Five Frugal Things | in the week of the freezer challenge

I am a few days late in doing this (as always) but here are mine: 1. We are taking advantage of free halloween/fall events this coming weekend. Our church has a "Great Pumpkin" festival that is always fun and my employer (a university) has a trick or treat in the residence halls for little kids. Free and fun.

2. Halloween costumes, wow, I will say we are 50/50 frugal on that one. I ended up buying my daughter's costume at Cracker Barrel (of all places, I know) and I'm creating my son's John Deere Monster Truck costume out of items we had around the house. Boxes, glue, spray paint and a few printables. It's looking much better than I thought I could make on my own.

3. I was tempted about 6 times to order something from Wish.com, but emptied my cart and decided against it. Not sure how I feel about that site yet. Glad I emptied the cart.

4. The one not-so-frugal online purchase I did make today was for two Christmas Presents (I guess are needed, but it is a purchase) Macy's has a few of their small appliances on sale and their is a rebate to go along with them. Though I spent $45, I will be getting $20 back in rebates. I tend to use those rebates for Christmas money.

5. Next week I am away for work the entire week and my employer will be footing the bill for my food and travel, so I will get some money back for mileage.

1) We made spaghetti sauce with the end of garden tomatoes. There was not enough sauce for a pasta meal, but enough to coat meatballs... so meatball subs for dinner! 2) My birthday was yesterday. We splurged for Red Robin. I got my free birthday burger . 3) I got a Red Robin gift card in May as a thank you. We saved it till my birthday to help pay for the rest of our meal. 4) I bought Halloween candy to use a coupon before expired. The bag is still un-opened. Yay us for the self control. Normally we cannot have bags of candy in the house! The frugal willpower will prevent the need to buy another bag prior to trick or treat. 5) Hubby took leftover for lunch vs buying.

1. Our kids really want Pokemon cards for Christmas, so we bought some from a local teen who was selling them to earn money to buy Christmas gifts for his family. Win-win! 2. My husband and I took a 5-day trip while my mother watched our four daughters. It was a splurge (but worth it to maintain a healthy, loving marriage!) We chose a location within driving distance, stayed in an AirBnB condo, packed our food for both travel days, shopped at the grocery store and cooked all but two (planned) meals. We did a couple of amazing experiences, (a Scandinavian spa and a treetop/zip lining outing) but enjoyed really simple things other than that, like hiking together, drinking coffee and chatting, reading library books, wandering around the little shops. It was so refreshing! 3. We made a pot of tomato soup using up all the last of our garden tomatoes, some carrots, onions and garlic, and a big tub of chicken broth that was in the freezer. We ate a bunch of odds and ends of bread with it. :) 4. I recently discovered that my library offers a digital subscription to hundreds of magazines! I really wanted a subscription to Clean Eating, but now I can download the last year's worth of issues for free... and no extra clutter. 5. A repair that we feared would be enormous was actually only a $4.99 part. So happy! 6. Bonus... It might not seem like a frugal win, but I think you'll understand. We bought a "last year's model" Phil & Ted's stroller 10 years ago, before our first baby was born. It has been used at least 5 days a week ever since! And yesterday it finally died, after helping us raise 4 babies. My youngest is nearly 3, so I was just using it when I wanted to go for long walks and actually get some exercise for me... so it's not a necessity anymore. It feels pretty good to have gotten so much use out of it!

1. I used Shoe Goo to repair a pair of kids sandals. Shoe Goo is definitely my new favorite product. I've used it to fix more than just shoes! 2. We're harvesting green beans from our tiny backyard garden, so I was able to make a variation of German potato salad with potatoes, green beans, and leftover white beans I had in the fridge. We had it for our main dish, and my kids liked it! 3. I used old bananas from my freezer to make two loaves of banana bread for breakfast tomorrow to keep my kids from eating up the $12 bag of cereal too quickly. 4. I sewed up the holes in a pile of ripped kids clothing so my kids can still wear them. 5. I gave a bag of chicken bones to my house helper so she could make chicken broth for her family. She also picked a bag full of green bean leaves from our garden to cook in the broth.

1. I Bought some liquid tight containers (after a sad workbag yoghurt incident) a couple of weeks ago to divide up a big tub joghurt for work rather than buying individual serve. Worked out this week it stays much fresher when measured out daily and the fruit I have is added just before eating. I buy a low sugar low fat vanilla yoghurt that goes with all fruit. (I tried to eat natural yoghurt because I know it's even better for me but I just don't like it). A friend has given me a recipe for homemade yoghurt that I thought was delicious and when I have time I'll try making it but that's a future goal right now)

2. Started keeping fruit in the crisper instead of in a bowl on the bench where it goes sad before I can eat it, and now I am in the habit of having fruit and yoghurt for morning tea I will remember it is there.

3. Finished returning all my unwanted online shops - yay!

4. Started campaign to leave for work earlier to miss heavier traffic and use less petrol, failed today but mostly improving.

5. Washed my car with microfibre cloths to reduce water use and resisted urge to pay for carwash.