Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Five Frugal Things!

1. I am being a total PIA to my Dentist.
My husband went to the dentist last month and came home saying he gets dental cleanings every 3 months instead of every 6 months. My work/dental insurance has a program where if you are in need of them, they will cover it as 'wellness' and 'preventative care.' I've submitted the form for him to be evaluated multiple times- and I figured since his hygenist mentioned it, they must have finally put it through. Well we got the Explanation of benefits before his cleaning and they are charging us the full amount, not covered by insurance. Le Sigh. So I am being a pain in the ass to my dentist's office and they are filling out all the paperwork. Should save $177 this visit, and double that each year.

2. I have proof that I do not need to buy personal care products.
I really like personal care products like lotion and trying different facial cleansers. So to remind myself that I do not need to buy anymore until I actually need them, I took photos. Now I have definite proof- even when that friend keeps posting about how great Rodan + Fields is.

I've since used up the open Velocity cleanser but found a Mary Kay Timewise of the same size. I am using the clothes (cut up as you can get like 8 per single cloth) in the mornings and the Ava or the white Vasanti (from my Birch box!) in the shower. I love the Vasanti and might be tempted to re-buy.- it has a great exfoliator and I keep getting little milia on my face..


Also to note: I really like the Ava Kids and the CVS Cocoa butter lotions. I used up the two mini Jergens and they were fun to say "oh look I'm almost tan!" but I didn't like the chemically smell. I've used the two Jergens up, and am using the cocoa butter daily (although one of the Ava kids is not quite full).

3. I bought a Groupon for a dog allergy test.
We previously used ImmuneIQ to determine Lucy's rash was at least partially related to feeding her beef and flax seed. Now Luigi has the red paw licking fun going on AGAIN (we brought him to the vet for it this past summer when we weren't sure if it was environmental. They gave him sterroids and wipes. The sterroids helped. The wipes were only for if it was environmental from outside, but since now the outside is frozen over I think not...), we are upping our game. The test was $45 plus $7.50 in shipping, but I am getting 6% back on the $45 from using ebates (yah!). An allergy test at the vet is around $300... so we are significantly better than that. The retail price for an ImmuneIQ test is generally $87.

4. I bought a living social for a Costco membership that is free after coupons.
I am actually not sure that I will save any money at Costco, but more on that later.

5. I switched my auto and home insurance from Liberty Mutual (who i used to work for, and have been a loyal believer in) to MetLife (who my employer has a relationship with and their rate was significantly better than LM). I am actually getting more coverage for almost $1,000 less a year. Literally, my home insurance is dropping from $1200 to $600- and they increased my coverage pretty significantly.

Monday, February 1, 2016

January Goals: Revisited

I never made a post about my January Goals. Mainly because on New Years Eve I was released from a week stay in the hospital due to my Crohn's flair. Worst. Christmas. Ever. The positive sides of that experience were that it wasn't our year to spend Christmas with my sister and adorable niece, so I didn't miss out on that, my parents came to me for Christmas so I did not have to travel, and the amount of love and support from my friends and family is really amazing. It really helps you to realize who cares! 

My January Goals were: 
1. Not to be re-admitted to the hospital. 
This gets a Giant: Achieved! 

2. Survive the month on a high dose of prednisone taper without ending up in jail, divorced or unemployed. 
This gets a Giant: Achieved! 
Although, in reality, I could have done much better as I was a bit of an emotional loose cannon. Luckily for me, my boss is pregnant therefore she is also cra-cra. 

3. Sell $250 of stuff. 
I ended up selling $205 from yard sale type things. 
I also sold $40 of Dad's paper reams. 
My ebay total was $85 
Total total: $290 for me, plus $40 for dad is $330 in total effort. 

4. Adopt out 2 puppies- Apollo and Duke. 
Apollo, now Moxie, was adopted by my amazing and crazy sister. 
Duke, keeping his name, also went home to a family in the same town! 
Happy life little ones! 


5. Set up PNE Fundraiser for March. 
I set up a Paint Nite for Paws for March 13. Paint Nite has a new trick where you have to pay a deposit. If you do not sell at least 35 tickets 2 weeks before, they keep your $100 deposit. This made me nervous, but its okay because we are 1 week from when I posted the link and 37 of 40 tickets are sold! 

We'll be painting this...

February Goals

Here are my February goals: 

1. Save $400. As in deposit into my savings account. 

2. Learn to make 3 things from scratch. 
I'm aiming to do mayo, mustard and BBQ sauce. We are currently out of BBQ sauce, on the last container of mayo but have a whole mustard in the pantry. I'll be making these as we run out, as it doesn't make sense to make when we have store bought. 

3. Attend 12 Pure Barre classes

4. Sell $200 of stuff. 

5. Complete KonMari-ing my clothes, books, accessories and paper. 

6. File my damn taxes.

7. Set the dates for our Iceland trip.