January Frugals

We have an old fridge ( i am referring about the freezer part) from my past life and stand-up freezer that we are eating from. Its stuffed full. I am tired of DH's song and dance of: " There's nothing to eat". I have taken inventory and have meals planned. We have been using out wood stove. We had about four acres of Douglas Fir that was diagnosed with a fungus in 2016. We had it logged off. The logging company spilt 1/2 of the firewood quality wood with us. We have enough to last us a lifetime. we have just been too lazy to use it. We are now using it.

Yeah, at our house "nothing to eat" actually translates in DH speak to "there's nothing here that I want to eat that I can get with a bare minimum of effort on my part". So while we too have plenty of food stocks, he has "nothing to eat". :~). Kuddos on the using of the wood stocks- I wish we had a wood stove. Being dependent bothers me. I know it's counterintuitive, but the older I get the more I wish we were off-grid. I'm thinking the current political situation has much to do with it, but I tell myself it doesn't matter, we only have enough ammo to keep the hordes at bay for a day or so regardless, if they come in droves- and they will doubtless be better armed than we are, lol. Unlike many of our neighbors, we have no automatic/semiautomatic weapons or high caliber sniper rifles. And I can no longer pull any of the bows. (Maybe I should investigate those little cross-bows.) BID. So frugally, we've been out of the house more the past week or so, and I've actually remembered to turn the thermostat back on the downstairs furnace when we leave. (d2ndc stays mostly on the second floor and that furnace usually just stays at the same temp, so this does not impact them) I don't have any idea what impact that turn-down has other than psychological, but I'm convinced it's a frugal! I have double-checked our subscriptions for the year to evaluate their value to us - and have renewed as warranted. We have been quite vigilant about not wasting food, and have had some "interesting" meals as a result. Still need for DH to change the seal on the downstairs freezer, so I guess that's a frugal-to-be.

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Originally Posted by early morning

Yeah, at our house "nothing to eat" actually translates in DH speak to "there's nothing here that I want to eat that I can get with a bare minimum of effort on my part". So while we too have plenty of food stocks, he has "nothing to eat". :~).

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Same thing at my house! Which is one reason why I don't buy a lot of snack-type foods. THEY would become the meal instead of something that might actually have some degree of preparation needed.

Bought a set of measuring cups, some of the old ones disappeared and I'm pretty sure I'm adding more ingredients since I'm trying to figure out how to measure out 2/3 cup of sugar with a 1/2 and 1/4 cups and eyeballing it. Been reorganizing the utensil drawer with the thought I might find the missing cups, hasn't happened and probably won't at this point.

Spilled some dish detergent refilling the dispenser. Sopped it up with paper towels and used them as washcloths when doing dishes to not waste the detergent.

As we near the end of the month I had a little money left in my budget. Paid the water/sewer bill due the middle of next month and will get a haircut tonight, and probably top off the gas tank Monday. Next month I will likely need more heating oil, have car service scheduled, and will try to knock out two utility bills - January's due mid February and February's due mid March.

Maxed out my sick payout for 2021.

Bought a loaf of garlic bread last night and then did not eat it for dinner, so cut it into four pieces and froze them. Will take out a quarter at a time.

Brought lunch to work and a bagel from home for breakfast. Made tea at home and didn’t hit McD for coffee. My acid reflux has been acting up and so that’s not good.

Many think we will have an economic downturn later this year, so in a long term frugal to prevent myself from possibly being laid off I volunteered to learn a new function at work and the boss took me up on my offer. This will add value to me as an employee and increase my chances of being retained if cuts come. I will do this in addition to my current work.