Switch to water...

Do you know how much money your family is spending on drinks? Do your kids consume a lot of juice? Do your teens and their friends chug down soda? Maybe you have a daily trip to Jamba Juice or Starbucks? How many times do you hit the soda vending machine at work?

The fact is that any of these things can be very expensive habits. The simple solution? Switch to water. Water is free! And even if you switch to bottled water, you can get 32 bottles at Sams for under $5, which is about how much you spend on one Jamba or Starbucks trip.

Think you can't drink water? Make sure to try it both room temperature and icy cold to see if you have a preference. I don't care for room temperature water, but give me an icy cold water over other beverages any day! I LOVE it. (My husband on the other hand likes it warmer.)

Other options include buying the generic equivalent of Crystal Light at Walmart. When the kids have friends over you can make gallons of it for under $2, and it is much healthier than the soda or juice you might now serve which can contain huge amounts of sugar and empty calories.

Don't forget to keep water in your drawer at the office and in the trunk of your car to avoid last minute soda purchases. You will be super surprised at how much you can save by making this small change. :)

Smith's Stock-up Item of the Week...

This week Smith's has petite sirloin steaks at $1.99/pound. That means that I got family sized $22 packages of boneless, tender steaks for around $6 a pack. It's a HOAD. (Heck of a deal) Stock up the freezer ladies! Grilling season is just around the corner :)

Please check with your local Smith's store to confirm price and availability.

Eating out...

There is one sure fire way to kill any budget and that is to eat out frequently. You can undo a lot of the good you have done cutting coupons or shopping sales by hitting the pizza parlor or burger joint a couple of times a week. I'm not talking about dropping date night or an occasional night of family fun. I am talking about the "it's six o'clock and I haven't cooked dinner so I am gonna call hubby and have him stop on the way home" night's.

But how can you solve such bad habits? One way is to have a couple of emergency "fast meals" in the freezer for such times. Maybe next time you cook lasagna you can cook two and freeze one! Or maybe you can pick up chicken nuggets and a bag of french fries at the grocery store while you are there. We pick up a couple of meals from Sam's club which we keep in the freezer for emergencies... frozen Chinese food or frozen pizzas work great and can be ready in minutes.

So the next time you are tempted to blow next weeks grocery budget on a quick meal, think about how much food you could buy on sale with the money you are about to spend and remember... you can save $30-$60 a week on take out alone if you just prepare ahead of time for disaster days!

The number one way to save money???

So I was watching TV this morning and they had a financial advisor on the news who said the number one way to save money is to set up an automatic transfer into savings on the days you get paid. Makes sense if you think about it.

If you are like me, the only money you ever really think about is the money in your checking account because that is the account your checks are cashed from, your bills are paid from and all the purchases made with the debit card are pulled from. I rarely think about the money in savings as "spendable" since it actually requires effort on my part to transfer it into checking before I go and make a purchase.

So this automatic transfer means that the money is never even seen by you and probably won't be missed much, if at all. Try a small amount at first, say $25-$50. If you don't miss it, double it! See how much you can save before the end of this year.

Good Kashi Coupons...

I LOVE being a member of the Kashi community. Not only do they send samples quite frequently, but they send GOOD coupons. Just recently they sent me a sample of their cereal bars, a coupon for a free box, and five more $2 coupons... just because I signed up on their website. They have sent me free cereal coupons, free cookie coupons and others. Plus every time, they have sent me dollar off coupons along with them.

You can be a community member too! Just go to: http://www.kashi.com/account/new and sign up. You won't regret it!

Kellogs coupons...

As I was surfing Kellogg's website, I came across a couple of coupons that I thought might interest you...

$1 off of 2 boxes of frosted flakes

$0.55 off of 8ct or larger poptarts

Also, Poptarts Sprinklings Club says you will get "a smattering of samples and a variety of values" if you sign up!

*As always, I am not responsible for any misprints by them or me! Click on the links to get the full details.

Dinners on a budget...

Check out these recipes on kraft.com. They are cheap AND easy! :)

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/Dinner/BudgetRecipes/BudgetRecipes.aspx?e=email

Seasonal Shopping... February!

February is here which means means as far as seasonal shopping is concerned, it is out with the exercise equipment and in with the chocolate! ;)

This is a very slow month for retailers, so you will see all kinds of sales advertised in an attempt to lure you in to the stores. However, because of Valentines day, you should especially find some good deals on jewelry, fragrances and chocolate. (Note too that AFTER valentines day you can stock up on chocolate at outrageous prices!)

Other bargains to be on the look out for during this month? Housewares, furniture, lamps, rugs and carpets, curtains, silverware, dinnerware, glassware, air conditioners and bikes!