It’s been a quiet week in Lake DebtBeGone* – which also happened to be the first week of the no- or low-spend February challenge. It was fairly easy to manage because I barely went anywhere. Since I don’t shop much online, it was pretty easy to avoid spending.
Not that I avoided it entirely. Tuesday, Feb. 1 was “Senior Tuesday” at Fred Meyer, a hot date for DF and me. That’s where the “low-spend” part comes in: Pretty much everything we bought either had an extra 10 percent off because it was a store brand, or because we had a coupon, or both. We found some screamin’ deals on meat, paying $2.49 a pound for 91 percent lean ground sirloin, $2.87 for a pound of breakfast sausage (DF eats meat and eggs before heading off to ski) and $1.92 for a pound of organic ground beef (manager’s special/store coupon/Senior Day trifecta).
Those prices may not sound rock-bottom to you, but we live in the home of the Alaska Gouge and we were just delighted.
On the way to the checkout line, we saw frozen turkey breast for 99 cents a pound. Grabbed one of those, too, and today it made the most marvelous midday meal – and it was frugal to boot:
- DF roasted that 99-cents-a-pound turkey, coming up with about two cups of drippings. He used one cup to make gravy.
- I sauteed onion (bought with a 40-cents-off coupon) and some frozen celery from last year’s garden, sprinkling the vegetables with salt and pepper as they cooked. Then I added one cup of that broth and a little water, and stirred in six cups of bread cubes made from a 29-cent loaf of French bread found in the day-old section a while back. (I also use these bread cubes to make bread pudding. Coconut bread pudding is my favorite.)
- We boiled and mashed some potatoes, also bought on sale. The butter was deeply discounted (we buy and freeze it whenever we see a great price), and the milk was from a half-price gallon DF bought on the way home from visiting his mom the other day.
- The other side dish was peas from last year’s garden, which cost very little to plant.
We could have had dessert; last week I baked two more of those pompion pies, using apples and pumpkin that we grew. But we were pretty full from our mini-Thanksgiving meal, which also provided enough food for a leftovers supper Monday, a shepherd’s pie entrée on Tuesday, and some turkey-sandwich lunches during the coming week.
Not to get maudlin, but we talked about how much we have to be thankful for: food, shelter and each other. And, of course, for a shared appreciation of getting the most for our money. Like gardening, frugality is a hobby that pays us back.
In other low- or no-spend news
Normally my friend Linda B. and I have lunch out once a week, taking turns paying. One of her Christmas presents to me was offering to pick up the tab for the first few months of the year. Now that is a gift! So we were able to meet for a meal yesterday, after which we went back to her house to visit and watch some TV.
I’d planned to go to the pay-what-you-can performance of “Fallen Angels” at a local theater company. But it was snowing hard, and I’d had a very taxing day work-wise. Instead of going out, I stayed in and read a new book from the library; I’m working my way through the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series by Julia Spencer-Fleming. (As an Amazon affiliate, I may be compensated for items bought through links on my site.)
No new movies opened that I wanted to see. Hitting the pay-one-price Tuesday show is a favorite getaway for me, but this week I stayed home. If a film had opened, I still have some Cinemark gift cards bought at a discount last Christmas.
Thus I didn’t spend any money on entertainment all week long. Just as well, since I had a whole lot of deadlines to meet. I didn’t spend any money but I definitely made some. Plus: Pie!
How’s your low/no-spend February?
For a longtime reader whose screen name is Catseye, low- or no-spending is “always my plan.” Like many people in this country, she needs to spend very carefully all year round. No doubt she could teach us all a thing or two about smart money management – and I hope she will, by leaving comments on my weekly updates.
February is not her favorite month, so the low- or no-spend aspect provides a bit of distraction. Another thing Catseye will do this month is drop off items at Goodwill and donate some books to the library – in effect, making it possible for other people to have low- or no-spend February.
Bonus: By decluttering her living space, Catseye makes it cozier and more welcoming. A clean, pleasant home makes it a lot easier to stay in rather than go out and spend money looking for comfort.
A reader named Peg F. shared that she’d been thinking about the low- or no-spend February, but it was an “unexpected trip to the vet” that convinced her to join.
“The outcome was good, and I don’t regret it at all, but it did alter my plans temporarily,” she wrote.
After choosing to laugh at life, Peg decided that “mindful spending” – specifically, on groceries – would be a good start to combating the unexpected expense: “We have a pretty good stash, and I’m committed to depleting as much of it as I can.”
Life is always throwing us curveballs. We can’t control that. What we can control is the way we react to those plan-smashers.
So, everyone: How did your week go? Got any clever workarounds to share?
*“A Prairie Home Companion” fans will see what I did there.
Nine hours after the start of frugal February, the lone light bulb went out in the bathroom. Replacing it with one from a lamp, I picked up the laptop to order more. Oh wait, is there another way? I am not in my own home, spending the winter in Maine with a family member who has medical concerns. This is a functional household. There must be spare bulbs. Soon I found a box labeled “extra household stuff.” six bulbs….score! (BTW, the handwriting on the box looked suspiciously like mine from the last time I was here.}
February’s Frugal Old Lady (FFOL) 1
Prodigal Old Lady (POL) 0
Next I poured my coffee, sat down to look at my favorite shopping site. Hold on, you are trying to avoid that. But Donna, it’s LL Bean and they have daily deals. I may need something! Ugh, what to do? So I heard about this game Wordle. I will wordle instead of shopping. It took an entire cup of coffee to come up with the word “skill.”
Shopping my pantry instead of grocery I found chicken in the freezer, lemons in the frig and a jar of capers on the shelf. Who has capers on his shelf? The family member I am helping is a chef. I conned him into teaching me to make chicken piccata. It was wonderful.There are apples for pie. Almost nothing was bought at store. What I did buy was on sale and fairly essential. And I have a new, fairly frugal recipe in my repertoire.
Final tally for week:
FFOL 6
POL 1 (whoever heard of eating apple pie in Maine without Gifford’s vanilla ice cream:)
Love it!
I simply spent my grocery budget and did not go over. My gas total for the week was $20, the food was $45, so I have $35 left in the budget for anything I choose (how about the savings account?). I am binge watching my last TV series on Hulu, so that will be cancelled sometime this week. I think I will join Netflix then and catch up on one of my shows. Cancel that when I’m done.
Oops. Forgot to mention that my local thrift store had a deal on books: a buck a basket the size of a supermarket basket. I did get some spare change (my found money) and was able to purchase many months of reading for two bucks! Good authors, good reads.
Our local senior center had exercise classes for $10 a month, so I decided to walk over to investigate. A round trip is 1 plus miles, so I thought What am I doing? The walk is wonderful, I do stretching and weight lifting at home, so why did I need a class? I sat and drank the free coffee offered there with other people, had a pleasant time, and walked home. No 10 bucks spent that day!
PS. Eating apple pie without ice cream is not exactly unAmerican, but close lol. I admire the will power!
Love this one also.
Oh Marie, I did get the ice cream. I’ll try to mend my ways for the rest of the month. Thanks for sharing your tips. 😺
I’m glad you did. Splurging is necessary when it comes to pie and ice cream!
Boss retired Feb 1 – so had two “company paid for” meals.
First was dinner out at a local Cuban restaurant (buffet style in a private room) -towards the end boss announced they overordered and staff brought everyone take away containers — “take all you want, its already paid for” — Music to my ears!!! (Side note – I only took my share – so there would be enough for all who wanted to take home)
Next day was a catered in office luncheon from a local Italian spot — again, more food than people. I ALWAYS volunteer to help clean up…because helpers get first dibs on leftovers : )
I got 3 dinners last week out of what I was able to take home from both events, and still have 4 chicken cutlets in my freezer for future meals !!
WIN WIN!!
Love this one also.
I always shop the office potluck. Or did, when I worked in offices:
https://donnafreedman.com/shopping-office-potluck-plus-book-discounts/
My first week focuses on food, because that is only thing aside from fixed bills and gasoline that we spent any money on. (Amazingly, my husband even managed to stay out of the hardware store.)
The first week of the month is always our high-spend month at the grocery store. This week we spent $119.95 for food ($29.95) over budget, but we will come in under budget other weeks). We had store coupons and did a tiny amount of stocking up. Thanks to manager’s mark downs, we snagged a small whole organic chicken, regularly $7.12, for $4.98, and package of sweet Italian sausage, originally $6.39, for $3.11. This dictated dinner for the week: roasted chicken in a bed of sliced carrots and potatoes, to be followed by homemade spaghetti with Italian sausage.
I went through the pantry and freezer on Sunday and let what I found dictate what I cooked for my breakfasts, snacks, and brown-bag work lunches this week. This week’s menu is strawberry baked oatmeal, using some frozen strawberries; banana-apple-oatmeal muffins for snacks, using up some bananas from work that no one wanted and the last of an open jar of applesauce; and the ever-popular black bean-chicken-veggie chili with a side of Spanish rice. The chili used a can each of black beans, crushed tomatoes, and chicken, a cup each of frozen corn and spinach, dried onions, spices from the cupboard, and the Spanish rice was from a packet bought on sale in the summer that earned me points on Fetch.
We have a cafeteria at work and various vending machines for drinks and snacks. I did the math one time, and brown-bagging my food and beverages saves me $65 a week, after accounting for the small cost of ingredients for making my meals and brewing my tea. That comes to $3,250 for a 50-week work week.
I gassed up my car this week, waiting until Tuesday, when the price per gallon dropped 9 cents a gallon from the weekend high.
Love this one also.
No gas bought this week, as still have enough left from last weeks cheaper fill in Maryland. I also bought cheaper milk in Maryland, while I was there.
Did spend $42 (?) at Aldi on Wednesday, but $22 was for the large weighted heating pad. There is a small one SOMEWHERE in this house……Hoping this one will cover neck and back pain areas without doing a wiggle dance. Was able to get a large package of the boneless, skinless chicken breast before they were out at 11 am. Did find 2 liter Coca Cola for my addicted husband at Food Lion for 99 cents each (he pays for it out of personal funds).
We had two meals (so far) out of a the frozen remains for the free turkey from Thanksgiving, not cooked until Christmas. That was a large breast and some gravy. One meal with scalloped potatoes made from ingredients already at home, from a recipe in my head from a longtime ago from a longtime friend. Enough potatoes leftovers/planned overs for 3 large containers (one given away). I fixed the leftover tasteless thin gravy by adding a can of cream of chicken soup, flour and turkey fat, and two packages of brown gravy with less water than called for. Second meal was turkey over Walmart Texas toast (the fresh loaf in a bag kind, not the you cook it kind) with gravy, and another piece of the bread on top of that with more gravy. And cold turkey for me to snack on as preparing to make sure it was still good. Still have a little of the turkey in the fridge, which I will probably eat or toss today. Lunches were lunch meats and cheese from the meat market, where they allow me to buy by the number of slices, on sub rolls reduced to 89 cents for 6 from Aldi.
Found the $8 error on my receipt from Giant, and got my refund. Need to request another refund for the second error of $2 I later found.
Saturday Splurge: new baker / vendor at the local farmers market, spent less than 50 cents each for 12 mini cheese cakes. We are working our way thru them. Bread baker guy was already gone. Young lady who makes the pecan upside down sticky muffins was not there this Saturday, so saved me some money, calories, etc. I need to find a recipe for those muffins!
Large pot of vegetable soup, made from ingredients all at home: 2 lb bag from frozen mixed veggies, another 1 lb. + from the next door neighbors grandmother who did not eat the veggie portion of “Mom’s Meals”, large can of Muir Glen chopped tomatoes from Dollar Tree, small can of chopped chili tomatoes from Aldi, box of chicken and tomato broth that had been here for a long time, large beef broth cube, 1 and 1/2 packets of dry onion soup, (6?) fast food packets of salt and pepper, lots of Italian seasoning, and water to fill the pot. Still working through that. Can’t wait to see what this week brings.
I haven’t kept specific records (shame on me), but I did very well for the first week. Of course, the abominable weather here has helped with that.
My only real slip was buying a pair of sweatpants at the local Salvation Army superstore for $3. (This SA has become the regional hub for LL Bean new-with-tags returned pants, and I was picking up two pairs of those pants for a friend at her request, so those don’t count!) Otherwise, no food or other purchases other than necessary ones.
And to give my own horn a modest toot, I’m featured in today’s “Meet a Reader” post over at The Frugal Girl blog.
I think $3 for a pair of LL Bean sweatpants sounds like a pretty great deal. And remember: It’s low– or no-spend. DF and I bought all that meat because it would have been silly NOT to buy it. Ground beef is six or seven dollars a pound now.
If I were you, I’d run back over and get more of them for birthday/holiday gifts. That is, if someone in your life wears sweatpants.
Off to read about you in The Frugal Girl blog. If anyone wants to follow me over there, here’s the link:
https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/meet-a-reader-a-marie/
I read about A. Marie on the blog. Besides sharing a name, we also share lots of life styles. I was sincerely sorry about her husband (I lost mine through death). It’s difficult to adjust to having somebody and then poof! Gone. However, we have lived good lives and, for the most part, have been happy.
Good luck, girl, and may God bless you.
Last time I visited it, I noticed The Salvation Army store here in my area of Massachusetts had L.L. Bean men’s dress pants new with tags. There were none in DH’s size but wow what a deal for those they fit. $6 a pair.
The CD/DVD drive in my laptop went kaput 2 days into February. I was able to find an external CD/DVD drive on clearance saving 50% off the original cost. Used my rewards VISA card and shopped through the Mr. Rebates cashback website to add to my savings.
$86.62 so far this month for groceries.
Received an unexpected class action settlement check that went directly into the savings account. Not a large amount of money but every bit helps!
Rewatching the Downton Abbey series for entertainment in the evenings.
Sale + cash-back shopping + rewards credit card = win.
Just sent off one of those class-action lawsuit cards myself. It will likely wind up being eight or nine bucks but hey, it all goes into savings. Little drops of water, little grains of sand….
Also got a class action rebate check last week-Kellog’s, I think?
Here is a look at my low spending:
2/1-our local nature center sponsors Wednesday Hump Day afternoon hikes. I made a $5 donation to the nature center, since I am not a member. Brought my own water/grapes/cheese stick for a pre-hike lunch, and enjoyed an oatmeal raisin cookie that one of the other hikers had brought to share.
2/2 $40. Renewed my Paperback Swap membership and also added funds to use for printable postage/mailing labels through them. Paperback Swap has brought me much joy over the years-I love getting books in the mail. I used to be able to mail them to others because I had free mailing privileges at work, but now that I am retired I will grudgingly supply my own postage.
2/4 no spend
2/5 $14.99 for three large unbaked pizza crusts from a local store. We had all of the other ingredients on hand (including sauce that DH made from tomatoes from last summer’s garden and roasted garlic and thyme-flavored cherry tomatoes that I had baked and frozen during the end of summer 2020). Husband did a Costco run to the tune of $150, but he pretty much stuck to the list and spent a large portion of the total on furnace filters that were on sale for $10 less per pack than the usual price-so a good time to stock up. He really only went rogue by buying a big bag of Nestle chocolate chips-not quite yet needed, but he redeemed himself by making Ebelsilver (mini-puff) pancakes with chocolate chips for my Sunday breakfast.
2/6 ordered flowers for my in (in a nursing home out of state ) for $27.48. Worked some deals to get free delivery, no service charge and a 20% discount off of the order. Also ordered $31.46 in wine from a wine subscription service. The 4 bottles will be used for book club meetups (we all pitch in), and I will cancel the subscription as soon as the bottles arrive.
2/7 Met up with a friend for lunch- grabbed a $5 sandwich from our local WaWa store and took it to her house instead of meeting in a restaurant. It was still a treat and a nice afternoon out-just not as pricey as a restaurant meal.
We’ve been eating all meals except the lunch mentioned above from our at home freezer and fridge finds. We have overstocked freezers and it is a perfect time to eat down our stores.
Since I am recently retired, I’ve started trying to de-clutter a bit and give away stuff via our local Buy Nothing group. My de-cluttering led to our weekend breakfast treat of Ebelskilver pancakes-I unearthed the specialized pan while going through our “rust belt” (collection of too many pans), and also found an Ebelskilver cookbook while culling my collection of too many cookbooks.
I’ve also canceled three subscription services in the past week: Stitch Fix, Allure beauty box, and Zoom Pro. I used Stitch Fix to prop up my wardrobe when my firm switched over to business casual attire, but now that I am retired I’m happy to live in sweats and jeans. The Allure box had samples (in some cases, full size) of lotions and cosmetics, and while they were fun to try, I realized that I had more than I needed. Zoom Pro was for a Zoom baby shower that I hosted recently-the shower is over, and so is my obligation to pay a monthly fee. The cost of subscriptions certainly can add up!
That’s some pretty mindful spending/non-spending, all right.
Really enjoying all these stories, folks. Hope you’ll keep ’em coming.
We did not do too well last week. However, it was because my husband celebrated his 75th birthday the last week in Jan. Add to that he recently completed treatment for Prostate Cancer. At his most recent checkup he was declared “cancer free” and his doctor told him to resume all normal activities while being careful of Covid. While he was getting treated we tried to never go anywhere we would be exposed to Covid…wanted to be healthy for the treatment. So we figured a “date night” was well deserved. Still,
for our outing we just went to our local craft brewery and brought hotdogs from the shop that joins the brewery. So much fun though and so thankful to be celebrating!
So we are starting over this week. I bumped our grocery budget from $75 a week to $100 a couple of months ago because of rising prices. Today after planning our week’s meals from what we had on hand I only spent $56 I also used a $30 reward card I got from Medicare Advantage for wearing my FitBit and getting my steps so only spent $26 out of pocket. In addition, I was able to get 3 large Stop Light Bell peppers for a total of .99 cents because they were at peak. Together with the cheese and tomato and onion I have at home they will make great vegetarian quesadillas. Also, I got a loaf of bread for 29 cents. It was fresh but I am going to make French toast with it for dinner soon along with breakfast meat I have frozen. Maybe next week I still won’t have to buy many groceries
Ann J – “cancer free” is a beautiful phrase, and an occasion most definitely worth celebrating.
Jenzer
Thank you! Ann J
Where I come from, $26 out of pocket instead of $100 is…better.
Congratulations on the end of the cancer treatment.
Thank you Donna! Ann J
Here’s my accomplishments for the first week of Operation: Sunk Cost Salvation.*
My four pieces of barely-worn clothing are on their way to ThredUp. I looked up comparable Ebay listings for my items first, and realized quickly that the Ebay seller route would be more work than I was willing to add to my to-do list right now. So I opted for a ThredUp Clean Out Kit instead. That makes for a tidy conversion from clothes I don’t want into clothes I *do* want, via future ThredUp credits.
My freezer inventory yielded enough beef soup bones (about 12 pounds total) to make three batches of broth. Batch #1 simmered away yesterday, and some of it became tonight’s dinner of Beefy Minestrone Soup. The soup leftovers will get eaten for lunch over the next several days.
I read just a few pages of my bookkeeping book, but that tiny bit of reading was accompanied by lots of note-taking, brainstorming, and looking up terms online. My goal for Week 2 is to do a few pages of reading on four of the next seven days. Long-term, I want to build a habit of doing a little bit of DIY continuing education on most days of the week. “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.” So said Anthony Trollope.
* For those who missed my first post, my February focus is to make good use of things I’ve already spent money on, rather than to trim my cash outflow. Even stuff bought cheaply is a waste of money if it doesn’t get used, right?
You are definitely on the ball this week.
While reorganizing the cupboard to see what we had, I found a can of coconut milk that was well past its use by date. I found a recipe for a chowder that used coconut milk, frozen corn and a head of cauliflower. I had an aging head of cauliflower in the fridge, as it turned out, and several cans of corn that substituted for frozen corn. We ended up with a really tasty soup that used up four cans that were languishing in the cupboard; it fed us for three days! That was my best frugal win for the week, in terms of how much it saved us on food costs.
Wait, there is more! I also found a Jiffy cornbread package and a can of creamed corn. Someone must have given those to me because I don’t like either of those products, but I looked up a recipe for using the canned corn and a few other additions to a Jiffy mix and made 24 cornbread muffins that were really, really moist and tasty. So, the soup had muffins to go with it. The dog must have liked them, too, because while we were out of the room he dragged the bowl off the counter and ate 6 of them, paper and all. NO dinner for him as a result (not punishment, he just puts on weight like a human and winters he gets a bit too porky than is good for him).
The muffins we did not eat are in the freezer waiting for another soup day.
The only money we spent this week was at the grocery store, for milk and mustard. We have tons of frozen fruits from last summer’s garden and also from applesauce making, so are working our way through those.
If we were not doing this February challenge, those cans of corn and coconut milk, and the Jiffy mix would still be there, waiting to be so old that I have to throw them out!
We had chili last night, and I made the cornbread recipe using the Jiffy mix. One box of mix, 2 eggs, and one can of creamed corn, 400 degree oven until done. Mmm.
So glad the cans got used up instead.
I don’t have any stirring tales of thrift but I did learn a little tip that’s going to save me grocery money on a very regular basis. Maybe it will help someone else here. Regular onions make my eyes water and burn when I dice them. I bought sweet onions for years to avoid that even though they cost more. Recently I learned to store onions in the fridge and then dicing the chilled onion doesn’t bother my eyes. Hooray! I’d always heard onions should stay out on the counter but they’re actually fine in the fridge. Now I can get the bags of plain yellow onions when they’re on sale. I fix every meal at home and I’m pretty sure 90% of my recipes start with ‘dice an onion.’
Onions make many dishes better. And their skins go well in the boiling bag:
https://donnafreedman.com/boiling-bag/
Sunk Cost Salvation, love that phrase. It’s a great motivator too. Been working on using up things I already have on hand for frugal February. Soup made from items in the freezer will be on the menu tomorrow along with homemade bread sticks. Last several trips to the grocery store have yielded no saltines in stock. Maybe everyone is making soup and doing Frugal February…..LOL. Homemade breadsticks are better and cheaper anyway. Best wishes, good health and happiness to all!!