How were you frugal today? (sale, items, price, money)

[tulani]

Doing the laundry and hanging it inside to dry.

Slowly cleaning - between sit downs at my computer.

And wishing that we had some of that snow here in central Oregon. Not three feet here where I live, but the ski resorts would love that and more... most do not even have a three foot base!

[ByeByeLW]

I was going to drive 10 miles each way to the fabric store to buy new scissors today. Since I have to drive right by the store after work tomorrow, I restrained myself

I was also going to eat out tonight, but decided to make a veggie burger and try something new with my baked potatoes. I sprinkled them with olive oil and some spices and they were better than what I would have had at the diner.

Yesterday I noticed one of my favorite beers on sale for 6.79 a 6 pack instead of the usual 9.97. So I treated myself.

I'm actually becoming too cheap for daily coffee and alcohol. Tea and diluted fruit juices are actually what I'm beginning to enjoy more. Some fruit juices are soooo strong.

[Cinebar]

Originally Posted by ByeByeLW

I wish I could have a clothesline here. Who knows CC, maybe we'll end up in the same area of the sticks someday.

I was a vegetarian for 38 years and am now a vegan. I am still figuring out what to eat, as no more eggs and milk!

I got into the habit of buying Amy's frozen stuff, and these other vegan chicken and beef-type things that cost 5 bucks a bag. I buy them because they don't have a lot of crap in them, unlike some other veggie burgers, etc.

I usually end up eating the whole bag at dinner. I have no idea what meat/fish/chicken costs anymore, so maybe my cost is cheap to you guys One Amy's doesn't usually fill me up, so I have to make a side.

However, it seems expensive to me for every night. So I have to look into other ways of eating that don't involve just beans , rice and are still cheap.

I have tried a few of the Amy products and have found them to be pretty good, as well as convenient - but expensive.

My problem is, that for the first time in almost forty years, I am almost to the point of being an "empty nester" - and that means cooking just for myself, which isn't coming easy for me. Most nights, if I'm by myself, I end up having something like toast or a peanut butter or cheese sandwich for dinner.

[himain]

Bfast and dinner at home.

[Cinebar]

Originally Posted by CSD610

I've decided NOT to do my laundry today so I'm saving water...
The thing is we don't pay for water because ours comes from the well.

Well, since you pay for the electricity to power your washer and the pump to your well, in addition to the water, you also saved on the electricity you would have paid - at least until you do decide to do the laundry.

[Cinebar]

Yesterday I was frugal because I let my youngest son take me out for lunch. lol

In fact, since his car has been in the shop, he has been using my car and putting gas in it, and even though we took my car yesterday, it was his gas in the car. Even then, we went to one of my other son's house, picked him up, and ended up taking his vehicle into town (it's about a 60-mile round trip from my house to town and back).

I pretty much stuffed myself on chips and salsa at lunch (and Mexican beer ), so I had plenty left over of my chili releno' meal to take home for dinner, too.

After lunch, the three of us went to Goodwill (I was a single parent and my kids were raised on thrift stores and garage sales, and whenever any of us are in town together, we always hit the thrift stores - old habits, you know). I didn't really have any money to spend, but I did look at the stuffed animals for a particular pet of mine. Last time I was in there, they had bags of them (12 to 15 to a bag, depending on the size) for $4.99; yesterday, they didn't have any of the bags, and their individual stuffed toys were $1.29 each, so I passed.

We then went to another thrift store and their stuffed animals were only 50 cents each - so I bought two.

So, I had a wonderful lunch and afternoon with my two youngest sons and only spent $2.08 at the the thrift store ($1.00 for the stuffed animals, 8 cents tax, and I made a dollar donation to the thrift store cause, which is a program for at risk youth - wish it could have been more).

Since my youngest son still lives at home (for a while longer, anyway), and since he gets 2 1/2 weeks off work over the holidays, I've been cooking more and there are a lot of leftovers in the refrigerator, and since he's off with friends today and this evening, I am eating off leftovers.

I didn't go anywhere today, and won't go anywhere tomorrow, but I will have to get dog food and chicken/duck food by Friday - I will also take some aluminum cans in for recycling ($) that day, too.

[FrannyBear]

I used up the last of the Hawaiian rolls to make individual little garlic breads to go with my homemade split pea soup. I have also been digging through the cupboard and freezer -- making homemade cornbread with the extra cornmeal and eggs and milk. Lastly I have a sliced mini baguette in freezer and 1lb of ground turkey so I am making "deviled" hamburgers. Basically you toast the bread and then season the meat with chili sauce, worchestire sauce, finely chopped onion and dijon mustard, spread it thinly on the toasted bread and then broil. You would not believe how yummy it is and makes the meat go a lot further. We used to have these all the time when I was a kid.

[CCc girl]

Ate at home, will take photos for ebay later with DH.

Will need the money to fix my truck, which we drove to the dealer to look at, it's making grinding noise turning left and two days ago made a loud popping noise backing up then going forward in 4WD.

The shop foreman is an old coworker, and the parts girl goes over all of my repair orders and gives me discounts. I do a lot of business with them and send a lot of people their way.

[himain]

I'm eating all meals at home today even though I'm off. However, it has been snowing and will continue to snow so no real reason why to go outside

[Tallysmom]

Originally Posted by Hip Priest

I'm not concerned with the soap's shelf life. I would think soap would have rather a long shelf life, anyway. After all, it's not eggs or bread or some other perishable item.

By the way, you can use this same method with shampoo and body wash in the shower.

Soap doesn't have a shelf life as long as you'd think. More on that later.

I bought this cool shower dispenser Bath Dispensers | Shampoo Shower Dispenser, Soap Dispenser - Bath and Shower Accessories and I use one or two pumps of shampoo from it -- it's just the right amount. TINY. I rub it on my hair, wet down my hair again and it spreads out perfectly. I also keep my face cleanser in it. ( I got the one with three bottles, but hubby uses my shampoo now.)

It has leaked -- get a gasket from them online and replace it, easy peasy. I love that it controls the amount of shampoo I use, and even more I love the fact I have no bottles crowding around.

The only thing -- I feel strongly after the work bathroom incident -- you should finish the bottle, clean it thoroughly and then refill.

Work bathroom -- the janitors kept refilling the soap bottles. The bathroom smelled just awful, and no one could figure out why. One day, I went in, it was SO bad I wanted to run out, but I dropped my pen. Bent down to pick it up -- the soap canisters from underneath were BLACK from the rotted soap inside. (Told you I'd get back to it) Almost half the soap was black -- they kept adding pink hand soap on top, and the top soap was getting used first.

I went back and told my manager -- she checked it out, went upstairs and told facilities management and they fixed the problem in that evenings cleaning.

That's also why when we changed out some soap dispenser in our buildings, I bought the ones that have hermetically sealed bags in boxes with a little hose you snap into place behind the press bar. Once it's empty, you toss the whole thing out.