April 2016 Frugals

[cdttmm]

New monthly thread!

[cdttmm]

I haven't had much to report as of late, but I finally have something today!

I had scheduled a haircut appointment scheduled for this afternoon. I had scheduled it so that I would have enough time to drive home from work to let the dogs out and then go to the appointment. Well, it turned out that my dearly beloved would be home so I didn't need to do the extra driving to go let the dogs out. I thought about spending the free hour at my favorite tea shop drinking tea and eating something delicious, but decided that I didn't need to spend the ~$10 on such things. Instead, I just moved up the time of my appointment (fortunately there was an opening!) and I was able to avoid having the hour break in my day. Afterwards I went home and ate a sweet potato that I had baked earlier in the week and stashed in the fridge.

[early morning]

I haven't had anything good to report lately, either. I still take coffee to work every morning, and pack lunch and beverage daily. Tonight dinner was all left-overs, including microwaved coffee from the lunch pot DH made. DS took pictures of all tax papers and emailed them to me, so DH can take them next week to our free tax-prep people, saving DS some cash and/or me the headache of trying to help him with them. Got gas at the cheapest station on my way home, picked up a pack of buns at the dollar store for almost the same price as ALDI, and not out of the way. We have DVDs from the library for free entertainment this evening. Bought a vacuum from Amazon that did not work as it should - returned it for full credit and free pickup at our house. Credit should process next week. And I'm really working on my coffeehouse habit... I don't plan to cut it out entirely unless it becomes financially necessary, but I'm aiming for no more than twice a week.

[rosarugosa]

Happy April everyone!
We've been only going to Trader Joe's once or twice a month instead of weekly, and that is definitely having a positive impact on the grocery budget.
I realized the other day that we had $75. in cash back rewards on a credit card we hadn't used recently, so I requested the $75.00.
I went for a lunchtime walk the other day and was right outside Talbot's door, but said to myself, "I am not currently lusting for anything inside that store, and if I don't go in, it will stay that way." Took my own good advice for a change.
I think that's it for the moment.

[Gardnr]

i am traveling for a professional conference. I have purchased NO: water, coffee, tea. I have a brita water bottle. I waited for decaf coffee till I got to my hotel room. I waited for hot tea until I got on airplanes and then again in my room.

I figure I saved nearly $30 yeterday. I drink ALOT of fluid.

OTOH, we wont' talk about my diinner splurge last night. My 1 one this trip with a grilfriend from Texas. We had a lovely meal and sseveral cocktails. ALLL worth it

[danna]

Wasn't on much in March...lots of the same old..need to put some money away ,,,,,
Will try to come on everyday and be more frugal in April.
So far
1..eating from baggies of soup I put in the freezer made from Easter Sunday chicken
2..shopped yesterday but, only sale items mostly fruit and veggies and very little. Making sure nothing is going to waste.
3..cleaning my house today, the sun is shining and OMG I can see all the dust....cleaning always makes me glad to stay home and therefore not shop
4..been using my gym membership at least times a week and that has also, kept me out of the stores...lol..I have about 10 more lbs to lose and I am trying
not to buy any clothes until that 10 is gone and I am fitter. No more wasting money on clothes that don't fit later is my goal.

[Meezer_Mom]

My TV analog-to-digital converter just died. Bet your sweet bippy I'm not missing The Good Wife tomorrow night. So, I'm going to hand money to Best Buy tomorrow that I don't really want to. This will be my third converter. However, the 1990-something TV I bought for $60 used still has life in it.

[rosarugosa]

MM: Last weekend I thought we were going to have to replace our 1990-something TV. We were watching a DVD from the library and the volume kept cutting out. DH said TV seemed to do that when it was on for a long time, maybe heating up or something. After some thought I vacuumed all the vents (I think dust buildup in the vents can impede airflow but I don't really know what I'm talking about here) and it seems to be OK now, but time will tell. We are still on our original converter box; it never occurred to me that they could die.
Yesterday we went to a coin dealer in a nearby town to cash in Mom's & our own modest stashes of silver coins. Mom said I could split whatever I got with my sister, so DSIS and I each get $100 and our collection yielded another $75.
We had a great dinner last night at home with a very small price tag. I made salads with DH's preferred "butter" lettuce, and he made linguine with clam sauce which was very delicious. And there are vast savings on Black Box wine at home for about a buck a glass compared to wine at $8 - $12 a glass in a restaurant!

[cdttmm]

I had to run some errands yesterday and managed to get organized enough that I could do them all in one trip. I even remembered to bring the plastic bags with me for recycling at the local grocery store and a bird food seed bag to recycle at our local pet store (apparently they have volunteers that craft recycled bird seed bags into reusable tote bags). I have a $5 off coupon for the pet store, but it's good through the end of April and we don't need anything right now so I decided to wait to use it.

We discovered that our dishwasher wasn't working yesterday. I immediately assumed the worst and that we would have to replace it. Ugh. But my dearly beloved has a deep love of YouTube and watched a bunch of videos which allowed him to assess the actual problem. Turns out the controller panel burned out, but it's something he is convinced he can replace on his own. So we ordered a new one ($160) and it should be here later this week. In the meantime, it looks like we'll be washing dishes by hand.

I'm headed to NYC today to teach my urban beekeeing class. I've already made two pots of tea to fill my various travel mugs. I've also got a full water bottle, a banana, an energy bar, and a container of homemade trail mix. I'll have to stop to buy gas on the way there, but should be able to use some gas rewards points for a discount.

[early morning]

cdttmm, good for your DH! your dishwasher issues reminded me our own.... I use the "energy" wash, always, and turn off the heated dry. A couple weeks ago I had trouble starting the cycle, or it would stop mid-cycle and not restart. DH will NOT consider working on it (it's a real cheap one and he is convinced parts will cost as much as it did...) so I was a bit annoyed. I tried it on "normal" cycle with no heat, and it is working fine (but still won't run on the energy cycle). I'm sure it's using a bit more electricity and water, but it will take a LONG time for that to equal a new dishwasher. He isn't bad at fixing things overall - our furnace is on year two of its last legs thanks to DH! The furnace repair people said it was not fixable due to water condensation where there shouldn't be any but DH put in a drain so the water is immediately removed, and it's working fine. If the efficiency has dropped, we've not noticed it in our fuel usage. I know the PRICE is down, but the gallons used per thermal days (or whatever the propane company calls them) is about the same.

Yesterday he also drilled and pinned a cheap-o clothes rack I bought at a yard sale, so it is usable again.

Since my mother is no longer in her own home it's been hard for me to get rid of our trash weekly. I recycle at the center, so that's not a big deal, but I do not want to set up and pay for trash removal. We take a truckload to the transfer station when we have a major clean-out, but that's maybe once a year. I've worked out a deal w/the museum where we volunteer (and DD works once day a week). I can put my weekly bag of trash in their dumpster, and we take their recycling. It's a win for us all!