Five Frugal Things | mostly about Lisey

Good job, Lisey! Craftsman tools used to have a lifetime warranty and whenever the tips of tools got dull or the plastic handle cracked, we would get them replaced....Not sure the policy now, but it's worth a shot to ask at stores that sell Craftsman.

Not much going on in the way of frugality this week, but let's see what I can remember.

1) Got 2 free simmering sauce bags of Tikka Masala. I sent a complimentary email to the company and they sent me coupons. Savings- $6.59 2) I was given 2 make-up samples to try and report about....In return, I get $10. 3) I spoke to my boss about needing help as we are short staffed this week. He said my husband could come in to help out! Helps me and adds some extra $ to his pocket. 4) My youngest was stressed over an issue that he thought had no resolution. I thought about it, got online, printed out a paper and voila'. Stress relieved. 5) I put items up on ebay..I hope they sell.

I think it is so cool that Lisey picked using tools as part of her life. I took car repair classes in school and I loved them.

Frugal wins- A small bike and chair booster seat at Goodwill $6. For the grandbaby when she visits.

My co-worker always asks how I am when I come into work, I always say "good how are you". I stopped this time after I said that and said "you know I am not good". I explained some care issues with my dad and as luck would have it she told me about her dad needing care and I think the universes aligned. It is a game changer. She called the person who set up her income based and hospice care and now we will have additional help for him at home. He will be 99 in June. I may have thanked her more than 5 times. After that conversation I was back to "good". I had no idea that hospice care includes elderly care.

Only grocery shopping for fresh fruit this week, spent $9 on some veggies and fruit. I am in week 3 of using up freezer contents. My only loss will be some carrots I think, even though I parboiled they still have a weird texture once unfrozen. Tried them in soup and well blah. I might be able to grind them into something.

Had no leftovers to throw out, all were used up.

Most of my week was saving food! 1. I had some carrots and celery that were getting iffy, so I chopped them up with onions and froze them for quick meals on busy nights. 2. I had 9 (yes 9, head hanging in shame) old bananas and so I'm making 3 loaves of banana bread. 3. I had a whole package of chicken that needed to be used so I froze it and shredded it into bags and froze it for easy meal prep. 4. I bought a bunch of strawberries and had a few that were starting to age so I used them to make strawberry sauce for ice cream. 5. I ended up with lots of extra heavy cream so I'm using some of it up making some homemade ice cream. I'll be trying to eat mostly from the freezer and pantry over the next few weeks to use things up, food waste is a huge pet peeve of ours!

1. Continued to use freezer items for meal planning to use up what we have. One big success was finding some leftover Cuban Roast Pork and using it to make some delicious tacos. 2. Sorted through everyone's spring clothes BEFORE shopping for more. Older daughter passed some items to younger daughter. Some items were passed along to a younger neighbor. Some were donated. 3. Older daughter found out she needed a formal dress to wear on May 14 for the "premiere" of her theater club's filmed performance. Decided to wear a beautiful full length tulle skirt that my sister wore as a bridesmaid with a top she already owns. She may decide to buy some earrings, but she made some good frugal choices.

Happy Birthday, Kristen!

Happy birthday! And nice score for Lisey! Since we are in the middle of 2 major home projects, it feels as though we’re not being very frugal these days. However, I did score my all-time favorite coffee, Cafe Vienna, for a close-out price of $1.33 per can as opposed to the normal $2.99 per can. I bought several!