Five Frugal Things
1. I made croutons.
I had a couple of whole wheat rolls that were getting a bit dry. So, I cut them up into cubes and threw them into my bread cube bag in the freezer.
But then I though, hey, why not just go ahead and make croutons now?
And that's what I did.
I'm happy to say my bread cube bag is empty. Woo!
2. I organized my fridge.
I went grocery shopping yesterday, and I knew if I added my new groceries to the fridge without some organization, I was bound to lose some food.
So, I made it more orderly, I froze a few things, I cut some produce up for snacking on, and I prepped some veggies to eat with dinner.
And now I know exactly what's in my fridge again. I kind of can't do that too often!
3. I got started on my taxes.
I have seriously been procrastinating on this task, largely because I know I'm going to owe money.
But I got the ball rolling last night, and I think I'll probably manage to get filed in the next couple of days.
Getting started is the hardest part!
(I use TurboTax because I am way too chicken to deal with actual tax forms, thank you very much.)
4. I shopped at Aldi.
As I was shopping there yesterday, I thought about how weird it would be to move somewhere with no Aldi. I would seriously miss it!
Aldi makes so many great items affordable, and I'm super happy I have one nearby.
5. I...
....packed a lunch for Mr. FG, added mashed sweet potatoes to my dinner plan because they needed to be used, drank tea brewed from tea bags (so inexpensive!), ordered some mothballs to try to combat my squirrel van-wire-chewing problem, and made a from-scratch dinner at home.
Your turn! Share your five frugal things in the comments!
P.S. Sonia's got a blog post up, where you can meet Bernard and Bean.
1. Tomorrow is salary day (I am monthly paid), and we have completed a full restaurant and take-away free month, stuck to the meal plan, and finished R500 under budget.
2. My dad gave me half a packet of pea seeds for the winter veggie garden. R13 saving for me.
3. Managed to keep my data usage within my cell contract limit, so no top-up needed.
4. We were gifted a new-to-us TV set, so were able to share the blessing and pass our old model on to a student friend.
5. Reviewed my funeral policies with the bank, increasing cover (inflation and all) and saving on premiums. Not a fun thing to think about, but necessary.
Wow you did really well! Especially number 1. I always hated being paid monthly I was NEVER able to make it work (I was in my early twenties and it just didn't gel with my lifestyle lol!).
From everything you say about Aldi, I so wish we had one where I live! The nearest one is nearly 2 hours away. The pickings around here for grocery shopping are slim. I want to visit an Aldi the next time we go out of town though. It sounds wonderful!
My sister-in-law was amused that I was so excited to visit the Aldi in their new town.
1. got to the point where kids and husband were questioning if I was going to go grocery shopping! Which meant I organized the paltry fridge and pantry shelves and hit Aldi!
2. ate all family meals in from scratch and packed my work lunches.
3. Bought gift cards for sons birthday party supper which earned me gas points..
4. went to use a rain check and $1.00 off coupons at Rite Aid on dishwasher pellets.. saw the same brand/diff style had a clearance tag.. bought all the clearanced items instead! So 5 boxes( 100 pouches) at .08/load.. instead of .13/load
5. same store.. walked the aisles once I saw 50% 75% of tags.. snagged some great deals on snack bars and laundry detergent in addition to my dish detergent.
1. I stopped drinking diet pop at the beginning of the new year. I did buy it at the grocery store but it still averaged 66cents a can and I had one can a day so I've saved 47$. I actually did take that amount and put it in my savings account. Now I wish I had quit sooner!! I ALWAYS make tea and coffee at home which is super easy.
2. I baked everything myself (that includes bread) for lunch boxes this week.
3. I hung all my laundry to dry.....hurray for some warm days to hang sheets outside!
4. I ordered a book I really wanted to read from the library instead of buying it and I was rewarded by getting it two days later! I rarely buy books but I'm still giving myself credit for this one because I really did want to just buy it.
5. I read The Frugal Girl everyday. ☺ï¸
Congratulations on breaking the soda habit! That is a difficult one to kick. Good job.
Thanks Stephanie, I really appreciate your comment.....made my day!!
Wow, I'm impressed you've been doing so much cooking from home and even baking your own bread! Great job!! I've been working at trying to cook and eat more healthy meals at home lately to save money and eat better.
Good luck to you Dori in your kitchen and thanks for taking the time to leave me a comment. I appreciate the encouragement so much!!
Great job! Being frugal usually has the added benefit of being healthier. 🙂
We are later on our taxes this year too! We got them started a month or so ago, but need to get moving on finishing them!
Last week's frugal things:
1) I made homemade room freshener/clothing freshener
2) We continue to not need paper towels/paper napkins
3) we drink mostly water (which is cheap)
4) I made homemade breakfast bread
5) I meal planned for the week to avoid takeout!
1. We no longer have to purchase diapers OR pull-ups. Our 3 year old is sleeping through the night in her big girl undies!
2. I was about to go to the store to buy a waterproof mattress cover for our toddler's bed (because you know accidents will happen), when my husband reminded me that some hospital pads made their way home with us after having Little Daisy...so we put those under her sheets and they work perfectly.
3. Mr. Daisy prepped his lunches for the week and has even started to rinse out his Ziploc bags and re-use them. {insert heart eyes Emoji here}
4. Little Daisy has her first dance recital coming up. I searched everywhere for a second hand leotard she needs but couldn't find one. Luckily, I found one on clearance for less that $5.
5. I drank coffee and tea at work, unplugged unused items, called my insurance to see if we qualified for a lower rate, and dropped our cell phone bill by $30.
Isn't it so great when you can take diapers/pull-ups completely off your shopping list? Just the best.
Doing this keeps me on the frugal trail and helps me stay on track. Thanks, Kristen!
1. I had two anemic euro pillows so I carefully slit the seam and used stuffing I had to make them a decent size that would fit the shams.
2. Wanted something spring-y to use for decor so I borrowed some blue paint from a friend and using cream and green paint I had, painted three large paper mache Easter eggs from Goodwill and am painting three Ball canning jars with the same paint, one in each color.
3. My grocery bill has been insanely low the last few weeks as we continue to use what is in the freezer and cupboards. I did almost pass out paying 2.55 for a head of bok choy but I've used it for stir fry and salad already and have 2-3 meals left of orange/bok choy/onion salad.
4. Picked up a pack of St. Patrick's Day cards at the thrift shop and am sending those to the family. I picked out green stamps from what I had to post them. Not a necessity but it is fun to get mail in the middle of winter!
5. Continuing to use what we already own to make this new to us house a home. It feels so good to see my thrifted map pictures on the wall. Much, much better than anything new I could bring in. And my husband returned something to Goodwill and came home with the same lamp I had seen at Lowes for 60.00. But he paid 18.00! Lights that dark corner where I hung the maps beautifully!
Sounds like a productive and frugal week so far!
This week:
1. I used up some pizza crusts in the pantry last night to make pizza for dinner. I used up leftover bits of cheese and homemade frozen marinara, as well as old tomatoes.
2. I finished crocheting an ear warmer--with yarn and a crochet hook I bought with a gift card.
3. Tonight's dinner uses up some wild rice we've had in the pantry for months. Wild rice soup it is! I'm also using up some old veggies that need to be eaten in said soup.
4. We're carpooling with friends this weekend to save gas.
5. I'm giving my sister some of our old egg cartons. In exchange I hope she'll send me home with a couple dozen eggs from her chickens. 🙂
Since my husband does all the cooking now but is not a great planner we sat down and made a grocery list and meal plan. So far it is working out beautifully.
My nieces confirmation is coming up. Rather than purchase a gift, I will (with my sisters blessing) give her a cross previously owned by my grandmother/ her great grandmother.
Friends continue to support us by bringing meals. We are grateful.
The nurse who comes to the house in the morning is a lovely young woman and she likes to cook. She is welcome to take home any herbs or scallions from our garden – of course we pay her, but this is a nice little benefit we can give her at no cost.
How are you holding up? I know you were mulling over whether it's better to travel now while you still can, or whether you should save that money. Did you guys come to any conclusions about that?
Thank you so much for thinking of me and checking in! We have decided that international travel is probably too strenuous. We are taking a trip by car for our anniversary in May, and planning a trip to the Grand Canyon sometime In the next few months. I've never seen it and would very much like to.
Yay! I'm so glad that you guys are going to see some sights...wonderful.
We just last week got an Aldi very close by, and I now see what you've been talking about all these years!
Kristen, what is your routine: do you go to Aldi with your list and then Weis or elsewhere for items they don't carry (I noticed there are some, esp. non-foods)? I am trying to figure out an efficient way to do the bulk of my shopping at Aldi because it looks as good as you say. Thanks.
I'm not Kristen but I can speak to my experience of now shopping almost exclusively at Aldi for the last 2.5 years since we moved somewhere with one. I still shop the sales to get the best deal, even at Aldi. If something is on sale that I know we will use often I will stock up on it during the sale. This is true for shelf-stable foods as well as veggies that I can chop/prep and then freeze. I go with a list about every week, depending on what we need and what's on sale. Anything I can't get at Aldi or I prefer a specific brand (very little) I will go to a regular store for as needed (maybe once a month or so). I also shop the ads at our local grocery store and make use of Costco/Sam's Club sales to stock up on items in bulk when possible. I used to be a couponer and had gotten used to having a stockpile of items at home so frequent shopping trips weren't needed. I keep basic things in our stock pile that I use for many meals. I also shop at a Winco about once every few months and stock up on pantry staples from their bulk bins. If you have a Winco or similar store nearby with bulk bins I highly suggest checking them out! We save so much on things, even baking staples and pasta, that I was over the moon when I realized one was not too far away after we moved here (I was used to them being from Idaho and thought I was out of luck after moving to Texas).
At first glance I thought listing five things would be easy, but it's a bit harder than I expected. Let's see.
1. I've been opening and closing the windows this week instead of running the AC and heat since it's the perfect temperature outside.
2. I made a huge pot of soup to use up some leftover produce (kale and carrots).
3. I have started doing all of my errands and dropping off my SO at the same time. She works out of the house and we're a one car family, so I just do the errands around the time I also need to drop her off.
4. I've started holding onto cash and using it for groceries and supplies and only using my bank card sparingly.
5. My SO pulled a light bulb out of a lamp someone was throwing away because we needed just one light bulb and we haven't been to the grocery yet, haha.
Chris | http://www.ilovequietsundays.com
We use peppermint oil to combat rodents at our farm. Just a drop or two on a cotton ball. Apparently, the smell of peppermint doesn't appeal to them. Inexpensive and nontoxic.
1. My husband is gone this week on business so we are eating things for dinner that he normally doesn't like and cooking from the freezer.
2. My 16 year old mowed the yard over the weekend before the rain so now our yard looks nice!
3. The clerk at the Girl Scout store let me look through old boxes of patches that are FREE. I found several that the girls can use and saved us $1.25-$2.00 per patch.
4. After eating out a lot last week due to travelling and Spring Break, we are eating all meals at home this week.
5. I think that we finally have things squared away with our contractor and insurance so that we can finally move forward with the rest of the repairs after the hailstorm last April. We were given a six month extension to finish repairs so now I don't feel so rushed and can take our time to get better referrals for the remainder of the work needing to be done.
1. I sat for the first of four, eight hour comprehensive exams yesterday. I had already given myself permission to go off the rails and buy some comfort food or something when I was done. Luckily my preparation beforehand made the exam not that big of a deal, and I didn't spend a dime on junk.
2. My cleaning lady no-showed again. I had to get the house ready for our airbnb guests myself, and I think I am going to have to look for a new cleaning lady. But it did save us $65.
3. I meal planned and shopped at Aldi. Because this is comprehensive exam week (dun dun DUUUUN) we are keeping it super simple. Spaghetti or sandwiches all week. The kids love it. And it is super cheap.
4. My husband called Verizon to complain that their rollover thing is awful. He was rewarded with a statement credit and a switch over to unlimited data for the same price.
5. Saturday the whole family went to a third birthday party for a friend of one of our sons. I had a chat with a woman there whose oldest is going to kindergarten in the fall. The family is scrambling because when they moved into their awesome city neighborhood they hoped to "lottery" their children into a better school. Unfortunately a lot of other parents had that same thought and they are now having to look at crazy expensive private schools because the "good" city schools are all full. It made me thank my lucky stars that we made the decisions we did years ago when we moved to the city. We ended up buying on the rough edge of a great neighborhood where the public school is world-class. Our house cost half of the price of the houses in the nicer parts of the neighborhood (and about the same as comparable houses in the neighborhoods with "bad" schools), but since then our house has appreciated in a value, and we love our elementary school. But my husband and I grew up in poor, rural schools that couldn't have been much better than the worst city schools here. I think if I was in her situation instead of paying $20K per year in tuition I would send my kids to the bad schools anyway, ride the administration like a banshee to make change, supplement my children's education when I had to, and apply for them to take advantage of governors schools and other great programs open to all students. I think in America we generally have really great schools, even in poor districts. Unfortunately concentrated poverty, the legacy of white supremacy, means that "bad" schools can have great teachers and great students, but too often also have students who aren't getting enough to eat, move around a lot, and other problems that are reflected in "school" performance. Woo, I got worked up about that one.
Yay about your exams not being super awful. Good job prepping!
Schooling decisions are so tough sometimes. Luckily, the greatest indicator of a successful educational outcome is parental involvement, and it sounds like your friend is an involved parent. So, her kindergartener is probably going to be just fine no matter where she goes!
A lurker here but very much agree about successful education and parent involvement. Its so very true.
1. Eating rice every main meal this week with a variety of sauces, veggies and meat (usually fish). Both fish and rice are cheap here in West Africa.
2. I've been trying to re-use water to for watering my plants, but not water with soap or bleach.
3. For art this week, I had the kids paint shells. I saw it on pinterest and already had paint and shells we had collected at the beach = no need to buy craft supplies.
4. I opted for using shared taxis to get to and from the market. 150 CFA for one place as opposed to 500 CFA if I had rented the whole taxi.
5. I shook water up in my shampoo bottle to get the remaining shampoo out.
1. I used leftover fresh lemon juice from making a lemon cake for a party, and made a lemon meringue pie for my husband. We'll have to share it with others, but if he watches his sugar and insulin, he can have a little each day for a few days. He's only been waiting 37 years for me to make lemon meringue pie. I don't like meringue, so I just always made other pies. All ingredients were on hand.
2. Because the pie kept me busy after work, we had stew from the freezer for our evening meal. No take out was needed.
3. I did some needed mending.
4. I've put some items in my online cart twice, then removed them, to decide if I really need them. It appears that I don't.
5. I called in my dog's prescription to Walmart, where I can get 90 days' worth of tablets for $10, as opposed to $90 for 90 days' worth at the vet's.
I don't like meringue either! I thought I was the only one.
And what a difference between Walmart and the vet's office -- great job!
1. Ate at home all week, except for date night--which consisted of a quick dinner and home for Netflix.
2. Put some unused items on Craigslist.
3. Had a serious talk with hubby about the budget. We both ended up feeling good about our plan and are both in agreement! YAY!
4. Sorted the kids shoes and washed and/or polished them, so they are ready for the next child.
5. Needed some child-sized clothes hangers, so went by Goodwill, and found some plastic ones for $1/dozen!! Here in the south, our winter weather is always changing, so I have to have cold, cool, and warm weather clothes always available (It was in the 70's all last week, and then snowed on Saturday!!). In the summer, I only need warm weather clothes, so I always need much more hangers in the winter to accommodate all the different types of clothing.
We did all of our usual things, like eating at home, packing drinks from home, getting books from the library, and thrifting a few necessary items of clothing. Also, my husband got a free Amazon Prime trial so he can catch up on a show that he likes. And I combined a coupon with a sale to get a great deal on new hiking shoes. (My old ones literally had a hole through the sole! I think I may be an under-buyer...) I'm ready to hit the trails if it ever stops snowing!
5 Frugal Things.
We keep chickens, so nothing is wasted. If the chickens don't eat it, it goes to the compost.
Aldi's - shop to save! They even have inexpensive flowers and potted plants that I buy for my wife.
Tea bags. We usually drink 3 or 4 cups of tea each a day. First I cut the price in half by using a teapot and putting just one tea bag in for our two cups of tea. Then put in just enough water for two cups. When we have our second cup of the day I leave the first tea bag in and add another one and so on. So each time the tea is a bit stronger than the last time! I throw them all away at the end of the day.
Our robot vacuum cleaner. Saves me time anyway. It is set to come on at noon each day, runs around for about an hour and a quarter before putting itself away! We have two cats so it picks up a lot of fur, and the spilt cat litter.
Use cold water for clothes washing, works just as well as hot water. Also use cold water to wash hands - if you wait for hot water to come through you waste about a gallon of hot water that gets left in the pipes. If each person in the home washes hands 8 times a day that is 8 times the number of people gallons of hot water a day! ( 4 people x 8 equals 64 gallons of hot water a day! At 2 cents a gallon that is $1.28 a day saved! Or $30 to $40 a month! Just using cold water to wash hands! Not even counting money saved by using cold water to wash clothes.)
Outside, don't leave car running. An idling car uses about the same as going at 30 miles per hour. So if your car does 15 mpg that is 2 gsllons an hour if left idling - or about $5. Many people leave their car running while waiting for a kid at school, while just running in to 7/11 for coffee or cigarettes, while waiting fir spouse outside store, while warming or cooling car in morning before getting in etc etc etc. half an hour a day of idling can easily use a gallon, times 30 days a month, times $2.50 a gallon is $75 a month wasted! ( not to mention dirtying the air, water and land and sending money to buy oil from foreign countries!)
What brand of robot do you have, if you don't mind my asking?
Roomba.
Before we relocated to Florida, we made sure an Aldi was nearby. Lucky for us, there were two Aldi! One 15 minutes away and another one 30 minutes away. Woo hoo!
Same thing when we travel or RV. We always make sure an Aldi is nearby.
1. I organised and cleaned my fridge today
2. Shopped in Aldi
3. Dried clothes outside as weather had been so good
4. Borrowed a dress to wear to a wedding I am attending this week..
5. Ate at home all week, made all meals from scratch, used up all fruit & veg in smoothies, borrowed books from the library & only buying what we need..
We have an early spring farm share for the first time. It's more expensive than the summer share, but we are focusing our eating on the veg from the share, so I think it will work out in the end. Hooray for local veg in New England in March!
Even though there is a blizzard today, I am going through my kids clothes and planning for summer. If I make them some nightgowns and shorts, I think I will just have to buy them sandals. I even have the fabric already.
I'm getting more organized about laundry again, so more of it is getting hung rather than going in the dryer.
I have a chest freezer for freezing summer veg. There isn't much in there right now, which is inefficient. I am going to try to finish everything up which will keep this month's grocery bills down a bit and allow me to clean the freezer and unplug it until the summer.
In 3 weeks I am moving to a place where the nearest Aldi is 2 hours away... and even worse, I'll be forced to shop at *shudder* Walmart.
Oh man. That stinks. Hopefully Aldi will follow you!
Your refrigerator looks wonderfully organized. I figured out how to keep food from getting pushed to the back of the fridge and a pain to retrieve. I bought a large turn table or lazy susan put my bottles/small containers etc on this and give it a spin when I want to see what's hiding in the back of the fridge.
Ha, well, that's because I took the photo right after I organized it. I am so not a natural when it comes to keeping an organized fridge!
So so SO inspiring, all!
A tough couple weeks (kidney stones for husband, lots of hospital time, missed work, and eating out. Husband much better (Yay!) so time to get back on track and remind myself to be GRATEFUL that we have medical coverage that softens the blow very much!
1. Eating breakfasts at home (cereal or toast with hot tea) and bringing lunches to work.
2. Snagged marked down "Cook by Tomorrow" all natural whole chicken and roasted it while watching tv last night and prepping crafts for school. Used for sandwiches today and Asian chicken salad tonight (it's 92 degrees here in SoCal) and plan to do more lunches/dinners this week. LOVE having leftover cooked chicken to employ -- it was a plump little guy and very meaty.
3. Using up as much of the produce as I can -- suffered some loss here due to hosp. runs which is very chagrining.
4. Library books on time tomorrow.
5 Not sure if this counts -- My book club chose such a popular novel that not a single LAPL branch had it available so I was actually going to buy it. Emergencies forced me to skip and saved me a few bucks. Plus the snacks I would have brought.
Onward and upward!
Oh, I'm so sorry that happened to your husband! It's happened to Mr. FG and my dad and brothers...so rough.
thanks, Kristen! Thank goodness we are on the mend!!
1) Snow day! Stayed home and hung out with the kids- battleship and scrabble! No out and about activities and saved on gas and spontaneous purchases
2) Our local meat shop had an amazing sale on chicken. I stocked up & repackaging so we should be set for chicken meals for the next 3 months!
3) Daughter's class is having a "green food party" on Friday for St. Patrick's day. Instead of donating a food item, I found St Patty's napkins in the close out section for 98 cents. She can still participate, the teacher was thrilled with the donation and I saved some money.
4) Cashed in points at a grocery store we normally do not shop at after getting eye glasses at their sister store that also give points. 3 gallons of milk for free
5) Still working at my Christmas seasonal job that has turned into a real part time job. I HATE retail, but the extra money is nice.
1. Pantry challenge - I am delaying buying peanut butter. I eat an english muffin with peanut butter for breakfast almost every work day. I ran out of peanut butter several weeks ago but decided to use up all the random nut butters in the fridge before buying more p.b. The last two weeks I ate up the specialty burbon pecan peanut butter; this week I am starting in on the sun seed butter; next will be the maple almond butter. When that is gone I am sticking to good old fashioned (natural) peanut butter since that is what I prefer! I like to try new things as much as the next guy but the nut butter situation is out of hand!
2. I used credit card points to buy an unexpected baby shower gift so I didn't bust my budget on an unplanned gift.
3. When I forgot to pack a lunch last week, I redeemed a free sandwich with points from a local sub shop, so nothing out of pocket.
4. Sent an email to CoffeeMate regarding a product they no longer make and they sent me a full-value coupon for a bottle of creamer. Sweet!
5. The usual: Meal planned, shopped within my budget, packed all but one lunch, read library books and watched library movies, did free workout videos from Youtube, and resisted the urge to by a million things I am just sure I need at any given moment.
Oh my gosh all of those butters sound delicious!
1. Polished off leftover chicken and chili from Sunday/Monday entrees. A little scrapy ..but....Its like a free dinner!
2. Bought gasoline in the town I commute to for work. Gas can be ..05 to .30 less per gallon than where we live.
3. Not buying any new clothing for now... .....I do a great job of shopping out my closet..for some of you this comes so easy....dont judge..I just LOVE fashion...
4. Vacation .. coming soon..nothing too fancy....guiltless..saved for it on the front .end..PAID!
5. Working really hard ,serving my profession well, giving 100% ....and fortunate to have work I love
This is my first time posting this, let's see:
1) I've been eating more from our freezer and planning at least a few meals for the week (I'm not a meal planner in general so this is pretty good for me!).
2) My husband has been packing his lunches every day and I've been having leftovers.
3) I removed 3 items from my Amazon cart before checkout because, though they would have been nice during my last bout of the flu, I'm almost over it and they aren't necessary right now.
4) I didn't buy the shopping cart full of clothes I wanted from an online retailer even though I've been itching to get some new things because I technically have all I need right now and I have a gift card to use at another retailer.
5) I rinsed and put away the veggies from our last produce pickup so we might actually use them this time instead of letting them go to waste.
Ok I found 5 things, I'm proud of myself!
1. We are cleaning out and eating from the pantry and freezer and enjoying all sorts of delicious things: farro, kale pesto, crepes forgotten at the back of the freezer.
2. Bought greens at Costco and remembered to freeze what we wouldn't get to before it went bad for smoothies.
3. Pleasantly surprised to find extra bottles of shampoo and lotion in the extras cupboard, bought while they were on sale.
4. Planning an "I Spy" quilt for my niece to be with fabric from my stash.
5. Figured out how to use Target's cartwheel app- I find couponing aggravating and often not for the products I want to buy, but I'm rotinuely getting 15-20% off things I buy there regularly.
Krysten- i love your I spy quilt! you must take a photo of it! Our youngest child had trouble "seeing" words in word searches and i spy pictures. So, i worked on it every week with him. He's good at it now.
Lorraine- congrats on the free creamer!
Amy- Free milk is awesome!
Here's my fab five:
1) Cooking from the freezer this week. Made stuffed cabbage and thought I had ground pork. Nope. It was italian sausage. Used it instead and it was great.
2) Son's prom tuxedo was paid for by his girlfriend's dad. It was the highest priced tux. That was very kind of her dad. I've never met him. Saved $150 plus tax.
3) Have a free sandwich waiting at Starbucks from a promotional card they gave me.
4) Found new "lashy" mascara on clearance for $2.
5) The washing machine broke. We called a reputable company to come out and possibly fix it. Repairman said our washer was a good one. After an hour, it was fixed for 70% off the price of a new one. That machine is a true workhorse and lasted 16 years before it needed a repair.
Wow, that's an amazing amount of time for a washing machine to last!!! What kind of machine is it? You saved it from the landfill too!
Eating all meals at home
Cleaned out my closet.have a bag to donate and found items I had forgotten about
Shopped at goodwill on sat for 75%off color sale
Making corn muffins from scratch instead of paying 4.00 for them.my son loves these so glad to make them on the cheap
Combing errands for tomorrow to save on gas.filled up last week and trying to see how long I can go until next fill up
I lived in New York, in an area where there were a few Aldi stores, then moved to rural Maine. There aren't any Aldi stores in Maine. Every time my husband and I visit New York, we make sure to stop by Aldi and load up on our favorite items. We LOVE most of their chocolate products.
If you end up deciding to trap the squirrel(s) with a live trap(i.e. Havahart), mixing peanut butter and Fluff has worked well for us. It's sticky enough that they settle in to devour it, rather than grab it and go. Well, those are red squirrels...
Good luck!
We recently got an Aldi and its been pretty empty during the day. A lot of people are not too thrilled with the store.
I am way behind on this, but I love to challenge myself to find our 5 frugal things.
1. Found an interest free medical credit card to help with some unexpected dental expenses. I've been living with pain from two teeth for about a year now and this morning at my dental check up, I was told that there is no turning back now. If I've been experiencing the type of pain I described, I desperately need a root canal and crown. The final costs after insurance is more than we have in savings, so the dentist introduced me to this interest free medical credit card. Do I want credit card debt? no, but interest free is better than nothing I guess.
2. Because of the large winter storm we had this week, my son missed two days of daycare. Becuase the center was closed, they do not charge me! $68 saved.
3. Consolidated 4 errands this morning on the to and from the dentist. I've been trying to get a return package to the post office all week. Finally done!
4. Because we had an issue with a toy that we purchased for our son at Christmas time, I emailed Mattel and opened a ticket. Because I followed their instructions of sending the toy back and tracking the package, I received a nice $25 manufacturer's coupon for another Mattel toy. Though it does expire in May, I will buy something ahead for my son's birthday. Yea for companies who stand behind their products!
5. The snow storm that kept us at home for two days also allowed me not to use up gas to go to work/school/church etc.
Just found your blog and I love it, esp this post where people list their 5 frugal things and meals. It inspires and encourages me. Let me see if I have 5 things I can list:
1. Weather has been nice here in NorCal so I haven't had to use the heater. Today it's 68* and front door has been open to enjoy fresh air. Dog loves to lay in front too.
2. Been sick several days from work so no gas used in commute/errands.
3. Not much appetite so just eating some leftovers.
4. Cleared out some books and clothes for donation to SPCA.
5. Perusing recipe sites for healthier meals I need to try; not necessary frugal but need to do so for health reasons.
Thank you again for a wonderful site and I look forward to reading much more,
My husband and I did our taxes using the paid version of TurboTax too. It saved us so much time and preempted many heated arguments like what happened in the past.
I also love your 'Five frugal things' series. It inspires me to cut costs even more for my family. Thanks for sharing!