saving money – Page 10 – Hewes Family Fun

6 Tips for Getting Ready for Back to School!

August 6, 2018August 6, 2018Abby H.

It’s coming… For some of us, back to school is NEXT WEEK! For others it’s later in August, and some lucky folks, have until Labor Day in September. Regardless of when your kids go back, it’s nice to be prepared and save money.

Here are a few ideas to help you prepare and stay on budget!

Packing an Awesome School Lunch.

Shop Online to Save Big- I love shopping online, especially at JCPenney and Kohls. Lots of great deals to be had, coupons, and ship to store to save even more!

There is a backpack and school supply giveaway in Santee on August 19th. More info here. If you need school supplies sooner, Assemblywoman Dr. Shirley Weber is sponsoring a Back to School Kick off and Community Health Fair on 8/11/18.

If you are worried about being able to provide a nutritious, healthy lunch for your kiddos, The San Diego Food Bank sponsors Neighborhood Distributions throughout the month all over the county. You can go and get free, fresh produce- usually between 10-30 lbs. per family. No proof of need- Just grab your reusable shopping bags and go!

Adjusting back to the school-year schedule can be a little tough- That’s why we start to get the kids back to bed at their regular time starting the beginning of August. For our kiddos, keeping them busy and active all day, really helps. Trips to the playground, beach, zoo, and pool really help.

We’ll be hitting up the night time zoo this week!

And one last back to school tip: Let your kids play and hang out with friends as much as possible before they go back, especially if they aren’t able to see some of their friends at school. We’re hosting a K’Nex Play Time Party with Tryazon this Wednesday at Shadow Hill Park in Santee! If you and your gang will be in the area, please stop by! There will bea chance to win prizes, yummy snacks, and cool toys!

6 Tips for Combating the Mid-Year Frugal Slide

July 4, 2018July 3, 2018Abby H.

It’s July, and for most of us, Our New Years Resolutions are a thing of the past. Mr. and I were talking today about ways we could reign in our budget. We’re not making it rain by any means, but… we could make a few changes. Here are my top ten tips, and trust me, I’ve already started incorporating some of these. I’ll have all of them back in the works by weeks’ end.

Back to meal planning and sticking to it. No more trips to Denny’s when I am feeling lazy in the morning, or Mondays after group therapy. That means I’ll be back to meal planning posts and new recipes too. And I’ll have several “back up dinners” on-hand in case the day gets away from me, or it’s too hot to cook the original meal. I took advantage of the sale on chicken breasts at Smart & Final the other day, and picked up 10 lbs. I came home and cut up the whole half breasts into more manageable sizes, and marinated some of it with different spices and put it in ziploc bags in the freezer. 10 lbs of chicken should get us 5 dinners, plus leftovers from each meal.
Back to maintaining a robust snack bag in the car, refilling it daily, and remembering our water bottles when we leave the house. I fill our water bottles (we have these for the kids and these for the adults- in 40 oz) with water and ice before we leave in the AM and refill them as needed throughout the day in various places.
In conjunction with #2, start taking surveys on receipts for deep discounts and free stuff again. I am Sonic’s text list, so when they have a daily deal that I have change in my car for, the kids and I stop for .50 ice cream cones, 1/2 price drinks (cherry limeade!). Frequently when you check out, there is a survey on the bottom of the receipt that will score you an XL (Route 44) size beverage for free! I really need to get back into stretching the buck.
Check all my apps before I go shopping. I’ve been bad about this over the past few months. I’m sure I’ve missed out on Ibotta deals, Checkout 51 offers, and Cash Dash promos. No More! I’m back, baby!!
Allowance. Yup, just like a teenager, I’m putting myself on an allowance, and Mr. is going to as well. I’m sticking to $40 in the summer, and $25 once we are back to school. This will just be for “fun money”. I still shop around for gas to stay within budget for gas each week. Costco is usually the cheapest.
Keeping eyes open for cheap entertainment. Big Dude is in ESY (summer school) for the next few weeks, so a lot of the traditional summer things that are fun and cheap we haven’t been able to do (like Regal Summer Movies). We’ve mostly been doing fun stuff at the library, which is free, but I think we need to look beyond that. It’s starting to get too hot for park play dates!

I’d love to hear from you about how you combat the frugal slide. What do you do when you feel yourself slipping off your track?

Weekly Meal Plan

July 3, 2018July 3, 2018Abby H.

stemarie_1650skitchen

So, I know it’s Tuesday, but we were at Legoland yesterday for the opening of the Deep Sea Adventure. I need to get back to meal planning for the week because without it, I’m getting lazy!

Breakfasts are usually the same for us: Protein shakes for grown ups, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. We have plenty of protein shake fixins’- I buy the over ripe bananas, peel and slice them pop them into ziploc bags, and freeze them for smoothies and protein shakes. I also keep sandwich ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.

Lunches are leftovers, salads, or a protein shake for me and the Mister, and The Big kid has a specially packed lunch of whatever he’s into at the time (which changes frequently). Bitty Bird eats whatever I’ll feed her.

For dinner, when we’ve got buy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked. This week, I plan on making a couple pizza crusts, and put them in the freezer in individual bags so we can have pizza whenever we want without having to call Dominos. I also plan on doing some meal prep this coming weekend for the coming week.

Monday: we had Jack in the Box on the way home from Legoland. We left later and got home even later.

Tuesday: The kids asked for Pancakes, so I whipped up a batch. For them, I just made regular pancakes, for Mister and myself, I made pancakes, but put a slice of bacon in batter after it’s poured onto the griddle. Yum.

Wednesday: BBQ at my parents house. It’s a potluck, and we’re bringing corn to grill, and a tasty green salad. There will be fried chicken, salads of all types, baked beans, and a brownie sundae bar!

Thursday: Pulled Pork. Onions, yellow bell peppers, carrots, celery, garlic, shallots, bay leaves, and about a cup of La Victoria Salsa Verde Pineapple Salsa, All cooked with a pork tenderloin roast. I’ll be starting it Wednesday night. In the morning I’ll shred the roast with two forks, and vent the lid to cook off the excess moisture. By 5 PM, the meat will melt in our mouths. I’ll be serving it with tortillas, rice, bans, and a green salad.

Friday: Leftovers, I’m guessing, or maybe quesadillas. Friday is usually date night, but it’s tech week for Mister’s play, and he opens Friday Night.

Saturday: Home Made Pizza- I’ll probably bust out a few extra crusts at the same time to freeze.

Sunday: Lemon Garlic Spaghetti Squash casserole– I’ve got 4 small spaghetti squash that need to be baked! I’m going to try cooking them in the crockpot- I saw a post on Facebook about it a few weeks ago and I saved the video.

What are you having this week for dinner?

Chick-Fil-A Cow Appreciation Day is coming!

July 1, 2018Abby H.

Are you ready? Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-Fil-A is coming up on July 10th! The kids love it, so we are prepping to go. You can check out my past post here with how you can DIY a quick costume with stuff that you may already have around the house.

It’s easy to score a free Entree at Chick-Fil-A on 7/10/18:

Screen Shot 2018-07-01 at 6.14.41 PM.png

Anyone who goes into Chick-Fil-A wearing any sort of cow apparel will receive a free entrée on July 10th.

Children wearing anything cow-like will receive a free Kid’s Meal.

I’ve been saving the treats (I’ve got a free fries and a free fruit cup, and a free White Peach Tea Lemonade) on my Chick-fil-a app to use on the same day- So lunch will be free for all of us.

I’ll be posting pics of our adventure on Instagram, I can’t wait to see yours as well!

New Month, New Coupons!

June 2, 2018Abby H.

I’m a day late, I totally forgot it was the beginning of the month!

Here is your monthly reminder! A new month means new printable and electronic coupons!

Check out the following sites:

Coupons.com (printable an e-coupons),
Redplum (printable),
SmartSource (Printable),
SavingStar (E-Coupons)

One of my favorite website is the Sunday Coupon Review. It helps me plot out scenarios in advance and I can email friends to ask for coupons in advance. Remember if clipping coupons isn’t your thing, but saving money is, check out my list of Smartphone apps that can save you the big bucks! New offers are added on the Smartphone Savings Apps all the time!

Here are just a few of the new coupons that have me excited:

The kids love this cereal, esp. straight from the box.

There aren’t too many new coupons this month, sadly, however, if you check out the Smartphone apps link above, you’ll find that there are plenty of ways to save and earn money. I recently cashed out $20 on Ibotta and $25 on Dosh!

New Dosh Promotion: Refer Friends, Get $15

April 7, 2018April 7, 2018Abby H.

In January, I introduced you to Dosh, a new Cashback app that you can use at tons of stores and restaurants all over.

I opened my email yesterday to discover this:

Limited Time Promo: Get $15 for each friend you refer to Dosh who links a card and gets in-store cash back for the first time.*

Promo ends April 13th at 12pm CT, so start referring! Click for details.

So get Dosh-ing! I now I’ll be saving my referral $$ to bankroll my next giveaway (Hint- it rhymes with Smamazon Smiftcard).

I’ve earned over $60 since January just by doing my normal shopping.

Two Freebies from Kroger Stores!

January 26, 2018January 26, 2018Abby H.1 Comment

This week there are two freebies! One from Ralphs, and one from Food4Less (but you can grab both at Ralphs).

Ralphs: FREE EPIC Bar Receive ONE (1) FREE EPIC Bar, any variety (1.3-1.5 oz.). Available in most stores. Exp 02/11/2018

Food4Less: FREE Laura Scudder’s Dry Dip Mix or Guacamole Seasoning Receive TWO (2) Laura Scudder’s Dry Dip Mixes, any variety, or Guacamole Seasoning (0.5 oz.) Exp 2/11/18

If you are new to Free Friday Downloads from Ralph’s, here is more info about how it works:

WHAT IS FREE FRIDAY DOWNLOAD? An exclusive benefit to having an account online at ralphs.com is FREE products (yes, we said FREE!). When you download the free product coupon, it will be loaded directly to your Shopper’s Card and applied at checkout in-store.

HOW DOES IT WORK? Visit this page on Fridays

DOWNLOAD the digital coupon for the free product (make sure to download between 12:01 am and 11:59pm PT). View the coupon under ‘My Coupons’ in your account online or in the mobile app.

You have two weeks to redeem this coupon in store! Pick up the product at your local Ralphs store and digital coupon will automatically apply at checkout.

Don’t forget to check out the Kroger affiliate in your area, if you don’t have a Ralphs. There are usually freebies for all of the stores!

Save Money with RetailMeNot!

January 24, 2018January 24, 2018Abby H.

Ya’ll know I love a good deal, right? I’ve been a huge fan of RetailMeNot for years. It’s my go-to website for online shopping discounts, in-store coupons, and coupon codes.

Example: I love Yankee Candles, but they are a little spendy. Before Christmas I checked RetailMeNot and I found a $10/$25+ printable coupon for Yankee Candle. I used the coupon in conjunction with a store sale and I was able to score 6 candles for $34- I saved over $50 off regular prices.

I keep up to date on which stores have coupon codes and deals with RetailMeNot by receiving their newsletter via email. You can sign up here.

They also have coupons that can be displayed on your phone and scanned in store. There are a lot of ways to save with RetailMeNot.

9/18/17 Meal Plan Monday!

September 18, 2017September 17, 2017Abby H.

I’m just posting dinners for our meal plan. The kiddos usually have a small toasted bagel with cream cheese for breakfast along with fruit. Hubs likes Oatmeal (my recipe for an easy almost instant oatmeal mix can be found here) if he’s got time, otherwise he and I have protein shakes with frozen bananas and PB2.

Lunches for Lil’ Man are usually Peanut butter and crackers, fruit, milk, a protein muffin (aka a kid cupcake), and applesauce cup. He takes his lunch every day! Hubs usually has a protein shake or I pack him leftovers or a frozen entree.

Bitty Bird and I usually have leftovers from the night before, or soup, sandwiches, quesadillas. She eats almost anything!

We’re pretty stocked up of food for the next week or so- We’ll need milk, cream cheese, and cheese. I’ll probably hit up Costco tomorrow.

Monday:

D: Steak (it was a gift!), roasted broccoli, green salad, cheese toast. The kids don’t like steak, so they’ll probably have grilled cheese sandwiches on cheese toast (Lil’ Man discovered them not long ago and he told me it’s the “fancy” way to make grilled cheese).

Tuesday:

D: Bean, Rice, and cheese bowls (they also have caramelized onions and peppers) This is a fav in our house. It’s healthy and inexpensive.

Weds:

D: Home made Red Sauce (made in the crockpot- Recipe will be posted tomorrow!) baked with cheese in Zucchini Boats. Thanks to my friend Lisa for the monster zucchini!

Thursday:

D: Breakfast for dinner (probably frittata)

Friday:

D: Date Night! (we go out)

Saturday:

D: Home made Pizza, and fruit salad

Sunday:

D: Leftover buffet

The menu may change, as I pull stuff out of the pantry to rotate what we’ve got (I am trying to cut down on waste, and put the older stuff up front to get eaten first).

We’ve got a busy week with ABA Therapy three times, a Lego Movie event, a Lego event at our local Library, and a trip to Legoland on Saturday (just me and my Lil’ Man!). I’ve made sure to fill up our snack backpack and wash out our water bottles.