1. Renovations
While my children were gone this past week visiting their grandparents, I completed a few home improvement projects that have been piling up on my to do list. I am counting these towards my frugal accomplishments because doing them myself saved me a ton of money. My main projects I completed were to replace the door knobs in my daughter’s bedroom with ones that actually work, painted my daughter’s door and dresser (and bought new pulls to match), replaced our back door’s knob with a new keyed entry knob (just in case our front door has issues or we break off a key…yes I worry), and touched up paint in our living room/stairway. **I was extremely excited to have lucked out and color matched the exact same color as the existing paint and only had to buy a small can of paint instead of two gallons. This saved me a lot of money and precious time because I did not have to paint the entire living room again.
2. Free necklace
Lane Bryant sends me a $15 off of a $15 purchase coupon every couple of months for some reason. So this past week, I redeemed one to get this necklace for absolutely free. It is a little fancy for me, but maybe Emma can wear it for a banquet in the future??
3. Homeschool Books
Our homeschool co-op has a lending library that is simply wonderful. In addition to borrowing books, I love that I can actually see what kind of questions/material each type of curriculum offers before I commit to trying it out for our school year. This week I picked up a Saxon Math book and an Anatomy book to use this upcoming year. This saved me at least $50 and the best news is that if I do not like them I can easily switch them out with other books in the library and don’t have to worry about reselling them to recoup the costs. **I try to keep our homeschooling costs to less than $100 each year, which is mainly doable thanks to this wonderful library
4. Yard sale finds
My mom picked up some beautiful metal plant stands at a yard sale she went to last week for me. I had previously priced similar plant stands at Home Depot for $10-$20 so I was thrilled to get all four of these stands for just $4 total. The lady even threw in an aloe plant that she did not want for free. **Thanks Mama!
5. Chase reward points
This summer I am earning 5% cash back at grocery stores, so I have racked up over $41 in reward points this past month. **I also put every bill or expense I can on the credit card to maximize my rewards point earnings and make sure to pay it off each month to avoid interest fees.
The Thrifty Educator 