Frugal Friday

Things are looking good for our house closing. We won't have all of the final details until Monday, when we are able to sell our company stock, but generally, things look promising.

 It's a longish list of frugality this go round! A collection of basics & a few other "keeping my eye on things & making sure charges are expected" wins.

• Using a lipstick brush to get out the last of my favorite lip stick/sunblock
• Used our yard tree lemons & oranges for salad dressing & smoothies, respectively
• Made granola bars using a bunch of leftover nuts/trail mix/& other various freebies lurking in the cupboards. 
• We got a late start on running our errands on Saturday, and the boys were starving as a result. (Poor planning for the win.) I bought them lunch at Costco ($5.40), but M & I waited patiently until we got home to eat. This is not quite true. I wasn't at all patient - I was starving, but still held out. 
• While not intentional (and, it caused quite a challenge juggling my work), my nanny is out of town, so I'll pay nothing in child care this week.
• Speaking of childcare, I registered the boys for a camp today (school is out for a teacher learning day). The camp didn't have enough enrollment, so they had to cancel. I saved around $60 & will take a comp day that I earned over the holidays. I still need to do one meeting, but will use the rest of the day getting things done (cleaning the house) & hanging out with the boys.
• I also had to register the boys for camp over the February break. Camp is really expensive ($325/kid). The web site said it was $300 if I registered before February 1, but I noticed that I was charged the full $325/each. I emailed & promptly received a credit & a thanks for pointing out the error. Savings of $50, just for paying attention.
• We still haven't eaten out as a family this month. It was so tempting last night when we had to be out of the house for a showing. I prepped everything in advance, then left the house to walk/run on the track with Nick. As soon as the prospective tenants left, we hustled back in for dinner. Tacos & homemade guacamole. Yum. :-) 
• I've arranged a carpool for soccer practices (which, will hopefully end this week). Not only does it save over an hour of drive time for both parties, it also means Nick gets more homework time. Sam is the only one still practicing right now, as his team is still in a state cup tournament.

Michael & Sam have more soccer this weekend, so I will pack them snacks, lunch & drinks, as well as a couple of gift cards that we have. If the team does a lunch, I'm sure Sam will want to go to Panera for the lunch with everyone. Luckily, I still have about half of a $50 gift card. 

That's all for me. What frugal things have you been up to this week?