Free is Nice

My folks came over tonight so I could sign some paperwork for them and mom could pick up some stuff I'd gathered for her sunday school class. They treated us to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. A free meal is very nice, especially when money is not flowing very freely.

Hubby went to the Evil Empire tonight to get some fabric softener and a mouse since his went kaput. He did not read closely and got fabric softener that is not concentrated. It was a big bottle but only 32 loads. The bottle I normally get is about 1/2 the size and is 72 loads. I'm going to pour this into the concentrated bottle and see if I can get away with using less. I happen to love fabric softener scent in my clothes and feel that it will be one of the last things I would ever give up. I'll be sure to come back to this subject and see how many loads I'm actually able to get out of the bottle.

We are still using the free Mexican detergent that hubby got from his work back in May. We still have enough left for another 6 - 8 months or more. I love that we're getting our clothes cleaned for a lot less.

I picked up 2 bags of clothes from Freecycle last night. All are name brands (Lane Bryant, Old Navy, etc) and 85% of them were my size. I have a bag full to share with a friend and another outfit for a second friend. I love getting free clothes!

I gave away some things on Freecycle this week as well: two pairs of name brand shoes (youth AMD and Nike brand) and two pairs of jeans. One little boy hugged me and told me that the shoes were his "dream shoes". Isn't that adorable?

Yesterday I received some nice items from Freecyle: a large trash bag full of tshirts and 3 boxes of Mason jars. After hubby brought the shirts home, I went through the bag. I was thrilled with all of my "new" shirts and tried a few of them on right then and there.

I was left wondering why people don't love getting free clothing as much as I do. The joy I felt from my free clothes is not greater that the thrill one would get from those purchased. If fact, I think that I'm more in love with my free shirts because I have nothing invest in them. These are all very nice shirts, most are name brands from "mall stores" or new looking Haines Her Way tees. I saved at least $20 on these shirts (as compared to buying shirts for myself at $1 - $2 each).

I hate when I have bouts of insomnia. It is awful for me on many levels. I end up exhausted the next day, I cannot function, my pain levels increase, and I'm stuck suffering from horrible headaches.

Last night was one of those nights. I take two medications each night to help me sleep, both prescribed by my rheumatologist. Last night they did not work. I was up until after 3:30 this morning and woke up, unable to sleep, at 7:30 this morning. Sleep continues to evade me, napping has not happened, and I am barely functioning.

Bless his heart, hubby is making dinner and taking care of me so that I can rest. After dinner, I will take my customary medications and will add Ambien to the mix with the hopes of getting some sleep tonight.

Sometimes I really hate Fibro!

An Overdue Update

Life is continuing on in the way that it always seems to. Hubby & I are settled into life without the kids here full time. He is looking for a job and working on getting his vehicle up and running (thank goodness he is getting unemployment). I've actually put out a few resumes myself. I'm not sure I physically can handle the whole full time job with a commute thing again but you've got to do what you've got to do.

I'm grateful for the fact that we are able to earn money to pay the bills. I trust that hubby will find a job soon and that things will return to their normal madness. :) Until then, we're scrimping and saving and making due with what we have even more so than before.

I'm going to start selling my artwork as well. I draw a lot of faeries and mythical pictures. Several acquaintances have been very impressed with my drawings lately and have suggested that I sell them at area festivals, SCA events, and online. I am going to give it a try soon. In preparation for this, I've been drawing a lot more lately. Today I did a belly dancer and a green man. I hope to get them painted and ready soon. My goal is to have 2 done per day so that by September 15th I can order prints and get them ready for sale.

Paying for the Past

We have some very old bills from hubby's past (as in 1982) that are biting us in the proverbial rear. We are paying two of them in full this week along with a down payment on a third. In a week we will have two more to pay off. The largest one will be there for years and there is little that we can do about it. At least we are doing something to eliminate the problem.

We learn in life and I hope that hubby has learned a major lesson here so that we can move on and move forward.

Financially Speaking

We spent $15 at thrift stores on Saturday and another $20 on supplies for a picnic I attended and sinus pills and deodorant.

Sunday, we went to lunch with my mom ($15) and then Hubby did a side job for a friend of theirs.

Monday, we went to lunch ($20 OUCH) and got fuel ($40). That day DID not go well.

Today, hubby has gone to get cheese and fruit ($7)

Goal - Spend $0 the rest of the week on eating out or other JUNK!

Friday's Financials

Total Spent today - $12.12
MTD Spending - $12.12

We went to Sam's and picked up milk ($2.70 - cheapest place around), two packages of turkey breast & two loaves of french bread.

Dinner was a freebie. I had a bad experience at Taco Bell so they sent me a free coupon for 2 menu items. We got taco salads. They are really expensive (nearly $6 each) and not that great, in my opinion.

Going Green(er)

I am taking babysteps toward living green(er). We do a lot of stuff already but I feel a conviction to do SO MUCH MORE.

• We use cloth napkins instead of paper
• We use dish towels/rags instead of paper towels
• We use baking soda and other natural cleaners (need to do even more)
• We hang dry all tshirts, work shirts, & anything stretchy. (need to start hanging other items)
• We live in a smaller house than many of our peers
  

If you have any tips or ideas or would like to share what you currently do, please leave a comment!

August: Making Changes

So far, I've spent -$0- this month, though I must remember that today is only the 2nd! I do need to do some grocery shopping but I'm trying to use up things in the fridge first.

I have earned an additional $20 from selling some old software online. It isn't much but every little bit helps.

Speaking of using things up, for hubby's lunch today I gave him the last of the cottage cheese on a bed of romaine (wilted but usable) and added some cut up peaches. It looked very appetizing and used up some of the stuff in the fridge.

For dinner, I'm making a stir fry with leftover steak, frozen veggies, and rice.

August Already?

I really haven't done much this week. Now that the girls are gone, things are so very different here. It is quiet. Things stay where I put them. We are going through a lot less food than we were with two growing teenagers in the house. It is quite an adjustment.

My laptop hard drive has a glitch in it. If hubby is unable to recover it, I will have lost all of the photos I took this summer (over 1,500), not to mention all of the other things in my "My Documents" folder. Lesson learned here - don't let photos sit on a hard drive without backup. I'm praying that this stuff is all cleared up soon.

Our water bill was $60 this month. OUCH! I think we've had a raise in rates. I will have to check that out.

Feeling very sad lately. Depression is not a pretty thing.

Frugal Birthdays

Today we attended the 1st birthday of a friend's son. This little boy is my "fairy godchild" and I love to spoil him. I wanted to have nice presents for him, something that would not stand out as being "cheap" when compared with those spendthrifts in the crowd.

On Wednesday I sat down and drew an artist trading card of a dragon for him. I scanned the artwork and sent it to Walgreen's where I had an 8 x 10 and a 4 x 6 made. Total cost with tax was $3.50.

Today I went to a yard sale and was fortunate enough to find two nice learning toys (Leap Frog toys) for 25 cents each. I also found a VERY nice frame with matting (had a picture inside of it that I removed) for $2.00. Batteries for the two toys cost $2 at Dollar Tree.

We cleaned up the toys with a magic eraser (I love those things!) and inserted the batteries. I created a little limited edition label for the back of the picture to make it look more professional. It looked REALLY nice.

Total invested into this gift was $8.00. I did not get a good photo of the gift before I took it to the party, however, this shows the birthday boy (& part of his mommy) with the gifts.

Summer's End

We have one week left of summer vacation with the girls. They go back to their mother's house in 7 days. This means making the most of the upcoming week. It makes me sad to think of them returning to their mom's house, especially since we will only see them about once every 6 weeks or so. I guess I have to remember that like all things, this too shall pass. Life goes on and we will once again get back into the normal routines of life. I'm sure that soon my blog will once again return to its normal frugal-ness. Until then, enjoy the last of your summer!

Somewhat Professional Pictures

I took the girls to Chatanooga this past weekend for my great uncle's 80th birthday party and a mini family reunion. The pictures above were taken at the rest area at the top of MontEagle. The pictures looked professional so I uploaded them to Walgreen's and got wallets made. For $2.00 I got 8 of each pose to send to family members. That is a lot less expensive than taking them in for professional pictures.

I think I may have loosened my thrift belt a little TOO much this past few weeks with the kids here.

Our utility bill came. Gas & electricity for the month was $203! I know that it has been a hot summer but that is crazy! I need to see about getting a few things in order so that our bill is not that high again.

One thing I want is a timer for showers. I would like everyone to take 7 minute or less showers. The kids are taking 20 minute showers every day. Since I don't want to upset them, I don't normally say anything about it.

Another thing I have to do is make a makeshift drying rack. Hubby says he is going to put up a clothes line in the backyard but until he does, I need to do something.

I hate feeling like the utility company is getting all of my spare cash. It is time to do something about it!

Something to Think About

"Some people think they have bad luck when the real problem is that they took bad chances."

Where have I gone?

The girls got here safe and sound on Sunday. It has been a very chaotic week trying to allow them to get acclimated to our house and our rules. Nothing bad, it is just that our rules differ from the ones that they follow at their bio-mom's house.

Earlier in the week, we took a walk to the park. Well, it really is the playground for a now closed elementary school, but it has monkey bars and swings so that makes the kids happy.

I took Rhiannon to Aldi's with me on Monday night. We got two weeks or more worth of groceries for $109. She was shocked by this as her mom spends more than that on dinner food only for one week. Of course, I need to run out and get bread and milk this week but that is about it.

Yesterday I took a neighbor to the doctor. This was a major act of kindness since I do not know her at all. We had to wait 4 hours in the office. It was a long morning. We were able to get into the pool yesterday afternoon. It was the first time we've been in during the day. Of course, being the kind of person that I am, I took a few pictures!

3 Days & Counting

I have been so busy this week. In order to make more room in the house, I had to sell my desk. While I liked the desk, it was not the end of the world. Especially since we had been given the desk, a nice Thomasville piece, over 7 years ago for free. It was a piece leftover after they remodeled the local Ronald McDonald House. The desk traveled from TN to FL and back again with us and has served us well. We made $55 off of the sale so I am happy.

Our new glasses came in the same evening so after finalizing the sale, Hubby & I had to jump in the car and drive into the city. It was late before we got finished and we ended up grabbing dinner out. This was NOT the plan, however, it was justified by Hubby since the money was actually from the desk.

Because we sold the desk, I had tons of rearranging to do. I went through and re-organized my crafting items and was able to get rid of two boxes full of stuff. I freecycled these boxes to a homeschooling mom of 6 who I know can and will use them.

Today I have to finish rearranging the stuff in the girls' room. This should not be too difficult but tedious as I'm going to have to get rid of some of their older items.

My neighbor is having a yard sale next weekend so I may put a few things in there - such as the VHS Disney movies - we have all of them on DVD now so the tapes are just taking up space.

Countdown to Kids

The girls will be here in 6 days. I'm running around trying to get everything done around here. The above photo was taken of the youngest in 2003. She was searching for fae folk.

Doing the Math - Meals on Sunday June 10, 2007

Breakfast - Nothing for either of us
Lunch - The last of the sloppy joe mix for me with a dollop of sour cream - $0.10. Hubby has not eaten as he was at work and too hot to eat. He did have a bottle of gatorade $0.50
Snacks - 2 ice cream sandwiches - $0.17 each
Dinner - Salad made with iceberg, romaine, and spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, chickpeas, & cheese. Topped with chicken tenders and salad dressing. - $6.50

---

Total - $7.44 This still leaves leftover salad for tomorrow. We like having leftovers.

LOL Challenge - Spending

Friday - $0
Saturday - $12 at yard sales where I got 2 gift items, a sheet set & duvet cover for the girls room, 2 outfits for the girls, 4 pairs of sandals, a keyboard for hubby, a curtain for our bathroom (block the sun & save on a/c cost)
Sunday - Bills only (electric/gas bill, water bill & phone bill due today) - $270

Doing the Math - Meals on Saturday June 9, 2007

Breakfast on Saturday was a English muffin for me - $0.25, Jack had a chicken sausage on bun - $1.00

Lunch was leftover sloppy joes for both of us - free

Dinner was $0.88 pizzas for both of us with added cheese and oregano - $2.26

---

The total for our Saturday meals was $3.26!

Doing the Math - Meals on Friday, June 8th

Breakfast today was 2 bananas ($0.25) & a glass of milk ($0.50) for me. Hubby does not like breakfast, however, he does drink soda each morning ($0.25). Total = $1.00

---

Lunch for both of us was a microwave burrito ($0.25), some cucumber slices (0.50), and some ranch dip (0.25) Total = $1.00

---

Hubby drinks a lot of tea and water during the day. We figure that it costs us roughly $0.25 for two quarts of tea. He drinks about $0.75 worth of tea each day Total = $0.75

---

I am going to start "doing the math" on our meals. Tonight I fed Hubby & myself, KK had half of a potato, and we have enough sloppy joes for lunch tomorrow AND about 18 half potatoes left for later meals.

Sloppy Joes -

• 1 pound of ground meat - $1.50
• 1 packet of seasoning - Free (from the free grocery thing) but if I had bought it, we would have spent $0.50
• hamburger buns - $0.50

Total for Sloppy Joes - $2.50 or $0.42 per sandwich (with the full cost of the freebies)

Twice Baked Potatoes -

• 5 pounds of potatoes - $2.00 (26 halves)
• Container of sour cream - $1.50
• Cheese - $0.50
• Real bacon bits - Free (from the free grocery thing) but if I had bought it, we would have spent $0.50 for 1/3 of the bottle
  

Total for Potatoes - $4.50 or $0.18 for each half (with the full price of the freebies)

This means that dinner cost $7.00

---

Our totals for today's meals/beverages is $9.75. I guess that is a pretty good number considering all of the leftovers. I really would like for our total to be $5.00 or less.

The Congressional Food Stamp Challenge

I found out about this via a link today on the Hillbilly Housewife website. I must say that I am quite amused by the whole thing. Who would have thought that the amount of money I spend on groceries each week would be considered a hardship? We routinely spend around $85 per month at Aldi and $50 on Angel Food each month. I do have a few local runs to Save-a-lot for milk but we still keep our budget under $150 for the month. $3 per person per day would average out to $91.25 per person, per month or $182.50 for a family of 2. We don't even spend that much when we have the children here for the summers and they eat quite a bit!

I guess that just goes to show you that perspective is everything. I don't see myself as "poor" or as being "below the poverty level". I suppose one might say that we are since our typical take home right now per month is $2,300 per month (after child support and with my unemployment calculated in). We are not rich people but we have nice things, a nice house, and are happy. What more could a person want?

I think we may add the "Food Stamp Challenge" to our LOL in that we will try to keep our food budget to $182.50 or less per month for a family of 4.

Living on Less

From June 8th until August 3rd, my family will be facing "A Living on Less" challenge. We will be evaluating each purchase to determine if it is, in fact, necessary. We will not allow outside factors to determine how we spend our money.

Our biggest factor will be eating out. The Hubbyman & I will grab fast food rather than fixing something at home. We MUST stop this. If any of you have any ideas as to how to reach this goal, please share them here!

We're eliminating retail stores except for groceries from Aldi. Toilet Paper, generic soda, and trash bags are from the evil empire. But that is it. We do not NEED clothing or toys or games. We don't NEED anything right now except for food.

Needs Versus Wants ... Must evaluate that on every purchase. We will be keeping a track of our spending too so that we can see where the money goes. If anyone wants to join this challenge, please let me know.

Financially Speaking

One would think that by having your oldest daughter turn 18, your child support would go DOWN, however, we are faced instead with an increase of $33 per week. That may not seem like much you but to us that is a large bit of our budget. $33 is more than our weekly grocery budget.

This is not a complaint about child support or anything like that. Please don't think I'm wanting to start a flame war or anything. I'm just being forced yet again to re-evaluate our budget. I'm praying that we can financially afford for me to stay home. My health really depends upon it.

And so, once again, we're going to be tightening our proverbial "thrift belt". It seems impossible for us to tighten it anymore. I'm simply going to be selling more stuff online and promoting myself as a professional organizer. Where there is a will, there is a way. I'm going to find the way!

They're Coming!

Hubby's youngest two girls are coming to spend the summer with us. They haven't been here in two years so we are both very excited.

The girls are 15 and almost 13. They will be here on June 17th. Rhiannon is the middle child and is Daddy's little girl. Jada is 13 and so independent. I am very happy that I'm going to be able to be home with them this summer.

I went shopping in the attic tonight for clothing for them. I found enough jeans & teeshirts for them both but they need shorts and bathing suits. I'm going to scour the yard sales this weekend just for their stuff. It makes me happy to know that the things I've been saving for the past two years will finally be used.

Works for Me: Chopsticks

While making tea in a recycled juice container, I use a funnel to put in the sugar. Sometimes, the sugar sticks. When this happens, I pull out the handy chopsticks from a trip to a Chinese restaurant. (I keep a few of these in a container on my windowsill.) They are the perfect size to get the sugar going through the funnel again!

These chopsticks are used for everything except eating in our house. The kids paint them with nail polish and make them into hair sticks. I use them to turn a tube of fabric inside out. We stir craft paint or glue with them.

The next time you get "disposable" chopsticks, think of all of the great uses for them!

Please visit Rocks in My Dryer for more great ideas!

Returning to the Nest

Since I started my new life as a SAHW (stay at home wife), I've found that I'm constantly looking for ways to make more and save more. I've had pretty good results with selling things at home. I'm cleaning out our cabinets and closets and selling off the un-needed items. I'm keeping a spreadsheet that lists all of the money I've made each month. Since I am a very visual person, this shows me the benefits.

I'm also doing things like planning to put up an clothes line to further benefit from line drying (I already hang dry many things inside). I'm cooking at home a lot more and making use of the things that I currently have on hand.

Hubby says he is happy that I'm home and this makes me happy!

Imaginations

KK had a lot of time playing with her stuffed friends today. I asked her what they were talking about and she looked at me like I was NUTS! Apparently mom & dad don't ask those kinds of questions. Well, in my mind, it is a chance for her to express her creativity! She is really a bright child and needs to express herself often.

I met a really great lady named Cindy from our local Freecycle group. She and I have a lot in common. We're going to get together soon and craft.

The weekend starts in just a few minutes for Hubby. We're going to enjoy a very laid back holiday weekend. Tomorrow is Angel Food pickup and yard sales. Other than that I have very little planned.

It's Here

The time has come, the Walrus said...

KK is here and we're busy planning. She is in the kitchen making a list of the things she would like to accomplish this summer. We have a few requirements: read 60 minutes or more per day and do 30 minutes of math. Other than that, the summer is wide open. She is looking through her craft books for ideas right now. If any of you have links to great sites or any ideas we would love to have them!

Cleaned Up Messes

After 4 hours in the hall bathroom yesterday, I'm happy to report that it is back in good order. I still need to get a curtain rod for over the closet door. Since the room is too small for the door to work effectively, we removed it some time ago. I have a second shower curtain of the same style that I will be putting over the door. I'm embarrassed to show these photos but I am so proud of the results that I'm willing to show off just a bit.

Man Made Messes

I don't know how to handle this. Hubby has become a slob. He has sole use of the hall bathroom and it is disgusting. Hair all over the floor (from shaving his head), hair in the corner of the bathroom (from the previous hair cut, swept up don'tcha know), and stuff everywhere.

We don't have a large house. The bathroom is not equipped with a large countertop or tons of drawer space. I've tried to organize that bathroom hundreds of times and each time he messes it up worse that before.

Today I vowed to clean that bathroom. However, after just 30 minutes, my back is aching (FMS) and I'm grumpy. He came home and got frustrated with me. He raised his voice and made me angry. I hate when things like this happen. He is of the mindset that since I am home I should clean the house. I do agree with this statement. However, I do not think I should have to pick up his bandaid wrappers and put them in the trash. He is a grown man. I would not accept this behavior from a child and I don't feel I should have to accept it from him.

I have to find a way to get this clutter filled room cleaned up. I need strength to get through this day. I need wisdom to know when to stay quiet. I need so many things.

Works for Me: Baskets

It seems like we all have storage issues. Some people use shoe boxes, some use plastic totes. What works for me is baskets. I have big baskets and little baskets, round baskets and square baskets.

If you're looking for additional storage, baskets on a high shelf around a room are decorative and are also a great place to store items. As you can see in my photo, I have shelves like these around the perimeter of my dining area. I store dry beans and rice up there in canning jars and also keep a lot of my baskets up there.I use these to hold everything: my husband's rivets, craft items, office supplies, and anything else that is just sitting around. I even have two large baskets that I use for laundry. Items in a container look much neater to items spread out all over the place.

I pick these wonderful baskets up at yard sales for pennies on the dollar. I get them from family members and as gifts. I cannot remember a time that I bought a new basket. There seem to be so many of them at yard sales. This weekend alone, I saw two great ones - one of which I picked up. It is an old English hamper that I'm now using to house a large portion of my ATC items.

For more WFMW tips, go to Rocks in My Dryer.

**I have to add that I wrote this last night BEFORE I saw Shannon's post!**

Summer Vacation

The schools in our county get out on Thursday for summer vacation. This means that beginning on Friday, I will start watching Neighbor Girl, KK. She really is a sweet girl and is well behaved when she is at my house so watching her should not be that difficult.

We are going to spend 1 hour per day on reading and 1/2 and hour per day on math. KK is an extremely bright girl who gets into a hurry on her work so we're going to work on math to make sure that she remembers to slow down and actually DO it. As far as reading goes, I firmly believe in having children read during the summer. When Hubby's girls would spend the summer here, they were required to read daily. This helped them to gain confidence in reading.

Other that that, KK will probably want to spend time in the pool and on crafts. She is a great kid and having her here will keep me busy for sure.

Looking for Life Insurance

As many of you know, I recently lost my job. With this, I also lost life insurance benefits for myself and my husband. I learned a lesson though this and will not be getting life insurance solely through an employer in the future.

I started looking for life insurance online and I found a great company today, Sleightholm Insurance. The company provides what they call "One Stop Insurance Brokerage", which is auto, home, business, and life insurance as well as other things like annuities.

While I am not a Canadian resident, I was impressed with their website. Sleighthom Insurance is the life insurance brokers for Chatham-Kent Ontario . It is well set up and concise. They even offer an online mortgage calculator that shows amortization schedule calculations free of charge. By using this, I was able to see that my house will be paid off in 18 years, 4 months rather than 20 years just by rounding up on my payment by $50.

If you live in Ontario, please consider Sleightholm Insurance.

Wow, What a Deal!

On Saturday, Hubby & I went to yard sales. We got tons of good deals for $10 including a nice area rug, a brand new copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales, a picnic basket, and more. At the last sale, we found a great deal for Hubby's workshop. They had a brand new tool/work bench for $100. This is easily a $300 bench with a butcher block top, light, pegboard, and drawers. We bargained with them and got the price to $60. Hubby brought it home, added a piece of metal to the top of it so he could use it for welding without damaging the top. It has really has neatened up his workshop and has given him a great space to work.

Free Food!

Last weekend, my husband and I were fortunate to be able to shop in a mini-grocery store for free. You see, Hubby works for an apartment and commercial management company. They owned a small grocery store here in town. The renters moved back to their home country, skipping out on the rent and leaving the place full of foods. After all of the court related stuff was taken care of, Hubby's employers allowed the employees to go shopping in the store for free!



We got everything in the photo above. The rice ended up having some little bugs in it so I threw it away. Everything else has been great! We got enough to share with the neighbors and to give some on Freecycle as well. Needless to say, we got a lot of things we don't normally buy, like Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, energy drinks, and individual sized sodas. These will be nice treats over the next few months. We also got LOTS of beans, like 20 pounds of dry black beans and 3 pounds of white (navy) beans just to name a few. Everyone else was grabbing the sweets and junk while Hubby and I were getting dry beans, pasta, and stuff that will last a while.

This was a great freebie and it makes me feel good knowing that we kept stuff from the landfills as well.

Staying Home

I've been enjoying my time at home. Hubby and I are eating better meals made at home, rather than dashing out or eating quick stuff. I've re-discovered the joy of cooking (Hubby usually cooks since he does a quicker job of it).

I have been searching out work-from-home opportunities and I found a site today that matches up the disabled or have a chronic illness with work-from-home employers. I don't what will come of it but I am hopeful.

In the meantime, I am getting unemployment so we will be able to get by. I also have a small part-time job babysitting my neighbor's daughter this summer. It won't put me above the amount to affect my unemployment but will give me a little extra.

I'm also selling things on our local For-Sale type websites. So far I've made $35 by selling some too small clothing and a science encyclopedia. I plan to get Hubby to drag some stuff from the attic this weekend so I can continue to post and sell.

I am of the belief that every little bit helps. Even $2 or $3 can add up!

Up next, I plan to post about the FREE food we got this weekend!

couponing?

A good friend of mine does the whole couponing thing. She suggested that I try this while I am not working. She says she spends less than 10 hours per week on average and this includes shopping time. I don’t know where to start. Of course, I do understand that I should start by getting a newspaper and cutting out coupons – DUH! – but I’m not sure what to look for. What coupons do you cut out? How do you find the best deals? Stuff like that.

Something to think about!

Funny...

Hubby & I are driving home yesterday & we drive past three, yes three, opossums on the side of the road. I made a comment about opossums liking to play dead. Hubby's response?

"Well, opossums can play dead but they can't play dead AND bloated!"

Lean Times Ahead

On Friday, I lost my job. Basically, after 2 years on the job, they say that I don't fit in well enough. We personally think that because I was diagnosed with Fibro, they decided to cut their losses as soon as possibly. Whatever the reason, I'm currently without an income.

I'm heading to the unemployment office on Monday. After that, Hubby has asked me to take a little time off. He would like for me to find a job from home. I have to look into this further. I have found a few legitimate places that are incoming call centers. I'd love doing something like typing or accounting or something from home. Who knows, I could just be dreaming.

Any suggestions that you may have on ways to make money from home would be greatly appreciated.

I'll post about my yard sale finds tomorrow

Need a Thrift Store?

The Thrift Shopper lists thrift stores by city or ZIP. It is a nice site especially if you're going to be visiting another town.

Nothingness, Nashville, and Side Jobs

It has been a very laid back sort of week at our house. We have not done much in outside of working this week. Hubby is getting a little frustrated and is ready for a vacation. We are both looking forward to our mini-vacation to Nashville, TN tomorrow. We will be leaving home at noon tomorrow and won’t do much other than dinner out and the concert. On Saturday, we hope to get in some shopping. We don’t want to go to the mall or anything. Our main objective is to find a few interesting thrift stores and check out their goods. This is a far cry from my past life. When I was married the first time, my then husband and I went to Nashville for our honeymoon. We spent two days shopping in every single mall. It exhausted me and he loved it! To say I am not much of a shopper is an accurate statement!

On a financial note, Hubby has a few side jobs lined up. Both of them were by word of mouth. I love that he did one job for a lady off of an online group and she has referred him to two other couples. One of the couples had him to paint the front porch and as a result of this, they sold their house quickly. Now they have called him again to have him come out to do a few minor things that the realtor wanted repaired. He has to give one bid this afternoon and another on Tuesday. The first job will probably be done on Sunday afternoon. This is a good thing. We want to build up our funds again.

Agenda, Yard Sales, and Eating Out

I cannot say that this weekend was particularly fruitful for me. I really did not accomplish the goals I set for myself. This week, I will try to find the time to make granola and laundry detergent!

Mom and I went to yard sales on Saturday morning. I got 13 books (4 of which were for my mom), a cool diffuser necklace, a set of Pilates cards and exercise book, some kitty toys, and my mom bought me an Eeyore bubble blower (these sold at the Disney Store for $20 or so!). I spent a total of $8.

We went back out after eating a light breakfast at 10:30 and we hit a few more sales. None of these had anything worth getting, except for one. We stopped only because it was next to another sale. There I found a big bag full of t-shirts. They were all the same (grey Reebok tees) in M, L, and XL sizes. I casually asked the price. The lady said $1 each. These were priced $15.99 on the tags! They bought them for a ball team and ended up not using them after all. I snagged all of the ones in a size L (6 in all) and paid $5.00. My mom got 3 of the XL ones for herself. The 6 I got are for my husband to wear to work. I could not buy him the generic thin tees for that price!

My total spent for the day was $12. This is more than my norm but is still very good.

Hubby was working on the car most of the weekend. On Saturday evening, he said he wanted to go out to dinner. I know he was trying to be nice to me since I’d had a trying day. However, I also knew that $25 or so for dinner was not in the budget! Instead I went into the kitchen and cleaned it up some (it was a mess from Hubby’s cooking earlier in the week) before making twice baked potatoes and defrosting chicken. We ended up eating chicken fettuccini and saving the potatoes for snacks (Hubby loves these). Dinner cost less than $3 instead of $25.

Frugally Speaking

This week has been an expensive one for our little family. $340 for two new front tires on my car yesterday is going to make for even leaner times ahead.

I have decided that I have to stop beating myself up over the little things. In life, we have to have faith that things will turn out right. My worrying won’t make the money magically appear. Meditation and prayer will calm the nerves and the rest will fall into place.

I’ve been looking around on the internet while at work (it has been a slow week) and found a few things I can do to save some money.

-- I would like to try my hand at homemade granola. I love granola on yogurt and I also like it as a cereal. The stuff isn’t very cheap and I never see coupons for it. Also, I don’t like dates or nuts in mine so if I make it, those can be eliminated.

-- I think I’m going to attempt to make homemade laundry detergent.

Any suggestions for these two items or other money saving ideas can be left in the comments!

Free Pearl Earrings

Pearls and more Pearls

List O' Freebies

Do any of you keep track of the Freebies that come into your life? I have found that it is very rewarding to see these things listed. The last page in my paper journal is reserved for these little things. Be it a donut at work or a book from the local freecycle group, whatever it is, I will write it down.

On those days when I’m feeling particularly low or when I feel like I am beating my head against a wall with these frugal endeavors, I like to read over the list. It makes me feel good.

I also keep a list of the random kindnesses I do for others. This forces me to focus on being kind and generous to my fellowman.

---

Today, my boss took us out to lunch for a co-worker's birthday. We were treated to P.F. Changs and had so much food that I have enough left over for dinner tonight for Hubby and myself!

Thoughts on Debt Reduction

I have gotten some advice from people on fine tuning our budget. I will be considering some of their opinions such as cutting down on Hubby’s soda and trying to get our credit card debt down to just one card.

Another thing I did not mention is that Hubby does earn money from time to time on side jobs (painting, drywall, HVAC, etc). This money is split 50% to credit cards, 25% to savings (emergency fund), and 25% is his ‘extra’ money. We use this for little things we may want but certainly do not need.

Hubby also makes armour. This money is split in a similar way but 25% goes back into materials or supplies for his workshop.

I am trying to get a Free Checking account. We want to go with Univest but will need a local bank to deposit Hubby’s check since his company does not offer direct deposit. Mine could be directly deposited into our main account. We would gain a small interest amount which is higher than we currently get on our savings account. I’m also changing our savings account to one without a fee. This one is charging $5 if you get below $500. Normally this does not happen but this month, for the second time ever; we’re getting hit with this fee. If I can get the accounts changed over, we will have put an additional $120 in our pockets. That money can go straight to the credit card bills. $10 may not sound like a lot but it really can add up!

In theory, by July, we could be putting an additional $50 per month on the credit card bills. This would really help to get the amounts down.

I found this great calculator for debt reduction (http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/debtplanner/debtplanner.jsp) from CNN. Based upon their calculations which are so much better than my own estimations, we will be debt free in 1 year and 8 months! This gives me an incentive. I would like to get it paid off sooner by making payments when we have extra funds available.

Hubby is on board with this too. He wants to get it paid off as soon as possible. This is a good thing because if we both have the same goal, we can encourage each other!

My Current Budget

Take Home – Bi Weekly = $690

Outgoing – Bi Weekly
House Payment - $375 (1/2 of the total)
Credit Card - $75
Angel Food - $25 (food package)
Soda/Beer (Hubby) - $20
Groceries - $75
Household Expense - $25
Pets (food & litter for 2 dogs and 4 cats) - $30
Yard Sales (clothing, gifts, etc) - $25
TOTAL Outgoing = $650

Take Home – Bi Monthly = $895

Savings = $100

Outgoing – Bi Monthly (Last Day of Month)
Car Insurance - $85
House Insurance - $65
Home Phone - $30
Internet - $45
Water and trash removal - $40
Property Taxes - $75
Gasoline - $150 (based on one tank of gas per week for me and one every other week for Hubby)
My nails - $20 (I have gel nail overlays)
Credit cards - $175
Medical - $50
Stop Smoking Aids - $40
TOTAL Outgoing = $791

Outgoing – Bi Monthly (15th of Month)
Bank Fees - $10
Call Phone - $112
Curves $32
Electric and gas - $225
Satellite - $55
Gasoline - $150 (based on one tank of gas per week for me and one every other week for Hubby)
SCA (Our Hobby) - $50 (this goes in savings until we need it for event fees)
My nails - $20 (I have gel nail overlays)
Credit cards - $40
Medical - $50
Stop Smoking Aids - $40
TOTAL Outgoing = $784

I can see a few things that are not frugal:

• My nails for one. However, I have razor sharp nails that have actually cut my scalp and face while sleeping. The gel makes them not so sharp and therefore safe.


• Curves - I'm in a contract for one year. The doctor prescribed exercise and I thought this was the best option at the time.


• Soda & Beer - Hubby does not ask for much. He just likes the occasional cold beer and would like soda to be avaialble.

Need Your Advice Please

Today I calculated our take home income. It isn’t very pretty. Both of us work full time jobs and yet, after taxes, child support, medical insurance, and life insurance, our household income is roughly $38,000. This is roughly 63% of our combined wages.

Straight away, we put $2,400 aside for savings. This money ends up being used for our property taxes each year ($1,065 for 2006). I want to change that if I can. I would like to find ways to pay off our credit card debt (around $5,500) and save more money for emergencies.

I feel as if I am already doing most all of the things posed by other people as being frugal. I already use cloth napkins, shop at Aldi or Save-a-Lot, make food from scratch, etc. We wear yard sale or thrift store clothing 99% of the time. I'm already paying an extra $50 to principle on our house payment each month. In fact, the way we've set up payments, we also make an extra payment each year.

I've been a thrifty person most of my life. I don't really know of any other places where I can cut my spending (besides the item I’m mentioned in my previous post).

My challenge to you is for you to suggest ways that we can tighten our financial belts and save more money.

I will be posting all of our saving techniques here and will let you know if they work or not.

Smoking Away Our Cash

At our house, we are trying to find ways to cut costs even more.

The first thing we are doing will actually cost us money for a few weeks. Hubby is going to quit smoking. He had gotten to where he was smoking a pack of cigarettes each day at a cost of roughly $2.20 per day. (OUCH!) He decided that he would like to quit.

I was sent a 2 week supply of the nicotine patches a few months ago. He is starting out on these. We were also given about 10 coupons for $7 off a box of the patches. However, upon doing a cost per patch analysis, I found that it would be cheaper to purchase the patches in generic form from Sam’s Club. It will cost just about $2.50 per patch for approximately 6 to 8 weeks. Two months of spending more will be worth it once we begin reaping the benefits of an additional $15 per week ($800 per year!!). I will be putting this money into a glass jar at home for a while so that my husband can see just what he is saving by not smoking.

Frustrations

We have Dish Network at our house. I know it isn’t the most frugal thing to have but we have it. About a month and a half ago, someone called and offered us a special on Showtime. We agreed as long as we could drop Starz at no cost. Did you know they charge $5 to change your service?! We got the bill. It was $88! We were charged for two premium packages!!

Hubby called them today and got nowhere. The phone employees are all overseas (India? Pakistan?) and they have language barriers. While I realize that they are just doing their job, don’t they realize that I do not want to pay them that kind of money for services I do not have?

We really enjoy watching television at our house. However, after the treatment we received from three employees today, I do believe that when our contract is up with Dish Network, we will cancel our service.

I sent a complaint email today. They are supposed to respond within 24 hours. I’ll keep you posted!

Gutter Talk

Last Wednesday, I checked my email to find that someone was giving away rain gutters. Her husband did not like to clean them so they were tearing them down. I jumped on the offer and explained in email that Hubby and I would love to have these gutters to put up on our home. I went on to tell her that we are working on improving an older property (40 years old in a Military town) as inexpensively as we can.

The lady gave us the gutters because we were actually going to use them and not just sell them for aluminum scrap!

Yesterday, my Beloved and I put them up. Our house is a smaller (1100 sq ft) ranch house with a peak on one side of the roof structure. We put the gutters on the flat side and still have enough to do the front and possibly the back of the Hubby’s small workshop.

Our total monetary investment in the entire job (house and workshop) is $18. This was the cost of the end caps, downspout cut out thing, and brackets. We mainly reused the screws and stuff already attached to the gutters. At one point, we thought we’d need to go out and purchase a piece to join the two lengths we used for the front of the house. At my suggestion, Hubby fabricated his own piece from the scraps. That is $5 or so saved right there! Hubby estimates that the total cost would have been around $175 if we’d purchased new from the home improvement store.

Incidentally, these gutters are the higher quality ones not the flimsy ones that one would buy and install themselves. We got high quality gutters for $18 and some sweat equity!

I should add that we have quite a few tools around our house. Hubby used a chop saw, a caulk gun, pliers, and a drill that we already own to complete the job. The whole thing was done in less than 2 hours.

The house looks different now. I think it looks more put together. We still need to hose them off but they look great! The best thing about them is when it rains, we won’t have a mini lake in front of our porch!

Going, Going, Gone!

The past few days have not been very frugal. Hubby and I had to dip into our already diminished savings in order to purchase a much needed part for my beloved car. You see, my car is a Camaro convertible. It was not the car I picked rather it picked me. She has been a great car but lets face it, she is 10 years old. We knew that the top was going about a year ago. My nephew was living with us when I got my car (used in 2001). To my dismay I found that he was putting his school books on the convertible top while waiting for the school bus! This stretched the canvas. Over time, weather, sun, and wind have damaged it.

We knew the lowest price for one through a catalog company (with hubby doing the labor) was $850 plus shipping and that was only if they were able to get the item. Ouch! The idea was to hold off for a while and re-build the savings account. However, the car had other ideas! Last week I noticed that the entire top of the back window had released from the canvas. The bottom did this in the past and we repaired it temporarily with duct tape. Since this was not repairable, we had to suck it up and order a new top and back glass panel.

Before going to the low priced catalog company, Hubby checked out ebay. To his delight, he found a company that uses factory specs to custom make the top. The item comes with all of the hardware necessary, a 7 year warranty, and instructions. The best part is that it cost only $515 WITH shipping!

So yes, I find it hard to realize that our savings is basically gone. However, I know that we can and will build it back up soon. Things happen in life and we have to roll with the punches.

If you want to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. ~Dolly Parton

Super Special Day

Hubby & I have a Super Special Day coming up. I'm so excited that I must share.

One of my favorite musicians of all times is Loreena McKennit. You can visit her at her webpage which is www.quinlanroad.com. I never thought she would tour again, much less in the United States. Hubby and I always agreed that should she perform anywhere near us, we would do our best to attend.

Lo and behold, Loreena McKennit is touring Europe and the US to promote her newest album. She is coming to Nashville on April 27th and is playing the Ryman Auditorium! I found out about it before tickets went on sale to the public. As a member of her e-newsletter, I was able to order tickets in advance. We're sitting 4th row center. We feel so lucky!

Anyway, the Super Speical Day is really two days. We're going to Nashville early and plan to have a nice late lunch. We've reserved a lower priced hotel room about 12 miles away ($59 as opposed to $189 closer to downtown). We would like to find something fun to do Friday during the day and possibly even Saturday morning. We love thrift shopping, flea markets, yard sales, etc. We're not really "mall people" so to speak. I thought we may go to the zoo or something.

If anybody has suggestions, please share them!

Pixie Wardrobe - Monday

Dark orange shirt - Free (Freecycle)
Olive green pants - Free (Freecycle)
Black socks - Free (Freecycle)
Birkenstocks - $4

Cheap outfit today, my friends. LOL!

Pixie Wardrobe - Thursday

It has gotten cool again here in the Mid-South so I had to pull out a jacket. This should add to the "price" of my daily wardrobe.

- Khakis - Free from a fellow Freecycler
- Black polo shirt - Free from my mom (she paid 50 cents for it at a church yard sale)
- Rainbow "happy" socks - 50 cents
- 6 year old Birkenstocks - $4 in new condition from a flea market in FL
- Red & grey fleece jacket - Free from my neighbor (payment for helping with her yard sale)

Total - $4.50

Playing in the Pantry

Hubby & I did something last night that really NEEDED to be done a long time ago. We cleaned and organized the pantry. Our pantry was added into a previously empty space in the kitchen just before we moved into the house 3 years ago (we rented first then purchased). While I like having a pantry, this one is quite inconvenient for us.

I found that we had too much opened stuff. I think the company helped themselves to things and as a result, I had two bags of pretzels opened and several other duplicates. I solved this by putting them into a plastic container. All snacks are in a big plastic container.

After looking at our pantry, I realize why people say there is nothing to eat at our house. I have 3 kinds of flour, sugar, dry beans, rice, pasta, cocoa, and various other ingredients. The only pre-made things are animal crackers, graham crackers, saltines, and pretzels. There are no snack cakes or oreos or anything like that. If we want cookies, we use the raw ingredients to make them. To the untrained eye, I guess we really must be starving! *Giggle*

By cleaning the pantry, I was able to better organize things. I have put like items together and that makes it easier to see what I have on hand. This weekend, I hope to stock up on a few of the depleted items so that I have a full larder once again.

We had company last night and of course, that ruined our budget! While I did not succumb to the “Let’s go out to sushi” request, we did go get 5 for $5 burgers from Sonic. This was, for us, a compromise. While I would love to go out for a nice sushi treat with Hubby, it would be better enjoyed on a weekend when we could linger over our meal and spend time together. A quick weekday meal would ruin the experience for me.

Tonight I’m making up another batch of pasta salad. I have all of the ingredients on hand and this makes enough for those quick weekend lunches. I probably will not serve this for dinner though since it tastes better once chilled. I think tonight potato soup from the freezer.

I need to remember to cook when I feel well enough and store the foods in the freezer. I do want to do an inventory of the freezer(s) soon so I can keep up with my cooking. I hate it when I feel I have to eat out or eat junk because I feel so horrid.

Building, Learning, And Earning

This weekend, my husband took the time to build a very sturdy set of shelves. The only out of pocket cost was for the 2 x 4’s. The other materials were items that we had on hand. These shelves are very sturdy and are much like those used in factory settings. He made them large enough so that each of the 3 shelves will hold 6 of the large plastic storage totes. The bottom shelf will actually house the big sized tools (shop vac, etc.). This will allow us to store all of our camping equipment, car repair/car wash items, tools, etc. on our screened in patio rather than outside in his sheet metal shop. By moving the items to the patio area, the shop is then opened up so that Hubby can once again work on his side business making medieval styled armour for sale.

We did not have enough totes to hold all of the miscellaneous items so Hubby ran to the store to get some. Our neighbor saw him unloading the totes and offered to give us as many spares as we needed. What a blessing! We were able to return the 6 totes and get our money back! This serves to remind me that I should always ask around before making a purchase. These totes technically could have waited until we could get them second hand. We need to remember to be patient and wait for things to come to us.

Thanks to a side job that Hubby did yesterday we have the money for our taxes without having to dip into savings. This is a blessing because we just had to pull $1100 out for property taxes last month. This left us with a very small balance that we’re trying to grow once again.

We also have enough left over to do a little home improvement. Hubby would like to do some pea gravel paths in our yard. It will beautify our little piece of land without having to re-sod the grass. Grass really does not like to grow in our front yard. We put in a front garden last year that spans a large portion in front of our house. Since we used herbs in this garden, 95% of it is coming back beautifully. I love the look of a somewhat wild garden!

Need Suggestions

On Sunday, my parents are coming over for lunch. It is a combination easter and birthday dinner (my mom's birthday was April 1st). I have also invited my neighbor and her two children to come over.

I want to cook a good, low cost meal. It does not need to be traditional easter fare, just good home cooking. I am feeding 5 adults and 2 kids. Please give me any and all suggestions!!!

Pixie Wardrobe - Weekend & Monday

Saturday:
Denim capris - $1
Flip Flops - 50 cents
Red Foot Locker brand teeshirt - free
Total - $1.50

Sunday:
Denim capris - $1
Flip Flops - 50 cents
Purple tshirt from mom - free
Total - $1.50

Monday:
Khaki pants - $1 at a thrift store no less than 5 years ago (worn nicely now!)
Light yellow shirt - free from freecycle bag of goodies
black thin jacket (kept at work for cool days) - 25 cents from a yard sale
brown sandals - $9 (Yes, I'm getting a lot of use out of them!)
Total - $10.25

Yard Sales + Lots of Walking = Fibro Flare!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I went to a community yard sale on Saturday and I guess I did too much. Now I'm paying the price for my "fun" so to speak.

I got 12 books for a total of $3.75. This means I paid right at 31 cents per book. Two of them are a gift for my mom for her birthday. The others will probably be read and either given to my mom or sold at the local Bookrack. I can trade books there for same genre books. They take my books and give me 1/4 of cover price. They sell them at 1/2 of cover price. If I pay 50 cents or so for the book, in essence I am making money.

I also got a clock for my kitchen ($1). We are in the process of remodeling this room and the clock is the perfect match to the colors and style I selected.

I picked up a nice decorative basket to sit on the kitchen counter to hold my medications for $1.00. I also got hubby a new (literally) belt ($1) and pair of like new shoes ($1). I got a tea light style lamp ($1), a party lite bowl and plate set ($1), and a small Tupperware brand container (50 cents).

All in all I think I quite well. I did not find any work shorts or tees for Hubby but I still have the rest of the summer left for 'shopping'. We're not in a desperate need for these items but they are things he will definately need and use.

The rest of the weekend was spent trying to recouperate. I did manage to get the kitchen cleaned up and part of the refrigerator organized but that took 1 1/2 hours instead of the normal 20 minutes. I didn't get the summer stuff out of the attic or the winter stuff put up. I guess that can wait until later in the week.

Changing Your Way of Thinking

This morning, I went to the closet to pick out my clothes for the day. It is "jeans day" at work so the bottoms were a given since I only own two pairs of jeans and they are both identical! It took me a few minutes to find a shirt. I had several to choose from but I thought “no, I wore that one last week”. Automatically my thought was “okay, I need to get some more shirts”. I looked in my closet which is overflowing with various shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts, etc. and came to a realization.

I do not NEED to buy any more clothes.

Unfortunately, this is the typical way of thinking in the world today. We feel that we need more than X number of shirts or skirts or pants because it is proper to wear something different for X number of days. While yes, I’m going to stick with wearing something different every day in a single week, I’m not going to allow myself to think that just because I wore a particularly nice orange colored shirt last Thursday that I cannot wear it this Friday. That is just crazy!

After giving myself a metal talking to, I went ahead and wore the nice orange shirt to work today. I have nice clothes. I will wear them and wear them proudly.

I did decide that I will be going through all of our clothing this week, mending and putting up winter items, and determining what additional things I will need to look for this summer at yard sales. While I’m at it, I will try to eliminate some of the excess in the closets.

Thinking Outloud

Does anyone else walk around their house and see just how much of their stuff was purchased new versus second hand?

I'm always amazed when people walk through my house and tell me how nice and put together everything looks. I sit back and smile knowing that the vast majority of the items were purchased used, gotten for free, handmade, or purchased on sale. The few items that were purchased new were (usually) well planned out and are good picks for us.

My living room contains a nice sectional sofa that my mom purchased from a friend in October for $300. She hated it so she gave it to me. We love it and it gives us more sitting room in our very small 1960's style living room. Also in the room is a 32" console tv that hubby got from work. The sound did not work so someone just left it behind. We simply routed the sound through our stereo system and it works great! Around the tv is an entertainment center that hubby built. It is huge and holds everything from books to collections to dvd players, etc. We also have a bookshelf from Freecycle and my grandmother's antique sewing machine in here.

The only items we got new are the curtains (which were on sale) and the fireplace. The fireplace is one of those electric heaters. It has saved us tons of money on our heating bill in the two winters that we have had it.

I'm contemplating taking pictures of each room and posting them. I wonder if people would be interested?

Pixie Wardrobe - Wednesday

Today is a more expensive clothing day for me. I know, I know...how am I supposed to promote frugality when I buy NEW clothing! *Giggle*

My shirt is a Wally World special that I bought on clearance last year for less than $5. I'm also wearing the brown sandals ($9) and a pair of pink capris ($1.50) that I got last fall. I'm still under $16 for the whole outfit.

It sounds like I wear capris every day, doesn't it? I'll try to get some variety soon!

Pixie Wardrobe - Tuesday

I'm wearing a pair of the capri pants that I got last fall, a red shirt from Talbots, and my black sandals. Shoes included, this outfit cost maybe $12. I got the shirt at Goodwill on 1/2 price Wednesday for $1.50.

I love looking at my clothing and knowing that I can look 'put together' for less!

Never Again...

I let a friend trim my tailbone length hair on New Year's Eve. Today on the way home from work, I looked at the ends in the sunlight and was horrified to see that I had tons and tons of split ends! Apparently when my friend cut it, she used DULL scissors! As a result of this, I lost 11 1/2" of length today.

I am in tears. The last time I allowed anyone besides my husband to trim it, it went from bra strap length to my shoulders. 6 years later, I let someone else touch it and it happens again.

I'm in tears...

The moral of the story is to keep people away from your hair!

Free Movie Tickets!

Good for any showing on opening weekend, March 30th – April 1st

You can get up to 10 free tickets per person.

Peaceful Warrior

It looks like a good movie. Free is always a good thing!

In The Black!

Remember a few days ago when I was talking about how badly we’d messed up our checking account? Long story short, we had some financial issues that were compounded when we found out that hubby’s company wasn’t paying him for 5 days of vacation but was only paying for 3. This meant that the check he had waiting for us when we got home was short by 26 hours and the next one (due 3/30) would be short 12 hours. This was havoc on an already precarious situation.

Luckily my beloved hubby is resourceful. He got two side jobs lined up this weekend and made roughly $600! He also was able to sell off a piece of armour for $300. True he will have to build another piece for himself before fighting again but at least he was able to get the funds when we needed them. Thanks to him giving up his weekend, we’re once again in the black. Not much, but we are IN THE BLACK!

Now…I have to do our income taxes. *Groan* I hope those are not too much money!

Fast Food Frenzie

On my drive to work, I tend to think a lot. What else is there to do in a 30 minute commute besides think or road rage? Today’s thoughts went toward thrift and the mistakes I seem to be repeating over and over.

For example, going out to eat when there is plenty of good food in the house. We have lots of food at the house – I went to Aldi on Saturday and spent $68 (with tax) on groceries for the next two weeks. Yet we still go out to eat.

Last night, hubby was coming home from a side job that had him busy from 9:00 until 4:30. I told him that I saw a kickboxing training bag being thrown away by a neighbor. Hubby wanted it to use for SCA practice. After he picked it up, he came home and I went outside to see if I could help him. Apparently it was still full of water (water weights it down) and it slipped as he tried to lift it down. It hit his glasses and the glasses bent horribly and gashed his eye.

First thing I wanted to do was go to the ER. He refused but did agree to butterfly stitches from Walgreens. So after cleaning him up, off we go to Walgreens. $2.16 later, we are in the car. Hubby is starving. I am worried about him. Dinner prep has not been done.

What do we do?

We go to a local Mexican restaurant. Our total was $18. $18! That is a big chunk of my weekly food budget. WHY do I do this? This is our biggest budget destroyer.

Do any of you have suggestions for curbing this monster???

Pixie Wardrobe

Today I’m wearing a ¾ length sleeve shirt (very thin) in an off white color, light lime colored capri pants, and sandals. The shirt was free, the capri pants cost $1 at a yard sale, and the sandals were one of the two pairs I bought this week for $9. Total, the outfit, with shoes, without undergarments cost $10. This is higher than a lot of mine because I usually have inexpensive shoes.

The sandals were bought in brown and black. They are flip flop styles with little beads sewn on them. They were inexpensive but dressy enough for work. Had I not gotten these, I would not have had suitable shoes to wear with my 4 “new” pairs of capri pants that I bought for this summer’s work wardrobe.

Last year, in October I found a lot of clothing on one of the local online garage sale sites. For $7, I got 3 pairs of capri pants, a pair of dress slacks for work, and a few other items. It ended up costing less that $1 per item so I was happy. I put them up in a storage tote and just pulled them out again this week. The temps are in the mid-80’s so it is definitely capri season!

Check this out!

You can go here and win a blog makeover!

I signed up for this and so should you! I know my blog really needs the help!

Thrifty Spring Cleaning

Today I want to air out the house a bit and get some Spring Cleaning underway. Here in the Mid-south we are having unseasonably warm weather. Today is supposed to get to 84 degrees! I refuse to start using the air conditioning this early in the season. I have been using the ceiling fans and an additional squirrel cage fan that hubby uses at work in the hottest part of the afternoon. Since the morning hours are generally the coolest, I think I will take advantage of that. I want to work on the living room and the master bedroom today. De-cluttering, dusting (oh my allergies), and generally tiddying shall commence soon - with lots of breaks of course. Having a chronic illness puts a damper on doing lots of strenuous activities. Oh well, even if it takes me all day long, at least it will be done!

Fitting In – Or Not

This is a question for those of you who work outside of the home. Do you ever feel a need to tune out the conversations around you? Are you ever just appalled by the things people spend their hard earned money on?

One person I work with went shopping and found a pair of $69 sandals that she plans to purchase soon. Another was talking about the drinks she gets each day at Starbucks. They all go out to lunch on a daily basis. A third talks about all of the shoes she owns – over 100 pairs and how each pair matches a particular outfit.

Today I went out for lunch. It was a co-worker’s birthday and the company paid for our lunch. The only time I ever go out to lunch is when it is a situation like this. Quite honestly, I can think of hundreds of other things I would rather spend money on! My lunch was a burrito ($8.99) and lemonade ($1.99). While yes, the food was very tasty, I could not help thinking about how that one meal with tip was ¼ of our weekly grocery budget! Add in the food items for the entire party of 4 and you’ve got my grocery budget for a week or two. That is crazy!

The conversations at lunch were interesting as well.

One person commented that a particular restaurant was nice. Two meals and drinks costs over $100! $100 for dinner? For two people? Talk about a culture shock!

The there was the comment about Costco and how they are better than Sam’s because they take credit cards. The products bought there: paper plates, paper towels, and other convenience items that are not necessary or earth friendly. This person’s wife is a stay at home mom. What do they need all the convenience items for?

---

I guess I do not fit in at work. My goals for life, my values, and everything make me different from those around me. Sometimes it is easier just to put on my headphones and tune them out!

Dinner at the Pixie Hut

People seem to want to know what I’m eating so I thought I would share that with you here. I will try to break down the cost when I am able. Oftentimes though it will be a guess because we do get food from alternate sources like Angel Food Ministries.

Last night, we had spaghetti with homemade sauce. I made up a lot of food a few weeks before our vacation and put it in boil bags. At that time, I made the sauce with 6 cans of tomato sauce, 3 cans of tomatoes, 2 cans of olives, 1 ½ pounds of ground turkey/beef mixture, and seasonings.

Tomatoes and tomato sauce are 3/$1 at Save a Lot. Olives are 2/$1. Ground beef and g round turkey are from Angel Food Ministries and the price breaks down to about $1/pound. This means that minus spices I spent $5.50 to make a huge crockpot full of sauce. It was enough for at least 6 – 10 meals for us. Since I did not figure this as accurately as I should have, we will say that the sauce cost $0.75 for two people. A whole box of spaghetti costs less than $1 per pound. We use less than half a box or $0.50. This means that for $1.25 I fed both of us with some leftovers.

Tonight is going to be an fast food night: chicken tenders and French fries. We get a lot of nice white meat chicken tenders from Angel Food so we have “tender and fries” night every week or so. The fries are from Save a Lot (this time) and cost $1.99 for 3 pounds. This meal cost about $3 for both of us with leftover fries for my French fry loving husky. Compared to McDonalds or the like, this is a very inexpensive fast food meal.

Another Low-Cost Outfit

Today I am wearing:

Sage green v-neck tee (Faded Glory) (I saw these same shirts at the store in the fall for around $12) - $0.50
Capri jeans (Carolina Blues) - $2
Slide on tennis shoes (No Boundaries) – Free (found by hubby)

This outfit could have easily been purchased at my neighborhood wallyworld for $45 or so, including the shoes. Instead I spent $2.50 on the whole ensemble. Go me!

I am trying to get to the point where 100% of my clothing comes from thrift stores, yard sales, or the like. Right now I’m at about 90%. My two pairs of jeans came from Target. However, I did not just go out and buy them. I exhausted all efforts to get them from other sources. All of my other jeans were too big (falling off – with a belt). I bought mid-priced, high quality jeans from Target knowing that my jeans always last about 4 to 5 years and should I lose weight, they would easily resell.

Incidentally, I sold one bag of my too big jeans for $10 and donated another big bag to my mom. I am always tickled to get the same amount out of the item as I put into it at a thrift store years before. It is like I essentially got to wear it for free!

Free Food

I brought my lunch to work on Wednesday and it is still sitting in the fridge here at work. No, I’m not on a fad diet; quite the opposite actually. The officers here at work have had meeting this week. When they have leftovers, they are put into the break room for everyone to enjoy. Yesterday, I had a really nice egg, sausage, & cheese concoction on a flatbread. There were enough of those left for me to take a few home for dinner last night. Today, I had a bacon, eggs, and cheese croissant and fresh strawberries and pineapple chunks.

Some of the people here turn up their noses at the food because it is “leftovers”. I guess I’m of the mindset that if I do not have to eat the lunch I brought today it will be good tomorrow. I don’t snub freebies as long as they are properly contained. Free is free after all!

Thrifty Lunches

Thanks to an idea I saw on a blog yesterday (sorry I forget which one), I made up a big container of pasta salad. This is a great lunch or snack for me to take to work. My whole container (at least 10 -15 servings) cost me less than $2.25.I had a free bottle of Italian salad dressing from my mom. Next time I will have to pay for dressing but that will make it about $3.25 for the batch.

Garden Rotini Pasta ($1)
2 Cans of Tuna – drained well ($1)
1 Bottle of Italian salad dressing (Free)
Garlic Salt & Pepper (5cents?)
Sprinkle Parmesan Cheese (20 cents?)

I just ate a snack of it and boy is it good!!

Thrills

Do any of you get a thrill out of knowing that your clothing costs significantly less than that of your peers? Perhaps I am strange but I think about these things on my way to work in the morning (hey, I have a 20 mile commute!).

I work in a corporate office. We dress business casual Monday – Thursday and have “jeans day” on Friday. Today’s outfit (minus panties and bra) cost me about $1.

I am wearing a long khaki skirt (free), a light orange knit shirt (free), and Bass brand sandals ($1 at a yard sale). The free items came from a local freecycle group or from some items hubby found at work (he works in apartment maintenance and gets some stuff from time to time). The skirt is “Tape measure” brand which I know is sold at Macy’s (I bought some shorts in this brand 11 years ago!). The shirt is “Lands End”.

The things I wear are not crappy, polyester, out of date things. I look appropriate for the workplace. My clothing is comparable to that of my co-workers. The only difference is that I spend significantly less. In fact, I would be willing to bet that my entire closet full of clothing for both myself and my husband costs less than one week’s worth of business outfits for my co-workers (not including shoes)!

Yeah, I get my thrills in strange ways!!

Frugal Blogroll

I have to admit that I've been a secret reader of Life in a Shoe for quite a while. While I am not a mother to numerous children or anything, I do admire the moms who have a large family. I am not able to bear children myself and hubby had a vesectomy while married to his ex-wife.

Anyway, today, while reading some of the frugal blogs, I noticed that there was a Frugal Blogroll. While I am still a novice in the blog-world, I thought it would be a good idea to be invoved in a blogroll that supports ideas that I believe in.

That being said, I jumped in and joined The Frugal Blogroll. I hope that those of you with frugal blogs will join too!

Falling Off the Wagon

Hello, my name is Kali and I’ve fallen off of the wagon.

This is where you’re supposed to say “Hi Kali”.

As a result of circumstances beyond my control (i.e. excessive spending by my spouse, vacation issues, etc.), I am seriously in debt. I do not want to dwell upon how I got into this hole; instead I’m going to do whatever I can to dig myself out. I am going to be positive and put my best self forward.

There is really no way for me to earn more money at my job so I will instead focus on shaving money off of our daily living expenses. Please do not suggest I get a second job. I physically cannot take on any additional work. I have fibromyagia and working one job is difficult enough. My husband, however, is willing and able to take on additional duties. He is trying to get a bit of overtime from his job in the next few weeks. We also are promoting his side business in the hopes of obtaining a few night or weekend jobs.

The main area where we can save money is on food and spending. We have a habit of going out to eat WAY too much. This costs quite a bit of money ($30 at a sit down restaurant) and also allows the food at home to spoil. In order to cut down on this, I will be taking a more active role in planning and cooking our meals.

Our weekly food budget is $60 for food, beer, and soda. Hubby drinks soda and the occasional beer so I add that into our budget. However, if I will stay on top of things and make tea and lemonade, he will drink at least 1/3 less of soda. He does drink generic soda ($0.58 per 2 liter) so I cannot complain too much. We also allocate $50 per month to purchase Angel Food packages.

I would like to get this down to $30 per week by supplementing with our Angel Food products. This is going to be a challenge for me. The Aldi Queen had an Iron Chef Moms Challenge last week that inspired me. I want to calculate the cost of our meals for the week. It would be nice to see just where our food dollars are going. By lowering the food bill by $20 per week, I will have nearly $100 per month that can go toward paying down our horrible debts.

I would also like to get our spending down. This is yard sale season so I will be going out shopping. However, I will buy only gift items and clothing to replace items currently worn out. There is no need to get more clutter for my house. Yard Sale season does lower our bills at the store. I often find household repair items there for cheap.

Our household money is a modest $50 per month. This can EASILY be shaved to $25 per month with some minor tweaking. We do need specialized toilet paper, OTC sinus meds, ibuprofen, and personal hygiene items monthly. Other than that, we just buy things that are not really needed.

There is little wiggle room in our budget. We save a mere $200 per month and pay out $400 toward our credit card debt. Basically we’ve screwed up royally and now we have to pay the piper, so to speak.

I refuse to be negative. I will be positive about this and learn from my mistakes.

Vacationing the Frugal Way

You know, I got to thinking about a few things today and I realized just how inexpensive our vacatioin is.

$112 for site fees (camping, showers, etc)
$75 for food (approximate)
$200 for gas
$0 for clothing as all of our garb is still in good condition
$50 for spending money

Even if you factor in the $1,200 that we spent to make the vardo, we would still be under the typical $1,500 vacation amount.

And while on vacation, we will be making some moeny as well. Hubby is selling a piece of armour that he made and I am babysitting a few nights. We also have the option of working for a vendor helping him set up/tear down. This will give us plenty of spending money and fuel.

I guess if you think about it, our vacation is a lot less expensive than many of them. I really appreciate a vacation from mundane life. Only 3 more days!

Blogsvertise with me!

Blogsvertise is a site promited by Frugal Momma. She has a friend who made money from this and I hope to be able to also. Apparently you make money by talking about people's products in your blog. I know that this is something I can do!

My blog is pending approval. Once approved, I hope to get an assigment soon.

Check it out - Blogsvertise!

Ways to Save

My life feels full of bills lately. I really don’t like that feeling at all. However, I’m not going to make things worse by dwelling upon them. I will instead focus on something positive that I am doing.

This weekend was a busy one. On Saturday, I helped my neighbor with her yard sale which was held a t another family member’s home. . I did not make any money myself but I did get a few things for free from the sale. Funny thing was the best stuff we got came out of the family member’s trash can. He threw out stuff that was GOOD! We got a tent and several cans of bug repellant and first aid spray. We also took a lot of toys out of there that we sold at the yard sale.

On Sunday I spent the day cooking for our upcoming trip. We are going on a weeklong SCA event. A lot of the people there will either purchase meals at high prices in the merchant area. Others will join a food plan and pay $35 per person or so for their weeks worth of meals. Another popular idea is to join a food plan where you cook for a group one night and other people cook on the other nights. We have found that none of these options are right for us. Eating at the “food court” area means spending $10 or more per meal. Spending $70 to join a food plan where the food is not always served on time or even served at all isn’t good for us either. We tried option #3 a few years back and then had to join another food plan that week because people were not cooking their assigned meals. Of course, we could just cook there on site but cleaning up and prep work would take up a large portion of our time.

A few years ago, we hit upon a plan that works for us. We cook our dinners in advance and use our sealer to vacuum seal the meals into 2 portion sized meals. This allows us to have a good variety of meals made at home with cheap ingredients. We are able to stock pile up our meats through the preceding months so we don’t have a large expense right before our vacation. We put these meals into the freezer until the night before we leave. Then they are put into a cooler with dry ice. They stay frozen all week long. At dinner time, we simply pull out our chosen meal and toss it into a pot of boiling water. If it is cold and rainy, we still have a nice hot dinner.

Yesterday, my husband pulled all of the meat we will be using out of our deep freezer. I cooked up ground beef/ground turkey for spaghetti sauce, beef stroganoff, and chili. I grilled chicken breasts on the George Forman grill. I made a large crockpot of beef stew and a huge pot of potato soup.

By cooking this way, I am able to feed my family and any stragglers who need a good hot meal. We are not eating fancy meals but they are wholesome and good.

We bring lunch items like sandwich spreads and peanut butter with us. The only hot meal cooked on site is breakfast. Hubby makes French toast and pancakes a few mornings. Other than that, I eat pop tarts or oatmeal. This is one time of year when I allow myself to buy pop tarts so I really enjoy them.

Our total food bill for the week for approximately 4 adults per meal is about $75.