Frugal Things - Week of August 23, 2015
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| What I bought with my birthday money! |
I totally forgot to put the picture above in my list last week so it's here now! My Mother-in-law sent me $20 for my birthday and I had a $10 off a $10 purchase at Kohl's so I decided that I'd try to find some new workout tops. I hate working out with sleeves on because I sweat so much so these were perfect! Even better: they were all on sale so I was able to get the necklace and earring set too! I got $1.69 back in change from my birthday money after everything above was paid for. Whoot!
It's been a pretty lazy week here - getting the house put back together after all the cleaning out we've done over the last few weeks and making a list of things that we actually need to purchase (another shelf for the utility room, a rug to replace the carpet ripped up in the living room, etc.). Most are bigger purchases but we'll do them one at a time as we save up for them.
Here's what we did this week in addition to our "usual" frugal things:
* I made biscuits, pizza and breadsticks, zucchini bread (two loaves), salsa, potato soup and waffles from scratch this week.
* I froze one loaf of zucchini bread and half the waffles for later.
* Picked LOTS of tomatoes and three cucumbers this week.
* My daughter made peanut butter cookies and decorated the house to celebrate my husband starting Residency for his Chaplain's license this week. She did a nice job (I'll try to post photos later this weekend). She also did a terrific job with the cookies - they were gone in two days they were so delicious!
* I took the children to work with me for about 3 hours this week - I had to get a few things done and couldn't get a sitter. They worked on some coloring pages and mazes I had printed off for free and then played with a magnet game one of my colleagues loaned them. They also brought books to read but didn't get to them.
* Blanched and froze yellow and purple beets.
* Shredded and froze zucchini for baking with later this year.
* Used our Health Savings Account to pay for eye doctor appointment for me and new glasses for both of our children.
* Our children have two reams of typing paper, two boxes of facial tissues and a box of quart size Ziploc bags that each is supposed to bring for school supplies. I talked to their teacher about bringing them in January rather than on back to school night and she was more than happy to agree since the items are used throughout the whole year! I was happy since we're down to the dregs of our school supply budget for now. My children attend a private school so they bring these things rather than having tax money pay for them (the school only receives tax money for special education services).
* Wrote several notes using stationary we already had. Only needed to pay postage to mail them.
* Picked Zinneas and Snapdragons from the yard for my kitchen table.
* Crumbled dried herbs into jars for use later.
* Cleaned the refrigerator and made a menu for the next two weeks using mostly what we have on hand. We'll need to buy fruit, milk, eggs and maybe lettuce but that should be it unless something is on really good sale.
* Played a game we already owned for family night this week. I love how we rearranged everything so we have easier access to our games - they get played more often too.
* My husband was fed two meals at work this week so I didn't have to pack him a lunch those days.
* Brought sliced cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden for a pot luck at church this week.
* Signed up for health insurance through my husband's new job - that will save us approximately $700/month! I am really excited since that money will now help us make our savings and other financial goals for this next year!
I think that's it - we were able to do quite a bit this week.
How did you do this week?
