Five and Five for April and May

I'm not going to fret over money, but to help me celebrate my thrifty and  frugal wins, and review where I might have made better spending/reduce waste decisions I'm semi logging. I can't help that I have a running calculator and spread sheet in my head that looks at cost benefit of where money is spent or lost, and where it might have better been applied. (I actually looked up French market prices to see how far my $16 tea tin savings would go to learn it would cover a wonderful Parisian breakfast for my family of five! Picking up change has purpose.) As we near the end of May, I didn't do any recap in April, so here is a combined list.

Frugal Blips

1. Spent $87 on DD2's yearbook which I could have only spent $78 on had I placed the order last fall.The price went up, plus there was a service fee for late orders online. 
2. Paid the dreaded late library fees, total over $12.00! This included a few late movies (which are available to check out free for 7 days) plus several misplaced books at $ .25 per day. We have to get a better library system. 
3. DD2 needed non latex gloves, but told me latex for biology class. I bought both just in case, intending to return the type not needed. I still have not done that, but if I don't, it is an additional $7 that didn't need to be spent. 
4. Let both a cantaloupe and a pineapple get shoved to the back of a counter and forgotten. Both went bad.
5. Learned I probably underfunded our pretax medical flex account. I didn't realize how high our per person deductible was and my colonoscopy and endoscopy alone exceeded my deductible. I had this scheduled prior to selecting a pretax amount so I could have planned better and made sure I had the full out of pocket covered with pretax funds, plus the general, routine co-payments. Even if we stay relatively healthy, medical will still cost us at least $400 more than had I planned in advance for the procedure.

Thrifty Wins

1. I'm managing (with the exception of the fruit above) to pull together creative and moderately tasty meal combinations and stay on a relativity lean budget. This has meant some unique combinations such as cobbling together leftover fish, rice and beans, and sweet potatoes, or throwing together  a leftover vegetable pizza. No ones is complaining, but would they dare?
2. I let my on-line shopping Kohl's cash expire, $40 worth. I e-mailed customer service and they let me know stores will honor for 10 days post expiration. I used it to round out my spring summer work wardrobe with the purchase of three tops. I am trying to decide if these are "perks to cash" as part of our clothing budget or just a bonus. I really did need some shirts and they are basic styles, so could get multiple years of wear. I'll be OK with them not fitting next spring if I lose quite a bit of weight, though.
3. I took two work from home Fridays in May, even though things have been crazy. There is no added benefit to being in the office on days I have no meetings and the savings in gas, wear and tear on the car, and time is substantial. 
4. For Mother's Day, DH and kids got me a Kohl's gift card. I will tuck away as cash for a future need. For DH's mother, I had picked her up some cabin decor last fall, plus a stationary note set. Cumulatively, I spent under $8.00, but the gifts looked like I spent much more. We will be buying odds and ends for her as she decides what all needs replacing at the lake, so I don't feel like a tightwad on the gift giving. 
5. Packed lunches for DD2 and myself for the art museum trip. As I am no longer buying pop for the house, I did need to get some drinks and found 4 for $2.00 Arizona Ice Tea's at CVS, plus I had a $1.00 coupon, making them  just a quarter a piece. We love the Arnold Palmer lite, with 1/2 lemonade. Water is still king in our house, but the tea was packable.

Any wins in your budget?  I  like what Treaders at My Random Thoughts said in a comment on my last post about saving on things that don't matter. It's a good plan to get my money working to pay for what does.