Frugal Accomplishments Last Week

Last week was a bit of a crazy week here.  I tried to accomplish everything I needed to do to be ready for 10 weeks of classes, spend as much time with my family as I could, and get in a little relaxation.  There were days where the three goals seemed to counteract each other, but all in all I had a great week.

School --  I bought my biology text book online, used, at a 20% decrease below the school bookstore price.  I still had to buy their manuals, but every little bit helps.  I cleared out several partially used composition books and I am using them for my summer classes. 

Cooking Supplies -- Grocery shopping was a little crazy, but I stocked up on a lot of pantry items like beans, rice, etc.  I have also shopped around and found the lowest price on the soy milk that is guaranteed nut free.  Amusingly the highest priced store in town has it at the lowest price.  I also ordered sunflower seed butter online.  I could find a better price using bulk shopping and I put 12 jars in the pantry.  6 smooth and 6 crunchy.  (I realize this sounds like a lot, but the jars are small and one batch of simple cookies using half a jar.) 
In addition to that I added some meats to our supplies.  12 lbs. of lean ground beef, 4 pounds of lean ground turkey and 2 large beef roasts....all yellow sticker, 2 days before date, and I saved $30 off the original price.  Everything went into the freezer immediately.

Clothing -- Both daughter and I were in need of summer pieces.  We shopped sales and managed to buy her summer wardrobe for 1/3 the cost of the original ticket by using sales and discounts.  I picked up three maxi skirts (two clearance and one regular priced) for a total of $22.  For science lab I have to have my legs completely covered and these work well without making me feel like I am suffocating in the heat.  I also bought two t-shirts on sale for $6.58 total.  I still need a few pieces to replace things I weeded out, but I will be thrift shopping for those.  I purchased 5 pairs of cargo shorts for my son and 1 pair for my husband, 2 pairs of shoes, 6 summer scarves, and underwear for myself using a gift card...so no cash out of my pocket.

We did up our internet data plan because of part of the video requirements for online school.  When we compared the prices, going over in usage was extremely expensive and we feel like the extra $20 increase in monthly bills is worth it.