Frugal Friday 482

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday, Owen and I had a day date at Mesker Park Zoo in Evansville. Their zoo is SO affordable - admission was just $17 for each of us. We spent an additional $10 on tokens so we could feed the penguins. We only saw six other guests the whole time we were there. It was SUCH a treat to have whole buildings to ourselves and to feed the penguins and have a 20 minute session alone with them. We also spent over 90 minutes with "Owen's" rhino. We watched him for a while, went away, and came back to find the zookeepers giving him a bellyrub. Owen was in heaven!

In high school, my friends always froze with me at the zoo for my birthday. 

It was special to share this tradition with Mr. O. 

It was 32 and flurrying so very cold indeed!

He LOVES penguins. This was the first time we'd been to Mesker Park

since they added them. It was a fun surprise for him. 

He was nervous but oh-so-happy to feed the penguins. 

With his rhino.

The hours we've spent watching it are countless.

- While we enjoyed our zoo day, Annabeth had a special afternoon with Grandmama. They did some beading and visited the library.

- Saturday we spent the day in Owensboro. We picked up lunch and enjoyed the day with my Momaw and Uncle Lance. I never take for granted the precious time I have with family.

- It's hard to believe it was snowing while in Evansville because by the time we got home this week it's been in the 60s (even hit 70 one day!) and sunny! We had a very hard time staying focused on bookwork as it felt like spring!! We made sure to get over a dozen hours outside in this week. It was lovely for February!!

- Mark and I treated ourselves to dinner out for our birthdays. It was our first time eating out together since around Halloween. We went to a favorite local place and felt the inflation increase even there. Our usual meal was $8 more than last fall. We did enjoy our time together but it made us happy that we had been faithful in eating at home all winter.

Frugal Financial Fail/Wise Time Success: This week I notified my boss at the kids' sale that I won't be express tagging this spring. I have express tagged 10 sales or so. This has been a GREAT source of income for our family and has made several vacations much easier/bigger over the years. That being said, last year the sale was VERY stressful for me as I am now working two part-time jobs in addition to homeschooling the kids. The spring sale also falls on the busiest week of the homeschool co-op that I am leading this year. In the end, I knew something had to go and it was the thing I could let go of for this season. 

The kids have their first dance competition of the season this weekend. We are ready to watch our SDA family take the stage!

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 481

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Saturday, Mark and Owen served with their Scout Troop making sub sandwiches. They do this each year on Super Bowl Sunday and it's a great fundraiser for the kids.

- Annabeth and I had a little date and went to the new Dick's Sporting Goods Outlet. We found four items for $30 - saved over $280 on retail pricing.

- Mark and I had a last minute thing come up on Saturday evening. Luke and Cassidy generously took the kids along to their church's chilli cook-off. I have a very hard time asking for help and I am so thankful that they stepped in and helped in such a big way. 

- Sunday after church Annabeth had youth group, I ran errands, and got a great walk in outdoors. I am currently working through a fitness challenge and I have to say the beautiful winter weather has made it much easier than I expected to be out each day.

- Sunday evening we had dinner at Mark's Mom's House. She let me pick the menu for my birthday week and kindly sent us home with lefotvers. I also got some lovely gifts - candy, cute home decor, and a great new devotional book. 

- Monday I did a lot of computer work as I worked on both Spring Break and Fall Break quotes for Disney World trips. There's still plenty of time to book and many great rooms, and deals, to be had for both school breaks! Message me on my business page for your own quote. My services are always FREE!

- Tuesday we woke up and celebrated Valentine's Day. Mark and I always just exchange cards. We typically get the kids a small gift and this year we got them some fun hot chocolate items from Trader Joe's. We spend $6 and it's clutter-free! What a win.

- Tuesday afternoon the kids and I went to the Indiana Historical Society for the first time. We used the library's museum pass and had the museum validate our parking. Saved: $30

- Tuesday was also my 36th birthday. Mark surprised me with a DQ ice cream cake and we had pizza for dinner. Mark and the kids got me the perfect gift and I am so thankful for their thoughtfulness. 

- After co-op yesterday we headed down to Evansville. We enjoyed dinner out at a new place, they sang "Happy Birthday" to me and brought cake so it was a winner in my book, and then we celebrated Valentine's Day and my birthday all together. I was so excited for the Great American Cookie Cake!

Thank you to everyone who reached out this week to wish me a Happy Birthday! It was so fun to have cards in my mailbox! :) 

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 480

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last weekend we took a trip with my sister. We had a last minute change from Pokagon State Park to the South Bend area. When I book our Pokagon hotel, the state park was sold out of the kind of room we needed so I booked a local, chain hotel. The reviews were iffy but it mostly seemed that perhaps it was a little outdated. When I got on Friday night to double check about the swimming pool, I found that all the January reviews were horrific. They said things like "at least we didn't get bugs" or "we fled in the night, we couldn't make it until morning" and so we decided to cancel and change plans! Originally I was told I had waited too long to cancel and would have to pay the full amount of the room but the reviews were so scary I decided it was worth it. In the end, the hotel never did charge me so it was fine!

- We ended up going to the South Bend area. We wanted to still travel north as I was surprising Ananbeth with a day out with our friends who moved north last fall. Together we toured The History Museum and Oliver Mansion. This was $25 for the kids and me and it was AMAZING! The Oliver family left their family manion to the mueum and only took away their jewelry and parishable foods. The rest of the mansion stands, is decorated, etc just as the family left it. The kids and I love to tour old homes and this one is truly my favorite! Some of us also toured the Polish Worker's House. That was interesting as our guide and fellow guests were all Polish American and have very different family customs than we do as German Americans. 

- After we said good-bye to our friends, we drove a few miles to the Lydick Bog. This is one of the only bogs in Indiana. We enjoyed a great hour+ snow hike and plan to go back when we're in the area again. It would be neat to see in different seasons. 

Mr. O ALWAYS has to hike with a stick

- Sunday we toured Notre Dame's campus. Our Great-Uncle lived/worked at Notre Dame for much of our childhood so my sister and I have great memories of touring the campus with him and going to football games. We showed the kids the Golden Dome, Basilica of the Sacred Heart, and Touchdown Jesus. We also had lunch at the bookstore which was shockingly good, and affordable, and just $15 for the three of us. Not so frugal was the purchase of a Notre Dame souvenier for each kid and Mark. 

Notre Dame's Golden Dome

The view up from inside the dome

Touchdown Jesus!

- My sister and I once again traded clothes. I got 5 "new" items from her, she picked some from my pile, and we donated the rest. I love recycling my closet this way!

- We had a great week and I worked both my PaperPie and Magical Vacation Planner businesses. Mark worked more overtime than he's had for a while. We sure do miss him but are thankful for the way he serves our city selflessly.

We are looking to a busy weekend.

Happy Savings to All! 

Frugal Friday 479

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last weekend we headed to Ft. Wayne for the Refresh Dance Convention. I switched our hotel from a booking site to my business page and saved $40. We had prepaid but when we checked out their rates had changed saving us an additional $40! Instead of staying at the attached hotel, we drove 10 minutes each way and saved hundreds of dollars. 

- Saturday while the kids were at dance Mark and I visited Trader Joe's. We were on the hunt for Anna-Safe sunflower butter products. We were able to find cookies and two kinds of candy for her. We also found some safe items for Valentine's Day. We were shocked at the affordability of the produce and meat as well. Our nearest store is about an hour away but we may have to make the trip every couple of months.

- We also did lots of browsing at antique stores. This is what we used to do while dating/engaged in college. We found a few small treasures. One of the antique malls was next to a thrift shop so we popped in there too. I found a pair of like-new snow pants in Annabeth's size for $6.50! They are black so Owen can wear them eventually too. 

- We had purposed to not eat out all January. We had told the kids we would take them out in Ft. Wayne and their vote was Burger Bar. It's our favorite place there - such good food, the friendliest staff ever, and it's all Anna-Safe! She is able to have any food and any ice cream item on the menu.

- Sunday we picked up pizza and hung out with friends at their house until the kids were done with dance. It's always great to have time with dear friends and to spend little money that day.

- The kids LOVED Refresh, gained some great new skills, and had so much fun. Owen was awarded the Hollywood Dance Connection scholarship and the opportunity to dance in Los Angeles. We will not be taking him - the class is very social media/audition focused and way too mature for a 7 year old - but we are proud of both kids and their incredibly hard work all weekend!

The kids were so pumped to have class with Keaton and Anna.

The got a kick out of Keaton's poster - I think they forget that he isn't just "Big Kid Keaton" 

from the studio now. It was great to see other dancers react to his teaching. It's been wonderful

to watch all of the SDA Kids grow up and chase their dreams

Owen was so proud to earn this scholarship again this year.

- We worked really hard to have a low-spend January.We tried to find free fun for the family and by saying "we're not eating out" we avoided unplanned stops for food. This ended up being a HUGE help to our January budget as a BIG bill from my surgery in 2020 arrived unexpectedly. We had paid all of the doctor bills but apparently never paid the facility bill. We were thankful to be able to pull from savings to pay this bill.

- We had to reorder epi-pens this month as well. In the past we've been able to get them for under $50/set thanks to the Auvi-Q care plan. That has ended and our insurance would not cover them. We opted to pay for one of the (expensive!!!) Auv-i Q sets for Annabeth to keep with her at all times. We like that they talk people through using it in an emergency which we feel is important as she is out and about more now without us always being there. We worked with our insurance and allergist to find a cheaper priced, off brand epi for her back up set. Overall, again, I am thankful we could pay the extra hundreds of dollars but wish that this life saving medication was so much more affordable. 

- Yesterday we spent the whole day out of the house learning. We went to co-op, ate a picnic lunch packed from home, spent 2.5 hours playing and exploring the Greenwood library with friends, took a long walk through old town Greenwood and passed our old house, played on a playground, and went to a different library for a special NASA Mars Rover presentation. A whole day of fun that was free except for gas!

- I had the HIGHEST January sales on my big PaperPie (hundreds of booksellers) team. This is the FIRST TIME EVER that I have accomplished this goal. I am so incredibly proud for ignoring the stigma of "January is slow in retail" and just setting a goal and hitting it hard. I was highly motivated to also earn my place in the PaperPie Founders Club this month and made that happen too. Thank you to all those who shop my small business.

We are looking forward to a fun, new adventure this weekend!

Happy Savings to All! 

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