Frugal Friday

It's been a quick week, with lots of work changes & meetings. I had an 8:00 pm meeting with Jakarta last night, and an 8:00 am meeting with London this morning. I'm pooped, & looking forward to a slightly quieter Friday (no one else is online on Fridays, starting by late morning). Hurrah for small victories!

What kind of frugal things have we done lately . . . ?

1. Made dinner every night this week, even though I had two very unexpected late nights
2. Line dried all clothes (minus underwear & socks), which saves the fabric, but also reduces power. We line dry on a large rack in our spare bedroom.
3. Moved all outdoor lights to solar. While an initial one time cost, we live in an area that has a lot of sunlight, so this should reduce our ongoing outlay of batteries, etc, and provide us with inexpensive outdoor lighting
4. Continue to maintain our pool without paying for help. M has studied up quite a bit, & most of the supplies are available at Costco.
5. Speaking of Costco, we received our rebate check ($240, so $120 net savings over the cost of membership), and will use that purchase our groceries for the week.

Less frugal things for the week:

1. I did pay to have someone clean the house. The week got away from me, and I was out of town last weekend.
2. M made dinner on the spur of the moment 2x this week. He ended up swinging by Trader Joes to pick up a few things. He spent under $4, but both items were already in the cupboard. Still cheaper than takeout!

I'm considering buying reusable bags for lunches, etc. I want to reduce our use of ziplock baggies. Does anyone have recommendations? I'm looking for lunch packing options, as well as baggies I could use to store divided up meat in the freezer, etc.