Binkies and Briefcases

I have to admit, I have been way less than frugal lately, especially on our food. We can spend a CRAZY amount of money on food. Eddie and I like to have date nights after the kids are asleep, so we often order take out and pick up a movie from Redbox. It’s still cheaper than going out to dinner and a movie and hiring a baby sitter, but $30-$40 dinners a few nights each week add up! (This week we did steaks from Texas Roadhouse.)  And one night I fully intended to make dinner after getting home from an appointment, but when we got home the spaghetti sauce I had taken out to defrost was still frozen solid, so we ordered pizza instead. That was just me being lazy because I could have given everyone peanut butter sandwiches or something, but I didn’t want to.

We’ve been very fortunate lately with our finances and it is easy to get lazy and not worry about it, but I know that’s just irresponsible, plus I like saving money, so I’m making an effort to get back to a more frugal way of living, regardless of whether or not we *have* to.

 Food splurging aside, we actually did do a few things to save money recently. (And, P.S. when I went to the grocery store today, the total was finally back under $100. I need to take my own advice and get back into the meal planning). 

For Nick’s birthday, he said he wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese. Instead of having a huge party with his entire class, we just drove our little family of 5 there last Friday and got a family meal deal. The kids had a blast and Nicholas got exactly what he wanted. When I asked him what his favorite part of the day was he spread out his hands and said, “The whole thing!”

Also in the name of frugality, Eddie cut Nick’s hair and I learned that if you send two boys into the bathroom with the clippers, one of them is going to come out with a mohawk. [Read more…]