Frugal Challenge 10/14-10/20

**ms. frugal kugel** · 10-16-2007, 09:35 AM

~all meals from home
~made tacos, chili, and guacamole
~still no heat on

~paid the oil company so we can have heat if we need it next month
~hung still more laundry
~got some Walgreens eggs for $1 a dozen
~shut off surge protectors
~put another blanket on every bed
~paid the preschool
~walked to the grocery store with my daughter, and bought her a string cheese instead of junk
~tossed some worn clothes, but saved an appliqued lion - so cute
~walked to the library with my daughter, returned, renewed, and got 3 books from the free table
~all coffee from home - still getting a cheap thrill from the senseo when I need one

**baxjul** · 10-16-2007, 11:04 AM

10/16

~laundry in cold
~hung outside to dry
~no a/c on
~ate leftovers for lunch
~having leftovers for dinner
~no lights on
~drinking water and iced tea
~reading library books

**LexTysMommy** · 10-16-2007, 11:15 AM

Tuesday:

**Leftovers for dinner/lunch.
**No air/heat on today.
**Its kinda cloudy today but I have candles lit for now. We are all in one room..and the kids think the candles smell purty!
**Neighbors dropped off weeks worth of newspapers for me.
**I am using samples still.
**Got 3 bags of clothes from daycare family. One bag will fit my DD the other two I will pass on to other families.
**I found my bank statements for past year. I knew I had em somewhere. Needed them and was going to end up having to pay $12 a month for copies of them!!! WHew!
**Using little plastic bags from store for garbage starting today..until we run out. I would say 200 bags that I have!
**Looking into air fare for next summer...havent bought plane tickets in a while..not sure how soon to buy em!

**thrifty gal** · 10-16-2007, 01:25 PM

Tuesday, 10/16

*staying home
*no money being spent
*went over budget with dh for the new year, we made a good plan together

*no heat or a/c wooohoo!
*doing laundry in cold water, will hang clothes if I get a chance

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 10-16-2007, 08:51 PM

- wrote an article about cheap halloween costumes
- washed ziploc baggies
- hung laundry, but man is it taking a long time to dry!
- heat at 65
- babysat today, so made $25 to have a playmate for my dd
- walked for exercise
- only 1 child had a bath tonight
- only wet my hair this morning instead of washing it, saves on shampoo
- dinner from scratch
- threw in some muffins for our breakfast tomorrow at the same time dinner was cooking
- used the last of the veggies from the garden tonight, I am kind of sad!
- used cell phone for long distance
- dh took leftovers for lunch yesterday
- kids had pb&j for lunch, but weren't very happy about it - am I the only one with kids that don't like pb&j very much?

**ScrapMama** · 10-17-2007, 01:28 AM

~Dinner from home tonight(I've been cooking ahead by 2 days, so nice not to give myself an excuse to eat out.).
~Took the kids to McD's for lunch and treated myself, but my niece is here for the week visiting while the kids are out of school and normally I run all over the place with them, this time we're enjoying time just visiting.
~Took my own Christmas card photo instead of paying a photographer to do it, did my niece's bts photos as well as my kiddos. FREE! Well, except for when I get prints done up. But it's nice to be able to give her mom these photos and know she didn't have to pay a pro for them, and I've been told I'm just as good.
~Drinking water, I am cutting out all sodas starting tomorrow, I really need to lose weight, I think I'll add this challenge to my blog. It also means no more starbucks. *sigh*
~Have been wanting to buy more decor items, but instead cleaned up the play area, rearranged a bookshelf and very pleased with the way it looks. New decor look and it's FREE.
~Did buy 2 bouquets of flowers from Trader Joes for less than ten dollars, but think it's worth it, they usually last a week and a half and brighten up the room so much.
~Plan on finishing cleaning up my scrapbooking bookshelves tomorrow, that will make me feel so much better.
~Putting together little packages to drop off with friends and family on friday when I take my niece back home, it's about 3 1/2 hrs away to our hometown, but it will save me postage.
~Sending out 2 more books via paperbackswap, need to build up credit there again.
~Still decluttering bit by bit.
~Made brownies tonight, nice treat for the kids and way cheaper than candy.

**thrifty gal** · 10-17-2007, 11:06 AM

10/17

*staying home
*drinking water, and only allowing myself 1 caffeine free soda
*balancing checkbook
*paying car insurance
*doing laundry in cold water w/ less detergent than the bottle says to use
*no a/c or heat
*keeping lights off unless needed

**ms. frugal kugel** · 10-17-2007, 12:56 PM

Originally Posted by ScrapMama

~Have been wanting to buy more decor items, but instead cleaned up the play area, rearranged a bookshelf and very pleased with the way it looks. New decor look and it's FREE.

Woohoo! Good for you - I love this trick!

as for me...
~all meals from home
~all coffee from home (was getting slack about this one)
~cleaned out the fridge; made cherry vanilla muffins with some space hogs
~hung to dry and put away still more laundry (I think we need to weed the clothes)
~didn't purchase the most expensive school portrait package
~counted out change to buy more milk, rather than "just" putting the milk (and a bunch of non-essentials I would have come up with) on the debit card
~walked home from the school drop-offs

**LexTysMommy** · 10-17-2007, 01:19 PM

Wednesday:

**All meals from home!
**No air/heat/fans
**Have items in pantry to make moms bday cake! Instead of buying one!
**Did load of laundry in cold
**One load of dishwasher..no drying cycle.
**Found 2 snowsuits I need to list on ebay or craigslist
**Kids coats from last year still fit them..I cleaned them and the scarves/hats/gloves too! All they need is boots/snowpants!
**Looking on ebay for boots/snowpants for kids.
**Have 10 pairs of my jeans to sell. Will buy myself 2 new pairs when I sell them!
**Unplugged lots
**Used samples still

**baxjul** · 10-17-2007, 03:08 PM

10/17

~meals from home
~using samples
~laundry in warm, hung to dry
~no a/c on
~drinking water and coffee

**Telephus44** · 10-17-2007, 09:31 PM

This is for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday..

*Did not eat out at all!! Did not stop for coffee or buy lunch at work. Woo-hoo!
*Got the revised car insurance bill - I raised our deductibles from $500 to $1000 - our new bill is $649 cheaper than last year!
*Mailed off for a $75 Energy Star rebate for our new washer
*Mailed off for a $3 rebate for Listerine/Toothpaste (bought on sale with coupons)
*Received a "fitness benefit" check in the mail from our old insurance - I was worried that I didn't have the proper documentation and was late, but a check for $150 showed up on Tuesday.
*Our apartment complex came in and installed programmable thermostats and new CFC light fixtures and bulbs. They left us 3 CFC lightbulbs to use (probably because we had already swapped out all the bulbs we could with CFC's when we moved in)
*Our daycare provider sent home two nice warm heavy sweatshirts and a pair of mittens for DS, offered us a winter coat and boots if we want them (her son is 8 months older than ours, so we get some hand-me-downs).
*Paid two bills online
*Called and asked the dentist to resubmit a $95 bill under our new dental insurance
*Got a prescription for DS under our old insurance - $6.62 co-pay instead of $10

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 10-18-2007, 10:56 AM

Nice job Sara! A little bit of time on phone calls and paperwork can really pay off. Way to go!

**druidessemily** · 10-18-2007, 11:04 AM

-Found 4 Sunsilk shampoos (just discontinued style, not damaged) on sale for 75 cents at Kroger. Had 3 coupons for $1, which made them free.

-Took on temp job in evenings. Will only be for 4 or 5 days.
-Watered plants on patio with water from cooking pasta.
-No AC on for past 2 weeks!

**ms. frugal kugel** · 10-18-2007, 12:59 PM

~all meals at home , edamame for lunch

would have paid $50 for a certain neighborhood pizza at one point
~no spend day!
~all coffees from home
~approved for a credit union loan to pay BOA in full - the loan is a lower rate and can be definitely be paid in 6 months, online payments, easy

~found a $2 off catalina coupon on the ground LOL!
~walked home after school drop offs
~shut off surge protectors
~still no heat on
~children seem to like water in their lunches + they end up eating more real foods and not wasting

**thrifty gal** · 10-18-2007, 01:07 PM

10/18

*no a/c today, just ceiling fans
*staying home instead of going to WalMart as planned
*supper is cheap-hotdogs & hm fries
*drinking my water , instead of pop
*working on a zero-based budget
*working on menu & shopping list