My Frugal Year

Wow. This really has been a busy week. This working two jobs, having a family and going to school thing can really kick my patootie sometimes. This week is one of those times.

This got me thinking – savings isn’t just about money. It’s about time, too. Now time is a funny thing. I hear people talk about “saving time,” but that really isn’t the right way of putting it. There is no time bank. You don’t save time and put it away to use later. Not technically, anyway. But you can use time more effectively, in essence giving you more time to do the things you want to do. Like take a nap. Or play with your kids, or just sit and have some coffee with a friend.

Time is a funny thing. It’s truly a “spend as you go” asset. It’s use it or lose it, period. It doesn’t earn interest and doesn’t magically grow. So how DO you figure out how to be more thrifty with time? Well, there are lots of experts out there with really good advice on how to use your time. I’m lucky enough to know one of them – and she’s truly an expert. She lives what she teaches and her life is evidence that what she teaches works. Her book, “Find More Time” is one of the best, down-to-earth, solid advice books I’ve read on the subject. It’s well worth the time to read it.

Trust me, you’ll love it!

It’s been a ridiculously busy week and it’s only Tuesday! I’ve been, in the spirit of frugality, working on getting a working computer for the family member I mentioned earlier. The laptop I was trying to fix is sadly DOA. No hope. But between the cases, motherboards and hard drives we had laying around here, we managed to “frankenstein” a pretty decent computer. Got it installed today at their house and everything is working. Cost: $0! That is a beautiful thing.

My husband did a quick shopping run and saved a few bucks. Yay for guys who like to save too!

By the way…the crockpot creation from Sunday turned out great. Everyone loved it. Served it over tortilla chips and put some shredded cheese on top, a little sour cream and salsa. We’ll be doing that one again for sure!

Deal for today: Don’t forget about Drugstore.com’s Deal of the Day. You never know what you’re going to find!

Spent: $57.68
Saved:$10.79
Transferred to savings $10.79

Year to date savings:$103.27
I can do better than that next month!!

Monday. Yep. That’s about it. No shopping or fun stuff to report. Been working too hard and trying to get things done around the house.

Can I make an embarrassing admission? The tree. Yes, the Christmas tree. It’s still up. With decorations. Clearly, something must be done. That’s a frugal night – taking down the tree. Nothing to spend there. However I fear this may be the last year for the poor, decrepit thing. It’s probably ten years old. Hopefully I can find a screaming deal on a new one for next year.

So no, didn’t get done what I wanted to get done today. I spent most of the day working on homework and catching up on laundry, so my basement project was yet again delayed. No biggie – I’ll get to it. That makes me laugh because I have about four years worth of “I’ll get to it” down there. I just don’t want so much time to go by that I suddenly have twenty years of “I’ll get to it” down there.

I did take a little trip to the thrift store today and got an adorable pair of jeans for six bucks and a couple of shirts for my son. My son is growing out of things faster than I can keep up. And me…well, I needed an extra pair of jeans that actually fit until I lose this spare holiday weight.

Speaking of holiday weight…in case you didn’t gain enough, Hickory Farms is having a killer sale. I mean RIDICULOUS prices on some seriously yummy stuff. Very well worth checking out. That is some serious savings – like 75% off. Can’t go wrong with summer sausage and cheese!

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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!

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!

Nothing too exciting to report today. Just a tiny run to the store for a couple things I forgot yesterday.

Total Spent: $8.10
Total Saved: $1.80
Transferred to Savings: $1.80

Year to Date Savings: $68.29

I dutifully did my coupon clipping, made my list and went to the store. We were low on several staples, so I did a little stocking up. There were some good deals. It’s great when you can combine store sales with coupons. I got a huge thing of my favorite Tide liquid detergent for $8.49. It says it does 64 loads. I usually use less detergent than it says and the clothes always come out nice and clean, so I probably get 80 loads out of one. At that price, that’s about .10 a load. Not bad!

Here’s the damage:

Spent: 141.53
Saved on Store Card: $35.17
Saved on Coupons: $ 20.59
Total Saved Today: $55.76
Transferred to Savings: $55.76

Year to Date Savings: $66.49

Not bad for just day three, eh?