View Full Version : May Frugals
I know I'm a day early, but due to some home remodeling, we hemorrhaged money all through the month of April. Ugh! Hate months like that! I desperately need to get back on track, so I thought I would start this thread in hopes of doing better in May.
We are on a tiny, tiny budget now that I am done working. Some of the things I have been doing to get by:
--couponing (doing really well with this, even though it is time consuming)
--stockpiling when sales come around (this includes household goods, food, and gifts)
--focusing more on "free" activities like cleaning, organizing, and reading
Today I did my first grocery shop on my new grocery budget ($50 a week average for four people and two cats--this includes health/beauty/pet food, etc.). I shopped for two weeks and came in about $30 under budget. That includes the $8 hanging plant DD picked out for our porch. I will use some of that to pick up little things we frequently run out of-- milk, fruit, etc.--next week.
I also put off buying new maternity shirts. I really could use a few more short-sleeved ones now that it is hot here (87 today!), but I have less than a month until my due date and so am trying to make do with what I have.
Lastly, I have been having a blast playing outside with DD. We blow bubbles, collect branches, smell flowers, play with her ball, go for walks to the park, etc. It is all free and so much fun! I have some sidewalk chalk tucked away for her, too, that I will get out soon. I think she is old enough. :-)
rosarugosa
4-30-13, 7:08pm
Hey Kat! I was wondering where you've been; we haven't seen Stella for awhile either. I'm glad you're well and it sounds like you're doing great things with your daughter. I can appreciate your remodeling woes. We're currently having a new roof put on, and they're taking pictures of what was underneath the roofing shingles because it is apparently one of the worst-rotted messes they've ever seen - so this is definitely going to come in over budget :(
Will have to be extra-virtuous in other areas to help offset this expense, but it was clearly necessary and long overdue.
Spent the weekend in Chicago - thanks megabus for $24.50 fare for 2 RT tix from Mpls - ate at a deli and brought home 1/2 of each sandwich for the next night's dinner. We stayed at an Embassy Suites hotel which is not particularly frugal but between the managers reception/happy hour and massive breakfast buffet, an OK price plus the front desk upgraded us to the "executive floor" with a corner unit so had a wonderful view of the lake. Had a lovely AM of drinking tea and reading on the window seat overlooking the lake!
Took a personal day today at work and spent most of that time organizing a book sale for my local library - I'm so ready for summer and not working!! So many things to do that add value to my life and cost nothing or near to nothing!
Tussiemussies
4-30-13, 10:46pm
Spent the weekend in Chicago - thanks megabus for $24.50 fare for 2 RT tix from Mpls - ate at a deli and brought home 1/2 of each sandwich for the next night's dinner. We stayed at an Embassy Suites hotel which is not particularly frugal but between the managers reception/happy hour and massive breakfast buffet, an OK price plus the front desk upgraded us to the "executive floor" with a corner unit so had a wonderful view of the lake. Had a lovely AM of drinking tea and reading on the window seat overlooking the lake!
Took a personal day today at work and spent most of that time organizing a book sale for my local library - I'm so ready for summer and not working!! So many things to do that add value to my life and cost nothing or near to nothing!
Chrissy, your excursion sounds wonderful! So nice that they upgraded your room which gave you that view. Glad you have summer off, sounds like lots of fun for you! :)
I have just spent the last 45 minutes reading all the posts about the failures of this site. I came here for the financial support almost 12 years ago. I miss having more money discussions than we have now and am also concerned about not hearing more from people about those things. I haven't posted much lately-life seems to be the same old thing here and there has been so little discussion from others. This is NOT a complaint. I've decided that this place means enough to me that I'm going to start posting more, at least on the frugals topic even if I get very repetitive. After all, being diligent day after day is what is going to get me to FI3. If I bore you I'm sorry but I don't want to see this site fade away. I encourage to share more here-we've been such a family over the years.
I might repeat something I've already shared-just trying to summarize the last few weeks of frugals.
An engine light came on on our car. The first person dh took it too said we needed $500 in repairs. The second person (we rarely bother with a second opinion) reset the light and said to wait and see if it happens again before spending the money. Its been 2 weeks and the light hasn't come on again.
Same kind of situation with the house. First estimate came in at $4200. The other three estimates are between $1500 and $2000. We haven't decided exactly what we're going to do yet but we aren't spending the $4200!
My mother gave me a can of Folgers after making one pot out of it plus, a bag of flavored coffee.
I received a free roll of toilet paper in the mail.
We go to Aldi and buy produce for work all the time. Great veggies at a wonderful price. Anyways, I decided to find a couple of new items to try for myself. I bought a large chocolate bar and a box of triscuit like crackers for a total of $2.74. The chocolate is ok-still need to try the crackers. If they're good they cost less than what I can normally get them for even with a coupon.
rosarugosa--eek! I guess we never really know what we are getting into when we start a project! I hope things end up better than you are expecting.
chrissie--the Chicago trip sounds lovely! It really is a beautiful city!
So the hanger on my daughter's potted plant broke yesterday, and the plant fell flower-side down on the porch! It was quite smashed, and DD was pretty upset about it. I took the hanger from a cracked pot I had planned to throw away and was able to get the plant hanging again. We gave it a good watering, too. I guess now we will wait to see if it perks back up. Back in the day, I probably would have just bought another plant. But it was $8, so we'll see if this one makes it through okay. :-)
I also print a lot of coupons and have been trying to use scratch paper (or even the reverse side of junk mail) in my printer to save on paper costs. Of course I print in grayscale, too, when possible. :-)
One thing I have been working on a lot is getting our photos organized. I have been making digital photobooks online and backing up photos there, too. The photobooks themselves are not cheap, but I have been making them anyway and then waiting for sales and coupons. I just ordered my first book for free and only have to pay shipping and handling. It is nice to be creative, and it is a hobby that doesn't have to cost money unless I want it to.
DH and I talked about throwing DD a birthday party in August. We really don't want to get into the habit of throwing a party every year, but we think she might be feeling a little neglected after the baby is born. So we decided to have just a small family party here and do a luau theme since it goes with the way our deck is decorated. I have started pinning ideas on Pinterest and am starting to gather food ingredients now as I see them on sale (like this week, I will get 13 packs of Kool Aid for $1. DD loves Kool Aid, and it will be way cheaper to serve than punch). I will probably make her a cake, too, and buy some decorations from the dollar store.
So nice to read everyone's posts!
Kat -- great to hear from you as I was wondering where you had gotten to. :) Not that I've been all that diligent about posting myself...
bke -- I always love reading your posts so please keep posting! I am going to try to recommit to posting more regularly, too, because I like this place and I get a lot of support from all of you, especially on this thread!
I don't have much to report, but I did decide to get back to tracking all of my spending. I was always just loosely following my bank account and thinking, well, I'm maintaining a steady month to month so everything must be okay. Ummmm...then I got hit with a giant tax bill. Oops. So, it's back to tracking for me!
My big frugal win for today is that my cat did not need to have a second round of x-rays. I took him to the vet this morning and they just called to tell me that they had made a mistake and had not looked at all the films from the emergency clinic when they recommended that he have more x-rays taken. Oops. At least they were honest and we love all the vets at the clinic so, really, this was not something I was going to get overly annoyed at. Since he's already there they will give him a laser treatment and an injection for his arthritis. So at least I am getting some necessary treatments done instead of just having a wasted trip. Plus no $300 bill for x-rays!
After I get back from the vet I'm going to make some yogurt in the crockpot. This is part of our move towards cooking/baking even more of our food from scratch. We have not bought yogurt in a number of weeks and we haven't bought bread in several months. Small, but important frugal wins.
I'm also going to go to Home Depot to return a sprinkler that I bought that does not work. It was $6, which probably explains why it doesn't work. I'm going to see if I can find something of better quality at another store -- Home Depot only seemed to have cheaply made plastic sprinklers.
Gardenarian
5-1-13, 3:49pm
This is a tough month for me - dd's birthday, as well as registering for summer camps. I've got to keep my eye on the total amount I spend on these two categories.
Hi everybody!
I had a mindful frugal today. I don't know if you remember that last fall I was talking about our cars quite a bit. I was researching to see if I could fix DH's A/C by myself. Well, I decided no. But I did take it in, and with my knowledge from that research was able to have an intelligent conversation and know what the logical first steps should be in the repair. The shop charged it up and we are to bring it back to check it in a few weeks (when it's hot and has been run a bit, not 35 degrees out). So while I made the mindful choice to spend the money on it (DH would have just stuck it out, but not really, he just drives it the bare minimum and we stack all the miles on my car which has working A/C), it was with education behind it and it will make using the car so much more enjoyable. I think I am going to look into the cost of a new radio for it as well, and probably research that as a DIY job - less at stake than with A/C! It's really a solid car mechanically - 1996 Honda Accord, and only has 160K miles on it. DH is the only owner. I don't like feeling like I'm riding around in a bucket of junk just because the "optionals" like A/C and the radio don't work right. Oh, and water is leaking in around the windshield. So while we've put off those repairs and tried to be stoic about it, I'll confess . . . those things make riding in the car a lot more palatable and if they were fixed, my mind would less frequently turn to replacing that car . . . and that's where the real savings will lie.
Went to Costco on Monday evening and even controlled myself. :) DH has a potluck on Friday - taco bar - so I bought the meat there.
Remember the Petco rewards I was issued? Used all $30 on a bag of dog food yesterday.
We are comparing bids to have some work done on our exterior. It's going to be a LOT of money. I think I know which company I want to use, and it will be about a $5000 savings over the competitors, but still with very good work. We can't compromise on the quality of the job; it's already awful and water has gotten into a very lot of places where it doesn't belong. So this guy will do a better job than some Joe Schmoe off the street, but isn't as high-priced as some of the really high-end remodelers in the area.
We almost - almost - almost financed central air for the house a few weeks ago. Can you believe it?! I was just sick to my stomach thinking we were going to do it. We actually had a big fight over it, because it was a 0% offer for 18 or 24 mo., so DH was ok with it, but I just couldn't get over that it would be DEBT. We have NO consumer debt right now and that's how I prefer it. Even the two mortgages bother me. I am so glad we passed. We might have a hot summer, but we can make it a year or two in order to save up the funds. Plus, having a concrete savings goal like that forces us to channel all our "found" monies, like tax refunds, mileage checks, eBay sales, occasional workshops I put on, etc. to something very concrete and it builds up quickly with focus. Otherwise those monies just disappear into the checkbook and into the household expenses stream, never to be seen again . . . I have a real thing about separating out money. If I can't see it add up, it kind of feels like "why bother? "What difference does it make if I do or don't submit my mileage?" "Big deal if we sell that or give it away"
early morning
5-1-13, 7:51pm
Hi all - May already, whew! I am so not ready. DD and I are tying to do some outside work around here every evening, and it's starting to look a little better - even though tonight all we did was pull some nasty sticky weeds from the wildflower area under the apricot tree. But I was late getting home, had errands to run- and there's a program about the Spanish Riding School on tonight, so... I've put laundry out before work the last two days, and it's dried really nicely. We've not paid for any unplanned fast food for ages, and even though I really really want ice cream tonight, there's no way in heck I'm leaving the house for it - I'll make do with my second favorite - peanut butter mixed with honey, and eaten with a spoon. :0! Kelli, I know what you mean about needing to separate the money out. I do it on paper - it's all in the same pot - but the checkbook totals don't reflect the emergency fund, my own funds, the vacation stash, etc. Thank goodness for Quicken, lol. Bke, I wasn't aware we were in failure mode - I must have missed those threads - but I really love reading your posts so more=good! Kat, less than a month, how exciting! When DD was born (30 years ago!) I borrowed all of my maternity clothes and was sooo sick of them by the end. She was born in Nov. and most of the tops were short sleeves so I managed to stretch my turtlenecks on under them for work, no way was I buying anything!
Mighty Frugal
5-1-13, 9:36pm
I received a packet from a sample company with all sorts of goodies including a fancy razor, dishwashing detergent, HE washing machine detergent, granola bars, make up, etc-sweet to get all of this for free!!
Also talked to both boys today about summer day camps. Normally I like them to attend a week somewhere but they both insist they don't want to. They enjoy just being at home, playing in the park, playing video games, bike rides and the frequent trips we take. So, that will save me between $400-$1000 this year!
try2bfrugal
5-2-13, 1:52am
We walked to the post office today. I mailed off a DVD I traded in at Amazon for a $7 gift card. For product reviews this past week, I got another free bird feeder and a glass teapot for flowering teas.
In the mail we got a $100 gift certificate for switching to U-verse. A couple of days ago I got a replacement check for $50 for a refund check I had forgotten to cash.
The squirrels chewed through the last vestiges of my initial set of solar string patio lights, so I was a little sad about that. I loved those lights. They stayed bright late into the early morning hours without using any electricity.
DH surprised me by stringing up a second set of solar string lights we used at Christmas and hung them around the patio from ropes instead of around the tree branches so the squirrels shouldn't be able to reach them any more. Tonight the weather was quite nice so after a trip to the dog park and a walk around the little lake nearby, we came home and had tea under the solar lights.
With some of my credit card reward points this month I ordered a set of color changing solar lights in shapes like a hummingbird and a dragonfly. They came in the mail today and DH set those up for me under the string lights. They look really cute and I love it that they do not use any electricity. I am trying to decluttter more than bring new stuff into the house these days, but I feel like solar lights are a good sustainable living purchase. We do sit out on the patio a fair bit at night so we get a lot of frugal enjoyment from the lights.
We went to Fresh and Easy after the dog park and got some good bakery bargains. We met all of the ACH and debit card transaction requirements for our high yield checking account this month so that will be a little extra in interest we weren't getting before. We have to have 10 debit card transaction so I have been using the self serve check at F+E to knock out a few debit purchases each visit.
Earlymorning- I didn't mean to sound so terrible. There have been other threads discussing these kinds of issues. My personal feeling are that I wish there were more money threads/posts. My apologies to anyone I might have offended. For the most part I was thinking that we don't hear much from some people, like Stella, anymore and I miss the inspiration of reading about more frugals from everyone. That led me to think that I need to make sure I'm doing my part and post more even if I think what I have to offer is a bit repetitive. What can I say, I like talking about controlling money.
Mighty frugal-great score on the free samples! Mind telling me what company they were from-maybe I can sign up too!
This morning I am drinking free coffee and using free laundry soap to do this week's washing. I can't remember the last time I paid for either of these items.
I have received a baseball cap, $20 in itune gift cards and a $10 Dollar General gift card in the mail recently from sweepstakes wins.
I continue to collect swag bucks, coke points, and food service rewards points.
We had a school band concert to attend last night. Dh wore the free $50 shirt that we got for him from Khol's. It was on clearance for $10 and I had the same amount in Khol's cash from purchasing much needed work shoes the week before. The shirt looked really nice and I enjoyed seeing him wear it as he very rarely buys himself something new.
I am loving reading everyone's frugals! Feeling inspired! :-)
Mighty Frugal--that sample packet sounds sweet! :-)
Let's see. I received my first check from ebates and my rewards from SwagBucks. I got about $11 cash, a $20 Walmart card, and a $40 amazon.com gift card. I started a jar for these things so that we can use the cash/gift cards for whatever Christmas gifts we have left to buy this year. I also have a $15 prepaid rebate card and $25 worth or Target cards in there. I have been giving all my change to DD for doing her chores (picking up her toys a couple of times a day and putting her clothes in the hamper). We are going to buy her a piggy bank, but for now, we are just using an old pickle jar. Works fine, and she likes the clanking noise it makes when you put change in it. :-)
The plant that fell on the ground the other day has perked up a bit. I think it might make it!
My diaper bag broke yesterday, which is annoying. It can't be sewn--the hardware went ka-put. Right now I have it tied together, but it really is looking shabby between that and all the plastic that is peeling away from the interior. My mom bought the bag for me when I was expecting DD less than two years ago. It is a Carter's brand and cost her $40, so I am surprised that it turned out to be not a quality bag. Anyway, now that I have another baby on the way, it might be time for a little bit bigger of a bag, anyway, so I have been reading reviews online and trying to find one that will meet our needs now and double as a weekend bag if we need one later. Might as well look for as much function as possible! I was surprised to find how expensive diaper bags can be--like do people in "real life" really spend $200 on a diaper bag?! Anyway, I have set a limit much lower than that and am determined to find a good quality one that both DH and I like. I'd make my own but don't really have the time or the skill!
I started washing Little Man's clothes and putting them away in his dresser yesterday. We have not had to buy too much for him, and I am pleased to say that I think we will have enough to get by for the first nine months or so!
Last night DH and I took DD outside to play with sidewalk chalk. Then he took her for a short walk. It was lovely frugal fun. The only thing is that we ordered a pizza because he worked late and DD was too fussy for me to get my planned supper made. SO...I think I will make supper today while she naps, and then we can just heat it up later. That will prevent us from eating out. I also found a recipe online I am going to try. It is for a lava crunch cake-type dessert in the crock pot. DH loves lava crunch cakes, but they are expensive! If this works, I can make a whole pan full for very little money (I almost always have the ingredients for it in my pantry). I think I will serve it with a little ice vanilla ice cream I have stashed away.
I have a doctor's appointment today, and since I have to pay the co-pay anyway, I think I will get some gas (budgeted for) so as to combine trips and maybe make tomorrow a no spend day.
try2bfrugal
5-2-13, 12:09pm
Earlymorning- I didn't mean to sound so terrible. There have been other threads discussing these kinds of issues. My personal feeling are that I wish there were more money threads/posts. My apologies to anyone I might have offended. For the most part I was thinking that we don't hear much from some people, like Stella, anymore and I miss the inspiration of reading about more frugals from everyone. That led me to think that I need to make sure I'm doing my part and post more even if I think what I have to offer is a bit repetitive. What can I say, I like talking about controlling money.
Mighty frugal-great score on the free samples! Mind telling me what company they were from-maybe I can sign up too!
This morning I am drinking free coffee and using free laundry soap to do this week's washing. I can't remember the last time I paid for either of these items.
I have received a baseball cap, $20 in itune gift cards and a $10 Dollar General gift card in the mail recently from sweepstakes wins.
I continue to collect swag bucks, coke points, and food service rewards points.
We had a school band concert to attend last night. Dh wore the free $50 shirt that we got for him from Khol's. It was on clearance for $10 and I had the same amount in Khol's cash from purchasing much needed work shoes the week before. The shirt looked really nice and I enjoyed seeing him wear it as he very rarely buys himself something new.
Bke - I didn't think your post sounded terrible at all. I enjoy the existing threads here, but would also love to see more specific simple living how to ideas.
Your sweepstakes winnings sound great. Do you have a forum you use to find about where to enter? Have you ever tried slickdeals for ideas? I always like their what did you get in the mail today ongoing thread. I tried swagbucks but at the rate I am gaining points all I will get is two $5 gift cards this year.
I haven't posted here in a while. There haven't been many frugals, but at least there haven't been unfrugals.
- Courtesy of my mom taking DW and me out to dinner last night, I enjoyed a nice Tinga de Pollo lunch today. I will be on my own for dinner as DW received theater tickets from a friend for tonight. We have enough other leftovers in the house that I won't have to cook but I won't do takeout either.
- Yesterday was a no-drive day for me. Tuesday was errand day; one stop was the auto mechanic, who discovered the source of a noise I'd been hearing for a couple of weeks. I thought it would be a front suspension strut, but it was a drooping fender liner and it cost all of $10 to fix that problem. :cool: Another stop was Comcast, where I returned a cable modem that was costing us $7/month to rent. I think I wrote in an earlier Frugal that the purchased cable modem will pay for itself in 10 months.
Umm, wow. Can't think of anything else. Maybe once we can get outside a few more frugals will appear.
Mighty Frugal that sounds like a very nice freebie package. And it must be a relief not to have to come up with extra cash for the summer camps. I bet the boys will have a great summer.
Well, spring is really here. We have ants in the kitchen. I've got some cornmeal down but if that works it will take a while. In the meantime I just tried an ant spray I found on pinterest using dawn, peroxide & scope. I used my free bottle of Dawn from the other day & a free sample size of scope. We'll see how it goes.
I got spaghetti sauce on a shirt. I pre-treated & washed it twice but it was still there so yesterday I hung it out in the sun for a few hours. Stain gone!
ETA: Forgot to say that I used up some cubed steak from the freezer yesterday making vegetable beef soup since I didn't have any stew meat. Or any other beef for that matter. The texture was different but the soup was still good.
Steve: What a relief on the car repair. Good for you! Nice to hear from everyone. I'll try to commit to a little more in the way of contributions as well.
Debatable frugal: I've finally ordered a bread machine. Laugh if you will, but I think that I will get good value from it at this stage of my life. I eat a lot of bread, and it seems we are always running out for bread and picking up a few other things beside, which is rough on the grocery budget. It's also a time-stealer. So this should help to eliminate those $15 - $20 bread runs. We had a bread machine long ago, and it was so easy that even I could use it :) I understand that buying yeast at Costco will be my best bet. When we had the machine before, we were buying those little packets of yeast, which really diminished the cost-effectiveness of making our own. I know that the real frugal would be to bake from scratch the old-fashioned way, but I just don't have the time, natural aptitude, or desire to go to that extreme! I'll report back on whether it appears to have been a worhwhile purchase.
Rosarugosa-I don't see anything funny about buying a bread machine. If it allows you to save money, eat better quality bread and you enjoy that bread I'd say its a great idea!
There's not too much to report this morning. I did save 6 cents a gallon by waiting as long as possible to fill the tank.
We've had some flooding issues at the house and are working on some repairs. The excavater was there for most of the afternoon working on things. We weren't expecting him until Saturday so we were really pleased. This led us to spend the afternoon/evening in the sun watching him. He finished for the day at around 8 last night. We ended up having fast food for dinner.
I don't know exactly how much the repairs are going to cost yet-I suspect around $2000. Dh saved us $200 by telling the contractor that he will re-seed the yard himself. Ugh-more work.
Business is starting to pick up at the restaurant and I am SOOOO thankful. It was a very long, quiet winter around here-our worst ever.
I managed to get quite a sun burn yesterday-no sun screen because of the unplanned situation. I find that I'm really tired this morning. I'm going to get off this computer soon and take a siesta in preparation for a busy weekend.
Have a great weekend everyone!
rosarugosa--I, too, think the bread machine is a great idea! If you will use it and enjoy it, then the savings are really just a bonus! :-)
Today is a no spend/no drive day. It is cold and rainy here, so I have just been doing indoor activities with DD--coloring and playing with her baby doll. DH came home for lunch, and I thought he would appreciate a hot meal, so I made some eggs along with some toast and sausage from the freezer. Easy but filling. Dinner will be something easy, too--probably sandwiches or maybe some baked chicken if I can muster up the energy.
Not much going on today, I guess!
rosarugosa -- another vote for the fabulousness of the bread maker! We use ours all the time -- you will not regret the purchase!
bke -- good luck with reseeding your lawn -- it's one of those things you can definitely do yourself so totally worth it to save a few hundred bucks!
A sort of frugal/non-frugal day here. I was scheduled to go to a meeting early this morning so was going to meet a friend for breakfast afterwards. Then had a lunch meeting later on. All three events were in the same vicinity so it was a good way to limit my driving. Well, I bailed out of the early morning meeting because, honestly, I was too exhausted and stressed to get up that early. Fortunately, it was not something critical so my absence didn't create an issue for others. But I did want to still meet my friend for breakfast. Unfortunately, the place that we usually go doesn't really have anything gluten free. I was planning to just order hot tea and eat the snacks I had stashed in my bag, but it turns out they have macaroons now and those are gluten free. So I indulged with a macaroon for breakfast! It was only $1.50 so not too much of a splurge, but still...I did get tea, too, and I had to pay for parking. Oy. As I was leaving to go to the lunch meeting I got a text message asking if we could reschedule. Ugh. Saved me on the cost of lunch, but now I have to find another time for that meeting and drive...again. Fortunately, these are all fairly small inconveniences and expenses, so I really shouldn't complain.
In truly frugal news...I essentially depleted my stockpile of tea. I have one small bag of loose tea that I need to finish up. I opened it this morning and...wow...it is really not very good. But I will drink it. To make it more tolerable, I printed out (on the backside of a used sheet of printer paper, mind you!) a 15% off coupon for Barnes & Noble and I stopped there in my travels to buy a one of my favorite teas. (I'll alternate between so-so tea and my favorite tea to get everything used up.) Spent $8.47 and that should keep me for a few weeks, which means I can now order more of my other favorite tea online and wait for it to be shipped as opposed to paying an inflated price at Whole Foods!
Not much else to report other than my usual frugal activities. I've been diligent about using my tea pot and travel mugs for mass tea consumption. We've been pretty good about eating at home most of the time. My dearly beloved, not so much, but I can't control his choices, only my own. He's pretty good, though, overall so I can't really complain. Doing all the laundry with cold water (except for when the cat peed on a towel). Need to get better about hanging things on the line, though. I've been a slacker in this arena. We've done so well with keeping our energy use low enough to be covered by our solar panel production that it's hard to see the benefit of line drying, but I know it is there! I've been pretty diligent about re-using the backsides of printer paper when I need to print a bunch of stuff. And we've got a pretty good stockpile of "good" printer paper, too. I did get a coupon from Staples for a free ream, so if I remember, I will take advantage of that. Might as well build the stockpile if it's free!
I think that's pretty much it. As more comes up I'll report in!
Finally have some frugals to report.
--goodie bag from dentist contained sample mouthwash; sample tooth paste; 2 tooth brushes and sample floss. Also $1 Off coupons for the full size items. He also gave me a free bottle of the mouthwash for post oral surgery which usually costs $15. (Almost made oral surgery worth it--NOT!!)
--Sent DH to shop at Whole Foods to spend $50 gift card given to me for tutoring help. Got 2 roasted chickens from which we will get many meals; organic vegetable broth; fresh fruit; fresh and frozen veggies; Greek Yogurt; bread and much more. He is a great shopper and this was "free food" that will tide us over for a couple of weeks.
--Was going to buy side bag and backpack for Mom's wheelchair but thought of checking Freecycle and Craig's List. Got both from Craig's List for free. Brand new. Sadly the woman's Mom never recovered enough to use the items. She also gave me a cup holder and a small ID pocket. (Made me realize how lucky that my Mom is still with us and able to sit in her chair) Then I got a brand new, handmade bag from a local woman for my sister's walker. She makes them for the local senior home and offered me one for my Sis after seeing my post on Freecycle.
-- DH used purchases at WF and leftovers we had in freezer to make enough soup to last for weeks. (We keep a bowl for leftover liquids and a freezer bag for bits of meat, veggies and pasta and rice. This makes a wonderful Surprise Soup...which my Grandmother used to call Prison Soup. :D)
--Can't drive because of pain meds so the car stayed in the driveway.
--Feeling a lot better, but getting bored. I resisted the urge to shop on-line which is a bad habit of mine when I am housebound.:|(
I got a raise! An additional $.35 an hour. It will be on my next check.
I did my grocery shopping today and stuck pretty much to the list and came in under budget.
try2bfrugal
5-3-13, 10:01pm
I got a raise! An additional $.35 an hour. It will be on my next check.
Congratulations!
Tussiemussies
5-3-13, 11:27pm
I got a raise! An additional $.35 an hour. It will be on my next check.
I did my grocery shopping today and stuck pretty much to the list and came in under budget.
Congratulations Azure...:cool:
A very frugal week - I'm organizing a book sale at the library and have had either set up or the actual sale all this week so have spent nothing! I will spend $5 for the bag sale at the end of the day and pick up a few things that I will read and then donate back for the next sale. The head librarian always gives me a very nice bottle of wine with her thanks - always much better than I would normally drink - and this time it was wrapped in a string backpack from her son's college. She made fun of the wrapping but I think it is a bag that will come in handy so consider it a second gift!
We each get a small cash allowance every week and any left over cash goes into a coffee can for emergencies, little splurges, or cash to take on trips with us so the can is a wee bit fuller this week.
I have gotten two ideas - Lily, you gave me the idea to start up the leftovers bag in the freezer . . . we do this with tomato sauces, but I had never thought to do it with bits of pasta and such.
And cdttmm, you gave me the idea that we could buy some things at Barnes & Noble aside from books. DH has had some gift cards languishing for months, maybe even years . . . and I'm feeling like we should spend some of them up. So we might try to think of some other need that we could meet with them, like Mother's Day cards or maybe we'll just walk up there and see what we see. Not so frugal to buy just to buy, but we do like tea and drink quite a bit and are getting low, so maybe we'll see something we like. What's your fave called?
Here we made items for the plant/bake sale today for the community garden - egg carton firestarters. We'll see if they go. I'd rather just make a donation and probably will in addition. Our perennials just aren't poking up in order to even see where they are to split them and contribute those . . . maybe over at the rental we can find something to dig up.
Well just blew it - but not really. We went out this morning and purchased a new to us car. The old one had been clunking around for too long and was begining to make us very anxious about taking trips. But although it cost us we were able to negotiate a very good price as we went it waving CASH!!!! It was also well within our budget and we still have a very comfortable cushion. Need to spend time getting the best deal on the car insurance now but as it is due anyway I was psyched up to do it.
We arrived home from our l o n g trip about 10 days ago and today was our first stock up shop. Got there early, as usual, before the hordes of shoppers and so was able to work out best prices. Also had £5.94 in coupons to use that were off the total amount of the shop not specific items and so that was a bonus.
And cdttmm, you gave me the idea that we could buy some things at Barnes & Noble aside from books. DH has had some gift cards languishing for months, maybe even years . . . and I'm feeling like we should spend some of them up. So we might try to think of some other need that we could meet with them, like Mother's Day cards or maybe we'll just walk up there and see what we see. Not so frugal to buy just to buy, but we do like tea and drink quite a bit and are getting low, so maybe we'll see something we like. What's your fave called?
fidgiegirl -- I prefer the Harney & Sons green tea with coconut and vanilla. It's very light in color and flavor so it's a nice summertime tea. They also have some coffee and tea accessories so if you need a travel mug or something those are options, too. Or you could just have a coffee and dessert date in their cafe. Our local B&N also stocks Godiva chocolate in gift boxes, so you could always use your gift cards for those, too. B&N also has nice writing journals, too. Or treat yourself to a magazine. Barnes & Noble gift cards would last all of about 5 minutes at my house! :~)
fidgiegirl
5-4-13, 12:05pm
fidgiegirl -- I prefer the Harney & Sons green tea with coconut and vanilla. It's very light in color and flavor so it's a nice summertime tea. They also have some coffee and tea accessories so if you need a travel mug or something those are options, too. Or you could just have a coffee and dessert date in their cafe. Our local B&N also stocks Godiva chocolate in gift boxes, so you could always use your gift cards for those, too. B&N also has nice writing journals, too. Or treat yourself to a magazine. Barnes & Noble gift cards would last all of about 5 minutes at my house! :~)
That tea sounds wonderful. You also have me thinking now about a teapot. We have a kettle, and I like to brew loose tea, but we have a single cup basket and sometimes I want to make tea for both DH and I at the same time. Usually I brew it in a large measuring cup and strain through the single cup basket, but had been thinking about getting a larger brewing pot. I may have just talked myself out of it, though! :)
fidgiegirl
5-4-13, 12:07pm
Just went to the community garden plant sale and also assessed our own seedlings and thinned them. We will save a lot of $$ in plants this year, yippee! Now just to figure out where to put all of them. :)
I picked up two tomato plants, two jalapenos, rosemary, and two squashes plus four packets of seeds and pack of cookies for DH for $15.50. And it all goes to the garden. Whee!
We are going to put on our long underwear and go garage saling in Bryn Mawr. Curse you, 37 degrees on May 4!!!!! IT IS GARAGE SALE SEASON NO MATTER WHAT YOU SAY.
We had a fun afternoon garage sale-ing and I was even able to take off my long johns in the car part way through. :)
We got:
9 pr. brand new department store underwears + 1 t-shirt for DH - $1 each. Tags still on them (anywhere from $18-$30 new) and still in the box = $10 total. The score of the day!
Router table, needs bolts (big deal) = $1
Waffle iron = $2 (I figured if it works out, great, if not we will still stick to the cast iron plan)
Frilly scarf = 33 cents
Gro light fixture (but needs new bulb) = 33 cents
Tongs for kitchen = 33 cents
4 skeins of yarn = Free
2 paperbacks for the beach or campground this summer = $1
Bought a hot chocolate for $2.50 and shared it.
Spent up $40 in B&N gift cards on Mother's Day cards and a gift for DMiL. Still need something for my mom, but was nice to be able to use those up for something we'd be buying anyway. We also got some of that tea for ourselves, cdttmm. I look forward to enjoying it.
Iforonwy: Congratulations on your new car!
Kelli: So sorry about your crappy weather; I hope spring finds you soon!
Today was the maiden voyage for the bread machine and it was a success, so will now have to incorporate breadmaking into the routine. It was quite simple though. The roofers are almost done and it's looking really good. Although it was a major expense, it feels good to take care of something so essential. DH is making tilapia with fresh mango, asparagus, and rice for dinner. Nothing like fine dining at home!
Ooh rosa, yum!
I blew all frugals with the purchase of several items on Amazon as well as a Waterhog mat from LL Bean. Oh well, I justify them by the fact that: 1) they were not impulse purchases 2) one is a reasonably priced gift and 3) in the case of the mat, it shouldn't ever have to be replaced.
Yard sales in small town, we got a $1 all cotton shirt for me and a pair of $2 shorts (guy didn't know whether to charge $1 or $2 and seemed so lost that $2 didn't seem fair. Then a $5 office chair for DH--really comfy, and he apologized for having made fun of me for wanting to stop at the sales.
Congrats on the raise AZURE!
I love the idea of using up the B&N gift cards on useful items besides books. The teas and chocolates sound so fun and indulgent!
Fidgiegirl-I always admire your garage sale finds. I can't wait until I have the time to treasure hunt like you do!
I don't have much to report myself other than having 2 no spend days-yeah!
So can anyone fill me in on what is going on with Stella these days? I remember her telling us that she had gotten sick and been hospitalized a couple of months ago. I can only recall seeing one post from her since. Is she just busy with family or is she having health problems?
Stella did mention something about trying to minimize Internet time when Lent started, and I haven't seen as much of her on FB, Pinterest or here since then . . . so I'm guessing she found some success in her endeavor. Hopefully that's all! Stella, if you are seeing this, we miss you on the frugals thread!
larknm, congrats on your garage sale finds as well!
Congrats on the raise, Azure! That is great!
I am so jealous of all of the good garage sale finds you all have been posting! I haven't made it to many garage sales of late.
Well...things have yet again taken an unfrugal turn around here. I am being watched for pre-eclampsia now; my feet and legs are so swollen that I have been advised by my doctor to stay off of them and rest for the remainder of my pregnancy (about three weeks). I am not on "bed rest," mind you--I am just supposed to rest more as I am able. This is very, very hard for me to do as I like to be productive. It is also largely unfrugal because DH doesn't cook much and our tendency has been to eat out when I don't feel well. We seriously need to stop doing that. My plan is to get things in the crock pot in the morning or at least have stuff for sandwiches around.
Today I rode along with DH to an appointment in a city about 45 minutes away. We needed to get gas, so we stopped here in town before we hit the road (since gas is cheaper here). That is where the frugals end, though! We ended up eating out (only $12 for the three of us, though, so not so bad I guess) AND took DD shopping for a new toy. She has been so, so good about shopping for the baby and seeing all these presents come for him...but we think she is still feeling a little left out, so we let her pick out something special. We don't have any boys in my family--my sisters and I are all girls, and we have all had all girls. This is the eleventh grandchild and only boy! So people are excited, and I appreciate their generosity...but I don't want to see DD get lost in it all, either. So I have been planning some special things just for her--places for us to go, things for us to do/try, etc.--and will carry through on those even if some of them do cost a little money.
So...I figured since I had already blown it for today, I would finish up my planned shopping, too. I ordered the entryway furniture I have had my eye on. I also got a new diaper bag along with a tranquil turtle for Little Man's room. While I was at it, I ordered season 1 of DH's favorite TV show (a used copy). That last one wasn't planned, but he is very much a "gifts" person and has been working so hard trying to get the nursery done. I keep trying to tell myself this is all okay since most of it was planned. I did save $200 on the furniture with a 10% off code and will get $200 back in store credit as well...and the turtle was paid for with gift cards earned from Swag Bucks...but still....there was little about today that was frugal, and I need to get back on track starting tomorrow.
Yard sales are not the norm here in the UK but car boot sales are. I hope to visit local one in the coming week if the weather stays dry.
We think we got a good deal on the car. The salesman was very tuned in to our budget and although they ususally like to make a bit for themselves on the finance deals seemed to understand the words "cash sale". He showed us one car that looked like a good buy for us but I spotted another and asked about it. He said it had only half the milage and would do it for the same price if we were interested. We left our old car there and took a test drive. When we came back he said "your poor old car!" We thought oops no deal on it but we had been up-front saying that it was unwell. But he came back with a generous figure for it and so the deal was done.
DH is in the garage at the moment re-arranging things so that it will fit in.
Our cushion still looks OK and with some effort we will be able to build it back up again.
Take care, Kat! Pre-eclampsia is scary.
Frugals:
We were given a long-term loan of a violin by one of DH's coworkers, for DD, who is now tall enough for a 4/4 size. Also found a buyer for her 1/2 size, which will more than pay for the bow, case, and shoulder rest that we need to buy.
I have worked out an MP3-based solution to DD's music-in-bedroom (well, mostly audio books). She's been using CD players which only last about a year before the laser goes out of alignment. Last year I found one at a yard sale for $1 in which the CD player actually worked for about 8 months or so, but that is not the norm - usually the CD players at yard sales are nonfunctional. With a portable speaker we already have, a Sandisk expandable MP3 player with power adapter and expansion microSD card (36 GB total - audio books take up a lot of space), at less than the cost of 2 portable CD players, we have something that should last a lot longer and result in less electronic waste.
I expect that it might be possible sometime in May to turn off the heat and begin hanging laundry outside. I'm not holding my breath though, since it was snowing furiously on Friday morning.
We managed to turn the heating off yesterday and we are getting more than enough hot water from the solar. The tumble dryer decided that it did not want to work the other day and as it was a little showery I decided to hang it in the conservatory. It dried in next to no time. The last two loads have been hung outside.
flowerseverywhere
5-5-13, 3:01pm
DH needs to do some rehab with weights. Instead of going out to buy some we weighed his wrenches, hammers etc. and found the exact weights he needed. Called a hotel near where a special event is that we are going to. The online prices were very high, but when we called booked a room for much less than any deal we could find online. We will drive and pack food so our costs will be relatively low, plus they serve breakfast.
Thanks, Rosemary! I have not been "officially" diagnosed yet, but my doctor thinks it might be on its way to developing. My blood pressure was a little high last time, and my feet and legs swelled up enormously almost over night. So I am just being closely monitored for now.
Yesterday was much more frugal--a no spend/no drive day. We ate at home for all three meals and took DD for a wagon ride in the afternoon. I got caught up on laundry, too, and cleaned the house a little. Read a couple of free books on my Kindle, too. I had hoped to just stay home today, but it looks like I may need to take my cat to the vet and also go out to eat with DH's out-of-town family tonight. So I guess the crock pot meal I had planned will have to wait until tomorrow.
ETA: Okay, so I am kind of on a roll today! I processed a return and sold a few things via Amazon's trade-in program. Shipping is free for both, and I was able to re-use packaging I had sitting around as well. I also arranged for the post office to pick up my packages tomorrow so I can save on gas. DH needs me to stop at the bank and withdraw $10 for a plant for a co-worker whose father died, so I am going to stop at a nearby store and return a belt that did not fit him. So when it is all said and done, I will have $16.74 back in my account and $13 and change in the form of an Amazon gift card. DH mentioned that he found a home for our bookcase, so I will see if we can't sell a few more books once he empties it.
Flowerseverywhere- I got the biggest grin from hearing about you and dh weighing his tool to find the correct size for rehab. That is totally the way my dh would do things. Excellent idea!
We did the weekly shopping yesterday and bought the guys some much needed shoes/shorts while we were out. Sales saved us over $13. A coupon printed out at Kmart that saved us 30 cents a gallon on gasoline.
I received a coupon for a free container of coffee creamer in the mail today.
I've started saving the leftover brewed coffee at work again now that its warm. I enjoy drinking it cold and it would go in the garbage if I didn't consume it myself.
Today should be a no spend day.
Did some grocery shopping with DD at Trader Joe's this AM - she is taking a train trip and wanted to get some healthy snacks for the trip.
After I dropped her at work, I was going to run errands but looked at my schedule for the rest of the week and will pass all those places when I am out and about for meetings/haircut.
Instead I took a nap, opened up the screen porch and started cleaning out a garden space.
Frugality on behalf of others: One of my employees is a relatively recent homeowner and is trying to build a bit of a garden, so I potted up 3 small Bleeding Hearts from my garden and brought them in for her. Now another employee would like some. No cost to me but a little bit of time; I'm happy to share :)
I love bleeding hearts, rosarugosa. So dainty, and early-flowering.
Today was a no-spend day AND I postponed my planned grocery shopping by 2 days... stretching the freezer, because the fridge is pretty bare.
The fruit plants I ordered back in bleak February arrived today so I dropped everything to get them in the ground. It's looking pretty springlike here considering the ground was pretty frozen just 2 weeks ago. Those fruit plants should save us a lot in the coming years: apples, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. Also some American hazelnuts, which may or may not produce nuts worth bothering with - we'll see.
I had planned to hire someone to remove the rock from our front landscaping bed but I started it myself today... will see how far I get this week and if I still think I need to hire someone. It's tedious, and slow, difficult to use a shovel so I do a lot literally by hand. It would just be a couple hours of work for someone with a bobcat, probably... but I think we'd lose a lot of soil, too.
fidgiegirl
5-6-13, 10:01pm
It's tedious, and slow, difficult to use a shovel so I do a lot literally by hand. It would just be a couple hours of work for someone with a bobcat, probably... but I think we'd lose a lot of soil, too.
And, as you so kindly pointed out in the other thread, it wouldn't be nearly as meditative, either! :) Jealous of your fruit plants. We could maybe do some fruit, but it would have to be very well planned and using espaliers, etc.
I bought a few plants at a fundraiser sale at Century College today. Got a whole flat for $20, including 9 packs of impatiens, 4 pepper plants and 4 perennials. I was pretty happy with that. If anyone is interested, the sale is going through the 10th from 10-4. Get off 694 at Century Ave and go north. Turn right in the first drive to the college, which is far before the light . . . right past a clump of trees before you see the college from the road. Take the first right available and continue back to Horticulture. There's a big sign on Century about the plant sale. It's mostly annuals, though they do have tomatoes and peppers and a smattering of perennials. But I thought the price for the annuals was super compared to the greenhouses in town.
fidgiegirl
5-6-13, 10:02pm
Did some grocery shopping with DD at Trader Joe's this AM - she is taking a train trip and wanted to get some healthy snacks for the trip.
After I dropped her at work, I was going to run errands but looked at my schedule for the rest of the week and will pass all those places when I am out and about for meetings/haircut.
Instead I took a nap, opened up the screen porch and started cleaning out a garden space.
Ah, a nap today, glorious day for it!!
fidgiegirl
5-6-13, 10:03pm
Frugality on behalf of others: One of my employees is a relatively recent homeowner and is trying to build a bit of a garden, so I potted up 3 small Bleeding Hearts from my garden and brought them in for her. Now another employee would like some. No cost to me but a little bit of time; I'm happy to share :)
One of my fave plants. So kind of you to share. A coworker of mine pulled up a bunch of ground cover sedum for us a few years ago and it is going strong; I think of her every time I see it.
early morning
5-6-13, 10:29pm
Wow, miss a few days, and there are 5 pages to read - way to go, everybody!! Kat, thinking of you and sending good vibes - take care of yourself! bke, I didn't think you sounded terrible, just hadn't seen the posts on the open board- now I know what you were referring to, lol. I lost my oldest kitty today and I'm taking her to the mortuary in the morning for cremation, about a third less than our vet-provided service. We'll just scatter her ashes anyway, why do I want an urn or fancy wooden box? We will miss her terribly, but don't feel the need to spend a lot to memorialize her.
It's tedious, and slow, difficult to use a shovel so I do a lot literally by hand. It would just be a couple hours of work for someone with a bobcat, probably... but I think we'd lose a lot of soil, too.
And, as you so kindly pointed out in the other thread, it wouldn't be nearly as meditative, either!
...yes, I did note this morning that it was an activity that required a meditative mindset... but I don't know if I need quite that many hours of meditation this month! :)
Early: So sorry about your kitty. We'll be facing similar decisions soon with our older guy. It isn't easy.
Thanks for the well wishes, earlymorning. So sorry to hear about your kitty. The loss of a pet is always so hard. Hugs.
rosarugosa--a bit off topic, but how exactly do you go about dividing bleeding hearts? Do you just dig them up and break the plant up into smaller sections? And can you do it any time of the year? Sorry if those are dumb questions, but I have never done it before! I need to, though, since I have some that are now too big for the space they are in. My dad started them for me from seed, so I am really nervous about doing it wrong and killing them off!
We did okay on the frugal front yesterday. We ate breakfast and dinner at home and then went out to dinner with our in-laws. My FIL ended up paying for everyone, which was very kind but unexpected! Then when we got home, DH and I took DD for a ride in her wagon and then put her to bed using the new hooded towel I made her yesterday (I also got around to mending one of DH's work shirts).
This morning I got started pre-treating some stains on DD's clothes and crib sheets. She is quite the little neatnik and VERY picky about dirt and stains. If she thinks something is "dirty," she will not wear it/use it. So I am hoping I can get these stains out. :-) I usually have good luck pre-treating with Tide/Dawn dish soap and then washing is very hot water with a laundry booster. So we'll see.
I am planning to stay home today. I am going to put dinner in the crock pot and maybe take DD outside to water her flower pot and sweep the deck (this kid loves sweeping!). I have a recipe for homemade weed killer (all natural, so safe for people and animals) that I want to try, so maybe I can get that made up and sprayed, too, so we can weed tomorrow.
Kat: I have a small forest of Bleeding Hearts, so I didn't divide them; I just potted up a few youngsters. Sorry that I'm no help on that one. Someone else just recently posted about putting something out in the sun to remove a stain; I keep meaning to try that, it sounds like it's very effective.
Blackdog Lin
5-7-13, 9:39pm
rosa: you mentioned stain-removing. I have today's frugal to report on that subject.
The dog started bleeding (heavily!) Sunday evening from her foot. Some sort of wound around her dew claw. We thought we got it staunched, but I got up the next morning to 2 large heavy blood stains on the old cheap chenille bedspread on my bed. Double bummer, as it meant she was still in bad shape.
(1) saved money on a vet visit by just giving her a good bandage. Gauze and tape around her little paw, she's doing pretty well with it (though I did catch her a time or two this morning with gauze hanging out of her mouth). :) We forgot Neosporin - we'll do her a new bandage tomorrow morning with plenty of Neosporin on it. It's looking like it's going to be okay.
and (2) I had recently had great success using Dawn as a stain-remover on a hoodie that I had treated (twice!) with Era. Butter stain. sigh. I treated it twice with Era - still stained. Tried Dawn - stain gone in one treatment. So today I took the chenille bedspread out, treated the blood stains with Dawn and let it set in the sun on the patio for 4-5 hours. Washed in cold water. Could still see one of the big stains. Rubbed again with Dawn, let set on the back porch for 2 hours, then washed again. Dried in the dryer, and.....blood stains are all gone. Freakin' amazing to me.
I will be using Dawn, along with sunshine, more often for stain treatment.
So today's frugals are using Dawn dishwashing detergent for stain removal; and not running to the veterinary in a panic for bloody baby wounds.
Kat: Like your daughter, I prefer to sweep - very calm and meditative.
Saw a recent post somewhere that Dawn with some hydrogen peroxide is the best stain remover. Have some vintage tablecloths that could use some stain removal - figure that it's worth a try!
fidgiegirl
5-7-13, 10:13pm
Big score on the non-vet visit, Lin. It's a hard line to walk, but when it's not life threatening, it can work out. Glad it did!
We are going to take Gus to the discount pet shots at Petco this year. Corky needs more extensive blood work at the regular vet to OK him for his Rimadyl prescription, but Gus is a spry little guy and can get by on the maintenance appointment at the discount clinic. We save about $50 by using that service, and their heartworm meds are cheaper, too.
Early Morning, I'm very sorry to hear about your kitty.
Fidgiegirl, I was just pricing cat vaccines because 2 of our cats are due. I recall that, last year, each cat was about $100 for exam, rabies, and distemper. This year they don't need rabies as it's a 3-year shot. I called Petco and their distemper shot is $36 - so I don't think we would actually save much by going there. Maybe their dog vaccines are a better deal.
Got through one more day with a nearly empty fridge and dried laundry outside.
Kat: I have a small forest of Bleeding Hearts, so I didn't divide them; I just potted up a few youngsters. ... .
I'm guessing that's one flower missing from Iris Lily's garden. http://www.kolobok.us/smiles/other/heart.gif http://www.kolobok.us/smiles/other/heart.gif http://www.kolobok.us/smiles/remake/biggrin.gif http://www.kolobok.us/smiles/other/heart.gif
Well, I did manage to stay home yesterday and get all of our meals made at home. I didn't get to the deck, though, as DD was very fussy, and I was trying to get some other projects completed. I did get to cross some things off my to-do list, though, and if DD is in a better mood today, I think we will go to Target. They have diapers on sale plus you get s gift card for buying them plus I have some awesome coupons from the company since I wrote them about a negative experience we had with the last pack. So cheap diapers and another gift card for my Christmas jar!
I am planning to make DH some party sandwiches for lunch with meat, cheese, and buns for the freezer.
I got an email from an online consignment shop stating I have a $15 "valued customer" credit there, so I will probably do a little shopping later. The credit can be used for shipping, too, so I should get some free clothes out of the deal, which is nice since I probably won't have much money to buy things for myself for quite awhile!
Otherwise, same old stuff here. Eating at home, shopping only sales/coupons for things we truly need, playing outside with DD and taking her for rides in her wagon at night.
try2bfrugal
5-8-13, 12:56pm
For inexpensive entertainment this week - free workshop at a science museum, meetup and club hikes, Costco movie tickets, family hike at the free country parks, taking the dog to the dog park, brunch at a coffee shop, low cost clubs at school for the kids, and walks around our local park little lake with fountains, floating gardens and a free municipal rose garden next door.
For groceries we have been stockpiling loss leaders, especially meat and frozen foods like pizzas for the kids, buying produce from an ethnic market, and buying day old bakery from the clearance racks. Last month I was over budget on groceries and this month so far I am under. Theoretically, we should save money shopping at Costco but in real life it never seems to work out. Whenever we go to Costco for groceries I go over budget and never seem to catch up.
I received my $100 gift Visa card in the mail for switching to U-verse. I also got a $50 replacement check for a $50 refund check I forgot to cash before it expired. This one we remembered to deposit right away.
I was sent some wrong merchandise by an Amazon vendor and received that refund yesterday. It is money I had coming but when I wasn't tracking our expenses as closely as I am now, I used to not be good at cashing checks or returning things on time so I was glad to have returned the item before the refund period expired.
I received and paid the bill for the house repairs today. $1200 which was less that all of my 4 estimates by a minimum of $300 and a maximum of $3000 so I am very pleased with the end cost. Dh and ds spent about 2 1/2 hours smoothing things out and spreading a $10 bag of grass seed for a savings of another $200. Its so nice to have this done and paid for!
The coke rewards site offered a couple of frugal wins, little as they may be. I entered 4 caps and received 20 bonus points after which I realized I could purchase a $5 gift card to McD's for 150 pts. My guys will use this for a fun lunch out this summer along with some B1G1 sandwich coupons that I have.
I played some sweeps this morning-no instant wins but who knows about bigger prizes down the road.
We're having the hood cleaned at the restaurant tonight so I made sure we have leftovers for dinner tonight. Quick and easy and no dinning out!
...yes, I did note this morning that it was an activity that required a meditative mindset... but I don't know if I need quite that many hours of meditation this month! :)
What kind of shovel are you using, Rosemary? I need to start on ours. It's awful.
Um... I'm using the shovel that I bought in 1995 when I bought a house in the Phoenix area. I subsequently used the shovel to install 25 tons of landscape rock in my yard there. So it's very blunt and not great for digging. Not too great for picking up rock, either. I'm moving about 3-4 carts (well, one-fourth carts, as rock is heavy) of the gravel per day, so that I have time to get my other yardwork done as well.
Frugals today - returned a couple of nonfood impulse purchases to Costco. (Mostly) stuck to my grocery list. Split a couple of large items with a friend.
Let's see. I went to the store yesterday for the diaper deal and only walked out with the things I had planned to purchase. I was sorely tempted to buy some things I saw on clearance, but they were not things I needed. So even though they were a good deal, I left them on the shelves!
DH found a new home for one of our bookcases. A co-worker of his was looking for one and was thrilled to have it. She kept offering to pay for it, but we didn't want any money for it--we just wanted to bless her with it. So when she came over to pick it up, she brought a ham from her freezer. She and her husband buy all their pork from local farmers each year. She didn't need to bring us anything, but it was a nice gesture and one that I really appreciated. Now I have less clutter AND a free ham in my freezer! :-) Now I just need to finish going through our books. DH said she likes crime/detective stuff, and we have a ton of those kinds of books we can pass along to her.
This weekend, our town is participating in Stamp Out Hunger. I am so excited to donate to the cause and have prepared a box full of non-perishable food to share that I got for next to nothing using coupons. DH and I like to be generous and are happy that we still can be even on a tight budget.
I went to Rite Aid to pick up a couple of sales items. While there I noticed several things marked 75% off. I bought:5 boxes of sugar for 69 cents, 18 jellos for 19 cents each (these will go on the salad bar at work), and pudding that dh likes for approx. 80 cents.
All told, today probably was not a frugal day, what with a lengthy (40-mile round trip) run to a store for an open-box price on something we wanted -- and then another 40-mie round trip when we figured out they had left out the power cord. :treadmill: Good thing I get 50+ mpg highway...
I did take the opportunity to do the week's grocery shopping, which means the car will not have to move Friday or Saturday or, likely, Sunday. We'll be eating out of the freezer and pantry for most meals this week, so I picked up a few items I don't see at our local stores and still kept the bill down.
The real frugal, though, came in discovering that our local library system has an agreement with Zinio, a publisher of electronic-format magazines, to lend copies of magazines to one's Mac or Windows PC, iPad/iPhone, or Android phone/tablet. Free! I can think of at least three magazine subscriptions (some electronic; some still paper) which are not going to be renewed next time they come up!
SteveinMN--that use of Zinio should be a great source of savings for you!
Not much is new here--same old, same old. It was too cold to take DD outside yesterday, and it is supposed to be chilly today, too. So I think I will instead take her to Aldi's to get some milk and fruit to tide us over until our big shop next week. We should easily be able to stay under the $10 I have budgeted for this, even if I get her a treat! Then I think we'll make a stop at Kohl's. They sent me a $10 off $10 coupon for signing up for paperless statements. I can pair that with a 20% off coupon and get some free items. I am thinking maybe some jammies for the kids or some Christmas gifts if we find some good stuff on clearance.
Friday nights we tend to order out for pizza, so last week I bought a frozen pizza with a coupon to heat up instead. It only cost $3 as opposed to the $20 we usually spend ordering one. I'll make some veggies to go along with it, too. Should be healthier as well as cheaper!
I had been living with the sum total of two appropriately modest long skirts, to cover my three days of teaching a week at a religious school. These two skirts had comprised my entire skirt wardrobe since November. I was checking out buying two new skirts, which each cost about 100 Israeli Shekels (about $30 USD). However, I caught myself in time and checked out the one and only charity store in town, and bingo! Two new-to-me skirts for the total of 10 Shekels each...or $3 a skirt! $6, not $60...Whoo hoo, that's how teachers do it! :)
Today's frugals: I found out through a "deals" site I visit daily that the item I bought yesterday was on sale -- new, not open-box -- at another store/Web site for $75 less than I paid. :0! The chain at which I bought ours price-matched, but over the phone chain "central" told me that since I bought an open-box product, they could not give me the other vendor's price. I decided to go to the store directly and speak with a manager, impressing on them that I could buy a sealed box of the product (on which they would match the price) and bring back the open-box item (which they would then need to process as a return and advertise as available on the Web site again) or they could bend the rules a bit and give me the difference back right there. Sensible heads prevailed and I got the credit for the price difference. I saved $75 (plus tax minus one gallon of diesel) for about an hour spent driving and in the store. I don't think I can top that frugality today. :cool:
But dinner will be a small frugal. We, too, have been doing the Friday pizza thing, and typically have just bought whichever one was $8 this week at Papa Murphy's. It's about as much as we go out to restaurants anymore. Well, we tried a new brand of frozen pizza last week that we both really liked. I found it in the store yesterday, at two for $11. Pizza tonight will be one of those. Might go back and stock up some, though they take a lot of freezer space we don't have.
Tussiemussies
5-10-13, 4:34pm
Hi Steve, what a great way to handle your purchase!
rosarugosa
5-10-13, 6:53pm
For you pizza purchasers, DH can put together a homemade pizza in less than 10 minutes. We buy the dough at the grocery store, so we could do it even cheaper if we made the dough (might try it in the new bread machine). So just a thought, I know it's easy for me to say since I don't cook, but his is better than store bought and probably costs us about three bucks (feeds the two of us plus leftovers).
Tussiemussies
5-10-13, 7:06pm
For you pizza purchasers, DH can put together a homemade pizza in less than 10 minutes. We buy the dough at the grocery store, so we could do it even cheaper if we made the dough (might try it in the new bread machine). So just a thought, I know it's easy for me to say since I don't cook, but his is better than store bought and probably costs us about three bucks (feeds the two of us plus leftovers).
Hi Rosa, there is a board just for pizza connesouirs (Sp.)
I believe it is just called pizza forums. I learned a lot of great tips on as to how to make pizza just as crispy as a pizzarea. You may like it.
rosarugosa
5-11-13, 6:26am
Thanks, TM. I don't spend much time on the Food Forum since I don't cook, but I should because I do eat food and I have a lot of input on what we buy & eat! I'll check it out.
Mixed bag yesterday as far as frugality goes. DH & I had bloodwork done as part of a "know your numbers" initiative from my employer. I will get a $200 credit on my health insurance premium for doing the testing. This spawned a surprise frugal. We were supposed to fast for the bloodwork, but I know that it's OK to drink black coffee before bloodwork. I always put light cream in my coffee though; I've never been able to stand black coffee. Yesterday I made it with a pinch of cinnamon, and I liked it just fine black :) So now I can stop buying light cream, which will also make my coffee healthier (DH already prefers it black).
On the other hand, I went to a specialty optometrist for my glasses, and they are going to be extremely expensive (even with my vision coverage) compared to what I spent at Costco last year. I'll use this as a test though and see if I notice any difference in terms of quality. Presumably I am getting a better product in terms of progressive lens technology and lightweight lens material. We will see!
Since the sun has come out in Seattle, I decided I would actually wear Capri length pants... So, off to GW, and home with a pair of white linen ones. $6. This pair & a few of my linens skirts with fav t-shirts, bam! Summer wardrobe!
chrissieq
5-11-13, 12:18pm
We had decided to order pizza for delivery last night but once I got home from work, DH said let's just use what's here - yea!! Had some jicama and pea pods left from yesterday's school lunch, added spinach and cucumber so had a good salad along with the BOGO frozen pizza with some left for my lunch today. He is helping at a Habitat-type project today so will get lunch there.
And since he took the car to that project, I am home bound - again yea!! So far have done 5 loads of laundry (changing out the winter comforter for spring bedding), sanded and painted the two screen windows that were pretty weather-beaten last year, and loaded up our new single sort recycling tub. Dinner for tonight is ready to go in the fridge for later.
I love this kind of day!!
I haven't had much for frugals to report lately, but I'll try to add something to the thread. Had to pick up two prescriptions at the pharmacy this week, but when I got there they told me my new insurance card wasn't working. The non-insurance rate would have been more than $100 so I decided to wrestle with the insurance company's website to see if I could figure out what was up. Time well spent, as I was able to print a temporary card, which did work, and the prescriptions cost me less than $10 total (which is weird, because I thought they were $15 each, but I wasn't going to argue with the nice pharmacist!).
Used the Gas Buddy app to find the cheapest place to fill up on diesel when I was out.
Got a $4 credit at the vet clinic because they overcharged me for an office visit. Of course, used it for the next vet appt so that credit didn't last long!
Put off grocery shopping and told my significant other than I was not going to shop for a few more days and that I wanted to eat up what was in the house. He agreed to make sushi one night this week. We'll also eat corn chowder (from the freezer), vegetarian chili (also from the freezer), and lots of salad (our greens are doing very well!) this week. I'll probably make a frittata one day this week, too, since we have everything on hand.
I'm gluten-free and rather than buying GF bread I buy rice cakes to eat with peanut butter for breakfast or lunch. I bought a different brand of rice cakes this week -- cheaper than what I was buying -- but I don't like them as well. I hate to waste food so I decided to experiment a little bit. I discovered that although they are not that tasty with peanut butter and raisins, which is how I usually eat them, they were more palatable with peanut butter and homemade apple butter. Well, we have plenty of apple butter in the freezer (we have an apple orchard) so I'm going to be buying the cheaper rice cakes for the foreseeable and eating lots of apple butter!
This morning I made a batch of yogurt, it's in the crockpot now so we'll have yogurt for breakfast this week. I've been eating mine flavored with homemade strawberry jam that we got from our neighbors last season. So good! I also made a double batch of chocolate tapioca pudding, which allowed me to use up a few cups of almond milk and some dark chocolate that was otherwise not going to get eaten (how that happens in this house, I do not know!). Making yogurt every week for breakfasts and tapioca pudding every week for a treat (instead of buying our usual premium ice cream) would shave about $300 off our grocery bill in the course of a year. So I'm going to try to get organized enough to commit to that. I figure I can experiment with different flavors of tapioca pudding (so far I've only ever made chocolate and chocolate-mint) and that should keep things interesting.
Another food-related experiment I'm going to try. We have loads of homemade applesauce in our freezer. I'm thinking of firing up the food dehydrator and attempting to turn applesauce into apple leather. I'm hoping it will work because we are not big applesauce eaters, but we love fruit leathers and this would be one more step in cleaning out our freezer!
For entertainment this week, I've been re-watching the TV show "The Dresden Files" on Netflix. Doesn't cost us anything extra (we're already paying for a Netflix subscription) and it provides me with just the level of entertainment/distraction that I need.
Aside from that, I've been trying to spend more time cleaning the house -- always good frugal fun! :~) I figure that a clean house is a more pleasant living environment and that probably helps to cut down on the random I'm-unhappy-with-my-environment induced spending that might come about.
early morning
5-11-13, 2:28pm
I figure that a clean house is a more pleasant living environment and that probably helps to cut down on the random I'm-unhappy-with-my-environment induced spending that might come about. cdttmm, that's great! - also my major downfall. Thanks for the inspiration - DD and I just cleaned the kitchen and it looks great. Now if I can just keep up a bit of momentum!
Blackdog Lin
5-11-13, 8:55pm
The bad news: it's really not frugal to be gaining weight.....but it is what it is. sigh. With the (slightly) warmer weather, it was time to get out the summer wardrobe and bummer! 60% of last years clothes don't fit this year.
The good (and frugal) news: offering to do a favor for a casual friend, taking her for a medical procedure 2 hours away, and having to kill 4 hours during her procedure, I found a Goodwill store and scored 10! button-down shirts and 3 pairs of shorts for $52.00. It was awesome, and other than a new swim-shorts purchase, I'm done with clothes-shopping for the summer.
My life style has changed pretty drastically since I quit smoking two months ago (yes, it's already been two months)! Not only am I not spending around $30 a month on cigarettes anymore, I also basically quit going out at night anymore too. I am just way too tired anymore to go out like I used to, due to working all three types of shifts in any given week. I "might" go out and have one beer per week at this point, so now I am saving at least $30-40 per month on not buying booze like I used to. This is all good, as I now have a $152 car payment now...
I am also trying really hard to watch it on the grocery front, but it's been hard. My "snacks out" category has been too high for months now; it seems I have a weakness for gelato and turtle brownies at work, and Dairy Queen Blizzards whenever I drive by a DQ...grrrr. I am trying to keep in down to one treat per week. I have noticed since I've quit smoking I am craving sugar more - luckily, I run around enough at work and eat a pretty well-balanced diet so that it hasn't shown up on the scale too much yet. I really would like to cut back on this sugar addiction though but I don't want to be too fanatical about it.
And only 35 days until my summer road trip!!!!!
fidgiegirl
5-11-13, 10:40pm
SQ, congrats on the smoking!! How great. Interesting domino effect on other aspects of life.
My experiment to turn applesauce into apple leather worked! I thawed the frozen applesauce, spread it out on the dehydrator trays, turned it on overnight and this morning I have 6 huge sheets of fruit leather -- YUM! I'm going to do another batch today. This is going to be such an awesome way to use up all the applesauce in our freezer!
SiouzQ, super congrats! Now, factor in the health care costs you'll avoid by not smoking, and I hope you will feel wealthy!
Minus smoking, plus delicious dried fruit goo. Yay!
fidgiegirl
5-12-13, 6:51pm
Hi all,
Had a nice mother's day buffet in my hometown. We picked up Grandma's buffet for her. We resisted getting an additional gift and just let the visit and the meal be our gifts. Both are hard to shop for, we did get cards as well. We got gifts with B&N gift cards for DMiL, she really liked them (a soap and some tea) and she will let us use her MN Landscape Arboretum coupons to take her to the Arboretum next weekend. It's kind of a haul out there and she likes to go with someone, but she already has the entrance coupons from her membership. So she will like that a lot.
We stopped at Goodwill on the way home and I picked up 4 shirts which were sorely needed. Score!
DH got a brake light at AutoZone and fixed his own. I have ordered him an antenna replacement, which he insists he does not need, but it looks like crap and he can't get AM stations. This is ongoing in the quest to fix up the little things on his car as I wrote about earlier in the thread. It was only $15 online. He had it in his mind that it would be $100. He must have asked a dealer at one point.
That's about it!
try2bfrugal
5-13-13, 1:04pm
When we switched to U-verse we lost the DVR clock. DH put one downstairs he had as a gift from work, but it looked kind of tacky with the corporate advertising on it. DS figured our how to reverse the clock face and use the backside facing forward. Now it just looks like a nice wood clock without any advertising.
We sold a extra piece of furniture on Craigslist for $60. This is our second Craigslist sale, and so far so good.
If was really hot last week, so we bought a wading pool to use for baths for the dog. This way we can use the grey water on the lawn and not get the bath tub so dirty.
I bought another load of half price bakery from Fresh and Easy. I bought extra to freeze, so that helped cut our grocery spending for the week. I think if I stop there once a week while I am out doing other errands and save $8 a week, over a year that is over $400. Plus this week I had an extra $5 free in rewards points. I have been trying to knock $2k off the annual grocery budget and so far this month I have been able to stick to that budget. I threw out some food that got old before we ate it, so I need to either buy less or freeze stuff more before it gets too old to freeze.
early morning
5-13-13, 8:58pm
A local museum sells chicken BBQ dinners on Mother's Day as a fund raiser, so that's always what we do - half a chicken, bag of chips, applesauce, and a roll for $7 so it's a win/win - no cooking, no dishes, and supporting a local cause while celebrating Mom! Plus I had left-overs for lunch today. Hung a load of laundry out early so it was all dry when we got home from Mom's. DH and DD got me plants, so there's a bit I won't have to buy. And we've put off the grocery run for an extra week with only picking up milk and a loaf of bread! That's all I can think of at the moment...
Neat trick with the clock, try2b!
try2bfrugal
5-13-13, 10:07pm
Neat trick with the clock, try2b!
I have to give all the credit to DS. I asked if he could remove the advertising plaque but he thought that would leave marks in the wood. He came up with making the back of the clock the front all on his own.
Hmmm....I could have sworn I posted this week. My post must not have gone through.
SQ--Awesome job quitting smoking! If you have medical insurance, you might check to see if there are any discounts given to non-smokers.
Well, this weekend was decidedly unfrugal as we ate out a ton and DH had to make a zillion little trips to Home Depot for the nursery (ugh--will this project EVER be done? The baby is due in less than two weeks!) I did go shopping on Friday as planned and got a cute top for DD at Goodwill for $1. I also got her a red, white, and blue skirt (she loves flags!) and a cute sequined purse on clearance. I spent around $1 after the 20% off coupon and my $10 credit. The purse will be put away in my gift closet for a bit, but the skirt she can wear now. I actually bought the next size up, so it is a little big. But I am hoping she can wear it this summer and next. I put off going to Aldi's on Friday and instead did my big shop today. I stayed well within budget even after getting DD a special treat of chocolate ice cream (it was 90 degrees!). I passed on a lot of things that were good deals but not needs. I also saved around $25 with coupons at Walmart (though I did have to tolerate a grouchy cashier to use them!).
Other frugals:
1. Had DD color pictures for my mother and MIL in lieu of cards, which they loved. I got my MIL a sermon notes journal for less than $5, and she loved it. My mom got a basket of Olay goodies. I used coupons and did a $15 rebate, so between that and using packaging I already had, the gift cost less than $7. She loved it, too.
2. My dad's birthday is coming up. He wanted cash, so I will be sending him some. Again, I am having DD color a picture instead of sending a card. I think he will love it. He wanted us to join him and my sister's family for dinner, too, but they chose a very expensive place 40 minutes from here. Between the cost of gas and the meal, we'd probably have to shell out $100 (on top of the financial gift), and we just don't have that. Besides, I will be less than a week away from my due date, and with the complications I have had, I don't want to be that far from home. So we decided to decline the invite. I am sad to miss it, but it just isn't do-able for us right now.
3. In-laws brought over supper on Monday. BBQ and salads. I am SO appreciative!
4. In-laws were over again last night, and I made us all a nice chicken crock pot meal with a side salad. They seemed to really like it, and I felt good about not ordering food in.
5. MIL brought over some coupons and some silverware that belonged to her mother. We only have a couple of mismtached sets and always seem to run out, so I really appreciated this larger set. It isn't complete, but it has a lot of the pieces and will serve us just fine.
6. I have been watering plants with water left sitting out around the house.
7. Been doing laundry in cold water. No softener and hang drying as I am able. When I do use the dryer, I put a dry bath towel in with the load, too, to help cut drying time.
8. I sent a heavy envelope through the mail and almost put two stamps on it. But then I decided to weigh it on my kitchen scale first, and it turns out the extra stamp was not needed.
9. Returned some curtains that didn't work for a $44 back.
10. Been trying not to waste food!
11. Passed on a used book sale since we didn't really need the books. The prices were good, but the library is free. Plus, storage space is limited here.
12. Did order two very nice story book collections online for $5 each for Christmas gifts. Shipping was free.
Ds and I went with the other honor roll students from school to the Tiger game yesterday. We're tired and got too much sun inspite of trying to be careful. We spent a ton of money just staying hydrated. It was a lot of fun. Our one frugal was that we didn't buy any souvenirs. Ds just didn't feel the need.
We found out yesterday that ds IS getting the college scholarship-WOOHOO! Its only $250 but he's only in 8th grade and we have to start somewhere right? I'm just a little bit proud of him-lol.
In the last few days, I've received free postage stamps from the quad readers, the Mcd's gift card that I requested from Coke Rewards and shampoo and conditioner in the mail. My mother gave me 2 containers of facial moisturizer.
Breakfast was sale priced cereal with free rice milk.
I found a good deal on my favorite hummus 2 weeks ago. B2G1 free. We've been so busy that I haven't eaten much of it so I put 2 of them into the freezer this morning. I'm pretty sure it'll keep well and taste ok when I thaw it out later.
I had a coupon for a large container of coffee creamer. I used it to purchase a large bottle of French vanilla which I add to leftover cold coffee from work. It tastes yummy and saves money.
Not many frugals here ... seems we're only managing to save money on things we're buying -- which we weren't planning to buy.
My bike is at the shop getting a longer stem (couldn't ride more than 15-20 minutes without my hands going numb), a tuneup (sadly, necessary even though I haven't ridden in several years because of the hands issue), and a new helmet (helmets "age out" after about three years). The "frugal" is in re-shopping a 30-year-old bike rather than getting a new(er) one.
Ended up buying a DVD player to replace the one we had (no longer works). We weren't planning to buy one, but at least we got a good one off craigslist. Renting Redbox DVDs is far cheaper than going to the movies or renting from Netflix or iTunes or Amazon or ...
Ended up having the drain-clearing people come out again for the basement drain. Turns out the drain that's supposed to trap stuff from the shower filled up and failed, clogging the drain. The plumber gave us a break on the price for being steady customers (!) and I am marking on my calendar periodic cleaning of the shower drain so we don't have to have them come out again for this problem (I clear drains for a lot less money than they do).
Keep on keepin' on...
That is great about your son's scholarship, bke!
Ate dinner at home last night and plan to eat all three meals at home again today. I have a doctor's appt. today, so I will mail some letters at a nearby mailbox when I go to save on gas.
DH got a flat tire the other day and accepted the tire change place's recommendation to replace all four tires. $400. Ouch. That is not the decision I would have made--I probably would have just replaced the one tire. But it is done now, and my car needs new tires, too, so we'll be shelling out about $800 for tires along with the $550 in repair work DH had done on his car a month or so ago. Oh well. Maintenance is part of car ownership. At least we own our cars and are not making payments on them.
Between the car problems and the unforeseen costs associated with the home remodel, I think I am going to go ahead and cancel my order for new entryway furniture. I am totally bummed about it; I saved for a long time to be able to buy it. But it seems foolish to spend that kind of money on furniture when our savings has become so depleted. I guess I would rather deal with the clutter in my entryway and have financial peace of mind than buy the furniture and worry that something might come up that we cannot afford. Someone please encourage me! :)
try2bfrugal
5-16-13, 11:50am
I am still working on lowering the annual grocery bill. Last night I bought groceries, including some loss leaders, for $33 and got $5.50 off in various store rewards. Plus I paid for the groceries with the free debit card we received for switching to U-verse so I didn't spend any money out of pocket.
Our biggest area to tackle now is not wasting food. I am trying to get better at going through the fridge each morning and using up or freezing anything about to expire.
We dropped membership in a club our family had stopped being active in. So that will be a $100 savings per year going forward.
try2bfrugal
5-16-13, 11:53am
Someone please encourage me! :)
I think you will get more peace of mind from increased financial security than the furniture. You can always save up to get the furniture at a later date. Or maybe you could look for the new furniture on CL, thrift shops or garage sales?
rosarugosa
5-16-13, 8:02pm
Kat: If your savings cushion is really depleted, you probably won't even enjoy the new furniture right now. So hold off for the time being, and when you do get it, you'll appreciate it all the more.
fidgiegirl
5-16-13, 8:13pm
Aww Kat, that sucks. :( I will encourage you, but be sad alongside you. I do think the others are right, though. This is where I fantasize about having time to do Ana White projects - or rather, you having time to do them! But I know we've talked about it before and that with the babes that probably isn't likely. Hang in there, friend . . .
Have you looked at zenni optical.com,some great deals,progressive as well
Thanks, guys. :) I am bummed about the furniture mostly because it is hard to find anything that will work in the space. It is small with lots of doors/windows and an awkward layout. Most furniture simply will not fit, or if it does, it doesn't function well enough (like the furniture we have now). This furniture was *perfect*, and it took me forever to find it. I know you are all right, though, that the financial security it better. Though our savings accounts are not totally depleted, the balance is lower than what I am comfortable with. So I am already glad I processed the cancellation/return...it's just that sometimes (and not often, but sometimes) there is something that I really want, and it is a bummer to not have it (how's that for spoiled?!).
Anyway, we've been eating at home the past few days, trying to be mindful about waste. My in-laws are coming over tonight, I think, and I plan to stick by my dinner plan of frozen pizza. Hopefully that will be okay! I'd just rather not order out. We've been doing a lot of that the past four weeks due to this home improvement project, and it gets very expensive very fast! Speaking of the remodeling project, the guy that did the floor and trim for us charged us much less than what he initially quoted. We double checked with him to make sure his total was correct, and he said it was. So that was nice--he is a friend from our old church and was obviously trying to bless us.
DD has been having a lot of fun with a couple of freebies we have sitting around. One is a rose that I got on Mother's Day. I put it in her room for her to enjoy, and she loves it in there. The other is a very small reusable grocery bag. I think it was meant for produce, but DD uses it as her "purse" and carries her stuffed lamby around in it. Between that and trying her baby brother's hats on her baby doll (which keeps her occupied for about a half hour at a time!), she has been a pretty happy camper! :)
As for me, Amazon gave their Kindle customers 500 coins ($5.00) for free, so I have been app shopping. I found two free educational ones for DD and a free budget tracking one for myself as well. I did spend 150 coins on a chore checklist app, and I love, love, love it! It is so neat--it lets you list chores by frequency and has due dates and everything. I got so much done yesterday and didn't have to waste a bunch of time writing everything out. Now to spend the other 350 coins. :)
Tussiemussies
5-17-13, 3:22pm
Hi Kat,
Just thinking about your situation with your furniture and I agree with other posters to wait until you have enough money to feel comfortable with, but when the time comes comes maybe instead of buying new you could have yours reapolistered (sp) and this way you can have the couch that fits perfectly in your space?
That is just adorable that your daughter loves to put your son's hats on her dolls! Chris
fidgiegirl
5-17-13, 9:25pm
Hi all,
I have a frugal I've been holding in my head for a while. It's funny how many of them are really just NOT buying stuff. We ordered a Waterhog rug for our heavy traffic back door area. It was pricey, and we almost bought one for the front door as well, but then we stopped, thought about how many people truly use the front door (very few) and scrubbed up a mat that had sat in the snow all winter. :) It dried up nicely and is providing the perfect protection inside the front door.
We got some fencing for our garden plot off CL. Not a huge savings, but a bit and we are reusing. Used a Menards rebate on some further items for the garden. DH bought an air compressor on sale at Northern Tool, but is considering returning it. It was a good price, but we think that packages when they go on sale at Lowe's or HD can be a better value ultimately because they come with an assortment of nailers. Still thinking about it.
ApatheticNoMore
5-17-13, 9:30pm
I dried my clothes hanging inside this week rather than the dryer (no I wasn't doing that in the colder months because even in California winter - laugh all you want - the things dont' get dry, you just have soggy wet clothes hanging around for days). But summer is here. There is a laundry line outside, that would require I actually do my wash in the daytime though, but inside does work.
rosarugosa
5-18-13, 7:24am
Kelli: I need to work on that "just not buying stuff" part of frugality. I haven't been doing so well lately, I'm afraid! We do need to make some garden-related purchases, but I need to knock it off with the optional stuff.
Anyway, I do have one frugal to report. Last Saturday, I developed itching, redness, and discomfort in my left eye, which just got worse by Sunday. I was all set to go to the acute care clinic, which would have been costly (subject to my deductible). I did some online research and learned that conjunctivitis usually will go away in 5 - 7 days without medical intervention. So I applied what I have learned in the way of palliative self-care when I had a bad bout several years ago, and was successful in riding it out.
Self-care tips:
Don't rub - that makes the itching worse!
Hot compresses
Over the counter eye drops (for relief of itching/allergies)
Frequently wash eyes with baby shampoo & warm water on cotton balls throughout the day
Count me in as another person who needs to "just not buy stuff." If I could get my partner on board with this as well, then we'd really be making progress! I shouldn't complain, he is really quite frugal compared to many others, but sometimes...
My frugal for today is pretty basic. The local bank is having a free paperwork shredding day. You can bring up to 5 shoeboxes worth of documents to shred for free. I was planning to go, but have decided not to. First and foremost, I would have to devote at least an hour to organizing the paperwork and figuring out what I want to shred. Then I would have to spend the time and gas money to drive there to get everything shredded. We have a paper shredder. Granted, it's small and somewhat inefficient, but we have one -- why would I need to take time to do this today at the bank when I can do it at my leisure at home? Not to mention, driving into town will inevitably end up with me running other errands that involve spending money. None of which would be urgent needs. So instead, I am staying home and getting some things done around the house.
Not a very exciting frugal, but sometimes it's the unexciting stuff that is important. I feel like this is a good example of continuing to train myself to be less impulsive and more thoughtful about my actions.
Other frugals have been more of the same small things. I've been trying to get in the habit of making daily lists. I like to do this by hand rather than on the computer. So I dug out some pre-printed notepads we had from our old business and I'm using the backsides of the paper to make my daily lists. Since I tend to make a new list everyday and recycle the previous list this is a frugal way to do that, as opposed to buying a notepad of some sort just for this purpose.
Been doing a pretty good job of eating at home this week. Did have lunch out yesterday, but that was planned. Now if I can just keep up the eat-at-home ritual while my mom is visiting next week that will be great!
Starting my new job on Monday and I'm pretty excited about that. Although I've been tempted to buy a new outfit or two in preparation, I'm holding off until I've been there at least a few weeks. It sounds like the dress code during the summer is pretty informal so I'm hoping I can get by with what I already own.
I try to go as long as I can in the fall/winter without turning the heat on. I love being cold. However, the very low gas bill is a great motivator. It's been warm this week. I've managed to not turn the central a/c on yet. In previous years, I would have turned the a/c on already! Today is my first weekend day at home with it being warm. How I've survived the nights: I don't open my BR window as it's right next to my bed due to my allergies (which are very bad this spring). I leave one of the LR windows cracked a couple of inches (with the little stops engaged, so it can't be opened further, for security since I have a ground floor apt). I have my BR ceiling fan going (it's right above bed), as well as one of those 9" air circulator fans on a chair 4' away, aimed at the bed. It keeps me pretty cool at night. When I get home from work, I turn on the fans in the BR and open the windows in the LR. It's been cooling off pretty quick. Now, we'll see how I am when the humidity hits, but I'll take any savings I can. :)
Thanks for the kind words, tussiemussies! I think we will be able to get the furniture at a later time. Unfortunately, I do not think there is a way to reconfigure the existing furniture. It is entryway furniture--a coat rack, a table, and a bench--and it just doesn't function well for the space. The sizing/storage capacity just isn't right; we've tried rearranging it and such but just can't seem to make it work. We can make do for awhile longer, though. New furniture would be nice, but it isn't a need by a long shot. I am just trying to be thankful for all that we do have. We are, after all, very blessed. :)
fidgie--I like the way that you were able to re-use a mat you already had. I, too, am trying to buy less stuff. When I want something, I am trying to see if a) I actually do need it and b) if something else I have would suffice. I oftentimes realize that I don't need it or have something that will work. My final step is to wait a bit before buying. This allows me to look for a deal and also consider again if I really want/need it. Usually I forget all about it. LOL
Yesterday I had to take my little Charlie to the vet again. he is prone to urinary tract problems (blockages, infections, etc.), and I was concerned he was blocked again because he cried in the litterbox and nothing came out. The bad news is that I ended up spending just under $100 on the trip. But the good news is that he wasn't blocked and only has an infection. So, yes, $100 spent...but the last time he was blocked, it cost like $750, so this was better than that!
Last night my in-laws suggested we order food in for dinner, but I suggested the frozen pizzas and they were fine with that. They were here again for lunch today and again suggested ordering in...but I brought out some chips and stuff for sandwiches instead.
After they went home last night, DH, DD, and I had family movie night. We watched part of a movie we already owned and had a little popcorn and juice. It was really nice, and frugal, too!
I am kind of excited about today's frugal. I saw this cute hair bow tutorial on Pinterest, and since DD loves flags, I thought it would be fun to make some red, white, and blue ones for DD:
http://www.craftquickies.com/halloween-firecracker-hairbows/
The only thing is that I didn't have any red or blue fabric and didn't want to have to buy 1/4 yard each at my local quilt store. Well, today I was taking the baby's sheets (the baby we are expecting in about a week, I mean) downstairs to wash before putting them in his crib. DH designed a superhero nursery for him and bought two crib sheets--navy with white dots and bright red--to match. (we got them on sale and with a coupon, of course! ;-) ) Anyway, the sheets came wrapped in these little matching fabric bags. Usually I throw them out because they are kind of pointless...I'll never get the sheets folded up inside there again! But today I realized that these little fabric bags could be cut up and used for DD's 4th of July hair bows. They are the perfect colors and will look nice alternating with some white fabric scraps I have. Yay! Should be super cute, and they won't cost anything, really, since we needed the sheets anyway and already have the hair ties and the white.
fidgiegirl
5-18-13, 10:42pm
Superb on the fabric bags, Kat!
Is there anything your kitty can take for the urinary issues? Once I cat sat and had to add a cranberry powder to the cats' f food to help with something like that, but not being a cat person, I have no further ideas. Isn't it funny how sometimes it's a savings to go to the doc/vet early, especially for a known problem like in Charlie's case, but other times, it's better to wait it out, like in Rosa's case. And interestingly, in each case the decision was made the way it was made due to a previous experience. Just goes to show that it mostly comes down to paying attention, and like cdttmm said, stopping to think about it. :)
Tussiemussies
5-18-13, 11:02pm
Hi Kat, I recently saw some cute hair bows lately. Funny when I was a young girl I used to feel special when I had a proper hair ow on... That is a great re-purpose you found with the material.
Is the baby's room almost ready? When is he due? So exciting!
Kat, those hair bows sound so cute.
Blackdog Lin
5-19-13, 7:53am
Thanks to everyone that posts on this thread. I enjoy reading them all.
I remembered to "shop at home first" this week. My closet dirty-laundry basket died a couple of weeks ago (I'd been repairing it for years, and it just got to where it wasn't worth all the effort I was putting into it), so I moved one of the back-porch ones to my closet. I still had one good one on the back porch, but I wasn't happy about using the same basket to both hold dirty clothes till laundry day and as the one I use for the clean clothes ready for folding. So I added a laundry basket to the shopping list.
When out in the barn this week looking for flowerpots, I spied an old wooden fruit bushel basket, with handles and everything. Gave it a good spraying and sunning outside and it's working just fine as my dirty-laundry basket on the back porch.
I have been using "found" flower pots also. There were a surprising number hiding in the garage. Though I will need to find something bigger to move 2 of my green peppers into.
I am trying a home made weed killer this morning. I want to try to kill as many weeds as I can before I dig up the back flower bed and put in my little seedlings. I hope it works!
I have a very very small budget for gardening and I have been sticking to it pretty well.
I want to try a home made spider repellent but I don't have peppermint oil. Do you think peppermint extract, which I have an abundance of, would work?
Made dinner at home every night last week though the pantry was getting a little bare.
When I was grocery shopping Friday I found 2 pieces of skirt steak on markdown. I bought both of them made up the fajita marinade and put one in the freezer for later. One we had for dinner and it was soooo good. DH was seriously disappointed that I didn't let him cook up both. But what ever amount we cooked would have been eaten whether we were that hungry or not. I feel kind of guilty, he is a big guy, but there were plenty of veggies & cheese & salsa to bulk those fajitas up.
I made some baked oatmeal to put in the fridge for breakfasts this week. Also made up 2 batches of muffins for the freezer. Ty is now home for the summer. I think I need to increase my grocery budget a bit. Runners burn off a lot of calories!
fidgiegirl
5-19-13, 5:19pm
Thanks to everyone that posts on this thread. I enjoy reading them all.
I remembered to "shop at home first" this week. My closet dirty-laundry basket died a couple of weeks ago (I'd been repairing it for years, and it just got to where it wasn't worth all the effort I was putting into it), so I moved one of the back-porch ones to my closet. I still had one good one on the back porch, but I wasn't happy about using the same basket to both hold dirty clothes till laundry day and as the one I use for the clean clothes ready for folding. So I added a laundry basket to the shopping list.
When out in the barn this week looking for flowerpots, I spied an old wooden fruit bushel basket, with handles and everything. Gave it a good spraying and sunning outside and it's working just fine as my dirty-laundry basket on the back porch.
Love this! Sometimes it's hard to see something as having another purpose. Even though it wasn't a LAUNDRY basket you spied, you were open to the possibilities!
fidgiegirl
5-19-13, 5:21pm
I want to try a home made spider repellent but I don't have peppermint oil. Do you think peppermint extract, which I have an abundance of, would work?
I do not personally think it would work well. Extract is often mostly alcohol, and oils are much more potent. Plus both are expensive so I'd hate to see you waste your extract on it. Anyone else have thoughts on this? Of course it wouldn't probably hurt anything to try it!
Tussiemussies
5-19-13, 10:18pm
I would look up on the Internet about peppermint as an deterrent to bugs, I thought at one time a long time ago that I read that you could sprinkle the crushed dried herb. Peppermint aromatherapy oil probably is the strongest and if you buy the cheapest brand --Aura Cassia it shouldn't be too expensive since the bottle will last you awhile. In the meantime I'd give the extract a go at it since you have it.
The Weather Channel said it was 86F here this afternoon, but my place stayed pretty cool. There was a nice breeze, too. No a/c. :)
try2bfrugal
5-19-13, 11:49pm
On Friday we went out for a nice lunch with a buy one get one free coupon from the Entertainment book. In the evening we watched a Netflix movie for some additonal cheap entertainment. We watched Rock of Ages. It had its moments but I'm glad I didn't pay $8 a ticket at the theaters to see it.
Yesterday we spent the day checking out different cities where we want to eventually move to when we downsize. DH packed sandwiches. We ate them at a park and went to McDs for ice cream for dessert. I am not sure how the Safeway gas rewards points work but evidently DH got 10 cents off gas for having a Safeway card so that helped offset the gas cost of the trip a tiny bit.
We bought Advantix for the dog at Petco and asked them to price match their online prices. Between the Petco rewards program and the discount that saved us $20 off the store price and beat even the Amazon price. I don't like putting the tick stuff on the dog but we do a lot of hiking and he was getting ticks on him so we had little choice.
We went to the recycling center in the parking lot of the local bag it yourself, discount grocery store near us. We made $7 from the recycling and saved $70 on the groceries compared to shopping at Safeway or some other retail grocery store. They price match all of the local retail grocery stores even on sale items so we really like going there for our weekly shopping.
Our last energy bill was $100 less than for the same month a year earlier, so we were happy about that. We are working on getting it even lower.
That's sort of what I was thinking, Kelli. But like you and Chris said I have the extract so I it can't hurt to try it. Maybe I'll buy some oil when I get groceries again.
Tradd, we were at 85 yesterday and stayed quite comfortable in the house with the fan going. Today, however, we are going back to 85/86 and it is so humid. 50% chance of storms. The humidity really gets me but we don't have our air conditioner in yet. I'm doing ok so far, though. And if I stop thinking about it I'll probably be even better lol Oh, and I'm icing my feet right now and that really helps.
We have had about $450 worth of checks to Ian floating around Ann Arbor somewhere for the past few weeks. I am happy to report that 3 of the 4 items mailed to him are finally accounted for. Unfortunately the one missing envelope is the one with his new drivers license in it. He kind of needs the license since his is expiring soon and he is driving all over Ann Arbor with the solar car team learning how to caravan for when they go to Australia.
No spending today.
Instead of just saying I want to fix more meatless meals. I am enforcing Meatless Mondays on myself. Tonight I am thinking pasta with caramelized onions. I added some chopped garlic to the french bread in the bread machine.
fidgiegirl
5-20-13, 2:29pm
That Meatless Mondays is something really concrete, Azure! Yummy pasta idea!
Blackdog--I love that you are using a basket you already have. Sounds pretty and functional!
Not much here. Just eating at home, mostly, and trying to clean and organize. I did buy some frozen dinners to eat when the baby comes. Not the frugal-est option, I know, but it will be better than eating out every night! Since we will be on such a tight budget this summer, I am going to focus my efforts on cleaning and organizing. I wanted to get more done before the baby comes, but this home improvement project (the nursery remodel) has been a total nightmare. We still aren't done, and the house is a disaster! I am hoping we can start getting things put away before he comes, but I am trying not to pursue perfection (hard with this nesting instinct! ;-) ) I am still not feeling well and am staying off my feet for the most part, so I am telling myself there will be time to get things done later. Since I won't be working, I am hoping I can, little by little, get things done while the kiddos nap. I'll be staying home, which is frugal, but also cleaning and decluttering--both of which deter me from buying more stuff.
DD and I had blast popping bubble wrap this morning. She just giggled and giggled and giggled! :)
This afternoon I processed a return and was able to re-use packaging I already had. I also called Amazon customer service as there were two beautiful children's book collections on sale for around $7-8 each (regular price $70!). My Kindle was acting up, though, and kept locking up. By the time I got to my computer downstairs, the price had increased to over $30 each. So I asked if I could purchase them for the lesser price, and the rep said yes. So I now have ten beautifully illustrated classic children's novels for my gift closet for around $16. Way better than the "other" sale price of $70 (or the original price of $140!). It will be awhile before my kiddos can read them, but I am fine with leaving them in the closet for a few years. They are really gorgeous!
Did some laundry today and hung some to dry. Spent the afternoon cleaning out the fridge and giving its shelves a good scrubbing. Now that I know what is in there, I can focus on using it up! I thought we needed groceries, but we really don't. Dinner will be at home tonight.
Tussiemussies
5-21-13, 3:56pm
Kat, do hope you are feeling better soon and that your house gets back in order. We had a kitchen refurbishing and had just moved in so I understand how unsettling it is,and you have a baby on the way. What will you name him? bThat is adorable how your daughter got so much joy from her bubble wrap. It must have been so cute to see!
AmeliaJane
5-22-13, 12:20am
I am quite proud of this one--the doctor told me I need to get more active, and after considering various options (I live in a part of the country where outside exercise is not on the agenda in the summer) I decided to start with a Wii Fit. A couple of relatives have them and I have had a chance to try them out there. I bought a used Wii and balance board on Ebay, and used common sense and the Internet to figure out how to set everything up. I even had to order a special connector to use the HDMI port on my TV. I spent less than half what it would have cost to buy everything new, and it worked perfectly!
Tussiemussies--We remodeled our kitchen when I was expecting DD, and it was a difficult project. The kitchen is a tough room to be without! Glad you are all back in yours now and can resume life as usual. :) Oh, and the baby's name...is a surprise! ;)
AmeliaJane--Isn't Wii fit neat?
Well, even though I said I didn't need groceries this week, I am headed to the store this morning. The new flyer was just released, and there are a number of things listed at my stock up price (namely meat and condiments on sale for Memorial Day). I still have grocery money left, so I don't consider this a fail. I had planned to save that money, but it will be nice to stock the freezer, too. It is starting to look a little bare, and I hate paying full price for things. Nothing irritates me more than paying $3.79 a pound for chicken when I know it was only $1.99 two weeks ago!
Other than that, I plan to resume my work on the kitchen today while DD naps. I am also going to take her outside to play with her big red ball!
I received two free item coupons in the mail yesterday. Then last night I won a free case for my camera-I don't have one at the moment so this is a nice little win.
I think we might have completely lost our minds with this idea but dh and I are gathering things together to have a garage sale in the evenings after we close the restaurant this weekend. We will have the front parking lot empty, lots of road traffic and there's tons of stuff to get rid of. The only thing I'm not sure we'll have is the energy!
fidgiegirl
5-22-13, 4:51pm
bke, perhaps DS would like to make a few bucks by setting up or staffing the sale!
Great on the groceries, Kat. We're terrible about grocery savings opportunities. We just buy.
AmeliaJane, that is such an awesome feeling! Isn't it incredible how much one can save by DIY and used? The Internet is such a wealth of resources . . .
As for here, my DH's car saga continues. Now it's the brakes, and the A/C really is leaking - from the condenser AND the compressor! :0! We won't fix that after all, but the brakes are non-negotiable. At least the shop offers a 15% discount for local employees and they do good work. STILL cheaper than getting a new car. :)
Fidgie-ds cleaned a bunch of stuff out of his room yesterday. He has so many nice books for young readers! Oh, and the clothes! He grows faster than he can wear them out. We told him that we aren't going to get rid of anything he cares about but unless its something he knows he bought, it's all going into the same fund. He's been getting plenty of extra cash for field trips and fun days at school lately. I've got at least $200 invested in such things for the month of May.
I also have a bunch of school supplies like colored pencils and crayons that I got for free years ago as well as moisturizers, kids tooth brushes, deoderants and other items.
When dh and I met I was at my thinnest ever. I was also at the point in my life where I was buying nice, good quality clothing. The weight I'm at now is 3-4 sizes larger than that. I've been holding on to all these clothes because it seemed so wasteful to get rid of them. Plus, you know how we women can be, always thinking we should be thinner. Thing is, I'm 42 and I've been within 5-10 lbs of my current weight for most of the last 20 years. So I am officially purging the closets and dressers (not to mention all the boxes) of clothes that I haven't worn in 15 years. I've moved these things to 5 different houses thinking that maybe some day I might need them.
Let's see, do I have any actual frugals to share?
Well, I'm washing a ton of laudry today. Half for our use and half for the sale. I'm using up a bunch of single load free laundry samples I have laying around the house.
I ate a very indulgent doughnut for breakfast but I washed it down with a free cup of coffee.
I had bought a bottle of multi vitamins for ds but they irritate his stomach. I don't see anything in them (they're men's vitamins) that will hurt me so I've decided to use them up instead of throwing them out.
I'm sure I'll fit in a few sweepstakes today.
I borrowed a bunch of magazines from the library yesterday. I like to thumb through them and its so much $$$ to buy them. I used to be one of those people who couldn't get through the check out line without buying a magazine.
rosarugosa
5-25-13, 7:36am
This might not exactly be a frugal, but I ended up spending less money than I might have otherwise, and it could have relevance for others, so I'm going to share. A few months ago, I bought a small (6"x6") oil painting online, and I needed to get it framed. If my painting hadn't been square I might have been able to find a ready-made frame to pop it into, but I wasn't able to find anything with those dimensions. I went to Michael's craft store because there is one in my town and I knew they did framing. I'm not a real fan of the store, but it was convenient and I assumed that the price would be reasonable. The woman in the framing dept was very off-putting and not very customer-oriented, but that is not the main point. Basically, they don't frame something that small, so they would need to mat it to make it bigger and add glass, etc. Total price was $65.00, which I didn't think was too crazy, since I know framing is expensive. But after I went home, I kept turning it over in my mind, because I didn't want glass and matting, etc. and I just wanted it framed as a 6"x6" painting, and I went back the next morning to get my painting back and cancel the transaction, because I disliked paying for something that wasn't even what I wanted. Now I needed to come up with an alternative and I remembered that there was a small frame shop in Melrose Square, and I like to support small local businesses, so I decided that would be a good choice even if it cost a bit more. Bottom line is that they are doing exactly what I want for $30.00! So lesson learned is not to assume that the big-box store is cheaper than the small local store.
Tussiemussies
5-25-13, 5:01pm
This might not exactly be a frugal, but I ended up spending less money than I might have otherwise, and it could have relevance for others, so I'm going to share. A few months ago, I bought a small (6"x6") oil painting online, and I needed to get it framed. If my painting hadn't been square I might have been able to find a ready-made frame to pop it into, but I wasn't able to find anything with those dimensions. I went to Michael's craft store because there is one in my town and I knew they did framing. I'm not a real fan of the store, but it was convenient and I assumed that the price would be reasonable. The woman in the framing dept was very off-putting and not very customer-oriented, but that is not the main point. Basically, they don't frame something that small, so they would need to mat it to make it bigger and add glass, etc. Total price was $65.00, which I didn't think was too crazy, since I know framing is expensive. But after I went home, I kept turning it over in my mind, because I didn't want glass and matting, etc. and I just wanted it framed as a 6"x6" painting, and I went back the next morning to get my painting back and cancel the transaction, because I disliked paying for something that wasn't even what I wanted. Now I needed to come up with an alternative and I remembered that there was a small frame shop in Melrose Square, and I like to support small local businesses, so I decided that would be a good choice even if it cost a bit more. Bottom line is that they are doing exactly what I want for $30.00! So lesson learned is not to assume that the big-box store is cheaper than the small local store.
That was a great saving rosa! We always go to Michaels for standard size frames which are expensive enough. I wish there was a small shop in town like you have!
fidgiegirl
5-25-13, 10:09pm
Hello everyone!
We have had an interesting spring with gardening. I think in some ways we saved, in others not. It was our first year really starting a big crop of seedlings. On Rosemary's recommendation we bought a small greenhouse that we set up in our sun porch and that worked well. We hooked up some gro-lights that we'd accumulated over the years for the evening hours. We started these in late March. However, we messed up on the lights - didn't keep the plants near enough to them, so they got super leggy. I estimate we lost about half our seedlings to leggyness - breaking off at the middle of their long stems. Others just never really developed leaves. But we did get a good quantity of tomatoes, squash, peppers and a handful of others. Now that we've made the investment in equipment and learned the lesson with the lights future years could really be a savings with the seedlings, and man were they a fun project in the eternal winter we had this year. They gave us hope!
So they are all in the ground now. We had to pick up a few veggies at the greenhouse but mostly we'll see what we get from seeds and the seedlings we grew ourselves or picked up at cheap plant sales. We put in a bunch of veggies at the community garden plot and at my parents' already this weekend. I also transplanted some ferns from their house to ours, and we'll be moving some hostas from our house to our rental house tomorrow. Whew! A gardening whirlwind! :D
Tussiemussies
5-25-13, 11:24pm
Sounds like a lot of work Kelli but also a lot of fun too! Hope you get a good yield. Sounds like you started a lot of plants. Plants I start but they don't all take. Flowers I have a hard time growing from seed indoor. Did you try any flowers?
fidgiegirl
5-26-13, 10:57am
We did try flowers and they all failed. Funny you mentioned that!
Tussiemussies
5-26-13, 4:40pm
Thanks Kelli for letting me know, there must be someone on board who is successful with flowers? I'm going to post about it....
Kat, I don't know how you ever went through a kitchen renovation while being pregnant!!! That may have been extremely stressful.....
rosarugosa
5-27-13, 7:08pm
Okay, we have the good, the bad and the ugly here :)
I'm going to claim the lobsters as a frugal. Market Basket had a sale for the holiday weekend for $5.99/lb. DH got about 4 lbs worth, and MB cooked them for us (no charge for that and it saves a lot of fuss and mess). We had great big lobster rolls for dinner Fri, I made a fancy tossed salad with lobster and mango and smoked paprika dressing for dinner Sat, I nibbled on the lobster bodies with Humprey the cat last night and we polished off the last one tonight. So for $24.00, we ate lobster all weekend, felt very fortunate, didn't waste any of it, and were not tempted to eat out at all. So I would call that money well spent!
I had designated rainy yesterday as the day for the semi-annual closet cleaning and seasonal clothing rotation. I really didn't feel like doing it, and I was thinking about going to the mall or something instead (horrors!), and frittering away time online and just generally procrastinating. So I gave it some hard thought, and realized there wasn't a thing I really needed or even wanted at the mall, and that what I really needed was a clean closet, and that I could "buy" that with an investment of time rather than wasting it. Once I jumped into the closet project, I didn't come up for air for several hours and was very pleased with the accomplishment. I have one bag for SA donation and I tossed a few old pairs of shoes that weren't good enough to donate.
Today was a beautiful day, so DH & I took a nice long hike in the woods with a friend, and that was great free fun. But afterwards, DH & I went to Trader Joe's, and that was the ugly part, because TJ's is a real budget-buster for us lately. The good news is that we have lots of dark chocolate! :)
A neighborhood friend raised over 600 seedlings - several kinds of tomatoes, maybe 5 pepper varieties, and 3 eggplant - obviously way more than they would need but the plan was their sons would have a plant sale during our neighborhood garage sale. The dad came by during my sale offering any we wanted at no cost because there was no way they would sell all of them. Then the mom dropped off the order form and told me to call her husband and he would deliver them since I was working my sale. It ended up that I and my friend who was with me each got 4 tomato and 1 pepper plant and were encouraged to stop by and take as many as we wanted. I got them in the ground today and now am out of room - they do like to get carried away with things! But I appreciate their generosity!!
Tussiemussies
5-27-13, 9:25pm
A neighborhood friend raised over 600 seedlings - several kinds of tomatoes, maybe 5 pepper varieties, and 3 eggplant - obviously way more than they would need but the plan was their sons would have a plant sale during our neighborhood garage sale. The dad came by during my sale offering any we wanted at no cost because there was no way they would sell all of them. Then the mom dropped off the order form and told me to call her husband and he would deliver them since I was working my sale. It ended up that I and my friend who was with me each got 4 tomato and 1 pepper plant and were encouraged to stop by and take as many as we wanted. I got them in the ground today and now am out of room - they do like to get carried away with things! But I appreciate their generosity!!
That was really nice of them...
fidgiegirl
5-28-13, 7:04pm
Bryce is hanging the blind I scored for $1 at a garage sale in a very odd size for above the sink. Yeah!
Blackdog Lin
5-28-13, 10:04pm
We've been out of, and looking for, small square hay bales to use for our tomato-plants mulch in the garden, as we do them every year. Yesterday while driving the country roads on the way to pick up our cemetery flowers we crossed paths with the neighbor who hays our acreage every year, so we stop and pass the time with him (and his dog - he drives around with his baby dog, of course. :) ) And DH mentions our need for some old straw bales. And neighbor says he has a few in his barn, he'll have his grandson get them down, and that sounds awesome but we really don't believe it will actually happen, people forget this kind of stuff, they get busy etc. etc. you know?
I'll be darned, neighbor showed up this morning with 4 bales of straw, and we spent this evening mulching and putting up the tomato cages. Tomato plants are all done 'cept for putting up the fencepole stakes to hold up the cages. And all for free. (Neighbor kinda owes us as he hays our pasture every year for free.) I was prepared to have to pay to get some straw this year. Free is better.
Tussiemussies
5-28-13, 10:21pm
We've been out of, and looking for, small square hay bales to use for our tomato-plants mulch in the garden, as we do them every year. Yesterday while driving the country roads on the way to pick up our cemetery flowers we crossed paths with the neighbor who hays our acreage every year, so we stop and pass the time with him (and his dog - he drives around with his baby dog, of course. :) ) And DH mentions our need for some old straw bales. And neighbor says he has a few in his barn, he'll have his grandson get them down, and that sounds awesome but we really don't believe it will actually happen, people forget this kind of stuff, they get busy etc. etc. you know?
I'll be darned, neighbor showed up this morning with 4 bales of straw, and we spent this evening mulching and putting up the tomato cages. Tomato plants are all done 'cept for putting up the fencepole stakes to hold up the cages. And all for free. (Neighbor kinda owes us as he hays our pasture every year for free.) I was prepared to have to pay to get some straw this year. Free is better.
Really nice of your neighbor to keep his word!
Well our two evening garage sale (we ran it from 4 to 8 pm) was a decent success I think. We sold $120 worth of stuff. I did great on the new items that I had like crayons, deodorant and lotions. I actually sold 140, yes one hundred and forty, toothbrushes to a lady! She makes Christmas stockings for low-income kids and is going include the brushes.
Fidgiegirl- I was inspired by all your great sale finds and went to a neighbor's sale 2 weeks ago looking for things I might turn a profit on. I bought a $4 BBQ tool set and sold it for $10. I also bought a campfire grill and resold it for a small profit.
Anyways, I'm sure we'll do this again before the summer is over. This was Dh's first sale and he was impressed by some of the things that sold.
Ds spent yesterday on Mackinac Island with his class. I gave him $40 spending money. He returned with $18 of it. His big purchase was fudge for the entire family. He only bought himself a small key chain as a souvenir.
Another ds brag. He is about to finish middle school and they have a big farewell dance tomorrow night. He bought his ticket in advance, saving a couple of bucks without even telling me about it/asking me for the money. I'll give him some spending money as a way of sharing the expense with him. But my point is, he bought in advance to save money.
I used coupons to save 20% on last night's shopping trip. I only spent $40 to buy what we needed for the week.
early morning
5-29-13, 11:25pm
Same old stuff - been line drying clothes, taking commando showers- but offset some of that by washing more things in warm, instead of cold, water. Took in over $500. at the antique show we set up at on Sunday... sold enough trash-picked stuff to cover booth rent. What we sold we had maybe $175 in - and we had a heep of fun!! Our electric bill is down a bit this month, which is good. Managed to get gas this evening at the cheapest station. Watching library shows and reading library books and trying to not buy stuff...
Hello friends! I have missed you all.
Tonight Zach and I had an at-home date night. We are trying to do more of these over the summer and reduce how much we go out or dates. It's harder in the winter, but pretty easy in the summer.
I had been planning to go out for coffee with a friend this afternoon, but we decided to have coffee at her house instead. It was fun to see her and catch up and it didn't cost a penny.
fidgiegirl
5-30-13, 7:33am
Well our two evening garage sale (we ran it from 4 to 8 pm) was a decent success I think. We sold $120 worth of stuff. ... Fidgiegirl- I was inspired by all your great sale finds and went to a neighbor's sale 2 weeks ago looking for things I might turn a profit on. I bought a $4 BBQ tool set and sold it for $10. I also bought a campfire grill and resold it for a small profit.
That is fantastic on the sale! I think that's a pretty decent haul for an evening when not as many people are expecting to see a sale, and I'm sure you got all the items for cheap/free! Nice work on the reselling - I have never thought of the reselling-in-person angle, BTW. Now you've given me a new idea!
fidgiegirl
5-30-13, 7:33am
Hello friends! I have missed you all.
You have been missed as well, dear Stella! Nice to see you!
I needed a frame for my newly-gotten brokers license yesterday. Instead of "professional framing" as several people were urging me to do, I went to Target and spent $13 for a black wood frame with a double matting. Looks pretty nice and I didn't spent $$$. :)
Stella-so good to see you!
Tradd- great way to save money on the frame. Dh and I talk all the time about mindless ways people overspend. Congrats on the broker's license as well!
Today I am going to spend some time cancelling the insurance and utilities at the house we sold yesterday. I took some final meter readings and just need to turn them in.
I'm doing all my usual Thursday frugals: drinking free coffee, using free laundry soap, sweepstaking, etc.
It is good to see you back, Stella!
And, Tradd, congratulations on finally getting that piece of paper. You knew you were getting it, but actually having it in your hands ... hard fought and well won!
Not many new frugals to report here. A friend of my wife's delivered some promised rhubarb. It feels like about five pounds worth! Since we don't make dessert dishes with it, it will last a while (in the freezer). But it is nice not to have to spend $2-3 a bunch at the farmer's market.
Filled up the car Monday. I'm good for another 6-7 weeks ... I don't tend to shop around for the cheapest price; I go to a reliable station. My experience is that their prices are on the lower end anyway. And at 47 mpg (for this tank), I think my time is better spent elsewhere.
Made a chicken dish using a whole (self-)cut-up chicken rather than the chicken breasts the recipe specified. That's half the price of split chicken breasts and it made no functional difference in the dish at all.
Carry on!
Thanks for the welcome back everyone!
Bke, congratulations on selling the house!
Tradd, that was a good deal on the frame! It's kind of shocking to me how much frames can be sometimes.
Today is pretty standard stuff. I am going to use up some tortillas tonight for enchiladas for dinner. We had peanut butter and banana sandwiches and popcorn for lunch. That is pretty cheap and all five kids count it among their favourite lunches.
Zach has decided to give up coffee for good, so I am only making a half a pot a day now for my dad and me. That's actually a huge savings, since good coffee is one of my splurge items.
I am going to a homeschool conference used curriculum sale tomorrow. I have given myself a budget of $100 so I don't go too crazy. I have some ideas of what I am looking for. I do consider this an investment as whatever I buy will be used, eventually, by the three little kids as well as the older ones. I'm very excited about this conference. It should be fun. An author I really like is doing a couple of the workshops.
Tussiemussies
5-30-13, 5:34pm
Tradd, what a great idea. Congratulations in actually receiving paper! :cool:
Congratulations on the broker's license, Tradd!
Congratulations on selling the house, bke!
Welcome back, Stella!
Not much to report here. My mom came for a visit -- I "bought" her a plane ticket using the airline miles I had saved up over the past several years. We spent the week working on gardening projects. We spent less than $150 for all of the gardening supplies this year, not including our annual mulch delivery. This is definitely a record low for us, so I'm thrilled I was able to remain strong and stick to the budget I had given myself.
On my second week at my new job and will end up working extra hours this week! And I was told to continue working extra hours throughout June as there is money in the budget to pay me for extra time so I'm going to take advantage of that as much as possible!
Stella, my daughter went to one of those a few weeks before Mother's Day and came home with tons of great stuff. I was working and could not go with her, so sad. Those conferences are so informative and so much fun. Have a great time!
I am looking forward to it, Jilly. I think it should be a lot of fun!
Cdttmm, your visit with your mom sounds really nice!
I had a bit if a dinner snafu this evening, but I was able to rescue it. I asked Zach to get me some ground beef from the freezer for the enchiladas and by the time I was halfway through cooking it I could smell that it was actually Swedish Meatball mix. Not so good for enchiladas. I ended up making it onto a Swedish Meatball stroganoff hybrid with homemade spaetzle and peas. It was really good. The family asked me to make it more often.
I also made the enchiladas, but just cheese enchiladas since we eat meatless meals on Fridays. I didn't add the sauce, but the are ready in the fridge for tomorrow. I will just add the sauce and a little more cheese and bake them.
I am also making Popsicles with some fruit that needs to be used up. I had strawberries and a mango to use. I had saved some syrup from a can of pears thinking I might toss it in some muffins, so I tossed it with this instead. Yes, it's sugar, but I figure most Popsicles are nothing but sugar and at least these have fruit in them. :) I added a frozen banana and we have a snack for tomorrow. The next batch I make will be with frozen bananas and some vanilla yogurt that needs using up.
I asked Zach to get me some ground beef from the freezer for the enchiladas and by the time I was halfway through cooking it I could smell that it was actually Swedish Meatball mix. Not so good for enchiladas.
A bit off-topic, but I bought a package of lefse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefse) once and there was a recipe for "Swedish Enchiladas" printed on the package. That was a bit of a hoot to start with since the stereotype is that, in Scandinavian cooking, milk is a spice. Their recipe called for lefse (naturally) instead of tortillas and canned beef stew instead of Mexican-seasoned beef. That made me laugh so hard! I kept that portion of the bag. No one would ever believe it otherwise...
Hahahahaha! Oh that is priceless. I should make those for my grandma. That sounds like an enchilada she could get into.
Great story, Steve. When I had lived in MN all of 3 months as a transplant from AZ (though I originally hail from the east coast), a friend from college who grew up here in MN came over for lunch. I had made chili - certainly not incendiary, but probably with a chipotle or two in there. She made the comment that oatmeal was about as spicy as she liked her food. Oops!
On a similar note, a cafe in our area frequently offers on its menu the "pot roast quesadilla." I am always puzzled by this and find the concept unappetizing. But now I see the light: it's basically stew on bread, smothered with melted cheese. How Midwestern!
A bit off-topic, but I bought a package of lefse (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lefse) once and there was a recipe for "Swedish Enchiladas" printed on the package. That was a bit of a hoot to start with since the stereotype is that, in Scandinavian cooking, milk is a spice. ...
I love that! Even though I'm now officially "Scandinavian*," I sure didn't inherit the bland food gene. Or the seafood gene, either.
*According to Ancestry.com DNA results
fidgiegirl
5-31-13, 7:40pm
I scored an incredible deal on my favorite pads today at Walgreens, so I bought six packs. I had to make a return trip for the rest of them once I figured out that it was such an awesome price. Got six packs for what I'd normally pay for three. And since I use cloth when at home, I can really stretch a pack of pads for several months now. These will last me more than a year, I bet.
And then I went and spent all the savings at Whole Foods. :|( But man, oh man, did we have a yummy supper.
Blackdog Lin
5-31-13, 8:37pm
fidgie: tell us about your yummy supper. Even if it cost too much - I love to hear about yummy suppers. :)
I posted this already in the gardening thread, but DH found an old cattle panel in the barn and used it with metal fence poles (of which we keep a large supply around, they come in handy for so many things) to set me up a garden trellis for the cucumbers. A free trellis, just needed DH to use his imagination to use what we had on hand already.
rosarugosa
5-31-13, 9:23pm
Kelli, we do this all the time - save with one hand and spend with the other. Always a work in progress, I guess!
STELLA! (said in a loud Marlon Brando-like voice) - Glad you're back! We "talked" once about the germanic/scandinavian culinary traditions, and your swedish meatball enchiladas are giving me a great deal of amusement! Mind you, I only make salads, so it's a friendly type of amusement, with not
a drop of scorn nor condescention :)
fidgiegirl
5-31-13, 9:30pm
:D Spring greens salad with gorgonzola (cha ching) and dried cherries (cha cha CHA ching) with balsamic vinaigrette, and Santa Fe turkey burgers pre-prepared in the meat case. Mmmmmmmm!
I just changed the antenna on my DH's car!! I feel completely badass! I even bled! :D Got the antenna for about $12 online, but it came with no instructions and this is the first time I found nothing helpful online. So I dived in, and discovered that the original (non-functioning) antenna apparatus looked quite different than the replacement one, but I figured it out nonetheless. And now his radio does AM stations! Yip yip yippee! I am so proud of this it is getting cross posted in the "finishing" thread.
rosarugosa
5-31-13, 9:38pm
Kelli: I think that is badass enough to post on the MMM forum, and if anyone tries to punch you out, I will defend you!
I can also rationalize your WH dinner thusly: Salad, it's so f*cking good for you!"
On a more practical note, I do believe DH has perfected the turkeyburger. Lots of turmeric, some smoked paprika, and mixed with some chopped arugula and mushrooms when we have them. I am loving these, and I was utterly scornful of turkeyburgers before :)
fidgiegirl
5-31-13, 10:57pm
Rosa, my MMM defender! Yes, things can be kind of intimidating over there!
Turkey burgers are so easy to overcook. We did with these, actually, but they were still good. I'm going to keep your turkeyburger combo in mind! Sounds yummalicious.
Hi Rosa! I am glad to be back. Kelli, that is a great success! Good job!
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