Day of cleaning, projects and fun!

Knowing Scott had the first half of the day off and my to-do list growing quickly, we decided to involve the kiddos and get some serious items OFF my list! 

The boys woke up between 8:30-9 and we were off. I had a list of cleaning to-do's for the boys to mark off. 

Here's my list: Weed garden (100 weeds each boy), sort laundry, clean bedrooms, clean bathrooms, unload dishwasher, load dishwasher, clean stove, clean microwave, fill up soaps, take out all trash, vacuum, wash walls, sweep kitchen, wash down bar stools, carpet clean bedroom and basement. 

As the boys and I were hustling to clean the house, Scott and Will started on the larger projects that needed attention. 

That list was: Attach ball holder in garage, make a new coat hanger, hang all 3 coat hangers in garage, cement loose rocks from outside stairs and wall, print vinyl stickers, install new fan in living room, sand down kitchen chairs, hang medal holder, stain craft board. 

 We got through the entire cleaning list and most of the project list by noon, so we decided to take a little break. We drove across the street to 7-11 for FREE Slurpees. Then, drove around the corner to another 7-11 for another delicious Slurpee. Next stop, Barnes and Noble to turn in the boys Summer Reading charts for FREE books. Last stop, Chik-fil-A for FREE food (if you dress up like a cow). I taped black and white spots on the boys, some hung signs around their necks, some wore noses with ears. Our bill came to $47, but we paid ZERO! 

 Back home we worked on the rest of the project list, and everything is OFF my list! WOW!! The incentive I offered the boys in the morning was if they worked fast and hard without complaining, we would have a water balloon war after. As I'm typing this post up the boys are filling up the balloons! 

GREAT deals I found today!!

I was catching up on some blogs I follow and there are several great deals, I couldn't resist to share them with you!!

Go here for a FREE coupon book from P&G worth $17.00!!

A cute Land End jersey dress go here. They're on sale for $16.99 but put in code FRIENDS with the pin 3010 and the price will drop to $11.89 with no shipping! Cute colors and styles!

Totsy has woman's leggings and tights on sale for $4.50-$5.00!! Free shipping for new customers.

This Vintage Owl Pendant is only $1.37 on Amazon with free shipping if you are a Prime member.

This cute Vintage Owl Necklace is $1.04 on Amazon!

Amazon has the The Oprah Winfrey Show: Reflections on an American Legacy (Hardcover) for just $1.58 + FREE shipping if you have Amazon Prime! This Oprah book is regularly priced at $50!

 Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas Special for just $5.00 + free shipping if you have Prime on Amazon!!


THANKS Cuckoo for Coupons and Fabulessly Frugal for these deals!!

Traveling

Our family travels quite a bit and I wanted to share some money saving ideas and input that has helped us.
Last year I attended a "Family Travel" lecture by Kimball Benson that was really good. He gave me a few more great ideas and it also reminded me of the ones Scott and I already use.

• Plan at least 1 family vacation once a year (we usually arrange 2) and 1 couple vacation a year. The latter is harder for us because we always seem to have a baby nursing or I'm pregnant and can't go too far.

• Book your airplane tickets on Tuesday after 3pm EST. You can book flights up to 3 months in advanced domestic and 4 months international.

• Cheapest days to fly are Wednesday through Saturday.

• Use the "notify Me" option given by Orbitz, Delta, Travelocity or whatever airline company you usually use. They will text or email you with deals.

• If you purchase a "package deal" (air, hotel, car rental) you can save more money. Unfortunately we hardly use this option because we either drive to our vacation destination or if we fly we stay at our timeshare or with family.

• Just because you're wanting to go on vacation doesn't mean you have to spend a fortune and go to a far destination. Plan a "Stay-cation". Visit your city's major attractions, visitor's bureau and national parks.

We also have a change container we'll decorate with drawings of the vacation spot we're heading to and the entire family will save money for it.

I have Groupon and other discount offers emailed to me with other fun, inexpensive vacation ideas.

Saving BIG bucks!

I get asked a lot on how I find deals and how I am able to save so much $$$. Well, here are a few tricks I know that help my family of 9 save hundreds of dollars each month.

Blogs. I follow a few local blogs like Utah Deal Diva, Coupons 4 Utah and Fabulessly Frugal. They really do all the work for me. They tell me new coupons that are out, where the sales are, places to go to for free, other freebies, recipe ideas, and many other things.

Coupons. I have 2 papers delivered every week to my house. My cousin and a neighbor give me their coupons also from their newspapers. (Go around your neighborhood early one morning and see who gets the Sunday paper. Ask those same people for the ads!) I also get coupons on-line from Coupons.com, Smart Source, and a few others. Each computer prints out 2 coupons. If it's a really good coupon (like .75 off milk) I'll print 2 off my computer and 2 off my laptop.

There are also E-coupons. Where you can load coupons onto your grocery store card, no clipping or printing needed! Wal-mart price matches every Tuesday (here in the Salt Lake valley). I especially love Target. You can use Target coupons WITH a regular manufacturer's coupon! That's DOUBLE the savings!

Other Stuff. Here are a few other fun things to do/use that will help you save $$$.

Search birthday freebies in your area. Tons of restaurants and desserts are offered to you and your family. Subscribe to your favorite restaurants for their birthday list and they'll email you free stuff.

Home Depot and Lowe's offers free fun kids clinics once a month.

Library is always a favorite of ours. The boys can get books, CD's, DVD's and our new favorite... Audiobooks for free. (as long as you return them on time!!) They also have special reading programs in the summertime as well as fun classes all year long.

Groupon and other sites offer discounts you may be interested in. Scott purchased me (for half off) a cleaning service where a maid came and did 4 HOURS of house cleaning. It was an awesome gift and they did really well.

We signed up with Red Box and they text us once a month with a free code to use for a movie. Here are other free codes you can use one time for EACH credit card that you have: DVDONME, BREAKROOM. Use this code specifically at Walgreens (DVDATWAG) and use this code at any Kroger's locations (DVDKROG).

I sure hope these few ideas can help you! You can ALWAYS find things on sale and use a coupon. If you are organized and prepared you'll never have to pay full-price again!

Would YOU do this??

One of my favorite blog's I follow is One Hundred Dollars a Month by my good friend, Mavis. (We've never met and technically we're not friends. But, I love her like a dear friend of mine. So in my mind we are good pals!)
Anyways, the other day she wrote this post about reclaimed food from the store. Go here to read it all. She stopped at one of her local grocery stores and asked the produce manager if she could stop in every week and pick up some "scraps" for her chickens. They agreed and this is was she has received the past 3 weeks...

 The above two photos are after her and her daughter have gone through the boxes and seperated the real "Uneatable" food from the food she feeds her family. Mavis has a ton of chickens and a compost so nothing goes to waste at her house. Below is a shot of how she received the food.

Part of thinks this is pretty gross, but then the larger part is wondering why the stores don't having waiting lists of globs of people wanting these food scraps. Yes, I would love the free produce. Yes I have 3 or so hours to go through it all. Yes I have chickens who would be happy fat chicks if I fed them this every week. And yes, I have a compost in my backyard for the rest of it.

I actually asked a local store last year, after we bought our chicks, if I could collect some scraps for them (not even thinking I could possibly feed my family some free fruit and veggies!) They said no because a year earlier some lady did the same thing and one of her chickens died and she was all mad at the store about it. Lame.

Would YOU do this? Is this too discusting to even think about? Or is this something to consider?

I feel like something has to be done with all this food. It's such a shame it goes to waste.

Fabric Galore!

I love, love, love shopping on Black Friday! I almost forgot about the flannel sale at JoAnn's! I had Tyler, Gavin and Brigham and wanted to just "run in" real quick. An hour and a half later I was finally done. So. Worth. It. Check out what I picked up for less than $1 a yard!

Blockbuster Express Movie Codes!!

There are a bunch of FREE codes for Blockbuster Express! You'll need to hurry they all expire soon!

Codes That Expire 10/24/11:


72MAYB3
27ABDP7
72KRFT8
73WHZS7
82KJRD3
49BPSP4
77JRTW4
27JBHG5
48SGLM2
28KWMR9
82CDJS9

Code Expires 10/31/11:
DAMON



We rented 4 cute kid videos today. The little boys just loved to choose their own movie!

Thanks Melissa for this great info!!

Solvang

Solvang is a cute little quaint town that is filled with small bakeries and many, many tourists. I looked like one while there as I snapped several shots of store fronts. I love going to Solvang because it's so cute. i feel like I was transported to a small village (with many tourists) in the middle of Denmark some where. I love the architect. I love the cute mom and pop stores. I love with pastry shops.  This is my FAVORITE treat. I am not even sure of it's name!

Another great thing to do in Solvang is shop at the fabric store. ALL fabric is a mere .99 cents a yard. There are several rooms with bolts and bolts of different types of fabrics. A lot of it is funky weird fabric, but I always find some material I can use. You cut your own. It's based on the honor system. I always find a few treasures there.

Easy ideas you can do to save money!

You don't have to be a crazy couponer or spend 30 hours a week (gasp!) finding deals and clipping coupons! Here are a few little tricks that I do regularly that are easy for anyone to do.


Use the library. We get new movies, Cd's and books there all the time, for free. The first day on the month they add the new releases and we add them to our hold list. They also host several children's events during the week for free!


Barter with friends/family/neighbors. You can exchange books, food and babysitting time. Just ask, you'll be surprised on what most people will say.


Just ask. If you're at a hotel, or boarding a plane just ask if you can be bumped up. Or if there is a better rate. Can they add a continental breakfast with that? For us, 8 out of 10 times they'll do something!


Rent your vid's from Red Box with FREE codes. They come out once or twice a month. Who doesn't love a free video!?


Use E-coupons. I shop a lot at Smith's and Target. Smith's has Smith's coupons and E-coupons. Target has Target coupons. You can double up on an item with a manufacture coupon and a Smiths (or Target) coupon for additional savings. (Wal-mart price matches, which is great too!!)


Take advantage of the cheaper days at the theater. Every Monday the movies are .75 cents! A great time waster for the summer!


Zoo's, national parks and museum's offer free admission days once a month. Check on-line to see when they are in your area.


Children's camps usually offer a discount if the parent can help in coaching or clean-up. Again, check on-line.

Those a re few that I can think of off the top of my head. I hope it can help you! If you have other ideas, please share!!

Hogle Zoo

 Hogle Zoo offers free days in the winter time. And you know me, I won't pass up a good deal! So off we went! Look at this cute little monkey, and see how cute the furry thing is too!

 Apparently you can surf on a elephant's trunk. In the middle of winter. Cool!

 This cheetah was so close to us and kept growling at the boys in front. Thanks goodness for glass!

 Three of the tigers were snoozin' away while the fourth was playing with this teething ball on top of the roof. I hope it's strong enough to hold!

 Gavin asked which camel was "fuller". The one closer to him because it's humps were larger.

 Another cute monkey and a very large monkey in the back.

We kept throwing snowballs at each other as we walked through the zoo. The other boys are in a spider exhibit and Gavin is waiting patiently to chuck his snowball at Will.
We had such a fun time! I am so lucky to have such wonderful, adventurous loving boys in my family! We always have a good time!

BIG Savings today!!

I went shopping to Rite Aid, Walgreen's and Target and saved BIG today!!

Here is a photo of all the stuff I bought. (medicine, juice, cereal, candy, paper towels, gum, toothpaste, freezer food...)

My Rite Aid bill came to $31.00 minus $16.25 in coupons minus $15.00 in Wellness bucks = they paid me to leave the store!! LOVE IT!!

At Walgreen's my total was $11.94 minus $3.75 in coupons and minus $8.00 in Walgreen Bucks which means, I spent a wopin' 19 cents!!

At Target was bill came to $61.00 minus $18.25 in coupons minus a $5.oo gift card  = $37.75.

Not bad. Not bad at all!!

FREE Purse Book from Walgreens!!!

I just ordered mine!! Go here for this great deal and hurry!!! Use code purse at the checkout!!

Thank you Coupons 4 Utah for sharing this!!

Jack in the Box and Chilis FREEBIES!!

Go to one of my new favorite sites Fabulessly Frugal for some HOT new coupons for some yummy FREE food at Jack in the Box and Chilis!!

Enjoy!

Old Navy

I love Old Navy. I love, love, love Old Navy. I really do! It has a little for everyone in the family.

Right now their Clarence is an additional 40% off!!! So, get out there and SHOP!!

Here is what I just purchased...
a jean pencil skirt
a grey and black ruffles skirt
4 pairs of toddler socks
red fleece toddler pants
camo toddler pants
a orange and camo tee with long sleeves
a camo backpack
black workout shorts
a sweatshirt with faux wool and hoodie
a sparkly diamond ring
black beaded bracelet
a black beaned necklace
and
a clean crystal necklace

for under $40. You can't beat that!

I love you Old Navy!!

FREE enterence to National Parks 2011!!!

Check out these dates when
all National Parks will be FREE!!

 This is a wonderful way to get out with the family and enjoy a national park, without digging into your pocket.



2011 Fee-Free Days Include:


■January 15-17


(Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday weekend)


■April 16-24


(National Park Week)


■June 21


(First day of summer)


■September 24


(Public Lands Day)


■November 11-13


(Veterans Day weekend)

THANKS saving cents with sense for this info!!

140 Labels FREE!!!!!!!

Vista Print is offering 140 FREE holiday labels! Shipping is $3.00!

Don't miss this great offer!!

$3.99 for The Blind Side!!

I just ordered this AWESOME deal!!

The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock is only $3.99 (80% off) at Amazon right now. This was such a great movie! I highly recommend it. This is a perfect stocking stuffer, if you can wait that long!!


Make sure you sign up for Amazon Mom so you can get Amazon Prime FREE and get all these great deals with FREE 2-day shipping.



FREE Calendar!!!

Vista Print is offering FREE calendars!! I already ordered mine! It makes a great (EASY) gift for grandma and grandpa!!

Vista Print: FREE Photo Calendar!!!

Vista Print is offering another FREE photo calendar! You just need to pay for the shipping! This is a perfect gift for grandparents or other relatives!
Order YOURS now!!

**FREE Canvas**

I saw this and ordered it last year, so when I saw the offer for a FREE 8x10 canvas again (a $55 value) from Canvas People, I knew I had to take advantage of it!!

We just had our family photos taken, so I am super excited to receive the one I ordered!!

With the holidays approaching, this would be a perfect gift--grandparents, for your husband's office, sisters, brothers, anyone! Head on over to Canvas People today!