Frugal Friday Wrap Up 2/11/16

    I think overall we did really well this week with the exception of my hubby not being able to work on our car after all.  We took the part back to the auto supply store and got a refund on it.  Our wonderful mechanic, who only charges for parts and for actual time worked on your vehicle fixed one of the problems but unfortunately, another even costlier problem showed itself so we are now waiting on parts for that and he will hopefully have it back up and going for me by Tuesday.  So, without further ado, let's look at the ways I saved this week:

~I bought a Elmo floor puzzle for my youngest grandson Isaiah, who is 2 years old and loves to work on them.  The puzzle was $2.99 at Value Village and was a huge hit!
~I froze some leftover Venison stew and rice for a future meal.
~Since the weather has been unseasonably warm, I was able to get out and walk with our dog Caesar more often.  Great exercise for us both!
~I worked on my points programs and cashed out at Swagbucks for $15 in Amazon.com gift cards.

~I cashed out at Pinecone Research for $10 in cash.
~I pulled some more of my favorite coffee creamer out of the freezer.  I had bought multiple containers of them while they were on sale during the holidays and froze them for future use.
~Taxes...I did them myself and went through Swagbucks link to one of the Tax places there and was able to efile for free and get 250 points which I used to cash in for more gift cards.
~We had a last minute Super Bowl party here at our house and everyone brought something to share.  :)
~There were lots of leftovers from the party; sushi, beef and broccoli, Little Smokies, grapes, and cherry cheesecake so we have been enjoying those.

~I made 2 loaves of sourdough bread and a batch of chocolate chips cookies.
~The Dollar Tree had oatmeal cream cookies and Slim Jims marked down to .25 each so I bought some for snacks for my hubby to take to work with him.
~The door to our garage from our breezeway blew open because the latch was having issues and our dog escaped.  That is NOT a good thing.  We were able to get him back pretty quickly with the help of our neighbor.  My hubby found a new doorknob/lock in package at the thrift store and changed that out.
~I found a new with tag shirt at the thrift store and a very gently used Chico's sweater there also.  The sweater retails for about $80 alone.
~I borrowed more movies and books from the library instead of buying them or paying to go to the movies at a theater.

~The hubby and I were craving Mexican food and salads so I made a huge taco salad with things we had on hand for dinner.
~Jaysn and Rachel gifted us a huge bag of tortilla chips from Costco.
~We took advantage of using our hot tub on multiple occasions and our youngest grandson really loved being able to hot tub with us while he stayed here over the weekend.
~I have been catching up on some of my favorite TV shows online.
~The mail has included free magazines, a free book I ordered for my DIL Rachel that I thought she would enjoy, free feminine products and coupons for free products.

~One of our favorite snacks is popcorn popped in a heavy pot and some butter and salt to season it.  Perfect treat on a cold night.
~We SKYPEd with our son Josh and our littlest grandson was thrilled to see his uncle's cat Peaches. :D
~Tuesday was a beautiful and unseasonably warm day.  I met Heather, Chris and the grandboys at the park that is halfway between both our towns for some play time and an impromptu picnic.
~Jeff and I had a date day last Saturday.  We went out to lunch instead of dinner (much cheaper) and then came home and watched the movie "The Martian" that we borrowed from the library and then hot tubbed.
~I trimmed my bangs that we just getting too long and heavy.

   I am simply amazed when I add it all up and see how much we have saved over the course of just one week.  When I added up the cost of what it would have been to either buy these things or purchase the service vs me making them, shopping for them on sale or doing it myself, I found I save more this week alone than I made on average substitute teaching for an entire month.