Happy Saturday

I hope you are all ready for a fun & relaxing weekend. M & I were hoping to have a date night, but after not being able to get ahold of our teenage babysitter, I remembered that she's out of the country. Bummer. A date night would have been fabulous.

Here's what we have going on today, and what I'd like to accomplish:

1. Nick has an indoor soccer game this morning
2. I need to tackle the laundry
3. Pick all of the mandarins & leave them for a neighbor (she makes jam for a non-profit)
4. Yoga!
5. Get in some sort of cardio - either a run or a workout DVD
6. Make a shopping list
7. Make a menu
8. Costco
9. Make muffins
10. Clean toiletries cabinet out. It's too cluttered & I can't find what I need, or determine where we have too much/too little.

And, here are a few frugal things I did over the past week or so:

• Rather than buying a lunch when I was out for a bunch of medical appointments yesterday, I brought along a pear, almonds, and a mini protein bar. It wasn't a perfect lunch, and if I'd thought ahead, I could have made a sandwich. But, it worked.
• Used up the last of a bag of potatoes from Thanksgiving (originally purchased for $.99) & made up a batch of potato soup. It was amazing!
• Tried to make bread in my bread machine. For some reason, a terrible black smoke started to pour out of it as soon as it moved to the bake function. I cleaned the bread machine, & salvaged the bread by baking it in the oven. Let's hope it still works next time.
• I'm trying to eat more vegetables, so rather than buying hummus to go with my broccoli & carrots, I made my own. If you've never made your own, give it a try. It's so much better than what you buy at the store. I prefer this recipe.
• Along the same lines, I bought some loose spinach for a salad, and almost picked up a balsamic dressing at Trader Joe's. Instead, I made some of this. Delicious!
• Menu planned & made every meal at home this week. 
• Returned an undershirt that I bought for M (it ripped) & got a replacement. It was not that much fun to try & find parking, but I combined it with another errand. It was a $15 shirt & he wore it once, so I was determined not to just throw it out.
• I also put $10,000 of my savings account in a CD, as it's sitting there at a pathetically low (i.e. non-existent) interest rate. Although a CD isn't exactly going to bring home the big bucks, it's an improvement for sure.

I think that's it! How about you? What's on your to do list today? Did you do anything frugal this week? Share your "wins" with us! :-)