Five Frugal Things | Some saving, some earning
1. I ate leftovers for lunch.
We had leftover Japanese Pork and Ramen soup, so I heated it up for lunch.
And I had the end of a loaf of molasses oatmeal bread, so I cut that up and toasted some for us to eat with our soup.
2. I activated a rebate card.
When we last bought tires, there was a rebate for a $70 prepaid card, which I filled out online. The card just came, so I activated it and I'll use it when I buy groceries this week.
Prepaid cards are a little bit annoying to use, but oh well. It's not like I had the option to choose a check instead. And $70 is $70.
3. I lined up payment for two unpaid jobs.
I realized I hadn't been paid for two instances where I worked with companies, which is kind of a happy realization, in a way! Both payments have been taken care of now.
(Earning money is kind of an important part of being frugal, after all. Increasing income + lowering outflow = key to saving more.)
4. I did the January money email.
(Here's how I do the monthly money emails. HIGHLY recommend these if you share finances and having trouble keeping both people in the loop.)
I don't love the process of taking care of bills/writing up the monthly report, but I am always glad I did it.
It's kind of the same way with menu planning. I hate the process but I love the result!
5. I....
made yogurt, cooked dinner at home, packed a lunch for Mr. FG, bought only what I needed at the grocery store, and used the last bits of lettuce to make a salad.
Your turn! Share your own Five Frugal Things in the comments.
P.S. Sonia's got a post up today about some hedgehog mittens she knitted.
1. I have meal planned for the week - we'll have good meals, use up our produce, and have enough leftovers for lunches.
2. I received two Panera gift cards as Christmas gifts, so I've splurged on that more often than usual. I guess Panera noticed, they rewarded me with a free pick 2 on on my card. YAY!
3. I scrounged multiple copies of a kitty litter coupon from the Sunday inserts. Used two today while litter was on sale at my store, also maxed out my Kroger points for 60 cents off gas the next time.
4. My husbands 401K employer match landed in his account yesterday.
5. Used a free Sunday to make a big pasta dish (froze half) and a batch of lime chicken tacos (froze two meals worth).
I noticed almost all my frugalness is about food. I guess I'm all about the food : )
1) I am wearing a my "painting clothes", which are a shirt and holey sweats onto which I have been wiping paint for 15 years. I am a super messy cook and painter and I dress accordingly for each activity.
2) I am finishing up painting the basement. It has been a huge job but I have saved a ton of money. Until a few years back I thought only the wealthy paid people to paint the interior of their house!
3) I saved my winter boots with a pair of inserts. The arch wasn't high enough and they were painful to wear. I used a high arched athletic insert and now I can walk to the grocery store again!
4) I packed three lunches for three sweet boys today.
5) I ate the kids leftovers from breakfast for my breakfast. I have low food expectations. If it is edible and not terrible for me, I will eat it. Last week I ate chili for at least five consecutuve meals, including breakfast.
5. Me too! My husband jokes that I could eat rice and cottage cheese for every meal, and that's not far off, but I do at least realize I would die of scurvy if I did.
If it tastes good, why does it matter how often I eat it? I prefer variety, but I don't need it.
Let's see, this week:
1. Dinner didn't work out last night. Instead of going out to eat, we resorted to our trusty freezer meals. I had a delicious dinner of homemade pizza without spending extra moolah.
2. I plan on making homemade dishwasher soap this week to avoid buying a $15 tub of dishwasher pacs. They're expensive and dangerous to pets and kiddos, so I'd like an alternative.
3. I baked biscuits and English muffins last weekend. Hopefully these can sustain Mr. Picky Pincher for breakfast. He has to eat breakfast at work, so food items need to be microwave-friendly for his Picky self. Hopefully the
4. I brewed a batch of kefir for the first time. I flavored it with three homemade fruit syrups: lemon, pineapple, and blackberry. The lemon is the tastiest by far. I drink these as a replacement for sugary snacks. Why not get a serving of probiotics?
5. I plan to get our car cleaned this weekend using our coupon for 3 months of free car washes and vacuums.
Maybe it's just me and my natural aversion to making my own cleaning products, but I find the powdered stuff sold at Walmart and Target to be a much better deal than the pacs.
I agree, and I think the meltable plastic on the pacs HAS to be a questionable choice.
1.) My daughter is sick with an ear infection. It turns out with my insurance it's cheaper to go to the local walk-in clinic (and actually be seen on a Sunday and be in and out about 15 minutes) than to go to her Doctor's office and spend an hour in the waiting room. 10/10 would visit again for minor illnesses. YMMV on your own insurance but it's definitely cheaper than the old standard of an emergency room visit.
2.) We made a chuck roast on Sunday and have been eating leftovers of it. While it's boring at times, it's something my daughter is at least eating but I'm struggling to find ways to spice it up.
3.) Our toaster oven died and my wife would like for me to buy an actual toaster. I'm torn between getting a used toaster from Goodwill (the cheapest option) vs getting a nice refurbished Dualit toaster.
4.) Did some thrift shopping again. Found nothing but it was nice to be back into the idea of buying used again.
5.) Still playing the Aldi lottery. Basically for fun I try new products at Aldi. If I like them I can keep buying them. If I find they are junk, I am out almost nothing. Recent winners include the animal crackers (which taste like those McDonaldland cookies of my youth) and their take on Spaghetti Os.)
Battra92,
I went with a yard sale toaster, $1. I've been using it for almost 10 years now. It's not the cutest, but I can't argue with the price.
But I admit I love the look of the newer ones.....
I did that with a hand mixer ($1 for a 90s era Sunbeam) but we don't use hand mixers very often (I usually just opt to use the trusty old KitchenAid.
Used will win the cost and sustainability argument but it is something that I plan on using just about every day so I'll continue to ponder over it. In the meantime I'm toasting on a cast iron griddle.
And you can get your money back easily at Aldi for any product you aren't satisfied with. So it's truly risk-free.
Indeed, though I've actually never had a reason to or I just don't think it's worth fighting over $1 for what amounts to personal taste. Now if it was spoiled or rotten then yeah, I would definitely take it back but thankfully I've never had that problem.
I have a jar of pasta sauce to return because the lid will turn endlessly but it won't come off. That's a first!
Folks, be really, really careful with those toasters. A fire department rep who did a fire safety presentation at work said that ordinary pop-up toasters are one of the leading causes of kitchen/house fires. He strongly recommended toaster ovens instead. (And I would think that a used toaster could be even more hazardous than a new one.)
Our fire chief suggested that folks unplug their toasters when not in use.
We do, only because we don't store it on the counter due to lack of space. So when we're done with it, we unplug it and put it in the cabinet.
We ALWAYS unplug our toaster, coffee maker, mixer, blender, whatever small appliance we've been using, once we are done with it. They are too easy to get turned on, left on or malfunction. My parents were lost in a house fire caused by their coffee maker.
1. I had about a cup and a half to two cups of spaghetti sauce, to which I had added a little Italian sausage, left in my refrigerator. I cooked a mini-lasagna dish for the two of us out of it. I had parmesan and mozzarella cheese, but no ricotta or cottage cheese, so I substituted garlic-flavored soft goat cheese I already had, for the ricotta. It turned out surprisingly good.
2. I used more of my contact lens rebate card to buy a few groceries. I'm about finished on that card, but it's been nice to have.
3. I'm steadily doing Swagbucks to get money for Christmas presents. I also picked up a clearance wooden puzzle and rubber animal bath toys from an after-Christmas toy sale to give to two of my little grandkids for their Easter baskets. Shopping ahead can save cash.
4. I'm still in need of two more forms to do my taxes, but I'm being proactive this year and printing them out as soon as forms become available, instead of waiting around. That doesn't really count as "frugal," but getting a refund faster always seems better to me, and I think we will get a refund.
5. Little things count -- I clean the tank of my water distiller with a little vinegar, and when I'm done, I pour the vinegar into my softener dispenser of my washer, since I use vinegar with each load of laundry. No need to waste it, right?
Hi, I do swagbucks too! It's a great way to earn amazon GC's & paypal $ for gifts etc.
1. Cooked dinner from stuff we had on hand the past two nights. Pork chops (Sun) and Spaghetti (Mon)
2. Used craft supplies that I had on hand instead of buying new to finish the galaxy shirts at my daughter's GS meeting last night.
3. Going to try and paint the laundry room today with paint I got on sale at Home Depot.
4. Aired up my tire at home instead of paying at the gas station.
5. Only running errands and driving when I have to. I've only used a half tank of gas instead of a full tank this past week.
My five:
1. We are holding off on buying a 3rd car for our teen drivers. I have stayed home car-less more so my son could drive himself to practice. This saves on gas as I am not making 2 trips to drop-off/pick-up plus less of my time. We are planning to buy a new car for me eventually and making my current car available for the kids, but we are holding off to see what the college expenses look like before we buy.
2. We have cut out a lot of eating out on the weekends that we used to do. We cooked friday dinner (wings), Sunday breakfast (waffles) and lunch (soup and sandwiches) at home. All meals we used to eat out fairly frequently.
3. I have a great car pool for swim practice and church activities. There are up to 10 trips to swim per week and I usually only drive 2 of them. My friend offered to drive my child to a weekly church activity since she is there as a leader anyway. Score!
4. I've been diligent about turning off extra lights my kids have left on and encouraging them to be more careful.
5. Dropped off donations to the thrift store and got the receipt. I stapled my itemized list of donations to it for better claims at tax time.
Prepaid cards are not my favorite either. We started buying a grocery store (or Amazon) gift card for the full amount of the prepaid card so you only have to deal with the annoying prepaid card once. Highly recommend!
Love that idea! I always forget to use the cards before the expiration and kick myself for the waste!
1. The temperature here in NNJ hasn't been so bad so I haven't really turned my heat up. It has been at a steady 66.
2. My workplace pays for unused sick/vacation time at the end of the fiscal year so I really try not to take any time off if not needed. This past week was the "Payout Week", I was able to add to my savings account and my Mortgage Fund (I'm trying to build up to have a 6 month emergency cushion)
3. I have stuck to a meal plan for several weeks now and it has really helped with food shopping costs. I was able to stick to my $200 month goal. (I feed 3 adults)
4. Pulled out my old Weight Watcher books and have been trying to do it on my own without signing up and paying for someone else to weigh me....lol
5. All meals have been cooked at home and all leftovers have been eaten...no food waste!
Wow! $200.00 for 3 adults! I'm amazed, I spend that much for just myself & I'm a sale only person but I live in Alaska & it's definitely more expensive here for groceries & we don't have any real discount stores like Aldi's. But I'm really impressed!
First of all, thank you for the B & N gift card. I am happily anticipating it's arrival. 1. I made the Japanese Pork and Ramen soup a while back and I froze a good portion of it and took it out this last weekend. It was nice to have warm soup on a cold day with minimal effort. 2. I made homemade cast iron bread last week and this week made croutons with the leftovers. 3. I'm cleaning and decluttering my craft room and I have been preparing for a rummage sale at my favorite local scrapbook store where you drop off your priced merchandise and they do all the work and what you sell you get to use for store credit to get new items 4. I sold some bigger things on the local on-line rummage sale and ebay for cash. 5. I passed along magazines, that were passed to me, to someone at work to enjoy.
1. Monday's lunch was take-out leftovers, the take-out being a gift from someone else.
2. I'm not meal planning but I am eating mostly from what I have. Produce continues to be the exception.
3. Drove 45 min away to take advantage of a good sale on happy meat from my bulk meat purveyor. 12 lbs gr pork, 8 lbs, gr beef, 3 sets ribs, kielbasa.
4. Still waiting for sales to stock up on happy meat from Whole Foods.
5. Didn't buy a Lear jet.
#5 made me laugh! Thanks!
Hat tip to Katy, the Nonconsumer Advocate.
1. We had a birthday lunch at a local restaurant. We had a gift card and they were having a "kids eat free" promotion, so we only paid for the tip. We made sure to include the full price of the kid's meals when we determined the tip, though!
2. I cancelled DirectTV last month (definitely a frugal choice). I had an overpayment on my account, so they sent me a prepaid card. I received it this week and immediately transferred the balance from the card to my bank account.
3. We needed a new shower curtain liner. I happened to get an offer for a $1 shower curtain liner from Uberzon (Amazon discount site), so I took a chance an ordered it. I even chose "no-rush shipping" and got a $1 credit for digital movies or music. I'm glad to report the liner is high-quality and made in the USA.
4. I've packed lunches using leftovers for my husband and myself.
5. I haven't bought any makeup or beauty boxes in January. This is a big one for me. I'm a generally frugal person, but makeup and beauty boxes are my weakness. We can afford the splurge, but it seems so wasteful to have so much makeup I don't need. I only have one face, right? I've set a "no buy" goal this year, unless I actually run out of something like foundation. I don't know if I'll actually be able to resist buying anything all year, but I've made it through the first month strong.
1. Made a crockpot of corn and potato chowder using some veggies bits. It turned out delicious.
2. Am diligently job hunting for something closer to home with more hours. I am driving a long distance for very short hours and it is not worth the cost anymore. I have had a couple great interviews, just waiting to hear back on a desicion.
3. We are taking up our friends offer of letting our dogs stay with them while we are gone for a week. Dog boarding is not something I like to do for more than a day or so and this is much cheaper for us and the dogs will have a yard to play in and company all day long as she is a stay at home mom.
4. Choosing to not eat out when it is just my hubby and me. We were doing it about once a week. Now we only eat out when we are getting together with friends.
5. Continue to make my own house cleaners, trimming the dogs nails myself, and not shopping for anything but groceries.
http://carriewillard.com/frugal-accomplishments/
I got some Bug Out dried food cheap at Bargain Hunt.
Ordered a 50 pound bag of oats.
Lived without a car and a dryer.
Meal planned, cooked!
1. Reduced my gym membership to $10/month!
2. Kept grocery bill to $75 per week for 2 adults all of January/no eating out for the entire month of January!!
3. Collected and turned in bottles for extra cash that went to groceries.
4. Signed up for extra chaperone duties for pay through March and April.
5. Kept up on ibotta rebates and slowly growing up to my first withdrawal!
I had a long weekend away by myself in the District of Columbia, which was not super frugal but also not terribly expensive.
(1) Used hotwire.com to snag a great deal on a hotel room. Bonus: it had the BEST hot chocolate at the morning drinks station, with shaved chocolate (white or milk) and marshmallows as toppings!
(2) Used the Amtrak, metro line, and my feet for most of the time, and snagged two free car rides with a friend.
(3) Visited two free Smithsonian museums (Native American Museum = fantastic! and National Gallery of Art = always a pleasure)
(4) I took a library book with me, but also bought several - most from secondhand shops
(5) On my way home, dreading the thought of having to go shopping, I realized we could have a pantry-led meal plan this week: soup and sandwich; Marcella Hazan tomato sauce and pasta; potato, spinach, and smoked sausage (a riff on a Dutch staple); and then leftovers and/or cheese plates through Friday at minimum.
Ooh, my girls would love that hot chocolate. They always get hot chocolate at breakfast when we stay at hotels.
1. I made chicken picatta last night for the first time to use up capers left over from last week's menu. All other ingredients came from Aldi. It was delicious. I will definitely make it again.
2. Got some books I need for school from the library. I also considered buying a copy of a Nick and Tesla book for my oldest. The library has all but one for some reason, and it's not even the latest. Then it occurred to me to check the county library. They have it so we will go on Friday, sign up for a card, and complete our collection for the price of the gas to get out to the library.
3. Took the baby for a check up this morning. Preventative care is cheap or free and avoids the pain, suffering, and spending of getting sick.
4. Convinced my husband to cancel his WWE monthly membership. Last year for Christmas I got him a one year membership, which he really enjoyed, but $120 a year seems like a lot to keep paying just to watch wrestling. I feel like netflix is cheap. But if you then add hulu and WWE and this one and that one you're basically paying for cable.
5. Renewed the library book that escaped the return pile to avoid fees, made my lunch with this and that from the fridge and pantry, wore a pair of jeans around that house that is tattered but I am indignant will last until I shrink from my "post post partum" clothes back into my normal clothes, took a bike ride on my craigslist bike to help accomplish that goal, drank water instead of Pepsi with my lunch also to accomplish that goal and avoid paying for a Pepsi, and turned down the heat last night.
I've never written to my husband on money matters, but I think it may be a good idea!
My five frugal things this week plus one possibly frugal:
-Contacted a manufacturer on kitchenware I cannot put back together again after cleaning. Nothing is broken and they may have a manual of some sorts
-Mended a frayed towel - good to go for many more baths
-Sold some items that have been laying around for years and will not be used
-Signed up for a reimbursement benefit at work
-Planned lunch and dinner menus for a vegetarian guest who will be staying with us for some time.
-From a homeless person selling magazines to earn money for the shelter, I bought a magazine on local support in financial planning for people in debt. Left it at Railway station and hope it will end up with someone who can use it.
Have a great week!
Kristen,
I'd be interested in your opinion on zero interest credit card loans to finance home improvements assuming the loan is paid off within the zero interest period? We have used this for several home upgrades and always pay off the loan within the free interest period. I just calculate the monthly payment. I know it can be a risky scenario for some people, but when we needed a new AC/Heating system, we were able to get it and pay it off in 3 years at no interest, rather than suffer through 3 years of an old system with higher energy costs while saving the money to pay upfront.
1. I had leftover spaghetti for lunch yesterday from Saturday night's dinner
2. Used a $5.00 off $40 or more coupon from the grocery store
3. Used (fairly new) store rewards card (from ^^ grocery) when purchasing gas this a.m. and it took $2.00 off my bill
4. For dinner last night, I heated up over leftovers from our eating out lunch we had Sunday. It was a birthday lunch for my 2 Jan. birthday kids. We got boneless buffalo wings, buy a small order, get a small order free. So my 2 girls did that and my husband and son did another one, so we got a 48 wings for the price of 24 and plenty of leftovers. So I just warmed them up, made some home-fries and called it dinner.
5. Washing all my laundry in cold to save a little $$ on the electric bill
I use my pre-paid cards to buy a gift card--Costco, Targer, etc. much easier to use!
Here we go!
1. Visited our local library for the first time last weekend. They have a Lego club every Saturday morning and it's been a big hit with my two kids. We've begun taking books out of the library and talking about how important it is to keep the books nice and not to rip them!
2. Instead of our weekly "Chick Fil A & Church" routine on Wednesday evening, I used coupons to go to Burger King. While it did save us about $15, I was not impressed with the cleanliness, so we will be returning to Chick Fil A this Wednesday.
3. I investigated a preschool closer to my work and will soon be transferring my son to it. That will save us around $25 a week in tuition.
4. Hubby found a coupon online for an oil change.$7 off!
5. Frugal Fail: stopped at Burger King (not the same one mentioned above) for breakfast yesterday. The morning was crazy with my two toddlers and there was no time for me to eat at home. By the time I dropped them off at daycare, I was so frazzled I WANTED a greasy breakfast. Ha
Ate all meals at home last 5 days
Use extra bucks st cvs for 5 free cans of tuna
Went to goodwill50%sale on sat got a Waterford rose bud bowl. I paid 5.00
Went to library
Bought coffee from home to work
1. Line dried a load of laundry (we live in Texas, so I can pretty much do that year round!)
2. Coming to the end of my "no spend month" and have fared pretty well with only buying food, gas and necessities (which includes my son's birthday gift, which we used the rest of our rebate gift card to buy!)
3. Returned books on time to the library and borrowed new ones to read, including some DVDs on hold that my husband wants to watch.
4. On the way home from the library, stopped at Target to redeem a Cartwheel perk for a free Starbucks drink!
5. Reused a t-shirt decorated with 100 stickers for my son's 100th day of school...had saved it from the same purpose at preschool 2 years ago, so I spent no money and no effort for it this year!
1. Doing my own taxes. I've been paying someone for a while, because there were some complicated things that I didn't want to tackle. I was nervous, but its easier than I thought. Saving over $100 doing it myself.
2. Used a rain check to get chicken leg quarters for 39cents a lb!
3. Made 2 pot pies, one for the freezer, using the sale chicken, crusts from the freezer (hate making home made crust), veggies brought home from a work event (and froze), and home grown spices.
4. Made broth from the sale chicken and froze for later use.
5. Got free grapefruit from a coworker. She had received a crate of grapefruit as a gift, and shared some with me.
As usual food is a huge problem in my household. I have been placed on the FODMAP diet for medical reasons. I think I will be eating paleo as it is very restricted when I factor in my allergies. I am trying to make meals from what is in the house.
I am crafting from my stash.
I am trying to combine jobs when driving to visit dad at the nursing home.
Or three monthly electricity bill is just under $265 (Australian). This is brilliant as the air con has been running 24/7 as the heat and humidity has been brutal. The plus side is that we must have made a lot of our power this quarter.
Trying to stretch out my hair cut for another 2 weeks.
1. Successfully kept grocery spending under $100
2. Sold some books to Powells online
3. Made elderberry syrup from berries we picked and froze this fall.
4. Remembered to freeze the last of the bananas before they went bad.
5. Introduced my book fanatic kiddo to the library website so he can get new books for himself. I love visiting our local library with him, but it's small and doesn't always have the selection we're after.
1. Parboiled the snap peas and collard greens that were going unused in the fridge, thereby extending their shelf life and increasing their readiness to eat.
2. Used the grease I've been capturing from recent bacon [just discovered Aldi's hickory flavored without preservatives. Omg!] and breakfast sausages--in this morning's drop biscuits (tried and true recipe from Joy of Cooking) and gravy (still looking for that groovy perfect gravy).
3. Wearing shirts or jeans a second day, after a sniff test and when I can get away with it.
4. Going to microwave collected bar soap ends from the last year or two, good at least for bathroom or shower soap.
5. Cut a fallen tree limb into firewood lengths. A neighbor kid questioned why and I explained it was free firewood. He astutely observed that 'the cost is you cutting it.'
Really trying . . .You all inspire!
1. Returned/renewed library books to avoid fines.
2. Returned rancid basmati rice to Aldi's -- they were excellent about it -- offered me both a refund and another bag of rice! Declined the rice but accepted the refund and thanked them profusely. Yet another reason to love Aldi's. Also, recouped my cart quarter -- cuz it's the little things.
3. Even in the throes of a major bad mood yesterday (catching cold, work stress, various cosmic worries) ate frozen Indian meals with husband and forced myself to cook up 15 bean soup that will be robo-meals for the week, with salad (5 cent cukes, 25 cent avocados and fixings from Aldi's). Figure total cost for soup about $8.00 to last at least 6-8 servings,
4. Eating breakfast in (toast from 25 cent Aldi's ww loaf smeared with leftover humous from last week, or cheap bran flakes every morning with 33 cent or free grapefuit from coworker. Lunches are the Frugalwoods black bean barley with mushrooms robo-meal along with extra salad or chopped veggies. Breakfast: 50 - 60 cents; Lunch: $1.40 or so.
5. Wearing older jeans bought very cheaply, $3.00 shirt from Walmart's, and discounted shoes from 6-8 years ago.
Thanks for all the great ideas!
I had no idea rice could go bad.
Honey is the only thing I know of that doesn't go bad. It is naturally anti-microbial and anti-bacterial and will last for hundreds of years or more, supposedly. I read once that they found some in a crock in a tomb that was perfectly fine. Probably granulated as all heck, but not spoiled.
Interesting! It is brown basmati rice, if that makes a difference? Maybe the germ contains oil that goes rancid? Hmmm . . .
Yes! Brown rice goes off way faster than white rice.
1. Saved $5 at the craft store by NOT buying something I was pretty sure I needed before checking my stash at home. Turns out I had twice as much as I needed in my supply closet.
2. Delaying my perscription pick up until February 1st so that the debit on my card will count towards February. My bank waves the $10 monthly account fee if I have 15 debit card purchases per month. When I am really focused and sticking to my budget it is hard to reach 15 sometimes. For January I had exactly 15.
3. Instead of buying sandwich bread, I pulled hot dog buns and a hunk of a baguette out of the freezer and used those instead. Speaking of which, I made a freezer inventory at the beginning of January and it has made a huge difference in my budget by building around things I already had. I will definitely be updating it for February this weekend.
4. I renewed my museum membership and my amazon prime which cost a lot up front but save me soooo much in the long run because I use them both All The Time.
5. I was down to one cat food bowl and considered looking in a thrift store or the dollar store for new ones instead of using my good dishes. Then I remembered I had some small asian style bowls that someone gave me in my Goodwill bag and dug them out. They are the ideal size for cat food and have little fishes painted in the bottoms of them which seems just perfect for the cats' dinner. Yay for shopping in my own Goodwill bag. I didn't even have to leave the house. Haha.
1) Remembered to turn off sprinklers prior to last week's series of storms, which will lower our water bill significantly.
2) Used a $10 off $10 coupon at JC Penney to purchase an item I needed anyway.
3) Used a BOGO coupon for a cheap date night with hubby at a fast casual place we both really enjoy.
4) Used a TravelZoo dining deal to enjoy a very romantic dinner at half the listed menu price. Plus it included a bottle of wine. 🙂
5) Made all other meals at home, with enough leftovers to freeze for several more meals. Also planned my Super Bowl menu around what's currently on sale near me, so it looks like we'll be munching on guacamole, then eating BBQ'd short ribs. Yum!
How about a post on big frugal fails? I just had to lend a family member 1500 dollars on a loan I will never see. But it is a tough situation. I saved so hard for the money but she is in dire straights. Wondering how I make it back up. Not to mention I feel resentful as I have never asked my sister to borrow money and she seemed to expect it.
That is a very hard place to be in. There aren't many good answers to that.
Oh, that is so hard! Especially if you are like me and have a terrible time saying no.
Hopefully someone else will have advice for you.
Lydia, you are probably going to have to decide how to handle this for the future because it almost certainly will come up again. I don't know your sister but it's possible YOU could be her backup plan for life. You need to take care of yourself first. Decide what you are going to do the next time she asks and realize your decision may not make her happy.
Some weeks are really frugal for me and some are more unconventional. I don't spend much money on clothes or disposable items, so it can be tough to figure out what I did to be frugal, other than not buy anything...Here's my list:
1) We're going to a free day at the Art museum. The youngest will take a selfie while there to submit it for a school project and the oldest is bringing his girlfriend. I've only met her once so it should be fun.
2) Worked on a school project for the youngest. It was a sculpture. A robot made of aluminum. Using foil pans that we had, and soda can tabs, other items had to be purchased, but not much. A roll of aluminum wire and 2 washers ($5). I splurged and got a trophy base from ebay ($7.25) as it had to look like "museum quality." Hot glued the bot to the base and he moved like a bobblehead, but DS2 said it was a hit. Hope he gets a good grade for it.
3) I got free magazines from airline miles and a website that lets me take surveys called rewardsurvey dot com. The selection isn't huge and some are digital mags, but hey, it's free and I like to read.
4) We refill our printer cartridges at Costco for $10 each.
5) My paycheck from my job didn't come through. I had to let the HR department know so they could do an inquiry. So, i started looking at my pay stubs and noticed one was missing from December. Which means, they'll be re-issuing 2 checks to me pretty soon. Kinda cool. Found money is always good.
1. We ate dinner at home all week. No eating out. This also gives me leftovers for my lunch.
2. I began a new craft project which I will be saving for a gift. It's a pallet hanging.
3.I took some clothing to the consignment shop.
4. I pulled a book off my bookcase at home to read.
5. I called my cell phone company to dispute a bill and won.
Overall, it was a quiet week. I have not even been in a store in over 10 days at least.