Welcome to the first edition of Thrifty Thursdays

I signed up for “Thrifty Thursdays” with Amanda from Amandascooking and today I’ll be sharing my first thrifty tip with y’all

Being a single mom on a budget I’m a frugal shopper. I do my searches online every week to get the ‘sneak peek’ for what the weekly coupons will be in the Sunday paper. I do my shopping either with peapod, who does accept coupons when they deliver your groceries, (but they are not doubled) or I go to Stop and Shop or Pathmark, which are the supermarkets that I have in my area and both stores double coupons up to $.99.

Both Stop and Shop and Pathmark have websites(most supermarkets do) and the weekly circular is always up for you to make your list right there while you’re looking through the circular with just a click. I have a budget of $50 a week for groceries and I’m very good with sticking to it. I make my list by what is on sale and what I have coupons for When I’m shopping with peapod you have to factor in the delivery charge which is between $6.95 and $9.95 depending on where you live and If you are a first time shopper with them you can always get a coupon for between $10 and $15 off your First order and if you sign up for their weekly email they will sometimes send coupons for free delivery (up to $6.95). When I do my peapod shopping I most often get 2 weeks of groceries at a time, and often I will get things that are on sale, like canned goods, that are too heavy to lug by bus and I stock up. I figure it’s going to cost me $8 for myself and The Kid to take the bus both ways, then we’ve gotta pack it all up and carry it all home, so oftentimes it just saves me that annoyance. Just last week peapod had the tomatoes that I use to make sauce on sale for $1 a can (from the usual $1.75) so I stocked up and got 16 cans.. that will last me a few months. I can't even imagine what it would have been like to carry all that home

I also always keep an envelope of coupons in my bag for when I’m out just in case.

Next... where I go to find the really good bargains online

Non food post, Product review.. Smooth away

As a member of Fuel my blog I was lucky enough to be offered the opportunity to test the Smooth Away hair removal ‘system’ It’s essentially a lightly abrasive pad that sticks to a plastic oval with a strap so that you can slide it over your fingers and work in a circular motion and it removes hair from your arms, legs and face.

I’m sure you’ve seen the commercials on TV and were skeptical.. But I’ll tell ya it does really work. My advice though is to moisturize the morning or night prior to using the smooth away as it does exfoliate, but if your skin is dry, it’s going to do more exfoliating than hair removing. I used it on my arms and it worked quite nicely. This package comes with the smooth away “mitten” as well as a smaller version to slip on your finger to smooth away the hair on your face.

I wax my legs, so I didn’t use this on them, but I think this would be great for girls who want to start shaving because it does a nice job and you don’t have to worry about nicks and cuts and it is very easy to use.

I don’t like salt

I don’t like salt


I don’t.

Plain and simple. I don’t like the taste of salt. When I was a kid I had high blood pressure and from then on I didn’t eat salt. I don’t add it much to my food when I’m cooking and it’s just not heart healthy. Not that I'm a health 'nut', but I do watch what I eat and what I feed to The Kid.

Browsing through foodgawker and tastespotting I don’t understand this new trend with salted caramel and chocolate and even cookies for crying out loud!

I’m not buying into this new trend. I have my occasional (usually during that time) salt craving, but that usually means a little grind of sea salt on the hamburger or on my steak. I even brush the salt off pretzels.. Yes, even the soft ones. Yes, I know all about how it intensifies the taste of sweet things, which is why we add a bit of salt to our baked goods and chocolate anything.. But still.. I just don’t get it.

I've been Frogged!

A few days ago I was checking up on my bloggy things and saw a link that I didn't recognize directing people here to my blog.. so I had to investigate.. and Low and behold.. there I was a BzzAgent Frog in the Frogpond..

The Memoirs from my Kitchen BzzAgent Frog!

Now, I've never been so happy in my life to be called a Frog, lol.

If you don't know what BzzAgent is all about, here are the details:

What is a BzzAgent, exactly?

Agents are everyday consumers who believe in honest word of mouth. In other words, they like to:

• Discover and check out new products, services, books and other cool stuff
• Share their honest opinions with people they know
• Have their input and feedback taken seriously by companies and brands
• Build social capital by being in the know and always having something to talk about

I've gotten the opportunity to test and buzz some really great products thanks to BzzAgent, they're a great bunch of people over there and are always there to help you out of you have a problem.

If you'd like to become a BzzAgent click here:

Bloggers Helping One of Our Own

I'm a subscriber to the MomGadget daily email and when I got this morning's email I had to share it with everyone.
*************************UPDATE***************************
I have an address to send donations to, so if you are interested in sending clothes for the boys or anything else to help the family out please leave a comment and I will provide you with that information.
Ash~
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Bloggers Helping One of Our Own

Posted: 09 Feb 2009 09:59 AM PST

In effort to give a final push toward meeting the $5,000 goal, I wanted to share the following:

Let it be said that b5media is a close knit community of bloggers and when one is in need, the entire network seems to pull together and rally around that need. Last week, something terrible happened to one of our own bloggers, Cheril Vernon. Cheril lost her house, and her pets to a fire recently, and is without insurance to rebuild. The local Red Cross is doing what it can, but if we, the entire blogging community and social networking geeks could all show our support by giving what we can, then Cheril and her family will be doing much better than they currently are.

When times are as tough as they are, the last thing anyone should experience is a loss of everything. And being the pet lover that I am, I can’t imagine losing my own in such a horrible way. Pets are like family.

To read more about the incident, and send in you donation, check out the special page, b5media Blogger Loses Home in Fire, made surrounding this event on b5media’s own site.

Every dollar helps, regardless of how large or small the donation. Consider it creating good karma! What you give out of the goodness of your heart is bound to come back to you many times over. Giving to such a cause made me feel as though I was truly making a difference in the life of someone who needed it. Cheril, her husband and their two boys have a terrible and long road to recovery ahead of them – we can make that journey just a tad bit easier with any contribution.

Lastly, if you are on Twitter, Facebook or other such sites, please make sure to message about this, as spreading the word is also very helpful.

I can't imagine losing everything like this, so lets band together and help out in any way we can. I'm gonna see what size clothes these boys wear, I've got lots of boy clothes that are too small for The Kid that are ready to be donated and maybe I can help Cheril out with some things too :)