My Frugal Year

It’s been a rough time since being ill and the car accident. The need for being frugal is even more apparent now, but dealing with all of the issues has made time for blogging more scarce.

It does NOT help that a brand spanking new Whole Foods opened up within walking distance of our home. This is not the most frugal option out there. I’ll have to be super-frugal in other areas so we can treat ourselves to some of our favorite things from Whole Foods from time to time.

Now what IS frugal about Whole Foods is the super-awesome free Wi-Fi in their lovely cafe area. There is a downstairs, an upstairs with huge windows and great view and an outdoor area in the W.F. cafe. Perfect place to grab a coffee and work for a while on the laptop. This could become a habit.

If you want to find the great free wi-fi spots in your area of the country, check out this handy-dandy website. WiFi Free Spot Directory. Cool stuff

Meanwhile, check out some cool eBay listings:

…but I haven’t been posting lately because I’ve been ill. Pneumonia, to be specific, and it’s been more than a month that I’ve been sick. So I will be posting again – I promise! I just need to get lots of rest and get better. I’m just glad it’s not swine flu!

Meanwhile, check out these cool blogs:

$5 Dinners
Frugal Freebies and Deals

Be back soon…

There just hasn’t been much shopping to be saving these days, which is good. This means my stocking up has been working. We haven’t had to do a lot of those annoying little trips that add up.

Since my last update, I’ve spent $132.36 at the grocery store and saved $35.62. Not the greatest savings ratio, but not the worst either.

We’ve been to the museum once more time since getting our membership. That was such a good idea. A year’s worth of entertainment for the family for $80. Love that. We’ll be going back again soon – they have some new exhibits coming in.

Another fabulous frugal thing is free theater tickets. Through my job I occasionally get great tickets to shows. My husband and I had a date this week and we got to see the touring company of Phantom of the Opera for FREE. That saved over $140 right there. Not that we would have spend that had we not gotten the complimentary tickets, but still – great deal.

So…, where are we? Let’s see, since last update:

Spent $132.46
Saved $35.62
Transferred to savings $35.62

Year to date savings $238.40.

And for your deal of the day – don’t forget about GoDaddy’s great deals on domain names and hosting. They have some specials going right now. Check it out:

Have a frugal day!!

Yes, I know…it’s been a while. I’ve been overwhelmed with school work, work work, home work, family work and just a lot of work in general. I have, however, dutifully saved all my receipts to keep track of what the heck I’ve been spending/saving.

I just have time for a quick update today, so I’ll make it short and sweet. Since I last posted:

Spent: 291.92
Saved: 99.51
Transferred to savings $99.51

Year to date savings: $202.78

Don’t forget about great printable grocery coupons you can get free online!

I will post more over the weekend!

Wow. This really has been a busy week. This working two jobs, having a family and going to school thing can really kick my patootie sometimes. This week is one of those times.

This got me thinking – savings isn’t just about money. It’s about time, too. Now time is a funny thing. I hear people talk about “saving time,” but that really isn’t the right way of putting it. There is no time bank. You don’t save time and put it away to use later. Not technically, anyway. But you can use time more effectively, in essence giving you more time to do the things you want to do. Like take a nap. Or play with your kids, or just sit and have some coffee with a friend.

Time is a funny thing. It’s truly a “spend as you go” asset. It’s use it or lose it, period. It doesn’t earn interest and doesn’t magically grow. So how DO you figure out how to be more thrifty with time? Well, there are lots of experts out there with really good advice on how to use your time. I’m lucky enough to know one of them – and she’s truly an expert. She lives what she teaches and her life is evidence that what she teaches works. Her book, “Find More Time” is one of the best, down-to-earth, solid advice books I’ve read on the subject. It’s well worth the time to read it.

Trust me, you’ll love it!

It’s been a ridiculously busy week and it’s only Tuesday! I’ve been, in the spirit of frugality, working on getting a working computer for the family member I mentioned earlier. The laptop I was trying to fix is sadly DOA. No hope. But between the cases, motherboards and hard drives we had laying around here, we managed to “frankenstein” a pretty decent computer. Got it installed today at their house and everything is working. Cost: $0! That is a beautiful thing.

My husband did a quick shopping run and saved a few bucks. Yay for guys who like to save too!

By the way…the crockpot creation from Sunday turned out great. Everyone loved it. Served it over tortilla chips and put some shredded cheese on top, a little sour cream and salsa. We’ll be doing that one again for sure!

Deal for today: Don’t forget about Drugstore.com’s Deal of the Day. You never know what you’re going to find!

Spent: $57.68
Saved:$10.79
Transferred to savings $10.79

Year to date savings:$103.27
I can do better than that next month!!

Monday. Yep. That’s about it. No shopping or fun stuff to report. Been working too hard and trying to get things done around the house.

Can I make an embarrassing admission? The tree. Yes, the Christmas tree. It’s still up. With decorations. Clearly, something must be done. That’s a frugal night – taking down the tree. Nothing to spend there. However I fear this may be the last year for the poor, decrepit thing. It’s probably ten years old. Hopefully I can find a screaming deal on a new one for next year.

So no, didn’t get done what I wanted to get done today. I spent most of the day working on homework and catching up on laundry, so my basement project was yet again delayed. No biggie – I’ll get to it. That makes me laugh because I have about four years worth of “I’ll get to it” down there. I just don’t want so much time to go by that I suddenly have twenty years of “I’ll get to it” down there.

I did take a little trip to the thrift store today and got an adorable pair of jeans for six bucks and a couple of shirts for my son. My son is growing out of things faster than I can keep up. And me…well, I needed an extra pair of jeans that actually fit until I lose this spare holiday weight.

Speaking of holiday weight…in case you didn’t gain enough, Hickory Farms is having a killer sale. I mean RIDICULOUS prices on some seriously yummy stuff. Very well worth checking out. That is some serious savings – like 75% off. Can’t go wrong with summer sausage and cheese!

Costco is a great deal. I enjoy shopping there. The store is always nice and clean and the stuff is quality. The deals are really good too, compared with the grocery store on a lot of items. I got my handy little Costco coupon booklet in the mail last week, so that helped even more! Now not every price there is better than in the grocery store so you have to do your comparisons.

Some things are hands down a better deal. Garbage bags, for instance. I used to get the Hefty 33gal at the grocery store. Right now for 33 bags of the 33gal. size, it’s running anywhere from $11.99 – $12.99 at the grocery store. I just got the Kirkland brand 33gal size – 90 bags for $11.99. That’s a great deal. Almost three times as many bags for the same price. And seriously – how long will it take me to go through 90 bags that size? A long time, I’d guess.

I was still driving the little Mazda today. Man, that thing is cheap to run. I put $10 of gas in it and it’s almost full. Won’t have to fill it up again for a while.

So…today’s totals:

Spent:
$10 on gas
$141.14 at Costco
Saved today:
Costco coupons $18
Transferred to savings $18
Year to date savings $89.29
and that doesn’t even count what I save shopping for certain things at Costco over the grocery store. This is going well!

Another no spending day. Just work and taking my daughter to the orthodontist. I did find some cool savings stuff online that I want to share though.

$120 in coupon savings from Proctor & Gamble

Save $1.50 on Coffee-Mate

$10 in coupons from EatBetterAmerica

Save Money – Print Grocery Coupons Anytime

Save on cable:

Get 50 Free Digital Camera Prints and only 9 cents per print at Snapfish by HP!

Print REAL coupons from your computer at CoolSavings! Just click here!

Happy savings to you!