Five Frugal Things

1. Really happy I've managed to keep buying a big tub of yogurt to divide up during the wk instead of individual tubs. Worked out this saves me $4.69/wk or a whopping $243.66/year! 2. Had a LOT of large unexpected bills lately; car, dentist, etc & was getting a bit stressed; prayed about it & felt peace; found a chemist that is waaay cheaper for a no. of essentials & it's even on the way home from work so no extra petrol to get there - thank you Jesus. 3. Decided to stop eating when I'm actually full ( I love food) & found I only needed half the serve I was having for lunch at work & then can fit in the apple I was taking for a walk every day:) This also means I need to buy less food. 4. Bought some books I really wanted 2nd hand from ebay and a second-hand bookshop for great prices. 5. Just about finished Christmas shopping & nearly on budget; got a number of things on sale/much cheaper than expected.

1. Limped along in my efforts to meal plan and eat at home. More failure than success this week but it's a start.

2. By walking every aisle in the grocery store, rather than just buying what's on the list, I scored a lot of coupons. $1/1 frozen Contessa shrimp, $1/2 Domino sugar[1], $1/1 Primo frozen pizza, and so on. There were tons of these coupons available so I was comfortable taking a dozen or so of each.

3. So. Many. Work. Holiday. Parties. I'm delighted with every one of them and have brought only tasty goods, homemade from things I already have OR purchases for which I have sales or coupons.

4. Carpooling with a friend to a holiday party that 40 min away. There will be a lot of people there that I don't know, so I won't mind if friend wants to leave early.

5. Not flying anywhere for the holidays. Relative and new hubby visiting for a few days, then a (long!) drive to friend's home. Friend is OK with our dog, so no kennel or dog-walking costs for him. I'll pack a ton of food, so limited food purchases on the road. If I give gifts, it'll be things I already have.

[1] For the second year in a row, the usual holiday sales and coupons (sugar, vanilla, flour, choc chips, etc) have been scarce on the ground. I was extra-delighted to find these coupons.

1. We have eaten at home all week even though we have had several Christmas programs to attend. 2. My Christmas gift list is large. I have 4 children with spouses, 12 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. I have been feverishly making gifts for many of them. So far I have completed a blanket for my soon-to-be 2 year old grandson, a set of throw pillows for my daughter-in-law, a diaper bag that matches the blanket I made her for my youngest great granddaughter and a stuffed dinosaur for my oldest great grandson. I am almost finished with a set of bottles that spell HOME for my oldest granddaughter. I am making necklaces for four of the girls on my list and a set of stuffed blocks that spell out her name for another great granddaughter. I only had to purchase minimal supplies for these projects. I had most of them already on hand. 3. I had $30 in Kohl's dollars which I used to purchase 2 gifts. 4. I had a 40% off coupon for Shutterfly which I used to purchase the calendar I make every year for my mother-in-law. I put the birthdays of all the extended members of our family along with pictures that I gather from Facebook and Instagram along with those that are given to me for this project. She had 8 sons and 5 daughters-in-law, 19 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren with 5 spouses, and 12 great great grandchildren. Three of those were born this past year. 5. I made Christmas ornaments with supplies I had on hand.

1. I hosted a gingerbread house competition and used graham crackers instead of those pricey kits. 2. Picked up a lot of freebies from Kroger 3. Updated my projected income for 2018 on the marketplace health insurance site and saved some money on premiums 4. Used leftover Halloween candy as prizes in my Sunday school classes(still have a ton left) 5. My mom found a pair of $5 pajamas at Target that were leftover from Black Friday, so I had her pick them up for my son for Christmas

This week sounds like a frugal AND profitable week for you! My big frugal thing this week was making dinners using up stuff we had in the freezer. It also spawned me taking my lunch to work each day instead of forgetting like I've been known to do. I handmade a couple of gifts for friends using craft supplies I already had on hand and they turned out cute! I fished out some red paint I had on hand to paint a chair that Hubby repaired for my mother (instead of buying her a new one). I also shopped at Dollar Tree this week for puzzles for the family room and Christmas gift totes and wrap. And today I am going through my coupons to see what I can use next week on my regular grocery trip. I told Hubby that we will hunker down in earnest after Christmas - property taxes will be due!