Frugal Things I Did Last Week and A Peek Into Our Week

Our beautiful church covered in snow.  

Frugal Things I Did Last Week is back by request!  A few of you have asked where my "frugal things" post have been and now they are back.

Here are a few of the things we did to save money and enjoy life last week:

I enjoyed having a friend and her daughter over for dinner on Friday.  We had so much fun relaxing at home AND she taught me how to make a granny square!  I made a simple Chicken Almondine casserole and my friend brought dessert.

We enjoyed the beautiful snow from inside.  I pulled back the curtains and we watched it snow for hours curled up under warm blankets.  Eli ended up with an ear infection so we had to stay inside rather than play in the snow.

We enjoyed reading through a large stack of books from the library and listening to audio books.  I also watched Call The Midwife Season 3.  

We combined a number of errands in order to save gas and time.  I returned a number of items that we didn't end up using for our Christmas party at Michael's.  I also went to Costco to stock up on a variety of food items.  On our way home I always make sure to buy Costco gas!  It is almost twenty cents cheaper than any other store around.  I'm still dreaming of changing our shopping to bi-monthly instead of weekly.

I hand delivered a number of thank you notes.

I sewed the above lavender aromatherapy rice bag for my sister-in-law's birthday.  She's a cowgirl at heart so this fabric was perfect.

One of my dear friend's from college came up from TN for the weekend.  It was glorious!  She also worked tirelessly to teach me to crochet.  While she was here I crocheted an entire scarf for Eli and a scalloped edging on a fleece blanket for Eva.  I am so thankful that she was able to come.  I crocheted till my hand hurt and laughed until my belly ached!  We stayed in the whole time she was here and enjoyed talking for hours.  We are blessed to live in a really neat area of the country where we live in a beautiful rural setting yet close enough to partake of many of the city's offerings.  Last weekend was a great reminder that sometimes the best weekends are spent entirely at home.

One of the most exciting thing we did last week was to purchase a new to us van!  We have been saving for a long time and keeping an eye out for a good deal.  Thanks to some family members we came across a great deal on a Chrysler Town & Country.  The van  is such a blessing and we are absolutely in love.  Now we will have plenty of room to actually take along our belongings on road trips and I won't be so stressed every time we need to go on a trip.  Packing a tiny car with young children is very stressful because there is never room to pack all of the necessities.  I'm always having to decide between taking a stroller or a pack 'n play.  I'm also thankful that my youngest sister Bekah won't be so squished when she tags along with us on a trip.  

One of Evangeline's therapist gifted us with a box of kinetic sand.  The children have had fun all week playing with it using various kitchen utensils.

What frugal things did you do last week?


You might also enjoy seeing the frugal things I did last January here.