View Full Version : February 2013 Frugals
Woo Hoo! I get to start the thread!
I get so used to the frugals I do everyday that I thought I would post some of them here with an estimated savings for each action.
~Scrapping the last bit out of the Nuttella jar (aprox. 1 oz) .10 each jar
~Going to Aldi from my workout (they are close together) saving 8 miles round trip driving. At the federal tax reimbursement rate for milage, that's a bit over $4 each time I do it.
~All my workout T-shirts are hand-me-downs from my kids. Assuming that I would buy workout shirts from Goodwill at $3.00 each (and not fancy new ones from Target at $20 each) that is $12 savings for my workout gear.
~No haircuts or colorings in 2012 saving me $597 for the year or aproximately $50 per month
~tap water in my metal bottle, instead of plastic bottles from Aldi at .10 each
And then some one time frugals: returned with free shipping some shoes that were a bit to big in the size ordered, got them now in the right size at no extra cost.
Fixed the 77 year old mirror/medicine cabinet with $1.36 worth of new hardware saving my self ???$$$
Woo Hoo! I get to start the thread!
Hooray, Fawn! I love your enthusiasm for this thread!
And thank you for sharing some of the little things that you do regularly. I agree with you that sometimes we forget it is these little frugals done repeatedly over time that have added up to big savings!
A few frugals for me to report. I'm still working my way through my stash of tea. I haven't bought tea since mid-December -- almost broke down the other day, but reminded myself how much more I still have in the pantry so back on the shelf it went! :D
Changed our plan for dinner last night (made at home, of course) to insure that we would eat an avocado that was ripe and that otherwise would have gone to the great composter in the sky. Will eat up leftovers for lunch and dinner today.
I found a great way to help me save on lip balm. I used to open multiple tubes one keep one in my backpack, one in my gym bag, one on my nightstand, one in the bathroom, one in my coat pocket... You get the idea. I realized that I had all these half-used tubes of lip balm and when one would migrate from one location to another, I would simply open another tube and put it where ever the relocated one had been. Ack! I finally started to collect them all and put them on my nightstand until I had at least six tubes of lip balm hanging out there -- ack!!! I decided I needed to change my strategy. So I put all of the open tubes except one into a little plastic box that used to contain throat lozenges (hooray for re-use!). I put the box in a basket in the bathroom with all the travel/sample sized shampoos, lotions, etc. so that I would know where to find it. And now I make myself keep track of a single tube of lip balm and I pretty much carry it with me everywhere! So far it's been about 2 weeks and I haven't lost track of it yet and I'm barely making a dent in it -- it should last me at least another few weeks assuming I don't lose it. When it runs out, I'll grab another already opened tube rather than opening a new one. This is probably a pretty small savings in the grand scheme of things, but it's really more about the mindset for me. I need to learn to keep track of stuff and not just replace things that I've temporarily misplaced.
And now I make myself keep track of a single tube of lip balm and I pretty much carry it with me everywhere! So far it's been about 2 weeks and I haven't lost track of it yet and I'm barely making a dent in it -- it should last me at least another few weeks assuming I don't lose it.
DW is addicted to lip balm and has a couple of lanyards with fabric "loops" that hold the tube of lip balm. That way she can always keep it on her person.
February already!
cdttmm--sounds like DH with his Burt's Bees. We always have like four open tubes sitting around. LOL
I don't have any overly impressive frugals to share. Went to the grocery store today to take advantage of a one-day sale. Stocked up on some good deals and made a menu plan around sale and pantry items.
It is really cold today, so I think after lunch, DD and I will just play in her playroom for a bit. Then when she naps, I will work. I have some cube steak and gravy in the crock pot right now; a little later I will make some mashed potatoes to go with. Should make enough for lunch tomorrow, too, which will be nice since DH's folks are coming over to play with DD while we clear out the storage/sewing room (it is going to be the new baby's nursery).
Not a frugal day. Our attempt to repair the microwave was not successful (it was the plastic start button that broke, and it was a flimsy design... for the most-used button, it's rather surprising that it lasted 9 years with over-the-stove heated conditions). So that was an unplanned $215 or so... but at least DH and I can do the installation.
But it's better to focus on successes. I wanted to send a small birthday gift to a friend's daughter and found a perfect beading kit in my gift closet, along with a book at just the right level for her sister, whose birthday isn't until summer, but cheaper to send everything at once. Since I'm on a kick of decreasing my fabric stash, I made a couple of fabric gift bags for them, which the family can re-use forever. And I also had a small piece of a fabric that is a perfect match for their dishes, so made them a set of cloth napkins. And am sending an outgrown dress that DD barely wore (I loved it.. she did not) and will be perfect for their climate. So total cost outlay will be about $10 in shipping.
DH and I used a Groupon to have a nice brunch out today. I had purchased it about 6 months ago so at this point it was practically free (had to use it before it ran out!).
DD is starting German lessons with a friend of mine who is a native speaker. I'm bartering sewing time for some of the lessons.
Finally, I am getting some technical editing jobs this month (freelance). I am thinking of launching this as more of a business than I've been treating it because, after searching for about a year for a part-time job that has good hours and pays enough, I think this is my best bet. DH has a lot of contacts, and so do I, local and far-away, in various technical fields.
Steve and Kat, I'm so glad to hear that other people have this lip balm issue, too!
I finally took my pile of clothing/linens/etc. to the local seamstress who was recommended to me. Here are the fabulous things that I'll be gaining as a result of this transaction:
4 bath sheets (for our guest bath)
2 king sized fitted sheets (for our master bedroom)
1 messenger bag
1 shoulder bag
2 shoulder bag straps
1 pair of pajamas
1 hooded sweatshirt
1 pair of jeans
1 pair of pants
1 set of homemade sleep-phones
4 sports bras
1 cami
She charges $27/hour and estimated that the total cost would be between $50 and $100. I was like "What? That's it? Awesome!" I am beyond stoked because buying one new set of quality king sized sheets for our bed would easily be $25, if I shopped a good sale and wasn't picky about the color. Four bath sheets, probably $40 -- again, on sale, and I would have to not care about the color. Sports bras, easily $25 apiece. Now, it's TBD as to the quality of her work, but I'm guessing it's going to be pretty high considering the winter coat that she showed me she had made over the holidays. I'm super excited to have a local seamstress that I like, who does quality work, and who is fast. She told me that all this stuff would be done in under a week. This woman could easily save me a few hundred dollars a year. I would love to learn to sew and do these projects myself, but it's just not a high enough priority for me right now. There are other things I'd rather learn to do that would have real money-making potential for me so I'm going to use my time wisely and not dabble with another "hobby" right now.
Tonight's frugal entertainment will be a trip to the gym. One of my friend's from Tae Kwon Do is taking a rank test in a few weeks and she asked me to help her practice on Friday nights at the gym. I was pleased to be asked and even more pleased to have an enjoyable excuse to workout on Friday nights for a few weeks!
Afterwards, my beloved and I will warm up some leftovers for dinner and have a TV party at home. We've got a few TV series we have been watching on Netflix or on DVDs that we own -- some good frugal fun! I've got ice cream (both dairy and non-dairy versions) in the freezer so we can have a little treat after dinner, too.
Hooray for fabulously frugal February! :D
DW is addicted to lip balm and has a couple of lanyards with fabric "loops" that hold the tube of lip balm. That way she can always keep it on her person.
And this is why it is ridiculous that women's clothing does not have functioning pockets. I am on a boycott of clothing that does not have pockets. My goal is to not need a purse.....or a man bag. :~)
early morning
2-2-13, 2:31pm
Ah, February already! Remembered to turn in my mileage sheet for reimbursement yesterday. It has to be in on the 1st but I was out and about on the 31st so I couldn't finalize it until Friday. I've only been traveling in my job for a few months - the first month I forgot entirely about it. I don't have a lot of miles, as I only get mileage for going from site to site, not for getting to and from work, but every little bit helps. I have added it to my calender so I don't make that mistake again! And a windfall - today's mail brought $30 in cash for doing a survey! Woohoo! Hanging laundry in the house this afternoon, so as not to use the dryer. I got jammed up a couple weeks ago and put the washrags and hand towels in the dryer and DH wanted to know what was WRONG with them when he folded them to put away. :D
Woo Hoo! I get to start the thread!
~Scrapping the last bit out of the Nuttella jar (aprox. 1 oz) .10 each jar
Funny the things that never occur to you. I didn't have any spatulas because my DD loves to play with them and chew on them. Well, duh, she hasn't lived here for 3 years now! Maybe I should buy a new one :idea: lol So I did. And showed DH how much more peanut butter you can get out of the jar with it. Yeah!
As for the lip balm issue... well, I had a huge chapstick issue for years! It had to be chapstick. DH just rolled his eyes at me. When he went to Korea to pick up our DS who was 2 1/2 at the time he got the biggest laugh because the foster mother whipped out a tube of chapstick & DS went running over to get some put on. LOL Over the past few years I have switched from the chapstick because I felt that it wasn't really keeping my lips moist. Still figuring out what I want to use instead though. Not frugal trying and switching around though. :(
Got a pork roast in the crockpot for dinner tonight. It smells so good! Last night we had fried rice using leftover rice. I really wanted kimchi with it but couldn't bring myself to drive all the way to E. Lansing to the Korean market to buy the good stuff. So I stopped at Meijer on the way home from work and got some there. Not nearly as tasty but it'll do. I know, I know the frugal thing would be to make my own. lol DH tried once and I'm not sure what went wrong but we couldn't eat it.
I have $20 food money to last until next Friday so I need to not be a lazy cook this week. I have a real issue with not wanting to cook this month.
Blackdog Lin
2-2-13, 9:30pm
Azure - you might consider the little pots of Carmex. I swear by the stuff, it's got some really good moisture. And like cdttmm with her lip balm tubes stashed everywhere :), I have a pot of Carmex setting everywhere in the house where I might be sitting: the 'puter desk, the napping recliner, the TV watching chair, bedside.....everywhere. It's like I used to be when I wore "cheater" glasses - had a pair setting everywhere I might be and need them.
flowerseverywhere
2-6-13, 7:37am
at my quilt group we had bins of donated fabric just sitting there. I took it home and made kits for us to make charity quilt tops. We have three projects, one is wounded warrior, Lunus quilts (sick kids) and the girl scouts in my area make quilts for the disadvantaged so we can donate through them. People were more than happy to work on them once I got the kits together and many people donated batting and backing so with no out of pocket expense we have some really neat quilts to donate. We are planning a monthly sew along to use up these bins of fabric and you guessed it, people are bringing in more donations.
My pottery is getting much better and I have sold some items recently. I have decided any profit I make will go towards my grandkids 529 plans. I really want to help fund them. I have enough of everything.
Here's the "life as usual" frugals I have done this past week:
~cook from scratch, eat at home, pack my work day meals. I did have one fancy coffee out, but used a gift card.
~had a friend over for a fire in the fireplace. All drinks and snacks came from Aldi, the wood came from the pallet my refrigerator was delivered on (Bomus for decluttering that from the basement. :~)
~got my tires rotated by the company I bought them from: free.
~took a bunck of toys that DS#3 does not want to Goodwill (tax deduction) bonus on the decluttering department.
~all entertainment materials this month are free so far: book from work friend, magazines from another friend, library movies and invitation to watch Downton Abbey at a friend's house for the rest of the season.
~I've lost some weight (17# so far) and am putting off buying any new work clothes until I lose the next 5#. Then I will shop at Goodwill and if no luck there, at TJ MAxx.
It's funny to me that I think I don't have any new frugals to post, but when I sit down the write these, and think about my day, there are always several of them. I'm just so used to thinking in a frugal way that it's "normal."
flowerseverywhere
2-6-13, 9:02am
It's funny to me that I think I don't have any new frugals to post, but when I sit down the write these, and think about my day, there are always several of them. I'm just so used to thinking in a frugal way that it's "normal."
Fawn that is the biggest strength of this monthly thread. It helps keep us all on track and get new ideas. Congrats to you!
chickpea30
2-6-13, 12:14pm
I know this is a strange one, but I wanted to share it. We had a toilet installed two years ago in our only downstairs bathroom. I scratched the bowl trying to clean it so it looked like stains from you know what. I don't want to spend $300 replacing it so I had my DH remove the water and paint the bowl with white paint. I know it is just a temporary fix, but it looks so much better and I am happier about it.
I had my DH remove the water and paint the bowl with white paint. I know it is just a temporary fix, but it looks so much better and I am happier about it.
chickpea, great fix! Did DH use a paint made specifically for ceramic surfaces?
Chickpea30. Our downstairs toilet has either a deep scratch or a factory hairline crack... small, but noticeable, if you look hard. Every few months I mix-up a few table spoons of baking soda with a splash of bleach, then mix the two into a paste. I wait until bedtime so the paste can sit overnight, then smear the compound over the crack, and it always comes out looking bright white and spotlessly clean after!
Thought I'd share so you can give it a whirl if/when the paint wears off.
Turns out my hair was starting to fall out because once I moved to Israel, I couldn't find my ammonia-free haircolor anymore. It wasn't that much more expensive to go to the salon and get it done that way, since box color here is very expensive and I needed two boxes since my hair has gotten longer. Anyway, once I told my doctor what was happening, she examined my scalp and told me to switch from hair dye to henna. Even though I still need two boxes, my monthly cost went down from $60 to about $7. Whoo hoo!
A mix of frugals and non-frugals over here, but seeing as this is the frugals thread... ;)
I made a lovely salad of carrots, celery, broccoli, and slivered almonds that needed to be used up. Topped it with the last of the salad dressing and ate it for several days. I've put off grocery shopping about as long as I can, but it's not convenient to go today so I will have to wait until tomorrow. Which means today's meals will be a bit creative. My beloved is back from NYC so I'm going to suggest that he bake a loaf of bread for himself (I'm gluten-free so can't indulge) and eat a meat-based soup from the freezer along with bread for dinner tonight. I'm also a vegetarian so that means he'll have dinner for himself + leftovers for tomorrow. There is some leftover vegetarian chili in the refrigerator along with a hard boiled egg so I'll eat that stuff up today along with the rest of the juice concoction that I've been working to consume + two oranges. If we eat all of that today, the refrigerator will be in a state of emptiness that truly justifies grocery shopping!
I've been Freecycling things from our former home office, both a decluttering win and frugal fun. Okay, maybe not always fun, but I'm always happy after the fact. Recently I've given away two office desk chairs, one floor mat for under a rolling desk chair, three wall calendars and their frames, three ziplock baggies of markers/highlighters. I have also managed to recycle a more than a few boxes of paper. I can't wait to have this space completely cleaned up and available for us to use for other activities.
Being sick = frugal, at least for me. I don't shop, generally, but when I overspend it is often on food but I have felt too crummy to go to the store so the fridge and freezer are getting bare and wow, there is more money in the bank! Imagine that!
I think coffee-at-home is one of my best frugals and I just LIKE my own coffee better. Also it helps (?) that I can't have cream or milk any more, so I use coconut milk at home...try to find THAT out anywhere. I like black coffee but it doesn't have the compelling power that the latte used to have.
Frugal is a place I need to work on so this thread is VERY helpful.
leslieann, interesting that you bring up coffee at home. I am realizing (ahem, self, AGAIN) that coffee - even decaf - really affects me negatively. So I was thinking "What is it about coffee that draws me in?" I don't like it black. It's the sugar and the creaminess! So I could get that from a chai or other hot drink. But I should experiment with coconut milk. Do you use the canned stuff?
I was doing well with packing lunches but am sick and tired of the foods we have in the freezer and around the house, and then all my lunch foods ran out all at once, anyway. Today I ended up going to Jimmy John's. So for tomorrow I need to make a sandwich ahead of time, that will get me through Friday, and then this weekend I can make up something else in the crock pot to go into the freezer. I can save my other ones for a while until I've had enough of a break from them (I made a huuuuuge pot of chicken wild rice soup and am just pooped out on it).
I bought a cinnamon roll in the cafeteria at work this AM, and the cashier said, "Wow, it's been a really long time no see." And she's right, because I bring my own food all the time now. It's been months and months since I bought anything in the cafeteria, and today I only spent $1.10.
I'm proud of this one, although I'm not sure it belongs here or in the Gardening forum.
But, I've saved the big cardboard box that my Envirocycle composter came in, with the intention of recycling it as the first layer in my sheet mulching in a new garden next spring. But given we're getting this big storm this weekend, I just went outside and laid it out where I want my new garden to go and secured it so that when it snows today, the snow will help to break down the box, rather than having to wet it myself. When the spring approaches, I'll start thinking about the rest of the layers, but the weed barrier layer will already have a good start, and I'll have saved time, labor, water, and one cardboard box in the meantime!
My question to Gregg and other permies on the board: I haven't amended the soil underneath. Am I losing something by jumping the gun here? I thought I could probably just add the organic matter and topsoil on top in a couple of months. Our soil here is pretty clayey. I'm having the soil in our other gardens tested in the spring and I suppose I'll learn then if the soil needs amendment.
This has been a challenging week in some ways. We had some frozen pipes at the house and it turned into a three day job to fix them. Lots of gas for multiple trips in the car, parts, and even a service call on the furnace. We ended up eating out twice during all of this but kept the cost as low as possible with our food choices and use of coupons. We combined errands whenever possible to cut down on gas usage (1 1/2 tanks in 3 days!) and returned extra plumbing parts when all was said and done. For the life of me, I don't know why I can't make paragraphs here!!!! Ok, I'll stop here-you won't be able to read one big paragraph anyways.
Wow! Everyone is doing such a great job on the frugals so far this month -- go, go, go!!!
Not a ton of exciting stuff to report here, but I'll fill you in with the small stuff that I've managed as of late.
First, New England is in the midst of a fabulous Nor'easter. We're expecting 18" of snow at our house -- woo-hoo!!! A snowstorm does not necessarily mean that we'll be extra frugal, but perhaps not being able to drive anywhere for a day or two will help.
I ran a bunch of errands today, partly in preparation for the snowstorm, and partly because I just had a bunch of errands to run. Nothing much on the frugal front aside from using some coupons when buying groceries and other household necessities. I was in Target and the cashier was commenting to the customer in front of me that she loves to see what people are stocking up on prior to storms. I had to laugh because I was buying laundry detergent. Ha! Who buys laundry detergent in preparation for a snowstorm? I was buying it because I had coupons and because we were almost out of laundry detergent at home. :~) But at least now I know that I can spend the snowstorm doing laundry if I so choose!!!
At the last minute I decided to fill the vehicle with gas before heading home, but by that point it meant either turning around and driving back the way I came to the cheaper gas station or just stopping at the more expensive station on my way. I decided to just stop at the more expensive station because safety trumps frugality in these situations!
Tonight we'll likely eat soup or something else that we have in the freezer. Should be a nice, but inexpensive dinner. I bought some ice cream (both dairy and non-dairy) so that we can have some for dessert. I also broke down and bought gluten-free, vegan macaroons when I was at the store. Sheesh. Not frugal, but I was really craving treats and did a poor job of restraining myself. I'm trying to put in perspective my $7.00 splurge. :D For entertainment there will be movies or TV shows via Netflix or through Apple TV. I loaded some more gift cards onto our iTunes account yesterday. I had bought the gift cards a few weeks ago at a 15% discount and it turns out we now have about $370 in iTunes credit -- that should last us a good long time. We don't buy a lot of music, but we do like to buy season passes for different TV series and those are sometimes $30/season. We got most of our iTunes money as Christmas gifts -- I like to think of it as the gift that keeps on giving. :cool:
I had to take one of our 17 year old cats to the vet yesterday because he just didn't seem to be doing well. The vet bill was not frugal, but the good news is that his blood work and urinalysis both came back with good results so we'll continue treating him with prednisone (which is relatively inexpensive) and not go down the path of more expensive tests. Hooray!
My most exciting frugal is that I have finally gotten it together and I am starting to track our spending again. I'm only on day 2, but I can tell that this is definitely going to help me exercise my frugal muscles even more!
The last three books that I have read on my Kindle have been ebooks borrowed for free from my public library and not purchased from Amazon. The one I just finished was the latest Lee Child book in the Reacher series, A Wanted Man. I was originally #26 on the waiting list, but I did not cave and just buy it.
flowerseverywhere
2-9-13, 12:10am
Sparrow, good for you. I like Lee Child as well. Often I am in the hundreds on the waiting list, but I have so many authors I love it doesn't matter. It does save a ton of money to wait for a library book or buy a used one at the library book sale at our library if I really can't wait.
All the usual frugals here. Hoping all my friends and family keep the power on in this terrible storm.
early morning
2-9-13, 12:04pm
Last night's dinner was one of our faves - chicken in a red (bell) pepper cream sauce on pasta. DD is generally in charge of dinner, since she is home and I am not.
Yesterday she started dinner and realized we were almost out of sour cream, the sauce base. Scrounging around, she found half of a large container of outdated (but not apparently bad) cottage cheese. Into the food processor with peppers, and - viola! A really nice, great tasting red cream sauce! Who knew? This will be our new go-to for such sauces, especially as the cottage cheese has 1/3 the calories of the comparable amount of sour cream! And she used up cottage cheese that had been close to chicken food, to boot. I love it when frugals are tasty, too! :cool: Otherwise, staying home today until I need to report for Mom-duty, so no money spent, and only essential driving. Received my mileage check from work for Dec. Not much, but every bit helps. All I have bought this week has been gas, a gallon of milk, and a bag of cat food. For us, that's good! Laundry will be drying in the house soon. Pretty much the same old stuff - we're just tracking spending, hanging on to those dollars, babying my car along, hoping for best outcomes on life's tribulations, lol.
Thinking of all of you on the East coast this AM, hoping you are all safe and warm. Can't reach DH's elderly aunt on Cape Cod. Hoping she's holed up with family, her oldest grandson has a largish place and a generator, plus some heavy equipment. But their phone is apparently out, so no word.
We're essentially snowed in and their is a travel ban in effect so today should be a nice and frugal day at home. Our internet and phone was down early this morning, but it's back up now so that is good. We didn't lose power, thankfully. We have a back-up generator so it's not awful when we do lose power, but it's still a hassle.
Decided I would take the opportunity on a snow day to cook some meals for the upcoming week. Made a large dish of Convict's Macaroni, which allowed me to use up an onion that was hanging around, the last of the smoked mozzarella, and the remaining pine nuts. I made it with regular pasta, not gluten free, so I won't be able to eat it, but my dearly beloved will be quite happy when he comes in from clearing snow! I'm oven-roasting a big pan of potatoes with herbs for myself. The potatoes were rapidly approaching the compost pile state so I was happy to be able to find a yummy way to eat them and not have to compost them. And the dried herbs have definitely been hanging out on the spice shelves for quite some time. I just used an extremely healthy amount of herbs assuming that their general potency has diminished. Again, another thing saved from the compost pile! Later today I will make a dozen hard-boiled eggs to eat over the next week. If I'm really motivated, I'll make some chocolate tapioca pudding as well.
Aside from the cooking extravaganza, I will spend some time vacuuming the house -- always a good, frugal activity -- and doing some decluttering. I want to pack up another garbage bag full of things to donate to the thrift store. We have so much stuff in this house. I really need to more consciously adopt the one-in-one-out rule!
An update on an ongoing frugal. I finally got the shipping label so that I can return the Sleep Phones that I had bought and get my $39 refund. The homemade version of sleep phones that I had made worked out great! I took the ear warmer/headband and the low profile headphones to the local seamstress and showed her what I wanted made. She did it as part of a large pile of things that I took to her so I don't know exactly how much I paid for her to make them, but I'm assuming it was less than $10. Last night was the first chance I had to try them out and they worked out great! I put my iPad on the nightstand and plugged in the headphones, put the sleep phones on, and turned on the music. More than an hour later I woke up and the sleep phones were still in place and the music still playing. Woo-hoo! I'm really excited that I figured out a way to make these in a frugal way using items I already had around the house. And I'm excited that they should be a huge help when I'm battling insomnia or simply having difficultly falling asleep at night!
My other frugals are pretty much the same stuff I try to do every day/week. For instance, I washed and dried a down comforter this morning and I used the minimum amount of laundry detergent possible. (In fact, since I just bought a new container of laundry detergent, I'm going to mark the bottle with the date I first use it so that I can see how long it lasts. I'm shooting for 4 months.) Then when I dried the comforter, I used a third of a dryer sheet, but it was a dryer sheet that I had already used in two loads of laundry yesterday so effectively I'm using one-ninth of a dryer sheet! A small frugal, but I think it's also about representing a certain mindset. I've also been diligent about running the (full) dishwasher at a time when I can be around when the wash/rinse cycle ends. I hit the cancel button on the dishwasher, which bypasses the drying cycle. Then I open up the dishwasher and let the dishes air dry, effectively adding humidity to the house in winter and saving on the energy used for the dishwasher to dry the dishes. I'm still working on my struggle with wanting to turn the heat up during the day, but I've been doing better. I've been trying to make sure I'm dressed as warmly as possible and I'm using lap blankets when sitting still and the microwavable heating discs as well. When I do find I'm turning up the heat in the morning, I make a point of turning it back down once that zone of the house gets warmed up because there is generally enough solar heat coming through the windows later in the day to keep the main part of the house pretty warm. Then if we get into bed a little earlier than usual, we can avoid turning up the heat in the evenings, too. And today, I'm taking advantage of the fact that I had the oven on so now that I've turned it off, I have the oven door propped open so that the residual heat can help to keep the kitchen area warm, too. Wow, I'm sure this all sounds very complicated, but like many of you on this forum, I just treat it like a game and try to have fun doing it!
earthshepherd
2-10-13, 8:20am
I think my most frugal addition to my usual frugal repertoire is making homemade laundry detergent, which I'm sure many of you do. I don't buy storebought laundry detergent at all any more, just the washing powder and Borax to make it with -- and those boxes last me many months apiece. My cost per gallon is well under a dollar.
Another of my ongoing frugals is using cloth napkins and towels as much as possible, which doesn't sound like much, but it really does add up when you buy paper products instead of using washables.
My stepdaughter showed me how to check out library books on my kindle. I love it!! I have also "purchased" lots of free apps, books and games on amazon. Can't believe how much of their kindle products are free to download, but I'm not complaining!
flowerseverywhere
2-10-13, 9:13am
I only have use of a car once a week so walk and bike everywhere. This is saving us tons of money. You learn to make do with what you have and when I do go to the store I have a list and stick to it.
Had some old drapes I never got rid of that I hemmed to fit some new windows, I always liked them and they look great.
Good work, everyone. I love this thread. It is encourages me, I find new things to do/try and it keeps me mindful of all the stuff I do without thinking when I want to report it to you.
~I only make one cup of tea at a time, using the microwave. I reuse the tea bags 3-4 times until the tea is getting to weak to be enjoyable. Also, I am drinking more tea and less coffee, both for health and costs reasons.
~I wash dishes by hand using a technique I developed when living on a farm with limited well water. Rinse large food particles off dishes. Turn off water. Soap all the dishes and set them on the counter while water is off. Rinse soap off all the dishes and place in rack for air drying.
~In my effort to increase my fitness level and lose weight, I signed up with a personal trainer at the gym (not frugal) and as part of the package was given a couple "meal replacement bars" and some whey powder called "Pre/post formula." I would never purchase this kind of over-manufactured food product, but since it came with the package, I am using it up. My son, who uses this whey product, bought a special cup/mixer thing as it is hard to get all the powder disolved. I just mix it with a fork, and drink the lumps I can't get to disolve.
~not necessarily a frugal, more of an increasing-income thing--but have been on-line weekly searching for scholarships for DD who will be going to college next fall. No word yet on any awards, but she has applied for more than $70,000 in available moneis so far.
Great to read what everyone has been up to when it comes to frugals! I, too, get good ideas from visiting this thread.
Not much to report since yesterday. Stayed home but used plenty of diesel fuel in the tractor and gas in the snowblower to clear the 2+ feet of snow from our driveway and walkway. Our neighbor called and asked if we could help by snowblowing a path from their house to their chicken coop because their snowblower had died on them. We were happy to help and in return got a dozen eggs, a loaf of homemade bread, and a container of strawberry jam. YUM!!!
Now that we have three dozen eggs in the house, I hard boiled a dozen last night for eating this week and my beloved is planning to make scrambled eggs and bacon for himself today and tomorrow. I'll have to think about what else I can make that uses a lot of eggs but is also gluten-free and dairy-free, which eliminates what would have been my go-to option: quiche.
Today should be a fairly frugal day. We'll go to the gym later so that I can go to my Tae Kwon Do class, but other than that I think it should be a low spending day. I would say I no-spend day except that I already placed an order online for more tea this morning. I know, I know, those of you who have been following my way-too-much-tea-in-the-pantry saga are probably wondering what I was thinking. Well, it turns out that within a few days I will have finished off the last of the gunpowder green tea that I have so diligently been drinking as of late. And I'm also almost out of the mint green tea that I normally drink. So I went to the Rishi Tea website and stocked up on two teas that I know I absolutely love and then bought, in small quantities, two teas that I wanted to try. The good news is, I spent enough to qualify for free shipping. :D I actually realized that in the future, I can hit up my other tea drinking friends and we can place an order together to qualify for free shipping, which would mean that I don't need to order quite so much tea for myself.
Yesterday I used a rewards gift certificate that was about to expire to buy a pretty scarf online. It was 30% off so I ended up paying only $7 after using the gift certificate as well. Of course, I had to pay for the shipping, too, but I realized that it was actually cheaper to have it shipped to me than to drive to the store to pick it up. So I got something pretty for my spring wardrobe for very little. :)
I think that's the extent of my frugals to report at the moment. Hope everyone is having a fun and frugal weekend!
Right now we're having freezing rain/sleet mixed with snow that is supposed to go on most of the day and coming night. Forced frugality - a no-spend, no-drive day - but no one's complaining. We're hanging out in our pajamas (DD loves days that she can leave her jammies on all day), and DD has requested that we play Monopoly later. I'll do some craft work and make a brunch/lunch for us in a while.
Yesterday I sold a bag of books at the used book store and used a coupon to get 40% off a zipper that I needed for a baby gift I'm making (out of fabric I already had).
This year DH and I sprang for season tickets of some performances for our date nights. We have enjoyed the performances greatly - it has been fun to see them and discuss them. The renewal option came last week and we decided that next year we'll take dance lessons instead. It will be active and a lot less costly.
fidgiegirl
2-10-13, 1:10pm
We are stuck as well today like Rosemary and it sounds like many of our east coast friends. I have my fingers secretly crossed for a snow day, but it's unlikely. :)
Frugals on today's agenda:
- a split pea soup in the crock pot with a ham bone from a discount ham we bought after Xmas.
- laundry (keeps us in supplies of rags, etc. so we don't resort to paper towels)
- crochet :)
No driving here, either. In fact, DW's mom (on the outskirts of the metro area) even cancelled DW's weekly trip to see her because others had told her the roads in the area were quite bad. OK. Spending on insurance deductibles is not frugal!
It feels like there haven't been many frugals lately. DW has felt for a while she needed to take some time away from work (our vacation last year was cancelled due to DW's mother's surgery) and now is a good time to put some distance between her and some "personalities" at work. DW also is not a fan of Minnesota cold, so she wanted to go someplace warm. We found a really cheap cruise that leaves in about a week. It's not the least expensive cruise we could find, but the ports looks interesting and the cruise line (not Costa ;)) comes recommended. I think we spent the least we could consistent with our values and interests. And taking care of DW is really really important. It can't be all about the $$ and it's not like we're making the trip entirely on credit cards. And we don't go crazy spending money on the ship. So be it.
A water main serving our neighborhood broke late Friday night. We had water, but could not use it for drinking or washing until this morning. Bottled water (which we had on hand because DW bought it for a work event) to the rescue, though I hate going through that many half-liter bottles fo our daily coffee/drinking/toothbrushing.
We decided to rent a movie through the Apple TV last night. Redbox it ain't, but even at $5.99, it still is cheaper than even the matinee at the movie house (though our TV is tiny by today's standards and we "simplified" our surround-sound system out of the house a few years ago).
Dinner tonight is broiled chicken bought at an unannounced 20%-off sale at a local coop. :cool: There will be plenty for a couple of meals for the two of us. I'm going to do my best to work through the perishable stuff in the 'fridge before we leave.
I think I'm just going to have to be at peace with 1) making the most frugal choices we can when we can; and 2) realizing that this trip still will be a very nice break and to not dwell on it being the most expensive purchase we've made since I quit work.
cdttmm--for using up eggs, gluten free- I make a frittata (I think that is what it is called) that is basically a quiche without the crust. I use it to finish up odds and ends of veggies, cheeses and bits of meat. It travels well to work and makes a nice breakfast leftover.
fidgiegirl
2-10-13, 5:11pm
I'm about to put some beans on. I can cook up a bag (1 lb.) in the slow cooker and then we use them throughout the week in breakfasts or dinners. Sometimes we freeze them.
I decided I would use up some of the eggs (well, egg whites, anyway) by making macaroons. I've never made macaroons before, but I looked up some gluten-free macaroon recipes online and it looked like they would be easy enough to make. Well, I did something wrong because they basically melted all over in the oven instead of staying in their happy little macaroon shapes. Fortunately, they still tasted really good so we ate a bunch of them tonight and the rest went into the refrigerator for later this week. But I will have to try to figure out what went wrong...I suspect I didn't beat the egg whites long enough so they weren't stiff enough when I put in the other ingredients. I'm going to try again in the near future because I would love to add macaroons to my short list of gluten-free, dairy-free treats that I can make at home. Now I'll have to figure out what I can use the egg yolks for...
I haven't been able to post in awhile since the attack on the site made my computer go kind of bonkers. I think I should be able to post without any problems from here on out, though! :-)
We've been eating at home lately. I made a chicken lasagna with the last of the sticky chicken and we had waffles in my new waffle iron last night. This weekend I sewed a pillow mattress for DD. It turned out really cute. I was going to use sheets, but then she saw this pink fabric with hearts and sparkles, and well...I caved. The fabric was on sale, though, and I used a 50% off coupon, so it came out to be only a couple of dollars more than the sheets, plus I have enough leftover to make her a dress and her twin cousins matching skirts. So not too shabby. :-)
DH and I are getting our taxes done. A family friend does them for us for 50% off. We are hoping to get a decent return so we can start working on little man's nursery. We only have 3 and half months to go!
fidgiegirl -- we do the same thing with beans! Although we are rarely motivated enough to eat them for an entire week so we almost always end up freezing some. Speaking of which...I'll need to make some black beans in the crock pot this week in order to make black bean soup for my co-working day on Thursday.
Kat -- the fabric you bought sounds fantastic! Your DD must be thrilled!
It sleeted here today so we are once again moving snow in an attempt to keep the driveway from icing over into a skating rink. It also means that unless we decide to go to the gym tonight, today will be a no driving kind of day.
Our kitchen sink got clogged up again so we had the plumber come this morning. $140 later the sink now drains properly. Ugh. It could be so much worse, so I will not complain. :D
I'm oven roasting the last of the potatoes. I decided it was more efficient to simply roast all of them and put the leftovers in the refrigerator than to roast a normal sized batch, eat them, and then forget about the remaining potatoes and have them end up in the compost pile. Otherwise we are doing a good job of eating up leftovers, including some butternut squash soup that I had defrosted last week, but then didn't eat, the Convict's Macaroni that I made on Saturday, and an open bag of granola that was probably on it's way to going stale.
Still drinking my way through my stash of tea. I got the shipping confirmation for the tea I ordered over the weekend -- whee -- so excited for some new and exciting teas to drink! I know, it's probably not frugal that I ordered more tea before I finished off my stash, but I have been quite disciplined so I think I can see it through to finish off the stash I have in the near future and not just start in on the new stuff!
Going to do a load of laundry in a little bit when I can maximize the load by gathering up all the miscellaneous towels, cloth napkins, and random items of clothing from around this house. Not feeling organized today that is for sure!
I had to print out a bunch of paperwork today that I needed to read through. I prefer to read longer stuff on paper, not on the computer screen. I used up the backside of a whole stack of once-used printer paper. This always makes me feel less bad about my need to print stuff out.
I imported some more CDs to iTunes today, too. That made for some frugal fun as I listened to portions of the CDs before I imported them, just to be sure I would actual want to listen to them again in the future. I rediscovered a great Gregorian chant CD and some other instrumental music that I haven't listened to in ages. I'm using a bunch of this music to make relaxation playlists to help me fall asleep or to just relax in general. I have to say that this has been a really fun project for me lately. It's not too labor intensive and I don't feel time pressure to "finish" this project as I feel like it could go on for quite some time. I just do one or two CDs at a time and it's just enough to keep me excited about working on this project without feeling overwhelmed by it.
Tussiemussies
2-11-13, 6:04pm
I haven't been able to post in awhile since the attack on the site made my computer go kind of bonkers. I think I should be able to post without any problems from here on out, though! :-)
We've been eating at home lately. I made a chicken lasagna with the last of the sticky chicken and we had waffles in my new waffle iron last night. This weekend I sewed a pillow mattress for DD. It turned out really cute. I was going to use sheets, but then she saw this pink fabric with hearts and sparkles, and well...I caved. The fabric was on sale, though, and I used a 50% off coupon, so it came out to be only a couple of dollars more than the sheets, plus I have enough leftover to make her a dress and her twin cousins matching skirts. So not too shabby. :-)
DH and I are getting our taxes done. A family friend does them for us for 50% off. We are hoping to get a decent return so we can start working on little man's nursery. We only have 3 and half months to go!
Kat, so exciting that you only have three months to go before the baby is here.
Great find on the fabric and sounds like you will get a lot of uses from it...: )
~ sold a piece of jewelry I no longer wanted $190 (this counts as a declutter also)
~ had so many errands and meetings today that ran long, that I did not make the homemade pizza for dinner I was planning. The kids warmed leftovers and ate snacks form the pantry on their own--so no meal out costs.
~ went to the clothing store to replace the fleece jacket that has a broken zipper, but didn't find any that I liked. Decided that I would use the jacket without the zipper functioning for the rest of the season.
~ My beloved brother and his wife who live in Chicago area have offered to let my daughter live with them while she attends school there. I think she is required to be on campus for the first year, but it will save her thousands of dollars after that.
Hooray for more frugals! :D
We have an aloe vera plant in our kitchen and the leaves were getting long enough that it was becoming an eye-poking hazard. So we cut off three of the leaves and I have been using the aloe vera as a lotion on my hands throughout the day instead of regular store-bought lotion. The leaves will eventually get composted, but it is great to be able to actually *use* the aloe vera for something!
I had another tube of lip balm that had reached it's useful end so I dug the remaining lip balm out of the tube and added it to my mishmash of lip balm remnants in a little container. Now my little container is about one-third full and the concoction is appealing enough to actually use (before one of the flavors was sort of overpowering and it was not a particularly nice flavor). So I'll use up this new blend before moving on to another tube -- this goofy lip balm project has easily saved me $5 so far this year!
My meeting that was scheduled for tomorrow in Boston just got canceled so that will not only save on gas (~$35) and time (~4 hours), but will also give me a chance to go grocery shopping at the less expensive grocery store for what I need for Thursday's co-working lunch (this will probably save me at least $5-$10).
I discovered that BJ's was still running the discount on iTunes gift cards via their website so I bought another $60 in gift cards for $52. I also bought a discounted flash drive because we no longer had an extra one on hand -- my dearly beloved needed one a few weeks ago and I gave him my spare. Free shipping, too, so that was an extra bonus!
I've been using the Upromise website anytime I do online shopping. I've gotten almost $20 in cash back so far this year -- and it's all by buying stuff I would have bought anyway. When the program originally started the money was supposed to go into an 529 plan for college, but it seems like you can now just request a check to spend on any education related expenses (although I'm not sure how they know that you spend it on education related expenses once you actually *get* the check). I figure, I spend enough on books and I usually take at least one class per year so even if there is a way to track it I'm not worried about qualifying. I'm up to almost $370 total -- I had $350 in my account from before -- so rediscovering this was like $350 worth of found money for me!!! Woo-hoo!
Speaking of found money, I also got EOY statements for two retirement accounts that I had basically forgotten about with a total of $700 in them. I need to figure out how to combine these with my other retirement accounts so that I stop forgetting that I have that money! Anybody know the easiest way to do that?
Speaking of found money, I also got EOY statements for two retirement accounts that I had basically forgotten about with a total of $700 in them. I need to figure out how to combine these with my other retirement accounts so that I stop forgetting that I have that money! Anybody know the easiest way to do that?
Does your current plan allow rollovers? Are they the same kind of investment (that is, 401(k) to 401(k))? That might be simplest. Some plans will even do the "paperwork" for you if you give them the contact information and your official okey-dokey for the other plans.
You also could roll them over into an IRA at one or the other of the current institutions or establish an IRA anywhere else you like, though a $700 total investment might cost you more in fees and limited investment choices than that's worth. Better to have one big one (if possible) than several little ones.
Does your current plan allow rollovers? Are they the same kind of investment (that is, 401(k) to 401(k))? That might be simplest. Some plans will even do the "paperwork" for you if you give them the contact information and your official okey-dokey for the other plans.
You also could roll them over into an IRA at one or the other of the current institutions or establish an IRA anywhere else you like, though a $700 total investment might cost you more in fees and limited investment choices than that's worth. Better to have one big one (if possible) than several little ones.
Thanks, Steve! These are both state plans (457 plans, maybe?). My other plans are 401(k) plans so it sounds like I can't move them into there. I do have a Roth IRA and a Simple IRA, too. Sheesh. So disorganized! I think my best bet will be to talk to my financial advisor and have her help me sort it out. But if y'all can think of any questions I should be asking please let me know!
rosarugosa
2-12-13, 9:50pm
I just got back from a very spendy, but delightful weekend in Portland, and I really need to switch out of that mindset and get back on track with the financial self-discipline. Thanks to all of you for helping to provide a supportive environment for this.
We did score a couple of good shopping deals. DH got a pair of Keen snow boots and I got a pair of Rieker boots for a combined total of $100.00. He really needed the boots, but my purchase was much more of a want than a need, although I think I'll get good use from them. No matter how good the deal is, spending isn't the same as saving, and that's what I need to focus on now.
Cdttmm: I don't know if you ever go to Portland, but I did notice that they have a new all-GF bakery (Bam Bam Bakery), and I thought of you.
We also had some expenses related to gifts. DSis and DMIL both had "milestone" birthdays in the past few days, and we do also buy small Velentine gifts for our mothers. I also bought a gift for a long time colleague who is retiring at the end of the week.
flowerseverywhere
2-13-13, 7:38am
Thanks, Steve! These are both state plans (457 plans, maybe?). My other plans are 401(k) plans so it sounds like I can't move them into there. I do have a Roth IRA and a Simple IRA, too. Sheesh. So disorganized! I think my best bet will be to talk to my financial advisor and have her help me sort it out. But if y'all can think of any questions I should be asking please let me know!
I was in your boat and I opened up an account with one of the big houses (I chose Vanguard because of low fees but do your own research) but Fidelity and TRowePrice also are often used. I called them and they helped me roll everything into one account- they did most of the work. consolidating my accounts was a big frugal for me because I haven't lost track of anything and it is exciting to watch it grow as opposed to multiple little accounts.
The only thing I would ask a financial advisor is how much they charge for everything. They have to make a living too and make it by fees and commissions so make sure you know exactly what you are paying.
My inlaws for years invested with an advisor they loved. After FIL died we helped MIL go through her papers and realized he had charged them a whopping 5% up front for every penny they scrimped and saved to give him.
I am with a quilt group that meets weekly and they pick a restaurant to go to each week for lunch. I decline to go, I just can't see spending that much for lunch when I can go home and eat for a quarter of the price after we spent the morning socializing and I save on calories and salt too which I need to control. Over a year it saves $300-500 over what I eat at home as they go to some pricey places.
flowerseverywhere: thanks for the help! I will start to do my research!
Most exciting frugal news of the day -- I got offered an adjunct teaching position for an 8-week online course. Woo-hoo! This wasn't something I actively applied for, but rather, a friend had to back out of this assignment for personal reasons and she recommended that the University contact me. I had taught for this school before so it was kind of a no-brainer for them to just plug me in as the teacher as opposed to having to look for someone new and unknown. This will help to pad the bank account a little bit. :D
In other frugal news, I used up the eggs yolks from the other night by making a double batch of chocolate tapioca pudding. I also got to use up some milk that would have otherwise gone bad and some Lindt chocolate truffles that needed to be consumed. :~) I'll be eating my way through the over roasted potatoes for a few days, which could get old, but I'll do my best to find new and different ways to keep them interesting.
I finally finished off the gunpowder green tea -- hooray! And just in time, too, as my order of tea should arrive tomorrow. I've still got about a week's worth of buckwheat tartary tea to drink, but that should be easy enough to finish off in the near future. The biggest tea issue now is the stockpile of peppermint ginseng tea that I have in the pantry. I used to love this stuff, but for some reason it now no longer excites me. Of course, I had stockpiled it previously so I need to figure out how I'm going to use it all up. Any suggestions, my tea-drinking, frugal friends?
I've been using up a small number of dog treats each day in conjunction with smaller meals for my dogs in order to free up some space in the pet supply cupboard. We've had these treats on hand for a number of years -- the expiration date was sometime in 2009. We just don't give our dogs treats that often so I'm going to take this as a frugal lesson learned and just not buy treats going forward.
Tussiemussies
2-13-13, 5:26pm
Cdttmm, I just love tapioca pudding, your chocolate version with the Lindt truffles sounds so good and rich. How did it turn out?
Good for you that you landed this 8-week job. Like you said a little extra padding in the bank!
:)
Cdttmm, I just love tapioca pudding, your chocolate version with the Lindt truffles sounds so good and rich. How did it turn out?
The tapioca pudding turned out wonderfully! Perhaps it was a bit too wonderful considering that the double-batch lasted less than 24 hours. :D Good thing I went to the gym last night and that I'm going again tonight!!!
Tussiemussies
2-13-13, 6:04pm
The tapioca pudding turned out wonderfully! Perhaps it was a bit too wonderful considering that the double-batch lasted less than 24 hours. :D Good thing I went to the gym last night and that I'm going again tonight!!!
It just sounds like it was SO good. Whenever we make it, we use stevia, and make a double batch too. I just basically binge eat it. Ours doesn't last for more than 24 hrs. either. Think I have to get moving more too.:).
fidgiegirl
2-13-13, 8:24pm
Any suggestions, my tea-drinking, frugal friends?
I once bought the stuff to make chai from scratch, I guess you could say. A very strong black tea, spices in another pouch and that was supposed to be steeped and then have condensed milk added. Well, I decided that wasn't for me - I didn't even like it! But I had spent a lot on this stuff, and had opened it. "Oh no! Not opened?! What did you do?!" Gave it away for free on Craigslist. :) I was upfront about that it had been opened, and I had a number of inquiries anyway.
Everyone is doing so well!
We had waffles & bacon for dinner last night. Boy did it hit the spot. And was pretty frugal. Still have 1/2 of the bacon left. Thinking of trying bacon, avocado sandwiches. Put the remaining waffles in the freezer. They will, no doubt, be gone by Monday since Ian is coming home for the weekend. Well, probably half the weekend. It's hard to tear him away from the solar car stuff.
Tonight we had sloppy joes. DH will finish it off as work lunches. I think tomorrow I will use leftover chicken and make a la king.
It was a beautiful & sunny 54 degrees here today so the dog & I had some frugal exercise and walked around the lake.
I am slowly weeding out all the stuff in DD's bedroom to make it more usable. Slowly being the key word lol. But I have a large box & a small box of stuff to go to Goodwill. The bed linens are now actually in the linen closet. Along with the Lionel trains. Doesn't everyone have Lionel trains in their linen closet? We really don't have much in the way of extra furniture here but I am trying to make do with what we have to store things neatly. I'm transferring all the boxes of photos & scrapbooking supplies into the bedroom and out of the living room. The etagere that was holding the board games & misc. stuff in the breezeway now has the photo boxes. I really want to figure out something for a desk in there. Hopefully, it will eventually mean a much neater living room & a useful bedroom.
early morning
2-13-13, 10:16pm
Great job, everyone!! Azure, our trains are in the tool chest. The tools are in a dresser. The linen closet is the repository for the shotgun shells, AND the towels. (The 38s and 22s reside in my underwear drawer.) I am soooo organized! (not!) Dinner tonight was burritos, a fairly cheap meal for us. I'm low on lunch for work and will be at a different site tomorrow, so I'm just taking a peanut butter sandwich and some crackers or dry cereal. I am not sure if there's a fridge or microwave handy there and it's about 8 miles to the nearest food joint - fast OR slow! Picked up our free entertainment for the week from the library and ran other errands on my way home. gathered the trash and recycling to drop off in the morning. Not much else exciting.
I made valentines for my three teens from plain card stock I have hanging about the house, a couple images printed off of Google Images and colored pencils and a fine point sharpie. They are very cool, if I do say so myself. Added to the valentines, each kid gets a packet of sugar free gum and Starburst candy.
Dinner tonight will be homemade pizza with Turkey pepperoni, orange slices and peanut butter on celery. (I'm cleaning out the fridge for the weekend--kids are gone, I am working and all my weekend food needs to be stuff I can eat in the car while I'm driving as I rarely get time to stop and eat.)
Had a fire in the fireplace (low cost entertainment) using wood from the pallet that my fridge came on last summer and for kindling I used broken drumsticks. You would be amazed at how many drumsticks get broken in a six month period, and even more amazed at how quickly they catch fire.
Other frugals include the usual: programable thermostat, drinking tea instead of coffee after 8am, no food throw away, batching errands.
I feel like I've been doing pretty well this week. Last Monday I bought the following at Menards: 4 large dish soaps, 2 gallons of glass cleaner and 16 light bulbs. After the rebate, I will have simply paid the tax which amounts to about 90 cents. These items will be used at work.
Yesterday we decided to go shopping closer to home since there wasn't as much to purchase as usual. I talked dh out of buying me roses for valentines day but he still managed to surprise me with a nice card.
We used up the very last of the gift card that I had won last year. (dollar store card) We bought several items for the house-snacks like beef jerky and snack cakes as well as cleaning products and other items. When all was said and done, I spent the gift card plus $4.23 out of pocket. I received $5 towards my next purchase by buying cold medicine, ibuprofen, and cough drops. These are free except for tax and will be offered to employees who aren't feeling well at work. It greatly reduces the amount of sick days when I do this.
I also bought an $11 jug of laundry soap that will be free after rebate.
At the grocery store I used a coupon for a $5 pk of free ice cream that was a sweeps win. I did another rebate for a free package of cookies-$3.59.
This week in the mail I have received a 6 load laundry detergent sample, coupons for a free 2-liter of soda, a bag of chips and a jar of peanuts as well as 10 postage stamps.
It felt really good to get back into the swing of things this week!
Wow! bke--you are doing great. I do not ever seem to do well with couponing...I just focus on not buying stuff.
Thanks, cdttmm and Tussiemussies. The fabric *is* really cute. I tried to post a picture of the mattress, but I can't get it inserted for some reason. The only option is to insert an image from a URL...this one is saved n my home computer. Hmmmm....
SteveinMN--I hope you have a great time on that cruise! I understand your feelings regarding the money; I always panic a bit when we make a big purchase. The good folks here, however, are good at reminding me that that is the point of frugality/simple living--to save in the areas that don't matter as much so you can splurge in the ones that do. This cruise will provide an amazing cultural experience, allow you and your wife to unplug and reconnect as a couple, and give you both an opportunity to relax and rejuvenate. Sounds like money very well spent to me! :-)
Things have been a little unfrugal here as DH is seriously ill with the flu. We've had doctor visits and prescriptions and a couple of trips to get IV fluids. It has been horrible for him; he lost 11 pounds the first day and was so weak he could barely get around. We have been able to avoid hospital admission, though, which is good, and he is starting to feel the tiniest bit better. Poor guy.
DD and I have just been hanging out, eating at home and working on art projects. Today we made a valentine for her grandpa and her daddy. That was fun. I also made her a big heart-shaped cookie with pink frosting, which she loved. We had planned on make DH a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles, but that will have to wait awhile until he is better!
Fawn, I love that you made your kids Valentine's Day cards. And the gum and Starbursts are a nice touch, too -- love it!
bke, great job on your various scores. You never fail to amaze me! Super smart of you to buy cold meds and cough drops to give to employees at work. Such a small investment for what is often a huge return!
Kat, sorry to hear your DH has the flu. Hope he's feeling better soon!!!
Had my co-worker over yesterday and the nachos were a huge hit. Such a productive, fun, frugal work day, which I know she appreciates. She told me yesterday that she and her fiance are getting serious about buying a house so they had even agreed to not exchange Valentine's Day gifts. Pretty big move for the two of them since gift giving is hugely important to them. I think I may be rubbing off on her! :D
The dogs ate the last of the dog treats this morning. They'll be so disappointed tomorrow when there are no more treats as part of breakfast! But hopefully these baby steps will help to eventually reduce our clutter to something more manageable! My bag for the thrift store is up to 23 items. Just two more and then I will take it to drop it off. I want to drop it off today so I'm going to have to scout around to see what else I'm ready to part with. I've been throwing out a lot of things, too, but I only count what I'm donating. Don't ask me why I do it that way -- probably because I want to have a reasonable number of items to donate before driving to the thrift store.
Stopped at the pet store the other night to stock up on canned cat food for one of our elderly cats. Got to put a coupon to good use. $2 off a bag of dry cat food (the kind the other elderly cat eats) plus 2 cans of cat food free. Considering that I just got another bill in the mail from the vet, every little bit counts when it comes to saving on the pet spending. It's a good thing my pets bring me so much joy -- it makes spending money on them much easier! :D
I started a little arts-and-crafts project to keep me from needlessly spending money. I saw these decorative tea tins online when I was buying tea the other day. They seemed like such a nice way to keep your tea and I thought they would look great in my pantry. At $10-$12 per tea tin, I thought they weren't a bad little splurge. Then I realized how many tins I would actually need to buy to house my varieties of tea and realized that this would be no little splurge. And, of course, then I also realized that hardly anyone ever sees my pantry -- why would I need decorative tea tins to make my pantry look pretty? Not to mention, my pantry is generally in some state of disarray so *I* wouldn't even get the maximum amount of pleasure out of these pretty tea tins. I was buying tea in very similar tea tins for years and I have been saving the tins. They aren't as pretty because they are labeled so that the tea can be sold in a store. But, I realized that I could probably very easily just cover them with pretty paper and have a reasonable facsimile. So I started this little arts-and-crafts project. Despite the fact that my mother was always doing beautiful, crafty projects as I was growing up, and I was often drafted to help in these projects, I am *not* talented when it comes to most arts-and-crafts related tasks. I think it's because I have limited patience... But I decided I would try this nonetheless. So far, so good! I finished one tea tin the other day. The paper is not super fancy, just a pretty shade of gray that I used on a tea tin that had a lid with a pretty sticker of tea leaves on top. It came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. I'm going to make a few more with the same gray paper and then I'm going to try my hand at a pretty purplish-rose colored paper and see how that turns out. As for the paper, I could have easily gone to some fancy store and bought some fancy paper in order to do this project. But I felt like that would have been defeating the purpose. So I am using the paper from gift bags that are perhaps a bit too shabby around the corners to really continue to use for gift giving. The paper is heavy enough that I don't have to worry about it tearing, but not so heavy that it won't easily attach with glue to the tea tins. We'll see how the next few tins go and if I'm feeling really pleased with the project, I'll post pictures. :~)
Thanks Fawn and cdttmm-I've found through the years that having some medicine around for employees is a great way to call their bluff when they feel "kinda sick". If a couple of Tylenol or cold tablets don't help than they are usually really coming down with something. 9 times out of ten, they make it through the day just fine.;)
Ds does a lot of after school stuff this time of year. An academic challenge with other schools as well as band functions. He usually takes something to drink and a snack for on the bus as well as a few dollars to buy a sandwich or pizza during the competition. Yesterday I used a $5.98 gift card from a dish soap rebate at Rite Aid to buy him 6 king size candy bars specifically for these after school events. They're regularly priced $1.89 but were on sale for $1.00. I paid 2 cents out of pocket for his treats.
There isn't any school today so it should end in no driving or spending.
Kat, I really hope your dh is feeling better soon. Hopefully you and dd won't end up with it too.
Thanks Fawn and cdttmm-I've found through the years that having some medicine around for employees is a great way to call their bluff when they feel "kinda sick". If a couple of Tylenol or cold tablets don't help than they are usually really coming down with something. 9 times out of ten, they make it through the day just fine.;)
I was thinking there had to be some kind of placebo effect going on since a cold takes 7-10 days to run it's course, whether you treat it or not. Good call on finding a way that helps your business and feels like caring to the employees.
The last thing I want is a sick employee cooking or serving food but offering an OTC medication stops the excuses when all the really want to do is go home and watch the game/nap/party. You get the idea.
Originally posted by Early Morning.
The linen closet is the repository for the shotgun shells, AND the towels. (The 38s and 22s reside in my underwear drawer.)ROTFLMAO! Going to run this one by DH!
fidgiegirl
2-15-13, 6:06pm
cdttmm, cute idea on the tea tins. I think the "organized pantry" idea is a result of Pinterest porn. I enjoy Pinterest very much (substitute any other "home" magazine/blog/site/channel for "Pinterest," BTW) and I get a lot of good ideas, but it can get to be a bit much. Because, as you said, who sees my pantry, anyway? But it is nice to have things neat for ourselves, too.
bke, remind me - what ever happened with your old house? Did you end up able to sell it?
I just went to a moving sale and bought some LED Xmas lights for $5.00. They are a neutral white so we could use them in our big tree in summer, too.
cdttmm, cute idea on the tea tins. I think the "organized pantry" idea is a result of Pinterest porn.
fidgiegirl, I had better NEVER visit Pinterest, if that is the case! I have "organized pantry" desires and I'm not even a Pinterest user... Wonder what that says about me?!? :|(
A mostly frugal day today. I worked from home and ate leftovers (butternut squash soup and roasted potatoes) and drank lots of tea! I did have to take 2 of my 3 dogs to the vet today to get some blood drawn for lab work. I managed to combine a few errands with that trip so I went to the recycling center and the drycleaners. I was supposed to meet a Tae Kwon Do buddy for a workout at the gym, but she canceled. I've been having pain in my heel, so I decided that without someone expecting me at the gym I would take a rest day for myself and give my foot a chance to get better. So I saved on some gas money.
Tomorrow my friend who was supposed to teach the college course that I am now taking over offered to meet up with me to give me a copy of the textbook. I suggested that we meet for lunch and I will treat her because she is doing me a huge favor by not only bringing me the book, but also because she'll share her syllabus and assignments with me, which cuts way down on the work I'll need to do for the class. I suggested that we meet at a local restaurant that another friend of mine owns. It should only cost me about $25-$30 for lunch (tax and tip included) for the two of us so that will be well worth the minor expense.
Otherwise, I'm just trying to stick to my usual frugals: keeping the thermostat set low (58-60 degrees F), eating at home (leftovers, fruit, nuts, or other things that are simple to prepare), combining errands to limit driving (trying to get in at least three errands minimum when I do go out), free or low-cost entertainment (Netflix, Apple TV, books I already own; I need to hit up the public library!), and generally just trying to limit what I buy by thinking about needs vs wants.
How's everyone else doing?!?
I won a bottle of wine at the homeschool co-op today. I've had some of it, so hopefully this post will be coherant. :) Free wine is the best kind.
We have been eating some caramel rolls a friend of ours sent home with us after church last week. That's been breakfast most days. Not Ash Wednesday because there's nothin penitential about caramel rolls, but overall it's been nice to have an easy breakfast and I've balanced it out with a lot of fruits and veggies the rest of the day.
I cut back on a couple of field trips I was thinking of doing because I think it could get a bit overwhelming, but it will save me a few bucks too. We have a ton of fun stuff on our plate in the next month or two (four birthdays, Easter, a first communion, archery, rock climbing, gymnastics, a geography challenge, a free visit to a waterpark hotel from my mom, a play, a visit to Orchestra Hall) so I don't feel too bad about it. I get cabin fever this time of year, but overdoing it isn't good either.
Charlotte is growing into some of the boys old clothes and I have decided to keep a lot of them because, actually, she's a baby and she doesn't care. I try to mostly combine them with girlier things, but it seems silly not to use perfectly good clothes that I already own on a kid who truly doesn't care. When she's bigger and has an opinion, I will buy her girlier stuff, but she's 9 months old. So there are dinosaurs on her jammies. Who cares?
Kelli, I have a pantry organization Pinterest problem. It's addicting.
Stella--look very closely--those are girl dinosaurs.
I know because we had the exact same ones on our girl/boy/boy.
Your welcome. ;)
The ammo mention has me laughing over here. :D I got my tax return via direct deposit yesterday, which was pretty quick, given that I did a paper return!
I've been not in the mood to cook lately at all. I snagged some good canned soup on sale. I took some to work and some at home. Mostly veggie or chicken soups. I could be eating a heck of a lot more. Been pretty good about not eating out for lunch so much.
Keeping on eye on gun prices - I have my eyes on a S&W revolver.
flowerseverywhere
2-16-13, 8:38am
I've been good lately about getting rain checks and actually redeeming them. Our local grocer has a lot of bogo deals, which they are often out of. Things like bags of spinach, cheerios etc. as we avoid prepared food.
wanted a rack for our shoes by the door, looked but did not see anything that I liked except one very expensive wood one. Showed it to DH who is making it out of scraps.
Off to farmers market today- will make my meals out of what is available this week.
Stella--look very closely--those are girl dinosaurs.
I know because we had the exact same ones on our girl/boy/boy.
Your welcome. ;)
Why, I think you are right, Fawn. They are girl dinosaurs. :)
Thanks, guys, for the well wishes for DH. He was feeling a little better but seems to be really sick again. This virus is really nasty--I am worried about him.
Yesterday DD and I visited my dad at the nursing home. He gave DD two small stuffed animals he won playing Bingo along with several snacks he saved throughout the week. He also gave her the little Valentine's he received. She loved them and didn't care at all they were recycled. :-)
I have been wanting to buy some new bedding for awhile now. Ours is 8 years old, and I never really liked it much. Well, I found quite a bit of bedding I liked on super sale/clearance at different stores that I can mix and match. The best find was a bed skirt for 70% off along with some high thread count sheet sets for $39. Those weren't actually on sale, but the store was out of the sale version and offered much nicer ones as a substitution. While I was at the store, I also found a Hello Kitty shirt on clearance for $3. DD has been wanting one, and she needs some clothes for this summer. I didn't want to spend $15 on a shirt she'd only wear a couple months, though, so this was perfect.
Other than that, DD and I have just been playing and eating at home. Breakfast this morning was especially lovely--homemade waffles and classical music. :-) We might try to venture out today. A local grocery store has strawberries for 99 cents a pound and 4 lb bags of oranges for 1.49. Pineapples are 1.49, too. I think I could get some fresh fruit for eating along with some for freezing.
Stella, good to hear from you -- have been missing you on the forums!!!
Took my friend out to lunch today and talked about the upcoming course that I'll be teaching. It was definitely worth the $33.16 that lunch (including tax + tip) cost me.
Tonight will just be a tomato and avocado salad -- need to eat stuff up before it ends up in the compost bin! If I need more than that I'll eat the remaining roasted potatoes that are in the refrigerator. Since the refrigerator is looking a little bare, it might be time for me to try my hand at meal planning and see what I can come up with for meals before grocery shopping. What a novel concept! :~)
Printed out some more coupons for use at Target. But nothing is needed urgently so instead of driving over there today I'm going to wait until I'm in that general vicinity next week.
We're nearly out of the Perfect Fuel energy bars that we keep around for snacks. I went online to order some more and decided to email my contact at the company to see if I could get a coupon code. Ended up saving 12% as a result -- hooray!
Thanks cdttmm! I'm glad to be back. Between reduced Lenten computer time and the younger three kids being at various stages of monkeyness I've been gone a lot lately. :)
Zach and I had a financial planning meeting today. We've gotten a little bit sloppier about spending in the last couple of months, so we worked out a number for spending for the month and will transfer that out of savings on the first of March and have DH's paychecks put directly into savings. That should help eliminate the "Hey, there's money in the account, lets do XYZ" problem. I have been giving in more than I would like to Amazon and it's infernal one-click buying with instant delivery to my iPad. Books were safer for me when I actually had to get off my butt and go to the bookstore or wait a week and a half for delivery. :) This should help. It's time to finish the five books I am reading right now and then maybe I can move on to others.
We spent some time today looking at bunk bed building plans. We were thinking of doing this last year, but then reality bit us in the behind and we realized that maybe, no, we weren't going to have baby #5, have Zach graduate from school, finish the family room remodel AND build bunk beds for the kids. :) This year no one is being born or graduating from anything and no one is traveling across country for 6 weeks in a mini-van, so there is a chance that this might actually happen.
This one is not my frugal, but I am extremely proud to say that both of my older daughters have managed to save their allowance for an entire year. We shall see if this continues. Cheyenne is torn between continuing to save towards SCUBA certification and buying more Legos. I told her to wait until her birthday to do anything, since she will probably be getting more legos then.
early morning
2-17-13, 10:36am
Yesterday DD, Dsis, and I attended an all-day genealogy seminar w/lunch, and went to TGI Fridays for dinner. We spent a total of $14 per person for the seminar, lunch, and dinner with appetizer, including tax and tip. I am mightily pleased with that! The seminar was put on by the local LDS at the stake center, and if you pre-paid lunch it was only $4 for a sub, cookies, chips, fruit cup, and a can of pop or bottle of water. You could bring your own food if you chose, but we decided not to do that. For once we decided to be "normal", lol. We had dinner during happy hour so our appetizer as entree was $5. (Our actual appetizer was more, as it wasn't on the approved happy-hour list :|(). We also noticed a buy a $25 GC and get a $5 free ad when we came in, asked about it, bought and used it there, saving another $5. We could have spent less by not getting an appetizer or getting a happy-hour listed one, but the $5 was only good on non-sale food, and we were splurging!:cool: We did tip on what would have been the full amount, as our waitress was just wonderful and that only seems fair. Still, fff! And we learned a LOT about researching from home.
Stella--good for your girls! I hope Cheyenne decides to keep saving. It is hard to continue working to a long-term goal--especially for a kid--but it is a great skill to learn and the payoff is so worth it! :-)
Yesterday I went to our local Goodwill and found some things for the kiddos that were on sale for $1. Great brands, and all items looked like new! They are in bigger sizes, but I figure they'll grow into them! :-) I'll have to make it a point to go there a little more often. I forgot how nice the items there can be.
I was really tempted to order in for dinner last night. DH has been sick for a week now, so I have been on my own trying to take care of him, our daughter, and our home (plus I have work). I am almost in my third trimester now, and I am just plum tuckered out! But I managed to make us some sandwiches and cut up some strawberries. We had milk to drink and a homemade cookie for dessert.
Today I really need to work on the house. I am so behind on everything! DD has been obsessed with coloring lately, so we'll probably spend some time doing that this afternoon.
Yesterday and today have been pretty frugal days. I've been home alone, but my dearly beloved will be back from NYC tonight -- hooray! I've been very disciplined about keeping the thermostats set to between 58 and 60 degrees in all of the zones with the exception of a few hours in the evening when I turn the bedroom zone up to 64 degrees. I have been getting into bed earlier in the evenings and working, reading, surfing the internet, and listening to music. Thank goodness for my laptop and iPad, which give me the ability to do this!
I priced out a new laptop the other day as mine is pretty old (about 8 or 9 years, I think). Just to give you a sense of how ancient my machine is, it has a whopping 64GB hard drive -- I don't think you can even buy a laptop with a hard drive that small any more! It was a fairly top of the line model when we bought it and it has served me well, but it may soon be time for a new machine. Well, when the price for what I wanted came out to over $1500 I decided that I would be keeping my current laptop for at least another year or so!!! Doesn't get more frugal than just not buying something! :D
I've now eaten all the leftovers and most of the fresh produce that was in the house so I need to make a trip to the grocery store soon. But rather than do it today, which would require extra driving, I will put it off until tomorrow or Tuesday and try to combine the trip with some other errands. So for dinner tonight I think I will make a pasta dish with peas, spinach, and a blue cheese sauce. I was reading through some cookbooks last night and came across some different recipes that I think I can tweak to make something tasty with what we already have on hand. Woot!
For those of you who have been following my frugal ramblings, you might recall that several weeks ago I ordered some work gloves online with a promo code and I ended up getting a really good deal. Well, it took just long enough for the gloves to arrive that I was forced to improvise for a few days in the interim. I discovered that I have a tight fitting pair of gardening gloves that will fit under my badly worn out work gloves and the combination provided just enough warmth for me to get by with my current work gloves. In fact, the system has worked so well (with the exception of days like today when it is below freezing!) that I'm going to keep it up through the spring and not use my new work gloves until I absolutely have to. I love getting that extra little bit of usefulness out of something before tossing it! And, upon examination, I realized that it's only the right work glove that is in really bad shape, the left glove is still quite useable. Since I ordered the exact same gloves as replacements, I'll not toss the left glove from the old pair and will keep it as a spare -- just in case I lose the left glove or something else unfortunate happens to the left glove of the new pair! :~)
I've been very diligent about wearing my coveralls whenever I go out to load or check the wood boiler over the past few weeks. I've discovered that wearing my coveralls means that my clothes don't end up smelling of wood smoke and I don't have to launder them nearly as often. I just have to remember to wear an old hat as well so that my hair doesn't end up smelling of wood smoke either! I'm always happy to find ways to cut down on doing laundry -- we do more than our fair share already with two active people who work out sometimes multiple times a day.
Discovered more uneaten dog treats in the pet supply cupboard. It's as though they multiplied when I wasn't looking! Ack!!! Well, the dogs are happy, and a few dog treats just means I can extend the bag of very expensive prescription dog food a little bit further. :0!
It's below freezing here today so I took the time to not only refill the bird feeders with seed, but also to fill the suet feeders. The birds should be happy and I'm using up something that I had already spent money on. It doesn't take a lot of time to fill all the feeders and doing it, as well as getting to watch the birds, provides a fun, frugal distraction!
fidgiegirl
2-17-13, 8:30pm
Hi all,
Not a particularly frugal day, but overall quite enjoyable! Brunch with friends - that was the not-so-frugal part. I most often go to brunch when my friend is in town from North Dakota, and she brings her sister and nephew. But her sister is kind of broke, so if she wants to enjoy sister's company, she has to pay for outings like brunch. So I'm contemplating just telling her we'll have it over here next time she's in town. I can make a nice egg bake, people could bring cinnamon rolls or whatever they want, and we'd all save a bundle of money. The buffet line was $19 each! And being GF, I could only eat about four of the different items. So I didn't find $19 of value in that, and I'm not so sure my friend found upwards of $80 worth of value for her, the sister and the nephew (counting the bottomless mimosas ;) ). Now some people might not want to, because they'd rather go to a restaurant than have to plan for potluck. So we'll see.
Crochet group in the afternoon! I selected some yarns from the group stash, which I will make up for next month's donation to Children's. I am going to make adult-sized hats anyway, since older children and teens can use them. The plan is to focus on boyish colors this month. Maybe I should learn to crochet flames into a hat! :)
Went for a run in the park where the crochet group was held after it was over. The paths were cleared so nicely. It was lovely.
And! And! Rosemary gave me a boatload of lovely seeds at the crochet group. Yeah Rosemary! My mind is drifting toward the garden . . . . Have now met Stella and Rosemary from the forums. Very nice to meet like-minded people in person!
Hi Fidgie-nothing to report on the frugal front but I wanted to answer you question. No we haven't sold the house yet. We've managed to keep the utilities under $100 a month and don't have a house payment but there it sits empty and just waiting for the right family to come along and make it a home.
Kelli, the wind nearly blew me away when I was leaving this afternoon. I was wondering if you would make the run. Clearly you are a more dedicated Minnesotan than am I! :)
I enjoyed the knit/crochet group & talk time, too - and it was fun to finally meet.
Nothing out of the ordinary on the frugal front, but despite being gone nearly all day I cooked at home tonight thanks to advance planning.
fidgiegirl
2-17-13, 10:40pm
Hi Fidgie-nothing to report on the frugal front but I wanted to answer you question. No we haven't sold the house yet. We've managed to keep the utilities under $100 a month and don't have a house payment but there it sits empty and just waiting for the right family to come along and make it a home.
Well, hope you are able to unload it soon.
I found some cheese slices dirt cheap at ALDI. The dogs are going to have them this week instead of their usual tripe treats which are more expensive. They love cheese.
So far so good on frugals today! I wasn't motivated to run right out and go grocery shopping this morning so breakfast and lunch have been scrounged in major ways. I opted to eat up some celery that was languishing in the crisper by making ants on a log. Totally made me feel like a little kid!!! :D I had some gourmet jelly beans we were given as a Christmas gift as a snack. Good thing I saved those instead of ditching them (jelly beans aren't the kind of thing we normally eat around here), they hit the spot perfectly. My beloved ate some yogurt and an energy bar for breakfast and the leftovers from last night's dinner for lunch. I'm going grocery shopping this afternoon now that I've made a list. We'll have rice and beans with Monterrey Jack cheese for dinner tonight.
I packed up some clothes that I ordered a few weeks ago to return. Nothing fit quite right so rather than hang on the stuff in the hopes I'll have a change of heart (why I would do that I don't know!) I packed them to return. Then I realized that the post office is closed today so I'll have to mail the stuff tomorrow. Oh well, at least it's ready to go so it will be a quick and easy trip to post office to get them out of here.
Otherwise we're just spending the day working, doing some chores around the house, running a few errands, and relaxing -- all generally frugal activities (well, I guess the errand running could get dangerous...but I've got a list and I'm sticking to it!). I've imported a few more CDs into iTunes, but I'm about out of space on my computer so will need to sync my various devices and then do some selective deleting of songs/albums to free up some space so that I can continue the great music importing project of 2013. :~)
Well, I worked this past weekend and it was more frugal than usual. I ended up working 13 hours on Saturday and 16 hours on Sunday, so there was no time to do anything but shower, dress and get back to it. I was planning on treating myself to a fast food dinner Sunday evening on the way home, but my last visit of the day lasted from 4pm till 7:30pm (took multiple doses of Morphine to get the pain controlled) and the family had ordered take out pizza for dinner....and I guess they felt bad eating it in front of me...so they gave me a piece. Free dinner! The rest of the meals were food I had packed form home.
Took my prescription sun glasses to the spot where I bought them and they adjusted them for free so they won't keep sliding down my nose.
Sold another book and delivered it less than one block from the eye glass place, so no gas or postage costs--more profit.
My SIL's birthday is coming up soon, and since I had so much fun with the valentines I made for the kids, I will make her card with a similar technique. No cost then, except the postage to mail it.
Groceries today at Aldi, got a weeks worth of food for $61 for the four of us.
Same old boring stuff here. Staying in with DD doing art projects, etc. Trying to spend my free time cleaning, organizing, and/or working on unfinished projects. Keeps me busy and reminds me I don't need to buy anything new.
Our new insurance policy kicked in on the 15th. We'll save $94 a month and receive a refund for the extra we'd paid toward the old policy.
Last night DH really wanted Maid Rite, so we spent $15 for dinner. It was part of our budgeted funds, though, and I figured it was well worth it since DH couldn't eat solid food for nearly a week! Tonight is back to business, though. We are having chicken breasts bought on sale and slow cooker cheesy potatoes made with cheese, potatoes, and peas all on sale. I also subbed a mixture of milk and butter for the half-in-half so I wouldn't have to buy a huge carton of that. Hope they turn out good!
ETA: I am also looking in to Amazon.com's trade-in program for some books and DVDs I am letting go of. We don't have any used bookstores around here, and I don't have the energy for a yard sale (or the space to store stuff until I get around to said sale). An Amazon gift card would come in handy, though. Might as well make a little money clearing out!
flowerseverywhere
2-18-13, 11:52pm
I love reading here. I feel like I know so many people who are inspiring me. We are just not in the same room!
had company this weekend and had a lot of leftover food. I took the time to prepare everything for freezing so nothing was wasted. Especially the fruit that I can get fresh in this area, I found info on the net about how to freeze grapes and melon. Hopefully it will taste good. I made the rolls into packets of four etc. as I had 14 big rolls left.
I have resisted the temptation to buy lots of plants for my new home. I was given a gift certificate to a local nursery to which I also had a 25% off coupon so started buying some flowering bushes. I got a beautiful bouganvillia, verbenia and some roses, in peach/rose colors. Can't wait to get them in, here in zone 9 the last frost date is soon.
how funny, I just realized my pic is a peach/pink rose from my old house, I must really like that combination.
flowerseverywhere--I really like that peach/pink combination, too. So pretty!
Nothing too exciting to report. Still cleaning and decluttering. DD and I made DH's valentine treat today--red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and red sprinkles--since he was sick over Valentine's Day. We had everything we needed, so it didn't cost anything extra. I think dinner tonight will be mac n cheese which I am sick to death of but DD and DH love.
Our recycling buckets blew away in a storm last week, so today I called the city to find out how to replace them. The lady was nice enough to tell me that I didn't have to buy the city's buckets--any old bucket will do. So I am going to scrounge around here and see what I can find.
I had a pretty good frugal weekend. I had fun at the knitting/crochet event with Kelli and Rosemary. I had a fun evening withnmy dad least night attending n event at church. The kids will be having some FFF tonight volunteering at a homeless shelter that rotates from church to church. They are bringing playdough and our giant tub of Lincoln Logs. I am sick today so Zach is taking them.
Well we have just had a very big, unfrugal scare in our lives. Dbil1 called Mon morning and said that dbil2 had left work Sun evening after complaining of chest pains for 2 days. (Why didn't he go to the dr??!) They live together and dbil2 was missing when dbil1 got home at 11:30 at night. His English isn't that good and he's a bit limited when it comes to communication. He waited up all night and called us at 7 am asking us to help find bil2. Now, they're west of Chicago and we're in central Mi.
Dh was fortunate enough to find out that bil2 was at a hospital and some how had but dh as a contact person. He was in surgery (we thought heart surgery) and we were told the doctor would call us back as soon as the operation was over. It ended up that is wasn't his heart but his appendix. It burst and the infection was so bad that the dr. told us that he almost died.
By 9 am Monday we had shut down the restaurant and were heading to Palatine. Dbil1 was covering at work for dbil2. Neither of them has a car and they have no other family in the area. We went racing down there to make Dbil2 was truly ok and to give Dbil1 some much needed emotional support.
It cost us $130 for a hotel room, $150 in gas, 2 days of business at the restaurant plus our food expenses but family ALWAYS come first in a situation like this. Thankfully, because we live frugally, we had the money to make this trip. It means so much to me that we can just grab the cash and go when there is an emergency.
A few frugals along the way:
I used my Marriot rewards card when we got the room-possibly leading to a discounted room in the future.
We ate a really big breakfast yesterday morning but ordered quality items, half of which we on the specials list and managed to make it our only meal out yesterday. It was less than $40 with tip.
We bought a bunch of groceries for Dbil2 to eat when he gets out of the hospital in a few days. Mostly soups, oatmeal, applesauce. Gentle foods for that week or so until he's comfortable eating a more normal diet. We found a decently priced store and shopped for cheaper brands. We only spent $40 and I know he has food for at least a week.
We're home now and getting back to normal. Dbil2 will be in the hospital until at least tomorrow and out of work for 5-6 weeks. Dbil1 and another guy are going to cover his hours at work to make sure he doesn't lose his job. This means dbil1 will be working a minimum of 12 hours a day, 7 days a week until dbil is healthy.
We did take the opportunity to buy ourselves a cheap case of tortillas saving a ton of money in the process and bringing home a product of much higher quality than we can get around here.
Hope you feel better, Stella! So jealous, BTW, that you and fidgie and rosemary got to hang out in real life. Wish I lived in MN! :-)
bke--How scary! Not just the medical situation, but the confusion that complicated it all, too! Wow. I am glad your BIL is going to be okay and that you and DH could offer such much-needed support to your family.
We got our refund check from the insurance company yesterday. That will go straight into savings, where it will probably be used for little man's nursery re-do. I also have $6 to put in DD's college account--valentine money from her grandma and uncle. :-)
One of the things I bought DS at Goodwill last week has glue or something on the knee. I didn't notice it at the store, but my eagle eye DD immediately saw it and declared, "Ocky!" ha! So I will return it. MIL is coming over to baby sit today so I can go run some errands. I'll run them all at once--the bank, the return to Goodwill, and the grocery store--to save gas and mileage. I won't have to take DD out in the cold, and she'll have some fun playtime with Grandma.
Mighty Frugal
2-20-13, 1:49pm
bke-wow, good for you for going to see him. And wow on DBIL1 for working so hard to ensure DBIL2 keeps his job. Strong family values there!!!
Well, we are just doing our natural frugal living. We have 3 weddings to attend this year so we are forgoing our yearly weekly holiday (the wedding gifts will be $600 EACH!!)
Fingers crossed I get a bonus this year which will take care of the wedding gifts and long weekend trips throughout the summer!
Still making my work lunches. We haven't gone out to eat or ordered in a long long time!
Dh is looking at being retrained in a trade soon (he was laid off last July) but it has been so nice having him home to watch the boys
Still paying all bills on time, bulk cooking and buying good quality chocolate on sale!;)
Wow, bke! Scary when loved ones go missing. And congrats for making the time and having the $ to care for family. Isn't that why we do this? Planning for the unplanable?
Same old frugals for me today: programable theromastat, many cups of tea from the same tea bag, hours spent online on applications for college $ for DD and now DS#2, eating the leftovers which were made from scratch from in season ingredients, reading a magazine passed on from a friend.
I love reading here. I feel like I know so many people who are inspiring me. We are just not in the same room!
I feel the same way, flowerseverywhere!
Stella, I hope you are feeling better soon. Definitely with I could meet you, Kelli, and Rosemary!
bke, scary stuff! Glad to hear you had the cash to make the trip, though, and to help out. Good for you!
Fawn, I am always, always impressed and motivated by your frugals. Thank you for taking the time to share them!
Mighty Frugal, I'm with you on the quality chocolate!!! :D
Okay, nothing novel to report over here. We made rice and beans the other night for dinner and we got a grand total of six meals out of it. I think I could have stretched it to seven, but it was so good I didn't want to stop eating the leftovers today! :|(
Went to my usual Tae Kwon Do class at the gym last night for the purposes of exercise, entertainment, and socializing. I'm glad I went, even though I was feeling a little under the weather. I resisted the urge to get take out afterwords and, instead, came home and ate an apple with peanut butter before going to bed. My dearly beloved is away again so it's just me and I'm perfectly happy eating an apple with peanut butter and calling it dinner! :~) I will try to motivate and go to a yoga class tonight. I'm not a big socializer so going to the gym and taking classes a few times a week is enough social interaction for me.
Tomorrow I have several meetings in the morning and then an appointment with my eye doctor in the afternoon. I need to plan out what I will pack for lunch to take with me so that I don't get sucked in to buying something while I'm out.
Based on the success of the rice and beans the other night, we're going to start some more serious meal planning so that we always have leftovers available for lunches the next day. This is at the request of my dearly beloved so this means I don't actually have to cajole him to implement this change -- he's already on board! Woo-hoo!
Not a frugal day at all for me, but I decided to feel okay about it for once. I went to get my hair done at the beauty school - a trim (the first since last May), a deep conditioning and a color touch-up. About $62 all together but I really, really needed it and it has already made me feel a little better (but I am still very tired though). Since the hair appointment took so long (it always takes longer when a student is doing it) I missed lunch; it was 4:30 when I got out of there so I decided I deserved a little treat for once and took myself out for an early dinner at the vegetarian restaurant in town because I just HAD to have a portobello mushroom burger and sweet potato fries, $14 including tip. I didn't realize it was going to be so much but I am not going to beat myself up for it, as I rarely ever eat out. Then I just had to have an ice cream cone ($3.00) even though it was so cold out I could hardly stand it. What I realized is that I am totally spoiled by eating the gelato at work; it's WAY better than regular ice cream! Since I was too cold to park on the outskirts of downtown and walk in for my hair appointment, I spent $6.00 to park in the parking structure next to the beauty school. This is all behavior that I never do (eating out, paying for parking) but I just had to give myself a break today, ya know? I work really hard and sometimes it's just really nice to allow myself a few little extravagances now and then.
yesterday was no-spend, no-drive. Today will be as well, aside from driving the morning school orchestra carpool. A friend and I were going to go out for lunch but she's coming here instead, and I'll make a pot of soup, leftovers from which will provide lunches for a couple of days.
cdttmm--what is the rice and bean recipe that was so good? I am always up to try a great, cheap new recipe. ;)
SiouzQ--nothing wrong with spending a little money on yourself. It's the balance that is important. While I haven't spent any money on my hair for over a year, When my weight loss/fitness goals stalled, I hired a personal trainer. She's not cheap, but worth it....and I have saved all that money on my hair, you know. :~)
cdttmm--what is the rice and bean recipe that was so good? I am always up to try a great, cheap new recipe. ;)
It was seriously nothing fancy! So here's the deal.
We made the Mexican rice in our rice cooker, but you could easily do it on the stove top. I sort of followed a recipe from a cookbook have.
rice
vegetable broth in place of water
can of diced tomatoes, with the juice
one chopped jalapeno
six cloves of garlic
one chopped onion
salt
cayenne pepper
cumin
The beans were simple. We used canned kidney beans and just warmed them on the stove top and flavored them with cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes.
We then put the beans on the rice, covered it all in shredded Monterey Jack cheese and put it under the broiler for a few minutes to melt the cheese.
Super basic, but so very good!
Starting to get a few frugals dialed in around here. I have our laundry loads down from 1 load per day to 2 loads every 3 days. A small improvement, but I'm hoping to get this down to 1 load every other day. Of course there will be exceptions to this rule, like when we do our big quarterly cleanings which is when we also wash all the dog beds, the cat bed, and other miscellaneous items. I think one thing that will help continue to get the laundry loads down is my sewing the required patches onto my two extra Tae Kwon Do uniforms so that I have three uniforms to wear each week as opposed to one, which right now forces me to have to do laundry every other day even if there isn't a full load. Now we just need the spring weather to kick in so that I can start to line dry more and more of our clothing.
I started to make up our vegetable gardening plan this morning. If I can actually get everything to grow this year, then we should be able to save some significant money on the grocery bill. Worked a bit more on our meal planning as well. I want to make sure that we are growing what we eat and eating what we grow!
Otherwise I'm just doing my usuals over here. Making tea in my Bodum tea pot and transferring it to my travel mugs so that it stays warm throughout the morning. Making a second pot of tea in the afternoon -- using free tea -- and using the same technique. This is working out really well! Trying to organize things a little bit more every day to cut down on hidden waste. Included in this is doing more and more decluttering in an attempt to fine tune things so that we own what we use and use what we own. Trying to combine errands so that I always do at least three errands when I go out so that no trip is a single-errand trip. I'm getting better at this, but still have room for improvement.
Last thing for today, I need to pack a lunch so that I can eat between errands today rather than buying food while I'm out. Not sure what I'm going to pack because last night's leftovers won't be very good cold and I don't know that I'll have access to a microwave to warm something up. Will have to think about this and possibly get very creative!
Sounds yummy, cdttmm. My baby girl LOVES beans and rice!
I ran all my errands yesterday as intended. We received our tax return, so our bank account is looking a little better (only temporarily since we have the nursery construction project coming up). While making the return at Goodwill, I saw that it was quarter day, so I did a little shopping for DS. I found winter vests, snow pants, several tops and pants in excellent condition (some still new) all for 25 cents each. I got a huge bag of stuff for $6! Some of it is on the larger side (like 4T), but I figure he will grow into it eventually. Can't beat a quarter for name-brand clothes you know will hold up well! Now I just need to make an inventory of what I have in each size so I can refer to it while thrifting.
The grocery store was having some good sales, too. I got a 15 pound bag of potatoes for less than $2.50. Apples were 68 cents a pound, green peppers were 3/$1, orange juice $2 a gallon. I did splurge on some ice cream for DH, though. Tomorrow I am going to try to make some applesauce in my crockpot. DD loves it, but it kind of expensive to buy. So we'll see how that goes!
We are looking at a big winter storm here, so DD and I are just going to hunker down at home today and tomorrow. My grandma is losing her battle with cancer, so I plan to bring her, my step-father (who is staying with her), and step-sister (who will be visiting) a meal this coming weekend. I will have to look in the freezer/pantry to see what I can make. I am thinking maybe mini meat loaves, roasted potatoes, and a sweet treat of some kind. Maybe rice krispy treats or brownies.
Sorry to hear about your grandmother, Kat. I'm sure everyone will enjoy lunch together! I give you credit for looking at what you already have in the house to make the meal-that is the kind of situation where I find myself spending.
I just got off the phone with Dbil2 and am happy to report that he's doing well. The pain is greatly reduced, he slept well last night and the doctor is allowing him to order what ever he wants for lunch from the hospital menu. If he eats ok and his system works properly after doing so, he may be released as early as this evening. I wish we could be there to give him a ride home.
Yesterday I spent $44 on gas for the car (again!) but that was my only purchase of the day.
Ds won't be home until late this evening. I was hoping to just stay home but dh wants to go out and enjoy himself after such a crazy week. I'm tired of running and spending but for whatever reason I feel the need to give in to dh and do what he wants tonight.
For now, I'm hanging out on-line, drinking free Starbucks French Roast coffee, playing scrabble and chatting with you folks. Maybe I'll do some sweeps before the day is over.
Changed my mindset by finallystarting to figure out what DH and my expenses vs. income will be when he retires from part-time job in 1 1/2 years. A real shocker. Those things we'd thought we'd think over in terms of priorities, like have a truck and a car (as now) or take short (mostly in-state) trips, are out of the question. It changes how I approach today even. We'll have just enough money to start building an emergency fund, if all my social security money goes to that.
Tussiemussies
2-21-13, 4:27pm
Kat, so very sorry to hear about your mother-in-law...
Thanks, bke and tussiemussies! Tussie, it is actually my grandmother who is ailing. My MIL is, fortunately, in very good health. :-)
Yesterday I made some very easy but very delicious chicken with some steamed peas for lunch. Then dinner was waffles with homemade blueberry sauce along with some Cool Whip bought on sale (67 cents). It was good, but a little sweet for me! DD and Dh both scarfed it down, though! ;-) I didn't get around to the applesauce, so I will have to try to get to that today or tomorrow. I am thinking maybe pizza casserole tonight. That will allow me to use up a bunch of stuff from my pantry.
It is snowing today, so I think DD and I will snuggle up in the sunroom after breakfast, read some books, and watch the snow fall. While she naps, I really should clean. I got so behind when DH was sick and haven't been able to get caught back up again.
In non-frugal news, I got the bill for my last ultrasound. $183. That is *with* insurance. Ugh! I have another ultrasound scheduled for early next month, so I probably won't even have this one paid off by the time the next $183 (or more, since this will be a 4D ultrasound) comes. Total bummer, but what can you do? The doctor's office charges way more than my insurance will cover, and they won't reduce the fee. So...blah! Guess maybe I should just try being thankful for good care and that the technology to ensure my baby's health exists, huh? :~)
Kat -- your waffles sound so good!!!
You might have noticed that I started up an UN-frugals thread for the month. I've had a few unfrugal moments this week so thought I would document them there and keep my posts here focused on frugals. Then I can compare to see how many more frugal things I do then unfrugal things -- for motivational purposes! ;)
I did manage to pack a lunch yesterday to take with me while I was out. I brought rice cakes, peanut butter, raisins, an apple, and some chocolate. :~) I ate a rice cake with peanut butter and raisins and the chocolate and had some water to drink. It made for a good frugal lunch. Of course, when I got home I decided I was still hungry and ate the apple, drank a pot of tea, and then ate the rest of the ice cream that was in the freezer. :doh: But I didn't buy anything to eat or drink while I was out and that's what counts, right?!?
Today I met up with my running group early this morning and went for a training run. This is not always frugal as it means driving to town. If I were really organized I would shower at the gym afterwards and then run some errands, but I was not that organized today. Oh well. I did, however, come home to eat breakfast so that was a plus. My dearly beloved is feeling pretty under the weather with a cold so while I was on a conference call he made himself some ravioli to eat and will probably spend the rest of the day on the couch. After my call, I ate the same lunch as yesterday. Rice cake, peanut butter, and raisins. I finished off a package of rice cakes, which was a good thing. They were not the tastiest flavor, but I was determined not to compost any of them and I did not! I also finished off the raisins from the last bulk bin purchase of raisins. Which means now I can put my latest purchase in the container without having any "old" raisins at the bottom. :~) And I'm drinking the last of my free Tartary buckwheat tea. I've grown quite fond of this tea so I'm going to miss not drinking it in the afternoons. Oh well, I have more than enough other tea to drink -- must.not.buy.tea!!!
Yesterday, I went to the post office and shipped off my two returns that I had. That should put another $150+ back in my pocket. Woo-hoo! Now I just need to learn to stop buying things online that I don't really need!!!
Not much else to report. We've just been doing our best to cook at home (speaking of which, I need to plan dinner for tonight) and we've been putting our Netflix subscription to good use. I just got two books recently through paperbackswap.com, too, so those will give me more than a few hours of frugal fun. Going to go feed the birds now -- yet another example of frugal entertainment! :D
Dbil is home and doing well! I'm not even going to discuss how unfrugal last night was-I get sick to me stomach thinking about it. I plan on having a no spending weekend if at all possible in hopes of making up for some of the excess spending that has been taking place this last week.
try2bfrugal
2-22-13, 6:26pm
I had free birthday dinners this month from IHOP and Red Robin. I have a $20 free coupon to use for Staples from ink recycling, so that will cover all our toilet paper and tissues for awhile. I found a $50 unused but expired American Express gift card in our decluttering. I called and Am Ex offered to replace it at full value. I think that is state law here but they won't make a point of replacing the card unless you specifically call and ask. I sold a DVD back to Amazon for $7.50. Sears sent me a free coupon for $10 worth of merchandise from their rewards program, so my husband used that to buy a workshop tool he needed. I got about a $100 worth of free stuff this month so far for product reviews.
We got Ooma to replace out landline phone. It seems to work pretty good, so we're looking forward to one less bill from now on. For fun we have been doing low cost activities like Netflix movies, grilling out, reading, hiking, movies with Costco discount tickets and eating out with 1/2 price coupons.
Tussiemussies
2-22-13, 6:43pm
Hi Try2be,
We also got Ooma to replace our landline phone and it has worked very well for us too. The only thing I cannot do is get directory service, so I have the yellow pages on my iPad. Otherwise it is great and no phone bill...:)
. ..
In non-frugal news, I got the bill for my last ultrasound. $183. That is *with* insurance. Ugh! I have another ultrasound scheduled for early next month, so I probably won't even have this one paid off by the time the next $183 (or more, since this will be a 4D ultrasound) comes. Total bummer, but what can you do? The doctor's office charges way more than my insurance will cover, and they won't reduce the fee. So...blah! Guess maybe I should just try being thankful for good care and that the technology to ensure my baby's health exists, huh? :~)
Kat,
I'm curious - how many ultrasounds is typical in a regular pregnancy these days? I thought they only did them if there were issues, but it's been several decades since I've been pregnant so I'm not up on current medical practices there..
We're trying to move toward an actual meal planning lifestyle for our dinners and lunches. To that end, I have spent about $550 in past two weeks to get us stocked up on a bunch of stuff. Seems like a lot of money, but I'm hopeful that we'll be able to eat for the next month without spending more than maybe $50 in grocery money for things like milk, eggs, juice, and some fresh produce. Of course that would bring us to $600 for six weeks worth of groceries, but that is $100 per week, which is in line with what I projected for the annual budget. We'll see how we do with this new approach and, hopefully, over time we'll be able to get our average weekly grocery spending down a bit.
Today I have a reading group meeting for my Tae Kwon Do school plus a regular Tae Kwon Do class at the gym. These two activities will take up a good chunk of the day and I'll need to bring something for lunch in order to avoid buying take out of some sort. I should have thought things through last night when making dinner and made something that I could have taken as leftovers, but I opted to make nachos and we ate the whole shebang. Nachos don't make for good leftovers so that wouldn't have worked well anyway. I'll bring some hot tea to drink, and to eat maybe an apple and some peanut butter, a hard boiled egg, and definitely some chocolate! :D
Dropped off some books for the library book sale and got a biography of Steve Jobs for $2.00 -- a nice hardcover book that retailed for $35. I love biographies and I sometimes use them as reference material for when I teach business school classes so this is a nice addition to my collection.
I have been buying the Lara Bar uber nut rolls for the past few weeks -- wow, those are so good! But they are expensive. I checked out the ingredients list and it's all pretty basic stuff. So I tasked my mom with trying to figure out how to replicate the recipe at home. She's definitely better at figuring out cooking/baking stuff like that than I am. She emailed me yesterday that she *thinks* she has it figured out. So I need to do a test run to see what I think. If it's good, I'll post the recipe here if anyone would like it.
We've been doing a pretty good job of keeping the thermostat turned low. This is probably due, in part, to the outside temps not being too cold for the past few weeks. Usually in the mid 30s during the day and mid 20s at night. But I think part of it is that I've finally figured out how to stay warm in the house. Instead of sitting at the dining room table to work during the day, I've been sitting in one of the living room chairs. It turns out that my homemade lap desk is the perfect size to balance on the arms of the comfy living room chairs so I can sit there to work with ease. It's a bit warmer in that spot plus I can either sit cross-legged in the chair, which keeps my legs warmer, or I can cover them in a blanket. The cats like to sit with me there, too, which is an added heat conserving bonus! And I discovered this over-sized, heavy wool cardigan sweater that I bought at a thrift store years ago. It's a nice Ralph Lauren sweater, but it is a little on the ugly side. I bought it because I thought it would be warm, but then I never wore it. Well, I don't know what I was waiting for because it *is* warm!!! I've been wearing it nearly every day for 2 weeks now and this thing has definitely made it more bearable to keep the thermostat turned low. Woo-hoo!
Lainey--At my doctor's office, three ultrasounds per pregnancy is the norm. They do one between 8-10 weeks to confirm the pregnancy, one at 20-22 weeks to check the heart, lungs, etc., and a third at 28-30 weeks to once again check for proper growth and development. I actually had four with my daughter since I had some problems early on. My friend lives about an hour from here, and she said her doctor only does two; they don't do the first early one unless there is a problem that indicates an unhealthy pregnancy. So I guess it depends where you go. I think most places do the two later ones, though.
Yesterday DH and I went out for sushi and then did a little clothes shopping for the kids. Both of these things were budgeted for, so they weren't terrible. I did use a $20 merchandise credit at one store but forgot my coupon. The cashier was nice enough to apply it anyway. We used a 30% off coupon at the other store, so that wasn't too bad, either. DH found some jeans for himself, too, on sale for $19 (before the 30% off), so that was nice. He only had one pair, and since they take about a day and a half to line dry, it was hard to always keep them clean and in his drawer. I love shopping at Goodwill and other thrift stores, but we can't always find everything we need. So we combine sales and coupons to fill in the gaps, and it works pretty well. :-)
Last night we made pizza and jello fr dinner and popcorn for a snack. DD is a popcorn monster! It is cheap and easy, though, so we make it for her sometimes on Saturdays (which is family movie night around here).
I had been wishing for a new pair of black boots but I just couldn't bring myself to spend the money. The other day I was working and came across a pair of cute faux suede ankle boots that were originally bought on-line and returned to the store. I was amazed- they were marked at $2.18. With my discounts I paid $2.06 tax included. At that price even if they only last a year I will get my money's worth. I'm not a fan of these cheaply made boots/shoes in general but for that price, I can deal with it lol. It cheered me up after a really bad work week.
Not much frugalling going on around here otherwise. We went to Angola, Ind. to see Tyler run yesterday. It was only $4 admission and I made sandwiches to take for lunch. But we did stop and eat out on the way back. :( We stopped at home only long enough to feed the dog and then headed up to meet the bus and pack up Ty to bring him home for spring break. He has been feeling horribly homesick and stressed lately.
fidgiegirl
2-24-13, 7:48pm
Hey! I just discovered a new mini-frugal! I use a fair number of earplugs (though not so many now that the dogs have been banished to the lower level at night). I use them several times, but then when they get too waxy, I pitch. Well! I just pulled a perfectly clean washed and dried earplug out of the drier! It must have been wrapped up in some clothes. From now on, I'm washin' those babies in a lingerie bag. We still have quite a stash of them. I don't foresee having to buy more earplugs again. Mini frugal since they are only a few bucks a box, but woohoo! It adds up!
fidgiegirl
2-24-13, 7:48pm
cdttmm, I bet Pinterest has some recipes you can try for imitation Lara Bars. I found some good ones for imitation Kind bars but haven't tried them yet.
cdttmm, I bet Pinterest has some recipes you can try for imitation Lara Bars. I found some good ones for imitation Kind bars but haven't tried them yet.
Ooohh, good call. I will take a look at Pinterest at some point when I only have 15 minutes at the computer...so that I can't get too sucked in! :~)
rosarugosa
2-24-13, 8:50pm
Good score on the boots Azure!
Cdttmm: I am admiring your self discipline. It sounds like you thrive on the challenge of the frugal hunt!
Kelli: Serendipity on the earplugs. I only seem to wash DH's pocket change!
As I reported on another thread that seems to have disappeared into the black hole, we got a really large tax refund this year. That's not totally a bad thing of course, and I quickly pushed it into savings. However, I want to reduce the refund for next year by increasing my take home pay and doing something smart with it. The w-4 withholding worksheet wasn't very helpful, so I started by increasing my allowances by 1. This increased my net enough for me to bump up my 401k contribution by 2%. I think I'm going to increase my allowances by 1 more, and either further increase my 401k contribution or add to savings or do some other type of investing; I haven't quite decided. My 401k is a good one and I have always contributed enough to take advantage of the company match, but I'm not "maxed out." There are quite a few investment options including some low-fee index funds, so increasing my contributions seems like a decent move, especially since DH no longer has the potential for 401k contributions. In fact, we should probably think about some kind of an IRA for him, but since I can increase my 401k with little/no effort, that beats doing nothing for at least an interim plan.
I've started doing a kind of lazy woman's meal planning. When I'm making up the grocery list and doing inventory, I also make a list of seven things we can have for dinner in the coming week based on what we have and what we are buying. We can decide on any given night which meal we will have, but at least we know we have enough options to cover the week, and we can refer to my little list when we're wondering what to have for dinner and our brains are tired at the end of the day. This week's choices are: tilapia with rice & spinach, tuna sandwiches with chips, rotisserie turkey with frozen squash & cranberry sauce, BLTs, homemade pizza, spinach/cheese raviolis with olive oil, & some type of eggs. We stock fruit, bread, cereal & smoothie ingredients for breakfasts, and salad ingredients for lunches. This strategy seems to be working pretty well for us. We're also making better use of our freezer, keeping a supply of frozen seafood options from Costco as well as containers of homemade spaghetti sauce and some frozen veggies. Lastly, my employer is offering us $100 credits on our health insurance premium for completing online wellness assessments and going to a preferred provider for biometrics (cholesterol, BP, etc.) So I'm going to jump on these, since we'll get a total of $400 in credits if we take advantage of all the options. Have a great week everyone!
Not much new to post today on the frugals front -- just doing the usual stuff!
My beloved is back in NYC for work so I'm home alone and trying to be as frugal as possible. Here are some things I'm continuing to do:
1) using soap from the soap stash in the shower, even though it is some horribly scented cr@p (waste not, want not!)
2) using tea from my vast treasure trove of tea in my pantry as my drink of choice throughout the day (failed on this one today when I bought a bottle of soda after giving a presentation, <sigh>)
3) brought my lunch yesterday to my reading group meeting (apple, cheddar cheese, hard boiled egg, homemade trail mix)
4) full load of laundry in the washer and will dry at least part of the load on the drying rack
5) full load of dishes in the dishwasher -- and listening to the machine so that I can kill the dry cycle and let the dishes air dry
6) feeding the dogs mindfully so that I'm not *over* feeding them (a bad habit -- on many levels!)
7) combining errands whenever possible to minimize driving -- could have done a better job of this today when I was out
8) keeping the thermostat low -- amazing how little wood we are burning these days!
9) retiring to the bedroom early at night so as to minimize the use of lights/electricity and heat
10) not relying on TV/Netflix/iTunes for entertainment while my beloved is away -- reading books from my vast collection instead!
11) cooking meals at home -- and eating them, even when they aren't fabulous -- today included another botched attempt at a blue cheese sauce for pasta (I'm giving up on this now)
12) continuing to declutter so that I can actually find and use what we already own -- found a sweater the other day and a pair of pants today
13) using discounts for things we were planning to buy anyway -- got a 20% off coupon code and used it to buy seeds the other day
14) always looking for ways to use less of everything or to maximize the usefulness of something
Okay, that's all I have for the moment. Hope everyone is having a frugal start to the week!!!
Paid all of our bills yesterday. I feel very thankful we have been able to keep our heads above water with all of our recent medical bills and clothing expenses. The little we have leftover, though, is a good incentive to remain frugal! :-)
I am going to take DD to the store today to return some items that were too big for her. Turns out 2T in lieu of 24 months is NOT going to work for her. The 2T clothes were HUGE! They were literally falling off of her! While we are out, we will mail our house payment and stop at the grocery store. We are expecting another big snow storm, so I made a menu for the week based around items we had sitting around in the freezer/pantry. I should only need to pick up a few things and will remain well under budget.
I only have a few more days to meet my decluttering goal of 100 items, so I think I will spend some time going through the bathroom this afternoon. I need to purge 20 more items in the next 3 days. I consider decluttering/organizing frugal fun!
flowerseverywhere
2-27-13, 9:07am
went to a breakfast meeting and they were going to throw the leftover food and opened bottles of juice away. One big jub of cranberry juice had one glass poured from it. I took them and froze the coffecakes (two were made with fruit, one just with stuff not so great for you) into small portions and we'll gradually drink the juices.
The last few months I have lost almost 15 lbs. so I can fit into some clothes that were too tight to wear. much better than shopping.
fidgiegirl
2-27-13, 9:35am
Nice work, flowers!! I am taking inspiration from your success with me as we pursue the weight loss challenge thread. You're welcome to join in if you'd like, or not, if that's better for you.
You'll easily hit your 100, I'm sure, Kat. Love that feeling.
Instead of buying caraway seeds at a grocery store for $80 or $125 a pound, I'll either dig through my cupboards for the ones I know I have somewhere, or buy them from Penzey's at $8 a pound. What is it with supermarket spices? Good grief.
Went to Goodwill's quarter day while MIL baby sat this morning. Found lots of cute stuff for the little man, but not too much for DD. Will have to keep looking, I guess! FIL brought some sandwiches over for lunch, so I had a nice lunch with my in-laws. It is still snowing here, so I think I will hunker down the rest of the day and clean/organize.
Oh, one more small one--I found a bunch of half-full glasses of water sitting around the house. Used them to water our houseplant. :-)
A big un-frugal today that I will turn into a frugal. We took our dogs to the vet to have their teeth cleaned. They all seem to have genetically bad teeth so this is important to prevent other medical issues. In order to be as frugal as possible, we scheduled this in February, which is dental health month, so our vet gives us a 15% discount on the cleaning portion of the fees involved. But even with that discount and the multi-pet discout, it's going to be an expensive day. To make it more frugal going forward, I've invested in a few things. I mouth spray that works to prevent bacteria from building up into plaque on the dogs' teeth. The vets and vet techs all swear by it so I'm going to give it a shot -- it means I have to institute a new habit and actually spray this stuff in their mouths every day, but if you saw a copy of our vet bill from today you'd understand my motivation! :D The second habit I'm going to implement that will be a long-term frugal is actually brushing their teeth. Fortunately, two of our three dogs will tolerate this. The third one likely won't, but she has the least problematic teeth so that is a good thing. After this, I'm hoping for no more big vet bills for a while!
In other frugal news, aside from taking the dogs to and from the vet, we didn't do any random driving today. We ate our meals at home. And we generally had a productive day. All in all, we do all these small things so that the big bills -- like doggie dental work -- doesn't send us into a downward spiral of debt.
Hooray for simple living!
Today's frugal: haven't moved my car in over a week and should not need to do it again till next Monday. Picked up our (held) mail; bought stamps (ought to last me a year or so); picked up groceries (we had a lot we purposely didn't buy before vacation); got my hair cut; and came back home. Would have filled up the car, too, but I'm not down to even half yet. I did snack on something I purchased at the grocery store since I was out for lunchtime, but that was cheaper than stopping at even fast food, and far more healthful.
Oh, one more small one--I found a bunch of half-full glasses of water sitting around the house. Used them to water our houseplant. :-)
LOL -- we do the same thing at our house, Kat!
Tussiemussies
2-27-13, 6:25pm
Have only used my car in almost three months!!! Now I have to see if the battery will work and hold a charge...:)
Tussiemussies
2-27-13, 6:28pm
A big un-frugal today that I will turn into a frugal. We took our dogs to the vet to have their teeth cleaned. They all seem to have genetically bad teeth so this is important to prevent other medical issues. In order to be as frugal as possible, we scheduled this in February, which is dental health month, so our vet gives us a 15% discount on the cleaning portion of the fees involved. But even with that discount and the multi-pet discout, it's going to be an expensive day. To make it more frugal going forward, I've invested in a few things. I mouth spray that works to prevent bacteria from building up into plaque on the dogs' teeth. The vets and vet techs all swear by it so I'm going to give it a shot -- it means I have to institute a new habit and actually spray this stuff in their mouths every day, but if you saw a copy of our vet bill from today you'd understand my motivation! :D The second habit I'm going to implement that will be a long-term frugal is actually brushing their teeth. Fortunately, two of our three dogs will tolerate this. The third one likely won't, but she has the least problematic teeth so that is a good thing. After this, I'm hoping for no more big vet bills for a while!
In other frugal news, aside from taking the dogs to and from the vet, we didn't do any random driving today. We ate our meals at home. And we generally had a productive day. All in all, we do all these small things so that the big bills -- like doggie dental work -- doesn't send us into a downward spiral of debt.
Hooray for simple living!
Don't you just love when your dog comes from their dental visit and their teeth are all white!!! We do brush our dog' teeth every night with a dog toothpaste. Human toothpaste is not good for them, just in case you weren't aware of it....:)
I've been doing the same old things. Eating from homemade, made from scratch foods. Batching errands, etc. You all know the drill. More out of the ordinary frugals this week:
~ returned with free shipping some work slacks I bought on sale, online because they were too big. (Effects of diet/exercise program) Ordered the next size down.
~ put off going to the grocery store for three days, as there is food in the house, just not "meals."
~ bought supplies to make a craft project with my last Christmas gift card. The project is a glam dress for one of the stuffed bears that live at our office. Our Hospice Fundraising Gala is later this month, and I decided that the bears needed fancy outfits so they could attend. The other bear will wear a white toddler-sized T-shirt [Goodwill] and a black bow tie [borrowed from one of my kids]. Total cost to me for the bears outfits will be $1.50 for the T-shirt.
~ figured out a soft ware glitch in my lap top myself. (I am especially proud of this one.)
LOL -- we do the same thing at our house, Kat!
Oh, good! I felt like kind of a weirdo doing it, but it's like...I already paid for the water, and my plant doesn't care if it's "second hand." Haha!
Same old boring stuff here. Eating at home, using up food from the freezer and pantry, yada yada yada. I've been spending my free time organizing/backing up photos. It has been a huge undertaking, but I think it'll be worth it in the end. I am making digital family scrapbooks for each year starting with last year. The software to make them is free. I'll order my printed copies when they are on sale (and I have a coupon). ;-)
LOL I do that same thing with the water glasses.
I'm thrilled. Got the new heat/electric bill today and it was $50 less than the previous one! YAY!
Tuesday I made au gratin potatoes/polish sausage. Today there is a roast with potatoes & carrots in the crockpot. So I've used up the potatoes before they became unusable.
Our Goodwill doesn't have quarter day :( And they no longer do the color of the day discount. :( :( I really miss that. The other day I found a nice pair of khakis to wear to work. But I've been looking at 2 different GWill's on and off for a couple of months. I am kind of picky about the fit or I could have gotten something before.
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