Frugal Friday

I love sharing on Frugal Friday here because it's good motivation for me to keep trying to figure out how to live well on little.  Being frugal isn't always easy and it certainly does take work, but it's been a necessity here but is so ingrained in me now that even if we had a ton of money, I would still live this way.

I actually love being frugal and working to make our dollars stretch.  I like the simplicity that comes from being appreciative of the small things in life and being content with little. 

Here are some ways I've saved this week:

$  Because I couldn't go with Dan to Emily's orientation last week, we canceled the hotel room which was going to be a large expense that I wasn't happy about paying anyway.   Dan just came back home at the end of the first day and then went back the next.  Even with the cost of gas, it was so much cheaper than staying in the hotel.

$  We had to pay $175 for the orientation ($100 for the first parent and $75 for each family member after).  It thought it was non-refundable.  However, I decided to go ahead and ask the question.  I emailed the person in charge and told her the circumstances surrounding why I couldn't attend (my knee).  She got back to me immediately and refunded me the $75. Whoo-hoo!!

$  I used art supplies that I had at home to create the decorations for Emily's party tomorrow.

$  Because I purchase specialty items (such as baking chips, etc.) when they are on sale, I have a well stocked pantry which makes it nice when I have an event coming up and need some baked goods. One of the cookies I made for tomorrow is minty-chocolate chip cookies because I had Andes mint chips in my freezer from after Christmas when they were on sale.

$ I got the table cloths for the party tomorrow on sale at 50% off.

$ Regardless of how frugal I am, the party is costing more than we normally spend on groceries.  However, one way I saved is by hitting the regional farmer's market.  I spent $58 on the following: 10 tomatoes, 1 head of cabbage, 1 head of green leaf lettuce,  1 bag baby spinach, 1 bag basil, 1 cilantro plant, 2 bunches parsley, 9 large green peppers, 6 heads of of broccoli, 7 orange sweet peppers, 6 jalapeños, 3 large Vidalia onions, 2 bunches of scallions, 3 bulbs of garlic, 10 lbs. small red potatoes, 4 limes, 7 small cucumbers.

$ We ended up owing on our taxes this year.  We paid half of the bill back in April and then waited to get a bill for the rest.  Then Dan sent in another $100 and called them about setting up a payment plan.  It turns out it costs $200 to set up the plan.  The woman from the IRS told Dan that we have until November to pay off the rest before we will be charged a penalty, so rather than set up the payment plan, Dan saved the $200 and will just pay it off in monthly increments between now and then.

$ I did think yesterday that it would be so much easier just to cater the party, but I'm saving money by doing it myself.  It's certainly more work, but it's within our means so that's what I'm doing.  Being frugal does take effort, but is worth it.

So that's my frugal offerings this week.  I like to share here because it keeps me motivated and I know that it helps encourage others to be frugal as well.