May Frugals

[Azure]

I have been using "found" flower pots also. There were a surprising number hiding in the garage. Though I will need to find something bigger to move 2 of my green peppers into.

I am trying a home made weed killer this morning. I want to try to kill as many weeds as I can before I dig up the back flower bed and put in my little seedlings. I hope it works!

I have a very very small budget for gardening and I have been sticking to it pretty well.

I want to try a home made spider repellent but I don't have peppermint oil. Do you think peppermint extract, which I have an abundance of, would work?

Made dinner at home every night last week though the pantry was getting a little bare.

When I was grocery shopping Friday I found 2 pieces of skirt steak on markdown. I bought both of them made up the fajita marinade and put one in the freezer for later. One we had for dinner and it was soooo good. DH was seriously disappointed that I didn't let him cook up both. But what ever amount we cooked would have been eaten whether we were that hungry or not. I feel kind of guilty, he is a big guy, but there were plenty of veggies & cheese & salsa to bulk those fajitas up.

I made some baked oatmeal to put in the fridge for breakfasts this week. Also made up 2 batches of muffins for the freezer. Ty is now home for the summer. I think I need to increase my grocery budget a bit. Runners burn off a lot of calories!

[fidgiegirl]

Thanks to everyone that posts on this thread. I enjoy reading them all.

I remembered to "shop at home first" this week. My closet dirty-laundry basket died a couple of weeks ago (I'd been repairing it for years, and it just got to where it wasn't worth all the effort I was putting into it), so I moved one of the back-porch ones to my closet. I still had one good one on the back porch, but I wasn't happy about using the same basket to both hold dirty clothes till laundry day and as the one I use for the clean clothes ready for folding. So I added a laundry basket to the shopping list.

When out in the barn this week looking for flowerpots, I spied an old wooden fruit bushel basket, with handles and everything. Gave it a good spraying and sunning outside and it's working just fine as my dirty-laundry basket on the back porch.

Love this! Sometimes it's hard to see something as having another purpose. Even though it wasn't a LAUNDRY basket you spied, you were open to the possibilities!

[fidgiegirl]

I want to try a home made spider repellent but I don't have peppermint oil. Do you think peppermint extract, which I have an abundance of, would work?

I do not personally think it would work well. Extract is often mostly alcohol, and oils are much more potent. Plus both are expensive so I'd hate to see you waste your extract on it. Anyone else have thoughts on this? Of course it wouldn't probably hurt anything to try it!

[Tussiemussies]

I would look up on the Internet about peppermint as an deterrent to bugs, I thought at one time a long time ago that I read that you could sprinkle the crushed dried herb. Peppermint aromatherapy oil probably is the strongest and if you buy the cheapest brand --Aura Cassia it shouldn't be too expensive since the bottle will last you awhile. In the meantime I'd give the extract a go at it since you have it.

[Tradd]

The Weather Channel said it was 86F here this afternoon, but my place stayed pretty cool. There was a nice breeze, too. No a/c.

[try2bfrugal]

On Friday we went out for a nice lunch with a buy one get one free coupon from the Entertainment book. In the evening we watched a Netflix movie for some additonal cheap entertainment. We watched Rock of Ages. It had its moments but I'm glad I didn't pay $8 a ticket at the theaters to see it.

Yesterday we spent the day checking out different cities where we want to eventually move to when we downsize. DH packed sandwiches. We ate them at a park and went to McDs for ice cream for dessert. I am not sure how the Safeway gas rewards points work but evidently DH got 10 cents off gas for having a Safeway card so that helped offset the gas cost of the trip a tiny bit.

We bought Advantix for the dog at Petco and asked them to price match their online prices. Between the Petco rewards program and the discount that saved us $20 off the store price and beat even the Amazon price. I don't like putting the tick stuff on the dog but we do a lot of hiking and he was getting ticks on him so we had little choice.

We went to the recycling center in the parking lot of the local bag it yourself, discount grocery store near us. We made $7 from the recycling and saved $70 on the groceries compared to shopping at Safeway or some other retail grocery store. They price match all of the local retail grocery stores even on sale items so we really like going there for our weekly shopping.

Our last energy bill was $100 less than for the same month a year earlier, so we were happy about that. We are working on getting it even lower.

[Azure]

That's sort of what I was thinking, Kelli. But like you and Chris said I have the extract so I it can't hurt to try it. Maybe I'll buy some oil when I get groceries again.

Tradd, we were at 85 yesterday and stayed quite comfortable in the house with the fan going. Today, however, we are going back to 85/86 and it is so humid. 50% chance of storms. The humidity really gets me but we don't have our air conditioner in yet. I'm doing ok so far, though. And if I stop thinking about it I'll probably be even better lol Oh, and I'm icing my feet right now and that really helps.

We have had about $450 worth of checks to Ian floating around Ann Arbor somewhere for the past few weeks. I am happy to report that 3 of the 4 items mailed to him are finally accounted for. Unfortunately the one missing envelope is the one with his new drivers license in it. He kind of needs the license since his is expiring soon and he is driving all over Ann Arbor with the solar car team learning how to caravan for when they go to Australia.

No spending today.

Instead of just saying I want to fix more meatless meals. I am enforcing Meatless Mondays on myself. Tonight I am thinking pasta with caramelized onions. I added some chopped garlic to the french bread in the bread machine.

[fidgiegirl]

That Meatless Mondays is something really concrete, Azure! Yummy pasta idea!

[Kat]

Blackdog--I love that you are using a basket you already have. Sounds pretty and functional!

Not much here. Just eating at home, mostly, and trying to clean and organize. I did buy some frozen dinners to eat when the baby comes. Not the frugal-est option, I know, but it will be better than eating out every night! Since we will be on such a tight budget this summer, I am going to focus my efforts on cleaning and organizing. I wanted to get more done before the baby comes, but this home improvement project (the nursery remodel) has been a total nightmare. We still aren't done, and the house is a disaster! I am hoping we can start getting things put away before he comes, but I am trying not to pursue perfection (hard with this nesting instinct! ;-) ) I am still not feeling well and am staying off my feet for the most part, so I am telling myself there will be time to get things done later. Since I won't be working, I am hoping I can, little by little, get things done while the kiddos nap. I'll be staying home, which is frugal, but also cleaning and decluttering--both of which deter me from buying more stuff.

[Kat]

DD and I had blast popping bubble wrap this morning. She just giggled and giggled and giggled!

This afternoon I processed a return and was able to re-use packaging I already had. I also called Amazon customer service as there were two beautiful children's book collections on sale for around $7-8 each (regular price $70!). My Kindle was acting up, though, and kept locking up. By the time I got to my computer downstairs, the price had increased to over $30 each. So I asked if I could purchase them for the lesser price, and the rep said yes. So I now have ten beautifully illustrated classic children's novels for my gift closet for around $16. Way better than the "other" sale price of $70 (or the original price of $140!). It will be awhile before my kiddos can read them, but I am fine with leaving them in the closet for a few years. They are really gorgeous!

Did some laundry today and hung some to dry. Spent the afternoon cleaning out the fridge and giving its shelves a good scrubbing. Now that I know what is in there, I can focus on using it up! I thought we needed groceries, but we really don't. Dinner will be at home tonight.