September 27 Savings

Saturday is usually my day to clean the house, do the laundry, walk the dog, and bake some goodies while DH is planning for next week's FB game with the other coaches. Today I also spent the morning at a Pampered Chef party and will be the first to admit I did spend a good chunk of money today! The justification (and there always is one, right) is that I got a few Christmas gifts for family and the things I bought for myself will come out of my show choir money left from last year.  Never-the-less, feeling a little guilty,  I consciously chose a lunch and dinner menu that would use up some freezer and pantry stockpiles and create enough leftovers to get us through the end of the month (tater-tot casserole and fruit for lunch and grilled BBQ chicken with seasoned potatoes for supper). 

I also used some long-held ingredients to make Onion Bread, 2 loaves of Pumpkin Bread and 2 Crumb-top Apple Pies which supplemented our meals (and waistlines--I cannot bake something without eating some fresh out of the oven!) I froze one loaf of bread and one pie for the upcoming church auction. For my savings today, I accomplished a FIRST in my life as a wife:

Investment: Our lawn was in desperate need of mowing before a Small Group bonfire tomorrow night and DH was busy every night this week and all day today. So yours truly mowed the lawn for the FIRST time ever! This is a sad fact, but it is the one chore that DH is usually glad to do and it's never been necessary for me to pitch in here before. I have used a riding mower once or twice when growing up, but my grandpa always mowed our lawn and grove (and at 88-still does). But, I did it and even though the wheel patterns are not close to the Major League Baseball-esque designs my husband usually performs, the grass is significantly shorter and that's all that matters.

Instead of: Last year during FB season, we seriously considered hiring the kid down the street to do the mowing for us. Since I was able to help out today, we avoided paying someone else to do it.

Savings: $15

Bonus: It was a gorgeous day, I got a little bit of a workout (our push mower is not self-propelled), and walking a half-hour in my husband's shoes made me appreciate him taking care of this chore 99% of the time.

September 20 Spending

My no-spending resolve faded today as I spent $5.50 on items that are essentially non-essentials. This morning I brought the stuff that didn't sell at last weekend's garage sale to the 2nd-hand donation store down the street (and remembered to get a receipt for the tax write-off). Of course, I looked around afterwards and found some bargains I couldn't resist.

I bought:

$3.25 for 3 home-decor items I'm saving to eventually redecorate our guest room. (Including 2 Norman Rockwell copies that I'm collecting from garage sales/thrift shops as I see them)

$0.75 for 3 baskets. Our church's Harvest Auction is in a few weeks and I like to put the baked goods I donate into nice baskets--helps to get a higher bid, I think! Plus, they're hardly any more expensive than sturdy paper plates.

Plus...

Investment:

$1 for eight 2-prong pegs that fit in the peg board installed on the garage wall. (Might go back for more of these as needed.)

$0.50 for a bag containing a dozen metal skewers and at least 2 dozen wooden kabob sticks. I've always wanted to grill kabobs, but couldn't justify buying new skewers and the premade kabobs in the meat department are so expensive.

Instead of: The peg hooks cost $0.92 each online for a total of $7.36. The metal skewers would have cost  $3.49/dozen and the wooden kabob sticks would have been $.57 alone (if bought in a quantity of 1000!)

Savings: $11.42 worth of peg hooks, skewers and kabob sticks minus the $1.50 I paid. Total: $9.92

Bonus: The garage peg wall can help us get more organized, and I can start browsing meat/vege kabob recipes, although cake/fruit/marshmallow kabobs are just as likely!