Frugal Friday

 It was our first week back, with plenty to keep us busy!

Saving on things we buy:

• We stayed at a hotel with a Starbucks, while skiing. I redeemed all of my awards (and, took advantage of a few challenges, to earn extra rewards) to offset some of the cost of our breakfasts. We often stay at a place with a kitchen, but for a short trip, opted to just do a hotel. We kept breakfast simple, with bagels for the kids, and protein bars (from home) & coffee for the adults. 
• Used the Amex gift card to pick up a few groceries this week.
• We decided to swap our ski week trip from Whistler to Lake Tahoe, to keep costs in check, and also because we've been traveling so much & have a bunch of upcoming trips. This saves quite a bit. 

Earning money

• Nothing to report here. Just working our standard jobs. 

Avoiding spending

• We had to change our travel plans for the weekend (college tour), so I remembered to adjust our pre-paid airport parking as well, which saves us about $15. 

Eating what we have

• We've been in & out so much, that I'm trying to really stay on top of the food & avoid waste. I've had a lot of soup (picked up some at Costco that I don't love, but it's A LOT of soup), & have been eating that for meals.
• One of my January goals is to use up frozen fruit in smoothies, so I made a triple batch one day & Sam, Nick & I all had smoothies. That used up 1.5 bags of fruit. Woohoo for progress!
• M & I had no dinner plans, after we got home from skiing. We stopped at Costco and picked up a salad & a rotisserie chicken, and had that for dinner. I removed all of the meat from the chicken, froze what we wouldn't use, and saved the bones to make chicken broth. 
• On the same vein of the freezer goals, I used up some applesauce that had been lingering forever in the freezer, and turned it into muffins. The muffins (most of them, anyway) went back into the freezer, but will be consumed daily, so they are in a different bucket for me than just an ingredient that needs to be used. 

For others

• Went through the boys ski clothes ahead of our trip, and pulled out everything they've outgrown, and gave that away on Buy Nothing. Ski clothes can be expensive, and the cost of skiing is already crazy, so it's nice to pass along gear. 
• Collected up a bunch of items to pass along on Buy Nothing (kitchen stuff we don't need, cold weather clothes, our bread maker, etc.) Always great to match up items you don't want with someone who needs them. 

What about you? Any wins to share?