It’s Friday: This Week’s Frugal Moves

It's Friday This Week's Frugal Moves - picture of dollar bill with string tied around it

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Good morning, Club Thrifty enthusiasts! It’s Friday. Do you know what that means? In the Club Thrifty household, Friday is hands down the best day of the week.  Why?  Because I’m going to sleep in.  I’m also going to *try* not to work.  Hell, I might even have a few adult beverages.  Oh, who am I kidding?  I’m definitely having adult beverages.  It’s Friday, and  it’s 5:00 somewhere.  Am I right?

We also have plans to hang out with some awesome friends tonight.  But, since we’re on FALL FINANCIAL LOCKDOWN, we’re just hanging out the house.  As I said earlier this week, we are totally for-serious about sticking to our budget and reining in our spending.  I meant it!

Anyway, since it’s Frugal Friday, I’m going to share all of the frugal things that I did this week.  After a summer of spending, I really enjoying returning to my frugal roots and finding new ways to save.  Here is a list of my latest frugal moves:

Frugal Move #1

I practiced restraint at the grocery store this week….and it was rough.  My beloved Kroger had crab legs on for $6.99 per pound and I had to force myself not to buy any.  I actually had one of the big packs in my cart ON TWO SEPARATE OCCASIONS and managed to put it back both times.  BOTH TIMES!

Frugal Move #2

I bought a trash bag of clothes from one of my renters.  Seriously.  The tenants in one of my rental properties has a daughter a size bigger than my oldest and she totally hooked me up.  For $20, I got a trash bag full of size 4 & 5 jeans, shorts, shirts, and bathing suits.  And, it was really nice stuff!  Yes, I know that I totally spent money as opposed to saving…but I always take opportunities like that when they come along!

Frugal Move #3

We ate a bunch of stuff at the house this week.  We had oatmeal, pasta, cheddar bay biscuit mix, cornbread, mac-n-cheese, green beans….the list goes on and on.  I’m really obsessed with eating the groceries we have because I absolutely *hate* wasting food.  Wasting food sucks!

Frugal Move #4

I didn’t buy Pearl Jam tickets.  Yet.  Earlier this summer, Greg and I hoped to go see Pearl Jam at Wrigley Field but it sold out before we got the chance to get tickets.  Well, I recently found out that they’re touring again!  I *almost* bought tickets to see them in Pittsburgh, PA on October 11th or in Philadelphia, PA on October 22nd.  I even had the tickets in my virtual cart!  I’m still thinking about this one and I haven’t ruled it out, but I’m glad that I was able to take the time to decide if it’s something that I really want.  I’m going to think about it for a few more days.

More Exciting News

A lot of you have asked how Greg is doing at his new job.  He’s still in training but things are looking pretty good so far.  I’ll keep you updated!

Oh, and did you happen to read my last staff post at Get Rich Slowly?  You know, the one where the comments section totally got hijacked with comments about Game of Thrones?  Anyway, it was awesome.  Any time that I write something and the topic turns to Game of Thrones, I feel like I must’ve done something right.  Basically, people were talking about whether it was unethical to watch Game of Thrones on someone else’s HBO Go account.  Since I don’t have cable, I obviously watch Game of Thrones in an illegal fashion.  But, I also buy the seasons when they come out.  So, in my mind, I’m not really stealing, just previewing.

So, how about you guys?  What were your frugal moves this week?  And, do you think that watching Game of Thrones on someone else’s HBO account is stealing? 

 

 

 

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90 Comments

  1. Holly, good moves and I am sure you will have good fun at home and really glad you are sticking to your planned budget and following it strictly. Picking up something and keeping it back from cart is very common for me when I am completed a full round in the store. I am strict on budget too, if it exceeds my budget then it has to be kept back on the rack before I go for billing. Well but not crab legs i would compensate something else for that.

    1. But, isn’t it fun to put stuff in your cart for a while? It makes me feel like I *almost* had crab legs.

  2. We have a neighbor who’s just given us a few trash bags full of clothes now. Some really good stuff too! Like winter jackets and things like that. We’ve offered to pay but she doesn’t want it. It’s pretty sweet.

  3. Our biggest frugal move was not buying a new sheet set when we went to ikea! In fact, we spent only about $20 on a few smaller things. Definitely a successful trip if you ask me.

    1. Good job! It would be easy to spend a ton of cash at Ikea!

  4. No frugal moves for me this week. Being three weeks from the wedding I am not really in a position to be not spending money, I am literally an ATM right now. FML.

    1. I hope you can get back with the program after your wedding!

  5. Great moves this week! My move was not hitting confirm on a huge soap.com order…went to Walmart instead and got everything I actually needed!

    1. That’s awesome. I’m sure you saved a ton by shopping at Wal-HELL.

  6. Hahaha, nothing. We bought baby underpants online and ate out twice (once paying for some students). Go us!

      1. Oh and 3 Kindle books at $2.99/piece.

        And groceries and catfood and baby wipes… but those are regular expenses.

  7. Sounds like a good frugal week! We definitely need to work on this. We are going out on Saturday with a big group of friends, so hopefully we can get some pregaming in.

    1. YES!

      Pregaming can help cut down on that bar bill.

  8. Nice frugal moves this week! My biggest frugal move of the week is definitely not eating out a single time. My husband and I have been terrible about that in the last month or so, but we put a moratorium on it this week and so far we’ve succeeded!

  9. Has not been a particularly frugal week in our house. 4 new tires, check! Ugh.

  10. I love your Frugal Move #2 — that’s brilliant! We try to pay as little as possible for clothes for our girls, but that’s really great stuff.

    Our frugal move this week was to sign up for Amazon’s Subscribe & Save program. If you’re an Amazon Prime member you get to sign up for Amazon Mom for free which gets you a 20% discount on all Subscribe & Save items if you take delivery of at least 5 items each month.

    We compared prices to our normal Walmart/Costco purchases and with the 20% discount the prices are all quite similar, if not cheaper in most cases.

    The plan now is to add ~100 items to our list (everything non-perishable we buy for the house) so this essentially removes all these products from our normal ‘worry list’ of shopping. They’ll just show up with free shipping from Amazon!

    So while this might not save tons of money, it will save a whole lot of time and will remove a lot of stress from our lives.

    1. Hey, that sounds like a great deal. I’ll have to check that out!

      1. Nice, you really should! A friend of mine couldn’t stop talking about it, so I checked it out and it’s really a no-brainer if you already have Amazon Prime.

        It’s literally going to save us dozens of hours each year in time we would have spent unproductively at a supermarket.

        It’s a little difficult to figure out at first, but just know that you will get the full 20% discount if you order 5 items each month and it’s easy to change your products once they are in your S&S ‘list’.

        It’ll probably take a 5 minute review each month and then all the items will just show up at your door!

  11. Tara @ Streets Ahead Living says:

    You crack me up about those crab legs! I did the same thing with sushi at the grocery store.

    I agree that it’s ok to save money on crazy good deals like that clothing, especially if the lady would have sold it to someone else instead.

    As far as Pearl Jam goes, I would’ve purchased so you do have some great restraint! My fiancee is a huge Neutral Milk Hotel fan and they’re doing their first tour together in many many years so we already purchased tickets, despite the fact that we should be saving. They did sell out immediately and we agreed it to be his b-day present to try to “excuse” the spending.

    1. I still might. I just want to think about it for a while!

  12. Oh I would have so bought Pearl Jam tickets. I actually did from the fan club. I remember when they used to be almost free, but this time they were $155 to see them in Phoenix. At least I know it will be an almost 3 hours show. Have a great weekend.

    1. Still thinking about it! I have travel credits….so my hotel would be free!

  13. I’m relatively new to your blog, Holly, and I love it! Score on the $20 bag of kids’ clothes! Even better that they’re nice! When I first had my son, I was so picky about everything he wore. Now, it’s a great day if someone gives us free hand me downs!

    1. Hey Ali!

      Yeah, I can totally relate!

      I used to be picky about my kids clothes too but not so much anymore. I love getting my kids used clothes. They don’t know the difference and once you wash something it’s not really new anyway. You know? As long as my kids’ clothes are clean and look nice, that’s all that matters!

  14. Holly, putting something you love back twice? Now that is restraint! Now, I am totally with you on the Pearl Jam tickets. Though I have not been to any concert in many years, I imagine that it is better that I do not know about them. I am afraid that I would not be able to resist Eddie, Dave Matthews, or Red Hot Chili Peppers.

    Love hearing about your experiences as it really makes me think, Which friend could I pay $20 to stuff a bag full of clothes they no longer want into a garbage bag? Happy belated birthday to me!

    1. Pearl Jam is touring all over North America! I bet you could find a concert nearby. Where are you guys at anyway?

      1. Oh no, don’t tell me that! Someone better put my wallet under lock and key.

        We’re in Houston!

  15. I was going to do your “eat what you have” idea, but due to a set of circumstances, I had to grocery shop. I spent $14.67 and saved $131.68 at Krogers! I also got a coupon for $2.50 off my next order and 172 gas points. (P.S. I am not an extreme couponer, just a savvy shopper.)

  16. What if you sold something you have or found some way to make extra money targeted for Pearl Jam tickets? Babysitting neighbour children or selling your daughters old clothes and designate that as concert money. It would be separate from the budget and everyone needs a little mad money or crab money.

    It would probably be easier for you to make money just writing something extra to pay for the tickets.

    1. I do have some “fun money” that I’m saving for a rainy day!

  17. This week’s moves were the same as last, brown bag lunch everyday, meal plan the week to cut down on groceries, turn off lights when leaving a room, etc.

    Really boring stuff.

  18. ooh good for you with the PJ tickets, we recently had to make the heartbreaking decision not to buy the Buffalo show (we are in Canada, not far from the border) as we have our anniversary trip to NYC just a few weeks before. Cant’ do it all! BUT, i fully admit that i believe that they will do a Leg 2 of the tour in the New Year and do more Canadian dates….and then, as a member of Ten Club, we will be there 🙂

    sigh. knowing Eddie will be singing so close to me is heartbreaking

    no frugal moves this week, trying to make sure the budget covers everything we need in the next month before Financial Lockdown starts for us!

    1. That is some serious restraint, Lori. I hope they start touring every year. I know I would go!

  19. Nothing this week! I landed roughly $50 in gift certificates and coupons for just a couple minutes of effort last week.

  20. Hi Holly, this week I cleaned out a huge bag of my sons outgrown clothes and took them to a consignment shop to be sold. Organization and extra cash always feels good!

    1. Yes! That is a great way to make some extra money without putting forth a lot of effort. Go, you!

  21. I watch Game of Thrones on my parents HBO Go account. Seeing as cable companies are crooks, I feel justified.

  22. You have more willpower than my wife. She picked up PJ tickets as soon as she could. She then told me that I would be staying home that night to watch our son. I guess that is the name of the game.

    1. Nice! She totally cut you out of that deal. I like her style!

  23. You are kicking butt on Fall Lockdown! Putting crab legs back – twice – now that is impressive. 🙂 Pearl Jam would be a great concert but it’s smart you’re giving yourself some time to make sure it’s where you want to spend your money. That way if you do go, you can enjoy it without regret afterwards. I’m glad that Greg’s new job is going well! Have a great weekend!

  24. Firstly, we are going to be finishing S3 of Game of Thrones this weekend 😀
    Secondly – Great effort on the self-restraint with the crab legs
    Thirdly – Have a great weekend – it’s after 6pm here so you can definitely grab a drink 😉

    1. OHHHHHH……SEASON THREE IS THE BEST SEASON SO FAR.

      I think it’s time for me to watch it again!

  25. Good on you for keeping it frugal. Game nights at our house or a friends are, seriously, our favorite kind of date. And not just because I always win.

    And I agree…driving any conversation towards Game of Thrones is a win.

  26. Holly,

    I need to be on your list when your girls out grow their 4/5! I would’ve totally been all over your garage sale as I have a 2T/3T girl and a month old girl who will be inheriting all her sister’s clothes!

    I totally took advantage of the Kroger crab legs (I’m on the SE side of Indy) and they were awesome! 😉

    I can pay in crab legs!

    1. Hey, fo sho! I put stuff on craigslist all the time! That’s funny- how old are your kids? Mine are 4 and 2, so they’re in 4T and 2T!!!

      I am so jealous that you got those crab legs!!! They are my absolute fave!

      1. Oldest is 3 next week and is 3T top, 2T bottom (poor short legs she inherited from me!) and we just had twins last month (boy and girl) so I think I’m thankful that we were baby clothes hoarders and kept every stitch of clothing my oldest daughter ever wore.

        I need to start scouring Craigslist and garage sales for the poor boy as he is woefully lacking in the clothing department. Rocking the plain white onesies!

        1. Ha!

          If your twins are dressed, bathed, and fed, then I think you should be proud of yourself!

  27. Oh Crab Legs are so hard to resist…………………I need to tell my Dad to make some sometime soon lol Who doesn’t like free crab legs? I filled up my car Sunday and got a few things from the grocery store. I haven’t spent a dime since then so I am feeling good about my week!

    1. Sounds like you’re having a great frugal week!

  28. That’s awesome about the bag of clothes – that sounds like a sweet hook up! Pearl Jam would have been tempting, as well, I didn’t even know they were still touring! Let us know what you decide. 🙂

    1. I didn’t know either….I kind’ve wish that I still didn’t know! =)

  29. Holly! 1-3 are primo and the crab legs story is hysterical, bu it is tough to say no to a favorite band. Pearl Jam is just freakin’ sexy.

  30. Sounds like your fall financial lockdown is going well! It’s good that you are taking the time to think about the Pearl Jam tickets. I’ve been really tempted to buy concert tickets before, but usually everything is in the city, which means we need to buy train tickets on top of that. The train isn’t cheap!

    1. Yeah!

      Well, this concert is in Pittsburgh…so we’d have to get a hotel. But, I have travel rewards so the hotel would be free. We would still have to pay for gas, parking, and food though.

  31. Nice moves, Holly! I am sure it was difficult putting back those crab legs back twice, but there will be other occasions to get them, when you’re not on a financial lockdown.

    And regarding the “previewing” thing – I totally agree with it – as long as you get the DVDs when they’re out, that’s not stealing in my books either!

    1. Haha! Well, it probably is but that’s how I rationalize it anyway. We do preview the seasons on HBO Go but I like actually owning the DVD copies as well!

  32. LOVE Pearl Jam AND Wrigley Field! Good for you for holding strong. Say, I have a great recipe for homemade Cheddar Bay Biscuits. You could probably make them for like, under a buck. Email me if you want it. Super easy too. 🙂

  33. I “media share” with my friend (he has a hulu plus subscription and I have a netflix subscription), so I certainly can’t judge! 🙂 My frugal move of the week is not spending money on getting my house cleaned for a good fall cleaning, however, my unfrugal move was buying a few household items. I’m definitely going over budget this month. Your Pearl Jam decision (always been a huge fan btw-pretty much the reason I moved to Seattle) is my “do I spend $30 on a volleyball tournament” decision. Not sure yet…

    1. Ohhhh……”media share…” I like that term.

  34. I decided to accelerate the payoff on my mortgage but on my own terms. I was trying to re-finance with a mortgage lender
    but discovered that my terms were better. For example, lower required monthly payment, just in case the economy goes south again. No closing costs for real, not the hype you get from the mortgage companies. And the peace of mind knowing that my wife and I are in charge not the mortgage company…priceless!!!

  35. Hey Holly. I’ve been lurking for a while and figured I’d make an appearance to say that I think you should definitely head out for the Peal Jam concert. It’s one of those events in one’s life when you just gotta kick back and have fun. Don’t worry about ticket prices or whatever, just do it and have fun. If you wanna “guilt” yourself over it a few days later, go ahead, but at least you’ll have awesome memories to share with yourself and friends.

    I also like the way you preview your DVD’s before you buy them. I do the same 🙂

    Take care and thanks for a wonderful blog!

    Lyle

    1. Hey, I’m thinking about it! I think I’ll wait until Sept. 1st so I can just put them in the budget, you know? Hopefully they won’t sell out!

  36. LeRainDrop says:

    Okay, just for fun, I’m gonna give you a hard time on your clothing purchase — only two days earlier, you posted about how you keep your budget low: “Thanks to garage sales, my kids are set on clothes for at least the next few years. I don’t know when we’ll need new clothes again. But when we do, I’ll budget for them!” 🙂

    1. Ha!

      Holding me accountable, aren’t you?
      Well, in my defense…I do have a lot of clothes but mostly sizes 2-4 at this point. The clothes I bought for $20 included 4,5’s, and even 6’s…including 8 pairs of really nice jeans, two size six swimsuits, and a ton of really nice long sleeve shirts. My daughter starts kindergarten next year and now I’m prepared =)

      Plus, I only went to garage sales once this summer. I always mean to go but have trouble getting the kids out of the house on Saturday mornings. All they want to do is play =)

      But…excuses and rationalization, I know!

  37. I have not had many good frugal moments. I’m helping my youngest get stocked up for her freshman year at college and my oldest just got her first apartment. My wallet is in tears begging for mercy!

    Good for you, Holly! I have had those shopping trips where things found their way into and out of my cart multiple times. It isn’t easy, but I try to keep some things as special treats instead of buying them just because they are on sale….but seriously…crab legs? You put crab legs back? Dayum woman! That’s self control!

    1. Yeah, I know. I love crab legs but try to only eat them on special occasions. Unfortunately, Wednesday was not a special occasion!

  38. Great Job Holly, I commend you on your week of frugality. I had one too, I was out of town this week for work, so most of my spending was on an expense account. That is one of the benefits of traveling for work, but missing my family was truly a struggle!

    1. Awwwww….I hate being away from my family too!

  39. What kind of drink did you have is all I want to know Holly!!! Or should I say drinks after all it was Friday. Glad to hear that Greg’s new job is going well. Wish him the best. I read the post on GRS but not all the comments however that is funny that it got hijacked by Game of Thrones. Good score on the clothes from the tenant. We are still finishing up school shopping and one of the boys started football so he is worn out on most days and not home so we are saving a little on food as oppose to them being home all day going in and out of the frig.

    1. I had a few Rum & Cokes! Not too many, though =)

  40. I need to really look into my pantry and see what’s there. During the summer I never want to cook so I end up accumulating and not using. It’s a terrible habit. Good on you for cooking!

  41. I like your Frugal Move #3. And I completely agree, wasting food does suck. I have to tell my kids regularly to not waste food since we are also in a tight budget.

  42. Crab legs? Does that count as vegetarian?
    I’d buy the tickets now and sell them on Ebay if you decide not to go, those things fill out super quick and you may regret it.

    1. No, it doesn’t count as vegetarian. I eat seafood occasionally…like maybe once every couple months. Sue me!

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