BecomingFrugal.com

Sunday's Harvest

A few years ago I started trying to grow some of my own herbs and veggies. I started with Cilantro, basil, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and Jalepenos. I live in southern California in an area that is very hot in the summer, so my herbs died quicky. The bells and peppers however, did great!  My husband really liked the idea and really took to it. He has since pretty much taken over the gardening, which is AWESOME.  So we now have fruit trees, along with more tomato plants, bell peppers, blueberries, and strawberries. I absolutely love just being able to walk out and pick fresh lemon or veggies for things as I need them, instead of having to shop for them. Plus we like to share extras we don’t use. My husband usually takes anything that is ripe and I won’t use that week and shares with coworkers (who also in turn share their produce we don’t have!) It’s really fun for him to do, and is frugal and convenient.

I know not everyone has room for full grown gardens, but you’d be amazed what you can do in pots, we have several of our plants in pots and they do just great! If you don’t have a green thumb, tomatoes are super easy!   Here’s a picture of what we picked in our yard just the other day…

For those that know me, it’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of Friends of the library bookstores.   You just can’t beat buying books for anywhere from 5 cents to 3 bucks. I pick up anything from fiction to cooking for pennies on the dollar. Cooking magazines that are $4 at the checkstand are only .25 or less. The books they sell are either donated books/magazines/movies or old stock the library needs to clear out. All book donations get a first pass from the library to see if it would be better to keep the books for patrons to check out, or go to the friends store.

My local library has an excellent friends store that is open as long as the libaray is, but most friend’s stores have limited hours. Check your library’s web site or give them a call to see if your library has one of these stores, not only will it save you money, but all profits go to supporting the library as well!

Okay so I started this blog over a year ago, and have really slacked off on updating it.   I am going to dedicate a little more time to my website this year, so I’m adding this blog post to help keep me accountable, lol.

Today I helped my very oldest friend clean a little in her new home. She has waited so patiently and I am so excited for her and her family to get such a wonderful home that they could afford in a great area! Visiting her and helping just a little bit in their great home adventure reminded me of when I first got my home. It was a stressful experience, but OH SO wonderful to have a house of our own. We have been so very happy working on things in our home, making it ours, etc. However, over the last few years we’ve also accumulated too much clutter and our house is in need of a good deep cleaning and decluttering!

Seeing all the potential in my friend’s new home, and knowing the joy it will bring her and her family gave me a little boost, or motivation if you will, to get my own house back in shape.

share expiring coupons

Last weekend I was at my local ralphs (kroger in other areas) and was picking up some kraft mayo. As I looked for the new olive oil type I wanted, I noticed a few scattered (clearly cut from a newspaper) coupons near the jars. The coupon expiration date was that very day, and there were about 4 of them. Some nice person decided to leave them there in case anyone buying mayo that day could use them. What a nice gesture among frugals! I happened to have a coupon myself but it expires in April and I buy a lot of mayo for lunches, so I decided to use the expiring coupon and save my other for later. I will be sure to pass the favor on and leave any near-expiration date coupons I’m not planning on using near the items on future visits. It would make me happy to know someone could use a coupon I’m about to throw away!

CVS coupon/price scanner

Every time I go to cvs, the first thing I do is scan my cvs card at the scanner for coupons. I have gotten a few really good ones. A few nights ago I got one for $4 off any Futuro (sp?) brace. In the clearance section I spotted some for 3.75, and it just so happens my husband could totally use one, so I snatched it for more than free! I got the brace and something else w/ a coupon, and it took the full $4 off even though the item was only 3.75.

There were also other items in the clearance section, such as aveeno lotion for 2.12, which you can use the $2 printable on, making it 12 cents.

I also got a $1 off any excedrin the other day from the machine which i used on this weeks ecb deal (buy one @ 2.49 get 2.49 ecb’s) so I paid 1.49+ tax and got 2.49 ecb’s.

YAY for the magic cvs coupon machine!

$5 gas card

So a few months back, I read a post on another blog about chevron’s online contest to win a $5 gift card. It was a little trivia contest and if you got the answers right you were eligible to win a $5 gift card. I just got it in the mail and I’m so excited! I know it’s just $5 but it’s awesome to win something for free!! It’s my first win at anything online and now I’ll probably be hooked.

Just a note though, I am very wary of online contests and promotions unless I hear about them from a reliable source. Since this one was actually on Chevron.com I figured it was legit. Be careful what sites you give your information to, there are scam artists everywhere these days, sad but true.

Lumin-Air Flameless Candles

I almost forgot to mention on Tuesday I read that airwick lumin air flameless candles were on sale at target this week for 4.99 I had 4 $5 off coupons from the 12/7 newspaper (I bought extra because of the maybelline coupon haha) so I got 4 of these candles for almost free. I had to buy something to make the total go at least the amount of the coupon. (4x 4.99 is less than the $20 in coupons I had) so I bought a lip balm to go over.

I plugged one of these in and turned it on while cleaning and setting up my fake Christmas tree the other day and it smells pretty good. I got the vanilla scented ones.

Mandy sizing up my new piggy bank jar

My husband and I have a habit of throwing our loose change in a plastic jar as a piggy bank of sorts. The last time we took one in, we got something like a few hundred dollars. I remember the cashier had to double check and get approval to cash the coinstar receipt.

We haven’t taken any change in for cash in a long time so we had an overflowing plastic jar. Recently someone I know was throwing away a much larger plastic jar that had been filled with candy or something, so I asked to keep it. This is my new much larger piggy bank! I can’t wait to see how much I end up with this time!

I do actually use change for purchases if I have it on me. What goes in the jar is just whatever we have left at the end of the day, or what I find in pockets doing laundry. It’s a fun way to save a little extra something on the side for something special.

The jar I had before was a gallon arrowhead water jug and it was full, I poured it into this one and look how much room I have left!

I just got a flyer advertising a one year subscription to the la times (thursday through sunday editions) for $26 a year which is $.50 a week. This is a great deal since the sunday edition is 1.50 on newstands. It says you need to tell the operator the promotional code to get the deal, but the guy I spoke with didn’t ask for it, I just told him I wanted the 26 for a year deal, and he processed it in minutes.

This will save me money since I’ve been buying from newstands for 1.50 plus tax (1.62 a week) Before I saw this deal I had looked around and even emailed a newspaper asking if they had any deals for sunday only subscriptions, and since the cheapest I had found was still 1.50 I decided to just keep picking it up myself.

For a year at my current method of purchase I would spend: 84.24 a year.
New subscription is: $26
So I’ll save 58.24 for the year. woo hoo!

One thing to note is that this is a credit card only offer, so I have to make sure I make that payment right away so I don’t accrue interest. AND I have to remember to cancel next december to avoid an auto renewal.