Money-Saving Moves and Weekend Review

Friday - Little R. had a Christmas Concert at her day care.  Had to buy a pair of dress shoes but I saved $3 with my rewards card at Kmart and she can wear the shoes for all of the other Christmas parties coming up.  She has 3 Christmas dresses this season: 2 that were Big R's and 1 I bought on clearance really cheap after the season last year.  The weather was bad on Friday, lots of snow and cold.  The girls wanted hot chocolate when we got home from the concert.  I didn't have any packets but I heated up some milk and added chocolate syrup.

Saturday -

• Took the girls to bumper bowling league - $15 (planned expensive)
• Mr. R and Big R went to see Wizard of Oz in 3D at the cheap movies.  He either had free passes or he used his spending money, not sure which.
• Little R. and I took a nice long nap
• Mr. R was really motivated and cleaned the whole house - I'm totally spoiled sometimes :)
• Combined baking to make good use of the oven.  When finished, left oven door open to let heat from oven warm up kitchen.
• Took the girls for a car ride to look at Christmas Lights.  There's a really amazing house about 10 minutes away that has the lights blink to music and another great display that a neighboring city put together.  We spent $2 to get coffees while we were out driving around.
• Mr. R and I watched The Following on Netflix while the girls watched a movie upstairs.

Sunday -

• Lazy day so far.  We're still all in our pajamas.  Mr. Ripples has to work tonight so he had to sleep all day. 
• Little R. took a nap in her room while I napped on the couch.  Big R. watched a movie while I was snoozing on the couch.
• Cooked a whole chicken in the crock pot with veggies for dinner.  Eating up more of the lettuce as salads.  I'll be making a pot of chicken stock this evening.
• Played a 60 minute free trial of a game on iWin.  Finished a game that I had bought with my iWin coins. 

Sunday Night To Do List(Since I've been lazy so far today):

• Dye my hair - I've had the dye for over a week.  My roots are absolutely ridiculous.  I don't know at what point my hair got so dark but I'm much happier as a blonde.  It has to be done tonight.
• Start writing out Christmas Cards and mail the first batch in the morning.  I bought a pack of cards at the dollar store and I will be using up leftover cards from previous years.  We include a family photo.  My brother in-law took the photo on Thanksgiving and I spent just under $6 on Snapfish to order 34 copies with a cute Christmas border and 1 8 x 10 to hang in our dining room.  Total cost of Christmas Cards and Family Portrait: $7 plus stamps.
• Wrap Presents
• Make Taco Meat and Beans and Chicken Salad with the leftover chicken from our dinner
• Make Chicken Stock
• Put laundry away and possible run another load

We'll see if this all actually gets done.