Free Music - Week of January 27

I don't know about you, but I look forward to Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I make my rounds of iTunes, Walmart and Amazon to see what new free songs they have out. You never know what cool new music you're going to discover. Come back on Tuesday evenings to see what songs I've found each week. Here are the songs I found this week:

iTunes

• Single of the Week - "Crazy Days" by Adam Gregory
• Discovery Download - "Jailer" by Asa
• Video - "Someone Like You" by SafetySuit
• TV - "Meeting John & Kate Plus 8" - John & Kate Plus 8 Season 4

Walmart "Incredible" by Clique Girls

Amazon The featured free songs at Amazon change each time you refresh the page so you'll have to head over there and check them out. They have the largest selection of free music I have seen from a reputable source. Click here and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the free songs.

And this week there's another FREE download I found. This one is from Tic Tac Chill. Simply go to their site and register. They will email you a link and pin so you can download four of the songs they have to choose from.

FREE Redbox Rental Code

The code for today's FREE Redbox rental is:

57VH9L

Remember that you can use this code once per debit/credit card, so if you have multiple cards, you can get multiple rentals. You can read about my previous experience using these codes here. These codes come out every Monday so as long as I keep finding them I will keep posting them. Come back next Monday for another code. This code expires at midnight tonight.

Menu Plan Monday

I was looking at my "Recipes To Try" folder this weekend and it is out of control. So I've decided that I not only to I need to clean that folder out, but I need to start actually trying some of these recipes. So, my new goal is to try out at least one new recipe each week. We'll see how it goes. Do you like to try new recipes, or are you more like me and just collect them in a folder?

Here is my menu plan for this week:

• Sunday: Chicken Pesto Pita Melts
• Monday: Tacos (didn't get to make them last week)
• Tuesday: Creamy Chicken Bacon and Tomato Pasta (new recipe)
• Wednesday: Tomato Pesto Tuna Pizza (new recipe)
• Thursday: Omelets (meatless night) and Sweet Potato Biscuits (new recipe)
• Friday: Burgers
• Saturday: Lasagna

I realize that I'm probably getting a little ambitious trying three new recipes in one week, but two of them look really easy so I couldn't resist.

To check out more Menu Plans, head over to Org Junkie.

FREE Pack of Trident

Right now you can get a FREE pack of Trident gum by uploading a picture of your smile. I love Trident and go through a lot of it so I'm happy to get a free pack. There is a limit of one per household and the gum takes 6-8 weeks to arrive.

For some immediate FREE Trident, you can use the $0.75 off a single pack of Trident coupon from Sunday's paper at a grocery store that doubles coupons that high and get some free Trident. I used mine at Giant this weekend, but this should also work at Super Fresh.

Free Music - Week of January 20

I don't know about you, but I look forward to Tuesdays. Every Tuesday I make my rounds of iTunes, Walmart and Amazon to see what new free songs they have out. You never know what cool new music you're going to discover. Come back on Tuesday evenings to see what songs I've found each week. Here are the songs I found this week:

iTunes

• Single of the Week - "Stop the Clock" by Jean
• Discovery Download - "My Love Sees You" by Beni
• Video - "Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie

Walmart "100 in a 55" by Pop Evil

Amazon The featured free songs at Amazon change each time you refresh the page so you'll have to head over there and check them out. They have the largest selection of free music I have seen from a reputable source. Click here and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the free songs.

And this week there's another FREE download I found. This one is from Julie's Jukebox at Home Made Simple. You will need to sign up for a free account with Julie's Jukebox to get the free song. The song is "Different Breed" by Carter's Chord.

Free Starbucks Coffee for Volunteers

Starting January 21st and running through January 25th, if you pledge to volunteer 5 hours of your time, Starbucks will give you a FREE tall brewed coffee. There are lots of things you can do to volunteer and help your community. There are some ideas on the Starbucks Pledge 5 page. Get details here.

How Toxic is Your Makeup?

One of my goals for 2009 is to improve my health. So when I came across the Environment Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database I was intrigued. Here is their description of their site.

Skin Deep pairs ingredients in more than 1,000 products against 50 definitive toxicity and regulatory databases, making it the largest integrated data resource of its kind. Why did a small nonprofit take on such a big project? Because the FDA doesn't require companies to test their own products for safety.

Here are the categories in their database:

• Makeup
• Skin Care
• Hair Care
• Eye Care
• Nail Care
• Baby Care
• Oral Care
• Fragrance

If you’re anything like me, you’ll spend a good bit of time looking up all of your cosmetics and such. I’m amazed at just how toxic so many of these items are. I think it’s time for me to search out some non-toxic makeup.

FREE Redbox Rental Code

The code for today's FREE Redbox rental is:

K6W3G4

Remember that you can use this code once per debit/credit card, so if you have multiple cards, you can get multiple rentals. You can read about my previous experience using these codes here. These codes come out every Monday so as long as I keep finding them I will keep posting them. Come back next Monday for another code. This code expires at midnight tonight.

Menu Plan Monday

This year I am determined for my family to start eating better. Right now my mission is eliminating trans fat from our diet. Ok, elimination is probably not possible, but I am cutting it out of everything that I can. Last week I went through my pantry and got rid of all the foods I found with trans fat in them. I was very sad to see the Bisquick and Stove Top go. Somehow I will go on. The healthier we eat, the better off we are.

Here is our menu plan for the week:

• Sunday - Tomato, basil & mozzarella chicken sausage
• Monday - Beef Roast
• Tuesday - Cheese quesadillas
• Wednesday - Beef wraps
• Thursday - Tacos
• Friday - Chicken ravioli
• Saturday - Tuna noodle casserole

To see more meal plans, head over to Org Junkie.

Free Magazine Summary

I found some more free magazine subscriptions this morning. Why did I ever pay for magazine subscriptions before? Anyway, here is a listing of some current free magazine subscriptions from Rewards Gold. Just complete their survey and sign up for your free subscription. You can sign up for as many of these as you want.

• Blender
• Out
• Golf Digest
• Vibe
• Flying
• The Advocate
• **DEAD** Sound & Vision
• Forbes
• **DEAD** Garden & Gun
• **DEAD** Interview
• **DEAD** American Photo
• **DEAD** Working Mother

That's a lot of free magazines. I doubt they all interest you, but some of them might. Remember, these are completely FREE, no credit card information required and no automatic renewals.

FedEx Office $10 Gift Card Offer

You can get a $10 FedEx Office Gift Card FREE for registering online with Sony to print photos from Sony Picture Station kiosks at participating FedEx Office locations. Gift cards arrive in 8-10 weeks and expire May 31st.

More Free Magazines

The free subscription to Woman's Day that I posted about previously is no longer available, but here are a few other free magazine subscriptions that are currently available. These are all from Rewards Gold.

• Working Mother
• Forbes
• Golf Digest

Eat Better America Coupon Booklet

Sign up for the Eat Better America newsletter and you will receive a $10 coupon booklet. This is a while supplies last offer so don't waste too much time getting over there. If you don't like the newsletter you can always unsubscribe after you receive your coupons. I think it's worth checking out for some free coupons.

And don't forget about the Home Made Simple Coupon Booklet.

Caregivers Marketplace

Just a reminder that you have to submit your 2008 receipts to Caregivers Marketplace by January 31st. I got mine off in the mail today. They are also offering their program again for 2009. I use this program mainly for the rebates on Huggies diapers, but they also offer rebates on other common caregiving related items like vitamins, cortizone and so forth. If you have a few minutes it's worth heading over and checking out their eligible items list. Every little bit that you can get back helps, so why not take advantage if products you buy are on there?

New Design

I decided to spice things up a little bit and change the design of my blog. So what do you think? This is a free template courtesy of suckmylolly. There are lots of cool free and cheap templates over there. So if you're looking for a frugal face lift for your blog, head over and check them out.

Free Suave - January 14th Only

UPDATE: 1/15/09 - Dead Deal

Don't forget to head over to Suave's Website today to register to receive a coupon for a free bottle of Suave (shampoo, conditioner, hair spray, styling aid, bodywash or lotion). Coupons are mailed to you in 2-4 weeks and are good through February 28, 2009.

Free Music - Week of January 13

Ok, it's no secret that I love music. And I love discovering new artists, so finding quality sources for free music is a good thing. Every Tuesday I make my rounds of iTunes, Walmart and Amazon to see what new free songs they have out. Here are the songs I found this week:


iTunes

• Single of the Week - "Evacuate" by The Boxer Rebellion
• Discovery Download - "J.S. Bach: Violin Concertos" by Julia Fischer & Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
• Video - "Sweet About Me" by Gabriella Cilmi

Walmart "The Homecoming Game" by Cool Ethan


Amazon The featured free songs at Amazon change each time you refresh the page so you'll have to head over there and check them out. They have the largest selection of free music I have seen from a reputable source. Click here and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the free songs.

Free Music From Blender

On Monday I received the current issue of Blender magazine in the mail. (From a free subscription naturally) They have their downloads for February's free music up. I love the free downloads they offer because it lets me try out new music without spending money on it. It is so much fun to discover new artists. You can get the February downloads here. Here are the songs in the February download:

1. Anjulie - Love Songs
2. Ben Weaver - White Snow
3. Brett Dennen - San Francisco
4. Dear and the Headlights - I'm Not Crying, You're Not Crying, Are You
5. Drew Andrews - Wide Awake
6. Japanese Motors - Better Trends
7. Land of Talk - Some Are Lakes
8. School of Seven Bells - Connjur
9. Sebastien Grainger - American Names
10. Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation

These downloads should be available until March 16, 2009. The songs are governed by the Rhapsody Terms of Use. You can also access the Blender December downloads here. The December downloads are available until February 10, 2009.

Enjoy your free music. Tuesday evening I will post about the new free music at Walmart and iTunes.

FREE Redbox Rental Code

I usually don't post these, but decided I might as well since I email them to several of my contacts every week. The code for today's FREE Redbox rental is:

H48MX2

Remember that you can use this code once per debit/credit card, so if you have multiple cards, you can get multiple rentals. You can read about my previous experience using these codes here. These codes come out every Monday so as long as I keep finding them I will keep posting them. Come back next Monday for another code. This code expires at midnight tonight.

Free Woman's Day Magazine Subscription

UPDATE 1/15/09 - Dead Deal
Right now you can get a free 1 year subscription to Woman's Day Magazine from Rewards Gold. I have gotten many free magazine subscriptions from them in the past and I have always received them. If you enjoy Woman's Day magazine, you may want to head over and get your free subscription. You just have to complete a free survey about hair removal products and your free magazines will be on their way.

Simplifying Your To Do List

Amy over at Mom Advice has a great post about Simplifying Your To Do List. This is something that I had already decided I needed to work on so it was nice to come across this post. Here is a quote from her post:

I felt like I was juggling way too many balls in the air so I wasn't sleeping well, eating well, or feeling like a very good parent. I would start a project, abandon it or do a bad job on it, and then move on to the next thing.

I completely understand this feeling. Back in December I told my husband something very similar to this when I was explaining how I felt. I like her ideas for the to do list and will be incorporating them into my own to do list to see how they work for me. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by your to do list, I would head over and check out her post.

Menu Plan Monday

This weekend hubby and I have been sick. So nice of Pumpkin to share her cold with us. Anyway, my menu plan for the week is quick and easy because right now neither of us feels up to cooking or spending much time doing anything. I had planned on trying out some new recipes this week, but I wasn't able to drag myself to the grocery store this weekend to pick up the ingredients I need. So that plan has been moved to next week.

Thank goodness we have enough food around here that I am able to skip grocery shopping for a week. Hubby went and picked up the essentials (milk and frozen pizza) so we're good for now.

• Sunday - Frozen Pizza
• Monday - Soup and Bruschetta
• Tuesday - Grilled Cheese and Soup
• Wednesday - Spaghetti with Italian Sausage
• Thursday - Omelets and toast
• Friday - Chicken Salad Wraps
• Saturday - Lasagna

For more menu plans, head over to Org Junkie. Or you can click here to see all my Menu Planning posts.

Free Antibiotics at Giant

From now through March 21st Giant Food is offering free antibiotics. You can get a free 14 day supply of the most commonly prescribed antibiotics. Simply take in your valid prescription and you're good to go. You can get a list of the qualifying antibiotics here. They also have a FAQ page here. I took advantage of this program yesterday and it really was completely free. I guess if my daughter was going to get sick, she picked a good time to do it. If you need antibiotics during this period and you have a Giant nearby, I think it's worth getting your prescription filled there.

Free Magazines

Start Sampling has a few more free magazine offers. I have gotten some free magazines from the past and they always arrived as stated. Their current offers don't interest me, but they may interest some of you. So, here they are:

• Wake Boarding Magazine - 9 Free Issues
• Boating Life - 12 Free Issues
• Islands Magazine - 1 Free DIGITAL Issue
• Marie Claire - 6 Free DIGITAL Issues

You will need to join Start Sampling to take advantage of these offers, but membership is free and they seem to offer plenty of good samples, so I think it's worth it.

Home Made Simple Coupon Book

They are taking requestes for the Home Made Simple Coupon Book again. I love this coupon book because it usually has a coupon for FREE Cascade Rinse Aid. I haven't had to buy rinse aid in over a year now. The coupons are worth over $27 and are for products like Cascade, Dawn, Febreze, Swiffer and Mr. Clean. They offer this coupon book several times a year and I request it every time I see it. Head on over and request your now.

Free Health, Fitness and Home Downloads at Amazon

Amazon is having a New Year, New You 2009 promotion this month. They are offering several free downloads from various magazines. Here are the categories:

• Fitness Tips from Self, Redbook and Vegetarian Times
• Download from Oprah's "Live Your Best Life"
• Download from Redbook's "How to Get Everything"
• Invigorate Your Space: Free Downloads from House Beautiful
• Eat Better: Free Downloads from Vegetarian Times, Cookie and Good Housekeeping
• Live Well All Year Long with Free Downloads from Country Living

Check them out, you just might find some good tips. I'm heading over there now to see what I want to download.

Weekly Free Music

Ok, it's no secret that I love music. And I love discovering new artists, so finding quality sources for free music is a good thing. Every Tuesday I make my rounds of iTunes, Walmart and Amazon to see what new free songs they have out. Here are the songs I found this week:

iTunes
Single of the Week - "Good Lovin" by Slim
Discovery Download - "Oscar Wilde" by Company of Thieves
Video - "Id Engager" by Of Montreal

Walmart
"All About Soul" by Anders Holst

Amazon
The featured free songs at Amazon change each time you refresh the page so you'll have to head over there and check them out. They have the largest selection of free music I have seen from a reputable source. Click here and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the free songs.

Walgreens Deals This Week

There are a few good deals at Walgreens this week. Here is what I found:

Garnier Fructis - FREE
Sale $2.99 - $2.00 Easy Saver Coupon - $1.00 MQ

Electrasol Gelpacks - $0.51 Money Maker
Sale $3.49 - $2.50 MQ
Easy Saver Rebate $1.50

Combine the Bayer Register Reward deal with the rebate to make money on a combination of these products:

• Aleve $8.00
• Bayer $5.00
• One-A-Day $5.00 or $7.00
• Citracal $9.00
• Aleve-D Sinus $5.00
• Alka Seltzer Plus $5.00
• Phillips $3.00

When you buy $20 of the above products, you will get a register reward for $10.00 off your next purchase. See page 10-11 in the Walgreens sales paper for the exact items that are participating. Some Walgreens will allow the $20 to be the price before coupons and some want it to be after coupons. Pretty much all of these products had coupons in the Sunday paper this week. Along with the coupons there was a Special 1/2 Price Offer rebate form in this week's Sunday paper. Check the rebate to make sure you buy participating products from the above list. You want to select items that total as close to $20 as you can get. Remember that you need to purchase at least $20 worth of items to get the register reward.

When you make your purchase, you will spend $20 (possibly less). You will also get a $10 register reward good for your next purchase, make your net cost $10 (or less). You can now submit the rebate to get half of the price you paid after coupons back (up to $10). Once you get your rebate check your net cost is $0.00 or possibly a money maker. Here is what I purchased:

• One-A-Day Vitamins $7.00 ($1.00 MQ) = $6.00
• Bayer Aspirin $5.00 ($1.00 MQ) = $4.00
• Aleve $8.00 ($1.00 MQ) = $7.00
• Total Out of Pocket = $17.00 + tax
• Received $10.00 register reward
• Rebate Due $8.50 (half of $17.00)
• Net Cost = $1.50 Money Maker (less taxes paid)

Note: MQ = Manufacturer Coupon. All the coupons I listed in these scenarios can be found in this week's Sunday paper.

Safeway e-Coupons

If you do any shopping at Safeway, then you should take the time to load the P&G eSaver coupons onto your Safeway club card. There are quite a few coupons available on their site right now and they don't expire until March 31, 2009. I figure your should go ahead and load them all. It doesn't cost you anything and you don't know if you'll be purchasing them or not in the next 3 months. Once they're loaded, don't forget to print the list of coupons you just loaded. This can help you with planning your shopping trips.

I really like the idea behind e-coupons. You can load them on your card so you don't have to worry about losing them, pulling the expired ones, forgetting to give them to the cashier or digging through your pile of coupons while also trying to keep an eye on your child. And, for those of you out there that think using coupons makes you look cheap, the other customers in line can't even tell you're using them.

If you do load e-coupons onto your club card, make sure that you do it well ahead of time because it takes about an hour for them to load to your card. Go ahead and give it a try. What do you have to lose? Head on over to the P&G eSaver here.

Free 1 Year Subscription to Prevention Magazine

You can get a free one year subscription to Prevention Magazine from Rewards Gold. I have gotten several free subscriptions from them, including this one and they have all come in with no problems. All you do is answer a few questions and provide your info for sending the subscription. I personally love this magazine. They have a lot of health related information and have recently added a Foods section that includes recipes. Click here to try Prevention for one year free.

EDIT 1/12/09 - This offer is no longer available. Click here to see my post about a free one year subscription to Woman's Fay magazine.

My Points Coupons for January

Just a reminder to go print your January coupons over at My Points. Remember that you get 10 points for each coupon you print and redeem and 25 bonus points each month that you print and redeem at least 5 coupons. I have been using the coupons to get good deals and score some serious points. I almost have enough points to get another gift card.

Some of the January My Points Coupons:

• Save $0.50 on any Cottonelle 4 pk or larger toilet paper
• Save $0.50 on one package No Yolks Noodles
• Save $0.50 on one package Wacky Mac pasta
• Save $0.50 on six Yoplait yogurt
• Save $1.10 on two Old El Paso products
• Save $1.00 on Velveeta 16 oz or larger

If your grocery store doubles coupons, you may be able to use the No Yolks and Wacky Mac coupons during a sale and get those items free or cheap. There are lots more coupons on their site, check them out. And remember that you can print each coupon twice.

Review - Wii Fit

One of the items that I received for Christmas was the Wii Fit. My husband had talked about getting this for me in the past, but I was skeptical and not really interested in spending the money for a second game system when we already had the X-box 360. Well, my mom wound up getting us a Wii and Wii-Fit for Christmas and I have to say that I love it. I have been using the Wii Fit every night and I actually look forward to it. Using it definitely makes you more aware of your posture and balance. Granted I've only been using it for about a week, but the balance games are a lot of fun and I have been having a blast with the hoola hooping. In real life I can't hoola hoop for anything, but in the land of Wii I'm pretty good at it. I also love the ski jump and the penguin fish catch. Tonight I just unlocked boxing, but I was too tired to try it out after I did. So now I will have to try it out tomorrow. It's something for me to look forward to.

A word of warning; it can get a bit pricey when you go out and start buying games and accessories. The Wii was completely new to us so we went out and bought some games, another controller and rechargeable batteries. Several of the games were purchased used, but the other items weren't available used. Since Christmas we have spent over $200 on games and accessories. Yikes! It should be awhile before I need anything else for the Wii though and I always check the used games first when I'm in the store. For the next few weeks I need to stay away from Game Stop and the electronics section at Target. They are dangerous territory.

If you're looking for a fun way to add some exercise to your routine, I would definitely recomment the Wii Fit. Just keep the cost in mind because it certainly isn't cheap.

Safeway Craziness Again - When Will I Learn?

Despite the problems I have previously had at one of my local Safeway stores in the past, I decided to make a stop there last night to quickly pick up a few things. I figured I was stopping at Walgreens right next door so I could swing into Safeway too. Silly me.

When I arrived at Safeway I realized that I didn't have my $5 off coupon from the Entertainment book with me. It wasn't worth going back home for so I just decided to pick up fewer items from my list. This Safeway has a Starbucks inside and Sunday is my Starbucks night so I figured I would just pick up my iced tea there. Wrong. They had absolutely no tea made so that was a bust. I did manage to get the items on my list and go wait in the one open check out lane. It is a regular occurrence for this Safeway to have nowhere near enough check out lanes open so this really wasn't a surprise.

After making it through the check out and getting everything loaded in the car I decided to check my receipt before I left. Well, they charged me too much for the Charmin I picked up so I had to go back in and get my $3.00 plus tax back for that. Once that was taken care of I headed back to my car and decided to go ahead and just get gas while I was there. When I pulled up to the pump and went to get my Safeway card out of my purse I realized that she didn't give me back my Safeway card after processing my refund. By that point I had enough and wasn't up to driving back across the parking lot to the store just to go back in and get my card. Plus my poor dogs were with me in the car and they were done too. So I left without getting gas because I refuse to pay full price when I can get a $0.03 discount just for scanning my card.

I feel like my trip out last night was bust even though I did get the main thing I went out for. It was just a frustrating experience. I really need to stick with the other local Safeway if I am going to be doing any shopping at Safeway.

In a way maybe the frustration was good for me because as soon as I got home I got on the Wii Fit to work out some of my frustrations. I wound up staying on it for 40 minutes and then hubbie and I played Rampage on the Wii. Nothing gets your frustrations out quite like senseless destruction.

New Year - New Budget

Every January I sit down to review and update our budget. I look at all of our balances and obligations so that I can budget and plan for the year ahead. This can be a fairly stressful time because we never seem to be where we hoped to be (does anyone?). Money definitely seems to go out quicker then it comes in.

In the past, I've tended to make our budget in January and not look at it again until the following January. This can lead to problems of going off budget and not even being aware of it until months later. So this year I am vowing to review our budget monthly. This way I can better monitor our progress and make any corrections before we get too far off track. We both want our debt gone.

As of right now I still haven't finalized our budget for January. That bothers me, but for right now I'm stuck. We both had changes to our pay and I'm not sure exactly how that will effect our take home pay. I do have the expense figures and an estimate on income, so I'm not a total slacker. I would just prefer to have "real" numbers.

I will say that our budget is tighter then either of us cares for right now. We will definitely be doing everything that we can to cut expenses this year. We both want to put more money into savings and have a little more breathing room in the budget.

Have you completed your budget yet? If not, what are you waiting for?

Menu Plan Monday

Things are starting to get back to normal after all of the holiday craziness. I have decided to start planning one meatless dinner a week. My goal is to save us money since meat is getting pretty pricey and also to help improve our health. My husband and I both want to improve our health this year.

I've been checking out some recipes from Cooking Light also. There are some that sound really good that I would like to try out. We don't have everything I need to make them on hand though so they will probably appear in next week's menu plan. We need to start getting more veggies into our meals and these recipes sound like a yummy way to do that. We'll see.

Here is our meal plan for this week:

• Sunday: Burgers
• Monday: Pizza
• Tuesday: Tuna Melts
• Wednesday: Grilled cheese and soup (meatless night)
• Thursday: Chicken quesadillas
• Friday: Possibly having dinner at mom's. If not, I'll have to come up with something
• Saturday: Pork chops and mashed potatoes

To check out other menu plans for this week, head over to Org Junie.