by Christy on September 2, 2010

If you own an old version of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, you can get a $10 coupon to upgrade to the Blu-Ray Combo Pack. The Blu-Ray Combo pack includes the Blu-Ray and DVD versions of the film. You will need to be a Disney Rewards member in order to receive the coupon. The combo pack will be released on October 5th.

by Christy on September 1, 2010
by Christy on September 1, 2010

Do you have an ALDI grocery store nearby? If so, ALDI is challenging you to take the One Week Challenge. They want you to do your grocery shopping at ALDI for one week and then compare your receipts with other grocery stores. They believe that you will see that cart-to-cart nobody beats ALDI.
ALDI prices are typically 30 to 40 percent less than store brands at traditional supermarkets and 15 to 20 percent less than big box store brands. Quality, taste and satisfaction are always double guaranteed at ALDI. If for any reason a shopper is not 100% satisfied with any product, ALDI will replace the product and refund the money.
Here are some things I learned about shopping at ALDI for the first time (while in Florida). Go HERE to learn everything you need to know about shopping at ALDI.
- You will need to bring a quarter to get a shopping cart (you will get it back when you return the cart).
- You will want to bring your own bags from home. They do charge a very small fee if you need to use their bags.
- ALDI does not accept coupons.
I asked my readers what they loved at ALDI, and lots of people love their Fit & Active line of products and several people raved about their brownies. So, you might want to check those items out while you are there. You can use their store locator to see if you have an ALDI location near you.

Giveaway: 3 people will win a $25 gift certificates to ALDI, so you can try the one week challenge for yourself.
Here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment letting me know what you love about ALDI. (If you have never shopped there before, you can just say “haven’t shopped their yet.”
Additional entries: (leave a separate comment for each extra entry)
- Follow Thrifty & Thriving on Facebook
- Subscribe to Thrifty and Thriving via email or RSS
- Follow Thrifty and Thriving on Twitter
This giveaway will end on Wednesday, September 8th at midnight. Good luck!

by Christy on September 1, 2010

Buy 5 Kraft Shredded or Chunk Cheese @ 2.00
Use 5.00/5 Printable coupon
Get 5.00 Catalina back for buying 5 items
Final Price = FREE after coupon and Catalina
Buy 5 Cool Whip @ 1.00
Get 5.00 Catalina back for buying 5
Final Price = FREE after Catalina
**No Coupons Required for this deal**
Thanks Queen Bee Coupons and Coupon Connections NW!

by Christy on September 1, 2010

You can make your own full-colored customizable Disney maps for FREE. You can use the maps to plan out your trip, or to keep as a souvenir. I plan on making some maps once we return from our trip, so we can highlight some of the rides that were our families favorites!
You can choose to have them delivered to your home, or you can print them out whenever you like.

by Christy on September 1, 2010

Heather over at Queen Bee Coupons has put together an amazing resource for all of us Costco shoppers. She has created a Costco price list database. The database breaks down the cost of all the items so you know how much you are paying per item, per ounce, etc. This is a big help when deciding if a large Costco item is a good price or not.
She also has a great post that explains what kind of deals you can get by shopping at Costco, or shopping with coupons. It’s very informative and worth checking out!

by Christy on August 31, 2010

Yesterday, I mentioned that baking in the kitchen was a fun and frugal way to have a great time with your kids. Well, today’s post is all about the FUN and not at all about the FRUGAL. Are you ready for this? I paid $19.95 for 4 cookies cutters!! Now, before you think I have totally gone crazy and have changed my thrifty ways, I feel like I should explain myself. You see, they weren’t just any cookie cutters, they were STAR WARS cookie cutters. It’s OK now, right?

I saw the cookie cutters in a Williams-Sonoma catalog, and I knew my sweet little guy, who loves to help his momma in the kitchen would adore them. I was right! I have no doubt we will indeed get more than our $20 worth out of the cookie cutters, because we have a family full of Star Wars fans, plus lots of cousins that are big fans too. Whenever we have a family get together Dallin want to make some Star Wars cookies for everyone. His favorites are Boba Fett and Yoda.
I think one of the great things about being frugal, is that you save money where you can, so you can make little splurges every now and then on things that make you happy. The fun my son and I have in the kitchen making Star Wars cookies (on almost a weekly basis) is worth way more than the $20 I spent on those cookie cutter.
For today’s giveway, I have a $25 Williams-Sonoma gift card, so you can buy some fun Star Wars cookie cutters of your own (or whatever else suits your fancy!) Williams-Sonoma gift cards can also be used at Williams-Sonoma Home, Pottery Barn, pottery barn kids, PBteen, and west elm.
Here’s how to enter:
Leave a comment letting me know something that you have splurged on before.
Additional entries: (leave a separate comment for each extra entry)
- Follow Thrifty & Thriving on Facebook
- Subscribe to Thrifty and Thriving via email or RSS
- Follow Thrifty and Thriving on Twitter
This giveaway will end on Monday, September 6th at midnight. Good luck!
P.S. If you have a Star Wars fan in your family, you have to check out the Star Wars apron too. It’s too cute! I picked one up for my son’s birthday, which is about a month away. He is going to be thrilled. Again, not very frugal, but oh so fun!

by Christy on August 31, 2010
by Christy on August 30, 2010
Cooking in the kitchen is a very fun and frugal way to have a great time with your kids. Three of my kids LOVE to help me in the kitchen. One of my teenage boys can often be found in the kitchen on his own making muffins, cookies, chicken yakisoba and more! Today, and tomorrow, I will be sharing some fun things we make in the kitchen, and I will have a giveaway to go along with each one.

My daughter loves cookbooks, she has received several as gifts, and her most recent (and current fave) is Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids
by Jill O’Conner.

This inside of the book is absolutely adorable, with scalloped edges, gingham and floral prints, and lots of fun photos. Plus, it is filled with so many fun recipes, you can’t help but have a great time in the kitchen. A few of our favorites are:
- Fizzy Lemonade Sparklers (So refreshing – Both Allie and I love strawberries)
- Hunka Chunka Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (Super fun cookies)
- Quickbery! Quackberry! Blackberry-Apple Crumb (Perfect right now, since blackberries are in season)

We chose to make the chocolate balloon bowls, and filled them with fresh strawberries, whip cream and chocolate sprinkles! These were so much fun to make!!

You make the chocolate bowls using balloons. How cute and clever is that? The whole book is full of super fun ideas for you and your kids in the kitchen.
Now for the great news, I have a copy of Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey Treats for Kids
to giveaway to one of my readers.
Here’s how to enter the giveaway:
Just leave a comment letting me know what your favorite kind of cookies are.
Additional entries: (leave a separate comment for each extra entry)
- Follow Thrifty & Thriving on Facebook
- Subscribe to Thrifty and Thriving via email or RSS
- Follow Thrifty and Thriving on Twitter
This giveaway will close on Monday, September 6th at midnight. Good Luck!
Thanks to Chronicle Books for providing me with a copy of the book to giveaway.

by Christy on August 30, 2010

I had a friend tell me that when they went to Florida, their family really enjoyed indoor skydiving. I had never heard of such a thing, but I knew my husband and older boys would LOVE it, so we added it to our schedule. I picked up a Florida Entertainment book for only $5 awhile ago, and was thrilled to find a Buy One Get One FREE coupon for Sky Venture indoor skydiving.
A great way to find lots of the coupons found in the Entertainment book without actually buying one, is to use the Tropicana Juicy Rewards. You will find lots of the coupons that are in the Entertainment books on the Tropicana Juicy Rewards site. You can redeem your Tropicana points for discounts to entertainment centers, restaurants, zoos and more. You can choose locations all across the United States.
I was able to redeem my points for another Buy One Get One FREE coupon, so we were able to get 2 of the flights for FREE.

Here is a photo of my husband during one of his “sky dives”. They all had so much fun!! Their instructor is a member of the US Skydiving team, so he did some amazing stunts after our family did their flights. If you have teenagers, this is definitely something worth looking into.
