2. Don't pay full price for candy! I buy candy goes on clearance AFTER the holiday at 50-75% off and use for the next holiday. Some holidays like Halloween don't have Halloween candy wrappings. Easter and Valentines often have heavy holiday packaging. Keep your eye out.
Here's how I use clearance candy for the next occasion:
Use the red Christmas M&M's or Hershey kisses for Valentine's day
Green Valentine "Green with envy" M & M's & green Hershey kisses for St. Patty's day
Halloween candy (not in Halloween wrapping) for Christmas stockings
Easter Candy for summer b-days, summer at home treats for the neighbor kids, dance recital treats, or for campfire smore treats, and pastel M& M's for baby showers as shown here!
Other seasonal clearance candy use ideas:
M&Ms: I used them for potty training rewards. You can use them in place of chocolate chips for cookies or brownies and no chopping is required!
I use Hershey Kisses and Reese’s PB Cups (minis): Put in cookies recipes. I think the smallest-size Reese’s eggs from Easter would work great too.
Chocolate bars, M&Ms, PB eggs/cups: Pour a little brownie batter into the pan. Place a layer of candy across the batter, then pour the rest of the batter on top of the candy. Use Halloween leftover Snickers bars- YUM!
4. Making free or cheap family memories with Daddy (or Mommy) on daughter/son dates. Ex. Michael's craft events on Saturdays, Lowe's build and grow workshops on Saturdays, Home Depot kid workshops on Saturdays, story times at Barnes and Noble, $.31 cone days at Baskin Robbins in the spring, free cone days at Ben and Jerry's, free national park days, free local concerts or lunch in the park outings. I love family free outings in the summer; Ex. parades, fireworks, and festivals. I check my local paper for these outings.
5. Garage Sales, Swap meets, thrift stores, and estate sales! You can get great toys, popcorn makers, ice cream makers, yard toys, name brand clothes and shoes, kitchen gadgets, books, and gardening stuff for CHEAP! I love the thrill of the hunt on a summer Saturday morning ALONE with my newspaper. Check out my garage sale finds here!
6. Date nights on the cheap! Keep an eye out in your local newspaper for the weekend section. There are lots of family or date night ideas. Ex. Free art/street festivals, Ethnic festivals with cheap admission, the county fair is our family favorite, free concerts, cheap lunch in the park, city festivals, free museum entry days, movies in the park, dollar theatres, city firework shows, farmer's markets, and more! Here's our fun family Valentine Date night for free!
7. I buy gifts for my family year round! You can save a lot of money this way but be wise and keep track of your gift buying. You're not saving money if you are buying and forget about a gift you bought for Grandma in August and her b-day is in November. I keep a master gift giving list in a spiral notebook. I refer to it when I see a deal and write it down for that person and put it in the gift giving tote. Then I know what I bought, for who, and where it is!! In the master gift giving notebook I list the b-days by month and who I give to. I have to keep track of them or I'll forget. I buy for Christmas all year round for my kids and by the time early November comes I am usually done and enjoy the holidays. My kids are in the easy to please stage and that helps....when the get older I may have to change. I do leave some money wiggle room to buy what they really want when the holidays get closer. I also buy extra toys for the Angel tree project and Toys for Tots all year round.
8. Generosity comes easy on your budget when you get stuff for free! I find joy in donating food and toiletries to the less fortunate. I find this easy with the trial size items and free or dirt cheap things I often get with coupons.
9. Save money on Magazine subscriptions- I don't currently pay hardly anything out of pocket for magazine subscriptions. I receive Elle Decor (free), Pottery Barn (free catalog with ideas), Ballard Designs (free catalog with ideas), Family Fun (under $5), and too many garden seed catalogs to count. I don't have time to read many magazines anyway which saves me money. You can check out magazines at the library too.
10. Frugal and fun Hobbies-
A. Scrapbooking- Right now I am trying to set aside some time to complete each child's baby book with journaling before they go to school! Ha ha. I need realistic goals with out much out of pocket costs. I have also completed 4 total 20 page hard bound story book type family albums for cheap from picaboo.com and shutterfly.com (I get free book online coupon codes and I only paid $7-8.99 in shipping costs. I will be highlighting these books in a future post.
B. Gardening & Canning- We have been vegetable gardening for four years in this house. The up front costs are minimal now. We have great soil, lots of canning jars and supplies, we order seeds from catalogs and grow our own plants, or use seeds from our heirloom plants from previous years. You can check out our gardening ways on my gardening tab to the right on the blog. We also save money by dividing pants from friends and families, get free bear root or "starts" of raspberries or strawberries, we get free mulch for our flower beds from our local city, and grew a lot of perennial and bulb flowers in our beds.
3. Exercise- We work out at home in our newly remodeled basement work out room. We bought a refurbished Pro Form front runner treadmill for $400ish and it's in our basement work out room. We have a weight bench from Sears a few years ago in the room too. We don't have gym memberships at this time in our life. We also have bikes and a bike trailer for summertime. I am not working out right with the upcoming baby but I look forward to this when I recover from childbirth.
C. Weight Watchers- I was a proud Weight Watcher lifetime member prior to this pregnancy. I will start Weight watchers again while nursing. I enjoyed going to meetings and focusing on my health alone on Saturday mornings while out "garage sale-ing".
D. I like cook for friends and family when I have the time and energy. I use my coupon deals to make thrifty and tasty meals for friends and family. I once started a monthly rotating potluck supper club with church members. It was fun getting to know more people and sharing in a meal once a month.
E. It's free to Volunteer! It's a hobby and a passion of mine- I was the Room Mom for my daughter's 1st grade class, on the Preschool school board of our preschool, we are coaching a 1st grade girls softball team, supporting my hubby in his church volunteer efforts, member of M.O.P.S., and I volunteer in a woman's world wide organization at church. Even though I love volunteering, I have learned to say "no" to some opportunities this year. They all sound fun but I can't and won't overload our family. I feel fulfilled in my current hobby of volunteering roles right now.
F. Blogging is free!- I like sharing free things to do as a family, encourage others to enjoy the hard journey in mothering young kids, and any tips I think make my life easier. In return I enjoy learning from others. This is WHY I choose to blog to learn, share, and grow as a Mom!
G. Couponing- It saves me money, allows me to give to others more often, helps me entertain on a budget, and provides a challenge for me with the monotonous task of grocery shopping. I do pay for 5 papers each Sunday, receive extra inserts in the mail from my mail carrier, and occasionally I reach in the recycling bin at my daughters' school for inserts. :0)
H. Hunting- My husband hopefully shoots a wild game animal for meat in November in Utah. He buys an Elk tag, has a lifetime deer hunting and fishing license, and hunts on our family property each year. He cuts the animal up with his relatives and then we have meat in our freezer for about a year.
12. Birthday parties & General Party Planning- I decided in the last year to host friend birthday parties for my kids every other year. I enjoy hosting frugal but FUN birthday parties! On the "off" years we will create frugal but FUN memories just as a family. I make my own birthday cakes with love (I am not a professional!), often use a theme for the parties, and make party bags for the guests. Check out my cakes and b-day parties here! I also like to host other parties and small gatherings when I have the time and energy. Check out my party planning frugal ideas here! This is one of my true joys, being with friends and family, having fun, and sharing in a meal.
13. We got rid of cable/satellite 3 years ago!
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you so much for your comments. I read each and every one. Blessings on your day. Come back soon.