Sharing Ways We Save

Picked a trampoline (small one perfect for exercising or for kids from neighbors curbside pile) it is now on our front porch.

Officially listed my bracelets for sale in several places one of them is a page here on the blog.... From Trash to Treasure

Made peanut butter cookies and dumplings from scratch.

Received  free medication samples from my endocrinologist when I visited.  I am supposed to restart a previously prescribed medication, and start new insulin.

Had lunch at the Senior Center on Saturday.

Visited the library and borrowed books and movies to watch over the extended weekend.

Met a lady when we went out today and she was no longer going to be a teacher so she gave my kids their pick of books. We also packed our lunch and a couple drinks to avoid spending any money.

In our travels we found one item that I picked up for $2.00 to give our son as a birthday gift.  A documentary on the Vietnamese War.  He is very interested in military things right now.


On the not so frugal end, my husband is no longer employed, and after I thought all my health concerns were clear I have found a lump in my neck that I am going to try and scramble and have looked at next week before our insurance is cancelled.  Prayers that it is nothing....all other tests have been clear, but lumps make me extremely nervous.

I don't know what is on the horizon for us, we wait.  It's an extended weekend, my husband does have some work leads to look into once the extended weekend is over. One day at a time is all we are doing.  I am sure we will be fine for at least the next month.  We will see what the Lord has for us in that time.

Hope everyone is having a great week.  Let me know if there is some way I can be in prayer or of assistance to you! <3 my readers!

Oh and here are two tips for the week in case you didn't know.  Check your area.  Most Wendy's are giving away a free small Frosty on Memorial Day, and on Tuesday 05/26 most Sonic's are having .50 corn dogs!

  

Sharing Ways We Save

This week we....

laid clothes out to dry on the porch and hung them up in the bathrooms on hangers to dry because the dryer stopped working....(it should save money on the electric bill right, we are hoping that maybe we can use google and maybe repair it ourselves)

Cut $133.00 from our budget by changing cell phone carriers and removing car insurance from the second vehicle we do not drive.  (we may prayerfully consider selling, but we do not know yet.)

Made fudge pops, chocolate chip cookies, and beef stew from scratch

It was our week for the food program at the local church and we received a dozen eggs, bacon, some burger, pasta sauce, a couple canned goods, boxed pasta and to our surprise a bag of snack size Hershey bars that will be great to make some more cookies etc with.  There were over 75 families participating in this giveaway.  I can see we are not the only ones working to make things stretch as far as they can go.  (and yes I know I could work outside the home, but we have tried that and it does not work well for us.  I am currently researching ways to make money while at home but waiting on the Lord's leading.)  In the mean time we are working with all that is available to us.

We also went to the thrift store that allows us to fill a shopping bag for $1 and picked up one pair of shoes in the next size, two pairs of pj pants, and a sweater for the school year for my daughter, and a tank top for my son as well as a camo top that is for a Build A Bear.  He is very into army stuff right now, so i knew he would love it.

We have been pulling pop tabs off all the soda cans we can find to support my new hobby.  We are saving the cans too.

 (This is a latest creation...I am seriously praying about opening an ETSY shop maybe or taking them to a local craft fair or bazaar.  Just charging a couple bucks for them maybe and see what happens.  Sorry that the picture isn't better I used my hubby as a hand model to show a friend...but of course if I post for sale I will use a female model.)

Re purposed a dog food bag as a trash bag.

Redeemed Swagbucks for a 5.00 e gift card to Walmart and another $1.62 from the Savings Catcher App

We bank with a local Credit Union because they do not charge fees for having an account. They also offer a rewards program where you get a point for every $5.00 you spend using your debit card.  We have had the account for a little over a year.  We had earned some points, and I used them to order something for my husband for father's day.  I am super excited.  We have an nice little package to put together for him that will have cost us .75 cents out of pocket so far!

Today a friend treated me to Panera and I found out on my rewards card with them that I have free coffee for a year!  That is super exciting....I can't figure out how or why I have it....but I am excited either way.

We also after weeks and weeks of waiting have our first round of mealworms that we were able to breed ourselves!  I was about to give up and feed the adult beetles to my lizard, when I spotted lots of tiny little baby meal worms.  I learned how to do this on ehow.  We have two lizards that eat the meal worms.  Once I plant some greens we will be able to feed our lizards from our personal stock of things here at home!  That will be so exciting.

Shopped Walmart on Sunday when they start marking down the stuff they need to move, and scored two rotisserie chickens for $1.99 each.  So far one has been stretched for at least two meals.  

The final thing I can think of this week is that we were saving to do a big surprise party for my son's 10th birthday that would have been kind of expensive but worth it.  My husband asks him what he wants to do for his birthday....he says he would be fine with staying home and just having a few friends over.  I can do that....Might as well do what he wants right!

I hope each of you have had a wonderful week.  Everything you do is important.  Don't let anything or anyone tell you otherwise.

Sharing Ways We Save

In the kitchen we made...chocolate chip cookies and blue berry muffins from scratch


This week was teacher appreciation week.  I am not usually prepared for such things, and there was zero cash left to spend once we were made aware. My son pulled out our jewelry supplies, we experimented (all of us as a family, it was so much fun to be creative together) and he eventually found an idea that he liked and he made her a bracelet in camouflage colors.  I found in my closet some Thank You cards and he wrote her a great note and included a picture of himself.  This is not as elaborate as some may have done but it was simple and I have no doubt with the love he put into it, was be extremely effective.

I was treated to lunch at Olive Garden over the weekend and we turned one meal into two.

A customer gave my husband a very nice table saw, and a pair of saddle bags for his motorcycle.


I saved .05 a gallon on gas using the fuel perks program at Winn Dixie.

My daughter and I attended a free play date at the local pre school my daughter will attend during the next school year.  The VPK program is free and a big deal here in Florida.  I received some wonderful unexpected blessings, we planted sun flowers in a small pot, made a couple of drawings, we recieved some other trinkets like candy, and memo pads.

I also received an unexpected blessing from a new friend's ministry that contained note cards, a beautiful box to store things in, some note cards and other embellishments that I cannot wait to use.

I also completed my first official (one I am happy with after some trial and error pop tab bracelet.)  It is a hobby that I am hoping may eventually bring in some extra cash.  This one is more of an example or model, I will keep it for myself because I used charms my grandmother gave me.  She was my best friend and passed away almost 9 years ago.  I used a key chain charm with her name on it as well as some other charms she had gifted me years ago when I was into jewelry making.  No matter how little she had she always tried to think of others and she supported me somehow in all my endeavors.

That was pretty much it for the week.  I guess we have been using the A.C here in Florida more, because my electric bill went from 134 last month to 152 this month.  I was disappointed because I had been making real effort with opening windows in the morning, turning off things were were not using.  I guess you can't win them all right.

How was your week? My post is a day late due to a sick kiddo yesterday...today is wash the blankets and get the funny smell out of the house day....  Have a great one!  I also always share over at www.theprudenthomemaker.com and I newly discovered.....

Sharing Ways We Save

So this was another epic week, not because of anything I did, but we received some awesome money saving blessings!


I always read and usually link up our savings here.  Last week a couple of the readers there talked about how they seasoned their cast iron cookware.  My husband and I have been discussing how we were probably going to have to start looking for cookware.  I had a duh moment.  I have had two cast iron skillets that I acquired when we lived in our apartment over a year ago.  They have just been sitting in my cabinet and I almost got rid of them in a de-cluttering session.  I was able to dig those out of the cupboard and look up how to get rust off a cast iron pan and season it.  The process worked great, I used the pan several times this weekend.  No purchase of cookware necessary!  Before you go out and purchase something new, when you have a need or want, I really want to encourage you to pray about it and look around you may have something you could use already to fill that need or want.

                              














                   

While cutting grass this week in the yard we found some beautiful wild flowers.  My daughter and I picked them and brought them in to be a centerpiece on our table.

We set the table with some fancy glassware that we got from yard sales last weekend.  I picked up some ice cream on sale at Winn Dixie, and made some brownies and we "ate fancy" in our own home.  (I am finding that sometimes I do enjoy being creative in my own kitchen.)

Friday night we had some game time and we made some pop tab jewelry using some supplies and broken jewelry I have had on hand for way too many years.  (My son is interested in this now as a hobby and wants to see if we can make any extra cash!)  If not we will have some great gifts when needed.

                         

It seems as if yard sale season is in official full swing here in Florida.  We went through a sub division just to look around on Saturday before my daughter's dance class and we saw this wonderful item sitting on the curb with some other stuff.  It was sitting at the curb as if in the trash pile.  (My husband has been wanting one of these for the last year or so at least, but I just could not find the right one for our budget)  My husband was excited to see it, so I told him to pull over and I would knock on the door of the house and see what was going on with the weight bench.  The guy who answered the door said everything was FREE for the taking!!! Talk about the desires of even my husband's heart being answered.  We now have it set up on our front porch as you can see!  We also snagged a radio, and a pretty sparkly silver basket from the curbside stash.  It has been used by everyone in just the two days we have had it!  (I have talked about Curbside pickin before)

My husband was given by a customer this wonderful item that had also been on our wish/want list

We have now spent a few minutes almost every night shooting some hoops!  This weeks blessings have just been sooo amazing!

In the kitchen we made cheesy mashed potato ham bake

I received my mother's day gift early, and went to the local cosmetology school to get a hair cut and color.  (I always save so much money by going to the cosmetology school.)

As a family we went out and washed all the vehicles in our yard on Sunday.  There was alot of fun had splashing and playing in the water hose.  The vehicles looked so good that I may have to add washing them to our list of things to regularly do.  (No we do not regularly wash our cars, if they get washed it in the past it has been through a car wash...however I have seen the sparkle, and I like the shine)

This was our EPIC WEEK!  How was yours....did you have any unexpected blessings?