Five Frugal Things
I know I mentioned sharing a post about cost-per-use, which I meant to publish yesterday, but, you know, life got in the way. So, here are five frugal things for you, and we'll chat about cost-per-use another day.
1. I sold another outgrown bike.
And I still hate selling things.
If I could sell things and not deal with people, that would be fine.
(!)
But people who email back and forth and then drop off the face of the earth, and people who can never nail down a pickup time, and people who haggle when the price is already fair...they make me hate selling stuff.
For instance, I listed the bike for $125, which was very fair based on the used market. A guy emailed and asked if I'd take $75, and when I said no, $100 is the lowest I'd go, he told me he'd offer $80.
Dear sir, that is not how haggling is supposed to go. I go down $25 from my asking price, meeting you in the middle, and then you only go up $5 from the price you want?
Um, no.
And he wasn't the only one.
I patiently waited for the right person to come along and got $110 for it (info I'd like to share with the guy who said my listing would still be there in two months. 😉 ).
I know we're only talking $25 or so of difference here, and I'm not even normally a stubborn person. But man, every so often, something comes along that I do not want to budge on. And this was one of those things.
(Kind of like when I dug my heels in about those cabinet drawer slide brackets.)
Anyway. It's gone! I have my money! All is well.
2. I sold a bed frame.
This was a frustrating process too. So many people emailed me and then just disappeared, some even after setting a pickup time.
Luckily, someone finally followed through, and it's out of the house. Yay!
As usual, I'm giving myself some big, fat, puffy gold hearts for getting stuff sold.
(This has reminded me why I only sell stuff worth $50 or more. Unless I'm getting $50, it's just not worth the time and headache!)
3. We picked up a used college book from a friend.
The used version at the college bookstore was over $100, but Joshua's friend said he'd sell his copy for $20.
Done, and done!
The other one is going back to the college bookstore posthaste for a refund.
(I kept the receipt in a safe place in case this happened!)
4. I made rice pudding with leftover rice.
I don't have a recipe for this....I just dump the dry, leftover rice into a pot, cover it with milk, add cinnamon and salt, and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, until the rice is soft and creamy.
My girls love eating this as a snack, sprinkled with some cinnamon sugar.
Sadly, the last time I had leftover rice, I forgot about it until it was too late and the rice was smelling funky. But this time, I did better!
5. Randomness...
I made a smoothie for breakfast, (using up produce from my produce box), stopped at Target and bought only what I planned to (unlike the day I impulsively bought this from Target), picked up library books (free!), and made dinner.
__________________
I rented all of my books through Chegg for grad school and the last year or two of undergrad. Cheaper than purchasing used and then only getting $10-$30 during book buyback or dealing with in-person exchanges, and they were delivered to my door & shipping back is included. Highly recommend renting books for all college kids!! (You can purchase them if you decide it is worth keeping.)
My daughter does the same thing. Chegg really is the way to go. Most of us never crack open that college textbook after class is done so why not rent.
This week:
1. Not a single extra trip to town
2. Stayed with the planned menu
3. Got my first pay check after being a SAHM for 11 years
4. Stayed within our weekly budget
5. Went through my older children's clothing to assess what they need this year. One child only needs shoes!
PS. As I was reading your post, it occurred to me that I didn't have to close any popup ads. Thank you so much for that!
Congrats on your paycheck and for 11 years as a SAHM. In my almost 6 years of parenthood, I've been a work outside the home mom, stay at home mom, and now, I'm primarily a SAHM with a small consulting job. All are very rewarding and challenging in their own ways. I feel that sometimes the SAHMs don't get the external recognition that you get in working outside the home. A long way of saying - Way to go for 11 years of raising kids!
I hope you never have to deal with that here! I opt out of pop-up ads with all of my networks, though occasionally one will sneak through.
I love when you do Five Frugal Things, Kristen! Although we're in the midst of moving and sometimes feel like we're bleeding money, I think I can come up with five.
1. I got the coveted email from Panera offering me a free bagel every day in August. Oh, how I have taken advantage of that yummy treat! Only once did I get a drink to go with it and that was because I was out for the day. My 2.09 coffee(purchased with a gift card) came with a receipt with an offer of 1.00 off my next drink. Yes, thank you!
2. Our garden is a bit lean this year but we're still eating tomatoes, cukes and beans as sides for our meals. The veggies have been prettier but they still taste yummy.
3. We're eating down the pantry and freezer with an eye toward the move so our grocery bill has been ridiculously low for the summer. A few fruits and vegetables, bread, milk and coffee have been mostly what I've purchased.
4. Trying to keep up with the Olympics has been free entertainment for us this week. Go USA!
5. We did 'splurge' on a movie date this week. If you have AT & T mobile, you can purchase two movie tickets for the price of one on Tuesday. Since Tuesday is our discount day at the theater, two tickets to see a first run film were a total of 7.35.
Our central AC unit started making some funky noises on Monday so we decided to stop using it until we figured out what was up. I'm 33 weeks pregnant so the timing isn't great, but thankfully it has only got up to the mid-80s this week. Central air is certainly a blessing, and I reminded myself I lived over 18 years without air conditioning, so my family can manage just fine as well. On the bright side, I have many related frugal things and ideas to cut down electricity use in the future:
1) I brought our electric skillet and toaster oven outside in our screened porch so even that small amount of heat would stay outside.
2) I changed my meal plan so all meals could be cooked in the toaster oven, electric skillet, and slow cooker, using less energy and keeping the house cooler.
3) We've been strategic about keeping windows open at night and closing up during the day to keep us as cool as possible. We usually do the opposite - fresh air during the day and AC at night.
4) Our swimming pool closes on Sunday, so we're making the most of our $108 season swimming pass before it closes. We are staying cool and I love the great value.
5) The best news - my engineer husband spent an hour checking out the unit and found out the connector went bad. He found a warehouse deal at Amazon and we ordered the replacement part for $14 including shipping!! My husband has a great track record of knowing when he can fix something (our dryer and many, many other household things) and knowing when he doesn't have the skills for the job (our furnace). I am confident we'll have air conditioning on Saturday. I am not at all handy and am so incredibly for my husband's expertise in this area.
I use our rice steamer on the deck. It definitely keeps the kitchen cooler.
I agree!! Some people make selling on Craigslist so difficult! It's funny; I'll only meet at police stations to do my actual exchanges. You would be amazed at how many people don't respond after I say that! But whatever, better safe than sorry. Hopefully we can unload our PS3 sometime!
This week:
1. I had jury duty on Tuesday. Instead of buying water and snacks, I packed my own from home.
2. I made sure to validate my parking at jury duty, so I only paid $2 for parking instead of $10. That's by far the cheapest parking in downtown, so I was pretty pleased about that!
3. Our dinner didn't work out last night, so we bought fried chicken (I know, frugal fail!). BUT, instead of also eating out for lunch, I made sure to split my fried chicken dinner in half. So instead of an $11 meal, it turned out to be two $5.50 meals. That's still waaaay above our $3 or less per meal budget, but it wasn't that terrible for a frugal fail.
4. We're babysitting our nephew on Friday, which means free dinner for us and fun time with the little one! It's a win-win. 🙂
5. Since we'll be busy on Friday, we're doing all of our meal planning tonight. We always check for produce sales, coupons, and look through our pantry before making a menu. It saves a surprising amount of money!
King Co courthouse in Seattle gives jurors bus passes. I finished my duty mid week and had bus passes left over to use as I please.
I totally understand how you feel about selling stuff. My brother and I used to sell things all the time on eBay. Now he just does it occasionally. We got everything from stupid questions ("How big is that 8" speaker that is clearly labeled as such" or "Will you ship to Timbuktu despite your auction saying US only?") to people just being jerks about everything.
So yeah, I don't blame you for not liking the process of selling things.
My Five things.
1) Worked 2.5 hours of overtime last night as part of a system upgrade. Yay extra money!
2) Aldi carries baby food now that my daughter will actually eat. I hate using the non reusable pouches but I'd rather she ate than not eat.
3) Almost bought a shirt that was on clearance at LL Bean. Sure it was my size and high quality but I already have a bunch of polos and I only wear them to work.
4) We received a large bag of clothes from a coworker for my daughter. I washed them and hung them out to dry
5) Maybe this is a stretch but I bought a bottle of French lemonade at Aldi and decided to keep the nifty swing top bottle for reuse. For the record, I thought the lemonade wasn't bad but everyone else thought it tasted nasty.
This made me laugh! We were giving away a FREE desk and I got an email, "I know it is free, but can you deliver it?" 😉
Should have replied that you'd be happy to deliver for a $150 delivery charge.
FTW!
I'm writing more because when I tried to post "FTW!", WordPress gave me an error message "Your post is too short. Please say something [useful?]." That made me snicker a bit.
We were giving away a couch and someone asked for free delivery also.
Ok. I've been giving away a heap this week and the people have been driving me insane but at least nobody's asked for delivery. I'll remind myself this when I open my inbox shortly.
1. I had to stop by the post office to mail a heavy letter and while I was there I bought stamps, which I was waiting to do until I had another reason to go to the post office.
2. Called the dollar store to make sure they had what I needed (baby shower wrapping paper). I combined that errand with my post office trip (and made sure to thank the kind woman who had taken my call and checked on the wrapping paper for me!).
3. Signed my daughter up for another season of soccer. She enjoys it, the league’s emphasis is on good sportsmanship, and the bonus is that the registration fee is super-cheap.
4. Using my credit union's website, I got caught up on my checkbook. This doesn’t save any money in and of itself, but it feels good to know what’s in my checking and savings accounts, and to make sure the recent purchases on my credit card are valid.
5. It’s been mostly hot and dry here, so I’ve been watering my outside potted plants to keep them healthy and happy. They’re wax begonias, which are both hearty and beautiful – a perfect combination since I have a brown thumb!
I understand about selling things, I'd rather donate items to our church thrift shop as to go through the bother of selling them.
Rice pudding is probably my all time favorite dessert. We don't have rice often (so no leftovers), but I think I might make some tonight!
My 5 frugal things
1. Used the leftovers from a rotisserie chicken to make broth and used the broth to make a chicken/sausage/kale soup. Froze half of it for a meal in the future.
2. Checked out library e-books (I don't have to worry about the possibility of overdue fines because they automatically check in!)
3. Sold a book from the Friend's of the Library book sale.
4. Baked 2 loaves of banana bread from getting old bananas-put one in the freezer for the future.
5. Walked to work today. Should be doing this more but it has been raining all week.
Woke up late today and despite having to rush, still made myself a coffee and bagel to go with me in the car, thereby avoiding stopping for expensive coffee at work! And I made it to work before my first patient arrived!
Emily
I haven't been to our library in ages as it is closed for remodeling, and I guess I'm too lazy to go to another branch...I have been finding books at thrift stores for a dollar or so and taking them to work when I'm done. Let's see, 5 things?
I returned both a ring (impulse buy) that didn't fit and a bottle of nail polish in a weird color to Tarjay and got $18 in refund. I used up the rest of a box of baking mix and added a little extra flour and baking powder to make enough biscuits for dinner last night. I ordered K cups from Keurig to get free shipping and a $9 coupon deal. Ironed all of Hubby's shirts instead of taking them to the cleaners - least fav chore EVER. Made 11 freezer meals yesterday for about $65, which will be handy when school starts back up.
Oh, I'm so with you about the hassle of selling stuff. I usually just donate it, because I find people difficult to deal with on those selling-sites. Often rude, changing their minds, not honoring pick-up times, trying to lower the price to a ridiculous low, etc.
It has to be really worth it for me to try selling something, like when I sold my spinning bike for 200$. That was worth the hassle.
My 5 frugal thing :
* My beloved lunch bag died yesterday (zipper broke). I will wait to find another one I like at the thrift store instead of buying new. Until then I will use a regular plastic or clothes bag.
* My friends and I went to a free Quiet Clubbing event and it was So-Much-Fun!! We are attending another one at the end of the month.
* Gathering what daughter need for back-to-school in our own home. We need to pay the school 75$ for supplies, but we already have the rest (backpack, lunch bag, Kleenex, pencils cases, etc) on hand. Will also go through what she already have in the clothing department and see what she really needs before buying more clothes. It won't be much, maybe none at all.
* Got a new skirt and a new shirt for 17$ (down from 40$). Yay for end of season sale!
* Was looking into putting younger daughter into private swimming lessons, as she can't swim and is really scared of water. But it's almost 300$ for 11 weeks.... So I've decided I'll try to do it myself, built some sort of a program and bring her to the pool once (or twice) a week for the next 16 weeks. Hopefully this will work....
Have great frugal day!
Swimming is a major life skill and well worth the money. I spent many years competitive swimming and teaching and life guarding on the side. But check at your local pool or ymca to see if any life guards do private lessons on the side. Or call up the local high school swim coach and see if any of the teens will work with your child. Our local HS pool has group and private lessons here for 30$ for 8 sessions and private lessons are 10$ a lesson. Special needs kids like mine can get lessons for free.
Thanks Rebecca. The cheapest price I found for private lessons is 36$/hour...
She's 4. She was able to swim before, but when she turned 3 1/2 everything changed, she started freaking out..... You think it's normal??
The Non Cons Adv seems to be lucky that her area sells so well. Where I live police stations promote meeting there inside or out and most all purchasers are good with that or request it. We had 2 large ticket items, riding mower and a gokart that we had no choice but to have them come to our house which always worries me. The gokart sale was a traveling music group L'Angelus that travels the world, a family of 12. Half of their family came with them in a super large van and all play instruments. Wonderful family it was so fun to meet them.
1. Local farmer sets his produce out to the road for people to take (free) so yay.
2. In-laws picked up corn fresh out of the field for us-yum!!
3. Our area is Back to the Bricks auto cruise so hubbys work has cookout on street they travel down so free dogs n brats just had to bring side dish & we brought cucs & tomatoes from our garden. Took the In-laws so they did not have to cook either.
4. Friend is lending us one of his cars to drive the cruze so yay again!
We will put gas in for him.
5. My berry plants went wild this year and I have plenty of frozen berries and I made jam.
I was impressed to read you make "rice pudding" with no sugar. Does the rice and milk just make it inherently sweet, or sweet enough? Have you ever made rice pudding from a plant based milk? (I just can't do the milk.)
Love your blogs. Your concerns/frustrations about selling things mirror my fears. Even though I would like the money, at this point, I would rather give it to a thrift shop so they can make money from my reluctance.
My girls do sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the top when they eat it, so the end product isn't sugar free!
Since we can eat dairy, I've never used plant-based milk. I'm positive someone else on the internet has, though...give it a Google. 🙂
I love your 5 frugal things posts! Along with the Non-Consumer Advoacte they are my fav. I am with you on the selling stuff. I listed 2 twin bed frames for $100 - totally fair they were in excellent condition and had a woman email and ask if I would take $50 and deliver them to her house. Um no. Same with a BMX bike of my son's he paid $150 wanted $75 for it and had someone offer us $30!! My son takes amazing care of his belongings so not a scratch on it. I'd give it to a kid who needed a bike before I'd sell it to that guy! Seriously people if I wanted to give away my stuff for pennies I'd have a garage sale.
Kristen - have you ever heard of the app, Nextdoor? It came to mind as I was reading about your grievances with selling stuff. I've had great luck buying AND selling and finding free stuff. The app is specific to your immediate neighborhood and the outlying neighborhoods, and overall I feel like it has a much better vibe than something like Craigslist. Check it out
Haha i completely understand where you are coming from. That is exactly what happens to me when I try and sell stuff on craigslist. Its a necessary evil but at the end of the day its more money in your pocket.
Just need to watch out for people paying with counterfeit money, that actually happened to me one time. 🙁
I just brought a baby swing to a consignment store because I didn't want to deal with the headache of selling it online. Friends purchased the swing off of our registry for $70, we used it under 10 times so it was basically brand new, and the consignment store gave me $12 for it. And I gladly took the money. Because even a measly twelve dollars for a seventy-dollar item, in my opinion, is better than the hassle of Craigslist. And hey, now it's out of our house 🙂
I'm going to disagree with FG here: that is not necessarily how bargaining goes. This is particularly true in other countries but it's true in the US as well. It doesn't have to be "Price A," "Price B," "split the difference." Also- that method is really easy for offerer B to game - just offer something incredibly low and hope offerer A splits the difference. A better clue is to notice by how much the other guy changes his price. The smaller the step, the closer he is to his "walk away" price. (I have long experience, direct and indirect, in bargaining; mostly abroad and also in the US. I'm also the child of someone who literally beat a Middle Eastern rug merchant at his own game, in his own shop, across the language barrier.)
I can think of only two frugal things this week, but one is a doozy:
1. The nondoozy: I didn't really have enough time to do a proper shopping trip, but I bought the necessities and used the coupons that were about to expire. The rest can wait.
2. The doozy: I learned the basics of a sewing machine and a serger, and I made my first save - the over-the-seat map holder for my car. Over the 15+ years I've owned it, the weight of the maps ripped the pockets out of the side seams. So after class I practiced by sewing those seams and layers back together. Machine access won't be a problem: I have free access to the maker space machines any time I want to go there, and I have a cruddy old machine at home that I've never used.
I guess I should say that this is not how I'd like bargaining to go. Ha.
Congrats on tackling the sewing!
We always make fried rice with our leftover rice, but I need to remember to make rice pudding once in a while... yum!
Our Five Frugal Things:
1. Husband picked up his brand-new laptop for school from the Department of Rehabilitation. I'm still in shock, but he needs a program that only runs on the type of computer we didn't have, so they bought him one. They naturally get a deep discount, so it's a double-frugal win.
2. He also sold his used college textbooks, netting us grocery money for the week.
3. We entertained at home friends that we usually go out with. For less than the price of splitting the check, we had a wonderful evening with them (and leftovers!).
4. We made fried rice for dinner, using up bits of leftover meat and unused vegetables.
5. Line-drying clothing isn't easy in humid central Texas summers, but I dried our laundry on a rack and popped it in the dryer for a 20-minute touch-up instead of using a 60-80 minute full drying cycle.
I did not have at all a frugal week. BUT I did sell a scooter - it was less than $50, but worth it, because someone had posted the big-kids version on our local for-sale facebook group, and some one else had said she was looking for the toddler version. I had the toddler version, and PMed her, and she came, deal done. Very Easy.
I feel your frustration with selling stuff. We've started giving away big-ticket items (stuff worth $50 or more) and simply donating or dropping free stuff on our curb. It's amazing that people are flaky even about picking up free stuff!
I am so with you about the unreasonableness and rudeness of potential buyers. I sell on eBay regularly to earn extra money for our family, and you would not believe all the craziness I have to deal with! People messaging me and asking tons of questions about a $20 with free shipping dress, then disappearing; people offering me less than half of my already very reasonable asking price; people asking for constant updates on shipping status (tracking is automatically uploaded when I print the shipping labels!); and then the inevitable never-happy people who leave negative feedback and/or demand refunds (which I don't offer and state very clearly I each listing) because of issues that are their own fault. eBay is really terrible as far as support/protection for sellers goes, but it's the only place I can sell a high volume of different types of items, so I keep dealing with it for now. I'm all for bargain hunting, but there's no need to be insulting or try to cheat sellers out of money. I sometimes wonder if the fact that these exchanges occur online, where there's the protection or illusion of anonymity, makes selling so much more unpleasant.
1. This week two women whom I work with AND go to our crop share, allowed me to take their shares of the u-pick garden. This allowed me to pick 3 times what we normally did. I was able to freeze 9 quarts of beans instead of 3, plus extra of many other items. I love seeing the freezer filling up.
2. Speaking of a freezer, we found one for sale with a sign that said $25, when I visited to inquire about it, no one was home. I left a note asking the owner to call if they would accept $20. Sure enough, she would! We went and picked it up that evening, I bleached it out and now we are the proud owners of a freezer!
3. I found a nice ballet class for my two year old daughter that was reasonably priced and fit into my work schedule (amazingly enough). The cost was more than we can afford right now BUT with both of our children's' birthdays last week, she had birthday money. My hubby and I decided that those who gave her the money would enjoy knowing that their money went to a ballet class.
4. Speaking of their birthdays: we are blessed to only need to host one birthday party for both kids. I'm not sure how long that will last, but we will ride that train for as long as we can to save.
5. Our dear friends daughter's birthday is the day after my kids, so we were invited to her birthday party at one of those bounce house places. It just so happened to be 95 degrees that day, so we were able to get out of the house, do something new, stay cool and not pay one dime! I did learn the price of those kids of parties while we were there and now know we will NOT be doing those any time soon.
I hear you about selling. I am pretty successful on local, Facebook, town tagsale/resale sites. I funded a recent move and then some, as I downsized, netting just over $3500. One item I was selling was a couch in excellent shape for $200 *(I do my research, this was a fair and usual price, if not on the low end). One woman reached out, offering $75. When I replied, "No, $200 is a very fair price, are you interested?" She replied with a snarky comment such as "Good luck selling it for that price!". A week later, I DID sell it for $200. The family buying it noted that it was a mate to a former couch they had, and both are from the same designer, with an awesome reputation. (I had bought it off of my former landlord when I moved in). Win-Win. Sometimes, donation is the way to go. Hard though for bulky items that I can not deliver. Case in point: someone is coming this Sat for a complete bed frame (30 y.o. with slight damage, easily repaired). I made sure that my daughter would be home at the same time. It's in the garage for easy pick up, but still . . . gotta be safe! I am just ha
*happy to unload it. If it blesses someone in the process, great!
That's exactly what happened to me...several people low-balled me and wouldn't budge, and neither would I. And then someone came along who paid more than the minimum I was hoping to get.
So satisfying. 😉
You've posted about Joshua's college classes and packing lunch and used books, maybe you could do a frugal college post? It would be helpful for advanced high school aged kids like Joshua, traditional college students and even people like me, a mother in her 30's going back to school.
check out this link...... http://www.northerncheapskate.com/5-personal-finance-tips-for-college-students/
Hmmmmm Lets see:
1. I re-joined Costco. Yes, it's initially NOT frugal with the 55.00 membership, but because I always find myself running out of dinners before the week is over and running back to the grocery store, this will help with that.
2.Made a nice big batch of waffles for the freezer
3......................well, that sums it up for this week!
I have found that selling via Facebook is a much more pleasant way of selling items. In general, people tend to be more polite and pick things up when they say they will. Plus, if they don't, the sale goes to the next person in line. A group that has a good group of admins will keep things going well. So if you have a Facebook account I highly recommend searching out resale groups in your area!
My five :
#1 I'm on a weight loss regime so am reluctant to buy new clothes so I am wearing my daughter's old maternity jeans ! The stretchy band means they fit fine and its hidden under my top !
#2 My sandals were purchased on a holiday in Florida eight years ago (I'm in the UK) for $6 and are still my favourites every summer and I won't buy any more until they fall to pieces.
#3 I made a huge pan of veggie bean chilli on Tuesday with cheap tins of baked beans, mixed beans, kidney beans, butter beans as its main ingredients. It fed four of us for dinner two nights running, and I've just eaten the last portion for lunch
#4 We live near woodland and people dump their garden waste in it, including perfectly good plants sometimes. I rescue them and plant them on in pots and my little garden space is full of cast off colour !
#5 I taught my student daughter to knit and she's now skilled enough to make a lovely winter hat that she proudly photographed for Facebook, and she has had requests to make four hats for £10 each and the yarn costs her £2
1. Have been decluttering and sold $275 worth of stuff just sitting there collecting dust. Items such as weights, sports equipment, furniture. (Yes, the replies can be comical...)
2. Finally made a budget! Used the Gail Vaz Oxlade website template for free. Tracked all my spending for 3 months and plugged in numbers, the tweaked and tweaked some more.
3. Made my coffee at home.
4. Taking my kids out school Supply shopping later today They had the task of going through all the stuff they already had and just listing the remaining items they need.
5. Walked the dog (Fresh air, exercise, etc, etc etc, all free!)
I follow several Facebook online garage sale sites in my area. The "extreme bargainers" drive me crazy. Many times the offers are just plain insulting.
1. Shopped at Aldi.
2. Made chicken noodle soup for lunch today, using pantry and fridge ingredients.
3. Took grandkids to Chuck E Cheese and used a coupon for the tokens. They are young, so one hour there is plenty for them. Plus they understand that when the tokens are gone, so are we, lol.
4. Leftover crock pot tortellini for dinner tonight. All ingredients bought at Aldi, of course. A very good and easy recipe.
5. Bought my grandson some shirts at Old Navy and scored $20 Old Navy cash. I'll use that for my granddaughter for school clothes ( preschool actually).
1. Ate quite a bit of birthday party food leftovers this week.
2a Bought my son school shoes with a coupon.
2b One not so frugal thing was buying my other son a pair of light up shoes because big brother has a pair! They were on clearance
3. Returned 2 birthday presents and got a store credit.
4. Making a birthday dinner and ice cream cake instead of buying it all.
5. Interviewing for a job at a kid's gym next week. What's frugal about it is that I will be able to bring my 2 year old along to the classes while getting paid to teach. Win win!
1.ate lunch at home today day off from work and we normally would have eaten out but I had a lot of food in fridge I wanted to use
2. Did not shop at cvs so far this week even with coupons and sales I still would have spent money and I really do not need anything
3. Went through closets and gave a few bags of clothes to goodwill .i also noted that I do not need any more clothes at this moment!
4.used my free bd drink at Starbucks
5.ate fresh tomatoes and corn from my sisters garden.so healthy and fresh and no packaging to throw away
1. Shopped at Aldi (in love with that store).
2. Downloaded Walmart app and shopped at Walmart for items not at Aldi. The savings catcher part of the app allows you to scan your receipt and honors any coupon or store special from competing stores, then puts the savings in your account. You can use $ at Walmart or Sams.
3. Kids and I ate all lunch and dinners at home.
4. Made your enchiladas but used beef instead. Delicious! Made extra for freezer.
5. Bought a required $95 textbook for half on eBay half.
6. Borrowed 3 books from the library--and didn't have to spend a penny renewing my 10 year old card that I hadn't used in about as long!
7. Had to replace motherboard on fridge but MUCH cheaper than replacing the fridge.
8. Made my own coffee every morning (tastes better to me than *bucks any day).
9. Made my own laundry softener with conditioner, vinegar and water.
10. Did my own manicure.
I'm really proud of myself. My circumstances have changed drastically in the last few months. That's why I looked up your blog. But I am recovering from the shock and am happy, my kids are happy, and our home is peaceful. We are going to be fine. It is true--money can't buy the most important things.
Forgot the most important money saver--I cancelled my pest control service and did it myself. Service is $65 every 3 months. I spent $50 on one time purchase of pump (easy to use) and product and it will last me for years. Took me 10 minutes to apply around exterior of house. Cool.
I use Freecycle sometimes when I need something, but it's a pain to GIVE anything because of the time it takes to respond to queries and get someone to follow through on pickup (I'm conscientious about picking up when I say I will).
I gave away dairy kefir grains but one lady I gave them to constantly emailed me with questions, and then when she killed them she wanted more. It was becoming a full-time job!
RE: College texts--check out textbook rentals--you can even do that on Amazon, and Amazon sells used texts for very good prices. Don't forget to save ALL receipts related to college as you can claim tax credits. We just graduated our eldest, and I'm going to miss her tax credit!
We bought our friends' w/d set for $150. It's an absolute steal, replacing the set we had for 15 years (also bought used). I listed our still-working old set on Craigslist "free for pickup" and it was gone in 4 hours.
Checked and re-checked insurance for tomorrow's surgery. All good.
Preserving garden herbs as paste and frozen compound butter.
We still had the dog's meds from the last time she had a skin problem. Her cream hasn't expired and it cleared up after use - saved a vet visit.
My niece has been called to ministry (soooo proud of her!!!). Her very conservative faith does not ordain women - obviously she's exploring other denominations. It was $50 to feed her, one of my favorite ministers, and myself at a nice restaurant. I was more than happy to pay.
Your five frugal things are my favorite feature on your blog!
One day recently I decided to write my own five frugal things from that day:
1. Picked free beans from my own garden
2. Flicked potato bugs off my plants into soapy water - free insecticide
3. Picked up a large can of tomato paste for my daughter on a short grocery run of my own
4. Created beautiful sticker decorations (for a guest menu journal I am compiling)
5. From a hand written, lavishly illustrated cookbook I had bought for $1:00 at a discount store because the back had been torn off.
All this on one day in the morning!
1) Received a flyer for buy one-get one free from Corner Bakery and enjoyed a lovely lunch out with hubby for a modest $9.00. This coupon did not require that we buy beverages, yeah. The ones that do require we purchase beverages usually get tossed in the trash since we prefer free iced water with our food, thank you very much.
2) Spent a free night at our county fair, including free several free glasses of wine. Free, because we spent several days there earlier in the month volunteering, and our 'payment' was a fair pass, free parking in the employee/volunteers lot, and several adult beverage tickets.
3) Enjoyed a free trial week of live TV via Sling, and remembered to cancel it before the 7 day period was up. It was fun, but after four years without cable TV we are nicely used to our TV and commercial free evenings. 🙂
4) Made two quarts of sun tea for about 25 cents - one black tea, one herbal mango. I love how soft sun tea is to drink, compared to the harshness of tea prepared commercially.
and finally,
5) A girlfriend introduced me to Acai bowls, and I became instantly addicted. However, at between $8 and $9 a bowl, I just couldn't justify buying them on a regular basis so I perused the internet and found a recipe that worked well for me to make here at home to the tune of about $1.25 a bowl. Buying the acai powder feels like a bit of a splurge, at @ $18 a bag, but it makes between 38 and 40 acai bowls, so very frugal on a per-bowl basis. I make mine with almond milk, Greek yogurt, a frozen banana, some frozen berries, the acai powder, and a sprinkling of granola on top. I could eat them 3x a day I love them so much!
I'd caution you to be careful with the college bookstore - many won't take course books back without a confirmation that the student has dropped the class! (Campus bookstores are notoriously maddening).
Luckily, ours takes them back with a receipt. I can't believe some bookstores don't. Geez, that must be frustrating!
It is frustrating for everyone who has to deal with campus bookstores. I'm the professor and I'm not supposed to say this, but I usually counsel students to buy their books from amazon since they're much cheaper and easier to deal with. Not to mention the fact that EVERY SEMESTER I learn that the bookstore didn't order enough of my textbooks, so students are often left scrambling.
1) We saved $50,000 in a few hours. Our oldest is going to college and the bill was printed up. This isn't MED school!! I was nervous. I waited...Waited months...Then I called financial aid and found out that the paperwork was in the wrong pile and not classified properly! Needless to say, the final bill is so much more manageable. WHEW. Now we'll try to find used books.
2) Saved $3200. Again, our college student had a meal plan valued at $3200 on campus for a SEMESTER...I asked,"In four months, do you think you'll eat $3200 worth?" Most don't and the worst part is that it's non-refundable. Such a waste! SO, we eliminated the meal plan. The dorm has a frig/freezer/microwave. We'll get some easy meals/snacks and put money on a card he can use to buy food on campus. He can drive home as well, to pick up items.
3) Saved $1000. I took my car for a oil change. JUST a oil change....They said i needed brakes BADLY. The back brakes are in the RED ZONE.... My response was,"That's why i have front brakes!!" I got home and asked DH about this. He asked if my brakes squeal or do i need to push the brake pedal to the floor? No. Then they're lying. I only drive 2000 miles/year...Seriously??
4) Saved $260. I understand there are some really hot toys on the market right now that are selling for $150 at Walmart. I got them for $20 each on ebay. And they're new...Merry Christmas to the kids!!
5) Saved $5. I was sent a full size bottle of shampoo from a company to try out and report back on my thoughts. COOL.
It was a fun-filled week. I feel so relieved on all of the savings that i need to relax. My brain needs to just chill for a day or two as I worked really hard to think out of the box on some of this stuff. It's very easy to be taken advantage of and takes a lot of effort to think it all through before getting the real answer as to how much you should be paying.....Not what others want you to pay. Happy Frugality to all!
- packed lunch and water for a +3 hours train trip with already heavy bag
- laundried at off peak hours only and line dried
- did not watch any tv all week. I noticed not watching tv for a week saves a lot of electricity. However I mainly limit "blue lights" at night to save my sleep
- happened upon great gift for half the price I had bargained for, for housewarming
- made huge savings on car insurance for our next car
- did additional payment for mortgage. And am so happy about that. All the little amounts add up!
Craigslist people can be so crazy. Interestingly though we have really great friends we have made buying and selling on Craigslist. My husband and I joke that one day we'll throw a party and invite all the cool craigslist folks. 🙂
1. Double-checked our college bill and saw that one of my daughter's scholarships wasn't credited -- $1000 saved (YAY)
2. Remembered to use the leftover rotisserie chicken to make quesadillas and mixed in some random green peppers and onions that needed to be used up.
3. Packed husband's lunch all week for work.
4. Resisted the urge to take the kids to the movies with our last few days of summer break and instead rented a redbox. I served ice cream and they thought they were in heaven anyway!
5. Called our auto insurance and because our cars our older, paid for and have lots of miles I compared how much we would save by dropping our comprehensive and self insuring the value with our emergency fund. Haven't pulled the trigger yet but possible savings almost $2000 a year so hopefully the numbers work!
1. This week I have worked at eating at home. I didn't yesterday and despite ordering a non seafood meal due to allergies and informing the chef my meal was contaminated. I had a pretty strong and quick reaction. A great excuse to eat home made.
2. Pretty much all my wash is hung outdoors, even when it is hot and humid. Things might be fluffed in the dryer if I feel like it. The cleaner has been cancelled after many horrible errors and despite the extreme pain due to arthritis and some over stuff it may remian so.
3. Thursday night the kitchen sink blocked and I managed to fix it. Gross but cheaper.
4. I have resisted buying my beloved magazines etc.
5. I have begun making a serious Christmas plan and the needles etc are busy whenever I watch
television or travel etc.
Now the biggie I went to the pharmacy this week to pick up my pills for the next four weeks. Last time I paid around $70 and this time it was over $140 and I have a rebate on many of pills under the Australian' Pharmaceuticals Benefit scheme. My medical costs are huge. So obviously I have to find gaps and close them and it doesn't matter what I feel about it all. Pick the right parents everyone.
1. Found some school clothes for the beginning of the year on a clearance rack. Was able to purchase four outfits for $16.
2. I received a 20% off coupon off from a shoe store having a grand re-opening sale. While ringing up my purchase she used my coupon toward 2 pairs of boy's shoes and a package of socks. Then she rang up the 2 pairs of girl's shoes and used another 20% off.
3. This week I participated in a "Technology Bootcamp" at work. I'm a special Ed teacher and I'm not required to go back to work until next week. This training was voluntary, but it paid a nice stipend for attending.
4. I had a $5 off coupon for haircuts which I used for myself and 2 grandchildren.
5. I took the kids out for breakfast. With every paid adult meal, 1 child's meal was free.
6. Received an unexpected check in the mail as the result of a class lawsuit that I was unaware of.
Overall, it was a very frugal week.