Selah,
that you clean those clothes for the charity store and also donate those items to your friend is really inspiring.
Good on you!
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Selah,
that you clean those clothes for the charity store and also donate those items to your friend is really inspiring.
Good on you!
Thinking frugal....I spent $20 to go to a house concert on Friday with a friend. It was lovely to spend some time with her, the concert was great too, and the frugal was that I didn't buy a CD despite my desire to do so...actually, to get all three. The musician was terrific. Of course I bought hummus and sparkly water as my contribution to the food so that wasn't frugal but it could have been worse.
Yesterday I spent another $20 on an orienteering race, also with friends. I have never done that before, and it was terrific fun! I spent four hours hiking out in the woods (yes, in the cold and snow) looking for check points. It was a great introduction to the activity and pretty darn frugal when you think about alternatives. I am going to look for more orienteering opportunities.
Today I made chicken soup, saving the onion and carrot peelings for later chicken stock, as usual. The soup smells fabulous but it is because of being made with homemade stock. That's one of my regular frugals that I would do anyway because it makes food taste so much better.
My frugals are always offset by my non-frugals....sigh....I bought tickets for the three of us to spend Easter with my son and his family and used points from my business credit card to save $450...but of course I am still gasping at the expense of 1400 for three of us to go to NC for a weekend. I am committed to keeping the connection with my grandson, so I go twice a year regardless, but it is also important for my DH and DSD to connect with my extended family. We are all in this together, especially after DH and I actually Got Married last summer. But I am not exactly sure where I will get the money for the flight, as I have put myself on a strict spending plan. I forgot to include that part in it! (I should be clear that the money is there, but it was supposed to be sitting around waiting until I decide to declare a bonus for myself at the end of March....have to pay the bill sooner than that!)
Back to frugals....hanging laundry in the basement as much as I can. Another load is hung up there today. So soup and laundry today and also this is shaping up to be a no spend day...even made my own coffee to take when I walked the dog. Maybe if I just keep focusing on the frugals, the rest will fall into place......she said hopefully!
edited for typo-rectification
Feb 09/14
--have made up a few small things to give as gifts rather then spend money
--still reading from the books I got last fall at the library sale...great savings all winter
--signed up for Special points for traveling by rail may help down the road
--have gone yet another week without getting a hair cut, it will be 3 mos next week just by trimming bangs myself
and having Dd trim the neck. I will give in and go soon....lol but still isn't looking bad
Leslieann: I would love to hear more about the orienteering. I think there is a group that does some orienteering events in our local woods and it sounds intriguing.
Not many frugals lately here, but a few:
- We had an occasion to celebrate an event a few nights ago. We ate dinner out (been a long time since we've gone to a restaurant just to eat out) with a gift card I received for Christmas. We had leftovers for the next day and still have money left on the gift card.
- Our electric/gas utility offers a free download of Chinook Book coupons for iPhones and Android smartphones. Chinook Book is like one of those entertainment discount coupon books, but good at food coops and better grocery stores, places that sell "green" goods and services, etc. Free for discount coupons at places we shop and I don't have to cart around a paperback book? Sold.
- DW's cell phone has developed the annoying habit of losing its back cover (and, therefore, its battery and then its power). Normally that would be the cue to buy another phone. But I found a replacement cover on That Famous Auction Site and also found a cheap case to keep the phone together longer. Total outlay? Less than $10.
Steve, I'd be interested to know more about the Chinook Book deal. I logged into the utility's website and saw nothing available. PM me if you'd rather, or post here for all the Twin Citians if you are comfortable . . .
Have booked up my cabin through April and have enough money coming in so I can reserve some long chunks of time just for myself. Yay!
DH and I have been working on a list of house improvements (BADLY needed) and are prioritizing them. We have a great, speedy, affordable handyperson, and we are thinking we can increase the value of our house by 150,000 with less than 10,000 output (we are not thinking of moving, though.) This is for flooring, painting, cupboards in pantry area, window treatments, laundry room mini-makeover. Very excited to get these things going! (Note: I live in a crazy real estate area. YMMV.)
If we decide to put in the extra bath, that would not be so frugal - cost around 25,000 with estimated payback of 40,000 down the road.
No major purchases (and few minor ones.)
We put all the cars on Costco auto insurance; will save quite a bit.
My new health insurance kicks in this month, saving me $500 per month. DH hasn't made the switch yet, but will.
Our furnace is bleeding so much money, even turned down, that my frugals seem futile! Still we keep plugging away. . . more laundry hanging to dry. We just finished our second meal from a gift package of venison burger, along with baked potatoes, and some broccoli that was being tossed (raw) by a restaurant getting ready for a two-week shutdown. Very little excess driving - all errands are planned on the way to or from work or my mother's. We buy all of our staples at Aldi, supplemented if needed by loss leaders at other local stores. I turn in my expenses for work on time, so as to be sure they are processed quickly. Making sure we are really low on something before putting it on the grocery list (that may seem like a duh, but is one of my challenges, lol).
We're in the midst of another snowstorm here in the northeast. Had to go out this morning as I needed to go to court to fight the speeding ticket I got 3 months ago. Yeah, I know, the stupid tax. I didn't get off, unfortunately, but I did get the fine reduced by $110 so I guess that's something! And I didn't even have to miss any hours at work because the college was closed today. I took advantage of being out and stopped at BJs since I was driving right past it on my way home. Spent more than $300, but it was a major stocking up trip since I haven't been grocery shopping for more than a month and it's been three months since I did a BJs run. Got $60 worth of iTunes gift cards for $52 so that will go into the iTunes account and provide us with some frugal entertainment in the months to come. Stocked up on flour for baking and cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. :D I used about $20 worth of coupons and all for stuff that I would have bought anyway, except for cat food. But the cat food coupon made the price cheaper than the pet store so I bought a bag.
Came home and basically have just been hanging around. Finally got motivated and decided to make a batch of homemade yogurt in the crockpot and bake a loaf of bread. I'll make a batch of chocolate tapioca pudding, too, in a little bit. A very productive snow day! The gym closed early so saved on gas because that meant there was no Tae Kwon Do class to go to this evening.
Other frugals for the week, I worked extra hours because my co-worker was out sick. I'll work extra hours next week, too, because she is going on vacation. Might as well add to the stash during the cold winter months when I'm less concerned about having a lot of free time.
That's about it for now!
DH wanted to visit the cemetery and take some flowers to his mother's grave, so I pulled some pretty red silk roses and some baby's breath out of the box room (from yard sales and *ahem* trashpicking) and we made up a nice bouquet wrapped in green florist cellophane (also saved from the trashbin), no cost. Returned a DVD w/o a receipt to Target (a gift I already owned) and used the resulting gift card for two other DVDs and several small items DH wanted, spending a grand total of $2.50. Washed some bedding this AM and hung over heat so it could be used tonight. Called my cousin to wish her Happy Birthday instead of sending card (which was an oversight, really, but I'm claiming it!). That's about it.
Had a no-spend day today, and "spent" Friday contributing to others' frugality by de-cluttering books, music, some glassware, and some other bits and pieces. DH deposited the goods next to the dumpster and within 2 hours, all of it was gone.
We attended a Shabbat meal Friday night at a friend's home, and I was asked to bring a salad. I chose the recipe to correspond with the maximum amount of ingredients I already had on hand. I had to buy leeks and cilantro, but that was it. (Sauteed leeks marinated in oil, cilantro, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper...easy, quick and GORGEOUS!)
DD is going to a clothes swap tonight - de-cluttering and free shopping at the same time.
I've been lazy about feeding dd and have been buying prepared food (like Chinese dumplings at Trader Joe's.) Got to work on that. On the other hand, it's a lot cheaper than going out for Chinese!
Went to a free genealogy seminar yesterday. Ended up at an antique mall where my sole purchase was a double wire basket/carrier for the back of my bike, for $25, like new (sells for $45 plus shipping). Now if the bike only had tires that held air, lol..... Other than that, it's been the same old stuff.
Just got off the phone with medical insurance plan to learn the procedure for securing a breast pump, cost to be covered by the plan, once baby is here. I had found some legalese on their website that looked like it applied to me, but I didn't expect that it really would, so that was good news to learn that indeed it would be covered.
The snow came to MN a few hours later than first forecast - a great day at home posting on etsy, reading, napping, watching netflix. . . tomorrow I fully expect my driveway to be filled with snow when the plow comes by so another no-drive day! My planned errands are all within walking distance.
Only problem, no place to throw the snow! I shoveled the sidewalks but left the driveway for DH to snow blow when he got home - he'll need to clear the driveway apron tomorrow. . . hate the smell of the gas powered snow blower . . . so it's his task.
Speaking of aprons (chrissieq, above), I finally got around to doing a hand sewing project of creating an apron out of two absorbent dishtowels and some strange kind of nylon strapping material. It looks cool, cost about $3 in total to make, it is highly absorbent (since it is made of real dishtowels, not a cheap piece of polyester or too-thin poly-cotton blend), and saved me about $20 in buying something vaguely equivalent. I'm very proud of my home-grown apron! :)
Sorry I haven't been on much. My father is in hospice at home. I have been taking FMLA to travel down there for periods of time. My sister and I share weeks going to help mom out. Dad is 86 (87 on March 4th if he holds on). He has Congestive Heart Failure and Renal Failure, so it is just a matter of time. So far, he says he is not in any pain. Please keep my father and the family in your prayers.
debi,Quote:
Originally Posted by debi
thanks for mentioning this. We will be thinking of you.
Hang in there, debi, and hope your DF is comfortable and continues to be.
Sorry about your dad, Debi, and glad at least that he isn't in pain.
My current frugal goal is no discretionary spending until at least 3/14. Our Feb trip to Portland was spendy, and I made a few small purchases right afterward. I haven't really done any spending for the past two weeks other than the necessities, and I don't need anything else right now, so I'm going to keep tight hold on my purse strings for the next three weeks. At that point in time I probably will want/need to do a little bit of spending, so building up my reserves in the meantime will be a good thing.
We've been holding ourselves a bit more accountable with the grocery spending lately, and that's been helpful to the overall bottom line. We said no to the fresh cod on sale for $9.99/lb and Sat night dinner was the angel hair/anchovies/olive oil dish that feeds us handsomely for about $3.00 instead. I guess you could say we're working on striking the right balance: it can't always be cod and it shouldn't have to always be anchovies, but it should be possible to find the right balance between the two. So there's Rosa's frugal balance philosophy with some actual and metaphorical seafood thrown in :)
Feb24/14
--fancy dinner for Dsil birthday bought on a Groupon with discount way more then enough for 4 people I was glad
she really enjoyed it. Birthday gift were things I had picked up on sale or yardsales she was pleased with everything.
--getting really good at getting and using coupons for sales and price matching,
--Found a sale on clothes at Loblaws sweaters/tops/ and pants for $4.94 and then $10.00 worth of grocery points if you spent $25.00
Great deal (I am very leary re Loblaws Joe Fresh clothes because of where they are made but, my hope is they have had so much
bad publicity that they have inproved their practices....hopefully)
A king sized comforter works as a comforter on a queen bed. turn it so the longer part runs head to foot. You need to pick a pattern that looks ok going any direction. Use a bed skirt just as you would with a queen. There is enough extra fabric to cover the bed pillows like one does with a bedspread. I like that as I don't care for shams, just one more piece of clutter IMHO. I also find more king comforters in store markdown than Queen. Also not needing the shams makes used ones and markdown ones easier to find.
Nothing says "I love you" more than the free "gift" I just gave to my DH, who LOVES to pop bubble wrap for stress relief: a giant sheet of it, which I found next to the recycling bin on our street!
--still eating from the leftovers from Mon fancy dinner, very little waste these days
when we start to think about the next supper we are asking ourselves what leftover are there?
What needs to be used first? And, when we shop we are checking the fridge and the stockpile
--filled up with gas where I get a discount and $45.00 for the month.
--picked up a few groceries all on sale, price matched and with coupons also, extra by scanning receipt
and getting credits for some items.