My Frugal Year

Today was all about work. That’s good though because work = earning money! I’m extremely blessed to have a couple jobs I really enjoy. When I think about how many people are stuck in jobs they hate, I feel very lucky to have found things to do that keep me interested and looking forward to work. It’s also a good thing that this frugal living thing is fun for me. Sure, life can be financially stressful at times, but I’ve made it my mission to have a good time while looking for deals and making the most of every dollar that comes our way.

Tonight has been about homework. I’m in school – yes, at 40 I went back to school. I figured it would be best for me to finish college before my kids start. Being back in school has been great. I’m studying something I really like to do and I’ve had great experiences with my classmates and instructors…and it’s all online which means I can work it around my insane schedule.

Here’s my Frugal Friday tip for the day: Vicki has a theme for this Friday’s frugal tips - keeping kids busy when cabin fever sets in. Good timing considering the weather our friends to the North and East are having lately. I’d have to say the library is a great way. Always having something new around to read is a great thing, and on those cold winter days, there’s nothing better than curling up with some hot chocolate and a good, FREE, book from the library!

Well, that’s about it for today. I have a busy day tomorrow and I have GOT to get to sleep before 1:00AM for once!

Have a fun, frugal weekend everyone!

Costco is a great deal. I enjoy shopping there. The store is always nice and clean and the stuff is quality. The deals are really good too, compared with the grocery store on a lot of items. I got my handy little Costco coupon booklet in the mail last week, so that helped even more! Now not every price there is better than in the grocery store so you have to do your comparisons.

Some things are hands down a better deal. Garbage bags, for instance. I used to get the Hefty 33gal at the grocery store. Right now for 33 bags of the 33gal. size, it’s running anywhere from $11.99 – $12.99 at the grocery store. I just got the Kirkland brand 33gal size – 90 bags for $11.99. That’s a great deal. Almost three times as many bags for the same price. And seriously – how long will it take me to go through 90 bags that size? A long time, I’d guess.

I was still driving the little Mazda today. Man, that thing is cheap to run. I put $10 of gas in it and it’s almost full. Won’t have to fill it up again for a while.

So…today’s totals:

Spent:
$10 on gas
$141.14 at Costco
Saved today:
Costco coupons $18
Transferred to savings $18
Year to date savings $89.29
and that doesn’t even count what I save shopping for certain things at Costco over the grocery store. This is going well!

Another no spending day. Just work and taking my daughter to the orthodontist. I did find some cool savings stuff online that I want to share though.

$120 in coupon savings from Proctor & Gamble

Save $1.50 on Coffee-Mate

$10 in coupons from EatBetterAmerica

Save Money – Print Grocery Coupons Anytime

Save on cable:

Get 50 Free Digital Camera Prints and only 9 cents per print at Snapfish by HP!

Print REAL coupons from your computer at CoolSavings! Just click here!

Happy savings to you!

Today, January 14, you can get a coupon for a free bottle of Suave! Now Suave at the regular price is what I’d consider a frugal brand, but free is even better. It’s a “while supplies last” kind of thing so go grab yours now!

Well, just a tiny bit of savings today. I had to do one of those “quick trips” to the store for milk and cheese. I didn’t have any coupons with me, so I just used my store card and saved $3.

I was thinking about various aspects of frugality today, and buying second-hand. For most anything we need I always check second-hand stores. Some things, though, are worth buying new. This occurred to me after a long shift supervising in the ballroom this weekend. Shoes. Don’t get me wrong – I have a lot of second-hand shoes, but those are aren’t the ones I wear when I know my feet are going to take a beating. I’m saving up to buy some nice black Danskos for work. The way my feet feel after a long day walking all over the complex, I think it would be worth it. They’ll last a long time and be good for my feet. I figure $114 at Norstrom is better because they’ll last for years. Better than spending $20 a pop multiple times over the years for cheap shoes that aren’t as comfortable.

When I’m feeling REALLY flush, I’m gonna blow the $300 or so for some LaDuca character shoes for my theater gigs.

That would be heaven! The Rockettes wear LaDucas. I want them!! Aren’t they pretty? And they are sooooooo comfortable. Sadly, you don’t find LaDuca coupons. But you see, that’s part of why I’m frugal…so that I don’t feel guilty when I get around to buying $300 shoes! Someday…someday I will treat myself to that luxury.

Meanwhile, I need to seriously consider turning down the temperature in the house to save some bucks on utility bills.

Saved today: $3.00
Year to Date Savings: $71.29

Being stuck at home will certainly put a damper on spending! My husband had to take the good car today. The “other” car…bless it’s little engine…doesn’t do snow. Seriously. I love my Subaru Forester. That thing gets through anything. The other car is a 1988 Mazda 323 that’s been hit by a garbage truck. It’s not pretty. But my goodness, it’s frugal. Hardly costs anything to run and insure. It’s just these pesky days when he needs the Subaru and it’s snowing, I’m stuck. Luckily I was able to do some work remotely and I have a very understanding boss.

So there’s a frugal topic for you – cars. They can be money-sucking beasts or they can be useful tools that can be used in a frugal manner. I suppose we could replace the old Mazda…but why? It runs. It gets us from point A to point B. It has great gas mileage and doesn’t need premium fuel. Our self-esteem isn’t wrapped up in how cool our vehicles look. Nope, we’re in no hurry to replace it. It’s a rare occurrence that it creates a transportation problem like it did today. 99% of the time, I could drop my husband off at work or the Light Rail station and go on my merry way. So it didn’t turn out to be a big deal. And I couldn’t do anything about the urge to shop.

I guess that’s a good day all around!

And here’s a happy freebie for ya! Get a coupon booklet with $27 in savings for cleaning products!

Again it was a no spending day. I think of this as a good thing. It usually means we’ve got everything we need, which we do for the moment. There will need to be some grocery shopping this week, but nothing major.

I spent the day hanging out with the kids, working on my homework and updating a few of my Squidoo lenses. If you haven’t heard of Squidoo, it’s a great site where you can make your own FREE single page sites on whatever topic strikes your fancy. I currently have 69 lenses. My favorites are on working from home, living frugally and I have a bunch on various Broadway topics. It’s a lot of fun, it’s free, and you can actually make money doing it. Check it out and make your own lens!

Have a terrific week!

Hello there! It’s day ten. No spending besides parking for work. But what a happy surprise. My husband just got home from work. He was in the right place at the right time, and he’s a nice guy to clients so he came home with this for me:

It’s a $65 piece of cookware – absolutely FREE!! Woo hoo! That just made my day! Now I’m off to work till about midnight.

Let’s see, what happened today? No spending so far to report, but it’s only 3:05. I know my husband will have to spend that $3.50 in parking again. I’m going to have to get some milk at the store.

The quick store run. That leads in perfectly to the Frugal Fridays Blog Carnival over at Simply Vicki. Each Friday, great frugal tips are shared.

So my tip for Frugal Friday today is about cutting out the extra spending on those quick shopping trips. When you run out of something and need to get to the store outside of your regular planned shopping run, it’s important to just stick to what you need. When going to the store, ALWAYS make a list and most importantly, STICK TO IT!

I know I need milk, but I’ll go a quick survey of the fridge and cabinets to make sure there is nothing else missing that would prompt yet another unnecessary trip over the weekend. When you’ve made your list and go to the store, you’ve just got to put your blinders on and go for what’s on the list. Pay no attention to the aisle displays tempting you to buy this or that. Don’t go hungry or you may find yourself buying junk you don’t need. The goal is to get in, get your stuff and get out!

Happy Friday everyone!

Just $3.50 in parking again today. I resisted the urge to go to the thrift store just for the heck of it. There isn’t anything I truly need right at the moment, so it would have just been wasted time, gas and likely money on something I don’t really need. Probably saved myself at least $20 right there!

I did go through some of the clothes in the basement and sorted out what to donate and what to either garage sale or take to the consignment store. Speaking of consignment stores, have you heard about this new law regarding kids products and lead? Apparently it may have a very negative effect on resale of children’s items. From what I read in this article from the Wall Street Journal, it looks to be pretty bad for the resale industry. The new law is to take effect on February 10. Hopefully something will be done to make an exception for thrift stores. No way can they all afford to test every children’s item for lead. Stay tuned for more on this.