Frugal Friday Wrap Up 5/20/16

 

  Sorry I am a bit late in getting this post up.  I had planned on getting it up last night but my computer decided to do an automatic update to Windows 10 and that took some time to get done.  Better late than never thought right? ;)


~We have 2 huge containers of salad greens and I needed to get the older one used up quickly. I made taco salad for dinner using lots of the greens, tomato, cheese, sliced olives, elk burger (this needed use up too) cooked with taco seasoning, avocado, corn chips and ranch dressing.  I pulled a peach margarita wine cocktail thing out of the freezer to go with it.  YUM!
~We watched several TV programs online.
~I brushed Caesar again outside right before my hubby mowed the lawn. I did notice a few birds picking up some of his hair to use in their nests before my hubby mowed over it and it got sucked up into the lawn clipping bag.  Free building material for the birds...I like to do my part to help them too. ;)

~I water the gardens in the evening when the temps will not be going too low at night.  This gives the water a chance to go down deeper into the soil and not just evaporate off so quickly.
~Used some of the cleaning products we got for free to clean the master bath shower that was a need of a deep cleaning.
~Our son Jaysn came out to troubleshoot why our CD player was not pushing sound through the speakers.  It turns out that our receiver has gone out.  Jaysn hooked the CD player up to our TV so I can run the sound through that.  I am now happily listening to some Jim Brickman music.  He is one of my favorites.

~I used up some overripe bananas to make 5 loaves of banana bread.  I sent 1 loaf home with Jaysn, froze 2 for when my father and brother come over in a few weeks and the other 2 are for us to enjoy this week.
~I washed several purses that are made from cloth in the washer on the gentle cycle.  They came out looking brand new. :)
~Jeff helped Jaysn adjust the latch on the trunk of his car so it works better now.
~I trimmed my bangs because they were driving me nuts!

~It rained on Saturday afternoon which meant I did not need to water and it help fill the rain barrel.
~Since it was raining Saturday afternoon/evening and we could not work out in the garden, we decided to watch a movie.  My husband's pick was "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider".  My cousin had given this to us last week. :)
~My hubby made an amazing score at Goodwill.  He found a Total Gym Pro Plus.  He has wanted one of these for a long time.  It was marked @19.99 and they had a 15 minute sale on all "furniture".  The tag was marked as furniture so he got it for $10!

~My Goodwill score for this week was a pair of Sketcher's walking shoes that looked like they had been worn once.  They were $9.99 and I got 20% off because we made a donation.  I need a new pair of walking shoes and  just about bought a pair at Shopko on sale for $54.99 but decided to hold off.  I'm so glad I did!
~Hubby and I went out for a lunch date at Buffalo Wild Wings and used a gift card to pay for part of it.  It cost us $8.17 out of pocket and that included a nice tip.
~I love Lanz of Salzburg pajama gowns.  I have ever since I was a little girl and I was given one for Christmas.  My mother and I both look for great sales on these because they are so comfortable and well made.  I found one at Goodwill that looks like it is brand new and that someone had just washed it.  The cheapest I could find one that is in the same style and flannel was $64.95.  I paid $5.99.  YES!

~I found a 6 comedy movie set for $2.99.
~I am stocking my gift closet again for Christmas this year and found a beautiful cookbook that is all about cookies!  I got it for $2.00. This is the perfect gift for someone in our family. ;)
~We SKYPEd with our son Josh again...love those free calls where I can see my baby boy!
~We made popcorn to share while we watched movies this week. :)
~We watched several episodes of MacGyver that I had bought last year at a yard sale.

~More movies were watched that we borrowed from the library.
~I collected rainwater in buckets as well as in our rain barrel.  I used the water in the buckets to water the houseplants and the potted plants and the ones that are waiting to be planted in the garden.
~It rained all day Sunday and it was a cold night...perfect weather to snuggle up and watch a movie. Jeff and I watched "The Good Dinosaur".  We had borrowed it before but we did not have a chance to watch it so I borrowed it again from the library.
~Monday I made 2 kinds of pasta salad, cookies and croutons.
~Our neighbor, Uncle Bob, gave us some cauliflower and cabbage starts.

~I transplanted some beautiful blue lupine volunteer babies into a bare patch of my backyard flower border.
~I used water from the rain barrel to water in some new columbine plants.  I think rain water gives them a better start and is less of a shock than chlorinated water.  I did the same with some million bells that I potted up.
~On Monday I pre-cooked up some Sloppy Joe meat mix using half of a large cut up red pepper to stretch it a bit and add some flavor and a bit of crunch to it.  I froze the other half of the red pepper to use later.  I used more of the elk burger from our freezer, using the packages that had been in their the longest.  I did this while I was making the  2 different pasta salads, using the same kind of noodles for both so I could just boil up one large pot of noodles.

~Jeff picked up 2 more packages of the same kind of underwear he bought last week because they are so comfortable and they are on clearance right now.  Since they are on clearance, we don't know if the store is just not going carry them or if that particular style is not being made anymore.  He wanted to just get one package, but I had him get two.
~Tuesday I had to run into town to get more potting soil and a few more plants to fill in my hanging baskets.  I had another $10 off $25 coupon come in my email for Shopko.  I bought more flowers and also bought also bought 6 bell pepper plants and 6 kale plants since all my kale has gone to bolt already.
~I found pizzas in the deli at Walmart marked down to half price and also found a large already hot and ready to go pizza for $2.50.  Since it was a long day of shopping, we had the hot and ready pizza for a late lunch and there was still 2 slices left for another meal.   The other 3 family sized take and bake deli pizzas were put in the freezer for use later.  I also found pork and beef burger patties marked at half off so I got those and we BBQed them up for dinner on Wednesday and had the leftovers later in the week also.

~Safeway had lots of their dairy products marked down for quick sale, including chocolate chip cookie dough.  I bought 4 of the cookie dough packages because it was cheaper to do that than make them from scratch and the grandboys love to make cookies with Grammie this way. ;)
~I printed off some coupons via Swagbucks and used them today at the grocery store.  I will get 10 points per coupon.  Every little bit helps!
~Wednesday found me out in the garden weeding and then planting all the cauliflower and cabbage seedling.  While I was weeding I found a bunch of volunteer dill. :)
~I top fed the rhubarb with some cow manure.

~Hung out laundry to dry on the nice days this week.
~Jeff BBQed up some burgers for dinner on Wednesday night.  YUM!
~I opened up a jar of some of my homemade squash pickles that I made this past Fall and they are so good!  I will definitely be making more jars of these this year. :)
~I mixed up some "magic mix" potting soil.  I used potting soil and added some well rotted cow manure to it.  It should really give the newly potted plants some good nutrition.
~I used coffee filters in the bottom of my hanging baskets so keep the soil from falling through.

~We went to a garage sale and a church rummage sale on Friday.  At the garage sale we found a Charbroil combo barbeque grill/smoker with a nice cover for $20.  At the rummage sale we scored big time on the clothing.  I found 2 cashmere sweaters that retail for $295 and $235.  I also found a purse that retails for $85.99 and lots of other named brand clothing that is ridiculously expensive when you pay retail prices for it.
~This week I also found some books at thrift stores and at the rummage sale. :)
~I put a lot more effort into working my points programs this week.

~The mail this week brought a free package of wildflower seeds and 3 free magazines.
~Picked up a free local magazine and some free medweek newspapers that had coupon inserts in them.
~Since it was just me at home for dinner on Friday night I baked a potato and cooked some broccoli.  I mixed that together with some butter, salt, cheese and bacon.  So good on a cold and rainy night.

~My computer automatically upgraded to Window 10 and I am now trying to do all the needed updates to the other programs I have running on the computer.
~I cooked up an entire package of turkey bacon and put it in the freezer to pull out and used when needed.


   I hope you all had a good and frugal week!