feed the real need: Who Says Cheaters Never Prosper....?

October 11, 2011

Who Says Cheaters Never Prosper....?

Just because we've decided not to spend real $ on food doesn't mean we can't eat out - we know some budget tips so get out your pencil and notepad and save these ghetto-friendly tips for a rainy day:

#1 - Kids Eat Free at Ikea EVERY Tuesday. As long as your offspring are little enough to fill up on the kids menu you are good to go. Swedish Meatballs for everyone! Our total was $6.55.
http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/IKEA_Food/restaurant.html

#2 - Kids Eat Free Quesadillas if you Dine In at Cafe Rio.

We spent 2.5 hours looking at tile for our bathroom remodel one Saturday. That's right - TWO AND A HALF HOURS and we didn't even finalize anything - probably because we were so hungry that it was debilitating (if you know me you also know that this happens to me quite easily). We were starving when we finally got out of there. I looked in my wallet and suddenly angels appeared and began singing the Hallelujah Chorus because I found a Cafe Rio card with 10 Stamps! Free Meal! We got a salad, drink, burrito and 2 kids' quesadillas for $5.93. The quesadillas are pretty little so I shared my salad with Sawyer and we were both very satisfied.

Check out that receipt! I love you, Cafe Rio - I will be back as a real customer in January :)

2 comments:

hlw said...: I love this idea. I think we might join you. I'm going to talk to the fam...; 10/11/11, 4:56 PM
Ashley and Aaron said...: Love all the zeros on that receipt -- awesome! I need to make a serious trip to Ikea soon...I was planning on going tomorrow or saturday but I guess I should wait until Tuesday!; 10/27/11, 7:45 AM

Post a Comment

THE EXPERIMENT

One day we went out for lunch. On the way home I was explaining to the kids why we don't eat out for every meal, that we had essentially paid an extra $15 or $20 for our lunch so that we didn't have to shop, prepare or clean it up -- and it hit me: I said, "That's enough money to buy a child in Africa a mosquito net." The kids took that and ran with it. They wanted to know if it was enough to buy a pair of shoes (yes), a book (yes), a uniform (yes), water (yes), shampoo (yes), a soccer ball (starting to drift slightly but yes). We decided as a family that we would not eat out again until Christmas and that we would take all of the money we saved and give it to charity (At this point I needed to explain that charity was the word we use when we are talking about organizations that help people in need and not just a girl in Milo's grade with that name). As a family we only really eat out a few times a month, but my husband and I usually eat out on dates and the kids and I will grab lunch every once in a while, so this is not going to end with piles of money but it will teach the kids a little about sacrifice and a lot about others' needs....I hope...... This blog is to journal our little experiment and maybe convince any of you to join us :) We are heading into our 5th year and plan to do it every September - December.

take the feed the real need challenge

Want a fun teaching experience for the kids? Join us and take the feed the real need challenge! Substitute one trip to a restaurant with one home-cooked meal and donate the money you saved to a charity of your choice - we have some suggestions on the left column of this page OR you can add to our Feed the Real Need Fund if you'd like to contribute to an animal via Heifer International. Send us your experience and we will post it on our blog! It doesn't have to be fancy - have your 4 year old write the post, don't take pictures (or do), and you don't have to disclose what amount you donated - we would really just love to hear about your experience!

Contact :

feedtherealneed@

gmail.com