Fourth Frugal Friday of January 2024

 

Welcome to Frugal Friday! 
My Frugal Week
I am so happy that the weather has warmed up this week. It's around 65 in my bedroom/office with no heat on at the moment and I am thrilled!
Attorney's Office
On Monday we went to our rescheduled appointment at the attorney's office to make a property transfer. My brother, sister, and I are having my Mom's land and my Dad's land transferred into our names. 
My Mother died without a will, and while my Father had one about twenty years ago, we have been unable to find it. Tennessee state law says that upon the death of a property owner with no will, the land automatically goes to the children, but we have to do the paperwork.  
The attorney said this would be like putting a puzzle together and in order to save money I can do some of the leg work myself as he charges $250 per hour. So, I've been creating a timeline of their lives and the purchases of land they've bought and sold here in Tennessee. I've been in contact with the Register of Deeds here and been obtaining property deeds to sort it out. 
In order to save on gas, we combined errands. So, we went into Publix for the juice sale and Food City for the sale on herbal tea. We also stopped by CVS for several Rxs. 
Tip of the Week
Rather than use a credit card or even worse, a payday loan, sell something you have to pay for unexpected expenses. 
Saving on Electricity
Last week I was reading over at the Cash Only Living blog and she mentioned recording their electricity usage everyday so they could see what made it increase. So, I've been writing in my calendar how many kWh we use each day. It's easy enough to do this by visiting our usage chart on our electric company's website. 
The highest recording reading during the recent cold spell was 95.82 kWh, which was a day we were using heat and laundering bed clothes. That is high for us and similar to our usage on days when it's very hot and we have the air conditioning running. The lowest usage was 29 kWh when the power was off for around six hours. 
One way we've been saving on electric this month is by using my Dad's propane heater. We bought these back when Y2K was a thing in 1999 and he later used them to heat his home. 

Since Dad had already paid for the propane, we are using them to supplement our electric heat, which is expensive, to save on our heating bill this month. This really came in handy during the recent cold spell. 
Freebies

I received a free lotion sample in the mail from CeraVe this week. 
Funny of the Week
Oftentimes in bitter cold, like we've experienced lately, the decks on our house will expand and make a very loud popping sound because of the cold. We had concrete porches where I grew up in Illinois and never heard these sounds. 
 The first time our cat Archie heard the noise he ran and hid under my bed not knowing what was happening. Poor baby was scared!  LOL
Joy of the Week

Mrs. Sharon White, who writes at the Legacy of Home blog, had a contest in December and I was one of the winners.  I received a copy of her book titled, Wonderful Days at Home, in the mail this week. I'll be sure to do a review of the book and let you all know about it soon. 

Savings of the Week
The dial on our dryer broke inside last week, so Bailey did a little reading online and found a solution. To have a repairman come to the house would cost over $200, but she read that the dial can be bought on Amazon for $9. So, we bought the dial and it was an easy fix. What's funny is that dial was always hard to turn and now it turns very easily. Who knew?! LOL
Question of the Week

Do you know where we can buy Lord Chesterfield's Seasoned Butter Beans? 
From what I've been reading, I *think* they have switched over to the Margaret Holmes brand. Someone gifted this can above to us and we really liked them, so I was wondering and thought I would ask my readers. 
Saving Money YouTube Videos
Frugal Queen ~ Go Frugal or Go Broke
Frozen Pennies ~ Low Income Woman's Frugal Living Secrets
Saving Money on Entertainment
We've been watching Manifest this week as they've added more episodes to the 4th season.  A plane inexplicably disappears on a trans-oceanic flight and returns five years later after being presumed lost at sea. While no time has passed for those on the flight, years have gone by for their loved ones who have learned to live with their loss.
What I've been Reading This Week
 Iowa State University Extension ~ Spend Smart. Eat Smart.
Passionate Penny Pincher ~ The Ultimate Guide to a Better Grocery Budget

Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. 
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.

BelindaHomemaker at HeartMortgage & Debt Free~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27