Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday was a terrific and thrifty day spent in Newport Oregon.  Our breakfast was included with our hotel stay and they had plenty to offer.  After we ate we fixed ourselves some coffee and cocoas to go and took off for a walk to see what we could see.  Since we were only a mile from South Beach State Park we decided that would be our destination.  We enjoyed the walk and the pretty flowers along the roadside, especially the beautiful rhododendrons.

The park was quite lovely as well and the beach was magnificent.  We spent several hours there playing in the water and collecting pretty stones and shells as they washed up with the surf.  I felt like a little kid out there playing with my girls.  It was so much fun.

We walked back and went through a really nice antique shop located behind our hotel.  I bought the girls a couple of little bottles with cork stoppers for 50¢ each for them to put some beach sand in.  Then we walked next door to the cute little cafe for a late lunch of fish and chips.  Boy were they good.

Monday we spent a good portion of our day at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.  Because of the cost of admission and a few souveniors we opted to not eat out that day.  We ate our hotel breakfast and then enjoyed a late lunch of pasta with alfredo sauce prepared in our hotel room from things we brought from home.

What a poser!

Tuesday we spent the day at the Yaquina Bay harbor.  We enjoyed a visit to Ripley's Believe It or Not, the Undersea Gardens and Waxworks.  In between those places we walked the harbor, visited a few shops and checked out the sea lions.  They were pretty funny.

We went into town and had lunch at another cute cafe called the Pig N Pancake.  Then we went to Nye beach and walked along the water.  We also walked along the Vietnam Memorial they had there.

Wednesday we had to head home so after our final hotel breakfast we loaded the car and headed out.  We stopped a few times along the way to stretch our legs.  Our late lunch was to pick up a $5 pizza at Little Caesars and have a picnic in the parking lot under a big shady tree in Bend, Oregon.  A few hours later we stopped for another break and dessert from the value menu at McDonalds and to fuel up the car in Burns, Oregon.

Thursday it was back to work and back to our regular daily life.  And laundry.  Of course.  We still had food we had packed for our trip and that provided us with lunch and supper.  After all the cleaning out of the fridge done the week before it was pretty slim pickings around here, but we still managed to throw together a couple of meals anyway.

Albertson's had great prices on dairy - plus coupons!!

Friday evening my youngest needed a ride home from the library which worked out perfectly.  I hit up the grocery stores on the way to the libraray and that freed up a huge chunk of my Saturday morning quite nicely.  And filled up the fridge to boot!

Trader Joe's for produce

I had some of our vacation leftovers for my lunch that day and made omelets for supper with sliced mushrooms, bell pepper, onion and the last of a package of grated cheddar cheese.  We also had grapes and bananas.

Saturday morning I woke up to rain we weren't expecting.  I appreciated the rain to water the lawn, but it put a damper on my original plans so I changed modes and enjoyed a quiet leisurely morning with a fresh pot of hot coffee and wrote a nice long letter to my aunt.

I was really careful last week not to let food go to waste and use up our leftovers.  It was nice too in that a lot of leftover items were used to make completely new meals.

Saturday I baked two loaves of honey oat bread, two loaves of whole wheat bread and a dozen of the tastiest whole wheat chocolate chip banana muffins I've ever made.  Recipe coming!

I was really mindful of my spending Friday when it came to grocery shopping.  I used coupons, store coupons and digital coupons downloaded onto my store rewards cards to lower my expenses at the grocery stores.  I also did a store survey to earn 50 bonus fuel points on my Fred Meyer rewards card.

Colorful sea urchins and star fish

I used scrap paper to print out coupons and lists from my computer.

I brought back the unused coffee K-cups from the hotel as well as two bars of soap and the little bottles of shampoo, conditioner and lotion they give you.  I used those to replace what I used in my "Go Bag" and took the coffee to work to use in the Keurig we have there.

I composted coffee grounds, egg shells and banana peels and I fed our kitchen scraps to the hens.

How was your thrifty week?