Frugal Friday - Cleaning Rags

Mr. Right and I closed on our house this past Tuesday. It was a foreclosure, built in 2005. Unlike most of the foreclosures we looked at, this one was in relatively good shape. We're having to hire a carpet cleaner, and Mr. Right and his father had to make a few minor plumbing repairs. Beyond that its all cleaning and painting.

Because something is broken in my head (I'm your friendly neighborhood germophobe blogger), once I clean the other people's dirt and germs out of the house - I'm not going to wash the rag and risk keeping them around. I'm giving the house a good scrubbing and then the rags are going promptly into the garbage.

I certainly don't want to go out and buy rags that are just going to going to get thrown away, so I'm acquiring these cleaning cloths in a couple of standard and one creative way.

Mr. Right collects t-shirts. Not the souvenir kind that you get on vacation (I'm a reformed former Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt collector), but the cheap t-shirt kind. You know the ones you get for free when you participate in a charity event. Not to mention the kind that sell for $0.50 at the thrift store. Only he wears them so much you wouldn't even give a quarter for them. I'm taking this excellent opportunity to assist him in weeding out the collection (he honestly has at least 100 t-shirts, many that either have holes or red clay mud stains, or both).

I'm also going to tear up a few towels that probably should have been retired a long time ago. He has about 10 nice white Egyptian cotton extra large bath towels. Then shoved in the back he has about 4 or 5 towels that probably were in their prime in the 1970s. They never get used and have lost their absorbency, making them just perfect for scrubbing the sink in my new kitchen.

My favorite kind of rag, however, is in limited supply. My mother was cleaning out her basement, excited about getting to give me my stuff and free up room down there, and came across old cloth diapers that she use to use on my sister and I. She saved them from one child to another and then just packed them away. We ripped them up and made them into the perfect sized rag. But I'm not going to tell Mr. Right their original use. He'll probably have wanted to frame them and keep them forever.

Update on the Job situation

Things have been tense all week, but hopefully they'll start to ease up as we start fixing up our new place! :) It'll be disappointing for me to have to leave every evening to go back to my parents, but its awesome to think that come November, I'll have very little moving (well if you count a closet stuff with clothes) to do.

Short version of the story - Mr. Right still has steady income, he just lost his benefits. He has, however, gained more of his commission pay. Hopefully that will more than cover the benefit loss. (I have a job with excellent health benefits, so thankfully that's not an issue.)

Thank you for your prayers and concern. I claimed Romans 8:28 and did my best to encourage Mr. Right to know that no matter what happened we'd be okay. And (as always) God provided.

Things I Love Thursday: Caffeine Free Pepsi

About 5 years ago I was having stress related stomach problems that required me to go off of caffeine (including, temporarily, chocolate!), among other diet changes. I like to eat. I like the food I eat. I enjoy it more with a frosty carbonated beverage. Only sprite/sierra mist/7up gives me flashbacks of having the stomach virus as a child.

I started trying the different "regular" caffeine free sodas. And while I've always been a fan of Coca-Cola products (making me the black sheep of my Pepsi family) - their caffeine free drinks taste very flat. Like a can that's been open several days.

I decided to make my family happy and try caffeine free pepsi and caffeine free mountain dew. Amazingly enough you can barely tell a difference! My stomach got better and eventually I made the switch back to the hard stuff - I recently stocked up. I figured with all the stress of the wedding and moving (and packing and painting) my nerves could use a break!

For more great products, check out Things I Love Thursday!

Prayers please...

Please pray for Mr. Right's job situation right now. I can't say much as far as the details, other than this time tomorrow he might not have a steady paycheck. Also, help me be a good encourager through all of this.

The new house

We were supposed to close yesterday, but the bank we're purchasing from didn't complete their paperwork. We're waiting to hear back today from them. That's the joy of getting a deal on a foreclosure. In the mean time Mr. Right and I picked out our paint colors. As the decorator, I chose what color family we would be using, but allowed him to help when it came to tone and shade. I'm very pleased with the result and can't wait to get it on the wall!!

For the kitchen/breakfast nook/living room/dining room area/hallway, we're going with khaki. We'll have one red accent wall in the kitchen to liven it up a bit.






I'm letting Mr. Right choose the color for the two guest bedrooms. He'll probably either go with khaki in there as well or just opt to put a fresh coat of white up. I would be okay with not painting in those rooms, but they are scuffed up pretty bad so they really need it.

In the bedroom I went for a blue/green color. We've registered for a charcoal bedspread, so I think the rich color will go great and keep the charcoal from looking too drab. The lightening decides if its more blue or green.

Menu Plan Monday

Can you believe after all that work on this week's plan, I've got nothing? I tried to plan out what could be made on an electric skillet, george foreman, or crockpot since we're closing on the house today and will be working there for the next week with no appliances.

With the planning stage done, I comment to Mr. Right before I start laying everything out and packing up the necessary supplies. Bad move on my part. I expected to be praised for my hard work. Instead I was told that we wouldn't be over there every evening and he wasn't sure how much time we would be spending over there.

In his language, that means that at the last minute our plans may change and we might have something else to do after work. In my language he was telling me my hard work was for nothing. This control freak doesn't like plans changing at the last minute.

I got all huffy and quit packing, and now we have nothing for this week except for sandwich meat that I purchased last week.

Monday & Tuesday: In-laws visiting (we typically eat out)
Wednesday & Thursday: Whatever we can catch
Friday: Dinner with friends

For this week I get an A+ in stubbornness and a D- in thriftiness (we'll at least do the dollar menu for Wednesday & Thursday).

For some actual ideas on planning your week, check out Menu Plan Monday.

Frugal Friday - Lunches

My dad has been slacking the past few weeks on packing my lunch, so I've been on my own again. Last week I'll just say that I did less than stellar. I didn't stick to my $15 cash only system. I think I ended up going over by $5 or so. Not bad over all, but if I did that every week that's an extra $20 a month I'm wasting on fast food. This week I made up for it, so far I've only spent $2.18 for lunch (but I am going out with my mother this afternoon).

Monday: SmartOnes entree and pretzels
Tuesday: McDonalds w/Mr. Right - he paid (I bought the $100 ring, he can get my $1 double cheese burger
Wednesday: Texas Roadhouse - my boss's treat
Thursday: ZMex/Bellicino's with Mr. Right - EPO (each pay own) I had a coupon for a $1.99 kids meal. Zmex portions are too large anyway so the kids meal was just right.

My mom and I are going to a bistro for lunch (it just recently opened) so we're going to splurge a little - but I think we're going to share a meal, so we'll still keep our costs around $5 each.

Maybe I'll feel less restricted if I budget myself $30 a paycheck (I get paid every other week) rather than $15 a week. That way if one week i feel like eating out a little more, I can just make up for it next week.

Limiting (or eliminating) fast food is definitely a good way to cut your budget (and mostly likely your waistline as a result!) For more frugal tips check out Frugal Friday.