On Our Way...

Friday Finds - 3/11/2010

2011-03-11T10:05:00.000-05:00

I love this Owl pillow from Spoonfull of Sugar

If only I had more free time, I'd make sure and find time to make this DIY Spring Wreath

Makes and Takes has a great little tutorial to make your own Angry Bird craft.

Have you seen Cake Journal yet? I love her tutorial on Easter egg cake pops with chocolate coating

Look at this great Date stamp gift wrap highlighted Paper Plate and Plane.

Can I give up Facebook for 40 days?

2011-03-08T13:07:00.004-05:00

I Love facebook. It's where I go when I want to find out the latest deals, what's happening with my friends and family or just want to spend a few minutes playing a game.

The problem is a few minutes on facebook has a tendency to turn into an hour or so. I used to think the facebook games were a time drain but in reality it is all of facebook. While yes it might make things easier, in reality all the information I get from facebook can be found elsewhere. I can email my friends for life updates, I can read my google reader for the best internet deals and I can find games to play anywhere on the internet.

In honor of my "resolution" to declutter and simplify our lives this year I want to do a facebook fast. I am not Catholic but the timing and time span just seemed to work and inspire me. So in a quest to remember what exactly I did with all my free time before facebook and maybe even be productive for a while I'm logging off of our big blue friend.

I can't get rid of all my online conveniences, I can't imagine what my email would look like if I didn't check that, but hopefully this little (yet hard) change will help me spend more time on the things I find important in life and the world around me.

Soft Scrub Giveaway!

2011-03-03T14:12:00.002-05:00

As a Soft Scrub Captain I get the opportunity on occasion to try out their new products. Just last week I received a bottle of their newest Total (bath and kitchen) and a few coupons to try out.

I’ve used the Total line before in the bathroom and kitchen lines, but this new Total product is multi-purpose. One bottle, every room, it will definitely make cleaning quicker.

There are a couple of things I really like about the Total line in general one of them being that you can use bottle upside down. Who hasn’t been trying to spray a hard to reach area only to have a bottle leak on you or quit working all together? It’s frustrating, especially if you’re working with harsh chemicals. No one wants to wear toilet cleaner on their hands or clothes. The Total bottle line works right side or upside down making it pretty convenient. You can also adjust the spray to be a sprits or foam which comes in for different areas of your home. I’m a foam girl in areas like my kitchen where I want to hit a stain on the stove and not nearby food or utensils. Then in the bathroom I’m a sprits cleaner b/c I like to make sure I’ve hit as much as possible.

You can also find out more about the Total line and the new all purpsose cleaner on their facebook page.

GIVEAWAY INFORMATION
If you haven’t already had the chance to try the newest Total all purpose cleaning product I’m going to give you the chance right now. Take a few seconds and use the ENTER HERE form below to enter for a chance to win your own full size bottle. I’ll draw a winner next Monday and you can enter one time. Good Luck!

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I try out quite a few products and only talk about the ones I really enjoy using so you’ll know when you read a review here it’s an honest opinion.

Swagbucks Birthday!

2011-02-28T11:52:00.002-05:00

By now you’ve probably heard of Swagbucks it seems like everyone is talking about it, but did you know that this week they are celebrating their 3^rd birthday?

If you are already a member of Swagbucks then make sure to take a few minutes this week to check in on their facebook page where swag codes will be posted all week. They’ve already given a code for 11 away this morning. You don't want to miss out on any more they'll be offering up this week.

And if you aren't sure what I'm talking about take a few minutes and read up on how you can get paid just for searching the internet in THIS post

Put More Cash in Your Pocket: Turn What You Know into Dough

2011-02-16T11:46:00.001-05:00

One thing I have been doing quite a bit of the last months or so is reading. I’ve saved over $513 from using paperbackswap.com. If you aren’t already a member I highly suggest you consider signing up. The first book I dove into this year was “Put More Cash in Your Pocket: Turn What You Know into Dough” by Loral Langemeier.

The one major eye sore that stuck out and almost ruined the book for me was the complete lack of editing. There were misspellings, words out of place, run on sentences, just about every literary blunder you can make. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not saying I’ve never made my fair share of mistakes, heck just the other day I used a their/there incorrectly (and didn’t notice it in time to correct it), but I’m also not publishing a book and expecting to make a few million on it either. I hope that future editions will be scrutinized a little more heavily.

For the most part though it’s a pretty good read. The average reader can get through it at a quick pace and the chapters are filled with step by step instructions on how to find, start, and get working on making some extra dough. The book itself is pretty inspiration but like many things I think most people (myself included) will find it hard to continue that motivation and stride into the weeks after reading. I could blame it on the almost seven month old who still isn’t sleeping through the night but honestly if it wasn’t him I’m sure there would be another just as time consuming commitment out there. As Zig says “Motivation is like bathing, you have to do it every day”, I’m still working on my every day.

Is it 2011 already???

2011-02-09T21:55:00.001-05:00

It’s a good thing I didn’t set any resolutions this year huh? If I had they most certainly would have included things like working out and posting more, both of which haven’t been done.

I do, however; have some things I would like to accomplish this year, for this blog and my own personal home. And even though it doesn’t seem like it one of them will be posting on a regular basis. I can’t promise an every day post but I’m shooting for good content at the very least once a week. Now that we’ve hit six months with Owen things in our home are finally starting to settle down and I feel I can once again devote time to On Our Way and getting our finances back on track. I won’t lie they have taken a back burner these last few months and it shows.

I was feeling a little “over whelmed” with how often some blogs post and my inability to keep up with them, but over time I have realized that while the sheer number of post on other blogs have gone up actual content has not. I want to provide the readers of OnOurWay useful content.

So what are my goals for this year

I plan to spend 2011 getting our finances back together which includes:
- Increasing our emergency back to $7,000
- Opening a Roth IRA
- Continuing to save for important things (Owen's education and a car fund)
- We also need to work on paying off our student loans this year. I hope to be able to get one fully paid off.

But of course I want to do more than just work on finances this year. I also want to spend a significant amount of time reducing the clutter in our lives, on a physical and mental basis. Each month I plan to pick a part of my life and clean it out. I’ll share each area and hope you’ll join me in paring down.

So lets get started….

New Cinnamon Burst Cheerios

2010-12-19T21:35:00.002-05:00

Pretend there is a super amazing video embedded right here.

Because there should be, had everything gone as planned, of course you know it never does.
Myblogspark.com and Cheerios sent me a package of their new Cinnamon Burst Cheerios and a flip so I could tell you all about their new product. I’ve spent the last two days trying to get my video off the camera. Trust me it isn’t a problem with the camera it is all user error I’m sure. I’ve uploaded videos before, I know I can do it. Maybe it’s the fatigue of still not sleeping through the night, apparently no one has told little Owen that the hours of 10pm – 8am are for sleeping.

Anyway, video aside let’s talk about the new Cinnamon Burst Cheerios.
We eat a lot of dry cereal here, well let me rephrase that, I eat a lot of cereal. It’s simple, easy to make and even easier to eat, especially when you have a five month old who demands constant attention. I love that the new Cinnamon Burst Cheerios is flavored with real cinnamon; so many products found on store shelves in today’s market cannot make the same claims. For the many of us out there who are trying to make sure we eat more “real” foods it is a definite selling point.

Then there are the other perks, the ones that are found under the label Nutritional Facts. Over the last year I’ve been paying much more attention to this side the box on the products we eat. One cup of Cinnamon Burst Cheerios contains 110 calories. Sodium; a very important ingredient for us right now runs in at 125mg, so much lower than many other products. Seriously take a look at some of the sodium content of your favorite foods, I bet you’ll look at your cupboards much differently afterward. Yet, the new Cheerios doesn’t just boaster low calories and sodium; you can also find 5 grams of fiber in each cup, that’s 20% of your daily value. We look for products that offer 3 or more grams of fiber when shopping so it is nice to know just once cup of Cheerios meets those requirements.

But don’t just take my word for it. Give the new Cheerios a look the next time you’re in the store. Compare the side bar to that of the cereal you normally buy, I bet you’ll be surprised at what you see. And should you take a box home to try you won’t be disappointed with the flavor.

I also promise I’ll keep working on that video and once I get it up I’ll leave a link of where you can find my in-depth look into the cardboard box.

You know I would never endorse a product here if I didn’t actually find it enjoyable even though there was also a sample sent, but per disclaimers I need to make that known.

Have a shutter filled Christmas this year!

2010-10-28T21:30:00.002-04:00

Have you heard? Bloggers of all sized and topic blogs are eligible to receive 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly In order to qualify you have to write a post about your Shutterfly experience and then spread the word. If you would like to participate in this promotion you can find out more information here. I wouldn’t write a post about their products if I didn’t think they were great so please know that even though I hope to qualify for this promotion all my comments are 100% pure. OnOurWay would not and will not endorse a product I feel to be inferior.

Now on to my Shutterfly review.
I’ve been using Shutterfly for quite a few years and have always loved their products, in fact they are the main reason I gave up scrapbooking. It is so much cheaper, cleaner, and quicker to design and order a Shutterfly photo book than it is to sit around all day designing and making scrapbook pages. Plus, to sweeten the deal even more Shutterfly often has great sales or coupon codes floating around that I can use to create a photo book or other product for much less than I used to spend on scrapbooking supplies. I love to pass them out for Christmas presents and have documented all our vacations, wedding, and now new baby in Shutterfly albums.

Last year for Christmas we used Shutterfly to create our holiday cards and used a picture of our adorable puppy with Santa. This year with our new addition to the family I plan to pick a card that will allow us to display more than one picture. Right now I am loving this card from the Flat Stationary card selection. It is the 5x5 classic red square Christmas card. I love the modern square shape and the simplicity in the design. I want people to be looking at the pictures of our adorable son and I know that with Shutterfly quality printing the pictures will come out looking great. I like knowing that when we use a photo card from Shutterfly people will take notice of the cards we send and enjoy them for more than just the holiday season. My grandmother hangs them on her fridge to enjoy our pictures year round. Having a great card to send to friends and family makes paying the forty-four cents worth it, especially for a frugal family like ours.
It is super easy to make your own Shutterfly holiday card or photo book to use this holiday season. To get you started use a few of the links below to view all the different designs available to you, I know you’ll be sure to find something you love.
Christmas Cards – includes photo and stationary cards
Thanksgiving cards
Hanukkah Cards
Religious Christmas card options
Christmas address labels to really complete the project

Have you used Shutterfly for any holiday photo projects? What did you think?

Friday Finds - August 20th

2010-08-20T07:35:00.004-04:00

Owen is officially one month old today!
We're made it a full month so we'll celebrating by getting his picture taken and taking extra naps.

To make your Friday special take a few moments to check out the following great post by other sites out there this week.

the Hierarchy of Cleaning at The Small note book

I love Trent's opinions on How not to Fail at Frugality at the Simple Dollar

This Ten minute challenge from Holly at Mommies with Cents will come in handy with a new baby in the house.

Love this easy craft from Scribbit on Growing a head - think cheap chia pet

The cause of all my commotion

2010-08-17T14:50:00.000-04:00

I said I'd share what has been causing all the upheaval in the OnOurWay household and here he is...

Owen Joseph
7/20/10

We had an "interesting" delivery and first few weeks home but it looks like everyone is on the mend. I can't wait till things can get back to their new normal. I've officially quit my job and am ready to do the whole stay at home Mom thing for a few years. I'm excited to start the whole new Journey we're about to embark on, and of course you'll be getting updates. We'll still be couponing, saving money as we can at home, but also hopefully adding a whole new green lifestyle to our way of life. As always it's going to be an interesting ride.

Kroger Giveaway Winner!

2010-08-16T14:48:00.001-04:00

The winner of our $25 Kroger gift card was...

Richelle

who said:

I usually save nearly as much as I spend, especially with one of their great promotions. So if I spend $50 I usually save close to $50.

Richelle has been contacted and her gift card is on its way.

Keep checking back for more great giveaways right here at OnOurWay

Another great Giveaway!

2010-08-11T15:22:00.004-04:00

Things are finally starting to get back to normal in the OnOurWay household… I’ll have major updates on what caused all the commotion at a later date. With getting back into the flow of things around here I also want to get back into the flow of things on the blogosphere as well, but give me a little bit these things take time you know.

Thanks again to Kroger, General Mills, Kimberly Clark, and MyBlogSpark the readers of OnOurWay have a chance to win a $25 gift card to any Kroger or Kroger family store. This card should be used during their latest promotion to help you maximize your savings even more.

I know I love when Kroger runs their 10/$10 or buy 8 save $4 promotions and their current “Add up the Savings Event” has lots of great deals for you to stock up on your favorite items until August 21st.

For every 8 participating items you purchase you’ll save $4 off your grocery bill, and you get to select from great brands like Cheerios, Yoplait Yogurt, Pillsbury Cookies, Kleenex, Huggies, Betty Crocker brownies, Cottonelle and Lucky Charms… truly something for everyone.

And check out the links below to see some great deals you can get this week and an ad match up.
Jane4Girls has a stock up deal on Granola Bars

Mommies with Cents has the Kroger coupon match up

Some of the great deals I’ll be looking for when I visit Kroger later this week are:

Kroger eggs 10/$10
Kroger Bread 10/$10
Kroger Peanut Butter 10/$10
Purex $1.99

Save $4 when you buy 8 participating products (prices shown reflect discount)
Sobe $.49
Tuna $.49
Hamburger Helper $.99
Betty Crocker Potatoes $.99
Powerade $.49

You can also use all your new products to get a head start on Box Tops for your school. Right now when you register at www.rewardyourschool.com you receive 5 bonus Box Tops and many custom offers for bonus tops.
Right now offers include:
Buy any 4 Box Top products and get 10 bonus tops
Buy any 8 Box tops and get 25 bonus tops

So on to the giveaway! There are three ways to enter and you can do so until Saturday the 14th at midnight. We’ll pick a winner Sunday.

1.Leave a comment below stating how much you normally save when shopping at Kroger

2.Follow OnOurWay on facebook - Make sure and leave a comment in the post letting me know you did

3.Sign up for the OnOurWay Rss feed (link above) - Make sure and leave a comment in the post letting me know you did

4.Tweet, blog or facebook about this giveaway and leave me a link to where I can find it.

The gift card and all information pertaining to this giveaway was provided by The Kroger Family of Stores, General Mills and Kimberly Clark through MyBlogSpark

Friday Finds July 9th, 2010

2010-07-09T12:48:00.000-04:00

Friday Finds

Quite possibly the best Dr Seuss birthday party can be found over at Annie's Eats. I'd love to have a candy table like that.

Craft Leftovers has a tutorial up on How to make your own frappuccinos I have to try this in the near future.

I love this article by Retirement a Full time job on Is youth wasted on the young - it contains many of the ideas I've been trying to express to people. Why are we working so hard now so that we can retire when we are too old to live life?

Find a great tutorial on Making Strawberry Lemonade smoothies over at Polka Dot Cottage. I'm sure this is better for me than the one's I keep buying from McDonalds.

Now that I'm learning to sew maybe projects like this Skirt from a thrifted sheet over at sew mama sew wouldn't seem so intimating.

This Anthropolgie inspired pendant light from Ashley ann photography.com is amazing. I'm thinking a run to the dollar store is in order. They always have tons of baskets.

I've been crocheting...

2010-05-03T10:57:00.000-04:00

Do you ever start a craft project with the intentions of only making one of the particular item and before you know it the project has taken on a life of its own?

Yeah, that’s exactly what happened to me with crocheting baby hats. I started out with simply wanting to make the baby Owen a hat, but after making one I wanted to just tweak the pattern a bit and before you know it I had found four more sites with hat patterns and even created a few of my own. So far Owen has two hats both I’m only semi happy with and a few others I’ll probably donate. The hats are just so easy to make and you can do a full one in about an hour. It was a perfect project for me while I spent a few hours in the recliner.

If you want to make your own hat I used the following links for my patterns.

Hats! Hats! Hats @ Bevs Country Cottage

Newborn Set @ Crochet4fun.com

Raspberry toque @ Canadian Living

50 FREE Swagbucks for new sign ups

2010-05-02T21:59:00.000-04:00

For one week (May 2rd – May 7th) all new sign ups who enter the code SWAGNATION5 (case sensitive) wile enrolling will receive and extra 50 swagbucks!

There is also good news this week for everyone who currently uses Swagbucks they will be doubling the amount of winning searches each day. This means a bigger chance for us to earn Swagbucks each day.

I also win a ton of swagbucks, normally at least two/three a day minimum from using the new toolbar. This is your reminder to download it for yourself. And starting this Tuesday you can also gain swagbucks by answering the new daily polls. Every poll will be from a Swagbucks user and those that submit a featured poll will win 100 Swagbucks.

If you aren’t using Swagbucks yet now is the time to give it a shot, sign up today by using this link and start earning free stuff!

Seventh Generation Winner!

2010-05-02T11:03:00.000-04:00

So I was just reminded by Matt that in all the excitement of starting the weekend I forgot to post our Seventh Generation giveaway winner on Friday like I promised.

First many of you answered the question correctly in that there are 63 hazardous products found in the average American home. (according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission).

And the winner of our giveaway was Lois S. who liked the OnOurWay page on facebook

Keep checking OnOurWay because there will be more giveaways coming through the month of May.

Great Deals at Diapers.com

2010-04-29T20:30:00.005-04:00

Get $10 off

your first order of diapers

use code OnOurWay$49 min. total order

Angie at Baby Cheapskate clued me in to a great deal going on at Diapers.com right now.

There are multiple rebates and coupon codes going where you can really cash in on some money. I just placed my first order and saved a bundle on things we'll need in the near future. I might even place another order tomorrow to make use of the codes I couldn't tonight.

And to make it even sweeter if you use referral code: OnOurWay we'll each get five dollars in our account to use on our second order.

Use code SGEARTH1 to receive 10% off when you buy a Seventh Generation case of diapers and wipes.

Code 5FORMOM will save you $5 when you purchase diapers (5/9)

If you use the seventh generation deal above you can save another $3 when you use code 7THGEN2

And all new customers save $10 when they buy $49 in diapers and code OnOurWay

If you place your first order by 4/30 you can receive $5 credit on your next purchase

When you spend $75 you qualify for a $10 mir or a subscription to Parenting magazine

And everyone gets free shipping on orders over $49

Good Reads 4/23/10

2010-04-23T09:21:00.000-04:00

Don't forget to enter the giveaway going on right now for a free Seventh Generation gift pack.

I'm still behind on reading everything in my rss feed but here are a few good things I've read in the last few days.

Sign up for the new Home Made Simple coupon book

Four Atypical things to do before you buy a home from The Simple Dollar

Win a months supply of Marcal Small steps products from The Northern Cheapskate.

Get Rich Slowly Can you afford to go Green?

How to make a tshirt apron from Craftzine

Ten tips for having a successful garage sale from money saving mom

Seventh Generation natural cleaning GIVEAWAY!

2010-04-21T08:42:00.004-04:00

Thanks to myblogspark.comand Seventh Generation I was able to try out a few of their environmentally friendly cleaning products and so can you!

Seventh Generation sent me (and maybe you);

2 Jumbo rolls of 100% recycled paper towels
1 bottle of disinfecting multi surface cleaning (Lemongrass & Thyme scent)
1 bottle of disinfecting bathroom cleaner (Lemongrass & Thyme scent)
1 bottle of disinfecting wipes
The book “The Conscious Kitchen” by Alexandra Zissu
And a nice carry all to keep it in.

I absolutely love the disinfecting multi surface spray. With our first little one on the way I like the fact it kills over 99% of germs naturally, including influenza A and H1N1. Since the cleaner is natural you can use it on anything including high chairs and children’s toys, a feature we’ll be using in the near future. The disinfecting spray isn’t something Matt and I would have even though could be all natural so we would have never tried it without this opportunity.

I also however really like what I’ve been able to read in the book. “The Conscious Kitchen” by Alexandra Zissu – I’ve only had time to flip through it so far but I can tell I’ll be using this book for reference a lot in the future. She list things to buy, foods to look for and questions to ask while you’re shipping. My favorite tip so far is her advice to start small. Don’t switch out all your cleaning products right away – instead start with just one, preferably the one you use the most. And she’s right I’m not ready to swap out everything right now but I can definitely start the change by buying the Seventh Generation multi surface cleaner for now on.

So now on to the giveaway!

There are four ways to enter and you can do so until next Thursday, April 29th at midnight.

Option 1: Leave a comment answering the following question.
“ According to the Consumer Product safety commission how many hazardous chemical products can be found in the average American home?”
*Take your best guess – answers do not have to be correct

Option 2: Become a fan of OnOurWay on facebook from the link HERE
Or leave a comment letting me know you already are

Option 3: Sign up to receive new post via email or RSS feed
you can sign up along the left hand side of the blog – or let me know if you already receive our updates

Option 4: Post about this giveaway somewhere and include a link back here
It can be a forum you visit, facebook twitter or your own blog – just make sure and leave me a link back to your post if possible.

Pick any of the four ways to enter or enter four times by doing all of them but just make sure for each entry you leave a comment with your contact info so I can contact you in case you win.

Remember you can enter until Thursday, April 29th at midnight. I’ll post the winner on Friday the 30th.

Free Sweepstakes and Contests

More Big News

2010-04-13T17:20:00.000-04:00

So Saturday I posted the big news about Owen and a promise that my posting would get better, but didn’t explain how/why that would happen. Well folks there are big changes coming for OnOurWay and the Harrison household. Yes, we’ve having a baby but there is also so much more that is going to happen.

July 1st will be my last day of work with my current company. Matt and I have worked really hard to lower our expenses, pay off debt and save up a nice emergency fund. Since January we’ve been paying all our bills with Matt’s income and saving mine (with a few exceptions). This has allowed us to also save up enough money that we plan to purchase a new “to us” vehicle in the next few months. For some odd reason GM did not design the two door Cavalier to be car seat friendly.

Our plan is for me to do the whole stay at home Mom thing for at least a few years (one minimum), but of course I’ll always be on the look out for ways to save/make money. I have quite a list started already.

But like I said I also have some ideas on how to improve OnOurWay. Of course the first few months after Owen is born will be hectic but once we get things settled down I plan to spend more time enhancing things around here. There are quite a few things I’ve wanted to do for a while but with working 45+ hours I just haven’t had time…. Ok ok I’ll be honest, what time I have had has been spent making/reading/preparing for a baby.

I do however plan to start adding many more reviews of not only local areas but lots of product reviews as well. I want to add more book reviews, ways for you earn money, and I’m expecting a lot more reader participation from you guys.

We’ll also get ourselves back on a blogging schedule (to be announced) and I’m willing to consider any ideas for items you guys would like to see on the blog. Feel free to send them my way through email. And remember these things won’t happen all at once but there will be steady improvement.

Where have I been?

2010-04-10T17:07:00.000-04:00

So I’m not going to lie or make up excuses of why I haven’t posted. All I can say is I’ve had baby brain – which is all I’ve thought about the past few weeks are babies – well mainly my baby, but I promise I’ll get better.

In the last month Matt and I found out we’re having a boy and have even picked a name; Owen Joseph, and no we will NOT be calling him OJ. Anyway, since learning about little Owen all I can think about are baby socks, baby blankets, baby toys, the list goes on and on.

I actually have about 5/6 post hand written out where all I need to do is type them up, but alas rather than doing that I’ve spent my evenings crocheting baby Owen a hat and matching blanket.

Yet, I do promise to stop researching the best highchairs and safest cribs soon so I can get back to blogging. I’d do it now but I really need to finish reading every article/review on cloth diapers ever written first.

Master Your Debt - Book Review

2010-03-22T08:11:00.001-04:00

Last month I was sent Jordan Goodman’s new book, Master Your Debt: Slash your Monthly Payments and become Debt Free and asked me to review it for all the OnOurWay readers.

I think everyone knows by now just because someone sends me something does not mean I’ll gloss over a review, so when I say I really like something it’s the truth, and I really liked Master Your Debt.

In each chapter Goodman walks you through ways to decrease your expenses step by step. Whether you are just getting started or ready to make those final adjustments there is something for you to learn. This book is the most up to date listing of all the new policy and rule changes happening as we speak. My favorite chapters were those on the new mortgage and credit card regulations. Goodman not only shows readers how to use these programs to your advantage but also provides great resources to expand your knowledge.

In fact those extra resources are the thing that makes Master Your Debt unique. There are links and/or other contact information provided for just about every service Goodman writes on.

While Matt and I don’t need to pay off any credit card debt reading this has helped us re-focus our pay off plan for the debt we do have (mortgage and student loans). Everyone, no matter where you are your financial life, can use a little refresher now and again.

Of course the one thing that makes this book great for the reader today is the one downfall for the reader tomorrow. Goodman’s book is so up to date on current policy and programs it probably won’t be useful for most readers ten years from now. If you think you’ll want to give this book a read do it sooner rather than later. Right now you can pick it up for about $15 on amazon.com or join the three other people on the waiting list at pbs.com

Books Read in 2010: 3
Books to Read in 2010: 47

Good Reads 3/19/10

2010-03-19T11:36:00.000-04:00

Looks like this edition of Good Reads is all crafts!

Dollar Store hair bow holder from Creations By Kara - These would make a cute little gift for someone special.

I LOVE these Vintage puzzle piece magnets from Lindseys craft list. - I have a ton of old puzzle pieces that would totally work for this project

Shamrock dishtowel tutorial from Creation corner - but really you could use this tutorial for any holiday design

Wow! This Dino play suitcase from at second street is AMAZING! You have to at least have a quick look.

Fabric birdies and nest from Lemon tree creations

Make a jewelry bust for about a buck found on the examiner.com

Make a Personalized name sign from Three men and a lady

How to make a Spunky pin board from Walnut & Ivory

Find out how to make your own Chalk board tins from Some day crafts. - I bet I can find some great tins at the dollar store or Goodwill this summer.

Reusable Swiffer duster cloths from Sew Much a do.

New Yoplait Smoothie Review

2010-03-18T22:42:00.004-04:00

Myblogspark.com and Yoplait sent me a coupon to try their new Yoplait Smoothie mix and a small blender so I could try them out. I really wanted to share my review via vlog but with my ongoing cold and all the household drama we’ve had lately (more to come) it just wasn’t possible.

I will say though, the new Yoplait Smoothies are great. I love all the new products Yoplait is coming out with; each and every one is an improvement over your plain yogurt options of yesteryear.

This new product not only tastes great it’s super easy to use as well. Literally you cut open the bag, drop in the frozen mix and a cup of skim milk, then blend for 1 – 1 ½ minutes. Then enjoy your ready to eat smoothie. I tried both the Strawberry Banana and Triple Berry mixes. While both were good I will say I did preferred the Triple berry mix the most. I also love the fact that the Smoothie mixes make two servings and each serving contains one full portion of fruit.

Don’t believe me? You should give them a shot for yourself. And if you have already tried the new Yoplait Smoothies feel free to leave a comment with how you felt about the newest product.

Good Reads - 3/12/10

2010-03-12T20:14:00.005-05:00

Here are the good reads for the week.
Also if you're a facebook fan of OnOurWay you've already learned about lots of different coupons and deals that didn't make it in to today's run down. Click Here to sign up as a fan now.

Lots of craft stuff this week

How to make a reversible swiffer sock from craftzine.com - What a great way to save on buying those expensive refills.

Learn the ins and outs of using kool-aid to color Easter Eggs at Gingerbread Snowflakes

Fuzzy knitted Easter Chicks from the Purlbee.com - I love this site

A great article from The Simple Dollar How much do Half Mortgage payments really save also make sure to read the article Cult of the new

Check out these amazing greeting cards you can plant from Makes and Takes

Adorable St.Patty's day baby booties from Vickie Howell

I also really can't wait to try these Mini Apple Pies

Quick Updates

2010-03-10T23:18:00.003-05:00

So I have about three book reviews to post and a few other things I want to share with you, including a financial update. We've blown a lot of money over the last few days and now that our dryer is officially cooked it looks like we'll be spending even more.

Unfortunately, all that stuff is gonna have to wait. I am battling a horrible cold right now. it started out as a scratchy throat and quickly turned into a full blown head cold. I'm hoping to get at least one post done tomorrow and be back up and running full force this weekend.

Good Reads - 3/5/10

2010-03-05T19:09:00.000-05:00

Mad in Crafts has a cute and quick tutorial on how to make a fabric wreath

Tater tots and Jello has an amazing tutorial on how to make subway art. I love how all these crafters are creating their own catalog worthy items for a fraction of the cost. I hope to one day steal her idea. And then once I finish ~~ripping off~~ borrowing her idea for the subway art I hope to use her tutorial on making a serving tray from dollar store items

In my Free time has a quicky tutorial up on Making a personalized travel mug she makes it seem very easy... I'm not so sure but I'll be adding it to the must do list anyway.

You can find post up on how to make baby sock roses at Hayseed in the City - This would be a great baby shower decoration.

Mrs.Priss (interesting name) has a post up on how to make a headband from fabric it's quick, it looks easy and I'm probably going to have to make one.

There is a How to make a baby shirt from an old mens tshirt at Made.com you can then use that tutorial to make a personalized shirt like the one found at Ballet Shoes and Yarn

And then I also came a cross these Valentine burlap frams from The Tidy Nest. I have some burlap in the garage and Matt has been asking me what I'm going to do with it, for a buck I'll make some of these, non V-day themes obviously.

Fiber One Giveaway!

2010-02-25T22:14:00.003-05:00

So the very generous folks from Fiber One through myblogspark.com provided me with a healthy gift basket full of items to maintain a healthy life style.

Now obviously since I’m 18 weeks pregnant I’m not trying to lose any weight at this time I am; however, trying to stay semi active and the pedometer has been a great reminder to get up and move every day.

I’m also love the cute water bottle they sent along and the reflective snap bracelet (anyone else remember those?). Yet, surprisingly enough my favorite item was the Fiber One sample they included. I hate to admit it but often times in the morning I don’t have time for breakfast. I took the samples to work and stuck them in my desk, once I became snacky hungry rather than grab a doughnut I was able to eat a bar and hold myself off till lunch. The bars are not overly dry like I find most “breakfast” bars to be and they are such a better alternative to the bag of chips or other junk food option I would normally buy from our vending machine. I’ll be picking these up in future grocery shopping trips.

And the best part for you, my readers is Fiber One and myblogspark.com would like to send you your very own gift pack so you can try out their new product.
I’m only going to run the giveaway until March 3rd so make sure and get yourself entered soon. There are two ways to enter and you can enter once with each option.

Option One:
Leave a comment on this post with a way that you make weight management easier on yourself.

Option Two:
Become a fan on our new facebook page HERE and leave me a comment letting me know (this will work if you are currently a fan as well).

REMEMBER: It’s very important to leave me a way to contact you in your comment so I can notify you if you should be our gift pack winner!

Sweepstakes Advantage - Free Online Sweepstakes

_____________
Also don't forget about the 60 FREE swagbucks for new sign ups now until March 4th. Make sure to use our REFERRAL LINK and the special Code: MEGANSCODE2

42 Free Swagbucks...

2010-02-25T17:53:00.002-05:00

Swagbucks has just posted 42 FREE swagbuck codes throughout their site!

If you're following OnOurWay on facebook you already know where to find these codes but if you haven't yet Stop by sign up as a fan and get yourself 42 free swagbucks!

And don't forget all new sign ups who use our referral link and code MEGANSCODE2 receive an additional 60 FREE swag bucks. Read the full post HERE

Swagbucks Celebration!

2010-02-25T05:46:00.000-05:00

The day has finally arrived. Starting today until Thursday, March 4th at 6AM all new Swagbuck sign ups will receive 60 extra bucks just for using our special site code: MEGANSCODE2 (case sensitive). You can sign up HERE

Swagbucks has added many options for how you can get a pay out. I like to use my bucks on gift cards and few of my favorites are;
$5 Amazon.com card = 45 swagbucks
$5 cash in Paypal = 70 swagbucks
$10 Barns and Nobel = 125 Swagbucks
$15 iTunes card = 185 Swagbucks
$20 Target gift card = 235 Swagbucks

But have no worries if you are already a Swagger, this week is special for you too. To celebrate their 2nd birthday Swagbucks plans to giveaway lots of codes for FREE bucks throughout the week. Make sure you keep checking their blog, twitter and facebook page to get yourself some free bucks!

Remember our code: MEGANSCODE2 expires at 6am on Thursday, March 4th so make sure and use it quickly.

Not sure what Swagbucks is or why you should be using it? Read up on the program HERE

And don’t forget you can now follow OnOurWay on our new Facebook page. I hope to use this page to post lots of limited time freebies and other offers that wouldn’t normally make it on the blog so make sure to sign up as a fan.

I've jumped on the band wagon

2010-02-23T10:54:00.002-05:00

So it's official I'm followed lead and created a facebook fan page.

Right now the page is in the early stages of development but head on over and add us to your pages if you'd like. I hope to start adding new and different material to the fan page and of course I'll use it to let you know when there is an update online as well. I also hope to get some discussion threads going in the future for people to weigh in on.

If you see anything you'd like me to add to the page just let me know. I'm open to suggestions.

You can find OnOurWay on Facebook by clicking HERE

Extra Swag codes on their way

2010-02-23T10:18:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to drop a line and let everyone know starting February 25th there will be an extra code available at OnOurWay for new sign ups allowing you 6 extra bucks when you sign up for an account.

And to celebrate their 2nd birthday Swagbucks has a slew of things happening that you'll want to get in on. I'll have the full scoop on the 25th so make sure you check back in.

Good Reads 2/19/10

2010-02-18T22:07:00.002-05:00

I promise some actual thought required posting soon. (hopefully this weekend) until then here are a few of the great post I've found online this week

how to make an accordion fold envelope from recycled crafts

How to make paper out of lint from instructables - I am going to start saving my lint

A big list of lunch boxes for you to make from sew mama sew

Friday Good Reads 2/12/10

2010-02-11T22:30:00.002-05:00

Sock owl tutorial from Whimsy Loft - I love this tutorial, you have to look at it.

My second pick are these amazing Recycled crayon Valentines from the long thread. Trust me making these crayons is so easy and they'd be hit in every classroom, especially with their Oscar Wilde like word play (as Matt likes to say)

9 Cheap date night ideas from Mom Advice.

Daily Danny has an interesting post on How to upcycle silk flowers

Google Map Envelopes from Craftzine

Craft Envy has an adorable craft on how to make a headband from a recycled tie

How to make Anthropologie Flowers from Happy Together.

Pink Peppermint Heart marshmallows from Create!

Create Studio has a tutorial on Glass Etching Tutorial

Salt Dough hearts from the Long Thread - I love her idea of sticking a magnet on the back. I tell you our future children have Valentine's day cards figured out until high school.

Fabric Rose Wreath from Smashed Pees and Carrots

Snail Valentines from Zakka life - Such a cute idea.

Pinwheel coasters from the long thread

Sweetheart Valentines Day cards adorable and easy cards from Bunny Cakes

Vintage Holiday cards from Vintage Holiday Crafts

How to make matchbox candy holders

Free Patchwork Scottie Dog pattern from Craftzine

Comlicit - Book Review

2010-02-09T09:13:00.001-05:00

Complicit – “choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, esp. with others; having complicity.” (dictionary.com)

The second book read in 2010 was offered to me as an advanced copy by Bloomberg press. Complicit: How Greed and Collusion Made the Credit Crisis Unstoppable, written by Mark Gilbert offers an in-depth look at the events which lead up to our current economic conditions.

The book is basically just that – an in depth look at our latest financial crisis. Gilbert provides readers with dates, places, and even names of those responsible for our current situation.

I will however provide a warning to some readers. I found the reading to be a little dry. The book is packed with facts but doesn’t leave readers a lot of time to digest the information.

If you are just getting into the world of finance reading I would not suggest this book as one of your first five.

Books Read in 2010: 2
Books to read in 2010: 48

2010 Goals

2010-02-07T19:53:00.001-05:00

I haven’t shared our 2010 goals yet for one reason – they weren’t done. Our 2010 goals aren’t done yet because I’m not sure what we want to accomplish and I’m not sure what we want to accomplish because we have some big changes coming in 2010.

In July of 2010 the Harrison household is expecting a new member! Matt and I are thrilled and the dog is still trying to figure out how this will affect his ability to sleep till 10 on weekends. We’re very excited and nervous to be first time parents. And as you can imagine the whole future being unknown part has made it difficult for us to set goals.

If all goes well I hope to be able to stay home with the baby for a while, but we have some things to work out before that could happen.

Because of all these interesting development we have two segments of goals; 6 months before the baby and 6 months after.
They look like this.

6 months before (Jan – Jun)
- Increase emergency fund by $10,000
- Begin living 100% on one income
- House prep for a baby (list below)

6 months after (Jul – Dec)
- Have baby
- Try to survive

I also want to continue to save for retirement and other things like home improvements but again we’ll have to see how things go before we make any concrete goals for after the baby. Before July there are a few house projects I would like to finish. I’m hoping that making them part of my 2010 goals it will help me to focus on them and get them finished. I’m also counting on you guys to keep me on track

House projects for 2010
- Rip up bushes in front of house
- Hang shelves in basement for books
- Hang shelves in basement for stockpile and craft storage
- Paint kitchen (long story)
- Put in cat door
- Paint the upstairs stairwell
- Hang pictures (yes four months here and there is nothing on my walls yet)
- Get upstairs closets set up
- Touch up paint job

I’m sure I’ll add to the list as time goes on and I see/remember other things we need to do but for now I think this is a decent size to start with.

There you have it folks our very thought out goals for 2010. We really just don’t know if/how long we can live on one income so trying to live on just Matt’s paycheck for a few months will help us determine what our goals will be in the future and how to better allocate our money.

Friday Finds January 29th 2010

2010-01-29T10:46:00.000-05:00

Create studio has a great post on Making a wreath from book pages

Joys Hope has a tutorial on making a crinkle square for babies. This involves scrap fabric, ribbon, and an empty wipe wrapper. I've made these squares before but without the crinkle effect. I might have to try this one out.

I love Get Rich Slowly he always has great articles and this week is no different. Stop by to read How to talk to your spouse about money. Getting both parties on the same page financially is the first step to reaching financial freedom.

The Simple Dollar (another favorite) has some great information on what it takes to be a Census Worker

Did I miss anything great out there this week? Let me know and I'll make sure we get it added in the future.

Friday Reads - January 22nd 2009

2010-01-23T20:17:00.000-05:00

Ok so this post is a day late, but there are still some great reads

Sign up for free subscriptions of Lowe's Creative Ideas for Home and Garden and/or Lowe's Creative Ideas for Woodworkers. Use the Following Link

Poppytalk has a tutorial on how to make polymer gift tags. I love these and you could use the directions for any and all holiday tags. Wouldn't they be cute on Christmas gifts and then you could hang them on the tree.

Wikihow has an article on creating homemade cough drops

Frugal Home Ideas posted this mirror project back in October but I've just stumbled upon it and love it so I wanted to share. Also check out her tutorial on faux wainscoting

Soft Scrub coupons for you to download.

love this Valentines day Kissing Ball from the Domestic Fashionista.

How to make your own homemade gummi candies from craftzine.

House – Book Review

2010-01-20T10:56:00.000-05:00

Wow – I really did not know what I was getting into when I picked up House: The Only Way Out is In by Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. I read the product description on Paperbackswap.com and the dust jacket when it came so I was expecting something scary and suspenseful. And really it was, but there is a big twist which takes the book to a whole different level. (a religious level).

The new direction for the book isn’t a bad one it just caught me off guard. Overall, it was a good read but know that I’m warning you to: Read at your own risk. I don’t want anyone coming back here and complaining that the book goes in a totally different direction and I didn’t warn them.

Books Read in 2010: 1
Books to Read in 2010: 49

Your Money or Your Life – Book Review

2010-01-18T10:35:00.000-05:00

Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Achieving Financial Independence by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin is the last book I read in 2009. I had heard such amazing reviews of this book I knew I had to read it. Yet, I’m unsatisfied with the book as a whole. I didn’t find anything life changing about it.

The book is packed full of advice and money tips but its all stuff we’ve heard over and over. Maybe I’ve just become desensitized to finance books since I’ve read my fair share at this point, but this isn’t one I’ll have dreams over. If you’re looking to read your first finance book you should put this one on your “to read list”.

I went ahead and saved the room on our bookshelf by putting it up for swap on PBS.

Books read in 2009: 33

Bright Lights, Big Ass – Book Review

2010-01-17T18:28:00.001-05:00

Bright Lights, Big Ass by Jen Lancaster is another book I read in 2009 but wanted to share the review with you anyway. Bright Light is about the day to day life of Jen Lancaster, a writer living in Chicago trying to write a book. Throughout the book Jen deals with temp jobs, the dreaded annual Dr. visit and searching the city for a new place to live.

None of these events seem overly interesting but Lancaster is able to put her own comic light on things and you’ll be laughing all the way through. If you’re looking for a good laugh I suggest this one.

Books Read in 2009: 32

Yankee Candle - Final Sale!

2010-01-13T22:01:00.003-05:00

In case you haven't heard Yankee Candle reduced their prices even more today.

Gift sets are now 75% off
Large Candles $12
Medium jars $10
Small Jars 3/$10

and shipping is only $5 for all orders under $100

But hurry the sale ends Monday and products are going fast!

The Lost Symbol - Book Review

2010-01-11T07:19:00.000-05:00

I read Dan Brown’s new book The Lost Symbol in December so it counts for 2009 counts even if I didn’t get it posted right away.

I really don’t have a lot to say about the book that won’t give most of the plot away. It was a really good read, but very familiar in the sense almost identical to his other books in layout. Robert is thrown into a mystery against his will, meets a cute girl, goes through puzzles and old myths to solve said mystery, escapes death a lot, and of course a Brown twist. There I don’t think that should give away anything since we’ve all read it before : )

Worth the read but don’t have overly high expectations.

Books Read in 2009: 31

2010 Entertainment Book

2010-01-09T21:40:00.002-05:00

I just received my 2010 Entertainment Book last month. There are a ton of coupons and I can see how this book could help families save a lot of money – if you live in the right area. Unfortunately, Matt and I don’t live in the right area. We are located in Lansing, Michigan – there are books for the Grand Rapids and Saginaw areas, both of which are over an hour away from us.

Lansing is a larger city so I’m no sure why we don’t have a book (we are the capital city after all), but I suppose they left out Detroit as well. Anyway, driving over an hour to use a coupon reduces how much we’re actually savings. Even the coupons for major food franchises can only be used at select locations none of which are near us.

Because of this I’ll be giving away all of the local food/shop coupons or trying to sell them on ebay. There are a few national retailer with coupons listed and I do plan to make use of those throughout the year.

And I would suggest if you have a book for your actual area it might be worth looking into.

Military coupon reminder

2010-01-03T19:27:00.002-05:00

Just a quick reminder to send out your expired coupons.

This month I'm sending mine to

Ramstein, Germany

Ramstein Air Base
Attn: Family Services
Bldg. 1200, Flugplatz Ramstein
APO AE 09094 Germany

Make it easy on yourself and just copy address

Have no idea what I'm talking about? You can read up on the military coupon program in my Original post here

2009 Goal Update

2010-01-02T05:46:00.000-05:00

So I’m a year late but I wanted to do a quick run down of our 2009 goals. We hit some and fell short on others, but I think analyzing what did and didn’t work for us is important to deciding how we’ll conquer our goals in 2010.

Last year Matt and I set a few optimistic financial goals.

~ Reduce our monthly spending by 5% ($250)
We were able to reduce our spending but I’m not quite sure by how much. We have more defined goals for 2010 to help track this.

~ Save $4,000 for a car
This goal we hit and actually exceeded. To date we have $4,724 in our car fund. After we reached our $4,000 goal we continued to put an extra 5% of our savings into the fund

~ Save $5,000 in an emergency fund
This is another goal we were able to hit and then some. We have $5,218 in our emergency fund.

~ Save $12,500 for our retirement
This goal we fell very short on with only $1,014 in savings. But this is where the analysis kicks in.

Once Matt and I fully funded our car and emergency fund we just said “let’s put everything extra into our retirement fund” so of course there was never anything extra. We did purchase a new home with some of the money as a down payment and basically refinished most of the home before moving in. I’d say in totally we spent about $7,000 + on all of that, which means we were actually able to save a lot but put it to good use in other ways.

One of our goals was to purchase a long term home which we were obviously able to do, I plan for us to live here at least ten to fifteen years hopefully longer. Having a stable place and reasonable home payment will help us reach our other financial goals.

Along with our financial goals I also set some personal and health ones as well.

~ Read 50 Books in 2009
I didn’t hit this goal either but made some great improvements in my overall book reading. So far I’ve reviewed 30 books for OnOurWay but have actually read 33. While I didn’t hit the goal of 50 I read more books in 2009 than if I hadn’t set the goal at all so I’m counting it as a win.

~ Reduce our material possessions by 30%
Matt and I did a really good job of this while we moved but I want to step it up even more and reduce reduce reduce in 2010

And we didn’t do so well in the health side of goals as I didn’t hit any of them. I think they were just too ambitious to start with right away.

So one Lesson Learned in 2009: Set defined and track able goals in order to help us stay on course I hope to take this new knowledge about how Matt and I handle goal accomplishment and use it to set even better goals in 2010.

What goals did you hit or miss in 2009 and how to you plan to use that information to kick butt in 2010?

Friday Januar 1st 2010

2010-01-01T03:00:00.000-05:00

Wise Bread has a post on how to uglify your stuff to keep it safe

The Dollar stretcher has a post ways to make the best new years resolutions

CNN Money has a list of Ten ten places that will get raises in 2010 and the 10 best places for employment

The Dollar Stretcher also has 8 ways to make money without any extra work

I resisted a sale today...

2009-12-28T19:00:00.002-05:00

Just thought I'd stop by and share my ability to pass up a sale today.

Today while shopping I saw one of the craft books I've been looking at for the last few months. I pass it every once and a while, flip through, sigh a little bit and put it back. It's $14 at Amazon and almost $18 in the store. Today it was marked down to $7. At first I was so excited I was finally going to get my book at a decent price, but after carrying it around a while I realized I've spent so much time just thinking about this book that I really didn't want it anymore. I never really needed it to begin with especially since you can find most projects for free online.

And you know what? It felt great to put the book back and walk off without it. Not only did I save $7 but I didn't bring any extra clutter into the house.

I figure if I can walk by a cheap craft book without buying it, anyone can do it.

Yankee Candle - 50% off

2009-12-25T20:35:00.004-05:00

The after holiday sales are already starting.

Today Yankee Candle has started their Semi-Annual Clearance Sale!

You can get
Large Jar candles for $15 or 2/$25
Medium jar Candles $12 or 2/$20
Tarts and Votives for $1
Gift sets are 50% off
And there are some dollar deals for $12, $10, $7, $5, and $1
This includes those awesome beans wax candles for $3.

And if you buy right now shipping is $5 for all order under $100.

I purchased a lot of items during this sale last year and had some great gifts to give away this Christmas.

Just to warn you though last year in January this sale went to 75% off so if you don't have anything in mind or have spent 2009 stocking up on candles like I have you might want to wait for even bigger discounts.

15% off Hoover Upright

2009-12-22T10:12:00.003-05:00

Had a quick deal to share with you mailed in from Barb.

You can get a new Hoover WindTunnel® Upright for $84.99 with free shipping if you act quickly.

Visit this LINK to view the product and add it to your cart.

For 15% off, use code TWinter
For Free shipping, use code TShipDeal

I just tried out the codes and everything is working wonderfully and yet you can use both codes.

Thanks for the tip Barb W.

Busy weekend

2009-12-20T22:25:00.004-05:00

So Matt and I had a really busy weekend. We still have a few small projects to complete on the house and took the weekend to cross one off the list.

When we moved into our home they had carpet in the kitchen which smelled like grease badly.
Here are the kitchen floors after we riped up the carpet.

And here is the kitchen after we laid down the new tile.

We went with just a simple peal and stick. We really want to redo the kitchen in the next few years so we didn't see the point in paying a ton of money for real tile. I picked up these tiles on sale for $.49 a piece at Menards a few weeks ago so they were well within our budget. They aren't as thick as I would like but they are working fine and I think the floor looks really good.

Great Reads - Friday 18th

2009-12-17T21:58:00.003-05:00

Jane from Makes and Takes has the recipe for Homemade marshmallows they look great.

After December 31st Kroger will no longer be accepting PG&E coupons, you can read the post at Mommies with Cents

Wise Bread has a great post up on Magic Jack and whether or not it's a scam.

Myra at Happy House Wife Life has a tutorial on making a candy cane chandelier.

These Homemade hot drink mixes from Money Saving Mom are book marked to use for next year.

Frugal Dad has an Affordable home security post up. Great ideas for the holidays.

Stop by Craftzine to see quite a few upcycled Gift Wrapping

2009 – 2010 Yearly Goals

2009-12-15T22:24:00.001-05:00

Have you started looking back at your 2009 goals yet? If you’re like me you probably reached some goals but not others. And trust me that is 100% ok. This is a great time to ask yourself why. Did you set your goals too high, lose steam half way through the year or maybe you decided the goals wasn’t important any more. Any way you look at it you can learn a lot about yourself through analyzing what did and didn’t work for you in 2009.

I haven’t finished all my goal analysis yet and already I can see what did and didn’t work for us. I can then take this information and use it to set better goals next year.

Which brings me to my next topic: have you started thinking about your 2010 goals yet? You should be. I’ve been thinking of our since before Thanksgiving. Now I’m just working on the finishing touches and wording before I share them.

2010 is going to be a BIG year for us, how is it looking for your family?

Great freebies to look for...

2009-12-13T19:43:00.002-05:00

Over the last few weeks I’ve received some great freebies in the mail all just because I filled out the online form.

For example Glidden paint offers up free colors at least twice year. This is the second sample I’ve received from them. You get to pick your sheen and color from any of their choices. This time I selected Robin Eggs blue, I think I’m going to paint a few shelves before hanging them up with this color.

Don't mind that all my pictures were taken on my stove, I'm running out of clean spaces with all the gift wrapping going on here.

I also received my See Here Christmas cards last week. After reading about the offer on another blog I decided to give it a shot. Since I got in on the deal a little late I did end up having to pay around $4 in shipping but even at that price they’re a great deal.

Many freebies are offered more than once allowing you to take advantage of them multiple times. So make sure to pay attention for when they’re offered again and keep checking onourwayonline.com as I’ll be highlighting my favorites during 2010.

The Tipping Point - Book Review

2009-12-06T19:05:00.003-05:00

I read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell during my blogging hiatus. WOW! This book is really good. I’m classifying it a fun educational book, which are hard to find.

The Tipping Point: How little things can make a big difference, divulges into the theories of how epidemics of all kinds get started from the latest shoe trends to Columbine. Malcolm explains it all at great length without losing your interest. The Tipping Point is full of past psychological experiments which give us facts and a back story – having this makes believing the research so much easier. They aren’t just numbers thrown on a page you can get a full view of the situation from each mini story.

The cases and social studies span from the 1960’s until publication in 2000 which helps keep them interesting as well. Malcolm also describes the three types of people who allow these trends to grow salesmen, mavens, and connectors. Once you learn the roles of these catalyst you’ll have a much better understanding of how the cycle works.

If you’ve ever wondered how some trends take off and others plunder you need to read this book. This book is so good even after making my commitment to reduce my book collection I won't be re posting it on paperbackswap.com

Books Read in 2009: 30
Books to Read in 2009: 20

Free photo Book, Photo cards, calendar, or $25 gift card

2009-12-01T10:35:00.002-05:00

Stop by Freebies for Mom to find out more about the American Greetings 20,000 people giveaway today.

I just received my code and can't wait to get started on a book.

Lots of good things happening online this week

2009-11-30T20:29:00.002-05:00

It seems every blog out there is updating about the Monday Cyber deals going on today.
Honestly I just don't have time for that today but I did want to highlight a few really great ongoing deals/specials.

Dave Ramsey is hosting an online sweepstakes through December. Today is a chance to win a $1000 to start your emergency fund or help others. Stop by his Christmas giveaway page to enter.

Freebies for Mom has a post up on your chance to receive great prizes from Photoworks. The first 25,000 who register at American Greetings on Tuesday (12/1/09) will receive a free photo clutch book, 25 holiday cards, or an 11,x8 calendar.
Stop by her Photoworks post here

Money Saving Methods has the scoop on how to get a free photo canvas (you pay $15 shipping). I so want to get in on this but can't find a picture I want to blow up. Anyway if you have a great picture you'd like turned into a canvas stop by Her post here

Have you found any great deals this week and want to share? Feel free to send me an email or leave them in the comments section.

Dave Barry Turns 50 - Book Review

2009-11-28T18:58:00.004-05:00

Dave Barry Turns 50 is a comical look back to the first decades of the baby boomers and ends with a few pieces of advice from Barry himself.

I was in the mood for a funny read after a few stressful weeks and this book hit the spot even if I couldn't relate with everything.

Dave Barry turns 50 is a funny book but might be better suited for the actual target audience, a baby boomer.

Books Read in 2009: 29

Books to Read in 2009: 21

Cheap Menards Candles

2009-11-18T22:17:00.004-05:00

As it gets closer to the holidays it seems more and more stores are having some great sales.

I seem to be on a candle buying spree right now but I wanted to tell you about some super cheap soy candles from Menards.

Sorry about the image quality - I'm not quite sure what happened.

Right now Menards has their Langley Home soy candles on sale for $4.99 with a $4 rebate.

That's a great 13 oz candle for $.99

They also still have their Glade candles for $1.97 which after the $1.50 off coupons found inside makes them $.47 plus remember you can buy three items and send away for the $5 rebate.

Read the following post for more information.

Menards also has their 8 pack AA batteries for $.99 this week. Remember to stock up before Christmas.

We've Moved!

2009-11-15T19:39:00.008-05:00

So this weekend Matt and I moved into our new house.
I wanted to put up a few pictures of our move and give some moving tips for everyone out there.
We all know it is important to plan ahead and do the best you can to make your move as easy as possible so follow along with my tips to a successful move.

First make sure to keep your new place as clean as possible when moving in. You don't want trash laying around while you are trying to set up spaces. Never just throw things around - you have to pick up after yourself. As you can see from the picture below Matt and I kept everything spotless during our move. It was very helpful and I know I won't be spending the next week picking up trash.

Just like above never just leave trash and other things in odd places. If you have a shelf you know you'll be using for bathroom supplies make sure to put them in immediately. Creating a mess in a location will only make unpacking that much harder. Things like Glass Cleaner, work gloves and appliance owner manuals should always be put in their proper places. Also make sure to eat healthy while you are moving. No McDonalds or other fast food restaurants, it will only create more clean up later.

I always make sure to unpack and decorate a room right away. The last thing you want is to be living in a room that isn't fully decorated, especially a master bedroom. It's important to get those things up right away.

Organization is very important, again if you have items to put in a room make sure to put them away immediately. What ever you do don't just take a tub of items and throw them in a room. This will undoubtedly cause you to rifle through the box later for those important items like a toothbrush or shampoo.

And lastly as you'll see below, make sure to set up the important spaces first. Things you will most need; bathrooms or a kitchen would make the most sense. Never waste time on your first day by setting up an office to make sure the internet works. Also what ever you do - DO NOT plug in and turn on a TV it will only halter your speed. Matt and I wait until we are fully moved in before becoming distracted by these electronics.

As you can see Matt and I followed all the following tips which is why we had a smooth and stress free move. Our house is fully decorated, things are put in their places, and we're ready to welcome guests. It also means we won't still be unpacking for years to come... or does it.

Post Translation: In reality our house is a mess, stuff is everywhere, I think we've run of out garbage bags for all the trash, and I can't see the kitchen counters. I'll be unpacking boxes for at least the next five years and the cats are scared to death of the hardwood floors.
Yet, we are here so mission accomplished right?

What the Dead Know - Book Review

2009-11-10T08:58:00.000-05:00

During my absence I also finished “What the Dead Know” by Laura Lippman.

It is a fictional mystery about two sisters who end up missing and how the lives of those connected unfold over time. “What the Dead Know” is a great story with an amazing twist; unfortunately the authors writing style prevents readers from really immersing themselves in the story.

The narrative skips characters and time on a random basis with no real warning besides the start of a new chapter. Once you get the characters figured out and a good handle on the time jumping the story is a good read. It holds your interest and keeps you guessing all the way through – just like a murder mystery should.

Book Read in 2009: 28
Books to Read in 2009: 22

I think I've finally returned...

2009-11-09T20:49:00.000-05:00

Where oh where have I been?
I honestly wish I knew – I didn’t even realize it had been so long until Matt made a comment to me the other day. What can I say – life got in the way. Being sick for a few days really set me behind and I’ve been struggling to catch back up. I also woke up this morning not feeling 100% again and have only gotten worse as the day goes on. I really cannot afford to get sick again.

I think I just need to get back in my routine. I haven’t even opened my google reader since my last post and I had over a 1000 post waiting for me when I looked tonight. I’m sure I missed out on some good deals along the way.

The good news is Matt and I are officially moving into our new house this Friday. I am so excited to share before and after pictures with you. I’m also getting excited to start decorating for Christmas and get started on some of those projects I’ve been waiting to try.

Plus I’ve talked most of the families into another no gift Christmas this year so I need to get gift crafting. I’ve got some tasty treats planned – I’ll make sure share them with you as well. I also did lots of reading while I was laid up on the couch so expect some reviews soon.

Knockout Entrepreneur - Book Review

2009-10-20T00:05:00.001-04:00

So I was able to finish Knockout Entrepreneur by George Foreman last week.

The book is billed as a publication where “Foreman shares his success secrets with aspiring and current entrepreneurs” (amazon.com) Foreman walks you through what he believes are the core values to being successful for example; Know Your Foe, Listen to Your Corner, Keep Answering the Bell, and Make it Good.

In each chapter he discusses the definition of each value and gives examples from his real life. I’ll be honest I didn’t not enjoy this book. Reading it felt like a huge chore I needed to check off and it took me weeks to finish it. I love motivational books, my favorite kind is one that leaves you pumped and ready to make changes in your life – unfortunately this book doesn’t. After the first chapter it becomes one big advertisement for Foreman.

Now I know he has done amazing things with great success but it felt like every page was a big Foreman commercial. For example did you know George was, in , thought about being involved in, beef manufacturing, restaurant chains and green cleaning products? Yeah either did I but after reading about it so much I’ll never forget it that’s for sure.

The underlying advice is pretty good, but you have to wade through everything else to get to it.

Books Read in 2009: 27
Books to Read in 2009: 23

Quick Update

2009-10-19T20:12:00.001-04:00

I’m sorry my posting lately has been erratic at best, I’m trying out the posting every other day model which was going well until this weekend. Within the last week I’ve been exposed to strep throat, bronchitis, influenza A and mersa. By Friday I was feeling fine and thought I had made it through without catching anything – then I woke up Saturday. I wasn’t feeling good but not horrible either, fast forward to Sunday when I spent all day with body aches, scratchy throat, a headache and runny nose.

I think I’m starting to feel better but I’m still exhausted and my nose isn’t fairing well. I took the weekend off from working on our new house and won’t be over there tonight either. Here’s hoping I’m back in shape by Thursday so I can finish up some stuff. We are so close to moving in, just need to sand the floors and I can’t wait to share pictures with you.

Good Reads 10/16/09

2009-10-16T09:04:00.000-04:00

Check out this great tutorial on how to make Large vintage looking dominoes from Shanty 2 Chic - They look great. I can so see a set of these hanging in our new basement game room.

Michigan Saving Mama has the information on gift packs at local fast food places. These would make a great treat for Halloween night.

Frugal in Virginia has the scoop on how to get some FREE neosporin lip health from CVS

Stop by Wise Bread and read up on 28 ways to have cheap Halloween fun

Craftzine has a great post on How to make an acorn bird feeder (so cute). You can also read up on how to make a Halloween candy bar wrapper (In the shape of bats and mummies)

Coupon Cravings has a post on the new reusable bag program at CVS. Use a reusable bag 4 times and get a $1 ecb. Read the full scoop here I love all these rewards for using reusable bag now.

Linaloo has a tutorial on how to make a patchwork start

Some Cheap goodies at Menards

2009-10-15T22:11:00.003-04:00

Menards has a couple of good Freebies this week but I wanted to highlight the two I took advantage of.

This week you can get an eight pack of batteries for $1.99 with a $1 rebate making them only $.99 - that's a great deal especially with Christmas right around the corner. There is a limit of four per offer though.

And they have most of their Glade candles on sale for $1.97. My Target has marked their candles back up, but I have a ton of the $1.50 off coupons left. If you're like me and need to get rid of a few these candles come out to $.47 a piece - not as great as $.16 but still a good price. They have the tins like Target, refill packets, as well as these cute glass holders which I purchased. They are really cute holiday holders.

An Ideal Husband - Oscar Wilde

2009-10-12T00:01:00.001-04:00

I actually read An Ideal Husband, a play by Oscar Wilde last month but am just now getting around to reviewing it.

This play contains politics, love, and black mail what more could you want? Turmoil revolves around the main character’s ability to handle a threat to reveal a dark secret from his past and possibly jeopardize his marriage. You’ll read how each person responds to this information and some great interactions with one another. The deep story line discusses human morals, remorse and the question of if a loved one can accept faults.

I really enjoyed this play. It was a quick read with a story that still works today, a truly timeless piece. If you are looking for a fun steady tale that will make you smile this is the play to pick up.

Books Read in 2009: 26
Books to Read in 2009: 24

Febreze Home Collection Review

2009-10-07T23:31:00.002-04:00

I’ve had this amazing Febreze gift pack in my home for about two weeks now and can’t even express how much I love everything.

I was graciously given the gift basket by myblogspark.com and Febreze. There was a flameless candle, reed defuser, jar candle, and room spray all in the Green Tea Citrus scent. Also included were extra shades for the flame less candle in each scent.

Reed diffusers are not something we use that often in our home. Normally one of the cats ends up knocking the bottle over - I think they want to play with the sticks or something - and sure enough this one lasted about a week before Matt found it sans liquid. I do love the look of diffusers, they just don't work well in our living environment. And best of all I've recently seen these on clearance at Target and Wal-Mart so you should be able to pick them up pretty cheaply. ($7 - $9 I believe)

The flame less candle is really neat, the shade is always releasing a scent and the base flickers to look like a real candle when turned on. It is great to use when my sister is visiting - all the look of a regular candle but non of the wax or smoke. These have also been spotted on clearance at Target.

We were also able to try one of the new Febreze candles and you've got to try one for yourself to see how great they are. Honestly I' normally a Yankee Candle girl all the way when it comes to candles but I'll be adding Febreze products to my stack more and more. We used this one in our dinning room and you could smell it throughout the whole first floor. I love when you don't have to be within two feet or strain your nose to smell a good candle. These are just amazing.

Right now Wal-Mart has a ton of their Febreze candles marked down to $5 - with coupons that have been circulating you can get them for $2 to $5 - totally worth it.

Have you tried any of the new Febreze fragrance collection, what did you think?

September Financial Update

2009-10-04T18:58:00.003-04:00

I haven't done a budget update since July but here is one for September.

As of October 1st our savings stand as follows:

Car: $4,701.95 Down from July $16 which isn't too bad considering we did an oil change, brake repair and purchased four tires during the last two months.

Emergency: $5,164.42 Fully funded an up $55 from July - not a lot but we're only putting 5% of the extra into this account at this point

Dream (early retirement): $1,348 Down a lot ($857.75) from July but as I stated back then we've been buying all the new things for our home from this account since that's what it was intended for. $500 for just paint, electrical supplies and various other odds and ends were all purchased with that money.

Total: $11,215.32 down ($810) - not how I would like the numbers to look but with the circumstances being as they are I can handle it.

I really hope we can stock a lot of money away during the last few months, but we also have more money to put into our new home before we can move in (refinishing the floors, etc) so we'll see how it ends.

October is Fire Safety Month

2009-09-30T09:16:00.000-04:00

October is fire safety month which means you can expect lots of great sales on fire prevention items.

The above two pack of smoke detectors is originally $11.96 at Menards.

Right now you can pick them up on sale for $7.99 with a $3.00 rebate for a final price of $4.99 or about $2.50 each alarm - a great deal There is a limit of two and the deal also includes a small fire extinguisher.

Our new house needs smoke alarms so this sale couldn't have come at a better time.

Smart Doodles from Trent - Part One

2009-09-29T10:13:00.002-04:00

Trent at The Simple Dollar had a great post up on September 21st titled Business Card Doodles. The post contains some sketches he’s made over time on the back of business cards, many of which just resonated with me because I write things like this down all the time. My notes normally end up on scrap pieces of paper and I find them all over my desk months after they were written.

Stop by and read his original post HERE because he’s got some sound advice going on. Some of his card drawings got me thinking about my own personal finance beliefs and I wanted to share a few of my thoughts about them here. (with Trent’s permission of course)

First up...

Every $ you spend - You spend a little of your soul along with it - Spend your money wisely, dearie!

I’ve said similar things many times except rather than soul I think retirement or whatever your end goal may be. It’s sometimes hard to do but every time I go to buy something I ask myself four questions...

1. Will this actually bring me joy?
2. Will I use it enough to make up for the cost?
3. Am I willing to work more to pay for this?
4. Can I make money from it/with it?

And then if the item passes one or more of these questions I ask the most important follow up question.

Is this more important to me than doing something in my early retirement?

And no matter what your end goal is we are all saving for something – every dollar you spend today is one less dollar towards your goal.

Put the latte down and ask yourself do I want this more than I want to retire early, sit on the beach for my next vacation, that car 100% paid for, whatever it is for you.

Yet; I won't lie to you, there are definitely times when the $3 latte or a $10 Yankee Candle wins out for me. In fact a ten cent book will almost always find a place in our home. And that’s ok – we all spend our money a little frivolously here and there, but if you’re putting every tiny purchase above your goal it may be time to reevaluate what you’re saving/working for and how important it is to you.

You can have anything you want if you’re willing to work for it – you just have to figure out what you’re willing to work for… and sometimes that’s the hardest question.

More free Target candles

2009-09-28T21:11:00.003-04:00

Once I finally found a Target with candles I am loving getting these for $.16 and as an added bonus both the Targets I've shopped at have been fully stocked. I picked up five today and didn't even make a dent in their supply. (I don't like buying a lot of something if I am taking everything).

On a side note does anyone know how long these candles are going to be marked at $1.66?

5 Glade Candles $1.66
- Used (5) $1.50 off coupons from can

Total: $1.30 (I was charged tax on the full amount)

Total Savings: $14.15!!!

Last Sales of the Season

2009-09-27T22:27:00.005-04:00

I have two weeks of finds to share with you tonight.
There is one last day of my favorite flea market for the year at the end of October so we might have one more post but it won't be for a few weeks.

This old Christmas tree reminds me of one my grandma always has on her table during the holidays. I thought it was a steal at $2, plus it came with a full bag of extra bulbs, I just need to buy a light for it.

A new Volunteers of America Thrift Store opened near our home and they had some great stuff inside. I picked up the two parfait dishes for $.30 each, the cool glass vase has a really neat shape unlike anything I've seen before it was $.60. The fairy light was only $4 so of course I had to have it. And lastly there was a bag of these fake wooden butterflies and some gold ones wrapped around for $1.50. My Mom had a set of these when I was young (I even have photographic proof) so I couldn't leave the store without them. I plan to put the big ones in our new kitchen and I'll figure out what to do with the metal ones later.

My last find are these two glass lamps. They don't look great right now but I plan to clean them up and fix the bases. At $3 I couldn't let them go - I've been looking for two lamps that would fit any decor and have an old feel to them. I plan to make some great shades and use them in our new sitting/living room.

Stop by Rhonda’s party at Southern Hospitality to see even more yard sales deals. It's her last party for the year so you don't want to miss it.

Cheap Target Candles

2009-09-27T22:11:00.004-04:00

I finally made it to a Target with coupons to buy some of their cheap Glade candles.

I picked up four of the Glade Scented oil candles

The sign on the shelf said they were full price at $2.99 but when I scanned them they popped up at $1.66.

I used the $1.50 off coupon found in the top of the candle to pick these up for only $.16 each.

I plan to use them for gift baskets later this year - no one needs to know I paid less than $.20 for them

Good reads 9/25/09

2009-09-25T09:27:00.003-04:00

Cheap and super cute pumpkin decorations at Chocolate on my Cranium Seriously they're made from toilet paper rolls and fabric - don't believe me that it could be adorable then check it out for yourself.

Debt free living is attainable if you want it From Wisebread.

The Best Online Banks for Emergency Funds from Frugal Dad

A great list of Companies to email for coupons from Nicole's Nickels

Millionaire Mommy Next Door has a gust post up on Are you Saving enough for Retirement - Use these 4 simple rules to find out

The Craftzine blog has a tutorial on How to sew a small lined purse

A great post on How to make a set of floral lights from The Crafty Chica.

Learn how to recycle old candles into new ones at Recycled Crafts

Ever wanted to recreate some of those delicious restaurant meals at home? Stop by Money Saving Mom to download A free copycat restaurant recipe ebook

Did you know if you write off credit card debt you still have to claim it on your taxes? Yeah, neither did I. Stop by Wise Bread to read their article on Forgiven debt isn't really forgiven at all

Frugal in Virginia has a Reminder to get ready for after holiday clearance deals - Last year I purchased almost all our Christmas gifts for this year by the end of January 2009. We've put a little bit of money away each month throughout the year and I plan to take that money to do it all over again this year. It's so nice to have a stress free holiday.

Wal-Mart Freebies

2009-09-24T19:47:00.003-04:00

Have you been to Wal-Mart for more cheap candles and Johnson’s freebies?

- 1 Johnson’s Buddies soap $.97
Used a $1 off coupon from last weekends paper
- 1 Febreze Candle $5
Used $2 off from contest
- 2 Glade Sense & Sprays $5
Used (2) $4 off coupons from Right at home Print Yours HERE

I plan on using the candles in our new home and as some Christmas gifts.

Love! This Site Award Nomination

2009-09-23T09:36:00.003-04:00

OnOurWay has been nominated at DivineCaroline.com for a Love! This Site Award.

I'm not sure when the voting period ends but it would be an honor if you could stop by and give OnOurWay your vote - You can find us under the "Careers and Money" category or just follow This Link.

You do have to register but I promise it's easy to do and it looks like you can vote for more than one site in each category. I've already found two other sites I want to start reading in the future just from browsing the nominees.

House Projects

2009-09-21T09:20:00.002-04:00

It is official – our house is now on the market. We’ve already had one couple call and ask information about it but they haven’t scheduled a viewing yet so we’re just crossing our fingers at this point.

We did a few things to finish the house up before listing it and I promised pictures so here they are….

We painted our spare room (innuendo). I love this color so much I think we'll use it in one of our rooms at the new house.

Our bedroom went from white to a basic tan color. Not my favorite but it gets the job done.

And lastly our kitchen received a new floor. We were up till almost 1 am putting the peel and stick tiles down, but I think the end result is great.

We also gave our carpets a nice shampoo and touched up ALL the trim in the house.

Now that our current home is complete we are focusing on our new home. There is still so much to do before we can move in, but I’ll give you picture updates as I get them.

Labor Day Sales

2009-09-20T19:10:00.000-04:00

I’m a two weeks late posting these but I wanted to share some of the items I purchased at our Labor Day Yard sale extravaganza. (On a side note I looked for fun ties but only found the boring plaid kind – sorry Dad but I’ll keep my eye out).

I paid $1 for these three gourds which I plan to give to my mom, she makes bird houses with them and they’re amazing – I’ll have to share pictures one day.

The chair was $2 and I’m hoping my Mom will teach me how to reupholster it – as a thank you for the gourds of course. : ) (I’m sneaky like that). I love the curves of the chair and think it would be great in a nice retro color and maybe a dark stain. I’ll have to see what I can find.

The glass bottle was $.75. The man selling them had boxes full of old bottles, but since I couldn’t take them all I ultimately had to go with the one that most caught my eye. Green glass is always my first pick.

There is one more weekend of my favorite thrift sale and then the season is basically over here in Michigan.

Head over to Southern Hospitality to see what everyone else was able to pick up this weekend and post your own link to join in her party.

It's Football Season Again

2009-09-19T22:16:00.003-04:00

The leaves are starting to change and the weather is starting to get colder. For some people this time of the year is known only as fall – for those not so lucky we know it as football season.

When I first met Matt I realized he watched a few football games here or there yet it was nothing extravagant, but the longer we’ve been together things have started to change. More and more football has slowly seeped into our lives. It creeps up on you, one game here another there and before you know it you’ve been sucked into the life of a football wife. At this point I’m starting to think he’s one game away from breaking out the body paint and really showing some team spirit.
Let me explain what football season means for me.

Lets say for example the Lions (our state team) play a game on Saturday. We will watch said game and the ongoing commentary live, that’s all find and dandy. Sometimes I ask questions like, “How does number 20’s Mom feel about his latest drug charge,” but for the most part, I consider football to be one big soap opera with too many characters.

I can handle the original Saturday games, the really scary part comes on Sunday, when we will undoubtedly watch the game replay with even more commentary. I swear to you sometimes the Sunday commentators make remarks about Saturday’s commentating. Then if we're really lucky we get to view the game highlights on the evening news.

Whose bright idea was it to replay old games, especially those preceding 1995? Did they not realize what they were doing to wives everywhere?

I see two big problems with this football issue. First we’re watching The Lions, the team that went 0-16 last season. I mean I get the whole stand by your team and all that jazz, but the optimism every season is delusional.

2nd and maybe the most obvious we have already watched this game as in I know the score and all the good plays. I keep trying to explain to Matt that football reruns are not like extended version DVDs. You don’t watch the original in theaters and then see bonus footage later. We saw all there was to see the first time.

I continue to promise Matt the score didn’t change over night, but alas we watch again – just in case.

Why move....

2009-09-17T11:46:00.000-04:00

After my post on how we purchased a new home I received a concerned email that Matt and I were not making the best financial decision by purchasing a second home right now. I want to promise everyone Matt and I did not enter into this decision lightly – we discussed it and ran numbers for months – seriously. We also looked at homes for over seven months before finding the place for us. It has the right qualities, the right location and of course the right price, but there are other perks as well.

Less gun confusion
Some of the reasons we decided it was time to move were financial and some where not. In my last post about the issue I said our new place was in a much better neighborhood and I wasn’t exaggerating about the gun shots. This summer we had three shootings within a two mile radius of our home. The convenience store is robbed once a month on average – not kidding; it’s time for us to get out.

There are also financial things to consider. While we did basically drain our “dream/retirement” savings account (or will after updates) I’m ok with it because one of the first things we said we wanted to do with that money was to purchase a new “forever” home, which now we’ve done.

Great Prices
Yeah, I’ll admit I wish we would have had a bigger down payment saved but the house was a serious steal. We purchased our new home for about $40K less than all the similar homes in the area and in total it is only $20K more than our current home. I’ll pay $20K more to avoid the gun fire. Even with this new purchase we can still make all of our bills on one income (after we sell our current home). Until we sell our house we’ll continue to pay all our bills with Matt’s income but rather than put my entire pay check into savings $600 will come out to make our current house payment.

Good Mortgage News
Since our new home is the perfect home for us and we plan to be there for a quite a while I’m excited to start working on paying off the mortgage and our student loans early, they are the only debts we have left. (I’m thinking some big progress on this in 2010).

2009 – $12K savings goal
One thing we have had to face is the fact we are not going to make our $12,500 savings goal for 2009. We’ve put the money into our down payment, closing cost and updates to both homes.

I thought I’d be more upset about missing this goal but really I’m ok with it. I’m sure when the year is over we’ll still have saved way more than we would have had with no goal this year at all. We still have a great car and emergency fund that’s growing every day – and we have no plans to touch any of that money.

I think in 2010 we’ll try to save $10,000, not because I don’t think we can do $12,000 but because $10 in ’10 has such a nice ring to it… yes I’m very OCD.

Timing
And lastly we also considered the timing – not just for the market conditions but also our situation. Matt and I would like to have children in the next year and I figure it’s best to take the plunge of buying and selling a home while we’re both working full time than having to worry about it when we might be in a more difficult financial position.

Ok – this is turning into a long post but I wanted to just let everyone see that we really did put a lot of thought into this decision and this is just a small sampling of what we considered when deciding to buy – now you see why it took so long.

And I have some big plans for this house – all of which you’ll be along for the ride for, but those are quite a while in the future.

More Book Sale Finds...

2009-09-16T11:54:00.001-04:00

Matt and I went to our favorite quarterly book sale this weekend. We purchased 57 books for $6 that’s only TEN CENTS a book!

I love library books sales like this as a way to get cheap books. Matt and I always go on the Sunday for the $3 bag day and we normally walk away with some great finds. In the past I’ve found basically complete series (Goosebumps, Box Car Kids etc) and have sold them on Craigslist to make back our money and then some.

Here are some of the better titles we brought home this trip…

3 Home improvement books
Memoirs of a Geisha
The Purpose Driven Life
The Complete Cheapskate
Travels – Crichton
The Postman
Who Moved my Cheese
2 Books by Suze Orman
10 Natural Laws of Success Time and Life Management
Rich Dad Poor Dad
The Millionaire Next Door
How to Conquer Clutter
Confessions of an Organized Homemaker
Smart Woman Finish Rich - Bach
White Oleander
1001 Ways to Stretch a Dollar
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff and it’s all small stuff.
And lots of Tom Clancy books for Matt

And if I get doubles of a particular book or don’t enjoy it I list them on in order to get even more cheap reads.

Bloggy Break Notice

2009-09-14T23:31:00.003-04:00

I have to admit defeat for the next few days. I've come to the realization that I can't work 45+ hours a week, complete remodel projects on TWO houses, and run this blog to it's fullest while maintaining the ability to eat and sleep.

I do have a few post written that I want to share but please just realize there may be a day in between post. I promise it's not a permanent thing - we should be officially listing our house this Thursday which will help with everything a little.

I'll also be sharing some pictures of our projects soon as well. Stay tuned.

Kroger GC Winner purchases

2009-09-13T19:55:00.002-04:00

I'm a tad behind on my email reading but I wanted to pass on the link Laura sent with pictures of all the items she purchased with the $30 Kroger gift card she won right here at On Our Way.

Stop by Laura's Life and congratulate her on the great deals.

A Clockwork Orange

2009-09-10T20:32:00.001-04:00

A Clockwork Orange is a tale from Anthony Burgess about an adolescent boy, Alex. Alex is, “Our humble Narrator” who takes us on a journey through his youth in London (set in a future time period).

We read as Alex goes through what I’ll call an extreme rebellious period – his reformation and subsequent life choices. Sometimes when I read what others call “an American classic” I’m left wondering why exactly the book was given that honor, but I can see why A Clockwork Orange was. It’s a gruesome but cautionary tale of violence and government repression (in some sorts). Alex is originally allowed the choice of good or evil before others try to take it away, which makes the question of this novel. Is it better to have the choice of good or evil, even if people may pick evil?

The storyline and character actions often go to the extreme but I think there is a great point to be found within these pages that is still functional today.

One caution: Burgess uses many of his own slang words through the novel – I found a great online site and spent most of the first six/seven chapters translating from their dictionary.

Books Read in 2009: 25
Books to Read in 2009: 25

Still time for free swagbucks

2009-09-07T21:38:00.003-04:00

Don't forget September is the month of Swag.

You can learn about all the new updates to Swagbucks and find out how to get some extra bucks at my original post HERE

You still have until September 10th to use the code megscode (case sensitive) to get an extra two bucks (FIVE total) when you sign up.

Good Reads 9/4/09

2009-09-04T09:45:00.003-04:00

Some good reads to pass your way from this week.

Get Rich Slowly has the scoop on How to Boost your retirement - Great advice for this market.

Wise Bread has a post up on Buying a home without the 20% down payment - It's pretty obvious from my recent post how I feel about this since we just purchased with only 5% down but I'd love to hear what you think.

Frugal Dad has a great post on why you should Stop Allowing Fear to Guide Financial Decisions He ends with stating that sometimes you just have to live a little and I couldn't agree more. Actually I think at times I might need to listen to my fears a little more - we've basically stopped watching the news on financial things and just trying to live like we want to (which for us luckily includes saving and living frugal).

Wise Bread has another post up this week on 15 websites that pay you to recycle - If you're planning on getting rid of something check this list first.

A. Baker, Get Rich Slowly's first Staff writer wrote about Making the most of small windfalls - Something Matt and I need to work on as well.

And lastly it's not a post but an entire blog you need to read Backpacking Dad - It's a blog not about backpacking but being a Dad and he's hilarious (which is the most important part duh)

Who doesn't love a good deal?

2009-09-03T21:25:00.002-04:00

Labor day weekend is a huge yard sale weekend. For some places (like Michigan) this weekend marks your last chance at decent weather to even have a sale. Here in the big mitten it is suppose to be in the 70's for the next four days so after work this afternoon Matt and I plan to stop by a few select sales. I can't wait to see what we find.

If you are planning on doing some of your own sale hosting this weekend stop by Money Saving Mom to read her Tips for a Successful garage sale

Quick Wal-Mart Trip

2009-09-03T10:39:00.000-04:00

I made a quick trip to Walmart this week to pick up Cat food (used my giveabowl $3.50 off coupon) and decided to use a few other coupons in the process.

2 Glade Soy candles (on rollback) $3
- Used (2) $3 off from Redplum.com (zip code: 48910)
= FREE
(I think I may have mentioned how much I love these candles once or twice... ok maybe five or six times, but they are amazing)

1 Febreze candle (also amazing things) (rollback) $5
- Used $2 off coupon from 8/30 insert
= $3 total cost after coupons - A great price for these

I also picked up a pack of 5 furnace filters for less than $4 in a clearance aisle. These will come in handy this winter.

Have you picked up any great items from Walmart lately?

I won a $15 Amazon gift card... and you can too!

2009-09-03T10:13:00.001-04:00

When Matt and I were in Vegas I ended up playing on a Monopoly community gaming station and winning $14 from just a single dollar. It was actually a lot of fun, there were six of us at the table and we were all talking while playing. (Matt and I aren't really gamblers so a $14 win was big for us)

Anyway, I didn't really know what the new community thing was other than I liked it, until we returned home and I decided to play the Monopoly town Instant win game from WMS gaming. I haven't played any Instant Win games this summer since we've been so busy but decided to give this one a shot.

I've been playing the instant win for about two weeks now (and actually learning about all the games I played in Vegas) when Tuesday night I won a $15 Amazon gift card. Such a great reward for clicking the mouse a few times.

So you wanna win $15?
Here's How:

Visit the WMS.com site and click on the Instant win box on the lower left corner.

Sign up for the instant win and sweepstakes game (must be 21 to play)

Start by selecting one of the new slot machines and spin the reel to see if you're a winner.

You can play up to five times per day for a chance to win a prize.

The instant win game runs until September 28th and you can only win one instant win prize so get signed up.

::Prizes up for grabs::

2 Grand Prizes: $5,000 - done by drawing from all entries

100 First prizes: $50 Amazon.com gift card
200 Second Prizes: $25 Amazon.com gift card
2,200 Third Prizes: $15 Amazon.com gift card
2000 Fourth prizes: $10 Amazon.com gift card

One of the reasons I love instant win games (besides the prizes) is because they're actually a lot of fun - and this one doesn't disappoint.

Get to Menards...quick

2009-09-02T09:27:00.000-04:00

Right now until September 13th Menards is having a huge store wide clearance event.

I would strongly suggest if you have one close by to make a stop in, especially if you have students headed back into school soon.

I picked up this set of four poster markers for $1.99 Tuesday afternoon. I plan to split them up and include them in a Christmas basket this year. All their Crayola items are 50% off including back to school and discontinued office supplies.

Some of the other huge clearance areas include:

35% off all discontinued indoor lighting
40% off all water gardening and accessories
20% off all grass sead
20% off all stanley laser levels
35% all discontinued landscape lighting (my store didn't have a huge selection left)
25% off all portable fans
35% all lawn games
35% all pools and pool toys (they had one of those big air blown pools for under $40)
35% all discontinued faucets
40% all adjustable screenettes
30% all discontinued water filtration
30 - 45% all discontinued wallpaper
40% all hummingbird and oriole feeders
35% all discontinued picture frames (I went a little crazy in this section - lots of stuff)
30% all stock wood and vinyl screen doors
35% discontinued landscaping blocks
20% discontinued fencing
40% all suntan lotion
20% all coolers
25% discontinued indoor/outdoor carpet
15% playset kits and accessories (including slides)
20% all discontinued hardwood flooring
40% all discontinued laminate flooring
30% all camping supplies
40% all discontinued area rugs
20% insect repellents 30% off citronella candles
30% all pots, planters and plant stands
50% decorative lawn statues and patio lights
30% all birdbaths and fountains
30% all arbors and trellises

And of course they have a list of great after rebate items

Blacktop crack filler FREE after $3.50 MIR (limit 4)
10 Piece Shappu knife set FREE after $2 MIR (limit 2)
12 pack Pint sized canning jars $4.88 after $2 MIR (limit 12 packs)
Nano Glue $2.99 after $4 MIR (limit 2)
Silicone Sealant $.99 after $2 MIR. (limit 12)
Tape measure or hammer $.99 after $2 MIR (limit 4 total)

You can find tons of items to make those last minute home improvements before the weather turns, great buys for next summer or Christmas stocking stuffers.

Goodwill Finds 8/30

2009-09-01T22:08:00.000-04:00

After running to CVS on Sunday Matt and I took a car load to Goodwill (remember our 30% goal).
And there was no way I was going to be that close to a Goodwill without going in - I did however only pick up two things.

The leaf dish was $.59 and I'm going to use it for some fall decorating. The fake silver platter was $.99 and I have big plans for it in the future. I love all the chalk board things people have been making and have a great decorating idea for our new house. I only need to buy one more small tray, a larger one, some silverware and possibly a set of old keys (if that gives you any hints to what I'm planning).

50% off Boston Market - Labor Day weekend only!

2009-09-01T21:59:00.003-04:00

Love Boston Market? So do I -
This Labor Day weekend only (September 5-7th) you can receive 50% off your Boston Market order of any family meal or market feast.

Visit THIS LINK and enter the email address where you would like your coupon sent.

Just make sure to print off the entire email when you go to redeem your coupon - some locations want to see who the coupon was actually sent to and not one that has been printed from a PDF.

CVS 8/30

2009-09-01T20:59:00.003-04:00

I actually made it to CVS on Sunday but while typing up my quick trip recap firefox closed out on me twice and once 1am hit I decided it was time to give up.

Now that things seem to be working again we'll get to the posting.

1 Glade Soy Candle $6.99
- Used 1 $2 off coupon
1 CVS lotion $1.49
- Used free item coupon from August
1 CVS hand soap $1.99
- Used Free item coupon (emailed to me)

Total: $10.47
After coupons: $4.99
Paid with ECB's and earned $6.99 back in ECB's from Glade candle deal.

Have I mentioned I LOVE the Glade soy candles, especially when they are FREE! No wait when I was paid $2 to buy it.

Swagbucks Special News

2009-09-01T00:10:00.000-04:00

More great news from Swagbucks this week.

Don’t know what Swagbucks is? Check out my original post HERE to learn everything you need to know. I’ve earned over $100 in free Amazon money from Swagbucks this year and you can too.

To celebrate their big news Swagbucks is offering all new registers extra Swagbucks. If you sign up for Swagbucks before September 10th and use the code megscode (case sensitive) you’ll receive 3 free Swagbucks just for signing up and an additional 2 for using my special code.

So what’s the big news you ask?

This month Swagbucks is launching their new toolbar which is compatible with Safari, Firefox, and IE but will also provide links to lots of other Swagbucks items including a quick link to log in to your Swagbucks account.

Then the news gets even better (here’s where you should be listening… wait… reading) When you download the tool bar you will receive a special swag code EVERY day in September. That’s right you can receive up to 30 extra Swagbucks just for downloading the tool bar. That’s more than half way to your first Amazon gift card.

You can download the tool bar starting today from THIS link.

But the new toolbar isn’t the only new item being released this month.
SWAGO is Swagbucks answer to Bingo. During the month of September when you order special select prizes in the Swag store Swagbucks will send you a special SWAGO piece. If you can collect all the pieces in a row you will be awarded 1000 swag bucks!

You can also find a new Back to School section in the Swag store. You’ll be able to find everything you need to equip. yourself for the back to school season from elementary and up.

Make sure to visit the Swag blog at (http://blog.swagbucks.com) for more information.

And remember sign up for Swagbucks using my code (megscode) before September 10th to earn extra swag.

Fiber One Giveaway Winner

2009-08-31T22:01:00.002-04:00

Congratulations to ...

Comment #12 from Anna B. for being the winner of our Fiber One Giveaway.

Anna Said

I really enjoy the fiber one yogurt. I am a strawberry girl for sure!!

Thanks to everyone who entered and keep checking back for more giveaways in the future.

Anna - Make sure to check your email - I've sent you a confirmation email and need your reply within 48 hours. Thanks!

FREE $10 Mall gift card

2009-08-28T15:48:00.002-04:00

Hey Mom Saves Money has a great post on how to get a FREE (no strings attached) $10 gift card to quite a few different malls. Check out her post on how you can find a participating mall near you.

Good Reads 8/28

2009-08-28T10:16:00.000-04:00

Reading the blogs so you don't have to...

The Simple Dollar has a great guest post on Having enough for life.

Recyled Crafts has a tutorial on turning a pop top can into a gift tin.

Money Saving Mom has the scoop on how you can get free museum tickets this weekend.

Coupon Savings has the link to where you can get a FREE sample of Fancy Feast Appetizers

Makes and Takes has a post up on how to make Fuzzy bath bombs I LOVE these. I'm thinking Mothers day next year.

Frugal Dad shares how to Make a dream budget for extra motivation

Have a great post on your blog this week? Feel free to leave a link in the comments section for a great post you've written or read this week.

Fiber One Giveaway Reminder

2009-08-27T23:20:00.001-04:00

Don't forget to enter the Fiber One gift basket giveaway.

The offer ends Sunday at midnight - I'll be posting a winner Monday afternoon.

Remember your odds of winning a giveaway hosted at a blog are the best out there so get your entry in asap!

Our New House

2009-08-27T19:40:00.000-04:00

Right before we left for Veags I left a post stating we closed on our new home. I mentioned a few times on the blog that we were looking but hadn’t talked much about it. Basically I didn’t want to jinx anything but since it’s 100% ours now I feel safe showing pictures.

So here it is …

This is also the reason I’ve been really busy, Matt and I are dividing our time between both working full time, fixing up our current home so we can put it on the market and get our new home finished so we can move in at some point.

We’ve been trying to take a few before, during, and after pictures as we work – so I’ll try and post some for you when I can.

We really need to try and get a decent price for our current home, even in this market. Our new home is just a little smaller than our current one but is in a much better neighborhood which will provide us with a better long term living option. I’m so ready live in a home where I don’t have to wonder if that loud noise was fireworks or gun shots.