March Frugals

[Yppej]

Did not go for groceries today. It is light and warm enough now in the evenings I can go during the week after work if I need to. I think I have enough to eat for the week anyways.

[iris lilies]

I got $192 trade-in on my Mac computer to buy a new Mac computer. The new one is half the price of the old one with thus discount because of price dropping over time, me dropping down in memory and model. There were several non-frugal things associated with this purchase but I won’t mention them because this is a thread where we talk only about frugality!

[early morning]

LOL il - that's why I don't post here much. WTG on the computer purchase price! I hate buying tech. It seems new computers always come with less of what I want and more of what I don't. No decent spreadsheet, too many games. And expensive to boot! I am impressed with your financial acumen in this manner! The other day, as I was washing baggies and looking at a stack of mending, I was bemoaning my lack of frugals these days. DD started laughing and said that my frugals are there, they are just ingrained into our way of life and I should shut up, already. Made me laugh, which is cheap therapy, after all.... So can I count that as a frugal?? ('cause believe me, I have plenty of non-frugals in my life.... )

[Yppej]

Still using Gas Buddy. My regular station came down by 10 cents per gallon but is still 12 cents a gallon higher than the Gas Buddy best picks.

[Tradd]

Does anyone use E15/E85 gas? E15 was $0.05/gallon cheaper than regular this morning so I decided to give it a try.

[JaneV2.0]

... WTG on the computer purchase price! I hate buying tech. It seems new computers always come with less of what I want and more of what I don't. No decent spreadsheet, too many games. And expensive to boot! .... )

I enjoy buying tech items, and I'm constantly surprised at how reasonably priced they are. As I recall, my first computer in 1995 (1 gig) was around 3K, with another big chunk of cash for a monochrome printer--and they were huge and bulky. My dream all-in-one computer today, with a huge screen, large SSD drive, and lots of RAM is about $800. But I don't need one at the moment.

[early morning]

Jane - I suspect that the prices wouldn't seem expensive to me if I actually understood and liked what I was purchasing, lol. And the first computer we purchased when the kids were in school WAS much more expensive. Still, I am more Luddite than not, I think! I may understand the need to "keep up with the times" re: computers, smart phones - and I will use them to the best of my (still rather nascent) ability. But I do not really LIKE having to do so, in the main. I tend to think of things I resent spending money on as "too expensive" when in reality, I just don't want to pay for them. More of a problem with my mindset, I think!

[JaneV2.0]

Jane - I suspect that the prices would seem expensive to me if I actually understood and liked what I was purchasing, lol. And the first computer we purchased when the kids were in school WAS much more expensive. Still, I am more Luddite than not, I think! I may understand the need to "keep up with the times" re: computers, smart phones - and I will use them to the best of my (still rather nascent) ability. But I do not really LIKE having to do so, in the main. I tend to think of things I resent spending money on as "too expensive" when in reality, I just don't want to pay for them. More of a problem with my mindset, I think!

That's a common attitude, I think. There are expense categories--like household repairs--that annoy me no end. Technology enriches my life in so many ways--from grocery delivery and banking to entertainment--that I'm happy to spend the money.

[rosarugosa]

Early: Google has a free spreadsheet program that seems to function just like excel, at least in my limited retiree usage.

[happystuff]

I like new technology! I dislike having all the old tech stuck in drawers, etc. For example, I actually have a first generation Amazon Fire Tablet. Still fires up. lol.