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Friday, March 12, 2021

Frugal Friday



Welcome to Friday! 

Quote of the Week

Squandering resources is the opposite of being thrifty.

My Frugal Week

On Sunday I did three full loads of laundry. We have already went through our homemade detergent and are now using Purex and only using the smallest amount of detergent needed to get our clothes clean. We also use the wool dryer balls in the dryer rather than dryer sheets. Both of those save us money when doing laundry. 

We had been reading about the vaccine and our phase opening up here on March 8th. First thing Monday morning I was able to make us both an appointment for that afternoon. We had to wait in the car line for 1 hour and 15 minutes, so not bad.  This makes us one step closer to getting this pandemic behind us. 




The charger to my tablet hasn't been charging it lately. So, I borrowed Bailey's charger and checked it against mine. Turns out it was the cord that went bad and not the charger part. So, I replaced the cord with a new one for only $19 instead of the $52 it was going to cost to replace both pieces.

With the warmer weather allergy season is already here. I used part of my $10 Amazon gift card to purchase a bottle of allergy spray, so my out of pocket cost was zero.

Earning Money

This week I sold two things on eBay, both were Mike and Molly DVDs. 

Avoiding Spending

Waiting to get the vaccine on Monday made me really anxious for some reason. I was closing my eyes and deep breathing through it while waiting in the car line.  Eating during times of stress like that makes me feel better. I told Bailey that we needed to stop and get something to eat afterwards.  

After we received the shot though, I was able to calm down and the anxious feelings passed. Instead of stopping for something to eat, we came home and made dinner instead. Victory!

I didn't expect to feel that way and would have brought something with me to eat if I had known how stressed I would feel. Live and learn as the old saying goes. Although there was really no reason to feel anxious, I have to wonder if it was a build up of emotions from  staying home for the past year. Either way, I will be bringing a snack with me when we get the second vaccine just in case. :)

Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen

One thing that saves us money in the kitchen is that we do not mind eating leftovers, which helps us by avoiding food waste, which means we can get by on fewer groceries too. 

We had a substitution from Walmart on Great Value Peach Yogurt. We ordered small yogurts. They subbed four of the 32 ounce containers, which normally sell for $1.84 but sold to us for $1.55 each. 

Weekly Menu

Italian Sausage, Oven Baked Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables
Planned Over Italians Sausage, Potato Pancakes, Mixed Vegetables
Chili Tacos with Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Onions
Spaghetti, Salad
Taco Salad  with lots of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions

The potato pancakes were made using leftover mashed potatoes. 

Saving on Entertainment

This week I watched the film, Amish Grace, on Amazon Prime, which is based on the true story of the Amish school shooting on October 2, 2006 at the West Nickel Mines School in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The film explores the Amish community's forgiving reaction to the shootings. 

What I've been Reading This Week

My Pantry List

Freebies

Choose FI has a free Financial Independence 101 course on their website. The  course is designed to guide you from financial literacy to financial independence. 

How was your week?

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~

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20 comments:

  1. Nice you were able to fix your charger cheaply. I had potato pancakes last week and even froze some.
    My allergies are giving me fits since I have been getting more fresh air.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Cheryl.

      Potato Pancakes are delicious. Good idea for you to freeze some of yours.

      And yes, it is that time of year for allergies. Our Bradford Pear trees are in full bloom right mow with this warm weather.

      Delete
    2. I love the Choose FI show and website. Great duo of guys. Potato pancakes? Are you kidding! Those are underrated. I love them for dinner or breakfast. Goes well with a nice steak or porkchop too. Happy Friday.

      Delete
    3. I like the Choose FI information too. Did you know they have a Facebook group? It's great group. Here is a link just in case: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChooseFI/

      Yes, we love potato pancakes here too. So good. :)
      Happy Friday to you too.

      Delete
  2. So happy you & Bailey were able to get a vaccine! And, I've been really emotional lately - I think it's the one year "anniversary" of kids out of school, lock down, working from home.. I'm just exhausted by having made it a year. I also get really anxious about the vaccine. A positive, excited for the future anxious, and it's just so emotional to tie life moving back to normal to the shot that I think it's natural to have those feelings. I ate a bunch of carbs that I've been trying to avoid all week. Once when my first vaccine appointment was cancelled due to supply, and another on a day when I got it rescheduled.

    Sending hopeful & healthy thoughts to you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, it is emotional and exhausting having been so long.

      Today marks the day last year that schools were closed. I surely didn't think it would be one year or longer.

      I'm sending hopeful and healthy thoughts your way too and hoping that we are one step closer to this being behind us.

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  3. My cell phone is acting up and I hope it is a frugal fix as your charger.

    God bless.

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  4. So glad you were able to get a vaccine! Hopefully things will begin to be better and brighter days will be ahead.
    Glad you were able to fix your charger too. Your meals sound so good. I love potato pancakes too.
    Hope you have a fun weekend.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kathy. I am so ready for brighter and better days ahead and know you are too. I can't wait to go to a yard sale! I am so ready. LOL

      I hope you have fun weekend too.

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  5. Congratulations on the first round of vaccine. I'm sorry to hear about your anxiety while waiting to get it. I suppose you are right in that you have been at home so much and then to be out. Maybe you won't have that same experience with the next shot. I have had both shots now and when I got them, it was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I'm not doing anything different than I was before, but the relief was almost palpable.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Frances. I can imagine how relieved you felt after the second shot. It would feel like a big weight was lifted off of you. Thank you for your kind thoughts. :)

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  6. Belinda, Congratulations on getting your vaccine. I am so happy for you & Bailey. One step closer to normalcy. Well, we all know how bad I want it, ROFL. If it is any comfort I am scared and anxious too. I heard it's a normal reaction for a lot of women receiving the vaccine.
    Spent a lot of money this week for long term frugality. Invested in things for my home that will make thing simpler and more frugal in the long run. I saved a lot of money purchasing everything. It was a win-win.
    I signed up for Wal-Mart Plus. I have been using it to order things online and do deliveries of my groceries. It was getting to stressful to grocery shop. I was having anxiety attacks in the store so I was spending more money. The trade off was worth it, either spend $13 a month for a subscription or $50 extra because I was anxious. :) I made an order a few minutes ago. I just ordered yogurt! Wondering if I will get a substitute like you did. :)
    I ordered some funnels last week and they substituted them with a more expensive version. That was a nice surprise.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Safyne. I hadn't heard that this was a normal reaction to the vaccine for women. I need to read up on that. Now that the first one is behind me, I am feeling much better.

      That's great that you are working towards long term frugality.

      Bailey signed up for Walmart Plus too and really likes it. She can order something and have it here the very net day. I even used it this week on Thursday and had the item on Friday. I can get used to that!

      We have not been in a grocery store since before March 13th of last year. I know in my heart I couldn't handle the anxiety. We began ordering from Amazon, Target, and Walmart last year online. Since then they have started grocery delivery so we did that and didn't look back.

      Now I am someone who loves to grocery shop, so I will be thrilled when I can go back and not feel anxious about it. You will have to let me know about your yogurt. I love it when they substitute and you end up with something even better. LOL...that is my thrill of the day. Ha Ha.

      I hope you have a great weekend.

      Delete
  7. I can feel the pollen I the air, too. I take Claritin daily year round. I think I’m about to step it up a bit for the Spring. Glad you were able to get your vaccine. I’m still waiting for the one dose J&J to be available in my area. ☺️

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Penny. My Dad is wanting the J and J vaccine too. He is going to talk to his doctor about it this week.

      Bailey can smell the pollen when she steps outside. She takes allergy meds year round too. Pretty soon we will have ours cars covered in that yellow pollen and need to wash them off daily. But the warmer weather feels so good!

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  8. I'm so happy to hear that you've both received the vaccine. I'm trying to get mine scheduled too.

    You did great on the frugal front! I've been taping up the wires on our Ipad & Iphone chargers and it's still working great. I don't care that it looks ugly. It works, so I'm happy with that :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, Ms. Goose. Yes, taping something up has never bothered me either. We have several things fixed with duct tape here. It works well at repairing things to get them to last just a little bit longer.

      I hope you can get your vaccine scheduled soon.

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  9. Glad you were able to get the vaccine! Maybe we can all start "living" again soon.

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