Five Frugal: Saturday Edition

1. Spent a good portion of the day just hanging out at the house, cleaning a bit, and making cards for friends that just moved.  I had all the materials on hand!
2. Batched all my errands and with to CVS, the gym, and Trader Joe’s.  The showers at my gym are better than my home shower and nobody was there so I took my sweet time and even shaved my legs!  I also took that opportunity to wash a bunch of coconut oil out of my hair.  I used all free samples for toiletries!  And slowly working towards those 120 gym sessions that will reimburse my gym fees through health insurance.
3. Trying this Thai Peanut Chicken recipe from Budget Bytes tonight because I had drumsticks in my freezer and a hefty stock of peanut butter.  It’s currently marinating in the fridge!  I didn’t obtain fresh ginger or cilantro but I did have the dried stuff and the sauce tastes pretty darn good to me.  Wallydog is enjoying the remains of the peanut butter jar as a ghetto kong treat!
4. I haven’t done a load of laundry since last Friday…I believe tomorrow will finally be the day as I am mostly out of clothes and need to wash my sheets.  I am also confident that I can get away with one hot load and one cold load.  I hang about 75% of my cold load to boot!
5. I used some Amazon gift cards to buy a cheap but sturdy journal – I like to write!  It keeps me focused on my goals.  I didn’t overly like the quote on the front of the journal, so I went through my collage boxes and found some stuff to fix the front!

Five Frugals Tuesday Edition

1. I went to the gym this morning – exercise and a “free” shower while earning my way towards my $150 membership credit!  Health is frugal as fuck.  I’m also doing fitbit challenges and one of my friends is doing 20k a day….so I would have to get at least that ot beat her!  It’s day 2 and I’m not sure I can do it haha.
2. I didn’t take my lunch to work….FAIL.  I ended up at Panda Express for a little nostalgia from when I worked retail.  The difference?  This time instead of the platter of 3+ options, I got a grilled veggie bowl with some orange chicken on top.  It was $6.70 which is dumb but is below average lunch costs that area.  I drank water at work and I may have grabbed a few extra straws and napkins.
3. I’m confident I can go one more day at least before running the washer and dryer.  Today I’m trying to finish out my cooking for the week so I’ve roasted veggies, fried up sausage, and am currently baking some chicken breast.  Trying to run the oven all at once so I can be done with it!  I also just cleaned out my monster microwave that I am going to put on craigslist.  I keep mentioning it in hopes that I will eventually DO.
4. I have some letters I need to write – I have a whole box of cards and bags of scrapbooking materials so I really need to actually do something with those items!
5. I have HVAC people coming out on Friday.  It’s going to be unfortunate and it’s probably going to take the last of my savings.  Is this the push I need to FINALLY list that item on Craigslist?

So it seems like there are a few fails in there and I have to figure something out.  I can do it!

5 Frugal Things July Edition

1. It’s that quarterly time to order a 30lb bag of dog food.  My dad dropped by a coupon for $15 off a $50 purchase at chewy.com so I ended up getting the dog food and a bag of treats for $38.98 and the dog food along usually runs $44.  Win!  I’ve also held off getting my dog new toys by stuffing toys into eachother after he has eaten all the fluff out and then playing some fetch.  Eventually he gets bored with me and will take some time to try to pull the toy out of the other toy.
2. I finally have a fully functional washer and dryer so I can clean everything in the house because I am now very allergic to dustmites.  Spending time in the basement to launder will encourage me to keep cleaning it up to make it a cozy space down the road.
3. I got my annual pedicure with a friend over the weekend – $25 for an hour of bliss per year is worth it to me.  I found a really nice, clean place a few blocks away and reasonable for the job they did.
4. I really need to cut down on some clutter in the house before my boyfriend moves in.  i’ve got a slowly-growing box of items I want to put up on Craigslist and the Philadelphia yardsale groups….it’s just such a pain in the ass at the same time!!
5. I have to make some turkey balls to get me through the first few days of the week and will be hitting the trader Joe’s tomorrow to get a few fillers.

5 Frugal Things

1. I biked to and from my doctor’s appointment and work today.
2. I made beans and rice last night for the first time adn brought it for lunch and didn’t like it…but ate it anyway and suffered through.  I found some buffalo chicken strips in the back of the freezer for dinner instead of the rest of the rice and beans.  THEN! I found an individual portion of mexican chicken in the back of my freezer and that should fix the rice and beans for the rest of it’s short life.  Old me would have just ordered out something fancy that I could eat for maybe 2 meals.
3. I invited a friend over to watch MasterChef at my place tonight.  Continuing to justify my cable bill by sharing it with my friends!
4. I’ve kind of grown an alcohol allergy over the last few months and have basically sworn the stuff off indefinitely.  Hopefully this will decrease my bar and restaurant bills and eradicates the alcohol budget!  I am very sad to see booze go but I know it’s only a good thing for me.
5. Amazon Prime Day is next Tuesday, 7/12.  I am in desperate need for some new gym capris and would *really* like a FitBit Blaze for a teal HR (in a size small!) so I’m going to try to scope these deals.  I’ve been cashing out amazon giftcards on all of my earning sites so I don’t have to spend real money.