Frugal Friday Wrap Up 9/16-9/29 2017 Two Week Edition

 

   This is going to be a 2 week wrap up.  Our lives have been busy and on a major rollercoaster of emotions, very little sleep and trying to spend as much time as possible with loved ones for the past 2 weeks.  Josh was home on leave and he and Chris just left this morning to fly back to Washington DC early this morning.  I had wanted to go to the airport with them but was hit with a major Fibro Flare, so I stayed home and Jeff drove them up to the airport that is a little over an hour away.  I was so sad to see Josh go but excited for Chris since he will be spending a week with Josh and getting to see and do so many wonderful things!  Onto the savings...

Week 1:
~Saturday was a busy day for us.  We ran into friends, former students and even our Hanai son Sam!  It was so wonderful to get so hug them all and get caught up on their lives.
~We stopped by Bath and Body Works where I traded in a fragrance mist that did not agree with me for a wonderful apple scented one.  I love the Fall fragrances that they have, but the apple ones are my absolute favorite.  I got the new fragrance for free since I traded in an older one.  I love their trade in policy...if you don't like a fragrance, you can trade straight across for another one.
~We also stopped at Goodwill and found several things on our list that we have been searching for.  I love being able to shop thrift stores and get things at a fraction of the cost of retail.  It was there that we ran into our hanai son Sam.  He shared with us that he had gotten a job teaching art at his old college in Bend, Oregon!  He is an amazing artist and we are so proud and happy for him! 😊

~We enjoyed some family time at the fair.  This is the last fair in our area that does not charge for admission so we were able to enjoy free entertainment.
~There was a yard sale right across from where we parked when going to that fair.  I found a nice windchime and a brand new sleep shirt for $1 each.
~Sunday we went up to the apple orchard here in town and picked apples.  They were .50 a pound.  I got some for us and some for my parents.  I am hoping to pick more on Friday when some other varieties, along with the pears, are ready.
~We used our hot tub on Sunday night since it was cold outside and enjoyed listening to the rain on the roof too.
~Monday I did not get anything done at all.  I was sick and dozed on and off most of the day.

~Tuesday I tried to play "catch up" around here.  I dehydrated a bunch of roma tomatoes, froze cherry tomatoes and made more homemade applesauce.
~Since we live in a rural area with farm fields all around us and the weather is getting colder, the mice are looking for warm places to call home.  It is at this time of year that we start to get bad mouse problems so I spent time getting all the cereals, cat food, crackers, etc. that are opened into mouse proof containers.
~Wednesday I dehydrated 2 packages of mushrooms.

~Jeff had picked up some coupons from the recycling bin at the post office.  I was able to match some of them to a half price sale at a local grocery store for the cereal that I like.  Jeff stopped by on his way home Wednesday morning and picked up 4 boxes of the cereal for $1.49 after coupons along with a few other sale priced items that we needed like peanut butter.
~I made 5 loaves of banana bread.

~My amazing parents loaned Josh their truck so that he could drive directly over here once he got off the plane in Kalispell, MT to be with our dear friends/family that lost their husband/father/grandpa.
~We had so many of our hanai kids here along with all of our family.  I made a huge bowl of popcorn for people to snack on as they came and went.

~I made a veggie fettuccine alfredo with squash and tomatoes from the garden, some broccoli, wine and lowfat cream cheese.
~Josh helped me harvest all of the celery from the garden since it was going to freeze overnight.

Week 2:
~My parents spoiled us rotten while we were at their home in Montana.  Staying with them is like staying at the best bed and breakfast ever!  The food is great, the company is wonderful and the view looking out over the lake can't be beat!
~My parents took us out on their boat...it was just what I needed to finally relax after 2 very stressful weeks.
~Jeff and I stopped at a thrift store (surprise) in Bigfork, MT and found a vest, jacket, sweater, shirt, lots of cds, a dvd, jewelry (sterling silver earrings and a designer bracelet each for $1), books for .50 hardback and free for kid's books and a pair of Seven for All Mankind jeans ($2.50)

~My mother gifted me some jewelry...my grandmother's locket, my great grandmother's gold necklace, a beautiful silver necklace that my father bought her years ago, and another necklace that my mother had made.  All are precious to me.
~I stocked up on wine from my favorite winery in Montana direct from the source.  They also gave me a bag full of wine corks when I mentioned that my Heather was using corks to craft with.  They are so very sweet!

~Mom sent us home with lots of goodies and another bottle of wine.  She also gave me a pair of jeans and a very soft scarf.
~Josh and Jeff went golfing on Thursday (it is their special thing to do together) morning using up the last of a gift certificate balance that Jeff had to cover the cost of Jeff's golf fees.
~We got lots of free groceries while Jeff and Josh did our volunteer work.
~I was able to track down tickets to the sold WSU vs USC game for our Josh at a much lower cost than we could get them at big name online ticket places.

~I hung out a load of towels on the line to dry Thursday.
~We were given free groceries when we did our volunteer work.
~We happily discovered that our new car gets way better gas mileage than my old car.  It cost us about $55 dollars round trip to go to my parents' place where it would have cost us at least $85 round trip in my old car.
~Josh bought us lunch on Wednesday.

~I picked up some things at the Grocery Outlet store when we made a quick stop there on our way home from Montana.  They have sweet potatoes at half the price there than I can get down our way.  I bought 2 bags of them, some artichokes ( 2 for less than the price of one down here), 2 big jars of artichoke tapenade, pot stickers, lettuce and a few other items.
~We found a fun game for Chris, Heather and the little boys for Christmas.
~I raided the gift closet for a wedding gift and a birthday gift.
~I used coupons for free products and to save an additional $4 off some of our favorite candy which I was able to find at the Dollar Tree and $8 off of toothpaste at Winco.

~Jeff's work laundry was hung outside to dry on the laundry line.
~Josh filled up Jeff's car with gas since he has been using it this week.
~Josh stocked up on beer while he was here and ended up not drinking only one so I have lots of beer to cook with now.  I foresee roasts and beer cheese soup in the near future. 
~We received lots of free magazines in the mail.

   The plan for this week is to try and rest and recover.  I do plan on going up to the orchard to get some pears and apples at .50 a pound and to make a huge batch on homemade chicken noodle soup.  it is going to be a cool week here so I want warm and filling meals. :)

Prices Keep Climbing and More Cost Cutting Needs to Be Done

 

   My husband was listening to the news on the radio the other night and the radio host said that according to the news sources, prices on gas are going to climb at least through Labor Day.  We have noticed a jump in gas prices over the Summer and we are hoping that prices will go down a bit after Labor Day so that our trip to Montana this Fall does not cost so much.  Prices on cheese in this area have jumped a whole $2 per 2 pound brick over what they were earlier this Summer.  My premium for my health insurance jumped yet again, as did our copay for office visits to our doctor (which now cost us $45 instead of $25).  Produce prices are higher in the area than they normally are for this time of year.  Our water, sewer, garbage bill is higher as is our internet and phone bill.  The price for tickets to see a movie jumped up too so even going to a matinee is now something that we really have to think long and hard about.  Sometimes it is cheaper for us to wait for a few months and then we can actually buy the dvd of it (brand new) for cheaper than paying for 2 matinee tickets. Even better is waiting for it to come on Netflix! While looking at the ads for back to school sales and shopping in the stores, I have seen a huge jump in the cost of clothing, especially on underwear and socks which is what Jeff and I were there to purchase while it was on sale.  Our property taxes, which we just got paid off today, went up substantially this year and we are being told they will be going up again next year.  Meanwhile, my husband's income stays the same, as does the small amount I bring in.  Luckily for me, the amount that my health insurance premium went up will be covered by the income that I bring in during the months that I am working, but that leaves no money from that source to put away as planned and leaves us having less money after paying bills in the months that I am not working.  Time to find ways to cut costs yet again.

~With dairy prices going up, I am going to stock up on cheese when the price is $5.99 or lower for 2 pound blocks and freeze it.  This week one of the grocery stores has it at $5.99 for 2 pounds.  I am going to buy 3 packages of it since my hubby goes through cheese like water.  He likes to have cheese sandwiches or peanut butter sandwiches for his dinner while he is working the overnight shift and takes 2-3 sandwiches per night with him.  Cheese can last a long time in your refrigerator and you can also freeze it.  If I freeze it, I will shred it first.  I know you can buy pre shredded cheese for that price but I don't want to be eating the wood sawdust they put in it to keep the cheese from clumping up.
~I'm going to spend more time looking for sales and combining those sales with coupons if at all possible on things that we need.  When I do find a sale that is at rock bottom price, I will stock up on those items as long as they are non perishable.  I recently did this with 3 packs of Dial Basic bar soap for .79 a package and Secret antiperspirant for $1 each.  I also found the hairspray I like at the Dollar Tree for $1 a bottle so I bought 5 of them since I never know if they will have it or not.  I should not have to buy any more of these products now for months!
~Menu planning has become an even bigger priority trying to use what we have in our pantry and freezer and not let things go to waste.  This will help clear out the freezer for hunting season and I can use more of the grocery budget to stock up on sale prices items and not as much on our immediate needs.
~We are going to have to limit our eating out even more.  This is our guilty pleasure and we do eat out way more often than we should.  I am trying hard to recreate some of our favorite dishes that we enjoy in restaurants here at home now and had already started doing that more this Summer before we were hit in the face with the latest round of price hikes,
~I'm going to try and sell a few more items that we have here at home that we are not using and use that money to finance our trip to Montana.  Our trip is not something we can cancel because we are meeting our son Josh there, who will be home on leave.  We will be staying at my parents' home so there is no cost for lodging.  I do plan on bringing food to make a dinner for the whole family since Jaysn, Rachel and Steven are also coming so that is 5 more adults to feed while we are there.  I'll most likely do some sort of pasta dish since my brother is a vegetarian. I've done this in the past making 2 or 3 different sauces so people can pick what they want to go over the pasta and it was a huge hit.  I can also make the sauces up ahead of time. I'm going to make some blueberry muffins and I have already bought a smaller container of coffee creamer to take with us too.
~Jeff and I have debated about whether to continue with our volunteer work but decided to go ahead and continue to do it.  We still feel strongly about helping others in our community and we also get free groceries ourselves.  This program may not last much longer so we are going to do it for as long as possible.
~I'm going to buckle down and do more on my points programs that involve surveys.  I know they can be a royal pain in the rear to do, but they do pay and every little bit helps.
~I'm planning on putting in a Fall garden.  I need to get out there and get some lettuce and spinach planted.  I am not putting in broccoli because the aphids are horrible right now.
~Our Summer Apple tree is giving us a bunch of apples right now.  I want to make applesauce and freeze it for future meals.
~We will try to hold off as long as we can to use our pellet stove this Fall to heat the house.  The stove will also be given a through cleaning before the heating season starts to make it more efficient.  Luckily we still have some leftover pellets from last heating season to start us off.
~Chris and Josh have their birthday coming up at the end of this month.  Josh will get his gift when he comes home at the end of September since it is breakable and I don't want to ship it through the mail, and I will be giving Chris some money towards a more breathable (and yet provides even better protection) police vest that is not as heavy as the one he is currently wearing. under his uniform each day.
~Jeff already got his big birthday present early so I will just get him something small for him on his actual birthday.
~Since I will start working here again soon, I will try to combine my errands with my work days since I will already be in town.  This should save on gas costs.
~With Fall coming soon, I will once again be making more soups which is also a huge money saver for us.  We usually have some for a few days and I also freeze some for future meals.

   Those are the plans for now and I am sure I will find even more ways to save. :)  Having a positive and can do attitude will help me win this budget battle I'm sure. 

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 7/22-7/28 2017

   It has been another pretty frugal week and I have been planning ahead for the Fall already.  I'm trying to restock our HBA products that are starting to run low while the prices are down on those items.  I only ventured out of town twice this week.  Once was to go shopping and out to lunch and the other to go to our Isaiah's birthday party.  I had hoped to get more done around the house, but again, my health did not cooperate so well.  I am beginning to think that the heat really makes things worse for me.  Anyway, onto the savings!  *Be forewarned...picture intensive post.

~Saturday Jaysn and Rachel came over with baby Steven to pick raspberries.  They were so sweet and brought out lunch for us too.  Jeff helped Jaysn change the lights on his car and Rachel even did some weeding for us.  Steven is now smiling and cooing so of course he melted my Grammie heart yet again and had Jeff making funny faces at him to get him to smile.  I also spent lots of time cuddling him which made me so happy!
~Jeff decided that he was too tired to go to his class reunion so I made a huge bowl of popcorn and we watched a movie on Netflix.
~Sunday Jeff went golfing using a gift certificate that Jaysn and Rachel had gotten him last year.  He so needed to relieve some stress and when he called me when he was done I could hear the excitement and happiness in his voice. :)

~One of our local grocery stores had the bar soap that Jeff likes at half off.  He bought 9 3 packs for under $8.  He would have bought more, but that was all they had.  He will check back in at the store again in a few days to see if they have restocked it before the sale is over.  If not, we will get a raincheck for another 10 packs of it.  This should last us until around Christmas!
~While Jeff was gone I got our sheets washed and hung out on the line to dry and cleaned out a cabinet in the kitchen.  I am rearranging a few things to make all my baking things closer to my mixer.  This will streamline things and it made more room in another cupboard so that things are not stacked up so high.  I filled up 2 garbage bags with things to toss out and am filling a box with other things to donate.
~I trimmed my bangs.
~I've been harvesting blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, green onions, peas and tomatoes from the garden.

~Sunday Jeff and I happened upon a clearance sale at Winco on their food storage Hot Cocoa in the big cans.  We bought 2 of them.  I would have bought more if I had more cash on me at the time.  I was keeping my shopping there all in cash that day and had other items that we needed in the cart already.
~At Goodwill I found some beautiful silver and abalone shell earring in a jewelry gift box for $2.99.  Those are going into my gift closet for my Heather.  She has a birthday coming up in September.
~We also found gift bags for .29 each, a brand new beautiful caftan for $5.99 (I looked it up and it is in the current Winlar catalog for $35.00), 3 shirts for me, some nice athletic type pants for Jeff, a much needed magnifying glass (this has been on my needs list for 2 years), a garden hose for $5.99 (another item on our needs list) and some cute pig shaped note paper.

~Monday I froze 3 quarts of raspberries and dehydrated some dill from our garden.
~Our post office is finally reopened again and we had a big stack of mail waiting including 3 free magazines.
~Monday night I made us a nice dinner of broiled lamb chops, rice pilaf, green beans and broccoli.  We figured that a meal like that in a restaurant would run us about $40 not including tip or drinks.  The lamb chops were given to us so my cost was about $2 to make it.  Savings of $38 right there!

~On the first of August, our health insurance provider changes.  Some of the changes are great but our premium is going up as well as our co-pays on office visits as well and pharmacy costs.  I have a prescription that I use on an as needed basis and am ok on it right now but I am going to go ahead and get it refilled now so that it saves me money down the line.
~Wednesday I made a raspberry jello salad with raspberries from our garden to take to Isaiah's birthday party out at Grandma Tammy's house.
~I'm watering the gardens early in the mornings now and have found that has really cut down on the slug damage to my plants.
~I printed off a coupon for a B1G1F 6 inch sandwich at Subway.  We will use it when we go to Spokane for our short 2 night getaway.

~I was craving Antipasti so I made a 3 cheese tortellini salad with peppers, fresh basil, tomatoes and peas from the garden along with broccoli and carrots from the refrigerator and just mixed it all together with some Italian salad dressing, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
~I borrowed another dvd from the library.
~We have our car and home insurance bundled and have been with the same company for years now.  The last bill they sent us was lower than it has been previously so hubby looked at it more closely and we got 2 discounts.  One was  for being a long time customer and another for being safe drivers. :)
~Rachel had a job interview Thursday so baby Steven came to spend the afternoon with me.  So many hugs, kisses, smiles and cuddles were shared.

~Thursday we celebrate Isaiah's 4th birthday with a party at his Grandma Tammy's house.  We had a BBQ and potluck complete with water fights and obstacle  courses and Heather made him the most amazing cake!  So much fun!
~We came home to yet another branch down out of our big cherry tree (will this ever end) and invited our friends to come pick the very ripe but still yummy ones off it.
~We got some free groceries while doing our volunteer work.
~Dinner Friday night was baked chicken thighs (we got them free) with baked sweet potato wedges all done on the same foil lined baking sheet, leftover green beans for Jeff and coleslaw with some raspberries mixed in for me.  Throwing the raspberries in the coleslaw was one of those last minute "well that sounds like it might be good" ideas and it really was!

   Tomorrow is our town wide yard sales.  I will most likely go and see what all is out there but don't plan on buying much unless I see something that would make for a great gift or is something that we need.  I will be keeping my eyes out for kids costumes for my oldest two grandsons who are obsessed with being superheros at the moment.  It is really more about visiting with everyone for me.  I love the social aspect of it all. :)  Here's to hoping to run into old friends while yard sale shopping tomorrow.

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 6/24-6/30 2017

   

   Oh what a week!  I've once again been dealing with Fibro flares/crashes and have been kept busy helping friends and family, doing volunteer work, and trying to keep up on harvesting all the fruit in the garden that is coming on.  In between all the activity, I have been trying to rest and deal with the Fibro pain and exhaustion.  My body reacts badly to stress and this week there has been lots of it.  We have had ongoing car troubles, a loved one had a stroke and almost did not make it, another branch came down out of the problem tree (luckily this one was much smaller), and our son Chris, who is a police officer, has had some really scary situations come up in his line of work lately that keep me praying for his safety.




~Goodwill was good to us this week.  I had to return something that did not fit and found some great things.  The little boys fight over a certain large "digger" metal toy we have and I was able to find a similar one for $1.99.  We also found shirts for Jeff, 3 gorgeous Haviland plates, some new bath salts and Philosophy bubble bath, a cute onsie for Steven (I may save it for Christmas) and a homeschooling mom's devotional book for Heather.
~Safeway had butter for $1.99 a pound (I bought the limit of 2) and eggs for $.79 a carton (I bought 1).
~Jeff and Jaysn took the little boys swimming at a community pool that is free while Heather, Rachel and I were at a baby shower on Saturday.
~I found some marked down ($3.86) thinly sliced round steaks and marinated that in homemade Teriyaki sauce and then grilled it.  We had it with rice (free), corn (.48) and salad.

~Monday Jeff's car needed a new starter, but the one that the parts place gave him was the wrong one and I took my car in to get my rear brakes worked on.  My car needed some additional work also so it had to be left at Les Swab.  Jeff borrowed a car from Uncle Bob so he could return the wrong part (they ended up not having the right one and have to order it in) and then come and get me so I did not have to sit there all day long waiting for my car to be fixed ($771.?? later OUCH).
~The strawberries are coming in like crazy now so I have been trying to harvest them daily.  I have shared with our neighbors and still have a bunch more.
~Jeff and I borrowed the movie Guardians of the Galaxy from Jaysn.  It was way better than I thought it would be,
~I cooked up a package of bacon in the oven and them froze it for future use.
~More loaves of oatmeal bread were made.
~I picked lots of strawberries this week.

~We got a coupon for free cat treats in the mail on Tuesday and Jeff found another one that someone was throwing out.  Doofy will be very happy about that! 😍  He loves his treats!
~More free magazines came in the mail.
~Some of the edge coating was coming off one of my black Coach purses so I used a black permanent marker to fill in the areas where the edge coating had come off.  Unless you look closely, you can't tell where the missing edge coating came off now.
~Turns out the second starter the auto supply place gave my hubby was also wrong!  Yet another 64 mile round trip and fighting road construction all over the place later...
~The raspberries are just starting to ripen on our bushes.  I have been enjoying them fresh and warm out of the patch.
~The overflow water from the swamp cooler has been used to water the pear trees and some of the berry patches.

~I've started taking an hour every day to just sit and read a book.  I have a huge home library's worth of books here that I have not read yet so my goal is to read at least 2 books a week of the ones I currently own.
~Wednesday I spent part of the day with Rachel and Steven.  Rachel was exhausted and asked if I could come over so she could get some sleep.  I remember doing the same thing for Heather with Bradley and again when Isaiah was born.  Time spent with my grandsons and being able to help out my girls...priceless!

~Thursday was our volunteer work.  We got a package of free burgers, 2 packages of bread items, lots of canned and packaged goods, potatoes, juice, raisins, coffee, etc.  We did find out that the program may be shutting down soon for lack of volunteers to run it and because the sponsoring agency, the local American Legion, is disbanding. I will be sad to see it go because it has helped so many families since we first moved here 25 years ago.
~My Walmart Beauty Box came in.  I am not as impressed with this one.  It had shampoo conditioner, dry shampoo, some make up remover wipes, a tiny thing of ROC and some sunscreen and some antiperspirant along with a discount card for a dental company.

~I'm starting to harvest raspberries and cherries from the garden now...YUM!
~Jeff cooked up some of the free burgers on the grill Thursday night while I made a quick sour cream and bacon potato salad with some of the free potatoes we got along with green onions from our garden and some seasonings I have on hand.
~Friday I went over and watered all the potted plants and the garden at our neighbor Bob's house.  Norma, is wife, had a stroke on Wednesday. :( They are like family to us.  After that I came back to our house and worked in the gardens here and doing some weeding and watering.

~I deadheaded the roses and used the petals to start some potpourri with.
~While weeding the garden, I accidently took out some dill.  I went ahead and washed it up and laid it out to dry.  I am never one to waste good dill.  I use our hot tub enclosure area to dry my herbs because there is airflow there and it keeps things out of the weather.  Plus, during the Summer it gets pretty hot in there during the day and things dry quickly.  It only took about 2 hours for the dill to be dried.

~I was craving iced tea again so I brewed up 4 tea bags in 2 cups of water and let that steep to make a good concentrate.  I then added cold water to that to make 2 quarts of iced tea.  Perfect for a hot day.
~I took some leftover teriyaki meat and sauce,added some veggies and whole wheat noodles (free) and made a Lo Mein dish for dinner on Friday night.
~More coupons were printed off via Swagbucks for items I need.  I get 10 Swagbucks per coupon printed and another 10 SB when I use them at the store.  I can usually find the Hefty bags at the Dollar Tree making these a great deal!

~Most of the laundry was hung out to dry on the line
~Our soon to be 4 year old grandson loves foaming hand soap and used up quite a bit the last time he was here so I mixed up some more.
~With my health limitations, I use a "hula hoe" or hoop hoe to weed most of my garden.  I do it in the morning when it is cooler and then let the uprooted plants dry out right where they are.  It makes my life much easier.  Here is one that is very similar to mine:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OBZFIS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004OBZFIS&linkCode=as2&tag=thenextchap01-20&linkId=4046e02dfa288b0059463ab75b49ae2c  (this is my affliate link with Amazon so I will get a small percentage of the sale price if you shop through this link and buy this product and/or other products).

~I've been making compost tea with some of the weeds that I have been pulling (the ones that do not come out as easily with the hula hoe).  I just add them to the bucket I keep in the side garden and when I water the garden, some of the sprinkler water gets into the bucket.  My peppers are loving being fertilized with this and it perks them right up!
~Jeff organized the pantry again and we realize just how much food there is.  We need the kids to come and shop the pantry again.
~I've been working my points programs as much as time allows.
~I'm trying to water the gardens in the early morning or evenings.  Once I water the front garden I have to head out there and go after the darned slugs with the salt shaker.  They are eating all my bean plants!  I tried beer in small lids and that did not seem to work.  Tomorrow I put coffee grounds around all the plants.


   All in all it has had been a high spend week between the car repairs and the extra trips into town along with Jeff having to use my car which used more gas.  I am trying to cut back where I can and to come up with menus using the food that we have on hand.  I think we will be sticking with that plans for a few months, only buying what we need and do not have on hand and if it is something that I cannot make here at home.  Hopefully that will help save money that can be applied to the other bills and get them caught up again.  Here's to a hopefully frugal and fun next week!

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 4/22-4/28 2017

   

   Sorry it took me so long to get this post up.  This weekend was a busy one for us with lots going on.  I also had a huge fibro flare on Sunday and took to my bed for the afternoon after we got back from a Memorial Bowling Tournament and Fundraiser.  Onto the savings!


~Saturday I finally got 2 kinds of cucumbers, 2 kinds of peppers, and yellow squash started in small pots.  I also got the geraniums potted up and they are looking very pretty out on the front porch landing.
~Jeff and I made taco salads for dinner.
~I pulled some treats out of the freezer for Jeff and I to enjoy.
~Jeff pulled more parts off his old car and installed some of them on his new car.
~The kale is coming back in the side garden.  Yay...one less thing to plant. 😁
~I transplanted two volunteer Italian Prune Plum trees (our neighbors have these trees and birds have brought some of the fruit into our yard, thus the volunteer trees) to another area of our yard where they can grow and spread.
~Jeff used 2 sawhorses and nailed some boards to it to make a temporary fence to keep Caesar from destroying the transplanted trees until I can get some welded wire fencing up around them.
~Finally, after a call to our trusted mechanic, Jeff was able to override the anti theft program that he triggered after replacing the key/ignition thingy on his car.  That saved us having to tow the car over there and have our mechanic try to figure it out.  Jeff and I are going to surprise him and his crew with homemade banana bread or buy them a dozen doughnuts as a thank you!
~Monday we trimmed back all the rose bushes and transplanted a hydrangea bush that was getting crowded out by the roses.  We hope it likes it's new spot better.  I out the used coffee grounds from this morning's coffee in the planting hole since it is an acid loving plant.
~I made croutons on Tuesday with last week's leftover bread.  They we still soft in the middle after their time in the oven and I did not want them to burn if I left them in the oven longer.  I zapped them in the microwave for about 45 seconds-60 seconds and that dried them out and made them crispy without burning them.
~Jeff had a bowling league party this week so I made 3 loaves of banana bread for him to take and share at that.
~Two more loaves of my regular bread were made.
~I have lots of extra squash and cucumber seeds after getting my seeds planted in starter pots.  I will be sharing the rest of the seeds with our Heather since they are starting a small raised bed garden this year.

~Dinner Tuesday night was inspired by some leftover taco meat I had in the fridge.  I cooked up a package of mac and cheese from the pantry, added the leftover taco meat, a can of dice tomatoes and some mozzarella that needed used up ASAP.  It was filling, fairly quick to make and oh so good.
~I borrowed another book and movie from the library.
~More free samples and magazines came in the mail.
~Wednesday evening Jeff and I took a long walk around town.  It was nice to get out and walk again.  We met a super sweet young man who our Caesar took an immediate liking to.  Caesar is very cautious about new adults so I knew that this was a really nice guy if Caesar liked him so quickly.
~I pulled some Zuppa Toscana out of the freezer for dinner Thursday.
~Do you ever crave comfort food on cold days?  I sure did on Wednesday so I made a pan of cornbread.  I had not made it in years.  Boy was it good!
~One of our local grocery stores has 2 pound blocks of cheddar cheese for $3.99 each,  Jeff picked up 2 blocks for us on his way home from work Wednesday morning which was the first day of the sale.

~Our volunteer day was this Thursday and we were given so many wonderful groceries including chicken, frozen fish, eggs, bread, cereals, canned goods, juice, etc.
~Our local power company set up shop where we volunteer and were giving out all kinds of energy saving items.  We got free light bulbs, thermometers and a few other items.
~Friday I cooked up a whole batch of catfish that we were given.  YUM!
~My Walmart Beauty box came in!
~I bought 8 tomato plants from the FFA plant sale for $10.
~I sold our elliptical trainer for $20 to a friend.

   I think we did really well this week.  I am on a mission to find a way to bring in a bit more income here and have been finding a few things to sell.  I'll share more about that in another post. ;)   Be blessed!

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 3/25-3/31 2017

    


   

Green beans (free) and BBQed pulled Pork (sale pork loin) on hamburger buns (free).

If you read my last post before this one, you know that it has been a rough two weeks for me health wise and that really took a toll on my emotions too.  I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reached out to me, prayed for me and who encouraged me.  It really meant so much to both my husband and I.  That being said, I did not do a lot to save money this week other than stay home for the most part.  There were things I had planned on doing, but did not have the energy or strength to do and that's ok.  I am going to give myself grace.  I am hoping to get to them this next week.

Jeff changing the brake pads on his car.

~Jeff worked on replacing the brake pads on his new car.  He took the good brake pads off his old car (since they had been replaced shortly before the car died) and used those.  I am so glad his new car and his old car are the same model so that the parts can be taken off the old one and used on the new one.
~I put a lot of time into my points programs this week.
~I gave Jeff a much needed haircut on Monday.

A loaf of homemade banana bread.

~We have lots of elk and venison burger in the freezer that needs to be used up.  I went through the refrigerator and found some tortillas that were nearing the end of their "usefulness".  I made a sour cream enchilada type casserole using plain yogurt in place of sour cream.  Very good! 😀
~We watched the movie "Mr. Church" that we borrowed from the library.  If you have not seen it, you really should!
~Winco had a great deal on their pork loin for $1.39 a pound. I bought a package of two.

Pulled BBQed Pork.

I cooked up the pork loin roasts in the crockpot with some BBQ sauce and shredded it.  I froze half of it for another meal later.  I had made enough for 3 meals total but my hubby decided that it was just too good to have to wait for a second meal. 😉
~Three loaves of banana bread were made.  I gave one of the loaves to our sweet hanai sister Shannon.
~We borrowed some more movies and a book from the library.
~Two more loaves of oatmeal bread were made.
~Our volunteer work was this week.  Jeff went down and did it for us on Thursday because I am still in a tailspin emotionally and physically from this Fibro flare.  We got lots of free groceries too.
~I was missing my childhood home and the beauty of the music and sea which has always been healing for me.  I found this music and "movie" of Hawaii on YouTube and have been watching it.  It has helped calm and renew my soul. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRneht8d2QA

Music and scenes from Hawaii to sooth my soul via YouTube.

~Sometimes a girl just needs comfort food.  Artichokes are that for me and I found a great deal on a 4 pack of them at Trader Joe's.  I finally cooked them up and enjoyed them both hot and cold.
~Shannon gave me some Starbuck's specialty coffee.  Nothing like a good cup of coffee!
~With this latest Fibro flare being so bad, I have been doing more research on it from a supplements, nutrition and gentle stretching and yoga standpoint.
~More homemade Zuppa Toscana soup was pulled from the freezer and eaten for dinner one night.

Homemade Zuppa Toscana pulled from the freezer and reheated for dinner on a night when I was way too tired and sore to cook.

~A dress that I had at a local consignment store finally sold.  That was a $22.50 profit.  I'll take it!
~We stopped at Safeway to get some Halo mandarins that were on sale and that I also had a coupon for.  I spent $2.49 for 3 pounds of mandarins.  While we were there I also found a huge bag of Safeway's house brand of dog food for half off so I bought that since we will need more here soon. In addition to that I bought some corned beef from the deli that was marked at half off.  I had been craving a good corned beef sandwich and had the rye bread at home in the freezer.  This was I will have several sandwiches for half the price I would have paid for one sandwich at a restaurant.
~Jeff and I are both craving burgers so I pulled some venison burger out of the freezer to thaw.  I'll make burgers for dinner Saturday night using some of the free hamburger buns that we got.

Books and movies borrowed from the library this week.

~I spent one day this week with my grandsons.  I had not seen them in about 2 weeks and it was so nice to be able to play, read with, do school with  and just spend time cuddling with them both.
~While in town on Friday to deposit Jeff's paycheck, he asked me if I wanted to go to the thrift store and I told him no.  We have a bunch of our bills that come in quarterly coming out of this paycheck and that makes money a bit tight.  I have done a lot of thrift store shopping over the past 2 weekends so I am good for now. ;)
~I cut a bunch of coupons that I got out of the free ads paper.


   So there it all is, not a huge list this week or huge savings but every little bit counts.  I am planning on taking more things to the consignment store to sell since Spring is now here and I have some more dresses and a few purses that I am hoping will sell.  We shall see.  It doesn't cost me anything to try. ;)

Frugal Friday Wrap Up 1/21-1/27 2017

   

   I'm feeling a bit beat up physically and mentally after this week.  I pushed myself way too much and am paying for it.  Tuesday morning I worked for MOPS, Wednesday I had Bradley here for the afternoon, Thursday afternoon and evening I went beyond just delivering food to shuts ins but also went back and helped for the rest of the time at the food distribution since they were short volunteers so that made for 6 hours of work there while my back and neck were screaming.  Thursday Bradley came down with an awful virus that landed him at the doctor with a high fever and Friday morning he had to be rushed to the emergency room because he was having trouble breathing since he was coughing so hard.  Poor guy is miserable.  I am praying that he heals quickly and that no one else comes down with it.  He was extra cuddly with me on Wednesday when he was here so I am wondering if he was just at the start of it then.  The whole political climate and all the ugliness being spouted is really getting to me.  Jeff suggested I stay off facebook for most of the weekend to give myself a break.  It hurts to see some of my family and friends spreading untruths. The attacks on Christians and homeschoolers have really cut deep for me.  My family and friends know that we are Christians and that we homeschooled our kids.  They also know that I love them unconditionally and that I will stand up against people who would try to bully them due to their religious beliefs, choice of lifestyles, pigmentation of their skin, etc. .  I believe in treating people with kindness and respect.  We do not have to believe the same way on every issue, but we can  still be respectful to one another.  I realize that I may never be able to change their minds about something as important to me as not taking the life of an innocent unborn child and they will never be able to convince me that having someone who glorifies the sexualization of women to make her living (Madonna) can be truly outraged about about men then viewing women in that same exact way.  It's just exhausting and fruitless to even try.  Stepping down off my soapbox now and onto the savings...

~Saturday my hubby cleaned out the big walk in closet.  He found lots of things that we had been looking for including gift bags and wrapping paper, baby gifts, 2 amplifiers (we need to check with Chris and Josh since they belong to either one or both of them), our Disney movies on VHS (I will try to sell these) and lots of clothing and linens along with other miscellaneous stuff.
~I mended a pair of pants for Jeff and a quilt that our dear Grandma Ann made.
~Leftover ziti and cheese casserole was lunch of Saturday.
~Saturday night I cooked up 5 nice elk steaks and some baked potatoes.  We had 2 of the steaks, along with some of the potatoes and a nice salad for dinner.  I used the other steaks as part of meals later as the week went on.
~Sunday I was in need of some comfort food since I was having a really bad CFS flare and crash.  I made some quick homemade mac and cheese that hit the spot.

~Monday I made some homemade syrup, a pasta salad, and some English Muffin Bread to use throughout the week, and in the case of the syrup, beyond.
~My breadmaker decided that it would mix the dough but not cook the bread.  I took the dough out and finished cooking it in the oven.  I do have a back up breadmaker somewhere in this house.  I'll have to find it.
~I made Lo Mein with one of the leftover elk steaks, some veggies and some garden delight noodles.
~While Jeff was cleaning out the closet, he found one of my large but shorter woven baskets.  It works perfectly as a laundry basket for our bathroom because it slips under the shelves and out of the way.
~Since I have found that I only need half a sheet of fabric softener sheets per load, I cut all the sheets in half to use.

~We are back to using the big heavy duty plastic bags that our pellets come in as garbage bags.  They work great and don't break open.
~I pulled 2 weekend newspapers out of the recycling bin at the post office so I could get the coupon inserts.  I also get 2 free papers this way to read and later to use for cleaning.
~I usually stop by the thrift store after I work in Tuesdays but decided to just skip it and come straight home and have some leftovers for lunch.  It's not like I needed anything there and since we are trying to save money and not eat out as much I behaved myself...today. 😉
~After I pour myself a cup of morning coffee I put the rest in a thermal carafe. It keeps it hot for hours so if I want another cup later, I can have a nice hot cup and it is still pretty warm by the time my hubby gets up so he does not have to zap it in the microwave as long.

~I dug out some glass containers with locking airtight lids that I bought on clearance 2 Christmas' ago and used one of them to put the dried powdered milk in that I picked up for making English Muffin Bread.
~Jeff replaced the filter on our PUR water filter that fits right on the kitchen faucet.  I am now back to drinking more water because it tastes good again.
~I signed up for a bunch of freebies this week including dog treats, pain relief patched, vitamins, food products and lotions.
~Menu planning is once again going on in this house.  I'm trying to do it on Saturdays so that my hubby and I can do it together.  I am being flexible realizing that there may be days when we don't want what is planned for that day, so we can substitute something else in or just switch days around.

~I took advantage of an offer I got in the mail for Chewy.com.  It is a company that sells pet supplies online.  They had a $15 off you order code.  I looked through the site and they have the expensive cat food that Doofy needs for a few dollars less that we get it for here.  They also offered free shipping if you order is over $49.  I needed more kitty litter so I searched their site and found a great deal on a 40 pound bag of unscented kitty litter for  $9.92.  I placed an order for 2 bags of the cat food and 1 bag of the kitty litter.  I got the $15 discount plus free shipping.  They will deliver it right to my door so that saves me on gas money too!
~Tuesday night I made a big pot of veggie and potato chowder for dinner and served it with homemade garlic and cheese biscuits.  Yet another man pleasing and filling meal for very little money.
~I was super sore Tuesday after working in the morning with the little kids so Jeff and I hot tubbed and I also took some ibuprofen.  It was much needed.
~Wednesday I made 2 loaves of Whole Wheat Oatmeal bread.

~My grandson Bradley recently took a bad fall and got a concussion.  His doctor wants him to stay calm and not "get wild".  Trying to get a 4 year old boy to not run around is like trying to nail jello to a wall.  His mommy had to work at the daycare this afternoon and trying to stay calm when there are all those kids to play with would have been torture for him.  He came to spend the afternoon with me instead.  We put together the puzzles I got at the thrift store, made really cool laser guns out of egg cartons (to fight off the droids that we coming to get us...he is on a Star Wars kick right now 😉), watched 1 episode of "Autobot"s on Netflix and had lots of cuddle time.
~We did our volunteer work today and came home with 2 cases, yes cases of chicken fried steaks (we had enough to give out complete cases to 50+ families who wanted them, boxes of apples and pears, bags of potatoes and onions, eggs, breads, bagels, donuts, pasta, canned goods, lamb chops, juices, milk, and snack items.  I would say that retail value this time was over $200.  Seriously!  I had to get our high school football player neighbor to bring in some of the boxes for me and sent him home with as many pears as he wanted.  I will be sharing the wealth with friends and family because all this is way too much for just Jeff and I. Oh, this is random but one of the ladies that also volunteers with the program brought in some coloring books to give away.  I picked out an Autobot one for my grandsons to share. :)

~I was so sore Thursday after helping with the food distribution for 6 hours that I came home, ate leftovers for dinner and then took some ibuprofen and soaked in the hot tub hoping to ease the swelling in my lower back and pain in my neck so I could sleep.
~Some of my free magazines came in the mail.
~We borrowed the movie "Sully" from the library.
~Friday I stayed home.  I was really tired and still sore so I made it a jammie kind of day. :)  I didn't even cook.  We had plenty of leftovers to use up so that made for very easy meals.

   

   So as you can see, there have been a lot of savings this week.  I was able to cross everything but 1 item off my grocery list after all the blessings we got while volunteering.  We had been eating down the contents of the freezers and now they are full again.  I had to laugh when Mason, our neighbor who helped carry in the heavy boxes of fruit for me, looked around my front bedroom that I turned into a pantry and said I had an entire store in there.   He is right!  He now knows where to come if he needs anything. ;)  I love that wonderful young man and I will miss him as he heads off to college next year.  Here's to a great and restful weekend for us all.