4 Frugal Things (and one frugal fail)
1.We got $0.50 Frosties.
I thought this deal would be over after Labor Day, but nope! Still going strong.
2. I sent off my out-of-network papers.
I finally got everything in order and in the mailbox!
This particular batch of bills will not get us any money back, but they will cause us to meet our out-of-network deductible.
Which means that the next batch of bills I send in will result in some dollars being sent our way.
I like having dollars sent my way. 😉
3. I ordered another book on eBay.
Someone recommended a book to me as essential reading, and it wasn't at the library.
While it wasn't crazy expensive on Amazon, it was half the price on eBay, with free shipping! I'm sure it's going to take longer to get here than it would on Amazon, but that's ok.
eBay is my jam for books lately!
4. I emailed a Ting PR person back.
This is going to be frugal for you guys, because we have a giveaway and some other money-saving stuff coming up for you!
5. I did not get a sale on dance shoes.
On Monday, I hopped online, saw dance shoes were buy one, get one 50% off at Payless, and I was pleased since Zoe needed jazz and ballet shoes.
I didn't make it to the store on Monday, so I went on Tuesday. But lo and behold, the sale ended on Monday.
Oy.
Since when do shoe sale cycles end on Mondays??
I should have checked the details of the sale a little more closely! I didn't even think to look, due to it being early in the week.
Share your Five Frugal Things in the comments.
And feel free to sub in a frugal fail too. 😉
P.S. I know that Payless' dance shoes are not top of the line. But Zoe has been outgrowing clothes and shoes in very short order of late and I am not about to drop a bunch of money on dance shoes right now. When she stops growing, then I will consider it.
1. Batching errands. Kristen, you are the reason I have become so adamant about doing this. It saves so much time/energy/money!
2. Grapes are on sale again. Probably gonna buy some more at $0.87/lb so that I can freeze my go-to snack.
3. My sister stopped me before I accidentally drove to her house (~8 hours) on the wrong weekend.... She got her dates mixed up, but we figured it out before I started driving her way. Next week, I'll share my frugal things about travel plans. 😉
4. I'm taking care of my niece next weekend and am bringing some fun things to do since she doesn't know me very well. One of those is pretend makeup because she is OBSESSED with my sister's. Do you know how much pretend makeup costs??? I bought her E.L.F. products to play with instead.
5. And since we're confessing non-frugal things: I bought a DVD of Coco for a work event, even though I could have borrowed a copy and/or it's on Netflix (and we paid for appropriate licensing). I just want it. It won't be on Netflix forever. I also bought a book on cultivating work-life balance as a tenure-track female professor. I want to write in it and highlight it and make it mine. I don't feel too bad about either purchase, but I could have borrowed both items. And this is why we try to balance frugality with moderate wants, right? 😀
Aww, I'm so glad I inspired you to batch errands!
You are a good auntie. 🙂
Could you please tell me the name of the book. My sister could use it.
Yes! It's called The Coach's Guide for Women Professors (https://www.amazon.com/Coachs-Guide-Women-Professors-Well-Balanced/dp/1579228968)
I LOVE it so far. It's a lot of advice that I've heard in millions of different places before, but all together in one book. It's really convenient to not have to refer to websites and notes from grad school and sticky notes from talking to other faculty.
I am sure that the advice is good for men, too, but there are specific sections on dealing with sexism, gender roles, etc...
1. Called the hospital about my husband's bill and asked for a discount if I paid it all at once. They used to offer 30%, now offer 15%, but still, I took it -- his bill (after Medicare) was over $1000. I took money from savings and popped it in the mail.
2. My husband has installed our new dishwasher, saving us the $150 fee. It's a plainer (and less expensive) model than we used to have, but it got my dishes clean last night, so I'm happy.
3. The bone broth I made from a mix of pork, chicken and beef bones from our freezer, with some limp celery stalks thrown in, is delicious, and so full of bone goodness, it's like Jello when it's chilled.
4. I stumbled upon a site for a Lucky's located in the town where I work, while looking up the phone number to Earth Fare online. I had no idea one was here. I'm going to check it out and see if I want to add it to my rotation of "healthier" stores. I know nothing about this brand, but I'll see if it's frugal or not. I like the stores that carry a lot of organics, non-GMO's, no scary chemicals, etc., but they sure can be expensive. While I'm checking that out, I'll see if the new Greenwise store by Publix is open yet. It was scheduled to open this month, and they are a somewhat near each other.
5. Fail- Got a notice that one of the six blood draws ordered by my doctor is "unproven" for diagnosis or treatment (we weren't doing either with this test) and my insurance refuses to pay for it. Of course, it is the most expensive one, $476. So far, except for routine office visits, I've had to argue with my insurance over Every Single Medical Bill this entire year. Every One. I'm soooo tired of it.
Kristen, while you are looking for shoes, check out Dance Distributors or Discount Dance. I used to buy the soft ballet slippers from them, and once the girls got into a steady size, I bought jazz shoes and even tap shoes there, too. Pointe shoes were different -- I really felt they needed to be personally fitted, so I shopped locally for those at a dance store.
I feel for your insurance woes. My husband had testicular cancer and since then he takes a pregnancy test at the lab once a year, as it will indicate a recurrence. Every single year we have had to explain why a man is taking a pregnancy test; the fight got very tiring. This year, however, the denial came back saying he was too old to get pregnant, so they were denying it.
I think that just tops them all. Did you laugh, cry, or both?
Insurance companies are the worst to deal with!
That beats every hideous, malicious, stupid thing my insurance company has done. I didn't know that that was even possible. Wow.
Yeah, that's terrible. It sure adds to the stress. It makes me want to tear my hair out. My husband was transferred from one ICU to a different hospital ICU (because his brain surgeon was not on staff where the fire dept ambulance took him) so now the insurance company is refusing to pay "because it wasn't an emergency"! $1,500 for a half-hour ride because he couldn't walk and he was on some very serious IV meds.
Please send some good thoughts out into the universe for me!
Sending good vibes. Insurance companies are the worst. I hope your husband makes a full recovery.
File an appeal with documentation of medical records showing the necessity. They will pay it. I work for an insurance company.
When it comes to the pregnancy test ask your dr who orders the test to get it preauthorized first, every year, so you don't have this battle to deal with.
I love little shoes. I have to pick them up at shoe stores and ooh and ahh over them like a dolt.
Yesterday was my birthday. Most of my frugal things are related.
1) My mom treated my SIL and me to lunch and we went consignment furniture/knickknack window shopping for some free fun. One of my very favorite things is a consignment or antique store. So many interesting things.
2) At one shop I found an absolutely awesome and colorful necklace. Just what I have been wanting to add some interest to my simple wardrobe of vneck tees and jeans. It was $3.
3) My husband planned a party for me and was set to have it catered. I couldn't deal with the cost. 5x what it will cost me, maybe more. Besides, I am a good cook. It will be a fun taco bar and homemade chocolate buttermilk cake for about 40 friends and family, probably $150 in food cost? Maybe less. So fun!!!
4) We paid off some medical debt accrued in 2017. It is such a relief. We hadn't had debt in almost 10 years but our deductibles are out of control now and we weren't adequately prepared. We are saving twice as much in the emergency fund now!
5) I don't have a fifth one that is unique. Just the same old stuff. Using up leftovers, doing a pantry clean out (resulted in making some slightly stale popcorn. The kids didn't seem to notice.), expanding our collection of cash envelopes to include a couple of new categories, etc.
Not sure if this will be relevant for you, but when we have cake for large parties, we get a sheet cake from Costco for $19 (in case you wanted to skip making the cake for your party 🙂 )
Shannon, I appreciate the suggestion! There is an expectation amongst our friends and family that dinner and dessert at our parties will be homemade. I love to cook for people and chocolate buttermilk layer cake is my latest favorite. So, all the kiddos are expecting Chrissy's cake...I can't let them down! It is pretty amazing. Not as affordable as Costco, though, no denying it!
FAIL: I left a frozen chicken on the counter while I ran errands for a couple of hours. It was an organic one, too.
SAVE: the chicken was only slightly defrosted so I simmered it for stock and meat. I couldn't do what I wanted with it (Chinese Tea-Smoked Chicken) but I did get things I needed.
Stock ProTip:
If you want to use the meat for other purposes, simmer the chicken for 30-45 minutes; then cool, remove the meat, add the bones back, and continue stock-making. If you leave the meat in for longer than that, it gets mushy, tasteless, and nutritionally almost pointless.
Frugal: taking advantage of free yoga classes at work and at the library.
Frugal: started running again.
Semi-frugal: Whole Paycheck has a sale on the yogurt I'll actually eat. This made it somewhat less pricy. In this case (and knowing I have the resources), I'm prioritzing my health over my wallet.
What a great suggestion about the stock. I usually throw out the tasteless chicken and add in fresh for chicken noodle soup. (I know that sounds wasteful, but I end up with a ton of broth for about 1/10th the price and 10x the flavor of storebought from 1 chicken)
If you like chicken salad or curry that is also a good use for the stock meat.
What is Chinese tea soaked chicken and how can I have it in my belly as soon as possible?? It sounds amazing!
Tea Smoked, not Tea Soaked.
Here's the shorthand version. Full recipe is in Barbara Tropp's "The Modern Art of Chinese Cooking."
Step 1: Dry rub the chicken and let sit, uncovered, for about a day.
Step 2: Steam the chicken. Pat dry, and let dry for another day.
Step 3: Smoke the chicken in a wok with smoking mixture, 15-30 min total.
3A: Making a wok into a smoker: line both the bottom and lid of the wok with tin foil, using enough to leave a generous edge. You will be crimping the edge together to seal the smoke in.
3B: Smoking mixture - in the tinfoil-lined wok, put rice, brown sugar, tea, tangerine or orange peel.
3C: Smoking: put chix on a plate, put this on the rack in the wok. Cover, crimp the tinfoil, using just a small vent. Cook over high heat for 10-20 min; turn the chix and refresh the smoking mixture; smoke another 5-10 min. Throw out the tin foil.
Save every scrap, bone, oversmoked edge (wing bits, I'm looking at you!), and uneaten skin because they make the most amazing stock.
Smoked makes SO much more sense than soaked!
Well, there is the Red-Cooked tradition in Chinese food, wherein the food (typically chicken) is slowly braised in soy sauce, sugar, and spices. So maybe if you tried tea as one of the spices?
Ugh, I can relate.Today, I left a huge pack of reduced chicken thighs in a bag in my car ....the.entire.day. It was 98 degrees here today! Nothing worse than getting a super good deal on something, then completely wasting it. It didn't smell bad at all yet, luckily. I wanted to take them home and cook them anyway, but of course, I didn't...gah! *smacks forehead
1. Used extra eggs and cheese that were gifted to us to make a quiche last night for dinner. Used the rest of the eggs for French toast this am
2. “Borrowed” some paint and a good paint brush from a friend to do a small project.
3. Spending the day at another friend’s house to use her scroll saw for a project and to help her with a painting project.
4. Returned a library book in time!
5. Moved my work office next door to our house! This was a major months long project that will same me much time and money in the long run.
1. Discovered some huge burritos at my grocery store for $1 each. They’re delicious and have become my latest quick lunch. And they have ones without meat which are my very favorite.
2. At my daughter’s back-to-school night there was a table set up by a local restaurant. I assumed they were selling food, but they were giving food away! Not only that, but it was a substantial amount. They were also handing out a coupon to each person for a free meal at the restaurant. I need to remember to use it before it expires.
3. Also at back-to-school night I found out the deadline to order a yearbook at the cheapest price. It’s expensive no matter what, but it goes up by about $10 a month for most of the school year so I need to get the order in this month.
4. Colored my hair at home like I’ve been doing for, um, many years.
5. Frugal fail -- had a bunch of food waste recently. The old back-of-the-refrigerator struck again. I was annoyed with myself!
Payless sells dance shoes?! I am new to the world of dance, and it's so overwhelming to me. I honestly didn't even think to check big box stores for stuff after the recommended a dance store for all of the dress code things.
Frugal things:
1. Found grass fed ground beef for $3.99/lb (2 weeks ago saw conventionally raised beef on sale for $4.50/lb at the cheap beef store, for comparison sake). I stocked up.
2. Forgot to get hamburger buns to go with aforementioned ground beef, and instead of running out to rectify the problem, I used some of my already ready challah dough to make challah buns. Much better than store bought buns.
3. Walked to the pharmacy with my kids instead of driving to pick up a prescription. Good exercise for them and saved on gas.
4. Cut around the bad spots on produce that our children prematurely picked from our garden. Couldn't save all of it, but saving something is better than nothing.
5. FAIL--tried to get my son's wheelchair fixed through insurance instead of doing it ourselves, but since an order for a new wheelchair was placed last week (we'll get it in 3 months), they won't pay for any repairs on the current chair, even though we don't get the wheelchair for 3 months. and even though the brake is broken. So, we'll end up paying for it because it's really not safe to transport a kid in a wheelchair when the brake doesn't work right.
Will they pay for a rental for the next 3 months until the new chair comes in?
That is horrible- shame on the insurance co!
I would appeal their denial. I’d get it fixed right away but if you win the appeal they should have to reimburse you retroactively. Good luck. Some insurance rules make no sense at all.
The frugal:
*I cleaned my carpets myself today - saving me just under $200 for the carpet guy to come. I will still maybe have him come once a year for a truly deep clean.
*I made chicken soup today out of some mire poix I had made and frozen in little baggies, a little flour and milk, some crockpot chicken and sauce from last week, and a chopped up baked potato left from Sunday. Smells so good!
*Had the air in my tires checked and filled fo free from Discount Tires...why hunt for quarters for the thingy at the gas station?
*Hubby and I are embarking on a DIY to replace and spruce some front yard landscaping. All we need is a few bucks and our own brawn.
Non frugal:
Gotta buy my lunch today as we have been so good about eating the leftover, I don't have any! I will likely pick up a $5 club salad from the grocery store on my way to work.
I think this all balances out quite nicely!!
Bah! You still bought an item you needed, so I wouldn't say it's a 'fail.' 😉 It would be a fail if you bought her $400 shoes that she didn't need, y'know?
This week:
1. I used a Southwest credit to book flights to Denver for my husband and I. I'm making it a priority to travel much more. Since we're paying off our student loans at the end of the month, our Denver trip will be a fun way to celebrate and treat ourselves with a happy experience for our hard work.
2. I brought in a good chunk of freelance work this month, meaning we'll have surplus money to put on other debt, like our car note. I'm SO happy to report that our car will be paid off before 2019, too. I can't wait to be debt free. 🙂
3. I clipped coupons from the paper for fast food. It's not healthy, but hey, it's a cheap meal. Hubs and I have a tradition of grabbing breakfast on Saturday before grocery shopping. Breakfast is the cheapest meal of the day, and when combined with a coupon, we both eat for $4. Not bad, eh?
4. I'm doing a self-imposed "Get Off Your Butt" challenge this week. Every evening after work I do something productive that gets me on my feet. I get more done around the house and spend less mindless hours watching TV.
5. Frugal fail! We've been eating out a lot lately. Once I quit my job (in less than two weeks!) I'm hoping I'll have more focus on maintaining the house and watching meals.
Check out thriftbooks.com for used books. They are really cheap and if you spend more than $10 you get free shipping. They also have a rewards program. It is one of my favorite places to buy books.
1. I had a meet and greet appointment with a new doctor yesterday that I was stressed over. My husband offered to go with me. The doctor who is quite nice mentioned he only does labs once a year so that will save me some money. I've had problems with our insurance since I went on cobra so I asked to wait to pay the outstanding balance until I was sure it was correct.
2. We went to the thrift store after where we found a new pair of docker shorts for him for 4.99 and two pair of work shorts for .69. Since things can't be returned there, I was glad he was there.
3. We ate lunch at Chick-fil-a after using our calendar cards. Free sandwiches and a medium order of fries gave me a free drink as a senior so our total was under 2.00. We did stop for 1.00 ice cream cones at McDonalds on the way home.
4. Then going to Goodwill, I found a need new wallet for 1.49. It was a Thirty One so will sell easily when I'm done. I also got a Vera Bradley purse for my sister and my husband found a like new pair of Cuisinart grill tongs for .99.
5. Our small group is providing dinner for a middle school group that meets at our church tonight. We stopped at Aldi for .98 milk, a 2 lb. package of grated cheddar which we'll provide in addition to the .97 cantalopes and 1.00 sour cream containers I bought at Krogers. We then stopped at Fresh Thyme to pick up red grapes for tonight and for us a red pepper and corn. And when I got home, I got a text saying I wouldn't have to bake cookies as someone else was making them. Hooray!
Shelia - as a youth pastor, I just wanted to say thanks for providing dinner!
1.) Worked a little overtime last week so this week's paycheck should be bigger.
2.) Bought an LED bulb for my car online. I'll put it in myself when it comes in.
3.) Checked my BJs flyer (which I rarely do) and found coupons for things we needed anyway. I don't buy as much from there as I used to but it's nice to stock up on some things.
4.) Since a friend of mine gave me a metal water bottle, I haven't bought sodas out like I used to. Sure I sometimes fill the bottle with soda but at work I drink water. Baby steps on my last worst habit.
5.) Bought myself 100 lbs of flour in two large sacks. My only issue is I need to find a better storage method for the AP. I guess I'll just have to get another food safe bucket.
Oh and I kind of need to get a Frosty before the promo ends.
1. Sat at my elderly neighbors yard sale 2 days with her. Very few customers but i found a darling wooden table ..old..with turned legs for 30 bucks. We ate pimento cheese sandwiches and fruit for sustanance. 2. Baked aldi wings and leg parts in freezer section . Added ketchup and white sugar 1:1 and lots of onion and garlic. 375 degrees for one and a half hours or less. Gave me 7 meals. 3. Got out all fall and made outfits. 4. Bought stack of womens world magazines for 1.00. 5. Bought new tennis shoes on sale at marshalls and a bale of socks on sale
Did you ask the store if they would honor the sale price? You probably did, as you are THE Frugal Girl. But sometimes you can get a surprise if you just ask. Maybe they had not turned in their sales figures yet, or maybe they like you (who wouldn’t) or maybe they had a bad night and don’t know what day it was! Sometimes it works to ask, especially if you are nice and not nasty!
My wife went in to get a turkey that was advertised at a ridiculous 49 cents a pound. There were none in the freezer so she asked the butcher if they had any more. He went into the back to look, came back and said no, they were all sold out. My wife, who is beautiful as well as nice, said, thank you for looking anyway. The butcher asked her to wait. He went over to the turkeys that were marked 99 cents a pound, crossed out the 99 and put 49. He thanked her for being understanding and said several people had been nasty and abusive to him when he said they didn’t have any.
So you see it pays to ask And to be nice. Doesn’t always work, but it is always nice to be nice. If nothing else it can make someone’s day better if you are nice to them than if you are nasty to them. (It will make you feel better too.)
Just saying.
Have a nice day.
Yeah, they didn't seem like they were open to the idea of giving me the sale price. Oh well!
I've never thought about checking on ebay for books! However, I find most things on ebay seem to have a good price and then the shipping is like $30!
Frugal things from this past week...
1. I found my son a spring/fall jacket at the thrift for $1!
2. My in-law's neighbour gave us over 30lbs of plums... I'm not a huge plum fan, so if any of you have some ideas for using plums (We don't eat a lot of jam), PLEASE HELP!!!
3. My Sister in law told me that a few items at Costco that I normally buy were on sale. I live 1.5hours away from the nearest store, so she picked me up a few of each. (I like to stock up when they're on sale)
4. I found a used body suit for my daughter's ballet class for $4!!
FRUGAL FAIL - I bought a pack of white tights at Walmart for the same ballet class, but then when we went to put them on they were too small. I didn't have time to go and exchange them, so I ended up buying of actual ballet tights at the ballet studio for almost 3 times the price. Ack!
I do think these tights are at LEAST 3times the quality, so at least they are less likely of getting a hole or run in them.
I hope Walmart takes back the too small tights.
Probably the easiest thing to do with excess soft fruit is pit it and then just puree it with your sweetener of choice to freeze. I do this with things like peaches/plums/apricots and then use it in plain yogurt. You could also use it on pancakes or something, but my children are pretty militant about butter and maple syrup being the only acceptable toppings for pancakes. 🙂
You could also dehydrate them into prunes, which I personally love, but that does require a dehydrator or running your oven for a long time if you don't live in a good drying climate.
I have always wanted to try making plum pudding. But that might just be because I read too many Agatha Christie novels as a kid.
I mix puree from other fruits into applesauce, which changes up the nutritional profile and extends expensive applesauce. In Alaska, things that come in jars are expensive due to weight, so adding the rhubarb and raspberry and honeyberry puree grown in my garden to commercial applesauce is frugal.
Adding to applesauce is a wonderful idea! I never would have thought of that.
We used to have stewed plums on pancakes as kids too... my kids would probably go for that.
I can always freeze them and stew them later as well!
Puree the plums. I go with Kristin's suggestions and add:
Make plum ketchup -- fruit ketchups are good and not hard to make. There are recipes online for fruit ketchups. I used persimmon puree to make a delicious one.
Freeze it to make pies or tarts later.
Use it in place of canned pumpkin or applesauce in recipes like muffins, cakes, or breads. Be aware of moisture differences, but unless the recipe is finicky, other fruit purees seem to substitute well for pumpkin and applesauce.
Layer puree with yogurt or whipped cream.
Make sorbet out of it.
Keep enough plums for 1 or 2 plum-centric desserts. I like everything I've made at SmittenKitchen.com. Dimply Plum Cake, Purple Plum Torte, or Hazelnut Plum Crumb Tart - or any of her other "everyday" cakes that have fruit - just sub in the plums for berries or apples. Strawberry Summer Cake! Raspberry Buttermilk Cake! You can wrap and freeze one, and have the other right away - extending the goodness and amazingness for longer.
Thankyou everyone so much for your ideas!!!
I would make plum jam and give it as Christmas gifts, inexpensive and lovely gift.
Plum ketchup... now I'm intrigued!
That always happens to me when I buy children's underwear! Some brands are generous in sizing and others are stingy. Half the time I forget to have them try on the new underwear, so the thrift store gets a lot of "new" underwear from us.
I love plum jam, would you eat a plum baked tart? Does your area have a swap system for excess produce?
Boo on missing the shoe sale! I HATE when that happens!
1. I dropped some extra money while grocery shopping this week, but I purchased a cast iron skillet. I'm TIRED of my pans getting disgusting and needing to be thrown out so quickly, so this will save us money in the long run.
2. Christmas gifts! I'm knitting them, out of stuff I already have on hand. All it takes is my time, sitting in my favorite chair and watching TV while I knit.
3. I love the library. I'm finishing up a book from a library in the next town over, then I'll head to a book from interlibrary loan. Libraries are so cool.
4. I used up a crapload of leftovers to make 18 freezer burritos for my son's lunches. Less food waste, lunch is taken care of, more space in the fridge. Everyone wins.
5. I haven't let any bananas go to waste lately. They've all been tossed into the freezer for smoothies or used in baked goods. GO ME!!!
Go you!
If you have Once Upon a Child in your area, you can often get the dance shoes you need inexpensively:)
1. Downloaded several free ebooks. $0
2. My husband cut my son’s hair and I cut his hair, with clippers we bought 11 years ago (they sat in storage these past 3 years). They were working a little roughly, so my husband opened them up and tweaked something in there to help them run better. $0
3. I discovered dryer lint works well to erase a whiteboard. $0
4. My husband bought a game of Jenga, which we played last night, and will probably play many, many more times in the future making it a fairly frugal entertainment option. $10
5. My husband also spent $52 on two kettle balls!! A little more expensive that I would’ve thought. But I guess it’s cheaper than a bunch of gym memberships, and they should last forever. $52
Regarding library--if the library doesn't have the book I want I contact the help desk and they will search and do an inter-library loan for it. It sometimes takes a couple of days but they'll get the book from their network of libraries.
I use it when I'm looking for foreign authors whose books are not mainstream. I've been very happy with the service. Ask at your library about inter-library loans.
1. I’m working on the shelftember challenge from Fun, Cheap, or Free. You spend $25 a week on fresh groceries and shop the freezer and pantry for everything else. I’ve stayed under budget thus far!
2. We were hunkered down at home during Florence last weekend (thankfully we just got a ton of rain and some wind), but that meant we didn’t go anywhere and spend any money.
3. I made two big batch meals at the beginning of the week to save some time!
4. Finally got my petite four month old in her cloth diapers! Many of them were gifted to us, and the rest I got with gift cards/Amazon baby registry rewards discounts.
5. Went to the library for some more books for the little lady. Our library has a great program to read 1000 books to your babes before kindergarten with a reward at the completion of the challenge. Keeps me accountable!
Kyndra, this might sound silly but I have always wondered: Does the child have to read/ have read to her 1000 different books? Or does reading the same one over-and-over count?
If you have parents or in-laws close by, or even on skype, they might join in on the reading, especially as she gets older.
I know that the 1000 books program is based in research. At least one major study of why some children succeed in school found that how much they were read to was a distinguishing factor, and 1000 was determined to be an important threshold. Good luck!
Not Kyndra, but I do the same program through our library. Rereads count, and anyone can read to the child. We did all 1000 in about nine months the year my daughter was one. Now she's three and we are doing it again, but I expect it will be a longer process because she likes longer books now.
The video chat idea with grandparents is fantastic. I’m sure they’ll love that!
My library doesn’t mention whether rereads are ok, but I imagine they are, especially since other commenters have said their programs are completely ok with it. We also just signed her up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The program mails her a free classic children’s book every month, so her personal library will be growing, too!
I had no idea about the 1000 books before kindergarten challenge. I'm going to look into seeing if my local library does that & also try to track it for my 16 month old. That's excellent!
Our local library takes photos of children (with parent permission, of course) and posts them on facebook along the way, (500 books, 700, etc.).
If you read together once a day for three years, you will be over 1000 books. Aside from the closeness of reading with a loved one, reading stories teaches logic (cause-and-effect and problem solving), sequencing events, vocabulary, morals and behaviors, empathy, and, of course, the obvious letters and reading. It shapes children for life!
1) When out with friends my husband and I split a meal since neither of us was extremely hungry.
2) Stuck to my list at Trader Joe's and only bought the essentials, our grocery budget is not looking great this month and we are trying to reign it in.
3) Now that all of my kids are in school I am trying to get together with one friend a week. Both this week and last I scheduled a walk, its free and healthy.
4) Decided not to order a cake for my daughter's 6th birthday but to bake cupcakes and make decorating them a party activity.
5) I have a hour between when I pick up my girls from school and need to pick up their brother from basketball. I decided to take them to the library, which is in between our house and the school as a fun, frugal after school activity.
I really like your decorating your own cupcake substitute for a birthday cake. Might borrow your idea for my son's birthday party!
I suggested it to my daughter and she was so excited about the idea! I hope your son likes it!!
Try discount dance for the shoes- they were cheaper/better than Payless for us.
Good to know!
1. Gave myself a home manicure and pedicure. My nails look better and better as my nail painting skills improve. And I don't mind as much when they chip after three days.
2. Hosted a nice family brunch instead of going out. I did make a special grocery trip for the function, but spent far less than we would have at a local restaurant.
3. Each evening for the past week I have taken my son for a walk or to the local park. Fun and FRUGAL and doing our best to enjoy the last days of summer.
4. Stuck to my shopping list while at Costco (very tricky for me)
5. Frugal Fail: No homemade lunch for me this week (and I have a bunch of fresh salad ingredients to use up in my fridge. I need to get to it if I do not want to report food waste as next week's frugal fail)
I'm curious; what was the must-have book? I love reading and am constantly looking for suggestions.
Well, it's kind of a boring-looking one which is basically about how to not be such a doormat. Ha. You can email me and I'll send you the title if you want!
1. We made it to the 17th before we bought groceries. Hmmm, I might have had too much in the pantry and freezer for 2 people!
2.Got a 10 pack of socks for free at Shoe Carnival. They told me that I had $10 free from their Rewards Program that was about to expire. (Haven't shopped there in year) I didn't really need shoes and they were way more than $10, so this was a good option!
3.Earned a $5 Starbucks card with Shopkick.
4. Found a recommended book for free on Hoopla (digital lending through the library), glad that I didn't buy it because it was kinda meh.
5. I haven't drank a soda since 12/31/17. Not so much worried about the money but the sugar/caffeine. I LOVE Coke, not Diet Coke, not Pepsi, and only from McDonald's (they really taste better there*)...so that is a pretty big accomplishment for me.
*https://clark.com/shopping-retail/food-restaurants/mcdonalds-coke-tastes-best-secret/
Oh, and I wouldn't call it a fail if you still got the shoes at Payless........instead of an F, more like a C+. 😉
1) Asked my in-laws for coupons they won't use ($4.50 worth of coupons that we will definitely use)
2) Used our zoo membership again (we've already gotten more value than the membership cost & it was a birthday gift to me)
3) Stocked up on 6 months worth of laundry detergent while it was on sale for $1 per container
4) Following my monthly meal plan to use of food in the pantry / freezer
5) Composting food scraps has made me more mindful of using the vegetables I buy
I wasn't going to contribute, but then I was in the kitchen doing advance dinner prep and realized I had five right there:
1) I diced up some leftover antelope meat (given to us by a neighbor) to make taco meat. Best way to stretch when there's not quite enough meat.
2) To saute the onions and garlic for the meat, I used fat I had saved from cooking pork steaks a few nights ago. The rendered fat is pre-seasoned with the paprika, garlic, salt, and pepper I put on the pork, so it gives extra flavor.
3) While I was in the kitchen, I decided to make chicken salad for my sons' lunches tomorrow out of two leftover drumsticks and a thigh from last night's dinner.
4) With the skin, bones, and tough bits of chicken and cartilage left after stripping the meat off, I decided to make stock for cooking pinto beans. So I put all the chicken bits in a pot with water and . . .
5) A carrot that froze in my refrigerator (do not like this refrigerator in our rental), a bit of celery that had gotten frozen by the same dastardly refrigerator awhile ago and that I stashed in the freezer for stock-making, and the stem end of the onion I had cut up for both the taco meat and the chicken salad.
So that was all very satisfying. And on-topic here for today.
Love the real stuff of admitting our failures. Let's keep pressin' on!
1. Let's start with the failure: both my husband & I have put freezer things in the fridge by mistake. There goes ice cream & smoothie spinach & berries.
2. My daughter needed a uniform skirt & I found one a new w/tags for $3 on a garage sale site.
3. It's street fair week & so far we've only spent money on 1 ride & 1 ice cream to split ($9 total).
4. I bought clearance swim diapers for my toddler since we have access to an indoor pool at the Y. Also I've been saving a gift card for swim lessons this fall. Next month we can bring guests free, hoping to set up some free to others swim days/play dates.
5. Using parks dept. &
State Park activities for field trips.
1. Planning next week's meals using items I already have. I try very hard to do this but seem to always have to buy a few items. I managed to find everything I needed to makes sweet potato chicken and rice soup. This inspired me to challenge myself to create all dinners/lunches this way next week.
2. Met a family that I will be sitting for when they go on date nights probably 2 to 3 evenings a month. That will be extra money towards paying off my jeep loan.
3. Avoiding buying new shirts for work. We can't wear shirts that have saying or graphics on them so I wear a smock or apron over top most days to cover up my t-shirts that have graphics on them. I work at a flower shop part time so this protects my shirts from wear and tear anyways.
4. Pack lunches and snacks for myself and husband everyday for work. Make coffee for myself every morning. My husband at least takes a refillable coffee mug to the gas station each morning and pays $1 instead of $2. He says our coffee pot is too slow. Lol. But yet he has time to get coffee at the store. Go figure! I pick my battles. At least it is a savings each day and he isn't using a disposable cup every day.
Frugal fail! We have had terrible mosquitos the past couple weeks so I broke down and purchased some repellent for the dogs because they are being eaten alive when going out for bathroom breaks. Well, $15 later and while they work a little bit, there are still some bugs that bother them. I guess it's not going to be 100% but it was hard to pay $15.
1. I prepped my lunches in cute little freezer packs so I would be less tempted to splurge on sushi or whatever else.
2. I used the gift cards from my road race goody bag to have some mom & daughter time at the coffee shop.
3. I planned a full month of family meals and cross referenced it with the school lunch calendar. Why didn't I do that before??!!
4. My Fail: I missed the deadline for the school color run and had to pay $10 extra for registration. Bummer. I was already irked that it's $30 per person. $40 is just way too much for a school event - even if it's a fundraiser. Outrageous really.
So good to hear that debts are getting paid off! I'm helping our son with his student loan and I want him debt free so he doesn't feel this kind of burden.
Anywho, here are my frugalistic five:
1) Speaking of school loans....Our son has a direct debit every month from the bank for a designated amount to pay off the loan. I found out that the day his account is debited is the day I NEED to come in and pay more of that loan off. My money goes towards principal. Any other day of that month, my money only goes towards interest. The loan will get paid off quicker this way. Who knew?!
2) I found a organic rancher that sells their products cheaper than a place I sometimes buy meat.. Cool.
3) I've been asking the fam if we have any hams in the freezer. Nope. I've been holding off on buying a ham as they're expensive. I finally went into the freezer (it's a big upright in the basement) and found 2 hams. Along with 4 turkeys.....Guess what we're NOT buying during the holiday season?
4) I finally got my vacation time and decided to clean the house. Eh, purge. I was able to put things on ebay, donate some and trash some. Things are selling.....Good.
5) I found a sale at Target on bedding and had a gift card. So, it was free.
Haha, no one can find things like a mom can.
You'd think a ham would be hard to miss. 😉
My frugal fail is having McDonalds x 3 this week - I know...
and yesterday the ring-pull on my soup broke off & I had to buy lunch instead..
Oh well, I am doing mostly better.
1. I am buying smaller amounts of fruit at a time & mostly getting through it; big achievement for me
2. Needed a new toaster & got the one I wanted on a good sale
3. Went to the movies with friends & we got cheap tickets
4. One of the friends made & brought us popcorn
5. Drove to the store on the way home tonight to get the toaster meaning no extra petrol used
I'm not organized enough to do five, but I like one so much that I have to share it. My range, a visually lovely dual-oven Sears Classic from 1968, was slowly losing function. It would do surface-of-the-sun oven temps with no rhyme or reason, and none of the lights worked, and one burner was all-or-nothing. One of my 18 for 2018 (Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast!) has been to shop assiduously for a stove, and I got a little more serious about it when the lights died — because who knows, really, what bit might be next. I clicked on an email from Sears, and with my ancient Sears credit card and that email deal and an additional coupon code, I got a way-too-good-for-our-kitchen range for 60 percent off — a price less than my original goal price and a model about three steps better than I was planning to buy. Oh, and $22 in ebates. It's spending, but planned spending, and wildly good savings. (I went back to check the dimensions the next morning, and it was already $500 more.)
It is stunning how a kitchen tool that works properly simplifies cooking.
I've only got 4 frugal things, but I was very proud of them and want to pass them along:
1. I've been doing a great job of cooling our house down this week by opening the windows overnight and closing them in the morning, as opposed to running the AC (it's been kind of an Indian Summer here).
2. I've been on the lookout for something to put on one of our plain white walls (we just moved and I'm still decorating the place, as I now have a lot more wall space to cover). I found a really nice oil painting at a local thrift shop that has red hues that match my couch perfectly - and it was $12!!! Patience paid off!
3. We've been needing to clean our carpets in the new place, and I Google searched around for carpet cleaners in my area looking for the best price on what we needed. I found one, with a little digging, that has a coupon tab on their website (https://www.carpetcleanerlafayetteindiana.com/coupons/). ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS look for online coupons when having service work done in your home - they're out there, and you'll be glad you did!
4. Instead of buying too much produce at the grocery store and then throwing a third of it out when it goes bad, I've purposefully under purchased produce. I figure, if I need more, a quick trip to the store to buy a head of lettuce and some apples will not be hard. And guess what? I have yet to actually have to return. Maybe I'm not under-purchasing after all.....
Indian summer here too...I'm anxiously awaiting a crisp fall day!
1. Reimbursed the points for a $200 rebate (big pain to do it, but definitely worth it for a purchase of a year's worth of contacts for which I also used insurance.)
2. Have been slowly progressing with my twice annual closet clean. Divided discarded things into 4 piles; pile 1 earned me $250 from a sale, pile 2 went to a friend who has a younger child; pile 3 is waiting for a trip to the flee market; and pile 4 into trash/recycling/attic.
3. Borrowed a neighbor's power washer and my husband washed the siding of our house that looks now bright and new again. Meanwhile, I've been spending cooler evenings weeding and cleaning up the yard.
4. Have worked from home all week, saving money in gas, parking, and time to do the extra yard work/exercise.
5. My husband got a pay raise, so we are discussing how to direct the funds to pay off bills/increase savings.
---> But, bought an expensive smart phone after researching all the other options. Having gone through some cheaper phones that did not last as long with my teenager, wanted one that lasts (my old one that's still in great shape for my teenager) and has a great camera (the new one for me!).