Random Acts of Kindness

Living on a budget is a great opportunity to teach your children valuable life lessons, such as saving and giving. Not only can you give money, but you can also give your time and energy. Teach your kids to have courage and be kind. When they help other people, they can see different perspectives. Even though you may not be wealthy, you are rich in the blessings of your children.

Set an example for your kids and volunteer your time for a worthy cause. Find something that your kids can do with you. While beefing up their resume with needed experience and job skills, they will feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for helping someone in need. Acts of random kindness repay you with warm fuzzies, contentment and joy like nothing else you can ever imagine or buy.

Excuses

There are always excuses. “I don’t have time.” “I’m just one person; how can I make a difference?” “I don’t know what I could do.” Just like the slave who helped the lion, you don’t need money, skills, or a great amount of time to help someone in need. Just like anything else in life, you can start out small and work your way up.

Home

It’s always best to start them young. Have your toddler help you sort the laundry into colors. Have your preschooler help you put the clean dishes away. As they get older, keep adding to the list of chores. Have your kindergartener take out the trash to the curb. Have your pre-teen wash dishes and dust the furniture. Have your tween vacuum the carpet and sweep the floors. Have your teenager clean the bathrooms. It’s never too late to start, no matter how old you are.

Neighborhood

Smile and wave to your neighbors. Just a small gesture can brighten someone’s day. If you see graffiti, grab a paintbrush and cover it with some white paint. The best way to help someone is to do it without being asked and surprising them with a job well done.

School

Ask your teacher at school if he or she needs any help with anything, such as erasing the board or picking up papers.

Church

Your local church needs your help wherever you can give it. You can help in the nursery watching the babies, empty the trash cans, pass out bulletins, or vacuum the carpet.

Community

Who do you want to help? Do some research to see what is needed in your local area. Are people out of work and looking for a job? Do they need help with the basic needs of life like food and clothing?

You can help feed the hungry at your local food pantry. When food is donated to the organization, they need volunteers to unload boxes from the truck, stock the food on shelves, and prepare meals for people.

You can help sort baby clothes at your local crisis pregnancy center. When clothes and baby items are donated to the organization, they need volunteers to sort through the items by gender, age, size, and season. The clothes need to be cleaned, steamed, tagged, and displayed for the parents to find what they need for their children. The baby items need to be sorted and distributed in layettes that are given to new mothers to help them take care of their newborn baby.

The World

Collect some inexpensive items to fill a shoebox to give to a needy child somewhere across the world. If your family does this throughout the year, it is not such a big expense to fill a shoebox all at once, but it is a huge blessing for a child who would not otherwise receive a gift for Christmas. Watch the following video for more information about Operation Christmas Child:

Who knows? Maybe one day you will be in a crisis and need someone to help you, like the story of the lion and the mouse.

God will provide what you need.

If you can give money to the needy, there are many worthy organizations to give to. It is possible to give even if you don’t have any money. We can do it, so can you.

What are some other suggestions of ways to help others in need?

PIZZA!

What do we do on our one family night of the week? We grab a $5 pizza to go and take it home. I don’t want to spend time in the kitchen cooking, I’d rather spend time with my family! Like most families, we have busy, hectic lives with varied schedules that make it difficult for us to ever have an evening together. We love to spend time together chatting, laughing, and just enjoying each other’s company. 

Sometimes we will play a card game, put a puzzle together, or watch a favorite movie that we’ve seen a dozen times. If we do actually play a game, we don’t keep score. Sometimes, we don’t even remember whose turn it is because we’ve been telling jokes, stories, or reminiscing and forget about the game almost entirely. It’s not really about the game or the movie, it’s more about the quality time, and pizza is what brings the family together.

Restaurants

My family loves pizza and our favorite pizzerias are Sammy’s, California Kitchen, and Metro Pizza. These are the best restaurants to go to if you can afford it because they are worth every penny!  

When we had a Costco membership, we would get pizza from their concession stand. I remember that it was deliciously inexpensive.

Delivery

For pizza delivery, our favorite was Hungry Howie’s. They have the best flavored crust and fresh salads. Unfortunately, they closed the one location near us! Now we like Papa John’s, but for a large sausage pizza, including delivery charge and tax, the cost is $20 plus tip.

Carryout

We have found that it is much cheaper and faster to get the pizza yourself, plus it is even hotter and fresher when you get it home! You could get one of those take and bake pizzas, but that involves heating up the oven, a longer wait time, and defeats the purpose. If you want an even cheaper alternative, you could get the Red Baron frozen pizzas at Walmart, but you still have to cook it.

The best value has to be Little Caesar’s “Hot-n-Ready” pepperoni pizza for only $5 which feeds our family of 3 quite nicely! You don’t have to call to order, you just go there and pick it up. You don’t hardly have to wait any time at all because they usually have them hot and ready, waiting for you to pick it up immediately. We usually go to the one on Charleston and Decatur. It’s a small hole in the wall with no place to sit, but there are always customers coming and going. I think one time we had to wait a couple minutes because the person ahead of us took everything they had, but they are constantly making cheese and pepperoni pizzas so that they are instantly ready for pick up. What an amazing concept!

We each get 2 or 3 pieces of our favorite comfort food. This pizza is surprisingly good for only $5! The crust is not too thin and not too thick. In the past, we have also ordered their “three meats” pizza for $8 which is delicious! Their cheese bread is appealing, but we usually just fill up on pizza and don’t need the appetizer. My husband keeps saying that we need to try their wings someday.

Little Caesar’s has locations all around the world, so find one near you and pick up their “hot and ready” pizzas whenever you need a cheap, quick, and easy dinner for your family.

What is your favorite pizza joint and why?

What do you do for Family Night?

Free and Educational

A great benefit of living in Las Vegas is that we have plenty of beautiful parks to choose from. There are several hidden gems that the local residents treasure. If you don’t have any money to spend on entertainment, going to the park is a great way to spend the day with your family. My mother and I like to take my daughter and her younger cousins to the park so that they can play on the playground while we take a nature walk.

Even though the City of Las Vegas is fairly young, there is a wealth of history in this valley; you just have to look for it. We found a little piece of history tucked away in a residential neighborhood. There is a small park on Cimarron just south of Sahara that is worth checking out if you are interested in a history lesson. 

The Old Spanish Trail runs right through the middle of the park. You can actually see some of the old wagon wheel ruts which are preserved in the original landscape at the very back edge of the trail.

As you can see in the above picture, the dirt trail is very level and easy to walk on, and there are several covered benches conveniently scattered throughout the park so you can sit while the kids are playing. 

There is a concrete sidewalk that wraps all the way around the outer edge of the park so that 3 laps conveniently equal one mile. We enjoy walking around and reading all of the interesting historical signs that are placed throughout the park. One of the most interesting signs talks about the evolution of the interstate highway.

Las Vegas was a watering stop and campsite on the way to California. The trail was originally a mule path, until covered wagons started bringing families out west. My mom’s favorite sign was about the toys that children played with as they crossed the country in a covered wagon, and how the long journey west was dangerous for children.

We also learned that several of the street names in this city were named after the original pioneer settlers and ranch owners, such as Gass, Stewart, Kiel, Fremont, Craig, Smoke, and Gilcrease.

Mom and I really take pleasure in looking at the desert scenery and chatting as we walk the path around the playground area. The park and restrooms are well maintained, and little doggie bag stations are conveniently placed for dog walkers. 

I always thought the desert was just sand, cactus, and tumbleweeds. But this park has a beautiful desert landscape with several flowering bushes like this one in the picture below.

We are originally from Illinois where there are an abundance of green trees and shrubs with beautiful gardens of colorful flowers everywhere. So it took us a while to appreciate the beauty of the desert, because at first glance, all we saw was brown. Eventually though, we realized that there are many different shades of brown in the sand and the mountains. Then we saw the beautiful golden sunsets, the yellow and pink flowers, the red rock, the orange and purple of desert brush, and we learned to be grateful for the rare treasure of such striking colors in the desert.

We hunt for the specks of green wherever we can find them. We relish finding wild flowers in the desert landscape. We also like to search for the animals: such as chipmunks, squirrels, rabbits, and hummingbirds.

Yucca Tree

My daughter really likes the Joshua trees which are scattered beyond the local highways. There was even a park sign that said, “You know you are in the Mojave Desert when you see Joshua trees.” Ironically, we did not see any in this particular park, but we did see several yucca trees. A Joshua tree is the largest of the yucca family.

There are an abundance of parks to choose from in Las Vegas, so we check out different ones all the time. It’s a nice way to spend a lovely spring day outside and enjoy the beautiful sunny weather. There was a lovely cool breeze so we had to wear a light sweater. You could even bring a homemade picnic lunch, have quality time with the family and not spend any money.  It’s a great way to get some exercise and enjoy the fresh air.

Whether you want to spend a day with your family or just get out of the house on a nice day, Las Vegas parks have something to offer everyone. Please let us know about your favorite park in the comments below. Thank you!

Theater vs. Netflix

We love to go to the theater as a family, especially since it is such a rare occasion that we can afford to go. We don't like to waste our money on movies that we can wait and watch at home on Netflix, but there are some movies that you just have to splurge and experience in a movie theater, like Star Trek, Star Wars, and The Avengers, because of the phenomenal surround sound, the visual effects on the giant larger-than-life screen, the action of the superheroes, the "ooos" and the "aahs" of the audience, the smell and taste of the popcorn, all of which you just can't duplicate at home.

Last year, we took our daughter to see Cinderella for her birthday, which she absolutely loved.

We had recently earned a free movie ticket from Regal Rewards so we found a great movie to watch as a family at the theater for Easter that I definitely recommend:

"Risen" is the Biblical story of the resurrection as told through the eyes of Clavius, who was ordered by Pontius Pilate to solve the mystery of what happened to the body after the crucifixion, in order to invalidate the rumors that Jesus is alive.

We try to see a movie at the the special matinee price, or on special discount days that the theater offers:

Regal Cinemas at the Texas Station casino is one that we enjoy because of the overall cleanliness of their theater:

• Tuesdays $6 + 50% off popcorn + free soda refill
• During the summer, they have special family movies every Tuesday and Wednesday for $1

Brendan Theater at the Palms casino is our favorite place for their comfortable seats and their chili-cheese nachos, but only if we can afford to splurge:

• Mondays $5
• Tuesdays "2 for $22" includes 2 tickets, 2 drinks, and popcorn

Tropicana Cinema typically plays the movies that have been out for a while but we tend to just watch those on Netflix:

• Tuesdays $1
• Every other day is only $2

The next movie that we hope to see at the theater is either Batman vs. Superman or Captain America: Civil War. 

Please let us know of any other great movie theater deals in the comments section below. Thank you!

A Birthday Treat

Just because you don’t have much money to spend doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself every once in a while.

For my daughter’s birthday, I told her I only had a limited amount to spend, but I would give her a choice. She could choose either to receive one present or to go somewhere special. She chose to go somewhere special, and said she really wanted to go to Cold Stone to create her own ice cream sundae. We typically cannot afford to go there, but for a special occasion, it is absolutely worth every penny!

What makes this ice cream store so distinct from others is that they mix your ice cream creation right in front of you on a frozen granite stone. I’m sure the people that work there have huge arm muscles!

Fortunately, I just happened to find some Cold Stone coupons in the newspaper! They would have expired before her actual birthday, but she didn’t mind that the outing wasn’t exactly on the day of her birthday. She was glad to go early because this way she said she gets to have two birthdays! 

There are several of their signature creations to choose from, such as the “Founder’s Favorite”:

• Sweet Cream ice cream
• chopped pecans
• a yummy chocolate brownie
• fudge sauce
• gooey caramel

I have had this before and it is amazing!

Or you can make your own unique creation like we did!

We invited my mom and my nephew on this special birthday outing, so I gave them the 2 for $5 coupon, which was good for the small “Like It” size with one mix-in.

My nephew ordered Cotton Candy ice cream mixed with Twix, which he said is his favorite thing that he likes to eat whenever he goes there.

My mom ordered their Vanilla Bean ice cream, which she said was “perfect.” She said what was even better was the fact that she only had to pay $5 plus tax.

My Daughter's Birthday Creation

• Cake Batter ice cream
• Fudge Truffle ice cream
• a chocolate brownie
• KitKat

She exclaimed, “This is heavenly sinful!” She got their medium “Love It” size, which is $5.99. One mix-in is free, then you pay 89 cents for each additional mix-in. 

Carol's Creation

• Skinny Vanilla ice cream (210 calories)
• shredded coconut (70 calories)
• maraschino cherries (5 calories each)

As an added benefit, the server added the cherry juice in my sundae as well, which was so delectably scrumptious! 

If you are watching your calories, you should try their delicious sorbet or frozen yogurt. They have their nutritional information conveniently listed for you on their website.

I definitely recommend that you try Cold Stone Creamery the next time you want a refreshing dessert! They have locations all across the United States and in 24 countries around the world! We went to the one on W. Sahara and they have great customer service there!

You can receive a coupon when you register for their rewards card.

So with the coupon, the total was only $7.32 including tax. This came in well under my budget of $10 for her birthday! I was able to use the rest of the money to bake her a chocolate cake on her birthday.

I am so proud of my daughter that she is perfectly happy with something inexpensive for her birthday, and yet it was still an extravagant outing on a small budget.