Frugal Friday Wrap Up 4/1/16

 

   Time for another Frugal Friday Wrap Up.  My biggest money saver this week was staying home and out of the stores for the most part.  I did make one stop over the weekend at one thrift store but stayed out of them on my 2 other trips into town.  I'm sure my poor car was confused because it seems to be on auto pilot when it comes to thrift stores. ;)  Anyway, here are a few of my frugal ways for this week.

~We have more volunteer spinach coming up in the garden.  I let the plants go to seed last year to see if we would get some free plants this year and it worked!
~I feel pretty again! :)  My husband and I finally got my hair cut after letting it go for way to long.
~I have been searching for a smaller crossbody purse that was a bit "fancier" than the ones that I already have and that would be good for either casual days or even going out at night.  A trip to the thrift store on Saturday yielded a huge blessing in the form a a gorgeous Brighton purse that is just perfect.  After some cleaning and reconditioning it is once again ready to go.
~The thrift store was giving every customer their choice of 1 free Easter item.  My husband picked out a stuffed animal chick for our dog Caesar who has not gotten a new toy to play (actually tear apart) with for awhile.

~I had forgotten to have coffee one morning and by the afternoon I was going through caffeine withdrawals and had a bad headache.  I made a cold vanilla latte with some creamer and leftover coffee from the morning.  It tasted really good and sure helped with the headache that not even Tylenol was touching.
~My husband and I had a double date with our oldest son Jaysn and DIL Rachel on Saturday.  We went to see the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2".  Jeff and I used a gift card so no cost to us.
~I brought home half of my lunch from one of our favorite Chinese restaurants and had that for dinner one night.

~Easter Sunday found us a a big extended family celebration.  My DIL Heather rented out a community center that had pool tables, foosball, ping pong, basketball games and air hockey.  Everyone pitched in on the cost so it was minimal to each family.  We also did a big potluck meal.  It was so much fun with everyone being able to visit and play games if they wanted to and the best part is that no one had to cope with a huge mess at their home afterwards. ;)

~Heather's mom sent me home with a bottle of white wine after our Easter party.  She only likes reds and I prefer white.
~My husband and I are planning a fun day trip in April to Palouse Falls.  I have been there but my husband has not, even though he has lived in this area for most of his life.  A menu is being hashed out so that we can have a lovely picnic lunch (prepared and taken from home) that day.
~I took the leftover mashed potatoes from Easter and made Potato Cheddar soup and garnished it with some green onions that I had grown.  Yummy and filling on a snowy day.
~Petco sent me a coupon for a free bag of cat treats again so I printed off the coupon and picked them up when I made the loop running all the errands one day.

~A good friend sent me a link for a free 8X10 photo from Walgreens.  I order a picture of my hubby and I that was taken at Jaysn and Rachel's wedding a few years back.  I love it and wanted one for our family picture gallery wall in the hallway.
~More bread and croutons were made, much to the delight of my hubby.
~I worked on my points programs as much as time would allow and earned enough to cash in for another $25 Walmart gift card via Swagbucks.

~Our library system just added a bunch of new movies to their collection so I went online and put in some requests for them.
~Since getting rid of our DISH network subscription, my hubby and I have been catching up on a few of our favorite TV shows by watching them online.  It is lovely to be able to pull up a show and view it when we want to.
~I was given some gorgeous mushrooms and was unable to use them all up right away so I sauteed some in butter and garlic and froze them for future use in dishes or to put on top of a lovely venison or elk steak.

~The two small containers of green onions that I rooted from the bottoms of the ones I bought at the store are now planted in the garden.
~I turned one pork steak that I got on sale for .99 into a delicious dinner of pork and peppers for my hubby and I.
~We've been spending lots of time outside working in the yard so our hot tub has been a very welcome luxury to indulge in to sooth sore muscles.
~I had some sour cream that needed to be used up so I made a red potato salad and also used some of the green onions from the garden in it.  So yummy and perfect for the warmer weather.

~While I was at Walmart I noticed that they were clearancing out a lot of things so I browsed around.  I found some of the solar shield clip on sunglasses that clip to your own prescription glasses for $5.  This is what I use on my glasses because it is so expensive to get bifocal sunglasses.  I picked up an extra to have on hand in case mine break.
~Rufus' pheromone collars came in the mail (I had bought them in bulk) and he is now sporting a new one and it is already calming him down.
~Walmart had marked down their Beer Brats and some of the pork loins along with some of their bread, so I bought some of each. 

~My handy hubby managed to repair the damage done to the grill of my car by a suicidal owl.  He is one very talented man I tell ya!
~I keep an insulated cooler bag in my car to put refrigerated items in to keep them cool during the warmer months and also will use it to keep hot foods warm if I need to transport them somewhere.

   I know that this coming week is going to stretch me a bit.  We had both my hubby and my life insurance payments due along with registration for one of our cars so that was a rather large expense that had to come out of our first of the month budget.  I also have a dental appointment coming up this coming week that will need to be paid for so yes, things will be a bit tight.  That's life though...things happen and you have to roll with it.
Be blessed and have a great weekend!