Frugal Friday

 There were a few frugal wins for the week, and we are definitely in belt tightening mode. 

Saving on things we buy

• Used Door Dash credits (from our credit card) to order delivery on a date night. 
• Bought a 2 lb package of pasta at the grocery store for $.99, which is practically unheard of. Pasta is Nick's favorite food, so we go through quite a bit. 
• M found an enormous package of green onions (2 lbs) at Costco for $4.49. We will freeze a bunch, as well as potentially plant some. It's a HUGE amount of green onions. He loves them on his salads, so he was very pleased with his purchase. 

Earning money

• Cashed in more survey money ($6) & listed a few items on eBay, that I've found in various clean outs around the house. 
• Sam landed a summer job, which is cool for him & will help him save money for upcoming fall college expenses. It's full time, which is semi-rare for the typical summer job, so he's pretty excited about that.

Avoiding spending

• They offered free snacks after my "dry Tri", so I picked up a banana, protein bar, & a Gatorade. I ate the first two, & Nick brought the Gatorade to soccer practice. 
• Picked up the Friday Freebie at the grocery store, which was a fruit juice. We don't use juice much, but the boys like to have it for smoothies. 
• DH & Nick (and the helpful videos on YouTube) were able to troubleshoot & fix a "check engine" light. 
• While digging around under a bathroom sink for a cleaning product, I found that I had stashed a bunch of toiletries in the very back back. I've been keeping our toiletries under a different bathroom sink for years, so not sure what the "vintage" is on these toiletries, but everything is fine to use (shaving cream, an unopened razor & blades, body wash, etc). I've set a bunch aside & put everything else in the correct spot. The set aside ones will make a nice start on what Nick will bring to college in a few months. 
• We have been super lucky, and have never needed to pay for car charging in the time that we've had two electric cars. Now that M & I aren't working at a place with free car charging, he was able to get the car charged up one last time, when I reminded him that his access was expiring. We'll need another solution. We're lucky in that our car goes ~300 miles on a charge. On a related note, we've been having Nick take the electric car to work, as he's job is two towns over & otherwise, he's putting quite a few miles on his car. This helps save on gas. 
• Met two friends for hikes, which is always nice (and, free!) I can walk to the hiking trail from our house. 

Eating what we have

• Made a very eclectic bowl out of: leftover Persian rice, carnitas, sharp cheddar cheese & some salsa. It was delicious. 
• Found a single serve container of chicken shawarma in the freezer, and made that for M one night for dinner.
• I've continued having "snacky" meals, when I can't find other options, or nothing else really sounds right. For me, that's typically cheese & crackers, with an apple & a handful of cashews.
• We had plenty of leftover Indian delivery for several additional lunches.
• Defrosted both tacos & Korean beef from the freezer, which officially means... we're out of prepped freezer meals! Time to get back into the swing of prepping meals. (That's my own motivational talk.)
• Nick stopped by with a couple of friends unexpectedly for lunch. I put out plates of fruit, cheese & crackers, & veggies & homemade hummus. They couldn't have anything too heavy, as they were about to plan in a big tennis match. I also sent pizza rolls to eat after the match, for a more filling option. And gave everyone electrolyte water, as it was close to 80, and some of those matches go on for 2 hours. 
• Made the lemon chicken orzo dish, which fed four of us on Sunday, two of us on Tuesday, and two additional lunches for me. (I doubled it, in case you are wondering if we are all really light eaters.) That also meant I used up the entire box of orzo, so no extra lingering in the pantry. 

For others

• Had a call with one of the students I'm mentoring
• Made some networking introductions to a friend. In this market, having a referral for a role is critical!
• Went through my bathroom shelves & gave away a bunch of items on Buy Nothing. 

What about you? Any wins to share?