February Frugalistas 2021

[saraha]

15 hours ago, hjffkj said:

You guys I don't intend to tell you about every deal I find at Goodwill but this one I can't avoid. It was a HUGE score.  As I was getting ready to leave after spending a quick ten minutes searching and finding a few good things they we'll out a new cart right in front of me.  It was filled with video games and dvds.  I went through every single one and picked out 30 of them.  Each cost 99 cents so I spent $30.  I will make over $500 on it all and most of it will sell pretty fast. There are some $60 games and movies in there.  The highest value thing is a $99 dvd.

That is awesome! How lucky are you!

But why would someone pay $99 for a dvd?

[mommyoffive]

7 minutes ago, saraha said:

That is awesome! How lucky are you!

But why would someone pay $99 for a dvd?

Hard to find, vintage, new in packaging, limited production, or some odd topic or show

[mommyoffive]

Through February 13th, pop on over to Target where they are hosting a huge Buy 2 Get 1 Free sale on video games, movies, activity & craft kits, board games, puzzles, books, and music – valid both in-store and online!

Even sweeter, you can mix and match from each category and the item(s) of equal or lesser value will be automatically discounted at checkout.

Buy 2, Get 1 Free Games, Puzzles, Movies & More at Target | Dr. Seuss Books Just $2.33 Each - Hip2Save

[JustEm]

49 minutes ago, saraha said:

That is awesome! How lucky are you!

But why would someone pay $99 for a dvd?

I'm actually trying to figure out why this particular one is so expensive. But I'm general for a few reasons: it is out of print, brand new sealed still, not many were made, different countries version, or an odd topic.

This movie is a Japanese movie specifically from Japan, not the for America release. It is appears to be rare that you can find it new still sealed. If it is pre-owned it is only worth about $20. It won't be a fast mover I don't think but we'll see. I have to do more research before I list it.

[mommyoffive]

It’s Back!! Buy 2, Get 1 Free Books on Amazon

It's Back!! Buy 2, Get 1 Free Books on Amazon {Includes Many of My Favorite Reads!} | Money Saving Mom® : Money Saving Mom®

Get 3 for the price of 2. (amazon.com)

[JustEm]

22 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

It’s Back!! Buy 2, Get 1 Free Books on Amazon

It's Back!! Buy 2, Get 1 Free Books on Amazon {Includes Many of My Favorite Reads!} | Money Saving Mom® : Money Saving Mom®

Get 3 for the price of 2. (amazon.com)

looks like it isn't just books.

[JustEm]

Taking a risk in the resale department.  I'm going to be buying a huge wii bundle from someone on fb for $100.  The plan is to sell it for between $300 and $350 shipped on ebay.  I know I'll make my money easy with just a few of the games. But big bundles are a bit more complicated.  We'll see. I'm nervous about spending so much money but I think it'll pay off.

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, hjffkj said:

looks like it isn't just books.

Yeah, when I was looking there were movies and I think toys?

[mommyoffive]

37 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Taking a risk in the resale department.  I'm going to be buying a huge wii bundle from someone on fb for $100.  The plan is to sell it for between $300 and $350 shipped on ebay.  I know I'll make my money easy with just a few of the games. But big bundles are a bit more complicated.  We'll see. I'm nervous about spending so much money but I think it'll pay off.

Good luck.  I don't know if video game stuff is selling for as much as it was in the start of Covid.  But it sounds like you already know you are not going to lose money. 

[JustEm]

16 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Good luck.  I don't know if video game stuff is selling for as much as it was in the start of Covid.  But it sounds like you already know you are not going to lose money. 

Thanks.  They aren't selling for as much as in the start but they are still selling.  The 18 games themselves will get me my money back so the console, accessories, and tower will be icing on the cake.  It is a matter of deciding to bundle everything together or piece it out a bit.  I'll decide once I have the stuff in my hands which should be tonight or tomorrow

[mommyoffive]

4 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Thanks.  They aren't selling for as much as in the start but they are still selling.  The 18 games themselves will get me my money back so the console, accessories, and tower will be icing on the cake.  It is a matter of deciding to bundle everything together or piece it out a bit.  I'll decide once I have the stuff in my hands which should be tonight or tomorrow

From what I watch, you make more piecing it out.  But that also is more work.  

[mommyoffive]

Picked up free meals for the day.  I will go 2 more times this week and pick up the whole week. 

Picked up free crafts at the library.

Picked up a huge bag of free crafts and projects for the kids from the college.  They were having a family fun weekend thing.  I have such a love and hate relationship with crafts for the kids.  They make a huge mess that I will have to clean up in someway.  Lots of clutter.  I have to throw lots of it away and I feel bad about that.  But I can't keep everyone's stuff.  But it passes the time, so I keep doing it.  

[historically accurate]

I did the school lunches - it's 3 days worth today. Walking tacos, empanadas, and mac and cheese so everyone is pretty happy. 

Took 2 kids to the orthodontist today. Middle still has a few months despite being well over the original time estimate now. She's cranky about it. I got the estimate for Youngest. Over $6K not including tooth removal. She'll need 2 teeth pulled and her wisdom teeth removed prior to braces. Ick. And double ick. But no extra appliances, so I guess that's good. I could've bought a really, really nice car with all that I've paid the orthodontist over the 4 sets of braces! I need to find out if it is less expensive to pull the two teeth at her regular dentist's office or if it makes more sense to do it all while she's out for the wisdom teeth. 

Ordered Oldest's birthday gift from Amazon for delivery right to her today. I'll tell her to get some Grubhub on me on the 15th too. I've been using my Crowdtap & Swagbucks earnings for my gift fund, so that worked. 

[mommyoffive]

House Covid-19 Relief Bill Offers Checks at Same Income Levels (msn.com)

[Soror]

Made my menu-

Mon- chicken quesadillas w/ cilantro rice

Tuesday: venison stir fry

wednesday; roast chicken w/ cauliflower, potatoes, and salad

thursday; chili 

Friday; stromboli

Saturday: lasagna

Sunday: steak w/ fries (dh's request for vday)

[JustEm]

12 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

House Covid-19 Relief Bill Offers Checks at Same Income Levels (msn.com)

wonder what the final package would look like.  If it passes as is we plan on making out pretty nicely this year with the stimulus bill and child tax credit being refundable.

But man I can't even comprehend what this type of debt is going to do to the country

[mommyoffive]

34 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

wonder what the final package would look like.  If it passes as is we plan on making out pretty nicely this year with the stimulus bill and child tax credit being refundable.

But man I can't even comprehend what this type of debt is going to do to the country

It is going to be bad.  But it is bad spot to be in.  If they don't do things like this a lot of people will suffer in the mean time.  I wish it was more targeted then it is.  I have been hearing so many stories of teens being on unemployment this whole time making so much money.  Or I have been watching this youtuber uncover a lot of family vloggers that took out big PPP loans and then just paid themselves with the money not any real employees even though they work out of their homes and were not effected by Covid.   

I am on the fence on stimulus and I wonder if targeted programs like food benefits and unemployment would be a better use of that money.

[JustEm]

3 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

It is going to be bad.  But it is bad spot to be in.  If they don't do things like this a lot of people will suffer in the mean time.  I wish it was more targeted then it is.  I have been hearing so many stories of teens being on unemployment this whole time making so much money.  Or I have been watching this youtuber uncover a lot of family vloggers that took out big PPP loans and then just paid themselves with the money not any real employees even though they work out of their homes and were not effected by Covid.   

I am on the fence on stimulus and I wonder if targeted programs like food benefits and unemployment would be a better use of that money.

All I know is that every single time we have qualified for SNAP and I applied we were denied because of an error in their system.  And every single time, instead of appealing because that is a huge hassle and we weren't in dire need of food I said F*** it and just accepted that we wouldn't be getting it. Targeted programs are great on paper but they can be terribly managed and it can be really hard for people to actually get the benefit even though it is obvious they qualify.

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

All I know is that every single time we have qualified for SNAP and I applied we were denied because of an error in their system.  And every single time, instead of appealing because that is a huge hassle and we weren't in dire need of food I said F*** it and just accepted that we wouldn't be getting it. Targeted programs are great on paper but they can be terribly managed and it can be really hard for people to actually get the benefit even though it is obvious they qualify.

Good point.  And low income people might not have computer access to get into the programs.  And also like other things you sometimes don't even know that there is a program or help for you until you talk to the right person.

I wish that they could claw back the money from people that abused the PPP loan program.  

[JustEm]

7 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Good point.  And low income people might not have computer access to get into the programs.  And also like other things you sometimes don't even know that there is a program or help for you until you talk to the right person.

I wish that they could claw back the money from people that abused the PPP loan program.  

I wish that were a thing too.  I'm so mad that people like that exist.  Who is the youtuber that was exposing others?

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

I wish that were a thing too.  I'm so mad that people like that exist.  Who is the youtuber that was exposing others?

BIG NEWS! || ARE FAMILY VLOGGERS MISUSING PPP LOANS?! || WHY DO RICH PEOPLE NEED COVID LOANS? - YouTube

I started watching him when he was breaking into Myka and James Stuaffer when they gave up their adopted son after 3 years and hid it.  He has since gone into exposing a lot of Family Vloggers and how he would like them to get off of Youtube because their children can't consent to being on the internet.  A lot of it is pretty scary.  I was watching one last weekend where he was going through the data of the videos and how a larger portion of the videos are men watching the things with kids in swimsuits, talking about periods, shaving legs and stuff like that.  And how the families know that this is going on and because those kinds of videos get lots of views they make them and views go up when they have tween or teen girls

[JustEm]

@mommyoffive I watched that video.  What gross people. 

[mommyoffive]

2 hours ago, hjffkj said:

@mommyoffive I watched that video.  What gross people. 

Right?   It really sickens me that there are people out there willing to take advantage of the pandemic.  I mean hey we all need to and want to make money, but you have to have morals and not take advantage of people and programs too.   Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.  And it just really makes me mad that the programs I (and everyone else) are paying for that people who don't need the money took it.   But it seems like some of these family vloggers are doing a lot more than that just the PPP loans that is not right in my book.   I wish the government would do something about it.  Or I wish that they would have set up the loans to exclude someone who is running an online business from home during the pandemic.   The money should have been for all the brick and mortar businesses that were affected by the pandemic.  

Early on in this pandemic because we had a trip to Asia planned for last spring, I was focusing on Covid before people thought it was here in the states.  We stocked up on stuff before people did too.  I had all the stuff that people where hoarding and then selling for tons of money.  I could have made a lot off of all of it, but there is no way that I could do that.   There is a difference in my mind of selling an N95 mask for $100 bucks more than it is worth in a pandemic vs selling an old Lego set for $100 bucks more than it is worth.   

[JustEm]

28 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Right?   It really sickens me that there are people out there willing to take advantage of the pandemic.  I mean hey we all need to and want to make money, but you have to have morals and not take advantage of people and programs too.   Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.  And it just really makes me mad that the programs I (and everyone else) are paying for that people who don't need the money took it.   But it seems like some of these family vloggers are doing a lot more than that just the PPP loans that is not right in my book.   I wish the government would do something about it.  Or I wish that they would have set up the loans to exclude someone who is running an online business from home during the pandemic.   The money should have been for all the brick and mortar businesses that were affected by the pandemic.  

Early on in this pandemic because we had a trip to Asia planned for last spring, I was focusing on Covid before people thought it was here in the states.  We stocked up on stuff before people did too.  I had all the stuff that people where hoarding and then selling for tons of money.  I could have made a lot off of all of it, but there is no way that I could do that.   There is a difference in my mind of selling an N95 mask for $100 bucks more than it is worth in a pandemic vs selling an old Lego set for $100 bucks more than it is worth.   

Well the government may still decide not to forgive their loans and I hope that is the case.  Oh and those people who were hoarding essentials and reselling were awful. I won't even do things like buy a PS5 and resell it for more like has been happening since it was released. But I don't frown upon people who do that because those aren't essential items.  Essential items shouldn't be treated the same way.

[mommyoffive]

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[Soror]

Groceries bought. Redeemed some points from CC for vaca fund.

Vaca fund at 42.75%

I budgeted $10 each for dh and I for Vday and $5 each for the kids. Dh has spent $8 so far and told me to not buy him anything so he has more. I don't know why he could need that much. He sometimes buys me flowers but just grocery store flowers, I don't like big expensive bouquets. I told him I just wanted a heart w/ chocolates. No stupid cards or such. I'll probably buy him a little treat with my own money. I plan on taking the kids to the candy store the day after vday to score some cheap candy with their money (I talked to them and they decided that was the smartest pick).

Dh spent $6.50 on some bolts for the bunkbeds, they evidently had lost some but it was still well worth the cost. That came out of my home goods budget for the month.

Dh had a filling fall out and went to he dentist yesterday and ds needed a check up Monday. I expect those will run about $125 or so together. I'll probably use the $90 I left on the FSA card to pay one. I need a new scrip too, dh will pick that up today, no idea on costs. I have $70 in my prescription fund currently, hopefully it is cheaper than that.

Hope to finish taxes tonight since filling opens Friday. Plan to pay less taxes in this coming year. 

Edited February 10, 2021 by Soror

[historically accurate]

18 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Right?   It really sickens me that there are people out there willing to take advantage of the pandemic.  I mean hey we all need to and want to make money, but you have to have morals and not take advantage of people and programs too.   Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.  And it just really makes me mad that the programs I (and everyone else) are paying for that people who don't need the money took it.   But it seems like some of these family vloggers are doing a lot more than that just the PPP loans that is not right in my book.   I wish the government would do something about it.  Or I wish that they would have set up the loans to exclude someone who is running an online business from home during the pandemic.   The money should have been for all the brick and mortar businesses that were affected by the pandemic.  

Early on in this pandemic because we had a trip to Asia planned for last spring, I was focusing on Covid before people thought it was here in the states.  We stocked up on stuff before people did too.  I had all the stuff that people where hoarding and then selling for tons of money.  I could have made a lot off of all of it, but there is no way that I could do that.   There is a difference in my mind of selling an N95 mask for $100 bucks more than it is worth in a pandemic vs selling an old Lego set for $100 bucks more than it is worth.   

I know in the VIPKid FB pages, many people were commenting on what they should spend the $1000 grant on. I was trying to figure out how an online job needed money to survive the pandemic, but they are running a business so they are technically eligible. 

[mommyoffive]

Picked up free meals yesterday.  I am going again today and then I will have gotten all the meals for the week.  Fridge and Freezer are filled.

Dh picked up grocery order. 

A  new shirt that I got got ripped in the washer.  Boo.  It was so soft and I like the design.  It isn't in a place that you can fix and not be seen.  

We are going to need a new fridge.  Our fridge is from when we moved into our house. 14 years old.  It works fine.  But over the last yearish plastic chunks from the shelfs have been just cracking off. Some have been over 5 inches long.  So yesterday the bottom shelf just fell out.  It isn't attached to the fridge anymore.  So I am starting to look for that.   Bummer that we have to get a new fridge when  it works fine.   The only things we haven't replaced are the dryer, ac, and furnace (although we did replace a huge part in the furnace). 

Ordered some things from the house, hoping they get here today.

Dh got some snow pants. 

I need to focus back on taxes and drop them at the CPA.  

Paid for violin lessons that school didn't cover because the lessons doubled in cost.  Need to get the school to cover their part.  still waiting on the paperwork.  

I need to buy some things with the leftover funds.  Need to get that done before the end of the month. 

[mommyoffive]

1 minute ago, historically accurate said:

I know in the VIPKid FB pages, many people were commenting on what they should spend the $1000 grant on. I was trying to figure out how an online job needed money to survive the pandemic, but they are running a business so they are technically eligible. 

Ugh, that makes me mad too.  That is not who it should have gone to. 

[Soror]

6 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

I know in the VIPKid FB pages, many people were commenting on what they should spend the $1000 grant on. I was trying to figure out how an online job needed money to survive the pandemic, but they are running a business so they are technically eligible. 

Yes, I've seen a lot about that too. I didn't apply either, it seemed to be skirting the requirements to apply and I didn't want to mess with that. Many teachers did have a reduction in classes, it is hard to pinpoint that as exactly caused by the pandemic, more secondary. School schedules in China were screwed up and many more teachers were available in America. I had a 20-30% decrease in bookings last spring/summer. I dont' how you would quantify the reduction in income for help from the government though. I can't see how they would need money to help because of pandemic, but help because things have lowered due to the pandemic, I can get that. For most it hasn't been that they've completely lost classes but like me there has been a reduction.  Like with most independent contractor jobs it is complicated. My friend that walks dogs had a huge downturn because people were home and walking dogs themselves and not taking vacations and had a hell of a time getting any unemployment help. As with most things when you try to open things up to help more people it also opens it up to abuse.

[JustEm]

2 hours ago, historically accurate said:

I know in the VIPKid FB pages, many people were commenting on what they should spend the $1000 grant on. I was trying to figure out how an online job needed money to survive the pandemic, but they are running a business so they are technically eligible. 

Some online businesses have certainly been affected, don't know about VIPKid.  My brother makes money writing blog posts and other stuff for people  and his income certainly dipped at the beginning of the pandemic.  It is just a side gig for him but if it were his main sense of income he'd have been hurting. He could of course hustled to find online work but that takes time so that initial income dip could be the difference between paying bills or not. 

[mommyoffive]

Picked up free meals.  Nice to have the done. fridge is so full and the kids can just eat as they please.

I am going to measure the fridge tonight and start looking around.  I guess the bright side is it didn't happen when fridges were so hard to get and it is cold out so emptying the fridge and freezer will be easier?  I don't know. 

Got my Walmart order of household things and one thing came broken.  So will have dh return that next week. 

Also got a Target package that isn't ours and isn't on our street.  So I guess contact Target and not UPS right?  

[mommyoffive]

Here is another one.  Tom Brady got almost $1 million in PPP loans. 

Tom Brady’s Company TB12 Inc. Received Nearly $1 Million In PPP Loans – CBS Boston (cbslocal.com)

Brady left the Patriots in March to sign a two-year, $50 million contract with the Bucs, with that $50 million completely guaranteed. Forbes listed the QB as the 21st highest-paid athlete in 2020, and he’s earned over $200 million throughout his career.

[JustEm]

11 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Here is another one.  Tom Brady got almost $1 million in PPP loans. 

Tom Brady’s Company TB12 Inc. Received Nearly $1 Million In PPP Loans – CBS Boston (cbslocal.com)

Brady left the Patriots in March to sign a two-year, $50 million contract with the Bucs, with that $50 million completely guaranteed. Forbes listed the QB as the 21st highest-paid athlete in 2020, and he’s earned over $200 million throughout his career.

this seems a bit different possibly. Because his company has physical locations and does employ people. While he could afford to pay those people with his personal funds I wouldn't expect a business owner to do that. Take s smaller profit from the company during hard times is reasonable but dipping into your personal funds is very different.  And while plenty of business owners do that it isn't necessarily good business practice.

[JustEm]

Now if he is paying himself or the other owner owner of the business that would be wrong

[mommyoffive]

10 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

this seems a bit different possibly. Because his company has physical locations and does employ people. While he could afford to pay those people with his personal funds I wouldn't expect a business owner to do that. Take s smaller profit from the company during hard times is reasonable but dipping into your personal funds is very different.  And while plenty of business owners do that it isn't necessarily good business practice.

Yes, I get what you are saying.  But this is also a person who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  Other people who own businesses that tried to get the loans but could not lost everything.  And they were small business owners who didn't have hundreds of millions of dollars.  

Not to mention how much his wife makes.  

[JustEm]

49 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Yes, I get what you are saying.  But this is also a person who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars.  Other people who own businesses that tried to get the loans but could not lost everything.  And they were small business owners who didn't have hundreds of millions of dollars.  

Not to mention how much his wife makes.  

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea who his wife is or what she does, ha.  I know almost nothing about him either.  

It is disappointing that the incredibly wealthy sought the PPP loans but not surprsing in a business sense.

It is sad how many small businesses have lost everything. Dh works in the small business department of a large bank.  Tensions are high for many of their customers.

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea who his wife is or what she does, ha.  I know almost nothing about him either.  

It is disappointing that the incredibly wealthy sought the PPP loans but not surprsing in a business sense.

It is sad how many small businesses have lost everything. Dh works in the small business department of a large bank.  Tensions are high for many of their customers.

He is married to Gisele. 

Gisele Bündchen is a Brazilian model and actress from Horizontina, Brazil. Bündchen has been among the highest-paid models in the world, and as of 2007 was the 16th richest woman in the entertainment industry. In 2012, she placed first on the Forbes top-earning models list. As of 2020, Gisele Bündchen’s net worth is estimated to be roughly $400 Million dollars.

[JustEm]

Gotta do a happy dance with me guys.  It is only Feb 10th and I have already accomplished my goal of netting $400 for the month with reselling! So, I'm upping my goal to $800. I have also accomplished my goal of listing 50 items.  The new listing goal is to list 4 things a day.

[mommyoffive]

Soror, I was just reading this and thought of your trip.

Heathrow Airport Adds New Tax Due To Coronavirus | One Mile at a Time

We always avoided flying into or out of there for the tax reasons. 

[Soror]

9 hours ago, mommyoffive said:

Soror, I was just reading this and thought of your trip.

Heathrow Airport Adds New Tax Due To Coronavirus | One Mile at a Time

We always avoided flying into or out of there for the tax reasons. 

Thanks for the info.

____________________

We did not finish the taxes but I plan to do that today. 

[JustEm]

I still haven't gotten dh's W2s from his main job.  They should have been mailed out already but no sign of them.  I usually file my taxes the first day the IRS accepts them.  Guess that isn't happening this year

[historically accurate]

Paid bills today - it's payday! DD's college bookstore went and doubled her order for chemistry books. She got almost $300 extra charged to her checking account -- fortunately she keeps a pretty high balance in there. When she talked to the bookstore explaining she only wanted and ordered 1 set of chem textbooks et al, they put the credit onto MY credit card instead of her debit card - she doesn't even have access to that credit card, so I don't know why they would use it. So I now have a $300 credit on the card. So, I'm using that to buy groceries and gas and prescriptions and more. I put the money into DD's account from our savings account, and I'm rebuilding the savings with the grocery, gas, prescription money. I hate when places make more work for me even if it all works out. 

DD said she spoke with Bursar's office and they should be recalculating her 1098. We have to wait for that to be corrected before we can do taxes.

One DD had a doctor appointment this morning, so that'll be a copay coming up. I grabbed Th/Fr school meals on our way back home. There is no school on Monday, so they gave me 3 extra bags. Fridge is packed out now. I also got gas (with the credit mentioned above). 

It's soooo cold here today 5 degrees, and Sunday our high is 0! I'm trying not to think about how much heat we're using. I've taken to wearing my robe over my clothes like a wearable blanket LOL.

Our subscribe and save items should be arriving today. I need to take inventory and meal plan and make a grocery list sometime today or tomorrow. 

[cjzimmer1]

Really hating this cold and know the heat bill is going to be awful but thankfully, the past few months have been a bit lower so I do have enough buffer built up there that we should be okay.  Our puppy loves sleeping on my lap so that really helps me cope with the cold, he's a built in heating pad. 

Got both DS's taxes finished.  DS2 was easy and finished in about 30 minutes.  DS1 on the other hand was terrible.  I spent almost every night this week wading through IRS publications trying to figure out how to handle things.  This is the first year we have used 529 funds and then it didn't match the 1098 from the college which didn't match what we paid and I had to sort all it out because I didn't have to deal with any of that previous years.  DH wasn't at all helpful, he's convinced DS should be doing all this himself (his parents were of the unhelpful type and pretty much left the kids to figure out life on their own once they hit 18 so DH thinks that's an acceptable approach).  DH also doesn't think I should share details of our finances with the kids.  I pointed out that DS's school stuff is based on our finances so to say he should do it all himself and then say he can't have information about finances is completely unreasonable. I told DH I never saw a tax form or FAFSA in my life until after I graduated from college.  He was flabbergasted that I didn't do my own in college. Anyways, I told DH, if I can't figure this out when I have all the numbers and experience, how did he expect DS to figure it out.  DS on the other hand was very very grateful when I explained to him all I had to go through but when he saw his refund, he was very happy.

I still have to do our taxes but I think our will be easier since all the college stuff moved to DS's return (he had to file independent this year but that worked to his favor because he was then eligible for the stimulus money).

I had bought a bunch of paint last fall when it was on a great sale but didn't have it tinted because I wasn't sure what colors I needed.  So far every single color (I think I've got about 8 down stairs) has used the exact same color base so I wasn't worried about buying ahead.  Of course this time, I pick a color that actually needs a different base.  I don't have a receipt since it was so long ago but it wouldn't have done any good since it was past 90 days.  Thankfully they allowed me to do an exchange so now I have the paint for the boys room without any additional out of pocket expense.  I'm hoping to paint the closest this weekend.  I will do the ceiling and walls right before the install of the new carpet so I don't have to move the furniture twice.  I hate painting ceilings and usually just skip them but this has been a boys room for over 20 years and it really needs help. Still waiting to hear from them on the install date.

We did get the school lunch boxes this week.  There's a few new things the kids don't like but I didn't think were too bad so I'm eating those and DH is stuck eating only the leftovers until things are whittled down because there is no room for anything else in the fridge right now.

I did have to buy another dog bed.  This is our 3rd one and puppy hasn't even been here 3 months yet.  His favorite bed is covered but he's dug it up so much there is a whole in the lining which he keeps trying to eat. Hoping the new one is better quality.

Otherwise I'm not spending much because it's just too cold to go anywhere and while I like the convenience of online shopping, I actually hate trying to look at things on the screen so I don't do much of that at all.

[cjzimmer1]

18 minutes ago, Thatboyofmine said:

Ds is thinking about taking a class at the tech college in the summer.  He just got promoted at work, but he’s thinking about eventually going into the company dh works for which will be a huge weight off my mind.  They have pretty decent insurance for insulin and supplies.   He also is needing glasses.  That appt is next week.  
 

we are eating at home this week, but crap groceries are expensive.   I’m not lying when I say I’d love to tear out my kitchen, make it into an craft and library room and just have a coffee bar.  🤣  everyone thinks I’m crazy.  Ds’ gf is cooking tonite.  I bought it, she’ll cook it.  That sounds like a fair payoff to me.   I made omelets last night.  Cheap, but a pita.   I hate to cook.   And I spend so much on ingredients that half the time (realistically more than half the time) it tastes like crap.    I’ve done the hello fresh type stuff before.  It was good and pretty easy and cost the same (but at least we ate it!).  I’m wondering if I should try that again.  

Dh bought me a new iPad.  I did need a new one desperately, but there went the Feb budget. But it was a sweet gesture and I can’t fought him for that. 🥰

 

Does it taste bad because you've under/overcooked it?  Or is just bland?  I like strong bold flavors and I find many recipes that while the ingredients looks good, the flavor is not what I've hoped for.  But it's not hard to amp up the flavor of things if your problem is bland food (if your problem is the preparation part, well unfortunately that just comes with practice).  I find having a good selection of spices and condiments means most recipes no matter how bad on the first pass, can be doctored into something better.  If you give me a recipe you didn't like, I'd be happy to offer suggestions on ways to tweak it.

[prairiewindmomma]

No real news on this front.

I plugged in our hot tub after repairs, and our electricity bill info just posted. I looked at the day by day numbers.  On the day we plugged it in, we used $7 in extra electricity to bring the water from 42F to 104F.  We then bumped the water temp down to 102F and it runs about $2 worth of electricity to maintain temp with our super insulated cover on.....almost half of our daily electric bill. (Our furnace, water heater, etc are all natural gas and we air dry clothes quite a bit.)  Knowing those numbers more accurately means that our hot tub is really costing us about $80/month just to maintain water/heat/electricity/chemicals to sanitize and balance the tub.  Now that we have those repairs behind us....I really need to adjust our budget to deal with the maintenance end of things. Numbers help! Now we know!

[saraha]

On 2/10/2021 at 9:12 AM, mommyoffive said:

Picked up free meals yesterday.  I am going again today and then I will have gotten all the meals for the week.  Fridge and Freezer are filled.

Dh picked up grocery order. 

A  new shirt that I got got ripped in the washer.  Boo.  It was so soft and I like the design.  It isn't in a place that you can fix and not be seen.  

We are going to need a new fridge.  Our fridge is from when we moved into our house. 14 years old.  It works fine.  But over the last yearish plastic chunks from the shelfs have been just cracking off. Some have been over 5 inches long.  So yesterday the bottom shelf just fell out.  It isn't attached to the fridge anymore.  So I am starting to look for that.   Bummer that we have to get a new fridge when  it works fine.   The only things we haven't replaced are the dryer, ac, and furnace (although we did replace a huge part in the furnace). 

Ordered some things from the house, hoping they get here today.

Dh got some snow pants. 

I need to focus back on taxes and drop them at the CPA.  

Paid for violin lessons that school didn't cover because the lessons doubled in cost.  Need to get the school to cover their part.  still waiting on the paperwork.  

I need to buy some things with the leftover funds.  Need to get that done before the end of the month. 

Could you use something like this in the fridge?

[mommyoffive]

18 minutes ago, saraha said:

Could you use something like this in the fridge?

Oh my gosh.  That is a good idea.  I am kicking myself for being dumb and not thinking of it.   I would have to measure and everything and see.  Is that from Amazon?  

The thing is there are drawers connected to this shelf in the fridge.  Or they were connected. So I would have to figure something out with that.  

[saraha]

Just now, mommyoffive said:

Oh my gosh.  That is a good idea.  I am kicking myself for being dumb and not thinking of it.   I would have to measure and everything and see.  Is that from Amazon?  

The thing is there are drawers connected to this shelf in the fridge.  Or they were connected. So I would have to figure something out with that.  

It was on Lowes, but I think you can even find them at the dollar store. Might give you more time to look for a great refrigerator deal. I think it is like $4.99

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Style-Selections-13-58-in-W-x-6-1-in-H-1-Tier-Freestanding-Metal-Plate-Rack/50378248?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-dcr-_-google-_-lia-_-232-_-kitchenorganization-_-50378248-_-0&placeholder=null&ds_rl=1286981&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyJOBBhDCARIsAJG2h5djLpDbAB2n5WnO4IjRg16ZVxOxSxDcCjFqlXZFcSYctUL5shwhcFgaAs76EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Soror]

taxes done. 

trying to decide if I want to work some evenings this month to increase pay.

Made yummy chili last night and threw in the last bit of a salsa jar and salsa verde jar.