Frugal Activities
Because the name of the blog IS Frugal In Florida I figured I'd share some of my frugal activities since the beginning of the year.
Which, really, it's important that I try and stay on the straight and narrow frugal path since Hubby is still unemployed ... sort of makes it an important part of our lifestyle, don't you think?
So ... here are a few things I've been doing ... and believe me, I understand some of these may seem frivolous to YOU, but it goes to show, every little bit counts!
1. Gave myself my own manicure and pedicure. Granted, it wasn't a spa-like treatment but it still saved me $40 and I have pretty, polished nails.
2. Hubby washed, detailed and waxed his pickup last weekend. This was an all weekend long project, which was fine since I was a little under the weather. The savings for him? $140. Yes, that's what he normally pays to have it done once every 3 months.
3. Shopped from the pantry and freezer ... as you know, we are doing a pantry/freezer challenge right now and our goal is to get the freezers cleaned out, pantry more organized and save some money. So far so good ... check out the page I have dedicated to the Challenge.
4. Prepared and ate all 3 meals on a daily basis from home. WITH the exception of New Years Day, which we did Chinese takeout. Other than that, Hubby has been excellent keeping me on track with that!
5. Made my own salad dressings (ranch and blue cheese) instead of bottled stuff. Ok, how is this frugal? a) I had the ingredients on hand and they were going to go to waste if I didn't use them, b) instills in the fellow family members that homemade can be better than store bought
6. Paid all my bills on line for the month. I generally do this anyway, but am amazed that some people still pay 46 cents to pay a bill ...
7. Clipped a few coupons for things that we always purchase (cat food!) to use in the near future.
8. Washed all the laundry in ONE day instead of spreading it out over a few days. Frugal aspect of this was the dryer was constantly running so I wasn't losing the hot air. Yes, I do line dry some items, but the majority of stuff is dried in the dryer. I know it may be more frugal to line dry but we opt not to.
9. Watched Extreme Cheapskates (with Hubby, the Boy and Princess and boyfriend) to see what the difference really is between being Frugal and being Cheap. Ummm, seriously, I'm frugal, not cheap, thankfully!
10. Made eggs in the oven instead of boiling. Yes, this is frugal to me because a) my kitchen did not become a steam bath from the boiling water and b) I cooked something else in the oven alongside the eggs (watch for this post as it's pretty cool and I'm sold!)
11. Bought subject eggs from above for 99 cents a dozen at Aldi. Yes, I'm on a pantry challenge and yes, I do have eggs from Costco, however, last thing I want do with an experiment is use the most expensive ingredients in case something doesn't work as it should :) It works :)
12. Convinced the kids to make slushees with the ice cream maker instead of going to 7-11 and paying $2 or more for a slushee. We have everything in house to make here.
13. Made mayo and salsa from scratch using what we had on hand.
14. Hubby changed out the air conditioner filters ... we are still hot here, amazingly enough after our brief 48 hour cold snap.
15. Hubby ordered more filters online for about $10 cheaper than it would be to buy in the store even with shipping.
16. Saved the Office Max paperbag that came in the Sunday paper (a promotion that you fill it up and get x% off) to use for our in house recycling.
17. Opted for the bottled beer instead of the "bullets" we prefer as it was $2 cheaper for the same tasting beer ...
18. Cleaned, hulled and froze 2 lbs of strawberries a vendor dropped off for me at work. Don't ask what I did with the cookies she gave too, that was NOT frugal.
AND .. some of the frugal things I did NOT do for various reasons...
1. Opted to NOT return a bottle of wine to the store that a friend gave me. Not my taste ... I will re-gift or wait til she comes over one night to drink. I have another friend who returns stuff that people give her if she doesn't like it and then gets the cash. She doesn't understand why I think this is wrong in that it's a waste of money if she's not going to use the item. I just feel this is wrong on so many levels and for this reason alone, I will most likely never give her a gift of any type.
2. Bypassed getting gas for 4 cents cheaper at the corner station. It is cheap gas and makes my engine knock. Not worth the potential issues with using inferior gas.
3. Gave away the delicious looking sugar cookies to the office cleaning lady afterhours ... I could have brought them home for the kids and Hubby but I know my willpower stinks so I gave them to her instead of just throwing away (not sure if this should be in the frugal activities or not!)
What sort of frugal activities did you do this week?
Which, really, it's important that I try and stay on the straight and narrow frugal path since Hubby is still unemployed ... sort of makes it an important part of our lifestyle, don't you think?
So ... here are a few things I've been doing ... and believe me, I understand some of these may seem frivolous to YOU, but it goes to show, every little bit counts!
1. Gave myself my own manicure and pedicure. Granted, it wasn't a spa-like treatment but it still saved me $40 and I have pretty, polished nails.
2. Hubby washed, detailed and waxed his pickup last weekend. This was an all weekend long project, which was fine since I was a little under the weather. The savings for him? $140. Yes, that's what he normally pays to have it done once every 3 months.
3. Shopped from the pantry and freezer ... as you know, we are doing a pantry/freezer challenge right now and our goal is to get the freezers cleaned out, pantry more organized and save some money. So far so good ... check out the page I have dedicated to the Challenge.
4. Prepared and ate all 3 meals on a daily basis from home. WITH the exception of New Years Day, which we did Chinese takeout. Other than that, Hubby has been excellent keeping me on track with that!
5. Made my own salad dressings (ranch and blue cheese) instead of bottled stuff. Ok, how is this frugal? a) I had the ingredients on hand and they were going to go to waste if I didn't use them, b) instills in the fellow family members that homemade can be better than store bought
6. Paid all my bills on line for the month. I generally do this anyway, but am amazed that some people still pay 46 cents to pay a bill ...
7. Clipped a few coupons for things that we always purchase (cat food!) to use in the near future.
8. Washed all the laundry in ONE day instead of spreading it out over a few days. Frugal aspect of this was the dryer was constantly running so I wasn't losing the hot air. Yes, I do line dry some items, but the majority of stuff is dried in the dryer. I know it may be more frugal to line dry but we opt not to.
9. Watched Extreme Cheapskates (with Hubby, the Boy and Princess and boyfriend) to see what the difference really is between being Frugal and being Cheap. Ummm, seriously, I'm frugal, not cheap, thankfully!
10. Made eggs in the oven instead of boiling. Yes, this is frugal to me because a) my kitchen did not become a steam bath from the boiling water and b) I cooked something else in the oven alongside the eggs (watch for this post as it's pretty cool and I'm sold!)
11. Bought subject eggs from above for 99 cents a dozen at Aldi. Yes, I'm on a pantry challenge and yes, I do have eggs from Costco, however, last thing I want do with an experiment is use the most expensive ingredients in case something doesn't work as it should :) It works :)
12. Convinced the kids to make slushees with the ice cream maker instead of going to 7-11 and paying $2 or more for a slushee. We have everything in house to make here.
13. Made mayo and salsa from scratch using what we had on hand.
14. Hubby changed out the air conditioner filters ... we are still hot here, amazingly enough after our brief 48 hour cold snap.
15. Hubby ordered more filters online for about $10 cheaper than it would be to buy in the store even with shipping.
16. Saved the Office Max paperbag that came in the Sunday paper (a promotion that you fill it up and get x% off) to use for our in house recycling.
17. Opted for the bottled beer instead of the "bullets" we prefer as it was $2 cheaper for the same tasting beer ...
18. Cleaned, hulled and froze 2 lbs of strawberries a vendor dropped off for me at work. Don't ask what I did with the cookies she gave too, that was NOT frugal.
AND .. some of the frugal things I did NOT do for various reasons...
1. Opted to NOT return a bottle of wine to the store that a friend gave me. Not my taste ... I will re-gift or wait til she comes over one night to drink. I have another friend who returns stuff that people give her if she doesn't like it and then gets the cash. She doesn't understand why I think this is wrong in that it's a waste of money if she's not going to use the item. I just feel this is wrong on so many levels and for this reason alone, I will most likely never give her a gift of any type.
2. Bypassed getting gas for 4 cents cheaper at the corner station. It is cheap gas and makes my engine knock. Not worth the potential issues with using inferior gas.
3. Gave away the delicious looking sugar cookies to the office cleaning lady afterhours ... I could have brought them home for the kids and Hubby but I know my willpower stinks so I gave them to her instead of just throwing away (not sure if this should be in the frugal activities or not!)
What sort of frugal activities did you do this week?
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