Finance Archives - Busy Moms Helper

Everything You Need to Know about Tipping at Disney World

August 22, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

Are tips accepted in Disney World? Absolutely – but with exceptions. While some Cast members are required to not accept tips for the most part, there are some positions at Disney where customary tipping is expected. Those cast members are paid by Disney as tipped employees, which means they can earn up to $3 less than minimum wage. When you vacation in Disney World, be sure to bring enough cash to cover tips for transportation, certain hotel services, and food servers. Here’s everything you need to know about Tipping at Disney World!

Who are “Tipped Employees?”

The following job types are classified as “tipped” and will gladly accept gratuity for their services.

Drivers: Obviously, the taxi service, or ride share app you use takes tips, but don’t forget about the Mickey’s Magical Express driver. They are your first point of contact on your Walt Disney World vacation and they work hard to make the experience magical. They’ll appreciate the gratuity. Generally, have $1 or $2 handy per piece of luggage they store and retrieve for you. The drivers on the internal buses do not take tips.

Hotel Services: Bell Service cast members are also tipped employees. Generally, anyone handling your bags will accept gratuity. The usual amount is $1 to $2 per bag. Salon and spa services are also tipped. Gratuity for massage, pedicure, etc. should be between 15% and 20% depending on the quality of service.

Food Service: Servers at table service restaurants do accept tips. It is also customary to tip at buffet restaurants, but not counter service or kiosks. The average tip for food service is 18% of the bill before tax. The minimum suggested tip is 15%.

Recognizing the Exceptional Efforts of Non-Tipped Employees

Non tipped Cast members include: ride operators, custodial cast members, outdoor venders and basically anybody not mentioned above. They cannot accept tips unless they have refused up to three times. Even then, the tip is taken to management. The best way to recognize these people for doing an exemplary job is to request a Great Service Fanatic card. You can also call or email Guest Communications: 407-824-4321 wdw.guest.communications@disneyworld.com You can even tweet @WDWToday with #castmembercompliment to show them some extra love and recognition!

Tell us your best experience with a cast member!

Back to School with Mr. Gatti’s

August 17, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

This post is sponsored by Mr. Gatti’s. All opinions are mine alone. #mrgattisbacktoschool

Okay, fellow moms – are you ready for the school year? With all the supplies shopping, meeting teachers, figuring out new schedules or carpools, it can be even busier than normal. Here’s a great idea – take a break from the hassle and enjoy some amazing family time (and fit in a delicious dinner) at the same time by celebrating Back to School with Mr. Gatti’s!

If you’ve never heard of Mr. Gatti’s before – it’s an awesome place where you can not only enjoy a delicious pizza buffet, but also tackle all sorts of games (and win tickets for prizes) in the Game Room arcade area! It’s like an entire evening (or day – lunchtime would be ideal, as well) of having a fun time and making memories with your family.

And because they know how hectic this time of year can be for families, Mr. Gatti’s has a fantastic back-to-school promotion for the entire month of September: you can get a FREE $5 game card with the purchase of a buffet!

Their prices are already phenomenal, so this is some very delicious and fun icing on the cake for your visit.

With everything our family has had going on lately, I knew a night out to enjoy some time together was just what we needed. The kids had an absolute blast playing the games – and it was really special getting to introduce them to some arcade games that WE enjoyed growing up. Pac-Man and Space Invaders were favorites, while some of them couldn’t get enough of motorcycle racing or Whack-A-Minion.

If your kids are like mine, they’ll really like earning tickets while having fun with games, then choosing what prizes they want from the large machine! Plus it’s easy to load whatever amount you want onto the reloadable cards, so they can choose what games they want.

Not just the kids were loving this – hubby and I had a great time playing along with them all, plus watching their reactions to all the excitement.

Most of the games were $0.50-$0.75, with a few being a bit more – so you can fit in quite a few for $5. You may never want to stop with all the family fun, though! It’s also nice that you can choose how to do things. Want to start with games then go eat? Do it. Starving and want food first? Help yourself. Or you can mix it up and do some games, then food, then games. It’s entirely up to you how you want your awesome family night to go at Mr. Gatti’s

With all the stresses of back-to-school, it’s the perfect time to treat your family to a night out of fun and relaxing, and the whole family of all ages can enjoy making some memories together. Food + Games = an amazing evening out with those you love most!

Don’t forget, for the entire month of September you can enjoy Mr. Gatti’s back-to-school promotion: get a free $5 game card with every buffet purchase. Woot woot!

Find your nearest Mr. Gatti’s to make your own family memories HERE

You can also check then out on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter to see all the fun and offerings. Don’t forget to have some family fun amongst all the back-to-school hassle with Mr. Gatti’s!

Kids and Money

July 20, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

Years ago, as a teen working two jobs, I thought I had good financial skills. Now as an adult, I realized that all I had was a lot of money coming in and little needing to go out, so I was able to handle it fine. With bills and responsibilities, good money sense is crucial. Not wanting my kids to end up struggling as adults, I’m trying to instill good financial habits in them when they’re young. Kids and money talk can sometimes be difficult, but it’s super important to start early!

Like I said, the last couple of years in high school I was working two jobs, so had plenty of money coming in – and other than saving for a very affordable used/fixed up old car, not much in the way of expenses. This gave me a false sense of confidence, so once I hit college – and especially married life – reality hit and soon we were deep in debt. I don’t want my kids to deal with that – being an adult making a good income, just to still be skrimping by because of debt payments from past financial mistakes. Kids and money isn’t talked about very often, but I’m hoping more parents realize the need to teach our kids to budget, avoid debt, and make wise decisions with their income.

See our post from a few years ago on kids and money

One challenge I’ve found, is that since we’re so tight on money, the kids notice this ‘focus’ on money and ‘oh, we can’t afford that’. They don’t realize that it’s come from bad choices in the past, purchasing way more wants we should have skipped out on, or waited for. I’ve been trying to change up the conversation with them, explaining that we wouldn’t be in this situation if we had made better choices.

Teaching kids to differentiate between wants and needs is a huge step in building good financial skills. If they can learn delayed gratification, or being able to do without things you don’t really need (so you have more for what you DO need), as kids, that’s all the more ready they’ll be when the BIG decisions come into play.

Another thing I want to teach them, other than how debt can build up quickly, and really hurt you in the long run, is the importance of saving. Having a car suddenly break down, a broken arm requiring a hospital visit, or losing a job may affect your budget in a big way – so by learning to always have a savings for emergencies or the unpredictable, they can be prepared. Being able to save up for big purchases, such as a car, vacation or home, can make a big difference between avoiding debt, as well.

It’s also important to let them know that it’s okay to have fun – just to keep it in check. Good money skills doesn’t mean never spending it on wants, it just means making wise choices. We love making goals to save up for wants – even if it’s just saving up to go to a matinee movie, or LONG term goals of saving up (and looking for the best deals and savings options) for a family vacation. Our kids have learned that we make trades – we eat out less, or go out to activities less, than other families. By doing that, we’re able to save up for bigger things we all want, that in the long run we’d like better anyway. Being able to enjoy yourself is a part of life, it’s just important to not let it be a big negative afterwards.

Lastly, we should be showing them (by example) the blessings of giving. Whether it’s tithing to church, donating to local charities, or helping provide items for the homeless – help them gain that love of caring and giving to others while they’re young, so hopefully when they’re grown it remains.

Kids and Money Overview

Teach delayed gratification for wants
Know the difference between needs and wants
Show the value of time and money – give opportunities to work for money
Debt can build up fast, and can hurt you for a long while – affecting your future budget/income
Plan and save for big purchases
Always have a cushion for unexpected/emergency costs
Make trades – spend less on eating out so you can spend more on vacations
Don’t forget to give – share the blessings
Have fun, make goals – just be wise about your choices

What are your best tips for kids and money?

Also check out these awesome posts about kids & money…

Top 3 Ways to Cut Food Costs at Walt Disney World

July 11, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

When you buy a Disney World Vacation, you get a room and some park tickets. If you’re lucky, you get a free dining plan, as well. But for most people that’s it, and buying a dining plan is not a viable way to save money. During your stay, you encounter all varieties of tiered service options, price ranges and more. You can easily rack up a heavier vacation tab then you expected if you’re not careful. To help, here’s our Top 3 Ways to Cut Food Costs at Walt Disney World.

This fall will be my first time ever trying the Disney Dining plan – and it’s only because we got the free dining special. As I was preparing our park plan and dining reservations, there was so much to look into – and I remember how hard it was figuring out a food budget in previous trips there. I don’t want you to have that stress, as well! So, here are three cost cutting measures you can take while on vacation in Disney World.

Leverage Counter Service

Quick Service is a substantially lower cost way to dine in the parks at Disney World. The entrees are less expensive and there is no gratuity attached to the meal. So, immediately you save money when you choose counter service over table service.

Even after that there are a few more things you can do to leverage the cost of your meal.

1. Drink ice water. Ice water is served for free. You don’t even need to buy anything. Keep that in mind when staying hydrated on hot Orlando days and definitely use this to your advantage when meal time comes around.

2. Purchase shareable entrees. Some quick service locations serve entrees that can easily be shared. It’s a great way to save on meals for guests with smaller appetites. Also, adults can order kids meals for themselves if they don’t want an adult size meal. Some kids check meals are very similar to offerings on the adult menus.

3. Toppings Bars. Some counter service locations have toppings bars. Pecos Bill’s Tall Tale Inn and Cafe is one example. You can augment the already sizable portions with as much of the toppings as you like with no added cost to you. You can even make a side salad out of it. It’s a thing.

Leverage Breakfast

You can go two ways on breakfast to make it work for you:

1. Skip it (as far as eating out goes). Or bring small snacks from home to eat in the hotel room before you start the day. This will cut down on meals by 1/3. You can schedule your lunches earlier to help cover the difference.

2. Fill up. This is a good strategy if you are capable of loading on the calories in the morning and not having another meal until dinner time. If your accommodations include a continental breakfast this can really save you money. You can even pack away some snacks for later. Even a buffet, like one of many character dining experiences around Disney World such as Tusker House, can save you money. Of course that depends on how much you would be likely to spend on lunch, how much a smaller breakfast would be, and how that sum compares to the buffet price.

Be prepared…

There are pros and cons of planning. Planning is meant to make things easier. Life is unpredictable, though and sometimes plans fall through. So, be prepared to change your mind. Preparedness is good, like bringing water and snacks into the park to save money, or planning your next meal to stay on schedule. One thing you definitely don’t want to do is follow through with meal plans if you aren’t really hungry.

When you have a reservation, it’s a little bigger of a deal and there may be a fee involved for cancelling, but generally speaking don’t spend money on food if you aren’t hungry just because it’s what you had planned. It might sound weird, but its really effective. When you get caught up in “we have to do this next” stop and ask yourself if it’s what you really want. This little thing can save hundreds of dollars over vacations for a few years.

I hope you liked these tips and found them insightful. Was there anything you expected to find but didnt? What are your favorite ways to save money while you’re in Disney World. What tips do you plan to use?

How do You Save Money in Disney World?

How to Save Money on Kids’ Clothes

March 23, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

It’s no secret that kids are expensive – like REALLY expensive. I definitely believe it’s worth it – but it is a struggle to manage finances for the majority of families, whether you have a few kids or several. One of the costs with our family that I’ve found a good, consistent system with helping our budget on is the clothing. While this doesn’t work quite as well for adults, here’s a great idea that I’ve come to rely on for How to Save Money on Kids’ Clothes – and since y’all love printables, I’ve even included a handy chart to help you, as well!

When I had my daughter, I received so many cute clothes from grandparents, and hand-me-downs from some relatives that I rarely had to buy any type of clothing for her. That lasted until she was about six, actually! When we had the twins, and then my youngest 18 months after them, it was a new story, though. I knew I needed to find a way to cut that cost, so tried out something new. It took me awhile to really get good at it, but it’s since saved us HUNDREDS on that part of our budget!

The main idea to save money on kids’ clothes: buy them while on major sales/clearance for them to grow into. That way you’re not limited to the size they’re in just right then, and maybe what they currently need won’t be on sale at the time you need it. Let me explain in more detail…

I kept a chart of each child, the types of clothing (tshirt, long sleeved shirt, pants, shorts, pajamas, shoes, etc.) and had rows next to it like in this chart so I could keep track of HOW MANY of each item they had in WHAT SIZE. Here’s an example of using the printable to track it all….

I found that I could get awesome deals on clothing and shoes, but often it wasn’t what size they needed at the time. So I stopped planning for the moment and starting shopping for the future. I’d check the sale and clearance racks, check for coupons, and utilize end-of-season deals to find the best prices on clothes, then looked at my chart to see what sizes they still needed of that item. If they had plenty of tshirts in size 6 already, I didn’t worry about buying it. But if I found a great deal on pants in size 7, and they only had one or two pairs already, I’d nab it and mark it down.

One thing to keep in mind, especially for really little kids that may go through multiple sizes in a year – keep in mind what SEASON they’ll need a certain size. There wasn’t a point in getting my twins any 6 months clothing that was ideal for winter, since they’d wear that size during the summer months.

What got me into some trouble at first, though, was that I’d forget to KEEP TRACK of what I had in the various sizes! So I’d end up with way more shirts for one size, and not enough pajamas. It’s not saving you money if you’re buying way more than they really need, so it’s CRUCIAL that you mark down what you have and keep a record of it. That’s why this printable is so helpful! I list out different clothing such as TShirts, L.S. Shirts (long sleeved shirts), Pants, Shorts, D. Clothes (dress clothes), Pajamas, T. Shoes (tennis shoes/athletic shoes), D. Shoes (dress shoes), Sandals – and leave some empty spots to fill as you’d like! Along the top of the rows is where you can put the size.

Let’s break it down into steps to make sure everyone understands how to do this:

Get a chart (like the printable I’m sharing) and mark down what clothing/shoes each child has in what sizes. Mark the season, if needed.
Decide what you think is a good amount of each item to have. Are they fine with 3 pairs of pajamas, or do they need more? Maybe 7 tshirts is perfect for your kid, or maybe another kid needs more athletic-type pants than others. Make a note of this somewhere (maybe to the side of the chart) so you can know when you hit your ‘happy number’.
Regularly watch for sales, check clearance racks, etc. and see if any items are a great price on there. If so, check on your chart if you still need that item in that particular size for your child. If so, consider getting it. If not, ignore it.
Occasionally (I do about 1-2 times per year, depending on how fast they’re growing) check for their current sizes so you can mark that down to keep in mind at the stores while you’re looking through clothes. (on the printable, there’s space at the bottom to track that)
Store the ‘grow into’ clothes in a tote that’s clearly labeled. Pull it out a couple of times a year as they’re needing to switch out sizes and seasonal items. Maybe mark on the storage container what ‘season’ those clothes are, as well, to make it even easier and quicker to go through.

The Kids’ Clothing Tracker printable is one of our subscriber exclusives, so sign up below to get this fun free printable chart plus our other awesome subscriber-exclusive printables!

It’s ultimately a very simple idea, but you have to keep track and actually implement the idea of planning ahead. Like I said before, you could end up spending MORE money if you don’t keep track of things and buy too many of something or not enough of another. But as long as you keep record – and remember where you store all the clothing for them to grow into – it’s a great way to save money on kids’ clothes! After all, we could all benefit from saving major money in our budget, right? 😉

What’s YOUR best tip for saving money on kids’ clothes?

Announcing the Busy Mom Bundle!

March 1, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

I’ve been working like crazy behind the scenes creating something for all my fellow busy moms out there to make your lives a bit easier, and maybe even more organized. I’m thrilled to finally announce the Busy Mom Bundle! We’ve taken several of our most popular products and are offering them as a complete set for all the parents out there – whether you need help organizing your families important files, want meal plans already done for you for a YEAR, love Disney activities, need a reliable planner, or help planning the best summer camp ever – this Busy Mom Bundle has practically EVERYTHING to help out!

From getting all your important files, documents & information together with the Family Home Binder, to having a whole year’s worth of weekly meal plans (with the recipes, of course) already done for you. Keep track of your schedule and tasks with our beautiful planner. You can even earn money hosting an awesome summer (or Spring Break) camp for kids with our FOUR different themed camp kits – or just enjoy them as bonus activities for your own kiddos!

Plus, both the Disneyland-California AND generic versions of our Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books – perfect for that upcoming Disney trip, or just a great booklet for Disney lovers.

These fabulously fun and helpful books and kits sell individually for $2-$10 EACH (except the planner, it’s always free), but with the Busy Mom Bundle you can nab the whole set for just $8 – that’s less than the cost of ONE of the summer camp kits or the meal plan pack alone!

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So let me break it down a bit so you can see exactly what’s included in this incredible printable bundle pack…

Family Home Binder

4 Cover Designs
Weekly Tasks and To Do Spread
Page for listing household Utilities & Services information
School Information
Weekly Menu & Shopping List
Medical Forms
Family Emergency Plan, Map (fire escape route) & Contacts
Emergency Contact Sheet
Monthly Budget – one blank and one with some general expenses filled in
Babysitter Helper Sheet
Birthday List

2018 Printable Calendar & Weekly Planner

also includes 8 different covers (4 styles, each with the option for the stylized ribbon strip or without it)
This is normally a free printable anyway, so we’re just including in here since it’s also a helpful resource for busy moms

Summer Camp Kits – a great way to earn some extra cash!

The 4 themes include: Arts & Crafts, Wizard (aka Unofficial Harry Potter), Science and Superhero
Don’t want to do a camp? They still make great preschool themes, party plans & ideas or just awesome kid activities!
Each has:
- a cover
- tips and ideas for planning & organizing your camp
- themed food ideas
- activities, games, crafts and/or expiriments
- access to LOTS of free printables to assist in your camp, such as invitations, sign in/out sheets, name tags, coloring pages, photo booth cut-outs, banners, drink labels, food cards, etc.

Both Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books (Disneyland-specific, and the generic version)

Pages for keeping memories and records from your Disney trip
Coloring sheets, games & activities
Plenty of styled & themed autograph pages (also work great for photo pages)
Disneyland version includes ride lists & height requirements

Meal Plan on a Budget

52 Weeks (a whole year) of weekly meal plans already done for you
Breakfast, lunch AND dinner
Recipes all included with page numbers for easy reference
Daily food costs average to less than $5 per person per day!
Blank shopping list for easy grocery list planning

Like I said, the Busy Mom Bundle will be only $8 – such a great savings from buying the printable sets individually! But here’s the thing – we’re celebrating this awesome kit by doing a TWO DAY SALE when it’s live – by selling it for just $7! Yup, when it becomes available in our shop next Tuesday, March 6th at 6am until Thursday, March 8th at 8am you can nab the ENTIRE kit for just $7 – that’s less than a single summer camp kit set or the meal plan book all alone.

So mark your calendars, because this amazing, parent-sanity-saving set will be available starting next week and you can save more by purchasing the first two days. WOOT WOOT!

Don’t want the whole bundle? Check out our other products HERE

Family Home Binder

Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books

2018 Planner & Calendar

Summer Camp Kits or Kid Activity Packs

A YEAR of Meal Plans with Recipes – on a Budget!

Which of the printables would YOU most like to have?

Family Home Binder Printables

February 22, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

Isn’t it such a pain to sort through a ton of documents and files to find the information you need, especially when you’re in a rush? Now you can keep all your family’s important info in one, easy place with these Family Home Binder Printables! We’ve got everything from medical forms and emergency contacts, to shopping lists and babysitter sheets, plus budgets and more to make your life as a busy mom much easier and organized.

After lots of asking around as to what people preferred, we made our home binder printables simple and clean-looking, while still being stylish with some pops of color. It goes perfectly with our 2018 Free Printable Planner, as well as our awesome 52 Weeks of Meal Plans (with recipes) Book! We tried to include the majority of lists and documents that a busy family would need, helping you keep track of everything in one, convenient place. Once you have the PDFs, you can print off as many as you’d like (such as with the monthly budget sheet or weekly menu and shopping lists) – for personal use only, of course 🙂 We even included several cover options, so you can print off whichever you like best.

What’s included in the Family Home Binder Printable pack?

4 Cover Designs – front and back (front has choice of ribbon decor or plain in that blue label piece)
Weekly Tasks and To Do Spread
Page for listing household Utilities & Services information
School Information
Weekly Menu & Shopping List
Medical Forms
Family Emergency Plan, Map (fire escape route) & Contacts
Emergency Contact Sheet
Monthly Budget – one blank and one with some general expenses filled in
Babysitter Helper Sheet
Birthday List

Family Home Binder Printables

That’s a LOT of pages, but super important to have handy when your family needs them. You can nab the entire set now for just $1.99 – what a deal!

Let’s talk about the individual sheets now, shall we? Since many of us need help getting our tasks organized – otherwise we try to keep all our to do’s in our head – here’s the Weekly Tasks & To Do’s spread:

It has the days listed out along the top, and then to the left it’s divided into AM, PM or Eve (evening) so you can spread it out a bit by times, as desired.

One that many people forget to have on-hand is a list of their utility companies, contact information and account numbers – because we don’t really think about it until something happens and we need it RIGHT THEN. Now you can have them all neatly listed out on this sheet. We pre-filled some of the lines with the general types of utilities many people have, but it still has plenty of lines for adding in others as needed.

I never really thought to have a sheet of all my kids’ school information until we took a ‘parents only’ vacation and my uncles were watching them for almost 2 weeks.

Now you can print off a sheet for each school child, and have everything on there – from their homeroom teacher’s info, to their schedule (including bus) and more.

Along with having that easily accessible when you have a sitter, how about a BABYSITTER HELPER sheet? You can add the details for that particular time, plus things like what they should eat and what times. So useful!

For a long while I was using plain, boring paper to write out our family’s weekly menu – now it’s much more fun (and not such an eye-sore on my fridge) with this cute weekly menu that I can fill in.

This is the same design I use in our Meal Plan on a Budget Book, along with the fun shopping list page.

I’m crossing my fingers and knocking on wood right now as I type this (you know, just in case I jinx myself) – but we’ve only had to take a child to the emergency room ONE TIME. With 5 kids, that’s such a lucky blessing! When that did happen, though, I wish we had this medical form so I could have all of his information in one spot to take with us instead of trying to dig it all out and call hubby back home to find the stuff I just didn’t remember. Super stressful!

You can even use it when going to new doctors and such, since you can put all of their allergies, medications, past surgeries and the like on there. This page alone would’ve been well worth the mere $1.99 cost when we had our ER ordeal – and you can nab the whole set for that cost! Woot woot!

To go right along with that form – other emergencies can, unfortunately, happen to our families. Times like this, we don’t have a moment to spare – so it’s extremely important to have a plan. These emergency pages allow you spots to input your family’s emergency plans…

…including a sheet of more emergency contacts. We also included a mostly-blank page where you can draw out a rough idea of your home escape plan, for instances such as a fire.

This is great to practice with the kids regularly, so they know what to do should the worst happen.

Okay, now that we’ve covered those very urgent, hopefully-won’t-be-needed forms, let’s move on to something a little more fun – a place to put all those birthdays we try to keep in our minds constantly! Whether you just track your immediate family’s special days, or include every aunt, uncle and second-cousin-twice-removed, there’s spots for each month!

I know not everyone likes keeping a budget (I’m actually in love with budgeting, so for me it’s fun), but in case you do there’s a sheet to track all of your monthly finances!

We’ve included a sheet that’s partially filled in with common expenses, but also have one blank in case you really want full control over the items and order 🙂

Phew, that’s quite a ton of papers – but when you’ve got an entire family and household to care for it can be SUPER helpful to have all that information in one place. You can either put it in folders, staple it together, place it in a binder, or even just spiral-bind the packet yourself. Whatever you choose, this family home binder printable set is great for any busy mom, dad or family!

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This is included in our Busy Mom Bundle, along with other fabulous printable packs!

Check out our other products HERE

Unofficial Disney Activity & Autograph Books

2018 Planner & Calendar

Summer Camp Kits or Kid Activity Packs

A YEAR of Meal Plans plus Recipes – on a budget!

Ideas for Affordable Date Nights

February 1, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

We received a vehicle to try out for the week, but all opinions are ours alone.

It’s happened so many times during my marriage – we *finally* get a night without the kiddos, but the budget just isn’t large enough to something big or fancy. Not that we mind, because we can still have an incredible time together. If you’re not sure what to do for wallet-friendly adult time, these great Ideas for Affordable Date Nights should help. After all, spending time with your special someone doesn’t have to cost a fortune, and you can spend nothing while still having adventures and making memories together!

Check for Local Deals

Restaurants, movie theaters, local entertainment venues – they often have deals or specials that can save you some money. While the 20% off may not save much, sometimes you can find the Buy 1 Get 1 Free promotion at a great place for dinner or other activity. If you get the Valpak, Weekly Newspaper Ads, or just check online at the venue you’re interested in going to, be sure to check for savings.

Squeeze in ‘Mini’ Dates

You can still do a ‘date’ without spending enough time for a full meal or movie. Sometimes it can save you tons to just do a 30-minute trip to get drinks or frozen yogurt together! Hubby and I sometimes do this right after school drop off in the morning – driving nearby to grab drinks (enjoying the heated seats in the 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport during the cold months, plus the smooth ride for our drinks!) and listening to music WE want to hear for a change. It doesn’t take long, doesn’t require a babysitter or extra planning – it’s just a short chunk between morning drop off and heading to work that we can spend some time.

Don’t Go the ‘Normal’ Times

It’s definitely more convenient for the majority of people to go on their dates in the evenings and weekends. If you’re able, try to fit in a lunch on a weekday instead. Maybe take a shorter lunch at work one day so you can go longer the next with your significant other. This way, meals are often less expensive, wait times are shorter, you avoid most crowds – and if all your kids are in school, you skip the cost of a sitter. This goes along really well with our first idea of searching for deals – many more options are available at the less popular times. This also works great to catch an early matinee instead of a full-price evening movie. As an added bonus – usually less traffic!

Bring Your Date From Home

You can still ‘go out’ without paying for restaurant foods or entertainment. Whip up something tasty at home and bring it along for a picnic, or pack a comfy and large blanket to snuggle in the back seat while reading a book together. A hike is another fun activity – plus exercise, so I guess there’s that bonus. Heck, you could even pull up a movie on Netflix on your phone if you wanted to!

Enjoy a Nice Ride, Music & Conversation

One of the very first dates hubby and I had, I went to meet him late at night when he got off work at a local restaurant. Not many places were still open, so we drove to a park and sat in the car listening to fun music and comedians, and enjoying some great conversation. It’s one of my favorite dates, actually!

We still do this occasionally, like recently when we got to use the 2018 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport for a week. The sound system was AMAZING, and we loved the ability to hook up our phones via bluetooth so we could turn on OUR music. It was plenty roomy for snuggles, and had USB plugs for when the battery on our phones got low. It was also neat having a moon/sun roof – a feature which the kids especially loved when they got to ride in it!

Make Running Errands a Couple’s Chore

I know, doing your grocery shopping for date night doesn’t sound especially amazing – but it can still be quality time together AND you’re saving money by saving time. While you’re at it, pick out a special dinner, dessert and/or drink to share later when you get home, so then it’s even like a double date! Plus, when hubby goes to the store with me, he appreciates me more because he realizes how hard I work to fit shopping into my schedule AND to keep our budget costs down. And don’t forget to take out the car seats ahead of time if you’ll be picking up a LOT of things – like us picking up several bags of salt for our home water filter.

Luckily, the Mitsubishi Outlander had plenty of trunk space – plus a cover so you can’t see that there’s stuff inside when you close the trunk (so we didn’t have to unload it right away)!

Service Projects

This is one on my list for when our lives aren’t QUITE so hectic – volunteering at our local animal shelter together! It’s fun times and memories, plus you’re doing good service for others. Go rake someones leaves, serve food at a homeless shelter, or put together kits to send to troops or those in need. A date doesn’t HAVE to be focused solely on you two, it can be you two also doing good for others.

Hit the Gym

If you go to the gym – or want to start – make it a good time TOGETHER. You can help support and encourage each other, plus maybe have a few laughs at your honey in aerobics class or you attempting a new piece of equipment in the weight room. Friendly competition doesn’t hurt, either.

Have a Date Night ‘In’

This happens the most for us – we just can’t afford/find a sitter, so we get the kids to bed then have a date night at home. We aim to do this at least 1-2 times a week, because it’s quality time together that doesn’t have to cost a single penny extra! We enjoy watching shows together, playing video games, even doing some housework while chatting. What matters is having that time with your special someone, to strengthen your friendship and love together and keep the memories alive.

Babysitter Swap

By the way, an AMAZING way to save money on dates is to take turns with other parents (who you trust, obviously). One night you take your kids AND theirs while they go out, then swap another night. It’s really great if you can get 3-4 (depending on how many kids that would entail) so you rotate more with less of YOUR turns, and then you can even double date!

What’s YOUR favorite affordable date night?

5 Grocery Budget Tips

January 16, 2018 by Danielle Leave a Comment

I hear so many other moms that are just as frustrated with grocery shopping as I am. We not only have to plan the menu, shop for the food, prep & cook the meals, then hope everyone likes it. Don’t even get me started on dishes! With all that to worry about, we shouldn’t be stressing about breaking the bank, too. Hopefully these 5 Grocery Budget Tips can offer a little help as you try to save money AND feed your family quality meals.

Plan your meals in advance – Meal planning is the #1 way to save money on your family’s food. When you have a plan, you can shop in advance, buy in bulk, and buy to sales when available. Don’t forget to ‘shop from your pantry’ to not only save the grocery budget, but also help rotate your food stores before items expire. If meal planning isn’t your thing, check out our Meal Plan on a Budget book – it has 52 weeks of meal plans WITH recipes for you!
Write/type your meal plan on paper – What happens when you get busy and forget what the plan was? Or what if you get sick and someone else needs to fill in? Always put your meal plan on paper. Also, don’t forget your SHOPPING LIST! It does help to organize it on paper by the aisle/area of the store it can be found in – this helps prevent random wandering and potential ‘splurge’ purchases.
Clip coupons – You don’t even have to do it the old-fashioned way anymore. There are coupon apps, digital coupons and other great ways to save coupons for groceries. I’m not a fan of this generally, but every now and then there’s one for something I know I’ll be getting. Every little bit helps!
Shop for sales – You can buy what is on sale on a particular day or week and plan your meals around that. Wait to plan your menu until you see the weekly circular ads. You should also shop for fruits and vegetables that are in season to save more money, and even buy extra then wash, cut and freeze for later on.
Don’t ignore generic products – there are a few things I do prefer getting ‘name brand’ because we can either taste the quality, the ingredients are better and/or the price point just doesn’t make a different. In general, though, we stick to off-brand items – especially if the grocery store you shop at has it’s own ‘brand’ of things – these are often much less expensive!

With these tips, hopefully your grocery budget can not only be less stressful to deal with, but maybe you can even find ways to cut it down and help your finances somewhere else in your budget! Don’t forget to take a look at our Meal Plan on a Budget – affordable, family-friendly recipes already organized into 52 weeks of meal plans (breakfast, lunch AND dinner) with all the recipes there for you!

Car Buying Made Easy

May 23, 2017 by Danielle

When I was little, I remember adults always complaining about all the life changes and such, and wondered why the big deal. Now that I’m ‘adulting’ the best I can, I realize how stressful it is that life throws so many changes our way, and we do the best we can to keep up with it. A big one for us was our plan a year ago to adopt 3 or 4 children into our family, so we got all prepared with a large, 12-passenger van to fit the whole crew. Fast forward to now, we’re adopting 1 child – meaning that vehicle was more space and money that we needed! Luckily, Car Buying was Made Easy thanks to Capital One® Auto Navigator®, and we found the perfect loan AND vehicle for our family – before we even hit the dealership!

As you can probably guess, we’ve been super busy and overwhelmed with everything the past year, so the last thing I wanted was a big hassle for buying our new van. I didn’t want to feel pressured by sales people, or be unsure about which vehicle was right for us. I’m sure you’ve been through all that before, too – the car buying process can sometimes be a nightmare! The Capital One® Auto Navigator® was a lifesaver for us- seriously, it was developed to simplify car buying and financing! This great tool adds transparency to the confusing process of car-shopping by allowing consumers to pre-qualify for auto financing and SEE their financing terms even before visiting a dealer!

Not only can you see if you pre-qualify for auto financing prior to heading to the dealer, but it doesn’t impact your credit score. In other words, no risk! It was also a really quick application process, then once we were pre-qualified we were able to browse – online, in the comfort of our own home with NO sales person pressure – over 3 MILLION vehicles from more than 12,000 participating dealers throughout the country. In other words, we had plenty of options 🙂

Here’s some things to consider as you’re browsing for your new vehicle:

What payment are you COMFORTABLE with, and what would you PREFER
- Just because you’re approved for up to a certain amount doesn’t mean that payment is what’s best for your budget
What are the HAVE TO aspects of your vehicle, and what are just NICE TO HAVE features
- You may not be able to find every single feature you’re wanting, but focus on the have to things then go from there with ‘nice extra’ things – for example, I really would’ve loved a lighter colored interior, but it wasn’t a necessity. I did get all my ‘have to’ points as well as several of my wants, though!

You’ll come to the dealership prepared with your pre-qualification from Capital One® Auto Navigator®, so you don’t have to worry about as much pressure – you’ll also already have some vehicles picked out that you’re wanting. And thanks to Auto Navigator, you already got to see dealer ratings, car reviews and even access to car history reports, so you can be confident in your purchase instead of just relying on sales people to be fully honest and not just focused on making a good sale.

Just because a life change put you in need of a new vehicle, doesn’t mean you have to deal with extra stress and hassle of car buying – because now it can be MUCH less stressful and even FUN when you get pre-qualified beforehand, and even ‘shop’ for your vehicle before leaving your house!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

20 Tools & Charts to Help Kids Save Money

May 9, 2017 by Danielle

Good financial sense is so important, and can have a huge impact on your adult life. A lot of that knowledge and good money habits starts when we’re young, though, so it makes it super important to teach our kids about finances and how to best manage theirs – including saving. To make it a bit more fun, here are 20 Tools & Charts to Help Kids Save Money!

It’s no surprise that my personal favorite are the superhero money banks, right? I also love the board games, the printable checklists and even the job charts for earning extra money.

1. Cashflow Board Game [Two Boys One Girl and a Crazy Mom]

2. Kids Responsibility Money Management Printables [Modern Messy Parents Messy Kids]

3. Guidelines For Teaching Kids About Money [Thirty Hand Made days]

4. Teach Kids About Money Responsibilty Checklist [A Bowl Full Of Lemons]

5. Money Management Skills For Kids [Hay Hay Life]

6. Teaching Kids to Manage Money [Organize Your Stuff Now]

7. 5 Personal Finance For Kids [Everything Finance Blog]

8. Mom I Need Money Job Chart [One Good Thing By Jillee]

9. Fill The Piggy Bank Game [The Kindergarten Connection]

10. Helping Children To Save Plus Free Printable [The Inspiration Edit]

11. Teaching Kids The Value Of Money [Love More Live Blessed]

12. Mini Accountabilty Binder For Kids [Thirty Hand Made Days]

13. DIY Save Spend & Give Jars [Creative Savings Blog]

14. 365 Day Savings Challenge And A Free Printable [Fun Happy Home]

15. Teach Your Kids Money Smarts Chart [The Suburban Mom]

16. My Savings Goal Visual [Educator 101]

17. Mason Jar Superhero Banks [Fireflies and Mudpies]

18. Printable Savings Chart For Kids [Temecula Blogs]

19. Teach Kids To Budget and Free Printables [Kids Money Lessons]

20. Kids Chore Chart With Money [Gridgit]

What money saving idea for kids is your favorite?

Who’s the Hero of Your House?

April 27, 2017 by Danielle

We’re glad to partner with StarTex Power, a subsidiary of Constellation, to bring you this fun quiz & see who’s the hero of your house! Thanks for sponsoring this fun post! #HeroOfTheHouse

There’s so many ways you can be a hero – by helping others, being brave, caring for animals, the list goes on and on. Another way you can be a hero is by helping your family to save money – so when you keep that particular type in mind, who’s the hero in YOUR home? We’ve got a fun quiz to help you find out!

If you want to skip right to the quiz because you just can’t wait to find out who the hero of the house is, then you can TAKE THE QUIZ HERE.

I took the quiz, and was thrilled at my results – I’m the hero of my house! Woot woot! When talking with my kids about some of the questions, I realized I need to do better at teaching them ways they can help the family save energy – thus saving us money, as well. Here’s some great tips from StarTex Power to help out:

Save on Heating & Cooling Your Home:

That bright sun blaring in, or that snow-chilled wind in the winter, can really affect the temperature in your home. Use curtains – especially blackout ones – to help keep that heat or cold outside. If the evenings cool down quite a bit, you can open the windows during that time to help naturally cool the temperature in your home.

This was one I didn’t know – but makes perfect sense! Planting trees in the right spots in your yard can provide shade not only for when you’re outside and getting a bit hot, but for helping keep your house more cool by blocking some of those hot sun rays.

Watch Your Appliances & Tech:

This is one we do – we skip the dry cycle in the dishwasher. We have a rack & area on our counter where we can empty the clean, wet dishes to then they just air dry. This can save quite a bit of energy, especially if you have a big family that uses a LOT of dishes, like us!

Especially with how common technology devices are nowadays, the power for running and charging them can really add up. I work from home, so my computer takes up quite a bit during the day – but I try my best to turn it off when not in use to cut down on power usage. Using a power strip makes it much easier – plus gives you more outlet space than a wall outlet anyway 🙂

Leave Some Water for the Fishes:

Please tell me I’m not the only one who use to be told ‘save some water for the fishes’ when I’d shower too long, or drank a lot at the water fountain! But it’s true – saving water can really make a difference, especially to your utility bills. Cutting your shower time to 5 minutes can really add up – even one minute less can save up to 5 gallons of water. Times that by the 7 people in my house, and that’s a LOT of saved water!

So – are YOU the true hero of the house? Find out now, and see who can save the most energy after utilizing some of these awesome tips!