Nothing New/Mindful Spending Week 25

[Ginevra]

The "rules" of this challenge are self-defined. Anyone can join in at any time. The aim of the challenge (for me) is to combat consumerism, wastefulness, mindless buying, and overspending. It is meant to nurture creative problem solving, ecology, frugality, intentionalism, and resourcefulness. To support these goals, I seek to buy nothing new/unnecessary. I aim to use existing resources, borrow, hand-craft, and buy existing second-hand materials to the greatest extent possible. However, I recognize that life is unpredictable, and family life increases this factor exponentially, so I will buy new in the following cases, when a non-buying option does not present:

 

Food, health, and necessary household goods excluded.

Requirements for school, work, or health and well-being which cannot be obtained used.

Gifts, when a creative non-commercial option will not suffice.

Anything animal or gardening related that cannot be obtained used.

Fuel/energy sources.

 

Posts will appear each Saturday, referring to the week that is ending. Post your successes, creative solutions, relapses and weak moments. It doesn't matter if you have a weak moment! Just keep swimming!

How we doing, frugal buddies?

 

I bought more craft stuff today; beads and knitting things. I went to the *big* JoAnne's. I'm pretty sure Heaven has a JoAnne's like that one, except everything is free.

 

I bought a digital banner for my Etsy shop. I'm a bit of a techno idiot so I would rather pay a tech savant to make me one than to figure it out. My shop is called The Purple Quill; the design has a purple peacock. It's very cute!

 

I don't think I spent anything else. I'm revving up to buy new furniture for my family room, but I am considering making my own coffee table á la Ana White Handmade Home. I really like the table with the covered wells for Lego pieces. We'll see...I'm actually not intimidated about building a table. What intimidates me is going to the lumber store and walking to the Contractor section and spitting out phrases that sound like I have the least notion what I'm doing. I might default to letting DH do that part, but it would also be nice to demonstrate to myself that I can do this myself if I want to.

[SKL]

Buried in work.  I did have to buy a couple of tank tops for my kids' performance last week - not much $.

 

We're traveling soon, so I want to eat all the perishable food before we leave.  Maybe that will save a bit of money.

 

This wasn't my idea, but here's a great gift my kids got this week.  The 5th grade class at camp worked together to decorate a plain wooden box, including a photo of the class on the top.  Everyone signed it and added their own decorative flair to the borders etc.  Then the camp auctioned it off.  My friend won it for $12 and gave it to my kids.  In terms of sentimental value, it is worth a lot more than $12.  :)

 

I had to make an emergency trip to the chiropractor today, which was fine since I was due for an adjustment anyway.  I didn't even look at the cost, but I think it's something ilke $40, which is a lot less than a trip to the ER.  :)

 

I stayed off Amazon for another week.  :)

 

Coming up, travel, bill paying ... property tax is due ... mostly just too busy working to spend money.  :)

[Jane in NC]

How we doing, frugal buddies?

 

I bought more craft stuff today; beads and knitting things. I went to the *big* JoAnne's. I'm pretty sure Heaven has a JoAnne's like that one, except everything is free.

 

I bought a digital banner for my Etsy shop. I'm a bit of a techno idiot so I would rather pay a tech savant to make me one than to figure it out. My shop is called The Purple Quill; the design has a purple peacock. It's very cute!

 

I don't think I spent anything else. I'm revving up to buy new furniture for my family room, but I am considering making my own coffee table á la Ana White Handmade Home. I really like the table with the covered wells for Lego pieces. We'll see...I'm actually not intimidated about building a table. What intimidates me is going to the lumber store and walking to the Contractor section and spitting out phrases that sound like I have the least notion what I'm doing. I might default to letting DH do that part, but it would also be nice to demonstrate to myself that I can do this myself if I want to.

 

Quill--Do you want to link or send a PM to me with a link to your Etsy shop?  I searched for The Purple Quill and found--you guessed it--purple quills but not your shop!

 

Wow, I am completely unfamiliar with Ana White.  Inspiring!

 

As far as my week went...About half of my grocery spending went to produce.  Yes, it is summer with plates and bowls brimming with fruits and vegs. Just add a bit of protein and call it a meal. 

 

I enrolled in a basketry class this week that proved to be great fun.  I suspect that I'll continue to take this class that meets twice monthly for the rest of the year in the hope that I produce a few gifts as I learn this skill.

 

I wasted something this week:  emotional well being.  I let myself be sucked into the mire of negativity by a family member who claims to be loving and opened minded but is just an unhappy busybody. We talk about mindful spending on this thread.  It seems that "spending" can take on more than one form! 

 

[Guest]

Jane, I will send you a PM; I don't want to infringe on board rules against promoting one's business. :) I have noticed before that it is sometimes hard on Etsy to find a specific shop by shop name. I couldn't find my friend's knitting shop and she to,d me she has trouble getting to her shop herself! I think the general way to get to a specific shop if you know the shop name is yo type in the etsy.com, then do "/shop/" and then "SpecificShopName".

[Prairie~Phlox]

 

Ds works ar a greenhouse & I got free tomato plants yesterday. Also he's become friends with another worker, single guy that also has a garden & is willing to barter tomatoes for salsa & cabbage for kraut, etc. Last night he came over for dinner & I mentioned I was trying to find a buffet & would be getting rid of our piano. He said he has a booth at a local spot & if I like the buffet at his booth, he would trade. What? Going to check it out today.

 

Yesterday went garage saling & got a shrub rake & digging shovel for $5 for both. Love the digging shovel, should have gotten one sooner. Also found some nice blouses for .50 each. Spent $2.50 on those.

 

Today I spent $15.xx on plants at the greenhouse sale. Hosta varieties that I don't have.

[Annie G]

We mindfully spent the max out of pocket to get dh's heart fixed this week.  Money well spent.  

 

He was in the hospital for 6 days before the surgery could happen, but get this- he had a double bypass and left the hospital 85 hours after surgery. If you saw him, you would not have any idea he had surgery.  His surgeon said it was much more difficult than he expected and to plan on 8 days in the hospital, maybe as few as six since he's only 57 and in good shape.   But dh is a rock star and is home. And I have him here for at least 6 weeks!  But bummer- his work situation is clearly super stressful and that's not going to change. 32 months to retirement. 

 

Downside: We were scheduled to go to Asheville with our niece and nephew next week but of course can't go. We rented an awesome air bnb and it's paid for...so dd and ds are taking time off and going in our place. It's lovely to see cousins  enjoy being together and not just because they're related.  

[Baseball mom]

Annie -- so glad your dh is doing well  

 

Tub of ice cream -- didn't need but we were really wanting ice cream

Birthday presents for 2 nephews

2 - $5 movies for dss. Just as cheap to buy as to rent

Shampoo & deodorant -- much needed on these super hot days

Milk, bread and a couple other grocery items

 

It has been so HOT this week.  I have tried to stay home as much as possible.

 

[Guest]

We mindfully spent the max out of pocket to get dh's heart fixed this week. Money well spent.

 

He was in the hospital for 6 days before the surgery could happen, but get this- he had a double bypass and left the hospital 85 hours after surgery. If you saw him, you would not have any idea he had surgery. His surgeon said it was much more difficult than he expected and to plan on 8 days in the hospital, maybe as few as six since he's only 57 and in good shape. But dh is a rock star and is home. And I have him here for at least 6 weeks! But bummer- his work situation is clearly super stressful and that's not going to change. 32 months to retirement.

 

Downside: We were scheduled to go to Asheville with our niece and nephew next week but of course can't go. We rented an awesome air bnb and it's paid for...so dd and ds are taking time off and going in our place. It's lovely to see cousins enjoy being together and not just because they're related.

Annie, that is absolutely amazing! Will you have any additional health care visits at home, such as a nurse that comes and checks on him?

[knoxinsox]

Annie, glad your hubby is on the mend.  Thanks for updating us!.

Quill, we love Ana White.  DH built me a cupboard from her plans--I modified it to perfectly fit my canning jars. 

 

Spending....

very little.  A few essentials at Walmart.  Ice cream and bananas. 

Also, bought a 55 gallon tote full of Lego's for $50. Happy early birthday, son---you can play with them now or I can put them away.  

 

Mindfully....

 

Made 5 loaves of bread, 3 doz. sandwich buns, 1 doz. hot dog buns, 1 doz. cinnamon rolls and 5 doz. chocolate chip cookies.  Did it all in one afternoon to minimize the oven heating the kitchen and also to minimize dirty dishes.  

 

Burnt perfect rings in the bottle of my plastic gallon tea pitcher.  Ok, that was an accident.  Using 2 half gallon glass ones instead of buying a new plastic one.

 

Also, blew out the microwave.  Probably just a fuse.  We might even have one extra fuse from the last time we fixed it.  I apparently, am the only one who doesn't use the microwave....this is discombobulating my husband and kids.  No, we aren't ordering pizza.  Yes, you can have a cold sandwich.  

 

Won a $50 gift card to Sports Authority from Swagbucks.  Cleaned out my Paypal account and ordered a pair of Tactical boots for my husband for work.  Badly needed and not in the budget.  Hoping they fit--they are his size, but if not, I will sell them on Craigslist as they are non returnable because Sports Authority is going out of business.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Annie G]

Annie, that is absolutely amazing! Will you have any additional health care visits at home, such as a nurse that comes and checks on him?

 

Nope, he's doing fine.  Went to the home improvement store with me today and we picked out some baseboards and other trim for our bathroom project. Then a buddy came over and they sat on the deck for a while. He even walked upstairs to shower since our first floor master bathroom shower isn't quite ready yet. 

 

I mean, he's still got a long recovery ahead of him but out of the gate he's galloping. 

[Guest]

Made 5 loaves of bread, 3 doz. sandwich buns, 1 doz. hot dog buns, 1 doz. cinnamon rolls and 5 doz. chocolate chip cookies. Did it all in one afternoon to minimize the oven heating the kitchen and also to minimize dirty dishes.

Knox, I have considered making hot dog buns and subrolls before, but have not actually tried it yet. Do you have forms? Or did you just shape them into small loaves?

[Jane in NC]

Knox, I have considered making hot dog buns and subrolls before, but have not actually tried it yet. Do you have forms? Or did you just shape them into small loaves?

Not Knox but I just shape mine. I made burger buns today. The trick is to flatten the rolls a bit after rising so the bun is not spherical or cylindrical.

[knoxinsox]

Knox, I have considered making hot dog buns and subrolls before, but have not actually tried it yet. Do you have forms? Or did you just shape them into small loaves?

 

I do have a form for French bread and I can make big subrolls in it like the ones from Sam's Club, but mostly I use it for storage for my mandoline and rolling pin.  LOL    I just use my big baking pans and shape them in to small loaf-ish looking things. (baseball bats, peg legs....I think my husband is laughing at me behind my back.)  Probably need to watch a few videos on Youtube.

 

Anyway, I don't have them perfected yet.  Still working on it, but they do the job. I experimented this week with putting them into a lasagna pan and they were too close together.  I want to slice from the side, and they rose too tall and narrow.  I'll keep trying--sandwich buns are perfect with 2.5 oz. of dough. I'd like to figure it out exactly so they all look alike.  Still tasty, though!

 

ETA: This looks like the best on how to form the rolls....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNWx8qxP704     I expect that if I doubled the amount of dough--from 2.5 oz to 5 oz it would be perfect for subrolls. 

Edited June 27, 2016 by knoxinsox

[Desert Strawberry]

I'm back!

Over the last few months we got a new roof, had a heating and cooling system put in (thank the heavens, it's been in the high 110s here) , and I have taken up canning. 

We can get$60 pounds or more of fresh produce for$10. I can barely get it all packed up and away before it spoils and we don't have a large freezer yet. I'm taking a break from that for a while.

My kids are home for the summer. We are doing the library summer program, which includes game days, Lego club, toddler story time, free movies, free school supplies, swimming, ice cream, classes and a field trip for my teen, craft projects and so much more. I love our community. 

We got a small inheritance and used it to pay off ALL of our medical debt! Luna is ours, free and clear. Her testing is finished. No treatment for now (and hopefully never). Her therapy is provided by the state at no cost. We are trying to get additional therapies for her, also at no cost. 

 

 

Edited June 29, 2016 by Desert Strawberry

[La Condessa]

I spent quite a bit, but on planned-for expenses. One item was a new violin for dd2, which she has needed for a long time--so long, in fact, that she was able to skip a size and go directly from 1/10th size to 1/4th. It was supposed to arrive last week, and the postal service has no tracking information since they recieved it, so I am getting pretty nervous. We saved up for it for a while, and I watched and waited for some time to find a nice step-up quality used one with some purely aesthetic damage so that we could afford it. So if it never arrives, even if I get my money back, it would be difficult to find as good a violin for the same money.

 

The other big ticket items were phones. Ever since I learned about republic wireless, we have been waiting for our verizon contract to run out so we could switch. $20 unlimited talk and text for two phones, plus data when wifi is available, plus it will actually work inside our aluminum-sided house because it runs through wifi when available. No more sitting outside whenever I want to use the phone! Or leaving my phone in that one windowsill where it will actually ring when a call comes and relying on my kids to tell me when my phone is ringing! And it will be $60 less per month, as well, so I purchased the phones with my birthday money, and they will pay themselves off in a few months.

 

We were supposed to pay off the last of the car loan this month and have only dh's student loan left, but our car broke down last month and had to have the transmission and radiator replaced, so that goal has been set back a few months.

 

One disappointing thing which I guess makes us a lot more frugal is that my girls' gymnastics coach had to shut down the gym for health reasons. My girls are devastated, especially dd1, who had been working so hard and learning so well, and hoping to compete this fall. I am really, really bummed, too. The gymnastics were great, but the discipline, experience with an instructor other than myself, p.e., chance to get out of the house and burn energy during the wet months, and social opportunities were what I really loved. Especially for my ultra-extroverted dd1. We have only one homeschooling family that will associate with us in our area, because of our religion. Social opportunities for kids are pretty few and far between. I'm considering driving them to the town south of here for a ballet class, though some part of me just rebels at the thought of spending two hours in the car for a 45-minute class. It would be a lot cheaper than gym was, though, even with gas factored in.

[Guest]

I spent quite a bit, but on planned-for expenses. One item was a new violin for dd2, which she has needed for a long time--so long, in fact, that she was able to skip a size and go directly from 1/10th size to 1/4th. It was supposed to arrive last week, and the postal service has no tracking information since they recieved it, so I am getting pretty nervous. We saved up for it for a while, and I watched and waited for some time to find a nice step-up quality used one with some purely aesthetic damage so that we could afford it. So if it never arrives, even if I get my money back, it would be difficult to find as good a violin for the same money.

 

The other big ticket items were phones. Ever since I learned about republic wireless, we have been waiting for our verizon contract to run out so we could switch. $20 unlimited talk and text for two phones, plus data when wifi is available, plus it will actually work inside our aluminum-sided house because it runs through wifi when available. No more sitting outside whenever I want to use the phone! Or leaving my phone in that one windowsill where it will actually ring when a call comes and relying on my kids to tell me when my phone is ringing! And it will be $60 less per month, as well, so I purchased the phones with my birthday money, and they will pay themselves off in a few months.

 

We were supposed to pay off the last of the car loan this month and have only dh's student loan left, but our car broke down last month and had to have the transmission and radiator replaced, so that goal has been set back a few months.

 

One disappointing thing which I guess makes us a lot more frugal is that my girls' gymnastics coach had to shut down the gym for health reasons. My girls are devastated, especially dd1, who had been working so hard and learning so well, and hoping to compete this fall. I am really, really bummed, too. The gymnastics were great, but the discipline, experience with an instructor other than myself, p.e., chance to get out of the house and burn energy during the wet months, and social opportunities were what I really loved. Especially for my ultra-extroverted dd1. We have only one homeschooling family that will associate with us in our area, because of our religion. Social opportunities for kids are pretty few and far between. I'm considering driving them to the town south of here for a ballet class, though some part of me just rebels at the thought of spending two hours in the car for a 45-minute class. It would be a lot cheaper than gym was, though, even with gas factored in.

I'm sorry about the gym and the now-missing opportunities. :( That sounds difficult to replace.

[Guest]

I'm back!

Over the last few months we got a new roof, had a heating and cooling system put in (thank the heavens, it's been in the high 110s here) , and I have taken up canning.

We can get$60 pounds or more of fresh produce for$10. I can barely get it all packed up and away before it spoils and we don't have a large freezer yet. I'm taking a break from that for a while.

My kids are home for the summer. We are doing the library summer program, which includes game days, Lego club, toddler story time, free movies, free school supplies, swimming, ice cream, classes and a field trip for my teen, craft projects and so much more. I love our community.

We got a small inheritance and used it to pay off ALL of our medical debt! Luna is ours, free and clear. Her testing is finished. No treatment for now (and hopefully never). Her therapy is provided by the state at no cost. We are trying to get additional therapies for her, also at no cost.

So glad to see you back! That is great news about the medical bills for Luna. I pray she only does better and better, and that you are able to get all the therapeutic assistance needed.

[Desert Strawberry]

So glad to see you back! That is great news about the medical bills for Luna. I pray she only does better and better, and that you are able to get all the therapeutic assistance needed.

 

It's good to be back. We are not 100%about bringing the boys home,, but I feel fairly confident. 

 

Luna is amazing. She has done better than anyone expected. She met her 6 month goals in two weeks! Her therapy team is wonderful. I feel so positive about her future .