Thrifty Thursday-Well, Not with $$$

      Well our financial thriftiness needs a kick in the butt, and it is all me-can't blame on DH. With two weeks off, and a lot of meet ups again this week, our eating out and entertainment budget is non-existent. Still, I try to define thrift in all areas of my life including how I spend my time and use resources, in addition to how I stretch a dollar. So keep this in mind with my weekly recap of my personal thrift. 

Time

•  Spending last Thursday with DH and DD2 was good use of time. Like the theme will be, we ate out, had a wander, and just got to spend a bit of time with our soon to leave daughter. 
• Saturday spent 1/2 with DD1 at the VanGogh exhibit and then lunch out, followed by time with both daughters was a treasure. And Kudos to DD2 for actually getting her life possessions paired down for the semester to fit in her car. DD1 gets the bulk pf that credit. 
• I was full of  energy Saturday night and couldn't sleep well. Sunday after the kid was safely on the road, I actually took a nap! Yeah me. 
• Monday was a meet-up with the Mom's of Teens group-with a good showing of 10. Last night I joined a couple friends for trivia. No placing, but we did OK. We've had a couple new college graduates join. One is the fiancé of my friends daughter, and he's brought a friend. We can use those young brains. 
• I'm investigating meditation. This could be in the money thrift, but I took a free on-line sample of SKY meditation on Tuesday night. It ended up being a sales pitch for an in-depth  multiple hour course (I'll pass for now), but it was good enough that it made me very interested in learning more. 

Resources  

• I'm going to put in the resource column that even though we had an excessive amount of eating out, drinks out, and other spending, we for the most part we were patrons of all small and local businesses while filling our tummy's. This included the country bar and grill with awesome hamburgers, to our local bar and grill, to a vegan restaurant in St Paul that has free community bowl meals for anyone in need of a meal, and the local brewery. I think  putting my money where it will support small and local business is a good resource choice. 
  
• With the exception of under wear and socks, DD2 went back to school with her old clothes and new to her thrifted items. That post will be coming-I  just need poos as the girls try their stuff. My purchases still needs washing. 
• I mentioned the "free" meditation session. I find that Eventbrite is a nice source to find some activities , in person or on-line, that I might not otherwise know about. I've found speaking events in the past, such as a clean eating speaker at a health food store, an author book reading and signing, and an organization on-line session. 

Money

• Besides being good for the environment, we all saved a lot of money on new to us clothes thrifting last Thursday night. I want to say .we spent collectively under $100, and all three of us, got at least one complete outfit (the rules), plus the girls found other good stuff. DD2 was the mad thrifter, I think getting upwards of 12 items
• Friday afternoon I helped  my youngest clean out her car. That night, DH went to a movie with the girls. I didn't feel like sitting in a movie theater, but got the urge to give her car a good vacuum before she loaded it up the next day. I used the free  car vacuum at a  gas station near my daughters house. It needed three rounds of the vacuum, so had I used the pay one, that would have cost $4.50.
• Used an online coupon code for free delivery, along with clearance area to get our twin niece and nephew, who turn 11 on Sunday, new GAP brand Hoodies and eco t-shirts. I'll add some Dollar Tree movie size candy and fun notebooks to the gifts. They need for nothing, but last year, both were thrilled with new sweatshirts before school and Gap is an "in style" brand, at least I think it still is. I also was able to get three new blue masks  for $.99 total as with wearing them again, I want to replace a few that have disappeared. 

    It was a stretch to find the frugal wins, but in looking back, there was some in the money department. We also enjoyed ourselves and each other, and tried hard to use what we already have. I put a question out on a Facebook thrift site to learn how others tighten their kitchen belts so will use some good ideas shared there to rein in spending the rest of the month at least on meals. I see some good stews and maybe some soups, and if we get a coolish day, some home baked goodies. But...I have yet another meet-up with  another group of friends tonight. Aren't I just the social butterfly. We were hoping to go for a walk and listen to the outdoor music, but the weather may not cooperate. That's OK, plan B is to meet up once again for food and or drinks under an outdoor canopy! How did you do this past week. Any big wins.