Frugal Fridays #12

We are healthy. Finally. It feels good to say that. Cold/flu season isn’t over yet, but hopefully we can stay healthy for the remainder of it. Mostly healthy anyway. I am very much feeling the 3rd trimester at this point, so I’m not able to be as productive as usual, but we’re getting by fine. The house is less clean, the kids are eating more peanut butter and jelly, and I leave my house as few times a week as possible due to lots of low back/pelvic pain (this is typical for me due mostly to the fact that I tend to have pretty big babies. My midwife has confirmed that I’m not dilating or anything like that. So no worries, just discomfort). Starting around week 34, I usually start obnoxious amounts of prodromal labor that doesn’t go away until baby is born. So I’ve got that to look forward to. Yay.

Successes/Blessings:

• I knitted a sleep sack and a baby cocoon for the little one- pictured above. I didn’t use a pattern for the sack (blue), just kind of went with it, and the yarn was given to me in a box of mystery yarn by a friend of my mom’s. For the cocoon (white and green), I used this pattern. I don’t normally pay for patterns, but this one is going to be for baby’s Baptism, so I didn’t mind a little bit of a splurge. I purchased that yarn on sale and have plenty left over to make another sleep sack and some hats. It was my first time doing colorwork. Aside from a bit of puckering, I think it turned out pretty well. These aren’t intended to be used as woolies for cloth diapers. The white and green yarn is acrylic and the blue is a mystery yarn- I think it’s a cotton blend. They’re just meant for warmth.
• I finally convinced hubby to turn the thermostat down. We run the pellet stove during the day most of the time so we really haven’t been using the furnace much(save for this week…we ran out of pellets a little early!), but at night we had the thermostat set at 67. I prefer it a little chilly at night, so this was actually too warm for me and I was kicking off the blankets. Our utility bill hasn’t been bad this winter, but I think it could be better. I’m eager to see how much it goes down.
• I cooked up 2 whole chickens and froze the meat to be used in casseroles and soups. I saved the carcasses for stock. I’m not sure if I’ll get around to making as many freezer meals as I’d hoped for before this baby comes, but I figure having precooked chicken and ground beef in the freezer will help at least.
• I made yogurt and granola.
• I got a good deal on breakfast cereal at CVS. We rarely have cereal in the house, but occasionally I will buy it as a treat for the kids when I find a good deal (like under $1/box). I’m not sure who was more excited about the it…the kids or my sweets-loving husband.
• I got a Groupon deal for 50% off an oil change. With the deal, it’s cheaper to pay to have the oil changed than it would be for hubby to do it himself (which he usually does). I also got 170 Swagbucks by purchasing this deal through SB.
• My mom went to a 50% off sale at our favorite thrift store and bought some baby clothes for the new little one. Being that this is the 4th boy, and the first baby to be born in Spring time in 6 years, some of our baby things are either very worn out or wrong season.
• I made 4 loaves of french bread.
• We watched all 8 episodes of Wartime Farm on YouTube after reading about it on theprudenthomemaker.com. What an awesome show. We learned a lot about what people did in their gardens, kitchens, and communities to make-do with what they had in Great Britain during WWII. I’m totally going to try growing soapwort after learning about it on this show! There are a couple of similar shows: Edwardian Farm and Tudor Monestary Farm that we’ll watch as well.

Fumbles:

• None. Well, other than running out of pellets. That wasn’t really a fumble, just a fact of life living in a colder climate. Aside from that, we’ve been very frugal lately as DH’s hours are still being cut at work, and it doesn’t look like things will be getting better any time soon.

Goals:

• Still working on saving up Swagbucks to mitigate the cost of the car seat.
• There were a few good deals that I’d like to pick up at CVS before the deals change on Sunday- I already have 2 EB’s to put toward this purchase. Namely Palmolive dish soap for .49 cents, Speed Stick deodorant – $2 moneymaker after coupons and EB’s, and Luv’s diapers for $3.99 with a coupon and extrabucks  (we use cloth diapers during the day, but my 2 year old consistently breaks out in a rash unless he’s in disposables at night time no matter what I’ve tried).  I’m not a big time couponer by any stretch, but these are 3 items that we need and I happened to notice deals on them. Plus, using the printable coupons from Swagbucks will earn 10 more SB per redeemed coupon (even though it takes forever for those to process).
• Continue knitting/crocheting baby things. I’d like to make some baby mitts (to prevent the scratching) using this pattern. I already have the supplies…just need to find the time!

How did you save money this week?

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