August frugals

Nothing spectacular, but always trying to reduce expenses: since retiring, I'm doing at least 1 commando shower a week, and washing hair every three days instead of every-other, unless it really needs it. Put more laundry on the line this week - dryer has not been used for 2 weeks, even by DD. Watching carbs, but love breads. We make some keto/low carb muffins, and for some reason, the recipes often make 9 muffins. Instead of fuddling with the recipe to make a bit more, or making 12 rather flat muffins, DH turned one of my aluminium 12 tins into a 9 muffin tin. Now not only does it work better for the amount of batter we have, but it also fits in the toaster oven so I don't have to turn on the large one!

Early: that was very clever about the muffin tin!
I think I've been spending more money these past few months. I take the request to support my local businesses very seriously, ha!
DH needed some new shorts because his weight is up a bit. I got him 2 pairs of shorts at Savers that he likes (he's a bit particular) for $3.99 a pair.

I am not spending much while I wait for DS to clean his room so an electrician can come in as that is somewhat of an unknown expense. He filled two more trash bags today but is a slow process for him.

I cut DH's hair again - a little too short, but it will grow back, lol. I need to get on track with doing this on a regular monthly basis so I can get good at it.

That's great, rr! First time I cut DH's hair he ended up shaving his head....:|(:|( Good thing there's a re-boot for hair, lol.

I trimmed my own hair again but the ends still look a bit raggedy. If I were going out into the world a lot, this would not do:(.

Not eating out for lunch or picking up something on the way home now that I’m working from home.

Will try again for meeting friends at a park this weekend, only cost will be gas.

We scored 4 angus beef fillets for under $3.00 each as a "Manager's Special," with a sell-by date of 8/16. We'll eat 2 this weekend and we froze the other 2.

Got a bunch of mushrooms at the grocery clearance price of 50% off. Turned them into cream of mushroom soup. Instead of using $2+ heavy cream, used yogurt which was 69 cents. Going to have with some of our bread we got at Costco and froze. We have scored big at Krogers WooHoo stickered items. Tomorrow we are having sauted vegetables with noodles and sauce that was on sale with some of the chicken we got on sale and froze.

Steaks and mushroom soup - you guys are making me really hungry!! The last few days have NOT been as frugal as planned -so today we went through our produce to minimize loss. Riced the cauliflower head, bagged and froze for future use. turned the sad oranges into juice, and ate only things that were getting close to their "lose by" date. We love fresh produce but sometimes it gets away from us. Sweetana, we generally use yogurt instead of sour cream - Cheaper, and better for us. Mostly we don't notice a difference. I've not subbed it for heavy cream, though. I usually use cream in dessert sauces, ice cream, to make whipped toppings, and in my coffee. I for sure don't want yogurt in my coffee, lol. But for soup, that's totally brilliant! Next time I make potato soup I'll try it, thanks for the idea!

I am spending the same on groceries but stocking up more for a potential fall second wave. This will enable me to spend less later.

I love that "trim the muffin tin to fit the toaster oven" idea. I hate using the big oven and warming up the whole house, especially in summer.

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Originally Posted by PuffsRuffsNStuffs

I love that "trim the muffin tin to fit the toaster oven" idea. I hate using the big oven and warming up the whole house, especially in summer.

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Ditto!!!

And welcome, PuffsRuffsNStuffs!

I desperately needed a new mattress. Current one was 25 years old. Yes, that is correct! Friends had given it to me 15 years ago (along with an antique bed) and it was 10 years old at that point! I ordered a mattress in a box off Amazon. I got one with a cooling gel top as I'm always hot. 10" as that one was on the firm side. $300 after tax. Needed new sheets ($40) and mattress pad ($22) as well, as I had been using vintage percale sheets from the 1960s/70s I was given with the mattress and bed (they were still in the package!). I arrived yesterday. I didn't sleep well last night, but it takes me time to get used to something new sleep-related. Very comfortable and good support, though. I didn't need a box spring. The antique bed I have is a 3/4 side bed. Full/double mattresses fit it. There's a custom box spring that came with it.

I didn't want to deal with the local mattress places. I'm ordering just about everything online these days.

Dragged the old mattress out to the dumpsters in my complex. It's accepted practice here and they will be taken away. Otherwise, I would have had to go with one of the local mattress places and have them haul it away.

Spending much less on eating out these days since I'm working at home.

Good to hear the mailorder mattress worked--report back if you like it because I am intrigued by the gel cooling thing--have same sleep issues.

Husband got his alternator replaced at his favorite "hidden" mechanic--the guy is a friend of a friend and hard to book but does great work. He did the job very economically, and we probably saved 300-400 dollars. This after I urged him to cancel the appointment with the fancier mechanics in town that I suspect have overcharged us over the years.

Throughout this pandemic my super frugal is that all cocktails are in-house. No dates w/girlfriends when they get off work. My preferred cocktail is 3 cocktails per bottle of vodka $. Honestly, I'd rather meet my girlfriends but alas, I'll save the $ instead and keep my health.

Honestly, I'm not looking at the price of anything. I buy what we need. Our CSA has been full on since May so have only needed proteins and an ingredient here and there.

We are supporting a local family that fishes Alaska. There is nothing better than wild Alaska salmon. More cost, more flavor! And supporting small business makes me all happy inside. The freezer basket designated for protein is packed to the gills (no pun intended). We are also buying locally grown organic grass fed ground beef. I grab organic chicken when Costco has it in stock (I'm only going there 1/month).

Right now my average monthly food cost is only $17 higher than last year so we're doing well if prices have gone up as much as people are saying. That in itself is an August frugal I guess ;-)

Managed to finish a small stack of mending today. Pulled some work clothes I no longer need from the closet, and found some shorts, cardigans, and a couple boxes of shotgun shells that I'd forgotten about. Useful items that will come in handy!

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Originally Posted by Gardnr

Throughout this pandemic my super frugal is that all cocktails are in-house. No dates w/girlfriends when they get off work. My preferred cocktail is 3 cocktails per bottle of vodka $. Honestly, I'd rather meet my girlfriends but alas, I'll save the $ instead and keep my health.

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It's so funny, I read this "that all cocktails are in-order." I think it's because that is what I am trying to do, go through my house and get all systems in order.

The idea of having an in-order cocktail bar struck me as funny.

We are going today to our new favorite food truck, which is a long drive but then we stop at a picnic spot overlooking the lake and the food is wonderful.

It's a tough choice today between the amazing quesadillas and sampling the whitefish tacos, which sound so good. 13 dollars buys a quesadilla dinner with extra guacamole and then we split that. The whitefish tacos are 3 dollars a piece, so I guess two of those would be the frugal choice.

Went to a farm to table cafe for lunch. I was able to eat outdoors by myself. $16 is maybe a lot for lunch, but without lodging and other expenses is frugal for a vacation.

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Originally Posted by Yppej

Went to a farm to table cafe for lunch. I was able to eat outdoors by myself. $16 is maybe a lot for lunch, but without lodging and other expenses is frugal for a vacation.

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So you are camping out?