My cheap day on Monday started with hanging the laundry on my covenant compliant removable clothes lines. I strung these up myself for about $30 close to a year ago. Hubby thought I was nuts; why hang laundry when we have a perfectly good dryer down stairs. Well my washing machine sucks and never spins all the water out. We've spent more than it cost to try to have it repaired only to cause me more grief. I would have to run the dryer twice to get clothes to dry, only ruining the dryer I'm sure. So I hang my laundry about 95% of the time. The first month I did it, I cut the electric bill in half. I like it too, I get outside with the kids for a little bit, it's just part of the routine now.

In the afternoon I ran to get some instant tea. Nestea instant tea, the only kind of tea that is never on sale or has a coupon. I love my husband and I agreed in exchange for doing the dishes I would run to the store and get his tea. While there I found 3 boxes of instant oatmeal for 79cents each in the clearance section. The boxes were a little crushed but who cares? I take them out of the box and but them in a little basket in the cabinet anyway. I know after buying 23 boxes of cold cereal this weekend that I don't need more cereal but it was such a deal.

My maps came from Disney yesterday too. The kids were so excited to see their maps and they are beautiful. You can order your own custom maps from the Disney web site and they are free. Just another thing to add to the anticipation of our upcoming trip.

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I did some cheap stuff yesterday. It began when my youngest daughter woke up looking for the blueberries. She opened the fridge then whined that someone ate all "her" blueberries. Well the blueberries had been gone for several days. I could have rushed to the store and bought her some, they are on sale this week. Instead, I told her to put on her shoes and grab a cup. We headed to the back yard. Last year I planted a huckleberry bush in the backyard, I had noticed that some of the berries were ripe and ready to be picked. I had covered the berries with toole leftover from one of our many princess dresses so the birds would not eat the berries. They ate all my strawberries in May, I'm still bitter about it. She gently plucked the berries off the pokey bush, staining her little fingers. There weren't many berries since it's still a young bush but enough to satisfy the craving of a 4 year old.

After spending much of the day cleaning the house. I took my cute berry eating buddy to Target to get a  few deals I had heard from some of my cheap friends. I got 10 boxes of Kellogg's cereal, 6 raisin bran and 4 shredded mini wheats. The sale price was $1.88 a box and I had coupons for $1 off per box making them 88cents each. That's cheap! The bonus is Kellogg's has a back to school rebate out there. Buy 10 Kellogg's and Keebler product, follow the rules and get $10 rebate making my cereal a profit of $1.20. That's better than free! Also the Frosted Mini Wheats have a coupon on the back for more cereal. I'll hang on to those for later.

At Target I also picked up Electrosol Finish Dishwasher Tabs using the $2.50 coupon per box making them $1 a box. With 4 children and house of daycare kids- I do a ton of dishes. This is a great find for me. I bought 6 boxes. I hope this will get me until the next great sale. My Berry Buddy "needed" colored pencils, they were $1 a pack so to keep the peace and she did clean her room I did get her the colored pencils. She knows how to play the game, she told me they were on sale. She knows how much I love a good sale, she wins :)

I have cheap plans for today too. We'll see what kind of great deals I can come up with today. Thank you to my cheap friends for sharing their finds and coupons with me. Although no one would give up their Electrosol coupons :-P

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Well our long awaited family trip is approaching quickly. We have our reservations and plane tickets. The excitement in the house is almost overwhelming. This is a trip we have been planning for over a year. We scrimped and saved and are finally taking the family to Disney World. Both my husband and I have been to Disney many times. In fact the two of us were in Disney (without the children) for a working trip in March. We had a wonderful time and only wanted to bring the children more. We have 4 children 1 son; age 15, 3 daughters; ages 12 (she'll turn 13 in Disney), 7 and 4. The 3 older children have been to Disney at one time or another but we have not made it all together as a family since baby #3 was born.

Since we have been several time we have planned this trip using some of the things we have learned. First off we knew we wanted to stay at the resort. The reason for staying at the resort is transportation. Disney will pick you up and drop you off at the airport, this eliminates the need to rent a car. The bus ride from the Orlando airport is about 40 mins or so, but on the bus ride you watch a film about Disney Cruise line. Ok, another Disney commercial. Disney just wants to sell me more, but I think it does add to the anticipation of finally making it to Disney for the kids. Now on this trip we are staying with family a few days before we go to the resort, so G-ma will drop us off at our hotel. We will take Disney transport back to the airport after our stay.

The transportation doesn't end at the airport. When you stay on site, transportation to all the parks are included. Depending on where you stay and where you are going there are buses, boats, and monorails to get you to anything Disney.

We have decided to stay in the All-Star Music. I am a fan of the All-Star hotels. I think they are super fun, I'm really just a big kid. I love the huge, bright sights of the All-Star resort. I think it's very family geared. Great pools too. The rooms are basic, no thrills. I am not planning on spending much time in the room. I like that there is always something going on pool side, games for the kids to play or movies to watch on a huge inflatable movie screen. Oh, and it's nice to have a pool side bar too ;) (oh, but that's not cheap- it's just fun)

The Disney food leaves much to be desired in my opinion. I'm not a fan of the food at the All-Star. I will admit; I am a total food snob. I don't like to eat anything that isn't all natural. I have a legit reason for this. I have quite the long list of allergies and intolerance to food additives. I am planning on packing in some of my own food. Defiantly bringing a collapsible cooler for milk for my 4 year old. It has been said that this child should have her own cow. I will take advantage of the ice machine and the fact that we will have a few days in Daytona to get supplies.

Ok, the princesses. This is something that I have been working on for a while. I remember when I was a kid and went to Disney I wore my most comfortable, hot weather friendly, play clothes. Hmm... Not how little girls do Disney anymore. All the little princesses want their Bibbity Bobbity make over. For starters it takes a minimum of 1/2 hour, that's after you wait your turn. Cost starts at $50 and that's just for a quick updo and some glitter makeup. Not a fan of the makeup so that's out. An updo for $50!!! No way! We have our own princess dresses that I am bringing with us to Disney, I have packed enough hair product to make any girl look like they have plastic hair. When the girls weren't looking I found some super cute over the top hair thingies at the dollar store. All pink and toole and glittery. I also found some glitter for their hair at Walmart for $1.80. So dresses we have $0, free hair product bought with coupons on sale $0, dollar store fancy hair thingies $3, and glitter $1.80 and I can Fairy Godmother all the girls, all 4 days for a grand total of $4.80! Now if we didn't already have a collection of princess dresses, I would have asked for some of freecycle. I am planning on bringing play clothes to change into when the dresses get itchy. A tank top and shorts will take no space in my back pack.

As a surprise, but really my way of not spending $25 on t-shirts per child. I hit the Disney store in the mall a few months back and bought t-shirts for $2.50  each for the two smaller children and $5 each for the two older children off the clearance rack. I have kept these souvenirs well hidden and am planning on giving them to the children the first day we go to the parks. This sweet surprise cost me $15 as opposed to $100 when we buy them in the gift shop.

So my short list of Disney tips:

*Stay a the park, All-Stars are your best value

*Pack in a cooler and your own food

*Plan on "Bibbidi Bobbiding" the girls yourself (trust me on this one, every little girl in Disney dresses like a princess)

*Bring your souvenirs. Hit your local Disney store before your trip and surprise your kids with something when they wake up their first day.

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