Believe it or not I did manage to get things done (mainly before the son got sick) on the money saving front!
1. My friend contacted me as she had some coupons for free Tostitos corn chips that her friend had given to her (some product testing thing that she hadn't used all of the coupons for), but they were set to expire in about four days, so she mailed them to me quickly. I ran to the store as soon as I got them and redeemed them. The hardest part was finding chips below 12 ounces (restrictions set by the coupon), but I found some. And now I'm set on corn chips for speech therapy for a while (thanks so much for the coupons, Stephanie!).
That day I just got freebies at the store (run in, get freebies and perscription, get out was seriously my list for that day). Old Orchard had sent me some coupons for free frozen juice concentrate in exchange for some coupons that I couldn't use, so I grabbed my two free things of juice. And I had a coupon that had printed off at the register the last time I'd been at the store buying cat food for another free Fancy Feast tray, so I got that while I was there too.
And I want to send a thank you to my husband for waiting in the car with the kiddos while I ran in and got those things as really that and my daughter's monthly script was all I was going to the store for that day.
2. We went over the weekend to get my son new sneakers as he was suddenly outgrowing his. Luckily we were able to find him the EXACT same shoe pretty much as he had before (we get him high tops so he can't escape them at school so easily) on clearance for 11.00 a pair! He grows so fast that I decided to buy him the next size up in sneaker for his gym shoes. They weren't clown shoes on him and that way I'd have the next size up in shoe all nice and broken in when he grows again. Double benefit is I won't have to buy two new pairs of shoes when he grows, only one. The school, however, checked his everyday sneakers and since they were white soles and non-marking they told us that they'd just use those as his gym shoes for the rest of the year, so we didn't need gym shoes. So, one brand new pair of sneakers in the next size up went into the closet for when he grows again.
While at the shoe store I also found a pair of knee high boots. I've been wanting some to dress up jeans or to wear under a skirt for YEARS (I wish I was kidding, but I'm not), but they always had heels if they were on sale cheap enough that I would buy them (I am so stingy when it comes to buying things for me) and after having the kids...I just plain can't WEAR heels anymore as they kill my feet, so I was always looking for flat boots with no luck. That day I found some! On clearance! For 12.00 (down from over 60.00!). My husband saw the total come up for the sneakers and boots, shook his head and said, "Man, I can't even buy ONE pair of sneakers for that price." Which I took to mean, "We did good on the money saving front today." *Laugh*.
3. I weeded through my cookbooks and pulled out the ones that I just plain am not going to use. A lot of them were like, "101 Ways to Cook Chicken" but every recipe you'd try in the book just didn't come out well and wasn't to your taste. So, it was like, "How many of the 101 recipes am I going to go through before I give up on this book?" Some of them were those magazine-like cookbooks that come out a couple of times a year that I was saving for one recipe to try or something, so I just sat down, wrote down that one recipe and threw it into the donation pile for the next time I go to the thrift store. Managed to cull my pile down a bit and make my cookbooks fit better in the cabinet, so I was happy. And the best part was that I found the recipe books for my ice cream maker, my bread machine and my rice cooker/steamer (which now all I need to find is where I put my steamer try and I'm in business ;).
4. My husband got some balsamic vinegar on the tablecloth, so I decided to do a new "hack test" as I read that white vinegar could remove balsamic vinegar from cloth (I know, it messes with your head doesn't it?). So, I tried it. Results? It worked like a charm! I was thrilled as it stopped me from having to fight with my tablecloth for ages to get the stain out :).
5. I got my electric bill in the mail yesterday and was thrilled, finally. All of my hard work cutting down our electric costs by sitting in the dark, turning off lights all day, etc resulted in a nearly 100.00 reduction in our bill. I want to go and read the meter and make sure as I'm worried that they estimated the bill, badly, or something, but I'm hoping it's actually good news instead.
6. My husband and I cut my son's hair. I cut my daughter's and my husband cut mine. Thank goodness we did that as the shorter hair really helped me to gauge my son's temperature better (we have a heck of a time holding him down enough to get his temperature taken with a thermometer).
7. Leftovers and the crock pot did me a great service this week in getting dinner on the table and us not having to eat out all the time (we did end up getting french fries from McDonalds a few times, however, as that's one of the only foods my son will eat when sick).
So, there you are folks. Some ways I saved money this week. How did you do?
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