Looking for dancewear or dress up clothing?

Be sure to check out Danse Et Plus's Consignment Sale on Saturday, August 1, 12pm-3:30pm.

Danse Et Plus is located on the upper level of the Knoxville Center Mall across from Claire's.

There are costumes, leotards and other dance related items for all sizes. Most items are priced between $5-$10.

Rugrats Resale Mega Dollar Sale!

Today starts the Mega Dollar Sale at Rugrats Resale on Chapman Highway. All summer clothing and shoes in the entire store is only $1 each!

They have lots of name brand clothing and at $1 each, it's a great deal!

Rugrats Resale is located at 6113 Chapman Highway.

Sole Destination

SOLE DESTINATION IS BACK AT FINISH LINE
TODAY THRU SEPT 7TH

Sole Destination is back! Last year, Finish Line dipped its toe into shoe charity for the first time. During the back to school season, all 700 of our store locations helped us to collect over 85,000 pairs of gently used footwear for donation to Soles4Souls.

While Sole Destination was a huge success, Finish Line still wants to do more. This year, we’ve set a goal to collect 100,000 pairs for Soles4Souls, and we’ll be donating $1 per pair collected up to this amount to assist the charity with shipping fees and other related expenses.

From now through September 7, customers can donate a pair of new and gently used footwear at their local Finish Line store and get $5 off a new pair valued at $25 or more (Limit of 3 pairs per customer).

We hope you’ll also do your part and help make an impact in the lives of those in our community and around the world. Your generosity will result in allowing someone to take a step in a new direction. This season, make Finish Line your Sole Destination.

Central UMC Consignment Sale

Saw this posted in the South Community Times...

Central UMC Consignment Sale

Central United Methodist Church will have a children’s and plus size womens consignment sale July 31 - Aug. 1 with proceeds going to the Church’s nursery and education programs. CUMC is located at 201 E. Third Ave off Broadway near Central Ave in the historic Fourth & Gill neighborhood, between Lamar and Morgan Streets. For more information, contact Kanoa at 363-3103 or cumcconsignment@ixpres.com.

Sales Tax Holiday

The 2009 Summer Sales Tax Holiday is set for Friday, August 7th at 12:01 a.m. thru Sunday, August 9th at 11:59 p.m. The following items will be tax-exempt:

Clothing - $100 or less
Belts, Caps, Coats, Dresses, Gloves, Hats, Hosiery, Jackets, Jeans, Neckties, Pant, Scarves, School uniforms, Shirts, Shoes, Socks, Sneakers, Underwear.

School Supplies - $100 or less
Binders, Book Bags/Backpacks, Calculators, Chalk, Crayons, Erasers, Folders, Glue, Lunch Boxes, Notebooks, Paper, Pens, Pencils, Rulers, Scissors, Tape.
Instructional material - textbooks and workbooks are always exempt from sales tax.

Computers - $1,500 or less
Computers with a purchase price of $1,500 or less, not for use in a trade or business, are exempt from sales tax. For purposes of this exemption, a computer is defined as a central processing unit (CPU), along with various other components including monitor, keyboard, mouse, cables to connect components, and preloaded software.

M's Place Children's Consignment Sale

I LOVE LOVE consignment sales and I'm looking forward to this one!

The sale will be held August 19 – 22, 2009 at the Home Builders’ Association office located at 1719 King Circle, Maryville, TN 37801. There will be a half price sale day on Saturday, August 22nd from 11am-2pm!!

There is a $7 entry fee for consignors, however, if you do not sell $7 worth of items, the fee is waived. They will also have a pre-sale for all consignors and volunteers who work the sale.

If you have any questions concerning the sale, please e-mail TMPConsignment@gmail.com or call Kim or Maranda at 865-856-7607.

Be sure to check them out!

Coupon for Sonic Chillers

Click here to get a 99¢ coupon for one of our Limeade SONIC CHILLERS™

I think I'm going to try the Strawberry Limeade.

$5 off at Walgreens

Walgreens is offering another $5 off a $25 purchase coupon! You can find it here.

Free Potty Training Kit

Pampers is offering a free potty training kit in the mail. Go here for all the details!

40% off items at The Children's Place

I was at the Knoxville Center Mall yesterday and got some really cute clothes for my daughter. The Children's Place has their clearance items and additional 40% off! Plus I had a coupon for an additional 15% off of my purchase.

Plus if you spend $30, you can get a really cute backpack for $7.50!

Their sunglasses are only $1.19 and I got some really cute hair accessories for less than a $1 each.

Harry Potter Movie at the Drive-In

From Blue Moon Theatres

Hello Drive-In Lovers
Special Shows on the Big Screen

Parkway Drive-In

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (PG)

Gates Open Tuesday July 14th 9pm

Movie Plays at 12:01 Midnight

Ticket Drawings for Merchandise Give away for Adults and Children

Admission:

Adults $6

Children ages 5-12 is $3

Children ages 4 and under free.

Parkway Phone for Movie Announcement 865-379-7884
2909 E. Lamar Alexander Pkwy. Maryville, TN. 37804

Sale at Gingerly Dressed

Gingerly Dressed is located at 355 Gill Street in Alcoa. They are open 10am-5pm, Monday - Saturday. Be sure to check them out and tell them that I sent you!


40-50% off Sale on all resale clothing!

Come in for the best pick on...

Wednesday and Thursday, July 15-16 40% off

Friday and Saturday, July 17-18 50% off

Monday, July 20th...who knows?!

Summer items are moving out to make room for Fall & Winter items.

They will start accepting Fall and Winter items the last week of July.

Chick-fil-A Cow Appreciation Day

Get free food today at Chick-fil-A when you come dressed as a cow! “Fully dressed as a cow” means an effort to be dressed like a cow from head to toe. For customers who want to join in partial cow attire (such as the cow headband, a cow-printed hat, vest or purse) a free entrée will be given.

1500 free prints from ArtsCow

All you need to is do the follow the instructions set out below to take advantage of this fabulous offer.
1. Register/log into your account
2. Enter the "My Account" section
3. Click into "Credit & Discount"
4. Input the Gift Certificate Code and click on the "validate" button

Gift Certificate Code: 1500PRINTS
Expires: 7/31/2009

Please note the 1500 free prints will include 1000 4x6s and 500 5x 7s prints and will be limited for use over a ten-month period.

If you don't already have an account with ArtsCow, you can sign up here.

Exactly what does that fine print say?

I came across an interesting website that I wanted to share. When you hear of a great deal, have you ever thought it was too good to be true? Or you wondered what was the catch?

Mouse Print looks at the fine print footnote rather than the headline of an ad. It also examines the often overlooked small print on product labels and contracts. According to their website, their goal is to help educate the public about the catches or “gotchas” in disclaimers.

I have found it interesting to see how some companies are downsizing their products, but not the prices :)

Angel Food Ministry

Angel Food Ministries is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to providing grocery relief and financial support to communities throughout the United States. Angel Food is for everyone, regardless of income. Here is the menu for the month of July. You can look on their website for the church host near you.

1.5 lb. New York Strip Steaks (4 x 6 oz.)

1.5 lb. Boneless Pork Roast

1.5 lb. Lean Ground Beef

1 lb. Chicken Breast Fajita

2 lb. Chicken Stir-Fry Skillet Meal
(All-White Chicken, Lo Mein Noodles, Vegetables & Gourmet Teriyaki Sauce)

12 oz. Deli Sliced Ham

5 oz. Chunk Light Tuna in Water

25 oz. Pasta Sauce

1 lb. Pasta

1 lb. Frozen Sliced Carrots

12 ct. White Corn Tortillas

4 ct. Fresh Large Baking Potatoes

1 Fresh Fajita Veggie Kit
(Tray Pack - 1 each — Red Bell Pepper, Green Bell Pepper, Jumbo Yellow Onion)

1 ct. Fresh Cello-Wrapped Celery

32 oz. 2% Shelf Stable Milk

Dozen Eggs

Dessert

The cost for a box of Angel Food is $30. There is no purchase limit for boxes of Angel Food.

Who needs Bendaroos...

when you have pipe cleaners! (I stole this idea from a friend. Thanks Heather!)

My daughter has seen commercials for Bendaroos and expressed an interest in them. At the Dollar Tree store, I purchased 50 pipe cleaners in the craft section for $1.

She has had SO MUCH fun with them.

ArtsCow

I love ArtsCow for their photo books. I love making the photo books and my daughter loves looking through the books. They have some really great products there too.

Beat My Price!

I love using Retailmenot.com to find great discount codes. They have a new sister site called Beat My Price. You simply enter the link to something you want to buy, and it will compare that to prices it, and other users have found.

Once you get your results you can take out any stores (such as ebay) that you might not be interested in.

DRS for Grocery Deals

Sometimes you can find great deals in unexpected places. Off of Alcoa Highway, behind West Chevrolet, is one of those places. Damaged Recovery Systems (DRS) is located at 3490 North Bend Circle in Alcoa. Wonder where all of those crushed boxes and slightly dented cans at the grocery store go? Many of them end up at DRS. They sell slightly damaged grocery and household items. Some of the items are also past the "sell by" date, but are definitely still safe. Some of the items simply didn't sell well at the store and ended up at DRS.

Whatever reason brought these items to DRS, you are the one who gets the savings. I have always wanted to try the Bush's Chili (you know, the one in the glass jar), but was not willing to spend almost $3 on a can of chili. When we were there this past weekend, DRS had Bush's Chili with a "sell by" date well in advance. The price? Just 99 cents a jar. We bought several jars for that price. They also have canned soup, canned vegetables, and lots of other grocery items.

You can also find some household items there too. They had household cleaners and personal items too, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste.

DRS is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays. They do not accept coupons or check, but will take cash, credit cards, debit cards, and food stamp

Forget Credit Scores - What's Your Debt/Income Ratio?

In a post several months ago, I asked if credit was a right or a privilege. Part of our current economic problems began with the creation of the Credit Score.

As I mentioned in the post, I worked for a local Credit Union about 17 years ago. Back then, if you needed a loan, they would take into consideration your debt to income ratio (DTI). If your DTI was over 40% then you would be turned down for the loan.

We even pulled credit reports before opening checking accounts or ordering ATM cards.

When our children want something we don't think they should have or wouldn't be in their best interest, we tell them no. If more people had been told no to a loan that they couldn't really afford, there would be a lot less people in financial trouble today.

But there should also be personal responsibility. When we purchased our home, the person helping us with the financial part kept telling us that we could afford a much larger home (and of course a much larger loan). We politely said no thank you. Just because we could afford it did not mean it was in our best interest.

If one of us were to lose our jobs today, we would still be doing well financially because we have kept our DTI very low.

Thrifty Mom's Guide to Eating at Dollywood revisted

This was originally posted last Fall. Since Dollywood is now open, I thought it would be a good time for a repost:

Dollywood has a wide variety of dining options from full service dining to fast food locations throughout the park.

You can find the usual pizza, burgers, chicken fingers and fries.

There are two restaurants that I want to mention. The first is Aunt Granny’s, which is a buffet. Aunt Granny’s serves breakfast until 11:00 a.m. - bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, potatos, grits, French toast sticks, assorted fruits and cereals. All served with unlimited beverages.

Later you will find a lunch and dinner buffet with items such as chicken, Salisbury steak, fried fish, meatloaf, coleslaw, fresh fruit, soup, green beans, mashed potatoes, pinto beans, etc. They also have desserts too.

Prices:

Breakfast Buffet (including drink)
Regular (Ages 12+) - $9.99
Child (Ages 4-11) - $6.29*

Lunch and Dinner Buffet (including drink)
Regular (Ages 12+) - $15.99
Child (Ages 4-11) - $7.99

My favorite place to eat is the Whistle Stop Grill. They serve burgers and chicken sandwiches, but I love their salad bar. They also have baked potatoes. You also get unlimited beverages here. The prices are reasonable here too.

Another interesting place to eat is Miss Lillian’s Chicken House. My daughter loves when Miss Lillian comes out and sings. She loves doing the Chicken Dance with Miss Lillian too.

For a complete list of eating places, check out Dollywood’s website.

I would also like to mention a little kno

Publish Post

wn tip. Ice water in a cup is available FREE at most drink vendor locations and all restaurants.

Thrifty Mom's Guide to Rides at Dollywood revisted

This was originally posted last Fall. Since Dollywood is now open, I thought it would be a good time for a repost:

When we go to Dollywood with my daughter, who is 3 1/2 years old, we try to get there at least 45 minutes before they open. We are able to find a parking spot close to a Tram Stop and have time to gather our belongings and get to the Entrance without feeling rushed.

Once there, we head first to the Country Fair section. She loves to ride the pigs, ducks, bees, and elephant rides. By heading there first, she can usually ride several times on each ride before the area starts getting crowded. Close to that area is the Village section where she loves to ride the Carousel.

Up in the Dreamland Forest, there is a Tiny Tots Playground that is similar to the play areas at the Malls.

In the Jukebox Junction, you will find the Rockin' Roadway, where you're little one can get behind the wheel of a classic Corvette. Be sure to ask for the padded booster seat for the little ones so they can see over the steering wheel.

In the Timber Canyon, there is also a section geared for smaller children. There is a "creek" where kids can play in water. There is also a really nice playground area for children 48" and smaller in that area. There are benches for the parents to sit and rest too.

For the older kids (and kids at heart), I would suggest the Dizzy Disk (one of my favorites), the Mystery Mine (my #1 favorite ride), Daredevil Falls, the River Rampage, and the Lemon Twist (it goes around faster then it looks).

Dollywood has an indoor motion movie located near the 50s section. The seats move in relation to the movie. This is a very bumpy and jerky ride and has the usual warnings about pregnant women, people with back problems, etc. What they don't tell you is that you can ask for a NON MOTION seat. Basically it is a bench off to the side. It's not as fun, but you still get the general idea of the ride. My son LOVED sitting on Grandma's lap when he was too young for the actual ride.

Summer Reading Programs

Summer Reading Programs are a great opportunity for the kids to learn and also earn some cool prizes! It's not too late to start.

My favorite is the Smokies Baseball reading program. You can earn tickets and they have a great picnic at the end.

The Knox County library has an awesome reading program each year too.

Older kids can join the Scholastic Summer Challenge.

I'm back!

After a brief hiatus and moving to a new home on the world wide web, Thrifty Mom is back. I love finding great deals and sharing them.

Keep checking back for great deals as I find them!