I want the best deal......

Do you ever find yourself purchasing an item and then you find that exact item somewhere else for less? I know, it happens to me to. Here is a site that I just started using to help you find the lowest price on groceries:
www.groceryserver.com

What about comparison shopping on non-grocery items? Well, you're in luck. Here is the link for that:
www.pricegrabber.com

Are you getting ready to get a big purchase item? Here is a site that offers reviews by everyday people.
www.buzzillions.com   I also appreciate that the people who write the review are unpaid. I think you get a bit more of an honest review - but that is my own personal opinion.

Kids Eat FREE!!!

Kids Eat Free:

Around the Corner Cafe: Mondays
Details: 301 Harman Way S, Orting WA 360-893-1934
Kids eat a free plate of spaghetti with each purchase of an adult entree.

Cattin's Family Dining: Tuesdays and Wednesdays
Details: 105 9th Avenue SW, Puyallup WA 253-848-3494
Two kids eat free per adult meal purchase.

Chevy's Fresh Mex: Sundays and Tuesdays
Details: 3702 S. Fife Street, Tacoma WA 253-472-5800
Kids eat free with adult meal purchase.

Denny's: Tuesdays and Saturdays from 4-10pm.
Details: Location at 10802 Pacific Ave S., Tacoma WA 253-531-2141
Kids 10 and under, up to two free kids entrees per one regularly priced adult entree purchase. In other words, 1 adult regular priced entree = 2 free kids entrees.

Denny's: Tuesdays from 4-10pm.
Details: 626 S. Hill Park Place E., Puyallup WA 253-848-8575
Kids 10 and under, up to two free kids entrees per one regularly priced adult entree purchase. In other words, 1 adult regular priced entree = 2 free kids entrees.

Farrelli's Wood Fired Pizza: Mondays
Details: 210 Garfield Street S., Tacoma WA 253-538-0202
Receive one free kids meal with every $10 spent by a paying adult.

J.R.'s Whistle Stop: Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays
Details: 22225 Mountain Hwy, Spanaway WA
Kids eat free between 4-9:30pm.

Mis Tres Amigos: Mondays
Details: 17530 Meridian E., Puyallup WA 253-864-8250
One free kids meal for children 12 and under from the Little Amigos Menu per adult meal purchase.

Ricky J's Restaurant: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 3-8pm
Details: 6805 176th St E, Puyallup WA
Receive one free kids meal with the purchase of one regular priced adult entree.

Round Table Pizza: Tuesdays from 5-9pm
Details: 16016 Meridian E, Puyallup WA
Kids 12 & under get a free personal pan pizza with purchase of med, lg, or xl pizza.

Shari's Restaurant: Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays
Details: 10904 Canyon Rd E., Puyallup WA
Kids eat free every night between 4-9pm.

The Ram: Sundays
Details: 3001 N Ruston Way, Tacoma WA 253-756-7886
Kids eat free on Sunday.

The Ram: Mondays
Details: 10403 156th Street E #101, Puyallup WA 253-445-1005
Kids eat free on Monday.

Varsity Grill: Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays
Details: 1114 Broadway, Tacoma WA 253-627-1229
Kids 12 & under eat free every day with purchase of an adult entree.

I have phone numbers on here for most of them so you can call ahead to verify that they are still offering the kids eat free deal. Enjoy!

Family Fun in 2011

Family Fun Savings:

www.kidsbowlfree.com
    This is a nationwide program that offers free bowling for kids that are 15 and younger. However, you do pay for the shoe rental unless you have your own bowling shoes. You can purchase a bowling pass for up to 4 adults. There is a one time fee of $24.95. The pass coupons are emailed to you weekly. You print them off and bring them to the bowling alley that you chose. When it asks you for your referring friends' email; please list mine, candle_link@hotmail.com

Children's Hands on Museum:
    936 Broadway Avenue, Tacoma WA; 253-627-6031
    Free admission on the 1st Friday of each month from 10am-7pm.
    Free admission on Thursdays in June, July, and August for Market Playday (10am-7pm).
    Birthday Celebration - The museum is celebrating its 25th birthday with a special party on the 25th day of every month! Activities include: 25¢ admission for the day, birthday-themed crafts and activities, bubble parades, playdough cupcake decorating, and face painting. Through 2011.
    You can also check out a Play Pass from any Pierce County Library. It gives you free admission for 4 people on the day of your choosing. The Pierce County Library loans you this pass for 3 weeks. They usually keep it behind the counter at the library.
  
KidsQuest Children’s Museum
    Free admission on the 1st Friday of each month from 5-8pm.
    4091 Factoria Square Mall SE, Bellevue WA; 425-637-8100

Museum of Glass:
    Free admission on the 3rd Thursday of each month from 5-8pm.
    1801 Dock St., Tacoma WA; 1-866-4-MUSEUM

Tacoma Art Museum:
    Free admission on the 3rd Thursday of each month from 5-8pm.
    1701 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma WA; 253-272-4258

Washington State History Museum:
    Free admission on the 3rd Thursday of each month from 2-8pm.
    1911 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma WA; 1-888-BE THERE

Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture
    Free admission on the 1st Thursday of each month from 10am-8pm.
    University of Washington, NE 45th St. & 17th Ave. NE, Seattle WA; 206-543-5590

Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum (EMP/SFM)
    Free admission on the 1st Thursday of **most months from 5-8pm.
    325 Fifth Ave. N., Seattle WA; 206-770-2700
**NOTE: Free 1st Thursdays at EMP/SFM will be on hiatus starting in June, until Thursday, October 7, 2011.

Museum of Flight
    Free admission on the 1st Thursday of each month from 5-9pm.
    9404 E. Marginal Way S., Seattle WA; 206-764-5720

Museum of History and Industry
    Free admission on the 1st Thursday of each month from 10am-8pm.
    2700 2th Ave. E., Seattle WA; 206-324-1126

Northwest African American Museum
    Free admission on the 1st Thursday of each month from 11am–7pm.
    2300 S. Massachusetts St., Seattle WA; 206-518-6000

Seattle Art Museum (SAM)
    Free admission on the 1st Thursday of each month from 10am-9pm.
    100 University St., Seattle WA; 206-654-3100

Center for Wooden Boats
    Free admission daily from 10am-8pm during summer, 10am–6pm. fall, winter and spring.
    1010 Valley Street, Seattle WA; 206-382-2628

Frye Art Museum
    Free admission Tuesday through Saturday from 10am–5pm., Sunday,  Noon to 5pm.
    704 Terry Avenue, Seattle WA; 206-622-9250

Olympic Sculpture Park
    Free admission daily beginning 30 minutes prior to sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset.
    2901 Western Avenue, Seattle WA; 206-654-3100

Summit Trading 4-27 to 5-3

Keep in mind that Summit Trading runs produce specials on Wednesdays and meat specials on Thursdays. You can subscribe to their online feed and receive a weekly email of their ad. Don't forget to print off the online only offers! Also - their sales are on 10 pounds or more....especially on the meat and produce.

FREE barilla pasta - with a $10 purchase and the online coupon
$1.88 western family milk - with a $10 purchase and the online coupon
$0.19/lb granny smith apples (WED only, 10 lbs or more)
$0.19/lb cabbage (WED only, 10 lbs or more)
$0.49/lb bananas (10 lbs or more)
4/$1.00 cucumbers (WED only - no minimum is listed)
$0.88/lb whole chicken (frozen bbq flavor)

Here is a link to their ad: www.10lbsormore.com

2-3-2011

I have been really bad about blogging. Seems like the time just gets clear away from me. The deals were pouring in today. I went to Albertsons and used my mfr coupons with the doubler to pick up free hotdogs (6 total) and philadelphia cream cheese at $0.50/box. They had a mfr coupon tag hanging on the shelf and I used a doubler. Later on, I went to RiteAid and picked up 15 cans of Lays Stax potato chips FREE, and 3 tubes of Colgate Total toothpaste for free. I used my up rewards and gained back 1 extra. Altogether, my total at RiteAid (because Uncle Sam wants his portion) was $0.13. I also stopped by my local Safeway and picked up thin cut t-bone steak for $0.48. There are 5 steaks total. YIPPEE! I know what we are eating on Valentine's day!

I get alot of questions about how I get these good buys. Alot are from other websites, texts from friends that are couponing too, some from watching the ads, and saving all my coupons until that item is actually on sale. So much of the coupon game is the wait. Much like fishing. Just because you have a hook with bait on it; does not mean that you are going to catch a fish. Some coupons come up empty, just like baited hook that is reeled in with no bait and no fish. Sometimes you happen to snag an amazing deal which brings me back to the time that I was fishing and had my hook in the water forever. When I finally brought it in there was a gigantic carp on the other end. I mean huge!!! This is how I feel about coupons. I don't use a coupon just because I have it. I use it when I'm getting something I'd normally buy for our family or when something is dirt cheap. The trickiest part is learning when a deal is an amazing deal and when a deal is just a deal. It can also be tricky to learn the coupon policies of the different stores.

It seems to me that most of you would like to know how you can save money for your family. Since alot of my cooking is based off of my couponing - our meals are very cheap. For instance, we had hot dogs (free) on a bun ($0.49 package of 8) with chips (free) for dinner with chocolate milk ($0.10 half of a half gallon)to drink. This fed 6 of us and I only spent $0.59.

I know that my budget for food spending will likely go over this month. There was a sale on raspberries at Summit Trading Post on Wednesday. I picked up raspberries at less than $1.00 per pound. I will be making that into homemade preserves. That will save us money on jelly over time. Nothing is better than homemade jelly/jam in my opinion.

I am looking forward to tomorrow. I get to have coffee with a friend in the morning and my Dad is coming over to spend some time with us. Our kids have no clue. They will be so shocked.

I'm thinking about changing the overall tone of my blog. I mean....do you really want to know what we eat for dinner? Or do you just want to know how I get the deals that I'm getting. Let me know. It will have a lot of pull on my decision of where to go from here on this blog.

Here is my favorite site of the day: http://www.thecouponproject.com/

Science Birthday Party ~What a hit!~

Today was the big party day for our oldest son (11). His birthday is just before Christmas. Typically we wait until January to have his party. This year he asked for a science party. A friend of ours, Brian, came over for the afternoon to be the scientist. He was amazing! I had a program on my son's laptop that was supposed to greet each kiddo and welcome them into our laboratory. My son was going to do an eye scan with a glow stick while the program talked. Big glitch! The program would not load. When it finally did....most the kids were already here and they were ready to start eating lunch. We had bologna sandwiches, cucumber & cream cheese sandwiches, jello jigglers, potato chips, and tang (with dry ice in it for a super cool smokey effect).  My husband and I had decorated the garage last night. But, as you know, it rained! Why was that a problem? Well...we just learned that our garage floor is not sealed. So, moisture came up through the floor. Our streamers had been perfectly hung and now they were sagging and looked like they had been soaked in water all night long. Ugh! What's a parent to do? We decided to pull them tighter so that they were no longer hanging from wall, to knee, to rafter level. Trust me...it looked amazing last night and this morning it looked like we hired a toddler to decorate. No offense to the toddlers out there.
Our scientist had so much fun with the boys. I think he was from Germany...or was he related to Schwarzenegger...it was hard to tell. His accent was so unique and the kids loved it! They liked that he counted in German. Their favorite was the number 5...funf (fuenf). I received a glare at one point because I broke one of the rules. I was talking while it was his turn to talk. Lol!
The kids did a lot of experiments. I appreciated that he had them in groups and they talked amongst their group. Why did that happen? What do you think is going on? It was really neat to hear the ideas that the boys had. Their explanations were quite interesting. Here are some of the experiments that they did:
1. Two empty soda cans and a straw. They were using the straw to blow cans across the table. The cans cans were to stay connected as they went across the table. If you accomplished this...it made "music". Hmmm...I thought that "music" was right up there with fingernails on a chalk board or a fork scraping a metal bowl. But the kids loved it. One kid was able to get it right quite often.
2. Next they had a bent straw and a cheese puff. There were a lot of cheese puffs. The kids were challenged to make the cheese puff hover in the air above their straw. We saw a lot of cheese puffs in the air...a few kids were able to get theirs to hover.
3. The kids were each given a piece of aluminum foil. "Al is your pal!" See - I was listening. They made boats and were asked to put them in a bucket of water to see if they would float. The name of our scientists boat was the USS Sinkalot. One of my sons made a flat boat. He called it the USS Laptop. Guess what....it floated. Then they crumpled them up and tested again to see if they would float. Last, they stomped on their aluminum crumpled up boats. Then they tested it again to see what would happen. You want to know...don't you? Too bad...guess you will have to try it yourself and see what happens. : )
4. Two liter bottles were attached at the neck. He had beads and glittery stuff in them. The kids made whirlpools/tornadoes with them. They observed the motion of the beads and glitter. They had a great conversation about air pressure.
5. My son was sent into the house to grab his highest amount bill. He came back with a $10. He handed it over to our scientist who set it on fire. And....it was just fine. But, the price on my son's face was priceless.
6. He asked my son for a $1. They had a deal. He was going to walk through the dollar bill. If he could not walk through the dollar bill...he would give my son $2. If he could was through the dollar bill...then he would just give it back to him. He then proceeded to cut the $1. He tried to walk through it and decided to have my oldest son give it a try. Brody was able to walk through the $1 and he received $2 in the end. He is now the proud owner of a $1 necklace.
7. Two eggs in separate containers of water. One sunk and the other...well...it eventually floated up to the top.
8. Diet coke and mentos! Need I say more? The kids loved it!

My son asked for cupcakes. He wanted neon frosting on the side; so that the kids could decorate their own cupcakes. We also put sprinkles and chopped up cookies into neon colored test tubes. The kids had so much fun. I could not believe how quickly the time flew by. It was "ultra epic cool" according to one of the boys at the party. I'm sure this party will be remembered for years to come.

1-15-2011 Saturday

Today was filled with pricing more items around town. Made my list of prices at Winco for items that I tend to purchase. I keep this in my coupon binder. That way I know when I am getting a good deal. I still want to make a trip out to Cash & Carry in Parkland and price things in their store. It really does save you money when you take the time to price groceries. I don't price everything....only what we use the most of.

Here is an example from my Costco price list:
flour $0.28/lb, 25 lb sack, $7.10
sugar $0.60/lb, 25 lb sack, $14.99
brown sugar $0.813/lb, 4 lb bag, $3.25
dill pickles $3.69/64 oz.
bisquick $0.51/oz, 4.92/6 lbs/96 oz.

The price list that I care the most about is my staples: bread, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, pickles (yes, pickles are a staple in our home), dried beans, rice, tortilla shells, chicken, beef. I don't bother with pricing things that I'd normally not purchase.

Today was chalk full of busy, busy ,busy! The kids raced their cars at the AWANA grand prix. While they were there, I went out to Puyallup to fill my ink cartridges. Then it was off to Winco to work on my price lists. Met a friend at RiteAid and picked up a space heater - borrowing it to heat my garage up for my oldest son's birthday party. Picked up my husband & kids from church. Went home to have lunch. Drove back out to Puyallup to pick up my ink cartridges. Drove back home. Cleaned up the living room. Practiced the piano for a solo at church tonight. Packed up and headed out the door for church. Came home and had dinner. Are you tired yet? Sometimes I wonder how we manage to do so much in 1 day! I'm worn out just typing all of it.

We had dinner after church. Sometimes that is how we have to roll on Saturday's. We had an easy dinner tonight. My kids wanted to make dinner. So, we had corndogs.

Dinner:
corndogs $0.24/each  = $2.64 We had 11 of them (picked up 1 extra kiddo for the night)
we drank water with dinner

Today's totals:
Food purchases: $0.00
Coupon savings on food: $0.00
Dinner costed: $2.64

Tally for January 2011
Food purchases: $57.90
Coupon savings on food: $49.26
Dinner costs: $24.01 (average is $1.60/dinner, $0.32/person)