helping others – Page 5 – Hewes Family Fun

One Toy, One Smile – Donate and Receive Free CBX Tickets!

April 23, 2019April 22, 2019Abby H.

In honor of Día del Niño (Children’s Day), Cross Border Xpress (CBX) – the bi-national bridge connecting San Diego to the Tijuana International Airport – will be collecting toy donations for children in need as part of their “One Toy, One Smile” initiative.

To participate, users of the bridge can simply bring a new toy to the CBX San Diego ticket counter and, in exchange for their donation, receive one FREE southbound CBX ticket ($16 value). Donations will be accepted through April 28.

This year CBX pledged to donate 100 toys to Hospital Infantil de las Californias, a children’s hospital in Mexico, which will, in turn, give children a toy prior to medical procedures. Through the generous guest and staff donations last year, CBX was able to donate to multiple organizations in Tijuana, including Orphanage Emmanuel and Casa Morada del Niño Jesus. CBX aims to increase donations and expand to even more organizations this year.

Cross Border Xpress is located at 2745 Otay Pacific Drive, San Diego, CA 92154 (map).

2018 Holiday Resources For Those in Need

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018Abby H.

2018 has been a hard year for so many families. Thankfully there are many local groups that are offering help to neighbors in need.

The holiday are more than food and gifts, but no one should go hungry any time of year!

Here is my post with a list of food banks/pantries in San Diego. Many of the food pantries also have special holiday distributions, it is worth a call to find out of any additional food or gift distributions will be done.

unnamed (1).jpg Meet the Need at Faith Chapel is giving away 100 6-7 foot Christmas trees this Sunday, December 2, 2018 to the first 100 people who register.

If you desire a tree, plan on coming to Faith Chapel to register as early as 8:30am. Trees are limited to the first 100 registrants. Bring tie downs or whatever else you need to take a tree home with you. From their email, “Meet The Need will be held at the Faith Chapel Activity Center at the top of the church property beginning at 1:00pm. There will be lots of fun activities and a wonderful Mexican Themed meal!

Registration for Meet The Need will be held in the church lobby at the top of the campus in the main foyer. Registration will begin as early as 8:30am and will be open till 10:30am. We only have 100 Christmas Tree’s, available for the first 100 registrants that want a Christmas Tree. So if you want to guarantee yourself a tree, show up as early as possible.

Registration will be from 8:30-1:00pm Feel free to register at this link now. It’ll help the line move faster but please know this does not count as saving your place in line for a tree. Doors open for Meet The Need at 1:00pm.”

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Toys 4 Joy has 3 San Diego area events on December 8th. Toys for Joy is open to all children and families and no registration is required. One free toy will be given to all children attending the event ages 0 – 11. Free lunch will be provided in addition to free entertainment, kids activities and giveaways. All three locations have free groceries and one location has free gently used clothing available.

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The Cameron YMCA is hosting a free Cookies and Milk with Santa on Saturday, December 15th.
Bring the entire family and join us for our annual Cookies with Santa!
Enjoy Cookie decorating, ornament making, letters to Santa, pin the
heart on the Grinch and photos with Santa!
Pre-Registration Required. Thanks to PetSmart of El Cajon, all children registered will receive a plush toy at the event while supplies last.

This event is not limited to YMCA members! To register, please call the Cameron YMCA in Santee at 619-449-9622.

East County kids are invited to meet Santa, enjoy crafts and snacks with the Santee-Lakeside Elks Lodge on December 15th.

Here is the event page with details and the address.

In order for your kids to receive a gift, please sign up your kids up to 12 years old via email to Jerrilynn: Kids_Christmas_Party@cox.net by December 7th please include name, age & gender and gift idea under $20.00

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New Christian Fellowship in Hillcrest is having an fun, free event on December 22nd. There will be toys for kids 12 and under, as well as food, games, and fn. You can find more information on their Facebook page here.

And if you are in a position to help out, please consider donating to your local food or toy drive. Many grocery stores have red donation barrels, schools are doing canned food drives for their local food banks this time of year too.

In Santee, Santee Santas and our local Chick-Fil-A have teamed up to “Stuff the truck” this Saturday, December 1st.

Bring a toy or non-perishable food item and receive a free menu item (see the flier). You can learn more here.

Firefly Wellness Day Spa is also holding a food drive.

When you donate, not only will you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are helping others, but you will also get a thank you coupon from Firefly Wellness Day Spa. Each person who donates ten (10) or more items will receive a coupon for a FREE brow wax or a $20 coupon to use at Firefly Wellness Day Spa which can either be used as a holiday gift or use it for yourself on your next visit. (Limit one coupon per person.)

You can get details and learn more here.

Talk Back: What is your favorite way to help others?

Simple Ways to Help Others This Holiday Season

November 21, 2018November 21, 2018Abby H.

With the holidays approaching (Hey, tomorrow is Thanksgiving), you will probably start to see charities and organizations ask for assistance with their holiday campaigns. If you are on a budget, writing a check may not be feasible, but there are other ways to help.

1-Donate to your local food bank food drive: Most food banks see an increase in clients at the end of the year, and need everyday foods. Clean out your cupboard and donate some IN DATE, un-dented cans or boxed items.

I know most of us have some extra (and unexpired) items in their cupboard they could part with. If you are unsure what kind of items to donate, here are items that the food bank always needs:

Canned Meats
Canned Vegetables
Canned Fruits
Canned Soup
Peanut Butter
Cereal & Oatmeal
Rice & Pasta
Powdered Milk, beverage mixes (like shelf stable juice concentrate, instant coffee, hot cocoa pouches)
Infant Formula (The sample sized canisters or sample pouches that you may have received free in the mail are perfect donations!)

2- If your local area doesn’t have a food bank, check to see if there is a Little Free Pantry in your area. These are stocked by neighbors in the area, and most of them can always use some extra boxes or cans. Our neighborhood has a Blessing Box located at the nearby church. Sometimes neighbors are too embarrassed to seek out help. In those cases, Little Free Pantries and Blessing boxes are saving graces.

3-Don’t forget to check out your local Buy Nothing Groups. Within local buy nothing groups, your neighbors are offering up items for free, and you can offer items from your home that you no longer need.

4-Donate! Charities sometimes accept gently used items to sell to raise money for their causes (such as AmVets, and DAV). You can drop off stuff you no longer need/want and help others at the same time!

5-Donate to a Clothing Swap. I’ve written about clothing swaps here before. With the holidays coming up, some local organizations have an increased need for clothing, especially if they offer clothing without requiring a donation from those in need. If you are in need of clothing, but have nothing to swap, two good free clothing resources in San Diego are The Closet on 54th (Men, women, and children’s clothing) and Naomi’s Closet (only women’s clothing).

Helping Neighbors with Blessing Boxes

March 2, 2018March 4, 2018Abby H.6 Comments

So for those of you that live in San Diego, one of our local Methodist Churches (The one in Santee-8964 Magnolia Ave, Santee, CA 92071) has a Blessing Box where neighbors can put food, toiletries, diapers, formula, etc. to share with neighbors who are in need but can’t make it to the local food bank for whatever reason. It was started last year. You can read more about it here and see some pictures.

I try to stop by every few weeks and put some stuff from our pantry in it. I pick up a few extra items at the grocery store (or 99 Cents Only or Grocery Outlet) when I shop each week. Instant oatmeal, canned soup, tuna, or beans with a pop-top (in case someone doesn’t have access to a can opener).

When I walked to the blessing box this AM there were 4 packets of oatmeal, some citrus fruit, and a fleece blanket (in the grocery bag).

I quickly scoured my car for everything I had. I didn’t have a lot extra in my trunk, but I emptied it of all of the food I had- I even went through the kid’s Snack bag that is for “emergency car snacks”.

Here is what it looked like after I put in my donation. I picked up a package of wipes from Huggies at a bloggers summit a few weeks back. I hadn’t yet opened it, so I added it to the Blessing Box. I know that this box gets utilized by a lot of locals with great frequency. I will be back to add more groceries tonight.

Some of you may have Little Free Pantries or Free Food Boxes in your area too. If not, it’s easy to start one! Many local schools also have a food pantry for kids whose families face food insecurity. Santana High School has one!

My call to action for you is this:

Look into your pantry and pick out 5 things you can live without. They must be in date and something someone actually wants to eat (I’m looking at you, jar of cocktail onions).
Find someone in need. Add it to your local Little Free Pantry, post it on a neighborhood forum, a local parents group, or donate it to your local school food pantry.
Give freely and with love.
Repeat.

I know that most of us have grocery budgets. Imagine if we all cut $5 out of our budget and bought 5 (or more) items to share with a neighbor in need- That would go really far to help hungry families!

If you aren’t sure what to donate, here are a few suggestions:

Canned Meats
Canned Vegetables
Canned Fruits
Canned Soup
Peanut Butter
Cereal & Oatmeal
Rice & Pasta
Powdered Milk, beverage mixes (like shelf stable juice concentrate, instant coffee, hot cocoa pouches)
Infant Formula (The sample sized canisters or sample pouches that you may have received free in the mail are perfect donations!)
Toiletries and hygiene items

I can’t wait to hear about how you’ve helping a neighbor!

San Diego Area Readers: Donate Canned goods receive a free facial or massage!

November 12, 2017November 11, 2017Abby H.

Firefly Wellness is having our seventh annual holiday food drive to support the San Diego Food Bank. Items can be dropped off through December 20th at their location in North Park.

The best part of this offer is that not only are you helping others with your food bank donation, but when you donate ten or more food items off at Firefly Wellness, you’ll receive a certificate for a free 30-minute massage or facial. You can use it yourself or give it as a gift.

I know most Frugalistas have at least ten extra (and unexpired) items in their cupboard they could part with. If you are unsure what kind of items to donate, here are items that the food bank always needs:

Canned Meats
Canned Vegetables
Canned Fruits
Canned Soup
Peanut Butter
Cereal & Oatmeal
Rice & Pasta
Powdered Milk, beverage mixes (like shelf stable juice concentrate, instant coffee, hot cocoa pouches)
Infant Formula (The sample sized canisters or sample pouches that you may have received free in the mail are perfect donations!)

(if you are looking for coupons to help you shop for donation, check out the coupons here)

Food Drive Information:

When: Now through Dec 20, 2017

Where: Firefly Wellness

How: Drop off items on your next visit, or call 619.249.4323 to schedule a drop-off or pick up or your items.

BONUS: Receive a THANK YOU GIFT CERTIFICATE when you donate ten or more items. (Limit one per person.)

Please comment if you will be taking advantage of this great deal (and what you’ll be donating). I’ll be donating Oatmeal and Peanut Butter among other things.

Coupon Clubs: Friendship & Savings!

January 12, 2017Abby H.3 Comments

One of the questions I get frequently is how do I get so many coupons?

I used to subscribe to FIVE Sunday papers (so much waste!!), but the best way is that I belong to a coupon club!

A what? A coupon club. We meet once a month, bring our extra coupon inserts, clip, trade, nosh, gossip and share tricks and tips. We have a private Facebook group, so we can discuss deals and post our “wishlists”. Each of us posts a list of coupons that we would like, and as the next meet up draws near, those who are attending clip and print coupons for each other. Each meet up is like Christmas morning, we trade envelopes of the clipped coupons we requested. We also talk about deals, frugal living strategies, and help each other. We’ve been together about 7 years!!

In addition to trading coupons, we also have teamed up with a local American Legion Post. They collect Sunday coupon inserts from members. We clip them and return them (taking whatever coupons we’d like). The Legion mails the coupons overseas for those military families living on base overseas. Overseas Military commissaries (that’s the on base grocery stores) accept coupons expired up to 6 months after the expiration date. So not only do we get access to multiple inserts, but, we are able to help others.

We also collect sample sized toiletries and items that we are able to get for free and donate them to the American Legion Post for their homeless veteran outreach.

If you are interested in starting a coupon in your local area, check out Facebook or meetup.com- there are lots of coupon clubs all over the country.

I have a Facebook group for people in my local East County San Diego area. We meet twice a month during the week. If you are interested in joining, check out our group: Weekday Frugalistas: East County

I post freebies, deals, and other stuff between meetings, and I post a run down of what we discussed at the meeting afterwards, so even if you cant go, you’ll still be up to date!

If you can’t find a local coupon group, there are website dedicated to helping couponers. My favorite is:

HCW has forums for all the major stores, including grocery, drug and mass merchandisers. Trade coupons, find freebies, and find local coupon groups. You can trade coupons and view their coupon database! I’ve met lots of friends on HCW!

And if you are looking to print coupon online, check out my list of printable coupon resources here. Every coupon you print helps support our blog!

Help kids play with Ikea’s Let’s Play for Change!

November 20, 2016Abby H.

play_for_change If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you saw all of my crazy posts this morning from Ikea San Diego. A group of bloggers (and our kids) enjoyed breakfast in their cafe and learned out Ikea’s winter Good Cause Campaign, Let’s Play for Change, which highlights the benefits of play for all Children.

Honestly, the best part of being a kid is free time to play and learn. Children learn through play: social skills, emotional development, and so much more. Anyone shopping for the holidays at Ikea stores world wide can help the cause! For every children’s book and toy sold through November 20- December 24, 2016, the IKEA Foundation will make a donation of €1 (that’s about $1.10 USD) to projects in some of the poorest communities in the world. And you can help twice- Each store has a drop box where you can drop off purchased toys. If you buy toys at Ikea, that’s a double dip for the cause!

You can learn about the campaign by watching the video:

Ikea has partnered with Handicap International Federation, Room to Read, Save the Children, Special Olympics, UNICEF, and War Child. You can learn more about the Ikea Foundation by visiting their website.

And if you hasn’t visited Ikea lately, check out their awesome Ikea Family savings card! It’s free to sign up and you score all kinds of great deals and perks every day!

In addition to those perks, you score family only prices on tons of items each month. It’s definitely worth signing up. It’s free and easy to do.

My trip to Target, or how you can find savings everywhere!

March 21, 2016Abby H.

Seriously, this little face loves to shop!

Last night, Bitty Bird and I headed over to Target to pick up a few things. Armed with my smartphone and a fistful of coupons, we were determined to save some dollar bills!

While browsing the aisles, checking the Cartwheel app for more savings, I was stopped by two college guys (they were wearing SDSU basketball jerseys) who asked me about bacon (why was the bigger package cheaper? Answer- it was a loss leader for the week! Come in for cheap bacon, fill your cart with full price groceries). Then they asked me what I was doing scanning everything with my phone.

Thus began a quick lesson in the middle of the grocery section of Target on how to save money.

First I told them basically everything I mention here.

But really, I told them, what you need is Cartwheel. Target Cartwheel is any Target shoppers best friend. It’s the best app! With that app, I can scan products and it will tell me if there is a discount available for that item. If there is, with one quick swipe, the discount is added to your cartwheel account. At checkout, present your smartphone to the cashier, with the Cartwheel app open, the barcode is scanned, and the savings is instant!

One thing not mentioned in my previous Target post is that Target now has these awesome text coupons. There are signs all over the store so you won’t miss out if you keep your eyes open. Like this week text CARE to Target (827438) to save $5 off a $20 or more purchase on personal care items. These text coupons work just like cartwheel. Pull up the text, click the link, and present the barcode to the cashier at checkout. These coupons are stackable with store sales, manufacturer paper coupons, and cartwheel deals too.

They ended up saving about $25 between Cartwheel, the text codes they found while in the store, a couple coupons found on products (and a few I gave them), and the rebate apps I hooked them up with (you can see my favs here).

Saving money doesn’t have to involve tons of work, hours of clipping coupons, or being “that lady” (or guy, there are couponing dude too).

And for what it’s worth, after my coupons, codes and Cartwheel, I saved over thirty bucks! My bill went from $86 for $53! It’s not sorcery- It’s smart shopping. It’s your money, spend (and save) it wisely!

Giving Back: Blessing Bags (A Tutorial)

November 27, 2015November 25, 2015Abby H.

One of the reasons that I coupon is so that I can have the fortune to help others. Many couponers donate to causes that are dear to them. My local Coupon Group donates HBA to Naomi’s Closet in Santee, CA. We also support one of the local American Legion posts with two of their service projects: Coupons to overseas families and homeless veteran outreach.

We are able to donate and help others because we use coupons and shop sales. Many times we are able to pick up free items to donate, or items that are 80%+ off the regular price.

My mom’s group has made blessing bags in the past (We usually make some to be handed out at a local homeless camp on Christmas Day). For those who are not familiar with the term, a blessing bag is a small bag (usually a ziploc type bag) filled with:

small or travel sized toiletries
snacks like crackers, tuna in a pop-top can or pouch, granola bars, instant oatmeal
bottled water
hard candy
lip balm
safety pins
socks
hand/baby wipes
razors
an extra ziploc bag
Feminine Hygiene supplies
A large trash bag folded up (It can be used as a rain poncho)

I try to keep a couple in my car and I hand them out when we see those in need while we are out. For those of you who aren’t native to Southern California, there are a lot of homeless here. We have good weather most of the year, so it’s ok to sleep outside 6-8 months of the year. According to the 2014 Homeless census in San Diego, there are over 8500 homeless residents in San Diego. That’s just the number that were counted, there are many more that were not.

Last year Lil’ Man and I made blessing bags several times and we plan to make more this year.

Screen Shot 2015-11-25 at 6.55.39 PM — Examples of what we put in our blessing bags last year.

I keep all the samples I request in an up-cycled baby wipe container under my bathroom sink.

I also go through my HBA stockpile for items like BIC razors, lip balm, and toothpaste I picked up for free after coupon and store sale.

My parents travel a lot for my dad’s Board position in a non-profit, so they always have a stash of hotel soap/toiletries. My parents give us a grocery bag full to assist in the cause.

Last year, Lil’ Man and I sat on the floor and put together 26 bags. Not every bag had the same items in it, but they each contained a variety of HBA, snacks, and supplies.

Blessing bags area great way to help those of your neighbors who may be on the streets. If you live in an area where there isn’t a large visible homeless population, consider making blessing bags and donating them to a shelter or checking with your local churches for homeless outreach.

How to Save Money with Bartering in 3 Easy Steps

October 27, 2015October 26, 2015Abby H.

You’ve probably heard or read about bartering to save money, but you aren’t sure where to start, or how it works. I’m here to demystify it for you!

I barter all the time! Thankfully, a lot of my friends have large vegetable and fruit gardens, fruit trees, or chickens produce eggs. I trade my time and services that I can provide for these things. I love to trade my ability and skill with sewing for farm fresh eggs. The price of eggs in California is insane! A dozen eggs can be almost $6.00, depending on where you shop.

Here are a few tips that I recommend you try in order to stretch your budget with the use of bartering:

Step One: Make a list of the skills you have. Can you sew? Can you babysit? Do you have a lawnmower and some free time to mow lawns? There are lots of things that you can do the people need help with. Maybe you have a great eye for organization and you could help a friend or a neighbor organize their pantry or their garage. Maybe you Love to clean? You can use that skill to either earn money or to barter for goods and services that you need. Maybe you have an overflowing garden or hen house!

Step Two: Make a list of stuff that you need. Do you need help sewing, cleaning house, or do you need to stretch your grocery budget a little bit further with the help of homegrown fruits and vegetables, farm fresh eggs?

Step Three: Ask! Ask your friends or if you’re feeling shy post on your Facebook page or whatever social media that you use. If you’d like to get a broader reach you can even post on websites like craigslist or fiverr.com. You’d be surprised at what kind of offers you get!

I’d love to hear about the types of things you barter for!

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