Frugal Friday 391

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last weekend Annabeth danced in Muncie, IN at Ball State University. We woke up early on Saturday and drove up saving the cost of one night in the hotel. We did have the cost of one night in a hotel and a few eat out meals. We did the whole weekend for around $250 which was my budget.

- Saturday afternoon we explored the Minnetrista Cultural Center. We did pay to see the museum exhibits, right now it's a Mythical Creature Exhibit that Annabeth LOVED and to tour the Oakhurst Home. For both of us admission was $27. While we did enjoy the day out, our favorite parts were all of the unique gardens and those were free. I would go ahead and just see them next time. I did feel that the price of admission was quite high for what we actually saw. Just a little travelers note for anyone in the area. That being said, we did enjoy the overall experience. 

Outside the Catalyst Center

We both loved this unique structure

Inside the Oakhurst Home. 

This home belonged to members of the Ball Family so we

needed pictures with Ball jars inside.

(Visiting this home was neat but NOT a traditional old home tour.

It's now used as a gathering place so you could sit, visit, read, have tea, etc

but it's NOT filled with the family's heirloom items or designed to look as it did when

they lived there) 

The gardens, and there are SO many, are beautiful!

Annabeth's favorite flowers are tulips so she loved seeing all

of the unique colors on the campus.

- Sunday evening Mark and the kids had pizza dinner at Luke and Cassidy's. The kids enjoyed playing with their cousins and Mark helped out by mowing their lawn for them. My dad did ours last week while he was gone and he was happy to pay it forward to the next person.

- While they had dinner, I dropped nearly 1,000 items at the Here We Grow Again Kids Sale. This sale is THIS weekend at the Johnson County Fairgrounds. I look forward to seeing how much I make! #vacationmoney

- I did the Walmart Pick-Up again. This week we spent $84 on groceries - a bit more than usual but almost $20 of that was paper towels, shampoo, and razors. What did we eat for dinner? Homemade Chicken Carbonara and Garlic Knots, Chicken Fried Rice with Egg Rolls, Homemade Pizza and veggies, and Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries 

- Tuesday we spent the day in Charlestown with our best friends. Both SJ and Rose have birthdays this week so we took their presents and spent the day playing outside. Because we had hit our budget over the weekend I skipped getting coffee at Coffee Crossing while there. I almost ALWAYS stop when I am in the area and the kids were shocked when I didn't. I explained to the kids that I had already met my eat out/fun budget for the month so we needed to save that money for the next fun thing. 

- Tuesday was 75 and sunny, I got my first good sunburn of the season, and the kids had switched to shorts by the end of the afternoon. We drove the 90 minutes home and by the time we were done with dinner it was SNOWING! It was such a strange way to spend a day!

Oscar LOVES the snow and was thrilled to spend hours romping around in it. He looked so cute with snowflakes all over his nose. 

-  Wednesday night I shopped the Here We Grow Again Sale. I went in with a list and a budget. I stuck to both coming in $20 under budget with some of the items on my list. You can read how I saved over $360 here! 

- I took a friend lettuce and garlic. She traded me two pairs of ballet tights. 

We had such a strange week. I told Mark I felt really restless this week and I think it was because of the weather. We had bright, sunny warm days, dreary snow days, and everything in between. I am looking forward to it warming up over the weekend and next week!

Happy Savings to All!