Beauty Tip

Exfoliating your skin is very important. You need to rid your skin of all the dirt and other junk we are exposed to everyday from the environment.

Right now these exfoliation wands are very popular, and can be pretty pricey. My trick that I use will give you the same results. Get the cheapest wash clothes at Walmart (they are rougher and only $4.00 for a pack of 18)  use them with your favorite face wash. I like to use it in the shower so the steam will help open your pores and you will be able to get all the dirt and oils out of your pores in a fast and effective way. When you are all done your face will feel so smooth and soft. The best thing is you don't have to break the bank to have nice skin. :)

Best Ham Fried Rice EVER!

Today I would like to share with you my families FAVORITE Ham Fried Rice recipe. I guess I can't say it is the BEST EVER because I haven't tried all of them out there but, this is my families favorite. We like it better than any take out we have had. Here is what you need to make it:

* 3 cups of cooked white rice (I cook mine in my rice cooker)

* 3 TBS of Sesame Oil

* 1/4 cups of Soy Sauce

* Frozen Peas and Carrots

* 2 eggs scrambled

* 1 small onion sautéed

* 2 tsp of minced garlic

* Diced ham (I get mine at the store already chopped by the lunch meats)

 

I like to add everything in this order: Sauté Onions and Garlic in a skillet, than add eggs, frozen peas and carrots, last add the diced ham and mix all together until the veggies are tender. In another skillet have all the cooked rice and mix in the Sesame Oil and Soy Sauce and add all the other ingredients together with the rice. You now have made MY families favorite Ham Fried Rice. I will also be posting our favorite Avocado Egg Rolls soon that go perfect with this dish. ENJOY!

 

Get Inspired to start couponing

To be a couponer it really isn't that hard, or time consuming if you know what you are doing and you have a plan before you go into the store. There are so many coupon websites out there where all the wonderful ladies put everything together for you as far as what is the best sale that week and so forth. Find a few that you like and always check them often to find the best deals. I have other posts that I have done on couponing. This is going to just be a short post with pictures of shopping trips I have done in the past. I want you to see the real deals I get when I coupon and how worth it, it really is :) Everyone can do it, trust me! Look under my labels under Coupon 101 to get started.

Whole Wheat Bread

When it comes to homemade bread I have only made it about a five times or so. I am not an expert at all when it comes to baking bread. That is why I loved this recipe I came across from one of my cookbooks that I have around the house. It is super easy and moist. If I can make it, I promise you can too.
Here is what you need:

1 TBL yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2-1/2 cups hot tap water
6-7 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup apple sauce
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 TBL salt

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water, make sure the water is REALLY warm. Then I sprinkled 1tsp. of sugar over it to help it dissolve quicker.

If you have a KitchenAid start adding the hot tap water (again make sure it is really hot). Then add and mix in 3 cups of whole wheat flour, salt, oil, applesauce, sugar, and the yeast mixture. (If you don't have a KitchenAid just use a big bowl to mix it all together)

Than you need to Mix in 2 more cups of whole wheat flour. Let it kneed for about 3 mins on a low speed. Add in 1-2 more cups of flour. I use 1 1/2 cups. Don't over flour your dough!! Kneed for 8 or so mins on low. If you don't have a KitchenAid then flour your counter and kneed it by hand.

Form the dough into a ball shape and place in a large bowl coated with cooking spray and place a dish towel over the dough to let rise for about 1 hour or until double in size.

Spray a large area on your counter top with cooking spray. Dump the dough ball onto the counter and divide into sections for bread pans. (This will make 2 loafs) Punch out any air bubbles and divide and shape for the bread pans.

Cover the bread pans with the dish towel and let rise for another 45 mins.

Bake at 350 for 25 mins. Once it is done brush it with a little oil or melted butter and sprinkle a little salt on top! Nothing better than homemade bread! It has such a higher fresher quality taste to it. Something that goes PERFECT with homemade bread is my homemade freezer jam CLICK HERE for the recipe. Enjoy!!

New Years Eve Party Pizza,YUM!

One of my favorite pizzas is Round Table's BBQ chicken but, it is over $20.00 for a medium size pizza. So this is my version of my favorite BBQ chicken minus a couple of ingredients. The best part is everything I use to make it is FREE except for the pizza crust ( I do use pre made, my favorite is FRESCHETTA Artisan crust ) which is about $2.00 for a pack of 2.  So here is what I use:

2 different kinds of BBQ sauce (use your favorites)
1 can of crushed pineapple (make sure you drain it almost all dry)
1-2 cans of canned 100% white chicken breast
Green onions
Cheese
and a little bit of Cotjia cheese (it is kinda of like feta, but better)

 put one BBQ sauce all over then drizzle the other one on top of that one, layer all the other ingredients

Sprinkle with both of the Cheese's

Pick one of the BBQ sauces and drizzle on top of everything. Cook pizza crust how it says.

How easy was that!!! And each Pizza is only $1.00 with using my coupons :-) I dip mine in Ranch to top it off to being just perfect. ENJOY!!!!



Do you want to start to Coupon???

If you are on a tight budget, love hunting down bargains, and you're extremely well organized, extreme couponing might just work for you. I am going to share some tips and tricks about couponing. I still enjoy going to Walmart and price matching everything. These tips will apply to that or if you want to go to different store for the deals it will work too. You can see more of my posts on couponing under my labels on Coupon 101.

You will have to be firm and polite. Extreme couponing can bring out the worst in some of the people you deal with, including cashiers, store managers, and other customers, so being able to maintain a smile, a friendly attitude, and yet remain resolved that you are entitled to use the coupons will be required of you. For some people, that kind of confrontation during shopping is the last thing they feel like encountering after confrontations everywhere else in life!

Understand how coupons work. There is a wealth of specific terminology and policies related to coupons that an avid coupon user needs to know in order to get the best deal. Keep in mind

Know if your coupons are stackable: This term relates to whether or not it's possible to use the manufacturer's coupon with the store's own special at the same time, making for even greater savings.

Be aware of specials days: Some stores have specific days for specials and some will offer double or triple values for coupons. Knowing which stores do this, and when, will require some research beforehand.

Know the store's policy and have a copy of it with you. This is simply a safeguard against cashiers who aren't aware of store policies themselves and don't really want to have to deal with your extreme couponing. It is far easier to say "we don't accept that" than to go to the effort of ringing it all through, so be prepared to politely but firmly clarify the appropriateness of your coupon actions by pointing out the store policy. You will often find the policy online; if not, ask the store manager for a copy. THIS HAS SAVED ME SO MANY TIMES KEEP THE POLICY WITH YOU!!!

If you want more than one coupon from a particular publication, ask friends and family to keep copies for you. If you're friendly with a local business that sells the newspapers, they might also let you have unsold copies for free. You could also call in at hotels, and cafes that throw out their newspapers at the end of the day and ask to collect them on weekends.

Don't neglect the coupons found on the shelf with the product or those printed or stuck direct to the product itself. These provide an excellent additional source of savings.

Organize your coupons. The more successful coupon shopper places coupons in an order and a carrying device that makes them easy to get. My system is this if you click HERE 

Plan your Menu  around your coupons. It can be a good idea to spend a little time assessing the coupons you have before you against the meals you'd like to prepare for the week following. This way, you can make the most of the coupons without stocking up on what could well be useless items (in which case, you won't have saved any money).

Be aware that grocery items go on sale in rotations, usually of about 12 weeks and they'll often be on sale in several stores

Be brand flexible. Extreme couponing means that you need to be prepared to try a range of brands or store labels that you might not have used before.

Be polite and be considerate. Extreme couponing can drive the cashier and other customers to extreme annoyance because you are effectively holding up people by drawing out each coupon for each item in your cart.

Buy only what you need and will use. A bargain is not a bargain if you don't need it. Keep that motto!

 

How To Cut Boys Hair The Professional way

As promised once I hit 50 followers (YAY, thank you so much) I am going to give you a step by step on how to cut boys hair the professional way (not just a clipper cut). I have been a Cosmetologist for 11 years now and I LOVE doing hair! Really what it comes down to is practice makes perfect. What better way to practice on boys hair because if you mess up it doesn't matter you can just buzz it and that's OK (boys don't mind) It can be very intimidating when you first cut hair. (I remember how scared I was about not messing up) But I promise you can master this skill. Boys need their haircuts anywhere from 2-5 weeks so this will save you so much money in the end to be able to master this skill. I am going to show you how to cut a cute faux hawk and just a basic traditional haircut you can do for any boy =) My boys will be my models.

What you need:

• Good clippers (Wahl is a good starter one that you can get at Sally's Beauty for about $50.00) this is the kind I will be using. If you want an investment then 76'ers is the way to go :)
• A comb, ( I like to use a white comb if they have dark hair or a black comb if the have blonde hair) this way you can see the hair really well
• Trimmer for around the ears and neck line (you can get these at Sally's Beauty too) please don't EVER use just the clippers for your edging around the ears and neck, you can cut them soooo easy that way, just invest in a good trimmer and it will make your life much easier in the cutting field :)
• Cape or towel to keep hair off of them (or just a good old garbage bag cut a hole for the head)
• Spray Bottle
• Polmade, gel, Hairspray

First my favorite clipper size on boys is a 2 or 1/4 of an inch.  Keep head in an upright position and start from the bottom of the hair line and work with a "light moving wrist" in a C shape towards you up to about the middle of the back of the head (just below where the head starts to curve and turn from the top of the head. Make sure the clippers are against the head at all times until you bring your wrist out towards you in the C motion. Do this all around both sides as well (I like to take it up just too the temples or just barely above the temples. Make sure you ALWAYS only use your clippers on dry hair to get the best even cut.

• Next I like to trim all around the ears and neck line. My favorite neck lines are the nice clean square but everyone has a different hair line so you will have to go with the hairline for best results. Move the ear to edge around it so you don't cut it, you can either pull it towards the back or bend it out of the way

 pulling it back OR

Bend it forward out of the way

 Square it all up in the back

• Next wet the top of the head cut the desired length you want starting in the middle and working outwards to each side.

 Spray it all to get wet

Get the length going side to side first and meet all the points together

then go down the middle to connect everything

• After you get the top length how you want it you need to blend from the top to the sides. Go around on the sides and hold your hand at a 90 degree angle and you will see the point where you need to cut off to blend from the clipper part to the scissor part (I hope that makes sense) I like to free hand it with my comb but I will show you both ways until you are comfortable free handing the blending :)

 This is a free hand with a comb you hold the comb at an angel and connect the points

 You can do the same thing with your fingers, use this way until you are comfortable :-)

Nice clean cut

Doing this you will have a nice blend from the length to the sides without a line

Now for the other one. ALMOST all the same steps as above. This will be a Faux Hawk :-)

 Use the clippers and work from bottom to top all around the sides and back

get the length you want to cut off the top from the middle first go in a "Mohawk way" down the middle

 Cut it and move from back to front and connect it all to the same length

 Now once you did the "Mohawk" (down the middle) you need to bring the hair all up horizontal and connect the outer side to the middle where the length is.

Just connect where there is a high point

Now comb the sides all down.....

it will look messy and not blended yet

take from the top length to the sides at a 90 degree angle and connect the point you will see

or again you can free hand it with the comb

now it is all blended from the top to the sides, do that all around :)

TA DA all done, remember practice makes perfect :-) For those of you stopping by for the first time PLEASE, follow my blog as a favor in return for this tutorial, it would be greatly appreciated and if you already are a follower, THANK YOU!!! To be a follower just go on the right hand side of my blog and where it says "Awesome followers" and click join :-)

Freezer Jam!?

I am all about simple. Some of you might think this is a not so fun thing to blog about but, let me tell you, I am SOOO excited I tried this. I can not tell you how EASY freezer jam really is! Why have I not been making this for YEARS??? I have always heard people talking about making jam and slaving in the kitchen all day long. My thoughts were, not for me. So I never thought I would make jam until...I found out they make instant pectin!! I am telling you this is the most DELICIOUS jam you will ever taste and it literally takes no time at all to whip some up. Today I made 28 batches of some raspberry and strawberry jam. Here is what I did:

• Buy some packs of instant pectin (you need one per batch)
• Get the fruit you want (I think raspberry and strawberry work the best) you need 2/3 cups of mashed or mixed fruit for each batch
• Sugar (it says to use 2/3 cups but I used 1/2 cup or you could even use 1/3 cup)
• Potato hand masher or blender ( I used a whisk for the raspberries and my Ninja Pro blender for strawberries)
• Shallow square stack able freezer safe containers

Here come the hard stuff...wink wink ;)

Mash your fruit to the consistency you want

 pour the sugar and pectin in a separate bowl

dump in 2/3 cups of your mashed fruit stir it all in

dump it into your container (the ones I used let 2 batches fit into each one, you don't want them filled to the very top though)

Let it sit for 30 mins

THAT IS IT!! I told you it would be a simple. Then just put the ones you wont be using right away after they sit up for 30 mins into the freezer they will stay good for a little over a year. You can't beat that! You will want to have a piece of toast in the morning with it, a PB&J sandwhich with your kids for lunch...ok I will stop. Ya, I am excited =)

What I Never Pay For

I have been couponing for over 5 years now. I have certain things that I will never pay for.  I will always wait until the right cycle comes when the items are on sale and stock up on them. Here is my list of things you can get for FREE with coupons:

• Razors
• Shaving cream
• Single paper towels
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrushes
• Shower gel
• Deodorant
• Floss
• Face Wash
• Feminine Hygiene products
• Mustard
• Ketchup
• BBQ sauce

I know I am missing A LOT but this still gives you an idea on what to never pay for, you can get them all for FREE!! I will have an updated list with a bunch more things coming soon to not pay for EVER! That's my frugal tip for the day. Thanks for stopping by =)