Let's see.....what did I do over the weekend.....
Last weekend was one of my favorite frugal activities of the year.
One of the local churches holds a little festival, composed of a flea market, bake sale and then a country auction at the end of the day.
I go to this each year as it's a great place to round out my eating out options for the year.
Along with all the fine second-hand items donated, the ladies at this church get a load of gift certificates to local businesses to auction off as well.
Mostly the certs are for restaurants but they also have auto servicing(inspections, oil changes, etc.), hair cuts and other salon features, gas for the car, fuel for the home, et cetera.
I am a big spender at their auction and they always love to see me coming. 8-)
Not only do they like the cash I drop at this thing but I do a fair share of bidding other folks up.
Yes, sometimes certs will not be going for a fair price, so I'll jump in and start a bidding war so that the church actually makes a few dollars holding this thing.
It's one thing to get a good deal, but if you are walking out paying $2 for a $20 gift certificates over and over again, not only will they stop holding these(which I can't have happen!lol)but it's not charitable either.
Most certs go for about half of the value but the sought after ones go higher. And since it's for charity, I will bid as high as the full retail price if it's an establishment that I would go to anyway and spend full retail at....like Mickey D's for #2 son for example.
But I don't like to make a habit of paying full price.....
Here is what I brought home.....
Mostly it's eating out certs but we snagged 2 barbershop haircuts for $5 each this year.
We enjoy eating out and this is one way I round out my eating out budget frugally.
Not only that, it supports this fine church group(though I am not a member)and because we often spend/eat in excess of the value of the certificate when we go to redeem it, it also helps support the local businesses.
While Hubs is still upset he missed winning a couple of used leather laptop cases, I did snag a food processor(used once!) and a swing arm lamp to mount on the wall next to my dungeon-like computer corner(it even still had a light bulb in it!lol)
In the end we won $300 in gift certificates, the lamp and food processor for under $200.
I always round up what I pay them to an even amount, so I cut a check for $200.
Winning!
On Sunday afternoon Hubs and I had a date. We still had a gift certificate we won last year at the auction to a restaurant we enjoy that serves Greek food. It's quite a distance from where we live so we decided since we had the day free to take a drive there and use this cert.
I scoped out and found that 2 different from what I usually shop at grocery stores were down the street from the restaurant so after scarfing down Moussaka and Spanakopita, we went to GiantPA.
I checked out the flyer online before we went and saw a small Deal I wanted to get there. They had a "Buy 10 products, Get $5 off Instantly" Promotion. Since it's a store I don't shop at regularly, in a town not nearby, this sort of instant discount promotion makes more sense for me than a Catalina one, where I would have to return to the store again to get the discount.
So I jumped on this deal since we are addicted to Brownies around here......
10 x Brownie Mix on sale 4/$5($1.25 ea.)=$12.50
The instant discount....$12.50-$5=$7.50
I also had 2 x $1/2 any Pillsbury baking item ManuQs...$7.50-$2=$5.50 OOP
This meant my brownie mixes cost me .55¢ each.
I can't buy the ingredients to make 10 batches of brownies for that cheap so I am happy paying this price.
I also picked up some inexpensive chicken breasts while in Giant. Since Hubs doesn't enough wandering around the grocery store checking things out like I do, especially when he is full of Greek food and just wants to nap, I didn't do a whole lot of reconnoitering at Giant. I did feel that the prices were a bit high and the sale prices weren't that great on the things I usually buy.
But then again, Weis is no great deal anymore either! 8-(
We also harvested the last items from the garden this past weekend......
My two last surviving pumpkins. They weren't quite fully ripe yet but with it raining EVERY DAY FOR TWO WEEKS, I was done with waiting and chancing they would rot in the mucky, soggy yard before the rain stopped and they got the last dose of sun they needed.
They are now happily orange through and through and awaiting my skillful hands(skillful?...maybe....)to turn them into full-on yummy-ness. ;-)
So there you have it!
A weekend choked full of...
Buying Local
Buying Second-Hand
Buying At Discount Price
Growing Your Own Food
Can't get a much more Compact and Frugal Weekend than that, huh? 8-)
Sluggy
Last weekend was one of my favorite frugal activities of the year.
One of the local churches holds a little festival, composed of a flea market, bake sale and then a country auction at the end of the day.
I go to this each year as it's a great place to round out my eating out options for the year.
Along with all the fine second-hand items donated, the ladies at this church get a load of gift certificates to local businesses to auction off as well.
Mostly the certs are for restaurants but they also have auto servicing(inspections, oil changes, etc.), hair cuts and other salon features, gas for the car, fuel for the home, et cetera.
I am a big spender at their auction and they always love to see me coming. 8-)
Not only do they like the cash I drop at this thing but I do a fair share of bidding other folks up.
Yes, sometimes certs will not be going for a fair price, so I'll jump in and start a bidding war so that the church actually makes a few dollars holding this thing.
It's one thing to get a good deal, but if you are walking out paying $2 for a $20 gift certificates over and over again, not only will they stop holding these(which I can't have happen!lol)but it's not charitable either.
Most certs go for about half of the value but the sought after ones go higher. And since it's for charity, I will bid as high as the full retail price if it's an establishment that I would go to anyway and spend full retail at....like Mickey D's for #2 son for example.
But I don't like to make a habit of paying full price.....
Here is what I brought home.....
Mostly it's eating out certs but we snagged 2 barbershop haircuts for $5 each this year.
We enjoy eating out and this is one way I round out my eating out budget frugally.
Not only that, it supports this fine church group(though I am not a member)and because we often spend/eat in excess of the value of the certificate when we go to redeem it, it also helps support the local businesses.
While Hubs is still upset he missed winning a couple of used leather laptop cases, I did snag a food processor(used once!) and a swing arm lamp to mount on the wall next to my dungeon-like computer corner(it even still had a light bulb in it!lol)
In the end we won $300 in gift certificates, the lamp and food processor for under $200.
I always round up what I pay them to an even amount, so I cut a check for $200.
Winning!
On Sunday afternoon Hubs and I had a date. We still had a gift certificate we won last year at the auction to a restaurant we enjoy that serves Greek food. It's quite a distance from where we live so we decided since we had the day free to take a drive there and use this cert.
I scoped out and found that 2 different from what I usually shop at grocery stores were down the street from the restaurant so after scarfing down Moussaka and Spanakopita, we went to GiantPA.
I checked out the flyer online before we went and saw a small Deal I wanted to get there. They had a "Buy 10 products, Get $5 off Instantly" Promotion. Since it's a store I don't shop at regularly, in a town not nearby, this sort of instant discount promotion makes more sense for me than a Catalina one, where I would have to return to the store again to get the discount.
So I jumped on this deal since we are addicted to Brownies around here......
10 x Brownie Mix on sale 4/$5($1.25 ea.)=$12.50
The instant discount....$12.50-$5=$7.50
I also had 2 x $1/2 any Pillsbury baking item ManuQs...$7.50-$2=$5.50 OOP
This meant my brownie mixes cost me .55¢ each.
I can't buy the ingredients to make 10 batches of brownies for that cheap so I am happy paying this price.
I also picked up some inexpensive chicken breasts while in Giant. Since Hubs doesn't enough wandering around the grocery store checking things out like I do, especially when he is full of Greek food and just wants to nap, I didn't do a whole lot of reconnoitering at Giant. I did feel that the prices were a bit high and the sale prices weren't that great on the things I usually buy.
But then again, Weis is no great deal anymore either! 8-(
We also harvested the last items from the garden this past weekend......
My two last surviving pumpkins. They weren't quite fully ripe yet but with it raining EVERY DAY FOR TWO WEEKS, I was done with waiting and chancing they would rot in the mucky, soggy yard before the rain stopped and they got the last dose of sun they needed.
They are now happily orange through and through and awaiting my skillful hands(skillful?...maybe....)to turn them into full-on yummy-ness. ;-)
So there you have it!
A weekend choked full of...
Buying Local
Buying Second-Hand
Buying At Discount Price
Growing Your Own Food
Can't get a much more Compact and Frugal Weekend than that, huh? 8-)
Sluggy
I'm jealous of your produce!
ReplyDeleteThose are the kind of weekends or days I like.
ReplyDeleteI think that is great that you helped such a good cause and yourself in the process!
ReplyDeleteAnd who could complain about a date day!
McVal--Not much to be jealous of this year I am afraid.lol
ReplyDeletePracticalP--Yep, it was a good weekend....except for the rain.
SonyaAnn--No complaints from me when I get to save money AND get a date out of the deal!lol