Frugal Friday Wrap Up 12/30/17-1/5/18

 

We have all been spending a lot of time resting this week.

   It has been a week at home for me with this cold.  That alone saved us tons of money in gas and keeping me out of the stores. 😉  I had hoped to hit Walmart again and see if I could find anything further reduced in their after Christmas clearance sales. but that was not meant to be.  Such is life.  Most of my time was spent in my recliner this week with one of more cats curled up on my lap.  We have made great progress in them getting along better.  They can now all be on the same couch without fighting.  Onto the frugal doings...

Homemade smoked turkey soup.

~Saturday it seemed everything caught up with me and I spent most of the day in my recliner or on the couch.
~Jeff and I discovered a new to us series on Netflix and got hooked and binge watched it.
~We hot tubbed in the evening and talked about our plans and goals for the new year.
~Sunday we stayed home again and I made a large pot of soup.  I also made 2 loaves of bread.

A pork roast with apple and onions made in my new Instant Pot along with baked sweet potato rounds and a side salad.

~Jeff built a snow stop thingy from scrap wood for our garage door to keep the snow from blowing in under the door and making the floor slick.
~We continued to binge watch that series on Netflix.
~Monday we put away the Christmas decor and got the wrapping stuff all organized.
~Jeff organized the pantry and found more coffee stuck in the back recesses of it.  He knew we had more and this should keep us going for the rest of the month coffee wise.
~We had grilled cheese sandwiches and leftovers from all the Christmas goodies and food.

The two movies that I got free after cashing in my points at Disney Movie Rewards.

~Tuesday morning Jeff made pancakes (from my homemade mix) and we had those with our choice of homemade fruit or mapleine syrup.
~We were running low on flour in the kitchen so Jeff went and found our last bucket of flour out of our deep pantry and refilled my kitchen bucket.  We will have to buy another huge restaurant size bag of flour in February to restock the pantry.  I think we will be fine until then.  If not, we'll just get some from the bulk area in Winco to tide us over.
~I put some more water bottles in the cooler compartment in my car (it has a built in cooler/freezer between the two middle back seats).  I like to keep water in my car for when we are out and about.  It has not frozen even during the below zero temps if I keep it in the cooler compartment.  This saves me money since I won't be tempted to stop and buy something to drink.
~It was a beautiful but cold day on  Tuesday so Jeff and I took Caesar for a walk.  We went down to the post office and back, which, after sitting around so much lately, was all I could handle. 😉

Sweet Italian Sausage, leftover sweet potato rounds and sauteed zucchini for dinner.

~This month I am trying to do a pantry challenge so I have been watching pantry challenge videos on YouTube since they tend to help keep me motivated.
~I received my Walmart Beauty Box in the mail (it was the Classic Box) and there were only 4 travel sized items in it.  Apparently if you got the trendsetter box, you got lots of products.  I cancelled my subscription because they keep sending the same samples over and over again in the classic boxes.  That will save me $20 a year since they send the boxes out 4 times a year.
~Needing something to snack on with a crunch, I finished the last of the celery I had previously cut up for a veggie tray.
~Wednesday I ran down to the library and had a nice visit with the librarian there.  She is an amazing single mother and has such a positive attitude.  We had time to talk since no one else was there most of the time and I really got to know her better.  I also borrowed 2 movies and 2 books while I was there.

Books and movies borrowed from the library.

~My movies that I ordered with my Disney Movie Reward Codes came in.
~Dinner was Sweet Italian Sausages on hot dog buns with honey mustard and leftover sweet potato rounds from Tuesday night.  Jeff had a big Romaine and spinach salad with his and I had a sauteed zucchini since I have 2 that need to be used ASAP.
~We received a late Christmas gift from my baby brother and his family today.  It was a cheese and sausage set...oh my goodness, the jalapeno and cheddar sausage is so good!
~Thursday I had Jeff stop by the grocery store on his way home from work and pick up some of the one day only produce sale items that we needed.  I was really good not to go overboard though.

Milk toast is one of my comfort foods.

~I came down with the crud so I sipped on my honey. lemon and ginger syrup in hot water.  Boy did that feel good on my scratchy throat.  I also enjoyed munching away on the little bits of minced ginger that also found their way into my mug. ;)
~I had trouble sleeping Wednesday night and had a lot of trouble on Thursday night as well since I now have a cold and am dealing with the normal Fibro crud too.  I made myself a bowl of milk toast hoping that it would help.  I used the ends of my homemade bread that Jeff does not use for sandwiches.
~Friday was another day at home for me with this cold.  We had leftovers for an early dinner around 4 p.m. and I later made some fortified ramen to eat around 10 p.m..  I threw things in that ramen like broccoli slaw mix, spinach and some shrimp.
~We received several free magazines in the mail this week.

Fortified ramen really hit the spot Friday night.

   
   As you can see, not a lot was done this week.  On the other hand, not much money was spent outside of the normal first of the month bills either.  I'm continuing to try and use up food in the refrigerator before it goes bad and utilize our pantry and freezer as much as possible.  I'm hoping I feel better next week so that I can actually get out and get some things done.  Be blessed!