Frugal Friday 483

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- Last Friday was Mark's birthday. The city gives employees a day off in the month of their birthday and he was able to use his on Friday. The kids and I surprised him with an Indy Fuel sweatshirt and tickets to that night's game. I surprised all of them with a sleepover for the kids at Nana's. Mark was thrilled to watch the game without answering the kids' questions and making 50 trips to the bathroom for Owen. The kids had a fantastic pizza, game, and movie sleepover with Kristi. 

My favorite guy - Happy #35

- Sunday after church we had dinner at Mark's mom's house. Mark opened presents and got to choose the meal for the night - meatloaf, mashed potatoes, veggies, and Oreo cake. We had a great time playing with the kids and catching up with all.

- Kristi sent us home with a ton of leftovers and we were able to make a full meal from them on Monday night. This put us a night ahead on our weekly menu - thank you!

- This is our last "normal" week before spring activities pick up. We took the days to do some big clean-outs in the kids' rooms and closets. They parted with a whole tote of toys/books and lots of clothes. We took a whole trash bag to donate. I also listed quite a few pairs of shoes/clothes on Facebook and made extra money selling about a third of it.

- We have several friends/family members who work at Trinity Lutheran School Indianapolis. My friend Rebecca asked if I would donate a book basket for their annual dinner auction. I have done this each year in business and this year was happy to donate a six book "Taste of Paper Pie" basket highlighting some of our favorite books. 

- Two years ago, our friends handed down a bike to Annabeth. She was able to get a good two summers out of it but has definitely outgrown it ahead of this year. I took a picture of it and shared on our homeschool co-op page. We dropped it off yesterday to friends who have five girls at home. I have been so thankful for the gift of this bike and was more than happy to see it passed along.

- The past few years we have purchased 1/2 a pig, and in 2022 a whole pig. There are some cuts that we don't tend to eat - especially the spare ribs. Mark was able to trade all of those with a friend for ground beef. This is a HUGE blessing to trade for something that we know we will eat.

- Last night on our walk, we went to the new part of our neighborhood. They have added a walking trail around the lake and near the woods. We found so many animal prints - dog, coyote, raccoon, deer, and goose! We also found a ton of beautiful, natural rocks and best of all an arrowhead. It was truly a treat!

We did a low-spend January and February and are tying very much to do the same for March. We have a pay-down goal on our mortgage that we REALLY want to achieve this year on top of regular bills, food, and the kids' activities. By saying "no" to many other things we are more quickly saying "yes" to achieving that goal.

Happy Savings to All!