Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/19-8/25 2017

   

   Lots going on here this week.  I have felt like we have been on an emotional rollercoaster with high hopes and then dreams crushed.  Such is life right.  Onto the savings...


~Saturday we purged the back bedroom and took out lots of lots of stuff to donate.  Boy did that feel great!
~Sunday Jeff and I took boxes and boxes of things we were donating to our favorite thrift store.  While there, we decided to look around.  We had a $20 off any purchase over $20  card that we could use.  Jeff found a rolling carry on luggage case that he is going to convert into another case for his bowling balls.  He has done this with another carry on and it has worked really well for him and saves his back. He also found me a Slack Key Guitar Masters cd. I found a Pampered Chef ceramic casserole for $2.99, a pretty blouse and a pair of black jeans that were the half off color tag of the day.  I also found another beautiful Brighton purse that is perfect for the colder months and is bigger than the other one I found last week. This one will be great for days when I have to carry more with me, like the days I work at MOPS.  Upon cleaning out the purse, I found a small hidden compartment and in it I found a 10x Jeweler's loop.  I have been wanting one of these for at least 10 years.  Now I have one....bonus!  We paid $3.03 after using our $20 off card.

~Jeff cleaned out our upright big freezer that was really badly frosted over.  Oh my goodness...there were things in there from 2012!  Yep. not good freezer management on my part at all.  I am now planning meals around what we found in there.  We are having pastrami sandwiches on Onion Buns, homemade Scrapple, a baked ziti and Italian Sausage casserole (that I had made this past Winter and frozen), pasta and pizza with pesto sauce, and whatever else I can come up with.
~Bradley spent the night with us on Sunday night which helped his kitties that we are taking in feel safer.  Bradley hot tubbed with Jeff and we watched some of his favorite TV shows on Netflix. Monday morning we had homemade blueberry pancakes with homemade syrup and some sausages (yep, took those out of the freezer).  He then took a long bath and after that we worked on puzzles before I had to return him to his mommy. :)  He kept hugging us, thanking us for letting him stay the night and telling us he loves us.  Grammie heaven I tell ya!
~More free magazine arrived in the mail on Monday morning and I found some coupon inserts in the recycling bin at the post office.
~I borrowed 2 movies from the library

~I was able to gleen some beautiful plums from the side of a gravel road on one of my walks.  No one ever picks them and they are on land that is not built on.
~I found a sweater that my mother made me years ago but that I had never worn because it was too big for me.  Well, with my weight gain, it now fits.  One problem, I found some stains on it from bugs or something getting into it.  I sprayed it with Oxi Cleaner, let that soak for a few hours and them gently washed it.  It came out perfectly clean and I will enjoy wearing it this Fall and Winter.
~Jeff and I were both wanting some cookies so I dug into my pantry and found a chocolate chip cookie mix that was out of date but still looked fine.  I chanced it and they were good. 😉
~Tuesday I had my meeting for MOPS and I would really appreciate some prayers.  So far there are only myself and one other childcare worker.  I am the only one returning from last year.  We desperately need more workers and I have put the word out about it but I believe in prayer so please, if you are inclined, pray.

~Since I was in town for the meeting, I ran up to Goodwill and found a blouse, a game that I will take with me to MOPS, some lotion, and some waterproofing stuff for Jeff's work boots.
~I stopped at Winco and Walmart and found some great mark down deals on food.  I bought 7 packages of marked down Brats, 2 pork roasts, a loaf of Italian herb, some precooked chicken and garlic bread and some Swiss cheese.  I also picked up some other grocery items that we needed.  My plan is to not go anywhere, other than right here in our tiny town, until next Tuesday.
~I have another yeast infection (brought on by stress and the hot weather) so I am treating it homeopathically since that is the only thing that works for me.
~Wednesday Jeff had to run into town to pick up a lightbulb for my car.  One of my brake lights was not turning off.  We are hoping this solves the problems since one of the other bulbs in that light area was burnt out.  Jeff picked up my perscription for me while he was in town too. We recently switched health insurance companies and he forgot to take my card with him but they were able to get most of the information off his card and then Jeff just called me and I gave him my personal ID number.  Walmart is great about that in this area.
~I made more homemade maple flavored syrup and had some of it with some leftover blueberry pancakes from Monday.

~Scrapple is the perfect comfort food and as stressed as I was after yesterday with the MOPS lack of workers, I needed comfort food.  I made a batch of really yummy Scrapple and it does make me feel better.😊
~I hung Jeff's laundry out on the line to dry again.  It took me a full 20 minutes to do so and I'm sure the neighbors were wondering why I was still in my bathrobe at 12:30 if the afternoon...what can I say, it was a bad day health and pain wise and I could not stand anything against my skin that was not super soft, so jammies with a robe thrown over it was my outfit of the day.  You would think the neighbors would be used to seeing me like this by now since I have been dealing with these issues for years and yes, I have been known to go to the garden to grab something in my jammies too.
~Jeff's car broke down AGAIN on Wednesday night and I had to tow him into the closest town and park his car there. It was scary since I hate towing and the tow strap also came loose while I was towing him.  I was shaking when we were able to pull over into a safe spot and reattach the tow strap. Our neighbor graciously agreed to go back with him and tow the car the rest of the way home tomorrow.  He will then try to get it running then and we are getting rid of it!  My car also developed electrical issues, so now that needs to be fixed too.  We will be down to just my car so I sadly had to bow out of working for MOPS because Jeff's work schedule and mine will not coordinate together and we cannot afford to replace his car or keep repairing it.  It makes me so sad to have to give up MOPS...as you can see above, I was really excited about it too. It was my one link left to my old career. 😞

~I harvested tomatoes, beans, apples, blueberries and green onions from the garden this week.
~Thursday morning Jeff took that battery out of my car and took it over to put in his car to get it home.
~We did our volunteer work and got lots of good food.  We got 2 dozen eggs, a package of 3 steaks, fruit, potatoes, cereals, canned goods, cereals, hot cocoa mix, juice, etc.  Lots of meals will be made with all these blessings.
~Friday found me making a batch of applesauce with some of the Yellow Transparent apples from our tree.  I also got pork roast going in the other crockpot.  It smelling a lot like Fall here.

~I had Jeff stop at the grocery store on his way home and pick up 2 packages of boneless skinless chicken breasts.  I packaged them up separately and then put them in a larger Ziplock freezer bag froze them.  He also picked up 2 cantaloupes since they were also on sale.
~I got the hot tub all ready for us to use this weekend since Isaiah is spending the night Saturday and he requested hot tub time.
~Watching more shows online and on Netflix and YouTube.
~Jeff is picking more apples for me this afternoon off our tree so I can make 2 more batches of applesauce.

   We are heading into a heat wave come Sunday so I am going trying to get as much done as I can right now since this next week will be a bust for me cooking and putting stuff up for the most part.  Trying to plan ahead here.