Did I See Spring?!

70 degrees in February has the birds singing, the frogs croaking, and me gazing out the window.

I know it's too good to be true.  I know that it won't last but it's the hope it brings that gets my heart pumping!

I immediately know that I am behind once again in starting seeds for the summer garden.  It never fails!  I have grand dreams and high hopes that I will start seeds on time and will have lush plants just waiting for the ground to warm up but it never happens.  So, here I am, at the very end of February, going through my little boxes of seeds to see what I can put under a grow light just to make myself feel better.  I would at least like to get some tomatoes started, after all, who doesn't have tomato seeds on hand?! Yep, that's right.  ME!  It looks like we will have peppers of every size and color this year and I will be buying tomato plants once again.

Hello World

Hello Blog!

Oh, how I have missed you!

I think of you often but, ashamedly, never sit down to write.

You are often in my thoughts and I long to tell you what is going on in my life but I find that if I do get time, I am too tired or too distracted or too ......

So, please let me catch you up on life.

My oldest is a high school senior this year.  We are headed out of town a little later to interview for a big college scholarship. He has worked at his part-time job for over a year and a half now.  He works and then comes home to do his school.  He has a 3.85 GPA and made a 28 on his last ACT!  Colleges are sending him letters daily but he knows the plans that God has for him and is faithfully following that call.  I am so proud of him.

My youngest has his driver's permit now.  He is anxiously awaiting the day that he can get his real license and get a job. He amazes me with his incredible talents that just seem to materialize over night.  One day, he took a bar of soap from the box and the next day he brings me a beautiful carved flower.  Now, he has started drawing and the drawings are awe-inspiring.  He is the very definition of introvert, yet he has this wonderful comedic flair that rears its head often and it never fails to make me smile. My youngest always has and always will occupy a very special place in my heart.

I am doing all I can to avoid the reality that we will soon be empty-nesters.  My heart will not allow my mind to go there.  When I do dare to peek into the future, I wonder what I will do with myself.  I have devoted myself to educating my children for the past 10 years.  What do I possibly do next?

You see blog, this is why I need you.  This is a season of change.  It will be wonderful to look back later and see how life has progressed and it will be therapeutic now to share my thoughts with you.

I plan on talking to you again soon!

Zaycon 10% off

Today only Zaycon is offering 10% off all of their foods.  If you have been wanting to try them, now is the time! Click here to order.

The Summer Garden

When the warmth of Spring begins, I long for time in the garden.  I plot and plan. I scour the seed catalogs that have filled my mailbox for weeks.  I dream of what I will can and dehydrate as my lush Summer Garden provides all of the food we will need for the winter.  And then, it RAINS.

When I say rain, I don't mean a nice spring shower.  No, I mean it rains 3 inches and just about the time I think it's safe to walk outside without boots, it rains another 3 inches.  It teases me like this for weeks. Finally, I come to the conclusion that it's never going to dry out.  The sun will never shine long enough to put a garden in.  I guess we will have to rely on store-bought food. :(

Just as all hope seems to be gone....the sun shines! And the days heat up! Before I know it, the plants are in the ground and I'm fighting 100 degree temps with 110 heat indexes!  What happened to SPRING??  I'm even wishing for a little rain to give my sprinkler system a break.

The lush garden from my dreams looks like a dry, parched wasteland.  The tomato plants droop and the squash bugs are feasting on the squash buffet I have provided them.  The only thing that seems to thrive are the weeds.

I managed to collect enough green beans for a meal or two.  There will be no beautiful quart jars full of green beans awaiting us this winter.  The zucchini that I stole from the squash bugs was rationed between the four of us.

The tomatoes? Oh, the tomatoes.  I had a lovely tomato sandwich courtesy of my husband's co-worker.  Maybe the most delicious I have ever eaten.  You are wondering about my tomatoes?  Well, so am I. There were a few that survived the desert conditions but not many.  There will be no fresh-tasting salsa, no tomato soup.  There will be no pasta sauce (although my basil THRIVED!)  and no canned tomatoes.

Today, I have tilled under the last of my summer disappointment and I begin dreaming once again.  This time, dreaming of greens and broccoli, spinach and kale. I pray the heat weakens and winter takes it's time arriving.  There is still hope......in the Fall Garden.

Emergency Food for your Family

I am excited to have placed my first order with My Patriot Supply.

I'm not much on the Zombie Apocalypse theory but....

     I do believe in being prepared for emergencies!

If the BIG ONE ever hits the New Madrid  fault line, I want to have some emergency supplies.

If another tornado rips through and we are out of power....I want some supplies!

Do you remember the ICE STORM in 1994?  How long were we without power?  I want to be able to feed my family.  

                                           Do you??

Check out My Patriot Supply.  You don't have to spend a lot of money.  You can get a 72-hour kit for about $20!  

Renuzit Pearl Scents

Step in.  The aroma is the first thing to touch your senses.  Subconsciously it takes you to other places, it relaxes your body and mind.  It is amazing what just a scent can do.

With names like Serenity, Tranquil, and Sparkling Rain, Renuzit understands this and has created an oasis for the senses with its Pearl Scents.

Interested in knowing more?  Check out their facebook page here and email me at kfreekave@aol.com.  A drawing will be held for coupons for free Renuzit Pearl Scents.

Also, I have to tell you, I received these products free in exchange for my honest feedback.  Everything you read here is my honest opinion.

The Call ~from a Mom's Perspective

“Hey, I need you” were the words that made my heart race.  I knew something was wrong when I heard the phone ring.  Call it a Mother’s instinct or whatever, but I knew.

Josh and his best friend, Josh R., had left for work about 15 minutes earlier.  It was really raining and I had received a text from Josh R.’s Mom telling me that water was standing on the roads.  The boys were driving separate vehicles so I called my Josh to tell him about the road conditions and tell him to be careful.  Five minutes later he called me.

“Hey, I need you”.

“Why?” I asked but I was already running to get my shoes. 

“I’m in a ditch on the side of the interstate.”

“Are you hurt?” I’m frantically looking for my keys.

“No, I’m ok”

“Don’t move.  I’m on my way.”

The lights and tv were on.  The cat was in the house.  My hair unbrushed and still wearing glasses instead of contacts, I ran to the car.  It was still pouring down rain and I had to remind myself that I would be of no help to my son if I wrecked on the way to him.

By the time I arrived, I had talked to him two more times.  I knew that he either hydroplaned or had a front-tire blowout.  I knew that he was not hurt and the car seemed to be ok.  I knew that no other vehicles were involved but mainly, I knew that he was ok.

Pulling to a stop, I jumped out of the car and hugged my son in the pouring rain.  Nothing else mattered.  He was in one piece.  He was ok.

I must have been a sight because the police that showed up on the scene asked if it was my car.  I said no, it’s my son’s.  After hearing the story, the young black police officer put his arm around my shoulder and squeezed.  Even now, that small gesture brings tears to my eyes.  It was a sincere act of compassion on his part and it touched me deeply.

Mom and Dad arrived a few minutes after I did.  We decided to leave the car until the rain slowed.  Josh and I headed to their house to calm down a little and honestly, we just needed the strength and comfort that their home offers.

It was then that I began to get the details of what happened and understand how the hand of God had been on my son.  As I said, it was raining heavily.  Josh hit a water pocket and began hydroplaning.  He did a 360 in the middle of the highway, by God’s grace there was no traffic close to him.  He slid off the right side of the interstate, opposite the side of the road lined with metal posts and fencing.  He skidded sideways up a 30 foot embankment and landed nose first into the ditch, facing the road. 

There was no impact, so the airbags did not deploy.  There were no obstructions so there was no damage to the car except a flat tire.  There was nothing to cause injury to my son.

As the Joshes walked out of my house that morning I prayed, “God, watch over my boys” (the second Josh is technically not mine but he's one of the many boys that have a special place in our family, so I consider him mine.)

He did.

This was a vivid reminder that I do not control the things that happen in my life.  Neither do I control the things that happen in my kids’ lives.  While I try to do what’s best for them and I try to “control” the things I can, ultimately there is not ONE thing that I can do on my own.  Now, this is not a new concept but something that I obviously needed a refresher on.  I am a Christian.  I have given my life to Christ.  He alone has control over all and I trust Him with that.  I told Josh on the way home from church today how very thankful I am that God watched over him and kept him safe (I’ve told him this at least a dozen times in the last 24 hours) but I also explained that even if things had turned out differently…if he had been injured….if the car was totaled….if…if…if…God would still have been in control and I still put my complete faith and trust in Him.  That’s a hard thing but if I trust Him, I must trust Him completely.

I do.  I falter, but I do.  I am human, but I do.  It is a choice.  I do.

Adding Rabbits to our Homestead

I wrestled with the idea of raising rabbits for several years.  We already have chickens and we are not quite ready to move up to large animals yet. So, rabbits seem to be a perfect fit for us.

We purchased our first trio of rabbits almost 2 years ago.  The trio consisted of 2 New Zealand White does and 1 New Zealand White buck.  A few weeks later, we added 2 additional New Zealand White does.  My husband built a beautiful rabbit hutch to house them in and I had a favorite new hobby.

The tarps are rolled up in nice weather and down to block wind or rain

I fell in love with the rabbits and started learning all I could about them.  I learned about various breeds and which were best for different things.  I learned which ones were rare or almost endangered.  I quickly began making a mental list of the different breeds I would like to have.  I didn't share my list with my husband though! :)

Notice the use of feed bags to help block the wind and cold.  Recycle, Reuse!

The beautiful hutch that my husband built turned into a double hutch!

I decided that I would like to add some Silver Fox rabbits to our growing rabbitry.  They are beautifully colored and multi-purpose rabbits.  They are also considered "threatened" by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.  I found a local breeder that had a Silver Fox buck for sale and made arrangements to purchase a couple of Silver Fox does from Ohio and have them transported here. I will make a very long story short and just say that we now have one purebred Silver Fox buck and one purebred Silver Fox doe. I have found that everything I read about them is true.  They are big, beautiful, and have very sweet dispositions.

Cozy Baby Bunnies

In my continuing research I began running across pictures and stories about Rex rabbits.  At first they did not interest me but the more I read and the more pictures I saw, I became intrigued.  I began actively looking locally for a Standard Rex but was having trouble finding one.  I joined Rex Rabbits for Sale on Facebook and found a breeder that it is about 30 minutes from me.  I contacted him and we arranged to meet the very next day and I came home with this beautiful Chocolate Rex doe.

Her fur is thick and feels like velvet.  She is super sweet and doesn't mind being cradled like a big baby.  My next goal is to add a Rex buck so we will have Rex babies.

Coco is my Chocolate Rex

A New Year- A New Blog

     I know that it is already February but it's still a new year, right?  I think about my blog often and wish I had time to sit down and write.  I have a lot that I would like to share with you but I do not have a lot of time.  

     I thought that maybe I should change the name of the blog because my focus is no longer coupons and such but as I pondered it, I realized that almost everything I do is to save money.  Yes, the way I go about it has changed, but the goal has not.  I think now it has become more of a way of life than just a hobby.

    So, the blog will go on as Saving My 2 Cents but the content will change some.  I want to share more about how we live.  Things like.... canning.... our animals... our garden. 

    There will still be some grocery hints and coupons thrown in.  In fact, I have a great product that I am trying now that I will be sharing with you later so keep an eye out.

Grocery Saving Part 2

We are trying to answer the question, "Can you still save money on groceries?".  The answer is YES!

I went to Kroger this week with a very short list of things to get.  I'm usually not  a list maker but I have learned that making a grocery list helps reduce excess spending and when I get home I'm not kicking myself because of what I forgot to buy.  So, make a list of the things you need.

Next, learn which day your local grocer has the most marked down items.  I know that there are two days when my local Kroger has big markdowns.  I have narrowed down the best time to get there so they have had an opportunity to mark the sale items but it's not so late that they have been too picked over.  So, I breeze through the fruits and veggies and quickly pick out what I need.  I then head to where they mark down the cheeses, then the meats, and on to the canned goods.

The picture shows just a few things that I got marked down.  Overall, I saved over 40% off of my grocery bill by buying markdowns.  Be sure to only buy things that you normally eat buy anyway.  Don't buy something just because it's marked down.  Also, be sure to check expiration dates.  If it's coming up soon, is it something you can take home and freeze until you are ready to use it?

Once you are used to looking, you may be surprised at what you can find marked down!

Grocery Savings?

Is there any such thing as grocery savings anymore?  I originally started this blog because so many people asked me to help them save money using coupons.  After all, I was saving anywhere from 50-65% off my grocery bill each month.  I loved the days that I could walk into a store and save 90% off my purchases!  Where have those days gone?  Will they ever come back??  I don't think so.... :(

I believe the glory days of couponing are behind us, thanks to a popular tv show that I will not name, but it has to do with using coupons in an "extreme" way. Once this show gained popularity, the stores quickly began to change their rules regarding coupons and the manufacturers began changing the coupons.  We no longer have stores that double or triple the coupon values and the value of the coupons themselves have come down.  That's not to say that you can't ever find a good deal!  I'm just saying they are fewer are far between now.  So much so, that I do not even get the paper anymore.  The coupons no longer make it worthwhile.

So, can you save money?  Yes! As time permits, I'm going to do a small series blogs on how we save money on groceries and other things.  I know that our way of life is not for everyone but I'm hoping someone can glean a little help from it.

The first thing you need to do is evaluate your time and the foods you, or your family, eat.  Do you have time to cook meals from scratch?  Would you be better served with meals that require just a little effort? Or, do you need meals that you just heat and eat?  If you can carve out a little time to cook, you will save a lot of money.  After all, 1 bag of dry beans and a stack of flour tortillas are going to cost about $3 but if you buy that frozen pack of burritos you are looking at $8+.  That's a savings of $5!  Plus, odds are, you can make more than one meal out of that bag of beans and tortillas (depending on the size and appetite of your family).

Let's stop there for today.  Give yourself a few minutes to sit down and really evaluate your time.  Can you make time for the kitchen?  If so, how much time?  Maybe it's only 1 meal this week from scratch but that's a start.  You will save money and eat healthier food if you make it yourself.  There is also a lot of personal satisfaction in a job well done.

#Cartwheel #Coupons

Want to save a little back-to-school money?!

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This offer is only good until the end of August so check it out now!

So Easy, Even Your Husband Can Do It!

Laundry is one of those chores that fall solely on me.  My husband is a super smart guy but a bewildered look crosses his face when I even mention the idea of him putting on a load of laundry.  But now, I have the solution!  Purex NO SORT!

Now, Purex No Sort is not a miracle worker.  If you have new, brightly colored clothes you do not want to put them in with your whites but once they have been washed a few times separately you should not have the bad color bleeding accidents like before.  Purex No Sort has a dye transfer inhibitor that traps dyes so they will not settle on other fabrics.

Purex brand sent me a free sample to try out so here is the before pics:

I added a little red, blue, green, yellow, light gray, etc to this load.  Normally, I would not wash these together.  And, this is what I got: 

No bleeding stains at all!  I like the idea of no more sorting!  I do believe my husband and kids can do this!!

I have a couple of free coupons to give away if you would like to let your husband try laundry duty!  Email me at kfreekave@aol.com.  3 winners will be drawn.

Mom's Night Out ~ The Movie

I LOVE being a Mom!  I have 2 wonderful boys that are truly the light(s) of my life.  I don't think anyone would ever say that being a Mom is easy though.  The only thing I know that is harder is being a Homeschool Mom!

You see, Homeschool Moms do not get breaks.  We don't have a commute to work where we can choose to listen to the radio or enjoy the peace and quiet for a few minutes.  We don't get a lunch break where someone else cooks the food and places it on the table in front of us and we certainly don't get sick days!!

I know that being a working Mom is not easy either.  I have been there too and I know the difficulties and the sacrifices that must be made so please don't feel like I'm belittling what you do.

                The bottom line is BEING A MOM IS HARD and sometimes we need a break!! 

That's why I am super excited to offer you the chance to win a night out for you and four of your friends to see MOM'S NIGHT OUT. Just click here to register.

I was actually invited to a screening of this movie and I can tell you, It Is GREAT!  I can't wait for it to come out on Mother's Day weekend so I can take my family and friends.  You can see a sneak peak of it here. 

Garden Hands

I am so excited that it seems that Spring is finally trying to get here.  We had a couple of 70 degree days last week that only intensified my longing to get in the garden.  I was able to get my hands in the dirt for a few minutes before another storm front moved in bringing cold air with it.  I must admit, I was not ashamed of the dirt under my fingernails.  In fact, I admired it! lol  I looked at it knowing that the time for "Garden Hands" is just around the corner.

Lucky for me, Dial provided me with a sample of Dial Deep Cleaning Hand Soap for me to review just at the right time! I decided this would be a great time to put it to the test!

I was immediately pleased with the scent (Yellow Raspberry & Black Sugar) but then I noticed the micro-scrubbers that were in it.  It really helped get the dirt off and exfoliate my skin in the process.  I see why they call it a Deep Cleansing Hand Soap!

I am going to give you an opportunity to try this premium soap for yourself, by the way, it's a great family soap too so share with your kiddos!  Instead of a random drawing this time, I am going to give a coupon to the first three people to email me at kfreekave@aol.com with the subject line Garden Hands!

Blind Worship

Today, at church, I had the honor of sitting beside a sweet young teen that happens to be blind.  I listened to her angelic voice as she was singing "Jesus, Jesus".  Tears came to my eyes as I thought of how God's heart had to be touched as she sang His name. 




I pondered this a few minutes when a thought struck me.  God is just as touched when I sing His name.  To Him, I am blind to so many things but my eyes do see.  I am mute at times when I should speak for Him.  I am sometimes deaf to the things that He wants me to hear.  I am no different than this beautiful girl beside me in God's eyes.


Now, this is not to diminish this young lady in any way.  I do still believe that she touches the very heart of God.  But I also see that we each touch His heart when we take the time to worship Him.  Have you taken the time to worship Him today?  Put aside your laundry list of things that you need for just a few minutes and take time to worship.  He is worthy!

Paleo ~ The Cure To What Ails Me?

Can a change in what you eat really change your body?...and I'm not talking about weight here!

My on-again, off-again relationship with the Paleo Lifestyle has taught me a lot.  I have learned that life without dairy, grains, legumes, and sugar IS possible.  It's not only possible, but it's pretty easy.  I don't have to worry about counting calories or fat grams.  I don't have to worry about what foods I should eat together and what foods I need to eat by themselves.  I don't have to worry about the hundreds of other "rules" of dieting that we have accepted over the years.  I just eat real food.  I eat meat.  I eat vegetables.  I eat fruit. Simple!

Now, for some personal info.  I am in my early 40's.  I am in the early stages of menopause.  I've been through the peri-menopause and already hit menopause.  Yes, I said early 40's.  The real downside to it is hot flashes.  You really cannot explain them to someone that hasn't experienced them.  The best way I can describe it to you is imagine someone lit a blowtorch inside your body and all of the heat was trying to escape through your skin from the inside out.  It comes without warning and leaves you drenched in sweat. There is no quick relief and the effects make you angry.  I told my husband one day to leave me alone because I was having a hot flash.  He thought it was funny and decided to hug me.  Wrong thing to do! There is an inexplicable anger at anything and anyone while your body is melting on the inside!

The next thing you need to know is that I have had problems with me feet since I was a young child.  I have had to wear braces on my legs and feet, had fractures in weird places on my feet, and multiple surgeries on my feet.  I have had bone removed and the Achilles tendon lengthened on both feet/legs.  Each of those surgeries took over a year to heal completely.  I have recently started having extreme pain in my foot again so I went back to the doctor.  He told me that there is a lot of scar tissue in the tendons and there are several treatments.  Option 1 is injecting my own blood into the area so it creates scar tissue.  This will have to be done three separate times and each time I will be in a cast for 6 weeks.  There is no guarantee this will work. Option 2 is completely cut the tendons! That does not sound like fun to me!

Why do you need to know this, you ask?  So you can understand my experience with Paleo.  You see, after a couple of weeks of eating this way I noticed that my hot flashes were gone.  Not decreased.  GONE!  I also noticed that the constant pain in my foot was not there.  Interesting.  The next thing I know, the holidays are here and I feel like I "deserve" to eat what everyone else is eating.  In a way, I guess I did deserve it.  I deserved the consequences!  I was off Paleo for about 6 weeks.  During that 6 weeks the hot flashes returned with a vengeance and the pain in my foot returned.

Now, I am back to the Paleo lifestyle.  The hot flashes are gone again and my foot pain is decreasing daily.  My energy is returning and I feel good.  I don't know how Paleo will affect you.  Maybe it won't but I know that it is better for my body.  I hope to lose weight but if I don't, it's ok.  My body is healthier.  I can feel it.

If you decide to try it, let me know how it works for you.  I would be interested in knowing if your aches and pains lessen or go away completely.

To Paleo or Not Paleo, That IS the Question

I AM one of those people.  I have tried every diet on the market.  You name it, I have done it.  Obviously without success! lol

Weight issues are really annoying to me because we really don't eat that bad.  You can come into my home on any given day and you will not find ice cream, chips, or cokes.  There are no cookies or cakes hidden away.  We eat a pretty healthy diet so why don't we lose weight?  I think there are many answers to that question but this blog is about Paleo so that's where I will go.

I have several friends that lead a Paleo lifestyle.  I will admit...I was skeptical about it when I began to read up on it.  I mean, how can you survive without grains, beans, sugar, and dairy?  What is left?  Well, I will tell you what's left.  REAL FOOD.  Meat, vegetables, fruit, and healthy fats.

I decided to put Paleo to the test last October.  I decided I would follow all of the rules, strictly, for one month and then decide from there.  I was excited the first week.  I lost about 6 lbs and was beginning to come out of the sugar and carb withdrawals. The second week was much easier but I did not lose any weight.  By the third week, I had energy that I hadn't seen for a while and I had no desire to eat any of the things that I was not supposed to but I still didn't lose any weight.  I think my body was confused! When the fourth week rolled around I felt better than I had in a long time and the number on the scale began to move.  By the end of my little experiment I lost 12 lbs but for the first time in my life, that was not the most important thing.  The best part was how great I felt!

You would think that I would stick with it since I was feeling so good and losing weight BUT the old excuses came back.  I made it through Thanksgiving without much trouble but by the time Christmas rolled around I was ready for a break.  I thought it would be ok to eat our traditional Christmas foods and then get right back on plan but I forgot about the leftovers. And then, my body had a taste of sugar and carbs again so it was screaming for more!  It took me 3 weeks to get my mind made up that it was back to Paleo and this time, I'm taking the whole family with me!

The family agreed that they would join me in this new lifestyle.  It has been an adjustment in the way we think but overall, it's been an easy transition.  It has been hard this past week because I have been sick so there has been very little home cooked meals and, lets face it, you can't eat healthy on fast food.  I am on the mend now and I'm looking forward to preparing our meals again.

I think this is something we can do.  I hope it is.  I'll keep you posted. :)

Fitness Tracker

Did you make a New Year's resolution to lose weight or exercise more?  With this sweepstakes, you could win a Fitness Tracker and a year's supply of Purex!




Enter HERE

Vacation on a Budget

Vacations are not something we get to experience often.  After all, we are a 1 income family in a 2 income world!  As Dave Ramsey says, "We live like no one else so that someday we can live like no one else"!

We are watching the boys get older and closer to going off to college so we really wanted to have a vacation this year.  One that was not connected to anything else....none of the the..... we are going to visit the Grandparents so we will stop along the way for a couple of days together....or, no, I have to take this business trip so we can take the family and spend a little time together while we are there.  Nope.  This one needed to be a vacation only vacation!

After much deliberation we decided to go to Branson, MO.  We chose to go after school had started but before Labor Day weekend so we could avoid a lot of the crowds.  (Homeschooling has it's advantages!) The boys don't really remember going to amusement parks when they were younger so we wanted to visit Silver Dollar City while in town and maybe visit the local water park.  The shows were really not of interest to us so we didn't need to consider those costs.

I began researching deals at Silver Dollar City.  I found that you could get into the park after 3:00 p.m. one day and then that ticket would get you in for free the next day.  This sounded like a great deal until I found that some local hotels and resorts had 2-day tickets for the price of 1 (and you could still go at 3:00) the day before so it was like getting a day and a half for free.  The tickets are well over $60 each so we were looking at over $250 just in Silver Dollar City tickets.

The hotel was the next thing to research.  Our plan was to stay 4 nights and 5 days.  We would arrive on a Sunday and leave Thursday.  This was we could avoid the weekend rate increases and the weekend crowds.  I began looking into hotels in the area and narrowed down the search to a couple that had their own indoor/outdoor water parks.  I figured if the hotel had a water park we would not need to pay to go to the large water park in town.  It was also important to have a room with a refrigerator and microwave.  I thought this was a pretty standard request but I soon found that it was not.  After much computer work, I found the hotel that seemed to fit our needs the best and it did come with a refrigerator in the room, no microwave.

This is where a little, ok, a lot, of research comes in handy.  I went through ebates.com to get to hotels.com where I booked our room.  By going through ebates.com I got 3% cash back on our final hotel bill.  We got a GREAT rate through hotels.com and I was also able to print out a rebate coupon so I will get a $20 rebate on our hotel stay. I was able to get the room for less than $55/night.

I had a little sticker shock over the price of Silver Dollar City even though I knew it was a great deal to pay $250 and get to go to the park for 2.5 days.  We visited the concierge at our hotel to order the tickets and they offered us a deal IF we sat through the 2 hour timeshare pitch.  I knew we would get one of these offers at some point during our visit to Branson and my husband and I had already decided we would rather pay full price than sit through one of these high pressure sales pitches BUT, I must admit, I love a good deal!  They offered us the 4 Silver Dollar City tickets for $75!  That was almost $200 off!!  I couldn't resist!  To me, that was like paying us $100 an hour to sit and listen to someone talk while eating their snacks and drinking their drinks. lol So, much do my husband's dismay, I took the deal.  Granted, it was not a fun 2 hours but it was sooooo worth it!

The next expense was food.  Think about it.....5 days times 3 meals out equals a lot of money!  There was no free breakfast at the hotel but you could have an all-you-can-eat breakfast for $8 per person.  No thank you!  I am usually a cook-from-scratch and eat your veggies kind of gal but I knew I couldn't really do that on vacation so I started making some plans.  I borrowed an electric skillet from my Mom and began preparing some foods at home that I could freeze and take with us.  I froze some of our fresh eggs and browned some sausage and froze it in another bag.  I cooked sausage patties and packed a box of pancake mix.  I collected fresh veggies from the garden and made a casserole that could be reheated in the electric skillet.  I packed bread, flour tortillas, sandwich meat and peanut butter.  Our first meal was breakfast burritos.  At lunch we had sandwiches and chips.  Our first dinner was chicken and rice in a cream of mushroom/cheese sauce.

We did eat out while on vacation but it was places that we really wanted to go not just because we needed a place to eat.  By the time we got home, we had eaten out 4 times.  I estimate that we saved over $400 in meals.

We had a vacation on a budget but none of us felt deprived in any way.  We did all of the things that we wanted to do.  We splurged and had funnel cakes at the amusement park.  We played 18 holes of putt putt golf at one of the tourist traps in town.  We didn't miss out on anything AND we didn't break the bank.