Frugal Five- #15

 The Frugal Five

With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us to live a frugal life.    

1- Meal Planning 

We have been a little relaxed on the meal planning and as a result, our eating out habit has returned.     This week I am determined to eat at home all week.    I inventoried what we had left over from last week, and built a meal plan around that.   This week's game plan- easy and simple meals.      

2- Strategizing Meals for the Weekend

We had another swim meet this weekend and it was over meal times, so we packed drinks, breakfast, and lunch again.     Since we need to get up so early and swim meets can be exhausting, we do not feel like cooking dinner when we get home.    This weekend, I planned ahead and gave my crock pot a workout.    I prepared the ingredients on Friday night for both Saturday and Sunday, then all I needed to do in the morning was dump & go.    Given how expensive eating out is, we saved quite a bit of money by doing this.     

3- Coffee at Home

Given out swim practice is at 6:30 AM, it is vital that I have my coffee.    However, Starbucks is still over $3.00 per Vente.   My solution is to bring my Yeti mug filled with hot coffee.   This mug will keep my coffee hot for over an hour in the cool morning air and I don’t have the expense of a Starbucks run.         

4- Unpacking more Boxes 

Instead of running out and buying more things, I just keep unpacking our moving boxes.    Although some days I don’t go through any boxes, most days I get through 1-3 boxes.   For example, my son is going on his annual camping trip and the movers didn’t label his camping gear.   He started to panic and wanted to buy more gear, but we continued to go through boxes until we found his backpack, sleeping bag, hammock, mess kit, flashlight, first aid kit, and more.  He is ready for his camping trip and we didn’t buy anything new.         

5- Use of a Drying Rack 

We had a drying rack from our previous home, but because of the HOA, we weren’t allowed to use it.    Well, NOT anymore.   We currently do not have an HOA and the drying rack is in full use this summer.  Swim towels get used more than once which reduces their wear and tear, laundry loads, and the expense of drying them in the dryer.    

Please leave a comment below with your ways of saving money this week.