Frugal Friday

But first some spending for holiday fun!We bought tickets to the “6th Annual Merry Christmas from a Jewish Atheist Pianist” performance at a club in Berkeley on Christmas Eve. Sounds like it will be perfect for us and provide a dose of live holiday music.

Fine Tuning the House

We continued to adjust our use of gas, electricity and water primarily for environmental reasons but also to minimize spending while staying comfortable. 

This house has a gas furnace, water heater and stove. Hubby continued to fine tune heating by getting a different style floor register for one spot and slightly adjusting the duct dampers ourselves. We also replaced a broken electric space heater as sometimes you just want to warm up the space where you are.

He also worked on getting hot water in the shower without running a lot of cold first by adjusting the temperature mixer and then we were able to turn down the water heater temperature. I was pleasantly surprised to see on this month’s gas bill that we stayed in the lowest rate band despite using the furnace a lot. 

Although everything else is electric including 2 space heaters, we were successful in making the majority of our electricity use fall into the lowest rate time frame. 

Other frugal things

1. Spent way too much time getting the lint off a king size fleece blanket that sheds when washed. I use it over the down comforter as the dog gets on the bed and it is nice and warm. I tried replacing it but sent two different new ones back for various reasons. So we have this one, a lint brush, my time and savings.

2. Returned an item bought as a gift and used a box we had saved. After shipping it is only a partial refund but still worth it.

3. Skipped a holiday gathering that felt more like an obligation than fun. It also required both a food contribution and a cash donation.

4. Accepted some free tangerines and they were delicious.