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Luv Saving Money – Page 744 – Life on a Budget

Frugal Tips on What to Do with That Small Balance on Your Gift Cards

I’ll get VISA , Mastercard, or Amex gift cards in prize packs, review packs, or as gifts.  Sometimes I’d use the gift cards and there might be $1.10 left on the card or 35 cents.  For me it was hardly worth pull out the card and having the cashier do two payments for 35 cents on a gift card and forget about using it online.  So what do you do with it?  Well here’s two ideas.

generic gift card

Amazon allows you to purchase Amazon gift cards in amounts from 15 cents to $1000.  Any amount.  It doesn’t have to be an even amount.  So if you have $2.03 left on your VISA, MC, or Amex gift card you can use it to to purchase an Amazon gc in that amount and email it to yourself and apply it to your Amazon account.  Once you’re signed into your Amazon account, in the payment area choose “Purchase a Gift Card”, in the Ways to Send option choose email, then choose your design (ultimately it doesn’t matter the design) then for amount choose “set my own” and type in the exact amount left on your gift card and email it to yourself.   Then just apply it back to your account.

Another thing I like to keep those low balance major cc company gift cards around for is those freebie offers.  Every once in a while you’ll get that “free just pay $2 shipping” offer or an online coupon deal that you apply all your coupons to and you end up getting a $10 item for like $1.50 or something along those lines.  You can use those card for that too.

 

 

Design a Mother’s Bracelet in 3 Easy Steps

**I received the below mentioned product in order to complete a review. This post also contains a referral link**

If you’re looking for a gift for mom or grandma that’s personalized for them, has some meaning, and is affordable a Mother’s Bracelet from Pearls by Laurel could be the answer.  For only $29.95 you can create a bracelet that uses genuine Swarovski pearls, sliver plated components, and czech-sourced rhinestones.

mother's bracelet

 

They have a genuine Swarovski pearl to represent each month out of the year.  I was able to create an mother’s bracelet for myself.  They use easy drag and drop features so you can create a mother’s bracelet in no time.  You can arrange the the month colors how you want.  I chose to do mine in descending order from oldest child to youngest. My kids’ birthdays go June, December, June, March.  The drag a drop is visual technology so you can see what your bracelet will actually look like when it comes to you.

mother's bracelet

The bracelets come in different wrist size and it’s stretchy so it’s comfortable and has some give.  I was surprised at how weighty this bracelet actually was.  It is not a cheaply made bracelet.  The pieces are all very solid and it is obvious they used higher quality rhinestones and Swarovski pearls in this bracelet.  You can create a bracelet with up to 12 birthday months on it.  There is additional cost for more than 6 birth month beads however.

Holiday guide 2013 button

 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Tai Pei Asian Foods “Good Fortune in Every Box™” Plus a Coupon

**This is a sponsored post as part of the Social Moms blogger program with Tai Pei*®*

I love some good asian food so does the rest of my family.  Very rarely do we get to go out to eat alone.  Usually if we go out to eat it’s a bill for 5 of us.  That has to be a once in a while thing because man, my boys can eat.  I’m gonna be in trouble when they’re teenagers. Honestly with having an infant, sometimes going out with all of us can be a lot of work.  Anymore more I’d much rather have a nice meal at home.  My asian cooking skills are not up to par so if I’d try to make orange chicken or cashew chicken (2 of my faves) there is no way it would taste like the restaurants do. Everyone seems to have a different fave too.  I love orange chicken but my husband doesn’t care for it.  My oldest son doesn’t like broccoli so broccoli chicken is out.

Tai Pei has a surprising variety of asian foods in the frozen foods section.  There are so many different entrees and appetizers you’re sure to please everyone in the family.  Their slogan, “Good Fortune in Every Box” just might ring true when you’re in the mood for your favorite asian dish and it’s right there for you ready to eat in a matter of minutes.

Entree varieties include:

–Beef & Broccoli–Bourbon Chicken–Cashew chicken–Chicken Fried Rice–Chicken Chow Mein–Combination Fried rice–General Tso’s Chicken–Orange Chicken–Pepper Beef–Shrimp Fried Rice–Sweet & Sour Chicken–Sweet Teriyaki Chicken

Phew I told you there was a lot.  They come in cute single serve boxes. Each one is Chef created and restaurant inspired.  Tai Pei has over 20 years of experience in creating asian-style restaurant quality foods.  They also offer asian-style appetizers.

Appetizer Varieties Include:

–Chicken Eggrolls–Chicken Potstickers–Pork Eggrolls–Pork Potstickers–Vegetable Eggrolls–Battered Green Beans–Edamame–Mini Chicken Spring Rolls–Savory Chicken for Lettuce Wraps–Spicy Mini Chicken Eggrolls–Mini Vegetable Spring Rolls

They also have an better-for-you option in the Tai Pei Asian Garden varieties

–Hunan Beef and Broccoli–Chicken Fried Rice–Spicy General Tso’s Chicken–Ginger Chicken–Glazed Chicken Potstickers–Mango Chicken–Sesame Chicken–Orange Chicken

Oh my with so many options you’re sure to find something you like.  The Asian Garden varieties are low in fat, calories, and sodium each one containing only 300 calories and 8 grams of fat or less and include real ingredients like lean meats, whole grain noodles, and more.

Because this IS Luv Saving Money how about a couple?  Like a buy one get one free coupon?

I’ll also have the coupon link in my side bar for a while if you want to come back at another time.

TaiPei is on facebook too, stop by and give ’em a like:

My husband gets these all the time.  He loves the Tai Pei flavors.  He said they are one of the few store bought chinese meals that actually taste like take out to him. We get them in the frozen food section at Walmart.  Just look at the cute little boxes they come in.  This particular flavor is the Bourbon Street Chicken.

Tai Pei box

My husband works late so he doesn’t get home until late. Sometimes late a night he’s not in the mood for meatloaf  or whatever I might have made for dinner and put in the fridge for him so he’ll heat one of these up.  I had my oldest son try one too.  He seemed to enjoy it as well.

 

Mason enjoying TaiPei

Don’t forget to print your buy one get one free coupon from the banner in this post or in my side bar!

 

**This blog post is part of a paid SocialMoms and Tai Pei® blogging program. The opinions and ideas expressed here are my own.**

 

 

 

 

 

Add More Fun To CupCakes with Batter Babies


**I received the below mentioned products to complete an honest review. No other compensation has been received**

My family loves cupcakes.  I don’t know many that do not like cupcakes.  It’s fun to create and decorate cupcakes for the holidays or special for someone’s birthday.  It’s easy to create custom colors and add accents to the icing.  Thanks to Batter Babies, now it’s easy to create custom color combos or even 2 different flavors for cupcakes. Make team colors, 2 favorite colors, or fun holidays combos.

batter babies

 

Batter Babies are inserts for your cupcake pans to allow you to create cupcakes that are 2 different colors or 2 different flavors.  Batter Babies are made of food grade plastic and are reusable.  They come in packs of 6.  You don’t leave them in to bake though. Only to fill your cupcake pan then pull it out before baking.  We tried these. I let my kids choose the colors.  They chose blue and white for their school colors.  We also decided to add some lemon flavor to the white side to test that too.

batter babies cupcakes

batter babies ready

 

Ok so we were a bit sloppy with it.  Also our cupcake wrappers seemed almost too big for the pan but we made it work anyway. Even despite our sloppiness (we had fun though) the cupcakes still turned out pretty cool looking.

batter babies finished cupcake

The divet in the side of the cupcake is from the ill fitting cupcake wrappers, not the batter babies.  I honestly thought that once I pulled the Batter Babies out that the colors would just mix, especially since we left the one side white.  As you can see, it didn’t. I was pretty impressed with how well it worked.  It was really easy too.  They Batter Daddy for cakes to make cakes two different colors which I think would be pretty cool too.

Kimber Cakeware makes both the Batter Babies and Batter Daddy.  You can find them on these social media site:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimber-Cakeware/146735632016017

Twitter: @KimberCakeware

YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/user/KimberCakeware

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.