July Frugals!

[early morning]

Thanks, catherine! It's not actually until late August, but we celebrated early so we could attend Trek Fest. Your version of Indian takeout sounds yummy - it's making me hungry! I was all depressed this evening thinking about the money we've been bleeding - this week alone included a cat vet-emergency (nasty bladder infection), a new waterproof mattress pad (due to said cat), and a new battery for the truck. All unexpected. But then I remembered all the news stories a while back about people who couldn't come up with an extra $400 if they really needed it, and decided my depression was unwarranted - I am grateful instead. We HAVE some money put aside for such things, we don't have to borrow, either from family or the credit card company, we don't have to do without something else we really need - we just have to pinch a little here and there to get those moneys back in our bank account. THAT is one of the main reasons we are frugal. Yay, penny-pinching!

[rosarugosa]

Early: That is absolutely the right way to look at it. Yay for the Emergency Fund! I call our online savings account "Dire Wolf" (Grateful Dead song). There's nothing like a bit of a cushion when the proverbial wolf is at the door!

[JaneV2.0]

Went to the drugstore, looked at Listerine (all purpose disinfectant), bought the generic for a dollar less. Looked at nail polish--it's been years since I bought any, when did it get to be ten dollars a bottle? Geez. Looked around, found some on clearance for $3.29, bought that. Then blew the savings--and more--by paying a premium to have a local service station do my emissions test rather than drive all over the Seattle area and wait in line. You win some, you lose some...

[danna]

July 7 & 8th
--yesterday volunteered and brought my treat with me
--attended a Grief Group in the evening (I went last summer for awhile after Dsis die and for awhile after DS)
July 7th (she die June 24,2015) was the day we had a Memorial Service for her and the last month has been really
hard for me. Anyway I went, a lovely bunch of people I feel I can talk with and low and behold they were celebrating summer
with "Local Farm Fresh Strawberries and all the fixings". I guess it was meant to be; it made everyone feel happy and refreshed.
Several of us exchanged emails and talked about going on bus day trips together. I think that would be a fun frugal thing to do
with these people.
--walked to the gym for Aqua fit and had my shower there after, using little bottles of shampoo/conditioner filled from large ones at home
--"My Fitness Pal" is really teaching me how little I "NEED" to eat to be healthy and well.....that has to be frugal.....lol

[Cypress]

Frugal with water. We are having a long dry spell in my part of the state. I always save my pet water, left over tea, cooking water for the indoor plants. But, it's getting critical for many outdoor plants now. So, after my shower, I scoop out the water and toss it on the shrubs. I also started saving the rinsing dishes water too. Every little bit helps.

My National Grid electric bill for the last 30 days is $16. 70 kwh This includes indoor lights, electric stove, refrigerator and washing machine.

That's what happens when you disconnect from TV and internet! Wow, big savings.

[rosarugosa]

Wow Cypress, that is impressive! We live in the same general area and ours was $41.77.

[Cypress]

Wow Cypress, that is impressive! We live in the same general area and ours was $41.77.

I think because I don't use the electric to heat the hot water, that makes a big difference. I don't have AC. Those devices used to power the PC cost quite a lot in energy. And, I only use the TV to watch DVD's now, otherwise it is off. I do cook quite a bit so even I was surprised at the low use.

I also have town water, not using a well to pump it. And, it's only me in the house. I do keep up with laundry, maybe 2 loads a week, sometimes 3.

[brooklynn]

Is this the thread where we challenge ourselves to no spend days, how many no spend days can we achieve in any month? Time to get frugal again!

[rosarugosa]

Cypress: We have a gas hot water heater, stove & dryer. We don't have A/C, but we have 3 big fans that have seen a lot of use this past week! We have town water, also. There are two of us in the house. So I'm still impressed!
Brooklynn: You could do that here if you want to, or you could post on the Dailies and Challenges forum.
I have very little frugal activity to share; I fear I haven't been very good this month. I will give DH credit for a good frugal from Friday night. My sister has recently moved back to town after living about 40 miles away (YAY!), so we are seeing much more of her. We wanted to get together Friday night, and DH suggested we go to her (air-conditioned) apartment, and bring all the fixings for him to make us a pizza and a calzone. We shared a bottle of wine and had a really pleasant evening with minimal expense. (We offset that by eating out last night, but at least we were good one of the nights!)

[Gardnr]

This weekend has turned into: Cook it up or throw it out days.

Yesterday we finished up some week old Sourdough bread. Had french toast slabs with some fresh boysenberry jam gifted from a friend this week. one would never know that bread was old!!!

For dinner: I thawed 2 pieces of flank steak that were getting frostbit in the freezer. We had a lot of snow peas aging in the fridge. I made a brocoli beef style stir fry with these items. I cooked 2c of brown basmati rice. That was dinner. Hubb has leftovers for a few lunches this week.

We had 7 apples getting soft on the counter (our CSA fruit share started Tuesday and of course, we've been eating fresh pluots and apricots instead of store-bought apples). I made 2 loaves of apple bread. We each had a big hunk for lunch a bit ago. The 2nd loaf will be cut in half and tossed in the freezer.

We had the CSA potatoes still sitting on the counter from 12d ago. I steamed those and we have potato salad chilling in the fridge. I used 7 hardboiled egss that have been sitting in the fridge for a week.

Potatoes from this past Tuesday will become roasted potatoes for dinner tonight along with salmon and cod fillets on the grill. I'll stirfry a pile of greens. There will be leftovers from this too.

I am leaving town early tomorrow for work, not returning till Friday. I don't want all this fresh stuff to go to waste. And this way, hubby doesn't have to conjur up many meals. Besides, I do love to cook on days I don't work.

I may start feeling quite smug about all of this