Frugal Friday

Paid our last mortgage payment!!! We're still waiting for the balance to clear, but this is definitely our biggest milestone. Expect a full post on that soon!  

Saving on things we buy

• My summer sandals were trapped under a box during the packing of the beach house, and the strap that wraps around your ankle got all stretched out. They are very uncomfortable to wear, as one shoe is super loose, and the other fits normally. My favorite style is no longer made, but I found what I hope is a similar alternative. I clicked through Rakuten for a small amount back, used a 10% coupon code on the web site, and waited for a sale combined with free shipping. I hope these last as long as my previous pair. 

Earning money

• I converted Fetch rewards into an Amazon gift card
• I unpaused my eBay listings, and sold a few more things. Bonus, used the (recycled) Amazon mailers I picked up off of Buy Nothing.
• Flameless votive candles (found in a drawer at the beach)
• LED lights
• Running gloves (from the beach)
• A sports jersey
• A (new) car sticker, found when cleaning out my husband's VHS tapes. I think it's now considered "vintage" :-) 
• A race shirt

Avoiding spending

• Sam is on a major growth spurt, and has outgrown many of his shorts. I almost ordered a few pair as experiments, but decided none of them were quite right, and decided to keep looking. Returning things can be some effort, and I'd prefer to look for them in person, where he can be right there to approve or reject. 

Eating what we have

• We continue to eat lots of delicious garden items in our salads (cucumber, kale, green/orange peppers, tomatoes, chives, mint & cilantro)
• I've continued to enjoy smoothies for lunch, using up our abundance of frozen bananas (as well as protein powder & other frozen fruit). I'm making serious progress on the bananas, after they built up in the freezer. Also made smoothies for the boys, when they got home from soccer camp.
• Ate the first handful of blueberries off of our plant
• Made a mozzarella/peach/basil salad to use up an abundance of fresh mozzarella we bought at Costco (fantastic sale), and basil from the garden. I prefer nectarines, as they don't need to be peeled. So tasty. Michael & I had a small taste of the salad - Sam was a huge fan. ;-) 
• Used up (already grilled) hot dogs from the freezer
• Used up the last of the Keto friendly coleslaw dressing & (almost) all of the shredded cabbage & carrots for another coleslaw
• Made zucchini fritters for dinner one night
• If I don't have a smoothie for lunch, I try to have a "use it up" salad. One version this week had chicken nuggets as the protein (leftover from the kids) & cottage cheese on top. The cottage cheese added a lot of texture/creaminess to the salad that I enjoyed, so I'll have to try that again. 

For others

• Spent a lot of time on a volunteer project at work, and also checked in with my non-profit volunteer job.

That's it for me. What about you? Any wins for the week to share?