Frugal Friday

 

Calvin Coolidge ~

"Industry, thrift and self-control are not sought because they create wealth, but because they create character."

It's 2:41 a.m. and I haven't been able to sleep for hours.  So I guess it's time to write a Frugal Friday post!  lol  My body is not cooperating with me today.

One thing that I'm finding is that organization is the key to frugality.  I used to pride myself on how organized I was but it has been slipping a lot lately.  One of the reasons is I'm very busy and stretched thin so it's even more important that I get on top of things.

The saleslady at Hobby Lobby yesterday gave me a wonderful idea on a way to keep track of prices, orders, etc.  She suggested keeping a swatch of every fabric I buy with a note on where I purchased it and the price.  I thought it was a wonderful idea because there are many times when someone will order something and I'm out of that particular fabric and then can't remember which store I purchased it at.  It will save on time and I'll also know what the best price is for that fabric.

Another idea came to me as I was running to four different shops, hunting for fabric for a custom order.  I'm going to have those who want custom orders get their own fabric and then I'll just charge them for my time in making it.  I spend so many hours trying to find just what they want and I never charge for my time, gas or energy doing this.  My time is valuable so I think it's a better option.

I made a major mistake in my business checkbook which involved not writing in a very large charge.  Because of that, I depleted my account and it was a very painful reminder that I need to slow down and get organized.  I've only done something like that once or twice in all the years I've been doing this and it was a big OUCH!

Life is about constantly learning, isn't it?

Ways I've saved this week:

$ Made my own cream of chicken soup mix for a dish I was making.  It tasted wonderful and was much healthier than the condensed soup you buy in a can.

$ Made a batch of potato dough and out of that I made dinner rolls 3 different nights as well as Stromboli for lunch one day.

$ Made pancakes from scratch for a Father's Day breakfast at church.  Very inexpensive and yet, everyone raved about them. 

$ Found fabric for an order, marked down from $5.99 a yard to $3 a yard so I bought extra for future projects.

$ Used my Retail Me Not app to get 40% of my total order at Joann Fabrics.

$ Making my own granola rather than purchasing expensive boxed cereal.

$ I needed a graduation gift for someone who was done with college and moving into her own apartment so I went shopping from the items I make.  I used one of my handmade cards, gave her one of my books for encouragement, as well as a collection of bath and body products I make.  I keep the gift bags I get from people and always reuse them.

$ One thing I will be doing is speaking to Emily's new allergist about a way to save me on my time.  She was tested this past week and is allergic to so many things, which we already knew.  However, we have decided to start allergy shots.  The allergist is almost an hour away and they suggested seeing if her local doctor will do the injections.  However, that doctor is still about 25 minutes away and she is going to need the shots once a week for 6 months and then every other week for another six months before it's weaned down to once a month.  I'm going to see if they will give me the serum and syringes so I can just give her the injection myself.  I did it for years for Nathan with growth hormone therapy and I gave my grandmother insulin injections for 2 weeks so I'm not squeamish about it.  Hopefully, they will agree to this because that will save a tremendous amount of time and money in gas.

That's it for this week.  I'll be working on getting myself organized in the coming week so I can stay on top of my expenditures.