Sundays

"Sundays?" you say. "What on earth does that have to do with frugality?" you might ask.

A lot. Especially if you're Apostolic. And especially if you're us on Sundays.

I'll be brutally honest. If we have the money in our budget, we are so going out to eat on Sundays. And, no matter how careful I am with our money, no matter how much more frugal I get, we will always go out to eat on Sundays if we have money in our budget.

In fact, this is the one area that I've been known to let slide...and we've often gone out to eat on Sundays even when we didn't have money in the budget. And that's no bueno. And why we're here.

Why you ask? Well, frankly, Sundays are exhausting around here. By the time we've made it through two rocking services, two separate choir practices, musicians' practice, Sunday school, etc etc, I do.not.want.to.cook. I love, love, love Sundays. They are awesome. But they are exhausting. Our few hours between services are precious...and sometimes non-existent. And the last thing I want to do is cook and clean up. So, if we can eat out...we do. My attitude is shared by many, and it's usually a great time of fellowship.

But that doesn't always work financially. So. My current challenge is to find ways to minimize cooking on days when eating out is not in the budget.

Sometimes, I mix up a shepherd's pie the night before so all I have to do is pop it in the oven when we get home. Or we have a meat of some sort that J can grill while I throw together some easy sides. Or tacos...which take about 10 minutes flat. They still require cooking and clean-up, but, thankfully, it's minimal.

Regardless of what we do, planning ahead is key.