My Frugal List: Week of June 11, 2018
I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day! We spoiled Hubby yesterday. He had waffles with strawberries for breakfast, hot dogs and mac n cheese for lunch (his request as I HATE hot dogs) and we grabbed burgers from his favorite burger place for dinner. We went to see Solo: a Star Wars Story. He had a great day and did some things around the house that he wanted to do.
I ended up working 5 days this week so my week was busy. I did get into the garden 3 times to weed. It needs a ton more weeding so I will hopefully get in there some more. Peas are growing like crazy and we have been snacking on them. The lettuce looks great and I can start picking the outer leaves soon. I have 2 hot house peppers that are getting big. I have to look up how big they get because this is my first year growing them. We have been enjoying all of our fresh herbs again.
Hubby took everything out of the shed and restained the floor. He then put the new shelves that our neighbor gave us to organize it better. He hung some items on the walls with hooks we had already. I listed a few items on craigslist that we no longer need. The shed looks great and is easier to access now. It cost us nothing as we had everything already.
I receive free listings on eBay this week so I went crazy and listed almost 50 items and sold 7 already and several more have bids. I used envelopes from work that we had received other items in. I always open them carefully and just tape them shut well.
We ate very well this week. Breakfasts were biscuits with scrambled eggs, waffles, bagels, and pancakes. Lunches were mac n cheese, quesadillas, hard boiled eggs, and leftovers. Dinners were BBQ chicken, omelettes, matzo ball soup and I bought a chicken from BJ's after work one night. It lasted 2 dinners with sides.
We got lots of freebies this week. Hubby got a tool cart, YD and I got smoothies and ice cream cones and we saw Solo for free with my work passes. I always try to look for free things to do each week to help stay on track with our budget. With the septic tank issue at the beginning of the month I had to rearrange some items. We do have the money in the emergency fund but I would prefer not to use it. If we can give up something that costs money and do something that is free instead, I am all for it. The important thing is spending time together.
My friend invited me over for a girls night. She plays Bunco with a group of ladies and someone couldn't make it. I was a sub. It was a lot of fun. We had a great meal and lots of desserts. I knew several of the ladies already and met a few new people. It cost $5 to offset the cost for the hostess but where would I get a meal out for $5. We had a lot of laughs and I made some new friends. She sent me home with a tub of dairy free butter since the lady I subbed for was vegan. She didn't need it since the other lady didn't come. Hubby can eat it.
CVS was doing a Father's Day photo freebie. Hubby had taken some really good pictures last summer when we were on vacation so I did one of them. He loved it. I have several frames that I have gotten from yard sales, friends, or my sister. I told him to pick out which one he liked best.
I always get gas on Tuesday or Wednesday for the week. I will take 6¢ off per gallon any time. This station is on my way to work anyway so it is very easy. What is everyone else paying for gas right now?
I ended up working 5 days this week so my week was busy. I did get into the garden 3 times to weed. It needs a ton more weeding so I will hopefully get in there some more. Peas are growing like crazy and we have been snacking on them. The lettuce looks great and I can start picking the outer leaves soon. I have 2 hot house peppers that are getting big. I have to look up how big they get because this is my first year growing them. We have been enjoying all of our fresh herbs again.
I receive free listings on eBay this week so I went crazy and listed almost 50 items and sold 7 already and several more have bids. I used envelopes from work that we had received other items in. I always open them carefully and just tape them shut well.
We got lots of freebies this week. Hubby got a tool cart, YD and I got smoothies and ice cream cones and we saw Solo for free with my work passes. I always try to look for free things to do each week to help stay on track with our budget. With the septic tank issue at the beginning of the month I had to rearrange some items. We do have the money in the emergency fund but I would prefer not to use it. If we can give up something that costs money and do something that is free instead, I am all for it. The important thing is spending time together.
The fridge was making a noise. Hubby looked it up on YouTube. He was able to fix it easily. I had to empty it out though. So I took the time to clean it. Too bad I had gone food shopping the day before because it was really full.
My in-laws stopped over. My FIL needed help fixing his power washer. Hubby fixed it in about 20 minutes. They had gone strawberry picking earlier in the week so they brought us some. The container was full when they came but YD got a hold of them before I could take a picture.
CVS was doing a Father's Day photo freebie. Hubby had taken some really good pictures last summer when we were on vacation so I did one of them. He loved it. I have several frames that I have gotten from yard sales, friends, or my sister. I told him to pick out which one he liked best.
I always get gas on Tuesday or Wednesday for the week. I will take 6¢ off per gallon any time. This station is on my way to work anyway so it is very easy. What is everyone else paying for gas right now?
My son drove to my sister's house in Connecticut and spent the night over. He didn't have work so it was last minute. They did a BBQ with friends and he went fishing with a friend of hers the next morning. He had a great time.
YD has been taking finals and regents all week. She has one more to go and then it is summer! We cannot wait. She finished Drivers Education and got her certificate so will we set up her road test for sometime this summer after her 17th birthday.
YD needed a new bathing suit. We got it 50% off at the mall. The only thing else that we bought was at Godiva. I had gotten a $10 off coupon for my birthday so we shared a shake and I got a candy bar too. We spent $1.01 out of pocket there.
The weather has been wonderful. My son did put the AC on one day when I was out after he mowed the lawn. I came home and put on the fan instead. We have only put the AC on twice now. I cannot remember a June so nice before.
I have been doing my usual stuff: running only full loads, hanging laundry outside, using leftovers, washing baggies, setting timers on the sprinklers, made dog food, cooked from scratch, combining errands, renting movies and books from the library, shopping sales, using coupons and doing Ibotta. It is the day to day things that help us live below our means.
What did you do this week to save some money? How is your garden doing? Have you gotten any veggies from your garden yet?
Hello Mcoia you did well and it sounds like your DH had a wonderful father's day. We can only wish to have fuel that cheap here in Australia with it currently running out at $5.30 a gallon here or a tad over $1.40 per litre for E10 fuel.
ReplyDeleteHere is what we did to save money last week -
Finances -
- Banked more money into our saving for home deposit account bringing us to 26.23% of the way there.
- Listed 30 items on eBay on a free listing promotion saving $49.50 on usual listing fees.
- Banked more money into our emergency kitty.
- Readjusted our budget to bank both the pantry stocking and grocery budget into a high interest savings account to earn interest as we are only going shopping once every 3 months. This will enable us to take advantage of 20% off grocery e-vouchers for all our groceries by buying them off eBay. I will of course couple this with 50% off sales to maximise our savings.
Internet earnings -
- Earned $28.66 from the sale of a bread bag, pumpkin seeds saved from the gardens, dried sage from the gardens, and watermelon seeds saved from the gardens.
Purchases -
- Purchased 6.04 kg of sausages on special saving $4 kg saving $24.16 on usual prices.
- Bought 6 x 200 pkts of multivitamins and 6 packets of butter menthol's on special saving $40.68 on usual prices.
In the gardens -
- Picked 340 g of cherry tomatoes saving $3.76 over buying them.
- Separated 74 g of dried sage, 18 g of English Lavender and 9 g of French lavender picked from the gardens and dried saving $20.77 over purchasing the same amount in the shops.
In the kitchen -
- Cooked all meals and bread from scratch.
- Blanched and froze another 30 more double meal sized bags of sweet potato picked and cured from the gardens. We now have 81 bags so far and still going but are getting to the end of what we can use in a year so will take the rest to church to give it away this Sunday.
Electricity savings -
- Only turned on our electric hot water system when the water needed heating, boiled most of the water on our slow combustion stove for cuppas, heated up most meals on top of the slow combustion stove.
Usual frugal things we do -
- Hung washing on the line to dry, used a cold wash instead of warm to wash clothing, stain removed clothing with our homemade stain remover, used vegetable washing, blanching, cooling and shower warm up water to supplement water the vegetables in the gardens, used saved grey water from our showers and washing machine to water the household lawns with, washed out baggies to reuse and cleaned with saved flannelette rags rather than using paper towels with homemade pantry based cleaners.
Hope everyone has a fantastic frugal week ahead :).
Sewingcreations15.
That is very nice that you are bringing your extra sweet potatoes to share with others at church. I am sure they will be very grateful.
DeleteWe have friends in Italy and I know their gas prices are high too. I remember when we had gas at over $4 a gallon. I will be happy with what we have.
I really like the picture. It's striking.
ReplyDeleteWe are paying over $3.30/gallon right now--my niece heard we are the highest in the nation. Goodie, goodie:). It just keeps rising. And, because my car is very broken, we are driving the van all the time. That would be the 15 passenger van with the V-10 engine. Yup. It loves gas.
Your meals look wonderful, as always.
Sorry you are paying so much for gas. I hope your car get fixed soon.
DeleteMe, too, but no word on the car yet, which is ominous. I know it's really broken, though. The mechanic is one of my husband's best friends in the world, so when he says it's a big problem, we know it is. My husband has gotten the old Mazda my nephew gave us going. The battery had sat there too long, so it kept going dead, but he drove it a lot today, and yesterday, and it's at least starting now. It's a very old car, but it's keeping us mobile for now, along with the almost 20 year old van:). It has a lot of miles, but is pretty well maintained, so it works well, at least for now. Not a good car week, but it's what happens when you drive used cars with lots of miles on them, and I'm grateful we have them.
DeleteGreat list! I like to get freebies too. I just listed some free upcoming activities on my blog, if you are interested. It does help to do free stuff as a family! Have a great week.
ReplyDeleteYou have a great list. Anything to help keep costs down while the kids are off is always great. Have a wonderful week.
DeleteYOu did great and I too love that picture! Very artistic and looks totally professional. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks
DeleteSounds like a great week. Got to love FREE!
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of the bridge. That is cool!
I cannot fathom only having the air on twice all month! It has been extra hot here with lots of humidity. We have enjoyed a few AC free days - but not many.
I really like your thinking on giving up something for something else - that emergency fund is always good to have.
Take care
Lived without an emergency fund for a long time. I never want to be that stressed again.
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