Frugal Finds & Frugal Challenges

I just discovered a thrift store that's around the corner from my house and they're having a bag sale tomorrow. The girls are all jazzed over this and frankly so am I. Jim's agreed to take the boys to karate while we check out the sale. We've promised to switch off and take the boys so Jim can check it out if its worth it.

We had an interesting frugal challenge this week. Our hot water heater in the cabin died. Thankfully, it only flooded a small part of the crawlspace and did no real damage. After spending last weekend without hot water, replacing the hot water heater is pretty high on our to do list.

On the food front, the girls and I have been discussing ways to vary lunch options without bringing lunches that require explanations. They've both fallen into the peanut butter and jelly rut. People who go to their school are going to think all vegans eat is peanut butter and jelly! The girls have agreed to put together a list of lunch ideas, the ingredients needed and then we can decide what's cost effective and what's not.

My kids, and Jim too, love things like veggie deli slices but they have trouble taking only their allotted serving. I'm curious to see what they come up with. I heard murmurings about tortillas, rollups, lettuce before being ushered out of the room.

My second frugal find for the week was Gorilla glue. With a 40% off coupon I was able to get a 4 oz bottle at our local Michael's craft store. (If you have a Michael's near you, they have a 40% off coupon in almost every weeks sale flyer. Its only good off regular prices but its perfect ofr something that you were going to have to buy anyway. Its a great savings that so many people I know just blow off.) So far I've been able to repair the sole of my youngest sons sneaker and the peg that fell out of my son's book bag rack. The stuff is like iron! There's a whole legion of broken things waiting to be reattached now that I know it works so well.