Christmas Cards

Last year I got together my my cousins and made Christmas cards.
I had basic supplies, and one cousin used to do scrapbooking, so plenty of fun tools from her.
I have some cards left over, and I have a coupons for photos cards this year.
The biggest expense will be postage, but it is worth it.
Great opportunity to spend time with family and friends.
My faves are the thumbprint ones and the ones that say "JOY"

Teacher's gift

Got an email from my son's Homeroom Mom collecting money for a Teacher gift.
Easy Peasy, just send in cash, no thinking and you are done.
8-10 dollars, reasonable.
However, while at Trader Joes the other day, we saw the Trader Joe Joe's cookies.
My son though it would be a nice teacher gift.  I agreed.
They are a specialty item, only in store this time of year.  They sell out fast.
And if the teacher doesn't like them, she can re-gift.  They are popular around these parts.
Cost of teacher gift. $2.99, a 5 to 7 dollars savings
Way to go Son

Kickin' it old school

Remember making these?
Old magazine folded to make a Christmas tree.
When I was young we used the Readers Digest
Good project for the son.  He can paint it and glue beads on it.
I kind of like it the way it is.

The Big Cheese

I love the convenience of those pre -shredded cheeses. You can freeze them and pull them out when you need them.
BUT we all know prepackaged food is pricey and well...you can make it yourself.
So I did.  I bought block cheese when on sale and just cut it into chunks and threw into my food processor (That was given to me) 
Doesn't have the professional look, but it is just fine for making Mac n Cheese, casseroles, pizza, anything for which you need shredded cheese.
I cut the labels off of the packages and taped them to the plastic bags

November Groceries

I last shopped 4 weeks ago.  I was hoping to make it to 5.
However, coffee was on sale this week and I had coupons to match.  Couldn't pass it up
My total before the store card was  285.02
After store card and store coupons  176.23
After Manufacturer and special high dollar coupons  145.41
Picture shows 5 dollar off coupons, that is what really helped me this month

Remember I had to save 25.00 because I went over last month.  I still need to get bread at a discount store and will need milk in a week or so, plus some special foods for Thanksgiving.  I can still get those things and be 25.00 under.

Here is a picture of some of the items going into the pantry

Coffee, coffee and  more coffee, 4 boxes of cereal, 3 bags Dutch noodles, pasta sauce, and canned goods, and some treats for my boys...and more

Oh Yes I Did

Yes I reused.
While washing dishes, my dish cloth needed a bit of umph
I checked under the sink and YES, a mesh bag from veggies I saved.

The perfect scrubby.  Got the crockpot clean.

These dish cloths are YEARS old.  The orange mesh is from veggies and makes a perfect scrubby

Not so frugal

Not so frugal...done in a frugal way.
I had one of those "jewelry parties"
It was fun, friends over, drinks and desserts.

Buying jewelry is not a frugal thing to do, but throwing the party was.
1) It had a theme.  Which worked really well for me.  A CHOCOLATE theme, and it was the 1st weekend after Halloween, so Chocolate was cheap.
2)  It was a drinks and dessert evening.  Had all the ingredients to make a few choc. theme desserts so no money spent there.
3)  My money was spent on alcohol, but since I saved everywhere else, it was no problem.  Plus I only offered 2 different Themed drinks. Chocolate wine and a Chocolate Martini.
4) Most important, I got to see friends and they had a good night out
5)  The little money I put into it, I got back in free jewelry.
6) And because I threw a Party, one of my friends gets credit towards jewelry from her party I attended.  Truly a win win.