June & July Frugal Accomplishments

Well, I never did get June's frugal accomplishments posted.  And now we're 10 days into August and July's frugal post is also AWOL. So, I'm going to roll both months into one post. 

As always, we ate mostly from the freezer, cellar, and pantry.

I baked bread roughly every two weeks.

All laundry except jeans and towels went on the clothes line to dry.

Since summer electric rates went into effect on June 1st (meaning higher rate for electricity used between 3 and 7 p.m.), I tried to get laundry washed before 2 p.m. and not do any tasks requiring electricity until after 7:00.

In June I:

Gave DH a haircut.

Bought a bag of Oneida silverware (about 6 full place settings plus several serving pieces) at an estate sale for $10.  I'd been saying since last Fall that I wanted to get more silverware (but only secondhand) because what I have had for decades isn't enough now that we have over a dozen adults/older grandkids using 'big forks' when eating here for family gatherings and holiday meals.  Personally I hate trying to eat with a plastic fork/cut meat with a plastic knife, so it's totally worth it to me to store extra silverware that gets used less than a dozen times a year.  And as a bonus, this 'new' silverware is almost a match in pattern for my (Oneida, wedding present) silverware I've had for 31 years!

Used a 30% off code at State Line Tack to purchase some new riding gloves and a few miscellaneous  barn supplies (enough that I met the free shipping threshold).

Took advantage of Dover Saddlery's 60% off sale to get myself some summer riding apparel (apparently last summer's colors), including some polo shirts that can also be (and were!) worn to church.

Utilized an email offer for 20% off and free shipping at AZPepper.com to restock on DH's favorite Gunslinger green jalapeno sauce

Moved the remaining meat from the upright freezer into the chest freezer (finally ate enough elk to have room!) and unplugged the upright freezer until it's needed again.

 

A friend of DH's bought a new house and sold his home that was less than 10 miles from us.  He had some largish items he didn't want to bother moving/wouldn't need at the new place, so he gave them to DH.  A box blind for hunting, a portable generator (which will be given to DD1 since she and Honorary Son don't have a generator and both of our sons do), a pressure washer and a brand new never installed laundry sink (that will go in my tack room once we have the walls and ceiling built.)

DD2 brought her laundry to do here while having her all-day sewing lesson , saving herself roughly $20 instead of using the not-free washers and dryers at her apartment complex.

In July:

I gave DH another haircut

Took advantage of a deal at SSTack.com and saved $110 as well as used loyalty points to get $20 (of $25) off freight charge to buy a 4-tier saddle stand for the tack room.  What a lot of space that saves!

We got a $38 "reliability credit" on our electric bill from DTE because we lost power 6+ times in the previous 12 months.  A happy surprise to get a credit on our bill for this, but I do think it should be called an "Unreliablity credit". (Side note: since the middle of July we have randomly lost power three times, twice lasting longer than the 'minimum five minutes' to count as disruption of service according to DTE.)

DH and I went to a free polka concert at the outdoor band shell in the community park at the next town over.

I bought a baker's dozen of bagels (to put in the freezer for quickie breakfasts) at Panera on a Tuesday when they're cheaper, and used a 'Free Bakery Treat" coupon to get a chocolate croissant while I was there.

After 15 months of not knowing how many flicks of the switch it would take to activate the ballast in the (fluorescent) kitchen light each time we went to turn it on, DH finally replaced it. Actually, he rewired it for LED bulbs instead of buying whole new fixture.