Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap

Just in case I don't get online later on (since we'll all be busy this weekend, my husband has officially come down with the kid's cold and the kids are still sick too), I just wanted to take this opportunity to say, "Merry Christmas" to you all and I hope you have a GREAT holiday!

This week has been a pretty full week.  I ran to the store to get last minute essentials, had to run to the postal annex and wait in line for nearly an hour one day (which barely got me through 1/3 of the line to the window) and then I went back the next day an hour before they opened and managed to get the package I needed to pick up (our insurance benefits binder that somehow our postal worker couldn't fit into our nice package boxes that we have down at the end of the road again...grumble) without waiting in line for three hours.  Goals for next year were worked on.  The menu plan for next week is about 1/3 of the way done and then I ran out of ideas and stared into space for a while...need to get back to that here.  Debating what to do for my birthday next week so we can do something fun, but cheap...it's been a week of thinking and running around really.

We're still trying to figure out how to get back to two working winter-time able vehicles as the husband is starting a four ten hour work week come January 1st and depending on what the 10 hour shift entails for hours...only having one vehicle might very well not be viable anymore.  So far, things aren't really working in that area (trying to find a new vehicle and getting a good loan that we can afford the payments on, that is), but I'm continuing to be hopeful that it'll all work out in the end.   We're going to be going and exploring options after the holidays are over and things get back to relative normalcy.  Here's hoping something works out.

So, let's get to the money saving things that happened this week.

1.  The winter solstice hit this week, and not only are we starting to now, officially gain back seconds of daylight each day (woohoo), but the winter solstice was nice enough to gift us with a BEAUTIFUL sunrise (seen up top as I stood in the store parking lot with 15 other people all of us taking a pic of the sunrise with our phones *laugh*).  I kept thinking, "Red sky in morning, sailors take warning", but luckily the weather wasn't too horrible that day...not sure how great the weather was at sea though.

The picture really doesn't do the sunrise justice, but I figured I'd share it anyway.

2.  Shopping, speaking of store parking lots, went well this week.  My mother-in-law gave me a Fred Meyer gift card for my birthday, so that paid for some of the groceries.  All totaled I spent about 45.00 on groceries over the gift card, but was able to get a ton of fruit and things to see us through the holidays, so I was super happy :).

Highlight of the shopping trip was probably getting a pound of butter for 2.88.  Not the best price by any means, but it was certainly better than nothing.  I could have gotten two for that price, but it just wasn't a good enough price to make me excited about it, so I got one.

3.  We decorated Christmas cookies and the kids and husband have been having fun eating them (I'm just not a huge fan of sugar cookies), although Alvah just eats the frosting and sprinkles *laugh*.  Thanks to all of the sprinkles that friends and family who were moving gifted me we DEFINITELY weren't hurting for Sprinkles this year (which was good the way the son was eating them ;).

4.  We visited a local neighborhood that decorates all of the houses with tons of Christmas lights and sets everything to Christmas music.  It was a lot of fun and the kid's favorite display was the house/business that decorated their entire dump truck with lights (seen above).

5.  I turned down the heat at night when the husband was working to try and make up the fact that I can no longer turn off the heat in my bedroom during the day when the husband is sleeping.  I'm still trying to remember to do it on a regular basis, but I figure something is better than nothing at this point.

6.  I made Christmas gifts out of materials I had on hand (and I personally think nice ones too ;).

7.  Our Christmas tree starting listing (don't ask...the son is hard on these things).  A length of ribbon tying it on the sly to the wall and all is right with the universe again.

8.  I waited a bit before adding the batteries to the nativity scene and the wreath for the front door this year, which will save me at least one change out of batteries and save me some money in the long run.

And yeah, I'm going to call that good for the week, although I'm sure I'm missing some things.  How about you all?  Have a good week?