Frugal Friday Wrap Up 1/28/21

 

Box from my mother filled with cloth napkins and cobbler styled aprons that she made for me.

   Can you believe another week has gone by?  The days seem to just speed by and we find ourselves near the end of the month yet again.  This past week I have been enjoying seeing the pictures that Chris and Heather have share of their vacation to Florida (they are now safely home and just in time before the huge storm started really messing up flights).  Unfortunately, both Heather and Bradley picked up some kind of bug while they were there and were not feeling well part of the time and missed out on snorkeling and going to see the manatees. Stomach bugs are just the worst in my opinion.  Jeff got to see Rachel and Steven this week when they stopped in at his workplace to pick up a few items and arrange for a time for Jeff to come and help them finish their trim in their house. We will be spending time with them next weekend and I already picked out some books to take over to read with Steven and then leave for him to keep.  I have an extensive home library filled with books of all sorts, including children's books.  Steven really loves books now so I want to continue to encourage that. I visited with Josh and Tate several times via facetime.  Tate is getting more teeth, walking and discovering how to get around all the obstacles that his parents have put in place to try and keep him contained in one area.  He is very proud of himself for doing so!  LOL!  Now onto the frugal doings for the week...

Weekend:

~Saturday was a day spent at home resting and napping for the most part.  We did watch some movies on YouTube and Disney Plus. We had a snacky type dinner.

~Sunday we headed into Pullman to Palouse Treasures thrift store.  There we found brand new in package jeans from Costco in Jeff's size.  We also found some brand new shaping capris originally $65 retail according to the tag.  The thrift store had them for $4.98 and according to the cashier, they were half off that. I wear sportwear capri pants all the time in warmer weather.  Other things we found were a set of board books for our grandson Tate, a container for me to keep our bulk popcorn in, a book about Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (which reminds me of home), a pressure canning cookbook, 2 movies (buy 1 get one free sale) and a blind cleaner.

~We also went to Grocery Outlet and Habor Freight.  Jeff found batteries on sale at Harbor Freight and got some.  I was really happy because they were on my list of needed items.  I got a few things at Grocery Outlet including some gluten free brownie mixes.  One of Jeff's coworkers is on a gluten free diet to see if it helps with his debilitating migraines, and I wanted to be able to send some treats in for everyone to share that he can have also.  Lemons and onions were good prices, so I got a bag of lemons and a bag of onions.  

~From there we headed to Moscow and got some dinner at Panda Express.  I know, I know, I said we were not going to eat out this month but I caved in because I was hangry (I had not eaten all day).  Both Jeff and I were unable to finish our meals, so we brought home the rest of it and had it later that evening.

~Goodwill was our next stop (I was on the hunt for a battery powered radio which I did not find).  I did however find a beautiful plate and a painting that both Jeff and I loved.  I try to change out some of the artwork in our home by the seasons and this one had three Native Americans on horses traveling through a forest in the snow.  Our Rachel and Steven are part Native American so this really called to me.

~Our final stop was Rosauers where I picked up two of their coffee creamers that were half price.  We then came home and relaxed for the evening.

Monday:

~Jeff worked on his car for a bit.

~We hot tubbed in the evening,

~I baked 2 loaves of bread and some caramel apple cookies.

~Some of the lemons I bought went into the making of the lemon/honey/ginger syrup that I like to have on hand during cold and flu season.  I love it!  Jeff, not so much!

~Jeff had me place an order for some of our supplements and vitamins through Vitacost.  I used a coupon code they gave me for 15% off and free shipping.  I also went through Swagbucks to get points for my purchase.

~Dinner was delicious grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade bread that Jeff so graciously offered to make for us.  Yum!

~Mother Earth News magazines is one of my favorites and a wealth of information.  I decided to get a subscription for a year for $10 total.  Lots of entertainment, inspiration and information for very little money.  I really am trying to not only grow more, but also make our gardens prettier on a budget.

Tuesday:

~I watched some videos on frugal living and got a few more ideas where I can cut costs.

~I got out my furniture fix pens and touched up the paint on a picture frame that had gotten bumped around.  It looks good as new now.  It was the one I had bought at the thrift store over the weekend and the picture is now hanging in my guest bathroom.

~Our internet was upgraded so we had to get it changed.  I got a deal where I pay less per month for more speed and I get the first month free, plus free installation and free equipment.

~Going through my cookbook collection, I found a cookbook about the Great Depression and how people made ends meet.  It has recipes, home remedies, memories shared and practical advice.  I am rereading it to get more ideas.

~Dinner was bratwurst, sauerkraut, sweet potato fries and applesauce.

~For a late night snack I had some milk toast.  

~Someone at Jeff's work tested positive for Covid.  He had not worked with her for the past 5 days, but he was told to take a test just in case.  Luckily I had bought a testing kit and had it here at home.  He tested negative, which was a great relief.

Wednesday:

~Lunch was leftovers for me and Jeff took some leftovers and a sandwich.

~Safeway had a few digital coupons that I uploaded to my card.

~Trying to save money and stretch our food is a normal thing around here.  I really am trying to be more mindful of not being wasteful and using up things before they go bad.  In the spirit of that goal I browned up some venison burger and added the last half of an onion, finely diced, and some orange and yellow peppers that I had gotten on sale previously and frozen.  This stretched the ground venison, so much so that I was able to take out a little over half of it to be used for another meal.  I then added a can of diced tomatoes, salt, pepper and garlic powder to the meat and veggie mixture that remained in the pot.  I simmered that for about 5 minutes and then added the macaroni (2 cups dry) that I had cooked up and mixed that in.  I then added a packet of Velveeta cheese from a cheesy potato kit that I had opted not to use previously (and just used the potatoes in a soup).  This made for a very filling and nice meal and gave us leftovers.

~Jeff baked up some brownies for us for a nice treat.

Thursday:

~Jeff took some of the leftovers from dinner Wednesday night for his lunch, along with a brownie and I had the rest of it for lunch here at home.

~Dinner was sloppy joes with the meat that I had set aside for another meal yesterday.

Friday:

~I got a check in the mail from a class action settlement with a cereal company.  It was a little over $6, but hey, I'll take it!

~My mother's package arrived and had several beautiful sets of cloth napkins and 3 aprons that she made for me.  I had picked out the material from her rather large stash when we were over there at Thanksgiving.  I love them all!

~I called my mom to thank her for the napkins and the aprons.  We had a really nice visit catching up. :)

~I refilled the soy sauce and olive oil containers from the larger ones. I keep the smaller containers next to the stove for easy access.

~Croutons were made with some leftover sourdough and some of my homemade bread.

~I made a cabbage Asian salad with the second half of a cabbage that I had used previously. and added some ham to it.  YUM!

~Several bags of popcorn were dumped into a larger container to condense them into one place.

~I was able to make a rather large container of ham salad with some leftover and frozen ham, several stocks of celery, mayo, and sweet pickles.  This will last for at least 4 meals!

~The pantry reorganizing continues to be a work in progress, but there is progress being made. 😉

   Jeff is at work at the moment since this is his Saturday to man the store.  I have a worker from Zipley internet services coming this afternoon to finish setting up our new higher speed internet.  Another one of their guys was here yesterday and he got all the lines run, etc. but the company had an outage, so he was not able to finish the set up.  Very frustrating for him after all the hard work he did and I felt bad for him.  He was a really nice young man.  Depending on when this new tech guy shows up will depend on what the afternoon holds for Jeff and I once Jeff gets home from work.  He only works until 2 p.m., so that leaves some time in the afternoon for us to work on a project.  Be blessed, stay safe and keep on praying for all the scary situations in the world right now.