It really is a place where dreams come true!

I just returned back from a ten day trip to Disney World with my husband and two kids. It is my favorite place to vacation. My husband and I thought that after taking the kids to Walt Disney World three times in four years that they would be bored with it or tired of going, but much to our surprise they had as much fun this trip as we did two trips ago.

I put a huge emphasis on planning these trips. I want to enjoy my vacation, but i think if you just show up with no plan your Disney vacation will be a bust. I start by printing out the time schedule for each park and by using Touring Plans park attendance predictor to put together a rough schedule. I always leave wiggle room to change things around. For example, this trip was full of sunny warm days but our first full day in orlando was really warm and sunny so we moved things aroung to allow us to go to the waterpark (Blizzard Beach) instead of epcot.  Typhoon Lagoon was closed for refurbishment. Be sure to check out closures ahead of time so you are not disappointed.

View from our room at the Beach Club

We usually pick a hotel together as I want everyone to feel as though they are a part of the planning.
This trip we stayed at the Beach Club. This is on Disney property and was just a quick 5 minute walk to EPCOT and the Boardwalk area. We could also take a ferry to Hollywood Studios and the bus to Animal Kingdom , Magic Kingdom, Downtown Disney and the Water Parks. My kids loved making smores on the beach each night and swimming in the hotel pool. They have a great water slide here.

My kids making smores on the beach

My only issue was some construction at the pool, which made it hard to get from one area to another. We loved eating at Beaches and Cream for dinner, and We had breakfast and dinner at the Cape May Cafe. My husband loved the crab legs at Cape May and even my picky eater found something he liked at the buffets. I really liked the location of this hotel. We have stayed at Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge in the past, and enjoyed each hotel for different reasons.  Based on my kids ages this trip we knew we could keep them up a little later and the EPCOT fireworks were on our to do list. We actually saw the fireworks 3 times as it was so easy to walk over for desert and Illuminations as we had the park hopper option on our tickets.

We packed a lot into our 10 day trip including a side trip to Universal Island of Adventure for my daughter's 12th Bday.  The rides were very intense compared to Disney.  My son who is a short 9 year old could not go on many of the rides at Island of Adventure.  We did enjoy going to Hogsmeade and riding on the Forbidden Journey and the Flight of the Hipogriff. Butter Beer was on our list of things to do in the Wizarding World. The kids loved it but I found it to be very,very sweet. We split one mug between the 4 of us and I think it was plenty.

Mr CC enjoying Butter Beer

 We went on a couple easy going rides at Suess Landing and the Pteradon flyers ride (only for a tween and an adult). We also went on the Spiderman ride and the Bilge rat Barges. We ended the day with the Barges as we were soaked to the bone. We had ponchos on and still all manage to get soaking wet feet and shirts. Over all we had fun but I don't think we would splurge next time for one day at Universal  as it was quite expensive.

We try to stay within our budget and in order to do that I pack one suitcase with snacks, drinks, cereal, bowls, utensils, and I ordered bagels, cheese sticks, fruit, water and milk from a local service called Garden Grocer. It was delivered to our room on the second day and It worked out very well. We ate breakfast in our room most mornings. The kids had some healthy snacks to munch on and we brought our own water to the parks everyday. Waters are about 2$ a piece in the parks so this was a major money saver. I also use the empty suitcase for souvenirs on the trip home. We always fly on Southwest so we don't have to pay any extra fees for the bag.

Well, we really enjoyed our trip, If anyone has any questions about Disney trip planning don't hesitate to ask. Hope everyone is having a nice night!

Maura

A Shopper's High? No a Savers High!

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As you may or may not know. I am a semi- extreme couponer. I say semi because I don't want you to think I am as crazy as some couponers you may have seen on tv. I am a normal married mom of two who decided (after meeting with our financial planner a few years ago) that I needed to get my spending in hand. He actually looked at our spending and noticed that a large chunk was being spent at target and grocery stores.  I felt a little embarrassed and a little mad. I decided from that moment on I was going to cut back and find a way to spend less without missing out. So two years later I now thrive on saving money. That same high others get from buying things, I get from saving.

I used to be a regular couponer who would cut a few coupons from the Sunday paper each week and go to the store to buy our weekly groceries and household items. Now I actually take the time to plan a monthly menu based on the items I have in my pantry and freezer . Each week I check my menu and make my shopping list based on what I need to complete meals.  I also buy any stockpile items (items on a really great sale with coupons to match that I can buy and put away in my pantry) I also buy my fruits and vegis based on what is on sale that week.  I have cut my grocery bill from $150 a week to $90  a week (this includes my health and beauty supplies and cleaning supplies).  One week I may go a little over, then the next a little under but $90 is about average for our family of four.

The deals have been a little slim over the past couple months but this week was a jackpot week.  A local grocery store had many staple items like pasta, sauce, peanut butter, canned tomatoes, and cereal on sale with a Catalina. ( a coupon good on your next order -OYNO) If you bought $20 worth of participating items you got a coupon for 10 OYNO.  I actually had my husband do this deal and then I went shopping with a friend and did another transaction.  I am planning on making one more trip this week. So this week I went a little over budget.  I will be spending $120 but I will have 30$ to use next week on meats or fruits and vegis.  I told my husband I was having a Shoppers High and he said "That would make a great blog post". Hence the title of this one.

Oh I should also tell you we completed January's Resolution Project. I will post soon about that!


Have a great Day
Maura

Hip Hip Hooray for Me!

I know, I know I really should not be cheering for myself but after 10 days with no dryer and piles and piles of laundry building up I finally tamed the beast and fixed my dryer!

The story goes like this. About 10 days ago my dryer stopped heating. I noticed after I put towels in and ran the dryer 3 different times thinking I had forgotten to turn it on each time. Well after ordering a new heating element and replacing that my dryer still would not heat (Boo Hoo). So this time I bought two new parts a thermostat and a thermal cut off fuse. (I forgot to mention I don't have a parts store nearby so I had to wait for the parts to arrive via snail mail.) I first changed out the thermostat and I still had no heat but as soon as I changed out the thermal cutoff fuse I could smell the heating element going! It kind of smells a little when you put in new parts so it is a good idea to let the dryer run a few minutes before putting clothes in there so they don't stink when you take them out.

Why am I so excited you may ask. Well for two reasons. First, my husband will be out of work on july 30th and I am trying to be frugal these days and I also love the fact that I spent 85$ on parts to repair it and I would have spent 150 just to have someone come out and look at it. Second I love that feeling of knowing I don't have to rely on someone I do not know, to tell me what is wrong with something (kind of like when I bring my car in to be repaired). Dryer repair is not as scary as it looks. This is actually the second one I have fixed. The first was at my last house and the heating element went on that one.

I know it sounds crazy but I have never been so happy to see a load of laundry in my dryer!

Menu Planning

I started Menu Planning last month and have found it to be not only a great time saver but also a great money saver. I found this monthly menu planning sheet on the organizedhome.com  and printed it off, filled in each day (after looking at our calender to see if we had any plans). In order to fill it in I had my kids, my husband and myself each make a list of our favorite 10 meals (many were dups). I then filled in my menu with those meals, and added a few extras where needed.

 I started stockpiling( buying multiple items I use when I have a coupon and it is at its lowest price) about a month ago and I have a pretty good supply of my staples and I only buy my meats on sale( really good prices).  I divide and cut them up and put them in my freezer. I scallopini some chicken for some of my meals and cut some up for stir fry and fajitas so it is all ready when I take it out of the freezer to defrost. I put freezer bags with ground beef for tacos and american chop suey and make patties for grilling.  This means when I run to the store I only need to get  fresh vegis, milk, and eggs to pull my meals together.

I used to wait till 4 to figure out what I was going to make for dinner at six and was always stressed about meals and I feel much more organized now. I also love it that my kids don't have to say "what's for dinner" anymore as they know a month ahead of time what we will be having.  I hope this idea will help you get more organized with meal planning and if you have any questions let me know!

Maura

25% OFF

I love to save my pennies. I buy clothes on clearance at the end of the season for the kids and put them away till next year. I  always get a good deal on my family vacations (waiting till Disney offers their packages) , and stock up on non perishable food items my family likes when I know they are a good deal. The one thing I am not very good at is cutting coupons. Now don't get me wrong I do cut out the bed, bath and beyond coupons, and I use coupons I get in the mail for Kohls or Yankee Candle, but I have never been good at cutting grocery coupons. So I am setting a goal for myself this month to cut 25% off my grocery bill. I usually spend about 140$ a week ( this includes my weekly shop and little shops I make during the week for fruit or meats).  Given that amount I am going to try to cut 35$ per week off my bill each week.

How will I do this you may ask? Well I have been reading up on blogs and websites about couponing.  While I do don't want to be a "super couponer" (those people who spend hours on end trying to get everything for free, paying .05 cents for a cart full of groceries) I do want to start saving on the things I normally buy.  So I started this weekend by buying extra newspapers, I plan to do this again but from now on I will pay for the papers and leave them for someone else who does not care about the coupons.  I don't want to be wasteful. I will start a stock pile of coupons and start buying things on sale with coupons.  I have learned that you can use two coupons when there is a buy one get one promotion (which I never knew) and I also learned that cvs is a great place to get grocery deals too. I know to some 25% may seem like a little but when you keep adding it up 35$ a week that ends up being 140$ a month and over 1600.$ a year. Thats not chump change. Does anyone else out there use coupons and do you have any helpful hints for me?

Maura

Is this the end?

A few days ago I took part in the Get your face on party over at the stories of a to z and I posted about my make up regime. I got many responses about the lash and brow gel I use instead of mascara. I check periodically to see if it is on sale. Well when I checked today it was not in the mascara section any more and when I typed it in the search box it came up at the rock bottom price of 4.00$. I was very excited about the price but bummed out that it was not coming up on the main page. I think it may be on its way to being discontinued.  This is the the third makeup item in recent months that I use to be discontinued.  I am buying enough to hold me over for quite a while but what will I do when I run out?  What do you ladies do when your makeup favorites are discontinued? Find a replacement, Beg the company to keep making it, or just forget about it?