If you are planning to do a little shopping online for holiday gifts this year, do not forget to look for those wonderful free shipping coupon codes!

Two sites to bookmark and check before you shop are FreeShipping.org and RetailMeNot.com. Find out which stores are offering coupons and promo codes and other special offers as well. At FreeShipping for example, you can search stores like Target to find online deals and promotion codes that you may not even know about or find anywhere else.

You can also search by category to find stores that might be offering free shipping for a specific item you want to buy.

Blending apricots into a traditional cranberry sauce gives this dish a whole new fresh taste. It is an  easy-to-make side dish to consider adding to your Thanksgiving dinner menu if you want to 'stir' up the flavors a little this year.

Cranberry Apricot Sauce Recipe

Ingredients

12 ounces cranberries

1 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup chopped dried apricots

1/2 cup apricot preserves

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon to taste

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a pot and add 1 cup water. Cover. Bring to boil while stirring often. Turn down heat and simmer about 10-15 minutes. Keep stirring frequently as the sauce cooks. When the sauce has thickened, remove from heat and let cool. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

This gingerbread body wash makes a great homemade gift because it smells so good. And who wouldn't love relaxing in a warm bath with the scent of gingerbread wafting in the air?

The recipe calls for just a few ingredients and is pretty easy to make. Fill some cute bottles with the gingerbread body wash, and voila! You have wonderful homemade presents to friends, teachers, and neighbors. Just remember to keep a bottle for yourself!

{ Another DIY gift idea: Homemade Chocolate Bath Salts}

You should keep one or two bottles tucked away for yourself too - they smell so yummy you will love using this body wash in the shower or bath!

Ingredients For Gingerbread Body Wash

2 cups water (filtered or purified is best if you have it!)

1/2 cup liquid castille soap (this is great stuff to have on hand anytime, btw.)

2 tsp. vegetable glycerin (usually found in vitamin stores, organic health food stores and on Amazon)

2 tsp. ginger flavoring

2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Mix all the ingredients together until well-blended. Pour into pretty bottles/containers. Enjoy with your next shower or bath!!

Pampering yourself at home is a wonderful way to treat yourself after a hard week. Using pantry items to create tour own body lotions, face creams and scrubs is one of the best ways to stick to a ' beauty on a budget' routine as well. So why not put some of that canned pumpkin pie filling to use and any extra yogurt you happen to have in the refrigerator to make a soothing moisturizing face mask?

Ingredients

1/2 cup of canned pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup plain yogurt if you have it (or just use whatever flavor you have!)
1 Tbs. or so of honey

To Make the Mask

Just blend all the ingredients together until you get a paste-like mixture. Smooth the mask on your freshly washed faced (make sure to avoid the eye area.) Leave the pumpkin mixture on your face for about 10-15 minutes, then rinse gently with lukewarm water.

Pat your skin dry gently and enjoy your soft fresh complexion!!

Got strawberries? Surprising as it might seem, you can use strawberries as one cheap way to whiten your teeth naturally. Strawberries contain Malic acid which helps whiten teeth. And when you add in a little baking soda, you get a gentle abrasive that helps brush away stains on teeth for an even brighter smile.

All you need to do to naturally whiten your teeth is mix a mashed strawberry with about 1/4 tsp. baking soda. Brush your teeth using this paste (and rinse well) once a week to start seeing your teeth get whiter and brighter.

Note: Brushing once a week with the strawberry-baking soda paste is enough. The acid in the strawberries would probably be harmful on your teeth's enamel if you did it more often.

And while you are mashing strawberries, try making this homemade strawberry facial scrub too!

Baking soda is just one of those items you just really should have at home. You can use it for so many other things besides cooking. Like this all natural stain remover for dirty laundry.

A quick paste made with baking soda and hydrogen peroxide can wash away stubborn stains and brighten dingy yellow spots on clothes.

To make this all natural stain remover, simply mix baking soda with some hydrogen peroxide until a paste forms. Then apply the paste directly to the stain on the clothes you are washing. Let the paste sit for about 25-30 minutes, then do your laundry as normal.

Gotta love that little box of baking soda. It can save you money in some pretty big ways.

Wondering what to do with summer strawberries that are getting soft and mushy? Instead of throwing them away, use them to make this awesome facial scrub that smells as good as it feels.

3-Ingredient Strawberry Facial Scrub

All you need are 2 strawberries, 1 tsp. honey and 1/4 cup sugar. That's it.

Blend the strawberries and yogurt together in a blender for a few minutes or until you get a smooth mixture. Then add the sugar slowly until you see a grainy pinkish paste.

Gently massage the strawberry paste on your face for a minute or so. Rinse with lukewarm water and pat your skin dry with a soft towel.

Strawberries contain salicylic acid - an ingredient used to fight acne and other skin blemishes. So while you are enjoying the sweet strawberry scent, you are helping your skin at the same time.

A new use for old strawberries.