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** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
Tea Collection is making summer wardrobe stock up easy peasy! Tees, shorts, and skirts start at just $10 now through Friday, June 17, 2022.
I love the Tea Collection for kid’s clothes! They are sturdy, well-made, and last through several rounds of hand-me-downs!
We’ve been participating in Tryazon events for three+ years. We’ve gotten to try all sorts of fun toys, games, and food. You can learn more about Tryazon here.
It’s fashion. It’s designer. It’s a Tryazon Featured Party opportunity featuring P.Lushes Pets from Spin Master! This stylish squad of fabulously fashionable friends serves up chic looks with a sprinkle of attitude and a whole lot of sparkle. Luxe, premium fabric, and a sparkling collar enhance their fashion-inspired looks! Everywhere is your personal runway with P.Lushes Pets!
Tryazon has 250 hosting spots open for this opportunity! Those selected get to receive a party pack with a variety of P.Lushes Pets to sample and share with friends and family, valued at $160+ in total!
One of the best ways to pass a Tuesday afternoon in the summer is to hit up Balboa Park. Each week there are several museums that offer free admission to residents of the City and County of San Diego, and to active military personnel and their dependents. Please be prepared to present a photo ID with your address.
Here is the schedule:
First Tuesday
Second Tuesday
Third Tuesday
Fourth Tuesday
Fifth Tuesdays
The Following Tuesdays: July 26th, 23rd, September 27th, October 25th, November 22nd, and December 27th:
As a lifelong San Diego County resident, I’d pass on the automotive museum, it’s kinda meh (I’m not a gear head). And unless your kids are super into airplanes or outer space/NASA, I’d skip the Air and Space Museum. We paid full price a few years ago, and the kids hated it (ok, mostly Bitty hated it). The Mingei Museum is full of all kinds of stuff (folk arts, useful goods like pottery, clothing, quilts- it’s not super kid-friendly), but it’s pretty interesting.
Take a picnic, and enjoy eating in any one of the gardens/open spaces. Another free activity in Balboa Park is the Botanical Garden and Lily Pond. Right next door is the Spanish Art Village, which is fun to explore as well.
Talk Back: What is your favorite part of Balboa Park?
One of the kid’s favorite summer activities is to hit up the local theater for a showing of one of their favorite movies.
Big buckets of popcorn, snuck in candy (shhhh), and a drink and they are ready for 2 hours of fun in the Air Conditioning.
In my search for theater chains offering this fun this summer, several of our old friends are not participating as of the writing of this post.
Select Reading Cinemas will have the Reel Kids program, where throughout the summer (June 21-August 9) there will be kid-approved movies for the reduced price of $2/ticket!
And perhaps my kids’ favorite, 2022 Regal Summer Movie Express is back! Express tickets are just $2 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays featuring summer movies the whole family will enjoy. Availability varies by location. My kids are excited to see Lego Movie 2, Lego Batman, Scoob, and Shrek.
AMC has information about their $5 Fan Favorites on their site, but no information or schedules for the summer.
Cinemark (No locations near us) has 8 weeks of Movie Fun planned. More Details can be found here.
Talk Back: What summer movies are you looking forward to seeing?
It’s Monday Morning, and that means Meal Plan time! Can you tell I’ve had my coffee already?
I shopped over the weekend and did some meal prep as well. We should be set for the week!
School is over on Wednesday, and we’ve got two weeks off before summer school starts. I’ve got two lazy days planned for the end of this week, but after that, we are starting fun activities and we’ll be out and about!
Saturday is Bitty’s Birthday Party and we are having a fairy themed affair. Snacks, wands, and wings (fairy wings that is).
Our veggies and fruit are delivered by Yasukochi Family Farms CSA. For $28, it’s a great deal. I don’t have to pick anything, go to the store, or carry it upstairs. I can’t go to the store and get the same amount we get weekly for $28. Seriously. It’s a deal. They email a preview of what will be in the boxes over the weekend, so I can start thinking about what I’d like to make.
With the increase in food costs, we are leaning more and more on our CSA box each week as the base of most of our meals.
We’ve been trying a lot of new foods lately, thanks to the really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods. On Friday night I ran to Sprouts and picked up the monthly freebies, and redeemed all of the Social Nature Coupons I had in my wallet. We’ve got all kinds of yummy snacks and treats!
For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. They are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. Lately, the big kid has been digging protein shakes in the morning. This is his favorite kind.
Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I’m back to packing lunches again. However, school lunches are free this year- Little Bit has been buying her lunch and expanding her palate. The big kid still brings lunch from home.
Dinner: We’re still working our way through our Dream Dinners order for the month, and I’ve got two meals ready for this week.
Wednesday is the last day of school for us. And we’ve got two weeks of fun and frolic before summer school starts, so that means it’s time to bulk up our craft supplies and try out some new crafts.
Dollar Tree does not disappoint. Since they’ve increased prices to $1.25 per item, I’ve seen a huge increase in the quality and variety of craft items, including cotton fat quarters, which are great for all sorts of sewing and crafts.
If you are looking for some ideas for fun, inexpensive summer crafts, check out the Dollar Tree Blog here.
I picked up one of their bottles of dye for tie-dying, and I took pics for Instagram. I’ll post a final pic this morning. Overall I’d give it 5/10. I chose dark purple, and it came out more of a wisteria color. There is a lot of fading, but if you use some of my tie-dye tips here (especially the washing soda pre-soak), you may have greater success. Colors available include Green, Pink, Purple, Red, Turquoise, Yellow.
And I made this cute sign the other night. All the supplies came from Dollar Tree!
The wooden sign, The butterfly stickers, one of the colors of paint (white), and the black permanent marker I used to outline the leaves.
All told, this craft cost less than $6 and I have a cute welcome sign for the front door.
There are all sorts of fun crafts available at Dollar Tree! I’ll be posting more of our crafting adventures on Instagram this summer, if you see a craft that interests you, please comment and I can do a tutorial!
Woo Hoo! It’s Friday and next week is the last week of school! The kids are ready for adventure. And so am I.
There are so many awesome freebies and deals this week, and the weather this weekend is supposed to be AWESOME (AND WARM) here in San Diego.
Mask Mandates are changing constantly in California and can vary by city and county, so please do your part if you are going to any in-person freebies.
2022 Birthday Freebies are here!
Freebies:
Free Subscription to Bon Appetit
Panera Members – Free Bagel Everyday in June
Free Pride Flag Paint Pour Craft Event
Free Museum Admission – Bank of America/Merril Lynch Cardholders
Free Soul Snacks Product – $4.97 value
Ulta – Free Tula the Cult Classic Cleanser for Your Birthday
Free Bloomingdale’s Little Freebies Box
Free IT Cosmetics Bronzing Brush
FREE Personalized Children’s Book & Stickers – Only $1 Shipping
Possible Free Crest 3D White Strips
2 Free Bottles of Vivazen Women’s Health Herbal Supplement
Free Oikos Pro Yogurt Product at Meijer
Free Avarelle Acne Cover Patches
Free Light & Lean Recipe Booklet
Free Doughnut at Krispy Kreme Friday
Mack’s Free Ear Plug’s Giveaway – Every Weekday at 11am EST
Free Famous Amos Cookies at Select Stores
Free Sample of Moon K Tea Kratom Powder
Sephora – Free Laura Mercier, amika, Tatcha or Ilia Mini Set
** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.
Summer shopping: twirly dress, a super soft romper, and piles of leggings to pair with everything. It’s time for the Easy Does It Sale from Tea Collection! Starting at just $10, there are tons of cute items for the kiddos in your life.
That sale runs Thursday, June 2, 2022 through Sunday, June 5, 2022.
Fine Print: Dresses, Rompers & Leggings prices as marked on site. Offer valid from 6/2/2022 through 6/5/2022 at 11:59 PM PT. Discount taken will be pre-tax. Cannot be combined with other promotions. No adjustments on previous purchases. Not redeemable for cash. Limited to stock on hand. Please note: costs have increased due to growing challenges in our supply chain. We have added a 0.75 cent fee to all orders. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to service@teacollection.com.
If you are expecting or have a little one, check out this awesome offer from Enfamil!
Join Enfamil Family Beginnings® and get up to $400 in FREE gifts including coupons, formula samples, Belly Badges™, and more! (Available while supplies last!)
With my work year coming to an end, I need to trim my budget. It looks like my monthly income is about to be cut in half. I applied for a summer school job, but I haven’t heard back one way or another, so I’m guessing I didn’t get the job and I need to prepare for that.
There are fun activities that the kids want to do this summer, and they all cost money, so I need to trim a bit more so we have the opportunity to have some fun.
Here are a few ways that you (and I) can save some money and free up room in our budget this summer.
Start by looking over your family budget. Is there anything you can dump? Streaming services you no longer use, monthly subscriptions that no longer serve you? For us, we are dumping Netflix next month. We no longer use it enough to justify the $20/month. Feel like you are overpaying for your cellphone or other services, look into switching carriers or plans. If you don’t have a family budget, here is an easy way to put one together.
Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without. This is an oldie, but a goodie. And by this statement, I mean that use what you have on hand. Eat the food in your kitchen (meal planning can help with that), wear the clothes you’ve got, and repair them as needed. Don’t forget that there are groups like Buy Nothing, where you can share and receive goods and services from those in your neighborhood. It’s hard to not want to keep up with the Joneses, especially in our society where it seems like everything is based on presentation and showing off what you’ve got on social media.
Take advantage of programs in your community. There are so many free and low-cost programs meant to help families during this time of unprecedented inflation, low wages, and other social issues that contribute to financial instability. Here in San Diego County, there are resources for free food and free clothing.
If you have someone in your family who requires electricity for their medical devices or if you are low income, check out your local power companies website to learn about discounts you may be eligible for. This post has details and more tips.
If you are looking for some free summer fun for the kids, there are events like Kids night out, and summer reading programs. And in California, there will be free breakfasts and lunches for kids under 18 throughout the summer through schools and local parks and rec. As soon as I have more details on those, it will be a separate post.
My final tip- Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help. There are so many programs and resources out there to help. Even if you feel like there are people and families out there who “have it worse”, you deserve help. This isn’t a “who has it worse” situation. Everyone deserves to live a good life. Take advantage of opportunities that come your way.
Talk Back- If you have tips or tricks to help with lowering your Out of Pocket, I’d love to hear it!
Hewes Family Fun 