Frugal Friday Wrap Up 11/20/2020

    What a week it has been!  I was right about more restrictions coming in for Washington state.  Most went into effect on Monday and will go for a month. 

COVID-19 Guidance In order to slow the spread of rapidly increasing COVID cases in our state and ensure that hospital and medical systems are not overwhelmed, we are taking the very difficult but necessary steps to protect public health. We recognize this will cause financial hardship for many businesses and the governor and staff are exploring ways to mitigate the impacts. • From midnight on Monday, November 16 through Monday, December 14, all counties in Washington rollback to the restrictions outlined below. Restriction modifications for all counties effective midnight on Monday, November 16, unless otherwise noted. If the activity is not listed, it should follow its current guidance. All K12/higher education, health care, and childcare are exempt from the new restrictions and will follow current guidance. These restrictions do not apply to courts and judicial branch-related proceedings. 1. Indoor Social Gatherings with people from outside your household are prohibited unless they (a) quarantine for fourteen days (14) prior to the social gathering; or (b) quarantine for seven (7) days prior to the social gathering and receive a negative COVID19 test result no more than 48-hours prior to the gathering. A household is defined as individuals residing in the same domicile. 2. Outdoor Social Gatherings shall be limited to five (5) people from outside your household. 3. Restaurants and Bars are closed for indoor dine-in service. Outdoor dining and to-go service are permitted, provided that all outdoor dining must comply with the requirements of the Outdoor Dining Guidance. Table size for outdoor dining is limited to a maximum of five (5) people. These modified restaurant and bar restrictions go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, November 18, 2020. 4. Fitness Facilities and Gyms are closed for indoor operations. Outdoor fitness classes are permitted but are subject to and limited by the outdoor social gathering restriction listed above. 5. Bowling Centers are closed for indoor service. 6. Miscellaneous Venues: All retail activities and business meetings are prohibited. Only professional training and testing that cannot be performed remotely, as well as all court and judicial branch-related proceedings, are allowed. Occupancy in each meeting room is limited to 25 percent of indoor occupancy limits or 100 people, whichever is fewer. ▪ Miscellaneous venues include: convention/conference centers, designated meeting spaces in a hotel, events centers, fairgrounds, sporting arenas, nonprofit establishment, or a substantially similar venue. 7. Movie Theaters are closed for indoor service. Drive-in movie theaters are permitted and must continue to follow current drive-in movie theater guidance.

https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/proclamations/COVID%2019%20November%20Statewide%20Restrictions.pdf 

   Jeff and I knew these would be coming so we tried to get as prepared as we could over the weekend and finished up the rest of the stuff during the week.  Here is a peek into what we did and how we saved as much as we could doing so...

Saturday:

~Cookies were made...yum!

~We bought a generator and a rolling stand for it so that we could run the generator to keep our pellet stove going if the electricity went out.  It is powerful enough to also run the refrigerator and a lamp while the stove is going.

~While at Walmart, I picked up the last Christmas gift I needed for Steven (jammies on sale) and we also found another pair of fleece lined jeans for Jeff.  He wears those to work during the colder Winter months and now he has two new pairs to replace the ones that have totally worn and ripped out from previous years.

~Jeff and I needed some comfort food so I baked some turkey bacon in the oven and made a large batch of pancakes.  I had my pancakes topped with strawberries from our garden that I had sliced and frozen this Summer.

~We got a bit more shopping done at the Grocery Outlet.

Sunday:

~I cut Jeff's hair.

~We had leftovers for dinner.

Monday:

~We returned all the library materials that we had borrowed to the library to avoid late fees.

~We had chicken along with twice baked load potatoes (using some of the leftover turkey bacon in them) for dinner. I baked extra potatoes for later in the week also.

~I called our internet provider to protest our bill.  They overcharged us so they are giving us credit on our next bill.

~I also was double charged on our cell phone plan...I got that taken care of too.

~I froze some overripe bananas to make bread or muffins with later.

Tuesday:

~Rough day here so we had a choice of leftover breakfast for dinner or chicken and potatoes.

Wednesday:

~Another rough day for me so Jeff threw a pizza into the oven for dinner for us.

~Jeff's prescription refill was free.  Yay!

Thursday:

~Jeff went down and got us commodities.  There was so much there...potatoes, onions, sugar snap peas, breads, sweet potatoes, grapefruits, carrots, canned goods, lots of frozen meat, squash, grains, cheeses, etc. 

~I divided up a large bag of cheese and froze half of it and the rest is in the refrigerator for Jeff to make nachos with.

~While Jeff was getting the commodities, I made 2 loaves of bread, a tuna noodle casserole (for Jeff, I can't stand the stuff but Jeff loves it) and used the rest of the chicken left on the bones to make a large pot of homemade chicken noodle soup using bits a bobs of leftover dried pasta that I had collected over the past few months when I made other things.

Friday:

~Jeff bought the last ton of wood pellets that we needed for our stove and brought them home from work in the morning.  I'm really glad we got them when we did because we got further confirmation that there definitely is a shortage and if you need them, get them now!

~Jeff and I made another trip to pick up a few more items from the stores since we are going to be home for a month, other than going to the grocery store if needed, for a month.  If the covid cases continue to go up within the next few weeks, they may lock us down even further...I wanted to be prepared.  I stocked up on seltzer water (it was on sale and it really does help with my Fibromyalgia), got a free cookie mix from Safeway, creamers for Jeff while they are sale, more chips, instant coffee (for those days when I don't feel like brewing a pot and want some fast), a spiral cut ham while it was on sale at Grocery Outlet, salad, some specialty cheeses that we deeply discounted, milk, more bananas, hand sanitizer and a bunch of other things I can't remember right now.  I wanted the ham for Christmas and it is big enough for the whole family IF we are able to get together by then.  

~Jeff picked up more work gloves at Harbor Freight along with some oil for the generator to have on hand here.

~By the time we got home, I was wrecked and had to sit in my chair since I was having trouble walking (I had even used my cane in town...I had not had to do that for months).  Jeff got the groceries put away and then heated up chicken noodle soup for me and tuna casserole for himself.

      I am glad that Jeff and I got the last of the shopping done and got the pellets bought.  He will have to get them unloaded this weekend.  At least we do not have to worry about keeping warm during the heating season. That is something to be very thankful for!  We also have lots of food on hand, along with toilet paper and tissues (I forgot, we bought more of those today also, praise God for the Dollar Tree that still had some on hand and did not jack their prices up).  And yes, I have been having trouble with my Fibromyalgia acting up, along with a few other conditions that I deal with.  It is what it is and the weather changes and stress seem to have conspired against me at the moment.  On a more positive note though, Jeff and I are using the hot tub a lot lately and that seems to be helping us both.