Sunday, January 14, 2018

Frugal Accomplishments on the Road to Financial Fitness

Admittedly, we have not had many frugal accomplishments as of yet.  At least not enough to counteract the hemorrhaging of funds thus far.  I have got to develop some sort of plan to get the spending under control but it is proving to be difficult due to things not entirely within my control.  Sigh.
So, I will seek to control what I have control over.
By jotting down the successes that I have in that area I hope to find encouragement.
So, here we go small and simple successes and frugal accomplishments that will hopefully help get us back on the road to financial fitness and keep us there.

-We began this new year with celebrations.  Bishop turned 17 and he shares a birthday with a cousin and that cousin's daughter, who turned one.  The moment the wee one was born we all committed to having a birthday buddy birthday party.  The year sped by way too quickly, the birthdays were upon us and we had to plan a party quickly.  We decided on a theme and went at the planning and preparation.  Not every decision made was the most frugal but many, many were and I will share some of those now.  The decorations were created with things that we had on hand, ribbon that was discounted by 50% and floral picks that were in the Christmas section at 66-80% discount.  Most of the food that I provided was stuff that I typically have on hand with fun little twists added to it.  I was tempted to buy food coloring (to add some of those fun twists) that matched the cakes colors precisely but thought that I might have some on hand.  I resisted the temptation and found gel food coloring at home that worked perfectly.  I also resisted the temptation to buy sprinkles that were on clearance and were "perfect" and I found the truly "perfect" ones at home.  I also had candy melts at home that I found useful.  I did purchase some fun colored candy melts to use but will also use them to make Easter treats.  Other things that I purchased will also be used for Easter.  I will repurpose the decorations but add dangling Easter eggs.  I bought plastic tablecloths in orange so that I could use them in the future for football parties (my favorite team and Bishop's favorite team both have orange in their team colors).  The ribbon I will use for gift wrapping.

-For my nieces birthday gift I gave her three beautiful dish towels that I bought with Kohl's cash a couple of years back hoping to embellish them and gift them.  I chose three that, although not embellished, match her home well.  I also included a pan that I owned that she had been eyeing.  This is a well-loved pan, used frequently, but the look in her eyes when she first saw it made it easy to give it up.  I wrapped it in a robe box that I bought a couple years back at a post Christmas sale.  It probably cost me a quarter.  I finished the package with some ribbon that I had bought while 50% off.   I gifted the remaining roll of ribbon to Sarah as well as it was something she eyed while we were in Hobby Lobby together.


-Speaking of gifts, Christmas gift giving was a mixed bag.  We may have over spent on our kids but I think I did really well on the extended family.  I don't do Christmas cards and I don't always do gifts.  Sometimes, though, things just fall in line.  In the past I have had the goal of sorting through every nook and cranny of my home and parting with some of my stuff.  While doing this I would set aside some nice things that might could be used as gifts.  Oftentimes, these items were kits that the kids and I never got to and they have since outgrown or something similar.  I went through my stash and had something for everybody.  I gave the Bible origami that I had intended on doing several winters ago to one grandniece, she loved it and started in on it immediately.  Many years ago I gave each of the boys nice slingshots and somehow I purchased an extra one.  I gifted it to a grandnephew, he loved it and has been using it to shoot grapes at targets. :)  Maceo redid his room and opted to get rid of a metal sign that says "Theatre" so we gifted it to the grandnephew that does theatre and he loved it.  I gave my nieces plates that say "Jesus is the Reason" that I have used in the past but were ready to part with.  I then had them fill up the plates with goodies from my goodie table.  I then wrapped it with Christmas saran wrap that I had purchased years ago at a post Christmas sale.  They loved it as they decided that they wouldn't have to stress over baking cookies for Santa now.There are more but this gives you an idea of what I did and how successful it was.

-I wrapped each of those gifts in brown craft paper, used the tags that I made some years back and accented them with ribbon and bows that I already had on hand.  The wrapping was even considered a success.  People actually commented on how pretty the wrapping was.  This confirms for me that this is how I will wrap presents in the future.  I have had this idea for quite some time but have needed to work my way through the stash of paper that I had.  My thought is that brown craft paper is cheap and versatile.  It can be used for every occasion.  It can be stamped or painted or just accented with simple things.  This is what I will be doing from now on and this is why I felt it was ok to buy an assortment of ribbon for the birthday party.  It can be repurposed as gift wrapping.  I am also saving all brown paper bags to use as wrapping.  If it is a nice handled bag I intend on collaging or painting over the store logo to create a custom gift bag.

-I have done a similar simplifying of my card giving.  I have downsized my card collection, even getting rid of most of the vintagey type ones, and am only giving out cards that have been made by family.  I have cards that are prints of my step mothers paintings, she gifted these to me.  I also have cards that I have adhered photos that the boys or I took.  I purchased brown tag paper type cards from Hobby Lobby with 40 or 50% off then glued the pictures on.  All of these cards are blank so they work for every occasion based on what I write on the inside.  I have been using these exclusively for months now, even for Bishop's birthday card, and it is cheaper and less stressful.

-Walgreens had sparkling grape juice discounted to a third of what I typically pay so I purchased all that I would need for Easter, Thanksgiving and next Christmas.  For what I would typically spend on beverage for one holiday I was able to purchase what I needed for the year.  (This saved me about $7.50)

-I like to plan ahead.  Just as I know that we will use ate least six bottles of sparkling beverage per year for the holidays, I know that we will use at least one yellow cake mix and one white cake mix for birthdays throughout the year.  In November or December I found cake mixes  on sale for $1 so I picked up several and had a yellow cake mix ready for Bishop's birthday.  To this I added a homemade frosting and candles in my stash.  (I just looked up what bakers charge for a two layer birthday cake and am a bit stunned.  Now, I will admit that a cake purchased from a baker would look a lot nicer than this cake but my insistence on baking the family birthday cakes probably saves us about $30 for each cake).

-Bishop's boy scout troop had a lock in.  We took treats using what we had on hand, although I did buy two bottles of soda.  I made chocolate chip cookies. chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate chip dip with graham crackers and a meat, cheese, cracker tray.  I helped create quite a smorgasbord using, primarily, things leftover from all the recent celebrations.  The smorgasbord was so impressive with every one else's offerings added to it that the boys couldn't finish all that we had provided and some of the treats returned to their respective homes, which my family loved.  (Although I used up some resources at home I saved myself a trip to the grocery store, the risk of impulse buys and at least $10 in purchases of chips, etc.)

-I needed toothpaste and I need to begin to replenish by pantry so I made a quick trip to CVS on Saturday evening before the sales change with $6 in my pocket to see what I could get.  I got a tube of toothpaste for $1, 14 elastic hair bands for Bishop for $1.25 and two gallons of water because Bishop requested some and Maceo will need it for rehearsal on Sunday.  I spent $4.50 and kept $1.50 in my pocket.  The hair bands I will add to my stash.  If Bishop doesn't NEED them before Easter they will go in his basket.  I think this is a good start and I will follow it up with taking a sneak peak at the the coupon inserts and sales papers.  (My true savings on these items are $5.)

-I redeemed 2200 swagbucks for a $25 Amazon gift card.

-I worked 1.75 hours for our community theatre in exchange I don't pay for Maceo's troupe and additional training.  (This has an approximate weekly value of $34).



52 Week Challenge:  I cleaned out a purse that I stopped using nearly a year ago and found a lot of cashola; $47 to be exact.  So I deposit that $47 into my 52 Week Challenge account for the entire four weeks of January.  This fulfills the $25, $12, $6 and $4.

Learning Jar O' Change:  I began the month with $57.68 in my learning jar.  To that I add $6.46 for a new balance of $64.14.

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