This Week in Frugality

Wildflowers, Elevenmile.

We had to go into town on Monday for something virtual-school related.  Since we were already in town, we went to a free splash fountain so the girls could play in the water and have some fun on a hot day.  Afterward, we used one of the coupons from Summer Reading to get them free pizza and sodas.

I donated some things at Goodwill, and they gave me free soda as a thank you.

We picked the church garden and took the produce to Care and Share, the local food bank for the needy.

I hung laundry on wood drying racks to dry.  I always do, but I haven't mentioned it in a while.

We went to the library to turn in materials that were due and get some new materials.

We stayed home some days, enjoying one another, reading our books, playing, and tending the garden.

We ate leftovers, and we packed snacks for various outings throughout the week.

I dug some new potatoes, and we picked some parsley, green onion, green beans and lettuces. It's been cool in the night, so the lettuces are holding up fairly late into the season.

On a particularly rough day, I decided that I was going to cut myself some slack.  Supper was chicken a la king and biscuits.  I would just buy a can of biscuits.  When I saw the price of canned biscuits and knew it would take two cans, I couldn't do it.  So I decided I'd get some bisquick, to make it a little easier.  Then I saw the price of bisquick, and got to thinking about the trans fats and all, and just went home and made biscuits from scratch.  I made them with butter, and they were pretty and tasty.  We had enough for supper and leftovers for the next morning, and since everything I used to make them was on sale, the entire batch only cost about 75 cents.  I'm glad I didn't give in to temptation and take an easier, more costly, less healthy route.

I picked chamomile flowers, roses and zinnias to brighten the house. I also picked some yellow weed flowers, because I think they're pretty, and since I haven't mowed everywhere, we have an abundance of them.

We opened the windows at night to cool the house, and used the ceiling fans as needed.

I pulled up the bolted spinach and fed it to the hens, to give them a treat and save a little on feed.

I purchased Daughter's birthday gift from someone on craigslist.  I got part of a gift for a friend at Goodwill.

We went out for dinner at Captain D's this week.  On Thursdays, kids (up to two per adult) eat for free.  Husband ordered one fair size dinner, he and I shared it, and the girls got meals for free.  It was about $8.50 for all four of us.

I took some books to the used book store for trade-in credit.  Daughter has outgrown some of the titles we had on hand.  I had some areas of interest that needed weeding out as well.  I got $27 in general credit...some of which I spent for books for Daughter's birthday and Christmas.

The very next day, there was a bookstore in town that is closing and decided to sell bags of books for $5 each.  We got 34 books into one bag.  Some for us, some for gifts, all for about 15 cents each.

Daughter asked me to list this...so here goes, against my own better judgement.  She and Sister groomed the cat, Tallulah Mae, and felted the resulting fur into a 'wool beard' for dress-up.  Really.  This kid has been felting cat fur for years, usually into blobs.  This week, she made the beard and a heart.  Because we are just. that. odd.

Sunday was free admission day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.  We went there for the better part of the day.  We took a picnic lunch from home.  In the afternoon, it was time to go to the airport, as Daughter's sister is returning home.  The girls had a nice summer together, and we enjoyed Sister's visit with our family.  The frugal part of this was combining the museum visit with airport day, since driving to Denver is, well, far.  It also made the day less likely to be a sad one, I think.  I took some pictures, but they aren't out of the camera (into my computer) yet, and I'm just too tired to get that done.  Suffice to say it was about as pleasant as a goodbye day can be. :)

Room for Improvement:

Admittedly, this has been an emotional week.  I bought myself a soda one evening when I really didn't need to.  I bought a journal because it was pretty, even though I've got enough notebooks and loose paper and composition books on hand to start an office supply store.  I did use my own $$, which is something, but I do think if I weren't a bit of a wreck, I would have skipped them both.  That said, I really do like the journal, even if I didn't need it.

We stopped for food on the way home from the airport, which really, I was fine with.  The food itself was not well prepared, and the apathy really showed.  We should have just handed it all back to them, but we didn't.  I may well give them a call tomorrow (I filled out their survey, but they said they'd only contact me if I won the Ipad.  Frankly, maybe y'all need to quit giving away electronics and make better food...sigh.)