Happy Friday everyone! I hope you had a wonderful week. This weekend we will be celebrating my son‘s third birthday with homemade pizza and cupcakes, per his request. So of course we had to test out the pizza dough recipe this week to make sure it was good enough for his party 😉
1. We decided to go out to the Olympic Peninsula again Saturday night, but instead of renting an Airbnb, we decided to go camping in the back of my husband’s truck. The low was in the high 30s, and it was rainy and windy off and on overnight, but we were pretty snug and completely dry in the back of the truck. The goal for the truck canopy and air mattress was to do more camping during the winter instead of renting pricier places, and I’d say we are making that happen. We really love exploring over the weekend, but rentals can add up quickly, so in order to keep adventuring as much this year as we did last year, we have to keep things cheap or we won’t hit our big 2018 financial goal.
Even better, I found out that Fort Worden has winter rates for their campsites that are considerably less than their summer rates, and on top of that, there are certain sites that are cheaper than others. Since it was January and very few people were in the campground in the first place, we decided to just go for the cheapest option, which was only $25.
We had another fabulous weekend, and even with eating a picnic of takeout Thai food in the back of the truck, we spent less for the whole weekend then we could have on one house rental. We are now looking into the possibility of an electric blanket to use so we can sleep in the truck even when it gets below freezing. If anyone has a suggestion for which blanket we should buy, please send it my way!
2. Speaking of homemade pizza, I ran out of yeast this week. I had bought a small number of packets before Christmas because I had never used used before, and I wanted to make sure that I would actually use it. I’m happy to report that I have been baking something needing used almost every week these days – from pizza crust to garlic naan to tortillas.
Soon I plan to try my hand at bread and bagels as well. I’ve been cooking a lot for a while now, but baking is still very new to me. So far, so good. Everything has turned out so much tastier than store-bought and it is so much cheaper too. Best of all, there is no packaging waste when I make it myself.
3. After Budget Epicurean wrote about how she’s helped her younger sister set up a retirement account, I’ve started badgering my 18-year-old brother about setting up a Roth IRA. He is employed part time while going to school, so he is in the perfect place to be putting even a tiny bit of money into one. He’s at the age where he seriously has time on his side, and I want to help him as best I can. Maybe I can even get him to read my letter to my 15-year-old self.
4. I took my grandmother to the grocery store twice this week to pick up a few things. Yesterday she wanted a salad and it was buy one get one free, so she gave me the second one because she wouldn’t eat them both in time.
I also showed her the 99¢ produce bin that I’ve been loving lately, and she got a bag of bell peppers for herself and one bag for me (4 for 99¢!). She wouldn’t let me pay for either the salad or the bell peppers as a thank you for taking her. I enjoyed the rare one on one time with her, and I got some free groceries out of the deal.
5. We ate out of the freezer a couple more times this week (including the last of the steaks from the quarter cow we bought back in July) and resisted adding anything new back in. We are getting close to actually emptying the freezer for the first time since we bought it (via credit card points, 4 or 5 years ago). It needs a serious defrosting, and then I’m looking forward to finally making ahead freezer meals for the first time in my life.
How did your week go? Do you have any great frugal wins to share? I’d love to hear all about them!