Frugal Friday! Week of November 15-21, 2020

 

Hello Frugal Friends!

How has everyone been?  I hope you are all staying well!  Sadly, the virus is booming all around us, and from what I hear this seems to be the same all around the country and indeed even the world.  Remember--especially with the holidays approaching when we often are eating special foods and lots of times those special foods tend to be high in sugar--this may not be the best time to compromise our immune systems with a lot of sugar.  No, I am not a medical professional, so I do encourage you to do your own consultation with your doctor and do your own personal research. But I do believe it is an established fact that sugar does hinder the work of the white blood cells. Anyway, enough on that topic!  I am not trying to make any one food out to be "evil" or "bad."  Just do your own research, an make the best choices for YOU personally. As the expression goes, there is a ditch on both sides of the road, so find the right balance for YOU. 

So on to last week's frugal things! 

*I ordered a gift for my parents from Shutterfly, using a free item coupon.  Yes, I did have to pay for the shipping costs, but for me, the postage cost is a very fair and reasonable cost for the gift.  Especially a gift that I know they will be delighted with. 

*I ordered a gift for my brother from Shutterfly, again, using a free item code and only had to pay shipping.  Since my brother lives across the country from me, I had Shutterfly ship the gift directly to him.  This avoids me having to pay double shipping--once for Shutterfly to ship to me, and a second time for me to mail it to my brother.  I knew around the holiday times Shutterfly would be releasing a lot of "free item" codes.  I have learned that the best thing to do for me is to have the item already made up and in my account there on Shutterfly.  Then, when a free code is given, I can simply put the item into my shopping cart and order it.  This helps a lot, as often the free codes are only released and good for maybe a weekend, or three days or such.  Well, our lives are quite busy, and we do not have time to drop all other responsibilities and sit down for a day or two and create our gift item from scratch.  But if we can have the item all made up and ready to go, that works perfect for us! 

*My daughter and I went to the dentist for our check-ups.  With our insurance, we have a zero co-pay for preventative visits.  Regular check ups are definitely frugal in my thinking, even if we had to pay the entire bill, as it will help prevent problems or can catch small problems before they become larger and more involved to fix. Those larger fixings also come with larger bills for the longer time that it takes to do the work!  So I was thrilled we could both go, thrilled we had no co-pay, and VERY thrilled that neither one of us had any cavities or work that needed done! :)  On top of that, it was nice to each get a little "goodie bag" with a new toothbrush, and a sample toothpaste and floss.

*Speaking of toothpaste and floss samples--this is going to sound crazy, but I have been working specifically on USING all my  samples up lately.  For a long time, whenever I went to the dentist, or any of my family members would go, I would save the small size samples for traveling. Well, that was a great concept, but I realized a bit ago that I never TAKE the small samples with me when I am traveling!  Why?  Because I don't want to run out! I finally realized that I would rather pack a large container of toothpaste, and know that I have enough with me for my trip and I am not going to have to run to the grocery store to buy some when I am on vacation!  Of course, I realize this does not work for air travel, but I am rarely flying anywhere these days, and far more often am making a car trip.  So, I have specifically been working on using up all of my nice stash of samples.  Fringe benefit is it is also decluttering my bathroom drawers!

*I discovered the most hilarious cat channel on YouTube, and shared it with my daughter.  Not only did watching the videos provide us with free entertainment, but it also provided us with some great ideas that we want to build and try with our rescue cat Sir Bentley. So far, we made a cat treat dispenser out of recycled cardboard.  In our test run, Sir Bentley actually figured it out!  The design we built requires Sir Bentley to turn the dispenser with his paw, turning it around until a treat runs across one of three small holes and falls out of the container.  My video was not from the best angle, but I did catch a snippet of him playing with it!  We hope to build many more fun activities for keeping his very active brain engaged! 

*I continued to help my daughter spread awareness of the plight of our area food bank. She has received such wonderful responses, and many people have generously supported her fund raising efforts!  Many people sponsoring are even complete strangers to her, which is extra precious!  She realizes that times are extra hard right now for so many people, and that some people would love to help out but are not in a position to do so--therefore she is really appreciating every single person who shares her fundraising video, or is praying for the success of the children as they do their best to help raise funds for the food bank. If you would like to help her out with her project, even simply sharing her video on social media helps SO very much!  She has had 98 shares of her video, last time I checked! You can watch her explain about her project here:

And share her fundraising page with others here:

Strings Students Fill Needy Food Pantry

So far, many people have sponsored her on her GoFundMe page, and she has reached $900 of her personal goal of $1,000!  This is beyond what I ever thought she would be able to raise, especially with times being as hard as they are for so many people (the exact reason that the food bank IS in need--so many more people than regular are hurting and are coming to them for help!).  But when my daughter was choosing what she wanted to set as her goal, I told her that no one should criticize a teen who tried to raise a lot to help other people, and fell short, so to go ahead and set her goal what she wanted to in her heart.  It had been over a week since she had received any additional donations--and then last night she had two more people donate!  THAT was a wonderful surprise this morning!  She has also had several people donate with cash or checks, so if I have my numbers correct, she believes she is only $29 away from reaching her personal goal!!!  If there is anyone reading this who would like to help a teen raise much needed funds for our area food bank, she would be delighted to have you sponsor her!

*We took a quick day-trip to our son's apartment to pick up a bunk bed set that we are going to store for him.  Our son lives about a four hour drive away (and another four hours back), so normally we don't do a day trip when we go see him.  But he married his sweetheart this past August, and before he was married, he had simply been using the bunk bed set that we had bought him when he was a child. When he was engaged, I told him that if they wanted to buy themselves a queen size bed, we would be willing to store the bunk bed set for them in our basement.  I do not need it at all, but our son is in graduate school right now, so where they are living now will not be a long term place--just kinda long right now as he has several years more of studies.  But some day, they will most likely move to at least a two bedroom place, and it will be nice for them to have the two twin beds as extra beds, either for company or for possible future children.  Since we had just bought him two brand new twin mattresses for the beds last year, we wanted to offer to store the beds for them if they wanted to keep them (they did!) but just didn't have a place to store them right now (they don't!). My hubby and I took all our own food and snacks for the trip with us, saving both dollars as well as time stopping to get something. 

Well, that about sums up my week! We were busy--which is good, as it helps keep mental health well when you feel like you have a reason to get out of bed in the morning!  What was your week like?  What did you do to save money and bless your family?  I would love to hear about it!

~Susan

Frugal Friday! Week of November 8-14, 2020

 

Good Morning Everyone!

How was your week?  Mine was actually slower than it usually is, as our daughter came down sick so that caused us to cancel several appointments and plans that we had for the weekend.  So that was sad, of course, but the GOOD news is she only was sick with a cold, and it wasn't even a severe cold either, so in this time of COVID that is a HUGE thing to be happy about!  

So, due to her cold, I stayed home with her more than I normally do, so on the one hand it doesn't feel like I had very much savings or frugal finds this past week--on the other hand, staying home can be a great way to save money!  As long as one isn't shopping on-line the whole time, of course!  

I did manage to do a few things, however, so I am thankful for that.

*I made a clothing purchase at Eddie Bauer for our daughter, for an item which is going to be a part of her Christmas present. I would love to say what it is, but just in case she reads my blog post I better not!  Normally I would not say that shopping at Eddie Bauer is frugal in any way, but I have learned that if one watches for sales, it can really bring the prices down to reasonable, and sometimes you can stack other coupons or savings on top of that!  The item I purchased was normally $99.  The company had put it on part of their 50% off sale for Veterans Day.  Last week I had been inside the retail store, and had seen that they are having a winter coat drive, where they are collecting new or gently used coats for charity, and for each coat that you bring in they will give you $10 off of an outerwear purchase there in the store.  Well, I had had my eye on the item I wanted for our daughter for some time, but was waiting because it was just too expensive for my budget.  But when I saw online about the 50% off sale, I called our store and asked if I brought in and donated a coat, would that work on top of their sale price. I also asked about another deal they are doing, where if I reserve an item online and then pick it up in the actual store, they have been taking an extra $5.00 off of the item.  The manager at my local store said that she would make it work--so those two things would give me an additional $15 off of my 50% off sale price!  So--in the end, I was able to purchase an item that was originally $99, for $35!  I felt that was a great deal, and I already know it is a good quality item and should last my daughter for a long time. 

*We Zoomed our daughter's violin lesson.  The day of her lesson is the day she woke up with a sore throat--but she still felt well enough to HAVE a lesson, just didn't want to spread germs around to her teacher.  And of course, while we "thought" it was only a cold, with all that is going on in the world one never truly knows unless time passes.  And her teacher doesn't need to be passed cold germs either!  So my daughter begged me to text her teacher, and ask if we could switch last minute to a Zoom appointment that day at her regular lesson time, instead of us coming in for our lesson.  Happily, her teacher saw our text in spite of already being in the midst of her busy teaching schedule for the day, and texted back that she would set up a Zoom appointment for us.  So happily, even though she had a sore throat, my daughter didn't miss her lesson time after all. :)

*We had some wonderful feedback from readers on my daughter's fundraising project!  I appreciate everyone who commented so very much! In case you missed reading last week and are wondering what this is all about, my daughter is participating in a fundraiser for our local food bank.  The Samaritan Center, which operates the food bank, is the second largest food bank in our county.  They have recently had a 60% increase in families and individuals coming to the food bank and asking for help—while at the same time, they have had a sharp decrease in donations to the food bank, primarily because many area churches that normally this time of year are having special services and collecting large amounts of food to donate are not able to have their regular services with the virus mess going on.  So the need is up and the supply is way down.  My teen daughter’s violin teacher organizes a play-a-thon every year, with the proceeds raised going to different needs, such as hurricane relief, rebuilding after the California fires, help with tornado relief, etc.  This year, the teacher has chosen The Samaritan Center food bank as the recipient of the children’s play-a-thon.  We homeschool our teen daughter, and as part of her homeschool I gave her the assignment to create a video and a GoFundMe page, both describing the project they were going to be doing.  Last week I asked any readers who would like to help us out to please view her video, and read the description she wrote up on her GoFundMe page, and to give me some feedback, as it is very difficult sometimes to “grade” your own child!  It can be so easy to just feel like your child deserves an “A” on their project!  Anyway, so several readers very graciously helped us out and did watch Alison’s video, which I appreciate so much!  And next year when they have another play-a-thon for whatever project is chosen, she is definitely going to be incorporating your suggestions!  If anyone else would like to help critique, more feedback would be wonderful!  You can view her short four minute video here: 

And you can view her GoFundMe page here:

https://www.gofundme.com/f/strings-students-fill-needy-food-pantry

Oh! One very fun thing that happened for Alison this week is a sweet reader from England watched her video and left her a comment!  And she even made a donation to the food bank!  That was SO very sweet, and really made Alison’s work feel well rewarded!  She was just thrilled to know that her video had reached someone so far away from where she lives, AND she felt so supported from someone that was a total stranger to her! 

*I made $27 from selling some clothes that no longer fit me at a local consignment shop.  :)  I was thrilled!  I had marked for the store to simply donate to a local charity any of my clothes that did not sell, and I honestly kinda forgot all about it, because I knew with the virus going on not that many people are out shopping for clothes, so didn’t have all that much confidence that the things I brought in would be purchased.  But the items no longer fit me at all anyway (I have lost 55 pounds), so I needed to move the things out of my closet to make space for the clothes I have found in my new size.  I am sure that many of the clothes I brought in probably did not sell and ended up being donated, but that is fine with me.  Anything that I can get does help greatly since I have had to replace literally every single clothing item that I owned except for socks and shoes—they still fit.  But I am also happy to move the too large sizes on so they can bless someone else who needs them. So I figure it is win-win, whether an item sells, or whether it is donated to charity!

Well, those are the things that I can think of from this past week.  How was your week, and what did you find to do to bless your family or those you cross paths with? I love to read what you share!

~Susan

Frugal Friday! Week of November 1-7, 2020

Hi Frugal Friends!

I hope your Fall is beautiful, where ever you live!  We have really been enjoying our beautiful weather, and trying to get outside more to enjoy it and exercise!  

I am purposefully trying to spend more time with our daughter--she is growing up so fast!  Only a couple more years and she will be on to college, so she has become my hiking buddy!

I jotted down several of the frugal things I did during the week.  I know I missed many--sometimes you just are busy living your life, and not spending all your time writing down what you are doing!  But it does help me to look at my list and realize that I really DID do a lot, so there is a reason I may be feeling tired!  ;)  I also always learn so many new ideas from reading what others are up to, so I try and remember to write down my activities in case something blesses someone!

So with that, here is my list of what I wrote down:

 *I picked a huge handful of green onions from my garden. These were onions that originally came from the grocery store, and I had cut off and stuck in a garden bed, so they felt like free onions to me since I had already eaten the original onion purchase and these regrew from the roots. 

*I made four loaves of homemade Oatmeal bread.

*I made a double batch of granola.

*I ordered some white sandals on clearance from Lands End, using a $20 certificate that I had on top of the clearance price. I also received free shipping. In the end, I will be receiving a $50 pair of sandals for just under $10. 

*I won a blog giveaway. It was for some lovely things, including lavender soap, dried lavender petals, and some lavender essential oil, among some other special things.  

*We hiked trails near our home—free exercise! My daughter and I grabbed some of her school books and took them with us on a trail that is near our house.  We knew there was one picnic table along this trail, and just as I thought, it was completely free and clear and available for us to sit and work on her school work for a while.  Plenty of fresh air, and definitely socially distancing as we didn't see a single other person on our hike!

*I decorated our house for Fall using what we already had.

*We took a weekend trip to the Smokies!  This may not SEEM very frugal, but we stayed in a tiny adorable cabin, and I brought all our own food.  In these cabins, you also bring your own bedding and towels and such.  We have gone to this campground numerous times, and loved it every single time.  It is owned and operated by a sweet mom and pop that just make us feel like we are family when we stay there, and that is hard to put a price on! Besides, a weekend away was definitely frugal from a mental health standpoint--I needed it really badly, and my hubby thanked me several times for spearheading this trip so I know he needed it as well!

This is the inside of the cabin, just standing in the doorway.  The ladder leads to a sleeping loft our daughter used.  There is a mattress on the floor up there, and the ceiling is too low to stand up so you have to crawl around. We had a little two burner stove in the kitchen, and a toaster oven, microwave, and small fridge.  In the right hand back corner is the bathroom.

This is the view from standing just in the kitchen area.  My hubby and I had a double bed, and in the right hand corner of the picture you can see the built in table.

This is the type of views OUTSIDE the cabin--just a few hundred yards away from our campground is "The Great Smoky Mountain National Park." We got in as many hikes during our weekend there as we could!  One on Friday, three on Saturday, and one Sunday morning after we checked out of our cabin and were heading back home--we couldn't resist swinging back into the park one more time!

Since we homeschool, the great outdoors is one of our classrooms!  Here my daughter is drawing in her nature journal, by the side of a stream.  When I was a teacher in a classroom, I would have LOVED to be able to bring my whole class to a place like this to hike and draw!  While I couldn't then, I CAN bring my "whole class" now--since my entire class consists of one teenage girl!

On one of our hikes, we hiked to a one room school house that is still standing in the park!

You are able to enter this school house still, and walk around.  It is still filled with the old benches the children used years ago.

Now that I think about it, it might just be kinda funny that I homeschool our daughter so on some of her field trips I have to take her and show her what a "real" school looks like! ;)  We had a lovely, lovely time!

*I helped our daughter create a fundraising video.  I know, this doesn't sound very frugal like either, but to me it is, since I assigned the project to her as part of her school work and I am trying to have as many "hands on" and "real life" types of projects for her as possible.  Her violin teacher is holding a play-a-thon to benefit our local food bank.  This food bank is the second largest in our county, and they have had an increase by 60% of families asking for help.  At the same time as the need has increased, due to COVID, donations are down.  Both many people are suffering job-wise, as well as many churches that normally are collecting for the food bank are still not able to have their regular services--therefore the collections of food are not happening like normal.  My daughter will be playing in the play-a-thon, but of course just playing does not bring in any help for the food bank.  She needs sponsors for that.  So in an attempt to help her reach more sponsors and at the same time, teach her some more practical skills in communication, I gave her two assignments for school:

 "GoFundMe" page-- Strings Students Fill Needy Food Pantry

1) Create a "GoFundMe" page, so people that might wish to sponsor you can more easily do so, and 

2) Film and publish a YouTube video communicating clearly what your project is about.  I think she did a great job--but of course I am biased!  So if you wouldn't mind, I would REALLY appreciate it if you would take a look at both her projects and tell me what you think--does she clearly present what their mission is?  When you read the description of the project on the "GoFundMe" page, does her written description answer any questions that a person might have?  Is her YouTube video also presenting the information clearly?  Does she look at the camera enough, is she speaking clearly, is there any other information that you think she should have added in?  Her "GoFundMe" page can be tweaked a bit still, if there is something important left out, and her YouTube video could still have things added in the description box.

WELL, that was our week! We were all pretty busy--no laying around and twiddling our thumbs!  But it is a blessing to be busy, and I appreciate it even more after the lockdowns in the Spring!  What was your week like?  What did you do to save money and bless your family this week? I would love to hear about it!

~Susan