This has been the most frugal holiday weekend DH & I have ever had. That’s amazing considering what we did!
Friday – DH went to the old house and cut the grass one last time. No need getting a citation from the village when we’re just one week from our old lease being up. I went with DaMama to look at furniture (she bought, I did not!). Dinner was grilled chicken strips, grilled beef stew meat, marinated in teriyaki, and some bread & salad. Delish! Cost OOP = $0!
Saturday – We went to a BBQ at D-inlaws. We brought chicken and DH manned the grill. Cost of chicken OOP = $7.81. We raided our freezer for the rest. We brought 15-17 lbs. of chicken. Nearly 30 people were at the BBQ. I did stop at Ultra – rocking the freebies and grabbed (in 2 transactions) 8 jars of peanut butter, 17 jars of sweet relish (moneymaker!), 4 lbs. hot dogs, 4 lbs. bologna, 2 bottles steak sauce(freebie), 2 bottles BBQ sauce, and 18 cans of pork ‘n’ beans. Total cost = $7.76. Our Ultra takes expired Q’s so I used all the Vlasic ones I had left from their pdf-style coupons. Though I did share 3 with others shoppers.
Sunday – DH & I went out for lunch, went furniture shopping ourselves, and made another stop by Meijer’s to grab some freebies/cheapies. Lunch was a small pizza & appetizers - $25.xx (includes tip), Meijer was $12.14 – for tons of stuff. We also swung in to La Fiesta Market and grabbed some gerat deals on meat. 2 lbs./$1 for pork chops and chicken leg quarters. $1.00 for pastore (a preseason, pre-chopped pork mixture often found on tacos at authentic (usually hole-in-the-wall) taco places. We splurged on some aranchera (beef steak – similar to strip, cut a bit thinner, and they tenderize it for you), our total for 27 lbs. of meat was only $31.81. Plenty to share with DaMama, too!
Monday – DH grilled again, this time using some of the pastore, aranchera, some more ham, and a pound chicken breast tenderloin. Other than that, DH washed both cars and grabbed some season salt while I updated my shopping totals in my Xcel spreadsheet. Kind of a quiet day overall – it started raining, so we decided to stay in and watch Kung Fu Panda & Get Smart – from our free on-demand movies. Cost for the day = $8.31. - $3 per car for washing, and $2.xx for some season salt.
Total Spent = $93.24 - I think this is the first time we got through a holiday weekend spending under $100!
Other things we’re doing to save money:
We’ve kept off the A/C.
We are eating at home more than we did the last few weeks.
Lunches were pre-planned with all that grilling – we should get 5-6 meals out of the leftovers.
Breakfast is covered too with the grilled ham and some English muffins I have on hand.
No clothes shopping, electronics shopping, etc. I’ve found with redbox codes, and getting on-demand for free – we haven’t bought a DVD for a few months. We only buy if we’ve seen it before and we both like it. That’s saving space and $$. As for clothes shopping, I am trying to get better at waiting for a coupon, but I will be grabbing a new pair or two of jeans next month. Some things I can’t live without and I can wear jeans to work, which is an added bonus. But, I'm still waiting for a good coupon before I buy!
What have you been doing to save $$ lately?
Friday – DH went to the old house and cut the grass one last time. No need getting a citation from the village when we’re just one week from our old lease being up. I went with DaMama to look at furniture (she bought, I did not!). Dinner was grilled chicken strips, grilled beef stew meat, marinated in teriyaki, and some bread & salad. Delish! Cost OOP = $0!
Saturday – We went to a BBQ at D-inlaws. We brought chicken and DH manned the grill. Cost of chicken OOP = $7.81. We raided our freezer for the rest. We brought 15-17 lbs. of chicken. Nearly 30 people were at the BBQ. I did stop at Ultra – rocking the freebies and grabbed (in 2 transactions) 8 jars of peanut butter, 17 jars of sweet relish (moneymaker!), 4 lbs. hot dogs, 4 lbs. bologna, 2 bottles steak sauce(freebie), 2 bottles BBQ sauce, and 18 cans of pork ‘n’ beans. Total cost = $7.76. Our Ultra takes expired Q’s so I used all the Vlasic ones I had left from their pdf-style coupons. Though I did share 3 with others shoppers.
Sunday – DH & I went out for lunch, went furniture shopping ourselves, and made another stop by Meijer’s to grab some freebies/cheapies. Lunch was a small pizza & appetizers - $25.xx (includes tip), Meijer was $12.14 – for tons of stuff. We also swung in to La Fiesta Market and grabbed some gerat deals on meat. 2 lbs./$1 for pork chops and chicken leg quarters. $1.00 for pastore (a preseason, pre-chopped pork mixture often found on tacos at authentic (usually hole-in-the-wall) taco places. We splurged on some aranchera (beef steak – similar to strip, cut a bit thinner, and they tenderize it for you), our total for 27 lbs. of meat was only $31.81. Plenty to share with DaMama, too!
Monday – DH grilled again, this time using some of the pastore, aranchera, some more ham, and a pound chicken breast tenderloin. Other than that, DH washed both cars and grabbed some season salt while I updated my shopping totals in my Xcel spreadsheet. Kind of a quiet day overall – it started raining, so we decided to stay in and watch Kung Fu Panda & Get Smart – from our free on-demand movies. Cost for the day = $8.31. - $3 per car for washing, and $2.xx for some season salt.
Total Spent = $93.24 - I think this is the first time we got through a holiday weekend spending under $100!
Other things we’re doing to save money:
We’ve kept off the A/C.
We are eating at home more than we did the last few weeks.
Lunches were pre-planned with all that grilling – we should get 5-6 meals out of the leftovers.
Breakfast is covered too with the grilled ham and some English muffins I have on hand.
No clothes shopping, electronics shopping, etc. I’ve found with redbox codes, and getting on-demand for free – we haven’t bought a DVD for a few months. We only buy if we’ve seen it before and we both like it. That’s saving space and $$. As for clothes shopping, I am trying to get better at waiting for a coupon, but I will be grabbing a new pair or two of jeans next month. Some things I can’t live without and I can wear jeans to work, which is an added bonus. But, I'm still waiting for a good coupon before I buy!
What have you been doing to save $$ lately?
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I am very impressed! :-) I love what you spent for all that stuff for the BBQ! Great going!
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Thanks, Precious - this is the best season of the year for hounding! I've loaded up on coupons for another run at Meijer - there's more free meat for the taking! And plenty of condiments to go with it...
Richard, thank you so much. I'm heading over to check it out right now!