Frugal Friday 450

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Friday evening Annabeth and I enjoyed the church musical of one of her friends. It was a great little production and amazing that the kids had learned it all in one week. It's really important to us that we teach our children to show up, support, and cheer for others and we try to always say "yes" when asked by friends.

- Owen got called to sub into a baseball game so he and Mark went to the ballfield Friday night. We joined them after the musical. Afterwards, the kids and I went to our neighbors' house for a little cupcake birthday celebration. The kids had the best time with a pick-up soccer game and I enjoyed visiting with friends. It was a great summer evening.

- Saturday morning Mark and Owen took the red car to get new tires and alignment. We got a rebate from the tires and that covered the alignment. Car maintenance is one thing I will always spend money on because keeping up on the cars keeps them in good shape and prevents more expensive repairs later.

- While the boys were out, Annabeth and I ran to the store to do a mini-stock up on groceries and to get a frame to finish out a 4H project. We used a giftcard to also get Starbucks - this is one of her favorite treats. 

Coffee Girls.

Annabeth made her gorgeous headband at VBS last week!

- Saturday evening we had a simple dinner and then went out on a 2+ mile hike. One of our city trails has a wide variety of trees and prairie grasses/flowers. Mark downloaded an app so we could learn the name of the ones we didn't know.

- Sunday we took lunch to Mark's mom's house. She surprised our kids with prizes from Disney World. We had a great afternoon of visiitng.

- Sunday evening we enjoy a free pool party thanks to Grace UMC where the kids did VBS the week before. The weather was beautiful and a small group of only about 100 or so came out for the party so the kids loved not waiting in lines for the slides or diving boards. Annabeth went off the high dive for the first time and we all loved watching Mark go off the high dive as well! 

- We have changed some travel plans for the rest of the summer. We were able to cancel three nights in a hotel saving us $400! 

- This week Owen was at VBS at Mt. Olive Lutheran, the home church of our brother-in-law and sister-in-law, and Annabeth was at Production Dance Camp at the dance studio. I was especially proud of Owen for staying at VBS as it was the first time he's ever stayed away from us without Annabeth also being there!

Tiger "tattoo" after Wednesday's VBS.

Mt. Olive does SUCH a wonderful job with their VBS.

- While the kids were out each day, I enjoyed doing some computer work for my book business, Goodwilling (Tuesday I ran into my neighbor and friend Shirley so I shopped and chatted with her. Wednesday I went to brunch and then thrifting with my friend Katelyn) 

We had a lloonnngg busy week but it was also a great deal of fun! We are looking forward to the holiday weekend and are ever so thankful to be Americans.

Happy Savings to All!