February 2014 Frugals

[cdttmm]

New month, new thread. Post your daily frugal successes here!

[cdttmm]

Stayed home today because I'm battling a cold. Fortunately, I have not succumbed to internet shopping to entertain myself! Instead, watched some documentaries via Netflix and surfed the web. Made a loaf of chocolate chip banana bead to use up two very ripe bananas and some rock hard brown sugar. Dropped an egg in the floor in the process...the dogs were happy!

Scored at the vet yesterday. They accidentally ordered the prescription dog food for us in the bags for veterinary clinic use only, not the bags for resale. They sold them to us anyway, but at the discounted price that the clinic pays for food. Total score! I wish I could do this all the time, but I realize it's not ethical for them since the bags are clearly marked "not for resale". Oh well, a one time win is still a win!!! And I had ordered three bags of food so it will last a few months anyway.

Dinner tonight will be black bean nachos made from tortilla chips brought home from work and black beans from the freezer. Frugal, but high in calories! Here's hoping I feel well enough to go to the gym tomorrow to work out!!!

[jp1]

SO went to visit his family this weekend since his dad isn't doing to well. I decided to indulge my introversion and just stay home this weekend and not really do anything social. Instead of going out for happy hour yesterday I just came home after work. It wasn't exactly a no spend day today. I dropped off a few pair of pants for dry cleaning (no spend today but will have to pay for them on Wednesday when I pick them up) and bought a zucchini and some mushrooms to make a big dish of lasagna so I can have leftovers for the next couple of weeks. So no, not no spend, but a very efficient spend day.

[redfox]

Accidentally found out that a big medical bill we owe will be reduced by 30% if we pay it off by the end of Feb., so we're making that happen. It involves a partial loan from a family member, who has the extra & who we'll pay back, and it saves us a huge amount! I am very happy about this.

[leslieann]

I'm trying to develop a spending/saving plan that actually works for my situation. My work has been consistent enough for the last couple of years that I can stop obsessing about what my tax bill is going to be. So since I can estimate the taxes pretty well, I can rely more on my quarterlies and not fear that I'll get nailed in April. Well, I hope that's the case.

So the plan is that I will take a base salary, as minimal as I can, make sure that the tax payment and RRSP accounts are fully funded, month to month, and do my level best to keep expenses in the business to a minimum. That way there will (hopefully) be a bonus available at the end of each quarter. The tricky part for me is to make sure that I am not overspending in my home/personal life but I think having the base salary will keep me on the path.

So my frugal for today is the chai tea I have been making for some time based, I think, on a recipe I saw in this forum. Sliced ginger, a stick of cinnamon, a few peppercorns, cardamom, whole cloves to simmer with a quart or more of water until it is pretty dark and fragrant. Take it off the heat and throw in a handful of tea bags or whatever you have: I have been using decaf tetley tea bags since I like chai in the evening. Short steep (or it gets bitter), strain and store in the refrigerator in a canning jar. I warm it up, add a spoonful of coconut milk (from a can) and some honey and feel most luxurious.

Also I ate the wilting swiss chard that I had forgotten. Glad I caught it before it reached "compost-only."

[fidgiegirl]

Good job, everyone.

Here we are trying to avoid calling a plumber for a floor drain clog that is backing up the washing machine water. Please pray to the plumbing gods that we are not making it worse with our attempts. The snake has now been engaged.

[danna]

Yesterday Feb01/14
---opened one of the very large restaurant size cans of very good tomatoes bought on sale for $2.00 a couple of months back.
Made a casserole of tortilla shells that needed to be used, Christmas turkey from the freezer, cheese that needed used and the tomatoes
there is enough with salad for Dd and I for supper tonight.
---measured out and there is still 8 cups + of the tomatoes so the plan is to make a large pot of tomato soup with carrots, onions and celery from the fridge
on Sunday and freeze the extras in individual packets
--clean out the fridge and used up a wilted apple in breakfast oatmeal
--spreadsheets done and ready for this month...doing very well with money
--

[SteveinMN]

February is off with a bang. The father of a good friend of ours passed away last week. The visitation/funeral was three hours away. We could have gone up to the visitation on Friday and stayed at a hotel overnight to attend the funeral Saturday, but chose to get up super-early on Saturday instead. We brewed a pot of coffee and took it with us in travel mugs, drove the car that gets 50-55 mpg (though probably not on that trip; very windy for the entire trip), and were served lunch after the funeral. When we got back home, we cobbled together dinner from a can of soup, some good bread, and a couple of other leftovers we had hanging around the house.

Today we are holding our own little "Big Game" party with a frozen pizza, some veggies and dip, and some bars we found in the freezer (they weren't very lost). No guests, no big thing.

[early morning]

Checked on Mom and brought home most of a gallon of milk and a bag of stale bread/chips/etc for chicken scratch. Picked up a few needs from the dollar store, cheaper and less stress than bigboxcity. I'm getting a few eggs again from my three little hens... Picked up some of our organic grass-fed beef from a nieghbor of ours (left the rest in his freezer until we have more space....) and paid for our quarter - we have about 115 pounds of packaged beef, worked out to about $3.50 per pound, and I picked it up from him (1 mile drive) instead of the processor (25 miles one way). I can live with that.

[Azure]

Friday was pay day for me. I left the store without doing ANY shopping. yay! However I did see a Burts Bees product that is 70% off that I am interested in trying. I thought I remembered seeing a coupon on the website. I came home and found the coupon but I am not positive it is the exact product that is on clearance. If it is I will use the $3 off coupon and be happy to try a new product If not.... I'll save $5. Either way I'm good.

We bought a few groceries and picked up some RX's for DH on Saturday and we've been home ever since. So no driving & no spending today.

Finally used the cabbage in a cabbage & pork soup for dinner tonight. Made a loaf of bread to go with it.