FruGal Column May 26

Summertime is right around the corner. If a vacation doesn’t fit into your budget why don’t you take a staycation , the excitement and adventure of a vacation can be just as wonderful close to home. Remember a staycation is not a vacation where the family or an individual stays at home and does chores, finish projects and sits around watching TV. Enjoy the wonderful sites and activities right in your hometown while saving money on airfare, lodging and meals. Plan your staycation just like you would a regular vacation. Start researching information at least a few weeks before by googling best places to visit, local Chamber of Commerce website and get the area travel brochures sent to you. In the end you are on vacation. Leave your dirty laundry alone, Set the chores aside and maybe don’t answer your phone. Have fun, take pictures and enjoy your state.

The Cinemark Summer Movie Club is back again this year where you can purchase tickets for kids movies for as low as 50 cents each. If you want to participate the program offers two options:

1. Go to your local participating Cinemark and purchase 10 tickets for $5.

2. Purchase the tickets for $1 at the door on the day of the movie.

http://www.cinemark.com/summer-movie-clubhouse

Regal Cinemas is offering $1 G or PG rated movies on Tuesdays and Wednesdays celebrating a 9-week Summer Festival. Check out what is showing at your local participating Regal Cinemas this summer. http://www.regmovies.com/summermovieexpress/default.aspx

Have the kids take part in Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Imagination’s Destination program where kids earn a free book when they read any 8 books. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/summerreading/index.asp

Download Get a Feed Your Brain Reading Log from Half-Price books and set a goal with your child to read each day for at least 15 minutes or more throughout June and July. Join Half-Price books for their Feed Your Brain kick off on Sunday, June 5 at 2pm for the Biggest Storytime of the Summer. If you read 600 minutes or more you can turn in your completed reading log at Half-Price Books between July 25 to August 7 to receive your $5 Back-to-School Bucks summer reward. http://www.hpb.com/community/fyb/started/

Check out Lowe’s Build and Grow Clinic on select Saturdays throughout the summer. Your kids can build a wood project like Goofy Golf, Waving Flag, Tow Truck or Binoculars for free. Visit your local Lowe’s to sign up or visit their website. http://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/

Each first Saturday of the month starting at 9am Home Depot offers a free do-it-yourself kids workshop. Each child receives a kid-sized orange apron, an achievement pin along with making and taking home their constructed project. www.homedepot.com

Michael’s Art and Craft Stores offer free Family Fun Events throughout the year. Check out some great events you can enjoy with your child.

http://www.michaels.com/Store-Events/store-events,default,pg.html

Don’t forget one of our great resources your local library. Eagle Creek library is having a Summer Reading Kickoff Party on Monday, June6 starting at 1pm. Join the activities, have a snack while picking up your summer reading log. Check out all the fun events offered throughout the summer on their online calendar. http://www.lexpublib.org/calendar_program/summer-reading-kickoff

The University of Kentucky’s Arboretum is offering free tours this summer on Sundays, all at 2pm. Tours are free, open to the public and do not require pre-registration. Meet in front of the Visitor Center. Tours last around 45 minutes. Every week there is a different topic checkout their website for more details. http://www.ca.uky.edu/arboretum/index.php

Have your family dress up like a cow and get a free meal from Chick-fil-A on Friday, July 8th to celebrate Cow Appreciation Day. Get more information at www.cowappreciationday.com .

Don’t forget about Fairy Tale Nights at participating Chick-fil-A restaurants where every child under 12 will receive free Chick-fil-A Nuggets Kid’s Meal with purchase of any meal. Call your local restaurant to find when they are celebrating during the month of August.

Join the folks at Shaker Village in their 3,000 acre backyard to celebrate National Trails Day 2011. Ride your horse, enjoy a day of fishing, take a canoe trip on the Dix River, participate in guided hike or nature walks or other free activities offered throughout the day. For more information call Jean Givowski at 800-734-5611 ext. 1545.

See all the free activities offered in your state to celebrate National Trails Day. http://www.americanhiking.org/

Don’t forget to go to www.getoutKY.com for monthly adventures and activities.

Take the family out to one of our nation’s favorite pastime a baseball game at The Lexington Legends. They offer many fun promotions like Friday Fireworks, Kids eat Free Mondays, 34 cents Hot Dogs on Tuesday, Thirsty $1 Beer Thursday and much more. Don’t forget you can take a Kraft Singles cheese wrapper on Tuesday’s game for the opportunity to buy one ticket and get a second ticket free. http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/events/kraft_landing_2011.jsp

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/schedule/index.jsp?sid=t495&m=07&y=2011

Now that you have made plans to take a staycation lets get you some deals on gas.

CVS is offering a $10 gas card when you purchase $30 worth of participating products. Every week different items will qualify. The money you accumulate toward purchased products will not carry over week-to-week. Manufacturer’s coupons and CVS coupons can be used to lower your out-of-pocket expense. You only need to spend $30 before coupons.

Purchase specially marked boxes of Kellogg’s products; enter codes online to collect points. Whenyou accumulate 4 points you can receive a $5 gas card. http://cars2.kelloggs.com/home?cid=p1core-tbx04.f.1800/b1292/5d5/74bfd918.33f163bb64ab9533a2614448333ce373

Purchase Kimberly-Clark products with Disney Pixar CARS 2 codes, enter codes here and redeem for great CARS 2 gifts, tickets to the movie or $10 prepaid VISA cards. https://www.kcc.cr.kimberly-clark.com/BrowserError.aspx?brwsrErr=errBrowserVersion

Don’t forget to use your Kroger Plus Card when you are at the gas pump. When you purchase $100 worth of groceries you will receive 10 cents off a gallon.

Disney has a new replacement disc program that provides a new replacement copy of damaged DVDs or Blue-rays for $6.95. There is a limit of one replacement per year. http://www.disneystudioshelp.com/resources/USReplacementForm.pdf

Memorial Day Weekend Sale at Ace Hardware FREEBIES

Cutter Insect Repellent is on sale for $4.99 send in for $4 mail-in-rebate. Use $1.50 coupon from 5/22 Sunday paper making the deal a MONEYMAKER.

Ortho Home Defense Max Perimeter Insect Killer on sale for $5.99 with a $5.99 mail-in-rebate making it FREE.

Totally Green Wheel Cleaner on sale for $3.99 with a $3.99 mail-in-rebate making it FREE.

Biodegradable Car Wash on sale for $3.99 with a $3.99 mail-in-rebate making it FREE.

Biodegradable Tire Shine on sale for $3.99 with a $3.99 mail-in-rebate making it FREE.