I am on the home stretch of paying myself back. $1,074 left. But I have family coming into town. So I need to wait until next payday to pay it off. This paycheck is earmarked for a week of being a Foodie; I loaded the ‘eating out’ category to keep my family happy.

I will also be padding the entertainment budget too. While it is nice to spend freely right now, I can’t wait to finish paying this money back. Where my funds will be back to the regular schedule of things. Okay, this week’s frugal things:

1. 100+ year old Hand-Painted Japanese Bone China

A friend gifted me this china set that has been passed down in her family. I feel honored to receive such a gift! How do you tell it’s bone china? You can see through it. Sorry, I don’t have a pic of it being held up to the light.

It’s so pretty. I need to figure out where to display it.

2. Window Shopped Tiffany’s

I had an appointment downtown where I was able to window shop Tiffany’s. It such a sparkly store. I am not a jewelry wearing gal, but I couldn’t change that with a Tiffany’s pendant. ❤️

Apparently, it was the same day as the iPhone release day. The line was out the door and around the corner. The store was packed. I haven’t heard too many new exciting features about the new iPhone. So it surprised me. But I guess when in tech country, the crowd is expected.

3. Kept the grocery spending low

I spent $147 on two weeks of groceries and approximately $23 on take-away for 2 people. Pretty good in my book! Of course, I played into gifts of free food for passing GO again. 😉

I am going to try another $200 or under for groceries for this upcoming paycheck. It will help me make sure I have enough money to pay myself back at the next paycheck. I’m pretty easy going with eating basic wholesome food at home. Which hasn’t always been easy for me, but maybe “practice makes perfect” is a thing. I am reaching my money goals because of it and likely better for my health at the same time.

4. Saved $5 on my Cat’s dry food

Checked out the Hill’s site and found a coupon for $5 off my cat’s dry food. Every penny not spent helps on a low spend challenge!

5. Frugal Cooking

I batched cooked some black beans and chickpeas earlier this week to help keep grocery costs down as I continue my low-spend challenge. It has been great! After the beans cooked and cooled, I added them to a freezer bag and scored them before I popped them in the freezer. Once frozen, I can just grab a square of frozen cooked beans for a quick meal. So convenient!

Then last night, being a day before payday, I had to figure out what to make for dinner. Being that our pantry and fridge were slim pickings, I still figure something out. I’m actually pretty good at making something out of almost nothing. It might have a lot of white carbs involved, but I cooked up white rice with a green curry using up 2 potatoes I had remaining on the counter with the rest of a bag of frozen peas & carrots. Then I tried my hand at making tortillas to fill in for “naan”. It was super easy to make and took little time. That’s a win-win in my book.

What frugal things have you been up to this week?