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Monday Q&A | Frugal Dates, Crossing Out Text, and Warehouse Clubs

Every Monday, I answer a few of the questions that my readers send me. If you have a question you’d like me to answer in a future Q&A post, just leave me a comment here or email me (thefrugalgirl [at] gmail [dot] com) and put Q&A in the subject line. I look forward to hearing from you!

I think it is super cool that you and Mr. Frugal have weekly date nights! My hubby and I talk about wanting to do date nights, but need some frugal ideas. What do you guys do for fun?

-Tammy

Well, the dates we have on a regular basis are take-out date nights. I wrote a whole post about how we do those, so go check that out. In addition to eating dinner together those nights, we sometimes watch a movie on Netflix, play a board or card game (sometimes we play Hangman!), or just talk.

When we do go out on a regular date, we typically go out to dinner. If we can, we use a Groupon or a gift certificate, but since we go on this type of date pretty infrequently, we don’t stress out about it if we don’t have a discount. After dinner, we sometimes run an errand together or go window shopping…nothing too fancy, but it works for us. The main thing that’s important to us is being together!

So, I guess my best frugal advice is to consider adopting our takeout date night idea…it only costs us $20, which is pretty hard to beat.

How do you “draw” a line through text? For example,

“¢ Go to “My Account”

-Laurie

That depends on what program you’re using to type, but most of them have a little button that looks like this: ABC Usually, you just highlight the text you want to cross out and click that button.

Here’s how it looks in Microsoft Word, and it’s the same in my WordPress dashboard as well.

Are you a member of Sam’s Club/BJs/Costco? If so, why or why not? I am approaching my renew date at Sam’s Club and I am trying to figure out if it’s worth the $100 for the year or not. I don’t buy a ton of things there, but there are weeks when I do get my produce there, esp. when my local grocery store’s isn’t too fresh.

What is your view?

-Brooke

We are Costco members, yes. Our membership is only around $50/year, so even though we don’t buy a great number of things there, it’s worth it for us.

The main items we purchase at Costco are yeast (oh, it’s SO cheap!), printer ink, contact cleaning solution, laundry detergent, nuts, cinnamon, vanilla, and gas.

I used to buy more things at Costco before I discovered Aldi. However, Aldi’s prices often meet or beat Costco’s, and I don’t have to buy ginormous containers, so I tend to prefer Aldi.

If I didn’t have access to an Aldi store, I’d be a much bigger proponent of a warehouse store, though. So if you’re in that boat, I’d recommend keeping your membership.

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Readers, do you have thoughts to add about cheap date nights or warehouse clubs?

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Today’s 365 post: How to get a Great Mom award from your children

Joshua’s 365 post: Wanna Guess?

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step

Friday 20th of April 2012

We belong to BJ's @ $50/year. We too selectively buy-comparing costs. Deli meats are $2/lb less than our local stores, milk $.75 less per gallon, frozen "reheat" foods are $1.50 less per lb, coffee $.75-1.25/lb less, condiments, breads, Hershey's chocolate syrup. Gasoline at last fillup was $1.25/gallon less than local. I figure to break even on the membership fee, I have to save at least $4/trip, which I do. Plus they accept manufacturer's coupons as well as their own. We don't buy there exclusively, but it's still a good deal for us.

I suggest tracking actual savings to decide if membership is $ worth it.

By the way, Costco owns Aldi.

the.mrs

Thursday 19th of April 2012

We are Costco members, too. $55/year. If you buy 10 gallons of gas once a week at Costco, you'll more than pay for your membership in savings! That's one of the reasons we do it.. oh and for produce, toothpaste, rice, and frozen fruit for smoothies... love it!

Lori

Wednesday 18th of April 2012

I don't have a wholesale club close enough to make a membership worthwhile. But, I am waiting for a spot to open up in a local food share. They buy locally- and ethically-produced foods in bulk and then allow members to order the amounts they want, at prices that are almost comparable to what you'd pay at a discount club.

alone on the prarie

Tuesday 17th of April 2012

If you're using HTML the code is enter your test here to cross off Many times you can go into the HTML section of your blog post and add the above before and after. Just in case the comment crosses it out.....it's and (no spaces between the "<" and s or /

alone on the prarie

Tuesday 17th of April 2012

well it wouldn't let me post it, Check it out on WIKI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strikethrough

Dede

Tuesday 17th of April 2012

We stock up right before our membership expires, so we can wait about 4-6 months before having to pay for the membership again.

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