Monday, July 14, 2014
Mom-ism Monday #11 and a Super Six Flags Deal
My Mom was born in 1940. The year after the official end of The Great Depression. Her parents were farmers raising 10 kids (she was a twin) during hard times. They taught her to be frugal when it came to be economically sound right down to the penny. My lack of a monthly balanced checkbook is hard for her to comprehend.
My husband Steve has a habit of leaving coins laying around. This bad habit makes my mom and dad shake their heads. My Dad was born in 1937 during The Great Depression. He knows and respects the value of money. When I took up Steve's bad habit of leaving coins in my console or neglecting to pick up stray coins in a parking lot, she always says "Tammy, pennies makes dollars!". I didn't agree much at first, but I'm catching on!
See Mom sitting on the hotel balcony during a beach trip in 2008. She looks like she doesn't have a care in the world. But I know, secretly, she's thinking "Pennies makes Dollars!". I repeat this phrase quite frequently to my kids. I'm not sure who coined it. It may have been Juanita!
Speaking of pennies making dollars, there is a wise phrase we all know "A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned". I love to save! Don't you? Are you planning a trip to Six Flags Over Any State? Do you have a "My Coke Rewards" account? If you don't you should! Those Coke lids are worth cool savings. I admit they are a little daunting inputting them into the mcr.com website but they do pay off.
At mcr.com, you enter codes from Coke lids for points and redeem the points for rewards. Great thing about the Six Flags discount is you don't need any lids at all. Simply go to mcr.com with a valid email address. Register for an account. Log in. Search the word Six Flags. The first reward that pops up is a 40% ticket discount for 0 points. You will receive an email that explains how to buy your discounted ticket. How awesome is that? That's a savings of $22 per ticket for simply registering. If you already have an account with a points balance, MCR also has an awesome FREE Six Flags ticket for 1000 points.
Pssstt! Keep saving those pennies. I don't know if you've heard but they make dollars!
Pennies are lucky,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
My husband Steve has a habit of leaving coins laying around. This bad habit makes my mom and dad shake their heads. My Dad was born in 1937 during The Great Depression. He knows and respects the value of money. When I took up Steve's bad habit of leaving coins in my console or neglecting to pick up stray coins in a parking lot, she always says "Tammy, pennies makes dollars!". I didn't agree much at first, but I'm catching on!
See Mom sitting on the hotel balcony during a beach trip in 2008. She looks like she doesn't have a care in the world. But I know, secretly, she's thinking "Pennies makes Dollars!". I repeat this phrase quite frequently to my kids. I'm not sure who coined it. It may have been Juanita!
At mcr.com, you enter codes from Coke lids for points and redeem the points for rewards. Great thing about the Six Flags discount is you don't need any lids at all. Simply go to mcr.com with a valid email address. Register for an account. Log in. Search the word Six Flags. The first reward that pops up is a 40% ticket discount for 0 points. You will receive an email that explains how to buy your discounted ticket. How awesome is that? That's a savings of $22 per ticket for simply registering. If you already have an account with a points balance, MCR also has an awesome FREE Six Flags ticket for 1000 points.
Pssstt! Keep saving those pennies. I don't know if you've heard but they make dollars!
Pennies are lucky,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Savings for Back to School and College
School Supplies are fun to buy! I always enjoyed going with my girls to get them. I loved getting a list from their teachers and buying every single item on it. Teachers did you know you can Create your School List on Amazon
to make purchasing school supplies easy for parents? It's not too late to create your list for open house. Don't wait until the school supplies get picked over. Order your child's today from Amazon.
Some reasons you should buy online from Amazon:
- Shopping from home (still just as fun) and jane or junior can help pick out their items while being educated on bargain shopping and computer skills. Can you say win/win?
- Saves money and gas
- No lines to stand in to get out the door
- No scanning required. Just push the enter button to checkout!
- Double the fun opening the supplies when they arrive at your door or mailbox
- Great deals
College Students can Shop Amazon for Used Textbooks - Save up to 90%
! A 90% saving could potentially save hundreds of $$$ to use for tuition, meals, lodging or other items you may need like Shop Amazon - Off to College
. I found buying used textbooks for my daughters during their bachelors and graduate programs was a HUGE value. After they used them, I sold them on Half.com, an eBay company.TIP: I loved used textbooks but never buy refurbished or reconditioned printer cartridges.
It gets better for college parents... Join Amazon Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for College Students
and ship to your college student for FREE!Back-to-school signals the end of summer. Don't think about the end of summer vacation, think about those beautiful new school supplies. Think about how excited your kids will be about school starting with those pristine new pencils, paper and erasers. I can smell the sweet eraser rubber now, can't you?
Looking forward to buying Lisette some,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Our Crazy Made-up Language - Epparksford!
I love my family! We have so much fun together. One of the things we do is make up words. They may come from a mispronunciation, a twisted tongue and sometimes, we think the word just sounds better said another way. Does you family do this? Truthfully, these words stick! We replace the English version with our funny family language word. My Dad probably says the funniest ones. Can you name the fruits and veggies in this picture?
.JPG "zucchini")
Here's another one. My driving drives my husband crazy. His misophonia drives me crazy. On our 12 hour ride to Florida, I begged him to go to sleep, take a nerve pill or something. Luckily, he chose the little bitty pill. He was fast asleep in no time. Finally, peace for Sydnee and me. Sydnee was driving. Steve, fast asleep, raised up and said "Syd, if you'll stop, I'll pump the gas." We looked puzzled at each other in the rearview mirror. We had a full tank from the gas he just pumped. He woke a little later and asked for a water. He got strangled. After he got his throat cleared, he said "Wow, for a minute there I thought I might need the Heimlich remover! We laughed and laughed. No more maneuvers in our life-saving bag. We do the Heimlich REMOVER because it works, not just as a CPR tool but as a word that makes sense!
What words have your family made up? Leave me a comment and share it with us!
Defining life,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Friday, July 11, 2014
3 Things a Realtor Should Do for a Renter before Invading their Residence
We're on vacation, ya (insert Swedish accent here)? We are renting Anabelle on Sanibel for 28 days. It's a beaut to say the least, on the market for $1.6 mil.
Now, before you jump to conclusions about how much it costs to rent this house for 28 days, let me tell you. It's cheaper to rent this home for 28 days than to rent a comparable home for a week in Destin, Grayton Beach or any of the panhandle locations in Florida.
Yes, it's oceanfront. You are looking at the front of the house. The view out of every window on the back of the house looks like this. OMG!
This afternoon I was playing in the ocean and noticed my hubby waving me in to the shore. He was on my phone sitting under the prettiest umbrella on the beach.
.JPG "beach umbrella")
I expected to hear one of my girls say "What chew doing mom?". Instead, I heard a realtor asked if he could show the house we're staying in tomorrow from 12:30 to 1:00 pm. He advised me that we don't have to leave the house, you can stay while we're showing. Awkward.
What would you have done? Leave me a comment and tell me if I did right or wrong.
Still scratching my head,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Yes, it's oceanfront. You are looking at the front of the house. The view out of every window on the back of the house looks like this. OMG!
I expected to hear one of my girls say "What chew doing mom?". Instead, I heard a realtor asked if he could show the house we're staying in tomorrow from 12:30 to 1:00 pm. He advised me that we don't have to leave the house, you can stay while we're showing. Awkward.
YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?
"It's your choice, of course" he said. Flabbergasted I said "Can you explain the situation? Can they see it another time?" He continued calm as a cucumber "They are flying in to see a couple of houses. This house is the one they REALLY want to see. At least that's what I understand." His voice sure was sweet.
Was this in my contract? Did I miss it? No one told me when I rented this house it was for sale. I'd used this company before without a glitch. I immediately sounded like my mom saying "Do we get a discount if we let you show it or some kind of concession?" He said sounding insulted "Not that I know of." REALLYY? REALLY? I asked if they'd be sending cleaning people and he said no. The viewers understand it is occupied. Do you understand it's occupied?
Because I am sooooo nice, I agreed. I also spent the afternoon cleaning the place more than I would have if it wasn't being shown. Argh! Why am I the way I am? Anyways, if any realtors choose to read this blog, I want them to know 3 things a realtor should do for a renter before invading their residence to show a home:
- buy a free lunch for the renters you are ousting, or
- offer a small refund for the time ousted (maybe the cost of dinner), or
- at least give the renter more than a 20 hour notice please.
What would you have done? Leave me a comment and tell me if I did right or wrong.
Still scratching my head,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Money-Saving Thursday #1: Things to Do for Free on Vacation
ROAD TRIP!
One of the best, least-expensive vacations I can remember is a road trip we took in 2009. I had just quit work for personal reasons. We needed a vacation on a shoestring. The trip turned out to be one of the most rewarding experiences ever!
Our destination was Illinois for a Drum Corps International performance. What fun we had on the way! We happened upon Metropolis, Illinois, home of Superman. Who knew this town even existed? We had all this fun for FREE! Check out the Visit Metropolis website for lots of "Places to Play" around the novel city for FREE.
Next stop: St. Louis, Missouri. The Arch is magnificent. The downtown area has a beautiful park. We passed through quickly (no one to meet in St. Louie) but had a fun-filled day with everything we did again FREE! See me and my mom counting our money at Hooters! We stayed, ate and bought our gas on this entire trip for just over $500 for four people. Be sure to check out next Thursdays money-saving tips where I'll share how to accomplish this fabulous feat using my favorite restaurant clubs, hotel rewards and gasoline perks. Check out 25 Things to Do in St. Louis.
I love history and architecture! Our stops in Springfield, IL brought us to the Home of Lincoln and the Illinois State Capitol. You must visit the Lincoln House Museum (free), the Executive or Governor's Mansion (free), Dana-Thomas House, a Frank Lloyd Wright design ($15 for families) and the Illinois State Capitol (free).
CHICAGO has so much to offer! We simply spent a leisurely day on the waterfront FREE! The beauty of the area is worth way more than what money can buy.
We just couldn't get enough of this road trip. On the way home, we stopped at a Dairy Farm and finally downtown Louisville, Kentucky, again, all FREE!
We did SO much in seven days! I got exhausted making these collages. This blog was a great walk down memory lane for me. I had forgotten some of the amazing things we did for FREE on this vacation. I hope these links help you plan your trips to these locations. You can always find things to do for free on vacation!
Leave me a comment with your favorite free thing to do on vacation.
Good memories,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
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