Frugal Friday 288

Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- I wrapped up my Easter Mystery Hostess party with my Usborne Book Business. Mark took some on call time at his part time job.

- Saturday morning I stopped by Main and Madison Market Cafe for a coffee. The kids and Mark gave me a great giftcard for my birthday so I've been able to enjoy several coffees there lately.

- Saturday afternoon we took lunch to Mark's brother and his family. We spent some time visiting and helping around the house. The kids loved talking to their two-week-old cousin. We drove on to Mark's parents and had make-your-own-pizza dinner and game night.

- Sunday after church we had a game afternoon. The kids love playing games and we all especially love playing Clue Jr. with Owen as he loves to reveal the answers! haha!

- We enjoyed an amazing Spring Break week down in Evansville/Owensboro with my family. Complete post to come soon - I was too busy playing to blog! We did tons of free (and low cost) activities! More about them soon!

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 287

Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Mark worked a shift at his part time job and I hosted my Spring Open House with Usborne Books More.

- Saturday, Mark and Owen went out for a walk around the high school and a picnic snack. They took snacks from home and had a great afternoon. You would have thought Mark took Owen to the moon - he is STILL talking about it!

- I hosted my Spring Open House last Saturday. I had three other vendors with me and while we certainly didn't have the sales day that we had hoped for, we had a fun afternoon nonetheless. Annabeth decided to set up a craft booth and sold out of her homemade stained glass items. I was proud of her for wanting to use her skills to earn some extra money. She is saving it to buy fun souvenirs on our vacation this summer.

- Saturday evening Mark took Annabeth to a friend's birthday party and then out for a snack. Owen and I went to dinner - he chose a local pizza place. Both of the kids really thrive when we spend one-on-one time with them on the weekends. We aren't always able to do this but when we can we try to at least split them up to play games or take a walk with just one parent. It gives us such a great chance to really hear their voices.

- Sunday we stopped by Mark's brother's house after church. We were able to meet our new nephew, Jackson! The kids made fun St. Patrick's Day treats for my open house and we also took a big batch to Luke and Cassidy. I enjoyed about an hour of newborn snuggles and am so happy to be an Auntie to this brand-new guy!

- I sold an item on a Facebook garage sale page. Once a friend bought it, I went ahead and added some more items to it as well. Made: $15

- Owen had his annual eye exam on Tuesday. It was our family's first eye exam with the new insurance and very affordable. Annabeth also had a doctor's appointment this week. Last year, these two appointments cost us nearly $500 this year they were under $100 for both!  Mark's new job has been such a blessing to our family in so many ways and our improved health insurance is in the top three highlights! We are so grateful God provided this opportunity for Mark.

- I watched a friend's kids on Wednesday and she paid me with an ice cream treat from Freddy's. Her kids are so well behaved, my kids had fun, and I got an ice cream! Win win for all!

- We stopped in a thrift store with two items on my list. I was able to find both right away! Owen had been needing a new pair of jeans and he only has one pair of shorts that will fit for summer so I've been looking as I have time. We found two pairs of Gymboree dress shorts (his favorite kind) for just $4 total!

- The kids and I dropped off books from our Spring Book Drive to Riley Children's Hospital. We were so excited to be able to donate over 50 books to kids at Riley!

- Since we were just two exits from the Children's Museum at our book drop off, we we went there for the day as well. We have an annual pass, they have free parking, and we packed our lunches for a free day of fun. The kids loved that the chocolate slide is up now - and I did too! It's fun!

We had a busy, fun week and are looking forward to Mark being off today and this weekend!

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 286

Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Mark worked a shift at his part-time job and I worked my Usborne Books & More business.

- Last Friday, we were in Morgantown for a school meeting and I figured we should head on another twenty minutes to visit a friend with a new baby in Martinsville. We messaged ahead of time and arranged to take her family and new baby a meal. I had so much fun catching up with a friend while getting some wonderful baby snuggles! We combined the trips to save gas and time.

- We had a bit of a cold snap over the weekend and a ton of rain. I took the kids to play at two different libraries and checked out tons of books for free fun.

- Saturday for lunch, Annabeth and I each took a novel to read at Main & Madison Market Cafe. We used a giftcard and enjoyed a good conversation over lunch and some reading after. Mark and Own had a date day downtown in Franklin as well. Saturday afternoon we had a family game tournament and I soundly lost every round of Slamwich and Yahtzee.

If he isn't the cutest three year old in the world,

I am not sure who is! He had a ton of fun walking

around downtown, and visiting the barber shop, with Mark. 

- Sunday we did not have our usual family lunch so after church we had the whole day to just the four of us. The kids played nicely all afternoon - "store" is the current favorite game - and Mark and I were able to enjoy some quiet time to read.

- Monday, Annabeth began this semester's P.E. class at Franklin College. We so appreciate this free course and she is looking forward to a semester of fun!

- Between Tuesday and Wednesday, we spent over six hours outdoors! We finally had some beautiful days and we enjoyed lots of play, cleaning, and eatting apples in our backyard!

- I finished my final pre-sale sort. I took an additional four boxes of stuff to donate and have the rest ready to be entered into the computer and tagged.

- I listed three items on Facebook. They are toys with many pieces and I hope to sell them on Facebook vs having to keep them all together for the sale.

We had a busy week and enjoyed so much time outdoors!!
We are looking forward to a fun weekend with my Spring Open House tomorrow from 3-6 PM.
Come shop with me! :)

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 285

Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday, we met with friends so the kids could play. She had been cleaning out her kitchen and sent us home with a huge bag of food items to donate to our church food pantry. She also sent home juice boxes for the kids which Owen especially loved this week. Thank you Jeanette!

- Friday afternoon, we picked up a load of laundry at a friends house. We came home, washed and dried it, and then returned it by dinner. About two years ago, our washer broke and their family kindly let us do laundry there for an afternoon so we were happy to return the favor this week when their washer broke.

- Saturday Annabeth had nearly 12 hour dance day. We packed water, meals, and snacks so we did not by any eat-out food or concessions. I also had leftovers ready for the crockpot and Mark had dinner warm when we got home. Dance days are long and quite busy, we could easily spend an extra $150+ each dance season if I didn't plan ahead for meals.

- Sunday was Mark's birthday. We enjoyed a quiet morning at home with home church and then spent the afternoon at his parents. He got some new tools and coffee and we enjoyed a long, snowy afternoon with family. We came home for dinner and the kids watched a movie while Mark and I had dinner alone in the dining room. Not quite a date but it seems to be as close as we can get.

- Annabeth won an AWESOME gift pack from our library's Winter Reading Program. It was a movie themed pack so lots of popcorn, candy, and cute popcorn bowls. She also won two Disney giftcards! We will keep the items we will eat and she chose to donate the microwave popcorn and Cokes to the Franklin Police Department's Tutoring Program for the kids there to have some fun snacks.

Thank you to JCPL for this fun prize!!

- Wednesday we took the WHOLE morning (5+ hours) and deep cleaned both of the kids rooms. We do this about once a quarter. We take everything out, dust, sweep, mop, and declutter. In total we had one kitchen tote full of trash (broken toys, toys with missing pieces, rubber bands, etc) and three diaper boxes full of toys to donate or sell. I did Owen's myself so two of those boxes were my choice of items to get rid of. Annabeth and I worked together but she did decide to get rid of some larger items from when she was a toddler. This is always such a huge undertaking but I wanted it done on a 10 degree day vs a beautiful, spring day in a few weeks.

- Yesterday, I took the whole morning (3+ hours) and deep cleaned our master bedroom. I moved all of the furniture, dusted, swept, mopped, and decluttered. I also rearranged it for the first time since we moved in this house in 2013. With all three bedrooms moved around and the main living spaced moved around in November it's almost like having a brand new house!

- One evening, Mark had a meeting and the kids and I had a dance party at home. Last night, the kids and Mark had a game night while I enjoyed reading a book I've been working on all week.

We are looking forward to a calmer weekend than the past few. Mark is on call for both workplaces so we'll be laying low and enjoying time as a family.

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 284

Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday night, Annabeth and I did a huge overhaul of her clothing tote. We were able to pull all of her spring/summer clothes that she has outgrown. They have been moved to the sale tote to prep for the spring consignment sale. I was also happy to find that she has everything she will need for summer - play clothes,  "going out" clothes, church clothes, and swimwear! Woohoo! Always a good discovery!

- Saturday we enjoyed a nice family day. Mark and Owen went out Saturday morning to run some errands while Annabeth and I ran to the gym for her gymnastics class. We met up for lunch at Don and Dona's downtown and finished our Love Local February pass. We hope to win a fun prize! We spent of the rest of the day reading and playing as a family.

- Sunday after church, we had lunch at Mark's parents' house. We enjoyed seeing those that were able to make it and the kids loved playing with their cousins and grandparents.

- We wrapped up our Spring Book Drive for the Riley Cheer Guild. We will be donating over 50 brand new beautiful books to the Riley Cheer Guild! Thank you so much to everyone who donated!

- Mondays are always busy so I usually do a crockpot dinner so we can all eat at home together between activities. This past Monday was especially busy so I just packed dinner on the road - sandwiches, fruit, chips, and a little dessert for each kid. Life is busy with kids but that doesn't mean that we should eat out. If we ate out every day we were busy we'd eat out 5+ days a week which isn't financially responsible at all with our budget.

- Tuesday evening we enjoyed dinner at Mark's Scout Troop's Annual Blue and Gold Ceremony. We were able to see our nephew get his awards for the year and also watch some of the cub scouts cross over into boy scouts. Mark was a boy scout all through school and has faithfully been working with the troop since he got his Eagle.

- Wednesday night I enjoyed a FREE Starbucks Mama-Treat thanks to my sweet friend Nicole. Thanks Lady! I needed coffee to get through dance this week! :)

- Yesterday, we our friends the O'Neals at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. Owen and his "brother" Lach have really been looking forward to seeing the new Paw Patrol exhibit and and apparently every other child in the city has as well. haha! It was packed but we spent a good 2.5 hours there before Owen lost his mind from the noise and chaos. We have an annual pass so we get in free and also packed our lunch so the only expense was gas.

Paw Patrol Stamps!

They got to choose their favorite pups' symbols

 Owen was most excited to see "beautiful" Everest

Annaebth loves Skye

- Last night we took a meal to friends with a new baby. We loved meeting their little girl and spoiling them with a dinner that they didn't have to cook!

We are looking forward to a busy weekend of dance and Mark's birthday!

Happy Savings to All!