Ok I have a confession to make

I have to confess that I have not been trying as hard as I know I could be to be living more frugally. I know I have done a few things on a regular basis but in other areas I have been way to soft. Like eating out,spending money. Things like that. For example I want to get our grocery bill down and I have not even attempted this during this challenge,even though I had every intention of doing it.

Well low and behold we have to pay a large amount of money to get my suv fixed. We went to Home Depot to get some more of the things to work on our living room. We are redoing it. Well on the way home,my suv shut off and wouldn't start. We managed to get it off the road and tried to get it started and it did but then shut off as soon as John put it in gear. We knew this was going to happen sooner or later,we just wished it didn't happen right there. So we called and made an appointment with the dealer to have it fixed. And called for a tow. Thank God we belong to AAA, and our tow didn't cost a thing and it had to be towed 40 minutes away from where we broke down. Long story short we are looking at a 700.00 bill for fixing our vehicle. GULP!

Talk about a slap in the face,with all else that is going on in our lives, I will tell you all about this one day but for now I'm just not ready to open that chapter.

So no more playing around, I'm doing what I have to do to live more frugally not cheap but frugal.

God Bless,
Tammy

Frugal Challenge:Day 15,Thursday

Had a crazy day. Little C had her first ever sleep over and we took her and her friend to the movies to see Monsters V Aliens and to lunch.

So not to much was accomplished today just a nice day with our children and a friend.

Frugal Challenge:Day 14,Wednesday

All laundry done with cold water only,using the quick cycle,less detergent,and extra high spin cycle.

Lights and appliances were off and/or unplugged (kids weren't home)

All meals were made at home

No money was spent today ( I love days like that)

Frugal Challenge:Day 13,Tuesday

We tried hard to keep the lights and things off when not in use but the kids were no working so well with us. I kept running around the house turning off lights. I finally got tired of it and took out a light bulb. That got their attention.

All laundry washed in cold water cycle,short cycle,less detergent,extra high spin and dry timer on dryer was used.

Went to the grocery store today and save about 81.00.

Then we picked up some pizzas for lunch,will explane why the eating out in a bit,and spent 22.00 with tip.

Frugal Challenge:Day 12,Monday

All laundry was washed using the quick cycle,cold water only,1/2 the detergent and extra high spin cycle,then dried in the drier because the weather was not suitable for hanging them out to dry.

We bought the stuff to paint our living room and fix the ceiling so we had to spend that today so abit over 100.00 was spent today.

Frugal Challenge:Day 11,Saturday

Sabbath Day,no work done.

No money spent

Frugal Challenge:Day 10,Friday

Didn't do to much today,just had a nice day and relaxed.

Used no appliances and all lights were off when not in use.

Frugal Challenge:Day 9,Thursday

all appliances and such uplugged and lights off in room we are using anything in.



Laundry all quick cycle,using 1/2 the detergent,cold water cycle only and extra high spin.



Hanging all laundry on the line to dry so not using the dryer at all. YIPPIEE!!!!

all meals made at home. Used up most of our leftovers.

No money spent today!!!!

Frugal Challenge:Day 8,Wednesday

all lights off when not needing them



appliances unplugged or power strip off when not using them



hand washing all dishes to save on electricity and using less water and detergent,I'm using my double sink,one side for washing and one side for rinsing.



I don't know what it is called but I'm I guess you can say recycling my coffee grounds,first use the normal amount and then 1/2 off that until the cup is full. I'm saving so much on coffee doing it this way it's awesome!

Went to Lowes and got something for the bathroom that we needed we spent a little over 6 dollars there.

Went to the video store and got 4 dvd's for 20. If we do buy dvd's most often we try to do this way paying only 5.00 per dvd or lower.


all meals made at home.

Frugal Challenge:Day 7,Tuesday

all lights were off when not needed,sadly it was a gloomy day and it snowed so we needed to use the inside lights during the day at times.

appliances were unplugged or the power strips were turned off when not using them.

Washed laundry using 1/2 the detergent,quick cycle,cold wash,extra high spin

used the energy saving cycle on the drier,turns off when the clothes are dried

we ate leftovers for dinner

call the cable company and went from over 100 channels to 22 saving over 100 a month. The stupid thing is that we have to pay a 19.99 one time fee to down grade,they have to put a filter on our line to keep us from getting any more channels. Crazy!

No money spent! YEA!!!!!!

Frugal Challenge:Day 6,Monday

I went grocery shopping today and my total savings were. MFG Coupons - 25.59,Bonus cpns - 4.35,Kroger plus savings - 84,14 making my total savings for this weeks grocery trip was 114.08.

I now have enough dish soap to last us for about 1 year. I have enough auto dish detergent to last us 3 - 6 months, and drier sheets to last 1+ years because I cut them to make one sheet last two to three times longer.

Dinner tonight was roasted chicken and I will use what is left to make one or two more meals.

Laundry is still being done with cold water and using the quick cycle using less electricity,also I use the extra spin to make sure the clothes have as little water as possible in them so that the drier doesn't have to work as hard to do the same job all the while using less electricity to it's job.

The electrical appliances were unplugged when not being used.

All in all it was a good day!

Frugal Challenge:Day 5,Sunday

There's not much for me to report for this day. We had church and did rested for the day and had church again that evening.

Frugal Challenge:Day 4,Saturday

all appliances are unplugged that are not in use and all lights are off. The window shades are open in rooms that I can open them in right now to allow the sunshine to come in and lighten and warm up the house.



Today will be a bit more challenging for me,all of our family is here.



No rain in today and wind is blowing nicely and the sun is out,it's still a bit chilly out but it will be a nice day to hang the laundry out to dry and with the wind blowing like this it shouldn't take long to dry.



We will be spending some money today,we have to go out and get a few things needed for our house,molding and such,the key is getting the best deal we can for the things we need to get. I also need to try to find something for myself for Easter. I have been to a few stores but everything seems to be either to short or to low cut or tank top type. I don't wear that kind of clothing so I'm finding a very hard time finding something nice.



Our shopping trip today was a great hit. I got a new Easter outfit and shoes to go with it. Now all we need to do is get B a pair of dress shoes and we are set.

Total spent today a little over 200.00. Not for my clothes but in total. LOL

I know the past two days I have spent some money. I assure you it was not me wasting money but things we truly needed.

I much prefer days when I can say no money was spent today. LOL

Frugal Challenge:Day 3, Friday

All appliances are unplugged and lights are off in rooms that are not in use. ( I can't rely on the sun to light up all our rooms as it's rainy and dreary out this moring)



All meals fixed at home.



Laundry done with quick cycle,using cold water only,1/2 the detergent,and the extra high spin cycle so the dryer won't have to work as hard to dry the clothes.

Had to run some errands and spent all together 152.82.

Frugal Challenge:Day 2 Thursday

So far today I have made sure all the lights were off and anything that is plugged in that is not needed is unplugged (actually I have most of these thing now plugged into a strip so I can just turn it off instead of unplugging everything,makes it much easier)



Doing laundry,still using only cold water,1/2 the detergent and softener. Today I'm hanging all the laundry I can instead of using the dryer. Update: I washed 5 loads and hung them all on the line to dry.



Cleaning using my reusable microfiber rags. This way I'm washing and reusing them and not throwing them away and needing to buy more.



Later I am going to mix up some more multi cleaning solution,as I'm almost out.

Spent no money today

Frugal Challenge:Day 1,Wednesday

I went around and unplugged all appliances that were not in use or not needed,like the tv's,computer,microwave,coffee pot.

I made sure all the lights were off throughout the house and opened the blinds to allow some natural light in so I won't have to turn on the lights to do what I need to do
I did 4 loads of laundry using cold water only,1/2 the laundry detergent and I used the quick cycle option on my washer going from 50 minutes per load to 28 minutes per load
I made dinner at home
We spent no money

Frugal Challenge!

John and I are heading into some financially tough times just ahead. We know these times are going to be difficult but we are going into it with our eyes open and our faith in Jesus. Sooo in the shadows of this I decided to make a sort of game out of this if you will......
,
For the month of April and maybe longer I'm going to post what I spend each day if I spend in and what I do to cut corners and save my family more money. I think it will be fun. Even if I goof up I will blog about it. It will be great if I can get some of my readers to join in this with me!

God Bless,
Tammy