Five Frugal Things | Also: THE CUBS WON.
Sorry to have gone MIA yesterday! I've been watching the World Series games with Mr. FG (cheering on his Cubs), so I've been up a bit late.
(2 am after last night's World Series win, to be specific. I'm kind of tired today.)
But the World Series is over now, so things should be more back to normal in my life. I am super happy for Mr. FG that the Cubs have finally won a World Series. Phew. I was sweating bullets in that drama-filled game last night.
And Indians fans, I'm sorry for your loss. If the Indians had been playing against anyone but the Cubs, I'd have been rooting for the Indians because boy, do I have sympathy for teams who haven't won it all in a long time.
I don't think I've had a notably frugal week, but we'll see what I can come up with.
1. I'm filling holes in a deck board.
One of our deck boards has two fairly large gaps. The board is otherwise in very good shape...I think these must just have been weak spots in the board.
My dad suggested using a plasticky wood filler, sanding, and then using my deck stain over top.
We'll see what happens. I figured it was worth a try before giving up on that board completely.
2. I cooked dinner each night.
Basic, I know, but cooking dinner at home for my crew of six is one of the most important things I can consistently do to save money.
3. I'm finishing my deck staining project.
I don't know that this is especially frugal, but it IS something that's easy to procrastinate on. I finished about 80% of the project at the end of August, but I never got around to getting on a ladder to finish the outside portions that can't be reached from the deck itself.
So on warmish days, I've been putting my earbuds in, listening to podcasts, and doing the annoying brush work of getting all those last details stained.
4. I'm working on painting my front door.
It's a plain-Jane door we bought 10 years ago, and we never painted over the white primer.
It's got some dents and the primer was pretty dirty, but I scrubbed the door down and put some coats of paint on yesterday. It's not quite done yet and it's not perfect, but the door looks SO much better than it did before.
And this is much cheaper than replacing the door.
(I'm brushing the paint on and I'm using a quart of Behr paint. I like it pretty well, but I think I'm going to thin it out a bit before I do more coats. Thick paint is annoying to work with.)
5. We didn't buy World Series tickets.
Bahahahaha! You knew I had to throw that in there, right?
On a actual frugal note: we don't have the channel that all the playoff games were on, so Mr. FG streamed them to our TV using the Roku and the FS1 app instead of paying the ridiculous sum the cable company wanted for the FS1 channel.
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How about you? If you've got five frugal things to share, leave 'em in the comments!
That's great news for the Cubs! I'm not a baseball fan, but I know it's been a long time coming, so yay! 🙂
Let's see; this week:
1. I reserved some leek bulbs that we used for dinner. They were right down to the nubbin's but still had roots, so I put them in a bowl of water to see if they would regenerate. And they did! It'll take a few weeks, but soon we should have more leeks to eat. Woohoo!
2. I was going to wash the car, but we had a lot of thunderstorms, so Mother Nature saved me some cash.
3. Today's meal plan ended up being a little weird, but we're making it work with leftovers, which means less food waste and saving money. 🙂
4. We've started composting! Now, instead of throwing away fruit/veggie scraps that we can't use for stock, we just compost them. Mr. Picky Pincher built 3 compost bins in our backyard, so we have plenty of composting to do.
5. Over the weekend I picked some of the chile piquins that grow wild in our backyard. They're itty bitty little chiles that will be great when dried! I hung them in a cloth bag (that I made from scratch!) in our guest room closet to dry over the coming weeks. They'll be great on tacos and in salsa!
It was a nail biter! Go Cubs!
I can't say I feel very frugal lately, but this is a worthwhile challenge to get me back into the game:
1) I used credit card points to purchase birthday presents for one of our dogs. Yes, birthday presents for a dog -- one thing he can use (a hoodie, bc he has very short hair) and one thing he loves (a bag of tennis balls). You only turn 10 once! haha
2) A friend gave us gigantic beets from her garden, which I roasted, peeled, and froze for a forthcoming borscht. I'll make this with leftovers from a half-off roast currently in our freezer.
3) I am doing everything I can to save a tree-slab cake stand my dad made for our wedding. The wood split in several places. We've used hardener and are now filling the gaps with a mixture of coffee grounds and epoxy.
4) I put away summer clothes and took out transitional/autumn clothes. I get as excited seeing my old things again as other people do when shopping. (I just don't really like shopping...)
5) I had a sewing session where I put patches on the inner thighs of several pairs of jeans to help increase their longevity, hemmed several, and learned how to fix the zipper on my husband's jeans from falling.
I call #5...chub rub 🙂 I get that in every pair of jeans after a few months of heavy wear!!
It was a nail biter for sure! I'm in the Chicago 'burbs and the fire works were blasting after the game. So fun!
Hats off to Cleveland as well. I was very impressed by the lack of smack talk by both teams. Great sports all the way around.
Yes, I thought the same thing. Both teams were very classy about it all, probably due to the fact that both of their managers are class acts.
I'm going to try my first FFT.
1. Halloween is always a frugal event in our house. The 3 boys are sent to their rooms and the costume tub to figure out what we already have. From that they will create a costume. Spiderman costume with holes? Zombie Spiderman. Boom. The youngest likes layers so one year he went as a hobo. I smeared paint on his jaw and chin for a 5:00 shadow and he was good to go in his already ragged pants and two tshirts, two hoodies and hat.
2. I am doing a budget reno in our basement. It is a little bit Silence of the Lambs right now. The budget to redo the 1400 sq ft basement is $2k. So far we are well under that. Paint, floorimg from ReStore and creating proper rooms can make a world of difference.
3. I have made dinner at home every night, incl. Halloween, even though it was crazy.
4. Sticking to my $200 grocery budget this week. Sometimes I can't make it happen because 3 boys eat A LOT, but this week is looking good due to some great meat and produce sales. I have a separate stock up budget so I will use that to buy extra sale meat and green peppers to chop and freeze.
5. Just finished digging out 8 window wells of 60 years of compost (from leaves) and wet clay to help the basement stay dry. It took about 10+ hours of lying on my stomach and digging so I have no idea how much I saved but it was likely significant. It was also great toning exercise for my arms. Fewer pushups, but more progress!
My husband is a life-long Cubs fan too! So we were especially excited that they went to the World Series this year and then, even better that they WON! We got to go to a Cubs vs. Braves game this past June in Atlanta which is a lot closer to us than Wrigley Field and much less expensive than World Series tickets. LOL. So much fun to see that game in person then to watch the same team play in the World Series!
Yay for the Cubs! It's a nice feeling when your team wins...not one we got to enjoy this year as the Red Sox rolled over and died in the first playoff series. Ooomph.
On the frugal front,
1) I'm almost through canning the bazillions of tomatoes we brought in right before the first frost. They've been ripening incredibly fast, and I'm incredibly tired of canning right now. (Thankful, but tired of canning!)
2) Bought a pair of Muck boots for about 1/2 list price on Amazon. Good shoes are SO expensive.
3) Used Subscribe and Save through Amazon to get 15% off some things we needed.
4) Stocked up on butter at Walmart who just had a rollback on their 2 lb. packages.
5) Drawing a blank on the last one!
Indians fan here - so last night was emotional for us! At least we had the Cavs win 🙂
5 Frugal Things for our week:
1.) I get paid once a month, some people look at me crazy like "how do you manage that?!". But I love it. On the first of every month (this past Tuesday), my husband and I sit down and hash out our budget for the month. Budget = frugal in my eyes!
2.) I meal planned for the entire month of November. Usually I only plan by week, but I'm taking the plunge this time. Let's see if I follow it 🙂
3.) We didn't buy our 3 year old a Halloween costume. She wanted to be Sheriff Calli which was super easy. She already had a cowboy hat and boots, jeans and a jean vest. All we had to do was make a sheriff star and we were good to go!
4.) I only spent $16 at the grocery store for this week's meal plan. I love Aldi. And purchasing bulk meat twice per year. And having a garden that prospered. And having neighbors and family to trade produce with. 🙂
5.) I have been following Brad's Deals website (it's the best) and keeping an eye on Amazon deals to due Christmas shopping. Using gift cards earned from Swagbucks and Top Cash Back of course 🙂
6.) We received free flu shots at Target (which now has CVS pharmacies in them!) and received a $5 gift card for each shot. We got 2 (we take our daughter to her pediatrician for her vaccinations) for $10 and used it to buy a Barnes & Noble gift card for a friend's birthday.
Frugal Fail...dun dun dun. We lapsed on our dogs flea, tick and heartworm medication for more than 2 months. Life happened. In order to get them back on their prescription, they needed a well-pet visit. That set us back $300 this week. Oof. I budget $100 per month for them, so it wasn't too awful. But a lesson learned!
My husband is a life-long Cubs fan also, so last night we stayed up till this morning. 😉 It was surely a nail-biter of a game! And that rain delay!
I would say that staining your deck is frugal, because 1) you've already purchased the supplies so if you don't do it they will go to waste, and 2) if you don't keep up with decks, they eventually need replacing - and staining is way less expensive than replacing! The house my brother-in-law bought has a deck on the back which was let go and it is beyond repair. We have a small deck on our new (to us) house and thankfully it doesn't need staining any time soon!
Frugal:
1) I have a registered Starbucks gift card and since my birthday was yesterday I checked online to see if I will get my free birthday drink. Yes, but I only have until today to use it! So this afternoon when I am out I will make sure to hit up Starbucks for my free birthday drink. Getting coffee out is a luxury and something I do not do often, so free is always fun!
2) I got a notification from Panera Bread that I have a free bagel each day this month. I will stop in a few times this month to get a free bagel! We don't have a Panera very close to us, but they are around - so IF I am already out I will stop in. I won't make any special trips though.
3) My sister bought a Beachbody program and she used it, and is now sending it to me to borrow. I'm going to pay for shipping and send her a little extra as a "thank you" for letting me use it. Definitely less expensive than buying a new program.
4) Different grocery stores keep opening around us and I keep getting great coupons in the mail! $10 off $30 were the best ones, but $10 off $40 at Aldi is nothing to sneeze at. I've used them mostly for loss leaders, so I feel like I'm getting a lot for my money!
5) I missed sending my parents cards for their birthdays in October, so I got them a gift card to Whole Foods (they love the sandwiches there) and my daughter is drawing a card for them. They'll enjoy the card and hand drawn pictures! I do enjoy Hallmark sentiments but in this case I think they'll appreciate my daughter's card more.
I guess I've been pretty normal and not particularly frugal either but here goes:
1.) Did not participate in Halloween. No decorations were put up and no candy was handed out. My daughter is way too young for Trick or Treat and she wore no costume. I dislike Halloween so I am glad to have another year when we didn't have to deal with it.
2.) Despite this, we did go out on Halloween leaving my daughter with her grandmother and aunts as sitters. We went to Ruby Tuesday and using a coupon we were able to get a free hamburger due to it being the birth month of my wife. We went to see two different movies because we're weird. I saw Carnival of Souls (a 1962 independent horror film) and my wife saw a reissue of The Nightmare Before Christmas. So the date wasn't cheap but we used Regal points to get discounts.
3.) I had several pairs of pajama pants that just decided it was time to tear. A couple of them I gave to my grandmother to mend as she has a sewing machine and knows how to use it while I don't. I also had a pair that had a big hole in it but was able to use a simple iron-on patch to repair that.
4.) Since she's repairing my pants, I'm going to be returning the favor by repairing my grandmother's sink.
5.) Got a great deal on Sears laundry detergent. The deal is now over but I got 180 loads of the powder for under $10. This stuff works great (even on poopie diapers) The local store didn't have it but I ordered it online and had it shipped to the store.
3.)
3.)
I just re painted my front door. Amazing how much neater it looks now for just a small amount of effort.
I am glad so many of you enjoyed the game. Cricket season is finally here but I am telling myself I cannot get to involved as a test match can last five days!
1. We have eaten at home so much this week. Mostly it has been chicken as I have been able to buy drumsticks at $1.70 a kilo. What a pity the freezer is filled.
2. After some research I swapped my cats' food and am saving over $70 for eight kilos. The only drawback is the huge drive (around 140km for the round trip) and the tolls going to Costco. However, now I know the darlings will eat this stuff I can really buy in bulk.
3. Our quarterly electricity bill arrived and by being careful and with ten solar panels our bill was less than $41 for the three months. We do not sit in the dark and for my elderly mother there are two lights on overnight. I am truly pleased with that as we are told our costs are some of the highest in the world.
4. Even though one of the supermarkets is tempting me with bonuses I am trying to ignore them. I am sticking to my plan.
5. Was able to save an extra $10 on one grocery shop this week because I used the bonuses mentioned above.
Let's see what I can come up with.....
#1 Used rewards points from Kmart along with coupons to purchase all my Halloween candy. We usually get 200+ kids so I needed a bit. Total before my rewards & coupons was over $33 & after applying both to my order, I walked out spending $4.29!!! Score!
#2 Hubby needed to refill our propane tanks (we grill all year long)....he filled two & place where we got them filled gave us 2 $5 off coupons towards our fill, so we saved $10!!
#3 Found a gift for hubby for Christmas on EBAY.....was 75% off for what the item normally sells for, saved $15
#4 Cooked dinner at home on Halloween instead of getting take-out pizza
#5 Redeemed points from Walmart Savings Catcher that I will use this weekend towards groceries. Free money back just for scanning receipts!
I'd like to hear more about your door painting experience. Mine has a hard, shiny paint that has chipped off down to the wood in several places and thus needs either repainting or touching up. (I still have the paint.) I don't know how to do this without taking the door down for several days, which presents obvious problems.
Could you please explain more about how you watched the games? We don't have cable. just an antenna (that picks up network broadcasts, including Fox) and Roku, but hubby really misses Monday Night Football on ESPN. I know how to stream from my laptop to the TV but not about apps on Roku. Would love your advice on this!
I'm gonna have to ask Mr. FG about this because I know nothing about it!
I did a little googling, and it's seeming like you'd need Sling to watching Monday Night Football: https://blog.roku.com/blog/2016/09/08/how-to-stream-football-on-your-roku-device/
Here's another article about that: http://www.cutcabletoday.com/sports/nfl/monday-night-football/
I agree with SJ, could you write more about streaming and Roku? I looked at the articles you cited but would like some personal perspective. I still have cable but would LOVE to jump into the streaming thing but I'm a technophobe and need to know the pros and cons as well as the basics. I really respect your viewpoint. Maybe Mr. FG could do a guest post?
Ok, I'll have to toss the idea to Mr. FG! We'd definitely have to collaborate, because he handles all the tech stuff around here.
A Roku (or an Amazon fire stick or similar) is pretty easy to use. You plug it in to your TV either via an HDMI cable or the 3 color plug connector if your TV is older. The Roku is about $50 but has no ongoing fees for the device.
After you plug it into your TV, you connect it to your wifi and then during the setup, you can choose "channels" to add such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, Sling, HBO Go. Most of these have a monthly or annual subscription price, but it is much cheaper than cable unless you subscribe to a bunch of them.
To view the Roku, you choose the input on your TV (like you would to choose your DVD player or a video game) and then you can scroll through the channels to select the one you want. Once selected, you choose from the offerings of that "channel"
1. LO was a pirate for his first Halloween-spent $4 total on his costume
2. Made dinner at home last night-there should hopefully be enough for dinner tonight too
3. Decorated a fake pumpkin for our office Halloween party/Pumpkin-decorating contest...free fall décor for future years (the office supplied the pumpkin and I already had the paint I used)
4. Brought lunch to work today (and breakfast!), and am drinking free coffee and water
5. ???
Now I remember 🙂
5. Made bone broth with leftover chicken bones...I usually make chicken broth with the leftover fat/scraps from boneless chicken breasts, but I had some bone-in chicken this week and decided to give it a go.
1. We bought zero Halloween candy. It's hard to resist all that delicious-looking candy at the grocery story, but we knew the kids would bring home too much. And they did.
2. We got a promotional mailing for metromile Tuesday. I had never heard of pay-by-the-mile car insurance before. But I like to keep on top of new pricing models of things we would otherwise keep paying and paying without thinking about--insurance, internet, cell phones, etc. Low and behold switching will save us $30 a month! AND we get a fun app that monitors our mileage and car diagnostics. AND I was able to cancel AAA too because buying road side assistance through metromile was cheaper. AND we were able to upgrade from the lowest level of coverage and the highest deductible.
3. We're eating out of the freezer this week, so groceries were especially cheap.
4. Gloriously, we have no plans for the weekend. Any plans we have are usually cheap, but it is nice to not even have to drive the car anywhere or buy food to entertain anyone. We will just hang out and rest up and get work done and not spend a dime.
5. We're keeping up with all the things we do to keep life frugal: cooking all meals out of the kitchen, getting all my books at the library, our oldest eats free school lunch (our city got a grant to provide free school lunch to every kid!), doing our own bookkeeping for the business (with the advice of an actual bookkeeper because our business is getting more complicated and I want to make sure we are doing it correctly), planning out my dissertation so can finish it on stipend, airbnbing on weekends to make extra cash . . .
I have been working on using up what's in our freezer and pantry. As a result I have only spent $70 on groceries this week, down from $120.
Paid a bill by phone instead of spending money on a stamp.
Spent only $5 of my fifty dollar allowance and that was on a bag of Christmas fabric for Christmas bags like you use.
1. I cut some plants in my yard to make some more medicinal tinctures for winter, and have them infusing in my "herb closet." They are rather expensive to buy.
2. My husband cut a dozen slips of longevity spinach from our two purchased plants, and they are rooting. We want to create an entire bed of it, so we can have enough to cook, as well as eat raw.
3. I earned another $25 from Swagbucks -- I'll be purchasing another Christmas present with it.
4. We are still eating out of our freezer for meats.
5. I think we are going to switch to Ooma for our home phone. We've been talking it over, and it seems to make the best sense. Thanks, Kristen!
Kristin do you find it hard to hang doors after you've taken them off the hinges?
Yep, which is why I just left this one on the hinges while I painted!
Wow! The Cubs won! I don't like or watch baseball but even I know that congratulations are in order!
1.) The hub's allows himself one lunch out a week with coworkers and is faithful to that. All other meals, including his lunches were homemade.
2.) I had a rigid grocery list that I stuck to and used the money I saved to buy underwear at Walmart from the clearance rack...... eight pairs for eight dollars! I used the remainder of my grocery savings on some nonperishable items that were on sale at a good price.
3.) Repaired the hole in a comforter.
4.) Bought some long sleeves shirts for winter (sad lack of winter clothes in my closet) from Goodwill's $1.49 a pound section. Very nice name brand shirts I might add.
5.) Hired a company to come and cut down some trees and trim up some more on our property. Now, some folks might think that's not frugal but.....
a. The hub's and I aren't spring chickens any more.
b. The cost of renting equipment to cut limbs off of 40 foot tall trees is expensive.
c. The cost of renting equipment to cut down 40 foot tall trees is expensive.
d. Hospital and emergency room bills that are incurred from trying to do something you've not got the training or expertise to do and getting hurt in the process is expensive.
e. Not getting bad trees and limbs taken down in hurricane country is penny wise and pound foolish. My homeowner's insurance deductible is almost twice the cost of taking down and removing bad trees and branches that are likely to fall on my house and cause serious damage.
f. If we'd tried to do it ourselves, it would have taken two solid months or more of weekends.....these guys were done in one day, cleaned up and hauled away all of the debris. I have a bad back and two bad legs. I'd have ended up in the doctor's office at some point..... doctors and prescriptions aren't cheap.
So, all in all, I'll stick to my guns and count this as a frugal win!
Oh! And.....
6.) Didn't buy any Halloween candy as we've only gotten a couple of kids in the last 4 or 5 years and the hub's and I don't need to eat any, lol!
So true! The story of the Cubs' loooong World Series drought has been far-reaching.
Totally agree about the tree trimming and removal. That's serious business, and you could get injured pretty badly if you don't know what you're doing.
I assume you've done a post about the Roku and this sports app -- I wonder if you could point me towards it, please? I don't have (and have never had) cable, but I love to watch tennis and my husband loves basketball so we'd love to have some access to sports broadcast, but we're just not willing to pay for cable just for that!
This is going to be a hard week for me to find any frugalness.
1. My light bill was 100.00 less since I threatened anyone who touched my thermostat . ( Really) took the saved 100.00 and paid to have my male cat fixed.
2 . College daughter blew a tire on her car. Thankfully she has been well taught and did not get hurt or wreck the car. 200.00 for 1 new tire ! House is packed with groceries , so no need to shop this month,
3. getting creative here. Child will drive car home and one of her fathers clients will put 4 new tires on car. I figure that 200.00 I paid for the one tire will be worth the 4 higher quality tires that she ends up with. ( it's not good to drive with 1 new and 3 worn tires and she has the opportunity to upgrade. Not the easiest solution but the cheapest for me.) ( Her dad will adjust the clients bill for the tires he gives baby girl )
4. Used a 6.00 Groupon at Zaxby's and received 20.00 worth of food. Didn't think that was right but the manager seemed confused?
5. Car was also impounded because Ford's roadside service did not pick up the car
Friends, it has been a long week. I had a long conversation about the 200.00 impound fee with the dealership's owner. My ex has bought that child two new cars in 3 years . We are talking 40,000 a piece. I expect excellent customer service . Her money is being refunded. ( Ex makes in two days what I make in a year )
I need a break ........
I hope you have a better week next week!
I would also like to know how to get FS1 on Roku. We have an antenna and a Roku, but no longer have cable. We have the MLB channel on Roku, and purchased the last part of the baseball season for $9.99, but the playoff games were all blocked out and could only be watched the next day. You can listen to the audio live, but not watch the game.
I love your blog and forwarded today's post to several people, just so they could see the Cubs sign. Thank you.
I'm not a baseball fan, but I was still up at that time and my husband asked me to watch it with him. I'm so happy for all the CUBS fans out there!
Indians fan here that went to the game last night and was surrounded by Cubs fan. Amazing turnout of Cub fans; I saw more than several groups of multi-generational family members going to the game, which was neat. We stayed around after the game to watch the Cubs celebration for a little bit. I am a history buff so being a witness to history MAY have dulled the pain of the loss. Going to the game was a frugal fail but we paid face value for the tickets thanks to a generous friend, being at a World Seies was priceless, however!
I'm sorry your team didn't win! I do hope the Indians get to end their drought soon.
I heard that the majority of tickets for game 7 were sold to out of town fans, so I'm not surprised to hear that there were oodles of Cubs fans in the house!
The Cubs were bad and rich, then the Cubs were good and rich, and then the Cubs flipped over the mattress where they’d been stashing stacks of money, and everything changed. It’s not an unlikely progression.
I listened to a podcast tonight that I think you'd appreciate. It was freakonomics, and it was titled "In praise of maintenance." It's more or less about how it's not glamorous, but it's important to maintain things. They were talking about it on a larger scale, but it relates to the home too.
Ooh, that sounds interesting!
Don't you need a mustache to do thing #1? 🙂
Thanks for the tip about the ALDI LED bulbs. I picked up a few boxes and put a couple to use right away.
Bahahaha!
I live for this moment when I get to come up with my five frugal things. Here we go:
1. One of the events today at work included a lunch, so there was one meal that I did not need to purchase or bring any food for.
2. Trick or Treating: my kids are still little (2 and 4) but really do not eat the candy that they received while trick or treating. Hubby and I now have snacks for a while!
3. Found a groupon for an oil change at our normal oil change shop and will save us about 40%...I'm over about 200 miles so I really need an oil change.
4. This one involves frugalness at work: I've been hosting "coffee & convos" events where we provide cookies and coffee to our students. There are always left over cookies and we know that our food service provider has to throw them away, so we bring baggies to bring them back to our office. We've had nice sweet treats all week.
5. This is by far the most fun frugal find of the week: A friend from church offered to give us a small blow up bounce house! Her work was giving it to her and her children (due to sensory issues) is unable to us it. So it is coming to us! Not sure where I will be able to use the bounce house during the winter, but maybe on a snow day, we can set it up in the basement as a treat! (This same friend has also been giving us multiple bags of hand me downs for BOTH kids) It's amazing when others generosity blesses you.