Money Saving Monday!

My son's first day of Kindergarten!

Now that my son is back in school and I'm wrangling only two children, I get a little bit more done. I'm not sure how that is but it works out that way. I miss him so much, though!

Last week wasn't a full week of school but I got a few things done...

I continued to line dry clothes clothes a few times a week.

I continues to work on Christmas presents, including dish rags from yarn I bought with Swagbucks, so nothing out of pocket. 

I only spent 10$ at the grocery store this week, this week I will need to work on stocking the pantry some more before winter time.

My husband and I worked around the homestead in the evenings, mowing, weed eating, harvesting the last of the garden produce. It's about time to bush hog it all down for the fall.

I earned some Swagbucks, I'm saving them for Christmas gifts.

I've been keep the thermostat higher while my husband is at work to conserve electricity.

Dropping big brother off at the bus!

Money Saving Monday / Catch up?

Wow, I really want to get back into posting a lot more often, it's been a while. It doesn't help that I had no computer but now i do!

We have had a busy summer between a week long trip to the beach, a larger garden, and various activities around the homestead, including some home improvements. Of course, I never get as much done as I'd like but every bit helps. 

All three of my children at Outer Banks, NC.

We had the best vacation I think we've ever had, it was perfect.

My wonderful hubby and I.

On to ways we saved money...

I've started Christmas shopping/ working on homemade gifts. I feel like I'm behind but at least I've started!

The garden is finishing up but we have eaten lots of yummy food including green beans and cucumbers. We also processed and froze almost 100 ears of corn from our generous neighbor.

I made a couple homemade birthday presents, including a hairbow holder. I need to start working on a baby shower gift also.

I've been line drying as many loads of clothes as possible and haven't used the dryer much this summer until this week, as it has been rainy.

I've been keeping the air conditioner set at 72, which may not sound high but for my husband, it is. :)

I've also been slowly building our food storage and pantry over the summer to help into the winter..

Money Saving Monday

Harper was trying to do my hair. That's her new hobby. Wyatt likes to beat the toilet while he watches.

How we Saved Money Last Week:

I was able to do my taxes online last week for free. My federal came in this morning!

I helped my mom do hers online also but she had to pay as hers were more complicated and she works out of state. But I received over 20$ back through Swagbucks.

We're using ours to pay off some bills and this will help our budget as we won't have to pay  out so much each month.

I did one large shopping trip to last through the month, so hopefully I can only do a quick fill in trip later.

I earned 10$ on Swagbucks.

Money Saving Monday

We *enjoyed* about 8 to 10 inches of snow this week which is unusual in our area. So we spent 5 days at home without going anywhere! It was so nice to spend a few days as a family with no outside interruptions. School is still out for today and probably tomorrow but my husband had to return to work today.

I'm spending the day catching up on a long to-do list and a lot of cleaning because we are hosting my grandmother's 74th birthday dinner here tomorrow!

I was still able to get a few things done even in the snow!

I cashed out for a 5$ Walmart card and 3$ on Amazon from Swagbucks. (I split my points up between Walmart/Sam's to help the grocery budget and Amazon to help with gifts.)

I downloaded a free item on my Kroger card, it was a box of rice. I will pick this up tomorrow when I pick up a few things for our party and stock up on Kroger's 0.49 cent pasta sale. To save money this week I'm going to cash in my change jar to pay for the items I need. I do this every few weeks to stretch the budget.

I borrowed a bag of books from my sister in law to keep me entertained :) 

I made a batch of homemade floor  cleaner.

I continued to work on homemade gifts.

Money Saving Monday!

Ignore the bad quality, it was dark, but at eight months old, someone thinks he's big enough to try to start standing and walking. He's trying to get to his two year old sister sleeping on the couch.

Ways we Saved This Week:

We continued to eat down the pantry as I have kept a stockpile and expiration dates are approaching.

I only spent 20$ this week at Aldi, which included diapers.

While I was there I found bananas for 0.29 cent a lb and the bunches were buy one get one free because the were getting ripe.

We bought a pantry cabinet at Target as I don't have nearly as much room to store food as I'd like. My husband could have built one but materials have increased so much that we just bought one. I do consider this frugal as it allows me much more storage to stock up on deals. I cleaned out and rearranged all my cabinets and took inventory after we purchased it.

I cashed out for 5$ on the Louder app.

I've continued to work on this year's Christmas gifts.

My husband did another side job which paid for us to get a huge load of gravel to spread in our driveway. It turns into a huge mud slide when it rains so this has needed to be done for a long time.

I was given a huge bag of hand me down pajamas, so we've been slowly going through those and sorting sizes.My two year old can wear the same size as the almost five year old. And she doesn't care if her jammies are for boys! 

We finally turned on our gas stove heater so next month's electric bill should have some savings. Our high today won't get above freezing! We had over and inch of snow yesterday.

Money Saving Monday!

I took my $10 Swagbucks from last week and cashed it out for Walmart. I used it to buy a large cone of Peaches n Creme yarn to crochet dish clothes and hot pads for various gifts for the year.  Between that and the clearance cross stitch kits I got at Hobby Lobby (which included a frame), I've got a lot of stuff to work on throughout the year for Christmas!

We used a gift card that we received at Christmas to go out on a date night and only paid 2$ plus tip for a nice steak dinner.

I found some clearance stuff at Walmart for 75% off. I found some small gift bags for 0.11 cent. I was happy as I hate spending money on things to just give away.

I made homemade floor cleaner for the week.

My husband traded some work for a load of manure for our garden. We no longer have cows so this will help our garden grow this year.

We've been eating out of the pantry and freezer , some things were getting a bit old.

Money Saving on Monday!

his favorite Christmas gift.

We enjoyed a relatively peaceful Christmas, excluding the sickness and multiple doctor visits. The baby ended up with RSV and my daughter had a double ear infection.

Besides that our savings included:

We stayed home a lot due to sickness, saving in gas and other money I would have spent. 

We ate at multiple family member's homes and ate many leftovers.

I did make it to Sam's Club and Hobby Lobby for clearance items for next year. I was able to purchase a few rolls of wrapping paper, Scotch tape, holiday cross stitch kits, ornaments and candy on a deep discount. Some of the wrapping paper was not holiday colored so I purchased it to use for birthdays all year.

I finally did a big shopping trip so that should keep me out of the store for awhile.

I cashed out for 10$ on Swagbucks.

I spent a lot of time decluttering and cleaning out my kitchen and laundry area. This was frugal because I found laundry detergent and a few things I didn't know I had. I'm trying to purge 2,016 items in 2016. I'm well on my way!