Get out and enjoy free admission in Atlanta

April 9, 2008 By 1 Comment

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. :)

Filed Under: Activities, Day/Weekend Trips, Saving, Travel in North America

Our Cruise Cost so far…

April 8, 2008 By 1 Comment

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!

Filed Under: Adventures & Vacation, Carnival Cruise, Cruising, Saving

The rundown on Helen's trip

April 8, 2008 By Leave a Comment

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 : PRICELESS

Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips, Georgia, Saving, Travel in North America Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

I have been domesticated!

April 5, 2008 By 3 Comments

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.
Filed Under: Family, Saving

Five Finds for Friday – Cruising

March 14, 2008 By 2 Comments

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.
Filed Under: Cruising, Saving, Travel Tips

Five Finds for Friday – Free Things to Do in Atlanta

March 7, 2008 By 8 Comments

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.
Atlanta Things To Do

Filed Under: Day/Weekend Trips, Saving, Travel in North America

Five Finds for Friday – Budget Travel

February 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment

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.
Filed Under: Saving, Travel Tips

Smart Saving on Cruising

February 24, 2008 By 2 Comments

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.
Filed Under: Cruising, Saving, Travel Tips

Saving with CVS

February 22, 2008 By 3 Comments

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.
Filed Under: Saving

It's a wonderful morning!

February 20, 2008 By 1 Comment

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.

Filed Under: Saving

What can be better than Free?

February 18, 2008 By Leave a Comment

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.

Filed Under: Saving

My Coupon Clipping experiment…

February 14, 2008 By 1 Comment

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!
Filed Under: Family, Saving

Coupon clipping, anyone?

January 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment

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.
Filed Under: Family, Saving
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