31 Days of Living Well Spending Zero – Day 25

Sundays are one of my favorite days! We usually head of church in the morning and then on this particular gray and drizzly day we are headed out on a family outing to the miracle Ranch harvest festival! This is a tradition for us and is our third year doing it.

2013 at the Miracle Ranch Harvest Fest
Cashel and I went with Camper “in tow” – I was 21 weeks along.

2014 at Crista Camps Miracle Ranch Harvest Festival. We all went! SO much family fun. 

Cashel had just turned 2 a couple months prior and Camper was coming up on 8 months old.
2015 at Crista Camps Miracle Ranch Harvest Festival. 
We hit up all the free activities and since we ate a “picnic lunch” in the car on the way there we did the whole event spending ZERO!
My boys LOVE pumpkins and animals (oh and “treats”) so they were in heaven!
Did I mention that they are totally fearless and just love all of God’s creatures?! Camper gives kisses indiscriminately!
“Hot!” 
Hunting for treats.
This was the hardest thing to resist. You had to buy a ticket to get to toss apples into the cider press and Cashel wanted to do it so badly. But he compromised and agreed to watch another girl do it and decided to have a cup of the cider we made yesterday and have at home. A true sacrifice for him but he totally did it! 
And a successful afternoon it was! Off to dinner with friends after naps.
What I spent on…
1. We stopped and used a gift card to get the tuckered out grown ups some Starbucks. 
What I did not spend on…
1. We did a picnic lunch in the car so we didn’t “have” to pay for lunch at the festival.
2. We chose to do only free activities at the Festival. We are getting better at this. Over the years living on a strict budget has helped develop the “saying no” skill. But it can still be challenging, especially where the kids are concerned. But we did it and when we do we teach a valuable lesson for sure.
3. I have 2 large batches of turkey soup in the works and will be able to bless a couple extra families with special deliveries! I love leftovers. And the smell of turkey soup on the stovetop. I used turkey bones from our event yesterday and things I just had in the fridge. I ended up using carrots, onion, celery, and frozen corn and then one of the batches I made with wild rice and the other batch I made with lentils. Yum! 
Tips…
1. It’s fun to find ways to bless others and do it on a budget, your budget. When I give within my means and using my abilities and gifting’s I find it even more satisfying.
2. I used the online macaroni kid calendar which is a community events calendar and found lots of free activities at the beginning of the month. I do this throughout the holiday season too to make sure we don’t miss out on fun events for kids!
3. When it comes to this new way of eating I am finding that I can identify triggerpoints. There are times of the day where it’s harder for me and especially on days where I am home more I find myself slowing down to take a break (like when both boys nap simultaneously) and wanting to munch. So… Instead I am working to find other things I can do that are creative and entertaining and keep my hands and mind busy. I think it will really help! 
4. Drinking water! This is something I’ve never been good at but with spending zero and now this new low carbohydrate diet (I’m also trying to stay away from some artificial sweeteners that can be false triggers) I am finding that water is my best friend! 🙂
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