frugal friday - september

I've been writing these but somehow keep falling off mid-month. September came through, though!

• No Spend Days: 6
• Grocery deals: free bag of Kroger salad with coupon, 98¢/pound zucchini, 58¢/pound yellow onions, 78¢/pound potatoes, free brioche roll at Lidl with coupon, $2 markdown bag of salad
• Money made outside of my job: 
• DoorDash: $66.50
• Other:  $57
• Labor Day weekend turned out to be a four day weekend for me and I utilized some PTO to cover the days, I didn't shop a single Labor Day sale, and my car didn't move the entire four day weekend
• I've begun my journey of trying to unearth some chronic health issues and my doctor submitted the OTC medication that I was using via pharmacy/insurance and saved me 18¢ per pill
• After my (copay free!) doctor visit, I met my dad for lunch and had a coupon for the restaurant in my email and saved him $10 off the bill
• My best friend and I have "family items", which are things that we share instead of spending the money for each household to have one. So far we share an immersion blender and a trifle bowl! Bonus - the trifle bowl we got for free from another friend who was cleaning out a home, and the immersion blender was a cool $9.99 at Lidl
• While pricey, Ogden's annual vet visit wasn't a frugal fail because a yearly check up and updated vaccines will hopefully save many dollars in vet bills down the road! A less than $75 vaccine is going to be a lot cheaper than treating Leptospirosis
• A friend at work was helping a friend sell wine at an event and he brought me a bottle of blackberry ginger balsamic vinegar (pictured) 

• I went back home for my niblings' birthday party and spent some time with my great uncle afterward and he sent me home after a couple hours of great talk with some homegrown sweet potatoes and end of season tomatoes!

I'm still decluttering! I feel like I've been doing this forever and my belongings don't dwindle. What is happening? It wasn't a great month for getting rid of things.

• my practically new pair of sandals, the power cord of one piece of a lighting kit, a couple books (luckily thrifted) - chewed up by the piranha that is Ogden
• Arbor press I never used, a pair of leggings, Hey Arnold! New Season 1 DVD - sold on Facebook marketplace & eBay
• Four metal straws - given away on Facebook

I'm still trying to work through a lot of the freezer and pantry.

• Nature's Own Perfectly Crafted White Bread is so good to me that I actually finished a loaf of bread before it molded. Well worth the $4+.
• I made a large pot of black bean soup and used up some portobello caps, roasted red peppers, three cans of black beans, jalapenos, the last of a carton of vegetable broth, other meals used up a bag of Beyond chicken tendies, bottle of Zesty Italian dressing, and a bottle of ranch I didn't really care for, and some the last of my giant bottle of ketchup!

Frugal Fails:

• I lost two cucumbers to the bottom drawer of the fridge (out of sight, out of mind, now moldy)
• Bought a log of goat cheese at Wegman's for $4.29 and then noticed Lidl had them for $1.99 😑
• My coffee table (a little $23 deal from Amazon) literally fell apart when I put my feet on it one night so I'm on the hunt for a free one on Marketplace

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frugal friday - may

Onto May! 

• No Spend Days: Only 3 - it wasn't a great month for these!
• Grocery deals: five boxes of strawberry applesauce on clearance at $1.49 each, markdown $1.80 asparagus, markdown $1.78 bag of salad mix, $1.67 blackberries, $1.99 bag of mini peppers, $1.99 breakfast sausage, $1.49 Mountain Dew 2 liter, $2.99 2lbs of strawberries, $4.49 Dove body polish, $1.49 Kroger makeup remover wipes, $3.99 party size Doritos, $1.49 blackberries, $1.17 markdown bag of salad mix, $1.79 dozen eggs, $1.49 bottle of Italian dressing
• Money made outside of my two jobs: 
• DoorDash $126.75, 
• Other: $339.25
• I borrowed a few ebooks from the library - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
• A Kroger visit granted me $3.50 back from ibotta
• My second job has a neat little wall of free items you can pick from if you spend $50, so I snagged the pictured 9.5oz container of onion powder
• I'm changing locations within the company and I'll keep the same schedule, but I'll be working a short ten minute walk from my apartment and will receive a parking deck spot for only $45 a month (an absolute steal in the city)
• I returned a container of already dried up Gorilla Glue and a cooling collar that didn't fit Og to Walmart and got back $8.46

• While Grove Co. ran their Memorial Day sale, I snagged some reusable cleaning bottles at a discount and can hopefully reduce more waste by using their small refill containers (when you have to walk a block to the dumpster and drive ten minutes for recycling, less waste is important 😂) along with a promo for a free bottle of Method fabric softener, Method wood cleaner, Method body wash, and two samples of laundry and dish detergent pods

I'm still decluttering! I feel like I've been doing this forever and my belongings don't dwindle. What is happening?

• Large stack of DVDs, stickers - given away on Facebook
• A paper bag of clothing and shoes - donated
• Watering can, two notebooks - chewed up by the piranha that is Ogden
• A large stack of vintage linens - sold

May wasn't great for note-taking of food waste. Whoops!

Frugal Fails:

• My local Aldi changed to those god-awful huge baskets and I couldn't get mine back into the cart return and got frustrated and just walked away from my quarter
• I accidentally left a jar of jalapenos out on the counter and tossed them
• While under the weather I racked up two parking tickets - $25 a pop, but still way cheaper than paying for a parking spot

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

frugal friday - april

The year is flying by! March's post somehow got lost, too, so here's April's.

• No Spend Days: 8
• Grocery deals: $1.99 NatureSweet Glorys tomatoes, free jar of Kroger pasta sauce
• Wegmans had an Earth Day coupon for a free reusable bag, which I redeemed
• I was checking out at Kroger and a worker said "you can use that coupon" - someone had left a $2 off your next purchase coupon on the machine. She said most people don't check the coupon machine
• Arby's is having a free sandwich month - one free sandwich each week in April with a purchase. I redeemed two sandwiches by buying a juice box ($1.99) while running errands. I don't normally eat meat, but I also don't turn down a free meal
• My dad was getting rid of a few bins of linens/clothing/bedding that were from our childhood, so my brother and I went through them and I brought home an 80s pastel flower Corningware, some potholders, a blanket, some t-shirts/sweatshirts, and some linens I could use at home 
• I took some clothing and shoes and such to Uptown Cheapskate and made $14.00 and they donated the rest to a local thrift shop

• Here are all my birthday month perks that I redeemed!
• A $10 reward from mezeh* (I got a bowl for 72¢!)
• 5¢ off per gallon in addition to the normal 3¢ off at Sheetz - equaling 8¢ off per gallon total
• free slice of birthday cake from Fresh Market
• free vanilla shake from Arby's
• free chicken salad sandwich meal complete with a side of pasta salad, pickle, and a cookie from Chicken Salad Chick
• free Trenta Peach Iced Black Tea from Starbucks,
• free slice of Birthday Cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory (my dad took me out for a birthday lunch!)
• free McChicken from McDonald's
• free pecan braid from Panera

I'm still decluttering! I don't know how I accumulated this much junk.

• Lot of 8 embroidery hoops, a dog bucket hat, - sold and shipped with recycled shipping materials
• Two metal dog bowls found in the pantry, an insulated Grubhub bag, four unopened rolls of Christmas gift wrap, a makeup brush cleaning device, a 12x12 craft project box - given away
• A tube of Aquaphor lip balm, several gift bags, my Stanley lid, two mini tubes of Carmex - chewed up by Og the wonder-chewy puppy
• A 12-drawer rolling cart - sold on Facebook Marketplace

I've done really well with food waste lately, so hopefully I can keep it up into April

• Eating through the pantry/freezer: hardboiled the last of the eggs for Ogden, the last of some rice from an Indian delivery, a bag of frozen peaches, a vegan tikka masala from Trader Joe's, 
• I had one almost shriveled yellow squash to use up so I made a little casserole for one with minced garlic, basil paste, thyme, garlic powder, s&p, with breadcrumbs and parmesan on top

Here are some birthday offers I received but didn't redeem, for reference:

• $5 off any service at a local nail salon
• Bruster's added a $3 reward to my account
• Coldstone Creamery sent me a buy one get one free reward
• Free shipping on a $50 purchase from LTD Commodities
• IKEA sent me a coupon for $10 off a $10 purchase
• Box Lunch sent me a $5 reward

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*

recipe // savory stuffed mushrooms

I make a living as a cook and I was tasked with making these stuffed mushrooms for a catering event one evening. They were absolutely delicious. I adapted the recipe for a smaller portion that's easily taken to get togethers!

Savory Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

20-25 medium sized cremini mushrooms, destemmed (save the stems)

2 cups roasted red peppers, finely diced

1 medium yellow onion, finely diced

3 tbsp minced garlic

4 cups spinach, finely chopped

1 cup parmesan cheese (I used finely shredded)

1/2 cup feta cheese, big bits crumbled

2 cups breadcrumbs

3 tbsp Lawry's Garlic, Rosemary, & Lemon Rub (or you can sub s&p, garlic powder, rosemary, and lemon zest/lemon pepper)

1/2 cup fresh chives, finely diced, for garnish

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350°

-Begin by removing the stems from the mushrooms. Keep the stems - you'll be finely dicing 1/3 of them and using them in the stuffing

-Bake the mushroom caps for about 10 minutes, remove from oven and cool

-Finely dice the roasted red peppers, onion, mushroom stems

-Mix the vegetables, garlic, and seasoning - sautee these in a pan with olive oil until they start to brown

-Finely chop the spinach and mix into the sauteed mix after the vegetables start to brown to wilt the spinach

-Once the spinach is wilted, remove the mix from heat and cool

-Mix the vegetables and parmesan/feta/bread crumbs together - add olive oil if too dry

-Mold the mix into sizeable balls that fit the mushroom caps

-Stuff the caps with the mix, then bake until the tops of the mix is crisp

-Once removed from the oven, top with fresh chives

Plate them in a shallow serving dish for easy pick up!

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lucky bandit is a for profit blog. I use affiliate links and paid advertisements. I may earn compensation for a click or purchase through a link. Paid (whether via product or monetary) reviews will be noted in the actual post. Though compensation may influence the type of posts, all opinions and reviews will be legitimate and honest.

*All affiliate links will be marked with an asterick.*