Friday, January 27, 2023

Frugal Friday

In non-frugal news, I had to bail on a scheduled workout at my gym due to a last minute true work emergency, which cost me $15. Work does reimburse me slightly for my gym membership, so I'm considering it a wash. 

Here's what we've been up to this week: 

Saving on things we buy

  • Tracked down missing stay credit, for our ski trip over New Years. The points are quite valuable, so I didn't want to miss out. It took two emails & a live chat session, but got it resolved.
  • We have been trying to eat more from the freezer, and are also adjusting our meal planning to have less waste (the teens are rarely both home for all dinners in a week). As a result, we were able to limit our grocery shopping to about 1/3 of our normal expense this week. 
  • Used a gift card & a small reward at Panera to take Nick to lunch. I'm trying to do more one on one time with the boys, which is hard to come by these days!
  • Combined a Rite Aid sale, rewards & an iBotta offer to earn $6 off a few things we needed. 
  • I also went through & inventoried our gift cards again, as we've been trying to use them up. It's a good reminder of what we have & ensuring we using all of our resources. 

Earning money

  • Listed a few unneeded items on eBay

Avoiding spending

  • Picked up the Friday Freebie at the store, which was dairy free milk. I'm not super picky about what I put in my coffee, so it was nice to have a free option. Bonus, iBotta had an offer for the milk, so I earned $1.35 from iBotta, making this a money maker. 
  • Found a handful of tomatoes & strawberries, still growing in our garden. Pretty crazy, given we've had cold temps, lots of rain & minimal sun. 


Eating what we have

  • I've made Nick a few smoothies, using up ingredients from the fridge, pantry & freezer. Smoothies are great for hiding leftover items (chopped up apples that were about to go bad, for example)
  • I froze leftover fajitas, before they were wasted. 
  • Brought home leftovers from date night, and had them for brunch on Sunday.
  • Sam has a friend who works at a bakery, and often brings home treats. We've been enjoying them!
  • We used leftover naan bread, toasted with butter, as a side for spaghetti & meatballs. Non-traditional, but the teens weren't super picky.
  • I forgot to pick up ground beef for one of the recipes this week, so I improvised by adding additional meatballs & sauce to the leftovers (replacing one dinner) & because I'd planned for leftovers of the missing recipe, I also subbed in gyozos & wings another night.
  • Used up an acorn squash that I bought ages okay, and kept forgetting about.
  • Made M a "football watching" appetizer tray, using things from around the fridge.

For others

  • Gave away bags of things on Buy Nothing, and to a neighbor who runs an outreach for a local shelter. 
That's it from my side. What about you? Any wins to share?

4 comments:

  1. Only that I discovered good old Trader Joes selling eggs, still, for just under $3, so I finally stocked back up after not buying them for several months (I was hoarding the few I still had in the fridge!).

    One on one time with your boys- so important! I'm sure they value it as well, even if they don't express it explicitly.

    Tamara R

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    1. Trader Joes has been holding prices reasonably steady (or, more moderate inflation, should I say), probably because they have the most self branded items of any store.

      And yes, they sometimes don't mention it, but I do think they value the time.

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  2. You had a good frugal week! Free milk and strawberries and tomatoes still in your garden. You can’t beat that!

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    Replies
    1. I was shocked to see things still growing! We are back to the sun again, so I'll need to keep a closer eye on the garden.

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