June Frugals [Archive] - Simple Living Forums

danna

6-1-12, 12:20pm

June1 so far today....
---all spreadsheets from May are up to date and June's are started...check book balanced--I find it helps to do this early in the month
--leftover pasta from the freezer for lunch
--joined the clutter challange on the Organizing Forum....this will give me things to sell/give away and will make for a more organized house which always seems to help to know what I have and use it up.
--someone on this site suggested cutting up really old teatowels/t-shirts and keeping them under the sink to have the one last use instead of throwing them out.....great for cleaning out greasy pans the one last thing I was using paper towels for.

lucas

6-1-12, 12:26pm

Hello all!

This is my first month joining in this section of the forum, and I'm very glad to be here! Since I first got interested in simplifying my life and cutting down my consumption, I've done pretty well at decluttering, but I have to confess I havent made much progress on the other (and arguably more important) front of minimizing my spending and consumption... This month I'm going to keep detailed daily records of my expenditure, and classify it into 'necessary', 'justifiable' and 'unnecessary' spending... While I could go for a simple 'necessary vs unnecessary' categorization, I don't want to go too far into self-imposed deprivation, and arguably all spending, with the exception of water and a few vegetables, could be deemed 'unnecessary'... Anyway, it will be learning process... This is my first real attempt to cut down on the wasteful day-to-day spending that in the past wreaked so much havoc in my life - all thos years being a 'good little consumer' - eeeek! ... wish me luck! I'm glad you guys are all here - I figure I can learn a lot from you! Hopefully I may even to provide one or two useful contributions myself...

Hugs,
Lucas

loosechickens

6-1-12, 2:38pm

Well, we are killing the satellite TV once again.....the "special half price deal" they gave us last year is about to run out, and we are philosophically opposed to paying full price for the basic package. So there's thirty-some bucks a month to add into the "frugality" pile. Thankfully, it runs out the week AFTER the last Mad Men episode, and while it will be hard to live without the Daily Show, I watch little else, so will hardly be noticed in the ripples of life.......

Our problem is that we kill the satellite TV, get used to not having it, then they start sending emails "we want you back and here is a special deal", and once the special deal gets down to about thirty bucks a month, we start saying, well, a buck a day just in case we WANT to watch something might be nice, and then we sign up for another (usually 10 month to one year) special deal and are off to the races again.........

LilyB

6-1-12, 3:58pm

I'm joining this month. We have some major expenses coming up for the house, and I've been looking for places where we can cut costs.

So far, I'ved cancelled 3 magazine subscriptions: less money going out and less clutter coming in. Then I stopped the DVD's from Netflix although we can still watch on-line.

We consider ourselves pretty frugal, but some things sneak in and we mindlessly continue them even after theyare no longer enjoyed.:|(

fidgiegirl

6-1-12, 5:50pm

Welcome, lucas and LilyB!!

Every little thing adds up! Glad you are in for some frugality :)

rosarugosa

6-1-12, 8:35pm

Flowers: Your downsizing is amazing, and the $1000. is excellent! I wish you a smooth move!
Danna: I don't think I'll ever give up paper towels, but I have been using dishtowels and cloth napkins more & more, and I like the idea of using the most raggedy rags for one last dirty job. Making paper towels last a lot longer is a good goal for me.
LC: Good to hear from you. I think that actually sounds like a smart strategy in that you're at least always getting a deal on the sattelite service.
Nice to have you join us, Lily & Lucas!
Lily: We subscribe to a lot of magazines, but we really read and enjoy them, and we pass them along in a very systematic fashion, so they don't clutter up our lives. I do have them firmly categorized as a want though, and I know that if we really needed to cut something, they could go.
Lucas: Do you do online bill payments? That's one of my favorites, because it involves no sacrifice whatsoever, although the dollar savings are small. Our big-dollar wins have been: 1.) avoidance of recreational shopping (greatly diminished but not gone completely. But now I pick and choose, and save up for when I'm going to be in one of my favorite shopping places, e.g. vacation, Portland, annual crafts fair, etc. When there, I think long and hard about what I'm willing to bring into my small home, how much I really want it and I'm less quick to part with my hard earned dollars), 2.) eating almost all of our meals at home (eating out is a special occasion, and we surprisingly don't feel deprived with this one; it helps that DH is a wonderful cook) 3.) general attitude shift to where saving is good, almost a game, and spending is more of a necessary evil or occasional indulgence).
Over the past few years, we have drastically reduced our income by allowing DH to trade a HSSJ for a pleasant, seasonal part-time job that pays little, while at the same tiime increasing our savings and general satisfaction with our lives.
I think my best frugal to report for today is that we didn't eat out or get take-out at all last month, and I'd better mention it now because tomorrow night we're going to a concert on the NH seacoast not far from the place with the lobster BLTs :)

fidgiegirl

6-1-12, 9:43pm

(Newbies: HSSJ="Horrible Soul Sucking Job")

:)

fidgiegirl

6-2-12, 3:46pm

We were in a garage sale mood today and since Roseville was having their city-wide, we drove up that way.

Scored a few deals:
- 3 nice greeting cards for .75 - two for immediate needs and one for the stash
- 7 shade perennials for $25 (see Rosemary! Told you I'd be tempted!)
- A box of walker parts that DH will resell online - $1
- A brand-new cutting board and coaster set with cardinals that will be for one of our mothers, both of whom have birthdays this month - $8
- Dyno labelmaker refills, two-pack - $1. Now if we wanted we could return the one we just bought from Target. A two-pack will last us a long time. They are about $8 new.
- A big stack of card envelopes for .25. We make some of our own cards but don't always have envelopes, so that was a good one
- A gag item for DH's boss's going away celebration - .50

All in all, a decent outing, and we enjoyed the weather! :)

Rosemary

6-2-12, 6:44pm

Kelli, I wasn't planning to buy anything, but I also left with 7 plants. :) Skipped all the yard sales, though - I had DD in tow and knew that getting through the plant expo might be taxing enough.

It worked so well a couple of weeks ago to grill for dinner for several nights that we're doing it again. Having just about everything we need for dinner prepped and in the fridge really gives me a lot more free time - about an hour/day - so I can work in the garden, bike and do other activities with DD. Plus, it's a more efficient use of the grill's propane.

We have to bring something for our church's taco bar tomorrow. In past years I've signed up and brought chicken taco filling. This year it was DH's responsibility and he ignored all the emails until 2 days ago. Result? Only thing left was refried beans - which I make from scratch. 1# dried pinto beans, an onion, some spices... about $1.50, a lot cheaper than making chicken for a crowd (not to mention easier... shredding a few pounds of chicken makes the hands and arms really tired).

DD had a sleepover last night. I've known these girls since they were toddlers and so have honed my kid-feeding skills so there was very little food waste... very small initial portions - seconds are better than wasting.

Decided to drop one destination from our upcoming visit-all-the-midwestern-friends-and-relatives roadtrip to save a night of hotel costs, and give us an extra day at the in-law's.

Stella

6-2-12, 8:21pm

I was up a lot last night and I am just dead tired today. I let inertia save me money by staying home and doing nothing. :) I did have some ice cream and use up some more of the raspberry sauce I froze last year. That was a fun frugal.

Zach and the big kids swam when the little kids napped and I did a little writing. I was sorely tempted to send Zach out to get me some ridiculous coffee drink from Caribou, but I resisted.

Charlotte's baptism tomorrow and I had been thinking I might have a little reception afterwards, but I decided to keep things simple and skip it. It's cheaper and easier. I just don't have it in me to clean the house and cook stuff. I just want to nap.

fidgiegirl

6-2-12, 8:34pm

Kelli, I wasn't planning to buy anything, but I also left with 7 plants. :)

It worked so well a couple of weeks ago to grill for dinner for several nights that we're doing it again.
Only thing left was refried beans - which I make from scratch. 1# dried pinto beans, an onion, some spices... about $1.50, a lot cheaper than making chicken for a crowd

And to think - the plants weren't even from the plant sale! I skipped in on purpose, and then ended up in some dude's driveway anyway buying plants from his yard. Oh well, at least they are cute, and maybe it was what I needed to get my creative juices flowing re: the yard. I have had some new ideas tonight after a bit of a mental block.

Your church crowd will likely appreciate the homemade beans a lot more than canned, so win-win! Cheap for you, yum for them!

Zach and the big kids swam when the little kids napped and I did a little writing. I was sorely tempted to send Zach out to get me some ridiculous coffee drink from Caribou, but I resisted.

Charlotte's baptism tomorrow and I had been thinking I might have a little reception afterwards, but I decided to keep things simple and skip it. It's cheaper and easier. I just don't have it in me to clean the house and cook stuff. I just want to nap.

Oh it is good that you are resting. You are always so chipper it never occurs to me that maybe you really are facing the challenges of a newborn!! Take care of yourself.

Well done on the Caribou resistance. I am having a hard time with this lately, except my downfall is a little coffee place across the street from work called J. Arthurs. It's exquisite, and the people are wonderful,a nd they keep having AWESOME Groupon-style offers like $10 for 10 drink punch card. So that's kind of forgivable. But the other day, even with my own mug at Caribou, my drink came to $4.42!! Because it had soy it was extra, and now the mug discount isn't .50, it's 10%. So I'm a little put off by that.

It's kind of a frugal day! We are grilling out burgers and sweet potato fries. Last year we got a grilling basket at a garage sale and are making great use of it. Rosemary, your comment makes me think that maybe when we grill I should be maximizing the coals. We have a small surface, so that's usually enough for just the meal at hand, but why couldn't I pre-grill some chicken for salads, or peppers or . . . hmmm . . . will have to think on what more.

I also pre-made some polenta pizza crusts and put them in the freezer. I am not sure I pre-cooked them enough, though. They were still a little soft. But they will have more oven time when they meet their ultimate fate, so that might be fine. And I'll be out all of about .75 worth of food if they don't work out.

Float On

6-2-12, 10:38pm

We have a church potluck tomorrow - I was afraid I'd have to run to the grocery store today. I hate going to town on Saturdays.
While cleaning out the fridge I realized I had enough on hand to make a big pasta salad and a broccoli salad. So no town trip and saved money.
Got my $45 check in the mail for serving two days on a jury. I think I'm just going to blow that on a movie and light dinner with DH tomorrow since we're kidless until the 10th.

Azure

6-3-12, 8:59am

Hi everyone! I know it's been ages since I've been here. I've missed you all. Life has been crazy & I've been lazy lol One thing I have not been is frugal :|(

Tyler graduated last week. Had his last ever high school track event yesterday. His open house is in 2 weeks. Ian has been in Germany for 9 days now.

So we just have to get through this next 2 weeks of friends open houses ($$$) & putting together Tyler's open house ($$$$$) & then we can relax a bit. But now that most of the running around is over I REALLY need to get back on the frugal band wagon. And the budgeting band wagon. And the no-more-excuses-just-do-it bandwagon.

So for the next 2 weeks the goal is: menu planning & real cooking; no more impulse purchasing; air dry more laundry.

cjones

6-3-12, 9:50am

fidgiegirl

6-3-12, 9:59am

Azure, nice to see you! Focus on what you can!! Hope it's not so long 'til next time. . .

Float On, which movie?!

cjones

6-3-12, 10:03am

My nephew is graduating from high school and I felt I had to send a check along with a store-bought card. Ugh. I didn't want those $50 checks for my son when he graduated from high school and don't like being obligated to send these $50 checks when my nieces and nephews graduate---no one in the family needs this money to help pay for college books, and therefore it seems extravagant to me. BUT--I do it because I know there is an end in sight and I want to keep things peaceful between myself and the rest of the family.

My other non-frugal peeve is store bought greeting cards!!! With my own circle of friends, we have an agreement to re-use birthday cards, and we have been circulating the same bunch of cards for many years now, it's a lot of fun. We just cross off the last person's name and write our own, and it's like getting a card from everyone who's signed it before. But....I can't do that with the family, they just don't get it and I still love them so I spend the $40 a year on these cards that just get thrown out a week later. Grumble, grumble, what I do for my family!!

flowerseverywhere

6-3-12, 12:24pm

Grumble, grumble, what I do for my family!!

always hard to balance this. When we stopped gift exchanges years ago the only complainer was one SIL who also has the fewest resources to give gifts. To this day it still annoys her but her house is so full of junk I think it is the best thing we ever did!

On the frugal front found several things that are easy to mail that I can list on e-bay. In all our decluttering we check for value before we donate or give stuff away, and lo and behold I found two small items that sell for over $100 on ebay. So I'll list them.

My garden is starting to yield peas and lettuce and I have two very small zucchini, so we'll be eating from the garden starting this week. Some small tomatoes but it has to warm up before they can grow and ripen.

cjones

6-3-12, 3:59pm

[QUOTE=

On the frugal front found several things that are easy to mail that I can list on e-bay. In all our decluttering we check for value before we donate or give stuff away, and lo and behold I found two small items that sell for over $100 on ebay. So I'll list them.
[/QUOTE]

I keep meaning to learn how to sell on ebay--this is a great way to bring in some extra cash, good for you!

fidgiegirl

6-3-12, 7:58pm

cjones, the gift/card thing IS hard. With cards, I would just make my own, always with the recipient at heart, and they always looked nice, and if the recipient didn't like them, well, tough luck. Sometimes it takes a leader in a family to get things changing.

Also, re: eBay, give it a shot! There isn't a ton to learn, just be careful not to spend a ton on packaging materials and to weigh the items accurately IN THEIR PACKAGING. Use the advanced search feature and choose "completed listings" to see what stuff goes for. Don't rule out anything being worth money. The stuff we have though would be worth money has turned out to be worthless, and hum-drum items like vacuum attachments and parts are worth big cha-ching. One thing I screwed up when I started is not knowing that if you are offering PayPal (you pretty much GOTTA offer PayPal as a payment method, or at least I for one would not buy from someone who didn't) you have to accept every variety of PayPal payment. Also, printing your shipping labels through PayPal is slick. There are lots of other little tricks, but you pick them up as you try it out. I also find that it is fun to have a stated goal for the eBay money so it doesn't just disappear into the communal pot of family finances. That can make it seem like piddly money, but if you add it up like my DH is doing to go towards his fishing trip, then it seems much more worthwhile to take the time to do it. He has $110 so far and has just gotten rid of some junk around the house, and has probably put in maybe 2 hours total for that. $50/hour, not a bad return, plus decluttering is a bonus. Give it a shot! Good luck!

LilyB

6-3-12, 8:25pm

Rosarugosa, Oh I didn't mean to give the impression I had given up ALL of my magazines. I just cancelled the 3 that really don't fit my life anymore. I let them in each month out of habit. Then 3 months of back issues would just sit taking up space.

I still have more than enough coming in. Okay maybe I have too many, but like you, I do enjoy my magazines. ;)

I think I have to follow your advice and pass the rest on to the library. Saving all the "special ones" is what causes my clutter.

On the frugal front, I visited my aunt today. She and I sat and talked for over 2 hours. She is 90 and vividly remembers the Depression, WWII, and living in a third floor walk-up that had to be heated with coal carried up from the cellar.

Boy my life is easy today. And if I remember even a third of her frugal hints, I'll have those repairs paid for in no time.

I won't go to heating with coal, though. I still remember my Grandma carrying those buckets of coal up 3 flights of stairs!

danna

6-3-12, 9:04pm

June 3
---load of wash going and one in the dryer and dishwasher running...we are on "Time of use meters" now...
not sure if I have whined about this before...I haved whined about it a lot....lol
Years back when it was first talked about I was all for it because they sold it as a way to save building more electric plants and
people would save money by trying to use less electricity during the weekday/daytime hours. But, what has happened is
the best time of use is now even higher priced then what we paid a year ago and the mid and high times are 3 & 4 cents an kwh more.
So we are doing all washing, drying, dishwasher (and yes I am rack drying when I can but the house is too damp in the summer for that) during the lowest time. I am so glad our stove/heat/ and water tank are gas, and all of our applainces are "Engery Star". But, there is electricity that still needs to be used from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Okay I am done whining....
--$ sale at No Frills got some really good buys and still only spent $26.00
--using up a bag of course road salt that has been sitting aroung for many, many years to kill off some weeds.
Thats it for now.
p.s. does anyone know how to soften up or break up a container of the newer ice melt. One container I have must have got wet and
is hard as a rock. Not sure what to do with it.
An

fidgiegirl

6-3-12, 10:23pm

does anyone know how to soften up or break up a container of the newer ice melt.
An

are you still hoping to be able to use it, or just to be able to dispose of it? I'd think it would be shot and should just be pitched as in, supposing you can lift it. Would be curious to hear any other theories on this!

danna

6-3-12, 11:27pm

Kelli would love to use it if at all possible but, thinking I will have to just pitch in (I think I can lift but not sure the garbage guys will appreciate me...hehe)....lesson for all would be to keep in a dry place
not on front steps. Also, curious to hear if there are any other ideas out there???

Rosemary

6-4-12, 8:19am

While making the "refried" beans for our church's event yesterday morning, I took the time to prep a bunch of veggies in the fridge. I also turned the remaining bean cooking liquid into a great vegetable soup, using up a few things in our fridge and freezer.

This was an exceptional batch of beans, and I've made many before. I used 1# pinto beans, 1 medium onion, and 1 green bell pepper. Cook beans with a little salt, some cumin seeds, and a few bay leaves. Chop the veggies and roast (no oil needed, just spread on baking pans) at 400 until the pieces have lost much of their moisture, and then puree with the cooked beans using some of the bean cooking liquid. Season to taste with salt, cumin, oregano.

cdttmm

6-4-12, 8:48am

So far June has not been the most frugal of months... But I can report that when we took my mom out to dinner last night 2 of the 3 ordered from the blue plate special menu ($25 for an appetizer, an entree, and dessert -- not bad at this particular restaurant) and then we used the remainder of a gift card to pay for half of the bill. It was a nice way to treat my mom for coming to help us with our gardening.

Rosemary

6-4-12, 9:07pm

End-of-year teacher gift time. Last year, DD and I seeded herb gardens for her 2 primary teachers. They loved the idea. We planned to do that again this year but for some reason the seeds did not have a good enough germination rate. So... I was thinking of an alternative, and came up with homemade jam from our organic garden. Strawberry-rhubarb because that's what's in season right now. I dug in my least-used cabinet (over the fridge) and came out with 6, 8oz canning jars that have been gathering dust. I needed to buy some new lids, the tongs to pick up jars, pectin, and a lid lifter (total about $8). Picked and processed the jam today, and it is very, very flavorful and a beautiful deep red. Got about 7 half pints. We'll take some to give as gifts on our upcoming roadtrip.

This was my first experience making jam so it was a little stressful trying to read the instructions and do several unfamiliar things at once, but next time will be much easier.

Question for you veteran jam makers: I used the "low or no-sugar pectin." Yet the instructions still call for a lot of sugar. I know that the sugar with the regular pectin is part of the preservation, but they have an alternate recipe that uses artificial sweetener. So can you just reduce the sugar as much as you like - is that sugared recipe just a guideline for this kind of pectin?

cjones

6-5-12, 7:58am

I finally--finally!!!--figured out how to download books from Project Gutenberg to my Nook. Turns out it's easy and there are tons of great classics as well as lesser known but fascinating books available there. ALL FREE. This will help a lot with my "no new book purchases" strategy--I get tired of schlepping back and forth to the library and end of buying ebooks, which can really add up.

lucas

6-5-12, 8:43am

Hi there friends!

Well done to loosechickens for ditching the cable TV! I got rid of my cable a few weeks ago (after many months of 'deliberating')... it's amazing how fast you adapt to life witout the 'methodone metronome'... Moreover, it's the number one time-waster for me...

I've been enjoying reading all the posts... I'm glad to see I'm not the only one whow has a hard time giving up certain little indulgences.... I'm making progress though, and that's what's important... One of the trickiest things about simplifying, for me, is reining in my day-to-day expenditure... I can draw a line under the unnecessary luxury puchases easily enough, but I've found that it's the 'inconsequential' day-to-day items - the muffin with coffee, the extra portion of whatever when I'm grocery shopping - that really does the most damage to my long-term finances... This month I'm keeping a detailed record of my spending so as to get a clearer picture. For quite some time I've always kept a record of my spending in basic categories - groceries, toiletries, entertainment etc - but I think I need to get a more precise item-by-item record in order to plan better and develop a more effective system for reducing my outgoings... I hope what i'll find out from this little venture won't be too scary! Either way, it's better to be clear about things...

Thanks everyone for your posts... keep them coming!

Hugs,
Luke

leslieann

6-5-12, 11:10am

Rosemary,

From what I understand, you can't really mess around with the sugar ratios on jam. The "low sugar" pectins are, at best, a good example of truth in advertising in the sense that you need to understand the context in order to appreciate the "truth." They are only low in sugar compared to the regular pectin, not compared, for example, to low sugar jams that are made commercially.

I have been amazed and appalled at the amount of sugar in jam but I still make it because I love the tradition of it, and the beauty of the colours in the jar. I remember that jam was just about the only way to have fruit in winter in earlier times, and that the sugar would have made it quite a treat, like candy.

There are certainly super cooks here on the boards that may have different experiences.

With respect to frugals...well, I am optimistically reading the thread. Don't know how frugal this month will be but it HAS to be better than last. I have gotten seriously off track with tracking my spending and I think back to tracking is the first place I have to go. That and shifting my view to savings as a hobby rather than anything else.

I did avoid the grocery store yesterday, making dinner out of what we had, but I think there is only a day or so more of that available here. We are out of bread and eggs, for example. But I can do a much better job of prepping food ahead and that will help with time as well as with money.

Stella

6-5-12, 12:38pm

Oh it is good that you are resting. You are always so chipper it never occurs to me that maybe you really are facing the challenges of a newborn!! Take care of yourself.

Well done on the Caribou resistance. I am having a hard time with this lately, except my downfall is a little coffee place across the street from work called J. Arthurs. It's exquisite, and the people are wonderful,a nd they keep having AWESOME Groupon-style offers like $10 for 10 drink punch card. So that's kind of forgivable. But the other day, even with my own mug at Caribou, my drink came to $4.42!! Because it had soy it was extra, and now the mug discount isn't .50, it's 10%. So I'm a little put off by that.

Thanks Kelli. I did get some rest. In fact the night after I posted that Charlotte slept 8 hours! That is fantastic for a 5 week old. I will have to check out that coffee shop sometime. I love coffee shops!

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one whow has a hard time giving up certain little indulgences....

Little indulgences are my weak point. I am good at the big frugal stuff. No cable, no cell phone, no mortgage, no car payment, no credit cards, no problem. It's the coffee treats, the date night appetizers and the hobby stuff that I frequently give in to.

Yesterday I spent pretty much the whole afternoon poolside. It was a lovely frugal day. I got a little cleaning done in the morning while the girls played with some friends. When the little kids woke up from their nap we hit the pool, breaking only for a quick dinner of hot dogs and strawberry lemonade smoothies before heading back out with the big kids.

This morning we went to take something out for dinner and realized that our deep freezer isn't working well. A bunch of things were partially thawed. Inventory was getting low in the freezer and it needed to be cleaned out anyway, so I'll have to do a little extra cooking today, but I think I can save everything.

Breakfast this morning was baked eggs with herbs from the garden. Delicious and frugal.

razz

6-5-12, 7:44pm

Received notice that our weekly news magazine, Macleans, was due for renewal at a special rate of $1.32 per issue. I was reading the ads in the magazine and noticed that new subscription were $.99 per issue for 144 or two years. I phoned and queried why a renewal would be so much more than a new. I was offered the 'new rate' without hesitation and saved $155.42-104.71=$50.71!!!

rosarugosa

6-5-12, 8:29pm

Spent way too much money this weekend, so must get on track again. No spending on Mon or Tues, and I just expect to buy bread tomorrow. I have next week off, so that will be a bit more challenging. I'm working on a list of things I want to accomplish, many of which don't cost money. There will need to be some spending, but I'm going to work on doing it as cost effectively as possible. I do need to buy some tomato and basil plants, and we're doing a one-nighter in Portland, but that's a credit card reward night, so we should be able to make it an inexpensive trip.

chrissieq

6-6-12, 4:06pm

This is my first day of summer vacation - yeah! - but did go to school because one of the teachers had won a local TV station "teacher of the year" award which included Subway lunch for 100 people. So free lunch for me and with the many, many leftovers, I brought dinner for DH and took 1/2 of one of those giant subs to a co-worker who is carry for her ill brother's child along with her own. The boys were thrilled!!

Took a few box of educational materials no longer wanted at school to Value Village but took the books to the library for our next fundraiser.

My first no-spend day of the summer - my goal is to aim for at least 3 every week.

cjones

6-6-12, 6:00pm

Stella, I so appreciate you pointing out how the "little things" trip us up! A cup of coffee here, a cute card there....I need to be more aware of this too!

Azure

6-6-12, 8:16pm

Hey, I have a frugal to share :~) .... that sure hasn't happened much recently lol Anyway, I had been using eye cream that came in one of those roller ball things to help de-puff. Ran out of the product and instead of buying a new one I got about 5 times as much of an Avon eye cream for a few bucks more. Just dab it on my eye and run the roller over it. Works great. Much less money spent.

So far this week I have not run to the grocery store because I forgot to get something out of the freezer. Or was too lazy. We had delicious fajitas on Sunday; pork roast in the crock pot Monday; chicken breasts marinated in Italian dressing; and tonight hot dogs on the grill. All yummy.

Today however I overslept and woke up just in time to shower, dress & eat a bowl of instant oatmeal. Not enough time to make lunch, so I bought a sandwich at work. I know I know - make lunch before you go to bed. lol I'm workin on it.

fidgiegirl

6-6-12, 8:49pm

Yummy, azure!

chrissieq, what do you teach? I am a teacher as well.

greenfeast, I had to do a double-take at your location. I had forgotten you are "down under."

Nuttin' here. Well, making beans and broth from carcasses. So that is something, just not too remarkable. :)

danna

6-6-12, 9:16pm

June 6
--sold some wood from the garage for $10.00 it is worth more but at least it is gone.
--leftovers from the freezer for supper
--4 out of 6 days have been no spend

Tussiemussies

6-6-12, 10:16pm

Hi Cjones -- a lot of times when I get store bought or homemade cards I use them as bookmarks, it's nice to look at the inside once in awhile.... : ))

Tussiemussies

6-6-12, 10:20pm

Hi LilyB, I too just love having talked with old relatives that can give us insight into the past and also what people that we will never meet and what they were like... : ))

cdttmm

6-7-12, 7:06am

Not many frugals to report for me so far this month. Finally got enough of a break in the weather to hang one load of laundry out to dry yesterday. My mom was here visiting for a week so I need to wash the bedding from the guest bedroom and tidy up the room. Since nobody will be using it in the immediate future, I'm just leaving it until we have some sunny days and I can dry laundry outside on the clothesline. In the meantime, the cats are LOVING it. They love the bed in the guest bedroom for some reason (it's not even the sunniest spot in the house, so I have no idea why!). We normally keep that room blocked off with a baby gate so that they can't go in there, but it's a free for all for at least a few more days and they are thrilled.

Ate the first cherry tomatoes of the season last night -- so good! We planted almost 20 tomato plants so I'm hoping for an amazing season filled with tomato-y goodness!

I've been working through my stash of tea and restricting myself from buying more. I had quite the stock pile so I'm excited to think that I may get through it all by the end of this month. Makes for more room in the pantry, too!

Made a huge batch of brown rice in the rice cooker yesterday. I'm trying to limit my gluten intake so there goes the bread and crackers that I would normally use as my starchy carbs for the day. I like brown rice so now that there is a container of it the refrigerator that will make it easier to avoid the other stuff.

Okay, that's all for now!

Rosemary

6-7-12, 7:18am

Sold a box of books to the used book store yesterday. $22. I have some new, hardcover books that I received to review that I will list online (because the used book store doesn't pay much per book).

Minimal grocery shopping this week and for the next month: eating down the freezer and pantry and picking food right out of the garden. This week it's strawberries, sugar snap peas, snow peas, and swiss chard.

Just received what I think is our lowest utility bill, ever. It's more due to the weather than to any special effort on my part - we've made lots of energy-related improvements, but they've all been in place for at least 2 years now. May was perfect - no heating or cooling necessary, lots of line-drying of laundry. DH was out of town for about 10 days, too, so we used less hot water than usual.

SiouzQ.

6-7-12, 10:37am

I must get back on the frugal bandwagon! I have allowed myself to let go a little bit during this awesome time off between jobs. This is what I have been up to:

Last Sunday woke up, looked at the sunny sky and decided I NEEDED to go to Lake Michigan. Originally just for a long day trip, but at the last minute I threw in the tent and sleeping bag. I get about ten miles from home only to realize I forgot to put extra cash in my wallet. Went to ATM and tried to get money but it had been so long since I used an ATM (maybe 15 years) I had forgot my pin number. Still, no worries, as I used my credit card for this quickie trip. $25 for gas, $21 to the State Park to camp for the night, and about $13 for dinner (I had packed a huge lunch of already-made hummus, pita, apple, and nuts, which took care of the day at the beach). Day at beach was priceless! I dozed, I thought about a song I was trying to finish, I walked, I stared at the waves crashing over the tumbling rocks, I collected a bunch of smooth egg-shaped rocks from the surf. I got sunburned.
At some point my phone rang and through the garbled message I realized it was the owner of the guitar shop pleading for help with something! I ignored it for a while, then decided to be helpful after all and found a place that got decent phone reception and attempted to help the guys out at the shop with a computer question. Arghhhhh!

I came home on Monday afternoon, after a beautiful, leisurely drive off the beaten track in the South Haven/Kalamazoo area. NOTHING beats Michigan on an early June day, really!

I don't have to start my new job until tomorrow (Friday) so I've been putzing around, doing things like repainting a china cabinet that I had originally painted purple (!) long ago. The paint supplies I got were certainly NOT frugal at all (about $38 so far) but since I have not done anything like this in years to fix up the house and its contents I figured it's been worth the splurge, now that I know that I will be staying in town and staying in my awesome townhouse. I should have that done by later today. Yesterday was a no drive/no spend day, and today I'm going to make it at least a no-drive day. I going to ride my bike down to the shopping I need to do, like get some veggies at the ethnic market, some stuff at TJ's. I'm going to take the bus downtown to get a refund for some Keens I ordered but can't get because they are out of stock until September. Other frugal things are watering my veggie garden, reading a lot (right now on a book called Waste, all about the horrible insane wastefulness of the food industry), watched Fork Over Knives, etc.

I'm really, really enjoying this week of no work and have absolutely no regrets and so much gratitude for being able to leave that CRAZY place!

bke

6-7-12, 11:42am

Well our finances are taking a real kick in the pants at the moment. The young couple that bought our house and then filed bankruptcy have officially told us they are moving out. This means we have to come up with the house payment, utilities and unhomesteaded taxes until we can sell it again. I"m going to have to refinance the restaurant to pull this off long-term in this lousy economy. It's amazing how quickly life can change and a person can go from being in a really good position to being back on the bottom of the heap.

On to the frugals:

I am entering every sweeps I can find this morning. Every bit helps!

I continue to do swag bucks and quad reader.

My parents have started saving coke caps for me-these can turn into nice x-mas presents or free soda down the line.

I continue to drink leftover coffee from work instead of brewing fresh. I don't mind it cold in the summer months.

The pool is full and has been chemically treated for lots of cheap summer entertainment.

Today is a no driving/spending day.

I am especially thankful for my stockpiles this week. They give me a chance to give my family some of the things that bring quality to life instead of just the basics.

Merski

6-7-12, 12:43pm

(((((((bke)))))))))

Mighty Frugal

6-7-12, 3:20pm

chrissieq

6-7-12, 7:41pm

Fidgiegirl - I'm an educational assistant in a special ed program (K-5).

Celebrated day 2 of vacation with day 2 of no spending!! Did some sewing using some vintage lace (got a huge bag for $1.50 at an estate sale last weekend), ate all my meals at home, picked up Entourage Season 7 at the library as well as canceling my Netflix subscription. Feeling optimistic!!

danna

6-7-12, 8:43pm

Jun 07
---sold steamer for clothes (one of those things I just had to have a few years back) $45.00
--coupon offer on Facebook BOGO for 4 boxes of cereal, I will wait for them to go on sale.(nice to have
when the grandson visit)
--another no spend day

mtnlaurel

6-7-12, 9:53pm

NOTHING beats Michigan on an early June day, really!

I saw this as I was goofing around on pinterest.com tonight and thought of you .... I'm so happy for you!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81wGE37Wt5L._AA1297_.jpg

Stella

6-7-12, 10:48pm

Hugs bke! That sounds stressful.

mntnlaurel I love that pillow! I'd love to make something like that for Minnesota.

I held my own in the new art supply section of Target. Soooooo tempted, but I really need to stop justifying spending money on art supplies for a while.

James' birthday is Monday so we are using a free pass we got to the Shoreview community center (thanks Kelli!) to take him and the big girls to the waterpark. Charlotte's Godmother is going to watch Travis and Charlotte. His party is going to be Monday night. I'm just going to bake a bunch of cupcakes, put some sprinkles on them, make some lemonade and hang out poolside with friends and neighbors. We got him a Captain America shield (all of the older kids are comic book nerds) and the Duplo farm. Dad got him a Big Wheel, keeping with his theme of buying bikes for the kids this year.

Cheyenne and Bella have filled their reward jars with marbles, so the following week we are going to have an ice cream social by the pool to celebrate. I have vanilla ice cream from Costco, Hershey's chocolate and strawberry syrups and sprinkles and they can invite some friends. It took them about 6 months to fill the jars. They get marbles for things like extra chores, voluntary extra studying, sorting Grandpa's socks and stuff like that, so they have earned this and it's not really all that expensive. I think it was about $15 for all of the stuff.

Oh, and in sort of related news, Zach got the job he wanted! He starts tomorrow. It's year-round, which is not something we are used to anymore, but I am looking forward to a few years of "normal". It's kind of exciting to think that I actually know how much money to anticipate from week to week and month to month now. I'm not used to that at all.

SiouzQ.

6-8-12, 7:39am

Thanks MtnLaurel, what a cool pillow! I am partial to the maps of our state "according" to Michiganders. When I have time I will find one and post it. The way Michiganders see their own state geographically speaking is pretty funny.

cdttmm

6-8-12, 8:25am

Stella --the pool parties sound like so much fun and I love the idea of an ice cream social! Good for your girls for working hard to earn that treat!

Managed to at least partially dry some laundry on the line between the bouts of rain. Good thing, too, because it doesn't look like the weather is going to cooperate today either! Managed to have another pretty frugal day by just eating what we have in the house and no unnecessary spending.

Posted some books on paperbackswap.com. I'm hoping to get some of the books I need for the new book discussion group that I'm leading from there, so having some more credits would be good!

Ate some more cherry tomatoes from the garden last night. I love fresh produce and can't wait until everything else starts producing so that I can start eating it!

Stella

6-8-12, 12:39pm

cdttmm I am anxiously awaiting the fruits of the garden too. My kids worked so hard on it. It's going to be fun seeing their work pay off.

I made up a budget today. I think we are going to go to the envelope system over the summer as a challenge to stay on track. I need to be more aware of our spending and I am awful about tracking, so this is an easier way of doing it.

bke

6-8-12, 3:15pm

Thanks for the support. We know we'll be ok in the long run. Frankly, we just hate the idea of going back to scrimping on everything! This last year has been so nice-paying off debts and still having enough to kind of relax and enjoy ourselves. I'm kind of irritated now because the bank can't even decide who has to deal with us. Apparently its about an hours drive for a commercial loan officer to deal with us-poor babies! No one has returned my call and set up an appointment. Gotta love living in the middle of no where!

Congrats to SouzQ. and Zach on the new jobs!

On a positive note, today is a no driving /spending day. Plus there is still plenty of money left in the weekly budget because we needed so little this week!

Something else I did-I went to the book store the other day and found a few interesting books but none tht were worthy of purchase. Today I requested 2 of these from the library saving the $20-30 it would have cost to buy them.

Have a great weekend everyone!

bke

6-9-12, 9:00pm

Today was another no driving/spending day. Dh made pizza to satisfy my craving and then we spent some quality family time in and around the pool in the back yard. Its almost 90 here today and absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Now dh is getting ready to watch the Heat play ball, ds is entertaining himself and well, here I am.

So I mentioned earlier in the week that I got my house back and am having to do some re-financing to manage all my debt at the moment. The bank hasn't returned my call-they won't even set up an appointment! The lady I spoke with said that she would get back to me after she figured out who was responsible (which branch) for dealing with people in my area. (WTF?)

Coincidentally, my father is about to sell one of his houses and is going to have a large sum of money to invest. Well, he can't get over 5% for his investments and I was looking at re-financing at 8% so we talked and I managed to negotiate a deal where I pay him 6.5% interest to refinance everything (the house and restaurant)!!!! No balloon, tops $100 in fees, and I can pay it off in full, without penalty or hearing any complaints from him at anytime I am able to pull it off!!! He started off by offering to finance things at 8% and I would save the bank fees, then decided he could go to 7 since the economy is so bad. I finally was brave enough to counter offer and asked for six percent. In the end, we settled right in the middle at 6.5%. I'm so proud of myself for negotiating terms and not just letting him set all the rules for our business deal. In the past I've always just been appreciative and never tried to stand up for myself when it comes to him and money.

Sorry for making this so long but I'm just so darned proud and excited! I figure I saved a minimum of $5,000 and possibly more by working things out this was. That's a pretty good frugal. Plus my monthly payments won't increase on the loan and I can concentrate on paying the mimimal utilities and the taxes on the house until it sells. Once it does sell, all the money we make will go towards paying off the contract to my dad!!! AAANNNDDDDD... we don't have to start scrimping to pay our bills-we can continue to live just as we have since we did the remodeling project and moved!

danna

6-9-12, 9:02pm

June 9
--Got more coupons for BOGO and used some--these are really great if I wait till items are on sale---
--used a $5.00 off chicken and the package had an extra $2.00 in store coupon--good size package ended up being $2.00
--the produce mark down was very good stuff and really marked down...ripe and green bananas, 2 kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers,
radishes, and mushrooms. Lots of variety, I don't usually find much on these racks but, yesterday was a real winfall.

fidgiegirl

6-9-12, 9:12pm

Great news, bke! A win-win all around. Will you try to sell the house outright? (Didn't you have a rent-to-own kind of scenario before?)

Here, kind of a boring day. I went to a 5K and almost passed on my t-shirt since I didn't really like it but got one for DH instead. It was too hot for a 5K today but we did pretty well. Now doing some garden dreaming and going for a walk soon. We need to do something fun tomorrow.

Rosemary

6-9-12, 9:15pm

Picked 5 quarts of strawberries and about 3# of sugar snap and snow peas yesterday.
Went hiking at a state park today with DD and DH. Packed lunch along, of course.

cjones

6-10-12, 6:02pm

Stella: Good for you at the art store. I tend to justify book buying, simply because books are a good thing--I imagine you must feel like that about art supplies---and we're both right!! BUTTTT---it alllll adds up!! I tried out a new audiobook series that I can download for free from the library and I like it, so that will help me survive until my next Audible credit comes up.

Bke: Congratulations to you, that must have taken real gumption. Way to go.

chrissieq

6-10-12, 7:20pm

Friday was day #3 of vacation and all I spent was $20 for some deli salads and baking items for a dinner with friends that we hosted. We roasted a turkey that night, shredded a lot of it and heated in the crock pot with BBQ sauce - yummy!! - no $ spent on Saturday and just lunch out today.

I am going to Trader Joe's with DD tomorrow to buy her some groceries - she is committed to making as many meals as possible this summer. It's hard for her because she lives with 3 friends who don't cook, have no interest in cooking and don't seem to care about the kitchen.

Then I'm going to hit the ground running catching up on errands and projects that have been waiting in the wings!!

bke

6-10-12, 7:38pm

fidgiegirl-we were selling the house on a land contract. X amount down and so much a month with a 5 year balloon. Their income exceeds ours by about 40% so really, in my opinion, there was no reason for them to give the house back. Oh well, the house they're going to rent is right around the corner from the restaurant so we're trying to stay friendly. No reason for long term negativity! This time dh has agreed to list it with a realtor and to let her take on most of the responsibility during the selling process. This time we will demand payment it full. On a positive note, we are listing the house with a long-term customer of ours so it will be nice to put some money in her pocket for a change.

Dh was so hot and tired after work tonight that all he could think about was a cold milkshake. We used some more of the McD's coupons and the three of us had dinner, including milkshakes for less than $10.

Afterwards, we went to the dollar store and picked up some much needed cleaning supplies and other odds and ends for a total of $33 on my gift card.

lucas

6-11-12, 10:21am

Hi frugal friends,

Stella, I know just what you're talking about... with me it's not the 'big' expenses that damage my finances so much as the little indulgences... the steady drip-drip-drip of coffees and 'little extras' at the supermarket add up to major amounts as the weeks and months roll by... Last year I kept detailed records of my spending, and at the end of the year I was stunned to see it wasn't 'luxury' items that were killing my accounts, but all the little things (not to say luxury items don't have an impact - they do! - but my spending on little indulgences added up to way more over the course of the year... This week I'm trying to cut out unnecessary spending - I'm following the guidelines on 'necessity scoring' for purchases from the book 'to buy or not to buy'... breaking habits is always uncofomfortable at first, but I know it gets easier pretty quick... I'll keep you all posted!

I'm also working on setting up a new support group meeting in skype for people who have problems with compuslive spending, so if anyone here is a 'recovering shopper', please feel free to drop me a line! I hope you're all well and having a peaceful, joyous and frugal day..

Hugs,
Luke

Stella

6-12-12, 3:34pm

Checking in here quickly. Summer is in full swing here at the Monkey House. :) Things are a little crazy with Zach's new job and me taking on an extra kid during the day, but it's mostly fun crazy.

James' actual birthday party was last night. Cupcakes and lemonade at the pool. It doesn't get much simpler and cheaper than that and he had a fantastic time. Bella's birthday is next month and the kids' honourary grandma told me that she is ordering the cake. Bella is named after this grandma, so they have kind of a special connection.

The kids spent the morning swimming, playing at the playground and smashing rocks with a hammer to see what they looked like on the inside. Good cheap fun. They have also decided to form a neighborhood book club for kids. One of the older kids (a 13 year old) is the organizer. He brought the stories he's been writing over today for me to read. We're thinking of maybe doing some writing exercises as a group too. Again, good cheap fun.

I seem to have firmly established myself as Fun Mom and as such have been inundated with suggestions from kids (mine and others) for things we should do this summer. I am making a suggestion box for them to put their suggestions into so we can plan these things instead of trying to do too much at once. I'm totally up for projects like fossil digging, soap making, fishing, building a go-cart and electronics building, but we're going to have to space this stuff out. I'm considering registering as a 4H group since I seem to have a group of at least half a dozen to a dozen kids interested in doing stuff together. Then we could possibly do some fund-raising. It also gives the kids a way of putting this on future job or school applications as an extra curricular activity.

This Thursday we are going to see a movie with Zach's K of C group. The tickets were $3.50 each and my friend is babysitting for free. Saturday is card night with our friends and a week from Friday is my neighborhood women's cooking group. All FFF (Fairly Frugal Fun, for newcomers).

LilyB

6-14-12, 9:56pm

There was a book I needed for research for an article I am writing. It wasn't available at any of the libraries in our circulation area. I put in a request for the book to be sent from a larger city library in the state. Last time I had to do this I had to pay $4 to have the book sent to our library. This time it is free, although I can only keep it two weeks.

That's a savings of $4. It would have been $26 if I had to purchase it.

Then I stopped at my alma mater to do some research on distance learning and found I can still borrow material from there for free, and I graduated almost 30 years ago. Who knew?

I'm going to check if my husband can still borrow from the two universites he got his degrees from since we are in driving distance to both.

Love those libraries!

fidgiegirl

6-14-12, 10:53pm

That's a great discovery, LilyB! Thanks very much for the idea! I should check into my alma mater as well. Never thought of that . . . and it's closer to our house than either branch library - and likely with better hours! It's about a mile away from our house.

brooklynn

6-15-12, 10:41pm

Rejoining after an absence of several years. My how time flies!! Will start written records July 1 and will spend most of this month "reacquainting" myself with the Forums. Been letting things slide for too long.

danna

6-16-12, 8:58am

June 16
--went yardsaling and only spent $1.00 on a "Slap Chop" as seen on TV guizzmo that I am sure I don't need but, get to try it out for$1.00 good deal to me....and the cutest set on utensils for cheese and dips etc. 8 pc bigger then the usual size (not a size I have ever seen before) made to look like old bone but, not for $1.00......a passport cover for $.25 and that is all I spent. Very good for me........
--going to a BBQ tonight and had everything I needed in the house to make my very good nacho dip, with nachco chips.
--getting a drive so no gas...
--my physio and massage therapy have really worked to help my back/leg so the co payment was worth it and I have learnt all the excerises and am doing them at home.....so I don't need to keep going.
--bought a little summer and two winter hats for great nephew on sale (Zellars closing it's doors on Sunday) 3 for $3.50 so that will be 3 gifts for him. Don't get to see him often so it is nice to have a little something when I do.
--Sold 2 more items on Kijiji for $40.00 and still listing more
--met one friend this week for coffee and used a Groupon deal to treat us both (she is having a hard time and really appreciated it)
--met another friend for lunch but, just bought a slice of pizza for $4.50----I am realizing I need to get out and spend time with people.
--Grandson's Birthday today so just sent him an Amazon Gift Card and an e-mail card....no shipping cost or card costs that way.

fidgiegirl

6-16-12, 1:07pm

Hey I wonder where my last post went?

Danna, keep rockin' it . . .

Welcome back, Brooklynn!

I switched our Internet to Comcast. We had been using Clear since we moved, but it isn't fast enough, and we don't have the right wireless router, so we're tethered to the table. This stinks since we both have iPads from work that we can't use at home without wireless. Anyway! We'll save $10 a month, though there were some setup costs (hookup, + cost of buying a router). I am hoping to score the router I want off of CL. We'll see if the guy contacts me. We'll save $30-$50 if I can get it. Otherwise will put in an order on Amazon.

I feel proud of the whole process because I told the chat representative to cut out the hard sell crap and answer my questions, and the person did so. I was able to see that the introductory offer is really not a good one in the long run and went with a lower level of service at its ultimate cost right off the bat. It's likely all we'll need, and if it's not, we'll change it up later on.

Big accomplishment for me. Big companies literally make me so anxious I feel it physically. I just detest the masking of costs and the hard sell. HATE IT. So that I survived and am still smiling is a good thing.

Now we'll just see if we get it hooked up without any hiccups . . .

cdttmm

6-16-12, 2:34pm

Finally, a few frugals to report! Mailed off another paperbackswap.com book and posted another one this morning. I noticed that the one I posted is on a member's wish list, so hopefully the member still wants it and I will be able to send it off next week. I went to Michael's and bought some decorative curly bamboo for the giant pots we have outside the front door. I used up the remainder of a long standing gift card so paid only $1.07 out of pocket. Almost stopped at Home Depot to get some spray paint for another project and realized that I probably have enough various colors of spray paint at home in the garage that I can do the project without having to buy any more. The weather is really beautiful today so perhaps I'll spray paint today! Doing a few loads of laundry so that I can hang them on the line and take advantage of the free solar energy to dry everything! I've been drinking from my very large stash of tea and I'm finally making a significant dent in the stockpile -- not buying tea has definitely made my recent grocery shopping expeditions cheaper! Still going without A/C and it's the middle of June. Our electric bill thanks us! With our solar panels we have managed to have 3 months worth of electric bills with a negative balance -- woot!!! Okay, I think that's all for now!

fidgiegirl

6-16-12, 2:38pm

Awesome, cdttmm! I was using paperbackswap for a while but realized it was costing me more than it was saving me because I was posting, not to sound snotty, but really nice, recent, popular books and the kinds of books I wanted just usually weren't available to get from anyone else. I think I still do have a few credit floating around in there but it occurred to me that it wouldn't really be beneficial to have more than 1 or 2 credits available at any one time. Now if you like different genres than I do, it could be really worth it. I just didn't find it to be particularly so. We are getting good use out of the Little Free Library up the street. I have scored a few books out of there but I didn't put any back, I passed them on to a friend. No worries, though. At some point I will have some to contribute back into it, that's for sure. Always happens!

The guy agreed to sell me the modem, yippee. I will combine the trip to pick it up with a stop at my fave thrift store later this afternoon.

rosarugosa

6-16-12, 5:16pm

Nice to have you, Brooklynn!
Good work standing your ground, Kelli. I hope it all comes together for you.
Dana: Sounds like you’re doing a good job getting out and seeing folks while limiting your expenditures. Spending time with people you care about is always worth a few bucks unless you’re in the extreme destitution range, which I believe most of us fortunately are not.
Cdttmm: I’m on a chamomile tea kick at the moment. I usually drink Darjeeling, but it’s nice to have something without caffeine available so I can drink it at night without it keeping me awake. I'm far from a connoisseur though. What kinds of teas do you like?
I was off from work this week, and as far as frugality goes, we had the good, the bad, and the ugly. I believe I’ll focus on the good, and sort of gloss over the other stuff :)
I did some planned shopping with my free Macy’s gift cards, also bought plants for the garden and some potting soil. Didn’t get carried away at the garden centers, which is all too easy for me to do. Went to a local discount store and scored good deals on cards and some misc items that were all useful or necessary. I went to Whole Foods because I needed liquid castile soap, and mumble, mumble, gloss, gloss, let’s just say there was nothing frugal about that little errand! :|(
We did our one-nighter in Portland. Our room was a reward night, but we spent a lot on meals. However, they were such excellent meals that we considered it money well spent. We drank mead for the first time, and we had wonderful lobster spring rolls in rice paper, as well as other delicious things.
Cdttmm: Where do you buy the rice paper wrappers? I remember that you were trying to use some up. We would like to try to recreate the lobster spring rolls at home. I did some shopping in Portland as always, but I was pretty restrained, and most of the items I bought are gifts for upcoming birthdays or xmas. I do generally plan to do some shopping when in Portland because there are so many great stores. I would rather spend my money at cool little independent shops than at the mall.

Merski

6-16-12, 6:38pm

OOOh! Rosarugosa we love Portland! One of best meals I've ever had in my life was at Walter's (I think that's the name) it was lunch on my Birthday a few years ago.

rosarugosa

6-16-12, 7:42pm

Hey Merski! I'll have to keep Walter's in mind. For some reason,we've never made it there, although I've always heard good things about it. There are just so many good restaurants and we're usually only there for a night or two, so we can only consume a finite number of meals. The place where we had dinner this time was Bibo's Madd Apple Cafe, up in the Arts District off Congress St. That's another place we've wanted to try for years, and we finally got around to it.
We're big fans of the Regency's Old Port Getaway weekend in the winter. It's about $300. for 2 people for 2 nights with full breakfast each morning. Lately though, we've been staying at the Holiday Inn by the Bay because we've been using our Priority Visa and we can get our room for between $0 - $60 per night, and the view of the bay is wonderful. It's fun and frugal to shop at Reny's too, which is near the HI. I bought a few things, including a pair of shorts for DH, and I only spent $17.00. Those are my frugal Portland tips!

Stella

6-16-12, 8:13pm

Soooooo tired tonight, but I thought I'd check in. Zach had mega overtime today, which is offset a bit by the fact that I am ordering groceries to be delivered ($5 fee) instead of going to the store and we ordered a Father's Day pizza tonight, but we still come out way ahead of where we'd be if he didn't take the OT. We're having a nice evening at home. I made a pie for dessert, which we ate before dinner. If the kids all go down nicely Zach and I might hit the pool.

We were going to go out and do something tomorrow, but Cheyenne injured her foot in a bike accident, so we'll have to see. It might be sprained. If it is I think we'll just swim at home. Now that Zach has a predictable job with reasonably predictable hours and pay we are making Sunday afternoon Family Time. We're going to budget a certain amount each month. Some weeks will be free stuff, like the pool or beach or canoeing or rollerblading. Some weeks we'll spend money. If we stay under budget the extra will go into our travel fund, so that's kind of an incentive.

Speaking of our travel fund, we have hatched a pretty crazy plan to attempt to take the family to Italy for Dad's 70th birthday. Dad would greatly enjoy seeing the Vatican and Asissi (he is a Franciscan) and it would be fun for us too. Dad is 64, so we have time to save, but we also have a big family. It's going to take some cash. It's a good incentive to save.

bunnys

6-16-12, 8:35pm

Dad is a Franciscan? As is monk? Priest? I don't get it...

fidgiegirl

6-16-12, 10:45pm

It's pretty incredible, though, Stella (as you well know) how those big goals CAN happen when everyone is invested and on board. Have to remember that for DH and I, too. I'd like to pay off the mortgages. But can we find the way to do this? Hmmmm . . .

Hope Cheyenne's foot recovers soon.

I'm glad bunnys asked, because I've always been curious to know what you've meant by your dad being a Franciscan. :D

I ended up getting the modem. Corky and I enjoyed an outing to a great dog park but it was really muddy from the rain and he is super pooped from all of it. DSis and DBiL and I went mini golfing. We also had DQ. And they brought me a carry out burger. All in all today cost me about $20. Hmm, I could have passed on the burger ($10). But the rest was so good, and so fun . . .

Tomorrow for father's day we are going to grill. This will be 1) less expensive than a restaurant and 2) less anxiety-ridden for me because of my dietary needs. Plus I can clean up my parents' porch in preparation for the outdoor dining which will be kind of a bonus gift, and free. I will head up in the morning so we can grill for a late lunch.

Rosemary

6-17-12, 6:20am

We're also cooking at home for father's day... the more I cook at home, the less I want to eat at restaurants, for multiple reasons... food sensitivities, ingredient quality (nothing tops our current garden-fresh produce!), time, cost, health...

DD and I spent some of our savings from not eating out at a local knitting and beading store that is, sadly, closing its doors soon and clearing everything out. They have lovely supplies and craft time is together time for us. Still.. I have to classify it as a want, not a need.. but we're already using some of the things we bought.

Our fabulous spring weather continues and we've used neither heat nor a/c in a long time.

Stella

6-17-12, 9:22am

Dad is a Franciscan? As is monk? Priest? I don't get it...

He is a tertiary (third order) Franciscan. It's a professed lay member of the Franciscan order. They take vows to live according to the rule, which is similar to the rule for friars except you can be married and you live in your own home. They meet with the brothers for formation (study) regularly, pray the daily office (morning prayer, office of readings, noon prayer, evening prayer and night prayer. Dad gives huge chunks of his income to various charities and spends a lot of his free time volunteering. Lots of famous people have been tertiaries. Dante Allighieri, I believe and Saint Louis Rey, off the top of my head.

reader99

6-17-12, 1:37pm

reader99

6-17-12, 1:51pm

razz

6-17-12, 1:53pm

Well, on Friday evening we tried a lake perch fish fry which was a fundraiser for a local church but had to walk away and leave most of it. It did not agree with either of us but we said, OK, we made a donation to a worthy cause.

Yesterday, I was able to get some sardines on sale for 47 cents a can which is about a third off the usual price so now DH and I are set for one of the fish dishes we should have twice a week. I also got some frozen imitation crab, leftover inventory from the low sale price earlier in the month, I think. We both enjoy this in chunks dipped into a homemade seafood sauce made of ketchup and horseradish with a dash of Worcestershire sauce. It is so much better than the sauce one can buy.

rosarugosa

6-17-12, 3:12pm

Hey Razz, What do you do with the sardines? I feel like I should like them, but I never have. I expect that I could like them if we did something clever with them.

Stella

6-17-12, 6:50pm

It's pretty incredible, though, Stella (as you well know) how those big goals CAN happen when everyone is invested and on board. Have to remember that for DH and I, too. I'd like to pay off the mortgages. But can we find the way to do this? Hmmmm . . .

Go for it Kelli! You could totally do it.

We are grilling steaks for Father's Day. Steaks for us, hot dogs for the kids.

Mom called last night and asked me what she is supposed to give James for his birthday, which was last week. I have thought about it and she is going to pay for us to take him on a train ride. That will be a Family Day activity, probably the week after next.

Next week is the National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard campout. We are trying to organize an event for a big group of kids. We are thinking we'd go fishing, do some swimming, hit the Parish picnic for dinner and in the evening and in the evening the older kids can go out and canoe and I will take the littler kids to the beach to play at the playground there.

I have some projects planned for the week relating to this. Zach is going to build a canoe carrier with some kids on Saturday morning. We got the wheels at AxMan today and we will use more of the old paneling for the wood. I also got some $1 t-shirts for my kids at AxMan. I am going to ask the other kids who want to participate to get a t-shirt and we can decorate them with my fabric markers for the event.

I got a handsaw for the teen I am watching as a birthday present. He was complaining about the lack of a handsaw last week and AxMan had them for $2. We'll go over some safety rules, but I think he'll like it.

Another cheap kid project for the week is something I found on Pinterest. Basically you microwave Ivory soap and then mix it with water and press it into molds to make soap shapes. It's dirt cheap and I think it will entertain everyone. I also made some playdough for my kids.

We went out for ice cream today and learned that if the kids can memorize the Pledge of Allegiance by July they can get a free ice cream cone from a local ice cream shop. They love to memorize stuff, so they are excited to try.

razz

6-17-12, 7:30pm

Hey Razz, What do you do with the sardines? I feel like I should like them, but I never have. I expect that I could like them if we did something clever with them.

I always try to get the sardines that come in a tomato sauce which gives them a good flavour. I carefully take them out of the tin and remove the main bone down the back of each one as these bones and those in salmon make me gag.
I mash it up and place it on toast circles with a large mixed salad with sundried tomato dressing. It all seems to go together somehow and we both like it.
I have to confess that I am not keen on the plain sardines though - too bland, I think.

fidgiegirl

6-17-12, 8:07pm

We had a great Father's Day. My brother, sister and her hubby took my dad golfing, and I went to my parents' house and got the patio all straightened up, put some potatoes in foil packets on the grill, then made some brownies and prepped the corn and put steaks on so that pretty much it was all ready when they came back from golfing. My contribution was the steaks and potato chips and a few brats. That wasn't cheap, but it wasn't more than eating our own food in a restaurant + treating my dad would have been, and it basically fed everyone. I used my parents' potatoes and my sister/BiL bought some of the food which I then prepared while they were on the course (I don't enjoy golfing very much, so it was really a win-win). It was a really pleasant afternoon. My dad really liked the whole day.

Off to the grocery store now on my bike! Going to prep some kind of cold salad for the next 3 days for lunches. I only have 3 days left of work for this school year and we have a big event going on for 2 of it, so I need something fast and easy and not have to worry about if I will be able to eat the catered food.

rosarugosa

6-17-12, 8:28pm

Kelli & Stella: Glad your Father's Day celebrations were a success. We went to see DFIL at the nursing home which isn't fun exactly, but he seems quite contented, and it was nice to have 6 of us sitting around the table visiting with him in the dining area.
Razz: Thanks for the info; I didn't know they sold them in tomato sauce. I hate the bones too, so that is also useful information!

bke

6-17-12, 9:47pm

Rosa-my husband, who is hispanic, likes to eat the sardines in tomato sauce on soft corn tortillas with cilantro and chopped onion. It might sound weird but its quite tasty.

Father's day was very quiet for us personally. Well, busy at work but quiet on the home front. We had dinner with my parents last night (they left town today and we won't see them again for possibly a year). I have mixed emotions about them leaving. I had a really nice visit with my father this time-lots of mutual respect for a change.

Anyways, frugals:

I won a free package of Nathan's hotdogs on a sweeps. Ds is looking forward to those!

I went to Riteaid last week to use some free candy bar coupons that I had left over from sweeps. THey were B1G1. Anyways I founds some others with coupons on them that made them free. There are now 20 free candy bars in our stockpile. Not exactly health food but the price was very good.

Ds and I have been using the library for lots of free entertainment this summer. Books, dvds, etc.

I bought 2 used bikes a few weeks ago for $20. The other day all three of us went on a nice bike ride together which is a first. We've never had enough bikes for all of us to go at once.

I watered the plants today and discovered the first of the tomato blossoms! Yeah! The cilantro is growing cute little cilantro leaves and the peppers are a few days ahead of the tomatoes. We're gonna have tons of pico de gallo this summer and even more pepper sauce this winter! This is our first year of growing our own.

We continue to stockpile sales items that we know will be used over time saving a few dollars wherever we can. Cereal and canned pasta like ravioli (ds likes this) to name a couple of items. I have no problem with buying 6-8 boxes of cereal at a time and/or a case of canned goods. I'm finding that ds is a bottemless pit these days and is eating groceries as quickly as I can buy them anyways!

Stella

6-18-12, 9:18am

I woke up this morning at 5AM with Miss Lottie and she went back to sleep, but I didn't. Instead I made some homemade granola bars for breakfast. They are quite simple, just oats, peanuts, honey, peanut butter and chocolate chips, but they are tasty and cheap.

I am feeling back in my frugal groove again. Newborn time always messes with me. Between the pre-birth nesting and the post-birth exhaustion it's never the most frugal of times. Charlotte has slept through the night four nights in a row now, so I am feeling a bit more like myself again.

Zach found out this weekend that OT is pretty much always available, but optional at his new job. Since we can plan for it, we are thinking we'll try doing some OT every other weekend for a while and put half of it in savings.

I got some free raspberries and blueberries from a friend of mine. About a pint of each. She picked them from her backyard.

DarkStar

6-18-12, 5:36pm

I got free blueberries today from a friend. It was a no-car, no-spend day. I'm working on having more of those, because so far this month has been not at all frugal. There's a music festival coming up that I want to attend, but I may stick to the free acts, and skip the $20 wristband. I'll decide when I see the whole line-up in a couple of days. I'll try to take my own water and snacks, too, I think.

rosarugosa

6-18-12, 7:34pm

Thanks BKE, I'm definitely going to have to give sardines another try.
Stella & DarkStar: Oh, free berries! The best I can claim is a good deal on blueberries at Market Basket.
I want to challenge myself to save up $1000 from my allowance. It seems I have psychological range in terms of what I'll save. For a while, any time I got much about $200, I would spend it down to $200. and then build it up again. I challenged myself to increase this threshhold, and for the past year, I've gotten so that $500. seems to be "the number." So I want to push it to $1000. First of all for the exercise in financial discipline, and secondly to see if I can save enough on my own to make a more meaningful type of purchase - maybe a home improvement, small trip, or something along those lines. So right now, I'm at $660.

Rosemary

6-18-12, 9:16pm

I made a batch of sour cherry-strawberry jam today. I finally got the answers to my questions about low-sugar jams, and this is a really tasty batch with far less sugar than most. Recipe yielded a partial jar for us to use and 5 for gifting and storage. The minimal supplies I had to buy to make jams are paid for after this batch, because all-organic, low-sugar jam is really costly.

It's an exceptional year in our garden. Peas and berries are abundant! The black raspberries and red currants are coming in now. Our grapevine is bearing for the first time, too - those will be fun to try!

DD had free entertainment with a library summer program today.

I haven't been posting on the cook-at-home challenge recently but we haven't been eating out at all. It's just easier, tastier, and healthier to eat at home - plus safer with my digestive issues. Our focus now is on eating down the big freezer in our garage so we can turn it off for the summer, which I do every year. It saves at least $10/month in utility bills in those months when the garage is really hot.

danna

6-18-12, 10:32pm

June 19
---doesn't seem frugal but I put an ad on Kijiji for free boxwood hedges and hostas for the digging and now 6 large hedges that I would have had to pay to have removed are gone (it took 1 1/2 hours of labour to remove them) so I did not have to pay, my yard looks much better and a nice young family man trying to save money got something he needed... win .....win....
Serveral people have come for the hostas...when we bought this house they ran the entire length of the property and had not been thinned out like forever.....last year when I got people to dig them out for me...just a few nice healthy ones grew back...again win...win
---been getting lots of coupons in the mail...great way to help the food budget
---NO good deals on berries yet will need to start looking...
--Price matching so we don't need to drive to get the deals.

iris lily

6-18-12, 11:32pm

We picked plums in the community garden orchard and they are spectacular! The blackberries will soon be ripe too, but they are a particularly sour variety.

lizii

6-19-12, 3:02am

Tonight I had a dinner of a huge bowl of our local strawberries. I wait until our local strawberries are available to pig out on, since they are so fresh and much sweeter than imported from south of the border, which arrive here still unripe and need lots of sugar to make them edible. Delicious!

It was a delightful treat.

brooklynn

6-19-12, 8:37am

Blueberries are at their lowest in my area. Flash froze 5 pounds and now they are in the freezer awaiting winter use!

Mighty Frugal

6-19-12, 12:37pm

I am being well supplied with veggies from my mom's garden-so we're enjoying loads of fresh produce for free!

My biggest frugal was that I won 3rd prize for a work driven contest. I was able to buy 2 $100 gift cert. One was sensible ($100 at Canadian Tire-like home Depot) and one was fun ($100 for any Best Western Hotel) so we can take the kids on a weekend trip this year or next year and the hotel is covered!

Stella

6-19-12, 3:57pm

I exploded soap in the microwave. It was a cheap way to entertain the troops on this super hot day. As I type this I have a cake pan of water and plastic animals in the freezer waiting for the little kids to wake up so we can dig them out with plastic tools and water. We're having some good, free fun.

We were going to go out last night, but got tired and went to bed instead. Good thing too, because the storm ended Lottie's sleeping streak.

I'm thinking of doing some theme weeks with the kids. This week is camp week and next week is VBS. The week after they want to do a spy week. We'll make invisible ink from lemon juice, a periscope from a milk carton, learn morse code and go on a "mission" at the park, collecting clues to lead us to... I don't know. I haven't figured that part out yet. The mission is the fun part.

I'm thinking it could be fun to do a water week too. We could have a water balloon fight, break out the slip and slide and make a sprinkler from a pop bottle. We'll see how it goes.

Mighty Frugal

6-19-12, 4:25pm

Hey Stella-I used to do that with the frozen plastic figures! Sometimes I'd add a drop or two of food colouring-not sure why but it made it more fun! They even liked to take it with them into the bathtub-the warm water melted it quickly and fun to pry out with their hands

chickpea30

6-19-12, 6:29pm

Instead of meeting for dinner at a "trendy Downtown Chicago restaurant" with family that came in from out of town (and spending $20+/per person + tip + $12 for parking) I brought dessert to my cousin's home in the city and were able to socialize together there.

fidgiegirl

6-19-12, 6:59pm

Awesome, chickpea30!

brooklynn

6-20-12, 12:55pm

Cook-at-home Challenge??? Where's that on the Forum? Sounds interesting.....bet there are some good improvised recipes on it!

bunnys

6-20-12, 2:53pm

I just saved $25 bucks per month on my internet!

I have internet only (since I cancelled cable nearly 2 years ago.) Today I got an email from Verizon confirming that I'd subscribed to some online gaming package to the tune of $15 bucks per month. So I called them. Come to find out I already had the gaming package and I was also paying for security for 10 bucks more. I have an old computer that I don't even use and the one I currently use (my work laptop) already has security on it. So I cancelled both.

The result is that I'm getting FIOS Internet only for $50 bucks per month bc I've had it so long I'm grandfathered into my rate and it won't go up unless I add internet back or phone or some combo of that sort. New customers who have internet only are paying over $80 per month!

I have been debating whether or not I should get cable back when I get a TV eventually. Well, my decision has just been made. No way! I'll just watch the free channels and figure out some way (I know you can do this) to hook my laptop up to the TV so I can stream cable shows from the Internet to my TV.

fidgiegirl

6-20-12, 6:23pm

brooklynn, I believe it has been a monthly challenge thread, but I haven't seen one for June. Perhaps no one got it going this month. Check under the "Dailies and Challenges" forum or the in Food for past threads.

I almost went out for lunch but scavenged something up at work. I forgot mine at home and will likely have to throw it out. I made too much food for several days for just me, was going to take it to work to share, and forgot it. Man, I hate that!!!

frugal-one

6-20-12, 7:25pm

Speaking of cable... got current month's bill and was billed $35 more per month. Called and got it put back to the original price plus received a free DVR (Digital Video Recorder). Every year they try to raise the monthly rate and every year they lower it. I guess many people just pay it and not question when the bill goes up????

bke

6-21-12, 11:44am

Yesterday was very sucessful shopping wise.

I purchased 4 boxes of popcorn for no cost at Riteaid.

I purchased 6 boxes of Macaroni and cheese from Walgreens for 57 cents.

I took the electric razor I had won, with proof that it came from the Walmart corporation and requested an in store credit for it since no one in my family was interested in it. No problem-they gave me a gift card for $63. I spent it stocking up on things I know we'll use like shampoo, tomato sauce, beans, wine, etc.

We're finding it very nice to have a large seletion of food on hand to supplement what we normally eat.

fidgiegirl

6-21-12, 12:00pm

I took the electric razor I had one, with proof that it came from the Walmart corporation and requested an in store credit for it since no one in my family was interested in it. No problem-they gave me a gift card for $63. I spent it stocking up on things I know we'll use like shampoo, tomato sauce, beans, wine, etc.

Nice! You never know until you ask.

fidgiegirl

6-21-12, 12:53pm

Bummed, guys! I have to go into work to wrap up some things today. I had planned to take the plunge and bike (10 mi. each way). Then I realized I have to bring home a box of iPads for a training session I'm doing next week on the other side of the Cities. :( Can't strap them on my bike, and not worth it to make an additional trip BACK to work in the car. So in the car I go, and I guess my riding later today will be recreational. I always push so much better with a distance, and I wouldn't have had to spend gas. Too bad I didn't think of it yesterday and bring the iPads then. Oh well!!

Stella

6-21-12, 2:31pm

Bummer about the biking Kelli. Today is a perfect day for it too.

bke, that is really great that they let you return the razor!

I canceled the DVD portion of our Netflix today. We don't really use it much. Between streaming and Apple TV most of the movies we'd want to watch are available anyway.

I took the kids out this morning to Tamarack Nature Center. They have a really nice nature play area there. We had a blast and all three little kids are down for a nap now. I think I might brave a smallish field trip once a week. We'll save big stuff for Family Day, but small, free trips like nature centers, parks and even Como Zoo would be OK.

Zach asked if it would be OK if he worked an extra hour tonight, since his boss is working. He doesn't have to, but it would make a good impression. Since I am likely going to get a nap this afternoon I was fine with it. Extra money.

The kids wanted hot dogs and edamame for lunch. The edamame needed to be used up, so that was good. Tonight I'm making asparagus and bacon fritatta for dinner to use up some asparagus. Tomorrow is spinach pies to use up some spinach.

Tomorrow is my Women Who Cook group. We are having a patio party at someone's house. I am bringing a dessert. Initially I was thinking strawberry shortcake, but I have a loaf of french bread to use up, so now I'm thinking bread pudding. The husbands of the WWC get together at a restaurant and this time they are getting together afterwards for ping-pong. They are going to an Indian restaurant, which shouldn't be too bad expense-wise for just Zach. A friend of mine is babysitting for free. All in all it's a pretty inexpensive good time.

Saturday is our backyard campout and card night. Good times.

I'm feeling really motivated on the frugality front for some reason. I think it's that I have goals again. When I lack goals I lack focus.

fidgiegirl

6-21-12, 5:17pm

Ok, going out on the bike now though! I have to go to two different library branches and might hit the river trail. The river is the BEST thing about having moved. We are only about six blocks from the trail system now. We never accessed it before.

try2bfrugal

6-22-12, 12:32am

For June -

We refinanced our mortgage to a lower rate.
I used my cash back points from Discover to buy Sam's gift cards at a discount and then used those for groceries.
Our credit union has $50 bonuses for referring new customers so my kids are each going to open accounts.
We switched our trash to a smaller can size.
I dropped collision insurance on our kids' cars and upped the deductible on our homeowners policy.
Tonight I had three steamers going to make ahead chicken, vegetables and rice for cheap, healthy meals tomorrow.
On the weekend we went to a play with inexpensive, unsold seat tickets.

Long term we have been going to open houses and I think we have found where we want to live. So next year we plan to downsize to a smaller, newer (less maintenance) one story home in a little less urban area. We have to declutter first before we can sell our current house so that will take some time.

fidgiegirl

6-22-12, 1:55pm

Went garage sale-ing this morning!

For resale: electronic foot pedal for a sewing machine. They go for about $20-$25, paid .50. That was the only resale item I bought today . . .

For us:
Teeeeeeeeny little French press (for me or for guests.) It must be an 8 oz. one. Bodum. $2
2 paperbacks for beach or camping trips - $1
Bobbins for my sister .25
Shelf for the garage $10
Tiny screwdriver for hubby .25
Air gauge for bike $1

Passed on a salad dressing kit of electric doohickey and bottle. I just wanted the bottle. Just skipped the whole thing. We'll use our rocket blender if we need to. $5 saved there.

Ok! It was fun and I gave one lady whose sale was allllllll antiques my husband's name if she is interested in having him do some eBay on consignment. They only have their sale once a year and there was a LOT of stuff. She'll never sell it all. My guess is she doesn't really want to, but she seemed interested in the eBay idea.

bke

6-22-12, 2:57pm

Nice scores at the yard sale!

welcome try2b frugal!

yesterday and today are driving/spending free days.

I had a local realtor write up the quick claim deed to the house and he's only charging me $40.

The mail consisted of free shower gel and a free magazine.

I have a really funny book that I'm reading from the library about 2 Manhattanites that buy a farm called: The Bucolic Plague-I've been laughing since the forward!

mara61

6-22-12, 4:17pm

Bke, that IS a funny book. I enjoyed it a lot.

Good for you also on those no drive/spend days.

Stella

6-23-12, 1:29pm

Last night was my neighborhood Women Who Cook Midsummer Potluck. So much fun! We had fajitas and sangria and appetizers. I brought Calvados bread pudding and lemon poppyseed cake both of which were a huge hit. The other ladies actually toasted to the bread pudding when we had our champagne and I was asked to do a pastry demonstration at a future gathering. I am flattered. The gathering was just perfect. It's a lovely group of women and we had such a fantastic time. We were laughing so hard. It was awesome. I got to know the neighbor two doors down a little better. She is a hoot. I really liked her. She is two years younger than me and has a 4 year old and a 2 year old. We are both good friends with the next-door neighbor that lives between us, who was there also.

The bread pudding was something I just threw together because I happened to have a loaf of old french bread. I added the Calvados (French apple brandy) to the custard, soaked the raisins in it and used the recipe my mom makes for Whiskey Sauce, but substituting the Calvados instead of the whiskey since I didn't have whiskey on hand. Instead of cinnamon I used Penzey's pumpkin pie spice. The substitutions were minor, but made a huge impact on the flavour.

Tonight is the Parish picnic, Great American Backyard Campout and card night. We'll go to the Parish picnic for dinner and then meet back here where the kids will have a campout in back while the adults play cards.

I seriously live in the coolest neighborhood. Zach went out with the guys for Indian food and ping pong. It was a little more expensive than my outing, but much less expensive than taking the whole family out and the Indian place they went to is very reasonably priced.

Stella

6-23-12, 3:38pm

OK, more frugals. I am doing some fridge and pantry cleaning and we are using up a bunch of stuff. We had a random lunch. The boys had "pbj dogs" with leftover hot dog buns and the last of the cherry apple butter. Cheyenne used up some lettuce and cucumber that needed to be used up and had a salad and Bella had a cucumber sandwich using up some cucumber and the last of a container of cream cheese. Zach and I had egg salad sandwiches. Since I'm reducing carbs I had mine open face with lettuce from our garden on top.

I had a bag of corn tortillas that had been left partially open and dried up a bit. I toasted them up in the oven and will use them to make chilaquiles this week. Other meals/foods we will be having are spinach pie, egg scramble with hash browns and veggies, hoisin beef lettuce wraps, veggie fried rice, Northwoods chicken with buttermilk biscuits and salad from the garden, carrot raisin bread, bread pudding, pizza with garlic and fresh mozzarella and Hawaiian pizza. Lots of good stuff and it uses up stuff that needs to be used.

fidgiegirl

6-23-12, 4:21pm

I love that you even know what chilaquiles (chee-lah-KEE-lays) are, and that you are making them in the truest sense of how they were invented - to use up old tortillas!!! I think I've mentioned that I lived in Mexico for two years after college and chilaquiles are one of my fave, fave dishes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One year I grew tomatillos and they did really well in my parents' sandy soil. I should grow them again and can green sauce.

MMMMMMMMMMM
https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRJtR5YSHlFQiwNi5wmIhncnYDQg__Lf PByOgABORYbmWVLDuMHAw

BTW your thrifty cooking knowledge would make excellent blog fodder.

fidgiegirl

6-23-12, 4:28pm

I walked up to the hardware store with the dog, but he's getting too old for that long a walk :(

Bought a sharpening kit for the reel mower I bought yesterday off CL. Interestingly, you brush on an abrasive paste, then use a crank to crank the reel in the opposite direction it turns when it mows. Huh. Kit was $19, comparable to online with no shipping cost. My only hardship was the teen who helped me and his weird teen way of addressing people. Thank God most people manage to get out of their teens.

Going to do some sewing. Fixing some tent bags for Girl Scouts, and going to put some hanger loops on jackets that we own. We have hooks in our coat closet, and used a coat rack in the hold house, and I absolutely hate when the jacket has no hanger loop and you leave it hang for a few weeks or months and it develops this weird pucker in the fabric. And neither of our snowpants has loops. It is pretty sad that I am going to work on snowpants today. But I combed through the closet for anything sans hanger loop and that's what I came up with! So be it!

I also have to invest more time in my upcoming iPad trainings - iPad Basics and iPad for Higher Order Thinking. If I do a crackerjack job on them, my hope is that my participants will recommend me to the powers that be at their schools so I can get hired to go out and do them for others. It can be a tidy little amount and people who get to be known for good workshops DO get invited to come out to present.

cdttmm

6-23-12, 9:23pm

Okay, I'm back -- been very busy the past week, but I've got some frugals to post, so here I am!

First, fidgiegirl, I have a ridiculous stockpile of paperbackswap.com credits. I started using it as a way to slowly purge my books and it worked pretty well. Now I keep a wishlist of books on the site so that if someone posts something I'm looking for I am already in the queue to get the alert that it's available. But it takes a long time to score good books, though, as I don't generally read fiction and most books that I order are things I'm going to use as reference material so I will want to actually own them for the long term. I did manage to score one really nice art history book (retails for $150) so that alone has probably made using the site worthwhile. But I think I'm going to donate a bunch of stuff to the local library sale because I'm really ready for a faster purge than I can get by using PBS.

Next, rosarugosa, I am a green tea fanatic. I do drink some herbal teas as well, but my long standing favorite is green tea with mint. I probably drink 3-4 cups a day and I use the term "cup" loosely as I usually drink it in giant 12-16 oz mugs! Oddly I don't like iced tea, so even now, in the heat of the summer I'm drinking hot tea several times a day. I guess there are worse things I could be addicted to!

Okay, on to my various frugals. We're making nachos for dinner -- not the healthiest of dinners, probably, but it means I can use up the remaining onion and red pepper. We've been eating tomatoes from the garden and I'm looking forward to a long and fabulous tomato season here! I spent the day at the Massachusetts Beekeeping Association's Summer Field Day where I learned different aspects of beekeeping including swarm control and organic methods for mite control. It was a beautiful day and I learned a lot and best of all -- it was FREE! I did spend $3 to buy ice cream from the local farm that was selling ice cream during lunchtime, but that was it. I brought my own water and went home to actually eat lunch since the Field Day was happening just a few miles from my house. Now that I have been once I know that I could actually even ride my bike there next year because I didn't actually need to bring much in the way of beekeeping gear (I had brought everything with me because I had no idea what I was getting myself into and I didn't want to be unprepared!).

I planted some herbs and stacked some firewood after I got home. Then we put up our blueberry net so that all of our beautiful blueberries won't get eaten by the birds! So that was some good frugal fun as well -- yes, I consider this stuff fun!!!

It's cooled off enough now that the thunderstorms have rolled through that we turned off the A/C and opened up the house. We've only used the A/C for 3 days so far and I've been trying to keep it set at 78 or 79 degrees so it's not even running very much. We've done a good job of keeping the blinds drawn and the awning open over the south-facing windows so it really hasn't gotten all the hot indoors. Hope we can keep this up all summer because I really do enjoy the electric bills that we've been getting lately -- 3 months in a row with a negative balance because we've been generating more solar electricity than we've been using!

Okay, that's all for now!

danna

6-23-12, 10:07pm

Jun23
--Yardsale finds...1) pickle dish I did not need but a square cut glass very heavy one I had never seen or had before nice find for only $1.00..2) large yellow/gold serving bowl to match one I already had $1.00..3) a wooden 2 foot fexible snake, I am putting it on my deck in hope it scares off the squirals--one can always hope for $1.00..lol..
4) a brand new still in box set of 20pc mid range stainless steel utenils for $2.00 Grand total $5.00 for fun shopping and fun.
--still using up what is in the house and still stocking up on the really good specials.
--coupons in the mail for free package of brownies and 1 package of sausage...not the best foods but, good for extras especially with Grandsons visiting...hehe
--cleaned out fridge and froze extra bought on sale tomatoes, cut up pineapple, washed and froze fresh herbs for later use.
--sold two more items out of the garage for $30.00
--planted all my pots and one large flower bed for $17.50 getting all the plants on sale (really a lot for that price.)

rosarugosa

6-24-12, 8:30am

BKE: That sounds like a book I would enjoy; I’ll have to look for it.
Cdttmm: I like green tea too, but I think most of what I’ve had is pretty mediocre. We had some in a Japanese restaurant in Portland once that was a whole different animal though, and the waitress told us that when friends/family travel to Asia, everyone asks them to bring back some of the “good stuff.” Apparently what we had was some of that “good stuff.”
T2BF: Great job on decreasing recurring monthly expenses, those are the things that really add up.
Kelli & Danna: Excellent yard sale scores!
Stella: Sounds like you folks are doing an excellent job on the FFF summer activities!
I was doing very well this week until I checked out Talbot’s sale Fri at lunchtime. :|( I did score two pairs of pants that fit very well (always a challenge) and various deals and discounts brought my purchase to about half price, but it still wasn’t cheap. This will come from my allowance, so it’s “legal” spending, but also means that it will take me longer to reach my $1000. goal. Oh well, at least I resisted the cute shirt with the dragonfly on it!
We did really well on groceries this week. Instead of splurging on the fresh sea scallops I was eyeing in the flyer, we used frozen tilapia that we already had from Costco and it was really good. DH sautéed it with fresh mango, which is an idea he borrowed from the restaurant we loved in Portland. The mango cost $1.00 and the sea scallops would have cost $11.99/lb., so that choice made a big impact on the overall grocery cost in itself.
I have a targeted goal for savings by year-end, and it looks like it’s going to be a stretch for us to reach it. So we really need to work a little harder to curb our expenses, and groceries are the part of our budget with the greatest flexibility to yield some savings. The funny thing is that oftentimes, as with the tilapia example, there can be two food choices that are very different in terms of cost, but both options are equally satisfying in terms of yielding a wonderful meal. Of course, the tilapia was not free, but we had already purchased it, and it was much less expensive than the scallops.

cjones

6-25-12, 12:22pm

"The funny thing is that oftentimes, as with the tilapia example, there can be two food choices that are very different in terms of cost, but both options are equally satisfying in terms of yielding a wonderful meal. Of course, the tilapia was not free, but we had already purchased it, and it was much less expensive than the scallops."

You said it, rosa. Love the fresh mango tip!

cjones

6-25-12, 12:26pm

I saw an annual fee for my credit card posted to my credit card account and called and told them I never pay annual fees, and that the choice is this:
1. Refund my fee and keep me as a customer.
2. Refund my fee and cancel my card.
Either way, that fee is going to be refunded to me.
They chose #1.
Score $50

rosarugosa

6-25-12, 7:47pm

Cjones: That's a great idea and I think I might try it when our Priority card comes up for renewal next Feb. We like their rewards program, and we get a "free" - no actually a $50. room every year for our fee, which is a decent deal (we recently redeemed our bonus night, and the room would have cost $150. otherwise). But if we could skip the $50 fee, then that would certainly be better. I also remember when they were trying to entice our to sign up for the card, they kept sweetening the pot until they got me with 5 free nights for signing up, so these things are negotiable.
Do the companies want customers who don't carry a balance if they use the cards a lot to build up points? I know they make a fair bit of money on transactions.

bunnys

6-25-12, 8:28pm

Re: credit card annual fees. Generally they will remove the fee as a courtesy if you ask them. They might decide you're not worth keeping (it does cost the company $ each year to maintain your account and it's not pennies) if you only charge and pay off your bill each month. But if you're doing that anyway you probably have a good enough B-score that you can get a card at another bank that doesn't have an annual fee anyway.

rosarugosa

6-25-12, 8:45pm

Bunnys: Yes, we have a few major credit cards that offer rewards, so we would not be without credit if we ditched Chase. We recently got a new cash back card that is paying us $150. after first use and with no annual fee. Since companies keep offering us cards, I'm guessing we might be worhwhile customers just based on transactions.

fidgiegirl

6-26-12, 7:33pm

Well, I made an extra $750 today, but man, I earned it. I'm cream crackered, as my UK friends would say! Worked ALL DAY yesterday setting it up. The sessions were very well-received by the people who were of the target ability level. People who already knew much of what the session was about ended up blowing out early. So I should have been more prepared to be flexible with the material. Lesson learned! Overall there were some very happy people, and there are always going to be dissatisfied people. I'm just kind of holding out until bed now.

Looking at our spending from this month, and somehow our Amex managed to be about $800 less than last month, and that's WITH $500 purchase on it! How the heck do these things happen?! It's a good thing, but what hole did we crawl into for June?! I guess I DID forget about the 3 parties we had in May. That could have had something to do with it. :)

ETA: Ok, I just re-read this post and didn't like it. You'd think I'd been roofing all day or something . . . I am still tired, but only from sitting on my butt.

rosarugosa

6-26-12, 8:45pm

Good work Kelli. That's a nice accomplishment!
Reflecting on chicken parts here. I've concluded that boneless chicken breasts are kind of a privileged middle-class thing. DH cooked up some thighs tonight with rice and mushrooms, and the thighs actually taste better than breasts for a small fraction of the price. That's a pretty neat discovery.
I bought 3 sandwich shaped containers at the discount store in Maine, and I've been taking my sandwich to work in one instead of using plastic wrap. So this will pay for itself and cuts our plastic wrap contribution to the waste stream.

fidgiegirl

6-26-12, 8:54pm

I have also discovered, via purchasing them in packs at Costco (still pretty privileged middle class) that the thighs are cheaper per pound and I also prefer the flavor.

Interesting story about that: When I was in Guatemala, a young man who lived in the village I was staying in took me on a walk around part of Lake Atitlán. He inquired whether I preferred hen or rooster. I was puzzled, thinking it was my Spanish, and then said, well, we don't know if our meat is hen or rooster, we buy it in a pack at the grocery store. He wasn't thinkin' there was much privilege there. He felt sorry for me. I wish I could remember which he said was more delicious. To this day I've yet to have freshly butchered chicken.

Score on the plastic wrap! That will add up.

I finally did tracking tonight. It's all cleaned up. It's been kind of my nemesis for the last year or so. I will save the write up for the tracking thread. :)

fidgiegirl

6-26-12, 8:56pm

Ok one more thing about the chicken! :) We have enjoyed this recipe several times and it is soooooooper easy. I sub a GF cream soup.

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/09/crockpot-chicken-and-brown-rice.html

Blackdog Lin

6-26-12, 9:13pm

My frugal goal this month is to keep up with the garden, and not let it go to waste due to our usual (1) "I'm too tired to go out there tonight"; and (2) "I'm too busy to garden today"; and (3) it's WAY too hot to get out there tonight". My mental committment to the garden this year is working - so far, anyway. :)

Made myself go out and pick green beans this evening after work, 103 degrees and 90% humidity.....but you know, it wasn't THAT bad. Putting to good use my new "old lady straw gardening hat", a cold-water dish towel around my neck, and lots of Off spray on my feet and ankles (got chiggers last week before I remembered that precaution). Got most of another 5-gallon bucket of 'em, and hoping DH will be inspired with the bounty to pressure-can them tomorrow. He seems to be getting tired with all the food-preservation (he did another 5 pints of dill pickles today while I was at work), but jeesh, honey.....if we're not going to commit to putting the garden bounty up then quit planting so much! The sweet corn was ready (coons started the harvesting, so it was time to pick) yesterday, so have a fridge full of sweet corn to both eat and put up too.

And the okra is coming on, and the tomatoes and peppers have an awful lot of unripe fruit on 'em, so's it's looking like a good picante-making year. In 10 days or so, I think.....

Anyway, that's my frugality not only for the month, but for the summer. To try to keep up with our garden (really, for the first time in all our years of gardening!) and do what needs to be done WHEN it needs to be done, to not let this bounty go to waste.

I can do this.

I think.

If I have some help from DH.

I don't join in with the monthly frugalities very often, but I do read and get inspired by y'all's daily doin's.....keep up the inspiration.....

chrissieq

6-27-12, 7:15pm

No car today or tomorrow - and didn't use the car when I had it on Tuesday - too hot today or tomorrow to walk but for exercise in the early AM - though yesterday, I walked to the library and stockpiled some decorating books and a DVD. Today I painted a table and made a cover for an old step stool which I will sell at an upcoming vintage sale I participate in.

I did stop into the grocery store yesterday to drop off my plastic bags and saw they had beef kabobs on special. Oh, good idea! I went home and made chicken kabobs and had the leftovers today for lunch.

I am working really hard to have this be a super-frugal summer. We had to put in new steps this spring and will be going to Ohio for a family reunion - the first on this side of the family in over 15 years.

danna

6-27-12, 9:23pm

June 27---last couple of days
--found eye of round beef on at NoFrills $2.00 a lb bought about 12 lbs and cooked up a few lbs and a jar of BBQ sauce on sale for $1.00
as Pulled Beef to bring to a Pot luck ended up cheaper then the dessert I was going to make. And, enough to cut up and freeze for lots of other meals.
Now that I know it was nice I am going back to get more for the freezer.
--Using up a jar of Pear Juice (not sure why I have it because I don't like it) to make some jello with berries. Good fibre...lol
--still way down on what I have spent so far this year on food...tracking is very helpful
--sold 2 more items on Kijiji I am really on a roll with this and the garage does not look much different----still lots in there.
--fridge is really empty because I keep checking and using what is there.

cdttmm

6-27-12, 9:41pm

A few little frugals today. Had a no drive, no spend day because instead of going to a coffee shop or cafe to work when I was losing my focus working at home, I went outside and stacked firewood for an hour. :~) I didn't necessarily get completely refocused as a result, but it was still cheaper than the alternatives! Ate some more cherry tomatoes from the garden. Ordered a book I needed off of paperbackswap.com instead of getting it from the bookstore. It is an out of print book so for some reason I was convinced I wouldn't be able to find it easily, but there is was, waiting for me to request it from another poster! Did a load of laundry and will hang it on the line to dry since we're having nice weather. It's supposed to get much warmer this weekend so will do my best to get the house closed up tight beforehand so that we can limit the A/C use. That's it for now!

Stella

6-29-12, 8:44am

cdttmm

6-29-12, 8:49pm

Very pleased to have made it through the first day of our heat wave without turning on the A/C! It got up to 95 degrees here today with moderately high humidity. I had the windows open last night and the whole house fan on, but the overnight temps only got down into the mid-60s so the house was cool this morning, but a bit on the humid side. I closed the windows and drew the blinds early this morning and throughout the day the temperature inside got up to 76 degrees by late afternoon, but that was fine. Now it's cooled off outside, the humidity has dropped, and their is a nice breeze blowing. So I'm enjoying hanging out on the deck with the dogs. I've got the windows open and the whole house fan on again so overnight the house should get back down into the 60s and we can repeat again tomorrow! The best part is that these long sunny summer days we when we generate the most solar electric energy and not using the A/C means that I'm improving the chances of us having another electric bill with a negative balance!

I did have to leave the house today for a meeting. But it was a lunch meeting and I got to bring home some leftover pizza so that was a good deal. And I managed to combine the trip out with a few errands so that was helpful, too.

Looking forward to doing some more gardening this weekend even with the heat. It's always a good frugal way to pass the time since there really isn't much I need to buy for the garden or the yard.

danna

6-29-12, 9:32pm

June 29
--Only spent $30.00 on gas this month and still have over 1/2 tank....been walking and combining trips
--with coupons for free product and buy one get one free I bought $72.00 worth of groceries for $36.00, and that is not counting how much was saved by buying in season and on sale items...
--by moving perninals around and splitting I have filled a whole flower bed at no cost..
--had two new curtain rods installed (had them for two years now) so was able to put up the room darkening and heat reflecting curtains on the heavy rods. The two rooms face west so they are really helping in this heat. Also, installed a hand held shower head (also, had for two years) save money because it is easier to turn on and off when showering. It also, makes it quicker therefore uses less water when I try to clean the shower.

rosarugosa

6-29-12, 9:48pm

Lin: Your garden sounds very impressive! Good work getting out there in the heat after work; that takes some fortitude. We just have a tiny suburban tomato patch, and I call DH the Deadbeat Dad of the Vegetable Gardening World!
Chrissieq: Good luck in reaching your goals. It sounds like you're doing really well in the entertainment dept.
Stella: You always make me hungry - I want bread pudding :)
Danna: The pork sounds good too - care to share the recipe?
Cdttmm: It was pretty steamy here today too. I had the day off and did all my household chores, because we're having company tomorrow evening, and I want to focus on that tomorrow with a little bit of gardening on the side. We don't have a/c, so we always manage without turning the a/c on. I've got a couple of big Patton blower fans going and the windows open. It's 82 degrees in here, and it feels pretty comfortable to me. I took a shower and changed into a sundress after I finished working for the day.
I was virtuous in terms of spending this week, and I think my best frugal was making time to go to the Boston Public Gardens yesterday at lunch time. I usually eat lunch while working at my desk, but I felt like I could spare a little bit of time and I wanted to get out because it was such a beautiful day. I checked out the roses and the flower beds, and I realized that I was doing the type of thing I like to do on vacation (visiting a botanical garden) and I realized that I was giving myself a 20 minute vacation in the middle of an ordinary workday, and it was absolutely free, and made my entire day the better for it, and it felt like some sort of cosmic revelation or something. :)

Rosemary

6-29-12, 10:11pm

I am listening to the wonderful sound of my jam jars popping as they seal. 4th batch from our garden this year, because there are just too many berries to eat! It's a good 'problem' to have. Now I feel like a pro at water bath canning.

We're back in frugal mode now after a road trip that involved a few nights of hotels and about 1 meal out per day. We had breakfast at the hotels and packed foods for lunches and snacks, so it could have been worse. It felt pretty decadent... but, at what price visiting family and friends? It was a good time, good to re-connect. And afterwards, it was really good to be home and done with driving.

Stella

6-30-12, 11:54am

Rosemary, that jam sounds delightful! Rosa, your trip to the gardens sounds lovely too!

This is OT week for Zach, by our own choice. He worked 2 hours of OT last night and 8 today. We are determined to save his OT pay.

Last night Zach was pushing to go out for pizza because both of us were quite tired when he got home from work. Instead I made tacos. That probably saved us $40 because he wanted to go to a place that has some crazy pop machine with something like 75 different pop combinations, so he would have wanted everyone to get drinks on top of the pizza. That really adds up. This is one way in which having 5 kids makes me more frugal. It very rarely seems easier to go out now than to make something simple and stay in. Even 5 very well behaved kids, which mine generally are, are kind of a pain to haul in and out of a car and in and out of a restaurant booth. I want to start actually saving the money we save by talking ourselves out of stuff like that. It would be fun to see it add up.

After the kids went down we took Charlotte with us to Target to get Zach some gym clothes for playing basketball on Tuesdays. My dad stayed with the kids and gave Zach money for the gym clothes as part of his graduation present. We also got Cheyenne some new shoes because she outgrew her old ones and has been borrowing my flip-flops. The shoes were 70% off and only $8. I can't believe she's wearing a women's size 5. That's what my mother wears. She is 8 years old.

The girls and their friend have decided that they would like to have a neighborhood carnival to raise money for Feed My Starving Children. I actually think they could really do some good business here in our neighborhood, so I am considering providing some seed money for this. We want to have some traditional carnival games, but also food sales and some less traditional stuff, like slip-and-slide knee hockey, a kid wash (http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/the-deluxe-kid-wash-709166/) for kids and their bikes and spiral painting. (http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/spiral-art-pendulum-pen-1019918/) They also want to incorporate a bike parade.

They want to have hot dogs, chips, pop and cotton candy. I showed them the cost of renting a hot dog roller and a cotton candy machine ($40 and $50) and had them figure out how many they would have to sell at different prices to make up the cost of the machines. Then later we'll price the food ingredients and find out how much each item would cost us. Then we can figure out how to price them so that we can make money. That was some good math practice for them. I'll have to run this by some neighbors, but I think it would be an easy sell. We could see what kind of stuff people could donate too. The value of this project would be two-fold. First, the learning value to the kids and secondly, the money we would make for the charity. I suppose there is also the added value of more community building too.

Tradd

6-30-12, 12:06pm

Stella, glad to hear your kids are so kind and I like the idea of the carnival!

My June frugal:

It's been so hot so I needed 2-3 sleeveless tops that are work-appropriate. I rarely find stuff in my size at the thrift store and with my current schedule, I have no time. So, on one of my regular runs to Target for groceries and other necessities, I stopped by the women's clothes. I found nice tops for $10 each. I got 2. That was several weeks ago. When I was at Target yesterday, I wandered back there to see if they'd gotten any more colors. They had, and they were now $8. I got 1.

Tiam

6-30-12, 1:19pm

I made a big batch of bread pudding this morning to feed the ravenous hordes. I'm trying to keep to my $500 a month budget, but finding it tricky with all of the extra people hanging out this summer. I have an extra teenage boy for breakfast and lunch everyday and friends of the girls' trickle in and out quite a bit too. As it is there are 8 people living here and the heat doesn't help. I'm determined, though, and I have been doing pretty well so far. It's mostly a function of finding the energy to do the money-saving stuff and working around the heat at this point. The energy stuff should get somewhat better now that Charlotte is pretty regularly sleeping through the night. Hopefully, anyway.

The teenage boy I'm watching had his birthday yesterday and we had the party here. We went swimming and made porketta sandwiches. It was fun. Bella will have a similar party in two weeks and she has asked to go horseback riding for her big present.

Stella, I remember the days of so many hungry teens and friends. One quick and cheap snack that I used quite a bit was to buy long baguettes or french breads, slice them, butter them, garlic powder and pop them under the broiler for two or three minutes. I could also add tomatoes, or hummous, or cheese if I wanted or had a surplus of these. But it was only like a dollar to make the snack with the bread and of course they inhaled it.

cdttmm

6-30-12, 8:35pm

Well, I made it through day 2 of weather with temperatures again reaching 95 degrees. Still no A/C! I feel like a frugal rock star for this even though it's been quite easy and has not made me feel deprived or uncomfortable in any way. But I think it's just habit to turn the A/C on when it's so hot outside even if the temperature indoors is comfortable. The house never got above 73 degrees today so even though I was outside working in the flower gardens for much of the day going inside was still enough of a temperature change that I could relax, cool off, and go back outside without a problem. According to the local news we've got just one more day of temperatures over 90 degrees so I'm hoping to make it through with no A/C use. Of course, it also helps that my partner is out of town for this heat wave. He's much wussier about the heat than I am and tends to be less careful about things like planning to not use any major appliances during the day and planning to do work outdoors in the shade and moving as the sun moves so that you can stay in the shade the bulk of the day.

I've also been flexing my frugality muscles by simply putting off buying things that we need, but we just don't need them urgently. So instead of driving around to do a bunch of errands today I stayed home and did stuff around the house and in the garden. I have a Tae Kwon Do class tomorrow so I will run errands when I am already out and driving around.

I also cut the dogs' toenails and groomed them, including giving one a quick haircut with a scissors. She looks pretty funny but she is probably much more comfortable. I realized that paying to take my dog to a professional dog groomer is not really in alignment with my values. After all, my dog doesn't care what she looks like. She doesn't know that her haircut is a bit choppy and not quite even in some places. And it's not as though I'm showing my dogs so why would I care what they look like as long as they are clean and happy?

I ate some more cherry tomatoes from the garden along with the rest of an open package of goat cheese. It made for a very satisfying meal and made me quickly forget about my earlier plans to treat myself by going out to dinner tonight. I love when that happens!

I think that's about it for the month of June. Can't believe that tomorrow is July already!

domestic goddess

6-30-12, 8:48pm

I was forced into frugality because I didn't work much this month. That was fine with me because I'm having some pretty bad back pain, but I haven't had the money to get the x-ray my dr. wants done. But I did work almost 50 hours last week, so this was a nice payday. There were a number of things we needed around here, so I did a big shopping yesterday, and I really had to rein myself in, because everything looked good to me. It could have been worse, but now I am back on the straight and narrow. Tomorrow is the first of July (amazing!), and I have some work lined up for every week, but not as much as I would like. Still, things are getting better, and I did some baking today, which I hope will keep family members from stopping at the convenience store for treats. Going to do some more baking tomorrow, I hope, if my back and knees hold out. I'm ready to start a new month!

domestic goddess

6-30-12, 9:02pm

lizii

7-1-12, 2:07am

I've also been making popsicles and other treats for the girls and their myriad friends. This morning I made root beer float popsicles, and they were a hit. They've been wanting me to make more pina colada popsicles, but I felt the need to branch out a little. Rocky Road popsicles are next!
There are six people in this house, and I don't really have the knack of cooking for such a large number of people on a regular basis. There were just dh, dd and I in our family. Now there are dd, dsil, dgd 1 &2, another adult male and myself, and I am sometimes a bit flummoxed. The two adult males are both construction workers and can just inhale food. Dsil has been hanging around the kitchen all day because I baked a cake and a pie, and he kept asking me when he could have some. He and dd ate 1/3 of the pie and they have both had some of the cake, too. I don't think I can bake fast enough to keep up with them.

Oh boy, does that remind me of trying to keep my family filled up with food, especially desserts.

I had four sons in eight years, and loved those years of breast feeding every one of them, then making solids when they got older.

There were no commercially made solid baby foods in those days, so I had to make them myself. I introduced fruits first by cooking them to a mushy stage, then mashing them to remove the lumps to feed them with a baby spoon. I did the same thing to veggies, then bought meat to boil it up until it was tender enough to feed them.

I introduced them to fruit juice I'd made, and also to drink water from a bottle.

Once they were weaned they were able to drink from a cup (no sippy cups then).

As they grew older they wanted to taste the baked goods I had available for my ex and visitors. The older they got the more they ate homemade baked bread as well as cookies, pies, cakes, various squares, etc. It soon became necessary to bake twice a day every day, and it still wasn't enough for them...in fact they'd leave the dinner table of roast beef, gravy, sometimes Yorkshire pudding, two veggies, roast potatoes and dessert, to open the fridge door to see what else they could find to eat. They seemed to have hollow legs.

i baked twice a day every day and it still didn't satisfy them, so I started hiding the baking in the best place I could think of putting them...in the drier! They never did catch on to that little trick.