The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog » Saving

Saving Tip on Family Vacation Trip: Check out Local City Deals

Amy @ The Q Family — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:27:01 +0000

Travel with kids can be a budget buster for many families but there is a way for you to help save on your next trip with a little planning.

Recently, I have been introduced to a new group deal site that focuses on family-friendly products and activities – Savvy Source.

I am fortunate to live in Atlanta where we have probably one of the most daily deal sites in town.

But even if your city doesn’t have any similar deal site available, you can still check out the destination of your next vacation.

Here are the deals I found in Savvy Source this week from major cities:

San Francisco Bay Area:

$47 for: Family membership to the Oakland Zoo ($95 value)
Have a zoo-per day with the bears, elephants, lions and more.

New York:

$42 for: Pioneer Membership to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum ($85 value)
With all-new exhibits and programs, little ones will be seeing the world with fresh eyes

Philadelphia:

$10 for: Paint your own pottery at The Mud Room ($20 value)
Mud, masterpieces, and memories!

San Francisco Bay Area:

$50 for: Family and Caregiver Membership to Aquarium of the Bay ($100 value)
Go beneath the waves of the San Francisco Bay and discover an underwater world.

Seattle:

$25 for: Eco-friendly toys and crafts at Planet Happy Kids ($50 value)
Making kids happy while keeping the planet happy

I love the family membership program in many children museums, zoo or aquarium. Check out their detail and you might be able to use it in other cities as well!

Also you can join their partner program and receive commission on referral to your friends and families.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Saving Tip on Family Vacation Trip: Check out Local City Deals is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Things to Do with Kids in San Diego

Amy @ The Q Family — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 04:00:19 +0000

I have drafted this post a while back as soon as we know that we are going to San Diego in Winter. But I didn’t have the chance to finish it till now.

It’s not because there is nothing to do in San Diego. But it’s the opposite. There are so many things to do in San Diego. My head is spinning trying to find out what can we fit into our schedule. And no, I still don’t know for sure.

I have to say I’m a real type-A traveler. I have to plan everything to the hours. I’m weird that way. But I think I’m getting better. I think…

This trip I will probably have a list of things to do and leave a few days as free days so we can explore at our own pace.

Without further adieu, here are list of things to do in San Diego that we will try to fit into our trip.

1. San Diego Zoo – It’s one of the top attraction for San Diego. So I don’t have to have a lot of reasons, do I? Kids love to go to the Zoo and this one will probably give them a good work out for a day.

It just likes all the stars align for my trip planning. A couple weeks ago, Carolina @ Kids Go West wrote a post about The Best of San Diego Zoo picked by her kids. What a perfect post for me. I didn’t have to do any research. I will just print out her post and my to-see for that day will be done.

2. Sea World San Diego – I haven’t been to Sea World in Orlando for ages. My kids have never been to Sea World ever. So Sea World is a must on our list. We love aquarium in general and I love to watch live show.

Blogosphere is my friend again when a couple weeks ago (seem to be the theme here) Jamie @ Travel Savvy Mom wrote about 5 Things she learned at Sea World. Her fun post gives us the general idea of what to expect.

3. Legoland – My son will disown me if we skip Legoland. I mean this boy has a serious issue with Lego. A few days ago he announced that he is no longer interested in Thomas the Tank Engine. He is now a Star War Lego fan. How about that!

For this stop, I know I can rely on Bridget @ Family Adventure Guidebooks. She published The Unauthorized Legoland Guidebook‘The Unauthorized Legoland Guidebook’ so that should probably say a lot about her knowledge of this amazing amusement park.

4. La Jolla Beach – Visit Children’s Pool to check out the seal and enjoy the relax beach vacation North of San Diego. As Mudslidemama @ Traveling Mamas put it on her visit “I’m so glad I did! La Jolla is indeed lovely, with cliffs that overhand the Pacific in ways reminiscent of the more rugged views in Northern California.”

After that, we can enjoy watching hang gliders navigate the wind at Cliff Hanger cafe. That’s something we don’t see everyday in Atlanta.

5. Balboa Park – Home of the San Diego Zoo. The country’s largest urban cultural park also houses other museums, performing center and open-air theatre. Even though Mr. Z announced his separation from Thomas, I’m pretty sure that he will run to be the first to ride the Balboa Park Miniature train.

6. Mission Beach – Technically, there will be more beaches in San Diego than you can choose. But at Mission Beach, kids can enjoy the beachfront amusement park at Belmont Park. With free parking and free admission, it’s a good outing for a family.

7. USS Midway Aircraft Carrier – I love taking our kids to visit places or sights that we don’t normally see in our own hometown. The USS Midway is one of such place. It’s not often that we will be in the area that we can visit and explore the US Aircraft Carrier. Ok.. This one is for me, Ok? I want to see the inside of the carrier and learn about life at sea.

Now. This is probably not a complete list of what San Diego has to offer. So have at it… What else should I consider while soaking up the Sun in the South Cal?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Things to Do with Kids in San Diego is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Washington DC With Kids: The White House from Afar

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 04:00:11 +0000

This is the shot of the White House as close as we could get. We went to DC during Spring Break which coincided to the Cherry Blossom festival and added that to the new president who just recently moved in, we competed with a lot of people to secure the ticket to visit the White House and luck wasn’t on our side. But that didn’t discourage us to make our final destination on our last day in DC to be the White House.

First we stopped by at the White House Visitor Center. We were a bit late to watch the free video about the White House history. But there are plenty of other interesting things for you to see. The exhibits throughout the room show the history of the White House. Kids could sit down and enjoy some game or craft. Parents can shop the White House souvenir like jigsaw puzzle of the White House.

Then we continued along the 15th Street NW to check out the exterior of the White House. I was determined to get the most famous pose with the White House front lawn. Unfortunately, the access to that section was closed that day. So we continued our walk to the Lafayette Square to get the backyard shot of the White House. The square was a nice area with only foot traffic so it’s perfect for kids to roam around. After we fueled up at Old Ebbitt Grill, we walked all the way to the Tidal Basin for one last shot of the Cherry flowers.

Adios DC, till we meet again.

Check out other travelers’ Photo Friday at Delicious Baby.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Washington DC With Kids: The White House from Afar is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Fun Free (Cheap) Things to Do with Kids this Summer

Amy @ The Q Family — Sat, 23 May 2009 21:56:00 +0000

Summer is just right around the corner and one of the biggest challenge for all the parents are ‘what to do with our kids for the next 10 weeks’.

I am on the same boat. Last year, we signed them up for Summer camp for most of the Summer. But this year, we will have limited fund to do the same. So I have to come up with some creative and cheap activities for them to enjoy their Summer.

Here are things we have lined up in the Q family.

1. VBS school – This is a great way to engage kids in bible study without boring teaching. There are plenty of churches around our area so I am able to find a few weeks of VBS (with different themes). Most VBS program runs half day for a full week. Think of things you can get done in that timeframe. :) Plus the fun the kids will have. Last year, we went to First Redeemer Church and Bridgeway Church; the program and the planning was so amazing. It was a blast for them.

2. Family Movie Day at AMC – Every Wednesday during this Summer, kids can enjoy family friendly movie at participated AMC theatres for $1.

3. Free Family Move at Movie 400 – Every Tuesday and Thursday, Movie 400 in Cumming will show free family friendly movie. Plus you can get free drink if you bring a canned food for donation.

4. Fun Hiking with REI’s Passport to Adventure program – Introduce kids to hiking and challenge them to win prize with REI’s passport to adventure. Download the journal, check out your local hiking trail, fill out online form to get a certificate of completion and a special prize. Who doesn’t love free gift?

5. Summer Reading program with Barnes and Noble – Kids can earn a free book with they read 8 books this Summer. Join Barns and Nobel Summer Reading Program this year. Download or pick up the Summer Reading Journal to earn free book between May 26th & Sep 7th.

6. Pick up free movie from Redbox every Monday – Ok. Guess you will see a theme here at our household. Movies are big here. So how about one more day of free movie. But this one you can enjoy it at the comfort of your home. Every Monday, check out the Redbox code for free movie and you will be able to have Monday Movie night or Tuesday movie at home before you have to return it before 9pm on Tuesday. Did I mention that it’s FREE?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Fun Free (Cheap) Things to Do with Kids this Summer is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Washington DC with Kids: DC on a Budget

Amy @ The Q Family — Mon, 11 May 2009 18:59:00 +0000

I know you guys probably have had enough for DC trips for a while. But I can’t help to post about how we did this trip on a budget. It’s probably one of my best trip that I have planned everything and think about budget and try to stick to it. Most of our other trips were just wing-it type.. We planned and then we went and then we came back to pay the price later. So here are some of the things we did to give us a fabulous vacation without breaking the bank.

1. Accommodation – Using Priceline for hotel : This was my 2nd time I have used priceline. Everytime, I feel very nervous. It’s hard to be calm when I don’t know what hotel I will get. But overall, I was very happy with our bid. I got a 3.5 star hotel (Sheraton Crystal City) for $80/night during the busiest week in DC – the Cherry Blossom week. Typically, we love to stay in an apartment or hotel suite with kitchen. But this trip, after I did the price comparison between a condo in downtown DC versus a hotel across the river, I found that we would save over $500 (even after adding the cost of eating out for staying in a hotel) over a week stay.

2. Transportation – Using public transportation aka the Metro : The Metro ride was actually one of the highlighted during this trip for Mr. Z. So needless to say, it’s priceless and very budget friendly for us. We stayed in the hotel that only a few stops from the Mall. I checked out the fare in advance and compared to the 7-day pass. I found out that it was cheaper to actually buy individual tickets rather than the pass. Because normally, we planned one museum per day so we just took the metro to our destination and we walked around.

3. Transportation – Drive to DC : That’s another reason why we chose DC for our Spring Break vacation. Flying for a family of 4 could easily cost over $1000. In order to save on traveling fee, we opt to find a vacation spot that within a driving distance. DC is about 10 hours from Atlanta. It wasn’t bad thanks to portable DVD.

4. Food – Check out cheap eat : I am a big fan of TripAdvisor forum. There are great posts about where to eat on different budget. I also checked out Washingtonian for their cheap eat list. It was a great source to find out where the locals are eating without breaking a bank. We did spurlge one night for a fabulous dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill.. All I have to say is.. Yummo!!

5. Food – Restaurant gift certificate : I admitted that I just recently discovered restaurant.com. It has been such a great site to give us permission to eat out without breaking our budget. Then I realized that I can do the same during my vacation. All I had to do was a little bit of planning. I first checked out what restaurants were available in the area that we will be in or visit during our trip. Then I checked out the review from travelling forum like Tripadvisor. In the end, I opted for the more familiar restaurants that we knew well. I got gift certificate for Ted Montana Grill and Z Pizz. Also to add more to the saving, wait when restaurant.com runs their 80% off promotion to buy your gift certificate. I got $10 gift certificate for $0.60. During our trip, we had great dinner for less than $40 for a family of 4.

6. Shopping – Set price for souvenir : This might not be an issue for everyone but for us it was always the one area that nudge us way pass our budget. So this trip, we had set the limit on the souvenir per kid and it was much easier to shop. There wasn’t whining about wanting that $50 toy because they could read the price and saw that it’s over the budget.

7. Activities - Find free or cheap activities around town : Granted DC was easy to do cheap activities because most of the museums are free. But this can also be applied to other cities as well. We actually went to Baltimore for a day to visit the Children museum. I know that doing museum everyday will probably bore Miss J and Mr. Z to death. So a little break from that was a big welcome on this trip. We were able to save money on the Baltimore trip because we had a national wide family pass that the Port Discovery is a member. So we didn’t have to pay for the entrance fee. Be creative and find a way to have fun without breaking a bank!

What other ways do you do to help saving on your trip? Please share! :)

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Washington DC with Kids: DC on a Budget is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Around the Blogosphere

Amy @ The Q Family — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:23:00 +0000

This week, I haven’t been around blogosphere much. Here are the carnivals that I participated in this week.

1) Delicious Baby presented Carnival of Cities: The best way to get to travel around the world without leaving your house.

2) Living Almost Large presented Carnival of Money Stories: The Cartoon edition is very clever and fun. You have gotta read all the cartoon. It will lighten your day from all this financial crisis news.

3) Fix My Personal Finance presented Money Hacks Carnival #33th: The Octoberfest edition is filled with goodies for your finance, investing, saving, retirement and career. Just drink responsibly.

4) Dollar Frugal presented Festival of Frugality #146th: The Benjamin Franklin edition has great round up for overall financial advice from wall street to main street.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Around the Blogosphere is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Around the Blogosphere

Amy @ The Q Family — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 13:22:00 +0000

Last week I was featured in a few money carnivals. Each carnival has such a great post. It took me a while to check them all out. Sit back, relax and check out all the posts.

1) The Financial Blogger presented Money Hacks Carnival # 32: The Have You Ever Edition featured my Coupon of the 21st Century.

2) Funny About Money presented Carnival of Money Stories #78: With the delay, you get twice the stories this week. So it’s a great place to read about various money stories ranging from trying to have a baby, buying a house, getting rid of the house and living on the road, cooking on your vacation and even green cleaning products.

3) Value For Your Life presented Festival of Frugality #145: The Gratitude Edition has a great round up and provides a new perspective during this turmoil time, to be greatful with the positive things in your life.

4) Trip Delivery presented Carnival of Cities: I love this carnival. It gives me a chance to go around the world without even leaving my house. Check out trip from Chicago to Washington DC down to Atlanta. Then cross the Atlantic to London, Amsterdam and around Europe.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Around the Blogosphere is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

13 Ways to Save on Gas

Amy @ The Q Family — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0000

We are on the national news for the gas shortage. It’s mind boggling to think that we will be in this situation when we are no where near where the Hurricanes went. But here we are running out of gas. So here are some ways to help save these precious black gold during this crazy time.

1) Consider carpooling – In Atlanta, not only you will save money on your own gas, you might get a chance to win free money each month.

2) Combine trip to avoid excessive driving.

3) Clean up your car especially your trunk and remove all the junk that causes more weight on your car.

4) Check your tire pressure regularly.

5) Maintain your car with regular maintenance and tune up schedule.

6) Fill up your gas tank during the coolest time of the day.

7) Don’t top of your gas tank. Too much gas will leak out.

8) Buy regular grade gas when possible. Only buy premium if it’s required by car manufacturer.

9) Utilize cruise control on a long distance driving. Maintain steady speed will help minimize the gas consumption.

10) Slow down… Driving too fast will consume more gas.

11) Travel smarter by checking out your route and look for the shorter, safer, straighter route.

12) Watch out for the heavy foot. Slowly accelerate will help save gas.

13) Bigger is not better. If it’s time to get another car, look for more fuel efficient car. Smaller car will cost less in overall.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 13 Ways to Save on Gas is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

I just have to share

Amy @ The Q Family — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:55:00 +0000

Normally, I don’t post about my grocery shopping trip since I figured I’m still a newbie in this coupon thing and it will be boring. But tonight I just have to share my best shopping trip yet.

Publix has a really great sale this week! Mr. Rojo has been asking for his oatmeal for a really long time. Poor man, he can’t have breakfast till I can find sale and coupon. :) So here we go.

Purchase:
- 8 Green Giant Frozen Veggie ($1.00 ea)
- 2 Campbell Select Harvest Soup ($1.20 ea)
- 2 Dannon Yogurt ($0.50 ea)
- 8 Quaker Oatmeal ($1.90 ea)
- 2 Pillsbury Cake Mix ($0.85 ea)
- 8 Hamburger Helper ($0.80 ea)
- 4 Chex Mix ($1.28 ea)
- 2 Ronzoni Smart Taste pasta ($0.90 ea)
- 1 Back to Nature Granola ($2.50 ea)
- 1 Tomato Cherry Vine ($2.50)
- 1 Asparagus ($1.91)
- 2lb Apple Gala ($2.44)
- 1 Donut Glaze ($4.49)

Coupons Used:
- 2 x $0.60/2 Green Giant (IP)
- 2 x $0.50/2 Green Giant (Sunday coupon)
- 6 x $1.00/1 Quaker Oatmeal (IP)
- 2 x $0.50/1 Quaker Oatmeal (Sunday coupon)
- 2 x $1.00/1 Chex Mix (IP)
- 2 x $0.50/1 Chex Mix (Sunday coupon)
- 2 x $0.40/1 Pillsbury Cake Mix (Sunday coupon)
- 2 x $1.00/1 Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta (Sunday coupon)
- 1 x $0.50/2 Campbell Simple Harvest soup (Sunday coupon)
- 8 x $1.00/1 Hamburger Helper (GM Peelie)
- 1 Free Back to Nature WYB 2 Danon (Publix coupon)
- 1 x $1 off 1lb Apple (Target coupon)
- 1 x $5 off $20 purchase (Walgreen coupon)

Total OOP: $14.46
Total Saving: $85.34

I have to say this was also one of the most stressful shopping trip for me. The cashier was not so friendly at all. When I handed her a stack of coupons she sighed so I knew that I might have a hard time. Sure enough, she refused to take Target coupon with manufacturing coupon. So I asked her politely to ask the manager. The manager confirmed that they can’t do that. So I don’t want to fight that battle. Plus Mr. Rojo started to move away from me further and further. I was afraid he will just go wait in the car. hehe.. I just help them sort through the coupons and pulled back Target coupons that I planned to use. But if they did take all my coupons, I will be paying less than $10!!!!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) I just have to share is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Five Finds for Friday: Coupon Sites

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 14:46:00 +0000

Recently, I have been sharing my little knowledge about coupon with my friends. Whenever, I found a great deal I was too excited to keep it to myself. I’m not a coupon expert by any mean. I consider myself a beginning couponer. These are my top five go-to place whenever I plan my shopping for the week.

1) Fiddledeedee – Yes, I chose her for my money and mommy blo g a few weeks ago and I chose her again. She has a great easy-to-follow list of Publix deals(my favorite grocery store).

2) Southern Saver – I just discovered her site recently. She has all the stores that I shop regularly including Kroger, Walgreen, CVS and Publix.. All in one!

3) Hot Coupon World – I think most of the mommy saving moms out there know about this forum. The master of all coupons. I have learned a great deal from this site. The information can be overwhelming but if you just pick one store and take it slowly you will learn it eventually. I’m still learning of course.

4) A Full Cup – Another coupon/deals forum with great resource. The information is similar to HCW however they do have printable coupon for Food Lion which is considering competitor to Publix. So you can save even more using their coupon in Publix.

5) Taylor Town Preview - A great site to show you what Sunday insert coupons you will get for each Sunday. You can check before the weekend to help you determine whether you want to buy the newspaper that week or even if you want to buy extra copy that week.

I hope this will help you in saving on your grocery shopping. Let me know if you have your favorite sites that I haven’t discovered yet.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Five Finds for Friday: Coupon Sites is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Coupon of the 21st Century

Amy @ The Q Family — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 16:10:00 +0000

Coupon as we used to know is a bunch of paper coupons from Sunday newspaper. Then we have Internet Printed coupons from various website. Recently, I have seen a big promotion for Cellfire which is yet another way to help you save money. Cellfire is the coupon on your phone. Basically, you register on Cellfire with your cell number and you will be able to save coupon on your phone via text message or application for web-enable phone like iPhone. I don’t really know how it works on non-iphone. But I can only tell you about my own experience from iPhone point of view.

It’s amazing! There are various stores that are part of cellfire coupons. It’s might not be that many yet but I’m sure once there are more users there will be more offers. So far I have used cellfire with my grocery card. You can load the coupon to your card and it will automatically apply your saving when you purchase the product. Another beauty on this is that you can use this coupon in combination with your traditional paper coupon. For example, if you have $0.50 for a 4-rolls pack of Cottonelle from Sunday newspaper and also you loaded the $0.50 for a 4-rolls pack of Cottonelle to your grocery card, when you buy that toilet paper, you will save a total of $1.00. Easy, right?

I just came back from lunch at Arby’s that I tried my coupon for the first time. I wasn’t sure if they will accept it. I walked in and asked if they accepted Cellfire coupon, sure enough they do. I just show them the screen of my coupon code for the cashier to enter those code and I got my free sandwich!

I think this is a great concept. We have cell phone with us all the time. But how many times that you forget your coupons either in a car or at home? So check them out and see what other offers they have in your area. Now, pardon me as I head to Caribou Coffer to get my large drink with $1 off.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Coupon of the 21st Century is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Around the Blogosphere

Amy @ The Q Family — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 05:00:00 +0000

I have been featured in a fews of the great carnivals this past week. Each of them has a great list of posts. It’s worth to check them out.

1) Living Almost Large is hosting Money Hacks Carnival #29, The Food Haven.. Check them out after your lunch or dinner. Otherwise, you might be drooling all over your computer.

2) Frugal Babe is hosting Festival of Frugality #142. Check out posts ranging from food, recession, saving, shopping, frugal living and everything else in between.

3) Family Travellogue is hosting Carnival of Cities. A great carnival with a lot of great posts of 2 weeks worth. Give you a chance to travel around the world from US cities like my submission of Chattanooga trip to Pattaya, Japan and London.

4) Georgia On My Mind is hosting Georgia Carnival #44. If you are Georgia blogger or plan to visit Georgia, this is a place to check out. Great round up of anything Georgia.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Around the Blogosphere is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Five Finds for Friday – Mommy & Money Blogs

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 05:00:00 +0000

I haven’t done Five Find for Friday for a while but I will get back to do it more often. I have found several or ton of new blogs since I started blogging. But one of the blog that gets me started in this blogosphere is the mommy & money blog.

Here are my finds of those mommies who give us all the tips and tricks to save more money for your family.

1) Money Saving Mom – No need to say another word. This is one of the most popular money blog out there. Crystal has great information for grocery and coupon shopping. She also provides useful article on saving, living frugally and spending wisely on the regular basis as well.

2) The “Cent”sible Sawyer – Another great money blog with all the details for deals and freebies. I check her blog weekly.

3) Fiddledeedee - I love Sarah’s blog because she focuses on Publix. I love to shop at Publix. Also she has a lot of deal for organic shopping which is what I am trying to do.

4) Penny Pinching Parent – I just recently discovered this blog. I love that she gives weekly deals on kids stuff like diaper will detail break down to price per diaper. A great info indeed.

5) Common Sense with Money – Another great money advice site. She provide not only grocery deal but various tips about saving money! I truly enjoy reading her blog.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Five Finds for Friday – Mommy & Money Blogs is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

13 Painless Ways to Save $100

Amy @ The Q Family — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:36:00 +0000

Inspire by Money Saving Mom I have come up with my own 13 Painless Ways we save $100 this year.

1) Pack our own lunch: We have cafeteria in our office but that still costs a lot more than packing our own lunch

2) Pack Miss J lunch: Last year I had Miss J bought lunch at school. But after a few months, I decided that I can give her better lunch and I can also see how much she eat. Plus packing her lunch has saved $$$ along the way.

3) Join CVS game: Before learning the CVS rope, we typically spent close to $800/month for our grocery and Health&Beauty products. But now we have saved probably more than $200 from learning and utilizing CVS program

4) Cut coupon for grocery shopping: Cutting coupon not only help reduce the cost of grocery but I think it forced me to be more vigilent in our spending habit. I admitted that in the past I don’t even look at the price of the products we bought for our grocery. But now, I will only buy if it’s really on sale and I have coupons for them.

5) Change our life insurance and save $1000/year: We have had our term life insurance for several years now. But lately I read that the life insurance price has come down. So I figure I will try to see what kind of the quote we will get. Surprisingly even though we were older (than when we first got the first policy), we pay less for the same exact coverage. So I spent about 30 minutes online to fill up the form for both Mr. Rojo and myself and now we saved $1000/year.

6) Drive our smaller car more often: We have 2 cars. The Hyundai Sonata is our regular car that we used to use on the daily basis. And we also have Totota Corolla. Lately, we have been using the Corolla more because it has better gas mileage. Sometimes I will miss my leather seat in the Sonata but I think the saving is worth it.

7) Change Blockbuster Online plan: After reviewing our entertainment budget and how often we watch the movie, we decided to switch the blockbuster plan to a cheaper plan but still allows us a few movies per month.

8) Use water filter pitcher for water instead of buying bottle of water.

9) Get books from library instead of buying books

10) Use homemade cleaner (aka vinegar) instead of buying chemical cleaner for general purpose cleaning

11) Make my own pancake: Ok… I’m not that good to make it from scratch yet. I still use Bisquick for pancake but it sure saves us a lot more money than buying Eggo frozen waffle. If I can do it, anyone can too.

12) Start herb garden: Well, I can’t really take a full credit on this one since anyone who knows me know that I can’t keep any plant alive. My MIL has been a big help in getting us started. I bought the seed and she nurtured them and now we enjoy our own basil on the patio.

13) Read all saving blogs to learn about deals/freebies.. I can’t thank you all money saving bloggers out there enough how much they have helped me save hundreds by posting about deals they found.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 13 Painless Ways to Save $100 is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

13 Uses for Vinegar

Amy @ The Q Family — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 12:57:00 +0000

Since I started to try eliminate the chemical cleaner and save on the money we spent buying cleaning products, I have been looking at using vinegar. Here are a fraction of uses for vinegar. This edition I will focus on the cleaning in the Kitchen.

1) Clean the microwave by boiling a solution of 1/4 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of water in the microwave. This will loosen splattered on food and deodorize.

2) Clean the grease buildup in an oven by wiping with a cleaning rag that has been moistened in distilled vinegar and water.

3) Clean the kitchen faucet and remove hard water stains by put vinegar on a cloth and let it sit on the back of the kitchen faucet.

4) Clean the coffee maker by fill the reservoir with vinegar and run it through a brewing cycle. Rinse thoroughly with water when the cycle is finished.

5) Clean the dishwasher by running a cup of vinegar through the whole cycle once a month to reduce soap build up on the inner mechanisms and on glassware.

6) Clean wood paneling by using a mixture of 1 ounce of olive oil and 2 ounces of distilled vinegar in 1 quart of warm water. Moisten a soft cloth with the solution and wipe the paneling. The yellowing is then removed by wiping with soft, dry cloth.

7) Clean a teapot by boiling a mixture of water and vinegar in it. This will wipe away the grime.

8) Clean and deodorize the garbage disposal by making vinegar ice cubes and feed them down the disposal. After grinding, run cold water through.

9) Get rid of cooking smells by letting a small pot of vinegar and water simmer on the stove.

10) Freshen a lunchbox by soaking a piece of bread in vinegar and let it sit in the lunchbox over night.

11) Clean the refrigerator by washing with a solution of equal parts water and vinegar.

12) Clean stainless steel by wiping with a vinegar dampened cloth.

13) Remove stubborn rings caused by wet glasses being placed on wood furniture by rubbing with a mixture of equal parts of distilled vinegar and olive oil. Rub with the grain and polish for the best results.

So what other ways you use vinegar in your household?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 13 Uses for Vinegar is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Freebie: Museum Day

Amy @ The Q Family — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 13:36:00 +0000

Thanks to Sarah @ Fiddledeedee about this upcoming free admission to nationwide museum.

The Smithsonian Free Museum day is coming up on Saturday – September 27, 2008. So mark your calendar and download your free admission card here. There are hundred of museums participated nationwide. Check out your local museums and plan your fun free family day with your kids.

I know I will.. I plan to take them to the Center for Puppetry Arts this year. We went to the High Museum last year. It will be fun! I can’t wait.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Freebie: Museum Day is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Around The Blogosphere

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 05:55:00 +0000

I know I’m late updating my Carnival around the blogosphere from last week. In the past 2 weeks I was features in a few Carnivals. Here are the rundown.

1) Stop the Ride presents Carnival of Money Stories: Check out the ABC’s of Money carnival. After all, you will leave with 25 new ideas about money.

2) Student Scrooge presents Festival of Frugality: This is a great edition for Festival of Frugality #136 – Summer school Edition. A really great round up with over 60 posts of great tips and story about how to live frugally from Philosophy, Environment, Geography (Travel) to Extra Credit. And don’t forget to check out the Honor Roll.

3) Can I Get Rich on a Salary presents Money Hacks Carnival: The 23rd Edition of Money Hacks Carnival features great round up

4) Georgia On My Mind presents Georgia Carnival: Check out posts about Georgia or from Georgia bloggers. It’s nice to read my neighbor bloggers.

5) Credit Card Low Down presents Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness: The Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness Edition #52 is up. Make sure to check it out. There are 26 great posts out there.

6) Tip Diva presents Carnival of Tips: The edition has over 30 great tips ranging from Finance, Home, Relationship, Travel and Technology.

7) Quiverfull Family presents Carnival of Family Life: See what’s going on in the family life around the blogosphere.

8) Not The Jet Set presents Green It! Carnival: This is the first time I have joined this carnival. I’m honored to be part of this great Carnival. I consider myself not-yet-green mom but trying to be as green as possible. It’s such a great roundup that I enjoy reading other posts and learn a few more tips along the way.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Around The Blogosphere is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

13 Ways to Be Green and Save your Green ($$)

Amy @ The Q Family — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 05:00:00 +0000

There are a lot of people including myself that thought or still think that going green equal spending a lot of money. But recently, I found out from my own experience that going green is actually helping to save your green bill in your own pocket. Here are 13 ways to go green and save your money.

1. Go for more fuel efficient car – Well, without having to explain it I think this one is a no brainer. Not only we help reduce the pollution but we will also help our own wallet. We sold our mini-van about 6 months ago and opted for a smaller and a bit better gas mileage. Oh.. how we glad we did that even before the gas price rises up to over $4/gallon.

2. Increase A/C temperature by 2 degrees – We use fan at night and set our thermostat to 78 degrees. In the beginning, I am afraid it might be too hot. But so far no one complains. Our electric bill remains the same even though the unit price has increased.

3. Wrap up our water heater – With the investment of about $15 for the water heater blanket, I will be able to save on our energy bill for that amount within a few months. Lower energy means less pollution and also saving on our high energy bill.

4. Change to CFL light bulbs – We started off with the most used room like our kitchen table, bathroom and laundry room. The saving has also shown. We still have a few more rooms to change as soon as I can get it together to do so.

5. Brown bagging with style – Packing your own lunch by far the most recommended way to save money. But if you want to pack your lunch with style why not bring your own utensils as well. Not only you will feel better eating from the real spoon and fork but you will help reduce the plastic consumption as well.

6. No more bottles of water – We bought Brita water filter pitcher. Just fill up with our water and put it in the fridge. Voila.. We have our own water without wasting on the plastic bottle. If we want to go out, we fill it up to our reusable bottle.

7. Forget the gym.. just run – After a few months of paying the gym membership that we haven’t used, it’s time to pull the plug. Mr. Rojo started running instead. With an investment of a great running shoe that costs about the same of one month of the gym membership but it sure will last longer than one month. We have saved on the gym membership and gas on driving there. I guess now I need to get my runnin shoes out and join Mr. Rojo.

8. Use cold settting for washing machine – We hardly use hot setting for our regular loads of laundry anymore. I find that our clothes are just as clean with cold setting. Plus it will use less energy when we forego hot water.

9. Don’t buy books. Use the library card – I admitted I have never been to public library before in Florida. Until recently I didn’t know how to get a library card. But now we check out children books from the library all the time. Not only we save money from buying the book, we are reusing the books so less trees will be killed to make those books.

10. Going slower – Gasp.. This will be one of the thing that Mr. Rojo probably never thought I would have done. Driving at speed limit. I have the thing for getting to my destination with the less amount of time possible. But lately, the gas price that clocks in at more than $4/gallon really got me rethink my driving. So I tried to drive slower.. really slower.. at around 65 mph. And guess what it does help me to get more miles from my car.

11. Grow your own organic vegetable – With the increase in the awareness about organic food, you can easily find organic herb and vegetable from the home improvment store. So it’s not that hard (for people with green thumbs at least) to have your own organic vegetable garden. I did try and I think if I would have bought those plants instead of seed I would be more successful.

12. Use reusable grocery bag – If you shop regularly at Whole Food, you might already know that not only you will help the environment by using your own reusable grocery bags but you will get some money for using it as well. Whole Food gives back 10 cents for each bag your bring when you shop there. Not bad.. If the bag cost $0.99 it will only take 10 trip for it to pay for itself. What are you waiting for.. Go get your own bag. :)

13. No more birthday invitation card – I recently have been using evite for the kids’ birthday invitation. It has so many benefits that I don’t think I will ever go back and use typical invitation cards anymore. For one, it’s Free. And we don’t be wasting the paper to send the card. Also we typically get better response whether they will be able to make it or not. And it has so many designs that I can pick from.. What not to love!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) 13 Ways to Be Green and Save your Green ($$) is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Attention Organic Shoppers!

Amy @ The Q Family — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 04:00:00 +0000

I have been shopping for organic food for a while. I think it started when I picked up coupons and see that the saving I have on my grocery budget allows me to be able to buy more organic food.

I learn a lot along the way on how to shop organic without breaking the bank. Here are a few tips I have learned.

Shop even at the unexpected place

If your area has Big Lots, I suggest you at least check it out. There are several organic items on sale consistently. Keep in mind that Big Lots is like Marshalls of all things. What you see this week might not be there the next week. Also check the expiration date before pick it up. I have found Organic Mac & Cheese that won’t expire till 2009. For $1 per box of Organic Mac & Cheese, you can’t beat that price

Check out online source for coupons
You don’t need to be a price expert to know when it’s a good price. Just let your finger do the work for you. Check out online forum or blog ranging from Hot Coupon World, Organic Grocery Deals, Fiddledeedee, Money Saving Mom, The Centsible Sawyers.. These are my main site that I check each week to see what deals are out there. They have done a great job in compiling all the information for you. Then match those deals with your coupons and head to the store to stock up on sale items. This week I paid $1.50 for a half gallon Organic Valley milk. That’s $3/gallon for an organic milk.. You can’t even buy that for a conventional milk.

Don’t buy only brand name
With the push for more Green and Organic products, grocery stores come out with their own generic brand of organic food.. Good news for you! Look for those products when you can’t find coupon for national brand.

Wait for sale and stock up

This week the organic milk is really a good deal for my area. I am experimenting in freezing my millk. I will let you know the result later.. If you have frozen milk before, please let me know.

You don’t need that Organic Lollipop

It will be nice if we all can afford all organic in our pantry. But the fact is it’s too expensive. So shop wisely and don’t get caught up in all organic for those junk food. I mean come on.. do you really need that Organic Lollipop? If you can only afford one organic item, then pick the one that you eat the most like Milk, Bread, Poultry, or anything from the Dirty Dozen list. It will be different for each family so you should be able to take the list and see which one your family tends to consume the most.

How about you? What are things you know or learn along the way shopping organically?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Attention Organic Shoppers! is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Around the Blogosphere

Amy @ The Q Family — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:52:00 +0000

This Monday I want to do a quick round up on my participation in the Carnival around the blogosphere.

Georgia On My Mind presents Georgia Carnival Edition #38.

Perceptive Travel presents Carnival of Cities. Check out cities from Seattle to Beijing.

Credit Card Lowdown presents Carnival of Money, Growth and Happiness #49. With 22 posts participated in this carnival, you will learn great saving tips perfect for this economy.

Mrs. Nespy’s World present Money Hacks Carnival #17. A geat post with the Music of the ’80s theme. Very great round up from Money Hackers around the blogosphere.

Mrs. Micha present Carnival of Personal Finance #158. The Vampire Slaying edition is a great carnival for Buffy fan and non-fan. Lots of great posts here about saving, frugality and money in general.

Here we are people. My round up for this past week. Thanks for including my post to these carnival. How about you? Have you been on any carnival this past week?

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Around the Blogosphere is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Catch a Reading Bug this Summer

Amy @ The Q Family — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:17:00 +0000

Summer reading is one of the best and most frugal way summer activity we can do with our kids. All we have to do just go to the library and check out books for them to read. Now, the summer reading is not only good for their brain but will also be good for their pocket. There are several programs out there that created to motivate more reading for young children by providing incentive like free book or free pizza. Now how can they not read!

Barnes & Noble Summer Reading

B&N has launched this year Summer Reading. Kids can earn a free book when they read 8 books this summer. The program is as easy as 1-2-3. One read any 8 books. Two use the Summer Reading Journal to write down their favorite part of each book and have parent signs. Three bring back the completed journal to B&N store between May 29th to Sep 2nd. They will get a coupon for a free book!!! Check out more detail here.

Half Price Books

I found this on Money Saving Mom blog. Another great summer reading program for kids. Half Price Books has Feed Your Brain Summer Reading Program for all their participating stores. Kids ages 10 and under can earn $3 Half Price Books shopping card or a Free Kid’s Buffet at CiCi’s Pizza! We don’t have Half Price Books in our state but we sure have CiCi’s Pizza. The nice thing about this program is you can do it every week! This can help our Pizza Friday night in our family.

Forsyth County Library

This is a local program in my neck of the wood. Forsyth County Library has ‘Catching A Reading Bug’ program this Summer. When you sign up your kids to the program, they will give you a log book. Just setup your own goal on how many books you want to read this summer and return the log book by the end of the summer to receive $5 certificate toward your book purchase at your school. Check out your local library for similar program.

What a great way to have a great Summer!!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Catch a Reading Bug this Summer is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Cruising on the Blogosphere

Amy @ The Q Family — Tue, 13 May 2008 09:30:00 +0000

I want to post the Carnival Round up for this week that I have been honored to be part of.. It’s fun to get to read other bloggers’ posts and find new blogs. Come on.. kick off your shoes, get your coffee and enjoy reading!

Carnival of Travel Guide – Join Travel Hacker for another edition of Carnival of Travel Guide.

Carnival of Personal Finance – This edition is hosted at Money Under 30 with a lot of great posts.. You will learn a thing or two from this carnival.

Money Hack Carnival – This edition is hosted at Save and Conquer. Learn about personal finance ebbs and flows throughout our lives.

Mom’s Blogging Carnival – This edition is hosted at Mrs Nespy’s World. Read and learn from mommy bloggers from around the blogsphere.

Carnival of Family Life – Enjoy this edition at Write From Karen. With various topics ranging from Family Finance, Family Health to Family Humor.

Carnival of Cities – From the Bridge of San Francisco to the Shores of Mangalore at Leslie Carbone.

Carnival of Tips – Check out .. whatelse but a blog full of tips at Tip Diva and a whole caravan of the carnival..

Festival of Frugality – Join Four Pillars as we learn to save some money like the riches do.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Cruising on the Blogosphere is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

BOA customer – Free Museums admission

Amy @ The Q Family — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:01:00 +0000

In today’s economic climate, it’s hard to find good deals or freebies that are of any use. Fortunately, I found a bank that is willing to buck this trend.

I’m actually not a customer of BOA. I already have too many credit cards to count in one hand so I don’t need another one to give me more headaches. Although, Bank of America does have a tempting offer.

As a Bank of America customer, you can take advantage of their promotion: “Museums on Us 2008“. This program is sponsored by BOA to give you the opportunity to visit over 70 museums nationwide.

As for Atlanta, there are 3 museums as part of this programs. They have included: Atlanta History Center, Fernbank Museum of Natural History, and Atlanta Botanical Garden. Not bad at all. With May coming up soon, summer vacations are right around the corner. It’s a good way to spend some quality time with your children instead of plopping them in front of the TV or video game du jour. Check them out and plan your weekend to take advantage of this free admission.

Just to clarify, you don’t have to own a high interest rate credit card from BoA to participate. You can have a regular bank account with them to be classified as a customer and participate in these deals.

Thanks to Free 2 Be Frugal for sharing this great deal.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) BOA customer – Free Museums admission is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Be a Hero. "Save the Cash, Save the World"

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:21:00 +0000

Earth day is everyday as we should put it. We live on this Earth so we must treat our home with respect. Ok.. I may sound like a treehugger. Please take no offense. I love them! But I’m not totally green. I can’t forego travelling just yet or eat everything that is organic. But I believe that helping to save the Earth can also save your money as well.

I found several money saving tips that can be used as tips to go green.

- Pack your own lunch : By packing your own lunch you can save at least $10 a meal. In addition to the money saved, it will cut back on the usage of the food packaging used by fast food joints. For example, the cafeteria in the company I work for does not offer biodegradable plastic utensils and serves the food in styrofoam packaging. Both will clog up the landfills. I might need to get on my soapbox at my company and push for biodegradable utensils.

- Change to CFL light bulbs : If everyone just changed one (only one) light bulb to the CFL light bulb in every household in the US, it will reduce the pollution as much as taking 1 million cars of the road for a year. That’s a huge impact! From our personal experience, I can say that our energy bill is less once we started using CFL light bulbs. I still have several light to change. If I can just get Mr. Rojo to get over his fear of heights, I’ll get those last few bulbs changed.

- Turn down your thermostat by 1 degree or more : We don’t need to set the thermostat to 74 degree during Summer to feel comfortable and we don’t need to set it to 70 degree during Winter to feel warmer either. By adjusting your thermostat by 1 degree, you will find that your energy bill will be reduced. The less energy you use, the less pollution generate from power company.

- Use less water : I live in Atlanta area where drought was and is a big deal for us. So I have become more conscience about water usage in our household. I wash the dishes by hand. I do our laundry in full load with cold water. I take a quick shower. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t water my lawn if Mr. Rojo doesn’t insist or the HOA won’t send me any letters reminding us that our lawn looks so pathetic.

- Wrap up water heater and lower temperature setting : A water heater blanket costs less than $15 from Home Depot. It took me about 10 minutes to wrap it up and I can see the difference in our gas bill from the previous year. We also lowered the hot water temperature to 120 degree. This is done to save money as well as for safety reasons. It will reduce the risk of our kids burning themselves if they play with hot water.

- Grow your own herb garden : This is one of my newest experience. I don’t have a green thumb. Unfortunately, I think every plant would rather die instead of live with me, but it’s worth the try when you can buy a $0.99 seed bag and grow your own herb like basil, cilantro or tomato. You will have your own organic veggies and save a ton on your grocery. Plus it’s a good science project to do with your school kids as well.

- Use reusable water bottle instead of plastic water bottle : I admit that we use to buy a case of water bottles for Miss J to pack for her school snack. With all the plastic bottles we went through with just one child in school, it would probably take 1,000 years for those bottles to decompose. So, we switched to use filter water and a reusable water bottle for her. A small step to take and a good opportunity to teach the new generation about the impacts of their choices.

- Use reusable grocery bag : Ok.. This option might not save you money but it sure helps save the environment. Plus you don’t need to spend an arm or a leg for a reusable bag. You can pick it up from virtually any grocery stores now for $0.99 in most stores. Plus you can get a free bag from various sources. I got 2 free bags from Whole Food Market from their Earth Day. I also waited for another free one from Earthbound Farm. You can get one by taking a quiz here. Or you can use your artistic ability that has been hidden to good use and submit a design at Kroger for a free bag here. You must have a Kroger card and the free bag will be loaded to your Kroger card for you to pick up at the store once you have submitted the design.

- Consume less : Oh.. What a concept! Consuming less, saves you money. Also consuming less will produce less waste. It’s like killing two birds with one stone. Except killing two birds wouldn’t be very nice of me and to do it with a stone would be so barbaric. Plus my hand and eye coordination is horrible. The likelyhood of killing two birds with one… Sorry…

So there you have it. Some ways to save your wallet and save the world at the same time.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Be a Hero. "Save the Cash, Save the World" is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

What's for lunch?

Amy @ The Q Family — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:07:00 +0000

Lately, I have been packing lunch bag for Miss J. In the beginning of the school year, I wasn’t so interested in yet packing another lunch for her as her lunch at school is pretty affordable at $1.75 per day. But after talking to her and checking with her on what she had for lunch each day, I realized that I didn’t get what I paid for for her lunch. There are a couple reasons I decided that it’s time for me to get off my behind and pack her lunch in the evening for the next morning.

Saving $1.75 per day doesn’t seem that much. But it sure adds up fast. For a year, we could have saved over $300 per school year. That’s not a little chunk of changes. That’s one of the reason of course.

Another reason is more about nutrition than money. When I pack her lunch, I know exactly what she will eat and how much she ate. At school, there are good choice and bad choice for the food. Kids tend to choose what they like rather what they should eat. Also if she will eat PB&J at school why would I want to spend $1.75 for a PB&J that I can make for a fraction of that cost.

So with that, I started packing her lunch. It’s a very simple process. At night, I just get everything ready in the lunch bag and put it in the fridge. Her typical lunch will have Jelly Sandwich on whole wheat bread (no Peanut butter – weird kid) that I use the cookie cutter to cut it up. She doesn’t like the crust so not only it looks cute but it guarantees that she will eat it all. Then I add a roll up of ham, cut-up strawberries, steam veggies (leftover from dinner) and yogurt drink. Voila! I’m done.

Well, it’s better late than never. So at least now, I can save a few bucks toward our vacation. :)

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) What's for lunch? is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Five Finds for Friday – New Blogs I Discovered

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:03:00 +0000

I’m pretty much a newbie in the blogsphere. So everyday I discover brand new (for me) blog that has been around for a while. These are my new find for this Friday that I digg!

1) Money Hacker Network – A place for Personal Finance Blogger to share and discover each other. I just recently join this group.

2) Cheap Healthy Good – Great blog for food and tips on grocery shopping. With detail recipe and picture, I will sure go back to visit weekly.

3) Get Rich Slowly – Personal Finance blog that tells it like it is with no sugar coated.

4) Wise Bread – A blog community with a group of writers focusing on Frugal Living, Life Hacks, Personal Finance, Deals and more.

5) Are We There Yet – Away.com Family travel blog with loads of information.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Five Finds for Friday – New Blogs I Discovered is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Get out and enjoy free admission in Atlanta

Amy @ The Q Family — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:11:00 +0000

There are a lot of things to do around Atlanta that doesn’t cost much. But when they give out free admission on the special day it’s even better of the deal! I have found several free admission days for several popular attractions around Atlanta. So clear your calendar and plan your Summer or weekend accordingly.

Imagine It! Children Museum - Target Free Second Tuesday : This is a year long promotion sponsored by Target. Every 2nd Tuesday the Children Museum will give out free admission from 1-4pm. I went there this past Tuesday. It was a long wait but it was fun! Check out my experience there here.

The Atlanta Botanical Garden – Earth Day in the Garden (April 22) : Celebrate Earth Day in the Garden with free admission to the Botanical Garden all day long. There will be series of fun and informative activities throughout the day. What would be better than start your Spring outing in the Garden?

High Museum of Art – BOGO ticket on Mother’s day (May 11) : Take your mom out for a day in the High and save the admission fee by buying one adult ticket and get one free.

High Museum of Art – Target Free Family Fun day (June 15) : Celebrate Father’s day with your dad in the High and free admission for the whole gang.

So that will get you busy for a few days. :)

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Get out and enjoy free admission in Atlanta is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Our Cruise Cost so far…

Amy @ The Q Family — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:24:00 +0000

Budget friendly vacation is always my top priority. But I have never been the type who can totally stick to the budget. Hence, I’m really attracted to cruising since the cost is pretty much fixed. Unless, we go on a shopping spree at the port or have $100 meal. Typically, I don’t really budget on how much we want to spend on vacation. For this trip, I will be happy if we can keep it under $3000. Let’s see what is the cost so far:

Carnival Cruise cost for 2 adults and 2 children : $2,012.40
Port Excursion – Grand Cayman (Stingray City Tour) : $132.00
Port Excursion – Orcho Rio (Bamboo Club) : $168.00
Port Excursion – Cozumel (Chankanaab National Park tickets) : $48.00
Transportation in Cozumel approx. : $20.00
Food and shopping : $120.00

So I think this will be the first time that I will have rough idea of our vacation budget. So far if I can keep everything in this range we will come under budget by $500. Not bad for a 7 days vacation in the carribean for a family of 4!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Our Cruise Cost so far… is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

The rundown on Helen's trip

Amy @ The Q Family — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:57:00 +0000

Now that we are in the budget mode. I want to look back at our weekend trip to Helen and analyze our spending. Lodging for 2 nights : $358.76 Food & Dining : $174.39 Shopping & Entertaining : $101.55 Total for this fun family weekend : $634.70 A weekend with your kids and new puppy [...]

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) The rundown on Helen's trip is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

I have been domesticated!

Amy @ The Q Family — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 14:42:00 +0000

Yup.. I have never thought in my lifetime that I will make pancake and waffle in the morning from scratch. Ok.. Not entirely from scratch I use Bisquick but that’s already too many steps for my book. I mean we normally eat pancake and waffle but it comes in the box by Eggo. :)

Last week, I went grocery shopping at Kroger for the huge sale and it dawned on me that I could feed my family breakfast for just a fraction of the cost we are paying for a box of eggo.

This morning, I whipped up blueberry pancake, chocolate chip pancake and chocolate chip waffle. It was so much easier than I thought. I made enough for a few more days so that I can just heat it up on the school day. Those days I don’t have time to make it like this even though it doesn’t take long.

So that’s right my friend. I have moved up one notch of this housewife thing. Pad on the back for me and now I have 1 week worth of pancake.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) I have been domesticated! is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Five Finds for Friday – Cruising

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:58:00 +0000

TGIF.. everyone!

This Friday I can’t help but talk about planning for a cruise. As I recently just got an email reminder from my cruise agency company for the rest of the balance on my cruise. During the process of planning this cruise, I have found several sites that are very helpful during my process. Here are my Five Find for Friday this week.

1) Cruise Critic – An amazing website and active message boards with load of information. Here from this website that I learn that people do cruise religiously! The information section is well organized. Best of all, the message board is full of active cruisers who are willing to share their wealth of information and answer any questions.

2) Cruise Compete – This site is like a Lending Tree of cruise booking. You submit your itenerary and they will send to cruise agencies who will respond with their quote. Even if you don’t feel like spend a large sum of your money to someone you have never met, this is still a good site to get your baseline and shop around with travel agent company.

3) Cruise Mates – Another online cruise information and community. You can never have too much information when it comes to plan your vacation.

4) Fodors – The destination guide website that provides information not only for land travel but cruise travel as well. It’s good to find out what other activities you can do at the port of call. If you are more adventurous you might even find it more interesting than follow typical port excursions.

5) Expedia - I didn’t use expedia at this trip because I have no need to find airline flight or hotel. But if you are the DIY type and plan to book your flight and hotel seperately then this is a site worth looking. But keep in mind that most travel agency will handle all your travel arrangement together which might be better choice and less headache.

Well, hope this will be helpful on your next cruise planning. Enjoy cruising!

Check out other tips from Frugal Friday here.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Five Finds for Friday – Cruising is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Five Finds for Friday – Free Things to Do in Atlanta

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:24:00 +0000

Aloha Friday!!! This weekend seems to be a nice weekend with a bit chilling weather ahead. But with Sunny sky on Sunday, it will be nice to plan your weekend for some free things to do in Atlanta.

1) Tour historic district on various cities around Atlanta : City of Decatur, Marietta Square, or Roswell Historic District. Don’t forget to check various events throughout the year.

2) Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site : Tour the Birth Home of Dr. King with park ranger guide. Also check out the exhibit at the Visitor Center and pay respect to Dr. King at the Peace plaza.

3) Biking along the PATH various trails : Check out a network of off-road trails in and around Atlanta. These series of scenic greenways offer a great opportunities for your family to enjoy nature together free of charge!

4) Georgia Capitol Museum : Check out the State Capitol Museum with historic artifacts and exhibits. Attend the State Capitol tour to learn more about Georgia history.

5) Ride The Buc : The Buckhead free shuttle bus that allows you to explore exquisite homes, shopping and dining plaza. You can also check out the Governor’s Mansion and the Atlanta History Center.

‘What’s your favorite weekend activity in your family?’

For us, we love to just hang out in our PJs as long as we could and then head out to a park or a bike ride in the neighborhood.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Five Finds for Friday – Free Things to Do in Atlanta is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Five Finds for Friday – Budget Travel

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:18:00 +0000

I want to start a new ritual on my blog. Five Find for Friday will be about five things I find useful for Friday. It will be something that will help in planning a great weekend trips or an upcoming vacation.

The first one for this Friday is about five websites for planning your vacation on a budget.

1) VRBO.com – The Vacation Rentals By Owner is a good and economical way to save on your accomodation. You will definitely get more for your money when comparing to book a hotel versus a villa at your destination. The site is in a simple design at best. Don’t expect any fancy graphic or feature but it gets the job done.

2) Wi-Fi Free Spot – With the new technology you can’t deny the fact that internet is part of everyday life. Even if you want to get rid of it but sometimes it becomes handy during your vacation. This site allows you to find out where the Wi-Fi free spot is on your destination. Save yourself from internet cafe charge for your souvenir.

3) Airfare Watchdog – Sign up for the weekly newsletter of home city for any deals during that week. There are deals that are unadvertised and you will be the first one to know. The site will take you to the booking site that has that promotion.

4) Budget Travel – Provide deals and round up of deal of the month. This site is easy to navigate. However, the destination information is not as extensive as other well-known destination guide site.

5) Frommers – This well-established destination guide website is based from best selling travel books publisher. You can literally find the information for any destination with well written information. I always go there first to check out the information about my destination.

So there’s my find for this week. There are plenty more that I’m sure are equally good. But hey! you can’t please everyone, right?

Let me know what is your find for this Friday! Check out more finds here at Frugal Friday.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Five Finds for Friday – Budget Travel is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Smart Saving on Cruising

Amy @ The Q Family — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:29:00 +0000

As our cruise vacation is approaching (Yeah!!!), I have learned so much during this process. A lot of people might wonder why since this is not our first cruise. True. But this is the first cruise that I handle all the booking and planning myself. Our Disney Cruise was handled by a friend so I didn’t have to worry about shopping for the cheapest one or learning other tips from other cruisers (much to my regret though). So this time, I determined to learn more and be a more educated traveler (or cruiser in this matter).

So here are some of the tips that I learned and did.

1) Book the cheapest stateroom available – This advice might not be for everyone since we all have different priority. For me, this trip my goal is to explore and enjoy ourselves outside our room. So room size or amenity is not my top priority. My budget on the other hand is on the top of my priority. For us, I went for the lowest catgeory which is IS. This is the Interior Stateroom – No Guarantee. It means we won’t know where our room will be yet. It’s a bit of the gamble at this point. I figure I will pack a lot of Bonnie and Dramamine.

2) Book your excursion yourself – The price of the excursion offering my the cruise company can be as high as 20% more than private tour at the port. However, I have to put a note here that I also book an excursion via cruiseline on certain port. It will depend on your comfort level. Some people just feel safer going with the cruise knowing that they will wait for you if there is any problem. For me, I book an excursion in Jamaica via the ship only because it’s cheaper than if I go directly with the resort.

3) Don’t try to do too much – Sometimes the best saving is to do nothing at the port. After all, the best way to explore is maybe wandering around. Again, make sure that you have good understanding on the safety in each port. I decided to forego any excursion in Mexico. We will take a cab to the park and enjoy a day on the beach.

4) Stay with friend before boarding the ship – If you like most cruisers who have to fly or drive to the port the day before, the hotel cost will add to your budget. We are lucky enough to have a few friends in FL so we will crash at their place instead of paying for a night in a hotel.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Smart Saving on Cruising is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Saving with CVS

Amy @ The Q Family — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 06:24:00 +0000

As I mentioned before that I recently took up Coupon Clipping, it has been a good experience so far. And this week I have taken one step further by trying out CVS phenom. I have heard (or read) so much about how you can save a bundle with CVS coupon and ECB system. Since I already have CVS card and a CVS store nearby I figured I will give it a try.

First of, I headed to CVS store to pick up this week ad. I didn’t get it from Sunday newspaper and because I like to look at newspaper or insert instead of view it online. Then I started to scan it through my coupons to see if I can match anything up and also look for special deals especially one with ECB.

Here are some of the deals I got.

- Toothpaste – $2.99 – $2 ECB – $0.50 Coupon = $0.49

- Huggie – $8.99 – $2 Coupon = $6.99

- Hershey’s – $2.99 – $2 off = $0.99

The bottom line is I paid about $23 for products worth $51. So not bad for a first timer. Pad myself in the back for that!! :)

Check out other saving tips here.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Saving with CVS is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

It's a wonderful morning!

Amy @ The Q Family — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 09:49:00 +0000

Nothing beats waking up and checking your bank and found money from Uncle Sam. Well, technically it’s my money all along. I just loaned it to them during the period of one year for my tax. I know that it’s not a really practical or logical way to get a large refund back from IRS. But hey, I tried and I still overpaid my tax every year!

But today, I’m not gonna beat myself up about how much I overpaid my tax. But rather, I want to brag in the fact that using Turbo Tax has been a way for me to file my tax in the record time this year. E-file is a way to go for anyone. Plus choosing to do direct deposit will help speed thing up a bit as well. Now, I just have to wait for my Tax Stimulus rebate from Mr. President!

What work best for me is the fact that using Turbo Tax allows you to do your tax without paying them first. So you can put all your information and see right away whether you will owe any tax or will get any refund. And for a shopper, it will also help if you want to check whether you can do better than your overprice accountant. After all, most of them might also use the same application like Turbo Tax if you don’t have any complicate situations.

Check out other tips from here.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) It's a wonderful morning! is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

What can be better than Free?

Amy @ The Q Family — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 18:45:00 +0000

Ok. Before we get into this, I want to put a disclaimer that I have no beef against Quicken or Microsoft. This is just one mom’s (busy one mind you)experience and opinion.

I have been a loyal user for Quicken for a long time. I have come a long way from just putting every penny on my notebook to track my expense to the 21st century of the computer application. However, with all the bells and whistles that Quicken offered, I didn’t seem to be able to keep up with my expense tracking. I mean seriously.. who has time to download each account and update it manually.. Worst of all, with my OCD I can’t go to sleep till I have RECONCILED that darn penny that is missing!!!! Seriously!

So most of the time I would be updating for a few months and then didn’t do a thing for the next 5 months. Then I would have to find time to update that last 5 months. So I know it’s not working for me.

Until, I have found Yodlee MoneyCenter. This is a FREE, online money management program. They don’t have all other fancies stuff like Quicken but I think for my purpose it’s more than enough.

You might not have heard of Yodlee but this company is the tool behind several financial companies that you might have used it yourself like Fidelity, ING and well.. check out their website.

So if I have to put it, this is one of my time and money saving tool that I highly recommend to anyone who is looking to leverage their time.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) What can be better than Free? is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

My Coupon Clipping experiment…

Amy @ The Q Family — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 01:19:00 +0000

Well, I have been reading WFMW carnival for a while. But I have never participated. But I think this time I have something to contribute. So here it goes..

After 3 weeks on clipping coupon experiment, I admitted that I’m pretty addicted to it. How so? Well, one Sat’s night I woke up and panic that I forgot to buy Sunday’s newspaper but it was just Saturday!!!

How did I do with my experiment so far?

Well, first week was a disaster. I spent a lot of time sorting it and cutting it. But the money saving has kept me going and figured that as a newbie I’m allowed extra time for learning curve.

Second week, I save over $30 in total (more than 1 trip to the grocery though). I mainly shopped at Publix. So I just shopped based on whatever on sale on that week.

So I have to say.. So far so good. Still buying newspaper on Sunday and cutting coupon as my therapeutic afternoon activity (how sad is that?)

There are a few things that I find work best for me.

1) Buy the double version of Sunday newspaper. Normally it will cost about 50 cents more and you will get 2 sets of your coupon which comes handy when you shop.

2) Always look for BOGO (Buy One Get One Free) deal and use 2 coupons. This will pretty much guarantee your saving

3) Use the check-size accordion wallet. I just create category based on the aisle in the grocery store and sort the coupon as I clip them. It takes no time to do so.

4) Attach a paper clip on the front and use that when I go shopping for the stuff from your shopping list.

Well, here you go.. my first WFMW. Hope it will work for you too! Also check out other useful tips from other bloggers here!

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) My Coupon Clipping experiment… is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

Coupon clipping, anyone?

Amy @ The Q Family — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 23:14:00 +0000

Ok, with a long weekend this past week it would have been nice for us to get out of town and hit one of those places that I have been researching, blogging and dreaming about. But unfortunately, my husband had 5 wisdom teeth pulled on Friday. Yup! You heard that right.. Five.. He is one smart guy to have 5 wisdom teeth!

So this weekend, we ended up enjoying another day of snow at home. And I decided to try something new this week. I will try to see if I can really save on my grocery using coupon. Well, watching Oprah and all gave me some inspiration. :)

First of, went to Walmart to get myself a Sunday newspaper. Who knew that they had BOGO (Buy One Get One) deal for newspaper too. So I got 2 Sunday newspaper in the price of one. I promised myself that if I can’t save at least $10 then I wouldn’t bother to do it again. Cutting and sorting coupons does take some times and I want it to be well worth spending.

After I cut and sorted and checked out the deal on the newspaper, I went to see how much I can save. Well, my first try wasn’t bad. I saved $16.41 in Publix and another $17.76 in Ingles. So I have to say I will keep trying this coupon thing and one day I might be able to say that I pay $10 for a grocery worth $100 like other moms. We will see.

Thanks for reading my feed. Please stop by to say hi or leave a comment! :) Coupon clipping, anyone? is a post from: The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog

The Q Family Adventures Travel Blog » Saving

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