Show & Tell Tuesday....Steal & Splurge, plus our Weekend Wrap Up

It's Tuesday...that means our weekend wrap up, plus the first topic in this year's Show & Tell Tuesday. I'll share some details on our weekend in a bit, but first a fresh list of Show & Tell Tuesday topics from Andrea over at Momfessionals. I linked up for a few Show & Tells last year too and am excited for this year's topics!

This week's topic is about how we save and how we splurge. I am pretty happy to say that we are more on the saving side than splurgers. #hopemomisproud I do love  to score a deal.... I find it to be a bit of a game!

How our family saves.....
Probably one of the biggest ways we save is cooking at home versus going out to eat. We used to waste sooo much money here!!! I would grocery shop with no real plan and spend money on a random assortment of stuff, then get home and have nothing to make for dinner. So, we would go out....and toss the food that went bad.....ridiculous! So over the past few years, things have changed...
Let's talk about food!  I meal plan & prep. I plan out all our meals for the week and shop according to my list. Then when I get home I prep for my meals and cut up fresh fruit and veggies for snacks.

Much less waste and we are eating much healthier with all our food prepped. I did a post on meal prep that you can catch up on here, and new this year I am sharing 5 meals for your family table every Monday!

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

It's not just dinners... we plan out our lunches better too. Paul used to buy his lunch everyday at work. At around $10 per day... that was over $200 a month! He prefers a "hot meal" as opposed to a sandwich, so I just make an extra serving of dinner each night and he takes it for lunch. No leftover waste & no money spent on eating out everyday!

Water Bottles.... we all have reusable water bottles that we fill numerous times a day. The kids take them to school everyday... that's their drink for lunch & snack. Paul has one at the office he fills throughout the day and I fill up two each morning to travel with for the day. No need to buy bottled water and a much healthier drink for us all!

Paper Products...random, I know, but here's the story. I was a store manager for Target for about 10 years. #bestjobever While I was working there, I decided to give the store brand stuff a try. I must say I have been really happy with just about all the UP & UP stuff I have tried. I pretty much buy all my paper products, food storage, laundry supplies, and others in the store brand. Everything is less than the national brand... plus usually an extra 5% on Cartwheel and another 5% with your Target card. So it adds up over the course of a year.

We try to plan ahead to do fun things during the "off season". We love to visit new places or take fun adventures with the kids, but it can get expensive. I am always on the lookout for a hotel deal or plan to see something during the non peak season, as it's usually less expensive. We also save by making our experiences more about something to see or do....like a hike or exploring a beach or park. Most of which are free!

How our family splurges....
As I think about splurges, it was kind of hard to think of... but I guess a splurge for us would be our vehicle. We have recently purchased a pretty luxurious vehicle, but the last one we had we kept for 10 years and we plan to use this the same way. It will take us on lots of adventures up and down the East Coast, so we think it's worth the splurge!

The other place we splurge is with our time off... And by this I mean we both use all of  our allotted vacation and personal time each year and try to take whatever adventures we can! I hear these stories of people that don't take vacation or the time off they are allowed and it just blows my mind! I mean, we work so hard during the year... there is a reason we need that time...like this weekend!! We loaded up to head out on a weekend getaway to an indoor waterpark!

It was so much fun! We went down lots of slides....

This picture of Paul cracks me up!

Hopped the lily pads with the help of some ropes...

Stopped for a few selfies....

 

Floated down the lazy river....

Took a break for some ice cream....

Tasted a hot donut for the fist time.....

And slept well...

And so much more! I came home with a hoarse voice from screaming down the slides, tired eyes from the chlorine, and an appreciation for my littles to be old enough to carry their own bags!

What are some ways your family saves? Any fun splurges to share? I would love to hear from you in the comments! See you tomorrow for What's Up Wednesday. And Thursday I will be sharing my first book review on the books I read this month. Hope you stop by.....there's always room for one more at our family table.

xoxo 

Genevieve