We've been home from our Montana vacation for about a week. It took 3 days to pack for the trip, 2 days to unpack and 4 days to get back into "Viva Mom" mode again.
Here are some of the ways we saved while traveling:
- We booked a cabin on the lake and split the cost with my family.
-We took turns cooking meals and all pitched in to contribute to the food/drinks.
-I packed several items from my pantry to take with us and also put small amounts of baking products/spices that we would need in little Ziploc bags.
-I packed some medicines and essential oils from home which was very helpful with sunburns/upset stomachs. However, I didn't think of everything as Austin ended up with pink eye so we had to go to the dr and got drops for him. I had a whole bottle of drops at home already, so now I have put every children's medicine product in a plastic shoebox container so I can just pack the entire container next time!
-I baked banana muffins for our breakfast on the way there
-We packed a cooler full of drinks and stuff for sandwiches along with snacks for the car. We found a grassy area to have a picnic lunch on the way up.
-We drove straight through both ways which saved on getting a hotel. We found stopping at a McDonald's playplace for dinner gave the kids a chance to run around and helped with the last leg of the trip.
-We have been wanting to do a few things in the Salt Lake City area, so on the way home, we stopped for a few hours at Temple Square and the University mall. I was able to find some cute clothes for work and some new undershirts I needed. I found 3 pairs of navy uniform pants for Austin on clearance at Children's Place for $4 each.
-I packed our blender and freezer trays to continue to make baby food during the week.
In the past week, this is what I have been up to:
-Made a double batch of homemade pancakes to freeze for breakfasts
-Made homemade granola bars. I found storing them in the refrigerator keeps them moist and together.
-Made my own fruit infused water with lemon and lime in mason jars. Cutting back to 1 Diet Pepsi a day.
-Doubled my no butter banana bread recipe to make into muffins and freeze to have on hand
-Waxed my eyebrows and facial hair, BTW, there is a $2 off Sally Hansen wax kits active now on coupons.com
-Gave myself a much needed pedicure after being at the lake for a week
-Austin had his last art class at Michael's. He was able to make 20 projects in 10 classes that I paid $20 for. The teacher organized a little party for the kids. We became friends with one of the other "regulars" and her mom. She invited us to her daughter's birthday party. We went over the weekend and had a great time swimming and meeting some new people.
-Made homemade whole wheat bread with a new recipe.
-Used my sourdough starter in my first attempt at sourdough, which was an epic FAIL. The bread didn't rise and when I baked it just to see what it would do, it was just heavy and hard. I think I didn't "activate" the starter before "proofing" it or whatever. I found another starter recipe so will try again.
-A friend of mine recently moved out of state. She had several items left over from her garage sale to get rid of so I took several things off her hands including some Tupperware, Christmas dishes, toddler Holiday dresses, and a Little Tikes coaster toy.
-Took Austin to the free Home Depot kids workshop over the weekend
-Ordered some posters on sale at allposters.com for my new classroom at the high school. I found a coupon code for 30% off my order. There were some pricey posters not on sale that I liked, so I found some images on the web and made my own version of them on Photoshop to have printed at Costco. The total for 3 8X10s and 1 16X20 poster cost less than the price of 1 on the website!
My efforts are paying off!
-I was able to pay off all our outstanding medical bills and book our tickets to fly to MT for Christmas.
-Ryan got some of his overtime money from helping with the operations of the fire last month, so we also paid cash for our October Disney trip!
If you are thinking about taking some steps to save money in your own family, the biggest savings I have found have come from making my own bread products and household cleaners and cutting back on eating out.
I have created a new email address for anyone to send questions or comments. Contact me at vivamomvegas@yahoo.com
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