Frugal Friday! Week of August 8-14, 2021

 

Good Morning Frugal Friends!  

How was your week?  I hope all is well!  We have definitely shifted into a “Back to School” feeling around here, but it does NOT feel like Fall! Our weather is still quite warm, I wear shorts almost every day, and I am looking forward to cooler weather coming so my daughter and I can start hiking the trails again with more pleasant temperatures.  

And speaking of back to school—since we ARE back to our books (although SOME ONE around here often continues on with her Math and Science books during the summers since she loves those areas so much!), my daughter reminded me this past week that we should do our “Back to School” pictures while it was still the beginning of the school year. So that starts off my list of frugal things from this past week. . . 

*We took our own “Back to School” pictures. NOT that there is anything wrong with having professional pictures taken, and I would LOVE to get some really nice pictures taken of my daughter, but well, sometimes something is better than nothing! So for this year, we at least TOOK back to school pictures, so I figure I at least get half credit for effort! ;) 

We decided to take them out in our little woods, which is not exactly where we normally go hiking as it is just a tiny section of woods in our back yard.  But it looks just the same as our beloved trails that we hike at just one mile down the road, so I figured it would do in a pinch! 

We were trying to think of creative poses, and at one point my daughter suggested we leap into the air for an action shot.  Well, THAT was a hoot!  You should have seen this 56 year old mom trying to leap into the air at just the right time as the camera counts down!  On second thought, you are actually blessed that you DIDN’T witness that!  And then we dissolved into peals of laughter and that didn’t help with picture poses at all—but it DID help with hilarious memories! 

My daughter picked out the above four photos, and posted them on social media along with this description:  “Hiking, climbing, leaping, and generally tumbling joyfully into a new, exciting school year!” Our pictures may not be the best posed or edited, but my daughter’s description of our homeschool makes my heart happy!

*I had a free $5.00 coupon to use at Staples, so used it to purchase 20 notebooks at .25 cents each. I didn’t even have any tax to pay! My daughter will use a few in her school subjects, and I usually have one notebook going at my kitchen desk for things such as shopping lists, etc.  The rest will go into our supply stash, so when someone needs something during the school year we can just go to our shelves to “shop” instead of paying full price later in the school year when things are NOT at the back to school sale prices! 

*I received a coupon for a free full sized item from Bath and Body Works.  I was delighted!!!  I have had the occasional coupon for a small travel sized item before, but never have I received a coupon for a free full sized item!  My daughter and I had fun sniffing a bunch of them in the store before I finalized on the above item. I wouldn’t complain if they sent me these coupons more often!

*I cut and dried Lemon Balm.  I hope to use this to make some herbal tea.  This is my first year growing Lemon Balm.  I have it in a container so it doesn’t take over my yard, but I am kinda wishing it would flourish a bit more.  Not sure if our extreme heat has done a number on it growing more, but while it is still alive it is not exactly putting on a lot of growth for me to cut. I should read up more on growing it.

*My hubby and I each earned a  $25 gift card to our local grocery store from the college that my hubby works for, in exchange for participating in the back to school  wellness check. Since we are covered under the college health insurance, when we stay healthy, it ends up costing the college less for their health insurance.  So they give nice little incentives to encourage people to participate in healthy lifestyle things. I REALLY appreciate this!  Not only did we each get a free health screening—which included a complete blood panel for us, but then in addition we received these gift cards.  The college owns this grocery store, and it is a large vegetarian grocery store, with a nice large bulk food section where you can find things that are hard to find at other stores.  I will save the gift cards and use them to purchase specialty products that I cannot find cheaper at other stores such as Aldi’s. 

*I found strawberries at .99 cents a pound at my Aldi’s.  I bought three trays of them, which we enjoyed eating fresh and we also had strawberry shortcake several times!

*I picked garden tomatoes.  Sadly, our garden is about finished and these may be the last of the garden tomatoes until next summer.  I sure enjoyed what we got!  There are a few more out there, but some of them seem to spoil before coming ripe.  I have LOVED the taste of the “Carbon” variety of tomatoes that I grew this year, but I have not been impressed with them seeming to spoil quickly.  For taste they are the best I have ever eaten though, so I will probably try and grow them again next year, but I need to find a way to squeeze in another variety as well. . . 

*I bought a thrift shop book for .50 cents.  I also found some small bowls for .40 cents each that the style of it goes nicely with the other serving dishes I already had.  I thought I could use these small bowls to hold toppings for different meals such as chopped peanuts, chopped cilantro, lime wedges, etc. 

Well, that was my week—how was yours? I would love to hear about it!

~Susan