Keeping toddlers busy without breaking the bank!

Staying home with Roman full time has been challenging in a lot of different ways, but the most common problems I have is trying to find ways to keep him entertained and busy without spending a ton of money.  Living in the prairies I've had to adjust my activities with the seasons since being outside, which is free and fun, isn't always an option, especially in the winter.  Here are a few of Roman's favorite activities that are inexpensive or absolutely free!

YMCA Play Groups
This is by far one of our favorite activities.  I feel most cities have a YMCA/YWCA and they likely have programming similar to us here in Moose Jaw.  This play group is an excellent opportunity for Roman to get to interact with other kids and work on his playing/sharing/communication/negotiation skills.  Plus I get to visit with other moms and dads which is critical in keeping your sanity when you spend 95% of your day alone with someone who can only say 20 words.  I also love these play groups because they are offered every day of the week and they are absolutely free!

If you live in a smaller centre without a centre that puts on play groups, head to Facebook!  It seems like every town has a mommy Facebook page these days and this is a great resource to find other moms and organize your own play groups!

Museums
Now you might think that kids Roman's age (18 months) are a little young for a museum, and I would probably agree with you, at least depending on the content of the museum.  In Moose Jaw we are lucky enough to have the Western Development Museum that is dedicated to transportation, perfect for the boy who is obsessed with cars, trucks, buses, tires and any other vehicle that moves basically.  In our museum they have all kinds of classic cars, planes, watercraft, and even a full size train!  They also have a model train that Roman can turn on and off which he absolutely loves!  The Snowbird exhibit also gets two thumbs up from Roman because they have a cockpit that Roman can climb up into and steer the plane himself.  The museum is perfect for the afternoons when Roman just needs to get out of the house but it's too cold to go outside.

Roman's admission to the museum is free but it's $10 per adult to go, which can get very expensive.  Solution?  Get a family membership!  We purchased a family membership for $60 for the YEAR and we can visit any of the four Western Development Museums in Saskatchewan!

McDonalds!
Whether you're okay with your toddler enjoying a happy meal or not, McDonalds is actually a great resource for a cold or rainy day.  Why?  Because they have a play place!  Sure it's loud, and usually smells a little odd, but when you're in a pinch and need a place for your toddler to burn off some steam it's a great place to go.  Again, completely free!

Dollar Store Crafts
I don't like to spend too much on craft supplies for Roman because he doesn't exactly have the patience for crafts just yet.  He does seem to enjoy painting/coloring/gluing but when he gets bored with it things end up on the floor or in his mouth.  The dollar store is the perfect place to buy supplies because you can get a wide variety of items very inexpensively, plus they always have cute themed items for all of the holidays!

Crafts with little ones can really take a toll on your sanity so here are some tips for survival:
1. Under no circumstances should you ever, EVER, give a toddler glitter.  You're just asking for it.
2. When painting, put them in the tub.  This makes clean up so much easier.
3. Avoid liquid glue if possible, but if you can't then try to apply the glue for them and allow them to 
    stick the items together.
4. Assume it's going to be a disaster.  If it is you won't be so surprised because you expected it.  If it's
     not, then you can enjoy the shock and awe.

Winter can be a tricky time when you're trying to keep a toddler entertained and cabin fever can set in quickly.  Save you sanity and your money and try out some of these ideas before winter leaves us and summer moves in!  I think I'm being a little optimistic with that...

Get in, get out, save money! Tips for shopping at Superstore

It's no secret that I do 99% of my grocery shopping at Superstore and love it.  Why do I love Superstore?

• First and foremost, their prices are very competitive
• They have a wide selection of products. (ie. food, personal care, clothing, housewares)
• They have quality store brand products
•  Their awesome reward points system 

Superstore sometimes gets a bad rap for it's long lines, crazy shoppers, and sometimes confusing layout.  But don't let these minor points deter you!  There are many treasures and deals to find if you can work around these negative points.  With these tips you will be cruising through Superstore finding what you need fast and saving money!

1. Get in on the PC Points!
I know what your thinking "Great another card to cram into my wallet. *eye roll*", "Why bother when I'll never get enough points to qualify for any rewards?".  If you can stick with me on this one I promise it will be beneficial to you!  First off, you don't need a card!  You can have a card if you like but I prefer to download the PC Points app.  No card in my wallet and I always have it with me, because who leaves the house without their phone? 

What do you get with your PC Points!  Free groceries, that's what!  For every 10,000 points you get $10 in free groceries.  Now I know 10,000 points seems like a lot and that it would take a long time to earn them.  Quite often I will find products that give me 700 points for buying 1 of them.  For example, if orange juice is 500 points and you buy 2, you get 1,000 points.

Points are assigned to various products in the store and are posted in the flyer.  You don't earn points of your overall purchase (which is a bit of a bummed) but you do receive your own personalized offers.  Each week on the app you receive PC Points deals that are based on your past purchases.  If you buy a lot of peppers you will often find peppers have a points value attached to them.  They also throw in a few new products each week, which I enjoy because sometimes it's a product that I wanted to try and the points give me the incentive to do so.  You can also earn points on gas if you fill up at a Superstore gas station

2. Check your PC Points offers and flyer before heading to the store.
I like to check my PC Points offers and the flyer when I'm making my meal plan.  This was I can shop the sales and take advantage of as many points as possible.  Each week the flyer will have some sort of extra deal included in it.  When you spend a certain amount of money (usually $100-$250 before taxes and deposits) in store you earn the deal.  This varies from a $25 gift card for the store to 20,000 PC Points.  That's $20 in free products!!  If I don't like the deal for the week I will often try to stretch what we already in the house to see if the next deal is something I want to take advantage of.

3. Make a list and add items in order you encounter them in the store.
Maybe I'm just a creature of habit but I always shop Superstore in the same order.  Making your list to correspond to your path will save you time and headache.  No more running back and forth across the store because you skipped over an item.  This will take a few trips to get just right as you perfect your path through the store.  Knowing the layout of the store will also help if you remember half way through your trip that you forgot an item on your list and need to find it fast.

4. Shop weekday mornings!
I know this isn't possible for everyone, but if you can, hit Superstore first thing in the morning during the week!  I love to shop at this time because there are very few people in the store.  Usually I'm lucky if I see 5-6 customers in the entire store, which means great parking spots, no cluttered isles and walking right up to the till to pay.  The fresh produce is usually being put out at this time as well so you get the freshest of the fresh.  The only down side is the rotisserie chickens don't come out until noon!  I guess you can't have everything though...

If you absolutely can't make it to Superstore during this heavenly hour, Superstore has recently announced a guarantee that all tills will be open from 10:00am - 3:00pm every Saturday & Sunday!.  Now this won't cut down on the number of people in the parking lot or isles, but at least you won't have to stand in line at the tills for an hour!

5. Buy the Green Bins!
$15 per bin may seem like a lot of money for a bucket to put your groceries in.  I promise this is an investment you will never regret!  These bins are surprisingly large and can fit a ton of items since they are much sturdier than a plastic or fabric bag.  Plus you won't have to pay 5 cents per plastic bag.  We have 3 bins and I have no problem fitting $250 worth of groceries into them, minus big items like milk and kitty litter.  Now this is the part that is going to blow your mind!  These bins hook onto the bottom of the cart giving you extra room for your groceries!  My Mom and I discovered this while shopping one day when we saw a woman hook them on.  Not only does this give you more room for food, but if you're hopping with kids, it allows you to get up to 3 kids into the cart (two in the seats and a bucket seat in the top) and still be able to fit all your groceries!  I personally wouldn't want to shop with 3 kids but sometimes it has to be done!  *NOTE: I'm aware that you aren't supposed to put bucket seats in the carts but sometimes it's the only way to get the shopping done.  Just make sure that seat is secure and won't tip or fall out and you should be fine!

Packing your own groceries is definitely one of the things that used to drive me nuts about Superstore, especially with Roman.  How am I supposed to fill bags, keep Roman entertained, and not hold the line up?  Maybe I just over think this whole business but I swear I can feel peoples eyes beating down on me as I scramble to pack up my groceries and get out of the way.  Tell me I'm not alone?  Green bins to the rescue!  They make loading your groceries back into the cart extremely easy, and I can usually have 85% of my groceries loaded by the time the cashier is done scanning them. 

I realize I haven't divulged any top secret information here but hopefully these tips will make your Superstore experience a little more enjoyable.  Who knows, maybe I'll see you at 7:00am in the vegetable isle!

Saving Money on Electricity

Now that we are a single income family, I've been searching high and low for ways to cut back on our monthly expenses.  My first victim, the power company!  This is one expense that in my opinion can always been reduced.  We are all guilty of wasting power whether we are aware of it or not, and little changes can make a big difference over the course of a year.  Obviously some of these tips aren't anything earth shattering or new, but hopefully they help you trim your power bill down.  Might I suggest using the money you save to purchase a nice pair of shoes, piece of jewellery, or I guess you could save it.

Turn off the lights!  This is something I think every household struggles with.  In our house the problem room is the kitchen.  Because we are in and out of that room all day long, lights often get left on.  Case in point, they are on right now and nobody is in the kitchen, except the cat.  Turning off lights is a great job for kids.  It gives them a sense of responsibility and pride knowing that they are helping.  When Roman was only a few months old I started showing him how the light switch worked in his room.  Granted it was more of a "hey this is neat isn't it?" activity than it was an exercise in saving electricity, but now every time we leave his room he leaves over to turn off the light.  The grin on his face when he turns the light off is priceless, let hope he stays this enthusiastic!

Unplug it if you aren't using it!  Did you know that anything that is plugged in continues drawing power even if it isn't turned on?  Who knew!  Obviously you don't want to be unplugging and plugging in your stove all the time, but with smaller appliances this is an easy money saver.  I always make sure to unplug the toaster, coffee maker and cell phone chargers.  Obviously this isn't going to make a huge impact on your electricity bill, but every little bit helps!

Use your furnace fan and open the windows instead of the air conditioner!  With the heat wave we've been experiencing this summer it seems like the AC has been running non stop, day and night.  Every time I hear it kick in I swear I can also hear money running out the front door!  Unfortunately we live right beside a busy rail yard with trains smashing in to each other all night (it's not as bad as it sounds and you get used to it), so opening the windows at night isn't really an option.  I try to open the windows first thing in the morning, but if there isn't a breeze out it makes if difficult to cool it off in the house.  Enter the furnace fan!  I have to give all the credit for this trick to my Mom since she is the one who told me about it.  Instead of running the AC, switch your furnace fan from Auto to On.  This will suck all the cold air from the basement up and circulate it through the house.  Genius!  Even on a hot day I can keep the AC at bay for at least a few hours before I have to break down and turn it on.  But that's still a few hours of savings each day!

Turn off the TV!  I'm super guilty of leaving the TV on while I'm playing with Roman, cooking, or even typing a blog post (like I am right this second).  Nobody is watching it but nobody turns it off either.  I'm not sure what the obsession is with having the TV on but it needs to end.  We have a plasma TV so leaving it on not only eats electricity, but it also heats up the living room, which in turn makes me want to turn the AC on.  What a vicious cycle!  I'm turning my TV off right now!  Oh, Marilyn Denis is on.....maybe I'll turn it off after Marilyn....Hey nobody is perfect!



Saving Money on Groceries

Who doesn't like to save money!?  I personally love a deal and the feeling I get when I feel like I'm stealing something from the store (I do not recommend this!).  We've all seen the shows on TV proclaiming that you need to be a crazy coupon lady or forage for salad greens in the forest to save money.  The reality there are easier ways to save money, and these are a few of the ways I do it!

The first, and I think most important, is meal planning!  I know it's not always fun, and it's not really a big secret, but it really is a HUGE step towards saving money.  I usually plan out my meals for 1-2 weeks at a time.  This way I know I have enough food in the house and I won't have to run out for odds and ends.  At the same time I know that I have ingredients in the house that will actually make an entire meal.  There is nothing worse than having a house full of food but you can't make a meal with it.

Hit the discount rack!  Most stores will have a "reduced for quick sale" rack in the bakery and the produce isles.  Many of the items the bakery discounts are there because they are a day or two old.  I will often pick up a few dozen buns or a few loaves of bread when they are on the discount rack and freeze them.  Treats like brownies or a cake are great finds on the discount rack because, lets be honest, it isn't going to last long enough in the house to go bad.  The discounted produce can sometimes be dicey.  The only item I really pick up here is bananas.  They are usually 1/2 price and are ready for delicious banana bread!  I've even been lucky enough to find organic bananas for the same price as the discounted regular bananas!  No need to store them in the freezer for 5 months.....please tell me I'm not the only person who has a freezer door FULL of bananas....

If the store you shop at has a rewards card, use it!  Whether the points can be used for free groceries or trips around the world, you might as well collect the points since your spending the money anyway!

Make freezer meals!  I LOVE freezer cooking!  I can spend a few hours on a weekend cooking and make enough meals to last us 1-2 weeks.  Not only does this save me a ton of time making supper each night, but it also saves a lot of money!  When your freezer is stocked with tasty, healthy, easy meals, the temptation of take out is obliterated.  Freezer cooking can be intimidating, but if you take the time to plan it will be a walk in the park!  My absolute favorite website for freezer cooking recipes is Once a Month Meals.  They have amazing recipes and I have yet to find one that isn't delicious.

Buy the whole animal!  Why pay someone to cut up your meat when you can?  Whole chickens are great roasted and the meat can be eaten as is, used in wraps, pasta, or soup.  The bones are great to boil and make homemade broth.  Now butchering your own cow or pig may not be an option, but purchasing a half or whole animal from a local farmer can save you a whack of cash!  It is a larger outlay of cash in the beginning, but you won't have to purchase meat for a long time.  Plus many of these farmers raise grass fed, hormone free, happy animals, that the stores charge top dollar for!

Saving money on groceries doesn't always mean sacrificing tasty, organic, or healthy foods.  With these tips you will be well on your way to reducing your grocery budget while still enjoying your favorite meals!