22 Free and Cheap Date Nights in Northern Virginia! Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, Alexandria, and DC included.

FDR Memorial at Sunset: Washington, D.C.

Let's face it... Northern Virginia is not a cheap place to live. Friends from out of state gasp at how much we paid for a 900 square foot townhouse. If you commute to work (which is likely to be a half hour or more!), you're going to spend a fortune in gas from the constant braking/ accelerating thanks to the traffic on our lovely Interstate system. But there's a beauty here too. I love this place. I love the access that I have to so many amazing places. If you look out of the ordinary there is so much for this area to offer you, especially in the name of cheap love! (That didn't sound right did it?)

Whether it's your first date (Don't be boring and do the dinner thing!), or you're 7th anniversary and you have 6 kids, Try out a few of my favorite date nights in Northern Virginia!

1. Blueberry picking at Great Country Farms (Loudoun County): 

         There's plenty of other pick your own farms in Northern Virginia but Loudon definitely has the most diverse. Great Country Farms is my favorite because they have blueberries! Pick a ton, freeze them and you'll be eating blueberry pancakes to commemorate your date for a while! Pack a picnic to bring with you. Click here to head to Great Country Farms and then click here for a full listing of Loudon county pick your own farms.

2. Cosmic bowling at Bowl America:

           Is it a little lame? Sure. Are the shoes pretty goofy? Yup. But it's also an absolute blast! Cosmic bowling is when the lights come down and the glow in the dark features come out. They even have glow in the dark balls! Games and shoe rental can get more expensive than I like (I have mentioned I'm cheap right?), but look on the website for Bowl America (who has a heavy presence in NoVa), right now they have a 25 cents per game and 25 cents per hotdog promotion going on all weekend! Click here for the bowl America website.

3. Potomac Nationals ball game:

          I'm not a sports fan, I barely know anything about sports at all. But I love heading to P-nats games. They have dollar nights for every Monday night home game (click here for their website), where hotdogs and tickets are each a dollar. Parking is $5.00, but it's well worth it. I was so excited about this date, I wrote a full write up on it... Click here for that.

4. FDR Memorial at Sunset:

         Quite possibly my favorite place in the world. It's beautiful and meaningful, and if you pack a picnic, it'll be the best date of your life. Click here for more info. 

5. Manassas Airport:

          We did this not too long ago. Pack up a picnic, beach chairs or camp chairs and take them out to the airport. It's a small airport but fairly busy. Set yourself up in the grass before sunset and pack a blanket to keep warm. You can watch the planes take off well into the dark and it's always one of my favorite places. If you have particularly cool friends, have them meet you with the same. We did that and had a blast. Click here for the airport website. 

6. Planetarium:

          Air and Space Museum's Saturday Star Parties- click here for the link. Meet up in Sky Meadows State Park on assigned nights (click the link to check the schedule) to look at the night sky with both amateur astronomers and astronomers from the observatory. And of course... Pack a picnic!

7. Potomac River Waterfront Park at sunset:

          While we usually avoid the Woodrow Wilson Bridge like the plague, there's a good reason to head over there. There's a beautiful park on top of the bridge on the Maryland side. The views from there are stunning (and occasionally of accidents on I-495) and both sunset and sunrise will take your breath away.Click here for more info.

8. Geocaching:

         You don't have to be in NoVa to try this out, but thanks to our zillion people living in close quarters, it makes it a great place to get into it. Geocaching is the epitome of frugal entertainment. You and your date register for free at this website, then type in the zip code you want to head to. You'll enter a real life treasure hunt where you follow the instructions that will lead you to the treasure. The treasure might be anything from a log book to an Xbox. I should mention that geocaching rules state you must leave something of equal or greater value if you take the treasure.

9. Hiking at Prince William Forest Park:

          There's an entrance fee per car to enter the park, about $7.00 but I would pay the 20 per year if you live close for unlimited access. You can click here for updated information. It's absolutely serene and beautiful. You'll have no idea that you're in the middle of Northern Virginia. They have ponds and deep woods and the bathrooms are all clean (am I the only one that thinks about these things?) This is also several beautiful spots for a picnic. 

10. IKEA:

         Head to Ikea to plan your dream home then stay for hotdogs! IKEA is like my vacation home. Seriously, I'm there that often. Besides the $.50 hotdogs, we love the showroom. We love walking through and planning what our future house (you know, the house we'll have once our babies learn not to destroy things and we have enough saved that we feel comfortable spending money on decorating) will look like. If you have kids, they also have free child care for a bit in smaaland.  You can find their website here. 

11. Biking/Walking the Mount Vernon Trail:

           This trail winds along the Potomac River and offers breathtaking views and tons of greenery. There's no fee, and it's one of my top picnic spots. Click here to head to their website for more info.

12. Free Yoga at National Harbor or Lorton Workhouse Arts Center:

          Are you a yogi? Head over to the sites for Lorton Work House Arts Center and the National Harbor to check for updated information about their free yoga days. Both are done outside during nice weather and would be a great date!

13. Free outdoor movies at (tons of places! Stonebridge Towne Center in Woodbridge and National Harbor are my favorites):

         Outdoor movies are amazing for so many reasons! You can bring a picnic or your own snacks, you can bring the kids (this is perfect for a toddlers first movie!). These are typically only available in the summer, so plan accordingly and follow the facebook page of National Harbor (found here) and Stonebridge (found here) for updates. If you live in Prince William County, save yourself all of that trouble and just follow Prince William County Moms page (found here), she'll list events for any Prince William area outdoor movies.

14. Gravelly Point on the Mount Vernon Trail:

         You can walk the Mount Vernon Trail in Arlington, or you can head right here for a memorable picnic. If you spread out your blanket and lay down, the planes fly directly over your head (closer than you would think! I swear I could see duct tape on the door of an overhead plane once). You can get some really cool photos with he planes overhead as well. This park is right on the shores of the potomac and offers beautiful views of the DC monuments. Click here for directions- The link goes to the yelp page for the park, which has both directions and the reviews. The reviews say it all.

15. Screw the traffic, stay in and have a cooking date night:

          Tough week at work? Sick of traffic? Drop the kids off at the babysitters house and stay in. You can plan an amazing meal right into your grocery budget. Make it something that's a little time consuming but well worth it. My dream cooking date night meal would be sweet and sour pork with vegetable eggs rolls, fried rice, fortune cookies and pistachio ice cream. All done by hand:) You can do some of the food prep work ahead of time if it helps. Cooking together is fun, sensual  and builds team work skills (which really, team work skills is pretty much essential to a good marriage). 

16. Washington National baseball games- 

          If you're a huge baseball fan and would get more out of the Major League game than the Potomac Nationals, they do have dollar nights! If you take the Metro up (just a few dollars) and take the nosebleed seats, you can go to a game very cheaply. If your not really into baseball, I would stick to the P-Nats which are amazing and fun. Click here for their website. 

17. Ingham family Mystery Challenge:

If you have a bit to spend and want to splurge (a little!), try the Ingham Family Mystery Gift Challenge. Each of you is given an envelope with the exact same amount of cash. It can be anything from $3.00 to $50.00, hit a mall (Potomac mills is kind of big for this!) and coordinate your cell phone clocks. You have 1 hour to spend exactly that amount of money on your partner in gifts. Read the full instructions here but to date, this has been my favorite date night ever! 

18. Pinterest project date night: 

All of those amazing projects you would love to do on pinterest, but take some sort of skill that you don't have (woodworking is my achilles heel). This develops the same team building skills as the cooking date night and gives you something in addition to just your memories for your money. You can build a new kitchen table, create a family mission statement, or any project that you're both excited about! 

19. Arlington National Cemetery: 

This is both a powerful and awe inspiring place that will make you really appreciate one another. We're very blessed to live so close to it. Besides walking through the tombstones of soldiers that gave the ultimate sacrifice to their country, you can see JFK's tombstone and the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. I'm incredibly proud to say that my husband served in the changing of the guard ceremony for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and you won't be disappointed by the dedication of the men that serve there. Click here for more information. 

20. Dollar Night at Arlington Cinema and Draft House: 

This is a full movie theater that has tables at every seat and offers $2.00 movie nights (usually on Mondays and Tuesdays), you can order full meals, elaborate snacks (nachos are amazing!) or draft beer! Click here for their movie schedule.

21. Cherry Blossoms in DC!

If you plan to head up to see the cherry blossoms, take a good camera (or at least an iPhone) and check out some of the free monuments. The weather is normally beautiful this time of year (March/April) and it's the perfect time to play tourist. You can use the metro and pop on and off to see what interests you most. Try out Bens Chili Bowl if you plan to stay for lunch (only pack a lunch if you have a backpack cooler- you won't want to lug a traditional cooler around). Click here for cherry blossom info. Click here for Ben's Chili Bowl information including menu and prices (the photos are mouth watering).  

22. The National Zoo: 

This amazing place is completely free if you do it right! Pack a picnic (take the stroller if you must, sans baby to stash your stuff in- no one will be the wiser), take metro up (parking is $25 if you'd rather do that but they run out of parking right after they open) and print off a zoo map from the website online (they charge for copies there). The absolute best time to go is off season (we went on an unusually warm day in February and had the time of our lives. It can get really hot and crowded there in the summer.

Click here to follow my local NOVA boards on Pinterest!

Gravelly Point: Arlington, Virginia courtesy of www.dcnaturephotography.blogspot.com

What You're Missing at The Dollar Tree: Best Teaching Products!

Classroom tools for only $1 at The Dollar Tree

I've always loved the dollar store. I love picking up storage containers and stationary there. When I quit my job last year to open up my own home daycare, I realized the true value of a dollar store. The local Dollar Tree has amazing resources for learning, all for $1.00! Crayons, stickers, workbooks (I love the Pre-K ones!), learning posters, reward stickers, chore charts, kids books, coloring books, calendars, clocks, hall passes, you name it!

Here's a few of my favorites from the Dollar Tree in August (their stock rotates with seasons but they always have a teacher aisle). 

1. Educational Wall Posters

Dollar Tree Classroom Wall Posters

 Not only do they usually have the adorable kitty posters with the "Hang in There!" motivational phrases, but they have lots of educational posters. The alphabet, fractions, counting, the periodic table, etc. They do a great job of including most subjects and all ages. For $1.00, you actually get two posters, since each poster has a different one printed on each side (usually in the same subject and always in the same age range). These posters are impressively large as well, and come wrapped in cellophane so you can keep them undamaged until you're ready to hang. 

2. Hall passes, Stickers, Rewards and Awards

Dollar Tree Stickers and Rewards

Hall passes, awards, coupons, and fun handouts. If you need recognition items, they have it! They not only have tons of stickers, but they have popular character stickers too (Sophia the First, Jake and the Pirates, Mickey Mouse). Pencils, pencil toppers, you name it, they have it.

3. Flash Cards

Dollar Tree Flashcards

They have flash cards in several different categories. From first words, to numbers, colors and shapes, to easy matching games for pre-k. They also have a good selection of flashcards for older grades, like multiplication, division, and grammar flashcards.  

4. Calendars, Charts and Learning Clocks

Dollar Tree Chore Charts, Tables, and Clocks

This is my favorite category! They have huge blank wall charts. You can make them into chore charts, potty training charts, subject completion charts, homeschooling charts, anything you can list! The calendars are huge, (as large as the posters), and each one has two sides so you can choose the colors that work best for your space. 

5. Work Books

Dollar Tree Workbooks

I'm always really impressed with the quality of the work books here, I use the Pre-K ones with my two year old. They have a huge assortment of popular characters, subjects and age ranges. They go up to about 5th and 6th grades. For $1.00 each, you can buy several topics that meet your age range and work through them one at a time. Thats what we do. He grabs the book he likes, and we can do it together. 

6. Classroom Decoration, Wall Decor

Dollar Tree Wall Decor/ Classroom Decorations

Dollar Tree has tons of options for sprucing up your classroom walls. They have matching die cut outs, like government, the alphabet, ketchup and mustard, dogs and cats, animals, signs to label parts of a classroom (Reading Center, Art Center, Music Center etc.), cowboy and wild west, etc. They come in packets with tons of items so you can fill a whole wall. A few months ago, I went in and bought die cut stars and put all the kids names on them and taped them to the wall. 

Bonus!

Dollar Tree Papers and Dry Erase Calendars

While you're there, check out the other offers they have. They regularly stock dry erase boards,  dry erase calendars, papers, art pads, construction paper, glue, scissors, crayons, etc. Don't forget to go find my personal dollar store favorites... stationary and Betty Crocker kitchen utensils. Click below to read about my favorite buys at the dollar store for your home.

Organizing using containers from the Dollar Tree

The Best Quality Kitchen Utensils are at The Dollar Tree!

Happy Shopping! Did I miss any of your favorites?

Like me on facebook and make my whole day better by clicking here! 

The Secret to Getting Free MP3's for Life...

One of the best things that I've learned over the last three years is how to get any music you want without ever paying for it. We're pretty cheap (have you figured that out yet?) and likely wouldn't be spending money on music if these ways didn't exist.

1. The Library 

Your local library stocks thousands of albums, all available to you for free. Head over to amazon (or iTunes) and make a wish list of all your favorite songs, note the album that the song is on. Head to your library website and reserve the albums. Most libraries have online reservations where they pull the requested item and you just drop by and pick it up. Get a few albums at once. You can then import them into your computer and they will save as MP3's. With iTunes, this happens automatically. As soon as the disc is recognized by the computer a notification will pop up asking permission to import the songs to iTunes. You can then connect your iPhone, iPad, or iPod to transfer the music to your device.

While there's no feasible way of enforcing copyright laws on this (the same way you don't plan to get in trouble if you borrow your friends CD and import it), I'm not suggesting that you illegally download music that you haven't paid for. But you can keep the downloaded music for as long  as you have the CD out (four months in our library and then you can renew it by bringing it back in). If you have an awesome library, then they'll likely have popular albums out as soon as they are released. Save time for popular songs by getting albums like "Now that's what I call music", which will have songs from the current top charts. Shout out to the Prince William County Library for being completely awesome and stocking Joe Purdy. 

2. Amazon Prime Music

This service just launched recently and it's amazing! If you already use amazon prime for free shipping on amazon products and free movies (much like netflix), you know that at a cost of only about $5.00/month (but you pay yearly), the benefits are huge! You can borrow kindle books through the amazon prime lending library and now you can get MP3's for free through their service. It works much like the Prime Movie service. They have a huge selection of songs available at any time and you just save them to playlists so that you can listen to them as you wish. I found almost 70 songs from them and have been listening happily for about 4 days now.

3. Pandora, Last, Radio, Soundwave, Spotify etc.

There are about a dozen free apps and websites that you can stream live music of your choosing from. All of them are great options. We play the Mumford and Sons channel on Pandora almost 24/7 at our house. It's cooking music, cleaning music and relaxing music. Even Xbox has free music options! 

I will say that when there's an artist that we particularly want to support, we'll bite the bullet and buy the MP3 to support that artist (Joe Purdy and Rusted Root comes to mind immediately). Our goal here is not to deny artists the money that is due them. If we didn't have the above options for free music, then we would  just use pandora and not buy music. By using these options, we're more likely to purchase products/songs from that artist after we've fallen in love with them. 

Free Magazines Direct to Your IPAD or Kindle Through Your Library!

FREE MAGAZINES DIRECT TO YOUR IPAD, KINDLE, IPHONE, OR COMPUTER!

I haven't written in a while due to the extreme adorableness of our 7 month old Squishy Face. It's hard to focus on blogging when there are chubby little cheeks staring up at you, begging to be kissed.

Family Circle Magazine: Digital Download- Free through your local library!

That being said, I was SO EXCITED about this that I had to shout it from the roof tops! Seriously, If I thought I could get on my roof without falling off and breaking my back, I would totally do that. Thankfully, blogging is safer and reaches more people.



Okay... This applies to you if you own a Kindle Fire, iPad, iPhone, Android, Blackberry Playbook, PC, Mac or Windows.



Zinio is a site that you can purchase magazines, either a single issue, or you can get a subscription. The Magazines are sent straight to your Zinio app in your device and you can look at the magazine there. In the iPad or Kindle Fire, they look amazing. Even better than an actual magazine because I can take screen shot photos of something that I like, and then pin the photo to pinterest so I can remember it later.


Here's the kicker.... if you have a library card, most libraries will now let you do this for FREE!
The library has it's own Zinio website with the magazines that they have purchased for library card holders. When this launched, I was cautiously optimistic expecting an old copy of farmers almanac. When I signed on and was bombarded with every popular magazine I could ever imagine, I was ridiculously excited. Needless to say, I spent last night downloading and reading about 6 magazines.

Here's a few examples of the magazines available in Prince William County:

(Each library chooses which magazines to "stock", so your library may have a different selection)

Better Homes and Gardens Special Publications (Right now, they have 100 Best Cookies, Big Style for Small Rooms, and Real Rooms)

Apple Magazine

 

American Photo

 

Backpacker

 

Country Home

 

Clean Eating

 

Consumer Reports

 

Country Living

 

Cosmopolitian

 

Do It Yourself

 

Women's Day

 

Women's Day Special Publications (Easy Meals, Eating Light)

 

Every Day with Rachel Ray

 

Family Circle

 

Food Network Magazine

 

Forbes

 

Handyman

 

Good Housekeeping

 

Martha Stewart Living

 

 

 Martha Stewart Weddings

 

Men's Health

 

Men's Fitness

 

Newsweek

 

Oprah Magazine

 

Natural Health

 

OK! Magazine

 

National Geographic

 

Parenting (Early Years)

 

Parenting (School Years)

 

Prevention

 

Popular Science

 

Redbook

 

Seventeen

 

Shape

 

Reader's Digest

 

Shop Smart

 

Taste of Home

 

Taste of Home Special Publications (Current one is the Cooking School Cookbook)

 

Weight Watchers

 

Womens Health

 

Yoga

 

US Weekly

The best part? That's only a SELECTION of the magazines! There's tons more!


The instructions for how to download your magazines for free are different depending on your library. See your library website for more information.

For Prince William County, Virginia - Go either to your library website and click "Download Magazines", or I can save you the step- click here.  (This is Prince William Libraries Personal Zinio Page- Head to library website to get the webpage for your library).

You'll have to sign up for RBDigital, it's quick, easy, and free. You'll need your library ID number and password. Then choose a magazine to download (from what I can tell, you can only download current issues), It will redirect you to the Zinio site. Register and create a username and password (I would make them the same so you can remember them). This is free and quick as well. Once you click on the magazine you want, it adds it to your reading list for Zinio.

Sign into your Zinio App (in whatever device you plan on using), then select the magazine you want to read from your reading list. Then chuckle to yourself about how everyone else paid $3.99 for what you're about to read for free.

Important: There are a few limitations that I can see now, which may change as I use it. It would appear that you would need to download each current issue (you can't sign up for subscriptions). You will also have to choose and add magazines to your reading list from the webpage, and not within the app in order for them to be free. As far as I can tell, there is no time limit to keep/read the magazines. The ones that I downloaded two nights ago are still there today and it doesn't list an expiration date anywhere.

So, go cancel all of your magazine subscriptions and thank me later:)

US Weekly- Digital Download Free through your local library

Cosmopolitan: Digital Download free through your local library!

Taste of Home- Digital Download for free through your local library!

Free Breakfast at Chickfila on Wednesdays in January in the Washington Dc Metro Area/ Charlotte, NC/ and Select California Locations

 

Free Breakfast at Chickfila!



 

 

Head over to cfa4breakfast.com to reserve a free breakfast entrée at participating Washington DC Metro, Charlotte NC, and California locations. It takes about 2 minutes to fill out the application, you choose your date (January 23rd or January 30th), your time slot and your menu item. It emails you an invitation to print out. Bring that invitation to Chickfila during your time slot and ta da! Free breakfastJ

 

Bonus points, because that will motivate me to get out and get my oil changed that day!

Local: Northern Virginia: Fairfax County “Unusual Splurges – Top Golf and Fish Pedicures” Review

I consider myself frugal, not cheap. I’ll happily spend a pretty penny if its something that I believe is worthwhile. My goal is not to eliminate all spending, it’s to reduce the amount I’m spending on things that aren’t important to me and replace it with things that are important to me. As far as entertainment goes, I’ll happily spend a small fortune at Walt Disney World because it really is the happiest place on earth, but I detest spending money on work lunches, and things that aren’t worth their price. You can see how we used this method to save $23,537.00 last year by clicking here. 

 

 

With that being said, I’ll let you in on my two favorite things in Northern Virginia. While neither are cheap, I think they’re frugal because they are well worth the cost to me. They’re unique, a ton of fun and a great experience.

 

 

1.                       Top Golf:

 

 

 

Top Golf is completely unique. There are two locations in the Unites States and there is no similar experience available. This is great for everyone from children to avid golfers. Each golf ball is chipped and assigned to you. There are several games to play and the computer registers where your ball lands giving you information such as targets hit and distance the ball traveled. My favorite game there combines darts and golf. The grounds have colored targets scattered around at different distances. Each target is sectioned into different zones. When you hit your ball, it measures where the ball hits the target and gives you a point value based on where you have hit. Jon’s a golfer and he can consistently hit the back targets, I’m more of a mini golfer. But the game is fun for both of us, because I can use a putter and hit the center of the closest target with consistency and beat Jon if he goes after the higher value targets and misses a few times.

 

                                                    Top Golf Injectable Donuts

 

Besides the fun of the actual game, they have a few bonus features. Their food is outstanding. It’s one of my favorite places to eat in Northern Virginia. They bring the food straight to the bays for you. They also have a selection of draft beers. The food they serve is far from the chicken finger type fare I was expecting. On my last visit, I had a buffalo chicken wrap with sweet potato fries and freshly made donut holes that came with injectable chocolate and raspberry filling. The filling came to the table in plungers that you could fill your own donuts. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

 

9 Months Pregnant and Kicking Jon's Butt with a Putter. 

(Okay, that was an exaggeration- I won by one point)

                                                   

They also have very high powered heaters that blow directly on you if you turn them on. They are open all winter and you can play in two feet of snow (the bays are covered) wearing a tee shirt, without feeling even a little bit chilly. They have mini golf at the facility if you would rather try that. They also have a night scene with a bar, patio tables, outdoor lighting, and free games of corn hole.

 

 

Each game costs about $4.80 depending on the time you play and if you’re eligible for discounts (military, ladies night).

 

 

2.                       Fish Pedicures at Yvonne’s Day Spa:

 

This is one of the neatest experiences I’ve ever had. When Yvonne’s started offering fish pedicures several years ago, they were completely unique. No one else in the United States offered that service. In fact, it was considered “weird or bizarre” according to most media reports at the time. It caught on quickly and a slew of them have opened up all over the United States. I think it’s kind of cool we can go to the original since we live in the area.

 

 

When you walk in, you are seated on a cushioned bench seat with long fish tanks at your feet. The tubs are filled with dr. fish of all sizes. You place your feet in the tanks and the fish attack you. There’s no other way to say it. The fish go nuts trying to eat the dead skin on your feet. The larger fish will actually muscle their way between your toes to get more dead skin. Gross, right? It doesn’t hurt, they don’t eat any healthy skin, just the dead skin. It’s a unique sensation that would be hard to describe to someone who hasn’t done it. I can’t really think of a time when I felt something similar. Everyone that I’ve ever went with for the first time has cried, but not because it hurts or because they’re upset. As I said, it’s hard to describe.

 

(yvonnesalon.com)

 

Once you’ve sat in the tanks for as long as you have purchased (normally 15 or 30 minutes), you get moved to a standard pedicure chair. At this point a very normal pedicure takes place complete with a hot water foot bath. Your feet will be baby smooth and your toes will look great. It’s pretty pricey at $65.00 for 30 minutes in the tanks and a standard pedicure.  However, I think it’s well worth the cost if your going infrequently to bring out of town friends or just to have the experience.

 

 

They do also have full body tank baths, but if you ask me there are some places that fish should never, ever be.

 

 

If you’re in the area, you should check these places out and let me know if I’m missing other unique area experiences.

Local: Northern Virginia: Free Mulch for Garden and Landscaping Projects at Fairfax County Parks

This weekend, as Jon and I were impatiently waiting for Baby's arrival (and.... still waiting) we decided to take fate into our own hands. We decided that a "watched pot never boils", and we were just too prepared. What we needed was a major project- one that would make labor really, really inconvenient. That would almost guarantee Baby's sudden arrival! Things always happen at the least convenient time right?

We had put off landscaping for several months. Our gardens looked like a scene from a post apocalyptic movie. I had this deep rooted (and completely false) belief that I was a master gardner. After killing everything in the garden and being over run by weeds (for the second year in a row). Jon convinced me to clear out the gardens and just plant simple bushes and mulch to make our yard routine easier when Baby Groner does make his appearance.

Being the thrifty person that I am, I was concerned with the cost of this project. Jon's a certified genius and he thinks large scale. When Jon Groner wants to do a little landscaping, he's thinking water features, koi fish and rare orchids (all of which he mentioned when discussing this- Love him:) I'm thinking rip everything up and buy a box of mixed ground cover seeds at Costco.

Jon remembered that the Fairfax County Park Authority gives away FREE MULCH (I adore free!) at a bunch of their park sites. We went out and bought a pitch fork, borrowed a friends truck and got about $140.00 worth of mulch for free! We bought a few bushes, and ta-da! Maintenance free landscaping is done!

The Fairfax County Park Authority's mulch is high quality, clean and double shredded. They also have leaf mulch in season. They have different drop off locations, that you can find by clicking here.

We got our mulch from Bull Run Regional Park at Old Yates Ford Road Clifton, Virginia 20124.
Because they distribute mulch as they have it to many different locations, you can call to double check that your preferred location is well stocked before you head out. You can check by calling 703-324-5995.


This is the mulch pile at Bull Run Regional Park:

 

 

 

 

This is a map of exactly where the parking lot is to get it: (They have many different sites- unless you live close to this location... click here to see alternate locations.

LOCAL: Prince William/ Woodbridge Best Places to Save Money

If you happen to live in the Woodbridge, Virginia area, check out my list of places that save us a ton of money:

 

1. The Village Thrift Store: 13770 Smoketown Rd Woodbridge, VA 22192

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm a huge thrift store fan. There are a few rules that I follow religiously. 1. Only go to thrift stores that organize clothing by type and size. Bonus points if they also organize by color. 2. ALWAYS go to the local thrift store when your traveling in a wealthy area. Thrift Stores near Boca Raton, Florida will have much better donations than Podunck, Virginia. 3. In an entire store, there are about 2 pieces in your size at any time that are amazing. Ignore everything else. It takes time to find them. You're looking for well made, high quality clothing in designs that you adore. Things you would happily pay full price for. Rookies always make the same mistakes. They fill a bag with clothing that they like, but not love, with clothing that is just a tad too small or too large but that they love the style of, and with clothing that they don't even like but they can't believe it's so cheap! Take my advice and skip this. If you wouldn't pay $60.00 for it, put it back.

The Village Thrift Store is one of the best thrift stores I've been to. All the clothing is separated by type, size and color. It's well organized and has fitting rooms. All thrift stores are a bit dingy, but this is one of the cleanest. They have a maternity and uniform section (though a very small one - check out B-thrifty below if your looking for either of those). Prices are low, but keep in mind that the people who price in most thrift stores have no idea which brands are which. You can find a perfect condition Target dress for $9.99 and a perfect condition BCBG dress for $2.99. Honestly, that's what makes it so fun.

If you're a weird size, thrift stores like this are perfect for you. Jon is a huge muscular beast. His clothing options drive me insane. I detest big and tall stores, the clothing there makes him look like a middle aged banker. By going to the thrift store, you can go straight to his size and see selections from everywhere. It's easy to find things that fit him and that he likes.

 

2. Aldi: 13782 Smoketown Road,  Woodbridge VA 22192

Aldi is one of the best grocery shopping secrets in the world. If your lucky enough to live by one, pencil that into your shopping day, My shopping day consists of a trip to Aldi and then to Wegmans to get the things I couldn't get at Aldi. I keep it simple at Aldi, I buy staples, snacks, paper towels (I adore their paper towels!), produce and an occasional frozen product. The prices are much cheaper than the lowest price anywhere else. For instance, a few weeks ago, I picked up whole wheat hamburger rolls on sale for 29 cents. Baby carrots are 59 cents per bag. Staples like flour, sugar, canola oil, spices (most are 50 cents!), chocolate chips, potato chips etc are a huge bargain! I can shave 20-40.00 off my 120.00 weekly budget my stopping here before Wegmans and I don't even buy anything that's refrigerated or frozen (so I can take my time in Wegmans and not rush to get the food in the fridge.).

3. B Thrifty: 13412 Jefferson Davis Highway Woodbridge, VA 22191

This is another thrift store in the area. I prefer The Village Thrift Store because B Thrifty is a bit sketchy. They do have an unbelievable assortment of maternity clothes though. Everything is organized by type of clothing, and you can tell that they try to organize by size but it's not really reliable. The store itself is divided into two sections. On the right side is the general thrift store. On the left side is an open market. Think Chinatown, but less counterfeit. I would stay away from the left side and stick to the thrift store.

4. Little Ceasars Pizza: 14079 Jefferson Davis Hwy #107 Woodbridge, VA 22191

Every once in a while, when your in desperate need for pizza and want to splurge in calories but not money, visit Little Ceasars. They have a $5.00 large one topping pizza that's "Hot n Ready", meaning you don't have to phone ahead. Just walk in and grab it. They sell so many that they're fresh no matter when you go. I'm hardly a pizza expert, but it was pretty awesome!

 

5. Wegmans: 14801 Dining Way Woodbridge, VA 22191

Wegmans is one of the biggest surprises to our frugal lifestyle. It feels a bit like your grocery shopping at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Like there should be no way that this store can be frugal in any way. Wegmans is amazing! There are two main reasons that Wegmans allows us to save money over the Super Walmart. One is that they have a Wegmans brand for almost product and they meet or exceed our expectations. Not only do they create their own product lines, but they don't go for the basics. They create their own unique flavors. I've tried the Wegmans brand for everything that I routinely buy and the only thing I haven't liked better than our normal national brand is mayonnaise. I had to stick with Hellman's. They also have a guarantee for all of their products. If your not impressed, return it and get your money back.  The other reason that Wegmans excels at saving us money is their online shopping list. Once you register for the website, and you choose your store, you can search prices on any product in the store and create a shopping list that they separate by aisle for you. I create my shopping list each week, and if I'm over my budget, I can change a few menus around and adjust the shopping list until I'm below my budget.

photo courtesy of bthrifty.com

Prince William, Northern Virginia: Dollar Night at Potomac Nationals

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a huge sports fan. I'm still learning the rules to... well, actually every sport. I've been to a few Washington Nationals baseball games though and surprisingly loved it. I suspect it's more the atmosphere, the outdoors, and the hot dogs than the athletic displays.

Recently, a friend introduced me to the Potomac Nationals, a minor league baseball team associated with the Washington Nationals. We went on a dollar night sponsored by the Washington Post. Grandstand admission tickets are $1.00 and all hot dogs are $1.00. Parking is $5.00 and there really isn't another option for parking unless your up for a considerable walk. Every Monday night home game in the 2012 season is a dollar night.

I liked this much better than the Washington Nationals games for a few reasons. The first reason is the space, this wasn't overly crowded. I could stretch out my legs, and take up more more room than necessary. I was sitting right next to the P-Nat's dugout so I could see the players and get to know them (not that we talked, but there was a surprising amount of interaction between the players and the fans). I surprised myself when I found out that once I had picked out favorite players, I actually really did care about the game. It was much more affordable than the Washington Nationals, but I had a better experience (The W-Nat's ticket's cost $31.00, and the hot dogs cost $4.50). When I went to see the Washington Nationals, it took us an hour to get there (despite only being 15 miles away), fought traffic the whole way, had to pay for parking, and had to fight crowds in and out of the stadium. The P-Nat's took us 10 minutes to get to (it's near the intersection of Prince William Parkway and Old Bridge Road), had cheap parking, and almost no crowds. They have time after the game for the kids to meet the players, and tons of giveaways and events.

There are a few Dollar Nights left in the 2012 season, and I'm hoping they continue the sponsorship next year:

July 9th 2012
July 16th 2012
August 13th 2012
August 20th 2012

You can check out the Potomac Nationals Website for more information.

Total Cost for our trip to the Washington Nationals:
Tickets: $31.00 x 2 = $62.00
5 Hot Dogs: $22.50
3 Beers: $18.00
Bottled water that we brought in for me: $0.00
Parking: $35.00
______________________________________________
Total: $137.50

Total Cost for our trip to Potomac Nationals:
Tickets: $1.00 x 2: $2.00
5 Hot Dogs: $5.00
3 Beers at the house before the game: Free (with a designated driver only!)
Bottled water that we brought in: Free
Parking: $5.00
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Total: $12.00

Northern Virginia- Prince William : Free Coupon Box at the Potomac Community Library

As if there weren't enough reasons for me to be in love with the library... I discovered last month that they have a free coupon exchange! I've seen groups meet before, but this is the first time I have seen a permanent box set up at a consistent location (Turn left as soon as you walk past the librarian's desk). You can come when you have the time or motivation, and drop any coupons you have, but don't want or need, in the coupon drop box. The librarians sort them into about 25 different categories. You can then paw through the categories and grab any coupons you want (No limit!). I was so impressed that I offered to stop by twice a week and sort them so that the librarians don't have extra work! They said they're enjoying it for now but that they'll call me if it ever gets overwhelming.

If your interested in getting into extreme couponing, this would be a great resource. While I was there, I grabbed 8 coupons for Secret deodorant (Buy 2 get $1.00 off) and used it at Wegman's where I got the deodorant for $0.99  a piece. I added them to my "Walmart" (I keep a stocked "Walmart" on each level of the house so that I can get the best prices for things that I use constantly and never have to run out to grab something that I didn't realize I was out of), and saved myself 8.00 :) I also found TONS of diaper/baby wipes coupons. You can find blogs with coupon match-ups (They tell you to grab the 6/20/12 coupon for "whatever" at .50 cents off then go to "Random Supermarket" where "whatever" is on sale, and buy 10. They then tell you that the total price for that item will be .25 cents), at http://beltwaybargainmom.com/ , This blog is just for the northern Virginia area so you'll have no problem finding your local supermarket if you live here. I shop at Wegman's for the most part and they have awesome match ups for that store.

The coupon box at Potomac library is unadvertised, it's not even on their website. The other branches may have the same thing, but I use Potomac exclusively so I don't know. If you live in the area, and you library doesn't have one, you should volunteer to start one. It would take you two shoe boxes, one set of index card dividers, and an inbox tray (or a shoe box top) and about an hour a week. That is, if you wanted to volunteer to sort the coupons yourself. If you don't have the time to stop by every week, I would bet that putting up a little sign asking for people to assist by sorting coupons for you if they have the time will take care of that. I know how grateful I am that they have a program like this and I'm sure that everyone else who uses it feels the same way.

If you happen to know of another library in the area that has this program, leave a comment so that others can find their way there.

And if you start your own coupon exchange at a branch that didn't have this service, leave a comment so that you can be properly praised- because you are AWESOME!