April daily frugal's

[fidgiegirl]

Yes, Azure, when things were tighter for me I used to have everything so tight that there was no wiggle room, no treat room or even flexibility, and then what I used to do was not just a little blow but a blow-the-whole-budget blow. So I hear ya. Not that it sounds like you have blown the whole budget, BTW . . . You are getting back on track, and that's all you can do! Good luck!!!

[mira]

I have found out that I can reserve/place a hold on library books online even when they are not checked out, and have them delivered for pick-up to my local library. I'm not sure if this is a glitch in their library management system or what, but I am saving a ton in inter-library loan fees... then again, I feel like I'm cheating my library homies out of money... eh. Tough one... :/

I was quite happy with myself last week after making a TON of spaghetti bolognese on Sunday and having it three days for lunch at work too.

[Stella]

My big frugal accomplishment this weekend has been getting Travis to breastfeed. He had low blood sugar at birth and they gave him several bottles immediately, so I wasn't hopeful about it, but he's been nursing pretty well actually and is getting most of his nutrition from breastmilk now. That's a huge plus in the frugal category!

Dad and one of my close friends each bought us a huge Costco box of diapers, size 1 and size 2. We should be set for a good long while now. I'm going to make some wipes this week.

One thing I am thinking of buying or making is a nursing cover-up, but first I'm going to experiment with using my moby wrap or a shawl. I may want something lighter for summer.

[Rosemary]

Stella, my SIL estimated that formula cost them $50/month, and that was 9 years ago! I nursed for a long time, and it was a wonderful experience. I simply used a receiving blanket for a cover-up (but I lived in a very warm climate). I found that much of the time, that wasn't even really needed - baby and the shirt I was wearing pretty much covered everything. If you use a sling, that functions as a cover as well.

Today we are going to a show that was DD's birthday activity. We got an extra ticket so she could bring a friend, and I got the tickets at half price thanks to having signed up for email notification. This was in lieu of a party with friends. I'm going to bring some birthday cupcakes that I froze after her birthday, and we'll have a treat at the tables in the lobby.

I booked our summer travel this week, when there was a sudden airfare drop that saved us $200 per ticket.

Most of our frugal activity this week was simply not spending or driving, though!

[Stella]

Rosemary that is a great savings on your tickets!

I agree that formula is really expensive. I am so happy that Travis is breastfeeding well. I looked at his feeding sheet this morning and he's had about two ounces of formula over the last 19 hours, so he's definitely making the switch.

[redfox]

I feel like I'm cheating my library homies out of money... eh. Tough one... :/

Mira, when you have a spare $5 or $10 - or more - simply donate it to your local library fund or foundation. Then you can assuage your guilt AND get a tax deduction!

[early morning]

Mira - we donate plenty of books for the Friends of the Library book sale. Benefits the library AND clears out space on my bookshelves, doesn't take cash out of our budget, so it's a win-win here. So far this month - have a load of laundry drying inside; finally changed the litter boxes (we switched to pine horse bedding suggested by someone here, and we've used $13 of litter since the beginning of last October. We have 3 indoor cats, 2 boxes, plus for the past 6 weeks we've been using another box in the shed nights and some bad-weather days for an outside kitty with some health issues). Set up at our first flea market of the year, and did ok. Sold enough free stuff (gathered, given, and trash-picked) to cover the booth rent. (sold lots of other stuff too!) Bought some cheese and some green peppers at pretty good prices. Made spaetzle in beef-broth leftover from a roast. Great for dinner and enough for a couple lunches, too!

[larknm]

Went grocery shopping only once this week.
Took off snow tires and put on the old all-weather, car gets better mileage this way.
Wore jacket and knit hat in house to not use heat.
Got 2nd OT appointment free, having told OT I couldn't come because of house mortgage. No more OT appts for months if not more; they didn't seem to be helping my hand heal (arthritis or hurt tendon, not clear which).

[domestic goddess]

My great "frugal act" has been to go nowhere, and do nothing! Not really what I had in mind, but I've had this darn resp. virus for over 2 weeks, and just don't feel like doing much. I get really tired over the little I do manage. I did have to pay dd's mortgage this month, as dsil has not been getting much work lately. We are short on groceries and baking supplies, so I'm going to shop for that tomorrow. Hope to get the fridge cleaned tonight, while it is still fairly empty. I would just about kill for a diet Pepsi right about now. It's about the only thing that cuts through the post-nasal drip!

[fidgiegirl]

What a lovely weekend! We (as in DH ) put up all our new wood blinds and they look great. Did some scrapbooking, finishing an album, saw my sister, mom and dad. Had a band concert tonight and that was fun. Between DH and I we managed to vacuum all the walls and trinkets on the walls in the bedroom. This had been bothering me for a long time so I am very happy to have it done.

In the frugal department we have GOT to get more coordinated with food again. We are down to nothing and none of our old standbys sound good. I am going to place a delivery order so we can get out ahead of the dinner blahs. We went to the grocery store to get something for dinner. The only thing that saved our budget was that all the frozen food sounded gross to us. We had waffles instead.