* Earlier this week with my grandma, I cooked my first meal from scratch. It was chicken and dumplings with biscuits, that yes we cut with a cookie cutter into the shapes of hearts. Alot of work but so much fun. Although I don't enjoy cleaning up.
* My husband cut his own hair.
* Accepted 8 bags of hot dog rolls that were left over from a friends anniversary party and froze them.
* Each time we went out we did our best to combine errands
* I buy our dogs food at a local pet depot, and they have a rewards program and we recieved 5.00 off her bag of food.
* I mentioned in my holiday budgeting post that we were going to email our Christmas cards but this week I came home and the Kelloggs's reward program had emailed me some codes for $20.00 of free Christmas cards plus a code to get free shipping, so I took advantage of the offer and designed the cards with pictures we took in our homemade photo shoot. We are now getting 25 photo Christmas cards for free from Shutterfly. (if you don't have your own code, i heard you can literally google shutterfly codes and get one)
* I used some coupons at Michael's to finish my craft supply shopping in order to finish some Christmas, birthday, and wedding present projects and saved a total of $11.00.
* Renewed library books over the phone instead of having to make the trip in the car.
* Got a $14.00 incorrect charge on our bank statement refunded (it really is worth the time to look over your monthly statements from banks and even your utility bills to be sure they aren't incorrectly charging you for something.)
* I had previously used Wen shampoo...but I never paid for it...a friend of mine had given me two bottles completely free over the summer when she was cleaning out her home. Well it finally ran out and I went back to the Suave 1.00 bottle of shampoo. I noticed a problem that plagued my scalp for years returned when i was using the cheaper shampoo. There is no way I can afford to buy the actual Wen. I did find a good deal, but I didn't want to have to pay shipping and take a chance on getting caught up in automatic shipping/payment of the product etc. So i did some research and found this blog http://blushandlace.com/2012/12/06/make-your-own-wen-style-cleansing-conditioner-or-buy-the-drugstore-dupe/ I went to Walgreens and purchased the RenPure dup in Pomegranate, so far no scalp problem, and I paid just 7.00. It will last me two or three months.
* I went to pick up a jacket for my son that we found on a yardsale facebook site, fully prepared to pay the $5.00 for it but when the gentleman found out it was really for my kid and I wasn't try to just pick up something and resell it he gave it to me for free. I was so thrilled I hugged him, and we surprised my son with the jacket to celebrate his awesome report card of straight A's.
* I also got a .99 photo collage to give away as a photo gift from Walgreens. The code came in my email directly from Walgreens.
* we also attended an early thanksgiving dinner with hubbys fam and we made pumpkin pies and corn muffins with things we had in the pantry already
Sorry for the rant, that is about it. How did you save or spend wisely this week?
I don't think there is a rant in any of this. You did some awesome work to save your family money. Good Job!
ReplyDeleteIf you ever feel like it, you could make batches of dough and freeze them for later use. That way you are not always making a mess in the kitchen.
i didn't realize that was possible till i read another blog that talked about it....got to see if I have any freezer bags, I have been discussing that with my husband saying it would just be easier to spend a day at a time making the things we like and freezing them....my grandma told me i could do that with biscuit dough too.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shelley, you're not ranting...you did many great and creative things this week. Good job! Its funny, I made chicken and Dumplings too! I made them before church so we had a ready to eat lunch for company when we got home. I fixed mashed potatoes & green beans to go with mine. I made a menu for the week, but have laid off of it for a few meals while hubby is out of town working. Certainly not gonna cook for just myself. So I have been eating up leftovers.
ReplyDeleteAnother time saving trick for your chicken & dumplings is to cook your chicken a day ahead. I usually get large packs of chicken thighs on sale and divide them up with 3-4 per pack. Then I pull a pack out of the freezer and boil the meat from a frozen state, leave in the broth when finished and put in the fridge til the next day, and proceed from there. I've never frozen the dumplings before, but I know you can buy frozen ones, so I don't see why not. Occasionally I do freeze biscuits, especially if I have leftover sausage and biscuits. Then I can just microwave for a quick breakfast.
So proud of all your accomplishments this week. Great job!! Never heard of Wen shampoo, may have to check that out, I'm not into paying a huge price for shampoo either.
Thank u for the tip Vicki I will try to remember that for the future. Chicken n dumplings is my husbands fav dish so I am sure I will be making it more. I hope u still have a nice week even with the hubby out of town
ReplyDeleteGood Job! I do several of these things to save time and money. Stopping by from the POFH Monday Pin It Hop #35. I invite you to join my site as I did yours at www.tammypstafford.blogspot.com Tammy aka The Happy Handicap
ReplyDeleteMJ - I separate the balls of dough in plastic wrap first and then put them in freezer bags. That way you are only using one freezer bag and you don't have to worry about the balls of dough sticking together. Make sure to label everything with the date you placed it in the freezer.
ReplyDeletethank you for the Tip Ms. Shelley
ReplyDeleteGreat job! I cut all the kids hair, and my husband cuts his own hair too. I love it when you can save money!
ReplyDeleteYes tammy we r trying very hard to save I am afraid to try and cut my sons so he has not had a cut in a while. He doesn't like it being shaved with clippers like my husband. Thank u for stopping by and sharing.
ReplyDelete