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Here's What's New  
I know that many of you are very interested in essential oils, so I’m excited to bring you another essential oils giveaway — this time for a doTERRA Introduction Kit courtesy of Stacia Stuart. This is a great kit for beginners! It includes an introductory audio CD and booklet highlighting the uses of essential oils, and a 5 ml bottle of dōTERRA's Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade® Lavender, Lemon, and Peppermint essential oils. There are also suggested uses for the oils included to help jumpstart you on your journey of using essential oils. 
I've become a huge essential oil fan over the past year (my poor friends have been so patient with me as I'm often whipping out my travel oil bag and saying, "I have an oil for that! Here just try this!" ;)), but I'm not partial to any brand specific brand. In fact, I really like many of the oils from many different brands. However, since we’re talking about doTERRA for this giveaway, my favorite doTERRA oils are:
Elevation — I love to diffuse this oil when I need a pick-me-up. Whisper — This smells like perfume to me and I wear it as perfume sometimes and people often ask me what brand I’m wearing! Such a great oil for having a calming affect. OnGuard — Of all the doTERRA and other brands of oils on the market, this one is one of my very favorites and probably one of the ones we use most of all at our house. I never travel without it, either. I have prevented multiple illnesses by rubbing this on the bottoms of my feet when I felt like I was starting to come down with something. I’ve been amazed at how well it seems to work! Deep Blue — This is a great oil to rub on sore and achy muscles. DigestZen — This was the oil that turned my husband from essential oil cynic to essential oil convert. If you have an upset stomach or even just feel bloated, you can rub it onto your stomach and it works wonders!
Here are a few of our favorite ways to use essential oils: - Diffuse them — it's so fun and mood-boosting to have them wafting through the house!
- Rub them on our feet and then put socks on before we got to bed. I seem to sleep better every time I do this.
- Put a few drops in our Homemade Foaming Hand Soap. Peppermint is especially fun around Christmas time!
- Put a few drops into a warm bath for a relaxing at-home spa experience.
For more information on doTERRA essential oils, visit Stacia Stuart’s site here. If you’d like to purchase any oils, you can check out the option to purchase a wholesale doTERRA membership and get 25% off the retail prices for one year. Just click on join in the upper left corner for details. You can also follow Stacia on Facebook 
Stacia is also offering anyone who signs up as a Wellness Advocate with an enrollment kit of 150 points value, a free Mini-Modern Essentials Usage Guide. Signing up as a Wellness Advocate gives you the opportunity to earn commissions and free products by sharing about doTERRA with others.  Would you like to win a free doTERRA Introductory Kit? Just click on the graphic below and type in your name and email address. 6 winners will be chosen and posted early next week. This giveaway ends Monday, October 13, at 11:59 pm, CST.
I “Trim Healthy Mama-fied” the Blueberry Crisp recipe from Bread & Wine a few weeks ago. Since then, I’ve made it a few more times to tweak it and get it just right. Many of you asked me for this recipe, so I’m happy to share it. Please note that if you’re not familiar with the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating, this recipe might just look really weird to you… and it might even have a few ingredients you’ve never heard of before. I get that, because I was pretty cynical of the whole THM way of eating for a number of months. But now that I experimented with it, I’ve fallen in love with it. And seeing as it’s been going on five months of eating this way, I think it just might be a new lifestyle.  Healthy Blueberry Crisp - 1 1/2 cups oats
- 1/2 cup oat fiber (non THM folks, you replace this with flour or almond flour)
- 1/2 cup xylitol (non THM folks: you could replace this with sugar)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted (non THM folks: you could replace this with melted butter)
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups fresh blueberries (can also use frozen or other types of berries)
Mix all ingredients together, except for the berries. Sprinkle half of the oat mixture on the bottom of an 8×8 pan. Sprinkle berries over. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubble and lightly browned. Serve warm or cold. Please note: This has a higher fat content than a typical THM E meal. You can either eat just a small amount for a meal, eat it as part of a Crossover meal or snack, or use twice as much fruit to the crumb topping ratio.
This whole week has been full from start to finish. As a result, I’ve been just focusing on one day at a time. Today we had to get up early to drive quite a ways to be at an early swim meet for Kathrynne. {Most of you parents are so used to this kind of routine… but for us, this whole arena of sports and activities and competitions is very new.} So we made it through the morning and early afternoon and then I realized: We were supposed to go to a friend’s 30th birthday party tonight and I kind of forgot to actually plan a side dish to bring tonight nor had I bought ingredients for it. Since it’s been a week since we last went grocery shopping, I kind of panicked, thinking we probably wouldn’t have enough ingredients to actually make anything presentable. And I considered just running by the store on our way to the party and picking up a veggie tray. But then I decided to see what I could scrounge up with the odds and ends of veggies we still had on hand. I surprised myself that we had more than enough to make a veggie tray! This was a good reminder to me to challenge myself to always try to make do with what I already have instead of rushing out to buy something new. Share How You Saved & You Could Win a $50 Starbucks Gift Card! Who wants to have some coffee dates on me? Leave a comment on this post telling us how you saved today — either in a big way, a small way, or multiple ways. I’ll choose one winner on Monday and will send them a $50 Starbucks gift card! The winner of yesterday’s $50 Amazon gift card is: nktimmerman@. You should have received an email with details on claiming your prize.
Homeland 1 Herbal Essence Bodywash – $2.49, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – $0.49 after coupon 1 Herbel Essence Conditioner – $2.49, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – $0.49 after coupon 2 Honey Bunches of Oats Cereal – $2.29 each, used $1/2 printable (doubled) – $1.29 each after coupon 1 Hiland Cottage Cheese (24 oz) – $1.99, used $0.50/1 coupon from the 8/10 SmartSource insert (doubled) – $0.99 after coupon 1.05 lbs Tomatoes @ $0.89/lb – $0.93 1 Nestle Pure Life Water Bottles – $2.99, used $1/1 printable (doubled) – $0.99 after coupon 10 Red Gold canned Tomatoes – $0.69 (Buy 10, Get $4 off instantly), used 2 $0.55/3 printable (one of them doubled) – $0.12 each after coupons (I’m stocked up for fall soups and chili!) Total before coupons and sales: $43.47 Total with tax after coupons and sales: $7.72 
Dillon’s Pssst Sugar – $1.99 1 Kroger Just Fruit Jelly – Marked down to $0.99 2 cans Beans – $0.60 each 1 Cucumber – $0.89 1 Lettuce – $0.99 1 pkg Kroger Bacon – $2.88 1 pkg Pork Loins – Marked down to $3.65 1 bag Potatoes – $2.69 1 bunch Bananas @ $0.52/lb – $0.72 1 bunch Asparagus @ $1.99/lb – $2.38 1 pkg Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs – $3.97 1 Milky Way Bites – Free with Free e-coupon (no longer available) 2 heads Broccoli @ $0.99/lb – $1.28 Total after coupon and sales: $23.63 Total for all both stores: $31.35 Menu Plan for this Week Breakfasts Cereal, Scrambled Eggs & Bacon x 2, Toast with Jelly, Oatmeal Lunches Peanut Butter & Jelly on Rice Cakes, Tossed Salad with Cottage Cheese, Baked Potatoes & Broccoli, Cheese Quesadillas, Leftovers Dinners Chicken Fajitas, Homemade Applesauce Mexican Casserole, Steamed Peas Steak, Biscuits, Tossed Salad Meat Potato Quiche, Pumpkin Bread, Steamed Broccoli Black Bean Quesadillas, Tossed Salad Crock Pot Pork Loins, Homemade Bread, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus Chicken & Rice Casserole, Steamed Broccoli 
Guest post from Jennifer After being a stay-at-home mom for almost 2 years, my husband and I had to make a decision of where our first child would go to school. Although we were excited about sending her to a private school, we were also a bit overwhelmed wondering if could afford it on one income. I know there are many families out there living on one income and “affording more” of what’s important to you because of budget cut-backs in other areas of your life. And after looking at our own budget, we found several areas we could cut back to make a private school tuition work on one income: 1. Debt: We had already purposefully eliminated all credit card and car loan debt, so we only owe money on a reasonable mortgage. 2. Entertainment: - We use a TV with bunny ears, so we do not pay for cable, Netflix, etc.
- We check out movies and books at the local library for free!
- We do cheap dates (sometimes sharing an entrée at a restaurant to be able to eat out).
- We are blessed to have grandparents in town who babysit for free.
- We limit our eat-out budget, and drink water when we go out.
- We only have one smart phone in our family.
- We called our phone company to get a promotional rate on internet.
3. Clothing: - I shop for my kids' clothes at garage, consignment, and thrift store sales. I also buy ahead for the next size up at the clearance racks at the end of a season.
- I consign my kids' clothes (and old toys) at a local sale three times a year. I price the clothes and make 70% of what they sell for and they do the work of selling them.
4. Groceries: - I shop primarily at Aldi, with some items bought at Dillon’s with sales and coupons.
- I have started making more things from scratch, and I love using my bread machine (inspired by this blog!). My kids love "Mama Jenny's Pizzeria".
5. Gifts - I make many gifts (birthday cakes, burlap wreaths, bracelets, baby blankets).
- I shop for gifts year round.
- I recycle all old gift bags and tissue paper that are in good condition.
6. Gas - We buy gift cards at Dillon’s for specific purchases and get fuel points to get discounts on gas.
- We fill up both cars at once to take full advantage of fuel discounts.
7. School Credit for Reloadable Gift Card: Our school offers credit towards tuition for purchases bought with a reloadable Dillon’s gift card, including money spent on gas. We make about $3.75 for each $100 spent and every little bit adds up! 8. Hair: I highlight my own hair and cut all four of our hair. 9. Home repairs: I am blessed to have a handy husband who can do most home repairs and lawn maintenance with only a few trips to Home Depot. I realize that all of these tips will not work for everyone, but I hope this is inspiring to many readers who read MoneySavingMom.com for more ideas to cut back to afford more! Jennifer is a stay-at-home mom of two children, 6 and 3, whose mom, out of necessity, taught her to be frugal growing up. She enjoys looking for more ways to save money, crafting, reading, teaching children at church, and spending time with her family.
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