Friday, December 7, 2018

Frugal Friday



Ahh, what a week. I was rear ended on my way to work on Wednesday morning, so I've been resting up at home while my neck & back heal up. It's so frustrating to feel out of commission, but I'm grateful that no one was seriously injured, and that I have a job that still pays me even when I can't work.

Here are some of our frugal things for the week:
  • Sold a few things on eBay. I made a mistake on shipping for one item (drat) & had to buy a more expensive envelope, which meant I made basically nothing on the sale. But, did make $55 on eBay sales. 
  • Continued using things from the freezer, and re-purposed a meal we didn't love into a risotto that, while not amazing, was good enough to eat a second night
  • Listed one of the kids BMX bikes for sale. Hoping to get that sold, as he wants a scooter instead. ;-)
  • Listed three more items on eBay. One of which was an ornament that I've never really liked. I wasn't sure if it was valuable, so looked it up today, & it is! Sold it via an offer for $50 this morning . Wow! Just when you think you've listed all of your valuable stuff on eBay. . . 
  • Used Rite Aid rewards to get Claritin for M, who has had really terrible allergies lately. I had a 20% off coupon, so used that for popcorn for the kids. They also had a certain candy bar 2/$1, with a $1 reward, so free candy! Picked those up for a treat for the kids. 
  • M was finally able to repair the window in Nick's room. It wouldn't close all the way, creating a chilly draft above his bed. It's now much quieter & warmer, which will help reduce heating costs.
Other than that, I've been drinking a lot of tea, using my flask for water, eating things out of the freezer, and making do with what we have around. I also gave my nanny a couple of days off (paid), as I was at home & could be with the kids. Not frugal for me, but this gives her the opportunity to fill in with other babysitting jobs. 

That's it for us. How have you been frugal over the past week?

8 comments:

  1. I am sorry. I was rear ended years ago and I still have problems with my neck. I love that you paid your nanny, it shows that you are frugal but not cheap and selfish. Get well my friend.

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    1. Ah, thanks. My nanny is great. I always feel conflicted, because we need her both sporadically (sports schedules) & not for so many hours. So, I pay a high hourly wage, try to be as flexible as possible to make it worth her time.

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  2. I am so sorry for your accident - I can completely relate. Mine was October 6 and 2 months later I am only now feeling human again (with the help of an awesome chiropractor). Nice you can take some days off paid, you deserve it and I doubt you use sick days very often. They'll live without you. A hot pad did wonders for me plus muscle relaxants when it was the worse part of the pain. A large pain in the tuckus was all the running around we had to do for appts with regard to fixing the truck and drs

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    1. I'm so happy you're finally starting to feel better. And yes, it is so uncomfortable! I'll forget to take my medicine on time, and then will turn to do something, & get a very sharp reminder of what hurts!

      My plan is to take it easy this weekend (haha, 4 kids soccer games) & then make it through the next two weeks t work before I'm off for the rest of the year.

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  3. Being the one that caused my accident yesterday, I feel terrible reading you both talk about you pain. Mine happened so quick-and I'm hoping she is ok and her vehicle is ok.

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    1. It happens. It's a good reminder to me to pay more attention even when I drive, because there a lot of split second decisions that happen & I can also be distracted.

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  4. I'm so sorry to hear about your accident. I hope you are back to 100% sooner rather than later. 😕

    On the frugal side over here, I would have to give callouts to cooking from scratch with regard to all the food obligations this time of year brings. So far I've made lavender shortbread cookies to hand out to the neighbors, a plate of minty brownies for a little get together with friends, and am prepping soup for a lunch and cookie exchange at my place with some gal palspals. I also appreciate that many of our daily activities are free at this point, given we live near some wonderful outdoor areas offering year-round hiking, biking and kayaking. We've attended several free holiday light shows, with at least one more still to go. We also enjoy attending holiday concerts at colleges/universities, which are usually both wonderful and affordable at between $10-$20 per ticket. I would imagine there are also an abundance of free concerts at churches and other places of worship at this time of year, though that is not so much my particular thing.

    On the other hand, no attempts a to be frugal have been applied to our granddaughters. They we'll be happily spoiling rotten, ha!

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    1. That sounds like the perfect balance! Having a primary lifestyle set up to be naturally frugal (weather, cooking, shopping, activities) & then splurge on the things you want - spoiling granddaughters! Sounds great to me.

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