New month...new thread. Share your frugal activities here!
Printable View
New month...new thread. Share your frugal activities here!
OK you can all say that I am really mean now. Yesterday I washed 6 pairs of tights using a shampoo that I did not like but had not thrown away and then dried them on an airer in the sun-room. When they were dry I checked them over for runs, or ladders as we can them this side of the pond, and as 2 pairs had one leg that was holey I cut off those legs and I will wear 2 half pairs to make one good pair.
iforonwy -- AWESOME!
iforonwy that is some serious frugality! Good job!
I actually put the money we saved on Friday by not going out to eat in the savings account. Weekends are our least frugal time, but it hasn't been bad. The girls and I brainstormed ideas for Sunday family days for summer and fall and now have a schedule worked out through September. July's Family Day cost is $100 for the month, and that doubles as Isabella's birthday present. She wants to go to a waterpark. She was originally going to go horseback riding, but she wouldn't be able to go on a trail ride until she's 8, so she decided that can be next year's birthday.
August's family day cost is going to be $15 for archery. Septemeber is $150 because of the State Fair and Fall Fest at our church, but those are once a year things. By having it all planned, mostly free stuff with a few more expensive things thrown in, it will keep us within our budget and balance things out. I tried to plan outdoor stuff for the most part for summer and fall so we can save some indoor stuff for the winter. Today we are going to the beach.
Welcome to the boards, iforonwy. Hopefully we'll be hearing more of those kinds of powerhouse frugals :)
We are organizing the garage today. I am a longtime believer in organization as a form of frugality. We almost had some near-misses when DH went on his fishing trip where we had to send non-preferred stuff or even almost needed to go buy some things because we couldn't find some of his items. So in the garage, we hope to have our stuff locate-able so we don't have to go buy a thing. We have also tucked a few things away in the loft space, like the dog barrier for the car. Current dog doesn't need it anymore, he just stays in the back all on his own. But a future dog might, and they are like $100, so we put it away up there out of the way.
Stella: I think it's great that you come up with so many low/no-cost recreational activities for your family. Some things will cost money of course, but if you exploit all the less spendy options before throwing money at the question, you will get so much more for your money - and your life.
We took another hike through Breakheart this morning; it was wonderful as always, and we were quite excited to get a good close look at a deer, see Indian Pipe toadstools, and identify the trees with the interesting leaves as Sassafras. Then we went to Lynn Woods. Anyone in our area will know that Lynn is not exactly synonymous with vast acres of unspoiled nature, so perhaps it isn't too surprising that this was our first visit although we've spent most of our lives within 5 miles of the place. Well what an amazing surprise! The park is huge asnd contains 3 reservoirs. We only saw two other people the whole time we were there, and it was much more unspoiled than Breakheart. No swimming areas or snack stands, etc. means that nature is pretty much the only attraction. Near the main entrance, there is a gorgeous rose/perennial garden with arbors, benches, wonderful stonework - and we were the only ones in the garden. It seemed like a magical secret garden in the woods - as we went up the little stone steps into the garden, I felt like a character in a fairy tale! I can't believe that I never even heard of this garden while living so close for so many years. You can be sure this was only the first of many visits, and DH and I were so happy to discover it together :)
I cleaned up and organized my storage closet that doubles as a pantry space. I've got enough rice, other grains, beans, and pasta so that I don't have to buy any of those staples for a long time. Now that I have a better idea of what I really have, I'm resolved to eat down the pantry before buying anything besides fresh veggies, eggs, and cheese at the Farmer's Market. And I'm going to try to eat less cheese and eggs, using them more as supplements to dishes. That should save me a lot in groceries over the next few months.
I made a scrumptious dinner of eggplant in black bean and garlic sauce and refried rice today. Reheated some for lunch.
Wow, I'm not the only one getting organized. I spent about 3 hours last night cleaning and organizing part of the kitchen and will work on it some more in the coming week. I put all the beans and grains in old pasta sauce jars that I had saved and labeled the tops. They're in deep drawers and very easy to find now, rather than having random bags in a jumble.
Otherwise -- minimal driving and no spending this weekend. It's been really hot, but the mornings have been pleasant. DD and I went for a bike ride to a park yesterday and in the afternoon we all used a movie gift card to see Brave. We hardly ever go to the theater as a family because of (a) the lack of appropriate and entertaining movies and (b) cost. But free, we can do. Today our only outing was to the library. Some friends came over to pick berries and so DD had playmates for a while.
We're making progress on emptying the freezer, too, so grocery spending has been very low. And I made 2 more batches of low-sugar jam - varied mixtures of black and red raspberries and red currants.
Wow -- awesome start to the month, everyone!
Stella: I love the MN State Fair, it is one of the things I miss most about my home state! One year I'll remember to plan far enough in advance to take a vacation specifically for the purpose of going to the Fair!
rosarugosa: You are right, I do not associate Lynn with acres of unspoiled nature! (I used to run after school tutoring programs at a number of schools in Lynn -- perhaps we should have included nature walks as part of the curriculum!) I have some friends out that way who love to do outdoor stuff, so I'm going to suggest we check out Lynn Woods next time I'm in the area.
+1 for organizing as a form of frugality! I listed some miscellaneous items on Freecycle yesterday -- no takers just yet, but I'm hoping that this stuff will soon be gone, which will make things a bit more organized around here. I also put together a stack of books to pass along to the library book sale.
Used the Gas Buddy app on my iPhone today and discovered that I would be driving by a gas station where gas was 6 cents per gallon cheaper than my usual gas station. Filled up and saved myself a little over a dollar. Stopped at CVS to get my iron supplements and got a $1.00 extra bucks coupon on my receipt. Used it immediately to buy Gatorade that was on sale for...you guessed it, $1.00! I never buy Gatorade anymore, but free Gatorade I will accept. :~) At Whole Foods the cashier was nice enough to point out that there was a coupon in this month's coupon booklet for 50 cents off the crackers I was buying. I don't generally buy much in the way of prepared foods so I rarely remember to look for coupons, but I've been experimenting with eating gluten-free so I had picked up some gluten free crackers to have in the house. I took the rest of the coupon booklet home with me and found about 5 more coupons that I might end up using.
Dried a load of laundry on the line today -- easy since it was 95 degrees out again today.
But the biggest win -- I made it through our heat wave (and it was officially a heat wave because we had temperatures above 90 degrees for 3 days) without once turning on the A/C in the house!!! Woo-hoo!!! The house only got up to 75 degrees today so it's not only been comfortable for humans, but also comfortable for all the pets. The dogs, of course, spend much of their time lying on the tile or hardwood floors, which I'm sure help them keep a little cooler.
July 01----Happy Canada Day 145 years old.....
Welcome iforonwy
--spreadsheets all up to date, accounts balanced, and my net worth climbs some every month..yeah
--company for supper tomorrow and I have everything in the house to make a lovely meal
--sold stuff on Kijiji today for a total of $65.00
--made fresh spring rolls with shrimp for supper all from stuff that needed to be used up and bought previously
my challenge this month is to only buy stuff I use.
--only running the A/C when needed which has been pretty good considering the temps and humidity.
Hi Danna,Quote:
Originally Posted by danna
Tonight I watched the July 1 fireworks from my apartment by opening the vertical blinds and watching them reflect in the windows of homes on the next block up from where I live.
No need to go outdoors to watch the usual display. What surprised me was there were no kids setting off firecrackers in the neighbourhood this year. Fireworks are prohibited here, but kids always managed to buy them, maybe in a different area, and someone always ended up having an accident by holding them in their hands instead of throwing them down on the ground. Many kids had suffered bad burns by doing this, so it was great to have a safe July 1st celebration with no injuries this year.
When I was raising my kids, the neighbours would gather to watch a display by our local firemen.
Thank you for the welcome. It's a return for me as I used to post on the old boards. I discovered YMOYL back in about 2000 and started to log all expenditure and we tried to live off one income. Good job that we did as DH retired early (ill health) in 2002. We then had some very good luck regarding an inheritance and so I was able to "retire" in 2003 and we downsized. We then lived off DH's retirement pension incomes until mine kicked in in 2009.
We learned the mantra of "we have enough" but have managed to save and travel (extensively) over the years since.
Member Suzanne will atest to that! We have managed to visit each other a number of times over the years!
Thanks again, just off to package up the one item I have sold on e-bay this week. Only 99p but every little helps and it means that I need to walk the mile+ to the post office.
Entering a very tough financial period. DH doesn't have any photo classes till Sept. so one of his paychecks is gone. My pay goes entirely to mortgage and lucky for us I have good health insurance. We need to pay all of our insurances in August and haven't saved enough to cover them all. We will sit down and figure out how to cut back expenses severely without allowing us some FFF this summer. Will not go to New Bedford Folk Festival easily $75 for tix and gasoline but will go to lowell. $10 for parking. gas to get there and a donation. Will spend energy clearing out things to make more efficient room for my etsy stuff and his online book sales. Planning to do a flea market. Cut back a little on etsy buying (I have some back inventory). Eat down the freezer, work in garden and enjoy being together...
Hung a load on the line today.
Going for a 2 hour walk for fitness (me and doggie) in 95+ weather. (There's access to 2 springs on the walk for a drink for doggie.)
Only ACing one room.
Library later today.
Merski, good luck . . . sounds like you have a good plan.
Tiam thanks for the tip!
Merski, you can do it! Maybe we should start a thread on ideas for some good summer FFF. I bet we could come up with a ton of them.
I did minimal grocery shopping this week. The kid I am watching for the summer is at his Grandma's this week, so that will save me some money on food.
I RSVPd to the next neighborhood Women Who Cook event. That should be fun.
I am looking into a free gardening workshop I saw on my community gardening listserv for the girls. That's about it today. Pretty run-of-the-mill stuff today.
I forgot to mention that I have actually been doing a good job of tracking my spending this past week.
Not much of interest here - too hot to be creative, >:(. Line drying all laundry; washing up bedding from house-guests, covers and throws from winter/spring by adding them into wash loads that are small, instead of making more loads of wash. Trying to buy only things that can easily be re-sold - actually living with our inventory, lol. Attending only free events, or those that benefit an organization that I wish to support. Went on a garden tour last Saturday, and one homeowner gave me a Red-bud tree and a Rose of Sharon start. Haven't planted them yet, but will try to do that Wednesday since I'm off work. Finally got all my spending updated and the checkbook balanced. Grocery bill was pretty low this past month, and should be this month too - we don't eat as much when it's hot! Last winter was pretty mild here so our level billing is down by $171 per month. I know, I know...and that's with the thermostat at 65 most of the day, and 55-60 at night. We seriously need more insulation or something!
Made red, white and blue bread (cherry/blueberry/coconut) to bring to volunteers who are helping at my organization this week. Because I was using different size pans and doubling the recipe, I had a little batter left over--put it in a mini-muffin pan and will bring those to my co-workers tomorrow. All ingredients were out of my pantry and I really needed to use several of them up. The 4th of July will be going to my sister's neighborhood in the morning to see their children's parade, and then working at a holiday celebration--a fun, old-fashioned holiday festival. Technically it is work, but I would much rather do that than be at the huge, crowded city event, or sitting around at home. My family is going to try and come to our event if my nieces are behaving well. I hope so--I would love to make this a family tradition...
July 2
It sounds like July is off to a good start
--Dsil and Dd and grandson for a holiday lunch--had BBQ chicken thighs, Salad and a new to me that I am calling Fresh Spring Roll Salad
it was excellent and I will make it again.
--holiday so we have an extra day at the lower hydro rate so washed and dried up some bedding.
--leftovers for supper
I came in at 75% of my budget last month for flexible monthly spending items like groceries, gas, hair cuts, entertainment and household purchases. The only "stuff" purchases I made were a couple of used books to benefit the library and some craft fair type jewelry made by other members of our rock club, which came to under $30 total. Some of the jewelry pieces I will set aside and give to MIL for Christmas. I am interested in learning to make my own jewelry but I think it is actually cheaper to buy it already made from the other club members, since many seem to have a surplus. Some of the earrings and necklaces will go into the neat wooden jewelry box I bought at a thrift shop last month.
We were getting one of our kids ready for a trip these last few days so that kept us from driving or shopping much for ourselves, except for a few travel necessities for him. I have been checking out books on simplicity and crafts from the library. Tonight I got a book on how to make my own soap and a book on sustainable living, though at this point I have read so many books on the sustainable living I am not finding many more unique ideas.
We are in the process of refinancing at a no cost loan which will reduce our mortgage payment. We locked the rate over a week ago but I asked if they could do anything to get it lower and our mortgage person said she would look into it. That would be nice to go even lower on the rate, but if not as long as rates stay low we will just refinance again with another no cost loan next month.
Last month I raised the deductibles on our home and auto insurance policies and got a refund check today for the premium difference. It was nice to get a check in the mail instead of the usual bills.
I ended up not making the BLTs last night. I made the chilaquiles instead. Yum! Tonight will be the BLTs with lettuce from the garden and tomorrow will be grilled pizza.
It's insanely hot here today so I am planning a stay-at-home day. I don't use a lot of gas these days. I mostly drive on the weekends.
I have made a commitment to save a certain amount from each check and donate a certain amount. It's too easy to let it slide otherwise.
So many great posts! Its kind of nice to disappear for a few days and find a large amount of stuff to catch up on-its inspiring reading so much at once. Or maybe I'm just wierd:|(
I don't feel like I have much to report. We did do very well at Kroger's last week. When I was sick last summer (dehydration) the ER doctor recommended we both drink lots of Gatorade to stay hydrated in the heat. Its always at least 10 degrees hotter in the kitchen that it is outside so its nothing for us to labor for 8-10 hours in 90-100 degree temps. Anyways, gatorade after all the sale specifics were 49 cents a bottle. We bought 60+. That saves 50 cents over grocery store prices of $1 over gas station prices per bottle.
I have $16 in kroger cash and $4 in Riteaid cash to spend but may wait for next week to do so.
This may be TMI but menapause had really been kicking my butt. I'm evil.:devil: Hot flashes, mood swings, I can't sleep, physical pain, etc. Dh is nice and I cry. He makes my sandwich wrong at work and it takes everything I've got not to throw it at him. Some lady crossed against the light the other night and I wanted to get out of the car and kick her a**! So trying to be frugal, I got on the computer and searched for a solution. One thing that stood out was giving up my beloved coffee. I can easily drink 3-4 pots a day when I'm working. Plus a soda with dinner... I haven't had a soda or a cup of coffee in 8 days and am feeling much better. I also bought a bottle of vitamins for women going through menopause and they are helping too. I'm sleeping much better, the hot flashes are greatly reduced and I haven't felt the desire to lash out at some one over something stupid and minor this week.
The only problem is that I seem to be replacing the coffee with food. I just cannot go all day without eating the way I could before. But I figure the cost of the vitamins is covered by the savings from all the coffee I'm not drinking.
I've been drinking up a bunch of tea that I have in the house instead. An occasional cup of grean tea, lots of chamomile, and some Malalueca tea that my mother brought to me. I love the Malelueca and wish I could find a way to buy it on a regular basis. If any of you know how I might do this please let me know. The only source I no of requires me make a large monthly commitment to the company.
more wash is sweltering on the line, and I have some smelly blankets, deposited by DS, soaking in the washer. I'll hang them out tonight. Don't have to drive to check on Mom, as Dsis is going over today anyway - so no driving. Too hot to go see fireworks!! So no gas burned. Need to get a new chainsaw. We have a big one but I can't handle it, and my little electric one is non-functioning. I'm going to try a battery one. We have a host of battery op tools, using the same batteries, and we have quite a few extra batteries and a large charging dock. I don't need it to do big stuff, just cut through some smaller limbs so I can get them into the pickup to haul out to the field. We don't burn inside; although it would be nice to have a woodstove, the mess and the thought of what it might do to DDs and my asthma, plus the cost of shoring up the floor with a hearth just doesn't seem worth it. I was going to go get one today but realized that I wouldn't use it right away anyway - too hot!- so may as well look around at prices, and not make a special trip to get it.
How is this for frugal: we have decided to extend our no-spend to a no-spend year! Only needed items and costs for the next year. No thrift shops. If someone has a true need, we may pop in to one with a list firmly in hand and an accountability partner.
fidgiegirl, I agree with you that organizing is a frugality. We are doing a massive purge of our home right now (as in, a shed full of stuff to garage sale this weekend) and I found the most beautiful hummingbird feeder in my basement! New, it would have been $70, I had purchased it at Goodwill this winter for $5 and it almost spent the entire summer languishing in the basement! I found it and hung it on the porch instead.
My youngest son loves horses and all animals, and so he and my DH are volunteering at an orphan horse rescue farm. Much cheaper ( free) than horse camp and they are giving back.
Hi early morning, the one thing about the wood stove is that they are off-season right now and you may hit a sale!Quote:
Originally Posted by early morning
That is a great idea. I wish I had looked for more volunteer activities like that for our kids when they were younger.Quote:
Originally Posted by Square Peg
We are realizing now that we have probably more fun doing activities with non-profit clubs and groups then we did when we spent more money on things like restaurants and concert tickets. When we decided to go the simple living, low cost route at first we were not sure if we would feel deprived on a reduced entertainment budget. But it turns out we have actually had more fun and some months I haven't spent hardly any money at all. Our library has free passes to about 30 major local attractions, I bought a reciprocal museum pass for some not on their list, our local parks have many free events, we ride our bikes and hike and belong to several clubs with low annual membership fees. So we can by quite busy all month long and not spend any money at all except for gas.
I just ordered a free Arm & Hammer sensitive toothpaste sample. if anyone is interested, you can order at: freeAHsensitive.com. I'm certainly not in BKE's league, but every little bit helps. They will send you an e-mail and you have to click on the link in the e-mail to confirm your shipping address.
3 scores for you, squarepeg! The horse idea is awesome. Horse camp is super expensive. Does DS get to ride at all, or just spend time with the animals? I'm sure they are glad to have them. I'm sure there is always pleeeeeenty of cleaning to do at a horse farm! :) A good way to see the work involved in having those beautiful babies. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Square Peg
We had FFF at a friend's house today. We were super grateful for the invitation because 1) we haven't seen them in a social setting in a while and 2) they have a pool! We contributed the veggies, which sadly sat out in the heat and will have to be thrown, but we were strategic with the dip - we split it into two containers and brought them both. That way, if one sat out and got ruined in the 100 heat (which it did) and people were going crazy over the dip, or we needed more food, or whatever, we could pull out the second one. But as suspected, there was more than enough food and the veggie tray is always the last of what gets eaten, so we brought the rest of the dip and some of our carrots home in the cooler. :)
We got a new garage door for $50 off Craigslist. My parents are going to bring it for us on Saturday when we will have a fish fry for both sets of parents and my DBiL. The fish is from my DH's recent fishing trip.
I should report on how the garage organize went - we ended up doing it for $0! We thought we would go get special hooks to hold the tools on the wall, but then DH (smartly) said, why don't we just pound in 2 nails (you know, two nails and then the handle of the yard tool hangs in between). We had also squirreled away quite a few other packages of hooks that we got from DFiL a while ago and never got around to organizing our old garage. :laff: So those came with us and are in service now.
Hope everyone has a lovely and safe 4th!!
Smart! I really like iced tea, and brew mine cold overnight. We are consuming a lot lately. I love that you look for your own solutions to this rather than running to the doctor. That's what I'd probably do. :(Quote:
Originally Posted by bke
Fidgiegirl, I don't know if he will get to ride them at all, but he got to feed them, lead them out to the pen, and groom 2 pregnant mares. And that was all on his first day there :)
Also, what is FFF?
bke welcome to the club most of us wanted to join to get out of our monthly "visitor" at one time and now we're sorry we're in it.:devil:
went to the fireworks last night, the Symphony played beforehand and it was all free. I packed a little cooler of water and snacks. It was only a seven mile drive but we hadn't driven in days!
Starting a quilt for my granddaughter and I found enough scraps to make the whole thing. It will be squares of machine applique animals set in a barn. The back will be scraps from the front. I sew in the evening and listen to books on tape.
Next week I have two days set up where I am going to different friends houses to help them with sewing projects. In return for my help they will feed me lunch and both are excellent cooks.
Pretty quiet week here. Stayed home for the 4th of July and worked on the flower gardens. Then went for a trail run despite the fact that it was still 90 degrees outside and high humidity. Since I can run to the trail head from our house, it was a no drive day. We can see fireworks displays from our house so that provided some frugal entertainment. Did have to finally breakdown and start using the A/C -- the humidity finally got too oppressive. But keeping it set at 76 degrees for the most part and keeping the house closed up so that the A/C doesn't have to kick in any more than absolutely necessary. Going to focus on eating up whatever is in the refrigerator over the next few days since I'm headed to Texas for work next week.
Yesterday and the day before were no spending/driving days. Today I'm feeling a bit stir-crazy so there's a chance we might go out this evening. When we're home dh is content to sit in front of the television. I'd rather be on the computer or reading a book but he feels neglected when I do so. That's the difference between me, the introvert, and a man who grew up in a house that always held 3 generations and at least 10 people at any given time.
Merski- I'm only 41 so the menopause thing took me by surprise. My first reaction was Cool, it's almost over! It seemed like the minute I celebrated this new phase of life it set out to see just how much it could mess with me. I guess I'm glad that at least some of you understand and didn't feel the need to shun me because of my admitted lack of emotional control-haha!
I really haven't been doing much of my usual frugals. I just can't seem to get myself organized with the coupons and sweepstaking seems like work at the moment. Dh and I are pretty frustrated at the moment. Between getting the house back, poor business at work, low interest rates and having to re-finance the restaurant we feel like our dream of retiring in a few years is slipping away. If things stay like this, it will easily take an additional 5-10 years to reach our goal.
So today I'm doing swag bucks, signing up for a few freebies and just kind of laying low.
Going on vacation next month to visit family. Yep, we're being spendy and staying in a hotel rather than camping out in someone's spare room. What's frugal is that the hotel room is nearly free, as I'm cashing in hotel points from a LOT of business travel for the three-day visit. For us, lodging is usually the most expensive part of the visit, as I'm the Queen of Bring Your Own Food.
If you are really mean (I think we would call it cheap here), then so am I becaused that is exactly what I have done and would do again!Quote:
Originally Posted by iforonwy
LOL. I've never been through menopause, but having been pregnant for much of the last 8 years I am no stranger to hormones and lack of emotional control. :devil:Quote:
I guess I'm glad that at least some of you understand and didn't feel the need to shun me because of my admitted lack of emotional control-haha!
We are having another quiet stay-at-home day. I made a tuna pasta salad when I made lunch since I was in the kitchen anyway. Now dinner is ready whenever we want to eat.
We are learning about Colonial America and the Revolutionary War, so I found some resources online. Colonial Williamsburg has some cool games and activities. The kids like to memorize things, so I wrote the preamble to the Constitution on the white board and they are practicing it. They like to memorize one thing in Latin and one thing in English. They just finished the Pledge of Allegiance and the Hail Mary. For a while we were on a poetry kick, but I guess now it's Civics related stuff, just for a change of pace.
I've banned myself from spending money on school stuff for a while, so I've made a list of some free stuff we can do. I think we're going to try orienteering this summer. That would be fun and there is a park in White Bear Lake that will even lend you a compass. I really don't have to spend money on homeschool stuff, I just like to. I need to remember that.
This is where I got really lucky. Never had a symptom of menopause. As I am so often cold, I was actually looking forward to a hot flash or two, but never had one. Of course, some in my family have called me irritable, but I think of it as simply speaking my mind. Other people do it; why is it so terrible when I do it?Quote:
Originally Posted by bke