July Frugals

[SteveinMN]

Good reminder to look back...

- Had to bring the pest control expert back to my mom's place. Been trapping a number of mice and it's not abating, so they must be getting in where I don't think they can. So I bit the bullet and brought back the man who helped us last time. He plugged a number of entrances around the house (some from the house and ground settling; others from the mice working actively), reset the traps inside, and left without charging me, because he warrants his work for a year (!). "Betcha Orkin doesn't do that!" Indeed they don't...
- Brought our dog into the vet a couple of weeks ago because she was acting even more oddly than usual and the vet diagnosed dementia. He's going through similar behavior with one of his dogs. He offered to run a battery of tests to rule out something physiological but I trust his judgement and he confirmed something we suspected anyway. He sent me and the dog on our way at no charge for that visit. We also escaped a bunch of charges (and some difficult decisions) when we got to the emergency vet a week later. Maybe that's not exactly "frugal" as none of this was our choice, but it could have turned into several hundred dollars of bills and it did not. We're paying it forward by trying to give away the dog items which still are usable. (Reminds me to post in the Rants thread after this...)
- Lots of supermarket sales for us to stock up on, so I've been refilling the was-empty freezer.
- DW's car battery started leaking, about 9 months into installation in the car. Since we bought one of Fleet Farm's better batteries, replacement was free. I had to pull it myself and drive to the FF (about a two hour deal) but it beat paying them to replace it.
- Earned some more small gift cards as thank-yous for surveys, donating blood, social event door prizes, etc. Those go into my "stash" -- the money I use to buy stuff I can use but would never take out of the budget (like albums from iTunes, a better cooking thermometer, etc.).

[Tybee]

Great work, Steve!
Just bought a twin down comforter at Goodwill and washed it and hung it out and then dried it in drier; it has lofted back beautifully, and it cost 5 dollars.
Bought sheets today at an estate sale, eight dollars for very nice set of all cotton queen sheets, will wash tonight, as we needed new sheets.
Carried around some neat things at estate sales today and then put them back, figuring I have similar, or let someone else have the fun of finding this really neat treasure, so that was frugal.
Bought a very old Tales of Tarzan book at the sale, 2 dollars, which I will give to my grandson for Christmas.

[Yppej]

Got some cards from the free table at work. A no spend day.

Talked to a couple recruiters this week but they only have openings with longer commutes that would eat up some of the higher pay and it is not worth the stress.

[danna]

July28
---trip to Good will last week for the 50% off sale, 3 new blouses, 1 pr sleep pants, 2 scarves, a wallet and a heavy sweater coat
all for less then $20.00. One of the blouses will be a gift for Dd and 1 of the scarves is a to sell.
--still eating less (but, well) and losing weight a really big saver.
--did a few survives for a couple of dollars...very little bit helps.
--sold another piece of fabric on Etsy
that is all for now.

[rosarugosa]

I did an online survey. My survey account is close to $100 and I am planning to use that money towards vacation later this summer.
We got 2 steamed lobsters from Market Basket for $14.55, and we made 2 generous lobster rolls with a fair bit of lobster salad left over for the price of a single lobster roll from a restaurant.
I have a lot of cut hydrangeas in the house, and they are so beautiful. I always feel rich when I can fill our home with flowers from our garden.

[Yppej]

I was strongly tempted to go to an air conditioned store yesterday but resisted and had another no spend day.

[Lainey]

I was strongly tempted to go to an air conditioned store yesterday but resisted and had another no spend day.

Yppej,
reminded me of an incident that happened earlier this month. Electricity in our neighborhood went down and their rep predicted it would take several hours to fix but wasn't sure. I texted my adult son about heading over to his place if it took longer and my house temp would be too hot. He said, Sure, come on over, but don't forget the public library has free a/c too! haha

[catherine]

Great work, Steve!
Just bought a twin down comforter at Goodwill and washed it and hung it out and then dried it in drier; it has lofted back beautifully, and it cost 5 dollars.
Bought sheets today at an estate sale, eight dollars for very nice set of all cotton queen sheets, will wash tonight, as we needed new sheets.
Carried around some neat things at estate sales today and then put them back, figuring I have similar, or let someone else have the fun of finding this really neat treasure, so that was frugal.
Bought a very old Tales of Tarzan book at the sale, 2 dollars, which I will give to my grandson for Christmas.

I love your finds!

I recently scored a beautiful bedskirt. I needed one for VT, and hated the idea of spending money on it, and I happened to find the perfect one for $6 at a yard sale.
I also found a Lennon "Double Fantasy" vinyl for $1 at our local thrift store and gave it to my two sons who adore John Lennon and have turntables.
I've made a delicious pasta dish with kale and herbs from our garden. Wish I could have used our tomatoes, but we just had the first one ripen. Next week I should be able to start harvesting those.

[danna]

July 29th
--sold a hall/wall mirror on KIJIJI this morning out of house a few $'s in my pocket
--just made a jar of pickles using the brine from a really yummy jar of pickled mushrooms
and 5 small cucumbers that where starting to get soft.
--Had 6 eggs that are due tomorrow so I hard boiled them to give them a bit more time
--exercise was free, pulling weeds
--I forgot about my haircut a couple of days ago, discount but really good barber/hairdresser shop $10.00 for seniors with tax,
it is such a good price for a haircut that I love and don't need to do barely anything to that I give them $15.00. Well worth it!
--coloured my own hair before I went a box on sale for $5.00

[razz]

I went for my weekly shopping and checked the cheese section. It had some Camenbert cheese marked 30% off. I checked the BB date and found it was still a week away. $7.99 - $2.40 was not that bad and I really enjoy different cheeses. Imagine my shock when I checked out and the price registered $2.24! I had two packages so $4.48 - $1.35 (with the 30% deduction) = $3.13. It is wonderful cheese and I am so enjoying it.
I usually check the cheese department for discounts and have found some wonderful deals. I found 4.5 lb of feta for $4.59 total. I took it out of the saline solution and froze in small air-tight packages. It froze well and I am finishing my last portion for tonight's salad with romaine lettuce, peppers, tomatoes and green onions from my garden drizzled with Greek dressing.