Being Frugal during weather whiplash

 From mid 50s to mid 60s  on some days and down to 20s and 30s on others. Even with my fall garlic and onions covered up they are going to take the hit with their greens up.We tried covering them up with blankets but the winds were over 40 mph with gust higher at times. Pollen went up and took my allergies right with it. They are saying that this year will be a bad year for allergies so I picked up more distilled water for my sinus rinses and got 11% rebate on it. Turned the furnace off a couple times but had to turn the space heater on when the winds got and the furnace couldn't keep the heat up.

Filed our taxes with Credit Karma for free. We have to file a 1040 and usually that's a pretty penny.

Saved 20¢ a gal off gas buy using GasBuddy to find the cheapest and then it happened to be a Speedway so Hubby used his card for an additional 3¢.

Used the Kroger points from our shopping in Jan. Got 60¢ off per gal of gas. Won't get any off gas in March as I didn't shop at Krogers in Feb. Just didn't have any sales that was that good.

Hubby had a meeting that was going to run late so he he called me and told me to not fix dinnger good thing he had coupons with him for Wendy's and bought that for us to eat instead of my cooking dinner after he got home. Good thing because I would have only cooked for him (and for his lunch) as I wouldn't have had dinner done until 7. Very late for me to eat and take meds. IF we had knew it was going to run late I would have fixed soup or something that I could have ate and he could have when he got home.

Used my Subway card to get subs. I had enough points to pay for one and the other one was $6 on sale.

I cooked and dehydrated pumpkins...still have several to do. I turn the dried pumpkin into powder. We won't need pumpkin for about 2 yrs. I might get some wee be littles or jack be littles, some use them for decorations but they are about the right size for baking for a veg for one person.

I dehydrated a batch of the fall apples. Have one more batch of them to do . Starting to get mushy to eat but fine for dehydrating.

I took the scraps from the pumpkins and apples out to the field to compost as my composter isn't working as it should.

Figured out we save $86.50 by going after the washer instead of paying of it to be delivered. We figured milage not just gas.

Washed and dried food freezer bags, bread bags and dry food liner bags.

Saved more distilled water jugs for mini hot houses and the boxes the jugs(we buy it by the case as it's cheaper that way) for boards for my fabric.

Cleared sq ft gardens and added the dirt we already had. I have one more place to clear then I can start filling the pots that I have to plant it.

Got 4 reusable bags at home show to replace worn out ones. Using worn out ones to put donations in.

Found a great article in Real Simple Magazine( $2 for a year subs.) about HSA which is what our ins is changing to next year.

Started walking perimeter (1/3 mile) and stretching to adjust to using the clothes line and planting the garden BEFORE I actually start doing that so I don't end up in the doctor's office again this year.

Transferred my balance at Pinecone Research to my savings. I do that once a month. The same with my Swagbucks.

We were going to go visit my in law's but it was nice out and they wanted to meet us at a restaurant that was mid way to us so they could get out of the house. We used our tax refund to pay them the loan they had lent us. I used the last of the eat out budget and part of what was left of the grocery budget to pay their dinner so all it cost them was their gas.They are retired now and live on a very strict budget.They weren't planning to retire so soon but their companies sold out and that was the best to do.

We did end up eating out 4 times this month even with the pantry challenge. IF we hadn't bought mu in laws meal we would have still been under budget ...even so I still have money left in the grocery budget so we are still in budget. Leftover money was set aside to stock up this fall.

I had blood work and found my A1C had went from 5.2 to 6.4 (diabetes is 6.5) in 6 months. Doc thinks it's the steroids that the GI has had me on. SO I am being weaned off them (doesn't make GI happy , she understood though I haven't spent a lifetime doing what I can to NOT be a diabetic , runs strong in both sides of my family to go into it with meds that I don't have to take) as she was wanting me to take them for a year. The company that makes the steroid I am on said it would only work 3 months for my condition and then THEY suggest you come off...a year is for severe Crohn's. My VSL #3 seems to be doing the best for me which is not paid for by ins because my GI will not fill out the paperwork for that. She refused to fill out intermittent family leave for hubby so his company worked it out with the company that deals with that stuff so my primary could fill it out. She did say he needed it , she just doesn't do that unless you are being operated on.I would change doctors again but the others I have interviewed are worse about taking steroids and all said they wouldn't agree to me taking VSL #3 as it's not tradition meds.I will add my GI has my primary run all the blood work as she feels I don't need stuck twice and have 2 bills and I sure don't need to drive to her office to get blood work as she's not connected to the hospital here.

We decided to eat from the pantry in March.

Blessed Be