The Penny Savers

You know what will keep you in a frugal mindset long after one of your cars' oil leaks has been fixed? (And by "fixed" I don't mean "fixed" I mean "ignored" because it isn't that bad and it will cost too much to fix it.) Owing taxes.

So you have to pay taxes on unemployment. Maybe this is evident to all the rest of you, but I've never been on unemployment nor can I see the logic of paying taxes on government benefits. (Do you have to pay Social Security on your Social Security benefits? Seriously, do you?) Apparently taxes used to be withheld from your unemployment. But they don't do that anymore. (Government jobs still have taxes withheld, how is unemployment so much trickier now?) Had I been told about all of this, I could have had extra withheld from my paycheck. However, I wasn't. So now, not only do we have to pay income taxes on unemployment, we have to pay a penalty because we owe taxes. Since we're already living on the cheap, we can cover this as long as we delay a major purchase or two. (C'mon washer & dryer, you gotta keep it together for another 6-12 months!)

I noticed this morning all the penny-saving things we've done this week, some of which I've never blogged about before.

1. You know when you use your bar of soap down to the point where it's just a bunch of little pieces? I save those pieces. I cut the leg off a clean but runned pair of tights. I keep in it the shower, hanging over my wash-cloth bar and stuff those little pieces in the tights every time I end up with just the broken bits. Then when there are enough broken bits, voila--soap on a rope. I've been doing this for probably over a year and I've maybe saved myself buying a couple bars of soap. So, yeah, we're talking pennies.

2. Husband likes candles--especially if they smell like vanilla. When you buy the candles in the jars, you usually end up with a bunch of wax left over in the corner. A year or so ago, we bought some cheap wicks from the craft store. Then when we're left with wax and no wick in a candle jar, we put it in a pan of boiling water to melt it. Then we pour it into a leftover emptied out jar with a new wick and, voila--new candle.

3. Sunday morning I used all the coffee creamer. I put it on the grocery store list but then I realized: I have powdered milk in the freezer (for making bread in my bread maker) and cocoa powder, sugar, and orange extract in the pantry. I rinsed out the old coffee creamer bottle and poured all those things in with some water and, voila--orange mocha creamer.

While I realize the savings on these things is minimal, I've really been digging on the idea of using what I have to try to delay buying more stuff, especially when two of the three things are unnecessary. (I'm sure everyone appreciates that I use soap.) It's a double-win because the less money I spend now, the less money I'll have to scramble to find when April rolls around and the more stuff I use up, the less stuff we have cluttering up our house.

What are your penny-saver ideas? We always need suggestions.

Cheap Eats

I've been obsessed this week with reducing my food costs. Two cars leaking oil will go a long way to get you back in the frugal mindset.

Sidebar: I've also been long obsessed with the idea of the "Food Stamp Challenge" where you try to live for a week/month on a "food stamp budget." Some websites say the average amount a person may receive on food stamps is $3/day. Other places, I've seen $4.50/person/day. At any rate, according to my credit card's online pie chart, I spent between those two amounts at the grocery store during all of last year.

So in the interest of spending less at the grocery store this week, I've been trying to adopt a "use it up" mindset when it comes to my refrigerator and pantry. This week was pretty successful.

Breakfast: I had oatmeal, peanut butter and added 1/2 banana ($0.39/lb) for a cheap-o breakfast.

Lunch: I had imitation crab meat in the freezer, cooked some frozen edamame, an avocado, lettuce and added brown rice ($0.98/lb bag) and cucumber ($0.88). I mixed a dressing out of things I had: miso, wasabi & sesame oil. While not really cheap, the only thing I had to buy was the rice. After this was gone I just ate leftovers.

Dinner: My supposed-to-stretch-all-week Tuna Noodle Casserole (Had: tuna, noodles, milk, flour. Bought: cream cheese $1.69 and milk which we always have on hand anyway.) turned into a family Sunday dinner with the addition of the in-laws. I still had a couple days of leftovers. I also made Fried Rice with Chicken (everything leftover...rice bought (and cooked) for California Roll Salad, chicken & veg in the freezer, egg in fridge), and Easy Red Beans & Rice (used up the last remaining cooked rice, canned red beans & spices in the pantry, salsa in the fridge, faux meat crumbles in the freezer.)

For snacks, I had apples, cottage cheese and bought baby carrots for $0.98/bag.

In all, I spent $44.54 at the grocery store this week stocking up on staples, buying what I needed for my planned dinners (California Roll Salad, PB&B Oatmeal & Tuna Noodle Casserole), getting stuff for my step-daughter (her dad needs something quick and easy to make for her on our hectic Monday nights and I'll shamelessly feed her almost anything to get her out of bed in the morning. Plus she will only take certain vegetables in her lunch: cucumber, red pepper, or carrots. I bought 2 of the 3 this week, just to be sure.), stocking up on spaghetti sauce (on sale with a coupon for buying 3), and buying the stuff I need to cook enchiladas for Sunday dinner next week. That's puts me under $3/person/day mark for this week, too.