Winter is a great time to have some frugal fun. Reduce your entertainment budget with the following ideas. Fun in the Snow If you are lucky enough to have snow in your region this winter, then you can have a ton of free fun such as: Putting water and food coloring into spray bottles, then creating snow art. Will you create the Mona Lisa or Bart Simpson? Building a snowman or two. Have a family contest for the biggest, most creative or funniest creation. You can also gift someone a homemade snowman kit. Just provide an old hat, charcoal briquettes, … Continue reading →

Forget the expensive and possibly toxic store bought face paint. You can make a rainbow of colors with homemade face paint for a fraction of the cost. Customize the facepaint for just your own trick or treaters, or create enough face paint for a party or a Halloween event. Ingredients: 1 tsp. cornstarch, 
1/2 tsp. water, 
1/2 tsp. cold cream, 
2 drops food coloring Repeat ingredients for each color of the homemade face paint that you need. The face paint goes a long way, but for multiple children, increase the recipe to make sure you have enough to go around. … Continue reading →

If your calendar isn’t yet booked with fun things to do this fall, you might want to look around a bit. Now is one of the best times of year to find plenty of free events to entertain the kids and even the whole family. Check out the following options that may be available in your area. Trunk or Treat Many churches and places of worship sponsor trunk or treat events, that are either on a weekday or a weekend, during the day or in the evening, so there are a lot of scheduling options. During a trunk or treat … Continue reading →

We are in somewhat unique (in our area) position of having three children, not two not four but three. Most people don’t understand three. It isn’t an even number. Why stop at three, why didn’t you stop at two? A family of five bothers people because they don’t know what to think of it. Is it a large family or a small family? For us it is a just right family, of course, but the world at large doesn’t see it that way. For example, if we want to book a hotel room, we are mostly told that the maximum … Continue reading →

It seemed as though we woke up one day and realized that summer vacation was almost over. My husband finally got some time off, so we planned some vacation time. Of course, we tried to do it as frugally as we could. Here are some of the ways that we saved. We chose local attractions, within two hours drive. This way, we wouldn’t have to spend money on accommodations, which can be a significant cost when you a family of five. Most hotels will not accommodate families of more than four in a regular hotel room, which means you either … Continue reading →

When we first moved in to our current home, we decided that we really needed a playset complete with swings, slide and climbing apparatus. Of course, it couldn’t be just any play system. After doing a lot of research, my husband declared that only a Rainbow Systems play set would do. It was actually the only one that we had really been exposed to, so we really have nothing else to compare it to. It could be that other systems are better, probably cheaper. We visited the showroom, stood firm against the upgrades and declared the system that we wanted. … Continue reading →

Are the kids clambering for a theme park vacation this summer? Are you clambering for a way out of the great expense of it? You don’t have to. Just take advantage of these theme park discounts and ways to save on your theme park vacation. Make their dreams come true for less. Local Theme Parks Residents can often get deep discounts on local theme parks. Even without this benefit, lesser known parks can often be much less expensive than the bigger ones. Plus, you may save a bundle on travel expenses. Find out if there any theme parks in your … Continue reading →

Summer is one of my favorite times of the year, not just for the great weather and the easy living but for all of the wonderful free fun that can be had, from free classes to free concerts, free food to free movies. You just have to know where to look. Skip the expense of the summer camp and take advantage of plenty of free fun for the kids instead. Do some research to find free events. Start local and work your way out. Find out if your town or city has a website or cable channel that lists free … Continue reading →