- Remember my new spice labels that I shared the other day? Well my husband noticed them, and asked if I’d made them from electrical tape. It was a huge ah-hah moment, because I’d noticed that the label stickers had been stretchy like electrical tape, although at the time I didn’t think twice about it. Of course, I had to try and replicate the labels using lowly, cheap (and on hand) electrical tape. The dimensions were different, but essentially the final product looked exactly the same. (The above paprika is a store bought label, and the dill label is from electric tape.)
- My sixteen-year-old son is signed up to take a $200 driver’s education class at his high school, although the class itself is through our local community college. So when my neighbor and I were going page by page through our Chinook books, the coupon for “$10-off any community college class” caught my eye. I called the college up and asked if the driving class qualified, and indeed it did! Spending $190 instead of $200 may not seem like tremendous savings to others, but I’ll take any savings that I can get!
- My husband and I have been keeping an eye out for a used car since our Subaru Outback was totaled in November. We’ve been doing okay with the single car, but it was never a long term plan. I’d given my information to our mechanic, asking her to be on the lookout for anyone selling a great compact car. She’d already sent one woman our way, but the car was too compact. (Safety concerns.) So when she called me again about a woman selling her 2007 Toyota Prius, we jumped. My husband and I researched the car, talked to the mechanic, as well as a few friends who essentially own the same car. We went ahead and test drove it the other day and decided that we’d finally found our second car. The woman selling it needs to find another car to buy before she can hand it over, but that’s okay since the price is around $1,000 more than we have set aside, and we want to pay cash. A perfect opportunity to sell some household items to both raise money and rid our home of a few extra things.
- I try to keep my husband’s work lunch items on hand, but I’d somehow overestimated how much deli meat I’d stashed in the freezer. This miscalculation meant a pound of $10.99/lb roast turkey came home with us from the grocery store. So first thing the next morning I swung by The Grocery Outlet and stocked up on $3/lb sliced roast chicken for sandwiches. Add in that I used a $3-off-$25 coupon and we’re now set for a month or so of frugal work lunches.
- Daily frugal things such as wearing clothes multiple times between washes, sharing garbage service with our next door neighbors, making sure to not be hungry when heading out the door, mending my son’s favorite pajama shirt, cutting the top off the toothpaste tube, staying away from impulse purchases, batching errands, drinking water for thirst, using my credit union’s app to deposit checks instead of driving, making pizza from scratch, listening to digital library audiobooks and multiple other tiny things.
Now your turn. What frugal things have you been up to?
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 53 comments… read them below or add one }
We have a Toyota Prius and we both absolutely love it. It has halved the amount we spend on petrol, costs us less for road tax, resident’s parking permit and we don’t have to pay the congestion charging in central London. It seems to be the Private taxi driver’s car of choice here in London. I take this as a good sign as they are driving all day in it.
I thought I would mention that I’ve been washing laundry exclusively in cold water for well over a year now, and can see no difference at all in the cleanliness or whiteness of the laundry. I do use Tide for Cold Water, which isn’t the cheapest, but I don’t buy unless it’s on sale and I have a coupon. It was highly rated by Consumer Reports last time I checked. I do use stain removers if needed–a stain stick when I notice a stain, and before I wash it, I treat the stains with Castro Super Clean–made for car upholstery but good for oily stains, and it costs only about $6 a gallon at Walmart.
We also limit eating out –generally to one meal a week–and we missed a few weeks with the super-cold winter. Last night I had my big treat by having lobster–which my husband doesn’t care for, so we only have to buy it for ONE. He had regular fish and chips,, which he does like. The other meals for the week are made from scratch and leftovers used carefully. I hate wasting food, and today had to dump over half a quart of buttermilk that was fresh when we went away in February. Not so fresh anymore.
I am doing well now at recycling plastic bags by returning them to the grocery store, which I only started about a month ago. We do use some for used cat litter but return the rest. I also save the waxed paper bags inside the cereal boxes for reuse when prepping food in the kitchen, rolling out pie crust, etc.
Considering now that we need some new wash cloths and hand towels, and where I am going to look for them. Discussed with husband what he looks for in a wash cloth. Kind of important as he uses them more than I do. My Mom always wanted the softer, nearly worn out ones, but my husband likes something with a little more weight to it, so it holds water to soften his beard before shaving. Everyone’s needs are different. Starting to look for sheets also–our current sets in use were both bought at the same time and will need replacing fairly soon. I like good quality ones, so will take some time to plan ahead exactly which ones I want to spend our hard-earned $$ on.
Maybe not important to you, but we use whatever kind of laundry soap is on sale…not specifically cold water destined and it seems to work fine.
Same here!
The labels look the same!!!
I own a 2004 Toyota and it is still going strong. I have a soft spot for Toyotas, the next car will probably be a Corolla.
5 frugal things
* I really wanted to go for sushi. Instead I bought a (30% off) large chicken pot pie. A quarter of it came down to 0.87$! Ate this with 0.50$ worth of brocoli. 1,50$ for a meal, much better than 10-15$ sushi meal!
* My 2004 paid-for-long-ago Toyota Echo, need I say more?
* Movies at home yesterday. We have netflix so we never go to the videostore anymore. But they sent us a coupon for a free movie rental so we decided to use it for a movie not on Netflix. We also had the kids pick a movie in the older (cheaper) section. They ended up overcharging me, so I had to go back to have this corrected. Then, once at home, the kids movie kept freezing and skipping, so I went back for another copie. I mentioned that this (and the overcharging) was inconvenient, and asked if they could offer something for it. They gave me a popcorn bag worth 4$. Never hurts to ask!
* stock up on “cheap” cheese (cheap here is close to 1$ by 100 grams). 3.99$ for 450 grams. I bought 10. It should last about 2 months.
* Finally able to stick to my 1600 calories meal plan all last week, so a lot less food than usual for me (= cheaper).
* no restaurants last week.
Have a great frugal day!
I have a 2005 Toyota Corolla. I love my car!
I’ve only needed it repaired a few times, other than regular maintenance, tires, etc. I bought it used in 2008 and it now has over 277K miles on it. When I decided to buy a used car that year, I asked my mechanic what kind of car he would buy, if he were choosing one that would last – he told me either a Toyota or a Honda. I chose my Toyota Corolla based on price and mpg. I’ve never regretted that decision!
1) Like you, I try to get more than one wearing from my clothes before washing them. I got an extra day from both my pj’s and my jeans befor moving on to a fresh pair after my shower this morning. (I always wear fresh under things and sox daily. Lol)
2) Walked all thru Walgreens picking up discounted items, realized I didn’t need any of it, walked through and put it all back!
3) Just refilled all the empty jugs I carry for me and the dogs with tap water (the usual). Our tap water here is good.
4) Breakfast tomorrow is muffins using pumpkin and blueberries from the freezer.
5) Tonight’s dinner is being cooked by a friend and we are catching up on recorded TV shows instead of renting a movie (our version of ” dinner & a movie)
I like the idea of a Prius, but want it in a pick up truck 😀
We change pjs once a week and I will go a week or longer wearing my jeans! Sometimes too long, but I only have 1 pair so I try not to take them out of commission too often. I also only occasionally wash my numerous zip up sweatshirts because I always wear something under them.
1) Rode the bus to work all week.
2) Packed lunch even though I really wanted to eat out.
3) listened to a library audiobook while riding the bus this week.
4) Friday night in -ate homemade dinner & watched a movie from the library – I LOVE my library!
5) Did several loads of laundry in cold water and hung them on my clothes lines in the basement. They hold a lot! I use them year-round. I love that my 1920 house was originally owned by a handy and resourceful man. I am still using and appreciating his DIY crafted solutions in every room. The quality and craftsmanship he put into his work shows as it’s all still functional these 90+years later.
Today we went to the zoo, and got 50% off the price of admission because I get their rainy day discount texts! The whole thing cost $13 for both of us (plus $5 for parking) but we waited and went later when the rain was over and it was even partly sunny. We were already in Seattle, less than 10 minutes from the zoo so it wasn’t a huge trip out there either.
One frugal thing: Making an Easter ornament with a vintage look from a lowly eggshell.
1. Wanted to use up more of the Xmas baking leftovers and planned to make stuff for a benefit for a friend; results included 3 lb. of rocky road fudge, 3 dozen 7 layer bars, and 6 baggies of pretzels dipped in almond bark. Still may make some banana bread, to use up the pureed banana I froze for my dad’s bread.
2. Used foil pans saved from purchased pie crust to package the bars.
3. Set aside some stale whole wheat sub bun ends to make crumbs later.
4. Got two TV series seasons from library for this week’s entertainment.
5. Am listening to a Peter Walsh book on CD for encouragement as I sort and toss this week.
One frugal fail: tried to make rice krispy treats, using some old, slightly hard marshmallows, but they refused to melt, they just eventually started to burn. :/
The most frugal person in our household today was my husband!
1) I had heard a loud clank from our AC unit a couple of nights ago and the air wasn’t blowing out of the vent closest to it so hubby crawled under the house this afternoon, found that one of the ducts had fallen off, reset it and used duct tape to hold it in place. Hopefully this will hold although our cheap duct tape is really crappy so he may have to go back and replace it.
2) I had set bins under our roof line since rain was predicted a couple of days ago. They collected a lot of water! So today I was able to water all my potted and in-ground plants and veggies with that water, as well as store extra water into 6 upcycled cat litter jugs for future watering use.
3) Hubby did some painting on 2nd floor of the exterior of the house and used an upcycled gallon jug of milk that he fished out of the recycling bin and cut out into a paint tray that he could easily hold while we was on the roof.
4) My oldest son and his girlfriend came over for lunch. I had thought about going to get something “special” but ended up cooking spaghetti and smoked sausage that I already had at home and I also made a salad. We had a great visit and I didn’t spend money.
5) However I didn’t feel like cooking dinner tonight. I tried to entice my husband into going out to eat but his laziness in not wanting to drive 20 minutes to Sonny’s won and I ended up cooking what I had planned: tilapia, with leftover couscous and a stir-fry made from zucchinis that were starting to go bad and collard greens that I had harvested from my garden a few days too early and that were starting to turn yellow. Since it was Pi Day, I made a rhubarb pie with ingredients that I had bought at rock bottom price (or harvested) and frozen and we enjoyed some of it while we watched some episodes of Game of Thrones (we own the Blu-Rays since we don’t have cable and the library’s copies have a long waiting line).
I am definitely in the multiple wearing of clothes club!! Anything for less laundry.
1. Cut out the cable TV, finally. Should have done it long ago.
2. Shopped the bogo free items at my grocery store. I could mix and match items so I didn’t have an excessive amount of any one item!
3. Been reusing a lot of the zipper storage bags I have.
4. Got a pair of sneakers and a spring jacket for my older son from the thrift shop for $4 total! Hopefully those items will be able to used by his younger brother in a few years, too.
5. Froze half eaten bananas (my son sometimes doesn’t finish his and unfortunately I hate banana in all forms) to make chocolate covered banana treats for him and my husband.
1. Dh was on top of the water that was leaking into the house from the rain storm and melting of about 2 feet of snow.
2. We went to get my meds and then took a short ride to look at our favorite flooding spots and drive in the mist.
3. Made supper at home.
4. Dh carried down various bins and boxes from our upstairs walk in closet/attic. Decluttered a lot and have stuff for Goodwill.
5. Member of the wear it twice before tossing in the hamper for laundry.
meant to add:
6. watched a movie from Netflix. American Hustle? It was really good.
Looks like there is a couple of us in the “wear twice”(or more) before washing. I usually wear my shirts twice, if not dirty. For the pants I use more times, maybe 3 or 4, depending of the use, before washing. And I always wash in cold water. I try to hang to dry during the summer.
Katy,
If you read Thomas Stanley’s books (he is famous for the Millionaire Next Door but the most recent is Stop Acting Rich, and Live Like a Real Millionaire) you will find that Toyota’s are a favorite of wealthy engineers. I think you will be happy with the Prius.
Frugal things:
1. I had a Mrs. Smith’s blueberry pie in the freezer (Paid $.99 for it before Thanksgiving, thanks to a sale and a coupon) so I baked that for Pi day.
2. It was pouring rain so hubby and I went to a mall to walk. Macy’s had a big sale and he scored 4 really nice sweaters for $7.99/each (about 90% off). While waiting in line I pulled up a coupon on RetailMeNot on my phone so we saved $20. He needs to look nice for work so these will be great for those rare days he can dress down (from the usual suit and tie).
3. I made chocolate chunk cookies the other day. My daughter is so excited about having homemade cookies in the house. A small thing with big results. It should save her money on buying snacks out and I know they are (relatively) healthy.
4. I too wear most things more than once before I wash them. It saves time and money on laundry but it also makes my clothes last longer.
5. We haven’t been out to eat in several weeks. I would rather spend more for quality items at the grocery store than eat out – I think we both save money and eat healthier.
My five frugal things this week:
1. Made a loaf of whole wheat bread. It was too dense but makes great salad croutons and is good dunked in soup.
2. Made the decision to get rid of cable and internet. The job 1 is cutting back on some hours so something has to go. So I can keep saving the way I want to be.
3. Went to the library and used free internet, got a couple of books and movies.
4. Set back my temperatures on my thermostat especially since it is getting warmer. Also started unplugging electronics to reduce my phantom load.
5. Started planning my garden for this year. Hoping to sell some of the extras this year. If I can cover my cost of seeds this year I will be ecstatic.
#1 Ate all meals from home using up leftovers so no food waste.
#2 Had 2 no spend no drive days this week – hope to have at least 3 this week. So nice to live within an easy walk to the library – as well as a Walgreens and a grocery store – but an upscale one where I rarely shop but it’s handy for emergencies!
#3 Found out that you can watch Hulu without a membership although the choices seem to be what you can say on abc.com for instance.
#4 Walked the dog for exercise – minimum of 3 walks per day with at least 2 lasting 30 minutes.
#5 Neighbor gave me a huge bunch of curly willow which is dried and can be used again and again for outdoor decoration. His son owns an organic farm and these were left from this Christmas – neighbor said last year he put them in the yard waste pick up but decided to put them out with a free sign and they are nearly gone!
Recently I turned the hot water supply off to our powder room sink to prevent wasting water and gas. Our on-demand hot water system takes so long to get water to the sink it is pointless and wasteful to even turn the hot water tap on. This is really working and it’s gotten me into the habit of turning on the cold tap first when I go to wash my hands in the other washrooms.
1. Made more money than I spent selling/buying at the kids consignment sale.
2. Ate leftever lentil soup for lunch yesterday and spiced it up with some veggies that were going bad
3. Cleaning out the freezer this week so groceries were cheaper than usual
4. Found a grocery coupon I forgot I had and saved 5 bucks
5. made almost enough swagbucks to pay for a new air mattress for our next camping venture (nothing worse than sleeping on an air mattress that won’t stay inflated and we’ve patched our old one one to many times)
Not so frugal – bought a cake instead of making one for my sister’s birthday because there simply wasn’t time to make one. We did make dinner at home so I figure the two cancelled each other out (and there’s something really decadent about store bought cake!)
I am in the same, or a similar predicament as your husband as far as work lunches go. I only have my cooler no microwave and no fridge. I work long shifts 12-15 hours and have to pack all the water, coffee, tea and food I want for the day. I am sick of PBJ and would love some more ideas.
Chrissy,
I have an insulated lunch bag I can put mine in. As long as it’s cold food, it will stay cold in the bag until you’re ready to eat. Do you already have one of those?
Pasta salads, cheese & crackers, can’s of tuna and sticks of carrot, etc. Cooked rice will keep well too and you can pour a can of veggie soup over rice. I feel for you having no microwave to use, that has to be frustrating! :-/
I do have an insulated bag but I work in the community so while I’m driving various places my lunch bag is sittingn in my car so I have to be mindful to eat it my main lunch item before it gets too warm. I eat a lot of apples and bananas as snacks throughout the day.
Just spend a big chunk on a really nice Bday dinner out for my husband and son. This was a treat, we thoroughly enjoyed it, and he enjoys an experience gift over “stuff”. We don’t exchange “presents”
Not feeling very frugal today. Maybe tomorrow…
Today I needed to cover a plastic pillow-type thing and pondered what I could repurpose to cover it. Aha! My son recently went through his closet and stacked up some clothes for our summer yard sale. I snagged an old thermal shirt that wouldn’t have sold for much anyway, and cut the sleeves off to cover the pillow (a long, rectangular affair). Voila! Free pillow cover!
Chrissy, you could make some easy salad type meals…starting with rice, couscous, or quinoa…and then some chopped tomatoes, cubed cheese (I’m sure it would be fine for the non refigerated duration you mention), cucumber, carrot etc….
1) I started hand sewing baby wipes out of old clothing. The cost per wipe is super high if you count my labor haha, but its okay, I’m just puttering away waiting for baby.
2) We didn’t drive several days this week…my husband works beside our apartment, and if I don’t have an appointment or plans to meet friends we stick around our place which is great for gas!
3) I decluttered lots more clothing and will have things to donate, swap or make into more wipes or even larger burp cloths. Considering making a sweater pillow too…
4) Our restaurant restaurant reservation was cancelled (whah?! :(…) so we stayed in and ate leftover pasta and it was yummy.
5) I did cold water laundry on the 15 minute cycle and air dryed it (like almost every time).
6) Haven’t washed my hair all weekend…
7) Went to a thrift store and got baby clothes: 7 pairs of socks, 1 pair of pants, 3 shirts, for 6 euros (about 7ish dollars).
This is encouraging, I’ve never written out my frugal things! What fun:)
Joanna-
Thanks for the idea of salad that would be lovely this spring!
1) I wore pants that haven’t been washed in a while (4 wearings? 5? I hang them up in between to air out).
2) Made “muffin cup lunches” for the kids with some leftovers and fruit from the farmer’s market. Water to drink.
3 We were going to go ice-skating with friends but when we got there, the rink was closed for a competition so the rink gave us free passes. Unexpected NCA win! We came home and swam in the pool instead.
4) I only turned the heater on for the spa, not the whole pool.
5) We did go out to dinner, but used a groupon and brought leftovers home.
Oh yes, I also did laundry using the “ecowarm” water temp setting and half as much soap as the dispenser holds.
I know it sounds incredibly wasteful that we have a pool but there are no public pools in SoCal, so lots and lots of houses have them. Okay, yes, I do feel guilty — but try to make up for it by swimming a lot!
Lee, I do not know where you live but, in my area, in So Cal we have a public pool every few miles. IF you have a city library card you can get in for free. Also free for seniors and disabled. Indoor and outdoor pools. Plus the Y, has pools. Some outdoor pools close for the so called winter we get. I have an outdoor pool, and in the winter I use the city indoor pools. Summer we use a solar cover, have disconnected heater to the pool.
I’m glad for you and everyone who lives in your area! There are no public pools in a fifty mile radius (at least) here. We could join the Y for $60/month, but it’s not convenient to where we live. There are no indoor pools at all, anywhere. This year I’m getting a solar cover for the pool for sure (will also help with evaporation).
We didn’t buy the house because it had a pool, I assure you, but at least we use it a lot. If we get to the point where we don’t, I’ll have it filled in.
Lee, I would say that having an ice-skating rink in South California (or Central Florida, where we have several!) strikes me as more wasteful than having a pool, lol. We don’t have one because we didn’t want to spend money on one (first to build it, then to maintain it) but when it’s really hot here, I really wish we had one. There aren’t any public pools here either but tons of houses have them.
Your family using your own pool instead of paying to go to the ice skating rink IS frugal (even though having a pool isn’t). And you got free ice skating passes for your next outing, which will definitely be a frugal victory in my book!
Seriously, the ice skating rink thing is CRAZY. But it’s there, and it’s not going to go away just because I refuse to visit it, right? *self-justifying like whoa here*
1. Made pizza dough from scratch this week instead of buying it, and it was so easy I don’t think I can ever buy dough again!
2. Cooked from scratch all this week, and didn’t eat out at all.
3. Ate leftover cooked-from-scratch food throughout the week for lunches at work.
4. I’ve been doing the “no shampoo” baking soda & apple cider vinegar method of washing and conditioning my hair for a few weeks, and my hair has adjusted fine. Gonna stick with it for the time being.
5. Weather was so lousy today (Sunday) that I had a no-spend/no-drive day that ended up being really fun and productive. Baked a loaf of bread, did some housework, and watched Netflix.
my frugal days
1. I wash my face with olive/castor oil, I use handmade soap to wash(no shower) I usually wash my hair once a week with my soap. I use homemade toothpaste.
2. We wear the same clothes all week(we are retired) but I change if I’m going out.
We seldom use our dryer we hang out in the summer and in the basement in the winter.
3. We filled our freezer this week with 2 kinds of soup, turkey chili, turkey burgers,hamburgers.All homemade, used for lunches and dinner when we are in a rush. When doing the chili we didn’t have any tomato sauce so I made some using jars of tomatoes I had canned last year
4.We had homemade pizza, and I baked some chocolates cookies.
5.I went through my fabric stash to see what I will make for an upcoming sale at our quilt show, the sales are split 80/20, with quilt guild getting 20%
What do you mean by `no shower`? Just curious…
I don’t know how MaryAnn does it, but I know that, growing up in France, we never showered. We took a bath every week. That does NOT mean that we never washed though! Every morning, we used a sinkful of hot water and something called a “gant de toilette”, which is like a washcloth mitten that we soaped up and then we scrubbed ourselves pink. Then you’d rinse the washcloth mitten in your sink, use it to rinse yourself off the soap residue, and then dry off. So you only used 1 sinkful of hot water per person. Quite honestly, I felt much cleaner with that method than standing under a shower for more than 5 minutes with a washcloth and shower gel. I’ve been considering going back to that method but jumping in the shower is so easy 🙂
Got it, a sponge bath
That would be the short way of explaining it, wouldn’t it? lol. I tend to talk too much, probably a by-product of being alone most of the day.
What Nathalie said. I wash at the sink every morning. I started doing it this way every other day, then it was a shower once a week and now I find I prefer it this way. My skin does not get so dry in winter now. When I shower I can never seem to get dry.I think a shower takes more work. I’ve always brushed my teeth and washed my face at the before I showered, it doesn’t take that much more time to wash the rest of me.
I do shower when needed, if I’ve been doing heavy work or in the garden but most days I really don’t get that dirty.
No worries Nathalie ☺
I just have to say that the electrical tape idea is amazing! I have been meaning to go buy some chalkboard paint to paint some jars and pots for herbs, but this is a much better idea (and free…considering I already own the tape!)
We have also been trying an experiment for the month where we don’t use electricity during the day (my computer is running on battery right now!). I can’t wait to see what the savings will be at the end of the month!
Frugal things:
Made my own oatmeal soap last night. My family is loving the homemade, custom soap – I don’t think we will ever go back to store bought.
Finally go around to cutting the new slats for our vintage garden glider renovation project. The glider was being thrown out by our neighbor, and now it’s ours! It’s going to be AWESOME!
Beautiful weather, so hanging the laundry to dry. Yeah, spring!
Went for a six-mile run rather than going shopping.
And for anyone who wants to hear a nice story, I had something bad happen to me Friday, that got turned around to something so nice:
http://www.myblueheavenintheburbs.com/2015/03/14/when-mean-people-do-mean-things-to-nice-people-but-it-all-turns-out-good/
Jill,
I just read your post about Friday. What a great story! 🙂
It was wonderful how it all worked out! 🙂
Wow! Your story gave me cold chills and tears in my eyes. Thank you for sharing.
1. Hanging laundry outside to dry for the first time since October. Now maybe I can get the drying racks out of the bedroom!
2. ate dinner in at a friend’s house last night instead of going out.
3. eating leftovers from that dinner tonight.
4. walked to do some errands instead of driving
5. making a craft project for a co-worker with materiels I have on hand – a little money in – some clutter out.
we wear clothes twice before washing, wash bath towels once a week, rotate bed linens I wash once a week, but I use a new kitchen towel every day- sometimes a few times a day (I read once it’s the germiest thing in the house). I have four boys so we produce a lot of laundry, one of them is a newborn so most days recently my clothes and his clothes barely get a half a day of wear before I have to change… luckily his clothes are tiny 😉
my heart broke for you with the frugal fail you posted the other day! I have so been there! it’s so frustrating when you put so much energy into saving every penny and then a few hundred dollars just flies out the window in the blink of an eye. moments like that have definately brought me to tears before! I just pulled my son out of a preschool that we weren’t happy with and they informed me that I had just given them my two weeks notice– so i had to pay for two weeks of tuition that he wasn’t going to attend. I got it cut to one week but boy was i mad.
LOVE the labels from electrical tape!!
1) I used an 88 cent box of mac & cheese from Big Lots for dinner last night.
2) I bought 8 pork cutlets for $6 on sale and a bag of 12 leg quarters for $5 and split them up into freezer bags for future dinners.
3) I took my 10 year old Toyota. with over 277K miles on it, in to have the brakes fixed this morning. It’s going to cost about $600 to do all the needed repairs, but that’s cheaper than a new car and cheaper than most car payments these days. I’ll just keep repairing it and driving it until I decide I can afford a newer car.
4) I’ve bought about 6 pair of sandals & dress shoes, along with some skorts for my granddaughters these past few weeks at the Goodwill. I think I’ve spent about $30 for all of it. They are outgrowing a lot of what my daughter bought them the first of the school year and it’s cheaper to buy them good, used clothes and shoes when we can find them.
5) I bought my daughter a Zoo membership for $65 that allows her, a guest and up to 5 children a pass into the zoo any day they are open for the next year. I can go as her guest and we pack lunches, so we’re not spending money for food. She takes them to the Zoo a lot during Spring, Summer and Fall. They have a botanical garden, a wading pool for the kids and two large playgrounds with lots of shaded rest areas. It’s great exercise and a fun outing for the day.
Just giving a shout out for your new Prius! I have been a Prius owner since its inception in 2002! We drove it until last year, and finally traded it in with, wait for it….220,000 miles! And I must say the only time we had to put money into it was for tires and one small batter. It was the BEST car and I really cried when we had to let it go. It just wasn’t reliable to take on any long trips. I have my new Prius, and love it, especially that it only costs me about $15 to fill up every two weeks! Congratulations!
Wow, your really love your Priuses!