Our accomplishments this past week:
1) Made dinner from scratch most nights. We took the kids out for dinner one night, and we stopped for lunch after church on our way back to school on Sunday.
2) I mentioned this last week: we cashed in reward points for a free night at the hotel in the town where oldest child went up to look at a graduate program last week.
3) Taught the boys 5 quick, easy healthy meals to make in a hurry. I've already featured one: Hummus. I talked about the yogurt parfaits we taught the boys to make, but I didn't actually feature a recipe for that on here.
4) Took the cars in for oil changes, had the tires rotated and alignment checked. (A very big deal with the winter we've had and the pot holes that have opened up on our roads!) Maintenance on the car might seem expensive, but replacing the car because you've neglected the maintenance is even MORE expensive.
5) Patched the holes in the sleeve of my favorite denim shirt with the iron on denim patches. I did a really small whip stitch around the edge of the patches to keep them from pulling up. Lest you laugh, this is one of my favorite shirts. I've had it for over 20 years. I really don't want to throw it out! It has snowflakes embroidered on it!
6) Hubby and I both took oatmeal for lunch every day last week and both days this week (so far).
7) Signed up for the emergency alerts from the power company. It turns out that the power company has emergency usage days, and they charge more for electricity during those emergency times. The only way to find out if you are in the middle of one of the emergency use periods is to sign up for their text messages. I'm not thrilled with the program, but it is what it is. I loved my old time of use meter, but the power company switched everyone to a "smart meter" this past fall. I am not a fan of the new meter.
8) Due to the crazy weather, I still haven't planted my peas yet. I HAVE started seeds for the tomatoes and peppers, though.
9) Daughter used the reusable lunch bags to take her chips for lunch, and she used the reusable bowls to take home-made hummus for lunch. Not paying extra for plastic bags or those little containers of hummus? I think we saved about $10 on that this past week.
10) Used the half of the ham bone from last week to make a pot of bean soup yesterday. Today, we're having Moroccan Chickpea Stew for dinner. (The link takes you to the site for Mother Earth News.) The more meatless meals we eat, the lower our bottom line.
11) I hit up the discount rack at the store, where I found great northern beans and green split peas at $1/pound, CFL's for $2.24, and Gluten-Free Pizza Crust mix for $1.50. I got a treasure trove of stuff for $20!
12) I took middle child to the playground by the airport last week. We watched the planes land and take off, went for a walk, and sat around and talked about nothing. I miss the little boy, but I am so damn proud of the man he is becoming.
13) I found soy powder. In her book, The Complete Tightwad Gazette
, Amy recommends that 1 egg be replaced with 1 TBSP Soy Flour and 1 TBSP water in baked goods. I found the soy powder this week and added the substitution. The soy flour is considerably less than the cost of each egg per serving. In addition to using home-made applesauce in place of the fats in the recipe (oil, butter), it really does help to reduce the overall cost per serving of baked goods. 14) I renewed my library books online. So nice to be able to renew online and not have to suffer the $20 in late fees I would have faced if I had waited a day or two to return everything!
What did you do to save money this week?
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