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School is out for summer now!  Do you see my happy dance?  I’ve exchanged my travel mug of coffee for my pretty peacock blue coffee mug.  The alarm clock is turned off.  Lunches are simple instead of a planning adventure.

So much to celebrate on this Frugal Friday!

If you’re a new reader (welcome!), each Friday I like to share 5 new ways that our family has saved money this week.  If you want to read back through the entire series, you can find it here.

Now without further ado, here are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week.

The latest post in the 5 Ways We've Saved Money This Week series will give you great ideas for celebrating the end of the school year, even in the #yearofno.

Teacher gifts.  My kids enjoy giving their teachers a little token of appreciation at the end of the year.  I want to say thank you, but I have to do it in an affordable way.  Between my 4 school aged kids, we have 10 different teachers to buy for!

A couple of years ago, I decided that a simple potted plant would make a nice gift.  As a former teacher, I know that the teachers already have a whole pile of candy and sweets.  Also, a potted flower can be planted outside or kept in the pot.  I also choose a size that’s big enough to be pretty, but small enough to be carried home easily.

Check out the pretty flowers we found here.  (Be sure to follow me on Facebook for money saving tips all week!)

Kindergarten Recognition.  Just a few years ago, I learned that many schools and areas do not celebrate kindergarten graduation.  It’s been celebrated in my area for generations, so that was a surprise to me!

Our daughter had her celebration for the last day of kindergarten this week.  Some families go all out and celebrate with meals and gifts.

With our oldest son, we began a simple but special tradition.  We take our kindergartner-turned-first-grader to make a special ceramic plate.  They get to paint it with Mom on a one on one outing.  When it is finished, we let that child use their special plate on special days.  Birthdays, days when they are recognized for something special, holidays, any time we can find a reason to celebrate.

It’s simple and doesn’t cost much.  But it’s truly a lasting gift, and I love our little tradition!

Car repair.  It’s been a crazy week around here.  The van had a flat tire last week.  No sooner did we get that fixed than the car died.  It’s discouraging when you are making payments on a car so you have something reliable to drive; and it still doesn’t drive reliably!  (Just one more reason to get rid of those payments, right?)

Lucky for us, Hubby did some research and learned that the problem was so common that the repair would be covered by the dealer.  At least we don’t have to pay for the repair.  It always pays to do a little research when things go wrong with a car.

Tow bill.  When we tried to drive the car to the dealer, it died on the side of the road.  So we had to call a tow truck.

Luckily, I have coverage for this on our car insurance.  It only costs a few bucks to add it to your policy.  We’ve had to use it so often that it has paid for itself easily.  Don’t tell the insurance guys that, though!

Changed the plan.  I hastily put together my meal plan for the week, assuming that pork would be on sale.  (It always seems to be on sale!)  But when I got to the store, it was double the price I had expected.  So I changed my plan on the fly and just added one more burger meal to the menu since it was on sale.  It’s important to be flexible, right?

Those are the 5 ways we saved money this week.

I hope you found some inspiration here to help you save money in your own home.

I’ve got something exciting in the works for my email subscribers.  If you join the list now, you’ll be one of the first to know when it is ready!  And in the meantime, you’ll get extra money saving tips right in your inbox each week.  It’s totally free, and your email address is always safe with me!

How was your week?  Do you have any frugal finds to celebrate?  Tell us all about them!