I harvested eggplant, cherry tomatoes, roselle hibisicus, garlic chives, peppermint, and Meyer lemons from my garden.
I shared eggplant with a friend, who shared nigella seeds, chocolate mint cuttings, and an ajwain cutting with me from her garden.
I cut a bouquet of roses from my garden to enjoy inside.
I made cookies using what I had on hand for a dessert for a church Christmas dinner. I used my grandmother’s cookie press to make them (that is older than I am).
I was offered leftovers at the end of the evening and said yes to them. We have enjoyed several meals from them.
What did you do to save money this past week?
The cookies look delicious! I made chili with dried pinto beans and ground turkey. I cooked a big pot of mustard greens with pumpkin over the weekend. I made baked chicken livers and enjoyed them with hot sauce. I cannot eat very much of fried foods anymore. I intend to make baba ghanoush again with an eggplant I purchased. I made deviled eggs again and a small serving of potato salad. I walked after work.
Beautiful garden pictures. That is very cool that you have a friend who will trade.
I saved money this week by cutting out one extra cup of homemade coffee and cup of tea – replaced with water instead.
Used a small amount of chicken scraps to can 4 quarts of broth.
I ventured to a thrift store that has great prices and got “lost” just looking and enjoying not being rushed. I could have spent triple what I did (on future gifts), I think because I wasn’t hurried, it gave me the ability to make smart decisions.
A friend commented that the local shops are charging a connivence fee to use plastic (and I get it, they need to recoup those fees) and how that can add up. I was thankful for that reminder to carry cash.
Trimmed our own evergreen trees to make a swag to hang.
Chewy offered their quarterly $30 GC when you spend $100. I stocked up on pet essentials.
I hope everyone has a calm and productive week!
It’s hard for me to realize that you are still harvesting from your garden! We’re not so we look for other ways to save!
Using leftover cranberry sauce , 2 Flashfood oranges and some nonfat plain yogurt, I made a batch of Orange Cranberry muffins for breakfast on our snowy Tuesday! Recipe was on Kroger website and said it makes 12 muffins. Using my silicone muffin cups, it made 15! Delicious and a good way to use up leftovers from Thanksgiving!
One of my friends who works at a local Krogers texted me with a photo of a full pallet of case after case of Libby’s 100% pumpkin (16 Oz) for 25 cents a can rather than their marked $2.99 each. Before we left, (Hubs is so great about coming along and lifting and counting for me!) I texted 2 daughters and 4 other friends to get their “orders” . We brought home 110 cans (we are keeping 14)! Doing the calculation, their original cost would have been $328.90. Instead, I paid $27.50! A savings of $301.40!!!! Obviously that savings was spread through the 7 of us, but even if none of them paid me their portion of $27, it would still have been a small thing to do to help others.
I made homemade pizza for dinner the other night after we were gone all day . I found a recipe for an easy pizza dough that didn’t have to wait for rising. I used commercial pizza sauce I bought on FB Marketplace for $2 per 7 pound bag. ( I researched and tested and canned the pizza sauce a month ago into handy pint mason jars ) I used Flashfood pepperoni, bell peppers, onions and mozzarella on it. Cost well under $1 for all the ingredients used in that pizza and gave us 2 dinners for the 2 of us (8 hearty slices).
Raspberries and blackberries have also been on sale for 99 cents/carton so I did research and found that you can safely water bath can both easily (15 minutes processing at my altitude) and have them ready to go for muffins, yogurt, smoothies, or just eating “fresh” from jars! Whole berries, extra light sugar/water syrup- VOILA!!! Their regular price is listed as $3.79/ carton for raspberries and $3.29/carton for blackberries! I have the pint jars and lids so I picked up 3 flats of raspberries and 2 of blackberries!! I canned 24 pints of raspberries and 17 pints of blackberries. I left the rest to put into yogurt to take to a Christmas brunch at Church.
Flashfood was a treat this week!
I bought a pack of 2 thick boneless pork chops (regular price- $6.86) for $
2.28, 3 packs of boneless eye of round beef – for a total of $11 instead of their sticker price of $24.62! https://pin.it/5w1GzqQ2Q
I bought 2 ten pound precooked, spiral sliced hams for 45 cents a pound. They were for 2 of the young families that I find deals for.
I bought 10 packs (2.25 pounds per pack) of 85/15 ground round for $5.99/pack- $2.67/pound. I shared 5 packs with friends and kept 5 packages.
I’ve been unwell and in a lot of pain this past several days so I made an appointment with my family doctor for Wednesday.
Hope you and your readers have warm and safe holiday season!
Gardenpat in Ohio
My goal is to harvest year-round, but usually we receive a frost at the beginning of December. We didn’t for the second year in a row, and my cherry tomatoes and eggplants are still producing.
I hope you feel much better soon, Gardenpat!
No special savings this week at my house. I am amazed to read that the British shops will be selling packages of veg for just 8 pence each. What a bargain. If I was there I would be buying the maximum allowed at each place and also getting some for the food bank-as they will store for several weeks.
I did not spend any money this week on groceries except about $5 that I owe “I” for picking up 4 squash – average price $1.25 each as opposed to the usual price of $5 or more. They will keep.
A few weeks ago I “stuffed a bag with sweet potatoes for $7. Given their weight it was a real bargain.
I participated in the annual Christmas bird count. cost me zero $ but the weather is positively balmy so
it was a nice day outside.
I have made my charitable donations throughout the year and can afford no more.
On a weekly basis I donate to the hatch, our local food pantry.
I also have a cookie press that was my grandma’s. I really need to look up the recipe for those cookies and make some for Christmas!
We took a roadtrip for Thanksgiving and stayed in cheap motels for most of the trip. I used hotel points (earned years ago when I was traveling for work) for 3 nights. And we stopped at national parks along the way using my husband’s lifetime senior America the Beautiful pass for cheaper parking at Mt. Rushmore.
Along the trip, we took sandwich fixings to have lunch while we drove each day. And I had picked hotels that had breakfast included.
Now that we’re back home, I’m meal planning with what we have the freezer.
I am still working on figuring out how to fix our freeze-dryer. I have reached out to customer service and watched the videos on trouble shooting and will head over to the hardware store to pick-up a part that will hopefully be the fix. I’ll also have my husband help me get the threads on both ends of this part re-taped with the teflon tape that will seal it. (while a freeze-dryer is expensive, it’s an investment for us that paid for itself in 2 summers of us backpacking. I’ll work on getting it fixed so we can keep making meals for upcoming backpacking trips this coming summer)
I like them because they call for shortening and don’t need to be prechilled. The shortening is so much less expensive than butter.
My eldest daughter has been asking me for a long time to make her a “flower fairy dress”. So I am making her one for Christmas! It is a pinafore dress where the skirt is three layers of petals (cut out with pinking shears so no hemming). I promise it is super duper easy and I am just bashing it together but she will be so pleased and surprised! I am making a matching one for her little sister. I am making both out of two pink bedsheets that belonged to my grandmother but I will never used because they are polycotton. So they are costing nothing but will bring such joy!
I have ordered Christmas presents for my children. They get one present each from us, so I try and splash out on something they really want. I have bought two of them used on eBay, and one new. The one year old won’t get anything as he is too young to notice!
We went on a free tour of a historical site locally with another homeschool family.
Everyone has had chickenpox! It saved us a bit of money not going out to anything, I guess ;D
At my department training in August, they had raffles we could enter. Those of us with perfect attendance had some premium prizes. One of the prizes I won was $50 to one of the best steakhouse in our city. While it was still pricey what I had to pay($85), we got so much food. The guys got mussels for appetizers, then my husband got a large prime rib, and baked sweet potato. My son got a prime rib French dip sandwich, and baked sweet potato, then I got a Cajun chicken pasta, with toast, and all three of us got cesar salads. Plus they sent a loaf of their pumperknickel bread. Needless to say, we are eating leftovers tonight. Hubby said I could have his cesar salad, so I took one for lunch today, and I’ll take one for tomorrow also.
I still have a $60 one to a burger place and a free meal from Chikfila I can get.
My teenager likes men’s deodorant because it works better, so I wait until this time of year to snag the multipack sets to get the most savings. I purchased 2 4 packs at Costco for $17, versus paying $8 for one at Walmart. It was $11 last year, but still a significant savings.
It’s secret Santa time again at work. Last week my Santa got me a lovely smelling reed diffuser set, some candy, and even a dog toy for my dogs!
Petsmart had a buy one expensive bag of dog food(the only kind my picky Anatolian will eat), get $10 off the second. They are 11 pound bags and he’s a 140 pound dog so I’ll take any savings I can get. I think I have them all stocked up to get us past New Year’s.
My son loves tea so I found some sampler boxes and we have fun tasting at home.
I received 4 pomegranate cups.
Other than that, just the normal things we do to save money.
Your Spritz cookies look amazing.
-I did cookie baking with some friends and it was so much fun. We brought, we baked, and we shared.
-Hosted a party where we served hearty appetizers. I have hosted this in the past with a sit down meal etc. however, decided to make a change to bring down the cost. I asked everyone to bring cookies to share and we created a cookie platter. Also had each person bring a wrapped condiment that we used for a gift exchange. They said they appreciated something that they could.
-Ordered some fabric for a baby quilt and sadly the supplier couldn’t fulfill the entire order. I asked if they would honor a discount on the fabric they did have and they gave me a little discount. I am appreciating my fabric stash and using what I have.
-A friend had knee surgery and with a group of friends we each brought a portion of a meal to her home. Enjoyed a nice table game together.
-We stayed home during the last few days of subzero weather and did some deep cleaning in our family room.
-Cut off a postage stamp from a returned piece of mail-will repaste it to something to mail in the future.
-Gave my husband a hair cut.
-Scheduled a medical appointment before the end of this year so it is still covered my insurance.
Thanks for all the inspiration everyone.
I mailed Christmas gifts to family that live out of state using reused boxes and packing materials and greeting cards I received from our local freecycle group. The gifts were items grown and canned from my garden along with a homemade sweet treat. I thought of you when I was canning these items into smaller jars for gifting this summer. I’m delighted you’re back to blogging so I can share with the group.
I’ve made use of our library book sale for several Christmas gifts for other family members this year as well. I found several books they will enjoy in excellent condition for $1 to $2 each.
We have made use of freezer meals as our “convenience food” on busy days. I make lots of our meals (mostly soups, curries, and the occasional pasta bake) in large batches and freeze in portions that amount to one meal for our family. Usually I take care of reheating and prepping any needed sides. Today my husband took over meal prep, so I could put the finishing touches on the gifts to mail and get to the post office in time to avoid paying rush fees. He always supports me in endeavors like this, including helping clean the kitchen after the large batch cooking that lead to the freezer meals, so I’ll include marrying well as one of my frugal accomplishments. 🙂
I **love** our local used book sales! You always have to go in with an open mind, but you can find interesting ideas. I found a 1960s book on forensic science for my child who is studying it. She’ll love that!
Hi Brandy and everyone
Those cookies look so festive and delicious. It’s great news that you have a friend who you can swap seeds and produce with, it’s how the gardening world goes round!
This week we bought on Facebook Marketplace a rocking horse for very small children, in excellent condition. It cost £16 which is a bargain for a good quality wooden rocker. In a charity shop I found a board book for my granddaughter.
Supermarket loyalty points gave me two vouchers, one for a cake so I bought a Belgian bun for my husband and one for free vegetables( to balance out the cake?!) which I used for pak choy.
I made chicken stock from a carcass and froze it for a future soup.
We have decorated for Christmas with our existing decorations, they come out every year like old friends.
Indeed! I love the Christmas decorations as old friends! Mine are as well.😊
Oh, Swedish Spritz cookies! They are a part of my childhood and I make them still. Have never made them with shortening, however. May have to try that.
My husband gets the frugal award again this week. He found another tool from the brand he bought last week that will no longer be sold at Lowe’s Hardware (only on the manufacturer’s website, we heard) so they are being off-loaded at extremely low prices. He got a $149 tool for $19! DIY has saved us so much money – in fact, allowed us to do and have things we wouldn’t otherwise – that investing in good tools is always worthwhile. But, to get them at a bargain price is a real blessing.
I have found the need to do even more on-line research with things we normally buy as prices increase. I can’t assume the place that has always been least expensive is still so. For example, my husband’s coffee of choice went up in price dramatically a month or so ago. Everywhere I looked, it was the same. So, we tried a different brand and tracked how long it took him to go through one package. It turned out to be much less expensive than his previous brand (at the current price.) He tried an espresso roast rather than a medium or dark roast and found he can use less as it is stronger in flavor adding to the savings. It may seem silly to some to spend a lot of time figuring out how to save $20/month but those everyday habits are often what make the largest difference. I am, however, preparing to do my annual audit of all our biggest expenses (cell phone and insurance) to ensure we are getting the best rate available for our needs.
I am not much for shopping for new things but am glad we have a new Ollie’s store in our general area. We have needed a new heavy duty boot scraper mat for our door (we live on a farm and mud is a constant) and found one there. When I looked up the identical one on-line, the one I got from Ollie’s was half the price. It’s hit or miss – my boys call it “a thrift store of new stuff” as they get random things and once it’s gone, it’s gone. But, it had proved beneficial to go there when I am in the area.
My youngest son went cold-weather camping last weekend with his Trail Life troop. He got to ride with friends and the troop leader there (so I didn’t have to take him) and supplies for all meals were provided at a cost of $10. I’m grateful for an affordable experience and learning opportunity that he enjoys so much. The troop is a mission of the church that hosts it so the cost is very low to free for all activities.
My oldest son spent hours searching EBay for parts to fix his dirt-bike. He has bought, fixed up and sold 3 bikes so far at the age of 14. He also used his money to buy 2 shirts he needed at GW. I started to pull my wallet out and he said, “No, Mama, I want to buy these.” It was wonderful to see the feeling of competence he expressed in that gesture and gives me hope he will be a good steward of his money as an adult.
This week is super busy with everyday life and the opening of my show “A Christmas Carol.” I’m planning meals ahead so my family won’t starve while I am gone in the evenings. One night they are going to a potluck at church so that helps.
Wishing everyone a cozy and enjoyable week!
This is Mirro cookie press that belonged to my grandmother. It’s at least 70 years old, and the recipe book was stored with it. The recipe itself calls for shortening, as do most of the recipes in the book.
Shortening is a much cheaper option than butter, which I appreciate.
This brings back so many memories! I still have my mother’s mirro press but don’t know where it is…
Also missing in action was her set of Aunt Chick’s Santa Claus and other Christmas cookie cutters. I suspect one of my siblings may have that…I’ll have to investigate! There was a big production effort here at Christmas. my mother saved chocolate boxes and wrappers and made homemade fudge, almond roca, and divinity and put the pieces in the wrappers and mailed boxes of homemade chocolates to friends and family around the world. I looked online to see what the prices are for used Aunt Chick’s cutters — I guess I’ll save money and not buy them. Maybe ours will turn up. I’m pleased to find online that there are lots of recipes for vegan eggfree spritz cookies. Maybe I’ll make some!!! Merry aChristmas to everyone!
Hi Brandy! I am older than you, so my Mirro cookie press belonged to my mother and is at least as old. I have picked up two others from that era at garage/estate sales. They will go to the kids who want them. I will be keeping my eye out for more. I remember making these cookies with my mom😊 I particularly liked the camel and Christmas tree.
I cannot find my camel! I was looking for it. Those are my favorites, too.
Mountain Mama Dawn, never ever, ever feel silly for the time you spend researching the best economical solution. You are acquiring wisdom and knowledge and both are powerful. Learning where your ship is leaking and how to repair it is invaluable. I remember the first time I learned you don’t have to use the whole amount of laundry detergent for each load as it is written on the side of the box. It was a paradigm shift for my brain. I experimented with lesser amounts and discovered what worked best with my water. I figured it out once and it has saved us a fortune over the years.
Passing your money saving lifestyle on to your son is an extremely smart thing. He will have your knowledge earlier and be able to make wiser decisions sooner. Thinking and reasoning will be natural for him. We have watched a neighbor’s son grow from repairing small lawnmowers to big zero turn professional machines to cars to anything you can imagine. When he graduated from high school, he already had a business he was running out of his dad’s garage. His father invested in a shed out back so his son and all of his after school buddies wouldn’t freeze during the winter as they worked. The father knows nothing about mechanics but has been the one who has steered his son in the right direction.
Keep up the good work!
Jeannie
Thank you, Jeannie! Raising entrepreneurs is very important to us. 😁
Thank you, Jeannie! Raising entrepreneurs is very important to us. 😁
The weather here is cold so I am doing some extra deep cleaning. It is amazing how that makes things appear newer! I continue to use the cross-stitching materials I already have left over from all the kits I did in the past. My new thing to save money is theme cooking, ie Mexican, Indian, ect. for the week. It amazes me with just a few items you have to purchase to make so many different yummy meals. And bulk cooking and freezing.
This past week I reached the frugal goals I had set last week and then I broke a tooth on popcorn. Getting a new crown wiped out all progress. Oh well. At least we had the money saved for emergencies so we were prepared.
*From the winter garden I harvested, cabbage, lettuce, kale, carrots, onion tops, and one stem of celery.
*Canned 15 more jars of butternut squash. That chore is finished so now I will start on the other varieties.
*Mended two pairs of pants, two pillowcases, and added a pocket to a pair of sweat pants which had none. It belonged to my son who had no idea what he a was asking when he handed them to me to mend. It was something I had never done but was able to research and figure it out – another new skill added to my repertoire!
*We use the site Estatesales.net to search for sales in our area. Usually there aren’t any because we are out in the country so it requires driving into a city. We watch for a busy weekend with a decent selection. I pack a big lunch, draw a map to avoid backtracking, and we start early. Estate sales are different than garage sales because they have everyday items people never sale because they are usually consumed. Often we get things like light bulbs, cleaners, plastic baggies, canned food, fertilizers, towels, linens, lotion for a fraction of the cost. One of the houses was being demolished to make way for apartments so they were selling the fixtures and landscaping. We arrived home with the car trunk and backseat stuffed full and spent almost nothing. Just a few of the items were:
– A two gallon bag full of unused, wrapped fancy soaps for $2.00. I don’t care if Bill’s clean hands smell sweet. Soap is soap.
– Three light weight garden hoses for $2.50 each. (I paid a fortune for mine!) It did require me climbing into the muddy landscaping and unscrewing them myself but it was worth it!
-Seven tall three inch wide candles for $.50 each.
-Six different kinds of thick, warm, fuzzy winter slipper socks for $.50 each. I didn’t know what they were called so I looked them up on Amazon and found one of them for $19.50 and another one for $9!!!!! Yikes! Obviously, they were given as gifts. (I should have gotten more.)
-My husband rolled his eyes when I snagged one name brand, unexpired can of pineapple for $.50.
-The best find was a bread slicer which was in a dark, walk-in attic on a high shelf for $2.00. The sellers had just opened the door to the attic to let people hunt. It has been on the wish list for years.
*My husband cut a tree that fell in the backwoods for firewood. We use the wood burning stove on bitter cold nights and when there are power outages. He can no longer handle the physical work of heating all the time but can do enough for emergencies. I didn’t help with the chopping but did thank him and had a big meal along with the heating pad ready when he finished.
This coming week’s goals: The weather is swinging from deep cold to springtime warmth so I will take advantage of it and switch gears. My plan is to rake the leaves in the front yard, put them on the garden, and also open the hoop houses for weeding. Those are big projects. If I can accomplish any of it while still putting food on the table, it will be enough.
Thanks to everyone for sharing your success. It keeps me inspired.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry https://getmetothecountry.blogspot.com/
My parents shop estate sales, too, and they bring hoke amazing deals from them.
Brandy, we love visiting the homes for free without needing to buy an overpriced home-tour-ticket. Plus, it is socially acceptable to open doors (unless there is a sign) and rummage through cabinets without shame! I am a tad bit nosy. When we get back in the car I will tell Bill their whole life story. He will be skeptical until I pull the pieces together. Everyone’s life story is left behind in what we have chosen to treasure.
Jeannie
Jeannie, I love buying everyday items at estate sales as well. I loaded up on incandescent lightbulbs at one estate sale and we have years worth now. LED bulbs use less electricity but they also have a fast flicker and blue light which people can’t see, yet it impacts our bodies. To counter the cost increase using the old bulbs, we cut other places. My sister gets very ill going into stores with their lighting. My daughter gets headaches from LEDs. Maybe we are just more sensitive to them. I had to chuckle at what you said about the soap. I remember during Covid when hand soap was hard to find. I finally realized only the liquid soap was hard to find. No one was buying the bar soap and, I admit, it wasn’t the first thought on my brain either. How easily we forgot about bar soap that was used for decades!
Like you , Laura, we don’t use LEDs, ad for the same reason. The light and EMFs are detrimental to health.
We bought every incandescent we could get our hands on when they were basically declared illegal. Fortunately, that has changed, but we literally have two huge storage boxes filled with every wattage and size of incandescent bulbs in our attic, mostly bought at estate sales. We go to those frequently, too and, like Jeannie found, they are great for buying cleaning products. We’ve gotten many paint brushes, tools, and plants, as well. And you’re saving things from going in the dumpster.
My big tip is to make sure you look carefully at the pictures. I missed out an many jewelry-making items, including a tank and torch because I didn’t take time to scrutinize the pictures. Fortunately, I did get many tools and a jewelers’ bench at that sale for only #35, which was incredibly lucky!
Cara, seems like we are on the same page😊
Hello frugal friends from the cold and snowy Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia. This past week’s weather has been crazy cold! Sunday the high was 9F! Monday the schools were closed because the day started at 7F with a high of 18F. Tuesday was a 2 hour delay so it could warm up to 33F from 11F. We have had several school closures and delays this month which is earlier than usual for us. Every day schoolsl were closed or delayed I was scheduled to sub so nothing was added to our savings account this month. It is supposed to be much warmer (in the mid 40’sF) this week. On the frugal front:
*Cracker Barrel now offers a military discount so Mr. Fix It (retired Navy) signed up and uses it on his monthly breakfast with his church buddies.
*I went to Kroger Thursday and used my digital coupons, their holiday daily deal coupons, and clearance to score some good deals. I was able to get 5 packages of shredded cheese for .99 each, 3 boxes of rice Chex for 4.99 for all 3. I use these for snacks instead of chips.They were on sale plus I had a digital coupon. I got a Lifesaver Christmas “book” with 6 rolls of Lifesavers for 1.99. I took them out of the book and they will be included in stockings. I found a 1.5 pound container of mushrooms marked down to 2.47. They 8oz containers were prices at 1.97 each! In the clearance bin I found 1 pound pistachios for $4 each. I bought 6, some of which will be in stockings.My best deal was 8 count boxes of AA batteries with a 2040 expiration date for 1.50 each! I bought a dozen. I will put a box in stockings as well as keep some for emergencies. I saved $101.50 and earned .80 off per gallon for gas. I have found if I pray before going into a store I am far more successful in my shopping. I thank Jesus for the resources to buy what I need and ask Him to guide me to any good bargains which will help my family and help others. He has always come through for me.
*Mr. Fix It had a coupon for a free car wash so he took the grandsons with him for an outing on one of the super cold days as they boys could not get outside.
*Mr. Fix It tore a small hole in his favorite pants. I mended it quickly and made his day. The older we get, the less it takes to make us happy.
Brandy, your eggplant looks so good. I love eggplant but have never been successful in growing it. I wish my frugal friends a week full of blessings.
It’s frigid here in NY LOL I envy your garden
I’m done Christmas shopping and at least 90% of the gifts were from the thrift stores here which have been having half off sales of late – I’m sure everyone will love the healthy additions to their wardrobes [most of my recipients are young adults new to their work and always in need of upgrades!].
I discovered the markdown section of Amazon same day grocery on prime and got #24 lbs of ground beef for $2/lb – my freezer stash was nearly gone so I was very grateful!
I’ve got workplace gifts to give so I have picked out two recipes to accomplish this weekend that will be bagged up for gifts [granola for the healthy eaters and chocolate bark with nuts for the rest since both will keep well till after the actual holiday chaos passes.
We had a luncheon at work with so much extra food – it was catered by a restaurant we love but have a relationship with and visit often – but I brought home a plate for my daughter’s dinner after her last exam for the semester [since my husband was eating at another work party and i needed nothing extra by dinner!] I was happy to see others bringing home tons of food – i’m sure no one in my office had to cook dinner last night!
Last night was rough sleep wise – I manged to get a little extra sleep and brought a coffee with me to the office rather than stop anywhere on the way
Those cookie press cookies are darling!!
Your cookies look great. HH loves spritz cookies, but I struggle to get the cookies to release from my press. I will try not chilling the dough like you suggested above.
On the frugal front:
I assembled a smalls gifts for my neighbors. I knitted cotton dish cloths in Christmas colors, and added a cute holiday dish towel purchased last year at Kohls for less than $2/towel, and a bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s Iowa Pine scented dish soap purchased for $2/bottle on Amazon. I made gift bags using wrapping paper I had on hand.
I went to Dollar Tree to buy three gift bags to wrap three pairs of jeans for an Adopt-a-family donation. They had holiday gift boxes in sets of two for the same price as one gift bag saving me $1.50 and leaving one extra box for home use.
HH picked up a gift in store on his way home from a business trip saving me the shipping fees.
I did not buy any new holiday outfits or decorations this year.
I look forward to reading everyone’s frugal feats.
My son collects NBA jerseys, which can be pricey. For Christmas I checked eBay and found the one I was looking for for about half of the NBA or Nike prices. I ordered it, then got a message from the seller saying as he packed it up he noticed some stitching had come loose and offered to cancel my order or send a different player. I asked if I could get a discount on that jersey and he agreed. I got 25% off and when it came it was only a couple stitches coming off a tag in the front. Easy fix. So, all in all, I got a jersey that would be $150, for $50, which I was happy about.
We are blessed to have all of grand children close by, ages 9,7,7,5,2. We had them all over last Saturday to decorate with us (No Parents!) We had the tree set up, but they did all the ornaments and helped set up the Christmas village and all the nativities in my collection. They were so careful and sweet. Then we had hot chocolate, a simple lunch and watched a Christmas movie. We had so much fun and their parents got 4 hours of free time.
We are done with our shopping and just need to wrap. We are using wrapping supplies left over from years past. Our decor is also from many years of collecting. I did buy a new little village figurine of a grandpa and child sledding, but that’s it this year.
I hurt my shoulder and was worried about making fudge, since my recipe requires a lot of constant stirring. I gave my ingredients to my oldest daughter and she made it for me. I was so grateful. A friend dropped off some cookies for us as a gift, and that was nice. We always give our neighbors gifts. This year I bought Symphony candy barsB for $2 each and made a little tag that says “In the symphony of life, every note counts. Thanks for being great neighbors”. I was glad to get all the neighbor gifts for $12 total. People just like to be remembered – things don’t have to be pricey or fancy.
Hope everyone is well and stays healthy this Christmas season. Take Care!
Love the cookies. I know you have many happy memories using your grandmother’s cookie press. I went to a gifts in a jar class at my local extension office. We made a soup, cookies, and spice mixes in canning jars. We put the recipes on the jars and cloth under the lids. It was fun and I am making some for coworkers. My FCE Club had our Christmas party. We all brought a dish and played dirty Santa. I won a set of serving bowls with lids. My ladies group at church had an oranment exchange with finger foods. We played a Christmas trivia game and made a small craft. We each had a number and picked an oranment from what we each brought. I got a beautiful light up Christmas tree that looks like a ceramic tree. I went and got a free dental cleaning and my hair cut. My mom’s side of the family got together and had a lunch get together. I saw family I haven’t seen since the last funeral. This time of year is full of busyness but I love every moment.
Hubs received a $100 gift card for a local restaurant. When I checked the online menu I see they have 15% off for seniors on the first Tuesday of the month so that will stretch it even further. He also got small gift cards from Starbucks and Timmies which I stretched by buying ground coffee rather than cups of coffee. In addition he got a $50 gift card from our local grocery store which was very practical. Plenty of treats came home with him as well.
I also received a windfall from my Mum’s estate yesterday. I guess she has figured out how to send us Xmas gifts from the great beyond!
Could you share what cookie recipe you used, and any cookie presses you’d recommend?
I rescued a lot of food that I’ve been eating, that saved a lot of money. I picked up a set of free towels from my local Freecycle group.
So happy to find the Blog is active. I hadn’t checked for a while, so it is a wonderful surprise. Thanks, Brandy, and all who post comments. Living in the Denver area our freezing weather starts in October at the latest. Just before a hard freeze my husband picked all of the green cherry tomatoes on our vine. That was about two gallons. I kept them in the cold garage and brought some in periodically to ripen. I have the last pint in my frig now. Can’t believe they lasted until Christmas.