Five Frugal Things | The symphony for $10? Yes, please.

1. One kid has a broken bone which makes dressing hard. I bought some shirts that button up the front and some pants without buttons or snaps. I bought everything at a secondhand store, so it was about $40 for 4 pants and 5 shirts. I could have kept washing what we had, but it didn't see worth it. 2. I cooked all our meals at home. I used up food that needed to be eaten. 3. I have been using the free version of duolingo to learn more Spanish. 4. My husband was out of town. I make terrible coffee, so I found a gift card for Starbucks. I had won the gift card, so I only spent $0.35 of my own money. 5. We enjoyed free entertainment.

Shumann looks like a child of the 1970's!

Yay for symphony tickets! I went to the opera and ballet several times on student tickets and really enjoyed feeling cultured. :)

my FFT are saved from the last several weeks:

1. Used a Sbux gift card I won through playing their winter game to have a free drink and get out of the house. You can get free refills of hot/cold drip coffee or hot/cold tea when you’re in the store, btw!

3. Deposited about $5 cash back from Rakuten.

3. We had baby #2 a few weeks ago, and all went well– yay! While in hospital post-labor and delivery, DH and I were twice able to avoid ordering a guest tray by loading up my meal tray. We also ordered up to the limit on his guest trays since they were a flat fee, and took home a few packages of nuts, some guacamole, and a veggie wrap.

4. I’m using the breast pump I had from baby #1 for baby #2. It would have been “free” to get another one (it’s covered 100% by insurance), but I didn’t want another one hanging around and it’s more frugal for everyone if people only use the healthcare benefits they really need. I also have some remaining supplies for freezing milk, which were originally given to me by an acquaintance.

5. I found a penny while at the pediatrician’s office for a checkup. Bonus: it’s a choking hazard in that particular location.

6. I finished yet another skincare sample, as well as a deodorant that didn’t work especially well. I figured I could finish it when I was mostly home during these colder winter months, and it worked passably well.

7. I’ve been using silicone ear plugs when it’s my turn to sleep and I realized they were too big for my ear. So I’ve pinched off a little from each one, saved the remnants in the original container, then roll two remnants together to get a new one. It’s like buy two, get one free.

8. We (unfortunately) committed to doing an extremely expensive vacation with my in-laws in order to keep the family happy. However, we were able to use airline miles for our plane tickets one way, so that saved us approx. $550.

Now I want to go to a symphony. Live music, played well, feeds my soul. My five: 1. I dump leftover veggies, rice, beans, herbs, little bits and bobs into a freezer bag now and then until its full. On Sunday I thawed it, with 4 frozen burgers that I needed to eat up, diced a yellow potato, added barley, and made the best crockpot soup out of it. It fed DH and I for three days. 2. My eyes have finally healed and adjusted after recent surgery, so my old glasses don't work anymore. I used Rakuten and Zenni to order new ones, they are so much cheaper that buying them from the Dr's office, and since my eye dr won't give me my pupil distance, my DH measured mine. I learned that the PD is different for near and far vision. 3. Took advantage of the BOGO specials at the grocery store and stocked up on staples. 4. Regifting some gift cards to give to my grandchildren for their bdays. :) 5. We no longer have a local Dollar Tree, and I needed to buy a bday card. CVS emailed me a $4 off anything coupon so I bought the bday card for free using the coupon. :)

Kristen, you can also get student-priced subscriptions to various publications, like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

1. Dyed my favorite Eddie Bauer heavier weight shirt -- an awesome score at Goodwill -- after it was stained by another piece of laundry when I forgot to put color catcher sheets in the washer. The deep pumpkin shirt turned the most beautiful plum color when dyed blue, so that was a win. 2. Finally mended and refurbished my son's old quilt he'd been waiting on for about a year. Sadly, this was my last quilt. The arthritis in my hands makes big sewing projects like that just too painful to do any more. 3. My husband volunteered as a poll worker for 14 hours today. I packed him a big bag of food and drinks so he wouldn't have to order pizza or buy from the soda machine. 4. Took some donations by Goodwill and popped inside to buy some short-sleeved shirts. Got four shirts for $16. 5. Did some intensive searching on Poshmark and put together some orders for new with tags summer pajamas and a couple of pairs of slacks at greatly reduced prices. I have a hard time buying slacks due to being an odd combination of short yet leggy. The measurements Poshmark sellers provide make getting the right fit much easier.