Frugal Five: #37

 The Frugal Five: #37

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.   Ohio has inflation being around 7% but nationally it is around 13%.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.    

This year I am investing a little more time each week to trim a little money off of the items I purchase.   In addition, we are looking at DIY projects to improve our home at rock bottom prices.    Finally, we are looking at waste and putting habits in place to help eliminate this.  This series will celebrate all the ways we find to save money each week.   

Let’s see how we can save our pennies this year.   

1-  Rooting a Cutting 

This week my husband’s work was trimming their plants in the lobby.    He carefully selected a plant clipping and brought it home to root.    He placed it in a beautiful glass and it is now rooting in my kitchen.    I love the colors of the plant’s leaves and can’t wait for the plant to be ready to pot.  

2- Waste Control- Making Banana Bread 

Two lonely bananas sat on my counter all week.    Since they are now ripe and no one is interested in eating them, I used them to bake banana bread.   I had a lot of walnuts in the freezer, so I added them to the bread for a little more nutrition.   Breakfast is served for the next week.    

3-Homemade Pizza vs. Takeout

After a long week at work, it is easy to dial takeout.     This week we used our discounted French Bread from the freezer to make Pizza.  It took only a few minutes to put together and then 20 minutes in the oven.    Easy Peasy and much cheaper than takeout.     

4- Gas Savings 

    

Gas prices in our area went up to $3.35 per gallon earlier in the week.    Since I had a full tank of gas, I was in no hurry to fill my tank.  At the end of the week, the prices started to decrease to $3.19 per gallon on my normal gas route.    However, I had an errand to run on Saturday and was going past an area that historically has lower gas prices.     My gas tank was getting low, so I compared gas prices, and filled my tank (11 gallons).  On Saturday, gas in my area came in at $3.19 or $3.09, but I paid just $2.83.  My gas tank was getting low, so I compared gas prices, used my discounts and filled my tank.   This small act saved me from $3.98 to $2.86.   I know it is a small amount, but over time, it will save me a bunch.   

Ah- getting gas at the lowest price when I need it, a beautiful thing.    

5-  Daily Cup of Joe

   

I definitely have a caffeine addiction, so making my coffee each day instead of buying it out saves me a lot of money.   Starbucks is charging about $3.25 per cup.   Since I take a Yeti of coffee to work 5 times per week, this saves me $15.00 per week.  I enjoy a cup at home and then take a Yeti Mug to go.    This helps to make my morning bearable. 

 

Do you want to see what we did last week?   

Just click on the picture for the link. 

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