A THOROUGHLY THRIFTY DAY...

Gosh, I love when that happens!  I am absolutely determined that 2015 is going to be our year to truly THINK before we act, and make sure we are continually working toward our future goals!   As quickly as the past 30 years have gone, I am sure Dear Hubby's retirement is only a "blink" away!  We are SO far behind in planning!

But, as least we are starting now and hopefully will get better each day at spending less, saving more and preparing ourselves and our home for the "golden" years. 

FREEBIES...

For starters, I checked out my usual "haunts" on the internet.  It is absolutely amazing how many freebies are available if you just know where to look!  

 

This morning I downloaded a free eBook from FaveQuilts.  I love free eBooks...such a GREAT way to acquire patterns without spending a ton of cash.  I signed up on their site and am notified whenever there is another free eBook available. 





  Then I entered a whole bunch of contests at The Giveaway Roundup




Since my sewing machine is also an embroidery machine, I am constantly on the lookout for free designs I can add to my collection.  I recently discovered Designs by Sick
This sight gives away a new design every hour on the :30, has a new "hunt" for a free design every hour, has a daily free design and a daily free design on facebook!  Please note, you can get these freebies WITHOUT purchasing a membership!



I LOVE the blog "Little House Living".  So many WONDERFUL frugal, "from scratch", handmade ideas are passed on by the fabulous Merissa!  She is TRULY an inspiration!  I signed up for the Little House newsletter here, Little House LIving

Quite frequently Merissa will include a list of free eBooks for the Kindle.  I do not own a Kindle, however the Kindle reader is free and can be used on your computer or tablet.  When you are purchasing the eBooks (for $0.00) be sure to pay close attention to the price as the "free deal" does not last forever!  I downloaded quite a few books today and have had SUCH FUN reading them!

MyPoints

I have been a member of MyPoints for several years now.  MyPoints is a site where you can earn points by making purchases, doing surveys and searches, playing games, etc.  Today I completed two surveys and several searches to earn points toward a gift card reward.   MyPoints also sends emails with links to their associated sites.  You can earn points simply by clicking the link, even if you choose not to purchase anything!  I earned 5 points by clicking today's link. 

Recyclebank 
I also belong to a site called Recyclebank where I can read articles and complete quizzes to earn points that can be redeemed for eGift cards.  Just a few days ago I cashed in my points for a Target eGift card.  Tonight before I go to bed I will read a few more articles and take a few more quizzes to begin to rebuild my points.

Frugal Activities...

•  I started my day today with a cup of free coffee.  Coffee is my life's blood, and FREE coffee really makes my day!
• Last night I had another low sugar spell (yuck) and finished up a travel container of Glucose Tablets.  I washed out the container last night and this morning it was dry enough to be added to my stash of crafty storage containers.  I REFUSE to spend money on storage items unless I absolutely cannot meet my need with something free!
• I raised the shades in my sewing room and kept the lights off.  I don't need to be giving the electric company any more money than is necessary.  
• Since I wasn't planning on leaving the house at all today, I rewore my jeans from yesterday.  I also slipped on the Crocs that I use as my slippers, saving wear and tear on my socks and shoes. 
• I sorted through some junk mail and stashed any card stock postcards or magazine inserts in an old gift bag I keep in my sewing room closet.  These free mailers make GREAT hexies for English Paper Piecing.  I purchased a hexie die for my Sizzix, well worth the cost when I consider that most of my "hexie papers" will now come from "trash"!
• Yesterday I received a quilting catalog in the mail.  I pulled the old catalog from my drawer, putting the newer one in its place.  I then thumbed through the old catalog, scissors in hand, cutting out any color combinations or quilt ideas that I thought could inspire me in the future.  I am using one of my son's old school notebooks to store these "ideas".  I few small pieces of tape holds them neatly in place.
• While going through my emails I could feel the sun shining on my face and could hear the birds singing outside of my window.  An idea for a quilt popped into my head and I took a minute or two to draw a rough sketch of the quilt in my "idea" book.  I often joke to my family that I will have to live to be 125 to finish all of the quilts that are floating around in my head (and now making their way onto paper, lol).  
• In the years since I purchased my first computer, I have printed out A LOT of non-critical information, designs, emails, etc.  Only recently, however, have I begun to use the "draft" setting on my printer.  Why oh why did I wait so long to adopt this practice?!?  I can't imagine the amount of ink I have wasted over the years!!!  Well, better late than never...I guess...
• As part of our "downsizing" goals, I need to begin purging the entire house, including my sewing room stash!  I have decided that every day I will try to sort through one container, one pile, or one drawer of "stuff".  This morning I opened up a shoe box filled with "food" themed fabric that I had been given for free.  I tossed a few scraps that were too miniscule to be of much good and found a few pieces of fabric that I could easily envision in a cute table runner for my kitchen.  I began cutting useable pieces for blocks and will search my stash for some coordinating solid fabric to pad out the size and pull it all together.  One box down...a ton more to go through, lol.  I also found the remainder of the fat quarter bundle I used to make my Travel EPP/Sewing Kit.  The fabric pieces were all tied together with a pretty ribbon, keeping all of the perfectly coordinated pieces together.  TODAY I know that the fat quarters have been cut up for a project, but a year or two from now I may not remember.  So I used a scrap of card stock to make a label that said "Partially Used", punched a hole in it and threaded it onto the ribbon.  I can now store it with all of my other "coordinated" bundles, but will know with a quick glance that my fabric amounts are less than they seem. 

So, it HAS been a thoroughly thrifty day...and I can only hope that I keep myself motivated and continue to add more and more frugal activities to my daily routine. 

IT HAS BEEN A BUSY WEEKEND...and hopefully it will put some money in our pockets!

As you know, Dear Hubby and I have been working on purging through our home.  After 25+ years in this house it is AMAZING the amount of stuff we have accumulated!  Despite having MORE than enough items to have a good garage sale at the end of this summer, it is doubtful we will be able to pull it off.  My Dear Sweet Dad is having health issues again and may be facing yet another surgery in the next few months to remove another cancerous lesion from his lung.  We are in a holding pattern waiting for results, which will determine our course of action.

SOooooo...this weekend we began packing and moving all of the garage sale stuff down to the basement.

This is the pile of stuff in the basement for our "eventual" garage sale.  Those 7 Bankers Boxes are STUFFED full.

This is the pile in the dining room which still has to be "packed up" and moved downstairs.

 

This is the pile in the guest room which still has to be moved to the basement.

AND,  WE HAVE NOT EVEN PURGED THROUGH ONE QUARTER OF OUR HOME!  CRAZY!!  I am sincerely beginning to think that the Tiny House Folks have the right idea.  All of this stuff has cluttered up our closets and rooms and we have really not NEEDED any of it!  Time for it to go!!!

Currently, Ebay has a Free Listing promotion going on.  So this weekend I pulled out items that I thought had a good chance of selling and listed them.  To keep them separate from the "garage sale" piles, I used our now empty guest bed for my Ebay staging area.  

These are the items I have listed thus far (along with J's bass guitar).  I still have TONS of things to go through and list...and that is without even searching!  I sure hope I can get it all listed before the promotion is up!

During our search through the house we also came upon my four high school yearbooks, Dear Hubby's high school graduating year book, along with his college graduating yearbook.  I had read on a blog that Classmates.com gives gift cards as a thank you for sending in your yearbooks for them to scan.  So I did a bit of research on their website and found that they already had a copy of Hubby's high school year book...but the rest of the yearbooks were still not in the system.  So I contacted them, filled out an online form, and they sent me a box and paid shipping to mail away the first two of my yearbooks.  They said it would take about six weeks to process completely before my books would be returned to me.  Today I hope to fill out the online form to mail my next two yearbooks and Hubby's one yearbook.  Right now "every little bit helps"  around here and if the gift cards (should I receive any) do not have an expiration date I will put them away for "emergency" use.  Of note...the yearbooks must be OWNED by you...not just a yearbook you pick up at a garage sale. 

Today, Monday, has also been a GREAT freebie day!  I am a member of Pinchme.com.  Pinchme is a site where you can request samples every month.  The samples are based on your profile of likes and dislikes.  You can earn points by giving reviews, watching videos and referring friends.  This month I received a free sample of Gevalia coffee (YUMMY), a hair cleanser that will remove styling products from your hair without damage, Garnier Fructis shampoo, condition and moisture replenishing treatment and a bottle of Sinful Colors Professional nail polish.  I will see if K would like the nail polish as silver is really not my color, lol.  Though it is GORGEOUS in the bottle, I think I am a bit OLD for the color.  Then again, maybe it is just what I need to give a little umph to my style!  If you would like to join Pinchme, please email me and I will refer you.  I get points for each referral, and we can ALL use a bit more free in our lives!

Well, I'm headed downstairs to eat some lunch and clean up a bit in the kitchen.  Have a wonderful, frugal, day!

FRUGAL FRIDAY!

I don't have anything to share this week as a crafting "finish", so there were no photos to make this post a bit more colorful.  But I am working on multiple projects and am making a bit of headway on all of them...yippee!  My crafting is in addition to reading and resting as needed. 

Instead, this week I have been concentrating on tightening our frugal belts and reducing our carbon footprint here at home. 

So what HAVE I done "frugal" this week?

I have been waking up in the morning with my phone alarm.  We have unplugged most of the old fashioned clock radios around the house...a step toward lowering our electric bill and our carbon footprint!

I take LOTS of medications every day, but I use generics whenever possible in order to lower our exorbitant medical bills.  Our local Shop Rite also provides one of my medications free of charge!  They have a program where they provide several different antibiotics and several different diabetes medications for free.  If you have a Shop Rite nearby it may be worthwhile to see if they have a similar program!

I take quick showers and use free shower gel, free shampoo and a handmade cotton washcloth.  I did buy the cotton yarn to make the washcloth...but, as usual, I bought it on sale. 

I wear my jeans more than once and put on clean polo shirts as needed.  I have had these polo shirts in my closet for several years.  I also have an additional 6 shirts, brand new with tags, in a box under my bed to switch out as my current supply becomes ratty.  They were all bought at ridiculously low prices on sale at Kohl's ($7.99 each)...with an additional 30% discount taken at the register!  

I am wearing my Crocs...saving wear and tear on my socks and my shoes.

I posted a "Wanted" on Freecycle for acrylic yarn for my queen sized guest room blanket.  If I can't score any free yarn I will check out the local thrift shops before I head to JoAnn's. 

I have turned off the lights all over the house in order to reduce our electric bill.

I have clicked through several emails to add points to my freebie accounts.  I have also done "searches" to earn points.  I have cashed in some Swagbucks points for a $5 Amazon gift ecard.

I have pieced, marked, sewn and trimmed six 5" squares for my quest room quilt.

I have crocheted about 2.5 rows on my guest room blanket, made mostly with free or drastically reduced yarn.

I have sent for and/or received a few freebies this week.

I have read 4 "trash" newspapers (Enquirer, Sun, etc. LOL) passed on to me by my mom.

I have read 8 magazines (free subscriptions to Women's Day and Good Housekeeping earned through Recyclebank, I think) and will pass them on to my mom.  

I am reading the first in the Jennifer Chiaverini Elm Creek Quilts series.  I purchased it at a ridiculously low price ($1.99 if I remember correctly...and it is a signed first edition).  I have five more hard bound books stacked in my sewing room to read while I am resting in my rocker.  Three were handed on to me by family members, and two were received as gifts.  I have several large bookcases in the basement FILLED with hard bound books that I got free on Freecycle.  I also have an enormous number of free books on my Nook for reading on days when my tremor is too bad to hold paper books. 

I have sent away for a free $50 gift card from our new electric provider.  We are saving money on the cost of our electric and the gift card "thank you" just makes the deal even sweeter!

I bought two new quilting books, original prices were $26.99 and $28.99.  My cost?...$2.97 each.  When I told Dear Hubby about my incredible bargain he told me I should not have stopped at just the two books if there were more there that I was interested in.  There were, and he is right...it is a bargain that probably will not be repeated for quite some time.  I think I will go back tomorrow and pick up two or three more books that I had been interested in!

I think that is about all I have done this week.  So, how about you?  What frugal things have you done this week?

SUPPORTING MY HABIT....

Shortly after I retired my dear husband bought me a new sewing machine capable of doing all of the "little things" I can no longer do...like threading the needle on a sewing machine, hand quilting, hand embroidery and even sewing on buttons!  My "Ellie" is a wonderful machine that will give me hours, days, weeks and YEARS of sewing enjoyment!  I had begun sewing again (I had sewn/quilted in my early to mid twenties) in an effort to keep my mind active and "save my sanity".  I had worked long hours six, sometimes seven, days a week for many years and being "sedentary" was driving me nuts!

I am just not the television and bon-bon type (although the lady above and I have a lot more in common than I would like!)

Sewing, quilting and just about any "hobby" usually comes with inherent expenses...some costing much more than others!  I have since jumped back into quilting and sewing with both feet and have attempted to support my "fabic habit" as cheaply as possible.  The best method I have found for obtaining cheap (actually FREE) fabric has been Freecycle.

 

I have received many yards of wonderful fabric from fellow quilters who were more than happy to help a "newbie" establish her stash.

My second source of cheap or FREE supplies has been to purchase the fabric and notions I need with gift cards earned through reading emails, doing searches, making required purchases and doing surveys. There are hundreds of websites that say they will pay you to read emails, do surveys and make purchases.  The ones I use most frequently are MyPoints, Swagbucks, Inbox Dollars and Recyclebank.  While I don't do as many surveys as I really should (I do occasionally leave my computer to do something else, lol), I do a LOT of searching and reading... and all four of these sites have points that add up quickly.  Just this past week I purchased some needed, and some just plain "wanted", sewing supplies and books using $40 worth of "free" gift cards received as awards from these companies! 

My next favorite supplier of fabric are our own closets!  Eventually all clothing wears out and the areas that are still in fairly decent shape can contain large pieces for crafting.  Sheets also provide quite a bit of material for quilt backings and piecing.  Worn out jeans from our family alone have been used to sew up a twin sized and queen sized denim quilt...and I still have an entire trunk full of perfectly good denim cut from worn out jeans! It seems THAT supply is endless, lol!

My fourth source for a cheap fabric "fix" are our local thrift stores.  There are many yards of fabric available in the form of clothing that has been donated to the thrift shop.  If possible try to get mens XXXL (or larger) shirts to provide the most yardage.  Garage sales also offer a wide variety of clothing that can be cannibalized for sewing and crafting.  Many times, if you hit the garage sale near closing time the homeowners will be more than willing to drastically drop the price just so they don't have to carry everything back into the house and then find someplace to store it until the next garage sale.  At the end of my garage sales I have almost always left unwanted items on the driveway with a large sign stating that everything is free for the taking.  I have never had many leftovers that I had to then donate or discard.

My last ready source of supplies are the big stores such as JoAnn's.  JoAnn's usually mails out sale brochures and coupons on a monthly basis.  A coupon that is good on "sale items" is a goldmine in disguise!  When I have one of those puppies in my pocket I make sure to spend extra time scouring their remnant bin and their mark down bins.

  

My final suggestion is just to "put it out to the universe".  I began doing this several years ago and have found that frequently when I express a desire, the desired item magically comes into my possession, without even mentioning it to others!  Of course, if you spread the word among your family, friends and coworkers you have an even better chance of finding what you need! 

So, how do YOU support your "habit"?

FREEBIES 2013

 

One of my goals for 2013 is to acquire as many "free" items as possible, thus establishing a "trickle income" to subsidize my disability income.  Every freebie I get is either adding cash to my coffers or reducing money I would otherwise have to spend!  I hope to accomplish this by either completing offers for free samples, posting "wanteds" or accepting "offers" on Freecycle, searching the web through paying browsers, reading emails, or doing surveys to rack up points to be exchanged for gift cards, magazine subscriptions, etc.  I will update the tracker in my sidebar as each item is received, but will give details of my "scores" in this post.

So far in 2013:

1. Two free AMC movie tickets from one of my husband's friends (he had more than he could use).
2. Two $5 Amazon gift cards - Swagbucks
3. One $25 Paypal gift card - MyPoints
4. One Starbucks coffee - Online Freebie
5. Five free K-cups when I ordered coffee for me, a machine for DS (I owe him one for his apartment as I have confiscated "his" for my sewing room), and coffee for DS to go with the machine. 
6. One $5 Amazon gift card - Recyclebank 
7. One full sized shampoo
8. Eight samples of shampoo and conditioner
9. Two packages of veggie seeds
10. One sample of toothpaste
11. One toothbrush
12. One dental floss
13. Two baby safety locks (they never came in time to give as part of a shower gift)
14. Two protein bars
15. One sample shaving cream
16. Six samples of fabric softener

A FEW BIG STEPS FORWARD...

I woke up at 5:00 this morning feeling...GOOD!  Considering how rotten I had felt yesterday, how good I was feeling today was a complete and total shock!  I have learned over the past year that when I have a GOOD day I need to grab it with BOTH hands and make the most I can of the infrequent occurrence.  So, after a quick shower and breakfast, I immediately dug into my massive ToDo list.

One of my goals for the next few months is to re-evaluate our monthly expenses and research cheaper alternatives.  I made a phone call this morning to an alternate electric supplier in our area and discovered that switching suppliers would save us around $25 a month, or more.  Within a half hour I had switched suppliers and locked in the reduced rate for one year.  I am looking forward to a little bit more money in our pockets starting in December!

Yesterday I found a copy of a vision claim in my "Pending" file.  There was no notation of payment received anywhere on the xeroxed claim, nor any type of Explanation of Benefits attached.  While I do forget more these days, it is usually only short term memory and I found it hard to believe I had failed to follow through with correspondence, had I received any from the company.  This morning I made a quick phone call regarding the claim and verified that it had NOT been processed, and they have NO idea how it fell through the cracks.  I don't really care as long as it was THEIR cracks it fell through and not mine, lol.  A check for $100 should be arriving at the house within the next four to six weeks.

On Wednesday we are scheduled to have our roof damage from Hurricane Sandy repaired.  However, current long range forcasts call for rain that afternoon.  I phoned the contractor and questioned how and when I would be notified if the appointment needed to be cancelled.  The wonderful woman I spoke with suggested that she pencil me in for an appointment on Friday just in case the weathermen are correct and Wednesday is a wash-out.  That way I can get on the books before all of the other customers call her on Wednesday to reschedule.  Works for me!  Hopefully we can get the repairs done before we have any additional damage due to a leak through the missing shingles.

Dear hubby and I need to have some routine blood work drawn in January.  We have all of our labs drawn at an independent laboratory facility.  We have discovered (the HARD way) that we can wait up to two hours when arriving as a walk-in at the facility upon opening.  EVERYONE wants to have their fasting blood work drawn as early as possible.  So, today I scheduled appointments for us at 7:00 and 7:15 AM.  We should be eating breakfast and sipping hot coffee by 7:45!  While making an appointment won't save us any money, it will save us time...and some days that is even more precious than money! 

A year and a half ago we had our air conditioner and heater replaced.  As part of our contract with the company who installed the units, we have a free yearly check up and maintenance of the equipment at the beginning of each season.  I usually wait for the HVAC company to call me to schedule, but since today was my day to focus on organizing our lives and saving us money, I decided to call now to set up the appointment.  Our heater will be serviced the first week of December...thus I know it will be running at peak efficiency when our weather starts to get REALLY cold!

Today I had one of my prescriptions transferred to a different pharmacy.  While it won't save me any money on this particular prescription, as my son works in the store he will be able to pick up my refills as needed and save the gas I would have wasted driving to pick up the prescription.   In addition, once another one of my prescriptions has run out I will be able to get that medication transferred over and filled at no cost...it is one of a group of maintenance medications that the pharmacy offers FREE to its customers.   Like I said, I am reigning in every penny, nickle and dime that I can...while simultaneously seeking any and all freebies I have coming my way.

I am once again focusing my attention on "freebies" and "trickle income streams".  To that end I visited several sites today that offer free samples upon request; and also did several online surveys to earn points...which can then be redeemed for gift cards.  When I opened my mailbox today I  was happy to find a freebie four pack of Green Mountain K-cups.  Since I drink one cup of coffee per day in my Keurig, these freebies will cover half a week's morning beverage at no cost to me. 

I keep all of my coupons for freebies in a separate zippered pouch in my purse.

I go through it every couple of days and make notations on my calendar of when my free item is expiring.  Then when I plan my necessary errands, I add stops to redeem as many of these coupons as possible.  My goal is to only leave the house one day a week, as saving gas is a high priority these days and less wear and tear on the car is always a good thing!  Beginning today, Dunkin Donuts is offering free medium iced coffees and iced teas with a special card.

Since I had to drop off a form at my doctor's office, I planned a stop at Dunkin Donuts on the way home.  I also had a coupon for a bag of Lindt truffles, which were on sale at Rite Aid and would be FREE with the coupon.  I plan to add the candies to a relative's Christmas gift as they are her favorite candy!

My next stop was at the beer distributor's to cash in the lottery tickets I received on my birthday.  In my family we have stopped giving greeting cards, but rather put lottery tickets into an envelope instead.  We are spending just as much, but at least giving the recipient a chance to win something!  I cashed in my tickets for $8; which I immediately placed into my savings envelope!

So, all in all, today has been a wonderfully productive day.  I did have one bit of a "step back" when a Christmas gift I was working on was ruined beyond repair and had to be thrown away.  Fortunately I had gotten the base item that I was embroidering with my machine for a really, REALLY reduced rate...so I am not out too much money.  Coincidentally, yesterday I found another gift for the same person...something they had mentioned wanting, and that I had just about ruled out EVER being able to find...and was able to purchase it with a $10 OFF coupon at Kohl's!  While I am disappointed that my project didn't work as planned, I am thankful that my learning curve didn't cost me too dearly!

And now, some 14 hours after getting up, I am beginning to feel really sore and fatigued.  Time to snuggle down under my warm electric blanket, still smiling over the amount of progress I was able to make with just ONE feel-good day!  Just think how much I could accomplish if my health would cooperate!  Oh well, maybe someday....