Tropicana Juicy Insider Program

I am excited to announce that I am an ambassador for the Tropicana Juicy Insider Program.  I was just reading a People magazine at the grocery store and saw an advertisement for the program and all of a sudden I felt a little special.

There are over 20,000 ways to save with this program.  Registering is easy.  Just visit www.tropicana.com.  Then with every specially marked package of Tropicana Orange Juice you will earn points to use towards rewards in this program.  These points can be used with companies like Adidas and EA Sports Active along with many other companies. One carton of Tropicana OJ can save you up to $15 on everything from tickets to the zoo to work out apparel.

I like to bring opportunities like this program to your attention because most of us buy orange juice for our families anyway.  This is a way to earn things in return for all the OJ we ingest (which in my house is a good bit )

**I wrote this review while participating in the Tropicana Juicy Insiders Ambassador program by Mom Central on behalf of Tropicana. I received 12 free Juicy Rewards points and a $50 Visa gift card to use in redemption of the points and to facilitate my review**

Thanks a Million

I mostly rely on homemade foods to feed my (always ravenously hungry) crew of guys.  But, as we all know there are days that between basketball practice, church activities and doctors appointments a home cooked meal is just not in the cards.  Rather than spend extra money on fast food in these instances, I often rely on frozen entrees, like those made by Banquet.  My family particularly likes the salisbury steak entrees.

Since Banquet pot pies and other frozen entrees frequently find their way into my deep freezer I was glad to assist in spreading the word about the Banquet Thanks a Million program.  Inside specially marked packages of Banquet foods is the opportunity to win up to $100,000 for your family.  Pretty cool, huh?

So, next time you grab a Banquet meal from the freezer section of your local grocery store, be sure to grab a specially marked package and follow the instructions at the link above to see if you are a winner.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Banquet and received a sample to facilitate my candid review. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Time Saving Shopping Tips

I am so pleased to be bringing you a guest post from a friend of mine, Aurelia Williams.  I am part of her Journey to Joy blog tour this week.  She is an inspiring and genuine woman and I am proud to know her.  You can find her great insight and tips at her website.

We all have the same 24 hours in a day – no more, no less, yet time is the one precious commodity that everyone has a problem using wisely. However, there are several ways you can make the most of the time you spend shopping so that you can accomplish a lot, yet still manage to have some free time to do things that you enjoy.

Make it a habit to write a daily list of things to do and things you need. Life gets so busy sometimes especially for moms, you will find it most helpful to have those lists handy. Save extra trips to the store by having a list of necessary items in hand. You can also map and plan your time so you can run all your errands at once to help avoid driving back and forth. In addition, try to shop later in the evening or early morning when the stores are less busy. There is no need to waste an hour standing in line when you can do something more productive with that time. Or try shopping online. Nowadays you can purchase just about everything online, including food items.

Plan your meals ahead of time. You can use a blank monthly or weekly calendar to plan your meals for the upcoming week, making it easier to come up with a shopping list based on the meals. Keep your planned meals posted on the refrigerator door so you know what needs to be prepared. Sometimes it may be tempting to stray from the planned meals, but do your best to stick to it – you will save lots of money and time when you do.

If space for groceries is not an issue, plan to shop in bulk. This will allow you to save time because you will not have to run to the grocery store every week or two. You will also save money because buying in bulk costs less in the long run.

Applying the tips mentioned above will definitely help you save time shopping and free up time to enjoy your family a little bit more.

About Aurelia

Aurelia Williams is a certified Life Coach and author of Journey To Joy, a clear-cut step-by-step action guide to help you claim the happiness.

Organized Grocery Shopping

With all our talk of organizing our finances in January, I turned to my favorite organizing program to get my shopping list under control.  When you use coupons, pair them up with circular ad sales and are shopping for hungry tween/teen boys, groceries can be a lot to keep track of.

Cozi makes grocery shopping a breeze for me.  Their online program {which is free by the way} has a grocery shopping component where I add things to my list as I become aware that we need them {much like the days of notebooks with a magnet on the fridge type of running list- do you follow me?}. No more sticky notes for this gal =)

One reason I love this feature is because I tend to misplace a paper list…especially when I am using it to keep a running tab of what I need at the store.  Unless I lose access to a computer, my Cozi list is always there for me.  Even if I forget to bring my list to the store Cozi is there for me {see next paragraph}

Another cool feature is the ability to text messages {to myself or the hubby}.  So, for instance, we are out of milk and I am not in the mood to go to the store.  Hubby is already out.  I can send him a text message via Cozi to pick up the milk or text him the ENTIRE list{or any other reminder…I will talk about the family calendar feature in another post}.

How cool is that?

When you log into your Cozi account you have a dashboard, similar to a homepage.  This has links to coupons.com and a search engine for recipes.  Menu planning can’t get much easier than that.

Those are just a few of the ways Cozi simplifies my grocery shopping.

Not only did I want to share the 411 on this time saving program with you but I also wanted to let you know about a HUGE giveaway that Cozi is promoting.

Cozi is giving away FREE groceries for a YEAR!  Entering is simple {click here} and you can earn extra entries by telling your friends, as well as playing their fun spin to win game.

Here is the fine print:

Cozi 2010 Shopping List Celebration: A Year of Free Groceries Sweepstakes. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY: Open to legal residents of the United States, except Rhode Island, 18 years of age or older at time of entry. Entrants must be physically located in the United States. The sweepstakes begins on January 14, 2010, and ends on March 11, 2010. Limit one entry per manual email address submission (additional entries optional for each friend that clicks through on referral link sent via “tell a friend” tool on cozi.com). All entries and referrals received by March 11, 2010, will be included in a random drawing on or about March 17, 2010. Entrants are responsible for keeping the email address used for entry valid until after the drawing has been conducted to remain eligible to win the prize.

So, what are you waiting for?  Go enter to win some free groceries and check out all that Cozi has to offer while you are there.