My Frugal Week

My daughter picked up two of these trial size bottles of Head and Shoulders for free using coupon overage and she gave them to me to use. 
The first bottle lasted me through nine shampoos since I wash my hair every other day the bottle lasted me for a little over two weeks. 

We went to several yard sales today.  As usual we brought drinks and sandwiches with us and did not eat out. 
This must have been a day for cookbooks because that is what I found before the rain set in for the day. 
I found a Woman's Day magazine from October 1965 for 25¢. It has multiple money saving recipes in it and the ads are fun to look at from way back then. 

I found Cook's Country magazines for 10¢ each, so I bought ten of them and paid $1.00. These normally sell for $4.95 each, so this was a good deal. 

I found a Holiday Inn cookbook for 25¢ from the 1970's. It has recipes from Holiday Inns all across the country including the one in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  :)

I found two Ziploc bags filled with smaller type cookbooks from an older lady who was cleaning out her house. 

I love these kind of cookbooks and going through these made me think of the cookbooks I received from my grandmother when we were cleaning out her house. 

Best thing of all? She only charged me 25¢ per bag. I will spend many hours going through and enjoying these very much. 

I also found a Southern Living Inflation cookbook from 1972 for 25¢. 

We went to several yard sales on Saturday too, I found a nice bookshelf for my bedroom for only $3.00. 

I also found a set of 68 brand new CDs of the bible. They seller had then marked for $1.00, but living in the Bible Belt I knew they were worth much more money than that. 

We came home and checked them online and they are currently selling well for around $65 for the set. My daughter will be sending them to Amazon for use in their fulfillment program. 

With my help, she finds new items like this all summer long and sends a package to Amazon at the end of the yard sale season and then she earns money all winter long when Amazon sells her items. This is another source of passive income we utilize. 

Recently we went through one of the free boxes located outside a bookstore in Chattanooga and found several Beth Moore CD sets, so we picked them up thinking they would be worth something to someone. 

Today I went online and found out how much they were worth. There are seven sets of CDs on the book of Romans and they retail for $30 each while the other set we found retails for $39.95. 

I am shocked that someone would just put these in a free box thinking they were not worth anything. I plan on listing these on E-bay to see if I can find any takers. I will keep you updated on if they sell or not.

- We saved money on gas this week, which you can read about in this blog post.  
- My daughter received a free chicken biscuit from Chick-Fil-A on Tuesday. I wrote about about that in this blog post. This coming Tuesday, April 25, will be the last day this free breakfast item is offered. 
I'll close this blog post for now as I think it is long enough, but I'll be back soon with another post on how we save money at the Frugal Workshop. 
I hope you have a great week.  :) Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Saving Money on Gas...Revisited

I've written blog posts before on how to save money on gas here and here. But I've recently found even more savings available to me in a couple of new ways that I wanted to share with my readers. 
The first one involves using a Plenti card when purchasing gas. When using a Plenti card I am able to earn 1 point for every gallon of gas I purchase. 
My car has a gas tank that will hold 18 gallons, so every time I fill up the tank I am able to earn 15 or more points depending on how much gas is required to fill the tank.  
What's nice about the Plenti card is that I can redeem my points for free gas. I currently have 264 Plenti points and when I filled up yesterday the gas pump asked me if I wanted to use $2.00 worth of my points on that purchase. 
So, by using the Plenti card when I fill up my gas tank, which is something I have to do anyway, I am actually using this reward card to save money. 
Another way that I am saving on gas lately is by using a program called Zipline, which I am able to use at EZ Stop gas stations where I live. 
This program saves me 10¢ per gallon over the regular price at the gas pump. My daughter is the one who signed up for the program first and then convinced me to sign up as well. 
If I fill up my car and it costs me $28 to fill the tank, then I've saved $2.80 on gas for that purchase. I am sort of kicking myself for not signing up sooner than I did, but better late than never as the saying goes. 
Now the EZ Stop stations are only available in east Tennessee, but the Zipline program is available all over the country, so it may be worth your time to see if any of the gas stations you use have a money saving reward program that will help you save money. 
Here is a link to the ZipLine website for you to check:
ZipLine
I hope these two programs are able to help my readers save some money on gas. Are there any other programs you know about that helps you save money on gas? I would love to read about it in the comment section. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Revisiting Reward Programs

Recently I received two free bags of cat food from Purina because I cashed in some of my reward points from the My Perks reward program. So, I wanted to make a post to update my readers. 
You can earn points with the My Perks program by signing up and doing various activities such as following them on Facebook and Twitter, sharing your cat's name, updating your profile, and logging in daily. You can also earn points by entering the codes found of the bags of Purina Cat Chow. 
I've gotten several free bags of cat food from the program over the years, which helps me to save money. I like to feed my cats Purina Cat Chow because it is a brand that I trust and is not made in China. 
Another reward program I use is Inbox Dollars, which is a program where they pay you to read the emails they send to you. You can also do surveys and watch videos to earn money. You do have to have $30 in your account before they allow you to cash out, but it only takes a few minutes a day to do and I think it's worth the time. I have around $32 right now, but I've cashed out with $30 twice before already, so I know this program works. 
Send Earnings is the same type of rewards program as Inbox Dollars. I've cashed out with them for $30 before and already have over $20 in my account now and will be cashing out with them again soon. 
I also still use Swagbucks and Recycle Bank as well. I find these programs to be worth the time I invest and I hope you do as well.  :)
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Ginger Chicken Stir Fry ~ Monday Night Dinner

On Monday night I made a Chicken Stir Fry loosely based on this recipe for Ginger Chicken Stir Fry from Heidi's Home Cooking. 
This was a very good recipe and my family loved it. I used fresh ginger, which really reminded us of our favorite salad dressing at a local Japanese restaurant. 
We are not fans of mushrooms and I did not have any asparagus on hand, so I used a bag of Cole slaw mix instead. Next time I might even add two bags. 
The sauce was very good and tasted authentic. 
The cost was under $6.00 to make and fed two of us for dinner and one for lunch on Tuesday. 
We will definitely be having this one again. 
Here is the recipe with my changes in red. 
Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
Ingredients:

• 16 oz cleaned, de-stemmed mushrooms (Did not use)
• 1 bunch asparagus cut in 2 inch pieces (Did not use)
• 1 medium onion cut in thin wedges
• 4-5 chicken breasts (1 lb) cut in 1 inch pieces
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 Tbsp oil (divided)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (I used fresh ginger)
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (I use cayenne pepper)
• 1 bag Cole slaw mix (instead of mushrooms & asparagus)

Directions:

Cut all vegetables.
Cut up chicken into 1 inch pieces and mix with the flour. 

Save flour bowl for sauce.
Mix all wet ingredients and spices in bowl with leftover flour.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in wok and cook chicken about 5 minutes or until brown.
Remove chicken and set aside.
Heat 1 Tbsp oil in wok and saute vegetables about 5 minutes or until tender.
Add in sauce and bring to a boil.
Add reserved chicken and stir to combine.
Serve warm over rice.

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

My Frugal Week

Since I did not work today, I cleaned the bathroom first thing and then made myself busy in the kitchen. I had several items to put away that I bought over the weekend.
I went to Walmart this weekend because I was out of vegetable oil and they have the best price on this item. 
Normally the one gallon jugs are $5.78, but they had them on Sunday for $4.98, so I bought two gallons. 
These will probably last me until the end of the year if not longer. 

In the Crash & Burn section of two different stores, I found white popcorn in the two pound bags for $1.14 and Lima Beans for $1.14. Odd that they were the same price even though I found them at two different stores. 

Publix had Keebler Club crackers on sale for buy one get one free. I used some of my points at Kellogg's Family Rewards to print $1.00 off coupons, so I was able to get two boxes for 75¢ each. 
While I was in the kitchen this morning I made meatballs to have later in the week for dinner one night, easy sausage quiche to have for breakfasts, and am making a chicken stir fry for dinner tonight. 
A while back I had two bottles of onion powder that became hard as a rock, so I decided to contact the company about this. They were kind enough to send me two bottles through the mail. It definitely pays to let them know about things like this. 

What frugal things have you done lately?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Free Breakfast on Tuesdays in April at Chic-Fil-A

https://www.chick-fil-a.com

Chick-Fil-A is offering free breakfast to everyone on Tuesdays in April. 
My daughter went this past Tuesday and was given a box of four chicken minis for free right before she went to school. 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

In My Frugal Kitchen

We had some apples that no one was eating that I wanted to use up, so I dehydrated them over the weekend and put them into jars when they were done. These make a great substitution with a sandwich for potato chips and are much healthier.
Monday was a rainy day, so I spent the day indoors puttering around in my kitchen. I first started by cleaning out the refrigerator to make sure to use up anything that needed using before it was too late. 

There was a lurking package of almond bark left over from the holidays that needed using up. So, I made a batch of my granola bars using this recipe and dipped eight of them in the chocolate. They were a big hit with the family.

Monday lunch was burritos using some left over taco meat, cheese, and sour cream. Using up the last of the taco meat, I made taco salads for dinner. 
On Monday night I soaked some garbanzo beans to make hummus with on Tuesday to have for lunches this week. 
Tuesday I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for us to take to school & work along with water and some of the dried apples I made this weekend. 
For dinner on Tuesday (and Wednesday's lunch) I decided to use up some lurking items. 
An opened boxed of lasagna noodles, a bowl of sauce, plus two opened jars of sauce, some spinach, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese made for a good vegetable lasagna. 

The finished product: 

One side dish I made on Monday has served us for several dinners this week, and that was roasted carrots and cabbage. 

What's been going on in your kitchen?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Frugal Spring Break

Spring Break was this past week, so I did not work, but did several fun things, and checked several things off my to do list which includes...
Sewing - I repaired several garments that were in need of sewing over Spring Break. I could have spent money and bought new items, but want to see how long I can make the ones I have last without spending any money. 
Oil Change - My daughter's car requires synthetic oil and therefore costs more money than a regular oil change. Even Walmart charges $48 for an oil change with synthetic oil.
Her uncle is a full time mechanic, so I suggested she check with him to see where she could get a good deal. He told her to bring it by the shop and he would change it for her. 
He only charged her $20 for the supplies he used, so she got a good deal and it was less expensive than having someone else do it for her. She also gifted him with some hand soap and shampoo that we had couponed for that day. 

Eating Out - We did not eat out over Spring Break, but we did go to the English Rose tea room in Chattanooga and had a pot of hot tea on Wednesday afternoon, which only cost $3.50 per person. 

A pair of turtle doves landed on the fence right outside the window while we were there. 

Thursday turned out to be a beautiful spring day, so we had a picnic in the park. I brought sandwiches and drinks from home and we had a good time together feeding birds as well as ourselves until it was time for her to return to school. 

Dinners this week have included Meatloaf, Cabbage Rolls, Homemade Chili, and Tacos and Chili Tacos. I've been finding some great prices on both marked down and on sale ground beef, so we have been having it on our menus more than we usually have. 

Yard Sales - On Friday we wanted to yard sale, but think the rain on Thursday night made most of them choose to not set out their items for sale. 
We did happen on one church yard sale and found something on our yard sale list, which was an office chair for $5.00 for my daughter. 

I was going to buy her a new one this year, but decided to shop around and wouldn't you know it? We found one right at the start of yard sale season. They even had several to choose from, so she was able to sit in all of them and find the one she liked best. 
On Saturday we were on our way to the library but decided to yard sale again first. I'm glad we did because we crossed off another thing on my yard sale list...a sewing machine!
If you recall, my sewing machine stopped working back in August of 2015, so I've waited patiently for 19 months to replace it. We found one at a barn sale on Friday, but the price with the cabinet was $150, so we declined. 
The one we found on Saturday had a tag on it marked $40 and works good, but this was close to the end of the day and my daughter heard they were going to start letting things go cheaper. So I offered up $20 and they counter offered with $25, so I bought it. 
Here is a photo of the tag and machine:

I'm so tickled. I have several projects that I want to do now that I am back in business with a sewing machine.  :)

Other things we found today include a towel for $1.00, a jacket for $2.00 (talked her down from $4.00), two umbrellas for $1.00, and two new blankets for my daughter. She would have blankets a mile high on her bed if she could. LOL

How was your weekend?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~