#FallFrugalFun

We've got budgets on the brain around her, so I was inspired by the brand Personal Capital to write a post about #FallFrugalFun and include a link to their Financial Tools page. It's a perfect fit because that's about the only kind of fun we're having lately because I don't know why nobody ever told me this, but 4 kids cost a lot of money.  J/K-- EVERYBODY told me this.

Today, we decided to have a family date night with homemade pizza and a Guess Who tournament, and the whole night only cost $15.56.  HOW CAN WE GET MORE FRUGAL THAN THAT?

We made pizza dough in the bread machine.  It was a division of labor:  Harry measured the ingredients for the dough

 And Cooper pushed the button.

 90 short minutes later, Ben was in his pizza designing element.

 And so were the kids.

 Dorothy made hers a heart because she's ADORABLE

 (She was also really hungry and couldn't wait for dinner)

 Cooper was heart-breakingly careful

 Jack stood on a chair and was taller than me, which was WEIRD

 (He also took the whole thing really seriously).

 Harry was a little bit too cool for school, but I think he had fun.

 Not as much fun as Ben, obvs.

 The pizzas were delish, and the kids always eat a meal that they got to make, so dinner was relatively harmonious-- that's about as good as it gets around here. We had a brief interlude for showers and cleaning up the dinner mess and then!  A Guess Who tournament.  First Cooper and Dorothy faced off.  Dorothy won.

 Harry and Jack played each other next, and Harry emerged victorious, sending Jack to face Cooper in the consolation bracket.  Cooper won.

 In a surprise upset, Dorothy beat Harry to take the crown!

And now?  They are all asleep, and Ben and I are watching Steve Jobs on demand on HBO (also a free activity, since we already pay for HBO every month-- TV is basically our entertainment budget because we are wild and crazy, obvs), and it's quiet and vodka lemonade-y in our house.

Frugal fall fun, indeed.

Here's our super easy pizza crust recipe: 1 1/3 cups water, 2 TBS olive oil, 4 cups bread flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 tsp yeast.  Add all of those ingredients in that order to your bread machine and run the dough cycle.  Let the dough rest for 10 minutes and roll out your pizzas on a floured surface.

We used jarred sauce (oh the horror!  next time I will for sure make my own, mainly because I never can find one I like-- I DON'T like sweet, and I DO like fennel), a million cheeses (conservative estimate), pepperoni, green olives, green peppers, tomatoes, and various spices.  Pretty delicious AND a group activity--love it!

Check out the financial tools linked above-- I am looking for a good budget app to help my online grocery shopping stay in line with the bottom line (OMG such a groaner-- I am listening to a super punny audiobook, and it's rubbing off), so let me know what you think.  I am also all ears for your best budget tips in general-- I am new to the frugal thing).