She Earned It!

My daughter earned all A’s and B’s on her final report card! She worked hard and deserves a treat! So for a reward, my husband and I took her to Krispy Kreme on Spring Mountain and Rainbow.

Krispy Kreme has a fantastic community spirit by offering a free donut for every A on a student’s report card. (Below is a picture of a sign in their window.)

What a great incentive because what kid doesn’t love donuts as a special treat.

She was giddy because she got to order a whole box of donuts of whatever she wanted.

On top of that, because we came during their “hot light” hours, they gave us each a free hot glazed donut fresh off the stove!

So we received NINE FREE DONUTS! No gimmicks…not with a purchase… just free…period.

But of course, you can’t just leave without ordering something else because they are just too tempting. My husband and I each ordered a donut and a cup of coffee, and we bought her a milk.

Speaking of free deals, my husband went to Krispy Kreme on Veteran’s Day last year and they gave him a donut and a cup of coffee for free! Plus, they give a military discount on every purchase. What a great way to honor the people who have served our country!

At this particular location, you can watch the entire process of how they make their donuts. My daughter really enjoyed watching the donuts flip over automatically so she took a video.

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?

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.

Daddy Daughter Date Night

My husband is out on a date with a young blonde while I’m home cleaning house! What’s wrong with that?  He takes our teenage daughter out on a date about once a month, unless we cannot afford it that month. He has been doing this ever since she was 8 years old. I call it “Daddy Daughter Date Night,” but they like to call it “Triple D Night.” I actually appreciate the quiet time alone to get things done around the house.

We are on a very tight budget. The significance of family entertainment on a budget is the way that it draws our family closer together, and teaches our daughter a valuable life lesson about money.

She is given a price point and told that she can order anything she wants as long as she doesn’t go over that certain amount. She has always been very frugal with her choices, trying to get the best value for her money. She’ll even order a free cup of water so that she can get dessert.

Big Fat Chicken Taco vs. Protein Style Burger

They try to get the most bang for their buck, so there are only a handful of places to choose from:

They usually try to make sure that “Triple D Night” is on a Thursday so that they can go to Del Taco for their special deal on chicken soft tacos.  My husband lets her get a “big fat chicken taco” which is wrapped in flatbread instead of a regular tortilla.  She also loves to savor the sinfully delicious caramel cheesecake bites for dessert.  He always orders the supreme burrito with steak. They even try to remember to bring some chicken soft tacos home for me too!

If they have coupons, they like to eat at either Weinerschnitzel or McDonald’s.

For a special occasion, they like to splurge at TGIFriday’s if they have a coupon, or Chili’s with their 2 for $20 deal.

Sometimes they go to In & OutBurger, because my husband likes his burger “protein style” and my daughter thinks that they have the best fries.

Quality Time

Daddy says this is the time for her to ask him questions, and no subject is off the table. He says that he will answer any question she has, no matter what.

When I asked my daughter what they talk about, she said “it’s like talking to my best friend, because we talk about everything and nothing.” Usually they just chat about things like chess, food, school, and books. Sometimes they have really deep conversations about God and different career choices. 

Why?

The purpose of “Triple D Night” is to have quality one-on-one conversation and to show her how a lady should be treated on a date before she starts dating, so he always opens the door for her like a gentleman, just like he does for me every day. They both look forward to this because it is a very special time just for the two of them.  My daughter always gets so giddy whenever it’s right around the corner! 

As a mom, I think “Triple D Night” is very important because a father and his little girl need quality time to bond. That special relationship has cultivated my daughter’s self-esteem, self-confidence, and maturity, helping her to grow into the beautiful young lady that she is today. The greatest lesson this has taught her is how to live on a budget and that you don’t need to spend a lot to have a good time.

Family Tradition

If you would like to start this tradition in your family, may I suggest an excellent resource: Family Life Today.

Suggestions?

If you would like to add to the pool of budget-friendly ideas for Triple D Night, please let us know!