Frugal Friday 517

 Happy Frugal Friday!

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

- My entire PaperPie website is 25% off this week and orders over $30 ship free! Enjoy some holiday shopping at a discount while supporting my small book business. 

- Over the past week, both of the kids have completely overhauled their rooms. We moved all of the furniture, dusted, vacuumed, mopped, and sorted. Each of the kids found a small tote of items that needed to leave their room. We try to do this once a quarter and this was our big pre-Christmas sort.

- Saturday morning we slept in a bit and then did a long town hike - 6 miles - since Mark was on call and we couldn't leave town for the woods. I am thankful for that sweet time together just the four of us.

- Saturday afternoon the kids enjoyed a Crafternoon at church. Pastor Susan arranged for some painting and jewelry making time and the kids both loved it.

- Saturday evening we had our first Christmas event of the season. We watched "Christmas with the Kranks" and ate a themed dinner - complete with ham just like in the movie. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season with a day of free fun. 

- Sunday morning we slept in and went to Sunday School and late church. Since we had a few extra minutes, we did a quick sort of our cup cabinet. We parted with 18 items and donated those in good shape to a Little Free Pantry on the way to church. 

- Monday morning our washer stopped working. It washed but stayed full of water. I pailed water out twice to try to get the drain to work but with no luck. Mark stopped by between day and night shift to fix it in less than 30 minutes. Bless him for serving us so well in the midst of a very busy work season where he is serving coworkers and community as well. 

- We continued cleaning out little spaces in our home and donating what we could. 

- We held off on our Christmas decorating until last night. The kids were ready before but Mark really wanted to wait until Thanksgiving and so we did. I love having the lights up and everything oh-so-merry! We will not buy any new decor this year. We have sometimes been gifted items but save for one homemade sign from a craft fair I have not purchased any holiday decor in more than five years. We like to keep it small, it all fits in one tote, and simple. 

- While I did some in person and online window shopping for Black Friday, I didn't find any deals that were too good to resist. We have done most of our Christmas shopping and so I didn't have anything I needed to get. While at the pharmacy this week, the kids found the perfect gift for Momaw so we did buy that. It wasn't on sale or a deal but the sheer joy they had at the thought of her opening it meant full price was just fine :)

- We ate our meals at home and took along freezer pizzas to Thanksgiving lunch at Mark's mom's house. I hope that you all had the best Thanksgiving possible and I'll leave you with this message that I also shared on Facebook alongside a picture of my freezer pizzas: 

Thanksgiving Lunch Prep ✓

I've always had an unpopular approach to Thanksgiving with kids. When mine were little, they hated most traditional fancy Thanksgiving food soo... we took Lunchables.

Now, they are only mildly interested in the fancy food, so we're making pizza instead.

We left early from lunches so they could nap, we arrived late for dinner to let them nap all the way, and we never over committed to too many events. It didn't always make me popular with grown-ups BUT the kids had lovely, slow holidays that they weren't miserable through and I have sweet, stress free memories.

Let this be your sign to do holidays your own way, set boundaries, say "yes" or "no" depending on how you want to spend your holidays, and do these things knowing it will help you savor precious time with people you love.

SAVOR PRECIOUS TIME. Love to you all Dear Readers, Thankful for you!