Weekly Money Saving Accomplishments

[mom2t]

Start back to school tomorrow. Cooked up side dishes, packed lunch for my DH and myself for 3 days. Have drinks purchased to take too. Have my meals planned out to prevent going out to eat this week.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Start back to school tomorrow. Cooked up side dishes, packed lunch for my DH and myself for 3 days. Have drinks purchased to take too. Have my meals planned out to prevent going out to eat this week.

It amazes me how much you save taking lunch to school/work. At my last job, my coworkers ate in an area that overlooked the employee parking lot. We would see the same set of 4 guys walking out to the car to go to lunch EVERY SINGLE DAY. How can you afford that?!

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

Awesome! So jealous! We have two and a half years left on DH's car. I wish we could just pay it down a lot more, but with us about to (hopefully) take on a mortgage, I don't see it happening soon.

Thanks, and good luck! I hope the mortgage thing works out too

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

It amazes me how much you save taking lunch to school/work. At my last job, my coworkers ate in an area that overlooked the employee parking lot. We would see the same set of 4 guys walking out to the car to go to lunch EVERY SINGLE DAY. How can you afford that?!

I have coworkers who buy lunch every single day....I don't get it! Our office is kind of remote, so you have to pay delivery for lunch (our break isn't long enough to go anywhere) and it ends up being around $15 for lunch! No thank you. I keep cans of soup in my desk drawer in case I forgot lunch (which has happened!)

 

[sunflowerfields]

I cooked meals for the freezer on Saturday. Six different recipes and several servings of each. My goal now is to stay out of the stores except for milk and bread if I have to. Hope I do well with this! Also was able to shop at Aldi's this week which I feel like saved me quite a bit.

 

[mom2t]

I have coworkers who buy lunch every single day....I don't get it! Our office is kind of remote, so you have to pay delivery for lunch (our break isn't long enough to go anywhere) and it ends up being around $15 for lunch! No thank you. I keep cans of soup in my desk drawer in case I forgot lunch (which has happened!)

When we first got married my husband ate in an office cafeteria each day. When he realized how much he could save he let me pack for him. He buys one day a week now.

 

[verleniahall]

Picked up a few things last night - Ive been feelign sick from the heat, so the DH has been letting me eat whatever actually sounds good, so I had BLT with Avacado for dinner and had porkchops

Made a salad for lunch at work today - used leftover crumbled bacon and then instead of buying sliced almonds, I just cut them all up myself from what we had in the cabnet!

 

[Deffenm]

Completed several surveys in the past 2 weeks so was able to cash out for $15. It will go right into Disney savings account for 2017. I am trying to pay as much of the trip as I can with "found" money. Extra money we make/find by saving on bills etc. Garden is growing like mad so will be shredding several zucchinis tonight to make bread with and to put up in freezer to make bread later on in the winter. I make homemade granola bars each Sunday instead of buying boxes at the store. My kids like them better then store bought which is good. I try to eat out only once a week at work and pack the rest of the time.

 

[yeahdisney]

We are taking off the sliding of our house soon and then it is to be bricked. We removed the landscaping last night because it was 68 degrees and breezy, it is to be high 80s and Humid this weekend. Had the kids help us. Do not know what we saved doing it ourselves.
I normally always make supper, for this school year I wrote which meat theme will be for supper during the week. We will change up the sides. Now if someone asks what is supper tomorrow I all ready know, kinda like this. I or anyone else can grab the meat and thaw it the night before or start the meal.
Ran the dogs to the vet yesterday, just asked for shots and heart worm, vet said they would not need office visits yesterday unless we wanted one, I thought if your good, I'm good, so saved two office calls.
Yesterday while looking for our disney tickets to link them, I found 4 $50 disney gift cards and a partial card, sweet.

 

[verleniahall]

Paid off our car yesterday!! So that will be an additional $250 in the budget each month!

 

[DisneyMandC]

Completed several surveys in the past 2 weeks so was able to cash out for $15. It will go right into Disney savings account for 2017. I am trying to pay as much of the trip as I can with "found" money. Extra money we make/find by saving on bills etc. Garden is growing like mad so will be shredding several zucchinis tonight to make bread with and to put up in freezer to make bread later on in the winter. I make homemade granola bars each Sunday instead of buying boxes at the store. My kids like them better then store bought which is good. I try to eat out only once a week at work and pack the rest of the time.

I'd love your granola bar recipe if you're willing to share! I love granola bars but feel like so many of them are so processed they're not really healthy. And the all-natural ones are so expensive.

We are taking off the sliding of our house soon and then it is to be bricked. We removed the landscaping last night because it was 68 degrees and breezy, it is to be high 80s and Humid this weekend. Had the kids help us. Do not know what we saved doing it ourselves.
I normally always make supper, for this school year I wrote which meat theme will be for supper during the week. We will change up the sides. Now if someone asks what is supper tomorrow I all ready know, kinda like this. I or anyone else can grab the meat and thaw it the night before or start the meal.
Ran the dogs to the vet yesterday, just asked for shots and heart worm, vet said they would not need office visits yesterday unless we wanted one, I thought if your good, I'm good, so saved two office calls.
Yesterday while looking for our disney tickets to link them, I found 4 $50 disney gift cards and a partial card, sweet.

So jealous of you finding gift cards! I did redeem swagbucks for a $50 target card and ordered a $50 disney card when it came back in stock. So I have redeemed $100 in Disney gift cards this month for nothing out of pocket, and still have $5 left over! I have another $25 I can redeem on swagbucks right now, $5 on mPlaces, and I'm about to roll over $50 on Shopkicks in the next couple days. Woohoo!

Paid off our car yesterday!! So that will be an additional $250 in the budget each month!

Awesome! I wish our car payment was ending sooner!

 

[verleniahall]

Awesome! I wish our car payment was ending sooner!

We paid #3500. down when we got it - we only had an 18 month loan! (we got a new car when the DH re-enlisted and got a $10,000 bonus)

 

[annsteere]

My goal for school break was/is to get our finances really in order. Yesterday I finalized a plan with a financial advisor for simplifying and managing our retirement accounts. (I had multiple piddly little accounts in different funds).

Not POSITIVE that will save money, but it will give me confidence that I actually know what is happening with our investments. It definitely makes me feel like I am in better control.

 

[annsteere]

My goal for school break was/is to get our finances really in order. Yesterday I finalized a plan with a financial advisor for simplifying and managing our retirement accounts. (I had multiple piddly little accounts in different funds).

Not POSITIVE that will save money, but it will give me confidence that I actually know what is happening with our investments. It definitely makes me feel like I am in better control.

 

[alymae1010]

My husband, cousin (lives with us), and I joined a Dietbet game where we have to lose 4% of our body weight in 1 month. At the end of the month, everyone who met the goal will get to split the pot. While I had to pay $30 to get in, we have saved WAY more than that already by eating healthier and not eating out, which we did far too much of. If we meet the goal, we'll each get $30+ back, so that will be icing on the cake!

 

[Deffenm]

I'd love your granola bar recipe if you're willing to share! I love granola bars but feel like so many of them are so processed they're not really healthy. And the all-natural ones are so expensive.

Sure here you go. I did not come up with this reciepe. I got it from one of my favorite blogs - onehundereddollarsamonth I double the recipe and use a cake pan. I also put the chocolate chips on them before they are completely cooled in order to help them stay on the granola bars. Once they are cool and I cut them into bars I just wrap each bar in saran/plastic wrap and put in the fridge. They are not necessarily low fat but at least I can pronounce all of the ingredients.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter {I used creamy but you could try it with crunchy}
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup Rice Krispies
1/4 cup chocolate chips {I used mini}

Line the bottom of an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. In a sauce pan, melt butter, brown sugar, honey and peanut butter. Heat over medium-low heat until the mixture starts to bubble, stirring often. Once bubbly, cook for a few more minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, oats and cereal. Mix until combined. Pour into the pan and press down evenly. Make sure the bars are cooled completely before sprinkling with chocolate chips. Gently press the chocolate chips into the granola bars with your hands.

Cool bars in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before cutting.

 

[DisneyMandC]

Sure here you go. I did not come up with this reciepe. I got it from one of my favorite blogs - onehundereddollarsamonth I double the recipe and use a cake pan. I also put the chocolate chips on them before they are completely cooled in order to help them stay on the granola bars. Once they are cool and I cut them into bars I just wrap each bar in saran/plastic wrap and put in the fridge. They are not necessarily low fat but at least I can pronounce all of the ingredients.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup peanut butter {I used creamy but you could try it with crunchy}
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup Rice Krispies
1/4 cup chocolate chips {I used mini}

Line the bottom of an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper. In a sauce pan, melt butter, brown sugar, honey and peanut butter. Heat over medium-low heat until the mixture starts to bubble, stirring often. Once bubbly, cook for a few more minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, oats and cereal. Mix until combined. Pour into the pan and press down evenly. Make sure the bars are cooled completely before sprinkling with chocolate chips. Gently press the chocolate chips into the granola bars with your hands.

Cool bars in the fridge for at least 15 minutes before cutting.

That sounds great, thank you! I'm definitely going to try these out!

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

Paid off our car yesterday!! So that will be an additional $250 in the budget each month!

Congrats! Best feeling ever!!

 

[verleniahall]

Did grocery shopping last night at the commissary (military grocery store) and i was abel to combine a buy two any kellogs products get a free poptarts with a save $3 when you buy 3 special k products so I got 3 boxes of special K for $1 each and free poptarts! Breakfast for two weeks is covered!

THey also had some family packs of porkchops that had 10 in it for $5.00 -we grabbed two packages so with that and the few things we picke dup and the meat we have in the freezer, we are covered for two weeks. Total spent on groceries was 85.00 - budgted $125 (we still need some produce and milk, but will get that in town)

purchased some fabric and sewing patterns - DH is working on getting my sewing machine back running correctly, and he is making me my halloween costume - we are going to Wichita KS to joanns to get some better fabric than walmart has - i got several coupons in my email that will be used for that! He is also making me a CUTE pencil skirt - got the fabric at walmart for $5.00 - that includes a liner so that I don't have to wear a slip (they BUNCH - ladies - i knwo you understand!)

 

[snarlingcoyote]

I was hoping to find a no-buy thread (I haven't been on DIS in years), but this is good too! I just need some accountability in my spending. Okay, sooooo, this week only. . .

I bought some Chaco sandals for the niece ($105) and found a pair for $50 for myself (not good).
I went in seach of some cheap running tanks to customize and found 2 for $3 each, marked down from $14. (Go me!)
I spent $26 on a cake for a meeting that a friend is speaking at. Normally I spend about $5 on some cookies, but. . .well. This friend is the lead archaeologist at a UNESCO World Heritage site and since I pay out of pocket for the refreshments, I can show favoritism!
I spent $20 on lunch for the next 3 days (not good).
I am now struggling with the desire to hit the thrift store. I know I shouldn't. . .
Next week will be no buy except for necessities.