August Frugals

We've had a lot of really hot, humid weather, so I'm going to give us a pat on the back for avoiding restaurants and takeout. We did eat out once, but that was a pre-planned get together with a friend. We talked ourselves out of takeout yesterday and ate food we had in the house instead.

I went over budget on Chewy, but they had a deal where if you spent $100, you would get a $30 credit on your next order, so it should balance out next month, and we won't need to spend as much on cat food at the grocery store this month.

I greatly overestimated the cost of the sump pump replacement, so we were able to cash flow that with no problem in addition to the eyeglasses and exams. We have some big OOP medical expenses coming up this month, but it looks like we can cash flow those, and have some cash in reserve towards an upcoming vacation. So there have been a few things that I thought we would have to tap savings for, but we did not need to after all.

I've got my art purchase debt down to $812. It went down a little more slowly because I also spent money on some presents for DH's upcoming birthday. I bought them all on eBay though, so I got good value for my dollars!

Great work!!

Sounds like you are doing well, rr!

I'm not sure how frugal I've been. Went to Cosco with a sibling (I don't have a membership) and ended up spending over $100. BUT... we are stocked now in several basic food items that we use a lot. I also splurged a bit on one or two items, but... oh, well. LOL.

Going to the movies today with dh and child to see Twisters. Haven't been in a theater since Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - lol. Child has free passes so it's a "free" outing!

Happy: If you don't go to Costco regularly, I don't know how you could visit one and not splurge at least a little bit! At least their products tend to be good quality and value.

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

Happy: If you don't go to Costco regularly, I don't know how you could visit one and not splurge at least a little bit! At least their products tend to be good quality and value.

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Yes, I definitely splurged - lol. BUt, as you said, I got some good products and the "bulk" will definitely last a bit and not need to be purchased from my regular grocery store. And I TOTALLY admit to having really enjoyed just walking around and looking at stuff. lol.

We were probably one of the last households in the US using Verizon DSL for internet access. We were pretty happy with it until recently. One neighbor described DSL as having the speed one would expect from two hamsters running in a wheel, but everyone on social media in our town was always complaining about Comcast, so we were reasonably satisfied with what we had and didn't have much in the way of complaints.

About 2 months ago though, it seemed like one of the hamsters died and the other broke a leg. My laptop worked fine at my mother's house (Comcast), so the problem seemed to be with DSL. The last time we had issues, I worked with a Verizon rep via chat, got a new modem and then all was good, so I figured I would try that again.

Well the chat took over 2 hours this time and bottom line is that DSL is old tech without much support. I got handed off to 3 or 4 different reps, who kept suggesting products that upon further review, were not available in my area. I can't even begin to say how frustrated I was with that exercise in futility without a lot of profanity. (I did get a bunch of housework done while waiting for chat reps to respond, so it wasn't a total waste of time, but still so painful).

I had heard that T-Mobile recently became an option in my area for home internet with pretty favorable reviews. I had a very decent chat experience with T-Mobile, two days later we had our new router, got it set up pretty easily, and our internet service is so much better now.

The other factor was our landline. I know, I know, but we want to keep this number we've had for 40 years, and this is also the number my mother knows to call if she needs me, so I think I have some justification here beyond being an old stick in the mud who doesn't love change. Because we now would have only one service with Verizon, the cost of keeping a landline with them was going to be crazy. T-Mobile doesn't do home phones, but they recommended Ooma. After some online research and a brief chat and phone call, we have a device coming next week and we'll be able to port our number to Ooma.

So Verizon threw 40 years of goodwill out the window with my hideous chat experience. Good bye Verizon!

As for the frugal part, we had been paying $142 per month for phone and internet. Going forward, we'll be paying $65 per month to T-Mobile for internet, and we're getting a $200 special offer prepaid visa card from them. We'll be paying a little under $8 per month to Ooma, and we did have to pay $110. for a device from them (prepaid visa from T-Mobile more than covers that cost). So we'll be paying $69 per month less than we were before. We pay $16 each per month for our Tracfones, so total telecommunications cost for our household will be $105.

Wow! A lot to go through, rr, but glad it all worked out to your benefit!

Company was here for a week and left Friday. We provided accommodations. They provided all meals, entrance fees and gas costs. We had a great time travelling around showing them the area.

However, when they left we realized we were down to $200 in grocery money for the rest of the month for two of us. Hmmm…time to get creative. We now have $120 left, but food for two weeks at least. I want to do a pantry inventory and challenge. Seems we have lots of food in the house yet. I just am not sure what’s left to use.

Pantry inventory and menu plan drawn up for the rest of the month.

phoned a store I purchased something from, and had to return via mail. They are refunding the item, but not shipping. That’s still puts me ahead by quite a lot.

Hubby received a cheque from the government for $1900, related to taxes. We decided to give each of us $400 and deposit the rest in our EF and savings account.

RedSpruce: We often follow a similar strategy with unexpected $$, a portion to have fun with and then most of it to savings.

Am not buying one because we already have one, but I am seeing a lot of small window airconditioners for around 100 on sale in the stores. Now is the time to pick one up for next summer if you need one. We put one in the kitchen this year and it has been heavenly.

So now that I am a fancy modern woman with granite countertops, I need special cleaner for them. I had bought a bottle of something decent for a reasonable price at TJ Maxx awhile ago. I was looking for more since it is almost empty, but I am only finding it at regular retail of about $10. for a 32 oz bottle, which seems crazy. I had picked up a different brand at the grocery store which I didn't like. I was poking around online and found a few recommendations for DIY formulas of rubbing alcohol, water, and a bit of Dawn or castile soap. So I mixed some up and will give that a try. I had all the ingredients on hand, and it will certainly be a more frugal option going forward if it's satisfactory.
In less frugal news, let's not talk about the $41 I spent on fudge at a fair yesterday . . .

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Originally Posted by rosarugosa

In less frugal news, let's not talk about the $41 I spent on fudge at a fair yesterday . . .

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This made me smile this morning. I love it! It's either really, really, really good fudge - or you got a lot of it!! Either way - enjoy!

Enjoy the fudge!!!

Fudge is life's little pleasures!

I cannot wait until August 27th when I can go off of my month-long very low-fat post-surgery diet. I am CRAVING chocolate and ice cream!

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Originally Posted by happystuff

This made me smile this morning. I love it! It's either really, really, really good fudge - or you got a lot of it!! Either way - enjoy!

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Both, lol.

Update on telecommunications: Internet from T-Mobile is far superior to our former DSL. We've also completed our transition to Ooma for our home phone, and that seems to be totally satisfactory. I think we're good with our current setup, and this should save us quite a bit going forward.
I've also had a much better customer service experience with both of those providers. I think that sometimes companies get big and prosperous enough that they switch over their customer service philosophy to "F*CK YOU." Thankfully, T-Mobile and Ooma don't seem to be there yet, lol.

Had good luck moving some lilacs that were too close to the house to the back yard by the fence. It was horribly hot when I did it and I thought they were dead, but after all the leaves fell off and we got some rain, they are starting new leaves and doing really well.

Also started some columbine and pinks in 5 gallon buckets and yesterday transplanted them to the garden so next year, will have many more perennials. It's a new garden that looks like nothing this year, but I have hopes for next year--rue seeds are coming up, transplanted some lavender, bought some end of the year roses for 50% off.

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Originally Posted by Tybee

Had good luck moving some lilacs that were too close to the house to the back yard by the fence. It was horribly hot when I did it and I thought they were dead, but after all the leaves fell off and we got some rain, they are starting new leaves and doing really well.

Also started some columbine and pinks in 5 gallon buckets and yesterday transplanted them to the garden so next year, will have many more perennials. It's a new garden that looks like nothing this year, but I have hopes for next year--rue seeds are coming up, transplanted some lavender, bought some end of the year roses for 50% off.

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Rue is an interesting looking plant.

an anti-frugal news, several of the plants we put in the ground several weeks ago do not look good. Even though I watered them regularly and then we had wonderful natural rains, they’re turning brown. Don’t know if they will survive.

i’m happy that “The Fairy” polyantha rose is behaving exactly as I remembered it behaved from decades ago – it is drought tolerant. I bought bare rooted plants through the mail, stuck them in the ground, and within 10 days they put out leaves and now they’re putting out flowers.

I probably have planted 50+ different plants in my front and back yard. So I am saving seed from everything and realizing how much I will save by not buying seed.

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

I probably have planted 50+ different plants in my front and back yard. So I am saving seed from everything and realizing how much I will save by not buying seed.

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I know, isnt it great!! My rue plantings are all from one plant I bought at Hannafords the first year we were here.

My summer project finally ends tomorrow: we will close on my mother-in-law's house and that will save us what we've been paying for taxes/insurance/utilities, as well as the worries about everything that could go wrong with the house when it was not regularly occupied. Yay!!!

re: plants!!! I don't often save seed, but I split perennials and move them around my yard, and share plants with friends and neighbors. Gardening is a fun frugal hobby. I've been in this house for 20 years now and the yard is quite transformed from the grass-and-a-few-trees that it was when we moved in. I am so accustomed to seeing our yard that I forget what a typical back yard looks like. Last year we were working on our fence and I glimpsed a couple of adjacent yards... and was reminded that our yard is really quite special. Lots of labor, but the total cost for the transformation was really quite minimal.

I don’t do much with seeds, but I divide plants a lot. I seem to spend my life dividing iris and lilies, and looking for a home for those divisions.

. And then there are daylilies which I’ve had for 20 years that lived at five different places. I divide half the plant and move it to a new address leaving the old one in place.

Could put this here or in Adventures in Grocery shopping, but decided it was more "frugal". Grocery store had packs of pretty big chicken legs on sale for .69/pound. Hasn't been that low of a price in a long time. Have my third (and last) pack in the cp to cook, get picked and portioned for the freezer. Between this and the ground turkey a little while back, I'm starting to feel stocked up for the winter! LOL.

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Originally Posted by happystuff

Could put this here or in Adventures in Grocery shopping, but decided it was more "frugal". Grocery store had packs of pretty big chicken legs on sale for .69/pound. Hasn't been that low of a price in a long time. Have my third (and last) pack in the cp to cook, get picked and portioned for the freezer. Between this and the ground turkey a little while back, I'm starting to feel stocked up for the winter! LOL.

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That is super low, good for you.
My husband just picked up a bag of apples from an antique abandoned tree, so we will peel them and put them in the freezer for pie and plant the seeds in buckets for our antique apple orchard.

We scored some great mulch yesterday, 2 dollars down from 25 for a chopped alfalfa animal feed product that started to mold. We will go back today and buy out the rest of the bags. It has molasses in it, and DH says that will encourage the worms. It's called Chaffhay, if anyone sees it anywhere on sale.

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Originally Posted by happystuff

Could put this here or in Adventures in Grocery shopping, but decided it was more "frugal". Grocery store had packs of pretty big chicken legs on sale for .69/pound. Hasn't been that low of a price in a long time. Have my third (and last) pack in the cp to cook, get picked and portioned for the freezer. Between this and the ground turkey a little while back, I'm starting to feel stocked up for the winter! LOL.

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That’s great. I need to go back to Aldi. I’ve been doing Walmart for a bit.

One of the August frugals here is alley fruit. Apples, peaches and last month, apricots - just falling into the alley from back yard trees.

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Originally Posted by pinkytoe

One of the August frugals here is alley fruit. Apples, peaches and last month, apricots - just falling into the alley from back yard trees.

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Oooooooo free apricots!

we have apricot trees, but they seldom give us us much of a crop. And then back when we lived in the city, in a year where we had a good crop, the squirrels took 90% of them. DH makes good apricot jam

I'm jealous of all the fruit trees you all seem to have nearby AND FREE! Enjoy.

My city library is subscribing to an online version of our city newspaper. This is a big deal for me because I’ve been trying off and on for six months to find a way to get bits of news from the city without a full-blown subscription to the newspaper. A non-discounted online subscription is $29 a month.

The software that delivers it is just shitty. It sucks so much. The St. Louis Dispatch is shooting itself in the foot by not improving it software applications.

Six months ago I was very interested in the comments section of the newspaper, comments that followed articles. I wanted to both read and comment. But the software wouldn’t let me add using IPads. And then, when I jumped through multiple hoops to add a comment, it was censored. Sure, I get it’s their newspaper, their rules, but it’s also my money my decision not to support them.

Our city’s alternative newspaper folded and so I was really casting about to find consistent reporting on a couple of issues around here.

And— the libraries version has an indexing feature. That’s perfect for me, a reader reader who is interested in only a few of regional issues in addition to skimming the front pages.

I like magazines such as the New Yorker. I can get it free through my library via Libby. And magazines don't count toward your 10 item monthly loan limit. You can set notifications for when new issues come out.