December Frugals

[SteveinMN]

First no-drive day of December was yesterday. I was all set to go grocery shopping Sunday, planning to pick up a couple of sale items at a supermarket not down the street. But then I realized that I was going to lunch with friends today. So I combined lunch with grocery shopping today and left the car in the garage yesterday.

[Kat]

Yesterday was a no-drive, no-spend day. My mom came over for a visit and gave us a financial gift as an early Christmas present (she still plans to buy gifts for the baby). As usual, I plan to save my half while DH plans to blow his half. LOL I made a big old pot of cream of cabbage soup for dinner. We ate it with homemade bread and have lots of leftovers for lunches. DD and I are both sick, so I have to try to think of something easy to make for dinner tonight or else we'll end up ordering out.

[Stella]

I am having a difficult week, to put it mildly. I'm talking about the kind of week where you wake up in an ambulance. I am home from the hospital now and feeling somewhat better, but Zach hasn't been at his job long enough to have PTO, so frugality is a must right now, since today was the first full day he worked this week.

Tonight Zach is making french bread pizza and salad for dinner. There is a table at church where anyone can take day-old bread, so the kids brought some home yesterday from Faith Formation. We have a lot of food (luckily, I had just come back from the store when the you-know-what hit the fan), and Zach is not a cook, but he's doing his best to avoid take-out. Next week a few friends of mine are going to be bringing some meals.

He also decided instead of going out and buying some bookshelves I really needed for the family room, since that would at the moment entail dragging all 5 kids with him, that he would build them using stuff we already have. They are almost done and they look pretty good.

[fidgiegirl]

Oh Stella! I thought it was weird that you had kind of dropped off the Earth there for a few days . . . sending good thoughts your way!!!

[rosarugosa]

Sorry for your terrible week Stella. I hope you're feeling better; we missed you around here. I figured it was December and maybe nobody was getting into the frugal groove.
I've been doing a really good job of keeping out of the stores. I've done some online purchases, but no impulse buys, staying practical. Oh, and I actually washed out a Ziploc freezer baggie last week. I'm usually unwilling to pay for Ziplocs and instead buy the generic bags with the twist-ties. The idea is to start freezing some bread, although I haven't gotten around to that yet.

[Stella]

Thanks Kelli and Rosa! I am starting to feel better now. It does seem like it's been a bit slow around here.

Good job staying out of the stores Rosa. I've been sticking to my list too. Online shopping does seem to make that easier on me. The only exception is one-click ebooks, especially now that I have been stuck in bed.

[Rosemary]

Scary, Stella - hope all is well now.

I made a batch of caramels for teacher gifts today. DD and I will make a cute tag and name for them and she can distribute them throughout the school (she has a LOT of different teachers for various subjects, even though she's in elementary school). There will be enough for some of my friends, too, whom I like to give something small and homemade. Total cost of ingredients was about $3, and I still have stuff remaining that I can use in other recipes. This was my first foray into candy making and I discovered that the candy thermometer I had is completely inaccurate; in fact, it does not seem to go above 200F. Luckily DH has an infrared thermometer so I used that.

Trading date nights/child care with a friend this weekend.

[flowerseverywhere]

Stella hope you are well. sending good wishes your way.

we are sending some holiday cards out, I painted a picture that we will print on some cardstock I got on sale with a coupon! Since we moved this year we'll send some nice handwritten notes to some close friends we miss.

Most weeks I drive once or twice all week, and plan my route to minimize gas use. The rest of the time is walking or biking now that I live in a warm climate.

And of course, I can hang my laundry since it is warm out- I can remember freezing fingers living up north hanging laundry then bringing in stiff cold clothes off the line.

We are starting to look into solar panels as our roof purposely faces the right way. It is such a huge investment though.

[Kat]

Glad you are back, Stella. We've missed you around here!

The last couple of days have been a big, fat frugal fail! We're all crazy sick, so we've had several doctors appointments this week. Each had a $30 co-pay and some had prescription costs! Boo! But my poor kiddo, who was miserable with a double ear infection, a nasty cough, and impetigo is finally on the road to recovery. So it's worth it!

Since DH and I have both felt like death warmed over, we've been ordering food for dinner. Last night, DH did manage to make us some Ramen, and we've been eating whatever we can find for lunches. So it could be worse, I guess.

Our one frugal victory is finding cheaper insurance for our daughter next year. We will save quite a bit monthly as well as save on co-pays and prescriptions.

Will try to get back on the frugal bandwagon when we're feeling better. I'm not allowed to take any cold medication, so I really just need some time to recuperate.

[bke]

Kat and Stella-I hope you're both feeling better very soon! Its too bad we don't all live close enough to help out when things are going badly. A hand with the kids and a little chicken soup goes a long ways some times.

I keep watching the on line sales for things that are too good to resist but haven't found much that I just have to have.

I did buy a new camera this week. Ds had a concert where he performed with Steven Mead who is a world famous Euphonium player. There we sat, no camera to capture the moment (AGAIN!) and feeling a bit bad. So I came home and ordered a camera. It was 25% off, plus 4% savings through ebates, 1% savings with my credit card and free shipping.

Other than that, we've been spending more than saving. Ds had a b-day, one of his friends had a b-day, and today ds is on his way to Battle Creek to watch and perform with the Battle Creek Brass Band. That is costing me about $100 too. But I figure this is a major opportunity for him to hang with some world class musicians.

I'm going to do some sweepstaking this afternoon before returning to work.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.