Skip to main content

The Frugal Five: #80

 The Frugal Five: #79


With inflation on the rise and salaries not increasing, our ability to make ends meet keeps going down.    Therefore, we must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.    


This week I am exploring how to keep costs down during busy weeks.    Keeping dinner on the table instead of eating out is one of my strategies to get the job done.    Here are some of my tips and trips.   


1- Samples


Each time we go to Costco on the weekend, there are a lot of sample stations up and running.     I have been able to get unstoppable and tide samples.   In addition, there are various food stations set up throughout the store.      You can sample your way through the store.   In addition, I was able to order several samples this week.     


2- Free Photos


At the beginning of the month or around the month’s holiday, Walgreens typically provides a coupon code for a photo item.   Sometimes, CVS will also provide a coupon code for an 8X10 or 5X7 photo.   I select a few pictures from my vacation or pieces of artwork in our local area and print them throughout the year.  I will pick up nice frames at second-hand stores or through Michael’s when they are having a major sale.   Then, use the framed photo as a present for a birthday or holiday.    I picked up 2 photos around Valentine’s Day and 1 this week.       


3- Start Garden Plants from Seeds  

I renewed my community garden bed for this summer.    I am grateful that the prices didn’t go up and the garden bed includes all of the soil amendments, plants, seeds, and straw for the season.  This week I attended the gardener’s meeting to review all of the rules.   We will be getting together shortly to plant seeds for our beds.    In addition, if we have enough plants, then we are permitted to take a few for our home gardens.   I plan to plant 3 seasons of plants this season (spring, summer, and winter).    I am hoping to be able to provide my family with most of our vegetables from late spring through fall.   


4- Dinner at Home


We are making an effort not to get takeout or go out to eat.    We use our crock-pot and dinner kits to help keep us at home.  Costco has several kits for under $15.00 which will feed our family for 1-2 meals.    We pair these kits with a starchy vegetable (rice, potato, or mac and cheese) and a bagged vegetable.  This gets dinner on the table in less time than it takes to order out and pick it up on the way home.   These techniques come in handy on Thursdays when I earn a little extra money tutoring, so dinner needs to be fast.    


5- Unplug your Electronics


Most people are in the habit of keeping their electronics plugged in all the time.     By changing this little habit, you will not only save a little cash by not using as much electricity, but you will also preserve your battery life.       


What Free-bees have you been able to pick up this year?    My entire year is attached below.    


Here is my list: 

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. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Black Bean and Corn Salad--> $0.44 per Serving

  Black Bean and Corn Salad This recipe comes from Pennies & Pancakes.   Unfortunately, this blog is no longer active, so I am not sure how much longer we will have access to her recipes.    Here is the link:   Black Bean and Corn Salad.   Therefore, I am repeating her recipe below, because it is just that good.  Makes 7 Cups  Ingredients:  2 15 oz. cans low-sodium black beans (drained and rinsed) 1 15 oz. can sweet whole kernel corn (drained and rinsed) 1 red bell pepper (diced) 1/3 cup red onion (finely diced) 2 scallions (finely diced) 2 cloves garlic (minced) 1/3 cup diced cilantro 2 Tbsp. lime juice (Or the juice of 2 limes) 1 tsp salt *opt. 1 small jalepeno (minced) Directions:  Open and rinse both the black beans and the whole-kernel corn.   Then place them into a bowl.  Next, cut up the pepper and onion.   Add it to the bowl.  Finely chop the cilantro and scallions,  and mince the garlic to add t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Frugal Five: #49

  The Frugal Five: #49 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 the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     .          1- Haircut Savings Since haircuts are $30 per cut plus tip, each time my husband asks me to cut his hair, I am happy to.    This is a huge saving!   He gets his hair cut every other week, so on average, we save $60 per month on just his haircuts.    2- Beverages from Home  Each day I make coffee and take a travel mug with me to work.   In addition, I make homemade tea to pack for my lunch.    Since Starbucks’ coffee prices have gone up, my daily savings for my daily coffee has increased to about $5.75 per day.    In addition, sodas at work run about $2.00 per...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Frugal Five: #46

  The Frugal Five: #46 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 the daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     This week I focused on garden frugal ideas and savings.  Gardens take a lot of work and can take a chunk of cash.   Let's see how we can keep the price down and get the same results.          1- Free Seeds  How can we get free seeds and when do we start planting for the spring?   Previously, I was able to pick up seeds from my local library through a seed-sharing program.   However, since we moved, my local library doesn’t participate in this type of program.     Therefore, I looked for other opportunities to secure free seeds.   I found the Free Seed Project.  Through this ...
Post a Comment
Read more