photo credit: ♥Helen♥

Summer is a great time to organize your kids’s toys.  What have your kids outgrown that you’d like to see sold, donated or tossed?

Is your family on a budget?  Maybe you want to save for a special trip or purchase.  Learning frugal tips and tricks will help you save money in a heartbeat.  This unique class blends the best frugal ideas online and offline.  First, you will learn where to go and how to find the bet online savings, coupons, free shipping, free samples and more.  We’ll help you protect your private information and save money safely using the Internet.  Then, we’ll move offline to help you save money and time in your daily routine when we cover bulk buying tips, bulk cooking and freezer meals, homemade cleaning supplies and other simple tactics perfect for any budget.  You’ll have plenty of time to ask questions of a couple professional tightwads, swap ideas, and leave with plenty of resources to get started saving today!

January 3, 2011
New Century Charter School
Hutchinson
6:30-8:00
$20.00-pay at door

ADVANCED COUPONING STRATEGIES
Creativity pays big dividends when it comes to couponing. Learn how to
increase your coupon savings with strategies.
You can stack plates and you can stack laundry, but did you know you can
stack coupons? Come find out how Cindy Haugland, Professional Organizer and
founder of Tidy Tightwads, (www.tidytightwads.com) saved $119.06 on one shopping trip.
Please e-mail me to register or if you have any questions:
info@tidytightwads or Facebook: Tidy Tightwads

photo credit: foilman

If your child uses a lunch box, purchase an extra one at the start of the school year–like now. Once school starts and the year is underway, stores tend to clear out their original stock of these items.  The restock is slim and the cost is higher.  The chance of milk getting spilled or a Berry juice box leaking are high………plus how much fun would it be to get a fresh, new lunch box at Christmas time and pitch the old “spoiled milk” smelling one!

Office supply as well as Target and your Marts have price wars on paper goods, pens, pencils, crayons, etc.  to stir up the back to school shopping instinct.  Stock up now on these items.  Buy enough to last all year and stash away for that little something for a child’s birthday gift or for those Operation Christmas Child boxes.

Now is the time to buy summer shorts, swimsuits, T-shirts, etc. for next summer.  Summer items are now deeply discounted.  Buy them, pack them away and you will be able to pull out new clothes at the start of the summer season next year.

Back to school can quickly drain the family budget, particularly those with multiple children.  As the kids get older their preferences and tastes come into play and often times a plain, wire bound notebook doesn’t do the trick anymore…….it’s a fancy, sparkly, glitter coated one, often putting the price tag even higher.

In most cases, the first day of school still feels like summer.  My suggestion is to  wear their favorite summer outfits.  The kids will be more comfortable than being overdressed in a new, stiff outfit!

A few weeks into the school year, head out to pick up some new outfits.  By then, there may be some sales plus they will know by then what’s “cool”, or at least they will have a good idea and you’re not going to be stuck with those jeans that “nobody else is wearing”!

Make celery roses-if you cut a stalk of  celery about 2 inches from the bottom you will see the part usually thrown out, is a perfect rose!  Dip it into paint and press on paper!  Pretty!  Fun for the kids!!

Try making your favorite flavor combinations of Jello and juice.  Just replace the cold water with fruit juice and put the jello into little cups.  My fav is orange juice and peach jello.

When you go out to eat, tell your kids that they each have $5-8 or whatever’s right for the menu; enough to cover a meal.  Whatever they don’t spend, they get to keep.  Amazing how quickly they’ll opt for water, skip dessert or share fries with their sibling……most kids meals come with everything for a certain fee, but they may opt for a corn dog, an order of fries to share with somebody else and water to drink.