Frugal Accomplishments
This was a busy week. The coming week looks like it will be as well. Here are some things we did to save, or not spend.
I accepted two unwanted Amish Pie pumpkins that were left at the end of a garden club meeting. Later that same day, my friend gave me a lovely Hubbard squash. We grew pumpkins this year, but had a smaller crop than we often do, so these will be a blessing for sure!
I presented a program at our local library called Dinner on the Table for Pennies on the Dollar. It was a really pretty Saturday, so attendance wasn't tremendous, but the ladies who attended had lots of great questions, and I am hopeful that everyone there benefitted from the information shared. :)
Safeway sent me an email this week reminding me to check online and load offers to my loyalty card. One of my offers (they are different for everyone) was $5 off a purchase of $20 or more. That, combined with some other great sale prices allowed me to spend $14.80 and get three 8oz. bags of shredded cheddar, 2 lb of sliced ham for sandwiches, 25 lb. of russet potatoes, 5 lb. of bananas, a pound of pears, 3 lb. of gala apples and a thing or two I can't remember right now. The potatoes may well take us through winter. All the prices were very good for our area. Sorry I didn't photograph the haul, but I brought it right home and put things away, and I'm too lazy to pull it all back together.
We attended a free homeschoolers program at the library to learn about fire safety and ways to plan ahead to keep everyone safe in case of fire. I forgot to take the camera - sorry.
I knitted a hat on the loom. It's stinkin' cute, too! It will be sold to raise funds for The Chicken Project...once I get the matching scarf completed, get it photographed, etc.
Per our usual, I used homemade laundry soap to wash clothing and linens, and hung the clothes to dry on racks in our basement. Bed sheets were hung over the shower curtains to dry. We live in a dry climate and they dry quickly.
We had a small grape harvest this year - the deer ate a lot of them. I made almost one pint of grape jam. That was it, but hey, it's almost one pint of grape jam!
Batteries Plus Bulbs opened a new store. We used a grand opening coupon to get a free pack of AA batteries.
We continued to horse- and cat-sit for a neighbor.
Daughter found some toy kitties that she wanted to purchase with some of her birthday money. They were $9-ish on Amazon, but since we had a 50% off coupon from JoAnn's (where they are $10-ish), she got them there, for $5.36, including tax. And yes, I got all those legos from last week's frugal post for less than that!
We helped out with a church project by laminating some items for a upcoming Harvest Festival. We also attended the quilt group and helped cut, stitch and more. While we were in town we did our errands and helped a friend with a small fix-it project at her home.
With the change in seasons, I wanted to burn a scented candle in the kitchen. I have a really big one I picked up on after-Christmas clearance for 2.50. It smells lovely, and the savings was 75%.
We planned a supper menu to simplify things and make sure we used items on hand. I made a pot of chicken tortilla soup, cooked rice, cooked up two pumpkins, made cream of mushroom soup from scratch (SO tasty!), saimin with meat and vegetables, green salads, slaw and taco salad. We pulled some items from the freezer and pantry too.
We stayed home as much as we could, to save on fuel and sanity. Some days, I feel like I'm short on both.
Husband brought home the coupon inserts from work. His job gets two copies of the paper and no one else wants the coupons. He does this every week...I just forget to tell you. (Sorry, Honey!)
I made hot cocoa at home. If you dress it up, you can make a really fancy drink that would cost you five bucks somewhere, for a whole lot less. I made cocoa from a packet (with milk), topped it with whipped cream ground cinnamon and mini chocolate chips. There are lots of options, like adding a flavored extract, flavored marshmallows, caramel, a cherry, pumpkin spice...whatever you love! Just...probably not all the above in the same cup!
Daughter got a coupon from Culver's for a free sundae - for her birthday. I took her to get it when we were in town. (Vanilla frozen custard, strawberries, blue and white sprinkles and a cherry - looked very patriotic!)
I'm reading a few different books at the same time, and we also got some wii games and DVD's from the library.
Did you have a frugal week? What did you do to save, or not spend? Leave a comment, pretty please! :)
I accepted two unwanted Amish Pie pumpkins that were left at the end of a garden club meeting. Later that same day, my friend gave me a lovely Hubbard squash. We grew pumpkins this year, but had a smaller crop than we often do, so these will be a blessing for sure!
I presented a program at our local library called Dinner on the Table for Pennies on the Dollar. It was a really pretty Saturday, so attendance wasn't tremendous, but the ladies who attended had lots of great questions, and I am hopeful that everyone there benefitted from the information shared. :)
Safeway sent me an email this week reminding me to check online and load offers to my loyalty card. One of my offers (they are different for everyone) was $5 off a purchase of $20 or more. That, combined with some other great sale prices allowed me to spend $14.80 and get three 8oz. bags of shredded cheddar, 2 lb of sliced ham for sandwiches, 25 lb. of russet potatoes, 5 lb. of bananas, a pound of pears, 3 lb. of gala apples and a thing or two I can't remember right now. The potatoes may well take us through winter. All the prices were very good for our area. Sorry I didn't photograph the haul, but I brought it right home and put things away, and I'm too lazy to pull it all back together.
We attended a free homeschoolers program at the library to learn about fire safety and ways to plan ahead to keep everyone safe in case of fire. I forgot to take the camera - sorry.
I knitted a hat on the loom. It's stinkin' cute, too! It will be sold to raise funds for The Chicken Project...once I get the matching scarf completed, get it photographed, etc.
Per our usual, I used homemade laundry soap to wash clothing and linens, and hung the clothes to dry on racks in our basement. Bed sheets were hung over the shower curtains to dry. We live in a dry climate and they dry quickly.
We had a small grape harvest this year - the deer ate a lot of them. I made almost one pint of grape jam. That was it, but hey, it's almost one pint of grape jam!
Batteries Plus Bulbs opened a new store. We used a grand opening coupon to get a free pack of AA batteries.
We continued to horse- and cat-sit for a neighbor.
Daughter found some toy kitties that she wanted to purchase with some of her birthday money. They were $9-ish on Amazon, but since we had a 50% off coupon from JoAnn's (where they are $10-ish), she got them there, for $5.36, including tax. And yes, I got all those legos from last week's frugal post for less than that!
 |
| She still loves her legos, too! I think she has played with them every day since her birthday. |
With the change in seasons, I wanted to burn a scented candle in the kitchen. I have a really big one I picked up on after-Christmas clearance for 2.50. It smells lovely, and the savings was 75%.
We planned a supper menu to simplify things and make sure we used items on hand. I made a pot of chicken tortilla soup, cooked rice, cooked up two pumpkins, made cream of mushroom soup from scratch (SO tasty!), saimin with meat and vegetables, green salads, slaw and taco salad. We pulled some items from the freezer and pantry too.
We stayed home as much as we could, to save on fuel and sanity. Some days, I feel like I'm short on both.
Husband brought home the coupon inserts from work. His job gets two copies of the paper and no one else wants the coupons. He does this every week...I just forget to tell you. (Sorry, Honey!)
I made hot cocoa at home. If you dress it up, you can make a really fancy drink that would cost you five bucks somewhere, for a whole lot less. I made cocoa from a packet (with milk), topped it with whipped cream ground cinnamon and mini chocolate chips. There are lots of options, like adding a flavored extract, flavored marshmallows, caramel, a cherry, pumpkin spice...whatever you love! Just...probably not all the above in the same cup!
Daughter got a coupon from Culver's for a free sundae - for her birthday. I took her to get it when we were in town. (Vanilla frozen custard, strawberries, blue and white sprinkles and a cherry - looked very patriotic!)
I'm reading a few different books at the same time, and we also got some wii games and DVD's from the library.
Did you have a frugal week? What did you do to save, or not spend? Leave a comment, pretty please! :)
Comments
We had planned to have some friends over, so had bought 4 pumpkins for the 4 kids to carve, but then we had to cancel after our daughter was sick. My daughter's boyfriend is going to come over today and they will carve 3 of them, but I'll have one left. I think I may try to bake and puree it. It's not a pie pumpkin size, but I assume it would still be okay. I did this once when my kids were much smaller and it was a huge mess, but I think it may be time to try again.
Have a good weekend! It's sunny here in northern AZ, and feels nice out! I think it's going to be cooler next week (yuck), so I better enjoy it!
I've baked pie pumpkins and jack o lantern ones. The jacks are a little more watery and the texture is a little more stringy. I find that if I put the baked pumpkin into a sieve or strainer and let it just drip off, they do better. I don't like the jacks in pies, but they're fine for cookies or breads...and your mileage may vary!