March 2015 Frugals

Because I've had the same smartphone for so long (since October 2012), I've gotten discounts from Verizon that amount to $25/month. My bill is down to $80. Since my Galaxy S3 is still chugging along fairly well, I'll keep the phone until it really starts getting wonky.

Not really a March frugal, but I paid about $130 in the fall for a 3-in-1 (fleece liner zips into a water-resistant shell) Columbia jacket from the online REI outlet. I saved at least $125. My, did it prove its worth this winter when it was so cold. I was nice and warm. My other winter coat is a wool swing dress coat I've had for about 8 years. Not exactly warm for those arctic days.

I've been buying lunch out at work much too often lately. On the plus side, as a result of some OT (they now pay it since the beginning of the year), I have a semi-decent emergency fund/savings account now. I also sold some warehousing services to a customer (temporary thing) and I'll be getting $800 commission before taxes. It doesn't pay out immediately, but I should have it before my week-long trip to NC in late May.

SteveinMN - congratulations on the coming grandchild! Will make the holidays fun with a new baby around.

Temperatures have been above normal by 10°-15°F all week so NO heat used (woo hoo), not even from the solar panel. Should help save on the utility bills.

I snipped off 4 sprigs of rosemary from my plant I used indoors over the winter and they have rooted. I'll finish some preparations in the garden and plant cool season crops tomorrow. We'll also reattach the rain barrels (9 units for a 1,000-gallon capacity) tomorrow and then pray for rain. We are desperate for some precipitation around here.

I was finally able to turn off the heat yesterday, even though I'd had it set very low, anyway. Supposed to be at least 50 here each day.

Rediscovered Aldi for grocery shopping and saved mucho dinero.

Cancelled my membership to Massage Envy ($60/month), so I can put that towards my cc debt.

Went through my clothes and realized I don't need anything new aside from a pair of jeans and some underwear.

Took my jar of change in to be counted - $60! Paid for today's hair appt with something left over.

So much positive stuff to read in this thread. Congrats to Steve and great job everyone.

Grew a a bunch of native plants from seed and am putting them into the beds. I am trying to convert my yard to a certified wildlife habitat so have been gradually replacing the bushes and flowers. Wonderful entertainment to have beds full of bees and butterflies.

Joined an an informal birding club. We get together at various venues within a few miles from my home and it has increased the amount of birds I can identify. Again, wonderful free entertainment.

I was was given a Fitbit (like a pedometer) for my birthday from my kids. I have really increased my walking every day. Saving in gas and better for my health.

Thanks, everyone!

Baby-related frugality continued this past week as DW bought a used pack-n-play-type thing and a couple of books she read to DD as a young'un (she gave them away years ago so she bought used copies). DW and DD also are awaiting the city-wide garage sale at one of our richer suburbs to pick up other needed items. We don't plan to duplicate everything the new mom and dad have in their house, but between grandbaby and the children of other family friends, there will be a bunch of little ones running through this house (literally) soon.

The prospect of becoming a grandma also has ignited in DW a desire to retire "early" to have more time to care for the grandbaby. She's decided to start saving some of the money she's been spending on getting her hair professionally colored and eating out frequently with coworkers in favor of banking it for the future. I certainly will not argue with that if being able to cycle back is what she really wants. We're going to start talking about the choices we get to make in maybe going to one car, staying in this house versus moving to a condo, etc.

One of the local supermarkets has been running buy-one-get-one-free specials all month. Sometimes the "deals" really aren't deals because the price of one item is so high. But some of the prices are good for stocking up, so we've been doing that for items we use anyway.

I've also started culling more albums from my collection. Some of them made my first cut many months ago, but I realized I haven't listened to them since their "audition". Obviously I cared about them less than I thought. Time to make someone else happy with them...

Congratulations, Steve! I think it's so smart to explore used options for baby things, although you can certainly take my opinion with a grain of salt since I only mother cats. It seems like babies are an opportunity to go all-out crazy with the spending. I heard of baby-wipe warmers and actually thought it was a joke, until i heard that someone at work had them on her baby registry.
I've not been feeling like I have much to contribute in the frugality realm lately. I got my annual bonus at work and did a bit of spending. Then I pulled out my calculator, and I actually put 14% of gross into my 401K, and 73% of the net right into savings. I sent a check to the local humane society. I wanted to do some food splurging, but instead of going out to eat, we ordered some smoked and frozen salmon from Seabear, stocked up on frozen cod, scallops & almonds from Costco, and bought some good stuff at the Winter Farmers' Market yesterday. There were a few other small purchases, but all in all, I think we were reasonably prudent as far as splurges go.
I had the day off today, and I spent some of my time completing two online courses through my company's wellness program and signing up for phone coaching with our new wellness vendor. This will gain me $175.00 in wellness incentives, and I recently completed another wellness component that will pay another $100.
My recent efforts at consigning some items only netted me $11.20, so I'm not sure that's really a worthwhile endeavor. I would definitely do better to focus my efforts on not buying unnecessary stuff in the first place!

A frugal for special occasion clothes: a friend has loaned me a fascinator-style hat for the wedding next month. Goes great with my $16.99 dress from Ross, my $13.99 clutch from Charming Charlies, and I already had the shoes, so my mother of the groom outfit costs less than $35.

My brother gave me a $50 Amazon gift card for my birthday (thanks, brother!), and to my astonishment, when I went to my account to apply the gift card to my gift card balance, there was another $50 in there that I'd forgotten about! So I had $100 to spend, and was able to get a glass grinder for my new stained glass hobby...the last big-ticket item I needed to be able to do my own pieces the way I want to do them. Whoo hoo!

Lainey: How amazing that you could put together a great outfit for so little!
Selah: What a pleasant surprise!