Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I did a lot of little things that help us so we don't need to spend money.

First I mixed up some soapy solution for my foaming handsoap dispenser I keep at the kitchen sink using cheap dish soap from the dollar store and some warm water.

I gave my youngest a haircut and then I trimmed my bangs.

I went through the crisper drawer in the refrigerator and rounded up all the veggies that had been there awhile.  I chopped them up and made a yummy and healthy pasta sauce for our lunch.

I used black shoe dye to fix a couple of scuffs on my work shoes and then polished them with black shoe polish.  They look good as new.

Fred Meyer sent me another packet of coupons in the mail.  They arrived in my mailbox on Monday.

Tuesday the oldest and I stopped at Albertsons on the way home from band camp and did some coupon, markdown, stock up shopping.  I like to pick up meat and pantry items for as little as possible and I think we did really well.  Four jars of peanut butter for 99¢ each, two packages of ground turkey for $2.69 each, lunch meat and cheese for $1 to $1.50 per package, 4 boxes of pasta for 69¢ each, all kinds of good buys!  Walked out with a cartload for only $36 and the clerk was impressed.

Mostly loss leaders and markdown items!

I watched several YouTube videos in my endeavor to learn new things.  I'm looking at meal prepping as well as trying to get ideas for future projects to do on Laverne.  I'm learning all kinds of stuff!

Thursday was a busy day for me.  I worked all day and then picked up my youngest from cheerleader camp and dashed off for her orthodontist appointment.  Then back home to pick up the oldest and head down the hill to our favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant to meet friends for dinner.  We had a nice visit, a great meal and they insisted on picking up the tab, which was a very nice treat for me.  Thank you again!

So good and the service is top notch!!!

Friday after work I picked up the oldest from band camp and then swung by to pick up the youngest at cheer camp.  We all agreed we were exhausted so we decided on the way home to stop at the grocery store and pick up what we needed for the week ahead so we could park the car all weekend and not have to leave the house.

The oldest and I did a quick freezer inventory of the chest freezer in the garage.

After dinner we pulled up for a family meeting to discuss the chaos of our lives that is about to begin (and already has) with the start of the school year and to come up with some strategies to make it all work.  I'll share more about that on Wednesday, but suffice it to say I'm actually rather excited about it now.

Friday's haul, we didn't need much

We all went to bed before 10:00 that night and I think we were all asleep the minute our heads hit the pillows.

Saturday morning I cleaned the kitchen.  I took meat out of the freezer to thaw and the girls and I got busy in the kitchen doing some serious cooking.  More about that on Wednesday as well.

We gave our kitchen scraps to the chickens, such lucky ladies they are.  We continued to make them giant ice cubes to put in their water each day to help them keep cool.  They continued to give us a hearty supply of delicious fresh eggs.

I composted the veggie scraps that weren't chicken worthy like lettuce cores, onion skins and hot pepper seeds.  I also composted banana peels, coffee grounds, tea bags and egg shells.

$1.00!  I got the sensitive formula
because it was 25% larger than the others

I washed out two quart size and two gallon size Ziploc bags as well as a plastic shower hat to reuse.

The girls used a rubber spatula to scrape out every last bit of peanut butter and raspberry jam from the jars while making their lunches one morning.  My oldest decided the jam jar is too pretty to toss in the recycling bin so she removed the label and washed it up.  She plans to reuse it to make a gift for someone.

I did a store survey to add an extra 50 fuel points to my Fred Meyer rewards card.  I also printed off an online coupon which allowed me to up a bottle of laundry detergent at Walgreens for $1!

How was your thrifty week?