Saving Money–Week Ending January 3, 2015

IMG_1990

Ja’Ana’s dresses were the most frugal things we bought this week.  While camping at the beach, we visited the outlet stores in Lincoln City, Oregon. Old Navy was clearing out many items and these dresses were each 37cents.  She also got some jeans for 67cents.  In fact, she got a whole bag of things for about $5.  It helps that she is so thin–she got the very last pair of jeans that existed of that style, the sales clerk explained.  We got a few other items for low prices, such as coats for $10, dresses for $5, etc. at Old Navy, and other stores, for myself and the girls.  Now, of course, that was AFTER we visited Goodwill and bought each girl a pair of  jeans for $8 and $10.  To make myself feel better, I reminded myself that I didn’t find the smashing bargain for jeans for Patsy, and she needed them badly.  I also got her a pair of stretch jeggings (like jeans/stretch pants combined) for $3.50.  at Goodwill.  I was surprised at the high prices there for the jeans, but figured it was less than the $25-$30 I expected to pay at the stores.

We ended up staying home all day today.  We had a skiff of snow, but the real problem was that they were predicting freezing rain.  My family is an hour from here, and we decided not to risk it.  We were glad we did stay home, because it did end up coating things with that dreaded thin layer of ice.  It looks like school will be delayed in the morning and I won’t work until later in the day.  So, we saved quite a bit of gas today.  We were also able to keep the fire going and the house is very warm, with wood instead of the heater.  On super cold nights, Rob gets up every 2 hours to stoke the stove so no one is cold.  He did that last night.  Our heater is really expensive to run, so we don’t run it while we are home unless we cannot heat the house with our stove.

We’ve eaten at home since we returned from camping.  For the last couple of days,  I planned menus for the week.   I embroidered a dish towel.  I made soup.  Rob made barbecued pork.  I watched a lot of shows on my Kindle on Amazon Prime.

IMG_1927

We spent a few days camping at the beach.  We have a camper, and we have a free pass for camping at any Oregon State Park because we have foster and adopted children.  (You have to take the child with you to use it). We had a mix of torrential rain, extreme wind, and then sunny, clear, windy and cold weather.  We did lots of hunkering down in the camper, drives along the coast, shopping at the outlet mall, playing games, reading books we downloaded onto the Kindles, etc.  We slept a lot.

We used a Christmas gift to go watch Star Wars.  The friend who gave it to us wanted us to go watch it and even included enough for popcorn.  We saved it for the beach because we had unexpected overnight company right before we left and wanted to enjoy their company and not leave for the movie.  They actually stayed at our house an extra night after we left, which was also nice because they build a fire in the stove, which saved on the heat we had to leave on while we were gone.   They are very close friends.   We were delighted to see them. (When we came back it was the “toasty” 58 we had set it for). We had another friend watch and feed our animals.  He did it for free, which was very nice.

IMG_1984

I baked gluten-free sandwich buns for a family gathering that got cancelled due to the bad weather.  I will freeze them for next week, or whenever we  reschedule.  I made a lot so I could use them for sandwiches for myself.  GF sandwich buns are usually from $1-$1.25 each.  It is much less to make them, especially since I have all the flours on hand.  I received several Bob’s Red Mill gift cards for Christmas, so can re-stock when needed.  I appreciate that people were thinking so kindly and practically of me this Christmas.

Rob did a big food run, getting the best prices at Cash and Carry, Costco, and Fred Meyers for  things we needed. He got large bags of lettuce, large containers of salad dressing, 5 doz. eggs (our chickens have stopped laying), milk for 99c -1/2 gal., and some other things. He bought about 11 lbs.of pork for $1.27/lb and we cut it up for 4 meals.  I am still looking for butter at $2/lb, but had to settle for getting a few at $2.50/lb since they haven’t gone down to that for several months around here.  With these things he got, plus my pantry/freezers, etc., I won’t need much for the rest of the month.

6 thoughts on “Saving Money–Week Ending January 3, 2015”

  1. What a deal on Ja’Ana’s clothes (I”m a little jealous) and I’m glad you found Patsy’s some jeans! Sounds like they both will be in style going back to school. I love the sound of your gifts you received too! Have a great day!

    1. Vicky,
      It was really fun to shop under those circumstances! We don’t go shopping much, because we save a lot of $ by staying out of the stores, but once we found these prices, we were able to grab quite a few things with absolutely no guilt or regret, so it was fun!

  2. That’s some great buys at Old Navy! Isn’t it crazy how high some of the prices at the thrift stores have become?

    That was nice that your friends could stay on and tend the home fires. There’s nothing like wood heat! We had to use our furnace the other day and I just couldn’t get warm no matter what the thermostat was set at.

    Keep safe and warm!

    Jane

    1. I actually don’t shop at thrift stores much, because of the high prices around here. I just was desperate for jeans and thought it might be a better option. It only reinforced my previous feelings that sometimes it’s cheaper to just go to Macy’s or hit another sale. But, Rob loves thrift store shopping, and so will gladly scour them for me, or do garage sales in the spring and summer and those do have great bargains around here. It just takes so much time and luck to find the right sizes, etc. that I usually grudge taking that much time—just me.

      Recently, when the glass was broken from our stove and we couldn’t use it for 3 days, I also felt like I was going to freeze to death as well. There IS nothing like wood heat.

  3. Wow, what amazing bargains you found! Yes, thrift shops have become not quite so thrifty. Glad you found such deals at the outlet mall.

    1. We were in the right place, at the right time–not usual for us, since we don’t shop much. In fact, we deliberated even going to the outlet mall because it’s so easy to spend too much there, but we are so glad we did. It is a real blessing to us.

      I’m hoping Rob will be willing to do some garage sales this spring. He and Ja’Ana have so much patience for them, and are willing to comb them for bargains.

Leave a Reply to Jane Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *