I harvested tomatoes from the garden.
My daughter made homemade bagels for the family.
I cut roses from the garden to enjoy inside.
I dug babies from my century plants and potted them. I will let them grow for a while and will try to sell them later this year. I started with one century plant that I bought at a garage sale for $5, and now have several in my garden that made these babies.
We enjoyed pasta with roasted tomatoes from our garden.
I harvested parsley and peppermint from my garden.
What did you do to save money this past week?
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Baby plants are like unexpected presents that you really wanted. 🙂
The bagel with tomato tastes like summer here – thank you for that as we experience our 10th day of below freezing temps here. I’m glad for this cold and snow, but I wouldn’t mind seeing a little of it melt. Just a little.
This past week I used an Am*zon paper packing envelope to draft a sewing pattern. From there, made an item using what I had and saved my mom $12.
Was solo this week and made simple one pot meals to give myself a little break from the kitchen. I also had a small list of “Toast with…” to try and tickled myself with that as my morning breakfast. It felt a little fancy to add shaved lemon rind to ricotta and top with apple butter.
Needed to stay close to home so for entertainment I connected with friends and family with video chats and funny gifs.
Hope everyone has a calm and productive week!
What a lovely way of looking at it! Yes, they are!
I ended January spending $189 on groceries for the 2 of us. January I always strive to be my lowest month with plenty of holiday food leftover and pantry/freezers brimming. We have a new puppy and only a few toys for her which she has torn into her favorite a few times. So last week again I restuffed her favorite and sewed it up. It’s amazing to me how many people just throw them away and buy more. My arugula from last February never came up but this past winter finally came up and what we don’t eat I’ve been giving away. My daughters and I are always sharing what we’re doing to cut costs, meal ideas and it’s nice to share ideas.
Brandy, Could you tell me when you planted the tomatoes that you are still harvesting?
1. I found some lovely things at the thrift store, all of which I will sell.
2. Sold an item for our son on FB marketplace.
3. Transplanted some raspberry starts that I raised from cuttings. I have seeds for flowers started and a spot that is naturally warm and sunny for them. Saves electricity to not have to run a heat mat or light. I planted a rhubarb crown that a member of my Buy Nothing group gave me. I pruned and sprayed my fruit trees. I brought in the clippings from my pluot tree because they are just about to bud. So fun to enjoy these indoors.
4. Freezing the 25lbs of quinoa flakes that I bought. Then it can go in the 5 gallon food bucket. Buying in bulk from Azure Standard is by far the cheapest way to buy the quinoa flakes and white rice flour that I need (gluten free).
https://www.azurestandard.com/?a_aid=jWb0sVFU6M
5. Went for mammogram which is included with what I pay for health insurance. Prevention is always frugal.
I planted them last year in late February.
Kara, I’m curious how you use the quinoa flakes? Do you find them preferable to regular quinoa? I’m also GF, and we have an Azure Std. account. I use the regular quinoa, and never knew there were flakes. Thanks.
I’m allergic to oats so I use the quinoa flakes to make granola. It is delicious and after all the years of not being able to eat granola, finding quinoa flakes has been a great delight. Funnily I don’t like regular quinoa at all, but the flakes made into granola are delicious.
The pasta with tomatoes sounds delicious! It was very cold for here. Thankfully, I didn’t have any ice. I mixed turnip greens with mustard greens and added rice to make a soup. I made potato salad, coleslaw, and bbq chicken legs. I also made sandwiches for work lunches along with an apple. I walked in place in my house on the coldest days, and outside in my neighborhood just now when I got home from work. It is sunny and delightful! I stayed home all weekend and I cleaned my house, watched church on line, took a nap on the coldest days, etc. I am grateful my power stayed on bc many folks in north Mississippi suffered the past week with no power.
Hello, frugal friends, from the Appalachian Mountains of southwest Virginia. It has been relatively easy to save money in the past 2 weeks. We had 2 winter storms in a row over the past 2 weekends. We were prepared for anything with candles, solar generators, gas powered generator, lots of food and alternative heat source. First it was snow, then ice, then more snow along with frigid temperatures. There has been no school for 6 school days. The main roads are clear but the roads in the neighborhoods and hollers are still ice covered. We ate from the pantry/freezer. We could not drive until today, so that saved on gas. I do think our electric bill will be higher due to the frigid (-20 with windchill to high of 20F) over the past 10 days. We kept the thermostat at 66 and wore sweaters and used the gas fireplace a couple times of day (first thing in the morning and the last hour of of the evenings). We also used blankets while we read, did puzzles and watched tv. A neighbor shared some soup with us which fed us for a couple of meals. Most of our meals were soup, omelettes, and sandwiches. More winter precipitation due tomorrow. We are blessed and prepared. Wishing everyone a safe and healthy week.
Homemade bagels and home grown yellow tomatoes….a match made in heaven. Yum.
My big accomplishment of the week is that I learned how to replace the socket in a floor lamp. I took the lamp apart and looked at a YouTube video, so I knew basically what I needed to do. I called my retired electrical engineer father with a few questions, and then bought a new socket and a wire stripping tool. It took a bit of effort, but I successfully fixed the lamp! Now I can also replace the socket in a second lamp that is having the same issue. For $15, I bought two sockets and a wire stripper. Apparently it costs between $30 and $50 if you have someone do this repair for you.
Other things I did to save money last week:
*I stopped by to see my hairdresser to ask if she could trim the back of my hair. This only took a few minutes, and it cost less than a regular haircut.
*I repaired the edge of a 25 year old comforter.
*I had some wooden clothespins I had used for a project outside, and they were rather dirty. I didn’t want to throw them away, so I first washed them with dishwashing liquid, and then soaked them for 10 minutes in hot water with Oxiclean. After a good rinse, I let them dry overnight. I was impressed by how well this worked.
*I have been continuing sorting and reorganizing cupboards and closets. Progress is being made.
*I made scratch paper from some blank on one side paper headed to the recycling bin. When I was a kid, the paper my sisters and I used for drawing and coloring was scrap paper that my dad had brought home from work. It was printed on one side, but the other side was blank. I just thought this was normal paper used at home. When I was about 7 or 8 years old, I went over to a friend’s house and they had paper that was blank on BOTH sides to draw on. I was amazed! What a luxury! 😉
Tina S, I love your paper story. Same in our household. We use paper we had to use to print something on (my husband has poor eyesight and printing it out is easier on his eyes) for scrap. I also fold and tear this paper in halves or quarters for lists and whatever else.
Congrats on the successful socket change out!
It has been dangerously cold here. The kids had a full week off school for snow and extreme cold. People in the city don’t bother to shovel their sidewalks, so kids have a tough time walking to school (which they must if they live within 2 miles) or to their bus stop. My middle schooler had a hard time walking today because of the people who don’t care enough to make their property safe for others. We had mail delivery problems all last week, too. Our mail only came once.
Not going places I suppose saved money. I wasn’t able to do as much food rescue, so there was less fresh food here to eat. We made do though. Due again to the extreme cold, I only got out once for all my errands and 1 food rescue. I got dangerously cold so I couldn’t stay out there long to do much. I continue to use the library heavily and didn’t do any non-grocery shopping when I was out last weekend. However, mailing a package was not frugal at the USPS! Prices have really gone up, and I sent a package within my same state and it weighed just over 2 pounds but still cost $16 to mail!
I went to mail a package at the post office today and was shocked at the price. So I did not mail it. Several years ago, I heard about using the website Pirate Ship to ship things at a lower cost. I had never used it before but tried it today for the first time. You need to be able to weigh and measure what you want to ship, and print out a shipping label. It saved me 30% off of what USPS was going to charge. I need to drop it off at the post office tomorrow, but that is worth it for the savings.
https://www.pirateship.com/
I use this all of the time! You can also purchase UPS/Fedex labels. Just make sure if you’re over a whole number (weight/dimensions) that you round up. The optional insurance is also far superior to the USPS included insurance in my opinion.
It has been an excellent frugal week because the back roads are still icy in spots so we have mostly stayed home. We got out yesterday to visit an estate sale and stop by Aldis.
At the estate sale I found many garden supplies. Most of the bags were about two thirds empty but the sellers were practically giving it away. I was willing to dig around in the dirty garage full of stuff to search for what was useful to me. It probably would have been thrown into a dumpster so saving even a small bag from the landfill is a win. Being frugal is often hard work and being willing to go out of your comfort zone. I have found it worth the effort.
At Aldis, my husband wanted more apples. I almost stayed true to my pantry challenge until I saw chicken legs on clearance for 50% off. The regular size containers were normally $1.89 a pound but the family packs of the exact same things were $1.07 a pound. Of course, I went for the family size. I bought all five packs, seasoned the meat and froze them in smaller portions. Fifty cents for any kind meat can’t be passed up.
We were able to check out the hot spot from the library so we should be able to make it through the end of this cycle without running out of internet data. We are using more and more each month. It seems sites are adding ad videos that run the whole time and use up data. Even if you click off they have already loaded up. I use ad blockers but it only keeps me from seeing them. They still load up in the background. Fiber optics is on the way…but just not here yet.
Since I have stayed home, it has given me time to focus on the mountain of mending. This week I repaired a pair of my son’s underwear. My sons change into something comfortable if they are spending the night. They leave their dirty clothes and wear clean ones back. I discover rips when doing the laundry after they are gone and quietly do the repairs. They never notice. (I don’t understand men. This is probably a mother/son boundary violation but if they don’t notice, is it still dysfunctional?)
I shortened the sleeves on my housecleaning sweat top to avoid constantly pushing them up when washing dishes. Seems trivial but it was annoying.
An old can of spray paint was used to paint rusted mayonnaise jar lids that are used on storage jars. They look much nicer and are cheaper than the plastic kind.
Learned a new to me skill – whole eggs can be cooked in the air fryer. It is so much easier than boiling. Plop them in, set the timer, walk away and then remove to peel when cooled. I thought they would explode but none have. It takes experimentation to discover the cook time for each particular machine. My machine needs 10 minutes at 400 degrees…give or take a little.
Another new skill I’m learning is how to make kimchi. It was recommended to improve health. One small bag was purchased from the store for $6 so we could taste it. Nobody liked it. It was too spicy and left everyone coughing. My first batch didn’t ferment long enough so wasn’t very strong. Everybody liked it better. It was surprising how easy it was to make.
Space is beginning to open up in the freezer since I have been trying to stick to my pantry challenge. (Adding cheap chicken legs doesn’t count!) A package of sliced ham dated 2021 was discovered behind a sliding basket in the back. It was opened, cooked, and tasted fine. That was a surprise.
Right before winter storm Fern arrived, I harvested all of my sugar beets and carrots from the garden out of fear the bitter cold would kill them. The sugar beets were eaten fast but the green tops and the carrots are still being enjoyed. It was better to pull them than to risk losing everything. http://getmetothecountry.blogspot.com/2026/01/januarys-garden-2026.html
It has been a good week. I was ready for quiet and calm.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Like everyone else in the Southeast, we have had ice and snow and things have shut down. quite a bit. So just a few grocery outings and a library trip and getting to the gym a few times. We purchased a generator so family could come if power went out and then our car died! It ended up being many thousands of dollars and we were grateful that with shuffling money we could pay for the expenses versus in our younger years this would have crippled us! Thankful we have saved consistently though 44 years of marriage to have savings and our house and cars paid off!
I made soup multiple times over the last several weeks, I eat it for lunch daily and we have it for supper a few times a week. A neighbor dropped off a pack of soup bones from his freezer( from his cow), and it makes incredible broth! I gifted he and his wife fruit leather which they enjoy. I harvested kale before the ice storm and used that for stir dry and soups as well. I have really tried to use up every bit and piece of food and not waste anything. There were some dried up apples in my second fridge so I stewed them to put on yogurt and it is delicious!
My husband is having his 70th birthday so I am hosting several college friends that we are still close to and am having them for dinner and he wants it low key. I am cooking the food and making pecan pie( foraged from a tree in a parking lot) for dessert. I asked my kids to write letters sharing how he has blessed them and some friends as well and compiling them for him.
It looks like warmer weather is on the way for the Southeast and that will be a nice change , though I love the snow and being socked in! Stay warm and safe everyone!
I enjoyed reading about you and Fern.
Ellie’s friend,
Fern has NOT been my friend. She overstayed her welcome. I hope she never visits again!
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Jeannie, I have a feeling your sons might know you “breached the boundary”,🤣 but are secretly very thankful!
Jeanne and Laura,
Even if they don’t notice now, when they move out on their own or get married, they will suddenly realize that torn undies stay torn and don’t magically repair themselves. LOL!
Fru-gal Lisa and Laura S, my sons are all out on their own with successful carriers and can easily afford new underwear. I’m too cheap to see them spend the money. They are just too lazy to go shopping. Sigh.
Jeannie
Laura S and Fru-gal Lisa,
I did get revenge on one son for not noticing. His nice work pants (used for job interviews) were missing the waist button above the zipper. At least he realized that his pants wouldn’t stay up so asked me to fix it. I sewed on a regular button then sewed a big three inch, purple plastic clown button on top of the regular button, then put the pants back into his closet. I told his brothers what I had done and we sat in the living room while he dressed upstairs waiting for his reaction. It was hilarious. He came flying down the steps thinking it was sewed on permanently (he has no idea about sewing) and was horrified. He was fine after he realized he could pop it off and it was a joke. We couldn’t stop laughing and still tease him about it.
Jeannie
Bahahaha🤣🤣🤣 That’s hilarious! My sons finally realized things don’t magically fix themselves, and only one of their wives sews! Hmmm….
I harvested clementines from the tree. My other citrus hasn’t done well this year, which is disappointing. I love using the fruit of course but especially love gifting it to family and friends. Target Circle offered several freebies to choose from and I chose a 3-pack of new socks. They were nice ones, a good brand. New socks are always a treat! I took advantage of a Shutterfly freebie offer and made several personalized gifts, paying only shipping. I drove my mother to Michael’s so she could frame a photograph. While there I browsed the 70%-off Christmas items and brought home $80+ -worth of lovely fragranced candles for under $20. Sometimes fragranced candles can be too strong but these are very pleasant and will go to good use, even after Christmas. I did NOT buy several cute items that were tempting but that I really didn’t need and don’t have room for. I consolidated errands to save time & gas, and made myself finish my list even though I really just wanted to go home and put the last of them off ’til the next day. I took advantage of warmer-than-usual weather to dry things on the clothesline and avoid using the dryer. I saved water from rinsing fruit/veg and from showers/baths and used it for flushing and for watering potted plants. This practice has saved me hundreds of gallons and dollars over the years. I donated several bags of clothing and houseware items to the local thrift store that supports persons with cognitive challenges – it’s my favorite thrift store to donate to AND to shop. I also donated a number of items, still in very good condition, that were my late dog’s to the local animal rescue support shop. I miss that little dude so very much but it felt good to think his things may benefit other pets and their people.
Thank you as always to everyone here for sharing experiences, ideas, and inspiration.
Hello, I hope everyone is thawing finally and staying healthy!
Up and down past week for our family. Our heater did freeze up in the storm, but thankfully it only got into the 50s in the house. We still have a warranty and only had to pay the service fee.
With roads and weather being bad, no shopping! We ate from the pantry and freezer. We do need to revisit what we have on hand.
Made an amazing lemon artichoke pasta today with items from the pantry.
Husband has man cold and I have an upper respiratory infection (but at least saved the driving by pairing up my urgent care visit with a visit to PT in the same building). I decided against cooking tonight since one kid was in class and the other at practice. Ordered TooGoodToGo from the local pizza place. I think I heard about it here once? It’s a food waste program with area restaurants. But they finally have the service in my city. (Let me know if you ever want to try, and I’ll share the signup link for a coupon.) For less than the cost of a pizza, we tried a large pizza’s worth of slices of four varieties and got breadsticks and sauce. So good, and much better than everyone cooking and running dishes individually. We have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow, too!
And the part to fix our oven finally arrived today! So hopefully we will feel ok tomorrow and can get that working again.
Wishing you all a blessed week,
Robbie
It has been bitterly cold here all week so we have only ventured out a few times and when we have, we have made sure we combined any other needed stops along the way.
I quilted and trimmed 3 new client quilts done- https://pin.it/4boWW4Ls1, https://pin.it/582pRbjOi and https://pin.it/7dmzXKTcK and https://pin.it/3iIXGqqRz. These are the second, third and fourth in a batch of 5 for a client in Japan . Now I will focus on a quilt for our new great-grandson that is due this summer. The baby shower is this Saturday. But after that I will focus on the other client quilts that are in queue. And there is another one being dropped off this week.
Made batch of ABC Muffin mix- https://pin.it/eF0KR6axN. This saves me so much time in the morning! I made a batch Saturday morning and added dehydrated apple pieces to it! So tasty!
I also made a big batch of Basic Cookie Mix from my tattered old Make a Mix cookbook from the late 1970’s! I used some of my DIY Ranch Seasoning mix to make a sandwich spread for chicken sandwiches I made for a road trip to Dayton on Sunday to save time and money for our road trip.
We had 4 young missionaries over for dinner Saturday night and I made 12 individual chicken pot pies. It still amazes me that last year I saw a YouTube video and, after over 50 years of cooking for our family, I finally learned how to make pie crust from scratch! https://pin.it/4NiylpA5P . I also made homemade brownies, using my Brownie Mix I made from my Make a Mix book.
Using Flashfood, I bought 14 one pound packages of mild ground Italian sausage for 75 cents/ pound . I also bought 15 packages of boneless pork chops for $1.35/pound. There were 4 nice chops per package and each pack was between $2.40 and $2.80 . I texted 3 of my friends to see what they might like and they got all the sausage and 12 packages of chops. Their total bills for these were just over $13. And they each had over 13 pounds of meat! They were quite pleased to be able to add to their freezers and save on their food budgets. I saved for us a package of 2 thick cut boneless pork chops and 3 packages of boneless country-style pork ribs (75 cents/pound). So we have been eating well and saved about $300 by eating at home and eating from our food storage.
Our chickens are starting to lay eggs (they are still young pullets) and we are so excited! Life here is cold but it is an optimistic time as I see all the opportunities that are ready for us to make use of!
Hope all that have challenging weather are able to get through it with as little distress as possible!
Gardenpat in Ohio
You are the FlashFood queen! I’m always impressed!
I missed commenting last week as I came down with a respiratory illness after going to a funeral for a neighbor. Apparently, everyone at the church ended up ill in the days that followed and I very generously shared it with my whole family (I tried not to but that’s how it goes sometimes.” We’re all on the mend and glad we were prepared for the snow and ice so only the necessities of taking care of the animals and staying warm by the wood stove was needed. As others have mentioned in the past, being ill can be frugal if only because you stay home. I haven’t been out of my holler in 10 days which certainly saves on gas. Also didn’t eat anything from 2 days so the food lasted longer than usual. Not a frugal strategy I recommend but we have to look on the bright sides sometimes! 😊
Since I’ve felt better, I have resumed my clearing out mission. I don’t call it decluttering because I don’t think I have clutter but certainly have some things that can be moved along either by selling or donating. I have a few bags of items that fit both of those categories ready to go when I can safely drive. My husband made me two shelves – one to go over each of two windows – so I now have more room to keep books and other treasures. He made the shelves with materials on hand and they are beautiful. I also filled out applications for state funding for my sons’ education as homeschoolers. This is a program they qualify for due to their dyslexia and would help pay for curriculum and educational technology. Receiving funds is not guaranteed but would certainly be helpful. Should find out something by the middle of April – fingers crossed!
Hope everyone is staying warm and cozy on their little corner of the world!
I have a friend who doesn’t say “decluttering” either – she says, “It’s time for someone new to be blessed with the enjoyment of this.” 😀
Ava – Love that! And it’s true. I think of how many people might use the items I donate to thrift stores or how many people have used things I buy and think that is exactly the way it should be. Things bless different people at different times of life. Along these lines, one of my favorite books from childhood is an old one called “Hitty: Her First Hundred Years” by Rachel Field. My copy is dated 1945 and I am pretty sure it originally belonged to one of my mother’s aunts. It is a story about a doll and all the little lives she blesses over, you guessed it, her first 100 years of being. It’s a lovely, timeless story that I reread from time to time.
I know that story. I enjoyed it.
Ava,
I love that! Thanks for sharing!!!
I have that book, too! My grandmother gave it to me.
The yellow tomatoes are gorgeous!
We are entering a costly season with a home renovation beginning soon.
I have been working hard to use up the contents of my kitchen pantry, refrigerator and freezer before demolition. Using only items on hand, I made beef stew, chicken fajitas, Chex mix, blueberry bran muffins, dill dip, pickles, scotcheroos, chicken lemon orzo soup, and chili.
In preparation for new flooring, we moved the contents of the upper level down to the main level. We decluttered and donated unneeded items. I am an under buyer by nature, but it is ridiculous how much we have gathered in this house over 22 years! This reset will help me be even more intentional with my purchases moving forward.
With the cold weather and packing, we haven’t been spending much. Staying home was my most frugal feat this past week.
It has been a quiet week. I did one grocery order but ordered very little fresh food – mostly storecupboard staples. We continue to eat down our large chest freezer – I am trying to get through all the meat before Lent, when we will go pescatarian until Easter. It is good to see all the yellow stickers (I.e. reduced price stickers) on the stuff I am pulling out.
Our local community larder, where you pay a small subscription to get a share of perfectly good waste food from supermarkets, has had much less choice lately, but larger quantities of those fewer items. Looks like it’s carrots and potatoes every day this week, kids!
I ordered seeds for my children to plant in their bits of garden, cucumbers and garlic and nasturtiums for me, and a second tumbling compost bin. That should be enough to hold all our kitchen scraps (meat and dairy excluded) and turn them into free nutrients to grow food to turn into more scraps! It’s been amazing to me how much compostable waste we produce.
I’ve also been laying down paper and cardboard under woodchip for paths in the kitchen garden, and it’s been amazing how little recycling there is to put out. As it’s paths between raised beds, I’ve been putting down basically everything I can. The nettles and ground elder in the patch I am doing now are really bad, so I need a thick thick layer. My parents are bringing round their old newspapers too for me to put elsewhere in the garden.
In one bed, the ground elder is making a really valiant attempt to come back. I covered it with old carpet to exclude light. It should be able to remain in place for eight weeks before I try to plant anything there, and maybe I will be able to move my planting plans around to leave it there for longer. Fingers crossed!
Suzie,
Do you eat the young nettles? We can’t grow them here in S. FL, and I’ve always been curious about how they taste. They’re really beneficial and I think you can dehydrate them as well as make an amendment for the garden.
Excuse me for jumping in the middle of this thread but I have experience eating nettles. It’s pretty common here in Southern Appalachia. You have to cook them so they don’t sting but they otherwise taste to me like any other green. There is a lot of information about them if you do a search on permaculture.
Those tomatoes look delicious. Your daughter’s bagels look good. I am learning to make tortillas. They have not been pretty but taste ok. I make bread each week and have been cooking every day for us and our neighbor. I worry about him getting hot meals so I try to send one a day. We have been gathering up our tax documents and lack only a couple things to have it all ready to complete. Our road is still icy but we have electricity. Our county has been classified as a disaster area. Our community has really pulled together to help each other out. I have been looking at garden seeds. Hoping and dreaming of a good harvest this summer.
Thank you all for sharing your frugal practices for the week. This last week I have tried to make more snacks for my kids from things we’ve had laying around so it’s been popcorn, kale chips, applesauce and granola. We ran out of maple syrup so I made pancake syrup instead. We trimmed some trees that were growing into the electric lines, feed those branches to the goats, put the logs in the wood pile and then propagated some hopefully new baby plants from a tutti fruity salvia who suffered a broken branch in the tree trimming job. I took the kids to a birthday party for a friend last weekend and I made the little girl who is crazy about dragons, a dragon eye picture from items I had on hand as well as gifted her a brand new game we had thrifted.
I am loving the photos of flowers as we are in week number 2 of ice with a little snow and below freezing temperature. Usually snow does not stay on the ground this long nor the weather this cold. We have been staying home and using what we have lacking nothing. I am looking forward to the winter Olympics, especially figure skating.
I am finished rehabilitating my wardrobe. The last two items were an inexpensive pair of pyjamas from Marks and Spencer plus some lingerie from it as well on sale by a 20% reduction. I will only have to do one full load of laundry every two weeks or so. I’ll save money on electricity, on water, on detergent, and on wear and tear on the laundry machines and on my knees that don’t like to go up and downstairs. They had free delivery. It is ironic that I can find such good prices a continent away!
I am appalled by the prices in Canadian dollars on clothing regularly priced in the Land’s End online site. The pants i bought for $34 at the Boxing Day and Black Friday sales are now more than $80.
I spent a lot on groceries. The price of dairy products is going up – there were some sales even though the new prices started on Feb 1. I spent $75 on groceries and saved $45.00. It was the first Tuesday of the month when Safeway has 15% off. So we got 15% off the lower prices plus off the sales prices.
Last week, I bought 8 containers of yogourt on sale from $6 each for $3.99 each. This week the price will be $8 each. Today I bought cheese and will freeze some of it — freezing changes the texture but that is unnoticeable when put in lasagna or on pasta. Apparently the price increase is being driven by a change in purchases by consumers who now want high protein yogourts with more fat content. Because of this, there is less butter fat for other products so the price is going up. well at least that is what I was told.
It is beautiful weather here. We didn’t get as much snow as forecast — it was bitterly cold but has warmed up a lot. The roads are dry. A friend dropped off two baked chicken breasts — such a treat!
I protested about a bill for $800 for a repair. They made a mistake and the real amount owing is $580. I acknowledged that it was now correct, said I’d pay it over two months. Then I added another email asking the woman i was dealing with if she didn’t think that was excessive and said I will be considering dropping the service next summer when the contract runs out. I was polite but thought I should mention it anyway. Really for a part that cost $88, about 38 minutes labour…well we’ll see — fingers crossed…
It was a great frugal week in Houston, TX!
I bought day-old bread from Jimmy John’s (.50/each), and pre-made them into ham and cheese sandwiches, which I wrapped in plastic wrap. The ham was a .49/# clearance special after Christmas. I don’t customize: all are ham and cheese only. Sorry kids, this isn’t Subway! 😉 They can add on to theirs if they want before school, though.
We packed food and snacks for an all-day event and avoided the concession stand.
Trying a new lunch trick: quartering and coring apples before putting them back together wrapped in a rubber band; maybe this will save using a container and lead to less waste?
Tripled a meal to share with families for their meal train: there are definitely economies of scale sometimes.
Found a Pottery Barn Kids lamp at Goodwill Outlet bins, a lamp shade at Goodwill, and now just need to stick a bulb for the room my 8 year old daughter shares with her 3 year old brother.
Prepped a birthday gift for daughter’s friend from gift stash, using a recycled gift bag and ironed recycled tissue paper.
Took the kids to the free tutoring held before school by the National Honor Society. Any extra bit helps!
Found an abandoned cart at Aldi, so I parked near it at the back of the lot and kept the quarter.
IG: Frewgalfamily.HTX
A quick salt-water dip will keep cut apples from browning! You might want to try that.
Thanks! I used to use a pinch of citric acid in the water, but I’ve gotten lazy!
Winter storm Fern left us very cold (single digits & teens – very unusual for us here in Texas!) and at home for 5 days, but we were very fortunate in that our power stayed on and we didn’t experience any major issues. Our employers follow the local school districts regarding weather closures, so we did not have to get out at all and our vehicles stayed in the garage. We were home Saturday through Wednesday, finally going back to work on Thursday. I made a last minute grocery run the Monday before the storm hit us on Friday evening, just to be safe. We enjoyed several days at home of watching movies and cooking. We enjoyed homemade baked chocolate donuts, cinnamon rolls, Irish stew and soda bread, homemade pizza, chili and cornbread, lots of hearty breakfasts, and oatmeal cookies. During the big storm in 2021 we did lose power for a couple of days and it was not pleasant. We were very fortunate this time around and I am thankful.
Frugal bits & bobs: After the roads cleared, we stopped into Tractor Supply for birdseed and they had a 75% off clearance rack. I bought some scented wax melts, several cases of canned cat food (a brand our cats actually like!), and also some nice wool boot socks for my husband. Excellent deals! Unfortunately I needed to replace my car battery after the intense cold snap. The dealership was running a pet food donation drive worth 10% off your bill, so I was able to donate a case of the canned cat food for savings off battery & labor. Once the weather warmed up, we were able to open our windows again and turn the central system off. We continue to cook and eat most meals at home. I did my own manicure at home. We were gifted a nice basket containing some fancy jam, maple syrup, and other items, from a friend, and it was very appreciated. The basket it came in is also quite lovely and will be repurposed for something at home.
I hope everyone has a wonderful (and warmer!) week!
I didn’t work last Monday through Wednesday because of the weather, and stayed home pretty much the rest of the week, so I didn’t think I had any frugal accomplishments until I started thinking about them.
Earned only $1.75 from Amazon Shopper Panel Rewards. Not a lot of shopping in January.
I needed cash but instead of using an ATM or driving across town to the bank, I just got cash back at the grocery store.
Ive earned $24 in cash rewards from a gas station I frequent.
Also earned a free fountain soda.
I paid my tax filing fee now instead out of my refund, saving $42.
Earned a $59 Visa rebate from Brightspeed. Ill apply it to a bill.
Ate at home as much as possible using what we have.
I have been using what is in my fridge for the most part. Looking over the pantry ,fridge, and freezer for things that need used first. We always use cloth napkins and cloth towels. I use cloth handkerchiefs. I’m making a lot of soups. Using eggs from our chickens. We are using beans for at least 3 meals a week for health and frugality. We incorporate our errands into one trip, saving on gas. My husband fixed our toilet. We not only saved the cost of a plumber, but we saved on future water bills. He had previously rigged something up in the toilet to make it work until we could get to the store. I was impressed! We are eating healthy with lots of fiber, saving on future medical bills. I’ve been ill for a couple of weeks. I rode it out, thinking it was a virus and I was right. I’m almost better and didn’t need to go to the doctor or get on antibiotics. I stayed at home saving tons in gas money. Because it was so cold the first week I was sick, my husband didn’t work. That proved to be a blessing, because he did almost all the cooking and cleaning that first week. I was very grateful. We have been very careful so we will be fine. As it warms up he will be working more and more. I really enjoyed his time off. I only wish I had been well so we could have done fun things. Although we did watch a movie one night at home and popped popcorn. We do have one expensive water bill from the toilet not working for a little while. Next month will be better. Meals have included, Red beans and rice with Swiss chard, Thai Mint Beef salad, Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, lots of fried eggs, Bimbimbop, homemade pickled daikon radish with carrot, kimchi, Miso soup with tofu, mushrooms, and nori, Fasolada soup with Butter beans. then the beans were served over rice the next day with scallops that we got on sale on the side and kimchi and the more of the pickled daikon radish with carrots. Cheese and fruit with pickles for dinner one day with some Braunshweieger and crackers. Oatmeal, eggs on toast. Pineapple upside down cake. Chorizo and cheese quesadillas. Chicken quesadillas. Homemade salsa. Chicken soup. with dumplings. Snacks have been cheese, fruit, veggies, peanut butter, and homemade salsa from tomatoes I got such a good deal on with a jalapeño, cilantro, onion and some Cumin, Chili powder, fresh garlic with chips. I love Homemade fresh salsa, I could drink it by itself and be happy!
Your meals all sound delicious!
Thank-you Tina! We really did enjoy them.
We currently have a GI outbreak on our cruise so I am doing lots of hand washing, Today I am off on safari which is great fun. My sister is able to join me in Sri Lanka for the last month of the cruise and will bring my fanny pack that I lost at the airport with her-yay.
Hello Brandy and everyone
The homemade bagels with your tomatoes look very fresh and delicious. I see from your Instagram that your white garden at the front is looking super.
This week I ordered some hard to find flower seeds and was happy that the packets were on offer, 3 for the price of 2. I had already researched to find the best prices online.
I cleared out three garden tubs/ pots and sowed saved seed for Love in a Mist and pink poppies in two of them.( Mixed the seeds up so each pot will have a mix of blue and pink).
I used stored cooking apples to batch cook healthy snacks for my granddaughter. I used a surplus orange I had in the freezer to make a whole orange cake.
I visited a supermarket I don’t often go to and found some good deals. Mustn’t get stuck in a rut where I shop!
A shop in town was closing down so I bought knee length bamboo socks I like, 3 pairs for the price of 2. These will be stockpiled till I need them.
I bought a jumper in an online sale, the correct size for my GD to wear next winter. I used Click and Collect for free delivery to a store where I could pick it up when running errands.
I also bought some toys for her in a charity shop.
It feels like this post has a lot of buying in it but it’s making the most of opportunities to save money in the longer term.
Century plants are so cool!
– I’m enjoying a library book
– Made bread and oatmeal raisin cookies using my new to me vintage kitchen aid mixer
– composting kitchen scraps
– Packed my husband’s lunch yesterday and will again today
It has been the coldest weather here in S. Florida since 2010. We don’t have central heat or AC and do fine without, usually, but this was really uncomfortable. We put an electric heater in the living room and closed the pocket doors and stayed in there. Sleeping was fine because of flannel sheets and a heave down duvet, but it was unpleasantly cold in the rest of the house. We had on layers of clothes and wore hats. I’d made 2 soups, black bean chili, African almond stew, so didn’t need ot stay in the cold kitchen for long.
We put out boxes with towels for any stray cats. It must have been awful for them. Thinking about the soldiers at Valley Forge, or in Europe, and the cold they endured when we only had mid 30s overnight was humbling. I am so very grateful it’s warming up!
I hope everyone can continue to stay comfortable.
Like everyone it seems, we have had plenty of cold weather. We had snow on January 18, but none in the two weekends of snowy days that followed. We have propane heat and use that to help offset the heat pump’s failure to keep up when temperatures go below freezing. I continue using the pantry/freezer challenge and am still pulling out ‘older’ meats from the freezer. When I’ve wanted convenience meals, I had frozen entrees that I set aside as extra or leftover when I made the original dish. I’ve even had soups in the freezer so when I felt under the weather, I could just pull soup out and thaw it for a meal. I made a big pot of chicken/turkey stock this past week and got it all canned on Tuesday morning. I put three quarts into the pantry. Right now, it is Friday. We’ve just eaten leftovers from our lunch out (Gift cards were given to us at Christmas and we had a free dessert coupon because it’s a birthday week in our household), but I will not need to cook at all this weekend. I just need to open the fridge and place leftovers out to be chosen as we want. I’ve done some hand mending of clothing that needed minor repairs. I haven’t seen any great deals at any of the stores lately, but mostly I’ve tried to stay OUT of the stores entirely, partly due to doing the Pantry/Freezer challenge. The payoff has been that I was able to very nearly pay off one of the credit cards we used to do car repairs in October. Now to tackle the next one!
I had promised myself a lamp for my worktable this month as a gift to myself. I received an unexpected gift card from Amazon and found a pair of lamps on sale and so I now have new lamps in my workspace for about $20. I think that is just awesome.
We have had to miss 2 planned ports due to a cyclone. Instead we are on our way to the Seychelles and Maldives which I am sure will be very nice. Bought myself a dress aboard using online credit from my travel agent-so no OOP.