Tuesday, July 14th, is Cow Appreciation day.  Which means that if you dress like a cow and go to Chick-Fil-A they will give you a free meal.  If you just have one article of clothing that is cow-ish you will receive a free an entree.  The decision on how well you dressed will be determined by your cashier.  You can find out even more and get costume ideas at the Chick-Fil-A website  Happy Mooing!

It has been far to long since I last posted.  The whole newly married, finishing up school, and having a job seems to take up all my time or at least all of my energy. Today I am determined to break my bad habit of ignoring my blog and talk to you about Traveling on the cheap.

If I had my wish I would be flying abroad every other month and traveling to fun destinations all of the other weekends of the year.  As a newly wed or better stated as a middle class citizen that isn't quite in our budget.  After being stuck inside after so many cold days of winter if you have money or not you are ready to get out of your place.  As a fruganestia I started searching the web to find a way to afford a mini-vacation.  I want to share with you my trips I have found since searching and how I apply them.

 I quickly learned that due to our current location flying was out of limits, so I needed to find a nearby town we could drive to on the weekend.  As I looked around the web for locations to visit I found Shreveport, LA.  Shreveport offers multiple free museums and a family friendly madi gras parade.   I was hooked.  The city was about two hours away, not bad at all.  Thanks to my trusty car this meant we would only be out $30 for gas.   The question was are we willing to travel four hours in one day?  That doesn't sound much fun does it?

So I started scouting hotel costs.  You can find two star hotels for under $40 if you look hard in the area.   I can't complain with the price, but I can say that hotels freak me out if they don't look clean.  After a long discussion with my husband we both decided the way to go would be getting a three star hotel.  We believe its worth paying a little more a quality hotel.  The cheapest deal for three stars in the area seemed to be name your own price on priceline.  After much research and  bidding we snagged a great deal.   We got a three star court yard by Marriott hotel room for $50!  I was so excited about his steal.  For those of you that are about to go online and bid like crazy let me just remind you that priceline does charge fees on top of your bidding amount.  The total after fees ended up costing $65.  I can't complain to much about the price even with the fees though. 

To sum this up we are going into a whole weekend trip with a total cost of $95.  All of our activities we have planned for the weekend are completely free.  The only other extra expense is food which we plan on spending about $50 on the two of us for the weekend trip.  Thanks to urban spoon we were able to scout local eateries and see how other rated them.  Possibly the best part of this website is the menus that most restaurants offer.  You can decide if the food is to your liking and price range before you even get there.

I can't wait to share with you how our adventure went.  Are you tired of the cold and need to get out as well?  Would you be willing to put out this amount of money to get away for a weekend?

I can't wait to share more of my tips and tricks I have been learning!  Check back soon I plan on posting again soon.

Each week I want to share our steels for the week at the grocery store.  When money is tight, the best way to insure a good meal is finding the sales.  This means that I often shop multiple stores a week.  Here are some of my top sales I have found this week.


Special Note:  All sales at Walgreens and Brokeshires requires a store card.  These cards are totally free and can help you earn money for your next shopping trip if you use it enough.  If you want to save, you should get a store card.

Walgreens:
        NICE Mixed Nuts  - $1.59
            Originally $4.49
            Sale Price $1.99
                         -  $0.40 Student discount (20 % off Walgreens products on Wednesday in Arkadelphia)

       Honey Bunches of Oats 14.5 OZ - $1.49
           Originally $4.29
           Sale Price $1.75
                         - $0.25 Student discount (15 % off products on Wednesday in Arkadephia)
 
      Nice Crushed Red Pepper Seasonings - $0.63
           Originally $1.43
           In store coupon price $0.79
                        -  $0.12 Student discount (20% off Walgreens products on Wednesday in Arkadelphia)

Brokeshire's
      (2) Cheerios - $4.00
             Originally $8.46
             Sale price $5.00  (Buy 2 for 5 dollar special)
                           - $1.00 online coupon at Brokeshire's loaded to card (1 dollar off 2 boxes)
      (2) Pillsbury Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - $3.00
             Sale price $5.00 (Buy 2 for 5 dollar special)
                           - $1.00 online coupon at Brokeshire's loaded to card (1 dollar off 2)
                           - $1.00 coupon off one of the products (1 dollar off 2)

These were my main steels for the week.  When we find something we like on a good sale we make sure to stock up.  Using sales and coupons we have found we can eat a lot better than beans and rice.  Good deals paired with with some fun creative recipes makes some really great meals for cheap.  Keep tuned in to learn more about the meals we have been making and some unexpected foods I have learned how to make as well.



Do you have any steels of the week I have forgotten?  Lets talk about it!  I am still new at shopping wisely, share your tips.