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Posts Tagged ‘freebies’

  1. A Capitol Idea

    July 27, 2012 by admin

    Explore the Capitol building at Madison and learn about art, architecture, and politics all at the same time.

    We are fortunate to have free access to our State building.  We’ve been there many times to climb the stairs, check out all the artwork, and examine the historic artifacts.  It is a great way to burn off energy!  You can challenge your family to climb the stairs all the way up to the observation deck.  And then you can take the elevator all the way down.

    Tip1: You’ll find several parking ramps located on the ‘outer loop’ (Webster, Doty, Fairchild and Dayton Streets).  These lots are reasonably priced and usually have plenty of spaces available.  Parking is extremely limited on the ‘Capitol Square.’

    The Capitol has tours available, but we usually prefer to just wander and explore on our own.  This allows us to tailor conversations about the role of the governor, State representatives, courts and citizens to the age and understanding of our kids.

    Tip2: The Capitol Square is mostly deserted on Sundays but the Capitol is open.  Go then to avoid all the crowds.

    It’s a lot of fun!  There are plenty of public restrooms within the Capitol and places to eat surrounding the Capitol.  And the Capitol is warm in the winter and cool in the summer; so it’s a great destination when the weather won’t allow outdoor activities.

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  2. Ride Your Bike: City of Madison Bike Paths

    July 26, 2012 by admin

    There is an extensive network of bike paths all through the city of Madison.  They require no trail pass and they get you easily and safely where you need to be.  Skip the parking hassles and take advantage of a bike path on your next trip around town.

    A small selection of cool places you can easily access via bike path:

    Olbrich Park: Take a leisurely tour of the gardens.

    Law Park: Watch the Mad-City Ski Team practice or put on a show.

    Tenney Park: See locks in action!

    UW Geology Museum: Dinosaurs! RAHR!!

    Monona Terrace: Take the bike elevator to the Capitol Square.

    Picnic Point: Woodsy Fun on the UW Campus

    Vilas Park and Zoo: Lions and Tigers and Bears!

    Olin Park: The path along John Nolen Drive is a great outing.

    Keep your eye out for all the treasures along the way:  community gardens, café’s that welcome bikers with the lure of free water, urban sculptures,wild animals and more!  And remember that walkers and families utilize the pathways as well so stay alert! (And stay to the right!)

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  3. Live for the music!

    July 20, 2012 by admin

    We love music.  When we were younger and the majority of our money was disposable, it was easy to spend countless dollars on tapes, LPs and CDs.  Now there are kids, and rent, and car repair bills.  It’s hard to justify spending $20 a week on records.  Yet we still boast an enviable iTunes collection, due mostly to our collection of reliable sources of free music.

    There is a ton of free music on the internet for download.  But which sites are legal?  Which sites are safe from viruses?  There are a lot of traps on the internet, so let me offer a few pointers as well as some reliable sources.

    We avoid any site with ‘free’ in the title:  Freemp3, freemusic- anything like that.  We like our sites to work easily, reliably and virus free.  One of the best collections of free music out there is a site you probably use for other things: Amazon.

    Log into Amazon and head for the MP3 Store.  On the left side column, scroll down and you’ll see, “Free Music From Rising Artists.”   There you go—hundreds of songs all free, legal downloads!  You can also type “Free Mp3” into the search field and get taken to a different sorting of music.  A great thing to pick up is music samplers.  Many smaller record companies put out sampler collections to get you hooked on their artists.   You’ll find artists you recognize, as well as new undiscovered loves this way.

    Enjoy your free music!  If it is simply terrible, you can always throw it away.  But we usually save everything in case kids or friends enjoy it.  Then we can use it to make mix CD’s and playlists for them!

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  4. Four Funky Free Stops on the UW Campus

    July 17, 2012 by admin

    The University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is filled with fun and quirky spaces, many of which are great for a quick stop or longer paced jaunt.  They are educational and sometimes even adventurous places.  Here’s four that we really like:

    • The Map Building: The Science Building at the end of Landon Street (home to the UW Geography Department)  is filled with maps from all over the world, many of which are physical relief maps.  It’s a great old building to explore and climb around in, all the while checking out the cool maps and other neat details- like the stairwell where students have signed their names over the years.  There are good views of Lake Mendota and the campus from the top floors in addition to the Library of Maps.  Look for the stack of free maps near the library entrance- great for wall decorations or cool wrapping paper.
    • Children’s Library COOP:  It’s a small little room in Helen C. White Hall.  Oddly enough, they aren’t set up to have kids come in at all, but when we visit we are quiet and respectful and no one’s ever worried about us.  They have tons of books to read.  (But you can’t check them out.) We find it a great place to stop off  if you need to kill a few minutes at the Memorial Union end of campus.
    • UW Botany Center:  It’s a greenhouse/ museum!  The D.C. Smith Greenhouse holds over 1000 cool exotic plants, including the kiddo crowd pleaser- the Corpse Flower!!  Also a hit- the Mimosa Piduca– a touch sensitive plant.  And all of it is located in a great big greenhouse on the west end of campus. 
    • UW Botanical Gardens:  You’ll find the Gardens down the street from the Botany Center.  You can easily stop at both places on one trip, though we usually break it up into two separate adventures.  The gardens are beautifully done.  They feature curvy walkways and info on all sorts of plants.  It’s a fun place to walk around on a quiet summer day.

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  5. Urban Music Scene

    July 8, 2012 by admin

    Those trendy stores play such cool music, have you ever wondered what was playing, or where you could get it?

    If that store was Urban Outfitters,we can help!

    UO posts five songs from their store playlist every Monday at the UO website.  We’ve picked up tunes from Zach Hill to Lissy Trullie to Deerhoof to X-Ray Eyeballs.  You are sure to find some songs you like, or find a new favorite band if you check the UO website regularly.

    And don’t think you’ve missed the bus on great tunes we have—the UO Music Mondays page is accessible back to 2009, so go out there and get some great free music.

    Free music! What beats that?

    Category Thrifty Tips | Tags: ,,, | Comments Off on Urban Music Scene

  6. Be Our Guest

    July 7, 2012 by admin

    One rule we follow with couponing is: Don’t bother with coupons for products you don’t normally use.  Why get excited about saving 45 cents off Doritos if that’s not something you eat in your home?  And why sign up for a freebie that you’ll never need?

    Our only exception to this rule  is when we are shopping with future guests in mind.

    We make this “guest” distinction because we have a nice basket full of hair/skin product freebies, and stash of coupons, for items that we don’t necessarily use often in our household.  When we have guests, they can look through this stash for their use.  We also send Plum to the basket when she feels the need to try a new shampoo.

    Who doesn’t like to feel pampered now and then?

    By using coupons and freebies to collect a small supply of products we don’t normally need, we manage to give our visitors a little something special.  Our guests can find a product they like, or try something new, with no guilt that they are taking the last of our family’s supply.  It’s fun for everybody!

     

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  7. Art Cart!

    July 5, 2012 by admin

    If you live near Madison, you are lucky to have the Art Cart travel about the city during the summer.  We have had many good times catching up with the Art Cart.

    The staff of the Art Cart provide all the necessary materials to complete a small art project from start to finish.  These projects typically take about fifteen minutes or so, but you could spend a longer time with the Art Cart if you desired.  Our kids have made neat little sculptures and drawings with the help of the Art Cart staff.

    Best bit: there is no cost to use the Art Cart.

    Children are allowed to make multiple projects.  We’ve never seen the cart run out of materials—perhaps this is because most people don’t know where to find the Art Cart, or they don’t know that it is free.

    There is a full schedule  available online, so you can see when the Art Cart is near you.  But we like to chase it down—we love getting to explore a new park, to see a different part of the city, and do an art project on one trip.

    Without art, Earth is just, “Eh.”

    Category Get Crafty! | Tags: ,,, | Comments Off on Art Cart!

  8. Just a Taste…

    June 22, 2012 by admin

    Can you teach your kids about food and nutrition, encourage them to explore new places, and have them enjoy the process of grocery shopping while expanding their palates-  all at the same time?

    Yes, you can!

    Many supermarkets have regular taste testing in the aisles.  Keep your eyes open and pay attention to what times/days offer the best tastings at your local store.  Then see if you can arrange for that to be the time you typically go shopping.

    A Madison store that we like, Woodmans, has cheese tastings in the mornings in the dairy aisle and pizza tastings at the frozen foods aisle most afternoons.  After chancing on these a few times, Bluey now looks forward to heading to this store.  He’s eager to see what they might have for a snack!

    We recently tasted and then purchased Renard’s Cheese, after meeting a sales rep at a sampling table.

    Trader Joes has constant samplings in the back corner of the store.  We head there first for a small drink and to see what delights they have for us to taste.  It’s a chance to talk about foods, flavors, and to expand our pallets.

    Our local food co-op also has tastings, especially in the afternoons.  We recently discovered a new type of mozzarella thanks to a sampling.  It became an instant favorite in our family.  This is exactly why stores have free samples—to create new sales!

    We never feel guilty about taking samples because we know we’ll make it up to the store in purchases.  We also use the free samples as a chance to teach our kids about being polite, taking only our share, and letting everyone have their turn.

    Any trip to the store can become a chance to learn and explore.  Who knows what you’ll find?

    Category Rambler Ramblings | Tags: ,,,,, | Comments Off on Just a Taste…

  9. Junk in the Trunk

    June 20, 2012 by admin

    We highly recommend that you open a junk email account as well as a junk Facebook (FB) account.  A large majority of coupons require you to enter an email address.  Unless you are ok with your main email account being flooded with offers and newsletters (and potentially SPAM!), there is no getting around creating a junk email account.  You can use the same account for freebie offers and sweepstakes that may also lead to a ton of junk mail.  And the same goes for FB.  A ton of coupons and freebies now require that you grant permission to access your FB info or post directly to your FB wall prior to getting the offer.  We don’t allow the associated spam to clog up our private FB account.

    Tip:  Make your new account sign on name easy to remember and it’ll be easy to use.

    Places to get free email include Yahoo, Gmail, Mail.com and Hotmail.There are others, too!  Just make sure it’s an account that you won’t worry about getting overloaded with spam.

    Once you get your free email account, you can use it to set up a dummy Facebook account.  This keeps your private FB feed free of countless offers and updates from every store and company under the sun.

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  10. Sounds of the Norse!

    June 17, 2012 by admin

    We love all sorts of music and we want to expose our kids to a wide variety of it.  We also love free music.  When we can get both at once, we are super pleased.

    A great source for free music is this site: Allscandanavian.com.  They have regular updates about the goings on of various bands from Scandanavia, many of which include free downloads. We visit this site frequently and learn about all sorts of great new bands.  A fantastic find from Sweden, First Aid Kit, came to our attention thanks to Allscandanavian.com.

    First Aid Kit

    The sites best feature is a monthly list called: Music Alliance Pact.  This downloadable zip file has sample tracks from bands all over the world.  What a great way to learn about the music scene everywhere from Argentina to Zambia!

    There is an email mailer for Allscandanvian.com that will help remind you when each Music Alliance Pact update is available.  Soon enough you’ll be listening to bands you’ve never heard of and finding new loves from around the world.

    You’ve got the music in you!

     

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