Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/15/21

       

   It was a busy week around here trying to get things done and get ahead of rising food costs.  And yes, I am still keeping within my $200 food budget challenge for October.  So far I am up to $165.33 and most of that is for my pantry stock up items.  I really should not need to pick up much more unless I see a phenomenal deal on something.  I have been slowly picking up items that we need to have on hand for the upcoming holiday meals like cranberry sauce, fresh cranberries (which I froze), olives, cream of mushroom soup, fried onions and mulling spices.  I do not want to be caught without these things because they are part of our traditional foods this time of year. I'm also picking up gift items as I find them for family.  This holiday season will be different because we are spending Thanksgiving with my parents, brother, Josh, Lauren and Tate in Montana...something that I am very much looking forward to!  I can't wait to be with all of them and hopefully Tate will be walking by then.  Christmas will be a mixed bag of emotions because my cousin Jeremy is in the process of moving to Oregon and I am sure that he will be spending it with his mom this year.  We are all going to miss him terribly!  He has become more like a brother to both Jeff and I and is just a wonderful "uncle" to our kids and grandkids. He and I like so many of the same foods and wines, and love to try out new things.  It has been so nice to have someone to do that with.  Christmas and other family gatherings will not be the same without my sweet cousin here to share them with. 

Weekend:

~Jaysn, Rachel and Steven came to pick me up and took me to their house on Saturday.  Jeff joined us there after he got off work. They treated us to a Chinese food dinner that Jaysn picked up and brought home.  It was wonderful to spend time with them!

~Sunday found us at home for the day with Jeff working in the garden trying to get it all cleaned out.  

~I made two loaves of bread and worked on laundry.

~We hot tubbed.

~Zuppa Toscana for dinner along with pears from the garden.

Monday:

~I met Chris and Heather, along with Bradley and Isaiah in town at Goodwill.  It was senior discount day and Chris needed some new dress clothes for a leadership training class he is taking.  We found him a nice shirt and some pants, the boys got a snowboard to share (they have a great hill across the street from their house to snowboard on), the boys also got some clothes, I got a Wedgewood china Peter Rabbit child's bowl and cup along with a nice wool shawl and Bradley and I found a mug for his Daddy for Christmas that I will keep here and then get it wrapped up from Bradley to his Dad.

~I also went to Marshall's and got a nice winter coat for myself.  It was exactly what I have been wanting for years now and it was normally $100 and I got it for $29.00.  I also picked up some Christmas towels with the country red and blue trucks for the guest bathroom.  I had a gift card for $25 so I only ended up spending $11 at Marshall's out of pocket.

~I did stop at Winco and picked up a few things there, along with a take and bake pizza from the deli for dinner.  By this time I was just exhausted having done the shopping and driving.

Tuesday:

~Jeff took the leftover pizza for lunch.

~We had Zuppa Toscana for dinner along with hot crescent rolls.

~I cut, blanched and froze the Swiss chard that I had picked before the big killing frost hit the garden.  I also cut up and dehydrated the stalks and will use those in soups like you would celery.  I was incredibly sore after two hours of doing this.

~I peeled and cubed a large zucchini and froze that to use in soups or casseroles later.

~Three loads of laundry were done.

~I pulled some homemade applesauce out of the freezer to thaw.

~Jeff brought home another ton of pellets and he was also given a piece of lumber that the store could not sell due to a huge knot in it.

~We got a Lego magazine in the mail for Bradley and Isaiah.

Wednesday:

~We got our first snow of the season (very early I might add).  I knew we needed a belly and body warming meal so I made cheese tortellini with a pesto sauce that included tomatoes and sweet peppers.  So good!

~I froze the rest of the Zuppa Toscana for future meals.

~The cost of orange juice is astronomical right now but if you get it frozen and concentrated, much less so.  I mixed up a pitcher of it from concentrate.

~The Berkey water filter was refilled.  I have been noticing a heavy smell of chlorine in our water coming out of the tap lately and the Berkey filters that out.

~I uploaded Safeway digital coupons into my Safeway card.

Thursday:

~The weather is playing havoc with my sinuses, which in turn leads to nightmares, so I did not get up until nearly 11 a.m..  I had a HUGE cup of coffee and got caught up on the news while I slowly sipped my coffee.  I used a mug that I found at Goodwill that is part of Disney's Winnie the Pooh series that says "some days are more tumbly than others" because it reflects exactly how I am feeling today.  I know it might sounds strange, but I do pick my coffee mugs out according to how I feel each day.

~In need of "comfort food", I cooked up some rice and made some chili with beans to go with it.  Growing up in Hawaii, this was a very common combo and you could find it on menus of most local drive ins.  I had lots leftover for more meals for me.  Jeff is not a chili fan at all, so I rarely have it anymore.

~Jeff picked up 2 bags of cranberries for me while they were on sale and in stock.  I realized that the bags are now 12 oz. instead of 16 oz.  Downsizing but the price is still the same as it was for the 16 oz. bags last year.

~Jeff found caramel sauce for $1.71 per bottle.  That is a great price!  He picked up two bottles.

Friday:

~I got all the cold water/hand washing done.  It feels good to get that all done.

~The quilts/throws that my mother made for Jeff and I all got washed too.

~Turkey bacon was taken out of the freezer to thaw so I can cook it up this weekend.

~I made a HUGE mistake by heading into Pullman to pick up a few things.  It was Family Weekend at WSU and it was absolutely nuts in town!  I was almost rear ended, side swiped and T-boned in my car.  What is wrong with people?  Anyway, I am thankful that at least one of us was paying attention and avoided an accident.

~I stopped at the thrift store and picked up season 2, 3 and 4 of Alias brand new, along with the move Urban Cowboy.  I also found a beautiful Christmas tray with cardinals on it, some plate or book display racks, a few books, and a clothing item.

~A stop at the Dollar Tree led to a great find!  I have always loved the movie "The Sign of the Beaver" and knew that my oldest two grandboys would also love it.  They had the movie there, so I bought it and it will be part of their Christmas present this year.  I picked up a few food items too.

~Of course I hit the Grocery Outlet and picked up some things there.  I did notice that their prices are going up.  Salads at now .50 more than they were even a week ago and soup prices are also on the rise.  I got things there that we will use now and some for our pantry for use in the months ahead.

~I was totally exhausted and sore after shopping, but I still resisted the urge to just have Jeff pick up dinner on his way home.  Instead I got 2 russet potatoes and 1 sweet potato going in the microwave and then got some popcorn chicken out of the freezer and got that going in the air fryer.  It made for a nice meal and it saved a ton of money.  We did have some leftover chicken for a future meal.

   I just wanted to encourage anyone reading this that having someone in the home full time is a huge blessing to a family, whether it be one with kids at home or not.  Your work as a homemaker is important and should be highly valued.  Having someone there to cook delicious meals, tend to the garden, seek out bargains, keep up with the laundry, etc. is a full time job in itself.  I am blessed to be able to do the job I do here at home and am so thankful that Jeff and I are in a position where I can do so despite my Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and other health issues.  I may not be able to work outside the home and bring in income anymore, but I can do things within the home to stretch the income Jeff brings in.  I can also make sure that he comes home most nights to the wonderful smells of a delicious dinner waiting for him, has fresh homemade bread made for sandwiches and toast, has clean clothing to wear and freshly washed sheets to crawl in between at night and has a wife that is not stressed out beyond belief from having to deal with the outside working world on a regular basis.  I can be there to love and support him and listen to him after his long day at work and make sure that he is able to relax and decompress.  That is a gift that I can give to him.  Be encouraged homemakers...your job is important and you are making a difference!

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 10/8/21

 Weekend:

~We worked in that gardens and picked another 2 quarts of blackberries.  I froze them.

~Sunday found us out on the boat with Chris.  I took snacks and drinks with us.  I also took lots of pictures.  It was a wonderful day despite almost getting swamped by the wake of a cruise boat coming up the river who did not slow down.  I was left really bruised and swollen on my "seat end" from the pounding I took going over the wake waves.  Amazingly I stayed calm the entire time while Chris and Jeff got really concerned.  I knew Chris had enough experience and knew how to hit those waves head on and when to speed up to avoid getting swamps.  Chris is an amazing fisherman too and caught lots of perch to take home and threw about the same amount back in the water because they were smaller.  He ended up with 15 fish!  We will be going over for fish tacos in the near future.

~All the sheets were washed and hung up on the line to dry.  I also put the feather bed on the guest bed.  Boy did that feel good given how bruised and swollen I ended up on Sunday and of course there is nothing better than crawling into lined dried bed linens at night.

~I made a Teriyaki meatloaf and served it with rice and a side of pear slices from our garden along with some baby carrots.

~We stopped in to see my cousin Jeremy and his super sweet pittie dog Maggy.  He gave me the dehydrator he picked up for me (he ended up getting it for free).  He also said the he did not want to take his 5x8 foot enclosed trailer with him when he moves, so he is giving it to us.  What a blessing for our whole family to use.  We are also going to be trading living room furniture.  He is taking our brown loveseat and newer brown recliner (they are both lighter in weight than his are) and we are taking his tan colored reclining couch and loveseat.  I am really going to miss him but I know that he is someone who really does not like to stay put in one place too long and he has been here longer than he has been in most places.  We are still within a days drive from each other and I do look forward to going to visit him and being able to go to the Oregon coast.

Monday:

~Jeff got the front flower garden bed all trimmed back since we are expecting killing frost on Wednesday.

~I worked in the gardens harvesting basil, sage rosemary, green onions, tomatoes, squash and beans.  The herbs were all put in the dehydrator, along with some of the green onions.  They will be wonderful for seasoning meals!

~We had not had Scrapple for a long time so I made some using turkey sausage since it is much lower in fat.  I used some sage that I had previously harvested and dehydrated in it.

~I took all the green onions that I harvested from the garden and cut them up.  I ended up with 4 1/2 cups of cut up green onions.  I'm thinking I may dehydrate them once the other herbs are done in the dehydrator rather than freezing them.  It will take up less space that way.

Tuesday: (we are expecting a killing frost Wednesday)

~I picked all the tomatoes that were a good size but still green off the plants to ripen slowly inside the house.

~All the Swiss chard was harvested.  

~I picked all the cucumbers, green peppers that we good sized, cantaloupe that were close to ripeness (hopefully they will still be good) and squash.

~I also picked all the ripe blackberries.

~This is the last warm day so I spent time outside enjoying it before we drop into the 50's for daytime highs.

~Leftover Scrapple and 2 cups of coffee were my breakfast today before I started harvesting stuff.

~I pulled out most of the tomato, cucumber, and all the bean plants out.

~For dinner I made a stroganoff with caramelized onions and 4 slices of roast beef from the deli.  I served it over mashed potatoes.

Wednesday:

~I had leftovers for lunch.

~I was getting that "nudging" again to go and get the shopping done before prices go up again.  I was shocked to see some of the prices on meat had gone up, even at Grocery Outlet.  I did pick up things like cereal, more spices, a big jug of olive oil (I use olive oil as my primary cooking oil here), a few frozen items, canned tomato products, egg noodles, and both beef and chicken stock.  These items came from both Grocery Outlet and Dollar Tree combined.  I also picked up some HBA items at Dollar Tree like two 3 packs of toothbrushes, face wipes and I also found the movie "Caddie Woodlawn" there.  The author of the book the movie was based on lived in Moscow, Idaho where my husband was born. Oh I picked up some house slippers too!

~The thrift store is my go to place for magazines and books, home décor and some clothing items.  I picked up a nice J Jill sweater, a new sports bra, some Fall decorations, Country Woman magazines and 3 books.  One of the books was a cookbook put together in 1979 by the ladies on my little farming community.  It is so much fun to look through it and see so many familiar names and realize that I ate some of the food that the recipes were so generously shared in this cookbook.  Most of the people are now in heaven, but I treasure having this "tie" to them.

~I knew the frost was coming so I had Jeff move the potted herb plants to the hot tub area.  I also did one last picking of things.

~Dinner was baked sausage and cheese balls, a salad and we each had half of a small cantaloupe from the garden.

~I cooked up the Italian Sausage that I had thawed out so it would not go bad.  I will use it Friday to make Zuppa Toscana.  I'll make a big pot of it since Jaysn, Rachel and Steven are coming out Saturday to pick apples at the orchard and we can have it for lunch.  I know both Jaysn and Rachel love it and I can always make Steven and peanut butter sandwich if he would prefer that.

Thursday:

~I was right, the gardens were hit hard by frost.  Luckily the blackberries still seem ok and are still producing.  Everything else, except for the kale, is a goner.  Looks like it is time to finish cleaning out the garden so it is ready for next Spring.

~I packaged up the dehydrated herbs and got half of the green onions I sliced up earlier in the week going.

~The other half of of the green onions were frozen. 

~The last batch of blackberries I picked were made into 2 pints of blackberry jelly.

~Jeff is gone bowling on Thursday nights so I treat myself to a nice meal that he does not care for but I like.  Tonight it was lobster ravioli that I found for $4.99 at the Grocery Outlet.  I had a glass of wine, some pear slices (from our pears from our trees) and some sourdough  toast with it.  YUMMY!

Friday:

~Not a frugal day at all!  I took some medication to help with my anxiety and it knocked me out.  Jeff ended up bringing home dinner for us.

A new Personal Grocery Challenge for October and Frugal Meals Lately

 

      I have decided that due to Covid-19 cases being so high in my area and the fact that I really want to save money, I will be challenging myself for the month of October to keep my grocery bill under $200 and that includes paper goods and pet needs.  This should help keep me out of the stores, and to be honest, with prices going up, I am really not seeing many good deals anyway.  Anyone want to join me challenging yourself to a certain grocery budget that you set for your own family?  I would love to see how you do and get some encouragement to keep me on track also. 😃

   I know that I have not been really consistent with my blog posting lately.  There is a lot going on here in my little world including adjusting to new meds.  I was finally approved for the pregabalin and I think it may be helping with the pain, although I am still in the early days of trying it.  I am sleeping better once I actually fall asleep, but I am still some kind of strange night owl type person.  Praying that changes too.  I am also dealing with some really complex feeling due to the death of one of my former pastors who some people are eulogizing like he himself was God when I know the truth about this man and his cult like behavior and abuses of people.  This is also a man who was saying that Covid-19 was just like the flu and that taking the vaccine was a part of government control, etc..  Now I will say that mandating the vaccine is something that I do not agree with, but I also believe that we all have a responsibility to not only have the wisdom to help protect ourselves and our loved one from this horrible virus, but also have to compassion to help protect others around us also.  I am vaccinated, as are most of my family.  I do have family and friends that are not, and that is their choice and I do not think that they should be forced to get the vaccine.  Back to my point...this pastor just died from Covid-19 and from what I can ascertain from their own sermons and the words that came out of their mouths, they tried to cover up that he had it to begin with to their own congregation and now are trying to make sure that anyone outside their church does not know that he died from it.  Someone on staff there, that I personally know, did tell another mutual friend of ours what he died from and when she shared that info online, she got all kinds of backlash and quickly took down her post about his passing.  I am wondering how long it will be before they take down the videos where you can see him struggling with it before he "was out of town".  Anyway, there is a huge part of me that wants to scream to the people that I love and are still deceived by this man that they have been duped by a wolf in sheep's clothing (my personal opinion of this man based on things he said and did to both my family and to many other families) and also recognizing that they really are mourning the death of a person that they genuinely loved and believed in.  Only time will tell if they come to realize what was really going on now that they are out from under his daily influence.

   Anyway, I wanted to share some of the meals that we have had within the past few months.  It is just a small sampling of what we have been eating.  I continue to try and use the produce from our gardens and make the most of what we have and get several meals out of things.  Here we go!

Cantaloupe (we are not starting to get our own cantaloupe out of the garden) and blackberries (also from our garden).

Pork roast with potatoes and carrots along with a side of tortellini salad. 

Tomato (from our garden) and cheese melt on homemade bread.

Lemon Chicken Pasta with produce from our garden.

Burgers with fried potatoes and squash from the garden. The tomato on the burger is also from our garden.

Teriyaki noodles with leftover teriyaki steaks and veggies from the garden.

Tamale pie from pantry and freezer items.

Homemade pancakes to feed the hungry grandboys!

Spicy sausage and potato hash.

Homemade blackberry syrup with some of the blackberries from our garden.

Open face avocado and tomato sandwich with tomatoes from our garden.

Tuna pasta salad with cherry tomatoes from the garden.

Swedish meatballs over egg noodles and a side of fresh from the orchard apple slices.

Homemade cheesy potato and veggie chowder.

Beer brats, roasted russet and sweet potato hash and a side of crisp apple slices.

Homemade cheese lasagna.

Homemade deli style Krab salad and avocado on the side.

Cheesy chicken and rice bake with a side of cantaloupe from our garden.

   Well I am off to get a nice hickory smoked pork loin roast in the oven, along with potatoes and carrots.  I already got a feta cheese, cucumber, squash and tomato salad made with all the produce coming out of our garden.  The pork roast is a pretty large one so it will be made into other meals too.  Be blessed my friends, stay safe and enjoy this beautiful Fall weather!

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 3/26/21

 

  

   Please excuse the lateness of this post...we had a busy weekend and we were also dealing with a bit of a "family emergency" with our dear Uncle Bob having to be taken to the hospital.  Life has it's definite ups and downs and thankfully Uncle Bob is doing better now.

Weekend:

~We did not go anywhere so no money spent on gas or shopping.

~We did buy a chicken strip dinner from our local tavern and split that.  $10 into our local economy for dinner for 2....not bad!

~Chris, Heather, Bradley and Isaiah came over for a visit.  We gave the boys their new jammies (bought on sale for $1 each, some new to them books from Goodwill, a Lego magazine (I got a free subscription years ago to this for them) and also had Chris and Heather take a new package of diapers that Josh and Lauren left here to their friends who are having a new baby soon.

~Leftover soup for 2 meals.

~We watched several movies on YouTube.

Monday:

~I froze the remaining Zuppa Toscana soup for 2 future meals.

~Two more loaves of bread were made...Jeff said thank you. 😉

~After I got the bread out of the oven, I put in a ravioli casserole to bake for dinner.

~My points programs were worked.

~I called in a refill for my prescriptions and had them sent to our home.

 

Tuesday:

~Jeff had the leftover beef ravioli from the night before for dinner and I made some butternut squash ravioli for dinner.

~I watched a movie on YouTube.

~I cut up a huge pear for Jeff and I to share.

~Jeff picked up some milk, bananas and half price supplements on his way home from work.

~Jeff finally got the new shower head wand that he picked up at Goodwill installed in our shower.  I really like it!

Wednesday:

~Jeff decided to have the rest of the sausage, cheese and crackers that we had left-over from my cousin's visit.

~I made some Yaki Soba with things that I rummaged through the freezer and found.

~Hot chocolate with peppermint in it hit the spot for a sweet late night treat.

~Do you wash your house slippers and walking shoes (cloth covered ones)?  I do.  I washed those and then set them up in front of the wood pellet stove to dry.  I find this cleans the shoes well and it actually extends their life.

~I listened to some music hits from the 80's on a YouTube music channel while I did some work around the house.

Thursday:

~I had some milk and celery that needed to be used up so I made a salmon loaf for a late lunch.  I cut up all the celery I had and used half for the salmon loaf and froze the rest to use in a Split Pea Soup this coming weekend.

~Still having some of that milk left, I used it to make Cheddar Bay Biscuits.  I had a mix for it that needed to also be used up.

~Jeff went down and got commodities for us. My goodness there was a lot of wonderful stuff including a turkey, fresh produce, lots of frozen meats, canned goods, cereals, pastas and pistachio nuts.  Jeff brought home 4 big boxes full and told me he declined getting even more.  As it was, we had trouble fitting all the frozen stuff into the big chest freezer. 

~The cats enjoys the liquid, along with some of the skin, from the canned salmon.

~I baked up a frozen apple pie after taking out the salmon loaf and Cheddar Bay biscuits out of the oven.

~Jeff and I hot tubbed to ease those aching muscles.  He had a HUGE load the night before at work and I was in a flare.

Friday:

~I made 2 more loaves of sandwich bread per Jeff's request.  He has been going through bread like crazy this week.  It's ok though...I'm just glad he likes it.

~YouTube has a documentary called "1929 Stock Market Crash and the Great Depression".  I found it really interesting to watch.  I learned a lot that I did not know before and I see it as a warning since history can and does tend to repeat itself.

~We have Bradley and Isaiah spending the night on Saturday and decided on tacos for dinner.  I already had the taco meat, sour cream and cheese (free from commodities) but needed lettuce, tomatoes, soft and hard tortillas and salsa.  We headed into Winco to pick those up along with some other things.  We found artichokes as well as asparagus on sale, so I got some of those along with red peppers that were .48 each.  They had several large cans of the coffee we usually drink during the week (save the good stuff for the weekend) at $4.98 so we got those before the price goes up.  Powerade was also on sale for .54 each so I stocked back up on those again. All the grandkids love them, as do I. Bagels, hot dog buns, more hot cocoa mix, celery, bananas, and  cucumbers rounded things out.

~I found more videos on how to process a lot of produce at once and learned some new tricks...I love learning!

   I hope everyone has a great upcoming week!

Let's Make This Into A Game

   As you know, if you read my last post, that Jeff's last paycheck (that hopefully comes in the mail tomorrow) is way less than normal because he has used up all his sick leave and vacation time for his knee replacement surgery.  We have about 3 1/2 weeks before he goes back in to see the doctor and hopefully will be signed off to go back to work again.  Jeff is doing everything he can to get his strength back and is doing the exercises that they sent him home with to do.  They did not have him do physical therapy but are having him do things here at home.  I'm not sure if this is a Covid-19 thing or the fact that his surgeon knows Jeff well and that he also knows how determined he is to do everything he can here at home to be ready to go back to work.  Hopefully it is the latter part of that statement. 😉

   Be that as it may, and the fact that we will wipe out our savings to cover our bills, even after having made phone calls to cut some expenses, I am determined NOT to have to put much on the credit card. I would feel even better if we did not have to put anything on there if at all possible. It is not going to be easy, but instead of doing the whole damsel in distress, woe is me routine, I am going to challenge myself and make this into a game that I am determined to win!

   To this end, Jeff and I sat down and discussed how we were going to accomplish this. So here is our plan for your viewing pleasure.

    We took advantage of our food commodities giveaway in town today and we blessed with 2 HUGE boxes full of food including meats, breads, fresh fruits and potatoes, canned and packaged meals, juices and lots of canned goods along with some treats.  There is not room in the budget at this point for us to spend much on groceries at this point and I realize that even after Jeff returns to work that it may be another few weeks before he gets a paycheck.  We still have berries and apples coming in from the garden and the tomatoes are starting, so we are good there. I'm going to see if Jaysn and Rachel can pick me up a big bag of potting soil so that I can do some container gardening for lettuce and a few other things.  I will pay them for that and it should not be that expensive.  I have a bit of cash on hand at this point.

   The statements from the health insurance company are coming in now and can I just say how thankful I am for good insurance?  Oh my goodness, we would be sunk financially without it!  Our regular doctor's office is now part of the hospital and our surgeon is also connected to it.  Luckily they have all been more than willing to work with us in the past on payments.  Jeff will be calling again tomorrow to make sure that this is still the case.  When all is said and done we think we will be paying between around $6000 for everything.  When Jeff is able to return to work, we will be upping the payment amounts to get it paid off ASAP.

   The heat has cranked up here and we were over 100F today and will be there tomorrow also.  We have the swamp cooler going and we put a oscillating fan in our bedroom to move the cooler air around and bring the air temperature even further down.  I am spending most of my time in our bedroom now since it is the only room in the house where I am able to stay cool enough and not get sick during the day and most of the evening.  Fibromyalgia makes it impossible for me to regulate my body temperature on my own, so I have to rely on external factors to do that.  I am also taking lukewarm showers, followed by cool water at the end to help and am wearing the lightest and coolest clothing that I can find.

   The library is not open to walk ins, but they are doing curbside pick up.  I still have some books and movies here that are not due until mid August and I have a few more on order.  They will either mail them to me directly or to our library and I can pick them up.  I'm thinking tomorrow may be a good day to watch the movie "Abominable" since it is a "cool" movie. 😁  Just watching movies based in cold weather help cool me down.  It's a mind game I suppose, but hey, it works.

   I'm gathering up all my frugal living type books again and rereading them for inspiration along with going through my depression era and basic type cookbooks.  I find this helpful.  Some of my books are highlighted like mad and are reread over and over.  They are like trusted old friends who I know are there for me in my time of need.  I'm also watching movies and videos about back to basics skills and living.  I gain so much from them and find them totally enjoyable.

   The clothes line is going to be used almost exclusively for drying our laundry.  Our electric bill was way down, but our water bill was up due to me watering the garden so much.  I need to bring the electric bill down further to make up for the rise in the water bill.  I am praying for some rain to help fill my rain barrel that I am using for watering the pear trees, but I'm not seeing much of that in the weather forecast. I also want to take advantage of the heat and get all the screens washed, dried and back up on the windows soon.  They are in dire need of it.

   We are going to cut back on our running around in our car too.  I know that we will need to take Jeff's check to the bank, but I am hoping we can put that off until Monday.  I really would like to be able to go down to the river that day and take Caesar with us so he can go swimming.  He loves to swim and it will help him cool off too.  Since it will be a Monday, there should not be too many people down there so social distancing should not be a problem.  I'll pack a picnic lunch or dinner to take with us.  I made Jeff promise we could go down this summer as we have not gone for the last two summers and I miss it.   That will be our outing for the week.

   Other than that, I am just going to try and carry on as usual and find more ways to save around here.  I know I can do it.  We have lived on very little before, so it is not a new concept to me.  It's time to use all those skills I have learned in the past and maybe even learn a few new ones.  Wish me luck!

   

   

   


      

   

Looking Ahead and Frugal Doings Now and for the Future

   Anybody following the latest updates not just in the USA and Canada, but around the world on the covid-19 situation, new plagues and flus popping up in China and other places, and civil unrest along with many natural disasters?  Who could have ever imagined that we would be facing ALL of this so far in 2020?  Is it any wonder that so many of us have been feeling the "nudgings" to get prepared all across the world?  The more I read from friends who are bloggers in this country and others, the more I realize that there are many of us who have and are taking this seriously.  The news stations, along with our world leaders and scientists, are warning us that things could become much, much worse before they get better.  I do watch news from all over the world and follow some scientists and epidemiologists on YouTube and so far, they have been spot on.  I trust their judgement over the WHO or even the United States CDC because they have been shown to be politically motivated in one way or another and I just want straight up facts.

   As many of you know, my husband Jeff is home recovering from a total knee replacement.  Since we are unable to go anywhere due to my not being able to drive out of this tiny little town with no real grocery store (we do have a convenience store that has been closed for remodeling), I have spent lots of time organizing our pantry and doing other things to try and keep us as frugal as possible.  At this point it looks like Jeff will be out from work for 6 weeks minimum.  We have our finances covered with money coming in from his employer for the month of July, and then we are in a bind.  Because of this, I am trying to put back as much money as I can to cover at least the first half of the bills in August and then praying he can go back to work.  We already have a small income, so this has proven to be a real challenge, but we are doing it.

   Most of our garden has been a bust this year except for the berry bushes and the apple tree.  Oh yes, the peas have done well also, but the squash, peppers, and most of the beans do not look good at all and I am praying the tomatoes will produce something.  We do have lots of kale and herbs though, so I am dehydrating a lot of them for future use.  Speaking of dehydrating, I am doing the same with strawberries and some sale priced bananas that Jeff did not get eaten in time before the got "too ripe" for him. The strawberries will be added to cereals and oatmeal in the Fall and Winter for me and the bananas can be eaten like chips or powdered and added to pancakes and muffins.  YUM!  The raspberries are putting on more fruit than I have ever seen them do before, much to the delight of my grandkids, daughters Rachel and Heather and my hanai sister Shannon.  Bradley and Isaiah discovered yesterday that if they crawled into the tunnel inside the raspberry patch, that there are loads of ripe berries that they can reach under the canopy of the upper bent over stalks.  I asked them if they wanted to pick more for their mom, who was mowing our lawn for us, and they said no and happily gorged themselves silly.  They are the same way when they go huckleberry picking.  Those boys love their fruit and the Grammie is not going to stop them from eating all they want. 😉 I will be picking some more for their mother though and I have asked if they would like to come over once a week to pick more on their own.  There is no way I can keep up with all the berry picking myself.  They were very happy about that plan!  Of course some of the berries will be frozen for future use, as will the blackberries which are just now blooming out.

   My plan at this point is to make applesauce, apple pie filling, etc. with the apples and even dehydrate some of them.  The berries will be used in muffins, breads, syrups and homemade fruit liquors.  I also am going to see if I can trade some of them for squash from other people in our town since my squash will most likely not produce this year.  I need to get more homemade vanilla going since some of it will be gifts this Christmas and I want a good supply on hand for us and the kids too.

   As for other frugal things being done around here I have been doing much less laundry with Jeff not working and going through two complete outfits a day.  I'm also hanging a lot of our laundry out on the line to dry.  Any fruit or veggie scraps, along with any non meat or dairy food waste, goes straight into the compost pile.  The grass from mowing the lawn is also added in.  I can already see some good broken down compost at the bottom of the pile when I turn it.  Yeah!!!!  I will be adding this to our gardens in the Spring to enrich the soil so that hopefully the gardens will again produce abundantly.  Grocery wise, I had Rachel and Jaysn pick us up some basics that we needed.  Milk, cheap bananas, celery, tomatoes, carrots, cabbage and a few other things were on the list and only came out to $15.  

   Meals are becoming "creative".  I am digging deep into my freezers and finding things that I had forgotten I had.  The other day I found a package of 3 salmon fillets and some raw unseasoned sweet potato fries.  I seasoned the salmon fillets with lemon basil from the garden, salt and pepper, along with some lemon juice and butter and them encased it in foil.  I put this on the lower rack of the oven and then seasoned the fries with chipotle salt and put those on the top rack.  They both baked in there together and came out utterly delicious and gave us multiple meals.  I have also made yaki soba going super heavy on the veggies and light on the meat.  Tonight we will be having some reduced priced chicken I bought from the Walmart deli and had stuck in the freezer along with some pasta in a pesto sauce along with some kind of veggie.  That chicken will be stretched for a few more meals also.

   I'm making another stock up list on basics that I will be shopping for when Jeff is able to go back to work.  Right now I am working with about $100 for groceries to get us through the next 5 weeks (and possibly beyond), so no stocking up at this point...but I will ASAP.  I know this is doable since we are so well stocked at this point and I have extra bags of cat and dog food, along with more kitty litter, so that does not deplete the budget.  There is another $100 in there, but that has to be used for medications and co-pays at the doctor's office.  Thank goodness for Winco and their low prices because without them, we would not be able to do as well as we are.

   As for my stock up list for when we can afford to do it again I have the following in it (that I hope will keep us going for a few months):  dog and cat food, kitty litter, more TP and paper products, laundry detergent, foil pans with lids from the Dollar Tree so I can make more make ahead meals and freeze them, more OTC meds and 3 month supplies of my prescription meds, cheese, more flour to make breads, etc. with, coffee, hot cocoa mix, and more canned meats, fruits and veggies.  There are more items, but at the moment, the heat is getting to me and I can't think straight and my neck is burning and screaming at me for overdoing it yet again today.  I'll end this post here and will be updating on further things as I do them.  Hope everyone is staying safe and healthy!

   

   



   

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 6/23 - 6/29 2018

   

Meal ideas with what we have in the pantry, fridge, freezer and garden.

    Late again...busy weekend and another flare hit...oh joy....NOT!  All the weather changes have been wreaking havoc on my body.  Such is life.

Made more homemade syrup.

~Saturday I cooked up 2 pork roasts in the crockpot with half a can of leftover beer.  I then shredded the pork roasts.  Some we will eat plain as is, and the rest will later be mixed with BBQ sauce or Yoshida's sauce to make sandwiches with later.  This will make several meals.  I froze most of the meat mixtures for future meals.  I'm trying to stock my freezer with homemade precooked meals to get us through the hot days of Summer when I am sick from the heat and the last thing I want to do is heat up the house cooking anyway.
~Jeff and I made a list of meals that we could make with what we have in our freezers.  There is a lot of meat in there along with some prepackaged meals, veggies and frozen bread and fruit.
~All the laundry was hung out of the line to dry since it was such a breezy day.
~Jeff made pancakes for breakfast from my homemade pancake mix.
~I made some more homemade pancake mix.
~We saved the eggshells from making the pancakes and will crush them up when they are dry to put around some of the more tender plants in the garden.

Cutting up rhubarb from our garden to freeze. 

~I got the hot tub maintenance done and we hot tubbed later in the evening.
~Jeff got the rain barrel set up and we used the rain water that had collected in a bucket already to water one of the pear trees.
~I looked up the recipes for homemade weed killer for the driveway and homemade aphid spray.  I'll get them mixed up and applied later in the week since it looked like we were going to get rain.
~Jeff and I finally got the harvested rhubarb cut up and frozen.
~I fixed myself a raspberry gin (homemade) fizzy drink as a treat.  I plan on making more of the raspberry gin again this year since the plants are loaded with berries.  This is one of my favorite drinks ever.
~I got some cooked rice that I had previously frozen, warmed that up and served it with pulled pork and cabbage for dinner.  Yum!
~Sunday Jeff and I celebrated Father's Day a week late.  We went out to lunch (way cheaper than going out to dinner) at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants and then went to the bowling alley so he could bowl 3 games.  We got the league rate so that saved money right there also.
~We stopped at Goodwill to donate some things and found some treasures there as well.  We spent a little over $11 since we had a return item, had an item with a half price colored tag and a 20% off the highest priced item coupon.  Steven loved the little shoes we got him. 😁

Raspberry Gin Fizz with homemade raspberry infused gin.

~Monday Jeff and I went down to the park with Rachel and Steven for a bit and took Caesar with us.  The Avista guy was reading meters and Caesar was on instant alert and protection mode.  This is the same guy who kept lunging at him trying to provoke him and get him to bite in our own yard.  We finally got a meter that they can read remotely installed so we don't have to deal with him at home.  Well the idiot decided to try and provoke Caesar again with us standing right there.  He had to go out of his way to even come near us since we were at the park and on the basketball court.  Caesar positioned himself between the baby and that awful man and we had to hold Caesar back and get him calmed down.  Caesar rarely gets upset, but if someone is a threat to his "pack", he will protect them.
~I borrowed some movies from the library.
~We washed the shower curtain and towels from the master bathroom and Jeff gave the whole bathroom a good cleaning.  The towels were hung out on the lawn to dry.
~I harvested some raspberries and strawberries from the garden today and gave most of them to Rachel.
~A whole package of bacon that I had previously found on clearance and then froze was cooked up in the oven so we could use some of it for BLT sandwiches for dinner using lettuce from our garden also.
~I saved the bacon grease to use to fry potatoes in at a future time.
~We had a power surge which caused the hot tub to reset itself up to 99F.  I redid the settings to take it back down to 85F and in economy mode when we were not using it but also took advantage of the hot water to have a nice soak in.  Jeff joined me once he got up from his afternoon nap.
~I ran a load of laundry late at night so that I could dry it in the morning before Rachel needed to use the washer, dryer and laundry line to do their laundry.

BLT sandwiches with lettuce from our garden.

~Tuesday was spent at home.  I did some laundry, picked some raspberries and cherries, along with 1 lonely strawberry, watered the gardens and did some reading.
~Dinner was leftovers.
~My allergies were acting up and that made me miserable and really nervous for some reason.  I ended up going to bed around 6:15 p.m.,took a sleeping pill to help calm me down, got up at midnight to have a yogurt and then slept until 7 the next morning.  I still only got 15 minutes of deep sleep though.  Is it any wonder that U have major brain fog? 😠
~Wednesday morning found me up earlier than my normal, which is a good thing.  I had coffee out on the back porch and nibbled on some more raspberries and cherries that I picked while wandering around the garden.
~I was having a rough day and skipped my oldest grandson's T-ball game.  Jeff went to it and brought me home a Snickers candy bar to help cheer me up.
~I did make 2 more loaves of bread.
~Thursday I harvested more cherries and raspberries from the garden.
~It rained so our rain barrel got some much needed water in it and our gardens got a good soaking.
~I have been trying to work my points programs as much as possible this week.
~Thursday I made Jeff and I a nice dinner of elk steaks, broccoli cheese rice and green beans for him and tomatoes for me.

Thursday night's dinner.

~Jeff picked some cherries before the birds got the rest of them.
~Friday Steven came over to spend the afternoon and early evening with us.  We had a nice snack of cheddar cheese and crackers.
~I harvested more cherries, raspberries and strawberries from the garden.
~I got my shopping list done for my Safeway cherry picked deals.
~I went through the deals at Rosauers and circled what I wanted to get there also.

Rosauers ad.

   Hope you are all doing well!