Yes I am Still Here and Still Being Frugal!

Ok, raise your hand if you thought I might have gave up Frugal February?  Come on, I know there are at least of few of you that must have thought I abandoned this project like we abandon those January diets we attempt every year.  Nope.  Still here.  Sticking to the rules except for the blogging 3 days a week part.  I am slacking on the blogging.  Yes, I admit that.

This week I walked to work 4 days of the 5.  And have stayed within my set $50 weekly budget for non-essential spending.  And in 17 days I have only put 40 miles on car.  The gas gauge needle's still way up there on full.  I absolutely love that my car still mostly has a full tank of gas 17 days into this month!  I am a bit amazed that I have managed to avoid driving so much.  This weekend I will put around 140 miles on my car driving down to my parents and back.  I agreed to dog-sit for the weekend for them.  But I think I can maybe still make it on one tank of gas for the month.  We shall see.

Homemade Gift Bags  

So what have I been up to?  Yes, I walk a lot.  I walk for over an hour on days I walk to work and to the gym but it's all in little 15-20 minute doses so it's not really tiresome at all.  I made some home-made gifts for my nieces for Valentines day.  http://homemade.tipjunkie.com/felt-heart-gift-bag-tutorial/  I love using the internet for homemade gift ideas; there's so many good ideas out there.  Not sure if mine look quite as good but I know my nieces probably loved them anyway.

 And I clean too.  I have the following schedule on my fridge with 20-30 minute daily chores.  I even set a timer to make sure I don't spend more than 30 minutes on the chore.  I really like this way of cleaning.  A little time each day really works for me.  But okay I will admit I do well say M - W but never seem to get the Thursday or Friday chore.  Maybe I need the rotate the schedule each week so get those bedrooms vacuumed and dusted.  On the cleaning note, I want to recommend this book I use for cleaning.  It's called "The Naturally Clean Home" and it filled recipes for making your own cleaning products.  Most are made with baking soda, vinegar, and essential oils.  Takes an initial cash outlay to get the ingredients to start but after that its a pretty low cost way to clean.  I really like it.

Okay time to start the drive to my parents so that's it for now!