A Peek Into My Week: No-Spend Selling, President’s Day Donations, & Health Challenges!

Hello again, savvy savers! So, starting this week I am re-working how I post my Sunday updates, and starting today I am working towards having a more comprehensive look at my week, not just to keep my readers abreast of my day-to-day activities, but as a means of self-accountability in terms of my personal, and professional advances, from each week to the next! So, this week seemed very long, but very productive for me!

Monday:

Monday found my husband and I both off of work, which is a rarity for us both! We used the day to donate $4,123,43 worth of couponed stockpile goods to donate to a local women’s shelter, soup kitchen, and homeless pantry! We also spent the afternoon watching The President’s on DVD from the History Channel cuddled up in bed, and let me tell you, the nap I had during the Reconstruction Year and Teddy Roosevelt was amazing! Also, as part of my No-Spend Monthly Challenge, I spent an hour Monday listing ten items on a local Facebook Buy, Sell, Trade Group; several items have thus far sold, too!

Tuesday:

I celebrated Tuesday by laissez les bons temps rouler! I made my husband Crockpot Crawfish Etouffee, king’s cake, and revealed by Mardi Gras Porch reveal, as part of the Spring Blog Hop. Today I also took an hour to list 10 items on Craigslist, as part of my No-Spend Month Challenge. While I didn’t find the baby in the King’s Cake, I had a ball today!

Wednesday:

I started my Wednesday by attending Mass for Ash Tuesday, then onto a casual workday in my home office. Later in the day, I changed out my porch decor, and prepped a post for my Saint Patrick’s Day Porch Reveal, for part of this Spring’s Blog Hop Series. In addition, I listed ten items for sale, from things I gleaned from last weeks deep house cleaning, as part of this No-Spend Month Challenge, on eBay; the items have five days left, but plenty of viewers, so I’m hopeful! I also spent past of the evening going through my home deep freeze and organizing my blanched veggies, putting them in order of when they would need to be used. As well, my husband and I have a closet full of board games, and we love to plan game nights—so we have constituted a new family game night. We played Connect Four, Monopoly, and Hearts, we had a blast! Beyond this, we spent some time before bed discussing what we would both individually and as a family be doing without this Lent season; post to come.

Thursday:

I started my Thursday by revamping and listing items to my Amazon business account, as part of my No-Spend Month Challenge. I also took time to work on several product reviews for this blogs sister-site, The LadyPrefers2Review. I also prepped several Easter Candy Cone Baskets for neighbors, family, and church for next month. Something of concern today was the fact that I have started to experience swollen feet and the skin on my hands has begun to crack open, and so a trip to the PCP was in order, and two prescriptions, a cream, and a lecture to continue with my PCOS, low-insulin diet later, all will be well in time. For dinner, I made Crockpot Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, and they were awesome!

Friday:

I spent Friday morning working on straightening up my room and bathroom, and moreover working on my #Choose30 Challenge, which is getting my morning routine down pat, and while I still have a ways to go, I’m getting better about getting up, walking the fur-babies, having breakfast, taking my vitamins, reading my morning devotional, and getting dressed to my shoes (Thanks, Flylady!), before heading to check my email and get my family up, dressed, and off to school easier and easier as each day goes on. I also spent part of the afternoon revamping and adding new listings to my Etsy Shop, Shadow Cat Crafts, and blogged about the changes I made as part of this months No-Spend Month daily challenge. The day was a bit challenging juggling my new diuretic pills and the need for coffee to maintain my day, but my reward at the end of the day, were leftover Crockpot Stuffed Cabbage Rolls, and they were awesome yet again, too!

Saturday:

Yesterday found my morning shuttling my three fur-babies off to the groomers, and it’s funny, no matter how much they all need to go to the groomers, the house always seems a little forlorn when they are gone! However, I did take that time to give their crates and bedding a deep clean, too! Beyond this, I gave our basement and stockpile a quick once over, and then headed to the store for a few app-discount produce purchases, where I was able to use online earned rewards points, woohoo! In the afternoon, I also took a few hours to design a few new patterns to me listed on Craftsy for sale, as part of my No-Spend Month daily challenge. I also completed an evening saving shuffle; I earned points on Swagbucks, Crowdtap, Recyclebank, and all of my other favorite groups! Then, I had an awesome afternoon by first laying down grass seed, taking a much needed nap, worked on a finishing a few blog book reviews, and then spent the night setting up and playing with my newest gadget, my new Amazon Fire TV Stick, I scored for free when I started using the Sling TV Service (post to come)!

Today:

Gosh! Today was very quiet. As my husband was a little under the weather today, we stayed home from mass, and watched mass online from Vatican City; you’ve got to love fellowship 2.0 style! I then made my husband Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings. I then worked on next weeks menu, and then listed several items from last weeks deep cleaning on LikeTwice and ThredUp, as part of this months No-Spend daily challenge. Slow and easy was the order of today!

Work:

I was able to get this weeks work hours completed in three days!

Blogging:

I was able to finish this weeks No-Spend Daily Challenges done.
I finished the next two months of menus.
I was able to post both Blog Hop posts, for Mardi Gras and Saint Patrick’s Day Porch Reveals.
I started working on three new Caring Through Couponing posts.

Family:

My husband and I started a new weekly Game Night.
We established Lent Fasting Items.
We spent two night this week having quality time together.

Reading:

I finished my reviews for:

What I’m most thankful for this week:

My health, and being able to change, tweak, and alter any health-related habits that can be amended!
My husband and I paid off our family vehicles this week, in cash! We will save $600.00 a month thereafter!
The funds saved from monthly car payments, will be deposited monthly into a new savings account to put towards purchasing tax real estate properties in the next two years.

Other Projects:

I’m working on my new coupon classes I’ll be teaching locally; posts to follow!
I am working on advancing my Italian language skills online.
My husband scored $230.00 worth of FuzziBuns diapers, through a sale this week for our nursery, and suprised me with them… by way of an invoice. Though we are in a No-Spend Monthly Challenge, this was a steal-of-a-deal, and I’m very thankful to have a husband that thinks of such things!

How I Saved this week:

I eat at home this evening for dinner, saving our family $39.95.
I scored a free 1-year subscription to Midwest Magazine, a savings of $16.00.
I recycled, upcycled, and composted one bins of deluge, and saved $1.25, the cost of 5 trash bags.
My family drank water this week, and saved $4.12, the cost of a 6 2-liter of sodas.
I also did not watch cable tv this week, and saved $25.67 by doing so.
I earned $5.00 from Receipt Hog.
I mailed off a package of coupons for Coups For Troops.
I enjoyed three $2.99 Free Chik-fil-a- frozen lattes!
I donated stockpile goods and scored a $200.00 tax receipt.
I sold $123.00 worth of items online!

Total amount I saved my family: $424.16!

Favorite Freebies and Deals:

Four Posts You Should Read:

Marriage:

Have a movie night with Daniel.
Read the 5 Love Languages Book.
Write a love note to Daniel.

Homemaking Goals:

Complete my morning #Choose30 Goal.
Finish my Motivated Moms Daily Chore List by 10 am.
Lay out a week worth of clothes, hung up on organizers, each Sunday.
Pack a weeks worth of lunches on Sunday.
Organize my coupons weekly.

Personal Goals:

Finish reading my book reviews.
Work on 10 product reviews.
Walk 1 mile daily.
Work on remembering to take my daily vitamins.

Business Goals:

Finish five days worth of work by Wednesday.
Shut down the laptop by 5 p.m. every evening and keep it off until my computer time the following morning.

Here’s to the week ahead,

My Week in Review: 2/16-2/22/15

Nicole

Welcome, savvy savers! My name is Nicole, and I'm the LadyPrefers2Save. We believe in making the minimalist mindset manageable, through budgeting, upcycling, & healthy menu planning. I thank you for stopping by and giving us the opportunity to help you prefer to save, too!