Tuesday's Tid-bit

Easter basket bucks...

Easter is fast approaching and that usually means family gatherings for Sunday services, Easter egg hunts and ham dinners. As you start to plan I hope this blog will give you some easy savings and fun ideas.

Most of my Easters involved getting up early to see what the Easter bunny left for me. Putting together baskets is something I have always loved doing and quite often its a lot less expensive than getting one that is pre-made. I love to go to Walgreen's for children's Easter basket items. There are printable coupons this week for 2 bags of Nestle Nest Eggs, Lifesavers Jellybeans and Betty Crocker Fruit treats. Walgreen's also has a sale on DeMet's original Turtles - 2 for $6.00 and Reese's king size peanut butter cups - 3 for $3.00. Target has great sale prices right now on Webkinz plush toys for younger kids, and initial pillows by Fashion Angels Luv for older kids as well as other stuffed toys for your basket.

If you are creating a basket for an adult (because Easter baskets aren't just for kids), then you can include things like a coffee and tea, wine and chocolate, or camping and fishing supplies. For the coffee and tea basket you can find coffee at several on line retailers, The Coffee Beanery is offering 15% off your order with coupon code CB15COUPONS until 3/13, Honey Bean Coffee is offering $4.00 of any order over $41.00 with coupon code 4if41 until 1/1/11 and Precious Provisions is offering 10% off any order over $60.00 with coupon code MCCOFFEE10 but this one is only good until 3/28 so you need to act quickly. Rogers Gourmet Coffee and Tea Market is a great place for both coffee and teas, they are offering 10% off your purchase with coupon code MCGC10, good until 4/15, and they have free shipping for orders over $50.00. Tea Rocket offers almost every brand of tea and using coupon code 1STTEA10 you can save 10% off your order of $25 or more of Stash Tea.

For the wine and chocolate basket there is a coupon for Wine.com that is good for $15.00 off your online order of $250 or more the code is MARCH15, or 5% off your gift basket order using coupon code MARCH5. Shari's Berries is having a sale on their 6 chocolate covered Easter strawberries with either a plush Easter bunny, Chocolate Easter bunny or an Easter apple for $34.98, regular price of $44.98 and using the link at Retail Me Not you can save an additional 15% at their site. Godiva has a couple of coupon available right now, code HOP is good for free shipping on orders over $50.00 and code SPRING2 is good when you buy 4 select treats you will get a free chocolate bunny, you have to look for the flower icon to find the items that qualify for the deal. See's Candy has two coupons also, use code A1020016 to receive $2.00 off your $20.00 purchase or code A1023333 for $4.00 off your purchase of $40.00 or more, they also have a free upgrade on their shipping until 3/31.

To put together the outdoor camping and fishing basket look for smaller items like tent stakes, lures, water purifiers, dried camp food and shorelunch. Gander Mountain has a great camping checklist that you can print out to give you ideas or tuck into your basket. Gander Mountain coupon code GME0318 is good for $15 off of $50, $30 off of $100, $45 off of $150, etc., they also offer free standard shipping. Bass Pro also has a coupon code for $20 off of a $100 order, code SAVE20A.

This weeks picture is from Southern Livings article on living Easter baskets, a wonderful gift for anyone that is into gardening or if your just trying to be green. Its a wonderful article with another way to be creative.

Hope this gives you some fun ideas to for a wonderful non stress holiday. Have a great weekend everyone.

C.Q.

Tuesday's tid-bit

Spring adjustments...

Well this weekend marks the official beginning of Spring. With that comes daylight savings time, which for some people like my friend Jane, can be very hard to adjust to. This is the time of year to set your clocks ahead and check the batteries in your smoke detectors. Duracell currently has some deals going on their bundles of batteries, and First Alert is one of the top suppliers of all kinds of safety alarms if you need to replace any in your home. Even though there are no coupons for their smoke detectors at this time it's important to replace these right away instead of waiting, your safety is too important.

So the batteries in the Smoke detector are replaced now its time to look at ways to recharge your internal batteries and get some of your energy back. Getting a good nights sleep is important and now days you no longer need to wake up to the sound of that annoying buzzing and beeping. Now you can wake up to a progression of light that gets brighter for around $179, a clock that releases aromatic scents for around $70 or shake and wake for about $31, all these clocks can be found at Amazon who offers free shipping on any order over $25.00. None of these ideas innovative enough for you? Check out some of the fun clocks at Trendhunter.

Do you need a good cup of coffee to get you going in the morning? You can find a $1 coupon for Folgers and Caribou coffee or .50 cents off Tetley tea and $1 off Good Earth Tea at Coupons.com. There is also two coupons for Coffee-Mate, BOGO or .75 cents off.

This blog post is a little shorter than usual because we have a very busy weekend, next week will be some ideas for Spring fling parties.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

C.Q.

Tuesday's tid-bit...

Wearin' and savin' O' the Green

Beannachtam na feile padraig! or Happy St. Patrick's day! Being part Irish myself St. Patrick's day means a lot to me, I remember the stories of Irish history my dad used to tell me, people living through a famine on nothing but potatoes and some of them immigrating to the U.S. where they were considered less than second class citizens but still managed to work their way up. Maybe its that fierce tenacity that has helped me through the years when things have been difficult. Whether your Irish or not, St. Patrick's day give us all a reason to celebrate. Test your knowledge on Irish trivia and see how well you know the Emerald Isle and its history.

In honor of the day, Jelly Belly is offering a 10% discount on all their green products if you use the coupon code GREEN and Sees Candy has several St. Patrick's gifts under $10.00, although its over the $10 mark, the Irish potato candies are one of the most clever things I have ever seen!

Making a traditional Irish dinner to celebrate? Since St. Patrick's falls in the middle of the week this year and a lot of folks have to work, here is a recipe for the slow cooker version of Corned beef and cabbage. Irish stew is also a traditional favorite, whichever you decide on don't forget the Irish soda bread to mop up your gravy. If your feeling gourmet then give this recipe for Baileys Irish Cream mousse pie, or if you want something a little easier there are the pale green St. Patrick's day cupcakes or the yummy Guinness and Bailey's Irish cupcakes. What ever you decide to make remember to check for coupons at Red Plumb, Smart Source, Coupons.com and Cool Savings.

If your looking for a St. Patrick's Day gift Teleflora has green floral bouquets and is offering $10 off your order through 12/31/2010 using coupon code PSGG10D. The symbols of the Emerald Isle are the Claddagh, shamrock, Celtic knot and harp, all of these can be found in the jewelry section of Irishop.com. They are currently offering a free dolphin trinity knot pendant with any order over $90.00, just click on the banner at the top of the page to add it to your cart.

Looking to decorate your computer a little? You can find free Irish screen savers and wallpaper at A Bit of Blarney. They also have free e-cards to send to the Irish folks on your list. You can find more free e-cards at 123Greetings.

"May you have warm words on a cold evening, a full moon on a dark night, and a smooth road all the way to your door."

Have a great weekend!

C.Q.

Brown bag a buck or two...

These days it seems like everyone is trying to save money at lunchtime by going to the fast food places. While it may save you a dime or two, it will cost you plenty in the long run if it becomes a habit. We all know its less expensive to bring your own lunch to work, but it gets boring pretty quick as you run out of ideas for lunch meat and peanut butter. Today I thought I would give you some ideas for mixing things up and trying something new as well as some coupons to make your lunch money go further.

First up, how about some fun ideas for sandwiches? Ever think of a waffle as bread? The Kraft food kitchens has a really nice idea for a Waffle apple-wich using waffles, Smoked ham, cheese, apple and syrup. If you want to make this for work, don't slice the apple until your going to eat so it stays fresh. To really mix up your lunch try sharing sandwiches with your whole family. If its you and your spouse make different sandwiches for each of you then take 1/2 of yours and 1/2 of theirs, if you have kids share with them too by cutting the sandwiches into smaller portions, quarters or even eighths, its a great way to have different flavors at meal time. A Back Forest beef sandwich is good for leftover flank steak and a way to give it a whole new taste, everyone in the office will want one!

Want to have a refined lunch break or a picnic when the weather gets better? Try making some tea sandwiches. These are typically sandwiches that are made with thinner sliced bread with no crust and cut into wedges. My all time favorite is cucumber and cream cheese (which I now make as a regular sandwich during the summer with cucumbers from my garden). Whats Cooking America has a great selection of tea sandwiches as well as other tea time goodies that can be made ahead of time and assembled into a lunch that would make the Queen jealous. You can make tea at home for your Thermos and either have it hot or cold with your lunch.

Having a Monday from you know where? Maybe a lunch brake to somewhere exotic is the ticket to a renewed look on the day. Make ahead Dolmas can give you a taste of the Greek Isles, chilled Gazpacho soup can take you away to Spain for a bit, for a French inspired lunch try a cheese board of all the classics on French bread, for a bit of the Tropics theres avocado and pineapple salad, or for a bit Japanese culture try your hand at making a California Roll to bring to work.

Wednesday getting you giddy and looking forward to the end of the week? Try a fun whimsical lunch to keep your floating through the day. How about a cheese and soft pretzel sandwich? A cherry chicken sandwich on a croissant will definatly keep you smiling for the rest of the day, and who didn't like peanut butter growing up? Whether you like creamy or extra crunchy there are a million ways you can still enjoy it as an adult, my personal favorite is PB, bacon and lettuce, you can find a ton of ideas at cdkitchen.

To stretch your grocery dollar be sure to check for coupons at CoolSavings, Red Plum, SmartSource and Coupons.com before you shop.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far!

C.Q.