5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1.  Planned a trip to the local zoo with my sister, nephew and Kid # 5. When we got there we discovered it was "free" day. I put $5 in the donation box.

2. I bought to Christmas presents both of which were on clearence. Total spent around $14.

3. Inventoried my freezers and made a menu based on it for the next 2 weeks

4. Painted my downstairs bathroom using leftover paint from another room. Cutting the cost a little bit of our shower project

5. Took my dog for her annual check up and paid cash for the visit with money we budgeted. 

Cash is king :)

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

  

1. Kid # 3 had her wisdom teeth removed this week. Our out of pocket expense which included the  consultation visit, the removal and prescriptions was $973.95. We paid cash!  There will be no worries about how to pay the bill later! Cash is king! 

2. The hubby needed a new belt. We had some gift cards for JC Penney. He ended up with 2 belts for free using our gift cards.

3. I haven't had to put gas in my card in 14 days. Woohoo for summer and being able to stay home.

4. I made some "smoothie bags" for the freezer. I used fruit and spinach that needed used up so it didn't go to waste. This makes my breakfast time easier

5. I made my grandson, who turned 1 on June 19th, a shirt to wear for his birthday party. It was cheaper then buying one and fun to make too! 

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. I stuck to my grocery list and only bought items we really needed.

2. I used my Checkout51 and Receipt Hog apps to record my grocery shopping and earn cash/ coins hopefully to use for our Christmas shopping.

3. Hung my laundry on the clothesline. The couple times I did use the dryer I waited until night time and dried everything one load after another.

4. Ran my dishwasher at night also and only when full

5. Made all the snacks we have eaten this week from items we already had. 

Debt Update

Well here we are halfway through the year and it appears we are right on track to pay off our car loan by the end of the year!!  Woohoo!!

The summer months are usually our most expensive so hopefully we will be able to keep those in check.

Right now we are having some work done in our basement shower.  It was not poperly installed and had developed a leak.  We are having it rebuilt and paying cash for the project!  Any money left over from the shower project will be put towards the car loan.

A few days ago I found this printable on Pinterest.  I have it hanging on my frig to help keep us motivated :)

Here is the blog the printable orginally came from, Debt Free Charts , in case you all might want one for yourself.  There are many other printables on the blog too :)

I really need to set down and do a menu plan to help keep the grocery spending in check.  So far we are staying on budget but I think we could probably do better with a plan.

Hopefully the rest of you are doing well this summer too :)

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. I have been participating in a yard sale with my daughter in law and her sister for the last 2 days. I priced my things mainly to get rid of and didn't have a ton of stuff but have still made $70 and have one more day to go.

2. We have ate all our leftovers this week

3. I earned a $5 Amazon gift code from Swagbucks which I will be saving for Christmas gift shopping.

4. We have turned off the air and used fans for the last few days since the weather has been cooler outside

5. I used my Receipt Hog app to earn points on some shopping receipts and also my Checkout51 app. Hoping to earn some more gift cards to use for Christmas shopping!

Ice Cream Cake

Here is a picture of the ice cream cake I made Kid # 5 for her birthday on Friday.

I have made several of these and have lost my orginal recipe so I am just gonna try to explain how I made it and then if anyone has questions feel free to ask them in the comments :)

First I went to Walmart and bought the 2 quart ( I think that is what they are) boxes of Great Value ice cream.  I bought one each of chocolate and vanilla.  I also bought one package of Great Value sandwich cookies.  The ones like Oreos.

Next I took a spring form pan, you know like you use for cheese cake, and used half the chocolate ice cream to put a layer on the bottom ( see picture above).  You have to let the ice cream soften so it can be spread but not to soft.  I did this on Thursday morning and then stuck the pan in the freezer 

with a plate sitting under it.

Thursday after noon I made this Chocolate Syrup .  While it was cooling I put my chocolate sandwich cookies through the food processer until crumbly then dumped them in a bowl and set aside until the chocolate syrup was cool.

When the chocolate syrup was room temperature I mixed about half of it into the sandwich cookies crumbs until the crumbs are well coated.  I then spread that on top of the chocolate ice cream and put it back in the freezer.

Friday morning I added half the box of vanilla ice cream on top of the cookie/syrup mixture and again put it back in the freezer.  Friday afternoon I drizzled a small amount of chocolate syrup over the top of the vanilla ice cream and spread it around a little, use your own judgement here.  Again back into the freezer until we were ready to do the birthday celebrating.

In the past I have left off the chocolate syrup on the top and have done Cool Whip instead.   I have also done frosting and chocolate and caramel sauce drizzle. I have also added caramel sauce to the middle layer after using the sandwich cookie crumbs.  Lots of options to do here.....

We have 3 days left of school and then we will be on summer vacation.  I hope to be back to regular posting very soon :)