Fun & Frugal Things I Did Last Week

Eli had a blast playing Twister at the Art Museum.  

Our summer of fun is in full swing.  Can you believe it is already July?  Here are a few of the ways my family saved money last week.  Most of the things we did were also incredibly fun!  

I cut green onions that I had growing in a pot on our front porch.

I used a bunch of leftovers to make a delicious Ham, Spinach, and Mushroom Quiche.

The kids and I had a blast at our local Splash Park.  At only $3 per person (ages 2-12) this makes for quite a fun, frugal outing.  I also appreciate the fact that there isn't a pool there so I don't have trouble wrangling two wet kids by myself.  We packed a fun picnic to enjoy while we were there.  I hope we can squeeze in a few more trips before school begins!

Before heading to the Splash park we stopped by Aldi to load up on groceries.  Since I took my large cooler along we were able to visit the grocery before the Splash park which worked better in our schedule for the day.  (That way Evangeline didn't fall asleep before we actually got there.)  They are also building a new Aldi closer to where we live sometime this year!

We also visited two thrift stores this week and three yard sales on days when we were already out.  We finally purchased a cd player so that we can have one upstairs and one downstairs.  I picked up a nice polo shirt for the happy hubby, magazine files for organization, two pairs of jeans, and a few books for our library.  I also purchased three lamps (not pictured) which was such a blessing.  We don't have a light in our living room and despite having four lamps in that room it is still too dark for reading late at night.  Now we have an actual large reading lamp that should helpfully solve my problem of not being able to see well enough to read at night.

We cloth diapered most of the time this week including when we were away from home.  I really don't find cloth diapers difficult to use and I enjoy spending the money I would spend on diapers on other things like gas to drive to fun places.

Eva loved the children's play area at the art museum.  

On Friday we visited the Cincinnati Art Museum.  One thing you might not know about the Cincinnati Art Museum is the fact that it is a FREE art museum.  Parking is $4 but you can easily park at the bottom of the museum and walk up which is what we chose to do.  We also took along my sister Bekah which made the visit even better.  The museum has an impressive collection of art which we enjoyed.  Eli's favorite painting was "The Whistling Boy" by Frank Duveneck.  My favorite part of the museum was the new Rosenthal Education Center which is dedicated to kid's exploring and creating art.  It was phenomenal!  Not only did the kids each make a sun catcher, but they had the opportunity to play with light, mix colors with flashlights, weave on a loom, play a game of Twister on a piece of art and of course color on the wall.  :)  Overall such a fun experience that I hope to repeat later this year.  Hopefully the happy hubby will be able to join us next time.

After the art museum we enjoyed a lovely picnic at Eden Park.

What frugal things did you do last week?