Five Frugal Things
1. I found a missing library book.
I thought I'd rounded them all up, but I discovered there was one still missing.
So, I hunted through the house and I found it under another book underneath a piece of furniture in Sonia and Zoe's room.
Phew.
Not that a library fine is the end of the world, but it's nice to avoid if possible.
2. I bought a box of bruised peaches.
Since I was near the produce stand, I popped in to see if they had bruised peaches and they had a huge box for $15. SWEET.
3. I sent in for windshield wiper reimbursement.
You know how Joshua's windshield got cracked recently?
(Third windshield replacement this year for our family!)
Our insurance company offers a free pair of wipers with a windshield install...you just have to buy them and then send in for reimbursement.
Small silver lining to a broken windshield, you know?
4. I mailed back my bad Stitch Fix clothes.
I didn't get a chance to take photos before I had to send them back, but nothing fit me! Luckily, one of the shirts did fit Lisey, so I kept that one and sent the others back.
I had some referral credit (thanks, you guys!), so the shirt was free for her.
5. I got all the paperwork in for 50% off college classes.
Since Lisey is still in high school, she gets 50% off her tuition at the community college as long as I get all the necessary paperwork submitted.
50% is definitely enough motivation to get the forms all taken care of.
Traveled to Ohio as designated babysitters for our 2 granddaughters last week, so guess this is a frugal travel list.
1. Used Gas Buddy to find cheapest gas along the route.
2. Stayed in a Drury which was the least expensive convention hotel.
3. Ate both breakfast & dinner all 3 nights at hotel (included in cost of room)
4. Didn't buy any souvenirs (have enough stuff)
5. Might not be frugal but found several non-chain type places to eat & enjoy ice cream. Well worth what we spent.
1. The garden is still producing so meals are based around that produce. The rest is processed and frozen.
2. Krogers has been very good to us lately. The bags of marked down produce for .99 this week gave us 4 organic avocados, plums, nectarines, lemons and multicolored peppers. We're eating like kings for next to nothing!
3. We had an overnight visit from my sister-in-law, her husband and her two granddaughters. It was their mother's birthday so I helped them make lavender sugar scrub and cards to take back to her. That plus discounted ice cream cones made for a memorable short visit.
4. I was very low on gas in my van but made a point to stop at Krogers as I knew with double points and purchased gift cards, I had a pretty nice discount. Fifty cents off a gallon! Yeah!!
5. We finally plugged in the $35 freezer my husband picked up from a nice garage sale. We left our old one behind when we moved. This one is newer and in great shape. It's happily freezing our excess garden produce, bulk purchased chicken breast and, hopefully, soon a quarter of a grass fed cow purchased with my sister's family. The price in her small town is about 2.60 a lb. Worth the small amount of electricity we'll pay!
Are you really saving with the gift cards ypu bought? Were they nevessary,in other words, or just to get more of a discount?
Hi, Beth! I just saw your comment so don't know if you'll see this reply or not but hope you do!
The gift cards were for gifts. I bought one Krogers gift card as a wedding gift for a young couple still in college. The other gift card was a Home Depot one for my husband's birthday. We're pretty practical when it comes to gifts and he's been building an outdoor railroad. He generally pays for that lumber from a small bank account he has but the initial outlay of lumber exceeds that small amount. Just a practical, thoughtful way to give a man who needs or wants nothing a bit of help with his hobby. Both gift cards were purchased on purpose and at Krogers because it was convenient. Neither had extra Krogers points for buying them.
Hope that clarifies!
1) Invited friends over to swim rather than going out and spending money with them.
2) Shopped around (online) and found a less expensive set of school sneakers than the ones my son originally picked out and returned the first pair.
3) Painted ceilings myself rather than paying someone to do it, which was my initial plan.
4) Borrowed a movie from the library for family movie night.
5) Decided we could make due without the items I was planning to get from Costco this week and postponed my trip. We are still on summer break and the grocery budget is getting a bit lean towards the end of the month.
Our kids got several college classes at their school's campus for free while they were in high school, and that was a great help. It helped both of my kids end college with some pre-paid tuition credit left, which we applied to our then only grandchild's pre-paid account. Yay for any college discounts, credits, whatever one can get!
Anyway, my frugal five....
1. I found a few pennies on the ground. There's been a dearth of found change lately, and I guess it's because so few people carry cash anymore.
2. I have officially and finally replaced all of my flimsy plastic storage ware with borosilicate glass, silicone, or stainless steel. I got all of it on sale, over time. It wasn't frugal upfront, but I can't recall how many times I've had to replace the plastic sets in just the last few years.
3. We adopted a dog through our local humane society, and she was too young for spaying when we adopted her. We are getting her spayed today, but we can use the humane society discount.
4. I just finished cooking a big crock pot full of bone broth.
5. Our church is having its big saint's day celebration (our church is named for a saint) and we bought the barbecue lunch tickets for the meal after the service that day. Five dollars per person -- that's a deal, especially since I know which restaurant is catering it, and one can't eat there for $5 a person any other time.
Congrats on the puppy.
1. I've been slowly working on changing my spending habits to 'do I REALLY need it or do I already own something that will do that job, is it something I will use long term or add real value, can I buy it 2nd hand, spending time finding the cheapest price
2. In line with the above got a push mower 2nd hand for less than 1/3 retail for the brand I wanted & it works great & it won't use petrol or electricity
3. Got a the vacuum cleaner I wanted for nearly 50% off
4. Found much cheaper vacuum bags online for my vacuum cleaner I got for nearly 1/2 price & at checkout got a 5% off code
5. Got my moisturizer on big sale!
6. Got some great buys at the op-shop of things I've been looking out to buy including a tan leather belt to wear with my summer dresses, a cardigan, & a handbag ( my old one is falling apart)
There's a special magic in finding exactly what you need at a thrift store/op shop! 🙂
Woohoo! Gotta love that 50% discount on filing paperwork. 🙂 Isn't it insane how expensive it is just to apply for college courses? Ugh.
This week:
1. Last night was our DIY dinner night. Instead of making anything elaborate for myself, I just rummaged through the freezer and pantry to put together a not-fancy dinner of chicken nuggets and other odds and ends.
2. Last night I bought a laptop to use for my freelancing business. I'm going to go full time with it soon and will need a dedicated machine (my current computer is through my employer). I'm not sure how frugal it is to spend so much money on a computer, but I at least paid for it out of freelance earnings, and used a rewards credit card to buy it.
3. Hubs mowed the lawn with our secondhand lawn mower.
4. I had to download software onto my new laptop. I made sure to use a few affiliate links to chop the costs in half. Woohoo!
5. I had a bag of grapes that were past their prime. Instead of chucking them, I threw them in the dehydrator. At the end of the day, I'll have raisins. 🙂
Woohoo for full time freelance work!
1. Got three perfect mangoes on the discount bin at my grocery store for 99 cents and several other great loss leaders on produce.
2. I'm going back to school to get my second bachelor's degree starting next week and needed a parking pass. Since all my credits from my first degree 25 years ago transferred I was able to get a discounted parking pass - half off something I was rather unhappy about having to pay for in the first place.
3. I had quit my previous part-time job with set hours so I can go back to school and my church just hired me to do a job that's been empty for a while and the hours are very flexible and I'll make about the same as I had been making at my previous job.
4. I've been stocking up the house in preparation for all this massive change and the start of the school year. Lots of Aldi, Surplus Outlet, and sale deals. Made dozens of muffins for my son's lunches and they're all ready to go in the freezer.
5. My daughter's heading back for her second year of college and so far has spent less than $10 on non-consumables. A dustpan and brush that she sorely needed.
Phew good thing you found the missing book. I hate looking for stuff and paying fines >_<
I can't believe Lindsay is starting college soon. Time flies!
1. Did my own manicure. Scrubbed with nail brush and dish detergent. My nails are strong and pretty since i started eating calcium laden foods and taking D. Polish: Nicole by OPI: matte top coat. 2. Chopped up fresh kale .99 cents a bunch. Sliced onions. Added cranberries i got witb free Kroger coupon. Added
99 cent croutons. Balsamic dressing i had already. 3. Made pillow cases out of neat vintage fabrics from rummage sale. 4. Planted 1.00 plants from Lowe's sale rack. 5. Weeded, scratched up ground amd tucked each zinnia seed from dollar tree zinnia packs (4 for a dollar) into the dirt an inch or so apart. Will actually see zinnias in October or before here in the south
Love Zinnias. One of my favourite flowers.
1. The thrift store across from the nurse practitioner I go to was having an end-of-summer sale. So I got two pairs of crinkle cotton pants for $1 each (and I don't even have to hem them because they were a petite length!) and a Bulova watch for $5.
2. The nurse practitioner had samples for sinus care, so we brought home 2 neti pots and 2 boxes of neti solution packs at no cost to us.
3. We have universal health care here in Canada, so though we had to drive a half hour to get to the nurse practitioner, our physicals were free -- and we piggy-backed them so it was only one drive for the two of us.
4. The Talize store in our town was having a 50% off everything sale, so we stopped there on our way home. I got a pair of swim shorts, 2 sleeveless tops and two tops (one a knit silk) for $11.30.
5. I made up a six pint batch of roasted corn salsa, using some bargain (10/$1) corn with tomatoes and herbs from my garden.
1) we wanted to go to Lake Michigan to salmon fish this weekend, which is about 3 hours away. Instead of getting a hotel for both Friday and Saturday we took a short nap after work on Friday and left home around 1am. We were able to launch the boat when we got there, fish all morning, and check into our hotel. We then woke up at 3am Sunday morning to do it again. Saved on a night of hotel, which is very expensive during the summer due to tourism.
2) Went to Kroger yesterday with a $2 off rotisserie chicken coupon. They had a “collossal” one that was supposed to be $9.99 but there was a sticker on it that said $5.99. This chicken is huge and will be the basis of several meals for us (for only $3.99!)
3) Needed to buy beer to bring on the boat. A 15-pack of Miller Lite was $10.99 but there was a rebate on it for $8 if you bought 2. I didn’t really neeeeeed 2, but it definitely won’t go to waste 🙂
4) My car turned 10 years old this month. When I took it for an oil change, I was told it needed 4 new tires. My husband thought that it was maybe the right time to get something new, but since I’ve had very few issues with it I bought the tires (buy 3, get one free) and will hope it lasts a few more years.
5) Our water heater stopped working. We could’ve gotten a replacement quickly but it wasn’t exactly what we wanted. The one that we do want is on back order so we’ll be going almost 2 weeks without hot water. This morning I went to the gym to shower (finally! Putting that gym membership to good use!). Since I can’t really wash dishes, my meal plan for the week went out the window. However I’m still planning on keeping it very frugal. There is a 51% off pizza coupon I will use one night and I do have a freezer lasagna that I was saving for such an occasion.
1. My daughter has been out of diapers for several weeks and having fewer accidents. Sure we used cloth diapers and cloth trainers (I'm convinced Pull Ups are an unnecessary product created to sell disposable diapers longer.
2. Sold some used cloth diapers. It was tough letting go of the Rainbow Brite one but we're not having another kid and my sister is strongly opposed to cloth diapers.
3. I had some vodka and vanilla beans left over from the last time I made vanilla extract so I made another batch. Extract and beans are super expensive now so most of the time I use imitation but there are times when you need the real thing.
4. Made a peach simple syrup using some neglected peaches. My wife uses it in her cold brew iced tea. No more prebottled stuff.
5. I'm almost completely out of flour so I'm planning a trip to King Arthur Flour to buy some 50 lb sacks of it.
My dear co-worker is from Europe and has told me repeatedly that everyone potty trains their children between 1 and 2 years old. Not only does she think Pull Ups are unnecessary, she also thinks it is the disposable diaper industry that has American parents convinced children cannot or should not toilet train younger.
Well, that's HER opinion but I personally don't believe it. I raised kids and have five grandkids. I have NEVER seen anyone successfully start potty training until after the second birthday. I have seen parents who trained themselves to grab a kid and set it on the potty, though. I don't think European babies are that much different than American kids.
Anybody is welcome to disagree with me, but I do get a little tired of American bashing.
I’m from Europe. I do notice that people in the US tend to potty train much later. When my children were little, all of my friends (and I ) potty trained our kids between 20 and 24 months. Not parent trained to put child on potty on schedule, but child-tells-you-they-need-to-go trained. It’s not that earlier is better, it’s just a cultural expectation, I think. Though I personally don’t enjoy changing diapers, so I appreciated when each of mine were trained.
We tried younger but my kid just didn't want to. I think the problem stemmed from the fact that all the kids she was around were in diapers so if they were getting changed she wanted to as well.
I'm American, and my daughter was ready at about 20 months, fully 100% trained by 2. I think it just depends upon the kid.
I agree! Like tons of other things, this varies a lot from kid to kid.
And like many other things about babies/toddlers, it doesn't matter a whole lot in the long run. By the time your kid is 18 and heading to college, no one will care when they were potty trained even if it was super early or super late.
I can totally see that. My son was ready at 17/18 months to potty train and I started it with him, but a 2 week hospital stay with my other son and some other life stuff prevented me from finishing the training. It wasn't until he was 2 1/2 did we actually get him potty trained. And I completely agree about pull-ups. We use them on occasion, but not during the intensive training. Only after the child is motivated to go by his/herself and then we use them when we're out as a just-in-case precaution. But with my son, we've really not used them at all since starting training, mostly because I finally decided for sure I wasn't going to shell out the money for them.
I agree about the pull-ups. In my experience, having pee running down your legs is great for bodily awareness! Super absorbent disposable products make it a little harder to notice the downsides of not making it to the toilet, so I only ever used them for nap times and bedtimes and stuck with those thick Gerber training pants the rest of the time.
I'm in America and both my daughters were potty trained before their second birthdays. My oldest was actually trained by 18 months. She always hated a wet diaper. My son on the other hand was almost 3. It also didn't help that I had a very bad pregnancy with his younger sister when he was turning 2 so I didn't stay on top of it like I should have. I am the only one that remembers so it doesn't really matter.
1. Bought a wedding dress and veil on consignment - $400 for the two items!
2. Price shopping and comparing different vendors for the wedding - picking what will work the best for us, but making sure we're not overspending.
3. Received a free Better Homes and Gardens subscription when purchasing Better Homes and Gardens branded furniture. I won't use the subscription (my mom subscribes and passes hers along after she reads them), but my fiance noticed that the card said we could mail in our receipt and the subscription card for a refund of the value of the subscription. I'm currently waiting for my $6 check.
4. Finally got a rebate check in the mail from purchasing a new AC unit earlier this summer. The $150 was well worth the wait.
5. Used up a $25 credit I had from Shutterfly for ordering placecards for the wedding. We only did a small order, and will wait for another discount from them before ordering the rest.
Shutterfly someitmes has separate discounts if you go download the app.
1) I got a receipt from our sons' dental appointments and will turn them into insurance. Insurance is especially picky about what dental things they cover, so I don't have high hopes. But it was $1300, so it is worth the try.
2) I had the world's most obnoxious airbnb guest this weekend who complained endlessly. She demanded a refund, but I refused as the house was exactly as described. Is it my fault that there weren't enough mirrors close to electric sockets for her? In six years of hosting it is the first time I have heard that one. How did they even synchronize showers so perfectly that three women had to hair dry at exactly the same time? We welcome hundreds of people into our home each year, and overwhelming people are sweet and gracious. Every once in a while I get a diva. But it is easy, steady cash, so we've decided to keep it up until the house is paid off.
3) I am pregnant with our fourth. I am very lucky in that I experience "morning" sickness only when I'm hungry. Which I have discovered creates a Pavlovian effect. At the smallest pang of hunger my body goes into "grab the nearest calorie" mode, even if that is a cheeseburger in a drive through. So I made a giant pot of cheap, healthy quinoa and veggie stew that I am just eating constantly.
4) Aforementioned airbnb guest blew one socket with all the hair drying, which she also blamed on me. So we are hoping to fix it ourselves. Ours is an old house, and all the fuses in the electric box aren't labeled correctly, so we are going to go around and test them until we find the fuse for that bathroom socket.
5) I made a meal plan and grocery shopped, I have the kids home with me two days each week this summer to save on daycare, I am cutting the boys' hair myself later this afternoon, and daily DAILY I am resisting buying a soft drink.
Ugh to that Air BnB guest. So frustrating!
And congrats on number four!!
Amanda, I can only imagine how much of a challenge it is to host people in your home. Is the airbnb in a big city ... maybe you can share the link with others and get some frugal folks to stay there and help with the expenses and also keep costs down as frugal people tend to take better care of their stuff, IMHO.
1. My husband is a volleyball coach and last night was the first home game. I was feeling brave and went with my 4yo, 2yo, and 1 month-old. I decided we'd eat "dinner" there to keep them occupied so we could stay longer than 15 minutes before everything fell apart. 😉 I packed food instead of buying it at the concession stand, even though pizza and soft pretzels are more appealing than cheese sticks and oranges.
2. Thought about making a trip to the produce store but am holding off for a few more days in an attempt to really use up what we have and avoid food waste.
3. My daughter won a coupon for a free flurry at the ice cream shop. We all went for ice cream, but my kids can't eat a ton, so we brought the leftover flurries home and put them in the freezer.
4. Last night's dinner and tonight's dinner are meals from my freezer.
5. Ate tomato sandwiches for lunch with tomatoes from my garden.
Go you!!
1. Finished cleaning the basement! It's frugal because now we know where everything is, especially my husband's tools (I bought him two very large Rubbermaid containers to hold them, mostly paid for with a gift card I found while cleaning out the basement. See? A frugal activity).
2. I used up all the kale before it went bad. I hate food waste, and I love kale, but greens are something that have to be used up so quickly that they often get away from me, but not this week.
3. While cleaning the basement, I found knitted wristwarmers that I'd knit but not sewn up, so now I have a new pair, and my mom will get a new pair for Christmas. She loves these things, I've knit her several pair before, so she'll be excited. 🙂
4. I didn't buy anything at the thrift store when I went in search of a certain book that they didn't have.
5. I didn't need to buy any school supplies, because I'd already stocked up when Walmart had marked down all their stuff last year, along with finding a bunch of supplies in our newly cleaned out basement. 🙂
Glad you found that library book! I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate having lost/overdue library books. I use my library so frequently that it freaks me out to even *think* of not being able to borrow more books!
Great ask with the peaches! Yum!
1-Bought clearance journals/construction paper. Feels good having school stash stocked.
2- Each week we walk to library/post office/church park. I'm looking forward to a few more months of this fresh air/car free outing. Thankful to be downtown.
3- Our grocery store had B1G1 free on spices and chicken. Both on my list; $10 in free groceries:)
4- I've been trying DIY skin/body care recipes from a library book. Fun, healthy & fairly cheap.
5- Sold another curriculum item that wasn't a good fit. Hoping the 4 other pieces will sell also.
1. Cancelled two magazines that I think I have aged out of enjoying.
2. With great discipline, I managed to bring indoors the gallon of raspberries I picked in our backyard. Froze them for winter use.
3. Again showing great self-restraint, I managed to bring indoors and freeze two gallon bags of strawberries from our backyard.
4. Showing no self-restraint at all, I ate all the cherry tomatoes I picked, before I even left the greenhouse. I did bring in six full sized tomatoes and made tomato soup. Luckily it rained the next morning, so felt like a tomato soup day. We are losing daylight at the rate of 5 minutes or more a day now and I see leaves changing, so fall is here. Since we get snow in September, winter is galloping toward us as well. I am making soups for the freezer as I harvest things.
5. Along with way, way too many zucchini plants, I also planted too many spaghetti squash plants. There are two of us and I now have 11 of them and more still on the vine. The food bank was not interested in them, saying that folks refuse to take things that require that much work. (I think they had better luck when they gave monthly classes on how to fix certain vegetables because if you have never seen or eaten a spaghetti squash, why would you take one? I have lots of friends who have refused to take one from me until I explained how to eat them.) A friend of mine is a vendor at our local farmers' market so I gave 10 of them to her. She kept one for herself as the commission and sold the other nine and gave me the money. She said she'll take as many as I want to sell for the remaining few farmers' markets before they close down for winter. I put the money in my fund for replacing a greenhouse panel next spring. I have traded for stuff but have never made cash from my garden before!
Pretty cool deal with your friend! One year my friend's garden yielded a ton of spaghetti and butternut squashes (and a random cross we couldn't explain that we dubbed butternot squash) and she was able to store and use them through the winter in a cold spot of her garage. Mine did okay in the shed for a little while, but I think mine had stayed warm too long first. She has basically a root cellar attached to her garage so the temperature was way cooler from the start. If you still have some after market season, maybe you could find a way to store and enjoy them all winter.
Only four this time ...
1. At the grocery store, I noticed that the smaller bags of chocolate chips were less per ounce than the larger bags that I always buy. So of course I bought the smaller bags. I don’t know if it’s always like that or not, but I’ll try to remember to check from now on.
2. A biggie – I went through all the things in my “stuff to donate” bags and entered it all into a tax deduction worksheet. There were 296 items and the estimated tax savings is over $600! I scheduled a pickup at my curb by my favorite charity for the following week. I love seeing stuff go out of my house. And 296 items is a lot of “stuff”!
3. Signed my daughter up for a school activity and paid by the early-bird deadline date, which saved $25. I paid on the last possible day for the discount!
4. Didn’t use the convenience service at school to buy the school supplies needed for my student. I know there’s a mark-up with that. I just printed out the list soon after school ended in June, bought a little most weeks over the summer, and finally just got the last item on the list.
It's so weird when smaller packages are cheaper per ounce. But it does happen with surprising regularity. So smart to check the unit price!
I've been having a hard time making myself sit down and do one of these FFT because this is my super busy, stressful time of year at work (and home), but I'm doing it today. So let's see.
1. Frugal & Red Neck at the same time. I saw a pair of zero gravity lawn chairs in a pile of trash along side the road. I picked them up and when I got home I saw that one was broken where the netting is tied to the frame. My red neck upbringing taught me that I can fix that with zip ties. Sure enough with about 50 zip ties, I have two good as new zero gravity lawn chairs (that hold people)!
2. This is also my hubby's super busy time of year at work, so we haven't seen much of him, so I have to take on the responsibility of cooking and grocery shopping. He tends to spend way more than needed when he goes, so I was happy to spend only 1/3 of what he did during my most recent trip to the store. I also have been trying to be more thoughtful about meal planning so that I can stay organized.
3. I want to try out the Instant Pot that is all the craze right now, so I asked my social media friends if anyone had one that I could borrow for the week to try out. One of my co-workers has one and brought it in for me to try. I will plan to use it later this week and into the weekend to see if I should invest in one or not.
4. My son is playing coach pitch baseball this year. The recommended bat for him to use is like $80! What? $80 for a bat for a 6 year old? No way, I went to the local thrift store and found the same one for $4.50...score for this mommy!
5. Looking forward to school starting again so my daycare bill decreases by half. These last two weeks of summer have been super tight for my walllet!
I really enjoy this feature!
1. We didn’t have a working refrigerator or freezer for a week while we waited for the delivery of a part, but DH was able to fix it for $50.00. A repairman would have been at least $250.00 (DH’s estimate).
2. We didn’t lose any food while the refrigerator was out of commission because we were able to use a small dorm-sized fridge we have in the garage, as well as the freezer at the clubhouse in our community.
3. DH was able to fix the salinator on our pool by replacing a fuse. We’re happy because we found out that it is just two days outside of the warranty.
4. I took some library books back last night to avoid late fines.
5. When DH didn’t quite pass his blood work to qualify for discounted yearly health insurance premiums, he completed online health “missions” to avoid the $600 penalty.
1. Bought a handful of 1-cup containers and divvied up my yogurt into them so I can take it to work with me. I kept having yogurt go bad by the time I could finish it (the last time it was just FULLLLLL of blue mold - blech). I realized it was probably all of the opening/closing of the container, using different spoons, etc..., so it would make sense to put it in small containers to take with me. I bought dishwasher safe, disposable containers because I am notoriously bad about losing my Pyrex dishes.... (Now watch me hold on to these for the next 20 years.)
2. I bought grapes for $0.77/lb and froze them. I washed them, pulled them off the stems, and spread them on cookie sheets to go in the deep freeze. Frozen fruit is my go-to sweet snack while I'm losing weight this summer. They kill my ice cream craving in a good way. Grapes go back on sale again this week for $0.68/lb, so I'll be repeating this activity!
3. I made mango preserves. Turns out frozen mango is NOT satisfying in the way pineapple chunks, or cherries, or grapes are.
4. I bought a planner for 75% off. It's discbound and I'm assuming it was returned, hence the super low price. Everything's there, and I paid $7.50 instead of $25.00!
5. I batched errands. We watched Jaws so we can return the DVD to the library on time. I used my insulated steel tumbler and water bottle instead of buying bottled water.
Prof H-B: I sent a plastic spoon in my son's school lunch every day for twelve years. He would bring it home; I'd wash it and send it in again. I don't think he ever lost one, though a few broke at home. But I am sure that if I had used real silverware, following your logic, some would have been lost.
Can you freeze a few of your yogurts while you eat the first ones, and move them down to the refrigerator to thaw when you need them? I don't know much about yogurt.
You can eat frozen yoghurt but I'm not sure it would defrost to become the same as before but I guess you could give one a try; I had the same problem with my yoghurt until I swapped brands; the one I buy now seems to last quite a while & it's all natural
Have recently discovered your website and have been enjoying the regular emails. My five frugal things this week were:
1. Took a short holiday to visit friends in Pennsylvania and borrowed books on CD from the library to listen to on the 10+ hour car ride, packed lunch, beverages and car snacks so I didn't spend money on the road and brought back bags of veggies (my friends are farmers).
2. Today took advantage of a free admission pass to visit a local historic house, picnic and walk along the coast with a friend (am still on vacation this week)
3. Packed up three boxes of items to bring to the consignment shop.
4. Baked up 3 small Chocolate Zucchini cakes (using up some of the produce I brought back from friends farm), one to eat this week, one in the freezer and gave one to friend I visited today.
5. Visited local discount bread store on their "99 cent Tuesday's" Sale and got just the one loaf of bread I needed for the week.
Well, let's see. My husband retired two weeks ago, and I've been giving this a lot of thought. We've realized that we'll be living on at least 20% less, with more expenses. The more expense comes in like this: he had company paid uniforms, boots, glasses, laundry, a service van, fuel, out of town travel that included meals, and a per diem (for being out of town). So, now we're down to one vehicle (what a juggling act that's becoming), Medicare, social security, paying for additional insurance - and making each nickel count. We'd both been divorced a couple of times, which took a toll on our investments. No pension.
1.) Our son works for the same company, and is out of town during the week. We paid for repairs to his truck, so we do have the use of that, for which I'm grateful.
2.) My dear neighbor has gone into a nursing home, and I'm helping her son (both are now in Arizona) with her home upkeep, etc. I recently emptied her pantry and refrigerator & freezer, so we have that. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that her car will end up being affordable to us.
3.) I inherited my neighbor's chihuahua, which gives us three dogs. Another expense. I decided that she can eat what my dogs do, instead of her fancy stuff. I make a stew with leftovers (meat, vegetables, brown rice) to mix with their kibble. I asked her son to go halves on vet bills (at least for the time being), so that has already helped.
4.) We planned ahead, while we still had insurance. So, prescriptions, dental, optical, medical check-ups, etc. are up to date. We'll be extra vigilant with our health from now on.
5.) Our hobbies and church will keep us busy, and I'll be doing a lot more cooking and entertaining ourselves at home.
The shelter we adopted our dog from has low-cost vetrinary care. Maybe you have something like that near you as well?
I almost as feel as though this week I can only come up with frugal flops! I finally made it to our local library after living here almost 2 months. I spent 30 minutes scouring the shelves and picked out a stack of books, went to the counter to get a card and check out my finds, and I needed not only my drivers license but proof of residency, so a bill or something showing where I lived...which of course i didn't have. I was so bummed.
1. I purchased all of my greens on managers special for 50% off this week which I try and do as often as possible. I eat them so quickly that they only last a day or 2 so they are typically still fresh enough even though they aren't their freshest. Savings $5-$6
2. Combined 2 partial leftover boxes of pasta to make a dish instead of buying a brand new box of pasta. Savings $2
3. Purchased 2 shirts on thrift and 1 pair of jeans on clearance for new job. I needed just a couple things to round out my wardrobe and get me by. I have worked as a nanny the last 2 years so all I owned was one pair of jeans. I need 3 to 4 days worth of pants to get me through the week. I can wear skirts which I have 2 long maxi skirts. So I figure 2 jeans and 2 skirts will be perfect to get me through each week. Savings $43
4. My hubby surprised me and picked me up a small blizzard from dairy queen this weekend. While that isn't frugal, I have stretched it over 3 days, which is. Savings ?
1. I planned a small personal retreat. Originally, I was going to go away and pay and stay somewhere, but then I planned some things to make it special in my own home. It worked out well. We are empty-nesters, so our home is rather quiet.
2. I compared prices online before buying a few items and that way saved a bit of cash by knowing exactly where I wanted to buy these items.
3. I think planning ahead and preparing are some of my best frugal things. I planned and prepped for some meals for some very busy days this week and so we did not end up eating out. There were some things which I did not plan and had so it ended up costing more, but we can't do the very best frugal option every single
time.
4. We tried some days without the air cooler and it worked out fine. The temperature in the house was okay.
5. I tried to use what food I had on hand, substituting for various ingredients to use up what I had and not buy something extra. It seems like I was doing this more than I usually do.
I can't believe you've had three windshield replacements this year! Crazy town! We had to have ours replaced about a month ago. There wasn't a place that offered free windshield wipers, but I made sure to pick the business that also shampooed my van carpets!
I've been try to post my own frugal five every Friday, so for here I'm going to try to come up with five frugal things that happened today:
1. We stayed home. Nothing like staying home away from stores, treats and gas guzzling to save a few dollars.
2. We ate squash soup I made the other day for lunch. No one liked it then (even me), but I didn't waste it. Added a bit of leftover sausage and a couple spoonfuls of tomato sauce and it went down without too many complaints.
3. I cut up a giant roast my husband had bought into 4 meals worth of steaks and a decent sized roast beef. I froze 3 of the steak meals for later, ate steak tonight and will cook the roast tomorrow or the day after.
4. We made presents for my MIL's birthday tomorrow. By we, I mean my kids. They got to draw and decorate on some card stock, fold it in half and then we filled the middle with lined paper to make a travel journal/busy book for Grandma's birthday (She'll be going on a road trip in a few days and loves to document things, so it will be useful!).
5. Tonight we opened our windows! It's been horrifically smokey here this past week and has prevented us from opening our windows at night to cool off the house, thus we use more air conditioning.
The smoke cleared SO MUCH today, so we made the decision to open the windows tonight and it's glorious.
🙂
It has been ridiculous! A basketball hoop fell on Lisey's car, a rock hit mine, and a tree branch fell on Joshua's.
I need a really big garage, apparently. Or a garage at all, to protect at least one car! lol
Yay for open windows. I just love it when the weather is right for that.
A basket ball hoop fell?!! What are the chances?! haha...
Bullet proof glass might be a good option. 😉
Right? An invisible shield, maybe?
My frugal five on family vacation this week:
1. Instead of a hotel, we found a nice house through VBRO (Vacation Rentals By Owner. The cost is about the same, we are about five minutes away from the beach, and we have separate bedrooms for our kids, ages one and three.
2. Using our season pass to our local science museum, we have gotten free family admission to one science museum, and half price admission to another. The kids love to play, and we have saved at least $36 on admission just on this vacation.
3. For $3 my husband got a big container of ice cream that we can enjoy several times instead of buying individual servings from an ice cream shop.
4. The beach is free! We have visited 2 different local beaches here, and only had to pay for parking once. There are free playgrounds at both beaches as well, and a splash pad.
5. We brought food for breakfast and lunch, so the only going out to eat we've done is for dinner. I seriously enjoy going out to eat, but that way we're not spending a ton of money, and we're eating some more vegetables and fruits since we're eating at the rental house.
Two of my children moved out over the weekend. My expenses will drop as the youngest had a baby and I was always feeding extras. So I have held off shopping.
1. We are eating from the pantry and freezers for now. This end of winter in my corner of the world is strawberry season. So we are eating heaps while we can and while they are cheaper.
2. I have been diagnosed with severe carpel tunnel syndrome. My pharmacy charged me $8 (AUS) less than I was quoted for my splints. That's a saving of $16. I don't know if my health fund will rebate on them.
3. So far I haven't paid anything out of my pocket for my doctor's appointments and tests. Yippee..
Okay, I only have this one but I thought it was funny.
I have always packed my children's school lunches. It never occurred to me that I wouldn't do it here, too, at our new place. Then I asked my sons who else brings lunch.
No one. Not one single child.
Granted, their school only has 34 students (total, in grades Pre-K-12), so the cook at the school is essentially just preparing the equivalent of a big family meal every day and thus can make it high quality, but still. They are the only ones who bring a lunch.
Of course they ask me why they can't buy their lunch. It's a fair question. So we did some math and they learned that were I to pay two dollars every day for three kids to have lunch at school for the 144 days of the school year, it would cost me $864 a year. If we bring that further to how much it would be over the course of their entire schooling time, it would be $4320 per kid (if you count from ages 3-18), or (since I have a daughter who will be starting in a couple of years, too) $17,280 total.
Those numbers made an impact. I did explain that I do have to spend some to make the lunches they bring from home, but it's much less than the school lunches. End result is that we're sticking with the rule that they can buy a school lunch, but they have to pay for it themselves. They don't choose to do this very often. 🙂
Ok. Busy week here with our son involved with a local fair. But still being frugal!
1. Made soup out of what was left of a rotisserie chicken. Added leftover corn I had frozen. Crunched up the last of some stale crackers in it. Yummy lunch!
2. Found out a task I thought I was going to have to pay someone to do was super easy so I did it myself. Savings at least $150.
3. Trimmed my own hair.
4. Packed food so we don’t have to pay for fair food everyday.
5. Picked up a few pairs of pants for DH at thrift store on half off day. Paid about $3 a pair.
$150 saved on a DIY task is AWESOME.
Serious (but somewhat shameful) question: How much does it cost to lose a library book? I have a most excellent library book that I'd like to keep for life, and I'm kind of wondering if I could pay the library for it rather than hunt it down elsewhere. Shameful, right?
Ahh, is this one that's out of print? Not available on Amazon?
I think the cost of a missing book is usually based on what the library has to pay to replace the book, so it varies a lot! And I have no idea how they'd calculate it for a book that is out of print. Maybe a librarian reader will know!
If you really want to own it, you could see if your library will put you on the list to notify you when it is going to be culled. Many libraries regularly cull their collections and then hold library sales. They might not go for it, but it could be worth a shot.
1. Made pesto using basil from the herb box. Delicious!
2. Packed up the babe and went walking the past couple days. Gets us out of the house, fresh air, and some exercise for me. A fun, free activity.
3. Made the beginnings of a sourdough starter. Here’s to hoping it works!
4. Are leftovers for lunch (even though they weren’t my favorite) to avoid waste.
5. Bought less-expensive decorticated cardamom instead of ground. Blitzed it in the coffee grinder and tada! Ground cardamom.
With all the money I have been spending lately, I hardly feel frugal....but here goes....
1. Cooked all meals at home over the weekend - no eating out for any of us.
2. Prepped my lunches for the week - again, no eating out.
3. My small home garden has produced a surprising amount of cucumbers this season. We ate one jar of homemade pickles this past weekend. They were sooo good!
4. Signed up my son for Fall Soccer with an early bird discount.
5. This one is my husband's frugal item- but it is a big one......Early Sunday morning, we heard unexplained running water in our first floor bathroom. Big puddles in our basement lead us to discover a cracked hot water pipe behind the wall in said bathroom (my hubs literally cut a hole in the wall to find the leak while I freaked out a bit). After lots of google searches, youtube videos, and spending $20 bucks at Home Depot, he repaired the pipe!
Congrats to him on the plumbing repair! Water leaks seriously freak me out, so I'm impressed he managed it on his own. Kudos!
My two were in the "running start program" where they took college classes at the community college while in high school and then graduated HS with an associate degree (or two years of college credit). Different community colleges use different names for it, but the important thing is it was free for high schoolers. Do you have that available? I can't imagine they would charge for home schoolers.
1. We ordered my son's books for college. 2 were used, 2 were rented and one was new as that was the only way it came.
2. My daughter took her Senior pictures. If you pay for them within the first 10 days you get an early bird special, 10 % off and free shipping. We were going to buy them either way. Might as well save some money. We went with the second to smallest package.
3. We went away for 6 days at my sister's time share. We spent just under $800 for 4 people and had a great time.
4. I worked Saturday and Sunday when we came home so that I didn't lose any hours. I only get paid when I work.
5. My garden is going crazy. I am picking baskets full of tomatoes and peppers every day. We are eating lunch and dinner based on what veggies I have. This week we have had chicken bruschetta pizza, BLTs, salads, omelettes, chicken fajitas, chili, and sausage and peppers.
I just discovered this blog and I am so impressed with the money saving ideas. I am a semi-retired widow whose spending needs to be "reigned" in - so the tips are very helpful. I'm going to make an effort to join in the conversation next week. Thanks for the jump start!
Welcome, welcome!
Amanda- Congrats on baby #4!
Here are the fab five frugal things:
1) Got a free loaf of French bread at the market. Savings- $1.79
2) Got college textbooks cheaper than the college bookstore from Amazon and other online retailers. Savings- $50
3) I got a free $25 gift card at a restaurant when buying $100 in gift cards there. Guess where we're going for dinner? Savings- $25
4) I'm sending my niece a birthday gift- a gift card to Kohl's and a gift card to ColdStone. I got them for free from my credit card rewards...… Savings- $35
5) I was sent a free $10 birthday gift card from the Body Shop, so I got lots of lotions with the buy 2, get 1 free promo PLUS free shipping. My final cost was about $8. Savings- $10
Okay-I always read but never play. Let me see what I can come up with.
1) Took the kids and dogs to a public park/dog park for a fun (although not exciting) Sat. night.
2) Used Papa Johns Rewards for a cheap pizza dinner-Sat night fun night
3) I'm wearing Chico jeans my stepmother gifted me because they no longer fit her
4) I cooked out of our freezer for the last week-the end of August is a tough time for public school teachers (who didn't allocate quite enough for the last few weeks of August in their savings)
5) My husband shared a Facebook post for an upcoming camp and earned our son free lunch at his camp next week-my pre-service week for the upcoming school year.
Will you eat the peaches fresh or freeze them?
We've been camping, so I'll do a FFT camping style:
1. We stayed at 2 National parks for $20 a night, much cheaper than even a cheap hotel.
2. We have métal bowls, plates, cups and silverware making it so we don't need to buy disposable dishes. We have 2 dollar store tubs for washing dishes.
3. While camping we accepted free firewood (North Carolina folk sure are friendly!), some ice of campers leaving and 3 small tarps from the same campers! They said the tarps were wet and they didn't have a backyard to dry them in so we could have them. One we put in front of our tent for a porch floor, one we put on the table for a table cloth and the other we'll have on hand for future use.
4. I tried to cook fairly cheap meals like hobo stew, baked potatoes topped with chili, hot dogs etc...
5. We enjoyed free hiking, watching elk and the kids swam (too cold for me).
â£Envoyé par Blue ​
We usually do a combo...eat them until we are practically turning into peaches, and freeze the rest.