5 Not Frugal Things
My friend Katy does Five Frugal Things posts a lot, and occasionally I write 'em here too.
But this morning I was thinking that a Five Not Frugal Things post is in order because I've had a little string of such happenings lately.
One
Due to a combination of multiple factors (time change, temporary change in Mr. FG's work schedule, etc.), I was exhausted yesterday and I did not cook dinner. Instead, we shamelessly bought subs and ate them for dinner.
The upside is that I can bump last night's meal to tonight, and the meat previously planned for tonight can just stay in the freezer.
So at least our subs won't beget food waste.
BY THE WAY!!
Speaking of menu plans, I've been instagramming a photo of my menu board [written on my rehabbed chalkboard menu board] most weeks.
I know this isn't as awesome for some of you as an actual menu plan post, but until I get my rear in gear [or in case I never do!], this will tide some of you over.
I usually try to send the menu board photo over to Twitter too, so you could follow me there if you don't have instagram.
(Also. If you have a smartphone and are not on instagram, what is wrong with you?? 😉 Instagram is the fabulous-est social media platform ever, because pictures. and pictures. and pictures. It is my favorite.)
Two
We sold a piece of musical equipment on eBay and didn't charge enough for shipping, kind of by a mile (we charged a third of what we should have).
Fortunately, we were far from being upside down in the transaction, but still.
Oof.
Three
This morning I packed a lovely salad for Mr. FG's lunch, which included organic lettuce and organic tomatoes (from Aldi, obviously), and leftover shrimp from when I made these shrimp lettuce wraps.
The only problem?
I, uh, forgot to include dressing.
He's gonna put it in the fridge at work, but he'll likely go grab a bite to eat today and I do not blame him.
Salad without dressing is awfully sad.
Four
I got a $10 coupon in my email from Eddie Bauer so I found a shirt on clearance and ordered it. After the coupon, I think the shirt was only $6, but then once you added in shipping, it was more like $14.
That still didn't seem all that bad for an Eddie Bauer shirt, though I did waffle a bit before ordering it.
Unfortunately, even though I ordered a small, the shirt seems to be cut on the large side and I'm kind of swimming in it.
(Which is weird because I have a small tank top from them and it is borderline too small for me. Whyyyy is clothing not more standardized?? Especially when it's from the same company??)
Swimming in shirts is kind of not attractive. So I'm not keeping the shirt.
I think they do have free exchange shipping, so I'm hoping that maybe I can find something else that will fit me. I'm thinking maybe this...
Five
One of my girls spilled a lot of water on a library book and on her Bible and I didn't notice this until the water had had ample time to soak pages.
I was able to salvage her Bible pages (with the help of a blow dryer, actually), but the library book was done.
In fact, I'd called it sogged.
(Sogged: an adjective use to describe something that's sopping wet. Origin: toddler Sonia, I believe. Sample sentence: That deck is sogged.)
Thinking I was being brilliant, I ordered a gently used replacement copy on half.com and brought it back to the library.
Sadly, there was a pen mark inside that I didn't see, so the library deemed it unacceptable, so I still had to pay the full replacement charge, plus the amount I paid for the book on half.com
Not gonna lie: I'm a little annoyed that the library felt the copy I bought wasn't acceptable because honestly, despite the small pen mark inside the cover, it was a perfectly good book to replace the (gently used, imperfect) copy that we damaged with water.
But in the spirit of trying not to be an obnoxious money-saver, I paid the fee and did not argue.
Also: I am remembering how many zillions of dollars the library saves me every year, and in light of that, the book replacement fee is small.
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Well.
That wasn't quite as fun as writing a real Five Frugal Things post. But it's life...you win some, you lose some.
Normally I invited you all to chime in by sharing your five frugal things in the comments. However, I totally understand if you don't feel like sharing five not-frugal things. 😉
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Funny coincidence: I see that Katy has included a very unfrugal thing in her latest Five Frugal Things post. Great minds think alike, because I did not see that before I thought of writing this post!
Must have been a discouraging several days. But you do so well most of the time. You have to hang on to the good.
I have read in so many other places around the web that libraries don't like/want to take book for books. There are a variety of reasons, but I don think I would even try. Fortunately, it doesn't come up very often and my library has been so very good to me. I always just chock it up to supporting my library and gently nudging me in the back to be more careful.
I've never actually had a ruined library book before, so I was clueless. Definitely not gonna try it again!
My daughter works in them mail room of a library. From the stories she tells of how they handle book purchases, I would wonder if the issue has to do with how they are forced to handle inventory. There are so many steps involved that my guess is that it is too hard for them to take one they did not buy in exchange for one they have bought.
We lost a DVD movie one time....I actually think we accidentally left it at a vacation property! Ugh. Anyway, the librarian told me the replacement price and suggested I check online to see if I could find it cheaper elsewhere (a brand new copy of course). I found it online cheaper, including shipping and brought the new one in the next week. Can't hurt to ask the replacement price and compare before simply paying the library!
That's interesting...so the policy must vary in different library systems.
I work at a library now, and we allow others to bring in books as replacements. We do have to police the quality as well. But if its a new book...a book is a book is a book. It wouldnt hurt to see what they'd take and the price! We provide that 🙂
Yes, each library system is different in their policies. I'm a librarian and some things we swap with like items like DVDs (unless new releases) board books and paperbacks. Usually the branch manager has the final say if it's ok or not. Also, as the manager I admit to patrons that I've paid my share for replacing books too 🙂
I just wanted to comment on your subs purchase. I've been doing a lot of work this past year giving myself a break for when these types of things happen. Both my husband and I work, my husband is a full time student, and we have a two children under 4. Despite our best efforts, we end up eating Chiptole and other take-out more than I would like. And it's ok. We do the best that we can do, every day. And we have to be kind to ourselves when the best we can do isn't what we would necessarily want to do. So re your subs, it might not be frugal, but at least it wasn't wasteful. And like you said the other day, it doesn't have to be perfect to bless someone. So bless you. Sometimes we all need a break.
Eddie Bauer has odd sizes when it comes to shorts, pants, and skirts. I wear a 4 or 6 in their shorts. I assure you, I do NOT wear anything close to that size in any other brand. It is good for my self image though 🙂
As for recent non-frugal things... I just got new home insurance without getting a second quote. Due to circumstances beyond my control, the effort that would have gone into the second quote far outweighed the benefits. I'll research other options in a year when my life has settled down.
Sarah
That's interesting. You don't find the shirt sizing to be inconsistent, though?
They must be doing vanity sizing in the shirts, because smalls are normally just fine on me, but this shirt just makes me look like I'm wearing a tent.
Thanks for writing this post. As we all try to be as frugal as possible most of the time, there are times we are just not and it is what it is. Thanks for making me feel human!
I am so happy to have a few moments to leave a comment today because your library mistake has me laughing about my own. You see, before Christmas I borrowed "Thrifty: living the frugal life with style" by Marjorie Harris and it is hiding, actually completely lost, somewhere in my house. I can renew it four more times and then I will have to replace it which kind of cancels out the virtue of borrowing a book about frugality from the library. By the way, that is an older book, but still has plenty of relevance today and I was charmed by her style.
What a coincidence! I was thinking about writing a post about a non frugal decision we had to make yesterday. It seems to be a non frugal week for everybody!
We had a contractor come by last night to work on a quote for a complete bathroom gut job - the room is WEIRD - and today my husband and I are heading out to buy a replacement gas stove for our basement. We knew when we bought this house two years ago that both things were on the list of things we'd have to take care of(they were part of the reason the house was on the market for over a year), but it still pains me to spend the money!
I love the idea of the unfrugal five. It happens to the best of us!
I've had a last week like that too.
1. All the missed school for snow means that we've paud $100s extra in child care.
2. Despite spending $40K last year to repoint the bricks of our 100 year old house, we had a leak last week. Our contractor is supposed to be coming over to give us the verdict.
3. I went to Old Navy Monday with a coupon and saved up rewards hopeing to come out with a rounded out maternity wardrob and a $0 bill. Unfortunately I spent $30 after all the discounts, which isn't too bad, and I really love everything I got, but I am just a bit disappointed with my frugal impulse.
4. We just found out I'm pregnant. We're thrilled! But we were really hoping to push the next baby to 2016 just because it would have been nice to have a cheap medical year.
Luckily I am out of unfrugal happenings! Such is life.
I don't use Instagram because it was always too hipster for me. I guess the demographic has shifted from the people who were too cheap/lazy to use a Diana or a Holga to a more mainstream audience. I used to like Flickr but Yahoo has let it languish for a while. I also, don't have the inspiration to take photographs like I used to.
Anyway, let's see, some un-frugal things I've done lately.
I spent $40 on an anime VHS tape. It's an extremely rare, out of print title that, thanks to a licensing nightmare and stuff will never, ever, ever be on DVD. I know this seems silly (and it is) but I look at it this way, I've sold tapes for more than that so it all evens out.
Due to my wife being indisposed for reasons I'd rather not elaborate on 😉 We haven't been cooking actual meals. We bought Little Caesar's Pizza last week and on Sunday we bought a rotisserie chicken (though, to be fair we're working on eating the leftovers this week.)
We made a lot of phone calls and texts last month so my Ting bill was ~$40 instead of the usual $30.
Let's see, some Frugal things ...
Said chicken is being eaten over the course of a few days. We had chicken quesadillas last night. Today for lunch I think my wife is having a chicken salad sandwich. I put some chicken on a salad for lunch etc. That $5 chicken will feed us for a couple days.
We had a frustrating issue where my wife hit a pothole and bent the rim on her tire. Instead of rushing to get it fixed at the closest spot, her father helped her put the spare on and we took it to the locally owned tire place and they were able to repair the rim and replace the tire for a fair price.
Said issues with the car also started us in that "new car mode" where you get frustrated with a car being in the shop for various reasons and you start to wonder if it's time to replace it. After some browsing around online we decided we were going to wait and not buy a new/used car any time soon.
This one is from years ago, but I was thinking about it yesterday, when I read Katy's post... Back when I rented, I was an excellent tenant--always paid rent on time, took good care of the place, reported issues right away so they didn't get worse. I was counting on getting back most or all of my (rather high) deposit given the excellent condition of the place. In all the chaos of moving I let a pot boil dry on the stove and somehow, my reflexes grabbed it and put it on the Formica counter, not another burner or in the sink. 1/10 of a second later, a week before moving, I had done enough damage to the counter that the landlord had to replace the whole thing, and there went my deposit. Sigh.
Ohh, I HATE it when I do things like that. You just wish you had that five seconds of your life back to do over again.
My son has also sogged a library book. I called the library ahead of time to make sure I could do a book for book replacement, and they said I could but that the replacement book had to be the same edition and brand new. I was able to order one from Amazon for half the price the library was going to charge. The librarian still inspected every inch of it before she deemed it acceptable. I saved $12 but I'm not sure it was worth the effort.
Oh! You turned it into a verb. I love it.
I was thinking I was so incredibly frugal by heating up freezer leftovers for dinner on Tuesday and tossing a salad to go with. The leftovers were mushy and weird. Thank goodness for salad...Also, I picked up some mini chocolate chips and plan on making banana muffin with chips in them to use up two brown bananas. And there are many things I just plain left off the grocery list this week that I now consider to be luxury items: those crystals you add to your wash for smellyfullness, boxed wine, tiny cartons of juice for my teenager (he can drink water), and chips (no one needs those). After a while, you wonder why you are buying certain things that you are living just fine without. Even when I go back to making a regular paycheck, I plan on continuing to try to cut down on our grocery bill.
Ironically, I just sogged a library book myself last night. Thankfully, I caught it right away, wiped it off and placed paper towels between all the pages to try to pull out any moisture. It's a board book so I have to wait and see if the cardboard pages warp, but it's looking good so far. *fingers crossed*
I worked at a library a few years ago and they wouldn't take replacement books either. Unfortunately, there was a whole complicated series of events and processing that has to take place with the books.
I've been having lots of unfrugal moments lately. My baby girl is 5 months old and still a terrible sleeper, so in my often zombified state I've been making lots of poor choices, especially when it comes to meals.
JenRR - having a new baby is an excellent time to be granting yourself grace and not sweat the small stuff.
Congratulations on your new family member.
Thanks, William! She's so precious. It's been a crazy time in our lives for so many reasons. I should probably just be celebrating that we are all clothed and fed daily 🙂
Yes, celebrate that. There will be time to worry about the rest later.
I love that you guys are using "sogged" as a word. It's making me laugh!
It's the perfect word to describe the situation! Toddler Sonia was on to something.
Triple Argh to the sogged library book. That is soooo frustrating. On the other hand, at least your kids are reading 🙂
I had a frugal failure yesterday, I was just fried from work and haven't been doing my usual monthly menu plans so our fallback was takeout pizza. It was really delicious though!
We just had a very un-frugal week too! My husband's parents (who don't have two pennies to rub together) had two very large cottonwoods in their yard that busted through their sewer pipe. They had to pay to replace the pipe, and my husband and his brother agreed to pay to take the trees out so it doesn't happen again. Our half was $700, and boy did that check hurt to write! It was worth it to see how touched my in-laws were, though, and we happily took the wood for firewood, and the wood chips for compost.
5 un-frugal things, sadly this is too easy:
1. We had to rush our Saint Bernard (a rescue) to an emergency vet for Bloat. It's a serious emergency where the stomach twists on itself. The emergency surgery was several thousand dollars and they could not tell us the prognosis until they actually got inside. We had noticed the symptoms pretty early, so we took the gamble and he is now recovering without permanent damage. Ares is the sweetest dog I have ever had and it would have broken my heart to lose him. Of course now I'm kicking myself because I found out after the fact that there was a preventative procedure available for breeds prone to bloat and it would have been a lot cheaper, not to mention a lot less stressful all around.
2. That same night, returning from the vet at almost midnight, we got home to find our furnace died.
3. A day later my husband knocked his laptop to the floor and broke the screen (did someone break a mirror in my house?)
4. Due to the stress of the ill dog and having to get estimates for furnace replacement, I didn't get to batch cook so I've bought lunches in the work cafeteria for several days this week.
5. Also due to the stress, I overlooked renewing a library book and I now owe a late fee.
Despite all of that, my family is healthy (or at least recovering well), we have food on the table, a roof over our heads and are very blessed. I consider this a validation of how important living frugally is. We used to be pretty free with our money and if we were still living that way, we would not have been able to take care of everything. The idea of being in the position of losing Ares because we unnecessarily wasted our money on things that bring us a lot less joy than he does would have killed me.
We too spent a lot of money at the emergency and specialist vets in the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, in the end, there was no treatment that could save our cat. We're sad, but so thankful that the decision to let him go was because that was best for him, not because we didn't have the resources to get him treated. Best wishes for Ares' continued recovery!
I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. A few years ago we were in a similar position with a cat that developed a rare disease. My heart goes out to you during this difficult time.
This is so true...saving during the good times allows you to pay for the bad things when they happen.
Regarding the library fine, when all four of my kids got lice at the same time this summer, I racked up an ENORMOUS library fine because my life got so consumed with literal nit-picking. Fortunately, they did give me some grace and I didn't have to pay the full fine.
My library halved my fines once because they happened over Xmas break and people are just busy and out of their routine (and that is why it happened in my case). She said it happens a lot that time of year. I thought that was really nice, I didn't even ask.
Just a tip about the broken screen which comes from my daughter's boyfriend. I believe he did the same thing and was able to order a replacement screen (from Amazon?) and then followed an online tutorial to do the repair himself.
Thanks! I'll definitely look into it, we are reasonably handy.
My husband did the same with his screen. We ordered one at Amazon, followed a tutorial in Youtube and done! It works perfectly.
My recent frugal fail was being sick. That led to a lot food waste, some shopping at the closest store rather than the cheaper one, and at least one unplanned purchased meal.
There's room for improvement re replacing the garage door. My roommate researched the garage door replacement & mechanic for quality but not price.
Also, it's Girl Scout cookie time. 'Nuff said.
Sick time is a good time to grant yourself grace! 😉
Kristen, I feel your pain! Have our own school library fee to pay, to the tune of $29! My son can't find one of the books, several lectures on personal responsibility later, we have to pony up the replacement cost which I totally understand & accept. #2 book was read in a bubble bath by aforementioned son & also ended up sogged! We didn't know this, he tried to dry it himself, but it failed the librarian's inspection, which again I understand. Have to pay fee instead of replacing the books because the school has to order them with extra strong binding, etc...Son is going to work off the $29 in sweat equity doing extra chores.
Some weeks just seem to go like that! I have a non-frugal confession, too: I bought coffee yesterday! For $2! I worked until 8pm Monday and had a Tuesday morning training at 8:30, after dropping off children at 7:30 and 7:45 at different schools. And I got there, and I was dragging, and the coffee shop in the lobby smelled so good. Sigh.
Also, Little Brother has a broken leg! This has already cost us $175 in copays, which fortunately our medical FSA covers. But we only put in $400... and he doesn't even have the permanent cast yet... so we'll see. And lots of unfrugal driving downtown.
Bummer about the library book! The one that I work at does not give the option of replacing it--we just collect a flat replacement fee (although this is secretly negotiable in certain circumstances). I think we just find the staff time involved in processing it to be problematic. In the situation you describe, when the offer is available, I would probably have taken the book you offered... but that's just me :-).
I could probably make a long list of not-so-frugal things too this week. For instance, I had to throw out 5 yuckified onions last night, and yes, you do have to ignore onions for a really long time for them to go bad.
I think some libraries try to buy special "library binding" books; I guess they're more durable (maybe that's just for picture books), and of course there's the cataloging and whatnot. It is a bummer though, because it sounds like they would have taken it but for the little mark, and I rarely check out a perfect book from the library. But I too love libraries so much that I can't even be properly annoyed when I'm annoyed 🙂
The not-on-sale shrimp and havarti cheese I bought this morning because I really want shrimp quesadillas for dinner tonight. I am calling it a celebration for the temps being above 50 and lots of melting happening.
This is a fun exercise and I love it when you and Katy write those unfrugal REAL moments on your blogs! Obviously, we all do our best or we wouldn't be reading/ writing about frugality! My example is that I went back to work after 10 years of being a "domestic diva". I work part time at a ski resort so that our family can get passes. One early morning during the holiday break when I normally would not have to had be anywhere for anything, I backed out of my garage right into my husband's car. I am super grateful to have good car insurance, but the amount of money I earned working out there all winter will barely exceed the amount I had to copay toward the accident I had while on my way to my new job. Arg! I have enjoyed working though... in that environment, getting out of the house during the winter "blah" and our family has enjoyed the skiing!!
My father, who seldom indulged himself, finally bought himself a new, fancy, expensive car. I was home from college on vacation and when I landed at the airport I decided that I would rent a brand new fancy, expensive car---I think it was a Cadillac (this was years ago). I zipped to my father's house, saw him on the porch waiting for me, decided to enter the driveway with a flourish just to show off, and promptly smashed head first into his new car. It took a few years to be able to laugh about it!
I feel like I have been spending tons of money lately. We bought plane tickets for our Europe vacation this summer, which was expensive, but super exciting and planned for. I also keep finding really good deals on things I have been wanting for quite some time and have splurged quite a bit lately. I can afford it though and it was all things I was planning to buy anyway
Jenessa, while these might be spendy, they don't sound like frugal fails. You planned for something expensive, then did it - that's what money is for and you don't report being reckless about it. You decided you wanted some things, then waited for good deals. They just happened to come at about the same time.
So unless there's something you're not telling us, I hereby reject your "fail" label. ;-P
I agree! While they might be hard for those of us who hold our money tightly, they're not bad expenditures, and I'd even categorize them as good.
I used to love buying from Eddie Bauer, and I remember that they had a policy that if you ordered from the catalog while at the store, then your shipping was free. They had a little area with a special phone tucked in a corner. Not sure if they still have that, but it might be worth checking out.
And the undercharging for eBay shipping? Guilty of that too many times to admit. I just always underestimate how much the packaging materials will weigh.
I am bad at returning books on time to the library. Often if I know I am going near the library within a day or two I will return them late instead of making a special trip. It used to really bother me, until my hubs started calling it my membership fee. I realized 5 to 10 dollars a year for all the book, movies, and games that we get is a great price!
My husband has to see it as a donation to the library instead of a fee or I would drive him nuts.
What is frustrating about our library is that fines paid go to the county's general fund instead directly to the library!!!
Oh no. I didn't know that. Bubble burst 🙁
I love the unfrugal posts as well. Today, on an impulse, I bought a 20oz soda and a candy bar. Not only is this unfrugal and unnecessary, but I'm trying to be healthier as well and it completely defeated that goal.
On a different note, I thought your comment on instagram was interesting. I much prefer words to pictures 🙂 Instagram holds zero appeal to me. I guess as they say, it takes all kinds of folks...
Yep! I love me some words, to be sure, but for social media, I really love Instagram. Sometimes words on social media get to be a little not-so-fabulous, so a social media community that is mostly pictures with just a few words is sometimes a happier place to be.
Also: I am just a huge fan of pictures, so I love to post them and also look at other people's photos, so instagram was kinda made for someone like me.
There are usually some un-frugal things going on at our house, though we are mostly frugal.
I have been buying my teenage daughter processed food that is not frugal: Uncrustables, individually packaged Goldfish, etc. If I don't she buys lunch out so I feel it is worth over paying for items she will pack for lunch to keep her from being in the habit of always buying lunch out. I also have been buying her bagels at Panera, again for the same reason (for breakfast).
I spend almost $100/month for a membership to my local yoga studio. I know I could do yoga at home, using DVDs or internet streaming but I really like going to classes about three times a week.
We have given away, via freecycle, items that we could have sold on eBay. I am happy to have them out of the house and into the hands of people in the community that can use the items.
I ended up with 2 $10 Eddie Bauer coupons (a friend gave me one she was unable to use). Because I had cabin fever I went to the mall and used them to buy two layering camis. I thought they were tank tops, until I looked them up just now. I bought size XS and they are cut small (tight).
I met someone from overseas that is visiting a family member here. The family member is quite busy with work and school so I am going to take my new friend some places to give her a better feel for life around here. It won't all be frugal, but that's okay.
I've actually had a pretty good frugal week so far, and I hesitated to post, because I don't want to "jinx" the good week I've had, because there have been plenty of weeks that weren't so great! LOL I just love your writing style with your honesty, and the fact is that life just ain't pretty sometimes! But, it is our attitude that makes things better, and writing about it that helps to heal the wounds too. So far this week, I cooked a turkey that I had gotten for free at Christmas, and we have been eating turkey turkey turkey this week, and yummy leftovers as well. That makes me happy, that one day of cooking, lasts for several days! Anyway - hopefully next week will be better for you. Keep being real my friend!
Guilty of all 5 items. I think our military library suggested a used book for the replacement, but a new one cost just as much. The ebay one was to a U.S. carrier so that one cost more. I didn't mind paying , and it wasn't too much. But I don't want to be surprised in the future. Also, I was too busy trying to get too much done and left the water running in the bathroom. Lessons learned. I agree, we use the library so much, so a rare expense isn't so bad.
I blog about my frugal failures (and successes) every day. It keeps me honest, reinforces some "lessons" that I still have to learn (at my age!), and it's kind of fun to go back and re-read my posts once in a while.
Recent failures:
1) Despite getting badly sunburned this weekend while gardening, I spent all afternoon on my back porch yesterday (with sunscreen and shade), reading my library book. It was pretty darn hot (over 90!) so when it came time to cook dinner I was overheated and tired and didn't feel like cooking. Despite my better judgment, we ordered Chinese take-out, which ended up being expensive and hurt pretty much everyone's stomach. Then I didn't even have any leftovers to pack for Greg's lunch today and I didn't feel like making him a sandwich so he bought lunch today.
2) I didn't keep abreast of what he was doing with some stocks last year so when it came time to do our taxes and our tax bill came to several thousand dollars beyond what I was expecting, I had a private melt-down. We have the money to pay it, but it hurts because it'll have to come from our emergency fund (as in if he loses his job, kind of emergency) and I had just arranged for us to send almost double our mortgage's amount to the mortgage company so we can try to pay off this house in 5 years.
3) Because I didn't realize that the stocks he sold would increase our income, we actually didn't qualify for the Roth IRA accounts that we just opened last month and funded for 2014. So Greg had to call and open traditional IRA accounts and transfer the money back from the Roth accounts into the traditional accounts. There is a $25 per account transfer fee so we're out the $50 on top of not being able to do a Roth.
4) I let a $25 off $25 gardening coupon expire inadvertently because I needed to call in the order and I absolutely hate calling people or receiving phone calls nowadays.
5) Because of my said aversion to phone calls, we maintain a home phone line that costs us over $20 a month after tax. I keep the phone off and my voicemail greeting is very long and tells telemarketers to take me off their lists and that, basically, if I didn't ask you to call me, don't expect a call back. I check the messages once in a blue moon. That is the number I give to stores, doctor offices, even my kids' schools. So it's not frugal, but it helps my sanity so it's actually priceless 🙂 The only people who have my cell phone number are close family and friends who know I prefer email so they indulge me. (Teachers have my cell phone for emergency and I get "emergency" emails from the schools too.).
It's much more fun to write about frugal successes, but no one is perfect and life happens. I try to get past the failures, learn from them, and move on.
Ahhhh, I HATE talking on the phone too!!! When it rings I always let it go to the answering machine and just pick-up if it's important. I much much much much prefer writing an email to someone than talking on the phone. And my cell phone is strictly for emergencies so the only people that have the number are the daycare center and the occasionnal babysitter. That's it. It's barely ever on anyways.
When I started reading your post I thought bacon as it is not frugal. Ha ha but we love it.
I say go for that purple layered tank top - it´s super cute! I´m also a huge fan of Instagram and I followed you on Twitter 🙂 Happy week! 🙂
Hey my instagram comment "found it thanks :)" showed up on your blog. I do like your menu plan pictures. I menu plan in my planner and it's not as photo worthy.
I'm going to start with our big frugal thing then our not so frugal things.
Both my husband and I disputed tickets and won. He went to traffic court (twice) for his and it was dismissed. I sent in a bunch of paper work to Il Tollway (twice) and it was dismissed. Total savings: $700
I asked my hubby if I could use that money to go on this women's retreat and he said no...(I was just kidding though, well half kidding).
Non frugal things
-library fees! They are up to $12...DVDs are a $1/day when late...ugh!!
-Buying books instead of waiting for a inter-library loan
-I bought laundry detergent at the drug store. I had ran out of it and the drug store is with in walking distance (not that I don't have a car...it was just really easy)
-I have a reliance on school hot lunches. I make big breakfasts and dinners so sometimes lunch packing is put on the back burner. Though my goal for March is to only do hot lunch twice a week and so far so good.
-I left a really good tip. (40%) It wasn't frugal but it was well deserved.
I've only gotten one speeding ticket in all my years of driving, and it was a totally absent-minded kind of speeding. So I showed up at court, explained what had happened, and everything got dismissed. It was definitely worth my time!
Glad yours got dismissed too. Phew!
SIGH. The past two weeks have been full of 10- to 14-hour workdays and we're not making the best decisions.
a) Had to put the active dog in doggie daycare twice because of these long workdays. That's like the fanciest thing ever, but she gets destructive if she doesn't get time to play. And we don't want to lose our sofa to dog boredom.
b) Drycleaning.
c) Retail therapy. Bought a lipstick just because.
I waffle on my decision to join Weight Watchers (I joined 3 weeks ago). On the one hand, that's a lot of $ to pay to lose 15 - 18 pounds. On the other, I haven't been able to do it myself and it has been two years of trying. And to make it "worth it" per pound, I'd have to gain another 15 pounds and that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid! So I'm just biting my lip, putting my fork down, and considering it an investment in longterm health.
All of my frugal failures had to do with groceries this past week.
1. I shopped when I was hungry and brought home too many snacks.
2. I failed to make a complete menu thinking that I would just look around the store for an idea for two nights' dinners. Instead I wound up making a separate trip for a rotisserie chicken when I got hungry and realized I still had nothing planned.
3. I shopped at multiple stores, which is always dangerous for me.
4. I didn't track the cost of items as I was putting them into my cart and went $20 over budget during my main grocery trip and another $40 over on my other trips.
5. I forgot to bring my lunch to work twice, even though I had fully prepared for lunches this week. So I bought lunch twice, thus compounding my overspending on food!
Grrr. I am skipping shopping this week except for a few things to take on a weekend trip with a friend.
I enjoy reading this. It proves that you are human after all. 😛
I love library books. My aunt used to send the kids boxes of books that the library was going to get rid of and whenever my daughter asks me if she can buy a book, I tell her read the books your aunt gave you first. Those were free and a book is a book 🙂
I have done those 'silly frugal' things. Yesterday I bought a subway, instead of packing a dinner. 4x a week after my daughter's sports practice, because it is 30 min away and it ends during rush hour traffic, I pack her dinner and it is cheaper, frugal and healthier. Yesterday I was very tired, low on energy because of time change (I wish they would ban that! LOL) and decided to opt for a subway. My daughter who is under 10 said "mommy, you wasted money. Next time pack my food.. because you are trying to be frugal" Smart kid I have !
Oh so annoying that they didn't accept the copy of the book you bought, it was probably just as good as the one you damaged given the wear that library books get. The shirt you bought would be easy to take in, it would save on return postage or could it not be belted at the waist if not. xx
5 non-frugal things!
1. Husband had minor surgery & wanted takeout from his favorite place.
2. It was his birthday this week too so I made vanilla bean scones from scratch and chocolate cake but used up all my baking supplies and realize now is a horrible time to stock up!
3. Spent to much on doggie supplies yesterday!
4. Forced to spend $ at the vet so we can get more heartworm meds...ugh
5. Went to Taco Bell on Friday instead of eating leftovers.
And! I went to monthly Bunco meet-up at a pizza place & instead of going home first and eating like I'd planned I spent $ on my dinner and didn't win any money!
here are mine :
1. I am cooking, can't find my oven gloves. I am packing up the house as we are moving soon.. and I think I threw them away by accident. I go to the store and buy more.
2. I like to fill up my tank when it reaches the 'half way' point. Forgot to do it.
3. I can't find my child's monthly 'specials' for school, so I have no idea which days she has p.e. I will have to ask her teacher for a new copy tomorrow. lol
4. I told my husband we are getting rid of cable in our new house since we are usually watching things from our laptops, and on t.v. is kids cartoons. He wasn't happy about it, but I gotta frugal somewhere!
5. I forgot to do dishes last night had no bowels . It was a looong day yesterday lol