Frugal Friday Wrap Up 2/19/16

Movies I got free from Amazon.com using a gift card I earned through Swagbucks

    Another rather satisfying week of savings and boy, could we use it about now.  We just had to pay a huge repair bill on my car on Thursday...$1,128.00 .  OUCH!  Luckily our income tax refund is due in tomorrow so we put the payment on the credit card today.  We will be sending in another payment on the credit card that, in addition to the amount we just paid on it this week, will take care of the charge we just added.  I hope that made sense.  I am so thankful for our honest mechanic though because if I had taken it anywhere else than to him, it would have cost double that amount.   Now onto the rest of the savings for this week...

 ~We were running low on syrup so I made more homemade mapleline syrup (I shared the easy recipe earlier this week).

~I called my health insurance company and specified who my primary care physician is.  This way my visits to him have a $15 co-pay as opposed to a $45 co-pay.

~Got a list of eye doctors that our insurance does cover and found out what our benefits and allowances are so I can shop around and get the best deal possible.

~I  made use of the ends and leftover bread to make homemade croutons.
~Instead of going out for Valentine's Day, we stayed home and I made us a nice romantic dinner here.   We watched a movie I borrowed from the library.

Set of 3 stacking decorative hat boxes that I got for $4.99

~I used gift cards that I earned at Swagbucks to pay for my order at Amazon.com.

~Every day I spent time working my points programs and surveys so I could earn points for gift cards and cash.
~Reused the plastic grocery bags from the stores to line my garbage cans.

~Hard boiled a dozen eggs for my hubby to have as snacks and gave the one that blew up to the dog.
~I was craving somen salad but with a Thai flair so I made some using a Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette from Trader Joe's as the sauce along with somen noodles, half a package of coleslaw mix, 2 mini sweet bell peppers, some green onion and a cooked chicken breast.  Oh was it yummy!

Brand new shirt for Jeff that I found at the thrift store...my cost $2.37

~Safeway had some of their hams marked down for a 75% savings.  I bought 2 of them using a gift card I had earned so there was no out of pocket cost to me.  One is now in the big chest freezer and the other became part of our Valentine's dinner served with homemade scalloped potatoes and a pie that I had previously bought on sale and stuck in the freezer.  The leftover ham became sandwiches, ham and noodles casserole, yaki soba, ham salad and the bone is in the freezer and will be used when I make split pea soup again.
~Used gift cards to buy 2 large containers of clumping unscented cat litter.  It is the only kind that our cat Rufus seems to not be allergic to.
~I buy greeting cards year round when I find them at a great price at yard sales, thrift stores or on clearance.  Some are occasion specific, but others are blank on the inside so you can write your own sentiment.  I also will pick them up at the Dollar Tree.  I have 2 fabric covered boxes full of them.  This is where I went to find the perfect Valentine's Day card for my hubby!  If I remember correctly, I bought this card and a bunch of others when one of the stores we go to were switching greeting card lines and were clearing out all of the previous lines they carried.  It was marked down from $2.99 to .50 .
~I put the leftover coffee, while still hot, in an insulated Starbucks pitcher that my parents gave us as a gift many years ago.  It keeps the coffee hot for hours!  Since hubby and I are on different sleep schedules, we have coffee at different times of the day.
~We watched several dvds we borrowed from the library and I requested more.

DVDs found at the thrift store for $2.99 each

~My hubby and I made a list of dvds that we do not have but would like to own.  This way I know what it is that we already have and what it is we are looking for (we have a large dvd collection).  I will keep an eye out for them at thrift stores and yard sales.
~I belong to Pinch Me which sends out free samples.  This week I received a dog treat, cat food, tampons (will donate these), Truvia and a card for a huge discount on wine.
~Dairy Queen sent me an email with a coupon for a B1G1 Free Blizzard treat.  My husband and I took advantage of this offer as a special spur of the moment treat.
~Found a pizza marked down to half price in the Walmart deli.  I used a gift card and we got it for free.  It is now in the freezer for a future meal.
~My cousin Jeremy had left some beef broth in our refrigerator from when he made beef and broccoli so I used that, along with some leftover red wine, onions, pearl barley and some mushrooms that needed to be used up to make a wonderful soup.  I just seasoned it with whatever sounded good at the moment and it was delicious!

Cashmere scarf found for .99

~While I was making split pea soup with the leftover ham bone, I also threw in some lentils to boost the nutritional value and to stretch it further.  My hubby, who thinks he does not like lentils, was none the wiser and loved the soup. ;)  Shhhhhhhh....;)
~I watched 6 TV shows online that we do not get on our DISH network package.
~I used a coupon for a free bag of salad and used that for a meal.
~Found more marked down sausage, cheese, bananas and froze everything but the bananas for future use. Used a gift card to pay for it so no money out of pocket.
~Used the marked down bananas to make 3 loaves of banana bread, we ate 1 and gave the other 2 away to some of my hubby's co-workers who had put in "requests" for more of my banana bread. ;)  I still have more marked down bananas to make more banana bread for this weekend.

A brand new Spring sweater for me...can you say it "found at the thrift store"

~We went to the thrift store and found 2 shirts for the grandboys, a really nice University of Hawaii long sleeve shirt for my hubby (new with retail tag $30 retail), a golf club for my hubby, a foam wedge to put behind my hubby's back when he goes kayaking at my parent's place, 4 dvds that I had been wanting to add to our dvd library,  sweater for me (new with retail tag $37.50), a nice lightweight cardigan (Coldwater Creek, retails for $69.95), a cashmere scarf and a set of stacking decorative hat boxes that I will be storing my scarves in.  I got all of it for $28.00.
~2 free magazines arrived in the mail...Better Homes and Gardens...Country Living.
~I found a new 2 cup Pyrex glass measuring cup in the marked down section at Safeway for half the original price.  This was added to the gift closet.
~We made repairs to our screened in porch that our cat managed to escape from with materials we had on hand.  My hubby's carpentry skills came in very handy yet again.
~Used SKYPE to talk to our son Josh.
~I had signed up awhile ago for a new men's antiperspirant that is motion activated for my hubby to try, it arrived in the mail on Thursday and I was surprised to see that it was what appeared to be a full sized product.

Free full sized product sample I signed up for

   I think this has been a pretty good week for finding things at great prices and stocking up our home movie library even more.  I was really excited about the University of Hawaii shirt for my hubby who was needing some more nicer casual long sleeved shirts.  He needs to rotate some of his older ones to the "work shirt" pile and get rid of some of the work shirts he has now.  Since he is a freight delivery driver and has to lift heavy pieces of equipment, he is pretty hard on his shirts and stains and rips them while doing his job.  I'm looking forward to seeing what other ways I can save next week.