Frugal March chatter (Marching on with Savings) cont'd Frugal Feb....

[Giseledta]

I know alot of people who are doing it.
we went the oposite way. we are cell phone free.
my kids have one. and my husand may get one, when he is back to work( been off for over a year......) but ..... no money, no cell phone.

[jasperandchar]

Question of the day???

What do you plan to do differently next month (April) than you do now?

examples: stockpiling detergent, hygiene, filing freezer with pre-cooked homemade-meals, getting your seeds ready for your garden, nothing or ANYTHING?

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[Insane]

just disassembled my stovetop and cleaned the burners, liners pans etc... this will save money on the batteries in my smoke alarm that keeps going off every time i cook.

LMFAO!

LOVE IT!

Freezer cooking day here. My MIL has started to eat a little more after her stroke and she's craving soups and muffins so I'm making a load of stuff to take to her each day and extras for our freezer.

Our biggest frugal trip is to make a few small trips to the food shop for veggies and fruit so they don't go to waste.

I've been thinking about making smaller trips cause fridge space is at a prime here. But I don't feel like I have the time to shop more than once a week.

[jasperandchar]

juice boxes
Oh they are convenient but unless I get them on sale for $1.00 per package I just don't buy them....way too expensive.

This is what I used to do when the juice cans are cheap

But now I buy a 24 case of water bottles and send them in with a kool-aid single or tang, etc....BUT THE FUNNY THING IS NOW THEY JUST DRINK THE WATER AND don't add the singles (lol)

+

Sorry baby was up so I had to go....Still BF so you ladies know what's that's like, when they stir, run to them. As I was saying....
#1.Meal planning....and that just about says it all for us.
Because it prevents us for eating out as much as we did. It was always easy to "pick something up".
Now with my plan meals we already know what we are having.
#2. Waiting for sales not going out and buying something because we feel for it.
#3. Combining sales with coupons. (I once read where an sc said if it isn't on sale and she doesn't have a coupon it isn't riding in her cart. (I've adopted that mentality)
#4. I have recently started baking our own snacks. (cookies, cupcakes, cakes) this week I plan to expand that to include granola bars and fruit snacks (will see how those turn out).
#5. I have learn to walk to the discounted produce section and see what's there. (sometimes I find some really good things).
#6. I am also doing that with meat, as i have found that a day or 2 before the expiry date they will discount it anywhere from 30-50% off. And lets not kid our self we are a meat eating family.
#7. And stocking up on the things we use when they are on sale or are deeply discounted.

I'm sure they are other things that we are doing that isn't coming to mind right now, but off the top of my head these are the ones that are making a difference for us.
And I will say this that this site and this thread has made a huge difference for us. To cut out buying snacks and to make them at home has been huge for us. Now if only someone could come up with a good replacement for juice boxes. As we go through so many of these and they aren't cheap.

[electric_viking]

shower with a friend - saves hot water
spoon with a friend - saves heat (spooning leads to forking - heat generator)
walk around house naked - saves wearing clothes therefore less laundry to do.

[LuvToUseCoupons]

Like the water and the kool aid idea. But how much does that box of 12 kool aid cost?
My kids love sugar... so they would never just do the water alone.

[Natalka]

shower with a friend - saves hot water
spoon with a friend - saves heat (spooning leads to forking - heat generator)
walk around house naked - saves wearing clothes therefore less laundry to do.

Same at our house!

[sheetsofemptycanvas]

juice boxes
Oh they are convenient but unless I get them on sale for $1.00 per package I just don't buy them....way too expensive.

This is what I used to do when the juice cans are cheap

But now I buy a 24 case of water bottles and send them in with a kool-aid single or tang, etc....BUT THE FUNNY THING IS NOW THEY JUST DRINK THE WATER AND don't add the singles (lol)

+

I've stopped ordering milk for DS through the school and I got him one of those drink containers and I just send milk from home... saves a TON!!! I should buy a second one for juice, I still have leftover MM juice in my freezer from when it was free last summer lol.

For next month- I'm going to keep on using up leftovers instead of throwing them away, that's my number one goal. My stockpile is good so unless things are free or very close to it I won't bother contributing to it next month.

[Insane]

Just dropped 2 dresses off at the consignment shop. They were looking for fancy dresses for grad. Hopefully they'll sell and I'll get a little $$. Our consignment shop is very little and doesn't hold much. If it was bigger or there were more stores, I would totally sell more through them.

[matty's mom]

Just dropped 2 dresses off at the consignment shop. They were looking for fancy dresses for grad. Hopefully they'll sell and I'll get a little $$. Our consignment shop is very little and doesn't hold much. If it was bigger or there were more stores, I would totally sell more through them.

LOVE Consignment stores! We have a great one near where I live. Because of where I volunteer, most of my baby/toddler stuff went there. But, now that DS is big(ger), selling his stuff has been great! And I found some great stuff too. I just picked up a mint summer plaid gap shirt for $2.00. And it is BRIGHT red & blue- his favourite colours. I know that I once was able to use the money from the consignment store to buy a weeks worth of groceries. Anything that comes in from the store goes to DS' savings/rrsp.

Good Luck!

[Insane]

LOVE Consignment stores! We have a great one near where I live. Because of where I volunteer, most of my baby/toddler stuff went there. But, now that DS is big(ger), selling his stuff has been great! And I found some great stuff too. I just picked up a mint summer plaid gap shirt for $2.00. And it is BRIGHT red & blue- his favourite colours. I know that I once was able to use the money from the consignment store to buy a weeks worth of groceries. Anything that comes in from the store goes to DS' savings/rrsp.

Good Luck!

I sell a lot of the kids' stuff on a mom facebook group for our area. Plus twice a year the local military family resource center runs like a consignment shop thingy. Basically you pay $25 for a vendor # then you tag all your times. Then they sell them for you the next day and give you the proceeds. All it costs you is the $25 registration fee. Last time was the first time I did it and I made $100! I also volunteer to work at it so I get to shop before everyone else. I got a nice MacLaren folding stroller for $15!!!! I take all the money I make selling the stuff they've outgrown and put it aside. So far we've bought a new kitchen table (and using some GC we asked for for christmas and birthdays), a new lazy boy and now we are about 1/2 to new sofas. It gives me something to save towards so the money just doesn't slip through my hands.

[Crochetlady]

My stockpile is very healthy right now so won`t be adding to that. We`re still trying to get the freezers down. I did buy x-lean ground beef when Zehrs had it on cheap so I don`t need to buy anything but the basics. Will also try to keep shopping to no more than once a week.
We`ve had our heat (oil) on a payment plan for years. We pay an average amount 10 months. At the end we pay the balance or get a refund. Much easier than paying over $500 every couple months. We do the same with our property taxes. I sell a lot of crafts so that money has been going to pay down a CC. It kind of got out of control, When that is paid I`ll finally be able to put some money into a rainy day fund.

[SassyAshley]

If you are with Bell for your home phone call and ask for their loyalty department. They can give you discounts and promotions without signing up for additional services with them. One girl I work with got her bill down to $17 per month. She just has a basic phone but they offer discounts for other packages as well. The only thing is their discount/promo codes are only good for a year so you have to call every year but hey for those kind of savings a once a year call is nothing.

[jasperandchar]

I think it's like $2.99 for a box of 16 but I believe they sell No name brands as well which are cheaper, it's been a while since I had to buy the kool-aid singles I brought several boxes home from the cottage last fall.

Or here is an even cheaper option buythe kool-aid packs I think they are .35 each and make a jug and fill up the water bottles or re-usable bottle, it would even be cheaper.

Like the water and the kool aid idea. But how much does that box of 12 kool aid cost?
My kids love sugar... so they would never just do the water alone.

[jasperandchar]

Here's what I'm going to start doing starting in APRIL chatter (name still not known)

1. So when the weather warms up a little more late April'ish I want to learn how to do my own oil changes, I know it's not that difficult, I just need to get some ramps to get the car and /truck up enough so I can get under the car to drain the oil. We'll save $95.00 a month on oil changes

2. I'm going to try and stock up on meats when on great sales or when 50% stickers catch my eye

3. I want to start getting ds youngest who is my baker helper to start reading the recipes we make and get all the necessary stuff out. This will serve him in a great way when he wants to bake on his own or when living on his own and his WIFE will thank me (lol).

4. I want to start teaching oldest son how to make simple things like pizza and how to run the toaster oven as he is now 12 and can be left alone and it would be nice if he could make himself a mini pizza or something like that when I'm out shopping and he doesn't want to come.

5. Once the snow dissapears we will start prepping the garden by adding compost (homemade compost) to the garden.

6. more to come I'm sure....my brain never stops working!

Question of the day???

What do you plan to do differently next month (April) than you do now?

examples: stockpiling detergent, hygiene, filing freezer with pre-cooked homemade-meals, getting your seeds ready for your garden, nothing or ANYTHING?

1.