Successes:
1. I made a menu plan, grocery list, and grocery shop before Carey had to go back to work. Since we didn't buy my car till his last day home, I didn't want to get caught with an empty fridge and pantry and no transportation if things didn't work out on the purchase.
2. On my own today, did I spend my first day of vehicular freedom out cruising the highways in my new ride using gasoline? No. I had everything I needed at home, so I stayed home and read, played with Rudy, wrote some drafts of blog posts, and ate healthy. Never left the house except to go sit in the sun for awhile.
3. I gave Carey a rebuilt Kindle Keyboard for Christmas; he's always been sure he didn't need one, but I didn't know what else to get him this year. I bought the rebuilt older model because I love mine, and I thought we should both have the same model for consistency. I originally put four baseball books on it, and he mentioned this week that he's on the last one. Before he went back to work, I found and downloaded a couple of free ebooks (espionage fiction) that had a lot of good reviews so he's set again for awhile.
4. Our quilt retreat is coming up next month. Our fearless leader sent out an email with what each person's share of the rental would come to. My share was substantially less than everyone else's which had me scratching my head. I forgot that I had paid the deposit to hold our group's place on the calendar when I visited an open house event at the retreat facility last year. Woohoo for prepaid fun!
5. The new car should get substantially better gas mileage
than my previous one.
We did finance its purchase, but it was at a very low interest
rate. The rate of earnings by leaving our money invested
outpaces the interest rate we will pay on the loan.
I charged the substantial down payment to my credit card to
reap the reward points. As soon as it posts, I'll transfer
the money from checking to pay it off. I suppose I could
have asked the dealership if they would discount the
processing fee from the sales price if I paid with cash
versus credit, but I didn't.
Frugal From the Kitchen This Week:
Saturday: Virginia's Taco Soup
Sunday: Sunday family dinner at Kasey's
Monday: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Tuesday: *Chinese
Wednesday: pork chops, Hot Potato Salad, green beans
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Frito pie
(*not-frugal takeout or dinner out)
Woo Hoo for prepaid fun! That's just as nice as finding a gift card stashed in your purse that you'd forgotten all about. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteYes! That's exactly what it felt like. :)
DeleteThank you, also, for the Pecan Hummus recipe - can't wait to try it.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
DeleteQuilt retreats can so expensive so this must have come as a lovely surprise. I'm looking forward to hearing about your plans for it. Are you adding to your stash and is there a theme?
ReplyDeleteI really need to get started on the planning/packing. I want to work on quilts for my two grandsons who will be graduating this year and heading off to college. I have fabric and a pattern for one of them…he picked out a really simple ‘large half-square triangle star’ quilt in black and white. I have to decide on a pattern and fabric for the other one.
DeleteLuckily, my quilt group is really frugal, and we have opted to stay pretty close to home each time we go. Both of the locations we have stayed at are about 30 to 45 minutes away. We always opt to take our own groceries and cook for ourselves. We take our own breakfast, snacks, and evening sandwich/salad makings. We pair or group up and sign up to prepare/provide/clean up one main meal for the whole group on one day of the retreat, which we have at mid-day. This really keeps costs down, and no one is having to take time away from their projects every single day to work in the kitchen. Speaking for myself (as an introvert) working with other group members on planning and preparing meals has really helped me build deeper friendships with these women than if we just paid to have meals included by the retreat staff. And we get more sewing time than if we all had to take time to get presentable to go into town as a group to eat at restaurants.