FCF Weekend Wrap-Up: Great price-matching deals this week, 96 diapers for $4, Texas Roadhouse deal trick, discounted food and more!

Happy Monday!

How was your weekend? Mine was great...until my son decided to start throwing up again FOR NO REASON. He had a stomach virus a few months back and it flares up once in a while. Yay.

Oh, the throw up....

ugh.

Needless to say, we laid low again this weekend. However, I still have lots of fun, cheap, or free stuff to share with you...including an AWESOME grocery shopping trip I just got back from!

Here are the FCF things I've done lately:

Earlier last week:

• I had my first Aerial Silks class! 

Random, right? 

Thanks to a daily deal site my friend and I got 5 classes for a screamin' deal. Before booking the class we checked online and saw that you can take 1 introductory class for free from the studio, so we signed up for the free class first. 

Moral of the story? 

We will end up getting 6 classes for the (already discounted...) price of 5! Woo hoo!

Remember this tip? ALWAYS check online before buying anything. And I mean ANYTHING! While you're at it, check out my big list of daily deal sites.

Just for the record? This picture is misleading. This was seriously the best workout of my life. Every inch of my body has been sore all week! It hurt to smile, even. No joke.

Friday:

• We went to a dollar movie. Cheap date night!

Dollar theaters are becoming increasingly popular. They play movies that are out of the theater, but not quite out on DVD yet. Don't think you have one near you? Google it and see. You may be surprised by what you find!

Saturday:

• Went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner (my hubby's favorite). That restaurant can be expensive, but here's our little trick to get a cheap dinner!

Get one of their Texas-Sized combos. It includes two mains and two sides...and simply share it! We got BBQ chicken and steak. We each eat a main, each eat a side, stock up on their complimentary rolls and cinnamon butter (mmm...), and enjoy a free appetizer every time we come (see the savings tip below). It's plenty of food for about $15.
Still hungry? Order an additional side, it's only $1.99. STILL cheaper than each of you getting your own entree.

If you ask for a bag of peanuts it has a FREE appetizer card stapled to it. Ask for one when you come in the restaurant, and now you have a free appetizer to eat with your meal!

This Morning:

• I headed to Wal Mart with the kiddos to get my sick son some "Pedialyte". 

Did you know that Pedialyte and G2 Gatorade are nearly identical? My pediatrician recommends G2 because it's much cheaper, but has the same important ingredients!


I decided to do some quick shopping for meals this week since I was at the store already, and here's some of what I came up with:
(Not sure what I mean by price-matching? See the explanation of how I grocery shop HERE)

Let me break it down for you:

We needed some bubble bath. These tubs were $3.97 but I found one with a clearance sticker for $1 less. The reason? If you read the tag it's because it was the last of that round of inventory. Bingo.

I hit up the discount bread isle and got some yummy (and super soft!) sandwich rolls.

Remember to always look for a discount bread/bakery shelf or isle. Every store has one, just ask around if you can't find it. Afraid you won't use the bread up fast enough? Freeze it, or simply make croutons out of what you don't use in time.


I raided the 75% off Halloween baskets full of random stuff and got a ton of glow sticks/bracelets for around $0.20 each. I got the tip from HERE that this is a super fun bath time activity!

Keep glow sticks in the freezer and they will last longer. Already cracked and used them? Stick them in the freezer and you'll still get life out of them for about 3 days!

Keep your eyes peeled, Halloween stuff can still be found and it's all super cheap. Here are baskets I raided at Harmons last week. They had huge bags of candy for $1:

This chicken was $1.97/lb but I price-matched it for $1.66/lb (Fresh Market's price). It's not as good as this deal from the other week, but good enough to make chicken dinners this week!

I got this elastic and discounted lace ribbon for a baby skirt I am making.

Have you ever considered buying your crafting items from Wal Mart? Their fabric is SUPER CHEAP and they have all the basics you would need for other crafting projects. Check it out next time you are there!


My best deal of the day?
This jumbo pack of 96 diapers for $3.97! 

Yup, it's true.

The sign said $13.97 but I found this one box that must have printed the tag wrong. I took it to the counter, it rang up for $13.97, but I asked her to honor the price on the box. She did!

Bam, baby.

Just for the record...yes, my 3 month old is in size 3 diapers. Heaven help this chubby little child...

A few other great deals:

• Avocados: $0.25 each from Rancho Markets
• Ground sausage: $1.99/lb from Rancho Markets
• Stovetop stuffing (my fav!) $0.99/box from Smiths
• French bread: $0.50 each from Buy Low (I'm making chicken pesto french bread pizza for dinner tonight. Yum!)

• I needed a loofa (spelling?). They were $2 each in the bath isle, but when I walked past the travel section (where they have mini shampoos and lotions) they had a loofa 2pk for $0.99!

Loofas work GREAT for the tub and shower. I use them to wash my kiddos - you use WAY less soap by lathering a small drop in a loofa rather than a washcloth. Savings tip? You can lather a bar of soap in the loofa just like body wash. It gets real sudsy just like body wash, but it's waaaay cheaper. Try it! My husband is hooked on this one. He used to go through 1 bar of soap every 2 weeks or so, but now 1 bar will last him over 2 months.

• The formula was $9.97/box but I had a bunch of $5 manufacturer's coupons that get sent to me in the mail for being on their mailing list. It made the boxes $4.97/box. Though I breast feed my baby, I love having these pre-mixed formulas in my purse for emergencies. They really are a life saver!

Never let good coupons expire. If you would use the product within 1 year, BUY IT with the coupon to have on-hand for when you need it. Letting valuable coupons expire is throwing away money! Keep them in a binder with clear pages so you can see the expiration dates. Simply throw the binder in your cart everywhere you go so you can use them if you see a good opportunity.

I needed some pesto for my DINNER tonight. There wasn't any on sale, so I got a packet to make my own pesto rather than buying it from a jar. It ends up being about 1/3 the price!

So there are some of the FCF things I took advatage of this week. Got something fun, cheap, or free to share? Got questions? Email me at funcheaporfree@gmail.com so I can share it with everyone else!