My Frugal List: Week of February 18, 2019
Youngest daughter was off from school all week for winter break. It has been some crazy weather this week. It was in the 20's and snowing one day and the next day was 50's and beautiful.The snow was gone when I woke up. No shoveling required. That is my kind of snow. Pretty to look at but no work required. Then the wind came. It has been so windy for days. Lip and Oreo do not like it.
I have been decluttering all week. I have been going through bins in the basement. I have been listing items as I come across them. I already sold a few. All items were shipped in old envelopes or boxes. While I was decluttering, I came across a box of decorative duct tape. The kids used to love them. I used them to seal the packages. I will be using them before I buy more tape.
Hubby brought 3 boxes of items to his job for the free area. We brought 4 more boxes of stuff to the church. OD has a growing pile of items she wanted. I have a pile of items that I am giving to my cousin for her kids. My aunt also has a pile. I would rather wait and give the items to people that I know can use them instead of putting them in the trash.
I baked a loaf of bread since we were out.
The next day my son closed at work and came home with all of this. Several loaves went into the freezer. We made french toast out of the cinnamon raisin bread. It is so good. I grilled up some chicken cutlets to have sandwiches for lunch too.
Hubby wanted pizza this weekend so we made 2.
Veggies with pepperoni for Hubby.
And cheese for me. My son had some of each. I made focaccia bread for YD and she made some into GF pizza. I forgot to take a picture since she ate it so fast. All meals were eaten from home except one. My son was working. Hubby had a GC from his birthday for an empanada restaurant.YD and I had Panera with a GC I got from Christmas.
I got a check from a class action law suit. I put the money right into the college fund.
YD wanted more canvases so I went with her to AC Moore. I had a 60% off coupon. YD's item was on sale so she couldn't use it. I looked around at sewing items, since I have been doing it more. I wanted more bobbins. There was a four pack of empty bobbins on sale for $2.99 and I couldn't use the coupon. YD saw this. It has 32 bobbins and matching thread. It was $9.99. With the coupon it came to $4.32. I had an old gift card with $1.56 so I ended up paying less then $3. I was very happy with that price.
I have been doing Swagbucks almost daily. I cashed out for a gift card. Working towards my next one.
Hubby did the kids taxes with them for free at Turbo tax. They are both getting refunds so they are very happy about that.
What did you do this week that was frugal?
Mcoia it must be decluttering time as we have been doing the same thing here and good to hear you are giving the items to people you think need them. I have also been listing unwanted items on eBay that we are not using too. The bobbins with thread are a good pick up for such a low price too :).
ReplyDeleteOur Vicky challenge added up to $447.37 in savings last week :).
Finances -
- I found a $190 transaction on my bank account that we didn't make and reported it to the bank, it is coming up as miscellaneous debit ?. The bank is waiting for 10 days and then refunding us this amount but the local bank have escalated it to the fraud team so hopefully the money will be returned earlier than that to our account. Note to everyone check your bank accounts for nefarious transactions regularly.
- On eBay I let them know about a glitch where they are charging us for free listings and they refunded me the listing fees charged.
- We paid an extra fortnightly payment and a bit off our mortgage and have decided to pay off the standard mortgage payment and monthly interest at the beginning of each month to save money and time on the home mortgage.
- I listed 7 items on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $11.55 on usual listing fees. I know I listed lots more than this but lost count during the week :).
Earnings -
- I earned around $18 from the sale of saved pumpkin seeds and a handmade A6 notebook journal cover in my eBay store.
Purchases -
- We asked at our local post office about a local property that looked like a wrecking yard and found it was a "collectors" home and all the items were for sale. Upon hearing this and knowing we were in need of a few gardening handtools and galvanised pipe joiners that we would have a look. We purchased 2 really old road pick heads, a rake head, a trench shovel with handle, a post hole crow bar and 14 galvanised pipe connectors for $60 saving us $404.98 less the cost of handles over buying them in our local hardware stores new. Can you believe they now sell unbendable garden tools for $89.95 each ?, and the older ones never bent anyway because they were made with higher grade steel than the new ones. I could not justify this price and only paid $5 ea for the picks and garden fork heads, $10 for the trench shovel, $15 for the post hole crow bar (we just honed the end of it to sharpen it and used it) and $20 for the 14 galvanised pipe connectors (usually larger ones like we purchased are anywhere from $12 - $20 + each).
- Purchased 3.812kg of beef mince on clearance special at a little country supermarket for $5.42 per kg. I picked 4 of the largest packets I could find for $5 ea and saved $14.33 on our usual $9 kg prices here.
- Purchased all on specials 4 x packets of potato chips, 1 packet of twisties, 2 shampoos, 2 conditioners, 2 norsca deodorants saving $16.51 on usual prices. We added these to our grocery stockpile.
Organisation -
- Went through my sewing and craft room and listed a lot of items that were not listed. Still more to go but I am getting there slowly.
Water preservation -
- Used grey water from our washing machine and grey water tank to water fruit trees in the yard and ornamental flowering potted plants. Also used saved shower warm up water and dish rinsing water to water potted herbs and fruit trees with.
Hoping everyone else had a wonderful week :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).
I watch my bank accounts like a hawk. Glad you caught the fake charge. Hope you get the money back sooner. Paying extra on you mortgage is wonderful. It will really help pay it off faster. Small amounts really add up over time. You got lots of great deals this week. Have a wonderful week.
DeleteImpressive! $18 from selling pumpkin seeds.
DeleteJeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Isn't it great to get rid of things especially when you can give them to someone who needs them.
DeleteYou got a steal on the box of bobbins with the assorted colors. Way to go!
ReplyDeleteI have been burning logs from the chopped down trees in our front yard. Whenever I come in I smell like smoke. Yesterday my son Dustin was sitting across the room from me, looked up and asked, "What is burning? Is there something in the oven?" I replied the smoke smell was me and then he snickered. I don't mind it because I have saved $6,000!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so proud of me for doing all this work.
I do take showers before I go anywhere.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
The work will be worth it. Saving $6000 is huge. How many times in your life can you save you did something saving $6000?
DeleteWell done Jeannie for saving so much money in having the logs removed by burning them. Well worth I would say smelling a little smokey for a while :) .
DeleteSewingcreations15 (Lorna).
"How many times in your life can you say you did something saving $6,000?" My reply is "not enough times."
DeleteBut now I am thinking, what do I do that saves me the most money for the least amount of work? Gotta think on this one.
Jeannie