Organized to save money, energy, and time
It’s here . . . today is Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A. Click here to view the details.
This morning each family member found his or her own tee shirt.
Dressed: Eat. Mor. Chikin.
Ready to go.
Arrived at Chick-Fil-A for breakfast.
Enjoyed the playground.
What a great family activity! I’m really appreciating the cows today. 🙂
Photograph Credit: 7-Eleven
Need a cool treat on these hot summer days? How about a free Slurpee to cool you down?
On Monday, July 11, 7-Eleven will be celebrating their birthday by giving away free 7.11 oz. Slurpee drinks.
This event begins at midnight and run all day until 11:59 p.m.
Click here to find a participating location.
If you will be near a participating 7-Eleven on Monday, then stop in to wish them a “happy birthday,” and enjoy a cool treat.
With the price of milk rising (with all the other grocery prices) and my need to purchase a minimum of 2 gallons of milk each week, I have been watching for milk deals. Unfortunately, I have not found any great sales.
My family of 5 drinks whole milk. My 17-month old needs the fat in the milk, and I prefer to purchase one type rather than remember “who gets what milk” first thing in the morning. In our household, we currently get the “red milk” because the cap on whole milk is red. We used to purchase “blue milk” since the cap on the 2% is blue. (Yea, we keep it simple.)
While still searching for sales, I continue to purchase our milk (for drinking) at Aldi for around $2.89 per gallon which is the least expensive price in our area.
Besides drinking milk, our family uses milk for cooking. Here is where I can stretch my grocery budget because I can find sales on fat free milk and other varieties. My current milk of choice for cooking is Smart Balance.
Recently, I purchased Smart Balance: Fat Free Milk and Calcium at Publix. The half gallon containers were on sale 2 for $5. Combining this sale with the $1.50 and $1 off coupons from the June 5, Smart Source insert in the newspaper, I was able to purchase 2 half gallon cartons totaling $2.50. The savings was $.38, but the Smart Balance has a much longer shelf life than the whole milk.
Thus far, my family has not noticed a change in the baked chicken, pork chop sauce, stroganoff, macaroni and cheese, tomato soup, or pudding – where I have replaced the whole milk with the Smart Balance milk. Without coupons and a sale, I would have by-passed the Smart Balance. However, if I can get milk below the $2.89 price, then I will purchase it and use it for cooking.
Have you considered using one milk for drinking and another for cooking? Without the sale, I would not have considered it. Now, I like the idea. The next time I can nab a gallon of milk below my rock bottom price of $2.89, I will not hesitate to try it. Happy savings!
Photograph Credit: Wikipedia
How’s your Google Reader working? Well, I hope. Making one stop at your Google Reader to read all the latest news assists you in using your time wisely. If you have missed parts to this series, you can click on these links to catch up: Part 1 – RSS explained, Part 2 – Google Reader setup, and Part 3 – Adding subscriptions.
Hopefully, you have added your favorite sites and have navigated your way between the posts. Today, I will share my 4 favorite ways to customize Google Reader to maximize my time.
1. Use expanded format. On the top right side of your Google Reader, you can choose to show the posts in an expanded or list format. To read the posts in a list format, you click on each one to open the information. In the expanded format, all the information is listed. You only need to scroll down to read each post.
2. Choose ALL ITEMS to “set as start page.” Instead of seeing the HOME page with excerpts of the posts, I choose to view ALL ITEMS when I open my Google Reader. This setting saves me from clicking on ALL ITEMS on each visit.
Here’s how to set your start page:
- Click on ALL ITEMS.
- Locate the VIEW SETTINGS button in the menu bar at the top of your listed posts. Click to see the drop down menu.
- From the drop down menu, select SET AS START PAGE. Now when you open your Google Reader, you will see all the unread posts.
3. Sort posts newest to oldest. You could also choose oldest to newest or by magic. The BY MAGIC option ranks your unread posts by your interests based on your time at Google Reader. The idea is that Google Reader sorts your posts most interesting to you to least interesting to you. Since I find all the posts interesting (which is why I subscribe), I choose the newest to oldest.
If you want to read all the posts from one web site, then click on the web site’s name on the left sidebar under subscriptions, and all the posts from that site will load on the right side of your reader. (NOTE: The viewable items will be the read and unread items in the order you have chosen to sort.)
4. Star items. As I read through the posts, I star items I want to keep for later. After reading through all my posts, I can then go to the left sidebar, select STARRED ITEMS, and all the starred items will be listed. When you are done with a starred post, you can unstar it.
Star Shortcut: Hit “s” while on the post to star and/or unstar it. When starred, the gray or blue star at the top of the post (by the title) and at the bottom of the post will change to yellow. For other keyboard shortcuts, visit Google Reader’s common questions.
There you have it! These are my tips for customizing Google Reader to help me use my time wisely while staying connected to my favorite web sites. If you have other tips or tricks for using Google Reader, please share in the comments. Next week, I will conclude this series with a couple troubleshooting solutions.
Photograph Credit: Flickr (Tracy Hunter)
When planning an event, the host works to organize, prepare, and execute a great outing. Having coordinated and planned many events, I find systems that work for me and usually try to repeat the successes and adjust the failures.
Though I have general guidelines for baby showers, birthday parties, and dinners with friends, I continue to discover and adjust with each event. I have learned that the best way to have a successful event is by working with the guest of honor.
For a dinner with friends, my friends would be the guests. I would plan a menu around their likes, allergies, and preferences. For a baby shower, the guest would be the mom-to-be. I would want to consult her before planning a Huggies diaper shower because she may opt for cloth diapers.
In preparing for a 4-year-old summer birthday party, I invited my daughter, the guest of honor, to go shopping with me for party supplies. Besides being elated to gather Strawberry Shortcake items, she got one-on-one time with Mommy. By having the guest of honor at the store to choose items for the party favors and decorations, I was able to discern what she likes about Strawberry Shortcake. Now as I plan the format and games for her party, I have a better understanding of what she likes and what games she wants to play.
As you plan your next event, consider your guest of honor. I understand that your style may not be the same or your preferences, but your event will be for your guest of honor. The better you understand your guest of honor and incorporate his or her interests into your event, the better your event will be.
I know it can be difficult, but use your time wisely and do your best. Be willing to step out of your comfort zone as you plan, organize, and execute a great event for your guest of honor. You will be so glad you did!
