Trying to be Frugal

Living in an RV lends itself to being quite adaptable to all types of people.  Some people like to live ‘high on the hog’ so to say and have plenty of money to support that kind of lifestyle while at the other end some live as frugal as they can.  John and I tend to be on the more frugal side.  We still eat out probably once a week or every other week but I cook at home 98% of the time. 

We rarely go to movies as they are way too expensive now and just opt for renting from Redbox instead.  With movies hitting the DVDs shortly after ending at the theaters the wait isn’t that bad.  Besides making popcorn at home with our Whirley Pop beats paying out $20 for popcorn and a drink at the theater.  I also look for free Redbox codes to save even more money on movies.  Redbox does send codes via email every few weeks but it ends up being a rent 1 get the other for $1 off deal that doesn’t work for us if we only want to see 1 movie on a given night.  We use to stream Netflix on our Wii but our internet service was changed from unlimited to 20 gigabyte a month so streaming is no longer a viable option.
 
I came across a website while perusing the internet called Dealflicks, it offers discounted movie tickets of up to 60% off tickets and concessions.  Sign up is free and just search by zip code for a participating theater near you.  If your theater hasn’t signed up with Dealflicks you can favorite the theater and get your friends to do the same.  It helps Dealflicks to get the theater signed up faster and you (plus your friends) will get a $5 coupon towards tickets.  Who doesn’t like coupons?

Since May when our internet service changed, I have to watch our internet usage closely throughout the month as we have used our allotment in less than 30 days a few times.  Once we hit the magic number they want us to pay out another $90 for another 20 gig which by the way does not roll over into the following month.  Rather than paying more we end up going without internet for 2-4 days at the end of the month.  I’m hoping to find an alternative in the near future but I don’t see anything better right now.  I did find a web page listing all the mobile plan providers which saves me hours of searching.  Other than lot rent and food our internet is our biggest monthly expense right now.

Even our phone service is cheaper than our internet.  John is on AT&T pay as you go plan.  He just adds on $25 at a time as needed.  We were sharing the phone but when he started working again we realized we both needed a phone.  I did get a smart phone but rarely use the data feature, in fact I keep it turned off until I need to use it, the data portion not the phone.  I did not go with AT&T instead I went with PagePlus as they are a no contract company and have plenty of plans to choose from.  I use their $12 monthly plan which is 250 minutes talk, 250 text and 10 MB of data.  As I said I really don’t use data on my phone right now.  I can easily set it up to auto refill and change plans as my needs change.  They also offer pay as you go so you can add minutes as you need them.  They use the Verizon network by the way so their nationwide coverage is pretty good. 

Other ways we reduce expenses is turning our Satellite service on and off as needed. Dish makes that easy, there is no contract to worry about and they don’t hassle us when we move.  We bought a Tailgater when we first started traveling with our 5’er, because a number of places we stayed either didn’t have cable or didn’t have much reception over our HD TV antenna.  Our current location has pretty decent antenna reception of the major networks so we only turn our satellite service on now just to watch one show on HBO.  We would be willing to turn in on more often if they would offer an al-a-carte option so we wouldn’t be paying for channels we don’t want or watch.

So that just leaves food and clothing where I can save money the best I can.  I use a lot of coupons both from newspaper inserts and printing from online sources. I try to match coupons with sales whenever possible.  I am not an extreme couponer by any means, when I buy a product I don’t clear the shelf I live in an RV where would I put it?  My favorite coupons are $1 off meat coupons as current meat prices are crazy.  I buy fresh loaves of bread from Walmart for $1.  Yeah it’s French and Italian but it is better than paying more than $2 for whole wheat or whole grain breads, of which they are now saying aren’t good for you either.  The ‘in’ thing now is ancient grains.  I wish there were coupons to save money on fresh vegetables and fruits.  I’d go vegetarian if the vegetables were any cheaper than the meat.  I hate inflation. 

About a week ago I found a really good buy on a product I use a lot which is over the counter allergy medication.  There is an American company named PL Developments that has been in business since 1988.  I was really surprised I hadn’t found their products before now.  They sell generic pharmaceuticals such as allergy, analgesics, cold/flu, digestive, etc. at a very low cost.  How low you may ask?  Quite low, I picked up a 14 day supply of 24 hour allergy (generic Zyrtec) pills, low dose aspirin, generic Aleve and generic Tylenol for .88 each at Walmart. 

I shop primarily at Walmart now since they began their ‘Savings catcher’ which compares their prices of items you purchase to local competitors and credit you back the difference.  I am letting my savings accumulate before I put it on a gift card.  I know there are a lot of Walmart haters out there but I do what I need to do to get the most for our money and there is a Walmart in almost every town which helps us a lot while traveling.   Besides Walmart I also use Dollar General and Dollar Tree stores.  You would be surprised what all you can get for dollar at Dollar Tree.

Change Can Be Good

As any RV full-timer would probably tell you making changes to make the RV your own feels pretty good.  John and I have a list of changes we want to do but just haven’t found either the where-with-all or time to get them all done yet.  A year after we had purchased our 5’er we got rid of the 2 recliners that came with it and replaced them with 2 Euro style recliners.  We didn’t like the original recliners as they were not comfortable and wouldn’t let you fully recline without physically holding the position. Plus they were very heavy and too difficult for me to move.  Our Euro style recliners are a huge improvement, reclining easily, more comfortable and lighter in weight. 

                    

A few months ago we finally removed the couch that came with the coach. Moving it left a big empty spot and a much roomier feel to the living area. The empty spot was very quickly filled with the scratching post and dog kennel.  We do have plans to get or make a cat tree that would keep 2 cats happy and span over the dog kennel.



With middle age comes change such as the need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night or very early morning depending on how you see time.  Our 5’er has a side bath, meaning the bathroom is it’s own room to 1 side of the coach which leaves a tiny hall to the bedroom.  In order to open the bathroom door you must stand on the upper step of the 2 stairs going to the front of the coach.  From the bedroom you must step past the bathroom and down onto the top step then turn around to open the door.  Plus returning to the bedroom requires again stepping down onto the top step,  then turn around, close the bathroom door then continue into the bedroom.  This dance to open and close the bathroom door on a step in the dark means you must wake up more than you want to or chance falling down the stairs.  So today John made a change to address this problem which we had been recently discussing.  He flipped the door around so that now it opens from the bedroom instead of from the stairs.  It only took him thirty minutes to make the change.  I have used the bathroom a couple of times since he changed the way the door opens.  Now even though I must step into the bedroom doorway to open and close the bathroom door it is a big improvement over standing on the stairs.




Birds!  Yesterday afternoon I was just minding my own business when all of a sudden a humongous flock of birds came flying into the park.  Luckily my camera was sitting on the kitchen table so  I took a number of pictures and woke up the cats to watch them.  The flock  came in together but left in smaller groups.

             
             

Some were in need of a bath.  This is the best close-up I could get without going outside and possibly scaring them away.  I think they are black birds does anyone recognize them?  Shiny black bodies with a reddish brown head.

             

Even the local sparrows were wondering what was going on.  The last picture is Punkin watching the excitement. 

             

We’re cooking now!

Cooking in an RV is slightly different than in a sticks and bricks kitchen.  RVs have a smaller refrigerator, microwave and a propane 3 burner stove with an oven.  I was fortunate that my 5’er has a lot of counter space as a lot of them do not.  The appliances that come with an RV aren’t too bad, a microwave is always useful and some are even microwave/convection combos.  The 3 burner stove is also quite useful and I love to cook on gas stoves versus electric, so much more control over temperature.  However though I have tried a number of times the gas oven seems to be unworkable.  The temperature swings are just too great, even with unglazed tiles on the bottom (though above the flame) there is a 100 degree fluctuation.  With the gas oven issue I have had to come up with other ways to bake and I have a few different small appliances to help me do just that.

The first one is a Roaster Oven, it bakes fairly decent but the sides and top get too hot to touch and it takes longer time to bake.  When we use it we put it outside on a heat resistant table then we don’t have to worry of accidentally brushing the side when passing by and getting burned.  Use potholders to open and close the top and be careful of escaping steam.

The second item is a 12” clam style pizza maker by Sensio Bella.  We bought it at Walmart but they don’t sell it anymore.  In fact I can’t find it for sale anywhere, even Amazon has it out of stock with no know date for restock.  Like the Roaster Oven this pizza maker also gets hot on the outside, we use the plastic handle to open it and are cautious of escaping steam.  I have really liked this little cooker, it does pizza, biscuits, frozen egg rolls, Jamacan pasties (we love these), hot pockets, etc.  There is no timer on it but it heats up fast and can bake a pizza in 10-12 minutes.

The third item is a NuWave Oven.  My mother bought this for me as a birthday present.  I was a tad reluctant at first but I really like what it can do.  It can bake food from the frozen state though you do need to add a bit more time but it is still faster than a regular oven, and doesn’t heat up the inside of the coach.  It bakes very well for meat and even french fries, you can see the fat dripping off to the bottom of the pan.  The NuWave Oven cooks from the top down so everything I have cooked so far needs to be turn over including biscuits.  One of the things I really like about it is how well it bakes meatloaf.  I like to free form meatloaf on a piece of foil instead of using a loaf pan because it drains the fat off with just a few small holes poked into the foil, in a loaf pan the fat just sits there.

The fourth item is a flat electric griddle.  It really doesn’t get used much except to make pancakes or french Toast because I don't like grease splattering all over that comes with doing burgers, bacon or sausage on a griddle.  The griddle can cook more than 1 pancake or french toast at a time versus a pan on the stove and it opens up the pan to cook bacon or sausage using a splatter screen.  We inherited our griddle from John’s mother so it is more than a few years old. The griddle I listed below has good reviews and is a reasonable price in my opinion.

The fifth item isn’t really an appliance, it is a pan.  In fact it is a Whirly Pop popcorn pan.  John really loves this pan, so much so that we have a smaller campfire version to use over an actual fire.  We make popcorn once or twice a week and buying a container of popcorn kernels is cheaper and better for you than buying microwave popcorn.  We season the popcorn as we wish so we are always happy with what we have.

We are picky about the type of popcorn we use.  We have found that the yellow corn is much more harsh on our digestive tracts so we buy only white popcorn which doesn't cause us any problems.  We use Snappy white popcorn and cook it using coconut oil.  It comes out fluffy with no or very few unpopped kernels left.


                                                                  

Our other appliances are a coffee maker, toaster, food processor and a couple of blenders.  Our biggest appliance is our KitchenAid Stand mixer.  I couldn't give it up so it came with us, I may not use it a lot but it does get used.  It stays out on the counter even when we travel.  John set up a couple small hooks and a strap to make sure it doesn't go "walking" off the counter and on to the floor which did happen once.

I have listed all these items in my little store besides linking them on this page,  including the campfire popcorn popper (in the Outside the Rig category) which I did not link here.  A quick link to my store is the bigger picture of a ducky on the right side above.