Frugal Friday

Here are things I did this week that were frugal.  By spending more intentionally we can choose were to spend our money and where to save it.


* Purchased food gift cards at 15% off.

* Didn't buy many groceries this week and everything I bought was on sale and some I even had a coupon to use.  I also used a discounted gift card for that grocery store to pay for the shop.

* I had $30 in Kohl's Cash saved up from buying Hubs and College Boy some clothing(also got large pillar candles for $5.99 to put away for next Xmas in these shops too)so instead of using it on splurging out on Fiesta Ware dish sets(a great deal at $32.01 for two 4 piece place settings!)I bought my daughter a pair of sneakers.

I don't "need" new dishes and even though these would be rather inexpensive for that brand they would still have cost a LOT of money for dishes.  The sneakers on the other hand will be a need eventually when her current shoes wear out and after the Kohl's Cash only cost me $15 OOP and if she doesn't "need" them until late this year I can put these away until her birthday or Christmas so killing two birds with one stone so to speak.
I had the shoes shipped to the store for pick-up so I saved on the shipping as well.
And I shopped online through a cash back site and got an extra .42¢ in that account.  Hey, it may not be much but it adds up over the course of a year. 8-)

* I paid our sewage bill this week.  If you pay it annually instead of quarterly you save money.  It may be only $30 a year in savings but why not if we have the money, right?   Small savings measures add up over the years.

* Actually, this one was last week--I bought dish soap at the Dollar Tree for $1 a bottle.  I am very low on my dish soap stockpile so I have been looking for a "deal" on this item but have found none lately.  I figure a huge bottle of $1 dish soap is better than purchasing a much smaller name brand dish soap at 2 to 3 times that price.

* When I sent College Boy back to school I sent along a bag of goodies for him to open at Easter(since he won't be coming home next month).  That saved me the postage if I had to mail him a box of goodies.

* Not frugal but a result from a previous frugal action.....I received two cash rebates in the mail this week.

$9.62 total back which I will put aside with my saved coins for the year and my assorted online cash back rebate site monies and then dump it all into the food budget for 2017.

* I didn't do much cooking this week as we had tons of Leftovers to use up. This saved me time and money.

* Went on Youtube to watch a couple of cable shows I like that were posted there as well as two movies.  We got rid of cable 3 or 4 years ago.

So what did you do this week to keep money in your pocket or add to your savings?

Sluggy

The Church Auction

We attend a local small church auction every Fall.
This year's was held last Saturday.

We ended up spending $400 at last year's event but we only spent $315 this year on our winnings.

Items offered include goods and services to local businesses as well as "things", both new and used, donated by church members.
Sometimes items when offered up don't garner bids so they add other more desirable goods to the pot.

This is why/how I ended up with a set of hair rollers(lolz), a used George Foreman grill, as well as this set of items........

A large pair of ceramic Staffordshire dogs.


Not something I want but the $50 of pet boarding and $20 in McDonald's certificates that came bundled with it was well worth my winning bid of $15.

These items they "throw into a deal" that aren't something we want or can use will be offered to family or then sent to Salvation Army as donations if no one else wants them.
And the SA donations we get to write off our taxes at the end of the year so it's just a win/win for us.

Here is what I ended up bringing home......

1 large jarred Yankee Candle
1 Fall décor tchotchke
$12 GC local Italian restaurant
$12 GC another Italian restaurant
5 x $10 GC McDonald's
$20 GC local bar/inn
1 Free Oil Change local garage
$20 GC local sub/pizza place
$25 GC Price Chopper grocery store
6 x Discount cards for Domino's Pizza
$20 GC Sonic
$20 GC Bonanza steakhouse
$20 GC Sheetz gas
1 George Foreman grill(used)
1 pair ceramic dogs
$100 GC  local pet boarding
$20 GC Red Robin
$25 GC Sweet Frog frozen yogurt
1 pie pumpkin
1 living room designer lamp
1 concrete Welcome statue w/puppies
1 free pizza local pizza restaurant
1 free haircut local barber shop
$50 GC local pet boarding
$25 GC Advance Auto stores
$10 GC local Greek restaurant

 

I figure the total value is about $605 for all this.
I paid $315.

                             
All the gift certificates except for 3 Hubs is holding onto.

A few of the deals were not so great.
I should know better than to do some of them since I go to this every. single. year.

The problem with the gift certificates is that you can't see what the actual "deal" is when you bid.
The give you the $ value of the item and where it's from.
Not until you win and you open the envelope do you see what you actually got.

One year I bid on a $40 value from a local restaurant and when I opened the envelope it wasn't just a GC worth $40.  It was 5 coupons for a free appetizer, each valued at $8.  This meant we'd get an $8 appetizer when we bought a meal, meaning we had to spend A LOT of money before seeing that $8 benefit. grrrrr.
 Not the deal I thought I was getting of a certificate worth $40 off your dining bill. lolz

Last year I bid on 2 different Domino's deals, worth $20 each, and won both.
One envelope held 2 $10 off gift cards.
The other envelope held 2 punch cards with 16 punches for a BOGO free pizza. 
These cards weree fundraising cards that could be purchased for $10 each(so $20 value). 

Now getting $10 or $20 off a pizza purchase is good, getting the opportunity to purchase 32 pizzas and then getting 32 pizzas free is NOT such a good deal.
Unless of course you eat A LOT of pizza on a regular basis. ;-)

Well stupid me bid on a $20 value Domino's envelope this year and won it.
Instead of OPENING the envelope and finding out that it was 2 of those stupid punch cards I didn't want I didn't THINK to check it before they offered more $20 Domino's envelopes up for bids.

I ended up winning THREE envelopes of Domino's punch cards for a total of 6!
Ugh.

Domino's had only given the church punch cards this year.......

So now I have until June 2015 to buy 192 pizzas and get 96 of them free.
That's 13+ weeks(THREE + MONTHS!) of eating nothing but pizza for dinner every night of the week.
Or if I spread it out over the whole stretch from now until the end of June 2015, that's a pizza for dinner about every 2.65 days.....or pizza about 3 times a week.

I.
Am.
An.
Idiot.

So I'll be offering some of these punch cards to my 2 oldest kids and maybe put one in the next giveaway box because we can't possibly eat that much pizza.

Well we COULD eat that much pizza but it wouldn't be a prudent thing to do....... ;-)

I did bid on and win 1 "thing" I wanted.
A lamp for the living room as we are still gathering items to furnish it.

A new lamp with a green base.  Won it for $15.
My new living room is slowing turning into the "Green Room"....... lolz

The only other regret on my bidding at the auctions that I had was that I didn't win that purple slow cooker!
I really didn't NEED it and the bids when to $26 which was too high for me.
But the freaking thing was PURPLE!

Sigh......


Sluggy