This is going to be a quick post! I’ve got to get back to work so I can finish a present and run it over to a birthday party that’s already started. I’m so happy that the party’s next door! Having a best friend next door is every girl’s dream come true.
If you’re new here: On Fridays I share a few frugal things I did during the week. Then in the comments you to share a frugal thing or two you did during the week. If you are a blogger feel free to link to your Frugal Friday post in the comments and we’ll come check it out.
- I’m making a birthday present from items on hand. Mine is a copy of this scarf with regular worsted yarn instead of super chunky. As a bonus, I really needed some de-stress time and crocheting does that for me. We’re rounding out the gift with a fun new lip gloss from my Mary Kay stash.
2. We bought a car used with cash off craigslist. We did a lot of research on KBB.com first and looked at all the available options. We weighed things such as tire condition (a new set of tires is around $800) and when the next round of maintenance will need to be done–like replacing the timing belt. Timing belts are around $1100 and if you don’t do it on time it can pop and act like a live grenade in the engine (a $3,000 mistake.) We had our mechanic check it over for us before we bought it to make sure we knew what we were dealing with.
It’s your turn. Inspire us with one of your frugal activities this week.
I finished the gift at 7:30 and ran it over. I hope she likes it!
1. Bought most of the needed groceries ar Aldi. Stuck to the items only on my list for Costco, and while there, decided to put off purchasing almond flour another few weeks and get by on the other gluten and grain free flours I use. So hanging onto that $23 a bit longer!
2. As usual, all reading material and dvds were checked out at one of the 3 libraries we frequent.
3. Am on the lookout for a secondhand, inexpensive purse. I have used the same Carryland bag for about 5 years. I found it like new at a thrift store for $1. That dollar has served me well! The strap is now frayed to the point that it will likely break if not reinforced or replaced soon, but not spending much on an item like this is important to me!
4. We finished the last of the 3 stews I made with Thanksgiving turkey leftovers on Tuesday. Had so much we gifted several servings one of these excellent stews to my sister’s family.
Sarah! What a great list of frugal activities. I forgot that I used the library too this week. I went down my amazon wishlist and requested all the books from the library. 6 of them were in my hands within 3 days. When I put them on the list they were too new to be at the library yet, but now they are very available.
Love the scarf. And congratulations on the van.
1. We listed all of the “Christmas activities” we normally do and want to do. Then we decided what was essential. With my energy being low in our season of grieving and the extra expense from travel, we needed to scale back to what we could really enjoy. We don’t want to miss the celebration of our Lord but we cannot do all we normally desire to do.
2. We were fixing sandwich wraps to go in the car on one of these Christmas excursions (Bethlehem Revisited in Waxahachie, Texas. If you are close it was a treat.) and found that the meat had gone bad. I was tempted to just ask for drive through. Instead we fixed egg wraps and used what we had.
3. We are using Dr. Seuss books for a unit study. I learned how to use the e-books from our library for some titles we really wanted to explore but weren’t on the bookshelf. Excited to know about that resource.
Elizabeth, I’m so sorry your family is going through this grieving time. That was a great idea to fix egg wraps. Sometimes a little substitution like that brings in variety and an idea that wouldn’t have been there before. It’s a lovely limitation. (I find my kids remember those times the most fondly.)
I don’t ever seem to have any suggestions as to what I do frugally. My saving money is usually things I don’t do. Like, I didn’t buy lotion recently because I took all my daughters’ castoffs and combined them into a bigger one to use up in the kitchen. I’ve also dug for sample shampoos to go just one more day without having to spend money. I don’t get upset about it anymore. I used to and felt lousy and grouchy. I treat it like a game now. I used to stock up on things so I had them on hand. Some days I have no extra money to spend and you can’t pour shampoo on cereal. I’m tired of buying things on credit for convenience too! Wait until I need it and have the cash for it. I succeed 95% of the time with this.
Dollar Tree is my budget friend!!
Angela, I didn’t Black Friday shop either because I can’t trust myself to think clearly when a great bargain is in front of me. The van looks beautiful!!
Nicole, that counts! It’s the not buying that’s the most frugal at all, and accomplishing it with a great attitude is a double win.
1) My 2yo has been carrying around a lightweight blanket as his “lovey”, Linus-style. While he mostly uses it before bed, it does occasionally follow him around the house, which means it gets dirty b/c it drags on the floor. We have several, but I was ready to get him something smaller. I did buy a cute one with a turtle on it (on sale with free in-store pickup), but want him to have more than one and was tempted to go buy a cute turtle flannel fabric. However, I dug through my craft stash and found some other fun fabric that I can use, as well as some blanket binding (leftover from when I made some “loveys” for my older son) and wide ribbon that will work for a “silky” edging. So – free extra loveys!!
2) We got back from Thanksgiving travel on Monday and I found out on Tuesday that we “get to” start off the new rotation for bringing lunch to church THIS Sunday. I’ve had a hard enough time meal-planning for my own family this week, let along bringing a light lunch for a group of 20-30, but was able to use the turkey carcass I brought home to make a crockpot of stock. Add a few sweet potatoes, an onion, some celery, a few spices, and whatever meal I pulled off the bones after making stock and I’ve got a tasty soup to serve (only paid for the sweet potatoes as I had everything else on hand).
3) Recently posted on a neighborhood Facebook page to see if any high schoolers wanted to babysit for service hours. Went to a Christmas party tonight and didn’t have to pay the babysitter – just sign a form for her service club!!
Justine, these are genius ideas. Especially the service hours for babysitting. I didn’t know that was a thing! There’s nothing more nutritious than bone stock. Thanks for participating this week!
From Linda via email: I bought a 10 lb. bag of carrots. I shredded and chopped them, then put in zip lock freezer baggies for easy use. I did the same wtih bell peppers only just chopped and sliced. I love to get large bags of onions and do the same. I bought ground pork instead of ground beef. It was $2.00 less a pound. I made dinners for the freezer. Whenever I am tempted to order pizza we just pull dinner from the freezer and save $30. I also made bagels for the first time. They came out pretty good. Not near as difficult as I thought they would be.
Your van looks beautiful!
Thanks for all you do.
I have a good one today!!! And it can’t wait until Friday.
I bought some jeans for my daughter for Christmas and in the process earned $40 extra rewards…kinda like Kohl’s cash. So you have to spend money to save money. So all last week I needed to decide if I was going to spend $100 to save $40. Tick tock Tick tock…they expire on Sunday night at Midnight. My son truly needs jeans.
What do you do?
My husband says….well if you have the money that’s fine.
And I don’t have it in my hand. So I let them expire because I would have had to charge them on a credit card that already has too high of a balance.
I’m not going to lie…that was hard!!!
I also made French bread pizza last night.
You inspired me!
Nicole, you win! I’m so proud of you for sticking to the no credit card policy. French Bread pizza is soooo yummy. I’ll bet your house smelled good 🙂
We were on a road trip home this weekend and instead of stopping to eat we pushed it through the last two hours til we got home and could eat for free!
Also, we ate out one meal over the weekend and my husband I shared a bagel sandwich so we didn’t have to buy two meals!
I’m at the library multiple times a week picking up free books and dvds (like you, I go through my Amazon list or anything I see in magazines that pique my interest) and request them.
Like another commenter, I passed up using a coupon bc it still meant spending money.
Nobody in our house likes to eat the heals of bread loaves so I throw them in the blender and make crumbs, then store in the freezer for later use! BOOM! 😉 haha
Kristine, I love it! I hear you on the coupon thing. I could make a ton of money posting coupons and deals, but I just can’t. Most people spend more when they have a coupon, because normally they wouldn’t buy anything at all. (That’s me for sure.) It is nice to have a coupon if you need an item anyway so I go back and forth on when to share a sale :). I fell in the trap and bought stuff this weekend I wouldn’t have because I had $30 in Old Navy cash. I’m having buyer’s remorse…..and it hasn’t come yet.
Angela, I love these comments. I just repeat, “Spending is not saving.” at least ten times and then never open Reach Magazines anymore. The fast food is never as good as home cooked meals. Thanks readers the honesty and good humor shared makes it a easier for all of us.
I love that! “Spending is not Saving” Good thing to remember 🙂