Frugal Accomplishments First Week of February

• Cooked all meals at home including a whole chicken in the crock pot with pear and cranberry sauce (from America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Easy Prep Edition) which was pretty good, smoothies with greens and fruit from the food pantry, "snack plates" with fruit, crackers, cheese, salami, and veggies, oatmeal from pantry with raisins, dried coconut, and poppy seeds, and breakfast for dinner (paleo pancakes from a Costco mix, bacon, fruit, and egg scramble with tomatoes and dried mushrooms from the pantry).
• Enjoyed a new book, Wild Fermentation, that we purchased with a Barnes and Noble gift card.  It has some beverage ideas that we'll really enjoy, and if we can continue getting organic milk at the food pantry, then we'll get back into making our own yogurt too.  (It was hard to juggle that with little ones at home and at least one of us working full time.)
• Organized the boys' drawers and closet, weeding out clothes that no longer fit for donation or to pack up to save.  Watching Tidying Up on Netflix has inspired us, and the boys can now see all their clothes, rather than digging through a pile of folded items in the drawer.  We will tackle our clothing next.
• Began collecting items to take to yoga for our swap date.  It's nice to have a date to work towards for cleaning out.  I'd love to go through another box or two of stuff before we meet.
• Volunteered at the food pantry to help with pick up and brought home several items.  
• Used a gift card to purchase necessary groceries this week including greens, fruit, coconut milk and eggs.
• Tried a new Paleo stuffed mushroom recipe from Elana's Pantry and we loved it!  (The boys both said they were too spicy though, so I'll adjust the spices next time.)  The recipe only used 1/2 a pound of ground beef, so we browned the other half for past sauce another night.  It was nice to try out a new recipe, and the mushrooms were part of the free items from the food pantry (and organic to boot!).
• Shared meals with Mom twice and had our regular Children's Council meals on Wednesday and Thursday.  I'm grateful for those meals and the support we receive there.  It's a wonderful service they provide.
• Cashed in baby bucks for another Walmart card.  We might use this to purchase organic apples, which are more expensive, but better for us.  The boys love apples, and they often accompany meals and lunches, and I feel better about giving them organic ones.
• I took a few quizzes on Recyclebank to earn two magazine subscriptions.  I really enjoy getting these, and it's nice that I can get them for free.  When I'm done with them, I donate them to classes at school or the public library.  I know they'll get used well there.
• We were grateful for a free date night, thanks to Mom keeping the boys over the dinner hour.  She even kept little man for overnight, meaning that we could enjoy some extra morning time with baby (who is almost 3!).
• Progress continues on the new house with septic permits coming along and work with the builder progressing.  The septic permits are proving to be troublesome, but we're working through it.
• We called the insurance company about replacing windshields on both vehicles (they have stars that turned into cracks on both).  We're trimming our grocery spending this month in an effort to pay for this with very little out of savings.
• Used a free Walmart card to purchase diapers for a baby shower coming up.  I'll also include a packet of information about services our local Children's Council offers, since we've found this so helpful to us.
• Cut little man's hair and Benny's hair at home, saving the cost of hair cuts.  Little man is becoming resistant to hair cuts at home, but I think it's more because he doesn't want to stop what he's doing to sit still for the hair cut.  Any suggestions for how to make them more appealing to a six year old?

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