Kelly's Thrifty Tips

TODOS -

I thought I would dedicate today's post to todos. I brought up Spring cleaning a short time ago, and it is a good time to get in gear with that, but I want us all to remember the fun todos. These are simply things that might be fun to do.

Get OUT! This snowy Saturday reminded me of how important it is to take advantage of the lovely weather we have been having. Arizona is simply loaded with lovely places to enjoy. Start taking advantage of the fabulous weather we have been blessed with. A change of scenery and a change of pace is an instant mood lifter. Doing something new is good for the mind, and getting out and moving around is definitely good for the body. Do things locally and save on gas. Get creative and have an adventure of your own.

1 - Open all the windows in your home and let the sun and fresh air stream through. Tackle a cleaning project when you can take advantage of the bright sunlight and fresh cool air. Yes...this is a chore, but a chore is so much easier to do when you have a that sense of flushing out the icky. No?

2 - If you have the yard, clear up an area and look into gardening. There are lots of great resources online that can help you. If you don't have much room, you can still garden by utilizing some large pots.

3 - Explore your neighborhood and take a nice walk. You might catch a yard sale or meet some new neighbors.

4 - Pack a lunch and take it to the local park with a book or camera. You can enjoy the fresh air, a good story or people watch. Just enjoying a change of scenery is such a lift after a gloomy gray winter.

5 - Have fun with the kids. My son used to love when we would go outside and play with squirt guns. I used to blow bubbles and he and his friends would run around shooting them down. There are lots of recipes for making your own bubble solution online.

6 - Check out your community calendar. Most towns and cities have one online. Look up your town's community calendar and see what is going on. There are always plenty of fun events for the kids and adults. I found several pretty awesome happenings just by looking up Prescott's calendar. You can find concerts, craft shows, classes, and more just by taking the time to look.

7 - If you have a GPS system or even a smart phone (you can get a free GPS app), you might like to try Geocaching. Geocaching is a treasure hunting game that you play by using a GPS system. People hide a cache at a site and log the coordinates in using a GPS. Then they post it on the Geocache site. You look for the sites in your area, and go on the hunt. For a real break down head on over to the Geocaching site here.

8 - Want to get out and about and tourist it? April 16th to the 24th is FREE NATIONAL PARK WEEK! Hooray! Yes, I get excited about this one. There are some wonderful parks here in Arizona, and now is the time to enjoy a slew of them for free! This year's theme is Healthy Parks, Healthy People. Follow the link below to learn more and get in on all the details. There is even an event calendar here with events for parks here in Arizona.

9 - Want a change of scenery without going too far? Why not check out the neighboring city or town. I am sure there are plenty of local attractions you can enjoy by just going a town over from your own.

10 - Local arts. Start checking out all the fabulous entertainment in your city. It usually doesn't take long to locate a fine arts association in your town. Support the local arts and enjoy some home entertainment. When it comes to live entertainment, the price is always right. Look for local concerts in the square, theater groups, art walks, and symphonies. You can enjoy some very high end entertainment locally and save on gas and ticket prices.

LINK: National Park Week



FREEBIES

I have to say that so many freebies come and go all the time that it is hard to keep up with them. I just may start posting them here whenever I see them rather just when I post on Thursdays.

CVS will send you a coupon via email for a free full size Essence of Beauty product when you like their Facebook page and go to their promotions page (link is on the left side of their FB page). You do need to enter your CVS loyalty card, and if you don't have that. Let me just say that you need to get one now! They are great for getting some extra special deals at CVS. Sign up at the link below.

LINK: Essence of Beauty Coupon

Sam's Club members can sign up now for a free sample of Huggies Supreme baby wipes. Yes, you do have to be a member and they are in limited supply, but a great little thing to have on hand for minimal work. :)

LINK: Sam's Club Huggies Supreme Baby Wipes Sample

Rewards Gold has another fabulous free magazine opportunity and this time it is for Forbes Magazine. These do not always last long, but I have noticed that you can usually get your hands on the financial magazines for longer than the fashion magazines. I get this particular subscription thanks to Rewards Gold and like it a lot. It is a simple process of joining up, referring friends, completing a watch survey and two reviews, and a free year subscription is yours. Not bad at all.

LINK: Rewards Gold Forbes Magazine

FreeCCM has a free song download of Laura Story's "Faithful God." You can also listen to her new album "Blessings" as well as download songs from Jonny Diaz, The Choir, David Walker, Derek Webb, and Cloverton. You can also still listen to Jonny Diaz's new album. Remember you do need to be a member, but it is totally free, and they are very good about only updating you once a week.

LINK: Free CCM


FREE ACTIVITIES



Check out Michaels for a great activity for the kids. They have an activity on April 16th where the kids can design and color their own canvas tote to take with them. This is for ages 3 and up while supplies last. Contact your local Michaels to see if they are participating. This event runs from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, but remember that it runs while supplies last. PS This canvas bag might make a nice treat for mom for Mother's Day.

LINK: Michaels Store Events

Loew's has some great Build and Grow clinics coming up. On April 23rd your kids can build a window birdhouse (apparently it sticks to your window so you can see the nest through the glass. On May 7th the kids can make a beautiful Happy Mother's Day flower vase. Follow the link below to sign up your children and get all the details. This is always a great treat for the kids and you truly can't get better than the free price. :)

LINK: Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics

Speaking of free things to do don't forget that next Wednesday, April 20th, Ken Lain from Watters Garden Center will be at the Radio Shine studios giving us some of his tips and tricks that will help all of us gain some gardening success. You can bring your lunch making this a totally free event or order lunch for $8. If you would like to sign up for this awesome luncheon session follow the link below to our website, and you will get all the details under latest news.

LINK: How Does Your Garden Grow? with Ken Lain at Radio Shine

FREE WAY TO GIVE

Okay here are a few ways that you can give right now without taking a dime out of your pocket.

Like Rite Aid on Facebook and they will donate $1 to the American Heart Association's Go Red For Woman movement. They are giving up to $25,000. When I signed up they were at $4,108. Spread the word for a good cause.

LINK: Like Rite Aid and Give


For every person who takes the World Food Programme's short hunger quiz, a child will be fed. Test your hunger IQ and then spread the word! This quiz literally takes about three minutes. Not only will you learn a little more about the world's hunger problem but your participation will feed a child. How cool is that?

LINK: World Food Programme's Hunger Quiz - Feed A Child

Free Rice is a vocabulary quiz also from World Food Programme that donates 10 grains of rice per right answer. You can improve your vocabulary and help others. The Free Rice program has given 90,023,711,930 grains of rice to date! You can sign up with your facebook and track your progress, get friends involved, expand your vocabulary and best of all...give.

LINK: Free Rice

And last but not least, don't forget Goodsearch.com and Goodshop.com. Goodsearch and Goodshop allow you to donate to your favorite nonprofit by simply doing what you do online every day...searching and shopping. Search through Goodsearch.com and your nonprofit of choice will get a penny per search. Here is how it works. Type in goodsearch.com. When you get the main page simply type in who you are searching for and verify. After that, you simply search. You can change each time you search or you can simply keep it the way it is. Each time you search, that charity will get a donation. This money can really add up. You can also shop via their Goodshop.com site and a portion of those sales go to your favorite nonprofit (the price doesn't change. It is just like if you shopped by going to the site directly. Read all about it at their website link below. And if you are curious as to how those gifts can add up, after you verify your favorite nonprofit, click amount raised. This will give you a current tally. Imagine, if you searched twice a day every day for a year, you would painlessly give $7.30, and if you shared this tip with your friends, the donations could seriously climb.

LINK: GoodSearch and GoodShop

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Last week I talked about having a garage sale or yard sale and gave some tips I learned from watching my mom and grandma through the years and participating in some of my own.

One thing I forgot to add was what to do with the stuff you have left after a yard sale. Most of the time, my mom and grandma would keep the item for the next sale. So this could be choice number 1, but some areas have a limit to how many yard sales you can have. When we were moving, it became necessary to sell what we could and get rid of what we couldn't. Here are ways you can do this:

1 - Donate what you don't sell. There are many places you can donate to. There are two nice things about donating. You are blessing an organization who will use the funds to help others, and you can get a receipt for tax season.

2 - Post what you have on Freecycle.com. This is what we did when we had our final moving sale. We boxed everything we had left and posted on Freecycle that we just had a yard sale and everything we had left over was boxed up. We invited people to come take the boxes with the stipulation that they did not go through the boxes. This is because we were renting and we wanted the boxes taken away. Within two hours everything we had left was gone. Next week I'll talk about shopping the sales. :)

3 - You can always supervise a free time by posting a free sale sign when you are done. I find the Freecycle posting works the best though. You get to set the parameters (like insisting they take a box and not go through everything) and anyone who comes will follow your lead.





FREEBIES


I have a website that you are totally going to want to check out. It is Kraft First Taste. Kraft First Taste gives its members the opportunity to try new products, share your opinions, and get connected and in the know with other members. I had joined a while back and when I logged in a few weeks ago, I was pleasantly surprised to find out I qualified to try several products.

Through the mail I received a coupon for:
One free Kraft 100 Calorie Cheese Bites
One free Kool-Aide Fun Fizz Drink Drops
One free DiGiorno Deep Dish Pizza
One free package of Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Shaved Meats
One free package of New Kraft Homestyle Deluxe Macaroni & Cheese Dinner (I just saw a commercial for this new product and it looks more like homemade baked mac n cheese)
One free package of Ritz Crackerfuls.

I added up the retail value on the coupon and it adds up to $21.06. And all they ask members to do is try the products and come back with their opinion. :) Follow the link to sign up.

LINK: Kraftfirsttaste.com


Walmart has a great bodycology free sample right now. They have great fragrances and right now you can get a sample of Cherry Blossom or Cucumber Mellon. Follow the link.

LINK: bodycology free sample

In fact, Walmart again has some amazing samples in several categories. Follow the link to take advantage of them all.

LINK: More Walmart samples

If you are looking for a fun activity for the kids, check out this month's and next month's Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics. Follow the link below and decide between the Monster Truck clinic on 6/26 from 10am to 11am or the ball and cup game on 7/10 also from 10am to 11am! Actually you can go for both. :) Follow the link to see what these finished products look like and sign up.

LINK: Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic

While available, you can register for the Kellogg's All Bran Promise Pack. Get them while they last by following the link below.

LINK: Kellogg's All Bran Promise Pack

Friday June 18th is National Flip Flop Day and you get a treat if you are one of the first 500 in the Tropical Smoothie Cafe in flip flops. If you do don some flip floppage, you will get yourself a FREE Jetty Punch Smoothie! There aren't a plethora of Tropical Smoothie Cafes in Arizona but there are three in Mesa. Follow the link below for information.

LINK: Flip Flop Day at Tropical Smoothie Cafe

I have no idea how much you are going to get, but Bull's-Eye has some new regional barbecue sauces, and while supplies last, you can get your hands on two samples. Follow the link below to get yours.

LINK: Bull's-Eye Regional Barbecue Sauce Sample

Costco has a free sample of Dove Damage Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner. You do not need to be a member, but it is one per household so if you signed up before for the member only promo that counts.

LINK: Dove Damage Therapy Shampoo and Conditioner Sample

I have mentioned before how you can get some pretty nice freeebies via Facebook. There is a really awesome one going on right now for Clairol Natural Instincts Hair Color. They are giving away a free hair color to the first 1000 facebook fans to sign up at noon EST on the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 21st. Check out the details at their facebook page.

LINK: Clairol Natural Instincts Hair Color

Parents don't pass up this free sample of Pampers Extra Protection. The samples come in size 4 or 5 and are up for grabs while supplies last or until June 30 whichever comes first.

LINK: Pampers Extra Protection

Free CCM free download this week is Vicky Beeching "Blessing and Honor." They also still have free downloads of songs by Carlos Whitaker, Addison Road, Jonny Diaz, and 33Miles. Sign up while they are still available at the link below.

LINK: FREECCM Downloads


CRAFTS FOR DAD AND THE FOURTH

Father's day is this Sunday, and Michaels has some pretty great activities for the kids that can help them create something pretty special for dad. And below those activities links, I have also included a few more activities that I found online.

Michaels

Children ages 6 to 12 can make dad a Duck Tape wallet while supplies last. This is today's activity (that is 6/17) so don't wait too long. The time is listed as 6 to 8pm, but I would check with your local Michaels.

LINK: The Knack craft for dads Duck Tape wallet

June 18th at 6pm children 2 and up can enjoy a make it and take it activity for dad by jazzing up a t-shirt. This activity requires a t-shirt purchase. Again this activity is listed as 6 to 8pm.

LINK: Make it and take it T-shirt for dad

On June 19th kids 3 and up are welcome to come and make a Father's Day card from 10am to 2pm while supplies last. Get there early!

LINK: Father's Day Card

On June 26th bring the kids in to make some patriotic projects before the 4th of July! This event is from 10am to 2 pm while supplies last.

LINK: Patriotic Projects

Family Fun has a whole page full of great ideas for showing dad how special he is. Follow the link and learn how to make some great gifts for dad. One of my favorites is a sunglasses sling you make out of one of dad's old ties. Mind you they suggest purchasing him a nice new one too. :)

LINK: Family Fun Father's Day

The Holiday Spot has a great selection of Father's Day activities, crafts, recipes to celebrate dad's special day and a history on how Father's Day got started check them out for some great tips.


LINK: The Holiday Spot Father's Day


You might also like to check out the Idea Box for some more ideas. There are lots out there. I don't know about you, but my dad always liked things that were handmade. You can't lose with the ideas at any of these sites. Plus the idea box has a great pancake recipe to get the day started just right.

LINK: The Idea Box Father's Day

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

This summer my goal is to plant some veggies and maybe save a little money. I love fresh garden vegetables. I live on a hill so this is a little more difficult. Last year I tried a tomato plant in a pot on our deck. It grew a few tomatoes but the blossoms would not stay. I was pretty bummed, but decided to learn more and try again. This year I found this great site with all kinds of wonderful tips, and now I am definitely ready to give it another try. The site is from Kraft Brands and is called Home Farming. It has all kinds of great information that can help almost anyone begin a garden at home! Check out the Growing Vegetables at Home section for lots of great tips! I am thinking seriously about trying a raised garden!

LINK: Home Farming


Let's start with some freebies:

FREE ACTIVITIES:

Bass Pro Shops in Mesa will have free Ester activities and crafts for kids. The activities will include:

Making your own sun catcher on March 27th and 28th beginning at noon while supplies last.

Making Easter decorations on Thursday, April 1st starting at 6 pm and April 3rd and 4th beginning at noon with an egg hunt on the 3rd and 4th for children 8 and under from 2 to 3 pm.

LINK: Bass Pro Shops


Home Depot is signing up ladies for the Martha Stewart Living paint Do-It Herself Workshop on April 15th from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. You need to RSVP for the workshop. Follow the link.

LINK: Do-It Herself

Home Depot has two great activities for kids coming up. Saturday, April 3. The kids can make a Butterfly House, and on Saturday, May 1st they can make a picket fence planner. These workshops are the first Saturday of the month between 9 am to 12 noon for children ages 5 to 12. Call your local Home Depot for details. Follow this link below for a little more information.

LINK: Home Depot Kids Workshops




Lowes Build and Grow Clinics also have some special treats for the kids to make. This Saturday, March 27th the kids can make a kaleidoscope and April 10th the kids can make a mini baseball game. Registration link is below.

LINK: Lowes Build and Grow






REBATE:

Purchase Olay Quench Body Lotion before April 16th (no trial sizes), print out, fill out and mail out the rebate form and in 6 to 8 weeks you will get a rebate for the purchase price of the product. Yes, it will cost you a stamp in the end, but it is totally worth it.

LINK: Olay Quench Rebate


FREE 5 REACT GUM IF YOU'RE CHOSEN

If you have a Facebook account and like gum, you may want to take a chance at winning a pack of 5 React gum. I played, linked up, and was chosen. I also love gum so this was a happy moment for me. Check it out. If you aren't chosen, let me know. I'd like to see if we all get chosen. :) P.S. The link to play is on the left.

LINK: 5 React Gum

LOREAL FREE SAMPLES

Get free samples of Loreal Ever Strong for strong hair or Ever Pure for color treated hair. Just follow the link and click on "Special Offers and Savings" in the lower left corner.

LINK: Loreal


FREE HAIR CARE

Yes more free hair care with an Aveeno New Nourish Hair Care. Follow the link and snag this free sample. Great to have on hand for travel!

LINK: Aveeno New Nourish Hair Care



I talked about getting more bang for your buck by joining the co-op Bountiful Baskets. This is an amazing co-op where you pay $15 plus a service charge for 50% veggies and 50% fruit. They also have organic offerings at some of their pick up locations which cost $25 plus the service charge. In addition, you can order baked goods and other treats for an additional cost. The ordering times are from Tuesday at 10 am to Wednesday (not sure the exact time here so order early) the week of your pick up. It is a bi-weekly thing so check each week to see when you can order for your location. By the way, there are many locations. I did this two weeks ago, and I was just floored by how many fruits and veggies I got for my $15! Follow the link and read the site for how to register.

LINK: Bountiful Baskets Food Co-op


We are going to be out of town this weekend so I will not be partaking in the Angel Food Ministries food offerings, but I plan on getting in on it again next month. Check out their site to see how everything works. You pay $30 plus a service fee and get lots of great food. Enough to feed a family of four dinner for a week. We definitely stretched it beyond that week. Angel Food Ministries has been working to help families with food since 1994! Follow the link and look for a location near you!

LINK: Angel Food Ministries


The Treasure Box is the only food buy that I have not tried. However, I do know that one of their pick up locations is Calvary Chapel in Phoenix. Get more details at their site as well as a listing of their pick up locations. The Treasure Box pick up dates are similar to Angel Food Ministries.

LINK: The Treasure Box


FREE HAIR REPAIR

Get a free sample of Dove Intensive Repair or Daily Moisture. Follow the link below.

LINK: Dove Hair Repair

Lastly don't forget to check out the latest free song downloads at Free CCM and iTickets.com!