Frugal Doings In December

In an effort to really see how much I can save by living frugally, I have once again started to track my savings by making things myself, shopping deals and shopping at the thrift stores.  I have to say that it really has been eye opening for me.  Here is a list of some of the ways I have saved:

~my hubby and I cut each others hair, savings of at least $35

~we went out to lunch at Olive Garden using gift cards I earned through Swagbucks and MyPoints...cost to us $4 to help cover part of the tip that was not covered by the gift card

~found a pair of new Carhartt heavy duty jeans for $15 at the thrift store for my hubby

~bought some dvd sets, That Girl Season 1 and Mary Tyler Moore Season 1 for $3 each, some crystal glassware for .25 each, and some more nice clothing at the thrift stores

~pineapples were on sale for .99 each (that is a steal) and I got 4 of them, I cut up and froze 2, ate 1 fresh and gave the other one to our Heather who loves pineapple and so do the munchkins

~found some great deals on fabric

~used a B1G1F coupon to get Blizzards at Dairy Queen as a treat for Jeff and I

~made many loaves of sourdough bread in our breadmaker

~made 12 loaves of banana bread, 8 loaves of cranberry orange bread and 3 batches of Peppermint Bark candy to give as Christmas gifts

~I bought 2 books and 3 dvds from the library books sale, 2 of the dvds were brand new double feature Harry Potter movies...all of this for a grand total of $3.50

~we got some free groceries while doing our volunteer work

~I found mushrooms on sale and sauteed them and then froze them for future meals

~made a huge batch of homemade pancake mix

~free magazines came in the mail

~bought a bunch of marked down meats (1/2 price) and froze them

~watching movies and reading books we borrowed from the library

~found a brand new Rick Steves DVD boxed set for $5.50 that I will be giving to my hubby as a Christmas gift

~made some homemade maple pancake syrup

~used up the odds and ends of bread to make more croutons

~bought Prosecco on sale for $5.99 a bottle (regular price $18.99 each)

~organizing our chest freezer with milk crates I bought for $1.99 each at Goodwill and small bins I bought for $1 each at the Dollar Tree store

~trying my best to plan our meals around what we have on hand and using things up before they go bad

~doing my different points programs and cashing in for gift cards (so far I have cashed in for about $180 this month alone)

~we went out to eat with the kids the other night and each family bought one of their "box" meals for $10...it included a pizza, breadsticks and cinnamon dessert breadsticks, one of the cheapest meals we have had in a long time eating out

~sending out Christmas cards that I bought on clearance in bulk years ago at .25 a box

~using out hot tub more now that I am healed up from surgery...it is like taking a mini vacation
~using SKYPE to chat with our son Josh
~watching shows online that we do not get with our current DISH package or ones we have missed
~learning new skills by watching tutorial videos on YouTube

I'm currently looking forward to the after Christmas clearance sales where I will be using some of my gift cards to purchase things we need or gift worthy items to add to our gift closet.  Another thing I look forward to is shopping the thrift stores in late December and early January as people clean out their closets and homes and donate things so they can get the tax write off.  I am always amazed at how many new with tag things I find during that time and I suspect some were Christmas gifts that did not fit or that someone did not care for.

Happy Frugal Days!