Oh how time flies.  It seems like only yesterday that I embarked on my year long attempt to live as frugally as possible.  I have to say that over all, the experiment was a failure.  Denying yourself is not the way to go, it only leads to splurging.  I did not do too bad, but at the end of the year my bank account was no fuller than it was at the beginning of the year.  I did save quite a bit of money, but that money went to pay for several things including new tires, a new television and a Wii.  I also paid about $3,000 to my parents to pay off student loans, which is a considerable chunk of my salary.  This year, I plan on doing better, though.  This year I am going to pay cash for nearly everything and am planning on putting 10% of every paycheck into my savings.  I will also pay my parents 10% of my paycheck, so that will leave me with 80% remaining to pay rent and everyday expenses. 

I just wanted to give everyone a summary of the year and let you know what my plans are for the future.  I rather abandoned my blog back in November.  I guess I felt guilty after my Black Friday shopping (of which I did quite a bit), but in all honesty, I just didn’t post.  One reason is that sometimes it feels like I am writing to a void…I guess I desire feedback on my actions.  To that extent, I am giving up this blog, and am not renewing my GoDaddy.com account.  I have decided to create a group where people who are struggling with saving money and being frugal can talk to each other and get more immediate feedback from other readers instead.  If you are interested in this, and would like to be a posting member or just a reading member, the new site is:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Frugalistas-unite/

 It is a Yahoo group, so you can choose when you sign up if you want to receive group e-mails, a daily digest of what others have posted, or if you just want to read the content on the website.  This is free (much better than the $60 GoDaddy wants to charge me), and should allow us all to share our daily triumphs and defeats.  One of the reasons I did not post often on my blog is because I had to first type up the material, then log in to two different websites to get to post it.  It was pretty much a hassle.  With the Yahoo group, I can simply write an e-mail (which I can to from anywhere, not just my home computer).  This year, I’m all about making my life as uncomplicated and stress-free as possible, and my goals for 2010 reflect some of the changes I hope to make.  I am posting my goals as the first post on my new Yahoo groups, and I hope all of you will join the group and follow suit. 

Thank you all for your support this year, and I hope to see you all on the new site.

Erin

2010 Goals

1)       Continue saving money, doing so more reasonably than last year’s attempt at spending practically nothing, which wasn’t practical.  If I see something I want and know I will use, and have the cash for it, I can buy it…but I cannot spend more cash than I have on hand.

2)      Entertainment:  I will try not to buy any more books or movies, as I have too many already, though if I see a really good deal, which is cheaper than renting the movie, then I may buy it.  The only books I plan on getting are through PBS, and then I hope to restrict myself to books which are part of a series or are for a class.  I have about 300 books I need to get read, and will put those which are not by my favorite authors or part of a series onto PBS when I get done with them…there is no point in keeping so many books. 

3)      Food:  I will not buy in bulk, I will not buy in bulk, I will not buy in bulk.  My cabinets are full, and I will probably never use half of what I have.  I am making a rule that I cannot buy sweets, if I want cookies or anything like this, I have to make it from scratch (perhaps this will keep me from eating so many, as I’m busy most of the time).  In an effort to curb my migraine headaches, which are occurring more frequently, I am going to try and avoid things like caffeine, aspartamine, chocolate and MSG, which are all said to be migraine triggers…so that means more cooking at home.  The chocolate will be hard to give up, as well as the caffeine…so I’m not doing that long term.  I am going to avoid MSG whenever possible this year, but I already can quite a few of my goods, so that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.  I already cook at home, and freeze my leftovers into single-serving packages, so eating out and spending money on fast food is not too much of a problem. 

4)      My house:  I recognize that I have some compulsive hoarding/shopping tendencies.  I plan on working on these to the best of my ability.  I am trying to sort out a box of things a week to take to the thrift store.  I am not saving things for a yard sale, even though I would make money on one, it is not worth it to keep my house so cluttered.  My new policy is that if I haven’t used it in a year, and have no plans to use it in the next six months, it has to go.  So out went the record collection which I never got converted to Mp3, out went the VHS tapes which were waiting until I could afford a DVD burner to convert them, and so on.  My house is slowly becoming less cluttered, and I am slowly becoming happier with the things I own.  I’m trying to make sure that I own my things rather than allowing me to own them.  I still have a lot of work to do on this front, but every thing I get rid of is a small step in the right direction. 

5)      My health:  I am still struggling with migraines, and have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow to hopefully schedule an MRI.  I am really hoping to get them under control, but really don’t know what to do for them.  As far as weight loss goes, I am trying to eat healthier, by eating more salads and fruits.  I also bought a Wii and have been trying to play 30 minutes of active games each night (boxing hurts the next day, by the way).  I got a Wii Fit for Christmas and have been trying to work out on it as well.  I am hoping to have lost all of my excess weight by the time I go to my 10 year high school reunion next year.  To meet this goal, I will have to work hard, and once the weather gets warmer I plan on going out and walking or biking in addition to playing on the Wii. 

Well, this evening was a waste of time.  In an effort to save $60 each time I need to buy new ink for my Lexmark printer, I bought an ink refill kit on e-bay.  I thought I had everything right, the numbers in the auction and the numbers on my ink cartridge matched.  I followed the instructions to a “t” and got my black and color cartridges refilled.  It went beautifully, almost too perfectly now that I think about it.  I didn’t even drop ink on myself, amazing.  I put the ink cartridges into the printer and hit “align cartridges.”  Much to my surprise, an error message popped up “Your color ink cartridge is empty, please replace it with a genuine Lexmark cartridge.”  As I soon discovered (It only took me two hours of internet searching), Lexmark does not allow you to refill your ink cartridges unless you purchase a special cartridge demarked with an “a.”  Well, my cartridges didn’t have an “a” and I’m out of luck.  From what I’ve read, even those with an “a” have issues, so I’m now thinking that I will buy a new printer before long.  If anyone has any suggestions for a nice, inexpensive color printer which allows you to refill your cartridges, please let me know. 

After spending four hours (total) messing with the printer cartridges, my back was feeling dreadful.  Thankfully, I bought something this past weekend to make it feel better.  I know I’m trying to save money, but I found a Shiatsu massage at Wal-Greens for $40 plus tax.  It was the first one I’ve seen for less than $70, so I splurged.  I’m sitting here right now, and the thing is nearly as good as going to see the massage therapist (which costs $60 per hour…so I guess if I avoid visits to see her, I’ve saved money in the long run).  I also got a Brookstone vibrating back massager on e-bay, which gets all the spots the Shiatsu massager misses.  In case you didn’t know already, I have a lot of sore spots in my back and neck.  It seems that I go to see the chiropractor at least twice every month (which is better than a couple of years ago when I had a standing weekly appointment).  This costs me $35 each time, and I am hoping that the two back massagers will help me get down to one or fewer chiropractor visits per month. 

I hope that I can write more often.  I’m finally starting to get my headaches under control, so I can stand to look at a computer screen again.   The doctor told me that I am having migraines and wants me to keep a headache diary so that I can see a neurologist at some point in the future.  She told me that the neurologist would tell me to keep a headache diary for several months, so if I go ahead and start keeping one I will save a visit.  I guess she’s as money-conscious as I am.  She also put me on a migraine medication which works so long as you take it as soon as you start feeling the headache coming on…the only downside is that it makes you really thirsty.

I’ve been doing fairly well at staying away from stores lately.  I’ve cut my grocery shopping down from daily to once or twice a week.  I have been to Wal-Mart once in the last two weeks, and don’t plan on going there again for quite some time.  The only reason I went the last time was to get some breakfast shakes and winter clothes.  Even though they clothes are from Wal-Mart, they’re not very cheap…I still spent nearly $200 at that dreadful store.  I did wind up with several new articles of clothing, so that I have something different to wear (clothes just don’t seem to last very long when you have to dress professionally five days a week, I rather miss the jeans and t-shirt days of college). 

One thing I am going to do to save some money is to clean out my cabinets on a bi-monthly basis.  Or, I’m going to try to do this, we’ll see how long it lasts.  This comes after cleaning out a cabinet and finding a can of mandarin oranges at the very back which expired over ten months ago!  After throwing out several things, I am going to try not to buy multiples of things, even if they are on a “great sale” unless they are something that I use more than once a month.  For example, I will buy 10 cans of chili beans, but not 10 boxes of cake mix.  I just don’t eat that much cake, but I do make chili once a month (to have as a frozen meal).   Right now I’m working on getting everything in my freezer and cabinets used up, so my grocery bill is very low right now.  Granted, I’m eating some odd things, but I’m saving quite a bit of money.  My mother and I finally convinced my dad that we need to butcher one of our own steers, so sometime in the middle of November, I am expecting to have a freezer full of beef.  I’ve offered to pay my part of the butchering costs, but I don’t know if he’s going to let me, or if my half will be my birthday gift.  Having my own supply of beef will save quite a bit of money…um…I’m ready for hamburgers already. 

The holiday season is right around the corner.  Stores are already starting to market Christmas goods, and it will only get worse.  Just so you know, I am planning on going shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  I am looking for a large flatscreen television.  I’ve been pricing them, and they are now around $600.  I’m anticipating that they will be significantly cheaper on Black Friday, and if they are, I’m going to buy one.  I’ve been thinking about it for months now.  It will not only be my television, it will be my computer monitor as well.  I have a wireless mouse and keyboard already, and am looking forward to being able to use my desktop computer in my living room.  Then I plan on getting rid of my computer desk and putting my loveseat in the office, so that I can have a “reading area.”  I guess it will all depend on how much the televisions are on Black Friday, if they aren’t in my price range, then I’ll just wait another year.  Well, that’s all for now, it is getting late and I need to get some sleep.  I’ll leave you with this thought, even though the experts are saying that the recession is over, I personally don’t believe them, and I’m positive that the prices we pay at the grocery store aren’t going to go down anytime soon.  What do you think?

It has been awhile since I last posted.  I’m not quite sure where the time went to.  Some of it went into the jars which now fill my cabinets.  I am quite tired of canning, and I don’t want to look at another tomato for quite some time.  In total, I canned 28 quarts of tomato base, which I use in spaghetti, soups, and pretty much everything else.  I also canned three canners of minestrone soup, some green beans, pears and pear honey.  I’m glad that canning season comes but once a year.  It is a fairly inexpensive way of preserving food…at least after you’ve gotten established.  This year, it was fairly pricy, as I had to buy not only my canner, but the jars and a new stockpot as well.  I really should have kept track of exactly what I spent on my canning supplies, but I know that in the long run, they will pay for themselves.  Meanwhile, whenever I feel like it, I can open up a can of soup and think of all the hard work that went into it.

I successfully made it through the back-to-school season without spending too much money.  I did get a few new things, but I didn’t go crazy like I have in years past.  Mostly, I got new clothes to wear to work.  I DID NOT buy any new pens or pencils, I just didn’t need them.  I don’t think I will need any supplies this year either, as I am pretty much stocked (which is good as our school cut our classroom expenses budget drastically).  One thing I have been working on getting through PaperbackSwap and thrift stores are class sets of some books for the classroom.  I am tired of reading the same book every year and would like to switch things up and read some more modern novels.  I put a post on Book Bazaar and was amazed by the responses.  In today’s world, we too often see the bad in people, for this is what the media seems to enjoy portraying.  My experience has been quite the opposite, however.  People have been offering me three books for the cost of one, have sent books for no cost and one amazing couple is even purchasing over 30 new books for my classroom.  I am amazed by their generosity, it nearly renders me speechless.

So, in the spirit of generosity, I am going to pass it on.  I am going to try to make two other people’s days like this couple has made mine.  I have the first act planned out, but I don’t know what the second one will be yet.  For the first, I am going to give a first year teacher 30 books which I cannot use.  I bought them some time ago, when I thought I would be teaching Freshman through Seniors.  As I only have Seniors, I see no reason to hold onto these books, so I am going to pass them on to an 8^th grade teacher.  I hope she can get more use from them than I can.    In addition to making the days of two other people, I’m also going to donate all of the things I’ve been sorting out for my next yard sale.  I don’t really need the money, the items would have to sit out in my shed (and in my way) all winter, and our local thrift store’s profits help support the food bank, so it is a very worthy cause.  Who knows, maybe the people who I help will pass it on as well (okay…maybe I’ve been watching too many movies…but who knows). 

As for how my shopping problem has been going…it is going better than it was a year ago, and not as well as it went at the beginning of the year.  I’ve come to realize that I have a real problem with shopping and that this is going to be a life-long commitment, not just a year-long experiment.  I have been watching the television show Hoarders on A&E and can see some tendencies in myself that I would rather ignore.  I think I’ve caught it in time, but had I not taken this action, I fear that my house would have been as bad as some of those portrayed on the show within five to ten years.  That is a really scary thought, and am starting to watch the show on a regular basis to prompt me to get in there and get rid of all the extraneous things in my life.  I doubt I will ever become a minimalist, but perhaps my possessions and I will come to an understanding and they will no longer try to take over my life. 

Busy, busy, busy.  I don’t really know what I’ve been doing, but I seem to have been very busy doing it.  I can’t believe it is already nearing “back to school” time.  I’ve enjoyed my long vacation, the first real vacation I’ve had since I graduated from High School.  Every other summer I’ve been busy taking classes or getting work done for my Master’s.  This summer, I decided not to do anything; I felt burnt out and needed the break.  Now, nearly three months after making this decision, I’m pretty much ready to go back to work.  I’ve been working on lesson plans and have my first week of classes completely done.  I’d go further with my planning, but I don’t yet have pacing down, so I don’t know if we’ll get through all the material I have planned for the first week.

I haven’t been doing the best with saving money lately.  I have needed new clothes to start the school year out with, always an expensive proposition.  I haven’t spent above my means, however, and still have about half of my summer paycheck left to cover the month of August and half of September.  I have not put anything on my credit card for quite awhile, so my monthly credit card bill is minimal (I still have some monthly bills which are paid that way, so I still have some money on it every month, it’s just easier).  In addition to clothes, I’ve also purchased some things to make my classroom much more accessible this year.  I got a wireless keyboard and mouse which will actually work from across the room (Logitec from Walmart for $40).  I purchased some black metal organizers for my desk which will actually hold a three-ring binder (the leather one I had last year was too small for this job).  I’ve gotten a few other, minor things, but nothing like I did in years past, when I would purchase 100 pencils or pens, just because they were on sale.  This was a really difficult thing to do, I kept asking myself “will I use them.”  At one point, I actually put some new school supplies in my cart, but then I talked myself out of them and put them back.  The same is true with the external hard drive which was on sale at Wal-Mart, it was $60 for 250 GB.  I really, really wanted this, but I kept telling myself that it will be cheaper in a few years, and what do I really need that many GB for anyway?  I walked out of the store having spent $60 less that I might have if I had not stopped to think about my potential purchase.  So you can all see that I’ve been struggling lately.  I guess it has something to do with being back to school time.  For some reason, I’ve always loved buying school and office supplies, even as a child.  Staples and Office Depot were my favorite stores growing up and still are today.  There’s just something about a new package of pens that makes me think of all the wonderful things I can do with them.  I think of the stories I can write, of the papers I can grade.  Needless to say, in years past I have purchased way too many pens. 

One thing I’ve really had to talk myself out of lately is getting a big TV to use as a computer monitor.  I’m tired of sitting at my office chair so much, and think that the sofa would be ever so much more comfortable.  I’ve talked myself out of it for now, but I am planning on saving up money in a special place to purchase this set-up in the future.  Maybe I’ll get that when this computer finally dies (I’ve told you all about how I seem to be cursed when it comes to computer longevity).  I should have nearly another year with this one…but it is already starting to act up every now and again.  Maybe I need to go to the library and get a few books on computer repair…  Anyway, I’ve managed to convince myself  that I don’t really NEED to have a computer in my living room, but I still WANT one.  Oh well, I guess without fighting these little battles against yourself you can never win the war. 

I really cannot believe that the summer is nearly over.  I go back to work in three days, and still have so many things that I should have accomplished this summer.  It’s a bit overwhelming to think of all that I need to get done in such a short time.  Tomorrow, I am on my way to Kansas City for another check up with my doctor.  Here’s hoping that the scales will show a loss.  Tuesday, I will probably cook up a month’s worth of food to freeze and Wednesday I will go in to work in my classroom.  I would like to have it done before I have to, so that I can spend Friday and Monday working on lesson plans and catching up with other teachers.  At least once I’m back at work, I won’t have so much free time to think about shopping and eating.  I’ll actually have to eat at regular mealtimes then, rather than just eating randomly like I do now.  Well, it is nearly midnight and I still have several things to get done before I go to bed tonight.  I have to find a place for several books on my shelves (I marked them with series numbers earlier today…it’s just too difficult to keep them in order if they’re not marked).  I also need to do a couple loads of laundry…though only one will probably get done.  I can always throw the second into the dryer on my way out tomorrow morning.  I should have more time and inclination to post now that my life will be returning to schedule.  Thank you all for your comments, they have been very helpful when I’ve been fighting my inner shopping demons. 

There are a few things in this world which bring out the best and worst in people simultaneously.  Shopping, I have discovered, is one of these things.  In my years as a compulsive shopper I have seen people steal things from others just so that they could have them, I have heard news stories about people trampled to death for the sake of a bargain.  On the flip side, however, I have met some pretty amazing people while shopping.  People who will guard your cart for you on Black Friday.  People who will offer you the last “special purchase” item when you both grab for it simultaneously.  Personally, I always try to be nice to people when I am out and about shopping.  I try to do small things for my fellow man, like tell them where they can find the same item for $20.00 less or watch their cart for them while they run to grab some forgotten item (normally a grocery item…why they don’t put milk at the front of the store confounds me).  This past Wednesday, I drove to Kansas City to return my niece who had helped me organize my classroom for a couple of days.  I needed a couple of things at Wal-Mart, and it was rather late at night (the time I like to go shopping, it’s just so peaceful).  I got my purchases, and went to wait in the rather lengthy line.  It never fails that Wal-Mart has about half the cashiers they need at any given time.  I settled in to wait and noticed that the cart behind me was filled with picnic items and paper bags.  I asked the man behind me if he was having a baseball picnic, my first thought after having seen my niece and nephew earlier in the day.  He said he was taking a church group on a float trip this week, and was packing lunches.  Having just been on a float trip myself, we struck up a conversation about various rivers in Missouri and which ones were interesting and which are just over-crowded.  Soon, the man in front of us joined in the conversation and we all had a rather pleasant 15 minute conversation about nothing.  It turns out that the man in the cart in front of me went to the same college I did and grew up not too far away from me.  It was a wonderful was to pass the time while waiting for the queue to move.  I’ve met some amazing people this way, and though our conversations are never very long, some of them are quite memorable.  It is times like this, stuck in a place that none of us really wants to be in, that make me remember how wonderful humanity can be.  It’s only when we are forced to slow down and wait for something that we open up to our neighbors, something that I sometimes wish would happen more in everyday life.  I think this is one of the reasons I enjoy shopping so much, it isn’t completely about buying things, but rather is about the mutual social experience.  It is a way to socialize without investing too much of yourself into the situation.

My float trip was very fun, we went to a very small town in the Ozarks, Lesterville, and floated on the Black River.  We stayed at a very nice lodge there which served us breakfast and dinner.  I’ve never seen so much food packed on a plate…  The food was good, the bed was comfortable, and I enjoyed seeing all of my family together.  The one bad thing about the place would have to be the drive to get to it.  It doesn’t seem to matter where you go in the Ozarks, you’re going to have to drive through some very hilly and curvy territory.  I got a bit carsick for the first time in years, so the first night there was rather a bust, I just wanted to lay down and make my world stop spinning.  Saturday was a perfect day for rafting, however.  It wasn’t too hot or too cold, it was just right at about 80 degrees.  The water was shallow and not terribly cold, and the day was a bit cloudy.  I think it is the first time I’ve managed to stay all day outside in a swimsuit without getting a sunburn.  I must be getting smarter when it comes to applying sunscreen.  The river would have been beautiful if the area hadn’t had an ice storm last winter and a tornado a month before we arrived.  The river was full of dead trees…quite an obstacle for someone who only goes rafting or canoeing a few times each decade.  We made it, though, I’m quite proud to say.  My mother, niece and I just bumped our way down the river, bouncing off trees and traveling backwards when the current so desired.  It was a lot of fun, but I was very, very tired by the end of the trip.  I have to say that it was probably the longest seven miles of my life (I still think our trip was closer to 15 or 20 miles long).  I guess it was the having to get out and drag a rather heavy raft over some shallow spots that did me in.  The next day, however, I wasn’t too sore, so that’s good.  Overall, it was enjoyable and I wish that we had places to go canoeing which were accessible by way of nice, straight highways. 

On Wednesday, while delivering my niece back to Kansas City, I went to Office Depot to return more ink cartridges.  I probably shouldn’t have, but I also looked at the clearance carts.  I wound up spending about $60.00 there, buying two very nice three hole punches, a large stapler, 16 refills of Scotch tape, several containers of paperclips, binder clips, and a shredder.  I looked up the price of purchasing the three hole punches I got and they retail for $69.89 each and the stapler goes for $75.19.  I got them on clearance for $10.00 each…not bad at all.  These are things which I will use in my classroom, but I still feel like I shouldn’t have gone shopping.  I often think that the perfect career for me would be to buy things for a living, maybe if I lived in a bigger city and the economy were better I could be a personal shopper…what a job. 

Tonight I am working on getting all of my Audible audio books burned to CD.  For some reason, after months of refusing to work, iTunes is finally allowing me to burn these CDs off.  I think I better get them all done while I can, though, because you never know when it might just stop working again.  I’m glad that I found a bunch of CDs in a cabinet, I’m currently burning off my copy of Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand – I’m on disc 18 so far and am only just starting the third of seven sections.  I’m guessing that the book will take about 40 discs in all, but when you consider that it is unabridged and the reading of the book is about a day and a half long (I believe it’s a 37 hour audio program), 40 CDs doesn’t sound too bad.  I hope everyone has a good weekend.  Enjoy summer while it lasts, only a month left until school begins again.    

Life is good.  I just paid off my last month’s credit card bill, $219.00.  Wow, that feels really good compared to the $900.00 statements I had this time last year.  The only reason July’s bill was that high was due to a clerical error with my Internet/Phone/Cable company, who for some reason didn’t bill me in June.  Maybe they know I’m a teacher and only get the one check during the summer, who knows.  All in all, I feel that I’m doing very well.  My living room and office are clean.  I’ve even sorted through the cabinet under my printer…you never know what you’ll find there…  I’m not just doing the sort of surface cleaning I have done in the past, I’m really sorting through and getting rid of stuff.  I just don’t need all this junk.  Don’t get me wrong, I probably still have twice the quantity of things people in my age group have, but I’ve never really fit in with my age group.  It seems like I’ve always been a few years ahead.  After all, what kind of kid buys their first set of dishes before the age of 12?  I’ve been reading a bit about this need to acquire things, and I’m thankful that I don’t have the problem which usually accompanies it of having trouble getting rid of things.  I love to shop, and I have to say I’m pretty good at it, but I don’t mind parting ways with things.  I have a few things which hold sentimental value, but the remainder of my things are replicable.  As I just told you, I bought my first set of dishes at the age of 11.  I am now on my fourth set of dishes.  It’s not that they’ve worn out, I’ve just gotten tired of the patterns through the years and changed.  The dishes I have now should last me quite awhile, though.  They’re Corelle’s Arctic White.  Pretty easy to decorate around, though I really wanted the cream colored ones…

The past two days I have been sorting and cleaning like crazy.  I even got my computer all nice and organized.  It took several CDs to back up my data, but as my computer has been acting up, I thought it would be best to back up everything.  I’m not sure what it is about computers, but they only seem to last me 2-3 years.  I just kill them, I guess.  I’m sure they could be repaired, but after my first experience with computer repair back in college, I have determined that it is more cost efficient (and time efficient) to simply buy a new one.  My first computer was a laptop, the floor model, because it was cheaper.  I had problems with it from day one, it just never worked right.  I spent over $200 trying to repair the thing, and it crashed on my several times between my freshman and sophomore years.  I spent more hours on the phone with the college’s computer services people than I would care to remember.  The worst crash was during finals week my freshman year.  I had never had a computer before, and had not yet learned the importance of backing up your documents.  This computer crash might not have been a huge deal, but I lost two 10+ page papers in the deal, papers which were due later in the week.  I got everything done, but I spent several very long hours at the library that week.  After that, my policy was, and still is, never to buy the floor model.  I don’t care if it’s 20% cheaper, it’s not worth it. 

Well, anyways, as a reward for getting my house clean, and spending an entire day organizing my classroom, I treated myself to a night at the movies last night.  I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie.  It was good, but the books are still much better.  It will be interesting to see how they portray the final book.  One thing still bothers me, is Snape trustworthy or not.  The books didn’t answer my questions and neither did the movie.  Oh well, I guess I just like to see the best in people.  Anyway, it was a wonderful night out and I will have to buy the movie when it goes on sale.   I really needed some time away from my house, and a nice dark theater was exactly what I needed.

Today I stocked up on a few things that I use quite often.  Hy-Vee has a sale going on for several things like cheese, meat and frozen goods.  They had cheese for $1.00 a package an .88 cent savings.  I got several packages, but a few in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.  They had hamburger for $1.79 a pound, already in pound packages.  I cut the metal bits off the end of the tubes, put them in a ziplock bag, and froze them.  I just started cutting the metal ends off, we will see if it works better this way…I know it was much easier to cut them off while the meat was thawed than it is to try and get them off when they’re frozen.  Hy-vee also had frozen pizzas for $2.00 each, not a bad deal.  I actually just use the pizzas for a starting point, and then add my own meats and cheeses.  That way, I can eat one or two slices and get quite a bit of protein, rather than eat several and still feel hungry.   I also picked up some cookies to take on the family trip this weekend.  We’re going rafting near STL.  Well, I better take off and finish packing.  I hope everyone has a good weekend. 

Ah, what a week.  It’s not that I really had that much to do, or did that much, it is just that time seems to be moving faster as I get older.  I cannot believe that it Is already the second week of August.  Where did my three month long summer vacation go?   Only one month left, and I have a lot of work to get done in that time.  For the 4^th of July I went to St. Louis to see some friends who I had not seen in ten years.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, after all people do tend to change a lot between the ages of 14 and 26, but it was a lot of fun.  We mostly reminisced and talked about what we have done in our lives.  One bad thing about seeing old friends is that we went out a couple of times to eat, and I spent more money than I probably should have.  Oh well, it was a nice weekend and it’s not as if I go out and spend that much money every weekend. 

We also went shopping a bit on the 4^th.  It was rainy, and our plans to go to the Zoo were dampened with the rain.  I’ve been wanting to get a hard-sided briefcase for this school year.  I’m tired of files getting squished while I carry them home.  I found one, amazingly for under $55.00.  Others I looked at were nearly $100.00, but I found one I really like for $51.00 plus tax.  It will hold significantly fewer files than the messenger bags I carried last year, so I am hoping that I can fill it and get the work which will fit into it done in one night.  I’m not going to bring home more work than will fit into it, I need to have some free time to maintain my sanity.  I also purchased a wireless keyboard and mouse combination, which was on sale.  The sales associate assured me that it would be able to work from 20 feet away, which is what I want for my classroom.  Well, the sales associate lied.  It didn’t even work from ½ way across the room, so I returned it on Wednesday.  Wednesday was my monthly trip to the Doctor’s in Kansas City and I returned more than I bought, a fact I am very proud of.  I got back nearly $50.00 from Office Depot (from the Keyboard), and am owed $2.98 by Goodwill for some returned books (I purchased them for my mother, who already had them).  Wednesday, the only things I bought were some photo prints I ordered off Walgreens.com.  They had  a deal going on so that you could get digital prints for 10 cents each, a pretty good deal compared to Wal-Mart’s daily 28 cent price.  I got 102 prints for 11.00, including tax.  The good news is that my new camera works quite well.  I’m much happier with it that I was with my older one.  This camera lasted all weekend on only one pair of batteries, which means that when I travel, I no longer have to carry a plethora of rechargeable batteries for one camera (with my old camera, I averaged three sets of batteries in a weekend).  That doesn’t mean I won’t carry at least one set of extras with me, just that I will no longer haul the charger about with me.  Anything to cut down on the already substantial amount of items I drag with me when I travel.

Probably the most expensive purchase of the weekend was the alcohol I purchased.  I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I have a taste for good alcohol, when the mood strikes me.  I’ve never been drawn to beer or wine coolers, I like mixed drinks, Margaritas and Amaretto sours.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t drink a lot (probably less than two drinks a month).  I’ve never been drunk in my life, and plan to keep it that way.  I did, however, buy four bottles of alcohol while with my friends over the 4^th.  I guess I was just amazed by the selection and prices of Schnooks (I’d never been in one before).  I got a really nice bottle of tequila and three bottles of Amaretto.  Only one of the bottles of Amaretto was opened this weekend, the rest of the liquor is either meant for gifts or for the next BBQ I have.  I got all four bottles for under $65.00, so that’s not too bad, especially since the Amaretto is amazing.     

On Monday, the 6^th, I met my mother and grandmother in a local town for lunch.  We went shopping a bit, but I did not succumb to the temptation of some of the things I saw.  I saw a rather large Aloe Vera plant which I would love to have, but it is not a necessity, since I already have an aloe plant which is slowly gaining in size.  Keeping an aloe is a necessity, though…I’m just too fair skinned to be comfortable without it.  Rather than buying a new plant, I got my aloe plant a new pot and some potting soil.  It has been in a pot which is too small for it for quite some time (it was still in the one I got from the greenhouse).  For those of you who have only used store-bought aloe vera gel, you don’t know what you are missing.  I refuse to put on the gel, it is too painful to get off once the initial cooling is done.  I’m not sure what they do to it in processing, but store bought gel just won’t heal my burns.  I’ve had more sunburns than I can recall, and have had sun sickness several times in my life.  I’ve found that the best thing for a bad sunburn is to get in the shower as soon as you can.  Turn the shower to the hottest temperature you can stand and let the water run over you for as long as you can stand (this hurts a lot, but it will feel better in the long run).  When done showering, carefully dry off, don’t rub, pat the skin.  Next, tear off an aloe stalk, squeeze some of the pulp out…not too much, just a little.  Put the juice on in layers, heavier where you are sunburned the worst.  Don’t worry if your family laughs at you a little when you have green globs sticking to your face, they’d understand if they burned as easily.  I’ve found that when I follow this treatment, it takes me half the time to recover from a sunburn.  Sometimes, I am not burned at all the next day (though this rarely happens).  I’m not sure if it would work for anyone else, but I can’t seem to get anyone in my family to try.  First, they’re all darker than I am and don’t sunburn as easily.  Second, they don’t seem to think that a hot shower on hot skin would feel good.  I don’t blame them on this, it doesn’t.  Another thing when dealing with sunburn is to make sure that you drink lots and lots of cold, unflavored water to help your skin regain moisture.  Maybe I just need that because when I get sunburned I get sick to my stomach and water is pretty much the only thing that tastes truly good. 

Anyway, I avoided buying a new aloe plant.  I spent $80.00 at Wal-Mart, buying sundry items from chewable vitamins to potting soil for my old aloe plant.  It still seems like a lot of money for no more bags that I got, but I don’t buy $15.00 vitamins every day…  Other than that, I spent $20.00 at Hy-Vee and have otherwise avoided the stores.  I’m still working on getting my house clean, something which seems to be a never-ending job.  I  even got my computer cleaned up, putting all the random files which seem to accumulate into their appropriate file folders.  I’m hoping to have the house presentable by the end of the weekend, something which won’t happen if I keep reading books. 

Well, that’s all for now.  Hopefully this coming week I will be able to avoid stores altogether.  It seems like temptation is always just right down the road.  The only money I plan on spending this week is to take myself to see the newest Harry Potter movie, provided that I get my house in order this weekend.  A little reward can go a long way to encourage me.  I hope you all had wonderful holiday weekends.  Here’s to a more frugal July.

I’m sunburned, I ache all over and my house is a mess.  Yep, I had another yard sale on Friday.  I was amazed by how many things I found to sell, I made about $400 at the sale.  My highest priced item was a toaster oven which I sold for $25.00, so needless to say I sold a lot of stuff.  Today, I am working on getting my house clean, now that I don’t have so many things to put away.  When preparing for this yard sale, I looked at all the things I have and asked myself “Have I used this in the past year?”  and “Is keeping this worth the space in my house it is taking up?”  The answer, most of the time, was a resounding “no.”  I sold a couple hundred books, a few clothes, some games, dishes, cookware, Tupperware, and much, much more.  I didn’t have nearly as much stuff at this sale as I had last month, but it was close.  I think I would have sold more, but the weather was so hot that people just weren’t coming like they did the last time.  Ten degrees can make a lot of difference.  At the end of the day, I offered people a pretty great deal, no matter what the items were priced, they were .25 each or $1.00 a bag.  I sold three bags of things which I would have just given away, so it was a win-win situation.  I only brought in three flats of books (which I will offer in a deal on PBS) and a box of miscellaneous things including a Mp3 player and camera. 

In the next couple of weeks, I’m planning on sorting more, as I clean, and donating things to a local thrift store.  Their profits go to help the food bank, so that’s a good cause.  I took a car load of books and things over to my classroom and am happy to say that it is ready for me to go in and work on.  I’m very, very happy about this, as this means that I can go in and work whenever I want to.  Last year it wasn’t ready until the second week of August, and I just needed more time than that to get organized.  I’m hoping to get someone to go over with me to help me alphabetize and organize my classroom library at the end of July or the beginning of August.

This past week, I went shopping.  I went on Wednesday, partially to see some friends and partially to buy some summer clothes.  Since I have lost 50 lbs since last summer, none of my summer clothes fit.  I actually got rid of them at my last yard sale, so I didn’t really have anything to wear that was nice and cool.  I spent about $200 that day, which wasn’t bad, as I had budgeted $300 for new summer clothes.  I wound up buying three very pretty summer dresses from Robbie Bell (at JCPenny’s) and some new undergarments at Lane Bryant.  The dresses were originally $80.00 each and I got them on sale for $30.00.  I got out of the store having spent under $100.00.  The undergarments were buy two, get two free, and according to my receipt, I saved over $150.00 at that store.  Even though we went to the mall to shop, I only purchased things in things in three stores that day, JCPenny, Lane Bryant and Hobby Lobby.  At Hobby Lobby, I purchased some McCall’s patterns which were on sale for 99 cents each, patterns which I hope to turn into some very pretty skirts and dresses in the near future.  I spent less than $250.00 that day, so overall, I did very well, I think.  I also did not buy things which I will not use, I stuck to the basics, even though there were so many pretty things to look at. 

If you will remember, a couple of months ago, I was on TV.  I never did get around to posting a link to the video, but here it is now.  http://www.fox4kc.com/business/wdaf-year-of-frugality-erin-small-42809,0,3890974.story

I hope everyone has a wonderful, thrift week and enjoys some free fireworks this coming weekent!

What a busy week.  I’ve been sorting again, sorting for another yard sale.  After I got out all of the things I sold last time, the house was just so much nicer looking, so I’m doing it again.  Okay, so maybe I just didn’t have time to get everything sorted out the first time around.  This time I’m sorting much harsher.  I’m getting rid of a lot of knick knacks and other things that aren’t really necessary.  A lot of them are just one more place to hide things or one more thing to dust.  I really, really hate dusting, so they’re gone.  I’m also getting rid of a lot of books.  I simply have too many, and honestly I’m not going to read some of them.  I’m torn between listing them on Paperback Swap and just selling them.  I think I’m going to try to sell several of them and if they don’t sell for the price I have marked I’ll post them.  That sounds like a decent compromise.  Among the things I’m selling are my many cookbooks.  I’m going to keep the ones which have sentimental value, but I never really use them when I cook.  I have a few favorite recipes, and when I want to cook something new, I generally just go online to Allrecipes.com.  If the recipe is good it goes in a protective sleeve in the cookbook I use, if it’s not good, then it gets thrown in the trash.  I haven’t cooked using most of my cookbooks in years.  I guess I’ve gotten so that I don’t use them on anything but baked goods, the rest of the time I cook by smell and look, adding things until the food tastes and looks like I want it to.  So, one whole shelf is now clear.  I’m quite proud.  Now I just have to decide which other books I’m getting rid of.  So far I have a couple of rooms completely sorted and organized, it is wonderful.  They are so clutter-free and easy to keep looking nice.  Now I just need to find a place in the living room to store my blanket and pillow (I keep them there just in case I want to lay down on the sofa). 

I’m quite proud of myself, I have only been to one store this week.  I went to the grocery store and spent $22.00 for the week’s groceries.  Milk, bread, orange juice, the usual.  The reason I haven’t been out isn’t self-control, though…I’ve been busy reading one of my favorite series.  The newest book in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series came out last week.  Yes, I bought it.  I’m not ashamed, and I ordered it back before my year began…I know, sort of cheating, but I really do love this series.  There are 20 books so far and I re-read the entire series when  a new one comes out.  Yeah, I read the entire series in the last two weeks, so I haven’t gotten as much other things done as I should have.  Oh well, I thoroughly enjoyed being lost in a world filled with vampires and werewolves.  Those books and a couple of other series aren’t on the list to be sold at the yard sale, that’s for sure. 

Well, I guess I should get back to work, I’ve procrastinated enough, and my whole house has to be nice and tidy for my parent’s visit tomorrow.  Wish me luck.

Ah, sweet summertime.  I have nothing to do and yet I seem to be terribly busy.  My new deep freeze was delivered on Friday, and of course, it did not fit into the space my old one occupied.  Thanks to some measuring on my part, at least I knew this before they came to deliver it.  I tried arranging my “mud room” in about 10 different ways before I finally settled on something that would work.  I had to move a freestanding cabinet into my kitchen, there just wasn’t enough room for it.  I’m sad that it wouldn’t fit, but am okay with it, as when I cleaned out the cabinet to more it, I discovered that there wasn’t really anything in it.  It held boxes from when I first moved into this house nearly two years ago…boxes I hadn’t looked at since then.  Needless to say, I found a couple more boxes of things to get rid of.  I replaced the cabinet with a set of cheap plastic shelves from Wal-Mart ($14.88) and two sets of plastic drawers, also from Wal-Mart ($11.00 and 14.00 respectively).  They can hold about as much as the cabinet, but it is out in plain view, so that I know what I have.  I’ve already sorted things to put in the drawers.  One drawer has all my vacuum sweeper accessories, another has dust cloths (It’s amazing how many packages of these I had…I filled an entire drawer when I put them all together…I don’t need to buy cleaning supplies for quite awhile.).  One drawer will be for gloves, and the like.  Hopefully this way I’ll realize how much I have and not buy things I really didn’t need. 

I have decided that I have enough things to have another garage sale.  The profits of this one will go straight into my saving account, as I now have everything that I really wanted/needed to better clean and organize my house.  As I write, I’m working on converting all of my old vinyl records to MP3.  I bought the converter back last Thanksgiving and haven’t’ really taken the time to do it.  I never listen to the record player, but I think I would listen to some of these songs were they on my MP3 player.   As a child I spent hours listening to these records and they bring back wonderful memories.  I probably have 300 of them, so it will take me awhile.  Each one takes about 20 minutes to convert…I keep forgetting that they don’t have as many songs on them as CDs.  When I’m done, I’ll sell them at my yard sale, so perhaps someone else can get as much good out of them as I did.  I doubt they’ll bring much, so maybe I’ll offer the entire lot to someone. 

I am starting to feel more comfortable in my own house.  As I get rid of more and more things, packing them up for a yard sale, I feel more at peace.  I don’t need all of the things I have.  I mean, when is the last time I used my cookbook set “Great American Recipes”?  It takes up six three ring binders and I just never use it.  I have a few recipes which I always use, and these are in a special cookbook, in sleeve protectors so that the batter won’t yellow the pages.  When is the last time I read some of the books on my shelf?  Will I ever again need to read some of the books from my college days?  Probably not.  Do I need all of the leftover pieces from when I put various pieces of furniture together?  Will I take something apart to repair it if it fall apart, or will I buy newer and better?  The chances are that I will never need these things, so there is really no point in keeping them all.  I am starting to see that one of the keys to not buying too much is to keep track of what you have.  I was (and still am…it’s a lifelong problem) a shopaholic.  One of the problems with this is that you are so ashamed of your spending habits that you tend to hide the things you buy.  The problem with this is that when you hide something, you tend to forget you bought it in the first place.  This is complicated by the fact that you have so many things that you stop taking them out of the bags and rather just stuff the bags into hidey holes.  I have found so many things that I did not know I had.  I found a scrapbook kit, ready to be assembled.  I found several pairs of gloves with the tags still on.  I found six bottles of dish soap.  Yep, that’s right, I was shopping so much that I even overbought on the basics.  I have enough dish soap and paper towels to last me until I move again, at least.  See, the problem when you have so many things is that things get lost.  It is not until you start really investigating the nooks and crannies of your home that you discover what you have.   The one part about this discovery process that is truly awful is that while you are cleaning out the nooks and crannies, the rest of your house fills up.  My house is a terrible mess right now, as everything is out in the open.  My cabinets are nearly empty, getting ready to be filled again, but this time in an organized manner with notes telling me what they contain.  I will not buy dish soap again until I am ¾ of the way through my last bottle.  I will not buy paper towels again until the last roll is on the holder.  This is a promise I am making myself.  Now that I know what I have, I know what I do not need.

Back to the subject of my deep freezer.  For those of you just starting out, I would highly recommend purchasing an upright deep freeze.  I have owned both in my life (this is my second upright…I stupidly sold the first one when I thought I was moving to a big city).  Uprights take more space and do not hold as much, this is true.  However, things don’t get lost in them.  While cleaning out my chest style deep freeze I found the following things I did not know I had in there.  Six pounds of hamburger, two pork roasts, three beef roasts, three sirloin steaks, two packages of pork chops, three pounds of rice, two packages of sweet corn, and three pounds of blackberries.  These were all hidden beneath the frozen dinners and the pizza, which I knew about.  Now all of these items are neatly stacked on the shelves of my new freezer.  I shouldn’t have to purchase meat for quite awhile. 

Well, that’s all for now, I’m off to do some more sorting.  We shall see what else I find.