Frugal Friday with Marsha 5/2/14

Another busy week gone by. I don't seem to be able to slow down much.
I continue to hang clothes on the line to dry. My husband keeps talking about fixing the dryer, I tell him there is no hurry.

I got some really good deals on meat Sunday morning. I ran to the store to buy cottage cheese as our contribution to the youth group dinner after church.
I found the cottage cheese on sale, so that was good, but that wasn't all.
The meat guy had just marked down 1 lb rolls of ground beef to just $1.69 and the 1 lb packages of Honeysuckle White ground turkey to just $1.79!
I bought 3 lbs of each. Of course now I am wishing I had bought more, but I am still so happy to find meat that cheap!
I used 2 lbs right away and the rest is in the freezer.

We've had 2 meals this week that had enough leftovers for other meals later.
I will tell you that both of those meats did come from the food bank. I am not too proud to visit the food bank when I feel we are really in need. That, by the way, is the only time I go too. I hadn't been there for almost 3 years.
We got a 3 lb roast and a 3 lb brisket as part of the meats. (We also got 3 lbs of chicken, 3 lbs of ground beef, a complete meal in a bag, a bag of frozen soup, and 2 cans of tuna for meat) They set us up easily for 2 weeks on meat and then I was able to get those good deals.
I feel so much better now.

We are having a yard sale tomorrow at my daughters house. She lives in a small town with a population of just over 1000. This is an annual town wide event. They say they print out 1000 maps for the sales and that they give all of them away.
I am not taking near the stuff that I could. I'm taking what will fit in the trunk and back seat of my car along with my tables.
My husband offered to leave me the 15 passenger van so I could take more, but with the suspension needing work and a bad tire, I'm too scared to take it on the highway.
Cross your fingers and such that I can make at least a few $. Honestly, I will be happy if I can make $10.
More of the fun for me will be spending the weekend with my daughter and her children.

What things have you done this week on the money saving side?

An InLinkz Link-up

Frugal Friday Link Up--Vinegar Has Many Uses

Good Friday to all. We are finally getting just a bit of rain this morning. We sure need it!
No hanging clothes on the line today, but that's ok. I will just get hubby's uniforms washed and dried and call it good for the day. The other day it was super windy outside. I debated on hanging the laundry out. There I was getting blasted by wet laundry as I tried to hang it up. It was quite a sight. LOL A couple of things did get blown off the line, but what I found out is that they clothes dried on the line like in the dryer. They were soft instead of stiff like they usually come end up. If you have any hints on making line dried laundry not come dry stiff, please let me know.

There may just be something with vinegar as I start to share the many uses of vinegar this week. Vinegar will be a 3 week share as it is so versatile! These are from the book 99-Cent Solutions: Easy Ways to Save Thousands of Dollars

1. Perk up a rug or carpet. Bring your carpet back to life from the foot traffic, dust, and dirt that is wearing down the carpet's fibers, dulling the pattern and color. Use a solution of 1 gallon warm water and 1 cup of white vinegar. Dip a clean broom in to the mixture and brush it into the rug. Let it dry. The fibers will stand up and the color will be revived. (I must try this)

2. Brighten wood paneling. Wipe down wood paneling with 2 cups of warm water, 1/4 cup white vinegar and a glug of olive or vegetable oil. Wipe down the whole area and then rub with a dry cloth. This will easily remove grease and grime from the wood paneling.

3. Get rid of bird poo. Pour vinegar onto a rag to wipe the bird mess from your windshield. On your patio or deck, just pour a little vinegar straight on to the spots and watch them dissolve like magic.

4. Make an all purpose wash that is simple, cheap and green. Mix 2 parts water and 1 part white vinegar in a spray bottle. You can use this to clean anything including grease spots, spills, and bathroom surfaces.

5. Say so long to stickers. If you can't get that price sticker off, or if you are like me and have grandchildren who have stuck stickers to your kitchen floor, just soak the paper with plain vinegar and scrape the stickers off with a credit card or a plastic spoon. Use a dry cloth or paper towel to wipe away the remaining glue. (another must try for me)

6. As clear as glass. No need to buy that special cleaner for your eye glasses, just spritz them with white vinegar and polish with a soft cloth. This works just as well as that tiny overpriced bottle of eye glass cleaner. (along with #5 above--when I worked as a housekeeper at a motel, we used the vinegar mix to clean the mirrors--saved the motel a lot of money over buying glass cleaner)

7. Say goodbye to odor. Wet a cloth in vinegar and wave it around the room that you are trying to air. This gets rid of smoke or cooking odors quickly.

8. Make salt surrender. In the winter when you salt your sidewalks, you can really do a number on your leather shoes or boots. Wipe your footwear as soon as you get inside with a cloth dipped in white vinegar. You will get rid of the rings, but you will also prevent damage to your shoes.

I will have more to share about vinegar next week!

Frugal Friday 5/27/11

Happy Friday!

We've had some bad weather this past week, but around it I have managed to hang all laundry out on the clothesline.  Another thing I am doing with the laundry is washing in cold water.

I was able to do some coupon shopping this past week.  Those links are in the linky.   My Mailbox Monday post is also in the linky, where I share the freebies that came in my mailbox the previous month.

We've made sure this week to not let leftovers go to waste.  One night was consciously done as it was a busy day away from home and that was the quickest.  Otherwise they've been used other nights.  My deep freeze (just a small square chest one) is full, as is the freezer on the fridge thanks to a shopping trip to Aldi to stock us up.  He gave me grocery money out of the income tax refund and I chose to stock up with it so that I can get back to trying my best with my coupons and good deals.

I hope you will hook up with my linky and maybe also get the word out about it so others will as well.  I also look forward to the inspiration of others!

Frugal Friday With Marsha Blog Hop

I am so glad to see Blogger working again!

What have you done this past week that was frugal, or represents living the simple life?  Did you post frugal recipes, your savings shopping trip?  Did you post about your garden?  Any savings related posts you've done, I hope you will share in the weekly linky.  Inspire us!

This past week...hhmmm
I hung laundry on the line all week.  I can't talk my daughter in to hanging her loads on the clothesline though.  I'm trying to get her to understand the basic concept of saving on the electric bill.  Especially since the central air is on....we do have it set way up on 82, only turning it no lower than 80 when we have a lot of company over.

Our garden is progressing I suppose.  The tomatoes are coming back to life....that is is this cold front doesn't warp them again.  This weather is cruel!  90's for 2 days, then a couple of days in the 70's then today it's only going to get in the 50's.

I did some grocery shopping.  I wish I could say I did some fantastic job, but it had been a long day away from home.  Once home there wasn't anything just quick and easy to fix for supper and I was tired.  I went to the store without a list really, and hungry.  I told my daughter and my husband to just pick out something they wanted for supper.  Hubby went and chose a package of bacon that costs $5.89!  OMG!  Yes, I was tired, I didn't even think to go check the price of what he chose, or so tell him he had to get some that was cheaper. (and if I had my coupon box with me I'm sure I have a $1 off coupon for the brand he chose)  I chose a quiche, which was on sale for $2.95 and my daughter chose a package of Hot Pockets for $2.19.   In other words, there's around $11 on needless spending!  Let this be my lesson to you---do not shop without planning, no matter what!

I did get some good deals:
*10 packages of Kool-Aid--on sale 6 for $1 and I used 2-.50 coupons doubled giving me .33 overage.
*I used my free Suave Professionals coupon for a free product
*I used my free Kraft shredded cheese with a touch of Philadelphia from Kraft First Taste.  Since the cheese was on sale for just $1.99 I chose to use the $1 off coupon as well getting the second bag for just .99
*I then went for the special of buying the 10 different products and getting an additional $5 off your order:
7 bottles of Kraft BBQ sauce for just .49 each after the deal (they say there are coupons out but I don't have any), 1 jar of Miracle Whip and 1 jar of Kraft Mayo--$2.49 each after the deal (I'm sure I probably had a $1 off 2 coupon if I would have had my box with me) and lastly Uncle Ben's Ready Rice $1.25 after the special, but I used my free coupon and the register took off the $1.75, so I ended up with .50 overage there.
*Small container of cole slaw and small container of macaroni salad--on sale for just $1 (normally $2.19)

In all I spent $23.49 for what you see in the photo below.  I did save 52% between sales and coupons so not a total loss.  $14.73 in coupons including the additional $5 off for buying the 10 items.

New!! Frugal Friday's With Marsha Blog Hop

I've decided to start something new for Friday here on my blog. I hope many will hop along and inspire us all to be as frugal as we can be.

Each week I will share some of the things I've done to be frugal.

Let me start with my grocery shopping this past week. The first trip wasn't as frugal as it should have been, or could have been. I had gone through the Dillon's sales ad and pulled out matching coupons. Steve gave me $40 to spend. I ended up going over that, spending $50.49. I used a total of $27.69 in coupons and my receipt tells me that I saved 55% with sales and coupons. Anything over 50% is pretty good, but I want to strive for more than that.
I won't bore you with the whole list, but here are some of the really good deals:
Keep in mind that my store does double coupons.
*Half gallons of milk were on sale for $1 each, I bought 2.
*Butterfinger Crisp candy bars on close out for .53 each, I bought 2 and used a .50/2 coupon so just .03 each.
*Tostito Chips on sale for $2.99, used $1 coupon so $1.99
*Tostitos Spinach Dip on sale for $2.99, used $1 coupon, so $1.99
*Pepsi Max 2 ltr was free using a coupon buy 2 Tostitos products get it free. The cashier took off $1.25 although it was on sale for .74 so that meant extra off the total bill.
*1 Gatorade, 1 Gatorade G2, and 1 Gatorade Prime--Gatorade on sale for .79, other 2 on sale $1 each. I used a coupon to buy the latter 2, get the Gatorade free. he cashier took off $1.69 instead of the .79 for the free Gatorade, making each one just .30.
*2 Ortego Taco Seasoning on sale for $1 each, used $1/2 coupon making them .50 each.
*3 Crest Toothpaste on sale for $1 each, used 2-$1 coupons and 1-.50 coupon making them all free.
*2 Schick disposable razors, on sale buy 1 get one free making them $3.19 each. I used 2-$2 coupons making them just $1.19 each.
*2 California Kitchen Pizza's on sale for $5 each, used 2-$1.25 coupons bringing them down to $3.75 and I got back a $1 catalina.

The following day I went back to the store for just a few items:
*2 Splenda 80 ct packet boxes on sale for $4.29. I used 2-$3 coupons making them $1.29 each plus I got back a $3 Catalina.
*3 Hershey's chocolate bars on sale buy 2 get 1 free (.89 each) In combination with the sale, I used a buy 1 get 1 free coupon, so I paid .89 for all three.
I also used my $1 catalina from the previous day.
I paid $3.34 with tax, saving 77% with coupons and sales--much more like it.

The following day I made one more trip on this sale.
*4 Tony's smaller pizzas, on sale for $1 each. I used 1-$1/2 coupon and 1-.50/2 coupon bringing them down to .50 each.
*2 Delmonte Fruit cups on sale for $1 each, used $1/2 coupon making them .50 each.
* 1 Yoplait Whips, used free coupon
*2 Butterfinger Crisp candy bars on close out for .53 each, used .50/2 coupon making them .03 each.
*2 half gallons of milk on sale for $1 each.
I also used the $3 catalina coupon from the day before.
I paid $2.76, saving 87% with sales and coupons (this is how I would love it to be each and every shopping trip.)

In other shopping I made 2 transactions at Walgreen's. No super super savings here either, but I still would like to share.
Transaction #1--
*Bic Soleil razors, $5.99, used $3 coupon and got back $3 in RR.
*Noxema razors, $3.99, used $1 coupon and got back $2 RR.
I paid $6.78 and took my $5 in RR's to my--

Transaction #2--
*Wine Out stain remover, on clearance for .75
*Mints, .79 (these 2 my fillers to use the previous RR's)
*Tylenol Precise Heat, $7.99, used $5 coupon in combination with $3 Walgreen's coupon for a 1 cent money maker.
*2 Covergirl Nature Luxe foundation, $12.99, on sale buy 1 get 1 half price, I used 2-$2 coupons, bring the total with sale to $7.74 each.
I then used my $5 in RR's from the first transaction.
I paid $14.35. This was after a total of $17 in coupons. This still means that I saved over 50% No, I'm not really proud of this, but this make-up is the bomb and after using it as a bzzagent I wanted more, and one for my daughter too!

Another thing that I am doing in our new house to save money is hanging the laundry on the line to dry whenever the weather has been permissable. I'm thankful that I should be able to the rest of the season and summer now. I fell in love with this house first for having a clothesline in the back yard!

Please add my button to your blog roll if you can, or to your post if you plan on doing this with us regularly on Friday's. Thanks!!