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Here's What's New  
Recently, I was honored to get to hang out and record another podcast with my friend, Chris LoCurto. Chris has been a huge inspiration to us and is a wealth of wisdom on business leadership, personal development, and entrepreneurialism. We first learned about Chris when we attended EntreLeadership a few years back. We then became big fans of the EntreLeadership podcast that he hosted while working with Dave Ramsey. Chris and I connected on Twitter awhile back and have become great friends. The thing I love most about Chris is that he's the exact same person on stage and on a podcast as he is in real-life. We've spent time at his home with he and his wife Debbie and they are the real deal. So caring, inspiring, giving, and encouraging (not to mention, Chris is an amazing chef — we still talk about the mouth-watering lamb chops he made for us when they had us over for dinner!) In my last interview, we ran out of time to talk about my new book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. Chris was gracious enough to ask for another interview to talk about my 9 simple strategies to stress less, sleep more, and restore your passion for life. Have you purchased your copy of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode yet? Get the book here!
The post My interview with Chris LoCurto: Stop Surviving and Start Living appeared first on Money Saving Mom®. 
We're excited to have Cents of Style as one of our sponsors! We had the opportunity to interview them and get to know their company a little more recently:
Tell us about the history of Cents of Style. Cents of Style started in early 2007 when Idaho-raised sisters, Courtney Brown and Brennan Lau, took their love of fashion and bargain shopping and began an accessories company. Cents of Style offers the latest fashion accessories, shoes, jewelry, scarves, etc at affordable prices. Cents of Style lives by two guiding principles: one, you don’t have to spend a lot to look good, and two, when you look good you feel good and that tends to make you happier and more energetic about life. Does Cents of Style have any new products or promotions coming up? Every Friday, Cents of Style offers an incredible Fashion Friday deal every Friday, make sure to watch for it on Money Saving Mom®. 
Does Cents of Style do any charity work that you’d like us to know about? Cents of Style is always looking to give back through charity work, children’s and women’s charities are especially close to our heart. We have recently worked with Final Salute Inc, that provides housing for homeless female veterans and Children Awaiting Parents, that finds forever families for children in foster care. Is there anything else you would like for MSM readers to know about Cents of Style? More than anything here at Cents of Style, we strive to provide affordable and fashionable product that will allow moms, just like us, to feel better about themselves. We try to treat each customer, blogger and brand partner with the respect and kindness we in turn hope to receive. Interested in becoming a monthly sponsor or advertising with us? Find more details here.
The post Sponsor Spotlight: Cents of Style appeared first on Money Saving Mom®.  Homemade Energy Bites
Each week for 52 weeks, I’m sharing a different way you can save $100 this year. If you do all of these things, you'll be able to save over $5,000 this year alone! Many of these things will likely be things you're already doing, but hopefully all of you will pick up at least a few new ideas or some inspiration from this series.
One way to save a lot of money is to make your own snacks. Not only are they often much more delicious than pre-packaged snacks, but they are usually much healthier for you! 8 Quick & Easy Homemade Snack Ideas - Hard-Boiled Eggs
- Veggies
- Fruit
- Homemade Yogurt in the Crockpot
- Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets
- Popcorn
- Homemade Crockpot Pear or Applesauce Sauce
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothies
8 Freezer-Friendly Snack Ideas When you have a free day or a laid-back weekend, use some of that time to make meals and parts of meals to stick in your freezer. Things like homemade popsicles, homemade gogurts, homemade cookie dough, homemade muffins, and homemade smoothie kits are great to have on hand. - Freezer-Friendly Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches
- Freezer-Friendly Banana Bread
- Easy Morning Glory Muffins
- Homemade Energy Bites
- Brown Bag Burritos
- Homemade Pizza Pockets
- Southwest Roll-ups
- Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
Check out my list of 5 Freezer-Friendly Snacks + a Printable Grocery List 
Bag Your Own Snacks Tip submitted by Heather from Creative Family Moments Food goes fast at my house, especially handy to-go snacks. A bag of chips? Forget about it. It'll be gone before I can sneak a handful. A baked pan of brownies? The smell lingers but I think I only got a taste test. Pistachios? The bag is left for me, full of shells. Part of the problem is that we decided long ago that we wanted our house to be a welcoming place for the kids' friends. We made that decision when they were preschoolers. It was a no-brainer then. Now that they are teen, tween, and elementary, these kids and their friends can eat! Afternoons, weekends, and summer means I see many pairs of hopeful eyes looking up at me before they ask, "Is there something I can have for a snack?" 
Want to reduce your plastic bag usage? Lucy from Fly Away Home shows you how to make a fabric snack bag. It was worth it though, for the relationships. Yet, packing cold lunches was my breaking point. Sending three kiddos and one husband off to school and work with a cold lunch meant I needed some handy to-go foods that would actually stick around long enough to make it into the thermal bags! Snack bags came to the rescue! On sale (and/or with coupon!) I can get a pack of 100 snack bags for under two dollars. So when I bake brownies, I instantly cut them up, set aside a few for dessert, and store them in snack bags (Hide them immediately for later use!). Find pistachios on sale? Sweet! I split up the serving portions and store them. Any special treat that goes on sale with a handy coupon (like the free Skittles I got awhile ago), I've learned to split up immediately so they'll last. I have happy kids, and a happy husband, because they have treats and good snacks that are already in serving size bags and inhibit mindless eating. It helps food last much longer and thereby saves me money and sanity! 
Create a Snack Bin If you have a snack time every day, take a little time on the weekends to put together a snack bin. This will save you having to even think about what to serve for snack. In fact, you can just tell your kids to go pick out something from the snack bin!  Best Ever Chocolate Oatmeal Bars
Looking for more snack ideas? Check out this post on Quick & Inexpensive Snack Ideas. What are some of your family’s favorite homemade snacks? The post 52 Different Ways to Save $100 Per Year: Make Your Own Snacks {Week 42} appeared first on Money Saving Mom®. 
It's time for another Reader Giveaway Extravaganza! This is just a little way for me to show my appreciation to you all for reading here! This month's prize pack contains some of the books I've enjoyed recently, two books I read aloud to our kids recently, a few gift cards, plus a number of other fun goodies I've picked up here and there over the past few months. One reader will win the following prize pack: - $100 Home Depot gift card
- $100 The Children’s Place gift card
- $50 Applebee’s gift card
- Dayspring Calendar
- You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream by Holley Gerth
- The Mission of Motherhood by Sally Clarkson
- Danger on a Silent Night (The Imagination Station series, Book 12)
- The Redcoats are Coming! (The Imagination Station series, Book 13)
- Bob’s Red Mill Sun-Dried Raisins
- Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix
- Cacao Raw Chocolate Nibs
- Bergin Sunflower Seeds
- Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Tea
- Teeccino Vanilla Nut Herbal Coffee
- Dayspring Flip Calendar
- Burt’s Bees Beeswax Lip Balm
- Plus, many more samples
To enter this giveaway, just click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. One winner will be chosen and posted on Monday. This giveaway ends Friday, January 31, at 11:59 pm, CST.
The post January Giveaway Extravaganza: $100 Home Depot Gift Card, $100 Children’s Place Gift Card, $50 Applebee’s Gift Card, plus much more! appeared first on Money Saving Mom®. 
Challice emailed in the following tip: I have notice that SavingStar has recently been offering vegetable savings! Each week they have a “healthy savings fruit or vegetable” — and so far it’s been 20% back on however much you buy. So if you buy $4 worth of broccoli, you would get $0.80 back through SavingStar. I cash out once a month via SavingStar and it has really been helping me a lot with stretching money even further. 
(Note: The link in this post is my referral link. Read my disclosure policy here.) The post Reader Tip: Healthier Savings from SavingStar appeared first on Money Saving Mom®. | | |
Do you have a fun and frugal DIY idea to share? I’d love to hear about it! Read the submission guidelines and submit it 
