Frugal Friday 379

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Saturday Mark worked in the garage. Even in the extreme cold, he got a decent amount of shelving cleared out.

- Sunday we met Mark's family for lunch. His parents treated all of us to pizza and we took Nana's Daylight Donuts (plug for a friend's great business!) for dessert. We had a fun afternoon of visiting and playing. 

- Tuesday morning the kids and I prepped our spring sale totes. We got all of our non-clothing items entered into the system and all of our clothing items organized. We still have Owen's spring/summer wardrobe to try on and sort through.

- Annabeth has finally had a growth spurt and the clothing she wore the past two summers is too small. We cleared out nearly 40 items from her wardrobe, inventoried for this summer, and made a short shopping list of what she'll need. 

- I listed several groupings of her clothes on Facebook. Sold many of them. Made: $35 

- I enjoyed a little treat from a local shop while running errands one evening. I felt like the walls were closing in so I ran out for about 45 minutes and thanks to a giftcard from Christmas enjoyed a smoothie in silence!

- In the midst of our deep cleaning, I even cleaned out Oscar's area. I threw away several well chewed toys and found three items from his surgery recovery that we no longer need. We donated them to the Humane Society this week.

- We did the Walmart online pick up again for our groceries this week. It really helped me stay on budget and avoid impulse purchases.

- Yesterday we did get "eat out food" (the kids have been asking for weeks!) as we picked up lunch for my sister-in-law. I was so excited to sit and chat with her for a few hours while the kids played. I am really blessed that both of my sister-in-laws and I came into Mark's family around the same time so it's always been the three of us more as friends than just regular sister-in-laws.

- Today is Oscar Chase's 1st Birthday! It's hard to believe our little baby pup is already one! Happy Birthday!

Picking up Oscar.

Our first day as a family of five.

We have continued to stay home, our days filled with schoolwork, so not a lot to report. That being said, we've been up late talking, crunching numbers, talking to experts, etc as we make some big decisions about what we want to do with our finances in the next few years.

What are your financial goals for 2021? How are you making them a reality?

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 378

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- I worked on my Usborne Books & More business. I am thankful to work for a company that year after year puts out such beautiful and relevant books. 

- When I posted our Christmas pictures a friend commented that she had looked at the same dress that Annabeth wore for her daughter. Her daughter is a few years younger so when we were done with Christmas clothes I mailed the dress with a little note as a surprise for them. I look forward to seeing her wear it during a future Christmas. 

- Saturday we surprised the kids with a trip to Disney on Ice. I had purchased the tickets in December, thanks to book lady money, but we put off telling the kids in case it was cancelled due to COVID. We surprised them with new Mickey and Minnie shirts and they just loved it! We had the best time and were especially impressed with this year's show. Owen loved the Coco portion and Annabeth loved getting to see Princess Jasmine and Tiana - her favorites. We did not purchase souvenirs or concessions. We make a lot of frugal choices so we can do big things every now and then too.

- Sunday we had lunch at Mark's parents' house. They watched the kids for us while we ran out for a bit on an errand. We all really enjoyed playing with my nephew, he's nearly two and just at the best age! 

- Mark did a massive closet cleanout on Monday. We took two large bags of clothes to donate.

- Tuesday evening we went to visit Mark's brother and his family. They welcome our newest niece last week and we were very excited to visit with them. I knew that her family was making many dinners/freezer meals for them so we stopped at the store and grabbed some fun snack foods/drinks. I know I always liked having quick things on hand for busy lunches. 

- I found a good deal on some outerwear so we donated it to the Pink House Little Free Pantry. We hope it helps keep a friend there warm this cold week.

- We continued our no-spend-January with just a little $10 hiccup as Annabeth had worn through the knees of all of her leggings. It was worth the money to stock her in new leggings to get through the rest of winter.

- This week was the first week of my new grocery plan. Especially with COVID restrictions, the grocery is one of the only places that we go so I have really enjoyed it this year. I love couponing, shopping sales, and walking the aisles but in the past few months we our grocery bill has slowly been creeping up and up. I know it's due to impulse buying at the store. This week I switched to pick-up. I was able to stay below budget, earn nearly $5 back through Ibotta, and even got an upgrade on laundry detergent as they didn't have the size I wanted so I got 15 loads free.

- I had ordered a dresser for Annabeth and when it finally arrived it was terribly damaged. The company shipped me a new one and is allowing us to keep the other. It is scratched and the corners are dinged up but we can still assemble it. Mark plans to use it for garage organization. 

We are looking forward to the weekend and time together as a family.

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 377

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- We had an overabundance of potatoes this week. Mark bought some, I bought some, and someone brought us some. Thankfully a friend posted on Facebook that she had accidentally bought too many bananas so we traded. Later in the week, I found that we had accidentally ordered a ton of onions so we traded again yesterday bananas for onions. Thanks Ann!

- I purchased a pair of baseball cleats for just $7 from my friend Alysha. Her son barely wore them since they had a short season and Owen will most likely be in that size this spring/summer. Even on end of year clearance, the cheapest I had found was $25/pair. I was thankful to get these at a great price on a really nice pair of cleats! 

- This week I resisted the urge to shop online. We have been home SO much and flipping through websites is kind of fun but I did a great job and skipped buying anything new. Anything I really loved and wanted to remember, I pinned on Pinterest.

- I did make one store purchase this week. We have been planning to redo our living room (a tiny bit of paint and just a few decor switches for hopefully a big/cheap change) and while I was browsing in Marshalls I found a painting super similar to what I had pinned. The online ones were $150+ and the Marshalls version was only $30!!! I haven't been in that store for 6+ months but I was glad I stopped in! 

- I splurged Wednesday night and had dinner with a friend. We try not not to eat out often so that was a special treat!

- I set a huge cleaning/organizing goal for January and this week we worked our way through the school room. We were able to pass along a book rack to friends who wanted it. I also took an entire tote of paper to recycling and added many items to the Kids' Sale tote. 

- Along with my clean out goals, I set the goal of donating at least one large trash bag and/or large box of items every week of January. So far we have taken two large trash bags of items to the donation center. I did keep the books separate and donated those to a Little Free Library. 

- In fun, family news - Owen lost his first tooth this week! He was VERY excited! He earned $.25 from the Tooth Fairy. 

Overall we had a very low key week. We are staying home and doing lots of reading, crafting, and even some baking. 

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 376

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- We spent last Wednesday through Sunday in Evansville with my parents. We were able to celebrate Christmas and New Year's with them. We enjoyed playing games and with the toys at my parents' house, a trip downtown to the big playground, and even some time out back with a bow and arrow. We had a wonderful visit and great start to 2021.

- Sunday night we got back in town and I made our first grocery trip in two weeks. My family sent us home with lots of snacks and food from Christmas and friends brought us dinner one night so we didn't have a lot of meals to fill in with groceries. 

- My friend Jeanette accidentally ordered double Hello Fresh meals. She kindly brought us the extras which made dinner three nights! Thank you! Save $40 on Hello Fresh here.

- After two weeks off, I worked my Usborne Books & More business hot and heavy thanks to our awesome new release! I ordered books on Monday and they arrived yesterday! Thank you UBAM for incredibly fast shipping time and for the afternoon of reading. Join me Sunday evening for my New Year, New Books Party.

"Woohoo! New books!"

We LOVE the new release!!

SO many great reads!

- I shopped the Matilda Jane end of season sale (75% off!) and found several gifts at great prices. We will gift these over the course of spring birthdays. If you don't already have a Trunk Keeper please consider shopping with my friend Danielle.

- We received a check from my Momaw for Christmas. While there were many fun things we would have liked to use it for, we payed the amount towards a debt. Not fun but responsible.

- We had a busy week getting back into the swing of school, scouts, and dance. I honestly think everyone is happier when school is in session - we all love routines!

We are continuing to look forward to 2021 and setting HUGE financial goals for the year! BIG things are coming!

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 375

 Happy Frugal Friday and Happy 2021!

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

- The kids and I had a very low key Christmas Eve and Christmas. We did go to Mark's parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner and gifts. Other than that we enjoyed the holiday at home. Mark worked the whole holiday weekend but we were able to sneak in a gift opening session for the kids in between work for him.

Christmas morning with their favorite gifts

Owen loved his Disney World Bus ($4 on clearance because it has "2020" on it) 

and Annabeth loves her Princess Tiana Doll ($5 on sale)

I love that Christmas doesn't have to be big or flashy for them to love it

Oscar Chase loves his new toys from his stocking

- I shop/craft alllll year to get ready for Christmas and to keep our spending fairly low for the holiday. I store all of those items in my closet so by December it gets a little crazy. I spent time on Saturday cleaning out and organizing all of the gifts we've already bought for "2nd Christmas." (The majority of BOTH sides of the family have birthdays between Jan 21 and April 27 so we call that 2nd Christmas) 

- During my closet cleanout I parted ways with over 15 clothing items. I try to do a big clean out at least once a quarter. My mom, sister, and I trade clothes regularly so these are often not items that I have actually purchased or been gifted but rather they are items we trade around. 

- We did not do a meal plan or grocery shop for the past two weeks. We ended up eating a lot of mismatched meals and leftovers which really stretched our grocery budget. I did make a quick trip Monday evening to buy $10 worth of baking items so we can make baked goods to give a family member for Christmas this weekend. Thank you to Mark's parents for sharing Christmas Eve leftovers which we ate over four meals! 

- We had a very simple week. We took down our Christmas decor, decorated with snow items for January, put away Christmas gifts, and did some cleaning. 

- We celebrated New Year's Eve with a sushi lunch (and quick "hello"to our friend Helen), afternoon at the park on the river/playground downtown for the kids/Dad/Lu, and then an evening of yummy snack foods and a Zoom call with Group.

We look forward to seeing what adventures come in 2021!