I was recently given coupons to try Kroger brand Private Selection foods for free. This is my review.

BzzAgent provided me with a coupon for one free pizza, desert, and appetizer from the Private Selection brand, so I made a trip to our local Dillon’s to find out what was offered. In the freezer isle for pizzas, I found about four flavors of frozen pizza.  Since I’d not had this product before I wasn’t sure how big it was and picked out something to share with my mom for lunch, rather than with my family for dinner.

I’m glad I did because this pizza wasn’t very big and it’s oval shape would have been difficult to split up between us all. The pizza had good flavor though, and I’llprobably buy it again to share for lunch with my mom. The flavor we picked was bbq chicken. It had good tangy flavor with a hint of sweet and the crust wasn’t too thick or thin, but it did take a little extra baking than the box said.

The appetizer I picked was Mushroom profiteroles which are like cream puffs, but have mushrooms, chopped up walnuts and cream cheese melted inside them. When I pulled them out of the box, I was sad. They were little! However, eating them just a few minutes after they came out of the oven, they were heavenly – creamy, flavorful and just a little bit crunchy.

On to desert. Molten lava cakes! My personal favorite is rarely chocolate and cake isn’t my first choice of desert = normally. However, a good lava cake is something I’ll pick when I can. These Belgian chocolate lava cakes are good. They have enough flavor, and the melted chocolate was enough, but not too much that it made the cake mushy. In fact, I’m going to go have another one now!

Now, would I have tried these without coupons? Probably not. The cost is prohibitive for the size, for a family of four on a short income. But, with coupons, and a store sale, I’ll buy these again and have even since tried the pre-made hamburgers and the cream puffs for desert.

So, last week we talked about the three areas of your money. The frame that all your money works inside are Income, Expenses, and Investing.

What we didn’t talk about is how your personality might come into play with your finances, both personal and business related. That’s not today’s topic, but we’ll look closer at that after you’ve taken today’s pop-quiz!

I’d like you to download, print off, and check next to the things that you know or already do. Lets see where you are right now. An assessment, not really a test. There is no pass or fail, but a way to help you understand what you need to know or get a handle on in order to get your finances in order.

Click here to download and print the pop quiz.

Some of what you’ll find in this pop quiz:

Income

_ I know the difference between gross income and net income.

_ I know the difference between active income and passive income.

_ I know about alternative income streams.

_ I use my spare time to create more streams of income.

 

Credit Debt

_ I always pay my credit card balances in full each month.

_ I review my credit report once a year, free of charge, from Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.

_ I know my credit score.

 

Investing Basics

_ I know the difference between a 401k and an IRA.

_ I know the difference between Traditional 401k and Roth 401k.

_ I know the difference between Traditional IRA and Roth IRA.

I’ve lost a lot of family in my 38 years. More than many of my peers, yet less than many people in the world. Unfortunately, many of those losses have been due to long, drawn out illnesses like cancer.

3 years ago my mother’s sister finally lost the war against her cancer. In the end, I don’t know if it was worse that we spend three years not being able to be around her for fear of infection, or that she was gone. Either way, we didn’t get to enjoy her wit and wisdom.

It started out as ovarian cancer and quickly spread to — well, everywhere. This was on the heels of my grandmother’s death from cancer, and my own brief, but scary bout with stage 4 cervical cancer. Oh, throw in a lump removal for my own mom. That’s just on my mom’s side of the family. Yes, that was all within the span of about 6 months, and no, we did not live near a nuclear facility or even toxic waste dumps.

I’ve even lost a dog to cancer.

I’d like to acknowledge how cancer affects us, as humans. For some, it makes us incredible human beings, and for others, it is complete and utter defeat.

Please support cancer research – but more importantly, support a cancer patient because sooner or later, it will touch your life and you’ll appreciate any help you can get. 

This post is sponsored by American Cancer Society.

Giveaway winner’s prize pack will contain:

• One $25 Kroger gift card (good at any of the Kroger. Co Family of Stores) Winner will be drawn and announced on November 20, November 25th 2011. Winner will be notified via email and if no response within 48 hours, another winner will be picked.

From November 13th through November 26th, with the purchase of any four participating General Mills products, you will either receive free milk (up to $3; limit of 2) or to receive $3 off your shopping order**

Look for some of your favorite participating General Mills products like Cheerios, Pillsbury Ready to Bake Cookies, Nature Valley Bars and Fiber One Bars

Promotion varies in different locations. Please be sure to check your local Kroger Co. Family of Stores for specific deals and offers which include Kroger, Ralphs, King Scoopers, City Market, Dillons, Smith’s, Fry’s, QFC, Baker’s, Owen’s, Jay C Food Stores, Hilander, Gerbes, Food4Less, Fred Meyer, Pay Less Supermarkets and Scott’s Food & Pharmacy
What’s better than being rewarded for buying your favorite products from your favorite store? Visit Kroger.com for more information and great ways to save and be sure to check out the Kroger Facebook page to join the conversation and share which General Mills products you’d like to stock up on during the promotion.

Disclosure: The Kroger gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Kroger and General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Kroger Website http://bit.ly/Krogerfreemilk Kroger Facebook Page http://on.fb.me/KrogerMilk Kroger Twitter Page http://bit.ly/KrogerTwitter

*Excludes General Mills meal and baking products including; Betty Crocker, Old El Paso, Progresso, Hamburger Helper, Macaroni Grill, Wanchai Ferry, Yoplait

**Promotion varies based on store location; check your local Kroger store for details (Cash Offer: Mid South, Delta, Mid Atlantic, SW Louisiana stores, Central Missouri stores and Dillons Missouri stores)

***USA only

Do you remember gas prices being at about $1.00 per gallon? I do! I also remember being able to afford gas in my high performance Chevy Camaro. No so much now. I don’t drive a high performance hot rod anymore, but I do still appreciate my car performing well. So, here are a few tips to get your car to increase performance. 

Keywords: replacement air filters, reusable air filters, performance chips, cold air intake, cat-back exhaust.

 Reusable Air Filters Did you know that they make washable, reusable air filters for your car? Pretty cool, I say. In the life of your car, you can use 6 – 12 air filters which just get pitched into the trash and clutter up the landfills. But, for about 3 times the cost, you can buy a washable air filter. So, you basically cut the cost of buying filters over time and you keep from having to build your house on top of a dump some day. These filters will give you a slight increase in horsepower and acceleration.

Performance Chips  All new cars are operated by a computer chip that tells how much torque and horsepower can be displaced. Performance chips or recalibrations of your current chip can produce significant increases in horsepower and torque for your vehicle.

Performance Exhaust Systems  Cat-back or “catalyst-back exhaust systems” are a great way to free up trapped torque and to unleash horsepower. Keeping all the important emissions parts in place, a cat-back system incorporates large width exhaust pipes and low restriction performance mufflers into your car thereby lowering exhaust back pressure. A side benefit is the really awesome sound emitting from the exhaust system.

Cold Air Intake  A cold air intake is an under the hood mod that helps to reduce the temperature of the air entering the car for the sole purpose of increasing the power of the engine. Side benefits include enhancements to the appearance of the engine bay as this part can be attractive and colorful; the sound the unit makes is also appealing.

Costs for each of these performance enhancements can vary greatly. Shopping online with a trusted wholesaler is one of the best ways to find top quality parts at the lowest possible prices.

Keep track of what you do to and for you car by using the Car Maintenance Pack.