Menu plan, freebies, & more

It's been an unusual week & next week will be more of the same. M was out of town this weekend, the boys have no school tomorrow, and M has a work trip mid week. So, my menu & plans reflect that. Of course, I have a global team offsite all week, so I have commitments of my own. Should be quite the juggling act. ;-)

First things first. Here's my menu plan for the week:
Sunday - homemade risotto. Need to use up peppers, & leftover goat cheese
Monday - Pasta casserole (freezer) with chicken, rotini, tomato sauce & cheese. Trying to get the freezer cleaned out.
Tuesday - M out of town. Leftover risotto.
Wednesday - M out of town. Leftover pasta casserole.
Thursday - M may not be home in time for dinner, so leftovers or breakfast tortillas
Friday - Date night! Although, our sitter isn't available until a little later, so we may actually eat first & head out for a glass of wine instead of a full dinner. More frugal & healthier. We shall see.
Saturday - weather dependent, grilled burgers & veggies
Sunday - Homemade pizza

I don't need anything special for the menu, just our regular items at Costco this week. Here's our shopping list: Milk, sandwich bread, bananas, pineapple, oranges, apples, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, chicken & . . . wine. ;-)

On to freebies. 
Yesterday was quite the day for freebies. Here's what we wrangled up.

• Free Sargento cheese bites. My grocery store was offering them as part of their rewards card. I made zero additional purchases at the store. These were on sale for $3.69

• A free Redbox movie rental. We've never used Redbox before, but Sam's teacher gave him a gift card/code for his holiday gift. Sam is feeling all "mature" now that he's ten, so I told him he could go for something other than an animated movie, if he wanted. He still opted for "Minions". We watched the movie with our dessert last night, in celebration of indoor soccer season ending. I believe the going rate is $1.99 for a free movie rental.
• At work, we have a bunch of $10 offer codes at restaurants that were expiring. We took full advantage. For lunch, I used one $10 offer for Nick & Sam's lunch at a Mexican place. We ended up with an ENORMOUS burrito for Sam, a cheese quesadilla & rice, plus a bunch of chips for Nick. Total out of pocket was $5.19, $10 saved. 
• Same offer, different restaurant (they are one time use), I got myself tortilla soup & chicken tacos. It was absolutely pouring, so soup sounded right. It also came with two packages of tortilla chips. Total out of pocket was $3.16, $10 saved.
• And, to celebrate the end of soccer season yesterday, even though it was *pouring* huge buckets & windy, I picked up super fancy homemade ice cream with one of the $10 offers. Total out of pocket was $4, $10 saved.

So, all together, we had $35.68 of freebies yesterday. Super unusual, and fun. 

Other than that, we went to an outdoor soccer game in the rain (Nick), and Sam's last indoor soccer game, watched our movie, went to Target to use the boys birthday gift cards, and I read two books. It was a great day.

Original to do list. 

1. Work out. I'm thinking a walk & maybe a strength workout. I don't think my abs are ready for yoga or pilates yet. - I did strength only. 
2. Two soccer scrimmages (may be canceled due to rain) - Yes
3. If the scrimmages are canceled, Sam has an indoor soccer game to attend - Yes
4. Wrap some birthday gifts - Yes
5. Itemize the garage freezer. I've made progress cleaning out some random items, and need to make a new inventory. - Yes, and I itemized/inventoried the inside freezer as well!
6. Library, for new books as well as some returns. - Done
7. I'd like to get the boys to account for all of their current spending money & start showing them how the college investment account works. We'll create a mandatory savings for their personal money, as my parents did for me. I think I had to save 25% of my "income"? - We got this set up, and the boys put in 25% of their existing money before they were allowed to shop for "treats" at Target. 
8. Laundry. It just never stops. ;-) - Yes, but more always remains. 
9. Clean the boys room. (I'll help them clean). - They did a decent, but not fantastic job of this.
10. Figure out a menu for the week - Not until this morning, but complete now.

Here's what I need to accomplish today. 

1. Take advantage of the brief morning without rain & go to the elementary school with the boys. I'll walk on the track - they will play soccer or wall ball.
2. Costco. We are actually out of quite a few things.
3. Sam has a birthday party to attend.
4. Produce stand
5. Return movie rental
6. Work out office schedule for the week
7. Email nanny
8. Organize soccer carpool
9. Yoga? My one stitch is bothering me post-surgery, so we shall see.
10. Plan out my workouts for the week. Need to get much better about this.
11. Have the boys call my parents.
12. More laundry. 
13. Determine if I have other stuff to list on eBay
14. Maybe bake some lemon bread or muffins. I may just relax & read. ;-) 

That's it! Happy Sunday to all of you. What are your plans for today?