How was your savings last week? I really felt like my frugalness went great last week—though truth is I am not positive if it was really unusual savings or just that I did a better job writing things down so it FEELS like I saved more. But that said, there were some opportunities that don’t come along every day by any means, so I am thinking that it really was simply a great week!
*I found two free books in the “free bin” at our used book store. O.k., so truth is that there are ALWAYS free books in the “free bin,” as some people who bring books to sell simply do not want to haul back home again any books that the store wasn’t interested in, but on THIS day I actually found two books that I was quite interested in, so that was a happy start to my week! One book was on getting to know your Bible better. It is written primarily for teens I believe, and has nice suggestions for games and other Bible activities. I thought I would glance through it and then pass it on to my daughter. The second book was one that I was THRILLED to find! It is kinda hard to explain, but is kind of a book of templates, different ideas and patterns for taking notes or reporting information or creating your own learning notebooks. It is marketed primarily for homeschoolers (that’s ME!), and I have actually been on the authors web site before, drooling over all of her books. So I was thrilled to find one at the used book store at all, let alone in the free bin! Anyway, I can put it to good use for sure
*My next frugal thing is more of a frugal attempt--or at least, preparing for a frugal attempt! I have this scarf that I love, that came with this small fringe on it. The only problem is that over time, my scarf is starting to lose threads as it literally unweave itself! If you look close in this photo, you can see some of the bottom threads are loose! Anyway, so I asked on a sewing type of FB page that I follow, what people would suggest, and the overwhelming response was to try sewing a zig zag stitch near the ends of the scarf. SO. With that in mind, I bought some thread at JoAnn's with a coupon that is the correct blue to match the scarf. I have not yet had time to try and actually do the zig zag stitch, but at least now I have all the supplies that I need. . .
Here are my two bowls of pruned down raspberries. . .
My empty garden bed. We have never had anything growing in this bed--my hubby just built it at the end of last summer, and covered it with plastic to keep weeds from thinking it was their bed. . and there it has been sitting.
I first cut out the center plastic, and got those raspberry babies in the ground. It is hard to see in the picture, but I have two rows of them right down the center.
Then this picture shows the end, where I pulled back the rest of the plastic, put down cardboard along the sides, watered the cardboard well and then covered the cardboard with mulch. This should help keep down some of the weeds from taking over the raspberries. Yes, the rest of the garden looks like it needs some attention. That is because it does! But no time for that just now. . . as I can, I will try and help it out a bit. Right now, however, our weather has turned back to it's cold normal, so being outside is NOT an attractive activities for me currently. . . but the next warm day, maybe!
*I got so excited about working in the garden, that the next day I planted some kale and collard seeds in my basement, under my shop lights that I use as grow lights. My seeds are a couple of years old, so I wasn't sure if they would come up or not--but my collards are already poking their happy little heads up!!!!
I have a second tray with some tomato seeds started. These seeds are even older, so not sure if they will grow or not, but I figured it is free to try! You can see here the plastic wrap that I put over the seeds, to keep them from drying out so much while I wait for the to sprout. I even sing to my seeds every now and then, just to let them know that we love them. I mean, YOU wouldn't grow in a house where you weren't loved, would you? I insist that people only say nice, happy things around my plants. . .
*Also last week, I was able to use a coupon at Bath and Body works and get a free bottle of body wash! :). It is a tiny bottle, but I am happy for it and it smells wonderful! I feel like I am being pampered every time I use it!
*Freezer challenge--I used some frozen soy beans in my freezer to make soy milk. Yea! One bag more used up!
*I made my own bread. It has been awhile since I did the math on how much a loaf of bread costs me, but I am pretty sure it only costs me about the same as purchasing one loaf of bread in the store, only when I make it I am getting four loaves! Besides that, it tastes better!
*I ordered a free dress from LLBean!!!! I am still waiting for this to come in the mail, but it should be here this week! I am excited to have it for summer! I had received a notice that they had some things on clearance, so I thought I would check their web site out. I was expecting only winter things on clearance, but was pleasantly surprised when I found a nice knit summer dress! It is short sleeve, and a nice blue print (I love blue!). It was not as deeply discounted as some things were, but it was marked down to $37 from I believe $54. I knew I had some LLBean "Bucks," as we have their credit card, but thought maybe I might have $20 or so on my account. I called their customer service number to find out, and discovered that I actually had like $45 in Bean Bucks!!! So I had enough store credit from that to pay for the entire dress! Yea for me!
*I did my own taxes! I don't LIKE doing taxes, but I would not like even more having to pay someone to do our taxes for us!!!! So I buckled down and tried to be a big girl and just got them done! They are e-filed, and after having to fix them twice (am I the only one that ALWAYS has their taxes rejected first because I forgot to check or mark some little thing?) they were FINALLY accepted by the IRS so they are DONE DONE DONE for another year!!!! Can you see me jumping up and down with joy???
SO--that was my busy week! How was YOUR week? What did you do to save money and bless your family? I would love to hear from you!
~Susan
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