The reason why I haven’t been blogging much is because I’m in the process of buying a house. Anyone who has gone through this process knows how stressful and time-consuming it can be. Since buying a house and moving are a priority right now, blogging has sadly had to take a backseat. I will resume regular blogging as soon as I have moved and settled into my new home, which I estimate will be summer 2012.

This is my first time buying a house, so it has been a confusing and somewhat scary experience. I would appreciate any advice you have to offer about buying a house or moving. Frugal advice on furnishing and decorating on a budget is also welcome. And if you have a product or service that would help first-time homebuyers, then feel free to let me know. I still have time to do the occasional review or giveaway.

Thank you for your patience! See you this summer!

I wish this beauty was in my budget!

If you plan on seeing The Avengers, then check out Fandango’s latest deal. If you purchase The Avengers tickets online, then you”ll receive a free iTunes download for the single “Comeback” off of The Avengers Soundtrack. After purchasing the tickets, you will receive an email within 24 hours that contains an iTunes download code. This deal is available through May 17, 2012.

You can listen to the single “Comeback” here:

An easy way to save money while making online purchases is to use coupon codes. Taking a few moments to search online before checking out can usually shave a few dollars off your order. CouponChief.com makes this process even faster by aggregating coupon codes from thousands of stores into one easily searchable database. Although this is admittedly not a new concept, Coupon Chief has a special twist that really sets it above the competition—you can get paid for submitting new coupon codes!

Here’s how Coupon Chief works: Every time someone makes a purchase through a coupon code that you submitted, you receive 2% of the purchase price of their order. When your earnings reach the minimum threshold of $25, you’ll receive the money via Paypal. Amazingly, there are no rules to stop you from buying products with codes that you’ve previously submitted. So let’s say you find a hot new coupon code for Old Navy jeans, and decide that you want to buy a pair. You can submit the coupon code to Coupon Chief, click through the code on their website, purchase the pants, and earn 2% of your cash back. That’s a pretty good deal for doing a minimal amount of work.

In a giving mood? Coupon Chief’s Coupons-4-Causes program has got you covered. Simply select the charity that you want to support before clicking the coupon code and making a purchase. Coupon Chief will then donate a portion (up to 20%) of your order’s purchase price. The best part is that the money comes straight from Coupon Chief, so you can shop ’til you drop with the knowledge that you’re supporting to a worthy cause.

While the charity option is nice and the moneymaking opportunity is even better, the real meat-and-potatoes of Coupon Chief are the coupons. How does Coupon Chief stack up against the competition? Fairly well, in my opinion. You’ll find most major retailers on there, including Amazon, Newegg, Target, and Kohl’s. The coupons themselves are fresh and useful. At the time of this writing, for example, there are coupons for free shipping at Kohl’s and $5 off a $50 purchase at Target. Coupon Chief users can rate the coupons based on freshness, so that expired coupon codes are easily avoidable.

Between the wide variety of coupons, the chance to make some extra cash, and the ability to support your favorite charity, I feel that Coupon Chief is definitely worth checking out. With over 15,000 stores represented and over 50,000 coupons posted, there’s savings there for everyone.

Disclosure: I received monetary compensation from CouponChief.com for writing this review. The words and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

As a reminder, you don’t need to own a Kindle to read Kindle books. There are free Kindle Store apps that allow users to read Kindle Books on PC, Mac, and various mobile devices.

For a limited time only, Amazon is giving away seven fitness books for free through their Kindle Store. Most of these books are normally priced between $7.77 – $14.99, so grab them for free while you can. Kindle deals never last long! If you don’t own a Kindle, then you can still read these books by using one of Amazon’s free Kindle reading apps for PC, Mac, and various mobile devices.

• The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Sports
• No Cost Fitness Routines: How to Get a Celebrity Body on a Budget
• The Natural Way: The Holistic Guide To Total Mind-Body Health & Fitness
• Turn On, Tune In, Get Fit: The Midlife Woman’s Easy Guide to Exercising and Eating for a Healthier Future
• Fitness Training Steps to Success: How to Train Effectively
• The Best Exercises You’ve Never Heard Of
• Hardcore Circuit Training for Men: The Bench Workout

Reading The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook by Erin Chase is the first time I’ve ever actually gotten angry from reading a cookbook. Chase claims to have spent five years living abroad, but the experience she conveys in The $5 Dinner Mom Coobook is that of a woman who has never mentally left the confines of suburban America. Her recipes, rather disappointing and rarely under $5, lack diversity and an understanding of what resources are available to a poor American. This book is clearly written for the middle-to-upper class suburban mom demographic. Anyone outside of that group will surely find this cookbook confusing, disappointing or just plain useless.

One way Chase’s suburban mentality exposes itself is that her recipes largely rely on resources that don’t exist in lower income neighborhoods. For example, in her “Greek Pasta Salad” recipe, Chase directs her readers to purchase “kalamata olives with Greek seasonings” from the olive bar at their local grocery store. Other recipes call for ingredients like “canned organic tomato sauce.” Obviously, Chase has never lived in a low-income American neighborhood, nor has she visited a supermarket in one, otherwise she would know that finding an olive bar or organic tomato sauce in a low-income supermarket is an impossible task indeed. As someone who once lived in such a neighborhood, I am safely saying this from experience. I never even knew what an olive bar was until I made my first trip to a supermarket in a rich neighborhood.

Another major complaint I have with The Under $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook is that the prices Chase uses to determine how much each meal costs are off. Very off. So off that I’d wager that few of these recipes truly are under $5. $1.36 for two avocadoes? Maybe in Texas, but not in the Northeast. Two cups of shredded Mozzarella cheese for $1.50? Perhaps in 1999 prices. Now readers may argue against these points by pointing to regional price variations, and that super-rare, high-value coupon that reduces the cost of Kraft shredded cheese to $1.50. These points, however, do not excuse other trickery Chase uses to keep her recipes under $5. For example, she relies on homegrown ingredients like “fresh tomatoes from the garden” or “fresh basil from the garden” because these are conveniently priced as “free” in her calculations. Even buying these ingredients cheap at a farmer’s market would put the recipe over $5. Once again, Chase is relying on the idea that everyone reading her cookbook lives the same comfortable suburban lifestyle where everyone has a yard, patio, or balcony to grow plants. More to the point, a cookbook aimed at a general audience should not rely on homegrown ingredients.

As for the recipes themselves, they’re disappointing and lack diversity. The Vegetarian Meals chapter is a perfect example of everything wrong with this cookbook. Let’s take a look at what Chase considers vegetarian cuisine. We’ll start with her BBQ Lentils recipe, which is essentially lentils cooked in bottled barbecue sauce. Or how about Potato Pizza Pie, which is a pizza made with a potato pancake crust. If Chase had ventured outside of the confines of middle-class Suburbia before she wrote this chapter, then she would have discovered the low-cost vegetarian wonders of Middle Eastern lentil dishes or Indian curries. Why torture your kids with lentils drowning in store-brand barbecue sauce when you could serve them Mujadara? Why make a potato pizza when potato curry is cheaper, healthier, and tastier? A wasted opportunity that will certainly reinforce unfair beliefs that vegetarian cuisine is strange and gross.

Additionally, Chase has a strange propensity for including fruit in recipes where they aren’t unnecessary. The weirdest example that I can point to is her Mediterranean Pizza recipe that calls for serving sliced apples as a side dish. I can respect Chase’s effort to create a balanced meal, but serving apples as a side dish to pizza is really stretching it. There are ways to eat healthy diet that don’t rely on unpalatable flavor combinations. People can get their daily fruit servings in other, more appropriate meals.

In the introduction, Chase claims that she spent five years living in the Dominican Republic, which makes all of the problems of The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook even more baffling. After spending so much time in an impoverished county with its own unique cuisine, she squandered an excellent opportunity to introduce Americans to some creative, low-cost ethnic food. Instead, we got pizza with apples and BBQ Lentils. Sad.

The Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare (Paperback)
by Erin Chase

Price: $10.98
129 used & new available from $3.21
(34 customer reviews)

You’re going to have to act fast with this one because “limited quantities are available.”

Amazon has a new Groupon-clone called Amazon Local. To promote this new website, they’re selling $10 Amazon Gift Cards for only $5! You8 can sign in and purchase it with an already-existing Amazon account. Limit one Amazon gift card per household.

Amazon has marked down the 5-cup Brita Water Pitcher to only $8.97. What makes this deal even sweeter is that Brita is currently running a $10 rebate on their products, which means you can get this Brita Water Pitcher for free. Hurry though, because the rebate expires March 31st!

Download the Brita Water Pitcher Rebate Form here (.PDF)

BJ’s Wholesale Club is giving away a free 60-day membership trial with this printable coupon. Bring the coupon to the Member Services Desk to activate your membership. This is for new members only, and the coupon clearly states that you can only have one trial membership per household.  The coupon must be used by July 4th, 2012. Use the BJ’s Store Locator to find the nearest store to you.

P.S. Feel free to make bad sexual puns in the comments. I know I’m not the only one who snickered when reading “Free BJ’s.”

Wow!  Amazon has marked down the Guinness World Records 2012 Kindle Edition to only one cent! This book was published only a few months ago, and normally costs $14.98, so to see it sold for only one penny is jaw-dropping. Buy it now if you’re interested because this deal won’t last long.