1. Shopping: I went to the bent 'n' dent! You can see my haul on Youtube. It is a two-part video.
We also stopped at Kroger after church to pick up a few things I need for the week. It ended up being a bigger trip than I planned. We spent $6.76 on routine grocery items (sour cream, yogurt starter, milk, onions, frozen corn), $6.90 on items I needed for a special recipe, and $3.28 on impulse purchases. Lastly, the cheese was still on sale for $2.50 a pound, so I bought five more pounds of pre-shredded cheese for the freezer (total cost $12.50).
In the end, we spend just under $29.44 (after two rebates) at Kroger. Yikes! Considering the fact that I keep a $20.00/person/week budget, and the fact that I already spent $18.00 at the bent 'n' dent, $30.00 is way to high. While looking over my receipt, I noticed a few things.
A) No plan. I walked into the store wanting to buy onions and sour cream. To that list I also thought I needed more milk and yogurt starter, although those purchases probably could have waited another week.
B) Shopping while hungry. So, that $3.28 of impulse purchases were completely unneccesary. Even though I knew we wouldn't eat those things right away, the hunger after church made it really tempting anyway.
C) Buying ingredients for special recipes. I do my best to buy ingredients BEFORE I need them (that way I can get them when they are on sale), but this time it didn't work out. I love meal planning as much as anybody, but a major problem with many meal plans is that you have to buy "special" ingredients each week (that is, anything that's not on sale). One of my "special" ingredients was cream cheese. Four packages at $1.50 each is $6.00. I could have got the cream cheese cheaper on sale (often there have been sales for $1.00 per package) or I could have spent less by getting a large chunk at the restaurant supply store. By purchasing the cream cheese ahead of time, I could have saved a dollar or two, easily. But I needed it this week and didn't have time to shop around. Another way to reduce this cost entirely would be to not make the special recipe.
Total spent on groceries this week was $48.29.
2. Cancelled my Audible membership. Boy, have I had a time with Audible! After my first paid month in February, I decided that membership wasn't for me, due to the price as well as the fact that most of my "to read" list is not on Audible. My exit strategy was to save up one unused credit (to keep in case I found any interesting books later) and then cancel. Well, after recieving my credit on Wednesday, I went to cancel on Friday. I saw that they were running a sale- 3 credits for $32.00- so I bought them. That was a good deal, since I've been paying $15.00 per credit for the last two months.
Well, I went to cancel my membership with four unused credits, and I got a message that said, "Are you sure you want to cancel? You will lose all of your unused credits."
What?!?! Boy, was I mad! I guess it was my oversight and failure to read the rules that caused my angst, but don't you think that's a little decieving? Selling extra credits to me and then telling me I have to stay a member or lose the credits I JUST bought? So, I had an emergency book-buying session where I picked some interesting books on my list and spent all four credits. Then I canceled my membership.
So now I have enough audio books to last a long time. And I am done with Audible for a long time, because the library is free. And because there are too many free podcasts and very cheap ebooks to be paying $15.00 each for books that are not on my reading list.
3. Ordered a free (actually $8.00 with shipping/etc., but still cheap!) photo book while Shutterfly was running a promotion.
4. Spent a few hours "fixing" my serger. It's still not perfect, but at least the needles are moving now (they weren't before). For those of you who don't know, a serger is a sewing machine that sews around the edges of fabric so it doesn't unravel in the washer. If you look at the hem of your T-shirt, it probably has a serged edge. My hope is that having a working serger will encourage me to do more sewing.
5. Sold a used book on Amazon. Unfortunately, after fees I only made $0.03. I had listed the book long before Amazon changed their fee structure and never update the price. For those who are wondering, it's pointless to sell any book for less than $2.34 because that is their minimum fee for any sellers who are not "members" (part of the special book selling club). On top of that, Amazon charges 15% of the listing price. I had my book listed for $2.50, so you can see where I went wrong. The only profit I made was because the book was thin and didn't cost a whole lot to ship.
6. I used a $15.00 Ebay coupon. While reviewing my listings, I noticed that I had a coupon available. I'm not sure WHY I had the coupon, but the code worked and I was able to buy some orchid pots that had been sitting in my cart for a long time. Total cost for the pots was $0.50, shipping included.
7. Made granola. I tried using Truvia and honey to sweeten instead of sugar, and the result was less than tasty. I might try making granola bars with it, or just force myself to eat it anyway.
8. Made bone broth and soup from a rooster carcass.
9. Listened to a free audiobook on Amazon Prime's "channels". It is called No Excuses by Brian Tracy. Enjoying it.
So, those were some frugal things that I did this week.
What were some of our frugal accomplishments?
In the end, we spend just under $29.44 (after two rebates) at Kroger. Yikes! Considering the fact that I keep a $20.00/person/week budget, and the fact that I already spent $18.00 at the bent 'n' dent, $30.00 is way to high. While looking over my receipt, I noticed a few things.
A) No plan. I walked into the store wanting to buy onions and sour cream. To that list I also thought I needed more milk and yogurt starter, although those purchases probably could have waited another week.
B) Shopping while hungry. So, that $3.28 of impulse purchases were completely unneccesary. Even though I knew we wouldn't eat those things right away, the hunger after church made it really tempting anyway.
C) Buying ingredients for special recipes. I do my best to buy ingredients BEFORE I need them (that way I can get them when they are on sale), but this time it didn't work out. I love meal planning as much as anybody, but a major problem with many meal plans is that you have to buy "special" ingredients each week (that is, anything that's not on sale). One of my "special" ingredients was cream cheese. Four packages at $1.50 each is $6.00. I could have got the cream cheese cheaper on sale (often there have been sales for $1.00 per package) or I could have spent less by getting a large chunk at the restaurant supply store. By purchasing the cream cheese ahead of time, I could have saved a dollar or two, easily. But I needed it this week and didn't have time to shop around. Another way to reduce this cost entirely would be to not make the special recipe.
Total spent on groceries this week was $48.29.
2. Cancelled my Audible membership. Boy, have I had a time with Audible! After my first paid month in February, I decided that membership wasn't for me, due to the price as well as the fact that most of my "to read" list is not on Audible. My exit strategy was to save up one unused credit (to keep in case I found any interesting books later) and then cancel. Well, after recieving my credit on Wednesday, I went to cancel on Friday. I saw that they were running a sale- 3 credits for $32.00- so I bought them. That was a good deal, since I've been paying $15.00 per credit for the last two months.
Well, I went to cancel my membership with four unused credits, and I got a message that said, "Are you sure you want to cancel? You will lose all of your unused credits."
What?!?! Boy, was I mad! I guess it was my oversight and failure to read the rules that caused my angst, but don't you think that's a little decieving? Selling extra credits to me and then telling me I have to stay a member or lose the credits I JUST bought? So, I had an emergency book-buying session where I picked some interesting books on my list and spent all four credits. Then I canceled my membership.
So now I have enough audio books to last a long time. And I am done with Audible for a long time, because the library is free. And because there are too many free podcasts and very cheap ebooks to be paying $15.00 each for books that are not on my reading list.
3. Ordered a free (actually $8.00 with shipping/etc., but still cheap!) photo book while Shutterfly was running a promotion.
4. Spent a few hours "fixing" my serger. It's still not perfect, but at least the needles are moving now (they weren't before). For those of you who don't know, a serger is a sewing machine that sews around the edges of fabric so it doesn't unravel in the washer. If you look at the hem of your T-shirt, it probably has a serged edge. My hope is that having a working serger will encourage me to do more sewing.
5. Sold a used book on Amazon. Unfortunately, after fees I only made $0.03. I had listed the book long before Amazon changed their fee structure and never update the price. For those who are wondering, it's pointless to sell any book for less than $2.34 because that is their minimum fee for any sellers who are not "members" (part of the special book selling club). On top of that, Amazon charges 15% of the listing price. I had my book listed for $2.50, so you can see where I went wrong. The only profit I made was because the book was thin and didn't cost a whole lot to ship.
6. I used a $15.00 Ebay coupon. While reviewing my listings, I noticed that I had a coupon available. I'm not sure WHY I had the coupon, but the code worked and I was able to buy some orchid pots that had been sitting in my cart for a long time. Total cost for the pots was $0.50, shipping included.
7. Made granola. I tried using Truvia and honey to sweeten instead of sugar, and the result was less than tasty. I might try making granola bars with it, or just force myself to eat it anyway.
8. Made bone broth and soup from a rooster carcass.
9. Listened to a free audiobook on Amazon Prime's "channels". It is called No Excuses by Brian Tracy. Enjoying it.
So, those were some frugal things that I did this week.
What were some of our frugal accomplishments?
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