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.