Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Loads of thriftiness this past week, hence the unusually long post.  It turned out to be a pretty busy and productive one as well.  Sunday morning I was up with the chickens again and a pretty decent sized "To Do" list.  The girls and I knocked it out fairly well over the course of the day.  Midway through our day my oldest daughter had a friend come over for a quick auto repair.  I managed to get a big item checked off our list which was to defrost our freezer in the garage and I even cleaned up that side of the garage while I was at it.

The heat has finally hit us and it feels like summer now.  We went ahead and installed the window AC units upstairs in our house Sunday afternoon.  I really do appreciate having the option to cool our house on a hot summer day.

My oldest drove over to the college she is attending to pick up a free book, coffee drink and cookie they were offering to all the incoming freshmen.  She took her friend with her and they gave her a free drink and cookie as well.

Since I still had the hedge trimmers I'd borrowed from my co-worker the girls and I went outside just before supper and quickly trimmed up our bushes in the yard along our house.  I trimmed and they cleaned up.  Took us less than 20 minutes and we were done.  I returned the hedge trimmers the next day when I went back to work.  I'm so glad I was able to borrow this tool.

Later that evening we grilled a rather large rib eye steak and some burger patties on our BBQ.  My oldest made a coleslaw and my youngest shucked and steamed some corn while I manned the grill.  We did our Sunday chores after the dishes were washed and called it a very successful day.  It felt really good to go bed exhausted and knowing we'd had such a productive weekend.

Fortunately Monday arrived and I was able to go back to work and get some rest!  After work I decided I'd earned some fun time and knocked another project off of my list which was to make a throw pillow out of a velvet shirt a friend had given me last summer.  It took no time at all and turned out super cute!

YUM!

Tuesday evening I treated the girls to the $1 movie.  We saw Hustle with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson.  We found it funny and entertaining.  Total spent for family night at the movies - $3!

I've been selling some of our extra eggs to friends this summer.  We earned enough to pay for a bag of feed which the girls picked up for me on Wednesday.  I love that our hens can be self sustaining like that.

$13! 😍

After work the girls and I grabbed an ad that came in the mail with the $10 OFF $30 Purchase coupon and headed off to Bed Bath & Beyond to shop for bedding for my oldest daughter's dorm room.  We were able to find her a comforter set on clearance for $39.99 a good mattress cover for $19.99 and a darling little waterproof shower bag for $9.99.  I used the coupon and a $50 gift card I'd earned from doing a health challenge through my work.  Total out of pocket ended up being $13.57 after tax.  I'd say we did okay!

My youngest used a $30 Amazon gift card she'd earned from the orthodontist (her prize for good brushing and no broken brackets) to purchase a new cell phone.  She had dropped her old one a few too many times.  She found one she liked on sale on Prime Day and only had to pay $6 out of pocket.  She decided to spend another $5 for a protective case for the phone, also on sale on Amazon.  She and I are very like minded in that we don't like to spend much on a cell phone, but we always manage to get a good quality one that does a decent enough job.  We just watch the sales and since neither one of us feels the need for the "latest and greatest" we can usually find an older(less than a year in most cases) phone for next to nothing.

Chorizo, scrambled eggs, queso fresco, sour cream & salsa

Thursday and Friday evenings we began the big purge of my oldest daughter's bedroom in preparation of her moving into the dorms next month.  We were able to give  a few clothing items to my youngest, sent A LOT of paper to the recycling bin and shred pile, filled up three trash bags with donations and figured out pretty much what she is taking and what is going to be stored.  As it stands she needs no new clothing or shoes and we have plenty of toiletries and school supplies on hand.  Hurray!

In between projects last week we binge watched Stranger Things on Netflix.  We really like this show and I am glad we decided to try it out.  The girls also talked me into watching Mega Mind.  I'm not a big fan of animated movies, but they seemed to really enjoy it.

I worked a fair bit of overtime last week.  I've decided I am going to use some of my overtime pay from my latest paycheck for restocking our freezer and pantry for winter.  The girl and I headed off to Albertson's (they are having an amazing sale!) Saturday morning on our bikes and with the cargo trailer for a grocery haul.  Check back on Wednesday for more details about that adventure.

I found a small hole on one of my trouser socks so I grabbed a needle and black thread and stitched it closed real quick.

We washed out several Ziploc bags to reuse.

I trimmed my bangs and my youngest's too saving us both a trip to the salon.

I dropped off a bill payment at the doctor's office on my way home from work saving me a stamp.

I stirred up another batch of foaming hand soap refill solution and refilled the dispenser we use in our upstairs bathroom.  In the past two weeks I've filled up three Bath & Body Works hand soap dispensers for mere pennies compared to replacing them at $2.95 a piece on sale.  That is a big savings!

I used up the bag of briquettes I'd bought for my daughter's graduation party.  I am also using up the partial bag of mesquite briquettes that came with the BBQ by sprinkling some in with the plain ones.  I personally think they add too strong of a flavor to the meat to use them alone so I add just a handful or two each time we grill.

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - cleaned sink & toilet.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed & mopped floor.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & mopped floor, cleaned microwave, coffeemaker, range hood & stove.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  My oldest cleaned the bathroom.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - three large loads of laundry, vacuumed living room, hallway & entry, mopped the entry ways.  Swept front porch & back deck.  Defrosted & cleaned the chest freezer, swept & vacuumed garage.

Sorry this post was so long.  How was your thrifty week?