Saturday, January 9, 2016

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! :-) 

6 comments:

  1. I bought a bag of cinnamon raisin bagels for .75 cents for 6 - dirt cheap as they were nearing their best sold by date. I took them home, cut them in half and froze them as usually we only have 1/2 a bagel at a time and they will be a quick morning snack this way. When I was feeling under the weather I sent hubby to the cheapest grocery store to buy veggies. I normally never send him as he comes home with much unneeded stuff like $8 olives or expensive dog toys Buddy kills in 10 seconds. This time he stuck to the list and presented the receipt - success (this after I said that I would still go to store sick as am trying to stick to a budget, I guess he got the message). I managed to get caught up on company work and clean the house so hubby is ready to get sent off on his week long business trip tomorrow - a success. The stock market sucks. Interest rates suck (worse in Canada than USA). It makes me happy we have 2 paid off properties to keep some stability in our portfolio, one that pays us a small rent (condo Mom lives in where we slightly undercharge her)

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    1. Nice work! I'm laughing at the husband story -mine is definitely the same. He bought $10 grapes on Friday. I just about died. Love him, but . . . we're on different pages with the grocery budget. ;-)

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  2. Number 9 sounds great!
    I just want to eat down our stash. We are packed to the gills and now that DJ is going back to school, I should be able to mix and match a meal or two. Poor Den.

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    1. I'm with you - I don't mind at all mixing & matching & getting creative. The husband likes more 'proper meals', so the next month or so will be rough for him.

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  3. Way to go on your accomplishments and good luck on your to do list!

    I did a couple things this week... only went to the grocery store 2 times. Meant to only go once, but completely forgot to pick up ground beef that was needed for a special requested dinner by hubby. I submitted a couple items to savingstar for a small rebate. Made dinner every night. Made a menu plan and stuck to it. Stayed out of stores other than the grocery store and dollar tree (got a present for a friend of Rebecca's).

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    1. Doing great!! It's hard to stay out of the grocery store. We never go during the week, but sometimes go twice in a weekend because we aren't organized or change our mind about what to make

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