homemade facial moisturizer

Here is a great recipe for a homemade facial moisturizer.  You can always substitute for your needs and what you have on hand. 

2 teaspoons of avocado oil (olive oil is an easy substitute here)

2 tablespoons of Aloe Vera

1 teaspoon of water

1/4 teaspoon of lime juice

Start with the Aloe Vera.  I have plants on hand, but you can buy Aloe by the gallon.  Either will work. 

Scrap the aloe vera from the plant into a bowl.  I have already added the avocado oil and lime juice. 

Add to a double boiler.  This helps get rid of the globs of aloe.  You can strain it if you prefer.  This is much easier I think.  Add water at this point, and don't heat for long or you will cook it all off.  You just need to heat it long enough so that all clumps are gone.

That's it.  Ta da!  Pour into a glass jar.  

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Deals for the family

Save up to 50% at Mixbook

Head to Mixbook today and get a FREE 20-page hardcover book for signing up!  S&H comes to 7.99.

This is a great way to keep and cherish those Holiday memories, rather than storing them on the computer or in a box somewhere!  

Right now at Land of Nod they are holding a HUGE sale!  Up to 60% off!  You can grab items like these hand tattoo puppets on sale for 5.95!  My son got these for Christmas, and they are so cute!

There are a ton of crib sets and bedding on sale as well.  Don't miss it!

 Today on DiscountMags, grab Yoga Journal Magazinefor $3.68/year. Enter coupon codeFRUGALCOUPON to get this price.  You can get up to 3 years at this price today. For comparison, this magazine is $13.95 on Amazon.

Hurry to get it before the deal is gone.

Yoga Journal has been a valuable resource for information about physical and spiritual well-being through the practice of yoga. Yoga Journal is your guide to better health, nutrition, personal growth, fitness and inner peace. You ll learn revitalizing yoga techniques taught by the masters.

Thank you Frugal Coupon Living!

Gift and Get

You give the gift of a Plum District voucher and we'll give you $5 Plum Dollars!

All week — Monday 11/14/11 through 11/18/11 — Plum District will give you $5 Plum Dollars for every deal you buy as a gift. Shopping and saving is just a click away!

$60 for $120 worth of cute, plush kids rockers from rockabye.com.

There are tons of great deals on Plum district.  The rockers, jewelry, personalized kids books, Omaha steaks. . .make sure to check them out!

Today only on Juice in the City- Charlotte, you can score  $32 Ticket to Charlotte Symphony's Cirque de la Symphonie!    This is a $64 value.  Purchase limit is four.  

all things free. . .

Head to Staples (online or in-store) for 20 FREE holiday cards.  You can choose from photo or non-photo cards.  I never pay more than $5 (usually for shipping) for my holiday cards.  Even if they are all different, it is too easy to score some FREE photo cards.


Free drain de-clogger.  Now, I typically hate harsh chemicals in the house.  We try boiling water, or baking soda and vinegar first when we are unclogging a drain.  But sometimes, you have to have some extra help.  Head here for a FREE 32 oz. bottle of Marietta Drain Declogger.

FREE cotton panty from Victoria's Secret.  Create a Litte Sexy Rewards account to score a FREE cotton panty.  This may not be available in all areas.  Put in zip code to find out.

FREE curly fries at Arby's today.  Fries are one of my weakness's.  I am however determined to lose this weight- and now have the schedule to stay focused.  So please ladies, someone enjoy some fries for me!  No purchase is necessary!

FREE photo with Santa at Bass Pro shops!  

There are always tons of FREE mp3 downloads available on Amazon.  Check to see if there are FREE kindle downloads while you are there!

Photobooks

I love scrapbooking, but sometimes with a busy schedule, I find making a professional looking is the next best thing.  I have made photobooks for vacations, the birth of my son, Christmas gifts for friends and family far away, etc.  Plus, it cuts down on the storage of all those spare photos laying around. 

Today's Nationwide Juice in The City Deal is $15 for a hardcover custom photobook for PhotoBin.  You can choose between a window on the cover to serve as a nice reminder of what's inside, or choose your favorite photo to sweep the cover of your 8.75 x 11 photobook. Each customizable book comes with 20 pages and you can add more if you wish for only $1 each. How cool will it be to have a professionally-bound custom hardcover photobook of your family sitting on your coffee table? What better gift to give grandparents?

This deal ends today.  Click here to check it out!

For the love of books

Way before our son even entered the world he had bookshelves (yes plural) full of books.  I have always loved to read, and as an environmental educator I can't pass down a good children's book with a great environmental or social message.  Who doesn't love Eric Carle's "The Very Busy Spider" or Rhinehart's "Eliza and the Dragonfly"?  So when I saw this online deal with Slimy Bookworm, I of course got excited!  The Animal Boogie Gift Set looks like a great Christmas gift for my little man, especially at a total cost $15.99!  Plus, with any order over $25 you get free shipping.  Can't beat that!

Of course as a mom on a budget, I realize there are other great ways to keep my kiddo loving books the same way I do.  So for FREE we love heading to the library, or heading to toddler story-time at our local Barnes and Noble.  We also are privileged to be in an area that is affiliated with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library.   For Free we have books sent to our house thanks to this great program!

Every night we read to G, and we feel that this has made our bedtime routine very successful.  He really enjoys that time with us, and we feel the same way!  I love that he is starting to show interest in his favorites and that he loves to grab a book and come sit in our laps for us to read to him.  No doubt this will help his verbal skills and it is great bonding time!

Click here if you are interested in the online deal with Slimy Bookworm- $10 for $20 worth of books (remember free shipping on orders of $25 or more).  You can purchase one for you and one as a gift.

Fresh Pumpkin

Fall is my favorite time of year, for a million reasons.  Leaves changing, cooler temperatures, apple festivals, and pumpkins!  I love pumpkin bread, pie, muffins, you name it.  So when my best friend invited us to grab some pumpkins out of her field we jumped at the chance.  Of course one will become a jack-o-lantern for Halloween, but all the others are quickly turning into pumpkin puree.  From one large pumpkin you can get about 5-6 cups of puree. For most bread or muffin recipes you will use 1-2 cups of puree.  This means lots of yummy pumpkin recipes! Fresh pumpkin is of course much healthier and tastier than canned pumpkin.  Not to mention much more sustainable to the local economy and environment.  There are several great pick your own farms in western NC or you can visit your local farmers market.

Conover Farmer's Market

Hickory Farmer's Market

Morganton Farmer's Market

Charlotte Regional Farmer's Market

Oh, and I would have grabbed a picture of the yummy muffins we made, but this morning I went to grab some to pack for my lunch (along with the veggie chili made last night). . .and all I found was an empty bowl!  Thank goodness we have lots of pumpkin puree to make more!

So tell me what is your favorite pumpkin recipe?

Newbie

Why not me?  I follow several coupon clipping sites: Smart Couponing, The Krazy Coupon Lady, Frugal Coupon Living.  I follow crafty, crunchy, money saving sites: WNC On The Cheap, SortaCrunchy , Crunchy Betty.  I would do anything to pinch a penny here, so I can spend a penny or extra time with my family, and I've been gracious enough to learn a few tricks of the family trade along the way.  So why not me???
::Deep Breath:: So I am going public!  Here is my blog. . .my very own blog. . .about saving some money so that you can do all those cool things with your kiddos that you have been wanting to do.  I have some pretty crafty friends that I am sure will join me along the way (groovy as my best friend says), so keep an eye out for them, and well enjoy the ride!  Thanks for stopping in. . .make sure to add me to your news feed and drop me a line anytime!

So for my first Trick of the Family Trade:

50% off admission to Aw Shucks® Farm in Monroe, NC.  As a kid growing up in Florida, we had a farm similar that we went to once the calendar marked Autumn (otherwise how would you know in Florida).  We had so much fun, so I was excited to see that there is something similar around here!  My boy would love this!  To find out more about the deal you can click the link- but it's $4 for admission vs. the normal $8. 

http://www.juiceinthecity.com/markets/south-charlotte/deals/50-off-admission-at-aw-shucks-farms

On the to do list. . .

- Logo
- FB page
- Spreading the word :)