The Sweet Life On A Budget

  The Frugal Five: #65 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.     1- Free-Bee Haul  I have been super busy with work lately, so I haven’t had time to focus on picking up free-bees.   This weekend I decided to take a little time to do some research and it paid off in a large way.     This weekend I was able to score 17 items and counting.   I am feeling blessed and happy.         2- Lunches from the Refrigerator   We have yogurt and eggs in the refrigerator that need to be used up, so this week I am having egg salad and yogurt for lunch.    I will round it out with a little fruit for a healthy lunch.     3- Beverages from ...

  This year we were able to pick up 178 free items.  High inflation and the economy is making finding freebies more challenging.   However, I have set a goal to beat last year’s number (247). My goal for 2023 is to find 252 FREE Items, which works out to 21 freebies per month.    As always, I can secure these items through Kroger incentives, Drug Store (Walgreens/CVS)  Rewards programs, sales, Pinch Me, Smart Source, Meijer’s sales/store coupons, sample requests, and Rebates Programs (IBOTTA/SavingStar).    January (33 items)  February (43 items) March (22 items)  April 2023 (15 Items) May 2023 (24 Items) June 2023 (3 Items)  July 2023 ( 27 Items)  Here is my August 2023 list of Free-Bees!   August 2023 (11 Items) 3 Listerine Mouthwash (1 Liter)- Walgreens Store Coupon, Coupon, Walgreens Cash Reward and Merchant Rebate Nurishh Cream Cheese- Kroger Store Coupon  Sargento Cheese (8 oz)- Kroger Store Coup...

  The Frugal Five: #64 With inflation on the rise and salaries being unable 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- Free Wood Pick-Up My son practiced his driving by going with my husband to pick up free wood this week.   We cut the wood up into different size pieces for use in the fireplace this winter.  Since we kept and process the wood from our fallen trees and were able to pick up this wood, I expect that we will not need to purchase wood for a few years.     2- Gourmet Lunches This is my first week back to work and I need to be prepared.    The alarm is set and I am putting into place several new nightly routines to make my life a little easier in the morning.    One of these routines is to prepare lunches for the week.     ...

  Restaurant Savings  We have a mobile lifestyle which requires a lot of travel throughout the year.   We try to pack our meals, but sometimes our lifestyle requires us to eat out. Eating out for a family of 3 with a teenage boy usually means spending about $100 per meal.    How can we decrease our out-of-pocket expenses?   The first thing we do is to eliminate the beverage costs.   If we order water with or without lemon, there is no additional cost.    However, if we order any beverage the cost is between $3.50 and $10.00 per drink.    Yes, my son did order a $10.00 milkshake once.      The second thing we do is check out their specials.   Typically, we receive this information via their loyalty program.   If we do go out without checking out the specials in advance, they are normally either listed on a board or the waitress/waiter shares them with us. We do not always go for the cheape...

  NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices were correct at the time of the blog postings, the current cost of preparation of these dishes may be higher due to inflation and/or location.        May USDA Low Food Plan According to this plan, our family would have a budget of $184.90 per week.  Given our health concerns, we struggle to maintain this budget, but I will try to make this happen.    Cost-Saving Tip of the Week:  Last week we picked up a lot of fruit, vegetables, and dairy, so this week we are severely reducing the pick up of these items.    Our grocery store is having a great sale of chicken, ground beef, and eggs this week, so that will make up the bulk of our grocery order.  platter, so we got lucky that my birthday fall on this special.   In addition, the restaurant gave me a $10.00 coupon to use for my birthday.    We al...

  The Frugal Five: #63 With inflation on the rise and salaries being unable 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- Free-Bee Pickup  This week has a small haul, just 3 things, but what a bargain.   I was able to pick up 3 bottles of Listerine (1 liter) for a final price of FREE→ yes FREE!   Wow!  This is my husband’s favorite type of mouthwash, so I was grateful to be able to pick them up.  So far, this is my favorite deal for the month of August!    2- Garden Harvest  The garden is starting to produce a significant amount of produce.   This week I was able to get squash and tomatoes.   I have been craving fried green tomatoes and this is the week that I am making it.     In addition, I will be making homemade salsa and prepa...