Frugal Craft

Here is a picture of a craft that my daughter recently did. I cannot take any credit for it, she did this at a friends house. She created this bead curtain to hang in her door. All that is needed is straws, beads and yarn. I guess it took her hours and she loves it.

Frugal Acts - March 29 to April 5

1. Recycled old Easter baskets for the kids instead of buying new this year. Total saved, $6.00

2. Made homemade buttermilk instead of running out to buy some that was needed to today. Recipe for it is 1 cup of milk, 1 tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar. Let sit for 15 minutes at room temperature. Turned out perfect. Total saved, $2.00

3. Family entertainment included board games, movies we have and outside time. Total saved? I don't know.

4. Did not do any unnecessary driving this weekend. I wonder how much I saved on gas?

5. Did not allow myself to go overboard this year when purchasing Easter basket filler. They each got a book, a small gift and a little candy. We also had a small egg hunt for them. I spent about $50 total for all 3 kids. I thought that was pretty good.

6. Made a big Easter breakfast instead of going out. It was a very healthy and delicious breakfast. Total saved, at least $50

7. Did not allow myself to be talked into increasing a monthly donation that we make to a charity we believe in. We are comfortable with what we give. Normally I am easily persuaded on these things. I stood firm. Total saved, $5 per month

8. With the kids being home this week, I cancelled a couple of standing appointments that require pay at the time. Will get back to my schedule next month. I figured that I save $50 this week.

9. My son wants a new basketball. Normally, I would buy it for him. I told him to use a gift card that he received from Grandma to pay for it. Total saved, $20??

10. Instead of pizza night, I defrosted some ground beef and made homemade enchiladas. Total saved, $25.

25 Free Activities To Do With Your Kids

Spring is here, summer is quickly approaching. With that in mind, I came up with a list of 25 free things to do with your kids this summer. I am going to try to do everything on this list.

1. Fly a kite

2. Make dinner together

3. Go for a hike

4. Play a board game

5. Bake cookies

6. Play a family soccer game

7. Do a craft (my girls love Perler beads)

8. Run through the sprinkler

9. Read a book

10. Watch a movie together that you already own and pop some popcorn

11. Roast marshmallows over a backyard fire

12. Catch fireflies

13. Make up stories

14. Jumprope

15. Go fishing

16. Look for shapes in the clouds

17. Visit the library

18. Go to a local park

19. Take your dogs for a walk

20. Create art with sidewalk chalk

21. Birdwatch

22. Search for morel mushrooms

23. Plant a garden

24. Stargaze

25. play with playdough

So, what ideas do you have? I know my list is far from complete. I am looking for a lot of ideas to fill my days this summer.

Spring Break

Today marks the beginning of Spring Break for my children. My kids are very happy to have a week off, they really need some time off. School really can be stressful, especially in this day and age. I think this is going to be a low key, stressless week for all of us. Of course, my Hannah already has 2 sleep overs planned with 2 friends. One sleep over is tonight, one is tomorrow. I know, too much. But, they are only young once, I am so happy that she has so many nice friends. I want to encourage those friendships.

My parents are coming for a visit this weekend to celebrate Easter. We are all looking forward to their visit. In fact, I am saving the coloring of the Easter eggs for the weekend. I think that it will be a perfect activity for the kids to do with Grandma and Grandpa. I am planning a brunch Sunday morning with muffins, fruit, smoothies, eggs and bacon. Dinner will be an organic roast chicken, sweet potatoes and asparagus, cupcakes for dessert.

My plans for next week include a visit to the museum, a movie, some game and movie nights and maybe lunch with my husband. I really need to keep our plans extremely frugal, our windows are going to be installed on Monday. The final payment is due, our saving account is bleeding. Ugh!!

As we celebrate Easter this weekend, I will take some pictures of the kids to try to post. While I am not a very religious person, I have to admit, I love Easter! The colors, the idea of rebirth and the change of season make me very happy.

Have a great night!

Beautiful Day

Today is the first day since October in which I was able to turn off the heat and open the windows. Ahhh! It is wonderful. My house is beginning to smell fresh, a breeze is blowing through and the stuffy feeling that a closed up house will have is gone.

Our extended forecast is for warm weather, with little rain. Spring is here, at last. It was such a long winter here in Wisconsin. Here is to a fantastic spring. Now, I need to go outside and enjoy the weather.

Meals March 28 - April 3

Here is my meal plan for the week of March 28 - April 3. I am doing this for me more than anything. I try to stick to a menu for each week, but always seem to lose the little piece of paper that I have the menu written on:

Sunday 28 - Kung Pao Tofu

Monday 29 - Vegetarian Chili (frozen from a huge batch made a while ago)

Tuesday 30 - Pasta w/Red Sauce and salad

Wednesday 31 - Salmon, Sweet potatoes, salad

Thursday April 1 - Beef Stew (this will be made in my slow cooker)

Friday 2 - Pizza night!

Saturday 3 - Salmon w/mushrooms and greens, asparagus

Freezer Meals

For the last several months my husband has been making massive quantities of food and freezing for nights that we don't have time to cook. This practice has become a real lifesaver for our family. We do not eat fast food, ever! With 3 kids, jobs, grad school, activities, pets and all the other things going on, meal time could be a problem. When you consider that we don't eat fast food, dinner time would become stressful. Not anymore. Our freezer is stocked with at least 10 evenings of meals, large enough for lunch leftovers. I cannot take credit for this surplus of food. That honor goes to my husband, Eric. Thank you Eric, you are like a male version of Martha Stewart. Here is a list of some of the things we have on hand for future use:

Vegetarian Chili

Chana Masala (Indian beans)

Falafel and pita bread

Mexican Rice

Butternut Squash Casserole

These meals were made out dry beans and rice bought in bulk. Buying rice and beans in bulk is a major money saver when sticking to a budget. Fast food was never an issue for us as a money waster, but I would often times stop at the grocery store for a quick meal that was not cheap, probably as expensive as McDonald's would be. I know that having this inventory of premade meals has saved us a lot of time and money, as well as unwanted calories and fat.