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Earlier this week, I took my 3 year old out to run errands.  We decided to try a new park, which was so much fun!  They have a climbing toy in the shape of a train, which my little guy just loved.

When we finally got home after a long day of running errands, I was ready for both of us to have some down time.  But as I unloaded things from the van, I saw him topple head first out of the car and into our gravel driveway.  Instead of relaxing, we spent a few hours in the emergency room.

Luckily, everything turned out just fine!  He was happy to get a popsicle and watch some cartoons, and I was relieved when the doctor said he looked a lot worse than he actually was.

Being a Mom is an emotional roller coaster sometimes!

Now let’s celebrate frugal Friday in our usual fashion.

Here are the 5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week

 More money saving tips for getting your money situation under control (finally!).

Survey

While we were wrapping up the trip to the ER, someone from the hospital came to our room and asked if I’d like to take a survey about my experience.  Then he offered me a $10 Kroger card if I completed it.

Uh, yeah!  Kroger is my grocery store of choice, so I was happy to get that card.  And the survey took a lot less time than he said it would.  (I didn’t cheat, I’m just a fast reader!)

Lamp

money saving tipsWe spent last weekend rearranging things to move one of our children into his own space.  But he’s a voracious reader, so I had to get him a small lamp to read by before bed.

I looked at Goodwill.  But the problem is that my Goodwill sells lamps and shades separately.  If you’re lucky, you’ll actually find a match.  But even then, by the time you pay for each of them, you could probably get as good a deal brand new somewhere else.  So I gave up on that.

Instead, I decided to ask my parents if they had an extra lamp.  They are downsizing, so they found one they weren’t using anymore.  I think it’s cool that my son gets to use the lamp his Grandpa owned back in his bachelor days.  Objects with history are my favorite!  And free is way better than brand new or used prices.

Bike

I didn’t totally strike out at Goodwill.  Our daughter loves to ride bikes, and she’s been happily riding her brothers’ hand me downs.  But the tires are beginning to rot, and it was time for her to have a bit bigger bike anyway.

I was able to find a girly looking bike for just $12.  This bike is in really good shape!  The tires are solid and it rides like a charm.

Kids outgrow bikes so quickly that it doesn’t make sense to buy them new.  Buy from another parent who bought new only to find their own kid outgrew it too quickly!  Or ask around and see if a friend is in that position and wants to hand their bikes down to you.

Vacation

I’ve mentioned before that despite our push to pay off debt (#presson!), we will be taking a vacation this summer. Because life is short and it won’t be long until my kids are teens and then adults with families of their own (sob!).  We’re paying cash for our trip, and I wrote about how you can pay cash for your own vacation, too!

So we’re making payments on our home rental.  We’ll be sharing a house with my parents and my brother’s family, which makes the cost of the home for a solid week only a couple hundred bucks.  It’s a crazy cheap way for our family of 7 to travel!

We noticed that the rental agency hadn’t taken the last payment from our account like they said they had.  So Hubby made another phone call and got it straightened out.  That saved us a late fee (though it was due to a mistake not on our part!).

Flexed My No Muscle

I harp on this all the time, but there’s a reason for that.  Every time I say no to some silly gadget or (more likely) a convenience drink or treat of some sort, I keep money in my pocket.  Those small treats add up much more quickly than you think they do.  And every time I practice restraint, I strengthen my self control.

Sometimes popcorn from the concession stand really calls my name!  But I’m resisting so far this baseball season!

Those are the 5 Ways We Saved This Week!

Hope you have a weekend that’s less exciting than my week was!  😉

How have you saved this week?