November Frugals!!! [Archive] - Simple Living Forums

danna

11-2-13, 11:45am

I will start this month because I really need to save some money!!!

Nov 01 & Nov02

--spread sheets up to date and ready for new month...year to date balances are really good in
some categories and not so good in others:|(
I have enough in savings for some projects I have to face but, would feel better not digging into that.

--Really not wasting much food and it does show on the grocery bill, but of course I still have way too
much stockpiled to need to keep eating that down.
--went to two church brazers today but, only parked once and walked to the second one, good exercise for free.
Only bought a wooden bee house for the backyard, made for recycled wood and the money was going to a good cause.
Didn't spend anything else. But, saw a lovely idea for hats and mitts made from old sweaters lined with fleece.
They were selling these mitts for $20.00 a pair. I am thinking a great idea for the youngest on my Christmas list.
--Have picked two older outfits to wear around the house, wear then out then start on others, reminds me that I also,
have too many clothes, and as I have been losing a few pounds I need to use up what I have and not buy till I need lower sizes.
--watched t.v. and read while drinking really nice hot tea for entertainment last night.
--will be trying to rethink every penny spent (even if we don;t use those anymore ......lol)
--Again I am Challenging myself to the 100 item decluttered this month on the theory that a decluttered house
is one that you can find what you need and not rebuy.
;)

fidgiegirl

11-2-13, 1:33pm

Thanks for starting the thread danna, and sounds like you are off to a great start!

I made my own furniture polish and "non-petroleum jelly" for my poor ol' nose . . . my other body care thread. That was all from supplies that were already on hand. Also dug around and looked for our Murphy's Oil Soap instead of believing my DH that we had none. :) Score.

Meal planning saved us a bunch of unnecessary trips to the store last week and was so much less stressful. I am going to start a book with the meal plan on one side of the page and the freezer inventory on the other side. That way we can look back through the meals we've used in the past. I know some were winners but we've forgotten about them.

Accumulating baby goods is going frugally so far, have received a few gifts, have some maternity clothes from a friend but I believe they will be too small for me (should still try them on to be sure), we got a pack n play in good shape at a garage sale, someone has offered me a free stroller but it is not in hand yet, my close girlfriend is going to sell us some nice items and give us some others . . . so that's coming together. I am trying hard not to get too much stuff because I know it will come, and also that the new baby won't need too much and I want to see how our daily living actually pans out. For example, will we really walk upstairs to change diapers? Doubtful. So no changing table. But maybe it will turn out that we do, and we can get one later. So that's that.

Tradd

11-2-13, 1:37pm

I cashed in a jar full of change and ended up with $45 for my trip to NOLA next week. I didn't think I had that much! Pleasant surprise.

flowerseverywhere

11-2-13, 4:06pm

Congrats Fidgiegirl!
Grandchild was born this week, but with two older siblings and two older cousins close by he needs nothing. Their next door neighbor bought over a bag of older boy clothes so I went through them with stain remover and had to do some minor repairs, but lotS of usable clothes for the oldest. They also have so many toys! So I showed up with lots of healthy food, cleaned the house top to bottom while mom was in the hospital, and am taking the other ones on some day trips while mom gets some rest. She appreciatedcoming home to all clean beds, bathroom and even clean kids. Can't think of a better present than that.

fidgiegirl

11-2-13, 4:10pm

That would be an awesome present!! :D

danna

11-2-13, 4:50pm

fidgiegirl I have not been on much lately I have missed your wonderful news!

Congratulations!!

danna

11-2-13, 4:52pm

flowerseverywhere that is truly a great gift any new Mom would be thrilled to get!!
And, Congratulations to you too!

fidgiegirl

11-2-13, 6:17pm

Thanks everyone! :)

SteveinMN

11-3-13, 12:30pm

Frugals so far:

- We're eating out of the freezer and pantry this week. So I picked up the few items we needed at the supermarket down the street. Despite getting a few unlisted items on good sales, I still walked away with a very low bill and it was a no-drive day to boot.
- Courtesy of the 100-item October declutter, I found enough moisturizing creams (for both DW and me) to line a small drugstore shelf. We will not be buying any more moisturizers for the next several months!
- (I don't think I mentioned this one earlier) A magazine I subscribe to "cleverly" decided to make its subscriptions automatic-renewal. The magazine keeps coming and they send you a bill. When I discovered that, I called them and opted out. First, I'd rather read magazines electronically than sacrifice trees (this is not a magazine to archive). Second, I can borrow that title from the library (or even read it there) if I want to. Third, I think it's sneaky to just keep sending it; I wonder how many people will be cowed into paying the bill because they don't really know when the subscription is over.
- Local mechanic (literally; he's two blocks away; we could push the car there if we needed to) did the 30,000 mile service on DW's car and chose not to charge us for swapping the summer tires for winter tires. I wasn't quite so lucky at my last visit (different mechanic). So that's probably about $20 saved.
- Got a free sample of coffee in the mail last week and made it this morning. We don't like it as much as our usual (ALDI Donut Store blend) but it wasn’t bad and the price was absolutely right. lol
- Found a Web "service" that DW got roped into (she thought she clicked all the right boxes but those folks are pretty sneaky). The service charges $22 and change a month. I paid last month's without knowing it was more "service" than she thought she was getting. I won't be paying this month, if I can help it. DW cancelled the service. I hate how sneaky those companies are...

Stella

11-3-13, 1:02pm

Kelli, I think you are being very prudent in how you are planning for baby. When are you due? I am so excited for you! It's not totally public yet (as in everyone but my mom knows) but we are expecting another little girl in March, Veronica Rose.

The kids were put playing the other day and brought home some squash. One of our neighbours, I think one of the families that has their house in the city here and a farm in the country, (kind of a strange, but awesome trend in my area) had a table in front of their house loaded with squash and a sign that said "free" on it, so they picked me up a couple. I'm going to make it later this week with pork chops and cornbread stuffing.

Yesterday I brought a meal to a friend who is recovering from surgery. I made a big batch of 75 Swedish meatballs. I gave her about 15 of them with some egg noodles and gravy and a salad and froze the rest for easy weeknight meals. Next week our neighbourhood is providing a meal for a homeless shelter for teens. I'm scheduled to provide the vegetable. I didn't just want to bring frozen veggies, even though they would be cheap, so I'm thinking I'm going to make a salad. I can get a ton of lettuce at Costco for $4 and make my own dressing. I'll probably add some chopped apples and walnuts too, which I already have.

I downloaded a free "budget envelope" app to track my spending. So far I've been really good about adding my expenses and it's really helping me stay accountable.

I signed up for Amazon Prime and Amazon mom and I've decided to try out their subscription program. I get a $25 credit on diapers for signing up and I put my diapers, wipes, paper products, vitamins and some cleaning supplies that are used regularly on subscription. I get free delivery and 20% off the cost of the products, which was competitive to begin with. It shouldn't take long to make up the cost of the Amazon Prime subscription and it's one more thing I don't have to go to the store and get.

We are starting to make our Christmas gifts. The kids decided it would be a fun homeschool project and I am planning far enough in advance that I can take things bit by bit and get discounts. This week I bought a soap making kit at Michaels using a 40% off coupon. I saved $8. Next week we will make candles, also with a 40% off coupon, and the next week we are going to make coiled fabric baskets using scrap fabric and piping, which I will get using yet another 40% off coupon from JoAnn. In December my friend Rose is going to teach the girls how to make a doll quilt (which they will make for each other) and I am going to make it simple for everyone by getting a bundle of precut fabric with another coupon. This is all coming out of my education budget (I have all of the books I need for the year) so the money is doing double duty. Education and gifts all in one. Can't go wrong with that!

I bought some reusable baby food pouches. I have found myself sometimes avoiding making things like soup, smoothies or oatmeal, that are both very inexpensive and healthy, because of the mess factor with Charlotte. For $10 I got 6 reusable pouches that I can give to Charlotte. I tried it this morning with oatmeal and it was mess-free.

We looked on the History Center website last night and it looks like they are doing their Black Friday event again. Last year Zach and the big kids camped out and got a free Historical Society membership. We were hoping they would do it again so we could make it a tradition. I'm so happy they are! We got a lot of great use out of that last year.

Stella

11-3-13, 1:03pm

Flowers everywhere, that is the best baby gift ever!

SteveinMN

11-3-13, 1:29pm

Congratulations, Stella!

flowerseverywhere

11-3-13, 2:18pm

Wow Stella, you are a bundle of energy! Congratulations.
In our consumer society I think long and hard before giving presents. Gifts of food, experiences and time are so much more meaningful to me and I know to the people who receive them.

Florence

11-3-13, 3:13pm

I made out a Meals for a Month chart for November. This helps decrease those "No idea what's for dinner, let's go out" incidences. It also minimizes trips to the grocery.
I am making a quilt out of scraps. I did have to buy batting but all the fabric and thread is from leftover pieces.
Made a big pot of veggie soup and froze six portions for future lunches.
It has been not too hot and not too cold so we have not had to use the a/c or heat.

Selah

11-3-13, 3:51pm

My beautiful leather Israeli briefcase, which some kind soul left out next to the dumpster, got a nice facelift. It had handles but no shoulder strap, so I took a matching belt I had but wasn't wearing anymore, and took them both to the great local cobbler. He made a great shoulder strap out of the belt! No waste, and I got to spend my money supporting a true Old World artisan, instead of just throwing things away and buying something new.

I also researched online how to "block" a woolen sweater. I'd bought a gorgeous blue merino wool men's jumper at the charity shop for about $3, but it was too small overall. I washed it, stretched it, and dried it so it became a size larger with some "give" in the right places, and now I have a fabulous sweater myself!

Good quality aprons are expensive here, for some reason...most Israeli women don't wear them, as far as I can see, and so most aprons for sale are imports from Germany. Instead of forking out on that, I bought two good quality tea-towels (dish cloths) and will be sewing them together to make my own great apron, for about 1/10 of the price.

I found a gorgeous men's Versace navy blue woolen blazer by a dumpster, and snatched it up. A trip to the dry-cleaners, and a switch of the shoulder pads and some extra tailoring done by the wonderful Russian seamstress in town, and I'll have a kickass, elegant, and classic garment for about $30 USD!

Now if I can only find someone to dump an L-shaped desktop, which will be my next project. I need a real desk!

fidgiegirl

11-3-13, 4:28pm

Selah, super resourceful of you!

Stella, congrats! You were good at keeping it under wraps. :) I am due in early April, so the little people will be just about the same age. Awwww . . .

Nice to know about the baby food pouches.

We went out to eat, so count that against our frugal points. :) The rest of the day? Laundry, laundry, and more laundry, possibly cleaning crap out of the basement in order for more demolition to take place.

rosarugosa

11-3-13, 6:42pm

Congratulations, Stella. You and Zach are building quite the dynasty there!
Selah, I believe you are the most inspired scavenger ever! It is amazing how people throw away so many good things, but I guess it's a plus for those wise enough to make use of them! I enjoy hearing about your rescues.
Tomatoes! I have bags and baskets of late season tomatoes that we're eating and sharing. Does anyone do fried green tomatoes? I'm thinking that is something we should try.
A quirky frugal that won't be useful to most folks, but is still going to save us a bundle - I've scaled down my Nicorette to a quarter of the lowest dose piece, and I'm "rolling my own" gumballs with a bit of Nicorette and some non-nicotine gum. I'm probably in placebo territory here, but I don't care as long as it keeps me happy and keeps me away from the cigarettes! And I'm honestly not even tempted at this point. This latest step-down in dosage is saving me $65.00 a month.

Stella

11-4-13, 10:45am

Thanks everyone! We are excited.

Mondays are my big cooking day. I'm making Italian meatballs, potato leek soup, a chicken casserole, filling for chicken pot pie, filling for bacon and Swiss chard quiche (using the last of the garden chard) and both a wheat bread and cornbread stuffing to go with pork chops.

We are using up some homemade pitas for lunch today for pita pizzas. We had the rest with hummus and cucumbers yesterday for lunch.

I bought some rotisserie chickens at Costco for $5 each and today I will take the meat off the bones and make stock from the bones and my bag of frozen veggie scraps.

I found a Twin Cities roller rink that participates in the Kids Skate Free program, where at various times passes can be used for kids 10 and under to skate free. That will probably be our next big kid outing. Now I need to research other cheap big kid activities for the winter. Little kid stuff is easy. Big kid stuff is often more expensive, but with Groupons, Happenings book discounts, and free days, combined with always-free stuff like the art museum and Raptor center we can have a lot of fun on a budget.

iris lilies

11-4-13, 11:04am

stella, congrats! and it's nice to know that female power will dominaate at your house, girls rule! haha.

It's nice for the boys to have both older sisters and younger sisters. They will know a lot about women. They'll have older sisters form whom to take orders, and younger sisters to protect so getting the female/male dynamic both ways. Well, that is ME projecting a lot onto your tiny kids, haha.

crunchycon

11-4-13, 1:25pm

Congratulations, Kelli and Stella on your awesome news!

fidgiegirl

11-4-13, 7:05pm

Thanks!

Hey Stella, I forgot to tell you that the JoAnn flyer has a 60% off coupon in it this time for the 10th and 11th only. Maybe you can use it on your project, do you get their flyer?

fidgiegirl

11-4-13, 7:12pm

Bryce has been a selling maniac on eBay. He sold a crock pot lid from our one that broke for $10. Now he sold the magazine and drink holder from the Nordic Track that we gave away for free, and got $15 for that. Today a deer stand went on CL and we got $20 for it.

We have discovered an easy way to do sales on CL for certain types of items - ones that if they didn't sell we'd give them away anyway, and ones that wouldn't be damaged by weather. Instead of going to all the trouble to make arrangements with the buyer, we just put it out on our front step and they leave the money in the mailbox. Has worked every time, people are generally honest, and we save a whole bunch of hassle. Nice.

I'm going to meal plan and order groceries tonight.

Stella

11-4-13, 7:37pm

Ooh, thanks for the heads up Kelli! I am going to look for that.

Thanks for the congrats everyone. Iris, I've thought the same thing about the boys. They will be very used to women. Jamie told me the other day that a good husband fixes things and has conversations with his wife and a good wife reads a lot of books. :) He's going to be a catch. LOL.

sweetana3

11-4-13, 9:35pm

We visited Half Price Books today and found about 40 westerns for an uncle who lives in a 5th wheel trailer and loves westerns. We are going to box up and ship to him for Xmas. He reads them and passes them off to the VA Hospital.

Frugal part: We thought they were $1 each, as marked, but they were rung up at 50 cents each. Woohoo. Great Xmas present for small amount and he loves these authors.

Stella

11-5-13, 11:20am

I didn't get quite as much as I was hoping done on cooking day so I will finish some of that up today. I did get a good start on it though. Mostly, though, I'm taking it easier today. I need to make a batch of laundry soap this week, but that's not today's project.

I think today will be a no spending day. I always hesitate to say that too early because it feels like tempting fate. :)

Azure

11-5-13, 8:38pm

Congratulations, Stella! That's wonderful news!

No spending today.
I have the house to myself this evening so I had yogurt for dinner. No cooking Yay! I'm thinking about popcorn for a snack later.

I finally got my new glasses. Sooo cute. However, we cannot adjust them to fit without hurting. So they are going back. :( I did spend way too much $ on them so I guess it's a good thing all-in-all. But I could not find another pair I liked today. I'll have to try again another day. The next pair is sure to be less expensive and I will have the excess money go to Ian's new glasses.

On the semi-frugal side, we never have enough suitcases. The one extra is so big & heavy we don't dare use it for the trip to FLA. what with the weight & size restrictions the thing would have to be practically empty to go for free. At work today I saw that we have one of those upright wheeled suitcases with 4 pieces on clearance for $30. I have a 5% discount certificate from pharmacy points. Plus my 10% employee discount & 5% Red card, I could get it for about $24.

On the un-frugal side Mike drove down to Chicago today. He is picking Ian up at O'Hare. Yep, Ian is BACK! Yay! lol But it is definitely not a frugal drive. About 4-5 hours one way. Drove the car instead of the gas guzzling jeep but that is still a lot of money.

ETA: Just looked on Cartwheel and there is a 10% off for Embark luggage! I can't remember if the luggage in question is Embark or not. I hope so!

pony mom

11-5-13, 11:42pm

I hit a few thrift stores this week. Found an LL Bean tote for $5, two Bean turtleneck shirts for $4 each (all these were new), Tom. Hilf. khakis for $7, a new Talbots blouse for $5, a really cute Talbots purse (has roosters on it, made in Italy with leather trim) for $5, new LL Bean rugby-type shirt for $4.

For some reason there's lot of new LL Bean stuff in thrift stores and I'm lucky enough to get them. They're timeless and should last a long time.

Must stay away from these places for awhile. Well, a few weeks at least. I'm afraid I'll miss a good deal.

fidgiegirl

11-6-13, 9:05am

Your deals are always amazing ponymom!

Stella

11-6-13, 10:57am

The girls and I started working on some embroidery UFOs last night. (unfinished objects, not embroidered UFOs, which I have actually done before :) )Mine is a big peacock wall hanging I started when the girls were little. I had invested a fair amount of time in it and discovered that I didn't like how a piece of it was turning out. I lost interest because I didn't have the heart to put in the time to redo it, but now, these many years later, the emotion is out of it and I can tackle it without frustration. I think it's going to be really pretty. It's funny how emotional crafting can be. Anyway it's frugal fun for me and will result in a frugal piece of wall art.

Yesterday was a no spend day and I anticipate another one today. My birthday present delivery for one of the girls best friends should arrive today, a $7 book on how to throw a flower fairy tea party, and my paper products and diapers should arrive tomorrow. I am really loving Amazon Prime so far. It's cutting back on my errand running time by a ton.

Wednesday mornings I watch my friends kids and we have a little "preschool time" for everyone. The big girls like to help and it's good social time for the little kids. Today we are making handprint turkeys and is am bringing out the Lincoln Log bin. We have Family Formation at church tonight and homeschool co-op on Friday so it's a busy week socially with no extra expense.

Azure

11-6-13, 9:19pm

Well, it's a good think I decided to go ahead and get the suitcase. Ian got home today and the one he is using is absolutely shredded. Not sure what his other case looks like but I can't use it anyway since it is on the ship with the car and won't be home until January. The cartwheel coupon was useless though because the suitcase was the wrong brand.

Tussiemussies

11-6-13, 10:33pm

Stella, congratulations! What happy news!!!

Don't have much to share right now...still having no drive days for myself until we test out my car. Had a no spend day for myself today and yesterday. Need a lot of new clothing but that will have to wait. I usually buy from Eddie Bauer but their clothing, especially tops, quality has gone down. My husband wore an Eddie Bauer shirt that he has had for over ten years, but a lot of the tops I bought in the summer are so thin they are see-through. Oh well when I am able I am going to buy the pants that Tradd talked about from LLBean and pick up a few tops.

Haven't cooked the last two days so we just had nice sandwiches for dinner and DH had some soup we had on hand. It was tempting to eat out, but we didn't do it!

We need to have the damper replaced on the fireplace. They make them differently now and they are supposed to be much more effective. It goes at the top of the flue. Instead of paying for one from a company, DH bought one himself and we will hire someone from Angie's list to install it for us. That will be good savings there...

chrissieq

11-7-13, 7:52am

Not very frugal days here - we spent a long weekend in DC visiting our son - the trip coincided with our 33rd anniversary! We got a good hotel deal and had pre-paid our train tickets but DC is not an inexpensive place to visit despite the free entertainment. But well worth to visit our son and his girlfriend.

My sister is here from Seattle now and we keep our costs pretty low. Did spend $5 on postcards/greeting cards at the Mpls Institute of Arts to send to family. What a great museum with free admission every day! We are having a Scrabble tournament of sorts - basically playing til we drop! Today we will meet up with another sister to do a little thrift shopping and lunch out.

She came along with us last night to serve dinner at church so we all got a great free meal!

bke

11-7-13, 10:37am

Congrats to Kelli and Stella! What wonderful news!!!

I've really been struggling on the frugal front this summer. Things have just been turned up side down for months. BUT, I finally have a few to share....

I bought 48 packs of gum for $7.96. We will sell the bulk of it at work and my guys will enjoy a ton of cheap chewing too.

I used a $4 Kroger coupon and stocked up on those nasty ramen noodle things. Ds loves them. I got 20 packs for free.

I did 3 separate rebates this week for free: deodorant, pizza, and a cleaning product.

I booked our hotel room for Christmas. Its only $69 a night!

I called to pay a doctor bill today and received 50% off for taking the time to do so.

I have managed to lose 24 lbs this summer. I can now fit into the jeans I wore when I was 25 and dating dh. Last night we went through several boxes of old clothes and I tried on a ton of stuff. I have a brand new wardrobe. I even fit into a brand new winter jacket that I never wore before because it was too small. The best part is that most of these clothes are of much better quality that I've bought in more recent years so it feels like a real upgrade. Dh helped me clean out my closet, removing anything that was too big or too grungy looking to keep.

Florence

11-7-13, 1:50pm

Staying home.:)

danna

11-7-13, 10:52pm

Hi folks...
I am still here just didn't get around to posting lately
---last Sunday was our yearly Library Book Sale...it was amazing this year...$3.00 a bag, I bought 3 bags and got
12 books (frugal, money, diet and mysteries) also, 50 magazines new enough 2011/2012 regular price they would have
average 5.00 each. No worries about winter reading or driving to the library in bad weather.
But, now I have to go to the Decluttering posts and confess I have brought in more then I have let go of....lol....a good bargain
is hard to pass up.
--cook at home all week, curries, and soup and leftovers.
--volunteering at Seniors home and walking there is my exercise and no drive/no spend day
--sold at pattern I had bought and never used for $2.00 for $10.00
That is all I can think of for now.

Stella

11-8-13, 5:21pm

Tomorrow is the day our neighbourhood is bringing a meal for the teen homeless shelter. They sent a list of things the shelter requested and one of the options for a vegetable was green bean casserole. The mom in me was a little concerned that fresh veggies and salad aren't on the list. :( On the other hand, I have everything I just bought fried onions at Costco for cheap for Thanksgiving, so I have plenty on hand and I do have some canned green beans, so it will be inexpensive. I guess green bean casserole is still healthier than starving and they will probably eat it.

danna

11-8-13, 11:55pm

Stella you are right to worry but, I am sure they know what will get eaten best...bless you all for helping.

--Very large pot of soup from two roast chicken carcasses I had previously frozen, adding lots of veggie and lentils I
am sure it will last us for several days. Used up lots of bits and pieces I had froze along with a lot of veggie water.
--pulled out the warmer sheets and Pajamas to start wearing there is no denying winter IS here.

That's all I can think of today......

danna

11-11-13, 12:22am

Nov 10
--finished the last of large pot of soup for breakfast and lunch
--got more then enough exercise working in yard, everything is ready for snow.
--clean furnace filters keeps the house cleaner and hopefully makes the furnace work better too.
--no drive and no spend day

leslieann

11-11-13, 9:28am

HI, everyone. I have been desperately UNFRUGAL and need to get back on track. So I looked in here and discovered a new grandbaby and two upcoming new babies....what great news! Big congratulations to all...when I saw Kelli's news, I wondered if Stella had seen it and then to see Stella's news.....yahoo! I can see I need to check in more often, not only to get myself on track but to find out what's going on in the community.

Blessings to all....we are celebrating Remembrance Day today...frugal activity for sure.

early morning

11-11-13, 2:19pm

Have two loads of wash on the line. Put rags out overnight and they were almost dry this morning, which was surprising, as it's chilly here, high 30s this am, it's about 40 now with a nice breeze. Paid some bills online. DH fixed our washer last week - the switch that won't let it pump out or spin with the lid up went bad and it thought the lid was up all the time. New switch was 35 bucks. No we have no switch and it works fine. No small children or animals helping with laundry (washer is in the basement, which is off-limits to company and animals, lol) so safety should not be an issue.

danna

11-12-13, 12:25am

Nov 11
--made a great curry that will be good for tomorrow too, using really cheap beef I had cooked in crock pot and froze in the broth...yummy
--no drive no spend
--had two outlets in the kitchen that were not working the electrician I called couldn't come for 2 weeks, and it
so going to cost a minimum of $59.00 just to come out.
so I called the company that had done the renovation 4 years ago, they gave me the name of the company
that did the work for them. One call and he told me over the phone that one of the outlets would have a reset button.
Dud, but to my credit it was behind the mircowave so I had not moved it out to actually look at the switch and I have
never claimed to know anything about electricity....But, the called did save me money.
--made a couple of loaves of banana bread with the overripe bananas...great snacking.

Stella

11-12-13, 3:09pm

Zach took Monday off and we did a fall cleaning weekend. It felt so good to get back on top of things, and the better organized I am the more frugal I can be.

Zach and I worked out a schedule for his side work that gives us plenty of time to get our own stuff done too. We have three friends who are doing remodel projects that they are hiring him for, which will be great financially. The schedule makes us both feel better about making sure we don't end up overwhelmed. Tonight is a work evening, so we are having one of my freezer meals. Spaghetti and meatballs.

My dad is in Italy for two weeks as of yesterday. I am trying to contain my jealousy. :) that means at-home date nights only for the next two weeks. I'm actually OK with that. I think we are going to have a fire in the fireplace and play cards. It should be nice and it should save us some money.

Since the kids pitched in a full effort helping with the fall cleaning we thought it would be nice to do something fun with them next weekend. My mom had gifted us a bunch of Holiday Inn points, so I wrote to her to see if we can cash them in next weekend for one of the Holiday Inns with a water park nearby. She hasn't written back yet, but I think it should work. We are going to use the kids Book-it coupons and have Pizza Hut for dinner. I think we all earned a weekend of fun.

We started our soap making for Christmas presents today. It's been a big hit with the kids. We decided that our field trip this month is going to be to a Wildlife Center we found in the Happenings Book. We have a BOGO coupon for admission. The girls are doing a project about animals and how they are adapted to survive Minnesota winters, so I think it will be relevant and fun. For preschool I am making a letter recognition hopscotch board in the family room with painters tape. James is, well, a four year old boy, with all the activity that goes along with it. :) I have noticed that he does better with projects that involve motion. I was thinking that Twister might work for this too. I would put letters on the circles and use that instead of colors, which he knows quite well. Anyway, lots of frugal stuff happening in the homeschool area.

rosarugosa

11-12-13, 8:40pm

For autumn decorations this year we bought a buttercup squash and two heirloom pumpkins. Tonight DH made buttercup squash risotto, which was very yummy. So the frugal here is dual-purpose edible decorations :)

Stella

11-12-13, 10:59pm

I have a frugal I am kind of excited about. My oldest DD, Cheyenne, has been really, really interested in becoming a hairdresser for a long time. She watches hair tutorials on YouTube, reads books about how to style hair, practices on her sometimes willing little sisters :) and on her friends. I am kind of hair challenged, but I do think it's a useful skill and I want to encourage her interests. A friend of mine, who is a hairdresser, has been suggesting that I get her a hair styling mannequin with real human hair to practice on. Tonight we were discussing this as an idea for a Christmas gift for her and my friend offered to take her under her wing and give her lessons in how to do hair. Cheyenne was beside herself with excitement. My friend just enjoys helping a creative kid to indulge her interests and learn some skills. Long-term, who knows. Some kids grow up and change their minds, some kids know what they want to do when they are little. It's hard to know which are which, but I could see hairdressing being a pretty good gig for an SLer, actually. My friend has her own business, sets her own hours, and makes a very nice hourly wage with low overhead. You could do worse. (Like being 35 and still paying off your student loans for a degree you used for 2 years. Cough. Cough. :) )

Tussiemussies

11-12-13, 11:15pm

try2bfrugal

11-13-13, 11:56am

reader99

11-13-13, 1:39pm

I'm looking into publishing my book in Kindle format on Amazon. I'm surprised at how possible it is to do this without financial outlay.
For instance, I didn't know that by law the copyright is mine without having to register with the copyright office. If I choose to register it (better defense in the event of a court case) I can do so online for just $35 vs. $65 to register by mail.
If I could make up my mind about a cover picture I could get a professional cover design on www.fiverr.com for just $5, vs. $100-200 for a professional IRL.
It costs nothing at all to list the book on Amazon. They take a commission on each sale, but there's no upfront fee. For electronic only I don't have to buy an ISBN at $125, Amazon supplies their own number for tracking purposes.
epublishing is really a frugal strategy.

SiouzQ.

11-13-13, 6:55pm

I got a $25 Liz Claiborne sorely needed leather wallet for $8.47 today at JC Penney today! I received in the mail yesterday (Nov. 12) a coupon for $10 off most items in the store but noticed the coupon actually expired on Nov. 11. I called the store today to see if they would still honor it and they said yes. And I didn't even see the sale sign on the table of wallets I was looking at but apparently they were 25% off and the additional $10 off ~ hence the $8.47!

danna

11-14-13, 12:22am

Nov 13
--ate out of the freezer all day..yummy potato soup for lunch, leftover stew for supper
--no spend, no drive
--work hard most of the day for exercise and to organize and clean house
--entertainment good movie, good book and good chat with a friend..what more can one ask for in life
--made a list of people and things I already have for bought for Christmas--put together everything I need to make two quilts for
2 youngest great nephews....I know I can't buy them toys they already have so many.

Tussiemussies

11-14-13, 12:39am

reader99

11-14-13, 6:50am

What a great situation for you! Best of luck with it!

Thank you. I'm getting excited about it. The book isn't perfect but I think it's very good, and it's very meaningful to me to have created something I think is comprehensive and useful.

Tussiemussies

11-14-13, 7:59am

Thank you. I'm getting excited about it. The book isn't perfect but I think it's very good, and it's very meaningful to me to have created something I think is comprehensive and useful.

Sounds like you are at a nice point in your life!

bke

11-14-13, 10:31am

Yesterday's savings came in 5s. $5 saved by requesting a refund for a shopping error that took place the week before. $5 in coupons used at the store. A $5 rebate on some lotion that is dh's favorite. $5 saved by not purchasing any drinks while out last night.

debi

11-14-13, 4:18pm

I haven't been on here in awhile, so first off -- Congratulations to the two new mothers-to-be:). It's been unfrugal for me since the end of October. Went to visit my parents (4-1/2 hour drive one way) and spent a weekend with them and visited my sister as well who came up as well. Gave my sister a load of groceries and some canned veggies that I had done as well as a homemade loaf of bread (sister went through a nasty divorce and is having a tough time financially). Then on 10/29 on my drive into work, a pickup was riding my car's rear-end (so close you couldn't see the headlights). Up ahead I saw two deer, so I slowed down to 45 (this is a 55 mph road), I either took one or both deers out or let the pickup driver rear-end me. I figured the deer was less weight than his vehicle. I have a 2001 Ford Taurus (which is estimated worth of $3200), but the damage was $3502 (more than 1/2 is labor), so the insurance company totaled it:help:. I actually told them that I would take the salvage value and minus my $100 deductible and keep the vehicle. I need to purchase a passenger headlight cover, a new grill, the hood is damaged but not too bad as well as the bumper (so probably will not replace those). I will get the materials from a salvage yard to repair the vehicle. I also want to have the wheels aligned/balanced, even though it doesn't seem to be pulling - I just want to do this just in case so that I could save wear & tear on the tires. Whatever is left over, I will bank for a new vehicle account and try to put in at least $100/month, more if possible. There was no ticket involved, and the officer told me that I had made the right choice. He was surprised that this was the first time I ever hit a deer in 43 years of driving vehicles. I did get to keep the venison road kill!!! It was a button buck, so it was a small deer (got about 40 lbs of meat). Anyway, I need some motivation to keep this new vehicle account going -- so keep posting loads of frugal ideas for me.

fidgiegirl

11-14-13, 7:24pm

debi, thanks, and glad you are ok! Scary those deer. Too bad Mr. (or Ms.?) Truck Driver didn't have some of the financial burden of it, but glad you have the seed money for the new vehicle account!! Smart to keep the meat, my parents have done that too. :)

cdttmm

11-14-13, 7:46pm

I've been lurking, but not posting much as of late. Thought it was time to jump in, though, and post a few frugals (or frugal attempts!).

I've discovered that I can buy the cheapest gas at a gas station near work. It's about a mile and a half out of my way, but pretty consistently has gas 10-20 cents cheaper per gallon than the other stations that I pass regularly (the one near work and the one near the gym). So I've been trying to remember to fill up after work before my gas tank gets so low that I need to do a last minute stop elsewhere.

I've been consistently making tea in my Bodum teapot every morning and bringing not one, not two, but THREE travel mugs of tea with me to work every day. I know, I know, a thermos would probably be more efficient for transport, but I figure a good thermos will run me at least $30 and I have these three travel mugs that I got for free, so why not use them? Eventually they will crack or get misplaced so I'm holding off on buying a thermos until I truly need one. :D

We've been indulging in inexpensive treats at home in the form of hot chocolate. My dearly beloved has never been much of a hot chocolate drinker before, but he's asked me to make it for him twice in the past few weeks. Fine by me -- it's one of the cheaper ways to indulge our taste buds!

Scouring the web for a good deal on a flight to visit my family for the holidays. So far I've had no real luck, but I'm going to keep searching. We're forgoing a big Thanksgiving shindig so that will save a few dollars.

Been trying to keep the heat set at 60 degrees in the house. Getting used to wearing sweatshirts, socks, and slippers most of the time, which is fine by me. Hoping we can keep this up all winter and use as little wood to heat the house as possible.

Volunteered at a conference last weekend. Saved myself the $269 registration fee. They asked for a $100 volunteer registration fee, but when I explained to the conference coordinator that I could only be there for a few hours on Friday evening and Sunday morning she let me register for free. I put in my volunteer hours on Friday evening so I got to attend a three talks on Sunday morning and it didn't cost me a dime! There is another conference in February and one in the summer so I'm going to ask to be a volunteer for those as well. The college I work for won't fund conference attendance so my only option is to pay out of pocket so being able to volunteer and pay a reduced rate is pretty awesome.

Went to BJs and stocked up on groceries today. Got a coupon for $10 off your next $100 purchase on my receipt. Definitely going to use that!

I think that's about it for now. Great to be reading everyone's awesome frugals this month -- keep up the great work!

Jilly

11-14-13, 8:13pm

...For instance, I didn't know that by law the copyright is mine without having to register with the copyright office. If I choose to register it (better defense in the event of a court case) I can do so online for just $35 vs. $65 to register by mail.

Your copyright exists when you put your first words on paper or computer. Same thing for every other type of creative work, paintings, poetry, drawing, carving aardvarks out of driftwood. For your book, you probably already know this, but you just put the copyright symbol and the year. And, I think the word 'copyright', too. I think.

I have not done any copyrighting on-line, but there is a way to register a body of work at one time, so you can save up and do it all at one time.

All this frugal stuff motivates me, but I cannot think of one thing where I could cut back.

danna

11-14-13, 11:09pm

Nov 14
--another no drive and no spend
--walk to volunteer job and did not buy any treats..hehe...that is a hard one because I am working the the Tuck Shop.
--Oatmeal/apple for breakfast and Lunch and supper were previously frozen individual meals...

danna

11-17-13, 9:31am

Nov 15-17
--all day TOPS city wide Rally(take off pounds sensibly) group I belong to, this is a not for profit weight loss group, so very frugal to belong to.
The day included speakers/awards and lunch for $25.00. This group mostly lives in my neighbourhood and have become friends.
A wonderful thing in a large city.
--beef curry with veggies/rice for supper from very cheap beef that I had done in the slow cooker and had ready to use in the freezer...yummy

early morning

11-17-13, 1:28pm

DD used up some cheese bits (we are much better about fridge-food loss, but some things still get lost...) and some of our Aldi cheese staples and made a great batch of mac and cheese for dinner last night. We'll finish most of it tonight with bratwursts, and I will put aside enough for my lunch tomorrow. Picked up about a bushel of dropped apples before DH's final mowing for the season. They have a lot of bad spots/bruises , but I made a large apple crisp last night and I'll make another today, so worth picking up for sure :). Composed all the peelings and bits. Ordered dry cat food from Amazon - free shipping, and cheaper than the Evil Empire ;) plus no sales tax (yet!). It's going to rain again today with high winds - it's been windy for two days,but at the moment no showers on the radar, so I've put out a few bits of laundry that need to fluff. The rest is hung inside. It's warm, no furnace, so it won't dry fast in here, either.... Going to check on my mom shortly, and plan to go to Starbucks for the last day of the BOGO holiday drink sale. Yay coffee!

rosarugosa

11-18-13, 8:18pm

I'm always telling DH that the really frugal folks make chicken soup with the last of the rotisserie chicken, and he finally did it this time! So we had chicken sandwiches twice, soup tonight, and there's enough for soup one more time. Yummy!

fidgiegirl

11-18-13, 8:34pm

Did some usin' up tonight. Got in a cooking mood and made a rice and bean dish for myself for lunches/breakfasts, a beef soup for tonight and a dessert from the leftover s'more stuff from this summer. Now to tackle the dishes . . . uffda.

try2bfrugal

11-19-13, 5:25pm

We found a dog bed for our dog at Big Lots for $25 that was $60 on Amazon and got 4 packages of Hanes underwear for 1/2 price. Our dog was looking cold in the mornings so we had been looking for a more snuggy bed for him.

DH is getting on board with frugal living more. He found some closeout dishwasher detergent marked down by 66% and stockpiled most of it. It is funny because he initially wanted to leave some for others, but this was at the local store and I don't think a lot of the people here comparison shop much. When I went back a days later the rest was still unsold so I bought up the remainder.

As you can tell if you read my other thread, I figured out if I buy Ecos free and clear at the local store it costs 10 cents a load. Some the other laundry detergents cost the same for the same size bottle, but they are less concentrated so they cost 30 cents a load. I probably average a load of wash a day, so switching to Ecos will save $73 per year.

We have a bunch of food made from mostly from scratch in the fridge - rice, quinoa, assorted sausages, roasted chicken and roasted onions and zucchini.

SteveinMN

11-19-13, 7:59pm

Finally, some frugals!

- Saved a visit from a plumber and even having to go out to buy some drain cleaner by cleaning two slow drains mechanically and then using good ol' baking soda and vinegar and stopping up the drain. Took more than the 7 minutes that product on TV needs, but I didn't poison anything (including me) and both drains run freely now. (Note to self: do drain-clearing work before meals.)
- (speaking of white vinegar) I don't think I've mentioned this in Frugals before, but I've been using white vinegar as a dishwasher rinse aid instead of the commercial stuff and it's been working just as well. It must be refilled more often, but that's no big deal.
- Sunday and today were no-drive days.
- I've been eating breakfasts and lunches out of leftovers and random ingredients in the fridge and pantry. Haven't had to buy groceries just for those meals.

debi

11-21-13, 4:52pm

Thanks, fidgiegirl. I don't have much in the way of frugals. I continue to bring my lunch daily to work. Run errands in town either before work or after work (I live 40 miles from town). I fill up at a gas station that is consistently less expensive than all of the others by at least .10/gallon. From a local farmer, I purchased 30# of ground beef at $3./lb which includes the packaging. This meat is grass-fed meat and no dyes, hormone injections, etc. It is very lean with no fat when browning. Glad to be supporting a local farmer and getting "natural" beef, not factory-farm hormone-injected meat:D. So between the venison and the ground beef, I should not need to purchase any meat (other than poultry or pork if I want it) for at least the next month.

rosarugosa

11-25-13, 6:27am

Wow, November clearly is not a very frugal month. I guess that's not too surprising though. I don't do a lot of holiday gifting and shopping, but I'm finding that I'm able to pay for a significant portion of it this year with gift cards and cash back from credit card rewards.

SteveinMN

11-25-13, 10:36am

Frugals for the last week:
- Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday were no-drive days.
- Took advantage of ebay and a T-Mobile promotion to buy micro-SIMs for my birthday/Christmas present (used iPhone). Total for two SIMs: 99 cents. No activation fee, either.
- Dropped our bagged leaves at the local compost site (saving all I needed for our compost heap). Was going to have to make a separate trip to get rid of branches and brush, but apparently our garbage collector will take two bags of them each week for free with our regular pickup.
- Found a code for a free Redbox rental (only $1.29 or so, but whatever...)

Azure

11-25-13, 11:26am

DH discovered last night that one of my headlights is out. So he is planning to replace it tonight himself.

Yesterday I spent the day in my pajamas. No driving or going out. Caught up on some stuff around here.

I got Ty an ipod nano for Christmas. Target has a coupon for 10% off until November 27th. And last week they gave you a $10 gift card with purchase. So I got the ipod & warranty for $133 and got $10 to spend. Cool! The coupon had a picture of both the ipod touch and the nano. When we scanned it the screen kept saying that the purchase wasn't enough. So I'm guessing they only intended it to be used with the more expensive touch. But since it had a picture of the nano on the coupon and it did not specify what type of ipod, I got the 10%.

I also got him a $25 itunes card for $20 at Bed, Bath & Beyond. So he's pretty much set. I just need to get him some stocking stuffers.

Lainey

11-25-13, 11:14pm

SteveinMN,
I'm intrigued by the white vinegar idea for the dishwasher rinse. Does it leave any vinegary odor? also wonder if it works on hard water.

chrissieq

11-26-13, 5:32pm

If I've done this right, I will have my first no spend/no drive day I think for the first time in the month of November. Yesterday was no spend but did drive to church to work at a funeral - brought home flowers for the Thanksgiving centerpiece as well as some extra sandwiches and fruit.

Thanksgiving dinner here with all bringing something to share. Then we will have our niece and 2 nephews here for the weekend - we've decided that rather than driving to the half way point on Saturday to get them home, we will take the Northstar train. They will be very happy! And we won't have to drive!!

Birdie

11-29-13, 3:30pm

I have used vinegar in the rinse compartment of my dishwasher successfully many times. I forget to refill it though, so I never really notice a difference in my dishes. I don;t recall noticing any odor. I also use 1/4 cup of vinegar along with a small amount of fabric softener in my clothes washer. The vinegar does not smell after the wash is done.

Blackdog Lin

11-29-13, 7:23pm

I bestirred myself today and got the turkey carcass all cooked up for broth. Ended up with 2 half-gallon jars of broth. DH mentioned he is already dreaming of noodles.....

chrissieq

11-29-13, 10:25pm

Have my niece and nephews here from Thanksgiving through tomorrow. Not a lot of time but a lot of entertaining. We went to the $2 movie with $3.75 bucket of popcorn with real butter - yum! Went to the Como Zoo - free with donation. Bussed Downtown to see the Holidazzle Parade and brought our own hot chocolate. Target (parade sponsor) was giving out free hand warmers - came in handy!! Dinner was one pizza from our local (not chain) pizzeria. Rather than driving them to the midway point to meet their dad tomorrow we are going to ride the North Star rail and pay less than $10 for the 5 of us to travel to pick up spot and DH and I to travel home.

What amazes me is that I googled "what to do in Mpls with pre-teens" and it was nothing but Mall of America and water parks. Everybody is happy and I can come home to a quiet house with a turkey carcass to make into broth.