where the money went this weekend

I like doing "how we spent our money" updates about the weekend because I find that weekends can turn into a real money pit if you let them. Of course you want to do fun things to entertain yourself and your family when you have the time to do it, and you can get swept up in the excitement of the fun times and forget about the money you are spending to have said fun. So my mission is to try to be conscious of the money we spend on entertainment on the weekends without letting it ruin our fun.

Saturday we decided that we really wanted to eat some authentic Mexican food, as it is one of our faves, so I went searching around in my coupons and came up with a B1G1 dinner (up to $9) from my Entertainment Book, for a restaurant called Los Panchos (on Colerain ave.). We checked reviews online and everything sounded good, so we gave it a go. The food was super delicious and hit the spot! Jon and I had your traditional Mexican fare and Penny had a hamburger (toddlers...) and after the coupon, which subtracted $8.25, our bill came out to be $13.31 + tip. Not bad for feeding a family of 3 and enjoying a nice dinner out.

On gorgeous Sunday we spent hours at, in my opinion, one of the best playgrounds this city has to offer: The Land of Make Believe playground at Lunken Airport Playfield. This playground is HUGE and has many different levels of play for kids of all ages. Penny had just as much fun here, at a free playground, as she does at some places that we pay to play at. After wearing ourselves out there, we made an ice cream stop at UDF and spent about $6.50. (Well, I also spent $3.50 on my two newspapers there). Then we came home and played in the yard and took walks up our street until the sun went down.

Not counting the gas it took us to get to these places, our total weekend fun cost us around $23. Not too shabby.

crap I bought today

I have dropped the ball on this blog, again. Sorry dudes, I'm 35 weeks pregnant and it's hard to do much of anything these days for lack of energy, focus, motivation, etc. I haven't been couponing that hard either, so you haven't missed out on much. I didn't even buy papers last week b/c there was only one Red Plum in them and it just didn't seem worth it. But I'm trying to get back on the horse (only to get off it again soon when babe is born, I'm sure). Anywho...

Today I spent a few dollars and I thought I would share.

I bought the deal on Mamapedia Sweet Deals for a $25 voucher to Cookie Jar DVDs. It cost $10. Actually it was supposed to be $5 with a coupon code, but I had a brain fart and forgot to put the code in when I checked out. So I messaged them and was told they should be able to issue me a $5 refund. I am awaiting reply on that. But anyways, if all goes well I will be getting about 3 Richard Scarry DVDs for $5 + $3 shipping. Penny loves Richard Scarry so I think she will be pleased.

I also bought the daily deal on from Eco Mom. Yesterday I commented on their FB page about how the daily deals seem great until you calculated shipping and it is $7 or more, and that pretty much ruins the deal completely. They were very nice and replied that they were going to work on this issue and make it better for their customers. They weren't lying. Today's daily deal shipping was only $2.95. So much better! And to top it off, they offered me a $10 gift certificate just for making the comment and because they wanted me to shop their site. Now that's some good customer service right there! So today's deal was a Putamayo World Playground CD for $9.65 (orig. $15.99) + $2.95 shipping. Since I had the $10 gift certificate, I paid less than $3. If you aren't familiar with these CDs, you should be, because they are really awesome. Kids music that even a parent can love. We have the French one currently and I really enjoy it. And I will tell you I paid full price for it, so it must be good! haha

My other deal today was I took advantage of the free 8x10 collage print from Walgreen's. I ended up putting it together at 10 minutes 'til midnight, so I didn't get to really think about it much (procrastination is my middle name), but I put some pictures together from Penny's first week earth-side and I think it is going to turn out quite precious. And if not, it was free, so whatevs. I will pick it up in the store tomorrow.

Penny and I also took an adventure to Kroger, and she used the tiny cart again. SO.CUTE. I only used 2 coupons! I know, blasphemy. But we bought a bunch of produce and some other necessities that we buy regardless of coupons and sales (like Penny's coveted cereal bars that almost never have coups). It was unavoidable. I saved $5 with my coupons ($1 off Applegate Farms chicken nuggets and $4 off Zyrtec). We also got a Valentine's Puzzle from the clearance table for 15 cents.

We had dinner at Chipotle. I know, go to the grocery store and then go eat dinner at a restaurant. Pretty much silly to do. But Chipotle has been on my mind all week, and it had to be done. There is an awesome coupon available right now for B1G1 Chipotle burritos, but since Penny can't exactly handle an entire adult sized burrito herself, we did not use the coupon. However, my husband printed one out at work and split the cost with a co-worker, making his dinner tonight only $4. Nothing like a husband adopting the couponing ways.

Cheapskate Weekend

This past weekend we were really good about not spending money with no abandon.

Saturday we hung around the house, then went for lunch at Steak n' Shake. Penny and I both had coupons for free meals for our Birthdays and Jon had a coupon for a meal for $4.49. We all drank water and bought 1 cookie to share at the end for 59 cents. Our bill was $5.74 + tip. So we 3 had a good time and some yummy (and fattening) food for $8.74. Not bad I say! Then we hung out at a friend's house, which is always free.

Sunday we went to a free string concert put on by the Linton Music Peanut Butter and Jam Sessions. These are concerts put on to introduce kids to instrumental music and such. We had a blast. There was also an elementary kid art show "opening" and a demonstration of different classes held at the Clifton Cultural Arts Center. Penny's favorite was the Circus Mojo classes. I would love to be able to put her in some of those one day. Penny also got to do a little art project with one of the art teachers. And there was free hot chocolate and cookies. We had to drag Penny out of the place b/c she was having so much fun.

I found out about the Linton Music thing in Cincinnati Family Magazine which I picked up at my OB's office. They always have a monthly calendar of family-friendly activities around the area, and they list which ones are free.

To top off our cheap weekend, we even got $10 of free gas by using a gift card that we ordered with our PNC points!

In addition, even though Monday is obvs not part of the weekend, I would like to add to this post that today Penny and I treated ourselves to a trip to Half Price Books (after Penny's dentist appt I thought she might like to do something fun). We had a 15% off coupon (and I think we got a few extra bucks off b/c I used to work with the guy who rang us out), so we spent $13 and got 2 hard back children's books, 2 paperback children's books, a Skippyjonjones book that has jigsaw puzzles in it, and a set of Thomas the Tank Engine cards that you can write on with a dry erase marker to help learn ABCs. Not too shabby!
Plus I went grocery shopping tonight and saved 51% (this does not count closeout savings though, so actually I saved more than that).

80% Off at Restaurant.com

You can use promo code ENJOY for 80% off gift certificates at Restaurant.com. That's $25 gift certificates for $2. Just type in your zip code and see what restaurants are available in your area. Make sure to read the fine print for each restaurant before you purchase because the rules and restrictions vary.
I have used a bunch of these in the past. It's a great way to have an expensive meal out without emptying your pockets.