Glow On, Little Worm, Glow On

Everytime we go to Wal-Mart, my daughter finds a glow worm in the toy isle and carries it around Wal-Mart pushing the button to make it glow and sing over, and over, and over again. It is sweet to watch, but with a price tag of $15.64, I just could never justify buying her one just because she liked it so much.

Yesterday, Bibles For Missions was having a 50% off sale on their toys. And...

Guess who scored a fully functional near mint condition glow worm for a buck?

That would be me.

Heat Waves, Speed Bumps and Band Wagons

Hello to my remaining two readers   :0D
My apologies for the neglect. Thanks for sticking around.
Money wise it was a bit of a brutal month.
There were speed bumps in our finances.
So I ignored the budget. And so I fell off the bandwagon.
Then, I tried to sell some items on Craig's List. And failed.
After that, I planned a garage sale. It fizzled.
So, I was discouraged and went shopping.
We went camping. Spent more than we could've.
I gained 5lbs on snack mix.
I took up novel reading. Again.

So you see, it was really to SPARE you that I didn't write. It would've discouraged you in your money saving endeavors. Really.
I swear.

Okay, so now that I've made my excuses, without further ado:

How To Survive and Save Money With Kids During a Heat Wave:

1) Find a local spray park to play at - they're free. I was invited to do this yesterday, and I loved it. If you bring snacks and blankets, this can evolve into an all day affair.

2) Make your own spray park in the yard. If you don't have a kiddie pool, be creative. Use a big tupperware. Heck, if your kid is small enough, use the turkey pan. We did this last year and it was successful - just remember that you'll need to be close enough to keep it from tipping.

3) Check out your community for free activities. The customer service desk in our mall has a huge selection of free pamphlets on self guided tours, local hikes and leisure center activities - all for free. Also, a friend told me this morning that our local library has loads of free kid activities and crafts on Wednesdays during the summer.

4) Your local newspaper is a huge resource for upcoming activities in the community and coupons for local businesses. I've clipped loads of half price coupons for our local waterpark from the paper.

5) Visit a pet store. They will be air conditioned and it will burn at least half an hour - besides, it's unlikely that you'll spend any money.

6) Go to the lake for the day. All day parking is less than $10.

7) Find a friend with a pool. :0D

8) Meet a friend for coffee at McDonalds (one with a play place). Again, air conditioning, so you can blow a few hours and only spend 2 bucks. Just make sure to feed your kids first and let them know you aren't going to buy them any food so they won't be disappointed.

9) Go to the library. You can pick out books to take home, but you can read books together there as well. A bonus for my local readers is that our library has a pond and ducks, so if you remember to bring bread you feed the ducks, too. (Note: you aren't supposed to feed the ducks. I know this, but I still save our stale bread for them. I think that the sign is up because people were feeding the ducks bad food, or something.)

10) Make your own popsicles.