Third Frugal Friday of October 2025

Frugal Friday 

Welcome to Frugal Friday
Today is Bailey’s birthday! I bought her some of her favorite Built and Barebells protein bars, Bengal Spice tea, $65 in McKay Used Books credit, and flowers. I also bought her a piece of suicide chocolate cake from City Cafe along with her favorite ice cream and her favorite toppings, which include strawberries, peanuts, and caramel. 
My Frugal Week
On Tuesday we stopped in at Aldi and Walmart and picked up some groceries. We bought the ice cream and toppings for Bailey’s birthday on Friday, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, bbq sauce, pickles, yogurt, strawberries, peanuts, milk, and frozen berries for my yogurt bowls. 
I received my first paycheck for tutoring this week. 
Health Update (Feel Free to Skip)
I had an appointment on Friday and found out I need to have a hernia removed, but I’m thankful it’s not giving me any issues. 
On Tuesday I saw the retina specialist for eye injections. 
I was recently diagnosed with posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) in my left eye. PVD occurs when the gel in the eye separates from the retina, which can be caused by diabetes, cataracts, and eye injury, all of which I’ve had to that eye. There is a black circle right in my line of vision and I wish it would go away. He wants to see me in two weeks to check on it again. 
I’m on a Dexcom G7 continuous glucose monitor full time now, which has really helped me see what certain foods do to cause my blood sugar to crash. It’s definitely been a learning curve. 
The Great Cleanup Continues 
JC, the gentleman who hauled off the metal last week, asked his friend to bush hogg our yard for us! Wasn’t that so nice of both of them? He came over on Sunday afternoon and spent a couple of hours on it and wouldn’t take any money for it. We were really blessed by this today. 💕 

While he was here I took my handheld power saw and cut down some weeds and little trees the weed eater wouldn’t cut last week and drug them off into the woods. 
On Monday I went back outside and worked all day trimming bushes, hauling brush into the woods, picking up sticks from the yard, leaf blowing, weed eating, picking up random stuff from the ground in the pole barn, cleaning in the shed, and hauling off a trunk load of flattened cardboard boxes to the convenience center. 
I also walked around the yard and gathered a five gallon bucket, and three plastic planters. The planters disintegrated when I pulled them up from the ground, but I picked up all the pieces and disposed of them. 
My neighbor, who is helping me with the driveway, and also helped me trim bushes, let me use her Milwaukee leaf blower and that tool has a lot more power behind it than my Ryobi leaf blower. I was able to move huge amounts of leaves out of the pole barn with her Milwaukee. 
On Tuesday our neighbor installed the new culvert we bought in the spring. He used an excavator to dig the trench before he could install the culvert. This will divert the rainwater when it comes off the mountain after it was clear cut last year, which will stop the driveway from washing out in that area. 
Yard Sales

I stopped at one yard sale on my way to an appointment on Friday. I spied a like new pair of Etonic shoes in size 10.5, which was my size before I lost the weight, for $5.00, so I brought them home with me. Bailey fell in love with them and now has a pair of new to her shoes. These retail for $150.00. 
On Saturday we went to Tunnel Hill, Georgia to shop at a church yard sale. I came home with six new to me clothing items for $3.00, so 50 cents each. Two pairs on pants in size ten to try on and three shirts including two of my favorite LuLa Roe ones and a cute vest.
They’ve been washed and are waiting for me to try on and what doesn’t fit or work for me will be donated to People Helping People. A win-win situation for everyone. 
Saving on Electric
Our electric bill was $4.00 less this month, which is a sign of the cooler weather we’ve been having. Hopefully we will see an even bigger reduction next month. 
Saving Money on Entertainment
PBS Stories from the Stage ~  Stories have the power to astonish us, make us laugh and cry, and open our hearts to the world. Storytellers from around the world share extraordinary tales of what it means to be human in this PBS series. I’ve been watching it for free on Facebook reels this week. What I’ve Been Reading This Week
Aldi is Offering a $40 Thanksgiving Meal this Year ~ Bailey and I went into Aldi this week to pick up a few things, and in the past I’ve noticed their prices were just a few cents higher than Walmart on some of our essentials. But, not this week, Aldi was lower on milk, cheese and yogurt. As always, it saves money to know your prices. 
How was your week?

Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. 
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.

Belinda 🫶 💕 Homemaker at Heart 💕 ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27