Five Frugal Things | I’m the carpool mom

Good buy on the ear buds. Teen has wireless lighted headphones that I purchased 2 pair years ago (& has used one pair) that I have been considering asking teen if doesn't want second pair that I could purchase from teen (& donate for Toys for Tots) But then I read about difficulty finding replacement & think I should just keep extra pair as back up.

Frugal things--- ● got gas yesterday & saved $0.10/gallon ($2.99) (before went up to $3.39 & as high as $3.60) ● Monday's in November are double cash back points with Sam's Mastercard (any gas station) ● earned my ($9 max which I always get) monthly bonus for using my debit card 12+ times in month ● continue to do own yard work--- yes still leaves instead of hiring someone ● got $1 Postable (Thanksgiving) card offer & used for my dad. ● used Thanksgiving card (already purchased at discount) that has (removable) mini wreath to mail to my Aunt ● cooked all meals at home (except Halloween pizza) from pantry/freezer

Frugal fail--- ● went to Sam's club over week ago & bought pumpkin pie (& croissants) that never got unpacked (from box) & croissants green/BAD, pie probability is also. Add to Compost pile.

1. Put the leftover Halloween candy in the freezer for next year.

2. Continued to exercise for free by walking and using videos. I've fallen off the wagon a bit but soldier on. Something is better than nothing.

3. Used a mall shop to replace the protective screen on my phone. The original came with the new phone but I am not spending Apple Store prices for a replacement.

4. Household repairs, including snaking a slow drain.

5. Hired my SIL to make a custom shower curtain. I cannot believe that the shower curtain is proving the hardest part of redoing the roommate's shower but it is. SIL is charging me $65 including materials.

How fun that your hospital carpool not only saves money but leads to time with others.

1. I bought the marked down package of chicken and baked it last night. There are leftovers. I also roasted a bunch of potatoes at the same time.

2. I washed the fabric shower curtain and liner that I've had for years, with a load of towels. I hung them outside to dry.

3. My six year laptop was sometimes losing our wifi signal and also loading pages slowly. DH suggested that the wifi antenna driver might need to be updated. He did that for me while I went to a yoga class and it made a world of difference.

4. A friend joined me a on "community" walk sponsored by a yoga studio a couple suburbs away. It was local to us and one of the walk leaders once taught at a local studio. We had a lovely time catching up and meeting new people. I gave my contact info to a dynamo 80+ year old that is short of stature but long on energy. Not only did she walk to the walk location but she is working the polls today from 5:30 am - 9:00 pm.

5. I made a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and neglected to add the granulated sugar. They had the called for brown sugar but were not sweet enough for the group I made them for. They are edible and DH declared them better than the originals. I put them in the freezer and we'll eat them. I also gave a few to a neighbor and she said she likes them so I'll share more with her. I knew the texture seemed weird/wrong before I added the flour but it didn't register what I'd done until taste testing. I was focused on the fact that I remembered to use both light and dark brown sugar (not that it makes a difference) and just skipped the other sugar.

How come the box for your ear buds (and you) say "wireless," but I'm seeing wires?

My five things:

--My husband has been out of town, and my eldest son needed a ride while I was at work. I could have done it on my lunch break, but that would have meant driving to work instead of taking the bus, which would be a total of 40 extra miles driven. So instead I arranged a ride for him with another student. This involved finding the mom's number and asking for a favor. I don't know her well, and don't like asking for help, but I did it anyway. And of course it was no problem.

--One of the things my husband was doing while he was gone was selling a couple of sheep. With those two gone, and the two ram lambs that are going in the freezer probably next week, we'll be down to only six sheep. So much less hay will be needed this winter. And now we have cash from the two ewes and meat for the freezer shortly.

--Youngest son can wear my shoes now, which means when he goes hunting, he wears my waterproof hiking boots. He's not quite 10 years old, so, like his two older brothers, I foresee another few years of alarming growth in his feet and a lot more shoes purchased, but at least for now I didn't have to buy him anything for hunting.

--Basketball for middle son starts tomorrow. Of course he needs shoes, since his feet have grown a lot since last season. My eldest son also played basketball in 7th grade, however, and miracle of miracles, his old shoes fit his brother very well. And they are still in great shape, since they were only used on the court for a couple of months. Hooray for not having to buy yet another pair of little-used shoes.

--I also thought ahead and bought a pack of new basketball shorts for middle son during prime days when they were about half off. He uses my old athletic bag from when I played soccer (ahem, thirty years ago) as his basketball bag, so he's all set with minimal outlay this year.

Hey, look! I did five that weren't about food! How unusual.

*I used my emergency pizza too! There was a wedding reception , which was beautiful and the food was elaborate and gourmet, but a few of us ( my youngest kids, my sister, and me) do not like spicy , flavorful food. So after staying for a little while, picky eaters left to go back to Airbnb and got some pizza. Don't worry - this was planned in advance with the bride- she knew it was likely the food would not work for us. (Yes, we have the palates of fussy kindergarteners.) * We stayed in an airbnb which had room for 14, with full kitchen, so we had brought food for breakfasts and lunch. We shared the accommodations with multiple family members to spread out cost. ( Hotel rooms in the city were going for well over $500 per night!) * I brought most of the leftovers from our trip home and used them up for lunches and dinner. My sister took the rest for snacks on her trip home. *I haven't turned the furnace on yet ( in midwest) . The few really cold days we've had, the kids used space heaters to take the chill off their rooms, and I baked to warm up the kitchen.