Saturday, June 10, 2017

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 6/3-6/9 2017

   



   It has been an interesting week here full of high school graduations and parties, time with family and friends and roller coaster weather. Our hanai son Lee and his girlfriend came home to see his sister graduate, so we got to have some time with them and I loved it!  One of my best friends who is more like a sister and is who we call our kids "other mother" was here for a visit too and she got to meet Rachel and Steven.  I think she enjoyed the cuddle time with him the most. 😉  Who doesn't love cuddling a snuggly newborn?  Our weather has been everything from scorching hot in the high 90 to the lows in the high 30's.  I think my gardens are confused.  I did manage to find ways to save money this week though and am praying for even better savings next week.


~Saturday we attended the local high school graduation and went to 2 parties afterwards.  We had dinner and got to visit with old friends at the parties.
~Sunday Jeff BBQed up some of the reduce priced bratwurst that I had found the previous week (yes, I froze them when I brought them home from the store) and I made a sour cream and dill potato salad with some sale priced potatoes.  Jeff also made some brownies and we had watermelon with it.  This made for a lovely dinner for us, Jaysn, Rachel and my friend Ronnie who was visiting.
~Ronnie brought me a lovely gift of a bottle of wine from the Napa Valley.


~We borrowed and watched some movies from the library.
~Most of the laundry was hung out on the line to dry earlier in the week before the rains came.
~I bought some plants at the local ACE Hardware store to replace the ones that the ants ate.  I thought I bought some flat leaf parsley, but it was really celery.  For the cost of 2 bunches at the grocery store, I will have 12 bunches of celery when they are ready.  I also bought 2 pepper plants that already have peppers growing on them (my plants started from seed are still tiny seedlings), a pretty columbine that is a new discovery for me (I have developed a love for them and they spread like crazy) and some basil (which has been nearly impossible to find around here).  I carefully looked for the pots of plants that had multiple plants in them instead of just a single plant.  More bang for my buck.
~I have been working on my points programs as much as I have time for.


~Books from the library are being read and new ideas learned.
~The overflow water from the swamp cooler was used to water the fruit trees.
~I watered the gardens in the evening.
~We found the game "Imagine If" for half price at Goodwill and a dvd.  The game will be given to some of our kids who love to have game nights at their home.  I already have one here.
~Two loaves of sandwich bread were made early Wednesday morning before the temps headed into the 90's.
~I harvested lots of rhubarb from the garden and cut and froze 12 cups of it for future use and stewed some for eating now.  I love cold stewed rhubarb on a hot day.


~A button came off a pair of Jeff's shorts, so I sewed it back on.
~Slugs have been eating the freshly sprouted bean plants so I have been out there picking them off in the morning.  Yucky job but I really do like my beans.
~I uploaded some coupons unto my Safeway.
~I did not realize how many free channels you can get on the Roku.  I have been discovering more and more of them.
~We were out of check registers for the checkbook so I printed off 4 more pages of them for my hubby.
~I printed off a gift card for free treats for Caesar from Petco and 2 gift cards for Texas Roadhouse that I cashed in from Swagbucks for.
~I signed up through Amazon.com to become an affiliate with them.  I am hoping that I can generate some income if people click through my links to do their shopping there.
~More of our favorite TV shows were watched online.


~Thursday was a wet and cold day by the afternoon so I pulled some homemade frozen split pea soup out of the freezer and got that heating up.  I then took some hot dog buns and topped them with some grated parmesan cheese and stuck them under the broiler.  It made for a nice early dinner for Jeff and I and I needed to use up some of the hot dog buns anyway.
~I harvested more rhubarb and shared it with my neighbor.
~Jeff watched a movie he borrowed from our Jaysn.
~I finally got the replacement squash plants in Friday along with the larger pepper plants, the celery plants, another columbine and potted up the basil.
~I needed comfort food on Friday so I made some Udon and Miso soup with shrimp.  I added some baby kale and green onion from the garden.



   Not a bad week at all.  Sometimes I feel like I repeat myself over and over doing the same things but you know what, those are the exact things that do help us save money.  They may not be big ticket items but if you consider how much it would have cost us to go see the movies in the theater instead of borrowing them or even buying each of them on dvd or bluray, we saved at least $60 right there.  Same thing with our watching TV shows online instead of having DISH TV which would cost us about $60 per month depending on what kind of deals they had running.  So that alone is $120 savings which will pay for one of our quarterly insurance payments that is due this month.  It's kind of like drops of water in a bucket...they may seem small, but together they all add up and fill that bucket.








21 comments:

  1. Nice post. Yes, it is the day to day commitment to stay frugal that pays off in the long run. Go ahead and keep on repeating!! My 60yo brain needs the reminders.
    My garden is having the same challenges you're facing. I have never had such poor seed germination. I finally bought some plants in 3-inch pots yesterday. It was either that or I wasn't going to get some veggies this summer.
    As for earning more money - the easiest is to spend less. But hard to spend less when you've built a really frugal budget to begin with. I also thought - since you're set up for young kids, are there any young families near you that you'd be willing to babysit for occasionally? Or run a little 'summer camp' for a few hours in the morning? Enough to give a young mom a break but not 'break' you or cost anything.
    And/or could you make a few more loaves of quick bread or regular bread and sell to friends/neighbors? Just add on to what you're doing anyway?
    And/or could you do a one time class on breadmaking? Maybe at your church or community center if they have a community kitchen?
    Those are my thoughts. I'm more in the conservation mode to keep my $$$ lower and/or be able to buy what I want/need for my garden. I ruthlessly turn off lights now. And unplug everything I can at night. For me, I have to work really hard not to waste food. I still find surprises in my refrig even when I'm trying to use everything up. Cheers, SJ

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    1. Hi SJ, I like your idea about selling bread or teaching a class on breadmaking. :) I should check with the local college extension services. I taught a class on frugal living in the past and it went over really well. :) I can't do daycare here at home since my hubby sleeps during the day and I have to try and keep it quiet here so he can.

      You are doing well saving money too. I had poor seed germination here too this year in the garden. I also find surprises in my refrigerator. ;)

      Be blessed my friend!

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  2. One other thing - in some of my last comments about the homestays, I'm not sure I was really clear. The language school would pay us $740 per student for room and breakfast/dinner each day. They'd pay more if the student received lunch. If the student was under 18yo, they paid even more. The money would drop into my house checking account two weeks after the student arrived. I figured I netted about $500/student. We'd also make an additional $50/student if we went to the airport to pick them up and another $50 to take them back to the airport. SJ

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    1. Oh I wish we had a language school close to us. I am glad you explained it more. It makes more sense to this "foggy" brain of mine now. :) That was a nice profit for you!

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    2. Hi back - I know you said you couldn't take in homestay students but I got to thinking that one of your readers might be interested. And I reread what I had written at first and thought I should explain it better.
      In six years, we only asked one guy to move. The move really wasn't his fault - he was an only child and needed to be the only student. Our household proved too much for him.
      And, yes, it was great money. When my husband's cousin moved out, we ended up using up to 3 bedrooms. They would rotate in so we didn't have all three rooms full all the time.
      Let me say our house was very modest. It was built in the 60s so everything was small by today's standards. We re-purposed the basement rec-room into two bedrooms which gave us a 5-bedroom house.

      I don't know that I would take in homestays if I had young kids. Friends who told us about it did, though, with great success.
      Up here, all the public and private universities have homestay departments as well. So it's not just language schools that have it. Cheers. SJ

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    3. That is so cool and I'm so glad you share more about it. :) I think it would be a wonderful idea and thing to do if you lived in a town with a university. Now that is something that I think I would enjoy doing for a Summer. Too bad I live in the boonies. ;)

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks Chrissy. I hope you are having a great weekend!

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  4. Great post, Debbie. Sounds like you had a busy but very good week. It has been hot and windy here. The temp reached 99 today. I enjoy looking for new ways to cut back and save money. Perhaps you would consider sharing your recipe for Miso soup sometime. Have a good evening!

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    1. Hi Anna, I'll bet you guys are in high fire danger with the hot weather and high winds. I will do a post in the near future on the miso udon soup. Be blessed!

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  5. Hi Debbie!
    Every time you can save a dollar (Or an euro) it's a good thing!
    I've never eaten rhubarb, but I've heard it's delicious!
    Have a great week!
    :)

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    1. Hi Paula, rhubarb is really tart so you have so put some sugar with it. I like it stewed or used in pies, breads and it also makes a good sauce to use on ham. I hope you have a great week as well. Be blessed!

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  6. Sounds like had had a fun filled week and one that was quite frugal.
    Cool on all those plants.
    You might put a small lid or saucer of beer next to bean sprouts. Slugs LOVE it, but it doesn't love them.
    Have a fantastic week!

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    1. HI Cheryl, I took your advice and did that with the beer. I can see all the slug trails going to the lids. I found a few more live slugs today, but there were way less today than there were yesterday. Thank you for tip! I pray your week is going well!

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  7. Just in from the gardens. Also picked some rhubarb, yea! The radish, lettuce and snow peas were also starting to kick into gear and I harvested some. The disappointment - something or someone got to quite a few of my strawberries. Such is the challenge of a community garden. I still was able to harvest about a cup's worth. Take care, SJ

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    1. Wow SJ, my lettuce, radishes and peas are way behind yours. I'm sorry something got your strawberries. I just got my first two from the garden today. I hope you don't have any more trouble with your strawberries. Be blessed!

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  8. Ooh, rhubarb! It costs $2.99/lb at the grocery stores, here. :) Love stewed rhubarb with custard or ice cream. Continue to keep tally of how much you save each week or month with your frugal ways and you'll see how those drops fill up the bucket!

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    1. Hi BLess, I love it too! I want to harvest some more tomorrow but need to be careful to leave some so the plant can still make energy for next year. Be blessed my friend!

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  9. This is CFS related - have you ever had a sleep study done? My new doctor, whom I saw today, is ordering one for me. I'm at the point I want to try just about anything. I love this new doctor for trying some new things.

    Forgot to mention, I planted some winter squash, sweet yellow peppers and a cucumber yesterday. Still have seed for zucchini to plant since I couldn't find any in 3-inch pots at the garden store. Also have a patty-pan squash to plant that I did buy in a 3-inch pot. Our weather has been so cool that I didn't want to risk using seeds. I may try another garden center for the zucchini before I plant the seeds.
    Hope you're well. I will probably be in crash mode for the next few days after today's doctor's appointment. Such is life, right? SJ

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    1. Hi SJ, I have not had a sleep study done. My doctor, Jeff and I talked about it and my doctor decided I did not need one since I show no signs of sleep apnea.

      It sounds like you are going to have some really good produce to eat once everything starts coming in! Yum! I am in crash mode myself here and I hate it. I was doing so well there for awhile but seem to have fallen back a few steps and that is so frustrating. I'm trying to take care of myself and give myself some grace. Praying that you are doing better by the time you read this my friend.

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