Renew my commitment to frugality

I feel I have made this goal. My mindset right now is that anything I don’t spend on unneeded items is more I can put toward saving for Hawaii and paying down my debt. I have highlighted several examples through my entries and overall feel this one is done . . . sometimes a feeling is all we have to know we’ve met a goal!

This is kind of an annoying double-entry. I just made these little boxes and I feel that it is also a frugal thing to have done. Now I can do my little part to contribute to our PTA – while 10 or 5 cents for a pesky little seal doesn’t seem like much, if all of our 800 kids plus the staff brought in a few a year, that would add up to a lot of buck. So I’m going to do my part. Now, I don’t buy things in order to obtain these slimy little seals (I think they should just donate money and not tie it to purchasing, but that’s the purpose behind cause-related marketing, I guess), but when I happen to come across them, my school might as well make a little money off of them.

Anyway, the reason this is an ode to organization is that I’m more convinced every day that organization makes being frugal much easier. For example, once I organized my cards. Now, I know exactly what kinds of cards I have, how many, etc., and rarely need to take a last-minute trip to the store to pick up a $4 greeting card. I try to buy lots at garage sales and/or thrift stores and keep the supply stocked up. That’s just one example. For every little organizational project I spend my time setting up, it seems like I gain back that time tenfold in using the system (not to mention the decreased stress). It’s taken my like 2 and a half years to get to this point, and there are still things I’d like to organize in my life. To conclude, I think that organization is a huge part of being able to be frugal.

My BF and I are off to Isle Royale National Park in about two weeks, and I am wondering if my more travel-style backpack is going to be sufficient for our three day hike. It’s a quality pack, and has hip belt and chest belt as well as load straps, so that’s good. I’m worried about the distribution of weight. But I also don’t want to pay retail for a new one, which is where I’d be at if I wanted to try them out. On the other hand, to buy sight unseen online would be cheaper, but riskier. I think ultimately I will try my pack out loaded around the neighborhood, and if that’s not going to work out, rent a pack from REI with my 50% off of rental coupon. My money is working on other things right now!

on canning and freezing. The hope is that it will help me be able to preserve veggies in season, when they are cheaper, for use in the winter. It’s only an hour long, though, so I think it’s just an introduction. That’s a start . . .

I bought three really nice shirts at the thrift store last week, instead of new (and one was new, actually, tags still on it . . .). I have also avoided buying shampoo and conditioner for like two years by using up all those teeny bottles and then my beloved sister always has more teeny bottles to give me, so am using those!

I thought I was being thrifty by replacing my own bike tubes but I only succeeded in wrecking them so will have to pay to get that done now. Oh well, I tried.

Going well overall.

for my upcoming trips. All are from the library – one for NYC and one for DC. LOOOOOOOOOOOVE the library.

We went garage sale-ing on Saturday. I had been thinking of buying three different items new that I found at the sales: bins for my dog’s food (2 for $2 each), a pedometer ($0.25), and a drawer for my classroom ($1). Sweet!

Plus, I wasn’t trying to look for books to resell, because I’ve sworn off garage sale-ing for the purpose of locating items to resell, but we did stumble upon two sales with excellent book selections and I bought about 40 books for $20. I’ve already resold one for $50 and one for $14. Woo hoo!

I bought a mattress pad and sheets for my twin size bed at the thrift store. I spent $11 and if I’d bought online would have spent $35 or more. At a store, who knows how much I would have spent. Feels good.

today, so that saved some money in bike shop bills. Though it took time, the satisfaction of achieving it myself was worth it, and now I’ll be able to do the same in the future, more quickly, for added savings.

Also have reacquainted myself with the Hillbilly Housewife site and plan to make some of her convenience foods and also one of her soups. That should be inexpensive.

I ordered a book (cheap, but still a purchase) off Amazon a few weeks ago. I didn’t receive it and inquired today. They didn’t have it so refunded me the money. I could have gone and bought it but I just requested it from the library again. I’ll get it soon enough.