* Image Credit: www.elevatedmedianetwork.com

There’s no need to stress about spending $100 or more for a simple family outing. By following the steps below, you’ll be able to treat your kids to a fun activity, and take your family for a nice restaurant meal followed by a few hours of shopping for as little as $14!

• Search for restaurant deals. Splitting a meal with a spouse is one way to save money at restaurants. But there are better methods of dining on a dime. The first step is to go to www.restaurant.com and purchase a $25 restaurant gift certificate for only $10. By doing so, you’re already saving $15! Currently, you can snag 60% off of the $10 price tag by entering the coupon code “SWEET” at checkout. This will bring your total down to $4! If you don’t think your family can dine out on just $25 worth of food, you can purchase gift certificates in additional denominations.

Here are the prices for higher value www.restaurant.com gift cards.

1. $100 gift certificate for only $40*
2. $75 gift certificate for only $30*
3. $50 gift certificate for only $20*

* Prices before 60% off coupon.

In addition to your gift certificate, choose a restaurant where kids are allowed to eat free in order to stretch your dollars (refer to this post). By doing so, you’ll only have to pay for two adult entrees and any appetizers or drinks that are ordered.

* Image Credit: www.heckrodtwetland.com

But that’s not all. On Saturday morning (until 10:00am), Old Navy is having a $10 sale on sweaters. So, you can get away with spending $20 on sweaters for mom and dad (one each) and receiving free, quality sweaters for your kids. By doing so, you’ll essentially purchase each sweater for just $5.

• Play the Barker’s Bone Game on Facebook every week in order to win printable coupons. Every game results in a coupon. However, each game results in a coupon for a different value, such as $5 off of a $20 purchase.

Other Deals

If Old Navy isn’t your cup of tea, you can score a killer 50% off deal at Sears by printing this coupon. The coupon offers $10 off of a $20 order. The coupon is also valid on sale and clearance items, so $20 should go quite far this week at Sears. And the best part about this coupon is that Sears has major clearance deals on their baby and toddler clothing. Shirts are going for as little as $0.99, bodysuits for as little as $1.99, girl’s dresses for as little as $1.99 and sleepwear for just $2.99. With your $20, you can purchase 7 shirts, 2 bodysuits, 2 dresses and 2 sets of sleepwear for a total of $20.94. After your coupon, you’ll only pay $10.94 out of pocket! Purchasing 13 items at this price breaks down to a cost of just $0.84 per item!

If you take advantage of the deal going on at Sears, you’ll only spend $10 for kids’ clothing, $4 (price after coupon) for a gift certificate of $25 to a restaurant of your choice. All in all, you’re only coming out of pocket $14! Alternatively, if you choose to take advantage of the deals at Sears, Old Navy and dine on the $50 gift certificate (priced at only $8 after coupon), you’re still only spending a grand total of $38! As I’ve always said, the deals are out there if you’re willing to scan for them before heading out the door.

Every time is a perfect time to shop for clothing for your kids. But, wouldn’t scoring a great deal make the process of buying cute teeny-tiny clothing even better? You betcha! In order to give you the green light to shop until you drop without going broke, I’ve created a few deal scenarios for kiddie clothing this week.

Kohl’s

As a mom, Kohl’s is generally my number one stop when searching for deals on my kids’ wardrobe. They have a healthy selection of items in their clearance section. And, at any given time Kohl’s is bound to have a coupon code available, which can also be applied to their clearance section.

This week, the most notable deal on kiddie clothing at Kohl’s is their Majestic Team Mesh Jersey and Shorts sets priced at $16. This price is down from the initial $40 price tag, so by snagging this deal you’re saving $24! Currently, the teams that are available are the New York Yankees, the Cincinnati Reds, Philadelphia Phillies, Red Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. Not only is this item priced at $16. But, you can also use the coupon code “NEW5615” by October 16^th in order to score an extra ten percent off. By applying this coupon code, you’ll be able to snag the set for a mere $14.40. If your girls are old enough to wear a bra, you can score a set of 2 Maiden Form bras for $3.20, or $2.88 when applying the coupon code. The $3.20 price tag has been marked down from $16. So, you’re saving just about $13 by purchasing this set. Now, the hottest deal at Kohl’s is on leggings. You can score white leggings for only $2.40 before your coupon and only $2.16 after your coupon.

Old Navy

While there currently aren’t any substantial coupons available for Old Navy at the moment, the store is having a noteworthy unadvertised sale on a few of its girls’ items. Firstly, we have these printed French Terry Shorts priced at only $3.99. This price is on sale from its initial $6.99 price; a savings of $3. Next, Old Navy’s Girls’ Printed Bermuda Shorts are on sale for $6.99 down from their original $19.99 price tag. Overall, this is a savings of $13! And, the best part is that there are tons of colors/styles to choose from, so the shorts are bound to fit the tastes of a wide variety of budding fashionistas. In addition, you can also snag a Graphic Jersey Tee for just $3.99. This price is down from the initial $7.99 price.

The Limited

The Limited is currently offering $10 of free fashion cash which you can use in their store like regular dollars. But, there’s a catch; your fashion cash can only be applied towards regularly priced items – no sale or clearance markdowns. Now, we all know that The Limited is quite expensive and carries very few kid-friendly items.

But, if you head to the accessories section, you’ll be able to find a Bugle Bead headband, marked at $12.5o. After your fashion cash, it’ll only be $2.50 out-of-pocket! Now, that’s a deal, especially when shopping at a pricey store, such as The Limited. There’s no physical coupon to print out, and the offer is only available in-store. In order to claim your fashion cash, simply tell the cashier to apply the $10 in free fashion cash to your order at checkout.

Hopefully, you’ve been able to spot a few deals that’ll work for your family. If you were to purchase every item on this list, you’d only spend only $39.07 and score clothing for both your son and daughter. Personally, I know people that have spent more than $40 on a scarf, so I would say spending a few dollars on these items will go a long way.