13 November 2009

The Nutcracker: Starke Performance on Sunday


My family of mostly girls loves "The Nutcracker" ballet and the Christmas season would not be complete without seeing it live every year. But on a thrifty budget, sometimes the tickets are too much but not this year!

Santa Fe College brings "The Nutcracker" to Starke 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 15, at Bradford County High School, 582 N. Temple Avenue. Admission is $3 for adults; Bradford students and children under 5 are free. The performance is by Dance Alive National Ballet.

My girls, their friends, and I attended this performance last year and were in awe. Every bit as entertaining, moving, and beautiful as if we were in a fancy hall! The price is right at only $3 for myself and the kids for free!

Please come and join us! You won't regret it!

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Dollar General: Lawtey, Florida

Tomorrow morning at the brand-new Lawtey Dollar General, the first 50 people in the store will recieve a $10 gift card. Doors open at 8:00 a.m.

Combine this with the $5 off $20 you may have received in the mail this week or the printable coupon for 10-20% off that Amy in Orlando posted and you can get some great deals!

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07 November 2009

A good day full of good things!


I love days like this!

Day seven of no heat/ no AC. So far, so good. There's a nice breeze blowing and the fresh air feels wonderful.

My kids are busying themselves on the carport with a 700 piece K-nex roller coaster. They've been at it all day. I picked up this huge set about 5 years ago at a yard sale for $20. About twice a year they get it out, build it over a weekend, play with it for a week, and then into the closet it goes. This is the first year they've gone it alone without daddy's help.

I hit a few yard sales this morning. I found lots of Hollister, Aero, GAP, and American Eagle shirts and jeans for the two older girls. Many of them still had the tags on.

My favorite NFL player
is in town while his team has the day off. Go Vikings! We were invited to come by his parents' house for a visit and he surprised me with a football signed by Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson, Simeon Rice, and of course himself. Tears rolled down my face as I thought about how far he has come and how very proud I am of him!

And it's officially out. We're adding two more kiddos to the family! We're adopting two sweet and sassy sisters who just happen to be my girls' best friends. We are so excited and I can't wait to share more about what God is doing in our lives in through this situation.

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04 November 2009

Walmart Holiday Grocery Deals

Walmart is lowering the prices of "holiday staple items" beginning today. I don't have a list of items yet but I do know that 12lb turkeys will be $5 each! Time to stock the freezer!


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02 November 2009

November Personal Challenge: No heat or AC!

I'm declaring that November will be a month of using no Central Heat or Air Conditioning at the Thrifty Florida Mama house. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate!

Ways I'm gearing up for the challenge:
1. Checking the weather report.
2. Opening all the windows early in the morning to let the cool air in on days predicted to be warm.
3. On cooler days I plan to open the blinds to let in the sunlight, keep cozy blankets and socks within a hand's reach, and use the oven for baking and heating up the house.
4. Using candles on cooler nights to create an atmosphere of warmth.
5. Going to bed early!

Any other Floridians/Southerners want to try this challenge? Please join in!

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28 October 2009

Printable Coupon: The Childrens Place



I love The Children's Place for buying clothes for my kids on clearance with a coupon! They have really cute stuff at reasonable prices.

Last night I was cleaning out my son's dresser, making room for some more winter stuff, and I found a pair of pajamas that we bought there back in 2005. Each of my 3 kids (at the time) bought a pair of striped winter pajamas. This pair which is red will now be passed down to Ciarra, after Christin and Caleb have each worn them for 2 years each. They still look great!

Here's a printable coupon for 15% your Children's Place purchase. Print it soon, because the coupons won't last long. You can also use it online. Check their site for their newest line of holiday clothes, so cute!



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27 October 2009

Upcoming Deal at Publix: $4 off 4 General Mills Products

In this week's Publix flyer there will be a coupon that states "$4 off the purchase of 4 or more General Mills or Nature Valley Products, Assorted Varieties, 5-oz pkg or larger

The good news is that there are tons of these products. I'm sure the first thing that comes to mind is cereal and granola bars. But check out this list of brands which belong to General Mills:

* Betty Crocker
* Green Giant
* Yoplait
* Cascadian Farms
* Nature Valley
* Progresso
* Hamburger Helper
* Muir Glen
* Old El Paso
* Pillsbury
* Bisquick
* Totino's
* Gold Medal
* Haagen-Dazs

This is a Publix coupon and can be combined with manufacturer's coupons!


I plan to stock up on Green Giant Canned Vegetables, taco seasonings, totino's pizzas, Muir Glen tomato sauce, cake frosting, flour, bisquick, Grands, and cereal. I'm hoping to find the cereal boxes with the movie certificate promo. If I can I will score 4 boxes of cereal plus 2 movie tickets for less than $3.00!

As some scenarios surface I will post them!





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Amazon Deal: Video Games for Wii, XBox 360, PS3


Amazon is running a promotion through the 31st for video games for Wii, Xbox 360, or PS3. Buy $80 worth (of at least 2 titles) and receive a $40 credit towards another video game purchase.

I like this offer better than their buy two, get one free for two reasons. First, there seems to be more selection to choose from. Second, I don't have to pick the third game now. I can wait to see what is coming out in the next few weeks.

If this seems like a good deal to you check it out!

Amazon Video Game Deal

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Walgreens Frees!

Amy from "Who Says Nothing in Life is Free?" has the scoop on the latest good deals at Walgreens.

Deal on Dove Shampoo/Conditioner

All the deals here.

Money Saving Mom shows us how to make money on Quaker Oatmeal at Walgreens here.

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Email Companies to get coupons: Tips from Couponing to Disney Blog

Kristen from Couponing to Disney (love the blog and the concept!) has been emailing 5 companies a day over the past few months and has received a ton of coupons in response, many for completely free products.

She's heard from Campbells, Lysol, Skintimate, and Simply Asia to name just a few.

Check out here complete list here.

Thanks Kristen!

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25 October 2009

Debt Update: 2 months remains in 2009

When this year, 2009, began my husband and I set a goal to be debt-free by December 31st, well thanks to a down-economy, much illness, and other Murphy-type incidences will we not make our goal of debt-free this year.

I am upset? Nope. Not Really.

Why? Because we are still closer to being debt-free than we began 2009.

So for my many new readers and some of my long time buddies I thought I would take us all on a trip down memory lane as to where we were 5 years ago. I cleaned out our filing cabinet this weekend and finally found all the old credit reports that hold the debt information. This is actually the first time I have sat and wrote in all down from the beginning. Scary stuff coming up!

Let's begin in January of 2004.
Our debt was:

Furniture Loan: $1,734
MBNS MC: $4,983
MBNA VISA: $6,608
Target CC: $410
Penneys CC: $110
Amazon CC: $345
Discover CC: $2,910
Chase: $217
Childrens Place: $201
Ford Credit: $2500
Campus Credit Van Loan: $2200
Sallie Mae: $2700
Bank of America: $11000
Sears: $3487
Care Credit: $821
Total: $40,226

It was this year that we began to search for a house to buy. Yep, with all that debt we thought we needed a mortgage to go with it. Well, we couldn't qualify for a mortgage because of our debt-to-income was way too high. Even in the time of easy credit and anyone with a pulse could qualify we could not. Not to mention our credit rating was lousy because with all those monthly payments many were paid late.

I began reading Mary Hunt and creditboards.com. I knew we needed to get our credit ratings up and paying off the debt was key so we began to dump some of it. We paid off all the little loans quickly but those larger ones were doing us in.

Then came the "year of the Hurricanes in Florida" and we found out we could get an SBA loan for damages, living expenses, etc. We applied for a loan and got it. With this we paid off some of the larger payments. But we still had to pay for this loan! Duh!

Our credit rating started improving as our debt-to-income ratio went down. We then began switching cards to 0% interest to save some money on the interest we were accruing.

By the time February of 2005 came around we had paid off $15,000 on our own and consolidated another $10,000 into the federal emergency loan. Yippee skippy we now qualified for a mortgage! With no down payment. With no closing costs. With no idea what we were doing!!!!

We walked into our new house with the keys in hand on March 15, 2005. But we weren't done with debt yet. Oh no ladies and gentlemen, we were about to get neck deep into it over the course of 2005.

Tune in next Monday for more of our debt remaining report!

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About This Blog

Who is Thrifty Florida Mama?

I'm just a wife and mom living on the salary of two public school teachers, raising four kids, trying to eliminate debt, following a budget, stretching every dollar and morsel of food so that one day we will get to live like no one else. I share my daily money struggles, coupon shopping, deals I love, and anything and everything to help you save more, spend less, and act your wage. If you have any deals to share, stories to tell, advice to dispense, or just want to chat email me at thrifty florida mama @ gmail . com (no spaces).

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