- I stopped at the credit union today to put some random cash into our checking account. I swept my hand under the coin counting machine and was rewarded with $1.50 in quarters. People may have noticed my odd behavior, but I’m okay with that. It pays to not be easily embarrassed. Literally.
- I did my big monthly stock-up grocery shopping at Safeway using a $10-off-$50 coupon. I matched their e-coupons with paper coupons and made the most of my dollars. Most non-consumery? I bought a 2-pound bag of carrots for 79¢, but I grabbed four different bags to weigh and buy the heaviest, which was a full 2-1/2 pounds. Why yes, I am a cheap date!
- After squeezing every last bit from my toothpaste tube, I went ahead and cut it open. There was easily another four days’ product left in the top bit.
- I had an afternoon appointment and spent at least ten minutes looking for a parking spot. I finally gave up and parked in a 15-minute spot even though I knew I would be gone for around an hour. I somehow lucked out and came back to a ticket-free car. Not a good plan, but in the moment it was a necessary one. (This story could easily have ended not so frugally.)
- I’m wearing thrifted clothing, batching all errands, drinking tea or tap water, washing clothes in cold water using small amounts of detergent, viewing the computer through my Dollar Tree reading glasses, not planning any new purchases, eating simple homemade meals and generally content with an extremely frugal life. (I only write “generally” because I’m craving another NYC trip, and am bummed that it isn’t in the current budget.)
Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
what is that a picture of??
The inside of a toothpaste tube.
I m going to do that!! I do that with everything else, never thought to do that with toothpaste. I feel like the manufacturers do that deliberately, make it difficult to get every drop out. I will defeat them!!!!!!!!
Shouldn’t that sentence end with a “Mwah hah-hah?”
yes!!! i just wasn’t sure how to spell it…
The first tube I did that with was toothpaste. Most things can be fully used with hot water (shampoo, soap, etc) but not that.
Perfect timing with this post!
Today I stopped myself from shopping online at Gap, since I didn’t need anything & only wanted to redeem my gapcash (which still requires that I spend quite a bit to ‘save’ anything) & I’m about to sit down to a very frugal dinner of lentils & naan. I used very ripe tomatoes that needed to be used asap, onion I had on hand & broccoli I got for sale. It’s hard to be frugal w/food here in Los Angeles because there are so many tempting choices for eating out & there’s always a new vegan restaurant I want to try. My new goal has been to save eating out for weekends only. It’s still terribly costly for my boyfriend & I but since we bike everywhere, I justify it as transportation expenses too!
We got a $10 off $50 coupon for our local grocery today in the newspaper, which was promptly clipped and stuffed in the hubby’s wallet, since he does the bulk of the grocery shopping around here.
My favorite jeans magically became holey this weekend, so I can’t wear them to work. I scored a pair of jeans and black pants at Goodwill. Also, while in the dressing room, there was a pair of Banana Republic cargo pants just sitting there in my husband’s (ever-changing) size. Triple score!
My brother came over Saturday and we exchanged some seeds. We both do container gardening exclusively so a whole pack lasts us forever. I also told him to let me know if he orders any seeds and maybe we can go in together on some stuff. Good thing we’ve been sharing since (his) birth!
During the same visit, my brother took some measurements so he can build a plant stand for my front balcony. Our landscapers are relentless with the leaf blower and I want my plants off the ground so they don’t get destroyed. He can make me something much cheaper than what is available on the market, and custom-fit the stand to the somewhat awkward space.
My manager gave me a $25 Starbucks gift card that she received as a gift and won’t use. I don’t go to Starbucks all the time, but I do enjoy the occasional Frappuccino. It’s nice to be able to occasionally treat myself for free!
I love your frugal things!
we recently cut the bottom off our toothpaste too. Now we’re using up a sample size that’s too big for carry-on but was still living in my travel toiletries bag. It’s kinda old, but seems to work ok 😉
We haven’t done anything exceptionally frugal recently, but we also haven’t done anything expensive so I guess it’s still a win all around!
Thought of one that I should have posted under “Buy the Biggest Onion”: When you bring a bag of potatoes home, take them out of the plastic bag and put them in a paper one. Paper lets them breathe better, and blocks the light so you aren’t peeling away green stuff under the skin later on.
(Before that occured to me, they were getting so green by the last third of the bag that we were wasting a lot from each potato because of the green.)
Good tip, thanks!
Picked up “Bag It” from the library yesterday (learned about it on your blog last week) along with three other DVDs – I will have free entertainment for the snowy weekend – yay!
Been riding the bus to work each day this week – it takes so much extra time to get there and home because of the route and stops (30 min extra). But I’m thankful to have the alternative transportation. I work in the city and parking costs $8-$10 each day. Saves my car & gas & the planet – and it’s good exercise walking quite a bit to & from the bus stops.
Had to stay for a cocktail party at work this week – free dinner noshing on the appetizers.
Read somewhere to use the plastic bag citrus fruit comes in to make your own pot scrubber – it worked like a charm scouring my non- stick skillet totally clean. Those scrubby sponges are expensive at Target.
Thank you for posting about Bag It. I need another film to watch on yet another bleak winter day.
I need to see that documentary!
Saturday we are doing a large grocery-shopping. We don’t own a car and the grocery store nearest us is a little expensive. So every so often we get a zipcar and really stock up at the cheaper grocery store which is a few miles away.
Last night I almost ordered a cake pan online. My only pan is large, and I wanted to bake a smaller cake. I decided to wait to order it since I didn’t really want to spend money on a little-used single-use item, and this morning I remembered that I have a ceramic pan that is just the right size, and yes, you can bake cake in a ceramic pan. (I also bake small pies in my multi-use cast iron pan.)
I freeze fresh local veg during the summer. Last week I finished up the tomatoes and greens. Now I am working our way through the beets and turnips and corn. Last year with my daughter’s stomach problems we had some veg go bad before we used them. I am determined to not let that happen again this year.
We try to eat only all-natural and local meat. This is not frugal, but it means a lot to us. I’ve learned to cook meat in a very frugal way. I can serve two adults and a toddler one 8-ounce pork chop or one 8-ounce chicken breast, and a roast or chicken gets turned into a seemingly endless number of meals. Last week, I ordered a pig from a local farm. It will bring the cost per pound way down.
We do the same for meet. We strongly believe in natural/organic meat, so we buy it at a pretty expensive price (sad face) but we use it wisely, like 1 pound of meat stretched for 2 meals (2 adults, 2 toddlers), mixed with cheaper vegetarian meals here and there like rice and beans to reduce grocery cost.
<>, not meet…
….. shoot, trouble with this message…. MEAT, not meet.
1. I’ve eaten at home all week with a giant pot of crockpot mexican chicken
2. Still haven’t purchased Starbucks out of my money since Christmas eve! And I still have about $15 left in giftcards.
2. I miss my friends so I have invited all my favorite local ladies over for a craft night potluck in a few weeks.
3. I didn’t get to the laundromat on my day off so I did a load of laundry in my kitchen sink and hung everything over the radiators. I’m sticking it out through the weekend when I can go to my dad’s to do all my laundry FOR FREE.
4. I just took a fancy new job that requires a professional wardrobe. REALLY WANT TO GO SHOPPING AT A MALL for new things…but so far I picked up 3 dresses and a bllazer at the thrift store and am going to try to stick it out through at least my first paycheck.
5. Not sure if this counts as frugal – but I finally took a hard look at my credit score and just paid off a debt from 2010 I somehow missed! It will take some time to repair but I know it will be just fine going forward!
Definitely counts as frugal. Not only are you not paying interest on that debt, but your ability to get better rates or deals will increase as your credit history improves.
Still staying out of stores…although I did stop at a thrift store last weekend to buy 2 T shirts. And now have a new PJ top and summer T shirt for shorts. One bright salmon in color, the other ombre pink stripes. Needing those bright colors to chase away the winter blues. We had 5″ of rain last month and so far no sunshine in February. I have felt SAD this winter more than ever before.
I feel for you. Just one day of rain and clouds (like today) drives me absolutely bonkers. There IS a reason why I moved to Florida and refuse to move away 🙂
I checked out your blog and really like what you did with the heart-shaped stones and Valentines. What a great and frugal idea for Valentine’s Day!
Maybe I should work a few more colorful items into my Oregon outfits!
1) I did my weekly grocery shopping yesterday and spent less than $50. My budget for 2015 is $100 per week but I’m cutting it down to $50 in February… I just inventoried my freezer and I have enough meat to feed us probably into April. If February is successful, I’ll try to extend the experiment into March-April. I have to use up all that stuff that we do have!
2) I resisted buying a lot of things that either weren’t on my list even though they were really good deals. This is a biggie for me because I usually can’t resist good deals. So I wept inside as I eschewed the $5/$20 off meat coupon at Target (I had really good manufacturer coupons to stack with it too!), the $.59 a piece green peppers at Save A Lot, 50% off discounted milk at Save A Lot, etc. I already have all of those things in the freezer.
3) My car could have run another 2-3 weeks on what I had in the tank but gas prices have started to go up so I gassed up yesterday (already 8 cents/gallon more than last weekend) and earned another free pastry reward code in the process (I do the surveys on my Racetrac receipts). While I was there, I redeemed 2 of those codes for free jumbo chocolate muffins. My son had one for his after-school snack yesterday and he’ll eat the second one this afternoon.
4) My husband ate the leftovers that he brought to work the day before (but hadn’t eaten because he ended up going out to lunch with co-workers).
5) For my own lunch, I made quesadillas with some of the leftover Buffalo Chicken Dip that I had made on Sunday. They weren’t good but I ate them anyway. I need to add something to mask the taste of all the hot sauce that I had put in the dip so I can finish it before it has to be thrown away!
One thing that pisses me off… my laptop battery indicator has stopped working so I always get caught in the middle of typing something (like this comment!) when my laptop shuts itself off even though the indicator states I still have something like 37% of battery life left. It might be time to buy a new battery… or leave the laptop plugged in all the time, which is what probably led to this battery problem in the first place.
Laptop batteries do deteriorate over time even if you take care of them.
My frugal life is ongoing
I spent $24 on quilting books(on sale) and I won $20 in one of my groups the next day(free books-almost)
Our dinner last night was chicken-again. That is the 3rd dinner and a lunch from the chicken we cooked on Monday.
I made new window coverings from a piece of upholstery fabric a friend gave me. I did a new Roller blind and a Valence.
I picked up a 5lb bag of potatoes for $1, so today I will make a big batch of leek and potato soup, I will freeze it and it will do me for lunch for a couple of weeks.
I used the car only for a quick trip to the library to return a book that was due, I won’t pay the stupid tax( overdue charges)
I will wash my hair today using baking soda, today wasn’t shower day, I used my homemade toothpaste for my teeth,and my own soap to wash. Breakfast was oatmeal again, I eat it every morning and I love it.
Not cheap…I will go to the dentist later on today for a fitting for a new partial….it will cost around $1000.
So far this week has been a win week.
I have cooked all our meals at home, with all the things out of our cupboards and freezer.
We have stayed home all week and that means no eating out, no gas usage and no gas buying.
Have paid bills online and no stamps to buy.
Finished our income taxes and don’t owe nearly what I thought we would when I did them as a practice and that makes me feel really frugal and thrifty and good.
Our tax money is in an envelope that I save through-out the year, and we had some left over, that went straight to the saving envelope.
A big win week!!!
Oh my – I’m laughing because I do all that!!! My kids are even enlisted/on board: we scour the floors around token machines and under video games and have found many ‘extras’ to play more games with!! Some of these places have been free for us to attend because in the Chicago area there is something called SwapAdventure. These swaps of kid stuff are held in fun family venues. We exchange kid stuff we no longer use, possibly come home with something we need or a new to us toy. They have the most fun playing for an hour or two free! Next one is at Xtreme Trampolines. Perfect for this chilly winter we are experiencing!
Oh yes, the fun for me when I take my kids to arcades has always been how much money I could find on the ground!
I love “”5 frugal things””!!
1* Picked-up a couple of books and binders from a free pile at work.
2* I never shop at Target because I find they are overpriced here compare to Walmart (and this is why, I believe, they are shutting down in Canada), but today the closing sales are starting so I’ll go see if anything useful is worth spending money on.
3* Going to Walmart to pick-up the free pictures set I got with a coupon, and putting the 16X20 in a 2$ frame I picked-up at a used store
4* Needed more small plates so I picked-up 7 of them for 1.75$ at the used store
5* Did my list of grocery yesterday using the coupons, the rebates, the prices matching, etc. Trying hard to stay under budget (100$/week, family of 4… it’s a trial).
6* Budget day yesterday. Always paying the credit card in full (every 2 weeks) and claiming my PC points for free grocery (about 30 to 40$ each month of free grocery). The credit card has no annual fees and we never pays interests because we clear the card, so it is truly free money coming back to us! I LOVE my PC card!!!
Have a great frugal day!
What is a PC card?
President’s Choice card. It’s affiliated with grocery stores. Mine is a master card, so everytime i buy something with it it gives me points. Plus, there’s special offers every week for more points. And when you have enough points, you can exchange them for grocery ( or other stuff i think, but we use it towards grocery). Last year we were able to exchange for 400$ worth of food for free. I don’t know if it’s just in canada…
I love my PC Card too. I earned $1000 in free groceries last year. I saved them up so that when we bought our house in the summer I could use the points for groceries and my cash towards closing costs. I also do really well with the shoppers points.
Having pinto beans and kielbasa that I made in the crock pot earlier this week, and have been taking every day for lunch. I have a horrible cold, and sadly have had to start using toilet tissue for catching the “leaks” as I have completely saturated ALL my hankies, and had to wash them and wait for them to dry.
Our dryer is broken (again) and while I wait for the part to be delivered we are wearing out the clothesline. I hung clothes out the other day when it was 28 degrees – they froze but were mostly dry when I brought them in – it reminded me of the Laura Ingalls Wilder book “The Long Winter”. I hung clothes out overnight a couple of nights ago as well. The moon was full, and I took a moment to enjoy the quiet night before going back in, a rare treat in February.
1. Lunch today and supper last night was red beans and rice, with rice from my pantry, dried beans from my pantry, and leftover scraps of sausage. I also already has the onion and celery — I know the “trinity” is supposed to include bell pepper, but I hate cooked bell pepper and they are too expensive right now anyway. It was delicious and my husband raved about it.
2. I took my usual walk at lunch. Free exercise and a chance to escape the office.
3. I am going to have leftover roast chicken tonight, this time as a chicken strip salad. I like to stretch a roast chicken so far it clucks. My husband voted to have more red beans and rice with his salad, as he really loves it.
4. We need a bookcase, but I’m in no hurry to buy one. I’ll keep checking thrift stores but also seeing if I can find a way to create one out of something we have. It’s for our living room, so board and brick aren’t going to cut it.
5. I’m finding that the more you tell people what you need, the more you get for free. I mentioned to friends that my granddaughter loves my artist’s coloring pencils, and that I would probably get some for her as a birthday gift. An artist friend — I’m a rank amateur myself, but she wins awards — simply gave me a large box of very nice artist’s coloring pencils that she’s replaced with even better ones, and told me to give them to my granddaughter. I was so grateful, and the granddaughter will love them.
And bonus — the weather was dry, sunny and breezy enough recently to allow me to wash blankets and let them dry on the line. They smell so fresh and no long time tumbling in the dryer, costing me money.
We were out of regular hand soap but still had 2 big refill bottles of foaming soap. I needed one more foaming pump but remembered I had saved an empty bottle from face wash that had a foaming pump! My husband asked if he was supposed to wash hands with my facewash, but after the clear up we were all set.
Making dinner out of leftover turkey (from Thanksgiving leftovers-from a friend) and a spaghetti cream sauce out of some laughing cough spicy cheese that’s a bit too spicy. Planning to cut the spice with some Brie that needs to be used up.
Shaped my own eyebrows despite my strong desire to go to the threading place.
Scored some great organic arugula at the 99c store!
Trying to use up pantry freezer items as they are both very full!
Am making a Bag Monster costume out of 500 single use store bags that the average shopper gets in one year. Problem is, I’ve been refusing the bag and bringing my own, as are most of the people I know … So it’s a little more difficult to gather 500 bags!! That’ll teach me!! I have a plan to hit the recycle bag boxes in a few stores because they aren’t really recycled per se. But don’t know how that’ll fly.
Love that someone is seeing Bag It (from their library) because of a comment I made last week! There’s a great music parody video of Empire State of Mind called Plastic State of Mind on YouTube and other sites and can be used for educating groups on bringing your own bag.
Easiest bag is made from tee shirts. Cut off arms, cut down around neckline, sew across bottom. They are strong and can be washed endlessly. U.S. buys too many tee shirts; problem solved!?
Laughed at “laughing cough” cheese …automatic correction in comment!!
1. We’ve been getting a touch of cabin fever these days (it was -20C today, I wasn’t feeling like a walk) so I took the Little Miss to an indoor play place today that was free for kids 3 and under. So much fun!
2. Making a classic pantry meal tonight: tuna casserole. Hated it as a kid, but love it now so much.
3. Made home made Play Doh because we’re out of the good stuff.
(only 3)
[1] Am on my 3rd month without cable and still alive. Watching excellent movies, tv shows, and documentaries on my Netflix streaming subscription ($7.99/month).
[2] Washing laundry today in cold water with my homemade detergent (recipe from The Prudent Homemaker, which I read about here on Katy’s site).
[3] Working on not keeping up with the Jones’s as I drive my 2000 Mercury Marquis around town. Yes, it’s a big old boat but whoever owned it before me only drove it on Sundays and took meticulous care of it. It’s 15 years old but only 27k miles on it! I paid cash and even though all my friends drive fancy gas-guzzlers and I sometimes feel dorky in it, I know it was a sound investment.
[4] The library had all four books that I was hoping for! I always look forward to evenings a little extra when I have excellent books next to my bed.
[5] All the usual daily things: eating leftovers, wearing my thrifted clothes, cutting and coloring my own hair. Also looking into Ting … really want to get away from my monthly Sprint bill. Anyone on a pre-paid plan with smart phones?
Kristen from The Frugal Girl blog uses Ting and wrote up a post about it last year. Here’s the link to one of her posts (which contains the link to her more lengthy review of it): http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2014/12/its-an-awfully-good-time-to-come-to-ting-peoples/
Thank you Nathalie! Going to read it now.
I have Ting and I have mixed feelings about it. I’ll start with saying I live in a rural town so that could be why I have some issues. The phone service is fine but texting takes FOREVER. Seriously sometimes 12 hours later a text comes thru. Sometimes it’s a couple of DAYS.
But on the plus side, if you need a phone the used/refurbs are really affordable and in great condition. And I love my $53.00 bill last month for 2 phones. I traveled out of town 2x last month and went way over my normal monthly usage. I was afraid it would be a lot higher but I was pleased at what it was. But normally, it’s between $30-$35 a month for 2 phones.
So if you live somewhere that’s fairly urban, I think you’ll be pleased.
Oh and it’s not really pre-paid. You have to have your credit card on file and they automatically bill you for whatever your usage was that month. It’s just not a contract, you can cancel at any time.
Thank you so much for the explanations.
I just heard the “MOOOMMMMMM, WE’RE OUT OF TOOTHPASTE” notice this morning and did the same. Kiddo, you have at least a week’s worth of toothpaste left in there! When that’s gone, here’s the sample tube from your dentist appointment.
Tonight the other boy has an orchestra concert, and my default, run-down Thursday feeling, would have been to propose going out to eat. Nope! Breakfast for dinner instead. We’ll definitely treat him to ice cream afterwards, though. Hm, I need to look for a coupon.
Your blog is seriously motivational, thank you!
Had a nice talk with my son last night. We discussed cooking and shopping tips. He’s on his own now but armed with a crockpot and George Forman grill.
Drove to the bank and put money in.
Washing laundry tonight because in my mind it saves money. Not sure if that’s right or not.
I bought myself a sandwich tonight at Subway and used my allowance. With gas prices so low I’ve been saving lots of money – have about $250 stashed away. The weather has been awful so I haven’t gone out too many days. Hubby takes my CRV when it’s snowing as it has 4 wheel drive. Rest of the time it stays in the driveway.
Hubby had a dentist appt. tonight so he made himself 2 pb&j sandwiches and had a glass of red wine with them.
Check out “mom the ebayer on you tube!! Also there are lots of dumpster diving groups on face book. Check em out!!
1. I moved from my tiny duplex rental that was 12 miles from my job, into a 2/2 condo. It is beautiful, and the best part is I now walk to work! Rain or shine, cold or hot, I walk.
2. I also walk home to lunch every day, getting exercise, and eliminating bag lunch, and do not have to sit in the depressing employee lunch room. I can heat my soup and tea at home and watch Netflix with my daughter, then walk back to work.
3. Scored 4 solid wood table legs on FreeCycle this week. I have a piece of pretty wood, that was a bed frame someone tossed, and I am attaching the legs to make a sofa table for my living room.
4. Made dinner tonight with ground turkey from the freezer; my mother had given it to me a few months ago, and I froze it in 1 lb segments, for ease of use.
5. Borrowed some more library books, I have email notifications, so I am never late. They email you a few days before the due date. Nice feature.
1. In a work-relate class this week – can take public transit rather than drive, and be reimbursed.
2. Even though the classroom location is surrounded by big-city-type lunch options (a glorious change from my usual location), I’m brownbagging it: breakfast, lunch, snacks, soda. All of it.
3. On Monday I couldn’t fulfill a hankering for vending machine chips because I had only a $10. Three days later I still only have a $10. This is because I haven’t spent any money.
4. Very glad I got “The Language of Food” from the library rather than buying it. I found it to be poorly organized, glad I didn’t waste any money on it.
5. NOT FRUGAL, NOT AT ALL: making plans to go to friend’s wedding. In France. Good thing I have all this other frugal to fall back on.
Oh hey, I’m going to a wedding in France too 🙂 My little brother’s getting married while my 2 younger kids and I will be there visiting our family this summer. I’m glad the timing is working because those plane tickets are budget-killers. I don’t travel often enough (or on the same airline each time) to earn any kind of mileage award.
I hope you enjoy your trip! (and great job on still having that $10 bill too).
Turns out getting a horrible cold is pretty frugal – can’t drag myself out to spend any money, eating soup that was already in the pantry….. I don’t recommend it, though.
1. Took soda from home with me to class today instead of stopping to buy a more expensive one on the way.
2. Had dinner at my parents house.
3. Mother gave me two Ghirardelli chocolates and some cheese they didn’t like to take home.
4. Found a much needed and in-date haircut coupon amidst a stack of disregarded ads I was about to throw out.
5. Enjoying the magazine the former resident didn’t forward to their new address.
Epic fail for me today.
Because King Crimson tickets went on sale today for their gigs in September. So I’ve invested 😀
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a626546/king-crimson-announce-uk-tour-for-september-2015.html#~p3vx4QGUh6vKv1
I am all for experiential spending!
Oh thank goodness! I’m not the only person who cuts open toothpaste tubes to scrape out that last bit! We even cut open the sample sizes…
1. On Monday a friend and I were going to go out to lunch (to a place where soup is less than $4.00/bowl and that includes bread and crackers). When I called her to verify that I could make it she said she had soup on at her house. We were able to have a nice long visit and the soup was delicious (and she said she used up four boxes of pasta that had just a little bit left in them).
2. I make soup using a chicken carcass, mushrooms, carrots, a rice mix (all of which needed to be used up), and some other things I had on hand. It made for a great lunch four days this week.
3. Someone asked me to fill in for them part-time one day this week and I did. A bit of extra cash is always nice.
4. After yoga I walked to the grocery to pick up (free after Saving Star rebate) baking soda. I just noticed the other day that I was running low. There were a bunch of coins in the return tray of the Coin Star. There were three silver dimes, a couple Canadian coins, a couple of other foreign coins, as well as a bunch of pennies, nickels, and dimes.
5. I have been listening to “This is the Story of a Happy Marriage” by Ann Patchett (on library borrowed CDs) in the car. It is read by the author and very interesting. She talks a lot about becoming a writer.
1. Took my lunch to work everyday I’ve worked in the past 2 weeks. There’s a terrific deli in the family owned grocery store that is across the parking lot from my office and I have resisted the temptation of the awesome chicken salad on wheat.
2. Pulled out my girlfriend’s chicken salad recipe so I can make some myself and I will pick up some wheat bread when I go grocery shopping tomorrow.
3. My 20 year old just bought his first car on his own. He researched the car he wanted, saved a good down payment, located it at a dealer and is financing a reasonable amount through the credit union which he was approved for at a great rate with no co-signor. He took me to negotiate with the dealer and I was able to save him quite a bit more and actually got it for about $1600 below Blue Book value. My previous work experience as a retail buyer really honed my negotiating skills and has been one of my most frugal strengths.
4. The dealership was 50 miles away and we had to go as soon as I got home from work so we had to get dinner on the way. I really didn’t want fast food but we were in a bit of a rush and I realized we would pass right by the IKEA that’s off the interstate we were taking. Wonderful dinner-roasted chicken, steamed veggies and mashed potatoes for me and ribs and fries for my son. Plus we each got a piece of cornbread and drank water. Grand total $13 and change and no wait or tip needed!
5. Used a $25 Up Reward at Rite Aid with store coupons, manufacturer coupons as well as sale prices on a bunch of things we needed. Spent $6 and got back $20 in Rewards and $3 catalina to spend on future purchases. Got to love free hair color!
My brother in law goes for the free breakfast at Ikea when he’s in Brooklyn, NY. He’s there quite often due to his job.
1. Making bread pudding with spice rum & vanilla sauce. I’m using leftover buns that were going to be thrown out.
2. We are eating Turkey Tetrazzini made from Thanksgiving Turkey, Homemade Turkey Broth, Mushrooms that were going to go bad & instead of buying cream cheese & used the ricotta cheese that would be thrown out.
3. Picked up the first season of Downton Abbey at the Library.
4. Tried GoodRx.com for the first time yesterday and saved $50 on one perscription.
5. Used my JcPenney $10 coupon to buy my Husband a new t-shirt. His are getting sad.
I have so many bread ends in my freezer, I should make bread pudding too!