Last week's frugal efforts.

My husband and son picked flowers from the yard.

I was able to complete two math courses in the same quarter so it's like getting one class for free and will enable me to be that much closer to being caught up on math.

I brought a reusable water bottle, coffee cup, and glass containers to work.

Something we always do that I forgot to put down here is recycling. We separate cardboard, plastics, glass, aluminum, tin, etc. to eventually take to the dump for free. This greatly reduces the amount of trash we have.

This might sound silly, but I watched some Youtube videos of a SAHM and how she manages her time and three kids. Her videos have inspired me to manage my time better.

I checked out some free ebooks from the library.

The weather is warming up so finally my husband isn't using the heat as much/as high at night. Our power bills go down drastically during the summer even when we use air conditioning often.

I filled out another survey from the Fred Meyer receipt for free fuel points.

I was looking through some cookbooks, and my son really enjoyed looking at the pictures so now he asks to look at cookbooks before bedtime. :)

What have you done to save money lately?

Moment of Pause #7

My son and I were outside enjoying the fresh air after a day or so of rain fall.

When walking around I saw these leaves stuck to the wooden fence. Super simple, but I just felt the need to pause and look at them awhile.

What have you seen lately that made you pause?

Frugal Fun. Toddler and Paper.

One day last year my husband brought home a $0.50 poster board for our son that had been sick. For months we all colored on it.

Eventually my son stopped coloring on it, and I got tired of looking at it so I decided we'd practice cutting with scissors and cut out some "mail" for his mini mailbox. I cut out a heart, put tape on the back, and he proudly stuck it on his shirt. The smile he gave was priceless.

He is pretty good at using scissors. He helped me cut out strips. I cut out a large rectangle out of the board and made an envelope so he could stash all his colorful little shapes. He loves playing with paper and mail.

He asked for more hearts, and he wanted to tape the biggest heart to the back of daddy's chair. The hearts eventually all ended up on our bulletin board. It makes him happy, and they're a reminder of a fun project.

Have you done any special crafts with your toddler lately?

June Goals

The year is half over already! Christmas is six months away. Time just keeps going so fast even though it seems to slowly creep along during the worst moments. I completed most of my May goals, and I got my blogging "oomph" back so I consider that a success. Here are my goals for the month of June:

Cleaning/Organizing:

• Move sandbox.
• Clean outdoor wicker chairs.
• Declutter at least 100 items.
• Claim a dedicated area for schoolwork and blogging.

Crafting/Creating:

• Make anniversary card.
• Make birdseed wreaths for our yard.

Blogging:

• Keep up with current types of posts.
• Comment more on other blogs.

Meal Planning:

• Continue planning weekly dinners.
• Eat down pantry and freezers.
• Make extra waffles to freeze.
• Make extra standard sized muffins to freeze.

Miscellaneous:

• Start journaling again.
• Clean out the armoire drawers! (this didn't happen in May)
• Try selling things on Ebay.
• Order a photo card for Father's day and some prints to decorate my work desk.

I have a week off between classes this month. I'm going to enjoy going to bed earlier and being able to read what I want to on breaks at work...maybe even do some coloring. I do plan on finally playing some of my video games that I haven't touched since this quarter began. I hope to spend some time decluttering my closet; I just haven't had the time nor energy to do so.

What are your goals this month?