Happy Thursday! It’s been a busy week. Two of Robert’s friends turned 2 yesterday and another one of my friends had a new baby! Lots of fun non-frugal things to report.
Each week I do a quick roundup of the thrifty and frugal things I’ve been up to. It’s also a good time for me to reflect on my week and figure out how I can save even more money in the future. Here my latest edition of Thrifty Thursday.
Changed up my wreath
I’m still in love with my burlap wreath. This has by far been the best multipurpose wreath I’ve ever had. Yesterday I removed the shamrocks to replace them with Easter eggs.
I love how easy it is to add holiday décor. The shamrocks were put on with Velcro and the eggs are on with wire that I pushed through the burlap.
Another mom’s morning out
I was able to sign up for another $5 MMO through our YMCA. I’m in love with this program!
I dropped off Robert and headed to Target to pick up some last minute items for a birthday present. Instead of spending too much money I was able to buy everything I needed from the clearance racks.
Since I spent money on craft supplies, I didn’t get a Starbucks drink. Speaking of Starbucks, a nice man bought my drink for me on Tuesday. Not is a flirty way, he did it because he said he missed his grandkids and he liked talking to Robert while we were waiting in line.
Caught up on my freebie websites
I had a little extra time on Monday during Robert’s nap so I sat down and caught up on all my word of mouth marketing websites. It took my about 20 minutes and I hope it will allow me to get more freebies soon.
On budget!
After spending $45 over budget last week, I was pretty excited to be right on budget this week. I spent $99.96 on groceries for the week at Trader Joe’s. That even included some pretty flowers! I’m working on a post to walk you through how I spend around $100 each week at the grocery store. It requires a lot of careful planning.
Any thrifty finds to share this week?
Good job Hannah! Leaving Target with a less than $100 invoice… much less a less than $5 invoice can be a huge challenge, so way to go! I made myself look away from their Dollar Buys section yesterday but I did make a beeline for their grocery clearance shelf.
It was very nice of that man to buy you a drink because he missed his grandkids. I started tipping people where I usually don’t tip (for Chinese take-out pick-up orders and at Domino’s when I do carry-out) because my 2 older sons have part-time jobs in the food industry and I miss them and know how little they make. Yesterday I left a 30% tip for the waitress at Steak’n Shake (I would usually leave 20%) because she was named “Natalie” and was very nice. I rarely meet other people with my first name!
I went back to read your post about the word of mouth marketing sites. I was laughing that you got condoms from PinchMe when you’;re pregnant. So funny! This is when you have to wonder what they do with all the data that you give them when you sign up because they seem to only use 1 piece of information (you’re in your childbearing years) to decide which freebies to send you. As for me, I’ve been both mystified and happy with them because even if they only send sample sizes, they keep on telling me that I qualify for sample boxes and every time it’s for Gevalia coffee and PureVia sweetener, 2 products that I actually buy regularly. I did fill out the survey after I got the first free samples and once in a while I’ll answer some of the polls that other people have created so maybe that’s why I keep on qualifying without really doing anything else. This month they notified me 2 different times that I qualified for a “box”, and I’m wondering if I’ll receive all 3 sets of samples.
I did sign up for Mystery Shopping last year (a friend who does it referred me) but after doing 3-4 visits, I stopped. The pay-off for the locations offerent in my rural neck of the woods just wasn’t worth it compared to the time I had to spend prepping for the visits, doing the actual visits and then filling out extremely detailed surveys. I think I made made $50 from it. I did get some free merchandise/food on top of the cash but nothing to crow about.
My favorite way to earn freebies is to use Swagbucks to earn Amazon (and other) gift cards. It takes almost no effort and I’ve earned $205 in gift cards from them since the end of last September.
I’d love to see what you get for $100 a week at Trader Joe’s! Will you confirm or deny something for me? A commenter on another blog told me that all TJ’s are out of their brand of coconut oil because they are having problems sorting it. Is that true? Greg will be going by a TJ in a couple of weeks so if it’s NOT true, I’d have him stop by and stock up on coconut oil and a couple of other things for me. Thanks!
Lastly, what does the “commentluv” button do? It’s there when I write a comment, right above “notify me of follow-up comments by email” but I have no idea of what enabling it actually does.
I have GOT to start using Swagbucks more. I use them, but not to the full extent that I could.
I don’t know about the TJ’s coconut oil. We buy the big coconut oil jar from Costco. It is around $15 for 1.5 L. It’s the cheapest I’ve ever seen coconut oil anywhere. I don’t currently belong to Costco, but I have friends that pick it up for me. I’ll look out for it at TJ’s next time I go and let you know!
The commentluv button is for bloggers to add a link to their latest blog posts.
I’m very excited about reading your shopping post! I need to reduce our shopping bill. This week I was happy that I was able to get one shopping trip to last for two nights of dinner. I know I have to start planning better! That wreath is awesome, I love it when you can use one decoration to last the whole year!
Celebrate the small victories! The planning takes a long time to get used to.
I’m glad you like the wreath! I’ve had so much fun changing it out. I need to figure out what to do with it once Easter is over.
Hannah I love your wreath! I’ll pay you to make me one! I’m not crafty like that