View Full Version : April Frugals
I was definitely not frugal for the months of February, March and it looks like April as well:( With my father having been in at home hospice all of February, and the first part of March - I did a lot of traveling to help my mother out. Dad's 87th birthday was March 4th, so I was down there knowing it would be his last one - a week later March 11th dad passed away in his sleep. I have been bringing mom all around to get as much paperwork settled as we possibly could. I was down there again with my mom and sister to go to an attorney to update/amend the will, trust, medical POA, etc. We will need to go back to read over the newest legal forms so that we all agree. Everyone has informed my mother, including me, not to do anything rash for at least 6 months, preferably a year. She has agreed to that.
So with all of your ideas/suggestions, I hope to slowly come back from the unfrugalness I've been in. I don't know how often I will post, but hope to as things slowly settled down.
I am sorry to hear of your father's death. It is such a difficult time and exhausting. Travel in such circumstances is draining as well. I wish you well on this part of the journey.
debi, so sorry! We are always here, whenever you are able to make a post or not, and we'll be here when you can come back . . .
Sorry to hear about your Dad, Debi. Spending for the scenario you describe certain doesn't strike me as unfrugal, rather money well spent to be with the people you love when you needed each other the most.
Sorry to hear about your Dad, Debi. Spending for the scenario you describe certain doesn't strike me as unfrugal, rather money well spent to be with the people you love when you needed each other the most.
Absolutely. This is one of those life events where everything else comes second.
Debi I am so sorry for your loss.
I went to Aldi yesterday to stock up on some stuff. Outside of party supplies for the baptism, which I bought with a gift certificate, it was my first big grocery shopping (not just one or two items) in about three weeks. I spent under $200. That's not bad for a family of nine. I'm trying to keep my pantry fairly well stocked because these sleepy newborn days are always the biggest temptation time for take out. We have done pretty well with that this time around. Something about six children makes eating out suddenly not seem like the easier option. :)
I'm going to make bread today and do our fabric dying project for school. I've been getting into the Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day cookbook. Bella is intensely interested in cooking and baking, so she is helping me.
Tomorrow we are taking the older three kids to see a play. We got the tickets with a group discount through homeschool co-op and the babysitter, Veronica's godmother, is doing it for free. We watched her daughter last weekend while she was at a retreat.
We paid an extra $100 towards the medical bill from the birth. It shouldn't take too long to get that paid off and then we will roll the payments into my student loan. I only have one left, 7k, and I am on a bit of a mission to get that dealt with. We have no mortgage either, so that would be it for us. We would be completely debt free. We are likely only a few years out from Zach starting his own business. Since my dad is wanting to retire at the same time our three big goals over the next 5 years are to pay off my student loan, get the house upgrades we know we will need (windows that keep the air in, etc. :) ) and build up at least 6 months, hopefully more like a years worth of expenses in savings. Our expenses are pretty low, with no debt, no mortgage, shared utilities with my dad, etc. Health insurance will be the biggest expense. It's a big goal, but it's doable.
Deb, so sorry to hear about your father. My thoughts are with you.
I mailed out a rebate for $5 for some witch hazel. I had $4 in register rewards that were about to expire so I stopped at Rite Aide to see what I might find. I ended up finding shampoo on sale 2 for $4. They happened to have free full-sized conditioners attached. I also bought ds a Cadbury egg for a treat. Total out of pocket, 84 cents.
Glad you shared with us Debi...of course such a loss is part of life and it is so good you could be there for your Mom...Sorry for your loss.
April so far
--made homemade granola type bars using stuff we had on hand.
--bought a huge container(about 3 months worth) of the laundry detergent we use on sale $9.99
--Substituting mashed up black beans and lentils for meat in several meals this week.
--used two coupons for 2 free packages of pasta
All I can think of for now.
I think frugality does not mean skimping on life's important moments, and family transitions are so important. After all if you skimp on '4 weddings and a funeral' events, it might be anti-frugal in the long-term, especially in non-monetary terms.
April frugals are being driven by a dearth of cash this month, based on some minor crises last month: So, this month
- envelope budgeting week by week, no sliding one week into the next
- big pots of basic foods made consciously and deliberately (potatoes, cabbage, curries, stews, casseroles,..)
- and deal with the beers...
awakenedsoul
4-4-14, 7:08pm
Went to knitting at a local bakery. Only spent .75 on a piece of bread with butter. Helped a woman there who was stuck on her cable knit vest. Ir saved her money paying a teacher, and it made me feel energized. Deposited a check from my knitting business into my account at the credit union. Dropped my bike at the bike shop for a repair. Stopped at Costco and picked up what I needed. They had a sale on tuna...great price! (I get excited about things like that.) Got some gas while I was there. Felt good to do all of my errands in one trip.
Huge frugal for me this month! My brother is opening a restaurant in Minneapolis and I wanted to fly there for the grand opening. Only problem...flights were $1000. I'm a college professor so I can't really just extend my stay in an attempt to get cheaper flights. Totally lucked out and was able to use frequent flier miles to get a ticket for the exact flights I wanted for a whopping $5.00 booking fee!!! Non-stop flights both directions to boot! And, Delta gives you the option to buy additional miles when you book a flight. Of course, you can technically buy miles any time, but it is less expensive to buy them when you are booking a flight. I did the math and realized that buying 6000 miles (the most I could buy at the discount) would ultimately mean that my next ticket using purchased frequent flier miles would still be half the price of a retail ticket. I rarely fly anywhere except to and from MN to see my family and Delta is almost always the best option since MSP is a Delta hub. So total frugal win today...I was really thinking I was going to have to pony up the $1000 for this trip and it would have pained me greatly.
For those of you in the Twin Cities, here is my shameless plug. His restaurant is called Heyday and it's in Uptown (27th and Lyndale, I think). It opens April 22nd. :D
wow, cdttmm, I think those $5 flights were the biggest frugal I've seen here - very impressive! Have fun at the restaurant opening, I'm sure it will mean a lot that you're there.
Got my dwarf peach tree ordered when it went on end of the season sale. I've been haunting the Stark Bros web site knowing it was almost time for the trees to go on sale. I was hoping they wouldn't run out of my variety before the sale started. Finally went on sale yesterday and I snapped it up. The tree was marked down 8 bucks and the shipping was 7.95 so it's like I got free shipping. Hooray! Also by ordering this late I get it delivered at the perfect planting time for my region instead of a month earlier and having to hold it over. Every mail order nursery I've ever dealt with thinks that early March is perfect planting time here...NOT!
Cdttmm, that is so exciting! I will put that on my list of places to try. Great deal on the tickets, too!
April 05
--making two large batches of gnocchi one with mash potato flakes that need to be used and one with
sweet potatoes bought really cheap last week. Will be supper tonight and lots to freeze. Ds visiting next
week and it will make a great addition to Sat. supper
--picked up books from Library (entailment free) and combined trip to bank at the same time
--the fellow that was suppose to take down one tree and trim the rest last summer finally came this week...because he was late (you think...lol)
and because the trees were easier to cut with no leaves he charged me less
Hi all,
Looks like your bro's restaurant is getting a fair amount of buzz, cdttmm! Good for him! Looking forward to trying it at some point.
I am taking a break from working on an online course to get my SLF on. :) Man, my academic brain is really shot after a few years away from this kind of work. Plus, it's just so much more fun to get ready for a baby. :) Anyway, I'm pounding through and almost done. I even pulled out my old trick of leaving home and going to a coffee shop, but I chose a new one to try and it's really too loud to focus well. I'll stick with my old standard next time I need to use this trick - it's always quiet there. They did have a good iced mocha, but definitely not frugal!!
So my latest frugal adventure is this group I got added to on FB. I think I posted about it already, it's a neighborhood garage-style group. OMG. I need to limit myself in the time I spend on there, it feels like there are hundreds of items a day!! We have picked up a good little stroller for $5 and a changing pad (brand new) for $7. The really good stuff gets snapped up right away, though. I am hopeful that it will be a good way to sell some of the items we have tried in the past on CL, but haven't gone that well, because the geographical area is a lot tighter. There are over 1000 people on the group!! I think 99% of them are women!! Lots of kids items and women's clothing.
DH has been working hard on our basement remodel, saving us a lot of $$ over hiring out the work. He's not the fastest, but he's learning a lot and enjoying himself, so that's good. Today he made us some risers for the baby's cosleeper out of blocks of wood. It was too short to attach to our tall bed and now it can function more as intended. To order leg extensions would have been about $25 and they didn't get good reviews anyway.
We returned about $150 worth of stuff from our baby showers. I am still floored by people's generosity. Some of it was from Walmart, and we don't go there often, so we spent that up right away on other items while we were at the store, but have saved the Target money for a rainy day.
That's about all for right now!! I am headed home to work on sewing some cloth wipes out of old tshirts. :)
Spent $5 cover charge for a "Clean Comedy" night with 3 different comics. Hilarious, everyone in the audience laughing all the way through. Fun and frugal entertainment for a Saturday night.
rosarugosa
4-13-14, 11:02am
I posted elsewhere about DH and I getting Fitbits. While it remains to be seen whether or not this was a good investment or a useless expenditure, I did get DH's for a great deal. They go for $100. We had enough points on a credit card for a $50. gift card to LL Bean, and LL Bean is also running a special where you get a $10 gift card if you spend $50. or more. So we bout the Fitbit from LL Bean and our out of pocket was $50. instead of $100, with the potential to save another $10. if there is something we NEED from LL Bean before the $10 card expires in late May. If the $10 prompts us to buy something we don't need, then I recognize that won't be a deal at all!
early morning
4-13-14, 1:55pm
Laundry on the line, car not leaving the driveway today (a very rare occurrence!) and cleaning/repairing things to sell is on the agenda for this afternoon. That's about as good as it gets for this past week...
April 13
--Ds and Ddil for the weekend believe it or not we only just got together to exchange Christmas gifts.
1. really good reason to stop and just give people gifts when and if we want when we see them
2. will be discussing this when we next get together something I have wanted to do for a long time
3. we all have enough and they all have more then enough
4. very hard to buy things any of us need.
So this will be a major frugal this Christmas...
--made really nice meals with help from Dd that were good/mostly healthy and frugal
--bread in the bread machine
--took Ddil to store she wanted to see that was going out of business and I didn't buy anything.
awakenedsoul
4-14-14, 12:34am
Almost finished with short sleeve lace top that I'm knitting. I bought the yarn 40% off at the local knitting shop. I can return the leftover yarn, (I bought enough for a long sleeved cardigan,) and exchange it for enough to make a second summer sweater. Made a tuna casserole. Very frugal and great for leftovers. Biked to the school to let the dogs run off leash. I used to drive them to the park. This saves gas, and they like it just as well.
Almost finished with short sleeve lace top that I'm knitting. Ohhh...do you have a link to that pattern? Sounds lovely.
Earlier in the week I used a bunch of coupons and a good sale to buy 8 bottles of assorted nail polish at a 27 cent profit. I have three ladies that bring me coupons on a regular basis and I am collecting things like this to give to them.
Last night I stopped at Rite Aid to pick up some Easter goodies for ds. After sales and coupons I spent $1.52 for around $18 worth of stuff.
I had a slow day at work yesterday and spent much of my down time clipping and sorting coupons. Dh has decided that he wants to retire in 5 years! I don't think that is going to be possible but I'm going to do my darndest to make it happen.
I am going to spend some time today entering reward codes and doing sweepstakes-two things I haven't taken much time for lately.
fidgiegirl
4-16-14, 9:40am
I had a slow day at work yesterday and spent much of my down time clipping and sorting coupons. Dh has decided that he wants to retire in 5 years! I don't think that is going to be possible but I'm going to do my darndest to make it happen.
I dunno, bke, a goal is certainly a powerful thing . . . I hope it CAN happen! Nice to hear from you and well done on your scores, as usual!!
Here, not too much in the way of frugals, except for being a slug and thus spending nothing. A neighbor who never used their simple crib and mattress is selling it to us and delivering it tonight for $90. My inlaws are paying for it for us, which is very kind. I was unsure about using a crib (still won't set it up for a few months) and trying to put it off, but saw this deal on our neighborhood FB deals group and liked the crib, so we went for it. Now we will have it on hand, and if we never use it, at least they won't have spent $300+ on something we're not even sure we want (but that they realllllllly wanted to get for us). We didn't want to waste their money, plus my DFiL was getting all bamboozled by the cribs advertised as 4-in-1 (converting into toddler beds), which is kind of a scam because they don't even come with the rails to convert them and then two of the four ways to convert them are by putting said non-existent rail on the either the left side or the right side. So this one will meet everyone's needs, hopefully. :) The need that remains to be seen is if the baby will actually sleep in it! LOL! But baby will have to be born first, I am 9 days past the due date at this time and getting impatient!
April 15---Snow in Southern Ontario and it is still on the trees on April 16.....crazy
--that means I needed a bit of heat both days but dressed warm and didn't keep it on for long
--like Bke Dd and I have really got into price matching/sales/coupons/points and it is amazing how much
food and other stuff we have been able to stockpile and use without spending much.
--took the car in for oil/filter change/21 point inspection and putting summer tires on (in the snow..lol)
and there was nothing else needed doing everything was great....gotta love that.
--I had been missing my clip on sunglasses for 4 days and found then in a side pocket in purse, thought I looked there
not a frugal but sure felt good.
--eating from our great stockpile
Kelli
Sending you hugs and best wishes....baby will come soon!!
Danna
Kelli, I was thinking it should be any day and here you are past your due date. Sending you good thoughts!!
fidgiegirl
4-16-14, 10:56am
Thanks!!
rosarugosa
4-17-14, 4:49am
I've got a couple of small ones: A neighbor gave us some lobster meat left over from a catering function at his job, so we had free lobster salad sandwiches for dinner Monday night. DH has been drinking less coffee and so suggested that I start using the smaller pot each day. So we'll save a scoop a day :)
flowerseverywhere
4-17-14, 7:21am
My quilt group has a finish it up challenge this year. So far I have finished two items and am almost done with a queen sized quilt. Just got a wedding invite in the mail and so I have the present ready.
My numbers (cholesterol, bp, hemoglobin a1c) have been creeping up so I decided to go vegan. Although I ate little meat, the eggs, butter and cheeses didn't help. Will see when I have my blood redone in a month if it helped. Meat has gotten so expensive that a handful of barley or rice and a cup of beans in a pot of soup is certainly much cheaper. The aside benefit is the mass production of animal products certainly is not appealing so I won't be contributing to it. DH liked my stuffed peppers and grilled veggie sandwiches but he did put cheese on his. I also really don't want to take a handful of pills on top of my asthma meds which I really need if I want to breathe. In the long run it has the potential to save lots of money in medical costs now that I am getting a little on in years. Catches up with you.
awakenedsoul
4-17-14, 12:18pm
Ohhh...do you have a link to that pattern? Sounds lovely.
Thanks. It's a vintage pattern I bought on EBay. There are a lot of similar ones from the 70's available on line.
early morning
4-19-14, 5:03pm
Put laundry on the line this morning. Picked up necessities at Dollar General (eggs, kleenex, cookies for DH:~)) while on my way to Mom's. Got her Easter flowers at the grocery - 3 nice bundles of Alstroemeria in various colors for $12.00. She loves them and they last as cut flowers for quite a while. Bought cat litter last week - there was a sale on pine pellets for wood stoves, so I got those instead of the pine pellet horse bedding I usually buy. Exactly the same, and cheaper! All kitty box mess gets dumped in the field so I won't use commercial cat litters, which I dislike in any case. Cut DH's hair this afternoon, saving $10. Just trying to watch pennies and recoup from the horrendous heating bills this past winter. More insulation is in our future... *sigh*. I hate having stuff done on the house - it is such a major additional disruption in my already disrupted life.
Kelli, I am hoping you have had that baby by now! Praying for you!
We are having a quiet Easter at home. Zach is spit roasting a leg of lamb with Greek seasoning and basting it with a combination of beer, lemon juice and butter. We will have it with roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus. I made baklava for dessert amd we got a cheesecake from Trader Joes.
Grandpa always gets the kids chocolate lambs and bunnies made by a monastery, so we decided not to get much other candy. We got them some peeps and, because they all love gardening, a strawberry plant for their baskets. We used the grass that comes in the lamb packages as Easter grass. It's the paper kind. I hate the plastic kind. Instead of filling the eggs with candy, because too much sugar turns them into rabid squirrels, we just hid them and had them find a certain number to trade in for their Easter basket. This also eliminates the problem of finding jelly beans stuck in every corner of the house for the next two months. :) We spent $3 on peeps, $2 on eggs, $5 on Easter baskets and $5 on strawberry plants for a grand total of $15 spent on Easter baskets for 5 kids. They loved them.
Charlotte's second birthday is a week from tomorrow. Zach and I have decided that we will take her to Wild Rumpus bookstore for her birthday. It's a cute independent bookstore that has a pet cat, a pet chicken, a chinchilla, rats and other animals. We will get her a new book and have cake and ice cream at home. It's a simple second birthday, but she will like it. I think it's good to keep the bar low when they are little. :)
fidgiegirl
4-20-14, 10:41am
Thanks Stella. Baby is still hangin' out in my belly. :( We're looking at induction tomorrow morning, with some time spent this evening getting ready. Yours sounds like a lovely Easter! And Charlotte will love her birthday book, I'm sure.
earlymorning, hang in there . . . the insulation should help with the heat bills but yeah, house projects, blech.
April 27
---Roast chicken two days ago, then curry with it and then yesterday a large pot of soup which will be supper tonight and lunch tomorrow, for
Dd and I
--Need a new Vacuum with beater bar or I would have needed new flooring mine is not getting the dust out, and new pot set which have not been
replace in forever. Thur only deal at Canadian Tire spend $200.00 and get a $50.00 card to use later (will be my summer plants). Spent $234.00 with tax,
for a 10 pc set of pots, a small frying pan and a Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner, all on sale already for 50% off. It had been a really long time since I
have bought anything new and it did feel really strange. But, I am very pleased with the purchases and I know they will save me time and money in
the long run.
--Have stockpiled on a lot of interesting food at "No Frills" grocery store they have had a month long sale on products they will not be carrying in
the future all 50% and some bought with added coupons. Not all necessary but, will add a lot of variety to our cooking which I feel stops us from eating out.
--repaired my kitchen cupboard door, and a drawer front on dining room buffet cabinet....myself....since DH has been gone I have been finding myself needing
to ask kids for help or pay others, so I have decided I need to learn and it felt good..........
--Sold two more items with the consignment sales...$30.00 in the bank.
rosarugosa
4-27-14, 7:53pm
Danna: Learning how to do your own repairs is a great frugal - I'm impressed!
Early morning: I love alstroemeria. They are so pretty and do last a long time. We used them for the centerpieces at our wedding.
We went to see Book of Mormon last week and while the ticket prices were over the top, we did eat at home before the show and were able to park at my office parking garage for free, so those two measures kept the night from being even more expensive. We haven't gone out to eat at all this month, which is really good for us, especially since it was my birthday last weekend. We did go walking in the woods 6 times this month, so that was a lot of our recreation. Yesterday, I participated in a cleanup event in Lynn Woods with a friend, and we picked trash for two hours in the pouring rain. We did actually have fun, got exercise, and also free t-shirts and pizza for our trouble. I think I am going to go ahead and spend the $25.00 for an annual family membership to Friends of Lynn Woods. We get so much enjoyment there and I want us to do our part to sustain this great place that we love.
My bottle of conditioner seemed pretty much empty, but I cut it open and there's at least another week's worth in there. Just pennies, but it doesn't hurt.
DH and I are doing a Bing search thing which is enabling us to earn $5.00 Amazon gift cards. We've earned four so far. It just takes us each about 5 minutes a day. I don't need anything from Amazon at the moment, but when something does come up, I'll be ready!
I'm anxious to hear about Kelli and I'm sorry Steve doesn't seem to be around anymore. I thought he was just on vacation, but it's been kind of a long time for that.
Howdy folks,
I haven't posted on this forum for ages, but I've just been looking through threads today and remembered what a great little community there is here...well done to everyone who has managed some real frugality this month! I've learned one lesson this week... never, ever go shopping in Whole Foods... never!
rosarugosa
4-28-14, 4:37am
Welcome back Lucas. WF is definitely not budget friendly, but I'm willing to go there occasionally for things I cannot get elsewhere.
Blackdog Lin
4-29-14, 11:20am
Most of my frugals are so ingrained anymore that I can't think of anything new I've tried. But remembered one this morning: making our own homemade dog treats. She's allergic to beef and pork, so we've always purchased the chicken treats, but they are muy expensive and come with an ingredient list of stuff we can't pronounce. Dreck.
I started 2 months ago making her homemade sweet potato treats. Super easy and she loves them. One large sweet potato that I don't even have to peel, a little olive oil and cinnamon, 10 minutes of prep and 3 hours in the oven: easy peasy and about 1/10th the cost of the store-bought. And not only better for our wallets but better for her health too. We'll never go back to store-bought treats.
All right you know we're going to need the recipe for those sweet potato dog treats. Please.:)
Gardenarian
4-29-14, 3:22pm
Oh yes, our dogs love sweet potatoes! My dogs are crazy about beans too - cheaper than dog food, makes an easy treat.
Excited that I saved $0.16 per gallon today when filling the car with diesel. Thank you Gas Buddy app!
Not much else to report because it's just the usual stuff. Trying to be diligent about bringing lunch and snacks with me to work. Started to fall into a pattern of just buying stuff from the cafeteria. Not good for my budget or my health! Doing better this week, but it's only Tuesday. Will report back later this week.
I, too, would like the recipe for frugal dog treats. Although, I must admit. I'm usually frugal in this area by simply not buying them any. If they require a treat for some reason, they get to lick some peanut butter off a spoon. :D
Blackdog Lin
4-29-14, 9:31pm
Well, for us, having to endure the ear medicine (every other day), and having to have our bath and pedicure (every two weeks), and then at least once every other day just for being adorable.....we've always kept treats on hand. I'll just never buy the store-bought ones full of unpronounceable chemicals and additives again.
1 large sweet potato
1 tbs. olive oil
cinnamon to taste (I've been using probably 1 tsp.)
Wash sweet potato, cut out bad spots if needed, then slice lengthwise into thinnish slices (I end up with all manner of shapes, the lengthwise longer ones just make larger treats. It doesn't matter. Just cut into slices as you will.) It is not necessary to peel. Place in mixing bowl and drizzle then toss with olive oil. Spread out on cookie sheet in single layer and sprinkle with cinnamon. (The original directions say to do this on a foil-lined cookie sheet - I have not found this to be necessary.) Bake at 250 degrees for 2 1/2 - 3 hours. Too easy.
Our first batch at 2 1/2 hours were chewy; at 3 hours they get more crunchy, and we think this is better for her dental health so we go with the crunchy ones. They ARE supposed to help with tartar removal. The recipe says they store in the fridge for 3 weeks, or the freezer for 4 months. Since I'm making a small batch, I've been putting them in a ziplock, dating it so I know when the 3 weeks is up, and throwing them in the fridge ready to hand out to her.
And our cost is about $1.50 for 3 weeks worth of treats, vs. $10.00 or more for the store-bought ones. And since she loves them, and seems to think they are indeed treats.....I am a convert.
Aldi's had cinnamon raisin bagels on clearance for 39 cents. I bought 8 packages and froze them. Such a great deal!
I managed to get 12 bottles of nail polish and 3 eye liners for free. I gave them to the ladies who bring me coupons.
I am waiting for my new washer and dryer to be delivered. A friend of ours is moving and is selling them to us for $125. I only need the washer. Hopefully I can find someone to buy the dryer from me.
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