I cut flowers from the garden for my entry table.
I started a batch of homemade apple cider vinegar using apple cores (following these directions).
I started a batch of citrus cleaner using clementine peels and white vinegar.
I mended a dress and a pair of pajama pants.
I bought 100 pounds of russet potatoes at .97 for 10 pounds (Alberston’s had a limit of one bag, but my husband was able to do 10 transactions to get these), and 190 pounds of russet potatoes at $1.99 for a 10 pound bag). I also bought a turkey for .69 a pound, using the $1.99 potatoes as part of my minimm purchase price (had I known that Albertson’s would have let me do so many transactions, I would have bought fewer potatoes at the higher price, since the store with the turkey (Smith’s) also includes the price of the turkey as part of your $25 minimum purchase).
My husband worked from home three days last week to save money on gas.
The temperature dropped to 34 degrees on Monday. In October, it got below 90 degrees, and the tomato plants started to flower and set fruit again (after not setting fruit since June). All of the tomatoes that had started were still green. Wren and Elsa picked the tomatoes, and we brought them in to finish ripening.
What did you do to save money last week?
I scored at a garage sale and got a great kite, trampoline with handle bars, hot wheels loop, and 2 large push trucks all for $15. I will save for christmas!
I went to an early thanksgiving party and accepted leftovers.
Planted more carrot, beet, sugar snap peas and shelling pea seeds.
My frugal accomplishments:
*I bought a turkey for .79/lb
*My husband and I enjoyed a date night. My brother and sister-in-law watched the kids for us, and we will watch their kids next month for a date night. We did go to dinner and a movie this time. The money we used was money we set aside from any pop bottles or extra income I earned on Facebook. We went to a late matinee saving ourselves $6. The restaurant was one we had been wanting to try, but not expensive.
*I received $11 selling items on Facebook
*Canned 5 quarts of applesauce with some apples I received a while ago. It came out a beautiful pink color!
*My husband gratefully accepted a VERY nice winter coat from a friend who didn’t want it anymore. My husband’ other winter coat was getting pretty used (He has had it for about 7-8 years), and we had just begun talking about looking for one at a good price. What a blessing!
*I repaired my winter coat. It is still a nice, beautiful coat, but I have had 2 buttons fall off. I moved a couple buttons off the sleeve where it was not noticeable, and added them to the front to replace the lost ones.
*Instead of buying another bookshelf we decided to see if we had any books we could give away/donate. I LOVE books and thought it would be really difficult, but it was not hard at all. In fact, we have extra space on the shelves now for newly acquired ones 🙂
*I have been working on using smaller portions of toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, and soap so they will last longer. I realized I have been using too much. I am also working on teaching my children to do the same.
*I repaired 3 well-loved stuffed animals for my boys, and my husband repaired one toy.
Hello Brandy and fellow frugal readers!
I miss fresh flowers in the house already. I live in northern Illinois so it will be many months before I can pick flowers again.
Last week I:
-became a vegetarian!! I have wanted to do this for a long time but my husband is a hard core carnivore. I talked with him about it and took the plunge. I feel great and have already saved a lot money due to not needing to buy meat. We have plenty in the freezer to last my husband quite some time.
-I also gave up coffee and am drinking Teeccino, which is an herbal coffee replacement. It has no caffeine which is what I wanted.
-I made Miso soup, chia seed pancakes, blackbean burgers, vegetarian chili, stuffed squash boats, granola, banana bread, bean and cheese burritos using whole wheat wraps, plain and italian flavored bread crumbs using saved homemade bread ends.. I must now prep the week’s lunches AND dinners so my husband won’t have to make two seperate dinners if he doesn’t want to.
-I did go grocery shopping and spent a few dollars under my budget.
-my daughter had a growth spurt and outgrew half the clothing in her dresser. I “went shopping” in our storage bins and found an entire new wardrobe for her 🙂 These clothes were all given to us for free last summer from a friend of a friend.
-Not frugal for me but I was able to give a pair of jeans to my mom that had become to big for me. I have lost 54 pounds as of yesterday! 😀 She gave me two buy one get one free coupons for Salvation Army, which is great because I now desperately need pants lol
-Ate all meals at home using food from the freezer, fridge, and pantry.
-my husband cleaned out our car at home instead of going to the car wash.
– Washed out glass jars and ziploc bags to dry and reuse.
– drank water all day. I drink a glass of vanilla coconut milk with supper.
That’s all I can remember right now. Have a great and frugal week everyone!
I brown bagged my lunch several days last week. I had made a four can soup (tomatoes, sliced potatoes, carrots, greens beans) and added an onion and salt and butter and let it simmer. When I got sick of soup, I drained it and added homemade cream of soup (from the Tightwad Gazette), shelled pumpkin seeds, and topped with bread crumbs to make a vegetable casserole that I took a couple of days. I lowered the heat to 58 degrees when I am at work, and then I raise it to 62 when I am home. Basically, when I am not working, I am at home. I do all my errands to and from the drive to work, including going to the laundry mat. I dyed my own hair with $3.00 dye from the dollar store and I cut my own hair. I wore clothes to court (work) that were given to me by my best friend (her sister-in-law had passed and was my size and many of the items were new. My friend said her sister-in-law would appreciate that I was wearing them.) They are trial appropriate clothes, as she was a professional woman, and I appreciate them. I had to drive on weekends to my mother’s house four hours away to clean it out, since she passed earlier this month, and that has been stressful, but it was necessary. I have about one more trip to make. I tried to pack water to take with me, but that didn’t work out very well, long story, so that was a frugal fail. I also had a sort of frugal fail for Thanksgiving. I bought the bird for 88 cents a pound, but I bought the extra stuff I didn’t have, for the traditional side dishes I always make, and didn’t shop around because I was so pressed for time. I felt it was important to make the same dishes we always served when mother was alive. Maybe I will do better next month.
Brandy, your floral arrangements are always so beautiful. You have an artists eye. I had put a few tangerine peels in a canning jar on the woodstove to add scent and moisture, but believe I’ll start another batch of cleaning vinegar with the rest, thanks to your reminder. I’m really looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to! Wishing everyone the loveliest of Thanksgivings. Joining in here: http://www.abelabodycare.blogspot.com/2014/11/happy-thanksgiving-and-frugal.html
My Husband and Father-in-law installed our microwave. The best quote because of some complicated electrical work involved was $300 so by doing ourselves we saved $300 in installation fees! I made baby food for the first time this week. I bought spinach for $0.99 for a 1lb bag and that made 16oz of baby food and I bought an avocado for $0.69 which made 12oz of baby food. That price is much cheaper than buying it. Someone gifted us a box of clothes for our toddler which included a bunch of clothes he can wear now even a new Sunday outfit which was a great blessing because I tried to put his current outfit on him yesterday and it was too small. On a different note, I tried your butternut squash soup recipe this week and everyone loved it even my two year old.
I would love to know how you’ll use/store all of those potatoes???
We had a trip to make so we had extra expenses on that but I did take water to drink and sandwich meat for sandwiches. Did go shopping and found an inexpensive heater from an outlet store to put in the garage so that Huny can sit out there comfortably during the winter and found an inexpensive gift for my granddaughter. On the trip back, a 2 hour drive turned into a 5 hour drive because of snow so we stopped and had a hearty breakfast before starting up again. Well worth the expense – it was a much needed break. Cooked meals at home, Huny took leftovers for lunch as usual. I have a ton of green tomatoes that we harvested before a frost so yesterday I used some of them to make Green Tomato Bread and I canned some Green Tomato Salsa. I used cayenne’s and serrano peppers from the garden and plan to use some jalapenos for another batch. I still have lots left to do something with and will probably make more bread for Christmas gifts and some different varieties of salsa with the peppers. We usually buy rotisserie chicken from the store, cheaper for us this way and I always make chicken stock. I used the last batch of stock and left over chicken and started a chicken soup in the morning in the crock pot. I sauteed celery and carrots on hand and added them to the soup. For noodles, Huny doesn’t like the wide egg noodles, so I took some linguine and broke them into smaller pieces and they were the right size for him. I got two boxes of linguine to have on hand for future chicken and turkey soups, two bags of rice for Brandy’s chicken rice recipe, 1 box of spaghetti, 2 cans of crushed pineapple (my brother makes this awesome pineapple dessert with cornbread – getting the recipe from him this week) and 3 cans of green beans on sale 10/10 at Kroger, with other purchases to make a $20 purchase, I was able to get a 13 lb. turkey at 59c/lb for $8.00 n change. Going back again today to get another turkey and some other items needed to make Thanksgiving dinner. I could of done this yesterday but wanted to take stock before getting the rest of what we need – I’m a little behind on pantry inventory. We are traveling to my brother’s house and I plan to take as much as I can from home so I don’t have to buy as much there. Whatever we do have to buy we’ll bring back along with plenty of leftovers. My brother is frying a turkey and I’m baking mine – turkey cook-off!
I have never commented before, but thought I’d say thank you to you this Thanksgiving week for giving me so much motivation in my daily life! No kidding, whenever I’m done reading your posts on frugal accomplishments, and everyone’s comments, I turn off my computer and get up and go garden, or cook, or something-
In the south central area of Texas where we live, I have doubled the space in my garden, mostly thanks to you. My teenage daughter has decided to eat as much organically as possible, so this has been a real saver.
In a frugal bin of our grocery store, I found oragnic seeds from this last years season marked down to $.50. They were $2.00. It was fun to get seeds I have never tried before, like Cherokee purple tomatoes, and yellow pear tomotoes. They expire in Dec. of this year, but I think I will try to start them indoors in Jan., so I can transplant them out after the last frost.
I have been using my crock pot a bunch more, and what a savings on both time, and money.
We were able to order pre-black Friday specials on-line, that have a rebate in the form of a Visa card. Perhaps they can be used for housewarming gifts down the line. I’ve never done a rebate in the form of a Visa card, and hope that it works out alright.
Someone on here mentioned Amy Dacyczyn, and it prompted me to re-read some of her work. She is another one who is so inspirational. I made her soup base for cream soup mix, and will keep it in my pantry. It’s so much cheaper than those cans of soup, and I’ve never had a problem using it in recipes. It will come in handy with the crock-pot recipes!
Thanks so much much again for all you do to make our lives a little easier. It truly is comforting to be a part of this community.
God Bless you all, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
I scored a few free items this week – an orchard basket and a large enamel bowl. Among those items were a few metal scrap pieces (we collect scrape metal at our office).
We took a day trip and stopped to have meal. We were cautious of how much we ate so we could stretch it into another meal – I will make some brown rice to fill it out for tonight’s dinner.
Helped a friend set up her craft booth and helped until her husband arrived, she thanked me with a full lunch and a few items from her shop.
I subbed celery instead of fennel in a soup recipe – I added a sprinkle of fennel seeds as well – could not tell the difference.
I also have switched our washing machine to hand wash setting – this saves 10 minutes on the wash cycle.
I would like to ask for suggestions on inexpensive gift ideas for twin boys age 10. I am planning on making them lap blankets, but with my Esty orders (all custom) coming in time is running out – so I need a back up plan. They don’t use electronics very much (iTunes GC would be useless) and it seems they have every board game made.
I hope everyone has a fabulous week!
Frugal accomplishments this week:
Free Disney gifts for great-nieces and great nephew from my Disney rewards.
Got lots of swagbucks from on-line Christmas purchases (including the free Disney items)
Used leftovers.
Today did black Friday on-line shopping at Kohls (thru swagbucks) and got a wheeled duffle bag, 4 baby outfits, a nice shirt for a gift and a variety of earring backs for $59 including tax. Used $45 of gift cards I already had to purchase the items.
Used coupons and a reward at Victoria’s Secret for a pair on undies and a bra for oldest daughter. Less than $5 out of pocket.
Returned Lands End items to Sears. They offer a 10% off any Lands End purchase the day you are there. So purchased 2 fleece shirts for daughters and a 1/2 zip fleece top for another gift for less than $50.
Returned a couple of other items not needed.
Took outgrown clothes to Once Upon a Child and received $36.
Found 31 cents while out and about, including returning someone else’s cart at Aldis.
Used clothes dryer with indoor vent to dry clothes and warm/humidify house.
Gathering items for a bath remodel in January….asked contractor if he or someone he knew had an account with a certain store that has an exclusive brand of sinks/toilets that I want to use. He found someone with an account and it will save me about $200 to order thru them….they and he won’t mark up their price.
Husband filled gas tanks of both cars for $2.65 a gallon….woot, woot.
Visited a favorite antique store and only took pictures of things I loved. May put one or two items on my wish list.
Purchased Thanksgiving dinner items on sales….visited Aldi’s, Costco, Giant Eagle. All close to each other.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hello Brandy and everyone,
I just wanted to say how much I enjoy and am inspirered by your blog and website.
Also I all your readers comments, much enjoyed and appreciated.
Thank you,
Pam in Texas.
I was wondering the same thing!
You guys beat me to it! I bought 30 lbs. and they’re in the basement right now. I’m wondering how long they’ll keep!
Debby
Brandy – The white flowers in the top picture (and the photo itself) are beautiful. The new website design really shows off your photography.
My frugal accomplishments last week:
-Fareway had some great grocery sales this week so I stocked up (made two trips because some of the items were limited in amounts)
– 12 lb of butter for $1.88/lb (I still have a couple pounds I bought back in May when it was on sale for 2.50/lb so this should last me a while)
– 15 lbs of potatoes at $0.68/5 lbs
– Cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup at $0.29/10.5 oz can
– Frozen veggies at $0.67/1 lb bag
– 6 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast at 1.99/lb. (My freezer is getting pretty full or I would have bought more.)
-Kept going on my mission to use up things that have been hanging out in the freezer and cupboards for a long time. We used up a pound of ground beef we had been given (I was a little concerned it might be freezer burned due to its age but it turned out fine), a couple cans of chicken noodle soup, and can of cranberry sauce.
-Mended by hand a winter hat of my daughter’s and a t-shirt of mine. The hat in particular had been torn for a while so it was really nice to finally have it fixed.
-We drove to Colorado yesterday with my MIL & FIL to visit my SIL and her family for the week. Four adults and 1 preschooler all fit in our Prius – it was a little tight but the gas savings is definitely worth it.
I planted one of the butterfly plants I got free from the gardening meeting at the library and picked up a couple more (1 large and 3 smaller plants) from Home Depot to make a butterfly garden in the center of the retaining wall we just finished. We returned a few blocks I had bought to section off the center of the wall into the butterfly garden from the sides where I’ll be planting veggies, but the blocks didn’t look right. Instead I used leftover stain to stain some scrap 4 x 4’s so it will match the fence on the top of the retaining wall to use instead as dividers. We returned the blocks and got the plants, so no more money out of pocket for the plants.
I rearranged the spreadsheet rows on my budget to make it easier to follow and allocate what’s left. My paychecks are never the same and I get paid every other week, so it has taken some time to work out a good system.
Someone from the Facebook local gardening group I’m in came and picked up some cement blocks/edging we pulled out and wouldn’t reuse. I’m really learning a lot from the group and everyone offers extra plants and seeds and just anything for the garden. I also found out about a seed library at a local park, so I will see what they have when we go to the park.
We had a cold night that I had to protect my tropical plants. I didn’t lose anything. I was especially worried about the bananas and Florida cranberry, but they survived. The house was noticeably less drafty and more comfortable during this year’s cold weather than last years. It was definitely worth it to spend the time last summer scraping out the old caulk around the outside of the windows and using a good caulk to re-caulk, replacing and insulating the scuttle hole into the attic, pulling off the rotted trim around the outside of the patio doors and spraying expanding foam into the gaps before replacing it. It should also make a difference in our electric bill.
When we had the cold weather, I made a pot of soup. In the morning I pulled out bits of leftover veggies and pasta from the freezer (including some leftover tomato paste I froze), added water and let it simmer all morning and had that for lunch. It’s like free lunches since it was made with bits of scraps.
I made pear bread out of over ripe pears. I had zero food waste.
I washed my gardening gloves and stitched up a hole I wore through at one of the seams. I planted more seeds – chard, red beets, carrots, peas, lettuce. I transplanted the Brussels sprouts. I collected more calyx from my true roselle/Florida cranberry. I froze the calyx to make tea/juice and jelly later. I used the rain barrel to water everything.
I’ve done minimal to no grocery shopping for weeks and weeks, but with the sales it was time to stock up. I went to Aldi and stocked up on flour, sugar, cream cheese, garbage bags, spaghetti sauce, hamburger and hot dog rolls, wheat bread and garlic bread, and butter. I filled in missing spots in the pantry and a couple things I need for the next month for every day. I bought the nuts and chocolates I need for baking through the end of December. I got the last few things I needed for Thanksgiving. I figured out menus for over Thanksgiving when my son will be here. I splurged on salmon for dinner for Thanksgiving, so the rest of the meals while he is here will be more budget friendly 🙂
We went to CVS and got 10 boxes of the 88cent tissues.
The handle came off one of my metal measuring cups. I used some JB Weld to reattach it.
I filled out a Pinecone survey. I changed my profile on Pinecone Research to get surveys more frequently – Thank you for that tip Brandy!
I met my Swagbucks goal for 21 days. I cashed in my Swagbucks for $25 Paypal.
I only worked 2-1/2 hours of overtime. I’m afraid not much overtime available until after the holidays.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week everyone!
Congrats on giving up meat! I felt a lot better when I gave it up also.
As a family of 9, we can eat 9 pound in a sitting 🙂 My husband has them for breakfast most days as well. It’s very easy for us to go through 50 pounds a week in the winter. You can read mre about how I use them and store them on my potato page: http://theprudenthomemaker.com/cooking/recipes/potatoes (On the menu under Cook-Recipes-Potatoes).
Congratulations on your weight loss, Mandy. That is awesome! It’s wonderful that you now get to pass your clothes on to someone else as well. Great work!:D
Last week my kids and I drove to a family member’s house to learn to can applesauce. They just moved back to the area and their rental has an apple tree – they harvested as many apples as they could. I brought a canner and a sauce mill and some lids and jars we had already invested in; they supplied more jars and lids they had on hand as well. I’ve been wanting to can but after reading about it a lot, I needed to be at the elbow of an experienced person to be able to see everything firsthand and build some confidence. It did the trick! 😉 We ran out of cannable lids so we came home with some jars just to put in the fridge, and she’ll bring me some of the canned sauce we made when we get together this weekend. (We didn’t think it would be a good idea for me to carry the sealing jars out into the cold and have them jiggled on the drive.)
This weekend my husband and I processed the pie pumpkins the kids and I picked up for Halloween decor. We don’t carve jack o’lanterns; instead we buy pie pumpkins and the kids can draw on them with markers or paint them. I wash them well and then we cut and roast them and make puree to freeze. Out of 6 pie pumpkins, we got 23 and 3/4 cups of puree; we still have one very large “regular” pumpkin to process this weekend. I’ll share some bags of puree with the family we made applesauce with.
Yesterday we went grocery shopping and learned that quite a few things are cheaper off base despite the perceived savings in our on-base store. I hit the sale flyers online for a couple of local stores to compare prices and will be making a list for the one that is near my parents’ house. We drive there every other week or so; I can take my list and get the better deals on my way home, consolidating fuel costs. (I thought I was saving by staying on base – turns out it wasn’t the savings I thought it was!)
Borrowed table & chairs for extra seating for Thanksgiving rather than renting/buying them.
Did a small grocery trip for groceries for the next week or two. Purchased another turkey at $.69 per lb.
Processed my pumpkins and froze approx 10 bags (each with 2 cups) of pumpkin purée.
Went out to lunch and my husband used a “free lunch” card to get his meal for free. (His employer pays for his lunch one day a week, he will usually go to the restaurant next door as they have a buy 9, get the 10th free — then he will save the freebie for a treat when we can go out on a lunch date).
Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! – Megan
What a deal on the potatoes! Although we don’t use as many potatoes as we once did it would be a hard deal to pass up!
We have been concentrating on saving electricity and staying warm. You can find my list of frugal accomplishments here:
http://vickieskitchenandgarden.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-frugal-list-112314.html
In the last two weeks I…
* Found one baby butternut squash growing. It was my only one out of the entire pack of seeds planted. But one is better than non and it was cute and tasty!
* I ate from my freezer A LOT. I needed to make space for turkeys. I also re-arranged my freezer and found a few surprises (like pork chops). It’s good to remind myself what’s in there every few months.
* I made turkey rice soup with the last of the last turkey I cooked in April and some of stock I made then too. I need to invest in a pressure canner because stock takes up sooo much valuable freezer space. One day…
* I drank lots of water.
* Over the last year or two I’ve received a bunch of K cups samples of coffee. I saved them as I thought I would eventually get a Kurig machine. But I never did and then reports started coming out that they break and collect mold and now I’m back to being just fine with my 15 year old regular not at all fancy machine. So I emptied all the K cups of coffee into an empty coffee can and it nearly filled up that can!
* I sold stuff on ebay- though not nearly as much as I hoped. Do you have any tips for ebay sales?
* Two weeks ago I shopped very little to allow me to shop BIG (my biggest week of the year grocery-wise) last week. I bought two more turkeys- so I have three total for the year (last few years I managed to get two). One I am cooking tonight actually because I eat Thanksgivng with family and I am only assigned pie.
* I bought eight bags of Tide pods (14 ct) at CVS. After coupons and ECBs I paid (including tax) $10.04. Then I got back a $10 Amex gift card and will also earn a $10 rebate from Saving Star. I never by Tide- its so expensive. But in the end this deal proved to be a money maker for me!
* After my grocery store did’t correctly follow their own policy, I called their corporate office. THey told me I was in fact correct and to go back and get a refund. So I did. While all of that was a pain, I was glad to get back the $10 and hear from corporate that I was doing the right thing.
KK @ http://www.preppypinkcrocodile.com
Working hard for better health is a huge frugal accomplishment! Health problems are expensive!! I remind myself often that good nutritional choices are the ultimate money saver and prep for hard times. I do ignore my own reminders at times but I keep trying!
We had a good week – details are posted here:
http://quietcountrylife.blogspot.com/2014/11/frugal-accomplishments-week-before.html
I will definitely look into making apple cider vinegar – we have a small orchard out back, and that would be a way to use some of the dropped apples that are not useful for other things!
I had a frugal week by using coupons and rebates to stock up on food and other items for very little money. I was able to get free Mucinex, $0.19 tea, $0.45 canned pumpkin, $0.74 coffee, cranberries for $0.24, and big packs of Huggies for $3.72. Full details and pics here: http://thejewishlady.com/super-savings-saturday-1122/
This week is going to be a crazy one with lots of Extreme Couponing during the Black Friday sales. I shop Rite Aid, CVS, & Walgreens. I started yesterday and will also shop Tues, Thurs, and Saturday. If anyone wants to copy my lists, just ask! I’m happy to share so everyone can get tons of goodies for pennies. The trick is to list every free-after-rebate item from cheapest to most expensive so you can roll transactions.
Much mad couponing – as a result it looks like we ought to make it through Thanksgiving on budget for the month. It’s a squeaker. I’ve also picked up a fair amount of shampoo and such for free that will make good donations to shelters over the holiday season; as an added benefit, it all counts toward our free holiday ham.
Accepted two winter coats and a pair of winter boots from a friend whose son had outgrown them, saving us a bunch of money – and the kids are delighted with their new-to-them togs!
Cooked at home, packed lunches, baked bread, as usual.
Checked our stash of winter-preparedness things like salt; still have enough from last year that we don’t need more yet.
Have a joyful Thanksgiving!
Bought 3 packages of turkey tenders & 1 package of turkey cutlets from the bargain basket for $1.50 each, & repackaged them to go in our freezer. The cutlets will be shared with youngest daughter.
Dehydrated more ring pineapple bought for that purpose, along with some browning bananas.
Found the cover for the AC so my husband could put it on, now that the freezing weather has arrived.
Hung most of the clothes to dry instead of using the dryer. Opened the window blinds on the bay window to let the sun warm the house in the afternoon.
Bought 4 quart jars at Deseret Industries for 50 cents each.
Recycled metal with 2 of my grandchildren. They were here for 3 days while their mother went to a large EMS conference. I bought math flashcards from Dollar Tree for $1/pkg, and we practiced the ones they are studying at school. We also worked on a paper that had been assigned to each. Since none of our children are able to come for Thanksgiving this year, I baked a turkey, & we had turkey with all the trimmings with the two grandchildren for 3 nights.
Completed another pine cone survey.
Thanks so much for sharing! That is quite a sale on the cranberries; they are $2.50 a bag here on sale! I don’t always see the Ocean Spray brand here but I am going to print the coupon just in case! I really want to get some cranberries to can some juice this year!
Linda, I grow Cherokee Purple tomatoes every year, we love them! Just bear in mind that they don’t turn red. The first year I grew them I keep waiting for them to turn red and left them on the vine and well, it wasn’t a good thing. The flesh is meaty and we love them on BLTs. You’ll love them too! We grow yellow pears all the time too. They grow like crazy and I had so many I didn’t know what to do with them all. This year I made some yellow pear relish – spread over cream chase and serve with crackers and YUM.
What about marshmallow guns made from PVC pipes. We made 6 of these for Christmas for 6 of our 9- 11 year old grandsons!
I am curious about this pineapple and cornbread dessert.
A movie gift basket is great for 10 yr old boys. You can get theatre boxes of their favorite candy, bags of microwave popcorn and glass bottle cokes for a special treat and a gift card for Redbox.
Mandy , congratulations on your continued weight loss. We cook a lot of vegetarian as the 3 girls have all gone through various types of vegetarianism. One has gone back to eating meat just in time for Thanksgiving and another has gone vegan. That means I will have to make the lentil loaf eggless, make her her own batch of mashed potatoes and her own dessert. I have 2 vegan pie crusts in the freezer still and she said she’d just take them made into pie crust cookies. Our stuffing has no meat or dairy in it so fine there. My husband and the boys like meat, but they never complain if it’s not there, which is very nice.
Thank you everyone! It’s been hard work but definitely worth it! 🙂
We ended up celebrating Thanksgiving twice over the weekend. My husband’s parents and sister came over on Saturday; and then on Sunday we had our next door neighbour over for leftovers. We’d initially invited her; but she’d said she couldn’t come because her adult children were coming that weekend. But they pulled out at the last minute, and when we saw her Sunday morning, she said she’d wanted to come, but felt uncertain because of the cars in the drive. I invited her over for lunch instead – we had so many leftovers. I sent her home with a big plate too.
Since we were home all weekend, we saved money by not going to town. However we spent some too, with a clothing sale on-line that was just too good to pass up. We spent $45 on 20 items (inc. delivery). The RRP was just over $400, and the normal prices were reasonable, not hyper-inflated; so that’s a considerable savings. I used the credit card that I use for salary packaging, which brings the cost down by about another $15 through tax savings.
Sunday was the last day we could burn off before fire restrictions set in for the summer. We managed to clear up quite a bit around the yard and had two nice bonfires. I’m feeling much more fire-ready now. While we were out there I also cleaned up the flower beds a bit. On Saturday, just before company arrived, I thought how pretty they looked with everything in bloom; Sunday morning the neighbour’s sheep got in and ate all the flowers. I’m hoping they come back; but they may not.
Other savings: I took a work car home with me one night because I had to run errands, saving me some fuel. One of the errands I was asked to run was actually pricing Christmas decorations to find the best prices on several items! We’ve arranged for a neighbour to mow our yard – we do this every year in exchange for my husband doing her son’s taxes. (We live on several acres. The bit closest to the house we mow several times; the rest of it gets mowed once a year.) We also have the neighbour’s cow, sheep, and alpaca running in our land until the neighbour can mow it. They’re enjoying the feed as their own paddocks are empty. We got LOTS of nice heavy rain yesterday, which means our tank is full – always a good thing heading into summer.
I also made two small gifts for the kids; one stocking stuffer for my husband; and a felt Dutch clog for a neighbour. Her parents were Dutch; she was saying she wishes they had done more for St Nicholas Day when she was a child because she’d like to share it with her grandchild now. So I made a little ‘wooden shoe’ out of some felt scraps, appliqued a Santa Claus on to it, and left it in her mailbox as a surprise so she can pass St Nicholas Day on to her grandchild.
Teresa, that made me laugh right out loud…about the heater for Huny so he can sit comfortably in the garage! I am guessing he has a workshop out there and is not just sent out there for the “dog house”…..
Dear Miss Brandy and readers,
First let me say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I wish you all wonderful holiday.
My frugal accomplishments are limited but here they are:
Went to a free cooking class.
Won a free crockpot (and gave it to someone more in need than me).
Spent $20 at the grocery store.
Spent $10 at CVS and got many items and $25 in ECBs which I will use on Black Friday.
Got a free Red Box code from someone very special. Plan to watch a movie this holiday weekend.
Discovered I have $20 in JC Penny rewards that I was unaware that I had.
Have $30 in Balance Rewards (from walking all year).
Made a ruffled key chain, quilted “Vera Bradley” look a like purse, two outfits–two Christmas skirts, two flowered headbands, paired two shirts I got for pennies on clearance earlier this year.
“Free” Thanksgiving dinner–after serving 450 people (less fortunate) Thanksgiving dinner
Cut electric bill in half last months.
Received another $10/$10 from JC Penny.
Received a $10/$10 from Kohl’s
Blessings to all and have a joyful and wonderful holiday.
Anna
I found a hidden benefit to the little yellow pear tomatoes: the birds and other animals don’t seem to recognize that they’re ripe and leave them alone.
The picture of the flower arrangement is beautiful. It took a long look before I realized you took the photo from above!
Here are my frugal accomplishments this week:
-Combined a sale with coupons to buy 8 containers of Black Diamond Cheese Spread for $0.99 each. This product is normally $4.00 or more per container, so it was a great deal and a nice treat!
-used a rain check before it expired to purchase 6 containers of margarine for $1.00 each. Margarine was frozen for future use.
-Signed up for a PCPlus rewards card and was able to earn 5100 points on my first time using it! I need 20,000 points to get $10 of free groceries.
-Checked the discount shelves at the grocery store and found a twelve pack of hamburger buns for $0.99. The expiry date was the day I purchased them, so I put them into the freezer as soon as I got home. I usually pull them out the day I need them anyways.
-I sewed 3 infinity scarves for Christmas presents from fabric already in my sewing stash. I made 2 more infinity scarves by cutting up some clothing that no longer fit. The scarves cost me nothing out of pocket as I already had all the sewing supplies on hand.
-used coupons to purchase a nearly free meal at McDonalds. Only paid just over a $1.50 for two of us to eat lunch out!
-made a delicious meal of ham steaks, scalloped potatoes, veggies and homemade bread to thank my in-laws for babysitting our cats while we were on vacation. We already had all ingredients on hand – ham steaks sliced from ham that I bought during Thanksgiving sales last month, potatoes bought on sale and used powdered milk for scalloped potatoes, veggies blanched and frozen during summer and bread made from pantry supplies. For desert I made a birthday cake for my MIL from a cake mix that was given to us for free. I gave my in-laws the rest of the home made bread to take home as well.
-during a cold snap, I slept with extra blankets and wore my nice warm socks to bed to keep warm without turning up the heat
-used a Redbox code for a free movie rental
That’s everything I can think of for now. Thanks for all the inspiring ideas everyone. Have a wonderful week!
Brandy, I was wondering if you would buy less potatoes since the price of them seems to have gone up (I recall in an old post, you saying you could sometimes get them for .10 a pound near Thanksgiving) or you cut back on the more expensive products.
Cindy I don’t think it’s a fail at all! Enjoy you dinner and your memories you saved enough with the other frugal accomplishments you have done. Sometimes we just can’t do it all!
Someone in my local Freecycle group posted 30 pounds of handmade soap that he didn’t want to take with him when he moved. We went over and got a bag, and the soap will last us for at least 6 months.
I participated in a swap in one of my online message groups. I got a make your own working paper clock book and a magnetized chore chart in exchange for 2 pairs of my son’s outgrown shoes. The clock book will be a Christmas gift.
We accepted free tickets to a women’s basketball game from a friend who couldn’t go. They had a contest for a free pizza given to the fan who cheered the loudest, and our son won! We had the pizza for dinner, and it also came with a coupon for an additional free large 1 topping pizza. We are going to save the coupon for use next month when I am out of town so that my son and husband can have a boy’s fun night together.
I made door snakes with materials that I have on hand to help keep the drafts out of the house. I also made pajama bottoms for Christmas presents with fabric that I had on hand.
I sold 5 pairs of my son’s outgrown jeans for $25. We used that for our grocery budget for last week.
I did buy less this month 🙁 I normally buy 300 to 400 pounds in November. Thanks to the pasta sale earlier this month, I didn’t have any grocery money left to buy these. I decided to pull money from another budget category to buy them. Having them be twice as much was a bummer.
I have been following your site for awhile and have gotten so many ideas from you and all your followers! Thank you all! Every week – I line dry my clothes, wash Ziploc bags to reuse, collect drips in our shower and garage sink in buckets and use these buckets to water garden and trees. I went to CVS this morning and was able to get a bunch of toiletries on a gift card – I used $8 out of pocket and have $10 CVS credit for my next shopping trip. We have not had to turn on the heat yet – in Southern AZ. All meals have been made fresh scratch, except my daughter’s lunches.
I recently found a sewing machine that I was able to buy for $15! I was so excited – I have not had my own for years. So I’m looking forward to sewing again.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
would love to see your walgreens list!
can you email it to me!? fayedanbaker@gmail.com
Hello. My first time listing my frugal accomplishment. Long time reader. I have learned so much from all of you. I consider you true friends. Sometimes it’s hard living a frugal meaningful life when it seems like you are all alone. Thank you Brandy for having this wonderful community of like minded people.
My list is small when compared to some of you but anything is better than nothing.
Ate at home all week but once.
Used homemade cleaners and detergent.
Made a loaf of bread.
4 jars of raspberry/blueberry jelly
7 jars of Christmas jelly. These will be gifts.
Made a potholder from old towel. Plan to make more.
Dried wild onions.
Froze 24 pb&j sandwiches. Makes quick packed lunches.
Accepted 2 pumpkins from daughters school. Roasted the seeds. Dehydrated one pumpkin and made pumpkin power. Froze other one into 1 cup portions.
Went to neighboring town about 18 miles away. They have a sav-a-lot. Stocked up on holiday and baking supplies for much cheaper than my town.
Found peanut butter at dollar tree for $1 for 16 oz jars.
Thanks for sharing brandy!!!
I finally finished the p.j’s I am making for my niece for Christmas. My husband and I had a good laugh as we stared at these pj’s that seem much too big for our precious niece, but are the size she INSISTED she wears:) She is autistic and has other challenges. I’ve been told for the last year that I needed to make pj’s–size large–LADIES!!! And, I should get sewing right now. Every Single Time I see her, I’m told these things. So, I got busy, and made them, orange and black with animal prints, everything she likes– and they are huge!! I left the elastic in a way that I can undo it easily and pull it in, and my sister and I agreed that as long as they stay up, she will be happy as a clam. She is very specific in her likes and dislikes, so it’s the colors and print that matters to her. She also prefers loose, to tight, when it comes to clothing.
I haven’t shopped much for a few weeks, mainly due to being too busy and still having lots of food to use, but have been stocking up a lot this week. I bought butter for $2.50/lb, cream cheese for $1.19/brick, sour cream for $1, cottage cheese for $1, tortilla chips for $1, spiral sliced ham for $1.49/lb, and other items. I bought 4 hams. 1 for Thanksgiving, and 3 to keep in the freezer.
My husband smoked one turkey last night, all night, on his Traeger grill. We will roast another one for Thanksgiving and are also cooking a ham. We want leftovers. So do our family members and we always send home enough for everyone for the next few days. These are the turkeys he raised and the one he smoked was wonderful, so that’s good. We didn’t want him to go to all that work and have the turkey turn out inferior. But, it wasn’t. It was great. Everyone always brings so much food to share, it’s fun to swap it around, taking some for the next few days. I won’t be cooking much for a few days after the holiday.
I made split pea/keilbasa soup. We’ve had it 3 times for meals over the weekend and today, and some have had it 4 times. It’s almost gone, but it was good and very economical. I put in extra split peas, and extra broth to extend it with the one rope of kielbasa.
We went to the library and got some books and DVD’s.
I’m working enough this week to still get paid a bit, but taking enough time off to get ready for Thursday…..I hope:) Some students are already off on their holiday adventures, and that’s ok with me.
Oh Cindy, you did well. I pray you and your family will have a lovely time and can share
memories of your mother , free of stresses.
Naturally , my suggestion would be books. Since you said they are not hooked on electronics and play lots of board games, they probably like to read. Girls will read pretty much anything but boys like boy stuff…there is a
series by Lauren Tarshis and she is up to 9 installments. It is called the I SURVIVIED series and is written from point of view of young boy who was there at the time.. There is the sinking of Titanic, the eruption of Mt Vesuvius at Pompeii, even current stories like Hurricane Katrina. Good luck.
Debbie I am surprised that they are recommending butterfly bush as considered an invasive. Southern states especially have a real problem with it crowding out native plants. Some states ban the sale of it. Of course , it may totally be a native substitute that they are promoting, which in that case would be really good.
I am not as frugal as I’d like to be. Ugh, I have SO much craft stuff/Scrapbooking items that I purchased over the last 6-8 years, I’d really NEVER need to buy another thing save for maybe adhesives. What I REALLY need to do is get the pictures that I have downloaded onto my MacBook printed and get to scrapbooking them before my son graduates high school so that I’m not scrambling to throw everything together in the final few months before he graduates (in 2022).
–got several free magazines via my ReCyclebank accounts. Can’t thank you enough Brandy for leading me to that site! I’ve saved SO much money since joining as I don’t have to buy a single magazine any longer since I can get ALL my faves for FREE!!–i have accounts with several different email addresses. I’m gonna take advantage for as long as I can 🙂
— I also like to give things away–my brother-in-law’s girlfriend, D, is an RN like myself and she works in a children’s special needs group home. These kids live there full-time but require specialized care that their parents cannot provide in the home. Anyway, in the home is a 14 yr old girl. I’d sent with D, a Scentsy scent-pak for the girl’s Scentsy Buddy as the one she had was no longer emitting scent. I’d asked how she liked the scent I’d given her…D said she LOVED IT!! 😀 So, I asked D if the girl would like some Bath and Body Works stuff? I’ve got extras that I buy using coupons during their sales for gifts…so I made up a little goody bag for D to give the girl and threw in an EOS lip balm because those are ALL the rage with the teen girls nowadays 😉 Makes me happy to share things with others and get rid of a few things at the same time!
—
–cooked meals at home
–made homemade biscuits (hubby thinks this is hard, but really, it’s not!) If you can read, you can cook!
–got recipe for homemade stuffing for Thanksgiving day!
Brandy I am glad to see you are making the apple cider vinegar. It is so easy. I did check the site and I noticed she did not mention not to use for canning. This is because you can not be sure of the pH unless you test. I like it in hot water with honey if I am feeling sick.
Are those your own olives you will be pitting? How exciting!
I am getting used to your new site. I found it is not easy to use on my Kindle, don’t know why, but it seems to constantly be loading and scrolling. So I am using the laptop.
We just had 10 days of below freezing weather, then 2 days of rain and now snowing all day. I have not written for the last few weeks as we have been doing some travelling. Just day trips or a Friday overnight and then back on Saturday or Sunday after church. We’ve been more to the west side of the state where my husband’s family lives. While there we went to the Cranberry festival and several cheese factories. Went to a wedding one weekend and a missionary fundraiser for support for one of his sisters and her husband…they are home on furlough.
We picked up cranberries while there, very reasonable, from a stand at the gas station. 5 pounds for 7.50. I wash, dry, then package in ziplocs for exact amount needed for recipes. I bought a bag of oranges at the store , on sale, but turned out not the best. Plenty juicy, just not a good orange flavor yet. We have been eating them a couple a day and now I have just enough left to juice and zest for the cranberry sauce.
We have done the usual of mending, hanging some clothes to dry in the house, recycling, composting, car-pooling, packing lunches for school (me). Husband , daughter and nephew make their lunch at home. Daughter has been very industrious with the farm stand. She had a good harvest of bittersweet and sold all that. Her great uncle showed her how to make grapevine wreaths. I even sold a few pies, smaller size, in some aluminum pie pans. I am amazed how much people will pay for a pie. She priced them at $5 and they were just those shallow pie pans that a graham cracker crust comes in. I think I may do more next summer so I am going to have to start collecting pans.
I bought 3 white mock turtle necks, a purple knit sleeveless dress that I will use as a jumper, 3 pair of black knit tights, a striped henly for wearing around the house, all for $55 from the Lands End sales, earlier this fall. I went shopping to the mall with a cousin’s wife so she could find a new coat. I am very happy to have found a pair of long underwear made by CuddleDuds that are thin and silky and work underneath my tights for extra warmth and do not bunch up. I did add a piece of elastic to make a stirrup so they would stay in place. I put a second pair on my wish list for Christmas.
Cooked all from scratch. (over last 3 weeks) Made vegetarian chili, vegetable soup, minnestrone, white bread, banana bread and vegan banana nut struesel mini muffins, cranberry orange bread, cream cheese swirl brownies with cream cheese bought last February on sale. Made homemade pizza, spaghetti sauce, 100 meatballs divided up 10 to a package, sloppy tofu and sloppy joes, bollilos from recipe on Holy Cow vegan, 2 batches of vegan naan, cauliflower curry with garbanzo dumplings from recipe emailed to me by middle daughter, stir fried vegetables with hot and sour tofu, fried rice, vegan banana pancakes, peanut butter cookies, regular and vegan.
Went to a baby shower at church and used double coupons and store sale to buy a box of diapers and wipes and tube of Desitin. We didn’t have any paper so daughter put into a white kitchen garbage bag that she first decorated using sharpie pens. She drew animal shapes and baby blocks spelling out words and and balloons and toys and whatever she could think of. It turned out very cute. Lunch and dessert was served. Next week was a funeral, also a meal there.
Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating on Thursday and best wishes for safe travels and many fun times getting together with family and friends.
I’ve had a lucky couple of weeks. A friend called to let me know about a sale at a local store, Yukon Gold (3 lb bag) or Reds (5 lb bag) for .97 a BAG! I guess you know i bought 10 bags! The same store had turkeys on sale for .57 lb, Name Brands!, however, if you bought on a specific day they had a coupon for $7.00 off of one. I bought two (at different stores) and took one to the Rescue Mission.
The other I gave to a family I work with. They were really happy!
A supervisor I work with had a persimmon tree that was scalped by a “gardener” and with prayers and WATER she managed to bring back a lone branch. She got 50 persimmons on that branch and brought them to me for processing. I made a double batch of persimmon cookies with burnt butter frosting. Wow, were they good! She was thrilled and is now hoping to get the rest of the tree revived. I priced persimmons in the store, $1.oo each! Those cookies were like gold…lol.
My Thanksgiving shopping was at Smiths and I got my turkey almost free due to the savings on everything I bought. I saved over $100.00 on my order.
I’ve been taking tea from home when I go to work. I work @ 2:30 am, outside, so I usually buy a cup of coffee ( only drink one a day, at work) but saved by bringing tea.
Love the new format, Brandy, but miss the beautiful Mother and child that graced your old site. Is she hiding somewhere I have missed?
Thanksgiving blessings to all my friends here. Each comment is read and enjoyed as I get to know you all.
As we have a few more Linda’s in the group I will be signing my comments as Higgy.
Your comments about your niece made me laugh. My daughter is also on the autism spectrum. She would have said the exact same thing as your niece, in the exact same way. I’m sure she will love the PJ’s, especially because they are huge! It’s all about the comfort for them.
Dear Miss Brandy and readers,
First I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. Second the picture of the flowers is lovely.
Here is my list of frugal activities:
I took a free cooking class and got lunch.
I won a free crockpot and gave it to another person in need.
I worked with the free trainer twice.
Help serve 450 Thanksgiving meals to less fortunate people and received a free meal (after all were served),
Cut our electric bill in half.
I got cranberries for 99 cents a package.
I went to CVS and spent $10 and got many items including $25 ECBs for future purchases.
I got a $10/$10 Kohl’s coupon.
I got a $10/$10 coupon from JC Penny.
Earned $30 in Balance Rewards (over the year) from walking.
Found out I have $20 in reward points at JC Penny.
Made a ruffled key chain, quilted purse, two Christmas skirts and two flowered headbands to match with two tops I got for pennies.
Also made a organizing pocket holder.
Best wishes for a wonderful Thanksgiving and Holiday season.
Anna
PS. I thought I wrote this post already so forgive the duplications.
Thank you for suggesting that series Athanasia! I always have a hard time coming up with ideas for my young nephews, since they’re not really “into” anything specific. I think this series will be perfect! Thanks again!:)
We are downsizing on a grand scale. We are leaving our rental home and moving into a fifth wheel. My husband travels for work and I will now be fortunate to go with him.I know in the long run it will be a tremendous savings.
This past week(and several weeks prior) we have eaten out of the fridge/freezer and pantry to eliminate excess food. Considering the kitchen space we have it was a necessity.
We needed to purchase something at the local hardware store and had a coupon for a free extension cord. This will be used as a Christmas present.
I made 5 Christmas presents out of scrap material and batting that I had. Just need to make about 3 or 4 more of the same.
Speaking of gifts, I was given a lot of tomatoes this year so I canned extra spaghetti sauce to give as gifts. I will use the pasta attachment on my kitchen aid to make some fun pasta and give these as a set to each of our friends for gifts. I love making gifts.
I did some research into what the best cleaning products for an evening were and found that the vinegar and baking soda cleaners have been using are the best. Double win…no expensive chemical cleaners to purchase and I can continue using my earth friendly products to clean our home.
We are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. My MIL was officially placed in a wonderful memory care facility yesterday and the mountain of paperwork involved is coming to an end. I was still able to accomplish some frugal things in the midst of the slight chaos:
1. Had enough points earned at our local grocery store for a free frozen turkey. It was free up to 20 lbs and anything over was .57 cents per pound. I ended up getting a 20.37 pound turkey for about .19 cents. It was marked at full price of a little over $35.00!
2. Started my first batch of citrus cleaner. I added a sprig of rosemary because I love the smell of rosemary with the citrus. I’m looking forward to using it.
3. Made 2 dozen corn muffins for the freezer.
4. Made a pot of bean chili for dinner on night and froze some for later.
5. Made a meal plan from what we have on hand an only spent 1/2 my bi-weekly grocery budget.
6. Started knitting dish cloths to add to the Christmas bag I’m giving my co-workers this year.
7. Went to CVS because they had Skippy peanut butter for $2 a jar and Lipton tea bags 2/$6. I had a $1 off coupon for the peanut butter and a $3 off coupon for the tea bags. Plus, if you spent $10 you got $3 back in extracare bucks. So my oop was $6 and after extracare bucks it came to $3!
I also want to share an answer we have had to prayer this week. In order to qualify my MIL for state assistance and be placed in Memory care we had to make sure her assets totaled no more that $2500. No problem with her checking and saving accounts and she does not own anything. BUT, she had a life insurance policy with a cash value of $8,000 which they considered an asset. So, in order to qualify her we had to cash in the policy and use the money to prepay her funeral expenses. And this all had to happen by December 1st. The ins. company told us that it would take 2-3 weeks just to get the check from them which would have been a major problem. We started praying and had many others praying with us. We got the check in 4 days! Nothing short of a miracle as far as I’m concerned. So we are able to apply for her state assistance next week and hopefully she will be set in a great place where she is safe! Praise God!
Thank you everyone for the suggestions. They all really helped.
Persimmons here are $4.54 EACH!!! I have limited myself to one this season, as I just cannot justify buying more than that one treat. I’d be thrilled with $1 per fruit!
They like what they like, that’s for sure!!! My mom was over here today, and we laughed over how big the pj’s were. She has been told the same thing, even yesterday when she was over at my sister’s house. I’m glad one of us made the pj’s:)
Anna,
You have been busy!! It sounds like you get to do some shopping soon with all those great coupons. Basically free money!
I had to chuckle about the crockpot! Mine is shorting out regularly, and sometimes shuts itself off while I am gone, which defeats the point entirely. So, I may soon be a person in need—of a Crockpot:) It is nice you were able to find someone to use it and I’ll bet they get as much use out of it as I do out of mine. I’ve informed “Santa” that a new one is a must this year. There is scarcely a day that passes that I don’t use mine.
Hi Rhonda,
I am also from Ontario and have been using PC Plus programme for over a year. Make sure to load your offers every week (on Fridays) and combine with sales and price matching (@ No Frills and RCSS). I have it combined with my PC Mastercard which earns 10 points on every dollar spent anywhere. I also have automatic payments set up for my car insurance, cell phone and internet on my PC card which also earns 10 points on every dollar which is basically free money since I have to pay these bills anyways 🙂 Since No Frills started on PC Plus I have been earning 5000 – 8000 points per week (in addition to regular mastercard points). Last month in 5 weeks I earned and redeemed $70 worth of points 🙂
Every 1000 points equals $1 so 20000 points equals $20. You need a minimum of 20000 points to redeem but can redeem for 10000 point increments thereafter.
I live in Alberta and am loving the PC Plus programme:):)
Good morning fellow frugalities! Happy Thanksgiving from Canada:)
This week was a good week. My Monday to Friday job has been changed to shift work and weekends. With an empty nest it was not a negative change and my employer pays extra for evening and weekend differential. With this change I find that I have more time to devote to frugal pursuits than when I worked Monday to Friday.
This weeks frugalities include:
A batch of salmon cakes using pantry ingredients.
Pumpkin muffins using free after Halloween pumpkins
Free exercise shovelling snow LOL
All meals packed for work
A batch of fried rice using odds and ends of veggies and free eggs
Redeemed grocery store points for free eggs and butter
Used 50% off bread and free eggs to make French toast
Thank you Brandy for the wonderful home you have made for us here!!!
I have been reading this blog for awhile, but could not figure out how to post, I’m hopeless with technology! Maybe this time it will post. My big news- our new grandson was born early this morning! He weighed in at 6 lbs. 9 oz. We will be flying to see him on Dec. 6th, can’t wait! I cooked most meals last week. I did meet a friend for dinner one night, while our husbands went to a men’s dinner at church. I want to start hanging our clothes on a regular basis. We just had four straight days of rain, finally some sun. I used some coupons at the grocery store, got my husband’s favorite lemon pie for $3.99, using a $1 coupon. I don’t buy these often since they are normally about $9. My dad’s garden has been producing tons of sweet potatoes, so I just made a sweet potato casserole and a pie. We will also have peas from his garden for Thanksgiving. Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!
You’re welcome.
Becky, I am glad the turkey was what you hoped for! Did he sell any or are you keeping all for your family? We bought ours a few weeks ago from one of my husbands uncles…2 of them have a small free range turkey farm where they raise them just for Thanksgiving. Then they spend the rest of the year hunting whatever is in season. We have had some odd meals visiting them. Usually I don’t ask.
Anna, serving at that meal is a nice thing to do. Did your girls help also? Compassion and service to others can never be learned too early.
My first post – you have all been an inspiration! For the past 3 weeks, my husband and I have made a meal plan for the week – including lunches for me at home and his at work. I can’t believe how much easier this has made life in general – and $$ saving. For the first time in many years, we did not host Thanksgiving here but rather went to a sister’s about 2-1/2 hours away driving up there with another sister and her husband. They paid for gas. I only needed to bring a side and a dessert. So much calmer – at least for us!!
Set our budget for Christmas – I’ve kept a list for each of the past several years and feel that it has helped me for this year. In reality, we all have what we need and we all are fine with that – little gifts that people can use – not stuff for stuff’s sake.
Hi Janell, I got the recipe but haven’t made it yet. I’ll try it before I write it down to make sure I do it right! He did make this for our Thanksgiving dessert and it was so good. very addictive!
LOL. I never though about it that way! There’s a bit of space in the garage that is his “man cave” area. He is a smoker so he smokes out there, does his lottery numbers and I have a chair in his space to sit and talk with him when he’s not smoking (I don’t smoke). During the winter it gets a little chilly and sometimes downright freezing cold in there. He’s already used it a couple of times and it makes a world of difference for him. Another cold snap coming in tonight so I imagine he’ll have it plugged in ready to use tomorrow morning!