View Full Version : January 2016 Frugals
Happy New Year to my Simple Living friends! Start the new year off right and post your frugals for the month of January here!
early morning
1-1-16, 11:35am
Happy Frugal New Year, everyone! Well, it's only day one, right? The past few months we've been pretty spendy for a variety of reasons, but I need to get back on the wagon. Transferred a little extra money towards the mortgage this morning. And also took all the deodorant bits I've saved, and made a new stick deodorant. Now, I'll be the first to admit that this doesn't save much money, but it's an exercise that never fails to make me happy for some stupid reason, so - I do it. The heat is turned down to 62 (Bought DH an electric blanket, so he can just overheat himself and not the whole upstairs). Stayed home last night as always, but also did not have company over, saving the cost of snacks/drinks. DH has met our out of pocket max for the fiscal year (ends 6-30-16) - OUCH - but at least for the next 6 months his medical costs will be nil. We have some planned expenses coming up (when the furnace dies and the computer fatally crashes...) but we are putting them off as long as possible. Discretionary spending, though, will be closely watched!!
Lol, I'm a deodorant scrooge too. I've found enough "throw-away" deodorant in the stick to keep me going an extra month! That's like, what, $.50? But it's very satisfying.
I've been eating from the freezer and cupboards and putting some extra meals in the freezer for busy days. Need to run to Aldi tomorrow to fill in the holes (milk, oj, veggies, fruit). I plan to do all my grocery shopping possible at Aldi. Cut my cell phone data plan from 3GB to 1GB, saving me $20 a month. In other words, it's on wifi when I'm at home, and I only turn the data on on work lunch to quickly check emails, then turn it back off. It means I read Kindle books on my phone or just read the news online via work pc.
I've only turned my heat on the last few days, as it was such as mild fall.
I've done my budget for the next few months. I did the figures and should be able to pay off my credit card by October, then I can start on my car. I'm fine on clothes and shoes, have plenty to read, a pre-paid punch card for the range, and a good bit of ammo on hand.
rodeosweetheart
1-1-16, 4:01pm
So funny, Tradd, when I read "range" I thought you meant stove,and imagined one of those machines like in England when you use the hot water heater by putting in money.
So funny, Tradd, when I read "range" I thought you meant stove,and imagined one of those machines like in England when you use the hot water heater by putting in money.
:laff:
Williamsmith
1-1-16, 5:59pm
All the bills created by the holiday season are paid. I applied for the Homestead/Farmstead property tax abatement from my local school district. The state reimburses the school district with money collected from the state run casinos and I get a small break in my otherwise draconian school tax.
Dinner is pork that I have had in my freezer purchased on a buy one get one sale a few weeks ago and sauerkraut that a friend made from locally grown garden cabbage. An ice cream cake I got for free on a punch card. And fresh loaf of bread from my bread maker.
Tomorrow, I venture out to the farm with my two sons and many friends where we will try to successfully harvest a few deer to supply each family with supplemental venison for the year. We usually have a surplus harvest which we share with a few families we know need the meat and can't afford to buy grocery store cuts. Everyone will be using a flintlock fired muzzleloader that uses round lead balls and black powder. Add a hunting license and you've got a bonding experience.
Sonora Shepherd
1-1-16, 6:29pm
We got our Customer Goodwill Package from Volkswagen - $1,000 to make us feel better about our Scandalwagon. We have a year to use it, so will wait till November and buy new tires with the $500 part of it you have to spend at a dealer. We have our spending under a pretty tight grip except that my husband is a daylily fanatic and the new catalogs are coming in. Our power bill is higher because we have seven or eight growlights on his baby seedlings. But that is his only splurge and I am his enabler. We started cutting food portions in half from what we usually eat because it was too much. We usually shop at Goodwill and Vinnies before we go to a store. I got a fabulous umbrella for $1.00. There is something empowering about doing things like saving on deodorant. We love living a quiet and simple and frugal life.
Jan 01,2016
--sorted coupons and threw out past dated ones
--clean out two purses and so I knew how money I have...also rolled some coins
--Balanced two chequing accounts I use and added up all the Store cards I have.
--Calculated my Net Worth it is better then last year one because I have mostly been frugal and
a small inheritance (sad to have money because you lost a person) which allowed me to do a few home
repairs without touching savings.
--company has gone home and the fridge is a mess so yesterdays leftovers of Nachcos became a hamburger/rice with fried egg for Dd
and soup for me made with freezer broth, hamburger, rice and a bunch of leftover cooked veggies.....after that fridge looked a little better
----Plan for this year is to pay off the mortgage I have on the house not overly large but, it needs to be gone then I will be able to remove the interest
payment & principal payment from my budget...not like I would make any interest if I saved it. So I am going to try to be super frugal for this year short term pain for long
term peace of mind.
---I am not buying clothes until I have lost this last 15 lbs I am fighting with ....I know I have said this before but, it is really dumb to buy clothes that don't fit right and
then need to be replaced or altered. I do sew so I can just take things in till I reach goal.
And, I will continue to stockpile food but, be very careful about over stocking things that don't get used.
Happy, frugal 2016 to you all!
Happy New Year, Frugal Friends!
For the third straight month, I totalled all my daily discretionary spends from my notebook by category and entered them on my google doc spreadsheet. I'm working on capping my daily discretionary at a certain amount so the monthly totalling by category simplifies the process and I can compare my efforts month by month.
I've been naughty getting sodas, at the office and on my way to Chinese take-out. That's one area I will reduce this month.
I also calculated my first liabilities to assets ratio. I'm coming off a period of bad health and some debt and am not a homeowner, but seeing a number was empowering. I have a goal of seeing it change.
Here's to 2016!
I needed to add service days to out Tracfone and was able to add 13 months of service for about $60. That works out to less than $5.00 a month, so I was pretty pleased with that. We hardly ever use the thing and use almost no minutes, so it's basically a matter of keeping the thing activated for the rare occasions that we want to use it.
Great job, everyone! We had a very quiet New Year's Day. I spent most of the day working on setting up my online class that starts next week. Then we made two homemade pizzas, one with homemade tomato sauce and one with homemade pesto. They were both delicious and now there are lots of leftovers to eat. I cleaned out the fridge and did have to throw away some food, which always annoys me. Fortunately, it wasn't a huge amount.
Cut and organized some coupons. And now I'm starting on the shopping lists for the month. Want to make sure I minimize the impulse purchases and that we continue to use things up. I've still got several containers of homemade applesauce in the freezer that need to be consumed so I need a plan for those.
Pretty sure I've finalized the list of books that I want to buy using the Amazon gift cards that I have. I've done a good job of limiting my book purchases over the past year. Books are my gazingus pin so this is a huge accomplishment.
I ran some preliminary numbers using my Quicken program (I love that thing!) and got an interesting overview of my spending for 2015. Here is a quick look at a few categories, averaging it out for 12 months:
Food $214/month
Fuel For Car $66/month
Clothing $43/month, a total of $515 for the year (I had to replace two pairs of expensive shoes, and purchase new jeans and underwear. Everything else is from the thrift stores)
Household Supplies $68 (not usually this much, but I bought a new mattress finally)
My income was very good this year (even though I missed work for two months this summer due to an injury) mainly due to my crafty (yet legal ways) of increasing it beyond my Wholefoods deli counter salary - I've had a house mate almost all of the 12 months of 2015, which brought in an extra $3370. I have a small jewelry and art business, which brought in around $5576 (I do have a lot of business expenses involved in this however, that I haven't deducted yet). I got some significant money gifts, I've sold plasma...having this extra income has allowed me to do a couple of things I wouldn't be able to do if I was just relying on my job salary - I just paid off my car loan, so this new year's car costs are going to be significantly lower. I've allowed myself to purchase tools and supplies for my little business, I replaced my mattress, I replaced old shoes with well-made (ie: expensive ones). In essence, I don't have to live paycheck-to-paycheck these days, and it allows me to do many of the things I like to do, which is being able to take a long road trip every summer! I have enough to pad my emergency account ( I really enjoy hoarding money there :) ).
I also enjoy living the frugal way I do, but as a matter of choice, not out of sheer necessity (I remember those days all to well when I was a single parent). I don't have extravagant tastes, but I will buy quality over quantity anytime I can afford it. In the next few weeks as I scrutinize my budget and income and start thinking about doing my taxes, I will look hard at certain categories and see if I can reduce some spending here and there. And then I am going to start planning next June's road trip.
frugal-one
1-2-16, 12:52pm
I needed to add service days to out Tracfone and was able to add 13 months of service for about $60. That works out to less than $5.00 a month, so I was pretty pleased with that. We hardly ever use the thing and use almost no minutes, so it's basically a matter of keeping the thing activated for the rare occasions that we want to use it.
How did you do that? Around here the trac phones for a year are over $100 (including tax).
Frugal-one: I usually spend $19.99 for 3 months and 60 minutes (Pay as you Go), so that only works out to about 7.00 per month. As I was checking out, I got an offer to add 365 service days for 49.99. I deleted the 19.99 item from my card, but I could not proceed, so it seemed like the 49.99 had to be an add-on with something else. So I changed to the 9.99 for 30 days & 30 minutes and I was able to proceed. At our current rate of usage, 30 minutes will probably last us a year, and we have a few hundred minutes already built up in our account, so I'm generally just looking to extend the service days.
I also find the website somewhat cumbersome and annoying, so it will be a bonus to interact with it annually instead of quarterly. :)
Another frugal to add: We needed ice melt and windshield wiper fluid, so DH went to Home Depot with a gift card we got with cc points, so no out of pocket cost for these items that cost about $23.00).
So far this year:
- DW needed a new winter coat, so she went to a department store (don't remember which) that was having a huge post-Christmas sale and paid for it with a gift card she received for Christmas.
- On our first grocery shopping of the year, I stuck to the list -- except for fresh Gulf-caught shrimp, which were "only" $8.99 a pound. We rarely buy shrimp and now with the news of human trafficking and poor working conditions in the major world supplier of shrimp, it's become more important to us to not feed that beast, so U.S.-caught and -processed shrimp at that price is an OK splurge. I'll cook them tomorrow using stuff we have in the house and they'll feed us twice. I used a fair number of coupons, too; the total bill was about 10% lower after they were added in.
- Found out the new snowblower uses the same oil as my car, so I won't have to buy anything special when I change the oil.
- DW got paid overtime for working coverage on both Christmas Eve and New Year's. Not frugal as such, but not budgeted funds, either.
- Received a free discount card for working telephones at a fundraiser. That's only a "half-frugal" because most of the offers are 2-for-1s at local restaurants, movie theaters, etc. But if we're spending the money anyway, 2-for-1 doesn't hurt. And we didn't have to spend any money to get the card.
Jan 02
---decluttered as I put away the Xamas stuff...that is frugal because it remains me I have enough of everything to do with Christmas...lol
--Friend gave me a loaf of fancy white bread to make sandwiches, I thought I would use it when the company was here but that didn't happen
so Dd and I used up olives, gerkins, cold cuts, and cream cheese to make the sandwiches and had them for supper with some soup.
---had leftover oatmeal and fruit from two days ago when company was here....waste not want not is how I am living....
--As usual I took the Christmas cards and any other cards from during the past year and made them into gift tags. (have not bought a gift tag in a decade)
---house is nice and clean and tidy from the holidays so I am keeping it kept up, it makes me feel good and not want to buy.
--quick shopping trip peanut butter on for $1.97 usually about $6.00 these days bought enough for a year,
Meezer_Mom
1-3-16, 12:43am
Yesterday I renewed my subscription to Yoga Journal for a mere, one-day-only offer of $3.39/year.
Today I used one of my gift cards to have dinner at Denny's, then I went grocery shopping. Between sales, promotions and e-coupons, I filled in most of what I need for the week for under $15.
Off to a good start.
Steve: We have the same concerns about shrimp. I read a recent article about the human trafficking in Thailand that was pretty heart-wrenching. Another alternative is frozen Argentinian pink shrimp from Trader Joe's. One of my employees told me about them and they are really good, but something that TJ's only has occasionally.
We had linguini with clam sauce last night for a cost of about $3.50 to feed two people. We used canned clams, but it was still pretty yummy.
Williamsmith
1-3-16, 9:33am
Steve: We have the same concerns about shrimp. I read a recent article about the human trafficking in Thailand that was pretty heart-wrenching. Another alternative is frozen Argentinian pink shrimp from Trader Joe's. One of my employees told me about them and they are really good, but something that TJ's only has occasionally.
We had linguini with clam sauce last night for a cost of about $3.50 to feed two people. We used canned clams, but it was still pretty yummy.
Chosing not to purchase imported food such as Argentinian shrimp and substituting a locally obtained alternative supports your local economy, reduces fuel consumption and global warming pollution from transportation by airplane and diesel shipping. Most of the distribution centers for imported food are poverty stricken neighborhoods where minorities reside. Health risks are higher in those areas because of diesel pollution. Hospital admissions in facilities near import shipping centers have increased activity for respiratory illnesses and many of the low income people living there are being insured by government subsidy. So what appears to be a frugal purchase for one consumer is in fact costing all of us greatly. Local food support matters.
rosarugosa
1-3-16, 10:10am
Williamsmith: The Argentinian shrimp is actually pretty expensive. I've just heard that it's one of the cleaner, more sustainable sources and we're definitely trying to avoid shrimp from Asia. DH is leery of US gulf shrimp because of the oil contamination concerns, although Consumer Reports says US wild shrimp is still the safest bet. Most of the seafood we eat is domestic (New England haddock, clams, lobster, oysters & scallops), although we do eat a fair bit of cod from Iceland, since local cod isn't really available anymore.
Jan 02
--As usual I took the Christmas cards and any other cards from during the past year and made them into gift tags. (have not bought a gift tag in a decade)
-
I do that too, only this year about 2/3rds of the cards were photo cards and not really usable for gift tags. It's a good thing I have a huge stash and give a lot less gifts.
My frugal attempt:
Met a friend I haven't seen in 25 years at a coffee shop, ordered regular coffee instead of a fancy one.
NYD was a no-spend.
Used a gift card for dinner out.
Today I'll use another gift card to pay for the 4 of us to see Hateful Eight.
Fried fish (from dad) for dinner last night.
-I had tomatoes on the counter going soft. I bagged them and tossed in the freezer. At a future point they will be cooked down for a pot of pasta or chili.
-I had 8 apples on the counter getting soft so I diced them and tossed in a saucepan with a little water and let them simmer. Add a boatload of cinnamon....topping for pancakes yesterday morning. Half remains of each-those are in the freezer for breakfast next Saturday.;)
-I had black bean hummus in the fridge getting old. With a small bag of carrots and a few handfuls of crackers, our snacks when we got the munchies for the last 2 days. now all are gone and not in the trash.
-I had shrimp in the freezer getting old. I cooked them all last night. Dinner was: pesto (from the freezer-aka garden), pasta, steamed broccoli and garlic shrimp. We will have the remaining shrimp for lunch today as a lettuce wrap (romaine also getting old in the fridge).
-instead of going out for breakfast, hashbrown casserole (ala cracker barrel recipe) is baking in the oven. Add a few eggs over the top.
Is there a theme here? Food getting old is being consumed or salvaged for future consumption, $ being saved by not going out, and prevention of trash and compost is occurring.
rodeosweetheart
1-3-16, 11:15am
Returned photo printer that did not produce high quality photos, purchased for my family albums project (15 years in the making.)
Downloaded app to get photos from phone at drugstore kiosk, spent 2.77 on photos to start the current album.
Husband got glasses fixed (arm had broken off) for free at Sam's club.
Ate leftover rice for breakfast.
Gardnr: How exactly do you make a lettuce wrap?
Cancelled my Chicago Tribune digital subscription - $10/month
Cancelled a couple of magazine subscriptions (I'd been getting for a couple of months): $100 in refunds coming.
Figured out I can get a digital issue of the Trib online via my library's website - free!
Gardnr: How exactly do you make a lettuce wrap?
I'm not Gardnr, but I assume a lettuce wrap is where you use a whole lettuce leaf to make a wrap sandwich in place of bread or tortilla or flatbread.
Gardnr: How exactly do you make a lettuce wrap?
Need big lettuce leaves-I prefer romaine. Then pretend it's a tortilla. I put my dressing or salsa in first then the rest of whatever filling I want. (egg salad and tuna salad works great).
Jan03
---no drive not spend
---leftover sandwiches for breakfast
--leftover salad for lunch
---roasted a whole chicken with potatoes/carrots/onions (veggies needed to be used) lots of everything for supper tomorrow
put carcass in freezer for pot of soup later
Meezer_Mom
1-4-16, 12:24am
-Made up some bean salad. It'll last me about 3 days.
-Went to gym, read my kindle library book while on bike
-Stopped at Rite Aid for Bic mechanical pencils (free w/coupon), my favorite PaperMate mechanical pencils (25% off, then coupon off), and TP (store brand, less 10% coupon). Also bought a box of knock-off perfumes I like at $2.49 (75% off holiday sale). That is less than the dollar store. :)
Good times!
Thanks Tradd & Gardnr. Sounds like a good way to cut calories and maybe get DH to eat more salad-like substances. :)
Decided that this year I will spend more attention on taking care of the house - not the day to day care - but more intense cleaning, painting some rooms, working on the garden a lot.
Today I took everything out of the refrigerator and cleaned all drawers and shelves - only had to toss a 3 year old partial jar of marmalade - keeping food waste under control.
Washed mini blinds on 5 of the 8 windows - the rest will happen tomorrow.
2 no drive, no spend days as of today for the month.
The only money I spent yesterday at the thrift store was 2 stuffed animals for the dog and 3 tee shirts to make into diapers for a global health collective that our church supports.
Jan 04
---Gas at good price with $.02 per Litre to use at Loblaws stores. We use so little it was only $17.00 since about mid Dec. a big $.38 to use at Loblaws
---Made returns to Homedepot for a project and I got a refund on Cr. Card of $79.00
--Returns of items bought and not used way back in the spring $16.11 but only for Store Credit so the sort of not frugal I bought
two 4ft. Christmas prelit trees in pots (meant for outside but great for inside NO stands to fuss with) $17.35 for 2 (one Dd is buying off me) and I used the Store Card
And, we will sell the two larger trees (with annoying stands).
---rtd all the wine bottles and beer cans that have piled up in the last months, okay so there were not that many I only got a refund of $2.00...lol
---used a coupon to get a free coffee while I was out and about
---I know I said either here or on the declutter challenge (that I started) that I did not need anymore Christmas stuff but,
1 $39.00 wreath for $11.00 (mine was really very pitiful looking this year) , napkins reg. $10.00 for $2.44 and 1 roll of nice wrapping paper for $4.00
(I really could not stand wrapping larger gifts with tissue paper another year)....
---used a Gift card from Michaels Dsil gave me for my Birthday to buy a few things marked down by 80%, mostly craft items to make gifts for
grand nephews.
It really was a fun shopping day and all of these store are 10 minutes from home
rodeosweetheart
1-5-16, 9:11am
Ate out using free Panera gift card and both had half meals to we could use it again.
did not buy printer for photo project but decided to scan the old photos and then take them to a kiosk instead.
Meezer_Mom
1-5-16, 11:50am
I was naughty yesterday and gave in to the Subway temptation for dinner and the 7-11 chickie monster on the way home from book club.
However, I was handed the remainder wine after the book club: a nice Chilean Cab. There's another glass or two left. Lucky me!
DH makes lettuce wraps with hotdogs and beansprouts inside. Lol, whatever floats his boat, it's got to be better than a bun.
Jan 05
---trip to Costco...rtd the 2 trees I bought on sale for $29.97 before Christmas (because I found 2 for $17.35 yesterday) I hadn't even
opened the box. They are good about these things but, I hadn't realized they were the type you had to stake in the ground and I really
wanted them for inside. Other then that I only spent about $30.00 all food stuff/household and on sale.
---dropped by the Library on the way there so no extra trip.
---watching a movie we taped on cost.
---supper was eggs and fried potatoes leftover over from Sun.
Jan 06
--no drive, no spend
--cleaned under basement stairs found missing items I thought I needed to buy and organized to things
could be got too, and moved many items to other areas of the house with like items
--sorted and organized food storage containers....had a whole lot of lids and very few matching bottoms
matched up what matched and tossed the rest. Not frugal but, now know what I have and I am mostly using glass these days.
But, Dsil bought me "As seen on TV" "Green Containers" so will have to see if they work as well as the claims....made on Tv, also
rubber like covers that are suppose to stretch over almost any dish...have not tried them yet.
I would not have bought them but, she loves anything sold on TV. so that is what we get every year some work great some don't. Love her anyway....lol
--
Meezer Mom: Remainder wine is my kind of frugal!
KIB: That sounds awful, but to each his own! :)
Danna: You are really rocking the frugals this month! I think clean, organized spaces are frugal because you can see what you have, and they can give the same satisfaction as something new, kind of a "beauty makeover" of your spaces. Sounds like Chrissieq is of the same mind.
We started the month by spending way too much on groceries. Part of it was picking up some things for Mom and not accepting her money. She bought me produce at the farmers' market all summer and never let me pay her back, so I should reciprocate when I have the chance. But we were still spendy even without her stuff.
I got an award at work and had my choice of a bunch of random crap (Egg cooker anyone? Hell, even I can boil eggs without special equipment) or a $25. Visa gift card so I took the card. Now I just need to be sure I spend it wisely.
Attended a three-day training the first part of this week. This was not necessarily frugal because the training was $350 and was not mandatory. It's to become a self-defense instructor. The college where I work has implied that they will hire me to teach self-defense classes 1-2x per year if I had this certification. We'll see if that actually comes to fruition. If it doesn't, I can still teach self-defense classes through the martial arts school that I'm in the process of opening with 3 other martial artists. So, the frugal parts: went to a training that was near where my in-laws have a vacation home so was able to stay there instead of in a hotel. Brought tea with me for the drive so that I didn't have to stop at Starbucks on the way. Also, I brought a bunch of tea bags with me from home so that I could make my own tea on the second and third days of the training. Brought bananas, carrots, and sliced bell peppers with me for snacks to limit what I would buy over the three days. Took advantage of the breakfast that was provided at the training. Which actually meant that on the first day, I had a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast and then since the breakfast was still set up when we took our lunch break, I grabbed another bagel and put peanut butter on it since I had brought a jar of PB with me. (Doesn't everybody travel with their own jar of peanut butter or is that just me? :~)) Along with some carrots, bell pepper, and a banana, I figured it was a moderately healthy lunch.
Now that I'm back at home, I'm eating what's in the house for a few days until my dearly beloved returns from NYC. Might mean I eat some creative meals, but I'm okay with that.
It's been pretty cold here so I finally broke down and turned the heat up from 58 to 60 degrees in the house. After staying at my in-laws vacation home, where I had to crank the heat up to 70 degrees so that at least parts of the house felt warm enough to be livable (the house is as leaky as a sieve!), I am very grateful for my well-insulated house where 60 degrees feels just right!
Not much else to report. Everyone else seems to be starting off this month/year on the right foot (for the most part) so keep up the great work!!!
Further frugals:
- had to get stuff so I could do oil changes on the snowblower (the only gasoline-powered thing we own besides DW's car). Farm and Fleet would have been happy to sell me a $19 oil-change basin that holds about eight times what the snowblower can hold. So I passed on that and bought a covered glass food-storage dish for under $5 which will hold more than enough oil and seal well enough to take it to the collection site. It will be marked in permanent marker for non-food purposes.
- chose not to renew a subscription to a political Web site I find quite funny -- but which leaves me angry with what they're poking at. Why spend the money to irritate myself?
- DW and I are babysitting our grandchild tonight while DD runs errands. The timeframe will run over dinner, so I suspect there will be a strong pull toward takeout for our meal. But I've cooked the most time-consuming side dish on the menu so it will be easy to come home, unwind, and eat a home-cooked meal instead of restaurant food. I'm not sure it'll be cheaper (didn't price it out) but it will be more healthful.
Still cleaning - finished the mini blinds and moved onto under beds and closet floors.
Ran all the errands needed this PM so tomorrow can be a no spend/no drive day - got my hair cut, to the bank to get everything needed out of the security box to apply for passports, to the library for quick volunteer commitment and books to read over the weekend, put gas in the car anticipating the sub-zero temps coming soon, then to Walgreens to pick up the photo magnets (90% off) that were supposed to be done Sunday but they said stop in Wednesday still not done today but at least they called 2 hours later saying they were ready for pickup.
Let the cold arrive - I am ready!!
Jan 07
--volunteered this afternoon so that kept me busy and not spending just a $.50 coffee
and, that is all I can think of for today
Not necessarily a frugal day, but a productive one.
Gathered, trimmed and packaged over 1100 points worth of Campbell's labels for education and sent to friend for her school. She's reimbursing postage plus making donation for my cat rescue.
Gathered up all the chocolate I was gifted over the holidays - and can't have due to gallstone - and sent to friend who loves chocolate but doesn't have it in her budget right now. It's a surprise.
Stopped by social security office to correct earnings records for two years. Took my tax records with me and I was in and out in about 30 mins. I guess I got there at the perfect time.
Then I went to copy place to make copies of IRS notice of my identity theft and mailed off affidavit to state tax board.
Stopped by library and, while dropping of dvd, left cards re call for volunteers for upcoming homeless count (ie, census) and survey on City Services.
Also stopped for tacos. Am feeling a little spent so I've decided that tomorrow and possibly Saturday would be no spend days. Except maybe more copies; I still have affidasvit to send to other agencies. Minor spending, though.
Williamsmith
1-8-16, 2:55am
I am adjusting to paying for water usage. I have always been serviced by a 170 ft deep well. Of course you risk having well contamination from agricultural pesticide, herbicide, fertilizer runoff, so the expense of testing water yearly and treating the well. Also for repairs of the submersible pump and storage tank and well casing are always a concern.
But since selling now all I do is have to budget my usage. My recent injury caused me to take baths twice a day. But now I am back to short showers. Looking into the cost of installing water saving toilets. But the last month with all the company I got hammered with a large water bill. Looking forward to-smaller bill this month.
Local hardware store is selling LED bulbs for 2.99 per bulb. Buying and replacing standard bulbs and interested to see if they are really as frugal with energy use as advertised. There seems to be no difference in brightness.
We have not eaten a meal "out" since last week Friday! I cannot tell you how HUGE that is for us. I took up the challenge here of reducing that big expense by 50%.
Results:
1. the only food item purchased this week? Onions and yogurt.
2. No veggie has gone into the compost pile.
3. 1# frozen chicken cooked/mostly eaten-big pan of Chicken enchilada soup.
4. 1# of frozen smoked pork shoulder and 1 jar of my canned garden tomatillo salsa turned into a large pan of enchiladas. OH YUMMERS!!!
5. Pesto (from the freezer) pasta with shrimp (from the freezer) and steamed broccoli (already in the fridge)
6. Raosted cauliflower and broccoli with some awesome turkey meatloaf (all ingredients onhand except said purchased onion)
We had leftovers for lunches all week. We will finish the soup tonight for dinner!
This girl is a happy camper:cool: I am thinking about putting a $20 in a jar for each meal not eaten out, for every day over 3 out of 7 we eat at home. Could be a tidy nestegg at the end of each month to put in our emergency fund which I recently depleted to buy myself a car to replace the 16yo.
How are you doing on your frugal goals?
Okay, by the time we finished babysitting last night, both of us were really hungry. So we stopped at Subway and split a foot-long sandwich, paid for with a gift card I received recently. The entire meal cost us $2.43; a good compromise compared to the time it would have taken to cook the rest of dinner at home. And we still have the readied side dish for this weekend.
Going out today to clear some snow and do some grocery shopping before it gets cold tonight. That will let Saturday and Sunday be no-drive days for me (DW visits her mother every Sunday) and maybe no-spend days as well.
Meezer_Mom
1-8-16, 10:22pm
Scored two "free" 12-packs of Coke products via their reward program. Neighbor was heading to the store so I tagged along so I wouldn't have to carry the cartons home on foot (and up a hill). Lucky me: store had a B2G1F deal. Got 3 12-packs for just $5.29 out of pocket (the difference between max. coupon value, deposit and tax).
Trying to make it a no-spend day but the timing was right.
In other news, filed police report on my identity theft. That will allow me to get my credit freezes for free. ($30 saved) Not yet copied and sent off, though, because the PD's computer was down and report number couldn't be generated.
Williamsmith
1-8-16, 10:48pm
Scored two "free" 12-packs of Coke products via their reward program. Neighbor was heading to the store so I tagged along so I wouldn't have to carry the cartons home on foot (and up a hill). Lucky me: store had a B2G1F deal. Got 3 12-packs for just $5.29 out of pocket (the difference between max. coupon value, deposit and tax).
Trying to make it a no-spend day but the timing was right.
In other news, filed police report on my identity theft. That will allow me to get my credit freezes for free. ($30 saved) Not yet copied and sent off, though, because the PD's computer was down and report number couldn't be generated.
I don't know if you have used this site as a resource but you might check it out...consumer.ftc.gov
I purchased enough LED bulbs to replace most of my incandescent lighting. The rest are all CFL bulbs. All paid for with a gift card earned from rewards points on my credit card.
Then I went to dinner and the wife got a hockey puck masquerading as breaded chicken breast. Manager comped her meal and brought her out chicken and dumplings. Dinner for two....$8.24.
Jan 08
--Aqua fit using a gift card...
...made that trip a round trip bank, library, pool and pharmacy
--used up package of fish in freezer, needed to be used for supper and beets frozen in the fall...nice supper.
Williamsmith, that is a terrific resource, yes.
I am fortunate in that I've studied privacy law and have coordinated public forums on it. Less panicky when I got the IRS letter that a fraudulent return had been filed using my social. Have done everything by the book to check everything and wouldn't have needed to file police report except you can't get an extended fraud alert or a free freeze without it. So, I'm just dotting my I's and crossing my T's.
rodeosweetheart
1-9-16, 9:26am
Did our mall fitness walk and used Christmas gift card from husband's sister for a cappucino.
Shopped for groceries and bought only on sale items--we are building a pantry with the new freezer and trying to buy staples when they are on sale, like the coffee brand we like.
Stopped at Menards to get dog training book and went to check out, and saw another couple with a 15% off bag--everything you could fit into the bag was 15% off. Got a bag from service desk and saved 15% on the dog training book and our staples of dishwashing detergent, so it was cheaper than the sale price.
Did our mall fitness walk and used Christmas gift card from husband's sister for a cappucino.
Shopped for groceries and bought only on sale items--we are building a pantry with the new freezer and trying to buy staples when they are on sale, like the coffee brand we like.
Stopped at Menards to get dog training book and went to check out, and saw another couple with a 15% off bag--everything you could fit into the bag was 15% off. Got a bag from service desk and saved 15% on the dog training book and our staples of dishwashing detergent, so it was cheaper than the sale price.
Thanks. They are building a Menards here so I'll remember to watch for those 15% bags. We always stop at Menards when traveling.
Looking into the cost of installing water saving toilets.
Until you purchase the water saving ones try adding a brick or two or even a gallon of bottled water (like a milk just just refilled with water) into the tank to see if that cuts down your water use. Personally, I kind of wish we'd stayed with that method instead of switching out toilets when we did. The ones we bought seem to take more flushes at times, kind of defeating the purpose.
Until you purchase the water saving ones try adding a brick or two or even a gallon of bottled water (like a milk just just refilled with water) into the tank to see if that cuts down your water use. Personally, I kind of wish we'd stayed with that method instead of switching out toilets when we did. The ones we bought seem to take more flushes at times, kind of defeating the purpose.
Good idea on the water displacement jugs.
Back when 1.6 gallon-per-flush toilets first came out, some worked well and some -- didn't. Lots of discussion in on-line forums and in home-improvement stores about how terrible the new toilets were and how to bandage the old ones with plumber's putty and the like to keep them in service... Eventually they got better. Then 1.3 gallon-per-flush toilets were introduced; same thing. Some work fine; others do not. We have a Toto Drake that will handle pretty much anything, but that choice was made after lots of research. It wasn't cheap, either. But, amortized over number of uses over years of service life, it really wasn't much more expensive than a cheap toilet which would have annoyed more times than not.
Jan 09
--no drive no spend
--made a roast of pork (porketta sp?), and tried the large slices of roasted cabbage good but don't think it will be a favourite
oh well I will use the leftovers in soup. One head for $1.29 made enough for a 2 people for 3 meals and a bit for slaw.
--Will make a good quick spaghetti sauce with the leftover pork tomorrow.
--cleaned out the fridge and yes, it did need it after the holidays....not too much waste so that is a good thing.
Williamsmith
1-10-16, 2:26am
Until you purchase the water saving ones try adding a brick or two or even a gallon of bottled water (like a milk just just refilled with water) into the tank to see if that cuts down your water use. Personally, I kind of wish we'd stayed with that method instead of switching out toilets when we did. The ones we bought seem to take more flushes at times, kind of defeating the purpose.
Thanks for the tip. This is the first time I have ever tried to actually watch water usage since I never had a problem with my well. Now I pay a fee for usage. So it's not surprising I'm not up on the latest technology. Turns out after checking I have two Kohler 1.6 gal flush toilets that work perfectly well in my opinion. No need to purchase and install 1.3 gal. Models.
I believe part of my usage problem might be the kinetico water softener as it is a two tank system that triggers regeneration with any use of the water.
Meezer_Mom
1-10-16, 5:41am
Quiet day:
Went to yoga, had dinner at Del Taco ($1.96 after coupons), then spent 4 hours (paid) digging through old Minutes on an issue for a community council and drafting Minutes for its recent meeting.
Discovered Amazon has grocery coupons and played with that for a while. Nothing I need right now but good to know.
rosarugosa
1-10-16, 7:56am
We had an early model low-flush Eljer that was kind of awful. Plumber picked it out, emergency situation, someone had driven into our house hitting and smashing our toilet (if you can believe it. I did get a kick out of calling the insurance company and telling them their insured had hit my legally parked toilet). When we eventually did a real bathroom remodel (probably the first full update since the plumbing came indoors to this old cottage) we got a not too expensive Kohler that might be like William Smith's. We've found it to be perfectly satisfactory.
Groceries came in within budget this week. I redeemed Bing points for a $5.00 Amazon card, and Swagbucks points for a $10. Amazon card. Still no dining out this month and goal is to keep it that way except for taking Mom out for her birthday later this month. Quiet Saturday night with a good book, some Malbec, and a candle for ambiance.
Meezer_Mom
1-10-16, 2:25pm
rosarugosa, I think I like your quiet evening. Dreamed last night that my to-do list was clear. That would work.
Made a trip to BJs today. Partly as a shopping trip, partly as the start to putting together a price book (finally). Found a bunch of good deals including $0.80 off 2-packs of tofu and $1.00 off the bags of tortilla chips we like. Bought a bunch of other stuff that was on the list and used almost $30 in coupons to save even more money. I did buy some convenience items that we could have gone without, but I figured it was better to have them in the freezer for quick meals than to grab take out when we're feeling lazy. I only bought convenience foods that I had coupons for as I refuse to pay full price for that stuff.
Stopped at the gas station and filled the tank. Got 5 cents off per gallon for using my grocery store loyalty card and got gas points good toward discounts on future gas purchases.
Rescheduled a haircut appointment from last week to this week. Figured I might as well extend the time between haircuts as much as possible and it worked out better in my schedule anyway.
Going to make a trip to Whole Foods in a bit as they are having a 25% off sale in their supplements section, which includes the protein powder we like. Going to stock up using the gift cards we bought when they had their holiday gift card sale (buy $500 in gift cards, get a $50 gift card free -- a nice 10% return that we like to take advantage of each year).
Then I'm going to bake a loaf of banana bread with the overly ripe banana languishing on the counter. Will use homemade applesauce in place of vegetable oil.
When organizing the pet pharmacy last week, I found a small bottle of fish oil that was prescribed for some pet way-back-when for a skin condition or something. I've been slowly using it up by adding a bit to the dogs' food every morning. Waste not, want not.
rosarugosa
1-10-16, 7:24pm
Meezer Mom: Will have to check out the Amazon grocery coupons; that sounds interesting.
Cdttmm: I think that's a good strategy to have some convenience foods on hand if the alternative could be takeout. I know Steve does that with pizzas. I feel like the seafood we stock in the freezer helps keep us from spending more at seafood restaurants than we already do!
I am pleased because we had a salad tonight with rotisserie chicken, and DH is making a soup with the carcass. He never does that! I've also learned that he really prefers Boston/Bibb/Butter lettuce to romaine, so while I continue to buy romaine for my lunch salads, I've been buying the other for entree salads at home, and he is much more receptive. I've also come up with a great dressing solution. I love oil & vinegar, but DH not so much. I mix a few dollops of plain yogurt (I love the goat's milk yogurt from Trader Joe's), then add a bit of lemon olive oil (also TJ's, although you can use plain olive oil and squeeze some lemon in), then some substantial shakes from my new best friend, Penzey's Greek Seasoning mix. This results in a nice creamy dressing that is reasonably healthy, takes only a minute and we both like it. So overall, we had an easy, fairly healthy, tasty & affordable dinner, and chicken soup is in our future!
Two days of minimal driving/planned spending - tomorrow's only out and about is to donate blood - free cookies and juice!!
Started the project to switch out the 2 upstairs bedrooms - making the larger into the guest room - one of our visitors asked for a "bunk house"! No hurry to have it done so trying to make good decisions - not tossing stuff just to get it out of here!
Ok, I'm in this month.
1-10 Did freezer and pantry inventory today. Didn't need anything this week except some yogurt. DH picked up for me on way home from office. It was a no gas day as DH was driving his company car, he is allowed personal use and often will run errands for me to save the gas expense.
15 y/o DD agreed to let me cut her hair today. I was really surprised she agreed to it as she is a teenager and as most teenagers are, is pretty touchy about looks and whatnot. However, her hair is long, curly and pretty much all one length except for some long bangs. I knew I could give her a trim, any potential imperfections would never, ever be noticed in her curly locks. So I did a pretty good job, not quite perfect but indeed close enough. That will get her by a few months when I'll take her for a professional cut. She only gets cuts about four times a year but if I can do every other trim that's a pretty good savings. Yay!
Dinner was cleaning out the fridge, chicken parm, green salad and some quinoa salad were on the menu. A good dinner was had by all.
Meezer_Mom
1-10-16, 10:36pm
rosarugosa, and Everyone, here is (I hope) the link to amazon coupons: http://www.amazon.com/Grocery-and-Gourmet-Coupons/b/?ref_=assoc_tag_ph_1411406608312&_encoding=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=pf4&node=6571403011&tag=thepenhoa-20&linkId=OE6XKWF4PF6DJMPI
Day was relatively uneventful. Did a bunch of surveys this morning. It's my form of relaxing.
Finally got my rear in gear, dressed, checked lottery tickets and got $6 worth for the next drawings. Had Chinese for late lunch, then went to the gym. My shoulder is still recovering, and it protested, but I won.
Heading back to the house to catch last half of Golden Globes, then the first half on re-broadcast, and Downton Abbey while I futz with logging in my Coke points, etc. and playing some instant win games. Ralphs/Kroger has a new one for football playoffs. I won a coke and canned tomatoes on the last one.
Jan10
---Another no spend, no drive but, that was easy lots of rain then a drastic temperature drop mid afternoon
threatening freezing rain, cold and snow. All in one day....nice to stay home clean, read and then watch a movie
--breakfast and lunch was a smoothie made with milk that needed used up and stuff from the freezer.
--cleaned out the freezer in the fridge found a few items that were lost in the back and tossed 3 bags of brown sugar fudge
I made at Christmas...decision was that it was garbage in me or in the can. Put like items together in bins so hopefully it can get used up and not wasted.
--back to taking my lunch to work everyday AND making sure I make breakfast before leaving to work.
--cycling to work, church, errands & recreation - winter time about 40-50 miles a week.
--meal planning - less wasted food.
--more healthy food, less package snack food.
small win, I'm not sure if this should go in frugals or decluttering. Taking a trip to see my parents and was convinced I should go buy a few pieces of new clothing, but managed to 'shop' in my closet and find everything I need, and also fit it - including my purse and some diet food - into a duffel bag about the size of a bed pillow. Yay!
Meezer_Mom
1-11-16, 9:10pm
Yeah, kib! I agree: we should always shop our closets first. I had a phone charge-cord go bad at its USB connection from use. Thankfully, it's one of the common ones but I actually thought about an emergency Best Buy trip before I caught hold of my senses and shopped my electronics drawer where I put anything that comes with tech. Found one the perfect length and happily surprised just how quickly everything is charging with it. It came with my new powerbank but I've been using the cord from the previous powerbank. No sweat. Still, this new powerbank continues to impress me. It's RAVPOWER, 3350mAh, model RP-PB33. Ordered from amazon. Got one and fell in love so I got a second less than a week later. It has lights to tell you how charged it is. When you connect it to charge something, it does not start charging until you turn it on; it conserves juice. Like I said, I'm a highly satisfied customer.
January 11
No spend, no leave the house day!
I work at home which means I can stay home if I choose to.
Eating out of the pantry and freezer. Using up everything before it goes bad is my main goal these days.
I made homemade baked fish using fish out of the freezer. Baked potatoes and used up some veggies I blanched and froze from holiday veggie trays.
Meezer_Mom
1-12-16, 5:14pm
Am between consulting gigs so I'm doing some catch up on my to-do list. Not part of the frugality board, per se, but am weeding out my closet and drawers for donation. Giving older things a wash before deciding so I'm at the laundromat having a Starbucks coffee. I redeemed a lot of survey points last night so it's not entirely free but it's also not cash out of pocket.
We have not eaten a meal out since Jan 5. That is HUGE for us. Instead, we spent $118 on food Sunday-fresh veggies/fruit, bag frozen shrimp, 4# ground turkey and 3# organic chicken breasts.
rosarugosa
1-13-16, 5:46am
We had some leftover cooked spinach in the fridge from Sat and put it in scrambled eggs with cheese last night for quick weeknight supper, and it was amazingly good.
gettingthere
1-13-16, 11:45am
We're getting a new roof and gutters put on today and insurance will be covering it! We had a brief but damaging hail storm in August. I wasn't home and didn't even know about it until a friend told me last month that she was getting a new roof. I'm thrilled because our roof is original to our 1992 house so we had been budgeting for that expense since we bought the house two years ago. And I may even be able to get the deductible covered as the roofer gives $250 for every referral that results in a job. I have been referring like crazy. The person that gave me the roofer's number has actually made money from having her roof done!
I've been eating lots of leftovers and food that's about to go bad. My goal for 2016 is to waste as little food as possible. I'm going to look for a good black bean soup recipe today to avoid having to go the grocery store for tonight's dinner.
Been doing the drugstore coupon/sales/"money" back matchups to get some necessities (toothpaste, tp, dish detergent). I've saved about $20 this month.
Doing tons of using up. I thought I needed new face cream but after scouring my toiletries, I've found samples and partially used creams that will probably carry me through the month. Did the same with shampoo.
January 13
Zero spend day, only venturing out to pick up DD from her after school activity.
Have spent only $82.00 at grocery store this year, eating out of pantry and freezers with lots of meal planning. We are family of four, two adults and two almost adults, DS17 and DD15.
Eating out used to be a big cost factor for us but for the last 6 months we've really phased it out. Sometimes I miss it, but mostly not. We plan our eating out and go to nice places as more of an event rather than quick stops which just fritters away the cash. Last time we ate out was in November with some family in from out of town.
On Saturday my BIL and SIL asked us to go out with them to dinner, we did but steered them towards a place we had a gift card for, OOP was $6.00. I can live happily with that. Next time out will probably be Mother's Day, unless we get a little winter stir crazy and plan something before than. Considering we used to be an every weekend dinner out kind of family, I'm pretty happy with where we are at.
We're getting a new roof and gutters put on today and insurance will be covering it! We had a brief but damaging hail storm in August. I wasn't home and didn't even know about it until a friend told me last month that she was getting a new roof. I'm thrilled because our roof is original to our 1992 house so we had been budgeting for that expense since we bought the house two years ago. And I may even be able to get the deductible covered as the roofer gives $250 for every referral that results in a job. I have been referring like crazy. The person that gave me the roofer's number has actually made money from having her roof done!
I've been eating lots of leftovers and food that's about to go bad. My goal for 2016 is to waste as little food as possible. I'm going to look for a good black bean soup recipe today to avoid having to go the grocery store for tonight's dinner.
Been doing the drugstore coupon/sales/"money" back matchups to get some necessities (toothpaste, tp, dish detergent). I've saved about $20 this month.
Doing tons of using up. I thought I needed new face cream but after scouring my toiletries, I've found samples and partially used creams that will probably carry me through the month. Did the same with shampoo.
I'm using up toiletries as well. I have a favorite shampoo and several bottles of not so favorites. I've been using the not so favorites on stay at home days, I probably have shampoo to get me through until spring.
Meezer_Mom
1-13-16, 3:39pm
I've always enjoyed freebie samples. Whenever possible, I use them ahead of my usual brand to cut down on clutter.
I've gotten fussier about freebie samples, though, asking myself whether I really will use it because, well, clutter.
Went to Whole Foods on Sunday as planned and bought enough protein powder and fish oil capsules while they were on sale to last us for, perhaps, all of 2016. Saved ~$60 in the process.
Made a batch of chocolate chip banana muffins and have been eating them for breakfast this week. Had all the ingredients on hand and this allowed me to use up some of the homemade applesauce that has been in the freezer since 2011. I've also been using up some tea bags that were gifted to me over the holiday season -- hooray for free tea!
Joined another gym (okay, that part is not frugal!), but I finally found another masters' swim team that practices M-W-F mornings like my last team. The practices are only an hour vs 90 minutes and the pool is further away (35 min vs 20 min), but this location is actually only ~5 minutes from work so that's a plus. So, the frugal part is this: I can shower at the gym (saves on hot water at home!) and then go straight to work and have no wasted time in between. I now have to pack breakfast and lunch so organization is key and it will probably mean I spend less money on food by eating less since I have to plan everything in advance. I almost had a not frugal moment because the strap on my swim goggle broke on Monday at the start of practice. With a little MacGyvering, I managed to get them to hold together long enough to get through practice, but I was sure I'd have to buy another pair. But, I went home and double-checked my stash of athletic gear (which is perhaps more extensive than it should be...) and found a brand new, still-in-the-package, pair of googles. Saved myself ~$10.
Used up the small (ancient) bottle of fish oil that I had in the pet pharmacy. The dogs seemed happy to have it added to their food and now I've decluttered one more thing. Now on to the (much) larger bottle.
Got another $5 off rebate for the local pet store in the mail today. Will combine that with the $5 off rebate that I got in the mail last month. Now I just need to remember to use them before the first one expires! We're pretty well stocked up on cat food and cat litter at the moment, but it's not like we won't use the stuff eventually so I'll just add to the stockpile.
Got a coupon in my email for 10% off at the grocery store next Tuesday. Need to make a shopping list for that grocery store and make sure that I stock up on anything that we might need. Want to take advantage of that discount!!!
Went to sign my contracts for teaching this month and caught an error on one of them. They are rewriting the contract and adjusting the amount by +$155. That was definitely worth the 5 minutes of my time that it took to have that conversation.
So, mostly small stuff right now. Slow and steady wins the race, though, right?!?
Meezer_Mom
1-13-16, 8:07pm
That's right, cdttmm... slow and steady. Props for reading the contract and resolving the glitch.
Am still spring cleaning. I've had on my list for some time taking my old, extra towels and washclothes to a local animal rescue. Am readying those right now and plan to drop them off, as well as a bag of clothes, on my way to the gym.
Tomorrow I get extra blankets and sheets ready to drop.
Just managed another frugal maneuver that I felt a need to share with y'all. Stop & Shop is one of the grocery store chains that we have here and they have Peapod grocery delivery. I don't know if anyone uses this, but we live in a pretty rural area so they won't actually deliver to us. But, the local store is a block from the gym where I practice Tae Kwon Do, so scheduling a grocery pick-up would be super convenient. Seriously, though, I'm not about to pay $2.95 for the convenience of having someone else pick out my groceries for me -- I can manage that myself. But they've been running this promotion in the store flyers lately that you can get $15 off your first Peapod order (delivery or pick-up) if it's over $75. Well, that's a 20% savings so I figured I would check it out. Turns out they had a similar deal on the website: $20 off your first order of $100 or more plus no delivery/pick-up fee. Score! So I managed to buy exactly $100 of groceries -- again, stockpiling nonperishable items that we will totally use -- and saved myself $20 with no pick-up fee. I'm going to pick-up the groceries on my way to the gym on Saturday. Feeling totally badass right now.
SteveinMN
1-13-16, 10:08pm
Nice work, cdttmm!
I'll throw in:
- moved a couple of my Internet domains to a different registrar yesterday. I had kept them with my hosting service partially out of simplicity but largely because of the PITA factor in moving them. But it will cost me about a third of what I would have paid my current hosting company on renewal next month. I'll move more domains later this year.
- Used more Chinook Book coupons at the co-op and riffled through the app just to see how many other places have useful coupons. There are enough that I think I should check next time I'm anyplace I haven't been lately. Why walk away from deals and free money? :)
- Our favorite frozen pizzas were BOGO at a grocery store near where I was making another purchase. I wouldn't have driven there just for pizzas, but since I was there... I also was really cold (from the temperature but also from skipping lunch) and I thought about getting something hot from the deli. But I settled for a small Caribou coffee for $2 instead. It did the job.
-
Jan 12/13
--no drive, no spend both days...meeting on the 12th was cancelled due to weather
--still eating from freezer/pantry
--made Dd 8 hand towels from 2 bath towels...we both had a lot of bath towels and she was short hand towels
not necessarily frugal for me but I figure anything I can do to save her money is a win win.
--mended several items of underwear so therefore they did not need mending.
---need a hair trim but putting it off for the now....will get Dd to do it next week (she is getting very good at it)
Meezer_Mom
1-14-16, 12:48am
Donated a bag of clothes I'm no longer wearing to the AIDS LA thrift shop and the older, extra towels to the rescue drop off inside a pet supply store. They no doubt want me to come back to shop but nonetheless gifted my cat with a nice bag of high-end treats.
Fought off stopping for soup. At the gym for a while but spring cleaning continues.
Williamsmith
1-14-16, 4:09am
Over the weekend, stopped at local store to get a pair of Docker slacks in tan. I have two that are one size too large. Once replaced I intend to gift one of the larger ones to my oldest son who is struggling to make ends meet. But my 20% coupon was not accepted because the pants were excluded as what they call a "yes" item. Get this, the price ends in 98 so it is excluded from coupon acceptance. Okay, so I know that on Tuesdays all things in the store are 20% off because of a promotion for anyone over age 50. So I put them back and ......today went back and got the pants and the price reduction. To be frugal one must play their games and be patient.
Meezer_Mom
1-14-16, 6:11am
Play the game Williamsmith. Play the game.
Resisted the temptation to buy a second car when I started a new job two months ago and we came into some money. So far I've spent a grand total of $1 on bus fare to cover a trip home from work when DH really needed the car for his own purposes.
Saved about $7K in moving expenses by deciding to stay put and buy the house we're renting, instead of moving back to Las Vegas. This decision makes me sad, but at least there's the comfort that we're doing something very smart with our money. The landlord/seller is very motivated, so according to the appraisal we just had and the price we're buying it for, we'll have a substantial amount of equity in the house the minute we close on it.
I went to a thrift store today.....and didn't buy anything!!! Oh, it was tough. I found new LL Bean and Lands End polos (like I need more of those) in really pretty colors for only $3.75 ea. I tried them on and carried them around the store. And you know once you hold something, you feel like you own it already. But I resisted and put them back. Then I found a Ralph Lauren wool cable sweater in really great shape...and left it there too. And a Lily Pulitzer sweater... and left it.
My local tack shop is having a 20% off sale this weekend and I'm tempted to buy a really nice brush for my horse. Yesterday my orthopedist gave me the all clear for riding again so now I can spend less time grooming and more time riding. Now if only the weather will warm up or my horse will have to learn to ice skate.l
Jan 13/14
--needed pants for gym; went through stored clothes and found a pair that only needed hemmed obviously bought too small and now fit.
--used the pieces from the bottoms of hemming to make Dd and I headbands (nice for face care or to keep hair off face when working)
--volunteered this afternoon and took snacks with me
--leftovers for lunch and supper
---favourite bra with nice wide stretch lace straps had a hole about 1 inch in the lace I did a very nice mending job and it looks really good.
Would not be embarrassed if I ended up in the hospital in it. It was a very expensive one bought on sale but so comfortable. Saved it for a bit.
January 14
Last month I did a complete freezer list. I garden and we buy meat in bulk, half pig etc, so my freezers often turn into a disaster no one wants to enter. I realized that I was buying new items instead of digging around in the freezer to find what I needed and thawing it. So I completed this freezer inventory and organized my freezers with a few boxes and bags.
That organization is now paying off. I have been using the inventory to do a meal plan and my food bills this month have been great. We are a family of four, two adults, two teenagers and I am at $154.31 for the month. That is mostly milk, cheese, produce and just filling in what I am running out of and is my shopping for this week too, so that should get me through until next Friday before I have to stop again. Compared to some of last year's monthly bills of $1,000+, I am thrilled.
We're also eating better. I work at home so I am lucky to have incredible flexibility in my job. I have made Friday afternoon my prep and cook day for the past few weeks. That way I have food in the house for the weekend and I am prepped for the following week.
Today I am cooking Baked Chicken Parm, pasta veggie salad, Mediterranean quinoa salad, banana nut bread, quiche and some meatballs. I will prep cut up veggies for quick veggie sides or snacks and I have brought up some red delicious apples from our orchard to munch on this week. I have never, ever been so organized....ever!
The challenge will be to see if I can keep it up even when it gets crazy around here. I hope so because it really has reduced my personal stress around meal prep, and the savings are fabulous.
Jan 15
I realize I mentioned pants for the gym yesterday but, did not explain my big not frugal this month!
I have made the decision to join a gym not anyone; but one that is 2 blocks from my house..highly recommend for seniors.
It did not seem frugal at first but, if I go to 2 Aqua fit a week and/or any of the other classes it will be the same cost as doing
these at the City Pool and I have to drive to any of these. Of course there is all the machines and a walking track.
So, I will have no excuses not to get healthier. Went today and really enjoyed it.
---No drive,
---went through fabric bins and posted a couple of ads on KIJIJI for sale
That is all for today.
rodeosweetheart
1-16-16, 10:33am
DH lost two out of three keys for the Husqvarna mower, probably somewhere in deep snow.
Went to two lawn tractor repair places and in the second one, found two keys for the tractor for $5.35.
Found beautiful set of wooden blocks for grandson at Salvation army, $3.25.
Free mall walk for exercise. Free sample of Tillamook cheese at the food coop.
Meezer_Mom
1-16-16, 4:22pm
Hi, Everyone!
Not much new here. I was absolutely lazy yesterday. I did get to the gym. Went to Denny's after and used a 20% off coupon.
Today, plan to inventory my sheets, give them one last wash and take them to the collection point for homeless animals. While washing I'm going to rendez-vous with a freecycle person and hand off a bottle of supplements I can't take. Then yoga and picking up the weekly freebies from Ralphs.
Not everything Is necessarily my frugals but an element of the overall lifestyle. That's as important, IMHO.
Am glad you're all here to share that. (((HUGS)))
Sloeginfizz
1-16-16, 8:08pm
We cleaned out the freezer and organized. Had to throw out a few things, but we were then able to replay the meals for the week around stuff we have, cutting this week's grocery bill a lot.
the husband was talking about changing up the way he packs his lunch and was talking about buying a new lunch container/system. I want to the pantry and pulled out a system we have but didn't use much. Asked him if that would do the trick. He said it would. $10 and a lot of new plastic saved.
I had been tempted to buy a coffee out because I didn't have quite enough grounds as I usually use. I decided to see if I could get by. So I made the coffee. It was about as strong as people normally make it, not my normal super strong like I prefer, but it was still ok. Not great. But okay. Saved $4 because while I'm ok with plain brewed at home, the instant I set foot in a Starbucks is has to be a flat white or other fancy drink.
freshstart
1-16-16, 9:07pm
my brother's getting married in early June in NH. I'm broke and it's not much chance of that changing. I have to get a room up there, cheapest place is $179, need 2 nights. Do not have any wedding appropriate attire and having gained wt my options were limited, however I am very short so I am a Plus Petite, which is as easy to find as an Unicorn. I found a dress marked down from $120 to $89, I have 90 days to keep so if the price goes down, I will return and re-buy, or if I lose a dress size, I'll get it smaller. after 90 days, I'm stuck with it.
Stumbled upon a deal for 4 full sets of towels at Penney's, pretty silvery blue for get this, $32 with a $4 for gift wrapping included (I would've had to buy a box and ribbon and paper, let them do it right for $4). At first, this was going to be a shower gift but I decided I just cannot afford to go to both, it would mean more lodging. So the towels, for now, are the wedding gift. My brother knows full well my financial situation and I hope they will not be offended by a small gift (the towels of course, retail much higher than $32).
It's outside and the bride says it's chilly at night, bring a wrap. I got rid of any shawls or pashminas years ago as I never wore them. Found one at Choxi, really pretty for $11, had coupon $10 off $30 and free ship, so stocked up on warm socks and I've really wanted a Bluetooth speaker for the shower to listen to pod casts. So in the end, all of that was $22 shipped and I got a free 6 months of Entertainment Weekly (they always give those out, no cc info given, no auto renewal).
so far: roughly $530, not counting travel costs
even when you try to do weddings on the cheap, you really can't but I think I am reining it in as best I can. I am so happy he is getting married, I'd spend more if I could! And I'm so happy I found a wrap for $11 today!
Another ENTIRE week without eating out.:cool:
Last night was ratatouille from the freezer with a package of Kale added to it. Steamed up some shrimp on top for some good protein.
Pot of chili for dinner tonight with a pan of cornbread. This will give DH lunches all week...and this is a really GOOD pot of chili.
We're smoking 2 organic chickens tomorrow. That will be dinner along with roasted brussel sprouts. We'll save some for dinner Tuesday night and freeze the rest. I've used up nearly all the chicken broth in the freezer so these bird bones will be simmered to replenish the freezer.
I've had only 1 coffee out treat this year. A double shot mocha was my breakfast on Thursday. Love me some chocolate milk with my shots.
Even though I brought lunch with me to school each day this week, I did break down and get soup one day because I was just so cold and uncomfortable that I caved. Fortunately, we have a punch card for soup -- buy 6, get 1 free -- and this was my free soup. Totally worth it. Except that about an hour after I ate the delicious soup one of my co-workers told me that she had saved me a vegetarian sandwich from the lunches they had ordered for our student leaders who were working an event on campus that day. Turns out this was no little sandwich either, it was a footlong sub. I took it home and ate it for dinner! Hooray for free (and yummy!) food. In other food news, did a great job of making and eating meals at home. I did go out for dinner on Friday night, but that was a planned event. It was actually dinner out with the faculty member who shares my office. We don't know each other very well so she suggested we go out to dinner. It was loads of fun and we discovered that we attended the same college. My share of dinner -- moderately fancy Japanese restaurant -- was $26 including tax and tip. Not too bad.
I woke up with a head cold this morning so that changed my plans and made my day a bit more frugal, perhaps. I skipped going to the gym to swim, which saved me gas money + $10 for a day pass. I hung around the house and ate what was on hand, including some leftovers that might have otherwise gotten tossed. And I watched a bunch of stuff on Netflix and surfed the web. Hoping I'll feel better tomorrow.
Watered the plants with dirty water from the dog bowls that would otherwise have gone down the drain. Not sure that really saves any money since we have a well, but it was environmentally friendly.
Held off on washing a load of laundry since there is no rush.
Wrote up and sent off an invoice for a class I taught that ended in November. I should have sent the invoice 2 months ago, but at least I got it done. Hooray for more money coming in!
And, better yet, we rented out the studio space above the garage on our rental property. I need to bring the keys to the renters tomorrow. Woo-hoo for more rental income! Here's hoping that turns into a long-term rental arrangement.
That's all I've got for the moment. Will try to post more tomorrow when my head is hopefully less congested!
chrissieq
1-16-16, 11:23pm
Realized that both Mondays and Fridays tend to be no drive/no spend days so will plan accordingly - makes retirement a 4 day weekend!!! If I do work at my part time job, Wednesdays are a given during the school year and Tuesdays and Thursdays are typically days added to the schedule. I can always run errands around the work hours.
Maybe TMI but when I've had my 2 colonoscopies, I have spent the days before fasting and cooking like a mad woman. The last few weeks I've tracked that when I have done evening meal prep in the AM, I have barely snacked/eaten beyond my typical meal plan for the day saving me calories and $$. Kind of weird but good to know....
Jan16
--no drive , no spend
--half way into the month and I have not eaten out at all....yeah! It really saves a lot of money even
if I was not doing it very often it adds up.
--Did not go for groceries...decided there was nothing we needed and nothing on sale to stock up on.
rosarugosa
1-17-16, 8:11am
Freshstart: I should think that given your current circumstances, your brother would be happy for your presence at his wedding, even if you couldn't provide a gift at all. There are clearly a lot of other expenses involved for you.
Chrissieq: I don't think I would want to sign up for extra colonoscopies to save calories or $$, but I guess it could be considered a fringe benefit of sorts!
I got a free bus ride Thursday night. Driver waved me ahead to not scan my pass since another passenger was fumbling about to pay with cash & change. Took Friday off to help Mom will decluttering stuff and she bought us dinner. DH got the option to go work a few extra hours yesterday, so he took advantage of it. We're going to the indoor "Winter Market" in a nearby town today, so will skip the bi-weekly Trader Joe's run. I should be able to get Valentine's Day gifts for our Moms there, but I know us well enough to realize that there will be some indulgences for ourselves too. Not going to TJ's will at least diminish the impact on the food budget.
rosarugosa
1-17-16, 5:44pm
Yikes - grocery tab was atrocious, $107. and we did nor buy any meat, fish or poultry. Then we spent about $85.00 at the Winter Market. Not a frugal week on the food front!
early morning
1-18-16, 11:28am
I am in such a rut- nothing new to report. I am so glad all of you are here for inspiration! I mean, I have a whole list of stuff I didn't buy, and the same old taking food and coffee to work, etc, but nothing fun or new to report. We have been really trying to cut down on food waste - which isn't all that bad but I'd like to get it closer to zero. DD is good about rotating stuff when we put away groceries - that's been helping a lot. I've also finally got it into her and DH's heads that food does not magically go bad on its expiration or sell by date, which has also helped. I've updated my Quicken for the year and looked at my reports, sharing that info with DD and DH, which may pay off down the road. DH and I agreed that we were removing financial supports from his youngest brother (who is in his mid-forties and able bodied, has a decent job, but finds misfortune everywhere - often of his own making). He is in a heap of hurt but he is not attempting to change anything and we don't have much extra to pass around. Our own son is working hard and struggling, and we would much rather be able to help him out; he's paying off debt from school and health care. He's getting by, but if, say, his car dies, we want up to be able to assist somewhat, and we can't do that if we're propping up my BIL. Is that frugal? I don't know.... but it's in line with what we want, so...
Meezer_Mom
1-18-16, 3:41pm
early_morning, it's not whether we've had a big win but whether we're still in daily training that counts. Life is made up of routine, often redundant, activities. (I know, that fact bores me too.)
I took another bundle of old, extra bedding to the collection point for homeless animals yesterday. Really wanted a coffee. Stopped at Starbucks. Still have a gift card balance from the survey point redemption. Also ordered a cookie. Barrista gave me two because one broke. Someone left a sealed package of dried fruit at the credenza. I think someone ordered oatmeal and decided not to add it. (I always leave the brown sugar, myself.) So, I claimed it to add to my own oatmeal at home.
Today I've got some paid sidework to do for a community council, plan to take a couple bags to the homeless womens center, go to the gym, and finish the day with my church book club.
Nothing big, just rolling along.
I agree with Meezer_Mom -- it is the small, daily (aka mundane) frugals that are often what counts most!
On that note...I'm home with a cold so not much to report here. Being sick did save me on gas since I didn't go to the gym this morning and won't go to my black belt class tonight -- HA! But I'm using up a whole lot of tissues. Bought in bulk at BJs with a coupon, of course. I use handkerchiefs most of the time for allergies and the like, but for the hardcore colds I still prefer the disposables. I do hate seeing them pile up in the trashcan, though...
Had such a bad headache as a result of this cold that I decided a good dose of caffeine might be in order. So I've made and drank two pots of very strong English Breakfast tea today. I'm not usually a big black tea drinker, so this is a good way to use up part of the stash that just lingers for months (or years). I'm not sure feeling miserable is worth it, though...
Kept thinking about renting a movie on iTunes, but my attention span is so short that I've been keeping myself entertained by watching things on Netflix instead. And the internet. The internet is always good for passing the time.
Did find an old lip balm that still had some remnants to be dug out and used. So added the last bits to my container where all the end-of-the-lip-balm remnants go. Lots of product still in that container -- always shocking to me that most people would just throw it out!
Took some black beans out of the freezer to thaw. Will try to gather the energy to make huge platter of nachos with black beans later. Might as well eat all the junk foods while I'm sick! At least I'm not ordering take out. :D
January 18 -
My days have also been mundane and same old same old. In the past that would have frustrated me, but I recently have been finding myself more content with life in general. I'm not sure why, or if that is coming with age. I have noticed since I entered my 40s that I care less and less about things I shouldn't care about.
Today I am here to report that I've done nothing much to intentionally save money, but the result nonetheless is a no spend day. Hooray.
All meals cooked at home, heat kept at 65 with the wood burner going. Collected eggs today and sold two dozen so I guess I'm actually $7.00 ahead of no spend. :)
I work at home so no drive. I spent last night reading a funny blog, andthenwesaved.com. Somebody pointed me towards it and I have been reading it from the beginning in 2010. She's pretty funny and went on a spending fast to pay off some serious debt. I passed a lot of hours last night giggling at her tactics. But thanks to the free entertainment, that made yesterday no spend too.
Happy Monday everybody!
Sloeginfizz
1-19-16, 1:16am
Not much to report. Stayed at home today, due to holiday from work and it being bitter cold out.
I mended two dresses- one the stitching near th neck had come undone, the other, the hem had come loose. Stitch in time saves nine, they say. Considering that the two dresses are 20% of the dresses I have in rotation right now, I'm pleased to have saved them and gotten them back into use.
But this will be an expensive month gift wise for me. My rule is 'no one gets Christmas presents, everyone gets birthday presents' and that means just a card won't do. Three family birthdays this month, two in February. I've bought 2 of 3 for January but then remembered my sister's oldest son comes at the end of January. What do you get a video game obsessed six year old that isn't cheap plastic junk? Or more video games?
gettingthere
1-19-16, 2:00pm
I signed up for the replacement ink program through HP. It's $4.99 a month, the ink cartridge has a sensor in it that lets HP know when to send you a new cartridge and it ships free right to your door. This is a really big savings for me. I work from home and spend A LOT on ink. I also end up driving 15 minutes to the nearest office supply store to get ink and am always tempted to buy other things while I'm there. It's a win all around.
This was an unintended big spend weekend. Our dog needed some medication and I almost fell over when I found out it costs $70. I left the vet and went to pick up a prescription for my daughter and the copay (for a 3 month supply) was $75. Our health care spending account card wasn't working so I had to pay out of pocket. Ugh!
So today I'm staying in and eating leftovers for breakfast and lunch. It's bitterly cold here but I'm trying to keep the heating costs low with an extra layer and a dog on my lap (she needs to earn her keep :)). I'll be calling to straighten things out with the health care spending account and trying to straighten out a medical bill that was coded wrong and resulted in $220 bill for a preventative test that's supposed to be fully covered by insurance. Also planning to fill out the reimbursement form through my insurance company for my gym membership. My membership will have cost me nothing after reimbursement.
freshstart
1-19-16, 2:23pm
I've bought 2 of 3 for January but then remembered my sister's oldest son comes at the end of January. What do you get a video game obsessed six year old that isn't cheap plastic junk? Or more video games?
when DS and his friends were that age, they loved everything Nerf. Not expensive and they end up exercising instead of more screen time
freshstart
1-19-16, 2:30pm
Also planning to fill out the reimbursement form through my insurance company for my gym membership. My membership will have cost me nothing after reimbursement.
that's an awesome benefit!
I hear you on drug co-pays. I hope my index funds include Big Pharma so I get something back from how bad they are raping the people. I was supposed to start a new med for all this neuro crap going on. With insurance coverage is was $780 a month! I had to tell the doctor, sorry but that would wipe me out financially, she had some samples so we'll see how that goes. I almost don't want it to work because that will mean I will eventually have to buy it and I really cannot. I want something generic, not the latest and greatest thing.
I work at home so no drive. I spent last night reading a funny blog, andthenwesaved.com. Somebody pointed me towards it and I have been reading it from the beginning in 2010. She's pretty funny and went on a spending fast to pay off some serious debt. I passed a lot of hours last night giggling at her tactics. But thanks to the free entertainment, that made yesterday no spend too.
Happy Monday everybody!Hey TMC, could you post a link to the blog itself? I went to her website and I've been floundering around for a while but I can't find an actual blog, just isolated 'articles', like the initial description of her Spending Fast plans. She refers to "this blog" but I can't find it.
And of course ten seconds later, there it is. >8) Thanks for the recommendation.
This is a link to her first day of a year of dividing spending into wants and needs and pledging to spend on needs only. http://andthenwesaved.com/irony-at-its-finest-day-1/
rodeosweetheart
1-19-16, 3:01pm
Folding laundry today and found torn pillowcase, nice linen. Realized it has to be recycled. Was recycled initially from a linen curtain. Will now make several nice linen handkerchiefs. Original piece of linen bought from IKEA when I started working there in 1999. PRetty good return on that purchase!!
Meezer_Mom
1-19-16, 5:34pm
Yesterday went awry so today I'm taking things to the homeless womens' center. On my way, I rendez-vous'd with a freecycler and handed off another supplement that's been nix'd by my gallstone.
Did spend a good amount of time yesterday just recharging my own batteries. That felt like the right thing to do.
Hey TMC, could you post a link to the blog itself? I went to her website and I've been floundering around for a while but I can't find an actual blog, just isolated 'articles', like the initial description of her Spending Fast plans. She refers to "this blog" but I can't find it.
And of course ten seconds later, there it is. >8) Thanks for the recommendation.
This is a link to her first day of a year of dividing spending into wants and needs and pledging to spend on needs only. http://andthenwesaved.com/irony-at-its-finest-day-1/
Oh I'm sorry, I just jumped on today and saw your request. I've been accessing the archives and working my way backwards. Some of it is pretty funny. Her husband jumped on at one point and was commenting. I laughed right out loud.
So my frugal for today, I just thawed out some garden tomatoes. At the end of the season I was overwhelmed with them so I just washed them and froze them whole in zip locks. I just made a recipe from Tyler Florence, roasted tomato soup, pretty good. Will be my lunch for the next couple of days. Yum! Lunch out of nothing.
I had a 10% off coupon for the grocery store yesterday so I stocked up on a few things there. Fortunately, they had the type of decaffeinated green tea that my SO likes to drink on sale so I was able to get the sale price minus another 10%, which made that a very good deal. Got a few other items that we only buy at that store because it has the best prices for those things. Tried not to go overboard.
We went to see the new Star Wars movie yesterday, finally. We'd been holding out because we wanted to go to the really nice IMAX theater that is about a 2 hour drive from us. And we wanted to go during the day when kids are in school. So coordinating our schedules was a complex problem solving experience. It was a fun outing, but we both agreed that we didn't need to drive nearly 2 hours each way and spend $28 for 2 movie tickets again anytime soon. Our local theater has a fairly high quality digital 3D screen and that will do just fine for most movies.
Made carrot-lentil soup from the freezer for dinner and spent the evening relaxing.
Going to head to work today for our professional development day. Should be worth it: free breakfast, free lunch, and a chance to print a bunch of stuff at school thereby saving me printer ink and paper.
Williamsmith
1-20-16, 9:54am
Okay after reading that you spent $28 on movie tickets and drove nearly four hours......I have to say I'm feeling pretty frugal. Spent $10 for 2 movie tickets and drove 2 miles to and from the movie theatre to see a new release. Special Tuesday night $5 ticket pricing.
Dinner was also reheated chili that I had made for a previous dinner and bread from a loaf purchased for $1.
Interesting frugal today: I spent $100 for an energy audit of our house.
A big report comes with it in a week. But the shorts of it are that:
As I suspected, replacing the windows will pretty much make some window salesman happy -- but won't make us happy. Heat is being lost in many other places and windows, by their nature, will offer a staggeringly long payback for the return in efficiency and comfort. Some caulk and we're good here.
The blower-door test confirmed that the house is pretty tight for a northern house built in the mid-70s. There is heat loss at the top of each wall. Nowadays they seal that joint. But that wasn’t common in the 70s and it will be expensive to fix now. So it probably won't get done.
The water heater is next on our list. No one has ever inspected the water heater, though in its (and our) defense, we've never heard it make weird noises or seen it spill its guts. It is, however, 17 years old and we're smarter to replace it when we're not in panic mode because there's no hot water.
The walls have an insulation value around R-5. I'm a little shocked that the value is so low, but I suppose back when heating was so cheap, it didn't make sense to put the materials and labor into insulating any more. I'll have to find out what that will cost to fix; depending on how much longer we're here, that still may not pay and it does not address the top-of-wall leakage.
So the money we would have thrown at (and wasted on) windows will go to a water heater and, eventually, to a furnace (of the same vintage). It's going to run well into four figures to do both, but the $100 spent today goes a long way to identifying where we actually will see significant payback in both efficiency and comfort. Well worth the time and money.
gettingthere
1-20-16, 2:34pm
This thread has inspired me to give handkerchiefs a try. I always hesitated because of germs but somebody on here mentioned they use disposable tissues when they are sick and I realized that's a great option. I tend to be so all or nothing in my thinking so it never dawned on me. So, I found some old baby washcloths of my daughters and put one in my purse and one in a pocket of each of my coats. They're a bit scratchy but should do the trick. The ones in my coats will be great for walking the dog. The switch from warm to cold always gets my nose running and I am constantly forgetting to check my pockets when I do laundry and end up washing tissues. Then I have to wash twice. So really, hankies are a double save.
I was craving something sweet after lunch today. I found some old pie dough in the freezer (I made it a year ago!) and thawed it in the microwave. I cut up one apple and made little apple cinnamon pockets. The house smells amazing, I got my sweet fix and I don't have to worry about my daughter's lunch box snack for the next two days :)
I called our oil company for our free yearly furnace tune up. It comes with our service contract which also includes all service calls, even after hours. Last year, we had a tune up and about 5 service calls all for the $250 price. This year, we haven't needed any service calls (knock wood) but I want to at least get the tune up to get a little value beyond peace of mind. Plus our furnace is 24 years old I like the idea of it being checked out and cared for.
I have a half a bag of oranges that is a bit past its prime. I'm planning to juice them today and freeze the juice for a marinade or maybe an orange pound cake.
Meezer_Mom
1-20-16, 6:30pm
Those apple pockets sound tasty, gettingthere. Yum.
I "get" the whole drive 4 hours and pay $28 to see a movie, cdttmm. I love movies over TV. I calender when the ones I want to see are released. I saw the new STAR WARS opening day but had my ticket 6 weeks in advance and was in my preferred seat in my favorite theater. $20. I did take my own snacks. I mostly go to two theaters and have joined their clubs so I get discounts and freebies. One of them is Regal, and I've also redeemed RecycleBank points for $2 coupons off tickets. Am always on the lookout to get a free ticket in contests and survey points. I see what I want to see but at the best possible price.
Not much new here. Continuing the spring cleaning and getting things buttoned down for next week's Homeless Count (census) that I'm coordinating in my part of the city. Off to send out some donation letters.
All best.
rosarugosa
1-20-16, 7:11pm
Cdttmm: I wonder if you would share some green tea recommendations? It seems that the ones we buy always end up tasting like nothing, basically a cup of hot water.
Steve: Great deal on the energy audit. I'm also very impressed by 17 years from a hot water heater. We're on at least our third in the 31 years we've been here (including one we put in the year we bout the house).
I worked from home today, so no travel costs. I do tend to eat more when I'm home though; the fridge is just steps away!
Sometimes, it's the littlest things: I almost spent $3.99 (+tax) to purchase bag clips for the kitchen but stopped myself when I remembered I had all sort of binder clips languishing in my desk drawer (probably procured as freebies somewhere along the line). Less clutter in drawer, sealed bags in the fridge. A mighty win in my book!
rosarugosa: Full disclosure, I am an aspiring tea snob. (My SO, on the other hand, will essentially drink the cheapest bagged green tea available as long as it is decaffeinated.) I prefer to drink loose leaf tea, not bagged. And I drink green tea about 98% of the time. Mostly, I consider finding tea that I enjoy an educational experience. So I read books about tea, go to tea houses (where I ask lots of questions), and generally just try out different teas whenever I can. Here are some of my favorites:
Genmaicha, this is a Japanese green tea that is combined with roasted brown rice.
Dragon Well or Longjing, this is a Chinese, pan-roasted green tea, a high quality tea that should be big, beautifully fragrant leaves
Nok Cha, this is a Korean green tea, it is very light in color when you infuse it and has a very delicate taste
Che Xanh, this is a Vietnamese green tea that has a sort of sharpness to the flavor
Whatever type of tea you are brewing, be sure to get the water the correct temperature (green tea is best brewed with water well below boiling) and be sure to get the infusion time correct. Over steeping tea will generally result in a tea that is very bitter.
I hope that helps. Feel free to PM me (or start a new thread) if you want to just talk more about tea!
Meezer_Mom
1-20-16, 8:41pm
SiouzQ, I use binder clips all the time. I have a little collection though of bag clips from various promotional things. A few years back I bought a strip of self-adhese magnet. I keep it in my tool box for any newcomers. I hang them on the side of the fridge to keep them handy.
Meezer_Mom
1-20-16, 8:44pm
cdttmm, am not a tea snob but totally a flavor junkie. Friends joke that I have more tea than Teavana. I've never met a tea that I've refused to drink. But, by all means, let's start that dedicated thread.
Oh wow, our thread got quiet for a few days. Hope it was because everybody on the Eastern seaboard was out stocking up on tea in preparation for winter storm Jonas!!! :D
Still been eating at home this week. We enjoyed carrot-lentil soup from the freezer for dinner on two nights and experimented with making zucchini fries last night. Yes, I realize zucchini is not in season currently, but my dearly beloved really wanted to try making them (he saw one of those quick little instructional videos on Facebook that are so popular right now). So I indulged him and bought what we needed. He made the zucchini fries and I made a huge salad (because otherwise that lettuce was going to become compost sometime soon) and that was our dinner. Turned out great and we were both very happy. I also made a batch of chocolate-chocolate chip muffins. I think I over-mixed the batter though because they are good, but not great. I didn't really need to make muffins, but they make for good breakfast food and I was able to use up the rest of the container of ricotta cheese that was nearing the end of it's usable lifespan. And I was able to use more of the homemade applesauce from the great applesauce extravaganza of 2011. Ummm...yes...2011.
Went to swim practice yesterday morning and we were doing annual U.S. Masters Swimming one-hour swim event. It's exactly what you might imagine: swim as far as you can in one hour. We had more people show up than we could fit into lanes so my friend and I chose to time swimmers during our regular swim practice time (6:30am-7:30am) and then we swam afterwards while our coach timed us. I swam 3,250 yards in 60 minutes, which was great considering that I've only been back to swimming on a team for a month and have made it to something like 6 practices due to holidays/having a cold/traveling for a training. Our coach brought in Clif Bars and Lara Bars as a post-swim treat, so I got free breakfast out of the deal. And I went over to my friend's house afterwards and we sat around and drank tea (surprise, surprise!) and talked. I was planning to go to school to get some work done, but that didn't happen. Oops.
On my way home, stopped to fill up on gas and paid $1.69/gallon by using the discount I'd earned with my rewards card.
That's pretty much the extent of the frugals around here. The spring semester starts on Monday and I'm teaching 7 classes this semester. So this weekend is going to filled with getting prepped for that and relaxing (if possible!).
Sold my old car. Sad how little a 16yo with only 102k miles is worth but the new owner is a happy camper A tree fell on her car in driveway-it was a goner.
We ate in all week using Sunday's chili and smoked chicken. Used up brussel sprouts, fresh spinach and tomotoe thus preventing compost development.
until breakfast this morning. The local joint's buckwheat pancake I cannot replicate. Breakfast out is so much cheaper than dinner:cool:
Not so frugal:
some butthead stole the medallion off the hood of my car. A whopping 27days I've owned it. What is the matter with people? :( I can't wait to find out what replacement cost is....but the hole in the hood is not something I choose to look at every day.
We had a bunch of very tall dead pine trees behind the house that needed to come out before they fell and caused damage to us or a neighbor. The sale of my car is paying for most of that. Folks don't climb 40 feet in the air to delimb a tree, for peanuts in pay.
In the last week I've finished 2 baby quilts for gifts. All from my stash-no $ spent. A 3rd will be done by tomorrow night! And I have all the parts out for a 4th.
Not sure it's completely frugal, but I got my free happy birthday pancakes today from IHop. Just paid for coffee and a nice tip. Then went to Ace Hardware with a coupon to get $7 off a $20 spend, so I indulged and got the extra fancy bird seed for my backyard feeders. My bird visitors can celebrate my birthday too!
Best frugal of the day -- making homemade pizza for dinner! :cool:
when I make my green tea I boil the kettle, pour it into a pitcher and let it sit for about 3 minutes. Then I add the bag and keep it in there only about 1.5 minutes. Am I doing this more or less right?
eating a whole food plant based diet we eat in the house nearly all the time now. Or we have a vegan potluck. We save a ton on not going out very often.
Today I made a new simple dish - I grated raw beets and carrots together. Added in some green onion and lemon juice and 1 T of maple syrup. This is our side dish for tonight and also for a few more days. I just love inexpensive simple stuff like this.
SteveinMN
1-23-16, 10:28pm
I grated raw beets and carrots together. Added in some green onion and lemon juice and 1 T of maple syrup. This is our side dish for tonight and also for a few more days. I just love inexpensive simple stuff like this.
I've made variations of this a few times; it is indeed tasty, nutritious, and inexpensive. One recipe I've made quite recently is kale massaged with kosher salt and lemon juice and shredded carrots and red cabbage, in a dressing of olive oil, lemon (or lime) juice, grated ginger, a little garlic, and maple syrup. I can eat way too much of that in one sitting....
early morning
1-24-16, 12:03pm
Well, I'm still in a rut, frugality-wise, but you all are right, that's not a BAD thing... interesting comments about the movies. We went to see Star Wars (space movies are way better on the big screen!), first theater I've visited since the last Star Trek was released. We went to a matinee, took snacks, and spent a total of $11.00 for the two of us. We also scored 2 free passes to anything else this year, because the headphones they offer - and DH needs - weren't working. The theater was almost empty, though, and the volume was LOUD, so he was able to hear it ok after all (but I ended up with a slight head-ache!). So really, I guess I could count that as a frugal! I've done a little mending, putting several pairs of pants back into the work rotation. I was planning to set the sewing machine up yesterday to do some bigger mending jobs, but ended up going through a bunch of junk (treasures!!) at my mother's, as we are in the process of liquidating her assets and sell her house, in case she needs to qualify for Medicaid at some point. I don't think she will, but. . . We've appealed the property tax evaluation, because selling the house will be almost impossible, as it needs to sell for 90% of the listed tax appraisal, or she can be denied, if she needs to apply for Medicaid. And 90% of the evaluation listed is WAY more than similar homes in her town are selling for. So, fingers crossed they will lower that amount, so we can have a better shake at selling it. So we're going through stuff, tons of it, just in case. We're splitting the pantry and cleaning supplies and such, so that will save me a little on some things we will use. Some stuff we will sell through our antiques business and split the proceeds, since household stuff is exempt from the Medicare calculation. Honestly, she's 97, in poor health, has good insurance, and has enough in savings to cover another year, year and a half of nursing home care, more if the house sells - but you never know! So we're trying to plan for what could happen. *sigh* - sorry for the tangent. Doing all this ourselves, instead of turning it over to an estate liquidator or just having an auction is frugal, but - lots of time and effort!!
rosarugosa
1-24-16, 7:12pm
Kally: I like your FB page & I shared it with my sister who is vegetarian, although not vegan. I think she will like it too.
Early: That sounds like a lot of stress and work, but good for you for being proactive. I hope your Mom doesn't need to qualify for Medicaid.
We came in within budget on groceries this week - yay! We went out to eat last night, but that was the one planned restaurant meal for the month in celebration of Mom's birthday (81st). DH made Kristen the Frugal Girl's wonderful fish cakes for dinner Fri night, and I made a salad with yogurt dressing. He makes them with frozen hake that was almost a frugal fail, very cheap on sale at Costco so we bought a lot of it, and didn't like it at all baked or steamed, but it makes wonderful fish cakes. Tonight we're having gulf shrimp (on sale at 2 lbs frozen for $9.99) with spinach & risotto.
Sloeginfizz
1-24-16, 10:14pm
I've made variations of this a few times; it is indeed tasty, nutritious, and inexpensive. One recipe I've made quite recently is kale massaged with kosher salt and lemon juice and shredded carrots and red cabbage, in a dressing of olive oil, lemon (or lime) juice, grated ginger, a little garlic, and maple syrup. I can eat way too much of that in one sitting....
That sounds good. Do you use the regular curly kale or the Tuscan style that's flatter and dark green?
As for us, tonight I'm doing enough cooking for the whole week almost. Pork butt roast was on sale for $.99/lb. cheaper than dried beans around here, which seem to be running $1.50/lb lately, almost never on sale. So I got a huge one. There's pulled pork in the slow cooker and a big pot of posole simmering on the stove. And roasted root vegetables, a big pan. I bought a benriner mandoline so we have a celeriac, beet and carrot slaw. And husbeast wanted a roast chicken this week so we have all kinds of leftover chicken plus a carcass to be turned into stock as soon as the crock of the slow cooker is clean again. Enough food for the week including lunches and breakfast. The more I precook on Sunday, the less likely I'll resort to convenience and takeout food during the week. So, money saved.
Other money savers during the weekend. On Friday, I was supposed to go out for drinks after work with a friend from work. I ended up inviting her home. Even giving her the good bourbon worked out way cheaper than being out at the bar. For myself, I'm doing a dry January, so I had tea.
On Saturday, husbeast and I had a date. We used our Art Institute membership and got in for free. It's $20 a person admission. That membership has literally paid for itself ten times over by this point. Plus, we can go for a couple of hours and not feel we have to make the whole day of it. Rather than go out for coffee or drinks after, we strolled home and had hot cocoa.
JAN 24
Just a couple of things from the last days
--soup and smoothies from stuff in the freezer, very good very one is different.
--for you ladies with thinning eyebrows...I was looking at all the new products that fill in eyebrows
that aren't pencils. Then I thought you never finish a mascara before it gets too old to use on your eyes.
Well, they worked wonderfully on your eyebrows (took a bit of trail and error to get it right) but you can get a
really nice natural looking brow using a dried out marcara brush and a very little bit of leftover mascara. Free...you have to love that word!
I've made variations of this a few times; it is indeed tasty, nutritious, and inexpensive. One recipe I've made quite recently is kale massaged with kosher salt and lemon juice and shredded carrots and red cabbage, in a dressing of olive oil, lemon (or lime) juice, grated ginger, a little garlic, and maple syrup. I can eat way too much of that in one sitting....That sounds good. Do you use the regular curly kale or the Tuscan style that's flatter and dark green?
Thanks! I use the regular kale. I prefer the texture of that variety when softened; my guess is that the flatter kales would end up with a texture more like spinach. The crunch of regular kale stands up to the cabbage and carrots.
Oh, and to be more specific on the dressing, honey is a fine substitute for maple syrup and a little (kosher or pickling) salt should be tossed in as well.
First day of the spring semester -- woohoo!!! I was definitely way more excited about that than the students. :~)
I remembered everything I needed in order to go to the gym first (for swim practice). So I was able to shower at the gym (less hot water use at home). I paid my $20 to have access to the department's water cooler and coffee all semester. I don't drink coffee, but having access to the water cooler is key. Our tap water on campus tastes horrible for some reason (and I'm totally not above drinking tap water, but this stuff is bad) and having to lug multiple full water bottles from home every day is way too much to remember when I'm trying to coordinate everything else. And the $20 is the one department thing I do -- I don't participate in any of the other crap -- so this gives me member-of-the-team points. Aaaahhh, office politics. :D Brought breakfast/lunch/snacks with me, but I was tempted to go to the cafeteria and buy pizza after my last class. Didn't, though. I went to my office and drank a cup of tea (with the last tea bag from my office stash).
Stopped at the grocery store on my way home and bought milk and quart-sized containers of plain yogurt (with a coupon, of course). Resisted the urge to buy bread and went home to make some. Having carrot-lentil soup from the freezer and homemade bread for dinner later.
Trying to be productive in my downtime before going to my black belt class. We're having a special class so my instructor has invited us to hang out and eat at a local restaurant afterwards. Got to hold strong and go home to eat instead of spending money. Fortunately, I have to teach an 8am class tomorrow morning so that makes for a very acceptable excuse to bow out and go home.
Possible bonus frugal: got invited to teach another course this semester. It's just one credit, so would be for 5-weeks mid-semester. It's something I've taught before so would not be a lot of extra work, but the extra cash would be a nice plus!
Jan
---Marked down Christmas Chocolate and mixed nuts bought on a great mark down will use the
one that don't look like Christmas as a birthday gift in Feb. and make some treats for Valentines and Easter with some
Of course some just looks to Christmasy and will need to be eaten by me....lol
So far this week:
- Sunday and Monday and today were no-drive days.
- Walked to the neighborhood grocery store for bread and a couple of other items and found some meat on sale, including grass-fed free-range her-name-was-Elsie ground beef for 5.99/pound (use or freeze by yesterday). I froze it. So I spent more than I planned to, but we'll use up these items soon enough.
- Got our first full-month Consumer Cellular invoice: $4.93 for the two smartphones for the month. :cool: No, it's not regularly that cheap; we signed up in December when CC was offering a $20-per-line credit for new service. If their on-line usage graphs are anything to go by, though, we'll be able to buy fewer minutes and data in coming months, which will lower our bill even more.
- The big frugal -- the gift which will keep on giving -- will be the insurance, equipment, and software which I will not need to update this year as I move my photography business away from building sales and leasing. The story will be in the Rants thread if anyone cares to read it. tl;dr the catalyst was a triumph of ineptitude over all else. For the photography I'll be doing beyond personal work, I won't need liability insurance, so much Web hosting, or the most up-to-date gear or software, and, before all of that incurs expenses for this year, it's time to shut it down. *le sigh*
Meezer_Mom
1-27-16, 1:34am
Have been busy organizing our neighborhood's homeless census this Thursday so I haven't been actively looking to be frugal. That said, I'm feeding and providing snacks to 80 volunteers on $0. Community partners are gold!
Received an invite to a preview of Hugh Jackman's latest, EDDIE THE EAGLE. It was OK. Movie was free but I did get a soda and Welch's fruit at concession. Ouch. The next couple days are going to be hectic so I needed the outing. And yoga.
Recruiter contacted me to line up interview with his client. Keep fingers crossed and prayers up. Could use a steady income.
Jan 27
no drive--no spend
---large pot of soup from chicken in freezer and a bunch of vegetable in bin and freezer...enough for several days
Meezer_Mom
1-29-16, 9:02pm
Last night was our homeless census and, by the time everything was done and put away, it was past 1. My adrenaline pumped til 4. The community food donations for the volunteers were off the charts. Brought home almost entire pizza, some apples, and packages of nuts but most of the remainder was being delivered to a non-profit down the street this morning.
In the rush of the past few days I haven't been keeping track of my nickels and dimes. I've given in to the urge for food on the run. This is a tendency that I need to confront with myself. I think some of my habits were OK and not damaging but do I see where I need to strengthen certain habits so I don't resort to the more expensive, expedient fix.
Still feeling kinda beat. Taking it easy the rest of the night.
The first week of the semester is complete! And my big frugal win was that I didn't managed to bring food and tea every day and not buy a single thing from the cafeteria all week!!! Now, I got lucky in that there was lunch provided during a training one day and on two other days there were some free snacks at the coffee shop on campus. Hooray for free food!!!
In other frugal news, I made it to swim practice all three days this week. Hoping to be able to continue this in coming weeks so that I can get the most out of the fees that I pay to be part of the team.
Stopped at the grocery store on my way home one day and stocked up on a few sale items. For some reason, when I receive the sales flyers in the mail, I'm much better about looking through them and making a list of things to stock up on. When I have to look up the sales flyers online, I tend to forget and then don't stock up when prices are low. I'm not sure why we now get the flyers in the mail, but this has been going on for about 2-3 months now. I'm just gonna roll with it!
Still keeping the heat low in the house. I've gotten quite used to having it set to 58 degrees F. It might be due to the fact that our winter has been quite mild. Whatever the reason, I'll take it!
Here's an odd new frugal: we have three cats and, therefore, a litter box. But I think I've found a minor litter box cleaning modification that will give us an extra few days for each bag of litter. Ha! Probably not a huge savings overall -- maybe $2-$3 per month, but I figure it's still money saved!
Meezer_Mom
1-30-16, 1:00am
Cat moms everywhere want to know the pan cleaning modification, cdttmm. Thanks in advance!
Cat moms everywhere want to know the pan cleaning modification, cdttmm. Thanks in advance!
Hi Meezer_Mom! I think this cat litter box modification might only apply in my unique situation, but I'll share just in case! My boy Jones (a big lovable lump of orange tabby furriness) loves to "play" in the clean litter box. He'll be in there digging for a good 10 minutes just because he can. We joke that he is digging to China. :~) As a result, he pushes a huge amount of cat litter over the edge of the box. We use World's Best Cat Litter, which is made of corn and, therefore, relatively lightweight in comparison to clay litter. As he digs, he manages to inch the cat litter box out of the corner just a little bit, which means even more cat litter goes over the edge of the box. We clean the cat litter box 2x per day, so we sweep up the litter that's been tracked out of the front of the box, which is a fairly small amount. And then once a week we tend to do the more robust cleaning of the litter box area, which means we vacuum up all the (clean) litter Jones has kicked over the side during the week. Turns out that this is actually a fair amount of litter and we've just been sucking it up with the vacuum cleaner. Well, I realized that there was no reason why I couldn't just sweep it all into a dustpan and put it back in the litter box a few times a week. Sure, it takes an extra 5 minutes of dealing with cat litter every time, but it's a seriously large amount of litter that is otherwise going to waste. So, duh! Total light bulb moment last night. Now, most people would just buy their cat a covered box and problem solved. Alas, my other two cats prevent that solution from being practical. One is 19-1/2 years old and has been in renal failure for 5 years. For obvious reasons, we try not to change much of anything when it comes to his using the litter box. Our other cat is the stray we saved after she was attacked by a porcupine. She's deaf and is easily traumatized by most everything. So we're not changing up anything on her either. <Sigh.> A covered litter box would be such a great solution, but I'll work with my more labor intensive solution and keep saving myself the 75 cents per week in litter. :~)
A few in our cat group have bought large tall storage tubs and cut a large door in one or two sides.
Meezer_Mom
1-30-16, 8:08am
Thanks cdttmm. I've heard some in my cat group talk about the storage tubs as sweetana mentioned. Some have also used the cement mixer tubs sold at Home Depot, etc.
I haven't updated for 2 weeks! I continue to cook at home from the freezer buying only fresh veggies/fruit/milk.
Last Sunday I made an awesome pot of stew. Hubby had 3 lunches and purchased a sandwich 1 day. I made a pot of black beans and added corn. I had this for lunches this week with some salsa (home canned from my garden) and some shredded cheese provided by work.
We only worked 4d this week and are now on vacation. We're at the cabin in the mountains. We're eating a ton of fresh fruit, a little turkey for protein. Last night we had 6 guests. i made 2 pans of lasagna with ratatouille from the freezer as a foundation adding in ground beef and hot italian sausage. We have a full pan left. We'l see how much gets eaten tomorrow at "gang lunch" before the others all leave for home while we stay another week.
Tonight is soup made by my sister and sandwiches We'll make krispie treats for dessert.
I am quilting up a storm this year. I've finished 3 baby quilts already-all from my stash. I've been the recipient of 3 boxes of fabric in the last 2 weeks. The intention is baby quilts for donation. My goal is 52 this year and I've got a few friends around the country who wanted to "support" this goal. Very sweet of them. I'll need to buy flannel for backing (and that is cheaper than the quilting cotton I've received).
We're on a low cost 10d vacation. We own our cabin (no mortgage). Hubby is skiing (pass purchased last summer in the sale) and equipment cost averaging gets lower every year. I'm cooking in because I L OVE to cook when I'm on vacation. Including providing meals for a small crowd for 2days, it looks like total cost of this vacation is under $300. We started Thursday with dinner for $7.01 using a groupon of $15 purchased for $8 awhile back. We may go out for sushi once as the place here has become our favorite. We will still come in at well under $400 and we will be thoroughly entertained and relaxed at the end.
early morning
1-30-16, 3:53pm
Sounds like a lovely vacation, Gardnr! Cdttmm, I know what you mean about not changing things for some cats. NEVER upset the litter-balance if it's working, lol. Litter box habit changes are the first sign of trouble in catdom, at least at our house. Sick? In pain? Don't pee in the box! Mad at owners? Ditto! Scared, unhappy with new food, new cat, new chair in the living room? OMG, we can't possibly pee in the litter box now! And MAN, are they stuck in their ways sometimes! I switched treats once, and our youngest, I swear, had tears in her eyes..... why did we hate her so much that we changed her TREATS??? How evil we are!! Jeez, guilt-tripped by a cat... Ah well. To the thread: We went out to dinner last Sunday to celebrate DS's birthday, and the bill for 4 of us at a local upscale Thai place, even with 2 appetizers and 20% tip, was $92 - and DD had a really LARGE plate of sushi. Which is WAY more than we usually spend, but was much less than a comparable amount of food would have cost at a bland mid-range chain place. We ended up bringing home enough for three more meals. So I'm putting that on my semi-frugal list, lol. I have a load of laundry hanging today, it's fairly warm and quite breezy. And I just ran a total, for the heck of it, on the return on our charge card. Since we opened it in 2010, we have received 1,700.26 back in cash (and orders on Amazon). Since we have never carried a balance, this is totally free money, and we use the card on things we would buy anyway. Plus I use it to pay most of our bills online (cell phone, internet, landline, propane, most medical bills) instead of writing a check. For couple years I was able to use it for real estate taxes, but no more. Anyway, that's another ongoing frugal that is such a habit I don't even think about it!
rosarugosa
1-31-16, 7:35am
Gardnr: I echo what Early says about your lovely vacation, and you both probably know that I would consider sushi a VERY worthwhile splurge!
We came in within budget on groceries this week by a wide margin. We had a lovely seafood dinner last night at home with good stuff from our freezer. I submitted to redeem my credits from Pinecone Research and will be getting a check for $60.00.
Early: I'm a big fan of the credit card rewards and I like to "churn" for the new card rewards. I opened 3 new accounts yesterday, and we'll get a combined total of $650 once we spend $2000 in 3 months. That should be easily accomplished with gas, groceries and household basics.
Thank you, Meezer_Mom and sweetana3 for the ideas on a deeper cat litter box. As early morning said, sometimes you don't want to upset the long list of litter box successes that you have in an attempt to gain one more. So until my old man Jake is no longer with us, I'm gonna be sweeping cat litter. :D
Went to Target to buy a new muffin/cupcake pan and discovered that they had a Wilton brand one on sale so saved myself $2.20 there. Then walked down the laundry detergent aisle and discovered they had our preferred brand of laundry detergent on sale, too. So bought two jugs of detergent. And now I'm feeling like I need to add Target to the list of places I need to scope out while making my price book. Ugh. Making a price book is not feeling like simple living to me at all! I so wish I could just shop at one store and get the best prices and the quality of items that we want. I feel like I need to rethink my whole shopping strategy.
Then I went to Whole Foods and stocked up on my favorite dark chocolate chips because they were on sale. Huh, guess that price book thing really does help. :~) I also bought bulk spices because it's cheaper than buying the little pre-packed jars. And cocoa powder. Again, the best deal (for high quality cocoa powder) that I can find. I can't even find it cheaper online. People seem to hate on Whole Foods because of their higher prices, but I've found they've got the best prices for more than a dozen things we buy regularly.
Spent part of yesterday making a huge pot of Spanish rice from ingredients we had on hand. Used arborio rice, which turned out to be the less than ideal choice texture-wise, but the taste is fine. I froze 3 containers for quick rice-and-beans meals in the future. Today I'm going to make banana-chocolate-chocolate chip muffins for my breakfasts for the week. The banana were free from a student at school who had put them in refrigerator and didn't like that their skins turned black. She was going to throw them out. I stopped her and told her I would take them and make them into muffins. Of course, then everyone suddenly wanted in on my baked goods. :D I'm also going to bake two loaves of English muffin bread if I have the time. I'll freeze one for future consumption and use one for making grilled cheese sandwiches this week.
Paid the property tax bill online yesterday. I could not believe the "convenience" fee they charge if you use a credit/debit card to pay -- it would have added something like $57 to the bill. I was shocked! But they had an ACH option and that was only 25 cents -- cheaper than a first class stamp! Theoretically, I could have gone to pay it in person and saved myself the 25 cents, but time is money and it would have been too much of a hassle to make it worthwhile.
Went to Target... now I'm feeling like I need to add Target to the list of places I need to scope out while making my price book. .
The save 5% Target card, stacked with an extra 5% RX Reward day really works for me. Target RX has my med at the lowest price and the 5% bonus every couple months is nice. It's the only day I shop at Target and stock up. Even some of the food items end up lower than the grocery store and every now and then they have my favorite Gelato at 2/$5 instead of the grocery store's $4.98 each. Coffee has been another good deal with sales. There are usually a lot of kick-back coupons printed at the check out register so sometimes I'll take my stuff to the car and go right back in to use those coupons (coffee ones especially) and the 5% RX reward is good all day so I can still stack the 5% reward with the 5% card on same-day trips. Then I pay off the charges on-line and don't go back to Target until the next 5% RX certificate comes in the mail. People with the Cartwheel App can save even more but I don't have a smart phone. Target also runs a lot of coupons on-line that you can load in your phone or print. There is usually always a save 20% on household items which would of stacked nicely on your muffin-tin purchase.
freshstart
1-31-16, 10:19am
Early: I'm a big fan of the credit card rewards and I like to "churn" for the new card rewards. I opened 3 new accounts yesterday, and we'll get a combined total of $650 once we spend $2000 in 3 months. That should be easily accomplished with gas, groceries and household basics.
I do this too but then I'm unsure what to do with the card after I've gotten what I wanted from it, i.e.: I always have a 15mos no interest card to have on hand for an emergency that has yet to happen, I just feel better having one. But then I don't cancel it at 15 mos and continue using my Discover because the rewards suit me. Do you close yours when the next good deal comes along?
rosarugosa
1-31-16, 11:57am
Freshstart: I should probably close some of them, but so far I've only closed those ones for which an annual fee was going to kick in.
I'm feeling like I need to add Target to the list of places I need to scope out while making my price book. Ugh. Making a price book is not feeling like simple living to me at all! I so wish I could just shop at one store and get the best prices and the quality of items that we want. I feel like I need to rethink my whole shopping strategy.
Just as you said about your property tax payment, time is money and convenience has its cost. Personally, I find it simpler to just get a few items at a less-than-optimal store rather than make another trip (which not only takes more time but, often, more fuel or additional fares). For instance, if we run out of aluminum foil and I know I can't wait till I make a run to Target or another discount store, I'll pick it up at the co-op. It's not the cheapest there, but if I start calculating the time and the thimbles of fuel it will take to buy elsewhere, it's just easier to buy it the once and be done. But we have the luxury of being able to "over-spend" for lower-priced items. And my tune would change if I were being charged $50+ to make a $1200 tax payment. For $50 I can go out of my way. :~)
People seem to hate on Whole Foods because of their higher prices, but I've found they've got the best prices for more than a dozen things we buy regularly.
Their house brand and bulk sales often are very good deals. Part of the "Whole Paycheck" perception, I think, is what they're selling.
Vegan dog biscuits made with extra-virgin organic coconut oil and hand-patted in the shape of a Scottie in a solar-powered American artisan shop by people earning a living wage and benefits is going to cost more than Milk-Bonz at Wally World. Trucking and selling organic produce from half a world away costs money, too. Not to poke at WF; I likely would be a far bigger WF fan if the Twin Cities were not so well-served by food co-ops and better grocery stores. It's just that labor-intensive foods can't be "cheap" if one cares much about the ingredients and production.
Meezer_Mom
1-31-16, 3:25pm
Re Target and other stores: CouponMom.com is always worth checking once a week. She matches and lists coupons/Ibotta/etc. to deals. Registration is free. There is also the ability to search a product and see if anyone has a sale on it this week.
I agree that sometimes it's not worth an extra trip to save a few cents.
Have I mentioned lately how much I appreciate you all? (((HUGS)))
rosarugosa
1-31-16, 6:36pm
Hugs to you too, MM! :)
Cdttmm: When I went to the town website to pay my property tax a few years ago, I was dismayed to see a couple of online options that would cost me money. The town hall is within shouting distance and they have an outdoor mailbox for town payments (RE tax, excise and water), so I usually would just write a check and drop it in the box, saving a stamp. I've more recently found I can just do an online payment from my checking account. I believe they send an actual check to the town. I've been doing this for a couple of years now, and it seems to work just fine, with no cost or inconvenience to us at all. I just go to my online checking and originate the activity there, and I don't interact with the town's online payment system at all.
Jan 31/16 last day of this first month of 2016 Yes, MM this is a great thread keeps me thinking and so glad you are all here!!
.
I have got rid of 97 items this month to recycling/garage/give away and the other things I have done while decluttering this month are:
--Hang 4 pictures I love and that remind me of very special people (they were stuck in a closet)
I have hang them in places I can see them and enjoy them. Not out of the house but being honoured and enjoyed.
Not necessarily frugal but, makes me love my surroundings which I believe keeps me at home and out of the stores.
--Took 6 pair of really good quality knee socks that were too tight at the top and cut them down to ankle socks.
They feel good and did not unravel. So again not out of the house but being used up.
Weird, wonky day. It was storming so I popped a bag of free popcorn I got at that exercise event last week and planned to settle in with the Clipper game. Then our power went out.
Plan B, go to a free pre-release screening. Packed my snacks and headed out. I got in BUT then didn't pass security because I had my cell phone. (Some are more restrictive than others; they fear recording.) Well, I'm OK being turned away. Went back to the house. Still no power. No power, no cooking.
Landlord handed me a NY Times delivered by mistake and I'm having a late dinner at Del Taco while reading it.Two burritos, chicken taco and tea for $2.94.
Wonky day. Hoping tomorrow is better.
[Moved to February frugals thread]
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