View Full Version : January Frugals
Nothing specific at the moment, but dh and I have decided that - once the work on the house is paid off this month - we will be double-down on saving. Have a list of things to do, but won't post them until they are done.
Good luck to everyone with their frugals for the new year!
We decided to move to a cash only for all food starting today, Jan 1. We each must fund our half of the amount and keep our own envelopes and all groceries, eating out, etc. must come out of the envelopes, and no cheating, and that means you, DH.
I will be watching food expenditures also. I should be able to cut down on the quantity of food I have been eating.
early morning
1-1-22, 1:24pm
No specifics but we really need to watch expenses more closely this year. The last several have been so stressful - covid, youngest [adult] child with deteriorating mental health moved back in, I lost job/retired, cancer scare (probably fine, but not yet resolved), major items needed replacing or repair - we have thrown money at problems and bought things to make live easier, but that were not life-saving necessities. So, while I don't plan to give up all things that make life more pleasant, we do need to weigh our purchases more carefully against our budget AND our values. If things improve covid-wise, we have family members up east we want to visit, I'd like to get our kid into therapy if we can find someone they will work with, and we need to continue our more healthy (and thus more expensive) food purchases. So, a realignment of priorities and spending patterns is needed. And I am SO GRATEFUL that we had the money to deal with the setbacks we have encountered. I am very aware that many do not have that. We are not at all wealthy - but we have been very lucky in so many ways.
Teacher Terry
1-1-22, 1:40pm
Early morning, I am so sorry about your child. Hoping you can find a therapist that works for them. In April when my charter contract is up I am going to try u tube which is much cheaper. I already switched to T-Mobile’s prepaid plan for cell phone service which only costs 15/month.
early morning, hope the health scare works out positively and wishing the best for your child. Right there with you on being grateful for what we have.
earlymorning, Catholic Charities has therapists that work with people on a sliding scale down to very minimal payments, if that might be an option--no Catholicism involved other than the desire to serve others. No preaching or anything.
Since the interest rates are so low these days, I have tried to find other ways to generate revenue within my usual activities.
My annual cable cost will drop by $1200 when I switch back to my former internet/wifi provider with VOIP phone. I had to switch to the current provider who had installed the cable when the house was built. Some technical issues needed to be resolved before my former provider could access the cable infrastructure. I didn't understand all the technical aspects at the time or now.
I am saving money on gas for my Prius since I attend many activities via zoom or the internet or walk to the event.
The next two months I must eat out of my freezer and pantry to the walls. It is too easy to pick up items when walking through the store.
I am verifying inventory that I actually need the occasional such as shampoo, etc., because duplicates are too easy to grab in case I am running low.
Every saving adds up.
I am in desperate need of a financial regrouping now - after all those years and years of almost miserly finances in which I saved up a whole bunch of money, lately I have become a terrible spendthrift now that I am a homeowner. I got very used to my monthly income AND huge monthly jewelry commission checks, in addition to K's salary. When combined it is a nice chunk of change to have every month. But the party is OVER, because I am unemployed now...I'm still waiting on my first unemployment checks so I really don't have any regular money coming in right now, which freaks me out psychologically because my spending has not decreased by much. There is always something that we need, whether it's groceries, household stuff, medical bills, prescriptions, etc, etc.
I really need to get back into my old frugal mindset and start identifying needs vs. wants and make it that old game I used to play with myself - the "can I make do with what I have" game. Trouble is that K is a spender, not much of a saver, and I seem to have adopted some of his ways over time. Because it is the first day of the year we are going to sit down and look at our expenses and try to find ways to not fritter money away unnecessarily. Some of our expenses are due to living in a rural area and running to the local store to pick up essentials when we run out; they are always more expensive than going to the big supermarket, so getting better at planning will help. Gas for the cars has been a big expense too, so we need to try and plan better to cut down the amount of trips we take into town.
And I need to find a new job! I am really starting to miss my gallery job now...I have applied at a few places as a retail associate because I have to for the unemployment people but have yet to hear back from anyone. I hope it is not too hard to find another job, seeing as there are so many openings right now.
Teacher Terry
1-1-22, 2:33pm
Sioux, look at car/home insurance as a place to save.
early morning
1-1-22, 2:51pm
thanks all! appreciate the good thoughts. Siouz, good luck on the job hunt. How are your wrists doing? Being a home-owner isn't always cheap, lol. We've always lived in rural areas so I feel your pain re: gas for the cars.
I'm thinking you will most definitely hear back about retail jobs, as they are in demand. Not easy jobs, but they are out there. Good luck!!!
We decided to move to a cash only for all food starting today, Jan 1. We each must fund our half of the amount and keep our own envelopes and all groceries, eating out, etc. must come out of the envelopes, and no cheating, and that means you, DH.
That is too funny, Tybee!
We need to hold ourselves more accountable for those extra little runs to the store. DH seems to always need milk, and has never in his life come out of the store with just milk; there are always Little Debbie cakes and ice cream and such to keep the milk company. I've been pushing him to buy more milk at the grocery store. I don't touch the stuff, but if you are going to drink 3 or 4 half gallons of milk a week, don't just buy a half gallon and then act surprised when you run out. And I am not blameless. I like my bananas green around the edges and they don't stay like that all week, so I just need to find a banana alternative for later in the week so as not to generate a banana run to the store midweek. I don't even especially love bananas, but they are cheap and easy.
For whoever asked, I'm not doing that good physically right now. No sooner did I have the one last little hand surgery to take care of a bone spur on the outside of my right hand, for the last 10 days I've had a very badly pinched nerve in my neck that is affecting my left shoulder blade and left forearm. It's been excruciating and damn near impossible to drive this past week. I'm supposed to be getting a neck MRI, but of course the timing of it all during the holidays and with surging Covid it's probably going to be a bit before I get it. Meanwhile, my arm is going numb at times. I would actually be unable to work right now even if I was offered a position, but I still need to show I am actively searching for a job. Though with all my various physical issues I am not sure what kind of job I could even get.
I am so sorry, SiouzQ. If you lived in Maine or NH you could apply for remote sales at LL Bean, but maybe there is something similar out west? Retail, but from home.
I thought about it here.
Rosa, Your description of DH's shopping and picking up things to "keep the milk company" made me laugh. We put bananas in the refrigerator when they are close to ripe and it helps them last a bit longer and not get mealy and RIPE! The peel darkens, but the inside stays edible. I buy a gallon of milk every 10 days. It lasts over a week beyond the pull date.
I feel like the hot water heater was set higher than need be and I turned it down to medium.
I "had to" (not really, I could have gone through withdrawal) get coffee this week, but I am going to try to skip going for groceries next week. I have a decent amount of leftovers and I can usually concoct some way to eat them. For instance, last night I cooked some oatmeal with water, then cooked some more with cheese on top.
early morning
1-9-22, 1:01pm
Sounds like you all are doing great! I would be a lot more food-frugal if I were the only one living here lol. But that would NOT be my preference. So food is not a good place to try to cut MORE from, as beans and rice are very carb-y and get very little play. But our health, since eschewing carbs, is better - we've all lost weight, blood sugars and cholesterol counts are better, DD's blood pressure is better regulated, DH's digestions issues are gone. SO, spending a bit more for our groceries has been a frugal wash - more spent on food, less spent on medications. That's a win-win for me! Struggling with ways to cut the budget more. DH has one netflix sub for less than $10 per month, which he uses heavily (he has a lot of days where he's mostly upstairs, alone, in bed). We have two online newspapers and a PBS subscription for $25 monthly for the three. Later this month I'm dropping the more expensive paper (NYT). Keeping the Post. Now if I get another super-cheap offer, I'll perhaps add the Times back. I dropped two magazine subs this month and both came back with rock-bottom counters, so I ended up renewing. I enjoy these things, but have to ask myself - do I enjoy them for X? 2X? HOW much do I enjoy? And that's where the axe falls. While we are on a smallish fixed income, meeting our obligations is not a problem - food, shelter, utilities, reliable transport are all covered. I'm trying to GROW our emergency fund, though, so discretionary spending and lowering utility billing is where we're bleeding some money. A sort-of frugal - I bought a plant light for the basement and am going to try growing herbs - culinary only- year round. We use a LOT of basil, and dried just is not the same.
rosarugosa
1-10-22, 5:56am
Early: would you mind telling us more about your efforts in curbing carbs? I don't have much trouble saying no to sweets, but I do have a bit too much fondness for good Italian bread, pasta and rice.
The water was just not hot enough so I turned the temperature back up.
I am thinking I may skip my haircut this month. Too cold, and while I am not afraid of covid I am afraid of going somewhere and then being told I have to quarantine for five days because someone there had it.
early morning
1-10-22, 2:47pm
rr - we didn't have a formal plan for cutting carbs - we just started trying substitutes and sticking with whatever worked for us. We eat a lot of fresh veggies, roasted. Use some riced cauliflower in place of noodles /rice. Sub in almond or coconut flour when we can. Buy pastas that are veggie based instead of starch. Be careful - no wheat does NOT translate directly to no starch!! Stopped buying potatoes. I have some instant potato packs for when DH just HAS to have mashed. We always added cheese, chives, garlic, etc to mashed potatoes anyway, so the difference is not as stark. Plus the quantity is limited, so.... servings are smaller. We like spaghetti squash, it makes a lovely spaghetti casserole. You have to be careful to get it drained well - we generally pre-cook it, and then drain it. then into casserole with a very THICK pasta sauce, plenty of cheese. For us, being mindful of food labels, finding subs we like for pasta and potatoes, and allowing ourselves GOOD bread on limited occasions, has worked for us. We live a long way from places that have really good bread, etc, so it's a lot easier to say no to crappy bread:~)
In other frugals - I did not go to my volunteer gig this weekend so didn't pick up dinner on the way home. Well, we did bring home take out on Friday after my minor surgery, but it was fast food on sale, lol. Ok, that's fugal singular, but it's the best I have right now.
frugal-one
1-10-22, 3:13pm
Library here has Hoopla and Flipster for decent selection of free magazines to peruse. Bonus is that there is no need to recycle.
dado potato
1-10-22, 7:03pm
I am still growing sprouts to supplement store-bought salad greens. I grow mainly fenugreek sprouts, because I get good volume and excellent germination. I also have "Bob's Red Mill" Kamut, Daikon Radish, and alfalfa for variety.
I can look out the window at snow in the morning sunlight at a temperature of -19F while I am rinsing sprouts!
rosarugosa
1-11-22, 5:36am
Thanks, Early. The riced cauliflower sounds worth a try, and I do like quinoa. I can't do the veggie-based pasta substitutes though; I will blame it on my Italian heritage, lol.
"Fauxtato" salad, substituting cauliflower for potatoes, is pretty good.
happystuff
1-12-22, 10:02am
This may sound silly to some of you, but I received my first ever lidded casserole dish for Christmas! I used it to make Lentil & Brown rice for dinner last night. I put this in the frugal thread because I won't be using as much foil now!!! :)
Happy Stuff, I love lidded casserole dishes. Mine are all corning from the 70s ( Wedding and Christmas presents)and they work wonderfully.
early morning
1-13-22, 11:07am
I have a few corning lidded casseroles too - 60s and 70s- and they really are great. And I still see them at yard sales for fairly cheap prices, and have to resist the urge to "restock", lol.
frugal-one
1-13-22, 11:43am
I have quite a collection of different sized corning or pyrex covered casseroles. In TX now and none were in the cupboard. The flea markets here are asking astronomical prices. I did luck out and find one at a patio sale though.
Decided to put off the rebreather until next year. Had $7K saved up for it in the scuba fund. I’ve thrown $2600 on my car loan in the last week. It’s down to $8400. Threw about a grand on cc. Going to snowball the car loan. Decided to put off the rebreather by a year as I’ve got other diving goals for this year that are more than plenty.
It looks like we scored the stovetop I've been craving for years on CL, for 10% of its new cost. If/when it happens and we get to install it, I will be PSYCHED!
Hope you get it, NewGig, that would be great!
It's been cold but I checked and still have 3/4 of a tank of oil so I should make it to February and keep on budget for January.
rosarugosa
1-15-22, 6:06am
That would be a great score, NewGig!
Last Saturday, 1/8/22, was our 10-year anniversary of freedom from tobacco. Ten years of not buying cigarettes is probably our best frugal ever. Just before we quit, we were spending $440 per month on cigarettes from NH (much cheaper than MA, so we made a monthly run). I don't know how much we would be paying now, but it would certainly be a lot more. We also celebrated in a frugal and modest fashion, once again encouraged by the recent spike in Covid cases unfortunately. We had been wanting to try a local Vietnamese restaurant, so we did takeout for a very reasonable price.
Wow, Rosa, congratulations! And good for you for doing the math--what an expensive thing it is to smoke. I did not realize. So ten years of that, compounded, wow!!
That is a milestone worth celebrating, RR.
happystuff
1-15-22, 9:33am
Congrats, rr! To you and your dh. I know how hard it is to stop smoking and 10 years is a fabulous milestone.
Congratulations, Rosa and husband! Mine husband quit in 2000 and every vacation I say to him how much he's saved by not smoking! So his not smoking pays for vacations, meals out and now golf clubs!! He was smoking about 1 pack a day and I think they are $40 a carton now, so quite a savings. When my mother quit, she hired a cleaning person!
rosarugosa
1-15-22, 1:32pm
Thanks everyone!
Nswef: Maybe prices are much cheaper where you are (I think MD?) but here we were paying $55 per carton in NH back in 2011, and I know they are over $10 per pack now in MA, so probably $80 - $90 per carton now in MA and I'll just guess about $75 per carton in NH.
Our celebratory takeout cost a bit less than a 2012 NH carton of smokes!
Teacher Terry
1-15-22, 1:58pm
Congrats RR on 10 years!!
Congrats on the 10 years, rosa! That's fantastic!
I wasn't going anywhere today so I didn't wash my hair saving some shampoo and hot water. It didn't feel greasy either. I have thought before that one benefit of aging is your hair dries out. Maybe I am finally getting there.
Teacher Terry
1-17-22, 1:54am
Your hair and your skin dries out as you age. Your hair stops growing on your legs but you get it other weird places.
The new employee at the gas station didn't program the pump to shut off at the amount I prepaid for so I got $2.20 in free gas. He was really confused - had it in his head that he owed me $6.50 but I am honest and was not going to take that. Finally another employee came over and got what I was saying and said it was their error and I didn't have to pay for the extra.
mschrisgo2
1-20-22, 2:53am
New frugal for the new year- I’ve gone back to buying dog food at Costco. It comes out to one dollar a pound, and it’s decent quality food. I used it for many years, until the early weeks of the pandemic when everyone was overbuying everything. By the time I got there it was sold out and unavailable for many weeks. I switched to Chewy deliveries. Chewy is having trouble keeping up now, and their food is pushing $6/lb. $6 vs. $1. Uh huh. I’ll take the $1 please. I buy my gas there anyway. And a 35 pound bag lasts about 2.5 months.
early morning
1-20-22, 10:34am
wow, mschrisgo2, that's a BIG price increase!! Motivated me to go check our Chewy autoship list.... the outdoor catfood has gone up 59 cents per 16 lbs, everything else is just pennies more at the moment, thank goodness. But I made a reminder/note to keep checking before my next delivery - I must confess that I tend to set up something like that and just let it ride, so thank you for the reminder to be aware!! I am struggling to find ways to cut more from our spending that we are willing to make at this time. I am very aware of what can be cut immediately should the situation demand, but at the moment, I'm not willing to do those things. I'm picking my frugal battles, lol. I'm a poor example of a frugalista at the moment ;-P
Found some elastic waist banded pants I had put with my off season clothes and am wearing them rather than buy larger size jeans. I am tired of waist band welts in my stomach at the end of the day and trying to stay on budget for this month.
Went to get air put in my tires and there was no charge although I was not one of their customers.
In a decluttering mood and went through my diving spares boxes. Posted some stuff online. Already sold one item for $60. Should end up with about $150 after shipping. I include shipping on everything I sell. Makes a different when you don’t have to worry about figuring out shipping cost.
Cleaned out my closet and found a huge tote of things I dont wear and will never wear. A friend asked for more panels and quilts to work on so I gathered a big box of these to take to her. Ebay is going well for the things I took out of my craft area that have value. Some I bought at a huge discount from another friend and now the value is going to a charity.
happystuff
1-23-22, 3:01pm
I usually carry a smallish backpack as a purse and am in the habit of just slinging it across my left shoulder. With the current job, I have developed some shoulder pain so have been looking for an alternative to the backpack. My sister just gave me a cute little three-bag cross body set! Will be giving this a try and don't have to buy a new handbag/purse! (I was dreading going into a store to even begin shopping for one! LOL)
Today was a no drive, no spend day.
Friend decided to take a couple of things off my hands, including one thing I’d not originally planned to sell. Got $250 cash today.
happystuff
1-23-22, 9:15pm
Nice, Tradd. Every little bit helps! Congrats.
sold a pair of jeans on Poshmark; will net $9.20. Not much, but more than I'd get a garage sale.
Gave my boss a list of my 2021 accomplishments he could include in my annual review so hopefully I get a good raise.
We have an old fridge ( i am referring about the freezer part) from my past life and stand-up freezer that we are eating from. Its stuffed full. I am tired of DH's song and dance of: " There's nothing to eat". I have taken inventory and have meals planned. We have been using out wood stove. We had about four acres of Douglas Fir that was diagnosed with a fungus in 2016. We had it logged off. The logging company spilt 1/2 of the firewood quality wood with us. We have enough to last us a lifetime. we have just been too lazy to use it. We are now using it.
early morning
1-25-22, 10:28am
Yeah, at our house "nothing to eat" actually translates in DH speak to "there's nothing here that I want to eat that I can get with a bare minimum of effort on my part". So while we too have plenty of food stocks, he has "nothing to eat". :~). Kuddos on the using of the wood stocks- I wish we had a wood stove. Being dependent bothers me. I know it's counterintuitive, but the older I get the more I wish we were off-grid. I'm thinking the current political situation has much to do with it, but I tell myself it doesn't matter, we only have enough ammo to keep the hordes at bay for a day or so regardless, if they come in droves- and they will doubtless be better armed than we are, lol. Unlike many of our neighbors, we have no automatic/semiautomatic weapons or high caliber sniper rifles. And I can no longer pull any of the bows. (Maybe I should investigate those little cross-bows.) BID. So frugally, we've been out of the house more the past week or so, and I've actually remembered to turn the thermostat back on the downstairs furnace when we leave. (d2ndc stays mostly on the second floor and that furnace usually just stays at the same temp, so this does not impact them) I don't have any idea what impact that turn-down has other than psychological, but I'm convinced it's a frugal! I have double-checked our subscriptions for the year to evaluate their value to us - and have renewed as warranted. We have been quite vigilant about not wasting food, and have had some "interesting" meals as a result. Still need for DH to change the seal on the downstairs freezer, so I guess that's a frugal-to-be.
happystuff
1-25-22, 11:17am
Yeah, at our house "nothing to eat" actually translates in DH speak to "there's nothing here that I want to eat that I can get with a bare minimum of effort on my part". So while we too have plenty of food stocks, he has "nothing to eat". :~).
Same thing at my house! Which is one reason why I don't buy a lot of snack-type foods. THEY would become the meal instead of something that might actually have some degree of preparation needed.
Bought a set of measuring cups, some of the old ones disappeared and I'm pretty sure I'm adding more ingredients since I'm trying to figure out how to measure out 2/3 cup of sugar with a 1/2 and 1/4 cups and eyeballing it. Been reorganizing the utensil drawer with the thought I might find the missing cups, hasn't happened and probably won't at this point.
Spilled some dish detergent refilling the dispenser. Sopped it up with paper towels and used them as washcloths when doing dishes to not waste the detergent.
As we near the end of the month I had a little money left in my budget. Paid the water/sewer bill due the middle of next month and will get a haircut tonight, and probably top off the gas tank Monday. Next month I will likely need more heating oil, have car service scheduled, and will try to knock out two utility bills - January's due mid February and February's due mid March.
Maxed out my sick payout for 2021.
Bought a loaf of garlic bread last night and then did not eat it for dinner, so cut it into four pieces and froze them. Will take out a quarter at a time.
Brought lunch to work and a bagel from home for breakfast. Made tea at home and didn’t hit McD for coffee. My acid reflux has been acting up and so that’s not good.
Many think we will have an economic downturn later this year, so in a long term frugal to prevent myself from possibly being laid off I volunteered to learn a new function at work and the boss took me up on my offer. This will add value to me as an employee and increase my chances of being retained if cuts come. I will do this in addition to my current work.
rosarugosa
1-29-22, 9:36am
Many think we will have an economic downturn later this year, so in a long term frugal to prevent myself from possibly being laid off I volunteered to learn a new function at work and the boss took me up on my offer. This will add value to me as an employee and increase my chances of being retained if cuts come. I will do this in addition to my current work.
That sounds like a really smart idea, and if it makes your job more interesting, that's an even bigger plus!
Teacher Terry
1-29-22, 1:52pm
That’s a good idea Yppej.
There was a small amount of oil leaking today. It appears the oil filter was not changed when the furnace cleaning was done. I emailed to see will they come out at no charge to fix this. If not I will go with another company from now on.
Broke our two drawer file cabinet several weeks back and have been shopping around for another. Haven't really wanted to pay the prices I've seen online (usually starting $59 for the cheap metal ones) and none of the stores seemed to have any in stock lately. Well, after getting back on FB and listing on marketplace today, I did a search and found one right in my neighborhood! $20 for a simple, wooden, rolling two-drawer.
Broke our two drawer file cabinet several weeks back and have been shopping around for another. Haven't really wanted to pay the prices I've seen online (usually starting $59 for the cheap metal ones) and none of the stores seemed to have any in stock lately. Well, after getting back on FB and listing on marketplace today, I did a search and found one right in my neighborhood! $20 for a simple, wooden, rolling two-drawer.
What a great score!
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.