Saving TIME with THRIVE!

We are all looking for ways to save time in the Kitchen, am I right?  Between grocery shopping, washing produce, chopping produce, thawing meat, chopping meat and cleaning up the mess it can take hours to make a healthy meal for your family!  Who has time for that?!  No wonder obesity is a problem in our country!  I don't know about you, but I LOVE instant meals!  

I can just throw our favorite instant meals in a pot and 20 minutes later they are good to go!  A tasty, quick meal that doesn't dirty a lot of dishes!

Unfortunately, these quick meals are seriously lacking in the healthy department.  Not only do they contain LOADS or preservatives, but they very rarely contain vegetables and almost always contain way too many carbohydrates!

Let me tell you a little about Thrive foods.  This is freeze-dried food that is picked when the food is perfectly ripe and frozen at the peak of freshness to preserve nutrients!  Thrive foods contain more nutrients than even the fresh food you buy at the grocery store!  The only way to get more nutrients is to buy it straight from the farm and eat it that day!  Almost all of Thrive's food contains no artificial ingredients and it is almost all GMO free!  So, how is this going to save you time in the Kitchen?  There are a few ways.  First, let me tell you about the Q.

The Q is our subscription program.  You set your own budget (there is no minimum budget!  Whatever you are comfortable with!) and you add items to your queue (or shopping list).  Each month Thrive will automatically fill your cart with the items that you added to your queue up to your set budget. Then they will deliver it right to your door.  No need to go to the store!  I don't know about you, but when I go grocery shopping it takes me at least an hour to get there, find everything I need, deal with screaming kids, and get back home.  Then I still need to put it all away! It is so nice to be able to have Thrive deliver my food to my door and then just put it away in our handy Food Rotating System!

Ok ok, but does it really save time in the kitchen as well as the store?  YES!  It does!  The thing that takes me the longest when preparing a meal is the chopping (and the thawing if I am using frozen meat).  With Thrive, that is all done for you!  The meat (and might I say delicious meat) and veggies are already chopped up to the perfect size, all you have to do is rehydrate them!  If you are making something with a lot of moisture already, like a soup, you just throw them in the pot!  If you need to rehydrate first, just throw them in a jar with some water, shake it up, and let it sit for 10 minutes (usually less) and they are ready to go!  Here you have saved time chopping, and saved clean up time as well because you are not dirtying all of those knives and cutting boards! 

Finally, as I just mentioned, you are saved significantly in the clean up time!  When all you have to wash are the measuring cups and the pan compared to all of the different bowls, cutting boards, knives, etc., You can tell you are saving time.

But wait... here's the best part! Wait for it... Meals.... in... a.... JAR!!!!

I KNOW, brilliant, right?  You can prepare meals ahead of time, in a jar, and eat them later!  No need to worry if your freezer goes out because these can be stored at room temperature!  Just add water, throw, and go!  I make chicken salad in a jar and rice bowls in a jar for lunch all the time!  To find time to pre-make these meals, I just make them for dinner!  As I'm throwing everything into the pot, I just have a few jars set out and add the ingredients to the jars as I add them to my dinner!  No extra time, no extra clean up.  Easy as Pie!

See all the yummy stuff Thrive has to offer here!
To see some ideas for meals in a jar, check out my Pinterest board! 
How else do you save time in the kitchen?

5 Secrets to Being a Productive Stay-at-Home Mom

A little over a year ago I was still a working mom.  I dreamed of the day I would quit my job to stay at home with my little girl (hard to believe I only had one back then...).  I imagined how clean and organized my house would be when I could stay at home with my sweet little girl and just clean and play all day long.  It would be such a wonderful life!  My house would be so clean!

Boy was I wrong...

If anything my house is messier because we are here all day instead of sending her off to daycare while I went to earn some cash.  To top it off I now have a baby boy adding to the piles of dishes and laundry and toys that need to be taken care of.

In the year I have stayed at home I have had my good days and my bad days.  Some days the house is pretty clean, other days it's a disaster.  I have, however, learned some things about my good days and how to make them happen more frequently. Here are my secrets to being a productive stay-at-home mom.  (you could probably apply some of these to working moms just looking for more order in their homes as well)

#1. Get Dressed.  I'm not going to pretend like you get to shower every morning.  I'm lucky if I can sneak a shower in during nap time or between the kids' bedtime and mine.  However, if you want to be productive as soon as you get out of bed GET DRESSED! I'm not talking throw on your jammies if you sleep naked.  Put on some jeans, throw on a t-shirt, and skip the slippers.  Slippers prevent you from doing things like taking out the garbage or running to the mailbox... anything that you have to go outside for (in my experience at least).  Socks are fine, slippers are a no-no.  If you are dressed and ready to go it is much easier to get up off of your butt after you're done nursing baby or eating breakfast.

#2. Don't turn on the computer/tablet.  Stay off of Facebook, Pinterest, Vine, whatever your technological weakness is.  Once the computer is on it's easy to waste time away... You check one thing, then you remember something else you wanted to look into.  You see a Pin that makes you remember that project you wanted to get done, so you price things.  You see a blog you have to read, then a response to that blog, and you get lost.  Before you know it, it's 4:00 and you have no idea what to make for dinner!

#3. Assign yourself a set of chores each day.  I have a schedule hanging in my kitchen with my designated chores I have to get done each day.  Once my designated chores are done I can do whatever; I can play with the kids, I can read, I can get lost on the Internet, I can get the kids out of the house so they don't make a mess.  I just have to get my chores done.  Do what works for you.  Here's what my schedule is (I did take it from a different blog and tailor it to my needs... unfortunately I can't find the blog to link to it.)  Or, this wonderful lady shares a chore each day to help you get organized on top of things.  Following her may do the trick for you!

#4. Make a meal plan.  Not only will this save you money, but you won't have to sit on Pinterest for hours trying to find a recipe that looks good and you don't have to go to the grocery store for.  You will be able to consolidate shopping trips as well, so you will save time on going to the store every couple of days.  It's an all-around great situation!

#5. Don't be too hard on yourself.  Your house is never going to be spotless... I mean, you do live there!  You can keep it somewhat clean and still give your kids a great childhood by playing with them and giving them good memories.  You're a great mom!  Keep it up!

Last Night I was Bad

Getting married young comes with its own set of challenges.  I am not saying that getting married older is any easier, the challenges are just different.  One challenge that tends to occur more often in young marriages (especially young marriages with children) Is the stress that comes from working your tail of to make ends meet WHILE going to school full-time.  That is where we are right now, and it is not easy for any of us!  I am a stay at home mom, and it is taking its toll out on me as well as my sweet husband who is working full-time and taking 19 (yes.  That's right NINETEEN!) credits trying to graduate so we can move on to the next adventure in our life together.

Since he is at work or school from 7am till 6pm (sometimes later) neither of us really get a break.  He gets home, we eat dinner, we clean up dinner, we get the kids to bed, then we go to bed.  Well.  Last night I was bad.  Instead of going to bed when Hubby did I got in the shower.

It started out innocent.  I was just going to have a quick shower before bed (because you know, being a stay at home mom of a a 3 year old and a newborn means sometimes you don't get to shower unless you do it when they are both asleep).  Then I just didn't get out.  I had the longest most glorious pampering session I have probably allowed myself maybe ever.  I did my nails for the first time since my little man arrived.

After my pampering session I STILL didn't go to bed.  Instead I had a bowl of ice cream while I trolled Facebook and Pinterest.  I looked at cloth diapers for sale and tried to figure out how I am going to afford all of those adorable prints that I just HAVE to have!

I was still in bed by midnight because I am afraid of not getting enough sleep when a moody 3 year old needs me to play with her and take care of her alongside her little brother.

It was a much-needed night of selfish indulgence.  You should try it.

In today's world we are all so busy, and we are trying so hard to be super-mom or super-wife (or maybe super-dad or super-hubby) that we forget to take care of ourselves sometimes.  We are busy trying to make sure our toddlers can read before kindergarten, our families have a home-cooked meal every night; with left-overs for Hubby to take to work the next day, keep our house clean while a tornado is going through it, plus we need to be crafty and creative like *all* the other moms out there.

You deserve to take a night and just have YOU time.  Pamper yourself.  Indulge yourself.  I promise it will be worth it and the next day just might not be so hard.

How I saved $90 on my Phone Bill

Recently I quit my job to become a stay-at-home mom.  I wasn't making THAT much money, but boy did losing my income hurt, especially when we found out we were expecting our 2nd baby!  So for the past few months DH and I  have been cutting back and looking for places where we were paying to much for something.  Our phone bill was one of those.  We were with T-mobile and we were paying about $125 a month.  This was the cheapest plan with Data that we could sign up for at the time.  They recently changed their rates to a "no-plan" option that does save money.  We looked into it and it would have put us at about $107 a month instead after taxes and fees.

Then one day I was sitting in the Dr office waiting for them to call me back and I overheard someone talking on the phone, telling their mom/friend/sibling about Ting.  I vaguely remembered my SIL telling me about Ting about a year earlier.  I decided to go home and check it out.

Ting uses Sprint's network and Sprint's phones (only Android, though *sigh*).  If you want to check coverage, just check Sprint's coverage in your area.

Basically, you are charged for what you use instead of what you think you're going to use, but it's not pre-paid.  It's a tier system, so your bill will change every month but you're not paying for what you're not using!  They even have a Rate Calculator so you can figure out what your bill might be before you sign up!

I looked at our old bills, and decided we would probably be in the Large tier.  I selected large on all three sections; Minutes, Messages, and Megabytes.  Then I selected 2 devices because my husband and I will both have our phones on the account.  It told me our estimated bill was $62 plus taxes.  WHAT?! That was about half of what we were paying!  Taxes and surcharges on our T-mobile bill were less than $10, so I assumed that's what they would be with Ting too, making our bill less than $70.  I was ready to switch!  Even paying a cancellation fee, it would only take a few months to save the money we spent on canceling a year early.  Worth it, I thought.  Especially because we received a $25 referral credit for our first bill.  How'd we get that?  Just because we used a referral link from my SIL.  So not only did we get $25 off, but they did too!  Way to help a sister out, eh?  To get yours use THIS LINK PLEASE!!!

Now you're thinking, "Wait a minute... the title says you saved $90.  That's only a savings of like $50-$60... where's the rest?)

First place we saved was in Megabytes.  You know you can get Wi-Fi pretty much anywhere these days, right?  So why  not use it.  However, your phone won't always automatically be connected to it.  To make sure you're using Wi-Fi instead of your Data whenever possible, simply turn your Data off.  Yes you can do that!  I'm sure it's different for all phones, but on my LG Optimus S you simply go to Settings-Wireless & Networks-Mobile Networks- and take the check mark off of "Data Enabled"  TADA!!!  Your Wi-Fi still works, but you're not using precious Megabytes.

Second place we saved was on Messaging.  I don't know about you, but the person I text most is DH.  He is almost always at work and on the computer, so when I need to message him I just use Google Talk instead.  For those not in the know, that's instant messenger through email.  We can both access the IM on our phones, so that gets rid of most of our messaging.   Guess what our bill ended up being after a month?

That's right.  AFTER taxes and fees our total was $33.69.  We went from $124 to $34.  We actually ended up only paying $8 something because of our $25 credit.  

You can easily monitor your account on the Ting website to see how many minutes/messages/megabytes you're using.  You can also download an app on your phone that monitors it for you, as well as set up alerts if you're getting close to going over the amount you want to use for the month.  It's awesome.  

I almost wish we had waited one month to switch over, though.  Ting is now assisting in paying early Termination Fees if you're stuck in a contract.  For more info on that go here.

Please make sure you use my referral link, though!  Every penny we save is going toward this baby, help a girl out! 

Microwave Caramels!

I don't know if you have discovered the beauty that is the Tupperwave Stack Cooker yet, but you should if you haven't!  You can make ANYTHING in it.  IN THE MICROWAVE!  This week I tried my hand at caramels and boy did they turn out delicious!!!

They are super easy too!

1 c butter

1 c sugar

1 c brown sugar

1 c corn syrup

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Melt the butter in the largest casserole of your Stack Cooker, then mix in all the other ingredients.  Microwave on hi for 5 minutes, stir, then Microwave 5 more minutes.  Stir again and microwave for 3 minutes this time.  Test in cold water, it should be a firm soft ball.  If it's not ready cook for 1 more minute and test again.  Continue until it is done.  

Then pour into a 13x9 pan (or a large Tupperware vent n serve like the one pictured) and let set until cool!  I put mine in the fridge to speed up the process because I wanted to eat them :)  Bón appetít! 

Apple Salsa!

So, a few weeks ago I was hanging with some ladies eating salsa.  They started RAVING about using apples instead of tomatoes for their salsa.  I figured they were talking about some dessert salsa with cinnamon and sugar in it or something.  Well, last week we were hanging again and they started raving again.  It's not a dessert salsa they were raving about.... it was the actual tomato salsa recipe they had been using, but with apples instead (mango and peach are delish too I hear).  So, tonight I decided to give it a go.

At first, it was kinda weird.  I couldn't decide if I liked it or not, but after a few bites I was hooked!

My daughter loved it too.

All I did was chop up an onion in my Quick Chef Pro, then add 2 apples (cut with and apple slicer then chopped in the Quick Chef with the onion), add a little lime juice, cilantro, and about a teaspoon of Southwest Chipotle Seasoning, and voila!  You have apple salsa!

If you decide to try it let me know if you like it too!

Birthday Freebies!

Who doesn't love getting free stuff for their birthday?  It's the best part about that day, isn't it?  Getting older sure isn't fun anymore, at least.  Here's a great list of deals you can get just for getting older!

Caribou Coffee sends you a free drink when you sign up with your email!

Bruegger’s gives you with a free bagel when you sign up for the e-club!

Get a free $10 Tupperware Gift Certificate! 

Orange Julius  get a free drink coupon on your special day.

Einstein Bros Bagels free bagel and shmear on your birthday when you sign up for the loyalty club!

Dunkin’ Donuts Sign up for a DD Perks Rewards account and get a free coffe on your birthday.

Bojangles sends you a free biscuit coupon on your birthday when you sing up for their eClub!

IHOP Join the email list and get a free meal on your birthday!

Denny’s Restaurants will give you a free Grand Slam meal! Just like that.

Waffle House Sign up for The Regulars Club and get a free gift on your birthday! (usually a free waffle)

BIGGBY will send you a free drink coupon when you sign up for their E-wards program.

Claim Jumper join the e-club and get a free dessert and entree (up to $18) for your b-day!

Chevy’s get free birthday and anneversary freebies when you sign up for the compadres club!

Champp’s join the fan club and get a free cheeseburger or appetizer on your special day!

Boston Market join the VIP club and get a freebie coupon on your birthday!

Black Angus gives you a free steak dinner when you join the Prime Club!

bd’s Mongolian Grill sends you “something special” on your birthday when u sign up for Club Mongo.

Rubios Sign up for the Beach Club and get a free birthday meal! (Up to $7)

Moe’s Southwest Grill Subscribe to Moe’s E-World and get a freebie for your birthday!

Baja Fresh rewards you with a free birthday burrito for signing up with Club Baja!

Back Yard Burgers will give you a free burger when you sign up for the eClub and one on your birthday!

Auntie Anne’s Join Pretzel Perks and get a free pretzel on your birthday!

Wendy’s Sign up for My Wendy’s and get a coup0n for a “special gift” for your birthday (usually a free Frosty). 

Genghis Grill offers you a free birthday bowl when you sign up for Khan’s Klub.

Noodles & Company sends you a free dish coupon on your birthday when you sign up for the Noodlegram E-Club.

Jason’s Deli will send you a free $5 giftcard on your birthday when you sign up for the Real, Good List.

Ruby Tuesday Join the So Connected club and get a free burger on your birthday!

Marie Callendar’s When you sign up for the E-Club you’ll get a freebie delivered to your inbox.

Fuddruckers rewards you with a special gift for joining the Fudd Club, plus a birthday treat and surprise on your anniversary date.

Firehouse Subs wishes you a happy day with a free medium sub when you show ID on your birthday!

Famous Dave’s Join the P.I.G. Club and get a special birthday offer via email.

Red Lobster Will give you “a surprise from us to help you celebrate” if you sign up for the Seafood Lovers club at least 7 days before your big day.

Benihana mails you a $30 gift certificate for your birth month when you sign up for a free The Chef’s Table membership. Be sure to read the restrictions at the bottom of the page.

Sonic Drive-In will give you a “surprise for your burthday” when you join the free Cruisers Club.

Carrabbas Join the Amici Club and get a free appetizer for your birthday!

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers offers you a free burger during your birth month when you sign up for their free Red Royalty perks membership.

Buca di Beppo will give you a free antipasti on your birthday when you sign up for the eClub, plus when you sign up you get a free appetizer or specialty bread, and they have a gluten free menu!

Abuelo’s Mexican will send you a birthday (and anniversary) coupon when you sign up for the e-club.

Acapulco also mexican, sends you free guac when you sign up for the e-club and a free entree on your birthday.

Au Bon Pain cafe and bakery will send you a coupon for a free birthday meal

Del Taco will send you a free premium shake on your birthday plus 2 free tacos when you sign up for the Raving Fan e-club!

Carrows sends you a free dessert when you sign up and one on your birthday.

Bennigan’s will send you a free brownie bottom pie coupon when you sign up for the e-club.

Bakers Square sends you a free piece of pie when you sign up for the e-club.

Corner Bakery Cafe register and get a free cookie and treat for your B-day!

Pinkberry lets you celebrate with a free frozen yogurt, when you sign up for the pinkcard!

Brusters free icecream on your birthday! Sign up for the eClub.

Rita’s Italian Ice get a free italian ice when you sign up for the Birthday Club!

Panera Bread Sign up for a free MyPanera account and get a coupon for a free sweet or pastry.

Maggie Moo’s rewards you with a free ice cream creation on your birthday!

Nestle Toll House Cafe will send you a special birthday gift when you sign up for the email list!

Dunkin Donuts Join the Birthday Club and get free ice cream!

Belfonte will send you a certificate for a FREE half gallon of Belfonte Ice Cream when you sign up for the Birthday Club!

Marble Slab Creamery offers a “birthday surprise” when you sign up for Marble Mail. Also look for the Marble Slab Kid’s Club so they can get free ice cream on their birthday too!

Baskin-Robbins will give you a FREE ice cream and discount on a cake when you sign up for the Birthday Club.

Applebees will send you a free dessert on your birthday.

Buffalo Wild Wings rewards you with a free dessert on your birthday when you join the Buffalo Circle.

CVS Pharmacy register your CVS ExtraCare card online and you’ll get an ECB (around $3) by email on your birthday!

Backwoods has a birthday program when you spend at least $50 over the previous 12 months. You will receive a birthday card asking you to come in for your complimentary Birthday gift (in order to qualify you need to be added to the database when you shop in the store, you can also try registering online).

Payless Shoesource Scroll to the bottom and put in your email for a 20% off birthday coupon!

Famous Footwear Create a free online rewards account and get a birthday coupon!

Anthropologie Sign up online and get a coupon for 15% off on your birthday!

Aveda sends you a free cutomized gift on your birthday when you sign up for the Birthday Program(Scroll down).

Sephora gives you a free Fresh Sugar Kisses Mini Lip Duo during your birth month when you sign up for the Beauty Insider rewards program.

World Market will give you a “fabulous birthday surprise during your birthday month” when you sign up for a free rewards membership.

Old Navy  You’ll get a $10 off a $50 purchase coupon e-mailed before your birthday if you sign up for their e-mail club.

Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) will send you a $5 gift certificate when you join the free rewards program