Frugal Friday (Money Saving Weekly Recap)

It was a long week around here.  My grandma passed away, my husband was feeling icky from his abscess tooth removal and I have been battling an allergy cough for months that has just gone bonkers this last week and made me utterly miserable.  My sweetheart of a husband went and picked a pharmacist brain yesterday on what to get for me and I now have cough medicine and allergy meds.  I feel like a medicated zombie if I don't keep food down my gullet, but at least I'm not coughing up a lung, so yay for pharmacists!

So, how did I save money this week?  Here are a few ways...

1.  I started planning my garden (yay Pinterest!).  I normally plant cabbage every year in my wee little raised beds (which always surprises people how much food you can get from those), but since the cabbages did so great last year, I don't need to plant them this year (so says the 18 pints of sauerkraut I have in the pantry anyway).  So that leaves me this thing called space, and I want to make the most of it.  So, I've been working on plans, figuring out cheap ways to make it work and with the weather being so beautiful I'm just jiving for Spring so much right now it's not even funny!

Normally I budget out 50.00 for plants for my garden (I don't grow from seed right now due to lack of space and psychotic cats that will dig up seedlings for fun) and I don't see the point in changing that budget now, although I do think I might end up spending less than that since I won't have to worry about getting all the cabbage plants.  I also want to plant more flowers this year to make the yard...well prettier...so that will have to be taken into account as well.

I am being very careful with planning however, as my planters and raised beds do contribute to our winter stores every year, so I want to make those square feet count!

2.  I shopped sales and use E-Coupons to make sure that I could get the most bang for my buck at the store.  I was able to get the laundry detergent I was hoping would go on sale for 5.00 today on sale at Carrs, so woohoo!!!

My son also broke my embroidery hoop a while ago and I realized that I needed to replace it if I was going to get started on Christmas gifts and other projects.  So, I used a 40% off one regular priced item coupon at JoAnn Fabrics (sign up for their coupon mailer when you are there...it is SO worth it!) to get one for 2.00.

3.  I cooked all of our meals at home.  Trust me, on weeks like this it was NOT easy, but it was worth it.

4.  I darned a pile of my husband's socks with some really nasty holes in them and was able to actually make it work (I had my doubts on my darning ability with holes that big), so that was awesome.  My husband actually remarked that it was like I had rebuilt the socks stronger than they were before.  I was happy.

5.  I have been taking measures to cut down on utility bills by doing things like turning the heat down during the day when my children are at school (they hate clothes, so I tend to have to keep the heat higher than I would like to keep them warm).  I have also been making sure to open the curtains and turn off the lights during the day.  Hey, we have the sun, I want to enjoy it!

I've also been making sure to do a baking DAY instead of baking throughout the week to save on fuel.  The same with laundry.

6.  I consolidated trips to town with grocery shopping or other errands that needed to be done, so I wasn't running around more than I needed to which saved on fuel.

So, there you have it folks.  Ways I saved money this week.  How did you do?