April daily frugal's

April 01, 2011
here we go again with the old how could another month have gone by...
--line dried one load of clothes in the house
--breakfast for supper, using up a partial bag of frozen hash browns.
--all of the spreadsheets and the two bank accounts are all balanced up
--went to supper out last night; thought I was meeting 3 of my old co-workers but
15 people showed up that I use to work with; some are still at the old place and serveral who have moved on. They wanted me to understand that they are there for DH and I even if I have retired . It was wonderful to see them all and be shown that kind of support...great people...I cried a little but with appreciation. Of course they didn't let me pick up my bill...

I believe this is going to be a lovely month the sun was shining here today. Of course that means you can see all the dust. Gave the house a good vacuum and cleaned the front entrance, putting away the winter stuff.
It is always easier to be frugal when one's house is clean...

How is your DH, Danna?

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It is always easier to be frugal when one's house is clean...

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So true! I was wondering about your DH too Danna.

I am getting kind of tired of hospital food, but I'm going to tough it out. I keep reminding myself that I am a lucky person to live in the time and place I do and have plenty of food to eat. I am trying to be grateful for that instead of complaining.

Other than that there's not much I can do right now on the frugality front.

DH's car is going in for an oil change (coupon) and free tire rotation. They made a comment about his brakes. We already agreed we will not have them fix the brakes since we have not noticed any problems. If anything, we would take it somewhere else for a second opinion and go from there. It makes me nervous when the mechanic brings it up, especially at a chain place. Just don't want to be taken.

Went to the library today to get an ILL request. Returned a book I had been billed for it because it was so overdue. :|( (Thus I didn't have to pay for it)

Leftover pizza from a party at school for lunch today.

April 02
Thank you both for asking...DH seems to be doing okay, he finished 4 weeks of the drugs 5 days ago; he was very tried/and had a very sore mouth by the time he done them. He has a CT scan on the 8th and is seen at the Cancer clinic on the 12th.
I understand that the best case will be they see skrinage of the tumours, next best is no progression and of course what we would not want is more growth. With the first two he will start the same drugs again; if it was the last case they would most likely try another drug. We are living every day as if he is going to stay well and at the same time really taking take of him.
--today mostly frugal a couple of hours at the farmers market, frugal was some good buys on fruit/veggies and unfrugal was apple fritters/flowers/pastry. The apple fritters are amazing and you just have to get a good coffee and sit and eat a couple while they are hot. The doctor has told us DH needs good nutrition, but we are not to worry about him putting weight on and he should be allow lots of treats...he is taking full advantage..lol
-bought a few groceries at the new FRESHCO store was PriceChopper before (nicely remodeled with a lot more good veggies,fruits and herbs at good prices) they were having a $1 to $3.00 sale (seems to be the newest way to get people in)
--got serveral bags of groceries and only spent $30.00
--one of my Dsis is visiting for just a day this week but, mostly had everything we needed to entertain.

@stella--I know what you mean about the food. I'm embarking on week six of TV dinners and sandwiches. I am sick to death of both, but, like you, am trying to have an attitude of gratitude!
@danna--thanks for the update. The part about the treats made me chuckle!

I am about to run to the store for a 2-day sale. Lots of meat on sale. Time to stock up for grilling season!

Other than that, can't say much else is new. I've been spending a lot of time at home, so haven't really spent any money. I've been trying to plan for Christmas, too. I always blow my budget when I wait too long.

Well, danna, all the best to you and your hubby.

Stella, are you home yet?

Kat, why are you stuck eating those foods? At least it sounded like it's kind of out of your hands? Sorry if I missed something!

Danna, Glad to hear your DH is holding his own. He should get all the apple fritters he wants!
Stella, You're being plenty frugal with all the pre-planning and meal prep you did. You just did today's frugals in advance :)
Fidgie, Cars are the worst - absolutely a case of can't live with 'em and can't live without 'em :(
Kat, We never had much luck freezing meat, but that seems to be the key to taking advantage of the best deals. A lot of things don't seem to taste as good once frozen, and it always seemed like if we defrosted something, we didn't want it that night, and if we didn't defrost it, we did want it. How do you make this work well for your household?

Ok, I really need to get back on track. The last month was not so good for me & self-control. I think the problem is that I haven't been taking any blow money for myself. There were so many expenses since December - oil changes on 3 vehicles (Yeah that motorcycle is really saving us money - not!) college tuition, dental appts for everybody, contact lenses & glasses for the boys, tax prep, vehicle registration & plates, DH birthday, Valentines, etc. etc. >:( that there didn't seem to be any left for me. Then I ran out of moisturizer & mineral sunscreen and got frustrated. So I am going to have to find some way of giving myself some cash for that kind of stuff. I was hoping to be able to hold out a little longer but I guess not.

I did have a few frugals this week. Went to Tyler's first track meet of the season (indoor - thankfullY!) and packed sandwiches, peeled tangerines, crackers & baked some cookies so we didn't buy any junk food. T's team mates were very happy to see the cookies! Today we went down to Ian's engineering project symposium which cost us nothing but gas money. Ian had enough guest credits at the dining hall that we all ate for free. Walked around the campus a bit. Saw the HashBash crowds - that was interesting. I put some bean soup to cooking in the crockpot before we headed out so dinner was ready when we got home.

We're on the home stretch installing retaining wall blocks in the garden, and are lacking enough for the last course. I decided today to put any $$ I feel like spending - such as at the Goodwill - into a "block" fund, so I can have the thrill of blowing $5 every so often, and save up for the third course. I love having a $$ goal. Once the new wall is complete, we can grow more food, so it will pay us back now, and hopefully if/when we sell.

Yes, Azure, when things were tighter for me I used to have everything so tight that there was no wiggle room, no treat room or even flexibility, and then what I used to do was not just a little blow but a blow-the-whole-budget blow. So I hear ya. Not that it sounds like you have blown the whole budget, BTW . . . ;) You are getting back on track, and that's all you can do! Good luck!!!

I have found out that I can reserve/place a hold on library books online even when they are not checked out, and have them delivered for pick-up to my local library. I'm not sure if this is a glitch in their library management system or what, but I am saving a ton in inter-library loan fees... then again, I feel like I'm cheating my library homies out of money... eh. Tough one... :/

I was quite happy with myself last week after making a TON of spaghetti bolognese on Sunday and having it three days for lunch at work too.

My big frugal accomplishment this weekend has been getting Travis to breastfeed. He had low blood sugar at birth and they gave him several bottles immediately, so I wasn't hopeful about it, but he's been nursing pretty well actually and is getting most of his nutrition from breastmilk now. That's a huge plus in the frugal category!

Dad and one of my close friends each bought us a huge Costco box of diapers, size 1 and size 2. We should be set for a good long while now. I'm going to make some wipes this week.

One thing I am thinking of buying or making is a nursing cover-up, but first I'm going to experiment with using my moby wrap or a shawl. I may want something lighter for summer.

Stella, my SIL estimated that formula cost them $50/month, and that was 9 years ago! I nursed for a long time, and it was a wonderful experience. I simply used a receiving blanket for a cover-up (but I lived in a very warm climate). I found that much of the time, that wasn't even really needed - baby and the shirt I was wearing pretty much covered everything. If you use a sling, that functions as a cover as well.

Today we are going to a show that was DD's birthday activity. We got an extra ticket so she could bring a friend, and I got the tickets at half price thanks to having signed up for email notification. This was in lieu of a party with friends. I'm going to bring some birthday cupcakes that I froze after her birthday, and we'll have a treat at the tables in the lobby.

I booked our summer travel this week, when there was a sudden airfare drop that saved us $200 per ticket.

Most of our frugal activity this week was simply not spending or driving, though!

Rosemary that is a great savings on your tickets!

I agree that formula is really expensive. I am so happy that Travis is breastfeeding well. I looked at his feeding sheet this morning and he's had about two ounces of formula over the last 19 hours, so he's definitely making the switch.

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Originally Posted by mira

I feel like I'm cheating my library homies out of money... eh. Tough one... :/

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Mira, when you have a spare $5 or $10 - or more - simply donate it to your local library fund or foundation. Then you can assuage your guilt AND get a tax deduction!

Mira - we donate plenty of books for the Friends of the Library book sale. Benefits the library AND clears out space on my bookshelves, doesn't take cash out of our budget, so it's a win-win here. So far this month - have a load of laundry drying inside; finally changed the litter boxes (we switched to pine horse bedding suggested by someone here, and we've used $13 of litter since the beginning of last October. We have 3 indoor cats, 2 boxes, plus for the past 6 weeks we've been using another box in the shed nights and some bad-weather days for an outside kitty with some health issues). Set up at our first flea market of the year, and did ok. Sold enough free stuff (gathered, given, and trash-picked) to cover the booth rent. (sold lots of other stuff too!) Bought some cheese and some green peppers at pretty good prices. Made spaetzle in beef-broth leftover from a roast. Great for dinner and enough for a couple lunches, too!

Went grocery shopping only once this week.
Took off snow tires and put on the old all-weather, car gets better mileage this way.
Wore jacket and knit hat in house to not use heat.
Got 2nd OT appointment free, having told OT I couldn't come because of house mortgage. No more OT appts for months if not more; they didn't seem to be helping my hand heal (arthritis or hurt tendon, not clear which).

My great "frugal act" has been to go nowhere, and do nothing! Not really what I had in mind, but I've had this darn resp. virus for over 2 weeks, and just don't feel like doing much. I get really tired over the little I do manage. I did have to pay dd's mortgage this month, as dsil has not been getting much work lately. We are short on groceries and baking supplies, so I'm going to shop for that tomorrow. Hope to get the fridge cleaned tonight, while it is still fairly empty. I would just about kill for a diet Pepsi right about now. It's about the only thing that cuts through the post-nasal drip!

What a lovely weekend! We (as in DH ;) ) put up all our new wood blinds and they look great. Did some scrapbooking, finishing an album, saw my sister, mom and dad. Had a band concert tonight and that was fun. Between DH and I we managed to vacuum all the walls and trinkets on the walls in the bedroom. This had been bothering me for a long time so I am very happy to have it done.

In the frugal department we have GOT to get more coordinated with food again. We are down to nothing and none of our old standbys sound good. I am going to place a delivery order so we can get out ahead of the dinner blahs. We went to the grocery store to get something for dinner. The only thing that saved our budget was that all the frozen food sounded gross to us. We had waffles instead.

Zach and I have challenged each other to be as frugal as possible this month, just to see how much we can save. We have food in abundance. Just sitting in my freezer right now I have frozen meals enough to last the entire week and several other people have told me that they are bringing over dinners. Tonight was chicken parmesan. All I can think of that I need from the store is maxi pads and band-aids. That's about $6 worth of stuff.

The shawl I have is going to work perfectly well for breastfeeding coverage, at least until summer. I think if I need something by then I'm just going to make it from a vintage sheet. I have a million of those on hand already.

I found a recipe for dish soap that makes a gallon of it from 2 cups of soap flakes, 1/2 a cup of lemon juice and a gallon of water. When I run out of dish soap I'm going to give it a try.

Cheyenne's birthday party is going to happen this month and the plans have changed to become cheaper. She's so into the rollerblading thanks to a full month of time to practice that she wants to just do that part of the party and invite more people to it. That part was $5 a kid, the laser tag part was $10 a kid. This is much, much cheaper without the laser tag. She's requested cupcakes with pink frosting decorated with little clouds of cotton candy. I could make those in my sleep.

I think I've reached that place of "enough" at the moment. It's lovely.

I'm quite pleased with how our budget has been going the first part of the year -- we are under budget in most categories, significantly so in several. Don't feel like we've been scrimping on anything, either. Hopefully this month we can keep up the momentum.

This could have been a spendy weekend, as the kids are out of school for five days straight, but so far we are doing pretty good. Took them to the dentist on Friday -- no cavities, and copays for all three of us to get our teeth cleaned were only about $32.50. Had lunch at home, then had free pizza for dinner at a work event. Saturday morning I splurged on treats at Starbucks for them for breakfast as a way of bribing them to go to a used book sale nearby. Unfortunately the kids section was insanely packed, and we all were too claustrophobic to stay long, so they didn't get anything. But I got a bag full of adult books, including the whole Twilight series and a set of Barbara Kingsolver's novels, plus a couple of mysteries and Barbara Ehrenreich's latest book. 13 books for about $21, and plenty of reading to keep me from buying too many books for my Kindle. The Kindle has turned out to be a great tool, too -- I've been finding lots of free books I am interested in, so even though I have a list of things I want to buy, I am easily limiting it to 1-2 books/month.

Yesterday we had lunch at home, then I had to take DS to a friend's. Did splurge on a taxi on the way there and an ice cream for his sister on the way home, and a few DVDs. But took the bus part of the way home and took the bus again to pick him up and come back.

Just finished lunch at home. So we're most of the way through the weekend without eating out for lunches/dinners.

The tail end of this week is going to be a challenge. Our helper is accompanying the other lady she works for on a business trip Wed-Sun, which means we'll need to figure out dinner. I may have to forego workouts several days so that I can prepare something when I get home. But even if we end up ordering in a couple of nights, we have saved on eating out this weekend so should be well within our budget.

lhamo

I completed the seasonal clothing switch this morning. Shorts and summer shirts out of the old steamer trunk, sweaters and long johns into it. This is frugal because it allows me to see all of our summer clothes before I actually want to wear them, and I can say that none of us need anything at all for summer. I also went through the bin of clothing purchased on clearance for DD in larger sizes, pulled out items for this summer, and noted that I already have everything she will need for the next school year.

Stella, could you let me know the name of the rollerblading place?

Great score on the books Lhamo!

Travis has been exclusively on breastmilk for over 24 hours now, so nursing is going well!

I've had a very nice, simple morning. I got up before the troops and made cheese omelets and English muffins. I also took a canteloupe my dad had bought and made melon balls to make it easier for the kids to eat it. I had the coffee set up last night, so I had a nice hot cup of coffee while I had my morning prayer and meditation time. Zach and I ate a nice quiet breakfast together and the kids ate later when they woke up. The omelets were a hit.

Tonight's dinner is stuffed shells I made before I had the baby and a salad mix the neighbor brought over.

The boys are napping now and the girls are playing together so I'm going to take a nap. There is so much loveliness about today. It's defintely one of those "the best things in life are free" moments.

Rosemary, the place she is going to is Saints North in Maplewood. On Saturday mornings they have kids skate time for $5.

@fidgie--we are in the midst of a huge home remodel. We don't have a kitchen right now, so we have to cold food that is easy to prepare or food that can be easily cooked in the microwave (I miss my stove!).
@rosa--I know what you mean! Some foods do not freeze well, and even those that do don't always taste as good as they do fresh. I find that wrapping my food really well helps to cut down on freezer burn or that weird "freezer taste." I also date things and make a freezer inventory list so I know what is in there and what needs to be eaten up first. I usually make a meal plan ahead of time (asking for DHs input on what he feels like eating), which gives me lots of time to thaw stuff (I usually don't have much luck thawing in the microwave). It isn't too often that I thaw something and then don't feel like eating it, but if I do, I allow myself only a one-day reprieve and make something quick like eggs and toast or something. Then the next day I force myself to cook and eat whatever I thawed so it doesn't go bad.

Not too much to report. I am wanting to spruce my patio up for spring. Fell in love with some stuff from Pottery Barn but am not loving the price ($49 for a pillow? really?). So I think I will try to use PB as inspiration only and try to use some things I have around here. I might recover some old pillows with fabric I have laying around and make some lanterns out of tin cans and/or glass jars. I am going to take inventory of my flower pots, too, and brainstorm some ways to paint them or pretty them up.

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Originally Posted by redfox

Mira, when you have a spare $5 or $10 - or more - simply donate it to your local library fund or foundation. Then you can assuage your guilt AND get a tax deduction!

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Hehe, good idea!

Finally sold the coffee machine for $200.

Recieved a $38 refund from AT&T. They overcharged us on the final phone bill at the old house.

Recieved a $54 rebate in the mail for a product we use at work.

We've ate at home the last 4 nights in a row.

I bought gas at the station across the street after taking ds to school and realizing all the other local stations were 24 cents higher a gallon.

Stella, Glad to hear that you're home!
Kat, It sounds like you have a good system; thanks for sharing. I think groceries are the area we need to tackle next. We spend quite a bit for a two-person household and we waste a fair bit as well. I finally persuaded DH to try the bread crumb cookie recipe. Let's just say that they were "interesting." Definitely not a new family favorite!
BKE, Sounds like you've done well recently with significant savings related to your business, and it's nice that the cheap gas station is the one right near you.

I think tomorrow we are going to to on a field trip. Zach is off of school and the older kids need to have a little fun. I'm coming up with free ideas. I was thinking possibly the sculpture garden at the Walker art museum or the art park in Franconia might be fun since it's supposed to be pretty warm tomorrow. Also, possibly a nature center might be fun. We'll pack a picnic and be back in time to drop Bella off at school. She's going on a field trip to the more traditional art museum on Friday, so that's what got me thinking about the sculpture garden and art park. My sister owns an art gallery and runs an arts education non-profit. This kind of thing runs in their blood.

We pulled out the base 10 blocks I bought a couple of weeks ago. I think the math manipulative splurge is going to prove to be a frugal purchase after all. I could see the wheels turning in Cheyenne and Bella's heads and they were fascinated. They were experimenting on their own and having fun with the blocks for well over an hour. Zach posed them questions and they were eagerly answering them. I could see them making the mental connection between math and real life. This morning they asked if we can use them again today. I spent about $60 on the manipulatives and I think I'll get my moneys worth out of them with four children.

Stopped using toilet paper, using organic sheet cut into smallish squares instead. Did this last year for 3 months, until logistical life change intervened. It's fine, easy, and I bought no TP during that time. TP is expensive, plus use of paper not environmentally great.

@Kat - aha!

@Stella - either would be fun. I wonder if Franconia will be muddy. Well, I suppose both could be muddy.

Here I made up a pot of beef barley soup to put in the slow cooker tomorrow. Too bad I didn't realize my stock was bad because our recent delivery could have included a new one at a good price. Oh well, I will have to go grab one tonight. The rest of the ingredients were all stuff that we needed to use up and we did! Yippee!

We passed on going out to dinner tonight as well, so that was at least $20 that stayed in my pocket.

Not much else, but that's pretty good for lately compared to how we were doing.

Apr 05/11
--no spend exceptfor finally getting the leak in the basement fixed deep breath $983.83 but that is the lowest ii could have turned out to be; so frugal in we priced around and got a really reputable company, it looks good and they left the place very clean. The wall they took out was in a bedroom cupboard so so can fix it when we are ready.
--as everything is out of the closet I am sorting and have put many books on Kijiji for sale
--leftovers from last night supper for tonight

We are starting what I hope is our final remodeling project for a very long time-the yard.

We drove 45 minutes to order supplies last night. We purchased over 300 paver stones at a different Home Depot store last night. ( I will not go back to the store that treated us so badly this winter.) I used a 10% coupon from Lowes which they were kind enough to honor and saved about $70 because they were already almost 10% cheaper than the Lowes down the street.

I have to fax some more information to the gentleman at Lowes who was helping us last night. We're putting up a 6 ft. high privacy fence around the area that is going to be our yard and he is going to help make sure we order everything we need and not too much of anything at the same time. Fencing at Lowes is $7 cheaper a section. I have another 10% off coupon that I will use there PLUS my credit card is offering 5% back on these types of purchase. I don't know exactly how much we will save there but the figure I had in my head last night was about $250.

We also saved money by talking to this guy by not buying extra boards to re-enforce (inforce?) the fence as had been recommended by a friend of ours. This guy could have increased his sale but instead was nice enough to talk us out of spending the extra money.

You know, I get alot of grief from people who know me for being cheap and using coupons and such but, I just feel smug, and frankly smarter than some of them when I pull something like this off and save a ton of money.

Dinner last night was at the mall. We all ended up having chinese food which is about the cheapest thing there. $22 for the 3 of us and ds and I brought home leftovers.

Today I am off work and relaxing. Free after rebate coffee and cereal for breakfast, some beautiful piano music on the stereo, and the only plan for this afternoon is a nap. Have a great day everyone.

Fidgiegirl I was thinking about the mud factor while we're out today to. I think we'll wear boots.

Excellent savings bke!

A friend from church brought over a casserole this morning. She also brought a picnic lunch for all of us, which is perfect because, of course, we are actually going on a picnic today. Score!

I've been saving all kinds of recyclables to use for an art project tomorrow. We're going to make sculptures out of them. All of this art stuff got me thinking and I think I'm going to call an old friend of mine who is a poured metal sculptor and see if we can attend sometime when they do a metal pour. That would be a cool experience for the kids and it wouldn't cost anything.

The crockpot pork I made for last night's sandwiches made enough for a second night. We'll have the rest tomorrow night in soft tacos. I also finally got around to cutting up a loaf of french bread that dried out. It's sitting in a pan waiting to be made into bread pudding for tomorrow morning's breakfast.

We had so much fun today! The picnic and sculpture park were fantastic. It was a little muddy, but not as bad as I was afraid it would be. It was fun watching the kids interact with the art and be inspired by it.

We went home and Cheyenne began a series of sculptures she wants to do with an egg theme. She was so into it, very carefully choosing her materials and arranging them in a thoughtful way. She wants to use her sculptures as a sculpture park for her dollhouse.

Further frugal fun with art this week and next week will be painting the patio windows with a spring/Easter theme and doing a fun staged photo shoot with props and scenery.

I found a recipe tonight for a chocolate chip cupcake with chocolate cookie dough filling and cookie dough frosting. I believe I have successfully talked Zach out of running to the store to buy the ingredients. :) I am feeling good for being 6 days post partum, but it may be another week or two before I am once again spontaneously churning out baked goods. :P I will probably make them later this month for a neighborhood get-together.

I have been trying to spend a little time with each of the older kids since I got home. Cheyenne came with me yesterday to the store. This morning James woke up at 5AM and we spent an hour or so snuggling and then had breakfast together. This evening when Cheyenne went to faith formation I told Bella it was her turn for a Mommy Date. She wanted to play "American Train" with me. Otherwise known as Mexican Train. We had a great time and she even won. It was nice to be able to have special time with the kids that didn't involve spending money. Well, other than the grocery store, but that was money we would have spent anyway.

Apr 06
-no spend, no gas..it felt really good
-cleaning out draws and decluttering as I go..that feels really good
-supper was previously made and in the freezer with enough leftover for lunch tomorrow

I had a stay-at-home day too, and made honey/vanilla/cinnamon yogurt. So good! And just mellowed out. It was very nice.

nice, redfox!

i'm having a stay-at-home day today -- i have a bunch of sewing to catch up on. and i want to tidy up the house because tomorrow night we are having a pizza party! we were doing these every month last year, but this is the first we've managed this year. homemade pizza with caramelized onions, ricotta cheese, mushroom sauce, pepperoni ... and some homemade plum ice cream. easy and not too expensive! and it will be great to see our friends. i've been so busy lately, i've kind of been ignoring social life.

my grandma's 88th birthday is next week, and i'm making her a purple silk shift. she will look really beautiful in it, and she can wear it to her red hat parties. we're going to have a dinner at my brother's restaurant for her, then my brother and i are taking her to the casino the next day to play the slots -- that was her request, and i think it will be pretty fun. and not too spendy :)

Happy birthday to your Grandma Madgey!