Welcome to Friday!
My Frugal Kitchen
We had a grocery store pick up delivered this week, so we are stocked back up on food for the next month or so.
We bought twenty pounds of ground beef and divided it up into twenty different bags and stored it in the freezer.
This week I made two dishes that we ate on all week and then today I will be making a Broccoli and Carrot soup for dinner.
Frugal Entertainment
This week we decided to watch Hocus Pocus for movie night.
Other Frugal Activities
This was the week for making phone calls. I ended up calling on my auto, homeowners, and life insurance polices to adjust those and was able to get lower rates on all three. The savings on all three policies will amount to $1,077.12 over the course of the next year. I decided this was better for me as I'm not subbing right now and can revisit the issue when I do go back to subbing.
This week I decided to trim my hair, which looks and feels so much better.
On Sunday we will have Echo and Rambo here to pet sit for ten days, which will give us some extra income.
This week I had a Roamans reward certificate for $10 that was about to expire, so I used it to purchase new undergarments, which saved me about half the price on those.
This week I sold one item on eBay and listed another item for sale, which already has bids on it, so it will sell this weekend.
Stolen Mail
Since we live in a rural area, our mailbox sits on a country road about 1/4 of a mile from the house. We can't see it from the house and last Saturday, our mail was stolen out of the mailbox along with three packages. Our Saturday mailman has a bad habit of leaving packages hanging out of the mailbox, which is why I think they were stolen.
One of the packages stolen was for Bailey's allergy prescription medications. We had to make multiple phone calls this week to get those replaced. Since she needed those meds now, we ended up going to town to pick up her new RX.
Another package that was stolen was from Wazoodle where I had ordered Zorb and PUL to make Bailey some new cloth pads. That was $35 worth of material, so I put in a claim to the post office for that. The other package was a book for Mom from Amazon, which cost $1.29 plus shipping, so Mom went ahead and replaced that herself.
Planned Obsolescence/New Washer & Dryer
Planned obsolescence is an industry policy of designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so that it becomes obsolete after a certain period of time. The rationale behind this strategy is to generate long term sales volume by reducing the time between repeat purchases. It is the deliberate shortening of a lifespan of a product to force consumers to purchase replacements.
We bought our Roper dryer in 2014, so six years of service. And our Roper washer we bought in August 2017, so three years of service. We had the dryer worked on this summer when it stopped working, but then three months later, it stopped working again. Rather than spend the money on another dryer repair, we decided to buy a new mid-priced dryer.
The new dryer came with it's own set of problems. We ordered the wrong plug and they refused to install it with our existing dryer vent since it was not metal. So we have a repairman (the same on who installed our a/c this summer) coming on Monday to install it for us.
Our Roper washer has had its own set of problems. The transmission went out on it before it was a year old, so the repair on that was covered by the warranty. This past summer it has gotten to where it will not finish a load of laundry without stopping before it's finished.
We tried to restart loads where they stopped, which didn't work, so we tried starting them over and sometimes it would work, but not always. And the machine was not getting clothes clean like it should.
So, we decided to buy both appliances new and in the mid-price range, hoping they would last longer than the Roper models.
We originally order a new LG set, but Lowe's cancelled that set on us as they're having a hard time keeping washers and dryers in stock, which is true across the board for all stores. So, we ended up buying this GE washer and dryer. Let's hope this pair works for a long time.
Since the washer still works, we've been washing things and hanging them to dry in the house. This will definitely save on the electric bill. Both appliances were bought with cash that was saved up for things like this.
Whew! That is our week in a nutshell. How was your week?
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
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Hi Belinda,
ReplyDeleteCan you share what the two dishes were that you made and were able to eat on all week? Planned Obsolescence is so frustrating. My three girls all have lower priced cell phones, as they are just meant to have when they are away from home. The charging ports are always going out. My husband bought a soldering iron set and a few replacement ports for around $25 total and is now able to replace them instead of replacing a $60 phone. I've been trying to get since winter type vegetables growing, bit gardening where in from in IA is so much different than gardening here in the SC Sandhills, I haven't had much luck.
Nichole
Hi Nichole, one of the dishes was a chicken and rice dish, which made a lot and last for several dinners and lunches. The other one was pasta salad that was loaded with veggies and had chicken in it as well. Both dishes always make so much that they last us a while.
DeleteThat's great that your dh is able to fix the charging ports on your daughter's phones. That definitely saves money over the long term.
I wish you good luck with getting your winter garden going. I've been reading on several blogs this week that others are doing the same. :)
Fingers crossed the the new w/d work well and well past their anticipated life.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Anne. Keeping my fingers crossed.
DeleteWe bought our dryer second hand about 8 years ago (I have no idea how long the other owners had it) and our washer 6 years ago. I do hope neither breaks down. Perhaps they are lasting so well because we no longer have what amounted to a mountain of dirty clothing. Harvey and I just produce 3 small loads most weeks, with and extra two every second week.
ReplyDeleteI hope yours last as long as ours have.
God bless.
I hope neither one of them breaks down either, Jackie. From what I can gather, 8 years is good for a dryer these days. My daughter washes one load per day at least and I was thinking it was from using it a lot too, so you may be onto something there with the smaller amount of loads per week. I hope yours lasts a good long time too, both your dryer and washer. :)
DeleteGosh sorry to hear about your mail being stolen. You never know about people. I hope they catch them.
ReplyDeleteI finally had my hair trimmed at a hair place..husband had been trimming it for me during this time. We are not good hair cutting people one side was a good inch shorter than the other. They did the best they good with the husbands and said that it will grow out soon so it will look better then.
Thank you, Vickie. I hope they catch them too. I'm glad you were both able to get your hair cut at the salon. I figure ours are short in places too, but since we re not seeing anyone outside our home we are OK for now.
DeleteI am so very sorry about your mail being stolen. There are some mean and desperate people out there. What an aggravation to get the prescription refilled too. Hope you are able to get some money back.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the washer and dryer problems. I hope the new ones last a long time. I remember my mom's washer lasting 25-30 years. I am lucky if mine lasts 10 anymore.
Great job stocking up on ground beef. It is so versatile. You can fix so many different meals.
I think Hocus Pocus is a funny movie. We need to watch it before Halloween. One of our favorites is Nightmare before Christmas.
Hope you have a good weekend.
Thank you, Kathy. I’m hoping the post office will refund the money I lost on the fabric.
DeleteYes, my Mom’s washer and dryer lasted for years! They don’t make them like that anymore, unfortunately.
I’ll have to look up Nightmare before Christmas and see if we would like to watch it. I looked at Funny Farm for the next movie night. It’s the one with the crazy mailman. LOL
I hope you have a good weekend too.
That’s a very good saving on insurance policies, Belinda!
ReplyDeleteI’m so sorry to hear about the lost mail.
When I bought this house, I replaced the small mailbox with a larger lockable one. It’s also big enough for small packages, big padded envelopes. I think it was about $90 back then.
Can you ask mailman not to leave packages at the mailbox unattended, and deliver it to your house?
Hope you and Bailey have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you, Neil. I will look into the mailbox you mentioned. Our daily mailman is great and will deliver all packages to the house, but the Saturday mailman won’t do that, unfortunately. I will have to check the daily email we get from them and if there is a package go and get it right away. Hopefully that will work. I hope you have a wonderful weekend too.
DeleteNice job with your insurance savings! So sorry to hear about your mail box, that stinks
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI hope you get a long life out of your new washer and dryer. And that is terrible about your stolen mail! I am hoping you have a better week.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I hope this is a good week for you too.
DeleteWe went through two setts of washers and dryers at six years each but had been having to coax the washers along to make them go that far. So frustrating! We asked our repairman what brand to buy and he said Speed Queen. They are expected to last 25 years since they do not have the cheap plastic parts that other brands have and are all USA made. I am happy to say that 8 years and they are still going strong without so much as a hiccup. They were around $1000 each but in the long run we will save money.
ReplyDeleteOh that is great to know about Speed Queen, Lana. Thank you for letting us know. We can start saving for those now.
DeleteIt is aggravating that things are not built to last. Then we had the cell phones with the kill switches at 24 months. IT really makes me mad.
ReplyDeleteYes, Kim...those are so aggravating.
DeleteLate to reading this post-so sorry about the mail thieves. We've had packages taken right form door steps. The soups sounds so good and this has been a soup week. Of all appliances, the washer and dryer going caput would be frustrating. Our had to be replaced a little over 6 years ago, and I sue hope they last as long as we are in this house.
ReplyDeleteI hope your washer and dryer lasts a long time too, Sam. It's been frustrating to say the least. Here it is Thursday and we still don't have the dryer set up to go yet. They are coming tomorrow to hook the dryer cord to it, so hopefully we will be able todo laundry afterwards. Keeping my fingers crossed.
DeleteHi Belinda :) I cut my hair this week too! Lopped off 2 inches, it feels great! :) Oh the mail...we are in a rural area, but most of Canada has switched to community mailboxes that you need a key to open. Great job on the insurance savings!!! My insurance calls happen in the spring. We had to buy new appliances this year when we moved. We bought mid-price too. I hate that they all rely on computer chips now. We got them in July and our fridge is already kaputs. I had to argue with the company (Midea) but finally they agreed to deliver a replacement. This is the ONE time I'm happy I bought the extended warantee! (which I always find such a waste of money!)
ReplyDeleteOh, how neat that you cut your own hair, Rain. I'm glad it feels great. Mine always feels great too after a trim. One of the people I spoke with at the post office said that we needed to put a lock on our mail box. That's great that you all have already done that with your community mail boxes. OMG, I cannot believe your refrigerator already went kaput. That is terrible. I would have argued with them over that one too. Good thing your bought the extended warranty. I usually don't buy those either, but will seriously consider this into the future after all of this.
DeleteI enjoy your site.....and just wanted to share what our repair man does when he came to our house for our washer. He cleans or replaced the filter on the inside of the hose from the faucet. Our washer wouldn't work right. After he replaced the filter it worked fine and I haven't had any more problems. I got the Speed Queen washer a little over a year ago and really like it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing what your repairman does to your washer when he comes to repair it. I’m going to look at a speed queen the next time we need a washer. You’re the second person to mention that it is a good brand.
DeleteI love my GE appliances! Have several. One of the reasons is they are made in the U S.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I love that they are made the USA. I hope they last for a long time. :)
Delete