Frugal Friday 404

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday, Owen joined Mark at Scout Camp. He enjoyed the last 48 hours of camp and did some hiking, creek stomping, swimming, etc. He really enjoys scouts and Mark loves having him to share it with. They came home Saturday evening and we were so happy to have them home!

- Annabeth and I enjoyed a short musical at the dance studio. One of their summer camps was a musical production camp and they put on an amazing end of the week show! Annabeth had a great time cheering for her friends.

- We picked up the kids' premium money from their 4H projects. Our county awards money for completed projects. Our kids save the money from year to year as the base budget for the next years' projects.

- Saturday we had a nice girls' day. We made tie-dye from a kit my dad gave the kids. Annabeth also chose the special activity of pottery painting so we enjoyed several hours at uPaint. 

- This week BOTH kids had class at the same time so we took advantage of rare date opportunity (this was our 2nd in 2021) Mark made homemade crab cakes and we enjoyed dinner, alone!, at our dining room table. We had enough for leftovers and I felt very fancy enjoying crab cakes for lunch the next day.

- In May, we started a new Tally Rewards System in our house. Mark and I are working on being more consistent and more positive. We reward 3 Point Obedience with a tally mark. Once the kids earn 30 points they can draw a prize from a bucket. I wrote out tons of prizes some free and all low cost. Some examples - "You choose the library we visit this week" or "One item at the ice cream place" or "Date with Dad" This week Owen cashed in his date with Dad and they had burgers and Annabeth cashed in an item from Starbucks which I used a giftcard for. Our goal is to recognize and praise obedience and positive attitudes while, hopefully, eliminating troubling behaviors. 

We had a hectic week as we are back to school and back to dance. We are looking forward to some downtime this weekend.

Happy Savings to All!