January 2015 frugals

Yesterday was grocery shopping and errands day. First stop was the bank for cash. Reduced the amount of our "walking around money" and put the remainder in the Christmas/Emergency Savings Account (it's a budgeted item). Second stop: CVS. The nutritional supplement I bought was BOGO Free, so I purchased 2 and got 2 free - WOO HOO! Next stop was the grocery store. Managers special on fresh ground beef (not chubs, the real deal - 85% lean) in 3-pound packages. It was just over my $10/week meat limit, but I haven't purchased ground beef since July and the price was "right" enough (LOL). Found two items on the clearance shelf drastically reduced. Still haven't gone shopping this month and it's half over.

When I got home I used 1/2# of the ground beef to make a small meatloaf and seasoned and boiled the remainder to remove the fat. Placed the drained boiled beef in 1-cup portions in the freezer. Chilled the meat broth the ground beef was cooked in. Removed the fat from the top (to use for feeding the birds) and will use the meat broth as a base for soup today.

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Originally Posted by Tammy

My opinion - lots of recyclable containers are from all the non-water beverages people buy. Mixed up and ready to use. Other than milk I try to buy powders or concentrates, and I drink mostly water. It also is cheaper.
And it is so much easier to carry home from the store.

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I purchase powdered milk in plastic pails - 1 pail is usually enough for at least a year. Grandma's Country Cream is the best tasting and I use it to make homemade kefir and yogurt. I also buy Morning Moo's Whey-Based Milk Substitute for the lactose intolerant family members (it's much lower in lactose than regular milk). I haven't purchased milk from the grocery store since 1981.

Today I took two buses to a dance auditionl down in Burbank. The bus driver told us the dollar machine wasn't working, so I saved $2.00 on bus fare. I wore dance clothes, dance shoes, and a dress that I've had for years. They still look nice, and they work. Had a romantic and frugal evening with my boyfriend last night. I'm tired today, so, for the rest of the day, I'll take it easy. He wants to go on a 10 mile hike this Sat. We'll see if I can keep up with him...so far, so good.
I'm knitting the second sock of a pair that I started last month. It's easy, relaxing, and repetitive. The yarn was on sale, and it was in my stash. Later on I'll walk the dogs, do yoga, and work on my music.

We are now three of us with full blow flu; my oldest teen has been running a temp around 104° (it comes down some if he takes ibuprofen). Since DH was at work it was up to the other sick teen and me to get things done around here. We've managed three loads of laundry. I heated a pan of leftover beans and made refried beans from them, then made seasoned rice with some leftover brown rice. Add lettuce and salsa and we had tacos for our main meal. The teen did the dishes and I used my Foodsaver on the leftover beans and seasoned rice and tossed the pouches into the freezer. I really hate food waste.

I ordered some nasal inhalers and made one for each of us using essential oils I already have. That brings the price to $1 + pennies for each inhaler, which is much cheaper than buying them at Whole Foods.

However, being sick meant I didn't bake for the birthday, so DH went to the bakery for vegan treats. And I'm not sure what we'll put together for supper; my fever started climbing again and I just didn't feel up to making a soup. Perhaps there are some leftover buns for veggie burgers again.

Monday and today were no spend, no drive days. Tuesday was just groceries - staying in budget. Wednesday was the drive to work. Tomorrow I get my haircut - my hair cutter has a favorite bakery that is on my way to her shop so I will buy her a ham stuffed croissant ($3) as her tip. Last time she said if I brought her the croissant, my hair cut was free! But I am just counting it as the tip. Of course, now I'm tempted to buy myself one too!!

My most recent frugal was in the form of earning more money. I sold 14 pounds of honey this week for a grand total of $204.

Kimberly: I hope you and your family are feeling better.
We didn't stop to pick up bread or anything for dinner, although we didn't have anything defrosted or much of a plan tonight. So we had wine and brie and crackers and olives and called it "tapas." Pretty glamorous, no? :)

I've started the add-a-dollar-a-week savings challenge (my SIL wants us to do this for two years and use the money to go to London) - only we're doing it backwards - $52 the first week, $51 the next, etc. I've got three weeks in so far. I've hung about half my laundry in the house, although I used the dryer for several loads because I got behind. Just now cooking off the turkey carcass from our family get-together the weekend after New Years - it's going to get warm tomorrow so I had to get it out of the shed (our extra winter freezer, :~)). There are no no-drive days anymore since we're (me, my siblings, my daughter) currently all taking turns staying with my mom, and I can only stay on the weekends since I work all week- I'm finding it hard to not compensate by making my life "easier" in other ways - more fast food, more use of the dryer, more coffee-house beverages, more wine..... OTOH, we're saving our mother tons of money, lol.

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

We didn't stop to pick up bread or anything for dinner, although we didn't have anything defrosted or much of a plan tonight. So we had wine and brie and crackers and olives and called it "tapas." Pretty glamorous, no? :)

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Love it, rosarugosa!!!

I actually brought enough snacks with me yesterday that I didn't feel the need to hit the vending machines or buy anything to eat at work. Then I re-scheduled my haircut appointment to next week. I figured if I could go an extra week between haircuts because she cut it super short last time and it hasn't grown out to the point where it desperately needs to be cut just yet. Bought a few things on sale at the grocery store last night that I know we needed and that we'll use up. I'm going to stop by BJ's to buy a few things today since I'll be in the general vicinity. Might as well save myself from making a special trip! We've got lots of eggs to use up so will make a frittata later today plus hard-boiled eggs and we'll bake some bread.

Sold 2 more pounds of honey and put in a proposal for a speaking gig. Only 4 or 5 pounds of honey remaining from last season's honey crop so that will be all gone soon! And I'm going to put in proposals for at least one other speaking gig that would take place in March. Fingers crossed on those opportunities!!!

Gotta keep up with the little (and big) frugals as the oldest dog, who is 12, has started to experience some health problems. Hopefully nothing serious, but there were two trips to the vet clinic this week. Pets are not frugal unless you compare the cost of having them with the cost of on-going therapy and then they probably come out ahead and I come out healthier over all!!! :D

I drew up an exemplary grocery list, and DH added $10.00 worth of crap at the store (he does the shopping), so I wasn't really happy about that. We're planning to attend an indoor Farmers' Market in Melrose tomorrow, and I thought we could fund that expedition with a frugal grocery list today and skipping Trader Joe's tomorrow. So we'll have to be a bit more restrained tomorrow. and/or I can use some of my "allowance."
Mostly a stay at home day for me with a short walk in the woods, cold but wonderful! When we were walking along the trail I was just grinning like a fool, and DH looked at me and asked "what?" And it was just that I couldn't stop smiling because I was so happy to be in the woods!

Cdttmm: Wishing the best for your pup!