Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/20-8/26 2016

 


   

What a week this has been!  Between the wildfires burning around us, the extended family drama that took a huge emotional toll on our immediate family, and the heat, I have been struggling to get things done.  All I can do is my best and do things in little pockets of time. :)  Despite all of that, I feel pretty accomplished this week. :)  Onto the savings!



~Saturday Jeff and I headed up to Couer d' Alene, Idaho to do some shopping and just have some fun.  We had lunch at Olive Garden and used a gift card.  Total cost out of pocket was $10 including the tip.
~While we were up there, we decided to go and check out camping trailers and pop up tent trailers.  I'm glad we did because now I have a better idea what I can and cannot deal with. ;)
~We stopped at the Goodwill store up there and found some more clothing, some wonderful books, gloves for Jeff and a brand new large bottle of Meyers Clear Day organic cleaner.
~Another stop was  made at the Grocery Outlet and we stocked up on 2 jars of Kim Chee for $3.99 each , large 1 lb 2 oz. containers of fresh blueberries for $2.99 each, cantaloupe at .99 each, peppers for .50 each, wheat crackers for .79 a box, Johnsonville Cheddar and Bacon burgers for $2.99 a box, a huge watermelon for $4.99, cookie mixes at .50 each, hummus, and a few other things.
~Big Lots had my favorite make up remover wipes for $1 a package so I bought 4 of them to last me 4 months until we get back up there again.  They also had 2 packs of Udon noodles for $1.75.  We found some chips on sale and stocked up on some of those for treats for Jeff in his lunches.
~Sunday I made Jeff and I a nice breakfast of sausages and an oven pancake.  He had his with homemade maple syrup and I had mine with homemade fresh blueberry topping.

~We were running low on pancake mix so I whipped up another batch of it.
~The maple syrup was getting low so I also made more of that.
~Our garden blessed us with blackberries, cucumbers, tomatoes and green beans this week.
~I hung multiple loads of laundry out on the line to dry.
~I had bought a dress for $5 at Goodwill that I was able to modify a bit to make it more practical for me. ;)
~It was really hot Sunday night and we had 3 big fires burning north of us.  Jeff and I opted to have salads for dinner and I made some cookies for dessert.  We watched a dvd we bought recently at the thrift store while I monitored the fire situation on the computer.
~Monday I baked a squash casserole and then piggy backed the oven heat by turning up the heat after I pulled the casserole out to bake 2 loaves of bread.
~My husband had a DOT physical, which his company reimburses him for.

~While my husband was in town for his physical, I had him pick up another gallon of milk since we are just about out.
~I called my doctor's office to straighten out a miscommunication between them and our pharmacy.  This will save me money on my prescription that I take daily for my thyroid issues.
~We have some elk burger that I am trying to use up.  I made a hamburger helper style casserole for our Monday dinner with it.  There are plenty of leftovers to save me on some cooking this week. ;)  I made a deal with Jeff that all our meals would be home cooked this week and that we would only pick up essentials, like milk, at the grocery store.
~The blackberry bushes are really starting to come into their own.  I picked and froze a bag of blackberries Monday.
~Jeff got done with his doctor's appointment early and made a run to the hardware store in yet another town.  It is right next to Walmart where my prescription needed to be picked up.  He got that for me, saving me a trip into town this afternoon.
~Monday was a much cooler day with temperatures in the low 70's.  No need to run the swamp cooler. :)
~I am enjoying a nice cup of tea more and more as the evenings are getting cooler again.  I try to remember to use the tea bag twice.
~I froze one of the large containers of blueberries.

~Our roses out front are so pretty so I cut a few to enjoy in the house also.
~Tuesday I pulled some of the leftover shoyu chicken out of the freezer.  We had that, rice and beans from the garden for dinner on Wednesday night.
~I stopped at one of our favorite thrift stores.  They have .25 clothing clearance racks full on clothing on Tuesdays.  I was able to find 3 shirts and a pair of shorts for the grandsons and 2 shirts for me.  I also found a new CO2 cartridge for our Soda Stream machine for $1.99, a new bottle of Coach cleaner for their fabric bags and a few other things also.  All of my stuff came to a little over $8.
~I finally got that beautiful Talbot's icy blue and beaded dress into the consignment store.  She is going to try and sell it for $90 and we split the profit 50/50.
~The used book store took one of my books that I am done reading and gave me a $2 credit there.
~I watched a live stream show by my cousin Marisa, who is a cookbook author who focuses on Canning and has the  Food in Jars blog, on making tomato sauce.  While watching I worked on getting green beans from the garden ready to cook. If you click on the highlighted link it will take you to her website. :)
~Wednesday was our volunteer work and we got some free groceries while doing that. Some of the things we received were huge bags of raisins and dried cranberries, fresh cauliflower, bratwurst, potatoes, canned goods, hamburger buns, cereal, crackers, juice and the list goes on.

~I was feeling very stressed out Wednesday morning and got out a book to read on Norway and traveling by boat there.  It was so calming to read and get lost in the pictures.  My husband's grandfather and great uncle immigrated from Norway and we have good friends there.  It holds a special place in our hearts and we hope to visit one day.
~Thursday morning one of our amazing neighbors, who has a truck farm, invited me to come and pick some corn.  We had a nice visit while he and I picked out 12 ears.  I tried to pay him but he would not allow me to and told me that he would have even more down in the other field ready soon and to please come back and pick more.  I will be making him some banana bread, which he seemed very excited about. :)
~I froze 10 of the ears of corn after I broke them in half.  I can easily pull one of the bags out and cook it up for family parties or just pull a few out at a time for Jeff and I.
~I used some of the potatoes we got while doing our volunteer work, along with some cheese and bacon sauce that we had previously gotten to make some scalloped potatoes.  I added some ham chunks (also given to us) right near the end.  It made for a very comforting meal.  I served it with the leftover green beans from the previous night.

~I can't stand to have a lot of grease on food so I use my turkey baster to suck it up an then put the oil and grease in a jar and dispose of it.
~My husband and I had a late of the potato dish above so we snacked on fresh fruit, cheese and crackers for dinner.
~More shows were watched online.
~I raided our pantry and took a box of goodies over for my grandkids on Friday. :)  Grammies are allowed to do that. ;)
~Dinner on Friday night was leftovers.  We had a lot to choose from.
~Friday I was blessed to spend the day with my SIL Heather and my grandboys.  We found a college coupon book that had a coupon for a B1G1Free burger at the place we were going to eat lunch at.  The grandboys split a kid's meal, she and I each had a burger and we had coupons for free ice cream cones for dessert. :)  She insisted on paying since I was watching the kids while she had an eye appointment and later in the afternoon when she went to work.
~I spent the afternoon building barns with Legos and supervising a water gun fight with the grandboys. ;)  Best entertainment around.
~My son Chris loves cucumbers, so I picked some from the garden and took them over with me so he, Heather and the grandboys could enjoy them.
~I found coupons for free items from on of our grocery stores in a university newspaper.  I got some coupons for me and some for Heather also.
~I did several surveys and product reviews that I was compensated for.
~I continue to use a timer when I water our gardens.  I forgot to do that one morning this week and the front garden got an hour long soaking before it dawned on me that I still had one of the sprinklers on.


   So not a bad week savings wise.  I am beginning to really feel Fall coming on and that makes me want to go into "chipmunk mode" and make sure that I have lots of food stored for the upcoming cold weather.  I looked at the long range forecast and we could be in for lots of snow.  I don't like to drive in snow or on ice so I tend to hibernate here at home unless my hubby drives me somewhere.  I blame growing up in Hawaii for that along with a car accident I was in years ago. ;)  If I feel the car slipping at all, it tends to throw my into an panic attack.  I hope you all have a frugal and fun weekend!