Sunday, May 31, 2009
Sunday, May 31, 2009 | Posted by
Your Frugal Friend, Niki |
Hey there, frugal friends! Remember a few weeks back when I told you your kids can bowl for free all summer long? Well I have some great news for those of you who want to bowl right alongside your kiddos. For just $23.95 you can purchase a family pass and you and up to 3 other people (spouse, older siblings, grandparents, babysitters, etc.) can bowl your heart out all summer, too!
The only thing you and your kiddo must put put any moolah for is shoe rentals. If only there was a way around that.....hmmmm, what if we had our own bowling shoes? I am feeling a new thrifty search coming on!
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Saturday, May 30, 2009
Last week I shared my diabolical plan on how to subscribe to All You magazine for free, with a little help from Swagbucks and Amazon.
Now I want to share Amazon's Spring Promotion. Select magazine subscriptions are available at an even cheaper rate than they usually offer.
Thanks for sharing, The Thrifty Mommy!
Click here to view mag subs that are eligible for an additional $3 off at checkout
Click here for mag subs that will be an additional $5 off
And click here for mag subs that will be an additional $10 off
Have you tried Redbox yet?
Redbox is a company that utilizes vending machines to provide cheap movie rentals. It is super-easy to use with its simple touch screen. The kiosks can be found at your local grocery store, some McDonalds, some Walgreens, and even some Walmart stores. DVD rentals are just $1 per night and you can return them whenever and wherever you like!
Occasionally a free code is announced that is good for one free rental. These are posted right here on Free 2 Be Frugal, and you can also opt to have a text message sent to your cell with the code (sign up for that service here).
When you want to rent a movie, visit your nearest Redbox and remember to take a credit/debit card with you. You will be asked to enter an email address since all "receipts" are sent to your inbox. If you have a code to use, touch "Rent with a promo code" on the screen. Touch your DVD selection, then touch "Rent DVD". Then continue your transaction. You will be asked to swipe your card. A hold will be placed on your card on the amount of $1 per movie. Once you return the movie(s) the hold will be removed. If you don't use a free code, your card will not officially be charged until you return the movie(s).
Movies must be returned by 9 pm the following day. You may return the movies to any Redbox location. How great is that?
I love renting from Redbox and couldn't be happier with them. They provide, by far, the best movie rental experience I have ever had!
If you are new to Redbox try these codes for a FREE rental:
REDBOX
DVDONME
BREAKROOM
It's that time again...time for my weekly Freebie Round-Up! Lots of good free samples and coupons for the taking this week. But act fast, these have a way of running out quickly.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Saturday, May 30th is Free Ice Cream Day at participating Walmart stores. Stop in to knab your free Ben & Jerry's Flipped Out ice cream cup, Blue Bunny Aspen (fro-yo granola bar), or Dibs snack bag.
Click here to plug in your zip code to see is there are any participating near you. Looks like it is just the super centers in my neck of the woods. Lucky for me, there is one the next town over!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
It's Frugal Friday!
Lots of my friends ask me how I always seem to be in-the-know when it comes to family fun events. My answer? Local publications!
If you weren't looking for them you might never notice they exist. They are found in racks at the library, by the apartment shopper guides in grocery stores, in the corner of your pediatrician's office...
YMMV for this, but trust me your state has these! For all you Delaware Valley region readers, here are a few of my local faves:
Wanna check out some other Frugal Friday tips? Head on over to Life As Mom for more!
And that's not all. Not only does everyone have a chance to be the judge in the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off, Free2BeFrugal will be giving away prize packs to 2 lucky readers who comment in this post, sharing what they think makes a winning recipe (here's some tips). Each prize pack, generously donated by MyBlogSpark, contains a giggling Pillsbury Doughboy doll and a magazine featuring past Bake-Off winning recipes!
To recap, to win a prize pack readers must:
- Comment on this post, telling what makes a recipe a winner
- Include your email address so you can be contacted if you are a prize winner
- Only one comment per reader, please!
- For additional entries you may subscribe to Free2BeFrugal (just be sure to leave a comment telling us you did) AND you may also enter by adding our button to you page (just be sure to leave us a link to your site so it may be verified) AND you may also enter by emailing me at ndisilvio @ gmail dot com and share a face recipe
- Enter by Thursday, June 3rd at Midnight as 2 winners will be randomly selected on Friday, June 4th
Good luck!
I interrupt this ordinary, gloomy-looking day to bring you...FREE coffee from Borders! Now through Sunday print this coupon to redeem for a free small cup of coffee. There sure is one just past my son's school so you can bet I'll be stopping in tomorrow.
The super coupon also has some fairly good deals on other goodies at Borders, so check it out if you're in need of new reading material.
Do I love yard sales? You betcha! I am gearing up for the summertime, which means I am on the lookout for roadtrip essentials (we're visiting friends in Ohio), summer clothes, books for summer reading, and of course I am always on the lookout for things to stock my gift closet with.
Here is what I scored this past week at the yard sales in my neck of the woods:
Mini MagnaDoodle, 50 cents
Scooby Doo DVD, $2
2 short sleeve tops for Mommy (both were NWT), $5 and $3
2 pairs of jean shorts for son, $1.50 each
3 organizer bins for son's closet, 25 cents each (and they were NIP)
Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head + a bin full of accessories, $5
2 sets of Clifford the Big Red Dog toys (NIP), 25 cents each
19 books (4 are brand new and will be gifts), 25 cents each
TOTAL SPENT: $23
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Hot weather got you down? Grab a friend and cool off with a great deal at Baskin Robbins---print this coupon and get a free 31 Below when you buy one.
My mailbox has been bursting with freebies this past week.
Let me tell you what I knabbed for free this week:
- Spongebob and Dora the Explorer partyware (one lucky winner will win a Dora set, so stay tuned!)
- Schick Intuition razor
- Kraft food + family mag
- Taste of Home mag
- Woman's Day mag
- Kiwi mag
- Family Fun mag
- Soap Opera Digest mag
- Traditional Home mag
- Parenting Early Years mag
- MORE mag
- Time Out NY Kids mag
![[wfmwbannerKRISTEN.jpg]](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_B8Bf7nWZtug/SZ9oMfo9wUI/AAAAAAAACVc/VJXTSL5Bel8/s1600/wfmwbannerKRISTEN.jpg)
Have you been to the movie theater lately? It's scary, and I don't mean in a horror flick type way. I mean your wallet will be shaking in its boots when its all said and done. Here's the breakdown from last time we went:
2 Adult tickets $20
1 Child ticket $7
Popcorn for us to share $6
2 small drinks $8
1 pack of candy $4
TOTAL SPENT = $45
Sure we could have saved a bit more. If we had gone to an earlier show on a weekend day we could have saved two whole dollars on our adult tickets; kids prices are always the same. I know lots of people smuggle snacks and candy into the theater (and wedid it when we were younger, but now if you get caught you'll be asked to leave). I'd be mighty angry if I got kicked out after I paid $25 for tickets. So its not worth the risk.
So unless something really special is being shown at the theater, like a 3-D flick (or we get a gift card as a gift) we stay out of the theaters. And we buy DVDs and have our own movie nights at home. Now I am aware that it might sound crazy to some of you that I am claiming that purchasing movies is frugal, but hear me out. Videos can be found fairly cheaply (from $5-14) at the big box stores like Target and Walmart. Even if you ended up paying full price for a new release it would be way less than a night at the movies! And you could watch it whenever you want, over and over again. Of course we don't buy every single movie we want to see, but we will buy the kids movies and ones we just know we will love. Making your own popcorn at home can be done for pennies and you can find awesome sales on bags of candy. For an authentic feel you can get the movie boxes of candy from stores like Dollar Tree for $1 each. It beats $4! And we bought a couple of plastic popcorn buckets there too that look just like the bags at the cinemas.
Movie nights at home work for me!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Have you checked out Pandora Radio yet? It's a make your own radio station site that is completely free to use! Imagine being able to flip on a station that only plays what you want to hear.
I have been spending some serious time on that site making just the right specifications for my listening pleasure. Currently I have two stations in my account: one of my favorite Christian artists and one with all the rock groups I like to chill out to.
This is one free service you have got to take advantage of!
Monday, May 25, 2009
Breakfasts
*Eggy Muffins (homemade McMuffins)
*Cereal bars, milk
*Oatmeal, Milk
Lunches
*Tuna salad on whole wheat, pickles
*Grilled cheese, soup
*PBJ, carrot sticks, apple
Dinners
*Pasta alfredo with ham and peas, salad
*Eggs over easy, pork roll, whole wheat toast, tomato juice
*Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad
*Oven baked BBQ chicken, skillet corn, cole slaw
*Invited to a cookout (bringing Classic Macaroni Salad)
Snacks
*Yogurt
*Graham crackers with peanut butter
*Mozarella with whole wheat crackers
*Mixed nuts
Hungry for more new recipes?
Head on over to Organizing Junkie!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thanks to Coupon Geek I will be picking up my free bottle of Joint Juice on my next shoppin trip. The coupon is good for $1 off and the juice can be found at most Targets for 99 cents. I've never tried this stuff out before, but I'm thinking this would be a great drink to tote along to the gym with me.
It's that time again...time for my weekly Freebie Round-Up! Lots of good free samples and coupons for the taking this week. But act fast, these have a way of running out quickly.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Happy Frugal Friday!
Last weekend I threw my son a fairly large Circus-themed birthday bash. 24 of his closest friends and cousins came (from preschool and playgroup). Plus all their grownup escorts, 3 sets of grandparents, and some aunts and uncles. Whew, that's a lotta people!
Now we don't do such a grand affair every year, but he was turning 4 and is a big boy who is almost finished his very first year of school. So my hubby and I thought that was pretty darned good reason to do it up big! Even though it was a big celebration, the price tag wasn't too big. Here is a look at how we did it big for less:
Custom sheet cake ($5) I saved big by making it myself. These can run $25-35 at the store, but a few years back I took a Wilton cake class at our local craft store during half-price class month for only twelve bucks. I did have to invest in some supplies then but I still have them all. Wilton cake supplies last for a very long time. Best money I have ever spent in my life! Ever since I have been baking and decorating all the cakes our family needs to celebrate with. All I had to buy this time around was 2 boxes of cake mix. I used up some ingredients we always have on hand to make the famous Wilton frosting that everyone loves and some candies and such to decorate the clown head I put on top of the sheet cake.
Food ($43 ) We kept it pretty basic with circus themed foods upon my son's request. Hot dogs, french fries, soft pretzels, popcorn, and cotton candy were on the menu. Kids drank Hugs and grownups had bottled water. I probably could have gone a wee bit cheaper by stirring up big ole jugs of lemonade, but I didn't feel like lugging them to the party location.
Party Rental ($0) We wanted to rent out the gazebo at our local park. It is normally $10 an hour, but with the enconomy the way it is our county is waiving permit fees this year. They wrote us up a permit and reserved our party. No mess at our house...yay!
Games ($12) I picked up a pinata at the local Royal Bargains for $7. I filled it with clearance candy. Instead of filling up loot bags on top of that, I simply handed them out to the kids and let them fill it up with falling candy. That's enough treats! I also bought a Pin The Nose on the Clown game for a buck.
Paper products ($11) All these were picked up at the dollar store. I let my son pick out a theme of party goods he liked. I bought half of the plates we needed in the print and half solid colored. The solid-colored packs come with much more in them. Even when you shop in the dollar store thigns can add up quickly (i.e. when printed paltes come 8 to a pack and solid colors can be found 20 or 40 to a pack). I bought plain white napkins. Clown hats were on clearance (yes, even at the dollar store). Solid colored tablecloths rounded out my purchase.
Balloons ($6) These were the only decorations we had. I ordered the ones I wanted in advance at our dollar store.
Entertainment ($0 for me) The park had 2 playgrounds. Enough said. Of course my son had a hankering for a balloon-animal-making clown like the one at our local diner on Sunday mornings. So my in-laws graciously hired one for the occasion, which was a nice birthday present for him. He certainly has enough toys!
TOTAL SPENT ($ 77) Not too shabby considering most kiddie places charge somewhere in the ballpark of $200-350 for a similar sized party.
Wanna check out some other Frugal Friday tips? Head on over to Life As Mom for more!
Seems like everyone is jumping onto the recession-related promo bandwagon these days. I'm okay with it! I'm scoring tons of free stuff!
Mars is sponsoring a Real Chocoloate Relief Act, which means that every Friday between now and September you can visit this site and score a coupon for a FREE candy item. Pretty sweet, huh? Be sure to hit them up first thing in the morning because 250,000 will be given away each week. I'm sure they'll go fast each week, because you know how freebie fanatics can be!
I recently learned about Swagbucks from frugal friend Money Saving Mom. All you do is register (it's free) and use their search engine for all your internet searching. Certain searches can win you some Swagbucks, in demoninations of 1-5, 10, 20, 50, or 100. Swagbucks can be traded in for gift cards to great places.
Since I signed up I have earned a bunch of gift cards for Starbucks and Amazon.
Click here to sign up today. And once you join up you can refer friends and earn even more Swagbucks. How great is that?
This Sunday there will be no coupon inserts in the newspaper, due to it being a holiday weekend. Boo-hoo! Where can you get your coupon fix?
There are some great coupons from Coupons.com this week. And you don't even have to leave this page to get them! Simply scroll down and look for the yellow box on the left. You can print any coupons you choose to help you save money on groceries, all the while helping out Free 2 Be Frugal.
Here's a look at some of the great product coupons available this week:
Here's a look at some of the great product coupons available this week:
- Save $1 on Kraft salad dressing
- Save $1 on Kraft BBQ sauce
- Save $1 on any 3 Jello products
- Save $1 on a bag of Starbucks coffee
- Save $1 on Bodycology hand soap
- Save $2 on Dry Idea deodorant
- Save $3 on Huggies Pure & Natural diapers
- Save $1 on Excedrin
This past week the mail was very good to me, especially in terms of coupons! Here is what I got:
- Marie Callendar Pasta Al Dente TRY ME FREE voucher (somehow I got another one)
- Cascade Crystal Clear Rinse Agent FREE voucher (from Home Made Simple coupon booklet, by Proctor & Gamble)
- 2 different Target coupon booklets (1 has over $45 in coupons, the other has over $60 in savings)...my fave is the $5 off of $50 coupon
- Always Infinity pad (came with $3 off coupon and $1 off coupon)
- Splenda Favors for coffee sample (came with $1 coupon)
- Prilosec OTC starter kit
- 2 issues of Soap Opera Digest
- 1 Remedy magazine
- 1 Parents magazine
- 1 Diabetes Self-Management magazine
- 1 Living the Country Life magazine
- 1 Lego Brickmaster magazine (birthday edition, for my son)
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