Frugal Friday Wrap Up 12/2-12/8 2017

 

Beautiful wreath found at the thrift store for $4.99.  I love it!

   Here's to another frugal week!  Yes, I did spend money at the thrift stores but when I compared the retail prices to the prices I paid for things that will be gifts, I saved big time.  This has been an interesting week with my hubby getting the flu that lasted for 48 hours.  I am really blessed to have a stocked pantry, along with a freezer with homemade chicken noodle soup in it.  It made dealing with his flu a lot easier on us both.  He is feeling better but is still a bit worn out between the flu and having icy roads to drive on for most of his delivery route overnight.  We are taking it easy here at home today since he is really tired and my stomach is acting up.  I think I am just overtired too since I have not slept well at all this week.

Two down filled pillows $2 each.

~Saturday my hubby and I headed down to the valley to do some shopping and to see the Christmas lights in Lewiston.  The plan was to stroll through the park looking at the lights, but I was to tired out by the time we were done finding great deals at Goodwill, St. Vincent D Paul and The Grocery Outlet.  We did have dinner down at Zany Graze and our waiter turned out to have dated the granddaughter of our next door neighbor Uncle Bob. :)  Small world!
~I finally found one of those stacking Tupperware containers that I have been obsessed with ever since I saw one on Rhonda's blog http://ifyoudostuff.blogspot.com/ .  It was there waiting for me at St. Vincent D Paul.  Happy Happy Dancing!  I also found some books for Bradley for Christmas and some down filled throw pillows for $2 each. :)

Stacking Tupperware containers for $3.

~Goodwill had some beautiful books and a handmade ceramic bird feeder that I will be using as a gift for some very special people who love things like that.  I also found a new Longaberger ceramic bowl (will be part of a gift basket for Christmas), Jeff found a shirt, and we found a brand new Minions Operation Game for the little boys.
~The Grocery Outlet has some fun wines including a Chocolate red wine.  I picked that up (again for another Christmas gift basket), some Prosecco, some high end bottled tonic water, prosciutto and some other things for gift baskets along with some regular grocery item.  Jeff found a Copper fit glove that he is going to try to see if it helps his hand.  The Copper Fit thingy that goes over his knee has seemed to help that area so we thought this was worth a try.

Beautiful hand made ceramic bird feeder that was $8.99 and that I bought as a gift.

~We also stopped at Winco down in the valley and their prices there are cheaper than the Winco closer to us.  We bought honey from their bulk bin area along with a few other things like avocados and sour cream.
~Sunday we stayed at home and watched 2 movies we borrowed from the library, another movie on Netflix and we hot tubbed.  Jeff did not have much energy and I was worried about him so we decided to take it easy.
~Dinner Sunday night was homemade Zuppa Toscana that I pulled out of the freezer and added more kale to and Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

Homemade Zuppa Toscana and Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

~Jeff had a rough time sleeping Sunday night into Monday morning and so did I.  He tossed and turned and was in the bathroom several times.  He got up Monday morning and let me sleep since I was going on about 2 hours of sleep at that time.  I woke up to hearing my poor hubby getting sick. 😪 I called into work for him so that they could get someone to cover his shift tonight and then sent him back to bed.  I got the movies run down to the library, scrapped the meal plan for today and just made myself a chicken and broccoli pot pie for lunch (remember when I got all those pot pies on sale).
~My Fitbit Alta HR stopped tracking my sleep correctly yet again so I tried calling their help number twice, only to be put on hold "for a few minutes".  The minutes later (each time) and no one came back on or bothered to call me back once I hung up (which they say they will of we somehow get disconnected) and I finally had had it.  I got on the Chat help and within 5 minutes they had the problem diagnosed by pulling up my data and offered me a replacement tracker since mine is obviously malfunctioning.  Chat help is the way to go with this company, their phone service sucks!

Homemade Chicken Noodle soup.

~We received a Christmas card in the mail from Shopko with a $10 gift card in it.  I thought that was super great customer appreciation!
~Tuesday Jeff was feeling better but I still got some homemade chicken noodle soup out of the freezer for us to have for dinner since I want him to have things that are easy on his stomach for the next 24 hours.
~I've been enjoying beautiful Christmas music, videos and movies courtesy of YouTube.

YouTube has beautiful Christmas music playlists to listen to.

~Our little Bissell stick vacuum was not "sucking" as well as it should so Jeff cleaned out the filters and the dust and dirt chamber.  I absolutely love this little vacuum and since I got it free, the price cannot be beat.  If and when this one goes, I would be more than willing to actually buy another one.
~I've been raiding my camisole stash each day to add another warm layer under my shirts.  It really does help to keep my core warm so that I do not have to have the heat up as high in the house and it keeps me warmer when we are out and about also.
~I uploaded more coupons onto my Safeway card.

Homemade Ginger/Lemon/Honey Syrup.

~I made some homemade ginger/lemon/honey syrup for cold and flu season.  It is great for sore throats and also as a hot drink.  I just add 4 tablespoons of the syrup to mug of hot water.  Delicious!
~Patches (cat) decided that the basket where I keep all our cloth napkins was an excellent kitty bed just the right size for her.  After fighting with her about it for weeks, I finally just gave up, rewashed all of the napkins yet again, put a soft old towel in there and gave it to her.  I'll find somewhere else to keep the napkins and she has a new bed.   She seems quite pleased with herself for winning this battle. 😉

Hot coffee and getting some ideas for more goodies to make.

~Wednesday Jeff and I took the $10 gift card from Shopko and used it to buy a 32 pound bag of dog food that was on clearance for $11.99 since they were changing the packaging on their store brand dog food.  After tax we ended up paying a little over $2 out of pocket!
~We stopped at the thrift store to find some more clothes for Steven since he is outgrowing everything right now.  We were very happily surprised to run into Jaysn and Steven there so I was able to see if the clothing would actually fit him since he has long legs and arms like his daddy.  We found him some shoes for .99, and several shirts.  Grammie here also got some snuggle time in which is priceless! 💖  Some of the other items we found were ornaments for .59 each, a ornament wreath for $4.99, some hardware and building stuff that Jeff needed to do some repairs for .98, another cd for $1.50, a large brand new bottle of Avon bubble bath for .79, a Kitchenaid brand serrated veggie peeler that does those long matchstick cuts for .59 (that was on my wish list) and a camo fleece shirt on the clearance rack for .10 for Bradley and Isaiah to share.
~The mice have invaded our home again so we bought some more D-Con at Walmart and also found my favorite vitamin drinks there for .50 each.  I am not good about drinking water, but I will drink those.

Christmas movies borrowed from the library.

~We borrowed more Christmas movies from the library.
~Jeff and I both made sandwiches for dinner since we had a late lunch.
~Jeff felt like he is coming down with a cold so we both took some Lysine and I had some honey/ginger and lemon tea that I made with the syrup that I had put together on Tuesday.  It was really good.
~Thursday I stayed home and worked on a few things around here.  I also went through some Christmas cookbooks and got more ideas for home baked gifts.
~Jeff took in bags full of things for our kids and grandkids in with him when he went to his bowling league.
~Friday I made a large crockpot full of split pea soup.  It was the perfect meal for a frigid and gray day.  We have leftovers and I am not sure if I will freeze it or if we will finish it this weekend.
~I made a customized mug for my brother Fritz.  I bought a plain white mug at the Dollar Tree and used Sharpie permanent markers to write a fun message on it from my grandkids who adore their great uncle! I baked it in the oven at 350F for 30 minutes.  When it had cooled, I wrote a note to make sure to hand wash it and not run it through the dishwasher.  My hubby then got it all wrapped up in bubblewrap and added to the package that we sent out to him and my parents for Christmas.

Adding some Christmas garland that I hope Doofy will not destroy!

~I reused the mailing box that a gift I ordered for Josh came in.  It is a large sign.  I added two more wrapped gifts to the box, retaped it up and got that sent out to Josh today also.
~After mailing off the 2 boxes, I got to thinking that I might go the gift card route next year.  Postage is so expensive!
~The Christmas letter is finally done and the original copy is printed off.  I need to run in to Kinkos and get copies made of it.  It is cheaper than using up all that ink on my printer to go that route.
~I printed off a Buy One Get One Free coupon for Blizzards at Dairy Queen.  It right down the street from where we are getting new tires put on our car next week so we will go there for a "date" while the tires are being put on and balanced.

Homemade split pea soup for dinner Friday night.

   This coming week will be a busy one filled with baking goodies and candy making for Christmas.  I am also hoping to get all the Christmas gifts here wrapped so that I know what we do and don't have.  We are also thinking about taking a break this Sunday and going to see a movie.  This is a Christmas tradition for us that we look forward to every year.  Be blessed!