Frugal Friday ~ April 19, 2019

There were four days of school this week and I was able to work three of those days. We're off today for Good Friday. 
Next week I'm scheduled to work four days so far and I'm grateful as they are doing state testing and I don't normally work those days. 
Recently I bought a bottle of vegetable oil from Food City, but the bottle was leaking oil all over my pantry floor. For now I've put what didn't leak out into a glass jar to use. 
So I called the manufacturer to let them know what happened and they sent me three $2.00 off any of their products coupons. I'll be replacing the oil the next time I go to the store. 
We were able to get in on several free items this week. 
One of the items we received was a sample of Olay Luxe Lather Body wash. This item is foamy like shaving cream, which I thought I would like, but realized I prefer non foaming soap.  
We got in on a free drink from Speedway, which was an offer where you had to text Speedway and they sent you a link to the coupon. 
We both received a 22 ounce drink for free. We used it while we were out at yard sales on Saturday, and it was nice to have an ice cold refreshing drink. 

On Monday Kona Ice had a freebie, which we were going to pick up but didn't due to the time.

We did pick up our free Hardee's biscuit on Monday though. They were delicious. 

I also received several orange juices this week from students who were going to throw them away. I think I got a total of five this week. 

We also received a free sample of Wild Zora freeze dried soup. I like the fact that this is freeze dried because it weighs so little, which makes it easy to carry in my sub bag. 

We stopped at the bread outlet one day and picked up two loaves of bread and one package of hot dog buns and one of hamburger buns. Total spent was $4.80. 

We also stopped at Food City and picked up two blocks of cheese, which were on sale for buy one get one free, which made them $2.00 each. 

We stopped in at Kroger on Thursday and picked up eggs for 69¢, milk for $1.39, bread for 38¢, cheese, and two marked down pizzas. 

We also went to JoAnn Fabrics where I was looking for something and had a 60% off coupon. But I realized I could get what I needed online in a bigger supply, so we left without buying anything. 

I received a survey in the mail from Consumer Opinion Institute and received $5 in cash for this. This is the $5 I used to buy the Breville Wok last weekend at the church rummage sale. 

Payday came early this week due to the Easter holiday, so I'll be paying bills and working on my budget today. 

I'm also doing laundry and processing. And I have chicken thawing for dinner. I'll be making a chicken stir fry in my new wok, and serving it with buttered rice. 

Right now it looks like yard sales will be rained out this week, unfortunately. 

How was your week? Any frugal finds?

Belinda

~ Living within our Means ~

My Frugal Week

Welcome to Friday! We've had a good frugal week and it was great to be on spring break and get several things done around the house. 
Added to our Frugal Pantry this week:
Last Friday my daughter stopped in at Kroger and bought four dozen eggs since they were on sale for 88¢. 
She also stopped in at Ingle's to see if they had any meat markdowns. She hit the jackpot there. 
She found Laura Lynn orange juice for 99¢. We bought six of those since they were such a good price. 

She also found ground beef marked down. The prices were all different, but the most inexpensive one worked out to $1.81 per pound. We ended up with close to twenty pounds all tucked away in our freezer now. 



On Saturday we stopped in at Earth Fair to pick up some honey since we were out. I pick up one quart of honey, organic lemons, Numi three root turmeric tea, Numi gunpowder green tea, and one lemon plum to try. 

On Thursday we stopped in at Ingle's & Kroger and ended up with more meat for the freezer and a couple of pizzas, which were marked down . 

We also picked up three loaves of bread for 38¢ each. 

We also stopped in at Aldi to pick up five bags of the onions that are on sale this week for 99¢ per three pound bag. 

Dinners This Week:
Saturday: Chicken & Dressing, Carrots,  Sunday: Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Biscuits Monday: Cheesy Potatoes, Broccoli Tuesday: Chicken Tenders, Baked Potatoes, Broccoli Wednesday: Ham, Scalloped Potatoes, Green Peas Thursday: Loose Meat Sandwiches, Salad Friday:   Stayed Home/No Spend Days:
Monday & Wednesday - No Money Spent
What I Worked on This Week:

This cat cot sells for brand new on Amazon for $22.38, but we found one at a yard sale last summer and only paid $1.00 for it. 
The cats have loved it and actually wore a hole in the middle of the mesh, so they stopped using it.
I wanted them to have one that is useful, but I didn't want to buy a new one since we only paid $1.00 for this one. 
On Wednesday I had the time to patch the hole they had created. Using part of an old towel and some fishing line, I sewed a patch onto the cot from underneath. I sewed two different circles around the patch hoping it will last for a while.


I'm happy to report that the cot is now back in service with our cats. 
Other things I've worked on this week include:
- Processing Inventory - Cross Posting Inventory  - Laundry - Hung some up to dry on the free drying rack we picked up last summer. 
Unexpected Expenses This Week:
On Saturday the tire pressure monitoring system on my car indicated that on of my tires needed additional air pressure. Since we live in a rural area, air compressors are few and far between here, and the one I did find was out of order. 
Sunday morning I woke up early and went to Walmart's automotive center because they are the only automotive service open on Sunday here. 
To make a long story short I ended up buying a new tire. Thankfully, even though I am between paychecks I just happened to have the money without dipping into my savings account. 
Saved, Reused, & Repurposed:
I emptied the remains of two jars of cherry preserves, but washed and saved the jars to be used later. 
Freebies This Week:
This week I received a free six month supply of medicine for my blood sugar. My doctor filled out the forms for me to receive it for free. 

Although this freebie is now expired it was a very nice freebie. A regular size pouch of the Seeds of Change Quinoa and Brown Rice with garlic.  

Other Frugal Activities:

We don't use baggies very often for our sandwiches, but use reusable containers instead when we need a lunch packed for outside the home. Same with our reusable water bottles. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Food Waste & Student Breakfast

One day last week I subbed at the high school and was surprised at how many students stopped at the local Hardees or Sonic and brought food and drinks to school.

There were seven students in a class of 21 students who brought breakfast from a fast food establishment, which is 33% of the students in that class.

I understand why the students do this, but the high school offers FREE breakfast and lunch to ALL students.

Students have their choice of milk (fat free, 2%, or chocolate) and orange juice, and usually two food items, sometimes more, to choose from.

This day they were offered biscuit, sausage, gravy,  mandarin oranges, orange juice, and choice of milk. 

As I sat there, before school started, eating my breakfast from home of cottage cheese with blueberries, I wonder if some of the students realize the expense that eating out can add up to over the course of a month or year.

Some of them have not learned or had the financial lessons that other students have had at their young age. 

One of the bad things about free breakfast is that some students throw away perfectly good food and drinks. They are not forced to get everything that is offered, but some of them do and then throw away perfectly fine containers of milk and orange juice.

The custodians tried to rescue these unopened milk and orange juice containers, but were told by administration to stop this practice. 

I did rescue one chocolate milk and three orange juices on the day I subbed after stopping two students from throwing them away right in front of me. And, other students wanted those items I rescued, which made me happy.

I've watched in disbelief as some students get breakfast and throw it away untouched and unopened. Oftentimes these students will only go to breakfast to sit with their friends and socialize, not wanting any of the food.

And it's an unspoken rule at the high school that there is a bowl at the end of the food line where students can put their orange juice or milk if they don't want it, and any student who wants one can take one, but that is frowned upon at the elementary and middle schools. And even with this, students still throw away unopened milk and orange juice. 

The middle school doesn't even allow students to take any food out of the cafeteria even if it is unopened. If they did it would eliminate some of this food waste.

It's food waste plain and simple and it makes me sad to see such waste. We try and work hard to avoid food waste in our home. I wish that were true at the school as well.

    Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”

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 ~

Second Frugal Week January 2018

This week started out with several phone calls asking me to sub this week and I'm so grateful. School was cancelled on Monday due to the weather, but I was still able to work at three days this week. 
Our Internet is on a data plan and therefore we have to be careful to not use it all before the end of the month. Google Chrome has added an extension for a text only browser to avoid using up all the data for the month. It's called Text Mode if you are interested. 

If you are a Shop Your Way rewards member from Sears or Kmart, be sure to check your account to see if you have any money to spend. I did that last weekend and had enough in my account to buy this free pan. It's a air fryer for the oven. I came home and made some baked potato fries in it and it worked really well. Best of all they gave it to me for free. 

 We have not eaten out anytime since before Christmas. In fact I couldn't even tell you when the last time we ate out even happened.  I've made dinner every night. Here is our menu from the last week. 
1-5-2018 - Chicken Pot Pie 1-6-2018 - Pedernales Potatoes, Corn 1-7-2018 - Smoked Sausage, Green Beans & Onions, Potatoes 1-8-2018 - Cream Cheese Chicken Chili, Mexican Rice 1-9-2018 - BBQ Chicken Sandwiches 1-10-2018 - Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, Broccoli 1-11-2018 - Leftovers - Spaghetti, Garlic Bread, Broccoli
The Cream Cheese Chicken Chili was a new recipe for me, but turned out to be a keeper. Next time I will add a can of tomatoes instead of the tomatoes with chilies to keep the heat down some. 
Cream Cheese Chicken Chili Ingredients: 1 - 12 ounce can chicken, drained 1 can corn, drained 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 can diced tomatoes with chilies 1 tbsp cumin 1 tbsp chili powder 4 ounces cream cheese
Directions: Rinse and drain black beans and to pan.  Drain corn and chicken and add to pan.  Add canned tomatoes, but do not drain.  Add spices, stir well and heat through.  Add cream cheese an stir until melted.  Serve over rice. 
I've not been grocery shopping lately either, so that is what we'll be doing this weekend, weather permitting. There is possibly bad weather in the works for Tennessee today and that will determine if we are wanting to get out of the house this weekend. 
I hope you have a great weekend!

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Summer Time means Gazpacho

www.SusanBranch.com

Summertime means plenty of vegetables around here. 
One of my favorite summer time soups is Gazpacho and this recipe from Susan Branch is one of my favorite cold soup recipes. 
This soup recipe is very refreshing and hits the spot on a hot summer day. 
Susan Branch ~ Gazpacho
Combine in your blender:
10 ounces cold tomato juice 1/2 medium cucumber, cut up 1 medium tomato, cup up 1 Tbsp sugar (I leave this out) 1/4 cup red wine vinegar 1/4 cup salad oil (I leave this out)
To the blended ingredients add:
2 1/2 cups tomato juice 1 medium tomato, chopped 1/2 cucumber, chopped  1 small onion, finely chopped 2 celery stalks, diced 2 green onions, green part only, chopped 1/2 zucchini, chopped 1 small green pepper, finely chopped (I had red on hand)
Add or subtract any vegetables you like. Serve very cold. 

SusanBranch.com

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Savings at Kroger

I love going grocery shopping at Kroger because of their yellow stickers. We went down there (they are located in Georgia) because I knew they had cottage cheese and sour cream on sale for $1.00 each, but we hit the bonanza when it came to the reduced yellow sticker items. 
Cole Slaw mix marked down to 49¢.

A pork roast marked down to $3.09.

Pumpkin Spice non alcoholic beverage marked down to 59¢.

Ball Park cheese dogs marked down to $1.49.

Mangoes and Broccoli in the reduced produce bins for 99¢.

Red Grapes marked down to 99¢ for the bunch. 

Kroger brand Cinnamon Caramel Apple cream cheese marked down to 59¢.

Kroger Pumpkin Spice cream cheese marked down to 29¢.

 Yogurt marked down to 19¢ each. 

And finally, the cottage cheese and sour cream I went after. 

Such great buys - I love Kroger!

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Lunches

Sorry I've been absent from my blog for a couple of weeks. I've been working almost every day and also have some other things going on, but wanted to check in this week with a blog post. 

I hope all of you are doing well and had a wonderful Thanksgiving. 🎩

We spent the day with my brother-in-law and his family and friends and had a very good time.  🎃🦃

I made up several things for lunches for the coming week. First off was Tuna Pate, which I placed into small containers for my daughter to take for her lunches. She gets tired of sandwiches, but she can take some crackers with her and spread the tuna on those for her lunches. 

I also boiled two dozen eggs for lunches. She was getting tired of egg salad, so this is a better solution and still affordable for lunches. 

I've also been making a large stockpot full of soup on the weekend and dividing it up into these 2 cup containers that I purchased at Sam's Club. I've been doing this for the last month and it has been terrific to grab and go for lunches during the week. 

This is some vegetable chili I made this weekend. We ate on it for Sunday Dinner and then I was able to make 8 containers up for lunches this week. 

A great deal I found this week was one pound bags of garbanzo beans at Publix. I bought five bags. These will be great for hummus and mock tuna salad. 

That's what's been going on here at the Frugal Workshop. 
How are things in your neck of the woods? Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~