Jump to content

Menu

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ May 2022 Frugalistas ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


mommyoffive
 Share

Recommended Posts

Well today is payday so let's see how fast we can make this money disappear, ha. All I can do is laugh about it or I'll cry.

Dh had his 2nd interview yesterday and thought it went well. He's heard from an insider that they've made the decision but are waiting until Monday for dh's boss to get back from vacation to make an offer. The inside source does not know who they chose. Everyone seems pretty confident it is dh though. I am not getting my hopes up though.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 239
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

1 hour ago, hjffkj said:

Well today is payday so let's see how fast we can make this money disappear, ha. All I can do is laugh about it or I'll cry.

Dh had his 2nd interview yesterday and thought it went well. He's heard from an insider that they've made the decision but are waiting until Monday for dh's boss to get back from vacation to make an offer. The inside source does not know who they chose. Everyone seems pretty confident it is dh though. I am not getting my hopes up though.

Fingers crossed for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, hjffkj said:

Well today is payday so let's see how fast we can make this money disappear, ha. All I can do is laugh about it or I'll cry.

Dh had his 2nd interview yesterday and thought it went well. He's heard from an insider that they've made the decision but are waiting until Monday for dh's boss to get back from vacation to make an offer. The inside source does not know who they chose. Everyone seems pretty confident it is dh though. I am not getting my hopes up though.

Good luck to him.  Does the new job come with a raise?  That would be so helpful nowadays.  Annoying you  have to wait the weekend to find out.  I hope the days pass fast for you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Good luck to him.  Does the new job come with a raise?  That would be so helpful nowadays.  Annoying you  have to wait the weekend to find out.  I hope the days pass fast for you.

Yes, it'll come with a raise. Not sure how much. Hopefully, we'll know by Monday

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Our local IGA advertised chicken quarters for $7.90 for a 10 pound bag. I went Monday, they had none. Dh stopped Wednesday and they had three bags, so he bought two. These 10 pound bags used to go on sale for $4.90 a few times a year and I would stock up, now just finding chicken is hard so I’m glad to get what he could get. Going to swing wide on our way home from piano and see if they have any ore today 🤞

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, saraha said:

Our local IGA advertised chicken quarters for $7.90 for a 10 pound bag. I went Monday, they had none. Dh stopped Wednesday and they had three bags, so he bought two. These 10 pound bags used to go on sale for $4.90 a few times a year and I would stock up, now just finding chicken is hard so I’m glad to get what he could get. Going to swing wide on our way home from piano and see if they have any ore today 🤞

I've never used Chicken quarters, but I bought some this week as well because they were the only somewhat decently priced chicken.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, historically accurate said:

I've never used Chicken quarters, but I bought some this week as well because they were the only somewhat decently priced chicken.

We like them roasted or I will use them to make chicken and dumplings or pot pie

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I picked up 40 lbs of chicken quarters a few weeks ago for 49 cents a pound. It was a nice stock up price. During normal times I would get more but right now I won't so other people can get deals too. Surprisingly, 40 lbs won't last us too long since I'll make 10 lbs at a time and it'll be one dinner and lunch for most of us throughout the week.

We just roast them with different spices and I cut the drumsticks off after it is cooked for the kids because it is an easy thing for them to grab for themselves

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Brittany1116 said:

We are purging like crazy just at the thought of putting the house on the market. Realtor's numbers came in farrrr higher than my estimations so we are definitely considering it. 

Oh wow.  Are you moving to a different area?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh wow.  Are you moving to a different area?

No, family land not too far away. Some we inherit eventually but could take a part of now. There are still a lot of things to consider and plan for before we make a decision. I have to talk to city next week.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dh and I are trying keep ourselves busy until he hears about the job on Monday. Thankfully, we have a HUGE deck we've been pressure washing and repairing in order to then stain it. So, spent about $50 at home Depot for random things for it and opening the pool.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

51 minutes ago, Brittany1116 said:

No, family land not too far away. Some we inherit eventually but could take a part of now. There are still a lot of things to consider and plan for before we make a decision. I have to talk to city next week.

Oh how cool.  I dream of moving to acreage.  I hope it works out the way you want it to.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My garden got a truck full of lovely soil, for free.  We take our leaves down to the town dump in the fall, and every spring they bring out loads of compost.  This weekend's dump run had us drop off everything in the back of the truck, and then load it back up again with beautiful rich compost.  My garden is getting a nice refresh this year for nothing more than a little bit of work!

Today I'll be picking up kids in my car from their trip this weekend.  Figure I'll throw a box of snacks back there to tide them over.  They'll just have had a long ride and packing up camp, and it's better than trying to stop at a store during their next long ride to their meeting point.

 

 

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The $29 bra sale happens twice a year I think--one starting the day after Christmas, the other was usually in June. I'm not sure what's going on. It's one of the few times when I'm sure I can find a certain style on sale.  They run other sales throughout the year. Right now, they have an online sale going, but the pricing doesn't match in store pricing (which drives me nuts).

Basically, I'm sure you can find a sale on some style sometime soon (usually BOGO 50% off), but immediately after Christmas is the most guaranteed time for a good sale on all bras.

Their bras last me 2-3 years with heavy wear, so I tend to buy double what I need and then keep a back stash for when I need replacement to tide me over until the next sale. This past year I didn't find my size and style on sale, and had run out of backups, so I had to pay full retail.  

Edited by prairiewindmomma
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Still impatiently waiting to hear about the job dh interviewed for. But I did just get a huge pet sitting gig. My client is paying me over $2000 to watch her pup at my house for a week.

This job couldn't have come at a better time because of the increased prices of everything in our lives.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Crummy day for us, on the way home from picking up kids in a city 2 hours away, we ended up eating out, then on the way home the car broke down at midnight, luckily we limped into a no where town to a closed gas station. Nephew came to get us because for some reason we couldn’t reach a real person with AAA and we just wanted to go home. Got home at 3 am and dh had to drive the farm truck almost two hours one way to meet a tow truck, then back to go to work 45 minutes from our house while I used dd’s car to get everyone where they needed to be. So unplanned dinner and whatever car repair costs, dh lost work hours this morning and the cost of driving the least fuel efficient vehicle all over three counties until car  and be fixed. Ugh ugh ugh

Edited by saraha
  • Sad 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

Still impatiently waiting to hear about the job dh interviewed for. But I did just get a huge pet sitting gig. My client is paying me over $2000 to watch her pup at my house for a week.

This job couldn't have come at a better time because of the increased prices of everything in our lives.

That is nuts!!  Why is she paying you so much??  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, saraha said:

Crummy day for us, on the way home from picking up kids in a city 2 hours away, we ended up eating out, then on the way home the car broke down at midnight, luckily we limped into a no where town to a closed gas station. Nephew came to get us because for some reason we couldn’t reach a real person with AAA and we just wanted to go home. Got home at 3 am and dh had to drive the farm truck almost two hours one way to meet a tow truck, then back to go to work 45 minutes from our house while I used dd’s car to get everyone where they needed to be. So unplanned dinner and whatever car repair costs, dh lost work hours this morning and the cost of driving the least fuel efficient vehicle all over three counties until car  and be fixed. Ugh ugh ugh

Oh man that is a horrible night.  I am sorry.   I hope the car can be fixed easily.

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Oh man that is a horrible night.  I am sorry.   I hope the car can be fixed easily.

Thanks, me too. The mechanic said he’d get to it in a couple of days.

Edited by saraha
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

That is nuts!!  Why is she paying you so much??  

She always pays me a bunch, she used to just pay double my fee. But with this new puppy it seems to be more. Last week she paid me $450 to watch the dog for a few hours at my house for 2 days. Not even to stay the night. Just while she was at work. But ended up having to cancel of the days and still paid me for that day.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, hjffkj said:

She always pays me a bunch, she used to just pay double my fee. But with this new puppy it seems to be more. Last week she paid me $450 to watch the dog for a few hours at my house for 2 days. Not even to stay the night. Just while she was at work. But ended up having to cancel of the days and still paid me for that day.

 

Wow.  Totally nuts!  Score for you.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, I'm at the end of what was an attempt at a 6 month no-buy for clothing.  I wondered at the beginning of it all if halting my purchases show that I was spending excessively in that category.  I had a few purchases I needed to make in that six months--outdoor gym clothing for each of my middles, a few pairs of shoes as people changed sizes, a pair of black jeans for dh for work, and towards the end of the challenge, some shirts for my younger son who became too broad in the shoulders to fit into his existing wardrobe.

Basically I learned this:

1. My sale shopping through the year for necessary items saves me a lot of money. Dh needed a new pair of black jeans mid-experiment and I had to pay full retail, at nearly double the price that I usually find on sale. Likewise, I bought bras at full retail a couple of weeks ago only to end up back in the mall for a different reason and found a good sale.  Our clothing needs are stable enough that I should chase sales for those basic items (jeans, sneakers, socks, etc.)

2. I tend to impulse buy for my older dd. She has a good supply of clothing, and she doesn't need any more. 

3. Yes, I buy a lot of clothing, but a lot of that is due to kids changing sizes. My younger three are still growing and it's unrealistic to think I can only buy clothes and shoes for them once a year. 

4. It's miserable to be without proper rain jackets here in this climate. I lost my rain jacket and I waited to replace it. Honestly, it was miserable enough to deal with that I really should have bought two rain jackets this past weekend instead of one so that I would have a backup.  I've always been kind of on the minimalistic side of owning clothing, but it is possible to cut back too far for your circumstances.

5. I need to plan for realistic wear and tear on items. I'm realizing that the churn rate for some of my clothing needs to be adjusted because things wear out.... When I didn't add items to my wardrobe but had things wear out or stain beyond redemption, the remaining items took on a lot more wear.  Honestly, most of my winter wardrobe looks pretty thrashed at this point after 2-3 years of wear.  I wear sweaters about 8 months out of the year here, and I'm wondering if I need to be looking at wool or things that wear better.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

48 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

So, I'm at the end of what was an attempt at a 6 month no-buy for clothing.  I wondered at the beginning of it all if halting my purchases show that I was spending excessively in that category.  I had a few purchases I needed to make in that six months--outdoor gym clothing for each of my middles, a few pairs of shoes as people changed sizes, a pair of black jeans for dh for work, and towards the end of the challenge, some shirts for my younger son who became too broad in the shoulders to fit into his existing wardrobe.

Basically I learned this:

1. My sale shopping through the year for necessary items saves me a lot of money. Dh needed a new pair of black jeans mid-experiment and I had to pay full retail, at nearly double the price that I usually find on sale. Likewise, I bought bras at full retail a couple of weeks ago only to end up back in the mall for a different reason and found a good sale.  Our clothing needs are stable enough that I should chase sales for those basic items (jeans, sneakers, socks, etc.)

2. I tend to impulse buy for my older dd. She has a good supply of clothing, and she doesn't need any more. 

3. Yes, I buy a lot of clothing, but a lot of that is due to kids changing sizes. My younger three are still growing and it's unrealistic to think I can only buy clothes and shoes for them once a year. 

4. It's miserable to be without proper rain jackets here in this climate. I lost my rain jacket and I waited to replace it. Honestly, it was miserable enough to deal with that I really should have bought two rain jackets this past weekend instead of one so that I would have a backup.  I've always been kind of on the minimalistic side of owning clothing, but it is possible to cut back too far for your circumstances.

5. I need to plan for realistic wear and tear on items. I'm realizing that the churn rate for some of my clothing needs to be adjusted because things wear out.... When I didn't add items to my wardrobe but had things wear out or stain beyond redemption, the remaining items took on a lot more wear.  Honestly, most of my winter wardrobe looks pretty thrashed at this point after 2-3 years of wear.  I wear sweaters about 8 months out of the year here, and I'm wondering if I need to be looking at wool or things that wear better.

There’s some very insightful observations.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Scoutmaster took a pic of the prices this weekend: $5.50-5.97/gallon.  And the only vehicles were trucks.  Everyone was hurting.

Eggs were $7-10 at the grocery store.  Looks like we are only buying from roadside stands for the time being.  I plan to start stocking up on a few various things like rices, couscous, pasta....if there's going to be a wheat shortage, I'd like to get my family's favorite sides sitting in the pantry now so we're not dealing with the fallout much later.  We keep about 10 different jars of grains so we're flexible on what we'll use, but these three are weekly staples.

No frugal wins this week, except being more cognizant about spending.  We are plodding along.  The one big expenditure will be adding an extra $104.72 to the mortgage payment on top of the extra we usually pay.  We are so close to having a nice round milestone number that it seems silly to not shoot for it.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Congrats!!  That is a huge raise.  What is he doing now?  

He oversees the onboarding and training classes for all new hires in his department.  He doesn't do the training directly though

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@hjffkj

This isn't about being frugal, but did you see the new art Lego set?  Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night 21333 | Ideas | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop US

I love it and I don't even build.  I think I am going to have to get it to gift to one of the kids.   I hope they do more of these art sets I think they are beautiful.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We’ve left the vehicles parked all this week. We didn’t buy meat this week at all, and we’ve been continuing to shift to a more veg diet. Our summer plans have been cut back quite a bit—we will still do our cross country trip to see family and a few hikes, but nothing like the hike every weekend we did last summer. 
 

We used to buy bagged cereal, just to have around as a break from other stuff. It’s now $9/bag!  I am spending a lot of time trying to figure out with inflation what the budget friendly buys are for us. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We’ve left the vehicles parked all this week. We didn’t buy meat this week at all, and we’ve been continuing to shift to a more veg diet. Our summer plans have been cut back quite a bit—we will still do our cross country trip to see family and a few hikes, but nothing like the hike every weekend we did last summer. 
 

We used to buy bagged cereal, just to have around as a break from other stuff. It’s now $9/bag!  I am spending a lot of time trying to figure out with inflation what the budget friendly buys are for us. 

Do you have any veg meal suggestions?  I am looking for some new ideas on cutting the grocery budget.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

59 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

@hjffkj

This isn't about being frugal, but did you see the new art Lego set?  Vincent van Gogh - The Starry Night 21333 | Ideas | Buy online at the Official LEGO® Shop US

I love it and I don't even build.  I think I am going to have to get it to gift to one of the kids.   I hope they do more of these art sets I think they are beautiful.

I did see it and love it. My dh actually made me two pixelated images of us with Legos for Christmas. If I could afford to I'd decorate my walls with Lego art

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

We’ve left the vehicles parked all this week. We didn’t buy meat this week at all, and we’ve been continuing to shift to a more veg diet. Our summer plans have been cut back quite a bit—we will still do our cross country trip to see family and a few hikes, but nothing like the hike every weekend we did last summer. 
 

We used to buy bagged cereal, just to have around as a break from other stuff. It’s now $9/bag!  I am spending a lot of time trying to figure out with inflation what the budget friendly buys are for us. 

$9/bag!?!!? I just can't even believe these prices anymore

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share


×
×
  • Create New...