Frugal Friday

 It was a crazy week, so apologies for my silence. But, I finished all of the interviews, & wrapped up by teaching my class last night. It was a very long day, kicking off an interview with London at 8 am, and closing with the class finish at 8 pm. I was fried by the time it was done, and looking forward to a much more relaxing day today! I actually do have a bunch of stuff I want to get done, but they are a lot lower pressure than an interview. ;-) 

Saving on things we buy

• I planned our menu this week to take advantage of Cinco de Mayo sales, so stocked up accordingly. I was able to get shredded cheese for cheaper than the blocks, picked up salsa, avocados, tortillas, and beans on good mark downs. I also picked up another 2lb package of pasta for $.99 and bought 3 more packages of orzo, which were on sale. I saved another $1.90 through iBotta, & uploaded my receipt to Fetch. In a "win some/lose some" scenario, I saw that M had purchased black beans a while back & they were in a part of the pantry I wouldn't have checked. While we will certainly eat them, we could have avoided the purchase today for the additional beans. 
• I also uploaded our Costco receipt to iBotta & Fetch. iBotta had a $.50 back on any receipt. 

Earning money

• Listed a few new things on eBay, and continued to teach the class, which I'll invoice the first half for next week. 
• Nick got paid for his first two weeks of work. He's been working for about a month, so he was thrilled to finally see a check. 

Avoiding spending

• A lot of families go *all out* for graduation. We chatted with both Sam (last year) & Nick about what was important to them, and what they didn't care about. I'll do a separate post with more details soon on this. Even with all of the budget saving, it's still a very expensive time, so best to focus on the things your kids care about most. 
• M previously paid for YouTube premium, but we added him to our Google Fi plan, which comes with free YouTube premium. M & the boys each get a 6 month subscription, and for whatever reason, I get a free year. Given it's a subscription we've paid for in the past, this saves $23/month (we had the family plan, so it covered all four of us.) 

Eating what we have

• Hosted Nick's friends on Saturday night for dinner, as they were coming over to work on Nick's "prom-posal" for his girlfriend. M made delicious Philly cheese steaks. I knew it would be just enough steak, so we grilled up a lot of extra veggies, and I put together a large fruit salad, including strawberries from the garden. I also made a large veggie salad, with lettuce & basil from the garden. 
• I made a double batch of the southwest chicken skillet, which we loved. I was able to use up the last of a jar of salsa. I also made guacamole to go with it, as avocados were $2/1 at the store for Cinco de Mayo. I used a jalapeno & cilantro from the garden for the guacamole. This recipe was easy, pretty healthy & balanced, & delicious. It will definitely go into our rotation. Bonus: I used a rotisserie chicken from Costco for the chicken in the recipe, and then turned the bones into 8 cups of chicken broth. Some of which I used for the recipe, and the rest went into the freezer for another day. It also used up more of the green onions. (In case you missed it, M bought a 2lb bag of green onions at Costco, because they were very inexpensive. We've planted quite a few of them, and have been eating a lot as well. So many green onions!) I estimate that the double recipe cost around $15, and made at least four full dinners (serving four people). It will probably also end up yielding some lunches. I bought canned black beans, but you can save more if you are willing to use dry & prep them ahead. The guacamole was optional, but cost another $2.25 or so. 

For others

• Worked with two of the college students I volunteer with. 

What about you? Any wins to share?