Final Frugal Week of November 2017

I listed five items for sale on Ebay on Sunday. 
We stayed home on Black Friday and spent no money. I did spend part of the day wrapping presents I already bought. 
My daughter gave me a free haircut at home over the weekend. The weather was nice enough to do it outside, so minimal cleanup, which was nice too. 
I took a Nielsen Family survey in October that earned me a free $5.00 Amazon gift card this week. 
I was tired from work on Monday and did not relish the thought of cooking dinner when my daughter surprised me with a free pizza via a mystery shop she did.  It was a nice surprise.
It was cold enough that I finally turned the bathroom heater on to warm the bathroom for a morning shower. I turned it off right after I was done. So far we've not had to turn it on in the bedrooms, living room or kitchen. 
We spent Thanksgiving at my brother-in-law's home. I brought a chocolate cake with me and left it for them to enjoy over the next few days. 
I brought my own lunches to work this week. On Tuesday I brought Macaroni and Cheese, which was left from dinner the night before. There were four classrooms I subbed in this week that had microwaves, so it was easy to heat up lunches. 
I am almost done with Christmas shopping. I just want to pick up a couple of Bath and Body Works hand soap to finish my shopping. I have all of my daughters gifts already wrapped too and just have my Mom's gifts to wrap. I found her flannel pajama bottoms at the thrift store that were like new condition for $1.99. 
My daughter has two weeks left of school while I still have 3.5 weeks before our Christmas break. We've both already been cleaning and decluttering for the holidays. Our house always feels more homey when it's cleaned and everything in its place. 
Free Entertainment I sorted through our DVDs looking for a certain one for my Mom and found our Laverne and Shirley DVDs. I watched some of the episodes over the weekend for free entertainment. 
My daughter and I have already watched the first Santa Clause movie over the weekend. 
I rolled up a towel and put it in the bathroom window so cold air won't seep into the bathroom. It's the only window in the house that does that. 
I can't believe that Friday will be December 1st. I don't know where November went! I hope it was good for you.  :)

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

My Frugal Weekend

I made $11.95 on an item I sold on Ebay this weekend. This was for an item I paid $10 for to use myself, but it ended up not working, so I was able to recoup my money for the item, which is good. 

We went thrift shopping on Saturday. I found a bag full of gift bags for 99¢. There were 10 gift bags in the lot, so they ended up being 10¢ each. 
Even with thrift stores you really have to watch the prices. I found these gift bags at the Salvation Army thrift store. The ones at the Provident thrift store were priced starting at 99¢ each, so it really pays to check prices even with thrift stores. 

I also found a Charles Panter Griscer Deluxe food grinder for $9.95. I love that this is non-electric. I have fond memories of a lady that I knew years ago who would make carrot salad with one of these. 

I also found a Roseville Robinson Ransbottom crock for $1.99. These are so beautiful to me and I find them very useful to store things. I have one on my desk that holds pens and scissors. 
One of the items I was looking for was flannel, but I didn't find any in the price range I was willing to pay, so I will keep looking for that item. 
My Mom requested flannel pajama bottoms for Christmas, so I am looking for a deal on them. In the meantime I found a pattern for them for 10¢ at the thrift store, so I picked that up. If I find flannel at a good price before Christmas, I will make her some. Otherwise, I am still looking for a good deal on them. 
We are staying home today as my daughter has school work and I have several things I want to do at home. I hope you are having a great weekend.  :)
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Second Frugal Week November 2017

There was a Veteran's Day program at the school where I worked on Monday. After the program was over, teachers were able to go in and have any lunch items that were left. 
I had some delicious chicken noodle soup, scalloped potatoes, green beans, half of a pimento cheese sandwich, sausage balls, and a brownie. It was so good too. It is always nice to eat someone else's cooking for a change. 
I brought my lunch back home and will eat it tomorrow. After school I came home and made spaghetti with garlic bread and steamed broccoli for dinner. 

Kroger is having their Buy 10 Save $5.00 sale, so on Tuesday I went to Kroger and bought the following sale items. 

Betty Crocker Cake Mix 49¢ (I bought two)

Ronzoni Pasta 49¢ (I bought 40 boxes)

Del Monte tomatoes 49¢ (I bought 50 cans)

Milk 99¢ (I bought 4 - 2 skim & 2 chocolate)

Kroger Cheese 3.79 (16 ounces)

Bob’s Red Mill Sale 20% off 

One thing I bought at Kroger was a bag of Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour. Kroger had Bob Mill on sale for 20% off and I had a coupon for $1.00 off from a free magazine, so I paid $1.22 for the bag. 

We also went thrift store shopping on Tuesday before we bought groceries. I found two ink-jet cartridges for our printer, they were marked at $1.99, but the cashier only charged us 10¢ for them. These normally cost $18.99, so a great savings there. I also found a new book of scrapbook papers for 25¢. A brand new deck of playing cards for 49¢ and a flower pot for 49¢.

On Tuesday I needed to have a new battery installed in my car, which cost $110. My brother in law installed it for me, so no cost there.  

I received a $50 Walmart card from my insurance company for having a mammogram in October. I will either use this for gas in the car or Christmas presents. 

I worked four days this week and have all of next week off for Thanksgiving. Today we are going thrift store shopping again. What are your plans for the weekend?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

First Frugal Week of November 2017

The first frugal week of November came with illness, which started when I subbed for a sick teacher on Halloween. Four days later I ended up with the virus. By Monday my fever was gone and I didn't work on Monday, but did work the rest of the week. 
Before all of that happened, I had been buying Christmas presents. I earned another $50 PayPal credit, this time from Swagbucks, and will use it towards Christmas. 
Even though I was feeling under the weather this week I still made dinners at home. One night I made a double batch of pasta salad, which was great to take for lunch the next couple of days. 
Thursday night I came home after work and made another pasta salad as we had eaten the other one I made. I also made spaghetti for dinner that night. Friday night was Macaroni & Cheese with steamed broccoli on the side. 
The ladies I eat lunch with rarely bring their lunch to work. They eat out of the school cafeteria, which is $3.50 each day or they get take out food from a local diner, which is easily $5.00 per day. I like to eat out too, but when you add it up at the end of the month, this type of eating out can average between $70 and $100 each month or maybe even more. 
Knowing myself, I would rather have that chunk of money to spend on something else. What do you think?
It's been very warm here until rain moved in two days ago and cold temperatures have been the norm. It was 34 degrees here this morning, but we've not had to turn the heat on in the house yet as it is insulated very well. We always save more on our electric bill in the winter as we don't run the heat as often as we run the a/c in the summertime. 
How has your week been?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Final Frugal Week October 2017

Over the weekend I made some popcorn to take along with a sandwich for lunches this week since popcorn is cheaper than potato chips.

I also made up some lime jello and poured them over canned pears to make some jello fruit cups for lunches this week. I used the juice from the pears for the cold water to make the gelatin.

I made the popcorn on our electric stovetop, and turned the burner off early using the residual heat to finish the popping process. I often turn the burner off early when cooking for this reason.

I made a batch of my Mexican Rice for dinner on Sunday and combined it with some Cauliflower Taco Meat I had in the freezer. I served it over tortilla chips and topped it with cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes.

On Monday I used some of the same mixture and added canned tomatoes and pinto beans, turning it into chili and made chili tacos with it.

Other dinners this week included chicken enchiladas using up some of the chicken I bought on sale recently, salmon patties served with green beans, onions and potatoes, and roasted carrots.

On Tuesday I spent some time sewing as I am working on making some Christmas presents right now.

I got started on my Christmas shopping over the weekend.

I listed five things for sale on eBay this week and sold two of them by the end of the week helping to create some more income.

I worked four days last week and took lunch from home with water to drink all four days.

Tuesday is Halloween and since we have no trick or treaters come to our house since we live in rural area, we do not have to buy any candy. So, no money spent for candy or costumes here.

I made some pumpkin muffins using a boxed cake mix and some canned pumpkin. These items were lingering in the pantry, so it was good to use them up. I also made a chocolate cake and packed individual slices into containers to take with lunches this week.

Save a Lot had onions on sale Friday and Saturday only priced at 99¢ for a three-pound bag. It’s been a while since I’ve seen them at that price, so I bought six bags or 18 pounds. I brought them home and put them in panty hose and hung them in the pantry.

It was raining on Saturday, so we knew yard sales would be a bust, but we did go to one church rummage sale. They had a 25¢ clothing room and we picked out several things to both use and resell.
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~