As you may recall back in June we donated our upright freezer to a local charity for their summer feeding program. At the time they were asking for a freezer, our freezer had been mostly empty for a few months because of the price of food and I was struggling to keep it full and knew in my heart that it would serve a better purpose with them.
Fast forward eight months and things have eased up here a bit financially, we have found several free sources of food and there have been several times that I've had to take the ice cube trays out of the small freezer on top of our refrigerator just to hold the bargains I had found that day. After doing without ice cubes at least twice in the last month, I decided to take the plunge and buy a small freezer just for the overflow. So yesterday we went to Lowe's and found one for $159 and it will be delivered today. I already have plans to put it to good use.
Snow in the Forecast
The weatherman is calling for snow here this week. I have a little bit of rock salt on hand, but did pick up some ice melt while I was at Lowe's yesterday. If it does storm, I hope we do not lose electricity. That is one of the reasons I wanted to donate our large freezer. I had lost a lot of food at least three times for power loss in the last few years, and I was tired of it. The new freezer is much smaller and the if it happens again, the lose won't be as hard to take.
Anyway, the snow is forecast for Monday through Wednesday. I am really hoping we don't get any snow. We have Monday & Tuesday off for Winter Break and then I am scheduled to work Wednesday through Friday. Any snow will put a kink in my plans as everything stops when it snows in the south.
Valentine's Day
According to Len Penzo, $17,000,000,000 was the amount of money spent on Valentine's day in 2014. Now that is a lot of money! On Thursday, I saw all sorts of Valentine's Day gifts being delivered to students at school. I even saw two students receive one dozen long stemmed roses in the white boxes. As I recall, those are very expensive.
Total spent on Valentine's day at the Frugal Workshop: $0
Life Lesson
One of the lessons my daughter has learned growing up is that money does not grow on trees. As a result, she is pretty frugal in her own right and has learned not to expect gifts on days like Valentine's Day and since she doesn't expect anything, she is not disappointed.
She was with her friend shopping at Staples the other day and she was using a coupon for $1.12 off a purchase and her friend laughed at her for it. This is the same friend who overspends on things on a regular basis. I'm so glad that my daughter sees this at an early age because those lessons can be, for some people, painfully hard to learn and can sometimes take a lifetime to learn.
Amy Dacyczyn always said that Americans need to spend less than they earn and by maintaining a consistent lifestyle, they will build the financial stability to withstand downturns while, it's likely, re-setting lifestyle expectations to what an income can support.
Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.
When MIL changed her address to heaven, her freezer, probably the same type as your new one was given to me. Wiith our pull-out drawer fridge/freezer, we then had more than 12-cubic feet of freezer space. I do not save much cooked food in fridge because it so often will quickly spoil. Instead, I containerize according to need in freezer.
ReplyDeleteWith thumping of the brain, much more than believed can fit into a freezer. In no time, food can go from freezer to table without a thought of a run to a store or take-out. Frugal!
I always think of you when using our freezer above the refrigerator since I knew that was your only freezer for a long time. We live so far out from town that a meal from the freezer, reheated, is a much better alternative. :)
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