Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/1/21

 

   I came across this picture in my files from a few years ago and thought it was the perfect header picture for our post today.  I remember making that fettuccini with what I had on hand and how good it was.  I'm thinking I may have to work that into our menu again for this coming week. 😉  I still cannot believe it is October already.  The maple tree across the street from us is putting on a magnificent show, as is our neighbor's burning bush.  I just Love Fall!

   Here is just a few of the frugal things we have done this week.  Of course I forgot to write things down as I went, so we may we all now bow our heads and pray I can remember things...LOL!

~Jeff and I harvested about a gallon more blackberries off our plants.  We bagged up the first half gallon and spread the love to our neighbors.

~Three more cantaloupes were ready to pick.  YUM!  I took one over to our neighbor/hanai sister Shannon.

~Tomatoes, beans and squash were also harvested.

~I have sliced tomatoes going in the dehydrator.  I will turn them into tomato powder.

~I started my $200 October Grocery challenge and am being careful about what I buy.

~We stopped at the Dollar Tree to get a few things and were very happily surprised that the food aisle had been restocked, as well as the HBA Aisle.  I picked up more parchment paper, fabric band aids, baby wipes, spaghetti sauce, socks, Pink Bismoth, a plastic coated shopping bag and a movie for Steven to add to his Christmas gifts.

~Washington State started it's single use plastic bag ban so we now have to bring our own bags to the stores. I did buy one at the Dollar Tree, but also had a bunch in the car for the other things we bought at Walmart and the Grocery Outlet.

~The Grocery Outlet had all their summer items at half off so I bought more swim googles and diving towns for Bradley and Isaiah to go along with their Christmas gifts.  They have a pool in their back yard and spend hours playing in it.  I wanted them to have extra goggles and toys for when friends come over.

~I found a baby toy marked down to $2.50 in the clearance Aisle at Walmart.  I picked it up for Tate and he will get it early when we see him at Thanksgiving.

~Jeff picked up my feather bed from the dry cleaners and I cannot tell you how happy I am to have it on the guest bed now.  I usually go to sleep in there because I need to stretch out to sleep and sometimes toss and turn a lot.  I don't want to keep Jeff awake in our room.

~Bread and muffins were baked.

~I cooked up a large pork loin roast, along with baked potatoes.  I served it with fresh pear slices from our trees.  YUMMY and it made for 3 complete meals.

~One night I was really tired so we had canned chicken noodle soup (I had not had that in years since I usually make my own) and crescent rolls.

~I made some Krab salad (like you find at the deli) and a tomato, feta, and cucumber salad (using produce from our garden).

~I chose to use my $35 in Walmart gift cards (Swagbucks and MyPoints) to stock up on toilet paper, tissues, kitty litter, and used the remainder of the balance towards groceries.  This will really help with my October Grocery Budget Challenge since that is money that will not have to come out of my personal grocery budget for the month.

~I did skip our town's food commodities give away again this month.  Our Covid-19 cases are really high and I did not want to be in a small building with others that might possibly have it.  I know of families that have been affected by it and some of them are still going down there, even if they should be staying home.  Not worth the risk!

~Since I am still adjusting to my medications, I am not driving myself anywhere, not even down to the library or the post office, which has cut down on the gas bill.

~It's that time of year where I switch out my purses.  I went through my large collection and found a beautiful Brighton leather woven bag that I had not worn yet, so that shall be my Fall bag, for awhile at least.  I did buy it at a thrift store about 2 years ago, but due to Covid-19, had not used it yet since I did not really go anywhere last Fall.

~Jeff's work had 2 BBQ's this week so that is 2 lunches that he did not have to take to work.

~I made a large homemade lasagna and added some red wine to the sauce...oh my goodness did that elevate the flavor!

   I'm sure there are many more things that we did, but at the moment I am drawing a blank.  I'm waiting on the sheets to dry on the line so Jeff and I can make the beds.  He is out winterizing the gardens and doing some clearing out of them.  We are going to pray that we get more cantaloupe to ripen, along with the peppers, before the frost takes them all out.  Tomorrow Chris is taking us out on his boat and up the St. Joe River.  I love being out on the river or on a lake and the Fall colors are just glorious right now so I will be taking a lot of pictures.  If I get some good ones, I want to frame them and use them as part of my Fall decorations.  Chris will be fishing and I had planned on doing that too until I saw the price for an out of state one day fishing license.  YIKES!  So instead I will just enjoy Jeff and his company and the beautiful scenery.  Be blessed!