~~ February Frugalistas 2020 ~~~

[mommyoffive]

How is the month going so far? 

Spent $130 at the store yesterday 

$30 on gas on Saturday

$7 at Mcdonalds on Saturday

[Emba]

19 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

I thought I posted here.

We are doing ok.  Ish.

So, I way oversepnt on the groceries in January.  So, I am trying hard.....trying....to be at $50 per week for food only.  Non foods will be separate, but I am trying to keep that down too.  I have been watching a whole lot of Frugal Fit Mom on YouTube for inspiration.   Also, I won't lie, I did a bit of a stock up the last week of January......but it was stuff we needed to get anyway.  And not all food either.

So, one thing I did do end of January, that was food, was I was inspired by FFM to google the discount bread store.  And we DO have an Aunt Millies bread outlet here!  Wooo Whoo!  

It's like a 20ish minute drive.  When I got there I decided that with that drive, I would see about bread for the whole month.  I got a total of 5 loaves of bread, 2 packages of english muffins, and a package of mini sub buns, all for less than $4. Wooo Whoo!  Three of the loaves were plain old white bread loaves, that were on their "scratch and dent" cart.  IOW, partially smashed bread.  But, the scratch and dent cart was only 35c. each.  I dug around, and found the loaves that were only smashed a little bit in the middle.  The other two loaves were whole wheat bread, 59c each.  I don't remember how much the english muffins were, I want to say they were like 65c each or something.  And the mini sub buns were 49c because they were past the sell date.  I looked them over really good and they looked just fine.  I stuck those in the fridge and we used them up first.  Some went for sandwiches, and when I made spaghetti a few days later, I used the rest up to make garlic bread.  The 3 smashed loaves I stuck in the freezer

 

I’m so jealous. We used to have a Mrs. Bairds discount bread store here, and I loved it because the breads I like (multigrain, bagels, English muffins) were so much cheaper, but it closed. ☹️

[JustEm]

This month is looking good as far as bills getting paid. Half of them are already done and the rest will get paid with dh's first paycheck for the month on Friday. Which leaves us a full paycheck for misc, grocery, and paying down the 0% cc we used the last few months.

We should be getting our refund at the end of Feb, which will just leave me not worrying anymore because of the nice buffer it will give us.

I love our discount bread store. On a good day I can find piles of fantastic bread for 99 cents a loaf, if not lower, with no issues like being smashed. On a regular day the loafs are $1.99, but we're talking normally $5/loaf breads. I generally stock up on a month of bread, English muffins, and bagels for under $20. And that includes my dad buying loaves for making grilled cheese for the extended family which is normally an extra 12 people. I have to make a tril so I can stock up the freezer before the baby comes in two weeks. 

We have had a few convenience food purchases lately, basically one a week. Because I've really been feeling run down with this pregnancy. But on the days I feel good I've been making bigger batches of food and freezing them for when the baby comes. So I think it'll even itself out over time.

 

[JustEm]

Things look better than I thought. I just ran the numbers for the month and will actually have an additional $600 prior to dh's second paycheck. This doesn't take into account the $600 in rent from my parents, which we'll likely have them stop paying after this month. Original arrangement was they paid nothing until we got their house sold since we lived with them rent free for a year while we sold ours. But when dh lost his job they immediately started paying since it didn't put them in a financial strain and wanted to relieve some of our stress. It also doesn't include dh's $400 he makes from still teaching kungfu once a week. That is currently strictly entertainment, gift, and clothes fund. That way when it is gone we know immediately we're maxed for the month. His main checks go to bills and getting the CC debt back to zero.

It is so strange to have cc debt even if it isn't 0%. Neither of us have ever had cc debt. We haven't had a car loan in 5 years. And our only other debt ever has been the mortgage. While we've spent most of our marriage struggling to save we've never struggled to pay for what we needed. Just an interesting change that I've learned a lot from.

[JustEm]

So, I don't know if there is a Feb meal plan post yet but thought some of you might be interested in this YouTube channel. It is called Struggle meals. I have only watched the meal plan for whole family one but it was interesting and a bit helpful. I plan on looking over the other ones once I get some cleaning done in the house.

[mommyoffive]

Spent $27 filling up the van

$16 filling up the car

$150 at aldi

$13 at walmart on some marked down clothes

dh got one of his bonuses.  It was really nice, except for the taxes.  😞

[historically accurate]

We've been following our plan pretty well so far this month. I did some forecasting and there will be too many bills/not enough $ around March 1-10 (DH gets paid weekly), so I started holding back some $ for that. DD is visiting a college right around that time (1 night hotel covered - still need to cover other), and we've got some hefty bills due right around then. I don't know if I'll have enough time to get enough cash to cover it, but I'm trying. Groceries was only $90 this week. MIL decided to clean out her gift card drawer and she shared with us: $10 gas card, $20 pizza place card, $20 Joann fabric (went to middle DD who quilts).

I calculated the taxes, but I haven't gotten around to copying and mailing. Since I had some self employment income, it was cheaper to do them myself. I still have to do oldest DD's - I want her to sit down with me so she knows how to do them.  

[readinmom]

We stayed on our menu, grocery budget this week.  That's a major victory so far...

[JustEm]

Ugh!! Yesterday our car went bonkers and all the warning lights went on at once and it slid a bit on the wet road because the traction controls weren't working. So, I took it to the mechanic today and for just over $100 was told that they couldn't do anything and I'd need to take it to the dealer because it looked like an issue with the computer program itself not recognizing certain systems on the car.

But then I got in the car and all the warning lights were off and the systems that weren't working (cruise control, traction) were working again. They likely unhooked the battery and that is why things are working again but I imagine that isn't forever. But I can't take it to the dealer if everything is working cause they won't find anything wrong. So, I have to drive the car around until it messes up again I guess.

So i have that expense hanging over me for the near future. Just when I was feeling good about getting back on track

[historically accurate]

6 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Ugh!! Yesterday our car went bonkers and all the warning lights went on at once and it slid a bit on the wet road because the traction controls weren't working. So, I took it to the mechanic today and for just over $100 was told that they couldn't do anything and I'd need to take it to the dealer because it looked like an issue with the computer program itself not recognizing certain systems on the car.

But then I got in the car and all the warning lights were off and the systems that weren't working (cruise control, traction) were working again. They likely unhooked the battery and that is why things are working again but I imagine that isn't forever. But I can't take it to the dealer if everything is working cause they won't find anything wrong. So, I have to drive the car around until it messes up again I guess.

So i have that expense hanging over me for the near future. Just when I was feeling good about getting back on track

My car is acting funny as well - for a day the running lights and interior lights wouldn't turn off, then for 2 days the alarm for "lights left on" was on even if the lights were off, one day last week the headlights didn't come on until I flipped the switch 5 times. It never lasts more than a day though. 

[JustEm]

19 minutes ago, beckyjo said:

My car is acting funny as well - for a day the running lights and interior lights wouldn't turn off, then for 2 days the alarm for "lights left on" was on even if the lights were off, one day last week the headlights didn't come on until I flipped the switch 5 times. It never lasts more than a day though. 

Sorry to hear that. Odd car issues like that are so frustrating. It's like, if I knew it were the brakes, shocks, alternator, etc I wouldn't be annoyed. Those things have a certain lifespan and need fixing eventually. But when it is an issue with the computer it just angers me because it just reminds me that things just aren't built to last

[mommyoffive]

On 2/5/2020 at 11:28 AM, hjffkj said:

Things look better than I thought. I just ran the numbers for the month and will actually have an additional $600 prior to dh's second paycheck. This doesn't take into account the $600 in rent from my parents, which we'll likely have them stop paying after this month. Original arrangement was they paid nothing until we got their house sold since we lived with them rent free for a year while we sold ours. But when dh lost his job they immediately started paying since it didn't put them in a financial strain and wanted to relieve some of our stress. It also doesn't include dh's $400 he makes from still teaching kungfu once a week. That is currently strictly entertainment, gift, and clothes fund. That way when it is gone we know immediately we're maxed for the month. His main checks go to bills and getting the CC debt back to zero.

It is so strange to have cc debt even if it isn't 0%. Neither of us have ever had cc debt. We haven't had a car loan in 5 years. And our only other debt ever has been the mortgage. While we've spent most of our marriage struggling to save we've never struggled to pay for what we needed. Just an interesting change that I've learned a lot from.

 

Wow!  I am so impressed with you guys.  I am so glad things are going so well.  

[mommyoffive]

8 hours ago, beckyjo said:

We've been following our plan pretty well so far this month. I did some forecasting and there will be too many bills/not enough $ around March 1-10 (DH gets paid weekly), so I started holding back some $ for that. DD is visiting a college right around that time (1 night hotel covered - still need to cover other), and we've got some hefty bills due right around then. I don't know if I'll have enough time to get enough cash to cover it, but I'm trying. Groceries was only $90 this week. MIL decided to clean out her gift card drawer and she shared with us: $10 gas card, $20 pizza place card, $20 Joann fabric (went to middle DD who quilts).

I calculated the taxes, but I haven't gotten around to copying and mailing. Since I had some self employment income, it was cheaper to do them myself. I still have to do oldest DD's - I want her to sit down with me so she knows how to do them.  

 

That is so smart to start planning for the future expenses.  

[readinmom]

Well...just went off a bit this week.  Dd has had a very tough week.  I took her out to get her hair cut, lunch, thrift stores to find outfits for her upcoming play.  Doing much better, so I consider it an investment in self-care.  I told her sometimes you need invest in yourself, even if it's window shopping or a fast food drink. 

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by readinmom

[mommyoffive]

Free photo at Walgreens

Through February 15th, Walgreens is offering a Free 8×10 Photo Print when you use promo code 8X10HEARTS at checkout. Even better, you can choose free in-store pickup and avoid shipping costs!

[JustEm]

On 2/8/2020 at 8:15 PM, mommyoffive said:

 

Wow!  I am so impressed with you guys.  I am so glad things are going so well.  

Thanks. I'm pretty impressed with us myself. I never imagined we'd bounce back so quickly. It is really nice to be a position where a financial crisis didn't crush us for too long. This was probably our worse financial issue since we've been married yet in the grand scheme of things we prepared pretty well for it.

[JustEm]

So far our car hasn't given us more issues so we may not have to deal with taking it to the dealer.

I made two semi impromptu purchases this week but they were worth it. The first was a trip to A.C. Moore, which is closing. I took my log standing list of things we need and check out the prices there which were 50 to 70% off. I spent less than $10 total on bday gifts for a nephew and 2 nieces. Their bdays are in March and April so the purchases needed to be made eventually and this way I spend less than my budgeted amount for one on all 3! I also spent $40 on art supply I've been waiting to replenish(well over $120 with of stuff.) All stuff I would have been fitting into the budget within the next few months at full price.

Other purchase was a gift for dh that has been sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for our tax refund to come before I purchased it. It is normally at least $46(I have watched it for a long time using camelcamelcamel) yesterday it went down to $15 so I jumped on it. Don't know if it was an error or not but it has already been delivered and my card has been charged.

[mommyoffive]

Finally deposited all our Christmas gift money.  Our families are so generous.  We still have Christmas cash to do, but the checks are deposited.   

I need to get onto taxes. 

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

So far our car hasn't given us more issues so we may not have to deal with taking it to the dealer.

I made two semi impromptu purchases this week but they were worth it. The first was a trip to A.C. Moore, which is closing. I took my log standing list of things we need and check out the prices there which were 50 to 70% off. I spent less than $10 total on bday gifts for a nephew and 2 nieces. Their bdays are in March and April so the purchases needed to be made eventually and this way I spend less than my budgeted amount for one on all 3! I also spent $40 on art supply I've been waiting to replenish(well over $120 with of stuff.) All stuff I would have been fitting into the budget within the next few months at full price.

Other purchase was a gift for dh that has been sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for our tax refund to come before I purchased it. It is normally at least $46(I have watched it for a long time using camelcamelcamel) yesterday it went down to $15 so I jumped on it. Don't know if it was an error or not but it has already been delivered and my card has been charged.

 

SCORE.   I love getting a great deal. 

[Ethel Mertz]

I accidentally paid the health insurance bill twice. We're behind a bit on it, but I wasn't planning on paying a total of $4,000 instead of 2,000. "Ouch" is putting it mildly. We've cut way back on groceries and I am thankful for our local grocery outlet. 

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, Ethel Mertz said:

I accidentally paid the health insurance bill twice. We're behind a bit on it, but I wasn't planning on paying a total of $4,000 instead of 2,000. "Ouch" is putting it mildly. We've cut way back on groceries and I am thankful for our local grocery outlet. 

 

Oh my.  Hopefully you are paid for for a long time. 

[mommyoffive]

5 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

I think I did pretty good today.  
I spent $70 all together, which included a costco purchase clorox wipies and dish detergent.  If I take those out I only spent $47.  

Check out my fridge

 

 

Ignore the temp thing, it always freaks out when I have the door open long enough to organize everything.  

 

Most of the stuff you see I got today.  There are oranges and celery in there that are from last week.  Oh, and the plum lol

 

Wow, you guys are so healthy.  How do you keep your cukes good that long?  When I cut mine and store them they turn mushy.  Even uncut ones don't last long in our fridge.  

[DawnM]

I find I either have time or money, and right now I have no time to budget, HOWEVER, through my years of little money but more time, I did learn some valuable skills that have allowed me to keep good tabs, even without writing everything down.

I ordered the iPhone XS Max refurbished online from a reputable company.  It was $650 vs the $1330 for the iPhone 11 pro max I was considering.  I just could not spend that much on a phone!    And I paid cash.  It is arriving on Tue.

We also went out to dinner Wed and Fri.  I had B1G1 deals from my new favorite Indian place, making each meal $5.  It was only the 2 of us.  And we brought home leftovers, so we had enough for 2 meals (almost.)

Love the fridge HappySmileyLady.....can you come do mine now?  It exhausts me just looking at all that chopping and organizing.  Sigh.

[DawnM]

My GOAL right now is to stash all the money I was spending on oldest son's college tuition and expenses, and not spend any of it.  If you don't know, he is "taking a break" this quarter and next, and that gives me 8 months or so to stash that amount away.  That way, if he goes back, we have it available in cash to pay, and if he doesn't, we have $$ for some other things we have been looking at getting (car replacement for example.)

[historically accurate]

6 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

It only took about an hour (ish)  I was kinda back and forth, doing it in between helping kids manage chores and getting lunch together.  DH is actually supposed to be the one doing the chopping, but he was out in the garage doing...............something, I dunno what lol.  

That's good to know - I  would look at that and think, "I don't have time to do all that. I'll just shove it in here and deal later." and then it dies because no one ever ate it...

Still plugging along here.

Dealing with medical insurance has become a part-time job here! My kids' therapists are now all out of network, with special agreements (we're in an area with few in-network mental health resources). They are processing them wrong every single time, at 3 a week that's a lot of corrections. And weirdly, they are still processing everything with last year's co-pays if it is in-network (co-pay went down as we went up from the middle level of insurance to highest) - I am 100% sure they would get it right if our co-pay went up. I am beginning to hate our health insurance with a passion that is probably unhealthy (haha) for me.

I've been using cash for groceries, but I did Walmart pickup yesterday because I'm just so tired. So, I'll have to put the cash back in the account to cover it tomorrow. 

Took kids to homeschool skate on Valentine's Day and swung by the bread outlet. $6.50 for a month's worth of bread - love that place.  I've been on the lookout for some used roller skates for youngest so I don't have to rent them every month - they charge as much for the skates as they do for admission ($3 admission, $3 skate rental). She'd probably use them here at home over the summer too. 

DD's 18th birthday was pretty low key. We bought a cheesecake and did presents. She wants to do a tour of either a national lab or Fermilab soon. 

Still holding money back for our college visit tour to Alabama next month. It's making it a little tight right now, but it's ok. 

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

Cukes, I don't generally have that problem unless I get them from Aldi.  I will see, the containers I use are super awesome.  Salad mix lasts longer in the containers than it does in it's own bag, and same thing with grapes, carrots, etc.  Although, that could be that when I put them in the containers, I sort out bed ones.  

Anyway, we try to eat healthy.  In particular, DH is trying to lose some weight, and the plan with this is really just "eat healthy food."  Most of the stuff you see, my younger two won't eat anyway.  DS7 will eat the cantaloupe.  DD9 won't touch any of it, though she will eat all the bananas that I keep on the table.  They will eat the cheese in the cheese drawer, and DS7 will also eat the yogurt that's on the other side of the fridge.  DH is usually gone about 12 hours a day, and doesn't eat breakfast at home, so along with a main dish of leftovers from dinner, he usually takes like 3 to 5 of those containers to work with him.  And then there's DD11, who eats ALL of those things, and can eat a lot of each in one sitting.  As we get closer to the end of the week, I am having to tell her not to take XYZ because DH needs it for work.  

 

 

What kind of containers are you using to store the cukes?

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, DawnM said:

My GOAL right now is to stash all the money I was spending on oldest son's college tuition and expenses, and not spend any of it.  If you don't know, he is "taking a break" this quarter and next, and that gives me 8 months or so to stash that amount away.  That way, if he goes back, we have it available in cash to pay, and if he doesn't, we have $$ for some other things we have been looking at getting (car replacement for example.)

 

Smart idea.

[mommyoffive]

Frugal Fail-  I was getting out pans to make lunch and found that someone in my home put a full package of frozen sushi in there.  Ugh.  It of course wasn't frozen anymore and I have no clue when it was put in there.

Spent $250 at walmart.   But got a lot of extras, got odd 22 pairs of socks and 2 fleece fuzzy sweaters, my 12 pairs of socks and 2 fleece fuzzy sweaters, ds 24 pairs of socks and a sweat shirt, dh got 3 new long sleeve tees, dd2 got 10 new pairs of socks, dd4 got 10 pairs of new undies, and they all got headlamps.   Plus toilet paper, dog food, dog treats, detergent, and a plant.  Plus food for the week.  

 

[Shoeless]

My goal for this month was to cut down on food waste. This is the first month I'm making a conscious effort to make sure things get used. So far, all I've had to throw away was half a  jar of spaghetti sauce that no one could remember how old it was (better safe than sorry), a bottle of mustard past it's date, a can of coconut milk past date (why did I even buy this?), and some leftover soup that was kind of meh. I'd already eaten 2 days of it for lunch and once for dinner, and could not face another day of it!  

I spent $124 at the stores this weekend.  $26 of that was dog food for the month. I received $19 back in rebates on Ibotta, plus I got lots of freebies with store coupons at HEB, Walgreens, and Dollar General: 6 boxes of freezer and sandwich bags, 1/2 gallon of milk, a package of cheese, a pack of pepperoni, 3 bell peppers, 2 boxes of mac and cheese, 2 cauliflower pizza crusts, 2 boxes of dryer sheets, a bottle of fabric softener, a box of dishwasher tabs, and plug in air freshener. The freebies were in addition to the $19 in rebates. I have a few more freebies to pick up tomorrow at Walmart.

[historically accurate]

Middle dd and I will have to eat out today - she has 2 doctor appointments. One is here in town early this morning, and one up in Madison this afternoon (about 2-3 hours away). So to do that, my brother has the other two kids. Thank goodness for family who can help. 

Youngest DD was my sous chef yesterday. We tried 4 new recipes (2 for dinner and 2 desserts for the week); all were liked! She's really enjoying cooking more, so I am figuring out how to get her in the kitchen more. Oldest DD has gotten into making bread, so she's going to make a herbed bread for our spaghetti night this week. 

Oldest DD did not get her full tuition scholarship she was up for, which made her sad since now it's not an easy decision where to go. 

Finished and filed our taxes yesterday. 

[mommyoffive]

5 hours ago, MissLemon said:

My goal for this month was to cut down on food waste. This is the first month I'm making a conscious effort to make sure things get used. So far, all I've had to throw away was half a  jar of spaghetti sauce that no one could remember how old it was (better safe than sorry), a bottle of mustard past it's date, a can of coconut milk past date (why did I even buy this?), and some leftover soup that was kind of meh. I'd already eaten 2 days of it for lunch and once for dinner, and could not face another day of it!  

I spent $124 at the stores this weekend.  $26 of that was dog food for the month. I received $19 back in rebates on Ibotta, plus I got lots of freebies with store coupons at HEB, Walgreens, and Dollar General: 6 boxes of freezer and sandwich bags, 1/2 gallon of milk, a package of cheese, a pack of pepperoni, 3 bell peppers, 2 boxes of mac and cheese, 2 cauliflower pizza crusts, 2 boxes of dryer sheets, a bottle of fabric softener, a box of dishwasher tabs, and plug in air freshener. The freebies were in addition to the $19 in rebates. I have a few more freebies to pick up tomorrow at Walmart.

Wow, you got all that for freebies?  So jealous.  You must have some great coupons at store.  I miss those days.  

Awesome on Ibotta.  I need to do that. 

Edited February 17, 2020 by mommyoffive

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

Oh goodness, I hope the cabinet doesn't reek!  Is there a particular reason someone might put food in the cabinet for the pans?

When I grocery shop, I put everything on the belt at the register in groups that I would like them bagged.  So for example, all the frozens go together, all the pantry items go together, all the toiletries etc etc.  Sometimes the cashiers will start cherry picking from across the belt so when I get the bag into the cart, I rearrange it again.  Sometimes I have to explain that they need to be bagged a certain way so that when my kids put the stuff away, I don't end up with lettuce in the freezer, or frozen shrimp in the linen closet lol.  

 

I am still not doing that great with Ibotta.  I am trying to work it but I don't find a lot of stuff that we buy, OR......I just forget to scan the receipt lol.  

 

What I think happened?   Nobody has admitted to it yet. 

Idea one.  I grocery shopped on Saturday afternoon.  The kids and dh put the stuff away.  The sushi was already in the freezer ( I didn't buy it at the store on Saturday).   Either someone took the sushi out while reorganizing the freezer putting stuff away.   Either a little helper or someone that was talking to someone else and getting distracted.  

Or my 2 older kids packed food for the day Sunday morning for the whole day as they were at SI intensive auditions all day.  Ds could have gotten the sushi out of freezer and he also made soup, so that would explain being in the pots and pan drawer.  

I don't know.  Crazy things happen in our big family and I hardly ever figure out who or how it happened. 

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, beckyjo said:

Middle dd and I will have to eat out today - she has 2 doctor appointments. One is here in town early this morning, and one up in Madison this afternoon (about 2-3 hours away). So to do that, my brother has the other two kids. Thank goodness for family who can help. 

Youngest DD was my sous chef yesterday. We tried 4 new recipes (2 for dinner and 2 desserts for the week); all were liked! She's really enjoying cooking more, so I am figuring out how to get her in the kitchen more. Oldest DD has gotten into making bread, so she's going to make a herbed bread for our spaghetti night this week. 

Oldest DD did not get her full tuition scholarship she was up for, which made her sad since now it's not an easy decision where to go. 

Finished and filed our taxes yesterday. 

 

Oh I am sorry your dd didn't get the full tuition scholarship.   😞        Can she apply for lots of little scholarships? 

 

[JustEm]

@happysmileylady I love you food prep picture. My fridge looks somewhat similar since I tried to get tons prep for babysitter and dh's sake while I'm in the hospital. It really makes me want to be organized enough to always do it that way

[Shoeless]

15 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

I am still not doing that great with Ibotta.  I am trying to work it but I don't find a lot of stuff that we buy, OR......I just forget to scan the receipt lol.  

 

I feel like the offers go in spurts.  They'll have lots of things we use on offer for a month or two, then nothing I want for 2 or 3 months. I have a bunch of rebate/cash back apps I use, so I've gotten in the habit of scanning the receipt as soon as I unpack the groceries. If I don't, I lose track of the receipts and then can't remember if I've scanned them or not. 

13 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Wow, you got all that for freebies?  So jealous.  You must have some great coupons at store.  I miss those days.  

Awesome on Ibotta.  I need to do that. 

 

Yes, ma'am, all free! I normally don't get any good coupons at HEB (Texas grocery store), but all of a sudden there are a lot of good ones on my account.  I think it might be due to the recent fire at the store; I'm not sure what happened, but I'm happy to take the free food! 

Today I picked up a free pint of ice cream at HEB.  Got more stuff free after Ibotta and Checkout51 rebates: a pack of emery boards, can of olives, 2 bars of soap, a can of enchilada sauce, 6 containers of yogurt, a bag of egg noodles, and a box of tampons. I spent about $30 and got about $21 back in rebates. I am setting all the rebate money aside for Christmas. 

[historically accurate]

22 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

 

Oh I am sorry your dd didn't get the full tuition scholarship.   😞        Can she apply for lots of little scholarships? 

 

Well, that college threw her a 3/4 tuition scholarship, so it's still the best deal she has so far. I think she was hoping it would make her decision crystal-clear because it'd be free. Now, everything is pretty close $ wise.

She's applied for a few scholarships; I think she has gotten $500 from outside sources. 

[mommyoffive]

48 minutes ago, beckyjo said:

Well, that college threw her a 3/4 tuition scholarship, so it's still the best deal she has so far. I think she was hoping it would make her decision crystal-clear because it'd be free. Now, everything is pretty close $ wise.

She's applied for a few scholarships; I think she has gotten $500 from outside sources. 

 

Wow!  That is awesome.  Congrats.  I get it though, one offering 100% would have made it a easy choice.   Good luck with the decision.  

[historically accurate]

Well yesterday was a complete frugal fail. 

DD needed fasting labs, and I bribed her with McD's donut sticks to get her to do them willingly. Amazingly, not too much trouble getting them done (no fainting or crying).  That McD's run was budgeted, but not frugal, since we picked up a little for everyone. First tests are back, and she has mild anemia, so I purchased iron supplements today - doctor called in a prescription, but pharmacist let me know that OTC was a better deal and option for the amount she needs to supplement. 

Youngest complained to PCP last week of having daily headaches (she is Ms. Stoic and didn't want to worry me so didn't let me know). Yesterday was her visit with the "Headache Clinic". He said she is presenting with textbook early signs of migraine. $75 worth of medicine later, she will hopefully be headache free. We are to journal for the next month to see if we can pinpoint triggers, etc. I need to get her back to the counselor, as it may be partially emotional with dealing with sister's medical problems. 

DD with the heart condition passed out right before dinner and conked her head on the hope chest. She got a huge lump and vomited so I took her to ER (last time I took her for a concussion check at urgent care they just sent us to ER). Now I know, if it is in the front of the head, they won't do any scans due to trying to keep brain radiation down, so we'll just watch closely in the future. They did run an EKG (slight tachycardia, but not too worrisome for her) and checked nostril/ear/throat for any blood or skull fracture. She seems fine today so all's well that ends well, I guess. So then, since we were at the ER for a few hours, I had to run through McD's again(!) for a delayed dinner for the two of us. 

*Sigh*

Good budgeting things:

I did speak with health insurance today about processing the copays at last year's higher rate, and I finally got someone to offer to do something rather than reprocess one visit. So, maybe that will be resolved soon?

Finally, I contacted LingoBus for a refund today. They were supposed to do it last week but didn't. Here's hoping this time works and I can get my money back. 

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, beckyjo said:

Well yesterday was a complete frugal fail. 

DD needed fasting labs, and I bribed her with McD's donut sticks to get her to do them willingly. Amazingly, not too much trouble getting them done (no fainting or crying).  That McD's run was budgeted, but not frugal, since we picked up a little for everyone. First tests are back, and she has mild anemia, so I purchased iron supplements today - doctor called in a prescription, but pharmacist let me know that OTC was a better deal and option for the amount she needs to supplement. 

Youngest complained to PCP last week of having daily headaches (she is Ms. Stoic and didn't want to worry me so didn't let me know). Yesterday was her visit with the "Headache Clinic". He said she is presenting with textbook early signs of migraine. $75 worth of medicine later, she will hopefully be headache free. We are to journal for the next month to see if we can pinpoint triggers, etc. I need to get her back to the counselor, as it may be partially emotional with dealing with sister's medical problems. 

DD with the heart condition passed out right before dinner and conked her head on the hope chest. She got a huge lump and vomited so I took her to ER (last time I took her for a concussion check at urgent care they just sent us to ER). Now I know, if it is in the front of the head, they won't do any scans due to trying to keep brain radiation down, so we'll just watch closely in the future. They did run an EKG (slight tachycardia, but not too worrisome for her) and checked nostril/ear/throat for any blood or skull fracture. She seems fine today so all's well that ends well, I guess. So then, since we were at the ER for a few hours, I had to run through McD's again(!) for a delayed dinner for the two of us. 

*Sigh*

Good budgeting things:

I did speak with health insurance today about processing the copays at last year's higher rate, and I finally got someone to offer to do something rather than reprocess one visit. So, maybe that will be resolved soon?

Finally, I contacted LingoBus for a refund today. They were supposed to do it last week but didn't. Here's hoping this time works and I can get my money back. 

Oh my I am so sorry about all the health issues.  

[historically accurate]

Our Walmart is moving everything around, and because of that or maybe it's just the season they have a ton of clearance. I found some basic colored longer tees for me for $2 each. I picked up a white and a teal. 

Got all the pills and supplements sorted out for kids. The migraine rescue meds work like a charm for DD - headache gone in 20 minutes; hopefully, the preventative medicine will start working soon. Middle's iron should be here today, and I decided based on the Vitamin D thread here to get her Vit D and K2 as well. 

This will be an expensive week coming up for us:

•  DD has no less than 5 medical appointments this coming week ( they are doing some "rule out various causes" speciality visits).  Each of those will be at a specialist co-pay. 💸 We will have to pack lunches or eat out 2 times this week because of appointments being far away from home. We already pack lunches for co-op on Tuesday and Wednesday & Thursday evenings for extracurricular drop off/pick up driving, so I've always just allowed eating out for weird-time-away-from-home-at-meal-times, but we may have to do more sandwiches this week despite how much my kids don't like them. 
• We owe the dentist a few hundred and they autodraft it on the last Friday of the month. They went and put it through as "pending" yesterday, so now my account has their payment put on hold. I wasn't planning on paying them with this check, so that made me mad and made this week extremely tight.
• DH needs some work appropriate jeans by Friday. His got a hole yesterday. He's going to check our church's thrift store which has better clothes than Salvation Army. He may end up at Walmart for a pair just to get some.  

Finished the taxes and the federal refund should be in my account soon. Yay!

Going to bake and prepare some food things for the week today and tomorrow. 

[JustEm]

We got our tax refund today too! Half of it went straight into savings. $1000 is getting split between a house maintenance fund, gifts for the year fund, and education expense fund.  $400 will be set aside for dh and myself to purchase gifts for each other, since we weren't able to exchange Christmas or anniversary gifts. It is more money than I want to dedicate to gift giving but dh loves showering me with gifts when he can do.we compromise and do little one year and a lot the next, this just happens to be an a lot year. The rest will pay off the credit card that took care of us during underemployment. And we will once again be debt free other than the mortgage!!!!

As far as frugal spending goes we've been doing well, specifically since having the baby. Normally, we'd rely a bit more on take out during the first few weeks but since I prepared meals ahead of time we haven't had to.

Money fail... I lost a card that had $100. I'm so upset and really hoping it didn't get thrown away while cleaning but I'm pretty sure it did. I know if I threw it away I would have checked to make sure it had no cash in it. But if kids, dh, or any number of relatives who have been helping out might not check. Time will tell.

 

[mommyoffive]

30 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

We got our tax refund today too! Half of it went straight into savings. $1000 is getting split between a house maintenance fund, gifts for the year fund, and education expense fund.  $400 will be set aside for dh and myself to purchase gifts for each other, since we weren't able to exchange Christmas or anniversary gifts. It is more money than I want to dedicate to gift giving but dh loves showering me with gifts when he can do.we compromise and do little one year and a lot the next, this just happens to be an a lot year. The rest will pay off the credit card that took care of us during underemployment. And we will once again be debt free other than the mortgage!!!!

As far as frugal spending goes we've been doing well, specifically since having the baby. Normally, we'd rely a bit more on take out during the first few weeks but since I prepared meals ahead of time we haven't had to.

Money fail... I lost a card that had $100. I'm so upset and really hoping it didn't get thrown away while cleaning but I'm pretty sure it did. I know if I threw it away I would have checked to make sure it had no cash in it. But if kids, dh, or any number of relatives who have been helping out might not check. Time will tell.

 

 

I hope the $100 turns up.  It is so hard having so many people in a house and one person moves something that you put some where.  

Great job on the getting your taxes done.  I normally have mine done as soon as we get our forms.  We haven't this year because we have been crazy busy and dh and I have to talk about 1 thing before we get them done.  Hopefully soon.  

[mommyoffive]

14 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

Between the offset on the 2019 tax year federal refund, and the 2018 state tax refund that they will eventually see that they owe us, the total is now around $900.  Of course the offset includes about $100 in collections fees and interest, but after the 10 months that they say it's going to take to get me the money back, there's of course no way they are going to be paying US interest on the $900+ that they owe us.

🙄

 

 

What a mess. 

I am sorry. 

[JustEm]

2 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

So yesterday, outside of the tax crap, I had both a frugal win and lighthearted frugal "fail."

The win is....I cooked dinner! lol.  I was supposed to make turkey manhattans.  Thought I had bread in the freezer, but I didn't.  Almost ordered pizza.  Instead, I used the turkey, plus the leftover chicken in the fridge, AND used up some fresh stuff that for sure needed to be used, and made a pot pie.  I didn't spend money we shouldn't spend, I didn't even break into the "emergency frozen pizza stash" AND I even used up food we had so that it didn't go to waste!  Frugal win all around!

The "fail" is that DH ended up using the debit card to get himself something out of the work vending machines.  The machines don't take cash, only cards (I have seen them, and I find this weird, but yes, the entire wall, like 8 to 10 vending machines, not a single one takes cash.)  He brought a lunch, insisted he ate it and was still very hungry.  Now, ultimately, I discovered that he didn't eat the chicken in his lunch (no wonder he was still hungry lol.) But I am not going to get on him, I know chicken breasts aren't his favorite, and he's been making lots of healthy food choices otherwise, I am sure he just was like "I really just want a junky frozen burrito today!" lol.

 

 

Ha, I love that vending machines are starting to just take cards. Not for my own use but for dh's. At one point he had a big vending machine problem and there was one at the Kung Fu school he was working fulltime at. He would swipe his card almost daily. And at the end of the month I made him sit down with our statement and add up how much he spent on just the vending machine. It was quite eye opening for him and now he will not use a vending machine if it doesn't take cash. Because with cash he knows how much he has and only uses that much.

[Emba]

I have decided to join a gym. That is not exactly frugal (but I have Christmas money!), but I feel like the health benefits of being more fit will more than worth it. I am shopping around for how to do it less expensively and still join one that works for me.  But to even try out various gyms to see which would work, I’ve had to get clothes I can work out in. So I made a couple of trips to Goodwill and got a couple of pairs of sweatpants. Spent about $10 for both and bonus, discovered a I love sweatpants (so comfy!), which I hadn’t worn since junior high.