Homemade Yogurt Pops!

Every summer Thomas and I make our own popsicles from fresh seasonal fruits and yogurt. All you need is your favorite yogurt flavor, fresh fruit if you would like, something to use for the mold and popsicle sticks. To keep it super simple I like to use the yogurt containers, although you can even buy molds for super cheap at Target or Walmart. Just dice up the fruit into small pieces and blend with yogurt in a blender. You can also use ice cream, sherbert, juice or smoothie mixes and ice chips. Then pour your mixture into the cups, add a popsicle stick, and freeze until solid. Depending on how big they are, it shouldn't take more than 4 hours to freeze. Best part is, these make a guilt free snack that is perfect for a hot summer day! The bonus is they are budget friendly and kids love them too!

IPTV Kids Day May 30th at the Blank Park Zoo

I'm thinking of doing this with the boys in Des Moines this weekend. IPTV is having a Kids Day at the Zoo. Kids can meet Dan Wardell from the Kids Clubhouse and "Duck" from Word World from 10-4 PM. There will be other activities as well. It looks like it will be lots of fun, especially if the weather stays nice. Maybe we will make the drive out there and see some animals and have some fun!

More details can be found here at:
http://www.iptv.org/iptv_news_detail.cfm?id=3776&type=press_release

Awesome FREE Target $5 Gift Card Offer

Every once in a while Target offers a FREE giftcard with a select purchase. It usually isn't worth my time unless it involves Pepsi products or snack foods my husband and kids will eat up before I can tell them I bought them.

Well this week Target will give you a FREE $5 gift card when you buy any combination of 5 select Kellogg's snacks at $2.33. The offer is good on Cheez-it 9 oz pkgs, 12 ct Pop Tarts, and 11.5 oz Fudge Shoppe cookies. Since Cheez-It hands down have the least sugar I had to go for those. Not to mention how we happen to love them so much!

I happened to have a $5 gift card from a previous deal so that made each box roughly $1.33, plus I got another gift card out of it! Hurray for cheap snack foods!

Our Budget Saver of the Month: $40/week Groceries

As part of overhauling our family budget this month, I cut back at the grocery store.

For the first week of May, I spent $61.01. This week was a little higher than most because I was taking advantage of a big sale to stock up for the month. I also had to replenish a lot of our pantry items that were running low. Not a bad deal though, since I was able to completely stock up for the month at some very low prices at HyVee.

The second week of May I spent a whopping total of $21.79. I didn't have much to buy this week but took advantage a sale on bagels for $1 and some inexpensive meat and grilling items.

I skipped out on grocery shopping the following week. Our refrigerator was full of items still and this became our "No spend" week of the month. We also had lots of leftovers to use up.

This week I spent the most but I made it worth my money. I made a trip to HyVee and spent $33.01 on groceries. Not bad, since I had to replenish a lot of necessities from not shopping the week before. It was a great weekend to shop with all of the Memorial Day sales. There were some fantastic snack and pop deals at Walmart, Target, and Kmart so I took advantage of those. All together I spent about $20 on pop and $10 on snacks for our many trips to the park that we take in the summer. I also picked up some Organic Gerber baby food items at ToysRUs (BRU has the same deals). That totaled $10 but I won't have to buy baby food for a LONG time now.

Everything averages out to under $40 a week! Which is a HUGE change for us. We had been spending about $50-80 a week, sometimes much more if we were stocking up on items. And that didn't include pop. So we did a fantastic job this month. I will of course still be on the look out for this Wednesday's ads from Fareway and HyVee. I am hoping for some great sale prices following Memorial Day weekend. :-)

Pepsi 12 packs on sale at Kmart

Pepsi product 12 pks are on sale for 4 for $9 at Kmart through tomorrow 5/26. If you haven't already taken advantage of this offer and need some pop for the weekend, head on over to get some cheap pop. We stocked up on some diet pepsi, which we drink religiously around here!

Also, some Walmarts have Pepsi and Mtn Dew 24 packs for $4.98. Yesterday I picked up some for my husband. This doesn't beat the Kmart deal but if you can't get there before tomorrow's holiday you can try Walmart for inexpensive pop.

Pampered Chef Stoneware!

I'm so excited to cook with this! I got this covered baking dish from Pampered Chef. It can be used in the Microwave and in the Oven. Plus it comes in cranberry red which is my favorite kitchen color! LOVE it!

Link: https://www.pamperedchef.com/ordering/prod_details.tpc?prodId=13833&catId=9&parentCatId=9&outletSubCat=&viewAllOutlet=

Pop Your Own Popcorn!

Love popcorn but hating paying up to $3 a box on just 2-3 microwaveable bags? Get your own popcorn machine and save money! Our popcorn machine is a Waring Pro machine we got at Tanger Outlet at a Kitchen Store. The outlet has a coupon for 20% off any item in any store every month and we took the opportunity to buy ours at $99 and pay only $79!

If you do the math, each of those popcorn bags will cost you on average of $1 a bag at a bare minimum. To buy a 4 lb bag of kernels costs under $3 and to buy pour over butter costs no more than about $4, and will last you approximately 3 months. So buy the popcorn machine on sale and your cost over 3 months is $86. If you eat 7 bags a week like we do (we would normally pop 2 bags to fill up a large bowl) it takes you about 3 months to break even. And you still have a popcorn machine. So if you LOVE popcorn for movie nights like we do you can expect to save money around the 4th month into your investment. Don't eat that much popcorn but enjoy a couple bags a week? You will break even around 7 months.

Popcorn machines make a great gift and you can even shop for them online. Check out Amazon here at: http://www.amazon.com/Waring-WPM25-Professional-Popcorn-Maker/dp/B001G8Y2Y0 to check out our popcorn machine.

Bella Tunno Binkers!

These pacifier clips are so cute! They clip on to your child's clothing and come in TONS of different designs. We have two we ordered through Baby Gap's home collection. They start at $8 but are very well made and high quality!

Bella Tunno also sells a number of other baby products as well. You can check them all out at: http://bellatunno.com/products.asp

Fisher Price Precious Planet Jumperoo!

This jumperoo is super cool! We decided to try it after seeing how much my nephew Noah liked his. My almost 5 month old LOVES to bounce around in it! I'm suprised we never had one with our other son. We got it for 15% with a mailer coupon from BabiesRUs but Amazon and Target have it at decent prices right now too. Its great for newly mobile babies and has 3 different settings for height which makes it the perfect toy to "grow" with your baby.

BabiesRUs Sweepstakes

BabiesRUs is having a Mother's Day sweepstakes. No purchase is necessary. Go here to enter and read more about the details: http://www.toysrus.com/shop/index.jsp?categoryId=3100133. You must enter by May 9th!

Babylegs!

I soooo want to buy more babylegs for Oliver. I think they are addicting!!! We have a green froggie polka dot pair and they are super cute on him with his chunky little thighs. Plus, we have hardwood floors and they protect his knees so well. If our Target carried more styles and color options I would totally buy them all! If only I could sew I would be able to make my own. I am so tempted to buy a bunch online at http://www.babylegs.com/. I won't, but might invest in some when he starts crawling everywhere.