Frugal Friday/Making Your Home a Haven: Day 5
Seeing as I'm all about efficiency, we're combining today's regular Frugal Friday feature with our current Making Your Home a Haven Challenge.
Today, instead of the usual challenges we've been doing all week, I'm encouraging all of you participants to make your home a haven by taking some time to spend as a family or spend some time doing something for your family. Have fun with your family! It's one of the best ways to make your home an oasis.
Fridays are Library Day and Family Movie Night at our house. It's something we look forward to all week long. We usually work quite hard Monday through Thursday so that we can take time off to enjoy being a family on Friday and on into the weekend.
Friday mornings we usually do our morning routine and some basic pick up and straightening of the house and then head off to the library. Kathrynne loves it and it gives her something special to look forward to and guarantees we're never lacking for good reading material around here! I enjoy doing something a little different from the norm and I also love picking up a few good reading finds myself. Best of all, it's about a frugal of an outing as it gets!
For family movie night, I usually make homemade pizza (recipe here) and then we either pick up a movie from the library (tonight we're watching an old classic that we had on hold) or we rent one through Redbox.
For those of you who enjoy watching good movies as a family on occasion, you definitely should check out Redbox. Though many of the movies they offer are not ones we'd consider to be "family-friendly," they do often have a few good, clean movies to choose from.
But wait! That's not all; it gets better. Redbox gives out codes incessantly for free rentals. Sign up for their email newsletter here to get a free rental. Plus, check out this website for almost daily updated codes. Basically, you can rent from Redbox and never pay a dime! Click here to see if there is a Redbox location near you.
This past week we rented Amazing Grace through Redbox (for free, of course!) and we would highly recommend it. There are a few mild profanities and a few dresses that could use higher necklines, but the overall message of this film is very good and true to the original story of William Wilberforce. You can read the full review from Focus on the Family here.
A trip to the library, homemade pizza, and a free movie - it doesn't get much cheaper than that for wholesome family fun!
Speaking of frugality, thanks to those of you - whoever you were - who kindly nominated me for the Best Thrifty Homeschooler Blog Award. You all are very sweet and your thoughtfulness blessed me.
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Join in Frugal Friday and the Making Your Home a Haven Challenge by posting about some way you have inexpensive family fun or by sharing a simple way you have creatively and frugally done something to make your home more of a haven. Of course, you are also free to just share any post on any topic related to frugality like usual for Frugal Fridays.
Today, instead of the usual challenges we've been doing all week, I'm encouraging all of you participants to make your home a haven by taking some time to spend as a family or spend some time doing something for your family. Have fun with your family! It's one of the best ways to make your home an oasis.
Fridays are Library Day and Family Movie Night at our house. It's something we look forward to all week long. We usually work quite hard Monday through Thursday so that we can take time off to enjoy being a family on Friday and on into the weekend.
Friday mornings we usually do our morning routine and some basic pick up and straightening of the house and then head off to the library. Kathrynne loves it and it gives her something special to look forward to and guarantees we're never lacking for good reading material around here! I enjoy doing something a little different from the norm and I also love picking up a few good reading finds myself. Best of all, it's about a frugal of an outing as it gets!
For family movie night, I usually make homemade pizza (recipe here) and then we either pick up a movie from the library (tonight we're watching an old classic that we had on hold) or we rent one through Redbox.
For those of you who enjoy watching good movies as a family on occasion, you definitely should check out Redbox. Though many of the movies they offer are not ones we'd consider to be "family-friendly," they do often have a few good, clean movies to choose from.
But wait! That's not all; it gets better. Redbox gives out codes incessantly for free rentals. Sign up for their email newsletter here to get a free rental. Plus, check out this website for almost daily updated codes. Basically, you can rent from Redbox and never pay a dime! Click here to see if there is a Redbox location near you.
This past week we rented Amazing Grace through Redbox (for free, of course!) and we would highly recommend it. There are a few mild profanities and a few dresses that could use higher necklines, but the overall message of this film is very good and true to the original story of William Wilberforce. You can read the full review from Focus on the Family here.
A trip to the library, homemade pizza, and a free movie - it doesn't get much cheaper than that for wholesome family fun!
Speaking of frugality, thanks to those of you - whoever you were - who kindly nominated me for the Best Thrifty Homeschooler Blog Award. You all are very sweet and your thoughtfulness blessed me.
-------------
Join in Frugal Friday and the Making Your Home a Haven Challenge by posting about some way you have inexpensive family fun or by sharing a simple way you have creatively and frugally done something to make your home more of a haven. Of course, you are also free to just share any post on any topic related to frugality like usual for Frugal Fridays.
posted by Crystal Paine at 9:42 PM
27 Comments:
Yum--the pizza looks amazing. :-)
ahhh family night...who said it needs to cost a fortune?
~simply~
Thanks Crystal for hosting Frugal Friday again!
We have had some wonderful and frugal family nights. Often we have homemade pizza or hamburgers followed by either a boardgame or a DVD. I hope it's something our children look back on with fondness.
We do a lot family nights on Saturday night. We do the homemade pizza and do Che"our last night. We sit down and watch a family friendly movie.
Thanks for the tip on redbox I haven't checked them out yet now that they give free movies ocassionally-you bet I will more now!!
we also love our library...we can order online and put books on hold, all ready for us to pick up when we arrive.
This is also the place that we get 99.9 percent of the videos/dvds that we watch. If we hear or read about a decent movie - first we go to a movie review website to get some basic info on it - then put it on hold at the library (most of the time the library carries what we want since we enjoy classics and movies from the 40/50s.)
Fabulous challenge. And timely, too. I was just thinking through the day and thought that maybe I could bless my husband by stopping by his workplace to play 20 minutes of Wii Tennis with him (his workplace is a guy's dream come true). Play-time's important to my husband and he rarely has the opportunity to enjoy it! Little V and I will do our library run, too and rent her favorite movie: The Sound of Music. :)
My hubby works six days a week so we never get a full weekend together as a family. Today I am going to work on crafts with the children and straighten up the areas already cleaned this week. I'm also in the midst of organizing (or trying!) our office/sewing room. It's a big mess after the flurry of sewing I've been doing making some Christmas gifts. Thankfully I'm now done and can get all the supplies neatly put away. It will probably take me a full week to accomplish this, but a little bit every day, right?!? :) Tomorrow we are planning to take the children sliding in the snow and then Sunday is our wedding anniversary. We'll probably get car side to go from Applebees and have a candlelit meal at home and then watch a rented movie after the children are in bed.
I'm anxious to read more challenge posts and see more pictures. I can relate to how you talked about many interruptions throughout the day and am glad to know I'm not the only one who has days like that. :)
We watch movies on Friday night too. We used to get them from our library and pay $1 a piece for them but now we have a $3/month subscription to Netflix(we signed up for their free trial then canceled it, then they sent us this offer). This has been a great blessing because there is such a huge selection that you can find nearly every movie ever made. You can also watch some online which is really nice. We have been able to find lots of Christian films, movies from classic books like Dickens and Austen, and new releases like Amazing Grace (that was a movie that made you think, very good).
Thanks for the challenges this week they have been very helpful in getting me focused. God bless.
Your family night sounds a lot like ours. We love our local library! The one in our small town is very tiny but it is joined with the county library which is huge! We go online, reserve what we like, and they email me when they get to town a day or two later. The kids love the outing! Tonight though our family night is a bit different. The town next to ours is having a light parade downtown! It is really fun...and completely free! So we will have our homemade pizza before we go...and then take some homemade hot cocoa with us! Enjoy your weekend with your family. This week's challenges have been fun and rewarding. Thanks Crystal!
For very detailed information of movie content, my favorite is:
http://www.kids-in-mind.com/
We too enjoy Redbox and watched Amazing Grace a couple of weeks ago. The Ultimate Gift is another good movie that we enjoyed, not without it's flaws but it was a good story.
Hi Crystal--my first FF post! I'm afraid I didn't realize I had to put my page's title in with my name--silly me. Sorry!
Just an update on the whole "how to reduce phone time" problem I wrote about a day or two ago. God is good! I prayed and prayed that He would open the door of opportunity for me to be able to speak to these people in a loving way and that no offense would be taken, and He did! They totally understood my need to be off the phone and making my family/home a priority. We talked briefly and then got off the phone. Praise the Lord!
Your comment about higher necklines needed in "Amazing Grace" made me laugh. I agree and I highly recommend it too.
Mrs. Bowen
We watched Amazing Grace last Friday night as well, and ordered pizza from a restaurant in town since we had been gone all day. (We like to make pizza; this was very unusual!) We thought the movie was very inspiring, especially regarding politics.
(This was the third video we have gotten from Netflix--the first two were free. I like the fact that they have all the good movies we like to look for, and we don't have to walk by all the undesirable ones in the rental store in order to find them. )
Funny... Today was my first day participating in your challenge and I this morning I realized that my objective in Making My Home A Haven is to create an inspirational and creative place for our family to exist - and do things together. What you described today goes right along with what I had in mind!
I posted on my blog about making do with a quilt for a Christmas tree skirt. Stop by!
Amy @ http://hopeistheword.wordpress.com/2007/12/07/a-new-christmas-tradition/
The story of my life is never accomplishing all I'd had planned--usually very little of it! The question is am I more concerned about my task or those around me God's called me to serve? For me, this is a struggle.
My husband enjoyed Amazing Grace as well.
We watched Amazing Grace a few weeks ago. I loved it!
Gracie
We had the most WONDERFUL family day here: We paid for a $10 "Christmas Tree Pass" and got to hike through our local national forest and pick out and bring home our own Christmas tree. Frosty hike through the forest, hot cocoa, kids excited...and a Christmas tree that cost ONLY TEN DOLLARS--can't get much better and cheaper family fun than that!
By the way, anyone else live in the Pikes Peak area? You should check it out!
Mine is not so much frugal, I apologize. But it is the 5th day of the challenge. :) I think making your own bread is much, much cheaper than buying it, so I guess it counts for frugal too. :)
Some family nights in the summer we used to go to a picturesque park and just walk through it. Walking together, interacting, talking, chasing... No money but lots of memories.
I was wondering if you would share how you and your family celebrate Christmas. Would you also share your thinking on Christmas gifts for eachother and children?
Thanks!
Crystal I we use redbox all the time. I've been using codes for free movies sent to my inbox but I had no idea about that site where I can continually get codes to use! Thanks a bunch! And mostly thanks for continuing to inspire me to press on in faith in my role as homemaker.
The Lord Bless you and your household
I'm looking forward to starting this on Monday due to already-planned days last week.
Thanks for the wonderful inspiration - with the holidays making life more busy than normal, the daily challenges will be a real help to not feeling so overwhelmed with our homes later in the month.
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