View Full Version : May Frugals
Happy May Day everyone! Thought I'd start our May Frugals thread even though I've not yet done anything frugal this month -- unless I count drinking green tea and eating almonds and dried apricots for breakfast as a frugal!!! :~)
I'm starting tracking again today -- looking forward to knowing where my money is going and eliminating some of my mindless spending.
Hi, Cdttmm! Happy May to you, too. Whew... hard to believe we're almost halfway through the year already. Re: may frugals, nothing to mention thus far, this first day, but I'll be back again to revisit in days/weeks to come.
I was massively unfrugal today, but it was planned spending and a lot of it was prudent.
We bought a three-way walky talky today for $50. It has a range of 30 miles, so the kids can take one when they go out to play and I can tell them to come home. Also, Zach can go to the store and if I forget something I can get a hold of him. We have a prepaid cell phone, but this doesn't use any minutes and, while it is nice to be able to get a hold of my kids when they are running around, I don't really want to get elementary schoolers a cell phone. We can also use them to communicate from one end of the house to the other instead of yelling, which is nice.
We also bought a military grade cover for the ipod touch. We have one for the iPad and it is great. It pretty much kid and Zach-proofs the thing. Zach has a bad record with breaking electronics and it's an expensive piece of equipment.
A lot of the other spending was on stuff like a nursing cover-up, lanolin, fruit, toilet paper. cat litter and other big splurges. :) Oh, and (ducks and covers), I got salad spinner. :devil: I've been on the fence for a while and decided to go over to the dark side.
Dinner tonight is leftovers from the meal a neighbor brought us last night. We are actually going to have meals from friends the rest of the week. So nice!
Haha on the salad spinner Stella! We're still using ours regularly. We are buying and eating a lot more lettuce, throwing almost none of it away, so I'm a fan. I'll bet your kids will think it's fun to use too.
I was heading out to Michael's today intending to get a really nice vase for a special arrangement I'm putting together when the air conditioner in my car went kaput. I ended up driving to Jiffy Lube instead, and since Salvation Army is close, decided to go there instead of Michael's. I not only found a bunch of VHS tapes for cheap (my TV is old), but some cut glass dessert bowls, AND the perfect vase for $2.99. I had been prepared to spend up to $25 at Michael's.
flowerseverywhere
5-1-12, 9:57pm
no drive, no spend day today. I hope it is one of many this month.
cooked a great dinner on the grill, shish kebobs with chicken, peppers, onions, mushrooms and Zucchini which I got at Farmers market last weekend. Served with Rice with enough for at least three more meals for the two of us. Luckily DH does not mind leftovers. There were so many veggies and rice that the chicken (four breasts) was spread out over eight meals. Good for the wallet and our health.
There is a huge garage sale in my neighborhood in two weeks so DH and I started moving things outside to the garage to sell. I would like to move out of my house now that the kids are gone so anything we get rid of will be good.
Doing my best to be frugal since one of my dogs injured her eye and has had to go to the vet 2x in the past week! But, she is my baby and one of the many reasons why I am frugal -- so that I don't sweat the vet bills too much!!!
Yesterday was my last day of teaching for the semester -- only the final exam remains. I made a point of bringing my travel mug filled with green tea and a little snack of dried apricots with me, which prevented me from stopping to buy the chocolate cupcake I was really craving! Afterwards had an alumni meeting at my alma mater. There was quite the spread of snacks so had cheese, crackers, and hummus and called that dinner.
Today I'm working from home, so have my dogs on the couch with me and the cats in the basket of blankets near by. Ahhh...bliss. My partner is back in NYC for work through Sunday so I'm going to see if I can eat up what is in the house buying only milk to see me through. I made up a batch of baking powder biscuits just now as a little mid-day snack and a break from working on the computer. YUM! How is it that I always seem to forget how easy they are to make and how tasty they are?!? Perhaps I should start making lists of these things!!!
No big frugals to report other than I have the opportunity to go to Boston tonight for a work-related party. I was intending to go, but decided that it will cost me more than $40 in gas and tolls so I'm going to skip it. About a half-dozen people from work will be there, but I will see them tomorrow so it's not as though I'm missing out on a huge opportunity. Besides, it means I can finish a financial report that our executive team needs, which will make the rest of the month much less stressful!
Tussiemussies
5-3-12, 1:43pm
Been very frugal we are on weight watchers so our food bill is lower than it has ever been. Haven't bought anything but did eat out on Saturday at Cheesecake factory which is our one big outing for ourselves we take nice long drives afterward and it also gives us our one day to use the extra points on our diet. So it serves many purposes.
I haven't been doing too much with crafts or anything else no movies or anything just on the iPad or iPod our treats and the pad was a gift to my dh from me at Christmas. He treated himself to the pod after working very hard for awhile. We use them all the time instead of watching TV so I feel happy about it.
Hope the rest of the month is as frugal...>8)
This has been a most complicated week, as I expected it would be. We have eaten out more than usual, since Charlotte went back to the hospital with jaundice, but that is balanced by the fact that people have brought us a lot of meals. My neighborhood Women Who Cook group and Resiliency group are going to be bringing meals for the next week, so that balances the cost a lot. I love my community! Miss Charlotte is probably coming home today!
I started a spreadsheet for my homeschool expenses, many of which are tax deductible in MN. I have been ordering some books and supplies for that, so I want to make sure I record them for next years taxes. It made a decent difference this past year and I wasn't even good about recording the expenses. Today I bought them a book on creative writing, a book of carpentry projects, a learn-to-solder kit and a SnapTricity electronics education snap circuits kit. That should give us plenty to work on for the summer. The cost will be balanced by the fact that I have agreed to take on a summer school student. A friend of mine's kid was going to have to do summer school, which was a disaster for him last year. Instead she talked to his teacher and proposed having him do part-time summer learning with me. She explained how I do things and how she thought it would benefit her son and the teacher actually agreed that it might be a better fit for him. She is going to give me some money and help me with some housework in exchange for my teaching, so I'll use the money for stuff that all of the kids can do.
Another summer thing I am considering is starting a neighborhood creative writing club for kids. It would be a fun, free activity we could do. I know a few kids who might be interested.
One of my biggest frugals this week was getting a triple stroller for free. I e-mailed a lady on craigslist about a triple stroller that was $150. New ones are about $350, so it was a big discount. I got there and she helped Zach load up the stroller in the trunk, then walked around to the other side of the car, handed me the cash we had given her and said, "You can keep your money. I know what it's like to have a lot of little kids. God bless you!" I was blown away. It really warmed my heart. When we are done with it we are planning to pass it along for free. It's one of those items that's expensive enough to be a pain, but you usually won't need it for long enough to wear it out. It is in spectacular shape.
Originally posted by Stella.
One of my biggest frugals this week was getting a triple stroller for free. I e-mailed a lady on craigslist about a triple stroller that was $150. New ones are about $350, so it was a big discount. I got there and she helped Zach load up the stroller in the trunk, then walked around to the other side of the car, handed me the cash we had given her and said, "You can keep your money. I know what it's like to have a lot of little kids. God bless you!" I was blown away. It really warmed my heart. When we are done with it we are planning to pass it along for free. It's one of those items that's expensive enough to be a pain, but you usually won't need it for long enough to wear it out. It is in spectacular shape.Totally wow! This is my heartwarming thread for today.
Mighty Frugal
5-4-12, 12:49pm
Stella-what an amazing kindhearted person. Life is good! I also love your walkie talkie idea-let me know how it pans out and if it really does work at that distance. I would send my kids to your home school if I had the chance:)
Not many May frugals yet although I am stocking up on loss leaders at our grocery store. Milk for $1 per litre, and chocolate for $1.67 per 100 grams-Cadbury
Dh and I are tracking our savings and we have surpassed our goal-so that feels good. He's also trolling the net for the best price on a really good family tent. Loads of camping trips are in our future so we need something that will stand the test of time!
We're going to our favourite street rummage sale tomorrow so although we may spend money it will be a good deal
Oh, one more
I belong to a 'craft night' we are 5 ladies who meet at one lady's home one evening per month. We knit or mend and also do quite a bit of talking and eating. Each month one person brings the food (while others bring wine). The 'food' person always tries to outdo the previous 'food person' The food is getting fancier (think expensive) and fancier. With cheese from specialty shops-some with truffles!!!:0! And fancy crackers and meats, desserts, etc.
I decided I will not compete. I am going to make and bring pinwheel sandwiches (pita rolled up and cut-with cheese and or ham) and bake my healthy choco chip cookies for everyone. Throw in some grapes and that will be snack..this will save me loads of $$
Good for you on the food "competition," Mighty Frugal. You don't need to do it.
I am looking forward to garage sales, though we probably won't hit any this weekend. Well, DH might. I have book club in the morning and am going to do "build your own kebabs." We can grill them if the weather is nice or put them in the oven if not. Looking forward to it! I should get up off my butt and start cleaning!
Stella, how awesome! Aren't people great?! How wonderful for your summer student pupil. I bet he will do well under your tutelage.
Stopped at a yard sale in my neighborhood and got 3 huge, heavy cotton tablecloths for $6. Yards and yards of fabric just waiting for a purpose.
My mom is visiting and we've been packing our lunches nearly every day when we go out. Last week I saw another mother-adult daughter pair eating packed salads on a bench and I almost stopped to introduce myself, because it is so rare to see people doing this that I thought we certainly must be "kindred spirits."
Tussiemussies: Good for you with the double win on food, increased health and decreased food expenditures. It's not unlike the no cigarettes thing going on at our house.
Stella: That is great about the carriage, and I love the fact that you're already planning to pay it forward.
MightyFrugal: Make that font as small as you want, but those Cadbury bars didn't get by my eagle eye! Chocolate is an important food group at our house too!
Rosemary: I hope you'll tell us what you make with your fabrics. I cannot sew with a machine (need to learn), but I do the occasional project with needle and thread, and I'm particularly drawn to blue & white kitchen textiles. I have runners for the bookcases in our bedroom that I made from beautiful old blue & white table cloths.
Kelli: What are your personal "ground rules" for enjoying yard/garage sales without accumulating clutter? I haven't been to one for ages because DH hates them, and I feel like I'm at a stage of life where I wouldn't find much that I need and would just end up making random impulse purchases. On the other hand, I have some truly beloved items that I've had for years that came from such sales. And it sounds like that's the place to find things like stovetop percolators, salad spinners, etc.
We've been doing better on the food waste front. DH made a delicious chicken soup/stew today with chicken thighs which was a real eye opener for me. Thighs are so cheap as to be practically free ( I think $2.33 for 6 thighs, but I don't know the weight) , and the stew was delicious, and we'll get at least one more meal from it. He used some orzos that have been hanging around for a while, and carrots and celery aren't very expensive, so it was probably about $6.00 to feed two adults twice.
I'm actually excited about making some of those homemade cleaners this weekend, what a wild and dramatic life I lead :)
Mighty, so far so good on the walky talkies. Cheyenne and Bella were able to use them from a friends house and we've been able to get a hold of them all around the neighborhood.
Tonight's meal was pulled pork, cole slaw, fruit and cupcakes from friends from church. There's enough leftover for lunch tomorrow and we already have tomorrow's dinner, spaghetti, in the fridge. I don't anticipate needing much in the way of groceries outside of fruit, milk, butter and a few other staples for a while.
This was our first fairly normal night at home since having Charlotte and it is lovely! Everyone is calm and into their routines, playing together nicely, listening to music, relaxing and resting. Charlotte has been awake most of the afternoon, which is hopefully a sign that she is beginning to straighten out her days and nights. All of that is, of course, only tangentially related to frugality, but relaxing nights at home are a beautiful, frugal thing to do.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, a friend of mine has some pallets for me! Remmber how I was all excited to build some pallet furniutre? Well, we're going to do it!
Blackdog Lin
5-4-12, 9:13pm
I must stay home (no visiting), cook frugal meals, and do outside chores this weekend. I MUST! The list of outside spring chores is growing exponentially, one thing not done is leading to another, and I HAVE to get in gear. And it's HOT. We're having July weather in May, but I must get my butt off the (whatever I'm setting on in the house) and get outdoor stuff done. The unclean house will be ignored in favor of the outside work this weekend. And we will feast on delicious crock-pot or other pre-made meals after our work is done.
I swear.
(Okay, check back with me Monday morning to see how I did. I'm an essentially lazy and procrastinating type.....) :)
fidgiegirl
5-4-12, 11:06pm
Rosa, I think a lot of it is just the thrill of the hunt. I used to get sucked in to this-and-that bargain, but can walk away pretty easily now. I like to keep a mental list of what we actually do need. Right now, it's garbage cans. I want a large variety so we can have a garbage, recycling and compostables receptacle in each room of the house, but refuse to pay a lot for them, especially since I haven't really found anything new that I like that much, anyway. So we'll cobble together some secondhand ones, which is more our speed and we can be more creative, using baskets, etc. DH also likes to eBay. He does pretty well at it and enjoys it, which I think is key. He's not sad to let go of a garage sale find that turns out to be a bust, and we've learned the hard way never to put a lot of money into anything, even if (or especially!) we think it's a slam dunk. Inevitably it will be the model-before-the-newest, or only worth money in its box, or something like that. We also keep it fun because we are getting better at knowing when to just drive or bike right on by. A garage full of kids toys? Pass. Not even fun for us to look at. Tables full of clothing? Nah. Fishing gear, books, antiques, household? That we enjoy more.
I went through a phase where I hated garage sales. That was because my dear mother would spend hours dragging us to them and buying crap we didn't need around our house. But I worked my way back in, mostly when I was broke and starting out, like my first and second years of teaching. Some of our best stuff is from them, too - the $2 sandwich maker, a lot of my Tupperware for a long time was secondhand from sales, vintage linens, etc. A lot of what I picked up has already been passed on, though, when we combined households. Having had no sentimental attachment to the items or huge financial investment in them made it easy to set them out at the curb and never look back. :)
Wow -- some big frugal scores by folks this week! I've just got some small things to report, but it all adds up so I will document them here! Remembered to set the dishwasher on the timer so that it would start this morning and finish the wash/rinse cycle just after I got up. I do this so that I can stop it when the dry cycle starts and open it up to allow the dishes to air dry. I'm not sure how much of an energy savings this is, but last month we had a negative amount due on our electric bill (we have grid-tied solar panels) for the first time so I'm trying to keep those negative bills coming! Of course, I suspect it has more to do with the fact that when my partner is out of town I don't watch TV and we have only 1 laptop running instead of 2 or 3. >8) I also did a load of laundry this morning and hung it on the drying racks to dry. It's been raining here for the past few days and it looks like it will continue today so putting it on the clothesline is not an option.
I had to drive to Boston for a conference for work yesterday, but had some flexibility as to exactly when I would put in my appearance. So instead of taking my dogs to doggie daycare and paying $90 for that service so that I could spend daytime hours at the conference, I waited until quite late in the afternoon to leave. Thus timing my arrival at the conference to coincide with the last panel of the day before the dinner break. I had dinner with my team and was able to make a graceful exit afterwards and drive home leaving my dogs by themselves for under 8 hours. :D (I found that 8-9 hours is the longest I can leave the dogs without a chaperone before they start destroying the house.) I'm not going back to the conference today as I need to go to NYC for a family party. I'm going to schedule my departure so that I can stop at the vet clinic to pick up the prescription dog food on the way, which saves me from making a special trip.
I've been making a concerted effort to eat the food that we have in the house and not go grocery shopping or eat out. I've been doing pretty well -- finished off some dried figs that were languishing in the pantry, will eat up the remaining leftover rice before I leave today, have been drinking green tea from my (too large) stash instead of running to the store to buy another package of my new favorite kind, and have gone without milk for 2 whole days (oh the horror!). I did bake a dozen baking powder biscuits the other day and, of course, managed to consume the entire dozen myself over the span of a few days. Oh well. I need to figure out what I can bring as portable snacks for the drive to NYC today -- otherwise I will stop and buy something overpriced and unhealthy from a convenience store along the way. Also need to remember to use Gas Buddy to check out where I can buy the cheapest gas on my drive.
Last and a somewhat silly frugal. My cats love to go outside. It's been raining the past few days so they haven't been able to go out, but this morning one of them was sitting at the door insisting that he be allowed outside. So I let him out, along with the dogs, he runs into the yard, promptly squats and pees, and then runs back to the door to be let back in the house. I guess it saves on kitty litter!!! :D
Okay, I've got to assume that you are all out being super frugal or something because it's been WAY too quiet on this thread this month!!! :D
Despite a few misses on the frugal front yesterday, I've having some success today -- woot! It's nice and sunny here so don't have any lights on in the house. Yes, seems like a small thing, but it was so rainy and gloomy here last week that I had to turn the lights on in the house during the day because it was so depressingly dark. So it's nice and sunny today and I'm enjoying alternating between being outside and being inside working. Went to NYC over the weekend, which meant a long doggy car ride. Sadly, our dog Cowboy is not a good traveler and so he vomited in the car several times both going to NYC and coming home. This isn't entirely unexpected so I had the back of the mini-van covered in old towels and an old sheet, but it did make for a big load of pretty disgusting laundry. Frugal upside -- it's sunny outside so I'm drying it on the clothesline! :~) Silver lining, right?!?
I'm soaking some split yellow peas in preparation for making a bit pot of split pea and vegetable soup. Got lots of things to use up so figured this would provide us with a number of frugal meals. Will bake some bread later to go with it. I also put the last of a bag of brown rice in the rice cooker and will have rice to eat in some form or another for the next few days. Turns out you can make hard or soft boiled eggs in the rice cooker, too. I never knew that, but was reading the instruction book this morning and discovered that little tip. Not sure if it's cheaper than making them on the stove top, but I do love my rice cooker so if this is what it takes to get me to make hard boiled eggs then I'm all for it! Yes, I know, sometimes my limited ability in the kitchen shocks me! :0!
This week is finals week so I am giving my students their final exam tomorrow. I needed to read over the exam and make some edits this morning, but it was long enough that it was hard to do on the computer and I had to print it out. I made a point of printing it on the back-side of already used paper so that now it can just go into the recycling bin and I'm not wasting paper. I'll be glad to have the semester over and if I'm going to teach again in the fall hopefully I can do better planning so that I don't use so much paper. I can print at school for free, but I'm not there very much except when I'm teaching. All of the adjunct faculty share a single office so it's often really hard to get access to the computer and printer when I'm there and so I end up printing a bunch of stuff at home using my own paper and printer ink -- ugh!
I'm making up a grocery list so that I can make one trip to the store and stock up on a bunch of stuff, including an extra half gallon of milk so that I can finally try my hand at making homemade yogurt. Around here that will probably save us about $4/week!
Aside from that, I remembered to fill up with gas at the cheaper gas station when I was out yesterday, which saved 8 cents per gallon and earned me some reward points. I'm looking forward to being done teaching for the summer because that was the bulk of my driving. I'd like to think I can finally get organized to the point where I can ride my bike to the store to buy groceries, but we'll see -- it's going to be a bit of an undertaking for a number of reasons.
That's all I have for the moment! Hope everyone else is having frugal successes!!!
I just got 30 lbs. of grass fed beef from my hairdresser. Her husband didn't like the different taste that the meat had. Last fall we split half a steer with her. We've been eating this beef once a week. She asked me if I wanted to buy hers and I said that I couldn't afford to. Woo-Hoo! The only down side to this beef is that it was really "butchered" in the butchering so it's not as attractive as it should be.
Went to the local flea market to search for etsy stuff and found quite a bit of really cool stuff and for better prices overall than the thrift shops that I go to.
Made a huge batch of beef chili and rice, which we will be eating this week. Doing great frugal stuff.
Mighty Frugal
5-7-12, 4:53pm
We're doing this thing called 'Marvelous May' this month. Each member of the family gets to pick an outing in May. The rules are must be under $50 and under 3 hours.
So far my 7 year old chose and it was a great day and came in under $25! We hiked through a local creek-son found a fossil! Then lunch at a fast food joint-his pick, and then played outside
Next week is mine and I am incorporating Mothers Day with it to save some $$. So we'll go for breakfast and then ice cream and then a bike ride-again under the $50!
I toyed with the dream of having a house cleaner this weekend-there just doesn't seem to be as many hours in a spring weekend. With both dh and I working it's hard to squeeze it all in, but we did, and will continue to do so
Cdttmm: You win the prize for optimism on the line-dried towels! May I ask what the benefits are in using a rice cooker? DH is the cook around here, and he thinks that rice-cookers are unnecessary because all you need is a pot with a lid on the stove to make rice. But lots of people think salad spinners are silly and we've found ours to have real value, so I would be interested in your thoughts if you're willing to share them.
Merski: That is an excellent score on the beef!
Mighty: That's great that your family is finding ways to hae a good time for less money. We're planning to have Mothers' Day brunch here again on Sunday. It saves us so much money over a nice restaurant, and our moms seem to genuinely prefer it. Nothing dramatic to report at our house. Groceries were well within budget. I've been good about taking my breakfast and lunch to work every day. The frozen berries from Costco are working out really well for me as a delicious, frugal, easy, & healthy breakfast item.
flowerseverywhere
5-8-12, 7:07am
Great posts everyone. Very inspiring and reading in this thread and participating makes me so cheerful.
got a $10 gift certificate to a restaurant sent to me for my birthday this month. We really don't like to go out to eat so DH had a great idea, he ordered a take-out pizza and picked it up so we had a large pizza for less than $2!
I also got a $10 Kohls gift cert in the mail so will go sandal shopping, and if I can't find anything I want I can always get some new sneakers for my backup pair. I don't need anything else.
We will be out of town for our big community garage sale so I talked to a friend up the street who always has a huge sale. We moved all of their stuff like snowblower, tools etc. into our garage which we'll lock and they'll park their cars here and I am going to put stuff in her sale. That way she does not have to drag a lot of stuff into the driveway and if it rains she'll be covered. Also, across the street a family always has a big sale for the high school sports teams so I am going to donate some stuff for them. As I mentioned my house is going on the market soon and every time I pick something up or look in a room I think "Do we want to pay to move this?" so some big decluttering going on and my house is more decluttered than most to start with.
life is good, isn't it?
rosarugosa: well, it's raining here again today in the western part of MA, so I guess it was a good thing I line dried those towels while I could! Of course, I should probably have done a second and even third load of laundry and line dried all that stuff, too, but I was hopeful that the whole week would be sunny and beautiful. Guess I should have checked the weather!!! :) We love our rice cooker. And, yes, I agree with your DH that all you really need is a pot with a lid, but seriously, I am so easily distracted that I would inevitably end up forgetting about the rice and then have a giant pot of burnt rice. But the rice cooker is super simple -- just set it and forget it! Ours has a warming function, so you put in the rice and water, turn it on, and when the rice is done it clicks over to the warming function so no fear of overcooking or your rice getting cold. For us it's been worth it because without it we never made rice. But rice is so cheap so I've been trying to make it more often. I really like leftover brown rice, mixed with raisins, a little cinnamon, and some sugar. I heat it up in the microwave and then pour milk over it. Sort of a poor or lazy (wo)man's version of rice pudding or a unique substitute for oatmeal. My partner thinks it's weird, but I love it. When I was young my mom used to cook rice in milk instead of water and then top it with cinnamon, sugar, and milk and feed it to us for dinner on occasion. I think that must have been when we were really broke. I grew up on a dairy farm so there was always milk, but sometimes not much else --I'm guessing rice was cheap so that's what we ate.
Mighty Frugal: love the frugal family fun ideas -- awesome!
flowerseverywhere: nice score with the gift certificates -- $2 take out pizza is a great deal! You've reminded me that I have a few gift certificates to use -- I seem to always forget about them, so perhaps I should make a master list and consult it before buying anything.
I got a coupon in my email yesterday for $3 off an ice cream cake at Friendly's. We're not big cake eaters, but we do love ice cream cake. The coupon was intended to be used for a Mother's Day cake and my mom is coming to visit in a few weeks. So I'm thinking about getting a cake for a treat and just keeping it in the freezer until she gets here -- then we can have a belated Mother's Day celebration! :cool: And, yes, I could just bake a cake or make an ice cream cake, which would probably be more frugal...I'll have to weigh the frugal factor against the shear silliness factor and treat factor of getting a store bought ice cream cake!
In other exciting frugal news, I baked bread for the first time yesterday! Okay, that's not really true. I've baked English muffin toasting bread before, but it only requires one rise cycle. Yesterday I made French bread, which I think must require two rise cycles. Okay, I'm really clueless at the bread baking thing. Anyway, I used the bread machine on the dough cycle, which I think must have a rise cycle as part of it. Then I took it out, kneaded it, let it rise, and then baked it. And it actually came out pretty good!!! Huge, huge, huge accomplishment for me. I felt very empowered. :D Of course, I also made chocolate stuffed scones and although they are super yummy, they are not pretty looking. I've made them a number of times before, but this batch seemed to have way too much chocolate. How is that even possible?!? Oh well, they still taste good so they won't last long in this house!
Flowers: Good score with the gift cards! I think Kohl's got wise to me, because I would always use those $10. cards to buy greeting cards and only spend a tiny bit more than $10. In any case, they haven't sent me one for many months. I did actually order our new heated mattress pad from them when ours died last year, and I went there for sweat pants for DH after his surgery in Jan, so I have given them a couple of opportunities to make some profit from me.
Cdttmm: Thanks for the rice cooker info. That sounds like it would be good for someone like me if DH ever hung up his chef's hat. He has infinite patience in preparing food and I have absolutely none. My idea of food prep is chewing before swallowing :)
DH came up with a new rice-based meal that I love. He slices up and sautees large portabello mushrooms in olive oil and worcestershire sauce, then serves with jasmine rice cooked with slivered almonds. It's vegan unless we add butter to the rice and pretty frugal since it doesn't have any meat in it. He's supposed to be eating a diet lower in protein, but he always wants to add meat to this meal (which I think is perfect without it).
May 08
Haven't posted yet this month but, have been reading and had many frugals
--got a guy who has done work for us before to look at the deck and he is coming back Thur to fix (at a very reasonable price)
all the lattice around the base is broken up and animals are getting under it. I will be glad to get it done.
--still eating down the food we having, planning meals around that and specials
--joined a weight loss group (TOPS) last month; way more reasonable price then Weight Watchers and have really met a nice group of women
who are not into big spending and I have lost 5 lbs. That will be frugal because a have lots of clothes in a smaller size that I can start wearing soon and not have to buy new (as the ones in the size I was wearing are getting pretty ratty looking )
--making donations to groups having yardsales instead of money for right now...win...win
--still tracking every penny and it is showing in my bank account
--driving on as little as $20.00 a month...walking..combining errands and just not running around unless it is necessary
--gave myself a pedicure and manicure...not a need but always a want.
Hi everyone. Sounds like everyone is doing great again this month! I'm trying to remember what is new since I last reported in so forgive me if I'm repeating myself.
I've been saving the leftover coffee from work and drinking it cold. Less waste this way.
I recieved a bunch of coffee creamer as a freebie-not quite sure what I'll do with it all but its here.
A customer of mine decided I've been working too hard lately and treated me to a mani/pedi. I recieved the pedicure part and need to make an appointment for the manicure. I haven't done anything like this in over 15 years so it was/is quite a treat.
We're continuing to stockpile items that we know we'll use when they are at rockbottom prices. We bought 45 bottles of gatorade and propel at 67 cents each last week. I have gotten 4 2-liter bottles of soda for free as well.
We ordered 50 lbs of rice from a supplier for 39 cents a pound. I need to process that so it will store long term. We bought an additional 25 lbs of salt as well.
My guys set up the swimming pool last night. It takes forever to fill but will be nice frugal entertainment this summer.
Stella, you have a pool-how do you fill it each summer?
I'm diligently working away on sweepstakes, swagbucks, quadreaders, requesting free samples and all the rest.
Tussiemussies
5-9-12, 11:11am
So far !, so frugal. We didn't eat out this weekend as our one splurge. Haven't bought anything yet but do need summer clothing and Eddie Bauer is having a big sale right now. Our form of entertainment is talking to each other when DH gets home from work and we are reading to each other from a book I love. Always wanted to do this with DH and finally it has worked out. dH saved $25.00 on the food bill. So it has been good up until now when I need to buy clothing since I'm in a larger size....
fidgiegirl
5-10-12, 11:27pm
Hi all
Not much to report, but stopping by to say hi and offer encouragement. I guess we are doing the same ol', same ol' of eating at home, etc.
I am on the job hunt pretty seriously now and realizing that K-12 is the best place for me to focus my energies if I want to maximize my life energy. There aren't tons of positions I want to go for but there are some. I put in a staff app to a private college but not thinking it will go anywhere. Pretty nice to have the YMOYL framework to at least help to frame it all . . .
Had another cooking lesson for my friend this week, who is deeply appreciative and already seeing how this could make her life much easier and healthier.
Spending time gardening, which is a good time sink that prevents less frugal activities.
Cooking at home and taking our lunch with us most of the time. Mom's visiting so we've had a few meals out.
Kelli, from the outside (I was never in education), education really seems to have a lot going for it as a career path, particularly for people with kids. I wish someone had given me better career advice years ago. Or should I say - some career advice! It is one of the only professional paths that I've seen in which part-time work is possible and that people don't seem to be punished for staying home with their kids for a few years. The schedule is also appealing to a large number of people - time in the summer to do something different, or just recuperate.
Wed and Thurs were no spend days. Today I need to put some minutes on my cell phone or it too would be a no spend day.
Wed I recieved a 3 qt. slow cooker in the mail for free. Yesterday I recieved a $10 gift card to Walmart. These were "purchased" with charter points for no money out of pocket.
I won a free cookbook yesterday doing sweeps.
Happy Mothers Day everyone. I'm not sure I'll get a chance to come back and tell you on Sunday.
April 11
--only $50.00 spent on groceries mostly needs and specials for stockpiling
--got another coupon for a free hair dye on line
--was thinking of getting someone to do some yard work; it looked a little overwhelming but, Dd cut the grass and I did the edge cutting
and it is all looking much better...got a deal off of Dealfind for a tree person and they will be trim up all the big tree for a great price
--got a hair cut at a reasonable price and had a coupon for a wash and style free with it...don't usually do that so not frugal but sure felt good.
--not sure if I reported this one...Last year I purchased a Groupon as a gift for DH and he never got to use it (not something I could use and thought I would just
have to give away) emailed and got a refund very quickly and no problem at all. Very good service and $250.00 back in my pocket.
--Finished reading "The Exotic Marigold Hotel" last night and off to watch "Land Girls 3" right now all free from the library.
fidgiegirl
5-11-12, 10:13pm
April 11
--not sure if I reported this one...Last year I purchased a Groupon as a gift for DH and he never got to use it (not something I could use and thought I would just
have to give away) emailed and got a refund very quickly and no problem at all. Very good service and $250.00 back in my pocket.
Pretty amazing what companies will sometimes do if you just ask. Well done. I am sorry though that your DH didn't get to enjoy the gift himself. (((danna)))
We're saving for a big house-related project and so will be going back to super-frugal mode. It will be a good challenge and reminder of how some habits have slipped... and a reminder also of the luxuries we do have. Next week I'll take some time to comb through the budget and pull reports of how our recent spending has been compared to goals.
I happened across a small consignment shop today that specializes in housewares, and think I will take some items there to see if they are interested. Although I've purged a lot of the items I thought I would never use, I still have some around the house and might as well see if I can get some cash for them. Also planning to list some more books on Amazon.
I've finally got some excited frugals to report! We got our electric bill this week and it is, for the second month in a row, a negative amount -- woot! We have had solar panels for 2 years, but have only generated enough electricity in the last two months to cover our needs and then some. It's been pretty rainy so our generation rates have been lower, but I really think we were still generating a surplus because we weren't using that much. Mostly because when my partner is not here I do not watch television and I'm pretty diligent about line drying the laundry. This negative electric bill is great because now I can use that as a way to prod him to use less electricity when he is around. We'll see how that goes -- he's pretty adamant about this TV watching! :D
Also, we requested that the town do an appraisal on our house for property tax purposes. We knew the property values in the area had dropped, but we didn't realize it would result in a $750 tax abatement for the year -- wow!
Otherwise I don't have much to report. Been trying to eat at home as much as possible and limit my driving. The eating at home part is going pretty well and today I will finally make up the split pea and vegetable soup I've been meaning to make. The driving part could still be better...but I'm done teaching for the semester so that will definitely cut down on at least some of the driving.
Today I'm going to focus on cleaning the house, working on my flower gardens, and just relaxing on the deck and enjoying a lovely spring day. All are great frugal activities so let's hope I don't lose my way!!! :D
I had a wonderfully frugal weekend -- did some laundry and hung it on the clothesline to dry in the fabulous sunshine, mowed the lawn, weeded some of the flower beds, cleaned part of the house, and made a giant pot of split pea and veggie soup. I also baked up a batch of oatmeal/chocolate chip biscuits -- an interesting and surprisingly tasty little treat! My partner returned from NYC last night so we enjoyed a drink while sitting on the deck watching the dogs and cats frolic in the yard, then had a light dinner consisting of the aforementioned soup and homemade bread, and topped off the evening watching the latest Mission Impossible movie. Here's hoping that today will continue in a wonderfully frugal vein! :D
Tussiemussies
5-14-12, 4:08pm
Have stayed frugal for me -- bought my Mom a beautiful set of pajamas that was 40 percent off. I wanted to take her to these beautiful Iris gardens that are in bloom but it just couldn't fit into the schedule.
Did go to our favorite eatery where we use our extra points to indulge in a nice meal and then there was enough for me to have an ice tea to go and dinner for that night! : ))
Did buy myself a really pretty top that was also on sale. I guess the prices were a little high but they ( the pj's and shirt will last). I really needed one more nice top to wear out on weekends.
Other than that just the tissue paper and gift bags and cards -- it all adds up
I do like a pretty presentation of a gift -- oh we'll guess I really wasn't that frugal! Maybe middle of the road since I bought the items on sale... : ))
early morning
5-15-12, 11:46pm
Trying to wrestle some little frugals from a morass of money-sucking problems.. hanging laundry, taking food and drink to work, eating at home when we can, only buying Starbucks during the happy-hour sale (:|() - trying to NOT fall into the "things suck and I deserve this" mindset. Hoping for better days for all our tomorrows!
flowerseverywhere
5-16-12, 1:09pm
one of my gardens was riduculously overgrown so we pulled the plants out. I was able to move plants from other areas instead of heading to the nursery. It looks great.
I have a friend I have done many favors for and she showed up yesterday with dinner and desert as a surprise. Yummy. I love it when things come back to you.
got rid of a bunch of stuff in a garage sale. People were happy to get it and I was happy to be rid of it. A win win situation.
We have been busy planting stuff in our small garden and getting our patio cleaned up. Yesterday one of my close friends offered to let us plant some stuff in her much larger garden space. We are going to grow some things like watermelon and pumpkins that just wouldn't work well in our space. We figure it will be a good excuse for us to get the kids together. We frequently take advantage of the awesomeness of each others spaces. We have them over for swimming a lot in the summer and we go play in her gigantic yard a lot too.
Zach and my friend's dad are friends and both of them have big plans for building stuff with the kids. We'll do more of the electronics and robotics here, since we have a lot of that kind of thing around and we'll do more of the outdoor stuff, like fort building and backyard ballistics type stuff over there. Good FFF and by sharing no one has to own all of the tools.
We are still using up all of that wood paneling. Zach made me a chalkboard with it using chalkboard paint and a full-length mirror frame we spray painted a pretty robins egg blue. I love it! He also made a backing for the open staircase we have. I hate that staircase. It's so dangerous with litte guys around. Zach painted the wood to match the trim and it looks really good. Now I am not worried that one of my kids is going to fling themselves through the holes in the stairs. I wouldn't put that past James for a second. He's fearless and really skinny.
rosarugosa
5-16-12, 7:17pm
Flowers: I've tried to be more creative the past couple of years with moving and dividing plants before going to the nursery. This is a significant source of savings for us gardeners!
Stella: Sounds like you have a nice summer lined up for the kids. I've watched in amazement recently at the elaborate, expensive birthday parties that a couple of families we know have thrown for their kids, and these are people who are in dire financial straits. You prove all the time that you can show kids a good time without a boatload of money.
We had french toast for dinner tonight with encouragement from the "use it up" thread :) Also homemade maple syrup that my BIL made from his own maples in NH, which I thought was pretty cool.
fidgiegirl
5-16-12, 9:53pm
We had french toast for dinner tonight with encouragement from the "use it up" thread :) Also homemade maple syrup that my BIL made from his own maples in NH, which I thought was pretty cool.
Yippee, rosa! (and yummee, too) I have enjoyed capers in several new meals as well. :)
Here, we are doing really well on not going out to eat. Well, we did have a splurge at Salty Tart last night, but that was just a dessert, and it was good because my SisIL was hanging out with us and we needed to go DO something. Other than that, cooking at home, etc.
We are planning to make dressings out of some of the Penzy's dressing mixes we somehow have around. We will modify them to be runnier like salad dressing rather than like dip like the recipe on the bottle. We've been going through a bit of salad dressing lately now that I can eat lettuce again! Speaking of that, need to plant that lettuce!! We have a perfect little shady spot for it.
We too have resisted the urge to purchase plants. We have so many over at the other property that we will split and bring over here, plus I want to do some more mindful planning from the outset this time and not just plunk stuff in (proper spacing, maybe some shrubs, etc.). We shall see.
Open house on Sunday! We will hit Costco for the snacks. Going to stay really simple, all finger foods, we planned it on purpose from 2-5 so there is no expectation of a meal, just "light fare." We might get some beers. I do like that about Costco - 24 beers for the price of about six down the road! Great for a party scenario. Other times if we need one we will just get a six pack. That lasts DH a few months.
After buying a rehabbed bike, I went to REI to get a bell, as riding in the parks means I need to alert folks to my approach - rules require voice or bell, and since I anticipate being winded & breathing hard (it is exercise, after all!) I decided to get a bell. I found a cute one, inexpensive. I also looked at packs which velcro to the seat, to carry my phone, ID, and keys. $20+!! So, I went home & found an embroidered little thrift store string style bag with a velcro closing in my stash, and it works just fine, attached to the cross bar. Woo hoo!
Also, convinced DH to stop getting expensive liquid soap for the shower & use up the many bars of soap we already have. Though I like the liquid we were getting, it seems crazy to me to spend $$ on soap which has added water to make it runny. It's sooo pricey!
fidgiegirl
5-16-12, 11:11pm
I'm so glad you got a bell, redfox. It's required here, too ("audible signal") but so many folks don't! And then the ONE bike that did tonight, we watched almost cream a girl on her phone - she couldn't her the VERY audible signal. Her bad! :) Well, it's only a smiley because in fact she dodged at the last second. Could have been bad. rrrrr
Getting ready for summer here, too. Cleaned out the garage and some closets this week. Put all of DD's outdoor things in a place that she can easily access. Inside, as I was organizing, I put things that would be fun summer activities into one bin so that we will actually have things in one place and possibly get to them all this year.
DD had been asking for lasagna so I made a batch yesterday and put an extra one in the freezer. Used our homegrown spinach in it. I used up some leftover stir-fry while she and DH had lasagna last night. Off wheat and dairy, and the tomato sauce never fails to give me heartburn anyway. Not worth it.
rosarugosa
5-17-12, 7:41pm
Kelli: I hope your open house is a success. It sounds like you are planning wisely by keeping it simple and streamlined. Parties so often generate a ton of wasted food.
Rosemary: You are very strong to resist your own homemade lasagna! My MIL makes a great one - I would never be able to say no!
I was annoyed with myself this morning because I forgot to put my fruit in my lunch bag, so I ended up buying fruit in the cafeteria for $2.76. Now the expenditure certainly won't kill me, but knowing that I had what I wanted at home in the fridge was irritating. On the plus side, I earned another $25.00 Macy's card from E-Rewards last night, and I did a Pinecone survey which will gain me another $3.00 check (just enough to cover my fruit!) I took a walk in the Boston Public Gardens at lunchtime which was totally free fun and made my day a little bit special :)
DH has been doing daily walks at Breakheart and tells me there are lots of ladyslippers in bloom, so I can hardly wait to see them this weekend, and the weather is supposed to be nice.
fidgiegirl
5-17-12, 9:56pm
Thanks, Rosa. We went to Costco tonight to get the food, but opted out of buying the paper products there. We dislike using paper, generally, though we will for this party. We purposely got finger foods only so no plastic cutlery. We will buy a smaller quantity of small plates as well as the napkins at a local grocery. We should be able to compost everything or recycle the cans/bottles. We'll have water in a big jug with paper cups. Yippee! Everything we bought is stuff we like so we can eat it up later, or my DH can take it on his fishing trip in a few weeks if there is a lot left (the chips and stuff). It's hard to plan for a party like this! We didn't ask for RSVPs, so I guess it's our fault.
And congrats on all the walks! Isn't that the place you said you guys hadn't gone for like 20 years? And now going every day? Awesome.
Yesterday I recieved the cookbook that I had won online. Today I recieved the electric razor and $200 gift certificate that I won recently. I recieved a 3 quart crock pot and a $10 gift certificate last week so lots of free shopping!
I did the weekly shopping while out for a consultation with my lawyer about the bankruptcy situation. The guys weren't with me so no meal out this week which saved some money!
Shopping deals this week included 8 bottles of gatorade and 3 boxes of poptarts for $4.04 out of pocket at rite aid. Dh and I are trying to consume a couple bottles of gatorade a piece each week to try and stay a bit healthier this summer while working. I'm not crazy about the stuff but if it helps keep me out of the hospital and saves me $3500 I'll drink it!
I'm off to so my daily sweeps...
bke you are having quite a run of luck with the contests!
Rosa, thanks for the compliment! We do have a lot of cheap fun.
Yesterday we downloaded a free programming language for children from MIT called Scratch. The kids had a blast with it and it was a good learning experience. I think they'll be playing with that a lot this summer.
We have also been using our quiet time to listen to free audiobooks from librivox. Right now we are listening to E. Nesbitt's Five Children and It. The kids are really enjoying it and it gives them some rest in the afternoon. I am a big fan of siestas. Afternoons, especially warm ones, are made for napping, but the big kids don't like taking a nap. This gives them something to do that slows them down.
I did spend more than expected today on homeschool books. They were on sale, they are tax deductible and I will use them. That is my defense. :) I do need to be a little more careful, though.
Our patio is all but finished now. I still have to finish painting a wood gateleg table I use for extra seating when we have a lot of people and I still need to get the pallet coffee table assembled, but everything else is in pretty good shape and getting daily use. The pool will be ready for swimming early next week. Bke, I saw that you asked about filling the pool. Ours is filled from a fire hydrant. Anyway, with the patio and the pool ready, I am not feeling much like going anywhere else. We're doing a lot of grilling and dining al fresco lately and we are planning quite a few get-togethers with friends.
I've been making some simple, frugal treats lately. I made some rhubarb simple syrup and have been using it to make rhubarb spritzers. Sometimes I just use the rhubarb syrup and club soda, sometimes I add some lime juice or cranberry juice and sometimes I garnish it with strawberries or lime slices. I think it would be good with alcohol too, but I don't drink much.
This morning I made a simple lemon ice box pie with cream cheese, a can of sweetened condensed milk, lemon zest and juice and a touch of lemon extract in a graham cracker crust. A friend is coming over tonight to watch the little kids while I take the big girls to their May Crowning rehearsal and I thought it would be nice to have a treat together after we get back.
Not many frugals to report aside from the usual: line drying clothing and using up various items from the pantry. It's a gorgeous day here today so I'm going to spend a few hours stacking firewood. We had 6 cords of wood delivered yesterday so it's up to me to stack it -- I'm willing to pay to have it cut, split, and delivered, but I'm not willing to pay to have someone else stack it! In the future, I'd love to learn to split firewood so that I can save myself a little money, but I'm not there just yet. I'm also going to wash the futon cover -- something I only get around to doing about once every 6 months -- and hang it outside to dry. Might as well take advantage of the solar powered drying when it's available. Of course thinking about using solar power for things, I should really get on my solar powered oven project so that I can cook and bake with it this summer. And, speaking of baking, I made a batch of double chocolate banana muffins this morning, which used up the overly ripe bananas plus some hot chocolate mix that I didn't really like. I'm not afraid to improvise so I loosely followed a recipe for chocolate chip banana bread and just substituted plain yogurt for sour cream, butter for oil, and hot chocolate mix for the sugar and some of the chocolate that it called for. They are not the best muffins I've ever made, but they are tasty enough that they won't last long! :D
That's all for now. Hopefully I'll have more fun and exciting frugals to report soon!
Our FFF this morning was attending a May Crowning at our church followed by brunch. I offered to bring something for the brunch but the other moms told me to relax and just enjoy attending since I have my hands kind of full right now. It was a great time to get together with people and the girls looked so cute!
Zach had to pick up some drywall that wouldn't fit in our van, so he asked a friend with a trailer to help him pick it up which saved us from having to rent one of those Home Depot trucks.
fidgiegirl
5-19-12, 12:23pm
Our FFF this morning was attending a May Crowning at our church
Oh no, at first I read CLOWNING and was like, ew!! Don't know what is about clowns. Crowning is so much cuter. Sorry to any forum members who are into clowning. My brother was actually terrified of them as a small child.
We are heading out to purchase a few things for our open house tomorrow, list in hand and gift card in my purse. I picked up a tablecloth yesterday at a thrift store so that's good. It was a show on MPR yesterday morning about garbage that inspired me to stop at the thrift store instead of using the Target gift card for one. I will post the link later. It was all stuff I knew, but it was a good reminder, anyway.
LOL. Did you see It as a kid too? I am also creeped out by clowns. My grandma used to collect clown figures and had them all over her bathroom and it weirded me out sitting there trying to go to the bathroom or bathe with all those freaky clowns looking at me. :) A May Crowning is a Catholic thing. The kids where flower wreaths on their head and put a flower wreath on a statue of Mary.
fidgiegirl
5-19-12, 6:57pm
I never did see It. Sounds like I probably wouldn't want to! The crowning sounds like a lot of fun, on the other hand :)
We did ok frugals today. Target was more than I wanted to spend, but at least we had $25 GC to put toward it, and it was all food for us and supplies for the party, so, meh. I should start making DH's granola, though, for cost savings, reducing sugar, and reducing our packaging waste. It's easy enough. Rosemary, I really like your recipes and have used them a lot.
We bought some annuals at Frattalones and next year we'll be starting our own. We already have the lights, etc. to do this so that's a sunk cost, and now that we bought these, we have plenty of plastic trays. >:( Seeds will be cheap this summer when they are clearing them out, so we'll pick some up then. Also I dug out an expired $5 coupon from my purse and they honored it. I've learned that a lot of places will do so, so I always ask. If not, well, I'm not out anything for trying.
I met a woman once who said she trash picks those gorgeous planters of annuals from I-don't-know-where and bubble wraps them up in her garage for the winter. Next spring the annuals come back! Whodathunkit?
I am frustrated to have discovered landscaping plastic under the backyard dirt so removal of that, plus soil remediation, will be my first order of business this year. It was a lot of work at the old house but worth it. It was like the dirt was dead there when I started to wrest gardening control away from DH :) - no worms at all. The last summer before we moved, there were lots. I guess that has nothing to do with frugality. I just got carried away with garden talk :)
Tacos for dinner. I am jonesin' for a meal out, but we've done really well on that. Our cupcakes at Salty Tart last week were the only slip. It's easier to pass on dinner with me being GF. We can only really enjoy ourselves at a few pricey places like Brasa or Chianti Grill so when we go, we enjoy, but it's easy to say, nah, not once a week.
rosarugosa
5-20-12, 6:17pm
Count me in on the "creeped out by clowns group." Apparently it's a pretty large club!
Cdttmm: good for you with the muffins. I'm on a mission to decrease our food waste. I don't think DH is entirely onboard though. He agrees with me in theory, but he's very squeamish about eating anything that's getting a little oldish.
Stella: That is exciting about your patio!
Kelli: I hope you're having the same type of weather today that we are having for your open house. Good work on resisting the eating out temptation, although eating out occasionally is a nice treat when you can afford it. It has definitely become more of a special occasion type of thing for us, and I think we do appreciate it more now when we do go out.
Frugals: This one might be a stretch, but bought 2 lobsters on sale and had them cooked for free at the store. As I was dismantling them for our lobster salad, I thought to myself how we could have bought a pound of lobster meat for more than twice the cost of the whole lobsters, so doing the work myself was saving us a fair bit of money. And eating really nice things at home helps to keep us out of restaurants and helps keep us from feeling deprived about staying out of restaurants :)
We took a great hike at Breakheart yesterday, and saw lots of lady slippers in bloom. That was totally wonderful, and free!
DH made another quiche today out of the remaining ingredients from our Mothers' Day brunch. We had some for breakfast and will have the rest for dinner tomorrow night.
Laughing about clowns. When DD was about 3 or 4 we were at a restaurant with my aunt. A person in clown gear sat at a nearby table with some normally-dressed people. DD kept looking over there and the clown noticed. When they got up to leave, the clown came over to our table, presumably to entertain the curious child, and faster than I could register what was happening, DD vanished under the table!
DD is almost finished with her first quilt, which is doll-sized. I cut a bunch of scraps into squares and she designed it herself, and I walked her through each stage of making it. Many hours of free entertainment. She is very proud of being able to use the sewing machine.
DH and I continue to swap childcare with a nearby friend so we had free babysitting for a date night last night. We went out to dinner with a restaurant.com certificate and walked around a lake.
It was a rainy, cool start to the day so I took a quart of homemade lentil soup out of the freezer for lunch. Won't be too many more days when soup is appreciated until October. Tonight I cooked for a couple of days while cooking dinner, so there will be a couple of easy nights with no additional energy use.
Rearranged my apartment so that I have room for my loom and weaving supplies. I should be able to take them out of storage now. My goal (this is the frugal part) is to take everything out of storage, and either move it here, sell, or donate it. That will eliminate one bill every month.
I finally got an offer on my house yesterday. That will eliminate what I'm paying for insurance, lawn maintenance, and utilities there every month. That's a huge chunk of money back in my budget each month.
fidgiegirl
5-20-12, 9:58pm
Rosemary, LOL on the disappearance! :)
Darkstar, awesome plan. You will make some $$ on the items you don't use as well as saving on the storage bill. Double win.
Wow -- great updates, everyone! Love the clown stories because I also first read it as clowning not crowning and was wondering what was going on!!!
Not much new to report here other than I'm working on being more mindful and deliberate, which I think will help with my frugality efforts. A little background -- I have a degree in positive psychology and I'm really fascinated by things like willpower, deliberate practice, and mindfulness. I know that each of these concepts has the ability to help me improve my life in myriad ways, but I'm going to try to apply them in ways that will increase my frugality. For example, I have finally read a bit about hypermiling (I previously thought it couldn't really make that much difference, but I sense I'm going to be proven wrong) and started to implement some hypermiling techniques yesterday. Clearly one days worth of driving is not enough for me to be sure this is working, but it made me far more mindful while I was driving. It's also made me more mindful in my planning for the week. I know that tomorrow morning I have to drive to school and that I will pass a gas station with cheap gas so I want to make today a no-drive day if at all possible in order to have enough gas to make it to the cheap gas station for a fill up. Now normally I wouldn't consider this a problem, but I just found out that my partner is coming home from NYC tonight, not tomorrow. He is far more particular about having "real" meals and having certain things in the house (orange juice, milk, yogurt, bread, etc.) whereas I will go without for a day or two until I have several errands that I can combine. This means that in order to keep him happy I need to think carefully about how to spend my time today because I will need to bake bread and plan out what we'll have for meals so that I can avoid an unnecessary trip to the store. And, yes, it's astonishing to me that we have been able to get to where we are financially without having to pay super close attention to some of these details! So I really want to start applying what I know from positive psychology to the simple living aspects of my life, which of course for most people is probably a no brainer!
Okay, onward we go! Time to make a plan and then work the plan!!!
Not only did I bake two loaves of homemade bread today, I also made a double batch of oatmeal chocolate chip breakfast biscuits. And so far so good, I've had no reason to drive any where today so will be able to fill up at the cheap gas station tomorrow. I also found out that there will be both breakfast and lunch provided tomorrow at the meeting I'm attending. Woo-hoo!
+ 1 for clown hating... I'm also creeped out by face painting - and any sort of heavy make-up. I can't go through the department store cosmetic section because of all the saleswomen caked in foundation. I know it's irrational, but I was scared witless by a clown at a very young age (it's my earliest memory) and can't be doing with anything where someone's skin is hidden.
I'm not very frugal at the moment as I'm really, really sick with panic disorder which has just flared up really badly. I'm still reading for inspiration, though.
fidgiegirl
5-21-12, 6:54pm
Keep reading, julia. We will be here when you are ready to make more posts. (((julia)))
I started blogging again today. It's good FFF and unlike a lot of my hobbies, it doesn't require the purchase and storage of stuff.
Last night we took the girls out for their big thank-you gift. I took them to see the Avengers movie. We went last night because Tuesday is discount night at a local movie theater. The tickets were discounted and the popcorn and pop were $1.50 each. We had a fantastic time.
Tonight I am (hopefully) going to make the soba noodle salad I made for Cheyenne's birthday party. I have some rotisserie chicken leftover from another meal that I will use in the salad. Tomorrow I think I'll make grilled chicken legs, grilled asparagus and spaetzle or rice. Both meals are inexpensive and easy.
flowerseverywhere
5-23-12, 9:28pm
Julia, keep at it every day, even little baby steps will help. You will get a lot of support here.
Well, we have definitely decided to move and thank goodness I have been cleaning out this house. Thank you all the decluttering challenges. We will probably end up with 50% of the space. DH got in the act today and we got rid of a bunch of junk to the junkyard and also some to salvation Army.
On the frugal front, gave our old dog cage to new young neighbors. They were thrilled and since our dog died about three years ago I think it was a good thing to finally let it go. I am a big believer in Karma (what goes around comes around) and when people heard we were planning to move we got several offers for items we were planning on selling. I would much rather have things go to friends for a good price.
A friend I have been helping out in little ways brought us a great dinner tonight. Nice not to have to cook and it was delicious.
fidgiegirl
5-23-12, 9:54pm
Well, we have definitely decided to move and thank goodness I have been cleaning out this house.
So smart. Wish we'd done better at this. Now that we're in the new, bigger space it will be harder, though DH has eBayed two items and made $60 toward his fishing trip. They had to get a cabin this year instead of planning their camper because their third guy got all uncertain on them. Without two tow vehicles they can't take boat and camper, so they got a cabin just in case. They will like it so much better, even though it is more money. My FiL is 78 and this will be so much nicer for him, though he and DH both love gettin' a deal (which they get with the camper - but only kind of). I have floated the idea of selling it, but with such things, DH has to come to it in his own time. I trust that he will, though. He won't keep stuff just to keep it. They didn't use the camper to go hunting last fall or now fishing this year. They had to just pay insurance on it, several (not sure how many) hundreds, plus $20 a month in storage, which is reasonable, except that they packed in more spaces in their lot and so DH was worried about how in the world he'd be able to back it in. I vote they unload it even though all the $$ would go to my BiL, who gave them the camper. They could MAYBE get $1000 if they were really lucky. But again, like I said, DH will have to decide it on his own. He and DFiL have had many good adventures in the camper so he will have to have his process. Luckily they are still taking trips, just not in the camper for the last two. But they will have to see for the future. Personally, I don't think they'll go back. That camper was a lot of work and the cabin will be nice and comfy and cozy. AND they'll have a dishwasher. (It's really a house.)
Man, the camper must have been on my mind. ;)
Here we are eating up the freezer slowly but surely - mainly because we are too lazy to get groceries. We must have enough, then. :)
We went to see a doggy tonight but I don't think we are going to get him. I am still on the fence about a second, and DH more so, and we didn't really "click." Hopefully he will go to a good home.
Was thinking more about YMOYL, FI, frugality, why we have this thread tonight. My DB is having a hard time with my parents' behavior, something I have coped with over the years and am more detached from, though I think I never will completely detach. They are having money issues but it's not, from our perspective, from not having enough $$. They both work part time plus my dad draws his pension. It's from spending it in ways that don't, to us, make a lot of sense. So that is hard. It is hard to watch my 60-something parents struggle like when they were first starting out. Doesn't make retirement look very appealing. :( Plus both are having some mental health things, I think. Not really very fun. But they are mom and dad and we love them. It just gives a good reminder of why I check back into the monthly frugals. It's not just for the fun of it, though you all are quite fun. :D
flowerseverywhere
5-24-12, 8:05am
Fidgiegirl, it is hard to see parents struggle. I wish you luck and hope you find support from your virtual friends. We have some friends and family who just seem to make one bad decision after another moneywise, and it does catch up with you. We have seen people declare bankruptcy or walk away from houses and not learn from their lesson of getting in debt, rather thinking they were victims. I have no idea how to get people out of that mindset into a frugal one- I rather think you can't if they haven't figured it out themselves. My friend bought a book for her kindle at Amazon and it was available for free download at the library but she didn't want to bother to figure out how to download it (just as easy as amazon) yet constantly complains she has no money. Sometimes I feel exasperated over these simple things that add up.
Back to frugality, the dinner my friend bought over last night was enough for lunch today too. Gave some old chicken wire to a young man at the community gardens and he gave me some of his extra heirloom tomato and pepper plants. Nice trade.
May 24
Julia glad you are here; reading these posts are always inspiring...Flowerseverywhere I so wished we had got rid of more
before are last move I am making sure it is gone now in case I have to move in the future...Fidgiegirl your parents are lucky
to have you and your brother, but I know it is hard to see....
I have been here reading just not getting around to posting so the last week have been
--company on the weekend and cooked all but one dinner and that was Chinese that fed 5 plus leftovers for one lunch and
dinner for me for $48.00 not bad
--used a gift card to get some wine
--had got pop, juice and snacks all on sale for above company.
--still using up stuff and food and not buying much more
--been using and getting coupons like crazy...and of course shopping the sales.
--I was going to physio because I did have some $$ on my plan but not enough so I have really listened and
had her write out all the exercise and made sure I am doing then correctly and will continue with them at home.
--also, learnt that I have some $$ for massages so I figuere since so many of my muscles are tighten from the back
problems that it would only help to have them. I had never had a massage and it did feel good.
--using the library for free entertainment books/dvds
--yard sale a week ago Sat.....very large ceramic planter $1.00, 4 glass old electric transformer things $1.00 not sure what I will do with them...an table ironing board $1.00, 2 very large mugs for tea $.50, glass pitcher $1.00, very large cut glass vase $2.00, 1 pink glass pickle dish for $.50, 2 really large pots of well established pernials for $3.00 each. Very fun shopping for little money and it was going to a good cause.
Mostly not spending much on anything these days....
For the past few months I've been helping to organize a book exchange at DD's school. Families donated books that their children were done reading, and yesterday the classes all had turns to go to the book swap, where each child could select one book to take home. It's a really large school so we were not sure how this first time would go, whether we would get enough books, but we did, although the selection wasn't great for the older kids (since we received far more picture books than advanced chapter books from our school population).
I caught up on laundry yesterday, dried everything outside - before today's nearly 4.5 inches of rain. Wow.
Well, yesterday was the last day of school for the summer! That will save us a ton of gas money.
I got 6 free hershey's chocolate bars at rite aide. I'm saving them for smores around the camp fire this summer. My father wants to set up a fire pit next door.
Rented a movie from the library for $1. That's a third of what it would have cost at the video store and way less than a theatre.
We bought some tomato and pepper plants. My father gave us a couple of wine barrels to plant in as well as about half the soil that we needed. If everything goes right, we'll have tons of cheap sauce this winter!
Ds and I made a point of eating the last of the strawberries and cake that were left instead of getting into something new last night. It was really good and would have gone to waste soon if we didn't eat it.
Also drinking leftover coffe from work-cold, and sometimes with free, flavored creamer. I actually really enjoy drinking this and its so much better than dumping it and paying for some other beverage.
Welcome Julia!
fidgiegirl
5-26-12, 9:01am
Hi all!
Well, I haven't felt we've had many frugals this month but the other night I did a good one. I made up a big batch of chili with all the odds and ends from the fridge and freezer. Anything tomato based went in: leftover ****tail sauce, leftover pizza sauce, frozen spaghetti sauce, etc. Also bits and bobs of peppers and onions that were languishing in the freezer went in. I browned up some Italian flavored turkey that I'd bought for who-knows-what reason. So now I have a new idea! We will be keeping a tomato jar for this very purpose. Often we'll have just a little spaghetti sauce left, or a bit of salsa at the end of a jar, or a few tablespoons after making a pizza, etc. Usually it goes down the drain or into the freezer in such a small quantity that we never end up using it. So we'll combine it in a container in the freezer and when it's time to make chili, plop, in it will go.
Today I'm in a sewing mood. I plan to make napkins/hankies, sleeping hats for DH and DFiL, and to add some hanging tabs to a few of my jackets, and hem a friend's pants. Must be careful though as I plan to visit the fabric store to get serger spools . . . my mom is lending me her machine but only sent along white thread, and I would like black for my project. If I get really ambitious I may make the curtains for the living room. And I'll get to do it all in my new sewing room! Yippee!! :)
Kelli, that is a great idea!
Today we are going to a BBQ for Memorial Day at our friends' house and they asked us to bring a salad. I am bringing a spinach and strawberry salad. Strawberries were on sale and spinach is pretty inexpensive.
Our pool is ready and we went swimming yesterday even though it wasn't very warm out. Afterwards we were chilly so we snuggled up on the couch and watched some cooking shows. The girls wanted to try Jamie Oliver's English Onion Soup, so we made that for dinner along with a rhubarb pie. It was delicious.
The girls have decided that they want to do a whole week of vegetarian cooking, so we made up a menu from stuff we saw on Jamie Oliver's show and a show called River Cottage from the UK that use local, seasonal ingredients. In addition to the soup we are going to make asparagus risotto, herb quiche and rhubarb ginger muffins, grilled pizza with fresh mozzarella and basil, spinach turnovers and pasta with a mushroom sauce. This is actually going to be relatively frugal because we don't have to buy meat and the vegetables are in season. I am especially happy that Isabella is excited about this project because she is the one who is pickier about vegetables.
Reverse spending day. Listed several items to sell on ebay. Took bag of clothes to thrift shop (tax deduction). Returned an item to store for refund.
May26
--walked to two garage sales in the area and spent $.00-----nothing I needed and they were asking way too much for junk
--$ Days at No Frills so I got a larger then usual order yesterday a whole $47.00 mostly on sale and mostly stocking up
--posted 6 items on Kijiji hope they sell
--got my exercise today walking and pulling weeds....ouch!!!
fidgiegirl
5-26-12, 9:41pm
Had a stop at JoAnn but am only $13.85 lighter for it and everything was 50% off. I now also have what I need to fix the floors and get the stinky Girl Scout tents out of here for summer. I hope they air those suckers out before camp.
We bought a new screen door for back. Not frugal. It will be a lot more energy efficient and secure, however.
fidgiegirl
5-27-12, 8:45pm
We had a lovely little trip to Excelsior today, a little town on the shores of huge Lake Minnetonka, west of Minneapolis. In the early part of the 20th century there was an amusement park on an island in the lake, and trolleys went all the way out to Excelsior to bring the people to the park. We rode on a restored trolley car, with 1/2 mile of track left, and learned about it. Much FFF. This was DFiL and DMiL's Xmas present. It was supposed to be a trip to Duluth but the weather was crappy up there so we switched plans and stayed in the area. Saved on gas, for sure. Had a nice lunch, though we treated b/c it was a gift. All in all we had a fun day shopping and eating and riding the trolley. And now I am enamored with fairy gardens. :) They had fairy garden "stuff" for sale all around Excelsior. I would like to try to make some, though. We'll see if I get there . . .
Still eating up the chili. DH and I were commenting that the meal out today was our first in we-can't-remember-how-long. So our efforts to curb spending on eating out are working. :)
AmeliaJane
5-27-12, 11:50pm
Today's project was an offshoot of another frugalism--canceling the cable! My area was going digital with basic cable and changing over was going to be a major hassle and expensive to boot. So I just canceled. One of the nice benefits was that it gives me a lot more freedom in how I arrange the living room, so changing the room around was my project today. The benefits were mostly psychological (I unblocked a window and really cleaned the room thoroughly) but I did find a pair of bookends I thought were lost, realized a plant at work would be perfect for a spot at home, saving me from buying one, and found a good price online for some prints I have been eyeing forever. Did not want to cook after wrestling furniture all day, but put together a "found" meal for lunch and had PB&J and a banana for dinner instead of going out.
fidgiegirl
5-28-12, 10:56am
Nice, AmeliaJane! Enjoy the light!
early morning
5-28-12, 11:35am
Got an AMAZING amount of plants at a garden club booth yesterday - they started at $2, so I got some rosemary and sage, then they went to $1, and I bought some thyme, columbine, curly mint - then the evil ladies :devil: made them 50 cents AND sent a runner up to our booth to tell me.... I got 2 huge tubs of hostas, some spiderwort, more columbine, sweet woodruff, I don't remember exactly what else, but I spent $15, and got 25 healthy plants. We were at an antique market and thankfully sold enough that the plants easily fit in my Dsis's van.... my little Hyundai Accent carries all of our set-up tables, DD, myself, our purses/bags, and nothing else will fit! I plan to get them all planted next weekend... I am sooo excited. I had been agonizing over giving myself "permission" to buy some of these exact plants at the garden center - where ONE tub of hostas would cost what I paid for the entire lot. AND we had a good sales day ourselves - even though it was HOT! :)
We spent pretty much the whole morning in the pool hanging out with some neighbors. By the time we came in at 12:30 I was starving, so we had a simple lunch of peanut butter and jelly and popcorn. Zach was cleaning out the pantry and came across some white chocolate chips, so he made a batch of white chocolate chip cookie bars that are baking as I type this.
Tonight I am making an herb quiche with herbs from our garden and rhubarb ginger muffins. The muffins are an experiment. I made rhubarb ginger syrup the other day for making homemade rhubarb ginger ale and I saved the cooked rhubarb. I'm going to use it like applesauce in the muffins. I think it could be good.
OK, this is possibly the NERDIEST thing I have ever admitted to, but Zach has gotten our kids hooked on the old Knight Rider TV series on netflix and they have been asking me for a Knight Rider colouring book. Of course, this not being the '80s such a thing is not widely available, but I did discover that David Hasselhoff has a website with free Knight Rider printable colouring pages. The kids were so excited. I seriously can't believe I just admitted that in public. How embarassing. :|(
We finally set up the high end baby swing my friend's boss gave us as a hand-me-down. It was like magic. Miss Charlotte went to sleep in it immediately and stayed asleep for 6 hours. Woot! She has had a few really rough nights, so that swing is worth its weight in gold to me right now.
Early morning that is an awesome score! $.50 a piece, you can't beat that!
they have been asking me for a Knight Rider colouring book. Of course, this not being the '80s such a thing is not widely available, but I did discover that David Hasselhoff has a website with free Knight Rider printable colouring pages. The kids were so excited.
This is quite possibly the most hilarious thing I have read in a long time. Thanks for the laugh, Stella!
rosarugosa
5-28-12, 6:05pm
Molly: I like that "reverse spending" day.
BKE & Kelli: Great job getting good use out of some things that otherwise would have been wasted!
Early: That is an amazing score on the plants! My biggest frugal for the week was stalking the Bluestone Perennials website so that I could get early dibs on their sale. I had a $50. gift card from my birthday, so I was able to get $70 - $80 worth of plants for my $50. But that pales in comparison to your deals. Congratulations!
Stella: Well, you don't have to be embarassed around me. I have no idea who the Knight Riders are!
It was a mellow weekend here. Dh worked for much of it, so I worked in the garden and finished washing windows and generally puttered around. I didn't leave the premises since Fri :)
fidgiegirl
5-29-12, 8:19am
early, awesome. I need to have my eyes open for such deals as we have a naked yard and we were over at the rental today and I think we need to hosta-cize the whole place. Wherever there was open dirt we would have plunked down some annuals, but there are only weeds. Pooh, so we need to do some work over there - putting some edges in on some of the beds, and mulching the he** out of the place.
Picked a rotisserie chicken and made broth. Also made some yogurt in the yogurt maker.
I have a job interview tomorrow and have decided that truly, both my haircut and my less-worn work clothes are adequate for a interview outfit. So I will be wearing items I already have on hand.
Happy short week to many of you!
My big frugal to wrap up May involves a visit from my mom. :D She arrives on Wednesday and will spend a week here helping me to work in the garden and get things organized -- she is the best helper ever! Would cost me a lot to pay for a gardener to do what she will help me do for free! Granted, I have to pay for her plane ticket each year when we do this, but this year the ticket cost only $5.00. The plane tickets were expensive and she had a load of airline miles so we redeemed them for a free ticket and all I had to pay was the $5.00 ticketing fee. Not a bad deal! I'll probably end up spending more on food as I'll buy easy to prepare stuff and snacks that I wouldn't normally buy to have around the house while she is here, but it's still totally worthwhile in my experience. We've been doing this for about 15 years so it's an annual thing around here.
Stella: I have a nerdy confession of my own. My DD is fascinated with the Hardy Boys thanks to the 1970s TV series, which we got from the library. Yesterday we watched an episode in which S. Cassidy sang a few of his songs, and all night DH and I had "Da Doo Run Run" stuck in our heads. Arg!
My frugal of the day is discovering that if I actually wear the progressive lens glasses that I bought over a year ago I might be able to postpone my ophthalmology appointment (and therefore new glasses) for a while. Previously I had difficulty adjusting to these, particularly when reading, and so I've just been wearing my distance glasses... but I've been noticing more and more eyestrain. So yesterday I wore the progressives all day and today the world is swirling and turning a lot less as my eyes and brain adjust.
LOL Rosemary I love the Hardy Boys, but I didn't know there was a TV series. Cool!
Zach has thoroughly nerdified our kids. :)
Things are pretty quiet around here. Mostly we're working on the family room remodel, which I suppose is frugal since we are doing it ourselves. Other than that it's pretty much the same old stuff.
May 30
--stewed up a large bag of apples that wern't getting eaten and froze in small baggies to use in my oatmeal
--HE eco friendly detergent I know I like on sale at Costco $9.99 (reg 17.99 which is still a good price) for 184 loads but the way I use it last much longer then that.
--Sold two items on Kijiji for $40.00
fidgiegirl
5-30-12, 9:49pm
Hi all
DH is on a sales streak, he has earned $100 through eBay and CL for his upcoming fishing trip and it all has the added benefit of decluttering, too. :)
That's all for now! Small but good. He might start an Etsy store to indulge his love of antiquing but respect my desire not to have this house crammed with vintage Northwoods. I appreciate this.
A friend gave me a bunch of plants, including 3 American hazelnuts. I'm excited about those. The nuts are smaller than the cultivated variety, but it's so cool to grow food, and I've never had a nut tree. I'm also splitting my own plants to landscape some more areas of our yard.
We're inundated with fresh strawberries now. It's a nice problem to have! Also picking sugar snap and snow peas.
Not frugal: took 2 of our 3 cats for their vaccines today. WOW, have vet costs ever skyrocketed.
Today for lunch I made chicken fried rice from rice I had in the freezer, some odds and ends veggies and the leftovers of a rotisserie chicken. It was really good.
I took the kids to our church's weekly playground meetup this morning. That was fun. I talked to a woman from church who is thinking of homeschooling next year and wanted to pick my brain. Then I got home and sat at my computer to work on some curriculum for the coming year and I had a facebook message from an old friend who's kids are the same ages as my oldest three. She is going to homeschool next year too and wants to come over and talk about it. I feel like God is trying to tell me something. :) Maybe we can get a small group together to do some projects or something. Maybe a kids' book club or something fun like that.
For dessert tonight I made an almond bread pudding with vanilla ice cream. It was yummy and it used up dried bread ends and a partial bag of sliced almonds that needed to be used.
Stella, I must have read your mind because I too am making chicken fried rice to use up some stuff or "upcycle" some leftovers!
This has been a pretty good week in the spending department. Mon-wed we didn't spend any money at all. Yesterday we went and bought a take of CO2 saving the $12 delivery fee. Dinner was chinese food-$22 including tip for 3 people.
I used gift cards that I had won on a sweepstakes site to make my purchases at Walmart last night. I used $31 worth of coupons and rebates before spending $45 on the gift card.
Today is a no driving or spending day!
Funny Merski! I love fried rice. It's such a good way to use up leftover anything.
This morning I tried out my new rice cooker. I've been on the fence about getting a rice cooker for quite a while, but I finally bought one. I'm finding myself more distracted than I used to be (gee, I wonder why :) ) and I have forgotten about the rice a few times lately. Ugh. Burned rice is SUCH a pain to get off of a pot. This morning I used it to make oatmeal and hard boiled eggs. It worked nicely.
Zach found out this morning that the owner of the company he interviewed at was called out of town unexpectedly for next week, but he told Zach to be sure and call him a week from Tuesday. He didn't have a chance to interview the other candidates before leaving and he wants to give them Monday to interview. He still sounded really positive about Zach, so that's good. It also gives us a week to wrap up the basement remodel, which is about a week away from being done.
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