Christmas Gift Wrapping Inspiration

I have my Christmas gifts all wrapped but I keep coming across all these creative ideas and so I thought I'd share them with you. Be inspired!

* Recycled Bread Tag Snowmen
If only I was craftier I would make these cute little fellows to go on the bags of cookies I give to neighbors and friends.

* Love the simplicity of these stamped brown paper packages

{Source}

* Love this look. And what a great way to use up newspaper!


* Skip the gift tags and just put the name right on the wrapping paper!

{Source}

* Isn't this fun? I'm thinking Christmas colors would creative a festive look!

{Source}

* Again simple but oh so sweet. :)

Happy wrapping!!

Weekly Spending Summary

Not too bad of a week. I was happy that I didn't have more out of pocket expense as I'm really trying to keep my spending to a minimum this month so I don't go over budget for the year!

Total Spent: $19.43
Total Saved with Coupons: $59.86
Total Saved with Sales: $25.47
Total Saved: $85.33

CVS: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $28.06
Saved with Sales: $2.50

I had a $5/$30 CVS coupon that was emailed to me that I used on this purchase.

Bought:
* Huggies $9.49
- $3/1 CVS printable coupon
- $2/1 coupon from newspaper inserts

* Candy Canes $1.27

* Buy $20 of select products get $10 Extra Bucks- included were these items
(2) Schick razors $8.19
Skintimate Shave Gel 3.89
- Buy One Get One Free Shick coupon ($8.19)
- $2/1 Schick razor coupon from newspaper inserts
- $1/1 Skintimate coupon from newspaper inserts

Paid: $9.84- used Extra Bucks and gift card to pay

Got back:
$1 Extra Buck for Huggies purchase
$1.27 for Candy Canes purchase
$10 Extra Bucks for Schick/Skintimate purchase

So this was a moneymaker of $2.43 for me!

Rite Aid: $2.14
Saved with Coupons: $19.00
Saved with Sales: $14.90

The Oral-B toothbrush was a rain check item.

Giant: $7.29
Saved with Coupons: $12.80
Saved with Sales: $8.07

I had a FREE product coupon for the Yoplait yogurt- not sure where it came from anymore since I've had it for a long time. I also had a FREE product coupon for the milk. I got that coupon as part of a cereal promotion that Giant ran a couple of weeks ago. And I'm excited that I'll get back $0.73 on this purchase thanks to Endorse.

I also purchased 2 5lb. bags of potatoes that didn't make it on the picture.

On a side note, we've gotten rather addicted to Stash's Vanilla Chai tea! (And it's even decaf!) I make my own latte sort of drink with it. I fill a coffee mug half full of milk, then the rest of the way with water, heat it and then steep my tea in that, add some sugar and yum- it's awesome and lots cheaper than going to a coffee shop!

Misc.: $10.00
This is for milk at a local dairy.

A Bunch of New Printable Coupons

$1.00 off any one (1) Delsym Product

$0.30 off any FRENCH'S French Fried Onions

$1.00 off any TWO (2) Pebbles Treats

$1.00 off Nivea skin care lotion

$1.00 off three Tombstone Large Size Pizzas

$1.00 OFF 2 ARMOUR Meatball Products

$1.00 off any AQUAPHOR PRODUCT

$1.00 off 2 packages of Vanity Fair Napkins

SAVE $1.00 when you buy TWO (2) boxes of Quaker Life® Cereal
SAVE $0.50 on any ONE (1) SNUGGLE® Fabric Softener Liquid or Dryer Sheets
$1.00 off when you buy any ONE Snausages® or Snaw Somes!® dog snacks

$1.10 off when you buy any ONE Nature's Bounty® Vitamins or Supplements

$1.00 off when you buy any ONE Johnson's® Baby Soothing Vapor Bath product

75¢ off when you buy TWO BOXES any flavor Betty Crocker® Supreme Brownie OR Dessert Bar Mixes

50¢ off when you buy ONE 28 OZ. OR LARGER Bisquick® Baking Mix or Complete Pancake & Waffle Mix

75¢ off when you buy any ONE BOX Cocoa Puffs® cereal

75¢ off when you buy any ONE BOX Golden Grahams® cereal

40¢ off when you buy any ONE package of Stevia In the Raw 100% Natural, Zero-Calorie Sweetener Products

Tasty Tuesday: Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken

I recently discovered this easy and yet delicious recipe. I'm trying to use my Crock-Pot more and so I was excited about finding another recipe to utilize it too. The sauce in this recipe is nice and creamy and the chicken was really tender and moist. We all loved it!

Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken

6 boneless chicken breast halves, thawed*
1 (10 3/4 oz.) can cream of mushroom soup (or use homemade)
1/2 pkg. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup sour cream
1 (4 oz.) can of mushrooms, drained

Fry chicken breasts on both sides in frying pan to brown. (I don't actually do this.) Combine chicken, soup, and Ranch mix. Put in Crock-Pot, cover and cook on low for 6-8 hrs. Just before serving, stir in sour cream and mushrooms. Reheat briefly. Serve over rice or noodles.

* Or use chicken drumstick and thighs. This is good too- just cook for a little less time.
For other recipe ideas, check out Balancing Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday, Blessed with Grace's Tempt my Tummy Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green's Tasty Tuesday, Mandy's Recipe Box's Totally Tasty Tuesdays and All the Small Stuff's Tuesdays At the Table.

Giveaway: Renuzit FREE Product Coupons

Recently Purex Insiders mailed me a couple of FREE product coupons for the new Renuzit Fresh Accent Holiday Air Fresheners to give away to you all. These new air fresheners come in two holiday fragrances- Winter Berry and Festive Snow-, they provide 30 days of continuous fragrance odor elimination and require no plugs or batteries. Simply set these pretty little fresheners wherever you need some scent and let them do their job!

As I mentioned before the giveaway is for two FREE product coupons for Renuzit Fresh Accent Holiday Air Fresheners. The coupons expire 12/31/11, so you won't have long to use them.

You have three different ways to enter the give away and each thing counts as a separate entry. Please leave your email address with each entry! The giveaway will end 12/17/11 at 7 p.m. (EST) and the winner will be chosen via random.org. I will then notify the winner by email and they will have two days to respond before the next winner is chosen.

MANDATORY ENTRY:

1. Which Renuzit scent do you think you'd like the most: Winter Berry or Festive Snow?

2. Become a follower of this blog (see top left hand corner of blog). If you are already a follower, give yourself an extra entry by posting that in a comment.

3. Subscribe to this blog (see top left hand corner of blog). If you already subscribe, give yourself an extra entry by posting that in a comment.

4. Follow The Thrifty, Frugal Mom on Facebook or Twitter.

Mastercard: Spend $200 Online Get $20 Gift Card

Do you have a MasterCard and plan to do some online shopping? Then you'll want to enroll your card in MasterCard's new promotion. When you enroll your card and spend $200 shopping online by 12/31/11, MasterCard will send you a $20 gift card!

If you have a MasterCard I would recommend enrolling it even if you aren't sure you'll spend the $200. If you are like me you might think you won't be buying anything online but then see some great deals on Daily Deal sites etc. and end up buying things after all. And really, you have nothing to lose!

New Treasure Cave Coupon

$0.40 off one package of Treasure Cave cheese

I love this coupon! I watch for the Treasure Cave cheese to go on sale at Giant and then pair the coupon with the sale. This has always gotten me Feta cheese cheaper than I can get it at Aldi or anywhere else. We love eating Feta cheese with this Strawberry and Feta Cheese Salad.