April daily frugal's

bke--so happy your mome received good news! It is hard watching your parents age. And good on you for makin' your kid do some work. It's good for him; he'll thank you later! :-)
merski--will be praying for favorable results of those scans.
stella--so glad Baby T is home now. I am very sorry to hear about your uncle, though. Praying for you and your whole family.

I actually slipped on the stairs on Monday. The baby is okay (thank God!), but I am pretty bruised up on the one side. This translates into frugality since I am too sore to leave the house and spend money LOL

My sister agreed to make the crib bedding for the baby's room since I haven't been able to find anything I like in stores (and it is all crazy expensive anyway). This will be much cheaper; I will pay her back for the materials and get something that I really like. She is going to use a 50% coupon she has to buy the most expensive thing needed for the project, too, because she's awesome like that.

Just came back from DH's mri scans. The tumor hasn't grown so the unofficial word is that we come back in a year. Thank you all for your community of kind words, thoughts and prayers.

Merski, that is GREAT news! Woo hoo! :-)

Great to hear, Merski.

Kat, glad the fall wasn't worse. Scary.

Oh my Kat, so glad to hear that you and the baby are ok. Oh, and one word of frugal advice-you won't need nearly as many things as people will try to tell you to buy for the baby-go with your gut and buy what you want. Oh, and keep reciepts! I returned lots of gifts in exchange for things I needed instead of wasting them. Oh, I really need to stop saying oh!

Merski-that is great news.

Rosemary great job on the estimates. I wouldn't have thought to call the high bidder and ask him to reduce the price for me. Excellent move!

Thanks, fidgie and bke. Yeah, the fall was more scary than anything else. But she seems to be fine--she's been kicking me all day! haha

That is good advice, bke. I am overwhelmed by the amount of stuff people say you need for a baby. I haven't bought much of anything yet save crib furniture, a basket, and a clock for the nursery. But going by the registry list, I'm thinking there is no way one little baby needs all that!

My big frugal today is staying home. I thought about going to the grocery store, but I don't feel like it. We can get by another day or two with what is on hand. I actually was offered the opportunity to take over a class for another instructor, and I took it. It's only for this week, and I will get paid well. My paycheck is going straight into one of our savings funds--medical, maternity leave, or padding the emergency. I'm really happy for the opportunity to help my employer out and earn a little extra.

Last night DH and I went out to dinner, which almost never happens, on a $20 gift certificate to a fairly cheap Mexican restaurant. We got that for listening to a demo for a water purifier. So once there, we looked at the menu and figured out what we could get and still have the tax and tip come out of the $20. It worked perfectly and we felt good about it.

Tomorrow is my one grocery shop day for the week--only Fridays. Today I'm making the most realistic list I can, this being only my 3rd week of shopping (for anything) only on Fridays. Also, this week I can go to an extra cheap food store because it's the day I go pay my mortgage so it's the one day I go to the far side of town due to gas prices.

Kat I'm so glad you and the baby are OK! That is scary. The kicking must be nice and reassuring. You are so right that you don't need all that stuff. I've bought less and less with each kid. T has a basket for sleeping in, a moby wrap, clothes, blankets, diapers and wipes, baby wash and baby lotion. To be honest, I mostly use the baby lotion for my hands, which get dry because of all of the hand washing. He also has a bouncy seat I got from a thrift shop for James and swing I got for free, but he hasn't used them yet. I don't even have a diaper bag anymore. When he is older he'll get the high chair and jumpy seat. Those have been useful in the past.

Madgey, speaking of babies how is your niece doing?

Merski, that is fantastic news! I am so happy for you!

My uncle hasn't passed yet and it's looking more and more like we won't be able to make it to the funeral. I've been chatting with my cousins on facebook. They've been posting pics of Uncle Steve from back in the day. Priceless! That is so how I remember him. I was laughing at the picture of my youngest cousin sitting on her Daddy's lap remembering how mad she used to get for calling her Daddy "Uncle Steve". My dad (also named Steve) was Uncle Steve! Her dad was Daddy. I wish like crazy I could be there for my aunt and cousins, but on the positive side it will be nice to remember him like that instead of what he looks like after seven kinds of cancer took their toll on him. I told my cousins that we really want to get out there to see them this summer. Dad is going this weekend. His sister needs him.

If I can swing it I might make a loaf of banana bread and a quiche when I make Cheyenne's cupcakes tomorrow and send it with Dad. They could freeze it if they wanted and have it some night when they don't want to cook.

Along the same lines I was thinking of sending a care package with some cookies and tea to my cousin in Missouri. She's been really stressed out lately since her DH lost his job and, again, since I can't be there in person to have a cup of tea and a nice talk I can do the next best thing.

Cheyenne and I went on a spontaneous field trip to a nature center this afternoon and went walking on the boardwalk through the marsh. I love that there are so many free things to do nearby. I can't wait for picnic weather!

The frog app continues to be a favourite. In addition to disecting the frog it show 3D models of several species of frogs and videos of frog behaviours. Their Ranger Rick magazine had a big article on frogs too, so they are really on a frog kick.

Zach forgot to take out the beef for the stir fry this evening. That kind of beef doesn't thaw well in the microwave so we're going to make something with ground beef instead. Maybe chili or sloppy joes.

@Stella--I still have the baby basics list you sent me. I think that was almost a year and a half ago already! :-) You told me then that people would crawl out of the woodwork to buy babies clothes, and you were so right. I am sorry for those in your family that are having a hard time right now. Sending some food/care packages is a very thoughtful gesture.

Today I sent my sister some recipes. She says she feel lost in in the kitchen, so I tried to send her some recipes that were cheap and easy. It didn't cost anything, and I think she will like it.

DH and I went out to eat tonight at a cheapy diner. I took half home for lunch tomorrow as per usual.

OMG you guys, I have got to get back on the bandwagon. We are spending way too much on food and it's because we're disorganized about it. I wasn't sure if I had chicken stock in the freezer so I bought some. Turned out I had a lot. Boo.

Got some cheap cards at Half Price Books to replenish my stash. Also got a lot of cute board books for a mini baby shower for this weekend. So that was good!

Merski-fantastic news!
Kat-glad everything is ok
Stella-maybe after you send the biscuits and tea to your cousin you can skype with her so you can share a mug of tea and biscuits while kinda/sorta really chatting-next best thing to being there!

On my frugal front....hmmm...stocking up on the loss leaders at the grocery store-this week its 500 gram cheese-we freeze it oh and chicken breast-half price

what else...hmmm..Filled my tank before gas went up even more...tomorrow it will be 1.32/litre..hang on and I will convert.. about $5.28 a gallon-gulp.

Putting our tax savings into savings account or buying windows...both are boring but sensible. Maybe we'll use a bit for nonsensical. Seems only fair

We picked up a large plant from the people I got the kitchen stuff from last night, along with a set of glasses I had already paid for. Gave them about $15 for the plant, which was probably not a lot cheaper than we could have gotten it for at the flower market, but it was easy to pick up and we didnt have to pay taxi/delivery fees. I'm not sure what it is exactly -- really huge leaves, kind of viney type that winds up and around a large central post. I'll have to see if I can find pictures. It is supposed to be good a purifying the air. We've put it in the master bedroom where it fits nicely in a corner near the bed.

We are doing pretty good budget-wise this month. Even with several house-related purchases we are still under budget on those categories, and pretty much everything else except childcare and kids school lunches. But those even out over the year when the kids aren't in school and as our helper's bonus month of pay gets spread across the average of the months. I'm over budget on pets, because we paid for the cat's vaccinations in January/February, but that will also level out over time. Everything else seems pretty much on track, which I'm quite pleased about.

lhamo

I am back on my green smoothie kick. Usually I use at least one kind of berry in my smoothies to mask the green colour for the kids. They don't always finish it if it looks green. Today, though, I wanted a mango pineapple smoothie so I named it The Lucky Leprechaun and they drank it all up. Oh the power of marketing! I find that we eat less when we start the day with a green smoothie. I don't know why.

It has been a crazy morning around here. My best friend's uncle was missing since last night, but has now been found alive. No further details yet, but it sounds like he may be injured. He lives in another state, so my friend is spinning her wheels feeling like there's nothing she can do. I invited her over if she needs someone to talk to. We're having grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup for lunch, so it's the kind of thing I can always make more of and it's cheap. It's a cold, windy, bleak kind of day. Perfect for grilled cheese and tomato soup IMO.

Things have quieted down now and we are planning a mostly quiet day. Right now the girls are taking turns reading books to Travis. He's asleep, but they don't care. It's a good way to pass a morning.

We're going to make the cupcakes for Cheyenne's birthday party this afternoon. I might go out and get my Easter dress, but I might not. I might just nap and read. It feels like a napping and reading kind of day. I am going to my friend's house tonight for Girls Night. We're actually going to go to church for a holy hour. I could use that. I'm feeling introspective today.

I'm still on a major decluttering spree. I started going through children's books last night. I'm going to take about half of them out and rotate them every few months. It adds to the novelty of our current collection, which is actually quite vast.

Forgot one yesterday - used a gift bag out of our stash. We have it organized in a big tote by occasion so we are never without a bag. In fact this year I would like to get rid of some Xmas ones. When we use them in the family (the only people we ever exchange with) they all are given back to us.

Today, not so much . . . I finished off some soup I had in the fridge at school. But we went to the vet and also got takeout from dinner. Now I am off to the store to get some more elements for tomorrow's book club lunch.

Salad for lunch at the cafeteria, $1.54, including some of the arugula special with dried cherries, asiago cheese, and mango vinaigrette - I cannot imagine a better spent $1.54! Definitely going to try to reproduce that one at home. On a good salad bar day, I figure I get an amazing ratio of tasty pleasure per dollar. I do so love salads when someone else is doing the chopping and prepping :) A really sexy salad is one where every bite is a world of delight. I guess I'm lucky to love at least one thing that isn't bad for me! I seriously ponder each bite - arugula olive and mango? Cherry and olive and asiago?
Merski, I cannot adequately express my delight :):):)

Relocated an ancient bag of dry coconut in the back of the veggie drawer so we made a batch of oatmeal-coconut cookies. Put a slice of bread in the bag to attempt to rehydrate the coconut. Brought some left-overs home from Mom's last night for my lunch today, and of course took my water and coffee too. DD picked up groceries at Aldi - $62 for the next two weeks. We will have to pick up some additional things next week - milk, DH's current binge item (that changes off and on, currently it's instant pudding, yuck), maybe some fruit, but the bulk of our food comes from Aldi. Stopped at the library for more free entertainment, and some things for a lesson at work. Trying to drive to save gas - I'm not very good at that, but working on it!

Thanks to you all. I am most humbly grateful for your help and our good news. Best birthday gift ever for me!

We finally got around to having T's welcome home breakfast. It was good to fill up this morning because we had Cheyenne's birthday party at the roller rink today. Two hours of rollerblading/rollerskating makes a person hungry.

After the rollerskating we came home and had hot dogs and cupcakes. I made chocolate cupcakes with pink buttercream frosting, hot pink sugar and pink cotton candy clouds. They are so happy looking it's ridiculous. Cheyenne's best friend's dad and brother came over and took turns playing chess with Zach.

We let the girls stay up late camping in the living room and watching Goonies. They loved it and it totally took me back to my childhood. It's kind of fun showing them the movies we watched as kids. I'm planning a few weeks of 80s movie nights. Ghostbusters, Gremlins, Karate Kid and all that. My parents did that with us too. I think we saw every Hailey Mills movie ever made.

Now I'm going to nap. I think we'll have one more of the frozen casseroles for dinner. I'm wiped out. I forget that I am two weeks post-partum until after I've done crazy things like rollerblade for two hours and make (and clean up) a full pancake breakfast and homemade cupcakes. Such a fun weekend already, though and it wasn't very expensive.

Stella, Glad you all had fun - you deserve a nap!
Our latest frugal challenge involves bird food. As I've mentioned before, we are willing to spend fairly substantial money on feeding the birds, and we've recently been buying an even more expensive mix that the nuthatches and woodpeckers love. (Yes, we'll cut back on food expenditures for ourselves so we can make the nuthatches happy, go figure, I never said we were normal :)). The squirrels have been sucking down this $9.00 for 5 lb fruit and nut mix, and we realized that the squirrels are eating more of this stuff than the birds are. Today we took apart a suet feeder we don't use, and figured out a way to use the baffle over the fruit/nut feeder. It looks like we've thwarted the squirrel at least for the moment. He's been checking it out every which way (it's interesting to watch him problem solve, I can see the gears turning in his squirrel brain), and he still hasn't managed to gain access. I think we would only need to fill this feeder once a week instead of once a day if just the birds are feeding from it. So we'll see what happens; I know the squirrels are pretty clever and determined. Not only would we save on the bird food, but we didn't go out and buy a baffle, which was my first thought, and would have cost us at least $30.00. It's actually kind of fun to try to find solutions without just throwing money at a problem.

rosa, great job! My cousins are always experimenting with squirrel baffles - those little buggers are quite good at circumventing barriers! One of their feeders is on a pole, and they managed to put up a baffle so the beasties couldn't climb it. SO - they would get in the tree closest, and try to jump onto the feeder, but it was too far away - might have worked if they'd been flying squirrels! It was funny to watch, as they kept on trying to get to that food.
Unexpected free dinners... yesterday DH's brother and his wife arrived from CA on business/short visit, and they wanted us to gather friends and family for dinner last night at a place that had been a favorite of my FIL's. We were able to get the banquet room (free) at the last minute, the manager agreed to let us order ala carte and have separate checks, and it was a wonderful evening - at the end of which, DBIL picked up the tab for the entire meal!! The visit was on short notice, and while we had some extra funds and told our two children we would pick up their tab, it was going to be a stretch for many others. I thought it was really nice of them to cover the bill! Not really a frugal, but a money-saver, anyway. Other than that, I have laundry hanging, I've called for a refund for an overpayment, I'm setting up another bill to pay online. DH and I bought a new outside light fixture to replace the one broken in the wind last week, and the one we liked was only $6.00! I liked some others too, but they were all over $35 so this was great!

Eeek! Non-frugal! I just put more $$ worth of gas than ever before in my vehicle. $45! For my little car, that's a lot. $4/gallon. I'm not one to be shocked at gas prices, usually. That's a whole policy thing but I think it would generally be better for the planet if we all had to pay more. At any rate, it must have been quite a while since I filled up because I was really surprised. And so what do I do now? Making an extra trip to the town where I work to meet up with my coworker to plan something - that we could plan after school! Oh well, we'll be doing it at a Starbucks - where I will spend money on a treat drink! I embrace the non-frugalness of this day. :laff:

Well this may not seem "Frugal" - but I have for a long time coveted the Tommy Bahama "Tropical" shirts, they are very nice, silk and classic looking - AND $ 110.00 each - like I would ever spend that much on one shirt.

Yesterday, Macy's had them on sale, for $ 77.00 each, ah still no way in heck would spend $ 77.00 on a shirt. Then my dw called and said they had a 50% off the sale price! I asked her if they were all the barfy colors no one wanted and could I take them back? She decided I could look for my self! Long story short I bought 2! This may not seem like much - but I pride myself in not have many clothes - I have 7 button down casual shirts and it really is time I update my closet space! And yes two shirts will be leaving the space.

Rosa and Early morning, I love your stories of thwarting squirrels. I think squirrels are fascinating to watch. We used to have one of those squirrel bungees. Hours of free entertainment!

Fidgiegirl, I totally agree. The gas prices are getting painful! I am so glad Zach only has a month left of school!

My uncle passed away last night. My dad came home late and I knew he'd sleep in a bit this morning. This is hard for him. To cheer him up I made brunch. Spinach and cheddar fritatta and blueberry turnovers. It seemed to help some.

I used up the rest of a jar of spaghetti sauce we opened on Friday for a spaghetti lunch today. I was really hungry after church.

@Greg, score!!

@Stella, sorry to hear about your uncle.

I am going to make a meatloaf ahead to bake after work tomorrow. It will be an Italian style one to use up some canned tomatoes and sauce we have around. Here's the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Italian...-I/Detail.aspx

We went out for lunch today so we'll be having those leftovers for dinner.

Earlymorning: We've actually gotten great entertainment value watching the squirrels try & try. Who needs TV? There's been an occasional success, but the food is only down about an inch as opposed to the feeder being 3/4 empty a day later, so it's definitely much better. And DH felt BAD for the squirrels, so he put a bowl of food on the ground for them :) Your dinner gathering sounds like fun and it's nice that it didn't have to bust the budget.
Gregg, I love those shirts, definitely a nice score. I got DH some cool TH socks some years ago at Filenes Basement (local discount retail chain). It is so interesting to compare the differences in clothes shopping habits between men & women. DH worked at Brooks Brothers for 10 years, so he knows clothes and can appreciate quality. But he still only thinks he needs to buy clothes if what he is wearing crumbles to dust and leaves him standing there naked! We joke about how he can look like a homeless ragamuffin dressed in "vintage" BB from head to toe.
Stella, So sorry about your uncle. Is that your Dad's brother? I cannot even begin to imagine how much it would hurt to lose my sister.
Fidgie, Gas is getting scary! I hope my little Saturn runs forever. She is good on gas. Sixteen years old, but only 80K miles, so I'm hoping we still have some happy years together.
Washed 8 of the 28 windows in our little house today using vinegar instead of glass cleaner. Seems to work just as well for about 1/4 of the cost. I might try adding some rubbing alcohol as a drying agent.
Did some stock up type errands today. I am always suspect of spending money in the name of frugality, but we did get some good buys, and we don't do this very often. Used $10. Kohl's card and Cardsmart coupon to get 8 cards at list price of $23.38 for $7.51, net savings of $15.87. I drew up a list of b'days, etc. for the coming year (yes, list freak) before we went. K-Mart had specials on detergent, kitty litter and Aveeno hand cream, so stopped there and I figure we saved about $16.00 off our usual cost for these items. We've been making laundry detergent, but it isn't really good for whites or towels, so we still need some commercial detergent. But the $8.00 worth we bought today should last over a year at current rate of consumption. "Impulse purchases" were peat pots for starting seeds and concrete patch for leaking birdbath, so can't feel too guility about either of those.

@Rosa, sounds like you had a productive day.

Here I made a list of dishes to make with food in the pantry. Better yet, I actually made two of them. One was a Mexican noodle soup that I loooooove with frozen tomatoes from last summer's bounty as well as noodles that had been sitting in the pantry and some canned, crushed tomatoes. The other is a meatloaf, with all the ingredients on hand, ready to go for tomorrow night. We will just come home and pop it in the oven. Then tomorrow, perhaps as the meatloaf is cooking, I will prepare a crockpot dish for Tuesday. Feels good to use up some of our stuff. We were able to skip grocery shopping this week except for milk and bananas.

Thanks for the condolences! Uncle Steve was my Dad's little sister's husband, but he's known him since he was a kid. Dad is also really worried about his little sister, who is getting all kinds of grief from Steve's union about death benefits. I'll admit that hits a raw nerve. I can't believe it's a coincidence that Steve died at age 50 of seven kinds of cancer after working 30 years in a chemical filled papermill.

Greg, that is a great score! I'm glad you got what you wanted!

Dad gave Zach and me $200 for easter clothes. Dad knows when he gives me money that I see it as a challenge to spend as little as possible. :) Anyway, Zach got some dress shirts, a belt and some ties for about $75-$80. That left me with about $120, but I knew I didn't want to spend all of that. The problem is that to be church-ready most dresses I could buy would need a shrug and I don't have a large selection of dress shoes, so that can add up fast. I really want to feel cute for Easter. It's been months of feeling like a big frumpy, pregnant mess. Anyway, I went to JC Penney yesterday and they had a 50% off sale on dresses. I got the perfect dress for $35. Best of all, it is white, blue and black, so I have a few white and black sweaters and shrugs that already go with it and I have a cute pair of black dress shoes that will be perfect with it, so there's no extra expense. I even have a pair of earrings I think will be super cute with it. So out of my $120, the $35 is the only expense.

Dad bought a cord that hooks the iPad up to the plasma TV. It's very cool to see the frig dissection, for example, on the bigger screen. We also downloaded the free National Park apps Kelli posted about.

This week is National Screen Free Week and we are participating. Well, for the most part. I'm still going to check in here and on facebook, but not as frequently throughout the day. We're not going to do TV at all and we probably won't use the iPad. I have a million fun ideas for screen free week. We're going to make hot cross buns, decorate Easter eggs, finally do our silly photo shoot, make a paper mache Easter egg diorama, visit the Cathedral. It will be fun.

@ Stella. So sorry to hear about your uncle. :-( Your new dress sounds lovely. Don't you love it when you find something great that goes with stuff you already have?

@ greg--Awesome score on the shirts! If you own less, you can get away with buying nice quality things that you really do like. I'm sure they'll last forever. :-)

We stayed within our grocery budget this week, which is kind of hard to do when you have no kitchen. You can't prepare or cook food, so you can really only buy convenience type stuff. My dad gave me a $10 off $10 card for Kohls, and I am thinking I might use that and a gift card I have sitting around to get DH a new travle mug (his leaks) and maybe a small coffee pot. He works a lot of overtime starting at 5 am and needs coffee to get going. It would be a nice little gift I know he'd appreciate.

ETA: Oh, and my MIL sent me home with two kinds of salad today. Super nice of her, and they are delicious!

This month has been tough. Had a tire go flat, digital camera died, had to buy an Epipen ($116!!), $35 bank fee for stopping a check that got lost in the mail, car tags due, etc. It's really started adding up. The digital camera and car tags are going to have to wait; I'll go on the first to get the tags. I hope they won't charge a fee for being one day late. I've got about $30 to make it to the end of the month. I hope nothing else goes wrong.

I'll be eating lots of beans, rice, and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches this month. I'm trying to get a garden started but not much luck. When the first gets here, I'm going to just go buy some plants instead of trying to start them from seed. It's more expensive and more labor intensive, but I'm determined I'm going to have at least some squash and tomatoes this year.

Have been on a cook-a-thon, though the meatloaf is ticking me off. I'm hungry, dagnabbit! It always takes longer than the recipe says.

Also made brownies using an old dark chocolate bar we didn't want to eat, and made mashed potatoes. On a cookathon lately!!

April 18
Stella so sorry to hear of you unlce; 50 is way too young and it is so hard not to believe in the damage from some workplaces.
Congradulations to the rest, on all the good finds and frugals.
For us there have been a few frugals in the last week and a few unfrugals.

I start the thread this month declaring it was going to be a good month for us and it has been in many ways.

We saw the Dr. at the Cancer Clinic last Thur. and the results of the CT scan DH had the week before were good.
There are no new growths and there are a few less in the lungs and the original three tumours show a slight improvement. It was such a relief to hear some good news, after eight months of bad news it was hard to even get our hopes up.....
She is leaving him on the same amount of the drug, but the schedule will be 2 wks on and 1 wks off....This is mostly because his white count is not coming back fast enough after being on for the 4 wks on and 2 wks off.
Nice to being giving some good news...Thank you all so much for being there I have really aprreciated all the support ...

Actul frugals have been
--sourced out some repairs and have got a fair price from a layoff factory worker to do serveral things we need done. It will be a false savings to not keep the house up.
--finally have all the papers together for Income Tax and will be going this week
--only ate out once this past week but it was just hamburgers that were on sale 50% off
--planning Easter dinner for 5 of us and have most of what we need in the house or can get it on sale this week.
--busy following the elections and going to a few local candidate's meetings...free information and entertainment...hehe
--still watching movies from the library and reading books all free how I love that word...
--sold a couple of items on Kijiji for a big old $15.00 and have decided it is not a productive use of my time anything, and everything else we do not need or don't use are going to friends, family or charity.
--filled up with gas last week before it went up at Superstore .02 cheaper and they give you back .02 on litre...not much but it all adds up..

Danna I am so happy you finally got some good news! It is about time!

Thanks to everyone for the condolences. The wake is tonight and the funeral is tomorrow. It's hard not to be there.

Kelli, can you share your Mexican Noodle Soup recipe?

Zach and I are going on a lenten retreat tonight and Dad found us a babysitter. She's a friend of his who loves kids and is doing this for free. Dad will take her out for dinner as a thank-you. I got a bunch of roasts in the last meat pack I got from the butcher, so I tossed one in the slow cooker for dinner for the kids and babysitter. They'll have pot roast, noodles, gravy and a veggie. Tomorrow we'll have the leftover pot roast and gravy over spaetzle with some green beans I got on sale for $1 a pound. I used up the last of the red wine my mom was drinking when she visited in the roast. Zach and I are being fed at the retreat.

Our spending has slowed to almost nothing over the last few weeks. Outside of a piece of pie and a coffee when Travis was in the hospital we haven't spent money on anything non-essential pretty much the entire month of April. It hasn't been hard, either. We're feeling pretty contented.

I made a big pot of oatmeal for breakfast today. It's supposed to snow today and it's gloomy outside. It's a good day for oatmeal.

I brought out the duplos and blocks that had been out of rotation for a while. The older three kids are happily building together while the baby naps. I need to figure out what to take out of rotation for a while. It's such a good way of keeping toys new and exciting without buying more stuff.

I was mentioning my unit on sacred art to my Dad this morning and he told me to go up to his room and borrow some books he got at the Vatican exhibit they had a while back at the Minnesota History Center.

None of my frugals lately are spectacular, but they're working. We're keeping spending to a minimum and still really enjoying ourselves.

I didn't do so well today. I had to go to town and had to buy gas, and then I ended up eating out...but I did eat lunch late enough that I could wait for supper until I got home.

We've been doing better this week. Yesterday was a no drive/no spend day. I talked DH out of ordering pizza for dinner since we are out of date money until Thursday. He's been working a lot of overtime, and i have been working a lot, too. So at night we prety much just lay around and watch TV until bedtime. I guess being tired and boring is one way to save money! ;-) Next week I don't have to work as much, so I am planning on getting some things done around the house.

Later today I do have to mail some letters, but I am going to zip over to the nearest mailbox instead of crossing town to the post office. I thought about walking, but it is cold and rainy, and I don't really have time for a long walk today, anyway--too much work to do. So today I will drive, but I will be consider walking more in the future. It saves gas, and I need the exercise.

returned a pair of sneakers that became unglued and were only a month old. They gave me full credit. I was very happy.

Hurt my foot and MD wanted me to go to therapy and gave me a sheet of exercises to do- therapist closest to my house was out of the office for the week. I was 100% faithful with the exercises, icing and elevation and it has improved so much I will need little to no therapy which is little to no copay. I hope to keep it up all week so I can cancel the appt I have for next Wednesday.

Still rainy, cold and snowy here so I have been working on some quilts for charity with fabric I had in the house. They came out cute. Two for a silent auction for my quilt guild, one for a Livestrong cancer affair.

Zach took the morning off of school to rescue me. I've been getting a little worn out acting like I'm not two and a half weeks post partum. :P Of course I didn't actually rest. :) We went to AxMan Surplus to get stuff for Bella's Kindergarten egg drop. She wisely chose to get the car wash sponges that worked successfully for Cheyenne last year, although she was briefly tempted by the whoopie cushions. I was happy with the car wash sponges because they have another use.

I made the girls take their own money this time. They always beg for stuff at AxMan and I sometimes give in if things are cheap enough and kind of fun. Today they bought themselves a variety of pretty coloured marbles. Bella chose entirely iridescent marbles and Cheyenne went with an ocean inspired mix. When we got home they each put them in a jar and used my label maker to label them Magical Mermaid Jewels. (I must say, the combination of whimsy and organization makes me proud of them) They are writing a story about mermaids and pirates and magical mermaid jewels. They are going to make a movie about it with Cheyenne's video camera and edit it on iMovie. They also made paper fish, paper seaweed, a paper clam and a paper sea anemone to do a photo shoot for movie posters. Lots of good free fun.

This is holy week so church is pretty much taking up the rest of my week. :) Travis is being baptized at the Easter Vigil (very unusual for a baby) and his Godmother lent me her son's baptismal outfit for him. Her mom made it. It's absolutely gorgeous and it will save us some money. She also dropped off some diapers her DD outgrew. Size 3, but eventually T will be able to use them.

Another friend from church is getting rid of baby stuff. She's giving me her breast pump and some size 5 diapers her kiddo has outgrown for James. He's in size 4 now.

J, another friend from church is babysitting the older 3 kids plus our friend D's kids for the Friday afternoon Solemn Liturgy. J has two teens to help with the babysitting.

Tomorrow we're colouring Easter eggs. I didn't buy the tablets. I have a lot of food colouring we can use. We're also going to make hot cross buns to freeze for Easter.

Danna, So glad for your good news. I'm sure many of us were hoping to hear something good from you after Merski's good news!
Kat, Cutting out takeout meals has been a real boon to our budget as well. It's certainly cheaper than eating restaurant meals, but it adds up.
Stella, I hope you all enjoy your Easter festivities.
So our squirrel strategy has proved good, but not perfect. The critters can still get on the feeder occasionally, but a fill-up lasted five days instead of one, so that's a significant improvement. Plus we got to see a lot more birds on the feeder instead of squirrels.
A friend gave us about 30 cans of cat food because he's switching his cat to a different diet, so that will save a bunch on our grocery expenditures this week.
It's my b'day this weekend, so I'm taking a long weekend. DH is making me a cake (his baking is the best ever, I know I'm biased, but it really is). I wanted lobsters for dinner, but we're also trying to be more in control of our grocery budget. I got a $75.00 check in the mail from doing a lengthy, tedious online survey on pet food, so that's going to cover the lobsters - and I think some steamed clams - which we'll have at home instead of eating out. So we can have guilt-free lobsters without busting the budget:)

Happy birthday Rosa! Enjoy your lobsters!

We went the short route on the hot cross buns and used the breadmaker. Yay for shortcuts! I used to feel lazy when I did things like that, but I'm over that. The reality of having a toddler and newborn is that if I didn't take shortcuts a lot of things just wouldn't get done.

The art books my Dad lent me are amazing! The girls and I sifted through 107 pages of one before they wanted to do something else. Even James was into it for a while. Their favourite was a photo of Michaelangelo's Pieta, which there is a reproduction of at the Cathedral in St Paul. We will definitely have to visit that. Art Month is turning out to be a brilliant success and I haven't really spent any money on it at all. Next month is Science Month. Conveniently enough we are spending Easter with the elementary school Science Specialist, who is Travis' godfather's mom. I am going to ask for some ideas. June is probably going to be History Month, which will cost us about $100 for the Historical Society membership. July is Outdoors Month, which should be pretty much entirely free.

Zach is getting off of school early today and tomorrow. This is actually frugal because I can accomplish about 6 times as much when he is home as I can when he isn't. I may make use of the time to make some banana bread and finally organize my sewing space.

Happy birthday, Rosa! Those squirrels sure can be little stinkers, can't they? We love ours, though, and we feed them along with the birds.
@ stella--yum! I have been thinking about getting a bread maker. My MIL said I could borrow hers for awhile to see how I like it.

Things haven't been all that frugal lately since we ran into a couple of more problems with the kitchen (imagine that!). I'm not really surprised; this has been the home remodel from you know where! But the first phase--the kitchen--is nearing completion. I hope that next weekend we can move back in.

This weekend shouldn't be too bad, though. We have family coming into town--yay!--so we will be visiting them and heading to church. I resisted temptation to buy a maternity Easter dress. No sense in spending $30 on a dress I will only wear once or twice. I can get by with what I have for Easter and a wedding we have to attend next week.

My MIL works at a thrift store and is the person in charge of baby and toddler stuff (sorting, pricing, etc.). Yesterday she picked me up a boppy-type pillow, brand new in package (with washable cover) for $10. They cost around $30 in stores and the covers are another $10, so I think that was a pretty good deal. It's blue, but who cares? It's been kind of fun "collecting" things for the baby. I figure when we get closer, we'll reassess and see what we really still need.

Oh, I picked up some more contracts for this summer, so it looks like I will have steady work until the baby comes. That is nice; sometimes contractual work can be a little scary since there is no real guaranteed stability. That is why we try to sock away while work is available--something I learned from seasonal/contracted workers on this board. Boy, was that good advice!

Kat, good luck on finishing the kitchen remodel! I hope when it is all over you have a kitchen you really love.

Today is a church heavy day. Services at 3:00PM and 8:30. I might go with our neighborhood Vital Living group to an olive oil tasting at a locally owned specialty shop. A neighborhood friend offered to let me ride with her, so it wouldn't even cost me gas money and I'd get to hang out with friends.

Zach and Dad are fasting today, so that saves some money. :) I am breastfeeding, so I am exempt. I made a big pot of mango coconut oatmeal this morning for breakfast. Yum!

Nothing too much happening today, frugal or otherwise.