Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

How to Freeze Pineapple for Smoothies

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You probably already know how simple this is, but just in case, I’m writing an entire post about how to put chopped pineapple into a freezer bag. But first join me for some boring talk about being boring, which is really quite exciting depending on who you are and what you are interested in.

How to Freeze Pineapple for Smoothies

You know how pre-teens can talk and laugh about a fictional character for hours, how teenagers can talk about shoes, how computer geeks can talk about wires, and how athletes can discuss the score of a game from 2004 – and whichever category of people you don’t fit into, you think that subject is the most ridiculous and boring topic on the face of the earth?

Yeah, well women are just as exciting. Here’s what I talk about with glee to my friends while my kids fall off their chairs in the background:  “I got 4 pineapples for just $1.29 each! I know! eeeheeeheee!”

Really, I remember my mom and Kristina’s mom (my childhood friend) having a very long conversation about the price of lettuce (which had most certainly gone up to 79¢ – can you believe it?) – when I was a teenager back in 1985. Kristina and I just rolled our eyes and giggled about the fact that our mothers could possibly think that information about the price of lettuce would be interesting in the least. While our mothers continued their dry discussion, Kristina and I turned back to talking about much more exciting and meaningful topics such as which shirt to wear to school tomorrow and how the cover of my notebook had torn on the way to band class.

As it would appear, I am now my mother, and you are my friend’s mother because I’m here to tell you that I seriously got 4 big fresh pineapples for just $1.29 each! Is that not awesome? Especially since the cheapest I typically find them is between $3.00 and $4.00. That’s why I bought four. You’ve got to get four when you get them for that great of a price. And see, here I am, going on and on and having a very long conversation (with myself, sort of) about my wonderful deal on pineapple.

I, for one, am enjoying this conversation very much.

Those of you who choose to instead talk about your rock collection or printer ink for hours are going to have to find someone else to share it with – because I just got four pineapple for $1.29 each! Do you know how great this is?

How did I get such a great price on four such lovely pineapples? Now that there is an Aldi 50 miles from my town, I can price match at my local Walmart. Aldi was running a special, so I went to Walmart and price matched that deal. (They were just $1.29 each!! Did I tell you that part yet?)

Our family loves pineapple, but our palates might not appreciate eating so much pineapple in a matter of a few days. Instead, we chopped one and ate it, then chopped the rest and froze the chunks in baggies to be used later in our very favorite Pineapple Mango Smoothies.

No way will I ever find bagged, frozen pineapple at the store for $1.29/bag. Oh, but if I do, you can bet I will have a lively conversation with you about it, filled with lots of exclamation marks. (!!!!!)

Pineapple Mango Smoothie Recipe

As you can see from the picture tutorial early in this post, freezing pineapple is as easy as cutting away the outside of the fruit, then cutting the inside into chunks. We found that one large pineapple filled a quart-sized freezer bag.

Now you tell me:  What’s the greatest deal you’ve gotten lately? You know I want to hear all about it. Be sure to use exclamation marks. (!!!!!)

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Money Saving Monday ~ Stretching Your Dollars While Eating Healthy Food

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Money Saving Monday Banner

Never before have I recognized the need to find money-saving grocery methods as I do now. My boys have always been big eaters. But now that 2-almost-3-out of 4 of them are teenagers? There is no sentence to follow that question.  It’s just. The food. They eat. I’m so. Wow.

It’s a pleasure to watch them eat actually. Big appetites are fun for a food lovin’ Mama like me. But I have to find as many ways as possible to make our grocery dollars stretch. Just last week, I decided to buy some thick deli-sliced ham for a quick lunch. It was on sale, so I bought several inches of it, hoping I could stretch it with a bunch of side dishes, and therefore save about a half pound to go with eggs for breakfast the next day. Y’all.  I fried every last bit of that ham, fried some leftover baked potatoes, opened a can of baked beans, pulled out half a pineapple, pulled out a pint of pickles, pulled some tortilla chips to go with leftover Cream Cheese Salsa Dip and leftover Spicy Avocado Dip, pulled a bowl of raw broccoli with homemade ranch dip – and nothing was left at the end of the meal. Then they said, “Can we have the rest of those peanut butter cookies?”

This is why their legs keep growing and their shoes are too small before they even get them broken in. (Praise God with me! Two of our boys found brand new pairs of very nice quality running shoes at our church clothing exchange last week for FREE. Hallelujah! Put the money we would have spent on shoes toward more eggs and meat.)

You know how I share that I buy in bulk all the time? A friend of mine came over to take a look at my food purchasing and storage system. She saw all of the containers of pasta. She saw all the jars of home-canned produce. She saw all the 50-pound bags of wheat, oats, and rice. She saw my all my cocoa powder, bottles of ketchup, jars of mayo, and cans of tuna. She saw my three freezers (THREE!) full of meat and frozen fruits and veggies. She saw it all. Her question:

“So, would this food last you for about a year do you think?” Oh dear, no (said I, with a giggle). What you see here will be gone in three months.

Well anyway, money saving tips on food are necessary – for all of us, wouldn’t you agree?

Each Monday for the next few weeks, I plan to share a way to save money while eating healthy food. Healthy food is so important so that we can all thrive physically and emotionally! These posts won’t be about skimping on nutrition, but rather attaining nutrition without breaking the bank.

Money Saving Monday at Heavenly Homemakers

Of course, I’ll continue to share all the great online deals I find at anytime throughout the week. But I continue learning new tricks to keep my healthy food grocery budget reasonable. I can’t wait to share!

Will you help out as we start this series? Leave a comment letting us know:

1. What are your favorite ways to save money on healthy foods?
2. What are the areas you struggle with most while trying to save money on healthy foods?

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The “Eating Healthy” and “Save Money” Balancing Act

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We all want to be healthy. We all want to live frugally. We all want the best for our families. We all want food to taste good. We all want great deals on groceries. We all want delicious food, special treats, our favorite snacks…and if they could be free, cheap, come with a coupon, or be buy-one-get-one free – that would be fantastic.

Yeah, pretty much, we want it all. Is that too much to ask?

Balancing Eating Healthy With Saving Money

Is it just me, or is it tricky sometimes to balance saving money with healthy eating? Especially as our boys get older, I can not believe how much it costs to feed us well. I believe it would also cost a lot to feed us poorly, simply because we eat so stinkin’ much food at our house all the time, every day, all the time.  We can not believe the lie that eating well is too expensive. Eating junk is expensive too. I’ve done the math.

I don’t have any wonderful new tips to share today as we work to keep our real food grocery budgets low. I don’t have any great online grocery deals to share. Instead, I just want to encourage keeping a healthy perspective when it comes to balancing saving money with eating healthy.

There really is great, real food out there that is not expensive. It’s amazing all the wonderful combinations of real food ingredients we can creatively put together to feed our families while staying under budget. We do not need to become discouraged, caving in to buy margarine because it’s cheaper than butter, or buying a cheese substitute because it’s cheaper than real cheese. We do not need to skip the fruits and vegetables because we are afraid of the price tag. They are not more expensive per ounce than a box of empty-calorie crackers. I’ve done the math.

God is going to continue to provide for you and your family. I believe the food on your table is as delicious as your attitude dictates it to be. The health benefits of eating the best you can within your means, while trusting God? Priceless.

Tired of the same old cheap real food meals of beans, rice, bananas, and carrots? Ask God to give you more creative ideas, to provide you with what you need, and to give you a heart of thanksgiving. I can almost guarantee that our little Gladis, over in Honduras, has very little variety in her diet, yet all of what she eats is real food and wholesome. She and her family are simply thankful to have food, and they do the best they can. Praise God for his provision!

Remembering her when I look into my refrigerator and pantry keeps me in check. Gladis gives me perspective and offers me a chance to appreciate anew the abundance we have. From thousands of miles away, she shuts my complaining mouth and calms my heart of discontent when I feel like whining about the price of strawberries. How blessed we are to have access to the luxury of strawberries.

I pray we find balance as we seek to eat healthy while saving money. I pray we look at what we have through the eyes of gratitude.

Let’s all continue to feed our families the best we can, while enjoying the blessing of real food – whatever it might look like on our individual tables.

Hoping to get your budget on track as you work to balance healthy eating with saving money?
Be sure to check out BudgetFocus as a wonderful resource!

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The Plan ~ Getting Ready for Freezer Cooking, Week Four – Meatless Meals

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I love meat.  My body doesn’t function well when I go too long (you know, like an entire day and a half) without eating animal protein. Beyond that, sometimes, fish or chicken just isn’t enough. There are days my body needs beef and ain’t nothin’ else gonna cut it. I think this has something to do with my tendency to become anemic and the iron red meat provides. I truly do not feel well when I’m not eating enough beef, and on the contrary, I feel very, very well and much more energetic when I am eating plenty of cow.

Therefore, when some of you suggested that we do a freezer challenge that consisted entirely of meatless meals, I was like, “What? Why would we do that? Don’t you know that meatless meals don’t have any meat in them?”

Then, I (had a hamburger) and realized that these lovely ladies who made the meatless suggestion were actually brilliant. Meatless meals are a huge money saver, and good gravy – it’s not like I need meat at every meal. I just need it at least once every day. Meatless meals rock.  Let’s make some for the freezer, shall we?

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We’ve taken a couple weeks off from freezer cooking challenges, and I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to hit it again. We’ve slowly been working our way through the {beef, chicken, and breakfast} meals I put into the freezer during the March/April challenges. The meatless freezer meal ideas I came up with are going to go together quickly and make for some super easy lunches on busy days during the next few weeks.

Here’s what is so great about the freezer cooking I plan to do:  I’ll be making a double batch of each recipe. That way, I can serve one portion of it to my family the very day I make it. Then, I’ll freeze the other portion to pull out another day. Work once, eat twice – it’s my favorite way to get ahead!

Join me!!! I want you to see how easy it is to get ahead in your real food kitchen. You’ll save money, effort, energy, time, and brain power.

Here’s what I’m planning to make, one at a time, during the next few days:

Join Our Meatless Meal Freezer Challenge!

The Grocery List

  • 32 ounces whole grain spaghetti noodles
  • 5 cups whole grain pasta – any shape
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 cups (32 ounces) ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup (16 ounces) parmesan cheese
  • 8 cups (64 ounces) spaghetti sauce
  • 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 6 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 6 cups whole milk
  • 6 cups cooked black or pinto beans (or a combination of both)
  • 2 cups (16 ounces) salsa
  • 16-20 whole wheat tortillas (we like homemade tortillas)
  • 10 cups whole wheat flour
  • 9 teaspoons yeast
  • 3-4 cups pizza sauce (depending on how saucy you want your calzones)
  • veggies, olives, and other fillings for calzones
  • sea salt and pepper

I’ve created a downloadable and printable grocery list for you here:  Freezer Cooking Grocery List Four

 Who’s going to join me?

To help you out if you’re interested in some of the above recipes, the Let’s Do This! eCourse and {Healthy} Make-Ahead Meals and Snacks eBook are discounted to just $5 for the whole package. The recipes included in that package are some that we use all the time at our house to get ahead!

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Don’t Be Afraid To Buy Used Appliances

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There are some items I will not buy used. Such as:

  • Shoes (won’t fit right; not good for the feet)
  • Underwear (self explanatory)
  • Hats (unless I know and love the head it’s been on)
  • Make-Up (although I don’t usually wear it anyway)

I’m sure there are items you would add to the list. Matresses, cribs, car seats – there are many items that are worth buying new. Sometimes, it’s even worth paying more for an item so that you can be sure you’re getting good quality, thus saving money in the long run.

But let me share our family’s experiences with buying used appliances…

Over the weekend, within about one hour, both our washing machine and our dishwasher quit working. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Matt was able to fix the dishwasher himself. But the washing machine? Well, it was many years old, on its last leg, and a bungee cord was the only thing that had kept it from falling apart since June 2012. Matt gave it a good shot, trying to keep it alive just a little bit longer, but in the end, he met me with the question, “You ready to go shopping for a new washing machine?”

So, go shopping we did. We were met at the door of our locally owned appliance store and shown wonderful, beautiful, shiny new washing machines. We were given all the details about their bells and whistles, and were provided with many convincing reasons for why we should buy the top of the line (especially with our four active boys).

They sounded great, actually. But the price tags?  Ouch.  Thankfully we have a line item in our budget for spur of the moment necessity purchases. But did we really need to spend that much on a fancy appliance, or would a less than the best still do the trick for us?

We really wrestled with this. When is it important to buy high quality, and when is it okay to go with a lower quality, lesser price? Ugh, and we really needed to make the decision quickly, as the laundry was piling up at home as we stood in the middle of the forest of washers and dryers. Our heads feeling as though they were in spin cycle. <— Clever, huh? I thought of that one all by myself.

Before looking much harder at the new washing machines, we asked to be taken to the back to see the used appliances they had on hand. This store has come through for us many times with their used items. Remember my used upright freezers?

Ugly though they are, they serve their purpose and sit in our storage room where no one can see them.
We were happy to pay a huge discount because they were used and ugly.
They’ve worked great for years!

One used washing machine really caught our attention. It was everything we really needed, much of what we wanted, and because it was a few years old, it was less than 1/5 of the price of the brand new ones. We asked question after question, we grilled them about what might be wrong with it, we stuck our heads in and looked for whatever people look for when they stick their heads inside a washing machine.

We listened again to the spiel trying to influence us to buy the new washer which was five times more expensive. We went home, we prayed, we looked at all the dirty laundry. We quickly came to the decision that the used washer was really all we needed. Writing the check for that was barely even painful. We got such a great deal! It was delivered and installed the next day.

Introducing, the newest member of the Coppinger Team:

washing machine

A few years old, a couple of scratches, and if you look real close, you’ll see my reflection since I was the one taking the picture. That came free with purchase.

We’ve given this washing machine quite a workout since it arrived, and it’s done great. Did we make the right decision? Oh yes, we definitely did. Even if it only has a few years of life left, we believe the amount of money we saved compared to buying new is still very worth it. And now, we have money left in our budget for any other last minute necessities. (Oh but please, no more appliances for a while.)

What has been your experience with buying used appliances? Is there anything you feel strongly about that should always be bought new?

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The Many Joys and Frustrations of Homemaking

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Nothing is perfect this side of Heaven. That’s why we have dust and cobwebs, back aches, lost library books, and challenging parenting issues. It can all draw us closer to God (true perfection!) and help us recognize our need for His strength. We also know that even with all the crazy and frustrating aspects of life, there is also a lot of joy. Hey, if we can’t laugh at our spilled buttermilk…

The Many Joys and Frustrations of Homemaking

As we focus this week on remembering that Homemaking is Fun, I want to encourage you with some posts from the archives.

Let’s begin with a few lessons I’ve learned about dealing with some of those less than ideal situations:

~ My best lesson from Grandma…Every Good Cook Burns Herself Sometimes

~ Best (ha!) sleep-over breakfast ever…The Day I Forgot To Sift the Popcorn Out of the Waffle Mix

~ Ugh, picky children!…I Can Now Accommodate Picky Muffin Eaters and Mix and Match Oatmeal Bars

Now let’s talk to all of you who don’t love to cook:

~ This one speaks for itself…So, You Don’t Like to Cook?

~ Donuts, again?…Start the Day With a Healthy Breakfast

~ My favorite “I don’t feel like cooking” breakfast…Instant Oatmeal in a Jar

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And we’ll wrap it up by talking about ways to save money:

~ Freezer meals rock…Loads of Make-Ahead-Meal posts

~ This is a HOT deal right now!…Grab Your Free $10 For Whole Food Groceries

~ Our favorite whole food meals that cost about $1 per plate…Dollar Menu Recipes

 

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My Newlywed Budgeting Memories – And How BudgetFocus Can Be a Blessing To All

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It was our very first year of marriage. At the wise ages of 20 and 21, we began to navigate the world of doing whatever it was that married people did with their money. Seriously, I had no idea. I knew how to shop for clothes on the clearance racks, buy off-brand peanut butter, and write a check when the phone bill came. Neither of us were big spenders, and because of that, in my mind, we would be just fine when it came to finances. We would simply pay our bills, buy on sale, avoid going out to eat much, and live happily ever after.

Matt, on the other hand, has always enjoyed crunching numbers. He’s also always been good at seeing the big picture when it comes to money. I will always be grateful for the day a few weeks after our wedding that he called me into the living room so he could show me the budget he was putting together for us. We knew how much (how little rather) was coming in each month, so we needed to figure out how to make it stretch.

Now if it was up to me, we would have had about six line items in that budget:  Rent, Insurance, Gas, Food, Phone, Utilities

Oh it’s a good thing I married Matt. Hello, Laura? Ever heard of medical bills? Car tags? Gift giving? Trash service? A savings account, perhaps? Christmas gifts certainly weren’t on my radar. It was only September, after all. We only paid car tags once per year, so why add that to the budget? Our cars were running fine at that very moment, so why think about car repair money? And apparently, it never occurred to me that we would need money to purchase those great clothing bargains I’d find on the clearance racks. Big budget picture? I hadn’t a clue.

Matt, on the other hand, had a line item for everything and then some. A whole new world opened up to me on that 1994, first year of marriage, budget spread sheet of ours. Since we knew we needed to pay for car tags in November, we came up with a conservative guestimated total amount needed, divided by 12, then set that money aside each month so it would be available in November. In order to have money for Christmas gifts, we set aside a certain amount aside each month to be used for gifts. Just in case one of our cars was to break down, we set aside money each month in our budget for repairs. And on it went.

I thought Matt was a genius. He just thought it all made sense. And he thought I was cute for thinking he was a genius. Ah, newlyweds…

More than anything – even though we had very little income at the time – I appreciate that our budget gave me financial peace and security. The income was small, but we never had to worry about where the money would come from for expenses because we had broken everything down and put a name on it. We never spent money “just because we had it.” Nope, that money was allotted for something else – not for random spending.

This practice has proved itself to be very effective during our 19+ years of marriage. Having a line-item for each spending category really takes the pressure off knowing how the bills are going to be paid each month. It has meant that we’ve said no to many expenditures through the years in order to be disciplined and stick with the budget. It has showed us that God always takes care of us, no matter what the income level.

So let’s talk about budgets, financial security, and making it all happen easily. Seriously, budgeting can be fun – even if you aren’t a newlywed. :)

I’ve recently been introduced to BudgetFocus, an online budgeting site that takes all the difficulty away from budgeting. See there, over on my sidebar, how they are now my top sponsor? We’ll be working together, helping you get your budget on track, because that’s a major part of heavenly homemaking. I really love how BudgetFocus breaks everything down, creates line-items for everything, takes all the pressure off, and provides a simple way for you to manage your family’s household expenses.

ad3Truly, no matter how much or how little you have, you can prosper. Prospering doesn’t mean you’re rich and have everything you want (from a worldly perspective). Prospering means you can breathe easy, trust God to take care of you, and let your budget help take away financial stress. BudgetFocus is all set up to help you with this. I very much encourage you to give it a try.

I’ll be sharing more about BudgetFocus soon as we continue to work together to help you achieve financial peace. For today, I highly encourage you (whether you already have a budget set up or not) to head over to BudgetFocus and get all set up with their 14 day free trial. Signing up just takes a few seconds. They don’t ask you to give them a credit card or any other personal information. Simply let BudgetFocus help you walk through the basic steps to put together a workable budget.

Get started with your free trial.  Right away, you’ll be given a free eBook on How to Make a Spending Plan and Stick to it. Free trial, free eBook – you can’t go wrong!

Happy budgeting! (Seriously, it can be happy. You’re in charge of your money – it’s not in charge of you.)

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A Pot Roast is Faster Than Fast Food {Eat Healthy ~ Save Time}

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I hereby declare that it takes less time to put a roast beef dinner into the crock pot than it takes to drive to a restaurant, sit in the drive-through line, order, wait for your order, drive home, and dole out the food to your hungry family.

Are there exceptions to that statement? Sure. Maybe the drive-through is on your way home anyway. Maybe there’s no one else in line. Maybe the burgers are sitting in the warmer waiting to be thrown into your mini-van. But in general, I truly think that if you…

a)  Plan ahead a little bit
b)  Spend just a small amount of prep time in the morning
c)  Would rather eat steaming pot roast with veggies intead of a fast-food burger

You can have a delicous, healthy pot roast dinner waiting for you at the end of the day instead of settling for take-out.

How? Well, first you will need to make sure you have a roast, potatoes, carrots, an onion, and some salt in your house. That’s the planning ahead part I was referring to. :)

Then, on the morning of the day you wish to eat your roast beef dinner, take a few minutes to scrub or peel your potatoes and carrots. (This takes me about 10-15 minutes, depending on how many I’m feeding. I usually plan for one potato and one carrot per person – then I throw in three or four more for the extra hungry among us.)  Cut the veggies into fourths and put them into your crock pot. 

Peel and chop your onion into a few pieces and add it to your potatoes and carrots. Sprinkle in some salt. Open your package of roast and place it on top of your veggies. Salt your meat. Add about 1/3 cup of water. Put the lid on the crock pot and turn it onto “low” for about 8 hours.

At the end of the day, your entire meal will be ready. You can use the broth to make gravy if you want (like this, except that you’ll use beef broth instead of turkey broth). Clean up is minimal. Food quality is exceptional. Taste is no comparison.

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Ahhhhh…roast beef dinner. How I adore you.

What has been your experience in the time it takes to pick up food at a drive-through? Is it worth it? What sounds better…roast beef dinner or soggy fries? (I know, I know. Sometimes fast food fries just hit the spot.)  :)

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7 Tips for Saving Money When You Fly on Vacation

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This post is written by Craig Ford, writer at Money Help for Christians.

It’s definitely not too early to start planning your next family vacation, but the only danger is that it’s going to be really hard to trudge through the next few months of work before getting to kick back for an enjoyable summer vacation.

While I’m all for summer vacations, I have this little personal mission in life. I want to be the person who does the exact same thing as everyone else, but I want to do those things without paying the same price as others.

For example, if I’m going to be spending the night in a hotel, I want to have the room that costs $50 per night while the person in the next room is paying $129. It just makes vacationing more enjoyable knowing that I’m not spending a lot of money.

Today, I’ll pass along some of the things I’ve learned trying to master the art of cheap (and even free) travel.

7 Tips for Saving Money on Your Family Vacation by Air

1. Know your vacation style.  While I’m all for saving money on vacations, a vacation isn’t a vacation unless it is relaxing to you. In order to help you plan your vacation strategy, you need to know where you’re happy to cut corners and where you won’t skimp pennies. As an example, my wife and I have concluded that eating out, while a nice perk, doesn’t make the vacation for us. When we look back at vacations gone by, we rarely talk about what we ate. Thus, our strategy includes trying to minimize the cost of food on vacation. However, when we are able to get two hotel rooms (or a condo) for our family, we love having some space to ourselves.

2. Use opaque booking sites (like Priceline or Hotwire) for hotels. Both of these sites allow you to book a hotel by knowing the location and the style of hotel without initially knowing the actual name or exact hotel brand. In exchange for this lack of information, you can book hotels up to 50% off. Learn how to get the best price between Hotwire and Priceline.

3. Earn miles and points by getting credit card bonuses. If you have a decent credit score and avoid credit card debt, you can earn lots of mostly free travel by signing up for credit cards . Over the last year, my wife and I have each collected over 200,000 air miles, $1,000 worth of travel spending, and 2 roundtrips flights in the US – each. It took us 5 credit card applications to get all those points, rewards, and miles. Right now you can even get 100,000 miles for a British Airways Visa. If you’re not familiar with the concept of getting mostly free travel, you can get more information from the Travel Free Coach (yes, that’s me!).

4. Be flexible.  If you are flexible and willing to go almost anywhere, you can check out AirfareWatchDog.com. All you need to do is enter your home city, and this website will show you the prices to a bunch of possible destinations. Also, if you subscribe to airline emails, you’ll find some great last minute fares to some really nice destinations.

5. Think about meal times when flying.  You might laugh at this, unless you have a large(r) family. If you’re going to fly out at 1 p.m., there’s a good chance you’ll need to pick up something for lunch at the airport. Even a small meal can easily run a family $30-$50. I used to recommend that people take a lunch with them, but when you’re trying to get yourself and three kids through security, you need all the open hands you can get. Instead, find flight times that avoid mealtimes.

6. Book early or book late.  The best deals can often be found 3-6 months in advance or less than 3 weeks in advance. In my case, I’d rather know we have everything booked because I’d get anxious a few weeks before if we still didn’t have all the booking in place. If you book through Southwest you can always change your flights without an extra cost.

7. Capitalize on the extra bonuses. Be sure to book your vacation on a cash back website like Ebates  to get a few extra percentages cash back on your travel. Additionally, be sure you have the best miles credit card too so you can get bonus miles towards your next trip.

8. Plan for baggage – The cost of baggage for a family vacation can easily add up to several hundred dollars. The two best ways around the cost of baggage (short of only taking carry-ons) is booking on Southwest Airlines (no baggage fees) or having an airline branded credit card that allows free baggage. As an example, the Delta American Express lets you check bags for free. 

What do you do to save money when you fly on your family vacations?

Be sure to visit Money Help for Christians where Craig promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom.

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