Frugal Accomplishments
We price matched loss-leaders from several stores, which saved us a trip to town. We planned a menu to use up things we had on hand. At the store we bought a head of lettuce (88 cents), some bananas (38 cents a pound), flour tortillas (1.58) and red grapes (68 cents a pound), along with a gallon of milk (1.88). When the new sales rolled around, we combined errands and made a trip to town, dropped off recycling and Goodwill donations, and got 2 bottles of Magic Shell free w/coupons, soup and mustard (.50 each), bell peppers (red and green, .33 each), Gala apples (.98 a pound), and some salt&pepper pork rinds for Husband (.98). We are still getting some things from the garden, so we just don't need a lot these days.
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| whole wheat biscuits |
I made a double batch of biscuits, since I have some room in the freezer right now and it will save me time at another meal. I also made cherry-chocolate chip scones (some of those went to the freezer too), taco salads, tukey a-la-king, hamburgers, chocolate pudding, chicken katsu, carrot raisin salad and oatmeal-raisin-chocolate chip cookies (mostly for a church event, but we kept a few too). I pulled some homemade tomato soup from the freezer as well. When I saw that bell peppers were .33 each, I got 3 and made stuffed bell pepper halves and froze them for lunches for me (no one else in the family likes them). It was a good way to use leftover rice too!
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| stuffed peppers - just add cheese! |
I'm calling this frugal just because it was DIY - we got the baseboards and door trim installed, caulked, etc. in Husband's workshop, and now it's all ready to be used!
Husband fixed the line trimmer, because he's amazing like that. :) I got it re-loaded with line, because that's my job, and for the first time all season, our yard looks tidy. Sure, it's September....better late than never!
I cleaned out my closet, which was helpful. It's not that it was messy, just kind of full, because I had some gift items tucked in there. Now that we have converted the spare bedroom into an office space, we are keeping those items in that closet. It's good to have everything in one place where I can actually locate whatever I might need.
We went for bike rides and walks. Free and healthy. :)
We borrowed materials from the library - books, movies and games.
I decided to stop watering most of the garden due to diminishing returns. I'll continue to water the carrots and the zucchini. I picked the spinach and froze it for winter and I'm getting about 3 tomatoes a week (from five plants). For the size of our garden, we really did get a lot this year. I will start some fall lettuces and spinach soon.
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| cheery-chocolate chip scones, which I forgot to cut, so they are 'scones for two' |
We used the remainder of our K-Mart gift card to get some tissues and soap.
A children's magazine sent us an offer, and included wintery stickers in the mailing. I tucked the stickers away to use later as a stocking stuffer.
Goodwill was having a promotion where you could get a 20% off coupon with any donation. My 'for good' athletic shoes were pretty sorry, so I got a new pair. Really - I don't think they've ever been worn. I also got a set of 3 Knifty Knitter circle looms, both for about $8. Sweet!
I got a free 20 oz. Coke with reward points, and used several coupons this week.
Did you have a frugal week? Leave a comment and tell me how you saved!
Comments
I think we all have weeks that aren't as 'frugal-rific' as others, hee hee...and sometimes we just decide so splurge on something. If it's not going to make you lose your house or something, dire, I think it's OK. The overall habit is what matters - don't give up! :)
However, I got some great bargains. I stopped at the farmer's market this morning because red peppers were a bit pricey at the store and I thought I might be able to get a couple for a better price. Did I ever! One stand had a bumper crop of peppers this week and you could fill a plastic bag of peppers and eggplant for $5. I'm not a big eggplant person, but they had several kinds, incuding a thin-skinned white variety. I took 4 because they are small and I will give them a try. They also fit in the bag with the 22 red, yellow, and green peppers I got. I could have fit a few more in the bag, but at some point you feel kind of greedy taking that many, especially when it is just me in the house until Thanksgiving. I'm going to use most of them to make the red pepper relish in the Ball Blue Book. It's really tasty and a few small (quarter pint?) jars will be included in Christmas presents.
Yesterday I bought half-bushels of peaches and tomatoes for $13 each because they are "seconds". I have already polished off the peaches - 12 pints canned, 8 cups frozen, 4 kept for fresh eating, and one peach pie made. Not one peach was rotten. This is also a big deal for me because I often am more enthusiastic about buying than processing and some of the fruit usually goes bad. I'm going to do the tomatoes tomorrow and Tuesday after work. Each half bushel weighs about 22 pounds, so this means the peaches and tomatoes cost less than 60 cents a pound.
I ate out once this week, at the restaurant attached to the fruit market and had some excellent fried chicken with mashed potatoes and corn fritters for $13, including a generous by percentage tip. Worth.every.penny!!!!
I also cancelled the cable TV effective next week. This will save me $48 per month and a lot of time.
There are probably other items that I don't remember, but I think I have probably made you cry enough already. You may or may not choose to do some or even all of these things, but you should be aware of them. As my sister once said, the costs don't go down when they are teens, the money just goes for different things.
I enjoy reading your post each week!
Cheers from WriterLinda
Don't smack me...but when I was a kid, I worked part time after school, did babysitting, etc. to help pay for fuel, insurance, etc. I certainly realize that everyone is in different situations, kids in sports or academics or other things, but for us, working to bring in a little to cover our own expenses was just part of all that. :) Is it still pretty common for kids to work part time after school or on the weekends?
I'm so tickled that you stopped by! :)
Unfortunately, with the current economy, employers either aren't.hiring as many employees or, if they are, they have some more experienced people from whom to choose. Many employers, including my daughter's, have decided to cut back the hours for large groups of employees so the max anyone can work is 28. This was done to avoid the penalties for not providing health insurance to anyone working 30 hours or more a week, even if they already had health insurance. Several people my daughter knows had to get second jobs to fill the income gap to pay for school, families, etc.
I am not making a political statement on this, I am just trying to explain it. Let's face it, we probably all know people who were laid off in the past few years and their employers found they don't need as many people on staff. I think this is even truer for teenagers.