Frugal Friday Wrap Up 1/21-1/27 2017

   

   I'm feeling a bit beat up physically and mentally after this week.  I pushed myself way too much and am paying for it.  Tuesday morning I worked for MOPS, Wednesday I had Bradley here for the afternoon, Thursday afternoon and evening I went beyond just delivering food to shuts ins but also went back and helped for the rest of the time at the food distribution since they were short volunteers so that made for 6 hours of work there while my back and neck were screaming.  Thursday Bradley came down with an awful virus that landed him at the doctor with a high fever and Friday morning he had to be rushed to the emergency room because he was having trouble breathing since he was coughing so hard.  Poor guy is miserable.  I am praying that he heals quickly and that no one else comes down with it.  He was extra cuddly with me on Wednesday when he was here so I am wondering if he was just at the start of it then.  The whole political climate and all the ugliness being spouted is really getting to me.  Jeff suggested I stay off facebook for most of the weekend to give myself a break.  It hurts to see some of my family and friends spreading untruths. The attacks on Christians and homeschoolers have really cut deep for me.  My family and friends know that we are Christians and that we homeschooled our kids.  They also know that I love them unconditionally and that I will stand up against people who would try to bully them due to their religious beliefs, choice of lifestyles, pigmentation of their skin, etc. .  I believe in treating people with kindness and respect.  We do not have to believe the same way on every issue, but we can  still be respectful to one another.  I realize that I may never be able to change their minds about something as important to me as not taking the life of an innocent unborn child and they will never be able to convince me that having someone who glorifies the sexualization of women to make her living (Madonna) can be truly outraged about about men then viewing women in that same exact way.  It's just exhausting and fruitless to even try.  Stepping down off my soapbox now and onto the savings...

~Saturday my hubby cleaned out the big walk in closet.  He found lots of things that we had been looking for including gift bags and wrapping paper, baby gifts, 2 amplifiers (we need to check with Chris and Josh since they belong to either one or both of them), our Disney movies on VHS (I will try to sell these) and lots of clothing and linens along with other miscellaneous stuff.
~I mended a pair of pants for Jeff and a quilt that our dear Grandma Ann made.
~Leftover ziti and cheese casserole was lunch of Saturday.
~Saturday night I cooked up 5 nice elk steaks and some baked potatoes.  We had 2 of the steaks, along with some of the potatoes and a nice salad for dinner.  I used the other steaks as part of meals later as the week went on.
~Sunday I was in need of some comfort food since I was having a really bad CFS flare and crash.  I made some quick homemade mac and cheese that hit the spot.

~Monday I made some homemade syrup, a pasta salad, and some English Muffin Bread to use throughout the week, and in the case of the syrup, beyond.
~My breadmaker decided that it would mix the dough but not cook the bread.  I took the dough out and finished cooking it in the oven.  I do have a back up breadmaker somewhere in this house.  I'll have to find it.
~I made Lo Mein with one of the leftover elk steaks, some veggies and some garden delight noodles.
~While Jeff was cleaning out the closet, he found one of my large but shorter woven baskets.  It works perfectly as a laundry basket for our bathroom because it slips under the shelves and out of the way.
~Since I have found that I only need half a sheet of fabric softener sheets per load, I cut all the sheets in half to use.

~We are back to using the big heavy duty plastic bags that our pellets come in as garbage bags.  They work great and don't break open.
~I pulled 2 weekend newspapers out of the recycling bin at the post office so I could get the coupon inserts.  I also get 2 free papers this way to read and later to use for cleaning.
~I usually stop by the thrift store after I work in Tuesdays but decided to just skip it and come straight home and have some leftovers for lunch.  It's not like I needed anything there and since we are trying to save money and not eat out as much I behaved myself...today. 😉
~After I pour myself a cup of morning coffee I put the rest in a thermal carafe. It keeps it hot for hours so if I want another cup later, I can have a nice hot cup and it is still pretty warm by the time my hubby gets up so he does not have to zap it in the microwave as long.

~I dug out some glass containers with locking airtight lids that I bought on clearance 2 Christmas' ago and used one of them to put the dried powdered milk in that I picked up for making English Muffin Bread.
~Jeff replaced the filter on our PUR water filter that fits right on the kitchen faucet.  I am now back to drinking more water because it tastes good again.
~I signed up for a bunch of freebies this week including dog treats, pain relief patched, vitamins, food products and lotions.
~Menu planning is once again going on in this house.  I'm trying to do it on Saturdays so that my hubby and I can do it together.  I am being flexible realizing that there may be days when we don't want what is planned for that day, so we can substitute something else in or just switch days around.

~I took advantage of an offer I got in the mail for Chewy.com.  It is a company that sells pet supplies online.  They had a $15 off you order code.  I looked through the site and they have the expensive cat food that Doofy needs for a few dollars less that we get it for here.  They also offered free shipping if you order is over $49.  I needed more kitty litter so I searched their site and found a great deal on a 40 pound bag of unscented kitty litter for  $9.92.  I placed an order for 2 bags of the cat food and 1 bag of the kitty litter.  I got the $15 discount plus free shipping.  They will deliver it right to my door so that saves me on gas money too!
~Tuesday night I made a big pot of veggie and potato chowder for dinner and served it with homemade garlic and cheese biscuits.  Yet another man pleasing and filling meal for very little money.
~I was super sore Tuesday after working in the morning with the little kids so Jeff and I hot tubbed and I also took some ibuprofen.  It was much needed.
~Wednesday I made 2 loaves of Whole Wheat Oatmeal bread.

~My grandson Bradley recently took a bad fall and got a concussion.  His doctor wants him to stay calm and not "get wild".  Trying to get a 4 year old boy to not run around is like trying to nail jello to a wall.  His mommy had to work at the daycare this afternoon and trying to stay calm when there are all those kids to play with would have been torture for him.  He came to spend the afternoon with me instead.  We put together the puzzles I got at the thrift store, made really cool laser guns out of egg cartons (to fight off the droids that we coming to get us...he is on a Star Wars kick right now 😉), watched 1 episode of "Autobot"s on Netflix and had lots of cuddle time.
~We did our volunteer work today and came home with 2 cases, yes cases of chicken fried steaks (we had enough to give out complete cases to 50+ families who wanted them, boxes of apples and pears, bags of potatoes and onions, eggs, breads, bagels, donuts, pasta, canned goods, lamb chops, juices, milk, and snack items.  I would say that retail value this time was over $200.  Seriously!  I had to get our high school football player neighbor to bring in some of the boxes for me and sent him home with as many pears as he wanted.  I will be sharing the wealth with friends and family because all this is way too much for just Jeff and I. Oh, this is random but one of the ladies that also volunteers with the program brought in some coloring books to give away.  I picked out an Autobot one for my grandsons to share. :)

~I was so sore Thursday after helping with the food distribution for 6 hours that I came home, ate leftovers for dinner and then took some ibuprofen and soaked in the hot tub hoping to ease the swelling in my lower back and pain in my neck so I could sleep.
~Some of my free magazines came in the mail.
~We borrowed the movie "Sully" from the library.
~Friday I stayed home.  I was really tired and still sore so I made it a jammie kind of day. :)  I didn't even cook.  We had plenty of leftovers to use up so that made for very easy meals.

   

   So as you can see, there have been a lot of savings this week.  I was able to cross everything but 1 item off my grocery list after all the blessings we got while volunteering.  We had been eating down the contents of the freezers and now they are full again.  I had to laugh when Mason, our neighbor who helped carry in the heavy boxes of fruit for me, looked around my front bedroom that I turned into a pantry and said I had an entire store in there.   He is right!  He now knows where to come if he needs anything. ;)  I love that wonderful young man and I will miss him as he heads off to college next year.  Here's to a great and restful weekend for us all.