If you  are planning a trip to Six Flags this weekend, be sure to print this coupon to save $20 on one general admission. You will also need to bring 2 Milky Way or 3 Musketeers single size or larger wrappers. Valid through 9/25/11.

I love stuff like this!

Right now, you can get a FREE Jello Brain Mold – just pay $2.95 for shipping.

Click on Food on the left column to find the coupon quickly.  Click on the coupon, and you’ll be redirected to the Kraft Foods site to place your order.

There are three great new coupons available for games!:

• $5.00 off one SIMON FLASH, SCRABBLE FLASH, YAHTZEE
• $4.00 off the purchase of one MONOPOLY game
• $4.00 off the purchase of one CONNECT 4 game

Be sure to check the travel games section too!

What is your favorite family game night game?

Since the weather is getting cooler, we are finding more indoor activities. Go HERE to play Ticket Blaster to earn free tickets for Chuck E. Cheese.

VistaPrint is offering a FREE Halloween tote bag! Just pay shipping, which is quite reasonable. I have ordered from VistaPrint before and I love the quality of their items.

This tote bag will be able to be used for years to come, as it folds up to store, unlike most candy buckets. It will also be cuter than a pillowcase!

Just head to VistaPrint to customize yours!

There are lots of freebies you can find, but I think this one is pretty unique… a Free Jar of Worst Case Scenario Gross Slime!

Check out the Disney website to make free Greeting Cards! Choose from a variety of characters and greetings, then you can print either in color or in black and white to color yourself.

You can also make your own Calendars and Story Books.

I recently entered a givewaway for the Pampered Chef Baking Dish you see above at The Elect Lady.  And I WON! Yay! I was so excited!

She promptly mailed it and I received it very quickly. Sadly, when I opened it, it was broken beyond use. I was pretty bummed. I politely sent her an e-mail letting her I know I had received it but that it was broken and thanked her for the giveaway. I wasn’t upset because it wasn’t her fault it broken. These things just happen sometimes. And I thought that would be it.

But no, that was not it. She wanted to make sure things were right, so she ordered another one directly from Pampered Chef to me and sent it overnight! I was ecstatic! I received it today and it is gorgeous and I cannot wait to use it! Dinner tonight maybe?

So… you NEED to check out The Elect Lady! She truly cares about her readers plus she has some GREAT articles! She has multiple ways to subscribe to receive her posts, so head on over to The Elect Lady right now!

I totaled up my grocery spending for the month of March yesterday… around $150! I was really excited about that!

Then… I went to the big-box store : (

Totally blew my excitement since I nearly doubled my spending with just one trip! Ugh! I am still out-of-town, so had I been back home this would not have happened. Anyway… I have still saved about $1800 over the first 3 months of the year by using coupons and being a smart shopper!

How much have you saved this year by using coupons and being a smart shopper?

Make sure to sign up with Disney Movie Rewards and make sure to enter your birthday during registration because they will send you a free blu-ray movie on your birthday!!

You do have to pay shipping, but it is only $2.95.

I received the email on my birthday and I was able to choose from 5 different blu-ray movies. And it’s not the 4-6 week wait… two days after I ordered it, I received a confirmation email that it had been shipped!!

The selection does change throughout the year. For example, when I first learned about this offer the movie choices were different and it was offered as a free DVD; now it is a free blu-ray.

1. Expose your pre-schooler to cash
By showing money to kids, they get a better understanding of what you are trying to teach them. Try playing “bank” or “store” for further understanding in a fun way.

2. Ditch the “replace it” attitude
When a toy breaks, have you ever heard your child say, “it’s ok, we can get another one”? When that moment comes, think of it as a learning time. Let them know that it costs money to replace a broken item. Replace that attitude with a “waste not” attitude. Let your child help donate items they no longer use, or have them “earn” a new toy by helping with chores.

3. Encourage delayed gratification
I cannot say enough how many times my mother taught me this. If I saw a toy in the store that I wanted, she would tell me that I would have to earn it. And I did! By doing chores, she would pay me a little here and there so I could buy the toy myself. I also took better care of things I bought myself because I understood I would have to save up again if it broke or got lost.

4. Talk about it
Some parents never talk about money in front of their kids. My mom did, but only to say that we couldn’t afford this or that new thing that I wanted. This helped me to understand that I couldn’t have everything that I wanted. By not talking about money, kids may grow up thinking a debit card never runs out of money and that if something breaks then you can just go buy a new something. Explain where money comes from and that it can (and will) run out if you aren’t careful about what you spend it on.

5. Be a role model
If you want your kids to be money-smart, they need to see you be money-smart. When you go to the bank to make a deposit, take them with you and explain what you are doing. If you are donating or volunteering, get your kids involved too.

6. Practice, Practice, Practice
Make some pretend money and play “store” or “bank”. Let your kids pick out a piggy bank to keep up with the money they are saving. Even if they don’t have an allowance, coins they find on the street or in the couch cushions could go right into the piggy bank when they understand the value of saving money.

7. Tell stories, not lectures
If you start lecturing about the importance of saving money, your kids will probably zone out pretty quickly. Instead go to your local library about pick out some books about saving money. For a start, try out “The Berenstain Bears’ Trouble with Money” by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

I have added a new element to my blog. It is a Year to Date Savings Tracker. I have come up with a chart in Excel to keep track of my savings. Every time I add to the chart and my total savings changes, I will update my blog with my new savings total!

If you are interested in the Year to Date Savings Tracker, email me at Kate(at)MoneySavingKate(dot)com or leave me a comment and I will be sure to send it to you!

Also, be sure to sign up for my daily e-mail feeds and I will send you my CVS Savings Chart and my Walgreens Savings Chart! Just leave me a comment letting me know you signed up!

I don’t know about you, but I have a crazy hard time getting my toddler to eat, not to mention eat healthy. She lives off goldfish and pretzels. The only reason I’m not crazy about this is because she loves V8 V-Fusion Juices; that way I at least know she is getting her recommended fruits and veggies each day. But I stumbled upon an article about how to get your toddler to eat healthy food. You can check out the full article HERE, but here are a few of the highlights:

- Get Your Preschooler Involved: Let your toddler help with menu planning and writing the shopping list. Ask him to hold the grocery list at the store. Let him help make choices about what to buy… apples or oranges?

- Encourage Involvement in the Kitchen: Let him help wash lettuce or measure the flour for a cake.

- Make Meals & Snacks Fun: Arrange veggies on a plate to look like a face. Make pancakes into shapes or cut toast into shapes. Offer yogurt as a dip.

- Go To the Source: Take your toddler apple picking at an orchard or berry picking at a berry farm. Or plant your own fruits and veggies and let him harvest them himself.

- Be Picky About Juices: Limit juice intake to encourage eating other foods. Make sure the juice you do offer is 100% juice and not a “juice drink’.

- Shake and Bake: Get your toddler involved in making smoothies; try some fresh or frozen fruit, milk or frozen yogurt, and fruit juice. How about baking some muffins? Add some blueberries to a basic muffin mix.

- Fortify But Don’t Fool: Don’t hide “hidden” ingredients. Your toddler may be upset about it later.

- Make It Count: Be aware of your toddler’s nutritional needs. They are pretty basic (and small) at this point. Just make sure to cover the basics, then he can continue to live on pretzels and goldfish.

- Find Fast-Food Alternatives: Occasional fast food won’t hurt, but try to switch out fries for apple slices or try a grilled chicken sandwich instead of a cheeseburger.

- Be a Good Role Model: Remember that your toddler likes to mimic you, so practice what you preach! If you want your toddler to eat healthy, you need to eat healthy too! (Plus it’s good for you.)

- Be Upbeat: Don’t force your toddler to eat. It’s likely that the more you and your toddler fuss about food, the harder it will be to get him to eat. Offer praise when your toddler does eat healthy food.

If you have any ideas, please be sure to comment and let me know!

As parents, we tend to want to save just about every piece of artwork our child masterfully creates. But, unfortunately because of the lack of space, we can’t. I recently found an article about how one parent created a Memory Art Book for her child.

Every once in a while, when the child is creating a masterpiece, get out a big sketch book (specifically for this purpose) and have the child draw or paint in it. Make sure you date each page, that way you can track the child’s progression in skills.

I definitely plan on doing this with my daughter. I will probably try to find a 24-36 page sketch book, that way she can create two to three masterpieces per month.

Today’s Groupon for Austin, TX is 50% off Round Rock Express baseball tickets!!

For only $66 you can get 6 Round Rock Express Tickets AND 6 Intel Club Passes!! That is a $132 value! Go HERE to check out the details, but make sure you are in the Austin Groupon area for this great deal.

Here are a couple other great deals across the country today:
- Indianapolis – $10 for $25 worth of Upscale Cuisine at Pearl Bistro
- St. Louis – $9 for $20 worth of Latin & Caribbean Cuisine at Flaco’s Cocina

Make sure you go HERE to grab a $10 off coupon for G-Force on Blu-Ray.

Do your kids tend to have a hard time when they have to wait long periods of time? Say at the doctor’s office, on a trip, or at the airport? Check out THIS ARTICLE at Huggies Baby Network for some great ideas to stave off the boredom trantrums.

The Polar Express - Courtesy of Castle Rock Entertainment & Warner Bros Films

If you have a Polar Express fan in your house then you will want to check out THIS WEBSITE. It lists quite a few states that have Polar Express train rides. Not all states are listed though and not all railroads are listed either. For example, in Texas, the Texas State Railroad has a Polar Express train ride, but it isn’t listed. If you know of any other participating railroads, feel free to leave a comment and let me know!