December Frugals [Archive] - Simple Living Forums

Stella

12-6-12, 6:41pm

I am having a difficult week, to put it mildly. I'm talking about the kind of week where you wake up in an ambulance. I am home from the hospital now and feeling somewhat better, but Zach hasn't been at his job long enough to have PTO, so frugality is a must right now, since today was the first full day he worked this week.

Tonight Zach is making french bread pizza and salad for dinner. There is a table at church where anyone can take day-old bread, so the kids brought some home yesterday from Faith Formation. We have a lot of food (luckily, I had just come back from the store when the you-know-what hit the fan), and Zach is not a cook, but he's doing his best to avoid take-out. Next week a few friends of mine are going to be bringing some meals.

He also decided instead of going out and buying some bookshelves I really needed for the family room, since that would at the moment entail dragging all 5 kids with him, that he would build them using stuff we already have. They are almost done and they look pretty good.

fidgiegirl

12-6-12, 8:22pm

Oh Stella! I thought it was weird that you had kind of dropped off the Earth there for a few days . . . sending good thoughts your way!!!

rosarugosa

12-6-12, 8:31pm

Sorry for your terrible week Stella. I hope you're feeling better; we missed you around here. I figured it was December and maybe nobody was getting into the frugal groove.
I've been doing a really good job of keeping out of the stores. I've done some online purchases, but no impulse buys, staying practical. Oh, and I actually washed out a Ziploc freezer baggie last week. I'm usually unwilling to pay for Ziplocs and instead buy the generic bags with the twist-ties. The idea is to start freezing some bread, although I haven't gotten around to that yet.

Stella

12-6-12, 8:38pm

Thanks Kelli and Rosa! I am starting to feel better now. It does seem like it's been a bit slow around here.

Good job staying out of the stores Rosa. I've been sticking to my list too. Online shopping does seem to make that easier on me. The only exception is one-click ebooks, especially now that I have been stuck in bed.

Rosemary

12-6-12, 9:06pm

Scary, Stella - hope all is well now.

I made a batch of caramels for teacher gifts today. DD and I will make a cute tag and name for them and she can distribute them throughout the school (she has a LOT of different teachers for various subjects, even though she's in elementary school). There will be enough for some of my friends, too, whom I like to give something small and homemade. Total cost of ingredients was about $3, and I still have stuff remaining that I can use in other recipes. This was my first foray into candy making and I discovered that the candy thermometer I had is completely inaccurate; in fact, it does not seem to go above 200F. Luckily DH has an infrared thermometer so I used that.

Trading date nights/child care with a friend this weekend.

flowerseverywhere

12-7-12, 12:34am

Stella hope you are well. sending good wishes your way.

we are sending some holiday cards out, I painted a picture that we will print on some cardstock I got on sale with a coupon! Since we moved this year we'll send some nice handwritten notes to some close friends we miss.

Most weeks I drive once or twice all week, and plan my route to minimize gas use. The rest of the time is walking or biking now that I live in a warm climate.

And of course, I can hang my laundry since it is warm out- I can remember freezing fingers living up north hanging laundry then bringing in stiff cold clothes off the line.

We are starting to look into solar panels as our roof purposely faces the right way. It is such a huge investment though.

Kat

12-7-12, 8:05am

Glad you are back, Stella. We've missed you around here!

The last couple of days have been a big, fat frugal fail! We're all crazy sick, so we've had several doctors appointments this week. Each had a $30 co-pay and some had prescription costs! Boo! But my poor kiddo, who was miserable with a double ear infection, a nasty cough, and impetigo is finally on the road to recovery. So it's worth it!

Since DH and I have both felt like death warmed over, we've been ordering food for dinner. Last night, DH did manage to make us some Ramen, and we've been eating whatever we can find for lunches. So it could be worse, I guess.

Our one frugal victory is finding cheaper insurance for our daughter next year. We will save quite a bit monthly as well as save on co-pays and prescriptions.

Will try to get back on the frugal bandwagon when we're feeling better. I'm not allowed to take any cold medication, so I really just need some time to recuperate.

bke

12-7-12, 11:41am

Kat and Stella-I hope you're both feeling better very soon! Its too bad we don't all live close enough to help out when things are going badly. A hand with the kids and a little chicken soup goes a long ways some times.

I keep watching the on line sales for things that are too good to resist but haven't found much that I just have to have.

I did buy a new camera this week. Ds had a concert where he performed with Steven Mead who is a world famous Euphonium player. There we sat, no camera to capture the moment (AGAIN!) and feeling a bit bad. So I came home and ordered a camera. It was 25% off, plus 4% savings through ebates, 1% savings with my credit card and free shipping.

Other than that, we've been spending more than saving. Ds had a b-day, one of his friends had a b-day, and today ds is on his way to Battle Creek to watch and perform with the Battle Creek Brass Band. That is costing me about $100 too. But I figure this is a major opportunity for him to hang with some world class musicians.

I'm going to do some sweepstaking this afternoon before returning to work.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

miradoblackwarrior

12-7-12, 11:50am

"Discovered" a cheaper supermarket this week. A friend took me to shop, and I was stunned by the prices. Went (walked 2 1/2 miles) back again and bought more food to finish my marketing for the week. It is now my go-to store!

I'm wondering--does anyone cook a chicken and use ALL of it, including soup from the bones? Does one chicken make enough broth for a week's worth of soup? That's a goal for me.

Susan

Stella

12-7-12, 12:15pm

Thanks for the good wishes everyone!

Since Zach is back to work I am trying to come up with activities to keep the monkeys busy while I convalesce. They are on a serious dinosaur kick, so today we looked up a bunch of different dinosaurs and compared them, size wise, to humans. Then I printed off some fossil colouring pages/ puzzles for them to colour, cut and put together. I have some big books about natural history, so I brought those out for them to look at and read, depending on the age of the kid.

Yesterday all of our activities were St Nicholas themed. There is a great site with tons and tons of St Nicholas activities, so we learned about how St Nicholas day is celebrated in different countries and learned about how forensic artists came up with a model of his real face based on the shape of his bones.

My one splurge right now is produce. I am having trouble eating a lot right now, but my body is sorely in need of nutrition to put put itself back to right. Zach has been making me freshly juiced fruit and veggie juice and green smoothies. That and some protein are pretty much what I'm eating right now. It's not the cheapest diet, but I can feel it helping me and health is priceless.

Amaranth

12-7-12, 5:11pm

Thanks for the sore throat remedies, Rosemary.

Stella, hope you feel better fast. I don’t know if you are doing the Novel writing month this year, but I could see one starting out something like “Lightening was flashing when I woke up in the ambulance…” Agree that the extra expense for the good food is worth it. Good health while being priceless also makes it possible to do all sorts of other money saving projects.

Susan asked
I'm wondering--does anyone cook a chicken and use ALL of it, including soup from the bones? Does one chicken make enough broth for a week's worth of soup? That's a goal for me.

Usually you can get three pots of broth from one chicken. After that the flavor gets diluted enough that it’s usually not worth a 4th trip through the pot.

For a bunch of great tips on getting the most meals out of a chicken see:
http://www.simplelivingforum.net/showthread.php?3586-3-4-meals-from-One-Chicken

bunnys

12-7-12, 5:55pm

Stopped for gas on way to work yesterday. Didn't realize it was .05 off Thursday. $3.04 per gallon was better than the Sheetz across the street which would have been an inconvenience.

SteveinMN

12-7-12, 6:18pm

I'm wondering--does anyone cook a chicken and use ALL of it, including soup from the bones? Does one chicken make enough broth for a week's worth of soup? That's a goal for me.
Well, I use everything that comes in the package. :) What I generally do is fill a zipper bag with the bones, neck, and giblets and throw them in the freezer. When I next look for something in the freezer and keep tripping over bags of chicken bones and parts, it is time to make chicken soup. Usually that's three carcasses. If I find more than that, I may make more of a stew than a soup. But, yes, I use all I can get.

fidgiegirl

12-7-12, 8:57pm

Stella - FYI that Coborn's Delivers has a coupon code good for $10 off an order of $75 but it expires next Tuesday, 12/11. Code is "OURBAD." They had some website difficulties that kept a few people from ordering last week so they put the code out on FB.

notebook

12-8-12, 3:35pm

I had a $10 off coupon at a drug store. It stated that I had to spend $10 before taxes. I originally thought I would treat myself to some free holiday candies. I looked at some choices, and then surprisingly (for me) checked out some grocery prices instead. I ended up walking out with a bag full of healthy food for pennies after the rebate. I have never been someone who uses coupons, but I have recently been reading the conditions of use on the coupons that come my way. I have to admit that I felt a sense of elation at getting some groceries so cheaply as I walked out of the store. I didn't let the coupon expire, and I didn't waste it on junk.

Another thing I have never used until this week was Canadian Tire money. I have kept hundreds of these 5 cent, 10 cent, 25 cent, 50 cent, 1 dollar, and 2 dollar "coupons" in a drawer over the years. Inspired by my little grocery victory, I decided that I would buy my dog's food, as well as a bone for her using only Canadian Tire money. Because I track my spending, I knew the exact cost of both with taxes. I counted out the required amount and brought it with me in two sandwich bags. I handed the cashier my $34 in store money and received change AND another 5 cent Canadian Tire bill. Again, I walked out of the store chuckling to myself that they just paid me to feed my dog for weeks and to treat her to a bone.

I have also heard very good reviews of the tv series Homeland. I used to buy DVDs of tv series, thinking nothing of the cost, and just adding to my clutter. I was also tempted to download the series on iTunes. I held back from both methods. I first checked to see if my library had it. They don't. I then went to the local video rental store to see if they had it. They did. I rented the first of two parts (episodes 1 through 6 of 12) for $3.25 for a 2-day rental. At this rate, I can watch the entire series for $6.50, and have no clutter at the end. I decided after watching the first six episodes, that I wanted to watch the remaining episodes. When I returned part one, I picked up part two. At the counter, the clerk asked me for $5. I asked why it wasn't $3.25. I was informed that it is only $3.25 on Wednesdays. I was actually mildly angry that they would "jack up" the price by $1.75. I had no urgency whatsoever to see the remaining episodes right away, so I told the clerk that I would come back on Wednesday and walked out.

I also learned this week that my library has wireless internet. I have been considering eliminating my home Internet, but was not keen on using a library computer. Knowing that I will be able to use my own devices makes this a stronger possibility.

I have collected Aeroplan points for years. I recently discovered how difficult they are to cash in for flights, but that's a whole different story. I discovered, however, that points can be redeemed for Esso cards. I cashed in some points for several hundred dollars worth of Esso cards, and will be using them to pay for my gas on my upcoming lengthy trip to see my parents during the holidays.

As my awareness increases, I feel like I am finding money.

Rosemary

12-8-12, 5:46pm

does anyone cook a chicken and use ALL of it, including soup from the bones? Does one chicken make enough broth for a week's worth of soup?

-- yes, I always make broth from the bones. As for how much soup one chicken can make/how long it lasts, it depends on how many people you are feeding and how dilute you want the broth. I usually get about 2 quarts of broth from the bones and wings of a 4-pound chicken. When I make the broth, I just use enough water to cover the bones.

Frugals today
-- dug in my fabric stash and found some heavy fabric to make a lined bag for a music stand for DD to use on her upcoming orchestra field trip. Took about an hour.
-- leftover soup for lunch.

SteveinMN

12-8-12, 5:48pm

Today's frugal: In the spirit of simplicity, DW and I decided we didn't feel like decorating a 6-foot tree for Christmas. We have two artificial trees, one of which really is too large to fit comfortably in the space we can give it and the other is my old one which is still kind of large. So we thought we'd look at some local Christmas tree yards to find a 3- or 4-foot tree. Yikes! We were thinking maybe $20 for a tree. The cheapest we saw near our house was $40. Then we spotted some balsam-fir boughs being sold in bundles for $5 each. Two bundles have almost as many branches as some of the sticks they were passing off as trees. We bought two bundles and will decorate them, simply. $10 and we're done.

[EDIT] DD is taking the larger tree for her new house, so it will be reused and she does not have to buy a tree.

Tammy

12-8-12, 6:09pm

As our 3 kids moved out over the last 7 years, it made me so happy to give them stuff. I let them take whatever they wanted, and we are now down to about 10% of what we had before. It made me happy for several reasons .... I'm decluttered, they didn't spend money they didn't have, landfills have a little less buried, they have some family items that they truly wanted. Lots more fun this way than after my funeral. ;)

Stella

12-8-12, 7:56pm

Thanks for the tip Kelli, this would be a good week to order groceries in for both weather and health reasons.

Steve, that's exactly how I got my Christmas tree too. My parents decided they were over that stage and gave it to me.

I have been up and around a little bit today, resting as needed. I sewed a little curtain for the shelves over the toilet from a pillowcase I had gotten for $1 at a thrift store. It goes perfectly with the picture in there, which is a large crewelwork piece my mother made when I was a baby, the only needlework piece she ever finished. :) I was in the mood to pretty-up the place, so I put out a pretty jar a friend gave me that holds some hair binders and a blue flower shaped candleholder I had on a shelf with a nice smelling, $.99 votive candle I got last weekend at Cost Plus. I am going back and forth about spray painting a wall cabinet I have (when I am recovered, obviously) and putting it in there to hold extra toilet paper.

Zach is getting the bookshelves he built painted. He is also going to build a train table for the boys. We had originally planned on getting them a train/train table combo for $100, but Zach checked ebay and got a nicer train set for $55 with free shipping. He'll glue the train we bought to the train table he's making.

fidgiegirl

12-8-12, 8:48pm

Notebook, welcome aboard, and thanks for the great ideas. I really like the airline miles for gas cards - sharp! People have talked about Canadian Tire money on here before, but I don't really get it . . . how do you get this coveted stuff? (Well, obviously I'm not in Canada, but I'm still curious :) ).

You know, your post reminded me of a dilemma I always have with coupons. First, I only hang on to really good coupons. For example, we just got one in the mail for $5 off a $55 order from the grocery delivery service I mentioned above. We don't need it now, but might use it in a few weeks - this is a really good coupon because $50 is the minimum order amount, anyway. Usually their coupons are for $100+ orders. Anyway, by the time the opportunity comes around, we may well have forgotten all about the coupon. How do all of you keep your coupons nice and neat and get them used up while you have the opportunity? I get good ones from PetSmart and Petco, Ace Hardware, and Coborn's Delivers - occasionally for other places, too.

We are taking DFiL and DMiL to a choral concert tomorrow near our home. This is their Xmas gift - a few years ago they asked for experience gifts and we've happily obliged. A friend of ours is involved in this concert so we were able to get discounted tickets, saving about $20. And rather than a restaurant meal to bookend the concert, we decided to make a nice meal at our house - pot roast, oven potatoes and salad. I thought this would be more stressful but now that we have the ingredients I'm actually feeling relieved about it - cost will be far less and it would have been too tight to try to go to a restaurant between their church service getting out and the concert starting. Plus they are kind of stressful to accompany to restaurants - nothing ever goes just right and so that must be fretted out and analyzed and stressed over. Ew. Plus it will force us to clean up our messy house! Yippee!

SteveinMN

12-8-12, 11:14pm

How do all of you keep your coupons nice and neat and get them used up while you have the opportunity?.
In addition to the "charm" they add to the kitchen decor, we put such coupons on the refrigerator with a magnet, arranged so we can see a portion of all of them. It is impossible to go out through the back door to the garage without seeing the refrigerator, so it is enough of a mental nudge to help us remember.

We are taking DFiL and DMiL to a choral concert tomorrow near our home.
Triple win, there, Kelli!

bunnys

12-9-12, 7:58am

It sounds like Canadian Tire Money is similar to Green Stamps. But I'm just guessing?

Rosemary

12-9-12, 9:22am

I don't have a big coupon system as we don't keep many of them, but I have one place where I keep them, and I keep store coupons, restaurant coupons/groupons, and all other coupons separate from each other. I only use store coupons about once/month, when I take all the ones for stuff I need to one store on one day. Restaurant coupons I go through when we're planning to eat out and find one in a convenient location. The other ones, I mainly keep on a mental list - oil change coupons, hair cut coupons, etc. Most of the restaurant and retail coupons that I save, are not ones we will necessarily use - if we are likely to use it, I save it, but if it expires, no loss. Every week when I am planning my errands I'll compile the ads and coupons I need and put them all together in one cloth bag in the car at the start of the week - that way I don't leave the house without them.

cdttmm

12-9-12, 11:43am

As always everyone is rocking the frugals! And, welcome, notebook -- excellent list of frugal scores!

So very little to report on the frugals front over here. I have been sick with a head/chest cold for two weeks and was so drained that I caved and got most of my meals out for several days. Sigh. Oh well, I am counting it as "medicinal" spending!!! :D

I'm going to try to make up for some of it this week. I'm starting a grocery shopping list and errand list so that I can make one trip for everything this week instead of multiple trips. We're both home this week so going to try to do as much cooking from scratch as possible.

Got a $25 off coupon in the mail for Origins, which I will use to buy the moisturizer that I love. Yes, yes, totally overpriced, but I get regular compliments from people about how I look much younger than I am so I'm considering it a worthwhile indulgence! :~)

We'll do a little holiday decorating today, which will consist of putting solar-powered Christmas lights on one of our pine trees in our meadow. We'll be able to see the twinkling lights from the house, but they won't add anything to our electric bill. Hooray! We don't bother decorating indoors -- with 3 dogs and 2 cats nothing would last very long!

libby

12-9-12, 1:03pm

Canadian Tire money is basically just coupons redeemable at Canadian Tire stores. It looks like monopoly money. Everytime you make a purchase at Canadian Tire you receive a certain percentage back in Canadian Tire money. The percentage is miniscule and it takes a looong time to amass any significant amounts.

fidgiegirl

12-9-12, 1:14pm

The triple win may be negated by snow. Stay tuned.

At least we'll have a nice pot roast for lunch if MiL and FiL can't make it!

early morning

12-9-12, 1:45pm

Hey, notebook - welcome, and impressive list of frugals!!

Stella - just read about your accident/illness - sooo sorry! Glad you're on the mend, convalescing with young children can be quite a challenge, even kids as awesome as yours - sending all good vibes your way.

Fidgie, is it snowing?? I would so much rather have a bit (notice I didn't say a LOT!) of snow than all this misty not-quite-rain we've been having here.

But, not much happening on the frugal front - same old, same old. Not really spending more than usual, other than some car repairs, but nothing exciting. Got a 25$ GC to a steak-house for Christmas from my boss. We will use it tomorrow night to take DH's brother to dinner for his birthday. It won't cover the entire cost, but will certainly help! Hanging the laundry in the house at the moment - I don't mind hanging it out in the cold, but it's been misty for the past three days. Keeping the furnace at about 65. So far our propane usage is less that last year at this point, mostly due to the higher temps we've been having. I wanted to buy a really special holiday card for on of our friends, and found a handmade one that is perfect for $2.50 at a little shop in our town - we hope she is able to stay in business here and would rather buy from her than from a bigbox or chain store. And my biggest frugal for the week is probably cancelling the trip to a nearby antiques haven that I had planned with a friend. :~)

Tussiemussies

12-9-12, 2:28pm

Sorry Stella that you've been hurt or sick, I coulndn't find the post that said what happened but I'm glad you are on the mend now.

notebook

12-9-12, 3:07pm

I recently blew the dust off an old tv of mine. It had been in storage for years. I bought this little 13" wonder back in 1994 with my first paycheque from my first real job. I also still have the VCR that I bought back then. I hooked the two items up and they still work.

I am weeding out old VHS tapes that have also been in storage. Almost all of them will be chucked, but I want to watch several one last time. Unfortunately, I only had a tv tray (the kind you eat off) to use as a stand. I went looking for a better stand at a local "business" that started this summer to recycle furniture. I think it is a non-profit society that is just trying to keep big items out of the landfill, and is run by volunteers and is also employing locals needing to work off community service hours, and those needing a hand up, etc. I found a great old particle board entertainment centre for $20.

I have now turned this frugal entertainment centre into my vintage technology shrine.

In addition to my 1994 tv and VCR, it now houses my 1991 5-disc CD player hooked up to my 1990 portable stereo (with cassette deck!). My tv picks up the only over-the-air station (CBC) with rabbit ears. The concept of free tv programming seems so unusual.

It might appear that spending $20 on a piece of furniture is not frugal because it is an extra, or unnecessary, cost. However, I can now get some use out of these formerly unused old items that will eventually find their way out of my life entirely (as I de-clutter), and have some fun doing it. I plan to return the entertainment centre when I am done with it, so that the next user can enjoy it.

I appreciate having this furniture recycling place in town, and have come to view it as my first stop when looking to meet utility furnishing needs. I picked up an office chair there for $5 this summer.

Thank you for the warm welcome.

bunnys

12-9-12, 6:36pm

Just put the stuff for apple butter in the crock pot. At this rate it should be done by about 3A.

fidgiegirl

12-9-12, 8:59pm

early, yes, it's snowing pretty good. I'm actually happy about it, looks like we'll get to XC ski this year. And since DH went to get them, the day went off as planned. Was really fun. 'Cept now I have to go shovel. And the snow is going to push me to try the bus for the first time in a while rather than driving to a conference. I always like having bus knowledge at hand for other times when I might need it, so that's a good push.

Ok! Time to go outside and shovel! :)

Tradd

12-10-12, 2:39am

It's Dec. 10th and I've yet to turn my heat on! This is the latest I've ever gone. Annual game with me. I think the SLF folks are the only ones who get it. No one else does. :)

Stella

12-10-12, 10:36am

Thanks for the good wishes Early Morning and Tussie! I am really starting to feel stronger now. I even managed to make homemade macaroni and cheese for lunch yesterday.

Today I will be getting meals from friends that should last me two days. I really, really appreciate the way my friends have been supporting me. It makes it much easier. Zach and I have put a moratorium on eating out except for our date nights, which are always very cheap ($10 or so).

I am baking some chicken breast this morning to make chicken salad sandwiches for lunch. I love chicken salad. Dinner, as I said will be provided for today and tomorrow. Wednesday I am going to make Senate Bean soup in the crockpot. It doesn't get much cheaper or easier than that and everyone likes it. The only night I have to figure out is Thursday and I'm assuming I'll be in decent shape by then.

This week's family fun day was spent playing outside in the snow. That's always good FFF. I'm going to let the older four play on the deck in the snow today for our outdoor time. Our craft activity today will be making ornaments for the tree. I really didn't want to bring out all my nice ornaments in a year I have a 3 year old, a 20 month old and a 7 month old. They'd probably get broken. Instead we're making stuff. I crocheted some heart ornaments and today I am going to figure out how to corchet some stars.

Zach deals with stress by doing stuff, so with my not feeling well, my Honey Do list is taking a beating (in a good way). He's on a big building and fixing kick. There are certainly worse ways to deal with stress. He built me the bookshelf, which saved us $140 over what I was planning to buy. Now he's building a train table, saving us $50. Next up is doll beds, which he had planned to build all along, and then probably he'll build me the linen closet I've been wanting in the dressing room. I love it.

My dad has asked for Zach to install a light over his desk as a Christmas present and my mom wants a photo of all the kids together. She doesn't even care if they are all looking at the camera, so I can take the photo myself. :) Those will be some good, inexpensive Christmas gifts.

flowerseverywhere

12-11-12, 7:24am

put our artificial tree up and there was a row of lights we could not get to work. DH went and bought a string and just put them on. Although the tree is ten years old, we didn't want to replace it. Two dollars was a lot nicer than several hundred.

Decided to skip my quilt guild christmas party. It involves a gift, cooking etc. and it just isn't fun for me. I don't want to take another useless gift into the house or spend my money on one. I went to several other very simple holiday parties and I enjoyed them. We meet weekly so it is not like I'll miss anything.

Hey Stella and those that like to craft with leftovers, look at this idea

http://www.michelemademe.com/2010/11/series-3-situation-christmas-ornament_26.html

beware, this website is full of recycled craft ideas

Stella

12-11-12, 9:55am

Cute, flowers! I like that. That site has so many fun ideas. Thanks for posting!

Amaranth

12-11-12, 11:38am

Stella, there are some wonderful origami ornaments. Most libraries have a lot of origami books. Your oldest two could do most any of the designs and there are quite a few that can be done by 3 year olds.

rosarugosa

12-11-12, 8:11pm

Tradd: That's pretty impressive!
We've gone to Trader Joe's after our Sunday hikes these past two weeks. That is a totally un-frugal practice that has got to stop! I do plan for us to make one trip between now and xmas for some holiday items, but that will have to be it for a while!

fidgiegirl

12-11-12, 8:16pm

Guys, what would be a good gift for our renters? They are so good that I want to offer them an appreciation and now seems a good time. However, I feel awkward about a gift card - I'd hate for them to know what we spend on a gift, and really wouldn't want them to feel they had to reciprocate. They do have a dog, I thought maybe a nice big bag of rawhides? What else?

ApatheticNoMore

12-11-12, 8:19pm

flowers? a potted plant? I have never received a gift from a landlord before :)

Tammy

12-11-12, 9:14pm

My dad used to give December rent free to our tenants. He could afford it ... They really appreciated it. I'm still amazed by his generosity. That's a huge gift.

fidgiegirl

12-11-12, 10:07pm

How I wish we could, Tammy! That is amazing.

ANM - me either! But they are great tenants, and we want them to know it . . .

SteveinMN

12-11-12, 11:20pm

They do have a dog, I thought maybe a nice big bag of rawhides?
I like that idea. I can tell you, though, that my mom's dog always seems to have -- err, digestive problems -- with rawhides imported from outside the U.S. It must be something they do in processing them. The dog is fine with U.S. rawhides. Might be something to keep in mind.

I kind of like the potted plant idea. Maybe a Christmas cactus -- or forced bulbs so they have something to look at even after Christmas? A

How about a frozen dinner they can reheat during some harried day?

fidgiegirl

12-11-12, 11:32pm

Mmmmm . . . I like the bulbs idea . . .

Rosemary

12-12-12, 8:44am

Turned an old pair of wool socks into hand warmers and dusting mitts. They are about 20 years old and had long ago shrunk to a size too small for me, and now they no longer fit DD. I cut off the cuffs and cut holes for my thumbs. They are great while working on the computer as my hands always get cold. Will use the feet for my semi-annual dusting. :|(

Ordered DH's new glasses online. 2 pairs with anti-reflective coating and clip-on polarized sunglasses for $50 (total).

Had a 30% off coupon at Kohl's. I've long been done with holiday shopping but I purchased DD's and DH's birthday gifts.

fidgiegirl

12-12-12, 9:12am

Rosemary, smart! My DH is overflowing with socks - I will remember that little computer gloves trick. :)

julia

12-12-12, 2:09pm

I just wanted to say how much I love this thread. I barely ever post, although I read it every day. I'm determined to do more posting next year!

Tussiemussies

12-12-12, 2:19pm

My dad used to give December rent free to our tenants. He could afford it ... They really appreciated it. I'm still amazed by his generosity. That's a huge gift.

What a kind person and generous gift!

fidgiegirl

12-12-12, 2:38pm

julia, hoping to hear more from you as you feel compelled! It's always great to add more frugal ideas into the mix.

You know, with our collective expertise we really could write a book. Did anything ever go anywhere with that? It's getting really easy to publish eBooks now . . . (says Kelli, who does not need another project! :) )

fidgiegirl

12-12-12, 5:46pm

I'm home from work today, not feeling too well with a headache, but taking the opportunity clean up some paperwork, switch some things to paperless billing, get the new mortgage set up with autodraft (no risk of late fees - frugal!), and called Verizon on a charge I cancelled back in July but had been applied all these months. I don't comb through the cell phone bill every month and this little charge escaped me until now. The rep was really nice about. That's $20 of my life energy refunded. Yippee.

Stella

12-12-12, 10:06pm

Amaranth, I like the oragami ornament idea. Fun!

julia, I hope you do post more. It's always fun to hear from new people.

Kelli, I hope you feel better soon!

I was able to get out and do stuff today!!!! That was a nice milestone. You all know how much I love being stuck in bed. :) I felt great today so while Zach was at work I started sorting through stuff and putting it on the new bookshelf he made for me for our school stuff. It holds quite a bit!

This allowed me to move most of the stuff from the cabinet in the dining room out of there. I'll also be able to move the prettier bookshelf to the dining room or kitchen. I'm trying to decide which one. I might keep it in the kitchen and use it to store cookbooks and serving pieces. The only problem with that is that the bookshelf is a darker wood and almost everything in my kitchen is white. In the dining room it could hold serving pieces, but maybe then the boys would get to them and break them. They are kind of at a lower-primate stage, cute as they are. Alternatively, maybe I can test it out in the spot in the living room I was going to buy a bookshelf for. It's not exactly what I wanted for that space, but close enough, maybe. Everything in the living room is darker wood and the bookshelf is fancy enough to go with the antique stuff. Then I can keep an eye out for something white, or that I could paint white, for the kitchen. Anyway, it's a lot of free storage, is my point. :)

Tomorrow we are going to a free movie at a local college. If one of our friends can babysit, Zach and I will both go with a friend of ours. If we can't find a sitter, just I will go.

Kat

12-13-12, 9:32am

Julia--Yes, please do continue posting! I am sure you have many great ideas that the rest of us can learn from!

Tammy--How generous of your father! Reading about his gift to renters really warmed my heart!

Fidgie--I forced paperwhites for Christmas gifts this year. They look great and were so easy! I didn't do anything special--just tossed them on some rocks and kept the water level to the bottom of the bulbs. I didn't even put them in sunlight or anything--they are just sitting on top of my fridge.

Went shopping with my mom on Monday. I gave her her birthday gifts then--a paperwhite and 2 books I purchased used. She loved them all. We looked at maternity coats since I can barely zip my winter coat now, but we both agreed with is silly to spend $60 or more on a coat I will only wear for a few months. Instead, she said she would like to buy me a wool cape or ruana that I can wear both now and after the baby is born. I found one I liked online, and she ordered it for me as an early Christmas gift.

Monday night I made a big pan of cheesy chicken and wild rice casserole. We're still eating on that. Tonight will probably be mac n cheese from a box since I have a doctor's appointment an hour away and won't get home until after 4. At least I thought ahead to get the mac n cheese. It'll be cheaper than eating out! :-)

Yesterday I spent the morning making our 2013 budget and listing our 2013 financial goals. It felt good to get that done, and I am feeling optimistic about our future.

DH and I closed on the new home loan last night. We are pretty jazzed and hope to have the house paid of in six years rather than ten. But we'll have to see. It is hard for us to pay down debt in this child bearing season of life. It means less work for me and a crazy number of medical bills, and paying those off tends to take priority.

Amaranth

12-13-12, 11:18am

Kat the great thing about a cape or ruana is that there is usually room under one to warm up at least one child as well.

Stella

12-13-12, 12:07pm

Today is Santa Lucia day, so we are having some friends over for lussekatter and coffee. My friend and her kids are bringing ornament making kits they got for a discount at Michaels for the kids to make. It should be some good FFF.

We found a babysitter, my dad, so we are going to the free movie tonight. We'll eat early-ish. I'm making a casserole to keep things simple.

Other than that, I'm trying to catch up from being an invalid for a week. I sparkled the kitchen (as Cheyenne and Bella would say :) ) and I'm continuing to work on the bookshelf situation and the laundry.

A splurge I am considering is a diaper sprayer that attaches to the back of the toilet. In addition to being useful for diapers, I think it would be useful for things like washing out the mop bucket and whatnot. It's not terribly expensive and I think it would be useful.

Tussiemussies

12-13-12, 12:38pm

Hi Stella, sounds like such a nice and meaningful and then fun day. I like your sprayer on the toilet appliance, does sound like it would be really helpful... : )

Amaranth

12-13-12, 2:56pm

Recently I saw a book that looked it would be fun for people with random scraps of yarn. It's called The Twelve Knits of Christmas and has designs for the characters from the 12 days of Christmas song. The small knitted people and animals could be used for other toys as well. The cover of the book shows what they look like.
http://www.amazon.com/Twelve-Knits-Christmas-Fiona-Goble/dp/1449411312

Stella your older two might be able to do these, but not sure.

Tussiemussies

12-13-12, 3:05pm

cdttmm

12-13-12, 5:01pm

My administrative assistant's grandmother passed away this week, so although we normally work from home and don't see each other, I met her today at Barnes & Noble so that we could use their free wi-fi and "co-work" for the day. Figured it would provide her with a much needed distraction. I brought my own tea in a travel mug this morning along with my own snacks (can't really eat much from the B&N cafe because most everything has gluten in it), but did buy one tea. Of course, I used my B&N member card for a 10% discount and they gave me 10 cents off for bringing my own mug so the day wasn't too un-frugal. And I managed to avoid buying any books, which was the truly frugal highlight of the day! :~)

Went grocery shopping yesterday and actually managed to stick to my list -- this is always such a challenge for me, so this was a huge win! And. I managed to put off going grocery shopping for three days beyond when I made the original list, so that, too, was impressive! Need to plan something for dinner tonight, but hopefully we can scrounge enough leftovers and what not to see us through since we are headed to NYC tomorrow.

Bought the last of the Christmas gifts for the family last night -- two pairs each of SmartWool socks for my older brother and mother. EMS had them on sale -- buy 3, get 1 free -- plus only $2 for 2-day shipping. So total win as these are very practical gifts that will be greatly appreciated. My other brother is getting two books that he requested. Both are new releases so no chance to find them used, but bought them with a 20% off coupon so didn't break the bank.

Got the annual insurance bill in the mail and discovered I can pay it online so will save myself the cost of a stamp! I've been surprisingly slow at moving to pay everything online, but I'm getting there. Hopefully in 2013 I can continue making progress in this area as it would be nice to be able to no longer have to buy stamps.

Other than that, just trying to keep up with the usual stuff. Keeping the heat in the house at 60 degrees -- fortunately it's been pretty warm so the heat hasn't even been on that much this season. Of course, it's only December so I'm sure this will change soon enough. Trying to make sure we're only doing full loads of laundry and dishes. And trying to use the minimum amount of things like dish washing detergent, laundry detergent, shampoo, etc. Mostly just trying to be mindful of every little thing since I tend to get distracted and/or lazy on a regular basis! Good thing I have all of you to help keep me on track!

Gardenarian

12-13-12, 6:18pm

I went to a free herb workshop last week-end and learned so much from the many learned women there! I made various herbal mixes and are giving some to my neighbors as gifts. I'm going to be growing a lot more herbs this year, I think!

Our front fence just sort of collapsed and we are getting bids for a new fence - all the posts are rotted. Well, it was a 30 year old fence; I just hope our new one lasts as long. Not actually a frugal, but. We are replacing some of our front stairs ourselves, and repainting the stairs and front deck.

cdttmm

12-14-12, 3:02pm

Okay, some frugal success happening over here! Mostly in regards to eating out of our refrigerator and pantry! :D

Ate up the rest of the salad greens for dinner last night along with an avocado that was getting really ripe and some green beans that were on their way out. Feel pretty good about not having to throw any of that out. Of course, there are some leftovers that are past their prime that will be going to the compost pile today so it's not like we're perfect on the not-wasting-food mission. <Sigh.>

Made some rice in the rice cooker and warmed up some frozen black beans for a quick lunch along with more avocado and the last of the Monterrey jack cheese.

Bought a fresh cut Christmas tree for my partner's family today for the grand total of $35 -- a great deal considering we've paid more in past years. I'm not really a fan of killing a tree just for the purposes of decorating for Christmas, but I don't get much say on this one.

Planning out some snacks to take along on our drive to NYC tonight so that I don't need to buy anything along the way or once we get there.

Bought a Christmas gift for my assistant -- a sampler pack of loose tea. I was buying it online and discovered that if I ordered tea for myself as well (it's my usual brand) the cost of shipping dropped from $8 to $5. I have no idea why, but I wasn't going to argue! It is only $12.50 for 4 ounces of my favorite tea if I buy it online. It's $11 for just under 2 ounces when I buy it at Whole Foods. I'll be ordering it online from now on -- even with the added cost for shipping I'm still winning on this one!

Kat

12-15-12, 9:27am

stella--hope you enjoyed your date!
cdttmm--Meeting your co-worker in person was a really nice gesture. Sometimes just having someone "there" is helpful in the grieving process.

Nothing too exciting going on here. Stocked up on some fabulous grocery deals yesterday. Visited my dad at the nursing home after. Ate a cheap and simple dinner at home with DH and then watched a movie we already had after DD was in bed. Today we are taking DD to DH's company Christmas party. They used to do typical office parties, but so many people got drunk and acted unprofessionally that now they just throw a family-oriented party for the employees' children. DD is a little young yet, but there will be cookies and punch and a few games she can play. It is free, and I think she will have a good time. She is a people watcher for sure!

Stella

12-15-12, 10:17am

Thanks, Kat. We did enjoy our date. I hope you have fun at the Christmas party.

Zach's company is having a Christmas party during normal working hours. They are going to a go-kart place. It's a super small company, all guys except for the owner's wife, and most of them are into racing, so they thought that would be more fun for them than a normal party. Zach isn't especially into racing, but he will have a blast at a go-kart place anyway. Good FFF. Actually, the company was frugal about it too. They are electricians, so they saved copper from unused wire for recycling and got enough to pay for the party.

Yesterday I went shopping for Christmas outfits. I had gone to Target and they had basically nothing except some dresses from their Nieman Marcus for Target line, which were $100! Um. No. I don't go to Target to spend $100 on a dress. I went to Once Upon a Child and got beautiful dresses for all three girls and one little suit for the boys plus an extra sweater and a pair of boots for $40. That's more like it. I still need one more little suit, but we'll figure that out. I have more places I can look for that. I also went to the thrift store and bought some pillowcases. Two of them are for our bed, two are for the big girls' beds and one is to make into a spring skirt later in the spring. They were about $2 a pair and really pretty. I also got a cross-stitched table runner that is really pretty, but not finished. The pattern is printed on the fabric, and it was $1, so I decided to finish it myself. I even had the right colours in my stash.

A big frugal decision we have made is to join a homeschool coop. Several of my friends belong to this group. I knew about it, but thought it was farther away than it is. They meet twice a month and the kids divide out into their "grade" and work with teachers. Among other things, they are learning about a different country each time this year. They have monthly field trips and optional extra classes plus some social events. The moms go into a discussion group, when they aren't helping, and the littles go into a nursery. It's only $55 a kid with $135/family max per semester (it's a Catholic group, so that bulk discount thing comes in handy for a lot of us :) ) and the nursery is only $5/kid per YEAR. I was telling my dad that we were planning on joining and he offered to pay for them. I think the kids are really going to like this.

This weekend we are going to the Jackson St Roundhouse for the Minnesota Transportation Museum's Santa's Train Shop. This is a planned expense. I'm making a big batch of pancakes so we can fill up before we go. They have free popcorn and cocoa there, so we won't need to get any food while we are out.

Stella

12-15-12, 11:25am

Amaranth

12-15-12, 1:09pm

Gardenarian, the herb event sounds like fun. Would you post a couple that you thought were especially good--maybe in the food section of the forum? Also I am always looking for furikake recipes. Did they have any of those?

Cdttmm, sounds like a tasty way to use up pantry and fridge items.

Stella, lot of good deals there. Maybe freecycle would have some smaller size suits and you could ask for next year's sizes at the same time and maybe nursing Christmas dresses too. The homeschool coop sounds like fun. The different countries theme sounds like a great one since you can get such a diversity of info into the lessons.

fidgiegirl

12-15-12, 1:26pm

Hello everybody! As always, you are up to inspiring things!

I went Xmas shopping for Bryce yesterday after getting out of a workshop a bit early and it was nuts. Absolutely nuts. At 2:45! I couldn't even find a parking spot at REI! Not fun. This is why I'm happy we don't do the big giftstravaganza.

And, it helped me realize I'm overthinking his gift. If nothing is popping to mind then I'm going to surrender to the suggestions. I had some good surprise-y ideas but they won't work out this year, or I'm not willing to spend what would be required. So I'm going to stop at Sears and get the screw bits and screwdriver he wants. :)

Last night I got fancy pizza fixins and made pizzas here at home and a pan of GF brownies. Whoa momma those were good brownies.

Sewed up a few more wipers for the kitchen. I love the server for those jobs - borrowing my mom's, but the way she works, I can basically keep it at my house and she'll "borrow" it back when she needs it. She is happy it gets used and has a little stress about where to keep things, anyway . . . so it works out for everyone.

FFF for this weekend will be some house projects, a bit of sewing, and Gus going to his first session of Pint Sized Play indoor play group for small dogs. So excited. It's going to be hilarious. We might go see the Brave New Workshop Show if we get organized, and I'd like to see the community band I used to be in - they have a free concert tomorrow night in an actual auditorium rather than a mall or a nursing home. :)

Tradd

12-15-12, 3:16pm

Did three loads of laundry last night (darks, lights, towels), and the towels were the only things thrown in the dryer. My newish drying rack from Target is getting a lot of us. :)

I've been experimenting some with low cost, quick breakfast options, and I seem to have hit on a good option: instant oatmeal. At $1.97 for the Target brand, 10 packets in box, it's a good price. One packet just isn't enough. Two fill me to not stuffed and stay with me all morning. That's $.39/day for breakfast. Fruit alone doesn't fill me up. I should try a banana on the side with one packet of oatmeal.

The food stamp challenge has inspired me to see what tweaks I can make in my own grocery bill. Cory Booker mentioned his caffeine craving in his food stamp challenge. I don't drink coffee very often. I'm a tea drinker. So I switched from my usual Twinings or more expensive Russian tea to store brand black tea bags. 100 tea bags for $2.64 at Target. That's $.03 each.

I'm in one of my "religiously oriented" vegan seasons (Advent), so this was a good time to try this.

I'm making soup and I'm interested to see how many meals I can get out of each pot.

Mushroom-tomato soup - cost worked out to be about $5.50 for the pot
Generous amount of olive oil in pot
1 onion, chopped
1 bulb garlic, chopped
1 pkg mushrooms, sliced
1 small can tomato paste
1 large can or 2 small cans petite diced tomatoes, undrained (you could use regular, but I prefer the petite)
2 cups water
Optional: Handful of orzo (could use rice or other small pasta)

Cook onion and garlic in olive oil until soft. Add mushrooms, cook for 5 minutes. Add remainder of ingredients. Cook until orzo is as you like it (about 10 minutes).

Tradd's Quick Black Bean Soup - cost worked out to be about $2.25
1 can black beans, undrained
1 can whole kernel or cream-style corn (undrained for whole kernel)
1 can diced tomatoes
Mexican-style spices as desired (cumin, chili powder, etc.)
Optional: saute chopped onion and garlic in olive oil before adding remaining ingredients (that adds a bit to cost of recipe)

Combine all ingredients in pot. Heat. Eat. Enjoy.

************************************************** ****
I often eat PB&B (peanut butter & banana) sandwiches for lunch. I need to cut back on the soda, for both health and cost reasons (usually have 1 a day from machine at work - $.75). At home, the only beverages I have on hand are tea, oj, water. I did have some things already on hand - some canned goods, orzo, olive oil, some frozen veggies, sugar, PB, jam, apples, margarine, spices, a bit of pasta, grated Parmesan cheese, jar of pasta sauce, some pouches of tuna.

One easy, fairly healthy option is to boil however much pasta will feed you/your family. Halfway through cooking time, add frozen veggies. I like green peas, but broccoli would also work well. Drain and toss with margarine, butter, bit of oil. Season with salt and pepper, perhaps lemon pepper. Some Parmesan cheese on top is nice. A pouch of tuna might work well, too.

As I was going through my shopping, I kept my eyes out for what items are allowed on WIC. It was interesting to see what was allowed. Sometimes it's the cheapest option, and sometimes not. For example, the Target brand chilled oj from concentrate is $2.34 for a half-gallon. That was the cheapest option. That's what I bought.

As I was going through the store, I was thinking about the other comments here regarding people not necessarily having time or knowledge to cook healthy. That's why I bought the canned beans, rather than the dried one.

When the fast is over after Christmas, I'm going to go to my local ethnic grocery and get some inexpensive chicken parts (usually thighs) and make chicken soup. Any sort of soup stretches meat much. Two chicken thighs, a few carrots, a big onion, a bit of garlic, some celery, and some egg noodles will make a good inexpensive soup. I could make it less expensive by adding rice, but the nice noodles "flesh out" the soup more for me.

It's a rainy, somewhat chilly day here, and aside from cooking, I'm just playing on the computer and reading (I was given a few books as a Christmas gift).

Amaranth

12-15-12, 4:09pm

Tradd, sometimes we cut an apple into 8ths (minus the core), put it peel side down on a plate and microwave for one minute. Sprinkle with cinnamon or not. It's good as a side with oatmea/cream of wheat/cream of rice/ricel for breakfast.

Good deal on the tea. Do you like spices or fruit in yours or better plain? We have a nonchain grocery store here that has 100 tea bags for .99.

Good point about the canned beans vs dried. The biggest problem though seems to be time to cook dry beans for people in that situation. To get around that for our household, I'll cook a big batch and freeze it in portions.

Your soups look tasty and I like how you got a diversity of vegetables in there. The chicken one sounds very comforting. I also like potatoes as the starch in that sort of chicken soup. What are the usual and best deals you can usually get on chicken thighs in your area? A lot of times they are .99 here, but occasionally they are .59 lb.

For your soup servings, I'm guessing four meals from the mushroom tomato and two from the black bean.

Soup-wise, I'm looking for suggestions for frugal soups using swiss chard. For the first one I was thinking chicken broth, potatoes, sauteed onions and ??? And then some different flavors and ingredients for the next three Swiss Chard soups. Would welcome suggestions

Tradd

12-15-12, 4:31pm

Amaranth, the apple thing sounds good, but I don't have a microwave.

The mushroom-tomato soup is incredible with the addition of a half-cup (or a bit more) of red wine. You could make the soup without any olive oil at all, but it really adds to it.

I don't remember the cost of chicken thighs. Will have to look the next time I'm at the store (I often go there for veggies).

My usual teas are Earl Grey, Irish Breakfast, English Breakfast, as well as Russian black tea. My new favorite, although pricey as all get out, is a Russian-style tea from Kusmi in Paris - Bouquet of Flowers No. 108. It's Earl-Greyish, with citrus fruits and flowers. Cost? $25 on Amazon (free shipping) for 4 oz! It was a bit less on Kusmi's own USA site, but the shipping would have erased the difference.

Playing with my food budget will allow more room in the budget for luxuries, such as the Kusmi tea, without breaking the bank. Heck, if I just give up Subway for lunch that should take care of it. I should have had half my raise by now, but changes in leadership of my location have changed what I was promised by old head guy. Have to wait until I get my broker's license now, which is probably mid-Feb. I'll get it all at once then (big chunk!).

On another note, the season has been so mild so far, that I've still not turned my heat on! It's Dec. 15 and this is the latest I have ever gone. Well, it was on for several hours after my landlord had the furnace checked several weeks ago, and they left it on. Of course, I turned it off as soon as I got home, lol.

cdttmm

12-16-12, 11:20am

Stella -- great job on the Christmas outfits!

Tradd -- I'm with you on cutting the grocery budget in other ways in order to afford luxuries like expensive tea! :D

We made a quick trip to NYC for a pre-Christmas family get-together with my partner's extended family. Was definitely one of our more frugal NYC trips -- hooray! On the way there we stopped at BJ's to get gas, which was about 10 cents per gallon less than other places and we bought two loaves of bread while there so that we wouldn't have to buy bread in NYC, which is ridiculously over priced! It was $2.49 for two French baguettes -- I was shocked as a single baguette is $1.99 at our usual grocery store. Happily, this prompted a lovely discussion in the car about ways in which we can be more frugal in 2013. First, we are switching our landline from Vonage to MagicJack. I am not the technology person in our household, but my partner assures me that MagicJack is now a viable solution to our landline dilemma (he doesn't want to give it up, but I would). This will save us about $20/mo -- not bad. I mentioned that I wanted to start a price book for groceries this year -- he was totally on board and pointed out that we had gotten lax about our grocery shopping and have been doing a lot of last minute trips to the store for 1 or 2 things. So we talked about creating weekly meal plans and doing our best to stick to them. He brought up the idea of doing more big cooking extravaganzas and freezing things the way we used to. I'm definitely on board for that! And he mentioned that he'd like to get in the habit of baking bread instead of buying it. So I'm going to encourage that behavior because buying bread is probably our most common must-stop-at-the-grocery-store-for-one-item issue. So, all in all, a very good discussion that will hopefully result in some positive changes!

As for our actual time in NYC, I brought leftovers with us so that we would have dinner when we got in on Friday night and not have to order take out. Then on Saturday we both went out for an early morning run before the family brunch. At brunch, his uncle offered to pay the bill for the entire family, which was very generous and kind of him and we definitely appreciated it! Afterwards, I walked over and used my $25 off coupon at Origins to get a jar of my favorite lotion for my face. As a bonus I got a free sample of their new sunscreen. I was excited to use my 25% off coupon at Barnes and Noble to buy a gift for one of my direct reports at work. Sadly, that bookstore didn't have it in stock so I was on my way to another Barnes and Noble, a mile away, when I walked by one of the college bookstores. I stopped in and lucked out as they had it in stock. I didn't get to use my coupon, but that's okay, because it saved me from quite a long walk (I was not willing to pay for a cab and the subways weren't much use in getting me from where I was to where I needed to go). On my way back to the apartment I stopped off at the neighborhood cafe and used my punch card for a free beverage. I've been diligently using this punch card for about 2 years in order to get 10 punches and earn my free drink (tells you how infrequently I buy beverages out when in NYC!). So I enjoyed a lovely hot chocolate for free and talked to a lovely gentleman who was waiting for his order outside the cafe with his two dogs. Mostly I just wanted to pet his dogs! :D

On the drive back last night, my partner brought up how he wanted to make lentil soup today so that he could put the Hungarian sausage in it that his (Hungarian) mother had bought him. He wanted to stop at the grocery store (are you noticing a pattern here?!?) and get a dry soup mix for a lentil soup. I nixed that idea and told him that I could make a fabulous lentil soup from what we had at home. He seemed skeptical, but this morning I threw some garlic, onions, and carrots in the pot with some olive oil, added a can of crushed tomatoes, lentils, and vegetable stock and some spices and now we have a lovely lentil soup that he can add his sausage to! Frugal score!!! :cool:

Okay, that's all for now! Hope everyone else is having a fabulously frugal weekend!

iris lily

12-16-12, 2:14pm

...Actually, the company was frugal about it too. They are electricians, so they saved copper from unused wire for recycling and got enough to pay for the party...

DH does that, saves wire in a bucket then burns off the wire wrapping and takes it to the scrap metal dealer. Some nice chunks of change can be made!

the go kart idea is fun.

larknm

12-16-12, 4:02pm

Shopped at home and found my old galoshes I'd never worn because it never rains here, but this was deep snow. They aren't warm, but when it's not too cold, can help me from wearng my warm winter boots every day and wearing them out that much sooner.

early morning

12-16-12, 6:10pm

Hmmm, sifting for positives here.... cooked a pan of rice to use for some lunches next week. Got my mileage check from work (usually forget to turn it in:|(). Will be returning $35 worth of stuff to Home Depot tonight- DH tends to buy before looking to see what we already have, so he bought all sorts of stuff to paint the board he puts up to keep the snowplow from tearing up the mailbox. It's all going back but the paint. That's all that we needed!! I painted it for him today, and he can put it up whenever he feels up to it. Washed two loads of laundry, it will dry in the house on hangers. Used a gift card at the grocery to buy things to take to a volunteer party DD and I are going to tomorrow night. OH- got a Christmas bonus at work! Splurged and bought 2 new dishcloths and a dish towel! :D

fidgiegirl

12-16-12, 7:09pm

early, I think those are great positives! We try to be really mindful about making returns, too. It's easy to let them sit around or just tuck them on a shelf. Nice splurge, BTW. :)

bunnys

12-16-12, 9:32pm

I'm pretty good about returning crap myself.

About 3 weeks ago I bought these bra strap things that pull the center back together so the straps don't show in sleeveless shirts.

Three plastic discs for 7 bucks. I don't know what I was thinking. But I kept the receipt and the packaging and will be taking that back to Target during Winter Break. Such a rip off.

Gardenarian

12-17-12, 5:57pm

Gardenarian, the herb event sounds like fun. Would you post a couple that you thought were especially good--maybe in the food section of the forum? Also I am always looking for furikake recipes. Did they have any of those?

No furikake - my daughter goes through a ton! but we get it very inexpensively at local Asian shops.
We were trying to use as many locally grown and native herbs as possible - dandelion, chickweed, yerba buena, usnea, fennel - and mostly making teas. It was really fun!

This week - dd had her wisdom teeth out, poor kid. We got a 10% discount for not having insurance, and I talked them down another 5% for bringing in cash. Still quite pricey.

fidgiegirl

12-17-12, 7:51pm

Ooh - Gardenarian - poor DD for having to get it done and poor you for having to pay for it! Well done on the cash discount, though. I would not have thought of that.

cdttmm

12-18-12, 12:48pm

Our food processor broke about a week ago and we are planning to replace it. My partner suggested we buy some super fancy version with various attachments and whatnot. I was not thrilled with the idea of spending more to get a bunch of features that I doubt we will ever use. Well, lucky me, just yesterday he happened across an unused Sears gift card and I suggested that we use that towards the purchase of our food processor (knowing that the number of models to choose from at Sears would be limited!). He not only agreed, but also went along with my suggestion to wait until after Christmas to take advantage of any sales that might be happening. Who knows how much money I just saved us! :D

I really, really, really wanted to make a pan of nachos last night, but we didn't have any cheese in the house. I manged to refrain from running out to the store just to buy cheese and ate leftover lentil soup instead. I have to go out to run some errands later today so if I am still craving nachos I will stop at the store to get cheese and satisfy my craving tonight! :|(

My mom, technology genius that she is (ha!), figured out how to use Amazon's wish list. I had already bought her some SmartWool socks for Christmas, but she had a book on her wish list that I already own, so I'm going to gift it to her along with a book on a related topic. I know she'll appreciate the fact that I didn't spend any extra money for gifts!

I've decided to embark on a use it up challenge over the next few months. I have quite the stockpile of hair styling products (although I use product almost daily, I have short hair so it's not a large amount). Some are sample sizes that have come in the mail or been given to me by my stylist; some are full sized containers that I've only used half of. I don't know why, but every now and then I am a sucker for buying new hair products. I'm on a mission to use up what I have and not buy any more until they are all gone!

Stella

12-18-12, 7:45pm

Iris, I was surprised by how much they got for a bunch of old wire. Hundreds of dollars and it didn't take them that long to get it.

Dinner tonight is frugal, potato soup and popovers. It smells really good. I made a big batch of homemade mac and cheese for lunch, so tomorrow will be a leftover day. Leftover mac and cheese for lunch and leftover bean soup and potato soup with homemade bread for dinner.

Breakfast was carrot bread. Zach, who is not usually a big vegetable eater when left to his own devices, loves carrot juice. It's like the one thing he has a sentimental soft spot for, culinarily, from the Seventh Day Adventist diet of his upbringing. I decided that since we have a juicer and carrots are cheap, I'll juice him up a batch once a week or so and he can drink it in the morning before work. It's better than nothing. Anyway, it left me with all these carrot shreds, so I decided to use them to make carrot bread. It worked just fine. I had to add a bit more liquid, but it worked. I think I'll do that on Mondays and then on Friday I'll juice up whatever produce is needing to be used up.

Kind of a semi-frugal, we got a groupon today for two people for two hours of archery, equipment included, for $15. I bought two so we can take the girls. They'll love it. The honourary nephew's mom got one for him too, so we'll get Dad or my other friend to watch the monkeys and make a day of it. It's going to be a Christmas present.

Kat

12-19-12, 9:53am

Good frugals, everyone!

bunnys--I am wondering if a paper clip or safety pin would do the same thing as those plastic discs...

DD had fun at the Christmas party Saturday. DH and I pretty much hunkered down at home all weekend, watching DVDs we already own after DD went to bed.

DH earned $80 dogsitting, which is, per our agreement, "his" money. He put it in the bank, but I know he will be putting it towards a tattoo in January. He loves tattoos, and I don't care if he gets them as long as he saves his own money for them (which he does).

Monday I went shopping with my mom, but I didn't buy anything. Afterwards, she bought me lunch, and then when I got home, I saw that my in-laws had called and invited us to dinner. It was lovely for DD to get to see three of her grandparents in one day! Plus, the place we went with my in-laws was hosting a charity, so 10% of proceeds went to the local senior center.

Yesterday I brought lunch to DH and his co-workers at lunch. I brought baked ham and Swiss sandwiches, Doritos, and rice krispy treats. It was simple and easy and all the ingredients were on sale this week. A couple of DH's co-workers had little gifts for DD, which was totally unnecessary but very thoughtful.

Tomorrow I am scheduled to see my physical therapist, but it is supposed to snow heavily here. The PT's office is an hour away, so I cancelled the appt. Guess I'll save the co-pay and the gas this week.

I do have some returns to make and will try to get those done this week, too.

bke

12-19-12, 11:01am

I feel like life has been pretty uneventful in the frugal dept. Silly thing is that I'm just not spending much so I guess that is a big frugal.

Here's my list:

-we didn't buy beverages with dinner out this week
-I only spent $17 at the grocery store
-I used a coupon when buying my breakfast this morning saving $3
-it was "lady's day" at the oil change place which saved me another $3
-Every year I buy a box of chocolates for the folk who run my local library. I used my register reward that were expiring and a sale to get this year's box for $2 out of pocket.
-freebies this week have included mix nuts from the quadreaders program, shower gel, and tea bags.

We've been letting people know we're going to be closed all next week. Two different couples have given me a $100 tip to put towards our trip! Considering that the average tip is only $2-3 dollars at our place this is very VERY generous! Its really nice that people are supporting us and understanding that its time for a real break.

flowerseverywhere

12-20-12, 8:52am

finished the dress and doll dress I made for my granddaughter, I had everything in the house to complete the set and it came out adorable.

My dear friends two kids are getting married within a year and I am making scrap quilts for each of them. My goal is to use up all of my fabric stash, quilters will understand how it can happen you have stacks of unused fabric.

I am going to start teaching quilting. I won't make a lot of money but there is something about doing what you love.

fidgiegirl

12-20-12, 9:02am

bke, glad to see you and hope you enjoy your trip and time off!! Well-deserved indeed.

flowers, I don't know about not making a lot of money at teaching quilting . . . I would think if you're a good instructor and your name gets known there could be some real opportunities there. My mom has paid a lot of cash to take some quilting classes in the past, and of course there are more than one person in the class. The beauty of designing classes is you (the general "you") do it once and then the bulk of the work is done . . . of course there are always refinements that can and should be made, but the heavy lifting comes with the first time the course is delivered. But anyway, starting out I think it's a healthy attitude. Would love to see some pics of your pieces sometime!!

Kat

12-20-12, 10:05am

Yes, flowerseverywhere, please do post pics of your quilts! I need some inspiration in the scrap quilting arena! :-)

Had to take DD to the dr. yesterday for a re-check of her ears. I am happy all is well. Decided to run my errands while we were out to save gas. Also made sense since a big snow storm is coming. I did make those returns and was refunded $40.

Ate dinner at home last night and will eat lunch and dinner at home again today. Am looking forward to a low-key day home with DD. I plan to work a little, cook a little, clean a little, wrap a few presents, and watch the snow fall. :-)

Stella

12-20-12, 10:45am

flowerseverywhere, I like the quilting class idea. Fun!

Most of the stuff I am doing right now is pretty boring. I am thinking of making yogurt today. I've been making yogurt and banana smoothies for the kids and they are enjoying them. Winter has me in hibernation mode, to some extent.

I am considering splurging on snowshoes for myself, though. I think it would get me out and getting more exercise in the winter, which would be very helpful. It seems like the sort of thing I'd be glad I spent money on down the road, like my rollerblades. I spent a ridiculous amount of money, for me, at the time, getting decent rollerblades when I was about 20. I still use them, though, and I am 34, so they weren't really expensive in the long run.

bke

12-20-12, 11:08am

We've been having some challenges with food suppliers lately. Our Produce guy retired and there really isn't a good replacement to be found. The other problem is a new representative from our main food source. She doesn't offer the sales that the other rep did. The entire company is working hard to turn a profit so I know its not all her fault. As you you all know, food prices are going up everywhere. Dh and I decided to go to the new Aldi in area and stock up on some things for work.

Flour, sugar, oatmeal, dried beans for soups, etc. We bought potatoes for 15 cents a pound. Our supplier is charging 36 cents a pound. We have a large storage area, the health dept. okays what we're doing, and we're smart enough not to allow this to lead to any waste so this is going to be another way to keep cost down and avoid raising our prices. Its quite an advantage for us over the other little restaurants in the area that don't have the space or the funds to do this.

On a personal level, we ended up going out to dinner last night. I used a coupon and we ate for $20. I'm not sure how much we saved but I'm estimating $6-$9.

I was fortunate to catch a good sale on the coke rewards site and have 5 coupons for free 12-packs of soda coming in the mail. That much soda will last us for quite a while.

I recieved a coffee sample in the mail yesterday.

I've been thinking a lot about setting goals for the new year. Dh is really becoming more and more supportive of my couponing/rebating/sweepstakes. I am going to really try and use these items to stockpile things we use on a regular basis and keep food costs down in 2013.

Kat

12-21-12, 9:46am

Enjoyed a super productive day at home yesterday with the little one. I got some cleaning and a few loads of laundry done, along with some craft projects. I made baked ziti for dinner and finished up my shopping from home. I have a free month of Amazon Prime right now, so I am taking advantage of the free two-day shipping. :-)

The unfrugal thing I did was to buy gifts for people I had planned on making food for. I am exhausted lately, and it all would have had to have been made during the days that I was out celebrating Christmas other places away from home. The thought of coming home after a long day (with a toddler who will likely be off her schedule and cranky) and staying up late baking just stressed me out. Plus, once I added up the cost of all the ingredients I needed, I figured I would be spending around $30- $40. I spent $50 on everyone I had left and will get it all shipped to my door for free. Not the cheapest way to go, but $10-$20 for less stress and peace of mind is money well spent IMO.

cdttmm

12-21-12, 2:52pm

Still working away on some end-of-year frugals. :)

The company I work for is largely virtual, but I have two co-workers (who happen to also be my two direct reports) who live within about an hour's driving distance from me. We decided to have an informal holiday dinner with each other and our significant others. None of us had mentioned doing a gift exchange and I've never been one to do a gift exchange at work, but one of my reports brought up in passing that she was buying a gift for her colleague, which I knew meant she was also buying a gift for me. Ugh. So I felt compelled to buy gifts for both of them. I spent less than $40 for the two of them, but $40 is still $40. Fortunately, I think my gifts were appreciated so that is nice. And I was able to wrap both of them nicely with some recycled gift wrap, so I did my best to keep things as frugal as possible!

I had a few bills to pay before the end of the year. One was for my dentist and one was for my optometrist. I was about to write checks for both and mail them off when I realized that I could probably just pay them over the phone with my debit card. Turns out that I was right! Saved myself postage, envelopes, checks, and a trip to the post office -- woot! It's not much, but every little bit counts!

Combining some errands today to save on gas and planning to make dinner tonight from food we already have in the house.

Not much else to report -- hope everyone else is having a wonderfully frugal week!

bunnys

12-21-12, 4:06pm

At Martin's today to get a few items. The Daiya Cheez Shreds were $2.99 per 12 oz pkg. The normal price is $4.99. I just happened to look @ them hoping the very frequent sale price of $4.50 was in effect. I nearly did a happy dance. This stuff is so expensive regularly. It's like $5.99 per bag @ Whole Paycheck. I bought 6 bags. And the sale continues through 1/12. I will be purchasing @ least a year's worth before the end of the sale. Phenomenal deal.

chrissieq

12-22-12, 8:20pm

Haven't been on this site in forever! Just read the 10 pages of Dec frugals and realized how it helps to have these reminders.

For me, this holiday season at work I really ratcheted back the gifts - 10 recipients rather than the 24 last year - looked seriously at who did I feel obligated to give to vs who I wanted to gift to. Homemade cookies made and frozen in August - 5 of the 10 got a packet of hot chocolate - and all got a card bought at a garage sale this summer.

My husband had a white elephant exchange so he found a book and some candy here that was switched out at the party several times - made him happy! We will pass on his gift - not our style but someone can use it!

Feel like I spend too much time driving around to get good deals on groceries for the holidays but since 4 stores are within 3 miles and Trader Joes is 5 miles away, it's not like I'm driving hither and yon. I struggle with doing all errands in one day mostly cause I get tired after work but I'd love to get a grip on that!

Thanks for keeping me on track!!

Tradd

12-22-12, 9:54pm

On the work gift front, I am happy to report it was virtually *non-existent* this year! Yes! Instead there were goodies, and more after Christmas when everyone is back in the office.

My gift-giving is minimal, compared to most people I know (one coworker said she spent $1800!). Pile of art supplies for my goddaughter and her younger sibs (same for St. Nicholas Day. too). Small candle for goddaughter's mom. For my choir directors, a Starbucks gift card. That's it! I sent out a few cards via mail (I'd had the stamps for months). I'll do an email Christmas newsletter, since it's been such an interesting year. I'd gotten a box of 40 nice cards for $15 at Target. The rest will be saved for other Christmases. I think I only sent out 4-5 cards.

I had thought about baking some banana bread for gifts, but work was crazy, and I didn't feel like it, so I didn't. I doubt it will be missed.

Holiday food spending is minimal, too. About $10 on cheese and crackers to take to Christmas dinner at my friend's. I'll make an apple crisp, too (a dessert was requested), but I already have all ingredients.

Tonight, I wanted a quick and hot dinner, so I made fried potatoes and onions. I've not had this in ages. Yummy!

I'm off work and don't go back until the 26th. I'm just going to read, sleep, and otherwise veg. I'm really looking forward to it. Work has been extremely busy.

fidgiegirl

12-23-12, 12:24am

Nice frugals, everybody!

bunnys

12-23-12, 12:51am

Chrissieq--TJ's is like 30 minutes away from me. I go like once ever 3 months.

rosarugosa

12-23-12, 4:18pm

I'm always suspicious of myself when I talk about being frugal by spending money, but here goes! The last couple of hikes in the woods we had taken gave me really cold feet in the literal sense. I tried my insulated short boots that I wear to/from work instead of my good walking shoes, but while they were warmer, they really weren't made for hiking. So I found a pair of insulated snow sneakers in the LL Bean catalog that looked like just the thing. They were $99, but I waited until I got a 15% off offer, and I had a $10. gift card from a prior purchase, so I got them for $75.00. I rationalize as frugal because they will help keep me hiking in the cold weather, which is free fun and also good exercise :)
DH & I went for a hike today and my feet stayed nice and warm, although it was pretty cold out. I'll admit that I felt pretty smug about hiking in the woods instead of dashing around stores. I also cut some holly & boxwood from the garden, which made lovely, frugal, seasonal decorations.

Stella

12-23-12, 4:34pm

I am not feeling too frugal after buying the stuff for Christmas dinner, but hey, it's Christmas dinner, so whatever. We always have French onion soup and creme caramel on Christmas eve.

I'm making the beef stock now, simmering it all day. It smells fantastic. Christmas Day I am making a Julia Child's recipe for pot roast with, again, the homemade beef stock, wine, brandy, carrots, celery, onions, garlic and fresh herbs. I'll keep the sides simple, probably roasted potatoes and carrots. Dad requested bread pudding for dessert, so to save a bit of money I'll be using the brandy I got for the pot roast and soup instead of whiskey in the sauce. Either that brandy or some Calvados (an apple brandy) that I have on hand. Both are good in the sauce.

I'm almost done with my $1 table runner and it is looking really pretty. I've decided that this year I'm going to try to tackle a bunch of UFOs before I buy more craft stuff. I have some lovely stuff that needs finishing up and I think I've finally gotten the patience up to tackle them.

I've been reading a lot of free ebooks on my iPad lately and the girls have been doing poetry recitations out of a free copy of A Child's Garden Of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I also bought another $5 ebook for Zach and I to read in the evenings, although lately there have been enough errands to run that we haven't had much time.

Stella

12-23-12, 4:35pm

Rosa, I think your rationalization is a good one here. $99 is not much compared to the amount of enjoyment and the health benefits of regular hiking.

Tradd

12-23-12, 5:59pm

Just wrote my Christmas letter and posted it to Google Drive. Sent it out as a link on Facebook, as well as via email to a bunch of friends. Four pages, but a number of photos take up a lot of space. Didn't use any postage, which was nice.

bunnys

12-23-12, 7:22pm

Rosa: I also think that was a good buy and would have done the same thing.

Did some grocery shopping at the salvage store the other day. Bought sweet potatoes for the dog food ( 5# for $1,) 3 quarts of chocolate mint soymilk for .33 each, and 12, 12" tortillas for $1.19. Also bought 2 whole turkeys to make dog food out for for .59 per pound. That's not all I bought but those are the best buys.

SteveinMN

12-23-12, 7:32pm

I am not feeling too frugal after buying the stuff for Christmas dinner, but hey, it's Christmas dinner, so whatever.
Oh, I hear that. We are providing the turkey, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, and a relish. The turkey alone (15-pounder) gave me sticker shock but I could not bring myself to contradict my values and buy a bland factory bird at the "come-on-in" price. Someday that may be our choice, but not yet.

Our gift for STBSoniL (someday...) is a table-tennis table. We were planning to buy one off craigslist, but either they get sold very quickly or they're quite a distance away or they have "issues" (painted weird colors, exposed to too much moisture). So much for the efficient route. We became aware through shopping that table tennis tables are not stock items at the places selling them and that they weigh enough to make shipping a serious $$ consideration. We finally saw one we liked in one of today's circulars. It's not as good as what we could get for the same money on cl, but we weren't getting one on cl and we're kind of on a deadline :confused:. When we got to the store this morning, they had none. No one in a 50+ mile radius had one. "Oh, that is a closeout price. You know, they make these sales inserts months ahead of time". We firmly and insistently stated that that was not our problem and that the term "bait and switch" was coming to mind. A manager somehow found one in the back. Different stock number, he said. Same product, though. Anyway, we got one, in our budget, and carted it home in the truck. We're delivering it tonight :) (good thing; we give the truck back tomorrow). We hope he likes it.

The rest of this month is proving to be not hugely frugal, what with little gifts here and there, end-of-year charitable giving, etc. It makes me a little uncomfortable, but then I remember that we've done pretty well on frugality for six straight months, so if some of this month gets away from us, we're still new at this and it won't mean leaving bills unpaid or skipping doctor's appointments or such. New Year's ... we'll start hitting it hard again as soon as things go back to "normal".

bunnys

12-23-12, 7:35pm

Ping pong is fun. He'll really like it.

Rosemary

12-23-12, 9:31pm

Visited my aunt, took dinner and dessert with us as she was working all day and had suggested we eat out.
Today, cooked enchiladas for dinner with my mother-in-law and made an extra pan for her freezer. I went out and got a ton of groceries as she had no fresh food whatsoever and has been eating out a lot, while complaining about her budget (Ton of groceries cost less than one meal out for the small crew we have this time of year). Also made a large batch of homemade chicken noodle soup today, for lunches this week, and a container for her freezer. Will also make her a couple pans of lasagna to freeze.

Zoebird

12-23-12, 11:04pm

I metabolized shelves from our office to use in our home, which is great because I needed them *badly* and was fussy-fuss-fuss because I couldn't afford them or find ones that I could afford! yay!

fidgiegirl

12-23-12, 11:32pm

I've been reading a lot of free ebooks on my iPad lately and the girls have been doing poetry recitations out of a free copy of A Child's Garden Of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson. I also bought another $5 ebook for Zach and I to read in the evenings, although lately there have been enough errands to run that we haven't had much time.

Hey, if you have iMovie app, wouldn't it be fun to make a little movie of the poetry recitations?!

Rosa, I think your rationalization is a good one here. $99 is not much compared to the amount of enjoyment and the health benefits of regular hiking.

I completely agree. Think of what you could very easily spend on a gym membership. I actually think spending more for quality items is one of my core frugal practices. I bought a long down North Face jacket about 4 years ago for $300. It still looks brand new even though I've worn the heck out of it. I expect it to last at least 10 years, God willing. So the cost-per-season keeps going down every year.

Stella

12-25-12, 6:02pm

That is a fantastic idea Kelli! I love it.

Merry Christmas to all of you! We had such a nice Christmas at home. Zach built the boys train table today, again out of the wood from our old paneling. That stuff I loathed for years has turned out to be the gift that keeps on giving. :) Free storage shelving, free train table, free bookshelf. What's not to love? The table is perfect. It's sturdy and a perfect fit for the trains. Next up is some doll beds and then, if I can talk him into it, maybe some shoe racks. We really need to figure out shoe storage. Having a handy husband around is the best. His handy father is supposed to be coming to visit soon, which will be awesome. I'm thinking of putting them on the task of building bunk beds, since it's not the right time of year to work on the deck.

Zach and I are going to have our quarterly planning meeting this week to plan projects, spending, time allocation, etc. so I've been putting together some spreadsheets. I've found that planning our projects out, loosely anyway, seems to help us keep on task. Next month, for example, I want to do some decluttering, clean the front closet, organize the shoes and hunt for the right small table/cart to set up a coffee station in the kitchen. The older members of our family (parents and big kids) will try our hand at cheesemaking and archery and Zach will build the beds (if his dad really comes) and touch up the paint in the dining room. Planning helps us avoid taking on too much and follow through with the stuff we start.

rosarugosa

12-25-12, 7:41pm

Stella: That's great that you're getting such good use out of the loathed paneling - frugal and green at the same time. I have to tell you that I mentioned the idea of quarterly planning meetings to my DH, and you should have seen the look he gave me! So those will not be happening at our house - at least not in any obvious way, but they sound like a great idea to me :)
Rosemary: You were very kind to do that for your MIL. It sounds like nobody around you needs to ever worry about going hungry!
Zoebird: Nice job with the shelves, another repurposing success story :)

Selah

12-26-12, 8:25am

During December, I got a great new purse that suits my needs perfectly (and gets lots of compliments as an added bonus) because some good soul had left it next to a dumpster, indicating it was there for the taking for whomever wanted it. In the same manner, I also found a terrific red turtleneck sweater and a lovely turqoise crewneck sweater, both of which fit nicely. And, of all things, I also found a tiny girl's stretchy skirt, which goes around my neck beautifully at night for keeping my neck and chest warm, without getting tangled or choking me like a regular scarf would!

Kat

12-26-12, 10:13am

Wow! Everyone is doing great!

This past week has been busy, busy, busy, but not horribly unfrugal. Aside from gift-giving, the big expense was taking Dad out for lunch. It cost $40 for all of us, but he got out of the nursing home for a little while, so it was worth it.

I tried to make things easier on myself this year by making just one large batch of flavored pretzels to divvy up and take to family functions. So much easier than the constant baking, baking, baking, and frugal, too. Plus, they are SO yummy!

DH and I each got $200 for Christmas this year. He is planning to spend his on a tattoo come January. I will, as usual, save mine for now. I think I will spend it towards getting the house in ship shape, though. I am loving all the organization threads going on and feel especially inspired the link Mrs. B posted awhile back. I have been wanting to do some things--like get a cover for my kitchen aid and transition from plastic leftover containers (yuck)-- to glass for quite some time, so I think this will be the year I do them!

DD also got $50 for Christmas. She doesn't need anything (good grief, I have no idea where we are going to put the stuff she did get), so I will put it in her college fund.

Amaranth

12-26-12, 3:38pm

Kat, consider returning some of the things your daughter got such as multiple stuffed animals or a toy that does pretty much the same thing as another toy or books you could easily get from the library and exchanging it for a quality item that will be useful when she is older.

cdttmm

12-26-12, 6:21pm

Excellent job staying frugal during the holiday craziness, everyone! Loving Zoebird's repurposed shelves and Stella's reuse of the paneling!

Lucked out in the gift receiving department this year -- loads of iTunes gift cards, high quality chocolate, and a few books. And didn't do too badly in the gift giving department either. I had only one last minute gift to buy -- a book -- which I found at Barnes & Noble on the 23rd for 50% off the cover price. Booyah!

My big non-frugal this holiday season was buying 3 magazines at the airport yesterday before boarding my plane for home. $15!!! Since when did magazines go to $5 apiece?!? Guess that tells you how long it's been since I bought a magazine at a news stand (or anywhere else, for that matter). Two of the magazines were running mags so I'm hoping I will get at least $10 worth of motivation out of them. I did get reminded of a local 10k by an article in one of the mags. So I think I'm going to sign up to run it. It's on January 1st and this means that I'll spend $30 to enter a race rather than $55 to go out to dinner on New Year's Eve. See, there, I made up for the $15 already! :~)

I wrapped up the last of the Christmas gifts today and was able to use reuse some gently used wrapping paper and re-purpose some ribbon to tie up some of the packages. Master gift wrapper, I am not. But the gifts look pretty cute so I'm pleased. I also took the time to sort through my stash of gift wrap and gift bags. I found a few things to Freecycle, recycled a few items that were passed their prime, and tossed a few that weren't recyclable. Felt good to clean and organize that stuff. We definitely have enough gift wrap and gift bags in this house to last us a decade or more. Sheesh...where does all this stuff come from?!?

Tonight we're going to eat up some leftovers and tomorrow I think I'll consider doing a major grocery shopping extravaganza to get us stocked up for the next few weeks. Perhaps it's finally time to try that meal planning thing so many of you rave about... ;)

Stella

12-26-12, 8:04pm

I am baking bread today. Rosemary olive oil bread. We'll have some of it with the baked tilapia and zucchini we are having tonight and I'll send one over to my friend's house.

We did a good solid post-Christmas cleaning this morning. It felt good. We sorted through stuff to donate. The kids played with their new stuff and I started blogging again. It's a fun, free hobby (or at least it can be). Nothing too big here today, but it was a frugal one.

fidgiegirl

12-26-12, 8:56pm

cdttmm, how was your visit to the frozen tundra? You picked a cold few days to be here! Sorry the get together didn't work out, hopefully in the future!

We didn't have such a frugal day, but we did get deals. We hit up Target for some items we'd been wanting but were waiting for the after Xmas discounts. We also picked up our cards for next year at about 22 cents per card. And we're going to print a B&W letter next year and just get regular old 9 cent prints to stick on the photo cards. That should bring our cost per card down. We have batted about switching to electronic but we get joy out of sending the cards and receiving others back.

We also had a huge score on dishes! We have been putting off new dishes for about four years, and finally my brother told us he just has plastic dishes at his place so we said, well, we'll FINALLY get our new ones and pass ours along to him. We were prepared to buy dishes at Cost Plus for about $180 total, and then decided to go home and order them instead with a discount valid on their website. Well, there is a Tuesday Morning on the way home so on a whim we stopped in there . . . and found boxes of dishes we liked a lot! The only bummer is that some were broken, one in each package, so the manager marked two of the boxes down another 50%! So we ended up with exactly the kind of dishes we wanted in exactly the quantity (by filling in with a single dish that was remarkably similar to the boxed dishes) for only $90. Yippee!! Finally, new dishes!

And then I splurged on a new hat at REI with my Xmas money from Grandma. And all is well.

Leftover turkey as a soup tonight! Yum!

Blackdog Lin

12-26-12, 9:47pm

Congrats fidgiegirl on your new dishes. It leapt out at me, as I am also craving new ones. Ours are 22 years old, I'm tired of looking at them, they have never "matched" our new house.....but that darn Corelle just doesn't wear out! The stuff never breaks, never needs replacing.....

I laugh at myself complaining about a well-made product that doesn't break down - these days it's a rarity, isn't it? I am sometimes tempted to take, say, 2 plates, 3 saucers and a couple of breakfast bowls and heave them out into the pasture. And then look innocent and say "I don't know, honey, but I guess we're gonna have to invest in a new set of dishes."

And I guess I would replace them with a newer and prettier set of Corelle.

fidgiegirl

12-26-12, 10:15pm

LOL, I wanted Corelle and my DH refused! I grew up with the stuff and would have gladly bought it. My parents have all that and yes, there are prettier ones now! But they keep going, and going, and going . . .

Have you ever broken one? We had Corelleware at the Girl Scout camp where I worked and man, oh man, when that unbreakable stuff breaks, does it ever break in a million pieces! It's like an explosion!! (Oh, no, I *never* broke any in my parents' kitchen, no sirree . . . ;) )

cdttmm

12-27-12, 10:29am

cdttmm, how was your visit to the frozen tundra? You picked a cold few days to be here! Sorry the get together didn't work out, hopefully in the future!

Hey fidgiegirl, I had a great time -- thanks for asking! It made me laugh when you said that I picked a few cold days because it seemed much milder to me than in the past! In fact, on both the 23rd and the 24th my older brother (who was visiting from Chicago) and I went out for some lovely midday winter runs. I have been pretty lame about my run training during the winter for years, but this year I am bound and determined to see it through. Running for 2 days, outdoors, in Minnesota, in December made me feel like a rock star and now there is nothing a New England winter can throw at me to keep me from running!

cdttmm

12-27-12, 2:08pm

Getting in a few frugals in this final week of 2012.

I hard boiled the 11 remaining eggs that were in the refrigerator so that we can have them for lunches or snacks the next few days. And I was organized enough to start cooking a batch of garbanzo beans in the crock pot today. When they are finished I will divide them into small containers and freeze them for future meals. We like garbanzo beans on our salads so we tend to eat them quite regularly. Buying them dry, in bulk, and cooking them in the crock pot cuts the cost to almost a third over buying canned! I've got some potatoes and onions that need to be eaten up so I'm thinking about making a huge batch of fried potatoes and onions later today. That should keep our carb cravings satisfied!!!

While traveling for Christmas my trusty insulated travel mug finally gave up the ghost. This is the second travel mug that I've worn out in the past few years. Fortunately, I didn't buy either of them, but received them as gifts. I used the first one for many years before it finally kicked the bucket and this latest one I probably used for almost two years before it met its demise. Not bad, I say! I figure I saved myself literally hundreds of dollars over the years by making my own tea at home and bringing it with me -- and I even buy the expensive, loose leaf, organic green tea. So now it's on to travel mug number three. The great thing is that I have several more travel mugs in the cupboard to choose from. Some have been given to me as thank you gifts (usually for speaking to different groups of students) and some have simply been acquired when left behind by someone and then never again claimed. Unfortunately, none of the remaining travel mugs are nearly as high quality as the two that I've already killed off so I don't expect the life span of any one of them to be all that long. But I have no desire to go in search of and actually *buy* the perfect travel mug so these will certainly do for the time being! But I will start keeping an eye out for travel mugs at the thrift store. With luck I might find a high quality one for pennies on the dollar.

Doing pretty well with our mission to keep the thermostat set at only 60 degrees during the winter months. We have zoned heating in our house so usually at some point during the day one of us will turn up the heat in one of the zones to 62 or 63 just to warm things up a bit, but even that has been pretty limited.

That's about all for now -- we're snowed in today so that in and of itself makes for a frugal day!

KayLR

12-27-12, 3:28pm

I think I'll start chiming in on this thread with the new year! I just had to share about a buy I made at the Goodwill last week when I was shopping for glass containers for gifts (soup mixes, etc.) I found a brand new, never-used rice cooker with all the documentation inside....$14. It is a really nice one with a steamer as well as the rice cooking pot. Score!!

fidgiegirl

12-27-12, 5:28pm

I look forward to hearing more from you, Kay!

cdttmm, I'd feel like a rockstar if I ran outside in this, too! Well done!

rosarugosa

12-27-12, 8:25pm

I went to the Salvation Army store with my Mom today and she bought a small salad spinner for $2.00. I think she wants one again because she's been hearing me rave about how much we use her old one that she gave to us! I tried to pay for it, but she wouldn't let me.
I got a really nice vase for $.59. Sometimes I give people bouquets from my garden, and I would like to have a small stash of vases that I could give away with bouquets. They have a great selection, and they are all incredibly cheap. I saw some other great buys, but I restrained myself :)

flowerseverywhere

12-28-12, 3:31pm

traveled for Christmas and spent less than $20 on food eating out. We packed a cooler and I bought food to our destination which we ate for two dinners with leftovers for lunch. I live where the farms are so I also arrived with berries, beans, watermelon oranges and grapefruit for everyone. We packed leftovers for the drive home. Excellent for us for five days and I did not feel like I was a burden on our guests.

My Christmas presents I made from scraps were hits and I got lots of requests to make them for money this year. So I am going to continue to sew in the evenings and with the extra cash I'll put it towards my grandchildrens 529. I also have been asked to teach quilting. I won't make more than $100/month but doing what I love will be a good thing.

cdttmm

12-29-12, 11:02am

Excellent finds at the thrift stores, KayLRZ and rosarugosa!!!

It's been pretty quiet here on the December frugals thread...I hope that means that everyone is enjoying lots of frugal fun that they will soon report on!!!

We're continuing on with many of the usual frugals. We've been eating up leftovers and other food I made in large batches earlier this week (a pork chop, fried potatoes and onions, salad greens, garbanzo beans made in the crock pot, hard boiled eggs, etc.). Looking forward to having no food waste this week (or anytime soon, for that matter!).

My dearly beloved requested Convicts' Macaroni as our New Year's Eve dinner. I had mentioned that I was thinking about making it a week or so ago and he thought it would make a delightful NYE dinner. I concur! It's essentially an adult version of baked macaroni and cheese that has shallots and mushrooms in it and is covered in smoked mozzarella (we'll likely have ours covered in smoked Gouda since that's what I already have on hand). It's not the most frugal of dishes, especially since I need to buy gluten free pasta, but it sure is good!!! And it's definitely cheaper than going out to a restaurant for NYE dinner. We'll stay in and watch a few episodes of "Homeland" (our newest TV series obsession) and go to bed early.

Made a foray to BJ's yesterday and stocked up on a number of things. $300 later... But I was considering cancelling our membership, which expires at the end of the month, so I wanted to take full advantage! :D We decided instead to keep our membership because some things really are cheaper to buy there, but we'll be downgrading from the Payback membership to the Basic membership. Can't tell exactly how much that will save us, but considering we would need to spend $2500 at BJ's over the next year to simply break even on the price difference between the two memberships I figure we'll save around $25 by the time it's all said and done.

I may have a new frugal -- well, new to me! I have had a Bodum teapot in my cupboard for several years. It was given to me as a Christmas gift, but I never bothered to use it. This morning while getting ready to make tea I decided I would mix green tea leaves and white tea leaves together in an attempt to use up the white tea that was also given to me as a gift. The white tea is fine, but not something I drink on a regular basis so there is that risk that it will languish in the pantry for time eternal. Instead of just mixing the two in my handy tea ball, I pulled out the tea pot and put the two types of tea in the insert the tea pot has, filled it up with hot water, and let it steep. It made about two and a half cups of tea and was quite good (even stayed pretty hot throughout). So I think that now, rather than making a single cup of tea, only to make another single cup of tea an hour later, I will start using my tea pot! Saves time, saves energy (I only have to use the stove to heat water once), and saves on tea leaves, too!

Tradd

12-29-12, 3:02pm

cdttm, I have one of those Bodum teapots with insert as well. Love it!

I left my heat off until just a day or two until Christmas. It really hasn't been that cold here. Well, I got my reward today. A gas bill for only $20! :) I rent a small, one bedroom condo. That bill is for hot water, too. That's the lowest my gas bill has ever been in the 4+ years here. :)

That's especially handy since they're changing our pay periods at work. They've gone from every other Friday now to the 15th and the 30th. Our last full paycheck under the old system was 12/22. I got a check yesterday that covers the rest of the year (bit more than a week). Some folks were very angry, as their budgeting is getting really messed up. I do think they should have given us a bit more than two weeks notice. It doesn't really affect me. I had only two paychecks a month at the last place I worked (six years ago), and I'll simply return to that way of budgeting. Everything but rent comes out of the 15th check, and rent comes out of last check of the month, along with smaller items such as car gas and groceries out of each check.

For New Year's I will be staying in. I'll make "Russian salad" (Salad Olivier) that I had at a friend's house and loved. I'll get a bottle of sparkling wine I enjoy (It's from Eastern Europe and only $6 a bottle!), and probably some "Cuties." I've got a DVD set of seasons 1 and 2 of Downton Abbey to watch before the next season premiers on PBS Jan. 6th.

Tussiemussies

12-29-12, 4:13pm

fidgiegirl

12-29-12, 4:25pm

Had a stop at the thrift store this afternoon and picked up candles (about six, unburned, of different sizes) and a pair of pants for work as well as a lined pair for walking the dogs. I need to do some repairs on both pairs of pants (a hem and reinforcement on one, a hem and button on the other) but I enjoy putzing at such things and they were about $5 for both, so good enough.

I got my free pair of ice skates sharpened for $5. Will try them out later today or tomorrow.

Not much else! Have been eating out a lot, but have gotten a chance to see some friends, so that's fun.

Tussiemussies

12-29-12, 5:36pm

Had to do it since we just bought a house we didn't give out any presents for Christmas except to the four nephews. Everyone understood and gave us gifts anyway!b Thought that was extra thoughtful of them....

rosarugosa

12-29-12, 6:21pm

I've done some post-holiday sale shopping. I bought some black wool pants and a spring jacket from Talbot's on sale, as well as a fleece shirt from LL Bean. All were in the category of wants rather than needs. All are being paid from my allowance though, so no budgets were harmed by these purchases.
Today was a genuine frugal though. I've been feeling in a movie mood and I have a four-day weekend. I was actually thinking about signing up for Netflix or something, because there are no video rental places around us anymore. Then I thought to go to the library, where I scored 5 movies that I can watch for FREE! So we'll definitely be doing the nesting/movies at home thing this weekend, and I'm looking forward to it!

cdttmm

12-30-12, 10:26am

Tradd -- glad to hear you love your Bodum teapot! I used mine for the second day in a row and I think that I am fast becoming a convert!!!

My partner and I enjoyed a lovely, frugal day filled with cross-country skiing yesterday. We took our three dogs with us and they were quite tuckered out after that big adventure! We returned home and spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching episode after episode of "Homeland." My beloved was supposed to drive to NYC for work last night, but the snow kept him home. As a result, his morning will be filled with snow removal. And I appreciate his efforts because it means I'll be able to go to not one, but two Tae Kwon Do classes today. Of course, after yesterday's skiing extravaganza, three hours of martial arts might just tucker me out!!! :D

I'm going to combine my driving for TKD with a few errands so that I can minimize our driving expenses for the day (and week). With a little bit of luck and some focused effort, I should be able to nab everything on my list with only a few quick stops. I've already scoped out the pair of headphones that I want to buy online and saw that they are available in the store locally. Considering that I have a $10 off coupon for an in store purchase and I have to drive right past the store, I'm going to put that coupon to good use!

I've been thinking about some of the items that we buy on a regular basis that we might be able to find for less. One is cat litter. We really like -- and therefore, only use, World's Best Cat Litter -- wow, is that stuff expensive on the surface. But it lasts along time and probably ends up being cheaper in the long run. So yesterday I looked on their website to see where I can buy the litter locally. The list of stores was huge! I'm going to call around to see who has the best price and then make one trip to stock up for the foreseeable future. I'm trying to think of other items I can apply the same tactics to. I think sometimes I fall into the pattern of "I buy this item at this store" and it's because at some point that was where it was the least expensive or most convenient. Now I'm going to try to reexamine that at every opportunity.

Okay, think that's all for now! Can't believe there are only 2 days left in 2012. Make 'em frugal, everyone!

rosarugosa

12-30-12, 11:27am

[QUOTE=cdttmm;121495]I think sometimes I fall into the pattern of "I buy this item at this store" and it's because at some point that was where it was the least expensive or most convenient. QUOTE]

I think that's a line of thought worth pursuing - thanks for the inspiration. On a similar note, I've been somewhat frustrated by the difficulty of doing a paper towel "apples to apples" comparison (not that I've quite made a serious mission of it yet). It seems that Bounty now comes in an infinite variety of size/quantity multi-packs, so I find myself pondering whether 12 jumbos for X amount is a better deal than 16 extra-larges for Y amount, and do we save enough with the "pick-a-size" option to instead go for the 8 gargantuans for Z dollars instead??? So we just buy the whatever multipack at Costco because it's easy, they tend to offer good values, and then we only have to think about paper towels every few months. I'm only willing to devote a certain amount of mental energy to paper towels!

Amaranth

12-30-12, 8:08pm

An alert on the papertowels--The gargantuan ones do not fit in the average towel holder.

Tradd

12-30-12, 8:18pm

Made a pot of chicken noodle soup. I already had the chicken in the freezer. Nothing more than 4-5 peeled, sliced carrots. 1 peeled, chopped onion. 4-5 stalks of celery. Water to cover. Cook until carrots are tender and meat is done. Add salt & pepper to taste. Add noodles (I use egg noodles) - just kind of eye ball it. Cook for about 5-8 minutes until noodles are done. The chicken I already had was boneless skinless breasts, so I just cut the raw meat up into bite size pieces. If it were thighs, I would have just thrown them into the soup, fished them out, pulled meat off bones, shredded it, and put meat back in pot.

I was given some rolls and good pasta salad left over from coffee hour at church today.

fidgiegirl

12-30-12, 8:43pm

I was given some rolls and good pasta salad left over from coffee hour at church today.

I'm always amazed at how easy it is to score food from this type of event. Everyone wants it to go to good use, but doesn't want to be the one to do it! Sometimes I even vociferously protest but in the end I do offer my services (and DH's) as the party food user-upper. :)

Tradd

12-30-12, 8:48pm

Well, normally I wouldn't take anything home, but one of the two ladies who did coffee hour today (we only do it every six months or so) knows I'm addicted to her pasta salad, so she ALWAYS gives me first dibs on her leftovers. :)

cdttmm

12-31-12, 10:30am

I think that's a line of thought worth pursuing - thanks for the inspiration. On a similar note, I've been somewhat frustrated by the difficulty of doing a paper towel "apples to apples" comparison (not that I've quite made a serious mission of it yet). It seems that Bounty now comes in an infinite variety of size/quantity multi-packs, so I find myself pondering whether 12 jumbos for X amount is a better deal than 16 extra-larges for Y amount, and do we save enough with the "pick-a-size" option to instead go for the 8 gargantuans for Z dollars instead??? So we just buy the whatever multipack at Costco because it's easy, they tend to offer good values, and then we only have to think about paper towels every few months. I'm only willing to devote a certain amount of mental energy to paper towels!

I totally agree that this can take you down a life energy sucking path if you let it! To use your paper towel example, this is one item that I'll probably never spend time comparing prices. We prefer Bounty and we only use the select-a-size rolls. We buy a package of paper towels maybe once every six months. I'm not going to devote a lot of time and energy to something that is a <$20 purchase twice a year. The $4-$5 that I might save in a year isn't worth the effort it takes to do what is likely an elaborate price comparison. But cat litter, well, that's worth it to me. We have two cats and probably use a bag of cat litter per month, so we buy ~12 bags per year. If I can save $2-$3 per bag and not have to drive out of my way to get it, then bring it on, because that level of savings is worth it. Especially because we have plenty of storage space and I can buy a year's supply in one fell swoop if I want.

The last day of 2012. I have to work today, so that will hopefully help to keep this day frugal. My beloved and I are running a 10k race tomorrow morning so we're not doing anything too elaborate tonight. I bought all of the necessary ingredients to make Convicts' Macaroni and even splurged and bought some fancy little bottles of grapefruit flavored, carbonated beverages to have with dinner. Yes, I spent $6 for some flavored, carbonated sugar water -- I love that my life has simplified to the point that these are my splurges. :D

Used my Bodum teapot for the third morning in a row and I can now claim that I am hooked! I just need to dial in on the exact amount of tea leaves that I need to insure a tea that's strong enough for my taste, but doesn't use an excessive amount of tea leaves. I always feel like more = better when it comes to using loose leaf tea, but I know this is not actually the case. So tea experimentation is in my immediate future.

To keep the morning frugal, I ate up the slightly stale popcorn that we made for dinner last night. Yes, occasionally we indulge in less than well balanced meals around here. Which usually means popping up a huge batch of popcorn on the stove top. We can rarely eat all of it in one sitting, so I always feel compelled to finish it off for breakfast the next morning. A strange habit, I know, but waste not, want not, right?!? :~)

My only other, slightly strange, frugal that I have to share with all of you today is our use of dryer sheets. My partner and I both know that traditional dryer sheets are horrible, chemical laden, smelly things. So we refuse to use them. I could happily line dry the majority of my clothing and skip the dryer sheets altogether for those things I use the dryer for, but my beloved...well, not so much. We buy the Seventh Generation dryer sheets, which are supposedly not horribly chemical laden and are even compost-able. We are now down to using only one-sixth of a dryer sheet per load. Since I am usually the one to take the laundry out of the dryer and fold it, I have taken to extending the use of the dryer sheets to an additional level of frugality. I leave the "already used" one-sixth of a dryer sheet in the dryer and use it a second time. So far, no complaints. I am looking forward to the day when I can wean us off the dryer sheets completely. Then I'll move on to weaning us off the dryer. >8)

Ooooh, wait, thought of one more frugal I wanted to share with all of you! So...I'm committed to trying to run through the entire winter here in lovely New England. But I much prefer to run outside as opposed to taking to the treadmill at the gym. Well, this is going to require some warm running gear. I was starting to contemplate exactly what I needed to buy when yesterday my partner asked me to help him find a particular pair of long underwear that he wanted to wear while snowblowing. I was sure they were in a particular drawer so went to help him look and discovered that he has an entire drawer full of gear that could easily solve my winter running gear issue. Fortunately, he and I are fairly close in size so I'm going to raid his stash, which he said was fine (he has a whole separate stash of stuff that he actually wears!) and this will likely save me a decent sum. Woot!!!