Walmart — MomStart

5.00 Gift Ideas, Stocking Stuffers, and Home Made Baked Goods

December 10, 2010 By Momstart 7 Comments

I tried to make a video for this post 3 times and after the fourth time of not saving and having the kids distracting me I gave up. The kids were just excited to have all of the ingredients out to make fudge again. Why are we making Fudge again, because it’s a great home made baked gift that is easy to make, about 5.00 to make, and everyone loves it!

Walmart asked me to check out their prices and see if I could find everything I needed for 5.00 or less.

I packed up Miles in the van and off to Walmart we went. I set out just to get some baking goods, but then found so many other items that we use for cheaper than at the grocery store we usually go to, so I stocked up on things like refried beans, taco shells, and other necessities and I still came out of the store for under 25.00. We decided to make Fantasy Fudge, and only because the sugar was not as cheap as I was expecting it did actually cost us a little more than 5.00 to make Fantasy Fudge.

Fantasy Fudge:

1 jar of Kraft Marshmallow cream (1.00)
Evaporated Milk (.78) Name Brand Carnation was only (1.00)
3 cups Sugar (2.59 of course you have to factor into how many cups of sugar are in the bag so this number is actually lower)
box and a half of Semi-Sweet Chocolate (1.79 + 89)
Butter (.89)
Vanilla (2.50)

Total just over 5.00

So I decided to make a video after all!

I started thinking about the fact that some of the items cost more, but you are only going to be using a fraction of it in the ingredients. So Fantasy Fudge is closer to 5.00 to make than I first realized.

Walmart also has a lot of recipe ideas for other baked goods to give to your friends, family, and neighbors. Try out these different recipes for under 5.00.

Holiday Sugar Cookies
Butter Toffee Bars
Gingerbread Men Cookies
Old Fashioned Gingerbread

Walmart also sent me some 5.00 Stocking Ideas!

Oral-B Smile and Play Pack (includes tooth brush, tooth paste and kids floss; Licensed: Toy Story 3, Disney Princesses, Cars, Spiderman, Sponge Bob) – $5.00

Select DVD Movie Titles (Talladega Nights, Caddyshack, The Karate Kid and more) – $5.00

Old Spice Classic Collection Gift Set (includes 1 cologne and 1 deodorant) – $5.00

Faded Glory Winter Apparel (including hats, gloves and cotton tights) – $1.00 – $5.00

Bodycology (including body mist, body cream or hand sanitizer) – $1.00 each

Holiday Time Games and Activities (multipacks range from 3-12 items per pack) – $1.00

Candy Assortments include Bob’s Candy Canes, Baby Bottle Pop Candy, Dubble Bubble or Tootsie Roll Reusable Banks, Starburst Fruit Chews and more – $1.00

I would love to hear your ideas? How do you give a quality gift for 5.00 or less?

I was provided with a gift card from Walmart to facilitate this review.

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide, review Tagged With: 5.00 Gift Ideas, 5.00 stocking stuffers, Bake goods, Fantasy Fudge, Holiday Sugar Cookies, Kraft, Marshmallow cream, recipe, Walmart

Great Cyber Week Savings still Available at Walmart

December 2, 2010 By Momstart Leave a Comment

This year, Walmart kicked off Cyber Week on more than 150 holiday items in which almost all ship free to home or to a local Walmart store with Site to Store. The following sample items are available today through Dec. 3 while supplies last:

Electronics

· Jensen JiMS-198i Docking Digital Music System – $39 ($30 savings) + Free shipping to home

· Zune HD 32GB Exclusive Color bundle with Bonus Premium Car Pack – $208 ($140 savings) + Free shipping to home

· Samsung 32" LED-LCD HDTV – $498 ($200 savings) + Free shipping to home

Toys and Video games

· Leapfrog Learn & Groove Musical Table – $30 ($5 savings) + Free shipping Site to Store

· Fable III (Xbox 360) – $49.96 ($10 savings) + Free shipping Site to Store

· Airzone 15′ Trampoline and Enclosure Combo – $250 (nearly $100 savings) + Free shipping Site to Store

Home

· Three Christmas Light Sets Value Bundle – $15 ($5 savings) + Free shipping Site to Store

· Soho Lounge Square 16-Piece Dinnerware Set – $28 ($7 savings) + Free shipping Site to Store

Cameras and Personalized Gifts

· Your Choice $10 Photo Gifts – $10 + Free shipping to home

· FujiFilm Digital Camera Bundle (includes camera case, 4GB SDHC card, camera case and 100 bonus prints from Walmart One Hour Photo) – $89 ($10 savings) + Free shipping to home

· Kodak Zi8 Black Pocket Video Camera – $119 ($20 savings) + Free shipping to home

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide Tagged With: Camera, Cyber Week, Electronics, holiday items, Home, personalized gifts, Toys and Video games, Walmart, walmart sales ad

Would You Take A Walk In My Shoes with Walmart and P&G

November 27, 2010 By Momstart 95 Comments

I often wonder why people jump to conclusions and judge each other. Like me, yeah, I’m guilty of judging other’s and when I do, I stay up all night worrying about how cruel what I said was. Being a blogger, it’s reversed too. People don’t know anything about me other than what I write on this blog. But they are so quick to judge and write cruel comments. I know, I’m putting myself out there, but it still hurts. You should take a walk in My Shoes before you make a comment that could hurt! That’s advice that you should use on anyone you know, even strangers. Especially strangers, talking about the way people are dressed, or how they talk or look is just wrong!

This weekend, I had the opportunity to watch preview A Walk In My Shoes this weekend and it was really good. What a thoughtful way to enter the lives of a triangle of people. In A Walk In My Shoes Trish (Nancy Travis) a mother that is way to busy to pay any attention to her family becomes Cindy Kremer (Jana Lee Hamblin) a doting mother not able to make ends meet. When Trish becomes the mother of Mikey (Jackson Pace, a really cute kid with a lot of spunk) and Justin (Cameron Deane Stewart, who has family local to me) they are kicked out of their house with an eviction notice. To help Trish out, a crazy lady Molly (Yara Martinez) and a Marine Jake (Philip Winchester) trying to adjust to civilian life. Family movies always make me cry and this one had me crying in the first five minutes. It was a great movie of a family finding out how to deal with the death of their father, and finding a way to get back on their feet with the help of another family. This is not your typical “Freaky Friday” type of movie. Here only one person makes the trade as she learns not to judge someone before taking A walk in their shoes.

Filmed in Portland Oregon, A Walk In My Shoes is the next installment of Proctor & Gamble and Walmart’s Family Movie night. A Walk In My Shoes premiers December 3 at 8/7c on NBC. I was on the movie set of A Walk In My Shoes in Portland and I learned a lot about how Walmart and P & G plan on bringing Movie Night Back.

While there, I had the opportunity to meet the cast and some of my piers as we were on the set of A Walk in My Shoes.

IMG_8166 by Family Movie Night.

MommyQ, Me, Actor Nancy Travis , EightyMPHMom, Betty Confidential, The Spohrs are Multiplying, and Our Ordinary Life

I was amazed at how it seemed like each person on the project felt like they have a stake and it is there personal responsibility to bring quality television back.

Me and Actor Nancy Travis

Philip Winchester and me

For family night to truly return to television, it is up to the viewers, the viewers are going to have to demand it. Unless we want to watch quality TV and refuse to watch crap, it won’t change. Help Family night make a come back and watch A Walk in My Shoes December 3rd 8/7c on NBC. You know, A Walk In My Shoes could become a great TV Series, tell me what you think?

Enter to Win:

A Walk In My Shoes DVD and CD (soundtrack)

To Enter:

Leave a comment on this post about your idea of quality television.

and/Or

Tweet: Would You Take A Walk In My Shoes with Walmart and P&G on NBC Friday, December 3 at 8/7C http://bit.ly/eP1RPm

and/Or

Share on any of the sharing methods listed below (1 entries for each one for each day) using

Would You Take A Walk In My Shoes with Walmart and P&G on NBC Friday, December 3 at 8/7C http://bit.ly/eP1RPm

I received a preview kit and I will receive a DVD and CD in exchange for this post. I’ve worked with Walmart and P&G in the past, they sent me to Portland to be on the set of this movie, but no other compensation has been accepted.

Filed Under: giveaway, personal, review Tagged With: Family movie night, P&G, Procter and Gamble, Proctor & Gamble, Walmart

Trim The Table, Trim The Budget with Walmart

November 23, 2010 By Momstart 2 Comments

I love shopping at Walmart and the closest Walmart to us is rather small. We don’t even have a grocery department, well we have one cold aisle and some food supplies, I just wished it was bigger and provided more variety. Which brings me to a story. A few weeks ago, Miles and I were driving north to the Outlet Mall in Mukilteo and low and behold we found a Super Walmart on the way. I was so excited about finding a Super Walmart because I know from experience how much you can save using Walmart.

I feel like I grew up in a Walmart because we shopped at Walmart for everything, food, clothing, decorations. I mean to me Walmart is the one stop location for shopping. Walmart also almost always has the lowest prices and if they don’t have the lowest price they price match any competitors ad.

Walmart set me out to Trim the Table, Trim the Budget This Thanksgiving and I wanted to maximize my savings. So, I actually sat down and planned out my Thanksgiving visit to Walmart. I took all of my ads and clipped all of my coupons. I even had Zoe help me clip coupons. I did however, forget to take any ads with me. OOops.

Tips to save money:

Plan Plan ahead!

Cut Coupons at every source

Get a coupon holder, organize it and keep it in your car

Use children’s artwork as decorations

Use children’s artwork as holiday cards

Cook meals instead of eating out – you can save a fortune by cooking home cooked meals instead of going out and then you know the food is healthy too!

As I stated above, it was really nice to find everything I needed in one place. I found a turkey, dressing, salad, corn bread, peanut butter, jelly, and lots of other stuff and came in under my budget.

Remember Walmart for all of your Black Friday Savings too! By planning your adventures, you’ll save time and money and saving time is saving money, so if you think about it your saving a lot of money. Check out these online savings at Walmart on Thanksgiving day and instore deals at Walmart on Black Friday.

Day 1: Thanksgiving Day – Online-Only Specials

Customers can shop nearly 150 online-only specials at Walmart.com. Examples include:

· RCA 37′ LCD HDTV – $399
· Acer Purple Netbook Bundle (includes case and flash drive) – $248
· Kodak M530 Camera Bundle (includes case and 4GB memory card) – $79

Day 2: Friday After Thanksgiving – In-Store All Night "Open House" and 5am Electronics Event

In-Store "Open House" kicks-off at midnight with delectable treats, demos and fun while customers shop for toys, apparel and more. Walmart invites customers to come in and stay for the season’s hottest consumer electronics savings which begin at 5am. Examples include:

Midnight Savings

· Over 90 DVD titles including Lord of the Rings and Ice Age – $1.96
· Over 60 Blu-ray titles including The Dark Knight and Superbad – $5
· Mainstays 30-Piece Kitchenware Set - $24.87
· Wrangler Jeans for Men – $9
· Nintendo Wii console (available in red, black and white) with a $50 Walmart Gift Card – $199
· Over 140 games for Wii, Xbox360, PS2 and DS – starting at $7 and games for PS3 starting at $10

5am Electronics Savings

· 15.6" HP Laptop – $298
· Emerson 32" LCD HDTV – $198
· Sansui 19" LCD HDTV – $98
· Nintendo DS Lite (in multiple colors) – $89
· Tom Tom GPS XL 335 SE 4.3" GPS – $79
· Magnavox Wi-Fi Blu-Ray Player with $10 free VUDU movie credits – $69

FUN FACTS

On Friday, Nov. 26, Walmart will sell:

· Enough HDTVs to cover 105 football fields.
· Enough computers to stack 239 times taller than the world’s tallest building (Burj Khalifa in Dubhai, UAE, at 2,717 ft.)
· Enough cameras to stack taller than 320 Empire State Buildings

Day 3: Saturday – In-Store for More

Electronics savings continue for customers still looking for the remaining items on their Christmas lists. Examples include:

· Sony 46" Bravia LCD HDTV – $698
· Sony Blu-ray Player – $94
· Sony Wi-Fi Blu-ray Player – $158

Walmart Provided me with a gift card to share my savings tips and Trim the Table, Trim the Budget Experience. I have loved Walmart for years and my opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Announcement, personal, review Tagged With: Trim the budget. Thanksgiving, Trim The table, Walmart, walmart sales ad

The Walmart Top Toy List Shop and Save

November 1, 2010 By Momstart Leave a Comment

Later this week, Walmart is launching the ultimate in-store and online resource for toys, with a toy catalog that identifies a wide assortment of some of this year’s favored toys and brand. For the 71%* of moms relying on websites to find the “perfect” gift, Walmart will launch a dedicated section online for Top Toys at www.walmart.com/toptoys featuring toy demos and customer ratings and reviews.

Walmart worked with parents and suppliers throughout the year to identify its final list of Top Toys. The selection delivers on current toy trends highlighting educational and aspirational toys, toys based on popular licenses, and board games for fun-packed family nights. Savings and Rollbacks on Walmart’s Top Toys include:

· Zhu Zhu Pet or Kung Zhu Hamsters ($8; Was $9)

· U-Build Monopoly ($15; Was $18)

· Baby Alive Baby All Gone ($19; Was $24.88)

· Paper Jamz Guitar ($19.87; Was $23.87)

· Play-Doh Mega Fun Factory ($25; Was $29.96)

· Loopz Game ($25; Was $29.98)

· LEGO Games Creationary ($29; Was $34.97)

· Toy Story 3 Talking Woody, Jessie or Blast Off Buzz Lightyear Dolls ($29 each; Was $34.97)

· Holiday Barbie Doll ($35; Was $39.98)

· Hide-and-Seek JoJo Interactive Bunny ($39.96; Was $44.88)

· Nerf N-Strike Stampede ($44; $49.97)

· FurReal Friends GoGo My Walkin’ Pup ($49; Was $54)

· Matchbox Stinky the Garbage Truck ($49; Was $54.97)

· Air Hogs Hawk Eye Radio Control Camera Helicopter ($49; Was $59.97)

· Spy Net Video Watch ($49.97)

· Barbie Video Girl Doll ($49.98)

· VTech V.Reader Animated E-Book System ($54; $59.96)

· Leapster Explorer Learning Experience ($59; Was $69.97)

· BigFoot The Monster ($88; Was $97)

Filed Under: 2010 Gift Guide Tagged With: Holiday Guide 2010, Paper Jamz, Top Toy list, Walmart

Thomas Bagel Thins Anyone? and my Meal Plan Monday

September 21, 2010 By Momstart 7 Comments

Today for lunch I had a Thomas’ Bagel Thins sandwich. The Thomas brand made some new bagels and my husband bought a Costco size package of them a month or so ago. I was surprised because we don’t usually try things from Costco, we try them in a small package and then move onto Costco. Well, These are addictively delicious. They have so much flavor and are thin. So it’s not like eating a bagel with a ton of chewing. I toasted mine, put some honey mustard on it, added turkey and havarti cheese and it was good. Zoe liked the smell of it so much she asked for it for dinner, which is why this will also be the beginning of my meal plan this week.

Each bagel is soft and delicious. The Bagel Thin is just the right size, containing 110 calories each. They’re available in 100% Whole Wheat, Cinnamon Raisin, Everything and Plain and can now be purchased at supermarkets, Walmart and Target stores nationwide.

Monday – Thomas Bagel Thins Sandwiches

Thomas’ Bagel Thins
Lunch Meat
Mayo
Veggies

Tuesday – Corn Chowder

Frozen Corn
Potatoes
Half & Half
Paprika

Wednesday – Tacos

Beef
Taco Mix
Cheese
Tomatoes
Black Olives
Sour Cream

Thursday – Burritos

Beans
Beef
Taco Mix
Cheese
Tomatoes
Black Olives
Sour Cream

Friday – Chicken Coos Coos and veggies

Coos Coos
Veggies
Chicken

Saturday – Hamburgers and sweet potato fries

Beef
Buns
Fries
Tomatoes
Pickles
Ketchup
Cheese

Sunday – Egg Burritos

Eggs
Tortillas
Cheese

Although I did receive a very nice gift basket from Thomas Bagel Thins, we do buy them at Costco regularly and have been a fan even before we received the gift basket.

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: Bagel Thins, bread review, Meal plan, menu plan monday, Thomas Bagel Thins, Walmart

Happy New School Year Nestle Family Reading is Fundamental Giveaway

September 13, 2010 By Momstart 1,341 Comments

As a proud partner of RIF, the NESTLÉ Family is sending us $50 worth of books to donate to a RIF school of our choice. It’s the NESTLÉ Family Happy New School Year giveaway in partnership with Reading is Fundamental. They will be sending me a list of RIF schools in my area and then my family and I can take them to a school in our neighborhood. You all should know how much I love to help out my community. I try to donate as much of what we receive as I can.

RIF is the oldest and largest children’s and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States. All RIF programs combine three essential elements to foster children’s literacy: reading motivation, family and community involvement, and the excitement of choosing free books to keep.

Through this partnership, NESTLÉ has distributed millions of books to elementary school children across the country that are associated with the NESTLÉ Adopt-A-School program. And the books donated are designed to not only encourage literacy, but are specifically focused on teaching kids about the importance of nutrition, health and wellness.

In honor of this partnership we’re going to be hosting a giveaway here on Mom Start. But there is also another larger giveaway at nestlefamily.com which is the Happy New School Year Sweepstakes. Feel free to enter every day for a chance to win the grand prize of $5,000 worth of back-to-school essentials plus a $2,000 NESTLÉ Literacy Grant for your school, as well as daily prizes from Crayola. The Nestle Happy New School Year sweepstakes ends October 15, 2010.

Enter to Win on Mom Start:

$25 gift card to Walmart , a NESQUIK^® lunch box, product from RAISINETS^® and a mix of free coupons from NESTLÉ^® Pure Life, OVALTINE^®, TOLL HOUSE^® Refrigerated Cookie Dough, TOLL HOUSE Morsels, NESQUIK, COFFEE-MATE^®, DRUMSTICKS^® and CARNATION^® BREAKFAST ESSENTIALS^™.

To Enter:

Tell me what your favorite Nestle Product is!

Extra Entries:

Tweet or RT the giveaway using the RT button above, include the link to the post

Like Mom Start on Facebook
Follow me on twitter tell me your twitter ID
Follow me on Google Friend Connect
Subscribe to my blog
Comment on any other non-giveaway post
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble
Blog About this Giveaway (5 extra entries, linking to the giveaway)
Add my blog button to your sidebar (3 extra).

This giveaway ends September 27th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules. I will be receiving the same package as the winner along with the books to donate.

Filed Under: giveaway Tagged With: Coffee-Mate, drumsticks, Happy New School Year Sweepstakes, Nesquick, Nestle, Ovaltine, Pure Life, Raisinets, sweepstakes, Toll House Cookies, Walmart

Back To School Savings at Walmart

August 14, 2010 By Momstart 1 Comment

I love to share savings with my readers and I’ve forgotten that. I’ve been so wrapped up in working with brands and hosting giveaways that I forgot why some of you started following me in the first place. Once upon a time I wrote about saving money, where to go to save and how to use coupons. So maybe, just maybe, I’ll make some time to write about that again!

Walmart sent me a list of some of their back to school savings and even though they are not paying me to post this, I thought it might help some of you who are already buying or thinking about buying back to school items.

From Crayola Washable markers to Texas Instruments calculators, parents can check off all the items on their school-bound children’s supply lists at Walmart. The retailer offers the brands, colors and styles kids want and need at unbeatable prices. Walmart also has some great back-to-college prices and sample shopping lists that can help your readers figure out all that they need at www.walmart.com/backtoschool.

Ready for some homework? Walmart stands firmly behind back-to-school savings and invites you to take the “Walmart Savings Challenge.” Put Walmart’s prices to the test by shopping for your whole list and comparing prices with other, local retailers. Get ready to add up the savings!

· Avery Durable View Binder – 1 inch – $2.50

· Pink Eraser by Peachtree Playthings – 2 Pack – $1

· 2-Pocket Folder with Prongs (Brads) – $0.20

· Bic Brite Liner Highlighters – 5 Pack – $1.50

· Bic Mechanical Pencil (7mm) – 10 Pack – $1.50

· Black & White Composition Book- 100 sheets – $0.25

· Crayola Colored Pencils – 12 Count – $1

· Crayola Crayons – 24 Count – $0.25

· Crayola Marker Classic Broad – 10 Count – $1

· Crayola Marker Washable Broad – 8 Count – $2

· Dixon #2 Pencils – 24 Count – $1

· Elmer’s School Glue – 4 Oz – $0.25

· Elmer’s School Glue Stick Twin Pack – $0.25

· Index Card 3×5 Ruled – 100 Count – $0.44

· Sharpie Fine Black Markers – 2 Count – $1

· Spiral Notebook Wide Ruled – 70 Sheet – $0.15

· Texas Instruments 84 Plus Silver Edition Graphing Calculator – $90

· Mead Reinforced Wide Ruled Filler Paper – 150 Sheet – $2.50

Thank you to Walmart for providing this great information.

Filed Under: savings Tagged With: Back to School, Crayola, savings, Walmart

What is your Fresh Idea?

August 13, 2010 By Momstart 7 Comments

At Blogher I tried to step outside of my comfort level and do video opportunities. I let people interview me and I interviewed them. One of the opportunities was with Walmart. They were taking videos of people sharing their “Fresh Idea”. A Fresh Idea is a way that you can be a little more green or environmentally conscience. So I thought of something that I try to do:

What is your Fresh Idea?

Filed Under: personal Tagged With: blogher, Blogher10, Fresh Idea, Walmart

Elmer’s Virtual Bag it Forward For Charity #bagitforward

July 31, 2010 By Momstart 5 Comments

My Friend Robyn at Robyn’s Online World sent me a virtual Bag it Forward invitation. For every post written 10.00 will be donated to Adopt-a-Classroom, up to 10,000. Elmer’s is celebrating back to school with a partnership with Wal-Mart and Adopt-A-Classroom to make a difference in children’s lives.

HOW CAN YOU JOIN? It’s easy.

Participate in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward and by giving away a virtual bag of school supplies and creating a blog post with specific rules described below.
Elmer’s will donate up to $10,000 to Adopt-A-Classroom
You can give as many virtual bags as you want in your post, but only one post per URL is counted towards the donation. You can post at multiple URLs.
The Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward will officially begin at 12 AM EST on July 22, 2010 and end at 12 PM EST on August 12, 2010. Blog posts submitted to us before or after that time period will not be counted for.
The blog post link has to be submitted in the comment section below for your participation to be counted.
In addition copy and paste the following text in your blog post:

ELMER’S VIRTUAL BAG IT FORWARD RULES

Copy and paste these rules to your blog post.
Create a blog post giving a “virtual bag of school supplies” to other bloggers or write about your Back to School shopping trip at Walmart.
Link back to person who gave you a bag of school supplies.
Let each person you are giving a virtual bag of school supplies know you have given them a bag.
Leave your link in the Elmer’s Virtual Bag It Forward comment section. You can also find the official rules of this virtual #bagitforward program there.