Happy Monday, all! Here’s my contribution to Frugal Accomplishments (hosted by Brandy, The Prudent Homemaker) this week.

*Daughter attended a free teen summit at a local college; attendees were provided with lunch and given a free T-shirt, but she was also given a reusable cup. She also got lots of great information for the future.
*Son was given a muzzleloader kit by our friend, who is a gunsmith. It was partially completed by someone else and he felt it would be a good learning experience for son (who would like to be a gunsmith), helped by my husband.
*I have been reading e-books from the library and on Kindle Unlimited.
*Husband has been watching shows on Amazon Prime (prepaid earlier this year).
*Son has been using our Great Courses Plus membership (prepaid earlier this year) to watch a physics course.
*I became a chapter leader for The Well Armed Woman late last month; I was able to affordably purchase some items at Hobby Lobby for our chapter’s information table.
*I purchased a large set of Sharpie markers at Staples on clearance ($4.75 less than original price). I actually only wanted a purple one for TWAW range days, and did not want to buy a multipack to get one marker – until I found them on clearance. The package included two black Sharpies, which are always handy anyway, so it was an acceptable option for me.
*Ordered pizza with a coupon and husband picked it up, saving delivery fee and tip.
*Husband filled both vehicles at half a tank with Kroger $1 off fuel points.
*Organized and inventoried our freezer and made a menu plan for this week reflecting what is on hand. This next payday we will only need to shop for juice, cheese, and some spices.
*Made use of Facebook for free marketing for TWAW chapter – this is so helpful since we are a new chapter and really need help getting the word out. The moderator of our military spouses’ group allowed me to share our event listings, which helped immensely.
*Entered several giveaways for items our family would make good use of. Fingers crossed! 😉
*Watched some training videos on YouTube.
*Repurposed an old, barely used binder of my daughter’s for my TWAW forms, guidebook, etc. She went through a phase where her favorite color was purple, so all the school supplies she picked were purple. Lucky for me, that’s the signature color of TWAW too!
*Finished my NRA Refuse to Be a Victim course, during which I learned ways organizations can apply for grants to cover the costs of this awesome safety training. Not frugal for me, personally, but it will be a big budget helper to others who want to attend the seminars I teach in the future who might otherwise think they can’t find funds to come – I find that really exciting!
*Received a box of magazines and coupons from my mom; which were passed on to a frugal friend after I snagged a few coupons and read through the magazines. She’ll do the same and hopefully lots of folks will get to enjoy them and save some cash.
*Received several magazines from subscriptions previously purchased with travel rewards. After I read these, they will move on to friends and family for further enjoyment.
*Daughter babysat for a few hours, adding cash to her move-out and CNA school fund.
*One of my neighbors has become vegetarian and very generously offered me a bag and a half of salmon fillets. I used the half bag for our family for a dinner, which was enough to even give the dog a helping (so good for her coat!). I traded the full bag to my frugal friend neighbor, who had offered me a bag of protein shake mix she didn’t want. Win-win!
*We were given some extra targets when we asked about making a copy of one for son to practice his rifle skills to work up to competing. Our friend’s generosity meant we all got to give it a shot. (Haaaaa….. see what I did there? )
*Found a spare queen flat sheet while changing things around in the linen closet; used it to replace the other sheet I use as a couch cover, but the dog had torn badly.
*Husband and son traded some video games son no longer wanted, toward one he has wanted to try out for a while – he lucked out and the store had a used copy in when they went in.
*Attended our homeschool group’s “back to school” meeting at a community center – free play time for my son and the other kids while the parents did paperwork and an orientation.
*Set aside a seltzer bottle for reuse for water storage.
*Husband and son attended a birthday party for the child of one of husband’s colleagues; they had hours of fun (apparently even grown-ups can’t resist bouncy houses LOL) and had pizza dinner while there.
*Did NOT buy the house we were looking at – that totally counts, right? 😀

Well, it’s been a few weeks again since I participated in the Frugal Accomplishments posts that Brandy hosts over at The Prudent Homemaker. Proof positive things are staying pretty quiet in these parts, I suppose, and we’re just going about our daily events without anything overly exciting. We have had a few little things happen that stand out as sort of frugal, but most of it is our usual “stuff we always do”. Not going to complain, actually. I rather like things calm and quiet when possible. LOL

*Did a grocery shop at Target. Saved $11.04 using Target Cartwheel app and purchasing items that were on sale and clearance. Earned a $5 Target card with a buy 3/get a $5 card purchase. Used a $15 gift card (earned on our last trip) toward payment. Filed the receipt with Ibotta (earned $0.50 rebate) and Checkout51 (entry into $500 drawing).
*Used blinds/curtains/fans for cooling to try to run the AC less. We did get up into the triple digits multiple times though, so the AC did run more on some days, of course. Still less than many of the neighbors’ units, so that still bodes well for our utility rebate.
*Received our utility rebate for the month of June – $40 went into our savings account to be used for a principal payment on the car note!
*Made a principal payment on the car.
*Filled several seltzer bottles with tap water – an inexpensive way to add to our water storage.
*Used drying racks for clothes and relied on the new laundry schedule to keep family members on track.
*Borrowed e-books on Kindle Unlimited and Overdrive; borrowed DVDs and print books from the libraries; husband watched some shows on Amazon Prime.
*I used cloth personal wipes and handkerchiefs.
*Signed up for a subscription to a magazine we all enjoy – a two-year subscription came with a free one-year subscription to another magazine we read.
*My husband stopped for dinner one night because I had a terrible migraine; the manager included some free desserts because they were out of some items he ordered. (Yet again, his patience and professionalism pays off!)
*Husband redeemed the free pizza card (a different night) that he was given a few weeks back (there’s that patience thing LOL).
*Son ordered a couple of items he wanted using his birthday Amazon cards.
*Son and I used library internet: me for an instructor development class I’m taking (the NRA’s Refuse to Be a Victim(R) program) and him for programming on Scratch and watching lectures on Great Courses Plus.
*Used Kroger fuel points to fill both vehicles with $1 off per gallon.
*Used the Goal Zero to charge laptops and cell phones as necessary.
*Daughter pet-sat for a bit.
*Bartered an item as a part of payment toward a project a neighbor is going to do for me.
*Son started seventh grade math using Teaching Textbooks software we already had on hand from daughter (love hand-me-down curriculum!)
*Entered Swagbucks and InboxDollars codes as I found them; answered daily Swagbucks questions.
*Daughter signed up to attend a camping Trek with youth group – local leadership is covering the costs for attending.
*Received a rebate of $1.77 on an old insurance policy – put it in savings to put toward the car. 😉
*Went to community center to use fitness room and teach son how to shoot pool.
*We attended a local shooting match to get our bearings about how they do things; got to visit with some folks we know and got some great advice and wonderful encouragement from the couple running the event.
*Son has expressed an interest in joining in as a youth shooting competitor; he’s received a ton of advice and encouragement from the guys at the local gun shop. (I’ve never seen a group of men so excited to support someone!) When my husband traded an item toward something we can all use, the owner threw in a belt for son to use at the range. [Son was super excited and declared it a sponsorship. LOL I’m gonna have to get him a t-shirt made now.] Frankly, I don’t think words can express how happy the whole encounter made my Momma Heart. These fellas rock. <3