Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/15/25

 

   It has been a strange week weatherwise.  We went from hot to very cool and will be heading back up the thermometer to "I'm gonna die" temps this coming week.  Upper 90's and Fibromyalgia do not mix well for me.  Maggie however is not happy with cooler temperatures and either wants me to cover her up with her blanket, or I will find her on the couch.  I swear she would be happy living in a dry sauna.  Friday found us running lots of errands and both Jeff and I were exhausted by the time we got home.  The only thing that made me able to keep on going that long was the cooler temperatures.  So we ended the week on a good note!

~I put the chicken carcus into the crock pot, added some vinegar to draw out the calcium from the bones and cooked it overnight.  It made 2 bags of rich chicken bone broth, along with lots of chicken meat.  I froze these for future meals.

~Jeff picked 3 plums for me from the wild plum trees that grow along the gravel road just up over the hill from our house.

~We went down to our  little Sunday Farmer's Market here in town and got the following free:  3 yellow squash, a bag of potatoes and a  bag of pears.

~I made a big pot full of homemade elk burger casserole using ground elk from the freezer, a small bag of macaroni noodles, spices from the spice cabinet, and 3 cans of V8 vegetable juice.  I cooked it up just like you would hamburger helper.  It made for 2 meals for my husband and I which was perfect since the temperature outside the following days were brutal.

~I picked lots of tomatoes off our plants.  Unfortunately, the big slicer tomatoes have now developed blossom end rot and are no longer usable, but the other tomatoes are still doing well, especially the cherry tomatoes. I also picked our first cucumber from our plants.

~Snacky type lunches and dinners have been a big thing for me this week.  I usually have a cheese spread, crackers, cherry tomatoes, green olives, and some kind of fruit.  I do small portions of each but going heavier on the tomatoes since we have so many of them.  Perfectly simple and perfectly delicious.

~Jeff and I stopped at Home Depot so he could look for something he needed.  They did not have it in stock in the store, so we will order it via their website.  I, on the other hand, found pony packs of petunias for $1 each and bought 3 of them to replant into my now empty half whiskey barrel where I had potatoes growing before.

~I found a sale on corn on the cob for .25 each.  I bought 4 because that is a reasonable amount the Jeff and I can eat before it goes bad.  I know I could have blanched and frozen some for later use, but to be honest, I just did not have the energy to do all that.

~Jeff fixed the middle bamboo blind on the back porch so we now have even more shade out there in the afternoon.  It also offers us more privacy, which I enjoy.  We can still see threw it to our garden and can keep an eye on Maggie and Ginny.

~We watched the movie "The Day After", which my cousin Jeremy had given to me years ago.  Talk about sobering.

~We did the grocery shopping on Monday.  My goodness, the prices have gone up since about 2 weeks ago.  Thank goodness we shop the sales and found marked down items.  We did splurge on a watermelon at .48 a pound at Winco, but it was a huge treat for us and we will get lots of fruit to eat from it.  It still came out to under $7, so I will call that a win.

~Jeff fixed the hanger on one of my large pictures.  I changed out the pictures in the guest bathroom with that one and a Bev Doolittle print that we were gifted from Jeff's aunt before she died.

~I cooked up a pot full of rice and will used it in meals for the rest of the week..  If we can't finish it in time, I will freeze some for later.

~I have been enjoying the squash we were given in several different forms.  Jeff  does not like  squash so I get to enjoy more of it for me. 

~I mixed up some Ranch dip with plain Greek yogurt, mayo and Ranch seasoning mix.  This was used as a dip and also as a topping for some of those potatoes that we got at the Farmer's Market.

~Jeff and I had a lunch date at the bowling alley and then he bowled for the first time is his knee surgery.  He did pretty well and I am so pleased for him.

~So... we went to Goodwill to look for a few things and found a self-inflating blow up mattress for the other bed in the trailer..  We now have all the bedding and mattresses we need.  We also found a few books for the grandkids, some beautiful Fall floral pics for $1.99 that retailed for $7.98 and $14.98 respectively, a brand new pink fuzzy robe for me, some black jeans that fit me well and have been on my wish list for a few years now and a cookbook for me.

~Jeff and I had a lovely phone call visit with my parents.  We are pushing our lake cruise to next year.  Things have been crazy for them and for us.

   I know our life sounds horribly boring but honestly, we are homebodies for the most part.  We do greatly enjoy visiting with our family and friends.  Traveling is limited for us due to health and finances, but that is ok.  We do what we can, when we can. 😉  As  long as we have our family, that is all that really matters.

   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/9/25

 

Blogger is being weird so please forgive the formatting on this post.  So, it has been another week of rollercoaster weather.  We had hot, cooler with some rain (praise God, it was desperately needed) and are not climbing back into the "it feels like we are living in an oven" temperatures.  Not my favorite by a long shot and I am craving Fall with the cooler temperatures and the gorgeous turning of the leaves into vibrant reds, yellows, oranges and speckled green.  The burning bush plant next door is already tipped with some red due to cooler night temperatures this past week and I am here for it!

Now, onto the frugal doings:

~More tomatoes were picked from the garden.  I am enjoying them on sandwiches and just snacking on the smaller cherry tomatoes.

~We were given 2 huge zucchinis by our grandson Isaiah and 2 smaller ones by one of our neighbors down the street.  She and I had a rather nice visit too. :)

~We visited with Heather, Chris, Isaiah and Bradley on Thursday.  I helped them pick beans and snap peas in their garden.  Bradley and Jeff played chess and the rest of us played wild rummy.  I am slowly learning all the quirks to that game and loving it.  I also won!  They sent us home with a moose roast,  some steaks, and lots of ground venison.

~I have only been shopping the sales for things we need.

~Jeff found a pair of high top tennis shoes on clearance at Walmart for $5.  He had been looking for some for over a month now and there they were just waiting for him.

~Jaysn and Rachel invited us over for dinner on Friday.  We were bringing Steven back from spending the day with us.  They had burgers, hot dogs, salads and cookies waiting for us when we arrived.  It was all yummy and the company was great!

~I found 2 books, along with a cute apron from Hawaii at Goodwill.  One of the books is a cookbook that looked really interesting and the other one was an in depth look about the people that came over on the Mayflower.  It covers exactly what was happening in England at the time that made them leave, their voyage and what they faced once they landed and tried to establish a colony here.  Given that my family on my mother's side is descended from someone who came over on the Mayflower, and a grandson who wants to get into family genealogy, I thought this would be a good book to learn more of our personal family history.  I spent under $6 for the books and the apron.

~We bought two cooked chickens from the deli at Walmart that were marked down.  I put one in the freezer and we ate off the other one.  The carcus will be used for soup.  I am throwing it back in the freezer.

~Jeff changed the brake pads on his car.  That saved us about $350 in labor cost.

~Jeff mowed our neighbor's lawn so that they would come home from their trip to a nice lawn and not an overgrown one.

~I made bread and bagels this week.  I was trying out the Greek yogurt bagel recipe that I have been hearing about all over the internet.  It was good!

Well, that is about it for this week.  Jeff and I are going to enjoy our lunch out here on the back porch for at least a week since the high temps hit us big time tomorrow.  Be blessed.

 

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 8/1/25

   

   Jeff was finally ready to return to work 2 days a week.  He is working Monday and Wednesday and going to physical therapy on Tuesday and Thursday.  Wednesday they were especially happy to have him there since the other 2 people in his department were both out.  He ended up working a half an hour longer than normal so he could help close up the store at the end of the day.  He is coming home really tired, but I know that he is also happy seeing so many people he knows once again.  He does still plan on fully retiring this Fall though.

~We had our town wide yard sales on Saturday and Jeff and I decided to go to them.  We scored some good stuff.  We found a large tote on wheels for $10.  We had been looking for one to put in the back of our truck for when we go camping.  We also found the following all the following for $12: sterling silver earrings, another cute pair of earrings, a large 31 brand insulated bag (I had been wanting one since our last one broke), 2 Ruck for the Fallen shirts, 1 Ruck for the Fallen hoodie, a like new quilted flannel jacket for my hubby, a nice reversible leather belt for hubby, and one other item that I cannot remember at the moment.  

~We had some nice visits with our neighbors that day.  One of them is going to be retiring soon and had lots of questions and concerns about how to transition from working full time to being fully retired and how I managed it.

~Lots of raspberries were picked along with more tomatoes, blueberries and the barrel of potatoes was harvested with dismal results.  We think it was due to the heat and us being in a drought since everything was drying out so quickly.

~We ate lots of salads this week with lettuce and tomatoes from our garden.

~Jeff changed the alternator in our truck.  The battery is now holding a charge!

~Jeff cleaned out the chest freezer.  Wen found all kinds of stuff buried in there.  I need to keep a better eye on things.

~We had leftover pancakes for 2 more meals.

~I cooked up a pork loin for dinner one night and it gave us 2 dinners and 1 lunch

~Jeff picked up bananas at the grocery store while he was in town.

~More hummingbird food was made, and the feeder was refilled every 2 days.

~Jeff got one of our bigger bills payments changed to come out after his social security check comes in each month.

~We had several nice telephone calls with my parents.

~I found chicken thighs for $1.29 a pound and bought a family pack of them.  That gave us 8 thighs.  I had one and Jeff had the rest over several more meals.  He loves oven baked chicken!

~I have been trying to us up some of the mashed potato, rice and pasta mixes from the pantry as side dishes.  I do not want any of those things to go bad.

~I did break down and have Jeff bring home Panda for dinner on Wednesday.  It got up to 101 F on our back porch and I really do not do heat well.  The last thing I wanted to do was heat up the kitchen.  We had leftovers that I morphed into another meal adding a few veggies to it.

~I went through my buttons stash and found buttons to sew onto and fix 2 pairs of Jeff's shorts.  He is happy to have the shorts fixed again.

~I made a grilled cheese on sourdough with sliced tomatoes (from our garden) and Colby Jack cheese for lunch one of the days that Jeff was at work.  It was so good and the perfect comfort food.

~I have been enjoying listening to Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar on YouTube.  It reminds me of my childhood growing up in Hawaii and hearing it played at night at the resort my father managed. It is one of the things that I can always count on to calm my soul.

~I gave Jeff a haircut.

~We picked the summer apples off our tree.  So many were lost early due to the heat.

~We harvested the two remaining raised beds of potatoes and got about half of what we did the previous year.  Still, I am grateful for what we were able to harvest.

~I made a large venison meatloaf, and it gave us 3 meals with sides added.

~I uploaded Safeway's digital coupons to my card.

   We had to cancel having our Steven out on Friday to be with us for the day.  There is something going around at Jeff's work, which we did not want to expose him to.  That is the last thing Jaysn and Rachel need to worry about with her still recovering for her ACL surgery.  It turned out to be for the best anyways since the weather was a bit stormy and a very lovely cool temperature.  It was not however conducive to swimming at the pool.  Jeff and I spent the morning in the garden and rested in the afternoon.  I have discovered that this slower pace of life is starting to fit me better and better.  I am not feeling the pressure to get everything done at once and pacing myself helps with the pain levels.  I can always tell when I overdo it...my body just screams at me.  Stupid Fibromyalgia anyway.  

   So there we go.  That was our frugal week.  This next week will also be a frugal one.  I will not be going to the next town over town wide yard sales.  I will be baking bread, working on making applesauce with those apples and am hoping to be able to get one more picking of them if the wind does not shake them all down.  Jeff will be working on car repairs and he and I will work on some inside projects that desperately need to be done.  Be blessed!