I have to admit that I am a sucker for companies that take the time to give back! Recently, I learned about a newer company, Campus Book Rentals. Their company intrigued me not just because they offer great book rentals for college students, but because they pride themselves in giving back and making a difference.

Campus Book Rentals supports a great organization called Operation Smile. Operation Small offers surgeries for children in under priveleged countries to correct conditions like cleft lip and cleft palate.

Through the Making a Difference campaign, Campus Book Rentals has set a mission to fund enough money to pay for at least 1,000 surgeries for these children! Each and every book rental at Campus Book Rentals a portion will be donated to Operation Smile.

Operation Smile isn’t the first Making a Difference campaign recipient either. In 2010, CBR supported Project Guatemala to help underpriveleged children receive necessities that they lacked.

All of their campaigns in the Making a Difference campaign are really admirable, and I wanted to share them with you. I love finding things that you guys need to do anyway and then finding special companies like Campus Book Rentals that help charities out as well! That way your money is not just meeting your needs but helping you pay it forward as well!

Curious how Campus Book Rentals works? Check out this short video. It’s frugal and green! Gotta love it!

If you want to learn more about Campus Book Rentals commitment to Operation Smile make sure to visit their Making a Difference campaign page! You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook as well!

I have done several different reviews on free online chore charts. I have loved each and everyone of them, but to be honest there was always something that I wished it had that it didn’t. Enter ChorePay to save the day!

BEST ONLINE CHORE CHART YET

I LOVE this online chore chart. I know you have head that before, but I can’t tell you how much I REALLY mean it! As soon as I hit the homepage, I was in love with the kid friendly whimsical design. It’s engaging. Even my teenage daughter was like, “Oooh what’s that?!” From there my review had to wait, because she wanted to register that instant!

Beyond the cute design, I love how each kid can pick their very own icon. Other sites allow for personalized backgrounds, but the cute icons are great. I do wish though that they had a few more to the mix. My youngest daughter is a blond, and wanted a blond one, but they didn’t have one. She chose the ninja instead. (I know, not sure how we went from blond icon to a ninja, but it made her happy)

 LOAD CASH RIGHT TO YOUR ACCOUNT USING YOUR CREDIT CARD OR PAYPAL

The biggest difference between other online chore charts and this one, is it gave me the option to load money right from my Paypal account. Last time we used some of the others, some you couldn’t load with cash at all. Others only allowed credit cards. On this one, I could choose both, but let me rewind a little bit.

It was super easy to add my kids to the account. After you register, just click CHORES in the top bar. In the right side, you will see an “add child” button. It took me less than five minutes to add all three of my kids, pick their icons, and set up their passwords.

“If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.” Abigail Van Buren

Next step is to add chores. This was great because it’s completely customizable. I like the fact you can type in your own chores. Some of the chores we have in our home usually aren’t in regular pick lists. This way I can type in what I mean.

After adding the chores, you can pick set a monetary reward or non monetary reward. I LOVE this. I get to add some extra chores my kids can do to earn cash or they can earn “stars” which they can trade in for things like trips to the mall or more TV time.

HELP KIDS LEARN HOW TO SET MONEY GOALS

Once chores are all set up,  you can even allocate what percentage of their money your kids can save, donate, and spend. I love this feature because it allows me to show my kids how to set goals with their money.

Once kids start earning money, they can shop the ChorePay online mall. There are tons of items to choose from, and they even sale items. Watching sales teaches the kids to be wise with their money! Kids can also make a wishlist. Great way to get Christmas ideas!

Overall, we have started and stopped using many different chore charts online. I think ChorePay is the one that is the best fit for our family. All of our chores and rewards are set up and ready to go. I even loaded $10 into my account to pay my kids when they turn their chores in!

LEARN MORE ABOUT CHOREPAY

Want to learn more about ChorePay? Then make sure to visit the ChorePay website, and set up your free account! Trust me you are going to love it!

CRUNCHY MARKETPLACE: THE PLACE TO SCORE HOT COUPONS AND FRUGAL DEALS

You may have noticed the “Marketplace” tab on Crunchy Frugalista. Well, we are happy to now offer a marketplace powered by Ubokia where you can buy, sell, or trade items that you are trying to get rid of or trying to look for.

I am hoping that we can develop a great community of coupon exchanges and way to find products you are looking for for a frugal costs!

I just listed a wooden clarinet that has been sitting in my closet for years, and I added a Dawn coupon that I have been looking for.

It’s completely free to sign up, and the whole thing is verified! You can stand trusted that you aren’t trading with a stranger that might rip you off. Ubokia takes the time to verify each and EVERY person that signs up. Plus there is an exclusive Crunchy Frugalista group where you can buy and sell to fellow Crunchy readers!  Join Crunchy’s group now!

GET STARTED ON THE MARKETPLACE

Head to Crunchy Frugalista Marketplace, and then click the Join button. This will take you to another screen and click the “join with Facebook” button. (or you can opt to enter all your information in the form below)

GET TRUSTED!

After you join, you need to get “trusted”. This is how Ubokia verifies you are who you say you are. Answer a few simple questions to get verified. If for some reason it won’t verify you, just call the phone number really quickly and in less than 5 minutes they will have you ready to go!

This is one of my favorite features, because you can opt to only get messages and offers from people that are verified. That way you know that you are dealing with an actual person!

LINK YOUR FACEBOOK AND PAYPAL: THEN GET READY TO SCORE

The next step that I did was link my Facebook and Paypal account. I love Paypal because you are protected there as well. If for some reason things don’t go as planned you can be assured that you are covered for your purchases too!

There are so many different categories that you can list items you are selling or items that you want. I am really excited to get the Crunchy Frugalista Marketplace going because it’s going to be THE place to trade coupons!!! We can never have enough coupons right?!? Are you ready to get started? Then let’s go! See you there!

If you are anything like me, you are always on the look out on how to save on your auto insurance. I recently took a look at AutoInsuranceEZ.com to see what I could learn about doing just that.

I have been with MetLife for almost 10 years, while I love the company my insurance keeps going up a little bit each year. I haven’t had any accidents in the last 5 years, so of course I am always hoping that my coverage cost goes down.

COMPARE HUNDREDS OF COMPANIES ALL IN ONE PLACE

AutoInsuranceEZ.com was a neat website that gives you the background on each company, and what kind of coverage that they currently offer. They also have easy to use widgets that allow you to get free quotes from each company that you are learning about. I found the car insurance reviews listed were particularly helpful in seeing the difference between the companies. I just wish there was a way to do a side by side comparison to make it a bit easier.

10-MINUTE AUTO INSURANCE GUIDE IS A MUST!

The 10-minute guide to auto insurance was definitely a plus! It put a great list of helpful information all in one place including what affects your auto insurance, types of coverage, and even ways to lower your premiums! We should all learn how to do that!

The website even has information listed by state. I guess I could complain because Indiana was listed as one of the top ten cheapest states to drive in. I guess I am just not a big fan of car insurance.  Check out more information about Indiana on the AutoInsuanceEZ.com Indiana informational page.

 ENTER TO WIN $100 GIFT CARD FROM AUTOINSURANCEEZ.COM

Ready to check this great website out? Well now you get a chance to win $100 gift card just click on Like Us button on the homepage of AutoInsuranceEZ.com.

AutoInsuranceEZ.com Giveaway rules:

Like AutoInsuranceEZ.com website and email us at info@autoinsuranceez.com via social Share Buttons or leave a message via Contact Us form to make us aware of your participation and to win a prize $100 Gift Card.

No purchase or use of service necessary to enter or win in AutoInsuranceEZ.com Cash Giveaway. Starts 9:00:00 a.m. ET on 7/7/12 and ends 5:00:00 p.m. ET on 8/7/12 (“Promotion Period”). Open to legal residents of the 48 contiguous United States and District of Columbia who are 18+ as of entry date. Void in AK, HI and where prohibited. Winners will be chosen at random and will be able to win more than once as in future drawings if they are lucky.

Disclosure: I received compensation as part of a campaign with Living Your Moment in order to write my review. All opinions are mine and mine alone. I  am disclosing this in accordance with FTC 16 CFR Part 255 concerning the  use of endorsements and testimonials in advertising.

Though I live in the US, a lot of my readers are from Canada. I love learning about great companies that offer amazing places for my readers to save, especially if they are for my Canadian readers.

AMAZING COUPONS AND PROMO CODES

Couponcodes.ca is one of the best Canadian coupon sites that I have come across. They offer tons of ways for you to save money next time you are shopping online! They have great promo codes for Canada that will help you save money.

Plus, they have codes and deals for premier retailers including exclusive coupons for Chapters Indigo. My favorite is the $10 gift card when you buy a Kobo Touch. Nothing like getting paid for something you were already planning to buy!

THEY EVEN HAVE SPORT CHEK

They even have great deals for Sport Check, like 30% off casual and board shorts. If you are looking for a great deal for shorts this summer, this is definitely a good one to look up.

The thing I love most about CouponCodes.ca, is the fact they don’t just have promo codes and coupons, but they also list the Top 50 deals for a lot of the retailers they list. You can get the best deals and savings all in one place.

It really saves Canadian shoppers a lot of time and money, but using their deals and promo codes while shopping online. Next time you are looking for a deal, make sure to check out CouponCodes.ca to score your next big deal.

Do you look forward to birthdays and holidays just to get another pair of “great” Christmas socks every year? Maybe your family just loves putting those ever so exciting envelopes under the tree. If you are tired of receiving impersonal gifts or some obscure gift card for speciality cheese, you really need to check out how to share what you REALLY want. Gift Caddie is the perfect way to make sure that you get the present you are really dying to open next time a holiday rolls around.

Gift Caddie is a sure fire way to make sure that you never receive another ugly Christmas sweater, or novelty gift card, again! It’s a great new online gift registry that is the ultimate wish list! You can search for gifts, and make a virtual gift registry that you can share with friends and family. Next time you receive a gift, your family will know EXACTLY what to get you. (Much more exciting that a stinking envelope!)

HOW GIFT CADDIE STARTED

Gift Caddie was started by Teresa Savage and her daughter after they were  tired of getting  gift cards all the time. They wanted to find a way to  put excitement back into gift giving and receiving. Through their boredom with impersonal gift cards, an ingenious idea was born. Gift Caddie promised to be a  ”revolutionary leap in gifting that include[d] social networking, [and] comparative shopping!”

HOW GIFT CADDIE WORKS

Joining Gift Caddie is amazingly easy! After siging up for your free account, the first thing you do  is to set up your gift wish list! Your initial gift registry will look like this.

Using the gift search engine, powered by Price Grabber, you find all the gifts you have been dying to receive. Then drag and drop those items  into your shopping bag. Poof! It’s instantly added to your wish list! You can even request customized gifts like quiet time, a back rub, or even cash. All you have to do is click the “I Want Cash” or “My Secret Wish” button when searching for gifts!

Once you have found all the wonderful items you are looking for, you and your family can see them all in your caddie! This great feature takes the guess work out of what to get someone as a present. As an added bonus, you might actually get what you want in the next box you open!

WHAT MAKES GIFT CADDIE AWESOME!

There are so many things that make Gift Caddie awesome. It’s not like any other gift registry out there.

• It’s completely free, there is no cost to use or share your gift registry with friends and family!
• The sky’s the limit. Price Grabber and Gift Caddie allow you to add tons of gifts to your wish list!
• No more making separate registries at different websites, you can make one list here!
• Start receiving more personal gifts that you actually want!
• It’s super easy to share your wish list with friends and family via Facebook!
• No more random gift cards, cheese of the month clubs, or Christmas socks from Aunt Matilda!

Over the years, the Internet  has really taken relationships up to a whole other level. Gift Caddie has done the same thing with gift giving and the wish lists you find online. In our fast paced lives, it can be hard to share with everyone what we are really hoping to get for that special occassion. Now you can just point and click to add your favorite items to your Gift Caddie. You never know one just might show up next time you receive a present!

Ready to get your gift registry started? Head to Gift Caddie now, and sign up for your free account.

This post was sponsored by Gift Caddie, but all opinions are my own

 Being a green living blogger, I love finding out about new and budding websites. In a recent search for more green living goodies, I came across a great new site: greenmunch!

greenmunch was started about 8 months ago, and is a Canadian based company that specializes in anything and everything green living. Of course products that help save the Earth make me all giddy inside, but a site that is frugal and green living has me doing cart wheels.

The amount of products that greenmunch has to offer is just amazing! They have handsoaps to reusable lunch bags to face cream and even a brand new line of paper straws!  I could go on and on about all the amazing things they have to offer, but I thought I would just share a few that are Crunchy favorites!

The first thing I thought was amazing was Cuppow. It’s a great device that changes any canning jar into a travel mug! If you can like I do, you have a bajillion of those things laying around the house. No need to add travel mugs on top of all your canning ware. Just buy Cuppow and let them do double duty!

Cuppow is 100% BPA free and 100% recyclable. So once it’s seen it’s last sip, you can just toss it into your recycling bin!

Having a party? Then you have to grab some of these super cute paper straws. Yes, you read that right. Paper Straws! They come in tons of different colors and designs to fit whatever theme your party may be. Since they are made of paper, they are biodegradable. Just throw them in your backyard compost! Snag these puppies and your next birthday or bbq will definitely be the talk of the neighborhood!

My third favorite goodie at greenmunch, is their reusable lunch totes! They have several great patterns for the kiddies to choose from. Unlike other reusable lunch totes, this one has a ton of room for water bottles, food containers, and more! Plus, the sturdy strap and zipper make sure they all stay in place. My daughter about flipped when she saw this horse design on this reusable lunch bag.

Whether you are looking for household goodies, cleaning supplies, or beauty care items, greenmunch is the place to go for all things green living. Shopping here, you know that you are getting a great quality item that is not only economically priced but environmentally friendly.

To check out more, head to greenmunch!

Entering sweepstakes and other online games are a great way to score great free products or  things you couldn’t afford to do if you had to pay for it.There are a ton of amazing sweepstakes, and you can enter to win anything from cars, trips, cash, and even free product coupons! I recently have begun entering sweepstakes and instant win game as a way to live a more frugal lifestyle. Since I have, I have won several sweepstakes that have saved my family time and money!

Having to search all over the Internet for great sweepstakes is really time consuming. Enter Sweepstakes Advantage to save the day. This is a great website that lists hundreds of sweepstakes and online games daily! I warn you their listings are so amazing that it very quickly becomes addicting, but is that a bad thing?

Sweepstakes Advantage was founded in 1997, and has very quickly become the one stop shop for anything sweepstakes or online game related. It’s very easy to sign up for their free online site, and once you register you instantly have access to the over 5,000 sweepstakes and online games that they have listed.

When you visit Sweepstakes Advantage, the first thing you notice is the great listings on the front page. I love the fact that you can search the listed sweeps by category, trip destination, entry method, and prize! It makes finding which sweeps you want to enter super easy!

When you register you can select from the free ad supported version, or purchase a $30 annual Sweepstakes Advantage Membership to enjoy all the great thing sweeps without the supported ads. I am a member of the free version, and I also signed up for the enewsletter to get sweepstakes sent to my inbox for free. I am seriously considering switching to the paid version though!

When you sign up for the Sweepstakes Plus Membership, you get access to some really amazing tools, plus even MORE sweepstakes!

Here’s everything that comes with the Sweepstakes Plus membership.

My family has been using My Job Chart for about six months, and we are still in love with this free online chore chart! This great, free chore chart has taught my children to be more responsible, accountable, and more involved in the chore process.

Before we found My Job Chart, getting my children to their chores was such a hassle. Being a busy self-employed, homeschooling mom I really didn’t have the time to chase after my children to see if they had done their chores. It was a constant fight to get them to do it, let alone to actually record that they had done it.

Enter My Job Chart to save the day! This system is so user-friendly even a computer novice can get the hang of it. There are separate parent and children areas in My Job Chart. My kids love their individual areas. The kid friendly site has a place that children can check off their chores, and even check to see if their parents have awarded extra chores to do. Each chore that they do earns them points that they can use towards custom rewards that you can select for your children. These rewards can be activities such as a trip to the park, items like their favorite books and games from Amazon.com, or they can even elect to save their money. Check out this great video to learn more about how MyJobChart.com works, and how it can help your family.

Right now there is an exclusive offer for My Job Chart families in conjuction with ING. For each savings account you open with ING, you get a $20 credit deposited to your child’s savings account. These accounts have no minimums and no fees! I have been a customer of ING for years, and love the convenience of saving online. It’s not only convenient, but it’s an amazing way to teach your children how to save! They are going to be so excited to see how fast their money builds up! It teaches them great financial responsibility too!

The responsibility, accountability, accessebility, and enjoyment that My Job Chart offers really has brought an exciting new way to do chores to our family! Now that we are done with paper chores charts, I can’t imagine ever going back!

Ready to get started? Then head to MyJobChart.com and sign up for your free account today!

I just got my reminder letter from my optometrist that it’s time to get my eyes checked again. I have tried and tried to get contacts to fit each year, but still haven’t been able to find a kind that is comfortable enough for me to wear.

See, I have astigmatism. It’s actually the main reason that I need to wear glasses everyday. It stinks, but it is what it is. One thing I can tell you it is, is VERY expensive. Astigmatism contacts are not the cheapest things. Actually, I usually hand over my debit card to pay for them with my eyes closed. Yeah, it’s that painful.

This year, I am resolved to saving as much money as I can on the contacts I buy. I was really excited that I found 1800CONTACTS. They aren’t just an online retailer. They are an online retailer you can trust! 1800CONTACTS stands behind their prices and their products with their 20/20 Guarantee! They promise to beat any competitors’ price by 2%! That makes me feel a lot better about doing business with them! Any company that guarantees to be the lowest priced contacts out there, is a great company to me!

1800CONTACTS has tons of discount contact lenses available, and the best part is you can get it shipped for free straight to your home.  Their website is really easy to navigate, and the checkout process is super simple as well. You can even order Biofinity contacts!!!

My favorite part about the checkout process is it lets you know if there is a better deal on your lenses. When I checked out, it told me if I bough 8 boxes instead of the 4 I had in my cart that I would save an additional $32! Now that’s customer service!

Next time you are looking to buy your contacts, make sure to check out 1800CONTACTS. I can almost guarantee that you will love it!

I was hired by 1800contacts to share this post with you, but all of the opinions are on my own

Raising kids responsibly is a task that is a full time undertaking. I find, as a busy parent, I can use all the tools I can get my hands on to make this job easier. While I was searching for a way to teach my children and prepare my  homeschool plan, I came across a site called DoughMain.com!

This site is similar to other free online kids chore charts, but it has several added bonuses. DoughMain isn’t just a free online chore chart, it’s a site that helps you teach your children financial responsibility. I was really excited to learn about all the neat sections DoughMain has on its website!

I started out using DoughMain by adding my kids to the account. The set up process was pretty self explanatory, and really easy to do. It took less than 5 minutes to add all three of my children. The feature I really liked was that I could choose to allow my kids to use their own email addresses to log into their accounts. That way they don’t have to remember how to spell Crunchy Frugalista when logging into their accounts.

After adding all my kids, I started to add the chores! DoughMain has a great pre-made list of chores that you can select and give to your children. They also have the option where you can add your own chores. After selecting the time, dates, and frequency for the chores you can also select how many Dough Points each is worth. Dough Points are points your child earns for completing chores. They can then turn these points into rewards or activities. There is another area where you can set what rewards you want to offer the kids. Get creative with the rewards, and trust me your kids will get excited!
I love the fact that DoughMain puts all the chores in one neat little calendar! You can even print it off. The chore section of DoughMain is very child interactive, which helps them take ownership of their chores. I was actually shocked when my kids started to beg to do other chores just to earn more Dough Points. I usually have to constantly remind them to do them. I have to thank Doughmain for saving me a few gray hairs!

Doughmain isn’t just about chores, it’s also about teaching your kids financial responsibility. This is my favorite part of Doughmain AND what sets itself apart from other online chore charts!

If you have a bank account for your child, you can link participating banks to your child’s account. This allows them to see their account and in turn learn how money is used. You can also teach them how to read bank statements. If you don’t have an account, don’t worry you can easily set up a new account at participating banks through DoughMain.

The feature I really liked for my pre-teen is that they are going to be offering pre-paid debit cards. This allows you to load the card, and the teen to have access to cash. You don’t have to worry about your teen racking up credit card bills or wiping out your checking account. I actually just got a Walmart pre-paid debit card for my daughter, but I think once this goes live I will actually use the program through DoughMain so my daughter can take more ownership of her spending.

The kid side of DoughMain is equally neat. They have so many ways that your child can customize their site to make it their own! They can upload a picture, and even change the theme. To safeguard kids though, kids under the age of 13 can’t change their name on their side, they can only add a nickname. I really like this feature because it allows you as the parent to have control of that information.

Lastly, DoughMain has a great site with games that help teach kids in a virtual world how to run things like a candy store. They learn how to bank, budget, shop, make decision, coordinate resources, and even plan for retirment. It’s a really neat interactive game that educates kids and they don’t even realize that they are learning. Isn’t that the best way kids learn?! 

DoughMain has passed the test according all three of my kids, and I have to tell you they are some pretty tough critics. You might want to check  out DoughMain and see if it’s a great fit for your family too!

I have been wearing glasses full-time for 2 years now. Being as frugal as I like to be, I can’t stand forking out huge bucks for a pair of glasses.

Every now and then I cruise the web to look for great deals on eyeglasses. This time I came across GlassesUSA.com I was really excited when I found them because there were so many glasses to choose from and so many great deals.

I wasn’t too sure about buying eye glasses online, but I felt better when I saw that GlassesUSA.com offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Plus they even have a 110% lowest price guarantee.

Like I said they have a great variety too! They have sunglasses, eye glasses, and multifocal glasses. You name it! They are really stylish too.

I wasn’t really the biggest online shopper before I started trying to save money, but I am finding that the Internet is a wonderful place to shop in your jammies and save big money. Just take a look at this Fall Sale GlassesUSA.com is having. You will understand what I mean.

Fall Sale:

For a limited time: Take 50% off any pair of prescription glasses frames (standard lenses included): Use coupon code Fall50

or you can take 10% off any order using code Blog10!

So if you are in the market for new glasses, and want to save some change, check out GlassesUSA.com!

 I am a little late on the bandwagon for Pinterest, but I have to say I am slowly becoming addicted to this site! It’s really a unique concept, and I find when I am looking at humor boards it will turn any mood around!

Pinterest is basically a web site where you favorite, or pin, your favorite images and videos from things you find on the web. Each of these pins you place on themed boards and share with those that follow you.

It’s kind of like that big bulletin board you had in your room when you were in school. Well, I know I had one. Mine was covered with (hangs head in shame) New Kids on the Block, among other teen icons of the late 80s, early 90s.

As I said, I am new to Pinterest, but here’s a break down on how to use this neat site.

First off, Pinterest is by invitation only. You have to know someone that is a part of Pinterest to get an account. It’s kinda like the super cool club, you have to have an in .

Once you get an invite you set up your account!

You start with a few boards with default themes, but you can change that. Pinterest is completely customizable.

Here’s what my boards look like. Once you are in Pinterest, starting  pinning away! There are several ways that you can pin.

• You can click the add button at the top of Pinterest, and enter the URL you want to find the object at.
• You can download a bookmarklet that will add a “Pin It” icon on your bookmark bar.

Once you click Pin It, a screen will pop up. Just hover over the image and click “Pin It” and the pick the board you want to put it on.

You can even have your own Pinterest fan club! You can follow your friends or other pinners that you like, and get updates on your homepage of what they are pinning. It’s really neat.

I like to look at the humor boards. There is absolutely no way that you can be in a bad mood after a half hour looking at the humor boards.

If you like something someone else has pinned, you can like it, comment on it, or repin it. Repinning means putting it on one of your boards to share with your followers. When you log on, you will see a board that looks like this.

To comment, you just comment in the box below the pin. To repin it, you just hover over the image, and it will pop up. It’s neat to see what other people are pinning.

Well there’s your crash course in Pinterest! It’s a lot of fun, and trust me you can easily stop doing productive things in your life just to lose your self in the world that is pinning! So grab an invite and have fun!

Crunchy Frugalista is not responsible for lost relationships, friendships, or jobs that may result from a Pinterest addiction