I harvested blackberries, artichokes, and apricots from my garden.
We had 10 minutes of rain late the Friday afternoon before last. I refrained from watering my potted plants that day and I turned off my drip irrigation for the one I have set for Friday afternoon. With the new rates and fines, diligence in saving every bit of water is key to keeping both my usage and my bill down.
I used shower warm-up water to water potted plants in the garden. I also used water left in drinking glasses, water from steaming vegetables, and water from rinsing fruits and vegetables to water potted plants in my garden.
I added buttonholes to four of my husband’s shirts, and used the spare buttons that came with the shirts to go in those buttonholes. He always dislikes that dress shirts don’t button one more button, and I can do it, which saves the cost of tailoring.
My husband gave me a haircut and I helped him cut his hair.
I froze leftovers that weren’t going to be eaten fast enough to keep them from going bad and being wasted.
I was invited to a garden party where everyone was asked to bring something to share. If one didn’t drink (and I don’t) then there was a suggestion to bring drinks to share. I brought two pitchers of homemade chilled hibiscus herbal tea, which was quick and easy as well as being an inexpensive choice. Since there were just a few bottles of water at the party and everything else was wine, I was really glad I had brought this.
I wore a skirt I had and one of my new-to-me blouses I had purchased the week before last week at the thrift store for $3.
My mom and one of my daughters were garage sale shopping and my daughter found someone selling some dishes from my pattern. We have broken a lot of dishes over the years and I was very happy to get a few more for $25.
My mom found two picture frames for me for $1 each at a garage sale.
I opened the windows in the early mornings to cool the house, rather than having the air conditioner run for several hours. The mornings are still cool enough to open the windows until 9 a.m. (surprising for this time of year). This, along with my diligence in turning off fans in rooms that no one is using, and rarely using the lights, has made a significant difference in our electric bill; according to the electric company, the average bill for my size and age house was $233, an energy efficient house was $178–but my bill was $122.
What did you do to save money last week?
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-I traded some older cardstock I had for some flower starts, no money out of pocket.
-I am working on a beaded cross stitch ornament. I made 3 from kits last fall. I am using the leftover beads and floss from the 3 kits, some perforated paper I had and I am making another ornament. I am about 1/2 done.
-I was able to get a rack of baby back ribs for $7 (limit one); lemons $0.50/each (limit 4); Ortega hard taco shells for $0.79/ each after coupon-limit 2; and a watermelon for $4.99 (i chose the largest that felt hollow).
-I bought flower starts, seed potatoes, and a couple of perennials at an Amish greenhouse I go to. The 4 pack of annual flower starts were $1.70/ package. This is about 1/2 of big box stores and 1/3 of the local greenhouses. The perennials were $4 each. They are all planted and then the rain. Perfect timing.
-I made a boy baby quilt all from supplies on hand. Now I need to do a girl quilt, then I will have them in my cupboard ready to go when a gift is needed.
-I received a package of all beef Oscar Meyer hotdogs and a package of 12 hotdog buns leftover from a church potluck. I brought baked beans in the crockpot. It was easy, I opened 3 quarts of home canned baked beans and added some crumbled bacon from the freezer. I took home an empty crock pot.
-The garden is all planted, now we wait for the produce. I planted potatoes, both red and russet, onions, zucchini, rutabagas, lettuce, leeks, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers (jalapeño, lunch box, red, yellow, and orange), green beans, basil (cinnamon, sweet, lemon, and Thai), snap peas, and zinnias. My herb bed has lavender, parsley, thyme, rosemary, mint, sage, and lemongrass.
-The apple trees and cherry trees are blooming. Praying for a good harvest this year, they were pretty loaded with blooms.
-We are picking and eating fresh asparagus. It is sooooooo good!! Plus I canned six 3/4 quart and 1 pint of pickled asparagus.
-We were given some chicken thighs from friends, they bought them from Costco thinking they were breasts. They said they don’t eat thighs. I gladly took them off their hands. It was a 3 pack with 4 thighs per pack. We smoked and then cooked all of them on our Traeger. We will have enough leftovers for 2-3 more meals.
Have a great week!
Chicken thighs are the best part.
Julie,
I’d love a good recipe for pickled asparagus. Ours turned to mush the one year we pickled it. Have you pickled yours before? We are enjoying fresh asparagus as well! Asparagus is wonderful! I love something that comes back every year!
Tammy, Here is my recipe:
spears of asparagus to fill 6 quarts
8 1/2 c white vinegar
4 1/2 c water
6 T pickling salt
1 c sugar
1 1/2 t celery seed
12 t mustard seed
12 t dried dill seed
12 cloves of garlic peeled
1-In a large pot bring the vinegar, water, salt, sugar, and celery seed to a boil.
2-While brine is on the stove, fill each quart jar with 2 cloves garlic, 2 t dill and 2 t mustard seed. Place in asparagus spears.
3-Cover with boiling brine, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Process 10 min water bath.
These have a firm texture especially if they are in the refrigerator. We love them!
I have a “Kansas Cookbook” and it recommends using the tips/top half of the spears for pickling and the thicker bases for soup.
Julie,
I am so happy to have this recipe! How long do they keep? My husband was happy to have this recipe as well. Thank-you so much! We are going to give it a try, probably today!
Tammy
Tammy canned they will keep several years. We love them!!
Last week, I dried organic lemon zest and made some lemon pepper blend. It’s a blend I rarely used in the past, but now that I make your yummy black bean burgers, I thought I could make my own to use in it. I planted seeds of dill, cucumbers, calendula and zinnias in pots, all of which I seed saved. Carrots were replanted in missing spots in the garden, and two types of cilantro seeds were planted. Around the SoulSeeds shop, evening primrose seedlings, nasturtium, dwarf sunflower and wildflower mix seeds were planted. A cluster of blackberry and blueberry bushes, and asparagus that were being nibbled regularly were sprayed with deer repellent. Oregano was harvested and dried. Kale was harvested for a salad. Peas and lambs quarter were harvested, and one or two asparagus. At Food Lion, cherries were on sale for $2.99/#, and I found more lentils at Dollar Tree. Another round of lettuce seed was planted in the garden. This time, Salad Bowl, Sweet Valentine romaine, and Thai oakleaf. My husband tilled up another row, and planted it with tomato seedlings. On Sunday, I made a fruit salad to bring to a brunch with friends. We brought eggs to share, and some soap. We’ve had the woodstove going again, so I put another pot of sweet potatoes on to simmer. https://abelabodycare.blogspot.com/2023/05/cooler-days.html
I had made a large turkey a couple weeks ago. It was much more than our family of three could eat. We had several nights of turkey sandwiches. Then I made turkey pot pie. I made a double batch and froze half. Then I diced up some of the small pieces for my turkey tetrazzini recipe. I pulled some out tonight to make a pan. It makes a 9×11 pan, which will feed my family a couple nights.
I am making some changes at work. I expressed some concerns that I had with my boss and told him I was considering leaving because of this. He was able to meet me 1/2 way on some of my concerns. This will allow me to keep my steady job and my health insurance while pursuing an opportunity to make more money and have a more flexible schedule for my son. I will only report to the office two days per week now, rather than the 4 I currently do.
We had a play date with a friend today.
Last week, we caught a dozen or so fish and fried them. We ate them for 3 meals.
I’ve had a couple frugal fails this week, too. I forgot to submit a receipt for a rebate before the deadline, missing out on $10.
I also bought gas and then went about 3 miles down the road and it was 10 cents per gallon cheaper.
We are adding a deck to our house. We had a $2,000 budget, which we had saved for awhile to get. We decided to order a pergola kit online rather than adding a roof. I did a ton of research and read a lot of reviews. We settled on this one: https://amzn.to/45AFY54
I bought it when it had a $25 coupon, plus I had a $50 gift card I used towards it. Between that and the supplies to build the wooden deck, we’re at $1,700. We are doing all the work, so no labor costs. I’m hoping we have everything we need. The deck will be a little bigger than the pergola. It will be 14×16. I’m so excited for it! Now I’m on the hunt for some second hand patio furniture. We have a few pieces to hold us over until I have saved up some money or find a good deal!
You have been very busy as always! Great work on the electric bill – hope that little bit of rain makes a difference to your garden and your water bill.
It has been a relatively quiet couple of weeks – finally finished all the cleaning and decluttering (at least for this round) so I’ve had a couple of days to relax. I entertained friends twice – providing a birthday tea for one and then lunch for another. It was fun to do – saved us all money- and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I sent the birthday girl home with a couple of meals from the freezer as she hates to cook and sent the other home with a variety of little sandwiches and sweets as she is the carer for her almost 100 years old mom and life is busy for her.
Aside from a few extras for entertaining, my grocery shopping has still been kept to a minimum – milk, bread, fruit & veg. I have tried to be diligent about not wasting food but a bag of carrots and half a bag of salad got away from me and had to be thrown out. I was really annoyed about the carrots – I’d only bought them a couple of days before but when I pulled them out there was a bag of mold! I am now buying loose carrots and only as I need them. It may be a bit more expensive up front but at least I get to use them! I checked out prices as I walked through my No Frills supermarket last week and the prices continue to astound me – some items have tripled and even quadrupled in price in the past 18 months! I honestly don’t know how people with kids are managing. I continue to go back and forth from my freezer to my pantry and I have also used up a few more of those odds & ends that have accumulated. I’m going to do some more planning this week with the aim of making Summer meals a lot more simple. I may try to get a bit more cooking done as well so that everything is ready and only needs some cooked veg or salad to be added.
I have looked out my Summer clothes and the only items on my purchase list are a couple of extra tops – otherwise I am going to make do as I continue to lose weight (hopefully). I had my A/C rental installed on Saturday (only in the bedroom) and paid cash. It is a new machine and has an energy efficiency button that automatically shuts off when the room is cooled sufficiently. I brought up my two tower fans from my store room for the living room and that will have to do! The weather is beautiful right now but will go up to 30C by Saturday. I’m hoping to get in some extra walks this week before the humidity hits.
I donated a lot of Cd’s, DVD’s and books for my church’s book sale this past weekend but couldn’t resist buying 5 paperbacks (all like new) and a couple are books that I’ve been meaning to read for ages. Along with the books – they completely sold out of the 1200 or so cookies that they baked so the fundraising went really well. We also participated in the annual “Doors Open” event and had over 1500 visitors! If your city has a “Doors Open” weekend then I encourage everyone to take part – it’s a wonderful way to see some really interesting buildings and to learn a lot of local history – all for free.
I picked up a couple of prescriptions – no cost to me and I have booked for my sixth Covid booster next week. It still hasn’t gone away – a friend who lives downstairs was sick and testing positive for nearly two weeks and still feels very tired so if I can avoid it – I will.
Still reading lots of library books and enjoying the old “Morse” TV series on BritBox – I know I’ve seen many of them but it’s been years so it’s fun to rewatch. Canadians had their May long weekend last week but I believe this is Memorial Day in the US and a bank holiday in the UK so I hope everyone has had a lovely time with family.
I’m in Colorado, but I, too, am shocked by the increase in food prices. I have been eating from my pantry and freezers mostly, and stocking up on items on sale. But when we went camping, we did have to purchase groceries once. Several things I purchased were items I normally can — corn and applesauce — and the price I had to pay for small cans of each made me cringe. I make all my own bread, but had to purchase a loaf at the store — over $4 for a whole wheat loaf. It brought home how much there is to be saved by making things yourself and putting up produce when it’s in season. (I don’t grow corn or apples, but I’m able to purchase them from farmers for a very good price in season, which makes it worth putting them up.)
What beautiful blackberries. I could eat all of those by myself 😋
My neighbors cleaned up our front and side yard(pulling weeds, cutting out dead stuff) in exchange for a few stones and bricks(my husband is a mason so we have quite the supply lying around). She also asked if she could plant some irises on that side and I told her she could plant whatever she wanted. I do not have a green thumb so I don’t even bother anymore.
We had a 10 week weight loss challenge at work. It was $10 to join, then you owed money based on any gains. First place got half, then second and third split the other half. I won $25.30 after only paying in $12. (Came in second)
A friend gave me some cheezit snack packs and about 30 apples. I made yummy apple crisp the other night, barely making a dent in them(they really aren’t cooking apples, so I ended up having to bake them longer, but they were still tasty)
A coworker made a loaf of zuchinni bread for the last day of the school year.
Hubby found packs of bacon for $1.38 each. He bought 6(straight to the freezer they went).
Im off work until June 5th, so I’m trying to tackle some tasks…I made vegetables stock with my frozen veggie scraps and ended up with 15 cups(chicken stock is next)
Started to declutter and I’ve already got several items out of the house thanks to a couple buy nothing sites.
I listed some new items on Marketplace
Sent in for $30 in Menards rebates
I took all our quilts to the laundromat to wash. I got them all done at once, versus 5 loads taking all day at home.
Aside from a couple errands, I’ve stayed home since Thursday. I’ve been watching some of the hundreds(maybe not quite that many, lol) of movies/shows that are on the watch lists of our streaming services. I’m also reading books I’ve had on my Kindle forever.
I rinsed out some soda bottles and filled with filtered water. I put these in the freezer and hubby will put one in his cooler and it’ll keep his stuff cool, then he’ll have some ice water when it thaws.
I got some candles and a reed diffuser for Mother’s day
What I did to save money:
Business trip. Filled up rental before I left so I wouldn’t have to do it in Chicago where $1 more expensive. Avoided toll roads as well.
Bought a 6 pack of diet coke to travel with instead of paying hotel prices for my morning caffeine.
Got foods en route. They offered a few chicken minis, took and gave to homeless person.
My youngest reworked some paving stones for a grilling spot.
Farmers market guy replaced my tomatoes that weren’t doing well.
My husband very sweetly bought me two gardening books for mothers day, so I’m gleaning info and seeing what I can run with now. Returned one that was redundant to ones I had, and Amazon let me keep it! I was shocked. So gave to a friend who is starting to garden.
Did menu planning for when family will be here for my daughter’s graduation. I’m not used to feeding 11 people for regular meals. I think I have it figured out. Got a lasagna from lasagna love. Was signed up months ago. It was such a lovely surprise but is too much food so I’m setting aside for company and will add with bread and salad.
Contacted hr about my husband’s former employer no longer paying for cobra. Thank God they will count as a qualifying event as I couldn’t take a $600 monthly hit on top of the loss of his salary. We are still waiting on disability. I have several thousand in freelance writing invoices that I’m waiting on payment too, and I’m worried I’ve been ghosted by the company.
Bought store brand enzyme cleaner off Amazon. It actually helped my bathroom. With a spouse with a gi disorder I’m so excited about this!!
Making quinoa lunches with our quinoa stash, broth from our freezer and whatever handful of veggies I can grab from my garden.
Made sprinkle pancakes with my kids. Adding your own from leftovers is better than buying funfetti mix.
Shared my green onion bounty with a friend.
Traded some extra tomato plants for sourdough starter.
My son’s scoutmaster’s home caught on fire mothers day weekend (electrical). Odd timing is they’re working on fire safety badge so my son did a fire safety threat inspection for our home.
Traded use of power washer for labor of my teens power washing someone’s home and some irises I was dividing.
I just finished planting my garden, including the free beans (dry) that our community garden had been given from Slow Food International (slowfood.com). Also planted free Bodega Red potatoes which do well in my area. I harvested my first raspberry, but we’ve had lower than average temperatures and everything is slow. We are eating lettuce and kale from the garden.
I returned some terrible laundry detergent to Home Depot, with receipt, and got a full refund. I stopped at our city water office and got 2 free hose nozzles. They give these away to encourage people to water more responsibly and shut off the stream of water between plants. I combined these errands with 2 different hospital appointments that my husband needed a ride to (fractured wrist so not driving much).
We took our electric bike in to be serviced, it had gone over 1000 miles in the past year. Maintaining what we have always brings me joy and is frugal in the long run. I’ve spent some time decluttering and have listed and sold several things on ebay and FB marketplace. Some I have put in a pile to take to my adult kids next time I see them-I didn’t even realize I was storing a longboard helmet (not sure if it will be used again but I’m not going to be the one to get rid of it) and base layers (definitely will be used) among other things. So happy to move that on.
We had a city water person come to pre-approve us for installing a gray water system from our washing machine to backyard fruit trees. The city will reimburse costs up to $100, and since my husband will do the labor, we can certainly install the system for less than $100. Free, and less work managing our previous informal graywater system, feels like a big win. It does not require a permit for the system we want.
Amazing! Here it is illegal to wash one’s car without a shut-off nozzle on a hose; you can be heavily fined. They actually prefer people pay for a car wash, because the water is recaptured and reused.
Grey water systems are illegal here. How nicee that you can have one! What a savings that will be!
Washing car without shutoff nozzle is also illegal here, and it is strongly encouraged to use car wash where water is captured and reused. We also have fines, but many people don’t seem to mind paying them. I am very thankful that our city water office offers all sorts of water saving devices-new toilet flapper, low flow shower head, hose nozzle and many others. There’s really no excuse not to save water. I’m really excited about the graywater system!
I definitely mind paying them, but I don’t have a choice. Until I have more children move out, we are going to need more water. The water district says that in the winter, we are permitted 14,000 gallons per household. I only watered one day in the month of January and we still went over.
They also said a household should only be using 6,000 gallons inside. In a 30-day month, that’s only 22 gallons per person per day for my family. Even the most conservative water usage studies put water usage at 55 gallons per person per day. A shower and flushing the toilet (even on our 1.2 gallon flushes; we have low-water usage toilets) can quickly use that entire 22 gallons, and that doesn’t include drinking, washing dishes, and washing clothes, or cooking.
Hi Brandy.
This is so interesting. In Denmark the average household use is 105 litres (27 gallons) of water pr. person pr. day. I know a lot has been done from the government and municipalities to lower peoples use of water, as water is a surprisingly scarce resource, especially in the big cities. I don’t know what makes the big difference between countries, though.
I am shocked that people can use so little indoors.
We have low-flow everything inside.
What is the average shower time in Denmark? Do people turn water off while showering? I know in France that is common.
Hi Brandy.
I think the 27 gallons includes outside use actually, but most people don’t garden, and we have cooler temperatures and often free water coming from above, so I think most is for inside use. Here at home we use about 100 liters pr. person pr. day (26-27 gallons) and we do have a vegetable garden that we water, but of course not as much as much as in warmer climates. I don’t know so much about the difference between countries, but one thing that strikes me when I read American blogs though (not yours of course 🙂 is how much people wash for instance towels. I had never head of anyone washing towels after a single use before I started reading blogs on the internet! And water the lawns! When we have a drought (couple of years ago we had 30 degrees C (86 F) for months and no rain in 3 months. I know, this is not considered a drought other places, but very unusual here), peoples lawns just go yellow/brown. I don’t know anyone who water their lawn – but of course we do get rain at some point, which makes it a different story to drier climates. I think people are very diligent about fixing leaks as well, as water is quite expensive. We are constantly told to buy the most water efficient appliances, and as water is so expensive, I think this is something most people do.
Here at home we have analyzed our use of water quite thoroughly. I hope this is not too boring or long, but here are some of the things we do. I know everybody’s situation is different, so this is just what we do. We don’t shower every day, which I know can be a bit taboo (also here where I live)! My son showers or takes a bath a couple of times a week (he also showers at school once a week). The grown-ups shower every other day when we are out and about and maybe wait one more day if we are just at home. In between we sometimes wash at the bathroom sink. We takes quick showers – recommended by the water company is 5 minutes, and the recommended is also to turn off water when shampooing. I’m actually the worst about taking longer showers, as I love warm water in winter! I remember way back when I was in primary school, we made an experiment how much water a shower takes – it’s about 10 liters (2,6 gallons) pr. minute! So a 10 minute shower is 100 liters (26 gallons)! That’s an entire days use of water! So showering is a big thing. Another thing is laundry. We have measured our washing machine’s use of water, and even our frontload (I’ve never seen a top-loading machine!) modern water saving machine easily use 50-70 litres (13-18 gallons) pr. load. So we really evaluate if clothes are dirty or not before washing them. We wash about 10 loads a month, and we are 3 people, that’s a little more than 3 loads pr. person pr. month – less than one load pr. person pr. week.
Only recently have I started flushing the toilet less, so these savings are not included in our average water use. We think about getting a rainwater tank connected to the downpipes to use for flushing the toilet, for the garden and maybe for the washing machine. This is very uncommon in Denmark, though.
We also have a very efficient dishwasher – it only uses 10 litres (2,6 gallons) pr load.
This got a bit long! Hope it answered your question!
I have low-flow devices all over. I only wash towels every 7 to 10 days. I live in a dry climate so this is possible; it is harder in humid places where towels tend to mold.
Summers here are 46°C. We only receive 10 centimeters of rain a year on a normal year, and it hasn’t been normal for a decade. There is hope that this year we might get 10 cm; however, that is measured downtown at the airport, 45 minutes away. We don’t get as much here.
I am trying to get everyone to take shorter showers. We have low-flow heads, but you’re so right about the number quickly adding up. I am trying to shorten my own shower.
I was gifted a box of QTips from a friend who had an extra box. I will use these to clean the ports of the hummingbird feeder.
Yes my neigbour and I have seen 2 different hummingbirds. I saw a Bald Eagle. I never saw any when I as growing up as they went almost extinct because of DDT. It is so thrilling to see them now. I baked a large package of chicken thighs that I bought on sale and that a friend had stored for me in her freezer. My friend gave me a ride to the election polls. I found that Walmart had the best deal on annuals — I bought three flats of 32 plants each for $16.99 each. I made up 20 hanging pots plus planted a small flowerbed. Total cost was $64.00 or $3.20 per pot. Equivalent pots of annuals are selling for at least $20. In addition, someone gave me dahlias and pansies and some petunias.
She bought expensive plants – total was $123 (Cdn). They were a gift so I can’t complain. Usually I don’t plant so many pots but I had the pots and soil and I was thinking of the hummingbird(s). I decided to try again with my friend’s tomato plants, after last year’s colossal failure. I may plant some cabbages, carrots and potatoes. There are so many butterflies — Swallowtails, Mourning Cloaks, little blues – that it is wonderful.
If only they’d land so I could get a photo. I am looking at all of the dandelions and I may try salad. I’m also tempted to try dandelion jelly…
As to food specials, I am restocking my space in my other friend’s freezer with PC frozen lasagnas – on sale this week for$6.49 from $9.99 (at no Frills). Previously I had bought a tube of Italian tomato paste. I tried it last night on pasta and really liked it and I’m sure it is a lot cheaper than the bottled pasta sauces such as Classico. I am also buying a 4 kg box of skinless, boneless chicken breasts frozen (Safeway). It will cost about
$32 but there are so many breasts in it that it is really worth it. I treated myself to several bunches of locally grown asparagus. It is so tender and sweet, one can eat it raw. I have watched some good movies on YouTube, and have not been able to avoid hockey. I must be getting old but it seems more violent and faster than when I was growing up but perhaps it is more my growing older…
I made dandelion jelly once. It tasted like honey to me.
Dandelion jelly is considered “vegan honey”!
Dandelions are a major food source for honeybees, hence their honey tastes like those dandelions. If the bees have an alternate major food, like fireweed or buckwheat blossoms, the resultant honey picks up those flavors instead.
Things are too busy here right now to photo, but when I molded 108 burgers from ground beef I got on clearance app for $1.40/lb ($3.08/K), I had to make space for the sheets in freezer for flash freezing. Out came bags of frozen bananas (about 24) . I found a recipe for banana walnut bread that used 3 bananas in a loaf. I realized I could easily fit 3 loaves in my oven at once, so I used 9 bananas and made 3 loaves.
Then I tripled a batch of banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to use up 6 more bananas! The banana skins are being dug into garden beds to feed the soil.
Like all of you, I try to buy on sale or clearance or make “adjustments” to my plans.
I was in the grocery on Friday in preparation for the BBQ we were hosting with about 32 of our family members (children and grandchildren). I decided to tell our kids NOT to bring any food (usually at family events, we all bring food). I felt shocked when I wandered the store, trying to buy things without a very specific list of groceries that were on sale or extremely reduced. It was hard to imagine how families with both parents working could afford their weekly shop without a pantry to fall back on! Real eye opener. I’ve been amazed at how infrequently we can go grocery shopping because of our food storage. We are only 2 people though which obviously makes it easier!
I bought 2 Flashfood produce boxes for $5 each to get 6 bananas, 6 beautiful slicing tomatoes and some onions to chop for our BBQ. But, then, today, I counted that there were beautiful bell peppers and hot peppers and I had more onions still in the Flashfood boxes . About a month before a friend had given me that huge amount of canned goods to keep and give away and I had kept 6 #10 cans of chopped tomatoes. I had exactly enough of the fresh produce to use with exactly 1 can of the tomatoes and so I canned 11 pints of our favorite canned salsa! Definitely a win, imo!! https://pin.it/4Qrr3hy
I also found Miracle Whip on Flashfood for 99 cents instead of their regular $7.99/ jar!!😱 At a different location of same grocery chain, they also had MW, regularly $7.99 but their Flashfood price was $3.99!! So even there, it pays to look around! But, as much as we love MW over any other mayo/salad dressing, I can’t imagine paying $7.99/jar!!! So I bought some of the 99 cent jars to restock my shelf.
Used some lettuce fresh from our garden for our family BBQ! Tastes so good!! Picked our first strawberry and it never made it out of the garden! Delicious!!
I also made a huge banana cake with cream cheese frosting to use up some more of the frozen bananas! Sent each family of our kids home with extra cake!
Finished client’s quilted pillow and she was really pleased. https://pin.it/3qqPszD and https://pin.it/mVXNdxK.
We finished our walkway project before the BBQ. Started it in March and here’s what it looks like now going all around 3 sides of BBQ pit and beyond. Total cost- about $80 for additional bricks when we ran out! We feel like it was worth it! https://pin.it/1jmFv1G. And here’s a bit we added next to the house: https://pin.it/6zqxryp.
We loaned our van to friends whose car broke down on Saturday and today we are trading with them to get our van back so they will be using our car. Our daughter, moving to Houston has a lot of things to be taken over to Goodwill and so we will attach our trailer and load them up in a single trip rather than multiple ones! So again, the “community/family” trading goes on! She brought boxes of food, etc to the BBQ for her youngest brother and also for any of the rest of the family (after he had his dibs!)
Another week, another BBQ- this time the Memorial Day BBQ for our church. I made another 1/2 sheet banana cake and bought 50 ears of fresh corn (5 ears/$1). I’m bringing my electric roaster and keeping corn warm in water in it. Hubs and I were in charge of getting the burgers, hot dogs, buns. I was able to get hot dogs for $1/ pack. Same with all the buns. I did a quick add and found that we saved our church budget over $100 by shopping sales.
My happy Flashfood buy on Saturday, May 27: 12 packages of Certified Angus Beef Top Round Steak. I bought 16-1/2 pounds total. The Regular price was: $138.04. I paid: $34.61 ($2/pound) . My savings was $105.43 (76.34%)!!! I cut it into strips for stir fry and beef with broccoli. I put it into ziploc freezer bags that have homemade marinades in each one.
Busy time with graduations, kids moving, end of the year concerts, etc., so we treasure those “in between” moments we get to just enjoy quiet moments.
Hope everyone is finding those peaceful moments during the “busy” times you find yourselves in!
Gardenpat in Ohio
HandmadeinOldeTowne.com
Your artichokes are incredible!
The weather in MN has been beautiful. Our HVAC has been completely turned off for the past several weeks. Much of our entertainment recently was spent outdoors doing free activities. HH played in his men’s baseball league. I went on many walks with friends. We enjoyed my nephew’s LaCrosse game with my sister’s family and my mom and her husband. We completed gardening tasks and enjoyed a backyard bonfire with friends. DD went boating/jet skiing with friends and rollerblading with her cousin. HH and I went to our cabin and enjoyed a day on the pontoon. We are soaking up these (pre-mosquito) days to get us through the next long winter!
We organized college belongings (and did soooo much laundry). DD1 passed down apartment items she did not think she would need to DD2 to use at her first apartment next fall. We packed up DD2’s Twin XL dorm bedding, (which was previously used by DD1 and my niece) to give to my nephew to use in his dorm in the fall. It gives me a stupid amount of satisfaction knowing the dorm bedding I purchased will now be used by a fourth college kid.
My niece and I attended the final show (Bright Star by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell) at our local theater. It was fantastic. Unfortunately, the theater will close their doors soon. They provided excellent live theater at an amazing price and will be greatly missed.
HH received a new grill from his employer as an employment anniversary gift (just in time as the old one was kaput). He enjoys grilling, and I enjoy an evening off from cooking!
DD2 offered to cook one evening each week. She would like more practice cooking before moving into her apartment. She plans to focus on meatless meals.
Our city hosted a City Wide Clean Up effort where local residents could dispose of items for free or nearly free. We dropped off several items from our recent storage room overhaul and the old grill. . Our neighbor offered to haul everything in his truck. I think I write this every week, but we are so grateful for wonderful neighbors.
I enjoyed the podcast series Sold a Story free on the Apple Podcast app.
Our neighbor told HH he could cut a bouquet of her lilacs for us to enjoy. I saw a hack on Instagram to hammer the stems before placing in water to lengthen the cut life. It worked. The house smelled amazing.
We harvested asparagus and rhubarb. I tried recipe from a friend for strawberry rhubarb jam, a bit too sweet but still delicious. I gifted a jar of the jam and fresh rhubarb to my MIL.
Beautiful pictures, as usual! Are those vegetables artichokes?
My husband keeps finding marked down meat – he found hamburger for $1.99 a pound and bought 20 pounds. We used our food saver and packaged it in one pound servings for the freezer. He also found spiral cut hams for 99 cents a pound. He bought one for us and one for our daughter and SIL. Our best find recently was eggs – medium white eggs for 55 cents a doz and free range brown eggs for $1.20. We bought 4 dozen. My son took care of a friend’s chickens this weekend, and the friend told him to bring the eggs he gathered home.
My son and I are still sharing a car, so I’ve continued walking to work and packing my lunch. He is buying the gas for the car, so that is saving us money.
I found two St. Patrick tshirts that I can wear to work next year for only $1.97 a piece at Old Navy. We are allowed (even encouraged) to dress for the holidays, and I had nothing for that holiday. My daughter and I went to the church-ran thrift store where I found just two books (amazing for me) and three small, odd sized matching picture frames for only $1.
We have spent a lot of time at home, and I’m loving it. My husband trimmed our sweet gum tree and planted tomatoes and green peppers. We tried to save a few strawberry plants that had survived, but were being strangled by weeds. Hopefully they make it.
Hubby brought home an electric weed eater to go with his electric mower and a beautiful white rocking chair. My porch was full, so we shared the rocking chair with our daughter.
Using coupons, I got 100 acetaminophen PM, 50 regular acetaminophen, a bar of Dove soap, and three boxes of candy for $4 at CVS. We obviously didn’t need the candy, but my husband has a sweet tooth, and I like to treat him.
Brandy, I shared your Facebook page on our community’s really free market Facebook page for examples of low cost menus. One person had shared a menu for the month where a family theoretically only had $150 in food stamps for a family of 5, and it was very repetitive and lacking. It saddened me that a lot of people were never taught how to stretch their budget (not judging, just sad), because I think I could make different meals than what they had – eggs and oatmeal for breakfast, half a PB sandwich for lunch or half a package of ramen noodles, and spaghetti for 25 out of 30 suppers and chick3n legs for the rest. I really think they could benefit from your site, so I hope they visit it!
Yes, those are artichokes.
Thank you for sharing! I think having variety is important.
And rice is much cheaper than noodles right now. Pasta isn’t on sale for $0.49 a couple of times a year anymore, sadly.
It has been unseasonably cool here with high in low 80’s so the air and heat are off. We have had a lot of rain and the yard is looking raggedly, so I lopped off the straggly weeds with hedge cutters. I walked for free at the parks which are lovely this time of year. After living here 11 years, the late frost got my mulberry tree blooms for the first time ever, and I have very few berries, but enough to eat a handful every day. I went to Aldi and bought bananas, tomatoes, strawberries, green onions, radishes, corn, squash, spinach, and asparagus. I also bought little bagels, milk, eggs, sourdough bread, and cream cheese. That is what I have been eating, along with cheese, or peanut butter sandwiches for lunch. I don’t eat a lot of meat in the summer. I decorated the graves of relatives at the family cemetery churches for Decoration Day. I bought my flowers at Walmart (only plastic are allowed) so they didn’t cost too much. I also only put one flower per grave, to cut down on costs. It was a long drive of over a couple of hours to one of the family cemetery churches. I packed my lunch and didn’t stay for the church lunch where everyone brings homemade food from home for dinner on the ground after the singing and viewing of the graves. It would have been good but as stated, I had a long drive back. I read books from the little free library boxes at the local park. I washed my work clothes in the bathtub because I am more gentle with my clothes than a washing machine. I listened to music in the free radio in my car. My son gave me a painting of the ocean he did for me for Mother’s Day. It is beautiful. He laughed and said he had to do something thrifty bc I told him to not even buy me a card, they are so expensive! He already had the canvas and paint. I enjoyed sitting on my front and back porch . My thinking is that I pay money for where I live, at least in the form of taxes and insurance, and I want to get my money’s worth.
Should you need any greeting cards $Tree has great Hallmark cards for .50 and $1.00.
I hope everyone is healthy, happy and enjoying their Spring. For anyone whom isn’t right now producing enough produce for their family ( I’m in zone 4), I wanted to remind about Bountiful Baskets, for another economical resource. I purchased last week and here’s what my $24.50 contribution payed for:
1 Mango
5 lbs Yukon gold potatoes
6 honeycrisp apples (huge)
8 bananas
1 bunch green onion
3 zucchini
Broccoli crowns
2 heads of cauliflower
8 avocados
10 clementines
1 bunch kale
Radishes
For us it’s a two way money saver as our pickup is only 12 miles away and our nearest grocery store is 30 miles.
Everything else is more of the same cooking at home, planting, hanging clothes to dry, yard maintenance and renovating our new to us but older home. We’ve been installing cork flooring ourselves to replace the shag carpet that was in the home when we purchased it … good times.
Be Well and hold tight to your faith and peace in this crazy world.
I love bountiful baskets. I got them for years until our site closed. Now the closest location is about 50 miles away. We don’t go in the winter, but now that the weather is better we will occasionally make the drive. My DD’s participate too. We wait til all 3 of us want one and take turns with gas. We got one a month ago and did not disappoint!
Our deck is 29 years old done in pressure treated wood- best I could afford in the year 1994 we have cleaned it and stained it every year. This year it was looking very worn so we meticulously scrubbed, sanded the surface – we have no railings its picture framed and flat 16×20.After taking 2 days to thoroughly prep, then let it dry we used Cabot solid stain in slate grey and now it looks brand new. I would estimate 4 hours of work total and it was on our time off from work so no expenses there it was our “free” time lol we paid $55 for the gallon of stain, brushes, rollers, plastic all painting supplies we already had because we do alot of our own jobs. This weekend we sanded and painted a side wooden table and we still have enough left to do a wooden table for our daughter. Not sure in dollars how much we saved but we have stretched the deck again for another year or so
I am tickled pink
I’m not sure if you’ll see my reply or not, but I know of people that have “redone” their decks simply by flipping the wood upside down (or at least been able to replace fewer boards by doing that). I’m not sure if that would be an option for you down the road. 29 years is impressive!
THANK YOU for the great idea, we might be able to do this if we need to stretch it alittle longer lol I never would have thought we could get this many years but now I am intrigued
Those energy savings are impressive. It goes to show how much difference paying attention to the little things can make.
My husband’s father purchased new hearing aids less that two months before he died. My husband’s hearing aids were starting to fail and we were looking at having to replace them later this year. Costco was able to calibrate his father’s hearing aids for my husband – a big savings for us, plus this new set is rechargeable and has newer technology. (I’m sharing this in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation. My SIL was going to donate the hearing aids until my husband asked if he could see if they could be adjusted for him.) * We took a three-week camping trip in New Mexico. Before we left I stocked the camper with all the food we would need, including a lot of pre-cooked meals. We mostly stayed in free BLM or National Forest campgrounds. When we did pay for camping, we used our America the Beautiful pass to get a 50% discount. Our chief expense was gasoline. It was a fun, relaxing vacation. *A few days after we returned home from our camping vacation, my husband left to go to Houston to help his sister with the estate sale at his parents’ house. I am using the time he is away to get as much done as possible on a long list of to-dos in various areas of my life.* This week I leaned hard on gardening. The peas, carrots, lettuce, chard, broccoli, and potatoes I planted before we left are all doing well. I transplanted tomatoes, peppers, squash, and celery and some flowers, and I planted seeds for more flowers, herbs, bok choy, arugula, and green beans.* I was able to harvest some lettuce and asparagus. *I weeded all the garden beds and mulched several areas where we are trying to keep weeds down.* I baked sandwich bread.*The chimney cleaner came for the annual cleaning of our wood stove pipe. By having it done in May each year we save 20%.* We have a 12-volt hand vacuum we use in our RV. It needed a new filter, but it’s at least 12 years old and I had no luck finding one. I decided to try to sew up the rip and my repair was successful.* A friend gifted me a couple of tops and I altered them to better fit my shorter arms. I also finished the dress I had cut out right before my mother-in-law died.
Cindi, we did this as well. When my mom passed away my daughter took her hearing aids in (they were rechargeable and very small. Little hook over the ear and a small piece that went in the ear). They were able to adjust them for her and since they weren’t moldable to the ears she could wear them. Best thing was the company that my mom got them from did this adjustment free of charge for her. My daughter had just gotten an estimate for new ones and decided to wait until hers completely died as they were so expensive. It was a blessing that she could use these.
Your comment on the paucity of non-alcoholic drinks at your party really hit home. I also choose not to drink alcohol, and have learned from bitter experience to take plenty my own alternatives to share if needed. Sometimes there’s only been tap water on offer – not very celebratory! And let’s face it, lots of people may not want to drink on the day for a variety of very good reasons – a good hostess should think of them too.
The host asked everyone to bring something, and he suggested non-alcoholic drinks for those who don’t. I wouldn’t have otherwise thought to bring drinks. I don’t drink soda very often, but a couple of two-liter bottles might have been welcome too. Everyone had brought something fairly fancy to eat, though, and the cold hibiscus herbal tea was appreciated. Next year I might bring mint.
I often make lemon balm tea or lavender lemonade to take to parties. Folks really appreciate the unique flavors, and I love that they can come from my garden for very little cost, and lots of enjoyment on my part. I love all of it, from tending the plants to steeping the tea. It’s all great fun, especially when shared with friends.
My husband and I are both non-drinkers, but we’ve always been attracted to the idea of elaborate cocktails. If you can, check out Julia Bainbridge’s book ‘Good Drinks’ from the library: it’s a recipe book for super-fun nonalcoholic drinks that range from quite simple to ridiculously over the top. We’ve really enjoyed sharing them with friends, too–loads of people don’t drink alcohol (or don’t want it at that particular moment in time) for all kinds of reasons, so it’s great to be able to offer someone something that feels ultra-fancy and is still alcohol-free.
Thanks for the book recommendation…..it sounds fun! I requested it from the library.
The last couple weeks have been pretty quiet. We celebrated both my husband and son’s birthdays. We combined them for a family dinner. We made bbq ribs in the oven, along with fries, and coleslaw; my daughter brought corn on the cob and baked beans. It was a pleasant time and much less expensive than taking everyone out to eat. *After waiting many many many years, we finally purchased some badly needed new furniture for our living room. We waited for the Memorial Day Sales and got a good percentage off. * We know five high school seniors who are graduating, so I looked through my supply of cards and found five that we can send to them in congratulations. * I made a review game for my Sunday class using supplies I had around the house. * Spent time reading library books, crocheting, and embroidering for fun. * At grocery pick up today, Walmart included a gift bag. They do this about once a year. This one had some great freebies: 3 pack of dishwasher detergent pods, laundry detergent pod, gummy bears, sports drink mix, and a small sunscreen. * We’d rather not have dog get on the new furniture, so I made a dog bed for the floor for him using some old pillows of ours covered with a blanket he has already claimed. Don’t know if it will work but it’s worth a try. Since the things already smell like us (and him) I’m hopeful. Fingers crossed he just likes it, as I’d rather not be hollering at him. He’s a good dog, and hopefully will train easily. Since are old couch was so bad, we let him get on it. Hindsight, as they say. * My little seedlings are ready to be transferred to pots on the deck. The seeds that didn’t sprout, were replaced and I’m excited by what has grown. * Wonderful garage sale finds, Brandy! Hope everyone has a great week!
We were very lucky and blessed these past few weeks. Our neighbor gifted us some food that her family could not use. We received 1/2 gallon of milk, 4 oranges, 1 lb dried pinto beans, 2lb of white rice, 1 lb of spaghetti, 1 can of tuna, 1 green cabbage, 6 orange bell peppers, 7 gooseneck squash and 1 bunch of brocolli. This along saved a weekly trip to the grocery store. At our local discount store, I was able to find several bottles of organic zero sugar zero caffine iced tea in three different flavors. This brand is a favorite of ours, having tried it last time we were in Hawaii several years ago. But we paid $2.99 per bottle for it there. Imagine our surprise when we found it for 69 cents a bottle! We were so excited! We bought several bottles to enjoy. Our son has been enjoying practice for the local swim team. We had our first event this past Saturday. My husband was assigned to the BBQ team; they cook and sell tri tip sandwiches as well as burgers. My husband got a free tri tip sandwich. We had heard from several families that we should bring a pop up tent to shield us from the sun. The last one we had finally gave out. My husband had to go to Oregon to care for his elderly father. While at the local Walmart, he found a pop up tent for $49.99. We had been researching them on amazon for the last few weeks and had seen the exact same one for $69.00. So in the cart it went. My husband also picked up a few bottles of children’s cough syrup to have on hand. It seems everyone in California is sick, especially in the schools, so children’s cough medicine has been hard to come by. One of my son’s track coaches heard that my son plays trombone in the school band. We chose to rent the instrument from the school to make sure that he was really interested and would stick with it. Our son’s track coach who has a son the same age in the band, gifted a trombone to my son! This is such a blessing. he said that he had gotten for his son, but his son chose another instrument. He refused to take any money and said it was a gift. We had a party at my work for a few gals that were retiring. I made home made lemon cupcakes, using a cake mix I had bought at Walmart for 99 cents, eggs from Costco, oil from my neighbor, lemons from another neighbor and butter that had been bought on sale. I also brought an avocado salad. There was so much food that I was able to bring leftovers home for my son and I for a few meals. I went grocery shopping for my parents and was able to pick up a few things for my family. I have been very diligent about only shopping loss leaders. Deals this week included ears of corn for 10 cents each (limit 8), a free package of cookies, large watermelons for $4.99 each, cherries for $2.97 per pound, a free frozen pizza and B1G1 ice cream bars, avocados for 88 cents each and yellow or orange bell peppers for 99 cents each. Not so frugal….ordering take out several times while my husband was away and running our washing machine and dryer during peak hours. As much as I try to run it off hours, it hasn’t quite worked out yet. My mom also gifted my son two pounds of organic strawberries. We went to a bbq at our local pool for Memorial Day. It was very nice and included a free bbq lunch and drinks. The week before I had also taken my son and four of his friends to the pool for the day. I was going to order a pizza and have it delivered. Imagine my surprise when one of the other moms showed up with two Costco pizzas for the kids. I offered to pay her, but she insisted. My husband and I also looked at our monthly expenses again. In order for me to be able to retire on the time line we have set, we need to buckle down even more. We are looking at reducing some utilites expenses and some even cutting out completely. I just can’t wrap my head around the rise in costs of things here in California (also knowing that it is happening all over the world). It’s so crazy. I wonder how people can afford to live here. My husband and I, both with full time, long term employment, are barely making it. But we are grateful. Not debt other than our mortgage. Our family is in a much better position than most. Also not frugal, I signed up for a monthly journal subscription. I had been looking into this for a while. And this one I really liked. It is very interactive and they also have free zoom events. I was able to use a 10 per cent off coupon for an annual subcription. My job has really been reeking havoc on my mental health as of late. So much so, that it is now causing me physical stress to my body. I can’t retire just yet. I am hoping by trying journaling as well as some yoga and sound bath videos on youtube, that it will help. Wish me luck :). Have a great week everyone!!!!
Peggy G it was so kind of you to share what life is like right now, we live in NY and I am a nurse- can not see being able to retire soon due to what has gone on with prices of everything going up
No lavish lifestyle for sure and trying to squeeze every penny tightly but still very challenging
We have enjoyed doing things at home. We picked asparagus. We are turning off lights when not in use. Washing full loads. Making do with what we have. Sewing clothing that needs repaired. I am going to try and turn a collar on my husbands shirt. I really am not much of a seamstress, but we decided we might be able to extend the life of one of his favorite shirts if I try and turn the collar to the unworn side without holes. I remember someone did that from the blog. Maybe it was you that did that Brandy. I don’t remember who did it. I’d love to know if there is a tutorial on it, maybe on YouTube. I’m going to try and sew another item of mine to extend its wear. We continue to use cloth napkins and hankies. My husband helped me fold them. I honestly was tempted to buy paper. But two pairs of hands made light work one day when folding all the cloth. I was happy that my husband helped me on a day I was really tired. So, no paper. We continue to use cloth. Besides, I save money and time not getting in the car and going to the store to buy the paper products. Free exercise in the garden and cleaning house. Free music on Youtube. Lots of information on the internet. I love finding new recipes. I discovered Mary’s Nest on Youtube and am enjoying her videos. Lots to learn. I was glad to see your post Brandy. I always enjoy reading it when you post. I enjoy hibiscus tea as well. It was a good idea to bring that to the party. Not only does it taste good , but it is a pretty color!
I have turned collars before. Here is a good video I hope will help you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Vheby2hAU
Cindi,
Thanks! I will watch that video. I really appreciate it!
Tammy
My mother used to turn the collars on my father’s shirts. Tammy, it sounds as if you are managing very well! I’m thinking of pickling some of the market’s asparagus. Would like to have a pantry full of it. We are heading for another covid wave. It is predicted that by the end of June, China will have 65 million cases per week of the variant XBB. It is already in the U.S. I want to have a well-stocked pantry. I hope you enjoy a lovely summer. Ann
Hi Ann,
Thanks! Things are going well. We are scrimping and trying to save. But it is getting quite a bit harder with the cost of absolutely everything going up, except wages. But I am so happy to have you, Brandy and this wonderful group of people to encourage me on my journey of frugality. I think it is wise to keep a well stocked pantry if you can. I need a good recipe for pickled asparagus. We tried it one year and we had pickled mush. I think we might have cooked it too long. I’ve frozen some to turn to soup. I could do the same with canning, and I might. I love pickled okra. I want to plant some okra this year and pickle some of that. I hope you have a lovely summer as well.
Tammy
I bought 6 lavender plants that were marked down to $2.50. The one in my bathroom window is thriving. The other five are in my flower garden. A couple look good and a couple are pitiful. I’m not sure of the difference. My daughter is reading a book a day on her kindle. The 10 dollar unlimited is well worth the price. I looked up a few things to add to my tablet. We bought 13 books on second sale at eBay for $40.00. My son had a few requests. Instilling the joy of reading in my children makes me happy. On the other hand I purchased a new book for my dad. At 82 he still loves to read. His 1200 page genealogy book was $87.00. I hope it lasts him for more than 2 days. He flies through them. I took him and my mother a meal. No savings on that visit but the time spent with my dad is priceless. I skipped adding a shared account charge to my daughters Netflix account. I wanted to buy a baby shower gift for one of my daughters high-school friends. I bought a case of 215 diapers w a memorial day promotion. The 30.00 versus the 99.00 regular price was enticing. It gave me great joy to drop that gift off. I politely declined 3 high-school graduations. I felt like the invitations were silent request for gifts. I havent heard from these people in years. Finding balance has been hard for me over the years. I now ask myself if a special occasion brings me happiness. That saves me a lot of money. I returned a pair of sandals to the store. They didn’t have the arch support like previous pairs. I downloaded a meal planner app. I sat and checked off a long list of ingredients I normally have on hand. Now I can search for dishes to prepare. Often we bring home vegetables that I have no idea how to incorporate into a dish. I actually sautéed some fresh spinach and froze it. We brought home lovely items from the grocery store. My favorite find this week were several spaghetti squash. I’m going to attemp to cook and freeze the ” noodles “. We found a box w dish soap and spray bleach cleaners. Those 10 bottles are welcomed. Im looking forward to doing a much better at menu planning with new ingredients. I seemingly have broken my baby toe. Im grateful.i have zero co-pay to see my doctor .Be blessed friends.
Lilliana, I love this wisdom about does this occasion make me happy?
We are keeping our graduation party smaller for that reason. We want the people who matter there.
I really like the app PangoBooks as well for pre-owned books!
Hi Brandy and everyone
Well done on keeping your electricity usage down. All the little things add up. Your artichokes look wonderful, what a bounty.
I have picked salad leaves, parsley, radishes, Sweet William and roses from the garden. We are eating a salad every day. We have sown seeds for more zinnia and statice and donated plants to a church fundraiser.
I mended a dress, two kitchen towels and a pair of my husbands gardening overalls.
We borrowed a sander from our SIL and I have sanded and oiled all the wooden garden furniture.
I sold some books to Ziffit, the amount of money you receive is low but it’s clutter out and cash in.
I donated two bags of books to the charity shop and found two packs of M & S knee highs, navy and black for £1 a pack instead of £3.50.
I have been staying home as much as possible saving petrol and getting things done at home. It feels good.
Stat safe everyone.
Love the still life of the artichokes. I’ve always thought they have the prettiest colors and really do look like the members of the thistle family that they are.
*We do weekly field trips when the weather gets warmer and it is sometimes a challenge to think of things that will be fun, inexpensive (or free) and have ample opportunity for learning. This past week, we visited our church’s cemetery – a place we have walked through and even helped to weed many times but looked at it with fresh eyes. We did tombstone rubbings, wrote down names and dates, calculated how old someone was when they passed, how much older one spouse was than another, attempted to figure out the relationship between people with the same last name based on dates, drew designs from the headstones (and researched them at home – found several designs representing different Scottish clans), noted common themes in inscriptions, discussed events in history taking place during that person’s lifetime, as well as the overall design of the area and plantings chosen in the borders. There is so much to learn in a cemetery and they enjoyed it even more than I thought they would. Our church has a trail up to a waterfall and we enjoyed a hike there afterward. No money spent but a beautiful afternoon with lots of good conversation. I love the kind of rabbit holes we go down on these adventures.
*Another adventure was being invited to remove bees from an old house. A woman in our homeschool co-op called me about a property owned by her pastor which had bees. I asked my neighbor (who used to keep bees and just loves any adventure that involves an old house) to go with me for deconstruction help (we often have to remove siding and other things to accomplish the removal.) Unfortunately, someone else had come earlier and removed some bees though it looked like there may have been more than one queen. There wasn’t but it was still fun to poke around and see the massive amount of comb inside the walls of that house. It once was a huge colony and would have been something to see years ago. The up side was that the pastor came out and invited us into the old house to look around and let us take some things home. My neighbor got a very nice Eastlake-style dresser and mirror. I found a lovely English tea tin (which I collect) and a hand-embroidered bench cushion. It is really pretty, kind of a Scandinavian botanical design. I love handmade things, knowing the skill and hours someone put into its creation. The pastor said it was made by the lady of the house, who was an skilled seamstress and quilter. Her only child died young and he took care of her in her older years. So, even though no bees came of it, we had a great adventure, going somewhere we had never been, meeting a kind person, swapping interesting stories and brought some treasures home. The tea tin is now in my kitchen dresser/hutch with my others and the now-cleaned cushion is living on a bench made by my husband’s grandfather in my laundry room. And I smile and remember the experience every time I see them.
*I am going hard with my reframing old photos and documents project. I was unable to find any frame shop locally that would sell me the needed supplies (specifically archival foam board and spacer) and Amazon was too expensive so I was glad to find WebPictureFrames.com. They had all I needed at reasonable prices and I figured out how to get the most I could without changing the shipping cost. The items came wrapped very securely and I am very happy with my purchases. If you have a need, I highly recommend them. I am using frames I already have, giving them all a good cleaning and conditioning the wood. I also found one frame at a thrift store this week that, unbeknownst to me, had 3 linen mats inside. Frames were 50% off so I paid only $5. I couldn’t buy one of those mats for that little so I was very happy. I am putting two photos in that one – one of me and my husband and one of my parents, all of us on our wedding day. They are similar in poses and I wore my mother’s wedding dress so it is fun to have them framed together. My gallery wall is growing and I am having fun learning more skills.
*I have been saving all cardboard and using it to make more beds in my secret garden. I planted calendula, nigella, dianthus, and echinacea in one and started suppressing grass for another. My youngest son is helping me line the borders with stones from our creek, a tough job as we have to pull them in a wagon uphill but fun when done together. I have been cutting the wild roses to bring in the house for arrangements. The scent is lovely.
*Sold $42 worth of items at my neighbor’s antique booth. Every little bit helps.
*Continuing with succession-planting in the kitchen garden and enjoying the things which are ready for eating. Recent rains have made things explode and we are grateful for it. Am trying a new-to-me mint this year, strawberry mint, and it smells heavenly. The kitties also are getting a new crop of catmint. Got to keep everyone happy!
*My youngest son sold his long-ago-outgrown bike on FB Marketplace. He was ready to let it go and cash is a big motivator. 🙂 He cleaned it, oiled the chain and replaced the hand grips so it looked as good as possible. We met up with the buyers and he handled the whole transaction. Afterward, he told me meeting the little boy who received his bike made him feel better about letting it go as he can picture him riding it and having a good time. I told him that’s one thing that makes buying/selling used items so fun.
*We still are pulling leftovers from the freezer that was stored away after all of our April family celebrations so grocery shopping has been very minimal. That, and the garden maturing and the chickens continuing to lay like the generous ladies they are keeps us well fed and happy.
*Hope you all are enjoying some sunshine and getting your hands dirty doing something productive and fun. Looking forward to all the inspiration! 🙂
Mountain Mama Dawn,
I always enjoy your stories about the things you do. You write it so well, I can envision it in my mind.
Thank you for your kind words, Tammy! I so enjoy your contributions, as well. 🙂
My son and FIL caught 10 garfish, ate one and brought the rest back for us to put in the freezer. One fish is enough for the three of us here at home, so fish for 9 dinners!
We have incredible amounts of rhubarb this time of year, so we always try to find new ways to use it. This week I dehydrated thinly sliced rhubarb, 3 trays with sugar and 3 trays without (together with 1 tray of bananas that needed to be used up). I also made some very fancy long and thin slices of rhubarb to decorate ice or cake for special occasions. They turned out very pretty! The rhubarb-slices with sugar have to be left in a colander for about an hour – the juice that drips from it tastes very good when diluted with cold water. So no waste!
We also made rhubarb jam and froze some more to use for crumble cakes at birthdays.
The garden is turning out good this year. We have two invasive slug species where I live, and last year was really bad, they ate so many plants! This year is much better, with a cold spring and now it is very dry – too dry actually, it hasn’t rained for 2 months, and we are getting worried. But good for the slug-problem! I put a thick layer of mulch on the beds, which about halves the amount of water I use. I just use whatever I have for the mulch – cuttings from lavenders, leaves from bulbs that are dying away for the summer or from trees.
This week we harvested asparagus, oregano, radishes and perennial vegetables. Soon we will be able to harvest the first lettuce and potatoes.
I air-dried a couple of trays of oregano.
We tried out oat-milk to see if that was something for us. We just bought some at the supermarket to taste. It is quite sweet, but it will be fine for oatmeal, coffee and when baking something sweet like cakes. It is just the same price as ordinary milk in the supermarket BUT if we make it ourselves, the savings are substantial! 1 liter organic milk (normal or oat) costs 14 kr. (around 2 USD). But if we make it ourselves, it will be 1 kr. (0,14 USD) pr. liter!!! We go through a lot of milk, so if we replace all our milk with homemade oatmilk, we will save about 3000 kr./year (430 USD/year)! That’s a lot of money! We will not replace it all though, as we find the oatmilk to sweet for some things.
I will also try to make almond milk this week to use in a cold cucumber-almond soup I found a recipe for the other day. I’m curious to see how that turns out!
We put out some surplus plants on a small table at the pavement in front of our garden and sold for about 450 kr. (65 USD) in two days. We do this every year, and it’s usually a success, and we get to talk to some of the people in the neighborhood.
I gave my son a haircut while he watched a DVD we already own.
Like always we used the library a lot.
Have a nice week everyone!
I love rhubarb and always save the juice, freeze it as ice cubes and then use it in water or sparkling water – delicious.
Years ago, I made a recipe using rhubarb for homemade BBQ sauce and as a replacement for tomatoes. I don’t have the recipe anymore, but it was yummy. It was the first time I had used rhubarb in a savory recipe.
Hello, frugal friends! The weather here in the mountains has been varied the past two weeks. Sunny and hot to cool and rainy to just cool for this time of year. Memorial Day weekend was cool and rainy. The rain has really helped my garden though. Flowers are blooming and everything is lush and green. I want to thank Melonie K. and Debby in Kansas for their responses last post. Yes, we are very happy to have the reduction in our property tax. It wasn’t as much as we had hoped but was significant enough to help. And I am honored to have been awarded the Tightwad Award for worm collecting:) That made me laugh, Debby in Kansas, which of course aids in my recovery, which is going extremely well. I am told I am way ahead of expectations.
In frugal news, We have received 3 bills relating to my surgery. We paid all 3. We have since received 3 refund checks for the amount we paid. Hmmm… I am thinking they did not wait for all our insurances to pay their part. I am not complaining and am very thankful for good insurance. I received a check from Rakuten. As we used this to buy the new solar charger and electric mowers the check was quite significant. This and the refund checks went into a savings account.
I finished planting my garden. I found volunteer cucumber and tomato plants so I transplanted them. My peas are finally starting to blossom. We are looking forward to having fresh peas from the garden.
Mr. Fix It fixed a few things around the house.
I finished sewing the baby doll blankets for my doll project. I used up some thread and fabrics so that helps clear out some things.
I did not buy many groceries the past 2 weeks, just things on sale. No good clearance or mark downs. I have noticed fewer store brand options. Actually, I have noticed fewer options in general and absolutely no generic items. Is anyone else seeing this? In the cereal aisle, for example, the aisle used to be full of choices the entire length of the aisle. Now cereals only fill half of the aisle and with the exception of 2 cereals (plain Cheerios and cornflakes) the rest are name brand at $7-8/box. I buy cheerio type cereal once or twice a year to use as dog treats for my small dog and cornflakes once a year for “frying” chicken. I have not been in Aldi’s for a while but hopefully they are a little more reasonable. I will not buy name brand cereal, especially at these prices. I understand there is a wheat crop failure, etc, but I believe the stores are taking advantage of the situation.
Our electric bill was $50 lower this time. Not running heat or air conditioning really helps as does carefully monitoring lights and oven use.
This is all I can think of at the moment besides the usual things we do. Wishing everyone a frugal, safe and healthy week!
I cannot find so many items that I used to buy in store on sale. I now have to buy them online and they are much more.
I buy Walmart’s brand of dish soap and the name brand is more than double. The stores only carry the name brand now. I am going to order the store brand online today.
Marley, not only did you win the Tightwad Award, but you inspired me to pick up 10 worms and throw them into my raised vegetable bed!
Glad I could help! 😁.
Marley, any chance you have a Trader Joe’s nearby? They seem to still have reasonable cereal prices.
Sadly, no Trader Jo nearby. The nearest Costco or Sams is an hour away. I will be near the Aldi tomorrow and am hoping they have a reasonably priced box of cornflakes. I have also noticed the amount of many products has decreased yet the price has increased. I am paying more for less. I am only buying loss leaders or sales items. I had loaded a free JD sausage coupon to my loyalty card this morning. When I went to the store, the computer only took $1 off. I had to have the cashier correct it. At first he asked for proof of the coupon, but I don’t have the app on my phone so could not show him. As I shop there all the time he corrected the discount and I got the pound of sausage for free. Thank you to the frugal friend who mentioned checking receipts before leaving the store!
Frugal Accomplishments:
*redeemed a free 7 day trial of Britbox through Amazon Prime
*my aunt came to visit and brought honey from her hives, eggs from her chickens, plus some home canned chicken, bone broth, and tomatoes
*husband works at grocery store and received free: sun butters, coffee beans, and granola bars
*boneless skinless chicken breast for $1.99/lb
*redeemed a free pastry from Panera
*harvested strawberries and lemon balm from our yard
Have a great week ❤️
Hello Brandy and everyone, We have been busy with garden. We have baby squash, tomatoes, sweet pepper, zucchini, and green bean blooms. I could not resist and picked a baby sweet banana pepper. I have been fixing food at home using our storage. I made a homemade pizza, and my husband thinks I am awesome. He said that was the best pizza he had every eaten. We had his kids over for a cookout Sunday night and everyone had a good time. I have been walking every day trying to lose a little weight, but I feel better when I walk. My coworkers and I took a garden class by the UT Extension Service on growing a garden, and I learned so much. Next year before gardening season, I am going to have our soil tested. My sister is back in Vanderbilt with seizures. I was on the phone with her when she had one. She has been having them closer together. If you are a praying person, please pray for her and her husband. I did a grocery stock up at Save-a-Lot. I had some digital coupons and some paper ones and saved $11 on things I was buying anyway. I have been reading library books and working all I can.
Donna,
Lifting up your sister, her husband, and your family!<3
Donna, your sister is on my prayer list. Rest assured Dr. Jesus is on the job.
Donna,
I prayed for your sister as well.
My son used to have daily seizures for years after a brain injury playing football. He told me I could share. After being on several anti-seizure medications, a doctor figured out that he had a sodium deficiency due to the medicine. A lot of people prayed for him. I know, it is scary to see someone you love have seizures. I believe in the Power of prayer. My son was in a coma after his football injury for 5 days. He had a 10 percent chance of living. If he lived, I was told, he would be a vegetable. I ran into the ICU and started praying over him. I asked God,”Please don’t take my baby.” Then, My son woke up! The nurse took the respirator out of his mouth. He said, “Mom, I was with God.” He had to learn to walk and do everything, everything over again. But now, years later he is seizure free, and asked me to share his story. There were many, many people praying during that time period for him. He has a beautiful story of what he saw and heard when he was in Heaven. Anyway, I just wanted to give you hope. Because, I know that Jesus listens to our prayers. My son being alive is a miracle. Donna, I will pray for your sister.
That is an amazing story! Prayer is an amazing power. God is an amazing God.
Beautiful story thank you so much and your son for sharing
Donna: at which SavALot do you shop? Is it near Home Depot? Do they carry National Brands?
Donna – I, too, will include your sister in my prayers. Sending loving thoughts your way. 🙂
Praying for your sister and her family
Praying for your sister and her husband. Take care.
The picture of the blackberries is wonderful. My favorite berry.
I worked 7 days the last two weeks. Took breakfast and lunch all 7 days.
We planted most of our garden. Beets, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, red, yellow and white onions, swiss chard, pinto beans, tomatoes, carrots, peppers and corn.
I transplanted my thyme to a more permanent place.
Picked some rhubarb and made rhubarb crisp.
Weeded the garlic and cabbage.
Had popcorn and fruit for dinner one night. Made chow mein, cauliflower soup, enchilada casserole, pizza, hard-boiled eggs, tasco meat, BBQ chicken and hamburgers and a big green salad.
Had a gift crd to Penney’s and bought two sets of sheets. Only had to add $10 out-of-pocket. Came home and washed them, as well as two other sets, and hung them all on the clothesline. I do like the smell of air-dried sheets.
Went to the farmer’s market one time. Enjoyed the fresh air , but bought nothing.
DH got his $50 OTC from his Medicare plan. Got allergy meds and toothpaste.
Best deals at the store this week were avocados for 58¢ each, BSCB for $1.99 per poound. I was out in my freezer, so bought 3 packages. I also was able to get 93/7 hamburger for $2.99 in the 3-pound roll. I had a $1.25 off coupon, so only paid $7.72 for 3 pounds. Thought that was a great deal. 18 oz. blueberries were $1.99 each. There was a limit of 2 so got 2. They were really good, so may go back and get more before the sale ends today.
I have a really short work week this week. Just 2 1/2 days. Planning to get the rest of the garden in.
Hope everyone has a good week.
Love the Blackberries! Yum!
Points of Interest: Sam’s is no longer carrying Aquafina water. Not sure if it’s an area thing or across the board. Speculation about it all going to the Border. Need to read John Kerry’s commentary on American Farmers. Made my hair stand on end! Also, more countries are being added to the increase in starvation lists. Not being Political here, but think we need to be aware more than ever about the fragility of the supply chain and how we should look at planning for our families in the future.
Going to Charleston this week for a family event. Hope to have time to stop at local Farmer stands and find some goodies. Although, my Aunt told me they were also behind planting due to the weather. Plan to do some genealogy inquiries while there. I love Genealogy! It’s like being on a perpetual Easter Egg Hunt!
Was able to get Lentil’s for 1.66 a can from Amazon. These are Goya and usually go for 2.58 at the Grocery. However, the cans they use now are terrible! No matter the vender or shipper, they are always dented! Very frustrating! No great food sales as once was the case for Holidays. Tennessee will have no sales tax on food from August through October. Can’t wait! 👏👏
The garden is perking up! I am still at war with the rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks! Hopefully, they’ll save us a bite or two!
Have been binge watching The Mosquito Coast and The Silo on Apple. Interesting, but a bit unnerving!
Hope everyone is hanging in out there. Onward, y’all, by all means! 🥰
Cheryl, I agree about planning for our families! I loved that you equated geneology with an Easter egg hunt, I love it and find that to be true!
Jean: isn’t it the best? I have to make myself focus on the many things I need to accomplish or I would find myself lurking around in the past daily! We will have to chat sometime about the various sites and methods we use!!
Did you read his comments in the original or depend on a secondary source? I did and the alarmist noise that has been posted is pure propaganda to excite people. No place did he talk about confiscating farms or buying out farmers; he did talk about how farmers are essential to fighting climate change. I do not want to see this source of comfort to those of us trying to live as inexpensively as possible become a place where political comments that are unsourced are repeated. Go to the source, you can find the entirety of his speech in numerous places.
Thank you, Mable!
So Mable, where did I state anything about confiscating farms or buying out farmers? I posted this because I thought it was yet another thing that we need to keep in mind concerning our food supply. I stated that I did not mean anything political due to my mention of Kerry. I got my information from Thomas Cantenacci’s article, “John Kerry Targets Agriculture as Part of Climate Crusade” published on Fox News, May 10, 2023. I am not one to site information unless I have a reasonable source. They are becoming harder to find due to politicization. I spent a portion of my life as a researcher, so I am generally pretty thorough and quick to admit it when I am not. Hope this helps.
I think that Cheryl B was just suggesting a source that people who are concerned about the food supply chain can read. I didn’t see her comment as being overly political or unsourced. Reading as much as possible from different perspectives is a good thing and I don’t find that what she said detracts from the comfort I take in reading the various comments on this site.
I have finally Managed to get my second garden planted. It is filled with corn, cucumbers, green beans, pink eyed peas, two varieties of pumpkins and lots of flowers. I’m excited to see it grow as it will save us some money out of our grocery budget. In the lower garden we have peas- snow peas and the shelling variety, several herbs, bunching onions, radishes, carrots, tomatoes of all kinds, and assortment of peppers, okra, green beans, basil, dill, parsley, mint and oregano.
The blackberries and blueberries are giving us our first harvest.
We used old wire mesh to make
A trellis for our peas
To climb.
Batch cookings is a huge help to me during this busy season of life. I have found a new recipe for a chipotle shredded beef using Chuck roast that the whole family enjoys. I love finding the recipes likes this that I can alter So we don’t get bored with the leftovers. Tacos one night, bowls the next, sandwiches or quesadillas. I have even used the leftovers in soup. I have been picking up lots of fruits and veggies to round out our meals and look forward for the bounty that the summer will offer from the garden as well as farmers markets and stands.
I have needed some new clothing as I am dropping sizes and stumbled upon two skirts perfect for the summer for $12 each. I also picked up a nightgown for $4 and two shirts for $7 a piece. I will dress very simply while I am losing weight and when I get to my goal then I will work to build my Closet back to normal in my new size. Still I think a capsule wardrobe will be my
New normal.
I brought my lunch and coffee to work with me and enjoyed the drinks and snacks provided in office. Errands were combined to save gas and sales shopped to save as much as we can on groceries. I planted the vegetable seeds I had on hand rather than running to the store for blue lake green beans when I realized I was out. I will also be using up fertilizer, bone meal, and plant food we have on hand before buying more.
I used a $20 off coupon sent in the mail to buy my Dog’s food from Chewy. I love when I get savings like these.
I repaired the machine I use to clean my Hardwood floors and purchased some cleaner for it on sale.
I emptied and cleaned out my refrigerator washing countless jars, cleaning drawers and wiping down shelves. It was so satisfying to see it shining when I opened the doors to put away dinner. This also helps me
Prepare for the garden harvest and canning season ahead.
Cheers to a productive week ahead everyone!
Congratulations on your weight loss, Angie!
Angie, I always plant Blue Lake green beans, too. I was so surprised last year when the plants became an absolute jungle. When I went to plant this year, I discovered I’d bought and plantedPOLE beans last year! I had a new packet of BL bush bean seeds so I used those. I used to always plant pole beans but I la ck the space and get-up-and-go to do it now.
The berries look so good! I’ve been getting boysenberries from my new plants, but the blackberries are behind this year – I just have green ones at this point.
Although I’m on a well, I use electricity to run the pump and heat the water, so I’ve started taking “Navy showers” to help lower my bill. My house is all-electric, and I just got notice that my budget billing plan would increase $14 next month, so I am trying to be more conscious of my usage.
To that end, I am also washing small loads without using my washer and using much less water. I use a Wonder Wash, which I got for free with gift cards I earned. I then hang the laundry outdoors or on a drying rack indoors.
I can’t take any credit for this, but we had such gorgeous weather this past weekend that I was able to even turn off the ceiling fans until Monday evening. I still haven’t turned on the A/C, although that moment is getting very close. I’ve never known it to be that nice and cool-ish over a Memorial Day weekend before. It certainly was much hotter the week before.
The weather was nice enough that I batch-cooked in the oven without worrying about heating the house up. I had windows and doors open and there was a good breeze.
I’m covering the squash and cucumbers at night to try to keep some of the nighttime egg-laying pests at bay. I planted Armenian cucumbers this year – they’ve never grown for me in the past, but they at least have grown some this year. I’m hoping they make it.
Of course I do the usual everyday things such as packing lunches, delaying purchases to see if I truly need them, re-using and/or repairing what I have and staying on top of things so I don’t get late fees.
I sometimes feel bad after reading comments because I don’t garden. My brother, sister and I all have homes on our 2,000 acre farm and none of us have a single garden plant. Then I remember I hate to cook and don’t really like being outside so why should I do something I would hate. We have some weekly farmer’s markets in towns near us and they have great strawberries and peaches which I love so I frequent those in season. I love love love fresh peaches but for some reason they are a few weeks behind being ready this season, I guess it was weather related. I messaged the peach farm that comes to market and they said a few more weeks.
My Target liquidation store has recently started having Amazon items. I got a $69 Vera Bradley cross-body and a package of 10 underwear that I like ($17 retail) for only $4.50 each. Both new in package. Not sure if they were amazon returns or overstock but since they were new I don’t really care.
Ate some leftovers my homeowners left me on recent pet-sitting weekend trip which frees up some lunch money for shopping in thrift stores in big city. I am not really a leftover person but since these were their original meals and not mine they were brand new to me. Carried my own drinks and snacks so I could avoid big city grocery store. I was only there 3 days and since I had the leftovers I only purchased two meals out, both were large enough to eat on twice, again freeing up lunch money for shopping.
Picked up brand spanking new book by my favorite author at library and carried it with me on pet sitting trip. Since I didn’t meet any friends this time and was alone with dogs I was able to begin/finish book in just a few hours and return to library as soon as it opened after holiday for next person to read. I love the library. Can’t wait to take my niece to summer reading activities.
Took advantage of homeowners Netflix and watched a few shows while I was there. Have a really long list for 2 week pet sitting assignment a little later in summer. plus a long list of restaurants and stores that are available in big city but not my tiny rural hometown.
I am thankful you are having cooler weather and a little rain, every little bit helps doesn’t it, Brandy! Your artichokes are beautiful! We have blackberries that are thick, but still red. Our pear trees got frost bit, but the fig start that our neighbor gave us is growing nicely, though I think it will be a few years till it has figs. The strawberries were fewer this year and the blueberries look good. My husband brought two bags of coffee grounds to feed the blueberries, that he got free. We are harvesting lettuce, beets, chard and kale. Yesterday I made fermented chard stalks and fermented beets, and a batch of apple cider vinegar started!
* We had a very wet weekend but I did get some weeding done when the rain was lighter. I am digging up some salvia from my daughter’s garden today. I am babysitting while she takes tennis lessons, and get extra grandkid time! The roll poly got my beans again so I am starting soaking a new batch and will put some stuff on the new seedlings to hopefully stop them. It has been a few years since any beans have made it.
* I continue to take free exercise classes at the senior rec center and my hubby and I walk every evening.
* I make my laundry soap from English ivy and line dry so very little cost involved in doing laundry.
* My daughter asked me today what I am looking forward to this summer, and to have to confess I love my gardening. It isn’t out of a magazine picture but it brings me so much joy and fulfillment! I do want to think of other things though to do this summer as I make a list every summer of want to’s. I would love to hear from you all what your summer lists look like. We don’t do much now that the kids are out of the house( though one of my sons is here every other weekend with his two girls).
* I read a great WW2 novel set in France, “The Librarian of Saint Malo.” It was excellent and some how I got peanut butter on it and had to buy it.😟
Praying you all have a lovely wee!
That was an excellent book. I reallt enjoyed it.
The garden is finally all in. Hubby and I did another load of free compost from the town with his truck. With the prices of food being higher, I pulled out all of the Rubbermaid tubs I have been garbage picking and made them into planters too with the free compost. Hubby drilled holes in them for me. So far all I am picking is herbs, lettuce and strawberries.
I started a new part time job. It is at a children’s party center. It isn’t open yet so I am just helping setting everything up for now. The got me Starbucks one day and lunch the other. The older lady I was helping, her daughter is getting divorced so she moved in with her 3 kids. She currently doesn’t work so she can run her mom to doctors and do errands with her.
My daughter and I did end of year college dumpster diving. I look forward to it every year. I have listed and sold several items already. I washed 4 loads of sheets and passed them on to a local church that supports a women’s shelter. We did 3 trips and came home with a full truck each time. I am always amazed at the about of food and cleaning products I get. A full case of canned tomatoes, a full case of canned kidney beans. I have 3 1/2 bottles of detergent and 82 pods. I found a cashmere coat. We did really well this year and I was happy to see a few other people diving also. I passed along 4 boxes of food to those in need. The weirdest find this year, 4 packs of different dehydrated mushrooms. The best finds, cash and gift cards. They really do throw out everything.
We went to 2 BBQ’s this weekend. The first one we brought apple pie(as requested) and a bottle of HM wine. The 2nd we brought chickpea salad(as requested) and a bottle of HM wine. Both sent us home with food so we are having leftovers for the next few days.
There were lots of Memorial Day sales so I stocked up for me and the kids. Corn was 10 for $2 which is the as good as it gets around here. $5 for a watermelon, $2.49 a pound for cherries limit 4 pounds, $1.79 for chicken breasts limit 4, $1.79 for ribs limit 4, $1.99 for Italian sausage limit 4, $1.99 for 12 oz. of bacon limit 4 and $1.77 for chips limit 4.
It was my birthday so I have been enjoying lots of birthday freebies.
The thrift store I go to has been getting so many donations lately they have been doing lots of sales. I got 6 shirts for $1 each and 3 pairs of shorts for $2. I got a brand new scrabble game for $1(into the gift closet) and a dehydrator for my daughter for $5. It sells for $150 on Amazon. I tried it out with some herbs to make sure it works good.
My son, daughter and I went to a local garden/mansion/estate. It costs $15 a person but I had reserved the library pass. We brought lunch for a picnic so it only cost us the gas to get there. I have reserved several passes for the summer.
Brandy your blackberries are amazing! I put in 9 Ponca thorn less plants last year. 2 survived, but the rabbits ate them this spring. So now I have tiny shoots coming up. I hope I get some in the next few years. After we get the garden in I will put fencing around the blackberries and raspberries. I just can’t compete with the rabbits anymore. I fenced all of my trees and blueberries and they are all blooming and setting fruit. So excited. It took me a long time to realize the damage the rabbits were doing to my trees and bushes each year.
We are in the 90’s here and have had hardly any rain in May. We have a burn ban because it is so dry here. I have delayed planting my garden because we have had frosty nights and scorching days. Next week it is supposed to cool so I am hopeful my plants will survive in my garden. I have decided that I will utilize farm stands and Amish stores to buy the fruit and vegetable I fail to grow this year. It is time to be busy deepening the pantry. I have been gifted many canning jars recently. I accept them thankfully. I think I will be filling many of them this harvest season.
I have waited 2 months for a hamburger sale for Memorial Day weekend. There were none at all in my town. I was shocked. I have never seen that before. Usually I can get 80/20 for 1.99 lb. Not sure what to make of that. I was able to get a watermelon for 4.99 and it was so divine! Our Aldi has not had their private label sour cream for over 6 weeks. It was there this last week but for 1.69 I get half the amount. Shrinkflation is real.
I am using my bread maker and instant pot more to keep the house cooler. I cooked a spiral ham in the instant pot and it was so moist. I can make a 1 hour loaf of half whole wheat/ half white that stays moist and has a nice crumb. My kids have been happily munching away.
I am trying to limit my driving to town, utilizing the clothes line, and trying to be content with all that I have. I don’t need more. I am blessed. Everyone let’s continue to find the beauty and peace that is evident in the little things in life.
I am noticing that all the usual holiday sales have been gone for over a year. There were a few exceptions, but they had limits of 1 over the last year.
Good work on your electricity bill! I love hearing about garage sale finds. Later this week the local second hand shop/thrift shop has a 50% off sale, so I have planned to go along and will take my list.
I received a huge and very delicious mandarine cake, some of which I froze. It was from one of the families we have been giving our excess mandarines.
My daughter has sought a toy for over a year, however, it is $349.99. I have seen one in excellent condition (no missing pieces), second hand for $100 and have offered $80. They are normally $150-$180 second hand and missing pieces. A family member has offered to reimburse me and they will give it to my daughter as a Christmas gift. I have a minimal gift budget for the year, so am grateful for their offer.
Groceries this week included whole wheat seeded bread rolls, mince meat on clearance, baking paper, sprouts, ham, milk, bread, wraps and a few snacks at 50% off that I have put away for an upcoming trip. The snacks will come on board the aeroplane in our carry on bag and save us buying food on board (no free food is provided). I would normally prepare and take food from home but as it is an international flight it will be easier to get food in its original packaging through security.
We went to a birthday party and received lunch, snacks, cake, drinks and the children got very generous lolly bags. I have put some sealed lollies aside for our upcoming trip.
I took along a beautiful gift that was $29.95 and I got on clearance for $2.
We are off to a double birthday party next weekend and I will need to shop my gift cupboard for two presents at some point. It seems to be getting more popular having one party for two siblings who share birthdays close-ish together.
Have a great week.
My friends and I did a pantry swap. Similar to a clothing swap, we each brought items from our pantry that we knew we’d never use out them all on tables and then chose other items we knew we would use.
There were 6 of us and we each brought 5 items, we could then take 5 items. Some only took 3-4 items so then the others could take more if they wanted. I took 6 things.
Every item was taken so nothing to donate or toss. It was a fun way to get rid of things you bought multiples of and found out you didn’t like, we’re sick of eating, etc.
We will probably do this again in the future if needed.
The pantry swap sounds like a great idea. I will have to see if I can put one together. I have done a cookie swap many times near Christmas and it makes life so much easier.
Just thought I’d mention that someone has put the entire coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show on YouTube.
It is fun, interesting and informative.
THANK YOU!!!!
I’m trying to learn from you about saving water. We’ve never had to before. Not like this. We would water our gardens in dry times but mostly we let the rains water our gardens but this is our third year of drought in a row. Usually our property is so green and gorgeous this time of year but not now. It’s very dusty and mostly the weeds are surviving with big cracks in the ground. I’m trying to mulch my garden to try to preserve the water that I put on it but it’s a lot of work. (We have lots of straw in our barn and woodchips and other things. I did puts lots of leaves down on the garden last fall and that is breaking down nicely.) My husband expressed concern about the water bill recently. We’ve not really been concerned about that in the past too much. We usually grow a whole field of corn practically but he’s wondering if it’s worth the cost of the water. Maybe I should look at canned corn at the store and see the cost in comparison but our corn is so much better. Anyway, I trying to get the kids to save their drinking water. We all just toss it all down the drain. I also want them to be more careful when doing dishes. We are pretty conservative about our water usage…not letting the water run etc…but I’m seeing that we can all start saving water here and there. We can at least water the plants, bushes etc close to the house. Also, I think I will work on not being so wasteful with laundry. The kids toss too much down the chute and it sure uses a lot of water to wash that.
My husband was laid off for 3 weeks, but has now returned to work. While he was off we got a lot of chores done but also had a lot of fun. One day we took a trip a county over and shopped at a new to us thrift store, hiked at a state park, and went to a salvage grocery store. We bought things on a savings but we also spent more overall than we usually do. I’m glad he’s back to work and we’ll have a real paycheck and we’ll also be back in our normal routine. This week is just as busy, but hopefully a week from now things will have settled down and I’ll be able to share that we made it through frugally. We have already spent as much on groceries this year as I would have liked to have spent over the whole year. We need to pull back even more and just concentrate on buying fresh things from local farmers as things become available to buy in bulk. Strawberry picking starts today at our local you pick farm. I’m hoping they’ll still be abundant when we’re able to get there next week. Here’s to surviving May and to a frugal June!
Oh! One thing I forgot to mention…when my husband wasn’t working, we were spending through all the little odds and ends of money I had put back since unemployment is only a little under half of what his usual paychecks are. I tend to squirrel money away. For example, I save all of our $1 bills. We usually use them for Christmas, but we had to use them for gas this time. That was $100 put back since the beginning of the year. I cashed in the money I had in the upside app ($26) because we needed chicken feed and our daughter needed a pair of shoes. And we cashed in our change jar we had been filling since last September. There was $186 in it (the benefit of using cash!) and that definitely helped with all the expenses we have coming up this weekend with our son’s graduation and a co-op expo along with a daughter’s birthday. Now it’s time to start rebuilding all my little bits of money for the next time we need it!
It’s so good to save for the rainy days or in our case the drought!
Yes, we’ve definitely had our share of droughts… When a rain day sounds like a vacation!
Sarah – I love your squirreling of money comment. I do that, too. My mother has always been big on using an envelope system for expenses way before that was a thing. She calls it her “pockets” of money and always made it seem like a game to put bits of money into the different categories/pockets. I think she learned it as a child when Christmas savings funds at banks were a big thing and just kept doing it. I do it, too, and it is nice to have that tangible evidence of little amounts adding up to a lot especially in this digital world. Your diligence is inspiring – thanks for sharing your success! 🙂
Pockets! I love that! The digital age is a little scary in my opinion. We use cash for everything except bills and gas/diesel. But now, due to so much fraud, our bank will only let us get 25% of my husband’s paycheck in cash. The rest we have to wait 2 days until it clears and then pull it out. But I was in town a couple of weeks ago and went to several different stores who said their credit card/digital payment machines were down and had been for a day or two. I was okay because I had cash (though like I said it seems like it’s harder to actually get the cash) but it made me think of how many people would not be able to get what they needed because of the technology being down.
Sarah, This is a fantastic idea – thanks for sharing how you saved up the “little bits” for the future!
I do that too! I have one jar for laundry (I use the machines in the basement laundry room on my building) – one jar is full of Toonies ($2 coins) and then all the other change goes into one big jar and I keep that for Christmas food and treats. It’s amazing how quickly it all adds up – and yes, occasionally I’ve had to raid one of those jars to get through to payday.
It’s much more fun to save it for Christmas and treats but I was amazed at how much less stressed I was during the layoff by just having those little savings jars set aside in case we wanted or needed them!
Beautiful photos, as usual, Brandy 🙂 How wonderful that it rained a little and that saved some on your water bill.
*** We haven’t had a good rain for a month, and I have had to water my plants. We live in an area with a high water table, so municipal water rates are low cost. ( The flip side of this is the danger of floods when it rains too much.)
** * Money saving the past few weeks included the following grocery store savings: Bertolli pasta sauce $1.69 each when purchased in groups of 5. I think I read on your blog (?) that farmers may have problems with the tomato crop thus year. I wanted to be sure that I had enough for a 6 month supply ( not really that much as just 2 in our household 🙂
***5 pounds of “tube” ground beef for $3 a pound. I cooked some up cooled and used my seal a meal to repackage it, then froze. This is great for a night that I need a fast start on dinner. The rest was repackaged and frozen in smaller portions.
***I too advantage of digital store coupons for $3.99 watermelon and store brand icecream. Our fruit for the week is whatever is on sale. 😉
***My friend offered me leftover seeds from her garden as well as some creeping jenny, zinnia and thyme starts. So generous! I enjoy adding to my garden with pass along plants. I find it fun to think of the person that shared the plant when I see it thriving in my landscape.
***Packed lunch, beverages and snacks whenever I ran errands. Grouped errands together to save mileage and gas.
*** My husband had to place an online order for bicycle parts. I said, wait let me look for a coupon code. It saved $10. Every little bit helps.
*** I hope everyone has a wonderful week. Remember, as it is the beginning of summer vacation in the South (U.S.) now is the time to sign up for free children’s library programs.
Ellie – I love pass-along plants, too. Much of my gardening has been accomplished that way. It is such a joy to walk around and know where every plant came from and to think of the person who gave them to me. Kind of like how we are a collection of our experiences, our gardens can be a collection of people we have known. Love that! Your garden sounds lovely. 🙂
Hello, all!
I’ll start with advice! CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS!! For something like 4 wks. in a row, my market overcharged me. The least overcharge was $5.25, but most were $10 or more on sales that weren’t ringing up properly. Years and years ago, I made it a habit to immediately check my receipt before leaving a store. It’s so much easier if done immediately.
Last week was so busy that I didn’t even keep a list. We spring planted and I did a lot of decluttering.
We got our lawnmower fixed for only a $20 part. The shop teacher at a local HS offered to do it for just the cost of parts. He said it’s great practice for his students. Now it works perfectly and it’s 20 yrs. old.
I started on my summer reading tradition. I’m reading my Nancy Drews at night before bed. I have quite a few so there’s no chance I’ll run out by Labor Day. I’m on #14, The Whispering Statue. I also just finished a book that a friend loaned to me. Its called Finding Nouf by Zoe Ferraris. It was set in Saudi Arabia and I found the culture very interesting. The mystery was great, as well.
How fun that you’re revisiting Nancy Drew!! I loved them and wish I still had mine!
I remember being terrified when I read “The Hidden Staircase.” I just looked it up and found it was first published in 1935. I always thought it was the scariest Nancy Drew.
Oh, Debby! I am so glad to read of another Nancy Drew fan. I devoured those books growing up. I have my mother’s collection and a few that belonged to my grandmother (so first editions – a couple written in Norwegian!) Such treasures and the stories are so charming. Which is your favorite?
Ava, I have debated so many times about donating them, but always changed my mind. I’m glad I kept my very favorite books from childhood. I’ve been reading them in past summers. It’s like a new book because I have forgotten so many things!
Dawn, I don’t have any in another language – that’s really neat- but I have some with the light blue cloth cover from the late 30s, I think. 1939 seems familiar. Your grandmother’s?! Wow. I had a relative that was a garage sale fanatic. He looked for old books. He knew I was a ND fan, so he gave them to me!!! I was 8 or 9. I amassed a good sized collection. I can’t remember my favorite exactly, but I seem to remember really liking The Hidden Staircase. Most of mine are the yellow covers from the 70s.
I love that I’m not the only Nancy Drew fan!
Debby, I love that you are rereading the Nancy Drew. I have all the ones we had growing up and my boys have the Hardy Boys they had as kids. I read alll those books and loved them. Did anyone read the Cherry Ames books about a nurse, when growing up. We also read Trixie Belsen as well. We never outgrow the classics!
Yes, We read Trixie Beldon and Cherry Ames, and a few of Vicki Barr (flight attendant, or I suppose stewardess at that time), and Judy Bolton. Also all of nurse Sue Barton, and the Beverly Cleary teen aged books.
My mother strongly supported our reading, reading out loud to us, taking us to the library and occasionally buying books for us. Fortunately, the children’s section of the Carnegie Public Library was one of the places in town with a free telephone. It was next door to the outdoor public swimming pool, so we could get dropped off to go swim, then call for a ride home from the library.
The first Big book I read for myself, as we didn’t call them “chapter books then”, was Nancy Drew “The Ringmaster’s Secret.” It was well past my bedtime and my older sister was cheering me on as I finished. I knew I was skipping words and was even then aware of the amazing amounts of coincidences that led to the resolution, but was very proud of myself.
I read all the Trixie Beldon books too! I loved those books!
I loved seeing your reading Nancy Drew. I love the stories as a child and started re reading them- I am starting with the secret of the lucky charm- my favorite
I love the photo of the artichokes!
The weather here has been pleasant enough that we haven’t had to turn the AC on yet. I open the windows at night and run fans. Our internal temperature does get well into the 70s, but that’s okay with us. We also had a few small rain showers so I was able to water my vegetable garden a little less.
I’ve been sick for the last two weeks. Fortunately, I had cold medication and cough drops on hand so I didn’t have to go to the store. After 8 days I made an appointment with the doctor and paid cash for my visit, saving 20%. Turns out I have a sinus infection (my first) and was prescribed an antibiotic for 10 days that cost just over $10. All the money was well-spent as I am feeling better and almost have full energy. My taste and sense of smell was out for about five days, so that means I ate less. I was also grateful to nap as needed. Kind neighbors dropped off food and tea.
I finished knitting a scarf for a gift out of yarn from my stash.
I sold an art piece that was part of a fundraiser. While I won’t get the full amount, I am happy to have sold a piece.
Your diligence in saving water and sometimes making a second use out of it is great and probably a life saver with the water restrictions where you are. Similarly I am impressed with your ability to keep your electrical bill down. Slicing any part of major bills off is a huge savings as they happen monthly.
We continue to be frugal with spending at my home by not eating out, and eating at home instead. I am constantly surprised by the cost of groceries lately and it has encouraged me to continue to eat at home. I am thankful that I have several very good recipes up my sleeve and utilize those often. For my son’s 8th grade graduation we had three friends and neighbors come over. I made spare ribs at $1.99 a lb, corn for $2 for 4, a homemade red velvet cake, and we utilized soda and water we had on hand. My neighbor brought over baked potatoes and green beans. It was a great meal with great company.
In the clothing department I have been reducing my clothing significantly as I’m not down 92lbs. I anticipate losing quite a bit more though. I was able to sell a bag at second hand stores, threw away about two bags of clothes that were no longer in good condition, and gave a bag to Goodwill. I have another bag I will take to Goodwill this weekend. It’s a slow process, but I’ve started and starting it a good way to get things going. I continue to be thankful for my friend who gifted me a number of items she no longer fit in due to her own weight loss. Her gifting those items to me was a life saver.
I continue to work for Door Dash part time on top of my fulltime job. I take the money I make from this and put it toward unexpected debt that I accrued recently. If there are no surprise expenses, I should be able to clear that debt in another 2 to 3 weeks. We do have a trip coming up in June however which will incur some expenses. I plan on continuing doing Door Dash but perhaps with a little more ease when I am able to clear the unexpected expenses. I consider it a blessing that I have been able to do this.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!
Brandy, I am thankful you have gotten some rain and a little cooler weather to help with the garden and bills! The berries look beautiful, ours are still red and green.
* I have picked lettuce, chard, kale and beets this week. I made fermented beets and fermented beet and chard stalks, we will see how it works. My last batch of apple cider vinegar went bad and I composted it and started a new batch. Hopefully this new batch will work, I made it from marked down apples that were still really nice. Our weather has been cooler and wetter than normal for late May. That has made it really pleasant for gardening. Moving volunteer kale and chard plants around, catching the tomato suckers, transplanting baby yarrow that is found a patch of, and salvia that my daughter gifted me, have been the garden tasks this week, and tons of weeding. I am giving my daughter black eyed Susan’s and phlox tomorrow.
*We haven’t turned on the AC and have barely used the whole house fan! The weather looks to be warming up but if I turn on the whole house fan at night we can probably hold off on the AC for several more weeks!
**I have been able to stay out of the grocery for the last several weeks except for a few items. That saves me time and forces me to not waste anything!
*** Hoping everyone has a blessed week!
-I got my garden planted and some new tomato trellises built, mostly using material I already had. I bought some tomato plants and a few peppers, but was able to overwinter several pepper plants from last summer. I did have to cover them a few nights when we had a late frost. We’ve been enjoying fresh asparagus, rhubarb and radishes. My dad picked up a seed order from a local shop for me, which saved shipping.
-I made sourdough bread, bagels and muffins. Still using up zucchini from last year. I found a great deal on blueberries so I froze several pounds, as I use them in smoothies most days. It was cold last week so I made a big pot of soup.
-Returned some unused sports equipment and bought myself a new suit, after I ruined my other new suit using the pools dryer.
-Sold a few items on eBay. Used a birthday coupon for some underwear.
-Enjoyed dinner at a friends house and spent time with family over holiday weekend. We have eaten out several times so need to be a little more mindful about planning.
I have to laugh about this. My son has discovered how to cut French fries and thinks it’s amazing. “And it’s so cheap!” he says (compared to frozen).
I just learned to make homemade Fries in my late 40’s. There is so much I’ve learned now that I have access to the internet. My granddaughter thought I should open a French Fry restaurant because she thought everyone should get to taste my homemade fries. She declared them the best! That made me very happy!
I love blackberries! But here in Vancouver Canada, one can forage for them. In return for dodging thorns, free berries which I use for jam and for pie filling. Not ripe until August though.
*I made chicken broth from a chicken carcass and veggie scraps in my slowcooker, then pressure canned the jars for shelf stability. I use a lot of broth in a roux instead of “cream of soup” when I make casseroles so as to control the ingredients for my daughter who has food sensitivities. Plus it’s cheaper making it at home!
* I perused a little thrift store while waiting for someone’s appointment and found a cute set of measuring spoons for 50 cents. I take the set apart and leave the most commonly used measure right in the container. Like, a 1/2 tsp stays in my salt cellar, a 1/2 tsp in my dry yeast jar, tablespoon in my dry milk tin, and so on. It saves me time and effort.
I also found a vintage glass refrigerator container with its lid for $5. These were used to corral foods in fridges (and iceboxes) pre-Tupperware. This one is lovely with vegetable shapes pressed into the glass.
* I checked clothing needs and sizes with the grandlittles’ moms. That way I can keep an eye out for deals too, like when I spotted new jeans for $5, regular $25, for back to school for the grandsons. Inflation really squeezes young families hard with ever-growing kids to feed and clothe.
* Daughter trimmed my hair; baked bread; cooked from home; homemade iced tea; mended; hung laundry; read books off Libby app; all the usual!
Those blackberries look amazing! I’m always so struck by how much you can harvest from such a small space, especially your blackberries. And your hibiscus iced tea sounds so delicious!
My frugal last few weeks. Wow. So much has happened.
– My husband and I took our girls to Disney world, part family reunion, part Disney trip. We used timeshare points to stay at a really nice resort/hotel, so half the week was hanging out in the various pools and doing various activities on the site. It was a fully furnished place, so I cooked meals and was able to do laundry. To save money at Disney, I packed a LOT of snacks and drinks and lunches. I ordered a Walmart grocery to the condo. I went to the Dollar Store before we left, and bought cheap plastic ponchos for the adults (packed the kids regular rain gear) and we used those ponchos every day as it rained every day. On the last day we spread the ponchos on the ground as a blanket to watch the fireworks and then then they were done. Three ponchos was about $4 Cdn all together at the dollar store; at Disney, one poncho was at least $10 USD. I also bought a few Disney themed toys from the dollar store before we left, a Mickey pop-it, and a Minnie Mouse themed reusable draw and wipe book. Disney stuff, but cheaper than buying at Disney! I also bought inexpensive notebooks, so that the kids could collect character signatures (cheaper than buying plastic trinkets at the theme park). I also bought a cheap soft-sided cooler at the dollar store and two reusable ice packs. I used it as a carry on for the kids stuff on the plane, and then to keep lunches and such cold in the Florida heat at the park. A little prep make for significant savings. It was a great family reunion, with family coming from different continents, and my husband was very happy about bringing the kids to Disney.
– I had wanted to have a mani/pedi done before the trip, as I knew all the relatives would be polished, but chose to do it myself at home. Looked great!
– And now back to significant frugality, as my life will be changing. Coming back from vacation, I deliberately didn’t buy groceries, and have been using items in the fridge and freezer. So far, so good!
– I made pizza dough (http://approachingfood.com/easiest-pizza-dough-ever/) several times.
– I made hot fudge sauce (http://approachingfood.com/a-ton-o-hot-fudge-sauce/), and used it to make chocolate milk as well. I poured milk into the emptied pan, and swirled it around to get absolutely everything off the pan: chocolate milk and no chocolate waste!
– I’ve been borrowing books like crazy from the public library, both paper and e-book.
And so much more. But I will start to post again regularly next week! Thanks to Brandy for hosting, and for everyone for contributing. I have, and continue, to learn so much.
We’re doing a no-spend month in June. Garden is in and starting to get greens and peas. Lots of fruit on the blackberries and gooseberries (zone 6A). Our electricity rates have gone up 30% so starting to turn off all computer/electronic devices at the power strip instead of letting them ‘sleep’, we’ll see if it helps. Signed both boys up for the local reading challenge and should be good fun.
Brandy you are doing so well on your electricity bill by being so diligent in turning off lights 🙂 . Like you we use shower warm up water to water potted plants and to clean around the home as well as water left over from drink bottles and it does save a lot of water although we are on rainwater tanks mostly here. Brandy was wondering if those ridiculous water rules were passed there due to you mentioning the new fines etc ?.
Very glad you were able to get some new clothing, some more lovely dishes that matched the set you have and harvest more lovely produce from the gardens 🙂 .
n the kitchen
Cooked two loaves of wholemeal white bread in the bread making machines saving $7.24 over buying them locally.
Cooked all meals from scratch.
In the home –
– We went through a few areas to declutter some more and will send some items down to the men’s shed to sell for us.
Finances –
– Deposited more money in our home emergency fund and bills account to build those up again after paying off our mortgage.
Op Shop finds –
– Found a set of 2 vintage 70’s pottery egg cups, a set of 4 vintage 70’s flowers egg cups, a limited edition morgan and finch rabbit egg cup and white porcelain egg cup at an op shop in perfect condition and paid $5 for the lot. As the men’s shed said they can’t get enough of them to sell I sent them down to sell for us and they will make a 20% commission on them and I figure I will make around $28.00 odd when they all sell less the men’s shed commission. An extra side gig that I have been doing to earn a little more money for the household.
Purchases
Purchased 24 tins of wet cat food from the Reject shop for $1 ea saving $18 over the cost of them in the supermarkets.
Bought 3 x 2pk of bravecto flea and tick liquid and 10 x worming tablets for the cats from vet supply online using a 5% off promo saving $25.03 over what other online stores were charging with postage.
Purchased from petpost online using a 10% welcome discount 5 x 3kg packs of Royal Canin kibble saving $58.74 over buying the same products online with postage from other stores.
Hope everyone has a wonderful frugal week ahead.