June Frugals

fidgiegirl-we were selling the house on a land contract. X amount down and so much a month with a 5 year balloon. Their income exceeds ours by about 40% so really, in my opinion, there was no reason for them to give the house back. Oh well, the house they're going to rent is right around the corner from the restaurant so we're trying to stay friendly. No reason for long term negativity! This time dh has agreed to list it with a realtor and to let her take on most of the responsibility during the selling process. This time we will demand payment it full. On a positive note, we are listing the house with a long-term customer of ours so it will be nice to put some money in her pocket for a change.

Dh was so hot and tired after work tonight that all he could think about was a cold milkshake. We used some more of the McD's coupons and the three of us had dinner, including milkshakes for less than $10.

Afterwards, we went to the dollar store and picked up some much needed cleaning supplies and other odds and ends for a total of $33 on my gift card.

Hi frugal friends,

Stella, I know just what you're talking about... with me it's not the 'big' expenses that damage my finances so much as the little indulgences... the steady drip-drip-drip of coffees and 'little extras' at the supermarket add up to major amounts as the weeks and months roll by... Last year I kept detailed records of my spending, and at the end of the year I was stunned to see it wasn't 'luxury' items that were killing my accounts, but all the little things (not to say luxury items don't have an impact - they do! - but my spending on little indulgences added up to way more over the course of the year... This week I'm trying to cut out unnecessary spending - I'm following the guidelines on 'necessity scoring' for purchases from the book 'to buy or not to buy'... breaking habits is always uncofomfortable at first, but I know it gets easier pretty quick... I'll keep you all posted!

I'm also working on setting up a new support group meeting in skype for people who have problems with compuslive spending, so if anyone here is a 'recovering shopper', please feel free to drop me a line! I hope you're all well and having a peaceful, joyous and frugal day..

Hugs,
Luke

Checking in here quickly. Summer is in full swing here at the Monkey House. :) Things are a little crazy with Zach's new job and me taking on an extra kid during the day, but it's mostly fun crazy.

James' actual birthday party was last night. Cupcakes and lemonade at the pool. It doesn't get much simpler and cheaper than that and he had a fantastic time. Bella's birthday is next month and the kids' honourary grandma told me that she is ordering the cake. Bella is named after this grandma, so they have kind of a special connection.

The kids spent the morning swimming, playing at the playground and smashing rocks with a hammer to see what they looked like on the inside. Good cheap fun. They have also decided to form a neighborhood book club for kids. One of the older kids (a 13 year old) is the organizer. He brought the stories he's been writing over today for me to read. We're thinking of maybe doing some writing exercises as a group too. Again, good cheap fun.

I seem to have firmly established myself as Fun Mom and as such have been inundated with suggestions from kids (mine and others) for things we should do this summer. I am making a suggestion box for them to put their suggestions into so we can plan these things instead of trying to do too much at once. I'm totally up for projects like fossil digging, soap making, fishing, building a go-cart and electronics building, but we're going to have to space this stuff out. I'm considering registering as a 4H group since I seem to have a group of at least half a dozen to a dozen kids interested in doing stuff together. Then we could possibly do some fund-raising. It also gives the kids a way of putting this on future job or school applications as an extra curricular activity.

This Thursday we are going to see a movie with Zach's K of C group. The tickets were $3.50 each and my friend is babysitting for free. Saturday is card night with our friends and a week from Friday is my neighborhood women's cooking group. All FFF (Fairly Frugal Fun, for newcomers).

There was a book I needed for research for an article I am writing. It wasn't available at any of the libraries in our circulation area. I put in a request for the book to be sent from a larger city library in the state. Last time I had to do this I had to pay $4 to have the book sent to our library. This time it is free, although I can only keep it two weeks.

That's a savings of $4. It would have been $26 if I had to purchase it.

Then I stopped at my alma mater to do some research on distance learning and found I can still borrow material from there for free, and I graduated almost 30 years ago. Who knew?

I'm going to check if my husband can still borrow from the two universites he got his degrees from since we are in driving distance to both.

Love those libraries!

That's a great discovery, LilyB! Thanks very much for the idea! I should check into my alma mater as well. Never thought of that . . . and it's closer to our house than either branch library - and likely with better hours! It's about a mile away from our house.

Rejoining after an absence of several years. My how time flies!! Will start written records July 1 and will spend most of this month "reacquainting" myself with the Forums. Been letting things slide for too long.

June 16
--went yardsaling and only spent $1.00 on a "Slap Chop" as seen on TV guizzmo that I am sure I don't need but, get to try it out for$1.00 good deal to me....and the cutest set on utensils for cheese and dips etc. 8 pc bigger then the usual size (not a size I have ever seen before) made to look like old bone but, not for $1.00......a passport cover for $.25 and that is all I spent. Very good for me........
--going to a BBQ tonight and had everything I needed in the house to make my very good nacho dip, with nachco chips.
--getting a drive so no gas...
--my physio and massage therapy have really worked to help my back/leg so the co payment was worth it and I have learnt all the excerises and am doing them at home.....so I don't need to keep going.
--bought a little summer and two winter hats for great nephew on sale (Zellars closing it's doors on Sunday) 3 for $3.50 so that will be 3 gifts for him. Don't get to see him often so it is nice to have a little something when I do.
--Sold 2 more items on Kijiji for $40.00 and still listing more
--met one friend this week for coffee and used a Groupon deal to treat us both (she is having a hard time and really appreciated it)
--met another friend for lunch but, just bought a slice of pizza for $4.50----I am realizing I need to get out and spend time with people.
--Grandson's Birthday today so just sent him an Amazon Gift Card and an e-mail card....no shipping cost or card costs that way.

Hey I wonder where my last post went?

Danna, keep rockin' it . . .

Welcome back, Brooklynn!

I switched our Internet to Comcast. We had been using Clear since we moved, but it isn't fast enough, and we don't have the right wireless router, so we're tethered to the table. This stinks since we both have iPads from work that we can't use at home without wireless. Anyway! We'll save $10 a month, though there were some setup costs (hookup, + cost of buying a router). I am hoping to score the router I want off of CL. We'll see if the guy contacts me. We'll save $30-$50 if I can get it. Otherwise will put in an order on Amazon.

I feel proud of the whole process because I told the chat representative to cut out the hard sell crap and answer my questions, and the person did so. I was able to see that the introductory offer is really not a good one in the long run and went with a lower level of service at its ultimate cost right off the bat. It's likely all we'll need, and if it's not, we'll change it up later on.

Big accomplishment for me. Big companies literally make me so anxious I feel it physically. I just detest the masking of costs and the hard sell. HATE IT. So that I survived and am still smiling is a good thing.

Now we'll just see if we get it hooked up without any hiccups . . .

Finally, a few frugals to report! Mailed off another paperbackswap.com book and posted another one this morning. I noticed that the one I posted is on a member's wish list, so hopefully the member still wants it and I will be able to send it off next week. I went to Michael's and bought some decorative curly bamboo for the giant pots we have outside the front door. I used up the remainder of a long standing gift card so paid only $1.07 out of pocket. Almost stopped at Home Depot to get some spray paint for another project and realized that I probably have enough various colors of spray paint at home in the garage that I can do the project without having to buy any more. The weather is really beautiful today so perhaps I'll spray paint today! Doing a few loads of laundry so that I can hang them on the line and take advantage of the free solar energy to dry everything! I've been drinking from my very large stash of tea and I'm finally making a significant dent in the stockpile -- not buying tea has definitely made my recent grocery shopping expeditions cheaper! Still going without A/C and it's the middle of June. Our electric bill thanks us! With our solar panels we have managed to have 3 months worth of electric bills with a negative balance -- woot!!! Okay, I think that's all for now!

Awesome, cdttmm! I was using paperbackswap for a while but realized it was costing me more than it was saving me because I was posting, not to sound snotty, but really nice, recent, popular books and the kinds of books I wanted just usually weren't available to get from anyone else. I think I still do have a few credit floating around in there but it occurred to me that it wouldn't really be beneficial to have more than 1 or 2 credits available at any one time. Now if you like different genres than I do, it could be really worth it. I just didn't find it to be particularly so. We are getting good use out of the Little Free Library up the street. I have scored a few books out of there but I didn't put any back, I passed them on to a friend. No worries, though. At some point I will have some to contribute back into it, that's for sure. Always happens!

The guy agreed to sell me the modem, yippee. I will combine the trip to pick it up with a stop at my fave thrift store later this afternoon.