Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/30-11/04 2016

Baked Sweet Italian sausages and sweet potatoes with sliced pears was one of our dinners this week that Jeff and I came up with when we did our dinner planning together.

   It's been another frugal week here for the most part.  We've been enjoying beautiful and warm weather for the past few days so we have not had to run the pellet stove as much and were even able to open up the back door and let the warm air in. :)  The fur babies have been relishing being able to come in and out off the back screened in porch without me having to constantly open and close the door.  The grandkids are coming tomorrow to spend the night and the plan is to make homemade pizzas and maybe even do s'mores over the fire pit.  We do know that they are going to want to hot tub so of course that is on the agenda.  Frugal fun with the grandkids!


~Saturday we headed over to Chris and Heather's to wrap more venison burger.  We paid for the butcher's fee (who is part of our extended family) to grind the burger.  That cost us $21 and we got 36 pounds of burger from it that is now in our freezer.  That is a HUGE savings on really good meat.
~Our Saturday night date this week was hot tubbing at home and then curling up in bed and watching some old episodes of "Keeping Up Appearances" that I had bought on DVD awhile back.  We love that show!
~Jeff's leather wallet, that he has had for years, is finally falling apart.  Luckily I had bought another one in nice condition at a thrift store about a year ago and put it away just for this situation.  I think I paid .99 each for both the leather one that is worn out (bought it about 7 years ago and he has been using it ever since) and the new one.
~Jeff and I sat down and made a menu for this week based on what we have in the pantry, refrigerator and freezers.
~I went through and inventoried my liquor stash...oh my goodness, between my parents and my cousin's gifts to us, along with what I already had, we are set for at least 6 months! No having to buy anything for the holidays.

A Christmas gift bought at the thrift store for $1.39 for the grandboys.

~We drained and cleaned the hot tub and got it refilled and ready for the colder months hot tubbing.  We tend to use it more during the colder months and I wanted it all scrubbed down and refilled so we don't have to do that when it is below freezing outside.
~While cleaning our hot tub, I accidently stepped on a "bubble" in the fiberglass and it cracked.  Jeff bought some Flexseal for marine use and fixed it.  We were going to use a fiberglass fix it kit but the temperature here is too cold now for that to set up properly.
~We used a gift card to cover most of the cost to go see a matinee showing of the movie "Inferno".  It was really good!
~Harbor Freight Tools put some really good coupons out for free items with any purchase.  I had my husband go through them and see if there was anything he wanted.  He found that one of the free items is something that he has misplaced here (or may have lent out and it never got returned).  The item is free with any purchase and I know that there are some small items that we are in need of that they carry at great prices so I clipped out all free item coupons and told one of my girls about it when we were chatting earlier.  She has already claimed one of the other free item coupons to get something for Christmas for the little boys. :)  We will pick these things up when we have our girl's day in a couple of weeks.
~We don't celebrate Halloween in our family (just a personal conviction) so I don't buy candy to hand out but I do hit the after Halloween candy sales and pick candy up to add to Christmas baskets. :)

I found this craft kit for .59 to do with the grandboys this weekend when they spend the night.

~I cashed in for 2 $25 Walmart gift cards via Swagbucks.  I got the first gift card for 2,200 points which let me apply a 50 point Swag up bonus to my account.  I then got the second $25 gift card for the regular cash in price of 2,500 points.  This "saved" me 350 points that will go to yet another gift card later.
~The cost of my mammogram was totally covered by my health insurance and they gave me a free shirt!  Oh, all was normal with the results.  Yay!!!!
~I used my $20 customer reward credit at the thrift store and found some really great deals!  I found UGG shoes that look like they have never been worn for $2.99, a thirty one tote bag for $1.49, the complete set of Captain Underpants books for $1.49, a SAK wallet that matches two of my SAK purses for .99 and many other goodies!
~My husband is gone to bowling league on Thursday nights so I pulled some homemade Zuppa Toscana out of the freezer on Wednesday and stuck it in the refrigerator to have for dinner on Thursday night.  I will be making another big pot of this and freezing it because it freezes beautifully and the kale does not get "slimy".
~Jeff found me trimming my bangs on Wednesday night because they were driving me batty.  I was just trying to do a quick trim until we had time to do a full haircut.  He offered to help me cut my hair right then.  I feel so much better  now to have some of that weight off the top of my head. :)
~We had an early dinner (at 5:30 p.m.) on Wednesday night.  I made teriyaki meatloaf and brown rice.  We had planned on having a salad with it, but were not hungry enough to have that too.  Knowing that I would be hungry again later in the evening, I opted to have my salad at that time.

Ugg shoes that look like they may have been worn once if at all for $2.99 at the thrift store.  Oh my are they comfortable and are the color shoe that I have been looking for.

~Jeff and I watched several shows online and some videos on YouTube.
~I really have been working Swagbucks again this week.  They had some high paying offers and tasks that netted me quite a few points.
~I received several free magazines in the mail.
~Friday we used one of the $25 gift cards to buy a covered kitty litter box and a new pair of house slippers for my hubby. Jeff did pay an additional $4 out of pocket to cover what the gift card did not.
~We stocked up on loss leader butter, eggs, broccoli, cheese, bread (high fiber), and cranberries.
~Jeff and I did pick up a family Chinese meal from the deli on Friday night since we were running late and wanted to be able to actually sit down and enjoy a meal together before he had to go to work.  We have not seen much of each other with his long work days these past 2 weeks.  What we paid for the family meal from the deli is what we would pay for just 1 person's order at a restaurant. 

You guessed it, movies found at the thrift store.  The Turtles one is for the grandboys and the State Fair actually comes with 2 disks...one with the original movie and the second with the 1960's remake.  I am excited to watch both of those!

~Our Caesar has ear mites so I am treating them with homeopathic treatments.  I've already noticed him scratching his ears less. 
~Jeff and I have been trying to combine errands or have him pick up things on his way home or when he goes into town for his bowling league.  This has helped keep my car parked in the driveway a lot more this week. ;)  Jeff's car is much better on gas mileage than mine is.  Do you know I still have not been for a drive or ride in his car?  When we are together we always take mine because it is really comfortable.
~I talked to one of our neighbors on the other side of the fence from where our blackberry bushes are.  I offered to either come over and trim them on her side or I told her how she could easily propagate some for her family with the trenching method if she wanted to so that they too could have some free thornless blackberry bushes.  She seemed pretty excited about the second option. ;)
~While printing off my Walmart gift cards, I printed off a coupon for free she rentals for up to 4 people at the bowling alley and for a buy 1 get 1 free Blizzard at Dairy Queen.

   I hope that you all have had a frugal week and that you are looking forward to a fun weekend!  Be blessed my friends!