Not so frugal Friday

Normally I have a good list of things we've done to save money. This week, not so much.  I ordered takeout a few times, we continue to spend money on house projects, and our new nanny started on Monday. Sam started Boy Scouts ($320, not counting the uniform), and I paid for the moving out cleaning at our rental house. I could have cleaned it myself from 10 pm-midnight, but decided to treat myself to the cleaning service. Well worth it since work has been crazy.

I'd planned to make dinner from the freezer yesterday. I got home from work at 6, and unfortunately, M forgot to mention that he was finishing the sealant on the garage floor. We keep all of our freezer meals in a freezer in the garage. Which I couldn't access. Our inside fridge is bare bones (fruit, vegetables, condiments, and in the freezer - smoothie fruit & frozen vegetables.) I ended up ordering pizza delivery. SUPER unusual for us, but these are the weeks that flexibility is a must, as we put our lives back together.

As usual, we do our best to have some frugal wins, even if it hasn't been very consistent this week. So, here goes:

1. Used a coupon for my pizza delivery, saving $5
2. Picked up two Costco items to serve as meals, vs takeout. The ravioli lasagna was great. The pizza burned. (New to me oven, and it's EXTREMELY sensitive).
3. I never received a tax bill for the new house, and it's pay in advance. I called yesterday, and it turns out we missed the billing cycle by one day. We will be receiving a supplemental tax bill, but not until October. I'd factored both into our budget, so this was a savings of $1800. (Our property taxes will be significantly higher, once they adjust for the new purchase price, but the first bill is typically paid based on original purchase price).
4. Made lunches for the kids every day, except for on move day. They were allowed to purchase hot lunch on move day, which is a rare treat for them.
5. M remodeled the garage entirely on his own: tore down old cabinetry, patched, drywalled, painted, installed a new ladder to the attic, buffed the floor, applied epoxy & sealed the floor twice. It looks so different in the garage! We had a bid from a contractor on the work, but since the garage wasn't a requirement for us to move in, we opted to skip the $5K for the work. M couldn't resist, so he did it himself.

And, that will cover it! I'm off to work & hopefully will get a tremendous amount done this weekend around the house. What about you? Any frugal wins for the week?