Friday, October 13, 2017

Frugal Friday 214

Happy Frugal Friday!

Here is how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:

- I ordered books for my Usborne Books & More Christmas Open House. I also received my September Bonus!

- Annabeth has outgrown her dress shoes from last winter. We bought them almost a year ago so I have to say she really got her wear out of them. I let her pick new ones from Stride Rite. She, thankfully, chose the least expensive of the options that I gave her. We received free shipping and earned 4% cashback from Ebates.
**I have always purchased gold or silver dress shoes. I like that they go with everything - black, navy, brown and work in spring and summer as well. I have saved money this way as I don't need multiple colors to match all of our winter items or new ones just for spring/summer when the old ones still fit**

- Monday we did a pumpkin lesson with friends. Their family sent us home with our own pumpkin, which looks wonderful on our front porch, and a loaf of pumpkin bread! So yummy! Thank you Andrea!

- I took three dance/gymnastics items to the studio this week to try to sell. I had them on Facebook but didn't have any luck selling them so we will try the rack at the studio.

- We had two people contact us about our truck for sale. I am hoping that they are serious buyers and that we can sell it soon.

- Mark has gotten very serious about backpacking and has slowly been building his gear. One of the things he really wanted were some waterproof bags and after shopping around found them to be quite expensive. Then he found that the material itself isn't much at all. His mom was kind enough to make him three bags as part of his Christmas gift. She brought them over Wednesday evening since he is hiking later this month. Thank you Kristi!

And my last bit isn't about being frugal really but it's just about how awesome God is and how thankful I am for Him! We truly have the very best friends and this week was proof of that!
Wednesday the kids and I ran to Meijer (about 1.5 miles from our house) for diapers and some fruit/veggies. When we left, I went to start the car and something happened causing the car not to run. If you know me, you know that I HATE asking for help or appearing weak. I tried for about 20 minutes to troubleshoot the problem and finally called Mark. He didn't answer even though I called a few times. So I debated just walking home but it was chilly, drizzling and none of us were dressed/shoed for that. So I called our neighbors to maybe come jump our battery - they weren't home. So I texted our friend Andrea to see if her husband was home by chance. He wasn't but she had company so she offered to just run over while our friend Danae kept the kids. And she came. She left her company and came out on a chilly, rainy day and helped me try to sort out the problem. It ended up not being the battery so she helped me load all of my groceries, the kids, and uninstalled our carseats and drove us home. Then, on top of that, she offered to help me put the carseats in the black car so Annabeth wouldn't be late to ballet! Once Mark got my messages, he went and checked on the car. He found the problem but couldn't fix it at the store. He called a friend who towed the car home for free! Mark's mom stayed with Owen so I could run Annabeth to dance. On top of those amazing friends, our friend Kelley checked in saying she had seen Mark with the tow truck and did we need anything.
We are so thankful that it wasn't either of the first expensive things we thought that might be wrong but it was an inexpensive part and Mark knew what to do. Wooohooo!
We are just so incredibly blessed with people who love on us so well! We pray that we can great friends to them too! To God be all the glory!

Mark and Annabeth working on the Buick last night.
I love how Mark incorporates our children into his work so they can
learn life-skills. This is a huge reason why we homeschool - we love
teaching our children everything we can about life and love. 

Happy Savings to All!



2 comments:

Abbi said...

That is a cool tip about buying gold or silver dress shoes. I can see how that would work really well for girls.

What a blessing to have good friends! I loved your story about all the help and concern with your car problems.

Amy and Mark said...

Yes! Since we live away from our families (Mark's family is the closest and nearly an hour away) we depend on our friends so much! They are such a blessing!