A Practical Walk

It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these! We had some friends visit over a weekend. They were our co-workers when we worked in West Africa, and very dear to us! Then shortly after they left, we had some family visiting for a couple of weeks. So, friends and family has been taking priority over “Frugal Five” posts!

Saved $100 by registering my kids early with NARHS. You get $50 off if you sign up for the early bird special, so two kids, I got $100 off.

Speaking of school, I’m also saving big bucks by purchasing curriculum from ebay instead of straight from the curriculum website. Once I have everything I should do a savings total.

The other day I was waiting for my daughter to finish an entrance exam for dual credits. I starting feeling like some coffee and a snack, so I headed down to Wal-Mart. What I really wanted was a black ice-coffee. But the one I found was over $5. Seemed pricey. Instead I went to the instant coffee section and picked up this coffee. After purchasing it (and a payday bar for each of us), I mixed some into the water I already had in the car. The whole jar of instant coffee was a couple dollars more than the already brewed coffee, but it’ll last much longer, so it was cheaper in the long run!

Our co-workers who I mentioned above that visited us, prefer to eat plant-based meals. So that made for a cheap meat-less menu while they were here! I made lentil shepherd’s pie, bean and rice bowls, bean taco salad, pasta salad with chick peas, and baked potatoes and sweet potatoes with beans.

While our family was local we spent lots of time together and most of the activities were cheap or even free! We only ate out once, and that was on Taco Tuesday, so it was a good deal. All the other meals we shared we cooked ourselves. We went to thrift stores, garage sales, parks, and a free museum. It was really special getting time together! A favorite activity of the teen cousins was walking down to the gas station for 89 cent fountain drinks. So thankful they got that time together!

What things have you done lately to save a buck or two?