Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:
- Last Friday was Owen's birthday. I took the kids to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. My parents gave the kids a year long memership for Christmas and this was our 5th trip this year. It was a great way to have an extra fun day (for free!) to celebrate Owen.
The kids loved the new Hot Wheels exhibit!
It was the perfect place to take Mr. O to celebrate his birthday!
With my handsome two-year-old!
- Saturday we celebrated Owen's second birthday with a Mickey Party. I had a lot of fun making decorations using items we had on hand. See this post for all of our party details.
- Saturday evening Mark and my dad mowed and trim our neighbor's lawn. Mrs. W was widowed earlier this year and the family member who usually does her yard and has had some health issues and cannot come. Mark and Dad were happy to volunteer their time, without being asked, to help her. I am so thankful for these men who have always shown me what it means to have a servant's heart.
- My sister-in-law is a NICU nurse and while talking about scrapbooking she said that she and her fellow nurses buy all of the craft supplies they use to make scrapbook pages and signs for the NICU babies. I went through my collection and was more than happy to pass along some baby papers, stamps, and stickers for them to use.
- Sunday my parents and sister were still in town after Owen's party. We took the kids to Blue Heron Park but even in the morning it was HOT! We headed back to the house and Mark set up our kiddie pool, water table, and Owen's new beach ball sprinkler from Aunt Lu. The kids enjoyed the whole afternoon playing. We enjoyed leftover party food, cake, and my Mama made some fruit based dairy-free ice cream for everyone to enjoy.
- Our house was built in the late 90s and had plastic covered drawers and cabinets in the kitchen and bathrooms. The plastic has started to chip and come off of the cabinets. We debated saving up to redo all of them but really couldn't think of a design layout we would rather have. We hated to go out and buy all new cabinets to put them in the same arrangement we have now. So...Mark has been taking all of the doors off and priming/painting them. They look great and it was, obviously, much much (like thousands less) than replacing them all.
- Mark worked one night at his part time job.
- I started my summer babysitting job. I will be keeping one of Annabeth's friends two days a week. Annabeth loves having an extra person to play with and we are saving the money to help cover the cost of the kids' activities for next fall.
FINANCIAL HONESTY:
We started 2017 with a new budget and some big goals for paying down our house payment faster and sooner.
Then... we had a car accident and had to pay to repair our car and to replace one car seat.
Then... we had to replace our washing machine. We debated buying used but we did that last fall and it was a huge mistake. We debated going without but quickly would spend more going to a laundry mat than we would just buying one new.
So...we made a new game plan, we made an extra principal payment and told ourselves that something was better than nothing.
Then...Annabeth went to the ER - twice in one week...and...both of the kids had blood draws in that same week.
So here we are, in the middle of June, having spent/going to spend thousands of dollars that we had not planned on. I remind myself: this is why we have an emergency fund, this is why we save, this is why using coupons is vital, this is why we do so many of the frugal things we do. But it's still hard - we can pay these bills but then we have the monumental task of rebuilding our savings.
We covet your prayers as we rebudget and replan for the rest of 2017. We also covet your prayers as we begin to address health issues with Annabeth and hope for some good, clear answers sooner rather than later. Thank you!
Happy Savings to All!
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