7 Quick Takes: Vol 3.

1.
It's been a little quiet around here this week. There wasn't even a Gratituesday post (which are my favorites, by the way). The new semester started this week, and very honestly, the new 830am class is just about killing my time management ability. I am not an 830am kind of girl. 830pm? Sure. We are pals, but not it's early morning twin ... not at all. That and the shortened term (6 weeks instead of 15) have had me a little busy this first week readjusting my schedules and the like. The menu has been saving me, though. I managed to make 3 dinners on Tuesday night (Tuesday's, Wednesday's and Friday's for us, and another pan of each of Wednesday's and Friday's for friends whose baby was born on Monday) plus 3 trays of cookies in the span of just a couple hours. Of course, I had to burn the palm of my left hand on the last tray of cookies, because ... well, things just can't go that perfectly.

2.
I have heartburn again. I am not liking it at all. I really should stop eating things that trigger it. I know what the triggers are (spicy food, grease, garlic, citrus, citric acid, and all things citric acid is hiding in, tomatoes, and on and on), but darn it if those aren't the things I like to eat most. Ugh. I do not like this feeling one bit, and I am hoping that one day I learn to stop doing it to myself.

3.
Also on the list of things I should not do: watch the movie Deep Impact late at night by myself (which I'm doing right.this.very.second.). Not only is the thought of an Extinction Level Event enough to get my overactive imagination primed to bring a night's sleep full of awful dreams, but I cannot help but cry during the last few minutes during the exchange between mother and daughter on the crowded expressway. If you haven't seen it yet, watch it with Kleenex handy.

4.
I feel like our gardening adventure may already be behind the ball this year. We decided not to start seedlings inside this winter because we hadn't figured out a way to prevent a repeat of last year's greenhouse disaster. We are still trying to decide if we're going to use in-ground methods or raised beds this year which means neither the rototilling nor the raised bed construction has started. I know we are at least a week or two away from the last risk of frost here, so I don't feel sooooo bad about not having a solid handle on the plan yet, but when others in the area start posting about their early crops going in the ground I start to get a little envious and a little more anxious. I spent the majority of this afternoon working on my canning knowledge so I at least felt like I was making some progress toward our garden goals.

5.
Be and I finally had a solid conversation on faith this week. It went ... oh, about 100 times better than I thought it was going to. We have always been a little gun shy about discussing these things. Ok, maybe I've been a little gun shy mostly. I don't know why necessarily. I can't really explain whatever was compelling me to keep quiet way back when we started this adventure. Be was most amicable to talking and listening, sometime I'm hoping we'll be doing more of in the future. I'm still not really ready to talk specifics here, but know that it went really well and I'm happy about it.

6.
I started putting $1 bills in a box when I clean out my pockets at night. In a cash only, zero based budgeting household, even $1 bills count, but I've been trying to discipline myself into putting whatever I have from the day's spending (usually one or two of them) in the box regardless. I am not yet convinced that they will stay in there forever, or even that they will make it to the savings account, but I have high hopes that they can at least be a mini-emergency fund for those little household things that come up occasionally. I haven't counted it, but in the last week or so I think I've put in at least $8 or $10. That's a start of something, for sure.

7.
I have an entire month's worth of coupons that have been cut, but not yet put away in the coupon binder. How in the world did that happen? Wanna come over, bring your horribly behind coupon filing, drink coffee, and put them away together? It could be a party or some such ... a very nerdy, kind of crazy, possibly a little odd coupon-y party. I'm thinking ... is now good? No, probably not, as it's 3am and all. Tomorrow, then?


Simply,

Em.

For more 7 Quick Takes Fridays, check out The Conversion Diary.

WFMW: Condiments Galore!

For more WFMW, check out Rocks In My Dryer.

Photo: zen

In the past, when packing school or work lunches, I would squirt a bunch of the lunch-bearer's favorite condiments into tiny little plastic Tupperware containers and toss them in the bag. Nearly every lunch left the house with a wee fistful of those little buggers since we don't 'dress' sandwiches when packing them to prevent squishy nightmares at lunchtime. It's a good plan in that everyone can have what they want in their lunch, however it has failed us miserably on more than one occasion.

The lunch box gets left over the weekend in someone's desk with remnants of mayo left unused and forgotten ... a joy to clean out on Monday night when it finally makes its way home. The condiment containers have spilled, both because the lids didn't make it on tightly and because they simply bumped up against too many other things and came loose ... another evening spent trying to scrub mustard out of a nylon lunchbag. Or, my personal favorite, the person will not grab the containers, which have inevitably (and magically) wandered off in the middle of the night to some back corner of the fridge to party it up with their full size compadres ... leaving a complainy lunch eater with a dry sandwich or salad.

At the same time, when ever we got take out there would be a massive pile of those little packets of whatever sauce or substance is supposed to go with your food. There were always approximately 843 more of them than any one person needs in one meal, and at the end of the night they would make the trip from the counter to the trash can with the rest of the 'dishes'.

Then, it kind of hit me one night ... wouldn't it be fun to have those little packets in your lunch instead of potentially spilling, woefully oversized, and requiring a utensil to use containers? Ah ha! It's the simplest thing, really. When we get take out, the leftover sauce and condiment packets go in a plastic shoebox sized container on a shelf in the pantry. When I make lunches, they get tucked inside. Easy peasy! Plus, it's kind of fun to have mini-sizes of things you wouldn't think to pack in a lunch ... hot sauce, soy sauce, relish, and the like. It makes lunch more interesting, it keeps the lunch eaters in this house happier, and it saves me from doing extra dishes. Oh, and did I mention that the whole endeavor is free?! Hooray all around!

I mean, really, have you ever tried to scrub mustard out of nylon webbing?


Simply,

Em.

Welcome to Works-For-Me-Wednesday: Wrapping Paper Edition!

For more WFMW posts, check out Rocks In My Dryer.

Every year on the morning of December 25th, my heart sinks a little. I love seeing pretty presents stacked under a tree. I love taking the time to make them crisp and clean looking with modern papers (always found on clearance after the holidays) and hopefully not too squished bows. Wrapped presents make my (semi) OCD very happy indeed.

Then tragedy strikes, because eager present loving people that they are, my family is not the nicest or gentlest group when it comes to unwrapping gifts. They don't slip the tape off at the seams. They don't slide a package out at the ends. Nope. Every one of them tears the living goodness out of my precisely selected gift wrap.

And my crunchy-green-hippie-frugal self dies just a little.

Not only do I hate to see beautiful boxes torn asunder, I really cringe every time I think of the money spent on wrapping paper in the first place ... only to have a giant pile of it labeled "trash" at the end of the day. I could, like many a frugal present wrapper, attempt to convince my family to calm it down a bit so that I had a chance at saving and reusing the paper next year. I could, indeed, but this presents a number of challenges.

1. My family is still a bunch of very eager present loving people. They are not easily convinced of anything, most especially that one should not tear wrapping paper to bits.

2. My (quasi) OCD does not like trying to puzzle piece old wrapping paper onto new gifts which are invariably different sizes than the paper was cut for leading to pithy looking edges or an inevitable waste of paper from cutting things down to size.

3. I already have a stash of cardboard tubes, glass jars, styrofoam trays, and empty butter bowls to rival a recycling plant. They come in handy for an infinite number of projects and do-dads. Adding wrapping paper to that stash would possibly push my (lame/limited/failing) ability to keep what I already have organized over the edge. I wouldn't be here to blog for you as I'd be buried under a pile of pretty bow paper and cardboard boxes in my basement.

... but what is a crunchy-green-hippie-frugal girl to do?

This year, I have found the solution. Staring at the pile of crumpled paper, then staring at the woefully inadequate packaging in my holiday decor storage tub, I had an epiphany.

Wrapping paper is like tissue paper with a couple more layers. Aha! Instead of trying to salvage the years old, fraying, likely no longer useful as cushioning tissue paper in the ornament boxes (buying new tissue paper is of course out of the question, haha), we wrapped up the ornaments in the used gift wrap. I put the white side in as to not get any color transfer just in case, and it worked sublimly. I think I like it better than tissue paper honestly, and short of surrounding them all in bubble wrap (which is an expensive plastic nightmare), it's a pretty rockin' solution. Wooohooo!

Dillemma: Resolved.

I get to wrap pretty presents. My family gets to tear them apart like rabid wolves. I don't have to cry about killing trees for fun AND my tree ornaments don't get broken justling into each other on their yearly trip up from the dark reaches of the basement. Everyone wins! Yay!

What works for you this Wednesday?


Simply,

Em.

Attitude is Simply Everything.

The Saturday before the holiday, we were doing laundry and preparing some snacks for a handful of friends intending to brave the blizzard to hang out in our basement for the annual gathering of our friends from college. Less than 10 minutes after rebooting the laundry (read: switching loads, for those non-household productivity nerds out there), the mud room grew intensely quiet. The washer was still running, but the dryer stood silent. I figured perhaps someone had set the timer to the air dry or fluff cycle mistakenly, but of course no such luck. Be fiddled with it for awhile, but without a brand new motor, there likely isn't hope for the old beast.

This is not the end of the world. Sure, we had a washer full of clothes that needed to be dried. Sure, Be was leaving in 2 days for a week of holiday festivities 4 states from here. Sure, we have 5 people's worth of laundry to do every week, but still ... not at all the end of the world. The easy solution would be to put the washer through an extra spin cycle and then hang the damp clothes on the line in the bathroom. (Yes, really, we have a clothesline in our bathroom ... it's kind of huge ... I love it.) Easy peasy, really. We have another dryer in the basement of the garage which needs a part from the appliance store to convert it from natural gas to propane, but that's easy enough to order. Be is mechanically inclined, and I wouldn't even have to call the appliance company. Easy enough, right?

Right. The story should be over. Girl's dryer breaks, boy orders part, girl hangs laundry on the already established laundry line in interim, boy replaces part, girl resumes using dryer. That's not so complicated is it? Or, in my world, it could go something like girl's dryer breaks, girl's family has giant fit, boy neglects to order part, girl continues to suggest hanging laundry on line, girl's family throws tantrum about stiff jeans and scratchy towels and high tails it to the laundromat to PAY for both washing AND drying.

Ugh. I, in turn, am protesting. I live with all adults. They make adult decisions, no matter how I try to influence them. 3/5 of them are at this very moment at the laundromat pumping what will likely equal a wee fortune in quarters into the machines because they insist that line drying is either impossible, impractical, or the root cause of several contagious diseases (work and effort are on the list). Add that pile of quarters to the cost of snacks and sodas that inevitably comes with sitting bored in a laundromat attached to a gas station watching your clothes spin around, and my frustration only grows.

Ugh.

I, the grateful, simple, and frugal blogger will not profess to perfection. I have not always been all three of those things. I will confess to crimes of ingratitude, intense complexity, and frivolity with both money and resources in my past (and occasionally my present ... but I'm trying, I swear!). What I don't understand, though, is throwing away money when there are easy, simple, and FREE options available. Sure, line dried clothes are not Snuggle-brand soft, but neither are the clothes that come out of our regular dryer. Today, although I am ever grateful for the people that make up my family, I am having a hard time understanding them.

Why is it so impossible to consider just making do with what you have?

Likely because we no longer live in a society that values making do, thriftiness, or resource ingenuity. They are products (as am I, really) of a "right-now-I-must-have-everything-I-want-and-more" generation full of clutter, unending advertisement, and ever faster standards of production and efficiency. Can I blame them, then, for wanting to continue using the modern conveniences they're so used to? Sure I can. The environment one is a product of may well be an influence, but it is not the only one. The attitude with which one approaches life, and the things that make it life (inconveniences, curves in the road, stumbling blocks all come to mind) is really the key.

That attitude is what makes automatic and unconditional gratitude different than ingratitude. It's what makes simplicity different from clutter and chaos. That attitude is what makes frugality different from wastefulness, and what breeds contentment from the have rather than the have not. I am more committed to that attitude than ever as we begin this new year, and you can look forward to GSF continuing to be a haven for the like-minded.

In the meantime, I'm going to be grateful I'm not sitting on some hard formica benches paying money to watch my clothes dry. Until next time, I'm ...

Simply,

Em.

Frugal Ingenuity

The boys (Be and my brother) have long wanted gym/exercise equipment at our house, or a gym membership. Neither of these things are in our budget, nor will they likely ever be. Instead of resigning themselves to be gym equipment-less for life, they went about creating their own while home together last weekend.

One roll of high strength rope, 2 very basic pulleys, a piece of PVC pipe, and a concrete block later, they have created an entire exercise regimen based on basic leverage and strengthening systems. We already had the concrete block and the PVC pipe, the rope and pulleys were picked up at Tractor Supply for $29. They also used the rope to make jump ropes, and have a ton leftover for future endeavors of frugal creativity. I haven't been so impressed since they built an entire wall of shelves in the basement from only the scrap wood from a set of box springs.

They often think that my frugal grocery shopping, meal planning, wacky food combos, and preserving efforts are a little crazy. To be quite honest, if I let the boys have their way, I think we would eat $4-5 frozen pizzas and $18 steaks. It would seem, though, even amid their bawking and doubt they have caught the frugal bug themselves. It may be that they've simply resigned themselves to us not having money for excesses, but I like to believe from the excitement and pride on their faces that maybe they are starting to think frugality is cool. I'm grateful for their ingenuity and spirit regardless.

Now, off to dehydrate more tomatoes. Keep your fingers crossed that the 40 or so green as grass in my garden will turn before it freezes.


Simply,

Em.

The Warm Smell of Frugality

Mmmmm.

I so wish there were a way to scratch and sniff your computer screen so that I could share the smells of yummy goodness wafting through our main floor right now. A weekend ago (or so), I acquired some fruit from a friend's family's orchard (thanks again!). We picked peaches, pears, and apples that were a little north of perfectly ripe. This morning, my sous chef (which is what my mother likes to refer to herself as) and I went to work putting up fruit. Oh. My. Goodness. Is there really any commercial air freshener better than cooking fruit in your house? Amazingly good smells are coming from my kitchen right now, unreplecatable by chemicals for sure, and FREE!

So, what to do with an IKEA bag (huge recycled boat tarp grocery bags) full of not quite ripe apples? Applesauce, of course! We peeled, cored, and cubed 25 cups of apples. I added some cinnamon, vanilla, a little sugar to take the edge off the tart and a dash of salt to enhance the sweetness, and put the caldera on to simmer. It wasn't ten minutes before the whole house started smelling like apple-y pie heaven. I just let it cook until I like the consistency it's at.

Then, we peeled, pitted, and thin sliced peaches for the dehydrator. We use all kinds of dried fruits for adding to homemade oatmeal packets, cold cereal, trail mix, or for snacking on straight out of the jar. The dehydrator lives in our mud room off the kitchen because of counter space, but even so the smell of warming peach goodness is travelling all over the main level. You would think you had stumbled into a 100 year old pie bakery if you happened by right now.

Mmmmm. Yum! It smells fabulous in here. Who needs Glade candles when you can permeate the air with yummy goodness for basically free (except the electricity I was going to use anyway)? Best of all, we will wind up with an entire jar of dried peaches and a giant vat of homemade applesauce for free. Add those to the bags of asparagus, bags of green beans, and two jars of dried cherry and pear tomatoes I finished up this morning before the fruit bonanza, and we are well on our way to a local, frugal, organic produce stash that will hopefully hold off our mid-winter urges to buy pineapples that were tracked across the planet.

Do you garden? Do you put up produce for the winter? If not yet, check it out. Buying in season produce from local vendors (which often means it wasn't sprayed with scary gross chemicals) and then storing it creatively for use throughout the scarce months is at the core of our collective homemaking history. Our grandparents did it. Their grandparents did it. Their grandparents likely did too. It's sustainable, responsible, better tasting, healthier, and cheap. What's better, really?


Simply,

Em.

Dehyrating Cherries ... Take Two

After the recent death of my beloved 11 year old dehydrator, I didn't know what I was going to do. We did manage to rescue the cherries it was trying to speed-rot and they're safely in the freezer for some cold winter day when I want fruit cobbler or cafloutie or something. Since then, though, I've been a bit distressed over the possible non-existance of cherry oatmeal cookies in December and cherry oatmeal and about a million other uses I could think of for dried cherries (plus the ones I eat straight out of the jar in the pantry, when no one is looking). I thought we were doomed to a cherry-less year. Booooo.

Then! Miracle!

Be's dad happens to also own a food dehydrator (and a much cooler one than mine, I must say), and has managed to acquire it for the time being. There is hope! I was a little anxious when I pulled the fresh cherries from the back of the fridge (where I put them before the 4th of July ... eek!). I was afraid they would all be soft and moldy and the like. Much to my surprise, they are still absolutely perfect. There were a few in the smaller (older) bag that were a little challenged with soft spots and I believe one with a bit of fuzz. The larger bag (we're talking 10+ pounds of cherries) are still beautiful, sweet, crisp, like they just came off the tree perfect. Since I buy my cherries from a local orchard, I know what I'm experiencing is luck rather than chemical or radiation induced longevity. I'm so stoked!

So, this afternoon, I covered my knees with a ratty towel, donned a pair of vinyl gloves (because it makes the hand scrubbing so so so so much easier), and went about pitting my gorgeous cherries. I was planning on doing the whole lot, figuring on softies that I'd have to compensate for, but I decided to put the brakes on somewhere in the middle of the large bag. I put what I had in the borrowed dehydrator and slipped the rest back in the fridge for this weekend's snacky cravings. I now wait with baited breath for the signs that the dehydrator is working correctly. The tricky part is that you don't know it's screwing up until several hot air filled hours have passed. I will be monitoring closely in a determined attempt to salvage what I can of my cherry drying adventures.

Keep your fingers crossed this works. The world is just not the same without cherry oatmeal cookies, and I refuse to pay $4.99/lb for them.


Simply,

Em.

An Open Letter To The Coupon Using Community

Dear Fellow Coupon Lovers,

I'm beginning to get a little annoyed with a small handful of you who have lost your darn marbles when it comes to shopping and deal finding. It would seem that on more than one occasion during the last two weeks, near riots have broken out at local Meijer stores over freebie cut pasta and spaghetti. I understand that free things are amazing. I like them a whole lot myself. However, is there ever *really* a need for you to fill two entire carts with a shelf full of noodles and use 70 million coupons all at the same time? Is that polite, do you think? Fair? Just? Sane? I vote no to all.

Please, don't get me wrong, I love to find deals. I love to stock up. I once bought 40 cans of tuna fish for 9cents a piece, but I didn't do it all at once. I did not roll into a store, guns blazing, and clean the place out. I was not obnoxious about how the cashier 'better know how to ring these up'. There's something to be said for acting like a normal, rational, non-possessed human being while shopping, and I think there are a handful in this community of ours who have recently gotten out of control. I'm ashamed of them, honestly. I continue to use deals to feed my family for less, but I cringe whenever someone associates me with 'those other coupon ladies' because I hear horror story after horror story from cashiers about rude, arrogant, spiteful people trying to hoard an entire store's worth of merchandise in one lousy trip.

If you really think you *need* two full carts of noodlies, how about breaking it up a bit? You can always grab a few now and a few later. Or, if you can't get back later, you can just settle for the few that you were able to get. Be grateful, dear couponers, for the chance at saving money at all, and remember, it only takes a few to ruin something wonderful for a grand many people (for example, see previous post about coupon wording changes after the onslaught of attention began).

Mostly, calm down sometimes. Take a breath. Enjoy life. Enjoy the thrill of finding a great deal, and try to stop shoving it all into your cart so that maybe, possibly someone else in the world can share that thrill with you. I'm not at all saying we should stop everything, but instead that we should tone it down a bit, reel it in, and try to shop like normal people once in awhile.

Simply,

Em.

Good Deal Alerts a la Meijer

CHEAP!
Chicken Leg Quarters ... 79c/lb, not amazingly awesome, but still pretty darn good if you're in need. We turn Chicken Leg Quarters into a million things. We BBQ them on the grill. We roast them in the oven. We pick the bones and make soup, quesadillas, chicken casseroles, chicken fried rice, and on and on. Leg Quarters are amazingly versatile.

CHEAP!
Frozen Tilapia Filets ... Buy 2, Get 2 FREE! There is also a coupon on the Mealbox site that can be used, making them super cost effective. Buy a bunch, throw them in the freezer and you can have basically fresh fish anytime. The filets are flash frozen so they defrost really quickly and grill fabulously. Contemplate some marinades, throw on a pot of rice, and it's dinner in no time.

DEAL!
Nabisco Chips Ahoy! Cookies ... 2/$5. This isn't the most amazing price. When you buy two, though, you get a FREE 1/2 gallon on Meijer brand ice cream. Pair that with the $1/1 Any Nabisco tearpad coupons if you have them and it's $3 for 2 packages of cookies and a 1/2 gallon of ice cream. Good enough for me!

CHEAP!
Family Size Salty Snacks ... 2/$5. Again, not the best price, though not awful since the bags are practically big enough to feed an army. There are coupons on Mealbox that net you $1 off each one for a final price of 2/$3. Now, that's pretty sweet. We actually tried these for the first time yesterday (I bought them last week in preparation for yesterday's pot luck), and they're pretty fabulous. We tried the white corn tortillas and the yellow corn scoops (like Fritos). Both were equally as wonderful as name brands, I'm happy to report. I even heard a few times that the scoops were better than the name brand. Yay!

SUPER CHEAP!
Meijer Specialty Cut Pasta ... 3/$2. Pair this with the Mealbox coupon for 50c/1 and you're looking at 17c pasta. It's not free like last week's spaghetti, but still pretty darn smokin' good if you ask me.

POTENTIAL!
Kraft Salad Dressing/Mayo/Miracle Whip Catalina ... I haven't done the scenarios, but I think there's some potential here if you have the right coupons. I haven't gone through mine for possibilities yet so I'm not much help, but check it out for sure.

POTENTIAL!
There's word that the Meijer brand olive oil (8oz) can be had with the Mealbox coupon for $1. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll update if I do.


Have a great week scoring deals!

Simply,

Em.

Frugal Melancholy

Very soon, our monthly income will be going from just over $1500 (*gasp*, I know!) to something closer to $450 a month. It will stay that way until one of the following happens ...

1. Someone settles with someone else and someone finally gets paid again (note the intentional vaguity ... haha). The time frame on which is 14+ months from now.

2. My job decides to start paying me something closer to real money.

3. I add an additional or different job. This will happen in late August when I start coaching again, but that only bumps us up to something approximating $650 a month. Boo.

4. We add another roommate who will chip in toward bills. There's only one person I'm ok with this roommate being, and she can't move here until fall, if she decides officially to move here at all.

5. We win the lotto, which we don't play.

Now, the frugal challenge begins, I suppose. I thought we did mighty well on less than $1550 a month, but it's time to tighten the purse strings even more and start cutting things at record speed.


Any suggestions, my frugal friends?



Simply,

Em.

A Shopping We Will Go ...

Meijer, 9am.
Returned $71.70 worth of empty pop cans. My records keeping is a little lax, because I wasn't working alone ... a huge bonus as the job of taking in that many returnables is a pain by yourself.

Meijer, 949am.
4 Coke 2 liters @ 88c each
6 Country Time Lemonade Mix @ $2.19 each
Total: $4.30
Saved: $22.04

Meijer, 950am.
4 Coke 2 liters @ 88c each
6 Country Time Lemonade Mix @ $2.19 each
Total: $4.30
Saved: $22.04

Meijer, 1035am.
26 Coke 2 liters @ 88c each
Total: $24.48
Saved: $19.48

Meijer, 1038am.
28 Coke 2 liters @ 88c each
Total: $27.44
Saved: $19.88

Meijer, 1208pm.
1 Purina Healthy Cat Chow $1.89 (FREE!)
2 Aunt Millie's Bread (BOGO) $3.19
9 lbs Boneless Chicken Breasts $17.92
2 Ortega Taco Seasoning 88c (FREE with coupon!)
1 can Meijer Organic Baked Beans (FREE with coupon!)
4 2 liters Coke Products $3.92
1 Snyder's Pretzels 2.19
2 French's Honey Mustard $5.38
6 Ekrich Hot Dogs $4.98 (B1G2!)
3 Ekrich Bologna $2.99 (B1G2!)
2 Aunt Millie's Hot Dog Buns $2.99 (BOGO!)
2 Johnsonville Brats $4.99 (BOGO!)
3 French's Spicy Brown Mustard $3
2 French's Yellow Mustard $2 (FREE with coupon!)
6 Cattleman's BBQ Sauce $6
2 jars of Vlasic Pickles $2.34
2 24 packs Pepsi products $12.40
1 12 pack Pepsi product $4.87 (FREE!)
44 lbs Purina Dog Chow $15.99

Total: $78.64
Savings: $74.26

Meijer, 1210pm.
1 can Meijer Organics Baked Beans 94c (FREE with coupon!)
4 2 liters Coke products $3.92
2 24 pack Pepsi products $12.40
1 12 pack Pepsi products $4.87 (FREE!)

Total: $17.26
Savings: $12.25

Walgreens, 1248pm.
21 Soy Joy bars clearanced to 35c each
2 Palmolive Dish Soap
1 Gillette Body Wash $3.49

Total: $3.95 (all paid with FREE gift card cash!)
Savings: $26.35

((We came home and unloaded. I went to work. Others continued shopping on my behalf.))

Meijer, 526pm, 527pm, and 528pm.
12 2 liters Coke products $3.92
6 24 pack Pepsi products $12.40
3 12 pack Pepsi products $4.87 (FREE!)

Total: $52.56
Savings: $37.11

((Then, after I got out of work, I kept shopping ... because I am a lunatic.))

Meijer, 859pm
4 2 liters Coke products $3.92
13 bags Meijer frozen veggies $13 (Yay! Mealbox coupons!)
2 24 packs Pepsi products $12.40
1 12 pack Pepsi products $$4.87 (FREE!)

Total: $26.50
Savings: $24.20

Walgreens, 922pm
1 Gillette Body Wash $3.49 (FREE with coupon!)
1 20oz Mt. Dew $1.59 (long day, I was getting a little ragged)

Total: $1.80 (paid with FREE gift card cash!)
Savings: $4.99

Meijer, 954pm.
4 2 liters Coke products $3.92
6 Country Time Lemonade (B1G2!) $4.38

Total: $4.30
Savings: $16.04

Meijer, 956pm.
2 lbs Hard Salami $2.55 (thank you closed up leftover deli bags!)
6 Country Time Lemonade $4.38

Total: $3.02
Savings: $18.44

Family Fare, 1049pm.
6 Hamburger Helper at $2.19 (BOGO)
10 Campbell Select Soups at $2.29 (B5G5)
2 1 liter bottle Lipton Green Tea at $1.34 each (FREE with coupon!)
2 LiteHouse salad dressings at $2.99 (BOGO)
4 12 packs Pepsi products at $5.89 each (BOGO)
2 El Matidor Tortilla Chips at $3.19 each (BOGO)
4 Jays Potato Chips at $3.29 each (BOGO)

Total: $38.95
Savings: $49.85


Total for the Day: $281.75
Minus Bottle Return Money: $210.05

Saved for the Day: $346.93!
62%!

Plus, I'll get $49.90 back when I take these empties in. Meaning, really, I only spent $160.15. We now have an entire basement full of pop at what is usually the rock bottom price here. Yay! I also have another $70+ worth of empties that didn't make it to the store yesterday, and a raincheck for basically free Country Time.

Who's up for a store run?

After yesterday, I don't know that I am.



Simply,

Em.

Frugal Friday

I wish I had a great breakdown for you this week. My transition back to work has thrown a bit of a rock into the gears, but we're getting it worked out.

Sunday, Mother's Day, we had Be's family over. I made chicken bowtie alfredo with carrots and broccoli, garlic bread, salad, and a strawberry jello shortcake dessert. Yum. It ran about $23, served 7 people dinner that night.

Monday, we ate leftovers.

Tuesday, we ate leftovers and pizza rolls ... adding an extra $3 to the week.

Wednesday, we ate leftovers and hard boiled eggs ... an additional $1.50.

Thursday, Be finished the leftovers at lunch and I made chicken fried rice for dinner. Total cost for that was $5.

Tonight, we'll be eating left over chicken fried rice for sure.

That brings my total for the week to $27.50. Yay!

Frugal Friday: Scheister Edition

The early evening news last night had a segment about saving money at the grocery store. The anchor met with two women, armed with coupons and magical lists. They spoke of rock bottom prices and stockpiling. I was stoked, for a split second, to see someone validating the adventure that is frugality.

And then I got annoyed ...

Apparently, the only way to be frugal and save money on groceries, is to enroll in one of the unfortunately popular online ad/savings services, and PAY THEM to tell you what to buy or not buy at the grocery store. The program that was most highlighted in the segment runs $19.95 for a month of database and list access. The other runs $10 for 8 weeks for one store, an additional $5 for every store after that.

Now, on face, I can see how these services could seem appealing. It's awesomely easy and brainless to just print off lists and buy what you're told. The time saving factor is probably the biggest draw. Americans like to talk about not having enough time on a regular basis, though I'll be slow to agree with the reality of their assertions while the average amount of TV hours per week is still so astronomical. We probably all have an hour somewhere in our week to take care of grocery saving business, and that's all it takes once you get the hang of it.

I also understand that deal finding can initially be a contrary way of thinking about shopping. What do you mean I only buy one can of soup? or 32 boxes of pasta?! It would make sense to pay for the training or knowledge of deal finding if you wanted to get started. There are tons of free resources on the internet, though, and neither of these services actually teach you to figure these things out yourself in the future. You're beholden to their databases and lists and color codes forever, and since it keeps you writing a check, they like it that way.

I am all for responsible consumerism, deal finding, stockpiling, and paying the lowest possible price or scoring goods for free (even better!). I am not, however, at all a fan of people capitalizing on that endeavor through 'communities' of dutiful check writers. It's entirely contrary and makes my heart hurt a little. Like ... if someone would just show them, they'd save so much more money. Creating a pricebook is probably the best way to get started, and all it takes is a spiral notebook and a pile of receipts.

I suppose scheisters and con-men exist in every arena. They will until people stop paying them to. Don't help them out. Don't pay for advice that it otherwise provided free in the same medium, and is almost always better advice in the first place. Find a free community online. I suggest http://www.hotcouponworld.com/ for starters. Lurk there awhile, learn something.


Simply,

Em.

Tragedy!

I collect envelopes. When the bills come, if I pay them online, I keep the envelope to use for something else later. If the junk mail has an envelope, I keep it. If the statements have envelopes, in the pile to reuse they go. I love my crazy free envelopes.

Just now, a tragedy struck. The magical envelope pile lives directly to the left of my computer monitor to make bill paying a cinch. Moments ago, I tipped over all of two swallows of Diet Pepsi and it rolled into the magical envelope pile. *gasp!*

Any normal person would simply pitch the ones with newly wet edges. Even a pretty frugal person could probably be ok with tossing them into the recycling since they were free to start with. I, am apparently not normal, and I didn't know to what degree exactly until I found myself laying out the envelopes with the wet edges on my office table so that they could dry and be used anyway.

I am such a nut job.



Simply,

Em.