Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Clearance flowers

Canceled, due to "snow": a community meeting that needed flowers.

Relieved, due to budget: a mom who gambled on that $2.49 bunch from Kroger.

10 comments:

Michele @ Frugal Granola said...

They're gorgeous! :) Definitely worth the $2.49. (Hey, it's part of that "hospitality" for your family, right?) :)

What a beautiful way to say, "Welcome home for dinner."

Blessings,
Michele

ancient one said...

Beautiful... the meeting missed out and we got the pretty bouquet...Thanks for sharing your beautiful flowers.

Anonymous said...

I used to pick up flowers every week at the grocery store and it was just part of the cost of groceries, along with paper and cleaning products. Since you have only a $50/week food budget, do you have a separate fund for flowers, paper products and cleaning products?

Anonymous said...

They're beautiful! I only buy flowers at my Kroger. The flower person told me that they mark them down the day before the expiration date. They have dates on them like food.

Manuela

Meredith said...

I budget $50/week for food and toilet paper adn the occasional cleaning product. If you think about it, that's the only paper product a family really needs on a daily basis.

I also budget $50/month for hospitality.

This could translate into 5 $10 dinners delivered to a family who's had a baby, illness, funeral, etc. OR I could be hosting a get together OR I could pick up flowers for an event out of this envelope.

Or any combination of the above!

If I go over budget with groceries it has to come from this fund.

Tiffany said...

Isn't it funny that items never actually lose their beauty when they are discounted? Fantastic deal!

Anonymous said...

a steal! great arrangement - you have a great eye for insane buys!

latrice

Anonymous said...

I think I would find it difficult not to have paper towels, tissues, trash bags, etc. I do try to be conservative with these items both for my budget and the environment and I use cloth napkins. I must admit I have a bit of an aversion to cloth handkerchiefs unless a clean one is used everytime and then I would feel I would have to bleach them and wash in hot water so don't think savings would be much, so I still buy Kleenex. As for paper towels, I do mop up more spills with rags than I once did (again the washing thing or I just throw them away after one use if I have a big supply of old cut up t-shirts, etc that I keep under the sink) but haven't figured out how to drain things without paper toweling. I used to use plastic grocery bags to hold trash as much as I could to cut down on the amount of trash bags I buy, but now I take my own canvas grocery bags to store, so rarely get the plastic bags anymore. I know it is possible to live without tissues and Bounty paper towels (and I am brand loyal here)but for now they will still be in my grocery cart. If the economy worsens and I have to let these items go, I know I could but sure don't want to! How about diapers and wipes? Are those separate budgeted items or do you use cloth diapers and clean the baby up with a regular washcloth?

BTW, how are coming with the
FAQ column?

Anonymous said...

I think a hospitality envelope is a good idea! Thanks for sharing that! I may try that and altho my budget is really stretched I could probably manage a few $$.I am trying to cut my grocery budget and it isn't easy. Do you buy you laundry products (detergent, softener, etc) with you grocery $ or is that separate? Diapers, wipes, baby products such as rash cream? I usually keep diapers separate but put laundry/cleaning/paper products in with the grocery budget. Just curious how you do it!

Meredith said...

I don't buy fabric softener. I stock up on detergent when it is on sale and with a coupon, and then use half as much as recommended.

My kids have sensitive skin so I just don't use very much soap, lotion, etc.

I don't buy diaper rash cream because my kids generally don't need it. I think our tube of Desitin ointment is left over from Andrew.

I use a combination of cloth and disposable diapers and those are budgeted separately.