I haven’t posted in a few weeks because I did something very un-frugal: I came down with terrible bronchitis. Very ill-timed — and expensive, too. I not only had to go to the doctor, but I had to have a chest X-ray. Ugh! Between that and furniture purchases, we just hemorrhaged money all month.
This list accounts for the whole period since my last post:
- Our Crockpot’s temperature controller knob broke in the move, but I was able to order a set of two replacement knobs for $7.99 (with free shipping). We were given the Crockpot as a hand-me-down several years ago (one of Lennox’s foodie friends was upgrading, and it was like new), so this is the first we’ve spent on it! And it’s far less than the cost of a replacement.
- Our local (& amazing) hardware store actually carries the rare bizarro-world size of air filter the A/C in our new apartment uses. Although it’s not the heavy-duty Filtrete allergy filter we normally use, it is rated far better than a standard filter, and its $8.69 price tag beats the stuffing out of paying $140+ for a six pack of custom filters ordered online.
- Watched a DVD from the library, and read 14 library eBooks. (I could never afford to read at the rate I do without the library!)
- Saved $16.61 by buying a collapsible crate at Costco instead of ordering it from Amazon. Not every Costco bargain is this impressive, although (according to the spreadsheet I keep) we have saved $917.32 so far this year by shopping there.
- Decided not to get new dining room chairs, even though we got a new table. Though I spent about $20.00 on paint & supplies to re-do the old chairs, it was still a considerable savings over buying new ones. I painted our old console table to match, too, which we had planned to get rid of, but we’re going to put it in front of the living room windows instead of getting a bench for that area.
- Saved $24.00 over regular retail price by purchasing shoes on eBay (new with tags). These were my favorite Toms shoes, but my old ones had gotten so ratty I wore them for my painting project, which finished them off! I wanted the exact same ones to replace them, so that’s what I got. The old pair lasted over 3 years despite heavy wear, and I didn’t pay full price for them, either.
- Ordered a new desk for my sewing area from Wayfair, but got 10% off by using a coupon. Better than paying full price, at least.
We have finally gotten our remaining furniture from IKEA, and should be done with the wild spending phase of our move. Things should be much, much closer to normal in October. We’ll also pay our car off next month (over six months early), so we should be able to start saving in earnest again. Alright alright!