Saturday, January 27, 2018

4th Frugal Week - January 2018

This week I emptied out the jar of strawberry preserves while making sandwiches for lunch one day. I had two small packets of strawberry jelly in the fridge, so I used those up to finish the sandwiches.   

In my pantry was a brand new bottle of jelly from Kroger that we bought recently, but I wanted to stretch what I had before opening it. 


I don't know if you can tell from the photo, but the snap down lid on the new bottle of jelly was broken off, which is how it was when I bought it. 

Since these bottles stand up on the lid, the jelly would just leak out. I was willing to do what I could with it for the savings. These bottles normally cost upwards of $2.75, but this one was marked down to $1.49. 

What I did was wash the old jelly jar and emptied the new jelly contents into the old jar.  Problem solved and money saved since it was on yellow sticker markdown.

My daughter and I both gave ourselves a haircut this week saving us at least $20 in the process. 

Since we've been cooking at home everyday I have used up a lot of the onions I had. Cooke's had the three pound bags on sale for 99¢ last week, so I bought four more bags. 

I earned another $5.00 Amazon gift card from Microsoft Rewards this week. 

I also received my $25 in PayPal money from Swagbucks, and a check for $27 from Inbox Dollars. 

Combined with the $25 PayPal money I received from MyPoints last week, that is $77 I will be putting towards my car insurance premium, which is due at the end of January.  

That is $77 that I did not have to earn, but spent just a few minutes per day working towards. 

The weather has warmed up this week, which allowed us to turn the heat off for a few days. The savings on the electric bill will be good. 

Our electric company put this YouTube video on their Facebook page to help customers dispel some energy myths, so I wanted to share it with my readers. 


I perused the grocery store sale ads online this week making note of several sale items. On Thursday I went to IGA to pick up some Nature's Own whole grain bread, which was on sale for 99¢. I bought four loaves. 

Two other markdowns made their way into my cart as well. IGA Herb Dressing Mix was marked down to 50¢ per bag, so I picked up four of those. 
They also had Oscar Mayer Ham & Cheese loaf in the 16 ounce container marked down to 79¢, so I picked up six of those and put them in the freezer. 

This week I was able to work the first two days and was scheduled to work more, but became sick on Tuesday night and ended up cancelling the rest of the week.  

I suspected I had the flu and went to the doctor on Thursday. Today is Saturday and I'm already feeling so much better and will be able to return to work on Monday. 

That's all the news from here this week. I hope you've had a good week. Leave me a comment and let me know how you're doing.  I love to hear from all of you.  :)

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~

27 comments:

  1. You are raking in the side hustle cash this week! $77 in money you didn't have to "work" for?....Yes!!!

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  2. So glad that you are recovering so quickly!
    You got some great deals - WTG!

    I am not sure that I would believe the info from the electric company. They may say 'it doesn't affect' when it does! They are in the market to make money!!! I think I would take it with a grain of salt.

    Continue to get better.

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    1. That is a great observation about the electric company, Cheryl. I hadn't even thought about that. Thanks for the get well wishes. :)

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  3. Nice job on the side hustle! Any tips you'd share on cutting hair? I'd love to get into the routine, but am a bit afraid I'll screw something up. :-)

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    1. THank you. There are multiple Youtube videos on how to cut hair, so you might want to check some of those out. I have a trimmer and then a smaller trimmer to do the edges, just like they have at the haircutters. I can't do the edges as well with the bigger trimmer, so it's nice to have both. The smaller trimmer is only $14 at Walmart, so pays for itself right away.

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  4. Sorry you were sick. It seems to be going around everywhere. Great job on the side hustle money! I really need to get back into doing Swagbucks.

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    1. Thanks, Rachel. Sometimes I am really good at earning Swagbucks and sometimes I just want a break from it. I wish I could stay motivated to do it regularly.

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  5. Glad to hear you are recovering quickly.
    I used to use MyPoints ages ago, but now doesn't use any rewards programs. I will check the ones you mentioned here. Thanks Belinda.

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  6. Sorry you had to cancel work this week . . luckily you had that side hustle going! I question the open the oven door it doesn't matter. If I am baking and open the oven, the oven kicks back on to make it up to temp so . . yes, it does take more energy. : )

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    1. Thank you, Carol. The video says to use your oven light to check on things in the oven because opening the oven door allows the heat to escape, so they are in agreement with you. I had to watch the video over this morning to double check.

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  7. Nice going with all your reward programs. I start them they I get bored with them. I have used my Citi card points to get some gift cards though so every little bit helps. I got a Target for my dd as an extra gift for her birthday since she loves Target and I got a Petsmart one for cat food and treats. I think I will go back and get another one for Petsmart. Since I do quite a bit of Christmas shopping online my points add up and I haven't used them for quite some time.

    I saw a recipe on another board I thought I might try. Riced cauliflower and hamburger mixed together with some red pepper flakes to zip it up a bit. I don't know if you and Bailey like anything like that but to me it sounded a bit different for a change.

    Glad to hear you're feeling better. People around here have been getting quite sick and it's lasting at least a week or more. I did get a flu shot this year, even though they claim it's not that effective, I feel it has to help some.

    Have a good week!!

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    1. Thank you, Mary Lou. I agree, I think the flu shots work, so I will always get one. I had one this year too. I get one every year except the year when they were low on them and only letting seniors and another group get them.

      That hamburger and riced cauliflower sounds good. We have used the rice cauliflower to make mock taco meat before and we like that, so we would probably like that recipe you saw.

      Hope you have a great week too!

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  8. I need to start back with Swagbucks. I missed having money making side hustles when Christmas came around.

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    1. They really do come in handy for the holidays, Linda. The first year I did Swagbucks I saved all of mine for Christmas and had $225 to spend, so I bought my daughter a tablet that year. It was great!

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  9. Years ago, my husband bought hair-cutting supplies and he cut the boys' hair all the years they lived with us unto they grew up. Today, he handed those supplies (clippers) to our 13-year -old daughter and told her to cut his hair. I could not believe my ears! But, she did a great job:). Amazing.

    It sounds like you did a great job on shopping. I love those Whoo-hoo markdowns here and look every time I go to our Fred Meyers to see if there is anything I need.

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    1. Oh that is great that your daughter cut your husband's hair, I love that story! Thank you for sharing it, Becky. :)

      I love those Whoo-hoo markdowns too.

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  10. One way to use up any jam/jelly clinging to an "empty" jar is to pour in a little milk, give it a few good shakes and drink the resulting "millkshake."

    Depending on the flavor, add a little vinegar and oil and make a salad dressing...? Or use the vinegar and jelly/jam to marinate chicken?

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  11. Oh no! I'm glad you're feeling better. This stuff that is going around is icky!

    Smart move to save the jelly that way and good deals on your shopping around. I managed to squeak by only buying cookies and milk for the house this week. Although I did have to buy sodas for my husband's office....but at least it doesn't come out of my grocery budget.

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    1. Thank you, Shara. You did good only needing to buy milk and cookies this week. That's great. :)

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  12. Sick but still saving, Belinda. Flu and bronchitis and pneumonia are on the rampage in the South, according to national news.

    Attempting to decrease our overall pantry with much to consume, DH and I are cooking up large batches of recipes in our electric roaster, using the roaster as if it were a slow cooker. Relieves us of day-to-day cooking as we grab containers or bags of prepared recipes from the freezer. Thankful for stored food.

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    1. I love my electric roaster, Anna. The last time I used it I made a big batch of taco meat and it was a breeze in the roaster. Like you, we are thankful for stored food here too. It has saved us more than once. :)

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  13. Sounds like you had an a great week, other than getting sick :( So glad you feel better!

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