Last (Couple Of) Week's Frugal Accomplishments

I didn't keep up with this last week, so here are my frugal accomplishments for the past couple of weeks. (This is a roundup hosted at http://theprudenthomemakerblog.blogspot.com.)

Earned $3.00 from an online survey.

Replaced six-year-old's broken tennis shoes on MLK weekend, using a 25 percent off coupon.

Used oil company credit card discount and/or grocery points rewards programs for discounts when filling car with gas.

Purchased complete set of Magic School Bus DVD's (a favorite of the six-year-old) while on sale on Amazon, for gift-giving occasions throughout the year (Easter, birthday, Christmas -- haven't decided how they will be divided up yet). This is my second "gift closet" (actually, it's a box) purchase of 2013.

Used coupons printed from Swagbucks at the grocery store, which will give me the discount stated on the coupon, as well as Swagbucks credit for each coupon used. Paired with grocery store sales. Also used a printable coupon from the grocery store (somehow, they had deleted my online account; when I reactivated it, they sent me a coupon.) This is also the grocery store with the gas points rewards program.

Took six-year-old grocery shopping with me; she got a free apple with a card received from the grocery store during one of their community events held last fall. (It's good for a free apple or banana for a child each time they shop with their parent through the end of February.)

Packed some lunches and breakfasts for work/school. (Sometimes, I just don't get my lunch packed ...)One of the few restaurants close enough to my workplace to go for lunch is McDonalds: used a coupon for a free fries and drink with 20-piece chicken nuggets meal at McDonald's. 20 nuggets is really too much for me for one lunch, so I saved half and microwaved them for lunch the next day, thus splitting the cost of the meal in half between two meals.

I usually ask for honey for the sauce when I order chicken nuggets, and they always give me way too many packets. Saved the extra packets. Used a couple of them in hot tea when I felt the possibility of a sore throat coming on.

Successfully fended off the beginnings of a sore throat/cold with honey in hot tea, orange juice and a couple of straight tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. (I would have also used a free sample of Emergen-C, but it had solidified.)

Accepted leftovers of a pasta salad from a work meeting of some other department; ate for lunch the following day.

Used whole tomatoes from the freezer, a gift from a neighbor, in place of "stewed tomatoes" called for in a recipe for vegetable beef soup.

Used strawberries, picked last summer and frozen, to make strawberry muffins, which we ate with the vegetable beef soup, then packed in lunches and for breakfasts.

Used frozen shredded zucchini (also from last summer) to make zucchini bars, with cream cheese frosting (used the last of the cream cheese in the refrigerator purchased at Christmastime sales). Used as desserts/snacks.

Used the last of the molasses in a bottle to make molasses crinkles cookies with the six-year-old, letting her practice reading by reading the recipe out of the Betty Crocker's New Boys and Girls Cookbook (the original edition, which I have had since my childhood -- complete with the falling-out pages that we need to carefully tuck back between the covers).

Used three frozen bananas from the freezer -- each the last one from a bunch, which were going to turn bad before we could eat them, so I put them in the freezer --- to make Money Saving Mom's recipe for banana chocolate chip muffins. Have been eating them for my breakfasts.

And, the biggest frugal accomplishment of the past couple of weeks: completed refinance of the mortgage! Will save $160 a month in payments and, because of the timing of the refinance, will not have to make a mortgage payment at all for February!