This Week's Frugal Accomplishments

We spent part of last weekend cooking items for the week's menu, making it easier to stick to the plan with less prep on busy weekdays.  We made the Italian sausage 'chili' and the lentil taco filling.  I made some brownies from the last of a batch of homemade brownie mix, a partial recipe of frosting that was in the freezer and a partial bag of coconut.  They were a tasty way to use up some odds and ends.

We had family movie night with a movie we borrowed from the library and some snacks from the pantry.  We also borrowed library books!  Daughter attended 'Crafternoons' and made this necklace, along with a painting, a journal, and a decorated wooden egg.  She has spirited the other things away in her room, so I just have the necklace picture.

When we were in the grocery store picking up some Ibotta deals and sale items, we saw that there were turkeys on markdown for .45/lb.  We had room in the freezer for one, so we brought home a 12 pound turkey.

We went walking 4 days this week.  I took the camera with me on some walks and photographed wildlife along the way.  I used a library DVD to do a beginner's yoga program, but I had a lot of hip pain afterward, so I think I'll stick to walking for now.  Here are some photos from our walks...

Husband continued with his activity on Bing/Microsoft Rewards, Swagbucks and Ibotta.  Periodically, these add up and we get gift cards or rebates we can use to pay for groceries or other items we need.  I continued taking surveys (as offered) from Pinecone Research.

I sold two incubators that we no longer need.  We used to do more homestead activities than we do now.  I was able to recoup some of my investment and give someone else a less costly than new option to start their own homesteading adventures.

We had some cold weather, and used our wood stove to heat our home.  We get our firewood free for the taking, so this is a very affordable heat source for us.

We made more suet cakes for the birds.  There were some homemade rye breadcrumbs in our pantry.  Whenever we talk about using them, we worry that they will overpower whatever we are making, so I added them to the suet cakes. We also added fine-chopped apple, orange peel, and celery.  The birds seem to be enjoying all the different varieties we make for them.  This little downy woodpecker comes by pretty often for a snack.

We are on a bit of a mission to clean out excess.  Husband and I went through the board games and jigsaw puzzles and weeded out the ones that are for younger children.  I'll try to sell them on the local facebook pages, and we'll donate after that.  I went through the totes of 'clothes for Daughter to grow into' and reduced down to just one storage tote (a 2/3 reduction).  They were given to us a long time ago, and I have a better sense of her style than I did at the time, so I was able to weed out fairly efficiently.  We passed them along to others who can use them.

We have been getting individual servings of yogurt for less than 17 cents with a repeating Ibotta deal and some coupons Husband found.  Since we like a crunchy topping with yogurt, I made a batch of granola.  One container is the bigger chunks, for snacking, the other container is the bits for sprinking over yogurt.  This granola is flavored with honey, apple butter, and peanut butter.  It also has a few raisins and some cinnamon.  It's quite tasty!

While the oven was on, Husband also roasted some almonds and pecans.  We recieved a shipping box of shelled pecans from my family for our Christmas present, and we are enjoying them very much.

I refilled the soap dispensers in our bathrooms and kitchen with thinned-down shampoo that we got at a very deep disount a few months ago.

What did you do this week to spend less and save more?