It’s Frugal Friday: A recap of how we frugal-ed our way through the week so that we have more money to put towards our financial goals. Our mission: Live WELL, On LESS Money.
What We Ate this Week:
Monday: We went out for dinner to celebrate my oldest daughter’s 11th birthday. The tween years are upon us, so any advice to help us navigate the waters are much appreciated. 😉
Tuesday: We had a lot of pesto ranch chicken leftover from last week, so I cooked some bacon in the oven and made chicken & bacon quesadillas. They were yummy and a great way to use up leftover chicken
Wednesday: Spaghetti night!
Thursday: Parmesan chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli, homemade sugar-free applesauce
Friday: Grilled sausages, spinach salad, homemade applesauce
Saturday: I’m hosting a dinner party for extended family to celebrate the numerous November birthdays. It will be casual and I think I’m going to make my easy lasagna, salad, steamed vegetables, and of course, birthday cake.
How We Saved this Week:
1. While I don’t advocate the use of credit cards with a continuing balance, we do use a credit card on many purchases and pay the balance off when the bill comes. We earn cash back on our credit card purchases and I have been saving up our points to cash them in for a $100 Lands’ End gift card.
My 11 year old outgrew her winter coat this year and I really like Lands’ End’s kids’ winter coats. I think they are well made and my kids find them to be very warm. They can be pricey, but I will hand down her outgrown LE coat to her younger sister.
I’ve been watching my email for their sales and when I got one that promoted winter coats up to 45% off, I jumped. I bought one girls’ parka and 2 sets of gloves and 2 winter hats for $106, so only $6 was out of my pocket. I also purchased through EBATES, so .54 (9%) will be added to my Big Fat Check. **my referral link!
Everyone is happy. My older daughter got a new coat, hat, and gloves. My younger daughter is getting her sister’s outgrown coat (which she loves), along with a new hat, and new gloves. And I only paid $6 to keep my kids warm this winter.
2. Free Date Night! We celebrated 16 years of wedded bliss last week with a FREE date night last Saturday night. My parents took our kids for an overnight, while Jeff and I went to the Harrisburg Symphony using tickets we received as a Christmas gift LAST year. Before the symphony, we went to dinner using a $95 Visa gift card that we received as a rebate from Staples when we stocked up on printer paper.
3. Unintended savings. It is November and we have yet to turn on our main heat source. I don’t know if we’ve ever held out this long. I like to push our limits, but this has been completely unintentional.
Our home was built in 1969 with baseboard electric heat, which equals pretty high electric bills in the winter. However, we use a ventless gas fireplace in a corner of the living room as our main source of heat. It does a great job of heating most of the house and it is much cheaper to run.
We decided over the summer to move the fireplace to another spot in our living room to create a fireplace wall with a tv above, and built-in book shelves on both sides. The fireplace was disconnected in early September and has not been reconnected– a service guy is coming next week to do so. It has gotten pretty cold at night, and we really need the fireplace. Last week, I woke up in the middle of the night and the upstairs thermostat was 58 degrees. We had blankets piled high and I turned on the baseboard heaters in two bedrooms to warm up the second floor. Yes, we are saving quite a bit of money, but at my expense. I have had a serious cold and sinus infection for the past week.
How long do you go before you turn the heat on?
Frugal Resources from around the web:
Have you heard of Ebates? It’s awesome. I use Ebates on almost every purchase I buy online. They work with a bunch of big name retailers, like Lands’ End, Kohl’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, Amazon, and so many more, so I usually get money back from my favorite stores. If you think you’ll be shopping online this holiday season, it’s worth a look. Ebates is FREE and super easy to use. Use my referral link to find out more details.
How did you live frugally this week? Please share your tips in the comments.
Nice work on the heat!! We started turning ours on in the early mornings last month. (I live in upstate NY.) We set it at 68 during the day (when someone is home), and 63 at night. Fifty is chilly!!
I get Lands End winter outerwear for my daughter, too. It’s warm, and holds up well. She’s our only child, but I’m always able to consign the outgrown coats, snowpants, and boots.
I’ll keep consignment in mind when my youngest outgrows her LE coat. Thanks for the tip.
Love the frugal recaps each week! We have a gas fire place in our den and a wall hung heater in my husband’s man room. This is what we have used for the past 2 years to heat the house in the winter. We use electric blankets on our beds and have some small electric plug in heaters in the bedrooms that are turned on ahead of going to bed. It has kept our gas and ele bill very low in the winters. We had to install a new central heat and air this summer and I am hoping that we can use the big heater to heat and still have the low bills. Our other heater was way to small for the size of the house so it was very inefficient. You meals look yummy also, thanks for the links!
Hi Rebecca, thanks for the kinds words and feedback. I’m curious about your central heat. Our current central ac unit is over 25 years old. It’s not the most efficient unit anymore, but still capable of cooling our home. Because of the expense we have no desire to replace it until it completely dies, but when we do we want to look into a combined central heat/ac unit.