A Day in the Life of The Frugal Girl

Carrie and Mrs. Picky Pincher told me they were both writing Day In The Life posts with an emphasis on frugality, and they invited me to join in.

So, here’s how my life went on Monday of this week.

Morning

I got up, ironed some clothes for the husband while he showered, and also packed him some snacks and made him a smoothie for breakfast, using my Vitamix (which is an expensive machine that ends up being frugal in the long run because it lasts for ages).

Normally I pack him a lunch, but we were low on groceries and had no leftovers…so, he bought lunch out.

That is obviously not frugal, but it happens sometimes. He eats a packed lunch 90% of the time, and I am good with that.

After he left, I threw in some laundry and got dressed (a thrifted green Gap skirt and a black Old Navy tank top) and grabbed my earrings (pearls from Amazon) and my necklace (Lisey picked this out for me as an out-of-the-blue present this past winter and I love it!)

(I apologize for the very lame selfie. SLRs are not made for selfies.)

I drank my breakfast smoothie while I added pictures to a blog post and published it (the Lunchskins post).

Then Lisey and I headed out to an appointment (in-network, so just a $13 copay). I read a library book while I waited for her.

When I got home, I switched laundry and started working on menu planning for the week.

Afternoon

For lunch, I had fresh peaches (remember my $10 bruised peach box?), a sausage that I cooked in my little cast-iron pan, and a treat in the form of a Take 5 bar, which I’d bought the night before.

Take 5 bars aren’t remotely healthy, but ooh, they are good.   The chocolate! The caramel! The crunchy pretzels! You should totally try one.

After lunch, I finished making my menu plan and grocery list, switched laundry again, and then headed out to do some errands.

I went to Aldi (because Aldi is my fave) and bought most of the groceries I’ll need this week. 

I picked up an insulated lunchbox for Lisey too, since she is going to have to start packing a lunch when her tutorial starts up.

I also stopped at the drugstore to pick up two prescriptions.   The cashier there told me about discount programs for each of the prescriptions, so I used my phone to sign up for them then and there (instant $75 savings!)

I also picked up some super-cheap notebooks at the drugstore’s back to school sale.

On my way home, I stopped at the organic market for some chicken, and I also bought an orange creamsicle soda for the husband because he was having a rough day.

Orange creamsicle soda is clinically proven to fix a bad day. Just so you know.

I paid for everything with a rewards credit card, which we pay off every month.

When I got home, I unpacked groceries, photographed them for Friday’s post, put them away, and started heating milk for homemade yogurt.

By that time, I had to take my older two kids to work, so off we went.

Taking them to work does use up gas, but they’re earning their own money and, more importantly, learning some great life lessons. 

When I got back home, I finished mixing up the yogurt to put in the cooler, cleaned up the kitchen, put the rest of the groceries away, and wrote most of this post.

Evening

I made dinner, which was Chicken Pomodoro over rice, with a blueberry/peach salad and raw cucumbers.

Yes, we ARE eating a lot of peaches right now. 😉

We cleaned up dinner, welcomed a friend to sleep over with Sonia and Zoe, and then it wasn’t crazy long before one teen needed to be picked up from work.

Normally Mr. FG handles the evening pickups, but since he’d had a hard day, I took ’em over for the night.

I picked up the other teen too, tucked Sonia and Zoe into bed, chatted with the teens about their shifts, took my yogurt out of the cooler and put it into the fridge, and headed to bed.

Aaaand that was the end of my day.