Frugal Friday 400

 Happy Frugal Friday!

First of all, THANK YOU for being here for 400 weeks! WOW! What began as a little side project to keep myself sane with toddlers at home has become quite the community of frugal friends!

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

- Saturday morning we enjoyed VBS at Grace UMC. They are trying something new this year and had the whole family come for VBS vs just dropping the kids off. The four of us had a great time talking about compassion and were even able to teach the group a new song they didn't know ("I Just Want to be a Sheep")

- Saturday afternoon we were able to celebrate our little friend Sophia. The kids had a great time playing with their friends and watching Sophia open her presents. 

- Saturday evening we celebrated Mark's dad with a Father's Day cookout at L&C's house. We supplied hot dogs and cookies. His family brought the rest. We enjoyed surprising his dad with a giftcard for an uncoming vcation.

- Friday evening, the kids and I set up a scavenger hunt around the house to give Mark his Father's Day gift. All of the clues led him to Owen's baseball bag with a note saying that we were going to an Indians game. We enjoyed the game Sunday afternoon. I love that tickets to the Indians games are fairly affordable, we paid around $15/person, and that on Sundays kids eat free. Each of the kids had a hot dog, chips, and a water. We did spend around $20 buying bottled waters at the field as it was HOT! 

We had great seats on the first baseline and 

were in the shade the whole game!

I LOVE being frugal and Mark is the spender for sure!

He splurged and got each of the kids souvenirs at the game.

Owen LOVES his stuffed Rowdy. 

- On Monday, Annabeth had rehearsal for Nationals. Owen and I made good use of our time and took a 1 mile walk while Annabeth rehearsed.

- We had dinner out on Monday night. Our sister-in-law is on the board of an incredible program called Lead the Challenge - a group that helps individuals with disabilities play softball. We met up with our friends the Schwanders and were happy to support their pizza and ice cream night fundraiser. 

- On Tuesday, Annabeth, my sister, and I had a great day of thrifting. We visited three thrift stores and for $40 we got 2 shirts for me, 2 shorts for me, 5 shirts for Annabeth, 2 dresses for Annabeth, 2 jeans for Owen, and 5 books! 

- My sister brought us two huge bags of clothes, books, and jewelry to trade. I got several necklaces, six clothing items, and two school resources. I also got two pairs of shorts and a pair of jeans from my Mama. Annabeth was VERY excited to find a Harry Potter shirt from Harry Potter Land a well! 

- Wednesday we split up. The boys went to the lakehouse and the girls went to Owensboro. Annabeth and Lu set up a lemonade stand. They sold lemonade for a couple of hours and made $36! We had a great visit with Momaw and look forward to being back soon. 

- Wednesday evening we met up with the Kuhns/Pitts at the Log Inn. This was the first time we've all been together for almost two years. It was also our first time meeting my cousin Hannah's youngest child. We enjoyed eating in the Lincoln Room where Abe Lincoln once spent the night. 

- Yesterday my Mama treated us to a pool day. We enjoyed the Mosby Pool which is a great deal! It was just $2/adults and $1/kids! The kids loved the water slides, splash pad, and lots of hours in the pool!

We had a great week in Evansville seeing the family. It's so nice to be back to mostly normal and able to see everyone we love! We are also looking forward to be back in town to see Mark and Oscar this afternoon.

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 399

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- First of all, Mark was disappointed that I did not mention/share Owen's big catch of the week last week. Mark spends most evenings that he is off work, fishing. He'll often take one of the kids along for a date night and last week Owen caught over a dozen fish one night. They were both very happy with this BIG fish! 

- The kids and I helped paint and blow up 75+ balloons for VBS at our church. We had some scheduling conflicts so the kids couldn't go to ours but they still loved helping. We painted the glow-in-the-dark hallway which was really fun!

- One night while doing dishes, our garbage disposal stopped working. Thankfully Mark made a quick trip to Lowe's and fixed it himself. We were thankful to save the cost of a plumber ($75) or a completely new unit (100+)

- Mark and Annabeth also went fishing one night and had quite a bit of luck. Here's Annabeth with her big catch:

- Saturday Mark and Owen had a special day out at Monster Jam. Owen has always LOVED monster trucks and his favorite, Grave Digger, was there so he was in heaven! What a day!

- Annabeth and I enjoyed a girls' day. She chose to go to Chili's, the library, and then bowling. We had a coupon for a free kids meal and two free games of bowling so our whole day out was under $25.

- The kids spent mornings this week at Mt. Olive's VBS. They always do theirs in the morning so Annabeth has been going since she was little. This was Owen's first year to go. They both loved singing, crafting, and learning about Jesus with friends. 

- I spent my mornings working my book business. Our AMAZING new summer titles launched and we can't wait to get our box of brand new books! You can shop my website here. 

- I was able to enjoy Starbucks several times this week thanks to a giftcard from Mark. Thank you Love. 

- Both of the kids had their dance recitals this week and we enjoyed watching each of them do something that they love. We did treat Owen to ice cream after his and my parents took cookies for Annabeth. Thank you, especially, to all of the family that came to watch at the outdoor amphitheater. 

We are looking forward to a busy weekend and wish all of the fathers reading a Happy Father's Day!

We are so thankful for our fathers, grandfathers, and most importantly our Heavenly Father.

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 398

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Owen had his friend birthday party on Saturday. We had our best friends up from Charlestown and our homeschool group. We don't have "friend" parties until the kids are 5 and thanks to COVID this was Owen's first one. He chose a police theme with pizza and root beer floats. 

- I used a giftcard from my Ibotta earnings to buy a photo booth, balloons, police decor, and little police car candy boxes. Owen wanted many theme items and it was great to get them free!

We got this fun balloon garland kit from Hobby Lobby for under $5 with a coupon.

The kids helped me blow up the balloons so we also saved the cost of helium. 

Owen's police birthday shirt is from 

Behind That Badge on Etsy.

This is an Indiana LEO Family. 

- We served Chicago's pizza and bought six pizzas too many (a large family cancelled after we had already ordered the pizza). We were able to send pizza and breadsticks home with each family. We also donated two pizzas and root beer to the weekend shift at the police department.

- Annabeth spent the week at her dance studio's Fliptastic Camp. She enjoyed 7 hours of fun there each day. 

- Owen and I had the week together while Annabeth was at camp. We completed his mini 4H project for the fair, took walks, he rode his bike many hours, and we splurged on a $1 movie on Wednesday. I was looking to see if any theaters were doing the $5 kids movies and a Greenwood theater had a couple of days with slightly older movies at $1/person. He's only been to the theater 2 or 3 times so he really enjoyed that. We also grabbed Starbucks with a giftcard so free to us. 

- We visited multiple parks, creeks, and walked the greenway this week. Working on our #1000hoursoutside challenge

- I sold last year's Science books on Facebook. Made: $15

-  We got Annabeth's dance schedule for Nationals. Thankfully we were able to cancel three nights in the hotel and are saving $400+! 

We had a great, busy week and even with all of the rain logged tons of hours outside!

Happy Savings to All!

Frugal Friday 397

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- We had a great weekend with my parents. They took the kids to multiple parks, on miles of bike rides, and played a ton of games. They also treated us to Jockamo's Pizza and Piece of Cake cake for Owen's birthday with them.

- While the kids played, Mark and I redid Owen's room for his birthday. He still had the wall color and most of the decor from his nursery. He decided on Fountain blue walls and dinosaur decor. Thankfully he wanted to keep about 80% of his old wall decor so we just swapped out three wall signs for dino decor. Two of those three items were gifted to him by friends who were switching out their kids' bedrooms. Thank you Rose and boys!

He chose the color but we surprised him with the finished results!

Thanks to Grandmama and Grandpa Kuhn who took the kids out so we could

get the surprise done. Mark did a great job painting and decorating!

The one sign that we purchased.

Owen chose that saying :) 

- Sunday we had nearly ALL of our out of town family in town for a cookout. We hosted both set of parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews except my sister. It was wonderful to have SO many people in our house - something we haven't done in over 18 months. Mark's parents provided the meat and buns and Mama and I did the sides and desserts. My sister-in-law's covered the allergen free desserts. We had the best afternoon!

- We ate cook-out leftovers all day Monday and Tuesday. This really helped our grocery budget! Even so, for last weekend's cook-out, Owen's special birthday food, and for his party this next weekend we spent just $125 at the grocery. We will be ordering pizza which will be $$$ but he opted for an at home vs renting a space party so that's just fine.

- Wednesday was Owen's 6th Birthday. We always give the kids 1 big gift, this year his was the room makeover, and so on their actual birthday they just open a few small gifts. We got him some scout shirts, art materials, and a game. 

- Each year for the kids birthday they choose the menu with the rule that they can only have one eat out meal. They also choose the activities for the day. Owen chose pop tarts for breakfast, sandwiches and Doritos for lunch, and Chicago's Pizza for dinner. That worked really well as we had a coupon for free breadsticks and a giftcard making his birthday meal just $6! 

- Owen chose his birthday activity to be bowling. I used a free game coupon and Owen, Annabeth, and I were able to have a nice day out for around $25. Owen had originally chosen a park/creek stomp as his activity but we had pouring rain and he chose to move our plans indoors.

- I have always allowed the kids to choose a special birthday dessert and most years they choose something homemade. Owen asked for a Triple Berry Parfait. We made it together and he loved making the #6 on top. 

Happy #6 Mr. O!

- We shopped for June Birthday gifts. We shopped local for one and purchased the June Kids' birthday gifts from my Usborne Books & More business. We prefer to shop local and shop small as much as possible. I am always thankful when people think to shop my small business when they need books. 

- I forgot to buy tape twice at the store. That worked as I ended up getting a 40% off coupon from CVS and had $2 in extra care bucks. I was able to get three mega rolls of tape for just $2. 

- Last night Annabeth and I went to her school friends' dance recital. She took time this week to write a bunch of tiny notes like "You shine!" and "I love your smile" and made little candy bags for them. If I teach her little else about being a woman, I hope to teach her to always cheer for others. I hope that she learns that she can do well, her friends can do well, strangers can do well, and that celebrating someone else doesn't take anything away from her accomplishments. 

We are looking forward to a fun-filled weekend with Owen's birthday with school friends as well as his birthday with Mark's parents. He specifically asked to have as many parties as possible and we're having fun with that! 

Happy Savings to All!