Frugal Activities #46

Today is our travel day back to South Florida after 10 days of mostly wonderful times visiting friends and family in Chicago and NW Indiana.

I say ‘mostly’ because, well, it was expensive, and the start of our trip was a little stressful thanks to Tropical Storm Erika. Thankfully, she just decided to shut down shop and dissipate, but not before we waffled back and forth as to whether to cancel the trip period, then purchasing last minute airline tickets to return a week sooner … then there was the lack of cell or Wi-Fi coverage where we were in Indiana so we opted to just buy a Verizon jetpack and 3 gigs or whatever they are called worth of data so that both Hubby and I could keep up with our work emails as we are both slammed right now.

Then, factor in the fact that I just “had to” go get a wash and blow out … which wouldn’t have been so very bad, after all, except, I’m such a wimp and don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings that the first place I went to (inside a Walmart, what the HECK was I thinking) the girl gave me a FRIZZY blowout … just like I would do … I left there and met up with a gal name Kate at Aveno who took care of me in no time flat … then off to get my nails (and toes) done … because they were so split from all the dishwashing I’ve been doing because there is NO dishwasher at the house where we stayed.

Don’t get me wrong, it was FUN but, I may have gotten a little bitchy a few times (sorry Hubby, since he was the one that got the brunt of it all) … things just didn’t pan out the way I had hoped, which is probably the story of 99% of vacations ;-)

So … with that, I think it’s time to get back on board with the weekly Frugal Happenings post, don’t you agree? 

So, here’s some of the Frugal things we did this past week:

1. Picked tomatoes from the garden, spotted 2 pounds of bacon in the fridge and promptly told all we were having BLT’s for dinner. Served up a side of oriental cabbage salad to go with the meal.

2.  Hubby was thrilled to see Bryers ice cream for $2.99 so he picked up THREE containers. Like he said, that was to price of ONE container back home. Ugh.

3.  Said no thank you to the product the first hair girl was trying to sell me. Uhm, honey, do you see what my hair looks like using that stuff? :-(

4.  Kept the weekly and bi-weekly withdrawal to the savings account active. I was tempted to stop for the 2 weeks ($300.00 total) but then said no, I need to be disciplined). Glad I did.   

5.  Took the Digit balance when it hit $100.00 and applied it towards a credit card additional payment. I was originally going to keep the Digit money as part of the savings but then figured I was better off applying that to pay down of debt as that’s an emergency too!  So far I’ve paid $500 down this way. Speaking of which, have you signed up with them yet?? Way cool!

6.  The few times we did go out while in Indiana and Chicago, we limited our alcohol consumption which kept the bill way down. First I thought it was because the food and stuff was just cheaper, but it’s also because we each only had a drink or two while we were out!

7.  Opted to buy the 6 pack instead of 12 pack of beer at the store. It was cheaper that way (no kidding!) and it kept me from consuming too much. Did I mention that my pants are fitting way looser in the waistband this week??

8.  Set up all my bill payments for the first half of month before we left so that I wouldn’t forget and incur any additional late charges.

9.  Also, made it a point to get cash for the trip and stuck with cash only for about 85% of the time. I still have money in my wallet which is sort of nice to come home with!

And of course, full disclosure on the NON-Frugal Activities:

1.  Hair. That was a costly mistake and I should have went with my gut instinct from the get go.

2.  When we got to Chicago, to kill time before check-in at the hotel, we stopped and Hubby had a facial, I had a massage. With upgrades. Oops.

3.  Went and had my face shot up before we left also. Thankfully, the doc likes me (we share the same birthday) and gave me a $200 discount, but still, it was expensive. Totally worth it to ME but not Frugal at all.

4.  Groceries. I overbought. I had limes, oranges, apples, bacon, celery, water, etc. I took everything over to my sister-in-laws house before we left … her household has shrunk also, but at least I know they are a non-food waste family ;-)

5.  Ended up buying MORE data for $90 as the 3 gigs did NOT last very long at all with me and Hubby both on the emails and internet (hey, I can’t totally neglect the blog, you know??)

That’s all I can come up with at this time … surely there had to have been MORE Frugal activities, as well as NON-Frugal, but, this is a start to becoming MORE aware, yet again.

Have you been intentionally Frugal lately? Share in the comments what you’ve been up to lately!