frugal father's day

We're trying something new around here lately.  The dreaded "B" word....budgeting.

We've never been big spenders, but we're good at nickel and dime-ing ourselves to a zero balance.

This was my old budget: spend until JP told me to stop...then make-do until we had more money.
That doesn't leave much room for savings or emergencies.

So this month we got tight.

All extra spending is out for now.  We can buy gas and groceries, and that's about it.

Every now and then, one of us breaks the rules, but for the most part it's been a fun experiment at not spending a cent.

So what to do about father's day?

Basically, it comes down to using what you have.

And believe me, we ALL have enough stuff.  We just have to be creative with it.

Joaquin's gift was a planter...that is supposed to look like his dad.  If you grow something like grass, or clover in it, it will look like hair.



Thanks to That Artist Woman for the great tutorial.

Working with clay is really hard, and Joaquin usually ends up in tears, so I helped a lot, especially getting the pieces to hold onto the pot.  But when we had finished there was some left over clay, and he decided to make an angry bird.... all on his own.  He used the same techniques, and it turned out great.

Joaquin always seems to do better when there are no directions to follow.



Isabela made the sweetest sewn book for Juan Pablo....ten things she loves about him.  She sewed it herself, after I printed off the cover.  And I left her on her own for the ten ideas and spelling.  There's a few interesting words, but it's all decipherable.


This was my favorite page..."you are brave"...with daddy getting a spider.  He's good at that.


And Diego's gift was really made by (shhh!).....me and Joaquin.  But so fitting for his love of matchbox cars.


Does this look fun after a hard day's work, or what?  The front of this shirt said  'I love Hollywood' so I  crossed out the Hollywood and put Dad, instead.  All the kids signed it, and we tried it out this morning.

There's a great tutorial at The Blue Basket for the street pattern...I used her same design but with sharpies instead of fabric paint.  Very easy!


Our original plan was to head to the beach for the day, but the pool turned out to be a much better option....free, close, quite empty, and the most relaxing day we've had in awhile.  It almost felt like Mother's Day!



Most of us break the bank with one trip each summer (I know we are), so being frugal right now just makes sense (cents?).  I think that's something most dad's would appreciate.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!