Free Sea World for Members of the Military!

Wow, I just found this incredible deal!  For all my military friends and my friends who have military friends, let's spread the word!

FREE Tickets for Military
Through 12/31/11, members of the military (active duty military, active reservists, National Guard, Coast Guard) and as many as three direct dependents may enter Anheuser-Busch's SeaWorld, Busch Gardens or Sesame Place parks with complimentary admission. You must register in advance at www.herosalute.com and complete a form, which you take with you to the theme park along with valid ID.

Christmas Is Coming - Making the Most of Clearance Series Part One

      I know, I know, many of you do not want to hear the ugly word in the middle of summer, but part of surviving this economy is planning ahead and taking care of certain expenses in the least expensive way possible.  This will be the first part of my three part series discussing End of Season Clearance sales.  I promise it will be done by the weekend...just in time for you to shop!

     One our greatest, one-time expenses is Christmas and now is the time to start planning!  I detest the heat, to the point of tears some days (not an exaggeration, ask my family), but there is one thing I love about July, even here in Phoenix.  CLEARANCE!  Not just one little clearance, but lots of clearance in all stores!  Now that the 4th of July is over, as far as the retail world is considered, so is summer.  Stores will now begin receiving their Fall merchandise and have to make room, so piles of merchandise begins to go on clearance and just keeps getting lower and lower and lower!

     Over the past two and a half years, you know I have been living on an extremely tight budget, $30,000 just does not go very far for a family of five.  However, my budget does not change the fact that I have three quickly, growing kids.  Christmas and 12 birthdays between now and December 21st (all in my house and immediate family) do not wait for my wallet to grow.  So, I have started every year in July, sitting down and making a list of all the birthdays and Christmas presents I have to buy and start picking things up as I see them.
     Last year, I bought all the Christmas presents and 4 birthday presents for the 4 children in my life for about $140 and no, they did not each get a lollipop!  They received toys and clothes and fun stuff!  These end of season clearance sales make this season of gift giving in my life a whole lot less stressful!  Now listen, I do not pick up junky, little meaningless things, I try to look for things I know each of my family members will like, or things that make me think of them.  Gift giving on a budget should still be thoughtful and loving, but can be done on a budget any size!  I truly dislike presents that are not thought about, I feel like when you give someone a present it is a way to honor them and if you do not think about them and what they like or need, why bother!  So take a minute today and make your list, won't it feel good to get some of those presents out of the way...and with big savings?!

Another Level of Couponing

     Happy Sunday!  I hope you are all doing well and saving money, I sure am!  This week, I decided to add another piece to this marvelous game called Couponing.  One of my Coupon Sense members recently posted on her Facebook page about a shopping trip to Target and all the savings she was getting there. I was quite envious.  I had some time this week and got online to explore my coupon options at Target.
     The wonderful thing about coupon shopping at Target is coupon stacking.  What this means is, Target will take one of their own coupons (off their website or one of their mailers) and a manufacturer's coupon (out of the paper or coupon websites), off ONE item.  Also, Target posts many coupons for non Grocery items and those are good on Clearance items.  For example, my Coupon Sense member found a coupon on the Target website for $10 off bedding, she then found a sheet set on clearance for $13.48, therefore, got an entire sheet set for $348.  Now I call that a good savings!
     This week, I got on the website and printed any coupons I thought I might use.  Now, I do not usually print many coupons because of the cost of ink, but this week that I wanted to see how this could work.  So, I printed alot!  I then sat with my awesome website, Coupon Sense and looked up each coupon to see if there was a manufacturer coupon to match it and found there were manufacturer coupons for over half of them.  I also checked Coupon Sense for any sales that were advertised and  I pulled all the coupons, matched them up and put them in various envelopes and headed for Target.  I walked around the store and began putting items in my basket when I found a good deal.  I was a little nervous about it because I forgot my notebook and was not keeping track of my spending...and that is not something I usually do on our budget.
   
I finally found all the deals I thought were good and here is the result:

• 1 KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce - Free
• Nivea Body Lotion - $1.00
• 1 Colgate toothpaste and toothbrush - $.69
• 1 Tresseme Shampoo - $.59
• 2 small dog food - free
• 3 Benedryl Itch Stick - $.29 each
• 2 Nexcare Bandaids - $.37 each
• 1 lb Beef Stew Meat - $2.18
• 2 Quaker Chewey Granola Bars - $1.28 each
• 2 Kraft Deli Cheese - $1.74 each
• 2 Boxes of Lipton Iced Tea Family Bags - $1.23 each
• 3 Kraft Salad Dressing - $1.06 each
• 3 Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Lunch Meat - $1.33 each

My total was $69.63 before all my coupons and was $16.35 after all coupons, that is a 77% savings.  Not too bad for the first time.  I will be honest, the whole endeavor took me a little bit too long for my taste, but now that I have printed the majority of the coupons, I will only have to print new ones each week and I will try matching them as I go. I am going to do this for a few weeks and see how it goes and I will post my lists each week before the sale ends so you can get in on the savings!