Want to help others? Give blood.

My husband and I don't have a lot of money, but today we potentially helped others by giving blood. All it takes is a little time, minor discomfort possibly, you may have to deal with some rude nurses or hopefully you'll have nice ones, but for the person who may need your blood someday it will mean the world to them. We also got an apple juice and a Keebler's Double Fudge Bar at the end, so you could say my husband and I went out for dessert & juice for free ;)

Free Family Fun

I love going to scholar bowl meets! They do not charge admission, you can learn a lot of trivia, you can test yourself on the questions (in your head of course, don't blurt out the answers LOL), and it's fun to see how much the children know. I used to love to play Trivia Pursuit as a child, so this is my idea of fun.

Our town used to host movie nights in the park, which we loved. We would bring our own bottled sodas and candy, lawn chairs, and slumber bags for the children and spend the next few hours watching some great family films for free.

I love shopping at Aldi's

I really love to shop at Aldi's. They have products that Wal-mart doesn't, I can fill an entire cart for a lot less, and I love their fresh produce. I always make sure I bring a quarter for their cart return system and I bring my thermal bags so I don't have to search for boxes or pay for their bags. I do prefer getting fish sticks at Wal-mart, but I like many of the items Aldi's has.

Home and Garden Shows

I love to go to Home and Garden Shows. They have a low entry fee - usually just a couple of dollars, most provide candy, so when you take your children it is like trick or treating in the spring :), you can register for prizes (I have won an electric heater, a basket of lotions, t-shirt, college credits, disaster preparation bucket, wind chimes, chip clips, plastic cups, cup cozies, a birthday party at the bowling alley for one of my sons, 2 tickets to the rodeo at our county fair, and my husband won a t-shirt), you can learn about different services in your area, get a free newspaper, local tourism guides, sample apple cider, blackberry cobbler, cookies, strawberry shortcake, apple cobbler, beer bread, dips, and it is a fun cheap way to spend time with the family.

Save money by skipping delivery charges

We recently bought a new bed and saved ourselves money by shopping around, finding the lowest price, and skipping the $30 delivery charge by picking it up in our truck. I highly recommend Chapman's furniture in Salem, Il. We have bought an Ashley kitchen table set, bar stools, Ashley couch, love seat, recliner, and a twin bed and they have all held up well. They have very good service with a smile :)

Save money by installing your own microwave

Recently our microwave broke and we got a new one through Lowe's on sale with 2 gift cards we had plus we had to pay the difference. There was free delivery which was good. The installation would have cost $100, but my husband and I read the instructions and installed it ourselves and saved the money. It only took us twenty minutes to install so it was well worth it.