I juiced lemons from the garden and froze the juice. I also made lemonade from our lemons. I picked more lemons from one of my trees in the garden.
I cut green onions, beet greens, garlic chives, and Swiss chard from the garden.
I changed around some pots in the garden, using them in new places and with new plants. I dug a small euyonomus bush that I started last year by tip layering, and planted it in one pot. Eventually I will prune it into a ball shape, after it grow large enough in a few years. For the other two pots, I moved them from the front yard to the back yard, replanted the seedlings I had growing in them elsewhere in the garden, and planted Patio Star zucchini seeds in them.
I used a $10 off coupon at the nursery towards the purchase of some new plants for the garden, including a white lilac (“Angel White” from Monrovia, which will reflower in mild winter areas without needing many chilling hours) for the white garden.
I planted flower seeds in the garden.
I purchased eggs for $5.99 for 5 dozen at Sam’s Club.
My grandmother has moved out of assisted living into another place with hospice care. Since she will no longer have an apartment of her own, the last few weeks we have been involved with helping my parents to donate and sell the things she no longer needs.
My parents asked me if there was anything I wanted, and as I am in the midst of organizing and decluttering, I wanted to be certain to only say yes to things for which I have a space, as well as for which I am certain will be used. I said yes to some small, practical things, including a few bars of soap and some combs, and some sewing needles that I know we can use.
My mother gave me an orchid that had finished blooming. I will keep it as a green plant and hopefully it will rebloom for me next year.
I sold a toy we were no longer using. I also donated some uneeded items to my mom’s garage sale.
My husband washed a huge tarp that he got for free. When he was done, he invited the children to use it as a slip and slide.
My husband and I enjoyed a couple of date nights at home. One night we played several rounds of Sequece, and another night we watched a movie.
I watched the final episode of Downton Abbey on Pbs.org.
What did you do to save money last week?
I saved the whey from cheese making and made bread with it.
We went to a local swap and picked up some clothes for the entire family and some toys and books for my son. I also got some paper clay, foam airplanes, and ink pad ink. I really needed the ink. We also donated a couple things to free up some space at home.
We used a coupon at the Ritz Carlton Hotel for a free buffet.
I’ve started taking my lunch to work. As I’m usually terrible at this I’ve decided to make homemade instant raman noodles. It’s been successful so far.
I found cheese sticks 30% off. I bought all of them for myself (for work lunches) and my son (school outings).
I signed my son up for taekwondo classes. He goes everyday and rides the bus home so I don’t have to drive to pick him up.
I’m trying to cook every meal I can at home.
I’m trying to use what I have instead of buying more. I”m keeping my shopping trips to the essentials only.
This has been a busy week, since the weather cooperated so I could work outside for at least part of most days.
Received & cashed a pine cone check, which I used to pay for one of the 2 larger size Lodgestones to go under the right side of the grape arbor. Bought 6 more of the smaller size as well, on the same trip. Replaced three smaller 8” wide Lodgestones with the two 12” wide bigger ones, which made a much better support for the right side of the grape arbor. Completed another pine cone survey.
Cut some daffodils & brought them inside to enjoy in a green bud vase. The bud vase with 3 branches of forsythia that I brought in when I trimmed a broken limb are in bloom & look so pretty.
Had 6 of the windows, all on the west side, measured for replacements. This is part of our planned upkeep to the house before my husband retires. The windows are still the “builder grade” that came with the house, & they are not in very good shape, so we are doing half this year & planning to do the other half next year. The company is running 4-5 weeks out, so the windows themselves will be replaced in early April, well before the western sun heats the inside of the house to hotter than comfortable. We are replacing them with windows that have the reflective coating, to prevent UV light from entering the house, & with argon gas between the panes. This should make the house more comfortable & reduce electric costs as well.
Washed out a 3 quart jug that held apple juice, rinsed it well, & filled it with water for our emergency storage. We live in earthquake country, & earthquakes tend to break water lines. We save all juice jugs for this purpose.
Bought 4 one-pound packages of Laura’s organic, grass-fed, antibiotic-free ground beef from the bargain basket for $2 each. I won’t pay extra for that type of beef (normally $8/pound), but I don’t discriminate against it when it is in the bargain basket for a good price, either. All four went straight into the freezer.
Used the leftovers from a mesquite pork roast, combined with the broth formed when it cooked, to make a mesquite pork & rice casserole that turned out very well. I put 2 cups of water in a casserole dish with the cut up meat, & about ¾ cup of the broth & added 1 cup of long grain rice, & a bit of onion powder. Baked it at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, covered, & those were delicious leftovers.
Planted spinach & lettuce in the garden. I missed digging up several small garlic bulbs last year, so there are new sprouts where the garlic row was last year, which I will leave there to grow larger to use as fresh garlic.
Raked the rest of the south side lawn & placed the dead grass & leaves on the garden tiers as mulch.
Cut the prunings that I piled in the barked area to size for wood pile & camping stove use, storing them in an old black plastic plant pot from the nursery. The larger diameter pieces went on the woodpile.
Ordered some Chinese skullcap seeds. The bush grows about a foot tall & has deep blue/purple flowers that should look nice amid the landscaping in the front yard.
Weeded for a short time every morning, trying to get a jump on the weed control. Moved a blueberry bush & an elderberry start to new locations. Shared a couple of elderberry starts with my neighbor.
Hi Brandy and the slip and slide so reminds me of my childhood when myself and my sisters used to do the same thing. Hours and hours of fun to be had indeed & hello to everyone from Australia :D.
Here is my husband & my frugal accomplishments for the week –
Autumn house cleaning –
– Cleaned the shower recess tiles & grout with vinegar & a toothbrush to remove mould & did the same with the floor tiles.
– Soaked & washed all slightly stained white under garments and stained coloured t-shirts for another 3 months using our handmade soaker.
– Cleaned all the bathroom & toilet with flannel rags rather than paper towel, previously I used lots of paper towel, but am trying to cut down our expenses by not using it as much.
Fuel purchases –
– Whilst doing service we filled up our jerry cans with unleaded fuel @ .965 c per litre, usually $1.07 here where we live, also filled up car fuel with E10 for .985 c per litre, usually here it is $1.04.3, saving in total on fuel being $3.70.
In the kitchen –
– Made all bread from scratch using our bread machine.
– Made pumpkin soup from pumpkin & onions grown in our garden and some gifted onions, sour cream & stock powder from the pantry for $3.43 for ingredients, plus a little cost in electricity, which lasted us 3 nights. So that brings the cost of 3 meals for the 2 of us to 0.57c per meal each.
In the garden –
– Picked 11 ripe pumpkins from the garden, gave 2 to our neighbour 1 for his mum and 1 for him, & placed the rest on the shed roof to season for a week & after that shall store them on wood under the house to further season & dry.
– Weeded the front herb & vegetable gardens.
– Picked 3/4’s of a bucket of lovely ripe cucumbers and had some for lunch today, so tasty and fresh.
– Picked strawberries, beans, peas, silverbeet, spinach, turnips, carrots & beetroot for teas and juices.
Craft sewing & garden seed internet business –
– Sorted & counted dried capsicum seeds I saved from capsicums given to us & put them in a jar for storage & saved some for our garden & listed excess on Ebay for sale.
– Sorted counted & placed in a jar all dried sugar baby watermelon seeds from a watermelon in our garden, saved some for us & listed the rest on Ebay for sale.
– Saved all pumpkin seeds from the pumpkin we made soup out of & am drying them on a baking tray for both next years seeds for our garden & list the excess for sale on Ebay when dried.
Craft sewing & garden seed saving hobby business sales –
– Sold the rest of the pumpkin seeds from our gifted pumpkin on Ebay along with some capsicum seeds saved from gifted capsicum, bean seeds & watermelon seeds saved from our garden & 1 eye mask on Ebay making $20.25 profit.
Craft garden business money spent –
– Downloaded the money for my tithe for my pension & internet sales from Paypal, adding extra money to our house savings as the usual tithing money will not come out of my regular pay. I left the remainder in Paypal account to cover phone & internet bills for next month.
Have a wonderfully frugal week one and all 😀 .
I love these posts! I live in a townhouse near downtown Seattle, so I can do very little gardening to save money, but I love hearing about what you can accomplish. Most of the ways we save money is by using our car as little as possible, finding free things to do in the city, and buying things we need on craigslist or at the thrift shop or (best of all) finding them for free on our BuyNothing neighborhood FB group. This week I made a big batch of granola with ingredients on hand to avoid spending money on breakfast cereal. I rode my bike to the grocery store twice rather than drive. I also rode bikes with my son to his playdate to save gas. I found cute birthday presents for two of my nephews at the Goodwill for less than $5 that I know they will love and found some almost new Toms for the summer for $7 (retail $40 and up). I also inventoried all of my spring/summer clothes and mended a couple of pieces and put some new outfits together to avoid the temptation of buying new clothes.
Oh my goodness what fun they are having! Simple things can bring such joy. Your lemonade looks so much darker than mine does. Maybe it’s the different type of lemons..
I completed both of the grandchildren’s Easter Baskets. I always love to make them myself.
Here is a list of my other frugal accomplishments:
http://www.vickieskitchenandgarden.com/2016/03/my-frugal-ways-this-past-week-31316.html
I am sorry to hear about your grandmother. I remember when my mom and I had to do this for her grandmother (my great grandma) and great grandpa. The slip and slide looks fun 🙂 Last week:
I juiced a whole bunch of oranges I got for free (made a half gallon of juice) and made tomato sauce from some tomatoes we were given (also for free). I got 5 and a half jars of sauce. I spent $34 on groceries for this week. I made whole wheat bread, started a batch of apple cider vinegar and another batch of citrus vinegar with citrus rinds I saved in the freezer. I cooked a pot of beans to make beans and rice tonight or tomorrow night for dinner. I also have eaten hot cereal most mornings for breakfast.
All meals were cooked from scratch and eaten at home.
I have about 3 weeks left at this job. I have been applying at several places within a 30 mile radius from my home, everything from housekeeper to Administrative assistant. Hopefully I will get something. (not frugal but wanted to mention 🙂 )
I deleted my Amazon credit card from my account. Once I pay off the balance I will no longer have it.
We will receive the deed to our house in a few weeks! We bought it on land contract from family. Once we receive it I will shop for a better deal on home owner’s insurance. I will also look into a refinance for my car. I had an offer from my insurance company that would save me $2000.00 dollars over the course of the loan.
We turned the heat off for a few days when the temps warmed up enough. We had several days of beautiful weather.
I have been saving egg cartons for seed starters all winter. I have about 30 now so that should be enough lol.
I found a brand new trash can a store was throwing away. Brand new, clean, nothing wrong with it, just throwing it away. I grabbed it and now we have a nice new trash can (we previously had a teeny tiny one but my hubby didn’t like it and wanted a “normal” trash can).
My husband took our bags or cans and some other metal stuff to the recycling plant. He only got $4 which was surprising. I know a lot of people started “scrapping” here when the economy went south, maybe that’s why?
My mom babysat our daughter at our house while my husband and I had a “date” at the gym. I used his free guest pass.
I am looking into a magic jack to replace our existing phone from Basic Talk from Walmart (which is $14 per month). The magic jack equals less than $10 per month. Anyone have any experience with it?
Have a great week everyone!
Last week we got rain everyday. It was wonderful to get the rain, but boy do my dogs make a mess going in and out my dog door. I put many a mile on my mop cleaning paw prints off my wood floors. We had so much rain there was not much work we could do in our garden area. My poor husband; he thought he was being so smart. I had got a whole bunch of peat pot seed starters on clearance last year from our local HEB grocery store. He planted them into bigger peat pots (to go into the garden when they sprouted. He was going to be so careful to keep our nosey dachshund and basset hound out of them, he put them into one of my round metal wash tins I got at a thrift store. The problem was I had not put holes in the bottom of it yet to drain. So when we got 3 inches of rain over night the whole thing filled with water and peat pots were all over the yard as our dogs thing they are amazing toys. DOGS….sometimes they are like little children. Oh well, we laughed and cleaned them up and put them into another area and we will see if any sprout.
On the not so frugal side, I had to buy a new oven/stove. My stove is 16 years old and the electronic panel that turns it on and off went out. I can get it on, but it will not turn off. I had a very trusted repair person out and he told me the part to fix it is no longer made new. There are some parts that are ‘refurbishes’ but he did not think it was worth it as even a refurbished part was almost as much as the stove cost me new 16 years ago. So I spent days looking on line and reading up on it and we got a new Samsung stove with 5 burners and a convection oven. It also comes with a grill pan for pan cakes etc. I had a gift card and got a discount for being a ‘loyal’ customer and saved $200.00 off the price. Also got free delivery. So on Wednesday I will be in business again. Now we are eating crockpot meals and frozen meals from our freezer I can microwave.
I am sewing doll clothes for our church again. Our church has an orphanage in Africa. Toys are very limited there. We look for good buys at the local thrift stores and clean the dolls up. We make new clothes for the dolls and put them into boxes we have covered with contact paper. Once a year our church sends these toy packages to Africa for the children. As I sew I am asked to make doll clothes. Other ladies clean the dolls etc. Last year I had earned some Amazon credit and used it to buy 12 NEW in the box dolls. As a licensed child care provider I get a discount on larger orders. Those 12 dolls cost just $99.00. They came with nothing but a diaper so I still had to make clothes for them, but that is fun. I love to use my sewing talents for children. My own granddaughter is too old to enjoy a doll anymore. She turns 16 this Wednesday. I am so proud of her. She is in a robot building class in school. Last year their team took 4th place in the state of TX. They go to Houston the end of this month for the national judging. I hope they do well.
I am still on my clean and de-clutter rampage as my grandson calls it. He does not like it when he sees me come in with an empty bag and we start going through his room……
Got 2 shirts for my husband at the thrift store on Saturday. Both were half off so the 2 shirts cost $2.00. I also got a beautiful white blouse for 99 cents. I will cut it up for doll clothes. (it is a child size) That is one of the ways I save money making doll clothes for the dolls we will send to Africa. I make clothes for all size dolls, from 15 inch baby dolls, to older cabbage patch dolls, to the 18″ American girl type doll. I have only done 2 real American Girl dolls. As these are expensive they are rare. I have had 2 donated. They are fun to sew for.
Good Morning from Indiana! Can’t wait to start seeds but it is still too wet.
Small accomplishments:
[list]
My kids made 40 pillows upcycled from tshirts for my daughter’s scout project. I had bought stuffing on sale so cost was about 50c a pillow.
Sold a few leftover scout patches, which goes back to our scout fund.
Cleaned out extra crafts supplies for Blue Knights club.
14 items to Goodwill.
Have been using mplaces app for check inns and cashing out for gift cards.
Made plans to work early hours during summer to get home before husband leaves for work, saving us about 2k in child care/camp!
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It didn’t feel like we saved much this week as we had to replace our toilet, but we did call my cousin’s husband who is a master plumber to find out which one he recommends, and he was able to order it for us at a much lower price. I am hoping that our water bill will go down as our old toilet was from the 1950’s.
I also made homemade yogurt and a batch of chickpeas for salads and worked some on a top for my daughter from an old skirt of mine and a pattern traced from a library book. We also did a massive re-arranging of some of our rooms to help things function better. It is cheaper than buying as much furniture as I thought we would need for our original setup. Now I just need to get to work recovering some of our chairs and sofa!
I understand how you feel regarding cleaning out your grandmothers apartment. After cleaning out my Mom’s house, I am more discerning as to what I want to bring into my own home. Though I took very few things compared to my siblings, it still added more things to my life and home. I am organizing and beginning to declutter, as too much stuff seems to weigh you down. Your lemons brought to mind a young girl who lived next door to me in Los Angeles, who would bring baskets of lemons and avocados from their trees to sell me. Such a treat. Joining in here: http://abelabodycare.blogspot.com/2016/03/blooms-shrooms-frugal-accomplishments.html
It should save you a LOT on your water bill! A toilet uses 30% of you indoor water use. New toilets use half of what old toilets did (1/5 gallons per flush instead of 3 gallons) and replacing your toilet is one of the most recommended ways to save money on water.
Recycling doesn’t pay much, so you want to make sure you have a car full, or it will cost you more in gas to get there and back. It has never paid much.
Not just the lemons, but the sugar; I bought some unbeached sugar last time I bought sugar (it was cheaper) and it is a golden color.
That slip and slide looks like a lot of fun! I admit that I had to look up your euyonomus shrub, I hadn’t heard of that one before. Looks like a pretty plant!
Here are my frugal ways for last week: http://www.mediumsizedfamily.com/5-ways-weve-saved-money-this-week-25/
I used leftover roast and veggies to make beef rolls from the Downton Abbey Cooks website. We loved them! I’m not a good pie crust maker, but my rough skills still worked to make the pastry for the rolls.
The water slide looks so much fun 🙂 In the privacy of your own backyard, if you used it as well, I would not blame you!
I had a super frugal week. I went away for 3 days on a work retreat which was fully paid for. Free travel, meals and treats. I spent only $5 for 3 days (which was a tip). Other than that, I chose to not do any grocery shopping, and I still had plenty to eat. I spent only $9 on some bananas and a couple of avocados.
My weekly update is here: http://www.simpleisgoodforyou.com/frugal-accomplishments-ways-saved-money-5/
Wishing everyone a great week!
It looks like boxwood, but it grows faster 🙂
JenG- Hubby and I just did a “hands-on” presentation/workshop where 34 ladies put together “kits” that we gave each of them for the planter boxes with bucket inserts using this link as a reference. We adjusted the sizes to work for what free buckets we got from our local Sam’s club bakery, so several of our apartment dwelling friends made their planters to scale with a 3-1/2 gallon frosting bucket! Free pallets made our planters and they look pretty good! You might rethink gardening after looking at this link! We are in central Ohio.
http://oldworldgardenfarms.com/any-age-anywhere-gardening/
Hubby and our youngest son needed new suits and have been haunting thrift stores continually to find them. Unfortunately, after months of looking, we bit the bullet, and I sent them to Kohls with my charge card. They were having a huge sale on men’s suits and I had multiple discounts that could be stacked on top of the sale price so—they each bought a new suit! Normal price- $360 each!!! (Oh, no!!!) But after sale price + $10 off + 30% off , they each came out to $120 plus I earned $50 in Kohl’s cash that I used to buy 8 new cereal bowls (ours had cracks in them and some had broken) + a Kitchenaid jar scraper I have wanted + 3 ten packs of Crayola washable markers that I use to draw my quilting stencil lines on to my quilt tops! Nothing OOP for the Kohl’s cash purchase and the suits were a name brand that will last several years! Since they wear a suit every Sunday plus additionally at least twice a month, I am satisfied that this was a good and frugal investment!
We made a seed starting shelving rack from more of our leftover pallet wood and will start some potato crates tonight with more of our leftovers!
Made more 1 hour homemade bread as well as breakfasts and dinners from our food storage. Have only gone to grocery store for some fresh produce to supplement.
Our gas bill was reduced by $70/month for the next 5 months due to our reduced useage with new high efficiency furnaces! That saved us $350! Made more cloth hankies to replace Kleenex- mine from leftover cotton sheet trimmings (I buy the sheets @ thrift store for 99 cents and use them as quilt backings. The amount I trim off when I cut the backing to size is what I’m using for hankies!) , hubby and son have theirs made from cotton plaid pj legs that are cut into shorter length pj bottoms for summer when the knees are wearing thin! I can still get a couple hankies out of the calf portion of pj legs!
Fabric is never wasted here! It’s final use will be rags when there is no more wear left in them!
All in all, a very good frugal week!
We have had Magic jack for 6 years now and live it!
At out local Goodwill store and Salvation Army thrift store I can and do buy pillows for 50 cent each. I bring them home and take them apart. I use the stuffing in things I am making and do not buy it at the store. It’s very expensive to buy new.
I also love to make quilts or lap robes from the T-shirts. I have made many in my time for the kids I know. Doing day care for 27 years I know a lot of children. Not many people sew any more. It is fun to me to make something for a child that they will keep and remember their experience with.
I once saw a quilt in a quilt show in Dallas TX. made by a mother who was working out her grief over the loss of her 15 year old daughter. She had made the quilt with jean pockets, T-shirts, and jackets from her clothes. She even did some embroidery work on the quilt to remind herself of the even the T-shirt represented. It was a beautiful quilt and I cried like a baby when I read the reason she made the quilt. She said each stitch helped her with her grief walk. I thought it was a wonderful way to remember her daughter and help her in the times to come.
At out local Goodwill store and Salvation Army thrift store I can and do buy pillows for 50 cent each. I bring them home and take them apart. I use the stuffing in things I am making and do not buy it at the store. It’s very expensive to buy new.
I also love to make quilts or lap robes from the T-shirts. I have made many in my time for the kids I know. Doing day care for 27 years I know a lot of children. Not many people sew any more. It is fun to me to make something for a child that they will keep and remember their experience with.
I once saw a quilt in a quilt show in Dallas TX. made by a mother who was working out her grief over the loss of her 15 year old daughter. She had made the quilt with jean pockets, T-shirts, and jackets from her clothes. She even did some embroidery work on the quilt to remind herself of the even the T-shirt represented. It was a beautiful quilt and I cried like a baby when I read the reason she made the quilt. She said each stitch helped her with her grief walk. I thought it was a wonderful way to remember her daughter and help her in the times to come.
We have used magic jack for years it works great! Very low cost.
We took a long motorcycle ride this weekend from Arizona to Death Valley and back. The trip was very scenic but it was really windy and a bit chilly for us Arizonans. Usually we stop on the trip for gas many times, and buy snacks and water during those breaks. This year I packed snacks (water is too heavy and big given our storage space). So we ended up only buying water. One night, the weather was so windy and rainy that our packed extra food became dinner. Others we were traveling with ended up ordering Pizza delivered to the motel, it cost them $30 for just one pizza! We also saw some crazy gas prices. Regular is $1.40/gal in Az, we saw it as high as $4.00 in Death Valley and even over $3 in Baker, Ca.
Otherwise, ate at home and baked bread. This upcoming week I need to go grocery shopping for some milk and veggies, otherwise using our pantry.
I laughed when I saw the slip and slide. I have great memories of them when I was small. I also remember trying one again in my 20s…gees the ground sure is hard when you throw yourself down on it. I only did it once at age 20 😉
Lorna, I always look forward to reading your frugal accomplishments. We have to replace the siding on our house. It will cost a pretty penny to do so. I was thinking about starting an Etsy store. Could you please tell me how to open a store on Etsy.
Blessings to you and your husband. You are very generous with your friends and neighbors.
Congratulations on getting the deed to your home!
I love the water slide — and I envy your lemonade. I love lemonade but it’s far too cold here to grow lemons.
I needed buttons for a sweater I am knitting, so I visited our local thrift store. I found a jacket on the $1 rack (it was faded and quite worn looking) that had some nice buttons the right size. I got enough buttons off the jacket for two sweaters! While at the thrift store, my husband found a Brita pitcher. I have been looking for one to keep in our RV. We bought a new filter on sale. Total cost with the filter was $6 — compared to $21 new.
I baked bread, brownies and homemade pizza this week. The pizza dough recipe makes enough for two pizzas, so I froze half for use another time.
I have seedlings under a grow light in my spare bedroom. We’ve started getting the greenhouse ready — I’m mixing dirt and compost and filling pots where I will eventually transplant the tomato and pepper seedlings. By next month it should be warm enough to move everything into the greenhouse. Outside, I have Swiss chard and collard greens coming out under plastic in the raised beds. They should be big enough to eat soon. I sprayed my apple trees with dormant oil. My husband shoveled all the snow away from the raspberry beds so they would warm sooner and put new fencing around all the raised beds to keep our new puppy out of them.
I ordered some fabric from Fabric.com to make a new dress, skirt and top for me. I looked at stores but could never find what I want for a reasonable price. The fabric cost $40 and the end results will easily be worth three times that. I am lining the dress — something I only see in very expensive dresses.
I have plantar fasciitis that has flared up. I have been doing stretching exercises and taking anti-inflammatories and icing the foot. I also bought a gel insert for my shoes, which has helped a lot. The foot is gradually getting better and I’m confident I can avoid a doctor’s visit (he will only tell me to do what I have already been doing.)
We watched the final Downton Abbey last night… sigh… I will miss those folks!
Our Frugal Accomplishments this week include:
I won a $15 Target gift card at work, from a drawing of all the employees who had received customer compliments.
It rained all week, so we didn’t need to water our trees or garden. Yay!
Last Thanksgiving, we had smoked turkey, and afterward, I made stock from the carcass. It turns out that smoked turkey stock made for a DELICIOUS batch of pinto beans… I made a big batch, so that we will have plenty for burritos, nachos and soups during the week. Yum.
Husband fixed our back fence using old (but still good) fencing planks he got for free from a neighbor.
I comparison shopped for a needed household item, buying it online for half of what my go-to online retailer sells it for.
What a great treat for your children to play on that washed down tarp, Brandy! I’m sure that you wouldn’t normally do such an activity as you have water restrictions and you have to pay for the water. But since it was already being washed, the children might as well have some fun too!!!
A slower week for us on the frugal front. My frugal accomplishments this week are as follow:
*Meals made at home include homemade chicken souvlaki with rice and Greek salad, beef stew and dumplings with homemade French bread, pasta and sausage with choice of red or white sauce, grilled cheese sandwiches with baked beans and salad, battered fish with herbed potato wedges, and breaded chicken burgers with rice and corn. I convinced my family to eat the various leftovers as lunch items to avoid yet another night of leftovers for dinner.
*I pulled and baked one of the frozen apple crisps for dessert one night. I also used another expired cake mix from my pantry this week, a butter pecan flavour, to which I added maple syrup for wonderful tasting cupcakes!
*Found more great stock up deals with groceries. I bought 6 bags of whole wheat bagels for $0.44/bag of 4, 4 more cans of baked beans @ $0.72/can, 4 jars of peanut butter @$5.89/2kg jar (the jumbo sized jar), and a big bag of grapes (at least 2 – 3lbs) on clearance for $1.
*Trimmed my bangs and my daughter’s bangs to extend time between hair cuts. My daughter wasn’t so thrilled and marginally co-operative, but at least we can see her eyes again.
*Baked a batch of chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies for my daughter to take for a class party on Thursday. I thought these might be nicer than sending a bag of chips. They were a huge hit according to my daughter.
*Bought a small roll of white, linen looking fabric from the thrift store. I gave my mother the money and she bought it, receiving a 10% senior’s discount. The total cost was $1.80 after discount. I think this fabric might work nicely for making tea towels that I can then embroider.
*My husband and I went mall walking for free to get some well needed exercise.
*Did a bunch of normal frugal things, such as refilling water bottles and putting them in the fridge so I always have cold water to drink, washed and reused baggies, tried to say home as much as possible so I don’t spend money, checked the clearance shelves (especially the produce section) at stores whenever I did shop, watched the grocery flyers/shopped sales for pantry stock up deals and watched streamed TV programs and movies for free on our android box.
Now for my favourite part, reading everyone’s comments to gleam more frugal ideas! 😀 Have a wonderful week everyone!!!
I thought I had regular chives but have discovered that they are all garlic chives. Other than the shape I cannot tell much of a difference in flavor. I was happy to discover that even those in the raised bed have sprouted out better than last year. Here is a link to my weekly savings post: http://ahomeinthecountry.blogspot.com/2016/03/weekly-savings_14.html
That is my hope! It is the main toilet that we use, and being a homeschooler, we have a lot of flushes during the day! We just found out that our water rates were going up, so this is probably good timing anyway.
I found strawberries for $0.99 per pound which is a ton cheaper than $3.50 a pound we were seeing two weeks ago. I made jam with some of the strawberries. I also found oranges for $0.40 a pound. We also started our deck garden. We planted 13 strawberry plants, some spinach, some chives, and some dill. The mint and the parsley that we we planted last year started growing back.
I can’t tell much difference in flavor, either, and the garlic chives grow more abundantly than the regular chives. I have some of both in the garden.
I hope you enjoyed the flowers in Death Valley! I have thought about going out to see them this year.
Gas prices haven’t gone below $1.74 here, and they were only that low for a short time, but the California prices don’t surprise me at all, especially in Baker and Death Valley. It’s a long ways for the gas trucks to go to fill the tanks.
I am seriously laughing at your trying the slip and slide in your twenties. There are so many things that I tried “again” later in life only to find they are harder, injurious and not at all as fun as I remembered. I tried ice skating again in my 50s. Those darn ankles almost bent in half. And I tried cotton candy again. Man was that stuff bad. And so many other foods and junk candies that I adored, that I really wondered about my tastes as a kid.
Do you cut the tops off of the beets while they are still in the ground? Will the beets continue to grow?
You got a fantastic price on your eggs! Wow!
Yes, and yes 🙂 I don’t cut off all of them at once; just a few from each.
I held a birthday party for my daughter when she was 10 that featured a long folded piece of heavy plastic and a sprinkler as a slip and slide. The kids loved it, as they did the cheap squirt guns I gave them when they arrived. They all wore swimsuits and changed to dry clothes they had brought with them, later.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that this warm weather won’t mess up my cabbages. They are on the point of heading.
I fashioned a trellis for climbing beans, and we are moving an old trellis made out of an old swingset and wire to plant cucumbers.
I’m trench composting, a la Brandy. I got tired of waiting on my compost pile, too. Our ground is very, very poor, so we have to heavily amend our soil to grow anything besides sand spurs and dollar weed. We grow in pots a lot because of that, but I’m working on a garden plot.
I made another batch of kombucha. It’s vital for my compromised gut health and so easy to make. I spend less than a quarter per pint, and at the store, a pint is about $3.50.
Good idea about using Crayola washable markers for quilting. Are there any colours you would avoid using? Do they all wash out easily? I am intrigued.
That slip and slide sure looks like fun! I agree with Anne though, sometimes it is safer to leave some childhood memories in the past.
It seems like we spent a lot of time inside this week recovering from our adventures and avoiding the rain.
We did clean up the living room and set up our new-to-us couch. It is so nice. I can’t believe how lucky we were!
The sun did shine for a day. I took advantage of the solar energy to dry my first load of laundry on the clothesline. We also hauled some old boards down from the barn and made the first of 3 (4?) raised beds for this year’s garden.
I bought myself a gift certificate for the groceries. I will continue to do this in the future because it really helped us stay on budget this week.
I did spend a little money. I bought a couple of tickets to a local musical theatre production of Mary Poppins and treated my mom to an afternoon out. Of course, I can’t leave her house without her loading me down with gifts. This time they were all edible gifts – a dozen eggs from her hens, a couple of bananas that were about to turn that she didn’t want to deal with (hello banana bread!) and a box of frozen chicken breasts. All very much appreciated.
Have a great week everyone!
https://hiproofbarn.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/frugal-endeavors-19/
– I wear slippers constantly because my feet are always cold. Two pairs of my slippers were trashed (the insides had no lining anymore and had holes in the lining down to the soles). I happened to find two pairs of really nice clog type slippers at Walgreens on clearance for $2.91 each!
– We had rotisserie chicken the other night and I made a yummy chicken pot pie with the leftovers. We had baked ziti last night and my kids both took the leftovers to school in thermos’ for lunch.
– My husband and I went out for a little lunch date. I had a coupon for buy one, get one free sub when you buy a drink. We both ordered a foot long sub of the month ($6) and he got a drink and I got water. For $8.61, we had a nice little lunch date, plus saved one 6″ for my daughter to take to school for lunch tomorrow.
– I had a coupon for a free short stack of pancakes at ihop. I ordered water, had free pancakes and just had to leave a tip. A very frugal lunch!! Plus I took half home and it will make a very frugal breakfast tomorrow!
– Got some great stuff on sale at Aldi, including some gifts for my nephew in the half off bin. Have been doing a better job of not buying something just because. For example I prefer fresh salsa and put it in my cart at Aldi and then remembered that we have probably three jars of salsa at home that I should use first so I put it back.
– Used the fourth of my six fitness classes I bought on groupon
– sold a doll, some kid’s clothes, some of my old pants and some old wireless headphones on eBay
– Went through more clothes that my kids had outgrown and took pictures and listed them on eBay
– Have steeped my tea bags twice to get two cups out of one bag
– In order to not miss out on coupons for free stuff I started a little list on the notes section of my phone with notes like “free taco at Qdoba exp 4/17” and just keeping the coupons in my car so if I’m out and about and hungry I can refer to that list, otherwise I just tend to forget about them. I like to try to eat somewhere that I have a coupon for if I’m eating something out.
– My doctor suggested fish oil pills to lower my cholesterol. My husband was given a whole bunch of Mega Red krill oil from a pharma rep which is great because that is a really expensive brand. We’ll be going through those first before buying any. I hope it helps. I’d rather not take a statin. Has anyone had success with this?
My Mother-in-law is in an assisted living facility..she’s 92 and has Alzheimers Dementia. She fell & broke her hip last fall. Recovered fairly well from that. But I believe she needs to be in a skilled nursing facility. If it weren’t for my brother-in-law going up at lunch time and feeding her, I don’t think she’d eat at all. One day last week, they didn’t feed her at lunchtime and there’s a Hospice worker paid for by Medicare/Medicaid to assist several residents at meal time. But I digress.
I watched Downton Abbey on PBS as it aired live on March 6th. Sad to see this wonderful series come to an end 🙁 Best show on public TV in a loooong time. Also watched Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday as it aired.
Had dinner at Perkins on Tuesday courtesy of my parents. While my son is on his basketball league–also free & he gets free t-shirt, my parents come out and take all 3 of us to dinner.
Stayed home most of the week. I’m on injury leave from work. A fall I sustained on 2/18 due to uneven piece of parking lot, exacerbated my existing injury. I also get to see a new Pain Mgmnt Dr on Friday! So hopefully, that’ll help as I’m in pain constantly only the severity waxes and wanes :/
Our hens are finally laying! We are getting 1-2 eggs per day but as much baking as I do, it really helps to not have to buy the eggs. They have gotten really expensive here in the South.
Staying home as much as possible helps us be frugal. That’s been easy to do this past week due to flooding in our area. Thankfully none of our family members were affected by flood waters but we did have church members that had to evacuate.
Bought very little at the grocery store as our food supply is well stocked. Someone gifted us with several packs of processed deer meat that I can use in the place of hamburger meat and I still have a lot of chicken and Boston butt roast in my freezer from the last sale the store had.
We have virtually stopped eating out. When we do go out now, it is a special occasion and makes it all the more nicer. That’s is a huge accomplishment for us. I had to retrain my brain to think about meal prep a little differently, especially on busy days, but it is second nature now.
I think that’s all! Have a great week
Roxie, dogs can be hilarious, that is for sure. Like toddlers that never grow up.
Your new stove sounds lovely, similar to what my son has. The griddle is a great feature and so is the convection oven. I can’t remember the brand. I would buy a similar one if my stove went out.
The slip and slide looks so fun and it is really nice to see green grass! Ours is just beginning to turn green and my spring bulbs are beginning to bloom so I know spring is on its way! On to my frugal accomplishments for last week- my birthday was last week and we told our immediate family that we wanted to go out to a favorite Chinese restaurant that is closing this month after 50 years in business. We expected to pay for everyone but my Dad insisted on picking up the tab! One notable birthday gift- my motherinlaw made me a beautiful quilted cross and framed it in a lovely 5 x 7 wooden frame.
I ordered a gift on Amazon for a friend using Amazon credit from Swagbucks which made the gift free. It is a cute mug and I plan get some drink mixes to go with it and make her some homemade cookies also-her birthday is Wednesday. I did a Fred Meyer survey and got a 50 fuel point bonus. I did the surveys for my ncp scanner. I am very close to being able to purchase a $25 movie gift card with points from my scanner. I was sorting some mail that I hadn’t gotten to and discovered a coupon from the car dealership- I’m glad I found it because it saved me $10 on the car service (the car was at the dealership getting serviced when I found the coupon).
This weekend we rented movies and played board games-we turned the movies in on time so our next rental will be free. I feel so lucky that my 18 year old high school senior likes to spend time at home on a weekend.
A not so frugal activity- my husband ordered take out pizza Friday evening but we did eat the leftovers for lunch on Saturday. I had planned to make pizza but I didn’t get home in time to get the dough started.
That’s all I can think of for now- have a great week!
The lemonade looks delicious!
This past week, PA temps hit the 70’s, so off with the heat and opening of windows. Freshened out the house too!
A was alone this week, a friend brought over take out and we watched a movie from Netflix. She left me 5 cups of cooked Indian spiced rice. So I am making this to go with the rice. All items are from the pantry and probably will make 3 meals (for 2 people). http://www.budgetbytes.com/2016/02/chana-aloo-masala-chickpea-and-potato-masala/
My well loved jeans are venturing into retirement. I found a thrifted pair for $1.50. I wear jeans a lot so I am hoping these will look good until fall/winter.
I made some new items to re-open my Etsy shop with. I can’t waste fabric either – so the small scraps I made some postage stamp sized squares to be a pendant on a simple chain or as a pin. I have added seed beads around the edges and might embroider a little. It is a bit bohemian, I had seen this idea on Pinterest. Bigger scraps went into a bin which will be turned into a quilt.
Took a little more time to take pause and just breathe – the best free therapy in my book.
I hope everyone has a great week!
Deer devoured our beet greens last year, in an orderly fashion by beginning on one end and making their way down the rows. While the beets were still able to be harvested, they didn’t get very large, sadly.
Jen – when I lived in the Seattle area, community gardens known as P-Patches were just starting up. I was wondering if they were still around. If so, you might be able to garden if you get a plot. Also, I’m now in an apartment and have some plants growing in 5-gallon food grade buckets purchased at Home Depot. I can grow greens and some herbs in the limited sun by my front door.
We had a light rain yesterday, which was OK. Rain right now is not the best as the ground is still frozen and we don’t need flooding. Our pond is back open so my husband took his lunch there yesterday and fished while he ate. The pussy willows are budding, so is the forsythia…no blooms yet, but buds.
Did the usual of composting, recycling, used up leftovers, packed lunches, hung up some of the laundry, darned 2 pair of socks, mended the hem on a jumper, mended a pair of tights, the elbow holes in multiple shirts of my husbands, and sewed the cuff back on a jacket that got caught and ripped off belonging to daughter.
Ate all meals at home, except 3 at church…last Sunday noon potluck, lunch after a funeral and brunch with a wedding shower. Cooked from scratch. Made 2 loaves of white bread, mixed up new batch of bisquit mix, made date-pecan granola, made corn and cheese biscuits, took the end bits from a bag of candied pecans we had received and crushed them and added them to plain cream cheese with some honey for topping for bagels (took bagels out of freezer…left from previously made batch), made corn beef hash breakfast casserole, cooked a turkey. Had small 11 lb turkey left from Christmas that never used-was a present from client. It was a butterball and I wanted to use up before we get the corn beefs and the Easter things. So made stuffing and mashed potatoes and pumpkin pudding and a rhubarb crisp, jello salad and coleslaw. According to my chart that was the last of last years rhubarb. Cooked the turkey etc on Saturday while husband was off helping his family with projects, we had turkey sandwiches for late dinner when he got back, and then the whole meal after church on Sunday.
We changed our Easter plans, since we have such a small group with so many gone elsewhere this year that we are going to one of my brothers in the S area of state and we’ll actually leave my mother down there for an extended visit so she can see other relatives too. We can stock up on Swiss cheese also…we’ll pick up when we get her back. The savings we get on the cheese will be worth the drive.
It was a busy and productive week in my home last week with some fun thrown in, too. EVERYTHING is blooming and the air outside looks dusty but is full of pollen! http://bluehousejournal.blogspot.com/2016/03/assinging-value-to-what-i-do-making-do.html
We, too, will be getting a new toilet that I am pretty sure is from the 50’s. We waste so much water when we have to flush and half the time it doesn’t flush properly. My husband and son-in-law will be replacing it.
Hi Brandy,
The flowers were at the end of their big bloom. There were a few large fields near Furnace Creek with a lot of yellow flowers, looking faded, but I only saw a handful of other colors along side the road a few times. The flowers must have been fabulous two weeks ago, per rumors here in Phoenix, but they are essentially all gone now. In most places it seemed there were more tourists than flowers
My tulips and daffodils are starting to come up and I am looking forward to gardening again after the long winter. My frugal week was typical. I cut my husband’s hair. I made a new vegetarian soup in the slow cooker. I cooked ahead for lunches and dinners over the weekend for the coming week by cooking meat and cutting up fresh vegetables. It makes my life so much easier when I don’t have to come home from work and cook from scratch. My daughter and son-in-law gave us a dresser with a mirror they no longer need which we needed.
Hi Elisabeth, my husband has been taking fish oil per his cardiologist for 3-4 years(to lower cholesterol). He also takes a statin, so his much reduced cholestol is due to both items, I can’t tell you how much was due to fish oil alone.
In addition, it is an anti-inflammatory. He went off fish oil for a month and his bad pain increased dramatically. When he went back to taking fish oil, no other changes, the back pain dropped back to almost nothing. So as far as I can tell, fish oil has many benefits. We were really astonished at the effect the fish oil had on his back pain since we weren’t expecting that at all. Turns out that effect is quite well known, just not to our specific Doctor.
Your lemonade looks yummy! I’ve been living on lemonade myself this week (well the re-constituted stuff) as my son and I have been super sick with fever colds. It’s been a LONG time since I was down no able to function but that was me this week. Luckily I’m feeling better today.
My list for the week (such as it is) can be found here…
http://makedohomemaker.blogspot.com/2016/03/frugal-friday-money-saving-weekly-recap_11.html
Hi Mandy from Australia and congratulations on soon getting the deeds for your home :).
In relation to scrap metal prices the prices of all new metal commodities have crashed of late in most countries, so therefor the price you get from selling recycling metal will also be dismal unfortunately. But however as I say in our house $4 is $4 we didn’t have before, so that is how I would look at it in your home too, as long as it isn’t costing you that much in fuel to sell the metal.
This week was pretty good.
Saved $25 by using coupons at Target. I even got $15 back in gift cards. I picked up some good deals on produce at the grocery store – 0.99/lb for broccoli, $1.25/lb for asparagus, 0.20/lb for red potatoes, and 0.99/lb for chicken thighs. Also, milk was only $1.57 a gallon and eggs were down to $1.29 a dozen.
My daughter needed a pair of dress slacks for band. We were able to pick her up a pair at Goodwill for just $5. They were a perfect fit as well.
I did make just over $6 from teachers pay teachers. It’s a good way to earn some cash. You just upload teaching materials that you’ve made and wait for the sale. I’m probably making $80 – $100 a year. It adds up nicely if I let it sit in my paypal. One of these days I’m going to add more things to sell and hopefully boost sales even more. This month, I used the $6 to buy coupons that I’ll use through an online clipping service. So now I’ll turn my six bucks into about $60. Pretty happy there. There were finally some good coupons for our cat’s food.
I cooked a whole chicken on Saturday. I made a full meal and the leftovers were used for soup. I also made a huge pot of lentil soup earlier in the week. We ate off of it for a couple of days. My daughter made a box mix of cupcakes. That was dessert for a few days.
I did cancel my health savings account and my accident coverage. This was done to put a little more money back on my check since my student loans are coming due. I wasn’t able to see the full amount though because insurance at work was raised significantly.
The heat bill was down again and I expect it to go lower. It’s been warming up here and I continue to turn in down low during the day and only let it runs a few times in the evening until bedtime.
Another way we are saving money is by putting only one bag of salt in the softner at a time. We used to put three and it seems to just eat it up in the same amount of time. So one is working just fine costing us less per month.
Hi Hilogene from Australia :). I would absolutely do backflips of excitement if we got gas prices @$1.74 a gallon here. Our cost of living here is far higher in general than the States. However our wages are considerably higher than the U.S as we have minimum wage standard pays and the U.S doesn’t therefor the cost of goods is comparative to wages.
Our fuel on sale at the moment @ .96c per litre E10 equating to $4.06 a gallon, and .98c per litre of unleaded equating to $4.14 a gallon in the States.
If all countries worked on the same wage standards across the world things would be a better level playing field.
The number one thing people are struggling with here in Australia is cost of living majorly cost of power, high mortgage payments due to the incredibly high price of housing here. The price of a house used to be 4 times the average wage for a single person household, it has now gone up to 6 times the a dual income household, so effectively both husband and wife here have to both work to service a mortgage here, or the husband has to be on 2 to 3 times the minimum wage to support paying one.
I find I have to make my lunch the night before so it’s ready to go in the morning 🙂
Hi Christina and agree with Brandy to only cut a few off each beetroot and they will regrow 2 to 3 times in my experience. Just also for future reference as my turnips got hit with a mini tornado hail storm and had all of the leaves decimated, you can also trim those and they will grow back 2 – 3 times as well and the turnips were still able to be eaten after all that punishment. A bit dented and not pretty but edible.
We sometimes use both the turnip greens and beetroot greens in stir fries as well in combination with other greens, they both have fantastic nutritional value as well.
Hi Hilogene and just some information about back pain if your husband suffers restless leg syndrome ( aggravated nerve sciatic pain) during the night and is unable to sleep. Consult your doctor of course but my husband takes 1000mg of magnesium tablets with calcium to help absorb it into his system.
Result no more restless leg syndrome and husband unable to sleep as he was in no pain when he first took them for 72 hours. His movement increased and swelling has also reduced as well.
Just to clarify my husband has severe injuries right through his body from a military accident in which a leopard tank went through his vehicle. His whole body if you run your hands down any bone in his body it is like repeated speed bumps all the way down through calcification.
I am trying a “new” variety called Welsh Chives which supposedly have a much stronger onion flavor. I am hoping I can sub those in to recipes and still get the onion flavor – hubby’s belly no longer tolerates the amount of onions most recipes call for and I think they fall flat on flavor without the onions. I’ll update when they are big enough to harvest.
What fun on the slip and slide!
My frugal accomplishments last week:
I completed a Pinecone Survey.
I sold $45 on eBay. I started more auctions.
I blessed a co-worker with some things she needed that I would have been donating.
I sold some of my father’s furniture on the Facebook local garage sale page and put the money towards the mortgage payment. We donated the rest.
We went to CVS and got the free toothpaste and 25cent peanut butter egg (for my sons Easter basket).
I spent Saturday pressure washing the outside of my fathers house and washing the windows and screened porch to get it ready to sell. On the way, I stopped at WaWa and used another sheet of coupons. I paid $5 for a full size hoagie and got free: a bag of chips, Sweet Tarts (for my son’s Easter Basket), a half pretzel, a raspberry tea and a bowl of soup. It was enough food for the whole day lunch and dinner. I packed a cooler with water and Gatorade.
Exhausted from working on my father’s house. The end is in sight though.
I absolutely love lilacs, it will be May before they bloom here in MN. Aldi had boneless chicken breast on sale again this week for $1.49/lb. I picked up another 7lbs. While there I found 93/7 ground beef on special for $2.49 lb. I grabbed all 8 packages. I reorganized my freezer and have now banned myself from purchasing anymore meat until I have used some of the older stuff. Cub had Hunt’s tomatoes for $.50 per can, picked up 12. We are remodeling our bedroom which is long over due, so I don’t plan on much grocery shopping in the coming weeks. . Need to use that money for supplies. It doesn’t take long to spend a bunch of money when you are buying paint brushes, rollers, sanding blocks, etc.! ($86 on Sunday) We are doing all the work ourselves, already ripped out all the carpet, pad & tack strip. We will start sanding trim work & doors on Saturday. Another expense starting tomorrow, I’m getting a CPAP machine. Nervous about that but if I can get better quality sleep it will be worth.
Have a good week everyone
Hi Sabrina and thank you and hope you find some inspiration from my postings or threads on here.
We have a wonderful relationship with our neighbour and his elderly mother who lives in our area in her own home. Our neighbour is friends with a lot of farmers who give him literally bags an bags of freshly picked produce that would otherwise go to waste, he either sells that on to make extra money for him and or passes a great deal of that produce to us for free. We in turn swap other produce we have from our gardens as a thank you as he doesn’t grow a garden and doesn’t have the room. He is an apiarist and makes a living from that, however his income is extremely limited and seasonal depending on how much honey his girls produce. We also share excess seedlings that we produce here from seed for his mum that does grow a garden as is on a very small old age pension. We also share in the cost of buying bulk manures with our neighbour and use his larger trailer that he has offered,and that way we both get the same amount as if we used our smaller trailer for just $10 ea, he takes the other half to fertilise him mum’s vege patch and they share produce as well. He also borrows our trailer with a cage to do moves or to pick up machinery for his business as well. He also lets us know of places where we can source really cheap clothing, machinery and seedlings when he sees them on special as he has lived longer in this area and is more connected locally than us, and we do likewise.
In relation to selling on Etsy if you type into your browser window http://www.etsy.com that will take you to their home page, go to the top of the page and click on the link sell on etsy, click on open your etsy shop and follow the instructions and that should accomplish that for you.
You will need to have a paypal account to receive payments from your sales as well, the most secure way to do it in my opinion. If you go to http://www.paypal.com there should be a link there to open up an account. You will need either a credit card or debit credit card to do this however to link to the account to pay both your paypal fees and etsy final listing fees as well.
I hope this helps.
Hi Elizabeth
I am a pharmacist in Canada, and I can give you a little bit of info on the fish oil. Fish oil is effective at lowering triglycerides, but not very effective for LDL (“bad” cholesterol). Fish oil also has so many other benefits for inflammation (as mentioned), skin, brain function, etc!
Soluble fiber, from oats or psyllium, will lower LDL. Taking Metamucil (or other psyllium supplement) daily can be a pretty easy & effective way to do that. Or a good-sized bowl of oatmeal every day. Whenever you add that much fiber to your diet, you should start low and go slow to prevent bloating and constipation (and drink lots of water!). Also, DON’T take a fiber supplement within several hours of any other medications! I’d double check with your Dr. about what part of your cholesterol is high, and if it is your LDL (which is usually what a statin is used for)- ask about taking fiber, as well. And of course, good old aerobic exercise is a great way to lower cholesterol (and it’s free!). ps- of course, this is just my two cents, and I would always direct you to your doctor for recommendations! good luck!
Hi Elizabeth and your comparison shopping on the internet is precisely what we do on everything in our household as well to save money.
Our cost of living in Australia is extortionate in price, as most of our products are imported and with the drop in the Aussie dollar against the U.S it makes it far more expensive for us to buy anything.
We like yourself have found deals on the internet that have saved us 75% or more on the costs we would pay in the stores, we also search on the internet when we are buying larger household appliances & furniture and will use the cheaper quotes which we print out from other retailers in our area to get the best deal possible. We live in a small country area so price mark ups here can be substantial unfortunately.
Hi Anne and a similar wonderful & valuable vintage as yourself in age here and yes I still do the above things sometimes too.
Slip n slide secret for more mature people, lay on tarp use arms to propel down slope or get someone to give you a good push at the top. Still can roller skate both forward and backwards as well, ice skating never got the balance right on such a small blade and view that as pure punishment.
I have noticed too as I have got older that my tastes have changed dramatically and are more bland now, in my 20’s I could eat a whole family block of chocolate in 1 sitting, now I am flat out eating 2 rows and a block lasts me around 2 weeks or more now. Excessively sugary foods my face screws up and I just can’t eat it :).
Lorna, thank you so much and God bless.
We are preparing to move so I have been eating out of the pantry. I had started January 2015 as a way to clean out my overstuffed freezers and then around August the tuners started about relocating us. So, then I wanted to eat up as much as I could so I don’t have to move it. With the exception of a turkey and a ham o bought during the holidays, and bacon we keep running to the store to buy I have not bought meat since January 2015. We went to Sams and I bought 5# ground beef and 3 packages of smoked sausages. In 14.5 months all I have bought is eggs, milk, bread, satsumas, bananas, apples, chips, yogurt, and candy bars to feed my addiction. We have bought pizzas, and bacon also. I still.have plenty of flour, sugar, rice, pasta, oats, oil, canned fruit and veggies, dry milk, tuna, canned chicken and ham.
I mended a pair of jeans that had holes in the upper thigh area. Instead of patching I sewed them and it makes them a little wonky. I only have one other pair of jeans so I’ll wear these around the house and save my good pair for going out. I have another pair a size smaller and am trying to lose weight.
Preparing the house for market. I painted the deck.rails and then it started raining. It will have to dry out before I finish. I painted the dining room and baseboards. I bought a gift card to Home Depot through Swagbucks earning Swagbucks and then my husband gets military discount.
Our Sunday School class went out after church to a Mexican restaurant. I used a $5 coupon I got in the mail coupon book. I ate about 1/3 and brought it home and had supper and then lunch the next day.
I’ve been selling items on our local online garage sale site. I’ve started putting it out for porch pick up. I have a plastic container I wrote MONEY on and set it out. It saves me time and gas meeting people for $2 items. So many don’t show or change meeting times last minute I was getting aggrivated as it messed up my schedule. So porch pick up.is great for me. I’ve made about $600 this year in mostly $2-$5 items.
I had a lot of decor items I picked up at garage sales or clearance deals. They were ok, but not what I would have bought today or items that fit the space. I tried to make them work or settled. Maybe I didn’t spend a lot, but I wasted money settling and buying things that were not what I knew I loved and would work in the space. Sometimes spending more for something perfect is more frugal than spending nothing for “all right”, but not great.
I haven’t posted for more than 2 months because some very non-frugal things happened. My mom, who was 68, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in January. I dropped everything including homeschooling & went to stay with my mom to provide 24/7 care for more than a month. She passed on Feb 14th. The non-frugal things were the gas $$ & food for multiple trips (300 miles between my house & hers) and the fact that Hubby & the kids were on their own, so even though I filled the freezer with easy to prep meals, sometimes convenience food was just more convenient. Also some days we spent the entire day at various appointments and had to grab food where we could. Not frugal.
The other non-frugal happening is my 21 year old daughter got engaged in December. The wedding is in May and while we are doing the best we can to DIY as much as possible & save where we can it is still so expensive. I will start listing the frugal wedding things we are doing as inspiration to anyone else in this situation:
We discovered you can order a box of loose flowers from Costco for less than 1/3 the cost of having the flowers “done” by a florist. DIY bouquets here we come!
Daughter wants a rustic looking tablescape for the reception so we will be placing individual wildflowers into little bottles that have been spray painted gold. The bottles have been found at various thrift stores and/ or garage sales for $.25-$1
We care borrowing everything we can from tables & chairs, to table linens to cake stands & serving pieces. Also at Goodwill I found two small table top easels for $2 each which will go on tables at the reception. One will hold a photo of my mom who will be missing the first grandchild getting married.
The bridesmaids dresses for her two sisters in the wedding party came from Costco for $35 each. They are a lovely plum lace, 3/4 sleeve, below knee length dress that will be perfect for wearing to church after the wedding.
A friend gave us a bag of out grown church clothes for my 11 year old son and inside was a lavender dress shirt with a lavender, plum & gray tie. A perfect match for the wedding
The bride wore her sister’s bridesmaid dress in the engagement photos.
We used a Shutterfly coupon I received in an e-mail to make an 8 X 8 photo book of the couple including their engagement photos. This book will be used at the reception for guests to sign.
We used a different Shutterfly coupon for 150 free 4X6 prints for the invitations.
I used an Amazon gift card earned from Bing Rewards to purchase the printable address labels.
I am just starting to get back into the swing of things here at home.
One great freebie I found was listening to Jane Eyre on BBC Radio through the computer. You can find the broadcast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b072rsqx?utm_content=bufferaf156&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Have a peaceful week everyone.
Lorna
Same here both husband and wife have to work as the majority in order to pay the bills.
Sue
On the Cpap machine if they give you a oxygen tank as they did my husband to go along with it, you will see a huge rise in your electric bill. It runs the same amount of electricity as your refrigerator from what they told us. We found over time that we did not need the oxygen tank. They have more energy efficient models but the one our insurance would cover was huge, noisy and a energy guzzler. He had a hard time getting used to the Cpap machine but now can’t sleep without it. A co worker several years ago who had very bad sleep apnea and sleep deprivation from working 2 jobs (both full time hours) laid down one day with his little girl for a nap forgot to use the machine and died in his sleep. It’s serious business so while it’s hard to get use to don’t give up on it.
My frugals this week? Not a whole lot other than a wise investment buying my Honda Civic Hybrid last summer. A tank of gas is lasting me over a month. Yesterday I went to Gordon Food Service bought a 25 lb. bag of flour for $6.99. This will last us about a year. I also bought a large bag of shredded cheese for $11.99 that we will divide and freeze. I think it’s 5 lbs.? we use a lot of cheese in our household. Today I made a Cherry Delight Pie. Made my own graham cracker crust instead of buying one. Mine is much thicker and taste a whole lot better than the store bought crust.
My sympathies on the loss of your mother. What a wonderful thing you did for her in her last days. Congratulations on your daughters engagement and upcoming wedding. It sounds like it will be a lovely ceremony.
Wow!! I am impressed with your sales! Proof that every little sale really adds up.
I also used to do more of the Facebook sales but after having our son last year, I became more and more frustrated with taking the kids out for meets when people did not show up. I think I will have to discuss a porch pick-up option like yours with my husband. Thank you for the idea.
I have been enjoying this weekly post for more than a year now.
Thank you all for all of your wonderful ideas and frugal savings. I love to read each week!
Here is our family’s frugal accomplishments from the past week: http://amye14.blogspot.com/2016/03/frugal-friday-133.html
I worked with someone who kept cans of tuna and bread at his desk in the office and mayonnaise in the staff refrigerator. He’d make his sandwiches at work during his lunch hour.
I organized myself a little differently. I used to set up my breakfast before going to bed – coffee and water in the coffee maker; oatmeal in the rice cooker and the water measured in a cup on the counter. In the morning, I’d start the coffee and oatmeal. By the time I had walked the dog and dressed, breakfast was made and I had time to put lunch together.
SJ – I am in the Seattle area and, yes, there are still P-Patches around in certain parts of the city. I live a few miles east of Seattle, and there are two community gardens in my city (I think they both have waiting lists for new members though). I have gardened at one of these for the past four years, and it’s a great option if you don’t have a house with a yard. We are in a ground floor condo, and I also am able to grow a few things on my patio as well.
I steep my tea bag 3 times, the 3rd time I let it steep longer and my son uses Mega Red Krill oil. It has helped him a lot as long as he stays away from deep fried food (single, never married) and pizza every weekend
I was in a hurry Sunday and didn’t get the eggs collected – when I came in Monday I had 2 dozen chicken and a dozen duck eggs!! We have 9 hens and 5 duck hens (they musta laid more after I collected Sat.)! I gave some to my co-worker, will sell the duck eggs as hatching eggs and I still have enough to make my Mom’s angel food cake and an omelet!
Yes, the cheese bags are 5 pounds. I do the same and portion it out, vacuum seal it and freeze it. I also buy their flour, choco chips and sugar as well although at Christmas times, Meijer is sometimes cheaper on those.
Gordon’s case (40 lbs) price on boneless/skinless chicken breasts is $44.99 this week – that’s a $1.12 a pound!!
Hi Kelly, I feel that I can really relate to your post this week. I have a 91 year old father in Assisted Living and I’m pretty certain he should probably be in skilled nursing by this point. Alzheimer’s also. Every week there is a new problem that we have to brainstorm how to solve. We have been told that he is still too high functioning to qualify for Medicaid as my state has tough requirements. My siblings are unable to help so my husband and I are helping out with a number of his expenses like dental, eye doctor, clothes, toiletries, etc. Plus the place where he lives lowered his rates a bit.
The second thing I can relate to is that I fell on an uneven sidewalk a week ago. I broke one of my expensive crowns on an upper tooth. No dental insurance so goodbye to $800. But I’m not in the type of pain you are in, so really I have nothing to complain about.
All those lemons and the pitcher of lemonade make my mouth water. Mmmmm…. 🙂
My major frugal accomplishment of last week involved preparing for a big windstorm that moved into our area this weekend. We tend to lose power during storms, so I spent Saturday doing all the things I needed to do that involved electricity: doing three loads of laundry, vacuuming, making a big pot of beef broth for the freezer, preparing our tax return online, and downloading a few library books onto my Kindle. I also stopped at Target to get a new lantern and batteries, as our old one died and cannot be repaired (I tried). The guy behind me in line snickered at my purchase when the cashier asked me about the lantern, and I said I was buying it because of the upcoming storm. Hey, I’d rather be prepared, even if random strangers are laughing at me.
Well, it turns out it was a good purchase. Over 150,000 people in our area lost power, and we were out for 20 hours. We put the lantern to good use! When the power didn’t come back on after a few hours, I took some perishable items from my fridge and put them in the fridge at the office where I work (which is only a mile away). The office is on the same circuit as the fire station, so if they lose power, that part of the city will be restored first. This area is very patchy in terms of power outages. The area north of where I live was completely dark for at least eight hours, and the part of the city just two blocks south didn’t lose power at all. So odd.
We went out to dinner Sunday night (which is date night anyway). On Monday morning, the power was still out, so my husband went into work early to get coffee and food. I was able to make my breakfast at home thanks to a butane hotplate I bought earlier this winter. I can use it inside as long as I open the window (so the fire alarm doesn’t go off). I drove to work (normally I walk) so I could bring home my food from the office fridge if the power was restored during the day. (It was).
I was glad I did all my storm prep on Saturday. Even with a big power outage, Sunday was relatively relaxed and I didn’t have to panic. So that’s my happy tale of being prepared!
Now I’m going to read about everyone else’s frugal accomplishments. 🙂
HI Lorna, what is the name of your EBay store? This may be exactly what I’ve been searching for!
Thank you!
Eternal rest grant unto them, O’ Lord, and let the perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen
Oh I’ve never heard of unbleached sugar before..I will look for it. I think it makes you lemonade look delicious.
That casserole sounds easy and really tasty. I don’t usually cook the rice in the oven like that, but it is good to know it works. I might try that sometime. It sounds like around 2-3 cups liquid to 1 cup rice. Is that about right? I’m interested because it sounds like a good way to cook a casserole in the camper oven without dirtying too many dishes.
Lorna,
Your post made me chuckle, because one of our favorite children’s books is called “Pumpkin Soup.” It is a story about some animals who basically live on pumpkin soup from their garden. They squabble and fuss a bit over how it should be made, but in the end, they work it all out and enjoy yet another batch of pumpkin soup. Cute book! When you said you ate it for 3 days, it made me think of that book.
Anyway, our house is ready to sell, and I have my bowl of lemons! My daughter actually brought lemons and limes and they look great. Thanks for the suggestion.
In our area, scrap metal prices have fallen to a very low price. I believe it was $40/ton the last time Rob went. So, it is hardly worth taking it even if you have an entire trailer full, as my husband did recently. He barely made the money back from gas, but at least the scrap is gone. This next time, he is going to call a scrap collector, who will come pick it up. These men take the scrap for free, but it saves your time and gas.
I hope your husband caught a fish, or at least just enjoyed his fishing time. We hope to do some fishing soon. I’m not sure if it is too cold still, or if they will be biting. Either way, my husband is especially looking forward to relaxing by a lake soon!
I hope you can get a little rest soon. I totally relate to how tired you are! Our house is at a point where we can put it on the market. Now we will have a little break while it sells (of course still keeping it clean is a chore, plus a few more areas outside that need work), but the end is in sight for us, too. The pressure washing sure makes it look good, doesn’t it?
Our week was crazy busy. We did a huge weekend “push” where around 45-50 friends, family, and even some strangers, flowed through our house, helping get the house ready for sale. It goes on the market this week. So, that’s how I saved the most money–through the generosity of all of these people helping do jobs we could not finish, for free. We are very grateful.
I love the picture of the lemons and lemonade. I know it’s been said before, but Brandy, you have such a good eye for photography–it bears repeating. I also love seeing the children having so much fun on the tarp.
I am so looking forward to having more “normal, everyday” frugal activities soon. Our lives have been so consumed with this move preparation, it will be nice to get back to a bit of routine, at least for a while before it sells.
I found it at Sam’s Club. It’s something kind of new at my store (they started carrying it last year, then stopped, then had it again). It’s less than the regular white cane sugar, but it is cane sugar. The granules are a bit larger, though I don’t know why.
Hi Susan the nick I sell under is sewingcreations15, if you do an advanced search by seller you should find me.
I don’t subscribe to a store as the fees are too high compared to what I sell on there each month. However I do take advantage of their 40 free listings a month and any other offers of 100 free listings that they occasionally offer.
This store and the one I have on Etsy do on average pay our electricity and phone bills most months, or alternatively to pay for other small things we need in the home, which is a blessing when you are on a lower fixed income such as ours.
Hi Becky and congratulations on doing the hard yards and getting your house ready for sale. It is so hard to cull things especially when you have been in a home for a number of years as you accumulate so many things.
We really did enjoy the pumpkin soup as it is something we haven’t eaten in quite some time. Now it appears we have a wonderfully massive amount of cucumbers as well, which is another blessing. I love google as you can find so many recipes especially when you have abundant produce.
The combination of the yellow in the lemons and the green of the limes would look wonderful in a bowl for display as well to give a pop of colour to any room. That is of course if you are like us that you use them fairly quickly to cook or make lemonades or cordials with.
Hi Anna and thanks for letting me know that, it is nice to hear what is going on in the rest of the world as well.
It is a shame that things have got this bad with the property prices rising so high. It really is hard on families to try and bring up a family when both husband and wife have to work just to pay the bills.
I was never very good at making lunches the night before, but I have developed tricks that make it easier to throw together lunches in a hurry in the morning. For instance, I always liked taking leftovers for my lunch. You could try making a little extra with your dinner, then package it into a container to take for lunch the next day. If you prefer not eating the same thing two days in a row, you could label and freeze the leftovers in lunch sized portions. Pull the container you want for lunch in the morning and microwave it at lunch to heat it through. I also will make batches of muffins, cookies or treats when I have time, wrap them in individual servings and freeze them to use in lunches. Again, just grab one to throw in your lunch in the morning and it will be thawed by lunchtime. If you like taking salads, you could prepare the veggies and toppings (such as preparing boiled eggs, measuring out salad dressing in small containers, etc.) ahead of time for quick assembling in the mornings. It will seem overwhelming at first to prepare ahead, but I assure you it will become habit quickly and make your morning so much easier!
My condolences on the loss of your mother. It may not have been frugal, but I’m sure that precious time spent with her was worth every penny spent.
Congrats on your daughter’s forthcoming wedding. It sounds like you are doing a great job at cutting costs. I hope you can enlist reliable family and friends to help out closer to the time as well. I tried to do a lot of things with the help of my mom and it caused a bit of stress on the actual day of the wedding because we had to be places but were still trying to accomplish other tasks. Many hands, especially ones not directly involved with the wedding party, will definitely help everything move more smoothly.
loved that final episode of Downton Abbey …. an ending with Auld Lang Syne can’t be beat!!
Becky, it is 2.5 cups liquid to 1 cup rice. I actually used 1/3 cup brown rice & 2/3 cup white rice.
Amber – Sorry to hear about the loss of your mother.
Thank you for your encouragement Becky! Yes, the house does look nice after a good scrubbing. I hope all our work results in a quick sale (for you too)
Kelly and Elisa – I pray your family members get the care they need. My father recently passed from end-stage dementia so I do understand what you are going through.
Thank you Lorna!
Rhonda, some of the things you post make me think we are cut from the exact same cloth. I completely agree with your post and do every single one of those things you mentioned. Oatmeal gorp cookies that are good right out of the freezer. Banana or Blueberry Muffins for the kids (no nuts of course, school policy). Pre-washed and chopped or shredded veggie toppings in one container and a salad spinner full of lettuce for the hubs (always eats salad with either boiled eggs, baked baggied frozen chicken, or mock crab. Dressing in a baby food jar. And I don’t diet so I just eat whatever carbalicious leftovers I grab from the freezer. Do the similarities seem eerie to you?! Haaaaa wierd.
I have found that grating the onions right into the bowl, so the juices fall in there, too, makes for a stronger taste so I end up using only half the amount of onions called for in a recipe. You might give that a try and see if it helps…
If you liked Downton, have you watched the PBS costume drama called Paradise? I think it is on Amazon or maybe it was Netflix. Anyway, it is about a young girl from a century ago who had ambitions that were considered unseemly. Beautifully done. Also, the original Upstairs/Downstairs from the 1970s was wonderful—NOT the recent one they sexed up in an effort to compete with cable, I think. The original had some 100 plus episodes I think and was very absorbing…
I”ll leave it in the fridge hahaha
That would work if I’m a morning person. I”m not. Getting out of bed, getting dressed, and eating breakfast is as much as I can do. I’ve always been this way and no matter how much I’ve tried to change I can’t.
I’ve tried all of these. Unfortunately too often my lunch stays in the fridge.
Hello All from the Deep South,
My frugals are from the last couple of months. We have done well this past Winter with not spending much on non necessities. It is still hard to stay out of TJ Maxx! I lowered the power bill by improving the light usage. I did a few Pinecone surverys as well. I continue using coupons at Publix every week. I made some edible gifts instead of buying something. My in laws gave us some bathroom towels in great shape due to their remodel. Big purchase..not as frugal..we are buying the house next door to us for my Mom! This is the house of our beloved neighbors who both passed away last Summer. This house was left to their daughter, and she offered me whatever I wanted before calling Goodwill. Lord willing, my Mom’s house will sell and she will be next door to us. The other next door house to us has foreclosed. During the height of the Recession, I only remember seeing a couple houses foreclosed in our neighborhood. In the last six months, there are now five foreclosures within a block and a half. The nice thing is some of them are being flipped. Have a wonderful week, everyone.
Don’t forget to check for rebates with your utility company. When I remodeled at my house, I wasn’t going to replace the toilets but then found my utility was rebating the entire cost of the toilet. It was quite the savings.
I make a breakfast frittata on sunday and pack 5 portions for work when done. I bring a loaf of bread or a pack english muffins and keep them in the freezer at work. I also keep small containers of peanut butter at work. My office provides fruit every day.
I also make a large salad on Sunday with different cut up veggies. I bag it and compress all the air and I am good until Wednesday. I also will grill up some chicken, also on sunday. There are days I bring leftovers which works well too. It is all about planning.
Hi Tina and a wise purchase of the lantern before the storm. The guy behind you in the line was likely one of the 150 000 that lost his power and maybe he was indeed wandering around aimlessly in the dark without light saying to himself well perhaps that lady in front of me that I laughed at was not so silly after all and perhaps I should do the same.
We like yourself prepare ahead of time and have little emergency things all over the house. One of my friends from church came over and saw our medical kit we keep in the spare room, it is rather expansive. She picked up a large bottle of zinc ozide we had stored in there. “What is this and what do you use it for”, she said. My reply was it was in case of emergencies you can mix it up with clove oil and make temporary teeth fillings with it. She just said “wow”, what a good idea.
Fortunately I have a lot of friends who are like ourselves and like to prepare and many come over here just to get ideas and learn about new things we have read about and implemented. Many friends also come here when emergencies strike, knowing we will have something in the home that will treat, repair or deal with most situations that are thrown at us in life.
I think our supply of temporary tooth filling material is indeed far more odd than buying a lantern :).
Hi Margaret from Australia :), and I hope that your Mum’s house sells and she is able to move in next door to yourself. It will be a great help to her if and when she is older to have family close by. Lovely you got some new towels too, that will be a soon to be purchased item in our home as well, as ours are looking rather shabby too.
So sad and heartbreaking for those people loosing their homes through not being able to pay the mortgage.
The trouble is so many people borrow too much money rather than take a bit longer to save up a substantial amount as a down deposit, everyone should borrow as little as possible from the banks to safeguard themselves from such events.
I had friends with 2 young children in Australia who not only borrowed for their home, but borrowed for 2 new cars and an overseas holiday as well, it was a substantial amount and during a recession as well. When they spoke to me about it, I said to them I would strongly advise against borrowing that much and to save a substantial deposit before borrowing, and certainly would not be borrowing for a huge holiday and to stick to 1 car rather than 2 till they had paid more off on their home.
Around 12 months later after borrowing for the house, cars etc, the company her husband worked for went broke and he lost his job, he was the only one working in the household. They rang me and said they had sheriff’s are at their door who were evicting them due to non payment on their mortgage, and that they had around 2 hours to collect all of their belongings and be gone. They asked me to come over straight away to help them get some of their belongings & help them pack.
The heartbreak and tears in their eyes as I turned up in my car is something I will never forget, as they told me they should have listened to my advice. I simply said “now now whilst hugging them, don’t worry we shall just pack everything and you will all come and live with myself and the boys till you get on your feet”. They lived in my home for around 6 months, the husband got a job and they were able to rent a property and they indeed did start saving for another home. They vowed & declared they would pay me back for my kindness when they got on their feet.
Funny how things work, around a year later I too lost my job too, again the only income earner in my home as well. They regularly came over for tea at my home which was fully paid for, and the children would play together. When they rung I was down to just potatoes in the home. I said that would be lovely but unfortunately I only have potatoes as I lost my job too around 3 months ago and am still waiting on getting social security payments due to my redundancy pay.
They said “don’t worry we will come over and bring groceries as well”. They did indeed bring groceries and a whole car boot full of them. They said ” you looked after us and it is our way of saying thank you”. Tears welled in my eyes and I was so emotional, blessed and thankful. I still remember that those groceries lasted us 2 months till my social security payments were granted.
So I suppose moral to the story I am telling is share what you have and can spare, and be generous to those who need it more than you, and you will indeed be blessed.
Becky, so proud of you for getting the house ship-shape and ready to sell! You’ve worked so hard and now you can finally take a mini-breather! 😉 I wish you the very best of luck!!
You might try putting your car keys in the fridge with your lunch. Can’t go anywhere without them.
We sometimes ate lunch out at work (about once a week). We sometimes had leftovers to take home and found if we put our car keys with them, we wouldn’t forget to take the leftovers home. Just an idea.
piggy, put your car keys on your lunch in the fridge and you won’t leave without your lunch.
90% of the time I would say our lunches are the leftovers. I pack them up after dinner when clearing up. I take mine to school in microwavable dishes and I make up a plate for my husband and his brother, if here, for their lunch as they eat at home. I would make the school lunches at night also, but only one college student at home now. She does her own as she commutes and has a varying schedule. Due to my joint difficulties I am very slow in the morning and just manage to get myself ready. My husband has been the breakfast maker for the last 20+ years now. Sometimes it’s just serving coffecakes or breads I made the night before but often he makes the whole thing…oatmeal or french toast or pancakes, whatever he feels like for the day. Now that it is maple syrup season again that will figure well into his plans.
Becky, my husband does enjoy fishing, whether he catches anything or not. Though he usually does catch at least enough bluegills for a meal. He never was into the hunting that the other men do. Always fishing. We have a very nice pond.
Amber, I am sorry for the loss of your mother, too soon, but she was blessed to have you with her.
I enjoyed reading your list of frugal wedding ideas. We have had 2 frugal weddings so far of children, more to come I am sure. We are working now on the wedding of my husband’s sister. She bought a consignment dress which was really a “mother of bride dress” she was told, but the modest style and little jacket will be good, especially as early June can be quite cool. It is pale lavender. I bought Bernie a new white shirt for an engagement present and he will borrow one of my oldest son’s suits because his church suit has gone through many seasons. Andreas has several and they are very close in size. Bernie is just such a bachelor, not in a bad way, just needs the wifely touch. With the work on the house he can put off buying a new suit til later on.
Your house looks very nice after all that work. What do you add to the lentil rice salad in the ways of seasonings, vegetables etc. I would be interested to know.
Margaret, my oldest brother and his family buy and flip the houses. (They do have real jobs though, also) They started back when the children were all still teens. Two of the married children now live in houses they bought and redid and decided to keep. Others they have sold. It is very good way to learn many useful crafts. One of his sons is the one who joined my husband in his carpentry business.
Brandy, I am glad you found the white lilac to use in your front garden. I made lemon bars yesterday. Spring always makes me want to make lemon-y treats.
If you happen to find taking fish oil pills unpleasant, my doctor suggested I eat salmon or tuna at least three times each week instea of taking the capsules. I had tried keeping them cold and even freezing them but it just kept being unpleasant anyway.
Lorna – I had to laugh when I read your comment. I have an emergency temporary tooth filling kit in our medicine cabinet as well. I agree, far more odd than a lantern, but you never know when you might need it. 😀
Athanasia, do you or your family make your own maple syrup? We have 4 maple trees on our yard and we’ve thrown around the idea of tapping them. I’m just not sure how difficult it is to make it on our kitchen stove. I’ve always see it made at sugar shacks where they do it in well ventilated outbuildings with special boilers.
Thanks for the input
Do NOT – I repeat – DO NOT- boil down syrup in your house. It produces an incredible amount of sticky humidity!! My Dad tried it on the stove the first year he did syrup and the mess to clean up off the walls, windows and shelves made for early spring cleaning (and Mom was NOT happy!)
Thanks. I’m going to try it soon.
Thanks! I will say that the first person who tried to eat my lemons and limes got an earful:) I am making them wait until after this weekend push, open house, etc. But as my daughter innocently said, “mom, you have a while bowl of them (not usual at all)” and I replied “yes, and it needs to stay full until after this weekend:)”
http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/brown-rice-lentil-salad
There are tomatoes, parsley, green onion, lime juice, olive oil, and more. I put the link above so you can find it on Taste of Home.
Hi Rhonda, yes our family makes syrup. My husband goes to help his family, they have about 1000 trees. My uncles and cousins go round our joint property here…I am not involved at all. Except using it:). No, do not cook inside, that is why you always see sugar houses and outside cookers. You have to cook down about 10 gallons of sap to get 1 quart of syrup.
Oh yes, you can try it yourself. They do not even have to be sugar maples per se. You can use other maples also, and birch and I think hickory. You can find specific supplies on line at Lehman’s in Ohio or maybe even from your local farm store. You could maybe cook the sap outside on a camp stove, though you will be cooking for quite awhile. But might be fun to try. What about your historical site? I would think that would come under one of their activities. A few of the nature centers in our area will have sugar making days for the public. Your Ontario is one of the Great Lakes areas and that is excellent for maple syrup production.
Thanks for the recipe…kind of bit like tabouleh.
Becky, I thought I answered this earlier, but maybe no..I never saw the comment. Lots of interruptions. He usually does catch fish, at least always enough for a meal. Mostly bluegills. Once in awhile the bass.
There are tons of Maple Syrup Festivals happening right now, all over Ontario and Quebec (Quebec is the largest producer of exported Maple syrup products). Locally made syrup is rather easy to come by here, but it is still very expensive. If the museum I work for was open at this time, I’m sure they would doing maple syrup demos. Historically early pioneer families would not have had access to sugar (no stores in the areas yet), but certainly could make their own maple syrup and maple sugar. Unfortunately, the village is closed until mid-may, so no maple syrup demos to learn hands-on from, just what I can glean from touring the sugar shacks.:(