Frugal Friday ~ November 15, 2019

Welcome to Friday, I hope you've had a great week. 

My daughter and I were out of town last weekend to attend the wedding of a friend. We stayed overnight two nights and used the trip to scour the thrift stores in Atlanta. We found several things we needed and a couple of things we wanted. 

We did eat out a couple of times while we were there. One day we came through Atlanta and saw the Secret Service while President Trump was in town. That night we ate at the Folk Art restaurant, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so that was really fun and the food was great. 

This week I was back to work at school and worked three days, although the weather threatened two of those days. We did end up with a two hour delay one morning. 

This week I did some mending by reattaching two buttons that were safety pinned onto a blazer we picked up at the thrift store. I also sewed up one hole in a pillow created by one of the dogs we pet sit. Also, I've been working on and sewing some presents for Christmas. 

We've put off shopping for groceries and are using up what we have in our pantry and freezer. One day I even mixed up some powdered milk to have rather than go to the store for some. It always surprises me what meals we can come up with by using what we have on hand. 

I've been making an inventory of what food we do have on hand. It helps me to create meals when I can look at a list of the food available. This week in anticipation of grocery shopping, I perused the grocery store sale ads online. 

Cold weather arrived here this week and even though we dressed warmly and were covered up with blankets, we finally had to turn the heat on due to the cold weather. One morning it was 17 degrees outside, so definitely heater weather. That morning we had to salt the steps leading up to the house because they were icy. 

My plans for the weekend include laundry, grocery shopping, and sewing. I also have some computer work to do for my dd's business. 

Next week is our last week of school and then we have a week off for Thanksgiving. This year we will be going to my BIL's house, which we didn't think was going to happen as he had a house fire in October. They are living in a rented house for now and he wants us to come celebrate with them. Naturally I'll be bringing several dishes with us to share. 

I hope you have a great weekend! 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree
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My Frugal Week

There is a shortage of substitute teachers in our school district right now, which has been to my advantage. Last week I worked every day for the second week in a row. This week we are out for fall break, so I'm grateful I worked every day the last two weeks. 
Last Sunday I made vegetable soup again for lunches throughout the week. We ate that for lunches until it was gone. As a result my pantry has seen a reduction in inventory, which is a good thing to use up those items. 
One night I made spaghetti for dinner, which also used up some random smaller jars of sauce we had on hand. 

This week I perused the grocery store sale ads online. Yesterday we ended up at Kroger and found two pizzas on markdown for $2.49 each and several yogurts marked at 39¢ and 19¢.  
We also found three organic brown rice spaghetti for 25¢ each. 

My daughter found two shirts and two pairs of shorts for me while thrift shopping this week. She says because she is consistent with her thrifting that she is able to find things that I might not find only going once or twice every few months. So, consistency is the key to finding what you need. 
Becky over at Frugal Measures was writing about that when speaking about finding dehydrators second hand this week. 
This week my daughter will celebrate her birthday, so I'm making her this cake: Cherry Dr. Pepper cake

 I bought her a special pillowcase for her birthday from Patsy at Pillowcases by Patsy who also runs the A Working Pantry blog. Bailey was thrilled with the pillowcase and I gave it to her early, so she could enjoy it all week. 

Our movie night this week consisted of one of the $2.49 pizzas while we watched Rainman on YouTube for free. 

We are going to enjoy our week on fall break and go out to eat at least once for a birthday dinner. I hope you have a great week. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Frugal Friday on Saturday

Good morning to you this beautiful Saturday. I'm doing well today, but my daughter has come down with strep throat, unfortunately. 
She was asleep when I came home from work on Thursday, which should have been my first clue that she was sick. 
She is still sleeping this morning, so we're not going to any yard sales today. 
This was a busy week work wise and I ended up working everyday, so I didn't get my Frugal Friday post up yesterday. 
This week I'm scheduled for four days, but we will see what happens there. I could end up working all week again. 
Frugal things that went on here this week include:
Made a $10 sale on eBay this week. 
Found this reusable bag in the clean garbage can in one of the classrooms I subbed in this week, so I rescued it.

I made ham broth in my crockpot with the hambone from Easter dinner. I have five of these in my freezer. I will be using some of this to make potato soup, which will give the soup  a lot of flavor.   

We picked up these two egg containers for 50¢ each at a yard sale on Friday. These sell for $9.99 on Amazon. (Affiliate Link)

They are a nice hard plastic that washes easily. They stack on top of each other and have lids as well, so I can set things on top of them in my fridge if needed. 
I love refrigerator containers and look at them whenever I go into Lowe's. 
This one will be short and sweet this week. I hope you all have a terrific weekend!
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

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

This past week I was able to work two days and packed lunches and drinks both days. Both days I took my laptop with me to crosspost while I was working. This week I'm scheduled to work three days. 
Another task I accomplished while working was to sort out coupons and stapled like ones together. Doing this while I'm working saves time for me to do other tasks when I'm home. 

We went to Walmart on Thursday afternoon. We stopped and looked at the 50% off Halloween candy, but didn't buy any candy. We did pick up some bread and garlic chicken lunch meat on markdown. 
We went to several yard sales on Saturday even though it was a cold 34° when we left home. 
In my bedroom I have a lamp with a pull string chain and love the ease of of the pull chain. I've been wanting one for the table next to my chair in our living room.  

I've looked at the lamps at Lowe's and found one for $54, but decided to wait and see if I could find one second hand. Yesterday was the day! We found one for $1.00. I've already been using it and love it so much better than the lamp with the rotating switch. 
Waiting to buy the things we need or even want second hand helps us save money in our home. 
We also found a set of over the ear headphones for $1.00. I like these better than the in ear headphones and they are much more comfortable. 
November is here and I know I've been thinking about our Thanksgiving menu. I've been writing down what we plan on having and will be looking for sales on those items. I already picked up some dressing mix on closeout. 
How was your week? Frugal or no?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Second Frugal Week November 2017

There was a Veteran's Day program at the school where I worked on Monday. After the program was over, teachers were able to go in and have any lunch items that were left. 
I had some delicious chicken noodle soup, scalloped potatoes, green beans, half of a pimento cheese sandwich, sausage balls, and a brownie. It was so good too. It is always nice to eat someone else's cooking for a change. 
I brought my lunch back home and will eat it tomorrow. After school I came home and made spaghetti with garlic bread and steamed broccoli for dinner. 

Kroger is having their Buy 10 Save $5.00 sale, so on Tuesday I went to Kroger and bought the following sale items. 

Betty Crocker Cake Mix 49¢ (I bought two)

Ronzoni Pasta 49¢ (I bought 40 boxes)

Del Monte tomatoes 49¢ (I bought 50 cans)

Milk 99¢ (I bought 4 - 2 skim & 2 chocolate)

Kroger Cheese 3.79 (16 ounces)

Bob’s Red Mill Sale 20% off 

One thing I bought at Kroger was a bag of Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour. Kroger had Bob Mill on sale for 20% off and I had a coupon for $1.00 off from a free magazine, so I paid $1.22 for the bag. 

We also went thrift store shopping on Tuesday before we bought groceries. I found two ink-jet cartridges for our printer, they were marked at $1.99, but the cashier only charged us 10¢ for them. These normally cost $18.99, so a great savings there. I also found a new book of scrapbook papers for 25¢. A brand new deck of playing cards for 49¢ and a flower pot for 49¢.

On Tuesday I needed to have a new battery installed in my car, which cost $110. My brother in law installed it for me, so no cost there.  

I received a $50 Walmart card from my insurance company for having a mammogram in October. I will either use this for gas in the car or Christmas presents. 

I worked four days this week and have all of next week off for Thanksgiving. Today we are going thrift store shopping again. What are your plans for the weekend?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Final Frugal Week of August 2017

Hello to all my frugal readers. This week I was able to work Monday & Thursday and then a surprise 1/2 day on Friday. Next week we are off on Monday for Labor Day, and then I'm scheduled to work Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. 
On Tuesday I woke up and started working in the kitchen. I picked grapes off the vines from three packages of grapes and washed them and divided them up into twelve individual containers. We picked these up at Aldi where they were on sale for 79¢ per pound. These went into lunch bags this week until they were gone. 
I also cut up a watermelon, made some black bean burritos for dinner and baked some sweet potatoes for the week.

Our washer stopped working this week, so we went to Lowe's to replace it. We bought the lowest priced Roper model they had because of planned obsolescence. I figure I might as well go with a basic, no frills washer since they are designed now to not last as long.  
This is a high efficiency washer without an agitator. The employee told me that's how all washers are made nowadays. She said they only use one to two tablespoons of detergent, so looks like we will be saving money there as well. 
The reviews were very good on the model I chose and the price was $299 plus new hoses, taxes and delivery fee, which made the price come to $420.97 and that is with a 5% discount for using my Lowe's card.  I will pay that off as soon as I receive the bill. The savings amounted to $17.14.
We could have bought a Maytag or Whirlpool machine online for $279, but I didn't want to buy one online. I'm glad I didn't too because when we arrived at the cash register the employee had just gotten off the phone with someone who was having trouble with her online order, so she told me to never to buy a washer online. LOL
On Wednesday I found a penny on the ground while I was dropping off garbage. It reminded me of something that happened when I was subbing one day last week. 
One of the students found a quarter behind the door and picked it up to keep. He told me there was also a dime back there, but he didn't bother to pick it up. I told him he should get it too and he said it wasn't worth it. I found that odd. 
It was cool on Saturday morning, so much so that we didn't need to turn on the a/c and I even put on a sweater to keep warm. Very odd for this time of year here. 
We have family visiting us today, so we will be busy visiting with them all week. I hope you all have a great weekend!
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Monday ~ First Day Back to School

I woke up bright and early today thinking that I would NOT be working today, but then I received a call to sub around 6:30 this morning. I have never worked the first day back to school, but one of the teachers woke up sick this morning and needed a sub, so she called me. Last year I worked on the second day of school, but never on the first day until today. 

I am so, so glad that I made lunches yesterday and went ahead yesterday and made today's dinner, which was Chili Mac. Turns out my daughter was sick at school today and I ended up making her a doctor's appointment after school. She is now on antibiotics. We didn't get home until after 5 o'clock and it was so nice that all I had to do when I came home was to heat up dinner and serve it along with a salad, which was also already made. Planning ahead made my day run a whole lot smoother. 

Today was a good day for me sub-wise as my phone stayed busy with requests. I even had to turn down a couple of days as I was already booked. I am very grateful for each and every request. 

Image Credit

In years past I always bought a calendar/planner to write down the days I am subbing, but I haven't done that for this school year and my calendar from last school year ran out in July. There are some beautiful planners out there that I would love to have, but they also cost money. I paid $7.00 for one I used last year and it was a plain, no frills one, but I've seen them cost a lot more than that! The Erin Condren planners are beautiful, and I would love to have one, but I cannot pay over $50 for a planner. One of our local banks gives really nice calendars to all the teachers, but unfortunately that does not trickle down to the substitutes. 

My daughter made me a calendar for August, but I already need at least the rest of 2015, so this year I am just going to print them off the Internet for free instead of paying $7 or more for a planner.  I actually found one that was advertised as a printable ink saver calendar.  The school where I subbed today gave me a folder of important papers and I can keep my new calendar in the inside pocket. 

I've just reached the point in my life where I am tired of some things costing so much money. I said at the beginning of the year that one of my goals in 2015 was to avoid consumerism, and this is one of those times. I think times are tough right now, and I have read and seen things financially that concern me greatly. For now, I am going into gazelle mode when it comes to spending any money.  So, for right now I am counting my blessings and grateful that I was able to work today.  :)

Belinda
Live simply by not spending money you don't have.
© Belinda & Frugal Workshop, 2011 - 2015.