The lined tote bag I made for my cousin’s 4th birthday. The pocket on the outside holds 8 crayons.
We just returned from a WONDERFUL vacation to the Smoky Mountains a couple days ago. I took a break from technology while on vacation so I thought I would share things I did during the past 2 weeks. Honestly we pretty much took a break from our “frugal ways” and splurged a lot while on vacation. We saved up for our vacation and paid cash for everything. 🙂
I made a nice tote bag for my cousin Anna’s 4th birthday. It has a pocket on the outside for crayons and is lined (& padded). It is small enough that she can actually carry it but large enough that it will hold enough toys for a day trip. I was really pleased with how it turned out. I hope to make Elijah one sometime this summer.
I went to lots of yard sales with my Mom one Saturday. I don’t often get to go shopping with her so this was a real treat. I found some really cute clothes for Eli, a maternity jacket for myself, and even a few baby items. 😉
I found the 3t/4t summer clothes box for Elijah. He always gets so excited when I get out of box of clothes. Sometimes there are even toys inside! I buy most of Elijah’s clothes at yard sales or thrift stores the year before he will be a certain size. This summer I will be looking to buy clothes for this winter and next year. This saves us LOTS of money and really helps us from having to purchase lots of clothing last minute when the weather changes. Usually I notice a few gaps in what is in the box that I will fill in as needed. I also found a pair of sandals in his box that fit him great but no gym shoes. It’s really hard to find decent used little boy shoes at this age!
My aunt gave me a huge box of Pink Pull Ups and Little Swimmers. I don’t care at all that the Pull Ups are pink and will let Eli sleep in them. 🙂 I am sending the Little Swimmers to keep at my parent’s house. They have a pool and Eli often goes swimming when he visits. (Since we swim a lot we use cloth swim diapers most of the time.) My aunt also gave me a pink sled and a pair of snow boots which may or may not fit Eli next winter. I will add the snow boots to Eli’s winter box. If they don’t fit this winter then I will just give them to a friend.
My husband preached a revival at another church in the area. Each night before the service they had dinner which we enjoyed. It was so nice not having to make dinner for four nights and a great way to fellowship with members of that church.
I received two free books to review in the mail this week. I read one while on vacation and it was great! 🙂
We stayed at a Comfort Inn (Choice Hotels) for our vacation. Usually when traveling this is our hotel of choice because as Farm Bureau Members we receive an excellent rate. Our rate was about $15 cheaper per night than anything I found online. Comfort Inn hotels are usually family friendly, have a great indoor pool, clean, quiet, and have a wonderful breakfast. We ate breakfast every morning of vacation (except 1) at the hotel since the food was really good. We chose to eat out for both lunch and dinner but I did split my food nearly every meal with Eli rather than purchase him a separate kid’s meal. We also drank water (no stupid tax for us) when dining out. For snacks we enjoyed fruit or homemade energy bites that I took with us. We took a small cooler with us. Each morning I packed it with snacks and drinks to enjoy throughout the day.
A friend passed along jeans that should fit Elijah this winter.
What frugal things did you do last week?
Emerson Family 
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