DG's frugal journal

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Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Tuesday am

Headed to Home Depot yesterday to buy trellis for the large shed window. The screen alone in the window is too easy to push out or blow out or whatever. I will put a trellis over the bottom half, attach the screen to it on the inside and hopefully reduce the repairs. I do want the breeze in the shed and I do want the light, so give this a try. The plastic 2 ft wide trellis was on sale and they fit into my car easily. They only had 5 left. Now they have none. Used a rebate gift card. I love free.

Rain is expected later, so get the last two cans filled with leaves and maybe some mowing. I need the rain to come because I need to wash dishes and rain is an excuse to stay inside.

Maybe more later.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Wednesday am

The rains came over night as predicted and look to last through midday. Great time to catch up on dishes and stuff. Got all the cans filled with leaves. Ready to put out later for pick up tomorrow. Mowed a section of the yard. The section that is gets out of control the worst. I stopped because it was starting to sprinkle and I needed to clean up for a trip to the cat vet.

I am glad I started mowing early this year. I also started working on the weeds near the lake. Seems that everyone on the lake front has a bit of trouble with weeds growing near and into the lake. Most here have a tiny patch of lakefront. I have a huge section. Some is actually mine. Some is actually easement to the county, but I get to care for it. Because most of it is a wetland, I actually can't do anything with it which is fine. The section I could do something with is much smaller. The invasive weed, umbrella papyrus dominates. I have cut it back a bit and will continue to chop at it.

I didn't use the bag on the mower because the grass was so thick, I would have had to stop every few minutes and I would not have gotten as far as I did. I did lightly rake the area after and got a can and a half of mixed grass clippings and leaves to put out.

Tomorrow is pick up day for the leaves. Then I can fill up the cans again. Last year, I tried to be environmental and not rake up the leaves until the migratory birds left for the north, but that put me so far behind the power curve, I never caught up. Makes me sad that I can't do more for the birds, but I can't. I do have the trees and the untouched wetland area.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Thursday pm

Got cold overnight. 38F they say. House dropped down to 70F, briefly 69F. But now close to 71F. So no heat needed. Hooray. Tonight low is mid 50F's so we should be able to avoid heat again tonight. Tomorrow outside up to high 70's. Then onto 80's by the end of the weekend. Thanks to all the insulation, windows and shutters, the total energy costs this month was $47. At best, the energy cost for this house can be as low as $39. This represents well pump, household electricity use. Insulation is not as effective against summer heat as it is against winter cold, so I may not see many months below $40.

Goal for the next 2 weeks is to use up all my gift coupons.
Dgflorida
Posts: 4381
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2015 8:10 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Dgflorida »

Sunday am

Thinking of ways to reduce costs. Nothing is coming to mind right now. We have done everything to reduce energy costs with insulation, new doors, windows, shutters. I clean using rags instead of paper towels. I clean grease off of plates and then wipe them with used coffee filters before washing. Use girlie wipes instead of toilet paper most of the time. I save dish water to water flowers and that also means little or no grease in the pipes since the grease collects on the dish water saving container and I can wipe it out into the garbage. I recycle vegetable scraps, egg shells and the like. I make my own salad dressing. Also have rain barrels for watering. I don't raise my own food right now because I am pushing on building, repairing and maintaining the property. I hope within a year, I will be done with that and I can focus on a garden. Looking for ideas to be more frugal.
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Jackielou
Posts: 13425
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 7:51 pm

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by Jackielou »

It really is a challenge sometimes to find a new frugal move. Sometimes I want to find just one big thing that saves me lots of money in one fell swoop. Never going to happen.

Yet with a few frugal moves, saving for big ticket items, using our credit cards wisely (for cash back) and having our savings in various pots, we aren't doing too badly.
Jackie
http://inthelandofthelivingskiesii.blogspot.ca/
floridacatlover
Posts: 8057
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 7:21 am

Re: DG's frugal journal

Post by floridacatlover »

DG, you and I do not always (or often) see eye to eye but I say this out of kindness.

Lighten up. Life is too short to focus so much on frugality at the expense of other parts of your life. I may be incorrect, but I don’t think you NEED to be more frugal. Watch a movie, read or listen to a book, listen to music, buy a pretty plant you want even if it is not on sale or marked down, buy yourself a small treat (pretty kitchen towels, new pair of nice shoes, new lipstick - my mom’s favorite, whatever). Take time to relax and not just get stuff done.

My mom was very frugal at one point in her life but she learned in later years to buy things she wanted even though they were not on sale. I’m frugal, too, in my own way but I want to enjoy life, too. How much is enough. Probably this is frugal heresy.
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