Frugal Friday Wrap Up 6/11/21

   

   I thought I would do a cumulative Frugal Friday Wrap Up post today covering several weeks since I have not been good of keeping track of things on a daily basis...please bear with me here.  Between being busy, the heat making me really ill, and Fibro Fog, it really has been difficult to keep up.  So here ya go with what I can remember. 😉 

~The first of the strawberries are starting to ripen and I still have to try to beat the birds to get them.  I love serving them in my thrifted Haviland small fruit bowls.  I have a soft spot for Haviland china and have several complete sets that I inherited but these blue ones are a set that I am slowly gathering myself since I absolutely love them!

~I thinned out the radishes in the garden and used the tops to add to my salad bowl...yum!

~The compost pile is being fed rather nicely with lawn clippings, egg shells, banana peels. etc..  It should give us some wonderful compost next gardening season.

~My parents brought us the HUGE and expensive BBQ grill that they bought at Costco years ago.  It is getting to heavy for my father to move around so they bought a smaller one and gave the old on to us.  We can feed an army off that thing!  They also brought us over their smaller portable camping grill since they are no longer using it.

~Mom also brought us some homemade jams...so yummy!

~Jeff installed a new dishwasher for us after ours died a rather noisy and slow death.  This new dishwasher was not cheap but since Jeff and I both have back problems, it beats having to stand there and do dishes by hand.

~I as able to find health and vision coverage for me through our state's heath insurance exchange.  After the subsidy that we qualify for, I was able to get a great plan that is better than my last one and will be paying about $38 per month out of pocket!  That sure beats the nearly $700 a month we had been paying for all these years with Jeff's previous employer for me.

~I've been using the overripe bananas to make delicious banana bread.

~Jeff got the swamp cooler hooked up so that I would have a cool place to retreat to and help me  from getting too sick from the heat.  I have been using the water run off from it to water the fruit trees and other plants.  Win-Win!

~Our town had it's monthly commodity distribution and I was given so much food.  I am sharing a bunch of it with our family so that it will not go to waste.

~I froze leftover chicken fajita mix and rice, along with some jambalaya for future meals since we had so many leftovers and there was no way Jeff and I could eat it before it went bad.

~The laundry line has been getting a good workout with a lot of our things being dried out there.

~My garden is coming along well for the most part except for the beans...something is eating the leaves at night.  I may have to cover  it up with some mesh to keep critters out.

~While my parents were here they had us join them to go swimming at the hotel they were staying at and also treated us to drinks.  It was nice to just have some one on one time with them without the distraction (as wonderful as they are) of our kids and grandkids. 😉

~Our "treasure hunting" yielded some brand new canning jars, clothing, shoes (new and will be sold), household goods, and some gardening supplies.

~Of course sandwich bread was made...I did not make it for a week and Jeff  had to rely on store bought bread.  He was not really happy about that. I also made him croutons with the ends of the previous loaves...another win!

~Our family gatherings were potluck style as per usual and very fun!

~We lost YouTube on our Roku so have been finding some other channels to watch.  I still get YouTube on my computer and can stream it to the TV that way so all is not lost.

~I transferred some of my homemade vanilla (made with beans my sister grew in her garden in Tahiti) into a smaller bottle so it is more convenient to use than the 1 gallon jar I have been making it in.

~I also transferred more flour into my big glass cannister to make life easier than having to open the big buckets that I store the bulk of it in.

~We did start the envelope system for grocery shopping and are doing well with it.  Parting with cash is harder for me to do so this helps keep me in check.

~I cooked up a big batch of waffles and froze them for future meals.  They rewarm and crisp up great in the toaster oven.

~Needing more ideas for meals, I have been going back and reading through my cookbook collection.  So many great ideas come from there, especially the ones that were from the more frugal type or old farm cookbooks.

~Jeff and I gave each other haircuts.

~We have been going to the oldest grandsons (Bradley and Isaiah) Tee Ball games and I have been packing dinner to take with us.  So far we have had grilled chicken salads and ham and cheese/ smoke salmon tortilla wraps.  Not sure what I am making for next week yet.

~We bought a basically new recliner off Facebook Marketplace from a family that was moving.  Jeff is still going to try to fix my old one that I love also.  I need recliners for my back since it is difficult for me to sit upright for long periods of time with my back issues.

~Jeff and I have had great luck at Goodwill finding shorts for him for work, 2 sleeveless and soft summer shirts for me, a new dress for a wedding for me, some gardening tools, dvds and Hawaiian music CDs (.99 each).  One of the CDs was signed by one of the artists and his cousin and I are friends.  How cool is that?  I do love my Hawaiian music by the local artists.

~I am now in the process if filling in every blank spot in my garden with more seeds.  Lettuce will be ready before the other plants grow big enough to take over the area.  I also seeded in pots of garlic, petunias, hollyhocks and zinnias.  Oh yes, I also have seeded in marigolds around the squash and cantaloupe plants to help protect them from bugs.

~We have a wedding out of town in a few weeks.  I booked us into a hotel that had great reviews, free breakfast and had low prices.  I don't want to be driving home on dark twisty country roads late at night.  My friend/hanai sister Shannon will be taking care of our cats for us while we are out of town for the night.  We trade off taking care of each other's fur babies.

~Speaking of Shannon, she came bearing gifts of wine and sparkling cider one night.  I had dinner all made so we had a spur of the moment "family dinner" with her here. 😀  Lots of fun and so much laughter!

~I am very carefully looking at the grocery ads and only buying most things when they are at rock bottom prices and stocking up on them IF they are non perishable or have a long life before expiration date.  I was able to get some free BBQ sauce the other day along with assorted cream cheeses for .99 each and boxes of Cheerios for $1.25 each.  I still do need to buy things like bananas for hubby and I can't wait until my lettuce is ready in the garden to eat so I can stop buying that at the store.  We are doing a lot of eating out of the packed freezers and pantry right now since we have an abundance of food there also.

~Our rain barrel is set up since we are going to be in a severe drought this Summer and I am trying to collect all the rain water I can at the moment.  It is very sporadic at this point but I will take what I can get.

   That is about it for the time being...my brain is not working so well this morning as I am finishing off this post...what else is new right?  LOL!  Gotta laugh...it does a heart good you know. 😉 I need to get off this thing and get a few projects done before we head to a graduation party later today.  Be blessed all and have a great weekend!