Tassimo Home Brewing System Review & Giveaway

Posted on January 10, 2011January 22, 2011 by Mandy

Most days, I can say with all honesty that it’s coffee that gets me going each morning. One of my very favorite hot beverages is a cappuccino, but living in a small town, really good ones are hard to come by. No fancy coffee chain stores here! I had resigned myself to this fact, occasionally enjoying one whenever we ventured to a bigger city.

Since right before Christmas I have been enjoying the most wonderful, frothy cappuccinos ever. In my OWN home. Thanks to the Tassimo T20, I can enjoy hot coffee, tea, lattes, hot chocolate, and other specialty drinks in mere seconds with no cleanup. I know! I couldn’t believe it, either!

Coffee makers intimidate me. It took some extreme convincing on the part of some of my friends about 5 years ago that I needed to put down the instant coffee and get a coffee maker, for heaven’s sake! I finally did, and perfected my measuring and sweetening. When I took a look at the Tassimo T20, I became intimidated all over again. It’s sleek…it’s stylish…and after giving it a try for the first time, I do declare it is the easiest thing I have ever operated in my life. My poor old coffee maker hasn’t been used since.

The Tassimo T20 uses no filters and each serving of your beverage comes in a small T DISC. You simply add water to the holding container in the back, pop in a T DISC and press a button. Your drink is ready in about a minute. Cleaning up is a breeze since all you do is remove the T-disc once you are finished brewing and throw it away! Now everyone in your home can enjoy their favorite hot beverage since it’s a single serving each. The Tassimo T20 makes up to seven different kinds of single serving beverages (over 40 flavors in all) by reading a barcode found on each T DISC, which lets the machine know what to make and how to brew it. Fancy, no? These T DISCs are brand names you will recognize like Starbucks, Gevalia, Maxwell House, and more.

We’ve been wearing this thing out in our house, and have already had to buy more T DISCs. The Tassimo T20 retails for $129.99 and can be purchased at select Wal-Mart, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, select specialty stores and directly at tassimodirect.com.

WIN IT!

Thanks to Tassimo, I have one Tassimo T20 to offer as a giveaway to my readers! Unfortunately at this time, I can offer to U.S. only.

TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this post telling me what beverage you would make with the Tassimo T20. (Mandatory entry) Please make sure I have a way to contact you should you win. Deadline to enter is Friday, January 21, 2011 at 11 PM Central. Void where prohibited.

BONUS ENTRIES: After you have left the mandatory comment above, you may also earn bonus entries by doing any of the following below. Please leave a separate comment telling me what you did. Choose as many (or all) of the options below:

1. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked in a reader by clicking here. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so).

2. Subscribe to Mommy Cracked by email and confirm the subscription. This option is in the sidebar. (Leave a comment on this post telling me you did so)

3. Tweet this contest and leave a comment on this post with your link on Twitter. (You can hit the Retweet button at the top of this post to make it easier.)

4. Click here to follow me on Twitter and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

5. Click here to become a fan of Mommy Cracked on Facebook and leave a comment on this post telling me you did so.

That’s it! Good luck!

I received a Tassimo T20 to review and share my thoughts about. No other compensation was received for this review and all opinions are my own.

Free With Coupons (Kroger, Dollar General)

Posted on January 9, 2011January 9, 2011 by Mandy

After watching Extreme Couponing on TLC last week, I was fired up about slashing our grocery bill by using coupons and taking advantage of great deals on items we use the most around our home. After scouring the sales flyers and matching them to my coupons, I discovered there were a couple of great deals I needed to take advantage of.

My first stop was Dollar General. I had 3 coupons for $2 off Olay Body Wash. Guess how much Olay Body Wash was at Dollar General last week? Yep, $2.

ALL FOR FREE!

My Kroger trip netted me 2 FREE bottles of Old Spice Body Wash. Kroger was offering $4 off your entire bill if you bought 4 participating Proctor & Gamble products. I noticed that 2 of the products were for Old Spice and I had Buy One Old Spice Deodorant Get One Old Spice Body Wash Free coupons and $1 off the deodorant coupons.

What I bought:

2 Old Spice Deodorants at $2.40

2 Old Spice Body Wash for $7 total

1 Always Pads at $5.49 (didn’t have to buy these to get the $4 promo, but they were needed. Ahem.)

Coupons used: (2) B1G1 free Old Spice Body Wash, (2) $1 off Old Spice Deodorant, (1) $1 off any Always

Store Promo: $4 off my bill for buying 4 participating products

Savings in Manufacturers Coupons: $8.80

Savings with Kroger Plus Card: $5.42

Total Savings: $14.22

My grand total? $5.18!!!

Meaning, without coupons and the promo, this would have cost $19.40.

I was so excited I had to literally refrain from skipping out of the store, but I did call my husband on the phone to tell him all about it. He was seriously impressed and cheered me on! Ha! Needless to say, these two deals have ruined me forever for paying full price for anything.

How To Shop For Free

Posted on January 4, 2011January 4, 2011 by Mandy

Right after my husband and I got married, one thing I discovered to help us save money on our grocery bill was couponing. Back then, saving a few cents made me happy. Since then, I’ve learned that I can significantly cut our grocery bill down to a much more affordable amount just by re-learning how to shop with coupons.

How to Shop for Free: Shopping Secrets for Smart Women Who Love to Get Something for Nothing by Kathy Spencer is definitely a must-read for anyone who is serious about slashing their grocery bill. This book can even teach you how to get just about anything else for free, too. Love clothes shopping? You can even learn how to get those free, too.

Kathy Spencer is definitely a pro at couponing, and she can teach you some great shopping strategies, which stores have the best deals and steals, and when to cash in on these items. She has even whittled one of her own grocery bills down from $267.22 to ONE PENNY.

So does her advice work? I had the opportunity to get a look at a review copy of this new book, and it was so good I read it all in 2 days. Just to test out her advice, I tried a few of her tips this past week when I went to the grocery store. I normally spend at least 120.00 a week on groceries, and this includes things like cat food and household cleaners, etc. I try to do all of my shopping at one store just for convenience, which is definitely not a strategy you want to use if you can help it because different stores have different sales.

I took stock of what I had already to make meals with at home and made a plan for the meals for the upcoming week. One of my big problems was that we have food at home, but eating out is just more convenient, so food is sitting there going to waste in some cases. With my meal plan made, sales papers looked over, and coupons in hand, I made the trek to a local grocery store. Planning this shopping trip took a few hours out of my day, but my final total at the register was $40.00. That’s a savings of $80. This is a small victory compared to the couponing pros, but to me it was amazing, and my husband was seriously impressed. I can’t wait to fine tune my couponing skills even more.

This book was a pleasure to read, a real teaching tool, and one I would highly recommend to anyone who is serious about saving money.

I received a copy of this book for review purposes. No other compensation was given for this review.