woman taught me how to properly store and freeze breastmilk, how to make a proper pie crust, and helped me raise my child for the first 2 years of his life. I'm very thankful for my grandmother.

My dad moved us a couple provinces away when I was going into grade 3, and over the course of 10 years, I somehow managed to lose all of the skills that my grandmother had taught me...and by the time I got back, being a preteen, I wasn't too interested in learning this "crap that I'll never use." When I got pregnant with my first child 5 year's later (18 ya'll.), it was pretty aparent that I had to learn those skills again. So I learned to knit (not crochet), re-learned to sew, and figured out how I standed in the kitchen (pretty good...no complaints from my kiddos.).


When it came time for me to figure out how to crochet a couple years ago, I was TOOOOOTALLLY lost. So I went out and did what anyone else in my situation would do....I bought a book! Not just any book though....I bought the Complete Idiots Guide to Knitting and Crocheting!! I love this book!!! Everything is SUPER easy to understand, there are tons of diagrams, great for beginners and I learned tons about how to make my knitting better (like the proper use of cables.).

There are people out there that will tell you that knitting and crocheting is an expensive hobby, because (if you're selling it...), you factor in the cost of yarn and the amount of time you spent on say....an afghan, you'll be losing money because you'll be selling it for a lower price. They're right, if you buy the super expensive yarn from Michaels, not on sale with no coupons, your project can get pretty expensive. But it's all about when and where to shop. If you go to Michaels, they'll often have sale coupons in their flyer's that can give you anywhere from 40-50% off, they always have the coupon that let's you save on X item that's not on sale, etc. So if you shop smart, you'll have no problem!

Today's Fun Freebie is a 3 BOOK DEALLLL!!! 3 FREE knitting books! One for stitches (learning), one for learning how to make socks, and one for learning how to make scarves!!! 

Day 5: 30 Days of Books

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! We took our kids to see Santa this weekend, there was a bit of a line up...but not as much of a lineup to see Elsa and Anna (Frozen guys...let it go.).

The thing when it comes to Frozen (the movie), with me is probably the fact that I think they really rushed through the whole movie, I feel like there`s a lot of stuff that they missed...maybe I would just prefer things to be more complex...I don`t know. My kids watch a lot of movies and sometimes I just wish Disney would make things incredibly difficult to understand  (everything always straightens itself out at the end of the day right?).

So here it is.....another books for kids post. This time, because of the weather (it's -15C out there guys...dress warm!!), I decided to make both books Frozen.

For today's fun freebie, it's a cookbook for adult and child fans of Harry Potter! It's the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook: A Magical Christmas Menu!!!









Just a sidenote, right now (if you're with swagbucks, if you're not find my Influencer badge on the sidebar and sign up now!!!), you can earn 1sb for every dollar you spend on Amazon through Swagbucks!

Dayyyyyyy 4 out of 30!!!

Today's day 4, is a children's book. You guys know I have kids, and as a parent I know it's difficult to pick out children's books.

My children are 5 and 3, so finding age appropriate books for both is....rediculous. My Bean reads at an advanced grade, and my 3 year old isn't quite ready for "long" books that take more than 5 minutes to read...she much prefer's a short book being read to her while cuddling in our big (broken) comfy chair (also known as...my knitting chair.).

I also know a lot of kids don't like/refuse to eat their fruits and vegetables. I've never encountered this problem, but I know a lot of parents DO have this problem. So, today's book is.....


I Love To Eat Fruits and Vegetables.

It's pretty rare that my amazon book of the day is free, but today it is. Which means it must be..........FRIDAY'S DOUBLE FREEBIE!!!

So today's Fun Freebie #2 of the day (another children's book!!) is.......Terry Treetop and the Lost Egg.

This is a rhyming book that teaches kids about values and animal habitats. It IS book 3, the other three (book 1,2,4) aren't free (sorry!!). If you want to purchase the other three of the Terry Treetop series, they're both less than 2$.

Children Books :Terry Treetop Finds New Friends: (Animal Habitats)values ebook(Goodnight & Sleep Book)(Adventure & Education for kids)Beginner Reader Early ... Books for Early/Beginner Readers 1)

Children Books: WHERE IS MY HOME ?: (Animal Habitats) (Values book) (Preschool) (Beginner reader Early learning) (Explore the World kids book collection) ... Books for Early/Beginner Readers 2)

Children Books: Terry Treetop Saves The Dolphin: (Animal habitats) Marine Life (Preschool) Early Learning (Values book) (Bedtime Stories Children's Books for Early & Beginner Readers fiction Book 4)


I also know that some people are going to message me after seeing this with a big "woah girl...I found book 6." I know there are a lot more books out there, but these books are just then ones I find are better value. I'd spend 1.15 on a book that has 42 pages. I will not spend 1.12 on a book with 28 pages. Sorry, it's basically highway robbery in my opinion, if you want book number 6: Abigail and the Sahara Adventure, you can  find it on amazon.  

Day 3 Of 30 Days of Books

Today's featured book (I feel just like Oprah!!), really got me in the mood to cook and start baking all sorts of yummy treats for Christmas! That's right, cookbooks.

This is THE best cookbook (I have 2 copies of this book, I was given it twice on the same Christmas...no joke, I love this cookbook.), I have found. Really. If you've got time to sit and watch a TV movie, you've got time to prepare a week's worth of food in some Mason Jars.

These reciepes are going to save you time (during those hectic days when you come home from work and have less than 2 hours before a sport's practice, or dance class or whatever, these reciepes are going to be your life saver.), and if you collect the ingredients from certain places when they're on sale, they'll save you money. Not to mention the fact that they're healthier than say....grabbing a hamburger at McDonalds.



Meals in a Jar is extremely easy to understand, the recipes are really yummy, and people will definely think that you spend hours slaving away in the kitchen when you come up to the table (or party!) toting these delicious dishes. The best part? It's not expensive to buy! I definately reccommend that you buy this book, not the Kindle version, but the actual HARD copy version.

Kindle Version:Meals in a Jar: Quick and Easy, Just-Add-Water, Homemade Recipes

Indigo Hard Copy: Meals In A Jar: Quick and Easy, Just-Add-Water, Homemade Recipes




Fun Freebie of the Day (no longer free):4 Ingredient Cookbook: 150 Quick & Easy Timesaving Recipes

Just glance at some of the recipes in this book and you'll feel inspired to cook up a storm. Try something new, or go for a new spin on an old favorite. 

Day 2 of 30 Days of Books

Today marks the second day of the 30 Days of Books. I hope that everyone got a chance to download yesterday's fun freebie as it's no longer available. Today, I have another special book for you guys!

I got asked yesterday why I didn't include the Kobo link in the advert box where I'm putting the books, it's not because I don't like Kobo (I've got literally nothing against Kobo), it's just it's so easy to click the Kobo version on the Indigo product website. I think it's just easier to put the Kindle version, and then the hard copy version. Sorry!!

Today's book of the day, I'm choosing a money management book. If you don't know already, I love the "For Dummies" books. They're super easy to read and understand...literally for dummies. Everything is very very comprehendable, so you're not really going to get stuck with the language or anything crazy like that.

Managing Debt for Dummies is a very easy to use resource to help get your debt under control, and begin your journey towards financial freedom. I've heard a lot of other people talk about other books that cost WAY more (like....50-100$ more depending on the author.), and while that might work for them, their kids or teenagers aren't going to pay attention to the books.

This is a GREAT book for teenagers to read, because as we all know, when you're 19 you don't know much about things like credit cards and we've all been young and stupid, not realizing that what you do with it now might effect you for the rest of your life! Ha ha....

If you want to download the Kindle version for $11.35, you can get it here: Managing Debt For Dummies


If you want to purchase the hard copy from Indigo for $16.71, you can get it here: Managing Debt For Dummies


Fun Freebie of the Day: 925 Ideas to Help You Save Money, Get Out of Debt and Retire A Millionaire So You Can Leave Your Mark on the World

30 Days of Books You'll Actually Use

I love books as much as the next person, the only thing I love more than books, is my Ipad (with my Kindle app.). I try to download as many practical books as possible, books I can learn something from, and books that I can (and do) use the information and resources from. So I'm starting my 30 days of Kindle book club starting with a great book that you'll use every growing season. Read now, use later.

Mini Farming: Farming In A Quarter Of An Acre.

This is a GREAT beginner's guide on how to get started on your own mini-produce garden.

It's basically THE perfect micro-farming guide that's both practical and realistic. Short and sweet at about 250 pages, this is a great guide for beginner's, and seasoned gardening vets alike. Yes, you will work hard, but when you work hard, strawberries taste sweeter, veggies taste better. Not to even mention the fact that you'll be saving money by growing your own food.

Get the Kindle Version by clicking Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre


Get the hard copy from Indigo by clicking Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre


Yesterday's Fun Freebie (no longer free):  Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre