No Yard Sale Saturday because...

No Yard Sale Saturday this week because we were busy doing this...

My daughter Bailey graduated on Saturday with honors! 
I'm very proud of her and her hard work. 
It was a fun day and we went to a Japanese Steak House afterwards and watched them cook our lunch. 
Good times! :)
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

What We Ate This Week

Sunday & Monday
Chili Tacos
Normally I Serve this with lettuce and tomato on top, but I was out so we did without. 

Tuesday
Baked Pizza Beans with Cheese Chicken Broccoli Rice Coleslaw Hominy

Wednesday
Pizza My daughter was at Walmart today and found two pizzas on markdown for $3.33 each, so she picked these up and made one for dinner before I arrived home from work.


Thursday
No Photo, Sorry. Spaghetti Garlic Bread Broccoli

Friday Sausage Quiche (I found some eggs in the freezer) Carrots

Looks like a funky quiche, but I was tired from work and didn't care about the looks. Tasted good, so we were happy. LOL
What was for dinner in your home this week?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Frugal Friday ~ May 4, 2018

This week I worked four days because Tuesday was election day and schools were closed. I made the best use of my time spent at home. Cleaning, organizing, listing things on Ebay, working on my blog and cooking. 
This week I listed six items for sale on Ebay and sold three items. One of them was a pair of jean that I bought at a yard sale for 25¢, which sold for $10 on Ebay. 
I rescued more orange juices this week while subbing.

  

I paid my auto insurance this past week and it won't be due again until July. 

On Sunday we made a run to Target to get in on a good sunscreen deal and we made a trip to McKay Used Books. 

The cookbook aisle at McKay's is one of my favorite aisles. 

Here is a stack of books I picked up this weekend. 

I also picked up an audio book. This book speaks about how Geneen Roth was one of the people who lost all of her money in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi Scheme. She speaks about her mistake of putting all her money into one investment. 

As usual we traded items to earn credit, so no money exchanged hands. We earned $50 on this trip and we usually split the money we earn, but no need to do that this time as my stack of books only came to $16. 
I'll peruse these new to me books, write down any recipes I want to try and then trade them back to McKay and repeat the whole process. It's fun and frugal entertainment. 
This is the reason we went to Target. My daughter wanted to get in on a good sunscreen deal. She got all of this for free after a gift card promotion. 

We won't need to buy any sunscreen for this summer, which is great because it is so expensive otherwise. 
It was a beautiful warm spring day and we enjoyed our Sunday drive on the back roads to and from Chattanooga. 

In My Frugal Kitchen

I made homemade ranch dressing this week. I also made coleslaw with the dressing to see if we liked it or not, which we weren't fans of, so I will go back to my usual coleslaw dressing. 

This week I bleached a few of the items I use in the kitchen. I bleached my yellow tupperware strainer, which gets stained from making tea. I wish I had taken a before and after picture because the difference was very obvious. 
How was your week? Frugal or not so frugal?  
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Goodwill 50% Off Sale This Saturday!

Image Credit Just a heads up to let everyone here know that Saturday is the monthly 50% off everything at Chattanooga area Goodwill stores. There are 17 stores in the Chattanooga area. 
Here is a link to the store addresses. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Consumerism & Second Hand Market

One of my goals every year is to avoid consumerism as much as possible. Consumerism, to me, is shopping for entertainment, going out and buying things that we don't need, or buying things we cannot afford on our budget.

Consumption should be based on satisfying basic human needs such as shelter, food, clothing, and healthcare. Of course, consumerism encompasses different things to different people. Your version of consumerism may be different than mine and that is alright.

Many people believe they work to make ends meet, but upon closer examination of their households reveal they spend part of their income on unnecessary items or even name brand items when they cannot afford them.

My goal is limiting consumerism as much as possible. For example, shoes with name brand labels are not needed in order to take a hike. Board game pieces made from marble don't make the game any more enjoyable than a game played with plastic pieces. 

Around here the Yeti tumblers have been the go to item in recent years, and the price of those is quite high. We don't have Yeti tumblers here, but we each have a tumbler equivalent to the Yeti. And we bought them in the second-hand market for $1.00 each.

In our household we use things up and use things until they no longer useful. Such as a favorite bowl that develops a crack in the side. I will use it until it is no longer useful.

I used to have a non-smart phone that I had for years. There was no reason for me to replace it because it worked great. Some students at school would actually talk to me about how obsolete it was, but in reality, the phone was in perfect working condition and would stay charged for days.

When my daughter finally talked me into using her old smartphone you would have thought I won the lottery by the student’s reactions at school. Even today I will get a comment about getting a "new" phone even though it's not a new phone.

We shopped the second-hand market when my daughter bought it and she used it for a couple of years before she passed it on to me.

We shop the second-hand market for things we need and in doing so are not purchasing items made with new materials for the things we need. This practice not only helps us to save money, but is also good for the environment because we are not using new virgin materials to have something made for us. 

The second hand market is wonderful for trying to live this type of lifestyle. We love to shop at flea markets, garage sales, and thrift shops for the things we need first. And we even like to dicker with the sellers. 

These days I strive to be less of a consumer. If, as the experts say, we have to spend money to keep the economy flowing they can count our household out of that equation. It may not be for everyone and that is OK, but I am content with my life. 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~