Five Frugal Things

My pal Katy* from The Non Consumer Advocate frequently writes Five Frugal Things posts, where she lists some frugal stuff she’s done lately.

*Did I tell you I met Katy this spring when she and her family took a trek up the East Coast?? It happened. See?

So, anyway, I’m borrowing the idea from her.

(Thanks, Katy!)

1. I used my My Publisher Groupons.

I told you I had one that was expiring at the end of May, and I threw together a book full of our Disney pictures.   I was even done a day early.   Yay me!

(I downloaded a Disney font for the cover, and I am sort of pleased with myself.)

I went to get my Groupon code and much to my dismay, I saw that I’d purchased TWO Groupons.

Oops.

So then I had to make a whole ‘nother book the next day.

Oof.

The good news is that I am very current with our family photos now.

(What I think of My Publisher photo books.)

2. I’m packing lunches.

For a little while there, I was sending Mr. FG out to lunch a little too frequently, which is not awesome for his health or for our budget.

But I’ve been better lately about having backup lunch options if we don’t have any dinner leftovers. (That’s the situation that usually causes me to send him out for lunch.)

3. We used Redbox.

Sometimes on Friday nights, we all watch a movie together.   Mr. FG and the kids have all seen Wreck It Ralph, but I haven’t, so we decided we would watch it together.

Sadly, Netflix doesn’t offer it as a streaming option.   Amazon only offers the option to buy the movie for $15, and we didn’t want to buy it; we wanted to rent it.

(Incidentally, why in the world does it cost $15 to buy a digital copy of a movie when a physical DVD costs the same? This makes no sense to me.)

So we put Wreck It Ralph at the top of our Netflix DVD queue and opted to rent Monsters University from Redbox for a mere $1.

(I rarely enjoy series movies, but Monsters U was really great, possibly because it was a prequel rather than a sequel.)

4. I saved an apple.

I accidentally bought a mushy apple, which turned out to be the sort that falls to bits in your mouth instead of offering a pleasant crunch.

So, I sliced it and sauteed it in butter, which turned it from disgusting to delicious.

If you cook sliced apples low and slow in butter, they end up tasting caramelized and very sweet, even though you’ve added no sugar.

5. I helped my girls save money at Michael’s.

All three had Michael’s gift cards from Christmas.

(Yes, Christmas. And I hadn’t taken them shopping. I’m going for Mom of the Year here, obviously.)

But I did redeem myself, because I found a 20% off your entire purchase printable coupon. I always print 40% off a single item coupons when we need to buy something from a craft store, but that wouldn’t have helped them much in this situation because they tend to buy many small things instead of one large thing.

Because our cashier assured us that all the girls counted as separate customers, each with their own gift card, Zoe was able to use a 40% off coupon for her wool felting kit, while the other girls used the 20% off coupon for all of their small things.

So, we wrung every last dollar out of those gift cards, and the girls are well-supplied with crafty goodness.

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Well, that was fun. I should do Five Frugal Things posts more often!

If you’d like to join me, feel free to make your own Five Frugal Things list in the comments.