It's thrifty Thursday here and this is where I like to review how we saved money all through the week. Last Friday I took myself off for a lovely day out of the house, all by myself. I really look forward to these little forays of mine these days. John was working an extra shift and the kids had all gone home and I was alone, alone! for the first time in days.
Well first I wasted a lot of time. I couldn't find a much needed address (and still haven't found it). No package mailed yet. Someone is going to send me the address eventually here. So finally I went off, with two bottles of water because it was hot hot hot outdoors. I picked up prescriptions and vitamins and supplements and if nothing else found that it put me in the mood to pinch pennies. I went to Goodwill and picked up some onesies for the Crisis Pregnancy Center and a couple of cookbooks for me. I paid just a $1 each for the cookbooks. I had been looking for one of those books for years, after losing my own copy. Score! And for just $1.
I spent a few more hours tooling about town. I went by Walgreens to take advantage of a sale on Deerfield brand butter. I bought two pounds and I'm glad I did. While the sale listed the price as 2/$6 you had to buy two to get the sales price. One package rang up for $3.99, the second one for $2.01. I'd meant to treat myself to ice cream and decided to choose a single pack from the freezer section of the drugstore. That cost 1/3 what an ice cream shop treat would have cost.
When I returned home, I pretty much threw together a pantry meal of lasagna. I used a package of spinach that had been thawed for ravioli making (didn't happen) and odds and ends of cheeses: feta, goat cheese, mozzarella, cottage cheese, Parmesan. I made the meal ahead with the intention of having a ready dinner when we came in from synagogue on Saturday.
Sunday my husband was not well. I had allergy medicines and tissues on hand, so no need to purchase more. I did go to town and buy the specials at the grocery store, picked up some discounted meats (beef cubed steak $2.49/pound) and ran by the convenience store for the Sunday paper. Good coupons this past weekend. Since we didn't eat our lasagna on Saturday (we were treated to a meal out) we had dinner for that day already prepared. Heat and eat and homemade, too! I put part of the leftovers in the freezer for a future meal and part in the fridge for dinner on Tuesday.
We didn't leave home on Monday. I baked cookies using dough I'd made ahead and put in the freezer. We ordered a new hose for the vacuum cleaner. I'd been telling John for weeks that the hose was a problem, but after he realized it wasn't a Mr. Fix-It task, we looked online, found a new hose cost far less than a new vacuum. We ordered it right away and it arrived today. The vacuum works like a dream with the new hose. I also ordered the perfume I wear from Amazon. I had $15 credit on my account from Swagbucks earnings. I had to pay just $4 for my perfume. I remember when I found this perfume years upon years ago and the cost was outrageous. I soon discovered eBay and Amazon has many of the expensive scents at prices that are very affordable. Since I'm something of a perfume snob (I like the real thing not synthetic man made scents) this suits me perfectly. I watered the basil on the back deck with water I've saved from water bottles.
Tuesday we went out so John could get a haircut. I went along for the ride and to pick up sewing machine needles. Shhhh...Don't tell John but I looked about a bit while in there and came away with pre-wound bobbins in black and white threads and a lovely little yard of a pretty blue, sequined fabric that would do nicely as gift wrap or apron or pillow cover...John had to work another shift Tuesday night, so when we got home, I reheated that lasagna for our dinner, then packed him a work lunch using leftovers from our Monday's dinner to make sandwiches.
Wednesday Mama gifted me with a dozen or so current magazine issues. We went to TJMaxx where I found two pretty coffee cups for myself. The 'matchy-matchy, no personality coffee cups' that John dislikes are going to be reserved for guests only. I wandered about the bookstore looking for several items on my list but not one of them could be found. I just took myself off to sit in the coffee shop and wait on Mama. I wasn't even tempted by anything that wasn't on my list.
Our last stop at the grocery store. I bought bread, lettuce, flowers (two HUGE bunches of chrysanthemums $4 each). I got three nice bouquets from those two bunches of flowers. I made sure too, to ask for the store coupon flyers while I was there. I indulged in a new Suduko book with the more difficult challenger puzzles I enjoy working at solving. I can spend days on one puzzle, so well worth the expense.
Today was productive. I colored my hair (half a box of coloring, less than $2 for the job). Samuel moved my Dr. W. Van Fleet rosebush and we discovered another in the flower bed. I used leftover mashed potatoes to make potato pancakes and stretched a pound of hamburger with bread crumbs to make five nice sized burgers. I washed a full load of dishes in the dishwasher. I peeled some shriveled looking peaches and put them in the freezer to use for a cobbler or smoothie. The peaches were perfectly ripe, beautiful and juicy, not spoiled at all. It's the dry air in the house that makes them look as though they are shriveled. Two more weeks of peaches and the season is over, sigh.
That's the week in my home here on the hill. What did you do to save money this week?
1 comment:
those Walgreens sales are tricky, aren't they?
to save money, I stayed home all week. But it was too hot to go out anyway.
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