Frugal Friday

Another busy week. It's finals week (two weeks, for Sam), new soccer practices + old soccer team practice, I was at the beach for a few days, and we're working through the inspection & final stages on that. As always, frugality is about prioritization, and flexibility. Each week is different, and an opportunity to make thoughtful choices. For us, frugality is also about prioritization. Sometimes, we're willing to prioritize spending more, as something is really important to us. Often though, it's not important, and ensuring we are clear on our prioritization is a good reminder to cut costs when things don't matter as much.

Saving on things we buy

• Uploaded grocery receipts to Fetch. Remembered to check iBotta & found $.50 of offers. I also earned $.50 on Fetch for buying cereal (a rare treat, as it was on sale.)
• I needed to buy some swim trunks & shorts for the kids for our Hawaii trip. I was able to find really inexpensive shorts ($6-7) for them, and two swim trunks for $12. Because I bought them in Oregon, I paid no sales tax, as an added bonus. As noted below on sales, for things we use infrequently, I sell them on eBay when the boys have outgrown things like swim trunks. 

Earning money

• Continued to list & sell things on eBay. It was a quiet week this week, and I sold:
• Outgrown swim trunks
• Two books
• A fridge magnet (a gift)
• Earned a $15 Amazon gift card via Swagbucks

Avoiding spending

• I've been able to cut back on some of our salad fixing purchase, by using things out of the garden, which always feels nice.

Eating what we have

• The garden is really starting to come along. I used lots of radishes, basil, kale, spinach in our salads, and picked the first carrot & tomato. 
• I picked our first two zucchini, and we have SO many! My husband clearly went nuts on the planting side. The good news is, we can make zoodles or sauteed zucchini for his meals, but we have so, so many zucchini.
• M will miss a few dinners this weekend, so I've built a menu that uses up some of the non-Keto friendly items in our freezer. It's a good chance to incorporate those carb heavier items. 
• Made zucchini muffins, with the garden zucchinis. They are delicious.
• Used 1/2 of the remaining grated zucchini with my eggs in the morning. It was surprisingly good. I just sauteed the zucchini for a minute, added eggs, salt, pepper & topped with feta cheese when it was almost done cooking. Served with sourdough toast. 

For others

• Continued volunteer role
• Gave away quite a few things on Buy Nothing
• A school parent was looking for a logo'd mask for graduation. My son refuses to wear his, so I was happy to offer ours up to someone who will use it. 
• Shared herbs with a neighbor
• Remembered to scan a receipt for BoxTops (our money goes to the local middle school). I rarely buy cereal, but when it's on a huge sale, it's one of Nick's favorite snacks. Cereal is always a winner for BoxTops - few other things I buy qualify. 

That's it from our side. What about you? Any wins to share?