Friday, May 2, 2025

Frugal Friday 570

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday we spent the day in Elkhart with our friends the Evans family. We enjoyed time at their house and had a snack lunch. Spent $0 for many hours of fun!

- The kids and I rounded out a 9 county tour of Northern Indiana. I found a good hotel deal for under $100/night at a very safe, clean place. Especially traveling alone with the kids I did not want to risk an unfamiliar area so I stayed right where I knew how to get places and with a chain I was comfortable with. We spent $45 on gas as we drove many miles and $30 on stops. We supported a small family owned bakery and local candy shop with that $30.

- Friday night through Sunday the boys had Spring Camp with the Scouts. They camped at Lakeview for the first time in a while and I know Mark really enjoyed sharing that special place with Owen. Together they caught around 80 fish which was the highlight of all of the stories from campt this week.

One of the MANY fish they caught.

- While the boys were gone, Annabeth and I enjoyed a Girls' Weekend. She had really looked forward to this and asked for pasta dinner and lots of Gilmore Girls. Saturday we spent lunch with co-op friends and it was the sweetest, sunniest afternoon with dear friends. The highlight for me was as the girls waited in line for their lunch a worship song came up on the playlist and together we all sang. It was sweet.

- Sunday after church we went to my nephew's baseball game. It's his first year playing and we loved cheering him on. He's been great about sitting through Owen's games over the years and we were excited to cheer for him now!

- Mark worked many overtime hours. We find that just as school kids get Spring Fever - so do grown-ups! He always has some strange cases this time of year. 

- In early April, I placed an order for a a nephew's birthday gift with 3+ weeks for delivery. It's been stuck in Ohio since April 11 with UPS saying they've handed it off to USPS and USPS saying they never got it. I asked the seller to either refund or send again once we were 10 days passed the delivery date. They haven't been good about responding to my messages so I finally filed a claim with my bank for failure to receive. They have refunded me the money. I doubt the original item will ever appear and at least now I have my money back. 

- In looking through my e-mails about that order, I realized I never got a confirmation for another item. I had seen a sunscreen shared over and over again by influencers and one had a great code for it. I went through her link, used the code, and had the money come out of my account before Easter. When I realized it never arrived, I went through to look for tracking. Then I discovered I never even got an e-mail. I wrote the company to see if they could resend it, or at least give me an Order/tracking number. I was a little worried I had ordered through a shell company instead of the real one as I've had that happen with Instagram before. This was not the case though! I had an answer, with order number and tracking, within 12 hours. I cannot wait for it to arrive!

- Annabeth took an online high school math class this year. It was $10.97/month. I realized mid-April that she would only have a couple of lessons after the April payment so we stacked her final unit on fewer days to save the final $10.97 payment. I spent quite a bit on next year so every little bit we can save on school this year will help! 

- Yesterday was our last co-op event of the year - Field Day! We played kickball, did stations, and enjoyed a gorgeous spring morning together. I am very thankful for this group of friends to do life with. 

- Yesterday was our last day of school! Annabeth completed 8th, and some of 9th grade, this year and Owen completed 4th grade. I am forever thankful to be a homeschool family! Our tradition is to eat out on the last night of school, our kids are townies so they chose The Willard. We had a great dinner out and used a $5 off coupon on our meal. We had a movie and living room camp-out to complete the festivities. I love that even though they are "big kids" they still want to celebrate this way. 

We are looking forward to a busy and fun two months of summer! We use May and June to wrap up dance, visit family, celebrate some special events, and to work on 4H projects. I find it hard to believe that when we head back to school in July that I'll be teaching my last year of grade school and my first year of high school! 

Happy Savings to All! 


Thursday, April 24, 2025

Frugal Thursday 569

 Happy Frugal Thursday!

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

- My mama kindly took us to Costco ahead of a weekend luncheon. This allowed us to buy in bulk and save from buying more smaller quanities from a regular grocery. Thank you to my parents for helping us with this huge grocery purchase! It made feeding everyone much easier for us. 

- We had a great weekend with my family in town. We took lots of walks, played hours of card games, went to several parks, and did eat out two times. My parents treated us to lunch and we took everyone out for ice cream and treats on evening. We ate the rest of the meals at home. 

- Sunday was Easter and Annabeth's Confirmation. We are so proud of her willingness to share her faith and to serve our church community. We welcome her to full membership in the UMC and look forward to helping her live and love like Jesus. 

Her life and Confirmation verse is John 16:33
thus the "Take Heart" cake 

- We, as always, did not give our kids any kind of Easter candy/baskets/gifts. My parents always have done an egg hunt for the kids with candy inside the eggs and Mark's mom does Easter baskets. That is more than enough for or our kids, especially as we don't feel it is a holiday about gifts other than the gift of Eternal Life through Christ Jesus. 

- Monday afternoon I received a Nielsen survey postcard. It took me less than 4 minutes and I received a $20 gift card for my time. 

- Mark took on his biggest bulk order with his Marked By Riley business. He worked several evenings to complete it. We are thankful for friends who choose to support our small businesses. Mark's Custom Sewing Business and my travel business

- I changed a hotel reservation for next month. When I booked it originally, it was cheaper on one site vs another. I looked again to be sure I still had the best deal and the price had dropped overall + a different site had it for even less. I cancelled our original one and rebooked. Saved: $70

- I cannot eat egg yolks due to an intolerance. I have eaten egg whites only for years but this week Just Egg had a deal on their Instagram that if you bought their plant based eggs they would refund your entire purchase. We were able to find them at Kroger to try. Saved: $8.49

- Sadly our air conditioner unit is beyond repair. It's original to the house, from 1998, and we have limped it along with some fixes over the years but it's time. Mark called several places, got several quotes and opinions, and found the best deal for us. I am so thankful this came in 70 degree April so we didn't feel rushed by a heatwave into this huge purchase. 

I am posting a day early because the kids and I are off for an Indiana Adventure today and tomorrow. We are most looking forward to visiting friends!!

Happy Savings to All! 

Friday, April 18, 2025

Frugal Friday 568

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Friday afternoon Annabeth and I got our nails done. While this may not seem frugal, and it wouldn't be if it was a regular habit, BUT it was my birthday gift from Mark and the kids. He kindly gifted me enough for both of us to go. I saved it until right before Easter/Annabeth's Confirmation so she could have the fun of beautiful nails for this special weekend. 

- On Saturday, the boys took a tour of the Statehouse with Owen's Cub Scout Pack. Mark had not been before and Owen didn't remember much from our previous tours. A leader in the group paid for lunch for everyone so the boys also enjoyed a pizza lunch down on the Circle. They had a great time out, learning together.

- Saturday wrapped up the Kids' Sale. I felt very happy with my sales and my Express people's sales. When I break it down by hour, I typically make $30/hour worked and feel like it's a fairly easy way to add to our travel income. 

- Sunday after church, I picked up all of our leftover sale items. I took them to the free table at our co-op yesterday as we had some great homeschool books, books, and clothing leftover. I hope others were thrilled with their finds. 

- We spent time at Mark's mom's house this weekend. We helped with some yard work, shared a meal, and spent lots of time enjoying spring together. Sunday was his parents' 40th Wedding Anniversary which meant everyone missed his dad a little extra.

- I did a declutter on my Instagram. I had realized that I was following a ton of accounts that I was just scrolling right past each day. Even though it isn't "stuff" clutter around the house it's still clutter in my mind. I unfollowed around 50 accounts and now see more of what I want to see*

- Tuesday the kids and I escaped to the woods. We've been running non-stop and I just wanted some peace. We hit a great trail near Lake Salomonie in Wabash County. While the forest floor was greening up, the trees were still pretty bare. I let the kids each move at their own pace (we always wear bright hats in the woods so we can track each other) and we all came away from our time in the woods with some real peace. We technically didn't have the time, at all, for it this week but it was so needed and truly the best use of an afternoon.

At the top of Kissing Falls. 
The creek was flowing enough for a waterfall but still shallow enough
for us to cross safely at the top.

Owen at Frog Falls

Kissing Falls.
The kids were thrilled with the flow here.
I honestly thought it was going to be so much more after
all of the rain lately but they were still excited.

- Tuesday evening I took a meal to a family in town. The mom works at our local library and has been such a blessing to us in our library years! The husband had heart surgery last week so when I saw the ask for meals, I signed right up. I took over pasta Alfredo, bread, salad, and Mark's cookies.

- Wednesday afternoon we stuffed the Easter bags for church. At our church, the children find empty eggs (the tomb was empty so our eggs are a reminder of that) and they exchange them for a goodie bag. In the bags we have candy and information about our children's ministry and family ministry events. 

- This week the kids' 4H club had t-shirt orders. Owen immediately wanted one which was fine with me as he's always just had Annabeth's hand-me-downs. Annabeth decided she didn't love the design and will choose to keep wearing her one from several years ago. I LOVE that our kids don't have to immediately have what everyone else has or what they think everyone else is getting. 

- I did the bulk of our homeschool curriculum shopping for next year thanks to some online sales. I was able to save $75 + shipping costs by shopping this week vs other weeks. I will say we are spending over $250 more than ever before but I am proud to have waited for sales and sourced things as affordably as I could. I honestly cannot believe next year I'll be teaching 5th and 9th grade - pretty wild for a family who said "We'll try it a year and see how it goes..." in 2013. I thank and praise the Lord for the gift of homeschooling our children. 

- Last night we had the kids Spring Review at our co-op. Owen's class shared facts about space and the 7 continents. Annabeth's class made yearbooks for the group and handed those out. We had a special night celebrating their accomplishments. They were so excited to have Grandmama, Grandpa, and Nana all there. I am SO thankful for the women who pour into our co-op by sharing their time and talents. 

We are looking forward to a very special Easter weekend and cannot wait to shout, "He is Risen!" 

Happy Savings to All! 

*One note about social media. I make it a habit to immediately unfollow anyone who agitates me, makes me want to lash out with a quickly typed response, or makes me feel inferior about my own life/income/home/etc. 9/10 these people aren't people in my real life but rather "influencers" and if they aren't influincing me to have good, positive thoughts then I don't need to follow them. 

Friday, April 11, 2025

Frugal Friday 567

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday, Oscar had his annual vet visit. He never does very well with his shots and his ears are infected, again. Poor buddy. We ended up cancelling a Saturday adventure day to stay home with him. We made pasta bake and had a Gilmore Girls marathon. 

- We had a great deal of rain over the weekend. Mark and Owen made many trips to his office to check on rising waters. Thankfully he didn't have any major water damage to his spaces. Owen very much enjoyed checking on the flood around town.

- Sunday after church, I dropped off our items for the Kids' Sale. I tagged everything a few weeks ago and it was GREAT to get everything dropped off! I use our school room to store everything and we always love clearing it out when it's drop off time. So far my Express people and myself have had great sales and I look forward to getting totals tomorrow night.

- Monday we did a huge schoolroom clean-out. During the months that I use my half of it as storage, the kids' section often gets crazy as well. This year we also had the treadmill so it's been just packed. We spent an hour sorting through arts and crafts supplies and figuring out what we can take to the free table at our co-op. We are now at 1,000+ items cleaned out for our 2,025 in 2025 challenge!

- We ate meals at home. This week, and next week will be too, has been crazy. Instead of trying to be fancy, we did some fast meals at home to save money without taking up heaps of time. It would have been easy to want to stop out to eat several days this week but by planning ahead with easy groceries we avoided that! 

- It has been a very busy work week for me. SO many vendors - including Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and several major cruiselines - have all launched incredible summer sales. Quotes are going out and I cannot wait to finalize bookings. Want my (FREE!) help with your vacation plans - just send a message! a.riley@magicalvacationplanner.com

- Yesterday the kids and I did an Indiana travels day. We stopped in Frankfort and then at Sycamore Row for our free stops. We also enjoyed a tour at Seiberling Mansion. We had all been really looking forward to this stop and I had planned ahead for the cost - $20 for the three of us. 

Sycamore Row.
This was Michigan Rd. which went from Michigan City to the Ohio River.
We loved walking where so many pioneers traveled. 

- We stopped in Tipton at the most darling little shop - Tinkerhouse. I had not planned to spend any money but it was even cuter in person than online and we HAD to shop small! The owner's mom was working and told me about taking her kids on Indiana county visits when they were kids. She loved being our Tipton County stop so much she gifted me a candy bar! Saved: $4

I am very thankful to be through this week. I now have my Kids' Sale work done until late summer and I also had my last meeting on our co-op board. I have served three years in leadership and I look forward to just having a classroom and committee next year. It has been an honor to serve our group in this way.

We are looking forward to the weekend and what will be our busiest, most exciting week of spring!

Happy Savings to All! 


Friday, April 4, 2025

Frugal Friday 566

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Friday after school and work we headed south for the weekend. My parents treated us to sushi dinner. On Saturday, we spent the day in Owensboro. Mama, Lu, and I stayed later than the rest visiting with Lance and Momaw and howling with laughter at old stories. It was the most perfect day!

Annabeth won't be confirmed until Easter but Momaw will not be 
traveling for the service so she gave her gift last weekend.
Fun fact: Momaw was my very first Methodist Sunday School teacher!
I still remember the joy of helping climbing on the chairs to open the big cabinet
and helping her lay out all of the booklets. 

- Sunday we opted to leave by 9:30 in the morning as there were huge storms projected. In the end, we had a mild thunderstorm late in the evening. I was disheartened as I felt like we should have just stayed longer but in the end we knew we had made the safest decision with the information we had.

- My sister sent us home with a bag of clothes to trade. I kept the ones that worked and took the extras along to our co-op's free table. We also took a long some books, CDs, and home decor to the table. As always, I picked up the extra items afterwards and took them to be donated to little free libraries around town. 

- We had a very rainy week here. Our treadmill got a LOT of use this week as we just didn't have enough sunshine to be out walking much. I am so thankful for the gift that piece of equipment for all of us to stay active even when the weather isn't ideal. 

- I have been very busy with work as many clients are on Spring Break and others are making plans to travel soon. Can I help plan your next adventure? Send me an e-mail a.riley@magicalvacationplanner.com 

- We did a small $53 grocery trip and have been using up foods that we already had on hand. Our dinners were: tacos + Mexican rice, chicken Alfredo, tomato soup + sandwiches, and pork loin + stuffing + veggies. Nothing fancy this week but it got the job done! Owen has already asked to pull out cookbooks to make the menu for next week.

- I cashed out some of my Ibotta Cash and used it to get pick-up pizza last night. I never want to cook on Thursdays when I am tired from the week so I love to treat myself once a month to not cooking. I also used a buy one, get one free deal + $6 Papa John's cash. Start saving with Ibotta Here

- I also cashed out some of our Fetch Rewards for an Amazon Giftcard. Mark used it to order Annabeth's facewash which isn't sold anywhere in town. Use my code to get 2,000 points when you join Fetch: YK4JN

As much of the state has endured big storms and flooding this week, we are very thankful to have had very little of it at home. We pray for those who have had water or wind damage. 

Also, shout-out to Mark who was the MVP this week! It was an emotional visit home, my first since January and I was so sad to have it cut so short. We're also in our last weeks of school, wrapping up middle school with Annabeth, looking ahead to next year, and I am in my final week on our co-op's board. I am tired, maybe even exhausted would be fair, and I am running on fumes. Last night, after working a 10 hour day and then going out to work a community event, Mark came home and surprised me with an ice cream. It had a candle in it. Without even asking, he somehow knew I just needed something special, extra. I am thankful that he loves me so well and so often sees my breaking point before I do. 

Happy Savings to All! 

Friday, March 28, 2025

Frugal Friday 565

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Friday evening into Saturday, Annabeth enjoyed her last Confirmation Retreat at church. We are so proud of the work Annabeth has been doing on her Confirmation workbook, field trips, and independent Bible study. Annabeth already serves in several areas at church and we are excited to see her faith continue to grow. She baked cookies and took them to share.

- Friday evening I enjoyed a Mom's Night with some ladies from our homeschool co-op. I took a long a cheeseball + crackers and gluten-free Oreos. We had a lovely time! 

- Saturday I tagged ALL of the items for the Kids' Sale. The sale has been moved up a few weeks this year so I needed to get organized sooner than usual. With my Express Tagger's items I had about 500 items to tag. We will use the money from this sale towards vacations this year.

- Saturday I did take a break for lunch out with the boys and again when my best friend popped in for a chat. We live 90 minutes away from each other and we treasure every moment we can snag together!

- Sunday after church we hosted Mark's mom for dinner. Owen helped make homemade stromboli and Annabeth made homemade cookies. We also had salad. I love love love how much the kids enjoy baking/cooking and that they love sharing that with others.

- This week Owen attended a FREE Lego Camp at a library. In all, he had 7 hours of class on Legos, coding, and some other math skills. As other camps in the area are quite pricey, I was so thankful for this free opportunity! The kids also enjoyed playing at the library, getting books, and I enjoyed fireside sits with several friends.

One of the newer additions to this library is this game table.
The kids loved the air hockey game!

- Mark's coworker gifted us another loaf of homemade sourdough. As she's perfected her recipe, she will now be selling in small batches. We will simply return her bread bag with our order/money and Mark's coworker will bring us back the bread. Her price is what we pay at the grocery store and the quality is MUCH better! While my own sourdough journey failed - I am thankful to support someone local!

The most perfect bread.
Look how cute her bread bags are!

- Owen worked many hours this week clearing part of the yard for a garden. We have tried bucket gardening in the past but failed due to critters eating all of our produce. As the kids have starts from 4H and free seeds from the library - we have agreed to try again. Thankfully, we still have all of the buckets from previous years so we will only need some soil. 

- I did some thrifting this week. I found Owen church shorts, a sweatshirt, and new t-shirt. I found Annabeth an extra lightweight jacket and new church dress. She is down to just two dresses and we've had a very hard time finding ones that meet her requirements. I was thankful to find one thrifting! 

- We are now 900+ items into our 2,025 clean-out. One of my goals this year was to sell more as I'm not in such a rush to just get stuff out. We've made $1100+ from selling items already. I am honestly amazed that we have had that many items leave our home already this year! Proof that while we made good progress last year, there's still work to be done! 

We are looking forward to a fun weekend! Happy Savings to All!

Friday, March 21, 2025

Frugal Friday 564

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Friday night we took chips, queso, guacamole, and gluten free Oreos over to Mark's mom's house for dinner. Over the course of the evening, ALL of us were there! It was such a treat to learn Friday morning that the IL Rileys would be in town for the weekend. We had a great taco/nacho dinner with everyone + the Hoffs. 

- Saturday the boys were scheduled to go on a bike ride with Owen's Cub Scout Pack. We had some servere storms come through overnight with Tornado Watch through the morning so it was cancelled. Instead, they spent the morning with our neighbor working in his garage. Ed loves telling stories, imparting wisdom, and sharing Biblical Truth so it's a great thing that Mark and O both love hearing stories! They had a great morning and I think they were all blessed by it.

- Saturday afternoon, we picked up the twins from Kristi's and brought them along with us to Annabeth's Youth Group and Saturday Evening Service. The rest of the family was out at a church dinner auction. Mark actually led youth group this week and Annabeth loved precious time with her cousins. 

- Since we went to Saturday evening church, we had Sunday free and open. Annabeth and I used the time to go swimsuit shopping. We had already been to a half-dozen places looking and finally after four more stops found one that worked! I insisted on getting it in both colors so we can just be done for a while. I was incredibly proud that her indecisviveness was not about the fit of the swimsuit or an "issue" with her body but rather she had established certain modesty standards that she insisted on following. It makes me so happy to see her grow and develop her faith in such meaninful ways! 

- Owen chose the menu this week which means we spent nearly a dozen hours cooking from scratch - lasagna, bolognese, biscuits + proteins, poblano quesadillas, and more. Honestly, I'm hoping for a simpler menu next week!

We are cooking through Tieghan Gerard's and Hope's Table Cookbooks.
So far we've not had a single recipe that wasn't great!

- Our neighbors have been cleaning out their garage. In the process, they've had several sets of weights left out for free on the curb. We've added them to our garage gym - for FREE!

- A friend who is improving her sourdough skills brought us a loaf of bread this week. It was perfect to go with pasta meals and for sandwiches. Thank you!

- Yesterday we picked up the leftover Free Table items from co-op. There were just two books so we took them to a Free Little Library on the way home.

- We hosted our best friends for lunch and play yesterday. Between our families we manage 15+ food allergies so it's always a kitchen challenge to make it work. We did GF pasta, two kinds of sauce, veggies, applesauce, salad, and Rosie made her famous cookie sandwiches. It was so lovely to have a few hours with them!

- When we meet up with the Eblings we try to swap with them. This time we had boots for her oldest to try and a police t-shirt for the younger ones. She brought us a bag of make-up, lotion, etc that she can no longer use due to an allergy. We each took the items that will work for us and we will donate the rest. 

- Disney deals dropped for the rest of the year! I was happy to work on lots of quotes this week. Traveling in 2025 or 2026 - let's do it together! a.riley@magcialvacationplanner.com

Frugal Fails:

- Owen's bed frame broke while moving his room around this week. The frame was a hand-me-down to us and was over 20 years old. We decided it had lived a good life and bought a new one for him.

- While moving his room around, we also were planning to put up his humidifier for the season. Even though we are careful with water and cleaning, it hadn't been run in a week or more and there was mold inside. We opted to just throw it away (a $35 loss) but I am very fearful of black mold and didn't want to chance it. 

We are looking forward to a busy weekend. Annabeth is working on the end of her Confirmation Class at church. We welcome your prayers for her, the class, and for the future of the church.

Happy Savings to All!