Frugal Friday 487

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Owen's baseball team this year is team that isn't very popular where we live. In the past, I've been able to thrift items but was pretty confident that I won't be able to this year. I hopped online and found an item from TeePublic. It came and it was too snug. I debated just keeping it and hoping as I continue to trim down that it would fit better as the season went on. In the end, I messaged the company about exchanging fully prepared to begrudgingly pay shipping to send it back and to pay for a new one to come to me. MUCH to my surprise, their policy is that exchanges/returns are always 100% free! They not only sent me a new shirt in a different size (for free!) they also allowed me to keep the original one. The customer service rep said I was free to pass on or donate that shirt! What an incredible policy!

- Last Friday night we were startled by the tornado sirens a 11:20 pm. We quickly checked our phones to see if it was a Severe Thunderstorm vs Tornado Alert. It was a tornado one so we each grabbed a kid from their beds and put them in the bathtub. We put Oscar in with them. The wind was REALLY strong so we decided to go ahead and grab all of our tornado gear - helmets for each us (we just use the kids' bike helmets as well as some work ones for the adults), shoes on our feet, jackets over our pajamas, we each grabbed a bag and had vital items (glasses, epi-pens, car keys, etc), and made sure that Oscar had his harness and leash on. Our alarms went off at 11:20 with the storm slated to hit at 11:35 and we watched the radar carefully as we ran around grabbing things. We heard at one point that a tornado had touched down southwest of us so we hunkered down after that. The wind whistled eerily through the house, the hail/rain was incredibly loud, and then it was silent. Then loud again. Another tornado touched down just 3 miles north of us. We feel so incredibly blessed to not have any storm damage to our house or property - most of our neighbors were not as fortunate. 

- Mark went out once we got the kids back to bed to help with search and recovery up in Whiteland. Thankfully there were no fatalities! Praise the Lord!

- Saturday evening we went to a birthday party. The kids had the best time with their friends and we enjoyed visiting with our friends too. The birthday boy had a panda themed party so we purchased panda cookies from Hoosier Candy Cupboard as well as a giftcard to go back and buy his choice of treats another time. Happy #6 to our friend O!

- Sunday after church Owen had baseball so he and Mark went there. Annabeth and I took a long afternoon walk. We had Mark's mom over for dinner and served tacos and nachos.

- Tuesday we enjoyed a free performance of The Pout Pout Fish at Butler University. This was an educational, morning showing and it was fantastic! I was pleasantly surprised to find they had the parking garage gates opened so we didn't even have to pay to park! We drove home and ate a late lunch avoiding the cost of picking up food. 

- Yesterday we helped stuff Easter candy bags at church. I'm not one for the Easter bunny or hunts, I feel that it takes away from the real purpose of Easter, celebrating our precious Savior. I also realize that many children only come to church on Easter and Christmas with family and that being able to share the Gospel through song, crafts, etc after the egg hunt was a precious opportunity.

- Last night I hosted a board meeting for a group that we are in. Our family decided to serve the dinner and dessert for the whole group. I really hope it was a blessing for the other moms to not have to cook/serve their own dinner for once. We had black bean enchiladas, rice, veggies, and homemade cookies. 

We are looking forward to Easter morning. We can't wait to worship with our church family as we celebrate our risen savior! 

Happy Savings to All!