Bloom Everyday
Inspiration for Healthy Living.Archive for BE Frugal
Where to Put Christmas Cards
The best place I love to put Christmas cards is in my living room, on top of a bookshelf or mantel. It displays all of the cards and shows all the love I recieved this year.
Where do you put your cards?
Check out Tinyprints for some great card ideas!
Free Christmas Cards for Bloggers
Goodness gracious – it’s that busy time of year! I will post more soon on some delicious holiday recipes and quick, easy dinner ideas soon.
But I had to share this! Tinyprints is offering 50 free holiday cards to bloggers! Check it out at their website.
Check it out, these cards are so cute!!
Pack Mule: Vacationing on a Budget without Missing Out!
Traveling is a luxury my husband and I enjoy. We love to travel and see new places! The adventure of experiencing the culture of a newfound place, trying new cuisine, and going to all of the hot spots is something we look forward to. All of these things however don’t come for free. Though, I believe you can travel, be frugal, and still get all the benefits of immersing yourself in the trip completely!
For instance, we recently went on our honeymoon to beautiful San Diego!
We stayed in a high-end hotel in the Gaslamp District, ate out every night, and enjoyed a ton of the must-see places. How did we not miss anything and do it all on a budget?
1. Travel Sites actually can provide you with some excellent deals. Shop around each one, it takes a little research, but you could end up saving over $400 dollars just by looking at a different site! We also bundled our flight and hotel – and like the commercials say – it saved us some moo-lah. We were able to say in a historic downtown hotel for an entire week with a view of the bay!
2. Research airports. We live in a fairly smaller town out west. Let’s just say that airfare is about $200 extra per ticket because it can be. We were okay with driving a couple hours to a major airport and flying out from there – this saved us $400 dollars! We got a little road trip in together, made it to the airport, and were in San Diego the same day.
3. Pick a central location. We did a little research, found a hotel we liked, and made sure it was close to a lot of things to do.
We were able to walk to the Gaslamp District in 5 minutes…
…20 minutes to the pier…
…and 45 minutes to Balboa Park.
By selecting a location that allowed us to walk or ride the bus places saved us money by not taking a taxi and also provided us with some exercise! Buying a bus or trolley day pass allowed us to travel easily from one place to the other all day.
4. Restaurants.com. I swear by this website. Sometimes you can get great deals and spend $3 for a $25 gift certificate to a restaurant you specially picked out. Mark and I went through the list, looked at menus, and picked several restaurants to try when we were there – and we were not disappointment by one of them! We ate at Italian, Mexican, Afghani, and Indian restaurants. We actually ate at this one restaurant where you sit on the floor for dinner, totally unique! We were able to splurge a little extra and still save money at these restaurants. We still left room for spontaneity, having impromptu lunches and even a couple unplanned dinners. We were able to eat at all the places we wanted to.
5. Pack snacks. Now this seems a little silly, but you’d be shocked at how much you’d save by packing snacks. Before we left, I threw some bars I picked up in the discount bin at my local supermarket, peanut butter, pretzels, trail mix, cheese snack crackers, lots of water, and some nuts in a bag. We were set. We grabbed a few for the plane and we were set. Airport snacks cost an arm-and-a-leg – we had minimal airport food cost because of this. Also, once you reach your destination – track down a convenience store and pick up a few breakfast items. We got two small boxes of cereal for $2.00 that lasted us the whole week and saved us $15 to $20 breakfasts out each morning!
6. Tourist traps. We totally did the tourist thing.
We went to Sea World…
…the Zoo…
…and Balboa Park.
These also come with a hefty price tag. Mark did some research and found us a Balboa Park pass for under $100 each. This let us into the Zoo for an entire day, all the museums and gardens at the park for the week, and gave us special access to different things around San Diego and the Park! Do a little digging about the destination you are going to and I am sure you can find a City Pass or some great deal that can save you money. If you are still a student, you can get all types of deals as well. If you have Triple A, you can get a 10% discount at some places (we got a discount at SeaWorld because of this)! Just ask for whatever deals they offer and you’d be surprise what you might be able to take advantage of.
7. Asked the locals. They live there; they most likely know what kind of deals are around the area. They will know the best places to go and how to do it cheaply. Hotel staff is a good pick too – ask them for their personal opinion and they can help guide you on their top picks.
With a little digging and research, you can plan a vacation on a budget but it will still be packed with all the things you want to do!
- Katie @ BloomEveryday
What travel tips and tricks do you use to save you money while vacationing?
CostCo – Friend or Foe?
Is buying in bulk really good for your pocketbook or shelves?
I’ve heard the argument that buying in bulk is expensive, over-indulgent, or flat-out unnecessary. But is this really the case? In college, the thought of spending $11 on a box of Gardenburger was cringe worthy – nowadays, it makes sense! While there is a minor membership cost – it will more than make up for itself in the savings you will get after a couple trips.
There are obviously some things I do not need to buy in bulk, such as a 5 pack of Motor Oil or 12 Giant Muffins (though, there may come a time where I might need that). However, I am a huge advocate for packing lunches (or just saving money). And nothing makes this easier than quick grab-and-go items (side note: you will be more financial fit by packing lunch every day – you can save over $40 a week by packing your own lunch; not to mention how much healthier your lunch will be).
How can buying 24 of one item save you money? Let me show you:
I pack a yogurt with my lunch every single day. I even eat one with my lunch on the weekends. You can buy a 24 pack of Yoplait Lights for around $12.99 (or to go cheaper, 24 Activia for $9.99 – and they are surprisingly good!). Do the math and that ends up being $0.54 per yogurt. When you buy the singles at the grocery store, each one can be around $0.67 each. You will save around $3.09 each time you buy. This may not seem like a lot now, but if you buy yogurt regularly (2x/month for 12 months of the year) – this can end up saving you $75 a year!
Granola bars – these little treats are expensive at the grocery store, even at major money saving department stores. You can buy 48 Nature Valley Trail Mix bars for $14.99. Each bar costs $0.31 a piece! At the normal store, you can get a 6 pack for around $2.99 – this ends up being around $0.50 a bar. If you were to buy 12 boxes of these, it would equal 48 bars and the out of pocket cost would be $23.92. By buying in bulk – you’ll save $8.93! All these numbers add up over time, and can be put into savings or (to put it into perspective) can buy you 15 pounds of bananas!
A six-pound bag of Mini Pretzels seems like a lot – but they will provide endless snacks for about 4 months! They come in at a cheap $5.98 (about a $1.00 a pound; usually around $2.99 for a small bag at the store). A healthier alternative to a potato chip and the price difference is astounding.
Have you noticed the sky rocketing price of cereal? When did our sweetened morning snacks reach the $4.50 mark – and the healthier choices warrant a $5.00+ mark? You can get stellar deals when you buy in bulk. Often there is a “select” promo cereal for about 2 weeks. There is a coupon for it in the booklet you get in the mail and the cereal is featured on the end-cap. You can usually get anywhere from 48 to 72 oz of cereal for around $7.50 (usually less with coupon). If your day (or a loved one’s day) starts off with a bowl of cereal and milk – this will save you money in the long run.
For all the vegetarians out there, and those who just love a soy latte – you can get three (yes, three!) half-gallons of Silk soy milk for $6.99. IF you ever buy soy milk at the grocery store – you will inevitably pay an arm and a leg. The price is often around $3.50, if you are lucky. The expiration on Soy Milk is much further out than normal milk – which makes this a great buy if it’s a staple in your house. Buy in bulk and save $3.50.
Produce in bulk sounds a little scary – but it is so worth it. If your family eats fruit and veggies regularly (which you should!), this is the way to go. You can get three pounds of bananas for around $1.27 (normally $1.80+ at most stores), six heads of Romaine lettuce for around $3.50 (which at any other store would be $7.75), or 10-pounds of carrots for $5.99 (usually around $18 elsewhere).
By buying in bulk, you will take less trips to the grocery store – which saves us all a lot of time and hassle. And let’s be honest, we can never have enough time! This is just the tip of the iceberg but by using common cents, a little bit of hauling around, and creatively organizing – you will find yourself saving money and comfortably stocking up every essentials for you and your family’s needs.
Just from the examples above, you will stock up on some groceries for at least two weeks (sometimes even longer)! If you bought all of this at a normal store, you would spend around $81.00. Buy the same amount in bulk and spend around $60 – that’s a $21 every two weeks savings, $42 a month, $504 a YEAR!
- Katie @ BloomEveryday
“Let’s do life together.”
Is CostCo. (or buying in bulk) now on your errand list? Share what you saves you money when you buy in bulk.
Monthly Movie Night Madness
Free movies, what more could you ask for?
We all love movies. How about a free one from Redbox once a month?
This is a stellar freebie offer. Once a month, you will receive a text message to your phone with a unique rental code for a free Redbox
rental! You can stop the texts at anytime. I am a user of this feature and love any reason to take a movie night with my sweetie! It’s an excuse to take a night off or is great for those that just love some good old fashioned entertainment.
Check out the Redbox offer by clicking here.
- Katie @ BloomEveryday
“Let’s do life together.”
What is your favorite genre of movie?
