10 Resources for Finding Free and Cheap Things to Do This Summer

Courtesy of The Simple Dollar -- its a great blog to read by the way!

Psalm 27 -- my hub read this to me last night, and said it was for me. It's for you too!

1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.

3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

4 One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

6 And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

9 Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

11 Teach me thy way, O LORD, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine enemies.

12 Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.

13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.

14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD

Very cute ... and free Blog Backgrounds...

Plus cute Valentine Buttons ...

Gold Medal Whole Wheat Baking Recipe Book

Free online recipe book from Gold Medal -- you can access it here. Once the recipe book loads if you click on save, another screen will pop up allowing you to save it as a PDF file to your computer.

There are quite a few good recipes in it -- Snickerdoodles, Whole Wheat Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Pizza, Berry Crisp! Yum!

Freebies from one of my favorite blogs!

From one of my favorite "savings/deals" blog!! I'mm pretty excited about the tote bag -- I received the purple one from Earth's Bounty in the mail -- its huge! Works great for shopping any my huge bags of library books.



Free sample of Jergen's naturals from Walmart HERE

Free sample of Crest Whitening Expressions HERE

Free sample, coupon, and tote bag from Nature's Bounty HERE

Free sample of Pledge Multi-surface from Walmart HERE

Free sample of Calvin Klein's fragrance: Secret Obsession HERE

Free sample of Baby's Only Organic Formula HERE

Choose from Toddler Dairy or Soy Pediatric FormulaFree sample of Airborne HERE

Free sample of Kotex lightdays HERE

Free mini Mr. Clean Magic Eraser HERE
This one did not open up immediately for me - if it doesn't for you hit the refresh button.

Get a FREE Kashi Oatmeal and Dark Chocolate Cookie HERE

Sign up for the great Crayon Caper and get free crayons (pink and brown) and a coloring/activity book HERE

Free Rouge Magazine HEREThis magazine is a beauty publication from P&G and often contains coupons.

Several Arby's coupons HERE

Free 14-day supply of Nature Made vitamins!

Another Free 14-day supply of Nature Made vitamins!
Last time I ordered Vitamin C (why I did is lost -- because I have a CVS stash of these!, this time I went for the Super B Complex)

Nature Made is offering their popular free 14-day supply of Liquid Soft Gel Vitamins again! You'll definitely want to take advantage of this great offer while you can.

You can choose from six different vitamins including: Complex Multi-Vitamin, Multi-Vitamins for Her, Super B Complex, Calcium, Vitamin C, or Vitamin D.

Sign up here for a free two-week vitamin supply.

It's been a while ...

busy with life and work (sigh) ... but here are some great freebies. Figured I should come back with some good ones!

Free $10 Gift Certificate to OUTBACK Steakhouse!

Send in a request by mail, and receive a free $10 gift certificate.All requests must be received by 07/05/2008 and certificates must be redeemed by 07/20/2008.

To request your $10 promotional certificate, send a self-addressed stamped envelope (VT residents may omit postage) to:
Outback Steakhouse Fathers Day Certificate Request
2202 N. West Shore Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33607.

Requests must be received by July 5, 2008.Limit: One (1) per envelope.
One (1) request per day.

Coupons
(Thanks for Centsible Sawyer!)



$2/1 Ivory Snow Coupon HERE

$2/1 FeBreze with Laundry Odor Eliminator HERE$2.50/1 Biz detergent HERE
(Thanks to SlickDeals!)

$18 in Skin Care Coupons good at Rite Aid HERE

$1/1 Skinny Cow Skinny Dippers, Mini Fudge Pops, Cones, or Fudge Bars HERE
(Thanks to Candace at A Garden of Blessings!)

Samples

Free Sample of Pup-Peroni Dog Snacks HERE

Free Sample of Nectavida Supplement HERE

Free Schick Intuition Plus Razor HERE

Free Sample of First Shake Supplement HERE

Free Sample of Eucerin Plus Intensive Repair Foot Cream HERE
(Thanks to Wendy at More Than Enough!)

Free Sample of Advil and a $2 coupon HERE(Thanks to Erin at Coupon Cravings!)

Photo Editing ... Works for Me Wednesday

I would LOVE to find the time to learn how to use Photo Shop -- but time is short most days, so that is not happening right now.



I love Karen Russell's photos -- I think she is a great photographer and wish she lived close so that I could take some classes from her.

I stumbled upon this photo editing website -- and have to share. The one problem I found is from home, since we use Satellite Internet, its pretty slow on uploading the photos. I tried it out at work this morning and LOOK!

Since I had this photo on my computer at work -- this is the before photo

And this is the after photo! I LOVE using the Vignette -- the dark edges, I just love that look right now. I did add a frame as well, along with a little bear. You can add text as well, and IT. IS. SO. EASY!

There are two options right now, a free account and a premium account. I just used the free account, I guess with the premium account you can use the curves, like Photo shop. This works for me!

Oh -- need the website? LOL! -- Picnik Have fun!

To find out what works for others, please visit Works for Me Wednesday, hosted by Rocks in My Dryer!

Nature Made Vitamin Samples

Good for a 14 day sample of any of the new 6 Soft Gel Vitamins. You may only select one type of vitamin. So, choose which one and click on the name for the link to that particular type. They have a neat system where if you buy their vitamins you can turn in Rewards codes in their Nature Made Bank which are good for coupons for future purchases.

Multivitamin

Multivitamin for her

Vitamin C

Vitamin D

Calcium

Super B Complex

Thanks to Frugal Upstate for this heads up!

April Showers ...

Its been a cold winter here in Kansas, and it looks like it is planning to be a wet Spring! Clouds do not help with satellite Internet at all ...

Here's a few freebies -- courtesy of Thrifty Florida Mama

O Magazines Annual Spring Tote and Samples giveaway begins today. Sign up here for a chance to win a fabulous prize package. 5,000 random winner will be chosen.

Free $5 off any purchase at Kohl's and 10% off any online Kohl's purchase. I signed up and received the coupon in my email within 24 hours. Kohls has really good sales, so $5 off will net you a good deal.

Free Reusable Shopping Bag from Earthbound Farms. Take the quiz and earn the free bag. Hint: when taking a multiple choice test, the longer the answer is compared to the others it is usually the correct answer!

Free Product from Bath and Body Works with any purchase. That's right you can buy the $.99 finger nail file and get the free $11 lotion. Print coupon here. Hurry it expires on the 12th.

Organic Product coupons. Go here to see the nearest place to you that has this $18 coupon packet. Or order one from 1-866-Igo-orga

More
McDonald's Spring Treat Coupons - From Monica:I discovered today that McDonald's has out some Spring Treat coupons for sale. $1 will buy 12 free coupons for various items such as ice cream, apple dippers, kid size drink, small fry, cookie, apple pie. These are intended for children 12 and under. Usually these coupons expire within 90 days. These, however, have an expiration date of 12/09. Sure wish I had kiddos under 12.

Starbucks: Gift Card Extras - From Carla: (sorry no link to give credit!)
I went to Starbucks today and discovered a deal they have going. If you have a current Starbucks gift card, you can go on-line to www.starbucks.com/card and register it.
By registering it you receive:-Syrup and milk options for your beverage are on the house.-Brewed coffee refills at no charge.-A complimentary beverage with your whole bean purchase.

Vlasic.com: Coupon - From Mitzi If you go to http://www.vlasic.com/ and click on the "Crunch in the Fast Lane Sweepstakes" button, you can register and play the instant game and at the end is a link to a PDF coupon to print. It expires 31 Dec 08!!

Save on Old Orchard Juice - From Freebies 4 Mom:

Request a "Buy One Get One Free" coupon for Old Orchard's new Fruit Sense beverage. It sounds like they will mail it to you.
What else will Old Orchard mail you? Sign-up for Healthy Balance Membership and they will mail you six coupons for a total of $5 off their products

Frugal Journey Side note: We've been doing great on the debt area -- even though it has hurt (lol) -- they decided not to have hub work his day off and we actually could use him to keep working it for the rest of the year -- it will make a huge difference -- so drop a prayer heavenward that they will at least give him one day each pay period. CVS has been a huge blessing to us and coupon shopping (or in some cases -- no shopping and looking through the dark recesses of the freezer and pantry!!)

Tuesday Free Finds ...

Thanks for Free 2 be Frugal for these great finds ...

North Carolina Sweet Potatoes is offering some free recipe booklets for sweet potatoes. Love sweet potatoes and they are good for you! There are 6 different ones...order them all today.

Clean Home Journal April Showers Gift Pack

Clean Home Journal is giving away gift packs again! If you haven't won one in the past 90 days, you may enter now. Just 10,000* available—be sure to respond!

The first 10,000 people* to respond will receive a Clean Home Journal™ April Showers Gift Pack that includes the following:

2-cup Ziploc® Brand Twist 'n Loc® Container
Glade® PlugIns® Scented Gel warmer with a free refill

Each gift pack comes with coupons for Fantastik®, Scrubbing Bubbles®, Shout®, Windex® and more—with a total value of $10. I'm a member of clean home journal, but must have missed this email. (or I deleted it ... without reading it!!)


Got Red Plum?

Thanks to More Than Enough, you can find and fill out the form to start getting Red Plum Coupon Inserts in the mail. I signed up last week but my husband says he sees them coming in the mail all the time. (works at USPS)

Juicy Juice Freebie & Coupon

Register with Juicy Juice (they are part of the Very Best Kids network) and receive a free Juicy Juice Sippy Cup, plus there is a $1.00 off coupon, which you should be able to print twice. Even my teenage boys love juice!

Free Swingline Stapler

I've seen this around the web -- but just passed it by -- decided to try today and its still working. Take this simple survey from Swingline and they've promised to send you a free Swingline Optima desk stapler ($20 value) in return for your time!

Thanks for Freebies Friday for this deal. I've seen it numerous other places as well.

The Frugal Journey Begins ...

fru·gal –adjective
1. economical in use or expenditure; prudently saving or sparing; not wasteful: a frugal manager.
2. entailing little expense; requiring few resources; meager; scanty: a frugal meal.

We have begun a frugal journey this year in an attempt to live more simply, have no debt (outside our mortgage -- but hopefully not one of those either!), have a 3 to 6 month emergency fund in place and a substantial retirement savings plan. Hindsight is a wonderful thing -- too bad you can't get it ahead of time! We have been looking closely at Dave Ramsey -- and have been on a much stricter budget. Things are working -- and while we don't have a set time planned out (perhaps we should?) to be out of debt -- we are taking one baby step at a time. Baby steps are good for any road to success!! We do have a retirement savings already in place -- so for Dave Ramsey's steps we are working a little out of order -- we do prefer not to stop the retirement deductions in lieu of getting out of debt faster. We both feel we need to do whatever we need to do to accomplish that though .... so I will probably work a second job this summer a couple of nights a week that will be earmarked directly for debt reduction. The boys will probably have jobs as well -- so I may as well do something constructive. We are currently working on decluttering and finding things for resale. We have entirely too much stuff!!

I have come across many wonderful resources and thought I would start sharing them here -- and perhaps some of the new ways we are doing things. I enjoy getting free samples and really free anything -- but lately, if I am not going to use it I don't really even want it entering our house!

I found a great blog today -- Budget Helps -- also a great share on there today for Quaker Oats Products. I love granola bars, and oatmeal cookies but am not crazy about plain cooked oatmeal. (grin)
This is what she received in her package from Quaker Oats -- three full boxes of product: Cinnamon Sugar & Oats Morning Minis, Simple Harvest Dark Chocolate Chunk Granola Bars, and 90 Calorie Dark Chocolate Cherry Chewy Granola Bars. Also included were two $1.00 off any one box of Quaker Snack Bars.

You wanna join now too, don'tcha? Well CLICK HERE and sign up. Remember to check the 'Quaker Moms Care' box at the bottom of the form.

Thanks to Budget Helps for this great find! Lots of other great samples and coupons on there as well.