Thursday, October 1, 2009

Don't Miss AU Equestrian Match vs. South Carolina

Tomorrow October 2nd, 2009 there will be another Equestrian Match at the Auburn Horse Unit on Wire Road. There will be Free Auburn bandanas to the first 200 fans!
For children they have horse rides, paint the pony, sack races and a mini jump course for kids.

Admission is Free to the public.  To see some pictures from a recent match you can view my post here. 
Don't forget to check frequently the calendar at FrugalAuburn.com for current matches and other Auburn happenings!

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

The Gnu's Room Events

The Gnu's Room is a local Used and Rare Book store located on Gay Street next to Amsterdam cafe.  They frequently have interesting events that are free to the public.  I have been to a few talks given there and find it a nice cozy atmosphere.  Beware, however, parking is sometimes impossible to find, so you might want to be dropped off or plan on walking a ways.  I just received an email telling about some upcoming events at the Gnu's Room:

--
UPCOMING EVENTS:
  • Thursday, September 24th at 7:00 p.m. - Science Cafe Auburn
A.U. Biology professor Debbie Folkerts will be our guest speaker on
the topic, "Pitcher Plants and Insects." Science Cafes bring a wealth
of information to the layperson from an expert in one of the
scientific disciplines. A short presentation of the topic is followed
by a time for Q&A.
  • Friday, September 25th at 7:00 p.m. - Film Screening
Curator Kerry Weldon brings another group of short films to the Gnu's
Room. This month's films are:

1) "Twitch" directed by Leah Meyerhoff
2) "Doors" directed by Mandra Waback
3) "Steel Homes" directed by Eva Weber
4) "A Triplet Affair" directed by Lauryn Siegel
5) "575 Castro St." directed by Jenni Olson

This series presents award-winning short films as well as the works of
local filmmakers. A short discussion follows the final film. No
admission fee.
  • Friday, October 2nd at 7:00 p.m. - Expressions Cafe
The first Friday of every month the Gnu's Room invites poets, writers,
storytellers, spoken word artists, musicians to perform their craft
for an appreciative and enthusiastic audience.



Don't forget, you can now grab a cup of our delicious coffee or tea on
the way to class or work now that we open at 7:00 a.m. Monday-Friday!
There are no parking issues early in the morning, and if you are in a
huge rush ... call us and we will have your beverage waiting when you
get there!!!

The Gnu's Room is now offering discounts to seniors (55 and over) on
Wednesdays. Discounts of 20% on used books and $0.25 off any beverage
are offered all day, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

We are now carrying ten different yummy varieties of cookies from the
Alternative Baking Co. These just happen to be vegan cookies packed
with flavor. We have sampled almost all of them and haven't found one
we don't like yet! With names like Colossal Chocolate Chip, Peanut
Butter Persuasion, Phenomenal Pumpkin Spice and Outrageous Oatmeal
Raisin with Walnuts, the cookies are made with organic wheat flour and
have NO trans fats, dairy, eggs or artificial ingredients. There are
even wheat-free varieties! Even if you aren't vegan, you should give
these cookies a try on your next visit to the store.

--
Be sure to check out our Calendar at FrugalAuburn.com for these events and more!

Equestrian Matches

I love horses and so I love going to AU's Equestrian Matches.  They are free to the public and lots of fun to watch.  If you have children there is an added bonus b/c during most matches they have free horse rides for children and a horse in a small corral for them to look at and pet.  My family and I attended an equestrian match last weekend and here are some pictures from the fun the children had.  The first picture is my daughter enjoying the horse rides.  The second picture is my other daughter displaying "Clouds", the stick pony she made at the pony-making station.  In the background you can see BigBird, the pony which was on display for the children.  If the picture had been taken a little later BigBird would have been rainbow colored because they let all the children finger paint him!


Don't forget to check the calendar at FrugalAuburn.com to keep up with current Equestrian Matches and other Auburn Events!

Football Season is Upon Us

Football season is here, and in Auburn, we get excited about that.  Along with the games themselves there is a lot of other fun to be had and much of it is free.  This year Auburn has started Friday Night Block Parties before gamedays.  They start at 6:00pm and go until 8:30 pm in Downtown Auburn at West Magnolia Ave.  There is live music and family friendly fun for all.  After winning games (knock on wood) grab a roll of toilet paper and head to Roll Toomer's Corner and the big oak tree.  Rolling the oak tree is fabulous fun as hundreds of fans join up cheering and whooping and generally causing mayhem.  It's a great excuse to be a little crazy and throw some toilet paper.  Don't have any toilet paper on you?  No worries, join the crowd anyways, it's still good fun and typically at some point a roll will come sailing at you anyway.  Just grab it and throw it on it's way! 

Also, on September 24th at 7:00pm Auburn Public Library is having a talk by Thom Gossom, Jr who played football for Auburn in the 70's and was the first black athlete to graduate from Auburn University. This seems like an exciting opportunity to hear a bit of history and hear about his deep love of football.



All around town there is always fun to be had during football season.  Don't forget to check out the calendar on FrugalAuburn.com to keep up with what's happening.  War Eagle!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Frugal Auburn in Lee Magazine

Lee Magazine is a great magazine about all that is going on right here in Lee County.  I regularly read the magazine (they have them at Kroger) so I was tickled to find mention of FrugalAuburn in one of their articles. 
Lindsey Waits calls us "One of the coolest tools available for Lee County parents".  I'm glad to know that people are enjoying the website (parent or not)!  

You can go here to read the full article.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Speaking of Coupons

A lot of the stores around town have internet coupons on their websites that you can print from home. Whether you are going for an oil change, clothes shopping, stopping by hobby lobby, or going out to Mama Goldberg's for a sandwich it pays to check out the website first. Here are a few of the one's I have found...

Mama Goldberg's - Mama's Love Sandwich BOGO with the purchase of sandwich and large drink.

Big 10 Tires - Variety of % off and $ off various services, including oil change coupon.

American Lube Fast - $5.00 off any Service

Books-A-Million - $5.00 off $25.00 or more (expires 10/01/09)

Hobby Lobby - Weekly Coupon - Changes from week to week, but often 40% anything in the store.

Kroger - Grocery coupons both to load on your kroger card electronically and to print out at home.

Mike's Merchandise - Sign up for the e-mail Newsletter, when it comes you can print it out  for 10% off your entire purchase.

Old Navy - You have to search for them, but if you click the right place you can get some pretty good coupons here.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Local Grocery Coupon Blog!

With everyone trying to make their buck stretch a little bit farther these days there has been a lot of people looking to coupons to help make ends meet. There are those who have really perfected the art of not just using coupons, but also matching the coupons with sales, knowing what/when to stock up, and taking advantage of special offers. In order to do this on your own, it requires a big investment of time. Luckily, there are some kind women online who do the hard work for us and post the information online.

There are a lot of sites out there right now that provide this service is one capacity or another, but we now have someone local to Auburn! Jana host the blog Blessings From Savings and her posts range from local grocery deals (Kroger and Winn-Dixie usually) with coupon match-ups, to savings tips, to free samples by mail, to recipes, to stories of how she is saving/stocking/shopping.

For more grocery tips and resources check out our grocery page on FrugalAuburn.com

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Kids Clothes Connection

Kids Clothes Connection, where you can sell your kids clothes, toys and a myriad of other items is coming again. If you are interested in selling your items receiving days are September 12 - 15. For those looking to buy it will be open to the public September 26 - October 10th. For more information check out www.kidsclothesconnection.com.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Jewelry Promo

Silver Jewelry Club is a place where Peora, a jewelry manufacturer is offering some of their pieces for free. Well, almost free. You do have to pay a shipping/handling charge of $6.99, but really that's not much for a piece of nice jewelry.

What's the catch? Well they only offer certain pieces in certain sizes (for rings) at any one time. There is no magazine to browse, just a, here's what we got, grab it if you want it kind of thing. Don't let this discourage you though, because they do a good job of rotating the selection. There are four items available at all times and they tell you how long they will be available (from 0 - 15 mins). If you watch for a few minutes you will see a good variety of styles and different stones, and quite often if you pay attention you can get a matching set of earrings and necklace.

In the spirit of checking out a service before recommending it I did order from them, and was very pleased. The jewelry is nice and is accurately depicted on their site. Man, this research stuff is tough...I also "researched" the burger and shake deal that sonic is currently having right now $2.99 for a sonic burger and milkshake...a great and delicious deal!

Hmm, what can I research next?



Tuesday, August 18, 2009

$4.99 Haircuts

A new Great Clips has opened on Dean Road next to Kroger in Auburn. They are offering haircuts for $4.99 to promote their new place. Walk-ins welcome.

Tiger Pets is Changing Owners

Tiger Pets is changing management, which for me, who has long enjoyed the friendly and knowledgeable service there, is a sad thing. I will be anxious to see what kind of place it becomes in the future. However, it is also a frugal opportunity. Melissa, who is currently in charge, is offering some great bargains on pet supplies as she cleans out the shop. There are a lot of used cages and supplies that are cheap as well as new food and supplies at a bargain. The fish are also on sale so we just added some great fish to our fish tank. The store closes on August 31st so go shop quickly.

There will be a grand re-opening sale on Monday September 14th from 11:00 - 1:00 with the new management.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Box Tops For Education

Don't forget to collect boxtops for education coupons for the schools. Even if you don't have a child in school you can still collect them and donate them to the schools. I collect them in a ziploc bag until I have 20 of them and then drop them off at the school.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Treasure Trunk Consignment Flyer 8/15/09

Please join us at “The Treasure Trunk Sale” where slightly loved, TOP QUALITY, children’s clothes in sizes and styles for all ages will be sold. All will be available at extremely reasonable prices!

Saturday, August 15th

EAMC Health Resource Center

7:00am – 11:30am

(Sale will close from 11:30am – 1:00pm)

HALF PRICE SALE 1:00PM – 4:00PM

Maternity Clothes, baby items and children’s toys will also be available.

Canned Food Item Admission to support East Alabama Food Bank.

Portion of all proceeds will benefit EAMC Cornerstone Childcare Assistance Program.

Cloth Diaper Sale

Between the strain on the economy, the realization that we need to be eco-friendly to the earth, and the great new designs now available, cloth diapers are making a come-back. For any who are not sure why anyone would want to use cloth I recommend this article. For any who are looking at starting cloth or need to add to there stash this is a pretty good deal that cotton babies is offering now.

---
Cotton Babies
August 7, 2009

elsie-4thSo, it's August. The big kids get Back To School sales. We thought the little ones deserved a deal too. So, here it is...
BUY SIX bumGenius One-Size 3.0 Cloth Diapers, GET ONE FREE.
Free diapers are limited. Offer is while supplies last.
Click here to shop now!

Kindest Regards,


Jenn
Cotton Babies, Inc.
www.cottonbabies.com
Tweeting as @bumgenius & @cottonbabies

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Listening to Those Who Speak

There are a great many opportunities in Auburn right now to go and listen to talks given by people in various fields. Auburn Public Library is having their Brown Bag Lunch Series over the summer which has people come to the library to present their talks during the lunch hour on certain Tuesdays. The Gnu's Room hosts a summer film series this summer which shows local films and has a discussion afterwards. They also do regular poetry readings and feature all kinds of other speakers on a variety of topics, periodically. The Forest Ecology Preserve, Jules Collin Smith Museum of Fine Art and Auburn University are some other great sources for talks and seminars throughout the year.

If you are looking to find helpful workshops, you should check out Lowe's and Home Depot both of which are regularly offering free classes on home improvement projects. The Alabama Cooperative Extension Office is another place that is out there ready to offer information.

I will put many of these talks and workshops up on FrugalAuburn.com's Calendar. But I thought I'd go ahead and list some of my sources so that you know where to find the information for yourself and I highly encourage everyone to take advantage and to listen to those who speak. You never know what you might hear!

Monday, March 30, 2009

FrugalAuburn Updated!

FrugalAuburn is being renewed!  I will start to slowly get this website up to par, going through and making sure information is still current, adding new information and keeping the calendar updated on a weekly basis.  I am also in the process of trying to change the way I update the calendar a bit.  There are a lot of activities that happen on an ongoing basis.  I think if I put these in a seperate location it will make it easier to see the new events as they come up.  So, keep watching the website and start referring to it for up to date information.  And, as always, email me frugality@frugalauburn.com with any comments or suggestions. 

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Buy Local!

I recently received the following email from the Gnu's Room.  I hope everyone will attend their fundraiser on Feb 28th from 11am - 8pm...

The Gnu's Room, like many small businesses, has been struggling to
keep its doors open in the face of difficult economic times. A
business meeting at the end of January yielded a decision to close the
business at the end of February due to the greatly-reduced sales
experienced over the past nine months. As we began to inform our
regular customers of the decision, so many of them expressed their
sadness over the loss of a place they so deeply appreciated.

A small group of loyal customers, grad students from the Biology
Department, approached me about the possibility of their organizing a
benefit to raise funds for keeping the store open. Having resolved
myself to closing the store, the idea was interesting but didn't seem
realistic. I wondered how the public would respond to a fundraiser for
a used bookstore/coffee shop. Undaunted, the students met, recruited
others, planned, organized and are about to orchestrate a major
community-wide effort with the theme, "Spread the Gnu's: Buy Local."

The event will take place at the Gnu's Room on Saturday, February 28th
from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The event will include a silent art
auction (local artists have donated paintings, photos and pottery), a
bake sale (items provided by student volunteers), local
musicians/bands playing for donations, and the Auburn Area Community
Theatre performing as well as professional actor, Doc Waller.

Local authors and poets will read and t-shirts will be sold. The
t-shirts, sponsored by twelve local businesses whose logos will appear
on the back of the shirt, will feature on the front the Gnu's Room
logo with the words "Coffee, Books, Community." The goal of the event
is to not only raise funds to continue operations, but to raise
awareness of the plight of all local businesses needing community
support to stay open.

The Gnu's Room has as its mission the promotion of reading and literacy, and
the support of local arts in all forms through the provision of a
forum for local poets and prose writers, artists, musicians, dancers
and actors. The Gnu's Room wants to foster a warm and accepting
atmosphere -- a place where people share real conversations and in
every sense of the word, experience a feeling of community.

We invite you to join us on the 28th. The proceeds raised will
hopefully enable the store to remain open through the difficult summer
months and beyond.

We are so deeply grateful to the students who have invested so much
time and effort into the planning of this event and who care so much
for our mission. We are also extremely humbled by the support of the
local businesses, artists, musicians, actors and writers who are
donating their time, talents and merchandise to help us. It will be an
exciting day and we hope to see you there!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Callaway Gardens Free Admission

Beginning January 1 through February 28, 2009, Callaway Gardens is inviting everyone to "Be Our Guest." Admission is complimentary for these two months providing guests with the opportunity to enjoy time with their friends and family reconnecting in nature.

PINE MOUNTAIN, GA – For those looking for a day getaway, Callaway GardensÒlocated only one hour southwest of Atlanta – invites all to Be Their Guest for the day with complimentary admission to the Gardens throughout January and February 2009. Once again voted by Southern Living readers in the January 2009 issue as the top Best Public Garden, visitors soak up Mother Nature at its finest throughout the 13,000 acres of Callaway Gardens.

At no cost, visitors experience one-of-a-kind exhibits such as the favored Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center with its 1,000 tropical butterflies fluttering freely, the educational Virginia Hand Callaway Discovery Center, the John A. Sibley Horticultural Center celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2009 and Birds of Prey shows featuring free-flying raptors.

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Target After Christmas Sale

I was told today that Target has put all there Christmas items on sale for 90% off. Check it out while it last!