Last Week's Thrifty Moves

I had a delightfully busy Sunday.  I love daylight savings time and I woke up motivated to really do some stuff.  I put the Daytona 500 NASCAR race on TV (Youtube), cleaned my kitchen and ran a load of laundry.  Then I brewed up a batch of beer.  Afterward I fixed my little darlings a pancake breakfast complete with sausage links.  I made extra pancakes for them to reheat for their breakfast before school throughout the week.

The weather was nice enough that we hung our sheets on the clothesline to dry.  I hope we can keep doing this.

Once the chores were done I took the girls to the dollar store to pick out new Easter baskets.  The old ones they had were worn out.  While we were there we happened upon a brand new display of flower and vegetable seed packets.  I was able to get almost all of the ones I had on my list for only 25¢ each.  The girls also picked out a new pair of gardening gloves.  I found a really nice self watering planter.  Even the cashier was impressed with it.  Now I'll have somewhere to put the spider plant once it takes root.

I also bought a package of 3 plastic lids for cat food as well as two packages of cheese slices and a package of sundried tomatoes.

On the way home I used store coupons and picked up two dozen eggs and a container of parmesan cheese for 99¢ each.  I grabbed a few extra coupons so I can stop and get more cheese later on.  The coupons are good until the end of the month.

I had put on a pot of ham and bean soup in the slow cooker using up some of the ham I had made the week before.  Our friends called and took us to dinner Sunday night so I saved it and reheated it for our supper on Monday night.  We made a batch of cornbread to go with it.  I also put some soup in a couple freezer containers for quick meals later down the road.

I gave my youngest a haircut.

The weather has been so nice I've been turning off the heat during the daytime.

The girls won a free package of Oreo cookies playing our grocery store's Monopoly game.  They were pretty excited about that.  They want to get the mint ones.

A friend and I met for dinner and then went to the movies on Tightwad Tuesday.  I used a gift card to pay for my movie ticket so I didn't have to spend any money out of pocket for it.  I kept my dinner tab to a minimum buy ordering a cobb salad and drinking water.  Since the credit union is located en route I also made my trip to the theatre count by waiting and making my bank deposit along the way saving myself from having to make a special trip and a little gas too. 

I refilled my kitchen hand soap dispenser using up the big jug of floral scented dish soap I buy at the dollar store.  I put some water in it and rinsed it out really well which gave me enough soap to wash a load of dinner dishes before I put the bottle into the recycle bin. 

I used a toothpick to remove the last of the Chapstick in the tube.  I am officially out of Chapstick now but I do have a tube of Blistek I received as part of a gift bag.  No better time to use that up than now.  In the meantime I will be looking for a sale on Chapstick so I can restock my stash.

I turned the bottle of lotion I keep on my desk at work upside down so I use it all up.  I replaced it with one a friend gave me a couple months ago.  She had collected it from her hotel while on vacation.

I washed out a one gallon and a two gallon Ziploc bag so I can reuse them.

I was offered the opportunity to work some overtime the last half of the week so I took it.  Three ten hour days will give me six hours at time and a half.  I plan to put all of the extra money I earn toward one of my financial goals.  It looks like that opportunity will be available through the remainder of the month.

My youngest entertaining the chicks.

I listened to music on Youtube.  We watched a few episodes of a couple TV shows we like on Amazon using our Roku.

I updated my household budget spreadsheets and adjusted my financial goals in the process.  Looking good!

I brought home another file folder box to re-use as a gift box and some cardboard squares I plan to use for an upcoming project.

I added coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells and vegetable scraps to our compost bin.  We shared some stale bread and a burnt pancake with the squirrels.  Soon our chickens will be getting the majority of the bread and veggie scraps.

I shopped online for bare root everbearing strawberry plants, raspberry starts and blueberry bushes.  I didn't buy any but I got some ideas and prices so I'll know if our local prices are within reason.  I found the strawberry plants for just over a dollar each with free shopping.  I doubt I'll find them here for less than that.  Plus they are guaranteed and come from a strawberry farm in Oregon.  Most likely I'll end up ordering those next month.

The youngest and I took some online coupons I printed off and headed to JoAnn Fabrics to pick up some sweatshirt fabric.  She has decided to join the track team at school and needs some shorts.  I was able to get a yard and a quarter for what we need at 50% off.  Great savings!

How thrifty were you last week?