I realize that many of you have no idea what you are looking at. Those of you with children, especially ones with 7 or with a lot of girls who change clothes a few times a day, or even those of you who have 1 little boy who changes 10,873 times a day, will recognize this as a pile of laundry. If you have never seen laundry like this, do not judge. Just be glad it is not your house!

The saddest part about this pile of laundry is that it is actually CLEAN laundry. Or was. See, in our house laundry has a cycle this is how it goes…

• Buy clothing from store.
• Sometimes it gets washed before it is worn, but mostly not.
• Child #3,5 and 6 wears it, not once, but usually a MANY times.
• Child #1,#2,#4 and #6 wears it for a few hours and then finds something else.
• Clothing is thrown on the floor for a few days.
• Child/ren is yelled at for another few days to clean up room.
• Older children run out of clothing and finally do their own. Only to leave them in the wash until they smell or in the dryer until another child tosses them onto the floor so they can put theirs in the dryer.
• I finally gather up clothing to wash when the 3 year old is out of underwear and has to wear his sister pink ones. Or when we finally realize that he has been going commando…
• I wash 17 loads in one day and because I am doing them in between baseball, cleaning the kitchen, blogging, cleaning up bathrooms, paying bills, etc. I start tossing them on the love seat in hopes that someone will fold them later onto the couch.
• They never get folded.
• People start grabbing clothes off the couch for the next few days. In my head I try and make time to fold clothes.

Finally, it is raining and lightening and I come home from work hoping to curl up on the couch with a good book and relax. Instead, I wonder if the pile has finally started to come alive and fold itself! It’s a Christmas Miracle! No, it is actually the dog who has made himself at home on my clean clothes that he pulled off the couch and apparently wants me wash again!!

Then the cycle starts all over again!

Please tell me for your sake that I am the only one who hates laundry, and has to see something this horrendous in my home on a weekly basis?!!!!

Paul and Andie watching the hummingbirds this morning!

Normally, I never tell you guys I am gone until I get back and then I recap our wild adventure! This time I am blogging as I go because it is really the coolest place ever!

Last April, my friend and I were sitting on our driveway watching the kids play in the street, complaining about not getting our annual campsite at Garner state park in time before they were booked.

Garner is a family tradition for us, you can read about one adventure HERE (remember the rabid squirrel?)

We decided that it was NOT an option to NOT go to the Frio this year and so started Googling on the driveway looking for places to go.

When we saw this picture, we knew it was where we wanted to go! A TREEHOUSE! I am totally there, playing Swiss Family Robinson!

But we are frugal and the idea of spending what it cost for regular season was not an option! We decided to go this weekend which is the first weekend of off-season. The cost was 1/2 a night what it was through the summer. Plus the lodge sleeps 22 so our friends came with us and we split the cost per night!

Normal price: $600 a night.

Off- Season Price: $300 a night.

Split it with another family: $150 a night each family

Not having to set up a tent and air conditioning: Priceless!

The Lodge is built on the side of the Frio river, it has a deck that extends out over the water and is built around a tree! There is a fire pit and at night it is beautiful to sit out around the tree!

Above is a picture of the bungalow and deck next to the main lodge. The bungalow is gorgeous and is perfect for a small family or for the adults and stick the kids in the Lodge.

Yes, I did pull my kids out of school for Friday and Monday. I am totally O.K. with that! They are learning about drought conditions, hummingbirds, wild boars, how putting a watermelon in the river keeps it cold, how to properly propel yourself off a ledge into the water… plus working on a few science experiments; learning about how many days you can sleep and play in the same swim suit and how many Cheetos can a 14 month old possibly eat before she explodes. All valuable life experience lessons 🙂

Although we are in a MAJOR drought, there is still a little bit of water on this part of the river. Further up the river there are some good swimming holes with a ton of water. Can you see “money bags” swinging out over the river in the picture?! That rope comes OFF the deck treehouse you saw in the other picture. Crazy.

The Lodge is fully stocked with kitchen equipment, so Suzanne and I split up the meals and are eating here to save money. Suzanne made lasagna at home yesterday and we are throwing it in the oven tonight.

I will be posting about what we were able to do this weekend. We plan on seeing the bats tomorrow night.

If you want to see the site where we are staying it is Rio Frio Lodging HERE.

The picture above is not actually my daughter, I am sure you knew that, but I just wanted to make sure. 🙂 It is from the Wizard of Oz and is the evil witch as she peddles to who knows where, and little Dorothy just wanted to be home.

School started last week for my kids, it was a really happy time for them as they are really excited to be biking to school this year. The thing is they didn’t really have a choice, see the school district is cutting back and if you live within a certain distance you have no bus service this year. I am like the wicked witch above and refuse to sit for an hour in car line so my kids get all hot and sweaty biking to and from school. I am sure it is building character and keeping them fit at the same time.

We practiced before school started to make sure the kids were confident getting to school. They ride in a large mass of kids (see above about no school bus ) so it is really just following the kid in front of you. Plus there are about 1,001 Moms and Dads riding also and a few crossing guards.

My oldest daughter rides with a group a street over. Last week the ring leader stayed home sick and so the group disbanded and headed off on their own. My daughter came home and asked what she should do. I asked if she felt confident going alone and she did. I told her to come back if she wasn’t sure and I would go with her. Her ride is fairly long and she took off.

After school I asked her when she got home all sweaty and red faced how school went. She told me about her adventure to school. Thinking she had gone too far and missed the school she turned around and started back only to get lost. Frustrated and shy she ended up sitting on the bike trail crying. This part breaks my heart and makes me cry also! In a few minutes a woman came jogging by and stopped to asked if my daughter needed help. She told her she was lost and couldn’t find her school. This woman told her to follow her, she turned around, and jogged with my daughter on the bike all the way to her school’s front door.

Thank goodness for Moms and women in general. My daughter would have never talked to a man (upon orders from her Mother and Father) and that lady could have pointed her in the right direction, but she took the time to make sure that she made it, possibly making herself late. I know that I would have done that same thing, but I really appreciate it when other Moms do things to help my children out. My daughter didn’t ask the lady’s name, so I can’t thank her, but I really want her to know how much I appreciate her and what she did!

I wrote almost 18 months ago about our trip to The Great Wolf Lodge. It was life changing for me, because I am so cheap, I mean frugal, it was not the vacation we are used to. We go camping. Because we have a lot of kids and it is cheap.

Great Wolf for me was amazing because I did NOT have to do anything. I am not used to that, I was actually able to enjoy myself and play with my kids. I was not cleaning up a campsite, packing and unpacking, loading and unloading a car and cooking over a fire.

Great Wolf costs more. A lot more, especially if you have a lot of kids. When you go it is basically per person. So if you think you are going to be getting one room and cramming a bunch of people in it for the same price it does not work that way. Because the water park price is included, and you get the number of wrist bands that you reserve the room for you have to be exact in hoe many you need or you will be paying an additional $40 a person to get them in the water park. Just FYI. Don’t ask me how I know this 🙂

This is the thing though. It is AWESOME when you are there. Everything is taken care of, you are in a resort. They wait on you, your kids play all day, the older ones take off and say “see ya!” and you don’t see them again until 11:00pm when they shut everything down. It is safe. They LOVE it.

After going once, we made it a family goal to try and go every 1 1/2 years. We start saving up for it the day we get back. At our house any extra change goes into a container, this is our vacation fund. They can vote and choose where to use it at, they have unanimously chosen Great Wolf the last 2 times. We also drop $10 a week in there from Paul and I, plus, I use my haircutting money and cash back checks from Ebates etc. to add in.

When I was there this time I harassed the general manager into chatting with me for a few minutes and begged him to tell me where you could find the best prices. I had already come to my conclusion but wanted to confirm it with him. The best prices ARE ON THE WEBSITE. Weird I know, but they really are. That is where I got mine and believe me, if it is cheaper anywhere I would have found it.

Here are a few tips to get the best deal:

• Sign up for their newsletter. They don’t spam you. This will give you the best prices and dates to go.
• The further out you reserve the cheaper it is.
• Go during the week and during the school year.
• When you are a return customer, you actually get a better deal!
• If you are a police man, fire fighter, EMT, military active and retired you get a discount!

If you are a homeschooler, they have a HUGE homeschool week coming up that is AMAZING!! It starts September 12th, email them for info. Big discounts and amazing people coming to do shows and lessons.

If you do spend a little more and go over a holiday, they make it worth it. The Christmas and New years celebration is stunning, it snows in the lobby! Halloween is cool, it is all decorated and you go trick or treating.

When we go we do NOT eat there. I am sure they don’t like that but it is too expensive for a big family to do it.

Here are some tips:

• Bring a case of WATER! They have mini fridges in the rooms, we load it full and drink those all day.
• We also bring a cooler. I tried to hide it until I realized other people do it to. We packed lunch meat, fruit, milk etc. and ate breakfast in our room and lunch.
• For dinner we did go out locally to a restaurant but it was cheaper then in the lodge.

If we had only 2 kids we would probably eat there, but we have a bunch more so I guess I am cheap and do it that way!

This is my wrap up, it is more expensive then say getting a hotel and getting tickets to Splash Town. BUT it is so much nicer and easier for me it is worth it. If my baby is tired, I lay her down in the room. The kids don’t have to leave, she doesn’t have to sleep in the heat in a stroller, and everyone is happy. The kids WILL NOT be bored! It is a blast. Bring your own food and have a great time!

** If I was in a funnier mood I would tell you about the 4 year old from HELL who harassed me in the baby pool until I kicked him. Just kidding. He kicked me first, so it was justified. LOL!

The fine print: Great Wolf is not a sponsor and did not pay me for this post. I just love the place and wanted to give you a review and tell you how we make it work. They did upgrade my room, however, I think it is because the one we had was originally not available when we got there!

Today Nancy took her first trip with binder in tow and coupons. She told us on Facebook she was headed out and we wished her good luck.

Then, I kept thinking about her.

Do you remember the first time you went shopping on a big planned trip with coupons? I sure do, I was freaked out! Would they take my coupons? What if the store didn’t actually take coupons at all, and I looked like a big idiot. What if I had all this stuff at the register and none of the coupons scanned and I used all the coupons on the wrong products because I didn’t get it, and the cashier threw them back at me and my total was $100 more then it should have been.

But, it turned out O.K. and once in the store I actually found a few more deals then I had planned on and even had coupons for those. I went home having saved $26 and I was so proud of myself. It felt really good.

Nancy saved over $80 tonight. That is really cool. She put all the work into getting everything ready and it paid off, and the more she does it, the easier it will get.

This is the really cute part, that changes everything (IMO) for Nancy!

This is Nancy’s husband, AKA the gopher (go fer this), we saw another lady with her binder in Walmart also. I am proud of Nancy for this.

I can’t stop reading that. What a great guy! It seriously keeps choking me up and my computer screen is all fuzzy.

Sometimes we just need a little support. The best support we can get if from a spouse, but even if we have a good friend, sister, or neighbor it makes all the difference. Even if Jeff is the gopher, most husbands end up that way, just his loving support of her will give her the encouragement to keep going.

I just want to thank each one of you who comes here for being so supportive of each other and helping answer questions on Facebook and in the comments, I appreciate it so much!

Here is my public service announcement for the day:

It is SHARK WEEK on Discovery!

My children have been crowded around the TV each night, sitting in the dark, freaking themselves out on the AWESOMENESS that shark week is! We look forward to this like people look forward to The Super Bowl, or The Olympics,  or new season of The Kardashians 🙂

I knew that shark week had to be coming up again as I had only a month before, finally gotten my 5 year old out of my bed and back into hers every night. That same irrational fear that I have about loosing my coupon binder, she has about sharks coming into her room at night. Go figure.

Tonight is the BIG night, we are watching the great whites at seal island. I thought we would make it even more fun and frugal to make up for last weeks disastrous non-frugal family night. I thought about having Sushi for dinner so we could get the real “shark” experience, but the kids voted me down.

We had fish sticks instead.

And shark punch, I froze shark gummies in ice cube trays. Then made blue Kool-Aid and mixed with Ginger Ale. I added the shark ice cubes and the kids were thrilled!

Total cost for dinner and entertainment: $7

Total saved from last week: $104

Total satisfaction that “money bags” had fish sticks for dinner (she hates them): Priceless!

Oh I don’t feel that bad for her, I hate fish sticks and had to eat them also!

Do you watch Shark Week?

Our commitment to cut down on the amount that we eat out this summer has not gone as well as we planned. In fact, I am starting to think that I might be able to write a book on “How to ruin your food budget, in 1 easy step… Eat Out More!”

We ate at Freebirds tonight.

I have eaten there before, and we have eaten as a family at Chipolte often, but for my husband a burrito full of veggies and beans is not exactly what he was hoping for dinner. Not wanting fast food and not wanting to spend $75 (that is what it costs for a family of 9 at a “sit down” restaurant) we were limited.

Magically we ended up in front of Freebirds. “What the heck, I can’t get any hungrier” my husband says.

We walk in and immediately have the kids stake out a table for us, while we order. They have a chalk board that lists all the specials. There were so many I could not tell which one was good for a Wednesday night.

“What is the special for Wednesday?” Paul asked guilty faced. We have broken our “no eating out” pledge and are doing it WITHOUT a coupon. Oh the horror!

“They are all the specials” Little miss cute teenager says.

“So you can stack all the specials together?” Paul asks?

I nudge him and explain they are not store & manufacturer coupons. There is no stacking with Wednesday night specials.

Little miss cute teenager is a savvy shopper herself, and corrects me by pulling out the Freebird “special policy” and showing me where indeed they DO all stack! Oh happy day!

We quickly order 6 kids meals, 3 Freebird burritos, super size one of them, 7 waters and 1 soda, before she changes her mind!

I walk up to the counter to pay, and our total was……

wait for it……..

$19!!!

Sweet! Kids eat free from 4 to 7:30, no limit ( hello, that was made for us, I am sure they will change the rules, they were not planning on anyone walking in with that many kids :)) Freebird burritos were 2 for $10 and $5 each after that, soda was $.99 on Wednesday’s and Pauls super size was on special for $2.50. They all stacked!

“We should eat here every night.” Paul says, “No dishes to do, nothing! I think it even costs less then if we made it at home.”

“No way, who are you talking to? A bunch of beans, cheese and tortillas, I have this at $8 bucks tops!” I challenge.

“Prove it! If you do it, I do the dishes” Paul says.

“Your on!!” I say.

And that, my friends, is how I got tricked into making dinner this week!

** We went to the Freebirds by The Woodlands mall. They have the BEST deals! Call ahead to your store to see if they are offering the same deals before you go!

I am so excited to show you some of the results of the $25 challenge I issued in June. I was inspired by a reader Ginger who had $20 and bought a large amount of items with that $20 for charity. We had a giveaway where 10 readers won $25 to see what they could do with it!

This is what Donna L. was able to get!

“I used some ECBs and RRs that I previously had for the first few transactions, but after all was said and done, I ended up spending $25.39 and having pretty much the same amount of ECBs and RRs that I started with.  My last transaction was the one with all of the Walgreens diapers and, for a deal that good on diapers that are much needed, I figured a $0.39 overage was called for.  I will be donating all of these items to the Safe Haven Battered Women’s Shelter of Fort Worth.”

This is amazing! I can’t believe that Donna was able to get this much for $25! Donna is also a relatively new couponer and she shopped at Walmart, Walgreens and Target. Congrats Donna and thank you so much for all your hard work, I am sure you were a blessing to the Women’s Shelter!