Thrifty Thursday-Expensive Month Ahead Edition

A new month. A new, expensive month. This is a great month to test our resolve on what truly is important. My successes are noted below in my Time, Resources, and Money sections as it isn't just about cash savings, though I often find alignment in the three.. 

Time

• DH and I had a nice meal out, using a gift card, We were going to wait for DD2, but we decided we also can go out just the two of us. It has been a long time as last few were with others. I think his boss intended this for a nice night out in appreciation of how many hours above and beyond DH worked in 2019, but we'll get three night out of it! 
• DD2 got a ride home with her best friends sister which meant we didn't have to drive to another part of the cities to meet up with her. huge time savings!
• The three of us had a movie night at home on Saturday, pulling up an older Disney movie, Invincible, and ate egg rolls from the air fryer. DD1 and 2 had a movie night Tuesday at DD2's, and I sent popcorn and vegan chili along. Both were low cost family time. 
  
• DD2 and I combined several errands with some books shop fun on Monday, saving time and gas. 

Resources  

• We had leftover Take and Bake pizza from Thursday and I had over half my ginormous burrito from Friday night. I realized cleaning out the refrigerator that  there was still taco stuff for my lunch (ate on Friday at work too) for Saturday. I wrapped up both the pizza and burrito, labeled and threw both packages in the freezer for future grab and go work lunches.
• Not frugal, but we had planned a girls lunch out andyway. We timed it right on Monday and  the burger meal I wanted came with free pie, then becasue it was Monday, DD2's came with free pie as well. I borught  mine home for DH, who was quite happy to have it. I was oriignally going to just have DD2 eat the piece that came with mine rather than order one. I like pie, but not enough to warrant the calories mid-day, non holiday. DH and DD2 love pie. 

Money

• I'm hard pressed to come up with much in the money category for the last week for myself. I sent DD1 the link so she could start the Microsoft rewards. She also joined Rakutan for purchases.
•  This might be kind of cheap, but I learned of another departure from work yesterday when I checked messages. As I am out of the office, I a missing the signing of her card and putting a few bucks in the kitty for her gift. I would have felt guilty if I was in the office and not participating, but since we have two retirements, a baby shower, and a wedding shower in our own division, I'm not too guilty since I didn't know about this before being gone
• DD2 and I did a lot of looking at Half Priced Books and Barnes and Noble. However, we resisted and stopped at the library for her to get a collection for home reading. 
• The book for book club was wait listed. I was going to download on my nook, but then saw I could download on the computer for free from the library. I'm glad I did as it worked just fine reading that way. The book was The Girl from the Train. While it had the promises of a good book, it was a bit too neat for a truly horrendous situation, and migrated too far into Hallmark territory by the end. I'd be interested in your take if you read it. 

As has been my theme, not huge money saved or earned. I still spent money out at the book club meeting and at Trivia, but overall, we're developing a thrifty mind set as a family a bit more, with a positive not deprivational view. Beasides our plans for  savings, all three kids have their own hopes and dreams like houses, and new camera gear, and stuy aborad opportunities so are tackling frugality, thrift, and earning little bits of extra money in their budgets. How was your week? Please link or share in the comments.