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Friday, October 3, 2014

A New Month

Wednesday started a new month as we turned our calendars to October 1st. A brand new month and a chance to start over again and see if we can do better this month than we did last month. 

This is an older clip from YouTube, but one of my favorites. It is an interview with Amy Dacyczyn, author of the Tightwad Gazette. I like this video because Amy talks about how small things add up. 

She says it is never too late to start learning tightwad ways. To start, simply write down the items you spend money on, no matter how small. The little things, she says, is where you are losing your money. Writing it down and adding it up at the end of the month can be a very eye opening experience. 





I kept track of my spending in September, which is something I don't always do diligently, but I did last month and found I had spent $334.22 on food for three adults. I'd like to see if I can do better in October, so I'm keeping a diligent track of my spending again this month to see if I can find areas to improve

On Thursday I stopped at three grocery stores for sale items. 

The first stop was IGA where I bought five dozen eggs, which were on sale for 89¢ a dozen. I also bought one, two pound bag of onions for $1.00, four large cans of Chili Mix on markdown for $1.00, and a dozen cans of mixed vegetables, which were on mark down for 59¢ each. Total Spent was $16.53


My second stop was at Aldi where I went for carrots and onions. Carrots were 49¢ for two pound bags, and sweet onions were 99¢ for a two pound bag. I bought four bags of the carrots, and two bags of the onions and spent a total of $3.94

This is such a great price for carrots! I can cook these in my electric pressure cooker in minutes and have a very affordable side dish for dinner. And other people obviously thought the same thing as they were almost gone when I got there and it was only the second day of the sale. 



My third stop was the Bargain Barn/United Grocery Outlet. They were advertising cheese loaf for $1.99. We went to see exactly what this was. Turns out it was the sixteen ounce box of 2% Velveeta. I have had this on my grocery list to make my sister's potato soup, but it has been too expensive to buy, so I just did without, making other dinner choices, until now. 

Today though, I bought two boxes and paid $3.98 for both, which is much cheaper than they $6.99 they want for it in the regular grocery store. I also wanted to check out the cream cheese they were advertising for $1.00. Turns out it was the Philadelphia cream cheese in the assorted flavors. I picked up two honey flavored ones for the cinnamon raisin bread I picked up last week. 


This week, I also made a monthly menu for October. It is very basic and does not have very much meat listed in there. As I find any meat bargains this month, I can add them to the menu. 



What I've Been Reading this Week

I stumbled across a new blog this week called Living Stingy. The author, Robert Bell, is a patent attorney living in Jekyll Island, Georgia. Some people may find his views on smart phones, cable tv, and fancy cars harsh, but he makes an excellent point about how these are choices that can keep us chained to a lifestyle of having to work just to pay for such things.  I really enjoyed reading his viewpoint on the topic and hope you do as well. 

This week I have scrutinized prices and shopped carefully. I'm keeping careful track of my spending and we are living better lives with less money as a result. I wish the same for you.  :) 

Belinda
CFO ~ Chief Frugal Officer
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011-2014.
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”
"Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle ~ It will help you save money"

16 comments:

  1. Do you find that even on the months you spend more things tend to carry over into the next month? I find that is often the case for me.

    You found some great deals. I took advantage of the onion sale at Aldi and picked up several bags. I chopped a huge container full and added to the freezer...then I kept a few out to use fresh now.

    I love, love, love my pressure cooker. Since I'm on strict orders to avoid as much "pre packaged" stuff as I can...(kind of amusing term since even my grains are packaged, but I know what they mean...lol)...the pressure cooker really allows me to cook from scratch much faster.

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    1. I love my electric pressure cooker, Shara. It is easier to cook from scratch with it. I can cook beans so quickly. I can put them on the soak in the morning and have them for dinner that evening. It's just the best appliance.

      I do find that things tend to carry over into the next month. I have a lot of food in the house right now and I am so glad. I have much more food than I did in the summer when I wasn't working.

      Glad you were able to take advantage of the onion sale too. I need to hang mine up in pantyhouse so they will last. Hopefully I will get to that this weekend.

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    2. I'd love to hang onions, but I'm not sure where I'd put them. I toyed with the idea of drying some, but then thought of the whole house smelling like onions...lol

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    3. LOL! It might stink up the house, I'm not sure. Some people store them under the stairs, but we don't have any here for that purpose.

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  2. Thanks for turning me onto the Living Stingy guy. I'll have to put him on my blogroll as we are sympatico in our outlooks.

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    1. You're welcome. I really like his blog. I've been reading his past posts all week. My daughter thought he was a little harsh, but I agree with so much that he posts. :)

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  3. I never tire of hearing Amy D. You got some awesome deals on eggs and produce! I also try to stock up whenever I find such deals, they help to save so much in the long run. New month, and our bills are hopefully settling out in this new rental. I am anxiously awaiting my next electric bill.

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    1. I feel the same way, Carol. I never tired of hearing Amy D. She is inspiring to say the least. Glad to hear your bills are hopefully settling out in your new rental. Hopefully the cooler weather will help too.

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  4. Yes I look out for the weekly specials to keep our food budget down. Your eggs are very cheap as our cheaper home-brand one are $3.80 a dozen here in Western Australia. I am thoroughly enjoying your site and learning a lot about saving money. Thankyou
    Ruth

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    1. Thank you so much, Ruth. I'm so glad to have you visit here all the way from Western Australia, how neat! :)

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  5. Belinda, I thought of you today as I was shopping: I intended (and later did) go to Dollar Tree for 2 8 ct cartons of medium eggs, but while I was at a regional store, I came across a marked down carton of eggs (never saw that before!).Because there were only 10 eggs left, it was 50% off so I paid $1.24 for 10 eggs. I also bought some XL brown eggs by using a coupon.

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    1. Wow, great deal, Carol. I've never seen that before either. I see a lot of creamer and half and half marked down, but never eggs. Good deal!

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  6. While I've seen dairy often marked down, when visiting my parents in SC on the NC border so both states, I've never seen marked down milk, cream, yogurt, cheese etc here in CT. First time seeing marked down eggs, which are large eggs in size.

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  7. They sell marked down milk, cream, and yogurt here. I did get some marked down cheddar cheese at the grocery outlet years ago, but that was a long time ago. No mark downs on eggs that I can recall. Lucky for you to have found such a good deal. :)

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  8. Hi Belinda,
    I love your blog :) I have been reading for a few months now. I came over from creative savv.
    I am loving all the money saving ideas. I hope you get a lot done while you are off and have some fun too.
    Blessings,
    Patti

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    1. Thank you so much, Patti. I'm so glad you are here. :) So far I've been getting a lot of cleaning and straightening done and putting away of things. It's been very relaxing too. Thanks!

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