Five Frugal Things | Not pictureless this time!
Guys, I don't know why today's new post isn't appearing on the home page.
I couldn't do two pictureless Five Frugal Things in a row!
1. I price-matched printer ink.
I needed ink for my color printer, and I saw that Office Depot's price slightly beat Amazon's price. But when I got to the store, the price was $7 higher.
I asked about the difference, and they adjusted the price to match the website. Yay!
2. I got $0.50 pens.
While I was at Office Depot, I scanned the sale ad to see if any of their back to school cheap stuff was useful to me.
(Things like portable pencil sharpeners or pencil pouches aren't necessary for homeschooled kiddos.)
I saw that ballpoint pens were $0.50, so I picked up two boxes of those.
3. We got some cheap shorts for Mr. FG.
He needed some new exercise shorts, and the lovely thing about discovering this in August is that shorts are all on clearance!
So, $11 later, he has a new pair of Fila shorts. Schweet.
4. I made a return and did not buy anything new.
I ordered four clearance swimsuits from Lands' End for Sonia and Zoe to wear next year, but the two tankinis were clearly going to be too wide even with one more year's worth of growth.
So, I returned them to Sears, and though I did browse around a bit, I didn't buy anything.
Sonia and Zoe have been eyeing this super adorable shirt, but they didn't happen to have it in store. I would probably have cracked if they had 'em at the Sears Lands' End shop.
(Not affiliated, but Lands End does have some super cheap prices on their kids suits right now, and if you have super narrow kids like mine, I highly recommend checking out their slim sizes. They've been lifesavers for us.)
5. I made muffins for lunch.
Around 11:00 yesterday morning, I realized that we didn't really have much in the way of food around for lunch. So, I made a batch of muffins, which used up some plain yogurt and also some lemons from my Hungry Harvest box.
I don't do tons of sweet baking, which meant that these were very cheerfully received. 😉
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Your turn!
Hee hee hee, I love that you did muffins for lunch. 🙂 Mr. Picky Pincher would have thrown me in the moat if I served muffins for lunch, but I love how laid back your clan is. 🙂
This week:
1. Thanks to Hurricane Harvey, we weren’t really able to stock up on groceries. For that reason, I cooked mostly from our pantry and freezer this week. Gotta love saving moolah!
2. We got a $1,400 medical bill that was supposed to be $0 with insurance. After putting in a lot of work, we got the bill removed, since it was the doctor’s error. Everyone: fight your medical bills! You’d be shocked at how much doctors and insurance companies get wrong.
3. Frugal fail: during the medical negotiation process, we realized we were victims of insurance fraud. Some dude across the state has been using our insurance. Just in case, we’ve frozen our credit. Boo!
4. I’ve started doing extreme couponing again, but only very selectively. Last month we were surprised by a few very expensive colds. I’m going to try to build up our cold medicine stockpile again so we won’t have to pay $20 for meds!
5. Thanks to Hurricane Harvey, we also had to get the tree in our front yard removed. It cost $900 for the removal and $120 for stump grinding. We got more of a discount because we paid cash. Woop!
Holy moly! Someone stole your medical insurance. Geez.
High five from a fellow Hurricane Harvey survivor!
Dealing with my insurance company is the bane of my existence. It is a never-ending labor of frugality that tests my patience, my calm, and my generally fearsome organizational skills. But if I didn't do it, I'd be out likely hundreds of dollars each year.
I made gluten free blueberry muffins this week! It was definitely trial and error as I kept adjusting the ingredients to make it just right. Now that I have the recipe down, I'll definitely be making these as a healthy, low-cost breakfast or snack!
1. I checked my store receipts and found another error, overcharging me, and got my money back. I rarely find an error undercharging me, but I report them when I do, because that's fair and honest. But they mostly are errors of overcharging me, hmmmm.
2. I've been putting up pears from our pear tree. Free food!
3. I have been fighting for nine months with a repairman about my latest dishwasher. For the first time ever, we bought an extended warranty, because we had a bad experience with our last dishwasher, which died after only 3 years. However, the warranty isn't so good if the repairman never shows up, and then can't fix it when he finally is forced to show. I have contacted the warranty servicers about it just this week, and plan to stay on it until something gets done to my satisfaction. I paid for the warranty, now they need to back it up. My husband keeps telling me to give up and buy a new dishwasher, but I refuse. Those things aren't cheap to buy.
4. I took a survey and was paid $50, woo-hoo!
5. I looked at all the pretty items being put out for fall at the stores and just kept on walking. Fall is my favorite season so it's tempting to buy new things, but I will use items I already own and things growing in my yard for decoration, as I do every year.
Everyday is a challenge to be frugal.
1.Our local Humane society was in urgent need of towels and blankets. Where we swim there is lost and found table so I wait about a week and if the beach towels have not been claimed I take them and wash them up. I do this all summer and we donated over 40 large beach towels and a set of queen sheets that we no longer needed. They were so excited to receive these.
2. I am paying down my credit card and not charging anything new.
3.Being more mindful of food waste. I want to start batch cooking soon.
4. Saving gas as gas prices have shot up and running errands in batches.
5.Going to gut the basement this weekend. I plan on selling some things and other items will be placed on our curb for free. I just want to be rid of it all.
Mrs. Picky Pincher: Assuming that health insurance fraud is done the same way that identify theft is. Thieves get access to sensitive information? Whoa. I'm cautious about our accounts but that's a new one to me.
1. Bought a few Groupons for our fall trip to the Southwest when they were on sale.
2. Redid my deck steps, back steps, and front entry deck with an anti-slip/sealing water-based product called DeckOver -- I got a gallon of it free at our Hazardous Waste depot (they recycle paints and finishes when the pails are a third or more full).
3. Finished preserving my bushel of tomatoes ($16): 14 pints of sauce, 6 pints of tomato soup base, 6 pints of gazpacho base, 4 pints of diced tomatoes, and 4 750ml jars of diced tomatoes.
4. Just ordered a resin storage cabinet with a mark-down and no HST (roughly $35 total savings).
5. Picked up a package of stew meat for $3 out of which we're getting two kebab meals for the two of us.
Sounds like a good deal for the pens! I've accumulated so many free pens over the past few years and used pens at work that we haven't bought pens in a while. We do buy pencils though because Mr. FAF likes them more for some of his work.
P.S. Beautiful muffins!
We've had a pretty good week!
1. Made a meal plan and grocery list for the week after we get back from vacation, so we can stop at the store on our way home and be set up for the week.
2. Froze leftovers that we wouldn't have time to eat before we go on our vacation. Now we have some lunches ready for when we get back.
3. Sold some furniture that we realized we didn't want to move back into the house after we had our floors re-done.
4. Unsubscribed from several sales type emails I got auto-signed up for when I bought things online.
5. Been trying to finish up our wedding photo book so that it will be ready to buy when a good sale comes up (which seems to happen every couple of weeks with Shutterfly). If I can get this done in time for our 1 year anniversary I will be happy. I'm planning to splurge on the fancy features for this one, but making my own is still much cheaper than getting one through the photographer.
Have you ever looked into store-brand printer ink? I have a Canon printer (I think it uses the same ink as yours), and I can buy store-brand ink for about 25% less at Staples. And it's actually the same thing...the cartridges say "Canon" on them, but the name is covered by black tape.
I'm not sure I've done anything frugal this week. I seem to be in a spendy mood.
I've been tempted, but then I've heard that sometimes those tanks can cause problems with the print head. So then I've been scared. Yours has been fine?
I don't have 5, but I have one big change that I think will be helpful. After you and a few fellow bloggers have been doing your weekly grocery budgets, I decided I needed to try switching to weekly planning and grocery runs. This is only the second week, but I think I'm going to like it. Takes much less time and I can use up food in the fridge easier, since I'm checking each week to plan for the next. So the frugal part is readjusting my meal planning to a week, which makes me reuse food for second meals more. Thanks for the inspiration!!
1. The bulb in our fridge blew out. It was blue, both Lowe's and Frigidaire claimed only a $36 bulb could be used for replacement; don't tell them I bought one for $1.24 at Wal-Mart and its working just fine!
2. While at Wal-Mart, I priced tissues. My usual source, Big Lots, stopped selling Scotties. Most places, a 120 ct. box is $1, at Wal-Mart, .76, I bought 40 boxes! 🙂
3. Wanted to go tubing on our staycay, but local cost was $40pp, drove just a bit and had a great day of tubing for $10pp. Fun!
4.Got super poor service at a chick-fil-a (RARE!) and got a comped lunch.
5. Used a 55% off coupon at A.C. Moore to get a fancy new Wilton cookie sheet I was lusting after.
As always, mostly food related . . .
1) We picked our first batch of feral apples and I made and canned the first load of applesauce. Seven quarts canned, many more to go . . .
2) After severe sticker shock at the grocery store meat prices this week, we decided to take advantage of the relatively cool weather we're going to have in the next few days and slaughter our first lamb. Should be ready to eat by Sunday.
3) We went to Wal-Mart today to get a game bag to hang the lamb in (keeps off flies if it's not actually freezing weather yet) and did not get a single thing for our three children while we were there. Something of a miracle, because man, do they ever know how to tempt kids. I really hate that store.
4) My husband made some beef jerky for our kids from some on-sale top round beef. They love jerky, and it's a good snack for them, but the store stuff is crazily expensive and waaaaay too salty. It's easy to make in the oven, and we don't put any salt on it at all. They seem to prefer it this way.
5) I haven't done this yet, but tomorrow I'm going to make some muffins with pureed carrots to use up some of the frightening quantity of carrots still in our garden. And also to give my poor deprived children a treat. Mom and Dad eating an essentially carb-free diet means no baking lately. Not that children need baked goods to be happy, but it helps. 🙂
I like the term feral apples:)
I use it to distinguish them from true wild apples, such as crabapples. These apple trees are the descendants of unknown cultivars planted by the settlers around here a century or so ago. So they're really domestic apples that have done wild--feral.
Gone wild, I meant.
Goodmorning Kristen, to save money this week, I -
Cut up and froze a magnificent bunch of Dill, I adore this herb but find it difficult to grow. I bought a huge bunch from the markets last Sunday, used quite a bit of it and then froze the rest
Made three loaves of bread
Made 5 jars of passion fruit butter with home grown passion fruit
Used up all the leftovers for lunches, I love no waste
Line dried all the washing
Started my Spring clean using home made cleaners
Saved all the fruit and veggie scraps, shredded paper and cardboard to feed the compost bin
And that is all I can think of at the mo
Have a lovely day
Fi
Dill grows itself where I live. That seems like a joke but ... yeah, it would totally take over the garden if I would let it. 🙂
Here, too! Like a weed- I am always having to yank up big piles of it, here in Illinois.
I'm curious- where do you live, Fi?
I am in Australia, sub tropical Queensland, the last time I tried growing Dill, it got a fungal disease, yuk! I had to pull it out and I haven't tried again. You are so lucky to be able to grow it where you live
Fiona I know. All my herbs have gone this year. Most replacements have failed. Prices for herbs are crazy in my corner of SEQ.
I buy generic printer ink online. Granted I only have laser printers and never print things like photos but I save some cash that way.
Anyway:
1.) Doing the car shopping thing and have walked away from deals that weren't good enough to buy despite feeling really pressured by the salesmen. I've had the other side to deal with as well (one salesman made it clear that he didn't really want my business so I gave him what he wanted and left.)
2.) Went to the fair and brought food instead of buying the overpriced junk food there. I plan on doing this when we go to a different fair next weekend.
3.) Eating mostly leftovers and cleaning out the fridge instead of cooking more stuff and tossing out the old.
4.) Tried the Aldi dish soap that was on clearance at my local store and it works fine. I mean, it's just as good as Ajax but I'll buy whatever is cheaper.
5.) Living a boring life is pretty cheap sometimes so by not doing anything I guess I'm saving money.
I posted at NCA but think I can come up with five more.
1. I went to see an orthopedic surgeon today and forgot to get money for parking. They actually offered me a parking pass. Appointment should be paid by insurance so free visit this time.
2. I had a $10 reward from Eddie Bauer so stopped in and got a free pair of winter socks I love.
3. By visiting Panera twice this month, I got a free pick two! I thoroughly enjoyed a strawberry poppyseed chicken salad and a turkey bravo. I drank water so again free and I have a pack of chips to put in my husband's lunch tomorrow.
4. I stopped in Goodwill because I had a five dollar coupon that expired today. I also stopped at another thrift store near there. Bargains included a Flirty Apron for .69 which may be a Christmas present, a pair of black Borns that looked new, an antique shoe shine kit with my mom's maiden name on it that will be for my sister for Christmas, a Thirty One Metro bag for .69, a couple cheap baskets and a few hardback books for my nephews for Christmas.
5. Every year we look for Diet Pepsi cans that have coupons on them for a local ice cream/family fun farm. It makes one dip cones .99 and miniature golf .99. They expire tomorrow so our small group from church is meeting there tonight for some fun. I didn't have quite enough but checked with a good friend who had extra so I have enough for a cone and a round of golf for the entire group. The family that usually hosts has close family in Houston so they're very glad for distraction and support.
I am in the devastation of Harvey also but needed to send you a comment to thank you Kristen! The shelves at the grocery store are breadless (as well as most everything else right now) and I wanted to make sandwiches for friends and neighbors working so hard at water remediation. My husband suggested I make some and I immediately thought of The Frugal Girl. I looked up the hamburger bun recipe and managed to scrap together the ingredients together for 48 buns. They turned out perfect (don't ask how old the butter was lol) and were enjoyed by everyone. I have to admit, I did walk up to one of my dearest friends in the middle of her flooded out house and just handed her a plain roll. No words were needed, she sat down and ate it immediately. Sometimes we just need a fresh roll to help us along. So maybe not a frugal five, more of a frugal want? Thanks for touching our lives here!
Aww, I'm so glad that my recipe brought some cheer to you guys out there in Texas!
Love the 5 Frugal Things post!
Always inspires me:)
1. I'm making a pile of things to sell on an online garage sale site.
2. A friend had to cancel our coffee date. I really wanted to go & get coffee still, but chose to brew coffee at home. Will enjoy next week when we try again!
3. My girls summer shoes are looking a little worn and tired. Would love to buy new ones, but not in the budget. Deep cleaned them, and they're looking better!
4. I've been trying to stay on top of wilting produce to go in the freezer for smoothies.
5. Bought high quality, super cheap clearance bread to freeze.
1. I am trying to pay off some of my credit cards and not charging anything new. Some of the cards have to go away, i.e. closed for inactivity, so am working on that.
2. I price-matched a gallon of milk at Walmart. They usually charged $2.89 no matter what brand, but I inquired about the big yellow sign with $2.29 for the Walmart brand, and this was honored. Next time I'm shopping there, the price for the Walmart brand milk is down to $1.89. Woo hoo.
3. Am buying tons of grapes when they are on special and freeze them. This way they last practically forever.
1. I am most excited about my finds for stocking "Grandma's toy chest" with items that can last a few years as grand baby is just 9 months old and visiting this weekend but not frequently. Son told me she loves to play with the toy xylophone at day care so I ordered one for $15 through Amazon and then at the consignment store today I found a like new one for $3. Amazon is getting a return. Also got another toy for $3 to add to the $0.50 board book from the Friends of the Library store and the $0.99 ball from CVS end of summer sale. I'm done for now.
2. Found items on my clothing list at the consignment store. A cardigan, necklace and scarf for $30 total. Happy.
3. I am celebrating a birthday while the family is here and decided to figure out something easy to cook for dinner as both sons and DILs are good cooks and then have ice cream sundaes. Taking 6 adults and a baby out to dinner on Labor Day weekend sounds expensive and not fun to me.
4. Otherwise just the same old stuff; cleaning house myself, cooking meals, etc.
Juhli, have you considered Tex Mex for your Labor Day meal? Not only is it not too expensive (as compared to, say, grilling ribs and roasts), you can set out the foods and let people make exactly what they like.
My list for a Tex Tex meal is:
- Chicken simmered in salsa, then shredded and/or ground meat browned, then simmered in salsa/taco sauce/taco or fajita powder.
- Beans (canned is fine); choose vegetarian beans if you have non meat eaters in your crowd.
- Shredded tex-mex cheese.
- Pico di gallo (tastier) or jarred salsa (usually cheaper).
- Minced onion, rinsed to cut the edge.
- Shredded lettuce and/or spinach.
- Guacamole or sliced avocado.
- Sour cream.
- Hot sauce.
- Some combo of: taco shells, flour tortillas, tortilla chips.
Good Man!!
1. Leftovers from last weekends dinner party ..for lunch..for dinner...gifted leftover lunches to my adult daughter who is working hard to manage finances....There is hope out there Frugal Moms! They no longer say "Leftovers Again? Really Mom?". Or maybe they don't say it...but you see the look on their face!... They just say
"T hank you so much Mom!"
2. Working on the price book. Food prices are increasing..putting new energy into an old money saving method .
3.Minimal water and electricity use.
4. Have a position that requires profesional dress? Check on Target's new line "A New Day". I am WHBM regular but found some like items impressive. We will see how they launder. $15 instead of $36?..worth a try...the fabrics feel really nice.
5. Getaway for the weekend with my husband. We will splurge on dinner and libations and a beautiful hotel....and enjoy ever minute!
Happy Labor Day Weekend ! Enjoy!
What's the price book money-saving method?
Jenny, it's writing down in a notebook the prices of items you buy at the grocery store, comparing store prices. Say, one page is for peanut butter, and you write down that it's X dollars for X size jar at this store regular price, X dollars on sale, if a sale is going on. Then X dollars at another store, etc. You just usually use your receipts to find prices, or sale papers, or both. You can also check the prices while in the stores, but don't do a marathon session of pricing everything in the store -- it's time consuming and the manager might ask what you are up to :). You fill in your book as you shop, usually. After a while, you see peanut butter on sale, and you know that's the cheapest price you've seen it at any store because your price book shows you that, so you stock up on a bunch. And you learn which stores always have the best prices on certain items. Also, show the price per ounce, pound, cup, liter, or whatever is appropriate, so you know when you have the best price no matter what size container.
Check out "The Tightwad Gazette" if your library has it. She describes it very well.
1. An amusement park around here has a "free" second day ticket, and this week we actually went the second day! So a low cost visit (except that the kids ate - hard to get around the outside foods ban)
2. Had tomato soup from the garden. Basil was homegrown too.
3. Read a book from the library. I was going to buy it and then saw it was there so that is truly money saved.
4. Lady at the apple pick-your-own farm decided that my 3 boxes of apples could, with some work, fit in 2 boxes, so that is what she charged me for.
More Hurricane Harvey related frugality. We have been helping friends with clean up, so it hasn't been as easy to stay frugal as I'd like.
1) Bought diapers and other supplies for a friend using Cartwheel coupons. I don't usually shop at Target, but we were in a hurry to deliver cleaning supplies from Home Depot to two other friends and Target is next door.
2) We planned our running around to maximize fuel economy.
3) I checked with someone before running out to buy clothes for a displaced family. Donations started coming in, so I didn't need to go out right away.
4) I did NOT buy dinner tonight, even though I am exhausted.
And one not frugal thing...I delivered clean laundry to a family and then locked my keys in my running car. *facepalm*
That is so kind of you to help!
Thanks for mentioning Lands' End, I didn't even realise I could buy in the UK. But I went on and found some reduced rash tops for next years. Thank you 😀 Sue x
I prepared four tasty crockpot freezer meals enough for a whole week. Prepping a lot of meals at once saves me money and reduces my stress levels on busy week nights. It also reduces the risk of me buying take-out on my way home from work because I know there's dinner waiting for us at home. 🙂
1. Found a working lamp with shade in a neighbors trash. It's perfect for my office!!
2. Watched the weather and only did wash on days I could line dry outside
3. Repurposed metal corner shelves from old gazebo into ledges in son's rabbit cages
4. Got some nice purple beans free from local Freestore. They were de-lush! And free!!
5. Working on using up food in chest freezer thus decreasing food spending.
Just want all of you to know that these five frugal things posts are super inspiring and full of great ideas, thank you all!!