Categories
Frugal Reviews

Email Service with the Best Service

emails

Do you need an email marketing service? If you have any type of business, having an email service is important. Social media is wonderful and brings in lots of traffic, but social media changes can leave you without access to your customers. Your email list is yours to keep. Because I’ve been a blogger since 2013, I’ve tried a few different email services. Now, I’m using Constant Contact and I love it! I’ve never experienced the level of customer service that Constant Contact has provided me. As soon as I signed up for my account, I found how easy it was to set up my account and start sending emails. Then, it got even better. I actually got a phone call from them and they were more than helpful. I was given wonderful advice about my email needs and a promise to call back soon. Then, Constant Contact created an email template for me and called me again. They made more great recommendations and answered all my questions. Now, I also get newsletters with wonderful tips and seasonal advice. I’m welcome to call them at any time with questions or needs. I’m completely sold on their email service. They are making huge strides technically and have big plans for more and more business-helps. One of the fun things they’ve added is a connection with Facebook and Instagram. They help you to design ads at Constant Contact and follow the results. I’m excited for each new solution to my blogging problems. From now until December 6th, you can sign up with Constant Contact and get the first 3 months 50% off! What a great deal. It’s the perfect time to try out this wonderful service. CHECK OUT THIS SAVINGS DEAL HERE When you sign with Constant Contact, you’ll receive the personal touch and help that you need to get more customers. All the webinars, custom templates, phone calls, and ever-improving service keeps me a happy customer of Constant Contact. I hope you’ll try out their super service to help build your business, too! @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Categories
Moms Organization Recipe

3 Alternatives To Dining Out

3 Alternatives

One of the first things we did when we began our frugal lifestyle was to severely limit our time dining out. We love dining out for many reasons: don’t have to cook or clean up, we’re tired, or we want to celebrate. But, to save money, we looked for alternatives to dining out. After a hard day of work, my husband was the one who always wanted to eat out. He enjoyed the specialness of going out and having a good time of conversation and a great meal. When we started adding up this huge budget-buster we found how large the bill was. We knew it was a definite problem and was destroying out budget. To find alternatives to dining out, I read many articles that gave great advice. It wasn’t always easy, but the tips were all based on planning. The little bit of time spent planning meals and emergency meals was well worth it and our budget showed the proof. Meal Planning Meal planning sounds so tedious, but it works. Working through your freezer and pantry, plan meals around what you have. Then keep a running list of what you need to complete the meals. Make sure to include breakfast, lunches, and snacks. When you have plenty of available food, there won’t be as much temptation to go through the drive-through. Pick up snacks that will keep well for a while. When our children were home, I liked to keep the small packs of peanut-butter crackers in our car. We were always running around to sports practice, games, and ballet. Having snacks and bottles of water stored in the car was a real budget hack! Many times, eating out happens because it’s a special occasion. I feel like that is sometimes unavoidable. Nevertheless, when I planned ahead and prepared a special meal at home, we were all happy and satisfied. Cooking the favorite meal of the birthday-child was just as much fun as going out and spending too much money. Replicate your favorite dishes If you’re serious about having a particular dish from your favorite restaurant you should check out recipes that are copies of famous restaurant fare. CopyKat is a fun website that has lots of recipes that are good copies of some of the most delicious dishes out there. Tablespoon has some delicious copy-cat recipes, as well as tons of quick and easy recipes. One of my favorite things to utilize is the crock pot or instant pot. I’ve always used crock pots to create hearty meals with almost no work. The Instant Pot is a new kitchen tool for me and it’s super to help you create good, hearty meals very fast! Emergency Meals The most important alternative for my family is having emergency meals. These are the regular options that I keep on hand for those nights…..you know what I mean. Whether there has been a late practice or you have a headache, emergency meals are needed. It really helps to keep 2 or 3 meal options handy. Pick things that you know your family likes and that are fast. We like to keep a frozen pizza in the freezer. Another easy option for us is to keep plenty of spaghetti and jars of pasta sauce. Many times when my children were younger we had this and I made some quick drop cheese biscuits to make the meal special. Emergency meals don’t have to be as balanced or healthy as your regular planned meals. Pizza at home is still not as bad as getting bags of cheeseburgers and fries. Plus, you’ll save lots of money by eating at home. When you plan your meals, it’s a great idea to plan one fun meal every week. This will help you to not feel deprived because you’re not dining out. Grab a few carnations for the dining-room table or light some candles and eat by candlelight. Have a themed night: Italian, Mexican, or French cuisine might be a wonderful way to try a new recipe. Think about the things that make you enjoy a meal out and try to replicate that at home…..just do it cheaper. Use what you have and make mealtimes special for you and your family. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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Reviews

Stay Safer With Scrape-A-Round

scrape-a-round gift

If you’re tired of scraping your windows the old fashioned way, then join the Scrape-A-Round movement. You will secure your family’s safety, access new gift ideas and scrape your windows cleaner in half the time. View Scrape-A-Round action Just in time for the holidays we have a promotional offering: (6) pack friends and family package. Best value and FREE shipping coupon. A $43 value for just $27! Scarpe-A-Round is the perfect holiday gift idea for stocking stuffers, neighbor gifts, work gifts, and family gifts. Simply turn the Scrape-A-Round up side down, fill with selected items, wrap it up and have a unique gift as varied as your imagination. Visit www.scrapearound.com and use code: BSAFE to get FREE Shipping on your order. -How about giving the gift of automotive safety? Keep windshields and windows clear and your view unobstructed.– Scrape-A-Round is the perfect holiday gift idea for stocking stuffers, neighbor gifts, work gifts, and family gifts. Simply turn the Scrape-A- Round up side down, fill with a selected items, wrap it up and have a unique gift as varied as your imagination. Free Shipping on World’s Best Ice Scraper! – Check out this Holiday promotional offering: 6-pack Friends and family package. A $43 value for just $27! Visit www.scrapearound.com and use code: BSAFE

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Organization

Planning Your Christmas Memories

Christmas Planner

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links. It’s only 9 days until Thanksgiving and 36 days until Christmas! If you’re like me, the years seem to fly by faster each year. It seems like we just finished packing up the tree decorations last week. Although time moves on too fast for us, the joy of the holidays is once again in sight. If you want to be ready, you’ll need to be successful at planning your Christmas memories. We all have a picture in our minds of what we remember the holidays to be from our past. This can put pressure and stress on us that we don’t deserve or need. Picture-perfect Christmas memories aren’t exactly real, but the warmth and feelings of those times can be real today. We can take enjoyment in creating experiences for our families and friends that are warm and joyful. With the ever-present commercialization of Christmas, we can be made to feel guilty if we don’t buy all the bling. It may take a conscious effort, but it’s worth it to say no to that guilt. The thing I remind myself to focus on is that Christmas is the birthday celebration of Jesus Christ. After getting my priorities straight in my head, I like to also write them down. Just as we take the time to write down our goals and plans, we should do the same during the holiday season. If we don’t, there will be something that is important that gets left out of our schedule. My Christmas Shopping Planner is a set of organizational sheets that can help you get organized for the season. You can print out shopping pages, but there are also calendars, card lists, and to-do lists. I hope you can find these pages helpful in your quest to plan the holidays and enjoy them. When you plan the important events on your calendar make sure to leave times of Margin If you’re worn down, stressed, and miserable there will be no way that you can focus on your family and the birthday celebration. You don’t have to do everything during the holidays. Get help from others and just say no. Pick out the holiday events that are your top-priority and do them. And, really enjoy them. Eat the special foods, decorate the tree, and hug your loved ones. Plan to make those blessed memories. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

Categories
Home Moms Organization

Preparing To Give Thanks

Give Thanks

Are you counting down the days to Thanksgiving, knowing that you will have a house filled with guests? If you are already a very organized person, this thought won’t make you nervous. But, if you’re like the rest of us, your heart may start racing with anxiety. The good news is that there is still plenty of time to get your home ready for a perfectly wonderful day of giving thanks. Remember, when there is something to celebrate, it’s all about the people that you are with. It’s not necessary to impress everyone. Getting organized is what is needed in order to be ready, less-stressed, and really enjoy the holiday. It won’t feel like Thanksgiving if you’re just barely surviving. You want to make memories that are peaceful and fun. Here are some great tips to help you get organized and ready to give thanks: Plan Make a Master List of all the things you want to accomplish before the big day. Then, break it down into what needs to be done each week before Thanksgiving. The weekly list can now easily be broken down into daily tasks. Meals should also be planned. Your everyday meals still need to be cooked, so use a Meal Planner to stay organized and have everything you need to cook. Declutter Do you wonder how you’ll be able to let guests use your bathrooms? Are they a mess? It’s great to throw out any empty containers or slivers of soap. Kid’s toy shelves and closets need a good weeding. This is a perfect time to let children give away a few toys that they don’t use. De-clutter the kitchen pantry and refrigerator. Child-proof your home, if there are little ones coming to visit. Organize Now that you’ve de-cluttered, you may still have a mess. Do you need places to store things that you’re keeping? This is a good time to buy some baskets or containers to artfully store things. The kitchen pantry could use a good tidying up. Put like things together. This prevents you from buying too much food that you already have. After you get the pantry organized you’ll have more room for holiday recipe ingredients. Organize bathroom and linen closets. Make sure that there are plenty of towels handy and lots of extra toilet paper. That’s not something you want to run out of with extra people in the house. Organize the coat closet so that you have room for your guests coats. Around the holidays, there are lots of extra activities for your children. Do you have a type of “command center” in your home? Have a place to file all the papers that come into your home. Set up a calendar and place to coordinate everyone’s schedule. Don’t let events slip up on you because you weren’t organized. Keep a list-maker handy and write down things as you think of them. Make sure you keep plenty of batteries. The tv remote always dies when you least expect it. Cleaning Clean out the refrigerator to make room for all the holiday dishes. Clean each room from top to bottom, dusting first. Vacuum, mop, and scrub anything that needs it. When your home is really clean it makes more of a difference than spending money on new things. And, of course, this isn’t a good time to start any major home improvements or renovations. Delegate! Have your children work with a chore chart to help you with some of the cleaning. A good way to clean is to set the buzzer for 15 minutes and clean like crazy. Then, just do this daily until everything’s ready. Shop Plan the Big Meal and create your grocery list. The week of Thanksgiving is a great time to buy some foods on your list. Most stores offer big discounts. Purchase any decorating items or a centerpiece at the last minute. Cook Cook some dishes ahead of time, especially casseroles Make a cooking schedule, so you’ll put things in the oven in the right order. I write down the time we plan to eat and then work backwards, cooking dishes in a certain order based on the cooking temperature. In this way, we always eat on time. Get helpers. Your guests will usually volunteer to help chop, mash, and stir. Say yes to the offer and smile. Enjoy and Give Thanks! It’s such a blessing to have family or friends to celebrate a day like Thanksgiving. Give praise to God for all the good things in your life. @2019, copyright Lisa Ehrman

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