I
spent a small fortune on cleaning supplies, primarily carpet stain
remover. My dear friend lent us her super
duper carpet cleaner and came to help me as well. We used vinegar and water to clean the
carpets and extract the mega load of soap the tenants left on the carpet after
they attempted to clean them. The stains
they left everywhere were horrific, but thanks to four cans of Spot Shot ($5 a
can), a scrub brush, and a lot of elbow grease we were able to get most of them
out. I love Spot Shot. It is amazing stuff!
I
used vinegar and water to clean the dishwasher and bleach to clean the mold out
of the washing machine. I ran the
vinegar through a wash cycle on the dishwasher and cleaned out all the accumulated
yuckiness in the bottom and around the door.
My friend, who happens to be a plumber, cleaned out the filter on the
washer which was clogged with sand and some green stuff he thought might be
lettuce. I don't even want to know how
that happened. We ran an old towel
through a cycle and then it was ready to go.
The
first wash load I did was to wash all of our pillows and bedding. There is nothing like clean fresh bedding. I then loaded the dishwasher with all of our
dishes, silverware, utensils and the silverware tray to give them a nice
wash. After wiping out the cabinets and drawers
I put all of that stuff away.
Monday
afternoon we went grocery shopping, which I described in the post on
Friday. Not so thrifty but we are well
stocked for the time being. Tuesday I
stopped at Albertsons and after a warm welcome back from the cashiers when we
walked through the front door (I couldn't believe they missed us!) we checked
out the meat department. I bought two large
packages of chicken hindquarters, three packages of pork chops and a package of
Italian sausages. All were priced as
markdown items and all were less than $3 per package. Now that's the way I like to buy meat!
I
hit a clearance sale at Fred Meyer, 50% Off the lowest marked price. I bought curtains for the living room for $16. A curtain rod for $10. A curtain rod for my daughter's room for
$6. A big throw pillow for the couch for
$8 and a lamp and shade for the living room for $19. Then I used a coupon to save an additional
10% off my entire purchase that I had clipped out of their ad.
I
bought a tank of gas using my Fred Meyer rewards points and saved 10¢ a
gallon. I am eager to see how long that
tank will last now that my commute to work is only five minutes. I really love my commute.
Friday
night we went shopping for new mattresses.
Right now the girls have their beds from the RV in their rooms and I'm
using our Aerobed. I think I've found
the best price and quality on mattresses at, of all places, Fred Meyer.
After
shopping for mattresses we stopped at a restaurant near our home and used a $5
OFF coupon. Our meal with tip came in at
$16 and the food and service was wonderful.
It made for a really nice "date night" to celebrate our
homecoming as a family.
What
thrifty things did you do last week?
I love your blog! You are great at saving money and I love your cooking ideas and recipes. Lots of good cleaning tips. I use vinegar, baking soda and salt to clean many, many things. Congratulations on being in your home again.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!!! Isn't vinegar wonderful. I love how you can put baking soda in your drain with a little vinegar to unclog and clean it up. Way better than using something like Drano. :)
DeleteNice. We haven't been very thrifty lately. Between an almost 2 week old newborn :-) I am so in love<3, who likes to squall at night when he gets put down and healing from a c section, it hasn't been very important.
ReplyDeleteOn the 'thrifty' side: my sis in law gave us some formula she got for free using a coupon and her store discount, another sis in law gave us some more diapers and wipes as well as cooking us dinner one day and leaving enough leftovers for a couple of meals, my husband's uncle gave us formula his baby can't eat, my parents have bought/made us dinner on a few different occasions and brought me a few groceries today, we paid the hospital bill outright (minus things that will be billed from other sources like anesthesia and my son's ultrasound) which gave us a 25% discount and saved over $1000 - we took it out of savings so we need to work on rebuilding that.
Yaaay congratulations!!!!! So happy for you. Enjoy him every second, even the squalling. It doesn't last long in the grand scheme of things. It just seems like it when you are exhausted. :) Hurray for your wonderful family for all their "thrift" gifts. Great job on saving so much and paying your hospital bill. You might be able to negotiate some with the anesthesiologist too. Doesn't hurt to ask.
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