Five Frugal Things | and birthday month begins!

So sweet of you to pass along your cookware! Fun that it helped you both:)

My 5 frugal things --

– I colored my own hair. I've been doing this for years ever since a cut and color got north of $80. I use Clairol Natural Instincts, a wash out color which lasts several months in my hair. I combine 2 colors to get the color I want after a friend told me how to do that. It costs about $10 to do it myself. – I very rarely use the seasoning packets that come with ramen noodles, but usually set them aside. Recently, I used a chicken seasoning packet to add to chicken broth for soup when I needed more broth. Because the packet is salty, I diluted it well and made sure to cut down on salt I would normally use in the soup. It gave me just enough extra broth that I needed. – I froze extra tomato sauce for later. I only had a 28 ounce can of tomato sauce, but I needed just 8 ounces for a recipe. So I froze the rest to use later. I'll probably use it next week in a recipe I have on the menu. – I froze extra rotisserie chicken to use later and made chicken broth from the bird's bones that I froze in 2 cup portions. – I did the Kroger customer survey and earned 50 points toward gas purchased at Kroger.

My Frugal 5's 1) Fixing and mending household items with things we already had like sewing a strap on a sleep mask, placing pads on the bottom of chairs to protect our floors, touching up the corner of a chipped cabinet, etc. Also sent my mother in law's mail by pictures through text instead of actual mail. 2) Got a free cream of mushroom soup from our church's food pantry since they couldn't give it out since it was dented. Also had a tacos that were generously provided for lunch while there on my volunteer day. 3) For my daughter's birthday week, We've watched borrowed DVDs from the library and ate a special treat each day. Will plan a few free events. 4) I batch run my errands at the library and when gong to my doctor's appointment. For my trip to the library, I returned items, pick up reserved items, got a library card application for my husband, got a few free plant starter kits for our girls. Also signed our girls for a library event. For my trip to the doctor's appointment, I got my physical, mammogram and bloodwork done all in one visit. Also schedule my next year's physical and mammogram while there. 5) Been exercising from home with strength training exercises and walking on the treadmill.

I threw my daughter's bridal shower on Sunday. 1. My older daughter made up several games and printed them 4 to a page double sided. We used pencils that I got I think for 25¢ at back to school sales. Gifts for the games were from Christmas clearance from 75%-90% off. I did count the kisses and got a very cute jar at my thrift store for $3. I also hid 50 rings around the room. That was a big hit. 2. Centerpieces were mini bud vases that I had and some were from FBMP that I got used. Everyone got to take one home. I bought the flowers from Trader Joes(ordered ahead of time). I had the girls from the bridal party come over the day before and help me do them. I had extra flowers so we used several of my large vases and put them around the room. I gave a mini vase to each of the waitresses with their tip. 3. We brought home all of the leftovers from the buffet. I gave some to the bride to be, my son, my parents and my neighbor. Hubby and I have been eating them all week. 4. The bride to be is not a cake person. I was able to borrow a donut wall and that was a big hit. I made chocolate covered Oreos and pretzels with butterflies on them. The theme was a lifetime of butterflies. Everyone was encouraged to take home leftover desserts. 5. My husband made an arch for her to sit in front of to open her presents and to take pictures. We decorated it with balloons, fake butterflies and flowers. They are going to use it for their wedding. We have 2 weddings after our daughters and we offered them the use of the arch. They both happily accepted. 6.My daughters gifts were made at the library. I had a pair of mugs printed with their names, wedding date and butterflies on them. I also had Mr. & Mrs. towel set made. I got the towels on sale at Target before Christmas. 7.Additional decorations were pictures of my daughter and her fiancé from babies to current times. I literally pulled pictures off my walls. I had double sided picture frames that we use as table numbers. We put pictures in them too. I hung up a rope and used mini laundry clips to hang pictures. My daughter loves to paint so I used several of her paintings too. Anything with a love or garden them made the list. 8. Today I spent returning things that we didn't use. I returned a few things to Amazon, a few to $ Tree and a few to Stop & Shop. The total for everything was around $45. I would rather have the money then the stuff laying around.

1. We hosted our church small group recently, and I was able to serve some cut up apples, brownies from a mix, and free popcorn I got from Aisle (app with freebies, I think I heard about it from the Commentariat here). It was simple but sufficient, and also frugal.

2. I thought I needed to buy more olives but I happened to find an unopened jar under the cabinet. I still need to buy more because my kids love olives, but it can at least wait a week.

3. DH gave me a massive present last week by letting me spend two nights with my friend an hour away. She in turn treated me to amazing homemade food, pizza purchased with a gift card, and she paid the $10 for me to go to the gym with her. I enjoyed exercising, then used a 15-min hydromassage machine and then we sat in the hot tub for an hour just talking. I haven’t felt that amazing in a long time.

4. This friend then sent me home with a large stash of dark chocolate which she doesn’t like… her loss is my gain. And also half of the absolutely most amazing focaccia I have ever eaten.

5. I needed to purchase something online. For a 10% discount, I signed up for text messages and will promptly unsubscribe.