Are you deep frying a turkey?

I myself have never deep fried a turkey for Thanksgiving, but I hear really good praise on the taste front. There is an environmental conundrum, however, (beyond the threat of setting your neighborhood on fire). What to do with all that used vegetable oil?!

PLEASE, DO NOT JUST PUT IT IN THE TRASH! Instead, turn it into biofuel! How?

Between Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, you can drop off your used oil in any non-glass container at a number of locations:

Halls Convenience Center:
3608 Neal Road
Dutchtown Convenience Center:
10618 Dutchtown Road
John Sevier Convenience Center:
1810 John Sevier Hwy
Knoxville Household Hazardous Waste:
1033 Elm St
Earth Fare (Bearden):
140 N Forest Park Blvd
Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Office:
3804 Middlebrook Pike

Clean Energy Biofuels will in turn recycle it into biodiesel. How cool is that?!

Let me know if you plan to contribute.

Bobby's First Belt Test

A few weeks ago, Bobby began Taekwondo at the Chung-Do Black Belt Academy in Karns. This morning was his first test to earn a black stripe on his belt. Focus and control have been challenges for Bobby his entire life, but I'm happy to say that these classes have helped him with both considerably. He did great and is so proud of this first accomplishment. Here is a short video to show him in action. I'm a proud momma! ;-)

Online Holiday Shopping Tips

As I mentioned Monday, several of the Knoxville money saving momma bloggers have teamed up to bring you a slew of great ideas this holiday season to save you time, money, and head-aches. Today's tip comes from Kathryn at Knoxville on a Dime.

She has some great tips for getting the best deals online, including how to best comparison shop, avoid shipping costs, find discount codes, shop group buying sites, and score good Cyber Monday deals. Probably my favorite tip is about discount codes. I too am a fan of Retail Me Not. Never buy before checking the codes

If you're still making your plan for Black Friday, Frugalissa Finds had this great post. And check back Monday for great things to do around town for the holidays from Knoxmoms.

Melissa & Doug: Where are the lowest prices?

Note: I have no affiliation with Melissa and Doug or Smart Toys & Books; I'm just a consumer looking for the best deals.

If you're a mom of a child who loves puzzles, you'll agree the quality of the puzzle makes a huge difference. Don't waste your money on dollar puzzles; save it to spend on a Melissa and Doug puzzle. That's money well spent.

So today I was on a quest for the best price on Melissa and Doug puzzles. If I could get one under $10, I was planning to give that as my "under $10 secret santa gift" for our playgroup. I compared prices for a standard 24 piece puzzle. Here's what I found.

A.C. Moore normally sells them for $12.49, but this week they're on sale for $9.99. Good news: they're on sale; bad news is I couldn't use my 50% off one regular price item coupon in the Sunday paper. You can use the 10% off coupon in the school coupon books, bringing it to $9.

Toys R Us has the same puzzle for $9.99. I don't see any coupons or discounts for them.

Amazon has it for $9.04 and qualified for free shipping if my total was $25 or more. Note: If you decide to buy online and if you have a Upromise account, make sure you click on the Melissa and Doug icon through the Upromise website to earn 5% of your purchase for college savings.

Smart Toys & Books normally sells the same puzzle for $10.99. Now through 11/22, you an use their coupon in the school coupon book for 15% off, making it $9.34. Note: This coupon becomes 10% after 11/22, but you may be able to get even better coupons by signing up for their weekly e-mails. Plus, you get FREE gift wrapping!

They're competitively priced, they're a local business, and I get free gift wrap! Done!

Where is your favorite place to buy Melissa and Doug puzzles?

Black Friday Tips

A group of Local Knoxville Bloggers including Coupon Katie, Coupon Mommie, Couponing in Critical Times,Coupons Are Money, Frugalissa Finds, Frugally Farming Family, Knoxmoms.com, Knoxville Mamabelle, Knoxville on a Dime, Sharing Savings with You, and I are doing a series on different Holiday tips from now through December to save you BIG BUCKS and make the holidays more manageable and enjoyable.

Our first post comes from Frugalissa Finds about shopping Black Friday. Personally, I don't plan to do much if any shopping that day (as it's my birthday and I'll be traveling), but you should never try shopping Black Friday without a PLAN. Good luck!

More great posts to come....

My First Article in the Knoxville News Sentinel!

I've been freelance writing for several years now, but today marks the first time one of my articles has made it into the Knoxville News Sentinel. Yeah! The title is: "East Tennessee money-saving momma bloggers share tips." It was my opportunity to highlight the talents and contributions of several of the talented bloggers in our area. Unfortunately, I couldn't include them all, but so is the reality of print media.

Click here to read the article. I do want to clarify that I had asked them their "unique monthly visitor" numbers and what was published was their "monthly traffic" numbers. The numbers should be much higher for everyone (in the thousands to tens of thousands).

It includes profiles on: Living on More for Less (note: she recently changed her website and this is the correct link), Coupon Katie, Frugally Farming Family, Couponing in Critical Times, Knoxville Mamabelle, Frugalissa Finds, Knoxville on a Dime, Adventures in Momville, and Coupons are Money. Though not featured in this article, you should also check out Coupon Mommie, Sharing Savings with You, and Dollar out of a Dime. What impresses me most about all these women is the spirit of collaboration. Some might consider us competitors, but there is truly a sense of camaraderie among us.

I also hope you enjoy my video featuring a few of them below. Feedback appreciated.

Budget totals for Sept. & Oct.

I haven't been posting regularly about my budgeting, but I have been keeping track. For those of you new to my budget posts, this is the first year I've truly kept track of my spending. It's been a struggle, but I'm trying to keep on track.

My monthly budget of $800 includes all groceries, farmer's markets, u-pick farms, clothing, craft stores, dollar stores, office supplies, dining out, pharmacies, and big box stores. I aim for $500 of that to be in groceries and $300 for everything else. At the end of August, I was only over $11.13 and had almost made up for two months of excessive spending.

September was a tough month for me because we had several dinners out with our anniversary and birthdays. Just when I got out of a hole, I dug another one.

Here are my September totals:

• Grocery: $551.00 (saved $319.35)
• Pharmacies: $103.29 (saved $237.37)
• Dining out: $156.19 (saved $33)
• Other: $232.40 (saved $112.36)

Total Spent: $1042.88

Total Saved: $702.08 (40%)

Rebates received: +$13.66

Debt from August: -$11.13

TOTAL: $1040.35

TOTAL OVER BUDGET: $240.35

So did I do any better in October? Here are my October totals:

• Grocery: $622.83 (saved $351.61)
• Pharmacies: $58.71 (saved $245.77--81%!)
• Clothing: $53.00 (son's uniforms on consignment)
• Other: $94.20 (saved $71.67)

Total Spent: $828.74

Total Saved: $669.05 (45%)

Rebates received: +$57.81 (including consignment sale profits)

TOTAL: $770.93

Debt from September: $240.35

TOTAL CURRENTLY OVER BUDGET: $211.28

Though I'm doing better for November so far, I'm not sure I will be able to pull myself out of the hole with the holiday spending on the horizon. I think it's fair to give myself some extra for presents, but I haven't yet set my Christmas budget. I'm totally procrastinating. If you need some tips for setting and staying on budget for Christmas spending, be sure to check out Coupon Katie's posts.