Easy Truffles

If you stocked up on the free cream cheese at King Soopers this week here is a great recipe to use some of that cream cheese on!

Easy Truffles!
You will need:
One package of Regular Oreos, or 1 1/3 packages of speciality Oreo (mint or peanut butter)
One 8 oz package of cream cheese softened (fat free CC still makes them taste great!)
6 to 8 oz of milk chocolate chips
1-2 Tablespoons of shortening
A little powdered sugar

Open all cookies and scrape the "stuff" out of the middle into a bowl, put the cookies into a different bowl. Add softened cream cheese to the "stuff" and mix well.  Take cookies and pound, grind, do whatever you have to do to get them crushed like sand.  Take a big spoonful of cookie powder and set aside.  Mix remaining crushed cookies into the "stuff" mixture, mix well.  Roll cookie mixture into 1-inch balls (if mixture is too sticky, mix a little powdered sugar in to make it less so.)  Freeze for about an hour.
While balls are freezing, melt chocolate chips in double boiler (or in a small pot set inside of a bigger one that has boiling water in it.)  Add a bit of the shortening so thin out the chocolate (I guess at this part, you will know.  If it gets too thin, add more chocolate).
Remove the balls from freezer and dip into chocolate using a toothpick (I freeze the balls so they are firmer to stay on the toothpick during dipping.) Set dipped balls on waxed paper, sprinkle with a bit of the cookie dust you set aside and put in fridge for about an hour.
Makes about 45 truffles, depending on how much of the mixture you eat during the process!

Christmas Shopping..

I have made it my goal to not pay full price for any Christmas gifts this year. So far, minus 2 items (bad! but I couldn't risk waiting on them), I have done surprisingly well! This comes as a huge shock to those who know me, because I am famous for waiting until the very last second and have even done all my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve one year! EEK! :) So, in my newest approach to living a more frugal lifestyle, I am starting my Christmas shopping early and I am only shopping sales, clearance items, and/or using coupons.
My first official shopping trip was Wednesday and here is what I found:

Old Navy having a 40% off their clearance items. So what was already reduced by about half, was being reduced, again at 40%! I bought 6 shirts, all a size above what my daughters are wearing now for $10.20 !!!

Toys R Us is having clearance sales on a ton of their toys. Here is a hint though: Search online first. The reason why is because the stores are running out of clearance stock. Although be careful, because a coupon just released says it is for in-store purchases only. However, the items that I wanted for my daughter were only online, so I was willing to forgo the coupon. Although this didn't stop me from buying a few clearance items while I was there, OH! and pre-order my copy of Toy Story 3! Check out Holli's blog about how to get Beauty and the Beast for next to nothing by pre-ordering Toy Story 3!

Barnes and Nobles had a huge table full of 75% off items. Included were books, games, stationary, pens, dry erase boards, and a few knick knacks. 75% off!!!! I picked up a few more items there as well!

Walgreens  has Tinkerbell journals with pen for .99 (originally 1.99) , which was a score for me, because one of my daughters is in love with Tinkerbell. And they also have Hot Wheels 2 for $2 on sale, so I picked up 2 for my son.

Michaels Every week in the Sunday paper, Michaels has a 40% ff coupon. Moreover, every time you buy something at Michaels, they give you a 40% off coupon with your receipt! So, I bought my daughter a huge scrapbooking kit for $9.66 when it was originally $14.99! And I have a coupon to go back with and buy another 40% off item, (which will generate another 40% off at the register) and then Sunday I will have yet another 40% off coupon! My kids love crafts, so these coupons are the best! Especially because years prior, I was paying full price for everything! EEK! :)

So that was my first Christmas shopping trip. I must say, Holli has me beat! Check out how that dealin' diva scores the big savings and follow her advice!

Toys R Us Deals...

Ok I think I rocked the Toy R Us deals this week, these deals were posted on the Bargain Blessings website.
The first day, I printed off a few coupons and got the rest from last Sunday's paper and bought:

-Disney Pictureka $1.50 ($19.99)
-Game of Life High School Edition- $1.50 ($9.99)
-35 outlet covers (we needed them, but I didn't have a coupon) $3.50
- 5 Travel Editions of Sorry $1.50 each ($6.99)
- 5 Travel Editions of Connect 4 $1.50 each ($6.99)
Total with tax about $21.00, saved about $80.00

Today I went back for the toy deals (many things are Buy 2 get 1 free).  I got:

(I broke out the prices the best I could after coupons and free items etc. The first price is about what I paid per item and the second is the advertised, regular price.)
-2 Potato Heads- $3.05 each ($7.99)
-1 Animals wheeled 4 pack- $3.05 ($9.99)
-3 Weebles 2 packs- $1.93 each (6.99)
-2 Weeble Musical Treehouse $13.33 ($29.99)
-Ball Popper $13.33 ($24.99)
-2 Animal Track Playset $6.12 each ($14.99)
-Ball Gear Center $11.86 ($24.99)
-Iron Man Rocket Boost $12.04 ($19.99)
-3 Super Hero Squad 2 pack $2.98 each ($6.99)
Total was about $113.00, I saved $126.00

I'm on my way to getting my Christmas Shopping done!
How far along are you?  Have you started yet?  What are you hoping to score for cheap this holiday season?

Christmas is less then 100 days away!

This morning Jennie, over at Bargain Blessings, started her Countdown to Christmas "support group".  With less than 100 days until Christmas, she thought it was time to start chipping away at the list a little by little to help alleviate stress and chaos as the holidays draw nearer.   One of her readers suggested making and freezing meals ahead of time for the week of Christmas.  I would love to start a discussion here about things that you can check off your list early to make your holiday season run more smoothly. I don't want to limit this strictly to Christmas, if you celebrate any other holiday, any time of the year, please feel free to chime in with things you do to help reduce stress around that time!

I have done a few things to get started:
-I started shopping a few months ago as I found great deals (most posted by Jennie).
-I have three vouchers bought through Groupon.com (voucher for photo stamps for the Grandparents), Jasmere.com (voucher for a handmade wooden toy) and Eversave.com (voucher for non-toxic kids toys) that I have plans to purchase a few gifts with.
-Since we only have Gracie every other weekend, I have started helping her make her Christmas crafts/gifts in hopes of being able to finish during Fall Break.

What have you done to get started?  If you haven't gotten started, what is on your list that you think you can check off first?  Do you have any ideas for other readers on ways they can wade into this holiday season?