I’m going to try something new on the blog. On Fridays I’m going to share a frugal thing or two I did during the week. Then in the comments I want 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 thing post in the comments and we’ll come check it out.
- $5 iphone app instead of a $50 macbook app. If you are meal plan subscriber, you already know I lost my hard drive last week. When we were reloading all my programs, I discovered that Windows purposefully uses disappearing ink on their activation codes. They ask you to stick the activation sticker to the back of your lap top where the heat from the machine fades the code over time. If you have a problem and need to restore the program, you have to pay $150 for a new code. If you wrote it down in another spot, no problem, but if you trusted them….you are up a creek. We trusted them. They are not my friend right now.
I decided to rid my life of the Windows operating system. The only trouble is I use Microsoft Publisher to stay organized with my meal plans and my blog. I can find a new program going forward, but for now my entire brain is in .pub files that won’t open. I searched the app store (surely other people have this problem) and found an app for $50 that will open the files. It got TERRIBLE reviews. Sigh.
So I tried searching the app store on my phone. There was a $5 app for iphone that did the same thing. I bought the app, emailed the files to my phone, converted the files to pdf and emailed them back to my laptop. $45 saved. I printed everything and will be using the old fashioned paper method for awhile. Life is good.
I already had the binder and dividers in my school supplies box. They are plain, but the price is right and they work :).
2. I went to Price Chopper and took advantage of their sale. Life is so busy for us that I had settled into just shopping at Aldi with a Costco run once a month. The ad this week was so good that I couldn’t resist adding one more store. My goal at a conventional store is for the amount saved to be bigger than the amount spent. I used no coupons, just advertised sale prices:
I don’t normally buy instant oatmeal because it has sugar, but the kids can fix it themselves. At $.79 a box it’s only $.08 a serving. #raretreat
Eggs have been super high lately–at $3 a dozen or higher. These were on sale for $1.50 a dozen, limit 2.
Frozen veggies were on sale for $.79 a lb. I bought 9 in our favorites for winter soups.
Shredded Cheese was $1 for 8 oz. Limit 4. This price was less than Costco.
Cuties were 3 lb for $3. The kids like to pack them in lunches. The roasts were $3.99 a lb (cheap for beef in our area.)
If I hadn’t waited until the last day of the sale I would have gone back a few times to get more of the limit stuff. It’s just as well.
Proof that I saved more than I spent:
3. I made Greek Yogurt in my slow cooker. I’ve been running out of grocery money earlier each month, so decided to try a few more make at home things that I used to do before I worked so many jobs. Here are the instructions, and here’s my periscope on how I finish it to make it super smooth and creamy just like store bought.
Here you can see the yellowish whey separated on the top. I strain it off to get 1/2 gallon of whey (which I use like buttermilk in recipes) and 1/2 a gallon of Greek yogurt. It cost $2.35 for 8 cups of yogurt or $.29 a cup (plus free “buttermilk”). Fage plain Greek yogurt from Costco is $6 for 6 cups or $1 a cup. This is a 71% savings. Who doesn’t like a sale?
4. Tuesday our piano teacher asked if Heidi would babysit his kids for the evening. He brought over a big pot of chili and I made veggies and garlic bread. I bought an extra loaf of bread thinking we would eat more than we did. So Thursday I made it into French bread pizza with leftover spaghetti sauce, some of that cheap cheese (#2) and Aldi pepperoni.
This cost roughly $3 for 8 servings or $.37 a serving.
It’s your turn! Inspire us with one of your frugal activities this week.
