An Almost Free Saturday.

We decided to have "special time" with the kids on Saturday. We had no plans for the weekend and that was fine with us. J had a day planned for the boys, but those plans fell through. He asked me for some suggestions and boy did I come up with some. It was 9am, so I quickly called Lowe's to see if they had a workshop going on. They did! She said they were making snowmen and it started at 10. The boys got ready as I looked for some coupons for their next event. I found some coupons for free miniature golf and go cart rides. I also gave him some coupons for a free kids meal and ice cream. I think he spent under $5 for their whole day. I had a girls day out with M and my Mom. We went to the craft fair at the soccer field. I didn't even know about it, my Mom told me. She is not a craft fair person at all and she couldn't believe I didn't know about this one. I was going to take M out to the one in Tarpon and then we were going to eat lunch at our favorite restaurant. M loves Gyros! We parked at the day care down the street from the fair. I had to park there last time because the place was packed, so I figured it would be a good place to park this time too. My Mom said they were charging $2 for parking at the other lot. I saved money and didn't even know it. Great start. There weren't that many craft vendors set up. There were a lot of businesses with booths. My Mom found some earrings that she was looking for and a few other things. She wanted to buy me some earrings, but I wouldn't let her. She did end up buying me a cake server. M went on a free pony ride. I donated some money since they are rescued ponies and I know it will go towards a good cause. After the craft fair, I was going to take M to the one in Tarpon. She wanted to go home instead. I am not sure why? I offered to take her wherever she wanted to go, but she refused. We ended up going home and doing some crafts of our own. She painted a pony bank, we baked cookies, made egg bread and muffins. She kept saying "Mommy, isn't this a nice day staying at home?" She kept on looking out the window to see if the boys were home. I finally asked her if she wanted to come home to wait for them, she said yes. We were about to snuggle up and watch Mickey Choo Choo in my bed when we heard the boys. Well, they had a special guest with them, NaNa! The kids were so excited. J said we had the rest of the night to ourselves. I took a small nap and then we went out to dinner. We went to the Sake House for sushi. We got home pretty early, but it was still nice to go out to dinner.

I slept in on Sunday and then went to the grocery store. I had 2 different transactions. One of them was only .60!! That check included 8 McCormick grinders, 2 Sunsweet Ones, 3 Philadelphia cream cheese blocks, 16 Organic juice boxes, and Lipton tea bags. I love coupons!! The next order was way more expensive. It was a whopping $15.66. That order included 8 McCormick spices, 4 coffee mate flavored creamers, 8 boxes of crackerfuls, 4 boxes of ritz, 4 boxes of wheat thins flatbreads, 1 Cuban bread, 3 packages of Publix deli meat, 1 package of swiss cheese, and 2 bags of Lays chips. We were making Cubans for lunch today, and serving chips on the side. The bag person was telling me that I was a really smart shopper and she uses coupons too. I donated some of the crackers on the way out. They have the box for the food bank set up at the store. Talking about donating...the other day M and C kept saying "we can put this in your shelter." I had no idea what they were talking about until today. A few days ago I was cleaning out my closet and my dressers and I put everything into a bag to donate. Well, I found C's stuffed animal in the garage and I put it in the bag. He said "what are you doing with my animal?" I said "I am putting it in the bag for the shelter." At first he put up a fight, but then he understood and wanted to put more of his things in the "shelter."

Spent .83 at Walgreens

I went shopping at Walgreens today because I needed to use some RR that were going to expire. I bought fabric softener, 6 boxes of kraft macaroni and cheese, 2 snow globes, maxwell house decaf coffee, 3 nail files, 2 silver command hooks (on sale for 75% off plus I had a $1.50 coupon, making them free). I have been wanting to buy those hooks, but they were always so expensive. I am going to hang my recyclable bags on them by our front door. The kids can also use them for their jackets and sweaters. I was shocked when the cashier told me my balance was only .83. I paid with a rebate card that I had from a while back, so I paid nothing out of pocket and I still have money on the card.

I went to Publix today and as I was returning my free movie from Blockbuster Express, I saw some new coupon books. I asked the cashier for the ones behind the counter, but the others I was able to take myself. The Winter Savings book has a lot of great deals!

First time ever.

After dropping the kids off at a Friday night program for $5 each (3 hours of fun) we went to Chicos for dinner. We used a coupon for $25 off. This made our bill $10.xx, our tip was more than the actual bill. The tip was $6.xx and the bill was $4.xx after the coupon. We could not believe that we had a great meal for an even better price!

Saturday we went to the preview of Planet 51 for free. One of J's friends has the hookups to things like that. I packed snacks and in we went. When we got in the front door, they had security searching bags for items like video cameras. I was so nervous because I had snacks and juice boxes for the kids. I told the security officer that I had snacks and he said "that's really the way to go these days, all we are looking for are cameras." I laughed and handed over my video camera (just kidding). After the movie, we went to a birthday party. On the way to the party, M said the funniest things. She said she was going to make me a Christmas tree with coupons hanging on it. She also said she wanted to return the cat to the kitten store so we can get a new one. C tried that the other day, he was so convincing because he was talking about all of the things Tigger does wrong, like "barking" on the bed and always meowing. Our friend had the party at his physical therapy center. He works with kids, so there were a lot of things for them to do. We went home after the party and relaxed. J wasn't feeling well, so we made a lite dinner and watched a movie. The kids went to bed at 7, which was nice for us.

Today I went to the Kmart that was closing in Tarpon. Surprisingly, there was a lot left. I browsed for a long time. When I was just about to check out, I had the girl price check a few items for me. They were showing up at 90% off instead of 60. So, I went back for the other items I put back on the shelf. When I did that, they made an announcement that everything in the store was now 90% off. People went crazy. They were piling things in their cart. One guy grabbed the only bike that was left, he was so happy. I think the bike was originally $300 and he got it for $30. That was probably why it was the last bike because no one wanted to pay that price. I bought my Mom a Sonicare toothbrush for $13, it normally sells for $130. All of the jewelery was gone within seconds. Those prices were marked way up though. I bought some clothes for myself, some socks for the kids, some pantyhose, stickers, thank you notes, cards, crystal light, a basket for M's bike, sudafed, tylenol, maalox, children's claritan, phillips, gaviscon, 2 chip clips that were supposed to be .25 but rang up for $1.49 each, a Tinkerbell purse, MP3 video player (normally $60) a wiper blade that is normally $20 and a bunch of other stuff that added up fast. I still spent $70? Get this, they were still taking coupons! I wish I would have known because I had a $5 off $50 that I could have used and a whole other coupon organizer that I forgot at home. It was sad to see the store close. It has been there since I started going to Tarpon Springs.

A full day of fun for under $30

Last Saturday, J took the kids for the day. I had a seminar to go to. I also went out to lunch with a friend at Plaka's. This is our favorite Greek restaurant in Tarpon. We stopped by the Kmart that is closing and I found a set of 4 salad plates for $2.40 marked down from $15. Lunch was really inexpensive, it was only $8 plus a $2 tip. My friend and I split a Greek salad and a Gyro. We always get the same thing and have lots of leftovers. This time the owner didn't know we were there or he would have offered us a drink on the house or a free dessert. He saw us on the way out. After our late lunch, I dropped my friend off and headed over to another friend's house for a Shutterfly party. That was fun! Just for going, all of the guests received a dozen free greeting cards and a free photo book. I already ordered my cards, I have to put the book together. I only have to pay shipping which is around $8. Not too bad for a really nice book.

J called me in the morning to tell me that they had a lot of fun at the Home Depot workshop. I asked him to take the kids so they could each make me a trivet. The whole workshop was free! J bought some tiles for .30 each and some wood finisher for $6 to make the trivets look nice. The kids and I made a fingerprint turkey so we could display it for Thanksgiving. I used some special paint I had from their hand print tile kit. It can hold up to 350 degree heat without melting or having to be fired. I would love to do "themed" tiles throughout the year. I am going to buy more tiles at .30 each. I figure it is an inexpensive project we can all do together. After the workshop he took the kids home for lunch and a nap. Around 5 they went to a festival that his friend gave him tickets to. He only had to pay $5 for parking. He also gave him a business card that said "four free A.B's" we were wondering what that meant. Well, he found out what that meant as soon as he got on the first ride for free. It meant four free Arm Bands! The kids didn't know what ride to hop on first. Some of the rides, J could go on with them, but others they had to go on by themselves. J made a rule that if he could not ride with them, they had to ride together. There was only one ride that M wouldn't go on, so it worked out well. Then as they were leaving, the owner of one of the concession stands, gave the kids a monster sized bag of cotton candy and 2 containers of carmel corn. The bag of cotton candy was almost as tall as them, I guess that is why it is really called Monster size.

I went to Target yesterday and their Halloween candy is 75% off. There is a coupon on A Full Cup for $1 off of 2 packages of Halloween M&M fun size. I paid .25 for each bag. I like to bake with the kids, so I bought a lot of the tiny M&M's so they can use them to decorate the sugar cookies. I also bought some pumpkin spice Hershey kisses that were delicious. I am going to look up a recipe to use them in. They were .50 a bag since I used a coupon for buy 2 get 1 free. For some reason I don't have a lot of the $1 off kisses coupons.

I had Chick Fil A for dinner last night. I ended up buying a $20 gift card since they were giving away a free calendar with a purchase of the card. Then I used the same gift card to buy my meal. I also used a coupon for a free sandwich. Not so bad. I am planning on buying one more gift card because I love their calendars and food.

Today we are going to stay around the house and relax. We may venture out a little later to Super Target. I want to get some outside decorations. I shouldn't have waited for it to be 75% off because there isn't anything left. I will know better for next year.

.25 Cookies and Pizza

I went shopping at Publix today and bought 4 packages of Pillsbury make and take cookie dough and 5 Totinos pizzas for $2.25. I am going to give 2 of the cookie doughs to M and C class so they can decorate them for the Holidays. I also bought 2 containers of frosting for them to use. I offered to buy more things like sprinkles and tubes of frosting since I can get it so cheap, but their teacher said to let other parents contribute those things. I figured they could buy other items off the "giving tree" and I could cover the cookies. I would probably end up paying under $5 for everything.

I bought 12 cans of vegetables, 4 cans of beans, 4 bags of cornbread mix, 4 bags of muffin mix and 4 bags of Bisquick complete. Some of these items are going to make their way to the donation box. I also found some great coupons for sour cream, so with the corn, cornbread mix and sour cream that I bought for around .40 (for all of it), I will make my corn casserole. I got a rain check for the sour cream deal, so I will get some for my hashbrown casserole too. I am planning on making Minestrone soup for J, since it's his favorite. It will probably cost me under $4 to make a huge pot. I already have most of the veggies, I have all of the meat, broth and noodles.

Trick or Treat

We had a really fun Halloween. I went grocery shopping in the morning and saved more than I spent. I saved over $60 and spent $31. My favorite cashier was there and she gave me Sponge Bob buckets for the kids. I am going to have to write a letter about her, she is always so nice and never gives me a hard time about the million coupons I use. The best deal I got was the Nature valley nut clusters and the Purdue chicken tenders.

When I got home the kids were ready to go to Michael's for their free event. We made trick or treating buckets. They were adorable. The employee was so generous with the foam stickers and jewels. M only wanted her name on her bucket and "sparkly things." C was happy with his bats, ghosts, and haunted houses. After Micheal's, we went to TRU. Since we were early, we stopped in at a different Michael's to make a picture frame. This is a nice one that has a magnet on the back. The employee there was not as generous with the craft supplies. TRU was fun. The kids went on a parade with Geoffrey and got a goody bag at the end. It was a nice recyclable bag filled with lots of stuff. We stopped by a friends house and then home we went. The kids relaxed for a little bit and then we went to the mall. We got there right at 4, so it wasn't that busy. When we were leaving around 5, the mall was packed! We picked up some apple dippers, milk and hamburgers from McDonald's. The apple dippers and milk were free with the Trick or Treat books we bought for a $1 before Halloween. When we got home our friends came over and off we went again. There were not a lot of kids out this year. And there were not a lot of houses giving out candy. It was the perfect amount for us. We walked up and down our street and then the kids were so tired. Our friends left and we all went to sleep! We are planning on taking some of the candy to the local Dentist who will pay us per pound. Some of the other candy will be donated.