And the winner of out 10,000 visitor giveaway is...

This giveaway is now closed.  

#283 

Congratulations to our winner. The winning number was selected using random.org. However, since there were only 4 participants in this giveaway, and no one picked the winning number, I decided that the good old "Name in a hat" selection was best. With that said, Congratulations goes to:

VENESSA P.

Please email AMWcoupon[at]gmail[dot]com right away to claim your prize.  Winner will have 3 days to respond before an alternate winner is selected.  

A BIG THANK YOU  to all of you who participated. If you didn’t win this time around, don’t worry! I'm sure there are more giveaways to come.  

"Take Me to the King"

The first time I ever heard this song, it really struck a note within me. How many times as a Christian are we discouraged; just going through the motions of Church and we obviously don't want to give up or walk away. But the fight has worn on us.

It's times like this, I encourage myself with a song, remind myself that it's not my strength I need to rely on, and lean on HIM, the who is my strength. 

So today, I'd like to leave a bit of encouragment to those who a battle weary. 

Psalm 46 KJV

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. 

This life is full of sadness, anger, and many hurting people. So I challenge you to look around your work place, school, and your neighborhood. Look deeper than what people say, and see if God won't lead you to someone who needs HIM. 


Lyrics:

TAMELA MANN - 

Take Me To The King Lyrics

I don't have much to bring
My heart is torn in pieces
It's my offering

Truth is I'm tired
Options are few
I'm trying to pray
But where are you?
I'm all churched out
Hurt and abused
I can't fake
What's left to do?

Truth is I'm weak
No strength to fight
No tears to cry
Even if I tried
But still my soul
Refuses to die
One touch will change my life

I don't have much to bring
My heart's torn in pieces
It's my offering

Lay me at the throne
Leave me there alone
To gaze upon Your glory
And sing to You this song
Please take me to the King

Truth is it's time
To stop playing these games
We need a word
For the people's pain

So Lord speak right now
Let it fall like rain
oh, yeah, We're desperate
We're chasing after you

No rules, no religion
I've made my decision
To run to You –
The healer that I need

I don't have much to bring
My heart's torn to pieces
It's my offering

Lay me at the throne
Leave me there alone
To gaze upon Your glory
And to sing to You this song

Take me to the...

Lord we're in the way
We keep making mistakes
Glory is not for us
It's all for You

I don't have much to bring
My heart's torn to pieces
It's my offering

Lay me at the throne
Leave me there alone
To gaze upon Your glory
And sing to You this song

I had my first Quiz in college last week

Boy was I ever scared too! 

Leeeeeeeeettt's just say I graduated in 2000, so this is the first time I am going back to school since then. 

When I started college, I had no idea what it was going to be like. I anticipated it to be SUPER HARD, but it's not. In fact, it's a little too easy. Maybe because I am only taking Child Development classes, but if I don't get an A on my quiz, I'd be surprised. 

I'm just thankful that I felt confident enough on my first quiz, and that I didn't blank out.

We've reached 10,000 visitors! Time for a giveaway!

So excited that we reached 10,000 views. In honor of that, I will be giving away a $5 gift card to Starbucks or Jamba Juice. If you are interested in this giveaway, please leave a comment below with a topic suggestion you'd like to see covered here on the blog, AND pick a number between 1-300. Limit of 1 entry per person. Winners will be chosen at random with an online number picker. Contest ends February 28, 2014 @11:59pm PSD.

Paid Focus groups, who doesn't want a little extra spending money

So I recently signed up for a Focus group  company that pays you for your time to test products. It's in Pleasanton. They ask you a bunch of questions to check if you can be part of the study group. I signed up, and got a $5 gift card to starbucks, but you can choose from several different options. I haven't been called for any focus groups yet, but there are a few local moms that have, and they've made $60 here, and $100 there.It got me to thinking, that I should let others know about it too. I'm sure everyone would love to make a few dollars. So if you want to sign up, email me at AMWcoupon[at]gmail[dot]com and I will send you the invite. It's free and no obligations.

Free bread from Boudine Bakery for 1 year, yes please!

If you are in the Vacaville area, you may just want to check this out. Boudin is offering free bread for a year if you are one of the first 100 people.

You can find more information here.

REVIEW: thred UP! It's better than going to the thrift store.

Just want to say how happy I was with my order from thred UP.  What's thred up you say?

It's an awesome site - you can buy or conveniently sell excellent-quality women's and kids clothing.  They’ve got everything from Gucci to Gap, J Crew to Justice - at up to 90% off retail prices! The best part is, they're local, AND I can get you $10 off your first purchase with this link.


I originally purchased a few items, and got a great deal on them. Their customer service/quality control is awsome! I found this really cute dress for my niece, so I added it to my purchase. Upon shipping, they noticed a spot, so what did they do? THEY REFUNDED ME! Not only did they refund me for the dress, but they also sent the dress. So essentially, I got it for free. Threw it in the washer, and the spot was gone.

So how does it work, well there are two areas that thred UP specializes in.  One, buying and two, selling.

thredUP is the easiest way to save on great clothing brands and hand down clothing your family no longer wears for cash. We're like a consignment boutique - but simpler. On thredUP you can refresh your family's entire wardrobe online, without ever leaving your house.

Here's how it works:

SHOP: Browse thousands of like-new clothing items, which we've hand-selected and certified for quality. You'll find all your favorite brands discounted up to 80% off year-round. Shop »

CLEAN OUT: When your family has clothing they no longer wear (kids, juniors and women's), simply fill up a thredUP bag and put it on your doorstep. thredUP covers the shipping, and pays you for every item we can hand down to other families. Hand down »

With so many sites popping up on the internet, it hard to know which ones are safe and legit to order from. I can't say enough good things about thred up. So if you're looking for something in particular, check out thred UP here.

College, Books and Financial Aid...Oh MY!

So I recently decided to go back to school. Let me just say college can be overwhelming if you don't know what you are doing, and I clearly did not know what I was doing...lol! 

I had a general idea on what classes I wanted to take, but I just had to make sure I was taking the right ones. I initially thought I was signing up for a local college (LANEY), but it turns out the classes are offered at a sister college (MERRITT). 

I also started this process about a week or two before Christmas 2013. After 3 trips between the two campuses, I finally realized what I needed to do. Here is what happened...lol!

So off to the college I went. Only it was not the right college campus! Upon arriving at the college, I decided to hit up financial aid first.....so glad I did. (Thankfully, I had already applied for admissions and FAFSA, that much I did know how to do)

At the Financial aid office, the line was OUT OF THE DOOR CRAZY LONG! So I stood in line, and waited......and waited....and waited even more, for almost 2 hours only to be told I needed to go to Merritt to apply for Financial aid. However, the guy I spoke with was not very clear at all, I had no idea why I couldn't just got to Laney (where I thought my classes were going to be at). I then headed up to see a counselor, only everyone else had the same idea, and I was turned away because they could not see me because of the long line of other students waiting. So I went home. :( Still worried I might be in the wrong classes.


Long story short, a trip to Merritt, a bus ride downtown to Oakland IRS, and back to Merrit, I FINALLY got financial aid taken care of, my fees waived, and enrolled in the right classes.

The cost of college text books are CRAZY expensive. So I did some research, rented my books from here, used a coupon from here, and also used a cash back site on my online purchase from here. Overall for two classes, I spent $37.46 on my books! THATS AMAZING! It broke down like this:

Subtotal:            $39.43
Tax:                   $3.55
Shipping:                $5.99
6% Off coupon:  -$2.37
Free Shipping:    -$5.99
Total:                $40.61

PLUS I'll get 8% cashback from shopathome.com (so that's another $3.15)

So my GRAND TOTAL I paid was: $37.46!! 

 I saved $344.00 over the cost of buying my books brand new instead of renting them. To add icing to the cake, the site I ordered from also has free shipping back to them for rented books.

So if you do your research, books don't have to cost you an arm and a leg. 

REVIEW: Buying bulk chicken from Zaycon foods. I highly recommend.

I have to say, to the average household who goes grocery shopping several times a week, buying 40lbs of chicken breast from Zaycon foods can be super scary (and downright wasteful if you don't know what to do with it.).  But with a little planning and a little prep time, you can make this,

turn into this,

Note: this is only what 20lbs looks like. So double what you see for a 40lb box.

My 20lbs made 11 meals. 3 meal portions of shredded chicken, 6 half breast whole, 3 meal portions of chicken cutlets, 2 meal portions of stir-fry chicken, and 5 cups of chicken broth. I only had 13oz of fat i needed to trim and about 1.5 cups of liquid waste. Well worth the price. This lasted my family of 5 (3 adults, two kids) for 2 months.

Last time I purchased a box, I split the box with a friend. Inside each box there are 4 bags of large chicken breast (each breast weighs about 16oz or more and they come with both halves together, so that is approx. 32oz) To say that you can share a single breast is an understatement. An average portion size in a restaurant and/or grocery store is about 5-8oz each.

I HIGHLY recommend buying from Zaycon. chicken taste wonderful. It's farm fresh, never frozen, hormone free, and usually straight from the slaughter house to your door step. No middle man or waiting to be packaged in grocery stores. The current price Zaycon is offering on chicken is $1.89/lb. Costco is approx $2.99/lb or more. Grocery store chains, may be closer to the price Zaycon is offering, BUT the quality that you get from Zaycon is MUCH better!

The awesome thing about Zaycon is that they not only have chicken, but ground beef, bacon, strawberries, and MANY more items. So if you are interested in signing up to see if Zaycon will be in your area, and what dates, go here. You won't be sorry.

Free sample of Finish Diswashing Tabs

Love Finish Dishwashing tabs! They work magic in my dishwasher over all other tabs I've tried. So why not snag a free sample of them?

You can go here to get your free sample.


Thanks to Couponlikeaman!

Life doesn't care about your schedule. It goes on with or without you.

Oh how I have missed the blogging world, but things, no, life has a way of taking up your time, if you know what I mean. I've been soo busy that I had to set a few things down and one, was my blog.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still super busy with life and it's many, MANY, MANY, twist and turns, but setting a few minutes aside a few times a week won't be too much to ask now will it?

My last blog post was well over two years ago. So as a refresher to all, I'd like to post 15 things about me.

1.  I love God, my husband, and my two kids.
2.  I have two littles here on earth (One boy and One girl) and 4 littles in Heaven. 
3.  I've been married for 8 years to my best friend.
4.  I moved out "on my own" when I was only 17.
5.  I love baking.
6.  I hate the gap in between my teeth. I'm super self conscious about it.
7.  I am a couponer and a bargain hunter by nature. (I'm sure you'll see tons of that in the future)
8.  I usually drive the long road trips and always make my husband drive around town.
9.  My favorite fruit...Nectarines, but now white nectarines!
10. I nearly drowned at 2. My babysitters son (who was 3) saved my life, and I vividly remember it.
11. I sing, but not as good as I imagine I can. 
12. I'd love to own a plantation style home
13. My favorite childhood book is "Cloudy with a chance of meatballs" 
14.  I'd love to one day own my own bakery.

and finally...

15. My favorite food is Mexican! I heart salsa and chip in particular. I have been known to eat several baskets by myself...lol!

Here's to blogging once again!