Frugal Things This Week

We have been busy accomplishing some frugal things the past couple of weeks.

The stockpiling continues for the fall and winter. I am doing it early while I can get out. If the numbers in just one area of our state due to the sickness go up, our governor will close things down in the state again. I want to make sure that we are as prepared for the second wave as we were for the first. If we don’t get a second wave, we will be prepared as we always are for the winter.

Hubby sent for a $5.00 rebate on our new Water Pik. The last one broke after 4 years. Hubby called them to see if it was under warranty. It was not but they did send him the rebate form. The rebate came quickly yesterday. 
 
I purchased two face masks for me and two for Hubby from Vera Bradley. We love them because they give the best coverage I have seen in cotton masks. They also allow you to breathe. Mine were a pretty flower pattern and Hubby’s were a solid black. They are washable and dry quickly overnight. This has allowed us to keep the disposable ones in our stockpile in case of emergencies or to only use while the cloth ones are drying. No need to buy any more disposables which cost a pretty penny.

In my quest to replace disposables for items that I can use over and over again, I purchased these two cloth mop heads for my Swiffer which I can use for quick cleanups on the tile floors in the bathrooms. No need to ever again purchase disposable wet ones.

Along with the mop heads came this beautiful Thank You note from the family run business who made them. I bought them through Amazon. They are out of stock right now but hopefully will get more stock back in if any of you are interested.

Yesterday, I pulled every piece of meat, fish, seafood, veggies, fruit, etc. out of my chest freezer. When Hubby and my son emptied it a couple of weeks ago to move it, things got put back with no organization. The oldest items that were on top ended up on the bottom. It is now in some semblance of order with the old products on top so that I can use them first.

The only exception are the turkeys. They are on the bottom of the freezer. I have two left that I purchased last Thanksgiving. They are twenty pounders so they will be good to roast this coming Thanksgiving.  It’s too hot to roast them right now anyhow. With meat and produce prices going up, we may not see cheap turkeys this year at Thanksgiving. If prices go up, I am prepared to cook for our family. 

Hubby has been keeping the A/C at 75 degrees. It is not as comfortable as I am used to(72) but it should help with our electricity bill. My body seems to be getting used to it. I expect the bill will be high because of the 80 and 90 degree temps that we have been experiencing the past two weeks. The weather people are saying we have a few more days of this before the temps go down. 

While I was away, Hubby finished picking all of the pie cherries from our tree. Then he froze them on a sheet pan and put them in a ziploc in the freezer. We will definitely have some cherry pies this Fall. 

Hubby has the sprinkler system set to water in the morning every other day. The water bill will be high but we won’t lose the lawn, trees, bushes, and flowers in this heat. He has been keeping the hanging baskets well watered every day.

I am back to working out on the treadmill and bike every day. While I was spending time with Alexa, my exercise did not get done and my body was feeling it. I am also religiously following my diet. The diet went off the rails while I was spending time with family. One thing I have learned is that my body does not like carbs. UGH!

We were in need of a dozen white lined paper pads, some erasers to put on pencils and some pens. Fortunately, Staples was having a back to school sale online, so I got a great sale price on all of these things along with free shipping. I was also able to apply reward points to help pay for my order.

My daughter in law took home all of my frugality books among some other ones. I am happy that she will enjoy them. I also gave her clothing that she could use. Some that she couldn’t, I have donated this week to Salvation Army.   

I returned all of the bottles and cans that had collected since February to Fast Cash. I was happy to see they were open again and that there was no long line.  It added up to $12.45 in cash.

I filled the SUV and lawn mower can up with gasoline on Monday getting $.30 off a gallon using my Top’s reward points. So I only paid $1.859 a gallon. 

I earned another $ 15.46 in Amazon Reward cash to use on any necessities that we need. 


Hubby needed a new hose to be able to water the hanging baskets,  flower pots on our deck, and wash the car that our 25 ft. hose doesn’t easily reach. Our hoses are worn out after the past ten years. He saw this one that is 50 ft. long and highly rated on QVC for $ 44.99 plus $5.50 shipping. He asked me to order it. I researched to see if I could get a better price. I ended up ordering the very same hose at  Amazon for $ 29.32 and free shipping with my Prime. If you are a QVC shopper, always check the prices elsewhere before ordering with them. I find that 90% of the time someone else is cheaper than them.  This little bit of research saved us $ 21.17. 

I washed all the sheets, towels, and laundry using cold water, sale detergent, and sale laundry sanitizer the day my family left to go home. I dried the sheets and towels in my dryer using the wool balls. Our laundry I hung to dry. 

My son gave us a cucumber he picked fresh from his garden when he came out last Friday. We used it this week and it was delicious. 

I continue to stockpile water by filling up Hubby’s Diet Coke empty 2 liter bottles with tap water.

What have you don frugally the past couple of weeks?