Frugal Friday: Free Babysitting And Cheap Tuna

It's Frugal Friday and if you're a regular reader, you know that I do a frugal living themed post on the last Friday of every month. So, this should have actually been posted 7 days ago, but hey, I said I was frugal, not a mathematician. 

My greatest Frugal Feat of the month was getting a free night out complete with free babysitting. I give 100% credit to my very dear friend who had the brilliant idea of a doing a babysitting exchange where each couple got a night out, while one person from the other couple babysat. 

Perfect!

We put the baby to bed, and my husband and I got dressed up and attended a fancy shmancy charity benefit courtesy of his bosses who had extra tickets.  The night didn’t cost us a cent, and we got to eat, drink, and chat with grownups, with the knowledge that our daughter was in safe hands.

When it was my turn to babysit, it was like another night off. My husband was left at home with to do the dinner-clean-up/bath time/bedtime routine, and I got to go for a nice peaceful drive to my friends’ house. 

Alone.

What’s that sound coming from the back seat?

Oh wait. There is no sound coming from the back seat.

Weird. 

When I got to my friends’ house, their daughter was already in bed, and I got a few uninterrupted hours of peace and quiet, with nothing to but drink coffee and waste time on my computer. 

It was amazing. I should babysit more often.

Are you wondering about the tuna now? You know, the “cheap tuna” from the title? What does tuna have to do with babysitting?  Nothing, actually. I just thought it sounded cool.

But I really did get cheap tuna.

My local grocery store has “dollar days” every so often, where select items go on sale for a dollar. A couple months ago, when they had dollar days, the canned tuna that I normally buy was on sale for a dollar, and so I stocked up.

Unfortunately, we ran out of tuna last week, and so I grudgingly added it to the grocery list, disappointed that I had to buy it at full price. 

Then, as if answering my prayers, the Couponing Heavens opened up and rained grocery flyers. And those grocery flyers read “Dollar Days”, and because sometimes the stars just align like shiny stockpiles of canned goods, tuna was on sale. For a dollar. Ooooooh yeah.

So there you have it folks. The recipe for frugal living- one part awesome friends, one part free tickets, and as much $1 tuna as you can stuff into your grocery cart.

Frugal Friday: Top 5 Things To Buy At Costco

Oh, Costco, where the food is plentiful, the deals are questionable, and the samples are always free. I have a love-hate relationship with Costco.   

What I hate most is that it’s always so busy and that the annoying and inconsiderate shoppers of the world tend to congregate there.  The other thing that frustrates me is that everything seems like such a good deal because you get so much of it.  20 pounds of apples? Well whatever it costs, I’m sure it’s a good deal- I mean you get TWENTY POUNDS! 

On the other hand, what I LOVE about Costco are the free samples. Obviously. And did you know that they don’t contain any calories? Well, in my opinion they don’t. Not that it’s really a matter of opinion, but I maintain that it is absolutely impossible to gain weight no matter how many Larabars and Nutella sandwiches you eat, as long as they are portioned into sample-sized pieces and served in mini muffin cups.  I came to this conclusion with the same logic I used to ascertain that twenty pounds of apples are a good deal regardless of the price. Still with me? Good. Because I’m not done yet.

The point I’m trying to make is that when you’re surrounded by all those free-flowing samples, those ginormous bags of chocolate chips, the fluorescent lighting and the crowds, it’s hard to figure out what you really should be buying at Costco .

Here are my top 5 things to buy at Costco:

Baby wipes

You get 900 wipes for around 20 bucks, sometimes cheaper if they’re on sale. I have never seen a price this good for wipes anywhere else. 

Avocados

$5.79 for five avocados, compared with $2 per avocado at the regular grocery store.  In addition to the fact that this is an incredible deal, the Costco avocados are usually bigger than the ones at the grocery store.  The avacados alone are worth the trip to Costco, especially given my daughter’s hardcore avocado habit.

Gas

Filling your car up at Costco is always cheaper where I live, so we fill our tank every time we do a Costco trip.

Bananas

$1.69 a bunch, and they’re BIG bunches. And if we don’t eat them all before they go bad, then I have an excuse to bake. Not that I need an excuse, but it makes me feel virtuous to know that I’m not wasting food. And that I'm putting banana in my baked goods.

Starbucks Coffee

You get a massive bag of yummy yummy Starbucks coffee for $22.99. It's not going to taste as good as when someone else makes it for you and puts it in one of those delightful paper Starbucks cups, but it's the next best thing.

What are your favourite things to buy at Costco?

If these don't seem like such good deals to you, it's probably because you live somewhere where you can actually get food for reasonable prices. Maybe Costco is even cheaper where you live too. Lucky you. But please don't gloat about it in the comments section because you might break my heart a little.

Frugal Friday: August Edition

In case you're wondering why I haven’t been doing my Frugal Friday post every second week, as promised (because I know you have been up all night contemplating this), I have decided to do the Frugal Friday posts only once a month. 

If only my To Do list was actually this short.

Being reminded of the exorbitant cost of shoving food down my throat is not something I find particularly enjoyable, and I’m not sure I could handle it every two weeks. Plus, I’m lazy.

Here are this month’s Feats and Fails:

Feat:

We brought our grocery bill down to $750 this month! We accomplished this by stocking up on sale items, meal planning, reading the flyers, and schlepping all over the city in search of bargains. I sometimes wonder whether the exorbitant cost of gas negates the money we save from going to a bunch of different stores. If only our local grocery store did price matching.

Fail:

I drove across town to No Frills specifically to buy an item that I knew was on sale. When I got home and looked at the receipt, I realized that they accidentally charged me full price. Fail. I should have known the cashier wasn’t too swift when she held up my bag of green beans and asked “What are these?” I would have paid closer attention at the cash register, but I was busy trying to prevent my daughter from devouring the store flyer, and any other pseudo-edible items she could get her hands on.

Feat:

I realized that my goal of becoming a saavy shopper is being hindered by the fact that I have absolutely no idea what things cost. I tend to assume that if something is on sale it must be a good deal, even though it might be cheaper elsewhere at regular price. I have a terrible memory for numbers, so I started making a list of the regular prices of the items we typically buy, so I’ll know when something is actually a good deal.  

Fail:

Remember that Pampers coupon that I told you about last time? Well, I was feeling like a couponing champ as I smugly headed to cash at the grocery store where I had specifically gone because I knew diapers were on sale, and of course, I forgot to use my coupon. Twice.

Do you have any feats, fails or finds to share this Frugal Friday?

Frugal Friday: Help! I Spend Way Too Much On Groceries!

$1155.78.  That is how much we spent on groceries for the month of July. My husband had noticed that we seemed to be spending a lot on groceries and so he added it up. I guess he felt the number was too high to say out loud because he emailed it to me, despite the fact that I was sitting in the next room.

Our household is comprised of two adults, one baby, and one dog.  How does such a small family spend $1155.78 on one month’s worth of groceries? It seems like a bit much (even in Canada, where food is expensive).

In our defense, this was a particularly expensive month for groceries.  We had been out of town for May and June, and so we had to re-stock a lot of items. Also, this grocery bill is a total of the money we spent at the grocery store and Costco, so it includes other household items like toilet paper, diapers, etc.

I’ve always been careful about my spending, and I hate the feeling of wasting money. My philosophy is that if you save money on the little day to day items, you won’t feel guilty spending money on the big ticket items that you really want.  For example, I don’t feel the need to buy brand name rice cakes, but I did buy a top-of-the-line car seat for my daughter. I also believe in the importance of eating wholesome, healthy foods (hence the exorbitant amount of money I spend on groceries).

After looking at this past month’s grocery bill, I am determined to decrease our grocery spending without sacrificing the quality of the food we eat. Here is how I plan to do it:

-Meal Planning- This is the most challenging task because I’m finding it hard to find recipes my 10 month old daughter will also be able to eat. It seems like every meal I make has something in it that’s not “baby friendly” for one reason or another. I don’t expect that I’ll get it together enough to plan every night’s dinner ahead of time, but I’m definitely going to try my best to do more meal planning because it ensures I will only buy what I need.

-No Limited junk food/pop- The hope is that this will trim our grocery bill as well as our waistlines.

-Using Coupons- Good coupons are hard to come by, but I am keeping my eyes peeled for them and trying to remember to use them when I have them.

-Eating reasonable-sized portions- Often, I will cook a meal that should feed about four people, but my husband and I eat the whole thing by ourselves. This is not healthy. It's also expensive, and it needs to stop.

Also, I’m starting a new “thing” on my blog called Frugal Friday. Every second Friday, I will share my “feats”, “fails”, and “finds”  on my quest to becoming more frugal.

Feats:

-I did a meal plan for the majority of our dinners this week.
-I have been getting better at remembering to turn off lights when I leave the room (I have an annoying habit of leaving them on, which drives my husband insane. He’s right, leaving lights on is a huge waste of money, not to mention the impact on the environment).

Fails:

-I had to throw away broccoli that had gone bad. I hate throwing away food, especially vegetables and fruits which are so expensive.
-I take excessively long, hot showers. My money is literally going down the drain.

Finds:

-I came accross a $2 off Pampers diapers coupon.  Now I just have to remember to use it! There are a bunch of other great coupons on the P&G website, so it’s definitely worth checking out.

Do you have any feats, fails, or finds this Frugal Friday?