I sowed new seeds in the garden for roselle hibiscus, watermelon, and okra. I’m so glad I saved so many seeds from my own plants in the past. A lot of my seeds germinated previously, but were eaten by bugs, so I needed to sow again.
I picked Mission figs from my garden and shared them with several people.
It has started to become humid here again. I collected water from the ac drip and used it to water plants. I also used shower warm-up water to water potted plants.
I sewed a travel sewing kit for my daughter to take with her on her mission using materials I had on hand. Both the blue and white striped fabric and the ribbons I used were given to me years ago.
What did you do this past week to save money?
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The sewing kit you made for your daughter is so pretty and will be so helpful to her on her mission. She’ll get to think of your kindness every time she has to mend something!
I bought 4 lb of haskap berries from FaceBook this week. They are frozen, but loose, not in a clump, so I can divide them into smaller bags and portion them out through the coming seasons. They are juicy and tasty and supernutritious, so I am very pleased about this find.
I used a week’s grocery money to buy some supplies I needed immediately, but also to fill in some holes in the pantry from last winter. Long grain white rice was on sale, so I bought two 2-lb heavyweight bags. They were at their best before date, but will be good for several years beyond that. A brand-name of peanut butter was on sale, but only a dollar off, and still a dollar more that the same size.500 g (1.1 lb) house brand, I was curious what the 1 kilo (1000 g or 2.2 lb) house brand cost. It was the same price as the sale price of the brand name jar half its size, and only $1 more than the 500 g jar of house brand. I came home with a bigger jar of peanut butter.
One of the food bank drivers brought me two extra bags of meat that were left in their vehicle freezer from the deliveries he was doing. Each bag has 7 to 8 servings of frozen meat, and has a variety of meats in it. This will help me hugely in the time between the food bank boxes I get in mid-July and mid-August.
The province has been raising the co-pay on each prescription by a dollar a month for 10 months. I talked to my doctor about dropping a very small dose I get of thyroid medication. She suggested I take it every other day instead. My three months of prescriptions cost me $3o in copay instead of $43 when I could postpone buying this prescription.
How lovely about the two bags of meat! And the haskup beerries! great deal and super nutritious!
I cannot eat rice but I often notice that No Frills has it on sale. I’m not sure if you have a No Frills in your part of the province.
Hi, Ann. I’ll be good for a long while with the rice I bought on sale, but I notice it is on sale again this week at an even better price at my local grocery store. I know Brandy says it’s a much better price when bought in bulk, but that’s just much more than I can use.
You have to do what works for you!
This week has been a scorcher and it’s been our only goal to keep from getting heat exhaustion! We’ve been living in just 3 rooms of our house during this hear wave. We put window air con units in each of those- our bedroom, family room, sewing room. The thermostats in the rest of the house show the room temp is about 87 degrees. 🥵🥵
I bought 99 cent/pound strawberries – 24 of them and 50 cent/carton blackberries- 24 of them- on sale at Meijers this week. We ate some of each fresh and I canned up 21 jars of blackberries and dehydrated 3 half gallon jars’ worth of strawberry slices! I found 2 pounds of sweet cherries for $1.76 at Grocery Outlet that we’ve been eating fresh from our fridge. I bought 2 seedless watermelons for $2.99 each and cut those into chunks for fridge and gave rinds to chooks! Then Flashfood had raspberries for 72 cents/pack rather than $3.59/pack so I bought and froze 22 cartons! A few days
later, I saw more raspberries at same FF for 72 cents each so I called my 3 friends and two of them bought 15 cartons each and one bought 8. It makes me happy to share these bargains! So we have had a nice week of fruit!
I took 2 pounds of ground beef and, after adding bread crumbs , eggs, Parmesan cheese and spices, baked them as meatballs for some upcoming dinners!
Working on 2 more client quilts. The first was made from a panel that my client just added an outer border to- https://pin.it/ssGvo5toF. And here’s the second quilt for a different client: https://pin.it/1UUH43Zjt.
I found a recipe from This Old Baker for an electrolyte replacement mix in dry form that you just measure and add to water and so I’m going to make a canister of that mix up to add to our first aid pantry.
Tomorrow some of my food storage shelves will be moved back against the walls and will be restocked by teenage children of some friends that we hire just for such lifting/carrying moments! It is so nice seeing that part of the basement starting to get back to order!
Hope you are all safe and keeping cool!
Gardenpat in Ohio
I’m glad to see you posting! I always look for your frugal accomplishments!
Beautiful as always and so inspiring. I was wondering if you might share a list or frugal plan for plants that do well in Texas without constant watering. We moved here a few years ago and I have just resigned myself to the fact that between frequent traveling I am never going to be able to stay on top of watering. Azalea plants seem to burn up as well as many others that I have tried. What could I plant to fill in the many bare spots in our landscaping that might grow well? (So far roses seem to be able to hang on quite well to my terrible attempts to remember watering them.) I am especially interested in hearing how you yourself would spend $100 on plants, bulbs, seeds etc.
Where I live, it rains so little that even cactus have to be watered on drip irrigation.
I would seriously recommend installing drip irrigation before planting anything–even if you spend most of your money on it. I cannot keep things alive without it. I have potted plants that aren’t on drip, but if I miss 1 to 2 days of watering in summer, they will die. Mulch is also helpful in reducing the need to water.
If you’re gone a lot, drip irrigation is even more essential.
What you plant after that depends on what you need.
If you are able to grow azaleas, you must be in the Piney Woods! (I am a fellow Texan and live in Montgomery County.). Two plants never fail me: crepe myrtles and double-knockout roses; they love this pine needle-enriched soil.
Lantana is a native Texan plant, comes back every year, does well in heat, likes full sun. You can get it in a variety of colors. Geranium is incredible! Crepe myrtle takes Texas heat really well, but to get and keep it blooming requires lots of water. And need I mention prickly pear cactus?
Texas A&M agricultural extension agents and their Master Gardener program volunteers are the ones you should consult. There’s one in every county. Look up the address and phone number of your county’s extension office.
Go to the library and see if they have any Neil Sperry books; he is a gardening expert and former ag extension agents. He has a Texas Gardening book and several others.
Another great source of info is Southern Living magazines and their gardening books. (Of course, their cookbooks and recipes are the best of the best when it comes to Southern style home cooking!) Everything they do is geared to the South — Texas and points east. Very upscale but well worth your time.
Lantana is super common here, but like everything, always on drip.
Amanda, I live in dry dry dry southern Colorado — and also must water frequently.
In my experience, the best plants that need less water are certain herbs (especially sage), catmint, lavender and Russian sage. Daylilies can handle some neglect, too. The Yellow Rose of Texas (Harison’s Rose) will also live if somewhat ignored. BUT you have to get these plants established before they will take a lot of neglect. And some of them (Russian Sage and Harison’s) aren’t easily established.
So in that respect, I’d agree with Brandy: drip irrigation on a timer.
(Ummm…what the heck are hacksap berries, anyways?)
They’re long and blue and taste a lot like blueberries and raspberries combined, though a little bit more tart. They are very high in antioxidents. They are also very juicy. I’ve never seen them grown commercially. Their season is probably too short.
That sewing kit is perfect and so lovely. It proves time and time again you can make useful everyday things beautiful.
I found that Safeway gas, if I have my points discount, had been fairly on par with the price at Costco, till now. I checked that the price at Costco has gone down, but I didn’t need to go to Costco and I had $.30 off per gallon for my Safeway gas so filled up there and was surprised to find it was still $.40 a gallon more, even with my discount, than Costco. That hadn’t been the case in the past so, it pays to check out prices before you go. The Costco app shows you that days gas price before you leave the house.
Also, I’ve noticed as prices went up on toilet paper, they’d also taken an inch of width off the toilet rolls. This seemed to be across the board, no matter what brand and it really bothered me. Then I discovered that the same brand that was narrow at the grocery store was still full-width at Costco. So use less.
My insurance paid for a new eye exam and I’ve been shopping for glasses. I found certain opticians are premier members of my insurance policy and give discounts over and above what my insurance pays.
Gifted a rhubarb pie I from scratch; wish we could grow it here, but it’s too warm.
Harvested meyer lemons and made strawberry lemonade. Made ice cubes of it w some w sliced strawberries to make it festive.
Used my vintage red plates w thrifted liberty blue plates for the holiday.
Gave myself a manicure. Pet sat for widower family neighbors and made double batch of overnight chicken salad for them after seeing their empty refrigerator. Was able to save enough for several meals for me.
Got 2 new library books. Weather has been so nice didn’t need to turn on ac.
Found a vintage cat lantern mom gave me, but I’d broken on eBay. I’d been searching for years for a replacement. Less than I’d expected to pay.
Discovered if I wash my vintage linen napkins/tea towels and smooth them flat to dry on a counter, they come out as if they been ironed and starched.
Hope everyone has a great week!
Most of my wardrobe is thrifted now – I’m in the UK and mostly that means charity shops. And we have some amazing charity shops. This weekend I found a Jigsaw dress that’s 100% viscose (perfect for our current heatwave!) that originally retailed around £225 for just £7.99 and it was in a buy one get one free offer so I also picked up a People Tree dress (originally around £90) for £6. I love them, but particularly the Jigsaw dress which is not something I’d have afforded in real life: I don’t think either had ever been worn. And I’m wearing the dress now: it’s my Brave Tuesday outfit, which is where those of us who want to be a bit braver with our clothes do it together on a Tuesday, because it’s easier to be braver when we do it together. (You can see the dress in about Brave Tuesday on my Instagram today!!! https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaelXbcojr7/)
How wonderful! So happy for you!
I looked up your Brave Tuesday and love this concept! My wardrobe is thrifted as well. Today I found a white sleeveless shirt at a Goodwill. The prices are higher but still cheaper than box stores .
Hi Brandy and everyone
What a lovely and useful travel sewing kit, your daughter will treasure that reminder of home when she’s away.
This week we planted out cosmos and nasturtiums and propagated some cuttings of penstemon. We picked/ dug French beans, carrots, lettuce, chives, blackcurrants, potatoes, dahlia, snapdragons and sweet peas.
I took a bouquet of garden flowers as a hostess gift and we gave a friend two plants we had propagated, she shared seedlings with us in the spring.
A client gave my husband a big iris rhizome she didn’t want anymore so he has divided it and replanted in our garden.
I used a voucher for a free chocolate bar and a bakery item.
Our daughter used her animal hair clippers to give our spaniel a good trim. This helps in the heat and minimises the hair which ticks can jump onto.
I went sea swimming with a group of friends, often we buy a bacon roll at a cafe but I took my own breakfast this time, much healthier and cheaper too!
We attended a charity fundraiser and on the tombola I won a voucher for two people to have a Sunday carvery roast at a nice pub, a bottle of wine, which I will gift to a family member and a carton of coffee which I will give to the food bank.
The heat in the south of England is crazy ( no Aircon!) but we are so grateful for showers and fridges.
My husband received his first unemployment deposit this morning so that helps the bank account. As he does after school care and noon hour supervision there is no work in the summer.
My husband is taking the car in for service today-which could be a little pricey. I have a road trip planned for the last week of July which also includes a train trip for which I booked an overnight berth. Of course it does depend on how well my husband recovers from his hip replacement next week. I can always cancel and lose very little money if necessary-the trip was booked before we knew about his surgery date.
I had a Baltic cruise booked next July but I am trying to switch it to June as the cost is less. I also received a $400 credit from the cruise company and another $200 credit for ordering their credit card so that $600 pays a nice chunk of my cruise fare.
We had the ac and furnace serviced last week-we are almost done paying for a 2 year service contract which we won’t renew. The only reason we got it is because it saved us about $1,000 off the cost of a new install so was cheaper for us in the end.
Continuing to buy our fruit and veggies on Flash Food for the discount. Filled up at Costco yesterday where the price has gone down to 1.45 a litre-saving 12 cents a litre off my local station.
Free pancake and sausage breakfasts all week for the Calgary Stampede.
What a pretty sewing kit! I am a firm believer that having beautiful utilitarian items makes using them that much more enjoyable. Best wishes to your daughter on her mission trip – am sure she will be a blessing to all those around her.
We continue to work all of our summer side-hustles – mowing and landscaping, selling eggs, my youngest son selling his art at the Farmer’s Market, my older son helping neighbors with the hay harvest, improved sales in my antique booth, etc. I also had a guest soloist job at a church in the next county. I was hired there for one service last summer and this summer was hired to sing for 2 services. It pays really well so I jumped at the chance. I also get paid every other week for the theatre production I am currently in until the second week of August so have that to bank on, too. I seem to judge everything based on how many payments to the orthodontist any particular job or sale covers. Since it is our most recent recurring expense (both boys are in braces at the same time) it lives uppermost in my mind. Fortunately, the payment plan is 0% interest. There was no financial benefit to paying the amount in full so payment plan it is. We will be done paying for my oldest next spring and the younger in Spring of ‘28. It is the only “debt” we have, if you want to call it that and well worth it but it helps to think of things I can do to pay for it each month. And seeing those handsome smiles is a reward, too! I have been happy to share complimentary tickets (part of my pay) to the show with friends I think might not otherwise be able to come. Seeing their smiling faces out in the audience is a treat and they kindly gave me flowers from their gardens which is so special. This show invites the audience up on stage at the end to meet the cast and take photos. It is so much fun to hear people’s reactions first hand, to hear where they are from and their thoughts on our story in this 250th anniversary of our Nation’s founding. We have had some really interesting and insightful comments and that encourages us to keep up with our challenging performance schedule. I encourage anyone who ever goes to a live performance of anything – if you can talk to the performers afterward, please do so. It means so much. My garden is suffering a bit given my time constraints but it is doing remarkably all considered. I have many volunteer tomatoes growing all over, one even in the driveway we all carefully maneuver around. I am going through a backlog of pasta in my pantry and making lots of pasta salads with things from my garden.Saves money and refreshing in the warmer than normal weather we’ve had. I also extracted honey from my bees last week. Now to find time to bottle and sell some to recoup the expense of the extractor.
Thanks to all for your regular contributions to this space. It is much appreciated!
Your pictures are beautiful as always. What a good idea on the sewing kit. I have been reading library books and staying inside as much as possible. I have been freezing my tomatoes until I get enough to can again. I have diced up some bell peppers and put in the freezer for future meals prep. My son in law’s sunflower field popped with color a few days ago. I love looking at them. My husband continue to walk everyday very early in the morning. I am thankful that I work from home so I am saving money on gas and lunches out. We are limiting are trips to town to say money and to stay out of the heat.
Cute sewing kit!
Received a wrong item with my pizza order. Called the shop and they brought out the correct item, and got to keep the wrong one.
I discovered I could order a scrub top for my mop. I was going to buy a deck brush, but this was cheaper.
My teen went camping. I had a tent, sleeping bags, lanterns, and dishes she borrowed.
Earned a pen and a sticker from my library’s summer reading program.
I renewed student Amazon prime. I paid for the full year, instead of monthly to save even more money.
Continue to clean out the house. Listed some things on Marketplace, but haven’t sold anything. I have given away several bags of things, saving a trip to the thrift store.
We didn’t buy any fireworks this year. The teen was off camping and the rest of us really don’t care for them.
The teen cut the nails for the two big dogs.
Your sewing kit for your daughter was a wonderful idea. My neighbor brought me figs from her tree twice. I was able to make 2 batches of fig “strawberry” jam. My husband was very happy to be a taste tester. Other than that, I am working outside early in the morning to avoid the heat and then inside later on. Maybe I can make some progress in cleaning my messy craft room.
I love the travel sewing kit. What a great gift! Here in the Mountains of southwest Virginia it has been unusually hot still. I put up shade cloth around the garden in hopes it would help cool the plants off enough to survive; that plus the watering. We have had several evenings of heavy rainstorms which has helped a great deal. I am getting a lot of zucchini, a first for me. I am baking with and freezing it. I am buying the minimum at the grocery stores. I have spent the past week reflecting on all I have learned over the years on your blog, Brandy. I believe I found your blog pretty soon after you started it. From the things I have learned from you and the other frugal friends Mr. Fix It and I were able to pay our mortgage off 5 years early. Here are some of the things I learned from you all:
*Brandy, your recipes and menu suggestions were very helpful, especially when I was experiencing menu planning burnout. I rely on your granola, white bean dip, and black bean burger recipes, not to mention your roasted turkey recipe…such a game changer!
*I now collect a lot of my seeds.
* I collect rain water in buckets and a rain barrel.
*Your encouragement posts have helped me over the years when feeling discouraged. I especially enjoy the As the Queen Rides By and ways to beautify my home for free.
*Your Gift a Day series have been very helpful when I need a gift idea.
*The .40 a Day series is reread annually to remind me of ways to reduce my food bill. I am curious, Brandy, is there anything you would add to this series?
*I use your homemade laundry soap recipe. This alone has saved us a lot of money over the years.
*From everyone in this community I have learned about Flash Food. Even though it is not available in my area, I have shared it with many friends all over the country. I have also learned how to be content with little, bring joy to myself and others without spending a lot of money, found encouragement and inspiration,how to weed my yard without being overwhelmed, how to give a monetary value to how I save, suggestions for resources for selling and selling things, when the USPS is going to raise their stamp prices, to review my utility bills and their websites. This last one gave us free LED light bulbs and insulation through the power company, saving hundreds. And finally, how to repurpose items, to think outside the box. I remember your post where your daughter made a lovely winter coat out of an old wool blanket. Honestly, this blog has helped me see things in a different way. Sometimes the obvious or simple escapes my thinking.
I know this is wordy, but I really want you all to know how helpful this community has been to me. Brandy, I cannot thank you enough for the encouragement and support this community has given me over the years.
So glad it’s made such a difference for you!
Marley, thank you for pointing all the things I am grateful for and have learned from Brandy! So well said and this site is a wealth of knowledge for new and old frugalistas! Brandy, you are a blessing to a whole bunch of people around the world, thank you!
Oh, and yes, I am in Texas. Same town as Chip and Joanna Gaines.
Fru-gal Lisa: Good advice on the Texas-friendly plants. I forgot about the Texas A&M extension agents working in each county. Thanks for sharing!
We lost power for 3 days due to high winds and rain, there wasn’t a whole lot that we needed to spend money on while we waited for the power to be restored.
We read books, used cooling rags on us and the pets, we bought 7 bags of ice early the first morning and thankfully that kept the freezer and portable cooler to keep all the food we didn’t want to lose. We took short drives for the air conditioning and to see neighbors helping neighbors.
Now that the power is restored, and we had flooding in our basement, we will need to easily meet the deductible on our insurance.
The garden – about 25% destroyed due to the storm, I will clear the loss and get fall seeds started.
It could have been much worse, and I am thankful it wasn’t. This week will be about cleaning up and catching up on chores, good distractions.
Gas is $3.15 a gallon in the University town. Everywhere else it seems it is $3.49 gallon. My neighbor gave me
Lots of free cucumbers and tomatoes. I have watermelon, coleslaw mix, and potatoes. I had bbq chicken and hot dogs, ice cream this week to go with the above as well as homemade potato salad. 110 heat index so the air is going on in the afternoons. I have been walking an hour most days at 5:30.am. I am reading books from my free little library. I can’t remember if I said I got Starlink internet for working at home. I couldn’t get any other type of internet to work consistently here.
Perhaps, one day, radio internet will come to you there. I love it!
It is another hot week here in NC, and trying to not overheat is the challenge! We run the ac high and still have sheets all over the windows during the day. The garden is struggling, no tomatoes thus far and we normally have gallons by the point. Thankfully the cukes and my one remaining zucchini plant are doing well, along with the green beans. The kale is miraculously still edible and so we have been eating lots of stir fry with the duck eggs I swapped for my zucchini. I also swapped blackberries for neighbor’s tomatoes. I used baby potatoes for the crust on zucchini pie.
I am walking at 6 am and using our free gym membership, along with the library for enjoyment. I like light reading at bedtime and started The Jane Austen society and am really enjoying it! My sister and I drive halfway between us to meet and it was her birthday, so made my annual chocolate zucchini cake, lots of fresh garden veggies and berries, dried fruit and a thrift store book( new condition) and she was thrilled. She doesn’t want nothing else as they are trying to downsize so healthy food is a win-win!
I stocked up on some meat today. The family pack of lean ground beef at Safeway was a good deal beause in addition to the flyer price the first of the month 15% off kicked in. I saved $7 on each of two packages. My friend is keeping one of them in her freezer for me. I saved $51.00 total for a percentage savings of 35%.
I have not spent any other money except on groceries. There was so much rain that the grass didn’t get mowed which saves me money. I have company coming for an outside visit soon. I spent $3.50 on mini strudels.
I have some frozen leonade in the fridge. I am trying to eat down the contents of my little freezer above the fridge so I can put some new fruit there — when it comes on the market. I found several boxes of jars in the basement so all I need is to buy some lids.
I bought a 2.5 kg bag of white sugar for $2.40 and saved $1.80. I don’t add sugar to my food and I don’t bake. It is for the hummingbirds. I am late in getting the feeder up so I hope I have one or two still around. I bought an extra bag and donated it to our 24/7 food pantry for those in need.
I sm reading a library book about WW II.
I loved the sewing kit you made, Brandy and enjoyed the photos of your garden.
Lovely to see some new people starting to comment recently. It is so easy to think we are just doing ‘the usual things’ and not bother to post, but I so enjoy reading everyone’s comments. I am resting up today from the anaesthetic after some emergency dental treatment. Definitely not frugal! Our university student came home last week, and I always make some special meals and treats to welcome him back. Fortunately, many of the treats he enjoys are home baked. I made scones and chocolate chip cookies from supplies I had in the house. I was able to pull a large piece of salmon out of the freezer that I got on sale a couple of weeks ago, also chili I had made when the meat price was good. So many seasonal British grown vegetables in the shops now. I do try to be mindful of how far food has travelled as well as price, and buy from the farm shop when I can. I got an enormous cauliflower and froze extra portions of cauliflower cheese. I made some greetings cards using photos I had taken. The John Lewis store had a sale online. I needed a special birthday gift for S-I-L and was able to find a normally expensive brand handbag at a third of the original price. I purchased a couple of small winter items vastly reduced to keep in the gift drawer for Christmas, which meant I got free delivery too. We harvested our first courgettes from the garden. We grow a couple of plants in containers so won’t have many, but enjoying while they last. Our soft fruit bushes look bare. I don’t think the weather alternating between torrential rain and unusually high temperatures the last few months has helped. Brought sweet peas into the house to enjoy. Hope you all had good celebrations for Canada Day and 4th July!
I envy those beautiful figs! Here we’ve beenpicking up mangoes from out neighbors’ trees as well as our own and having them for breakfast as well as a snack now and then. I cut up and froze a big jar for the future, and we’ve also been giving them away to friends. It’s warm here and we’ve chosen not to have Ac, but we have ceiling fans, a white roof, solar panels, and lots of trees, and a whole house fan and our house was built to catch the breezes. We save a lot on electricity and believe it’s a good idea to acclimate to the warm weather. I way prefer heat to cold and it’s actually hotter in many parts of the country where houses aren’t designed for that.
We’ve been going to the beach twice a week and our state park pass allows us to park for free; city parking is very costly We catch rainwater to use in the washing machine and lately we haven’t had to use city water for plants because of the rainy season.
I started some scotch bonnet pepper seeds from a volunteer plant thst came up in one of my posts and will sell them in October ant our semi-annual plant sale. People always ask about pepper plants an I haven’t had them. No doubt no one will ask now!
I really wish mangoes grew here. I’ve tried and it lived for a while, but they’re not really happy in this climate.
I forgot that I popped in to my local grocery store yesterday ,and they had organic sandwich meat for $4.99 with $5 off coupons, beans were bogof and spent $11 and saved $61. I got 8 packs of sandwich meatfor free!