Frugal Accomplishments

A penny saved is a penny earned...and the copper in a penny that was minted prior to 1982 is worth more than a penny.  Here are some things I did this week to save pennies. 

> I got a free Propel sample in the mail - just add water. :)

> Friday is our 'town day' and also the day that Chick Fil A chose to give away free breakfast through January.  Daughter and I enjoyed some chicken minis last week.  We will stop this morning to see what they have on the last day.

> I did errands on the way home from church to save fuel.

> I talked with a friend who is also a piano instructor...we are working our a barter agreement wherin I'll clean his house in exchange for piano lessons.  (SQUEEEE!!!)
> Last week I mentioned making a body pillow for my husband.  I made it too firm, so I got my trusty seam ripper out, opened the end, and de-stuffed it some.  Then, I used the now-available stuffing to make a body pillow for my daughter.  I made a pillowcase for hers as well, and I will make a pillowcase for Hubby's once I know we have it right.  Aaaand, since I have the machine out, I re-made my buckwheat hull pillow.  The cloth was looking pretty sad, but I used some fabric I had on hand to make a new shell, moved the buckwheat hulls to it and stitched it shut.  All for zero cost - yay!

> I planned the menu based on food in our pantry, fridge and freezer, and stuck to the $20/week grocery budget.  We emptied several jars of home-canned food this week too, which is good!

> We used popcorn in place of chips/pretzels to cut costs. I believe it's healthier too, since we pop it in a pan (not the microwave type).

> When my daughter finished off a box of frosted mini wheat cereal, there were a lot of little sweet 'wheat bits' in the bottom of the bag, so I poured them into the current batch of homemade granola. I'm going to start saving any cereal 'bits' to add to the granola, because then it isn't wasted.
> I used the last container of coffee yogurt (that we all found to be yucky) in a recipe for some pretty healthy muffins, found here. It was easier (for me) than cooking and pureeing a pumpkin, and it was just the right amount for the recipe. They came out pretty, but a bit bland. Acutally, I like them OK, but Husband and Daughter both find them 'resistable', lol.
> We opened a few jars/cans of fruit this week for various recipes, snacks, etc. I saved all the syrup, juice, whatever they were packed in, and used it all in some fruit punch that I made. No sense throwing it out and then using more sugar or juice, right?
> I made enchilada sauce and Asian style sesame dressing from scratch.

> The mulch we have all around our house is not working out so great...it blows around too much, so we are scooping it up and will probably end up with a stone mulch some day.  Meanwhile, as we scoop up the pine mulch (which is not treated or colored in any way) we are using it to fill in some low spots behind the barn and to give the hens something new to scratch through in the chicken run. 
> We continued our habit of getting books, music and movies from the library, all for free. 

> We used our wood stove to keep the house warm and I dried our clothes on drying racks - both of these strategies help us use less propane.

> We stayed home more.  It's so, so easy to 'make a quick run' to mail something or stop by the library, but those trips cost us.  The little town I'm referring to is just a couple miles from here, so it's not that much fuel, but it does take time, and time is as valuable - often time more valuable - than money.  Staying home more made for a calmer week with more accomplishments.

What were your frugal accomplishments this week??