Well… I finally have electricity!  I am so happy.  A week without power is a long one!  The week drug on and the fact we didn’t have electricity was pretty bad considering our anniversary and my birthday occurred during it.  Talk about an “unfrugal week”.

- We had to throw away all the food in our refrigerator and freezer.  It makes me sick to think of all the wasted food and money.

+ Our electric bill will be less this month than it would have been.

- We had to eat out a lot because we couldn’t buy food or store it.

- My car is acting funny… again.

+ I kept myself busy doing other projects during the week.

- I wasn’t able to have the yard sale this weekend like planned.

- My Dad is in the hospital tonight due to two blood clots in his lungs.

 I am so thankful this past week is over.  We are going to buckle down next month and hopefully be able to save more money than we did this month.

Did the hurricane have any effect on where you live?

Posted under Food

For months we have been going back and forth between purchasing a Costco membership.  The frugal side of me didn’t want to spend $50 on something I wouldn’t physically see.  I felt like that was money I was throwing away or being frivolous with.  One of our family friends has a membership there and we had been going with her.  When she left the country for 6 weeks, we were running low on dog food and decided that with as much fresh veggies and fruit we eat that it would be worth it just for those three things to buy our own membership.

We did it Sunday night.  I’ve been two times since.  The first time Mr. Money and I went grocery shopping and the next I had to return peaches that someone (not me) didn’t check to make sure they weren’t moldy.  They were pretty gross.  I’ll have to say Costco was amazing about taking them back.

We bought a lot of fresh fruit, vegetables, and even some things we hadn’t planned on because they were a really good price.   One of my fears is that I’ll go over board with the membership and buy things just because they are a good price in bulk.  I tend to do that sometimes.  I think as long as I make a list before hand and go in prepared to buy just those items I’ll be fine.  If I don’t have that list, I think it will be a million times harder to stay on track.

All in all, I am really glad we bought a membership.  I think it will definitely pay for itself over a year.  The only thing I am worried about is that we should have bought a Sam’s Club membership over Costco, but then again, it is MUCH closer for me to go to Costco, and with gas going up again, I think we made the right decision.

Do you have a membership to a bulk wholesaler?  Do you think they are worth the money?

Posted under Budget, Food, Save Your Money

Here at the Money Household, when you open our refrigerator, you’ll see a lot of fresh vegetables and fruit.  We love our fresh foods!  Unfortunately, the only drawback to having so many fruits and veggies on hand (besides the cost) is that sometimes we’ve got too much that we don’t know what to do with.  I try to get creative when that happens.  With extra greens, I throw them in our green smoothies.  If we have extra fruit, we eat it or throw it in the freezer.  I realized today that we have too many lemons and oranges.  What was I going to do with them?

I juiced them!  I was so proud of myself for thinking of that.  Juicing may have been your first thought, but it wasn’t mine.  I decided to make homemade lemonade and fresh squeezed orange juice.  I don’t have a fancy juicer, but I used the one I do have, and it worked fine.

When you’ve got excess vegetables and fruits, think about juicing.  I know there are many people that don’t have a juicer, but you can juice without a juicer.  I juice things in my blender.  I throw them in, turn it on high, let it get to mush, and then strain it.  My mom picked us up a juicer at a yard sale the other day for $5, so I won’t have to be doing this much longer. I was so proud of myself for coming up with the idea to juice the oranges and lemons.  I normally just eat the oranges, but this was a great way to not let them go bad.

What are some frugal tips you’ve discovered yourself that you are really proud of?

Posted under Food