Tightwad Diary October 22

We've been trying to SLOWLY switch from hamburger meat to ground turkey meat! There are several nutritional reasons, I'm sure (I won't bore you or myself with a bunch of links), but for us its purely financial.  At Aldi's it's $1.79 per pound where hamburger meat is $2.79 per pound.  The Hubster made spaghetti with turkey meat and chunky marinara for dinner this evening.  It was very good!! A little parmesan and a touch of black pepper and I was in heaven.  We've tried in the past to make hamburger patties with ground

turkey meat, breakfast burritos and stroganoff, it just wasn't the same! I can't quite go there yet. Since spaghetti gets made in our house at least three times per month, using 1lb per batch, we save $3 per month.  The turkey meat doesn't seem to shrivel as much as the hamburger meat, so there are more generous leftovers the next day.

Tightwad Diary October 20

Do you know the Paper Clip is the most important tool in your tool bag?  You can fix anything from a toilet to a zipper to a Thingy That Makes the Windshield Wipers Work! Hub fixed the wipers with a paper clip (and duct tape-did I mention the 2nd most important tool in your tool bag?)!! after asking Meineke how much to fix them and they said $50 EACH, he said, let me take a look.  Yay for Handy Hubby's!!! 

I want to recommend two new blogs I'm enjoying: www.thefrugalgirl.com and www.salvagesisterandmister.com.

I know not watching much TV and mostly watching Netflix puts me behind the times, but I am madly in love with Extreme Cheapskates.  I learned a few tricks myself and have watched OVER and OVER.  I haven't done any roadside or dumpster diving for food, but I have started unplugging everything not in use and have started using "throw away cloths" in the bathroom.  I love watching people living without to build up a savings account, even though I would allow more clothes for my kids...I just love seeing others like me, who are well, WORSE than me, is that too mean??? For once, I'm not the only one with the homemade gifts in the re-purposed boxes.  I hope they make more episodes, there's only 6 on Netflix.

Tightwad Hint for Today: Only fill liquid laundry soap lid to number 2 or medium (this is what most manufacturers recommend and how they count the number of "loads" listed on the front) and toss the lid into the wash with the clothes to prevent build up on the cup/lid.

Tightwad Diary October 19

I wish I knew what to say to my husband to get him on board with being frugal.  He tries in lots of ways like buying jeans at garage sales or Goodwill (scored some carharts for $3 each a couple years ago) and getting Coke Rewards from the recycling center.  But he WILL NOT turn off the air conditioner (did you know its 50 degrees outside????) nor will he unplug things rarely used.  I ask, prefer, beg to have the phone chargers, microwave and VCR (yes, VCR, did I tell you I'm a tightwad???) unplugged.  Even when these are not in use, there's a battery in the phone charger, there are lights on the microwave and VCR (I don't care if it blinks when you plug it back in, it takes 5 seconds to re-set the clock!!!) and well, it seems obvious to me that the air conditioner is redundant.  Its not going to cool already cool air, but the condenser is still sucking up that electricity.  Sidebar factoid:  Did you know Mitt Romney runs through his house every time they leave unplugs everything and turns down the hot water heater?  I don't have a link to where I read this, I just love fellow Tightwads!! Rice bag update: I'm still staring at the sewing machine willing it with my mind powers to sew them up real quick.  Internet Service Update:  The only other option here at my apartment complex is Uverse and its half the price of Cox, but I'm nervous about making the switch.  I've always used Cox, but they keep raising the prices and the customer service continues to deteriorate.  Soooooo, still deciding.

Tightwad Diary October 18

No luck at the garage sales this weekend! We didn't go much out of our way, though, just near where we were running errands anyway, by the library, recycling center and grocery store.  The Hubster did find a bicycle helmet in a parking lot (far from any cars and kind of looked around and asked one person if belonged to them-no takers), so with a bit of clean up, I'll list it on eBay in the next few days since its in almost pristine condition and we don't need it.  Tightwad Sidenote: we sure are enjoying $2.71 gas prices and will soon enjoy a DVD The Hubster got for me at the library!

Tightwad Diary October 17

My hub and I traded in our $70 cable bill for a $9 Netflix account.  Now, a year and half later, I'm feeling resistant to the $80 internet bill.  Next on my Tightwad project list is Explore Alternate Internet Service to Cox.  The actual service is 59.99, but with the modem rental and taxes, its around $80 per month.  We live in an apartment so we cannot use Dish or AT&T.  I have heard of something called Uverse or something like this where a strip is placed near your computer or window or something like this which gives internet and I hope my router will still work for wifi.  Its supposed to be around $19 per month.  This goes on the list behind some rice bags I'm sewing for gifts and to sell on Ebay.  

Tightwad Diary October 15, 2014

While staring at the sewing station my hub set up for me in our bedroom, I'm thinking about what to blog about today.  I am really having a hard time purchasing garbage bags, why are they $400 each now?? Okay, I'm exaggerating, but they're going into the landfill! I've been reading a blog called Zero Waste and she's inspiring me to watch what I'm putting in the trash can in the kitchen including the bag.  One change we've made is the 13 gallon can is now exclusively for recycling, where the "go to the dumpster" trash is gathered in a small office trash can.  We use cloth bags at the grocery store as much as possible, but sadly the plastic shopping bags have made their way into our apartment.  We're using these in the small cans around the house until they run out.  My husband has offered to simply use no bag and he will wash out the trash can when needed.  I'm considering it.  We've started shredding as much paper as possible that would normally have been sent to the dumpster b/c it has the end of our debit card or our name on the envelope.  This has reduced out dumpster going trash by about 25%.  Since we go to the recycling center anyway, my hub had found a few 13 gallons trash bags that are clean and is trying to use them over and over until they're too dirty to keep.  We've also re-claimed some National Geographics from the recycling center that my hub reads and then takes to his dialysis center for others to read.  We cut off the persons name so we're not exposing them and we're surprised others would take the time to bring them to the recycling center but not share them with a nursing home or school? So, back to my topic, I haven't purchased trash bags in about 3 months with a savings of $6 (one box from Aldi's lasts about this long and costs $5.99).