June frugals

[SteveinMN]

, Kat. But it sounds like you've got it together in approaching this situation. Take advantage of the good things this brings you and your family.

[fidgiegirl]

I took a page from bke's playbook today and saved some leftover coffee from our event to make iced coffee. It was leftover at the end of the day when everyone was gone. I brought an empty jug specifically for this purpose, as I was in charge of the coffee and had a good guess there might be some left, and there was. I got a few, "yup, that's cheap" comments, but came here to get my strokes. It was good coffee and would have gone down the drain! I will enjoy it for several days. I might even have to freeze some in coffee cubes.

[SteveinMN]

I got a few, "yup, that's cheap" comments, but came here to get my strokes. It was good coffee and would have gone down the drain! I will enjoy it for several days. I might even have to freeze some in coffee cubes.

Kelli, do you know how much Dunn Bros. charges for a growler of iced coffee? Lots more than it cost you. Great frugal!

[fidgiegirl]

Kelli, do you know how much Dunn Bros. charges for a growler of iced coffee? Lots more than it cost you. Great frugal!

Wait - it gets better - it was a gallon jug!!!

[chrissieq]

Decided to buy myself a super cute daily planner that begins whenever you choose to start it - like not in January - you just write in the month, etc. Walked to the "pretty little things" store near my house, debit card in hand, looked at the super cute planner and thought how many similar things I had at home - so walked home empty handed and pretty happy too!!

I love making lists and crossing things off them but I really don't need at $15 item to do so.

I'm re-working my craft/art/time alone space and spend time both AM and PM putting 2 coats of white paint on an old doll house that I use to store craft supplies. It had one coat of primer on it when a friend gave it to me about 10 years ago.

Ate all three meals at home and had a piece of cake left from my retirement party last Wednesday - when they asked if I wanted the cake, I didn't even hesitate! After 21 years in the school district, I figure 1/2 of a 1/4 sheet cake wasn't being too greedy. The great thing is you can eat it out of the freezer with about 10 minutes of defrosting time!

[Blackdog Lin]

chrissie - congratulations on your retirement! I hope you love it as much as I am loving mine.....

[bke]

Congrats Chrissie! I missed this news some how.

Kelli- Awesome job. People are so quick to wrinkle their noses at leftover coffee but its good as long as it didn't burn before its taken off the heat. Coffee is an expensive indulgence to be poured down the drain!

Kat-hang in there. It sounds like things are pretty under control even if its not what you had planned. We're here to cheer you on and support you all the way.

I had an awesome shopping night last night. I bought $35 worth of stuff at Krogers for $2.23. Plus I left with a rain check for 99 cent coffee creamer to be used at a later time. Hopefully I will get my hands on some coupons before it expires and get some really cheap coffee creamer down the road.

I had received coupons for 4 free bottles of Langer's juice in the mail. I had to make a second stop inorder to find it but brought home four large containers of 100% juice. Ds has recently discovered the cranberry/grape juice combination. These are all cranberry/something combos that I think he will enjoy.

We are really limiting our driving. I don't think we did any from Thursday until Wednesday.

There is a couple in the area that are um, a bit slow. They basically live on social services and whatever odd jobs they can handle. The husband gets disability for mental health reasons. Anyways, we've known these people for years and have loaned them money from time to time. The wife gets a ton of coupons from somewhere and has brought me her leftovers the last two weeks which is a major score for me. My mother had told her that I donate a bunch of stuff when I have it and see a need. Well bless her heart, this woman brought me a bag with 2 deoderants, 2 shampoos, toothpaste, shower gel, and 2 bars of soap. I thought she brought it for me, thinking we were struggling to provide for ourselves and was a bit embarrassed at the misunderstanding. Nope, she knew there are people worse off than she is and wants me to give the stuff to whomever I see fit. It was kind of a humble reminder to be thankful for what we have and to be as generous as possible when I see a need.

[Float On]

Kelli - great on the coffee. I always save our coffee in the fridge for iced coffee or I use it in place of water in brownies, etc. I don't take home the leftovers from church because I don't like the brand they use.

Chrissie - congrats on the retirement! My parents still have left over anniversary cakes in their freezer - I love frozen cake!

I'm leaving the boy's "to-do list" on junk mail envelopes every day. I love summer.
Renewed my core of engineers pass yesterday. $30 for the year gets me into any core property in the USA. This gets me into areas that have a daily fee like some of my favorite spots to go kayaking, we also go to the local lake beach almost every evening for a quick swim.

Today's goal (if we have water when we get home) is to get the boys to wash/detail our cars. I'm not going to pay $9 a wash at the local car wash anymore.

I have a free gallon of milk to pick up at one grocery store and a $5 off coupon at another grocery store. Going to try and limit my grocery shopping to just a few items.

[SteveinMN]

Random selection of frugals:

• My car didn't move Monday. Boy, did it move on Tuesday (very closely-spaced commitments several miles apart)! It would not have moved yesterday but for lunch with a friend that she thought she had re-rescheduled, which made yesterday's trip superfluous. The car is not moving today. It will move tomorrow for lunch with other friends and some errands, purposely bundled together.
• I've been responding to more surveys and the like. Most times, of course, I come up empty, but I've won two $100 Amazon gift cards and a $10 JC Penney gift card so far, so I'm not doing badly at all on effort/results.
• Lunch today was scrambled eggs made with leftover fried onions and sliced fresh mushrooms that DW said she was going to use up but has not -- and toast. Tasty!
• DW has been saying "things" about updating her iPad. It's the original model (bought when the second gen came out) and we're starting to find more things she'd like to do with it but can't. I've been keeping my eyes open for a screamin' deal on a replacement and for the best way to monetize the old one. But she's discovered her newer iPod Touch can do some of the things she wanted the iPad to do, so her wishes are being met and we've pushed back when we need to look at a trade-in/purchase.
• No heat and no A/C here even in the height of the humidity. A fan worked just fine.
• I gave up on the straw-bale gardening idea, at least for this year. We weren't going to grow very much that way (or any other way), it's easy and cheap for us to get to the big local farmer's market for the things we weren't growing, and it's not like whatever we grew was going to be particularly inexpensive (economy of scale). It was going to be a hobby; I don't need to spend money on another hobby right now.
• I've been trying to use sales to stock up on some non-perishable foods I know we will use over time. Lots of eating out of the freezer. Did you know there's a light in there??

[Jilly]

It has been too cold here for me to put any plants in the ground, followed by laziness, so when I was at the bank today I stopped at the garden place. The guy there told me to wait when I went in a month ago, that they would still have what I want, and even if it stayed chilly, the plants would be bigger.

They were a very nice size for transplanting and the bonus is that they have been completely acclimated to the outdoors in the past week and a half. Plus, they were on sale for half price. So, in the ground are Black Krim (my absolute, most favorite tomato), some kind of hybrid cherry tomato, sweet peppers, parsley, zucchini, and I bought a pumpkin plant for the graduating-from-preschool-boy's celebration tomorrow. I love these guys like crazy and I am fully in support of all of their milestones, but I cannot get my head around preschool graduations. We had one for the older guy last year, and I know that I can expect really fabulous cookies at the reception afterwards. I am such a crank today. I am sending myself to my room. Man.