July Frugals....I am back so I will start!!

[try2bfrugal]

Today I turned bottle in for the redemption value at the local grocery store. We had relatives visiting for summer vacation so I have a big pile of soda, wine and beer bottles to turn in.

Next I went to the library and bought some business and simple living books for a a dollar each at the library sale, plus checked out a stack more. Somebody turned in a bunch of grow your own food in small space books, plus a book on making garden items from recycled material.

Next I stockpiled a bunch of loss leader sale items from the grocery stores. I try not to buy a lot of canned food, but it is nice to have some on hand for quick meals. The local grocery store had DH's favorite chili on sale for $1 from $2.50. That is a much better rate of return I can get than in any investments these days. I also stocked up on soup on sale, and even got a $2 coupon back.

[cdttmm]

Managed to avoid the vending machine at work today -- woo-hoo! And even though I really wanted to stop for ice cream on my way home from work, I didn't. Instead, made some cheese quesadillas at home and then checked on our beehives. Added another honey super to the one hive that is producing well -- hoping to get 100 pounds of honey from the two hives this season! Spent the evening mowing the lawn and doing a little weeding until the mosquitoes got too bad. Ate leftovers for dinner and surfed the interwebs for a little entertainment. Overall, a good, solid, no-spend day!!! Tomorrow should be equally as frugal. I have to go to work, but will bring my travel mugs with tea, my water bottle, and some snacks. Lunch will be a rice cake with peanut butter and honey. This has become my go-to lunch at work because I can keep a little stockpile of everything in my desk drawer so there is no need to plan out my lunch every morning. I only work three days a week in the summer so I don't mind eating the same thing for lunch all three days. Of course, once the school year starts and I am working five days a week, I might have to come up with a new plan!

I realized today that I've been doing a great job of not buying anything unnecessary since my job change (and pay cut) this spring. No clothing purchases, even though I was previously convinced that some things needed replacing. No hair products, instead I've been diligently using up my stockpile. No books, although I did ask for a few for my birthday later this month. My biggest weakness has been meals out, but even that has totaled under $60 over the past 3 months. Feeling pretty good about flexing my frugality muscles!

[danna]

Good morning

--Saturday I hit many yardsales, too many but, was very picky and only bought things I really needed or really loved (My new rules).
A mat for under computer chair only $2.00, two beautiful bed cushions in in lovely shade of grey $1.00, 10 sewing patterns unused for resale $2.00,
set of three large Pryex bowls for $2.00, set of 4 fancy facecloths with tags and tied with ribbon $1.00 for a gift, gift cards $.25,
hand knit booties (so cute look like little artisan boots, hard to explain..hehe) new only $.50 for a gift, and really not needed but lovely
6 bone china made in England cups and saucers $6.00. These might be to keep, sell or gift, they make a lovely container for a small arrangement of flowers.
This is a fun morning with Dd and mostly frugal way to get a shopping fix, since it is only a couple of months in summer and I barely go near a mall these days.
All the mall prices just seem so high after some of these amazing buys.
--received a free mascara regular price $7.99 + tax in the mail just for sending the request online.
--I have been shopping the sales, price matching and using coupons for all groceries and the totals are way down. Also, being super careful with not wasting food.

[Float On]

DO - I would of had a hard time passing up the Caribou sale. I love mixing beans and always add another bag to the stash. Caribou is my favorite.

Tomorrow won't be frugal - must get the boys eye exams and I know one of them will need glasses. He's an 'instant and stylish' kind of guy and I'm going to have to put a $$ limit on him and I don't think he'd be happy waiting for mail-order glasses.

I've had my Etsy shop on vacation mode for a while - but getting it full again. I was averaging $700-$1000 a month on there and I really need to get that income back.

Still listing and selling some things on Craigslist as well (feels good to get the studio cleaned up).

[Gardenarian]

I've been working too much to spend any money. Which is good in its way but not how I want to be spending my summer!

[SteveinMN]

I finally have some real frugals:

- Sorted out the account ID mess that was keeping me from using the St. Paul Public Library/Zinio e-magazine checkout. When my current magazine subscriptions expire, I will not be renewing. I'll be reading them through the library.

- Kicked the thermostat up a couple of degrees in the morning. It just doesn't need to be as cool as it is when the A/C is running (76*). Saves a little electricity...

- DW bought a retractable clothesline. Some month when it's not raining/about to rain/just rained/95% humidity in the shade , I'll put it up and we'll be able to dry some items on the line instead of in the dryer.

- When she bought the clothesline, DW also bought a food vacuum sealer. She really liked hers until it stopped vacuuming. She forgot that I'd fixed the old one (well, it sucks for me). So she hasn't even opened the new one; she'll bring it back this weekend. Good thing -- the reviews I read on this model indicate it either works really well or is total junk. Why risk that?

[cdttmm]

Just learned that I'll make an additional $480 teaching in the fall semester over what I had planned. Woo-hoo!

Managed to avoid the vending machine at work again today by bringing an extra snack with me to work. Need to make up some yummy homemade trail mix that I can keep in my desk drawer for when the afternoon snack cravings start. Will try to do that this weekend.

Not much else to report. Hope everyone else is having a fun-filled, frugal July!

[Kat]

You are all doing so well!

I have some bigger and some smaller frugals to report.

1) I was able to re-order my entryway furniture (yay!). I saved $200 on it and will get $200 in "rewards" (store gift certificates) to use when it arrives, too. It is currently on backorder, but I noticed yesterday while checking the status that the price dropped almost $200 on it. I called Customer Service to see if they would do a price adjustment for me, and they said yes. So after applying my coupon code, they credited my order another $170. Not bad for ten minutes of work on my part! :-)

2) DH had a small home improvement project to work on (framing a doorway). My FIL has a piece of wood we could use, so we only needed to buy two pieces instead of three. Saved us around $20.

3) The 4th of July weekend was a lovely frugal affair. DH had four days off work. We visited my dad and spent a lot of time out on the deck. DH grilled burgers and dogs, and I made him a special meal of barbeque baby back ribs (which I bought during a buy one rack, get two free sale). We also had corn on the cob ($2.50/dozen) and some lemonade I got for free. DD and I also made a flag cake with fruit we got for free and had bomb pops I got for around $1 after coupon.

4) DD outgrew her size five shoes, and we needed to get her some size 6s. I talked DH into buying her just one pair. He wanted to get her two, but she really didn't need two. Savings: around $12.

Now back to reality! :-)

[chrissieq]

Donated blood and was able to ride round trip downtown on the bus on one fare. Spent lots of time baking/cooking for a church program for folks with dementia which will be reimbursed. Walked with a friend and shared my huge crop of lettuce. Cut the grass - love the electric mower cause I can start it without a hissy fit!!

DH will take the car tomorrow so when I serve at church I will bus. Otherwise a no spend day - two in a row!!

Watching "The Killing" on Neflix making my $8 per month useful.

[fidgiegirl]

Hi everyone, I have enjoyed catching up on the frugals. Kat, so glad you were able to get your furniture finally. Danna, great garage sale finds. Maybe DH and I will go out tomorrow.

Steve, glad you got the magazine thing worked out - I think the libraries in our area make e-lending services far too difficult to use - actually, it could be the services themselves since it is so consistently hard for people to figure out. It took me several attempts, and I consider myself relatively skilled. I even refuse to help people try to set them up anymore, and my fulltime job is technology integration. I always refer them to their library staffers for help.

All you Etsy-ers, I am considering setting up a shop along the lines of "vintage pet shop" where we could have animal stuff. But maybe it's better to just stay general, like chrissieq's and Merski's shops, to have more options for stuff to list. What do you think? The great thing about setting up a project like an Etsy store is that if I get it all set up and going and learn how to do it, I can show DH and he is fabulous about the follow-through. We're good that way together. I'm kind of trailblazey with things like that, and he's a finisher, which I am not.

We have a huge home project going on so my mind is turning to moneymakers to try to cushion the blow. Ultimately it will save us even further damage and will enhance the comfort and beauty of our home (sounds like a commercial!) but man I hate having to shell out for something so boooooooring as remediating rot.

We went on a mini vacation to South Dakota and western MN. We were going to go to Yellowstone, and I had estimated (on the generous side) about a $2000 price tag for that trip. We decided to cancel in light of the house project. This was disappointing but I didn't want to end up with potentially more debt (see the HELOC thread, yes, we are even considering taking on debt for this project, yuck) for a trip we could do next year. Our mini trip, about four days, cost us about $200. Big difference in cost and also in the type of experience, but we made some good memories and I'm happy that we didn't go the Yellowstone route. I would have felt icky about it the whole time anyway knowing that we didn't really have the money to be doing it at this time.

Well, sorry to bombard you with such a long reply. That's what happens when I check out for a few days!