All I have to bring for my in-laws Thanksgiving dinner is Dinner rolls & Green Bean Casserole.  There will be 15 people there.  Plus probably 4-6 extra because the kids almost always bring a friend or 2 (and we have 4 kids!), my in-laws daughters almost always have a b/f there...so I plan on providing for around 20-25.  I shopped at sam's to be able to buy the stuff I need in bulk.  I got a hugh bag of french fried onions for around $4.00 (just one regular size in the grocery store costs this much!!!), bought the cream of mushroom soup (in a six pack) for a little more than $6.00 & a 3# bag of frozen green beans for a little more than $3.00.    total cost of  casserole:  $13.00.  It will actually only take about half of the ingredients to make a big enough casserole to feed everyone so I will actually get 2 casseroles out of all the ingredients so total cost of 1 casserole to feed 25 people = $7.50

The Texas Roadhouse (TTR) has a gift Card Deal going on.  Buy a $30.00 gift card and you get a small galvanized bucket of peanuts with TTR seasoning salt & TTR steak sauce for $5.00 (plus it has a cute little shiny christmas ball in it & it is cello-wrapped &  has a bow ready for gift giving!)  and you get a dozen of their dinner rolls for free.  so...everytime we have went to TTR for the past month we have ordered this gift card.  We go to TTR just about every w/e!  We now have enough dinner rolls for our Thanksgiving dinner and didn't have to pay for them, plus we have 8 of our Christmas gifts bought & paid for!  (4) $30 gift cards for TTR for my 2 siblings and my husbands 1 sibling and hubby's daughters b/d gift, & then we have 4 of the gift buckets (@ only $5.00 extra), 1 for each of my husbands kids.  Now all we have left to buy for is the grandkids.  I will probably go to Spangles where you can buy individual $1.00 gift 'bucks'.  I think it's spangles that does this.  Either spangles or BK.  anyways...u can get a kids meal at any of those places for about $5.00.  sooo...$5.00 for each kid = $35.00.  Not bad for gifts for 6 grandkids!  They will get plenty of toys from their aunts & gr. grandma so I doubt they will miss one less toy.  Plus it will be a special treat for them.  They love eating at fast food places but their parents can only afford it for them as special treats like on b/d's or for a good report card or a special night out.

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I started to head out this morning @ 10a.m. to the chiropractor.   Got sidetracked on the computer and forgot.  so I gave them a call and told a little white lie.  Said my husband just called and was broke down.  Can I come in later?  so...I went this afternoon instead.  I went ahead and got my running around done and then went to the chiro this afternoon.  I'm glad It happened the way it did cuz my back was screaming by the time I was done with my running around and the chiro sure helped it.

While out, I used a BurgerKing coupon for a free Whopper.  All I had to purchase was a side order of French Fries.  I brought my own drink (Iced Tea) so I paid .89 for a small fry and got my free burger.  So I got a whopper & fries ($2.89) for .89 cents.  savings of $2.00

I've started uploading my pics on my camera to the laptop and then using an online photo store to develop them for me.  However I shouldn't do this because I have my own photo printer...I've just gotten lazy lately and not wanted to dig it out.  It costs 16 cents for Walgreens to print a 4x6 online for me, .24 cents if I order it in store from a disk or SD card.  I figured out the cost of printing my own pics at home and it averages .14 cents.  so...i am only saving 2 cents per pic by printing my own.

I've been feeling guilty lately because I've been doing so much shopping at Sam's (translates to $$$$) instead of going to Dillons ($$$) or Aldi's ($ - $$).  So I decided today instead of spending $7+ for 2 b/d cards from The Hallmark store, that I would go to The Dollar Tree.  Most of their cards are cheesy and look cheap is why I don't typically use them.  However today I managed to find 2 nice cards @ .50 cents each.  Savings of $6.00!  so...I had heard that The Dollar Tree is now selling Lion Brand specialty yarns (not a lot of choices in color or type).  I have a pattern for a crocheted skinny scarf using LionBrand Trellis yarn & LionBrand Fun Fur, I have been dying to make it but refuse to pay the high price of trellis & fun fur. Both of which can run up towards $7.00 a skein!  so, I used that $6.00 b/d card savings to buy 6 skeins of yarn.  I should be able to make 3-5 scarves with this yarn I bought today.  I spent $6.00 on yarn but can sell these scarves for $20.00 each at the craft fair this next w/e.  And I have no doubt they will sell.  It is a very simple pattern and I should be able to whip them right out.  With Christmas coming up, people snatch up hand crafted stuff like it is lined with gold!  I also have crocheted 2 dog sweaters (I posted a photo of Buddy modeling one of the sweaters), 2 dish clothes, 2 adult beanie caps and 2 newborn beanie caps.  I am now gonna make 3 or 4 of these scarves and add that to my stash of craft items to sell next w/e.  Plus I am going to make dishclothes, beanie caps & scarves for family members christmas presents this year.  I also saved in Gas by not going to the Hallmark store!  The closest Hallmark is about 3 miles from me, the closest Dollar Tree is 3 blocks from me.  I now have $66.00 worth of merchandise for the craft fair.  If I get 4 of these scarves completed it will add an additional $80.00.  All of these items I have mentioned above was made with FREE yarn!  Except the scarves of course.  A woman in my crochet group gave me (2) 13 gallon trash bags full of yarn.  and that is what i used to make everything.  Oh...and the dishclothes.  I bought that yarn.  But still...it is only $1.98 a skein so I will still make $1.00 profit on one and a $2.00 profit on the other.

I stopped at a thrift store today, only because I was dropping off a big bag of stuff to donate.  I'm glad I decided to go in and look around.  I found a bag of yarn for $2.98 cents and it had probably $50 worth of yarn in it.  6 skeins of cotton yarn.  wonderful stuff to make dishclothes with.  I may try to get a few more done for the craft fair.  I also purchased a bag that had office supplies in it.  Mostly small writing tablets, a set of very nice stationary, matching stickers & envelopes, a book of hand written receipts.  I'm going to ask Jan if she thinks we could possibly use that at the craft fair!   some sticky notes,  a magnet sheet (will make nice backing for fridgie magnets!), half a dozen or so bookmarkers (will make nice inserts into christmas cards or thank-you cards, paper hole protectors, file folders, note pads and I don't remember what all it had, but it was a lot.  The main reason I bought it is because it had a container of tags in it.  One of my stops today was to be @ office max to buy some of these very same "selling tags".  they are small paperlike tags you put on merchandise when you are selling it.  they attach with a little string.  anyways...I would have paid probably up towards $10 at office max for them...but I got that AND all that other stuff for $2.98!  So...I had a savings of approx $7.00 on my tags.  (the sell tags was my contribution to the craft fair booth set up cost).  Jan covered the cost of the table & chairs and her friend rented the booth. 

It is so exciting about this craft fair.  I guess it is it's first year that St. Mary's Cathedral is holding a craft fair.  A certain amount of proceeds of sales go to the church.  I am so excited about getting in on the ground floor of this event.  I guess they had about 20 people/groups rent booth & table space so that means it will be a small event but still...for it's first year I have heard 20 is pretty good.  If they have a good enough turn out this year, they will hold it again and rumour has it that they are already planning for next year!  I am already looking at things I can make that would possibly sell.  I am thinking more along the lines of making scrapbooking pages, cards, magnets & bookmarks...and no telling what else I can come up with in the meantime.  Since I have a nice digital camera, a very nice photo printer...I can always buy blank button pins and put people's pics on them and sale them.  That could be something I could make right on the spot next year at this craft fair. 

I've gotten off topic, LOL.  I was talking about ways I was thrifty today.  All the different ways I saved my family money today. 

1.  Shopping at The Dollar Tree for b/d cards & crafting items. (savings of $6.00 for cards)  (savings of $42 in yarn)

2.  Shopping closer to home, saving in gasoline. (estimated $2.00)

3.  Using coupons for dining out. (savings $2.00)

4.  Using online Photo printing (no savings, cost me:    .36 cents)

5.  selling tags  (savings of approx $7.00)

6.  Purchase of Yarn (savings of approx $47)

7.  Purchased PaPaMurpheys Pizza with $10.99 coupon (savings of $4.99)

so it is Approx $69.00 in savings today!  Of course I did spend $7.00 on yarn & .36 on pictures so in all actualilty I only saved $61.64.

My husband won't notice the savings though.  He'll just notice how much I DID spend, LOL.  Actually though, he is wonderful and puts up with me.  Usually not saying too much about what I buy.  He knows that I am very conscientious about what I buy & spend.  And as I am unable to work...I am hoping he appreciates every little bit of savings I can bring him.

Well, I will try to do better.  Honest I will.  I don't know when my last blog was?  Probably my first blog was my last?  IDK.

anna

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I went to a YWCA thrift store yesterday.  I don't know why they called it a Thrift store because it was anything but that.  They had crockpots, coffeepots, countertop grills, panini grills...charging as much for them as if they were brand new.  There is a new crockpot out that has 3 interchangable crocks.  They had one there and I was so excited when I seen it.  I walked up to it real fast because I noticed another woman kept eyeballing it.  I was so disappointed when I looked at the price.  This crockpot runs about $50 in the store, at this thrift store they wanted $45.  Yes, it looked fairly new, it looked to be in good condition.  I'm sorry...if I'm gonna pay that much money for a used item I expect it to come in a box with instructions.

I mainly stopped there because I was at the medical supply store next door to it.  An acquaintance of mine is the owner/operator and I needed a new nebulizer kit & electrodes for my tens unit and he gives me a 10% discount.  Of course since he is a private owner and not a corporation his prices are a little higher, so his discount he gives me is just like I am going to a regular place like Harts or the big place over by the hospital...sorry can't think of the name of it.  anyways....I went to the thrift store looking for yarn & quilting material.  They had 2 skeins of veriagated blue yarn..so pretty.  They wanted $2.99 each for the yarn.  You can buy brand new yarn Redheart yarn for $3.12 at walmart.  even though the yarn had no sleeve on it, I'm pretty sure it was Red Heart.  they had no quilting material.  A few scraps of material but that was it.

I've been wanting to do a puzzle.  I have several Thomas Kinkaide puzzles already and was wanting to do one of those.  I noticed at this thrift store they had a lot of picture frames...very large ones, big enough to frame a 1000 or 2000 peice puzzle.  They wanted $9.00 for them.  None of them had glass in them.  So that means I would have to go somewhere (Lord only knows where cuz I don't) to have glass measured & cut to size...which I imagine is not cheap.  You can buy them brand new at walmart for around $12-$20 dollars.  Or if your  not picky about your frame you can buy a poster frame for about $8-$10.  There glass ware was expensive along with their dish sets.  I found a beautiful dish set called "Wheatland"  And since I live in a wheat state I thought it might be an interesting set to own.  I already have drinking glasses that look just like the design on the dishware.  It wasn't a complete set.  It had something like 6 plates, 7 underliners, a sugar & creamer, 5 or 6 bowls and one or two other peices.  They wanted $79.00 for it.  I seen no name on the back to say where it was made or the name of the design so I couldn't come home and look it up.  And then there were other little what-nots and knick-knacks...they just wanted entirely too much for it.  I did find a Michael Bolton CD for $2.99.  That is all I bought. 

There are several other thrift stores I like a lot better so I think I will go and visit one of them today.  I'm not looking for anything inparticular...one just never knows what good deal one will find at a thrift store.

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I am new to this site.  Not new to blogging.  However have never done a blog to a specific genre (frugality).  This is more hard than I thought.

A little back story first.  I'm married.  going on 10 yrs in Feb.  Both of us had good paying jobs for the first 8 yrs of our marriage.  His job at Boeing petered out and i had to quit my job d/t health issues.  Now we are a one income family.  It's been hard the past few yrs while DH went to school and I fought with workmans comp for every little penny they wanted to give me (which wasn't very many pennies, LOL).  But with time all bad things eventually get better.  We now have a home that's bought & paid for (thanks Uncle Ed---RIP).   DH has graduated school and took a job with COX communications doing IT work and I stay at home trying to figure out ways to save my honey money.

It doesn't seem like I save very much though!  I spent $205.00 @ Sam's on Friday.  Ok...so I won't have to go to Sam's for 3 months (or do much shopping other than bread, milk, butter..stuff like that) but still...that's a lot of money to spend at once.  Then I went to Dillon's and spent another $120.  Ok..20 of that was cash for my pocket.  Then filled my car up with petrol to the tune of $1.99 a gallon = $24.00  better than the $36 it was taking to fill it up just a week ago (and now gas has gone down even more, to $1.97).  So I guess all-in-all I do ok.  $300 for approx 3-4 months worth of groceries isn't really too bad.  That averages to $25 a week for 2 people.   Actually less than $25 because it's sometimes  5 or 6 months before I have to do any serious grocery shopping, just picking up bread, cheese, staples in between.  Mostly just bread.  We don't eat a lot of cheese, butter, milk, eggs...your typical staples.

Well, hubby has just come home from work.  He works a split shift so I really don't get to see him that much.  He leaves for work an hr after he gets up and I am usually in bed an hour or two after he gets home...sometimes I miss him but mostly I enjoy the time by myself.  I have DDD (degenerative disk disease), FMS (fibromyalgia syndrome) and the rest of my joints are ate up with arthritis so I pretty much hurt all the time and don't get out much.  My computer is my lifeline to the outside world (pathetic but true) and I really think I would go crazy without it.  So now i must give up my laptop to visit with him for a bit, heat him up a plate for supper and then I'll go to bed after he eats.

I'll try to write more tomorrow.  I'm not real good about sticking to something but I'm gonna try!

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