I harvested eggplant, zucchini, red noodle beans, peppers, lettuce, chives, and parsley from the garden.
I cut flowers from the garden to enjoy inside.
I put aside items we no longer need for a garage sale. I didn’t have enough items for a sale, but my mom had some items as well, and the community garage sales were this past weekend. I wanted to shop the sales, but my mom wanted to host a sale at her friend’s house in one of the neighborhoods that was having a community sale. I told my girls they could keep all the money from the sales if they wanted to run the sale, and they said yes. They had a sale Saturday morning with my parents and also sold lemonade.
I found a few items at the sales, including a couple of small silverplate pieces (50 cents for one and $1 for the other), a ten-pound weight for $2, an ornate shadow box frame for $10 (I plan on changing out the artwork that is in it), an egg slicer for 50 cents, a roll of wrapping paper for $1, four bundles of clothes hangers for $1, and a glass vase for $2.
My son borrowed a carpet cleaner and fans from my parents and used it to clean his carpet. The boys’ room looks much nicer now.
I attended a free French jazz concert in the park with a friend. She gave me a houseplant that I put in a bowl that my mother found for me at a garage sale the week before for $2.
My local nursery, for whom I advertised in the spring on social media, sent me a gift card. I was not expecting this. I used it to purchase all of the items in the picture: 2 bags of fertilizer, 2 flats of violas, a flat of snapdragons (which was on sale), cyclamen, chives, curry plants, and spearmint. This was a great help to my budget.
I found chicken thighs on sale for $1.58 a pound. I also bought a whole chicken on sale for $1.38 a pound, and chicken leg quarters for $1.28 a pound. I have been using my crockpot to cook them rather than the oven, and my gas usage has been much lower than last year. I used to roast them in the oven most of the time. That took a little over an hour. Using the crockpot takes 4 hours, so I have to plan ahead more, but it’s also more hand’s off. I like that the crockpot has a keep warm setting in case I am doing something else when the meat is finished, such as finishing preparing the rest of the meal. The gas usage is important; rates went way up, but because I cut my usage so much, my bill is only a little higher than it was last year. I don’t use a lot of gas, and I was surprised to see this has made such a difference in the usage amount.
I found that I could put two large packages of chicken into the crockpot at a time, saving me time as well as money, and giving me leftovers for days.
I made chicken and rice soup using the broth and scraps left from cooking the chicken.
What did you do to save money last week?
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A slow week this week, only thing I have done in the garden is pick raspberries. We had our first frost this morning and after tomorrow we are supposed to have 8 days of heavy rain and high winds. I did manage to line dry the weeks washing last Sunday.
We have not been to the shops this week so the only expense was milk. I have purchased some more wide mouthed kilner jars to make Christmas puddings and a fermenting jar to make sauerkraut, it comes with weights and a vent in the lid. I made yoghurt, bread, cucumber soup and fairy cakes.
I am glad you could buy your garden needs on the gift card the nursery gave you.
I am looking to buy a new iPad, this is not frugal but my 8 year old iPad is now failing . I have looked around and have found 2022 models at half the price of buying from Apple.
I have been reading library books and ebooks on the library app. I have unearthed some yarn to make dish cloths to keep my hands busy in the evening.
Keep safe everyone
Chris
Christmas puddings in kilner jars? (What ARE kilner jars, by the way?)
Recipe please, Chris?
Kilner jars are another brand of canning jars (like Ball) sold in the U.K.
Hi this is a link to the recipe :- https://www.allotment-garden.org/recipe/1807/grandmas-wartime-christmas-pudding-recipe/. I follow the recipe but instead of using a bowl I fill it into wide neck canning jars ( this is enough for 3/4 people) then steam them for an hour and pressure cook for 30 mins at 10lb. The traditional way of cooking them is to boil for 6 hour. My Grandma used to cook them on the washing boiler.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. It looks like a nice recipe. What do you think I should use, if I don’t want to use suet? I like reading about how people coped with times of rationing and shortages. I really admire their fortitude and determination.
Over here in the uk we can get vegetable suet or you could use any hard spread, I have never tried this. The recipe is very adaptable, I never weigh anything but I am in my late 70s it is what I have.
Chris
Hi Brandy and everyone
How nice to receive an unexpected gift card from the nursery and to be able to fill your trolley with plants you wanted. Good that your family were happy to run their own sale leaving you free to browse the community sales.
We cut pumpkins this week, a poorer crop than last year but still welcome. We also picked parsnips, kale, lettuce,tomatoes, cucumber, apples and flowers. We are using our stored garlic, shallots and potatoes. We continue to gift produce to family and neighbours and gratefully received a butternut squash and pears.
Inexpensive meals were butternut squash soup with cheese and onion muffins, cauliflower cheese with roasted tomatoes and mushroom omelettes with salad.
I declined an invitation for a day out with friends which would have been expensive.
I needed new ankle boots for this winter and found a pair on clearance.
I had a coupon from Lidl for a free bag of cereal but we only eat porridge so I used it for a big bag of granola and gave it to the food bank.
We shopped around and switched pet insurance for our dogs and found something slightly cheaper but with much more cover included.
A friend upgraded her sewing machine and asked if one of my daughter’s would like the older one for free. We gratefully accepted, it’s the same model as mine so I can show Madeleine how to use it. What an unexpected blessing.
Stay safe everyone.
Hi Brandy and everyone.
What a wonderfull harvest from your garden, it looks delicious!
We celebrated my husbands 50 years birthday at home with all the home made food we prepared in the last few weeks. It was a very nice day! The children especially liked the apple juice, that we made in our steam juicer and froze a couple of months ago when we had plenty of apples in the garden. I was very surprised that none of them asked for store bought soda, that is normally present in abundance at family gatherings, but instead kept telling me how much they liked the apple juice!
We had taken out a lot of board games for them to play and a ball and other toys for using in the nearby park.
The table was decorated with autumn leaves, crab apples and the last few geranium flowers from the garden as well as a few birthday items my mother gave us many years ago that we reuse for all birthdays.
My FIL brought back three outdoor chairs that he had mended for us. We found them by the trash at a nearby house and knocked on the door to ask the owner if we could take them. They are painted stackable aluminium chairs, and we have been on the look-out for outdoor chairs like this for quite a while. The chair seats are made of four aluminium parts and two of the chairs had one of the middle pieces missing and some pieces were bend – we think someone might have been standing or hopping on the chairs. My FIL had made two new aluminium pieces, painted them the same color as the chairs and attached them with rivets and also reshaped the bend pieces. It looks very nice and we now have three new chairs that we like at hardly any cost! The aluminium makes them light-weight and they need very little maintenance.
I gave one of the guests at the party seeds for a beautiful white tree peony that I got from seeds myself many years ago. She has just moved to a house with garden and wanted something nice to look at. The seeds have to be sowed when they are completely fresh. I think I’m going to sow some myself to produce plants for presents or for my small plant stall.
This week it’s autumn break at school so we have planned some activities. Apart form my husbands bithday party, we went to see the royal library in the city we live in. We all biked there and brought water to drink. The library is a modern and very special building with a breathtaking view across the harbour. It also has an old department where we admired the old building details and huge leather bound books. We went to see a small diplay of the biggest treasures from the libary, some as old as 800 years BC. I especially valued seeing the first print of the Gutenberg Bible from the 13. century, with all the important historical implications.
We went to eat at a very nice restaurant which was not frugal, but something we promised our son a long time ago. It was also my husbands actual 50 years birthday, so at the same time an extra celebration just for the three of us.
My son and husband are now hiking in the Swedish woods for a few days, it is just a short and inexpensive trainride to go there. They bring our own cooking gear, tent and sleeping bags and some extra things we borrowed from my inlaws.
We also plan to see an art exhibition in a nearby town – to go there by train and bring a packed lunch and eat by the sea if the weather is nice. I have a members card that allows me to go to many expensive museums for free, and this museum is included. Children don’t have to pay, so it is just my husband who have to pay for the entrance. The coming week it’s also my sons birthday, so we invite a few guests and make him a nice cake. One of his birthday wishes was a unicycle! My husband found one online very inexpensively – it is secondhand, but like new, as it has only been used once. I think the biggest challenge will be to wrap it up nicely!
Hope you will all have a nice week!
Cam, I loved that you saved those chairs from the landfill!
Sweden sounds like such a sensible, people friendly country. How nice to access city and forest so readily. Your son will remember the special dinner out so it was worth the expense. Thanks for sharing your world!
I’m laughing at the unicycle only used “once.” I’m wondering how many owners used it just “once” then decided to pass it on.
Cam and Anne, when I was 12 or so, my cousins (3 of them) and I all requested unicycles. We became quite proficient at riding them. The 4 of us even rode together in a small town Christmas parade. We had such fun times riding. We could go for miles.
I then rode it as an adult at about 35 though not as easily as in my younger years! Thinking that like a bicycle that “you never forget how to ride”, I tried it again at about 40+ and you CAN forget how to ride a unicycle! My life flashed before my eyes and I’ve not gotten back on it! But, Cam I hope your son will be successful and make many fun memories with his once used unicycle! 🙂
Sounds like it has been a good week for you, Brandy!! I’ve started using small appliances like my crockpot also and I love the convenience of putting ingredients in and then leaving it to cook while I do other things!
This week, we exclusively ate from our pantry/freezer/garden and it was wonderful! Loaded potato soup cooked in Instant Pot using garden potatoes/onions. So far, we have not had our first frost, so I haven’t pulled the tomato plants out yet. I also haven’t planted my garlic yet, although I have it ready!
I was notified Friday that a local grocery chain was having a 2 day sale- that day and Saturday only on fresh raspberries- 50 cents/carton instead of $2.99/carton. So I did buy 3 flats (36 cartons) to add to our pantry! I dehydrated them all! It was exactly 1 dehydrator (9 trays) load! https://pin.it/zVNVs0g
No one else I know gets these last minute notifications and I have no idea why this grocery chain sends them to me!! But I immediately post it on all the social media groups I am in so others can also take advantage of these sales! They come without purchase limits or coupons needed! Amazing!!
I also heard about a deal from General Mills that would give you $25 in actual rebate money (sent to PayPal or other cash sites) for buying 10 of their products. The blogger I follow always shows Krogers deals so this is how she set it up using the current (through tomorrow, Tues, Oct 17)sale/digital Kroger coupons: Buy (2) General Mills Lucky Charms (10.5 oz) – $1.99 each (wyb 3 or more participating items thru 10/17), Buy (5) Progresso Soups (18-19 oz) – $2.19 (thru 10/17), Buy (1) Annie’s Deluxe Mac & Cheese (11.3 oz) – $1.99 each (wyb 3 or more participating items thru 10/17), Buy (2) Pillsbury Grands, Crescents, Cinnamon Rolls (8 ct) – $3.69-$3.99 (B1G1 FREE thru 10/17)
Total before rebates and coupons: $24.30
Use $1.00/2 BOXES General Mills cereal listed, any flavor: Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Reese’s Puffs, Chex, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Cookie Crisp, Golden Grahams, Kix, Fiber One, Wheaties, Raisin Nut Bran, Total, Basic 4, Oatmeal Crisp, :ratio™ (Cereal & Granola pouches), Nature Valley Granola (pouches) Kroger Digital Coupon – Limit 1 (exp 11/14/23)
Submit for (2) $0.75/1 Lucky Charms Cereal (10.5-46 oz) Ibotta Rebate* – Limit 5 Use (5) $0.99 Progresso Soup (18-19 oz) Kroger Digital Coupon – Limit 5 in ONE Transaction (exp 10/17/23) Pay $12.11, Submit for $25.00 Rebate back from General Mills
Final cost is as low as FREE + $12.89 Money Maker! It was simple to do and I’m now waiting for my $25 which will go into my PayPal account and then into my savings account! I LOVE when you can not only get free food but make a few dollars as well!
Since the rebate goes into November, here’s a list of participating retailers and what items are included (18 pages of them!) https://homeappetitreward.com/documents/QualifyingList.pdf
I finished 4 client quilts this week- https://pin.it/6P7tJwe and https://pin.it/1uj9Agv, https://pin.it/5Jmvqf8 and https://pin.it/sjrF9Tl as well as making from my scraps this baby quilt for a baby shower I was going to : https://pin.it/6U1NnWa. While this may not be considered pantry building, it actually saved me $50 on the gift and added $376 in income to our savings! So we consider this part of our preparedness.
We continued our final winter prep chores outside- picking peppers, tomatoes and figs. The house is so much less drafty than it used to be and that is having a great effect on our utility bills for cooling and heating. Our chickens are still averaging 7 eggs a day! So I’m doing more baking to use eggs as well as keep the house toasty!
All in all, still opportunities out there to add to our pantries and also share with others so they can do the same!
Gardenpat in Ohio
Wow, your beautiful harvest is nicer than any we got in our pitiful Southern garden this summer. It looks like it will provide many good, healthy meals. How wonderful the nursery was so generous to you, and you were able to get many things you needed. Last week, for an online food order, I went through Swagbucks for 4% back, and used a 20% off coupon code. Four trays of celery were dehydrated, destined for celery salt for gifts. It dries down to not much, once dried and powdered. I swapped out all the hot and cold weather clothes in the dressers. I was able to find the perfect tiny vanity and basin at an antiques mall, for our skoolie project. The day after I got it home, I thought to check Google Lens, and found a wide variety of prices, all significantly more, quite a few, thousands more, and the most similar one, in worse shape, was listed for $2500. Though not particularly frugal, I’m pretty pleased with finding this treasure for under $200, especially since a new vanity would be more, and be lacking in it’s lovely history and patina. Books were requested and picked up at the library. The past few times I’ve looked to buy dogfood, there was not the usual sale, but last week, it was on sale again, and two were purchased. I’d love to put more back when they’re on sale, but when two bags run $68 on sale, it’s a bit hard on the pocketbook to do more. My sister and I were able to attend a musical on Sunday, which our brother was playing in. He’s a percussionist, and it’s always a treat to see him in his element. Now that all three of us are in our 60’s, time with them both seems especially precious. Wishing all a lovely week.
I’m always so impressed with the length of your runner beans! One thing I have learned from you in regards to gardening, is to think about how to get the most out of limited space. Thank you for teaching me that!
My frugal week:
– made homemade popsicles
– did a little bit of transcription work for rev.com, not a lot, but enough to pay for one little extra, a music class for my daughter.
– I made chicken tortilla soup, but made it vegetarian and used a ton of substitutions, and it was great! Used beans instead of chicken, tomato sauce I had frozen in cubes from the freezer instead of tomato paste, powdered lime and bottled lemon juice instead of fresh lime juice, and peri peri sauce instead of chipotle peppers. Tasty, and used up a tons of little things I had lying around!
– made my favourite Mennonite pickled beets, which my kids love (http://approachingfood.com/easy-mennonite-pickled-beets/)
– I made a batch of copycat Insomnia double chocolate cookies, and froze half the dough to have as an easy dessert when company comes over or to quickly whip up a hostess gift/dish.
– I made a bean salad, and served it over salad, so that the bean salad dressing acting as a salad dressing, and then made homemade croutons with toast ends. Salad bar level yummy!
– I mixed up my own Everything But the Bagel seasoning (using the ingredients here http://approachingfood.com/preservative-free-shortcut-everything-bagels/)
– borrowed and read lots of paper and e-books from my public library, and took advantage of kid’s programming too
Looking forward to learning from everyone else, as always!
Margaret,
Your statement “I’m always so impressed with the length of your runner beans! One thing I have learned from you in regards to gardening, is to think about how to get the most out of limited space. Thank you for teaching me that!”
I couldn’t agree more.
We got the first snow last week and it didn’t get any warmer since. It’s been snowing, raining, and sleeting on and off. Between the showers I was able to plant garlic and bury my precious Mother’s Day roses. In May, I treated myself two roses for Mother’s Day because a certain young man had turned me into a mother-in-law by one word he said (lol). This kind of rose is a traditional / old-fashioned Mother’s Day rose over here. It grows and blooms beautifully with small flowers outside once it’s warm enough, but it doesn’t survive outside during winter if planted in the ground. And, it is tricky to get it over winter as well.. Now, as I was in cashier line back in May, a local granny began to tell everyone how she has not bought that kind of a rose for over 10 years (they are quite pricey – about 20 euros each). She told she just buries it into ground for winter. Then, come spring, she digs it up and the rose begins to grow and bloom again. I was fascinated and decided to try it with my roses. I planted my mint back to ground as well. I had taken it up for summer and let it grow in hanging planters. I am going to do the same thing next summer.
How wonderful that you got a gift card from the nursery! It looks like you’ll have lots of fun planting all your goodies.
I’m going to use your idea of using the crockpot more. I didn’t realize it would be such a gas saver, either. Our gas has also gone up so any little savings are much appreciated.
Isn’t it fun to grocery shop in the garden? The red beans are beautiful. I’m glad you got the gift card. You got so much with it.
Apples were our theme for the week. I added to our pantry 9 quarts and 14 pints of applesauce, 20 jars of apple syrup, 3 quarts of ACV and 6 bags of dehydrated apple cinnamon crisps. My daughter took home a quart of apple crisps and I have 2 quarts for us to eat now. I still have half of the apples to process or eat.
The garden is still going. Figs are being eaten fresh, frozen and shared with friends and coworkers. Eggplants, peppers, lettuce, swiss chard, parsley, beets and carrots are still being picked. Sadly tomatoes are done for the year.
The heat still hasn’t been turned on yet. I’m hoping to make it until November. Blankets have been put on the bed and on the couch. Hubby is still wearing shorts to bed so I still have time.
My oldest had a mole that changed color. She had it tested and it was positive for skin cancer. She had it removed and 17 stitches later is healing nicely. I went for a full body scan and was all clear. My younger 2 are going this week to get checked. The doctor gave me some free samples which is always nice.
I have been cooking all of our dogs food lately. She gets tummy issues(vet said possible IBS) so homemade it is. We did have to buy some vitamins for her but she is worth every penny. Special dog food would cost $85 a bag and that would last less then a month.
Our neighbors got locked out of their house. Their key wasn’t working in their front door. Hubby works 3 minutes away so he came home to help them. He had to cut the lock on their gate so they could go in the back door. They brought over some treats as a thank you.
My free Covid tests came in the mail.
Made banana chip muffins for snacks this week. My daughter made a huge batch of cookies and gave us some.
I covered for someone at work so that will be extra money next week. I got free pizza at work one day. I brought water and lunch with me all week.
Frugal fail. Our mini fridge died. I had to toss a few things from the freezer but everything in the fridge was fine.
Have a wonderful week everyone.
Good Morning,
Did the girls sell many things? I remember selling lemonade.
I have been on a plan over the last 2 months structured to reduce weight and budget. The first step was a non- Ultra Processed Food ( only food with ingredients that are in the average kitchen.) It has been 2 months and five pounds ago. I am cooking almost all my own food and the desire to go to eat is dropped to nil because it is difficult to find real food in this take – out world. Step two started a couple of weeks ago when I started to actually utilize the gym membership we have. When I work out I eat less, shop less, and generally feel healthier. I started phase three on Sunday. I set a screen limit on my mac probook to two hours. I had been up to four hours average. Yikes. On Sunday with this new limit, I redirected my focus to frugal and creative projects. I used up bits and pieces of food to make breakfast and lunches for the week : wild rice frittatas, granola with sorghum, rye, molasses, and groats cooked in my instapot. I had no milk so I made almond milk with free almonds from our coop, my vitamix, and a found coffee press. I mended, finished a book, exercised, and made a few homemade gifts. No money spent. Less screen time means not only more exercise but less urges to peruse for discounts, see fewer advertisements for food and meaningless purchases, and using up what I already have. I can use my clunky kindle to look up directions for recipes and projects – much less a temptation to doom surf.
I know many of the contributors on this site do all these things regularly but I have been justifying my no activity becasue fo my high energy full time teaching position. 100 high school teenagers tire me out in the day. i have found in I set for a few hours, i can still get some things done during the week and sleep better.
They did sell several things and lots of lemonade!
Guessing it was from your own lemon trees; I would pay more for “real” lemonade rather than that horrible powdered stuff.
She sold powdered lemonade.
My lemons won’t be ripe until December.
I’m glad you’ve found a brand you like. I have given up trying in restaurants. Having it very cold, not watery, and served by a smiling young person would make it taste better.
Hello, frugal friends from the colorful Appalachian Mountains of Virginia! The leaves are just starting to turn here and it looks like it is going to be a gorgeous fall. I love watching out my kitchen window as the leaves turn. I enjoyed the photo of the monarch butterfly, Brandy. We have seen many here. I let the milkweed grow wild in my yard for them. When I taught I would bring in a few caterpillars to the classroom so the children could see the process of turning into a butterfly. We did many activities with this project, my favorite being the release in the classroom. I would place different colors of flowers on each table and we would predict and record which ones they would go to most frequently. I also told the children if they wore colorful clothes they might attract the butterflies to land on them. I have many photos of my students “wearing” a butterfly. It also kept even the most rambunctious student quiet during this time. In the end we would leave the outer door open and watch them fly out to the playground. I taught kindergarten so everything was a learning experience. They wrote, predicted, counted, measured, observed, drew, etc. It was one of my favorite times of the year…and provides me with many great memories. But I digress…
On the frugal front, this is for the past 2 weeks:
*We went to Williamsburg. Friends offered us a free week at their timeshare so lodging costs were zero. We cooked all but 3 meals-one breakfast, one lunch and one dinner. were enjoyed at Colonial. We have been to Colonial Williamsburg many, many times so we did not buy tickets or a carriage ride this year. Instead one day we enjoyed the timeshare facility (mostly walking) and the next day we walked around Colonial popping into the shops where tickets were not needed and wandering in Merchants Square. We used our military discount throughout. Colonial Williamsburg gives a 10% discount to military and veterans. We also drove our gas sipping car and paid little for gas. This last thing is not necessarily frugal but we found a very pretty back way home which we will use anytime we travel across the state to Williamsburg area. It only added 10 additional driving minutes. So worth it to get off the interstates!
*I had to drive 18 miles each way to get blood work done. The local labs had no appointments for weeks and the results were needed quickly. The usual lab was closed due to no staffing. Am I the only one concerned about the state of medical help these days? I drove our gas sipping car to save gas.
*We turned off the a/c and opened windows for the better part of 3 weeks.
*Rain watered the yard and gardens
*Was gifted 2 plants .
*Used the library for online reading
*From the garden we ate greens. We continue to get greens and the broccoli is beginning to make heads.
*I figured out Kroger’s cash back program. I have .50 available on my account so far.
*I bought pork loin for $1.79/# which I cut into pork chops and froze enough for 7 meals.
*I have bought few groceries this month instead using food storage.
*We had to replace one of our toilets so Mr. Fix It to the rescue. He took care of the situation saving us the cost of a plumber. We bought the replacement toilet using our military discount.
*Made breadcrumbs from bread scraps and canned 2 pints of ground cherry syrup, and 3 quarts of spaghetti sauce.
*I repurposed a journal to make a new garden journal.
I wish everyone a joyful, frugal week!
I love your butterfly lesson! That sounds like the kind of lesson thr children will remember their whole lives!
I remember some specific lessons from kindergarten and first grade.
My parents became friends with my kindergarten teacher. We used to go to her house for meals and to go swimming.
She sold some land that she owned and the district built a new elementary school on that land.
I love the butterfly story! I’m trying to keep a butterfly garden going even if I’m not doing a veg. I’m trying to keep to native milkweed only, but have a hard time given I’m doing it in containers. I keep trying though!
What a nice butterfly lesson!
Beautiful garden and flower photos, as always! I also love neighborhood garage sales. You never know what you are going to find! So often we walk away with items we have been looking for or in need of.
Frugal accomplishments: We received our free home covid tests in the mail. Cooked and ate most meals at home, including grilled chicken with baked potatoes, homemade brisket & bacon pizza, slow cooker brisket tacos, sausage biscuits with home fried potatoes & onions, pancakes with bacon. We have been enjoying a very nice cold front and have been able to turn off our air conditioning and open the windows for several days, which is a nice savings! Our condo stays warm (we are on the top floor, and south facing) so even though it was 44 overnight, we left the windows open and it is 69 inside. As we usually keep the air around 76, this was a nice savings. It will be cool enough in the evenings for several days coming to keep opening windows overnight, although we will need to run the air again soon as it is supposed to be 90 by this weekend. We did our grocery shopping at Aldi to save money. Cut two streaming services we were not using. Our new dishwasher was finally delivered and we have been enjoying it very much and do not miss hand washing all of our dishes. I did my own manicure and pedicure at home. My husband found a brand new coffeemaker at an estate sale that I will use for my new office (same job, just moving to a newly-constructed office suite). Worked on our Thanksgiving and Christmas menus and planning what we will need to purchase and what we already have in stock.
I hope everyone has a lovely week!
Your garden is so gorgeous and productive. Thank you for sharing such beautiful photographs.
I picked the last of my zucchini before our first frost.* I baked two big loaves of sourdough bread. *I cooked a big pot of dried beans. We ate some for dinner and I froze the rest in four containers for future meals.*We enjoyed chard and carrots from the greenhouse.*While hiking, we came across a big stand of wild roses, with beautiful, fat, rose hips. I picked enough to make a batch of rose hip syrup with honey. I use this to sweeten my tea all winter, giving myself an extra dose of Vitamin C. *My only grocery purchases this week were sale items: 5 ½ gallons of milk for 99 cents per half gallon, a bag of mandarin oranges for $3.49, and a 5-lb bag of russet potatoes for $1.99. * My crock pot had a big chip in the crock and I was debating getting a new one . On Saturday I helped with a clean-up day at church and came home with a nearly-new crock pot de-cluttered from the church kitchen.
Hi everyone – haven’t commented in a couple of weeks but always read all the entries and take note. Congratulations on the GC Brandy – you purchased many lovely items for your garden!
My vacation plans to visit family fell through because my brother, BIL and Nephew all came home from a golfing trip to Virginia with Covid! Three households in isolation. I had put money aside for this break so just put it away and hopefully I’ll be able to go through to see them before Christmas. It gets more difficult at this time of year as I have both extra work and personal commitments. I just banked the vacation days at the office and will play it by ear. I even postponed my hair cut for an extra couple of weeks so that will take me right up to Christmas for the final one of the year.
I did purchase some curtains for the living room on Amazon (wish your links worked Brandy for Canadians) – I had them in my cart and they came up with a saving on Prime days and as I need two sets for my living room it was a good deal.
I continue to eat out of the pantry and freezer and only buy items that are on sale or that I truly need to fill in gaps. That has included tins of tuna, some Christmas treats, bleach and sunflower oil from Ukraine – I’ve heard of this brand before but had never seen it in my supermarket. I have also contacted my Loyalty Point people as I did not receive points on some purchases made last Friday and I did have $10 worth of points deducted even though I cancelled the order – I think there was something wrong with their system last Friday – if you use PCOpt points in Canada you might want to double-check your last few receipts! I’m hoping it gets sorted today.
-made chicken noodle soup using stock and canned chicken from the pantry and various types of frozen veg
.made pumpkin muffins and froze the remainder of the pumpkin in three 1/2 cup portions as I only needed 2 cups for the recipe and pumpkin is up to $6/can here now!
.made another shepherd’s pie using pre-cooked lamb from my freezer. Only had a couple of potatoes left so mixed that with previously cooked sweet potato from the freezer
.made a dozen egg cups using 7 eggs and the remainder of a few different bits and pieces of cheese
.cooked up a pound of bacon – tried a new variety – it’s OK but I won’t buy it again. The bacon plus the egg cups make for protein heavy breakfasts instead of carbs (I’m a carb addict)
.made a batch of tuna salad for sandwiches using just one can of tuna plus a cup of cooked chickpeas from the freezer – I’m really liking this way of making it now
-made an apple crumble with oats that “expired” about six months ago and a package of 6 large apples (all kinds of varieties) that were on the discount counter – came out great
I did invite friends to share in Thanksgiving dinner and sent everyone home with leftovers – still leftovers in the fridge for me to use later. Socializing has been kept to a minimum but will get busier over the next month or so. Went for a drive to see the Fall colours this past Sunday but unless you head north (we headed west) there isn’t a lot of change as yet – I think that extra hot weather we had a couple of weeks ago has thrown everything off schedule – plus – we haven’t quite had a frost as yet. It was a bit drizzly but still nice to get out and walk in a couple of spots along the Waterfront Trail – got in 6,000 steps and enjoyed the fresh air.
I really need to do a big clear out in my bedroom – the room itself – my wardrobes & dresser – and the large storage closet. It’s more the idea of having to haul everything out of the closet and making a mess in my living room that has stopped me – I have a small apt. and stuff has to go somewhere. I volunteer this evening but will make a start on it tomorrow when I get home from the office. It’s one of those deals where you have to do one thing before you can do the next and so on – so needs to be done in an organized manner. The weather doesn’t look great for this weekend and the friend that I usually head out with is tied up both days so I think that I will plan to stay home (aside from church) and just get it done! This will include the final switch over of seasonal clothing. I also have a number of loads of laundry to get through as I do the switch – although I did manage some hand laundry yesterday which will get me through to the end of the week as far as clothes for the office are concerned.
I have a 7 day free offer of Crave TV – I’ve been wanting to watch “The Dublin Murders” and I’ve also watched “The Serpent Queen” about Catherin de Medici – it wouldn’t be to everyone’s taste but I quite enjoyed it. These are really the only two things that I can see at the moment so I will cancel at the end of the week.
Hi Margie,
I watched “Scarborough” on Crave at Christmas time,I hope it’s still on Crave.It’s a story of a community center in Scarborough based on the book by Catherine Hernandez. She grew up in a Scarborough public housing unit as the child of single Philipina mother. She weaves the story based on her memories.
Crave was the only platform I could find to watch it on, it closely follows the book. Just a suggestion for your 7 day trial😉.
I will check it out and see if it is available – thanks for the tip.
What a good idea mixing chickpeas in your tuna salad. I think I will try that with canned salmon. (Sadly, I developed an allergy to tuna some years ago.)
I’m always impressed with your determination to keep your home organized. There is a special skill set to keeping things sorted in a small place.
Small spaces can be a challenge – but – I am actually blessed with some decent closet space – unusual in an older building – so that certainly helps.
Let us know how the salmon with chickpeas tastes – I would suggest a wee bit more seasoning than usual just to add a little something – my mom used to often add malt vinegar to salmon salad.
Look at those beautiful garden harvests! Well done!
We’ve also been harvesting a ton, especially because our first hard frost came this last week. I’ll admit I’m not the best at preserving our fresh stuff for later use, but we’ve definitely been taking advantage of having so much good produce around and eating it fresh! I’m hoping in a different season of life (when I don’t have a newborn and other small children) that I’ll be able to find a way to still do some preserving even while we’re also doing flower farming. I can’t imagine having that kind of bandwidth/energy right now, but maybe someday!
Also, wrapping paper is one of my favorite things to find at estate sales. It’s gotten to the point where I absolutely hate having to buy wrapping supplies at any regular store 🙂
Here are my own frugal accomplishments for the week, and you can definitely tell there’s a distinct autumn theme throughout:
https://www.toloveandtolearn.com/2023/10/17/weekly-frugal-wins-all-the-fall-vibes/
Thanks for tip of buying wrapping paper at estate sales. I feel the same way regarding birthday cards etc.
Hello!
The monarch photo is gorgeous. We used to have a butterfly bush that attracted monarchs, but we had to remove it because the roots were lifting concrete. Thanks for sharing!
I finished my “meals in a jar”, which I vacuum sealed in quart sized bags instead. I made one dozen dehydrated meals, two of each variety. When the power goes out, these will be simple to prepare on our gas stove. This is much less expensive than freeze-dried camping meals, or eating out (assuming the surrounding area may have power). They fit neatly into a plastic box that fits into the cupboard.
We’ve managed to plug some holes that the rabbits are using to access my veggie garden. Some are as small as knots in our fence boards! Even so, I saw another one yesterday and am hesitant to plant my fall veggies until all access points are blocked. We’ve been having marvelous warm, sunny days and I’m finally getting ripened tomatoes (even my Early Girls haven’t ripened much until now).
We tried to add insulation to our attic this weekend (DIY). There are so many crossbeams that it really needs to be blown in. So, we will need to research the best method for accomplishing this ourselves. It seems that the cost will be higher to blow than to roll it in. : (
I refilled my freezer with ground turkey. I cut the Costco packages into 1 lb. portions (as they come in 1.5 lb. containers) and freeze in vacuum sealed bags. I made some turkey soup using leftover brown rice and any veggies we had on hand for dinner. I’ve been baking as the prices for breads are quite high, even at Costco. We don’t have a bakery outlet store anywhere near us.
Our 5 Buff Orpingtons finally started laying this week. I still can’t tell them apart and have collectively named them my “minions”. : )
Have a blessed and beautiful week everyone!
Julie,
You can rent the machine to do the blown in insulation yourself. I know for sure Menard’s rents them. I am assuming Home Depot and others do that as well. My husband was up in the attic access blowing the cellulose insulation while I opened the bricks and fed them into the blower. It is quite physically demanding as they weigh 25lbs and you are using a lot of them! It also is quite dusty. But it saved us a lot of money versus having to hire a contractor. Good Luck!
How wonderful about the gift card to the nursery! Gorgeous photos as always.
It was a good week. We’ve had rain on and off, but it’s not really cold so I have only had to turn the heat on briefly in the mornings. I was able to take several walks on the river trail near me, which I really enjoy.
Months ago, before I moved to this apartment, I found a beautiful floral duvet cover and two matching pillow cases at the thrift store for under $20. It was in great condition and likely sold for around $150 new. The only drawback was that it was too large (king), but I figured I could make it the size I needed (queen). I measured the size of my current duvet cover, and altered the king size one to fit. It turned out great and looks so beautiful on my bed. While I had my sewing machine out, I also mended an apron for my BIL.
Using ingredients I had on hand (beeswax, avocado oil and coconut oil), I made lotion bars from a recipe I found online. I melted equal parts of each in a pan, and poured the mixture into a silicone muffin pan. They turned out great!
Made jam out of freezer fruit. It was primarily blueberry rhubarb (I did buy a bag of blueberries) plus a few frozen peaches and about a cup of blackberries. I found 12 half pint jars at Grocery Outlet for $10 (the lowest I have seen lately). The fruit combo was delicious. I ended up with 10 jars of jam.
Also made a large pot of lentil soup, using pantry items and various things lingering in the fridge. Enjoyed several servings, put two quarts in the freezer, and gave a quart to my sister (along with one of the lotion bars I made).
Used a $10 off $20 produce at the local coop. Found a great deal on beef at another store. My sister gave me a half a container of lotion she no longer wanted, plus a jar of pickled beans. My mom needed a few wash cloths and hand towels, and I was able to share some of mine instead of buying any.
Looking forward to reading everyone’s comments.
Monarchs are my favorite butterfly! I’m always happy to see one. We had them in Ontario when I was growing up, but I think the last time I saw one was in Hawaii. It is such a long way for them to migrate there. And what a wonderful bounty you gathered in that shopping cart with your nursery gift card!
I made soup with split red lentils for the first time, adding them to diced tomatoes, and chicken broth, along with some fresh garlic and spices. These lentils cook very quickly, and I was very happy with the result. I am realizing that I have not stocked up enough cans of diced tomatoes, since I am using them more and more often in homemade chilis and soups, so I’ll have to keep working on that.
I’ve been having trouble buying cat food that agrees with my senior cat’s stomach at my local grocery store. It seems like a big project to take a seniors’ bus to the next town over to buy some. I have decided to order bigger bags of her favorite stomach-settling food through Amazon, and pay for a taxi every few months to go pick it up at the post office. Buying the food in bulk costs half of what it does to buy smaller bags when they are available at the local store. The first order is due on Friday. I’ll go back to keeping a separate budget for cat food every three or four months, and take out the $10 to $20 a month that was built into my grocery budget.
A less frugal choice has been to order a box of packets of instant mashed potatoes. I thought it would be helpful to have them if I wasn’t feeling well or if walking conditions were making it difficult carrying a bag of potatoes home from the store this winter. I’ll stock up on fresh potatoes too, since that is my preference. However, I do want to have some foods in the pantry that I can manage if I’m not feeling well. I have a small list that I am in search of. I am thinking of the things my mother made me when I was sick as a girl. It helps to feel taken care of, even if I did it myself before I got sick! Gardenpat was talking about getting ginger ale for upset tummies, and that is definitely on my list.
Elizabeth M.
That is a really good idea to have a few things in your pantry in case you are ill. Also in case your friends are ill and can’t help you if you’re ill.
The instant mashed potatoes are a good plan too. Almost all of my friends have covid at the moment. Fortunately I haven’t been around them. Ann
Ann, I’m trying to be more mindful of always having some foods in the house that are very easy to prepare, and not too hard on the stomach. I make lots of spicy meals, so I need to work on that.
I’m sorry so many of your friends have covid. I’m glad you haven’t! I haven’t heard about anyone here having it yet, but it will be here soon enough. I’m planning to try and get covid and flu vaccines next week. No allergies here to stop me. Elizabeth
Elizabeth M- Great job of thinking and planning ahead!!
I like to keep lots of homemade DIY convenience meals/ingredients in my pantry and freezer not only for when we are sick, but also for times with inclement weather when we don’t want to leave home AND also when we’ve had a busy day and are just flat-out tired!
But I also watch sales and other opportunities to add commercial convenience items to add to my resources- a few months ago, I was given a treasure trove of canned goods that we shared with lots of friends/family but also kept some for our own shelves. One comfort food I remember Mom giving me was Spaghettios (I can still sing the jingle! 😂). Not the most nutritious I’m sure but quick, easy and comforting to me. But, because I was spoiled, Mom always bought the brand name! In the literally 1700+ cans we were given, there were several cases of a house brand Spaghettios. Some were taken , but there were about 2 cases leftover that I put on my shelf. I tried one after a long day and surprise!! 😱 It tasted just like my old favorite name brand Spaghettios!! So they are on my shelf and getting eaten!
I guess my point is that too often we think our pantry needs to be comprised in a certain way (all homemade, all organic, all purchased on sale/clearance to be of value when we need something in a hurry. But, however your pantry looks, if you are planning and adding to it with what works for your family, then that is awesome!!
Gardenpat,
I’m now singing that jingle with you! I loved Spaghettios as a kid too. 😀
Gardenpat, thanks so much for the encouragement. I’m happy for you that you were able to get a stash of Spaghettios. Always good to have some comfort foods on hand!
After I had my third baby, the hospital gave me a meal–canned spaghettios on white toast! I had my babies in England. Anything on toast is comfort food. I don’t think nutritional value was considered.
I also keep some less-than-optimal-nutrition meals on hand for convenience and comfort, and I gladly eat them. But spaghettios will always be a bad memory for me.
Mine is Campbells soups… fiesta, cheddar, cream of chicken. cream of celery, cream of mushroom and chicken noodle. Buy them by the case and always have 2 cases. Ran out of ALL once and I got sick and sent Hubby to store for soups… YUCK as he didn’t buy Campbells. Daughter 1 laughed as she was the one that told him what brand to buy and forgot I only uses Campbells. Can’t blame her for forgetting she said since she just turned 50 at the time. LOL
It was a great, frugal week in heavenly Houston!
I stopped at a Jimmy John’s sandwich shop to buy day old bread. I bought 6 for .50/each. Each loaf of bread made me 3 sub sandwiches, which I packed for my kids to eat between volleyball and baseball games. Much, much cheaper than fast food. I had a few leftover sandwiches that I packed in lunches the next day. The bread was a little drier, but still edible.
I found the leftover rotisserie chicken breast packs at Sam’s in a different refrigerator case. They moved them, explaining why I hadn’t seen any in a while. I stripped the meat from the breasts packs ($4 for 4, with wing), as well as a pack of rotisserie leg quarters ($4 for 6). Most of the meat we ate or froze, now I just need to cook down the bones and scraps.
The weather has been very pleasant, so I’ve opened the windows.
I’ve been able to piece together gift for birthday parties my kids have attended out of the gift closet.
A child threw up during the night on all of their bedding, giving me a great reason to wash and air dry the bedding (overdue).
I paid bills online.
Grocery sales are decent: 3# bags of apples have been $1.47, so we have eaten a lot of sliced apples with peanut butter as an after school/work snack.
I sold more items on Mercari and Facebook marketplace. Cash in, junk out!
Weird thing: instead of throwing away the paper towel I used to dry my (clean) hands in our work restroom, I stuffed it in my pocket, then used it later to blow my nose. It was clean, it saved me from using a (new) kleenex or toilet paper to blow my nose, and it would have been thrown in the trash after I dried my hands anyway.
Hope everyone has a nice, frugal week!
The photo of the butterfly is beautiful!
I’ve been thankful to find a school that needs regular subs that is only 7 minutes walk from my house. My aim is to sub one day a week. With my health conditions, as well as family responsibilities, I feel thankful to be able to do that.
We are swimming in tomatoes, apples and figs, which is a wonderful problem to have. I keep using them. I asked for an apple peeler/corer on buy nothing, and received one! That should make the apples a lot easier. I’m still recovering from surgery on my right thumb, so that’s slowed me down in the produce processing.
I removed the filling of a bed pillow whose cover was very stained. I washed the filling, sewed a new cover, laundry stripped the dust mite cover and now the whole thing is like new! Probably not worth the time in terms of money, but I found great satisfaction in it. It will save me buying another pillow (fairly cheap) and dust mite cover ( a little more expensive), but it also keeps everything except the old inner pillow cover out of the landfill.
I finished my mending pile, replacing some elastic in pajamas with free elastic given to me, altering a blouse I never wore into a style I’ll happily wear (neck too tight-I let that out, sleeves too wide-I took them in, sleeves too short-I added a cuff). Also added elastic to the back of a dress for my daughter.
I filed all my “to be filed” pile. Mending is self explanatory in it’s savings. Filing is frugal, I guess, in that I catch things that need done, we better track our finances, and I weed out the stuff that can be thrown away. I have one file drawer and am determined to keep it that way!
I go ahead and wash bed pillows. Mom used to wash canvas tennis shoes on the same days to put in the dryer with. I bought tennis balls years ago just for fluffing things like pillows in the dryer on wash day. Works great. Especially feather pillows.
Ooooooooh, a GC to the nursery! My dream gift. Lucky you, Brandy.
We are having a beautiful autumn. Last fall, the leaves were slow to fall and the snow started while the trees still had lots of leaves. They didn’t fall until spring! And my dogwood didn’t bloom at all this year. I wonder if the two are related?
I cleaned up my raised beds last week. I’m leaving the chard to see how long it lasts and if it overwinters. Probably depends on the winter–I’m in Zone 6b. I also emptied the planters and I’m trying to overwinter the geraniums in my garage. When emptying the planters, I made an effort to preserve the drip lines (I cut them last year and had to re-do them in the spring).
I made a huge pot of ham and bean soup and froze a quart for another time. We also ate a lot of leftovers last week so I didn’t have to cook much. (Always a treat!).
I am continuing my personal grocery and “in my pocket” challenges this month. My grocery budget is $300 and so far in October I’ve spent $177.50. No hot buys on meats this week (that I know of), but I’m expecting the big baking sale at Super 1. The ad drops at midnight today! I didn’t have any savings in my pocket last week, but I’ve already exceeded my monthly goal of $125.
Best wishes to everyone here for a fun and frugal week ahead!
Your garden seems to be doing well! After a great start with my spring/summer garden, my fall garden is not doing nearly as well, and I am sad. I’ll keep trying, though. Three plantings with new seeds, and they aren’t germinating. I think it’s that we’ve had such dry, hot sun for a while, then very hard rains that probably washed away some of the seeds. Most of these seeds have to be shallow or surface planted.
We had a couple of cool nights, so I’ve worn my new-to-me ThredUp sweaters.
This wasn’t really what I wanted to see, but my dogs killed a mole that was tunneling all over my back yard and making walking hazardous. I didn’t have to buy any mole repellent at least.
I use my crock pot, toaster oven and pressure cooker a lot, even in winter. However, some things just seem better from the oven, so I do use it, but I try to always cook at least two things at a time.
I’ve stayed out of stores more.
I continue to carry all my lunches to work.
I’m actively Christmas shopping, watching for sales. I always spend more if I wait until December.
I still have the A/C off, although this week will test my resolve. After unusually cool weather, we will have unusually warm weather, they say, for a few days.
I have a book on hold at the library.
Have a good week, everyone!
Your produce pictures are so gorgeous
Kind of a slow week, I didnt have a vehicle most of the week.
I redeemed a code for a free apple pie roll from Panda Express
Hubby did a job and a lady sent him home with 2 dozen fresh eggs
My teen made homemade egg drop soup
I used jelly from leftover from takeout meals on toast. We don’t eat it a lot, but every now and then, I get a hankering for it.
My boss brought me home from work last week. I stopped and got breakfast for her on my way to work Friday, and I plan to pick her up a gift card somewhere as a thank you.
Not so frugal: it ended up costing $1100 to fix hubby’s clutch. The mechanic refused to honor the free part replacement this time(it was originally installed in 2016, and was replaced first right before covid). So instead of paying $600 or so for labor, it was so much to get his truck back 😭
I have been waiting 23 years to go back to Florida. My husband had a quick contract job to do in Pensacola. So I found someone to watch the kids. We drove down 1 day, did the job the next, and drove home the 3rd day. We squeezed in the Pensacola Beach (free) day 2 at sunset and day 3 really early before we left. It was gorgeous and I loved the waves. I was delighted the toll was only $1 each way (plus a 1 time monthly fee of $2.50) and the pier was $2.50 a person for the entire day as long as you did not loose the bracelet. The pier was worth it, I got to see a huge turtle, dolphins, and jelly fish in the water!
Back home, we are eating from the pantry and shopping the discount stores for the items we do need. We are spending lots of time outside while the weather is still warm and enjoying the leaves changing colors. And like Brandy I have discovered not using the gas oven at all really lowers the natural gas bill. This summer we have used the air fryer, pressure cooker, and toaster oven and the bill dropped to a price I have not seen in years.
I now will enjoy your flower pictures as we have had a killing frost and there will be no more flowers for at least 7 months.
-We are remodeling our pantry. It is the hall coat closet but I have used it for a pantry for years as it is right off the kitchen. But there is wasted space between the shelves. Hubby is using leftover wood scraps for all the shelf rails and trim. We had to purchase some plywood and paint. I went from 4 shelves to 7 and from 9 inches deep to 16. Plus the shelves are more heavy duty and will hold more canned goods. I will easily double my storage space. It was an adventure to cook as I had boxes of things everywhere. We did get it done this week and all inventoried and organized and back in the pantry. It is wonderful!
-The last of the potatoes were dug, the last of the apples were picked, the oregano was picked and dehydrated, and the leeks were harvested, sliced and frozen. The garden is cleaned out and ready for winter.
-I planted some tulip bulbs in the front flower beds for some blooms in the spring.
-We are eating some frozen meals and leftovers from the freezer. The area I keep these items is getting full and it is time to use some of it up. Makes for quick and easy meals.
-I bought 5# of flavored coffee beans (pumpkin spice) from my favorite company. They had 30% off on National coffee day. It brought the cost down to the price of last fall. So they have had a 30% increase in the last year. I mix this half and half with regular coffee from Costco and add some additional pumpkin pie spice mix. That way I get the flavor and it stretches the flavored coffee.
-I picked the last of the apples finally. I canned 20 more pints of applesauce, 5 quarts of apples in light syrup, and a fresh apple pie.
-I fermented a 2 gallon jar of jalapeños, bell peppers, onions, and garlic for 2 weeks on my counter. I then drained the brine and blended up the solids using about a half cup of the reserved brine and some vinegar. It is bottled and in the refrigerator, it turned out to be mighty tasty hot sauce.
-I made a loaf of applesauce bread from a jar of applesauce that didn’t seal.
-I made bread dough in my bread machine. I then made it into 4 hamburger buns and 6 dinner rolls. I froze the hamburger buns and we will eat the rolls.
-I made apple pie bars and a macaroni salad for a funeral at church. I had everything in my pantry to do this. So nice to not have to run out and buy something for this.
-We had roadside clean-up. Our church picks up trash on a 2 mile stretch of a state highway which we live just off of. They use our house as the headquarters. They meet here and go out in groups and then come back for a lunch which is provided by the church. We set it up in our shop so there’s room for everyone. I was given some sandwiches, bars, and macaroni salad that was left. We will use this for a couple of lunches this week.
-Read “Under the Tulip Tree”. Checked this out from the library. I believe someone here recommended it. I enjoyed this book, it is set during the Great Depression. Worth the read.
Have a great week!
Seven months without flowers!
Thank you for reminding me of my blessings.
Hi Brandy,
Wow! what a wonderful photo of a Monarch Butterfly! Awesome! It is very rare for us to see
Monarch butterflies here.
As usual, I enjoyed your photographs and reading the blog.
It has not been a frugal couple of weeks. I saved a lot but spent a lot.
I bought 8 pounds of tomatoes for $12 – (two cases for $6.00) the cheapest price I’ve seen so far.
I bought 10 pounds of red cabbage for $8 — the only problem is that it is only 2 gigantic heads of cabbage!! I will be cutting it all up tomorrow and freezing it.
I bought 10 pounds of beets for $6.00
(all at Co-op) I spent about $65 and saved $65.
I think my destiny is to make a lot of soup for the freezer.
I replenished some of my squash supply while it was on sale – the price has now doubled.
We received a Climate Action Incentive grant of $195.
Unfortunately none of it is going towards reducing my natural gas bill – reducing the increase of the carbon tax that is just starting
to go up to $3.00 per gigajoule (just for the tax). It is all going towards food.
My pantry is pretty well stocked up now and I will be buying minimal food for the month of November.
I have to spend $500 for the orthotics and it will be reimbursed by my health insurance so only out of pocket expenses for a short period.
My late friend’s husband did not charge me anything for chainsawing the tree that fell on the driveway.
Then he fixed my crumbling front porch (damaged when I unknowingly used an ice melt stuff on it). He said there was no charge.
Snow is predicted next week so it is a race against time to get leaves raked, boxes finished sorting, hoses taken up, deer fencing put up again,
etc etc. I’m sure not ready psychologically or otherwise for winter yet. With any luck it will just be flurries.
.
We continue to use our basil. My husband’s family has a greenhouse business and they gave us a beautiful yellow mum. My son had a birthday and I made him one of his favorite treats, pumpkin pie. We cooked at home almost all week. We took my son out for his birthday to one of his favorite places and I had lunch with a friend. My husband and I made coffee, tea, and sugar free hot chocolate at home. We had mint leaves that my husband added to the hot chocolate, Yum! We took a trip to town one evening when we had to run an errand and listened to oldie music. It was fun to listen to music that my parents listened to when I was a child. Youtube is a wonderful resource for that. I continue to learn from the internet and find entertainment as well. We are trying to use all we have in the fridge before we go shopping again. I was happy that we cooked at home today even though we though my husband thought about taking me out for tacos. Instead, I made Mexican buildup saving us much money for dinner and a tip! Then my husband made hot chocolate with mint. It was excellent! My husband made yogurt that my son is enjoying very much. I am using face lotion that costs only a dollar and it works! It doesn’t have sunscreen, but I am not outside too much. Our chickens have stopped laying, so they are officially just pets.
How do you make your sugar free hot chocolate? Would you be willing to share your recipe? I especially need some sugar free dessert recipes since erythritol is on the potentially dangerous list now.
Hi Elizabeth,
I’m not Tammy, but this is how I make sugar free hot chocolate. Put a heaping teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder in a mug. Add a pinch of salt and some half and half or unwhipped whipping cream (2 to 4 tablespoons, depending on how creamy you want it). To sweeten, I use a few drops of liquid monk fruit extract. Add boiling water and stir.
You can also add a spoonful of a powdered coffee substitute (I like Dandy Blend). I drink this every morning. It’s delicious!
Your garden is so beautiful right now. It always is, but it’s putting on a great show right now. The monarch photo was a treat. I belong to a neighborhood group who grows and distributes free milkweed to encourage people to plant it for them. Monarchs overwinter near here, so try to give them lots of support.
The weather has been great the last few weeks. Just left the windows open 24/7, however, it’s going to be in the 90s on Thursday. Planning to hang lots of laundry to coincide. Been scaling back on type of food to be more frugal. Did my own nails with polish I already had. Continued to use the counter oven in the garage. I started using it to reduce heat in the house over summer, but will continue as it saves on electricity. Checked out from the library the rules of magic to reread to put me in a Halloween mood. It’s my favorite of the practical magic series. (It’s the aunts story.) I got the audiobook book via Libby because my eyes have been bothering me and I fell asleep twice being read to! I just finished The Gown. I put up Halloween decorations I already had. Got orange juice on sale for $2.47 at Safeway, so got 3. Been loading trash from cleaning the garage to the can each week, so not to pay for extra. Had the pharmacy deliver my rx for free, saving gas. I ordered new windshield wipers online from a place that will replace them for free if you return the old ones, for as long as you own the car. So hope that turns out to be frugal.
Hope everyone has a great week!
Practical Magic is one of my favourite movies and I never realized that it was a book series! I have just ordered Magic Lessons – first book in chronological order – from the library = so thank you!
I didn’t know either!
Your produce harvest looks amazing.
Took advantage of some of the last warm days until spring, I thought, to wash bathmats sheets, mattress pad and comforter and hang on the clothesline. It appears we still have one more 70-degree day, so I think I will do the comforter that I keep on my sofa.
Made a big batch of pizza sauce and put 4 pints in the freezer and 3 pints in the refrigerator. Cleaned out the rest of the raised beds, except for 2 heads of cabbage still needing to be picked.
Watched a movie with the DH in the afternoon, we never do this, but we are both retired, and were tired from a lot of work in earlier days so treated ourselves. Made popcorn to go with the movie.
Roasted red peppers for the freezer. Left some ou for the homemade pizza I made. Put two crusts in the freezer. Got a chicken at Costco. Made broth with the bones and skin after picking the meat off them. Made a batch of garlic cheese spread. Made two loaves of herb bread.
Got 2 free cans of crushed tomatoes at the store.
Had a couple of lazy days. Don’t know why I feel guilty about that, but I do. I am 69 and mostly retired, so I guess a lazy day now and then is okay.
Hope everyone has a good week.
Wonderful garage sale finds Brandy. I hope the girls had selling success!
I received a 7% pay increase, which will help with the inflationary cost of living environment and financial goals.
I spent $10.39 on groceries for the family for last week and $6.70 this week.
I mentioned something I needed to an extended family member and they bought it for me. They will give it to me as a Christmas gift. I love receiving things I need, it is very appreciated.
I saw electric fitted blankets on sale at Target. All sizes were on clearance for $5 each. I filled up a trolley and will give them as joint husband and wife gifts at Christmas, to those that do not have one, would likely use it and live locally (no postage). They come in a very large box with plastic handle and would use up a lot of wrapping paper. I am thinking about just adding ribbon and a card, any thoughts or ideas on how to present them? I don’t normally give such pratical gifts but thought they would be appreciated. This has really helped me stay on a strict annual present budget.
I thought about December festive events, holidays and Christmas day food and decided my theme this year is ‘simple’.
What about looking for some very reasonably priced pillow cases and putting the blankets into them and tying it all up with a nice ribbon or twine? Pillow case sets from IKEA or such are cheaper than gift bags – especially since you would need a really large one!
Great idea, thanks Margie.
I love reading about your family’s team work, Brandy.
On the frugal front:
Years ago my friend gave me pathos cuttings from a plant she received at her father’s funeral. Recently, she sadly mentioned her plant had died. I rooted several cuttings from my plant, potted them up, and gave her the “new“ plant for her birthday. She was surprised and thankful. It was a very frugal, yet meaningful gift.
HH harvested the last of the red and green peppers, jalapeños, tomatoes and green beans from his garden. We enjoyed some fresh, donated some our church’s food pantry, and froze or pickled the rest.
A vendor brought in beautiful tarts from a fancy bakery to a work meeting. The meeting ran long, and the staff had left for the weekend so I took the leftovers home. I set one tart aside for HH and took the others to a small get together with friends that evening. They were delicious!
During Prime Days I purchased several small gifts and a replacement for our broken coffee maker. I selected delayed shipping to earn digital credits.
I brought lunch to work 2/4 days again this week. I realize this sounds ridiculous to many of you but eating lunch out is a huge weakness in my otherwise frugal life.
My husband was out of town longer than anticipated. I froze several servings of fruits and vegetables in an effort to avoid food waste.
I saved $0.18/gallon of gas using the Upside app.
I look forward to reading about everyone’s frugal feats!
Julie Anne,
I don’t think it sounds ridiculous to bring your lunch. I do it every day as well. It’s do expensive and to unhealthy to eat out all the time.
Your pictures are beautiful as always. Your harvest looks yummy. Our garden is over for this year. A gift card to a nursey was a pleasant surprise for you and looks like you got some deals. We have been getting up early and walking every morning. It is cold so I layer up. The leaves are changing and are so beautiful. We live close to a river and the leaves reflecting on the water is so peaceful and breathtaking. Last weekend was Octoberfest at a nearby town and they have a 5 miles of yard sales. They had a car show, craft fair, food trucks and such. We got a few deals. My rose bushes are blooming and are so pretty. My husband had oral surgery Monday so he has been on soft foods. Love to read about everyone’s week.
Brandy, I know you are cooking for a crowd every day. Have your meals changed without your husband in town?
We’ve had breakfast for dinner much more often and I am using my crockpot more to cook chicken while I do other things.
October is always a busy month for us and this past week was true to that. The weather is always beautiful here (in my opinion) but October brings people from all over to see the leaves changing in our mountains, students at at the university and there is much to do in the garden and with the bees in terms of winter preparation.
*We cleaned the stovepipe and chimney for our woodstove. Over the years, we have come up with a pretty efficient way of doing it which involves me standing on the stove and holding a 5 gallon bucket with a hole cut in it. Threaded through the hole is a series of wands that attach to one another. At the end is a brush made out of weed eater line that spins when a drill is attached to the end of the wands. My husband adds one wand at a time, cleans a bit, and then adds another until we get to the top, then work our way back down. The ash falls in the bucket and we dump it outside. From what I have heard, professionals charge $300 or so for this task so it is a huge savings and kind of fun (my husband may not agree! 🙂 ) However, there is often something funny in all we do. As we were cleaning the stovepipe, my husband said he thought we were near the top. All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something rolling down the hill in front of the house. It flashed white and black and my first thought was a skunk was running down the hill toward the chickens. Then, I could tell it was something round, not an animal, but couldn’t figure out what it was. I asked my oldest son to go outside to see what it was (I was still on top of the stove holding the bucket up to the opening in the ceiling and my husband was cleaning away.) He came back laughing and said, “Here’s your skunk, Mama!” It was the chimney cap! We got a little vigorous with our cleaning and popped it off. In true frugal fashion, my husband cleaned it up, smoothed the dent out of it where it hit the ground and will put it back on (it was rainy that day and we don’t climb on the roof unless it is nice and dry.) New ones cost about $150-200 but we will use this one and have a fun story to go along with it. 🙂
*My youngest son has been seeing an orthodontist every 6 months for the past 1 1/2 years in preparation for future braces. They have taken full x-rays twice, examined him and allowed him to participate in their rewards program all without charging us one penny. I know they are counting on making their money when he actually gets braces but I think this is wonderful customer service and helps ensure people will choose them when the time comes.
*Our homeschool co-op continues to be such a wonderful experience. So far this Fall, we have had classes in Spanish, cartography, navigation and orienteering, Appalachian music, art and more. Last week’s classes were on finance (kids read a great book about a child given $10 to spend on someone else to make their life better only to lose the money. In looking for it, he ends up doing kind things for others and learns that using one’s time and talent to help others is another way to make a difference – a message I can get behind whole-heartedly.) One of the Mama’s giving the other class used to run a farm-to-table ice cream and custard shop. The ice cream was made from the cream and eggs from their cows and ducks. She taught the science behind ice cream making and we made ice cream in a plastic bag – so much fun. We are so grateful to be a part of such a creative group and frugal-minded ones, at that. We also had a field trip to a corn maze and pumpkin patch I organized. I negotiated a 20% discounted rate for everyone over age 5 and children 5 and under were free. We had a big turn out, the weather was beautiful and we had such fun. This is a farm we go to every year with another family but, going in a large group saved everyone money and we hope we encouraged some of the other families to add this to their yearly traditions.
*A big part of our life as a homeschooling family has always been the reading of seasonal books and it is fun to see my boys able to read more and more of what I have always read to them. We read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and researched about the Hudson River Valley area of NY as well as life in the years following the Revolutionary War (when the story takes place.) We have also been reading a great book called “Mountain Ghost Stories: And Curious Tales of Western NC.” Both books are in our home library and we love pulling out maps and atlases. We are also making our way through many of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic movies this season and the boys write reviews on them. Oh, the rabbit hole of conversations that leads to – everything from history to fashion to technology to cinematography, the list goes on. Our experience with home education has been very much about seizing opportunities to be creative and use what you have (more so than lots of money) to have a truly bespoke educational experience.
*My daily walks with my dog are one of my non-negotiables – they preserve my sanity and remind me of my place in the world, all for free. This week, the walks took on more of that “crunch, crunch” I wait all summer to hear. I always come home with leaves in my hair and a smile on my face. 🙂
*Wishing everyone a beautiful week, wherever you are!
Hi, I really like your chimney cleaning idea. Your home school subjects sound very intriguing, too. Thanks for sharing your ideas.
Mountain Mama Dawn,
I love reading your posts and your feeling of joy and love for the mountains. If I was younger, I would want to move there.
I live in upstate NY in a beautiful spot east of the Hudson River. There are amazing fruit farms in the Hudson Valley, it’s such a beautiful valley as is the Schoharie Valley. The land is so fertile and productive.
Would you share the name of the book on finance for children? It sounds like a book I would like to add to our children’s library at church. Linda
I love your stories regarding all you do in your home schooled classes – you do an amazing job.
Hi Brandy et all!
This past weekend I also went to a yard sale. My neighbor across the street is moving out of state she had very low prices on items. I was able to purchase a Snoopy blog up for $5, two battery powered lamps for $5, many unused name brand candles for .50 -.75 cents each, I plan to use the candles as gifts, I also bought 4 plastic Adirondack chairs for $5 each, they usually sell for $20-30 dollars a piece at home and garden stores. My son also bought a package of golf balls for $2, just what we all need!
In frugal gardening land, I have been filling a second raised bed with dirt that I have been purchasing at half off at Lowes. They put the broken and torn bags in a larger clear bag and they are then half off. I have gone three different times and the bed is almost full. Once it is full I will plant lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and sunflowers. I have received gifts of seeds from multiple people I know. I am excited to have a vegetable patch. I may put some milkweed in the corners of the planters too.
In other frugal accomplishments we have been eating at home regularly. I usually allow us to have one night out and we do take out of pizza, or something similarly priced. I have been going through one to two cans a week of our canned food storage. It’s slow as I don’t eat as much as I used to, so I measure out my meals and one can of say chili could be four servings of food for me now. I am thankful we have this food to fall back on and try and make our budget a little lighter by use of these foods.
I have been cleaning out my pantry slowly and sending items that we haven’t used to my neighbors house. While my goal is not to buy things we don’t use, if we don’t use them, I would rather they go to someone for use than spoil at my house. My neighbor joked with me if we had more coming. It’s also a lesson in practice that I’ve bought too much at some point, or acquired too much. Something for me to keep in mind when grocery shopping. Like the impulse maple butter that I bought last year and we didn’t like, and don’t use. It’s weird food items like that that I find we just don’t seem to go through, and I can avoid buying in the future.
My second car which had one and a half bad cylinders is transferring hands on Friday. I dropped it from the insurance and anticipate getting a bit of money back from insurance and some from the sale of the car. I’m back down to my one 21 year old vehicle. While I feel like I’m downgrading, I am really simplifying my bills to have one car again and at that the one that carries the lower insurance premium. Yay for saving money. Although as my son will turn 15 this year, I do need to think about getting a second vehicle in the future.
Other than that, I have been slow and steady on all other fronts. Have a great week!
Pretty simple week here, thankfully. We had a little dinner party last Friday with two couples we hadn’t seen in a long time. I made a ham, cheesy potatoes, rolls, salad and homemade apple pie and ice cream. It was all delicious and we had leftovers for two more days! So pretty thrifty after all was said and done. It was so nice to visit with our friends and so much more delicious and peaceful than a restaurant and less expensive!* Finished another baby afghan and hat for donation from donated yarn. * Ordered two gifts for my grand daughter’s 3rd birthday next month on Prime day. I asked her mama for ideas then waited to see if they had a percentage off and they did. One was 20% less and the other 30% left. * I got some pictures printed for my photo albums and decided one would be good for our Christmas card. I looked online and saw a sale at Shutterfly. Decided since I knew what I wanted I might as well go ahead and order. They arrived yesterday. Having them so early will give me plenty of time to address them. * Other meals included tacos, potato soup, pulled pork and chicken noodle soup. * Spent time with the grandchildren for fun, and watched some shows on the two streaming services we have, as well as the free PBS app. Read a book I already own. * I hope everyone can find peaceful moments this week.
I attended two potluck dinners, which provided a rounded out meal and lots of pleasant conversation!
I got a free flu shot at my local hospital and four Covid tests in the mail
I craved caramel corn, but was lacking corn syrup. I substituted maple syrup and it turned out great! I was able to share the batch with three of my neighbors.
We saw the partial eclipse!
I just finished knitting a long cardigan sweater. A friend of mine really liked the yarn and offered to buy my remaining yarn. The sweater was a kit and the company sends enough yarn for making the largest size sweater. I wear a small, so I had a lot of yarn left and sold it to my friend.
I had a physical (self-pay) this summer and paid my bill. Then I got a bill from the doctor’s office indicating I owed more money. The bill listed a test I did not have. The short version of the story is that I disputed the bill and saved the $120.00 they were asking for.
I am pulling my plants and putting my garden to bed for the season. Thanks to everyone who participates here!
Such lovely pictures and bounty Brandy.
I’ve not posted for a while so this is over several weeks. Our water is billed quarterly. This quarter’s bill was much higher, which was not unexpected. Our daughter was with us the month of August and we had houseguests (groups of 4 and 8) over several days. Plus, living on the coast, many showers were needed to wash away sand and salt! We loved having the company. We decided to conserve water this quarter to even out the higher bill. We’ve taken Navy showers, saved and used rinse water and captured rain water. We’ve been out of town a bit which should help in the water dept.
We have traveled frequently due to special occasions and family needs. We’ve used gas promotions to reduce gas.(saw it for 2.95/g no promo required) I’ve packed sandwiches, beverages, fruit and snacks for our trips. I cooked a meal on one trip that we ate for several meals. Only ate out once at a moderately priced restaurant where we shared an entree (huge amount of food) and drank water.
My regular stylist couldn’t cut my hair before we went out of town. I got it cut at our destination saving $10. I hung clothes when able. I planted some fall seeds. Some have come up, some not. We don’t have frost for a while so hoping to get some fall produce. Split toothpaste tube to get all the paste out. Have eaten from storage with limited shopping as I’m trying to eat down my freezers and storage. Continue to use cloth napkins like others. Cooked all meals from scratch when home.
Thank you all for sharing. I’ve learned so much from Brandy and you all! Have a good frugal weekend!
How do you cook those long red beans? Do you have a recipe ? I grew them once but had no idea what to do with them!
Lisa
Spring Peeper Farm
The same as you cook green beans! I steam them. I cut them smaller first.