Frugal "Friday" - Third Week of January 2019

Four loaves of French Bread.  Yum!

We are cold, cold, cold here and we are expected to get colder.  Our projected low temperature on Wednesday is in the -30's F (-35-ish C).  I am so grateful for a warm house, warm clothes and vehicles with heating that works.  Today (Saturday Jan 26) it is -3F (-20C) and snowing lightly outside.  It looks very pretty out there.  I will enjoy it through the window of my kitchen while working on a few things this morning.

Here are the frugal things we have done this past week:

* Baked four loaves of French bread, two types of soup, and homemade pizza this week.

* The children made two types of cookies and an Angel Food Cake this week for a bake sale fundraiser at church.

* The children participated in a separate fundraiser for their class trip this spring.  They will have another fundraiser each of the next two weeks.

* I did our ironing this week - most people I know hire this out.  I refuse to pay $2.50 per shirt and $5 per dress to have someone else iron our clothing when I can do it myself without difficulty.  Maybe I should take in ironing to earn some extra money! 

* We attended a spaghetti dinner at church - delicious! Our children helped clean up and brought home leftover breadsticks.

* A parishioner gifted my husband and me a pre-paid debit card with a very generous amount of money on it.  He stated it was for dates for my husband and I or activities for the whole family.  My husband and I used a small amount of it for a short date while the children were at dance class.  We had dessert at a local restaurant.  I brought home half of my enormous peace of cake and had dessert two other nights this week. 

* We purchased our daughter a new winter jacket on clearance sale for an extremely low price.  Her previous jacket was on it's last run - slightly tight and mended in several places.  The zipper finally broke this last week.  With the super cold weather this week, it was definitely time to get a new jacket.  I am always surprised that jackets go on sale in January - we have at least 2 more months of winter here after that each year!

* We returned several books to the library and checked out two books, two videos and several audiobooks. 

* Our children worked on projects for school using items we already owned. 

* I sewed two buttons back on their respective clothing items and mended a fallen seam on a sweatshirt. 

* I worked on two homemade birthday gifts for our children using items we already owned.

Frugal Fails:

* Forgot to return an item to the library within the grace period after it was due, so I had to pay the $8 fine.  Since I returned the book (late), I did not have to pay for the book itself.

Planned Frugal Splurges:

* We purchased new sheet music for our children for band class.  We have a budget for this so this was fine and the children are excited for their new music.  This part of our budget includes a
few pieces of sheet music each year as well as reeds, cork grease and valve oil.  We have one child who plays a reed instrument and one who plays a brass instrument.  The children take lessons through the school and play with the school band for a small monthly fee, which we pay as part of their tuition.

* Our son's glasses were broken in a basketball game this week.  We had to purchase a new pair.  Thankfully, we have a health savings account that can be used to pay for that.  Our son has specialty lenses that are quite expensive and are not covered by our insurance.  I am grateful for the health savings account to cover this expense!  Our insurance did cover the eye exam that we needed as our son's prescription was out of date.

What did you do this week that was frugal?