We made it to Friday! I was able to work both days they had school this week and now students are off for Christmas break until next year.
The eagle landed this week with payday and all the bills have been paid for the month, which is a good feeling. I know we are fortunate and so we count our blessings daily.
Dinners this Week:
Sunday Brunch: Broccoli & Cheese Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Dinner: Cheese Quesadillas, Cheesy Corn, Broccoli
Monday Dinner: Homemade Pizza and Salad
Tuesday Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday Dinner: Tacos Salads
Thursday Dinner: Hamburger Soup
Freebies This Week:
Free Arby's Sandwich - Sign up on their website and they will email you a coupon for a free sandwich with a drink purchase.
Free Panera Bagel
Free Panera Drink
Free 2 year subscription to Money magazine
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The Samaritan Center in Ooltewah had their annual sale on Monday this week. They open the doors at 9 a.m. and close them at 3 p.m. They let you fill a bag with clothes for $5 while everything else is 50% off.
Towards the end of the day everything is free, furniture included. They then spend the next week restocking the store and have a grand reopening sale on December 27th. It is a lot of fun if you enjoy these kinds of things My daughter went and was able to pick up 37 pieces for $20.00, so 54¢ each.
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On Wednesday we went to pick up a few last minutes things for Christmas. We went to Food City and I found three cans of fruit in the Crash & Burn section for 79¢ each. We also found two three pound packages of ground beef for $4.99.
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I finished wrapping all of my Christmas presents on Thursday. We did not have to buy any supplies this year for wrapping since we bought supplies on clearance after Christmas last year.
I was worried that we were going to run out of tape since the tape I was using was bought a few years ago. We didn't run out though, maybe we can make it through next Christmas too. LOL
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This year I joined the My Frugal Home Secret Santa gift exchange 2018. Erin used Elfster.com to create the group and she drew names on December 9th.
The object was to spend $10 on the gift. Erin said us frugal types could do a lot of with $10 and you know that Bailey & I coupon, so this was easy for us to do.
The package I sent contained four brand new Christmas cloth napkins, a cookbook from our local radio station, several little notebooks, a new razor and shave cream, tea bags, and two bars of lavender soap.
The package I sent has already been received and appreciated. Today a package came for me!
Mine came from Canada and came with two homemade dishcloths, a homemade pair of socks, two infinity scarves, a keepsake Christmas book, and a lovely card. I loved everything in my package. :)
This was so much fun that I plan on doing it again next year!
I love Erin's website and especially her post on how she does Christmas on under $100. Here is a link if you'd like to read it.
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That's all the frugal news from here this week. How was your week?
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
Here is a photo of our new staircase leading into the upper section of our home. My brother-in-law built the stairs for us and the amount spent on the wood was $700. The old stairs were 31 years old and it was past time to replace them. So happy to have this item checked off our to do list.
Even though I was scheduled to sub four days this week, I ended up subbing all five days. I'm very happy about that. I was going over my budget this week with a fine tooth comb since this is my first big paycheck of the school year. Last month I only had one day on my check.
I went to town today to get some oil for my daughter's car and picked up a few groceries. I found a dime on the ground when I walked into the store and picked it up. :)
I found 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes in the crash and burn section for 50¢. There were five of them, so I picked them all up. Such a great deal!
Food City had some great sales this week on canned tomatoes (50¢/14.5 ounces), corn and green beans (50¢), canned beans (50¢), cheese - buy one get one free, sour cream - buy one get one free.
I am really enjoying my new smartphone and learning new ways to use it to save me money on a regular basis.
If you have a smartphone and install the McDonald's App you can get a free large sandwich when you buy one, so if you have someone with you, you can eat inexpensively. It's a good deal if you are out and about and get hungry and did not bring something with you to eat.
Checkpoints is another new to me app that allows you to check in at various places you do business and turn them into gift cards. I have enough right now for a $2.00 gift card to CVS, which will pay for one of my prescription co-pays.
What kinds of ways do you find to save with your smartphone?
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
