7 Days of Money Saving Tips to Help You Find Family Fun and Entertainment

Just today it happened again, a mother asked me, "How do you do so much? I would be broke. You must have a great budgeting technique." Well, yes, I do, but saving money and having fun can both be done. Come spend a week with me and let me show you how.

Day 1 of Saving Money and Having Fun
Today this family of four went to a local performance of "The Nasty Gnarlies" based on a book by Keith Graves that reinforces the concept of inner beauty and kindness instead of judging people by how they look. At this performance we had juice drinks and popcorn. How much did I spend? Nothing, it was free.

How can this be? Many communities offer community theatrical performances. In my case this one was free in several ways. If you were a member of the "center" you could attend for free by ordering your tickets 3 days in advance. It was also offered free to a mother's group in the area. This particular center also offers a number of free performances throughout the year to get people interested and involved. Check out your communities performance centers and see what they have to offer.

For lunch we then went to DoubleDave's Pizza. Children under 4 eat free and the buffet includes salad and fruit. We even get to order for the buffet the pizzas we want. No one else was interested but I enjoyed my whole wheat crust and veggie pizza. Our total bill was $10.60. The children were free and with a coupon from the Entertainment book (available at Entertainment.com) it was buy one buffet get one free.

Day 2 of Saving Money and Having Fun
Wine tasting at a local winery, Colony Cellars. Just a short drive away from Houston, my husband and I decided to try out the local wines and take a tour of the winery. This particular week 12 tastings were free, however, on a "normal" day they are only $3.00 per person. Now that is a date I can afford.

How did we find this? A special edition in the Houston Chronicle tempted us, we went we enjoyed and we even brought a bottle home for future enjoyment. The bottle was $8.99, which is almost what you pay for just one drink when dining out. Be sure to look in the dining and entertainment sections of your local newspapers, you never know what you may find. Friday's are a good day to find the weekends specials, including happy hours and discounts.

Day 3 of Saving Money and Having Fun
After dropping the children off at preschool, I treat myself to a Sonic Crosonic - a croissant breakfast sandwich and a large lemon berry drink. Price: 1.79 because I increased the size to the Route 44 which actually provided me with a yummy drink all day.

How did I get my free breakfast? My sandwich was free by registering on line at Sonic and printing out the coupon.

After school the children and I head to Blockbuster where we get two movies. By using Blockbuster Rewards on Monday, Tues, and Wednesday when you rent one movie you get one free. This way both children get to choose one and I get to avoid embarrassing fights in the middle of the "movie store." We picked up candy at the discount counter and the total spent on two movies and candy was $5.00.

Day 4 of Saving Money and Having Fun
This morning the girls and I packed up a lunch and headed to an area park maintained by the city. This play area is designed to resemble a train station and you can spend hours there climbing, swinging and sliding. We ate our picnic lunch, saving money so we didn't need to eat out. Right next door the city also offers free putt putt golf.

How do we do this? Find out what parks are available in your city/county. Quite often they are empty as not many people know about them but they can be great fun. Pack a lunch and turn your park play date into an adventure.

Day 5 Saving Money and Having Fun
It's time to pick up some groceries. Most people wouldn't consider this fun, but with my list of things that will be free or close to it once I use my coupons I preferred to think of it as a treasure hunt. At Target I purchased $26.00 in groceries, but spent $6.00. At HEB, I saved $45.00 in coupons and meal deals.

How did I save over $60.00 in coupons? First, visit some of my favorite sites such as Smart source.com, Red Plum.com and Coupons.com. Print out only the coupons you think you will use. Then look at Target's site for the weekly flyer as well as store coupons. You can combine the two (manufacturer and store brand) to get more savings. Some of the things I got free were Huggies Wipes, Joint Juice, apples, Nabisco 100 Calorie snacks (ok, these were .98) Vitamin Water and even 1.00 each for Dan Active yogurt's.

How is this fun? Give the kids pictures of what you are looking for and a shopping tote bag. Call it a treasure hunt and the winner gets to choose a treat (for everyone to enjoy). We chose ice cream cones that we made at home with ice cream from the store. My girls are young and they love to be the "finder" of the foods.

Day 6 Saving Money and Having Fun
Family fun night at Chick Fil A offers special activities and events for the whole family and they are free. This week we made our own slime, got mad scientist T-shirts, played in the play area, had our faces painted and got balloon art. We even ate dinner, for a family of 4 with $6.99 using coupons from another area event where we received free Chick Fil A sandwich coupons. Each person used one and dinner is served. The children and I both had a good time. No dishes and they had fun.

How did I do this? Check your local Chick Fil A many of them offer family nights once a week. You don't have to eat dinner there. Sometimes I just take the children and enjoy a .99 ice cream cone and they play.

Day 7 Saving Money and Having Fun
The girls and I recently attended a free yoga sample class. They enjoyed it so much we headed to the library to find out more. On this day we rented a Yoga movie for children (for free), got books from the library, 5 other educational videos, and from the sale a book center I picked up Eric Carle's The Very Busy Spider for .50. It normally retails for $8.99.

Next we headed to Panda Express. I purchased two, two entree meals and then added my free entree coupon. This was plenty of food for the whole family. If it had been Wednesday, the children could have had their own meals and eaten for free.

How did we do this? First, look for movies at the library before renting. Also sometimes you can find books to purchase for pennies and these funds go towards helping to support the libraries special services. You spend pennies on books instead of dollars, or simply read them for free.

For me free entree at Panda Express, don't throw away that receipt! Quite often retailers offer special discounts and coupons on a receipt. For Panda Express you simply complete a short on line survey get your code and get a free entree. Several other places offer this service also, so be sure to check that receipt before you toss it in the trash.

There we are, an entire week of saving money, having fun, and enjoying life.

But, Lisa it takes so much TIME to find all these things. No, not really. Grab a calendar, sit down at the computer and see what you find. Network with other mothers and check out local blogs for information. When you find it let others know about them and they will do the same for you. Last but not least, allow yourself only so much time to find your savings. I give myself 30 minutes every day to see what I can see and find what I can do for free.

Happy freebie finding, hopefully these money saving tips will help.

Sources:

Redplum.com
Smartsource.com
Chickfila.com
PandaExpress.com
Coupons.com
Personal Experience