1. I froze some excess bananas.
Banana ripening is hard to predict! I usually buy a yellow bunch and a green bunch, but sometimes the green ones I buy ripen faster than I think they will, and I end up with an excess of need-to-be-eaten-right-now bananas.
When that happens, I try to slice and freeze them before they end up at banana-bread ripeness. Banana bread and banana muffins are fine, but I prefer to use the bananas in a healthier way if possible.
Once they’re sliced and frozen, they’re really easy to add to smoothies, which I make all the time.
2. I made pizza dough ahead of time.
Sometimes I get really uninspired about cooking on Sundays, which leads to eating out if I’m not careful!
But I’ve found it helps if I plan ahead and also do some make ahead when possible.
So, I made a whole wheat pizza dough on Saturday afternoon, put it in the fridge, and then Sunday night’s pizza was pretty easy to tackle.
(This was a dough designed to sit overnight…just a small amount of yeast, so it didn’t over-rise.)
3. On Easter, I wore clothes I already owned.
We didn’t go to a super fancy church service, so I wore this pair of Stitch Fix jeans, this cold-shoulder Stitch Fix top, a pair of Born suede boots I got on clearance at DSW, and a long cardigan from Old Navy.
This is the top I wore, but not the jeans/shoes
I’m not opposed to buying a new spring dress or anything, but I also don’t think that it’s some sort of necessary requirement just because Easter has rolled around.
4. Lisey did some budget shopping for Sonia.
I don’t deserve credit for this one, but she took Sonia out on a shopping trip on Saturday to help her find some spring fashion. I gave them $80 in cash, and they came home with lots of items…a pair of white jeans, 3 tops, a long necklace, a dress, and shorts.
Lisey’s quite a good budget shopper, so she and Sonia hit up consignment and second-hand stores. And also Target. 😉
5. Mr. FG and I had a $13.50 date night.
We got subs at Firehouse, and I purposely ordered the one that was on the $5.55 special. We drank water and skipped the chips, which definitely helps keep the cost down. And chips and sodas don’t exactly up the health value of the meal anyway.
Bonus: I now have enough Firehouse rewards points for a free small sub on our next visit.
Angina
Friday 6th of April 2018
I like the idea to prepare food in advance and to freeze it. Pizza dough is something I usuually make on saturday and freeze it. Thus I always have an alternative for a dinner when the I come home too tired after a busy working day.
Terri
Wednesday 4th of April 2018
We didn't buy new Easter clothes either. All our Easter dresses came from thrift stores. Here are my frugal five from yesterday (actually, I have more than five, but the rest are on my blog):
1. I picked up 4 play packs from someone in my Buy Nothing Group. 2. I got 2 books from a Little Free Library. 3. I went grocery shopping at Winco and used the remainder of the gift card I won from them last month. 4. Amazon sent me my order twice. I contacted them about it and they told me to keep the extra merchandise they sent. 5. I opened up my deodorant container that was "empty" and found enough product inside it to last another 2 days.
Maria
Tuesday 3rd of April 2018
Five frugals: 1. Dollar Tree filled baskets with treats for kids. 2. Same Easter outfits for third year in a row. 3. Family pitched in an brought all sides for Easter Brunch. 4. Egg casserole fed all 8 guests. 5. Champagne for mimosas half off!
Alison
Tuesday 3rd of April 2018
1. My dress for Easter mass was purchased at a consignment shop in the fall, and I wore it at Christmas too. My 4 daughters all wore white/gold dresses (the Easter colours!) that were thrifted and handed down from friends. 2. Last week we used a bag of cooked beef from the freezer, that had been pulled off soup bones after we boiled them for stock. Each time we make a batch of stock we add to the bag. The meat was combined with two open jars of tomato sauce from the fridge (oops!) and some spices, onion and garlic to make a phenomenal ragout that we served over noodles. 3. I discovered that some kobocha squash I had purchased had rung up at about half the posted price, so when I had a chance, I went back to that store snd bought 4 more! While there I stumbled across a display of our fave plain Greek yoghurt for $1.94 for a 750 g tub! So I stocked up. :) 4. We were invited to decorate eggs with friends on Saturday. We brought hard boiled eggs, and brought them home to eat over the next few days. No wasting the eggs for decoration! We made a batch of our "famous" chocolate chip cookies to bring to the gathering with ingredients we already had on hand. 5. The friends we decorated eggs with had two bags of clothing and a stack of books to pass on to us for our daughters. I never refuse hand-me-downs! 6. The fitness/nutrition program my husband and I are currently doing has been really hard on our grocery budget during the last few months. We're in the final two weeks, so I'm making plans to incorporate more meatless meals, soups, stews, etc.
Amanda
Tuesday 3rd of April 2018
1) I took a pair of jeans back to Nordstroms after the elastic started to fail. Then I found a pair of $20 jeans at Costco just like them! And then the Costco jeans immediately stretched out. Womp womp. So I took them back to Costco, and bought another similar pair of jeans in a different brand at Nordstroms. The whole experience didn’t save me money, but at least I didn’t pay for defective jeans.
2) We are eating up leftovers from the weekend before we go back to the grocery store.
3) March was our best month ever in almost ten years of business. Like by a lot. We feel so blessed.
4) I’m packing for a conference this weekend and realized that all the clothes except the jeans are Goodwill.
5) Returning a dress to thredUP I didn’t like.