Frugal Accomplishments

Imagination costs nothing!  Here, Daughter is pretending she has an Ipad, and playing Fruit Ninja.  Tee hee!

I received a reminder from K-Mart about some award points that I had from a purchase back at Christmas.  I used those points to buy some markdown Valentine's candy for 4 cents.  At Safeway I got four single-serving bottles of pomegranate juice free after sale and coupons.

We donated some items to Goodwill.  As a thank-you, they gave us each a treat - Daughter got a lollipop and I chose a soda.  Surprised?  I didn't think so, hee hee.

I used $14.40 in coupons this week to  help pay for groceries, and we shopped the sales, mostly price-matching at Walmart.  Some of the coupons were King Soopers only, so we went there to use those, but we were already in town for other errands, so it worked out. 

I dropped off recycling at the recycling center.  It's free to take in recycling and it's co-mingled, so I don't have to keep it sorted.  The choice to recycle reduces our trash to almost nothing.  We can pay $3 per bag to take our trash to the same location, which is much, much less than paying $25-$30 a month for trash service. 

I trimmed my bangs and Daughter's bangs.  It's been so long since we 'got haircuts' that I'm not even sure how much we save by doing it at home. 

I went to Happy Needles again this week, and enjoyed the fellowship of others who do handwork (crochet, knitting, sewing, needlework and more).  It is a free gathering at the library, and I think I'm on the way to making some lovely friends!  While I was at the library, I dropped off returns and picked up a few items that were on hold, too.

Husband cut up some wood that we got, free for the taking.  Now it's ready to heat our home on cold days.  We have gotten some of those recently, and the wood heat has been a real blessing.

I got a coupon in the mail, for a free 2 liter of Pepsi Next.  I don't even know how/why they sent it to me, but free is allowed, so OK!  I also played Subway's current online game and won a 20 oz coke - coupon will arrive in 4-6 weeks.

Somehow, I managed to pinch a nerve, or strain something, and the result is a lot of pain in my lower back and down one leg.  I looked online to find exercises and stretches to ease the pain and they seem to be helping.  A little.  Ow.

We planned the menu and ate from the pantry and freezer, allowing $20 to spend on produce, milk, household items like TP and a small amount of stocking up.  More on all that here.

Daughter is in swimming lessons at a nearby community pool.  The cost averages out to about $4 a lesson, plus we are allowed to come early and swim/play or stay late and swim/play.  I am also allowed to swim (no charge) when she is in her lesson...plus we each take a shower afterward, which saves us a little more since we are not pumping the water for the showers at home.  It's a great deal!  We will be continuing lessons for March too.

We ate leftovers for lunch and I went through the fridge really well before I went to the store this week.  The coming week's menu utilizes the produce we had on hand along with the items we picked up on sale.  We spent even less than we have been, so that's great!  When I opened some canned peaches for Husband's lunches, I used the juice from the can to help sweeten fruit punch.

We also hung our laundry to dry on drying racks, used homemade laundry soap and used natural light rather than electric lights whenever possible.  We checked out materials from the library and I downloaded some free kindle books to my computer, using the free PC program to view them (I don't have a kindle so I read them on my laptop. 

How are you saving here, there and everywhere?