Five Frugal Things

1. Did not grocery shop this week. Just bought apples, bananas and spinach to get us through the week. I am trying to use up the extra food in our house before it spoils.

2. Washed three loads of laundry and hung them on the line to dry.

3. Planted 30 tomato plants in my garden that I started from seed.

4. Husband and I packed our lunches all week.

5. Planted flower seeds that I got on clearance last year in my flower pots instead of buying flowers from the nursery (which can be very expensive $75). I hope they come up!!

Savannah, Financial Peace University was a fabulous experience that probably saved our marriage. We took it at another church and convinced our own church to implement the program. Hope all goes well for you!

1. I started Weight Watchers about 2months ago and I've lost a pants size! I altered some of my pants instead of buying new, and bought a great Goodwill dress in my new size for $5.

2. Ate all meals at home/Brownback to office last week!

3. Contacted Replacements about some family crystal none of us want; fortunately, Replacements does. Ergo we'll have about $70 coming in AND freed up space.

4. They don't generally do this, but the dry cleaner said I've returned so many hangers over the years that she'd clean the business dress I brought gratis. Like someone else said, it wasn't' t a frugal thing, it was environmental and yielded frugal fruit.

5. Gathered everything frayed and ripped (towels, scarves, jeans, etc.), got out the sewing machine and fixed it all.

1. I used fruits I had put up last year for breakfast this week. (Canned peaches and frozen blueberries)

2. Experimented with making underwear. I know, it's kinda crazy, but at $3-5 a pair for womens undies...

3. Sold a bunch of extra stuff online and in a yard sale.

4. Used up a few barbeque chicken drumsticks into a chicken salad. The bbq addition was yummy!

5. Turned off the AC every time we left the house for more than an hour or two.

Good for you, installing your own faucet. I tried to do the same and after two trips to the hardware store for advice and to purchase a special wrench I ended up calling a plumber anyway. I just could not get the old corroded fittings off.

Hi! Thanks for sharing everyone - I love hearing how creative y'all are! Here is my Frugal Five: 1) When traveling with my family out-of-state last week, I packed food from home to eat at the rest stops. That saved time and money. 2) I made my own dishwasher detergent. 3) I made my own laundry detergent. 4) My local thrift shop gives out a "50% off one item" coupon on its donation receipts. I used that coupon to buy an item that was only $10 to being with. It was a steal at $5, and I would have paid well over $50 if I bought the item at retail. Which I wouldn't have, so it saved me the time and trouble of making it myself. 5) I have been very patient with my ailing Washing Machine. Read below...

About a year ago my ten year old front-loading washing machine started making this terrible banging noise when I ran it. Not having much experience with washers, I called our Very Reliable appliance repair guy. He told me that the Main Rear Bearing is going, and it would cost about the price of a new machine ($900) to fix it because the whole washer would need to come apart. He also said this piece is very large, heavy, and hard to work with. He said I could get 2-3 more years out of it if I babied it. Which I have been doing. My husband is an engineer, and is able to fix/do almost everything around here - except for fix washing machines. He went to work and asked his engineer colleagues if they have any experience with this problem, and they all pretty much agreed with our repair man.

I am wondering if any of you FG readers might have any advice, insight, or repair experience to offer. I always appreciate reading what you have to say :-) Thanks in advance!