Wednesday

Today is my first day of Summer Break. We have 75 days until school starts again in August. I have made myself a Summer-To-Do-List of things I want to accomplish this summer. I've already been working on this list this morning.  

We started the day by making breakfast. I cut up the watermelon and cantaloupe we bought this week and made some diced, oven baked potatoes to go along with them. Afterwards, I washed all the dishes and started gathering the garbage together. 

My older car has been out of commision for a few weeks as my BIL was working on it, so finally out of desperation, I made several phone calls and finally found someone to come and pick up this load of garbage, which to me is money well spent. My BIL called last night to say the car was ready, so we will  be picking it up soon and will be able to haul the garbage off ourselves again after today. 

On Monday, my daughter and I ventured out on the Memorial Day holiday to get in on a few coupon deals. 

One of them was the Nivea body wash (which I love!) from Target. Using coupons we printed online, coupons for Nivea printing as we bought them (therefore combining a manufacturer coupon with a Target coupon), and a $5 Target card when you bought four, we were able to buy 12 bottles of Nivea body wash for 74¢ each.  Sweet!

The next deal we went for was a Purex deal from Walgreens. We bought eight packages of 18 count Purex packs (2 were bottles) for 44¢ each using coupons we printed online. 

Again, I use Couponaholic.net to print my coupons. 

Needless to say, we are stocked up on these items for a long time.  :)

I've already got laundry going this morning, and have dinner in the crockpot cooking as well. I put some boneless country pork ribs along with some barbeque sauce in there. Sides are yet to be determined. 

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

My Frugal Week

Since the last time I blogged, I have worked every school day. The end of the year is a busy time of the year for substitutes and this year is no different. I still have one day to work this week, but Friday is the "official" last day of school for the year. I say "official" because some students are already out of school, like my daughter, who has been out since last Wednesday. 

We've been doing some couponing recently and have same quite a bit of money in the process.  

These two cans of tuna were actually free using a coupon we received in the mail from Chicken of the Sea for $1.00 off any product. Make sure you are signed up on Facebook and through your favorite brands company websites to receive coupons from them. 

There is no picture of these, but we used coupons for $1.00 off five packages of Buddig Lunch Meat. We bought twenty packages and paid 39¢ each after sale and coupons. 

The second coupons we used were for for 40¢ off Dole canned fruit. We used these at Publix where they double coupons under 50¢. We were able to purchase twelve cans of pineapple for 20¢ each. 

 Other coupons we used were for Hunt's tomatoes. They were on sale last week at Publix for B1G1Free. I also had coupons for Buy 3 get 1 Free. I ended up with sixteen cans of tomatoes and paid 54¢ each, a sweet deal.  :)

Palmolive dish soap is on sale at Bi-Lo this week for B1G1F. We printed 25¢ off coupons from Couponaholic.net and paid 39¢ each for these two bottles. They also had 12 rolls of Charmin Basic on sale for $3.99 and I had a 35¢ off coupon, which doubled, so we paid $3.29 for the pack. I found five containers of Dannon Greek yogurt with 50¢ off coupons while I was there, which made them 50¢ each, a good price for Greek yogurt. 

I've also saved money by shopping at the close out grocery store, United Grocery Outlet or UGO. Pork and beans were on sale this week at several stores for 50¢ per can, but UGO had them for 40¢, a stock up price. I bought ten cans. I also bought gelatin for 25¢ per box. They had some flavors for 17¢, but we were not fans of those flavors. 

I also bought Old El Paso enchilada sauce for 59¢ per can. Canned potatoes for 50¢ per can, which I use in Tacos. Several cans of corn and green peas for 40¢ each. I bought salsa in the 7.4 ounce box for 20¢, so I bought ten of those. These are stock up prices.  :)

We bought a bunch of French's mustard. Bi-Lo has them on sale this week for B1G1F and we had coupons for 50¢ off (you can even print one from their website), which doubled, so they ended up being 4¢ each. We will be donating some of these to the food pantry. The salsa was on sale and we had coupons, which brought the price down to 33¢ each. 

I bought ten packages each of Oscar Meyer  bologna and hot dogs because Piggly Wiggly has them on sale for 99¢ this week. 

The Playtex pads were bought on sale and with coupons and we paid 99¢ each. The Chinet napkins were free combining a coupon and sale from Publix. The Hefty ziploc bags were $1.00 each combining a sale with coupons. 

I also bought Charmin and Angel Soft, which were both on sale this week, using coupons. We also bought veggie burgers, which were on sale for B1G1Free.

It has been a while since I've stocked up like this with groceries, but now that school is ending for the year my income will be reduced, so I wanted to stock up and have my pantry pretty full before my income is reduced for the summer. Remember having some of your savings in the form of food can help you weather hard times when your income is lower. 


I hope you have a great, frugal week ahead.  :)

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

Thrifty Tuesday

Saving on Gas

Welcome to Thrifty Tuesday where our day started out right. I am not working today, so my daughter had an easy morning. We leave later on days I don't sub, which she loves. I dropped her off at school and went and filled up my gas tank. The price per gallon is creeping up, but I checked the prices at the seven stations I pass on my way to school, and I filled up at the cheapest station, paying $2.26 per gallon. I saved 11¢ per gallon or $1.98 by checking the prices of the stations as I drove up the highway. 

Cleaning

I came home and got started right away on laundry. We washed everything this weekend except for the towels, so they are being cleaned now. I also cleaned the bathroom again today. My spray bottle (reused bottle) of homemade cleaner was getting low, so I filled it with half vinegar & half water and sprayed everything & wiped down all the surfaces. While I was at it, I filled the fabric softener dispenser in the washing machine with vinegar too, which helps get rid of any soap residue, which leaves the towels feeling softer. 

Then, I scrubbed the bathtub with a mixture of baking soda and liquid soap that I make into a paste. Using this mixture with a scrub brush gets the bathtub/shower floor very clean. I also cleaned the inside of the commode with hydrogen peroxide which kills germs as well as bleach, but does not bother my family (asthma) the way commercial cleaners and bleach bother them. Also, vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, and baking soda save me money over using commercial cleaners. 

Dinner Tonight

Dinner tonight will be Chef AJ's Red Lentil Chili. I already have it cooking in the electric pressure cooker. I'll serve it over baked potatoes for those that want them along with some broccoli on the side. 

What are you having for dinner tonight?

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

The Weekend Report

Prom 2K15

The school my daughter attends held their prom last night. The theme was "We Had the Time of our Lives". 

 I bought her dress and shoes for under $100 and we did her hair and makeup ourselves, we took our own pictures and she used our car to travel back and forth to the event location. I didn't spend money for an expensive dress, professional photographer, limousine, flowers, nails or hair, which are nice to have when you can afford them, but not necessary and even more so when you live on a smaller budget. 

When she got home she told me she had the best time and thanked me for helping her make it so special, which made me happy too. In the end, it was all about spending time with her friends and doing something out of the ordinary that made it special. And you don't need to spend money to do that. :)

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

Today I tried a new recipe for Peanut Butter Granola Bars. 

5 cups oats

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

1 cup of honey. 

Simply mix the honey and peanut butter and then add the oats and mix well. 

Pour into a 13 x 9 pan and press flat with the back of a spoon. 

Refrigerate for approximately two hours and then cut into bars. 

I wrapped these individually for lunch boxes this week. I ended up with 16 in all.  :)

Belinda

Tuesday

What's for Dinner

Last night I put some soup beans (Great Northern) on to soak overnight. This morning I put them in the electric pressure cooker with an onion, and some rainbow carrots. I also cut up the last of a ham that I had in the refrigerator along with the last little bit of vegetable broth I had lingering in the fridge. I added some turnip greens and made some cornbread as well. 

Frugal Living Forum

Have you ever read the Frugal Living section on your local Craigslist website? It reminds me of the old misc.consumers.frugal-living forum where every other post was a troll. Not a lot of gems to be found there. But one I found had to do with free courses at openculture.com, which has 800 MOOCs & Certificate Courses, all free. There are courses on finance, teaching, computers, etc., and even one on Laura Ingalls Wilder. 


Pharmacy News

The last couple of months I had noticed when I went to pay for our prescriptions, they were costing more than usual. Last night I finally sat down to figure out what was going on with them. Turns out I was charged $10 in February, March, and they were going to charge me in April for an rx for my daughter that should have been a $0 copay. I went Monday afternoon to pick up our prescriptions for this month and picked up a $20 refund they owed me. It definitely  pays to stay on top of these things and make sure you are not being overcharged. 

In other pharmacy news, our local Fresh & Low just put in a pharmacy in the local grocery store. They are offering an incentive to customers who  fill or transfer a prescription. The incentive is a $20 gift card to Fresh & Low. I have an rx for Vitamin D and the pharmacy I normally use charges $7 for one pill. I decided to transfer the rx for that to the new Fresh & Low pharmacy. Turned out to be a real savings for me. I was able to pick up 3 pills for $6.00 and I earned a $20 gift card for groceries. Neat!

I also had a coupon for a free package of bacon when you spend $20, so I was able to use that as well for some free bacon. I see BLTs on our menu sometime soon. I also picked up cheese, beans, corn, tamales, vegetables, potatoes, sour cream, bologna, and olives.  

My grocery total came to just over $32, but after using the $20 card and a coupon, I only had to pay a little over $9. Here are just some of the groceries I picked up today:

Lunch Meat

I read an article on another blog recently where the author said if you were trying to save money you should not buy lunch meat.  I'm sorry, but some saving money tips like that do not take into consideration sales and or coupons. I recently bought name brand bologna in one pound packages for $1.40. It might not be the healthiest dinner, but I have been known to fry bologna for dinner when times are tough and $1.40 for a pound of bologna is definitely cheaper than a pound of ground beef these days. 

How was your day today?


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