Belated March Frugals

[SteveinMN]

March 4 and no Frugals thread?

Recent stuff for us:
- During the Olympics we broke down and ordered an HD converter cable box for the TV. The default Comcast signal is just a waste of an HD TV. We checked it out once before and it looked like it was just another couple of bucks a month for the converter box. But noooo ... it's the box; it's another $10 a month to deliver the HD signal to that box, and it's their $15 setup kit (a panoply of plastic and paper around 58 cents worth of cables). Once we added it all up, we decided that, when weather permits, we're going back to an antenna on the roof. We'll still have Comcast for Internet (at least for now), and with our Limited service, we won't save that much per month, but it will be the picture we're paying for and we're not rewarding as much greedy behavior. In the put and take of it all, though, we ended up with enough credits to skip this month's Comcast payment.
- Bought our usual frozen pizza at the supermarket on a 2-for-1. But it rang up as two pizzas. I went to the courtesy desk before I left the store and got the credit back. $8.99 back in my pocket.
- I needed to buy some filters for my camera lenses. Rather than buy brand-new ones, I found used ones in excellent condition at a camera store. I saved maybe one-third of the price of equivalent new ones and they're identical. I also bought a step-up ring so I can use one filter on multiple lenses, sparing the expense of buying $$$ filters for each lens diameter.

Anyone else?

[onlinemoniker]

Making bread right now. Making Tortilla soup later.

Is this a "no spend" thread? If so, I'm not spending today. In fact, I spent on the 1st but haven't spent since.

Steve: I'm with you on your frustration on the cable. I cancelled cable (and got rid of my TV's) over three years ago. I pay $50 per month for wireless internet and though I've been considering adding something like Netflix streaming, I haven't done it yet. (I'm not even really using the library for movies and TV shows and such so it's stupid to add a pay service when I don't even use what I can get for free.) So holding off in that area.
Luckily I quit TV before paying for HD got to be an issue. Man, that would make me so angry to be sucked into that what I MUST also have re: TV! I fully support your decision (once executed) to get rid of the cable. Such a RIP OFF! And yes, greedy. But they will charge what the market will bear...

[danna]

March 4...I am here too but, late, onlinemoniker this thread started as 3 frugals a day a long time ago and is
more just what we have managed to do frugal wise each day. Welcome, I am sorry to say I love my TV but, also
get a lot of free movies and box sets from the library.
--so far this month I have set up my all my spreadsheets that always makes me feel like I have things under control.
--trip to the grocery store today was a whole $12.50, some still very good but marked down veggies, a cont. of chicken broth
that I price matched and had a $1.00 coupon for, 6 large cans of soup, 4 900grams pkgs. of pasta, & a pkg of 4 red peppers.
Everything bought on sale.
--Home made pancakes and peameal bacon (from freezer) for our Pancake Tuesday supper.
--scan receipts for credits on things bought last week $3.00 to scansave.
--gave away 2 boxes of books and miscellaneous to charity, decluttering seems to end up being frugal for me.
that is all for now.

[Selah]

Found a great pair of fleece sweatpants by the side of the dumpster--good quality and in great shape--at least, after I washed and dried them. Now I can stop borrowing DH's and wear my own!

Bought the Nook version of a book instead of the hard copy: $7.99 for an instant download, instead of $15 plus $18 shipping for the hard copy.

Arranged a barter agreement with a friend: I provide dog-walking services for her two dogs, and she provides me with home-made jewelry, artistic gifts, or second-hand clothes that she personally selects and buys (she is an extremely talented personal shopper with far better taste in clothes than I do). I get to exercise and hang out with dogs (which I love), and she gets to create and to shop for clothes--which she loves. Win-win!

[rosarugosa]

I love your barter deal Selah, and your freebie finds never fail to impress!

[Blackdog Lin]

I found out this week that I can now barter for my haircuts, as my hairdresser loved and will trade for a baked-goods item DH and I make informally. We are now up to bartering for haircuts, oil changes, and fresh-caught-then-frozen local crappie fish (since we're not fishermen, really appreciating this one. Love fried fish Fridays.....)

Yeah, barter rocks.

[early morning]

Coffee pot died. Here, that's a MAJOR calamity! DD poked around in the box room and found the one she had at her place before she moved back home. Yay- no need to buy a new pot! Still watching movies and TV series from the library for free, love the library! Stopped at local coffee shop for a treat, and it was happy hour - half price coffee drinks! Since there were three of us, that actually saved quite a bit! Got our taxes done and e-filed for free, thanks to AARP. Tomorrow I'll drop our weekly trash off at my mothers, since we don't have trash pickup and I don't want to make a dump run until we clean out the shed and/or barn. We don't generate much trash and neither does she, but she has to have one of those big cans that can be picked up by the truck instead of a human...

[danna]

Mar 07
--still being careful with what we buy in groceries, getting very good at only buying on sale, price matched and/or with coupons
also, look for fish and meat marked down by manager extra 30% because they are date due in the next few days, have had a
lot of luck stocking up on meat this way.
--bought large package of lean ground beef at Costco and made up into 10 meat patties and many meat balls and 3 pkgs for 3 separate meals.
I have found that if I have some variety this kind of meals quick to prepare I lose any desire to eat out. Homemade is better.
--no spend today and no drive, walking to my volunteer position once a week good exercise and no gas.

[Selah]

In Israel, people don't mop their floors with a mop. Instead, they use a long-handled, wide squeegee and put a damp, soapy towel down on the floor, then use the squeegee to push it around. Saves hauling around a bucket, I guess...you can always just rinse out and re-soap the towel in the sink. Most people buy these towels in the store, use them once or twice, then throw them out. I figured out that they could easily be laundered...who cares if they're stained? Other people use them to wash their front stairs or their portion of the sidewalk, and just leave them there for the garbage man to pick up. I've picked up a few, laundered them, and they work fine. I'll never have to buy those towels again!

Another AMAZING find--I found this carpet last week. Unbelievable someone could just neatly wrap it up and put it next to the dumpster. I'm so glad I found it!

[rosarugosa]

The link didn't work for me Selah, and now I'm all curious and the suspense is killing me!