Happy Frugal Friday 576

 Happy Frugal Friday!

Here's how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money the past two weeks:

- My parents were in town for the kids' dance competition and we took turns paying for/providing meals. We are all loving having them close by more often!

- We had a field trip to the Cool Creek Nature Preserve. This was an hour drive each way but the actual field trip was free so we went ahead and joined friends. The kids were able to build their own fire, take a small hike, meet some turtles, and talk about animal tracks. We stayed and played for a few hours as well. We packed along lunches, waters, and snacks for a free day out!

The kids each worked with friends to start their own fires!

- Friends came to visit on their Spring Break. Each of us moms pulled out random leftovers and things that needed finished for a picnic lunch. Nothing fancy or coordinated and yet everyone ate! Getting together does NOT have to be fancy or complicated. Your friends can eat lunch meat, chips, and applesauce - no themed foods required! We spent the afternoon at the park together and did enjoy getting treats afterwards at the Hoosier Candy Cupboard. Spent: $15

- On Saturday, Mark and Owen spent hours cleaning and picking up trash at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. They went on a walk there a few weeks ago and after noticing all of the trash Mark called to see how they could help. They organized a group of Scouts and spent many hours working. See a problem? Be the solution! 

- Saturday I spent the day at the Homefront Women's Conference. I have never been to a ladies conference before and really enjoyed the day. Thank you to my friend Lily, who provided the worship music, for putting it on Facebook. In one of the sessions, we learned about local organizations doing BIG things in our community. I can't wait to help where I can!

- Sunday afternoon we took lunch to Mark's mom's house for the family. Mark had promised the kids pizza so we picked up pizza at Aldi. We had a gift card so we were able to feed 8 people for $1.17 out of pocket.

- Monday evening we enjoyed a bonfire with our homeschool co-op. Five families were able to come. We each brought our own dinners and s'mores to cook. The host family graciously allowed us to use their gorgeous church property and the kids had the best time running in the woods and building forts. I will say it again - being together doesn't have to be big or flashy! Simple can be best. 

- We cleaned out each of the kids' clothing ahead of the spring kids' sale. Both had MANY items to pass on. We are taking a bag of clothing to a friend who can use for children at her work. I am working to pass along specific dance, Lakeview, etc shirts to families who those will mean something to. I did save some items for the spring kids' sale as the money from that we use for the kids' summer activities. 

I have had a lot of chatter in my life the past two weeks about local and national politics and problems. Other than Jesus, what's the good news? Well...YOU can help! If we each meet our neighbors where they are, walk alongside them in meaningful ways, we can make real and systematic changes. 

Not sure where to start? Here are two organizations that we work with on a weekly basis and love!

Mark has served many years on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Johnson County board and is the current president. The Clubs' mission is to: "inspire and enable all youth members to realize their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring citizens through active participation in positive youth development activities." How can you help these awesome kids? One time or monthly giving, volunteer your time and talents, or message me for more ways to become involved the lives of kids in our community! 

I work each week with Bridges Alliance of Johnson County. If you aren't familiar with Circles, I wasn't before I joined, it's an incredible program meeting people as they come out of crisis and walking with them through meeting life and financial goals. Maybe you would be interested in becoming an Ally and working with an individual or family over the next few years, maybe you have a community resource you would like to come speak about, or maybe you don't know where to begin but know you want to be part of a supportive community - ask me for more details! :) 

I have often been accused of not being a truly ally to a certain people group or not having an interest in politics. It's true - I am rarely posting my thoughts on these things on social media. Why? Change does not come from social media posts. Instead, our family works every single week in our community, we meet people where they are, we know the names of our neighbors, we look into the eyes of the people around us, we engage at the Statehouse, we know our legislators and we use their phone numbers, and we are active in seeking out ways to make a little difference every day. Are we perfect? Absolutely not but we are followers of Christ seeking to love each day like Him to seek the transformation of the world. 

Frugal Friday 575

 Welcome Back!

My last Frugal Friday post was in late May 2025. The next week we lost my Momaw. I planned to, for the first time ever, take time off from posting as life was heavy. Then over the summer I checked in sporadically, writing organically about faith and life. In August, Mark left for six weeks and I had decided to leave Frugal Fridays off for those weeks too. It isn't terribly time consuming but I needed to streamline our lives while he was gone. Then...I just never picked it back up...

Now. Here we are. March 2026. 3/4 away from the last time I let people into our week-to-week lives. The break was nice, it was needed. I've learned some hard lessons, been incredibly hurt, and wrestled with relationships in the past nine months. I am thankful that you all gave me space but still checked in. In this time I have learned how to better be a friend, who I want in my corner, and that my joy is truly only in Jesus. I am not made for this world and am merely stopping by. May you see Him in me. 

So...here's how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:

- Friday Mark had the day off work as his birthday day. The city gives each employee one paid day off in their birthday month. He ran some errands for me while I ran school. He also stopped in the Columbia Outlet and found some great end of season deals. After our last three southern vacations have included weather with snow flurries, we have decided that fall 2026 and 2027 we will just head north! With growing kids, we have people who needed some new basics. For under $200 Mark found rain and winter coats for Owen, a new jacket for him, and two fleeces for us girls. Retail value of just one of Owen's coats was $300. We are stocked up and ready to head to lakes, mountains, and icy waters!

- Friday evening my parents were in town. They treated us to dinner at the Willard - thank you! The waiter was a little frenzied and we ended up with two free pizzas and a free drink. Mama and Annabeth ate the leftovers all weekend!

- We also walked around the March Madness event at our local shops. Each of the adults filled out and turned in a card to see if we could win a prize. I also stopped by At Home with Heartland to pick up my swag bag. I did their spring survey and was gifted a free coffee and lotion (Mama loved those), free bracelet (Annabeth took that), and a free t-shirt of my choice! Thank you! 

- Saturday and Sunday was the kids' first dance competition of the year. I stocked the pantry and fridge/freezer ahead of the weekend with high protein and electrolyte snacks. We carried over lunch/snacks OR came home to eat meals vs buying food at the venue. Mark, Mama, and I did splurge on a coffee each as Sunday was a 14 hour dance day WITH a time change. Caffeine became essential. 

- Saturday morning, before dance, I baked a few loaves of cornbread and put taco soup in the crock-pot. This was done by dinner time so as we left dance, we headed straight home to eat. This eliminated the temptation to order pizza or pick up food. About 20 minutes of work saved us some serious money. 

- My Mama and Dad brought some things to trade. Each of the kids got a new (used) book, some magazines for me, and a birthday gift filled with consumables for Mark. We had cleaned out our glass containers and they took a few of those. We donated the rest to a Little Free Pantry. 

- I edited an upcoming hotel stay. I booked it last month to be sure I had something reserved but was watching for a lower priced room. One came up this week and I was able to change. Saved: $95

- I used my mPerks to save on gas this week. Saved: $2.50

- I booked a flight using points. We have never been credit card people but I found the Southwest deal this winter made sense for our 2026 travel plans. Paid only: $11.50 

- Yesterday we had Annabeth's co-op class over for a movie day. I used some of our classroom budget for popcorn chips and our family provided cutie oranges and applesauce. Another family brought rice krispie treats. We had a great morning together! 

Happy Savings to All! 

While home at Christmas, Mark and I stopped in the Old North Chapel

on Christmas Eve. We were married here in 2009.

People have been worshiping there since 1832 and we are thankful to have

made our forever vows there. 

Are we still decluttering?

 In both 2024 and 2025, I shared a LOT about our decluttering journey. Many of you enjoyed following along, letting me know what you were getting rid of, and asking questions about our journey. If you want a recap you can click "Decluttering" on the side of this post for that complete list of posts.

We have opted NOT to have a coloring sheet to track in 2026. Why? To be honest, 2024 was my idea and I loved that it motivated us. But in 2025 it felt like one more thing I had to do. All of the uncolored boxes felt like a task that was bigger than I wanted to take on. I was SO thankful when we finished and did not feel like I wanted to track again.

So...imagine my surprise on January 1, 2026 when the family asked "Where is our coloring sheet?" I didn't have it in me to have that huge goal hanging on my fridge all year. I knew that over the past two years, we had woven 'letting go' into our daily lives. I knew we could continue to clean out, declutter, give away, donate, throw away, recycle, etc without a coloring sheet.

What I didn't anticipate was YOU all wondering how our coloring sheet is going! I am surprised that weekly someone mentions it to us! 

So...this week I thought it would be fun to track and share what we, organically, let go of and to count how many items entered and exited our house.

First, one of the KEY aspects of owning less is bringing less into our home. This week was Mark's birthday and so four new items entered our home: two shirts, a tech item, and a kitchen item. Mark and I each also received birthday gifts from his family. My mother-in-law knows me well and gifted me cupcakes (they were gone within days) and coffee money! Zero Clutter, Big Joy! Mark got a survival kit and I got a set of post cards from his brother's family. Total items in: 6

Here is what we let go of this week:

Friday: I wrapped my sister-in-law's birthday gift. I saw that we were down to the end of a roll of sparkly macaroon wrapping paper. I used the last of it and recycled the roll. 1 Item.

Saturday: On our Disney cruise, we picked up a bunch of coloring puzzle sets for my clients. I took way too many and realized it is going to take me a while to gift them all. I took two along to my niece and nephew as they love Disney. My niece and I had a great time coloring hers. 2 Items.

Monday: We wrapped Mark's birthday gift. I purposely chose a role of paper that was near the end. We wrapped two boxes, finished the paper, and recycled the roll. 1 Item. 

Tuesday: I took books back to the library and also took a fleece of Mark's for the free outerwear box. Mark has had the shirt for a year, not worn it all fall or winter, so he knew it was time to pass it on. Our library has a whole box of free outerwear that anyone from the library can get items from. 1 Item.

Wednesday: I found a box of muffin mix, purchased two months ago, in our pantry. I baked the muffins and use throw-away tins that we inherited last summer when we cleaned out Momaw's house. This made a zero cost snack to take to co-op this week. -- One of Annabeth's friends is doing a Senior Project where she is donating gently used dance items to studios in need. Annabeth kindly donated a costume she wore just six times last year. 4 Items. 

Thursday: We took items to co-op with us. We took some activity books, magazines, and bracelets from Annabeth's collected. We also passed along a game and two Harry Potter necklaces to specific friends. 13 Items. 

Total Items Decluttered with Zero Effort: 22!

We try very hard to live by the "One In, One out" rule. This week we had 6 in and 22 out so we succeeded!