Cold Frugal Friday Wrap Up 12/31/16 - 1/6/17

 

Baby it's cold outside!

   Oh what a week this has been!  We finally got the bill from the hospital when my husband had to go to the emergency room back in March of 2016.  Our insurance company paid their portion of it back in April and sent us the statement of what our portion was.  We waited for the hospital to send us a bill...none came.  We called about it and were told they were processing it.  Still nothing.  In October my husband went in to the hospital to ask about it but the person in billing was out so they left a sticky note on their computer to get back to us...nothing.  Guess what just showed up in the mail with a "pay upon receipt" notice.  Yep.  There went over $400 in one shot that was not in our budget.  The savings account took another hit on that one to make up the difference.  That left us with about $60 until my hubby gets paid mid month and I have a doctor's appointment with a copay of $45 next week.  Oh joy!  NOT!  Luckily my husband still had $20 to use for his bowling league fees this week and between the $6 left after that along with another $8 for next week's fees we will barely squeak by. We had planned on being able to buy more pellets for our pellet stove but after paying the hospital bill, did not have the money for that.  Luckily my husband's boss, who we buy the pellets from, let us get the pellets now so we don't run out and Jeff will pay him out of his middle of the month check.  We are very blessed by the company he works for!  Thank goodness we have a full pantry, refrigerator and freezer and a big supply of toilet paper on hand. 😉  That certainly helps keep the stress level way down.


~Winco had their Christmas themed Ziplock bags marked down to $1 a box and Pumpkin Bread mix marked down to .98 a box.  I bought several of both to help stock the pantry.
~Jeff and I rang in the New Year by hot tubbing and watching a movie on Netflix while we snacked on crackers, cheese and beef sausage.  Nice, low key, and just the way we like it.
~We found more treasures at the thrift store including lots of marked down down clothing for the new baby, Jeff, and myself.  I also found a really cute purse, a Brighton wallet, some more dvds for Bradley and Isaiah, and lots of Christmas gift bags for next year.  Jeff found a Rap Raplinger CD for me.  Rap is a local comedian from Hawaii that I grew up listening to and watching his shows.  :)

A small purse that has a removable strap so it can be a clutch and a Brighton clutch that I thrifted.

~I fixed and cleaned some wallets and handbags this week.  It did not take long at all and they look really nice.
~Sunday, Jeff and I gave each other haircuts, I trimmed the dog's claws and we did some cleaning around the house before settling in to relax.
~Kalua Pig is a favorite around here so I made a double batch so we could have some to start the new year ( a tradition) and I could freeze some for later.  I never did get any frozen because we had it for 3 more meals.  Oh well...that just shows you how good it was! ;) The pork loin roasts cost me under $4 for both!  When I added in the other items that I used for each meal it came to about $1.20 per meal for 2 people.
~My husband was writing out the checks to pay our bills and realized that he needed another check register.  Since we did not have any more that came with our checks, I quickly printed some free ones off the internet.
~I cashed in for a $25 Walmart gift card via Swagbucks at the reduced 2,200 points price.

Chicken and Orzo soup in the making.

~Monday found me in the kitchen making chicken salad for sandwiches and chicken noodle soup with the leftover rotisserie chicken.
~Jeff and I enjoyed playing Scrabble by the warmth of the fire.
~Lots of delicious leftovers were eaten this week.  It saves me time and money to cook larger amounts of food and enjoy them or even freeze them for other meals.
~We borrowed several books and movies from the library this week.  We finally got to see the new "Pete's Dragon" and "Finding Dory".

Movies and books borrowed from the library.

~I made another batch of homemade croutons with some of the leftover bread that was starting to go stale.
~Our pellet stove is great for putting out heat.  We use the heat from it to dry out our wet shoes and coats.  We simply place them near the pellet stove.  I also use the heat from it to help my bread dough rise.
~I got a free subscription to Sports Illustrated for my hubby and a Outdoor Photography subscription for my son Chris.
~We were running low on Garlic salt so I mixed up some more using salt and garlic powder that I always have on hand.

Homemade croutons to be used in salads and as toppers for soup.

~My hubby borrowed our son Chris' truck to haul home a ton of pellets for our pellet stove since it is our only source of heat and we were starting to run low.  We have lots of snow moving back in over the weekend and are having an arctic blast right now so we are going through the pellets more quickly than my hubby had planned for.
~Jeff used the $25 Walmart gift card that I got through Swagbucks to buy a huge bag of dog food for Caesar.  Jeff and I got to thinking about it and we have only paid for Caesar's food out of pocket 3 times in all the years we have had him.  The rest of the time I have used Walmart gift cards that I earn through Swagbucks to pay for his food.
~I hauled a quilt out onto the couch to cuddle up under since our temps are now going down into the negatives and the pellet stove is our only source of heat for the whole house.

Doofy cat making himself all comfy and warm in the quilt I threw on the couch.

~Our wonderful neighbor gave use some firebricks for Jaysn and Rachel's woodstove since their heat exchange unit went out on them.  This way they can keep their home warm without having to use lots of small space heaters.
~Jeff had some money put on his bowling alley loyalty card as a "thank you" for being a good customer.  He used some of that to buy dinner for himself at his Thursday night bowling league since he had to leave here early to run some things out to Jaysn and pick up some things at Walmart before league.
~Thursday night I made a "snack plate" with cheese, beef stick and mandarins for dinner for myself since Jeff was at bowling league.

"Snacks" for dinner.

~Jeff stopped in at the grocery store in the town where our Chris and Heather and the grandboys live when he was picking up their truck.  He got a package of salad and some salad dressing, both were on sale and needed items.  He paid under $2 total for both items!
~I pulled some of the leftover elk roast out of the freezer and made some mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans to go with it for dinner on Friday night.
~We had some gravy and roast leftover from Friday's dinner so I cut the roast up and combined it with the gravy to serve over rice on Sunday.
~I stayed home Sunday-Friday this week.  That saved not only gas money but also kept me out of the stores. ;)

More clothing for Steven and a shirt for Bradley and Isaiah to share.  We had to get camo stuff for Steven so he could match his camo crazy bigger cousins. ;)  All of these items were either .10 or  .24 each on clearance racks at 2 different thrift stores.

~We have tried to eat mostly out of the pantry, fridge and freezer for the most part this week.  I am trying really hard to save all the money we can right now and cut our spending drastically.
~I continue to work on my different points programs.
~We are loving the Roku we bought on sale at Christmas.  It has allowed us to stream Netflix, Youtube and some other channels like PBS, news and weather.  I can put on Doofy's favorite kitty tv videos from Youtube on the big TV and that calms him down so he is not sprinting around the house and knocking things over during the day when Jeff is trying to sleep.



   I hope to continue to keep our variable expenses way down this month by continuing to not have to pick up much from the grocery store.  I also need to stay out of the thrift stores...something that is going to be very difficult for me because my car just seems to be on auto pilot when I am in town and goes there without my even thinking about it. 😏 Yep, that is my story and I am sticking to it.  LOL!