I harvested blackberries, green onions, tomatoes, lemons, peppermint, and parsley from my garden.
I sowed seeds in the garden for okra, eggplant, green onions, roselle hibiscus, and watermelon. I checked my seedlings from previous plantings. Some had been munched, and some didn’t come up, so I resowed wherever I needed to, and also found more places to sow. The watermelon, okra, and roselle seeds were ones I had collected from my own garden.
I took salads to work all week and on election day, made with a head of cabbage that my neighbor had gifted me. I also made tabouleh one day with produce from my garden. I alternated between bringing water (tap water), homemade mint tea (using mint from my garden), and hibiscus tea (made with hibiscus from my garden). I varied the salad ingredients using what I had on hand (plus some cilantro that I bought) and alternated between simple dressings of apple cider vinegar/lime juice.
I made cookies for friends that came to visit from out of state. We got together at someone’s house one day for brunch, and I brought figs from my tree to share.
I studied Urdu by listening to lessons on YouTube, listening to audio lessons from audio books from the library, and reviewing the lessons I took from a tutor two years ago. My friends speak Urdu, and I had lots of immersion opportunities to speak and listen, and had the fun of surprising more than one person when they heard me speaking in Urdu.
What did you do to save money the past two weeks?
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We planted 4 tomato plants. I hoped to plant more but our tomato seeds didn’t come up very well. I think it was the soil. The tomato plants we bought were $4.98 each! I hope we get some tomatoes from them. We also bought a Thai basil plant. Our Genevese basil reseed itself every year. I am very happy about that! I find that it is cheaper to wait until I get home to eat if I don’t bring something with me when I go to town. Even if I have to drive back, making dinner is cheaper. I hope to plant some seeds later today. With the ever increasing prices, I am determined to plant as much as I can. I make a meal plan and have some dinner ideas that are quick so I can get dinner ready on those busy days as well. The slow cooker is also handy for busy days. I can get dinner in it and leave it most the day. Or a pressure cooker cooks things quickly. I am working on my health. I’ve been at a standstill for a couple of weeks. But I’ve lost 45 lbs. I hope to start losing more weight. I feel so much better! With rising prices, it will probably get easier to lose weight. We are not buying much in the way of processed foods. It makes us feel so much better. It also makes for much less trash. Oh, something we were excited about….we borrowed a telescope from the library! They just got 5 in. We are looking forward to using it. We love looking at the stars! We were so happy that we were actually able to get one! I absolutely love libraries! We are opening more time at home, doing projects around the house and planting a garden.
Congratulations on your weight loss! that’s wonderful. Also very interesting about the telescopes…Ann
Thanks Anne!
Great job on the weight loss. I am down 43 pounds and feel better too.
Congratulations to you too Marybeth! And thank-you! Isn’t it great to feel better?
Tammy, that is impressive! I’m sure you feel so much better too.
And I love that you can check out a telescope!
My week has been low-key. I am still slow-walking life after having so many people here for graduation and because work is gearing up for a big project.
Lots of home cooking, and I have been buying a daily fountain drink instead of cans because it’s cheaper. I’m also starting to brew tea at home. I have a couple of fennel plants and I’ll grab a small amount of the greens every couple of days to boil some tea, which I keep in the fridge.
We are “eating down” the freezer so we can take advantage of fresh produce and be able to enjoy it this winter.
I planted more beans and am looking at more options now that I’ve gotten the garden weeded.
Everyone, please stay safe in these storms!
Robbie
Thank-you Robbie! I am drinking more herbal tea as well. I’ve been trying to do that instead of eating in the evening. How wonderful to have fennel! We planted some one year. I need to do it again. I just love it!
We went back to the grocery store and bought 2 tomatoes. We spent over 6 dollar for them. But, they were so red, juicy and delicious! They are better than any dessert I could buy! I don’t like paying that price. But I would rather buy a tomato than a piece of cake or ice cream.. They were that good. I ate one tonight and we will have the other one tomorrow with a BLT. One medium tomato has about 22 calories. This makes me very happy. After eating the tomato, I am full. I am looking forward to our tomato plants bearing fruit. I hope they do. My family loves tomatoes! Maybe I will lose more weight eating veggies instead of sweets. I am happy with myself, because I passed the ice cream and the Hostess snowballs and didn’t buy any of that. I haven’t in a long while. I only ate 1 cookie this month. I’m really enjoying vegetables and fruit. For the most part, they are cheaper than the junk food. I am going to try and plant some greens tomorrow. I paid $4.49 for a head of iceberg lettuce! The bags of greens were twice as much. We weren’t going to garden this year. But we changed our minds even though we are really busy. I have to make time. I can’t keep paying outrageous prices! We are going to try and use seeds we already have.
I think it’s wonderful that you are speaking Urdu.
At last, we are planting seeds and setting out plant starts. I have about 40 tomato plants of several varieties and I’m excited to see how they go. I’ve been freezing asparagus as we can’t eat it as fast as it comes. I’ve dried all the green onions that I require and have plenty fresh and throwing new bulbils. I can’t believe that folks pay $5. a pound for rhubarb. It is so prolific that I only use the choice part by the base for baking and the rest is made into juice.
We feared that we would not have enough pollinators to do out fruit trees but luckily we have good pollination on 6 apple varieties. Our world is alive with birds, bees and butterflies. Little toads and frogs shelter in herby patches in the garden. Canada geese have hatched their chicks and come by for grass from time to time. Parents are vigilant and take turns eating.
It was a great moment for me when I was with my friends and had a chance to speak Urdu to a friend of theirs. He was surprised and asked if I spoke a little Urdu. My friend said to him, “She speaks a lot of Urdu!” with such pride in me on his face that it inspired me to study even harder. I am able to increase my study time this week as I am no longer working the election job.
I think it is wonderful that you are speaking Urdu with your friends!
Thank you so much!
Once again, my financial efforts have been spent on not only saving money but increasing income. I finished my pre-production job with the theatre company and was asked to consider performing all 5 shows per week versus just the two I originally agreed to. I did a lot of refiguring of my schedule, recommitted myself to actually taking my vitamins 😆, talked with my family who said, “Go for it!” and said “yes.” This will be a significant help in our finances. Rehearsals have been underway and it’s been great fun, useful vocal training and lots of great exercise (I am dancing a LOT.) It’s been tricky to plan meals around rehearsal (some days I am there 3 hours, some days 7 and I never know till the night before) so I have been making good use of my pantry staples and things from the garden and prepping food as much as possible so my family can put meals together easily. We are given dinner breaks but I have been committed to bringing snacks and water (SO MUCH WATER!) from home and have only gone out with friends in the show a couple of times to a local restaurant for their in-house made strawberry lemonade as a treat. I am determined to keep as much of my paycheck from this show as possible. It is such a part of many theatre companies’ cultures to go out after a show (because you’ve worked hard and you’re starving but hyped up on performance adrenaline and not ready to wind down) but I have always been good at keeping that in check. It helps that I am a morning person and so have to get home to bed – no sleeping in for me with all I do with the rest of my life. I am also very glad gas prices are going down ($3.43/gallon) with going to rehearsal on a daily basis. Of course, I have also tried to attach any necessary errands in town to these rehearsals eliminating any extra driving. Our lawn care jobs are going strong and we are glad for that extra income, as well.
My youngest son went to stay with my in-laws for a few days to help them with some yard and home projects. They went shopping and found clothing such as hooded sweatshirts, shorts and swim trunks all for less than $1 each. The store is called Bill’s and it looks much like a Marshalls or TJMaxx but I have never seen another store by that name anywhere. My MIL has long been one of my inspirations in frugality and this just adds to her reputation. She sent my youngest home with two big bags of clothes which included a few things for my husband and oldest son, too. Much appreciated! The weather got warm for us last week (high of 80-81) so we did have fans on (we have no air conditioning or central heat) but only during the warmest part of the day and then we open up the windows at night and let the cool air in. It would be hard to estimate a figure on how much money we save not needing air conditioning and having a wood stove for heat but I know it is one of our greatest savings. Along those lines, we continue to split and stack wood and we are now into probably wood that will be used 3 years from now. It is insurance for us to have lots of wood stacked and aging. My FIL also sent home a pop-up tent that my husband put up over his splitter making the job that much more comfortable. We just have to put it down each night as we can get random wind gusts that would carry it away.
The clothes are on the line, the windows are open freshening the house, the garden is growing (despite my neglect) and all is well in our corner of the world. Hope the same is true for all of you!
Wow! It sounds like a lot of fun doing the musicals! And getting paid! How wonderful! I’m glad things are going well.
Yes, it is very rewarding. Most of my theatre work is professional but I like supporting and being a part of community theatre, too. If there is a good story to tell, I like to be a part of it! This particular production is longer than most others I do – the season is 36 shows – so the compensation makes a bit more of a difference in our income than some other things might.
Dawn, Congratulations on the acting job! That is so awesome.
Here in my part of Georgia, we have Beall’s (pronounced Bills) which is like a TJ Maxx or Ross type store. I believe they are a growing chain across the south.
It’s been fairly quiet as I had my second cataract surgery and just took it easy for a couple of days afterwards. No cost – all covered by my govt. health plan. Not doing much saved me money and transit fares. I spent on a few extras as friends came to help me and drive me home after surgery but there was a lot of leftovers so that kept meals simple for a few days.
Since I’m not supposed to bend or lift anything too heavy, I just did a few small jobs. I had purchased a lot of dried beans, lentils and grains for the pantry over the past couple of weeks, so sterilized jars and dry canned a lot of them for long term storage. Also added a few canned vegetables & fruit (good price on the veg but canned fruit is incredibly expensive)! Ground beef was on sale for $5 per pound (regularly between $8 and $10 per pound here) so bought a couple of extra pounds for the freezer.
Prepared for the week ahead by taking cooked chicken out of the freezer and adding it to a pasta/pesto salad, using up the last of some broccoli, grape tomatoes and a can of chickpeas – this will make about 4 meals. I also cooked the last piece of salmon from the freezer and I intend having it for a couple of breakfasts with cream cheese on dark rye toast – trying to eat more protein.
I’ve been enjoying watching the FiFA World Cup games on tv – Toronto is one of the host cities so lots of things happening and lots of tourists in town!
I’m hoping to find some Ontario strawberries later this week – they are just starting to hit the stores. My 12 year old great niece and a number of her school mates are doing a couple of weeks worth of strawberry picking at a friend’s parents strawberry farm. The parents drive them over early in the morning, they pick for a couple of hours – get cleaned up and then the school bus picks them up all at the one stop and gets them to class by 9am. They live in an area famous for orchards and wineries so lots of opportunities. I remember doing it as a kid – hard work but it was great to earn some money and to bring home some of the berries to mom!
Hope everyone found some bargains this week.
sounds as if your cataract surgeries went well. I had both eyes done last year and since I chose the standard implant lens there was no cost. glad to read your posts again!
I have been picking sugar snap peas, peas, lettuce and spinach. We have been eating all of the above . I have been giving bags of lettuce to my kids whenever I see them. Hubby stained the hot tub again and fixed the broken latch on the door. We have been doing lots of yard work and it looks great. I have been weeding when I find the time. We have our first 2 baby apples on our apple trees that we got 4 years ago. Laundry has been hung outside. I watch the weather to know what day to do it. I never do it between 3-7 PM or the washing machine because that is our highest time for electricity. All kitchen sink water has been watering potted plants. Hubby went to a free car show with his brother over the weekend. He brought his reusable water bottle and a granola bar so it really was free. I had bloodwork done and all my numbers came back great. I am down 43 pounds so far this year. I am walking as much as I can, I do light weights 3 days a week and then I do my gardening. My groceries have gone down too because of it. I haven’t bought any clothes yet. My sisters give me their used clothes and I have been able to use them with belts so far. We did a fire pit one day and went for a long drive with the top down another day. I signed up for a bunch of free library classes and games for this coming quarter. Doing our everyday things like using cloth napkins and cloth rags. Cooking at home. Hubby either makes coffee at home or at work for free. Drinking homemade iced tea, water or homemade wine with our meals. I made jello for desserts. Using the library for all of it’s wonderful resources. Hubby found some poison ivy coming under our fence. I informed the neighbor as they have kids. Hubby is very allergic to it. I got long pants on, a sweatshirt and double gloved up. I put it all in a contractor bag and tied it up. I then put everything in the wash with nothing else. We have been pouring boiling water with vinegar every 3 days.
Love the picture of the berries!
I’m harvesting rhubarb, blackberries, arugula, kale, collards, chives and parsley. My neighbor has gifted me 2 bags of plums. I don’t need any produce from the grocery store-hurrah! I used some of the plums to make plum jam and gifted a jar to the neighbor who gave me the plums.
I have rooted starts of verbena bonariensis and Santa Barbara daisies in jars on my table. I’ll pot them soon. I love filling my garden with cuttings and reseeded starts.
I’m car-less this week, so zero gas used by me. I can ride my bike to everywhere I need to go, and kind friends pick me up for things that are too far to bike. Most of the time having just one car works great for the two of us, and we’re thankful to live in an area where we can walk/bike and that has other people who support carpooling.
I picked up things that my mother and my uncle were getting rid of. From those things I was able to give a basket, a coat rack and a rug to 2 of my children. I’m glad I’m ready to help my aging relatives distribute their stuff at a time when the young people in the family are in need of things. Passing stuff on at the right time is so important. I’ve passed on a couple of my grandmothers quilts recently, one to my sister, and one to a daughter. Less stuff for me to take care of, and fills a need for them.
We don’t have air conditioning, so on the days that hit 90+ I’m strategic about what I do, and at what time. I like to be less dependent on any type of energy and I live in a climate where I can make the choice to go without AC. I have lived in places that were too hot to do that.
Gas is $3.24 a gallon in the university town where I sometimes work now. I walked an hour a day, usually early in the mornings. I so prefer walking at 5:30 a.m. in this heat. I have, mostly, kept the air off by not being home during the best of the day. Courtrooms are usually air conditioned, providing that it is actually working… lol. I made coleslaw hot dogs on sandwich bread like I did as a child bc my grandma refused to buy buns… lol. I cooked dried red beans with chicken instead of sausage bc of my cholesterol issues, ate fresh tomato sandwiches, homemade potato salad, squash casserole, watermelon for dessert. I took peanut butter and honey sandwiches with an apple to work bc it needs no refrigeration. I have eaten a lot of dandelion greens from my yard because I have so many. I like them crunchy, baked in oven with olive oil,’salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I switched to sunflower seeds from pepitas bc sunflower seeds are cheaper. I now buy the shelled kind bc I don’t need to damage my old teeth. I have been boiling my water and then cooling it to drink. I can’t remember if I posted about going to the work conference on June 5th and 6th at the beach and attending it at the fancy conference center on the beach and then going back at night to Motel 6 ( it was less than a third of the price of staying at the conference hotel) and eating my peanut butter butter sandwiches. I did eat one seafood sandwich out at lunch and took advantage of the huge free conference breakfasts. I enjoyed walking on the beach without paying beach prices.
I have been following your lead and taking pb sandwiches to the office as needed – often to have with my morning cup of tea about 10:30 as I eat breakfast very early on office days – we have access to a fridge but it’s just less of a fuss to have something simple.
My fridge is on the fritz and has been randomly freezing things. My landlady came and did a second repair (the first was several months ago), but this did not hold, so she is ordering a new fridge for the apartment. I managed to salvage and use most of the things that froze, including eggs, fruit, vegetables and herbs.
Soaked and cooked dry beans. Baked beans are on the menu tonight. Made homemade barbecue sauce for some ribs I got on sale. Bought some clearanced lemons, used some of the juice and froze the rest. Also froze the peels to use to clean the disposal (I defrost them before grinding them up). Made kombucha.
My brother in law helped me put up some shelves in my storage room. Went to Home Depot to get brackets and screws. I asked a staff member for advice on the kind of board to get – he suggested pine (I was thinking of particle board, because it is the least expensive). He found a pine board with a small flaw and asked if that was ok for my shelves. I said that fine. He then cut it to my requested sizes, and marked it 70% off. I really appreciated that. It only cost me $9 for eight feet of board.
Harvested small amounts from my container herbs. A friend shared dill and basil with me. I cooked a brisket in my Instant Pot for my sister when she was busy. She shared some chicken and potato salad with me.
It was hot here for a couple days so I kept things closed up during the day to keep the apartment cool. A friend gave me a portable air conditioner several years ago, which I have never actually used – I am in a ground floor apartment in the Pacific NW, so usually it does not get too hot inside. But I found the manual online for the AC and figured out how to set it up and use it. It works great. If it gets as hot here as I have heard it might, I may end up using it.
Tina,
I’m interested in how you make kombucha. I love it and try and get the ones that are the least ingredients but Shaw, they are expensive. Would love to make my own !
My boss had a yardsale and I found 2 metal baskets, 2 outside chairs, and a purse for under $20
I used points for chicken nuggets
Sold an item on Marketplace
I made quiche with what we had in the refrigerator.
I read and returned library books as quick as possible
I placed my green onions in water to regrow
Earned $5 from Ibotta
Slowly working on cleaning out the house. Managed to find a couple missing items. I’m getting down to my bedroom and the basement which are going to be the hardest and most time consuming.
All of the dogs have had their yearly preventive appointments with the vet. Definitely not cheap becausewe needed a couple extra procedures (my teens dog was being a spazz and had to be sedated for a nail trim and my Anatolian needed a biopsy on a couple suspicious spots), but everyone is healthy, are now up to date on vaccines, and have their flea and tick treatments.
Gas here is $4.39 best price I can find, we definitely have changed behavior from driving whenever we felt like it to planning our routes and trips on needs versus wants. Most days are spent weeding, watering and cleaning necessary things like keeping our deck,porch clean. We bought duck covers for outside furniture and they have kept our furniture lasting. We picked strawberries and we will be able to buy blueberries from local farmers at great prices. I continue to work part time approximately 18-20 hours per week for concern over the economy. We planted watermelon, peppers and tomatoes early on and thankfully they are doing well.
Drool worth photos!
I received 3 Cakelet, 1 loaf, 1 Bundt pan all in autumn shapes, along with a 10” cake, 12” tart pan and a cake turntable all free from a neighbor decluttering. Also, a new mattress pad and tower fan which I put right to use during our heatwave. I recently bought a new mattress pad, but it’s too late to return it, so will retire my spare that’s seen better days.
Picked up two books I ordered from the library. Waited till I had an errand near there.
I’m trying to get a new roof and some other needed repairs done, but keep getting sidetracked by health issues. I’m worried because I saved up for this, but haven’t spent it yet, which might cause me to lose my health insurance. Hopefully, not, but it’s stressful. Saw my nephew in law, who turns out to be working now five minutes from me on a multi year construction job. He has pros willing to do side jobs he would oversee for me, so plan to find out more.
I have an unexpected medical test this week that requires anesthesia and got my health insurance to cover taking a taxi to/from.
So glad I invested a year ago this month on a stand up freezer. I checked the current price (Costco) and it has increased 54% in price. This just reenforces the idea I need to keep a well stocked pantry. Brandy, I’ve been revisiting your pantry and frugal meal ideas. So thankful you have kept your site going, your beautiful photos and insight are invaluable!
Hope everyone has a great week.
Hi Maria! My mom used our old worn mattress pads as filler for quilts she made out of large pieces of fabric (not actual quilting). She would take the fabric, cut it in two, lay one on either side of the mattress pad and stitch it up. She stitched squares on it to hold it in place (just ran long lines lengthwise and width wise to make the squares). They sure kept us warm!
Brandy, Very pleased to hear you had so much election work as I am sure that helped your budget a lot. I have about 6 more weeks of census work to do-getting out and getting lots of paid walking in with my first pay deposit today. Congrats to all who have lost weight-I have lost 61 lbs with about 15 left to go.
The boss asked if I would also be her assistant so I said yes-bumping me up to about 40 hrs per week. Might as well make hay while the sun shines. I have also applied to work for a few days during the referendum in the fall.
I just noticed my husband is paying our HOA fees by cheque-I think they charge to use a credit card-so a stamp is cheaper.
Extra expense this week of having a half dead tree cut down-just part of home maintenance I guess. I was able to buy all our fruit and veg on Flash food this week for about $25. For eg yesterday I got a bag of lettuce for .99 and shredded carrots for.44, I did see a 4 litre container of sour cream for 2.84 but was not able to use that much , even with freezing.
I mentioned last week late in the week so some may have missed it. Many places in the US provide a free lunch program for children at the hospital or library which is a good money saving opportunity. In most cases I don’t think you need proof of income to attend.
I congratulations on your weight loss!
Beautiful photos as always, Brandy! I can practically smell those tomatoes.
Frugal notes this week: I cooked a turkey breast out of the freezer using Bon Appetit’s poulet roti recipe and made homemade bread. My husband declared it the best turkey sandwich he’d ever eaten! We enjoyed several meals out of that one (very large!) turkey breast. We cooked and ate almost all meals at home and only picked up takeout on Friday evening when we were both exhausted. Baked bread at home. Made our own coffee and sun tea. I did my own mani/pedi. I have been turning the AC up to 77 when we are not at home, and only down to 76 (sometimes 75) when we are home to save electricity. Also keeping blinds/drapes closed. It is June and our weather is quite warm. We used our air fryer on our patio to cook dinner a few times, rather than heating up the oven. Having it on the patio avoids any potential smoke indoors if there are any grease drips inside the fryer, and also keeps the kitchen cooler. One of our cats had her annual vet visit for vaccinations and we were able to use a discount. I combined a large collection of skincare samples I’d accumulated by decanting identical products into single bottles to use them up. The amount of samples was practically a full-size product! I am actively unsubscribing from marketing emails and focusing on a “no buy” for skincare and cosmetic items until I use up what I have. We are adopting a “make do and mend” 1940s mentality in our approach to frugality and trying to avoid the constant temptation to buy, buy, buy.
I hope everyone has a lovely week!
Your garden produce looks divine. I am glad you got to do some extra work for pay. I love that you can speak several languages. I can speak very little Spanish, but enough to communicate. My garden is in full swing and we are harvesting and preserving as we go along. VBS at Church was last week so my husband had sandwiches almost every night as I was at Church during dinner time and ate at Church. We have some wild blackberries that are turning and will be picking this weekend. I picked up the book “The Mistress of New Orleans” this morning from the library and I to love utilizing the library.
That had to be such a wonderfully proud feeling getting that compliment. I hope you beamed as bright as that Vegas sun that day :). Where I do enjoy not cleaning or prepping or cooking when I can enjoy a bought meal, it is so satisfying to pack my pwn lunch on days where I am not near my kitchen.
I placed garden totes in heavy pour spots for rain collection from a quick storm.
Found a few items on my needs list at a thrift store.
One was a book of ideas/crafts of a certain theme. I sat on my parents porch swing with my mom, both enjoyed a discounted ice cream treat and flipped through the book and discussed how to use some of the projects for jumping points and making something inspired with what we had. We are making hand made gifts for upcoming birthdays and holidays. It made the hottest day of the year (so far) feel like a breeze.
Marievene’s memory lives on as I collected a big pot of weeds daily in the mornings. Some will get burned to use the ash in the compost. Taking a break one morning, I witnessed a woodpecker nibbling on our tree, 2 chipmunks chasing each other, a hummingbird whizzed past my head and 2 robins letting a squirrel know to stay clear (of their baby). What an amazing series of events – commercial free!
Hope everyone has a calm and productive week!
I am still riding that high!
I also know I will encounter this man again, and I hope by then my Urdu is even better!
Indeed! Marivene was on my mind the other day as I worked in my yard tossing weeds into a wagon. I looked at all that needed to be done and remembered her daily goal of 1 5-gallon bucket of weeding every day, at the least.!
It has been a year of unavoidable expenses. We had a severe windstorm. At least one of my aspens went from vertical to nearly horizontal so it had to be removed. Two other trees — or some of their branches — also had to be removed. It added up.
Last week, I went to see an orthopedic specialist — he in turn wrote to the knee replacement clinic. I have already waited a long time for this next appointment but his letter seems to have helped as this morning I got a call so I have an appointment in early July for assessment by the surgeons. It may still be a considerable wait.
When it happens it will be free.
I again split my grocery purchases between two stores — one where a friend shops so she can drop things off and one where I get free delivery for orders over $30. I spent about $50 last week and saved $43.00.
I bought a lot of chicken thighs for $9. The special peanut free bread that I buy for $5.49 was on sale for $3.49 do i bought 4 loaves and froze some. I’m looking forward to seeing the peonies in bloom.
I love peonies as well! I’m glad your knee replacement will be free!
It’s a rainy week in my Southern town. I think we are on about day 10. I’ve been at my daughter’s for a couple days. I washed all our summer clothing and bedding while here. I guess , I have turned into my mother. I expect the items I own to last a good long time. Tomorrow, we will be replacing our dryer heating element for the 5th time in a year. I made a new friend over the winter and will be consulting with him about why it keeps going out. 5 times repair has been a total of $100.00 , much cheaper than the laundry mat or a new dryer. Fire safety is a huge concern. I may try replacing a couple more parts if needed , based on advice , but am expecting to need to research a new purchase. My old cell phone had a very limited range of battery. It died quickly. With my night time hobby. I really have to have a working phone. I reluctantly decided to get new phones. I really did not want to do this . I went back to a phone plan that runs under Verizon service. I got all new free phones for the 4 of us. 3 are I phones and of course my android. I was able to sell our 4 other phones in a kiosk box at the front of Wal-Mart. Im very pleased that my children take such good care of their phones and had no broken screens It was easy and dispensed cash immediately . I paid no activation fees . I’ve combined it with unlimited home internet and a small cable package for sugar cookie . 4 new phones , unlimited service , home internet and cable will run me $200.00. That’s half of what we were all paying separately. I went out in my daughter’s neighborhood and checked the Trader Joe’s, and Aldis dumpsters. I was delighted to find broccolini, cauliflower, and broccoli. They compost most fruits and vegetables. These were all plastic wrapped in a banana box. Of course thete were many other great items. Strawberries are plentiful. Im back home. Im going to crawl in attic and bag all the girls old clothes. There is a lot. The college girls have left a ton of stuff here over the years. There may possibly be some high dollar items there. Im positive there’s some Burberry up thete. Anything of value will be sold. All the girls have moved on and have no desires to retrieve stuff. I did promise to retrieve medical records from plastic surgery and return them. Those girlfriends of my daughter had some crazy parents. A neighbor wants the clothes. Im trying very hard to stay on budget. It’s hard. I’ve bought some plumbing supplies and my son is going to replace a faucet and drain. Here’s hoping my dripping faucet ends and my bill goes down. Im grateful for YouTube tutorials. Happy days everyone.
The local small market town has a store with an eclectic mix of goods. For UK readers it is called Boyes – I had not encountered it until we moved here but believe they have stores in the north and east. We took the opportunity to visit when we were in town for groceries last week and replaced some essential household items (tin opener, broom etc) at good prices. They also sell craft supplies including fabric for as little as £1 a metre. I have done many styles of embroidery but am a complete novice at machine sewing and would love to try to make clothes. I like long, modest styles and they are not always easy to find. I picked up some of the cheap fabric and investigated some internet tutorials on how to make a simple skirt with elasticated waist. I did get the skirt to go together and am quite pleased. Learned a valuable lesson: I missed the information that you need to check you are sewing the panels together with the fabric going in the same direction! Luckily the pattern is fairly random so it still looks ok. I really regret that my mother did not teach me as she made a lot of our clothes when I was a child.
Spent a lot of the week trying creative ways to use up potatoes! We bought a sack earlier in the year but with so much time spent at the hospital and hospice did not use many. I fried potato cakes to go with bacon and mushrooms for a Sunday brunch style meal, and made Dauphinoise potatoes too. While I had the oven on I did baking. Brandy’s salads sound wonderful. I have been adding a little bulk and zest to our meals with a simple red cabbage slaw, just shredded cabbage, salt and lime juice. Zingy and no extra calories from mayonnaise! Wishing everyone a happy and healthy week.
Your salad looks delicious, as do the fresh berries!
I curb shopped a coffee maker for my oldest to take to their college apartment when they move back in August. I visited two independent thrift stores and purchased a craft book, a skein of wool sock yarn, and two pairs of earrings for $11.34. At another, I bought one cross stitch antique samplers book and two greeting cards for $1.30.
I rescued a lot of food, including 25# mini bell peppers. Some were bad but I sorted those and composted the bad ones and processed the rest and have been enjoying them. I also rescued Roma a block of smoked cheddar, a pack of proscuittio, 2 large dark chocolate with almonds bars, a box of couscous, tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, bigger bell peppers, a bag of mandarin oranges, 2 packs of mushrooms (the others I rescued weren’t salvageable), a bag of snap peas, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, bananas, grapes, honeycrisp apples, lemons, limes, a small bag of baby potatoes, cherry tomatoes, a few pounds of broccoli crowns, 11 cans of sparkling water (it was a case; one had been punctured and a few were dented but usable, most were fine), a bag of pistachios, a large bag of sugar, a bag of tortilla chips.
I cooked all my meals at home as usual.
I used roselle hibiscus us leaves in an African meal the other day!
1. Got a $3 Amazon giftcard from fetch rewards
2. Sold a Disney cats frame on ebay.
3.tried a new squash recipe…and I’m looking for more squash/Zucchini ideas!!
4.had a home grown salad, between mine and my mother-in-laws gardens
5. Saving marigold seeds.
Longer version here: https://practicalwalk.com/2026/06/14/frugal-five-squash-recipes-please/
It’s been a great couple of frugal weeks in Houston, TX!
Vacation edition: we drove to Beaver’s Bend State Park in Oklahoma for a reunion trip with lots of extended family. I paid for a room in one of the cabins (split among several people), and I slept in the king size bed with my baby, teen daughter, and toddler son, and the other kids slept in sleeping bags in the living room with cousins. Different families took turns cooking meals, so there were very few kitchen tasks I did on this trip. We enjoyed the state park: hiking, swimming, watching wildlife, and then one aunt paid for my daughter to go horseback riding while I took the other kids on the train. It was a fun trip! On the way home, I detoured to Dallas for Grocery Clearance Center: lots of great buys at great prices, wish I lived closer. $1/each strawberries (1#), raspberries (5 oz) and $2 blackberries and blueberries. I got a lot of “treat” foods I wouldn’t usually buy: case of orange juice, specialty foods, etc.
Back at home, we’re back on the frugal wagon. The Chickfila near us is offering free kids meals from 5-7 pm on Tuesdays, so I drove through and got them for 5 of the kids. I’ll definitely be back next week! We got free nose bleed seats to an Astros game, and ate our Chickfila there, paying for parking farther away to save money. It was dollar hot dog night, so I bought 5 for the kids to share. This stadium lets you take in your own food and water in a gallon ziploc bag/person, which is a huge money saver! We made it until the bottom of the 7th inning until I had to leave with fussy littles.
The kids helped clean out the van as we were giving a couple of my daughter’s friends a ride. This Toyota minivan is a 2012 with 220k miles, but I love it much more when it’s clean. Clean is free!
I don’t coupon much anymore, but I did do a Dove body wash and deodorant deal at HEB, following a coupon blogger who breaks down deals.
I researched warts on my daughter’s steer: looks like we will be cutting them off and feeding them to him. 🙂 I already have pliers, so this is worth a shot before we call a vet out. The duct tape trick worked on my daughter’s plantar wart, but I don’t think we could easily attach it with his hair.
Lots of rain has meant the lawn is looking healthier.
Hope everyone has a nice, frugal week!
IG: Frewgalfamily_HTX
I had several cans of peaches from the food bank. They’re not my favorite fruit, but I decided to make a peach crisp for my birthday, using a couple of cans. Having the fruit heated up, including cinnamon, and my favorite oatmeal crisp topping ended up being something I really enjoyed. It seemed very summery, so I don’t think Ill have any problem using up the canned peaches now’
I posted an ad for free cat food on my local Facebook page. I had a couple of half bags left from looking for a replacement for the only brand my older cat can keep down. Someone took the extra cat food to feed to her barn cats, and brought me a dozen farm fresh brown eggs as a thank you. I told her the timing was perfect, because I only had two medium eggs left in my fridge.
Hello everyone. I am so happy to report that I have finally made my way through all the paperwork, legwork, legal things from my husband’s death. I’ve devoted one day to phone work and one day each week to legwork and it’s taken me more than two months to get through it all. I can’t imagine how much more I’d have had to do if we were debt ridden and wealthy! I am very glad to be at the end of that tedious journey. However, I am grateful I had that to keep my mind pre-occupied these first months following his death. I am better occupied than idle and dwelling on things.
I spent quite a bit at the grocery at the beginning of this month, but I did restock meats, which I’d barely purchased over the last six months. My son has been generous with his garden produce, and I enjoy going over every couple of weeks to get new supplies. I am especially appreciative of his romaine lettuce and squash and zucchini.
I’ve had company this week and found it to be a great time to pull out some of the larger cuts of meats (chuck roast, pork loin roast) and cook them. I’ve had few leftovers from the food either, which I also appreciate. Now I have a bit more room to stash one person portions. The freezer also provided cake and biscuits, eggrolls, sandwich meats, bread, milk, and vegetables.
I had to have my 21-year-old Camry worked on…and then a pinched gasket cover led to it spewing oil and I had to be towed. Second repair was on the house at the mechanics. I am so grateful that my youngest son had, on a whim, added me to his AAA plan just two days before I needed the tow, and that the mechanic is super reliable and acknowledged their error. They did a couple of courtesy jobs on the car as well (adjusted brakes, oil change, and a compression test on the engine) which is a substantial bit of ‘extra’.
I picked up Publix fried chicken (called Gramma’s chicken) by my grandchildren to take to a family dinner. It’s not unreasonably priced and is voted the ‘best’ in the South for deli fried chicken. I made a simplified homemade potato salad to go with it, using lemon juice, fresh dill, a smidge of mustard, and mayonnaise. It was soooo good!
While out shopping for groceries, I filled up at BJs Wholesale and got gas for $3.17/gallon. At the time it was running nearer $3.79/gallon elsewhere. Later in the week, while out in the other car, I filled up at the Chevron station with my new gas credit card. I got gas there for $3.07/gallon, a savings of nearly 72c a gallon which surprised me greatly. Apparently, the card program has an incentives discount, and it was quite substantial. We’ve always treated our gas cards as a debit purchase, immediately writing it down and subtracting the amount from our account, so at the end of the month, I simply write a check, and the money is already there.
I went antique shopping with a friend at a huge antiques mall…. and I bought NOTHING. It’s been very eye opening to go through the house decluttering as much as I have and knowing I’m not yet done. Incentivized me not to purchase anything I absolutely don’t have a place/need for, nor plans to own. I did gather ideas. I’ve realized that a corner cabinet would be an excellent choice for my small dining area. And I loved the idea of the “Blind date with a book” gifts. Very clever!
I have filled another three moving boxes with stuff to donate to the thrift store and will continue to work on decluttering next week on the interior of the house. Then I move on to the shed, which has served as my storage closet (we only have three small closets in my home) for Christmas and extra decor items, etc. My goal is to donate everything that is not a family piece, for seasonal use, or something I would typically rotate into use in my home decor. Also, all the extra stuff the kids have stored and forgotten about…That can go too. Most of them had set a time limit when it was stored and that limit was over many, many years ago.
My son who is visiting is an electrician and installed five overhead lights and fixed a switch for me this weekend. I am very grateful for the ‘free’ electrical work.
Glad to hear that you have navigated such a trying time – it is never easy but you are coping so well and being very pro=active about so many of those things that “just need done”. I hope that you take the time to reward yourself in at least some small way once the de-cluttering in finished. Take care.
Terri,
I was not aware that you had lost your husband and I am sorry for your loss. My condolences.
Thank you, Dawn. John passed away in late March, very suddenly and unexpectedly.
Margie, Thank you too. I do have a plan. I’ve long wanted to travel about and see places both in my own state and beyond. So, I’m going to start with small trips around my state on my own. It was something John knew I wanted to do and one of his last requests to me was to get out and travel.
Just saw tonight that your husband has passed away. I am so very sorry. For the past year or so I have not followed your or Brandy’s posts so I did not know. My husband of fifty-one years passed away in 2021 so I understand the many changes that you are having to adjust to. I found the best way to handle being a widow is to take it one day at a time. Sincerely,