Frugal Friday - The Beginning of 2019

21B Baker Street - the board game.  It is one of our favorites!

I feel like 2019 snuck up on me.  For whatever reason, the arrangement of the holidays this year has left me feeling like they simply flew by.  Either way, we are now into 2019 and I am grateful for a few days to think and plan before the classes start again.

We rang in 2019 at home, playing board games, eating appetizers, drinking sparkling juice and watching the New Year celebrations on the television.  We had a very enjoyable evening. 

This past week, John and I spent time going through our budget for this year.  We have several large purchases we need to make and we have some medical bills that still need to be paid off.  I am very tired of pinching my pennies but it is necessary for a while again. I think we have a good plan in place and I am hoping we will make some progress this year. 

Here are some things we did this week that will help make those financial goals happen:

* We made buttermilk coffee cake, two types of scones, bread, pizza, chili, cornbread, and several appetizers at home this week.

* The children cleaned out their closets and clothes drawers.  We have several large bags to donate and a box each to send to two different cousins.  Once the items were cleaned out, we took stock of what they still have.  There was only one item we needed to purchase, which was wonderful!  We were expecting more!  I realized that it had been almost 18 months since we had done a thorough clean out and the children had received quite a bit of clothing since then without removing any.

* I baked birthday treats for John's birthday this week and a parishioner at church gave him a birthday cake as well.  I froze extra treats that will be eaten later, as between the two we had SO much!

* I sewed John a birthday gift and purchased two other food gifts on clearance after Christmas.

* I did our ironing this week, saving the money of paying someone to do it.

* Our daughter painted her toe nails and mine using polish and tools we already had.  She is learning how to decorate the nails after she paints them.  It is fun to see her talents grow!

* Our children babysat for a parishioner's 6 grandchildren, ages 8 months to 5 years.  They were paid for this and will put the money toward a school trip this spring.

* John brought home leftover fudge from a church event and a gift of homemade sausage from another parishioner. 

* We inventoried the freezers and the pantry and put together the menu for January and February using mainly what we have.   We will still have to purchase a few groceries each week but, we are hoping to keep the grocery budget lower than the budgeted amount.

* I sewed buttons back on a suit coat, mended the inside seam on a winter coat, and darned the toe of a favorite sock.

I think that's it for now! What did you do this week that was considered frugal?

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