Frugal Things We Did This Week
It's been one of those weeks - you know that kind. The kind where you have several things started and almost nothing finished and then several other things popped up too. I have two other posts half done - hopefully they'll get up next week!
Here are some of the things we did that saved us money this week in the midst of all the half-finished, half-started and additional things that came up this week!
* We went to a friend's house to see the fireworks last Friday for the 4th of July. They have a get-together every year - sometimes a full-blown BBQ, other times just dessert. We didn't bring desserts since I didn't get any made and they usually have way more than we all can eat anyway. We did bring glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces that we already had (we bought them in packages of 20 for 2/$1 earlier this spring) to share with everyone. We came home with a 16 mini-cupcakes that another guest didn't want to take home.
* The children and I made homemade stepping stones using a kit I bought a few years ago. We should be able to put them out in the yard this week! I'll put them in a "low traffic" area. That should be fun. I'll take a photo to share when they're in place.
* We made homemade ice cream using my parents old hand crank ice cream maker. That was fun and the ice cream was delicious! We have enough cream left over for another batch this weekend.
* The children played with the slip-n-slide we received from a friend for their birthday a couple of years ago and then in the sprinkler to cool off both on the 4th of July and another hot day we had.
* I finished painting the kitchen walls and John and I cleaned the vents for the oven/stove and the fridge. Then John (bless him!) scrubbed the screens for the exhaust fan over the stove - boy were those gross! Everything works so much better now and the fridge is so much quieter! We try to clean all those things at least twice a year anyway but since we had to pull everything out to paint we thought we'd do it again.
* Enjoyed a free outdoor concert with free coffee. The we bought two slices of a delicious blueberry-blackberry-raspberry pie to share for $2 total (the money went to Habitat for Humanity). I asked around for the recipe it was so good!
* Made homemade yogurt (for the first time!), puppy chow (pb and chocolate cereal snack), and sugar cookies.
* Brought home two bags of buns that no one wanted from the church pot luck on Wednesday night. I had been planning on baking sandwich bread but we used these instead.
* A friend gave us a quart size Ziploc bag of yellow raspberries from her garden.
* We picked up our two CSA shares this week - lettuce, cabbage, green onions, beets, garlic, Swiss chard, red raspberries, sage and parsley from the one and twelve pints of blueberries from the other. I froze six pints of blueberries. I hung the sage and parsley to dry.
* We picked a small handful of strawberries from our plants. More coming but not quite ripe yet - next week! We have "baby" peppers and tomatoes now too. My pea plants and my squash aren't looking too good but they're looking better than they were so we're hoping! I should be able to harvest some sage, oregano and thyme from my herb garden soon.
* I mixed some paint I already had with the paint we bought for the living room - once I got the color up on the walls I didn't like it so I used what I had to change it. So far, so good!
* Checked out several books and a few videos from the library for all four of us.
* Downloaded a few free Kindle books for my Kindle for PC. (I have several already that I haven't read so I'm trying to hold back on this one!)
* I checked out several decorating books since we are trying to figure out a way to make our living room more comfortable for hosting guests. We found and idea that might work and that we don't have to buy any furniture for - just rearrange things we already have and borrow from other rooms in the house! We're excited to try it.
* Used our Science Museum membership to visit the Science Museum of Minnesota. The kids had a blast and we ended up spending $5 for parking only.
* Made a list of Christmas gifts I want to make this year. Now I just have to make sure I have what I need - I think there's only one thing I need to buy and maybe a spool of thread but I want to double check before I get started on things.
* Finished embroidering my sister-in-law's wedding plaque. It turned out lovely and now I just have to take it in and get it framed! I have a coupon and will do that this weekend. I then worked on finishing an embroidered Bible cover I started a long time ago and never finished. It will fit Missy's Bible for school so I may give it to her for Christmas. That was another project that is so close to being done, I need to just finish it!
* Cleaned out our desk that stores our extra paper and some miscellaneous office supplies and found a few things that I didn't think I had anymore (mailing labels, graph paper). Hurray! I found two things on the children's school supply list this year too. The desk is much neater and I know how much I have of a few things that need to be used up now too. I donated a few things that we didn't need anymore - several unopened packages of tabbed binder dividers and a travel file are two of the items we donates.
* We kept the ac turned up to 80F, tried not to have the lights on during the day since I've been using the dryer. It's been so damp that nothing dries in a reasonable timeframe on the drying racks.
That's all I can remember right now.
How did you do this week?
Here are some of the things we did that saved us money this week in the midst of all the half-finished, half-started and additional things that came up this week!
* We went to a friend's house to see the fireworks last Friday for the 4th of July. They have a get-together every year - sometimes a full-blown BBQ, other times just dessert. We didn't bring desserts since I didn't get any made and they usually have way more than we all can eat anyway. We did bring glow in the dark bracelets and necklaces that we already had (we bought them in packages of 20 for 2/$1 earlier this spring) to share with everyone. We came home with a 16 mini-cupcakes that another guest didn't want to take home.
* The children and I made homemade stepping stones using a kit I bought a few years ago. We should be able to put them out in the yard this week! I'll put them in a "low traffic" area. That should be fun. I'll take a photo to share when they're in place.
* We made homemade ice cream using my parents old hand crank ice cream maker. That was fun and the ice cream was delicious! We have enough cream left over for another batch this weekend.
 |
| The ice cream maker - getting ready to go! (It needs more ice!) |
* The children played with the slip-n-slide we received from a friend for their birthday a couple of years ago and then in the sprinkler to cool off both on the 4th of July and another hot day we had.
* I finished painting the kitchen walls and John and I cleaned the vents for the oven/stove and the fridge. Then John (bless him!) scrubbed the screens for the exhaust fan over the stove - boy were those gross! Everything works so much better now and the fridge is so much quieter! We try to clean all those things at least twice a year anyway but since we had to pull everything out to paint we thought we'd do it again.
* Enjoyed a free outdoor concert with free coffee. The we bought two slices of a delicious blueberry-blackberry-raspberry pie to share for $2 total (the money went to Habitat for Humanity). I asked around for the recipe it was so good!
* Made homemade yogurt (for the first time!), puppy chow (pb and chocolate cereal snack), and sugar cookies.
* Brought home two bags of buns that no one wanted from the church pot luck on Wednesday night. I had been planning on baking sandwich bread but we used these instead.
* A friend gave us a quart size Ziploc bag of yellow raspberries from her garden.
* We picked up our two CSA shares this week - lettuce, cabbage, green onions, beets, garlic, Swiss chard, red raspberries, sage and parsley from the one and twelve pints of blueberries from the other. I froze six pints of blueberries. I hung the sage and parsley to dry.
* We picked a small handful of strawberries from our plants. More coming but not quite ripe yet - next week! We have "baby" peppers and tomatoes now too. My pea plants and my squash aren't looking too good but they're looking better than they were so we're hoping! I should be able to harvest some sage, oregano and thyme from my herb garden soon.
* I mixed some paint I already had with the paint we bought for the living room - once I got the color up on the walls I didn't like it so I used what I had to change it. So far, so good!
* Checked out several books and a few videos from the library for all four of us.
* Downloaded a few free Kindle books for my Kindle for PC. (I have several already that I haven't read so I'm trying to hold back on this one!)
* I checked out several decorating books since we are trying to figure out a way to make our living room more comfortable for hosting guests. We found and idea that might work and that we don't have to buy any furniture for - just rearrange things we already have and borrow from other rooms in the house! We're excited to try it.
* Used our Science Museum membership to visit the Science Museum of Minnesota. The kids had a blast and we ended up spending $5 for parking only.
* Made a list of Christmas gifts I want to make this year. Now I just have to make sure I have what I need - I think there's only one thing I need to buy and maybe a spool of thread but I want to double check before I get started on things.
* Finished embroidering my sister-in-law's wedding plaque. It turned out lovely and now I just have to take it in and get it framed! I have a coupon and will do that this weekend. I then worked on finishing an embroidered Bible cover I started a long time ago and never finished. It will fit Missy's Bible for school so I may give it to her for Christmas. That was another project that is so close to being done, I need to just finish it!
* Cleaned out our desk that stores our extra paper and some miscellaneous office supplies and found a few things that I didn't think I had anymore (mailing labels, graph paper). Hurray! I found two things on the children's school supply list this year too. The desk is much neater and I know how much I have of a few things that need to be used up now too. I donated a few things that we didn't need anymore - several unopened packages of tabbed binder dividers and a travel file are two of the items we donates.
* We kept the ac turned up to 80F, tried not to have the lights on during the day since I've been using the dryer. It's been so damp that nothing dries in a reasonable timeframe on the drying racks.
That's all I can remember right now.
How did you do this week?
