7/16 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the week: We ate at Earth Fare's hot/salad buffet yesterday and shopped a bit. My healthy meal was $2.47 - not bad at all. Even though it has been hot and humid, I have walked just about every day this week for about an hour - I am glad I quit the exercise classes. They were poorly run - bad traffic - and a bit of gas. So, a savings all the way around. I have gotten several packs of free seeds and plan on planting them tomorrow. Hopefully I will still have time to benefit from them. Mail this week was pretty boring - but I am still receiving freebie magazines. Haven't sign-up for many lately - but I got "Money" today. I have changed my work schedule so that I will be getting every other Friday off. It will save a bit of gas and wear and tear on the car. I mailed in my rebate for a full refund on my Neutrogena Clinicals product - I believe $35 - and hopefully in a few weeks, I will have anti-aged :) Also got my $15 Wal-mart giftcard. Since my daughter and husband will be gone for almost a two week period, I think I am going to try to eat out of the fridge/freezer/pantry and use that gift card for anything I need or run out of. My tomato and pepper plants are starting to produce - so, hopefully, I will have very little to purchase.

7/10 Expressions

Frugal deeds today: My daughter and I got our hair "done" today. Cut and blow-dry for me was $10 plus tip. Since my daughter got her's highlighted - I took the opportunity to run by Kroger and pick-up groceries. I purchased mostly produce and seafood and saved 32%. After my daughter was finished with her appointment, we ate lunch at home. Then the family headed to the public library. I checked out 4 more books and read a few magazines. Then we headed to Barnes and Noble - it was a scorcher - so we splurged on vanilla Frappucinos - yummy and read more magazines. The place was packed - I guess everyone is on a frugal kick - and head to the bookstore to cool-off and read for cheap. Then we headed to Earth Fare for dinner. The buffet for hot foods and salad was on sale for $5.99/lb. My dinner - healthy, filling, and yummy (best of all - did not heat-up the house - nor did I have to cook :) cost $3.49 - plus Earth Fare chilled bottled water for .79 - can't beat that at a fast food place. We did shop a bit - and came home with some bargain priced local produce. On our way home, we stopped at Blockbuster Express and checked out 2 movies at $1 each plus tax. Mail was good, got a rent check, and a snack sample. A friend told me about http://www.medcohealthstore.com/ - apparently the old www.drugstore.com? Anyway, I placed an order - the prices were good - plus to my surprise, an additional $10 was taken off and I did not use a code - new customer promo? Shipping on the site shows .99 - not sure if I paid that or if it was $0 - I ordered early this a.m. YMMV . . .

7/9 Expressions

Frugal Deeds and mistakes for the week: Frugal mistake - we let $30 worth of 1/2 priced gift certificates to eat out expire - and we called to see if the restaurant would honor them anyway - nope - so, we won't be going there again. I received a product to test from ALL YOU - you may want to sign-up - easy survey too. I will be getting a rosemary plant for free from a local freecycler - sure hope I can keep it alive. The last one I bought from Home Depot died within three months and I did not save the receipt - another Frugal mistake. Received a small check from the consignment store and took in 16 more items. Listed a few more items on Listia - so decluttering is still alive. Tomorrow, my daughter and I will be having a girl's day out at the beauty school - we will both be getting our hair "done". May stop at CVS and try to get 4 free Sobe drinks with the BOGO sale and BOGO coupons. Oh, I won 30 Coke Rewards points from Wendy's and redeemed them for a 20 oz Coke coupon. It rained yesterday and today - frugal because the plants/grass got watered for free :) I read two out of the three books I checked out from the library - I may hit the magazine room and check out the bestsellers again this weekend for free/cool entertainment.

7/5 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the day: The new fridge arrived as promised! The rebate for delivery and pick-up is in the mailbox ready to be picked-up. My husband is on his way to my dad's to pick-up our food. He will make several stops along the way to pick-up a few goodies. He is stopping at CVS with $10 ECBs I earned doing a survey. With those bucks, he has toilet paper and towel paper coupons and will find the best deal on a large package of each. Then to Kroger, yesterday, while my husband was running an errand, he stopped at Kroger and pointed out that they overcharged me. Kroger's policy is - the item is free if it was mispriced. So, he received a $5 GC and the rest in cash/change. His next stop will be to Kroger's to pick-up 5 pints? of Blackberries - most to be washed and frozen for smoothies. He also has with him, a coupon for a free pack of Alouette crumble cheese - it was inside the label of an Alouette cheese spread (herbed). Then to Home Depot with two e-mailed coupons for becoming a facebook fan - b1g1 perennial and $5 off Round-up. My daughter is working on a load for me to take to the consignment store and also, will package the stuff she "traded" on Listia for me to mail out. Nice to get rid of more clutter and bring in cash and credit. My husband just walked in the door - so, I am off to plant the perennials - in that spot in the yard that needs some work :)

7/4 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the day: Today started off nicely - but we noticed our fridge is not cooling well. The fridge is about 14 years old and doesn't match our stove (replaced last year). Fortunately, HHgreggs is having a fourth of July sale - so, we took the food over to my dad's and tomorrow, we will have new fridge. We will be sending in for a rebate on the delivery and pick-up. Charged in on airline points card and it will be paid off when we receive the statement. The new one, I am sure will be more energy efficient and has several more features, costs, dollar-wise, the "same" as the onld one - so, technically, the new one cost less in "today's dollars". I just thought that was a bit amusing. The dishwasher should be going-out in a year or so too, and then when all 3 appliances match, I will have the counter-tops done. One nice thing about the recession, seems a bit easier for a frugal sort to find a "bargain".

7/2 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the week: We paid an additional chunk toward the HELOC as in - I took some $ out of savings. I want that HELOC gone. It is sitting at 2.6% - but it can't stay there forever. I am thinking the HELOC will be gone in 3 months at the most. I know it is counter-intuitive - but I am looking at possibly buying property again. The stock market is giving me a headache - but, I have not sold anything, don't plan to. But, we haven't made any "individual" investments in a while. As for retirements - we are staying the course and have chosen not to look at the financial statements in the last couple of months. We are still working on decluttering. Received a few nice freebies and coupons for free items in the mail this week. Little day brighteners to counter-act some financial bad news. We did eat out twice today - perhaps in the spirit of not letting bad economic news make us retreat. On the frugal-side, I did use a coupon toward one meal and we brought home a doggy bag. We plan to grill out on the fourth - have a safe and happy independence day!

6/25 Expressions

Frugal deeds for the week: Wednesday - I took the day off and my daughter and I made it a day. We printed off coupons and I purchased a gift certificate on restaurant.com with an 80% off code. We watched a matinee - I believe it was "Killers" - with Aston Kutcher in it. We got a free panty at Victoria's Secret with any "Pink" purchase and we eached purchased a body spray on the 80% off rack - under $4 with tax. We had a nice meal and called it a day. Our condo rental agency filed a claim with BP for shortages in May's rental income - so, we shall see how that goes - hopefully smoothly. We made another large payment on the HELOC and are on track to pay it off in October or earlier - then back to saving for my daughter's education to cover any shortages that may crop up. I harvested 2 banana peppers this week - they were pretty tasty :) I tried to take a few items to the consignment store - they were overwhelmed - never had that happen before. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday - we will take him to a matinee (his request) and eat lunch at Red Robin's - they sent his a free meal coupon via e-mail and my daughter and I will probably share a meal since their sandwiches are so filling.