Frugal Accomplishments, First Week of May

Just over a week ago, we celebrated my birthday.  Husband has helped me find and sign up for all the various birthday 'clubs' that merchants in our area have to offer, so I have a tidy stash of freebie coupons, mostly for meals and food items.  I have been picking things up on days we are in town and sharing them with my family.  It has made for some fun (and interesting!) treats and snacks.  Some of the items have been meals or parts of meals for us, so we've strayed a bit from our menu plan, but at very little or no cost.

I found some violets that were out in the middle of an area where we used to have some blueberries.  I moved the violets to the border around my tiny garden.

I have picked asparagus and chives from the garden.  I also keep nibbling at the mint, but I haven't really picked it yet, I just keep pulling off a leaf at a time, because it's yummy.  We are getting plenty of eggs as well.

Last summer we put in a gravel driveway, which left us with a place where we are trying to get grass started.  There was some grass growing in the driveway - isn't that how things happen sometimes? - and when we pulled it up, there were good roots on all the little bits of it, so we made little trenches and planted the 'driveway grass' in the area where we have recently seeded.  It might sound tedious, but it was really quite quick to do, and hopefully, the grasses we planted will take root and continue to grow.  They look really good, and I think they will make it just fine.

I continued my efforts scoring essays for Pearson and subbing at the library.  My total hours (for both) added up to almost 33 hours.  I did less scoring on my birthday, but the project also ended early, so I was not able to do more hours on the days after that.  I took two surveys for Pinecone Research, and I did a children's program at the library with my chickens.  The kids loved them!  Poppy pooped on the floor....one of the kids said I should name her 'Poopy' instead, har har.  I cleaned up the mess and all was well.

I enjoyed time with a friend, just visiting and laughing.

The lilacs are blooming, but it is very cold, wet and rainy here.  I ventured out and picked a few, shook off the water and put them in a mason jar on our kitchen table.  They smell heavenly!

I made Mother's Day cards for my mom and mother in-law.

We found some bargains at the grocery store, including flour tortillas that were free after sale and coupon, fresh spinach and leaf lettuces for .99, 2lb. bags of carrots for .99, 10 lb. bags of russet potatoes for .99 and honeydew melons for .98 each.  There are good produce prices nearly every week here - we just stock up on the best sales week to week and that helps us with variety.  There was a good sale on dry beans - .99/lb, so I got black beans, lentils and red lentils.

homemade chocolate strawberries - berries were 1.33/lb, dark chocolate chips were
.99/pkg. back at Christmas, and we added a bit of coconut oil.  So pretty - and tasty too!

I went to the bread outlet store this week, and for $10.50 I got 3 loaves of good (whole grain) bread, a loaf of caraway rye (my favorite!) 2 packages of English muffins, a package of dinner rolls, a package of whole grain sandwich thins and a package of sub sandwich rolls.  If you spend $10 or more, you get a free item from a special rack, so I stocked up and put everything in the freezer.  I have nearly completed my punch card, so I'll get 2 free loaves of bread soon too.

I received my next selection from Blogging for Books, and will have the review ready soon.

I received a $10 gift postcard from Kohls.  I love these!

I signed up for a free subscription to Weight Watchers magazine, and a while back (I forgot to tell you) Husband got me a free subscription to Martha Stewart Living.

We used the wood stove to keep the house warm....because we have had a crazy week of rain, hail and snow.  My dream is to get the flannel sheets off the beds by Independence Day!  Meanwhile, we've been covering flowers and the asparagus plants as needed.

I went to Goodwill on a day when I was in town for other things, and picked up three shirts for me for $9.  I was needing something lighter for spring and summer, and I'm happy with what I found.

On the local buy-sell-trade Facebook page, I posted that I was looking for a waffle iron that would make four toaster-size waffles.  I got one for $5.  It is in excellent condition.

My friend loaned me a magazine that has some recipes that I want to try soon.

Did you have a good week?  What sorts of things did you do to spend less, save more and make do?

(I'm still working on the menu, so I'll post it soon!)