Category: Uncategorized

I live in PA. To the west of me we have lots of exciting things to do in Pittsburgh: Steelers, Pirates, Penguins, Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Carnegie, Pittsburgh Zoo, and loads of other things.  Much farther east is the Philadelphia area with South Street, the Mutter Museum, hosts of other museums, lots of historical landmarks, the Flyers, the Eagles, lots.  Then there’s South Central Pennsylvania.  No major cities, hours away from either of the most notable cities in Pennsylvania. But I’m here to tell you that there is plenty to do in South Central PA. If you live in the area or are headed to the area, allow me to give you some idea of fun and unique things to do for your staycation in South Central, PA.

 

Johnstown Incline Plane – Have you ever seen or been on an incline plane? Do you even know what it is?  Sure Pittsburgh and other places have inclined planes but did you know the one in Johnstown, PA is the steepest vehicular incline in the world and you can look it up in the Guinness Book of World Records! You can take a round trip ride on the incline plane either with or without your vehicle.  I’ve personally been on this a few times and the views a beautiful especially from the restaurant at the top.

Horseshoe Curve –  In Altoona, PA and surrounding area, everyone knows about the horseshoe curve.  This is a site to see and a railroad enthusiast’s day of fun.  Check out out the railroaders memorial museum. Then take a beautiful nature walk or ride the “funicular” to get an amazing view of the horseshoe curve railroad.

Thunder in the Valley – This huge motorcycle event takes place June 26-29 for 2014 and June 25-28 in 2015 if you want to plan a trip next year.  This event brings bikers from local towns to out of state. This event grows bigger each year bringing in literally over 100,000 bikers.  The main events take place in down town and a few of the Johnstown parks but you can also find events happening in Windber that includes food vendors, stunt bike shows, games, bands, and children’s activities.  Richland area also has Thunder in the Valley events.  There are children’s areas and family friendly activities.  If you’re looking for more adult fun you can hit any of the bars in town for specials as well as late night bands.

Shawnee State Park — this was a favorite spot for our family growing up.  Man made beaches on the lake for swimming, fishing areas, paddle boat rentals, hiking trails, and more.  Pack your lunch and make a day out of it.  The scenery is beautiful.  The beaches have changing areas and showers, life guards, and playground areas as well.  This beautiful park is located in Schellsburg, PA.  While driving there you’ll also see a few farms that allow for “pick your own” fruits and vegetables for a fee.

 

Windber Miner’s Memorial Festival – usually takes place father’s day weekend in June. There’s games, basket raffles, bands play free on 15th st and Graham Ave, there’s a fireworks display one night, food vendors, children’s games, car show, and more.  I recommend picking up a pie from “The Pie Shoppe” stand…yummy! Love the Razzleberry pie

Sports – Just about any time of year you can see semi-pro leagues playing.  The War Memorial in Johnstown has the Johnstown Tomahawks hockey team and the Altoona Curve baseball team offer reasonable prices to watch a competitive game.

Johnstown Flood Museum –  If someone from out of the area is familiar with Johnstown, PA it’s usually because of the historic flood of 1889.  Thousands lost their lives when South Fork Dam gave way.  The museum has educational information on how and why it happened.  There is a movie as well. Well worth watching but trust me when I say it will give you chills.  The dam has of course been restored and is in safe operating condition today. You can still see the dam.  When you get a ticket to the Flood museum it includes admission to the Pasquerilla Heritage Discovery Center where you can learn about the melting pot of people that is our area and how the area started.  There are hands on activities for the kids in the children’s museum area.

Somerset Historical Center – takes you back in time to a settlers village.  See how the settlers to the area lived with actual restored houses, old fashioned farming and tilling equipment, and learn about the vocations of early settlers.  Have you ever seen a cooper work before? See how a cider press works or see a maple sugar camp.  Depending on what time of year you visit, there is something interesting and educational going on.

If you want some ideas for family staycations in our area, check out my guest post here: http://www.fiatusaofnewportnews.com/family-staycation-ideas.htm

 

It seems there is an app out there for just about everything. Apps that turn your phone into a flashlight, app versions of your favorite games, and yes even apps that help you earn free money.  Some of these money saving apps take little effort to earn some money while others require a little more work.  From my experience, I haven’t found one that you can quit your day job over but the way I see it, any extra money is good money when it’s earned legitimately. So here is a list of free money earning apps I personally use.

Scantopia – this one is one of my faves because I can do it when I feel like it, it doesn’t take a whole lot of effort, and you can do it from just about anywhere.  Scantopia allows you to scan barcodes of virtually anything you have for a chance to earn money.  Not every scan is guaranteed money but for the ones you don’t earn cash on you get tokens to be used as entries into a jackpot sweepstakes or other sweepstakes they have on the site.  They pay via paypal.  They have a low cash out threshold, just $3 and they pay quickly.  Refer your friends and earn 25 cents per friend you refer.  Sign up now with my promo code: A8-6VP-Q4

Jingit — Another one of my faves.  This one allows you to watch short video advertisements then take short surveys (usually 3-6 questions) and earn money for doing so.  Videos from my experience are worth anywhere from 5 cents to 35 cents.  You can also use the Jingit app in store to scan items you purchase to earn money.  I had  received a Jingit VISA that I could use my balance anywhere VISA was accepted but as it turns out, just today, I received an email saying they’re discontinuing the VISA cards after the end of June and making some exciting changes.  Wonder what it could be?  Hoping maybe paypal payment options or reward store options.  That’s just my speculation though, nothing founded.

Ibotta – This app allows you to earn rebates on things you’re buying at the store anyway. Groceries, beauty products, apparel, pet supplies, and more .  Looking at my ibotta app right now, there are 169 grocery rebates available right now.  That’s not even including the rebates in other categories.  Stores like Walmart, Safeway, Target, Krogers, Wegman’s, Giant Eagle, Dollar General, Rite Aid,  and many more participate.

Scoopshot – Scoopshot is a really cool app that let’s you earn money from pics you take with your smartphone.  Companies, news outlets, and more may be looking for specific pictures from pics to high school sports, on the scene pics, festivals, and other areas of interest and they’re willing to pay. You can submit pics to offer for sale or you can take jobs available that show up on the homepage of your app.  Professional photographers can even set up portfolios of their work and get international assignments.

Checkpoints – This one lets you earn points in a number of different ways.  Trade your points in for rewards like free gift cards.  You can earn points by watching videos, checking in at stores, restaurants, etc, When you check in at different stores like Rite Aid or Dollar General for instance, you can scan specific items on the shelf to earn points.  You can earn a lot of points this way.  I also happen to have a bonus code: luvsaving will get you a bonus 50 points when you sign up

These are just some of my money saving (and money earning) tips.  Check out my guest post on http://www.pomocochryslerjeepdodge.com/money-saving-tips-on-the-go.htm to see more ways to save and earn money on the go.

This post was prompted because of a frustrating situation we are currently dealing with.  As a frugal blogger I love getting the best deals.  I’ve tried to pass on my frugal tips to my hubby and kids.  As a family of 6 we can’t be throwing hundreds of dollars around all willy nilly.  As a family of 6 we want to save as much as we can in each area of our lives.

My husband recently applied for a class through his job that would help him on the road to getting his promotion.  His employer approved him for the class and gave him the dates.  This is where things get tricky.  He could have stayed at the dorms of the training facility for free.  The only way his job pays for a hotel is if the dorms are full.  My husband chose to get a hotel room because he said, often, the recruits and others at the dorm want to party and drink and he just didn’t want to do that.  I was, of course, happy about that.  So he booked a hotel room through the Priceline “Name Your Own Price” tool and he got a good deal.

Yesterday, my husband got an email at work saying the class he was approved for had been canceled.  He’s very frustrated because this was out of his control, he knew that there was a good chance he was not going to get his money back from Priceline.  Nearly $200 we may as well have flushed down the toilet.  His work won’t reimburse him because he could have stayed at the dorms.  I called Priceline and they told me there is nothing they could do, it’s their policy to not refund or cancel reservations made through the “Name Your Own Price Tool”.  I called the hotel directly and they told me there was nothing they could do because they are under contract with Priceline.  They said they’re not even allowed to go in and change a name or anything in the Priceline reservations.  The staff I talked to at the hotel was very nice and apologized to me over and over.  She even put me on hold to talk to her manager but the same answer came back.

So my advice is, if you plan on using the Priceline “Name Your Own Price Tool” you better make sure nothing in your life can change during your reservation if you don’t want Priceline to take your money while you receive nothing.  I’ve heard of hotel keep one nights fee or a deposit fee but never have I heard of keeping all the money you paid upfront.  So our family of 6 is out nearly $200 and we receive nothing in return.  I have to put 4 new tires on my car and our dryer just quit working on us.  I have to wonder what that $200 goes to for Priceline when no service was received?

So if you are hospitalized during the time you were to use the hotel room…too bad so sad, they keep your money.  If your friend, boss, family, etc cancels the trip and you paid for the hotel room..again too bad sucka.  You lose your job and can no longer afford the trip..Priceline doesn’t seem to care from my point of view.  You booked the hotel room for a weekend to go to a concert, the concert was canceled, oh well hope you didn’t need the money…I’m sure there could be lots of other scenarios but you get the point.

 

 

 

**This post contains affiliate links.  Regardless i only post legitimate offers from trusted sites**

If you signed up for Kellogg’s rewards then you got the email today for mother’s day that had the FREE $20 credit to Shutterfly.  It’s not just $20 for prints, or a photo album, it’s $20 for anything you want on the site.  There’s no strings attached and the credit doesn’t expire until 6/28/14.  As a mom myself, I know I’ll use the heck out of that credit.  If you’re not a member of Kellogg’s Rewards you should sign up for free now:

When you sign up you can get exclusive coupons and rewards from Kellogg’s.  They do send free codes for reward points from time to time.  You can also find codes on some of your fave Kellogg’s products.

I recently wrote a post for Reedman-Toll Fiat of Langhorne  about how to make a simple DIY travel felt board.  This keeps my youngest son entertained for 30-45 minutes at a time.  We stores ours in the little pouch behind the driver seat but alternatively you can put it in a bag or small clothing box and stow it under  seat.  To go along with that post I thought I’d share some ideas or themes for the felt boards.  You don’t have to have a theme but sometimes it helps to plan for what kinds of shapes to have more of.

1.  Paper Doll/Dress Up theme —  Cut circles for heads, small rectangles for arms and legs.  You can have different color triangles, rectangles, and ovals for clothing.  You can also have fun by cutting a few hair and hat shapes to put on the the “dolls”.

2.  General Theme – This one you can just cut a bunch of different size squares, circles, rectangles, and triangles in different colors and let the kids use their imagination.  They can create anything from houses, cars, people, or outdoor themes.

3.  Beach — you can cut a strip of tan or cream color felt about 1/3 the size of the background (I suggest a blue background for water). The tan strip can be used as the sands.  Cut our fish shapes, shell shapes, palm trees shapes, and rectangles for sandcastles.

4.  Forest — you can cut out brown rectangles for tree trunks and use green felt to cut out different tree top shapes.  You can cut out animals for the forest too like deer, rabbits, bear, etc.  Alternatively you can just cut out shapes and let them build their own animals.  You can also cut out an oval or two for a pond or lake.

5. Garden — Cut out small green rectangles for flower bases or leaves.  Cut out small circles for the center of flowers.  You can cut  out flower shapes or cute multicolor tear drops for your child to create flowers.  If you want to, you can also create things like butterflies and bees.

6.  Holiday Themes — If you’ll be traveling around a certain holiday you could always create one with a theme like Christmas, 4th of July, or Easter for example.

7.  Food Theme – you can make a big circle as a plate then cut out lots of shapes to let them make up their own dishes or food.  Remember to use lots of colors.  Orange triangles could easily be carrots, green or purple circles could be grapes, Yellow squares could be cheese, and so on.   You could also do this with a pizza theme by make toppings for a pizza.

8.  Bedroom Theme — Their picture can be a bedroom. You can cut rectangles for a beds, bookshelves, dresser, etc. squares for pillows, night stands, etc. , ovals for rugs, different color squares for curtains, and toys shapes like teddy bears, a ball, toy car, etc.

Check out my DIY post on on the Reedman-Toll Fiat of Langhorne blog here: http://www.fiatusaoflanghorne.com/simple-diy-felt-board-for-travel.htm to see what you need and how to do it.

Please visit my guest post on Reedman-Toll Fiat’s blog.  Learn how to make your own simple DIY felt board and support my post!