I have a lot to report!

First, I avoided paying $8 today. DD needed a new stretch reading book for school tomorrow morning. She told me at 3:15 this afternoon (ugh), and she didn't have any books on hand that the teacher would okay. (Apparently they call it "stretch" reading for a reason -- no gimmies). So she decided on a Stephen King book. I assumed I would have to go to Barnes & Noble and pay the $8 for it. Instead, we went to our library, which is open until 4:00 on Sunday. No luck. Then we high-tailed it to the library in the next town over, also open until 4:00. No luck. I was going to go to B&N at that point, and she suggested checking the library in the NEXT town over, which is open until 5:00. We found the book she wanted, and checked it out. They give us 3 weeks, so we'll need to renew it, but I saved the trip to the bookstore and paid nothing.

(BTW, Thrifty Ray was surprised about the library offerings in my area. The library we ended up at, which is in a really upscale town, has a Keurig machine and coffee pods for its patrons! Now THAT's service)!
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Second savings: CVS, and a broader lesson on the value of my smartphone. I got an email from CVS offering me 20% off regular priced items this weekend. Hubby needed razors and shaving cream for his trip, neither of which were on sale. I forgot about the coupon until I got to the store. Instead of missing out, I pulled up the email on my phone, clicked the link, and chose the option to send the coupon directly to my ECB card. Voila. Saved $3.20.

A similar thing happened at Staples last week. I forgot to print out that email as well, for $5/$20. I stopped at their print center with the intention of printing the email there. The associate said no need, just pull it up on my phone and show the cashier, and they can enter the code from there. No problems at all.

So the lesson is to make sure that all of your cards are registered and linked on the sites, and don't give up on the savings if your forget the coupon at home!
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I received $5 in the mail today! I had filled out a survey for Swagbux a few weeks ago, about potential new product offerings for a dinner product. They asked if I would be willing to try it at home and fill out a survey about it, and I said sure. The product arrived on Saturday, and we need to try it and respond over the next week. They sent the $5 to cover the cost of the other ingredients I need (ground beef). The kids and I will try it tomorrow. Because I would have bought ground beef for them anyway, I'm going to count the $5 as a freebie and add it to my January HELOC payment.

It's "use it up" week at my house. Whenever hubby travels, I like to take the opportunity to use up whatever I have lying around the fridge and pantries. I have a lot on hand, and should be able to eat for the week without going to the store for myself. I made onion soup today, and have the makings for potato-leek soup as well. I've got some beets, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, turnips, and more onions, so plenty of veggies. I also bought some soft tofu earlier this month when I started this vegetarian kick. I have no idea what to do with it, or how to use it, and it expires later this week. My goal for tomorrow is to come up with a recipe that I can make this week and see how it goes.

So all in all, a pretty good Sunday. I'm off tomorrow for the holiday, but will be down at dad's for a few hours.