Frugal Friday Wrap Up 6/30-7/6 2018

   


   

Another Frugal Friday post!  I've been busy with the garden, the youngest grandson, and trying to deal with the drastic weather changes.  The fur babies seem to be confused by the weather changes also so sleep has been more challenging lately (it's always a challenge but this is getting beyond ridiculous) because they have been restless as well at night.  All this has left me drained and a bit "raw" emotionally.  I tend to withdraw from being social when this is going on and that is what has happened and therefor the lack of posting, replying to comments and even reading emails.  Sorry and please forgive me. Onto the subject that you are here for....frugality!

~Saturday Jeff and I ran into town to deposit his check and get the shopping done.  I only had enough energy to go to 2 grocery stores...Walmart and Safeway.  I had planned my trips carefully and made a list, downloaded coupons and prayed for other bargains.  Well we hit the jackpot!  I was able to get a whole ham for $5, shrimp and cod for 50% off, 2 pound blocks of cheese for $3.99 each, barbeque sauce for .49 each, mayo at half off, Hefty freezer bags for .99 a package, Gatorade for .58 each, and many other deals as well.  We got home and Jeff had me sit down while he unloaded all the groceries and got them put away.
~At Walmart I found 2 shirt on clearance for $1 each.
~That night we watched 2 movies.  I had borrowed "Ferdinand" from the library and we watched the newest Star Wars movie on Netflix.  Jeff baked a pizza for our dinner that night also.

~Sunday I was feeling better so I tried to get more done.  I did laundry, cut up celery and peppers and froze some and set some aside to use in our dinner that night, harvested lettuce from the garden and got that all washed and torn up for salads and picked a bunch of raspberries.
~I gave some of the raspberries to my neighbor who loves them and they are her "comfort food".
~Dinner on Sunday night was homemade Lo Mein using lots of veggies, leftover steaks and whole wheat noodles.

~We watched a Kevin James comedy show on Netflix.
~I cut up a bunch of strawberries from our garden.
~I continued to read a library book when I retired to bed early because I had once again overdone it with my activity level.
~We got more rain and the rain barrel is filling up.
~Monday found me really sore but there were things that needed to get done.  Rachel met us at our house and we headed up to Uncle Bob's farm to pick cherries.  His trees were loaded and did not get hit by the frost like our's did.  Between what Jeff was able to get from way up high in  our trees and in the short time we were picking at Uncle Bob's we got 3 gallons plus 1 quart of cherries.
~I gave the quart bag of cherries to a dear friend for her to have with her dinner while she worked the overnight shift.

~I cut up the big ham I got for $5 into 3 meals of 4 ham steaks per meal and bag of cubed ham for soups and salads.  Jeff usually eats 2 ham steaks and I have one and use the other for yet another meal.  These were smaller ham steaks, not those huge ones you see packaged up separately in the grocery stores.
~Dinner that night was fried ham steaks and mashed red potatoes with parsley from our garden.
~My dessert was fresh raspberries from the garden sprinkled with a little sugar.  So Yummy!
~I listened to sleep and relaxation music later that night to help me unwind and to hopefully help bring down the pain levels I was having.

~Chris and Heather brought back a solar charger to use to plug in Jeff's CPAP machine when we go camping.  My parents gave it to us since they bought it for a camping trip to use for my dad and now they no longer use it.  Chris, Heather and the boys spent the weekend with my parents in Montana.
~I borrowed two more movies from the library.
~Tuesday I watched Steven for awhile.  He was a happy little bug.  We played, watched Baby Einstein on TV and then he fell asleep in my arms. Happy Grammie.

~Jeff and I ran into town in the afternoon to finish our grocery shopping.
~Dinner was leftovers.
~Wednesday was the 4th of July.  Rachel came over to do laundry and we both picked a lot of raspberries.
~I made two loaves of whole wheat bread.
~Jeff, Rachel, Jaysn and Steven went down to a community wide BBQ and potluck.  I was not able to make it because the change in weather (getting way hotter) sent me into a flare.  I turned on the swamp cooler and spent the afternoon in my recliner.
~I planted more pole bean seeds in an area where the ground cherry plants never came up.
~Jeff pulled out all the lupine plants since they were attracting aphids that were trying to destroy my garden.

~Thursday was a hot day so we took advantage of it to hang Jeff's laundry out to dry on the laundry line.
~I used the enclosed hot tub area to dry some of our house slippers that I had washed.
~The Instant Pot is a life saver when it is hot.  I cooked up 2 frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts and used them to make chicken salad with.
~Lunch was chicken salad wraps with lettuce from our garden.  I added sliced grapes to mine since I love that combination.
~Jeff picked the remaining cherries from our tree and packaged them up to give to some of his coworkers.  We still have a few large bags of them in the refrigerator for our own use.
~I cut a box of fabric softener sheets in half.  I only use 1 half sheet per dryer load.
~The gardens were watered in the morning.  I will be switching to evening watering now that the nights will be hotter again.

~By keeping the house pretty much closed up during the day after running the swamp cooler on vent until about 3 a.m., I was able to keep it in the lower 70's even when it hit 90F outside for most of the day but had to finally turn the swamp cooler on around 4 p.m. when the house started to heat up.
~I did not feel like cooking so frozen burritos were heated up and eaten with a garden salad.
~Friday I harvested strawberries and lettuce,and Rachel and I harvest raspberries from the garden.  I shared them all with Rachel.
~Lunch was leftover chicken salad, crackers and grapes.  Quick, easy and yummy!

~I spent a lot of time reading books from the library.
~Dinner was baked lemon dill cod that I had previously bought at half price and frozen, cornbread with a can of drained corn mixed in (both the mix and the canned corn was previously bought on sale), applesauce, and a green salad from our garden. 
~The garden was watered in the evening when it got cooler.
~I watched a show on YouTube about America's Princess marrying into British aristocracy.  It was was really interesting.

  Blessings to all!