Friday, May 6, 2022

Frugal Friday 442

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday, after school, we had a big outdoor day. Walk downtown after early voting, park play with co-op friends, and an after dinner walk where we ran into more friends. They generously asked us to stop and trampoline so the kids ate ice pops and trampolined while the mamas visited. I love hours outdoors - especially when we share them with great friends.

- Saturday morning Mark and Owen had a donut and coffee date at Nana's Daylight Donuts. They used a giftcard so it was free! 

- Last week I watched a few of the Marie Kondo's Tidying Up episodes and spent Saturday morning tearing through our kitchen and DVD cabinet. We were able to clear out two totes of items! It feels so freeing to have a couple of completely empty cabinets and several partially empty cabinets in our kitchen. The hardest item to let go of? The St. Francis glitter cup from when I had Annabeth. I haven't used it in years and it was foggy/gross from the dishwasher so I was finally able to let. it. go. 

- Saturday we enjoyed Cartoons for Cans at the Artcraft Theatre. Admission for an hour+ of entertainment was just 1 canned good/person. Where else can you enjoy the live entertainment, the National Anthem, and cartoons for such a great deal?

- While at the Artcraft, we found $4 in the side of one of our seats.We made a donation to the Artcraft with it. 

- Sunday afternoon I picked up my remaining items from the kids' sale. I had a GREAT sale this time and sold 70% of my items. The leftovers I brought home, took the hangers and pins out to save for the fall sale, and toted up the rest for a garage sale in a few weeks.

- I had three Matilda Jane items come back from the sale. I photographed and listed them online. I sold 1 so far. I purchased it for $10 and sold for $15 after Annabeth wore it many times. 

- Monday and Thursday we kept my nephew and niece from 6:30a-8p each day. They are 3 and 1 and SO much fun! Annabeth and Owen had a great time "babysitting" with me and really were a great help especially with hours of playing firemen. I generally keep them and friends' kids for a few hours at a time for free but since these were long days my sister-in-law generously paid me for my time. 

- I took the kids some Disney hand-me-downs and m sister-in-law gave Annabeth some make up and hair freebies that she had gotten at work. One of the items was a box of fake eyelashes. We have to buy these for dance and so this saved us $14!

- We had a cancelled appointment this week. This saved us the cost of the appointment and I will move that money to our budget for later in the month. 

- Tuesday evening a friend surprised Mark with a Yeti Cooler. It had originally been purchased for someone else, who didn't want, and so it came to Mark. So generous! 

- We live in the city limits so our trash/recycling is dictated by who the city contracts with. Last month, that company told us we all had to get new bins for both trash and recycling. The price of them was added into our bill. It's nice to have the big, new, and clean ones but we all (obviously) had trash cans so..what to do with them? One of Mark's co-worker's lives in the county and mentioned needing a trash-tote so Mark cleaned ours and gave it to him. I was glad for this as we had purchased a nice, big $100 one a few years ago. I did not want it to just go out for heavy trash day so passing it along was a great solution! Plus it saved our friends' family the money of buying a new one. 

- Wednesday was our last day of school. I cannot believe that this rounded out our 9th year of homeschooling! What began as a response to a busy, needed to be kept learning toddler to "we'll try this for this year" has become a way of life in our home. Our family culture, our children's education, and our ability to learn and love together is all richly blessed by our commitment to home education. I am thankful to live in a state with few government restrictions and to be able to raise my children in Truth. Mark and I pray that our children fall more and more in love with the Lord and set serving God and His people (who are all people) as their life goals. 

Last Day of School - Riley Family Homeschool Class Picture
(You can even see Oscar in the window)

We are looking forward to one of our favorite weekends of the year.

Happy Derby to our Louisville/Kentucky friends. Happy Savings to All!




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