Back to School Savings!!

Back to School! This can be a really challenging time for parents who are trying to budget. There are supplies, clothes, school fees. It can seem never ending! I haven't needed to do back to school shopping for a number of years now, but I remember how it was. For me, the biggie was the school fees because there wasn't any way to scrimp and save on those, so I just concentrated on scrimping and saving on everything else!

The way I saved on clothing was that I bought clothes off the clearance racks at the end of every season and saved them until the next year. I don't think there was ever a year that the next size up didn't work for either one of my kids. I supplemented with the thrift store. That way, they had new clothes but they also had a decent amount of them. I don't remember them ever complaining.

I also bought a lot of school supplies the year before whenever I was at a store that had certain things for next to nothing, so I never had to spend a ton on supplies.

What can you do if you haven't shopped ahead and need things now? Here are some tips:

1. Look at the flyers of stores you regularly go to (and maybe some you don't) and find different things they have on sale. You can find crayons and markers at one, folders and tablets at another. This does take some running around, and you have to decide if the gas and time spent are worth it, but if you are taking a day for back to school shopping anyway and these stores are close to each other, it may be well worth your time. 

2. If your kids are fussy and/or you simply want to provide them with new clothes, you may have to get the new things at an inexpensive place like Wal-Mart. Then, after you purchase a modest amount, just so they can have something new, you could go around to a number of thrift stores. Some people are afraid of thrift stores but I am not by any means! You can find amazing things there, better quality than Wal-mart and sometimes even brand new!  If your kids don't want to go and browse, I would suggest doing it yourself. You can buy a few things you think they will like and return them if they don't. 

3. Garage sales are still going on and you might find a few things there. 

All in all, back to school doesn't have to cost a fortune. It always will take a bit of a bite, especially with the school fees. A good thing to remember too, is when you are buying those great deals from store to store to pick up enough for next year too, if you can, and know you have planned well ahead. If you do this every year, and get ahead of the curve, even if you have a very skinny year financially, you will know ahead of time your kids will be well stocked.

Happy Savings! 

How a Concert and Dinner for Two Cost Less Than $35 Including Gas!

It's been a very busy summer so I haven't been doing a lot of posting but I can say I've been having a lot of fun! One of those fun things is this Three Dog Night concert. The whole thing, two tickets, two dinners and gas to get there cost about $35.00.

When I am looking through papers and emails, I am always scanning for opportunities. My husband mentioned earlier that he would like to find some concerts to go to. I like going to concerts too but I always cough at the price tag-anywhere from around $35-$70 per person for a ticket. 

 When I saw Three Dog Night was playing at a festival not too far from our home and that they started at 6:00 PM (another bonus!) and it was only $10.00 a person, I jumped at the opportunity!

 They had bubble blowing and a balloon raising and a lot of other fun things going on too.

When we are out and about and we (mostly me) don't feel like spending a lot on dinner, we will go to McDonalds or some other fast food place and do my cheapy buy. This time, we each got a McDouble (always less than a double cheeseburger, but more than a regular cheeseburger), one small french fry that we split and a side salad that we also split. We order water to drink. I take the cover from the side salad and divide it into two and get an extra fork. This was $7.24.

This time, we wanted sundaes afterwards. We got one hot fudge and one caramel. This came to $3.14. 

So a total of $10.38 for food and $20.00 for tickets. That equals $30.38 and it probably cost less than $4.62 for gas. 

All in all this was a very inexpensive way to have dinner for two and a concert on top of it!

Happy Savings!

Lifetime Pass for National Parks for Seniors $10.00 until Aug 27th!

Lifetime passes for seniors to National Parks is jumping from $10.00 to $80.00 on August 28th! Get your lifetime pass before this opportunity passes! Here is an article from the AARP on this:

http://travel.aarp.org/articles-tips/articles/info-2016/national-parks-lifetime-pass-cost-increase.html

Walgreens Savings: All this for $6.17

Today I started garage sale season and I found an office chair for my son for $5.00 but that isn't what I'm going to write about! I needed to stop at Walgreens and pick up a magnifying glass and while I was there, I found some great clearance deals!

1. Men's Multi-vitamins for .79 for 65 count AND they were buy one get one free! They had five so I picked them all up. Expiration date: 10/18

2. Fish, Flax and Borage Oils 120 count $2.19! Expiration date: 11/18

3. Emergen-C superfruit 30 count for $1.29! Expiration date: 1/18

The total for the supplements was $5.85 and then .32 tax. (There is extra on the receipt for the magnifying glass). What a deal! Every time I am in a store, I scan the clearance area and it's amazing what you can find!

Happy savings!

Bathroom Face-lift: Total Cost About $6.00!

I've been wanting to re-do my bathroom for quite some time. It had this ugly purple striped wallpaper in it. The wallpaper probably looked pretty good at one time, but it was old, stained in spots and the edges where the wallpaper was put together was getting a black edge from the moisture and there were areas I had to wipe down with bleach a couple of times a year because mold was growing there. It was time to do something! 

 Taking the wallpaper off itself wasn't that hard. It took about a half an hour.

 It was scraping this that took so long. Ugh! Just looking at it makes me feel pained! It took a couple of days to painstakingly squirt this old paper-backing/glue with a hot water and soap mixture and scrape and peel it all off. 

 Here are the walls partially prepped! I also sanded some areas. 

 I got out my supplies. These were all free from rebates! I have an area in my basement that I store freebies like this and I get them out when I need them! 

 When I was looking for paint to do the project with, I decided to check the clearance area. Often, people don't like the paint color they chose and then they return the paint and you can get it for next to nothing. This time, they had a gallon of Glidden paint on sale for $5.00 AND it was just the base so I got to choose the color too! I love good, high quality paint and I will pay more for that if I have to, but I did not have to! This is a paint and primer which was perfect. Glidden is a good brand too. I chose "Summer Sandcastle" for a color. 

Here are the walls prepped and ready to go. I put masking tape around everything and my husband removed the towel holders. 

And here is the final product! I want to replace the register on the floor still as it's peeling. I would also like to replace the switch plate covers to something nicer and the window blind. I have not done that yet. 

So, this paint face-lift cost about $6.00! $5.00 for the paint and about $1.00 for the masking tape! Other than that, it was a lot of hard work and elbow grease! I thought about painting the register with the same color paint but it is really rusty so I thought better of it. So, it will cost a few more dollars for the completed project but I feel very good about what I paid for this! The project took about 3/4 of a gallon and will give me some left for touch-ups later on. 

Happy Savings! 

Springtime Dandelion Greens! Food From Your Yard

Here's a springtime money and health hack for you! Eat dandelion greens! Dandelion greens in early spring are good and good for you. Here is an article on how to find and use dandelion greens:

http://www.moneycrashers.com/eating-dandelions-health-benefits-leaves-greens-roots-flowers/

 Dandelions have calcium, iron, Vitamin C and Vitamin A and Vitamin K.  Here are some dandelion green nutrition facts: http://foodfacts.mercola.com/dandelion-greens.html Dandelions are great for your eyes, containing both zeaxanthin and lutein.

A couple of rules:

• Make sure you know what you are picking! Use online resources so you can compare and know for sure. If you are not certain of what you are picking, take them to your local extension office for verification before consuming.
• Make sure they are not covered with pesticides or other pollutants. 
• Remember you are responsible for what you eat. Safety first! Never put anything into your mouth when foraging unless you are sure you know what you have. This goes for all foods you pick. 

You can cook dandelion greens in a few ways. You can saute them in a pan like in this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/222744/dandelion-greens-with-a-kick/

I like to take a few like this, and just throw them into a smoothie!

Food right from your yard! Now that is frugality!

Happy Savings!

Work From Home! Hilton Hotel Is Hiring!

Apparently Hilton Hotels is looking for people to work from home! I don't know anything about this personally but am just passing on what I read, so I can't vouch for any of the information given here. Some of you may be interested and it would be great if you could get a good work from home job because of it! So, if you apply~Good luck!

Here is the link: http://www.dontwasteyourmoney.com/hilton-jobs-hotel-hiring-work-home-reservation-reps/?partner=scripps&partner-sub=WFTS&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=partner&utm_campaign=scripps&utm_content=WFTS