Last Week's Thrifty Moves

I appreciated the first full week of February very much.  It was much calmer and quieter with few commitments.  We took the time to relax, unwind, heal and mend, as well as to just enjoy some time at home.  We didn't realize how much we needed a break until we actually got one.

Ground beef $1.99 a pound

Sunday we all slept in, kitties too, and began our day slowly.  By mid afternoon the youngest and I decided to head out and do a little bit of grocery shopping.  We made a plan and routed ourselves a loop to go to three stores - Fred Meyer, Wal-Mart and Grocery Outlet.  We didn't buy a whole lot at either store, but I did want to pick up butter and ground beef on sale at Fred Meyer and replenish my cream and cheese at Wal-Mart, only to find they raised the price of their cream nearly a dollar a quart.  I was not happy.

Fun!  Sprinkles for baking

My daughter found more sprinkles in the clearance bin at Fred Meyer for 59¢ each, some we've never had before, so we splurged.  She is super excited about these sprinkles we've been finding.  I guess we'd better bake something soon so she can try them out.

My Friday freebie item I picked up

I'm not sure why our neighbor pays for the Sunday paper delivery each week, but all she seems to do is drive over it for several days until it is pulverized and then tosses it in the trash.  This week I picked it up on Tuesday, wet and flat to toss it, but decided to see if there were coupons first.  There were so I helped myself.  Along with the coupons I saved the comic section for my daughter and cut out the crossword puzzle.  That evening she and I worked the crossword and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves doing it together.  Now I hope my neighbor continues to run over her paper and not read it so we might be able to.  Ha!

The remainder of the was "normal".  I went to work and my daughter went to school.  We had dinner every evening and she did her homework.  We managed to go to bed on time each night and it was nice.

On Friday evening I stopped by Fred Meyer on the way home to pick up a few loss leader items they had on sale and stock up on yogurt, also on sale.  We stayed home all day Saturday and spent a relaxed day off.

I did work a few hours of overtime last week.

We washed out and reused several Ziploc bags.

Homemade turkey broth

Investment Cooking = I put the carcass I'd saved in the freezer from the turkey breast I roasted a couple weeks ago into the slow cooker with carrots, celery and onions and made a nice batch of turkey broth.  Some will go into a recipe this week and the rest into the freezer for future meals.

Our Saturday snack plate

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

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors, cleaned inside washing machine.  Scrubbed bathroom sink.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, cleaned dining room chairs.

Kitchen -  vacuumed the floor, cleaned stove & rangehood.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Scrubbed sink.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - two large loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry.

How was your thrifty week?