Frugal Accomplishments



At Daughter's request, I made her a very, very simple stuffed animal.  She loves it, and is so happy!  It was made from supplies we had on hand....pink fabric, a sharpie, pink thread and stuffing from an old pillow.  She's been playing with 'Kirby' ever since we sewed him together!  Here he is, having breakfast.


I'm told that Kirby LOVES tomatoes....

I kept up with my walking, which is good for health and stress-relief.

I made oatmeal yeast bread, rather than buying pre-made bread.  I think it's better for us, and I know it tastes better.






We used a sale, coupons and a gift card to get some pasta sauce free at Target.  If we hadn't had the gift card, it would have been .50 per jar, which is a great deal!  I also got a coupon for a free Snickers from a Facebook game, and the overage on that coupon applied toward the pasta sauce.

I made a menu for the coming week, to make sure I use items we have on hand.


tacos made with assorted leftovers - asparagus, mushrooms, sausage, queso fresco, cilantro,
sriracha, salsa and chipotle ranch sauce

We combined errands to save on time and fuel.

We used the wood stove to reduce our propane usage.

I used homemade laundry soap and drying racks to do the laundry.

We donated some items we no longer need.  Our donations will help others who need them.  We also took books to the used book store for trade credit.

I subbed a bit at the library.  I also accepted an offer for temporary employment scoring standardized test questions for Pearson Education.

We checked out books and media from the library, free of charge.

That's my list - how did you do this past week in the frugality department?

Comments

Mary Ann said…
Hi Laura! I haven't commented In a long time but I've been reading:) this week I have saved by- continuing to breast feed, regifted for a child's birthday party, saved errands for one day, cleaned with homemade cleaners, made banana chocolate chip muffins with brown bananas, shopped coupons, turned off extra lights, and my biggest saver was my iPhone. It somehow broke and I was nervous about getting a new one but when I went yo the store, the employee pushed several buttons and it came back on-yay!
terricheney said…
Your daughter looks so happy with her new 'friend'! And those tacos look delicious.

I used to make (and mean to do it this week) an Oatmeal almond bread. I used honey instead of molasses and added chopped sliced almonds to the dough. I don't know if I have sliced almonds but I thought I'd try the Honey Oatmeal combination for bread instead of the Challah I've been making, just for a change.
momma-lana said…
Yay for the stuffed toy for Olivia!

We turned down the heat again after getting a shockingly high power bill. We keep our heat very low but it has been so cold. I continue to try to save power. I cannot get hubby to shut down laptops at night so I need to find other ways. I was upstairs dusting this morning and there are three laptops running on his desk and he was not even home! :) oh well.

I have perfected the bagel recipe. With the bread machine making the dough it is only about 20 minutes hands on to make a dozen.

I ran my van down to fumes last week before using $1.55 in Fuel Perks and got almost 20 gallons for only $30! My gas gauge tends to wander up and down when it is getting empty so it always a guessing game as to how empty the tank really is.

We finally had our eat out night for Valentine's Day this past Thursday. We used a Groupon so it was cheaper.

Hubby loaded the app for our bank onto his phone so now we can deposit checks by just taking a picture of it instead of driving to the bank. This kind of freaked me out at first. I am liking only having to go the bank for cash transactions though.

Right after I read your frugal post I saw this lovely post about oatmeal bread on a food blog I follow. The picture of her grandmother's hands kneading the dough are beautiful. http://foodess.com/2014/02/oatmeal-brown-bread/ Your bread looks delicious. Is your family back to eating gluten?

Have a good week everyone!
Anonymous said…
I was wondering if you could tell more on how you got hired by Pearson to grade tests? I have a BA in psychology and sociology with minors in history and English, and I'd love to find something to make a little extra at home. (I work full-time at a college.) I looked on their website, but I don't know under what description that job would be.

Thanks,
Alice
Laura said…
Here is a link for you, Alice.

http://www.pearsonassessments.com/careers.html

I have a BA in Child Development/Early Childhood Education, some minor graduate work, and if I remember correctly, a 4 year degree is required, but it doesn't have to be in education. I also wanted to mention that it was at least two years, possibly three, before I was hired on. I'd get an email each year asking if I wanted to remain on the list or not. This will be my....fourth year, I believe. Good luck!

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