5 Frugal Things, and the "C" Word

Just a note to say that I'll continue my "survivor" series next week, talking about caregiving, advocacy and self-care. Not necessarily more positive, but more helpful, I hope in some wayy.

That word being............Christmas???  I know, I know, we just left that place. It'll be another holiday soon and so on and so forth and la de dah! However, a couple crafty bloggers I'm following are having a Christmas project a month. Because well, Christmas (in January, and February, and...). Seriously though, it's a fun idea. One I am taking in a slightly different direction. While their projects are all (or mainly, I'm not sure yet) Christmas themed, mine will go in a different direction. I mean, If I can make Christmas tags, I can make Easter tags and Halloween Tags and Mother's Day tags. Because I never met a holiday that I didn't think was worth a celebration.

Because every holiday deserves it's own stuff, and because I like to play. And because with my "slower" schedule these days I have time to play. When and if I want. And even if I only end up with one Christmas tag and one Valentine's tag.

Meanwhile, after having been pretty much flat on my back for the week except for fine tuning Wednesday's painful post, not a whole lot has happened. I'm not even sure I can come up with five frugal things, but let's give it a try:

1. In between hacking and trying to sleep and being miserable, I forced myself to get out of bed here and there-and in the process threw everything old, torn and no longer worn into a large laundry basket. The basket is still in my closet. Not because I want to rescue anything, but in cash a have a flash of creativity or inspiration in the next week on any upcycling or crafting projects that might use said clothes. Otherwise, out they go!!!!

2. Although I was sicker than a dirty dog and the other two family members were gone from dawn well past dusk, we still ate well without ordering in or takeout. With a little supervision, my son put a cross rib roast in the oven, we had a frozen pizza, and thanks to the freezer we had two other meals that I removed from the freezer and let others heat. I think I'm healthy enough to hit the frugal cooker again this week.

3. Since during my waking, functional hours I spent more than the average time wandering the Internet while half-baked mentally, I discovered a new cash back phone app-one that gives me gift cards back for purchases at Target, Walmart, and Safeway just for linking the card that I use for my normal shopping.

4. My son is in school from dawn to dusk two days this semester, as I've probably shared elsewhere. The last time this happened we hired a dog walker at $20 a pop, since I cannot walk him without endangering myself (yea, he's a BIG dog). This time, I said no to the $40 a week. We have a large yard with lots of play room. My sister walks him many nights -at least around the block-after walking her teeny dog and eventually, it will be light enough at seven in the evening for him to get back in the groove. Hey, forty bucks a week is forty bucks a week and to date he is no worse for the wear.

5. And finally, since I have yet to leave the house as such, I haven't spent on gas. I haven't hit a coffee shop, or gone to a grocery store, or to a fabric store or even spent five dollars to hit the gym. Health enforced non spending it is, but non spending nevertheless!

What about your week?  I certainly hope it was healthier!