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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~September 2022 Frugalistas~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


mommyoffive
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19 minutes ago, hjffkj said:

I used to love grocery pickup but when so much stuff is unavailable that I don't get everything it is no longer useful

We haven't had too many problems with out of stock lately. Just price increases. Occasionally, a specialty item (we do gluten free for 1 person) is out of stock, but not much else.

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1 hour ago, historically accurate said:

We haven't had too many problems with out of stock lately. Just price increases. Occasionally, a specialty item (we do gluten free for 1 person) is out of stock, but not much else.

The price increases are killing us too. That is another reason I like doing my own shopping again. I can grab stock up items when they're on unmarked sale, like meat.

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I would hate to lose grocery pick up.   Yes, some of the clearance sales I miss.  But honestly I don't grab many of those anyway.  We only have a Walmart locally, and I would have to do it while out running kids around or send dh to the store, which would be more expensive.  🙂  And walmart doesn't have that many stock up stuff other than bakery or meat, which isn't often.  I find that unless it is meat that i am going to change my meal plan for that week, we don't freeze meat and eat it.  So mostly we just end up eating a lot more pies. 

Yeah there have been some out of stock things, but really for us that isn't because of grocery pick up.  I live in a college town that for all the years before covid when the "kids" come back the shelves would be bare in almost all the aisles.  It really doesn't normalize for a long time.  And we have gotten upgraded changes so that is always fun.

For us it is still worth it.  Saving me the 1-2 hours of shopping a week is well worth any of the issues that we sometimes have.  I went grocery shopping a handful of times last fall.  But I haven't been in a store regularly since before covid and i don't miss it.  

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8 hours ago, hjffkj said:

we've moved back to spending mostly with cash, this is more for dh's sake than mine because he has never really had a full grasp on our finances and would like to.  So, we're taking it back to basics so he gets a good idea of where the money goes.  That card is just too easy to swipe.

With that said... since we started in the middle of this month we were already close to overspent for the month.  I pulled out the money for the next two weeks and oh boy is it eye opening, even for me.  Especially, with the added expense of putting the dog down.  

 

We are also back to cash for a good chunk of things. It helps. Condolences for your pup. We did that in February. $900 because it was more than just the one thing, but they gave me 90 days.

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On 9/16/2022 at 2:50 PM, mommyoffive said:

UGH!!  We did some orders from here and one pair just got here, with the security tag still on it!!!  And of course there are no stores in my state.

Did you get it off? That happened to us once and I mentioned it at the dollar store and the lady said just bring the pants in and she’d take off the tag

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4 hours ago, saraha said:

Did you get it off? That happened to us once and I mentioned it at the dollar store and the lady said just bring the pants in and she’d take off the tag

Nope.  We tried.  We have to send it back.  This has been the worst store I have ever ordered online.  Another pair of shoes came in ripped apart and smashed box.  So only 1 out of 5 came in a normal not damaged box.  

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I've spent all day going through kids clothes so I can make a list of things they need for cold weather. I'm going with a consignment sale today to hopefully get good prices on the things they need. Thankfully, it is mostly pants and a few shirts that are needed and no winter coats.

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Ugh. I did a pharmacy pickup and the clerk did not point out that one of the medicines was not covered by insurance. It was a new clerk, but I'm irritated because had she pointed it out, I could have had them run it under the goodrx coupon and saved $70. It's mostly on me because I didn't check the cost of each medicine as she rang them up through drivethrough, but with as much $$$$ we spend on rx monthly, $70 matters, iykwim.

Also, a venty vent about insurance companies and pharmacies in general. 

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Oldest got a full time job!! She has an appointment at the temp agency (it's a long term temp assignment: 6-12 months) tomorrow, but she's already had an interview with the hiring manager at the company. She'll be in DH's office upgrading computers so she'll be on his schedule, so no extra gas. 

That means we had to get real about her wardrobe today. She only had 1 pair of pants that are work - appropriate and a couple of shirts that aren't tees. We went to Plato's Closet and bought 4 pair of jeans (with no holes) and 3 shirts. Then, to Goodwill where she found 2 dresses and another shirt. I also purchased 4 polos from Old Navy online. She has enough to start now. She hates, hates, hates clothes shopping, so I called it after only 2 stores today.

I found 2 long sleeve work shirts (and 2 non-work shirts) since I decided to go through my closet too - I went from a size 2x to a L since last fall; nothing really fits anymore. However, I'm still trying to lose more, so I don't want to buy too much for now.

Went slightly over grocery budget again this week (and put off a couple of purchases that I should've gotten) - ugh, I don't know what more I can cut to cover groceries and gas. 

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I’m quite pleased with how we are doing this month.  We’ve been very careful and are looking like coming in a bit under budget for food for the month (budget is $900 for 7 people, which includes eating out and groceries plus cleaning products and baby diapers).  We’ve got everything paid from the unexpected costs from last month that went well beyond our emergency fund, and are ready to start refilling the emergency fund next month.  

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On 9/23/2022 at 1:09 PM, prairiewindmomma said:

Ugh. I did a pharmacy pickup and the clerk did not point out that one of the medicines was not covered by insurance. It was a new clerk, but I'm irritated because had she pointed it out, I could have had them run it under the goodrx coupon and saved $70. It's mostly on me because I didn't check the cost of each medicine as she rang them up through drivethrough, but with as much $$$$ we spend on rx monthly, $70 matters, iykwim.

Also, a venty vent about insurance companies and pharmacies in general. 

A $70 difference??? I would go inside and explain you want them to re-ring it up with the Rx coupon and see if they will honor it. 

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I found the EOB online from my recent tailbone X-ray and am happy to report ins covered almost everything. I owe them $25 for the copay and $9 for X-ray. They didn’t take copay day of visit because they had just shut down their machine and told me to just wait for a bill. So I’ll call Monday and see if I can just pay the $34 over the phone. 

I’m still waiting on final bill for ds’ accident that happened several weeks ago. Insurance hasn’t been reflected on the EOB. Xh is waiting for the final totals, then we split 50/50. 

I signed up for a Udemy course this week for $20 (to help my resumé/skills). It seems well worth the money/investment in myself. I’m job hunting for something higher paying. 

Dropped off 2 children’s jeans at consignment the other day. They took one pair and I got a whopping $2.55. I hardly bother but I needed to run an errand nearby anyway. Returned the boots that didn’t fit dd. 
 

Regarding off setting costs - @historically accuratedo you have any subscriptions you can pause? Netflix etc? 

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5 hours ago, historically accurate said:

Oldest got a full time job!! She has an appointment at the temp agency (it's a long term temp assignment: 6-12 months) tomorrow, but she's already had an interview with the hiring manager at the company. She'll be in DH's office upgrading computers so she'll be on his schedule, so no extra gas. 

That means we had to get real about her wardrobe today. She only had 1 pair of pants that are work - appropriate and a couple of shirts that aren't tees. We went to Plato's Closet and bought 4 pair of jeans (with no holes) and 3 shirts. Then, to Goodwill where she found 2 dresses and another shirt. I also purchased 4 polos from Old Navy online. She has enough to start now. She hates, hates, hates clothes shopping, so I called it after only 2 stores today.

I found 2 long sleeve work shirts (and 2 non-work shirts) since I decided to go through my closet too - I went from a size 2x to a L since last fall; nothing really fits anymore. However, I'm still trying to lose more, so I don't want to buy too much for now.

Went slightly over grocery budget again this week (and put off a couple of purchases that I should've gotten) - ugh, I don't know what more I can cut to cover groceries and gas. 

Congrats to your Odd!  And how awesome that she works at your dh's job.  Is she working for a year and then headed back to school?  

Congrats on your weight loss.  

 

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3 hours ago, Condessa said:

I’m quite pleased with how we are doing this month.  We’ve been very careful and are looking like coming in a bit under budget for food for the month (budget is $900 for 7 people, which includes eating out and groceries plus cleaning products and baby diapers).  We’ve got everything paid from the unexpected costs from last month that went well beyond our emergency fund, and are ready to start refilling the emergency fund next month.  

That is great that you guys are doing better and are starting to refill the efund.  That eases so much stress.

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48 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Congrats to your Odd!  And how awesome that she works at your dh's job.  Is she working for a year and then headed back to school?  

Congrats on your weight loss.  

 

That's the plan at this time, but she's also kicking around just going to a 1 year certificate course at our local cc and then doing night school for the bachelors. She did not like the "college scene" and just kind of wants to be done with it at this point. We'll see what happens over the next year.

Thanks!

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55 minutes ago, heartlikealion said:

I found the EOB online from my recent tailbone X-ray and am happy to report ins covered almost everything. I owe them $25 for the copay and $9 for X-ray. They didn’t take copay day of visit because they had just shut down their machine and told me to just wait for a bill. So I’ll call Monday and see if I can just pay the $34 over the phone. 

I’m still waiting on final bill for ds’ accident that happened several weeks ago. Insurance hasn’t been reflected on the EOB. Xh is waiting for the final totals, then we split 50/50. 

I signed up for a Udemy course this week for $20 (to help my resumé/skills). It seems well worth the money/investment in myself. I’m job hunting for something higher paying. 

Dropped off 2 children’s jeans at consignment the other day. They took one pair and I got a whopping $2.55. I hardly bother but I needed to run an errand nearby anyway. Returned the boots that didn’t fit dd. 
 

Regarding off setting costs - @historically accuratedo you have any subscriptions you can pause? Netflix etc? 

Hmmm, I'll have to look and see what all DH has - he's in charge of subscriptions.

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Last year I found way better deals in October than I did around Black Friday. It seems this year the sales are starting even earlier.  Ulta and Sephora have both released their holiday bundles. Ulta is also running a "fall haul" sale event with free shipping with purchase over $35.  Amazon is having its major fall sale October 11-12. They've also been doing flash sales on key items.  I have camelcamelcamel send alerts on my watch items to my phone, because the deals seem to go fast. Our Target was doing more inventory clearance again (now it's all of the stuff they ordered in for the college kids).

I'm not shopping for much this year, but I wanted to mention the sales if people were going to be looking for specific things this year....

 

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I just received our electric bill, and our consumption dropped 40% from September '21. It's been a hot September, so it's not like this one was cool and last year's was not. In early July, we blew in some leftover insulation to top off what was in the attic but was probably a little settled--it was in the house when we bought it 20 years ago. We haven't done anything else to decrease our consumption, so I attribute most of it to the additional insulation. We intended to just blow some into my daughter's condo (it made a difference there immediately) and had a couple of bags left over, so we blew them into our attic rather than return them (It was cost-neutral to us, as returning them would mean we had to pay to rent the blowing machine; if we kept them, the machine rental was free.) We spent about $500 on insulation, and between her condo and our house, I think we will recoup that in a few months. Blowing insulation into an attic is surprisingly easy. My husband fed the machine, and I blew it in. It was a half-day project, and sweaty (because July) but not hard. I've never looked forward to getting an electric bill before, but seeing the fruits of my labor has been quite rewarding. Some utility companies offer rebates for adding insulation. Ours does not, but that would have made it pay off even sooner. Anyway, if you're looking for some nearly-instant gratification and have a hot upstairs, I highly recommend checking out your insulation.

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7 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Gas moved up .26/gallon in the last couple of days.

Yeah, I caught a glimpse of $4.09 yesterday on my way to work - eeek! 

DH ended up getting a free oil change yesterday - he had a $35 coupon (repair shop sends out weird amount coupons every couple of months or so - we've had them from $9 - $35). That brought the price down to about $10, but their cc machine wasn't working, so they comped it. OK, then, we'll take it. $10 would've made me happy, $0 makes me happier. 

I have to work extra this week - I'm presenting at the board meeting tonight, an extra hour of pay or so. It's been a crazy couple of weeks at work, so I could use a break, but I'll take some extra pay instead.

Got my extra refund from IL state - paid for some medication and DD's photography class.  

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I was looking up new recipe ideas this morning and learned that the leaves of sweet potatoes are edible.  We have a massive sweet potato vine in our front yard from a sweet potato that the kids planted after it sprouted in the cupboard.  Sweet potato greens stir fry for dinner tonight!

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6 hours ago, historically accurate said:

Yeah, I caught a glimpse of $4.09 yesterday on my way to work - eeek! 

DH ended up getting a free oil change yesterday - he had a $35 coupon (repair shop sends out weird amount coupons every couple of months or so - we've had them from $9 - $35). That brought the price down to about $10, but their cc machine wasn't working, so they comped it. OK, then, we'll take it. $10 would've made me happy, $0 makes me happier. 

I have to work extra this week - I'm presenting at the board meeting tonight, an extra hour of pay or so. It's been a crazy couple of weeks at work, so I could use a break, but I'll take some extra pay instead.

Got my extra refund from IL state - paid for some medication and DD's photography class.  

Me too.  Gas was 3.24 and then right up to 3.99 or 4.09.   I have heard it has to do with the fire at the oil refinery in Ohio.  😞  They went off line and hope to be back on line next week.  But then we have Ian to worry about.  

 

Yay for the extra pay.  I hope you get some rest too though.  Nice that you got an extra refund.  is that Covid stuff your state had? 

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17 hours ago, plansrme said:

I just received our electric bill, and our consumption dropped 40% from September '21. It's been a hot September, so it's not like this one was cool and last year's was not. In early July, we blew in some leftover insulation to top off what was in the attic but was probably a little settled--it was in the house when we bought it 20 years ago. We haven't done anything else to decrease our consumption, so I attribute most of it to the additional insulation. We intended to just blow some into my daughter's condo (it made a difference there immediately) and had a couple of bags left over, so we blew them into our attic rather than return them (It was cost-neutral to us, as returning them would mean we had to pay to rent the blowing machine; if we kept them, the machine rental was free.) We spent about $500 on insulation, and between her condo and our house, I think we will recoup that in a few months. Blowing insulation into an attic is surprisingly easy. My husband fed the machine, and I blew it in. It was a half-day project, and sweaty (because July) but not hard. I've never looked forward to getting an electric bill before, but seeing the fruits of my labor has been quite rewarding. Some utility companies offer rebates for adding insulation. Ours does not, but that would have made it pay off even sooner. Anyway, if you're looking for some nearly-instant gratification and have a hot upstairs, I highly recommend checking out your insulation.

that is a huge savings!!

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11 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

Me too.  Gas was 3.24 and then right up to 3.99 or 4.09.   I have heard it has to do with the fire at the oil refinery in Ohio.  😞  They went off line and hope to be back on line next week.  But then we have Ian to worry about.  

 

Yay for the extra pay.  I hope you get some rest too though.  Nice that you got an extra refund.  is that Covid stuff your state had? 

I think it has to do with the inflation relief bill they just passed. They're just calling it a tax rebate - $50 for every adult and $100 per dependent. If we had paid property taxes, we could've gotten more. 

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1 minute ago, historically accurate said:

I think it has to do with the inflation relief bill they just passed. They're just calling it a tax rebate - $50 for every adult and $100 per dependent. If we had paid property taxes, we could've gotten more. 

Hmm I haven't heard about that.  I wonder if all states are doing it?  Was it just into your back account?

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5 hours ago, Condessa said:

I was looking up new recipe ideas this morning and learned that the leaves of sweet potatoes are edible.  We have a massive sweet potato vine in our front yard from a sweet potato that the kids planted after it sprouted in the cupboard.  Sweet potato greens stir fry for dinner tonight!

We remind ourselves of this every year, but always forget to try them. The chickens usually get the vines. We should stir fry some soon. 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Brittany1116 said:

We remind ourselves of this every year, but always forget to try them. The chickens usually get the vines. We should stir fry some soon. 

The stir fry was delicious.  I tried a few greens raw, and thought they would be fine in a salad for me but would probably be too strong to be able to get the kids to eat like that.  But in the stir fry, they were very mildly flavored.  The leaves absorbed all the flavor from the sauce, while the stems tasted similarly to asparagus.  I harvested a huge armful of vines and thought it would be way too much for one meal, but they cooked down so much that it turned out to be just about perfect. 

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1 hour ago, Condessa said:

The stir fry was delicious.  I tried a few greens raw, and thought they would be fine in a salad for me but would probably be too strong to be able to get the kids to eat like that.  But in the stir fry, they were very mildly flavored.  The leaves absorbed all the flavor from the sauce, while the stems tasted similarly to asparagus.  I harvested a huge armful of vines and thought it would be way too much for one meal, but they cooked down so much that it turned out to be just about perfect. 

We will definitely try it! We haven't harvested sweets yet. It's just about time. Probably should pull some tomorrow before the storm comes thru.

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