A few frugal things

– My friend gave me a really nice frame that she wasn’t using anymore. Unfortunately, the glass cracked but I have been taking the glass out of our pictures because of the cats. I had found the above beautiful watercolor boat picture on sale (because it was missing a frame) for $1.99. Turns out they fit perfectly and we hung it in our entrance way by the front door. It’s funny because our entrance way looks a lot more expensive!

– Last weekend we had such a busy weekend that we didn’t feel like going to the grocery store and we have really made due with the food we had in the house. It has been a bit of a stretch but we are probably better off for eating PB&Js for work lunches.

– I found some things that I have been looking for at the thrift shop for a long time including an outside love seat. I’m washing the cushions but will probably eventually recover them.

– Still enjoying watching ER (there are 16 long seasons) on HULU. And I have also been watching Married At First Sight Australia for free on the website Daily Motion.

– Slowly putting stuff aside for another yard sale this summer. We have a great neighborhood for it and did very well last time with very low-priced items. I find it helps to just keep storing stuff in the same place until we get enough.

– We had the landlord’s handy man come for some repairs. He fixed some things and replaces some light bulbs at no cost to us. We also got a new dishwasher.

– I had purchased some closet repair supplies thinking it would be easier to fix the closet ourselves than to wait for the repair but it never got done. When I showed the handy man he already had the supplies and told me to return what I had purchased which will be about $15 back!

– I had to go to a long Friday work meeting but they fed us lunch. It was in another part of town that I’m not usually in so I took the opportunity to avoid taking the toll roads home and stop at 3 thrift shops along the way. I had some great luck with some awesome finds for us and to sell on eBay.

– I am slowly redoing our outside patio to look more like an outside living room by our beautiful pool. I spray painted a few items, bought an outside love seat, bought a couple of outside pillows. I’ll do a post on it soon.

– I made two outside solar chandeliers and they work great and are super cool looking. If we get a few more outside solar spot lights we probably wouldn’t need any electric lights at night in the back yard. This would  be a small electricity savings but, as renters, I love that we can take these with us when we move also.

– We did a huge grocery shop and have been enjoying some of our favorite and frugal meals at home. So far we are resisting take out.

– This weekend I organized and cleaned the closet. It had become a disaster site and was driving me crazy. I still need to pack up the winter clothes so that I better see and make use of my FL summer wardrobe.

– I turned all of the hangers backwards so that I would know what I am wearing and what I’m not over the summer.

Not so Frugal

– Our oldest cat was peeing blood and had to go to the vet. I tried a new vet closer to home that seemed to have similar prices. I declined several hundreds of dollars of treatments in favor of trying antibiotics first. Less invasive and one shot lasts for 2-3 weeks. So far so good.

– We still have to flea treat the pets but were able to go about 2 months between treatments and I split a dose between our two smallest cats. Still need to order more flea meds and heartworm meds for the dog but I budgeted for it.

Extra Income

– I am planning a yard sale for this summer which always motivates me to get rid of junk.

– I am revamping my eBay business because I will have 6 weeks off of work. I purchased some nice name brand clothes including Michael Kors, Lucky Brand, Harley Davidson and more to list during that time.

– The closet in my sewing/eBay room had a broken rack so the stuff was piled around and was making it harder for me to access my stuff. It was fixed today and that should help me get more organized. I plan on hanging up a lot of the new inventory I have purchased but I think that means I will need to buy or source more hangers.

– I continue to do some small online work despite a small setback.

Harmful Chemical Free Living

– I continue to look at thrift shops for a new floor steamer without any luck. Ours overheated and although we don’t have much tile in this house, I would like to deep clean it this summer.