I will start the September Frugals.....

[Azure]

Good job on the phone call & focus group, Redfox! And Chrissieq as well!

Happy Anniversary Rosa!

Tomorrow I will return some work pants I ordered from kohl's. I didn't like the fit. I stop by the store on the way home from work.

Yesterday I combined trips. Took Tyler to the music store to get a new mouthpiece & trombone book. Stopped at the health food store where I used the 15% off on Saturday to get some supplements plus bought 2 tubes of vein defense cream on clearance - 40% off. And stopped at World Market to spend my $10 birthday money they emailed me. I did go $5 over. But I got a nice ceramic rolling pin. I've never used ceramic before but I liked the look & feel of it and my old one only has 1 handle left on it.

The talk about painting has reminded me of an older frugal. Bought a 5 gallon bucket of oops paint at Lowes for $50. It looked like a good match for the paint already in the living room. Once I started painting I saw that it was a couple of shades darker. Somewhere between ivory and beige. I actually love it! I painted the one really bad wall in the LR before Ian's bon voyage party. I figured if I painted any more it would be a unfinished paint job. BUT if I stopped it would be a focal wall LOL

I also found some curtains at Big Lots, of all places. They were only $14 a panel and I really like them. They actually kind of match the paint but they have texture to them. If I had thought about it much before I bought them I probably wouldn't have gotten them. Having the room all one color sounds boring to me but to my surprise I actually find it very soothing. When work calms down some I will finish painting.

Oh, I also got $3 in CVS bucks for my birthday. I decided to use it to buy the bifera iron I take. I looked and it didn't appear to be on sale at all. Seemed to be the usual $21.49. But when I checked out the total was only $13.49 plus tax. On the receipt it looks like the price rang up at only $16.49 but I am not sure why.

[early morning]

A sorta frugal un-frugal.... Today was National Coffee Day. After a hectic three days of having a yard sale (and getting rained out this afternoon) we had some errands to run and decided to go through the drive thru of a local coffee shop for a treat. We didn't know until we paid, but everything was half-price today! So coffee drinks for 4 people was $7.50 - what a nice surprise! We usually have coffee at home - and we did, just wanted more. We are of the opinion that there's no such thing as too much coffee. . . The yard sale was a lot of work but worth the effort - we took in $60 for stuff that was 25 cents MAX, in addition to some larger priced items. That's a LOT of quarter junk! We still boxed up three cartons for AmVets and 6 for Goodwill. Most of it was left-overs from box lots where we only wanted one item in the box and are left with the rest to dispose of. A lot of it was junk gifts from before we were able to convince folks NOT to get us stuff, and we had a box of cassette and VHS tapes someone finally decided to part with, lol. I am glad for the cash, and even happier to have it OUT of my house!

[Tussiemussies]

Great early morning that you had a successful yard sale and then got discounted coffee!

We had a no spend/no drive day today. Thought we might go out to eat but neither of us felt like it so it was a very lazy day. We ate some frozen vegetable lasagna that we had in the freezer for so long. We got it for free when they had a special, buy so much and you will get either a ham or turkey but for us veggies we get the Souffer's Lasagna which tastes very good. I've been wanting to eat it now since it has been quite awhile since we got it. It also delayed our food shopping for one more day.

Not much else right now....someday not in the near future we will have to go through the 150 boxes of items we have piled up in 28 years of marriage and try to sell it. But for now not much else to share....

[SteveinMN]

Today's frugal was successfully replacing the faucet in my mom's place. I'm typically leery of repair projects in that house because the house is old and it seems to have had a history of being repaired by whoever was most sober at the time. But the job went well -- except for the step that said to turn a piece counterclockwise to loosen it when, in fact, clockwise did the trick. The (mostly hidden) piece was marred by the counterclockwise effort. But it'll be alright. The faucet was purchased through ebay as an open box but it was brand new and everything was there and it was a great deal. Much cheaper than buying the faucet elsewhere on-line and then paying a plumber or handyman to install it.

Tonight was family dinner, so I drove. My car has about 455 miles in on this tank and the gauge is just a tick past half. Should be 650-700 miles before I need to fill up again.

I've been trying to get my phone unlocked for the past three weeks. It's been a circus. What it's come down to is that my phone is defective -- it will not unlock. It's very unlikely I would have discovered that during the phone's warranty. And I don't have an extended warranty because I've never needed one before and, at $8 a month, I soon would amass enough money to buy a used phone if I needed to. A pickle. I have to admit the idea of getting rid of my kind-of-obsolete phone and paying "just" $20 or so each month for two years, to get a new iPhone, doesn’t seem like a lot of money -- until one adds up those payments as well as the cost of postpaid service (for us, twice the cost of T-Mo prepaid and about four times the cost of Airvoice, which, so far, I've liked).

To resolve this situation, T-Mobile is letting me buy a close-replacement phone on the open market, which they then will unlock, if necessary, and they will reimburse me for the purchase. So I bought a replacement phone this weekend. T-Mo really has stepped up to the plate here. I might have to run the numbers on them again as our carrier. Customer service like this is not easy to find. I need to remember that "frugal" does not require bearing the costs of going with the cheapest provider. Service when you need it is important, too.

[Stella]

Hahaha! Steve that is funny about the repairs at your mom's house. My mom used to do most of the repairs around here and she was not so much the sober one.

We had an expensive weekend, but we knew it would be. It was Fall Fest at our church, which we plan for each year. We ended up skipping the pig roast because I had overbooked myself on Friday. I was bummed. I love pig roasts, but it sold out in 75 minutes, so I'm sure they will have another one next year, and it saved us money.

Sunday we went to the apple orchard. We spent quite a bit of money, but we got a lot of apples. I splurged a little on some Honeycrisps and a new variety called Sweet Riverbelle that is similar to honeycrisp. I love them, and as far as treats go, apples are healthier than a lot of things I could buy. We had some for breakfast this morning as peanut butter chocolate chip apple nachos. So delicious. We will use the cheaper apples that we picked for pies, apple sauce and apple crisp. I need to call my aunt, who used to run a you-pick apple orchard, but no longer sells them, and see if we can do our usual labour-for-apples trade.

[SteveinMN]

Stella, who has Sweet Riverbelles? I've never heard of them!

[Selah]

Went to our local thrift store and bought a gorgeous blue, merino wool men's sweater that actually fit me perfectly...for about $1.25! This will be great this winter. Last weekend, we went to a Druze village known for its funky-artsy stuff, and I bought three pairs of pants (for the house) and three GORGEOUS skirts (for my school days at the frum college where I have to wear long skirts), all for about $60 USD. I am stoked!

At the thrift shop, I also bought a ridiculous picture in a glass frame, just so I could use the glass frame for a solar oven I'm making, for about $5. The rest of the supplies needed for the solar oven includes duct tape, newspaper, and two cardboard boxes. Cool!

[Stella]

Steve we got them at Aamodts apple orchard. This is the first year they are available, I believe. They are delicious!

[Tussiemussies]

Steve we got them at Aamodts apple orchard. This is the first year they are available, I believe. They are delicious!

I would like to try that variety too. The only place I can think of that might sell them is Whole Foods or Wegmans. Next time I am there I will look for them.

Another no drive day...although I only think it's that way because my life has been pretty boring! DH will be going food shopping just to stock up on the essentials. Just that can be pretty pricey here no matter what grocery store you use. We have Shop Rite and Weis. Have to unpack all of my crafting stuff that is available so I can have a little bit of fun!

[ejchase]

Well, I'm chiming in on the very last day.

After months of being totally financially irresponsible, I've finally gotten through a week of tracking my earning and spending. I hope I can keep it up. I am simply happier when I'm tracking. I like knowing what's coming in and out. It really reduces my generalized anxiety about money. I like to know where it's all going, and I feel much less guilty and anxious about my splurges when I know I have them written down somewhere to be included in a larger financial picture.

I cooked two big pots of soup this week, which has allowed me to avoid the temptation to spend a lot of money on lunch at work.

Also, I made a couple of big Target trips and bought stuff for my new office - teas and an electric tea kettle and coffee mugs - in hopes that having that stuff on hand will help me stop spending an exorbitant amount on coffee and tea at the coffee house at my workplace. I still need to get a coffee filter basket, coffee, and filters. I think I've spent about $15 per week the last two or three weeks on to go coffees!

Once I get my office fully stocked, I think I will be able to make it through some no-spend days, which I'm really looking forward to. I have a new job with decent pay, and I don't want to waste this opportunity to get caught up financially. I need to build up an emergency fund and buy a new (maybe new used) car. And if I'm really frugal and pay good attention, I could save up enough money to take some summers off!

Thanks to all of you for inspiring me!