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Five Frugal Things

1. I organized my fridge.

It was getting a little hectic in there, which always, always leads to food waste.

I did find a few old veggies I had to compost, but mostly things just needed organizing.

2. I made zucchini bread.

This is actually several frugal wins in one.

When I organized my fridge, I discovered that I had several wrinkly zucchini hiding under the lettuce in the veggie drawer.

Whoops.

I also discovered multiple containers of egg parts, due to Sonia’s baking activities of late.

(Somehow, the recipes she uses always seem to call for either egg whites or egg yolks, and the numbers never match up!)

I wasn’t super sure how many egg whites and yolks I was dealing with here, but I threw caution to the wind and dumped all of them into the batter.

This isn’t a very brave thing to do when I’m making yeast dough, but I was a little worried about what would happen to my zucchini bread.

Luckily, it seems to be fine.

3. I used A.C. Moore coupons when shopping with Sonia.

Sonia needed some yarn for her budding knitting business, so I helped her pull up a coupon on the phone before we left home.

You can use A.C. Moore coupons at Michael’s and vice versa, so it’s always good to check and see if one of them has a 50% off coupon vs. the usual 40% off coupon.

Maximize the savings!

4. I listed a Calico Critter toy on eBay.

After many years of happy play, Sonia and Zoe have kinda moved on from Calico Critters.

Which is a little bit sad, but that’s life. Sonia’s going to be 14 in March, after all!

They can’t really bear to part with their Calico Critter families, but they’ve been feeling like the shops and such are taking up too much space in their room.

So, I listed Zoe’s toy shop yesterday, and amazingly enough, a local person wants to buy it.

AND, they live in a town I need to be in tonight.

AND they may be interested in buying some of the other Calico Critter things Sonia and Zoe are selling.

For someone who hates the whole eBay process (me!!), this is a sweet mercy.

5. I…

sent leftovers with Mr. FG to work, drove the smaller, more gas-efficient car to take Lisey to her college finals today, made a smoothie to use up kale from Hungry Harvest, and planned for last night’s and tonight’s dinner to include potatoes because I have SO MANY right now.

Aaand it’s your turn! Share your FFT in the comments.

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Deidre

Saturday 16th of December 2017

1. Really happy I've managed to keep buying a big tub of yogurt to divide up during the wk instead of individual tubs. Worked out this saves me $4.69/wk or a whopping $243.66/year! 2. Had a LOT of large unexpected bills lately; car, dentist, etc & was getting a bit stressed; prayed about it & felt peace; found a chemist that is waaay cheaper for a no. of essentials & it's even on the way home from work so no extra petrol to get there - thank you Jesus. 3. Decided to stop eating when I'm actually full ( I love food) & found I only needed half the serve I was having for lunch at work & then can fit in the apple I was taking for a walk every day:) This also means I need to buy less food. 4. Bought some books I really wanted 2nd hand from ebay and a second-hand bookshop for great prices. 5. Just about finished Christmas shopping & nearly on budget; got a number of things on sale/much cheaper than expected.

WilliamB

Friday 15th of December 2017

1. Limped along in my efforts to meal plan and eat at home. More failure than success this week but it's a start.

2. By walking every aisle in the grocery store, rather than just buying what's on the list, I scored a lot of coupons. $1/1 frozen Contessa shrimp, $1/2 Domino sugar[1], $1/1 Primo frozen pizza, and so on. There were tons of these coupons available so I was comfortable taking a dozen or so of each.

3. So. Many. Work. Holiday. Parties. I'm delighted with every one of them and have brought only tasty goods, homemade from things I already have OR purchases for which I have sales or coupons.

4. Carpooling with a friend to a holiday party that 40 min away. There will be a lot of people there that I don't know, so I won't mind if friend wants to leave early.

5. Not flying anywhere for the holidays. Relative and new hubby visiting for a few days, then a (long!) drive to friend's home. Friend is OK with our dog, so no kennel or dog-walking costs for him. I'll pack a ton of food, so limited food purchases on the road. If I give gifts, it'll be things I already have.

[1] For the second year in a row, the usual holiday sales and coupons (sugar, vanilla, flour, choc chips, etc) have been scarce on the ground. I was extra-delighted to find these coupons.

Linda

Friday 15th of December 2017

1. We have eaten at home all week even though we have had several Christmas programs to attend. 2. My Christmas gift list is large. I have 4 children with spouses, 12 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. I have been feverishly making gifts for many of them. So far I have completed a blanket for my soon-to-be 2 year old grandson, a set of throw pillows for my daughter-in-law, a diaper bag that matches the blanket I made her for my youngest great granddaughter and a stuffed dinosaur for my oldest great grandson. I am almost finished with a set of bottles that spell HOME for my oldest granddaughter. I am making necklaces for four of the girls on my list and a set of stuffed blocks that spell out her name for another great granddaughter. I only had to purchase minimal supplies for these projects. I had most of them already on hand. 3. I had $30 in Kohl's dollars which I used to purchase 2 gifts. 4. I had a 40% off coupon for Shutterfly which I used to purchase the calendar I make every year for my mother-in-law. I put the birthdays of all the extended members of our family along with pictures that I gather from Facebook and Instagram along with those that are given to me for this project. She had 8 sons and 5 daughters-in-law, 19 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren with 5 spouses, and 12 great great grandchildren. Three of those were born this past year. 5. I made Christmas ornaments with supplies I had on hand.

Elizabeth

Friday 15th of December 2017

1. I hosted a gingerbread house competition and used graham crackers instead of those pricey kits. 2. Picked up a lot of freebies from Kroger 3. Updated my projected income for 2018 on the marketplace health insurance site and saved some money on premiums 4. Used leftover Halloween candy as prizes in my Sunday school classes(still have a ton left) 5. My mom found a pair of $5 pajamas at Target that were leftover from Black Friday, so I had her pick them up for my son for Christmas

Gina

Friday 15th of December 2017

This week sounds like a frugal AND profitable week for you! My big frugal thing this week was making dinners using up stuff we had in the freezer. It also spawned me taking my lunch to work each day instead of forgetting like I've been known to do. I handmade a couple of gifts for friends using craft supplies I already had on hand and they turned out cute! I fished out some red paint I had on hand to paint a chair that Hubby repaired for my mother (instead of buying her a new one). I also shopped at Dollar Tree this week for puzzles for the family room and Christmas gift totes and wrap. And today I am going through my coupons to see what I can use next week on my regular grocery trip. I told Hubby that we will hunker down in earnest after Christmas - property taxes will be due!

Kristen

Friday 15th of December 2017

Woohoo for cleaning out your freezer!

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