Jan....2017...Frugals

[danna]

Jan.01/2017
Happy, Safe and Frugal 2017!
--ate leftovers from the fridge all day...and from open chip bags from the pantry...lol
--did not do spreadsheets for most of last year so set up all new Net Worth, Income and Expense Sheets.
--put all the Christmas stuff away and stripped beds from company and washed up all the sheets/towels
all on the cheapest time our hydro has....have cleaned up the house and remade the beds....bring on new company anytime
This always feels good to me.
--I always feel that having a tidy, clean and organized house makes me able to have be more frugal.
--made new Christmas gift tags for free from this years Christmas cards...admittedly very few.
But, since I am giving fewer gifts the tags I have will last a really long time.
--Have made some decisions about giving much less to most family this year...they all keep saying they want to
go on with Christmas present but, there is very little interest on their part in what they give. It all seems very last
minute and like a big inconvenience to them. Since I would be more then pleased to stop or at least limit the amounts
that are spent, that is what I will be doing this year.....very freeing.

[rosarugosa]

Happy New Year, Danna! Looking at my old records recently, I saw that in 2001 we spent over $2000 and had a list of over 30 people to buy for! By comparison, in 2016, we spent about $440 on a much smaller group, most of the gifts being amaryllis bulbs and most of the gift-giving being related to fairly obligatory workplace giving.
I think 2017 is going to be a challenging year. We're saving $900 on our HO and auto insurance, and DH finally cancelled Onstar on his car. That would put us up $1200, but we got our property tax bill and that looks like an $800 annual increase, and my health insurance premium has increased by $300, so we're actually only $100 ahead. I guess ahead is still better than behind!
I just earned my monthly $5.00 from doing Bing searches, and I'm going to open another credit card with a $200 sign-on bonus. Oh, and we've been eating lobster salad in abundance, not sure if that counts as leftover cleanup, lol.

[early morning]

Happy New Year, everyone! 2017 is going to be a needs/must frugal year! 2016 was bad for us, family and budget-wise. I stopped tracking purchases when my computer fried. My new computer didn't come with any software and I did not have the energy to find free tracking programs. DS quit his job hoping for a better one (which he sorely regrets - hopefully lesson learned there!)- and then had a MAJOR car breakdown, which we fixed, in addition to keeping him in his current housing situation. He still is looking but has some hopeful leads currently. I lost my mother, and we (DB, DS, and myself) inherited a passel of stuff which was almost overwhelming, but which we are slowly liquidating for enough to make it worthwhile. I updated all the sales info yesterday, and my portion to date offset the cost of a much needed trip this past Oct to visit other family, so I guess I'll count that as a last-years win!... I also found a free tracking program online that doesn't make me input any account numbers and doesn't try to download bank info, yay! I input my data and am back on track with tracking, which will be very helpful. The past two days we stayed in and spent nothing. Today is the last day of my holiday, and we are going to restock our two antique mall areas, eating a planned, inexpensive lunch out (buy 2 get 2 free, 10% off the 2 we pay for). DSis is buying coffee for us all at a local coffee shop, her treat. Should be a nice, frugal day out, and I'm looking forward to it! Rosa, I've not gotten our tax bill yet. I am hoping for NO surprise increase!

[ljevtich]

Today I am going to work out by going to the pool and leading an exercise aquatic class. While I do not get paid, I do get some great health benefits. I have to tally up the total expenses this year, but I am thankful that it is almost done. We seemed to have spent approximately the same as last year, and we had a few one time expenses. However, I think there will be some cuts this year.

[rosarugosa]

Nice to hear from you, Laura; it's been a long time!

[Selah]

Happy New Year, everyone! Started the year out right by decluttering--recycling and donating lots of stuff. (Did you know that Goodwill accepts magazines and resells them? I've bought many that way, like old editions of YogaJournal, that I can't afford any other way.)

Downloaded two free apps to help me achieve my weightloss and fitness goals--one that reminds/tracks daily water consumption, and another one that functions as a food diary.

Saved on a gym membership by agreeing with a friend to meet 3x/wk for walks. This should give me the support I need, as well as a welcome social outlet. These days, the only people I "see" are students I see through webcams, and DH of course.

[ljevtich]

Nice to hear from you, Laura; it's been a long time!

Yes, I have been all over the place, but I come back here to ground myself.

[danna]

Jan 02/17 Welcome back Ljevtich
--no drive, no spend
--sorted all my coupons into categories and tossed the outdated ones.
--started sorting papers for Income Tax
--reading a book on Dealing with Life 's Changes free from the Library sale in the fall
--forgot one yesterday..followed a tip when making up your bed to put a fleece blanket folded in half
across the bottom....wonderful sleep last night not cold feet or calves (when Pajamas ride up to the knees).
Great for anyone who has cold feet...I do even when the rest of me gets too warm.
I wasn't in a rush to get up and jack up the heat first thing...a good thing.

[iris lilies]

Danna, cool, I used to participate in No Drive/No Spend days. They are fun challanges. Keep it up! How many No Drive and No
spend days are you shooting for this month?

[beckyliz]

If I eat cereal for breakfast, I like Kashi Go Lean. Aldi's used to carry a knock-off, but they dropped it. At any rate, ran to the local Kroger at lunchtime today. They had KGL on sale 2 for $5. Both boxes had a $1.00 off coupon, so I got 2 boxes for $3.00. That should last me awhile. I think it usually runs over $3.00 a box.