Frugal date night

My hubby and I determined to have a special night once a week. We don't use a baby sitter. Which means our dates have to be at home, fun, and affordable. Yesterday's date night was one of our most fun to date!

Our most recent date night cost us $11. We laughed and teased each other the whole night.

We spent $6 on Sorry Revenge. This is our beloved game and the 3rd copy we have purchased. It is an amazingly fun game. I hate math, but i adore this game.

The other $5 went to a treat. We splurged on 4 Auntie Anne's cookies. This was a huge treat for me. I love Auntie Anne's cookies and rarely treat myself to them. Homemade cookies would be cheaper but Auntie Anne's cookies were more fun.

Thats $11 total. Our 6 dollar game was an investment purchase (assuming we can find this copy again!) that will bring us tons of fun.

Date night reality

Hubby and I live in a very rainy part of the country, our outdoor plans were cancled last night. We made our smores over candle light. Not quite what we had planned, but when does life go exactly how we plan? The champagne will wait, and bentobaby will be more then happy to help drink the orange juice. Eventually we'll have our Mimosas around the fire pit. In till then, smores over candle light sounds pretty fun to me.

Date Night

What is a couple to do when they don't use baby sitters but still want to have a special time with each other? We use date night. Frequently this means a movie, popcorn, and a treat. The treat is usually cake or ice cream bought on sale. Usually its not something I have to bake myself because that is not much fun for me. Sometimes its a cheese plate, chips and dip. Something we do not eat often that is a splurge. Tonight i had a different idea. Today we bought:


$2.50 orange juice
$11 bottle of champagne (huge splurge, we never drink!)
$3.50 bundle of wood (all of ours is wet!)

Total $17

Plus smores fixings leftover from dh's camping trip. We plan to sit outside around our fire pit, roast smores, and sip Mimosas. We can relax alone (away from the 7 animals, while baby is sleeping) but still be there if BentoBaby needs us (via baby monitor). Sounds like a perfect evening to me!

Few convenience items for the freezer

I'm not a HUGE fan of convenience items. However I recently became a mom to an active toddler. Its been a huge adjustment for everyone, and a few quicky items in the freezer are still cheaper then the drive through.

$3.50 frozen pizza (on sale from $7)
$3.29 bag of frozen ravioli.

Accidents

They happen sometimes, don't they? We do not mean to do something, but we do. And sometimes these little problems cost money. A speeding ticket, over draft, late bill, library fines. We've all been there.

Last week my husband finished painting our home. It was a long over due project! I was so excited! This Tuesday I walk outside to my back porch. I need a bag of veggies from the deep freeze. I reach inside to find everything very defrosted. Apparently when my husband finished painting he did not plug the freezer back in. The contents of the freezer are useless. What a blow! That is where I keep my carefully stocked up frozen meat. That i just recently restocked. Thankfully our freezer is small 5 cubic feet. But its still a loss. At a time when money is unusually tight no less.

Will you join me as i restock my freezer as carefully as i can? I'm starting with a blank canvas, and a super tight budget.

Mama and baby bento

These bentos were not made to go, they were for lunch at home. Because of that I did not fill them completely full. I left gaps. It feels weird to have gaps in my bentos!

Bento baby has banana slices, cheddar cheese, raisins, and onigiri. I use a seaweed, sesame furikake. I thought bento baby wouldn't like it, but she loves it!
Mama's bento has carrots, hummus, banana, and two yummy onigiri. Typing this makes me want onigiri! Unfortunately I'm out of the right kind of rice. Sad.

Fast, fast bento

I couldn't tell you when this bento was made, or who it was for. Seriously. Life is CRAZY here.
The top box holds strawberries, pb&j, carrots.
Middle holds a granola bar, yogurt raisins, crackers, and toddler puffs.
Bottom box holds carrots, cheese boats.