Frugal Five and Five Splurges

Today for Frugal Five, I'll not only list 5 frugal things from my week but also 5 things we splurge on.

When reading frugal blogs, sometimes it may seem as though we never buy anything or do anything truly fun that costs money.

Well, here's the thing. Frugality isn't so much about not spending as it is about being mindful and deliberate in where and how we do choose to spend.

So yes, we have some splurges at our house. While we do look for good deals on these items and try to spend wisely, for the most part we feel these things are worth the extra cost. Provided we have the wiggle room in our budget, of course.

So, should we do frugal first today? Or splurges?

I vote splurges.

Five Things We Splurge On: 

1. Grass-fed and pastured meats. They are so much better for us and we've gotten used to the flavor too. Yes, it costs more than what I paid before. At this time, we probably get about 75% grass-fed/pastured meat and about 25% conventional meat to even out the budget. We buy from a  local farm; they started with grass-fed beef and have more recently added pastured pork and chicken as well. I get some meats at Trader Joe's too--not all grass-fed and pastured but a step up from grocery store "pink slime".
2. Iphones. Yes, I have an iphone!  Is it a necessity? No. Is it fun to have? Yes. They are really helpful for our businesses but if finances were really tight, we would rethink this. Once my husband got his and added the data plan, mine was only 99 cents with no change to our bill. 
3. Taxes. We pay someone else to do our taxes. This isn't really cheap but it is worth it to us for both our sanity and the health of our marriage. Because we are self-employed and have so many little cottage industries, Turbo Tax would throw up all over itself and probably go offline! We trust the man who does our taxes and know he does a good job. He is a Christian man and approaches personal finances much in the same way we do.
4. Better haircuts. We used to get our hair cut at a very cheap place. After trying another, little bit higher-priced salon, my husband decided it was worth the extra money for a nicer haircut. I have a clippers and want to learn to cut his hair myself, but in the meantime, we've found a place he likes. I only get 1 or 2 cuts a year for myself and am currently growing my hair out but when it's time,  I think a better stylist would help my head of "unruly hair" too.
5. Parmesan cheese. Call us food snobs, but we really like the chunks of Parmesan you shred yourself instead of the green can! We don't eat a lot of it but it's a treat to buy a small chunk of good Parmesan cheese occasionally.  Trader Joe's has specialty cheeses at reasonable prices.

This Week's Frugal Five: 

1.  I had the day off on Good Friday. Instead of spending money, we stayed home and worked around the house. Got a few small projects done that either didn't cost money or we had already bought the supplies for!
2. For a movie night, we watched a movie we had, instead of renting. One that had been given to us a long time ago and we hadn't ever opened!
3. This is the time of year when I start using up more of our home canned and frozen items. We've been adding frozen peaches to our almost-daily smoothies and eating home canned peaches and applesauce. I have some beets and pumpkin I need to start using as well. 
4. Last week was the end of the month-- I cleaned out our cash envelopes and added the loose change and some $1 bills to our 10th anniversary fund. I counted $15 to add this month. Woohoo! I write more about saving our change here.
5. We've had a few warmer days again! We've been opening windows instead of turning on the A/C!

What frugal business have you been up to this week? What do you splurge on? Tell us in the comments!