Frugal Friday

 It wasn't the most frugal week, as we had two meals out over the long weekend (a day trip + a date night), both of which were fantastic. But, pricey! Otherwise, here are our frugal wins:

Saving on things we buy

• Bought Home Depot gift cards at the grocery store, earning $45 in store rewards.
• M & I had a bit of a miscommunication, where he asked if he should pick up discounted Southwest gift cards at Costco (they were $430 for a $500 gift card). I said, let's get 2 x 500 gift cards, but he read it as $2500 worth (5 gift cards). We will definitely use them & they don't expire, but I wasn't expecting to spend $2150 on Southwest cards this week. ;) 
• I needed to pick up a few items at the grocery for the tennis banquet (I'm making chocolate chip cookies & I was out of both chocolate chips & brown sugar), as well as drinks for the event. I loaded a $20 grocery store reward on my account. I bought: a family sized package of pretzels (both boys requested more snacks), two containers of ice cream bars (for the upcoming family visit + boys having friends over in the pool), brown sugar, chocolate chips & six packages of sparkling water (most for the banquet). I earned $4 via Fetch, $.60 via iBotta & spent $20.43. I also had a $1.50 coupon for the ice cream. I earned another $.25 in grocery store rewards, and finally got an instant winner ticket, good for a six pack of soda. I will pick that up to have on hand, as my mom likes Diet Pepsi. 
• I used CVS rewards to pick up wrapping paper for graduation, as we apparently only had Christmas paper. We tend to use gift bags for birthdays. I bought a large container of pistachios ($14) + the wrapping paper ($6.99 - when did wrapping paper get so expensive?!) & spent $11.50 out of pocket. I earned $.50 back from iBotta & another $1 from my credit card rebate offer. 

Earning money

• Sold a couple of things on eBay & made $50

Avoiding spending

• I looked at a few cute dress options for graduation, but reminded myself that I have more than enough in my closet. 

Eating what we have

• M & I brought home leftovers from our date night, and Sam ate that for lunch one day.
• We've continued to eat what's being grown in the garden (mint, basil, garlic scapes, lettuce)
• I was able to use up the last of a container of fresh mozzarella I bought at 1/2 price, by making one of our favorite summer salads: peaches (or, nectarines), fresh mozzarella & basil. I also used basil from the garden. We season ours with olive oil, salt & pepper. If you like, you can add balsamic, but I prefer it without. It's absolutely fantastic. 
• Was feeling particularly hungry after a hard workout this week, so I dug out a frozen leftover meal (pasta with chicken in a peanut sauce). It was great & very filling with a banana. I was feeling virtuous, as I looked up delivery options, but reminded myself how unnecessary that was & how we'd already eaten out 2x over the weekend. 
• As always, I was unsure who would be home for dinner, so we made a few dining swaps from our menu & I defrosted an Asian beef rice dish for dinner on Tuesday night. (M had salmon). Sam & I had the rice dish & Nick was (unsurprisingly) not home. He made toast for dinner when he got back. It was nice to get a larger container out of the freezer. 

For others

• Made a tennis donation, returned shopping carts & I did a bit more work for my college counseling volunteering project. 

What about you? Any wins to share?