Frugal Activities #11

I really like posting this weekly as it makes me stay more accountable and true to myself ... I share what I feel are frugal activities and then also disclose some of the NOT so frugal activities ...

I gave myself $60 in my wallet for groceries for the week. Was really hoping to be able to stay out of the stores myself, instead, aiming to send one of the kids or Hubby as needed. I know that I don't always shop smart-like and am easily distracted at times :-) Knowing your weakness is good! (needless to say, that didn't work out so well)

Great NEWS! Hubby got the job he's been discussing for a few weeks ... this is HUGE for him ... he will be traveling both nationally and internationally ... I'm so excited for him (as are a lot of people at this company who already know him!)

So here are some of the Frugal Activities that we did the past two weeks:

1.  Helped Hubby finish waxing the boat late Sunday afternoon ... frugal in that it kept us doing something together at HOME instead of going out somewhere to be entertained. We actually had a lot of fun as we were both relaxed and very casual ... talked quite a bit about a lot of stuff ... nothing earth shattering or life changing but it's good to be able to work with your spouse and still laugh and talk ...

2.  Princess and her boyfriend opted to make us dinner that Sunday since we were finishing up around 6pm (I love this time change with it being lighter later!) ... they made their version of blackened chicken and rooted around and pulled out the chicken breast and ciabotta rolls from the freezer and ran to store to pick up asparagus. I was fine with that! Yumm...what a great Sunday dinner they made for us all!

3.  Finally filed our taxes. Hubby was holding out as he was persistent in that we should be getting more money back. I finally printed out the main pages for him to review and at last, he agreed. Ugg. TurboTax does not steer you wrong! If you can't write it off, it's not going to let you! My #1 hangup was trying to find out how to deduct the health insurance we paid for since August ... (received my refund back less than a week later ... Saturday morning it was in my account already! This was NOT a small refund so I'm very happy and surprised!

4.  Hubby started shopping around our hazard insurance on the house. The wind and flood really can't be changed too much as Citizens handles the wind storm (state run insurance coverage) and the flood is the National Flood whatever ... bothers me that we can't shop those 2 as the wind is almost $3200 a year ... and we've not had a storm in quite a few years ... but it is what it is, a price that we pay for living where we do.

5.  Hubby needed a new dress shirt for his interview so we went to Macys to use my $10 off $30 coupon ... shirt was $49.50, marked down to $34 and after coupon, $24. No, not cheap but its an excellent quality shirt so in my opinion, worth the money for $25.

6.  Stopped at ALDIs on my way back from my dads and picked up a few items (avocados, protein shakes, fruit bars, etc.) as I need to stock up on a few more grab and go friendly foods for the group of non-early risers ;-)

7.  Out of the past 2 weeks, we only went out ONCE. And that was me & Hubby walked to Shooters one night to check out the new & improved place ... eh ... it was ok. Margaritas were NOT that good and I was sort of disappointed by that.

8.  Used my gift card for the day at the spa. Still got the eyebrow & lip wax and the color/highlights/lowlights and only forked over $127 ... umm, the tips sort of killed me though. But I got a lot done for a minimal amount (in the real world of spas) of cash outlay.

9.  Stopped at Fresh Market on Tuesday and picked up 5 lbs of ground beef and 5 lbs of chicken breast for $2.99 per lb.  I am laying off the ground beef purchases until the 21st when they have grass fed for $3.29 per lb. I'd like to buy 20 lbs at that time and will call them the day before to see if they'd prefer I pre-order it and have it packaged into 1 lb bags.

And of course, full disclosure. Some of our NOT so Frugal Activities:

1.  Ummm....had to run to my dads and drop some stuff off to him after work on Tuesday night ... stopped by the Aldi on my way home ... $93 later ... I think because I didn't have a list! The 2nd time I did that it was ok as I only needed a few things.

2.  Hubby got THE job! We are super excited! It's a job that he will be excellent at and will require a lot of travel, within the states and internationally so he's psyched. However, it is suits in office and WHITE dress shirts (still trying to get over this!) ... he has 2 excellent suits already (that we are having altered for free thanks to the Men's Warehouse Perfect Fit plan) and we picked up 4 more suits ... $649.00 for the first 2 and then $100 for the next 2. Yes, expensive. Yes, I'm cringing at the dry cleaning aspect (to try a pair of pants and the Woolite dry clean package I have) but he needs them and in my opinion, BIG guys need to have good suits ... he's a big guy (not fat, but big and muscular) ... I won't tell you how much we spent, you can do the math AND we still need to pick up 6 white shirts.

3.  The night out at Shooters ... fun and all but not work the $100 tab. 2 crappy margaritas at $12 a pop and Hubby's Tito's and grapefruit were $11 each. I didn't know that Titos was a big name ... who knew?  Hubby said we need to wait til season is over before we judge the place and write it off ... I will say the mac n cheese was yummy!

All in all, not a bad two week report ...

Comments

  1. Hi! Love reading about your grocery store trips. If I don't have a list, I do the same thing - buy extra stuff! I just went shopping for food on Tuesday and I went again today. It seems like I spend a lot of money on food for just hubby and myself. I know food prices have gone up and I'm going to have to watch more carefully. I love margaritas! It's my favorite drink. Sorry you were disappointed in the ones you just had. Some places make them so good and other places don't. What could be the difference in how they make them?

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  2. I also live in Florida (Tampa area). I don't know if you guys have a Kohl's near you, but I just got a sale coupon in the mail. That's a great place to stock up on menswear for less. If not, Sam's Club, BJ's or Costco are good too for the basics.

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