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July 21, 2014

July 2014 Orange Glad Review!

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Hello again, savvy savers! Here is the un-boxing of the July 2014 Orange Glad Subscription Box! Orange Glad is an excellent gourmet dessert subscription box featuring items from independent bakeries from all across the country. They gather all the desserts and ship them right to you to enjoy! All the treats I have ever received have been perfectly packaged, which is remarkable, because they are all fragile and perishable. You can purchase more sweets in the Orange Glad shop, too!

The Subscription: Orange Glad
The Price: $15 per month (down to $13 on a 6 month plan) + $6.95 shipping. Double your treats for $12 on any subscription!The Coupon: Save 10% with code YUMMY10.

 

July 2014 Review

 

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Every information card has either the ingredients for each item or refers you to the individual packaging.

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The information card also indicates how quickly you should eat each item. This was helpful! We received this box while we were on vacation so we made sure to eat all the eat right away things right away!

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The Orange Glad Sweet Box was nestled inside the larger box, this month was totally adorable. I died. I hope they continue the wrapping, I just loved it. Each month the packaging gets nicer and nicer, and I really enjoy it!

The Goodies

Chocolate Maven Hazelnut Cheesecake Brownie – I had an edge piece, so it wasn’t that great. My husband’s half wasn’t the edge piece and his was much better. They shouldn’t pack edge pieces.

Orange Glad Ice-Dream Sandwich – Orange Glad’s first house creation (sugar cookies & frosting). It wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be. I had hoped for mind blowing lemon flavor and it was more like cookies.

Gianna’s Homemade Baked Goods Freedom Star Sugar Cookies – I admit, I saved these adorable cookies for my kids!

Seattle’s Favorite Gourmet Cookies and Dessert Co. Cranberry Muffin Top – My husband’s eyes fell out of his head at this one (it’s really big). And it was delicious! Totally scrumptious and soft!

Lily’s Bakery Shop Chocolate Babka – This was definitely my favorite item!

So my verdict:

Visit Orange Glad to subscribe or find out more about the Sweet Box! It’s $15 per month (you can save a buck or two on each box with a longer subscription) plus $6.95 shipping. You can also check out more Sweets & Treats boxes in the subscription box directory.

Enjoy!

Weekly Menu: Feeding A Family of Four, For Only $23.87!

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Good morning, savvy savers! This weeks menu consists of Cupboard Clearing ideas, so stepping out to the market is not necessary! I will be spending a lot of the week DIY’ing for in preparation for a visit from the MIL and SIL next weekend, and so cooking needs to be at a minimum! Without further ado, here is my weekly menu, for which was derived from couponing deals, freebies, and cupboard cooking; I will be feeding a family of four this week for only $23.87!

This week we will be having:

Monday
Breakfast: Mini meatless mushroom frittatas, Fruit cups, and Juice.
Lunch: Turkey and Cheese roll-ups, with Humus dip, sweet potato chips, and Crystal Light.
Snack: Almonds, Grapes, and String Cheese.
Dinner: Crockpot Cola Chicken, Green Beans, Baked Potatoes, with Corn Muffins, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Key Lime Cookies.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal of Choice, Milk, and Apple Slices
Lunch: Freezer Cooking Chilli, crackers, carrot sticks, and Crystal Light.
Snack: Trail mix.
Dinner: Taco Tuesdays!
Dessert: Brownie Ice Cream Sundaes Sandwiches.

Wednesday
Breakfast: Yogurt with granola, and juice.
Lunch: Taco Salads, with juice.
Snack: Grapes and apple slices.
Dinner: Grilled Hamburgers, steamed corn, and crystal light.
Dessert: Homemade flurries, with leftover brownies.

Thursday
Breakfast: Cereal of choice, with fruit cup, and milk.
Lunch: Tossed Salad with Turkey, Crystal Light, and homemade banana chips.
Snack: Hummus and crackers, with grapes.
Dinner: Baked Spaghetti, and tossed salad, with milk.
Dessert: Butterfly Cake.

Friday
Breakfast: Smoothies.
Lunch: Tossed salad, with walnuts, grapes, blueberries, and  homemade Greek dressing.
Snack: Granola and fruit cup.
Dinner: Kosher Dogs, With Slaw and Chili, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Coca-Cola slushies.

Saturday
Breakfast: Pancakes, with sausage, and milk.
Lunch: Grilled Chicken sandwiches, with Sweet Potato chips, and Crystal Light.
Snacks: String Cheese and grapes.
Dinner: Grilled Bratwurst, with steamed corn on side, pasta salad, and Crystal Light.
Dessert: Cupboard Clearing Cake

Sunday
Breakfast: French Toast, with Milk, and Honey.
Lunch: Grilled Salmon Fillets , baked mini macaroni and cheese cups, steamed Broccoli, with Crystal Light.
Snack: Grapes and walnuts.
Dinner: Crockpot Pot Roast, Twice Baked Sweet Potato Souffle, and crystal light.
Dessert: Hot fudge sundaes, with splenda fudge topping!

Enjoy the ideas!

Saving On The Go With A Cup Of Joe: How I Am Saving $1,344 by Cutting Cable!

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Hello again, savvy savers! For this weeks Saving to go, With A Cup of Joe Series, I want to discuss one of the biggest topics floating around my home as of late, and that is that I cut my cable and home phone services last month, for good! You may wonder why the sudden decision? Well, here is the long and short of the decision:

  • I called Comcast Customer Service two weeks ago, to scale back my service package, as my family and I did not watch most of the channels, and it had been months since I used the home phone service.
  • Customer Service was very uncooperative.
  • I was placed on hold for 76 minutes.
  • The representative returned to the phone and said that they were not going to let me lower my plan, and they were doing me a favor in doing so.
  • In that moment, I spoke up and said, CUT IT OFF!

So, within hours I had pulled cords, taken off adapters, removed boxes, and had returned all of the companies apparatuses pertaining to the home phone and cable to the local Comcast office. On the way home from this errand, it dawned on me… I needed to tell my husband when he got home, and how would I do that? How shall I tell him that the Saints and the Whodat Nation will no longer be on television? Simple, we would be saving money, and lot of it!

So, in the four hours until my husband came home, here’s the plan I came up with:

  • By cutting cable and home phone service, I would save $1344.00 annually.
  • I would be able to watch as many of the shows my family enjoyed, mnus sports channels using Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon Prime; I am already a member of all three.
  • I would be able to put the money I would spent on cable to pay for season tickets to my husbands Alma Mater, the University of Southern Mississippi.
  • I would no longer pay for channels we didn’t watch.

The plan sounded rock solid! My husband took it rather well, and after a month of cutting my services here are some other insights I can share with how anyone can make this switch as well:

1. Investigate internet service providers:

When I made the rash decision to drop my cable bundled deal, I did not take into consideration that my internet plan would now cost me more per month; my monthly internet plan went from $45.00 per month to $58.00 a month. As I work from home, the internet, unlike a home phone, is a necessity (we have cell service for our main phone services), and though I am looking at other options, currently Comcast is my only service provider in my area, and so I am okay with the charge. If you live in an area with several providers, please call your current company’s customer retention department and try to make a deal!

2. Choose a video streaming service:

We were already members of Netflix, Hulu Plus, and Amazon Prime. We chose to retain all services, especially Amazon Prime because along with video streaming, free two-day shipping, and the Kindle Lending Library were also included in the $79 yearly fee; we pay for our Amazon Prime membership out of our annual tax returns, and so it doesn’t come out of the monthly pot, per se. As for my Netflix and Hulu Plus services, I use Ibotta, Checkout51, and Shopmium (using code GMYMMYPT) to pay for these services, and so there are no additional costs out-of-pocket for our family, as well.

3. Meet My New Friend, Roku:

Roku is a small, plug-and-play device which allows users to stream videos via your subscription service straight to your TV; the service also includes additional free programing as well. We purchased our unit through Amazon, using curvey earned cards, for only $48.00, refurbished! This service is really awesome! The unit I purchased is here!  Our Roku is used on our livingroom television, as we moved our PS4 to our den, as the gaming system already came prepared with downloadable streaming apps; for those without gaming systems, Roku is the way to go!

4. Get a Leaf for local/sports channels:

I have also been able to purchase the Mohu Leaf,  a flat antenna mounted to our TV in our den, which picks up local stations in HD; this feature gave my husband sports channels, which is a plus! I used money from surveys to purchase a unit for $42.00!

5. Re-Think How You Watch TV:

Consider this, by cutting cable you may be cutting your package and the way you watch programming, but that just means you need to think outside the box. My family watches the same shows as before, just a day, perhaps two days later, for upper channels, and using the Leaf, the same as before. Also, I have began to explore programming online that I had not seen before, such as the Youtube Wigs series, watching shows using network apps such as Lifetime, MTV, Bravo, and the like! I now watch what I want to watch, as opposed to simple channel surfing! Its a win-win!

So, this past month I was able to save $112.00 a month, nearly half of my grocery budget! Was the process simple, no. Was the way we now watch tv easy, yes! Do I recommend this switch, absolutely! So, that’s just a new way I now save money at home!

Here’s to saving!