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Back in the Saddle!

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Hiya Frugal Friends!

It’s been quite some time since I last posted, which is a travesty. I got caught up in life, and things were going well for a while, so I wanted to ride that train for as long as I could.

Clearly, I cannot stick to that daily or even weekly writing commitment. But I think in 2025, I am going to try to do better. My brain has been cooking with ideas on ways I can make additional money, and I would love it if you would join me in my year of hustling. I am trying to quit my day job and replace it with more creative and fun things to do. My day job really burns me out and I would love nothing more than to lean into my creative side and possibly drag more happiness into my life.

Why don’t we start by making our paper mache piggy banks? Let’s wait until the end of this year to do so, and make them out of a water balloon, newspaper strips, and some glue! Drop your pictures of your new piggy and their name! Let’s see who can fill them up first!

We built a wall!!

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You’ll have to forgive my absences in documenting our journey. Some days, I just don’t want to admit to myself that all the spending I have done lately was not really in my best interest. There are some exceptions!

So, the Roommate was recently sent on a short-term assignment to another location. And for the first time in the two years we have lived here, I felt peaceful. My BFF came to visit, and she and I got a TON of things done. She is a carpenter by trade, so her expertise was really helpful in several of our building projects.

Things I accomplished in the 3 weeks the Roommate was gone:

I painted our bedroom, replaced the bedding, and built myself a new dresser and closet from the cube storage things and a curved bar – cost $240.78.

I painted the bathroom with the help of Froggy – cost $0, we used the leftover paint from the kitchen cabinet remodel from last year. Score for reusing colors!

I replaced our front door, which had an insane gap around it. So now we have a secure and weatherproof mudroom. Winters in our area can be quite brutal. So this was something that needed attention. I also replaced the garage door, well because there wasn’t one. There was just a busted screen door, and it was doing nothing to keep the garage warm. My BFF and I also built a wall that split the garage into a storage area and a living/craft room. - Cost $952.94

I reattached and replaced the missing HVAC components, so now our bedroom and garage are getting heat…apparently, we just liked heating the basement for the last two winters! – Cost $29.76

Since we did most of this when my BFF was in town, I, of course, compensated her for her work. The unfair advantage is she doesn’t mind helping friends and getting paid for labor in food…so long as you help out! That was a win-win for me since I got to spend time with my friend, who I have missed since moving, and she taught me how to do a few things. Froggy even helped with the build. Amazing what you can get done when you just go for it! So dinners out to where she wanted to go – Cost $261.22 (while I balk at the cost when I have food at home, she’s 100% worth every penny I spend on her!).

February started off being a wicked expensive month. And realistically, while I had planned for the remodeling projects and have been working side gigs to cover the costs, spending it is still a gut punch. What I am struggling with is that I can easily fritter away $270 at the casino just by pushing a button and hoping to hit big with ease. I have never been a huge gambler, so this doesn’t make much sense to me. I think I will go back to my once-a-month bingo venture because it is pretty much paid for with the frequent player bucks I get. I might even have to stop picking up the mystery shops at the casino to help reduce the amount that I will just spend there.

I am starting to enjoy my garage living room more now. I just need to finish sheetrocking and taping the wall so it can be painted. I think I am going to find some cheap wallpaper and completely do the entire room.

See ya after the next project!

-Chick

January Recap

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One month down and eleven more to go!

Let’s check out our income sources:

Earnings:

The Main job: $52.76.94

The Part time job: $265

The side hustles: $520

Dividend income: $997.60

Expenses:

Housing: 398.48 (taxes for the year)

Utilities: 384.93

Groceries: 179.51

Reimbursements:

Phone: $50

electric: $30

groceries: $80

I did spend a bunch of money on some hobbies this month, and I am planning to use my new found toys to get me through the winter doldrums. There were also home improvement costs that I wasn’t exactly planning to spend, but an opportunity came up that was hard to say NO to. When your best friend says they will come help you build stuff, it’s hard to turn that down!

After reviewing my spending tracker, I DEFINITELY need to delete the Temu app. I find myself doomscrolling it and saying OH that would be handy to have. While I enjoy the dopamine hit from the sale, I know this is one area I need to rein in. Since the items I bought are supposed to arrive on the 7th of next month, I’ll delete it once everything arrives and I don’t have to send anything back.

My savings increased by $2136.77 this month, and my investments increased by $2815.95 overall. Not a bad way to start out the year.

For February, my goal is to delete some apps to reduce my impulse spending, increase the amount I put into my investment account, and get my taxes done by the end of the month. I am hoping I will have all of my documents in by then. I am also going to plan to capture my receipts weekly so I don’t lose out on rewards from them.

What goals are you setting for February?

I swear I’m not a gambler~!

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Welcome to week 4! This week, there was an interesting development as the Roommate was sent off to work at another location, essentially leaving Froggy and me to our own devices. In my first week of unsupervised shenanigans, I paid bills for the month and headed to the casino for some shops and an impromptu Bingo session.

I spent a bunch of time this week at the four casinos near my house. I wasn’t visiting them to spend all my hard-earned money. Instead, I was earning some. The locations needed a mystery shopper to assess their cage-handling process. So sign me up to earn $150 for about 20 minutes’ worth of actual work. A quick and easy way to supplement my part-time income, and I don’t mind doing some fieldwork.

While at one of the casinos, I went to bingo. I kinda love it because I know exactly how much I am most likely going to lose. $8 doesn’t seem like a bad amount to spend to be entertained for a few hours. I used some coupons I got from going with friends earlier in the month, and we went on a discount day. I stacked some other frequent bingo points on the receipt, and voila! My bill went from $53 down to $8 due to all the discounts I had. If I used the players’ points, I think I could have played for free!

While I don’t mind playing bingo for a few hours, I always have an issue with playing some slots. It just seems too easy to whittle down my funds. I always feel guilty after playing, even if I lose $10. That $10 could have gone to something else…like an investment. I am finding that when I go with other people, there is much more influence to play other games I did not plan to play. This time I guess I was lucky as I was down to $5 out of $40 to play slots with, and I hit a biggie (well, a biggie for me, my sister would tell it I was chump change!). Something wild and special started happening and all the lights and sounds were going off. I won $400 and I was excited! Typically I would have cashed out right then and left, but because I was with other people, I felt compelled to spend and play more. I can’t say I particularly enjoy that feeling. I still took home about $280, putting me $232 to the positive. I planned to save this for my bingo adventures so I am playing with house money for the rest of the year.

As a side note, mentally, I feel like I am doing the best I have been in about a year! It feels so good to finally feel like myself again. I am not sure if the missing Roommate or the small windfall are playing a role, but I really like feeling this good again.

Hope you are all doing well!

-Chick

Week 3 Spending recap!

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Well, friends, I keep telling myself I am going to do better by not spending frivolously. I thought I was doing ok sticking to that. Turns out it was hobby week, and not really all stuff I needed or wanted.

I was going to head out with Froggy early in the week for dinner since I could pick up a mystery shop. Dinner for the two of us cost $47, but I was reimbursed $35, so the net cost was $12. Not terrible for when I don’t want to cook. I know I should really stick to our casserole plan to ensure we aren’t eating out, but mystery shops are hard for me to turn down.

Since the restaurant was close to Dollar Tree, I needed to stop in and see if they had a small cutting mat. They did, and I bought enough to cover my dinner table with them so I could cut the fabric for a bunch of projects I am working on. Perhaps I might even sell for some additional income.

I also picked up some fat quarter rolls of fabric to try with my new Accuquilt Go cutter. I decided that I will utilize it as a mechanism to bring me additional income in the summer, where I can sell crafted items at a farmers market. Since I am in the middle of the winter doldrums, chasing the dies I am after is proving quite fun to find at a discount.

I also picked up some potting soil to replant my plants. They were looking a little worse for wear and needed a new home. I grabbed a small bag since only a few plants needed to be done, and I still have half of it left. If I had really planned ahead, I could have used the compost pile at the dump I had to go to anyway to bring my trash.

The restaurant wasn’t the only mystery shop I picked up. A scheduler reached out and asked if I would pick up some casino shops too. I did spend some gambling, $31.01, to be exact. For someone who really isn’t into gambling, I feel like I do it a lot since I am usually there conducting a shop. Normally I only go to play bingo, which costs me less than $10 once a month, but I have been finding myself adding some to a slot machine here and there. My rationale is that I would be harder to discover as a mystery shopper if I had an uneven amount on my cash slip. I’ll have to consider doing fewer of them so I am not tempted to think I can hit it big at the casino.

Here’s to hoping next week is better!

-Chick

Week 2 Recap

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I thought I would be much better about my spending during week 2.  I was both planning and impulsive in my spending for the week.  Let’ Susan dive in and see how it shook out!

At Christmas, I received $500 from my mom.  For the last few years, she has given us cash as gifts to do whatever we want with.  Being responsible adults, my sister and I typically have put this money toward a full tank of oil for the winter to help ease the pain of that purchase. This year, since money isn’t as tight as it has been in past years, I decided I would get myself something with it.  I placed it in the bank until I figured out what I wanted, and one Facebook reel later, I knew what it was!  An Accuquilt Go! fabric cutter.

I started to do research on the cost of one of the cutters, and I had quite the sticker shock when I saw their smallest machine was several hundred dollars.  I was taken aback at the cost and asked myself if this was going to be a purchase that would be worth it or if it would just gather dust.  So, off to YouTube, I went and watched several demos of the machine.  I researched the different dies that were available and then saw I would be able to have custom dies made as well.  The more I considered it, the more I thought it would be something I could use long-term and get through my crazy fabric stash. 

I have started to think more about using the Facebook marketplace and other online tag sale sites to find the things I wanted secondhand.  So, I started to search for one every day, and a few days into my search, someone posted one with several dies for $450.  Completely within my budget! I met up with the seller, and they informed me their dad was the quilter in their family and were glad to see someone get used to it.  Before I agreed to the purchase, I checked the prices of all the dies and machines.  The retail cost of the dies, mats, and machine would have cost me $1198 for everything I received, a huge savings of $748 that will help me crank out some projects to sell at the Farmer’s Market this summer.

Next up were groceries.  I went to the store and spent $112.19 on minimal groceries.  I was able to snag a bunch of Progresso soup, pasta, and sauce.  Froggy loves soup, and it was a cheap pick-up for their after-school snack or a light dinner when they didn’t like what I made.  I snagged 16 cans of soup, 12 boxes of pasta, and 12 jars of sauce.   The soup will last through the rest of winter, and the pasta and sauce are stockpiled for 1 pasta-based meal each month.  Getting food at the lowest possible price is the best way to create a stockpile. 

Something unique about my grocery spending is that I am a mystery shopper and will receive $80 back between the shopper fee and reimbursement fee.  Without using any coupons, I was able to drop this cost down to $32.19.  I try to pick up these shops at least once a month to help reduce my overall costs.

Lastly, there was the unplanned breakfast with my coworker.  Typically, they will pay for our meal together, but I am the type of person who wants to make sure my friends don’t feel taken advantage of and paid for breakfast. It was $40 for the two of us.  Well worth the time together.

A nice win I had this week was I remembered to bring lunch for each of my shifts and didn’t buy lunch out.  I was able to use up the leftovers hanging around the house before they became science projects.

Looking forward to sharing more ups and downs with you next week!

-Chick

Three days into my new plan…

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….and it’s all gone to hell!

At the start of the year, I vowed that I would do better about spending money and eating at home. Annnnnnnd….then my mom came to visit. My mom took the four-hour trip from her house to mine to drop off some extra items she had from her house. I have wanted to turn my garage into a family room since we moved to this house, and with my mom deciding to leave her apartment, she needed to rehome some items. I was pretty happy about her visit.  No one from back home has come to see me in the 18 months since we left. 

After we offloaded the couch and shelving she brought, we decided to go out to dinner. Well, she wanted to, and I just went along with it because it made life easier. So we drove out to Texas Roadhouse and ordered a few things to share. We came back and hung out, talking about some projects I would like to work on. I was hoping getting her to talk about these would encourage her to want to stay longer than just one night. After crawling into bed, I thought about where the day was going, and I felt bad about spending on eating out when I had a perfectly full fridge at the house.

The next day, I had a planned night out with some friends from work. We went to play bingo, and I told myself I would limit my spending to $30. I was able to stay pretty close to that budgeted amount with a discount for the bingo hall, it was a surprise that I had it, and it put me in a good mood. I went to the onsite bakery and food hall at intermission and purchased additional food with my friends. Another $36 later, and I knew I was screwing up my plan. 

I watched my friends spend more money on additional games and then additional gambling after leaving bingo. I am not typically a big gambler at a casino, so it wasn’t a hard thing to stick to. As I walked back to my car, I thought back on the night and how it made me feel. It was nice to have a night out with friends and enjoy their company. I was proud of my restraint in not participating in additional activities outside my plan. 

So tomorrow is a new day. I am going to try to be more resolute in my choices and deliberate about my actions. 

Have you ever assessed how failing to meet your plans and goals made you feel? What missteps did you make, and how did you correct the course?

-Chick

Happy New Year!

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Hey there 2024! 

I hope you are all ringing in the New Year with some great goals. I am going to keep this post short and sweet since we’re just getting started here.

During this year and with this blog, I intend to document the changes I want to make over the course of the year. The blog will also serve as a way to hold me accountable for the goals that I want to achieve. For much of 2023, I found myself drifting. I had no direction and no real goals set to chase. I find that I am happiest when I am working towards a goal.

So, what are we documenting anyway? I want to document the financial goals and trials I am going through on my FIRE journey. I am part of the way there, but want to consciously have someone to talk to about it, even if it’s just my imaginary audience. What will that look like? I don’t quite know yet, but I am excited to figure it out!

Look for recipes with breakdowns and homesteading skills, and return to the basics. I am committing to posting a weekly recap and two recipes a week. Anything past that, well, I guess that’s a bonus!

See ya around!

-Chick

HI! We’re the Frugal Chicks!

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I wanted to start this blog as an accountability measure. I don’t imagine anyone will ever read it, but if you do, maybe we can learn some stuff together!

I found it funny when talking to a friend of mine how 100 years ago, people were flocking to cities to take advantage of all the Industrial Age had to offer….yet here we are looking backward on how we can regain, relearn, and share time-honored skills to live a more simple and frugal life.

I intend to use this blog as a way to document my life for the next year. I want to improve my financial standing, reduce my expenses, and improve how I spend my life overall. I hope to make some friends along the way. Hopefully, I can keep up!

See ya around,

Chick