Not exactly $10 but better.

Last weekend was amazing!! I should have played the lottery :-)
This is how everything played out.

Saturday morning, I got up and got some last minute things done. I made some muffins and got some things prepared for Sunday. When I met up with JV, she wanted to get some breakfast.  We stopped by Chick-fil-a  and ordered some food.  When checking the bag, JV noticed that there was 2 chicken biscuits. We even checked our receipt.  We scored an extra biscuit. Woohoo!!

We arrived in Pigeon Forge and went to the Wonderworks free teacher day.  We received a goody bag with some free stuff as well. One of the fun things, beside pens and brochures, was a passport to the Rainforest Zoo for 4 people. We did just about all the activities. My favorite was the flight simulator. JV's was the ropes course. While we were there they took the requiste photo in front of a green screen. We were looking at the pictures at the end of the day. The sweet girl let us have them for free!!  I think she took pity on us. \
After that, as part of the trip, we got a free ride in the hot air balloon. We arrived at dusk which was perfect. There was the setting sun and the clouds with the ferris wheel on one side and then farmland on the other.
We went to the hotel and JV needed some water.  I wanted some chips so I went out to go to Kroger's to get some.  While out there, I decided to get her some gluten-free cupcakes. I went to GiGi's cupcakes.  They have amazing strawberry gluten-free cupcakes.  When I got there, they didn't have any though. I thought about leaving but decided to ask anyway. She said "I don't have any today to sell to you, but I have some from yesterday that I can give to you for free" Whaaaaaaaa? Heck yeah!!

The next day, we went to Ripley's Aquarium. When we arrived we got another free goody bag. This one had a plastic water bottle. Some "dinosaur claws" and magnets and other accessories. We also got to see my favorite turtle. Sue the green sea turtle.

We then went to the Davey Crockett Mini-Golf. Jill won, of course. We then left for back to the big Johnson City, TN.  I spent more than $10 on the hotel room and dinners and gas but it was well worth it.
 

$10 Weekend Again

Well, last weekend was a washout. JV used the money she had saved to buy some dinner for herself on Thursday (which I don't blame her for) and I used the money for a baby shower gift on Saturday. Then we both ate lunch out that afternoon at a very nice restaurant. So I have decided to "start over" again.
Of course the problem is when I do things with other people. I don't want their fun to be diminished because of my "philosophy" but then again when I do things against it (i.e. lunch at a restaurant) life just doesn't seem to go well.

Anyway, this weekend I haven't bought anything but I did go to lunch with my friend Angela and that was $20. Technically since it involved someone else it doesn't count but I still feel kinda disappointed.

However, on the good side, I have gotten to do somethings that were free that I normally wouldn't have.  On Saturdays @ 10:30 Evergreen of Johnson City has wonderful seminars.  The one this weekend was on Fall Perrenials. The person was extremely knowledgeable and I learned so much.  Plus they also had giveways and refreshments. :-)  Next weekend is there Fall Festival which I can't go to because next weekend is Free Teacher Weekend at WonderWorks in Pidgeon Forge.

I tried to go to the ETSU observatory Open House but got lost and it was dark so I wound up coming back home. I will try again next month.

At the library I got my free DVDs for the weekend and a couple of cookbooks. I also found a book called Zero Waste Home which I am really enjoying.  It is about a family that is trying to cut out on waste and they are doing a great job.  She even has a blog (surprise, surpise) that can be found here.

I think I am going to adopt some of her ideas and incorporate them into my $10 weekend.

Week 2 of the $10 Challenge

This weekend proved to be a little more "interesting" than the one before. Since the challenge was no longer new, it was harder to be as excited as before.  However, we made it through with change in our pocket going jing-a-ling-a-ling (my apologies to the Georgia Satellites)

This weekend had a bit of a theme without knowing it.  Friday night I went to our local high school's football game. Since I am a county employee it was FREE!! WooHoo. Unfortunately, they lost 53-10 but many of my friends were there and it was nice to see the kiddos in a relaxed enviroment.

Saturday, JV and I got up and didn't meet up until lunchtime. We went to Chick-fil-A where we had a card for a free sandwich and cookie.  I got a small drink again (1.44) and then headed off to McKay in Knoxville. While there, JV got some DVDs and I used my credit for some books that were from some of my favorite authors. JV's sister Donna and I like the same type of books so I texted her about the new series I am enjoying.

Afterwards, we went to Dollywood. It was pretty late and we were pretty tires, so we just went into the museum. I must admit it was alot nicer than I had anticipated.  It had many of Dolly's old costumes and letters and you could even listen to some of her older song.  They also had her "Coat of Many Colors" on display.

Dinner at Hardee's was a chicken sandwich with fries and a coke. The total was only $3.23 because I had a coupon. We had a great talk while there because it was completely empty. The talk helped to refocus what these weekends are about. They are to be fun and creatively inspiring. When they stop being that, they should stop.

Sunday was relaxing. I got up and did some laundry, cooking, the usual. However, the Greeneville Astros were having a Teacher Appreciation Night so by showing my pass, I got in there free as well.

The $10 challenge

Sometimes then can get pretty tough financially but the blog is about finding that just because you don't have money, doesn't mean you can't have fun. My friend, JV, is going through that right now. So to help her feel better and get my creative juices flowing what I devised it the $10 weekend.
We both put $10 in an envelope and decided that that is all we could spend over the entire weekend. Whatever was left over, we are going to put back in the envelope and add $10 the next weekend.  Then there is a big trip planned on September 28th. The money left is what we use for that trip.
I must admit I was sceptical at first but we had a great first weekend and I even have a little money left over :-)

Here is what our weekend looked like.
After waking up and getting ready we headed to Greeneville for JV to drop off some donations at Goodwill. I was there Friday and didn't notice anything that good. However, today they had a Kindle Fire cover for $9.99 and a SodaStream for $44. Why did this happen on my $10 weekend?(I am checking on Monday to see if they are still there :-))

We both have season passes to Splash Country/Dollywood.  We went there and brought some snacks. I have a Splash Country popcorn tub from last year that I filled and also had a Fill and Chill cup that I used for water. We also brought our Kindles along for when we didn't want to go in the water.  Cost $0.00

However, on the trip down I stopped at a rest area to use the bathroom.  The retired Marines group was giving away free lemonade, coffee and water.  They also had snacks for donations.  Since I always like to support good causes I got a nutty bar and cheetos as well.  Unfortunately I only had my $10 so I asked if they could break it for me. The man reached his hand in the donation jar to take dollar bills out and I felt so bad I donated $5 for the food. Cost $5.00

After a great swimming day, we stopped by Chic-Fil-A and used our calendar cards to get a free Chicken Salad Sandwich and a small coke Cost $1.44

When we went to MagicQuest we used our leftover tickets for minature golf to play a round there. Cost: $0.00

We got home around 9:30 and I was so tired I couldn't do anything else.

On Sunday- I got up and make some maple chicken and ribs for a cookalong. I am hoping to win a cookbook. I also worked in the yard clearing away some branches that had fallen.


Go ahead and TRY to tell me I can't do something



JV and I then got dressed up and went to a new church.  Even though the main reason we went is because they were having a lunch catered by Cranberries I enjoy it alot.  Plus, JV won a $5 gift card to Starbucks. WooHoo!!
Then I came home and started doing laundry and working on school stuff. 
All in all I think it was a great weekend and I still have $3.54 in my envelope. I know that I am using alot of stuff that was prepaid for and those won't last forever.  However, the resourcefullness I am learning will last alot longer. I am also hoping this will help JV out of her " I don't have any money blues."

This Moment

A Friday ritual from Amanda Soule's blog www.soulemama.com

 

A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

 

 

Free Fitness Help

There are a couple of free fitness websites that I know of to help assist you in any fitness or weight loss goals you may have.

The first of these is Active Trainer.  Many people know this site through the Couch to 5K website. This site is a community of people but you can track you own individual progress.  Once you join you sign up for goals or just login your workouts.  Everytime you make some progress toward your goal, you receive points and badges.

The goals available are: lose weight, run 100 miles, drink 8 glasses of water per day, exercise weekly, exercise monthly, take your vitamins everyday, lax power wall ball challange. You may choose as many, or as few goals, as you like.  The more goals you have, the more points you get. So, it benefits you the most to login and update your status daily.

The points are can be used individually or as a team. You can see how many points you have and your rank among all those participating.  Each week you start over with zero points as far as ranking goes. When you login to your account you can see how many you have overall.

The other website is My Fitness Pal.  This site is similar to the other in that you can track your exercise. However, this website focuses alot more on food. 

Once you sign up, it asks you questions like: What is your goal weight? How tall are you? What is your age? What kind of lifestyle do you lead? etc.  Then it will come up with what it determines your caloric intake per day should be for you to lose the weight you want to. You then login what you ate into their database. It returns with the nutritional data and tells you what amounts you have available for the rest of the day. When you finish adding your food, it then tell you that "If you continue to eat like this everyday, you will weigh_____ in 5 weeks"

This database of foods you can login is vast.  It isn't just foods like apples, pears, ground beef. This database has resteraunt items and packaged food as well.

You do receive credit when you exercise. It will add the calories you burned off to the caloric total you can have for the day.

 

Free Friday Downloads

If you have a Kroger in your town, you can sign up to have coupons downloaded to your card.
http://kroger.softcoin.com/programs/kroger/freefri/?ytp=001034001077000000000000&banner=Kroger&origin=freefri

Every Friday, they have a coupon for a free product.  Last week it was Orville Redenbacher Pop Snacks.  This week it is Clean and Clear Shampoo.

* Here is the scoop. The download is only available on Fridays.  However, the coupon is good for several weeks.  Kroger usually "sells" out of the product on Friday but if you return several days later, they have often restocked the item.  That way you can still get it for free, but you don't have to knock people down to get it.
 

The BZZ on oatmeal

The BzzAgent website sent me some free oatmeal to taste and see what I think of it.  It looks really good and I was reading the labels and you don't even need a microwave to make it.  It only requires hot water. With so many people camping in the summer, it sound like that would be very useful.

They sent me three samples each of their oatmeal and nourish bars.  There is cranberry almond, maple brown sugar crunch and cinnamon raisin pecan.

Can't wait to try them out. I gave one bar and oatmeal to my friend. She loves oatmeal so I know she will be a great tester.
 

Cowgirl Up

Chick-fil-a is one of my favorite restaurants to go to when eating out.  The establishments are always clean and neatly organized. They have free wi-fi and refills on drinks.  I have never met an employee that seems to hate their job.  They are pretty hard to beat.
However on July 12th, they get even more wonderful.
Every year this day is know as Cow Appreciation Day.  On that day, if you dress like a cow, you get free food.  If you just wear a hat, vest or ears, your entree is free. To get an entire meal free, all you have to do is dress head to toe like a cow. Some people are elaborate and actually make costumes and others just download the free items from the chick-fil-a website.
Either way, the food is good and you can't beat the price. :-)

 

Friday

Started at soulemama.com

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

 

Glade Expressions

Well, it has been 8 days since I used the Glade Expressions diffuser and I must admit it seems to be chugging right along.  I placed the lavender scented diffuser in a spare room on a Friday. The room is not used very often so it had become quite musty.  I put the Glade Expressions that I got free as a BzzAgent and it still is scenting the room nicely.
The Glade Mister came in handy when my friend and I had some Italian food in my living room.  The food was heavy on the garlic but I spray a couple of sprays.  The Italian Madarin and Cotten scent filled the room but went away pretty quickly. Fortunately, the food scent didn't linger either.

Sniffing out some savings :-)

I have just joined a website called BzzAgent and they have given me some coupons to get a Glade Expressions Oil Diffuser and Glade Expressions Fragrance Mist.  I used the coupons at Target but haven't set them up yet.

Once I have used them a while I will post a review but I am so excited to try them out.
 

Free Electronics

One way to get free or low cost items is in the "used" arena. Often at used book stores they will give you credit for items that you turn in to them.  Sometimes this is in the form of cash money and sometimes it is in credit.  The cash is usually a significantly lower amount than the credit and you should decide whether to choose the money or credit based on your needs.
My father always said "unless you need the money right then because you can use the credit when your money runs out." Since the credit is more, if will be worth more if you run out of cash.

I have a tradition of around Christmas and the end of the school year of going to the used book store and turning in DVDs, books and audiobooks that I no longer need/want.  Recently I bought a kindle so I scoured my house for things that I could get rid of and purchase electronically.  I went to the store, McKays in Knoxville, and recieve $120 in credit.  The great thing about this store is the credit you recieve can be used on ANYTHING in the store.  My friend, JV, and I went to the electronics area and "purchased" a digital camera and kindle using our credit.

It was wonderful to not only get rid of items that I didn't need, but to get something that I have needed for a while for free!!

Hopefully now that I have a digital camera I will be able to post more pictures on this blog.
 

This moment

Starting again....

 

Starting the year with LOVE

Well, as far as my minifesto goes....
I did go to church this evening. I wanted to see what the Saturday service was at a church near me. I can't really say that I enjoyed it.  I preacher kinda rambled and there wasn't anything pretty to look at when I got bored.  Also, they seemed a little "old school" theologically.
I am going to go to my home church tomorrow if I have something I can wear :-)  I think it will be a refreshing renewal to go back and see everyone.
 

Coincidence?

At the library today, I checked out some interior design books. While there, I found the book The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches by Jeff Yeager. I haven't read it at all but it opened to the page entitled: 101 Free or Very Frugal Things to Do. I loved that each entry had a website devoted to it.

Some of those mentioned were:
Cloud Gazing
Dream Interpretation
Fish Watching?
Free Factory Tours
Pitching Pennies
and my favorite........ Napping

Obviously there are many more listed but I hope to learn some more from this book and have a great year.

Minifesto Tracking
1,5 and 6

2013 Minifesto

This is labeled as a minifest and not manifest because hopefully it will be updated during the spring.

So here it is:

For Winter 2013:

1. My word for the year is "Adore".
2. I will work Monday-Friday like a spider monkey jacked up on Mountain Dew
3. Weekends are for playing only :-)
4. I will go outside for at least 20 minutes everyday. Hopefully walking or exercising.
5. The KitchenAid Ice cream maker will be used frequently
6. Meals will be prepared by me and I will know the ingredients in them
7. Friends and family will be contacted weekly.
8. Church will be on Satudays and Sundays

Goodness, that seems like a great deal of items. I think I have done mind, body, spirit, and social aspects of my life. I am not sure if I missed any areas but since I will be updating this frequently, I am sure I will add when something is needed.

Happy 2013