Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Frugal Doings In December

In an effort to really see how much I can save by living frugally, I have once again started to track my savings by making things myself, shopping deals and shopping at the thrift stores.  I have to say that it really has been eye opening for me.  Here is a list of some of the ways I have saved:

~my hubby and I cut each others hair, savings of at least $35
~we went out to lunch at Olive Garden using gift cards I earned through Swagbucks and MyPoints...cost to us $4 to help cover part of the tip that was not covered by the gift card
~found a pair of new Carhartt heavy duty jeans for $15 at the thrift store for my hubby
~bought some dvd sets, That Girl Season 1 and Mary Tyler Moore Season 1 for $3 each, some crystal glassware for .25 each, and some more nice clothing at the thrift stores
~pineapples were on sale for .99 each (that is a steal) and I got 4 of them, I cut up and froze 2, ate 1 fresh and gave the other one to our Heather who loves pineapple and so do the munchkins
~found some great deals on fabric
~used a B1G1F coupon to get Blizzards at Dairy Queen as a treat for Jeff and I
~made many loaves of sourdough bread in our breadmaker
~made 12 loaves of banana bread, 8 loaves of cranberry orange bread and 3 batches of Peppermint Bark candy to give as Christmas gifts
~I bought 2 books and 3 dvds from the library books sale, 2 of the dvds were brand new double feature Harry Potter movies...all of this for a grand total of $3.50
~we got some free groceries while doing our volunteer work
~I found mushrooms on sale and sauteed them and then froze them for future meals
~made a huge batch of homemade pancake mix
~free magazines came in the mail
~bought a bunch of marked down meats (1/2 price) and froze them
~watching movies and reading books we borrowed from the library
~found a brand new Rick Steves DVD boxed set for $5.50 that I will be giving to my hubby as a Christmas gift
~made some homemade maple pancake syrup
~used up the odds and ends of bread to make more croutons
~bought Prosecco on sale for $5.99 a bottle (regular price $18.99 each)
~organizing our chest freezer with milk crates I bought for $1.99 each at Goodwill and small bins I bought for $1 each at the Dollar Tree store
~trying my best to plan our meals around what we have on hand and using things up before they go bad
~doing my different points programs and cashing in for gift cards (so far I have cashed in for about $180 this month alone)
~we went out to eat with the kids the other night and each family bought one of their "box" meals for $10...it included a pizza, breadsticks and cinnamon dessert breadsticks, one of the cheapest meals we have had in a long time eating out
~sending out Christmas cards that I bought on clearance in bulk years ago at .25 a box
~using out hot tub more now that I am healed up from surgery...it is like taking a mini vacation
~using SKYPE to chat with our son Josh
~watching shows online that we do not get with our current DISH package or ones we have missed
~learning new skills by watching tutorial videos on YouTube

I'm currently looking forward to the after Christmas clearance sales where I will be using some of my gift cards to purchase things we need or gift worthy items to add to our gift closet.  Another thing I look forward to is shopping the thrift stores in late December and early January as people clean out their closets and homes and donate things so they can get the tax write off.  I am always amazed at how many new with tag things I find during that time and I suspect some were Christmas gifts that did not fit or that someone did not care for.

Happy Frugal Days!



4 comments:

  1. Hi Debbie..wow you have been frugal..i think i may copy you if you don't mind and keep track of my spending and thrifty finds as well..i did get a wonderful gift for my parents..a Christmas Photograph Album..it should have been £7..reduced to £1.
    I have shopped wisely and made as much home made food as i could for this Christmas..it will be interesting to track my savings and see where i can cut down more.
    I am hoping that our Charity Shops will have some bargains after Christmas that i can pick up and put away for next year.
    You have a great Christmas..
    sara

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Sara, you did well on that Photo Album and I'm sure they will enjoy it! I do hope you find some great bargains at your Charity shops after Christmas. I am not familiar with how your tax system works and am wondering though if it is similar to the USA's where people get a tax write off for their donations to charity. Be blessed and have a wonderful Christmas!

      Delete
  2. Hello Debbie,

    Congratulations on the frugal finds. Each year we gift our children 1 book, 1 store bought gift and 1 homemade gift. I, too, was thrilled to find several ways of saving this Christmas season. I found 5 of the 8 books we would gift at the thrift store (they appear to be brand NEW) all for only $0.50 each. I only had to purchase supplies for one of the homemade gifts I made; the others were made from leftover supplies in my sewing closet. In turn these savings allowed us to increase the budget on the "store bought" gifts. This year we chose to bless our grown children with gift cards to local movie theaters, bowling allys and restaurants. They all work so much and we hope these gifts will encourage them to take some time to for recreation. After purchasing 6 bowling gift cards, I earned 2 additional ones for free, which allowed me to frugally bless two other families on our gift list.

    I've enjoyed reading all your posts about Christmas out in your area. Thanks for sharing them with us. We were beginning to think we would not have any snow this Christmas, but yesterday the Lord blessed us with enough to say that our Christmas will be a little white.

    Praying you and your family enjoy a most blessed Christmas and an abundantly happy New Year.

    Mrs.B

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Mrs. B,
      I am so glad that you got some snow for Christmas. Many years we do not have any here at all but I'm thinking that all the snow we have now is more than making up for that. ;)
      It sounds like you have done very well on getting some wonderful bargains this year as gifts. My parents had asked us what we wanted for Christmas and we also said gift cards so that is part of what they gave us. :) We did give a gift card to my baby brother and family for them to use to go to a family movie. They too are so busy and we wanted to give them something that they could do together. We did the same thing for them last year and they loved it!
      I do hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

      Blessings,
      Debbie

      Delete

Thank you for taking time to comment on my blog posts. I really appreciate it and being able to get to know you through your comments. I hope you have a wonderful day!