Here is a photo of our new staircase leading into the upper section of our home. My brother-in-law built the stairs for us and the amount spent on the wood was $700. The old stairs were 31 years old and it was past time to replace them. So happy to have this item checked off our to do list.
Even though I was scheduled to sub four days this week, I ended up subbing all five days. I'm very happy about that. I was going over my budget this week with a fine tooth comb since this is my first big paycheck of the school year. Last month I only had one day on my check.
I went to town today to get some oil for my daughter's car and picked up a few groceries. I found a dime on the ground when I walked into the store and picked it up. :)
I found 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes in the crash and burn section for 50¢. There were five of them, so I picked them all up. Such a great deal!
Food City had some great sales this week on canned tomatoes (50¢/14.5 ounces), corn and green beans (50¢), canned beans (50¢), cheese - buy one get one free, sour cream - buy one get one free.
I am really enjoying my new smartphone and learning new ways to use it to save me money on a regular basis.
If you have a smartphone and install the McDonald's App you can get a free large sandwich when you buy one, so if you have someone with you, you can eat inexpensively. It's a good deal if you are out and about and get hungry and did not bring something with you to eat.
Checkpoints is another new to me app that allows you to check in at various places you do business and turn them into gift cards. I have enough right now for a $2.00 gift card to CVS, which will pay for one of my prescription co-pays.
What kinds of ways do you find to save with your smartphone?
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
Monday was a full day of work after which I came home and made a batch of Sticky Sesame Cauliflower for dinner. It was easy with the prep work I'd already done over the weekend.
I filled up my gas tank on Monday using both my Plenti card and EZPay card. I saved 10¢ per gallon using the EZPay card and earned points towards my next purchase of gas with the Plenti card.
Tuesday the school system was concerned over Hurricane Irma, so we had a two hour delay, which worked for me as I still get paid for the whole day even on a two hour delay.
I worked all five days this past week. Four of those days was for special education, which meant I traveled from classroom to classroom helping students with special ed needs. I was bone weary tired at the end of those days, but it was especially an satisfying experience.
On Friday I was able to stay in one classroom. And if you are a regular reader you know that I finally have a smart phone, which means I am able to use the Wi-Fi at school.
That's great, because now I can use it to earn points playing videos on Swagbucks. (Playing the videos is often a inattentive activity) So, not only was I earning money for subbing, but I was also earning money from Swagbucks, a win-win situation.
Today I cashed in some of my Swagbucks and earned a $25 Walmart gift card, which I will combine with the $10 one I redeemed a couple of weeks ago. Walmart.com offers free shipping on any orders over $35, so I'm going to use the gift cards to order things we need around here including dry beans, so this will help me save money on groceries too. Another win-win situation.
Yard Sale Saturday
On Saturday we went to multiple yard sales. I found a real metal gumball machine for $3.00. I've been wanting one ever since I saw this in one of the classrooms I subbed in last year.
The teacher has erasers inside this one, so students can buy one for 25¢. Isn't that a cute idea? I thought so and knowing me I would keep a stash of quarters just in case they needed one. :)
Switching Gears
By now you've probably heard about the Equifax data security breach, but if not you can read about it at the FTC website here. Turns out 143 million American consumers personal information was exposed to hackers in a data breach.
Equifax has set up a website where you can go and input your last name and last six digits of your social security number to see if your information was impacted.
You can go to the website here: Equifax
Click on the Potential Impact button.
Trouble is the information given may or may not be accurate. I keyed in my information two different times and the first time the website stated my information was impacted and the second time it told me it wasn't impacted.
I've read information about putting a freeze on your credit and how to do that, so it will be a good idea to keep an eye on your credit report for a long time. Some sources are saying this could have an impact on your credit for years to come.
Beverly Harzog weighs in on the debacle here if you'd like to read up further on this issue.
That's all the news I have to report from here. I hope you had a great frugal week and that this next week is even better for you.
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
Sunday: Dad brought me O-Ke-Doke cheese popcorn, Jay's potato chips, and lots of tomatoes grown in good Illinois black dirt. They also treated us to dinner that evening.
Monday we had a cookout with my Dad for Labor Day. We had hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, shoepeg salsa, and chips. The food was delicious and the company even better. It has been over a year since I saw my Dad, so it was good to catch up with him.
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I worked. I took my lunch on all of those days using up some leftovers from dinner I had made earlier in the week. I also took an orange each day that I had picked up on the reduced produce bin from Food City.
On Monday I cashed in some Swagbucks to earn a $10 gift card for Walmart, and I already have enough Swagbucks to earn another $10 card for this month. I'm going to save them up this month to see how many I can get. It would be great if the things I need monthly from Walmart can be obtained free by using Swagbucks.
My daughter gave both of us a haircut this week, so free to us. I love saving money this way as I usually save around $20 having our hair cut at home versus getting our haircut at Great Clips.
My daughter made a run to Aldi on Friday to pick up fresh produce while I was working. She picked up carrots, watermelon, cauliflower, potatoes, bananas, lemons, and naval oranges. We shop from their "Produce Picks of the Week" section, which saves us money. The total amount spent was: $20.00.
On Saturday I woke up early and started cleaning and making stuff for the upcoming week in the kitchen. I had some bananas that needed using up, so I made green smoothies for breakfast also using up some fresh spinach. The rest of the bananas went into the freezer.
I cut up all the cauliflower, watermelon, and cantaloupes for the upcoming week. I had some corn on the cob, which I shucked and cooked. I also made a batch of vegetable egg rolls.
Prep time on the weekend saves me time during the week which helps to ensure that I takes meals from home for our lunches and that saves me money.
We stayed home this weekend, not venturing out and not spending any money or using up the gas in our cars.
Today I was able to cash in some reward points for a free bag of cat food from Purina My Perks reward program.
How was your week?
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
Hello to all my frugal readers. This week I was able to work Monday & Thursday and then a surprise 1/2 day on Friday. Next week we are off on Monday for Labor Day, and then I'm scheduled to work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
On Tuesday I woke up and started working in the kitchen. I picked grapes off the vines from three packages of grapes and washed them and divided them up into twelve individual containers. We picked these up at Aldi where they were on sale for 79¢ per pound. These went into lunch bags this week until they were gone.
I also cut up a watermelon, made some black bean burritos for dinner and baked some sweet potatoes for the week.
Our washer stopped working this week, so we went to Lowe's to replace it. We bought the lowest priced Roper model they had because of planned obsolescence. I figure I might as well go with a basic, no frills washer since they are designed now to not last as long.
This is a high efficiency washer without an agitator. The employee told me that's how all washers are made nowadays. She said they only use one to two tablespoons of detergent, so looks like we will be saving money there as well.
The reviews were very good on the model I chose and the price was $299 plus new hoses, taxes and delivery fee, which made the price come to $420.97 and that is with a 5% discount for using my Lowe's card. I will pay that off as soon as I receive the bill. The savings amounted to $17.14.
We could have bought a Maytag or Whirlpool machine online for $279, but I didn't want to buy one online. I'm glad I didn't too because when we arrived at the cash register the employee had just gotten off the phone with someone who was having trouble with her online order, so she told me to never to buy a washer online. LOL
On Wednesday I found a penny on the ground while I was dropping off garbage. It reminded me of something that happened when I was subbing one day last week.
One of the students found a quarter behind the door and picked it up to keep. He told me there was also a dime back there, but he didn't bother to pick it up. I told him he should get it too and he said it wasn't worth it. I found that odd.
It was cool on Saturday morning, so much so that we didn't need to turn on the a/c and I even put on a sweater to keep warm. Very odd for this time of year here.
We have family visiting us today, so we will be busy visiting with them all week. I hope you all have a great weekend!
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
