My Frugal Year

There is a difference between “frugal” and “cheap.” Cheap seems to have a negative connotation. That word brings about notions of Scrooge-like behavior. Being frugal or thrifty is a positive thing and to me, it doesn’t come from a place of lack or unwillingness to share. It’s just smart. I’m frugal and thrifty so that I CAN do things I enjoy, donate to causes I believe in and to create a better life for my family. In my life, being frugal brings a feeling of abundance to my home, so I think it’s a truly positive thing.

Today I blew four bucks on a Chai Latte at Starbucks. Not too frugal particularly, but that’s ok. What that brought me was a couple hours with a dear friend. Being frugal doesn’t have to mean that you never treat yourself! Saving is important – but that Chai Latte with my friend was a sanity saver.

No other spending this day, so nothing saved but my sanity – so I think of that as a really good day!

Uneventful couple of days. I broke the cardinal rule and ran to the store on my way home with no list or coupons. Luckily I didn’t go overboard and just got what I needed. I just saved a few dollars with my store card. Bo-ring!

My frugal thing for today was trying to fix a family member’s laptop so she doesn’t have to buy a new one. I managed to at least figure out the problem and it’s going to be less expensive to fix it than to get a new computer.

I do have $50 coming my way from my favorite online survey company, so that’s a really good thing.

That’s about it for now.

Spent: $48.48
Saved on store card: $3.19
Transferred to savings $3.19

Year to date savings: $92.48

That’s an average savings of $4.20/day which adds up to over $1500 for the year. Not bad, eh? Hopefully I can bump that up even more!

I love free stuff. Free is my favorite four letter word So today is the day you can go to your local department store and take advantage of the latest cosmetics settlement. If you have one of these stores near you, you can go get one free product.
Bergdorf Goodman, Bergner’s, Bloomingdale’s, Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott, Dillard’s, Gottschalks, Herberger’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Parisian, Saks Fifth Avenue or Younkers. Go to the official settlement website to see what the deal is and find the list of available products. I just got back from Macy’s with my “My Insolence Eau de Toilette.” It’s quite delightful…and did I mention free? Go NOW…today, before they run out!

Didn’t spend anything today, so didn’t save anything technically. But not spending is saving in a way. Today’s focus is on the making of the money. I went to work and am working on updating some of my websites. I do have a lot of surveys in my inbox to do, so I’m sure I’ll earn a few dollars there. Currently I’m waiting on checks from a few survey companies. It’s sure great extra cash. Just spend the time you normally would messing around on the internet and do a few surveys. Next thing you know you have checks coming in and money being put in your PayPal account.

It’s a frugal dinner tonight, and one of my favorites – BREAKFAST! Fried egg sandwiches with bacon and cheese and hashbrowns. Yummmmmy!

And how can I let today pass without acknowledging the really important thing that happened today. We have a brand new President. It’s time to for the country to come together to support our new President in the fixing on what’s wrong with this country. We may not all agree on the best ways to do this, but I do believe we can all come together in prayer with good thoughts for President Obama and our great country. It’s an exciting day and I am looking forward to seeing how the growth of this country unfolds. God bless America!

My view at the Democratic National Convention

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!

I love lazy Saturdays, don’t you? It didn’t start out lazy. There was an early board meeting for a non profit group I’m involved with, but the rest of the day was just hanging out with the family. I like days like that. We didn’t go out or do anything really. We were just all at home doing our thing. Reading, playing on the computer, watching a movie. It was nice.

No spending today, which is good since I made the Costco run the other day. Since today was a lazy day that means tomorrow needs to be a productive day. I plan to do some de-cluttering in the basement. It’s my plan to be nice and ready for a good weather weekend to come along and finally do this garage sale I’ve been meaning to do. Garage sales are a great way to get rid of stuff that’s just clogging up your home and to make some nice extra cash. Nice way to beef up the savings account! The only problem is that it’s January in Colorado. This means any given weekend there could be a blizzard or 70 degree weather. Makes it tough to plan. The best I can do is get everything organized with price labels and when the weather cooperates, throw a Craigslist ad up and a few signs and get it done.

So, we’ll see how much I actually get done tomorrow!

Some deals and coupons for today:

Betty Crocker Coupons

Nestle Toll House Coupon

Enter to Win $100 in Grocery Money – Carnation

$10 off at Old Navy – Expires 1/20/09

Today was all about work. That’s good though because work = earning money! I’m extremely blessed to have a couple jobs I really enjoy. When I think about how many people are stuck in jobs they hate, I feel very lucky to have found things to do that keep me interested and looking forward to work. It’s also a good thing that this frugal living thing is fun for me. Sure, life can be financially stressful at times, but I’ve made it my mission to have a good time while looking for deals and making the most of every dollar that comes our way.

Tonight has been about homework. I’m in school – yes, at 40 I went back to school. I figured it would be best for me to finish college before my kids start. Being back in school has been great. I’m studying something I really like to do and I’ve had great experiences with my classmates and instructors…and it’s all online which means I can work it around my insane schedule.

Here’s my Frugal Friday tip for the day: Vicki has a theme for this Friday’s frugal tips - keeping kids busy when cabin fever sets in. Good timing considering the weather our friends to the North and East are having lately. I’d have to say the library is a great way. Always having something new around to read is a great thing, and on those cold winter days, there’s nothing better than curling up with some hot chocolate and a good, FREE, book from the library!

Well, that’s about it for today. I have a busy day tomorrow and I have GOT to get to sleep before 1:00AM for once!

Have a fun, frugal weekend everyone!

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!

Today, January 14, you can get a coupon for a free bottle of Suave! Now Suave at the regular price is what I’d consider a frugal brand, but free is even better. It’s a “while supplies last” kind of thing so go grab yours now!