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Luv Saving Money – Page 1001 – Life on a Budget

5-Hour ENERGY Review

You’ve probably seen the commercials for 5-hour ENERGY. I had seen them several times. They advertise “zero sugar, only 4 calories”.

As a mom of 3 boys, who also works outside the home, takes care of the house, run kids to practices, etc Like most moms I could use a little extra energy sometimes.  I decided to give the original 5-hour ENERGY a try.  I look at this tiny 5-hour ENERGY bottle and thought, “boy I hope this works”. I was impressed with how quickly it seemed to work. I felt like I had energy within 15 minutes of drinking it. This was the regular strength. It really did seem to last for 5 hours too. I’m a 5-hour ENERGY drinker now. I try to drink one only when I need it. I started browsing 5-hour ENERGY‘s site and noticed that they make a decaf and an extra strenght variety too. I was interested to try them since the regular strength worked so well.

5-hour ENERGY was generous enough to send me a double pack of the extra strength 5-hour ENERGY and the decaf 5-hour Energy so that I could try it and complete a review. The package from 5-hour ENERGY arrived with perfect timing. After working 11 days straight, taking care of the 3 boys, and keeping the house, by that 11th day I was beat down. I had off Friday for a comp day for my weekend but it was the joint party for my son and neice for their 1st birthday then Saturday was my oldest birthday party with his friends at the house. I needed a 5-hour ENERGY bad.

The Extra Strength 5-hour ENERGY still says “zero sugar, zero herbal stimulants, only 4 calories.” It also claims it has as much caffeine as 12 oz of premium coffee. I drank the whole bottle of Extra Strength 5-hour ENERGY. Bad move. The bottle states “drink half the bottle for moderate energy, drink the whole 2 oz bottle for maximum energy.” Even though I knew how good the regular strength worked, I downed the whole extra strength bottle. I was so wired I didn’t know what to do with myself. And it last for actually 6 hours. I watched the clock. I got a lot done but it was way too much for me. My recommendation…only drink half if you don’t know how it will affect you.

So today, the day of my oldest sons party (after the joint party yesterday for the 1 year olds), I decided to try the decaf variety. I only drank half this time. Half worked ok, but in this case I probably should have went ahead and drank the whole bottle. The decaf was in a citrus flavor. Again the decaf 5-hour ENERGY states “zero sugar, only 4 calories and with less caffeine than a decaf cup of coffee”.

So my question was, If there there is minimal caffeine, no sugar, no herbal stimulants, what is it that makes this stuff really work? I looked over the website http://www.5hourenergy.com/QandA.asp It the B vitamins, amino acids, and nutrients. On a side note, when I was pregnant and had no energy my dr. had recommended to me to take B6 and B12 vitamins on top of taking my prenatals. It really did seem to help me. So it makes sense to me how this would work.

While the Extra Strength certainly does work and the decaf did well also my favorite is still the original 5-hour ENERGY. It seems to be the right amount for me. It did work as they state and really does last for at least 5-hours. Also the original comes in several flavors. http://www.5hourenergy.com/product.asp

I recommend start with only half the bottle of which ever variety you choose.  You can always drink the rest if you think you need it.

5-Hour Energy Pomegranate Energy Shot - 12 oz. (6-pk.)

***I was not paid to do this review. I did receive free products from 5-hour ENERGY to be able to complete my review. I was under no obligation to complete a positive review***

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A good Laugh for Friday.

While hopping around to blogs today I came across:” Anne-Marie with a dash”.  When I blog hop I do actually read over a post or two before GFCing.  The post she had made me laugh.  It called “The next Survivor Series” “This is the intro “6 married men will be dropped off on an island with 1 car and 3 kids each for six week”

http://anne-mariewithadash.blogspot.com/2010/06/next-survivor-series.html

Click the link to read on. It’s worth it.  A good laugh for your friday.

Anne-Marie with a Dash

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NFL logo bandz giveaway!–CLOSED

I don’t know if your kids are into the “shaped bands” collecting like mine are.  The last couple weeks of school my two older boys came home talking about so and so had these bands and “look at the band so and so gave me” They look at them every time we go to the store.  There have also been recent news articles about them possibly being banned in some schools because they were so distracting.  One article about shaped band bans

Personally I don’t understand the big craze but, kids are still collecting these bands. Whether your’re a collector of these bands, your kids are collectors, or your a Steeler fan, this giveaway is for you.  Today I happened into a local shop. I found “NFL Logo Bandz 20-packs”  They had 3 Steelers packs left.  I bought all three.  I gave one to my 8 year old and 1 to my 6 years old. The baby is only a year old so too little for NFL Steeler Logo Bandz. So what should I do with the other pack?  Oh I know…give my readers a chance to win it!  You can buy them at www.nflshop.com but they are $9.99/pk plus shipping and Pittsburgh Steelers bandz are not available in the NFLshop online at this time.

The pack includes 20 bandz.  4 team logos, 4 wordmarks (it spells Steelers), 4 footballs, 4 helmets, and 4-6x (for the 6 super bowl wins)

I took some out of one of the boys packs to show you what they look like:

To enter to win

Mandatory entry: Follow my blog publicly and post a comment about who your favorite NFL team is. This must be completed before bonus entries are considered.

Bonus entries: 

1. “Like” Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests and More on facebook using my facebook gadget in the right hand column. (+1)

2.  Follow me on twitter (+1) :  @LuvSavingMoney 

3.  Tweet this giveaway and leave a direct link to your tweet: ” I’m entering to win Steelers NFL Logo Bandz @LuvSavingMoney http://bit.ly/NFLSteelband Please RT”      (+1)  Can tweet twice a day.

4.  Subscribe to my blog via RSS feed using Gadget in the right column. (+2)

5.  Subscribe to Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More via email in right hand column (+2)

This is not one of the upcoming giveaways I was talking about in a previous post.  This is one I decided to do to thank my loyal readers.  This giveaway was paid for by me.  I was not contacted by this company, I was not given this product for free and I was not paid to do this post.

***Winner will be chosen from qualified entries using random.org on June 30 at 10pm EST ***


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Review of Tropical Traditions Virgin Coconut Oil Gold Label

I received a generous sample of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil.  I had heard of it and wondered what it was really like to cook with.  I wanted to try it because it was organic (according to the jar all aspects of the production of Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil is certified organic including the packaging), I wondered if it left a little coconut flavor in your food, and small family businesses produce the coconut oil.

Tropical Traditions is full of interesting and informative information on benefits and processes of their company.   For instance, here is a quote from the website: ” Laboratory tests show that this Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is a very high quality coconut oil, with very high antioxidant levels.”

Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil is FREE OF trans fats. Trans fats also called unsaturated fats pose health risks such as coronary artery disease (CAD) and raise “bad” cholesterol levels (LDL’s)
The fact that Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil is Free of trans fats makes it a healthier cooking oil choice.

When I got my jar of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil I couldn’t wait to open it.  I was interested to see a solidified oil with a some what pulpy looking texture.

My concern, and this is me, I love the flavor of coconut but not the texture.  I was a little concerned at first but my concern quickly went away as I saw the coconut oil melt like butter in the frying pan.

So excited to try the oil.  My initial trial was simply, scrambled eggs for the kids.  The oil worked just as well as any oil I’ve used.  One note however was the pleasant, faint coconut aroma as the oil heated. The scrambled eggs had only a kiss of coconut flavor.  My kids didn’t seem to notice but I did.  I asked my husband if he tasted anything different.  He said “there’s something but I can’t put my finger on it”

Happy with my initial trial I started thinking what I wanted to use the Tropical Traditions Coconut Oil for next. I thought the coconut hint would be lovely in a chicken stir fry.  I fried up my chicken and added my veggies and such to the pan:

There are many recipes for Tropical Traditions product on their website.  And I mean many.  Here is a direct link to the recipes:  http://www.freecoconutrecipes.com/index.htm

My simple chicken stir fry was delicious.  I added pineapple also to my stir fry and it was a nice contrast with the hint of coconut oil flavor:

Tropical Traditions doesn’t just have coconut oil though.  There are many interesting products like: Organic Coconut Peanut Butter (which sounds heavenly to me), Coconut Oil Bar Soap, All-Purpose non-toxic household cleaner, organic raw pet food and many more products.

If you would like to order the Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil that I received you can find it here:
To Order Tropical Traditions Gold Label Coconut Oil

If you do order I would appreciate it if you would use my user id when you purchase.  When you go to purchase a product it will as if you were referred by anyone.  My user is:  6162177
You can also use the referral program after you make your first purchase to earn free products. 

What would you use the coconut oil for?

****Disclaimer****  I received  a sample of Tropical Traditions Gold Label Virgin Coconut oil at no cost.  I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post.  I was under no obligation to provide a positive review.  All information in this post is my opinion. *****

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