My Uber Thrifty Month In Review - March

I was really pleased with how things went last month.  I finished out the month with over a quarter tank of gas left in the truck.  I used rewards points at the Fred Meyer gas station to save 10¢ a gallon when I filled up at the beginning of the month.  I was careful with the trips I made and planned errands so I was able make most of my stops en route home from work and save fuel in the process.

I paid all of our monthly bills and the mortgage well before the due dates.  I put money away in savings and I made the payments I was planning on toward my financial goals.  I purchased a lot more groceries than I expected to by purchasing almost everything I needed on sale and adding coupons to those sale items for extra savings.  We were also very careful not to allow very little food to go to waste.

My PayPal account has only a $150.oo balance left on it for my box spring and mattress set.  I can continue to pay on it interest free until October but I plan to have it paid off well before then.  I made a large payment on my medical, business and miscellaneous debt too.

We bought four chicks at the feed store to raise for fun, entertainment and eggs.  Although we lost two and had to replace them a week later I still feel it is money well spent simply for the sheer entertainment they have provided us in recent weeks.  I was able to keep other expenses low by repurposing our old dog crate as a chick brooder and using pine bedding and feeders we already had.  I did have to buy a new 40 pound bag of chick feed and was lucky enough to get it on sale for $14.99.  Eventually the chickens will produce enough eggs to pay for their keep.  So far I am into this new batch of chickens for less than $50.

I listed and sold our little washing machine.  The listing was free on Craigslist.  I used the money to purchase groceries and non food items for April, Easter greeting cards, a garden hoe, wasp & hornet spray and a new bale of pine bedding for the chickens.  This allowed me to put more money from my paycheck toward debt and savings.

Free tomato plants.

I purchased seeds for a vegetable garden at the dollar store.  We repurposed some milk jugs and used soil we already had and planted some seeds indoors.  My daughter saved some tomato seeds when she made a salad, dried them and we planted them too.  They are growing very well right now.

When my youngest daughter unexpectedly needed shorts because she had decided to join the school track team we went online and printed a 50% OFF coupon and went to the fabric store.  She picked out the fabric she liked and I used elastic, thread and a pattern I already had to sew her two pair for less than the price of one pair at the store.

I feel like I accomplished a huge amount this month and made my dollars go really far.  Our pantry and freezers are full.  We currently have everything we need, most of what we want and I consider myself truly, truly blessed right now.