Frugal Accomplishments for the Third Week of March

This past week has been sort of a roller coaster.  We've had some unexpected blessings in the form of baby's pediatrician.  He recommended we make some phone calls regarding the size of the medical bill, and we've discovered (after truly hours on the phone, messaging, and automated menus) that other area hospitals would have charged us between $200 and $700 for the x-ray with our insurance, as opposed to the $1200 our hospital charged.  So, we're in the process of renegotiating that bill.

On the flip side, we've been referred to specialists for both me and baby.  Baby is seeing an allergist, while I've been referred to another specialist by my wonderful OBGYN.  I'm hopeful that with further testing, they'll be able to accurately target the fungal infection I have and clear it, and I'm going for further testing with my endocrinologist to help analyze and regulate my thyroid.  Hopefully all of this will help me to feel more like myself.  All the specialists and tests will cost significantly more than seeing our regular GP, but are worth it for our health.

Frugal accomplishments for the week include:

• Cooked all meals at home including smoked turkey chili verde and corn bread, breakfast for dinner (pancakes, bacon, eggs, and fruit), homemade chicken noodle soup, roasted veggies, oatmeal, and smoothies.
• Shared meal with Mom, making things easy.  We had fish tacos, which were really good.  I did mine as a bowl with quinoa, to avoid the grains.
• Worked to clean out several more things to send to Goodwill and sell on Craigslist.  We took a whole load of stuff on Monday, which was nice and yielded a tax receipt.  Several of the Craigslist items are selling, so this money will go back into our emergency fund.  So far, I think we've sold $40 worth of stuff and are negotiating pick up and payment on several more items.
• Gratefully accepted produce from the food pantry gleaning, including:
• bananas (froze them)
• mangoes
• pears
• cauliflower
• eggplant
• salsa
• peppers
• Went to state science competition with students this past weekend.  Was able to submit travel receipts, so will get about $300 back for the weekend, which will go toward the emergency fund.  We were able to combine it with a visit with family, so the boys got a good visit in while I worked.  I was able to submit my time for makeup time for the snow days, so no annual leave will be taken.
• Saved a few more boxes for packing up things for moving.
• Sold about $50 worth of Mary Kay.  This cleaned out a bit, and made a little extra money for the emergency fund.
• Continued with regular laundry, recycling, and composting habits. Cloth diapers were used also, though we're working toward potty training.
• Had two snow days, so Benny got to work some of that time.
• Gratefully participated in free yoga class at the Children's Council, with free child care and dinner.  Also did YouTube workouts for free at home several nights.
• Enjoyed listening to The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in the car over the weekend.  Little man calls it The Lion, The Witch, and the War dragon, which I think is entirely too cute.  He wanted to read the book last night, so we began reading the first chapter or two.  
• Contacted our real estate agent, so we'll begin pictures and posting for the house in the next week or so.  Exciting!

I'd love to hear from you!  What did you do to live and save green this past week?