Thrifty Thursday: Things that I Do to Save Money and Stretch those Groceries

I had another busy week with everything going on at my school and my son's school leading up to Halloween and two days of a student holiday.  After doing last week's post, I realized that this would be fun to try for a few weeks...of course, you might get sick of the fact that this list often repeats itself.  But I am always settled on saving money and making sure that I fit in all of the things that we need to do in order to save money in a week so I think that this will help me to hold myself accountable.  I also spent the weekend doing two loads of laundry and washing a ton of dishes.  I was hoping to get more baking done on Sunday but all those dishes had me a little hesitant to make more dishes which is the reason that I didn't bake a batch of cookies.  Isn't it always the case that I wanted to do more then I got done.

Here is what I did this week to save a little money:

1. Made Sugar Cookies:

We were having a party at my school on Friday and we were going to have the kids decorate sugar cookies for their work time and snack.  Two families sent in cookies but they were really different so I went home and copied the one cookies so that we would have enough.  I made a whole batch and we didn't use that many so we had lots.  I grabbed some frosting and sprinkles and we decorated our own cookies at home too!!

2. Went to the Library and Got Our Reserve Books and Even More:

We had to return our last Magic Tree House CD which we had in the car all week.  We picked up our massive amount off the reserve shelf.  My son had 4 books and a CD set for the next Magic Tree House.  I had two books which I wasn't expecting that came off my reserve list too.  While we were there, my son found a friend from school and they ended up playing with a puzzle and turning another puzzle into a game.  They had a blast and we got to grab some books that we both really wanted to read.

3. Got Free Papers at the Library:

Super excited that they had the papers already when we got there at 4:30.  I have stopped checking on Friday because the papers are never in but I was so excited to get them especially because there were four coupon inserts.

4. Got Lots of Free Coupons and Cut them:

I was so excited to see the four inserts in this months papers but I was super backed up on clipping all my coupons.  I spent the day Saturday sorting and clipping lots of coupon inserts including a few old ones that I had that needed to get sorted with the rest of the inserts.  I went through my coupon basket and took out all the coupons that expired in October and before.  I added all my new envelopes and finished with the last two inserts on Sunday morning.  All that organization and coupons are going to save us tons of money.

5. Worked at Book Fair at Son's School:

I worked at my son's school and got 10% off on books that he wanted.  He wrote a list of all the books that he wanted to read and buy.  I normally pick a few that he can buy and do it for him but things time I picked up all the books on his list and some different options of the ones that he picked that he hadn't seen.  I told him that he would have $20 to spend and he picked out the two books he wanted and with my discount, he spent $18 on these two books.

 

6. Make Blueberry Lemon Scones:

I was trying to figure out what to make for Saturday morning before soccer and I ended up with these scones.  I have frozen blueberries that my mom brought me from her blueberry picking last year.  I used lemon zest and True Lemon to pop up the lemon flavor from the raspberry lemon yogurt.  I had a package of oats from another yogurt which I sprinkled on my end.  My husband doesn't like those so I didn't put them on the whole thing.  They were super tasty and we got to eat the leftovers on Sunday morning.

7. Make Loaf of Banana Bread:

My gave my husband the option this week to have applesauce bread, pumpkin bread or banana bread.  My husband picked banana bread so I thawed the bananas and made him the loaf for his breakfast treat for the week.

8. Went Trick Or Treating:

My son got lots of candy which will last us for many desserts to come.  Check out his haul!! He sorted out all the candy that he didn't like so that mom and dad got to eat some too :)  We got lots of exercise walking all over the place and he got some candy and chips so he was happy and exhausted.

 9. Made Dinner All Week Except Halloween:

I made homemade fries to go with my son's favorite chicken fries from Aldi and my husbands new favorite which is popcorn chicken mixed in the Franks Wing Sauce I got at Harris Teeter.  We used lots of leftovers and made a meal of them with taquitos for leftover night.  We usually get pizza on Halloween as part of the special day.  We had soccer and then had an early dinner of our $5 Little Caesars Pizza.  Sunday night was breakfast for dinner night where I cut up the last of the red potatoes to make diced hash browns.  I had both pancakes and waffles made ahead and frozen.  My husband also had eggs and a grilled roast beef sandwich.  I used the free noodles, free sauce and free pre-cooked chicken and made a quick stir fry which after we finished, my husband said was amazing....good thing because we have a ton of it!!  I made mac and cheese for my son with french dip sloppy joes for us with some cooked ground beef out of the freezer.  YUM!  We followed the meal plan and enjoyed lots of food this week for the last week of the month.

10. Made Pancake and Waffle Mix:

I make my own mixes so that I can have them ready just like the store bought version in my cupboard so I mix them when I get low.  It is great because I don't have a bunch of pre-made boxes all over the kitchen and I can reuse the Tupperware container.

11. Made Ice Tea:

I make a pitcher of ice tea sweetened with a little sugar everyday (and drink the whole container in one day).  It is a great and thrifty treat for me which I bring to work in my reusable cup.  I also bring one or two other containers to refill my cup when I run out which I keep in my cooler with my ice packs that I got at CVS at the end of the summer sale.  The big bonus is that I use family size tea bags so I only need one and I usually get the tea bags free at Harris Teeter where there is a sale and coupon.

12. Make a Loaf of Homemade Sandwich Bread:

I make a loaf of bread every Sunday or Monday depending on how much bread is leftover after the weekend to have enough bread for the weekend. 

13. Made Chocolate Chip Cookies:

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies so that we would stay out of my son's candy.  Mission accomplished... we were in the cookies instead.

14. Made Garlic Bread Packets:

I used the ends of the bread to butter and put garlic salt on and wrapped in foil so that I can stick in the oven or toaster oven when pasta night comes so that I don't have to make any garlic bread.  It is super easy to do ahead of time and saves time in the kitchen when you need it most.

15. Made Pizza Bites:

I made a batch of garlic pizza bites with my last box of Bisquick that I got for free at Harris Teeter.  I used the last of the cooked sausage in the freezer, some cut up pepperoni and some cheese that I had grated from the fridge.  These are super easy and I will have them for a family meal to add to dinner without having to make them the night of.  They are super easy to make and freeze!

16. Make Oyster Crackers: 

My husband loves to take the seasoned oyster crackers to work with his lunch and eat them for snacks so I grabbed two more bags and made them quickly on Wednesday afternoon.

17. Made Popcorn:

I made popcorn for snacks for my son and myself.  YUM!  We both enjoyed getting back to our popcorn snacks.  Whenever I make it in the morning, my son always wants to eat it fresh.  He had a cup after eating his oatmeal breakfast.  

My husband hung up the towel bar, toilet paper holder, and towel ring in the guest bathroom that we finished.  Super excited to have those checked off the list before we have a month of visitors using that bathroom.  My mother in law is coming and then my cousin and then my mom so the bathroom with get a lot more use then just by my little man.  He also painted the edge of the wall near the new chair rail that he finished installing because I wanted it gold like the rest of the top of the room.  It was white but I thought that little inch more made the chair rail pop.  Don't you think that it looks good?

My little man put together a new set of Megablocks Skylanders which my mother bought him at the consignment sale for $5.  Most of the packages inside were still in bag so it was totally brand new and brand new to him at a great price.  It was super entertaining and a special treat for him for a super cheap price. 

We had a bunch of thrifty fun!!  I hope that you had a thrifty week too!  

What did you do this week to save money??