Sunday: Today was the big day - the day of THE Super Bowl party. Sure, there were things that I purchased for the party - balloon bouquets, commercial bingo cards and prizes and, of course, some of the food, including the very important Super Bowl cakes (the only party cakes I ever purchase). Those few new things are worth it because the non-edible items will be good for future use as we do this football thing a lot. Many of the things used were items that we had on hand - football shaped serving dishes, Carolina blue serving dishes, Broncos cup, "football turf", pretzels that I covered in chocolate with football accents (all on hand), the oyster snack crackers (again all ingredients on hand) and more. Fantastic! And there will be many leftovers which will be utilized throughout the week. And to top it all off we had fun at home with friends. Now we're thinking that an Oscar party would be a fun followup.
Christian will be heading to South Korea soon. He searched around and was rewarded with a great deal on an airline ticket; it is less than half of what we paid for either ticket we purchased to Korea a couple of years ago!
Monday: Maceo and Bishop are homeschooled which can be financially costly but not if one is creative and diligent in looking for opportunity. Bishop furthered his education by beginning an internship with a local baker and caterer. We have a friend who has her own business as a a baker and caterer and who knows that Bishop is highly interested in the culinary arts. We asked if she might be willing to take him on as an intern and she readily agreed. Today Bishop began that internship. Bishop attended scouts today and we also consider it to be a frugal part of his education plan. Maceo continues his education with preparing for the upcoming production of Aladdin Jr. To be part of a community theatre is an amazing experience for him and it is hours upon hours of free hands-on education.
Today I rented a van in preparation of my upcoming trip to D.C. I used a discount code offered by my bank and a discount code found on Ebates. I received a sizable discount for paying for it in its entirety in advance. Then, to top it all off, I went through ebates and will get 3% of my purchase back and I activated swagbucks shop and earn which will get me 2 swagbucks per dollar spent. It took some time to figure out what all was available but that was time well spent as I saved approximately $450.
For meals I started out strong serving a choice of a breakfast bagel sandwich or breakfast burritos; however, poor planning led to ordering pizza later in the day. I did use special discounts and reward plan when ordering the pizza. But I need to plan, so for tomorrow....
breakfast: bagels and smoothies
lunch: pizza and leftovers
dinner: Shrove Tuesday pancakes and bacon and fresh oj
Tuesday: For lunch I made pizza leftovers supreme pizza. I scrounged around in the fridge to find ways to make and top pizza. I had one packet of quick yeast for one pizza, then for the other pizza I used frozen bread dough. The pizza's sauce was marinara leftover from the Super Bowl meatballs. I found a smidge of green chile and a partial package of pepperoni, one italian sausage then some mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. I served this pizza along with leftover Super Bowl chicken wings. Rather than making the pancakes we ended up grazing on the pizza and wings all day, along with leftover Super Bowl cake.
In the evening Maceo went to rehearsal and Bishop and I went to a high school band concert that was free and highly entertaining.
It was almost a no spend day but I ended up spending 3 dollars at Steak and Shake having hot chocolate with Bishop before the concert. Money well spent.
Saturday: I made hotel reservations for our travels. I used my military discount and rewards cards to get the best deal.
I did some shopping for groceries. I found stew meat and pork chops on discount so I nabbed them.
I planned ahead and got some stuff that will be easy for Maceo to feed himself and will hopefully keep him from using too much cash while we are gone.
I planned ahead for Bishop and I as well. I have begun to set aside snacks and plan lunches for our drive - meat, cheese and crackers, turkey salad sandwiches, jars of tea, chocolate covered pretzels, cookie, veggies, chips and guacamole, etc.
I paid bills via the computer and I paid extra on a small loan.
I am not sure what happened to a couple of my days, I didn't make notes and I really can't remember, but I am, overall, pleased with my week. Christian and I probably saved around $1500 by taking the time to look around for discounts and such. We are pleased.
Today I rented a van in preparation of my upcoming trip to D.C. I used a discount code offered by my bank and a discount code found on Ebates. I received a sizable discount for paying for it in its entirety in advance. Then, to top it all off, I went through ebates and will get 3% of my purchase back and I activated swagbucks shop and earn which will get me 2 swagbucks per dollar spent. It took some time to figure out what all was available but that was time well spent as I saved approximately $450.
For meals I started out strong serving a choice of a breakfast bagel sandwich or breakfast burritos; however, poor planning led to ordering pizza later in the day. I did use special discounts and reward plan when ordering the pizza. But I need to plan, so for tomorrow....
breakfast: bagels and smoothies
lunch: pizza and leftovers
dinner: Shrove Tuesday pancakes and bacon and fresh oj
Tuesday: For lunch I made pizza leftovers supreme pizza. I scrounged around in the fridge to find ways to make and top pizza. I had one packet of quick yeast for one pizza, then for the other pizza I used frozen bread dough. The pizza's sauce was marinara leftover from the Super Bowl meatballs. I found a smidge of green chile and a partial package of pepperoni, one italian sausage then some mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. I served this pizza along with leftover Super Bowl chicken wings. Rather than making the pancakes we ended up grazing on the pizza and wings all day, along with leftover Super Bowl cake.
In the evening Maceo went to rehearsal and Bishop and I went to a high school band concert that was free and highly entertaining.
It was almost a no spend day but I ended up spending 3 dollars at Steak and Shake having hot chocolate with Bishop before the concert. Money well spent.
Saturday: I made hotel reservations for our travels. I used my military discount and rewards cards to get the best deal.
I did some shopping for groceries. I found stew meat and pork chops on discount so I nabbed them.
I planned ahead and got some stuff that will be easy for Maceo to feed himself and will hopefully keep him from using too much cash while we are gone.
I planned ahead for Bishop and I as well. I have begun to set aside snacks and plan lunches for our drive - meat, cheese and crackers, turkey salad sandwiches, jars of tea, chocolate covered pretzels, cookie, veggies, chips and guacamole, etc.
I paid bills via the computer and I paid extra on a small loan.
I am not sure what happened to a couple of my days, I didn't make notes and I really can't remember, but I am, overall, pleased with my week. Christian and I probably saved around $1500 by taking the time to look around for discounts and such. We are pleased.
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