Finding Frugal- Early Changes

I went to the store today, inspired by some of your suggestions. I wanted to share with you what we changed today over our usual shopping trip.

• Shopped the freezers first. I was able to find all of the meat we would need for the week! {It will empty us out of meat completely.}
• Made a menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner based on what I had on hand.
• Used the calculator through the whole trip. {I usually give up at some point}
• I bought bars of soap instead of body wash- I couldn’t believe the price difference, but have been using wash for 14 1/2 years of marriage…hoping I will like it.
• Bought generic EVERYTHING.
• Said good-bye to my cushy bath tissue, it only gets flushed in the end….
• I bought cheese and rice in bulk- as we will use them up quick.
• Wait for it….I bought 0 cereal and 5 dozen eggs instead.
• I bought 0 snack items and will make any cookies or snacks from scratch.
• I bought yogurt in a big container, instead of the cute little cups. {I bought organic with the savings}
• Frozen juice instead of freshly squeezed.
• I put nothing in my cart that wasn’t a complete NEED.
• Saved about $80.00 on my usual bill. {This is extreme, I will need meat most weeks.}

I also called the satellite company and cut our bill in half. I also gave up more than half the channels, but we only watch a few anyway, and I can live without the ones we will be missing.

I called the phone, but the only savings I could get were if I cut out the phone entirely, we have the best package they have for long distance.

We don’t have a house payment, {my husband is a minister and we live in the house the church owns}, and our car insurance already has the highest deductible, but I will look at other companies.

I would like to get a less expensive, older car for a lower payment, but don’t know about trading a car that is only a year old, and only has one year of the loan paid- if you have thoughts- I will take them.

Our menu for the week from mostly my freezer and pantry-

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Cereal	Leftovers	Chicken parm, pasta, fried green tomatoes
Tuesday	Remaining cereal	Veggie Beef Soup from freezer Kiwi	Salisbury Meatballs and mashed potatoes, salad
Wednesday	Remaining cereal	Hamburgers Pineapple	Meatloaf, green beans, baked potato
Thursday	Scrambled Eggs and Sausage	Baked Tilapia, Rice, Asparagus	Grilled Chicken, Rice, Broccoli
Friday	Waffles and Bacon	Going to Reds game- packing sandwiches {game was a gift}	Eating at the ballpark, a once a year splurge.
Saturday	Scrambled Eggs and Sausage	Homemade Pizza	Meatloaf, Potato Wedges, Cauliflower
Sunday	Pancakes and Bacon	Roast and all the trimmings	Homemade Pizza

Friday we are going to the Reds game, with tickets that were gifted to us. We are taking advantage of our member passes and going to the Creation Museum while we are in the area on Friday, so the tickets were a gift, nothing for museum admission and we are packing a lunch. We will only have to pay for gas, parking, and sandwiches or hot dogs at the game.

I am going to force myself to go to Goodwill. Maybe I am not finding anything because I go to infrequently. I will let you know if I find anything.

I will be sharing blogs and your ideas soon, and getting up the nerve to make laundry soap. I have had the ingredients for a year, but have been afraid to make it- I love Tide, and can’t imagine liking anything better. I will force myself to give it a fair try.

Thank you so much for all of the fabulous ideas, I am looking into all of them. Please keep the ideas and sites coming!