July Frugals

I came in at 75% of my budget last month for flexible monthly spending items like groceries, gas, hair cuts, entertainment and household purchases. The only "stuff" purchases I made were a couple of used books to benefit the library and some craft fair type jewelry made by other members of our rock club, which came to under $30 total. Some of the jewelry pieces I will set aside and give to MIL for Christmas. I am interested in learning to make my own jewelry but I think it is actually cheaper to buy it already made from the other club members, since many seem to have a surplus. Some of the earrings and necklaces will go into the neat wooden jewelry box I bought at a thrift shop last month.

We were getting one of our kids ready for a trip these last few days so that kept us from driving or shopping much for ourselves, except for a few travel necessities for him. I have been checking out books on simplicity and crafts from the library. Tonight I got a book on how to make my own soap and a book on sustainable living, though at this point I have read so many books on the sustainable living I am not finding many more unique ideas.

We are in the process of refinancing at a no cost loan which will reduce our mortgage payment. We locked the rate over a week ago but I asked if they could do anything to get it lower and our mortgage person said she would look into it. That would be nice to go even lower on the rate, but if not as long as rates stay low we will just refinance again with another no cost loan next month.

Last month I raised the deductibles on our home and auto insurance policies and got a refund check today for the premium difference. It was nice to get a check in the mail instead of the usual bills.

I ended up not making the BLTs last night. I made the chilaquiles instead. Yum! Tonight will be the BLTs with lettuce from the garden and tomorrow will be grilled pizza.

It's insanely hot here today so I am planning a stay-at-home day. I don't use a lot of gas these days. I mostly drive on the weekends.

I have made a commitment to save a certain amount from each check and donate a certain amount. It's too easy to let it slide otherwise.

So many great posts! Its kind of nice to disappear for a few days and find a large amount of stuff to catch up on-its inspiring reading so much at once. Or maybe I'm just wierd:|(

I don't feel like I have much to report. We did do very well at Kroger's last week. When I was sick last summer (dehydration) the ER doctor recommended we both drink lots of Gatorade to stay hydrated in the heat. Its always at least 10 degrees hotter in the kitchen that it is outside so its nothing for us to labor for 8-10 hours in 90-100 degree temps. Anyways, gatorade after all the sale specifics were 49 cents a bottle. We bought 60+. That saves 50 cents over grocery store prices of $1 over gas station prices per bottle.

I have $16 in kroger cash and $4 in Riteaid cash to spend but may wait for next week to do so.

This may be TMI but menapause had really been kicking my butt. I'm evil.:devil: Hot flashes, mood swings, I can't sleep, physical pain, etc. Dh is nice and I cry. He makes my sandwich wrong at work and it takes everything I've got not to throw it at him. Some lady crossed against the light the other night and I wanted to get out of the car and kick her a**! So trying to be frugal, I got on the computer and searched for a solution. One thing that stood out was giving up my beloved coffee. I can easily drink 3-4 pots a day when I'm working. Plus a soda with dinner... I haven't had a soda or a cup of coffee in 8 days and am feeling much better. I also bought a bottle of vitamins for women going through menopause and they are helping too. I'm sleeping much better, the hot flashes are greatly reduced and I haven't felt the desire to lash out at some one over something stupid and minor this week.

The only problem is that I seem to be replacing the coffee with food. I just cannot go all day without eating the way I could before. But I figure the cost of the vitamins is covered by the savings from all the coffee I'm not drinking.

I've been drinking up a bunch of tea that I have in the house instead. An occasional cup of grean tea, lots of chamomile, and some Malalueca tea that my mother brought to me. I love the Malelueca and wish I could find a way to buy it on a regular basis. If any of you know how I might do this please let me know. The only source I no of requires me make a large monthly commitment to the company.

more wash is sweltering on the line, and I have some smelly blankets, deposited by DS, soaking in the washer. I'll hang them out tonight. Don't have to drive to check on Mom, as Dsis is going over today anyway - so no driving. Too hot to go see fireworks!! So no gas burned. Need to get a new chainsaw. We have a big one but I can't handle it, and my little electric one is non-functioning. I'm going to try a battery one. We have a host of battery op tools, using the same batteries, and we have quite a few extra batteries and a large charging dock. I don't need it to do big stuff, just cut through some smaller limbs so I can get them into the pickup to haul out to the field. We don't burn inside; although it would be nice to have a woodstove, the mess and the thought of what it might do to DDs and my asthma, plus the cost of shoring up the floor with a hearth just doesn't seem worth it. I was going to go get one today but realized that I wouldn't use it right away anyway - too hot!- so may as well look around at prices, and not make a special trip to get it.

How is this for frugal: we have decided to extend our no-spend to a no-spend year! Only needed items and costs for the next year. No thrift shops. If someone has a true need, we may pop in to one with a list firmly in hand and an accountability partner.

fidgiegirl, I agree with you that organizing is a frugality. We are doing a massive purge of our home right now (as in, a shed full of stuff to garage sale this weekend) and I found the most beautiful hummingbird feeder in my basement! New, it would have been $70, I had purchased it at Goodwill this winter for $5 and it almost spent the entire summer languishing in the basement! I found it and hung it on the porch instead.

My youngest son loves horses and all animals, and so he and my DH are volunteering at an orphan horse rescue farm. Much cheaper ( free) than horse camp and they are giving back.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by early morning

more wash is sweltering on the line, and I have some smelly blankets, deposited by DS, soaking in the washer. I'll hang them out tonight. Don't have to drive to check on Mom, as Dsis is going over today anyway - so no driving. Too hot to go see fireworks!! So no gas burned. Need to get a new chainsaw. We have a big one but I can't handle it, and my little electric one is non-functioning. I'm going to try a battery one. We have a host of battery op tools, using the same batteries, and we have quite a few extra batteries and a large charging dock. I don't need it to do big stuff, just cut through some smaller limbs so I can get them into the pickup to haul out to the field. We don't burn inside; although it would be nice to have a woodstove, the mess and the thought of what it might do to DDs and my asthma, plus the cost of shoring up the floor with a hearth just doesn't seem worth it. I was going to go get one today but realized that I wouldn't use it right away anyway - too hot!- so may as well look around at prices, and not make a special trip to get it.

---

Hi early morning, the one thing about the wood stove is that they are off-season right now and you may hit a sale!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Square Peg

My youngest son loves horses and all animals, and so he and my DH are volunteering at an orphan horse rescue farm. Much cheaper ( free) than horse camp and they are giving back.

---

That is a great idea. I wish I had looked for more volunteer activities like that for our kids when they were younger.

We are realizing now that we have probably more fun doing activities with non-profit clubs and groups then we did when we spent more money on things like restaurants and concert tickets. When we decided to go the simple living, low cost route at first we were not sure if we would feel deprived on a reduced entertainment budget. But it turns out we have actually had more fun and some months I haven't spent hardly any money at all. Our library has free passes to about 30 major local attractions, I bought a reciprocal museum pass for some not on their list, our local parks have many free events, we ride our bikes and hike and belong to several clubs with low annual membership fees. So we can by quite busy all month long and not spend any money at all except for gas.

I just ordered a free Arm & Hammer sensitive toothpaste sample. if anyone is interested, you can order at: freeAHsensitive.com. I'm certainly not in BKE's league, but every little bit helps. They will send you an e-mail and you have to click on the link in the e-mail to confirm your shipping address.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Square Peg

How is this for frugal: we have decided to extend our no-spend to a no-spend year! Only needed items and costs for the next year. No thrift shops. If someone has a true need, we may pop in to one with a list firmly in hand and an accountability partner.

fidgiegirl, I agree with you that organizing is a frugality. We are doing a massive purge of our home right now (as in, a shed full of stuff to garage sale this weekend) and I found the most beautiful hummingbird feeder in my basement! New, it would have been $70, I had purchased it at Goodwill this winter for $5 and it almost spent the entire summer languishing in the basement! I found it and hung it on the porch instead.

My youngest son loves horses and all animals, and so he and my DH are volunteering at an orphan horse rescue farm. Much cheaper ( free) than horse camp and they are giving back.

---

3 scores for you, squarepeg! The horse idea is awesome. Horse camp is super expensive. Does DS get to ride at all, or just spend time with the animals? I'm sure they are glad to have them. I'm sure there is always pleeeeeenty of cleaning to do at a horse farm! :) A good way to see the work involved in having those beautiful babies. :)

We had FFF at a friend's house today. We were super grateful for the invitation because 1) we haven't seen them in a social setting in a while and 2) they have a pool! We contributed the veggies, which sadly sat out in the heat and will have to be thrown, but we were strategic with the dip - we split it into two containers and brought them both. That way, if one sat out and got ruined in the 100 heat (which it did) and people were going crazy over the dip, or we needed more food, or whatever, we could pull out the second one. But as suspected, there was more than enough food and the veggie tray is always the last of what gets eaten, so we brought the rest of the dip and some of our carrots home in the cooler. :)

We got a new garage door for $50 off Craigslist. My parents are going to bring it for us on Saturday when we will have a fish fry for both sets of parents and my DBiL. The fish is from my DH's recent fishing trip.

I should report on how the garage organize went - we ended up doing it for $0! We thought we would go get special hooks to hold the tools on the wall, but then DH (smartly) said, why don't we just pound in 2 nails (you know, two nails and then the handle of the yard tool hangs in between). We had also squirreled away quite a few other packages of hooks that we got from DFiL a while ago and never got around to organizing our old garage. :laff: So those came with us and are in service now.

Hope everyone has a lovely and safe 4th!!