Monday, October 1, 2018

The start of a frugal month

Yep...saving big time...how... we didn't have to pay Oct rent for the old place along with the mortgage here, a savings of $700 PLUS the landlord said since we weren't actually living there through Sept we wouldn't be paying the electric bill for that month, especially since we had turned off the AC before we moved here at beginning of Sept.That's another $125.  We won't be driving every day the truck with trailer and the car 120 miles round trip spending $160 a week in gas....for a savings of $640.
We won't be eating out 3 times a week at $15 a meal to split between us saving us $60 a month. That's $1525 a month savings.  JUST FYI, we came in at $10 over what we budgeted for 209 including gas and eating out.

That will be split between, savings, mortgage principal (goal it so have 20 % paid off in 3 yrs) and a new truck payment for Hubby(which we have already figured out how much he can pay down and what he can carry as a loan and the interest rate he can afford.

I harvested the last of the ripe tomatoes and the last of the green ones. I will be saving the seeds for next year.

I harvested the last of the hot peppers. I won't save these seeds as we didn't like the peppers all that well.

I harvested the last 3 heads of cabbage.

I harvested the last 2 green onions that got missed when I thought we had them pulled a couple months ago.

I harvested rhubarb by cutting it back to get ready to transplant it to the north garden.

I harvested grapes, there are some not ripe so we will eat those fresh if the birds don't get them . Buying a net for the grape vines is on the buy for gardens list.

I found a source for eggs  and a couple suggestions for bulk goods . I will be checking out the bulk goods to see if it has what I need and if it does I won't be renewing our membership to Sam's club that is almost an hour from us now.

I cut the pork loin in half and vacuum bagged it for 2 roasts for this winter. I cut the second one I bought into 20 pork chops and froze them on cookie sheets so I can vacuum them 2 to a bag for our meals.

I sliced the 2 sticks of pepperoni I got (that I was given a discount on due to moving away and being a regular buyer) and now have 20 months of pepperoni unless we eat more of it than we regularly do.

We found a tiller for the tractor for about half the price of what we were seeing. We were able to till our north garden today without paying for it to be done.
I will be transplanting the strawberries and rhubarb to this garden and planting the garlic, hopefully if the rain holds off...I'll do that tomorrow.

The Amish neighbor stopped by and asked what we were planning on doing with the 3 acres we let him plant corn in (for free), He had a look of surprise when we told him we were planning on him planting it with what ever he decided on with no rent . He said he felt better if he paid us rent and told us what he rents other properties for. I did qualify before he offered money that he had to find me an bulk store for flour and sugar and where I could buy 2 to 4 dozen eggs a month.
Hubby added someone to buy straw from... he laughed and said he could do the eggs and straw and when his hens weren't laying there was a couple others that sold eggs. He told us where the bulk stores were at and then offered to pay rent for the property. It would cost us more to maintain it so letting him do it for free
 actually saved us money. Hubby said the rent would go in the savings for what we needed for the gardens. I think I will put it in savings for when we are short on $$$.

I sewed my skort twice before I realized it kept ripping because it's too big on me and rides lower that normal so when I walk it pulls the old tear back apart.

We went to our grandson's wedding... tempted to buy a new outfit but chose to wear my little black dress that I've only had 40 years. Yes 40 years, I paid $100 for it and it's averaged out to $2.50 a year and it looks good enough to go another 5 yrs at least. I got several complements on it and my grandson remembered the dress from his childhood and mentioned it to his mom, my daughter2 and she remembered me  having it during her childhood so they decided to ask how long I had it. They were surprised it looked so good being that old... I was surprised I could still fit in it. LOL

Blessed Be 


3 comments:

  1. LOVE the story of the little black dress at $2.50 a year. But am stunned at all the harvesting and gardening you have done this past month while still moving in and cleaning the old place. I can't imagine how you could have done it all. Anyway, would love more pictures of the interior as you arrange stuff. Thanks for stopping to blog throughout it all.

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  2. My grandkids say I get a lot done because I don't watch tv except for the weather report if I don't catch it on the radio. BUT I am reader... can read all day if I don't watch myself LOL. Canned 14 qrts of grape juice today.

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  3. We have found that it is way cheaper in the end for us to go into Sam's about twice a year on a One Day Pass and pay the upcharge for nonmembers. You would have to figure what you spend to know if it is cheaper and also some states do not allow an upcharge by law so you can shop for free. But, if you have tires from there your tire package is no good without a membership which is just wrong on our opinion.

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