After summer hanging around way past it's time, we are FINALLY enjoying beautiful colors as the trees change colors, as well as cooler temperatures. So cool, in fact, that the heater has been turned on several times. . . I always love those few weeks in the Spring and the Fall where we need neither air conditioner nor heater!
What have you been doing to save money lately? I need to get myself back into writing out my list of things that I do as the week goes along, but for now these are some of the things that I can remember:
*We went on vacation, and only had the expense of our gas and our motel nights. Our destination was the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, and the park itself is free to get in. :) This, by the way, stems from an agreement that was made by the government when the land for the park was being purchased/taken away from the people who lived there. It was actually written up that no admission would be allowed to be charged for the use of the park. This--in hind sight--has been difficult for operating funds for the park, but great for families like us who are going to enjoy the park!
Our son who is in college four hours away from where we live also drove up and met us at our motel, and he was able to stay two of the three nights we were there. We were not charged an "extra person" charge by our motel, so that was nice as well! Our motel room had a mini fridge, plus a microwave. I also brought up a little cooler box that we have which plugs in and keeps things cool, so it was like having two mini fridges to work with. I was thankful to have both! I had made as much food ahead of time, as I knew we were not going to be hanging out in the motel room but would want to be out hiking as much as possible! I had also received several strong hints that any food from home that was offered to our college son would NOT be refused! ;) So I had made some extra home made oatmeal bread, cornbread muffins, granola, etc. to send back with him to his apartment freezer. He was very thankful for all that I offered him!
*I helped my daughter film a video for a charity fundraiser that she is involved in. Each year, my daughter's music teacher has a Play-a-Thon with her music studio students. The children solicit sponsors to sponsor their playing time, and the money is donated to help an area that a disaster struck. The first year, the children raised money for hurricane Katrina victims. Last year, they raised money to help a school in Santa Rosa, California that was burned to the ground yet the school was trying to still operate. Now this year, the children are raising money for another school that is in the Bahamas and was hit by the recent hurricanes there. While the school itself did sustain some damage, the bigger problem is that several of the teachers lost every single thing that they owned when their homes were destroyed, and many families of the students who attend the school also lost everything. Of course, with this situation, the families of the students are not able to pay tuition for their children to attend school. The school administration does not want to tell the students that they cannot come to school. So this year, my daughter and her fellow music students are trying to raise money simply for operating funds for this school, so the school can stay open and will not have to close.
In years past, I have run my daughter all over town, passing out posters advertising for the Play-a-Thon, talking with people, etc. I am happy to do this, but have not seen a whole lot of people come and listen to the children play music as a result of our advertising. So this year, I suggested that she try a different approach, and she planned out a fund raising video that we could post on-line. So we are trying this method of advertising, and so far, I believe it is reaching more people than our previous years attempts. This is frugal for me, because it saves me much gas and time and energy--yet it does still seem to be an effective way to advertise what the children are doing. We have just under two weeks left until the Play-a-Thon, so we will know by then for sure if this was a good way to tell people about the fundraiser. If you would like to watch the video my daughter made, you can follow this link to go to her fundraiser page. Once on the page, click the "Read More" link, and it will open up and show the video. The video is only three minutes long, but I think she did a great job making it and I am so proud of her kind and giving heart! She has been counting her money to see how much of her own funds she can "sponsor herself" for!
Hope Twinkles Play-a-Thon 3
With all the talk now a days about how teenagers are selfish and only think of themselves, I am very pleased that my daughter and her friends--both teens as well as younger children--are instead trying to see how they can help others!
*I was able to add to my garden flowers with plants that were 75% off! This was quite unexpected. I was driving back home from our shopping trip to Aldi's the other week, when as I drove past our local nursery out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a sign out by the road in front of some potted plants. I was already beyond the nursery driveway when my brain registered just a bit of what that sign said--it was either 25% off, or 75% off--I wasn't quite sure which one. I started arguing with myself about whether I should turn around or not. The traffic was pretty heavy that dime of day. It is not a large road, but can be a pain to wait for the cars to clear so you can go the opposite direction. I was heading home. . . it was lunch time. . . my husband would be home soon. . . BUT, if it WAS 75% off that the sign said, then I definitely wanted to go have a closer look! I wasn't sure, but I THOUGHT I had caught a glimpse of some plants shaped kinda like roses out there in the parking lot. SO. I finally turned around and headed back. Much to my delight and shock, not only was it 75% off, not only were there some roses there, but there were even some DAVID AUSTIN roses!!! If you are a rose person, then you may be familiar with David Austin roses--they are shrub roses. So these are not the tea roses that you plant if you are wanting to pick a bouquet of roses like you get from the florist. These are roses that are full with lots of petals. They grow on bushes. They LOOK like old fashioned roses, but actually are bred to re-bloom unlike most old fashioned roses. And they smell like heaven!!! Oh yes, I love David Austin roses! Around 25 years ago, when we were living in California, I filled our small yard there with David Austin roses. I hated having to leave them behind when we moved from there to Texas! I have thought about planting more David Austin roses, but they are NOT cheap. And I was busy with raising children. And they are NOT cheap! And no weather is as perfect for growing them as California weather is. And did I mention that they are NOT cheap??? In fact, this Spring, I and my husband had stopped at this same nursery and looked at the David Austin roses. We had a spot in our garden that we thought we might splurge and tuck two David Austin roses into. . . but the price was $35 each rose! :0 My sweet husband was still willing to buy me two roses, but it was just SO much money. . . I didn't feel right about spending that much. I know full well that there is a greater chance they will die on me here, and just do not want to spend $35 on something that I am not sure I can keep alive... . . If I spend less, I feel not so bad when (not if) a plant dies on me--know what I mean?
Well here I was, face to face with David Austin roses. At 75% off. Which brought them to a mere $8.75 each. Be still my beating heart! I could feel my pulse start to beat faster. I started to drag out of the pile the first David Austin rose that I saw, parked it next to my daughter who was standing in the parking lot wondering if her mother had gone completely crazy, and told her to guard it while I went into the rose swarm to get another one. She looks at me, probably wondering whom she was to guard this rose from, since there was exactly no one else except she and I pawing through these clearance plants. But I ignored her wondering eyes and took off for the nursery to grab a cart so we could bring some of these beauties into the building and pay for them.
As I continued to pile roses into my cart, she looks at me and asks "Are these the colors that you want?" I looked back at her and replied, "75% off IS my favorite color!!!" I found a total of three David Austin roses and carted them inside to pay. I was floating on air, I am sure, as the cashier looked at me a bit sideways. Maybe she cannot see the beauty in these straggly, thorny plants, but in MY mind's eye they are already full grown and blooming quite profusely all over my garden fence thank-you-very-much! :D I asked as I was purchasing them if their other roses closer to the building were also on clearance, but was told they were "only" 50% off at that point, but that if they didn't sell they would indeed also be placed at 75% off. I will leave you with one guess as to who just might have visited the nursery several more times, whenever I had another errand that took me that direction. . . In the end, I was able to bring home a total of six roses--five of them David Austin roses, and on that is a different breeder but also a shrub rose. I am hopeful that at least SOME will live. I am sure some will not. But the way I look at it, do you want to kill a $35 rose, or kill a $8.75 rose?
WELL, those are my three big things that I have been doing recently to save money! What have you done? I would love to hear how you are blessing your family!
~Susan
