Happy Frugal Friday!
Here's how we saved money/spent money wisely/made extra money this week:
- Last Friday evening we had all of the kids's cousins and the aunties over for dinner and play. Cass brought the fruit tray, Jenn brought dessert and games, and we provided a chicken nacho bar. The kids had so much fun having a water/bubble fight in the yard, devoured nachos, and ate ALL of the cupcakes! The IL Rileys also brought Owen a big table tennis game for his birthday. We're having friends over a lot this summer and O was SO excited to get this to share with friends.
- After dinner, some of us headed over to O's baseball game. He played the late games and we did end up splurging on some concessions. Thankfully Jenn had waters and kid safe snacks in her van so that helped us not spend quite so much. Spent: $4.25
- Saturday we did chores in the morning: mowed our lawn and the neigbor's, did laundry, and baked banana bread. The bread was from a new mix I found at the store - dairy, egg, and nut free so safe for all. It was a fail for Owen and me but Mark and Annabeth liked and ate it this week.
- Saturday afternoon Mark and Owen took some supplies over to his mom's house and the guys all gathered for "man time." Annabeth and I stayed home, had a quiet afternoon in, and then enjoyed her best friend's Alice in Wonderland birthday party.
- When my nieces were here, one of them mentioned wanting to go thrifitng for new pants. I happened to have several pairs in her size that I haven't been wearing. I took them out of my "maybe I'll wear these someday" section my closet and she's already wearing them! 4 items gone from my closet and free clothes for her!
- I had been falling into the Starbucks trap again after having many Giftcards from my birthday. I spent $13 at the grocery on decaf coffee blend and oat milk creamer and will have coffee at home for a month vs two coffes for that same price.
- I mentioned last week in my Disney Savings blog that we took a DVC tour in order to tour some resort rooms and, mostly, for that $200 Giftcard. This week, we received a lovely PR package from our tour host. While we still won't be buying DVC, we were excited to get the whiteboard/pen, stickers, luggage tag, and cute backpack! Thanks Rich at DVC! :)
- Sunday was Owen's 9th birthday! Our kids each get to choose the meals of their birthday day, one eat out meal, and one out of the house activity. We made homemade breakfast pizza for breakfast, went to church, picked up Buffalo Wild Wings for lunch, went shopping to spend his Giftcard from Aunt Nancy, and then went to Kristi's for spaghetti dinner. We gifted him his big gift a few months ago, a new bike and helmet, but he was plenty spoiled on his actual day with some snacks, scout gear, and a few toys.
- This week Owen enjoyed VBS at a local church. His friend E invited him and I was SO proud of him for going on his own without Annabeth. This is something that he often struggles to do - going new places with out parents/sister - and he was so happy and confident walking in. I am thankful for Kingdom minded friends to share life with. Thank you for the invite Murphy Family!
- While Owen was at VBS, Annabeth and I enjoyed mornings together. We worked on her 4H projects, had some of her friends over to play without little brother interrupting, and she taught her last dance class for the year on Wednesday.
- Now that we are into June, we are less than a month away from the start of school. I have begun seeing teachers sharing their wishlist and after the encouragement of friends, I am sharing our short classroom wishlist. Thank you in advance for you prayers over our upcoming school year! We will be reusing many of Annabeth's old textbooks for Owen and have only purchased two new books for next year. We will be paying for a monthly class subscription for the first time. I have successfully passed on every book that Owen has finished with. We are looking forward to 4th and 7th grade!
2,024 in 2024 Update
Our home is now 1,281 items lighter. I honestly didn't think we would part with much this month as May was very busy and Mark and I were out of town a whole week. In the end, we have created the habit of parting ways with items and it's become a natural part of our routines! I also have noticed that the more we part with, the less we want to buy. I haven't been keeping track but I know fewer items are coming into our home as these months go by. It's SO nice to open drawers and closets and to have space!
Happy Savings to All!
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