Frugal Things I Did Last Week

Sweet Evangeline

This past week has been busy but filled with fun!  Here are a few of the things we did to save money last week:

My top frugal thing from last week was probably the shower that I threw a shower for my sister-in-law to be.  This was my first time ever throwing a shower and wow did I learn a lot.  :)  It was a lot of fun but also fairly time consuming.  I am really excited to welcome Amber into our family.  Thankfully I was able to borrow tons of beautiful silk flower decorations from a friend who used the same colors in her wedding.  I also borrowed tablecloths from 3 different people so I didn't have to purchase any.  We did use paper plates and napkins but everything else was reusable.  We used real silverware and mason jars.  I taught myself how to make a Cupcake Wedding Dress Cake by watching YouTube instead of purchasing an expensive cake from the bakery.  You can see more pictures and details for the shower here.

The Dessert Table at Amber's Shower is a good example of how having a nice party doesn't have to cost a fortune.  The silk flowers and silk white fabric in the vase was borrowed.  The vase I had on hand.  I purchased the cupcake tower from amazon months ago when it hit rock bottom.  There is a purple tablecloth underneath and a lace tablecloth on top-both of which were borrowed.  The cupcake wrappers were purchased on clearance at JoAnns.  The ribbon on the cupcake dress was purchased using a coupon.  :)  My mother purchased the napkins and paper plates.

A friend hosted a busy bag swap at her house.  I made Felt Cupcake Busy Bags.  I had all of the felt on hand so this didn't even cost anything out of pocket.  Each attendee took supplies to make enough busy bags for everyone in attendance and then we swapped at the end of the party.  It was so much fun and I love having new games and activities for Elijah. 

I passed on a bag of boy clothes and toys to a friend. 

I breastfed my baby all week. 

I planted more flowers, romaine lettuce, and sweet onion seeds in the float bed. 

I received a Staples rebate check.  We are depositing this into our account and sending the extra $ towards the bill for Evangeline's birth.  Our goal is to pay this off by the end of April if possible.  I have already negotiated large discounts on almost all of the bills relating to her birth so now we just need to pay them off! 

My mom gifted us with a huge bag of farm raised beef.  Such a treat! 

I ordered a free subscription to Horse and Rider from Mercury Magazines for my sister.

I sold 3 books on amazon for Brandon.  We recently went through our books and pulled out a pile to sell.  So far I have listed 20 of them and sold 5.  We have probably only made a couple of dollars but everything adds up! 

I received a calendar from Shutterfly that was free.  I did have to pay around $7 for shipping but the calendar is really nice!  (I had actually made the calendar in December and I couldn't get the coupon code to work at that time.)  It was fun to surprise Brandon with a "just because gift." 

I tagged along to a conference with the happy hubby.  We didn't have to pay for the conference or the hotel so this was a real treat! 

What frugal things did you do last week?