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Who doesn't love mashed potatoes? These are simple to make and go great with any holiday meal. Click the banner or go HERE. Available at Publix in FL, available at CUB in MN.

Amazon

 

Amazon is my favorite online vendor and its the first place I check for items. If you are shopping at Amazon, do me a favor and click through my site so I get a couple pennies. Just click the banner ad above, or search using the search box on the sidebar of the the blog.

 

If you aren't a member of Prime which gives you free 2 day shipping, here's how you can sign up for a FREE MONTH of PRIME SHIPPING!

Here is how:
1. Add "Cars" Blu-ray disc to your to cart at AMAZON
2. On the checkout page you'll see a one month Amazon Prime trial offer to sign up for.
3. Click on "Learn More"
4. Start your FREE trial
5. Remove the "Cars" Blu-ray from your cart and continue shopping as usual!
Don't forget to uncheck the box for auto-renew or you will be charged when the trial is up.

Eight Free Disney Digital Books

 

When you go HERE and register to choose your childs reading level and take advantage of features like:

• 500+ new and classic Disney books.
• Click to hear words pronounced.
• See definitions using the built-in dictionary.
• Be immersed in Look and Listen stories with voices and sound effects.
• Use Story-Builder to create Disney stories.

$10 off any Shutterfly Order

Register HERE (Parenting.com Baby Model Search) and instantly get a unique coupon code for $10 off any Shutterfly order. You can use your $10 off anytime before November 15, 2010!

 

Remember to cut and paste the code to keep it somewhere safe where you can find it again when you need it. They will send you an email but you might think its spam and accidently delete it - I did! Anyway, you could use different email addresses to get a few codes since they are good for almost a YEAR.

Frugal Gift Bags

This year lots of family and friends will be getting Gift Bags of stuff rather than a single present. Some of our friends are unemployed or underemployed, or have had their hours cut back at work and just don't have the means to give lavishly. So for our gifts this year we're going to put everything in Publix re-usable bags that we've gotten free this fall with coupons. We'll put other items we got free or for less than a $1 so that by the time the bag is filled it will have a $50 or more value. This is what's going in the bag:

1. Arm & Hammer Toothpaste
2. Reach Toothbrush
3. Razor
4. Glade Fragrance Collection Candle
5. Glade plugin air freshner
6. Dog or Cat treats food
7. Candy bar
8. Fisher Fusion Nut Snack
9. Progresso Soup
10. Crackers
11. Alexa crunchy snack
12. Chinet plates and napkins
13. Infusium Shampoo or Conditioner
14. Snuggle Fabric softener or All Laundry Detergent

Back on Track

Well its been a while since I've posted and I apologize to all those new readers who click and see that old post. I'm going to try to make it more of a priority to keep this place updated with lots of interesting frugal thoughts. The bathroom remodel took a lot of effort and we're still finishing touches like installing knobs on cabinets and towel racks, and hanging pictures. Still haven't figured out what to do with the toothaste and toothbrush, but that will come.

 

We did well on the budget with the bathrooms, remodeling both completely with new fixtures, walls, ceiling, tile floors, tile tub and shower walls for only $8300. We have a great handyman who did top quality work. Its funny now that we've experienced having tile installed in our home for the first time, we are both very alert to seeing grout lines and tile everywhere. Its amazing the spectrum of quality work you can see, and most of it is not quality.

 

Anyway, the kitchen remodel is next. I'll post more about that as we get to it.

10 Lifestyle Changes

Here are 10 lifestyle changes you can make to lower your blood pressure and keep it down. For more detail see source HERE

1. Lose those extra pounds and watch your waistline

Blood pressure often increases as weight increases. Losing just 10 pounds can help reduce your blood pressure significantly. In general, the more weight you lose, the lower your blood pressure. Losing weight also makes any blood pressure medications you're taking more effective.

2. Exercise regularly

Regular physical activity — at least 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week — can lower your blood pressure by 4 to 9 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). And it doesn't take long to see a difference. If you've been sedentary, increasing your activity can lower your blood pressure within just a few weeks.

3. Eat a healthy diet

Eating a diet that is rich in whole grains, fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products and skimps on saturated fat and cholesterol can lower your blood pressure by up to 14 mm Hg.

4. Reduce sodium in your diet

Even a modest reduction in the sodium in your diet can reduce blood pressure by 2 to 8 mm Hg. And bigger cutbacks mean greater reductions in blood pressure.

5. Limit alcohol consumption

Alcohol can be both good and bad for your health. In small amounts, it can help prevent heart attacks and coronary artery disease and potentially lower your blood pressure by 2.5 to 4 mm Hg. But that protective effect is lost if you drink too much alcohol — generally more than one drink a day for women and more than two a day for men.

6. Avoid tobacco products and secondhand smoke

On top of all the other dangers of smoking, the nicotine in tobacco products can raise your blood pressure by 10 mm Hg or more for up to an hour after you smoke.

7. Cut back on caffeine

The role caffeine plays in blood pressure is still debatable. Drinking caffeinated beverages can temporarily cause a spike in your blood pressure. And some studies show that people who drink caffeine regularly have a higher average blood pressure, suggesting that caffeine might have a long-term impact. But other studies show you can develop a tolerance to caffeine so that it doesn't affect your blood pressure.
To see if caffeine raises your blood pressure, check your pressure within 30 minutes of drinking a cup of coffee or another caffeinated beverage you regularly drink. If your blood pressure increases by five to 10 points, you may be sensitive to the blood pressure raising effects of caffeine.

8. Reduce your stress

As with caffeine, the influence of stress on blood pressure isn't settled. Stress or anxiety can temporarily increase blood pressure.
You need to know what stresses you before you can try to reduce your stress. Take some time to think about what causes you to feel stressed, such as work, family, finances or illness. Once you know what's causing your stress, consider how you can eliminate or reduce stress.

9. Get regular health care

If you have high blood pressure, you may need to monitor your blood pressure at home, or use the monitor at Walgreens or Publix.

10. Get a support system

Supportive family and friends can help improve your health. They may encourage you to take care of yourself, drive you to the doctor's office or embark on an exercise program with you to keep your blood pressure low.

Still Tasty

Many of you are probably off work at home shopping for Turkey Day. But then there will be the inevitable questions about shelf life and how long are those Thanksgiving leftovers still good to eat. HERE is a website Still Tasty that lets you know how long food is really good for. As a former food scientist in the food industry, I know for a fact that expiration dates on products are mostly there to protect the company and help with inventory management. The majority of food and products are good for much much longer than the stated expiration dates. Also remember that when you heat up leftovers for the second time to 160F you begin your shelf life over again. However, leftovers should not be reheated more than once unless you are certain they were sanitarily prepared and stored.

$3 Free MP3 downloads from Amazon

Click HERE to get the code MP34FREE for 3 free songs from Amazon.

• Promotional offer valid for a limited time only and subject to change. Promotional offer is valid from November 23, 2009 12:00 AM PST through November 30, 2009 11:59 PM PST. You must redeem the code by November 30, 2009 11:59 PM PST.
• The promotional offer value is $3.00; if you don't use it fully for a song or album, the remaining dollar amount of the code will remain in your account and will be applied to your next MP3 purchase. You may use it to purchase a song or album priced above $3.00, in which case your credit card will be charged for the amount in excess of $3.00.
• Promotional offer can only be used for MP3s sold at Amazon.com.
• Promotional offer limited to one Amazon MP3 promotional code per customer.
• Amazon MP3 music downloads are available to customers located and with billing addresses in the 50 United States or the District of Columbia only. You must have an Amazon.com account and accept the Amazon MP3 Service Terms of Use to redeem the code.
• We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate or modify this promotion.

Access Denied

It is so annoying when bloggers only send partial feeds of 2 sentences, and to continue reading their content you have to click again to go to their site to finish reading. I have all my reading set up through a RSS feed reader so I don't have to go to each site. Problem is the sites are blocked at the office, but the feeds aren't. I know I know. But anyway, I'm unsubscribing to all those annoying partial feeds. Then I leave a comment to let them know why I unsubscribed. There's enough stuff out there to keep me busy, I certainly don't need to be annoyed doing it.