Free Money??

Well you have heard me talk about Swagbucks before, now I get to brag about how it saved the day!




We are always broke, its just a fact of life.  I don't work, I don't bring in any income, I am frugal and I do my best to save money and conserve what we have.  I don't get to do a lot with my kids that require me to pay for them because I just can't afford it.  It stinks.   This week, we got invited to 2 different beaches with friends.  I could go to the little state park beach Hopeville, its pond water that was recently closed by the DEP due to excessive bacteria in the water, OR I could go to the RI state beach, Misquamicut for some awesome waves and fun in the sun.  That was a tough choice.  HOpeville is free and less than 2 miles from my house.  Misquamicut I knew I'd have to pay for parking, and its about 30 miles from my house.  What to do?? 


Then I remembered.... Swagbucks!  What? you say, Swagbucks???   How did that save the day??  Well I'll tell ya!  Instead of taking the $5 Amazon Gift cards lately, I've been spending the higher amount on Paypal cash, 700 swagbucks gets you $5 of cold hard cash at a time.  I had earned $25!  SO I took my Paypal Debit card to the local ATM machine and took out $20 in cash.  I went to Misquamicut and had the best day we have had all summer!!   It cost $12 to park my car, we stayed ALL day.  Then I spent the last $8 for gas to get home.    It was FREE MONEY!  I didn't do anything to get it, other than sign people up for swagbucks, do my searches, and get codes.     All in the  comfort of my own home, on my own couch.    So you say  you can't get something for nothing anymore? I say you can! I did!  I had a 'FREE' day at the beach with my kids!  We had the best day!


SO I tell you, Join Swagbucks, Get Cash!!  I promise you won't regret it, its not a waste of time or a scam program. It really works! 

Our Ds Game arrived

I had posted a couple weeks ago about how my kids won a Nintendo DS game from Kellogg's.  It was quite impressive!  You can refer to this link to read about it.   They selected Zelda and we were told it would arrive in 4-6 weeks.  It arrived in 3 weeks!!    We never win anything, that was quite the windfall for us.  


Yay!

Enjoy the rest of your day!

Frugal Freebie Back to School Roundup!

Happy Tuesday Morning! 

One of the things about frugality, I always say "if its Free, its for me!"  There are some really fun freebies to have and they are important to staying frugal.  Here is a list of some great freebies for this week.

Free 'Kitchen Basics' Cookbook
I think people will really enjoy this one.  Lots of instructions on what to do with some basic kitchen items that are commonly stockpiled.  Enjoy!

How about some FREE Bic Pens from Target? 
Bic Pens are on sale for .99 this week, print this coupon for $1 off and your pens are FREE. 

Don't forget about the FREE backpack this week from Staples. Go to Staples this week and purchase  any backpack and get a rebate for the FULL amount of the backpack.  I'm tempted to go get one just for this deal!  Never hurts to have an extra, and it can be donated if need be. 


Free Child Safety Kit
Get this kit to help keep your kids safe.
Which strangers to ask for help when no trusted adults are available.

How to recognize dangerous situations.
How to respond to those dangerous situations correctly.


Thats it for now.

Have a GREAT day!!

FREE Backpacks at Staples

Don't miss out on this deal this week! 



Staples  has backpacks on sale this week.  After you fill out the rebate form and send it in, they will give the cost of the backpack BACK to you in the form of a Staples Gift Card.  That's basically FREE.  Hurry up and get this deal!!  THIS week only!  You can order online, by phone, or in store, but hurry!! 

Look back at the last week

I can't believe its been almost a whole week since my last post! I guess I just haven't had much to say. LOL 

Monday starts a new week and I'm hoping a BETTER week.  Not that last week was horrible, just hectic, lots going on with several dentist appoints and kid activities.  My kids went to VBS every night (Vacation Bible school) at the local Congregational church and they loved it.  The theme was Galactic Blast, and each night was a new activity dealing with space.  My youngest was thrilled with this, he got out of the house, and I got 2 hours by myself every night for a whole week!  That was the best, I opened my laptop to Facebook, opened up a Barcadi Mojito, and just chilled by myself for 2 straight hours.  Okay, a few nights I actually got productive and went out for the walk I desperately needed, and one night my girls had girl scouts, but the other nights were JUST for me. :)

They ended the week with a cute little program, all the kids put on a little performance of singing.  They had little moves to go with each song.  My middle daughter is a born performer, she loves every part of it and I think she will eventually be  in the entertainment field.  The teachers all remarked to me how she was one of the best singers they had, because she really got into everything and was happy to do as asked.  That's my baby girl!  My oldest is not so much in the spotlight, she is like me where she would rather just stand back and let everyone else shine.  She is kinda shy and really not into the idea of everyone watching her.  So she barely moved her mouth and totally looked like she was not enjoying herself AT all.  Ugh. My little guy was great, he just enjoyed everything and was so funny to watch when his group went up.  His best little buddy was also in his group, I'm sure they drove the teachers crazy trying to keep the 2 of them calm.   Oh to be 6 again and find joy in everything and get so excited to see your buddy and hang out, even if its only Bible camp.  

At the end of the program, they asked the kids if they would like, to come on Sunday and perform their songs for the church.  Of course my middle daughter was thrilled and begged me to take her to church  so she could do it, we were happy to do it for her. It was nice to see her get excited about something having to do with religion.  I was surprised to get there and there was almost no one in that church.  Its one of our oldest buildings in town,  but almost no members.  I wasn't quite sure what to make of that.  We are Catholic and usually attend the Catholic church,  so we weren't sure what to expect as far as the service went.  It was a small church, but the nice thing about that was that everyone knew each other, and they were able to speak to each other by name.   At the beginning, there was someone asking "Does anyone have any announcements?" , then later on, they asked "Does anyone have any prayer requests?"   Everyone in the church either had a prayer request or a Thanksgiving.   One of the Thanksgivings was that their Bible Camp was successful, at one evening they had 28 kids. 

I'm back on the wagon for a great week, hoping to lose some more weight, and keep on being frugal.  Shoprite is having a great sale this week, I can't wait to get my coupons together and plan out my attack. I've already seen a few freebies.  For a full list, check out 4Hats and Frugal, or Hot coupon world.com   and see where you can save. And be sure to congratulate  her on her brand new baby girl!  She's a beauty!

Have a great day!

Frugal family Fun: Memberships!

One of the things I suggest for a fun family time is memberships to such places as museums, zoos,  clubs etc. 




You will pay more in the beginning, but in the end, you are SAVING money.  If you purchase a zoo membership, it will usually pay for itself within 2 visits, and then you can visit any time you want.  If you live close enough to a place the kids will love and enjoy, use it to your advantage to keeping them entertained this summer.  

Yesterday, I took my kids to the Roger Williams Park Zoo, we went in a large group of moms and kids, looking to do something fun for the day.  We all had memberships, except for 1 mom, and because I had purchased the 'family plus' membership, I am allowed to take guests in on my card,  I was able to get her in for free.  Her baby is less than a year old so he was free anyway.    Our kids have a great time, there is a brand new baby giraffe at the zoo, he is only 2 weeks old and adorable!!  For something so 'big', compared to the rest of the giraffes, he was tiny! (Pictured above)  He was laying on the ground with his mom,  and we enjoyed watching him for a few minutes.    Going with a large group of young kids is always a bit hard because they run from exhibit to exhibit, but  when the rest of the group went home, we  stayed behind and went through the zoo again by ourselves to see more stuff. 

I will admit I wasn't prepared as I should have been snack wise.  I only have a small hard igloo cooler that I packed waters, juice boxes and yogurts in.  I had to leave it in the car because I didn't feel like carrying it around all day.  All the rest of the moms had brought these great soft sided coolers , like this one:
















This was so much more convenient for what we were doing for the day, and they were able to sling it over their shoulders. I NEED to get one of these!  I did not have enough snacks for my kids for the time we spent there.

By the end of the day, my son was having a meltdown, so I knew it was time to leave.  That's the sign of a good day, when one of them has a tantrum about leaving. LOL   But we had a full day, we were up early, we stayed for 5 hours, it was HOT, it was time to go.   But we will do it again soon!

Have a great day!

Celebrating Sunday

I love Sundays.

Today is 'my' day off.  My oldest daughter spent the night at her friend's house, and my other 2 went off with Daddy today to go swimming.  I'm sitting here in my air conditioned house, drinking my coffee, enjoying the peace and quiet, and just relaxing.   I spent so much time being Mom, this was a hard week for me, and I found myself wishing for school to start, then feeling guilty because I should be enjoying my time with my kids.  All year long we rush rush rush, and spend no time together, summer is supposed to be our time to reconnect, and I spend most of it yelling at them to stop fighting and to pick up after themselves.

SO here I sit, I'm not going to clean up after anyone, I'm not cooking, I'm not breaking up fights, I watching the Teen Mom marathon on MTV, without lame comments from my husband.   I'm not spending money, I'm not eating, (except for my Yoplait delights Caramel yogurt and coffee).   I got my paper, but havn't gone through my coupons yet.     I'm hoping to get a bit of time this day to make up my shopping list and go out early this week.   This is so much easier to do without everyone clamoring for my attention. 

Enjoy your Sunday and have a great day!