November’s Sam’s Club Haul

We did a Sam’s Club stock up on some freezer items, some household items, and also picked up two Christmas gifts.

Frugal or not so Frugal?

Last week’s frugal happenings in no particular order:

1. We filled out my daughter’s applications for graduate school.  Not a frugal task in and of itself, but we do keep an eye on both quality education and her graduating debt free.  We spent time researching a lot of options and are hopeful we are making the best choices.
2. I repotted a plant and winterized another.  (Using supplies I already had on hand.)
3. I printed and organized my Christmas season “to do” binder to keep myself on track.
4. I used our drying rack whenever possible for hanging laundry.
5. We ate at home every meal and as the month comes to a close I am excited to say we did a pretty good job of sticking to our monthly menu.
6. I checked a couple of books out from the library.

Doesn’t look like so much when I look at it....but I don’t think I did much spending or much out of the house so I suppose I’ll call it a win.

On the not so frugal front, but life update — I found out I have glaucoma — a closure variant that has quite possibly been causing the pain that my doctor thought was migraines.  I’ll be having eye surgery on the first eye tomorrow.  I don’t have a clue what my out of pocket expenses will be, but I honestly don’t care.  I’ve been in pain for almost 10 months at some level or another on a daily basis so if this offers any relief at all the costs will be worth it.

Frugal Happenings

This week was a bit of a different week — a welcome difference.  My husband had a conference to attend, and I tagged along.  It was a vacation week for me.

Sunday October 14th
• I worked on an income producing project and relied on the Crockpot to cook lunch.  There was enough leftover for supper.
• I cooked cookies from my slice and bake freezer dough.
• I ordered my gluten free flour. I use Better Batter blend and was able to get a great price on two damaged bags.  Saving $80 — 40 pounds for $120 versus $200.  I’ll freeze the extra.  This will get us through the next couple of months including our holiday baking.
• I went to Walmart to pick up some items for my daughter for the week, some items for me for on the road, and a few items for the pantry.  The costs weren’t as low as I would have liked, but things never are.  However, the ready made and convenience items are still less than us eating out.  

Monday October 15th
• I spent the day at home.  I had originally planned to go out and have my nails done as a splurge.  I opted to just do them myself.  Money saved — $90.

Tuesday October 16th – Saturday October 20th
• We were away at a conference.  I did pack snack foods for the hotel room to help keep costs down.  We shared a super sized coffee every morning.  Neither of us like strong coffee so by the time we diluted it to what we could stand to drink one was plenty for two of us.  Kind of amusing but true.
• We had meals with the conference for several at no cost to us.  The group also toured the aquarium.  We enjoyed a walk down to the ocean front.
• We had a couple of meals on the road during our travel, which we shared.  This also kept costs down, but more importantly kept either of us from over eating on things we shouldn’t be eating anyway — like fast food.

Saturday October 20th
• We made it back home about midday.  I started laundry and did have to dry some in the dryer because of time constraints.  However, I did get two loads hung to dry.
• We went to the library, where I checked out two cookbooks.
• I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items.  While I was there I found Great Value brand cream of chicken soup (gluten free).  I can rarely find this.  To order it online is $3.30 a can.  However, when I can find it in the store it is $1.42 a can.  I did buy 12 cans for the pantry.
• I baked cookies from our freezer cookie dough.

Last Week’s Frugalities and Sundries

Sunday October 7th
• Baked cookies from scratch.  Gluten free and allergy friendly cookies are extremely expensive to buy and baking my own saves us money.  Plus, they just taste better, and my family feels like they’re being spoiled.  Wins on all fronts!
• I worked on crocheting afghan squares for a Crochet Along using a free tutorial on YouTube from Cheryl’s Country Home.  Her channel is here…..love it, by the way.
• Made two large batches of pancakes for breakfast — one with blueberries for my daughter and one batch of buckwheat — for us to eat on over the week.
• We ate leftovers for lunch and supper because we had so many in the refrigerator.
Monday October 8th
• I washed and hung bedding to dry.
• We had a “fake out” meal of home cooked chicken nuggets and fries.
Tuesday October 9th
• I washed and hung laundry to dry.
• I wiped kitchen cabinets with a homemade cleanser using vinegar and warm water as a base.
• I dehydrated a bag of lemons for us to use in our teas since cool weather is slowly becoming a reality in my area.
• My mama went into the hospital (emergency), and I carpooled with my sister and brother in law to check on her.
• I cooked beef stew in the Crockpot, baked a loaf of Italian bread in the bread machine, and cooked pumpkin oatmeal cookies (from my freezer rolls I make in advance for slice and bake cookies).
Wednesday October 10th
• I spent the day at the hospital with my mama.  Due to allergies I had to shop carefully in the small café the hospital has when it was meal time.  I ended up going with coffee, a cup of cheese, grapes, and an apple.  Not the most frugal, but it was safe — and I did not have to leave the hospital to do it.  The savings was in time and emotional toll on this one.
• As the day progressed it was decided my nephew was coming home with me.  We were late getting in.  I resorted to ordering pizza for dinner — not frugal, but sometimes emergencies happen.  We also had to run out and get some milk and some things he would need for school lunches.  Totally worth it because I enjoyed spending the time with him.
Thursday October 11th
• My mama had early morning tests so it was one of those days where I ended up buying an extra coffee on the road.  However, my brother took me out to lunch.  It was a crazy whirlwind of day, because my husband and I had already planned and paid for a date night show — Lord of the Dance.  We did the mad dash there in the remnants of Hurricane Michael and then back the same night.  Because of the days events we ended up buying my daughter and nephew take out for their supper — I simply did not have time to cook and be on the road in time to make our show.
Friday October 12th
• I spent the first half of this day on the road, too.  We got my nephew to school, checked on my mama, and got my husband to a business lunch meeting.  While he was in his meeting I went to Walmart to do a little shopping.  I had a few things I needed.  I picked up some mascara, eyeliner, Oil of Olay face cream, and protein shakes from the health and beauty section.  My daughter needed some small school supplies that I picked up for her.  Then I looked at the clothing.  I have several items on my list that I need for this fall.  I found one pair of jeans, an oversized sweater, and a winter nightgown.  (I had previously looked for all three of these at Goodwill with no luck.)
• I bought a tiny (1 ½ quart?) crockpot.  Even my smallest is often too large for our lunches.
• Once we were home I washed laundry and hung it to dry.
• I ate leftovers on a bed of lettuce for supper….I was just too tired to cook.  Everyone pulled together something from leftovers.
• We had a quiet movie night at home, watching a movie on the Roku.
Saturday October 13th
• I finished off the rest of the laundry.
• I worked from home on an income producing project.
• I used the crockpot to heat up leftover beef stew while I worked.  I baked a batch of cornbread with enough for two meals so we could have enough for supper, too.  Then after lunch I put on au gratin potatoes for our supper’s side dish in the crockpot.  Later that day my husband grilled burgers from the freezer.
• We went to the library.  I checked out a stack of slow cooker cookbooks to skim for ideas and recipes to downsize.


The week wasn’t a bad week — not 100% frugal — but not bad considering we had an emergency that required some altered plans.