Last day of 2011...

equals epic fail with being frugal. I was confined to bed all day yesterday and knew I was taking them skating today. Last minute decided to throw going to lunch in the mix which ended up costing half my grocery budget for the week.We will keep that our little secret. We always go skating on days our local rink has specials.Todays was a little different because they have a ball drop party where baloons fall down that have prizes in them. We ended up getting 5.00 and two soft pretzels for the next time we go. Usually on the way out when its over they pass out free admission tickets for the next time you come. Which is why we go there as often as we do.

Ok here is my best 20.00 I spend every year. Well technically 40.00 because I buy two books. I buy the enjoy the city coupon books. Our school had them as a fundraiser last year but I am always looking for someone selling them. They are great for date nights with the hubby and also kid/parent night. Which I will get into at a later time. Heres the rundown of the books. two large pizza's one medium one small all for FREE. Which more then pays for the book in my opinion. also atleast 20 buy one get one free coupons for pizza. It also has a lot of buy one get one free dinners from nicer restaraunts which we use on date nights. We rarely go anywhere anymore without a coupon. I know some men may have an issue with it and Travis did before but not anymore. another plus is the burger king coupons buyu one get one free on whopper and chicken sandwhiches.It also has skating,museum and laser tag and bumper bowling coupons. WIth free laser tag/bumper bowling again perfect for one on one kid time.

I know its a small up front investment but lasts a little over a year before they expire and saves a Ton in the long run. When you can go on a date and spend maybe 15.00 plus not pay fpr a sitter you are doing fantastic in my book.

Introduction.

My name is Kristina. I have a rather large family My husband and I have ben married for 10 years. We have four beautiful children. (I know I may be biased)We married right out of highschool and have had our ups and downs. In 2005 our son was having medical issues and I was pregnant with our third child. I was having to miss a lot of work and we were begining to realize that paying for our kids to be in day care a decent center was going to cost more then I was making in week. Which meant I would be quitting my job as soon as Corina was born. We continued to go through medical problems then after Corina came a whole new set of issues were put on our plate. I wondered how we would make it. Sometimes thought we did not stand a chance. We struggled with money often not having enough. Thats where couponing came in.Not only for groceries. Now everything we do has a budget. I try tp give my children all of the opportunities theior friends have without going into debt. I just have to do it a different way. I spend hours trying to find deals. Juggling money around trying to find free or inexpensive things to do with our kids. For awhile I thought I was failing at it but this Christmas my broyther in laws girlfrined gave me a memory frame whichmeant more to me then she could possibly know. Seeing my kids eyes light up at all the places we have gone in the past year was amazing. It inspired me to write this blog. A few of my close frineds have been asking me tips I figured this was the best way to do it.

IN this blog I will post amazing coupon deals,once a month cooking ideas,free/inexpensive family fun and other randomn money saving tips. There are a fewnew blogs I am going to be following to try and save for a vacation. More dteails to come later on that. I will post my progress though.