For week 2 of our Thrifty Tips, I want to revisit a favorite. As you might be aware I am the mom of a whole herd of kids!

Yep, before you ask they ARE all mine! All 5. And to save money and be thrifty, I try to cook at home. However, there are those nights when momma cannot play that cooking game ANYMORE ("Really, you're hungry AGAIN? But I just fed you twice today!!") I am sure we have all been there...or maybe it's just me...either way, this is a money saver for families when they go out to eat-seek out restaurants that have Kids Eat free nights! LOVE them. L-O-V-E them!

Here is a list I have put together of places where kids eat free (or cheap):

The first week I put up my new list, I noted that I was doing so because I was frustrated by the fact that other online lists are TOTALLY outdated. I have tried to verify all the ones on this list. They have all been used by myself or a friend. However, many of the chain restaurants have deals that vary from store to store and restaurants change their promotions from time to time. So, to avoid the frustrations I have had, please call your local store before you head over to make sure they are participating in the kids eat free or cheap promotion! :)

Kids eat free:

Omaha

• Hyvee: Eat FREE on Thursdays with an adult meal purchase at any of the following eating locations in the store: Italian, Chinese Express, Kitchen. Dine in only. (one kids meal per adult meal purchased)
• China Buffet: Tuesday kids eat free with adult meal purchase
• Spaghetti Works: Monday up to 2 free kids meals per adult meal purchased
• La Mesa: Thursday night One free kids meal per adult meal purchased. I know this is good at the location on 156th and Q but I do not know about the other locations.
• A+ Buffet and Mongolian Grill:  Thursdays all day Kids ages 3-10 one free per adult meal purchase
• Salgado's Mexican Grill in Omaha (around 9th and Fort). Kids eat free Wednesdays (Thanks Chrissy!)
• Heartland BBQ at 5402 NW Radial Highway has free Kids Meals (I think every day?! I will check on that to be sure) (Thanks Chrissy)NW
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• Denny's: Tuesdays 4-10 pm (Check with local store to verify they participate then be sure to ask your server before you order)
• Pizza Ranch: From their Website: Many Pizza Ranch locations offer one FREE Kid's Buffet with the purchase of an Adult Buffet at regular price on Kid's Night. Use the RanchFinder to find the hours for Kid's Night. Ask your local restaurant for details.
• Texas Roadhouse: Mondays 4-10PM one kid eats free with purchase of each adult meal
***NOTE-I believe this is nationwide, but call your local store to verify. Also for Omaha readers, please note that I hesitantly include this one because we have REPEATEDLY had TERRIBLE service at the Texas Roadhouse in West Omaha and we will NOT eat there again even with good food and Free kids night. However, a friend noted that her family enjoys the one in PAPILLION! So I include this deal with a warning about the West Omaha location (and FYI-when I wrote to them about the issues we have had over and over, they did not reply or care at all. That is why we don't eat there anymore!)***
• Chick Fil A: Wednesday nights One free kids meal per adult combo meal (I have not verified this one so check local store! A friend told me that this is good in Utah locations on Wednesday. I do not know if our new Chick fil A in Omaha has a kids night or not).
• O'Charley's: Day Varies by location 2 kids free per adult meal (Hav enot verified this-cams as a tip from a friend so please check your local store)
• Buffalo Wings and Rings: Mondays  (looks like one free per adult meal)
• IKEA: Kids eat free on Tuesday in Utah (Thanks Aubrie) There is also Kids eat Free in the Tempe Store. I bet all the locations have somethng so call your local store!! (also I noticed at their site that Mondays there is FREE breakfast until 11 am and Fridays you can get a hotdog and a soda for only $1)
• Cafe Rio: My friend Catherine told me that Kids can get a free cheese Quesadilla! Awesome! (I LOVE and MISS Cafe Rio!) Radial Highway | Omaha, Nebraska 68104

Kids Eat Cheap

• Applebees: Tuesday and Thursday Kids eat for $.99 (one child per adult meal purchased)
• Fazoli's: Tuesday nights 5-8pm Kids eat for $.99.
• Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar: Monday Kids eat for $.99 with adult meal purchase
• Pepperjax Grill: Monday night Kids eat for $.99 (5-8pm)
• Fuddruckers: Monday and Tuesday all day Kids eat for $.99 (in Omaha) 2 free kids per adult

Kids under a certain age eat free:

• Cici's Pizza: Kids under 3 eat free. (Thanks Heather)

Other Kids eat Cheap Deals to note:

• IHOP: In Utah, Kids eat for $1.99 every day after 4 pm. (Thanks Catherine)

If you have any other great kids free or discounted deals to add to the list, please comment with them after this post! Thanks and happy eating out! :)

Hey there and welcome to Thrifty Thursday's Thrifty Tips. This week's tips brought to you by my hungry tummy!

 I try to cook at home to save money. I try to make meal plans based on the local grocery deals. I price match at Walmart as much as possible (though I do not have a Super Walmart where I live so that's harder now). I shop local grocery ads, and I seek out local farmer's markets or "produce reclamation" type businesses.

My favorite thing EVER in this area was something I found In Arizona last year called Market on the Move. As I mentioned, we also check out Farmer's Markets (which can either be super pricey or super great deals-check them out and find the right one for you). And the most popular program I have heard friends speak of (and have yet to try) is Bountiful Baskets.

Let me tell you today about MOM (Market on the Move). From their Website:

Market On The Move provides a farmers’ market atmosphere at various locations throughout Metro Phoenix and Tucson areas where partners and supporters of this program can come on a regular basis and make their $10 donation to receive up to 60 lbs. of fresh produce. There is no need to pre-register or pre-donate on line. You can make your donation at the host site. 
Click here for distribution locations, dates, and times.

Basically you bring a $10 donation and you get a box of produce (sometimes other items as well) up to 60 lbs. We discovered MOM way too late in our year in AZ! Wes went down the first week and came home with SO MUCH stuff. So, the next week, I went to a different location and came home with all this:

Now, you may be thinking that is WAY TOO MUCH stuff and it would go to waste. Not so at this house of 7 people. It was all eaten and enjoyed (and I bought this about a week before we moved out). When you go to the location, you make your donation, grab a box and go down a line picking your produce. Some items will have limits (like only 2 watermelons, 4 tomato containers, 2 cantaloupe, 2 pasta boxes above) while others will be take all you can use (like zucchini, Roma tomatoes, and cucumbers above). 

If you do not have a huge family like I do, consider going to MOM with a friend and sharing the produce. Or if you can, this could be AWESOME for you to can up some great food storage! One cool thing a lot of the locations do is to hand out recipe ideas for the produce they give you that day! We used some of their eggplant recipes!

So, if you are in AZ, check MOM out!

As for me and mine in Washington, we will be trying out Bountiful Baskets and you can rest assured we will give a report when we try it!

Hello friends! Boy I have not been on here much! I have just moved across the country and I am doing my best to settle myself and 5 kids into a new place. I have also been trying to figure out what to do with my blog. I wondered if it was time to retire it altogether or maybe just revamp. I have decided to go with the revamp. I am still a mom of five looking for a great deal, I still want to share great deals, product reviews and other great content. However, my blog has had some changes.

While in Omaha, I focused a lot on local grocery deals, store sales and local free or cheap activities. I tried to do the same when I lived in Scottsdale, AZ last year but found it was difficult. In that area, grocery deal match ups and couponing were not of interest. I think some of it was backlash due to the perception of couponing people now have thanks to shows like Extreme Couponing. Some of it was the fact that most people living in that area do not need to coupon. Whatever the reason, it was a fail-my blog numbers dropped dramatically.

The place I live now is a small town. It does not have the same kinds of options for pricematching and groceries that big cities have. I am still learning how to shop and save money here. Luckily for me there is a FANTASTIC blog locally that is helping me learn. If you are a local or are planning to visit Grays Harbor at any point, make sure to check out Annaliese over at Grays Harbor Deals. Her blog is awesome! And I know her personally-she is awesome too!

Most of my readers live in Utah and Nebraska. I have a good group in Arizona, and I found I have a growing number all over the country-actually all over the world. I learned in looking at my blog stats, that the posts with the most hits are usually my travel posts. Awesome! Reviews and travel posts are the ones I like to do the most!!!

So, here comes the new plan (which is a work in progress, so bear with me): we are bringing back the weekly series! We are continuing to review and give away products, and we are focusing on deals that are not quite so local (that's not to say I won't post local stuff-I will sometimes). 

My former Weekly Series looked like this:

• Sunday: Sunday Savings: Newspaper round up
• Monday: Mommy School Mondays 
• Tuesday: Tuesdays Travels
• Wednesday: Beckee's Best of Omaha Grocery
• Thursday: Thrifty Thursdays (Random thrifty tips on a variety of topics)
• Friday: Weekend Warriors: Daycations
• Saturday: Service Spotlight Saturdays
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I apologize this is coming so late. . .my internet went down earlier this afternoon and I wasn't able to post until just now!  I hope you enjoy my first installment of $10 dinners-let me know if you have any questions, comments, or requests!  Thanks.

Today I wanted to talk about making the most of what you have. Please forgive me, but I am going to tell you my personal story and why I am thinking about this today. My husband is a physician resident on his way to being a full fledged doctor (a radiologist). Many people do not realize how long this actually takes. Here is the run down of what it takes to be a radiologist: 4 years of Undergraduate work (college), 4 years of medical school, 1 year of Internship or transitional year work, 4 years of Radiology Residency, and possibly a 1-2 year fellowship (my husband will be doing a 1 year fellowship). So, after high school, you have 14-15 MORE years of education left. Longer that your K-12 schooling.

Now, through all this you do not make much money. Eventually Wes will presumably have a good salary and money will not be as much of an issue for us-the budget will loosen up a bit. But for all these years, we have been living on a very small budget (especially for a family of 6 going on 7).

Well, in spite of the budget, or lack there of we have had, long ago we decided that we were not going to be the people that put off our lives until he was done, until it was all over! We were always going to make the most of what we have NOW and not wait until later. Because of that, we learned to find fun and free activities to do. Our date nights often consist of a redbox or netflix movie in the basement after the kids are in bed (that way we do not pay for a babysitter). We tried to do a lot of babysitting swaps during medical school. But we no matter what the situation was at the time, we made time for each other and our kids-that was the main goal!

Yesterday a tragedy happened here in Omaha that has effected us greatly. A friend of ours from medical school was killed in a car accident while taking his son to his first day of school. He was a resident here just like my husband, but a year ahead of Wes. Meaning he was in his LAST year of residency and going on to a fellowship in Texas next year-he was FINALLY almost to the end of all this! It is a devastating story and my thoughts and prayers are with my friend, his wife Melissa, and their 3 children. I send all my love to them! I know Melissa and Adam, like Wes and I were excited to be done with this training, but they were also, like us, not ones to wait until the end to live their lives. They made the most of what they had through all the long training and what happened yesterday reminds us all why we ALL need to do that!

Thank you for reading through this. It is very tender to my heart now! Please hug your loved ones extra tight tonight and make the most of what you have. And please, please keep the Smith family in your prayers! Melissa and the boys will need all the prayers and support they can get I am sure!

My family loves freebies and even my youngest kids gets giddy over them. I may be making my kids seem strange with all this freebie seeking and deal hunting, but it is obvious that they really appreciate a deal, and you gotta love that!

So, we were running all kinds of terrible errands a couple days ago, and one of the last stops was at the Post office. It wasn't too busy, but I stood in line with the kids for a while anyway then finally got the the front. I had 5 different things I had to mail 3 different ways. It was going to be a hassle. Well, the posy man was so nice and wanted to make it easy on me. Half way through he said to the kids "hey do you like to color?" Of course! Then he gave each of them their own FREE coloring/activity book. And these were great books! Check out the cover below:

Now, my oldest child, Salsa was SOOO excited about the free book that she wanted to tell you all about it. So, here is Salsa's review of the book followed by pictures of a few of her favorite pages:

Hi I was SOOO exited when I got my coloring book. It taught me about amazing wonders of America. I also got to color. And there was a map showing where the wonders are. See:

I learned a lot from this book. One of my favorite facts was on this page:

It says that the loudest animal is a blue whale and that the deepest lake is Crater Lake in Oregon.  There are lots of good facts like this in the book. My favorite part of the whole book though was at the end where it says we are all wonderful and asks questions about me. See:

I LOVED this book and learned a lot from reading it (and it's fun to color). Next time you go to the post office, you should ask them for this FREE book for your kids. I think they would love it too.

Well, I think that is an excellent review of this fun, unexpected freebie (especially for a 7 year old to write)! Thanks Salsa for your fantastic review!

Last Thursday I asked all of you to send me any frugal/thrifty tips you have so I could share them on my blog. I got a lot of great tips on a variety of topics. Some of the tips are opposite ideas, but remember that you just have to take the ideas and find what works for you! I am really excited to share these tips with you! Check out what thrifty tips my friends and family (you!) had to share:

Mirella said:

If you have a baby younger than 1 you can register them for a free ticket to the Ringling Bros circus that they can use anytime in their life. Look for the "Baby's First Circus" link on their website. I signed up my twins and still have their tickets. We'll probably use them this year. The catch is that you have to do ...it before their first birthday.

And Mirella also shared:

I like saving time as much as saving money so I try to buy in bulk once a month and make a bunch of home-made freezer meals. Meat is usually much cheaper in bulk and it really rocks to have good meals ready in minutes. If you are low on freezer space make sauces (spaghetti, alfredo, strogonoff, etc) and then you can boil the pasta the night you make the meal. I can send a list of meals I usually make but I think the best ones are those your family usually eats.

Kristin said:

Price matching is one of the easiest ways to save without doing too much work! (esp. in Omaha with all the different grocery store ads)

Jeremy said:

Since I started driving my scooter to work instead of the suburban, my gas bill has dropped from $200/month to $20/month. I'd say the scooter purchase was worth it!

Kristel said:

At Target you can use a Manufacturers coupon along with a Target coupon. I also love kids eat for $.99 tues., thurs. at Applebees. We took advantage of that all the time during residency. Now I don't live close to an Applebee's.

Lindsey said:

I don't really have a lot of food tips, just decorating ones. So here's what I've got! I haven't been able to do this yet, but I've helped many many friends refurbish great garage sale and thrift store finds. Or, for me, when I get sick ...of looking at the same furniture everyday I rotate it through the house creating new looks in every room. It's a lot of fun and FREE! Another one...just buy a plant, flowers, or even a new vase for a room. It will add so much to it. And, lastly, get rid of clutter...it does wonders!

Erica said:

At Target you can turn your Target bags in for 5 cents a piece! Not much but it adds up!!

Melissa said:

You could say something cheap for a date night, go to a Costco or Sam's club. Order their hot dog and drink for $1.25 (I think that is what it still is), So that ends up being $2.50 for dinner, and then go to a dollar movie. For a date night, dinner and movie it is under $5.00. I think that is a good deal!!! I love doing that at times with my husband.

Laura Said:

Spray paint to restore ugly things. Buy from Craigslist. Buy used. Grocery shop for a two week period instead of every week. buying for a two week period really does save me. I used to spend $150 every week. Now I spend $200 for every two weeks. I think on average I save $100 a month by stretching out those weeks with food. I tend to impulse buy so the less I am in a store the better. Also find stores like Aldi's. They don't have them everywhere, but they do help me to save money on everyday things.

Janelle said:

I shop for 2 weeks of food as well and it really does save me money! I usually end up going every week for some perishables or items we need. However, I usually plan to eat those items that perish quickly first and those that will last a while at the end of the 2 weeks.

Mark said:

Don't pay someone else to do what you can do (or learn to do) yourself. All the redecorating/remodeling in our house has been done by me, Erin, and my Dad and looks pretty decent. :)

Also, Don't buy in bulk if you don't have to - we found that when we buy in bulk, we just eat more and still have to go back just as often to buy more.

Thank you everyone for your great tips!!!

Well, I am a bit stumped today as to what I can say for Thrifty Thursday, so I am asking for reader input. Please share your favorite thrifty/frugal tip about ANYTHING in a comment, on the facebook wall or email it to me and I will share it (beckeesdeals@gmail.com).

I guess I will share my favorite frugal tip for parents...one of the best things my husband and I ever did was to make babysitting exchanges with our friends during medical school. We took turns watching each other's kids for date nights (since NONE of us had ANY money) and often the date nights without your kids would just consist of a dinner and movie at home ALONE with your spouse/significant other and that was a GREAT, cheap (FREE) date night/time out for the grown ups. (Check out my husband and I in the picture above without any kids...a rare picture!)

This will be a short and sweet tip about saving money with Warranties! WHenever you buy things with a warranty, make sure you activate it ant keep track of it. We have saved a ton just by using our warranties when necessary-they are like limited time insurance for your stuff. We own a Hyundai Elantra that came with a great warranty that we used many times during thes period it was covered (I estimate we saved about $3000 in repairs-at least-over that time period). Also, when my laptop hard drive was fried a couple weeks ago-we were able to get it replaced and fixed through our warranty thus saving us the cost of repair or havign to buy a new laptop.

So, my Thrifty Thursday tip today-use your warranties!!!

Usually I try to carefully plan out my grocery trips to Walmart with price matches and coupons. I am really trying to save money.

For me, the last few weeks, it seems every time I turn another corner toward saving money, something else goes wrong. Example: I mailed in the last payment on my van and the next day it would not start. We jumped the battery and it worked for about a day then when I went out to start it again yesterday, again it would not start or even jump. So, it is now in the shop getting what I assume will be a hugely expensive repair (I am still waiting to hear back from them about them about what is up with it!!).

So, now I am at home with a list of things I NEED to buy (eggs, bread, milk). Now our family is big enough that we cannot fit in my husband's car. So, I am now walking places, and let me tell you, that saves me money! Though I cannot go to Walmart (too far to walk), the nearest grocery store is a fair priced one with great sales. And since I will be walking there with 4 kids (one in a double jogging stroller), I HAVE to limit my purchases to the things on my list that I need. I have gone through their ad for the things on my list and I feel prepared to go in and get only the essentials.

Not only will I save money by not getting any more than I need, but I save gas money and I will be walking a total of 4 miles round trip so I get my exercise in as well!

So, as soon as I hear back from the car repair shop, I will be on my way...I'll let you know how it went when I return (in glory we hope!)

Our air conditioner is currently not working, and we do not currently have the funds to fix it (thanks to unexpected medical bills). I figured I would just have to get creative with staying cool this summer-we never had an AC in my house growing up-in fact, my parents still don't have one. However, Omaha is a humid heat so it feels so much hotter than in Utah where I grew up. Nonetheless, we have been creatively staying cool, and the part that I LIKE about that is the money savings (Since I am not paying to fix AC nor to run it). (Can you tell i am trying to look on the bright side?!)

So, here are some of our fun ways to cool off this summer:

• Open the windows and get some air flow going
• Go to the pool-we have a pool pass so we just try to go to the pool everyday.
• Play in the sprinklers as we water the grass
• Spray bottles full of water-each person is getting their own this afternoon that they can spritz themselves with when they are hot
• Drink lots of cool drinks-stay hydrated!
• Fans...lots of fans...
• We bought a HUGE package of imitation Otter Pops and we eat them a lot-sometimes the kids don't eat them, but they take them out of the fridge and just use unopened ones as a cooling ice pack.
• Cook outdoors and avoid warming up the whole house further with the oven/stove
• Eat cool foods-salad for lunch, fresh cool fruit, etc

What tips do you have for keeping cool?  I would LOVE to hear them!!!

In case you did not read my confession last week here, I am terrible at choosing thrifty creative Father's Day ideas and usually end up buying a terrible tie or a gift certificate.

I asked for help, and got a few recommendations & ideas, but I am happy to keep getting more!!

Here are some of the things you sent me and I have heard about this week:

• "I am planning on taking pictures of my three kids each holding a letter to spell out DAD and putting into a three frames. they are going to wear black t-shirts and letters are going to be white with their on designs on it. I going try in color and black and white." (From reader NE Cottrells)
• "Get together with your siblings and get one big gift rather than 6 cheap gifts"  (From Wes, my husband)
• A friend recommended you make a web page all about your dad for Father's Day. I will note that if you are going to do this, I would use Blogger or WordPress and make a blog rather than trying to use like Wikipedia...we once tried to add my father-in-law to wikipedia and to make a long story short, my sister-in-law was banned from Wikipedia.
• A few years ago my sister-in-law Ashley and her husband made a gift for Father's Day with a theme-it was "Giving you back all the things your kids have taken from you over the years."  They had things like a wig (my Father in law is bald like my husband), half a cookie, and other funny things. It was creative, memorable and super funny!
• The same year of the above gift, my sister gave my dad a shadowbox with his Final Four T-Shirt and his tickets to the Final Four in it.  My dad has never, and will never like anything else better!

Obviously these are just a few ideas, and I really need more! So, please share whatever you can think of!

I have a confession...I am not very good at coming up with good gifts for Mother's Day or Father's Day and usually end up getting Barnes and Noble gift cards for everyone. Or sometimes the dad's get the typical ties. I have tried to be frugal and creative, but I frankly seem to have a block when it comes to finding the perfect, frugal, thoughtful, fun gift for my dad or my father-in-law.

One year I bought my dad a tie and some golf balls and my sister got him a shadowbox with his t-shirt and tickets from the Final Four...see how pathetic I am?!

So, this Thrifty Thursday, I am asking...nee begging you all to share with me your fun frugal Father's day gift ideas. What have you done or will you do for your dad's? What great gift ideas do you have? Please share with me and my other readers, and hopefully I will get enough ideas that I can post them up here for all to see next Thursday!

Thank you in advance for getting me out of my gift card slump...

We have 4 kids, so when we go out to eat, it costs a pretty penny-we are always left with the questions of whether a babysitter or paying for them to come with us will be cheaper. One way we have found to really combat the costs of going out to eat (on those rare occasions we do), is to find places that have Kids Eat Free (or cheap) deals! Remember to check with your local stores to make sure they participate in these promotions before you head over there!

Here are some FREE ones we have discovered in out experience and really like:

• Sizzler:  Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday (only some locations have Wednesday's too) Kids eat free Salad bar with an adult entree meal (last time we went in they told us you can get 2 free kids meals with each adult meal. So, we get all 4 kids to eat free at Sizzler-LOVE that)
• Hyvee: Eat FREE on Tuesdays with an adult meal purchase at any of the following eating locations in the store: Italian, Chinese Express, Kitchen, Deli, or Salad Bar
• China Buffet: Tuesday kids eat free with adult meal purchase
• Denny's: Every night 4-10 pm
• IHOP: Tuesday and Thursday 4PM-close Kids eat free with adult meal.
• Lone Star: Tuesday up to 2 free kids meals per adult meal purchase.
• Spaghetti Works: Monday up to 2 free kids meals per adult meal purchase
• Texas Roadhouse: Mondays 4-10PM one kid eats free with purchase of each adult meal  
• Golden Corral: Monday 5pm - 9pm  up to 2 kids per adult meal purchase (AND ages 3 and under are always free).

And here are some cheap ones we like:

• Applebees: Tuesday and Thursday Kids eat for $.99
• Fazoli's: Tuesday nights Kids eat for $.99 from 5-8pm
• Buffalo Wild Wings Grill and Bar: Monday Kids eat for $.99 with adult meal purchase

Now, I realize that these are just a few of the deals out there and I am by no means the definitive expert on these deals. This list is just the ones we have actually used or have heard about recently. So, PLEASE add the free/cheap meal deals for kids you know of in comments or you can email them to me! I love when my great readers share their tricks and tips with me, and I am always looking for a new place to eat where my kids eat free!! Please share!

As I was checking around the Internet to see what other places I could tell you about, I found an awesome website where you can search for places where kids eat free in your city. It is My Kids Eat Free. Go check it out-it has a lot of the ones listed I have above and a few more.

In January, I wrote a post about emailing companies to let them know what you think of their product-whether you love them or hate them. If you have not read that post, check it out here. For today's Thrifty Thursday, I want to talk a bit about that and expand it our a bit to just say never be afraid to ask for a deal!  That old saying that is never hurts to ask is SO true in getting deals and living frugally! This is something I have really learned from my husband.

Let me explain.  Last week for Thrifty Thursday, I wrote about cheap dating.  We were very frugal in our dating, and I was always good with that. But I will tell you something, I was NEVER someone that would ask for a discount, would barter, or would even try to ASK for a deal, an upgrade, or a special service.  It just never occurred to me.  That all changed on our honeymoon.

Wes is 9 months (or 1 pregnancy) younger than me, and when we got married I was the only one old enough to rent a car. So, upon arrival in Florida, we headed over to the car rental place, where I started to check in and get our cheap car (the absolute cheapest we could get). Before they assigned us the car, Wes said "Hey! It's our honeymoon! Do you have any honeymoon specials?" Initially I was pretty surprised that he would ask about that, but the guy behind the counter smiled a huge smile, and upgraded us 2 car levels for free AND discounted the price overall! It was like magic!

Wherever we went the rest of our honeymoon, we made sure to mention it was our honeymoon, and got TONS of freebies! Free Parking, Free passes to the water park, free upgrades, free desserts and appetizers-ALL kinds of stuff!

So, my first tip for you is to tell people about special occasions! People often want to help you celebrate. That is why  restaurants have birthday deals and anniversary deals. Which reminds me-sign up for birthday and anniversary clubs at local restaurants, or stores that have them.  That is tip 2!

Now another tip I have learned from Wes since our honeymoon is that you should never be afraid to ask for an upgrade! Often hotels or car rental places (for example) have lots of people reserve the cheapest option, and their upgraded options are just sitting there unused. So, often if you ask a bout a free upgrade, they will give you one.  It never hurts to ask-the worst case scenario is that they say no and you get exactly what you ordered! So, tip 3 is Never be afraid to ask for an upgrade!

The last thing I want to mention in this post is what I talked about in the post here: Telling companies what you think of their product whether good or bad. You can read about some of my experiences with that by reading that post, but let me just say here, that you should be willing to write to companies (email is the usual way I go these days) and let them know what you think of their product! I have written to many companies to let them know why I appreciate their product, and I have occasionally written to companies to let them know why I was disappointed by their product/service. Often the company you notify will send you coupons or freebies in the mail in response! So, Tip 4 is to Tell companies what you think of their product or service!

What other tips do you guys have to go along with this? Have any of you had experiences where you were able to put any of these things into practice? Please share your experiences or tips with us all!

Next week's Thrifty Thursday will focus on how the "cheapest" is not always the best option, using the example of  The Castaway Hotel from my honeymoon-trust me, you will not want to miss this one!!

Well, tomorrow is my 9th Wedding anniversary!! Wes would be happy to go all out and spend the wad on me for this occasion, btu I cannot do it-I get anxious to spend a whole lot on celebrations when I am trying so hard to save money. Plus I know we will have fun no matter how much we spend, so why not do a low key free (or cheap) celebration, right?!

So readers, I am asking you to give me some ideas. What cheap dates do you do with your spouse or significant other? Last Thursday for my Thrifty Thursday blog, I wrote a blog called Thrifty Thursdays: Cheap Dating that was about some of my cheap date ideas from my past. I am asking you to help me come up with something new and different (and cheap) from your experiences!!

Thanks in advance!!

For Thrify Thursdays I have decided to write about how to do different things in a thrifty or cheap way.  Today I am focusing on cheap dates! That's right folks, this is all about cheap/thrifty date ideas!

I realized that I was pretty much always a cheap date-I am not picky, I like to be adventurous and I am easily impressed. No need to take me out to La Cai to impress me. (Not that I don't like a fancy meal once in a while, I do, but mostly I just want to hang out with my date!)  So, following are some fun, cheap (many free) date ideas I have done (OK-some are not my ideas, they are Stefanies). Please feel free to read through these and give them a try, and please add your own cheap date ideas to the list-I would LOVE to hear from you! Here's my list:

• Making Cookies together
• Dollar Movies
• Cook dinner in (guys-seriously girls love it when a guy cooks for them and visa versa ladies. The other option is to cook together which is always fun! If you are in a big group, have each couple be in charge of a part of the meal and they have to put it together as a couple-make a game of it)
• Flip a coin adventure (When I was in college, a guy I was dating and I were reading through and laughing at one of those cheap date books and found this idea.  Pick a number, then grab a coin and get in the car. We picked 13.  Then each time you hit a light or an intersection flip the coin to see whether you go left or right.  When you hit the 13th one, you have to stop there-wherever you are and do some kind of activity out of the car-we ended up in a parking lot and danced in the rain then got back in the car and started over again. It may sound odd, but it was a blast.)
• Goodwill date (we went to DI which is like Goodwill, and each had $2 to buy something for our date to wear the rest of the night, then we went for a walk around sight seeing places in our city dressed in our crazy stuff) 
• Dinner under $10 (Each Couple gets $5-$10 to spend to get dinner with and you go in a grocery store and give like a 10 minute time limit and see what you end up with-always an adventure and funny to see what you get-you can consider it like Iron chef to figure out how to combine all the items into a big meal).
• Iron Chef or Amazing Race - Take a game like those listed and make it into a date.
• General admission to local sports-often local sports have cheap general admission-especially college sports. Go to one of those, or for a FREE option, go watch a little league game for free and cheer for all the kids no matter which team-just make sure not to get too obnoxious at that one-and remember, in little league, it is often more fun to watch the parents than the kids anyway!!
• Bigger and Better - Stefanie did this one-take a paper clip to a house and ask them to trade you for something bigger and better. Go house to house and see what the best thing you can get is. Do this on teams and give a time limit. Meet back together and see which team got the best item!
• Scavenger Hunt- Go door to door with a list of items you need to get-just like a scavenger hunt as a kid!
• Treasure Hunt - This one takes some effort, but I more than once set up treasure hunts for my dates to meet me places. I would sent from place to place like on the Amazing Race and at the end there would be a picnic dinner or something fun set up to do.
• Go to a Park -seriously fun to do-just make sure you leave the actual kids alone-don't be that creepy couple bugging kids. I liked to go to empty neighborhood playgrounds when I was younger. I like to go to parks now still with Wes and the kids-we love that!
• Curl up in the cold - Stefanie said she likes to curl up in a blanket on the heater and talk. I also like this, but I am a fireplace girl, so ideally I would curl up in a blanket by the fireplace.
• Do something active-anything! Play a sport, go jogging, do anything active!
• Find Free activities in your city - There are often Free concerts, Store openings, farmer's markets, free museum days, all kinds of freebies if you just look around!  
• Watch the Simpsons - That is what Wes and I do...there is some kissing involved...  :)