Last week's frugal efforts.

Turned down an offer to buy a white mocha and instead made free hot chocolate from the break room.

We decided against buying a coworker's car. The gamble isn't ultimately worth it for us.

I got another book from the library. Everything that Remains by the Minimalists.

My son went to the free library story time.

I found a recipe to make blender bottle pancakes. I'm stoked to try it out. It will make toddler breakfasts before work easier and faster.

The recipe:http://messyhairedmom.com/blender-bottle-baby-pancakes/

I don't use bisquick so I found a DIY bisquick recipe to sub.

I put in a request for my library ebook system to carry A Guide to Organising the Chaos to Make More Time for Parenting by Nicole Avery so that is $19+ saved because it's very expensive on Amazon.

My coworker bought me a coffee so I gave her a Starbucks gift card I wasn't going to use for a long time.

I donated two old smartphones to an emergency organization.

Here are 17 free Autumn themed coloring pages:

http://www.craftsonsea.co.uk/detailed-autumn-colouring-pages/

What have you done to save money lately?

Recent frugal efforts.

I made some apple cinnamon oatmeal cookies to use up some oatmeal before it turned bad.

I got a 5 quart programmable slow cooker for $2.xx after rebate.

I took the survey on the Fred Meyer receipt for free fuel points.

I turned in my summer reading chart and got a $5 coupon to put towards fines and a coupon for a free used book from one of their book sales.

I read free books from the library.

My husband purchased some used tools from my coworker at a steep discount. This helped her out because she needed the money, and it helped him out because it was some things he's been wanting, and now he won't have to spend a lot of money down the line to obtain them because he has very particular tastes for some things.

I redeemed an Amazon gift card from Bing (now Microsoft Rewards) to put towards my son's new "comfy socks."

It's time to put the AC away, and the nights have been cold. I'm hoping the insulated curtains I got for the bedroom awhile ago (at a discount in exchange for a review) will keep it from getting too cold at night. So far I've noticed a difference, but it's really tempting to turn on the heat, which is stupid expensive.

I ordered 120 colored pencils at a big discount for part of my mom's Christmas present. After all these years she mentions that she used to color, and when she realized all the new adult coloring books that are out now she added a lot of coloring supplies to her Amazon wish list. :)

My husband gave his coworker our son's old Halloween costume for her little boy.

A coworker brought in some Italian plums so I took some to my mother in law as a special treat.


What have you done to save money recently?



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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

I had some apple cinnamon oatmeal that I bought for my husband in the hopes that he would like that over a more expensive brand. No luck! So I decided to make cookies with my toddler before the oatmeal went bad.

Oatmeal raisin cookies have been on my to do list for awhile now, but this was a good test drive to make sure my toddler would like an oatmeal cookie. I'll save the raisins for another baking session.

I omitted the cinnamon in this recipe because I didn't want an overpowering cinnamon flavor in case the oatmeal already had a lot of cinnamon in it.









I adapted this recipe from here.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp honey
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups instant oatmeal - Apple Cinnamon flavored

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. My cookies were about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, and they baked in 10 minutes.

I caught my toddler on two occasions trying to sneak a cookie while they were cooling! They were pretty good. I had over three cooling racks full of cookies. We shared with everyone.

What have you baked recently?