I grew up on homemade granola. Oh YUM. If you have only had store bought granola you don’t know what you are missing!

I took my mom’s recipe & my mother-in-law’s recipe, combined them and tweaked it a bit to my changing taste. Here is how our family loves granola.

CRUNCHY GRANOLA

5 c. oats (I usually use quick oats)
1/2 c. wheat germ
1/2 c. milled flax seed
1/2 c. coconut
1 c. sunflower seeds
1/2 c. sesame seeds
1 1/2 c. nuts (almonds, walnuts, etc. whatever you want!)
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 c. water
3/4 c. oil
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. molasses
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp mapleine (optional)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a large bowl, combine oats, wheat germ, flax seed, coconut, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon, nuts, Blend well. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine water, brown sugar, oil, honey molasses, salt, vanilla, and mapleine. Heat and stir until sugar and honey are dissolved. Do not boil. Pour syrup mixture over dry mixture, and mix up well. Cover large cookie sheet with the granola mixture. Cook for 30-35 minutes for soft granola, longer for crunchy granola. Cool completely before putting into an air-tight container. Sometimes I end up cooking it for about 45 minutes if I am in the mood for really crunchy.

I love to eat granola for breakfast or snacks! I always top it with fresh fruit in the spring and summer or canned peaches in the winter. Right now I love it with fresh blueberries or strawberries.

The Frugal Vacationers: Planning a Family Vacation on a Budget
Many families today are cutting back on unnecessary expenses, such as going on lavish vacations, in order to cope with the harsh financial blows resulting from a failing economy. However, this doesn’t mean you have to completely deprive yourself and your family of all fun when summer arrives. You and your family can still enjoy the summer without having to spend a lot of money. How? Plan your vacation wisely!

How Much Can You Afford?
Regardless of where you plan to go, the first step you need to consider when you’re planning a family vacation is the budget. How much can you afford for a family vacation? Your budget will most likely be the deciding factor for most of the questions regarding your family vacation. Which resort will your family stay in? Are you going to travel by plane or by car? How many days or weeks are you going to be on vacation? How many souvenirs are you going to buy? Your budget determines all these things.

Want to maximize your savings? Prepare a detailed outline of your expected spending before you make arrangements for your family vacation. For instance, while putting a price limit on your overall meal expenses is good, it’s even better to itemize all costs in advance. You can limit your eating expenses to $5 per person per day for breakfast, $8 for lunch and $10-$12 for dinner. It’s easier this way to see at a glance whether you’re still well within your budget or if you’re already in danger of going over.

Plan Weeks or Months Ahead
To gain the most accurate estimate of how much your family vacation is going to cost, do some thorough research weeks or even months prior to the trip. Take advantage of the resources online in order to estimate how much you will spend on your family vacation. Finding out the costs of accommodations, meals, and airfare is not difficult at all. All it takes is one phone call to the hotel, restaurant, or airline and you can get an exact figure right away. You can also use travel sites to help you have a fairly good idea of how much the attractions and entertainment in a particular place are going to cost.

Anticipate Additional Costs
It’s a good idea to have more than what you’ve initially estimated. Even if you’ve done your research quite well, be prepared for unexpected price increases, additional taxes and other incidental costs. A summer vacation can easily be ruined if you suddenly find out that you have no more cash in your wallet despite having a few more days to spend on your vacation. So while you’re on the planning stage and you’re working on your budget, add 10% to 15% of your total cost to your budget. That’s for incidentals, which you can spend on souvenirs or use to take your family out to a really good restaurant on your last night on vacation.

Take Advantage of Freebies
Many vacation hotspots will have various free offers, such as a free meal or a complimentary souvenir, for tourists and out-of-towners. Inquire about such freebies and take advantage of them to further reduce your family summer vacation expenses.

With adequate foresight, thorough planning, and a little bit of creativity, you can definitely enjoy a wonderful summer vacation with your family even on a very small budget.

Growing up in Arizona, I saw very few seasons. There really are just two: the season to play outside because the weather is actually beautiful (months November to March) and the season when being outside means swimming or eating popsicles! I was pleasantly surprised, however, to find so many wonderful seasons here in Utah. Autumn brings leaves actually changing colors (cactus don’t do that so much), winter brings snow…EVERYWHERE, spring surprises with even more snow (NOT a personal favorite) and then there’s summer which brings us to the point of this post…Case Lot Sales!
For short term food storage, Case Lot Sales in local grocery stores are an excellent place to start, or expand your food storage. Many local stores will either be having or are already in the midst of fantastic sales on canned goods. Buying in bulk allows you to get extras and continue to rotate what you already have. And, it’s a great way to make the most of your pennies (but of course, you probably already know that)!
There’s an old adage “preparation precedes power” that’s as true for Case Lot Sales as in anything else. So, do your homework. Learn when a Case Lot Sale is happening at your local grocery store. Before you go, look at a food calculator, review your current “inventory” and think about what your family actually likes to eat. The final step is to make sure you know how you are going to store your newly purchased items. You don’t want your cases taking up all of your pantry space, but you also want to make your canned goods easily accessible for everyday use. So, I suggest a very great solution… Food Rotation Systems to organize any pantry out there.

Food Rotation Systems offer both ease and efficiency in making the most of food and space. Shelf Reliance offers lots of systems in even more sizes to be customized to any storage area. And, whether you are buying small tuna cans or large #10’s, Shelf Reliance systems can accommodate them. So instead of using your food storage as a box spring mattress, organize and simplify with Shelf Reliance.
*If you know of any case lot sales happening in your area, or if you have any great tips to storing canned goods, please let us know!

Utah Shopping Secrets	Idaho Shopping Secrets	Oregon Shopping Secrets	Wyoming Shopping Secrets
Colorado Shopping Secrets	Nevada Shopping Secrets	California Shopping Secrets	Washington Shopping Secrets

PYP has recently launched a few Facebook groups to aid in sharing deals on a more local level.  If you live in one of these areas,  be sure to become a Fan!  We also recommend becoming a fan of PinchingYourPennies.com on Facebook, for lots of great national and online deals. We have over 28,000 fans!

California Shopping Secrets Facebook group Northern and Southern California deals
Colorado Shopping Secrets Facebook group Colorado deals
Idaho Shopping Secrets Facebook group Idaho deals
Nevada Shopping Secrets Facebook group Nevada deals
Oregon Shopping Secrets Facebook group Oregon deals
Utah Shopping Secrets Facebook group Utah deals
Washington Shopping Secrets Facebook group Washington deals
Wyoming Shopping Secrets Facebook group Wyoming deals
SavingMoneyinAZ.com Facebook group – Arizona deals

PinchingYourPennies.com Facebook group – mostly freebies and national and online deals.

And now…there are 2 Utah community sites!

For great Cache Valley only deals, follow us on Cache Valley Deals and Events on Facebook.
For great Utah County only deals, follow us on Utah County Deals and Events on Facebook.

Mentos, B1G1, up to $1.00
While supplies last (500,000). Limit 2 prints per customer

LINK to offer on Facebook 

Lots of great deals! Don’t miss them!
Tupperware.com LINK
The popular tabletop tumblers are back! Get them for just $14.99 – find out how here!
Don’t forget to check all of the sales and online exclusives.
Surprise packs are back! Get one for $50 when you spend $25!

Check your Sam’s Club for this clearance item!

Clorox Flu Season Multi-Pack Cleaning Kit. Each multi-pack contains the following:
1 – 75 ct Clorox Lemon Fresh Disinfecting Wipes  (These are the BIG canisters that are normally around $6 each!!)
1 – 75 ct Clorox Fresh Scent Disinfecting Wipes
1 – 9 ct Fresh Scent Disinfecting Wipes
2 – 32 oz Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner With Bleach.

Clearance priced at $6.01! 

& MORE
Home Classics® 12-pk. Washcloths
regular $9.99
sale $3.79
*$3.22 after code + earn Kohl’s Cash!

& MORE
Jumping Beans® Beach Towel
original $19.99
sale $6.99
*$5.94 after code + earn Kohl’s Cash!

& MORE
The Big One Beach Towels
original $19.99
sale $5.99
*$5.09 after code + earn Kohl’s Cash!

Code: *can combine a % off and shipping code*
15% off FIFTEEN4U – exp 07/05/10
Free Shipping on $75 SEND2ME – exp 07/05/10

Kohls.com LINK

Best Deal Magazines Deal of the Day LINK
Food Magazine
Term:1 Yr 10 Issues
Publisher’s Price: $12.00
Today: $5.39
*$4.58 w/code PINCHPENNIES15

Everyday Food brings you quick, easy solutions for everyday cooking. Each issue is contemporary and straightforward in design with beautiful photos to show the final dish. All ingredients are available at any store and some recipes include canned and frozen foods as ingredients. Included with each recipe is the nutritional information, preparation time and tips.

In the amazing world of couponing, it’s easy to get carried away with the great deals you find and end up buying too much of an item that’s on a great sale. I learned this several years ago when I started couponing, but it came back to me this weekend when I moved into my new home and realized again just how much stuff I had over-bought. Here are the three things I wish I had known when I started stockpiling. If you’re just starting out, hopefully it will save you money, time, and space by helping you know how much of an item you should buy, and how much is too much.

1. Check the expiration dates. I know this sounds obvious, but it wasn’t to me. Growing up in a house of nine people, I never even heard the words “expiration date” because food was never around long enough to expire. I was surprised, then, when in my early couponing years I noticed that the stockpile of cookie and cake mixes I had bought was about to expire. Fortunately, I was able to give them to a large family who was eager to use them up so the food didn’t go to waste, but I could have saved myself the effort of buying the items in the first place if I had noted the expiration dates before I bought them.

2. Ask yourself how long your family will use this item, really. During our broke college days, I once stockpiled a bunch of macaroni and cheese, thinking that my husband and I could save money by eating it for lunch for the next several months. Unfortunately, after two months of eating mac and cheese, we started to think we would die if we ever saw anything orange again. Although we were sick of it, we still had a lot of mac and cheese to deal with. I even found a few left in the corner of the cupboard when we moved this weekend!

3. Know how much of an item you need. Before I had my first son, there was a great deal on baby lotions, shampoos, and body washes. Because I had never had a child before, I figured that I’d go through about one bottle of lotion and one bottle of wash a week.

Are you done laughing yet?

Okay, now are you done?

I was a new mother! Cut a girl some slack!

Anyway, the end of this story is that I ended up with waaaay too many baby cleansing products on my hands and although my son is now three and a half, I still have boxes of baby products for which I need to find a worthwhile purpose. And it’s all because I didn’t know how much an item I actually needed. I should have called a friend and found out before I started stockpiling

I’ve saved a lot of money by couponing over the years, and it would have been even more if I had known when I started how to avoid these three over-stockpiling mistakes. They say that a smart man can learn from his own mistakes and a wise man can learn from others’ mistakes. I had to make the mistakes to learn the lessons, so I’m stuck with just being smart. You, however, can learn from my mistakes so pull out your coupons, hit the stores, and remember to be wise.

1. Starting today at Old Navy, the ENTIRE Store is 30%!! Both online and in-store!

More info HERE

2. Double Coupons at Smiths! All coupons worth $1 for one week!

More info HERE and HERE

3. Adult Crocs starting at $12.74 PLUS free shipping!

More info HERE

4. Last day for $15 OFF a $15 purchase at Chadwicks.com!

More info HERE

5. Photo Books are 50% off at Snapfish!

More info HERE

6. Pre-order Mockingjay for $8.50 at Amazon! Also get Hunger Games and Catching Fire for under $10 each!!

More info HERE

Toy Story 3 Deals this week:

eBags LINK

JanSport SuperBreak
Catalog Number: CT33-1
MSRP: $35.00
Our price: $17.99
*$13.49 shipped after code

Select discontinued colors including the one above plus these:

Code: Extra 25% Off 1 Item + Free Shipping on Your Entire Order COMJ251FS
eBags LINK

My kids love snow cones. I love snow cones. They taste sooo good when it is hot outside! But for me…heading to the snow shack every time we wanted was was getting expensive. So last year I got an ice shaver to make our own snow cones at home.

Then I noticed how expensive the liquid flavorings were in the store. It really adds up! I set out on a mission to figure out how to make our own snow cone syrup.

I googled it and it didn’t take me long to find out that making your own snow cone syrup is EASY, and cheap too! Here is the recipe I use.

1 packet Kool-Aid
2 cups sugar
1 cup water

Mix all together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Immediately remove from the heat. Cool. I used my kitchen funnel to put the syrup after cooling into an empty snow cone syrup bottle from the store. You can use any recycled bottle.

That’s it! Super easy. Last year we discovered we really liked the Tropical, Berry Blue, and Grape Kool Aid for our syrup.

Have you ever made your own snow cone syrup before?