One More Picture By Popular Request

No more after this- I promise! This is #10 that has been zoomed in. I am guessing this is the money shot!

Can You Help Me Choose The Best Photo?

I went and had my picture done (courtesy of Walmart) and I just wanted to get your opinions on which one you like the best. The fabulous Cathy Dietz shot all of these and I am having trouble picking because she did such a great job! Can you guys help me pick? Which one is your favorite?

#1

#2
#3
#4
#5

#6
#7
#8
#9
#10

Freebie Friday: August 29, 2008

Did you see that Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, hit her 1,000th post? Be sure to leave her some comment love this week and fill out her reader survey to let her know what you want to see on her site. She also has a great section with tons of printable coupons- you gotta love that!

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone!


Health & Beauty

Cottonelle Flushable Moist Wipes 10-pk (Walmart sample)
Aveeno Tote Bag (w/ 2 UPCs)
Inspire fragrance by Christina Aguilera
Secret Clinical Strength Sport (copy/paste this link in https://secretsport.safeprocessing.com/)

Entertainment

O, The Oprah Magazine (from StartSampling)
Host a House Party (get free products for you & guests)
Blockbuster Rental from Birds Eye (upload photo & short story)
KIWI Magazine from Annie's (w/ UPC code)
Read It Forward (get free advanced reader copies)
Music Downloads from MTV
Giant Magazine

Home & Garden

$5 Chevron Gift Card
Ultra Gain scent card (Walmart sample)

Pets

Eukanuba Club Wild $30 Coupon Booklet

Mark Your Calendars

August 30 thru September 1- Free breakfast at Ikea (at select locations)
August thru September - Walgreens Take Care Health Tour

September 1 - Chick-fil-A Chck-n-Strips Giveaway (wear football attire)
September 3 - FTD Good Neighbor Day free flowers
September 6 - Stuff a Cottonelle Puppy to take home (Walmart)
September 13 - Thomas & Friends Playdate @ ToysRUs

September 27 - National Museum Day

Getting Crafty With Your Kids & Big News

This week on WSBT, I shared my crafty ideas for things you can make with your kids from common items out of your pantry. I had tons of props prepared after doing the Michiana Family Expo (sponsored by Michiana Family Magazine). We spent twelve hours at the mall showing parents some fun crafts to do with their kids and I reused these same props for this segment. For those of you who weren't able to make it out to see us, I hope this will provide a great substitution.

To go along with this fun discussion, please visit our latest article, "Being a Crafty Parent... When You Just Aren't." As a parent who struggles with being crafty and fun, I hope that I can help provide inspiration for you to get crafting with your children. This article contains a few easy recipes that will help get you started on a fun crafting adventure with your kids. Be sure to check our resource list for our top recommendations for craft books and hit your local library.

I have two new articles up on the Kenmore website that I think you guys will really love. The first article is, "Help Kids Earn & Learn." This article focuses on teaching your children how to start a small business or helping them earn money by simply helping you around the house. I worked really hard on it so I hope you enjoy it!

The second article is, "Plan the Perfect Summer Getaway." I meant to highlight this sooner, but had forgotten to. I hope you can bookmark it for planning your next vacation and we share some of our favorite family trips & trips for organized and thrifty traveling.

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Next week is going to be a fun week on our blog because I am going to be be doing an entire Play It Again, Momma week! I am going to highlight some of my favorite entries on here for the week so please join me! I will still be running a giveaway on Tuesday and our Freebie Friday, but everything else will be taking a week off so I can spend some time with my family. If you decide to do a Notebook Experiment, just hold it tight for a week or give yourself two weeks to complete it.

I have never taken a vacation from my blog so this will be a new one for me. I need some time to rejuvenate and refresh so I can bring some new ideas to the table. In the meantime, you can read all of the stuff that I am most proud of so I hope it will be a good compromise!

I will also be busy working on helping with the Eleven Moms gig and have added a new role to my list- Editor of Blissfully Domestic. I have taken over the Family Channel and I have twenty-five amazing writers that I will be working with. Basically, I am not sleeping and that is why I need a week to sleep.

We have two amazing giveaways this week that you can enter- but do not leave your comments here. Head to the provided contest links to leave your entry!

We are giving away a $50 Visa gift card to a lucky MomAdvice reader to relax, recharge, and rejuvente however you choose, be it a spa trip, yoga classes, or some retail therapy. To enter, simply leave your favorite household tip by September 2nd (Tuesday) at 8PM EST. Sorry- only US residents are eligible for this contest. Contest Details

Cetaphil is offering one lucky winner one of every single product from their product line! That is a huge box of loot, people! To enter, let us know one way you save money on your beauty care needs. We love frugal tips so I can wait to see what you come up with! Comments must be left by September 2nd (Tuesday) at 8 PM (EST). Contest Details

Amy's Notebook 08.28.08

Another bread recipe that I would like to try (@ Polliwog's Cakewalk)

I am going to have to make some word search greeting cards (@ DIY Maven)

This Tuscan Garlic Chicken recipe sounds delicious (@ Genesis of a Cook)

This Sloppy Joe recipe sounds so good too! (@ Simply Recipes)

I didn't know that you could recycle your carpet- what a great idea (@ Daily Danny)

I want to try this recipe for lemon meringue pie (@ zakka life)

We need to do a family night at the park before the weather turns cold (@ my happy little life)

I love this cuddly cotton blanket- it would make a great baby gift (@ The Purl Bee)

This rolling pin printing is such a cool idea (@ whip up)

Another fun play dough recipe (@ Skip to My Lou)

I love these peanut butter & fruit sushi rolls (@ The Kitchn)

This list of baby shower ideas is great (@ Tip Junkie)

I am going to have to try making my own hot pockets (Everyday Food Storage)

A gentle reminder for the five things I have not been cleaning (@ Home Ec 101)

Notebook Experiments: Can I Make Wall Art?

Experiment: Can I Make Wall Art?

Experiment Taken From: Notebook Entry 08.21.08

Materials Needed: Please see Simple Mom for the full instructions on this task (originally taken from Mt. Hope Chronicles). I had two places in my house that was in need of some art so I thought I would attempt this craft. I hit a local scrapbook shop and picked out some scrapbook paper for my project. I then headed over to Michael's and picked up Mod Podge and the canvases to do the work on. I also splurged and purchased a circle punch so that I would have nice and even circles. I am lousy at cutting and this made the work go so much faster. I will use it to make our gift tags for Christmas gifts this year and banners for birthdays. See how I can justify any purchase as an "investment opportunity?"

Results: My husband & I put together our design and then I glued them onto the canvas. After gluing them and letting them dry, I used a sponge brush and brushed the entire canvas with the Mod Podge to create a smooth surface. I did two layers of the Mod Podge on top and this created a nice sheen to the pictures and made the project look more finished

I had a window that I wanted surrounded by art and these turned out great. The ones for our family room incorporated the reds in them, and had a little tribute to our favorite date nights together. Can you find it?


The one I created for my husband's office. He loves anything to do with fonts and is a proud collector of them (can you tell I married a web guy?) so I made this one as a tribute to his font fascination.

Conclusion: I absolutely loved this craft and am thinking of all the other art work I could create for our walls. I often feel limited by my crafting abilities so this easy project was right up my alley. Thank you Simple Mom for the great suggestion!
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I am so excited to open our Notebook Experiments up to everyone and I hope that you will be able to participate this week or in weeks to come! I will be posting this each Thursday so please mark your calendars if you plan to participate. You can post your entries at any time throughout the week and then leave your entry in the links below.

We have this handy banner that you are more than welcome to use, but it is not a requirement! It is just something you can add to add a little sparkle to your entry.

Rules for Participation:

1. Choose anything from any of our notebook entries (past or present) to do with your family. We have hundreds of bookmarked links of crafts, ways to save money, and organizing ideas.
2. Complete an experiment from the notebook and share about it on your blog or website. We would love to see pictures of what you accomplished or a detailed description of how your projects turned out. Please include a link to this entry, a link to the original posting of the entry (at the original crafster's blog), and (to help us relocate the project) the date or link of the notebook entry where you found it. You can use the same formatting as our entries or you can just include that information in your post in your own unique way!
3. Post a link below. Please include your name or blog name & a fast description of your project. Example- MomAdvice (WHO bread)

I can't wait to see what you create and what you find inspiring!

Flip Giveaway Results!

Can I just say how fun this contest was? I had a blast reading all of your submissions and you guys picked such amazing projects! I wish I could give you each a camera...and I mean that truly!

Sadly, just one winner can be chosen and I drew our winner randomly.

A BIG congratulations to Rachel, from Modern Mommyhood, on winning our first Notebook Experiments Giveaway. Rachel made a batch of iced coffee, which she found to be yummy and a lot friendlier on her wallet. And you know we are all about wallet-friendly ideas here! Congratulations, Rachel!

I am so touched that each of you entered and I hope you will enter again tomorrow. I completed a very cool project that I can't wait to share with you. I may have to hunt around my house for some fun things to give away in future weeks. It was such a thrill to see you all experimenting and making your own creations!

Thank you again to Walmart & Pure Digital for making this giveaway possible!

Didn't win this one? Don't despair! We have two more amazing giveaways that you can enter- but do not leave your comments here. Head to the provided contest links to leave your entry!

We are giving away a $50 Visa gift card to a lucky MomAdvice reader to relax, recharge, and rejuvente however you choose, be it a spa trip, yoga classes, or some retail therapy. To enter, simply leave your favorite household tip by September 2nd (Tuesday) at 8PM EST. Sorry- only US residents are eligible for this contest. Contest Details

Cetaphil is offering one lucky winner one of every single product from their product line! That is a huge box of loot, people! To enter, let us know one way you save money on your beauty care needs. We love frugal tips so I can wait to see what you come up with! Comments must be left by September 2nd (Tuesday) at 8 PM (EST). Contest Details

Redbox Code 08.27.08

Today's free code for a Redbox movie is DB96TH. This code is good for one free movie and you can use it until midnight tonight. Enjoy a free family movie together!

Side Notes:

- If you want to rent more than one movie for free, bring more than one credit/debit card. You can use the same promotional code, you just will need different cards to charge it to. The charge will be zero as long as you return your movie on time for the next day.

- When entering in your free movie code, you need to enter it FIRST before picking the movie. On the very first screen, click the, "Rent with Promo." Enter in the above code and then make your selection- the amount should then total zero.

Here is an updated list of new releases from Redbox:


What Happens In Vegas
Forget how the saying goes – it doesn't always stay in Vegas. Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz play young opposites who start a night in Sin City as total strangers and wake up as newlyweds. After Ashton hits big on the slots, a judge (Dennis Miller) orders them to honor their wedding vows for six months.

The Art of War II: Betrayal
Neil Shaw – played by Wesley Snipes and last seen in 2000 – comes out of retirement only to find things are every bit as corrupt and chaotic as he remembered. After following the trail of an assassination plot to dispose of several senators, Shaw finds that he's been set up to take the fall.

Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
Advice to parents: Do NOT let your kids know this came out last week and you haven't rented it yet. Here, you'll get full access to the recent Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus concert, which included all of her hit songs, as well as guest appearances by the Jonas Brothers and Billy Ray Cyrus.

Prom Night
Like many a high school kid, Donna thought her prom night was going to be something special. Oh, it was a night to remember, alright – a sadistic killer chooses her prom to return from her past and exact a little bit of revenge on her. Brittany Snow stars.

Street Kings
Keanu Reeves, Forrest Whitaker and Hugh Laurie make up a killer cast in this story of a veteran cop (Reeves) who's got plenty on his plate. Just as he's recovering from the death of his wife, he's charged unjustly with the death of another officer. Watch how far he'll go to clear his name.

Smart People
Dennis Quaid is a stuck-in-his-ways professor who has to make room for the utterly unexpected once his wife dies. This includes new love (with the lovely Sarah Jessica Parker) the return of his adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) and...an all star cast (Christine Lahti and Juno's Ellen Page).


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We have a few new reviews up on The Mother Loot! Make sure to check back tomorrow for an exciting new giveaway!

MLB Power Pros for Nintendo Wii
Cetaphil Skin Care Products
Buzzillions.com Review

Reader's Notebook Experiment: Burp Cloths

Hi Amy,

Here's my experimental submission for The Notebook Experiments. I have a little guy who has been a "spitter" since birth and have been longing for some cuter burp cloths. Came across the burp cloths in your notebook from Make and Take.

I used some scrap fabric instead of the cloth diapers. I cut rectangles and backed with flannel. I then used ric rac, like the site, to give a little cute flair.

This was fast and fun, and I think my baby will love these as much as I do!

Thanks for all the great info and inspiration.

What a fun contest!

Haley

Three Amazing Giveaways- Don't Miss Entering!

I have two more giveaways running that I think you will be really excited about! Please click on the "Contest Details" links to be directed to the contest and where to leave your information. Comments left here cannot be entered!

Today is the last day for entering in a Notebook Experiment to be entered for a Flip Video Camera! You have until 8PM tonight!

We are giving away a $50 Visa gift card to a lucky MomAdvice reader to relax, recharge, and rejuvente however you choose, be it a spa trip, yoga classes, or some retail therapy. To enter, simply leave your favorite household tip by September 2nd (Tuesday) at 8PM EST. Sorry- only US residents are eligible for this contest. Contest Details

Cetaphil is offering one lucky winner one of every single product from their product line! That is a huge box of loot, people! To enter, let us know one way you save money on your beauty care needs. We love frugal tips so I can wait to see what you come up with! Comments must be left by September 2nd (Tuesday) at 8 PM (EST). Contest Details

Ten Useful Tools for Twitter Users

My What in the World is Twitter? post has been making its rounds on tons of blogs and seemed to encourage many people to explore using Twitter as a networking tool for their business so I thought it would be fun to do a follow-up article on using Twitter.

There are many applications and tools that you can use to help bump up your Twitter experience. Here is a gathering of great tools to make your tweet time a little more effective.

Reminder & Organizational Tools:

Twitter Timer: Add this guy to your list of friends and send him a direct message (DM) when you need to remember to go to the dentist or a friendly reminder that next week is your best friend's birthday.

Remember the Milk: We highlighted Remember the Milk in our family planning tools, but Remember the Milk can also be used through Twitter as well. Add Remember the Milk to your list of friends and send DM's to remind yourself to pick up milk...or your kids. You know, those important things in life!

Commuter Feed: Wouldn't your morning commute be smoother if you knew where traffic was backed up or where accidents have occurred? Commuter Feed is a free service that lets you see reports on traffic incidents in your local area using Twitter. It works for any city that has an IATA airport code worldwide. Even if you don't input the information yourself, you can look up your city and see what was recently posted to keep up-to-date on what is happening in your neck of the woods.

Fuel Frog: This great site works with Twitter and help you easily track the gas mileage on your vehicle. This can be a great way to track the fluctuating gas prices, see how you are doing on your gas mileage, and keep track of mileage for your job.

Twitter Efficiency Tools:

Twitter Snooze: Is someone being a tad too chatty and you are feeling overwhelmed with their tweets? Is someone live-blogging at an event and you just want to tune their tweets out for a bit? You can visit Twitter Snooze and put their posts to sleep until the event is over, without blocking your friend or ruining that great relationship.

Twitter Search: This is great if you are off of Twitter for a long time and want to double-check to make sure you didn't miss any posts about yourself. Just search for your username (in my case, momadvice) and it will pop up all of the conversations you have had or any tweets that were intended for you. You can also use the search to keep up with something/someone you are interested in. You can read what everyone is talking about in the current events, politics, fashion and find out what people are sharing on your favorite topics.

Twitter Feed: This service works with your blog's feed and automatically sends out a message to let everyone know when your feed (blog) has been updated. This is a great way to automate the process to let your readers know when you have new and amazing stuff on your blog.

TweetDeck: This is great for people who like to micro-manage their micro-blogging tools. TweetDeck enables users to split their main feed (All Tweets) into topic or group specific columns allowing a broader overview of tweets. You can group people into groups (locals, PF Bloggers, Must Read Mommas) so you never miss an important tweet again. Once created these additional columns will automatically update allowing the user to keep track of a twitter threads far easier. Basically, it makes it so you can see exactly what you want to see and you are able to view up to 48 hours worth of the tweets that you have deemed the most important, without having to hunt.

Lifestyle Improvement Tools:

Tweet What You Eat: If you are working on improving your eating habits, then this tool should help you in tracking your caloric intact for the day. Tweetwhatyoueat (TWYE for short) is a Twitter-based food diary. Use Twitter to track what you eat, and now your weight, by ‘tweeting’ food items to your personal food diary on Tweetwhatyoueat.com from your mobile phone, IM or through Twitter.

Qwitter: This tool can help you if you trying to quit smoking. As with most of these tools, you can add Qwitter as your friend and then let them know when you have had a cigarette and journal how you are feeling as you taper off the cigarettes. This tool was brought to you by the state of Florida and I just love anything that can help people make a positive lifestyle change!

This list only encompasses ten great tools, but if you are looking for even more great ways to use Twitter, check out this list of 140 great Twitter Tools from Mashable!

Sound Off: Do you use an tools for twittering? Let us know what tools you find most helpful!

Redbox Code 08.25.08

Today's free code for a Redbox movie is X4N19P. This code is good for one free movie and you can use it until midnight tonight. Enjoy a free family movie together!

Side Notes:

- If you want to rent more than one movie for free, bring more than one credit/debit card. You can use the same promotional code, you just will need different cards to charge it to. The charge will be zero as long as you return your movie on time for the next day.

- When entering in your free movie code, you need to enter it FIRST before picking the movie. On the very first screen, click the, "Rent with Promo." Enter in the above code and then make your selection- the amount should then total zero.

Here is an updated list of new releases from Redbox:


Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour
Missed the Hannah/Miley tour when it came to your town? Let redbox put you in front row – for far less than the price of a ticket. This film follows the sensational young singer on tour, and also features stars like the Jonas Brothers and her achy breaky dad, Billy Ray.

Prom Night
Between borrowing a car and stocking up on breath mints, high school kids had enough to worry about on prom night... BEFORE a sadistic killer crashed the party. Brittany Snow plays Donna, a senior whose night is pretty much ruined by the return of a murderous sociopath from her long lost past.

Street Kings
Keanu Reeves stars as a veteran cop who's dealing with both the death of his wife and with being charged in the death of another officer. Getting rough – and questioning his loyalties – is the only way to clear his name. Forrest Whitaker and Hugh Laurie round out an all-star cast.

The Scorpion King 2: Rise of a Warrior
In this prequel to The Scorpion King, fans get to learn just how (and why) the boy became the great warrior. Young Mathayus sees his father killed by an evil military commander, then plots his revenge and starts his training. Randy Couture, Jeremy Crutchley, and Andreas Wisniewski star.

Smart People
Returning from last week, this one stars Dennis Quaid as a cynical professor and recent widower. But there's no time for sadness once he finds a new lady friend (Sarah Jessica Parker) and his adopted brother (Thomas Haden Church) re-enters the picture.

Nim's Island
It's an island as big as Nim's imagination. Abigail Breslin plays a precocious young adventurer who lives on the island with her scientist father (Gerard Butler) and who, through a crazy twist of fate, befriends the reclusive author (Jodie Foster) of her favorite books.

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We have a few new reviews up on The Mother Loot! Make sure to check back tomorrow for an exciting new giveaway!

MLB Power Pros for Nintendo Wii
Cetaphil Skin Care Products
Buzzillions.com Review

CVS Shopping & Savings 08.25.08

I did pretty good at CVS this week because of my frequent visits to the in-store coupon machine. By combining the coupons from the machine with the manufacturer coupons, I have been scoring some great deals. I zipped by there on my way to pick up my goodies for the week and managed to print out a $1.00 off coupon for the Kotex Pantiliners deal.

I was planning to use my $2 off of $10 purchase, but was told that my coupon was denied because I had used the maximum amount of CVS coupons that I could use during one transaction. Has anyone ever heard of this before? This was news to me, and I was a little disappointed since I was hoping to get out there for about $5.

From this week's flier:

2 Colgate Toothpastes at $3.29 each. CVS Sale for B1G1 Free and used $1.00 off coupon in the paper combined with a $1.00 off CVS coupon (from in-store machine), Total price $1.29 or $.65 each.

1 Kotex Light Days Pads $1.49 each. Used coupon for $.75 off (from paper or print coupon here) & an in-store coupon for $1.00 off and received $1.49 in ECB back. Credit of $1.75

1 Playskool Wipes (160 count). Used $2 off coupon (in this week's paper) and $2.00 coupon from CVS in-store machine. Total cost $1.79.

1 Schick Intuition 3-ct cartridge at $9.49. Received $5 in ECB back. Total cost $4.49. This wasn't a great deal, but I thought I had a coupon for another $3 off, but it applied to another style of cartridge. I still needed the cartridges though so I went ahead and bought it.

All in all, I spent $10.08 for this week's purchases. Total savings was $15.04 and $6.49 back in ECB.


Be sure to visit Money Saving Mom for a CVS round-up of savings!

Reader's Notebook Experiment: Clay Dough

It has been so great to see what everyone is coming up with for their notebook experiments. We have over twenty entries! Just remember that it is not too late to enter for our Flip Camera! The contest will be open until Tuesday (08/26) at 8PM and we will even accept reader submissions who do not have a blog.

Here is Katherine's experiment- I think you guys will really like it!


Amy--

Thanks for letting us participate even thought we don't have a blog. I found your blog a few weeks ago, and after both my kids wound up sick this week, one spending the night in the ER, I scoured through your notebook experiments to find something for my 4 year old and 2 year old to do. Clay dough which was in your notebook entry on 7/31/08 was perfect! It allowed them to do something fun and creative, and required a mandatory rest period (during drying) for my kids to rest and anticipate the next step.

My kids enjoyed each step, from measuring and mixing to watching the dough cook and harden in the oven. By far their favorite part was the painting. Now my son has a handmade treasure box which he took straight up to his room as soon as it was dry, and my daughter a little jewelry box. Instead of making beads (as was done in the original post) we also used cookie cutters to cut out little shapes which the kids painted for 'decorations'. Now they each have a butterfly sitting on their shelf.

Thanks for giving us a great way to spend a sick day!
(And a chance to win the Flip Camera!)
--
Have a great day!

Katherine

Frugal Family Vacations

I know that you all are really going to enjoy this guest post from another one of my favorite bloggers! Stephanie, at Keeper of the Home, has agreed to share her traveling expertise with our readers and I think this post will really help those of you who are planning your family vacations! Be sure to visit her blog for wonderful tips for naturally inspired living for the Christian homemaker.

If you are interested in submitting a post on frugal living, creative/crafty parenting, or organizing, you can email your entries to me at amy@momadvice.com. Please include a bio with a link to your site and (if you would like) a picture of yourself to include.

If you're a frugally minded mama like myself, and you and your family have thought of vacationing beyond the local campground, you may be wondering how to go about planning an affordable yet still fantastic family vacation.

Here are a few things that I have learned in my experience of planning both domestic and international trips:

General Tips

Research, research, research!

This cannot be stressed enough! Do not settle on any tickets or reservations until you've researched at least 4 or 5 options.

Initial research should give you an idea of general flight, hotel, and car prices, as well as the attractions that you are interested in and a skeleton itinerary. Start by using online travel services such as Travelocity, Expedia, Hotwire and Priceline to begin to gauge prices. Use travel sites such as Lonely Planet or Fodor's to start to get some ideas about the place you will be traveling to, as well as simply googling things like "travel arizona children" or "attractions grand canyon".

From here, put together an estimate of what the cost of your trip will be. If it's coming up too high, consider what areas you can skimp in. For us, we don't care about fancy accommodations. We would prefer to have more money to allow us the freedom to eat without stress, and do all of the activities that interest us. You may feel differently. What are the priorities for your family?

Once you've worked through these steps, you can get down to business and really dig in to find the absolute best deal on each part of your trip.

2) Booking together isn't always cheaper

Through the travel companies would love to be your one-stop shop by having you book your flight, hotel and car all in a neat and tidy package, you will most likely be missing out on some deals by going that route. If you do some careful comparisons of these "deals" (compared to finding each component of the trip individually), you will see that they really aren't the deals they're cracked up to be.

3) Bidding for a deal

It's now become one of the more popular ways to try to find rock bottom deals for traveling. Sites like Priceline and Sky Auction encourage you to either bid against other would-be travelers or to "name your own price". These sites have the potential to be very valuable to you if:

• You've already done the research and know exactly what a good deal would look like


• You've determined your bottom line. For example, when using Priceline you don't get to choose your flight time, specific hotel, etc. You set your price, win it, and then find out what you've already bought. It's important to consider these unknown factors, compared to the available deals that you already know are out there, and then you will have the ability to pick and choose whether bidding is worthwhile. If an extra $10 a night is worth it to you in order to know exactly which hotel you will be staying in, set your Priceline limit at $10 below what you'd like to be paying, and resolve to walk away if that bid isn't accepted.

• You are very aware of the fees and taxes that will be added on. Always, always check and know exactly what your total costs will be before making any decisions.

Tips for flights

• Children under 2 fly free, on a parent's lap, so plan your dates accordingly if you have little ones nearing their birthday


• If you can, keep your dates flexible. Often it is cheaper to fly on a Saturday, while the Friday may cost $15 more a ticket. It doesn't sound like much, but it can add up fast if you're buying children's flights as well. Some travel sites have search options designed to let you search using flexible dates. A great option to use is Expedia (be sure to check the box that says "my dates are flexible"). I just did a sample search on flights from Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale in August, and came up with a price range of $191 to $309, within an 11 day span- that's a big difference!

• Look at smaller, independent airlines as well (which are usually not included on the major travel site searches). A few examples are:
  
  
  • Domestic- Southwest, Frontier, Jet Blue (all US), or WestJet (Canada)
  
  
  • International- Ryanair (within Europe), Zoom (between N.America and the UK)
  
  
  
  


• When you find a great deal, snag it! Good deals don't last for long, and if you wait, you may just miss out (I know this from experience!)

Tips for Accommodations

• First, consider the many varied options out there: Hotels, motels, camping, yurts, hostels, house swaps, B&Bs, etc. There is so much beyond the traditional hotel, and many of the other options are much cheaper, and can even be more enjoyable! Personally, we will be staying in a private room at a hostel in Flagstaff for our upcoming Grand Canyon trip, where we will have kitchen privileges, hot breakfast included, laundry machines and more, for a mere $45 a night!


• Do consider bidding for hotels on sites like Priceline. I just scored two nights at the Crowne Plaza in Phoenix for $50 a night! Just remember- do your research first!


• Change it up! When we went to Europe 2 years ago, I found that different types of accommodations were cheaper in different cities. In Rome, we stayed in a very small but lovely private hotel. In Florence, we opted for a camping hostel, where the tents are permanently set up on raised concrete, and include cots and basic bedding. In Edinburgh, we stayed in a quaint Bed & Breakfast, where we had a gorgeous, clean and very large room, delicious hot breakfast (could have done without the blood pudding, though!), for the same price as a private hostel room, and half the price of the cheapest hotels. While living in Japan, we went even cheaper than a hostel and chose to take the train out to the country each night to camp (we carried our tent on the bus we took up to Kyoto).

Tips for Rental Cars

• Go with the smallest car that suits your needs. You'll save on rental costs, as well as gas most likely!


• Avoid most of the bigger name companies. They tend to be significantly more expensive, unless you come across an amazing deal.


• Again, try your hand at bidding to "name your own price"


• Compare many sites. In my recent search for the cheapest rental car, my favorite comparison sites were Hotwire, Travelocity, Expedia, Priceline and CarRentals. I looked at the individual rental company sites, and generally they weren't cheaper than the travel sites, with the exception of a few smaller companies that were not always included in the searches. Try Fox, Advantage and Dollar.

• If you have AAA or BCAA, or even an Entertainment book, check the types of deals and discounts that are offered for members. You may find a free upgrade on a weekly rental, or perhaps a 20% discount, etc. Just make sure you compare it to the other deals out there, as these discounts are usually for the bigger, more expensive companies.


• Consider whether you need a car at all! Some cities have
  excellent public transit, and if you choose the location of your
  accommodations carefully, you may find that the need for a car just
  disappears.

Tips for Attractions

• Get an Entertainment book or online membership! You will find many 2 for 1 entrances to attractions, as well as 2 for 1 entrees at the local restaurants.


• Look for a city pass. These passes are your entrance ticket to the most popular attractions in a city or area, for a discounted rate. By buying the one pass, you can go to any attraction included over the course of one week (for example- it varies from pass to pass). Some examples are the Seattle CityPass, ShowUp Now for the Phoenix area, and the Go Los Angeles Card. Visit CityPass for several other major North American cities available.

Tips for Eating Cheaply

• As mentioned above, the Entertainment book can help you make the best of having to eating out (or depending on your perspective, getting to eat out!) by offering 2 for 1 entrees.


• Try finding an accommodation that includes a breakfast, or even one that allows kitchen privileges (such as a hostel, or some B&Bs) or a motel with a kitchenette.


• If your hotel has a mini fridge, find a local grocery store (which just adds to the experience of visiting a new place), and stock up on breakfast foods (unless included), and lunch and snack foods so that you can brown bag it as much as possible.


• Bring a stash of easy to carry snacks that your family enjoys. To Arizona, we will be bringing fruit leather or bars, rice cakes, granola bars that are wheat free (as we are all sensitive to wheat), and a box of mineral drinks mixes to add to our water bottles.


• Bring a water bottle for each family member, and fill them up each time you're able to. Buy large bottles of purified water from a local grocery store to keep in your hotel room, or the trunk of your vehicle, to do refills.

Lastly, once you are there and you have done everything you can do to make your trip as affordable as possible, just relax! Enjoy your vacation, knowing that some extra expenses will pop up unexpectedly (as they always do), and choose to cherish every minute of the trip that you have worked so hard to plan and save for!

Despite how it may appear, Stephanie does not spend most of her time planning vacations! She is blessed to be a wife, mother to two young children, homemaker, and home schooler. In her "spare time" she maintains the blog Keeper of the Home, gardens organically, studies nutrition and natural living, and enjoys cooking up nourishing foods for her family.

Freebie Friday: August 22, 2008

Happy Freebie Friday, everyone! We have lots of REALLY amazing freebies this week and I am so excited to share these with you. A big thanks to Heather, from Freebies 4 Mom, for helping me with our list. Heather has a really great post on signing up for free magazines this week that is a must read! She has lots of great information for her readers so be sure to look around while you are there and soak in all of that freebie goodness.

As a reminder, you have until Tuesday to enter our first official Amy's Notebook Experiment contest for a Flip Video Camera. We can't wait to see and share your projects with our readers! We only have nineteen entries so far so the chances are good that you could be receiving one of these in your mailbox. I hope you can participate!

Health & Beauty

Neutrogena Pink Grapefruit Scrub
Murad (Oprah sample)
Inspire Perfume

Entertainment

Free Music at Amazon.com
WaterSki magazine (StartSampling)
Southern Accents Magazine
The Green Magazine

Home & Garden

Cascade Complete & Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (Walmart sample)
Scott Extra Soft Toilet Paper (Walmart sample)
Bounce Awakenings Dryer Sheets
P&G $27 Cleaning Coupons
Baby's Dream Nursery Guide

Pets

Eukanuba Puppy Training DVD + $5 coupon
Snausages SnawSomes dog snacks

Mark Your Calendars

August - Lucky's Spin and Win find event @ Walmart
August thru September - Walgreens Take Care Health Tour

August - Staples Teach Appreciation Day look up the date of your store's event

August - Ultimate Lunchbox samples @ Walmart

August 23 - Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic: make a GMC truck 10 to 11 am
September 3 - FTD Good Neighbor Day free flowers
September 13 - Thomas & Friends Playdate @ ToysRUs

September 27 - National Museum Day

Amy's Notebook 08.21.08

I love this idea to get your kids mining to keep them busy (@ doobleh-vay)

I want to try Martha's peanut butter cookies (@ Mad About Martha)

I love these little crocheted slippers for a gift in a jiffy (@ My Longest Year)

I want to try this recipe for homemade watercolors (@ Dim Sum, Bagels, & Crawfish)

I had never heard of joining a yarn club before, but it sounds awfully addicting (@ whip up)

This breakfast muffin tin looks like a fun way to start the day (@ Muses of Megret)

These homemade breadsticks look like a fun addition to our spaghetti dinner (@ Chocolate on My Cranium)

I adore this idea for a tooth fairy jar and just might have to steal it (@ Lost Button Studio via The Crafty Crow)

Using an egg carton to carry mini-cupcakes will make taking treats to school a lot easier (@ shelterrific)

I love this idea for adding a lazy susan feature to our board games (@ The Small Object)

This is a great list of tips for purchasing a sewing machine (@ shelterrific)

I love this mudroom made from a closet (@ ohdeedoh)

I want to try this recipe for Pat's French Toast (@ 4 Reluctant Entertainers)

I hit my 30th birthday this year, but it is never too late to read this list of thirty books to read before you turn thirty (@ Marc & Angel Hack Life)

I needed this reminder to be more prepared for the emergency situations in life (@ The Homespun Heart)

These inexpensive art ideas might just get replicated over here! (@