Frugal Activities #21

I really like doing this post on a weekly basis as it keeps me more accountable and I think twice about some things ...

Well, Week 1 of the Pantry/Freezer Challenge is complete ... I suppose you could say it went good ... until I stopped at Whole Foods, not once, but TWICE ... $55 and $85 ... good grief!  But, the $85 was supposed to be just a quick stop for some red peppers, salad stuff, a few other produce items AND french bread ... but then I saw the weekend sale was buy one get one free on grass fed organic ground beef ... putting it at $4 a pound ... ummm, have you seen the price of ground beef lately?? This was 85/15 which is what I prefer so I scooped up 6 lbs of that (ahem, I'm seriously thinking of going back again today/Sunday to get more) and then I saw the bacon (12 oz) was buy one get one free .... and I grabbed 4 of those ... and again, thinking of going back to get way more bacon! The bacon came to something $3 per package which is pretty cheap for bacon now days.

I need to give the bacon a try as the "chopped and formed" line freaks me out just a tad 

Speaking of which ... have you all noticed how the price of food is steadily creeping up? I just can't believe it!

So ... here are some of the Frugal Activities we did this week:

1.  Made all breakfast and lunches at home all 7 days.  Same for dinner, EXCEPT one night that Hubby and I ran down to our favorite pub for a nice bacon blue cheeseburger (um, yes, I will be making these at home with my WF purchase!)

2.  Paid more bills on line.

3.  Re-evaluated my monthly debt payments.  Paid off the Best Buy account and will now apply that $90 payment towards the next lowest balance (so if I was paying $50 on that account, I will now pay $140, that's the snowball effect in action!).

4.  Set up an online account with the mortgage lender. I want to start making principal payments towards the balance.  I've come to realize that DEBT IS AN EMERGENCY so I will not be making the generous payments towards my savings account. I will continue with the $30 a week automatic draw but will now apply the month end excess monies towards to the mortgage. I'm still torn between doing away 100% with feeding the main savings account ... will see how I feel about it still next month!

5.  Cleared out a few items from the freezers and pantry with the Pantry Challenge.  Not as much as I'd hoped but all in all, we are doing ok with the challenge. It has NOT been painful in any way as we have TONS of good food stored!

6.  Utilized the insurance YET AGAIN this past Friday ... I apparently have bronchitis still/again. Doctor told me to go to the urgent care facility so they could do a chest xray and any other blood work as necessary and she would get the results next week. The doctor there said neither was necessary, nor were antibiotics since she was thinking that this was a viral issue at this point (I've been on 2 different types of antibiotics in the past 3 1/2 weeks). Ended up with a big steroid injection in the butt, steroids in pill form and a new cough medicine in pill format. Uggg.

7.  Hubby has started looking at flights for Thanksgiving to fly to Indiana to be with the family. $158 each way right now. I'm trying to tell him to go ahead and book me and him and we will deal with the kids after we have a chance to see if they all want to go. By "all" I mean the girlfriend and boyfriend and things seem to be serious for both and what the heck, neither one have been to the Midwest!

And then, of course, full disclosure on the NOT so Frugal Activities:

1.  Dinner out Thursday night. I was tired and just blah. Started to get sick yet again. Pretty much b*tched my way into having Hubby take me out. We each only had one drink with our dinner so the total was under $35 with tip.

2.  Whole Foods. BUT I know if I went to Publix, or even Aldis, I'd buy way more items (maybe not spend as much as money but definitely more items to put in pantry and freezers. Defeats the whole Pantry Challenge!

3.  Went to work one morning and forgot to take the ac off hold (74 degrees) ... we do have automatic thermostats but we've been cranking the ac down at night to 74 (instead of 76) because we have been sick and night sweats are the worse! I generally walk out of the bedroom and hit the hold button first thing in the morning. Completely forgot to do that!

4.  Spaced off putting laundry soap in a load of clothes which I noticed when I took them out of washer they didn't smell like anything but wet ... had to rewash that load.

I'm looking forward to saying NEXT week that we had a super Frugal week and being HEALTHY!

I'm sharing over at The Prudent Homemaker and Money Propeller! Go check out both!

Comments

  1. Thanks for linking up at Money Propeller!
    Those are great deals on the ground beef and the bacon. I also always seems to find those deals when I pop into the store for "just X." But, they are too good to pass up!
    I see that you're considering paying down your mortgage but also mentioned debt elsewhere? I would strongly advise against paying down the mortgage until the other debt is gone, unless the other debt is at a rate that is lower than your mortgage. Paying off the higher interest debts first will save you a lot of money. Plus, if the reason you are paying off your smallest size debts first is for the "win" of getting rid of them, you will also be able to get more wins, more quickly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Anne ... I would normally agree with you but in keeping the Hubby happy, I've agreed to toss in a few dollars towards the principal of the mortgage since he's paid the majority of the payments over the years. Yes, we have a strange household in that we are each responsible for certain bills, including our OWN incurred credit card debt ;-) It's worked for us for 20 plus years (primarily because he's the saver and I'm the spender!) ... I am trying to get the instant gratification on the payoffs since I kick myself daily for allowing myself to accumulate the credit card debt yet again.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Non Toxic Mosquito Spray

Smelly Shoe Fix!

Rice Cooker - Hard Boiled Eggs