What Did You Do Frugal Today? October 2008

[Sammi1961]

Kathy, sorry to hear the cat dug up your plants. We have a fence around our garden and the darn cats still get in. Great idea about the pj’s.

Jean, seems like every time I go to the grocery store prices have gone up on things. I remember while ago milk was only $1.99 a gallon and now it is up to almost $4. I have stopped buying extras but the grocery bill isn’t going down much.

Ellen, I have heard of Neti Pots but have never tried one. I wonder if one would help my ds with his allergies.

Karen, wow, way to go on cutting down on the grocery bill.

Frugal here is staying home (I realize days go by when I haven’t been out of the yard!) and eating all the leftovers out of the fridge for lunches. I also only bought one package of meat for this week so we are doing some meatless meals which is nice and using up whatever is in the freezer. My “trash free” lunches for ds at school are working out great. It saves money too as I am not buying individually wrapped packages to put in the lunch box. I love shopping at Goodwill. The dress I wore to my brother’s wedding this summer was a designer dress I paid $6.50 for at Goodwill. I love that dress! Now I am off to bake some brownies for dessert for dinner tonight.

[Lislyn66]

Sammi, most excellent that the trash free lunches are working and a great way to go to your ds for being good and bringing everything home!!!

I need to do another run to WalMart I guess, with all the washing I have done I'm out of Tide. I need to sit down with a list before I leave the house though and no deviating from the list at all!

Better get my butt moving. I did make berry muffins this morning so a nice, warm breakfast on a cool morning, it was 46 F when I finally crawled out of bed at 6:30 am.

Hugs friends, have a great day!
Lisa

[AnnaInOhio]

After talking to dh at break, we decided meatless spaghetti will do just fine so saved the chicken breast for another meal.

Something I thought of with everyone who buys gallons of milk, when you find it on sale but freezer space is limited… why not pour it into freezer bags and freeze it flat? Rinse out the milk jugs and put them away or use a refrigerator bottle?? And when you need milk, just thaw out the bag. You can get a lot more milk in the freezer, freezing it flat. I do that with my friend who brings me the goat milk, she brings it in freezer bags, I thaw it out and pour into a milk jug ( I then have to refreeze it into smaller freezer bags in the amount needed for my soap recipe as you have to use frozen milk with the lye) but you get the idea right?

Anna

[jjoj]

just subbing!

[barbszy]

Yikes, I did not realize that All You was going up in price! I just ordered a subscription through my DS's school, 18 issues for $24, so it looks like that was a good move. I know I save more than $1.50 in the coupons I get from there, so it does pay for itself.

Just got back from grocery shopping. I am going to use up some grilled chicken breasts in Mexican Chicken Soup and the rest in Chicken Lo Mein tonight. I don't usually make 2 dinners but I WANT SOUP!!!!! That is a slow cooker dish anyway, so the prep will really happen now, and I'll have it to enjoy later.

I did splurge at the store; they had No Nonsense Boot Socks for $2 a pair and I love the "ragg" type sock. I've only been able to find them in wool lately, and I wanted cotton socks. So I got 5 pairs of these--cleaned them out of the color I like the best. Now it's time to clean out my sock drawer, take all the worn out ones out of there and put them in the "dustrag bag." Old socks are great for slipping over your hand to use as a dustrag, especially for doing things like ceiling fans.

This afternoon Big DS has a cross-country meet so I am going to pack an old lunchbox with snacks and cold drinks for me and the other kids, as well as something Big DS can snack on after his race. Better to bring that with me than give in to the temptation of the 7-11 we have to pass on the way!

[kathymac]

Good morning, ladies. I hope you are well. Nothing much going on here. Just the usual frugals. I have been working much harder on planning out meals and trying to let nothing go to waste. I was able to cherry pick some great deals at two local supermarkets. Still managed to go overbudget by $10 on groceries this week. But since we are so well stocked up, I think I can make up for it next week.

My big frugal yesterday was having DD1 cut my hair. She is a cosmetology student, and family get a 50% discount. So I got a shampoo, cut and style for $4.75! Today DD2 is going to get her hair cut.

Dinner tonight will be grilled cheese sandwiches, tossed green salad and cantaloupe. I made cherry Jell-O for dessert. I am trying to have meatless meals about 3 times a week to keep the food budget under control.

Well, I need to go hang my second load of laundry outside. Then off to give the house a good vacuuming and dusting. I hope you all have a wonderful day.

Kathy

[Lislyn66]

Kathy, great going on your hair! And more great going on planning your meals out, I've been trying at least 2 meatless dishes, so far so good.

Barb, good luck to your big ds on his cross country meet. I used to do that too, pack an old lunch box with drinks, etc.

Actually that's what I do when I go on trips, as in taking the girls up to Chicago to visit with their dad and grandmother. I pack up snacks in individual bags, the night before I fill old water bottles with either kool-aide or water and that generally will get them thru the worst of it.

I did go to WalMart today and they had some General Mills cereals for $1.98 and I had a coupon for buy 3 get $1.00 off, also had a coupon for Jiff peanut butter, $1.00 for Tide (I bought a big box of powder that was already on sale for $10.00) a coupon for Bisquick $.60 off. They also had clearance sales on summer clothes. I bought 3 shirts for $2 a piece and one shirt was $3.00. It evened out, 2 shirts for dd2, 2 shirts for dd3. DD1 is too hard to buy for anymore, teenagers you know?

Guess I better get moving. Norma inspired me to make chili so I got the fixings to make it tomorrow! Today will be chicken and dumplings. It's my first attempt so cross your fingers.

Have a wonderful afternoon,
Lisa

[pootersmommy]

Afternoon all!
Cool an gloomy here today. Went out and worked in the yard for a few hours. Pulled out 4 tomato plants - 4 left. Picked 8 lbs. of tomatoes, 3 bell peppers, and several chili peppers. Got trash out for trash man tomorrow. Got a visit from DH aunt & uncle.
Dinner tonight is leftovers. DH wants balance of chili and I will probably eat hamburgers left from last night with some sliced tomatoes. Dessert will be ice cream!
Been drinking kool-aid all day instead of pop. Got meat out to make veggie soup tomorrow in crockpot. I've had a hankering for soup too!!!!
Going down to inventory my home canned goods tonight. I'll let you know what I have tomorrow.
Other than that I stayed home all day - so no spending here!!!!

Talk to you all on Thurs. Have a great evening!!

[Mish]

Barb,Sounds like you got a good deal on your magazine.
Lisa,Way to go on using the coupons.
Anna,Thanks for the tips on the milk.
Frugal for me?Well with all of the prescrptions it was about 275.00 for all of them.My run to Sams was about 33.00 so I didn't think that was too bad.And I was good and didn't put an extras in the cart.I need to go as my youngest has a play date and I have CCD for all 3 of the kids tonight.Tonight I am going to plan out the Halloween party for my youngest class too.Should be alot of fun.
Mish

[Bilby]

I mostly only fix the pj's that I make that way as you need to unpick the waist band and leg hem also, can be tricky on the store bought ones, depends on the elastic.

Going to be unfrugal today ds2 is not going to last the last term of year with his school shoes, so we will be going out to look for those today. He's also up for a haircut, straight red hair is to hard for me to blend and get even ashis colour shows up any tiny mistakes easily.

Hope that cooling down weather is not al gloomy, spring is looking good here!