December Frugal's...last one for 2015!!

Rosarugosa, Culvers is a Wisconsin based fast food joint that sells frozen custard but also amazingly good fried cod, which is what we usually have. I got hooked on the ice cream 15 years ago when we were still living in Midwest, then went East and down south, no Culvers, so it makes me happy to have it back up here in MI, but I dont really eat the ice cream anymore.
I didn't really give much thought to the SA's guiding principles. When I was a kid living in NJ, my mom volunteered at the store because she loved getting first shot at the antiques that came in, and she became friends with some of the SA officers (or whatever you call them.) Then twice we lived down the street from their centers, so lots of people do seem to be helped by them. I really didn't think it through beyond that. As you say, they always look so cold up North here at the those kettles.

Went to look at both Ford trucks and his 1988 F150 looked better, so we had the mechanic price out what we need to do to it to fix it up. It needs less work than the van, so is getting 900 dollars worth on the 1988 truck to keep it running. STill need to buy it new tires.

Will try selling the van on Craigslist, no desire to do the work on that one; needs 1700.

Cdttmm: You are made of way tougher stuff than I am. Our heat is only programmed to go as low as 60 degrees, and that's when we're at work!
Rodeosweetheart: Fried cod sounds very good! Sounds like you are making some frugal choices with your vehicles too.
As for us:
The good: I earned $6.00 doing Pinecone Research surveys this weekend. We also spent less than budgeted on holiday-related expenditures, so we were able to send an extra check to Melrose Humane Society (that's the group that fixed us up with our two boys; it's a small organization of good people rescuing cats and fostering them in their homes until adopted).
The bad: We just barely came in at budget on groceries this week. We had a small list and a pretty generous budget, so we really should have come in well under budget. Those small "oh hell, it's the holidays and Trader Joe's has special cookies" indulgences really add up!
The ugly: Went to a Christmas crafts fair with my sister and a friend yesterday. I didn't particularly want to go to the fair, but I did want to spend time with my sister and that's what she really wanted to do, so that's what we did. Frittered away $55.00 on some nice little things, but nothing remotely necessary. I'm not actually sorry I went. We had a good time together and I used my allowance for the spending, so no real harm done. But this kind of recreational shopping trip isn't the least bit frugal, so that's the ugly part!

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

Those small "oh hell, it's the holidays and Trader Joe's has special cookies" indulgences really add up!

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They certainly do! That's been a challenge for us this month, but we've done a good (not great) job resisting. I have been making meals the last couple of weeks from whatever's already in the house, so I haven't been buying many groceries for menus, but I'm still buying sale items (like another ALDI ham, which will last us until they put them on sale again for Easter) so the freezer and pantry aren't as empty as I might have hoped.

The keypad to our garage door opener stopped working and i was tempted to just get another keypad at Sears before the last week of Christmas shopping drove me from the stores. But I ran short of time to go there, so I went home and started taking the keypad apart and discovered it has a battery (!). I always thought it was just powered by the same electricity that makes the opener work, so the battery must be original to the opener. 13 years off one 9-volt battery! I put in one we already had in the house and it works. Live and learn... way cheaper than replacing the keypad.

DW has been getting some overtime at work as other people take off for the holidays; that helps. I bought DW's Christmas gift on Amazon; when I went to pay for it, Amazon reminded me of a credit I had dating back to the beginning of the year, so I used it up. We've made several of the gifts we're giving and saved a lot of money over buying pretty much the same thing.

We gave away both of our artificial trees this year, but DW found a small one with our Christmas stuff -- already decorated from last year. Lends new meaning to the term "plug and play". :) This year, that's about what we're up to -- just a little decorating and a few treats and gifts and we're calling it good. There should be plenty of ornaments and trimmings to give away -- maybe this year if Goodwill will still take them; in a bin for next Christmas if they won't.

Frugality really is a challenge at this time of year....

Thank goodness for students who feel compelled to bring their teachers treats! Received a holiday gift bag from a student with 6 homemade macaroons in it. YUM!!! Totally solves my Christmas cookie craving without my having to spend money.

Free lunch at work today because we're in the final stages of our search for a new Dean. The students get to have lunch with the candidates, but there is always food leftover. So I took advantage and grabbed a sandwich and some cookies. This applicant is someone I used to work for, so it was nice to also be able to wish him good luck as he continued through the very long interview process.

At work, our student senate chose to do a community service project that involves arranging for Christmas presents for a needy family. Through some of our on-campus services they were able to get anonymously matched with a student who is a single mother of three girls and who is of limited economic means. They raised over $800 and were able to buy toys, games, clothing, and other gifts for the family, including a $200 gift card to the grocery store. It was pretty impressive! They wanted to get backpacks from the campus bookstore and some other school supplies for the mother so I got to tag along and help pick out those Christmas gifts. I was so happy because that was just enough activity to curb any craving for holiday shopping that might have led me to spending money unnecessarily. Afterwards the students all sat around listening to Christmas music and wrapping the gifts while I graded exams. It was a lovely, Christmas-y activity that didn't cost me anything -- WIN!!!

Eating up leftovers for dinner tonight and tomorrow before we head off to see the relatives for 24 hours. So glad I chose not to fly to MN this year. Feeling much more relaxed as a result!

Learned that our local chain grocery store, Albertson's, has a 10% off day for seniors, the first Wednesday of every month. Put that on my calendar and started a separate grocery list on the refrigerator door.

It's called (fondly) "geezer day."

Getting the house ready to possibly sell. Needed to get a new tub wraparound (not the tub but the wall space). Went to the hardware store and found one that met our needs and when we went up to the checkout it was $49 :cool:! Amazing! Then went to lunch using reward money from our credit card...

The good: DH & I did an overnight stay in Portland, ME last night to use a free night at HI that will expire if not used by February, so this was sort of our holiday gift to ourselves. So lovely king-sized room with an amazing view of the city and the harbor for free is very good indeed.
The bad: Very expensive dinner last night (but really good)! So this was a good bad!
More good: Instead of going to breakfast or brunch this AM, we went to a convenience store near the hotel and picked up bananas and muffins. I had brought clementines and made coffee in our percolator, and DH got a complimentary cocoa in the lobby. Also went shopping at Reny's, which is an amazing discount chain in Maine. I needed a new glass candy jar (cat broke the lid to our current one) and I had one on my Amazon wish list for $14.99. I got the identical jar for $2.99!
The ugly: We won't even talk about how much I spent on soaps at my favorite soap store. But at least I am clean and I smell good, so there are worse obsessions. :)

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

The good: DH & I did an overnight stay in Portland, ME last night to use a free night at HI that will expire if not used by February, so this was sort of our holiday gift to ourselves. So lovely king-sized room with an amazing view of the city and the harbor for free is very good indeed.
The bad: Very expensive dinner last night (but really good)! So this was a good bad!
More good: Instead of going to breakfast or brunch this AM, we went to a convenience store near the hotel and picked up bananas and muffins. I had brought clementines and made coffee in our percolator, and DH got a complimentary cocoa in the lobby. Also went shopping at Reny's, which is an amazing discount chain in Maine. I needed a new glass candy jar (cat broke the lid to our current one) and I had one on my Amazon wish list for $14.99. I got the identical jar for $2.99!
The ugly: We won't even talk about how much I spent on soaps at my favorite soap store. But at least I am clean and I smell good, so there are worse obsessions. :)

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one of my favorite places to visit. I never heard of Remy's, I'll have to remember it for next time. Score on the jar!

Dec27th

--The good this month has been that we have done a lot of cooking at home, we have been using up the leftovers (sent Dsil home with a couple of meals Christmas day)
gifts did not break the bank, received very nice useful gifts mostly, lunches and outings did not break the bank either and were very enjoyable, out of town company tomorrow and my house is nice and clean.
All and all a nice simple Christmas with family.
---the really good was that I did not buy any and I mean any special candy/chocolates for Christmas....The bad I went to the drug store to pick up a prescription and they
had an amazing sale and I totally caved, but some is an extra gift for that out of town company and some for Dsil's birthday that lands in Feb. none of it had Xmas on it
so usable even for Valentines etc. The best item was nice glass jars with 525 grams of pralines mixed nuts for $4.96 bought 4 of those......okay, okay I said it was a bad.
--I bought a 7.5 lb Roaster Chicken (instead of turkey for Christmas day) and it was so delicious (of course that is a lot to do with Dd's cooking)
way more meat than bones compared to a little chicken. Don't often see them but, will look for them in the future.
That is all I can think of for now.....Hope you all had a Great Christmas Season!
P.S. I haven't been on the scale but, I am thinking my 25lb lost of weight may not be that good right now.....lol

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Originally Posted by freshstart

I never heard of Remy's, I'll have to remember it for next time.

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Freshstart: It's Reny's and it's a really cool store. They have everything from clothing to hardware to housewares to groceries to Maine souvenirs, and their prices are great. I bought the candy jar, nice insulated gloves, a leather wallet (configured exactly like my very old, falling apart wallet), two kinds of band-aids, cold medicine for day and night, a 12-pack of pocket Kleenex, eye-drops, shoe polish & a hairbrush for $42.00.
Last year I got DH a pair of flannel-lined jeans and a flannel shirt there for $15.00.