March 2016 Frugals

[cdttmm]

Happy March, everyone!!! For those of us in the northern hemisphere, Spring is coming!!! So get your frugal moves on and post your happenings here!!! :D

[Meezer_Mom]

Hey, Everyone!

I had a crazy few minutes yesterday and it's worth sharing. I'm still settling in to the routine of my new consulting gig but I'm also trying to get to the gym every night after work. Recovering dislocated shoulder, sciatica and overall good health. So...

Rolling right along and having the best intentions to grocery shop after yoga in order to pick up work lunches for the rest of the week but, darnit, just didn't have the energy. I popped into Rite Aid to see what they had in frozen dinners that wouldn't disturb Mr. G (gallstone) and bawked at their price. $4+. Really?! Put them back in the freezer. Picked up a few other things on my list and by that time sanity prevailed and $4+ seemed like a much better deal than the $17+ for the sandwich I spent at the cafe next to the office. Went back and got two because there's no guarantee I'm shopping tonite either.

I thought about this on the way home. That is, I'll feel indignant about paying a slightly higher price in the moment and then suffer the consequences of a much higher price later because I'm stuck.

There. I said it.

On the positive side, $8 of the balance were in Plenti points. AND I finally used my laundry pod raincheck and coupon, getting the bag of pods for $.99. Yeah!

[Meezer_Mom]

Made a grocery run at Target tonite. Several things I use have better prices than the grocery store. I feel less vulnerable to last-minute, expensive sandwiches.

Forewent the gym. Besides shopping, I need to get myself organized a bit so I gave myself the night off.

[Williamsmith]

At the end of the month I balance the budget and see just how good we did by transferring money from the checking into the savings. I always start the month out with the same amount. Well, Had a record end of month savings this month mainly due to limited eating out in restaurants. When we did eat out it was in little pizza shops or diners and always less than $20 for two.

And secondly, we have this side by side refrigerator in our place that came with the house when purchased. Well it sits up against one wall and it is frustrating to get into the freezer. We shopped around for a replacement. It was going to set us back between $1500 and $2000. I looked at the solution as a luxury. Then I got to looking at the refrigerator and saw that it could be slid 3/4 inch away from the wall. After that it actually helped a bit.

Thenwife fe and I discussed it and came to the conclusion that we would wait until it quit working. Saved almost two grand right there. That's grand frugal.

[SiouzQ.]

Thank god I purchased the three year, 3rd party warranty when I bought my used Honda Accord three years ago. My transmission started going out and the warranty is good until April 5th, or 118,999 miles (I have 118, 275)! After waiting, car-less, for days on pins and needles to find out if the warranty would apply, I found out yesterday that what would have been a $6000 repair job is now a mere $200 deductible (can you believe that price? Never take your car back to the dealership)! Whew! Dodged the hugest bullet there. However, the rebuilt transmission is in California and I am in Michigan, so it might be a week before I get my wheels back. I am going to have to get a rental because I am getting tired of scrounging rides to work.

On the same day this all happened, I started getting a toothache on a molar that already has a gold crown; the dentist wants me to see a root canal specialist first. If I don't need a root canal, she needs to remove the cap and get rid of the decay underneath and then make a new cap to put on it. I'm actually hoping that it is a root canal because that is mostly covered by my health insurance, the gold crown is not...geez, March has not been kind to me so far!

[pinkytoe]

Getting our house ready to sell (major repairs) and retiring (less income) has not been kind to the budget. Now that I have a lot more unstructured time, I can shop more thoughtfully this month for groceries and cook more. For my first month off, I printed out a blank calendar page and recorded all expenses on it each day. Even after my reduced income (pension), our expenses were considerably less than our income - all thanks to frugal living. Car maintenance is coming up so I am shopping around for that.

[SteveinMN]

I found out yesterday that what would have been a $6000 repair job is now a mere $200 deductible (can you believe that price? Never take your car back to the dealership)!
I'm glad you didn't end up holding the bag for the entire repair! Six grand, however, sounds egregious compared to the value of the vehicle. It's a good reminder, though, that if someone else isn't paying for the repair (and, therefore, stipulating where and how), it pays to do a little on-line research. Most car models have Web sites for fans of those cars. I participate in one that is exclusive to Volkswagen turbodiesels (http://www.tdiclub.com/) and there's one for DW's Kia (http://www.kiasoulforums.com/).

DW owned an Accord and there were a few times I found useful money-saving information on Accord fan sites. Most car-fan sites also have sticky threads or forums devoted to finding good third-party mechanics around the country. That may be less critical for Accords, which sell by the hundreds of thousands so lots of technicians have experience with them. But it helps to determine when it makes sense to go to the dealership, to a specialist for that part of the car, or whether the honest guy down the street can handle the repair.

[Gardnr]

I haven't spent a dime this week except what will be my copays for knee surgery on Tuesday. I've met my deductible so OOP should be decent-just 20%.

I've got 3 library books and I've downloaded a few kindle freebies recently. No $ spent.

I stocked up on fresh fruit and veggies last Saturday. No grocery $ spent this week and we're good until at least Tuesday :)

BAD? I have a package of ground turkey in the fridge that I believe has been there since at least Sunday. I think it has to go in the trash bin without checking if it's good >:( Bad me. Same with about 3oz of cooked chicken. I have had no appetite since surgery and I obviously did not think that would happen. I just haven't been in the fridge until today other than for a hard boiled egg to take with pain pill every 4h.

[Meezer_Mom]

Don't beat yourself up, Gardner. When we're not feeling well, we're off our game. This is, in part, what I've been dealing with for several years and am now slogging through to restore some good habits.

TGIF! Been a very busy week. I've again kept up with writing down everything I spend even if I've gone over my daily limit. My self-imposed limit is low to keep myself reined in. I made the best possible choice in the moment. That's something!

Pushing myself to choose water as much as possible. Less about frugality and more about health. I did better this week.

[early morning]

Sometimes we need to spend a little money on self-care, of whatever variety works for us! Me - I took Friday off work for a girl's trip with DD, DSIS,and DSIL to Ill for some great early country antique shows. I didn't buy too much but had a wonderful time, looking and chatting with dealers and other country furniture aficionados. We had a hotel for one night, mostly paid for with points donated by DSIL. 24 hour coffee and a free breakfast helped a lot. This past year has been extremely stressful for me and while family life is settling down a little, work world is spinning faster and faster. More responsibilities, more paperwork, more training on things I do not want to do and that keep me from completing my primary responsibilities, but no more compensation of any sort (and I know I'm not alone in any of this, but that doesn't make it easier for me to just let it go...)! I really needed a small break, and I know that when I return tomorrow - AFTER taking DH to another medical appointment - I will be back in the swing of things with a much better attitude. Breaks can be frugal therapy! :)

[Gardnr]

Beef Stew-filled my Dutch oven. Shredded beef and beef broth out of the freezer. We've got lunches for the whole week;)

tomorrow I will make bread out of pantry ingredients and some date/oatmeal snack bars-found a new recipe last week.

[SteveinMN]

- Had to buy more chew sticks for the dog; usually I buy two at a time because they last a while and sticker shock sets in (what they charge for offal is awful :~)). This time I bought three sticks because that let me use a $5 reward that expires this month and I don't anticipate having to buy anything else there this month.
- DW and I went to the local home and garden show this weekend on free tickets. Didn't buy anything for the five hours we were there besides a sandwich that DW and I split and two soft drinks. Didn't collect any "swag" either; my experience is that the price is way too high.
- Bits and bobs out of the pantry and freezer for meals this week. Eclectic but tasty.
- Turned the furnace off for a while yesterday to enjoy the near-60-degree temps outside. Forgot to turn it back on again so it was a bit chilly this morning, but we lived. :-)
- Scored one of those colorful kid's organizers with the plastic bins on a wood framework with my share of bingo winnings from last December's Birthday Bingo. It will help organize my office, which seems to be where things gather before they're ferried off to their particular form of recycling. No more trying to keep stuff in neat piles.

[Tradd]

Sold 2 pistols and some ammo (yes, I still have some of each left!). Ended up with about $1K cash in hand. Went right on the credit card.

[kally]

am selling a small desk that just wont fit. Might get $60

[cdttmm]

Haven't been posting much as of late, but wanted to stop by and share a few frugals with my friends here. Today was our last day of classes before spring break -- hooray!!! I went to swim practice this morning, but did not plan well and didn't have enough snacks with me to keep me going until lunch time. I went by the little Starbucks cafe on campus and was going to buy a slice of the blueberry yogurt loaf because it seemed like it would really hit the spot. The $2.59/slice price tag almost dissuaded me, but I was too hungry. And then something wonderful happened: Patty, who manages the little cafe, says "I have an end slice of the yogurt loaf that I'll just give you for free if you want it." Yes, please!!! It pays to make friends with everyone. :) At lunchtime, I went to a training about making videos for online courses. There was lunch provided at the training so I had some salad and some pizza before I had to head off to my last class of the day.

Earlier this week my dearly beloved wrangled lower rates for our cell phones and our home internet. A savings of ~$60/month in total. Woo-hoo!!! We also paid the car insurance bill in full for the year rather than monthly, which comes with a bit of a surcharge. The property tax bill is the next big one -- it comes due in April -- but I don't think there's anyway to get that one any lower.

Next week we have one dog and one cat headed to the vet for dental work. Scheduled them on the same day to save some driving.

Decided I needed to finally buy a new swim cap for swim practice. And decided to invest in a pair of fins since my coach seems to think that kicking drills are important. :D I asked a few people on the team where they bought their equipment and someone recommended SwimOutlet.com. Checked out the site and found what I needed. And got a 10% discount for being a first time customer. When checking out I opted for free shipping since I wasn't in a huge hurry to get the stuff. It should be here tomorrow so it only took a week to get here. I would have paid $7-$15 to get it maybe a day or two earlier. Totally not worth it, IMO.

Put in an application for a summer conference. It's one I've been to in the past. If I get accepted, then I'll apply for financial aid to attend since my college doesn't provide funding for their adjunct faculty to attend conferences.

I think that's about all for now. Always nice to read about everyone else's frugal happenings so keep up the great work!!!

[Gardnr]

We haven't eaten out for another week! I cannot tell you how huge this is for us.:cool:

I had to throw a little spoiled spinach on the compost pile this week but that's it. We've been eating off the fresh food I bought the day before I had surgery 10d ago. And chicken, fish, ground beef from the freezer.

I have an online friend in Virginia who sent me 2 boxes of fabric as I have committed to a goal of making and donating 52 child quilts this year. She wanted to help me do that. So far this year I am on #10 and 11 and 12. When I get sick of sitting with my leg elevated, I go in and do a little cutting. My added cost is thread and batting. Much cheaper than the fabric!

[rosarugosa]

Nice to read of everyone's successes. I fear March hasn't been a very frugal month for us, and I think this in my first post for the month on the Frugals Forum. I have just a few things to share.
I got my annual bonus at work and this permitted me to replace the money we took from savings to pay the IRS, but I'm also allowing for some indulgences.
I think I had posted last fall about my dilemma over nobody else in the neighborhood cleaning up leaves, and us raking up dozens of bags of leaves, and still having leaves everywhere. Well I bought a leaf shredder from Gardener's Supply Co that got good reviews. My hope is that we can actually turn all those leaves into a garden asset and maybe stop buying bark mulch or at least so much of it. Our town also schedules very few leaf pickups, and I'm tired of having my spring and fall revolve around leaf pickup dates. That seems like a very poor life's focus.
I bought the leaf shredder and placed a Seabear salmon order through the Top Cashback site. Just those two purchases have given me about $25.00 cash back (on about $300), so I think I'm going to try to do as much of my online shopping as possible through that site in the future. I had free shipping offers for both purchases and used a new credit card that will give us $200 after we spend $500, so although these were certainly expenditures, I think I managed them in the most beneficial way possible.
Lastly, I have a new prescription plan with the Caremark/CVS network, and one of the alleged perks is 20% off CVS brand health-related items. I needed some Opcon-A, which seems to run about $9.00 a bottle (more like $11.00 at CVS). CVS brand had the same active ingredients and had a 2-pack available, and with the 20% off came to about $9.00 for the two. I am leery of CVS since they tend to have high prices, but that seemed like a genuine good deal so will try to keep an open mind about using CVS on occasion.

[rodeosweetheart]

My paychecks have gone to once a month from every other week, and they are about 1/2 of what they used to be, so 25% of what I used to make.
So now I am living on savings, which really bugs me.
Yesterday cashed in all my coins and got 58 dollars, so I will be living on that for a while.

We split a sandwich from Panera where we have a gift card. When we split a meal, we are finding that is about right for two 60 year olds.

Found my grandchildren some beautiful wooden puzzles at the thrift shop, got 4 of them for 12 dollars, a long with a scrabble slam card game that we enjoy playing.

Recharged my ancient iphone and am going to try taking pictures with that one, since the iphone takes such better pictures than my Blu phone. I will also try uploading music to the old 4s iphone, thank you Steve for this idea.

My paperwhite bulbs I planted inside have bloomed and are now developing little seed pods so I will let them do that and then try planting the seeds in the window. I've had luck with amaryllis, hostas, and daylilies doing this,and it makes me really, really happy.

[Tradd]

I got a free dog, fries, and drink at Sonic because the wait was so long at the drive thru. Work had a meeting at lunch yesterday and brought in pizza. I'll never turn down free food! I brought my sack lunch home and had it for dinner.

[rosarugosa]

Free movie from the library for entertainment tonight. (Secret Life of Bees, pretty good, even DH liked it for a "chick flick")

[kally]

I got $56

[Gardnr]

It was MILs 75th bday yesterday. House rule: I take care of my family stuff and you take care of yours. Hubby had no idea what to do for her. Then he suddenly remembered a cutting board he had made (intricately pieced) that we had never used. That was her gift along with a Hallmark he picked up.

she loved it and no doghouse for me (you know with that generation everything is planned and done by the wife---you all know that right?:help: I've given up and choose not to feel bad that he does not do something when expected. They raised him, I did not!

[Teacher Terry]

I always keep some easy freezer meals to heat up if I am too tired to cook. This is cheaper then going out. I have been married 3x's and always get the gifts for the hubby's family. Congrats for standing your ground on that. My hubby and I usually split a meal too because we can't eat as much now. If we each want something different then we bring the other half home. I knit scarves for the homeless and it was getting expensive as I knit about a 100/year. So I asked for donations from friends on Facebook and got a bunch that people had lying around at home that they were not using. I also found I can find it cheap at thrift stores.

[Meezer_Mom]

Teacher Terry, I knit/crochet scarves for homeless children. What groups receive yours? What patterns/stitches are you using? I have received untold amounts of yarn from the yarn gods. I think if I ever run out, I could post a want ad on freecycle but I haven't yet. ;)

[cdttmm]

House rule: I take care of my family stuff and you take care of yours.

Gardnr: we have a similar house rule. It extends so far as to include the obligatory family functions, which comes in handy.

I had my first beekeeping class of the season in NYC this past weekend. The driving to and from NYC when one lives in MA is not all that frugal, but what they are paying me makes it much more palatable. I have 8 students in the class -- smaller than last year -- but that is fine. I get paid a flat rate, not a per-student rate. The time change made it a bit challenging to get up early on Sunday, but I managed. I packed snacks and plenty of tea in travel mugs so that I didn't have to buy anything throughout the day. Came home and had rice and beans from the freezer.

Last night we fried tofu and ate that with salad. Trying to be better about using up what is in the fridge and not let things go to waste. Stopped at the grocery store and bought just two things: bananas and mozzarella. My dearly beloved likes to drink smoothies for breakfast and we only had two very ripe bananas left, which I wanted for baking another batch of muffins. And the mozzarella is for our next round of homemade pizzas, which likely won't happen until next week. I did have a chance to bake muffins yesterday, too. So used up those ripe bananas and some homemade applesauce and some of the yogurt that I bought in bulk last month and is well past its expiration date (but still perfectly fine).

Of course, there's always the non-frugals, too. Yesterday, one dog and one cat went to the vet for dental work. Turns out the cat needed not two, but three teeth pulled. And the dog needed not two, but six teeth pulled. Unfortunately, the dog couldn't have her's done yesterday due to poor results on her bloodwork (she has kidney disease). So we're going to try again with her in a few weeks after we get her kidney values stabilized. But I did my best to keep things frugal by not buying any unnecessary meds. I keep a running list of what we have on hand from previous vet visits (mostly painkillers). So I had the exact medication that the vet was prescribing for the cat from a previous visit (with the same cat). Saved a few dollars there.

Even though it is spring break, I'm going to work to teach a "College for the Day" program that is a student recruitment event. A little extra money for very little work, plus free lunch. :D And I just got my contract for teaching a self-defense for women class starting in a few weeks. Was for ~$60 more than I expected. Not a lot of extra money, but it will pay for next round of bloodwork for the dog! :~)

[Teacher Terry]

MM: I only know how to do the basic knitting stitch and all I have ever made are scarves. I make them for men, women and children. We have 3 shelters and one is for families. All 3 are owned by the same group so I donate to them : Volunteers of America. WE actually have a lot more shelters then that but those are the 3 I donate too. I also go to the thrift stores and buy them because it is cheaper then knitting and I have found a lot of really nice ones. When I first started my adult son was making fun of me saying that all the homeless were going to be comparing scarfs to see whose was better and I should have my name on them. I said what a great idea. So I ordered a bunch of labels cheap that say "Handmade with love by Terry." I sew it on the inside of the scarf.

[iris lilies]

I almost won a free pair of shoes of my choosing. I attended an event where they drew seat numbers for prizes. The first program had the owman sitting in my right win. The next program had the woman on my left win. These were crowds of 400 and 180. Clearly, I was the lucky charm. I though I should go out and buy a lottery ticket.

Heres my real frual: i entered a flower show and did not buy one stalk of fresh flowers. i used dried plant material in my basement.

[iris lilies]

Oh I started out this marriage with DH taking care of his family celebratory events, largely because they are just so damned frequent. In his family they send cards for birthdays, anniversaries, Easter, Valentines day, of course Xmas, etc. In my family of origIn we dont do Cards.

The cards for DH family need not be expensive, but cards must be sent. there are 6 of them. 6 X about 6 events =36. Nope, not doing that.

in past years he has slowed down the card thing and now seems to send only birthday cards. We still get anniversary, vDay, etc cards from most of his sibs.

[freshstart]

I only had 90 days to keep the dress I picked out for Dbro's wedding. I returned it and re-ordered it online to buy another 90 days (I'm not sure about it and my size is slowly changing). I got 15% and $25 off so it was much cheaper in the end. I also found a dress for the rehearsal dinner on clearance for $30. Both dresses are black, and if I was working could be worn to work or dressed up for a nice occasion. His wedding is small and not overly fancy so these dresses should work.

[Mary B.]

I almost won a free pair of shoes of my choosing. I attended an event where they drew seat numbers for prizes. The first program had the owman sitting in my right win. The next program had the woman on my left win. These were crowds of 400 and 180. Clearly, I was the lucky charm. I though I should go out and buy a lottery ticket.


Nope -- I think I should come stand next to you and buy a lottery ticket! :~)

[Meezer_Mom]

MaryB and Iris Lilies. .. :)

[SteveinMN]

Minor frugals:

- Again this month, our mobile phone usage is well below what we've purchased. One nice thing about Consumer Cellular is that you can upgrade or downgrade your plan pretty much any time to address your needs. But when I looked, we could drop a level and save another $5 a month, but it would cut us close to the bone on talk time and data. So I guess we'll leave it as is. Maybe a few more months of "normal" will show that we can drop down that one rung with minor behavioral changes.
- Running late for dinner the other night, DW picked up a diner hot turkey sandwich and a salad that we then split for dinner and which served as her lunch the next day. I cleaned out the soon-to-be-departed from the refrigerator and doctored ramen soup with it for my lunch.
- An ALDI run where we bought the ham we were volunteered to bring for DW's family Easter meal. A few other good prices on things so it was worth the visit.
- Got our health-care reimbursement account money back for 2015; we more than maxed it out again (mixed blessing). Which reminds me that our taxes are done and we'll be getting a fair amount back from Uncle Sam (even after tweaking W4s) and a token amount from Uncle Mark (Dayton; Governor of Minnesota). Looks like we have some more W4 tweaking to do...

[Meezer_Mom]

Not too much to share from here. I was on the torso twist at the gym and twisted myself so good my sciatica has been having a hissy fit. Have set appointments with massage therapist and chiro. Not necessarily a frugal but I long ago set up a cash discount with them. And there's something about your back hurting that takes attention from everything else. OWW!!!

I have been taking my lunch and snacks to work, though. And I'm continuing to choose tap water as my beverage every where I am. Establishing good habits acts like auto-pilot even when you're not feeling 100%.

I've shared before that I *REALLY* liked the book MINI HABITS by Stephen Guise. Read it last year and it's been my game changer. Highly recommend.

[iris lilies]

Nope -- I think I should come stand next to you and buy a lottery ticket! :~)
Haha, YES!

[Teacher Terry]

Gave away a body pillow that was never used but once and 2 dining room chairs to a family that needed them. Also listed 2 things on craigslist. De-cluttered my dining room yesterday of other stuff and it feels so much better it is amazing. My kids even commented when they came over. The more i do the quicker and easier it is to clean.

[cdttmm]

Went to my favorite tea house today because needed to have a couple of meetings and it was a central meeting place. Spent more than necessary, but this is the frugals thread so I won't dwell on that! :D

Got my REI dividends in the mail today: $30.90. Will wait until I have a need for something from REI to spend it as opposed to just blowing it on something new and exciting right now.

Stopped at the pet store to buy soft food for the cat who had three teeth extracted earlier this week. Bought the less expensive (but still high quality) wet food as opposed to the first option I had picked out, which was $0.20 per package more. Not a huge savings because I was only buying a few packages, but I'm still proud of the fact that I hit the pause button long enough to do at least a little comparison shopping. Looked at a new cat bed (the dog has been chewing up the current one), but decided against buying one. It's not really necessary as I can probably do a decent (temporary) repair job on the current bed.

Going to part of a training tomorrow and planning to time it so that I can get either breakfast or lunch while there. I do so love my free meals. :~)

Not much else to report at the moment. Will have to try to up my game on the frugals tomorrow!

[freshstart]

I need a costume statement necklace (as I have been informed they are called now) for my brother's rehearsal dinner. I found one at Talbot's for $50 but it was huge and I am short, it was pretty but overwhelming. Looked on Kohl's, they had a ton for less than $20, $10 off accessories and 30% off, free ship so I ordered a bunch to try on at home with the dress. And I don't have to ask anyone to drive me all around to find one. Good deals.

I also think my optician who has a wing on his house named after me (just my eyeglass lenses were $1600 last year and my eyes have changed again) is going to hook me up with some free disposable contacts for the wedding. I will not be able to see well at all (they don't come near my prescription level) but I at least want them for the pictures.

and then I might be very close to done shopping on the cheap for this wedding, yay!

[rosarugosa]

Freshstart: Good luck with your necklace quest! I had no qualms about wearing eyeglasses in all my wedding photos when I was the bride, so if you decide you would rather be able to see at the wedding, that could be considered a valid choice, at least in my book. I've worn glasses since I was 7 YO, so I embrace them as part of my "look."
We came in within budget on groceries and Costco this week. DH & I went to the local library yesterday afternoon to get a movie for after dinner entertainment. We ended up spending some quality time having fun perusing local history books in the reference section, so totally frugal fun with an educational twist! I booked our late summer vacation hotel room using the IHG credit card rewards program, so out of pocket for 4 nights will be $120 plus the $49 annual fee which gets us 1 "free" night per year. Less than $200 for 4 nights at the Holiday Inn seems more than reasonable to me. We also got our $250 sign-on bonus from Amex, and I pushed $200 of it into our online savings account, which makes me happy. :)

[freshstart]

I was 7, too when I got my glasses. Do you remember how amazing it was to see every individual leaf on a tree and also, the freaking blackboard? I had no clue what I was missing, my parents said I would take them off and look around and put them on and look around again like I was Helen Keller suddenly cured of blindness, lol.

I doubt very much that I will be able to see well enough with contacts, my left eye is useless and they just don't make contacts anywhere near my script for the right eye. This guy is willing to try but with the POT syndrome I already fall with no warning, falling because I'm blind as a bat won't be on my agenda, lol. My glasses are truly hideous, they are so thick my eyes look incredibly teeny, I've embraced their horror for my everyday look but for pictures, I can just take them off. I want these last formal family pictures to be nice, the last set were my wedding in '94. My mom is so sick but also has had a lifelong hatred of having her picture taken so I really have hardly any of her over the years. So the pics are important to me.

wow, rosaruga, you got great vacation deals!

[rosarugosa]

Do you remember how amazing it was to see every individual leaf on a tree and also, the freaking blackboard?


Yes! I will never forget putting my first glasses on and I could see everything so clearly! I was too young to understand and had no basis for comparison, so hadn't realized that not everyone saw such a blurry version of the world as I did; I had assumed it was normal! So I loved my glasses and have always been grateful for them. :)

[Meezer_Mom]

I got glasses at 7, too. My prescription is also pretty high. BUT with the high index condensing they have available, my lenses are thin enough to go into most frames. There is an upcharge for this but worth it. They can even condense for transition bifocals.

Do suggest staying away from those coatings. They pick up nasty scratches and not every type of lens can take the removal process. It cost me money to put add it and it cost me money to remove it.

[cdttmm]

Another corrective lenses wearer here! But I must admit, they will need to pry my contact lenses from my cold dead hands!!! :D This thread has been a good reminder that I need to make an appointment for an eye exam as I need to buy more contacts, but they won't sell me any more until I get an updated prescription.

A few frugals updates from this past week. We were on Spring Break, but I signed up to teach two lectures for the recruitment event on campus plus a lecture for the staff professional development day. A little extra cash is always good! Then I picked up a new (very) part-time gig scoring essays for the exam that is required for high school business teachers in the state. They only hold scoring sessions about 4-6 times per year, but it looks like I'll be able to do it again in May, July, and August -- already have the dates in my calendar! The woman in charge of recruitment told me she would look over my resume to see if there were any other exams that I would be qualified to score. If so, she'll schedule me for more work if I want it. An awesome deal because the hourly pay rate is decent (varies based on the test), but the location is close to my house and they provide a catered lunch to the scorers. It's definitely a good part-time gig for the summer when I'm not otherwise teaching.

I got new-to-me travel mug from the collection that was about to be discarded at school. Students and faculty members leave them in classrooms and never return to reclaim them. Eventually they get gathered up in a sort of informal lost-and-found and soon after that they are headed for the trash. I grabbed one that seemed like it might be large enough and sufficiently insulated enough to join my collection. I ran it through the dishwasher twice (for full sterilization purposes!) and we'll see how it fares today on it's first outing with me. When I got to school I was also given a thank you gift for the talk on beekeeping that I gave last week for the staff professional development day (they paid me so I wasn't expecting a thank you gift as well!). A new insulated lunch bag and a reusable container with its own snap-in knife/spork/salad dressing container. Pretty cool. The kind of things I would never buy, but will very likely use. Woo-hoo!!!

I'm on a mission to extend the time between grocery shopping trips this month. Mostly because I felt like we were getting lazy and not eating up what we already had in the house. Over the weekend we made homemade pizza (with sweet red peppers that needed to be consumed) and a frittata with spinach that was approaching the end of its life span. I also roasted some potatoes. Of course, this morning I left for swim practice and work with nothing but an energy bar and a banana. Oops. Lunch fail. Fortunately, one of my friends on the swim team had made muffins over the weekend and she brought them to practice. So I snagged two blueberry-oatmeal muffins and had myself a free breakfast. When I got to school, I discovered that our new chief of police is arriving on campus today and there is a meet-and-greet for him -- at which a pizza lunch will be provided! I'm co-teaching the women's self-defense class on campus in conjunction with the campus police department so I feel like I should go to the meet-and-greet and now it seems I'll get free lunch today, too!!!

I think that might be the extent of my frugals for the moment. Hopefully more to come soon!!!

[Gardnr]

We have young hungry skiing houseguests for 4 days. We hit Costco Thursday night for lots of healthy fruits/veggies and some organic chicken. I supplemented with everything else from our fridge and freezer. I cooked all weekend and left them at the cabin in the mountains with healthy ready to heat meals.

No meals purchased out:cool: Hubby has a season pass and has skied it off well this season. We are eating out of the freezer for the next 3 days so delaying grocery shopping until Thursday.

[awakenedsoul]

I haven't posted in frugals in a while. I think paying my medical bills was kind of a shock. I'm so glad I had a year's living expenses in my savings account. I spent about $15,000. for the surgical fee and my portion of the hospital bills. It was worth it, though.
It was great to read all of your posts here...so many creative ideas. I have taken a new approach to budgeting. I put $1,000. in my checking account on the 1st, and try not to spend all of it. I've also been spending cash for groceries. I have $180.00 left for the rest of this month. All of the bills are paid. l paid my gym membership, trash collection, and water bill in advance for the year.

I'm roasting some chicken breasts that I bought for a dollar a lb. I put some carrots, potatoes, and onions in the casserole dish. I bought the potatoes for .10 a lb. The onions were only .25 a lb. I've been eating a lot of barley, too, which is healthy and inexpensive.

I've been knitting from my stash for the past four years. Right now I'm working on an amethyst colored short sleeved sweater. The yarn is llama and silk. It's beautiful. All I have to do is knit the sleeves, sew the pieces together, and block it. I rode my bike and the bus to Panera today for my knitting group. I bought a cup of tea, and made lunch at home. One of my friends there was encouraging me to buy lunch, but I declined. Most of those ladies eat out all of the time. I keep quiet about why I'm doing it, but it's not in my budget to buy meals at restaurants.

I made my first batch of cold processed soap. It came out so nicely! I had all of the ingredients in my cupboard. I'm going to pack some for my dad and send it to him for Easter. He likes it, because it lathers well. It's really luxurious. I'm very excited about it. I procrastinated for a long time, because of the lye. It was very easy, which surprised me. It feels good to have a new simple living skill.

[rosarugosa]

Awakened: I have a thing for soap and always wanted to make it, but was also afraid of working with the lye. Glad to hear you found it easy and were successful.

[awakenedsoul]

Hi rosarugosa, Thank you. I now what you mean about having a thing for soap. I encourage you to make it. I procrastinated for three years. It wasn't nearly as scary or dangerous as I thought it would be. It's really rewarding. p.s. My new avatar is a photo of the front of my cottage. I remember you saying that you wanted to see it.

[rosarugosa]

Thanks Awakened, I did indeed! It looks lovely as far as I can tell, but the picture is very tiny. :)

[Gardnr]

Continuing to eat out of the fridge/freezer. We are down to: Fridge: handful of mushrooms, part of a head of celery, 2 lemons and 2 limes. Freezer: still plenty of fish, 3 servings of chicken breast, 2 # ground beef, 1# of cooked/shredded beef, 1/2# cooked ground beef/italian sausage mixed and plenty of my ratatouilled from fall harvest and some frozen blueberries.

I am out of yogurt and I really want some fresh veggies. Gonna go to the store tomorrow to take care of this issue.

[SteveinMN]

Almost month end. Managed to pick up a few frugals (and a "simple").

- Family Easter dinner left us with the hambone and a couple of pounds of ham, which largely have turned into sandwiches and freezer contents. Not bad for having 13 attendees.
- Spent a surprising amount of money at the grocery store yesterday while my mom was there to "pick up a few things". Doesn't sound frugal, but it's all stuff we'll use. Short-dated sustainably-raised non-antibiotic/etc. ground beef was $3.49/pound in the discount rack; usually it's twice that price or more. I froze five pounds for the few recipes we use which call for ground beef. Some sale items: cheese, V-8 juice,... I only bought two items which were "treats" so I'm OK with spending the money -- even though one of this year's goals is to spend less in grocery stores this year.
- Bought the rest of the LED bulbs for DW's favorite light fixture. I bought two maybe a year ago to give them a trial run; Menard's has an 11% rebate sale this week, so I'll get merchandise credit (which we'll use) on bulbs which will save us a lot of electricity compared to incandescents. My only concern is that the bulbs are warranted to last only two years. These were cheaper than the bulbs I purchased earlier. But I was getting two years plus out of the incandescents which were in there; I am hoping for a longer life out of considerably-more-expensive bulbs. At least we'll save on electricity.
- Found out today that one of the companies I use for free cloud storage is dropping the service :( . They offered 30 GB for free, which isn't easy to replace for free. So I am moving everything to Apple's iCloud. They offer 50 GB of storage for $11 a year, which will be enough to combine the Copy files with a couple of other providers and simplify where stuff is -- just one place. I'm not concerned that Apple is going to pull the plug on their cloud anytime soon.
- Lots of no-drive days this week -- in fact, aside from yesterday the car hasn't moved since Saturday and it should move only one more time before next Monday.