Quick Tip of the Day

Ever feel guilty for throwing out the plastic cutlery that comes with take-out food? Or wonder after a BBQ or picnic, what on earth to do with all the plastic knives that come in cutlery sets? Well - I say keep them to cut brownies! I know it sounds crazy, but I learned this little trick from my mother and I haven't found anything that works as well. I have tried a super thin knife, heated under hot water - to see if that would cut through the brownies smoothly. I have tried a fancy Pampered Chef device that is supposed to deliver impressive results. But nothing cuts brownies as cleanly and effortlessly as a plastic knife. You'll notice the top horizontal cut and the first half of the 2nd cut (on the left-hand side) - how they are rougher than the rest; that was with me trying something other than the plastic knife. Then I remembered this trick and found a knife - and the rest of the cuts are perfect! This is recycling at its best! Save those knives!!!

*Also works well for cheesecake!

MoveStudio Charlotte

About 2 weeks ago Living Social featured a new Yoga/Pilates studio here in Charlotte called Move Studio Charlotte. I've been looking long and hard for a good Pilates class since I moved here 4 years ago, so I thought I'd give this place a try. My first class was this morning and I'm SO EXCITED! This place just opened up in May and is very small right now, so it's awesome. There was only one other person in the class with me - so we got a lot of one-on-one attention and great help with our technique. The instructor is the director of the place and she is a certified Pilates instructor. It was a complete body workout, with all the moves flowing into each other smoothly, in a nice relaxing atmosphere. Just perfect! The class ended 2 1/2 hours ago, and my thighs are still a little wobbly; it was that good of a workout! :)

One of the cool things about this place is that there is no monthly fee. You can either pay a per class "drop in" rate, buy a small package of classes (gives you a $3/class discount), or buy a large package of classes (gives you a $5/class discount). You sign up and pay for your classes online in advance - therefore reserving your spot in the class. So, if you go on vacation, or have a busy couple of weeks and don't make it to a class, you don't have to worry that you're paying for time that you're not using!

So if you're in the Charlotte area and looking for a top-notch Pilates class (they offer Yoga, Social Dance, and Contemporary Dance as well) - you've really got to check out Move Studio Charlotte (located on Hawthorn/Central - Plaza Midwood area).

Some Great Target Deals I Got Yesterday

Two Packages of 2 Sharpie Markers - on price cut for $1.00 - use (2) $1 Target Coupon here to get it for free!
Two Packages of 2 Papermate Profile Pens - $1.34 or $1.44 - (2) $1 Target Coupon here to get each for 34¢ or 44¢!
One Set of Mead Flashcards (they have addition, multiplication, colors, sight-words) - on price cut for $1.79 (normally $3.99) - use $1 Target Coupon here to get for 79¢ each!
Two boxes of 24-count Crayola Crayons - on price cut for 40¢ each (no coupon necessary)!
Hydrogen Peroxide - 52¢ - use75¢ Target first aid coupon here and get it for free!
Rubbing Alcohol - $1.14 - use 75¢ Target first aid coupon here and get it for 39¢!
Up and Up Face Scrub - $2.10 - use 75¢ Target face wash coupon here and get it for $1.35!
Two Packages of Hefty One-Zip Baggies - $2.04 each - use (2) $1 Target Coupons here and (1) $1/2 Coupon from the Sunday Paper Insert (7/10) = 52¢ each!
Two Up and Up Small Gauze bandages - $1.04 each - use (2) 75¢ Target Coupons here and pay only 29¢ each!
*Nuk Learning Cup - $6.99 - use $1.50 Online MF Coupon (no longer available I don't think) and $1 Target Coupon here - and pay only $4.49!

*I know this isn't that awesome of a deal for the Nuk Cup - but I really need a cup for my daughter - so I went ahead and got it!

I used my Target Red Card (a Target debit card linked directly to my checking account) that got me a 54¢ discount, and I brought my own re-useable bag which got me another 5¢ off. My total for everything listed above was $10.68 (total with tax)! Not bad considering that about $5 of that was the cup for my daughter! :)

Deals this week at Earthfare

If you have an Earthfare in the area, you can get the following deals this week by printing off two coupons from their website:
· Athena Cantaloupe for $1.00 (coupon only good through Sunday, July 10th)
· Click on the "What you Eat" tab and then take the "Boot Challenge". Once you pick which item "gets the boot", they'll give you a coupon for a trade. This week the deal is: trade any dip with partially hydrogenated oil, and get a free Earthfare Organic Salsa! (coupon good through Tuesday, July 12th) Keep in mind, the item you trade can be practically empty! It doesn't have to be brand new at all. The whole idea is that they want you to get rid of something unhealthy that you've been eating, and try their healthier/fresher version!

Swagbucks: Super easy ways to make a few extra bucks

I've mentioned swagbucks on here before, but I recently found a few ways to get some serious extra swagbucks that I thought I'd share with you. But first, I'll explain a little about what swagbucks actually is if you're not familiar. They are a site that offers a search engine, coupons, games, and advertisements - and rewards you with virtual dollars for using them. Those virtual dollars add up and can be used to purchase things from the swag store - my favorite being the amazon.com e-gift card! It takes 450 swagbucks to get a $5 GC. This may seem like a lot, but it adds up quickly and I usually get a $5 GC about 3 times a month...just for doing things I'm already doing on the web.

So here are a few ways to rack up swagbucks pretty quickly:
1) Anytime you want to print a coupon from the coupon network - go through swagbucks. Within a few weeks of using it, you will get 10 swagbucks added to your account. It takes a while, and there (to my knowledge) is no way to know what coupons have credited - but you'll log in one day and all of the sudden have 50 more swagbucks than you did the day before, and that will be the reason!
2) Install their tool bar and use the Search Box every time you visit a website - even if you know the web address. Every 3-6 searches (sometimes more, sometimes less), you'll be rewarded with swagbucks.
3) Every morning, when you first log-in, you'll get 1 swagbuck, just for having the Toolbar downloaded. Then click on the daily poll and take 3 seconds to vote; you'll get 1 swagbuck. Then click on Trusted Surveys, and you'll get 1 swagbuck just for visiting the trusted survey section of the site - whether you take a survey or not (which I never do, because I never qualify). So right off the bat, not matter what - you can get 3 swagbuacks every day - and it takes all of about 10 seconds.
4) Sign up for Free Offers. I shied away from this until just last week, and then decided to give it a try because they assured me that my CC wouldn't be charged, and I would still get the swagbucks even if I didn't continue beyond the trial periods. So, I signed up for freecreditscore.com and got a whopping 1,000 swagbucks! The trial is 7 days long and I used it long enough to get my credit score, and cancel it 5 days later. I had my swagbucks within an hour of signing up - and that got me $10 in amazon gift cards! Then I signed up for netfilx - free 30 day trial - and got another 1,000 swagbucks (so another $10 worth of amazon gift cards). I'm still using my free netflix trial and really enjoying it. We probably won't keep it, but considering we can watch unlimited instant movies on our computers for only $7.99/month - and they have TONS of old movies that we like - Fed Astaire/Ginger Rogers, Alfred Hitchcock films, etc. (that you can't get at Redbox or Blockbuster kiosks or even in the stores) - it might be worth it!

If you don't have a swagbucks account and are interested in signing up - just use the box to the right of this post and sign up. You'll get 30 swagbucks just for signing up!

Fantastic Deal in the making at MYHABIT

Myhabit.com is a spin-off site owned by amazon.com. It is another deal site, but the cool thing about it, is that you can use your amazon credits towards any purchases. Since it is brand new, they are offering a flat $25 credit off of any purchase (no minimum) AND totally free shipping anywhere in the US (including AFO/FPO military addresses!!!!)!

Now, you may be a little shocked when you visit, because most of their stuff is very high-end. But, every now and then they'll run a special and have things marked in the $15-30 range. I just missed out on a super cute baby clothes sale where things were marked in the $20's - but the sales rotate daily, so I'm waiting for my big chance to snag an amazing deal!

You can log-in with your amazon user ID and password and they'll start sending you email updates when a new deal is posted. All you have to do for the $25 credit is enter SUMMER25 at checkout (code is good until August 1st). Happy shopping!

Savemore.com - special $10 credit just for signing up

I think I've featured Savemore.com on here before, but I think the deal they have going on right now bears repeating! Right now, just for signing up with your email address and zip code - you get an instant $10 credit! That credit can be applied immediately to any deal they have going on. So here's a deal idea: Right now they have a deal with a company called coveryourhair.com. You can get a $15 credit with that company for only $7! So, that means if you sign up with savemore.com and get your instant $10 credit, you can immediately use it for the coveryourhair deal and still have $3 left over. Once you get your code from savemore, go over to coveryourhair.com and enter in promo code JULY4 during checkout for an extra 17% off your entire order! There is a $4.99 flat rate shipping - but when you consider that your total out of pocket cost is going to be $4.99 to have it shipped to your door, and you're still going to have an additional $3 credit at savemore.com - it's a great deal! I was able to find 2 adorable knit baby hats and 2 baby barrettes for a total of $14.92 (with the 17% discount) - so I'll get those shipped to my door for $4.99. These would make wonderful baby gifts! If coveryourhair is not your thing, there are lots of other deals at savemore.com. And you don't have to use your credit immediately - so you can hold out for something you're really excited about! So click here and get started! And as an extra bonus, savemore is offering a $10 referral credit! So once you sign up, share your unique link with all of your friends and you can earn $10 when they sign up and buy a deal! Pretty awesome!!!