While we are waiting for the landscape crew to come and do their monthly stuff, Hubby has been doing the spring cleanup around here a little at a time. We do the April cleanup and save about $600. on that. The landscape crew will come starting in a week or so and weed, trim bushes, plant whatever we need, and mulch all the gardens. They will do this every month until November.
When my son and Hubby installed the bidet, they had to remove the shelving unit that was over and around the toilet because it would not work with the bidet. Hubby found a beautiful cabinet that was on sale with a shelf underneath that has three baskets and installed it up over the toilet. That gives us enough storage room. I had my son put the old shelving unit in the basement. It only had three shelves but it has rungs going all the way to the bottom so I can add some wood to add two more shelves. It will also make the unit more stable. This will give me room to store some cleaning products. I am also going to use an old dresser to store plastic wrap, baggies, aluminum foil, parchment paper, etc. Always use what you already have.
Hubby cut my hair again. He does a much better job than the Super Cuts people and is almost as good as my expensive hairdresser. I have let my white hair grow in and we both like it. So I am done with coloring and highlighting. All of this saves me $140. plus every 4-6 weeks. I think it would have been even more because she was about to raise her rates. This is a huge savings annually for us.
Meals this week were all made at home from scratch. We had taco salads, beef stew, chicken legs, shrimp fra diavolo, and ranch chicken in our instant pot one night. It only took 12 minutes and I have determined that the Instant Pot uses the least amount of energy around here. The meat was so tender too. Last night, Hubby sauteed hotdogs with onions in butter and I made a tossed salad.
Both of our very old Roku devices were giving us trouble. One of them was purchased in AZ 16 years ago. So Hubby found the Roku 4K Streaming Sticks online at a good price and installed them when they came. What a difference they make! We no longer have Amazon Prime. I got rid of that over 3 years ago. But this purchase was over the $25. you have to spend so we got free shipping.
Hubby writes things down on a dry erase board on the side of refrigerator when he empties a food or cleaning item. I noticed yesterday that he wanted me to buy dish washing liquid because he had emptied a Dawn refill. It was so nice to go to the pantry and grab a new bottle instead of shopping for one. I bought a case of them before the prices went up after Covid began. They cost about double now.
Hubby got the hummingbird feeders put up for the season and made homemade sugar water with some red food coloring for them. It only took a day for the birds to come. So we are enjoying watching them every day.
I read my electric and natural gas meter last week so the bill should be coming today or tomorrow. We used just a little more of each than we did last year. However it has been very cold here this spring so we have had the heat on more. I will post about it when I get it. Since our utility company had a rate increase May 1st, I am not expecting it to be cheap.
Today, Hubby will be busy dealing with the pest control people. They come every three months and take care of spraying bees nests and all of the areas where they like to build, spraying around the perimeter of the house to keep bugs out of the house, etc. If we don’t have that done, we end up with spiders in the basement. I HATE spiders. So this is worth every penny we pay.
The A/C guy is also coming for our checkup to make sure the A/C is in good working order for the summer. We have a coupon to get that done for $ 69. I only plan on using it when it is hot and humid outside. But I want to make sure that is is running efficiently when we do use it.
I am hoping to get some groceries today. There are some good buys on meat and condiments for Memorial Day. If I don’t get out today, I will do it tomorrow.
Other than that, we did the usual: washed clothes in cold water and hung them to dry, kept lights off in the daytime, only ran the dishwasher when it is really full, and cooked our food in the cheapest appliance that could get the job done.
What did you do this past week to save money?
2 replies on “Frugal Things We Have Done The Past Week”
Hi Precious. I didn’t use all of my grocery money this past week, so will have extra to get some of the good Memorial Day deals here also. We went out to eat for our anniversary on Sat. We decided to go to one of daughter’s restaurants that has a lower price point this time. They have blue plate specials every day and the Sat one is crab cakes and succotash, which I love. Hubby had some spicy chicken rigatoni that he said was really good. We brought our leftovers home and ate for lunch yesterday.
This week is the last week for older granddaughter’s school so I will have her a little extra this week. I think her summer camp starts next week.
I got a notice on Facebook that the farm with the u pick strawberries will be opening after Memorial Day, so just in time. We are on the last jar of freezer jam from last year. Hubby and I will double check we have what we need. If I need more sugar, I will hit Aldi. We haven’t been having sugar sales here since before the pandemic. I believe I had bought extra pectin last year since the date on it was longer, but will check, and will have hubby check to see if we need any lids for the jars. We should have enough rings. It takes all day to pick the berries and then make the jam, but is definitely worth it to us.
Hi Chris,
Happy Belated Anniversary! I am happy that you had a nice celebration.
It’s hard to believe that school is almost done there. Our kids here don’t get out for few more weeks.
Yeah on the strawberries. We are a few weeks behind you. I am all set for canning season. Check Walmart’s price on sugar. It is cheaper here than at Aldi’s. That jam is definitely worth the time ans so much tastier than store bought.