Frugal Friday

It was a really, really busy work week (standard for this time of the year), but we did have a few frugal wins to report.  

Saving on things we buy

• Took advantage of the Friday Freebie (a loaf of French bread) on the way back from soccer practice. I also picked up a can of tuna (using another coupon) & made tuna sandwiches for lunch. I didn't notice that Nick snuck a tub of chocolate sauce into the cart until I got home. And, it was pricey. Sigh, the risk of shopping with teenagers. I also uploaded my receipt to Fetch, & earned some points.
• M bought whisky at Costco, and when I was uploading my receipt to Fetch, it had an unexpected bonus offer tied to it. Win/win.

Earning money

• eBay sales finally picked up this week. I sold:
• Three samples from a Birchbox
• Shin guard sleeves x2 (sold the day I listed them). The boys prefer to put the shin guard directly under the socks, without sleeves. I recently had to buy new shin guards, & they come in a set with sleeves. I remembered I'd sold these in the past, so put these aside for resale. Also, the extra set of shin guards saves me from having to do the laundry daily. These guys are teenagers, and sweaty, so all soccer clothes/gear needs to be in duplicate, as they are playing 5x/week.
• A men's undershirt my husband bought & didn't like
• A dress that I rarely wear
• An outgrown soccer goalie jersey
• A book from the free pile
• A pair of pants that don't fit since I've lost a bit of weight
• Earned $25 on Swagbucks

Avoiding spending

• We'd actually planned to do a date night on Saturday, but both kids were unexpectedly out of the house at the same time. I can count on one hand the number of times we've been alone together (without kids) since COVID began. We opted to cancel our date, and have a nice dinner at home alone. We had things already at the house (champagne, appetizers, etc) & it was zero out of pocket for a lovely date together.
• Tuesday was not a great work day. I found myself out at lunch to drop something off at FedEx, and was very tempted to pick up something to eat. Managed to convince myself to go home & find something from the freezer. 

Eating what we have

• I was uninspired for dinner last Friday, so I defrosted a couple of containers of curry, and one Keto chili. I made a salad & wings (appetizer) to go with it, and we were done, and the freezer was a bit more cleaned out.
• Made progress on the turkey meatballs from the freezer. No one is a huge fan of the taste/texture, but I cooked them with pesto, which helped the flavor. 
• Rescued some very sad potatoes, to have mashed potatoes on Sunday
• In a similar vein, used some Blue Apron leftover brussel sprouts for Sunday's dinner
• Picked a yard orange (just in time produce usage) for orange cranberry muffins I made. Bonus, used up cranberries from the freezer & yogurt lingering in the fridge
• Cut up the last of a container of strawberries. They were hitting the wrinkled phase, so added them to the bag of smoothie fruit. 
• Added orange juice to Nick's preferred apple juice for smoothies
• Used the last of a bag of tater tots to heat up with chicken for a quick dinner for Sam between practices

For others:

• Continued my volunteer job
• Put together a bag of toiletry donations for a charity & dropped them off with a neighbor
• Dropped off steak leftovers for our neighbor (she uses them for her dog)

That's it from our side. What about you? Any frugal wins or things for others to share?