May Frugals

[bke]

Ds and I went with the other honor roll students from school to the Tiger game yesterday. We're tired and got too much sun inspite of trying to be careful. We spent a ton of money just staying hydrated. It was a lot of fun. Our one frugal was that we didn't buy any souvenirs. Ds just didn't feel the need.

We found out yesterday that ds IS getting the college scholarship-WOOHOO! Its only $250 but he's only in 8th grade and we have to start somewhere right? I'm just a little bit proud of him-lol.

In the last few days, I've received free postage stamps from the quad readers, the Mcd's gift card that I requested from Coke Rewards and shampoo and conditioner in the mail. My mother gave me 2 containers of facial moisturizer.

Breakfast was sale priced cereal with free rice milk.

I found a good deal on my favorite hummus 2 weeks ago. B2G1 free. We've been so busy that I haven't eaten much of it so I put 2 of them into the freezer this morning. I'm pretty sure it'll keep well and taste ok when I thaw it out later.

I had a coupon for a large container of coffee creamer. I used it to purchase a large bottle of French vanilla which I add to leftover cold coffee from work. It tastes yummy and saves money.

[SteveinMN]

Not many frugals here ... seems we're only managing to save money on things we're buying -- which we weren't planning to buy.

My bike is at the shop getting a longer stem (couldn't ride more than 15-20 minutes without my hands going numb), a tuneup (sadly, necessary even though I haven't ridden in several years because of the hands issue), and a new helmet (helmets "age out" after about three years). The "frugal" is in re-shopping a 30-year-old bike rather than getting a new(er) one.

Ended up buying a DVD player to replace the one we had (no longer works). We weren't planning to buy one, but at least we got a good one off craigslist. Renting Redbox DVDs is far cheaper than going to the movies or renting from Netflix or iTunes or Amazon or ...

Ended up having the drain-clearing people come out again for the basement drain. Turns out the drain that's supposed to trap stuff from the shower filled up and failed, clogging the drain. The plumber gave us a break on the price for being steady customers (!) and I am marking on my calendar periodic cleaning of the shower drain so we don't have to have them come out again for this problem (I clear drains for a lot less money than they do).

Keep on keepin' on...

[Kat]

That is great about your son's scholarship, bke!

Ate dinner at home last night and plan to eat all three meals at home again today. I have a doctor's appt. today, so I will mail some letters at a nearby mailbox when I go to save on gas.

DH got a flat tire the other day and accepted the tire change place's recommendation to replace all four tires. $400. Ouch. That is not the decision I would have made--I probably would have just replaced the one tire. But it is done now, and my car needs new tires, too, so we'll be shelling out about $800 for tires along with the $550 in repair work DH had done on his car a month or so ago. Oh well. Maintenance is part of car ownership. At least we own our cars and are not making payments on them.

Between the car problems and the unforeseen costs associated with the home remodel, I think I am going to go ahead and cancel my order for new entryway furniture. I am totally bummed about it; I saved for a long time to be able to buy it. But it seems foolish to spend that kind of money on furniture when our savings has become so depleted. I guess I would rather deal with the clutter in my entryway and have financial peace of mind than buy the furniture and worry that something might come up that we cannot afford. Someone please encourage me!

[try2bfrugal]

I am still working on lowering the annual grocery bill. Last night I bought groceries, including some loss leaders, for $33 and got $5.50 off in various store rewards. Plus I paid for the groceries with the free debit card we received for switching to U-verse so I didn't spend any money out of pocket.

Our biggest area to tackle now is not wasting food. I am trying to get better at going through the fridge each morning and using up or freezing anything about to expire.

We dropped membership in a club our family had stopped being active in. So that will be a $100 savings per year going forward.

[try2bfrugal]

Someone please encourage me!

I think you will get more peace of mind from increased financial security than the furniture. You can always save up to get the furniture at a later date. Or maybe you could look for the new furniture on CL, thrift shops or garage sales?

[rosarugosa]

Kat: If your savings cushion is really depleted, you probably won't even enjoy the new furniture right now. So hold off for the time being, and when you do get it, you'll appreciate it all the more.

[fidgiegirl]

Aww Kat, that sucks. I will encourage you, but be sad alongside you. I do think the others are right, though. This is where I fantasize about having time to do Ana White projects - or rather, you having time to do them! But I know we've talked about it before and that with the babes that probably isn't likely. Hang in there, friend . . .

[gmpg54]

Have you looked at zenni optical.com,some great deals,progressive as well

[Kat]

Thanks, guys. I am bummed about the furniture mostly because it is hard to find anything that will work in the space. It is small with lots of doors/windows and an awkward layout. Most furniture simply will not fit, or if it does, it doesn't function well enough (like the furniture we have now). This furniture was *perfect*, and it took me forever to find it. I know you are all right, though, that the financial security it better. Though our savings accounts are not totally depleted, the balance is lower than what I am comfortable with. So I am already glad I processed the cancellation/return...it's just that sometimes (and not often, but sometimes) there is something that I really want, and it is a bummer to not have it (how's that for spoiled?!).

Anyway, we've been eating at home the past few days, trying to be mindful about waste. My in-laws are coming over tonight, I think, and I plan to stick by my dinner plan of frozen pizza. Hopefully that will be okay! I'd just rather not order out. We've been doing a lot of that the past four weeks due to this home improvement project, and it gets very expensive very fast! Speaking of the remodeling project, the guy that did the floor and trim for us charged us much less than what he initially quoted. We double checked with him to make sure his total was correct, and he said it was. So that was nice--he is a friend from our old church and was obviously trying to bless us.

DD has been having a lot of fun with a couple of freebies we have sitting around. One is a rose that I got on Mother's Day. I put it in her room for her to enjoy, and she loves it in there. The other is a very small reusable grocery bag. I think it was meant for produce, but DD uses it as her "purse" and carries her stuffed lamby around in it. Between that and trying her baby brother's hats on her baby doll (which keeps her occupied for about a half hour at a time!), she has been a pretty happy camper!

As for me, Amazon gave their Kindle customers 500 coins ($5.00) for free, so I have been app shopping. I found two free educational ones for DD and a free budget tracking one for myself as well. I did spend 150 coins on a chore checklist app, and I love, love, love it! It is so neat--it lets you list chores by frequency and has due dates and everything. I got so much done yesterday and didn't have to waste a bunch of time writing everything out. Now to spend the other 350 coins.

[Tussiemussies]

Hi Kat,

Just thinking about your situation with your furniture and I agree with other posters to wait until you have enough money to feel comfortable with, but when the time comes comes maybe instead of buying new you could have yours reapolistered (sp) and this way you can have the couch that fits perfectly in your space?

That is just adorable that your daughter loves to put your son's hats on her dolls! Chris