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I watched my kids collect items from around the house for their costumes, and it made my heart happy.  No one begged for a pricey costume this year.  Contentment is a tough thing to grasp, but oh so important in life.

I’m not telling you that we’re masters of contentment.  Far from it!  It’s a lesson you have to learn over and over.  But we have plenty of chances to practice.

That’s just another benefit we’re reaping from our #yearofno.

I like to celebrate Frugal Friday by reflecting back on all of the ways we saved this week.  If you’d like to catch back issues of this series, you can always find them here.

Here is our latest issue of…

The 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week.

(I feel like this series needs theme music.)

Halloween Costumes

I alluded to this one already.  Practically everyone chose a free costume based on things we already had around the house this year.  The Hubby and I chose to #yearofno our own costumes (which I think is more about having no creative juices than no money, truthfully).

Our 12 year old had to dress as Odysseus for a school project.  Luckily, 7th graders think that everyone born before 1900 just wore togas all the time.  A sheet from Goodwill and a beard picked up at Kroger for $6 and it was good enough.

By the way, the beard is pretty good entertainment, too.

This is my mean and angry look. Bring me a steak!

Quick food/Planning ahead

I know I’ve used this one before.  But doing this has been a life changer for us!

Many past Halloweens have found us in a drive-thru lane grabbing a quick meal in our hurry to get to trick or treat.  This year, I planned ahead.  When the kids got home, we heated up some quick leftovers.  Everyone had plenty to eat (before they gorged themselves on candy).  And best of all?  No fast food bill!

Cheap Date Night

You’ll never believe it, but Hubby and I actually went on a date!  It’s important to us to try to spend some time together away from all of the kids occasionally.  So even in our #yearofno we look for ways to afford date night.

While we like going out for a meal, we ate at home this time.   Then we just went out for drinks and dessert.  It saved a bunch of money, and we were even able to watch the baseball game without interruptions!

T-shirt Bag for Halloween

If you want something other than a pillowcase for carrying your Halloween haul, check out this idea.  You can make a bag from a t-shirt!  Turn a thrift store find (or a shirt that’s stained or the wrong size) into a bag.  Just cut off the sleeves and widen the neck hole.  Cut the bottom of the shirt into strips.  Flip the shirt inside out.  Tie the strips together in a few knots (you wouldn’t want it to come loose and drop candy!).  Flip it right side out.

Tada!  A candy bag.

#Yearofno’ed a Party

I was invited to attend a Damsel in Distress party.  The premise is pretty cool.  It’s a Tupperware-style party .  But rather than buying bowls or makeup you buy self-defense items.

That said, I just didn’t have the cash to buy more things.  So I declined.  (Even though I love girls night as much as the next Mom.)

Those are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week!

November is the perfect month to practice contentment!  We’re working on being thankful for each other more.

My only social media goal I haven’t met so far in 2016 is Facebook fans.  Would you “like” to give Medium Sized Family a like?  Click the blue follow button to keep up with all things MSF on Facebook.  And thanks!

What have you #yearofno-ed lately?

Stop Just Making Ends Meet - Start Enjoying Life!

 

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