Frugal Friday! Week of September 30-October 6, 2018

Happy October Everyone!

Is it feeling like Fall where you are?  It is not at all around here, but I am trying to remind myself that this winter it will indeed turn cold, and so I should be enjoying this 86 degree weather. . . and I am trying.  I just would like it to cool down enough to have the windows open regular.  I would like not using the air conditioner, and not using the heater--those are my kind of temps!  I even saw from NOAA weather that we really WERE about 10 degrees hotter than the average September temperatures, so no wonder I was thinking it should be cooling down.  We even broke a record for the last September high set in 1925!

But on to this week!  At first, I thought I didn't do anything to save money this week.  But I sat and thought for a little bit, and realized that I did, even though it wasn't saving money by finding all these great deals in the store.

*Since I loved the shirts I got from Duluth Trading Company so much, I went ahead and ordered two more.  They were on sale a little bit, but still not at all what I would call cheap or money saving.  HOWEVER--I was .01 cent away from hitting their amount to receive free shipping, and I decided to call and talk with a customer service representative.  I explained my situation, and they immediately offered to give me free shipping anyway.  Not being afraid to ask ended up saving me $11.99 in shipping charges!  I wouldn't have been upset if they had not been able to do this for me, but I figured it was fine to ask, and if they could they would and if they couldn't then it was just not something they were allowed to do. I am glad I asked!

*I accepted two bags of nutritional yeast flakes--yummy!  Perhaps you have never heard of nutritional yeast flakes--I hadn't until I got married, and my husband used it on his popcorn.  I thought he was a bit strange, but chalked it up to him being from California and me from Michigan! But once I tried it, I LOVED nutritional yeast!  I mainly use it on popcorn, but it can also be used to make a rather cheesy flavored kind of sauce to use in different things, and since I can no longer eat dairy of any kind, that makes it pretty useful for me!  Anyway, my dear friend that I go over and help each week as she is disabled, she has signed up for the auto refill sort of thing from Amazon, and is receiving her nutritional yeast faster than she can eat it so she offered me two bags, which I gladly accepted. It makes my friend feel good to be able to bless me with some gifts now and then, as a "thank you" for my helping her.  She knows I am MORE than happy to help her out, because I know she truly needs the help--but at the same time, it is always nice to receive a little thank you of appreciation as well.  So this will bless my family, and it makes my friend feel good to be able to gift me something for my helping her.

*I accepted a free scarf when it was offered to me.  My same friend orders most of her clothes from Amazon, because she is disabled and it is very difficult for her to get out and go clothes shopping.  Sometimes, something that she ordered ends up being a different color than it looked to her on her computer, so I help her package it back up and drop it off at the post office for her.  Well, she had ordered a scarf which ended up being a lighter color than she had expected.  She showed it to me and asked if I liked it, and I truthfully told her I thought it was beautiful, so she immediately gifted it to me.  I wore it the very next day!  It is lovely, and I will happily be reminded of my sweet friend every time I wear it.

*I attended a meeting at our church, where they showed a video on the Bible lands.  I loved seeing pictures of places where Jesus grew up!  This video was from a series the church is showing.  They purchased the set, and have permission to show it in a public setting.  By going to the church to watch it, "I" don't have to buy the set, so it is free entertainment as well as free education for me!

 *I made home made "granola bars."  I have tried home made granola bars several times before, but have never had much luck with them holding together well.  And now, my eating is even more difficult because I was pre-diabetic a few years ago, and knew I did not want to continue down the diabetic road, so changed the way I was eating and no longer use almost any refined sugar at all.  Just a tiny tiny bit, mostly in a tablespoon or so that goes into my bread making.  But overall, have cut WAY back on what I used to eat of it.  Well, I found a recipe that used mainly bananas to sweeten, and no refined sugar so I thought I would try it.

 After baking it as one block, the recipe said to cool completely and then to use a pizza cutter to cut it into blocks.  I was amazed at how well they held together when I did cut them apart!  Yea!

Then I wrapped them individually in wax paper and taped them closed. To keep them longer term, I placed all of these individual packages inside a gallon zip freezer bag, and placed them in the freezer. This way I can take out just the number that we need for a lunch.  I actually do not think this is an inexpensive recipe, so it is not saving money in the traditional way, as they are filled with nuts and seeds and dried fruit in addition to the banana, and those are not inexpensive ingredients by any means!  So I almost did not list this activity as a money saving one, but finally decided that since it fits along the lines of how I need to eat these days, it is still probably money saving if you compared it to purchasing a super healthy type of premade granola bar.  It is just not going to look like saving money if you are comparing it to the regular granola bars that have refined sugar, oil, and other ingredients like that in them.  So compared to their "type," I am still going to say they are money saving.  And if you think about how when I feed my body correctly, I have reversed my pre-diabeties and get to avoid doctor visits, and all the medications and such that go along with diabetes, well, it is all part of staying as healthy as I can.

*I packed lunches from home for a lunch time health talk at my husband's work.  Remember those granola bars I just talked about?  Well they came in handy this week when my husband's work had a health talk that they call a "Lunch N Learn."  They have these every now and then, and employees are encouraged to bring their lunches and listen to the speaker.  Since I am covered by my husband's health insurance, I get to come if I want to as well.  After all, keeping me healthy also helps save his employer money in health care costs.  I really enjoy all of the Lunch N Learns that I have been able to attend.  This one was on being physically active, and the speaker was one of the P.E. teachers at my husband's college.  She talked about the difference between exercise, training, and movement.  It was very interesting and I learned some new things.  Many of the people attending just buy a lunch at the cafe or at the food bar in the Wellness Center where the meetings take place.  But I brought lunches for myself, my daughter, and my husband, and we all met at the meeting room and ate lunch together.

*I turned in receipts for a reimbursement.  How easy it is to let things get forgotten whenever there is something we are going to get a reimbursement for!  And whenever we do that--surprise, surprise--we don't get the reimbursement!  I had a lot of receipts for homeschool expenses that my husband's employer would actually reimburse us for, so I made sure to actually get the turned in and the reimbursement came this week.  Yes, I did have to actually spend the money in order to get the reimbursement, but that is just fine with me.  We are blessed beyond measure to have this benefit, and it means my daughter has a better education because of it!  Turning in these receipts ended in our being reimbursed for $758.  I would say that was worth organizing my receipts and filling out the proper form!

Well, that's it for me for this week!  Leave a comment below and tell me one (or more) thing that you did to save money for your family this week--I would love to hear!  And if anyone wants my home made granola bar recipe--knowing that the ingredients are not the cheapest--let me know and I will try and get it on here.  But if you don't ask, I am going to assume there is not any interest. 

Have a great week!  

~Susan