August Frugals

[cdttmm]

Great work, everyone!

Welcome, Davidwd, and thanks for joining us here on the monthly frugals thread!!!

chrissieq -- I miss going to the "Great Minnesota Get Together" -- growing up in MN, I went every year for the first half of my life. Then I moved away and every year I think about taking a trip back to MSP just to go to the state fair! Of course, this year I'm coming to town just a few days after the fair ends. Darn!

Not much of excitement on the frugal front over here, but trying to stay focused!

We've had new student orientation happening at school the past two weeks so I've gotten a lot of free lunches.

I made another batch of homemade mac-and-cheese in an attempt to use up more of my pasta stockpile. I'm now down to only 19 pounds of pasta in the pantry...

Last weekend, my dearly beloved and I made a huge vat of corn chowder. We ate some for dinner one night and the rest went to the freezer for future enjoyment. I think we're going to do the same this weekend if we have the time.

I've been harvesting tomatoes and blackberries most days. Must keep eating them...or find a way to preserve them. I'm starting to think I need to freeze some blackberries for the winter.

Been managing to keep the A/C off as the weather has been pretty cooperative. Hope it continues!

Trying to keep the laundry loads minimized. And hoping to do some of the linens and other large items over the long weekend and hang things on the line while the weather is good for line drying.

[awakenedsoul]

Hi David. Welcome to the forum. Your jelly sounds delicious.
Today I picked up the Burley Travoy bike trailer. This morning I took the bus and bike to the gym for an aqua fit class. From there I cycled and bussed to the bike shop. The guy who assembled it for me greeted me heartily when I walked in the door. "You must be Awakenedsoul!" he boomed. He was SO enthusiastic about the trailer. He told me, "I am so impressed with this. It's brilliant!" He's from England, and has a great personality. Most of the guys there are really upbeat and friendly. I think I'd like to date a bicyclist. He showed me how to use the Travoy. It folds into a shopping cart, and reduces down to the size of a briefcase. I brought it on the bus, and it worked out really well. I stopped at the fruit stand on the way home and bought some watermelon, strawberries, and bananas. Used the trailer to cart it home behind the bike. It's so much easier on my back! Now I can buy a 40 lb. bag of dog food tomorrow! Yay! Costco has the best prices, so the dogs won't have to change brands. My neighbor stopped by and asked me, "What happened to your car?" She's in the same position with her truck. She had the engine rebuilt, and now it's smoking...we had a nice chat. The Gas Co. came by and installed a new meter. It felt good to get that out of the way. Two women did the job! I was impressed and told them so. Next I have to call a repairman to fix my washing machine. It's backing up. Sure am glad I have my emergency fund. I'm eating leftover ribs with homemade bbq sauce, salad with homemade dressing, and veggies from the garden.

Great hearing everyone's frugal news...

[Aroha]

Hi viz vest for @$2 from the op shop.

I perhaps should not have been browsing there, given that I am trying to DEclutter at the moment, but it's just what I need for a factory site visit this weekend. Now all I need's a hard hat.

Also I picked up denim shorts, sleeveless top, and a lacy shrug for another $3.50 total. I am wearing two out of the three right this minute and spring is just round the corner so I'm sure to get heaps of use from all of them now that I've let go so many things I don't love any more.

[Aqua Blue]

It has been an awful month for frugals. I do a line by line for every item as I buy it. It usually is under one page. This month it is almost at two pages. We are going away this weekend to the state fair and will be eating out, have auto gas expenses, and I will need to pay who is sitting my dog. Ouch. I have found some good deals from garage sales and thrift stores. I also have been buying some things for my nieces wedding in early Sept. It is just how things are sometimes. Maybe after the wedding things will get back to normal.

[Davidwd]

I was about to post in July, and realized it's already the 1st of August. I've been eating corn on the cob, too, cdtmm. It cooks quickly, and they gave us four ears in last Saturday's box. I did a lot of knitting on my linen/cotton tank top yesterday. I had to rip out several rows because of mistake. Feels good to have it corrected. I picked some sumac berries in the backyard for my chicken to eat. She loves them. I also gave her some leftover lettuce, and she gobbled it up. She doesn't seem to want to eat anything but fruits and vegetables in this heat. She free ranges in the early evening, so hopefully she's eating lots of bugs in the orchard. Went to the bike shop after swimming yesterday. I stopped on the way and returned a library book. I've been renewing things on line and avoiding late fees. That was my weakness a couple of years ago. Turns out my bike didn't need a repair. I replaced my four year old helmet. It had finally fallen apart. The new one cost $50.00! Yikes! But, he's a really sweet man, and I'm happy to support his business. He does excellent repairs. Chatted with my mom on the phone yesterday. Felt good about my new, less expensive phone plan. Am going to trim back the hollyhocks and sunflowers and spread the seeds in the garden for next year...

cheap helmets are poor economy, I was cycling with my daughter in Spain earlier this year and she had a nasty accident. I believe the helmet saved her life. Her head hit the road so hard it broke the helmet in to 4 pieces but it stayed together. She had a few cuts and grazes and a headache but it could have been much worse with a cheap helmet!

[SteveinMN]

I believe the helmet saved her life. Her head hit the road so hard it broke the helmet in to 4 pieces but it stayed together.

A good friend of ours had a bike accident and, without doubt, the helmet saved his brain (if not his life). Time for a new helmet for him! Actually, time for a new helmet for several of his family and friends. I had a really old one, but apparently, like car baby seats, they "expire" after a while. So several of us replaced our helmets and those who never wore one started to do so. Great illustration!


Few frugals here lately. I went to the State Fair already. We typically don't buy anything there but food and drink, so we don't worry too much about the price of one or two visits. We do get some discount tickets and some "freebies" (I belong to the Fair preservation foundation) so that saves some. And we looove the Fair. So be it.

We've been watching a neighbor's dog this week; in exchange the owner will take us out for dinner and help me with a couple of home-repair projects I can't do by myself (one involves the "right" tool he has that I'd have to buy or rent). The dog does not like to be left alone for long, so I haven't ranged far from the house this week, which cuts down on spending some.

This weekend I'm joining some friends at one of their cabins. I've become the cook of that group, so, aside from small quantities of odd ingredients that I'll bring from home out of convenience, the weekend will cost me nothing but fuel (about four gallons worth) and maybe a couple of beers or a share of a boat rental. DW is going to DSD's bachelorette party but otherwise is looking forward to having the house to herself.

Then after that it's September and the schedule thickens. Won't be too many opportunities for unplanned spending, but there will be lots of planned spending...

[cdttmm]

Thank you frugal people for helping to keep me on track!!! I almost committed a non-frugal, but y'all reminded me not to go there...thank you!!! Here's the story: I went to work today expecting that lunch would be provided. However, I forgot to eat breakfast. Ummm...I have no idea how that happened! Then it turns out that there were no vegetarian lunches ordered so unless I wanted to eat potato chips and a cookie, I was out of luck! Ugh!!! So I went to the cafeteria with my second to last $5 gift card and used it to buy a grilled cheese sandwich and french fries. Not the healthiest of lunch options, but I can live with it occasionally. But then I started thinking, hmmm...., maybe I should put $50 on my faculty ID for use at the cafeteria because if you put $50 on your ID, you get a bonus of $5 with it. That's a whopping 10% return on my money -- awesome, right? No!!!! Not frugal!!! Because for $5 I can't even buy a grilled cheese sandwich and french fries and the other options aren't exactly healthier (or less expensive!). So I resisted. And what I need to do is bring some quick emergency meal items to work and stash them in my office. So now I will get organized and do that. And I'm quite sure that even my most elaborate emergency meals will still be less than $5 a meal. I'm shocked at how many of our students pay these prices for lunch every single day!!!

Anyway, that's my not-so-frugal, frugal story for the day. Thanks for helping me think this situation through, because without all of you, I'd have put $50 on my faculty ID and later this semester I would have been kicking myself!

[awakenedsoul]

This morning I called the appliance repair service to fix my Kenmore washing machine. It will cost $279. to replace the timer. It wasn't filling up with hot water, which he fixed today for free. The machine is over 20 years old, and has been excellent. I bought both the washer and dryer, used, back in 1997. I think I paid $100.00 for both of them! If the washer breaks again, I'll have to replace it. I'm crossing my fingers. The drain is also clogged, so I used a coupon to call Mr. Rooter. He's on his way to fix that.

I took the bus and bike trailer to Costco today. I was worried that the 40 lb. bag of dog food might not fit on my Burley Travoy bike trailer, but it worked. I ran into an old friend/ballet student at Costco. We had fun catching up. She's a real upbeat English woman. I also bought a box of soy milk while I was there. It was a long, slow ride to the bus stop. I accidentally tipped the trailer over on the first corner. I stopped, reloaded everything, and made it home. The dogs now have a month's worth of food. Also, the bus driver put the ramp down for me, so I was able to just wheel my cart on to the bus. I feel like I lifted weights in a sauna! It's in the 90's here. I walked the bike up the hill, and coasted home.

I ran into a neighbor at the bus stop. He just had eye surgery, so he can't drive or work right now. We compared our public transportation stories. I ate up some leftover salad for lunch. I've been having a lot of fresh fruit. I cut it up, and store it in glass containers in the fridge. Made a quesadilla with homegrown organic tomato slices. I'm so pleased that I'm finally having success with tomatoes!

Keep up the great work with your frugals, everyone!

[cdttmm]

Hooray for more food frugals, everyone!

I baked two loaves of homemade bread this morning. Used up some more of the "ancient grain" flour. And my dearly beloved, who came home from NYC in the midst of my bread baking, said that now that we've established a regular bread baking schedule that he will grind some of the wheat we have so that we can use it up. Woohoo!!! I love it when he really gets on board with this stuff!!!

I ate some more of the blackberry crumble that I made last week for breakfast this morning. It wasn't that excited about eating it again...there's just been so much of it lately...but this is a first world problem if there has ever been one so I ate it. With vanilla ice cream.

Then I went outside and harvested more tomatoes. There are so many. We had tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and fresh baked bread for lunch. I chopped up a bunch of the remaining tomatoes along with some Egyptian onions and some garlic and covered it in olive oil, salt, and pepper and stuck it on the smoker for an hour or so. When it cools down I'll toss it in the blender and it will become a tasty pizza sauce that I can easily freeze for future consumption. I'll make another batch tomorrow because there are still more tomatoes on the counter and in the garden.

I've got to pick more blackberries, too. I think this time they will go right into the freezer, though. Might as well have some for the purposes of making blackberry crumble in the dead of winter!!!

[awakenedsoul]

This morning I took the bus to Sprouts and took advantage of their specials. They had watermelon on sale for $1.88 each, so I bought two. I also got a dozen free range organic brown eggs. I think I'll start eating a few eggs a week again and less meat. The bike trailer worked out perfectly. Now I don't have to lug all of that weight on my back.

I did some research on a couple of eco washer and dryers. I ordered the Wonder Wash and Nina Soft dryer to use for small, light loads. The dryer is more like a spinner. It will be ideal for my hand knits. I make all of my sweaters and socks. Now they won't take as long to dry. With the drought, this will use less water. I'll reuse the grey water for my potted plants. I can save my older Kenmore top loading washer for larger loads of sheets and towels. I don't have that much laundry... now that I'm not teaching ballet or taking daily dance classes.

Researched the beach bus and I plan to try that tomorrow. It's only $3.00 each way. I'll pack my bicycle in the luggage compartment. I plan to bring a lunch, a thermos of coffee, a paperback book, and my knitting. I've been wanting to do this for ages. When I moved to LA I thought I'd be going to the beach all the time, but I never do! This is much cheaper than paying for gas and parking. (I don't do that anymore, since I'm car free. I like exploring my options.)

Washed my sheets in homemade laundry detergent and used white vinegar in the rinse water. Hung them out to dry on the clothesline. It's in the 90's, so they should be dry very soon. Yesterday I cleaned my bedroom really well. Today I'll do the bathroom. I made a cleanser with vinegar, water, and lemon peels from my Meyer lemon tree. I'll use that to disinfect the bathroom. It feels good to give one room in my cottage a good cleaning each day.

How's everyone else doing?