easy come, easy go

Vacations, no matter how well planned, usually includes hidden costs. A forgotten item, a gift shop purchase, a meal out....Whatever it is.

I have a Ford Expedition. I love, love, love my car. However, it is not cheap to fill her up! I take advantage of gas reward points programs but...the most I can get off a tank here in CA is a mere .20! However, I will take what I can get.

So during a stop to get gas, I was shocked to find a different offer from Safeway...we got $1 off a gallon! Gas was already super cheap compared to So. Cal but to get $1 off as well? Heck yeah! (Picture above is CA prices with discount. Picture below is AZ price with discount)

While driving into the Grand Canyon, Ben informed me that we had to pay a $25 fee for park entrance. As we pulled up though, we saw this sign...

See that line on the very bottom? Yep, not only did we get the day free, we got a whole year free! We congratulated ourselves on saving some more money on our trip.

At the end of our trip, Ben said to me, "Have you ever noticed how when we save money
on something, we usually end up finding it somewhere later?"

Uh yeah. Unfortunatley. After one more stop at Sonic (this was a must have), we decided not to eat out or spend any more money until we got home.

Upon arriving home, we were getting everything cleaned out of the car, and getting back into the swing of things. But then...we realized that one of the freezers in our garage, had had the door left open.

Everything was ruined. EVERYTHING. I had to throw it all away. It made me sick to my stomach to throw all that food out. I had carefully wrapped meats, frozen produce, whole chickens...ugh. All of my hard work down the drain.

I was already in a bad mood because of all this. I went out to the garage to get something out of the car. When I clicked the garage door button, the door went up and I heard a shattering sound. The lift gate on the back of my car had been left open. When the door went up, it got caught and the whole thing shattered.

After many, many tears, and a bit of chocolate, I called the insurance company. Thank heaven for good insurance. After parts, labor and paying extra for them to come to us instead of me going to them, we were looking at a little less than $500. Ugh. Do you know what I can get with $500?!

While the windshield was being fixed, I went to Costco. My husband insisted that " there is nothing good to eat" and that we needed some quick & easy foods. That "little" trip, knowing that I had to replace some of what was lost, put me back a lot of money.

Yet another kick to the gut.

Such costly mistakes that could have been easily prevented.

It was an expensive, expensive couple of days. Lots of lessons learned.

Now I am trying to re-stock my freezer with good deals...and of course, buying a lock for the freezer!

cost of peer pressure



before



My oldest boy turned 10 in May.

I  have 4 boys.



after



Until today I have paid a grand total of $0 for hair cuts for them. I don't count the cost of the clippers because my husband also uses them.

All I know how to do is buzz their heads. We are not talking a fancy shmancy hair cut.

They complain for about 5 minutes and move on with their lives. Don't you just love boys?

Now that they are getting a bit older, they want a little more variety.A little more on top or a mohawk or... I don't know how to do it though so...a buzz they get. After a lot of pressure from them, I gave in today.

My daughter had an out door concert today, which was across the street from a certain no appt. needed place. When it came time to pay...I was SHOCKED at the cost. $47!!! Before tip! And to be honest, they really just needed it trimmed around the ears and neck. Never, never again am I paying for a hair cut for them!

The new rule for the boys, if you want to anything other than a buzz cut, you earn the money. I am not doing it. I don't care what their friend's hair looks like.

Having only one girl, I take her in every couple of months. She is growing hers out though so I can do quick trims in between times. If I mess up, she just wears a pony tail for awhile :)

So how about you, how do you save money on hair cuts? Or do you just bite the bullet and go pay?