Five Frugal Things | my jeans ripped again
1. I fixed a ripped pair of jeans.
Remember my pair of jeans that I ripped by pulling on the belt loop?
Well, that repair is holding up fine, but the jeans developed a split by the bottom of the zipper.
I repaired this basically the same way that I repaired the belt loop (click here to read about that method.)
Basically I sewed a spare piece of denim fabric underneath the rip, and then sewed up the rip. I keep an old denim shirt around specifically for this purpose, actually. It's helped me multiple times!
The repair is pretty inconspicuous, which makes me happy.
I do feel slightly nervous while wearing these jeans now, though.
Like...where will they split next??
I think I will probably just wear them to places where I will not do a lot of squatting or bending.
2. I got Lactaid pills at Costco.
One of you told me to check warehouse clubs for these so while I was near Costco yesterday, I popped in and sure enough, Costco has their version of Lactaid pills.
These definitely seem to be helping Sonia with her dairy issues, so I'm really glad to know of a cheap place to buy them.
3. I filled up my gas tank while at Costco.
Costco has great prices on gas, but making a special trip to get a good gas price is usually pointless. You waste more driving there than you save!
4. I bought only three things at Target.
I needed buns, Cream of Wheat, and graph paper and that is ALL I bought. Yay me!
5. not a frugal thing but...
I donated my extra rubber bands to the post office. I had piles of them in my junk drawer; way more than I'd ever need. I wasn't sure what to do with them, but I googled and discovered that the post office accepts rubber bands.
So, I brought them over when I shipped Sonia's otters yesterday.
That's more of a frugal thing for the post office than me, but I'm happy I was able to give the rubber bands to someone who will use them.
Your turn! Share your five frugal things in the comments.
1. I accepted some thrift store clothes my mother in law bought that didn't fit her. Yesterday I tried one of the shirts, it fit and I wore it all day.
2. Bought a few shirts at a thrift store and my kids used money they earned weeding to buy a toy pinball machine and sewing set. Both were like new.
3.We're visiting my in laws in Mexico where dental work is cheaper and our insurance doesn't cover dental, so guess what we've been doing? 😀
4. Hair salons are cheaper here to o, so I'm gonna get a dye and trim.
5.I've lost 4 pounds free, in fact I'm probably spending less on food. I use the free my fitness pal app.
I did not know the post office accepts rubber bands. Thanks, Kristen!
1. I went Christmas shopping with my sister Monday. I had $15 Kohls cash and other Veterans' Day discounts. I only purchased a needed belt for my husband. It was regular price but my cost-0. I then stopped by Christopher and Banks with a coupon they sent and purchased a winter sweater for 9.00.
2. I worked on Christmas cards yesterday using cards I had purchased at the thrift shop for under 1.00 a box. I went through forever stamps and I have enough for what I need to mail. Any cards I can hand deliver, I do. I keep track of those and for each card, I donate an extra .50 to the Salvation Army. It helps keeps my Christmas focus where it should be.
3. We had an outdoor Christmas train event this weekend in our backyard. It was cold! For drinks, I had hot chocolate and hot cider. I found the cider marked down to 2.29 at Krogers. I baked cookies and we had popcorn. Snacks were probably $10 for a large crowd and there were leftovers!
4. I couldn't find the thermal pitchers I usually use. I've probably loaned them to someone and they haven't found their way back yet. Rather than buying new ones, I called our church knowing we had several we no longer use. Borrowing those instead of buying new was definitely frugal.
5. I'm decorating for a large church event tomorrow for the senior citizens. Using dark teal tablecloths they already have, I'm using short brown pedestal vases and putting white pumpkins on them. The pumpkins were already at church and the ugliest orange possible. I painted them white with brown detailing. They look so much better! The only purchased items were napkins and plates. And the pumpkins centerpieces have been used at multiple events this fall so I'm pleased indeed!
Curious if you have researched and agree with how your charitable contributions are used, for this company or any company? I found it very eye-opening and changed up how I give to good causes.
I'm very comfortable with Salvation Army's policies. They do good work in our community. Many bell ringers are paid little to do a very cold job. Members of our family have provided music at the kettles at no cost which really seems to increase people stopping to listen and donate. Last year, our local chapter was way under what they needed to provide meals and toys for their clients.
The thrift shop I frequent most is actually a for profit that buys their items from other charities. They employ people who really need the work including a number of immigrants.
Goodwill is another story entirely with the CEO making an insane salary. But our town's Goodwill provides work for disabled and other people who would have a hard time getting back in the job market. I do shop there and know the names of many of the workers. It also provides household and clothing items for many lower income folks. So although I disagree with the upper management's pay scale, I'll continue to stop in and support my local community.
Hope that answers your question!
I think it’s important to consider, though, that just because these organizations are “not for profit” , doesn’t decrease the high stress level and demand that the high level CEO’s and upper
Management deal with. I feel as though they still deserve and earn that salary as much as any other ceo, and they are at least with a company trying to work towards good. Not trying to argue, I just sincerely don’t understand why people get so hung up on that.
Completely agree!
I volunteer with Girl Guides of Canada, as a local guide leader and district commissioner. People think that means I 'work' for an hour and a half each week when I get to go on fun trips and hikes with the girls, and practice fun skills and crafts. I get to do all of that, but that is a small fraction of my time. I also have to be there early and leave late, and do a ton of planning and coordinating and confirming and phonecalls and paperwork. I'd estimate I work an average of 5 unpaid hours a week on guiding stuff.
It is HARD and it is stressful. A CEO of a charity is working 40+ hours a week, and usually very removed from the actual charity work. Of course someone qualified and with the necessary skillset should get paid a CEO salary like anyone else.
The logic of "the CEO gets paid more than I do, why should I give to that cause" is really sad logic. To me it always sounds like an excuse not to give. If your donation helps a charity provided even one meal, and you would not have otherwise went out and found someone in need of a meal and prepared that meal yourself, it is still a net-win, no matter who gets paid.
It is not at all feasible to expect unpaid volunteers to run a massive international charity.
1. I bought two packages of Italian sausage on markdown and used them to make two meals. One for Sunday and one for later in the freezer.
2. I got a darling pink snowflake sweater for my dog for FREE from a friend. Her dog had outgrown it.
3. We sold a car and took it off of our insurance so our insurance went DOWN 34 dollars a month.
4. I found a pair of nice black pants for work at a thrift shop sale for $2.50.
5. I bought a new pair of winter boots. They were cute and on sale, but didn't feel super great on my feet so I returned them and am just going to wear my old ones for one more winter ( or until I find a great deal on WIDE boots...not easy to find and we have 8 months of hard winter where I live....).
I also have WIDE feet and have had good luck with Lands End snow boots (they should have 40-50% off for black Friday. Also good luck with Clark's wide boots. There is an outlet near me and had BOGO 50% in October.
Sonia sold her otters quickly! yeah for her!
they are so very cute!
1. Roasted a pumpkin leftover from Halloween
2. Exclusively breastfeeding my 4 day old baby
3. Using all hand-me-down clothes for my daughter, so far
4. Sold some items on ebay and Let Go- made some extra money and decluttered!
5. Not needing to pay for wrap around care for my son while I am on maternity leave
Congratulations! You're in for some fun.
Congratulations and enjoy your new darling
I have a pair of jeans that my wife thinks I just need to relegate to the trash heap because there's a big hole in the knee. They are my weekend and dirty job jeans and have quite a bit of character in them so I think I'm going to repair them. I just need some denim. Hmm, maybe I can raid the box of my daughter's old clothes we have for donation. 😛
Anyway, here's what I've been up to:
1.) Took advantage of some Amazon sales and got my daughter some Berenstain Bears books for my daughter. They were like $2 each and since I chose the slow shipping method I got a free $1 digital credit for each (two separate orders)
2.) Doing a freezer stock up and taking advantage of cheap prices on turkey.
3.) Still making bread regularly. Probably going to bake another four loaves this evening which will get me through Thanksgiving and should be pretty close to Christmas.
4.) Got a bonus in the form of gift card from work for completing a huge project. Unfortunately the GC can only be used at certain stores, most of which I don't need. Luckily said stores sell gift cards for services I do use like Netflix. So I'm paid up until October of next year now.
5.) Maybe frugal; maybe not. Found out my wife's new car has synthetic in it so when we got it changed the sticker shock was there. Fortunately everything I've read said that you can go longer between changes on synthetic oil (my wife drives a lot for work so getting it in regularly is a chore) but again, the cost is more. So we'll see.
Do you freeze the loaves of bread? I find making one loaf at a time to be inconvenient, but wasn't sure how homemade bread stored in the freezer turns out...
Shannon: I make bread every week and freeze three of the four loaves until I need them. It's a traditional sourdough--meaning only water, flour, and salt--and we do go through them quickly so I don't know if those two things affect the outcome, but they freeze and thaw perfectly.
Yup. We have a chest freezer so we make four loaves at a time and freeze three of them.
I'm glad Kristin mentioned she uses an old denim shirt for patching; I hadn't thought of that. It would be much easier than using jean denim, which is so thick. (Of course, one could always use red flannel or floral underwear pink and make a creative statement).
Yes! This is a fairly lightweight denim shirt, which makes for good reinforcing material without making the repair super thick.
I'm a little "torn" about this issue 🙂 I want to be frugal. . . last winter I even looked online for the best way to patch knees in jeans. And I was so proud of the results. But after one wash, the fabric just tore around the patch. So much wasted time.
I told my older friend, an excellent seamstress who knows how to do all sorts of sewing fixes, and she said, "Oh no, I don't even bother with the knees of jeans. Once that fabric wears out, any patches just rip the fabric around it."
Since I don't have a huge amount of time to patch denim knees (and I have 4 boys who routinely tear out knees), I just haven't bothered since then. I do, however, recycle the jeans by selling parts of them on Etsy.
I think the problem is people tend to patch the hole when the whole area is damaged so the patch needs to be much bigger than we think.
I plan on trying the sashiko type repair in my pair. We'll see how it goes.
ooh, what is the sashiko type repair??
I think holes in the knees are back in style -- my trendy, grown-up daughter was sporting some last week. -- probably more challenging with kids who are jumping, climbing, scooting on the floor, etc, and turning little rips into giant holes.
I am amazed how inconspicuous Kristin's repair is!
Yep, Lisey purposely distressed some of her jeans...which meant putting holes into them! She's a fashionable 17 year old. 😉
Crazy, right? It's the 80's all over again 😉
Wow! Selling "parts" of jeans on Etsy sounds great. I just gave so many away to the vets but have more...
Can u re-enforce the jeans while they are fairly new? There are iron on patches you can put on the knee area (on the inside of the jeans).
I have done this with khaki school uniform pants and it helped them last longer.
After the knees wear out, cut them, hem and have shorts.
Jody, when my boys were young I preemptively put patches in the knees (iron on kind, on the insides) and the holes stopped!
Depending on which brand you are using of synthetic oil, you can go anywhere from 5,000 to 7,000 miles between oil changes. My husband and I both use synthetic and with how much he drives, it helps us to not have to go in for oil changes as often. I don't drive nearly as much so I end up getting an oil change twice a year, but synthetic is what is recommended for my vehicle so that is what we go with.
1. switched my husband's cell phone provider so that the bill is cut in half.
2. Eating in each day this past week and shopped the cabinets, leaving our grocery bill pretty low. It's a small thing but a big deal since I'm on my own with a 2, 3 and 4 year old, and one of them has profound medical needs that only a 2-3 friends are equipped to handle.
3. found some Christmas presents in the dollar bins at Target. We try to keep Christmas small, and I love the dollar bins for little things the kids will enjoy for a long time. Isn't it funny how some of the cheapest stuff is what the kids like best?
4. I refrained from replacing my clearance house slippers from 6 years ago ($5 at Costco!) with non-clearance fluffy slippers that were oh so cute. My feet grew this summer (I'm a full grown adult and not pregnant. How does this happen?????) and my slippers are now a tiny bit small in addition to being worn down, but I can wait until clearance this year to get new ones.
5. I filled up my tires as soon as the temperatures dropped 30 degrees, thereby saving ourselves from a potential blowout on the interstate and saving gas mileage. Maintainence saves money!
Kaitlin, you mentioned something I don't ever remember seeing in the volumes of pregnancy advice materials I got when expecting my son. Hands and feet do not return to pre-pregnancy sizes! It isn't weight, but bones somehow relaxed farther apart.
Also, could your feet be swelling? Just a thought and I once washed and dried my house shoes and they never fit the same after that. I only dried them for a short amount of time but it caused them to shrink a bit. About pregnancy, a lot of people don't know that it can also cause your teeth to shift also.
I haven't been pregnant for 2.5 years, and the change in size happened since last winter, when I bought some new winter shoes. I have no idea what has happened.
It makes sense that pregnancy makes teeth shift, and explains why my mouth now looks like it did pre-braces!
Don't know if you gained weight, but if so it could explain the shoe size change. I gained quite a lot of weight and my feet are now a size 10, before they were a 9.
Let's hope no one is examining the area at the bottom of your zipper that closely when you wear them! 🙂
1. I had no leftovers from our meal last night to pack for lunch today. I scrounged in the refrigerator until I put together an "interesting", yet frugal, lunch.
2. This isn't my frugality, but my bosses just gave each of us (employees) a ticket to get free smoked Boston Butts the day before Thanksgiving. Since my family and I had an early Thanksgiving this past weekend, this will do nicely for Thanksgiving day for all of us; I can portion some out to my grown kids. The tickets were $35 each -- I know because I wrote the check to the fundraiser for the company.
3. I found a full-sized #2 pencil with a good eraser on the ground. I picked it up.
4. Had a good dental check up and walked away with my bag of freebies. I got two samples of floss this time. I always keep the floss samples and free toothbrush at work, for after lunch. Cleaning my teeth after lunch at work hopefully contributes to more good check ups.
5. I plan to sit down and sew some napkins from an old cotton sheet over the holiday. I should have a new grandchild by then, but I may still have time to sew, since we aren't going to have the big dinner on Thursday.
1. Filled out an online form for our insurance to update our addresses - btw, I didn't have to change a thing other than click "yes, I am still a customer". Not necessarily, but they sent me a $25 Belk's gift card and ds#1 is desperately in need of a new winter coat.
2. I've started making a double meal on Monday for Monday and Tuesday dinner. I do spend a little more for the ingredients, but I save time and effort on Tuesday, which is priceless to me. Last night I made a pork roast, potatoes and rice - total cost for 2 nights' dinner for 3 and probably a lunch or two (big savings there) was $7.50
3. Not letting products sit in the cabinet because I'm unhappy with them. Usually, I would leave shampoo, body wash, or food products and hope to give away to someone at some point, but I am consciously either taking them back to the store for a replacement/credit or contacting the company for a replacement coupon for another variety. Plus, I have products I can use and I don't have to go buy more.
4. I save up my gas points until I have a completely empty tank. Last month at Harris Teeter, I earned 600 points, which is good for 60¢ off a gallon of gas, up to 35 gallons. I had been saving this for this the whole month and ran my SUV empty, so I paid under $2 a gallon.
I know print is out of fashion, but often, newspaper carriers have to supply their own rubber bands. So a quick visit with a carrier or a carrier supervisor could also provide a rubber band outlet.
I still love my regular newspaper.
I do, too! Ours come rolled up inside little plastic bag sleeves, which helps keep them dry, but seems so wasteful. I saved the bags and offered them back to the carrier when I had a lot, but he told me that they were forbidden to re-use the sleeves and they actually have to pay their manager for their approved supply every month! NOT FRUGAL! So I rinse and use them for sandwiches, or take a bag full of them to our grocery store since plastic bags are no longer allowed in the curbside recycling here.
I use the newspaper bags for small cat litter/hairball/etc. accidents; to hold the sweeping from our dustpan; or to transport small breakable/potentially messy craft projects. Since they can't get recycled & really accumulate, reusing both helps the environment & our frugality.
1- the upcoming holidays will have me baking alot and pecans are so expensive! My BIL has a yard full of pecan trees and has let me pick as many as I want.
2-have avoided eating out and holding out until i get home.. even if I fry a couple of eggs then.
3- used my old navy rewards points to get 2 gifts and jeans(2), sweater and boots for my daughter... 9 dollars out of pocket.
4- drove my friend to dr appointment and she bought me breakfast.
5- accepted 3 bags of chicken breasts from a friend.
No list but happy to learn about the post office taking rubber bands. I have a pile myself that needs to find a new home. Yay!
Those otters are so cute! I keep old jeans around to do repairs on currently-wearing jeans. And I'm like you, I wear until they're all the way dead. 🙂
1. I hardly ever buy myself clothes, but the thrift store had an election day sale, and for just a few dollars, I bought two things that I actually needed- a warm sweater dress (already wore it to see a play, and it's adorable!) and a gray cardigan (it's warm and comfortable and perfect, since I was looking for another cardigan!).
2. My son needed to take food to a school World Language dinner, so despite my hectic schedule, I managed to make him two loaves of French bread.
3. Son came home with French bread leftovers, so I used those and the garden tomatoes that are turning red in the house (FINALLY) to make bruschetta.
4. I picked up two Free Friday Downloads at Mariano's. I'm doing pretty awesome at picking these up lately.
5. A few weeks ago, I'd scored three eggplants for 99 cents total. The first two went into a delicious eggplant-based dinner, and the third, I turned into baba ghanoush, which was also delicious. I'm super thrilled that I used all three of them!
1. Had my 5-year anniversary at work this week and received a catalog of gifts to choose from. Chose a practical item that I've been meaning to buy anyway over any of the fancier jewelry.
2. Elected my health coverage for next year and realized that my life insurance price was set as a tobacco user. Glad I double checked each item as I get a discount for not smoking.
3. Decluttering slowly but steady. Sold an old but decent TV for $40 and gave away some super nice framed pictures that were just sitting in my closet.
4. Started Christmas shopping early so I can spread out cost, and using Ebates when I can.
5. Tracking each purchase now for the 2nd month in a row, yay!
Frugal fail: My son is playing in a Christmas concert in NYC in a couple of weeks, but I did not buy a ticket to the show during the short discount period for family and friends. So now I'm stuck paying full price if I go. I've been going back and forth on whether to even go, as I'm really trying to get away with not making this an expensive weekend trip. But the devil is in the details. It made me realize just how much indecision is a real burden for people with money anxiety/worries.
* Hubby asked for expensive boxer shorts for Christmas since he won't be paying that kind of money for boxers. They are 35$/piece on Amazon, but I was able to find the same ones on a discount site for 14$/pair! So I bought 7 pairs, enough to get free shipping, and will be splitting the cost my my MIL. Got them in the mail yesterday and they seems to be in perfect shape.
* Went to the movies on cheap night, 6$ instead of 12$/ticket
* Skipping on an outing Friday (dinner and movie = 50$) in favor of spending quality time with hubby and kids at home (free!)
* Got my electrician FIL to make an electrical repair and p help put in a new doorframe/door, and change our car tires. Paid for the material, not the expertise!
* Hubby worked from home one day last week when school was out. We saved the babysitting cost.
What makes the underwear so expensive?? Maybe it's like bras, where the good ones are definitely worth paying for...
Funny, because I NEVER have rubber bands. I put them in the junk drawer, and my three sons take them right out to create various sling-shots/battle gear for action guys/I have no idea what else.
My big frugal win this week is going to be driving to Arizona to be with our family for Thanksgiving. No more thousands of dollars (and untold stress) to fly! Plus, of course I can pack all our food in the car with us and we don't have to buy anything on the way. It's a ten-hour drive, though, which will probably end up being 12 hours factoring in bathroom stops and so forth for four little kids, so . . . still some stress. But not as much! One of the main reasons we moved.
1. I bought discount apples at the store. They had 5 in each bag (1 bag is just a $1). I bought 10 bags and got to use a coupon for save $2 when you spend $10 on produce. So I walked away with 50 apples for $8. Making applesauce in the crockpot today!
2. My neighbor helped me plow my driveway yesterday since we had a snowstorm and my husband is out of town. To thank him I looked in my fridge and found the last of my pumpkin puree made from our halloween pumpkins and some diced peanuts leftover from a thai meal. Together I made great pumpkin cookies and they were the perfect thanks and leftovers are being enjoyed by the kids.
3. Fixed a hole in my son's much beloved stuffed animal.
4. Contacted a toy (manhattan toy company) company about another stuffed animal that is much loved but falling apart much faster then it should be. I told them of my concerns and they are sending my other son a replacement toy.
5. Needed a lamp shade. Found the perfect one after a bit of hunting at our 1/2 hand store. It wasn't displayed in the right section which made the discovery even more rewarding. When I checked out I used a 30% off coupon I had gotten from donating my own unneeded items and I walked away with a perfect lamp shade for $1.39.
Regarding the Manhatten Toy Company stuffed animal, how quickly did you have problems? My daughter's favorite stuffed animal is probably 8 months old and has a small hole in the back. I thought about buying a replacement, but now I wonder if I would be better off emailing them.
How funny! Yesterday I had the seam rip in a dress. I plan on mending it tonight; waste not. 🙂
This week:
1. I've come down with some weird cold this week, so I've been staying at home. Today I ate soup bought for .25 on the sale rack. It was delicious! I paired it with homemade bread from my freezer.
2. We paid off our car today!!! How's that for frugal? 🙂 We'll now have an extra $350/mo to our name. It's going straight into savings. Ahhh, feels good.
3. I have a coupon to a gas station for a free coffee drink. I'll use it if I feel well enough to leave the house. Otherwise, I might end up giving it to hubs to use.
4. I also went to Costco this week. They had some really good deals on High Brew iced coffee, so I snatched those up. I was tempted by the Costco food court, but like a good girl, I waited to eat until I got home.
5. I cooked a frittatta yesterday using odds and ends from the fridge and freezer. I've never made one before, but man, it's an awesome way to use up weird bits of food.
Yes! Eggs make a great vehicle for using odds and ends, whether you're making a frittata or scrambled eggs.
1. Some of my co-workers are decluttering & bringing in those items for us at work to take what we want. Lately I've scored 4 free pair of earrings (which i sanitize & clean before wearing), a necklace & earring set, a new roll of thick fall ribbon, and 2 pair of shoes. Rocking the thrifted items 🙂
2. Started doing some online Christmas shopping. Checking for codes for everything i buy plus free shipping or ship to store if i can find it (and this time of year it's not hard to find!)
3. Oldest daughter wanted to get her drivers license upon renewal, but I talked her into renewing her permit yet again until we can get a car for her (going to college next fall) and told her to save her money as she'll be paying for her car insurance. We let her drive us everywhere, but she has nowhere to actively go with a car on her own yet. Saving her $120/month
4. On election day I had off & ran a few errands & used coupons on things I was purchasing, saving me at least $30.
That's all I have for now.....
Oh yes. Teen insurance is SO expensive.
Well, not the most frugal weekend but eked out a few items:
1. Drove south to visit a friend and ate tapas and shmoozed all day so gas & food = not frugal. However, she gave me a lovely sweater that someone else had left with her and no one claimed it so lucky me! Have worn it twice 🙂
2. Bugged VONs grocery (nicely) online to acknowledge 2 reward points that hadn't shown up in my account. Finally reinstated with a nice email from the company and they also passed along the compliments I had for all the people who work there. Love my neighborhood VONs and now have free organic eggs, Rana gnocci, and a couple points left over to use.
3. Continuing to work through food on hand while not overbuying fresh stuff. Meals have used up many freezer/pantry items. Last night's meatball subs for the 2 of us came in under $3.00 and required no new purchases. Making up for the Tapas . . .
4. Hit the mark down racks as usual and found a lot of great stuff -- whole wheat pasta, spices, crackers, fancy teas in cute tins, and some produce, too. Made the sad apples into applesauce for our oatmeal and take the happy apples for lunch each day.
5. Not sure if this counts but after clicking on an ad for Macy's (why?? i almost never shop there) I clicked off and reminded myself that I don't need anything except shoes and I will keep looking for deals on those. Have not bought any clothes since July cuz I DON"T NEED THEM! 🙂
1. Purchased an undated planner for next year at a thrift store for just $1.50! It even has a place to plan out your menu for the week, your budget, weekly and monthly goals and much more. This planner is awesome and I am sure it would be upwards of $30 full price. I could believe it was unused and so cheap!
2. Submitted $3.65 in ibotta rebates at walmart and qualified for a bonus of .50. Only 2 rebates away to qualify for a $5.00 bonus! I already have at least 2 things on my grocery list that I can submit to ibotta next shopping trip, so I will pick those up and get the bonus $5!
3. I needed a square candle holder for a square candle I somehow ended up with. None of my round holders were big enough for the candle. I managed to find just the right holder second hand for just .40!
4. Been enjoying Epsom salt foot soaks every few nights. We don't have a bath tub currently and I LOVE soaking in a tub of bubbles. So, I have been opting to soak my toes in some nice warm water for around 45 minutes a few nights a week. I already had the big bucket and a large bag of Epsom salt. I add a couple drops of essential oils and it's close to a bath.
Frugal fail. I prepaid for gas inside the store yesterday as I was purchasing a coffee as well and only wanted to run my card once. I went out to pump my had and apparently when I pulled the hose handle put to put it into my gas tank, I bumped the premium button. I didn't realize it until I was already pumping gas. I guess my jeep will be running on the sweet juice this week.
1. Found a drugstore GC in my wallet with $8 left on it. Used it to get things we needed
2. Downloaded a book for free instead of buying it (we needed it for homeschooling)
3. Took a friend up in an offer of a free trombone. Son decided playing the trombone was one of his homeschool goals this year
4. Son is using YouTube tutorials (and my music expertise ) to teach himself trombone.
5. Shopped at a great grocery outlet that is far from us while running another must do errand in that area.
Curious, if those happen to be the Boyfriend jeans from Stitch Fix? If I remember correctly, you kept a pair. Mine are not holding up well at all! I loved them at first, but they did not last.
I am not sure I can say I have done many frugal things. When we shop I try my utmost to only purchase what we need. I am seeing holes appear in cupboards and freezers. Instead of buying food out and about I am waiting until we come home. We went to the local charity supermarket and purchased some good s we needed. This place is not necessarily less expensive so I am most cautious when I shop there. I have saved my daughter money by looking after my granddaughter. twice this week.
There was a spectacular fail when I found some bacon had not made it to the fridge. Fortunately it was a small pack but still.
1.Used holiday discount to buy some much needed clothes for DH and I. We have both been working so much since September. Working a lot usually translates to not having enough time to do Frugal activities. I find thrift stores for clothes can take a long time and are often not successful in our area.
2. continuing to feel successful shopping at Aldi. I've learned there are several things I don't like from Aldi. We are often disappointed in their fruit. I understand the store is trying to step up in that area so I might give them a try again.
3. several family members expressed tedium with the traditional Thanksgiving menu. We all agreed there is no reason we have to eat turkey. We are grabbing a handful of us and going to a park and grilling steaks that day. We are in North Carolina and often has nice weather on Thanksgiving.
I did buy a turkey at $0.39 a pound last week. It will be used over the weekend. Steaks aren't Frugal but balancing our happiness and needs with saving money works out for us. There is extra money in the budget for holidays so we will use it for the steaks.
4. Was taken out to lunch at Panera buy a business associate. I had my Panera rewards card so offered up the $2 discount I had earned. Free lunch and I felt like I contributed a little.
5. While traveling for business I was served a very large portion in a restaurant. My company gives me a per diem for daily meals. I saved the leftovers for my next morning breakfast. This will make my per diem go further. Sometimes I go over while traveling as eating inexpensively and frugally sometimes impossible with very limited choices.
A lot of hotels offer a complimentary breakfast but it is often contrary to what I think is a good idea for me to eat (read cArb loading).
A coworker gave me a heated cat house for my feral, now if I can talk said cat into using it...
Had a party at work with left over food, made for a Friday free meal.
My son & wife are buying their first house and put out of list of needs so trying to find free stuff before putting $ into the items. Luckily both her parents and hubby and I have a lot of the items we can give to them.
Building a lean-to for the boat to keep snow off, part of the wood was from a local building being torn down.
Not frugal by any means but remodeled Aldi opened and it was packed. SO glad the aisles are wider.
1. Made homemade croutons from bread end pieces to eat with my homemade soup.
2. Turned the heat down to 58 degrees.
3. Neighbor mowed my yard twice saving me gas + time. Will bake her cookies as a thank you.
4. Made my own dog food to get me by until next paycheck (eggs, rice, cheese, sweet potatoes).
5. Used left over dishwater to flush toilets.
1) I repaired my slippers. A leather seam was opening. I am not well-versed in sewing leather, and I didn't have the right needle, but I was able to resew through the existing holes with similar thread.
2) My husband saved our old ice maker from our old fridge for our new fridge. Lowes of course told us we should buy another $50 ice maker, but why trash a perfectly good appliance? I'd rather use it until it dies and then shell our the 50 bucks. He installed it last night and it made a few cubes. If it doesn't work we're not out anything.
3) I had Thanksgiving lunch with my preschooler at school today. The $5 adult lunch cost more than my usual leftovers, but way less than what it was worth. I love school cafeteria food. So hearty! This one did not disappoint and even came with a full size slice of pumpkin pie.
4) My husband and I decided to divide and conquer instead of getting a babysitter tonight. He will go to a work event, and I will watch the kids (and not have to go out in this terrible weather). We'll both go to the next one (we run a business together), but this will save us some cash.
5) We bought a dining table used from Craigslist for the break room in our new office. We have only bought a few pieces because we know we will be changing things up soon, so we are buying things that will easily resell. This was a Crate and Barrel table, so I think we'll be good.
aargh isn't that annoying - at least it was only a small packet