My husband’s project at work has mostly come to a close this month, so he’s been getting home at a much more reasonable hours these days (4PM – 4:30PM instead of 6PM when he leaves before 6AM). It’s been really nice having him home more and we’ve gotten to enjoy our afternoons together as a family instead of just two of us until dinner time.
Things will ramp up again in a few more months, but we’re really enjoying the extra time with him for now. It does make me long for the kind of job that had him working a regular 40 hours every week, but that’s just not construction.
1. My friend sent me a scoby starter and I FINALLY started to ferment my very own kombucha for the first time. We shall see how it turns out, but I’m pretty excited to actually be making the attempt as it was something on my “to try” list for years now. I love kombucha, but it is so expensive to buy from the store, so I don’t drink it very often these days.
I don’t handle caffeine well, so I picked out some really low caffeine green tea to use for the brew based on recommendations from a tea shop, so hopefully that won’t mess it up. I’ll report back once I get to try it next week 🙂
2. It was SEVENTY DEGREES AND SUNNY on Tuesday, which is basically unheard of for early March. We took full advantage of the weather and walked to the park for a picnic dinner. As always, we brought real plates and silverware as well as our unpaper towels, even though we were out at the park.
After dinner, we walked over to the baseball fields and our son watched some older kids practice for a good half an hour, which made my softball player heart happy. Two more springs until he can start playing t-ball! We will never force him into a sport or activity that he doesn’t want to do, but for now, he says he wants to play baseball like his mama.
All in all, it was a seriously wonderful – and free – evening and got us really longing for spring and warmer weather (since it dropped into the 50s and started raining the next day).
3. The discount produce section wins again! This time with a bag of potatoes and a huge bag of apples. Our son eats an apple most days, and I will take them to work regularly, so I was pretty darn excited to see them for 99¢.
4. We had dinner with my parents on Wednesday night. Since my mother and grandmother watch our son that day, we’ve gotten into the habit of just staying for dinner when we pick him up. They generally pay for dinner (though occasionally they’ll let us pitch in), but we do usually help with the prep work.
This week, we had homemade burgers and sweet potato fries. It was a tasty meal and cost a fraction of the price of going out to dinner with all seven of us (my youngest brother is 18 and still lives at home).
5. I didn’t buy lunch again this week, so my streak continues from at least October when I first started logging my Friday Frugal Five. I did get a nice fancy work lunch on Wednesday (and will be going to another one today), so I did get some tasty meals during the work week.
Now that I’ve refused to buy my own lunch out for the past five months, I’ve come to seriously appreciate the meals that are covered by work. The food near work is absolutely fabulous, so it is a big treat when I do get a meal. If we just had run of the meal fast food places nearby, I might not be so tempted, but as there are some seriously good restaurants nearby, I still have to fight the draw of lunch out even though it’s been months and months.
Apparently this past week has been all about frugal food choices – which does make sense since I’ve been so focused on our grocery budget. It’s these kinds of choices that will make it so we continue to spend so much less than we used to, while still having some great meals.
What was the weather like in your area this past week? What’s your favorite outside activity as the weather starts to get nicer again?