Frugal Activities #31

I really like doing this post weekly as it keeps me a little more accountable and does make me think twice about some things ;-)

Not an overly frugal week if you ask me ... but all in all, we did good.  I stopped at Aldis on Wednesday as I misread the sales paper and thought they had the boneless pork butt on sale for $1.99 that day ... doh, it's this week coming up. Mental note to stop on Wednesday, yet again!

Hubby will be traveling this week coming up and into the following week so I'm hoping to have a real frugal week coming up!

Here are some of the Frugal Activities that we did this past week:

1.  Ate all but ONE meal at home ... nothing fancy but still satisfying.

2.  Had to take my dad to the VA in Miami for his eye appointment. Basically a 3 hour road trip after the traffic jams/accidents/rain we had to deal with.  I knew that he would be looking for a quick stop for food so I was proactive and filled up 2 large water bottles and cut up a few apples and tossed these in a little cooler. Thankfully. Since when did water cost $1.50 at a vending machine? Good grief. Glad I thought ahead on this.



3.  Some might not think this was very frugal, but I do ... bought 7 pounds of shrimp, peeled, deviened and cooked for $9.99 a pound. This was from Whole Foods and was very fresh and good (unlike a lot lately that is mushy and just yucky).  6 pounds went in freezer and 1 pound was shared Friday night.

4.  Had some friends over Friday night, refused to buy anything more than the shrimp for sharing. I had cheese in fridge that I sliced up with some crackers (pantry), chips (pantry) and salsa (fridge). Had I really been thinking, I would have cut up some carrots and celery (from fridge) and made some blue cheese dressing/dip (all ingredients in fridge) but I was a little late getting home ;-)

5.  Increase my automatic weekly withdrawal from checking account to savings from $30 to $50. I wanted to do $60 but will need to wait a few weeks so it won't be noticed.  This is my "slush fund" with Capital One 360 ... I figured come the holidays, it will come in handy!

6.  I was supposed to go out with my girlfriend last Saturday but the weather was horrible and we opted to wait until Hubby is out of town and do a girls night on Saturday (coming up this week) ... stashed that cash ($200) I had set aside for that night to fund my hostess duties coming up AND grocery shopping for the week.  What I don't spend will be put in my $5 Savings Do Not Spend jar.

7.  Used cash all week. Did not use the debit card ONCE. With the boy paying me back every other week in cash, I am feeding my cash envelopes pretty consistently without having to withdraw money from the bank.  I am trying very hard to stay on a cash only budget. Even paid the house cleaner in cash. I know she liked that! ;-)

8.  I've been updating the pantry and freezer inventory pages. I have a LOT of food and hoping to eat healthier this week and avoiding the store for all except veggies ... well, I also have the Saturday night gig, but think I might have plenty to work with on hand.

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

1.  Pizza night at the kids request on Thursday ... $35 with tip and leftovers for everyone on Friday.

2.  The Whole Foods stop ... I got sucked into buying some dressing which was really yummy ... 3 bottles at $3.99 each. I hid them in the guest fridge because I'm going to cringe the first time I see someone (ahem, HUBBY) drowning his salad with this stuff! I plan on using it to dress the big salads we serve (spinach, shrimp and this dressing is delicious!)

3.  The house cleaner. $120. The kids each owe me $30. Will put that money in the house cleaner cash envelope so I only have to fork out $60 next time.

4.  Beer run at Publix. $9.99 for the 9 pack Coors Light (don't drink it if the mountains aren't blue) and a 6 pk of Pumpkin head for $8.99. Both were totally not necessary but wanted. Ugg. Some of this was consumed on Friday night ...

I do see a trip to Costco in the next week or so ... I have a list that I've been writing, tp, papertowel, bath soap, dish soap, sudafed, and some food stuff (ahem, veggies). I will also probably hit up Fresh Market on Tuesday to take advantage of their Tuesday sale on 85/15 ground beef ($2.99 per pound) and fresh b/s chicken breast ($2.99 per pound). So ... it could be an expensive ending to September OR beginning of October ... depends on how you look at it. I really need to finish the freezer inventories BEFORE I go to Fresh Market ... I might have some ground beef stashed still but thought I had used the last of it recently ;-(

Looking forward to sharing with The Money Propeller and The Prudent Homemaker ... go check them both out!

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