Frugal February: Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a holiday celebrated by many and hated by most (guys). One of the reasons that so many people hate this blissful holiday? Let’s be real, Valentines Day was a holiday created to help the suffering card business.  A night in with your Valentine can be much more savory than the night out at the new 5 star restaurant that opened up downtown.  Face it, you can’t get out of your Valentine’s Day duties of spending some cash, but we have some ways to spend less on your lovely Valentine.  

1. Why go out to dinner when you can spend some quality time together in the comfort of your own home? We made a delicious Crock Pot dinner (see recipe below).  It is easy and affordable!

2. Hallmark cards may be funny or cute, but there is something to be said about your man (or woman) taking the extra time to make a homemade card.  You can insert your own inside jokes and make the card that much more personal.

3. If you want to get your guy or gal a little something else, check Pinterest for some great low-cost options or even homemade options.  You can also get a gift card (in a small denomination) for a store or business.

4. This year, Redbox sent out an email offering a free one day DVD rental if you enter the provided discount code.  Even without a discount code, a $1 movie is a great way to cuddle up and enjoy the evening.

Did anyone else find some great Valentine’s Day deals? Let us know!

Cheap Chicken Tacos:
1. Boneless Chicken Breasts (4)
2. One Jar of Salsa
3. One Can of Black Beans
4. One Can of Corn or One Bag of Frozen Corn

Toss it all in your Crock Pot before work and return home for a delicious delicacy! Top with avocados, guacamole, diced tomatoes, cheese, or sour cream and spoon it into a soft or hard taco and you are ready to roll (for a low-carb option, just eat the taco filling)!

Come back and visit us soon! We will be posting about bargain hunting for home interiors (Karen just got a new place!) and some great Fish Fry deals for all of those Lenten followers out there.

Frugal February: Day One

To all of our new fans, we had our first “Frugal February” outing last night! For those of you not familiar with “Frugal February,” it is an idea that us cheapskates created to spend one month out of the year living even more frugally than the other 11 months.  It has a catchy name and lets be honest, who doesn’t love a catchy name? Frugal February consists of cheap meals, free events and thermostats set below 60.  It is filled with mass produced processed food, PBR’s and as much freeloading as possible.

Last night was night 1 of this journey and we decided to spend it at Eddie n’ Eddies at the corner of Warren and Detroit in Lakewood.  I know you are thinking to yourselves, “How is spending a night at a somewhat upscale restaurant a frugal night out?”  We will tell you how.  A magical thing called Groupon.com (heard of it?)  We stumbled upon a Groupon for Eddie n’ Eddies and pulled the trigger, $10 for $20.  Who can pass that deal up?  Turns out, $20 doesn’t go as far as you think at this place.  2 burgers, 2 sides and 2 tall boy Buds ended up costing $21.01 WITH the Groupon discount ($41.01 without).  Even though we are cheapskates, we did still tip on the full amount of the bill.  You are welcome douche waiter that couldn’t wait to get us “groupon customers” out of our seats and back on to the frigid streets of Cleveland.

Conclusion: not very frugal. We split the end amount costing us each $10.50.  See you all tomorrow for a day 2 recap of Frugal February.