Five Great Apps for Planning a Date Night

FTC disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.

My husband and I love to go out and do fun things.  It is rare that we have a date night that isn't in some way associated with something we needed to do that week, but it's also because we live in such a rural area that we try to plan our trips to the cities near us.  When we do, we always pull out my iPhone 7 Plus from U.S. Cellular and plan the evening.

When we were dating, we did a lot of texting as phone plans were different back then.  Did you know that 61% of people texted a potential love interest within the first few weeks following a first date.  (Funny but true, by the time my husband and I had a real date we were already married.  Everything we tried to plan fell through, including a trip to the Smithsonian -- that was when the government was shut down!  Perhaps my husband should have used these apps!)

What are some apps that are helpful when planning a date night?

Here's What Happened When I Took a Blogging Course And What I Recommend Instead

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

In early 2016, I decided to take a blogging course.  It was quite a bit of money, but I also know that investing in myself is something I need to do from time to time.

The TL;DR version is:  I got my money back from the author of the course and I recommend other things instead of a high priced course.

Why?

1.  My page views went down.   I recently took the GRE and scored at the 82nd percentile of writing, so my page views are not reflective of my writing ability.  I think what happened was two things:  I deleted tons of old content which would have been drawing a little traffic to my blog, and secondly, I felt very forced in what I had to write.  A year later, and I'm still struggling to get page views back to where they were.

How to DIGITAL Coupon at Dollar General

For years, I have loved the $5 off $25 purchase coupons at Dollar General.  Dollar General is a great place for inexpensive items, and that coupon has helped me get some super bargains over the years.

Now that Dollar General has an app where you can load coupons to your account, there are so many more savings opportunities!

It seems that most Saturdays you can download a $5 off $25 coupon right in the app.  The wonderful thing about this coupon is the discount is taken BEFORE coupons apply.  (A few stores may do it differently, but my stores take it from pre-coupon discounts).  So in theory, I can make sure I buy items using coupons.  The original pre-coupon price only needs to hit $25 for the $5 off $25 coupon to be deducted.  The $5 off $25 coupon also works on sale and clearance items.

Save Big by Shopping at A Grocery Store Outlet

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

If you have been following my blog for any time, you know that I love a good bargain.  I have been using coupons for nearly a quarter of a century -- since I was in my teens!  But today I am going to talk about shopping at grocery outlets.  I am fortunate enough to have one about 20 minutes from me, and a different one, which I try to visit a couple times a year just two hours from me.  There are other things I do in that town, so it's not just a trip to visit the outlet, but the car sure does come back filled!

Grocery outlets usually don't accept coupons, but that's okay because many times you can get items as cheap if not cheaper than double coupons.

The most unfortunate part of outlets is if they run out of something, they might not get it back in stock.  So if you see your favorite cereal there get as much as you will use before it goes stale.

Life Update February 2017

I haven't given a life update / Adoption update since August, so I thought it was time to fill all of you in as to what has been going on in our lives.

Yes, we still want to adopt.  That is a huge desire.  But while I wouldn't say life has been getting in the way, we have been trying to prepare ourselves for that.  We've been doing a lot of work on the emotional and mental preparation that comes with fostering / adopting.  We had more to do on that than I had realized, so this has been taking some time.

We are still working on the house.  Not only does it need to be up to code, but I am still getting rid of "stuff".  What is this "stuff"?   Mom had, as her best friend from high school put it, "Many Treasures".  Not long after Mom passed away I had some work done on the house.  Most of this was put in tubs and needs to be unpacked and sorted through.  (A few keep items, some to give away, some will get tossed.)  This is slower going than I had anticipated, and it is also mentally exhausting as well.  

Christmas Without Debt: February Edition - Stationary

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Welcome to my monthly series on how we can plan to have a Christmas without debt.  Not having debt eases stress and anxiety, which means we will appreciate the holiday more and be able to enjoy the extra time with loved ones without worrying about the bills that will come due in December.

As I mentioned in my December Christmas without Debt post,  you should know how much you should set back each month based on your spending last Christmas.    You should plan on either spending that whole monthly amount through the year -- or setting it back for use at Christmastime -- or a combination of the two.

This month we are going to focus on cards and greetings.

I Was Kicked Out of CVS Over Legit Coupon Useage!

I have been a CVS shopper for years, and yesterday I was in our "city" (town of 35,000 or so) and decided to pick up some stuff at CVS before heading home.  I didn't go to the one I prefer in that town because it was snowing, and I wanted to get home as quickly as possible.  (Little did I know that I should have gone to the CVS I preferred because although inconveniently located, they are well trained to handle coupons.)

I bought a number of items, including the eggs at 99 cents which were limited to two per person.  I have always obeyed limits when shopping.  I read a sign (or misread, I will say I may have been at fault here, but this is important at check out) I read a sign that said Coke products were 3 for $15, spend $30 get $10 back in Extra Care Bucks.

The Five Most Unique Things I have Received In the Mail

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I was on Facebook earlier and it seemed the entire thing was arguing.  I wanted to do something fun, and I thought I would write about the five most unique things I have received through the mail (All but one have been received through the United States Postal Service.)  Some of these were mailed before 2001 and the anthrax scares, so I don't know that all can be mailed now or not.

How Best to Use your Remaining My Coke Rewards Points

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links

The Internet has been abuzz with the news that the MyCokeRewards.com program is ending.  Currently no new members are able to sign up.  The timeline for the program is as follows:

March 22:  Last Day to Enter Point
June 30:  Last Day to Spend Points
July 1: A new promotion begins

I've been a member of MyCokeRewards for over twelve years.  I am very sorry to see this program go.  Over the years I have redeemed points for everything from Coke coupons to snow globes and Christmas ornaments.

Christmas Without Debt: January Clearance Sales

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Hopefully you made a tally last month of everything you will need for next Christmas.  January is the time to buy those items!  This is the month that many things go on clearance, sometimes as low as 90 percent off -- or even 25 cents an item.  Usually gift wrap can't be bought at this super low price, so I recommend that being bought right after Christmas and not waiting and watching sale prices so you can have the best selection.

This week, I stopped in at Target where all Christmas items were 90% off.  There wasn't much left, as I was a few days into the sale.

However, I stopped at Dollar General on Tuesday to buy something and saw their Christmas items were 25 cents each.  I ended up going to twelve Dollar Generals over the next few days.  I got Christmas cards as low as 30 for 25 cents.  The most expensive retail priced item was a huge package of decorations that was originally priced $18, and I paid a quarter for it.  I loaded up on all kinds of items -- some will go on eBay, some will be made into gift baskets for local schools' fundraising purposes, and some I will use.  There were adult coloring books, children's t-shirts, tablecloths, canned pumpkin, cookie mixes, plaques, lip balm, playing cards, wax scents, hand washing soap, air freshener, and much, much more.