Frugal Things We Did This Week
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| The Fairy City our daughter made on our back patio. Very creative! |
Frugal things we've done this week:
* The children played outside a LOT this week. Both here at home and at the YMCA day camp. Our daughter made Fairy Cities (as opposed to Fairy houses) in several places around the yard using rocks, sticks, grass, weeds, and the last of the dandelion heads.
* We purchased mulch for the front flower beds and sent in for the 11% rebate that was being offered on our purchases this week. All but one of our front flower beds are "done" for this summer. I'm working on digging out the landscape rock from the last one. (A previous owner had put down landscape rock without putting a barrier underneath so it has all worked its way into the soil. This is huge job and will take most of the summer to clean out the small-ish area we have left to clean out.)
* I packed lunches for everyone each day except one, where I packed lunches for John and me only. The children had a cookout at camp that one day and they both said they preferred my packed lunch instead! I had three office mates ask for a recipe after I reheated my lunch in our microwave and it made the office smell super good.
* We dug our compost from last year into the vegetable bed.
* We priced rain barrels, paint, and flooring. Will be purchasing paint this week with a gift card we bought earlier in the year. We are looking forward to an updated look in the kitchen, living room, hallway and our bedroom for minimal price.
* We used gift cards to purchase more batteries, spices, and a few odds and ends from the grocery store that will be going out of business soon. We have $23 left in gift cards that I will use today to buy groceries for this week.
* I ironed all our ironing (I'm FINALLY caught up! YAY!) this week and washed and put away all the winter bedding.
* I used a 40% off sale to order shirts for the children for all for school. They changed the school uniform (in a relatively small way) for fall so I had to actually buy shirts rather than just get them through the Uniform Swap. I will still be able to get pants or skirts through the Swap. I was pleased with the price and we shouldn't have to buy any more shirts this year.
* We were treated to lunch out by a friend from Seminary as a thank you for picking him up from the airport, driving him around and letting him stay in our guest room. It was super yummy and we enjoyed catching up with him too!
* We got together with a few of my cousins at my Aunt and Uncle's house on Friday evening. It was a pot-luck with my Aunt and Uncle providing brats and hot dogs with buns and toppings. I brought a fruit salad. They have a pool and our children and my cousins' children had a BLAST swimming and playing with the water guns. Then the older children took the littles over to the lake and park across the road to feed the ducks. It was wonderful to get together (last minute - we all decided to do this on Thursday since one cousin would in town from out of state!) and we decided to do it again for the 4th of July and then again in August before school starts! I have 16 first cousins on that side of the family and 4 of us were able to come with our families.
* While not necessarily frugal, we felt the YMCA day camp* was terrific and well worth the price and my son was so excited to learn how to fish! He caught several fish and is begging to go back to the lake they fished on. We will use our County Parks pass and our State parks pass to do that this summer for sure! They all have tackle to borrow at each park so it will be inexpensive and we might even get dinner out of it! Our daughter had such a good time she wanted to go back this week! Unfortunately, that's not in the budget but we will try to plan on that for next summer.
* We had a friend over to play with my son this week and they enjoyed playing with Lego's and some board games and then we made homemade mini-pizzas for dinner. They had a great time and we didn't have any added expense.
* I cut irises from the yard to decorate the table this week. I am so excited to have flowers in the yard to cut again! I'm hoping to have many more this year than last year thanks to the perennials I planted last year. My peonies are just starting to bloom so I'll have those on my table this week.
Okay, I think that's about it for this week other than our usual "stuff". What did you do this week?
Check out The Prudent Homemaker's Blog for more inspiration.
* Note: The YMCA does not know I am writing this. We attended this day camp, paying full price for the privilege of doing so, our children loved it and we just wanted to share!
