June Frugals

[cdttmm]

Not many frugals to report for me so far this month. Finally got enough of a break in the weather to hang one load of laundry out to dry yesterday. My mom was here visiting for a week so I need to wash the bedding from the guest bedroom and tidy up the room. Since nobody will be using it in the immediate future, I'm just leaving it until we have some sunny days and I can dry laundry outside on the clothesline. In the meantime, the cats are LOVING it. They love the bed in the guest bedroom for some reason (it's not even the sunniest spot in the house, so I have no idea why!). We normally keep that room blocked off with a baby gate so that they can't go in there, but it's a free for all for at least a few more days and they are thrilled.

Ate the first cherry tomatoes of the season last night -- so good! We planted almost 20 tomato plants so I'm hoping for an amazing season filled with tomato-y goodness!

I've been working through my stash of tea and restricting myself from buying more. I had quite the stock pile so I'm excited to think that I may get through it all by the end of this month. Makes for more room in the pantry, too!

Made a huge batch of brown rice in the rice cooker yesterday. I'm trying to limit my gluten intake so there goes the bread and crackers that I would normally use as my starchy carbs for the day. I like brown rice so now that there is a container of it the refrigerator that will make it easier to avoid the other stuff.

Okay, that's all for now!

[Rosemary]

Sold a box of books to the used book store yesterday. $22. I have some new, hardcover books that I received to review that I will list online (because the used book store doesn't pay much per book).

Minimal grocery shopping this week and for the next month: eating down the freezer and pantry and picking food right out of the garden. This week it's strawberries, sugar snap peas, snow peas, and swiss chard.

Just received what I think is our lowest utility bill, ever. It's more due to the weather than to any special effort on my part - we've made lots of energy-related improvements, but they've all been in place for at least 2 years now. May was perfect - no heating or cooling necessary, lots of line-drying of laundry. DH was out of town for about 10 days, too, so we used less hot water than usual.

[SiouzQ.]

I must get back on the frugal bandwagon! I have allowed myself to let go a little bit during this awesome time off between jobs. This is what I have been up to:

Last Sunday woke up, looked at the sunny sky and decided I NEEDED to go to Lake Michigan. Originally just for a long day trip, but at the last minute I threw in the tent and sleeping bag. I get about ten miles from home only to realize I forgot to put extra cash in my wallet. Went to ATM and tried to get money but it had been so long since I used an ATM (maybe 15 years) I had forgot my pin number. Still, no worries, as I used my credit card for this quickie trip. $25 for gas, $21 to the State Park to camp for the night, and about $13 for dinner (I had packed a huge lunch of already-made hummus, pita, apple, and nuts, which took care of the day at the beach). Day at beach was priceless! I dozed, I thought about a song I was trying to finish, I walked, I stared at the waves crashing over the tumbling rocks, I collected a bunch of smooth egg-shaped rocks from the surf. I got sunburned.
At some point my phone rang and through the garbled message I realized it was the owner of the guitar shop pleading for help with something! I ignored it for a while, then decided to be helpful after all and found a place that got decent phone reception and attempted to help the guys out at the shop with a computer question. Arghhhhh!

I came home on Monday afternoon, after a beautiful, leisurely drive off the beaten track in the South Haven/Kalamazoo area. NOTHING beats Michigan on an early June day, really!

I don't have to start my new job until tomorrow (Friday) so I've been putzing around, doing things like repainting a china cabinet that I had originally painted purple (!) long ago. The paint supplies I got were certainly NOT frugal at all (about $38 so far) but since I have not done anything like this in years to fix up the house and its contents I figured it's been worth the splurge, now that I know that I will be staying in town and staying in my awesome townhouse. I should have that done by later today. Yesterday was a no drive/no spend day, and today I'm going to make it at least a no-drive day. I going to ride my bike down to the shopping I need to do, like get some veggies at the ethnic market, some stuff at TJ's. I'm going to take the bus downtown to get a refund for some Keens I ordered but can't get because they are out of stock until September. Other frugal things are watering my veggie garden, reading a lot (right now on a book called Waste, all about the horrible insane wastefulness of the food industry), watched Fork Over Knives, etc.

I'm really, really enjoying this week of no work and have absolutely no regrets and so much gratitude for being able to leave that CRAZY place!

[bke]

Well our finances are taking a real kick in the pants at the moment. The young couple that bought our house and then filed bankruptcy have officially told us they are moving out. This means we have to come up with the house payment, utilities and unhomesteaded taxes until we can sell it again. I"m going to have to refinance the restaurant to pull this off long-term in this lousy economy. It's amazing how quickly life can change and a person can go from being in a really good position to being back on the bottom of the heap.

On to the frugals:

I am entering every sweeps I can find this morning. Every bit helps!

I continue to do swag bucks and quad reader.

My parents have started saving coke caps for me-these can turn into nice x-mas presents or free soda down the line.

I continue to drink leftover coffee from work instead of brewing fresh. I don't mind it cold in the summer months.

The pool is full and has been chemically treated for lots of cheap summer entertainment.

Today is a no driving/spending day.

I am especially thankful for my stockpiles this week. They give me a chance to give my family some of the things that bring quality to life instead of just the basics.

[Merski]

(((((((bke)))))))))

[Mighty Frugal]

I must get back on the frugal bandwagon! I have allowed myself to let go a little bit during this awesome time off between jobs. This is what I have been up to:

Last Sunday woke up, looked at the sunny sky and decided I NEEDED to go to Lake Michigan. Originally just for a long day trip, but at the last minute I threw in the tent and sleeping bag. I get about ten miles from home only to realize I forgot to put extra cash in my wallet. Went to ATM and tried to get money but it had been so long since I used an ATM (maybe 15 years) I had forgot my pin number. Still, no worries, as I used my credit card for this quickie trip. $25 for gas, $21 to the State Park to camp for the night, and about $13 for dinner (I had packed a huge lunch of already-made hummus, pita, apple, and nuts, which took care of the day at the beach). Day at beach was priceless! I dozed, I thought about a song I was trying to finish, I walked, I stared at the waves crashing over the tumbling rocks, I collected a bunch of smooth egg-shaped rocks from the surf. I got sunburned.
At some point my phone rang and through the garbled message I realized it was the owner of the guitar shop pleading for help with something! I ignored it for a while, then decided to be helpful after all and found a place that got decent phone reception and attempted to help the guys out at the shop with a computer question. Arghhhhh!

I came home on Monday afternoon, after a beautiful, leisurely drive off the beaten track in the South Haven/Kalamazoo area. NOTHING beats Michigan on an early June day, really!

I don't have to start my new job until tomorrow (Friday) so I've been putzing around, doing things like repainting a china cabinet that I had originally painted purple (!) long ago. The paint supplies I got were certainly NOT frugal at all (about $38 so far) but since I have not done anything like this in years to fix up the house and its contents I figured it's been worth the splurge, now that I know that I will be staying in town and staying in my awesome townhouse. I should have that done by later today. Yesterday was a no drive/no spend day, and today I'm going to make it at least a no-drive day. I going to ride my bike down to the shopping I need to do, like get some veggies at the ethnic market, some stuff at TJ's. I'm going to take the bus downtown to get a refund for some Keens I ordered but can't get because they are out of stock until September. Other frugal things are watering my veggie garden, reading a lot (right now on a book called Waste, all about the horrible insane wastefulness of the food industry), watched Fork Over Knives, etc.

I'm really, really enjoying this week of no work and have absolutely no regrets and so much gratitude for being able to leave that CRAZY place!

SiouzQ, you sound so calm. That little trip you took seems amazing-I can totally picture it and it has calmed me. so thanks! Good luck in your new job tomorrow

[chrissieq]

Fidgiegirl - I'm an educational assistant in a special ed program (K-5).

Celebrated day 2 of vacation with day 2 of no spending!! Did some sewing using some vintage lace (got a huge bag for $1.50 at an estate sale last weekend), ate all my meals at home, picked up Entourage Season 7 at the library as well as canceling my Netflix subscription. Feeling optimistic!!

[danna]

Jun 07
---sold steamer for clothes (one of those things I just had to have a few years back) $45.00
--coupon offer on Facebook BOGO for 4 boxes of cereal, I will wait for them to go on sale.(nice to have
when the grandson visit)
--another no spend day

[mtnlaurel]

NOTHING beats Michigan on an early June day, really!

I saw this as I was goofing around on pinterest.com tonight and thought of you .... I'm so happy for you!

[Stella]

Hugs bke! That sounds stressful.

mntnlaurel I love that pillow! I'd love to make something like that for Minnesota.

I held my own in the new art supply section of Target. Soooooo tempted, but I really need to stop justifying spending money on art supplies for a while.

James' birthday is Monday so we are using a free pass we got to the Shoreview community center (thanks Kelli!) to take him and the big girls to the waterpark. Charlotte's Godmother is going to watch Travis and Charlotte. His party is going to be Monday night. I'm just going to bake a bunch of cupcakes, put some sprinkles on them, make some lemonade and hang out poolside with friends and neighbors. We got him a Captain America shield (all of the older kids are comic book nerds) and the Duplo farm. Dad got him a Big Wheel, keeping with his theme of buying bikes for the kids this year.

Cheyenne and Bella have filled their reward jars with marbles, so the following week we are going to have an ice cream social by the pool to celebrate. I have vanilla ice cream from Costco, Hershey's chocolate and strawberry syrups and sprinkles and they can invite some friends. It took them about 6 months to fill the jars. They get marbles for things like extra chores, voluntary extra studying, sorting Grandpa's socks and stuff like that, so they have earned this and it's not really all that expensive. I think it was about $15 for all of the stuff.

Oh, and in sort of related news, Zach got the job he wanted! He starts tomorrow. It's year-round, which is not something we are used to anymore, but I am looking forward to a few years of "normal". It's kind of exciting to think that I actually know how much money to anticipate from week to week and month to month now. I'm not used to that at all.