July Frugals!

Hi everyone I have been on reading sometimes but, not taking the time to post
OR worse didn't have much to post.
I hope I CAN get back my motivation and get more frugal for the next 6 months.
I am saving for a couple of home improvements and I would prefer to save the money
then take it out or retirement money. So here goes for today.

1. No spend, no drive
2. Did a new spreadsheet for expenses and income (have not been doing that since the end of the year)
Did a Net Worth sheet and it is looking okay but, can see it could be better.
3. Did a crock pot full of BBQ pork (bought yesterday @ $1.44 a lb. for Pork tenderloin) cut the second half into boneless pork chops to freeze.
Had some on pasta with Asparagus bought on sale a couple of weeks ago and put in the freezer.
4. Used up 4 pickled eggs as egg salad sandwich with green onions/celery/cucumber ( good but, not the best a little vinegary)
5. Watched a movie on TV this afternoon and now I am off to read a free library book and have a glass (or 2) of
nice box wine........Happy Canada to all of us here......life is good when you enjoy the simply things I think

I'm doing the "eat a salad everyday" challenge, and I believe it is saving me money. Oil and vinegar are not expensive and I just buy whatever is cheap at the farmers market - lots of greens right now.

With the lovely weather and long daylight, I am riding my bike everywhere.

There is lots of free entertainment around town. I'm staycationing this year.

It's good for my budget that there have been few tempting movies in the theaters. I do like going to the cinema on a hot summer night.

July 2
--Spent $7.00 on Yard saling...yes It is a sport for me.
not sure if the buys are for me or gifts or to resell but, will work out to way more then $7.00 saved
--more of the BBQ pork (that was done in crock pot yesterday) for supper tonight and the rest was frozen for
future meals.
--Dd did some shopping with coupons/points and sales and my share was $10.00
--spent the afternoon planting annuals and veggies I got on sale for .25C to $1.00 at Loblaws two days ago
hopefully most of then will thrive they were originally like 3 packs for $14.99 it pays to wait to plant.
--watched another movie off TV and still reading another book from the library (Alexander Technique for Posture)
not fully understanding it yet but, it is interesting and free.

I agree Gardenarian eating a salad a day is a great way to enjoy the abundance of summer and has to be a frugal
way to eat at this time of year. It is hard to believe how many years I spent money on bought salad dressings when
it is soooo easy to make your own!

July 03
---2nd no spend, no drive day this month...yeah
--posted two items on kijiji to sell
--two large bowls of soup for supper from freezer broth and a bunch of veggies.
--spent the day doing wash/cleaning and organizing a few things.
also, reading still free from the library

Poor Danna is carrying the frugals thread all by herself this month! Good job!
I haven't been terribly frugal. I did at least wait for online discounts for some purchases I made recently. LL Bean is doing 20% off this weekend with the LL Bean Visa, so I used the opportunity to get a Waterhog doormat, which I've been considering for awhile. I also bought a nice set of towels from Garnet Hill, and I got almost 20% off. They were fairly expensive but very good quality. I do keep towels for a really long time and have now replaced my very old sets that were quite frayed and worn. I pay for this stuff out of my allowance, so at least I'm not impacting our budget. I'll donate the old towels to our local animal rescue group.
I've also been getting my reading materials from the library and enjoying walks in the woods and the Boston Public Gardens whenever I can fit them in, so those are some true frugals.

Well, we started off our holiday weekend buying dinner "on the road". Next morning we went for our favorite breakfast. Since then? I've cooked every meal. We are doing a really good job of using the food packed for the 3d weekend at the cabin.

I went to the bakery Friday before we left home and bought a long flat loaf of crusty bread. We used it for our toasted hamburger buns last night and we'll finish it up as toast for breakfast today.

Breakfast Saturday: cheese omelette and we shared my leftover half platesize pancake I brought home.

Lunches Sa/Su/Mon: Meatless Taco Salad each day-black beans for protein. (mixing our homemade salsa w/low fat sour cream for salad dressing)

Saturday: I cooked up 1# of gr turkey and 1# of gr beef. Part will go in the freezer for future meals and part will go in a pot of chili Monday.

Dinner Saturday: BBQ burgers, potato salad made with CSA new potatoes and leftover PS for today's lunch.

Breakfast Monday: eggs and toast

We have thawed chili flavored ratatouille (from last years' garden), and it will be the base for a pot of chili today. Set the pinto beans soaking last night. I'll make a pan of cornbread to go with it. We'll have a leftover meal in the freezer for our next trip up here and will prevent us from that easy "let's go out for dinner" trick.

I'm feeling good about our food consumption this holiday weekend!

Rosaugosa thanks for joining in and Guardiana a "Salad a Day" should be the norm for summer
if only my garden was doing better! Gardnr your Holiday weekend sounds lovely and frugal....
Happy Holiday weekend to all!
Frugals today
1. another no spend, no drive
2. Walked to the gym and did an Water Aerobics class...joined the 4 months ago but, have not used the nicely heated
pool so far.....not sure why I have not gone it was one of my main reasons for joining because if I went twice a week it
made the membership close to what I would pay at the city pool for Aqua fit there. I have been to doing weight training and using
the other machine but, that was not enough to warrant the monthly membership.
Starting today I am keeping track of how many visits to the gym and if it is cost effective.
3.

July 5-6th
--Sign myself up for the free "My Fitness Pal" very interesting, like that breaks everything down
as to how much you should have like protein, sodium, carbs, sugar, fat and calories of course.
I can see how there is a lot to gain from it.....not necessarily frugal but, a good way to eat healthy and be fit.
That must help ones energy level...
2. Did a little shopping today...a bag of potting soil 30% off, a rhubarb starter plant 50% off....it pays to procrastinate...lol
At the grocery store I bought 2 pkgs. of 6 pens for $.50, a eye shadow $.48, and 1 nail polish $.94 and one pkg. of cold cuts
on sale and then marked down 50%. The meat made a nice sandwich for lunch and froze most of it, it was dated today.
That was fun shopping but hardly any money..you have to love that.

Good job, all! I am rather ashamed of my lack of frugals and my lack of motivation of late... I need to figure out a way to make stress work FOR me instead of AGAINST me. It's turning into another rough summer. On the plus side - my twin cousin and I celebrated our 60th birthdays by making a 50th Star Trek anniversary pilgrimage to Riverside Iowa - just the 2 of us. We had a ball, and as vacations go, it was fairly frugal - 4 nights hotel, meals out (NO fast food!), gas, several museum admissions, and purchases ( I bought 5 t-shirts, several bags of specialty coffee, windmill-ground flour, etc), and my share was less than $425. We have an upcoming family reunion trip to Virginia planned this month, and three nights in the hotel are going to cost me just about that!! Other stuff: I've been line drying all my laundry still. I've cut WAY back on coffee drinks out. Found a nice top, a reversible padded jacket, 4 pr of work pants, and a pair of lacy cream colored flats at my favorite nursery-turned-outlet store, for a grand total of $15. Also, we have managed to more than cover booth and case rent at our two resale spots so far for the year.

Danna, I have that app! It's a really great way to track your macronutrients and calories and the database is huge.

I felt like Indian take-out yesterday and we have a great new place less than a mile away. But I also noticed I have some baby yukon golds and fresh zucchini so I made my own "Indian" food with basmati rice, lentils, potatoes, ginger, garlic, onion, curry spices (cumin, turmeric, cloves, pepper flakes etc.) as well as the potatoes and zucchini. Certainly not as good as the take-out, but pretty tasty and I have tons of left-overs.

PS: Happy birthday, early morning!

Thanks, catherine! It's not actually until late August, but we celebrated early so we could attend Trek Fest. Your version of Indian takeout sounds yummy - it's making me hungry! I was all depressed this evening thinking about the money we've been bleeding - this week alone included a cat vet-emergency (nasty bladder infection), a new waterproof mattress pad (due to said cat), and a new battery for the truck. All unexpected. But then I remembered all the news stories a while back about people who couldn't come up with an extra $400 if they really needed it, and decided my depression was unwarranted - I am grateful instead. We HAVE some money put aside for such things, we don't have to borrow, either from family or the credit card company, we don't have to do without something else we really need - we just have to pinch a little here and there to get those moneys back in our bank account. THAT is one of the main reasons we are frugal. Yay, penny-pinching! :cool:

Early: That is absolutely the right way to look at it. Yay for the Emergency Fund! I call our online savings account "Dire Wolf" (Grateful Dead song). There's nothing like a bit of a cushion when the proverbial wolf is at the door!

Went to the drugstore, looked at Listerine (all purpose disinfectant), bought the generic for a dollar less. Looked at nail polish--it's been years since I bought any, when did it get to be ten dollars a bottle? Geez. Looked around, found some on clearance for $3.29, bought that. Then blew the savings--and more--by paying a premium to have a local service station do my emissions test rather than drive all over the Seattle area and wait in line. You win some, you lose some...

July 7 & 8th
--yesterday volunteered and brought my treat with me
--attended a Grief Group in the evening (I went last summer for awhile after Dsis die and for awhile after DS)
July 7th (she die June 24,2015) was the day we had a Memorial Service for her and the last month has been really
hard for me. Anyway I went, a lovely bunch of people I feel I can talk with and low and behold they were celebrating summer
with "Local Farm Fresh Strawberries and all the fixings". I guess it was meant to be; it made everyone feel happy and refreshed.
Several of us exchanged emails and talked about going on bus day trips together. I think that would be a fun frugal thing to do
with these people.
--walked to the gym for Aqua fit and had my shower there after, using little bottles of shampoo/conditioner filled from large ones at home
--"My Fitness Pal" is really teaching me how little I "NEED" to eat to be healthy and well.....that has to be frugal.....lol

Frugal with water. We are having a long dry spell in my part of the state. I always save my pet water, left over tea, cooking water for the indoor plants. But, it's getting critical for many outdoor plants now. So, after my shower, I scoop out the water and toss it on the shrubs. I also started saving the rinsing dishes water too. Every little bit helps.

My National Grid electric bill for the last 30 days is $16. 70 kwh This includes indoor lights, electric stove, refrigerator and washing machine.

That's what happens when you disconnect from TV and internet! Wow, big savings.

Wow Cypress, that is impressive! We live in the same general area and ours was $41.77.

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

Wow Cypress, that is impressive! We live in the same general area and ours was $41.77.

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I think because I don't use the electric to heat the hot water, that makes a big difference. I don't have AC. Those devices used to power the PC cost quite a lot in energy. And, I only use the TV to watch DVD's now, otherwise it is off. I do cook quite a bit so even I was surprised at the low use.

I also have town water, not using a well to pump it. And, it's only me in the house. I do keep up with laundry, maybe 2 loads a week, sometimes 3.

Is this the thread where we challenge ourselves to no spend days, how many no spend days can we achieve in any month? Time to get frugal again!

Cypress: We have a gas hot water heater, stove & dryer. We don't have A/C, but we have 3 big fans that have seen a lot of use this past week! We have town water, also. There are two of us in the house. So I'm still impressed!
Brooklynn: You could do that here if you want to, or you could post on the Dailies and Challenges forum.
I have very little frugal activity to share; I fear I haven't been very good this month. I will give DH credit for a good frugal from Friday night. My sister has recently moved back to town after living about 40 miles away (YAY!), so we are seeing much more of her. We wanted to get together Friday night, and DH suggested we go to her (air-conditioned) apartment, and bring all the fixings for him to make us a pizza and a calzone. We shared a bottle of wine and had a really pleasant evening with minimal expense. (We offset that by eating out last night, but at least we were good one of the nights!)

This weekend has turned into: Cook it up or throw it out days.

Yesterday we finished up some week old Sourdough bread. Had french toast slabs with some fresh boysenberry jam gifted from a friend this week. one would never know that bread was old!!!

For dinner: I thawed 2 pieces of flank steak that were getting frostbit in the freezer. We had a lot of snow peas aging in the fridge. I made a brocoli beef style stir fry with these items. I cooked 2c of brown basmati rice. That was dinner. Hubb has leftovers for a few lunches this week.

We had 7 apples getting soft on the counter (our CSA fruit share started Tuesday and of course, we've been eating fresh pluots and apricots instead of store-bought apples). I made 2 loaves of apple bread. We each had a big hunk for lunch a bit ago. The 2nd loaf will be cut in half and tossed in the freezer.

We had the CSA potatoes still sitting on the counter from 12d ago. I steamed those and we have potato salad chilling in the fridge. I used 7 hardboiled egss that have been sitting in the fridge for a week.

Potatoes from this past Tuesday will become roasted potatoes for dinner tonight along with salmon and cod fillets on the grill. I'll stirfry a pile of greens. There will be leftovers from this too.

I am leaving town early tomorrow for work, not returning till Friday. I don't want all this fresh stuff to go to waste. And this way, hubby doesn't have to conjur up many meals. Besides, I do love to cook on days I don't work.

I may start feeling quite smug about all of this:~)

You can feel as smug as you like. It helps to write it all down so you can see how frugal you have been!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nswef

You can feel as smug as you like. It helps to write it all down so you can see how frugal you have been!

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you're right. Bigger impact when it's written!!!

And I've packed protein bars and snacks for tomorrow-travel day and we all know how cheap airports are! I've got my tea bags for filling my travel mug on the airplanes. And my Brita filter bottle for free water everywhere. Once I arrive at my destination, work picks up all the costs so a cheap 4 days away from home unless I hit the cocktail lounge before bedtime. I shouldn't-I should go to my room and go to bed early. But socializing with the work team also matters....We'll see what happens.

I used the GoodRx website/app to find the cheapest place for a particular prescription. I saved $30 by going to a different pharmacy than the one where I get my other prescriptions! It was a little bit of a hassle, but hey, it saves $360 a year!

Hello Friends,

I'm still recovering from Sciatica & Co. issues but as I'm feeling better I'm also watching my frugal moves. As someone pointed out, it's helpful to record the wins.

The biggest non-medical expense while recovering has been buying lunches. I've done a lot of ordering in because I've been in too much pain to shop, lug groceries, and stand for too long prepping food. I'm starting to shop a little.

This past week, the Lean Cuisine dinners were on sale at Target. I also bought yogurts and granola bars. And I haven't ordered in once.

Tiny steps. Quite literally.

Had my chiro and massage therapy yesterday. Afterwards, I shipped some ear phones that I won to a friend who needed them for work. I prepped a plain box but left it unsealed. I asked the postal clerk to weigh it and let me know cost. If it was higher than flat rate box, I'd just go that route. But it turned out to be $1.40 cheaper with the plain box. Was worth checking.

Then I went to Denny's for my Saturday afternoon iced tea IV while I futzed with sale ads, letters, etc. CVS should be good to me this week.

Well, got drug in by the cat at 0130 Friday morning from a SouthWest flight:( I worked from home for about 5h after getting a 6h nap. (still recovering from that trip!).

I have cooked in every meal since I returned home. I did have to toss some chopped lettuce and 2 spoiled apricots that DH didnt' eat while I was gone. That's 8 meals at home in 3days!!! Yes, that's worthy of celebration in this house:cool:

We have a TON of apricots from Tuesday's fruit share. They are all full-ripe and now in the fridge. I'm not sure we're going to get through them all. what to do with them???? Our next pickup is Tuesday!!!

We've got 3 heads of cabbage-----help? Besides saute with onions what do I do with it?

It's going to be a big veggie week here. Me being gone for 4d blocks use of those freshies...DH isn't much for cooking them.

Could you dry the apricots? Blend them and make a puree to put in the freezer? Cabbage lasts a very long time in the refrigerator. You could make cabbage soup, but I don't know if it freezes well. Sauerkraut? I'm very impressed with your cooking so many meals. Big clapping from here.

I got a $50 gas card from work last week. We've been busting our butts due to being short staffed and busy for several months (at least I'm getting OT). Card came with a nice letter of thanks With my gas sipper, that's 2 tanks of fuel.

I went to our local mall yesterday to do a little A/C'd walking and to pick up a free bottle of Aveda lotion I scored via a facebook offer.

I picked up a couple small gifts for friends while there. Spent $13 between them and VERY satisfied with my choices.

At CVS, I bought myself a bottle of nail polish. Essie, Viva Antigua (a sparkly Caribbean blue), which I fell in love with a few days ago. Originally $9 but after coupons and "bucks" I brought it down to $6.

I need to buy more stain for the siding boards tomorrow. Today in the mail I got a coupon from the place I'm going to buy the stain for 30% off paints and stains - starting tomorrow! Score!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nswef

You can feel as smug as you like. It helps to write it all down so you can see how frugal you have been!

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I started at the beginning of this year using a calendar to track frugality/activities/no spend days but since my husband retired 6 weeks ago, we have shared an activity calendar. I decided earlier today to (probably) duplicate things but I really want to go back to my personal calendar - it does help to stay on target with limiting spending/eating intentionally/giving myself credit for living simply.

I had a bunch of lemons going soft, so I squeezed all the juice and froze it in a couple of ice cube trays. Now I have individual blocks of lemon juice to use as needed. I don't usually buy a lot of lemons at a time, but that time at Aldi's they are bagged up and not set out individually. Refinanced the mortgage down to a 10 year fixed at a lower rate. The payment went up a couple hundred dollars a month, but it will be paid off by the time I retire. We were able to pay off other debt with some inheritance money, so our cash flow is still better than it was.

July 29th...Hi Folks
I have had a very frugal month and started out so well at the beginning of the month with posting about it
but, then got off track.
Here are a few from the last couple of weeks.
--Have totally organized and inventoried the cupboards/pantry/fridge and freezer.(I have done this before and it did not work but,
this time I have all like things together) I know that sounds like common sense so I don't know why I didn't do it this completely before.
---eating from stockpiles and from fresh fruit and veggies before it is the "Best times for our own Ontario grown" stuff.....yummy and oh so healthy.
--cleaned my purse and my desk
--have been putting down lawn fabric and mulch this spring and finally calculated the cost of buying it by the bag and lugging it home to have a
very large bag delivered....it is much cheaper that way and I have a bag coming next week.
--Needed gym clothes and Loblaws had a sale on clothes online....already marked down and $20.00 in points off $75.00 so I managed to get
5 T-shirts, 2 pair of workout pants, 5 pair of underwear and a pair of dressy type running shoes for $85.00 with tax less $20.00...very happy with order.
---have been looking to get Cellular Blinds for the upper level of the house and last week they came on sale for Buy one get the 2nd 50% off...so I ordered and they
are ready tomorrow. They want close to $200.0 to install but, the man that has done some other work around the house will do them for $100.00.
Hopefully they will help with heating/cooling. Very little bit helps!
That is all for now...have a great weekend!

Danna: I agree that if you're using any significant quantity of mulch, bulk delivery is the way to go. I got 4 yards delivered yesterday.
I haven't been very virtuous lately. Tonight we did go to see a free production of A Midsummer Night's Dream in Lynn Woods, my favorite place no less. We made a $20 donation, but that's really inexpensive live theater. It was great!

Sometimes I think people must wonder why I am even posting in the Frugals Forum, since I seem to be one of the least frugal people in the world. However, I did an end of the month comparison with last year, and we have reduced grocery spending by 5% and dining out expenditures by 54%! Not too shabby! :cool:
We really like to eat out and I wouldn't want to eliminate it from our lives, but it is really expensive compared to eating at home, so it seemed like a good area to target for change. It also makes eating out more special if we do it less often.

Reducing 5% is great, 54% ultra great! Congratulations. do you have a plan for those savings to make it more fun to reduce it?

Frugal is relative. Simplicity does not look the same from one household to another because WE are all different. 5% reduction from one month to the next is commendable. Good for you!

Thanks! I'm trying to channel as much as I can into savings to position myself for retirement from full-time, city commute job in 4 - 5 years, and also trying to fund some needed work around the homestead (although getting a carpenter seems to be the impossible quest these days).

This is my first post here! It looks like we are posting how frugal we were in July. I took a week off as my gift to myself for my birthday and have stayed home doing all kinds of fun projects to make our lives easier.

- We bought a fish tank! I know that doesn't sound frugal but we were really smart how we bought it. We scoped the internet, checked out three different stores and wrote down all the prices of kits vs. buying each part. I came in $20 under budget and got this awesome widescreen tank. Next were the ornaments. I bought 4 shale and stone tiles and a bag of sand from the local home improvement store. I tapped the tiles and broke them into rock shapes, cleaned the sand and added a piece of real drift wood. $9 total. Now I need to scope out the Internet for possible plant sharing.

- I made frozen chicken taquitos for my husband (I don't eat meat) and the chicken was only .99 lbs at my local butcher. Try to find your local butcher they are cheaper, fresher and have better choices.

- I made frozen breaded chicken tenders for my husband. I used TJ's chicken because I didn't know about the above deal yet.

- I have a garden. It's been pasta w/ fresh tomatoes and pesto for dinner! Nothing wrong there.

- My husband is making me a personal ice cream cake using homemade ice cream and cup cake batter! He's a good baker. I'm a good cook. We work well together.

- Blackberries are ready. Jam anyone?

- I made two mini shelves from some nice wood ends and old but nice looking scrolly brackets. I put them up next to my kitchen window. I put an ailing vine plant on the top and a mini TJ's orchid on the bottom. I transplanted the orchid to an old tea strainer that the cup broke for (its still very pretty) it looks perfect!

That's all for now but I still have five more days off! Thanks for having this forum. I love to shout my frugality to the world but the world doesn't always want to hear and I know my husband is sick of it.

You're in the right place, Krislyn. We love to hear about it! :)