Last Week’s Thrifty Moves

 

Monday I did some thrifty shopping.  I selected a few items from Bed Bath & Beyond to complete a Christmas I've been working on.  I had a $5 Off a $15 Purchase coupon and some money left on a gift card.  My out of pocket expense was $4.63.  I really liked that! 

 

Then I went to Fred Meyer and picked up a few items on sale with their store coupons.  I also had some manufacturer coupons to go with. 

·         Two half gallon jugs of milk and a half gallon of orange juice for $1.25 each

·         Six cans of Progresso clam chowder for 99¢ each plus I had $1.25 in coupons

·         Three pounds of ground turkey on markdown for $3.99. 

I used half of the ground turkey to make a batch of taco meat.  It was enough for two meals.  I divided the remainder in half and put it in sandwich bags for the freezer. 

I finished my Christmas cards, printed out our annual Christmas letter and tucked them inside and got them ready for the mail. 

I wrapped gifts with supplies I already had on hand.  The gift wrap I used I bought on clearance last year for 50¢ a roll.  The bows were all leftovers and ones I collected to re-use.

I was out of gift tags so I printed some off of my computer using a sheet of mailing labels.  Now I have 30 self adhesive gift tags. 

Tuesday I did some more Christmas shopping using a $10 store coupon.  I was able to get several items on sale and on clearance and ended up spending less than $25 for three nice gifts. 

I did some Christmas shopping at the grocery store.  I needed to get a few items for gifts I plan to make.  I also bought wrapped candies from the bulk bin for $1.58 a pound. 

I made broth with our half a shared turkey carcass.  Then I turned it into a spicy Asian style noodle soup to chase away the winter chill.  It was delicious. 

 

The girls and I made homemade hot cocoa mix.  We put it in some of our canning jars to give as Christmas gifts.  We also kept a jar for ourselves and tested it out just to make sure it was good enough to give away.  My oldest made Orange Spiced Tea mix to give as gifts and for ourselves to enjoy as well. 

I used more of my Walmart gift card to purchase some more hooks.  I put them up in various areas of our RV.  I put one on each closet in my room so I can hang clothing and my purse up.  Two more double hooks were added above the ones I installed last week for better coat storage and we now have an extra for guests.  Two in each girl's cabin area allows them a place to hang their bathrobes and back packs.  They really love having these extra hooks. 

 

Again I wrapped gifts with items I already had on hand.  I did need some gift boxes for clothing so I stopped at the dollar store and picked up a package of three.  I used two of them and still have one leftover.  So far I have only spent $1 on gift wrapping supplies this year.  I have no intention of buying anymore either. 

I ordered three more small Christmas gifts using my Amazon Prime membership and received free two day shipping. 

Again we watched our favorite TV shows on Hulu and Amazon. 

I finally got the opportunity Saturday night to watch a DVD my girls gave me for Mother's Day.  Crazy to have waited that long to watch it.  It was a treat to take a hot shower and put on my warm winter pajamas, then crawl into a bed with fresh clean sheets and my electric blanket to watch my favorite vampire Armand in Interview With A Vampire. 

You guys can have Brad Pitt.  I'll take Antonio.

We finished off the last pesky upside down lotion bottle.  I still don’t know how we managed to end up with four of them all at the same time.  At least that clutter is now gone from our little bathroom. 

What thrifty things did you accomplish last week?