Good Friday morning to all my readers. I hope you've had a great frugal week. This week I was able to sub three days and I'm grateful for that. Tuesday was Super Tuesday, so school was closed as we use our schools here to vote. 
Bailey and I made sure to get our votes in too! My brother and his fiance came from Illinois for a visit this week. We had not seen each other in eight years, so it was good to catch up with him. 
We made a trip to Kroger this week to use the $25 gift card they awarded me. They actually put $30 on my card and said the extra $5 was for an order pickup fee, which we didn't use. They let us apply it towards our groceries and not the fee anyway. These are the items we picked up: - 12 Chobani yogurts, marked down to 45¢, we had $1 off four coupons, so we paid 25¢ each. - Kroger brand Yogurt - one gallon of Milk - four packages of cream cheese - two packages of Doritos - two container of Lay's Stax - 2 bags Teriyaki Stir-fry that was on markdown - tomatoes - bananas Needless to say I was really tickled to be able to pick up all this food for free. Other things we did this week to save money include: Used the same dryer sheet for two loads. Used a buy one get one free Subway deal to get two foot longs sandwiches for $6.54 
Two free orange juices from a student at school. Submitted my income tax return using the free version of Turbo Tax. Received a free RX prescription in the mail, which is good for three months. The sad news that our local IGA is closing came this week. This will officially make the town where I sub a food desert as it will have no grocery store. Thankfully we have other options in other towns. 
If you have a Hardee's in your town be sure to stop in on Monday March 9th as they are giving away free sausage biscuits. 
Speaking of breakfast, I made my daughter her favorite banana chocolate chip pancakes over the weekend. 
Gas is currently $1.83 per gallon here. That's all the news to report from here. How was your week and what have you done to save money this week? Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.
This was what we had for dinner Monday night. I put it in the crockpot in the morning, which switched over to warm after four hours so it was ready for dinner. I served this with mashed potatoes. Creamy Crockpot Chicken Stuffing and Green BeansIngredients2 lbs (about 4 chicken breast)1 (6 oz) box of stuffing mix1 (10.5 oz) can cream of chicken condensed soup3/4 cup sour cream1/3 cup water10 oz bag frozen green beanssalt and pepper to taste
Directions:
1. Prepare crockpot with cooking spray. Season chicken with salt/pepper and place in the bottom of a crockpot.
2. Next, top chicken with 1 box of stuffing mix.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together condensed soup, sour cream and water. Spread mixture over stuffing.
4. Place green bean on top. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 hours. If you need a longer cooking time, you can do LOW for 6 hours, but I recommend the high setting
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My LinktreeThank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.
Welcome to the Frugal Workshop. Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day here with a temperature of 61 degrees and today the rain has set in for the day. I spent several hours outdoors yesterday enjoying the weather and our cats. I even pulled out a bicycle rack we no longer use and cleaned it up in order to sell it. Something else I sold this past week was my Oldsmobile 1998 Cutlass. 
Some readers may recall that I kept this car after I bought a replacement because we hauled off garbage in it, but in the last year it needed an expensive repair that wasn't worth fixing. Now that we have someone who hauls off garbage for us, I decided it was time to part with the old blue car. So, we sold it to a company that will probably just scrap it. 
As I mentioned before, this week I called to have an Rx switched to Walmart. I've also had it set up to be delivered, so I won't have to drive there and use my gasoline. This switch will save me $25 on my prescription, which makes the switch well worth it. 
I've been watching Ramit Sethi's YouTube channel this week. I read his book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, a few years ago and really enjoyed it. He has a really good article on why his resume got him a job offer from Google. With this in mind I decided to redo my own resume. I'm tired of school being cancelled and losing out on pay. I've lost six days of pay in February, so I'm looking around to see what's out there. 
Saturday morning I used up two bananas that needed using and made Banana Pancakes with chocolate chips. They are always a big hit here. We ate all of our meals at home this week and continued to resist the urge to eat out. We hit a milestone with our savings account in February and we want to keep the momentum going. What frugal wins or fails did you have this week? We would love to read about it in the comment section. Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop. 
Although Monday was a holiday this past week, I was scheduled to work every day, but then inclement weather came and school was cancelled for two days. Ugh. This next week I have three days scheduled, so we will see what happens. Good news for us, we won a free steak dinner from Fresh & Low this week. There was enough there to split it between the both of us and it was delicious. 
This week I also won a contest from Kroger and won $25 worth of free groceries. They applied the balance to my Kroger card and although we've not been there yet, I'll post about it when we do go. This week I worked on saving money on our prescription drugs. I don't order them all from the same place as some places offer better savings. It is hard to beat the 90 day prescription drugs for $7.50 from Publix, so we have some there. Another RX I get from Food City, but learned that Walmart will beat their price and save me $15, so I will make the switch this week. 
Food Lion has Oscar Meyer beef hot dogs on sale for $1.99 this week when you buy five. So, I stopped in there on Friday and bought five. Food City has Hunt's pasta sauce on sale for 69¢ each when you buy ten. So, I stopped in there on Friday and bought ten. We stopped in at the bread outlet and stocked up on bread and hot dog buns for the upcoming week. 
Payday came this week and my check was actually correct and included those missed days from last month. So, all the bills were paid this week. My car registration is also due at the end of March, so I went ahead and paid it too. How was your week? Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.
Good morning to all my frugal readers. I hope you've had a great week. On Monday I received a call to sub, which I was grateful for since I missed three days last week. The rain here has not let up though and on Monday students were let out at noon due to more flash flooding. School was cancelled for Tuesday also, so I missed another day of work. On Monday we went to town to buy a pair of jumper cables. My daughter's car had a dead battery and since someone stole my Dad's battery charger, we didn't have one. So, we went and bought a new set. 
We also bought five packages of Royal ready to eat rice priced at $1.88. We used an Ibotta rebate for $1.50 off and paid only 38¢ each. Ibotta let us use the rebate five times. This week I earned a $10 Amazon gift card from Microsoft Rewards. 
On Wednesday I subbed in a classroom with no microwave, so I brought my Crock-Pot Lunch Crock to heat my lunch during the day. 
Family movie night this week consisted of homemade pizza and popcorn. We also watched the film The Blind Side, which is a family favorite. Since I had extra time this week I decided to work in my sewing room. My daughter picked up a pair of jeans in her size recently, but someone hemmed them and she needed them to be longer. So, while I was off work this week I took my seam ripper to them and undid the hem. Now they are long enough for her to wear. She has been going through some of her inventory and getting rid of anything that hasn't sold. She gave me two dresses that I cut up for the material to make other things. On Thursday I used some of the material from one dress, which I upcycled into a cloth pad. I used my 2019 Susan Branch calendar and turned the pages into envelopes. 
I took the presser foot and plate off my sewing machine and cleaned out all the lint and dust and oiled the machine. Taking care of my equipment helps it last longer, which saves me money. 
After all of that was done, I ended up making three cloth pads. The one on top has Minions and Curious George. The middle one used to be part of the dress. 
I also cleaned up and organized a little in there this week. How was your week? Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.
How can you figure out if your family's grocery expenses are reasonable for the size of your family? Every month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S.D.A.) releases four budgets, which results in a food purchase formula with four price ranges: Thrifty Plan, Low-Cost Plan, Moderate-Cost Plan and Liberal Plan, and these figures are updated monthly. The U.S.D.A. has been doing this for years based on what Americans really eat and based on accepted nutrition recommendations. Here is the latest chart for December 2019:
Using the December 2019 chart, with my family, I could expect to spend $75.90 per week or $328.70 a month on the "Thrifty" food plan. But based on my records, I'm actually spending about $250 a month for two people in my home, which averages out to $125 a month per person. Now, how do we manage such a low grocery bill? For starters we have a lot of frugal tips in our toolbox such as drinking water, and making tea or lemonade and koolaid to cut down on expensive soda pop. (I do keep Sprite on hand for medicinal purposes) We make home baked cakes instead of commercially made ones, oatmeal made from old fashioned oats rather than instant packets. We shop the Crash and Burn sections of the grocery stores and will buy food with the yellow mark down stickers if it fits within my budget. We eat meatless meals, such as Bean & Cheese Enchiladas, or homemade Veggie Burgers, or Red Beans & Rice. We eat leftovers or reinvent them into a new dish. For example, we turned leftover mashed potatoes into Potato Pancakes. We make soups, which can be very economical depending on what ingredients you use. We shop at discount grocery stores such as United Grocery Outlet, Save a Lot, and Aldi. We look for and buy discounted groceries at all the places we shop including the flea market. We peruse the sale ads online and make a list of items on sale and then stock up on those. We keep a price book to check prices. Another way you can save money on food is by using grocery rebate apps like Ibotta, Checkout 51, Dosh, and Coupons.com. Just Google the grocery store app and read about them and do your research first. We re-purpose food scraps to make other things like vegetable, chicken, or beef broth. We utilize The Pantry Principle, which you can read about here. We keep a well stocked pantry of food bought at the lowest price and we cook from scratch. We search for recipes that are cost friendly. We scour yard sales, used book stores, and flea markets for economical cookbooks. One online resource you can use is the online cookbook located here: Recipes and Tips for Frugal Healthy Meals. There are multiple ways you can reduce your grocery budget and I've only scratched the surface here. Your way of saving on groceries may contain other ideas I've not mentioned here such as growing some of your food in a garden. Let's share ideas with each other. Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.
This week was going to be a good one financially as I was scheduled to work every day. Then on Tuesday the announcement came that school would be closed for the rest of the week due to illness, unfortunately. It then started raining on Tuesday and we received a months worth of rain in two days. Other school systems around us were closing because of all the flash flooding. I'm positive that school would have been called off anyway due to all the road closures. 
On Thursday we ran a few errands. My daughter wanted to coupon this week, so we did. We went to Publix where we bought multiple packages of Kotex for 50¢ per package. We picked up two bottles of Herbal Essence for 57¢ each. We also picked up multiple packages of Equal sweetener for free. We won't use those, so we donated them to The Little Free Pantry. You can see them here in the lower left hand of the photo. 
We also stopped at Walmart and found a box of Crackers for 58¢, one container of I Can't Believe it's Not Butter for free, and three packages of Cup Noodles Stir Fry Cups for 78¢ each. Ibotta is offering a rebate on those, so they were free. We watched the movie Harriett for our movie night this week. Based on the true story of Harriett Tubman, we both really enjoyed the film. Gas is down to $1.88 per gallon here this week! We went to the bread outlet this week and scored thirty hamburger buns for $1.99. I got a new book this week: 
Image Credit The Berkeley Co-op food book: Eat better and spend less. I've not finished reading it yet, but I like what I see. We received multiple freebies this week. Yeast & some coupons: 
One Bar of Soap: 
Stickers from Stickermule: 
Cottonelle Wipes from Freeosk: 
How was your frugal week? Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.
Last week I didn't post a Frugal Friday blog as I was recovering from the flu. I'm feeling much better than I was then, but still have a lingering cough. This week I was able to work three days and made sure to rest the other two days. Of course, I packed lunches and drinks all week. We made it to the end of January and I'm happy to report that we did not eat out in January. My daughter also had a successful no spend month. This week we ended up pet sitting for a friend. She took Bailey out to eat as a treat when she picked up her dog. I had an abundance of oranges this week and made some fresh orange juice. It was delicious and a very rare treat. I took a package of hot chocolate mix that we were gifted for Christmas and mixed it up and put it in a pitcher in the fridge. We will drink it better being cold than we would hot. We've been making plenty of hot tea such as echinacea and elderberry as well with the sickness in the house. We spent $157 on groceries in January, but mostly we ate from the pantry and freezer. We avoided any food waste. For breakfast several morning we served cinnamon raisin bread and blueberry bagels.
We put together a Mary Engelbreit puzzle this week for free entertainment. There was one piece of the puzzle missing if you can tell from the photo. If you look under the arm of the girl in the red sweater you'll see it. Clicking on the photo helps too. I sold a couple of items on eBay this week and reused packages for those rather than buy new ones. My bangs were getting too long for my taste, so I used my hair cutting scissors and trimmed them. We have some cold days and some warm days, so we've only had to turn the heat on an as needed basis. What did you do this week to save money? Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.
Items like old cookbooks might seem outdated and irrelevant in this day and age, but that simply isn't true. Some of my favorite cookbooks are from the 1970s time period. To me cookbooks from that era have recipes that are based more on cooking from scratch than they are convenience or specialty foods. 
To that end I would like to share a great resource with you. The Internet Archive is a great place for looking up old cookbooks. There are multiple cookbooks on thrifty cooking as well, such as this one for Most for your Money cookbook. Membership is free and you can even borrow books online for up to two weeks. 
Of course this resource offers much more than just cookbooks, so be sure to check it out when you have some extra time. Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Here are some of my favorite strategies for saving money. Since everyone's situation and resources are different, these may or may not work for you. But feel free to adapt any of these strategies to your own way of life. Frugal living is a tool, which you will want to tailor to the way you live. Use these tips as much or as little as you want, according to your needs. Get it for Less ~ Find a cheaper source for things you already buy. Do your research and challenge yourself to always the lowest prices. Be on the lookout for new sources on a regular basis, you may be surprised at what you find. Make It Last ~ Take care of what you own to make the item last as long as possible. Maintain your tools both inside your home and in your garage. Learn to do your own home and car maintenance and repairs. There are many ways to stretch the life of the things you own. YouTube is a wealth of information on this topic. Use It Less ~ Conserve your time, energy and resources. If you plan out your shopping trips and only go once a week, hitting everything you need to, then you are using less gas, and causing less wear and tear on your car. If your home is properly insulated, you are using less electricity or natural gas to heat/air condition it. You can get longer use out of light bulbs by remembering to turn lights off when not in use. The same goes for items that use batteries. Use It Up ~ Use up those leftovers in your kitchen, use the food scraps to either make broth or compost them in your garden. Reuse items you would normally throw away. Plastic containers, glass jars, cereal boxes, peanut butter jars, and sour cream containers call all be reused in a variety of ways. Be resourceful and creative to use up those things you already own. Wear it Out ~ Get the full use out of something before you toss it. Maintain, repair, repair again, and recycle. When those items get worn out, recycle them in your own craft room and garden. Make It Do ~ If you don't have what you need, find something to fill the void until you can find an inexpensive alternative. Do Without ~ Ask yourself if you really have to have the item in question. When it comes down to it we don't need as much as we think we do. Frugal Queen mentioned on Facebook this week that they need very little to survive. Whenever possible, do without to save money. Make it Yourself - If the things you need are too expensive try and come up with ways you can make the item for less. Many of my readers know I upcycle scrub shirts to make my daughter's cloth pads with. There are multiple YouTube videos that will show you how to do just about anything you put your mind to. Grow Food ~ Shocked at the prices of food in the grocery stores these days? Have you thought about growing some of your own food to save money? You can grow herbs, tomatoes, leaf, iceberg, or romaine lettuce, greens, onions, brussel sprouts, etc. The possibilities are endless. Trade it ~ Barter your goods and skills for something you need. Put The Word Out ~ You've heard the term networking? Not only is it good for your employment, but it can also work when you need something. Tell others when you need something in particular. On my personal Facebook page I've seen requests for glass jars and egg cartons from teachers and I've always been able to help them out. Oftentimes you can find exactly what you looking for at no cost. Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living from Frugal Workshop.