My Frugal List: Week of July 9, 2018


The kids have made it to our friends in Venice. They are being spoiled! They were able to celebrate the Festa Del Redentore last night. Our friends took them out on a boat to watch all of the fireworks and eat dinner. They may never want to come home.

At home, Hubby and I have been busy. I worked 4 days this week and stayed longer on one day. My paycheck will be a good one. I have been doing all of the household chores myself. The kids usually do chores but since they are away, it's all me. I have been doing some short cuts on cooking.

I have been eating lots of salad thanks to all of the lettuce from the garden. I have pulled out several single serve serving of soups from the freezer. Hubby had some chili that was in the freezer too. I fried a bunch of chicken cutlets that became multiple dinners. We have been eating leftover frozen pancakes and waffles as well as bagels that were frozen from my son's job. PB&J as well as hard  boiled eggs have been eaten for easy lunches. The upstairs freezer has some room in it. Since I have been so busy, I am taking full advantage of precooked meals to save time and energy. We did get gyros one night as a treat. They are huge so we had leftovers for lunch the next day.


Ibotta had some great rebates this week. It was national french fry day so they were offering free fries. Stop & Shop had one size and Shop Rite had another. I went to both stores to get them. Hubby loves free fries. Because of 2 July boosts I will receive over $15 back on $40 of items. I call that a win.


I have been listing items like crazy on eBay and Craigslist. I sold a mini fridge that we had gotten in the middle of May for $40. I also sold several small items on eBay. I used all used packaging to send the purchases out. All profits are going towards redoing our driveway this fall. 

Hubby and I paid our bills online saving us the cost of stamps. We also went over our budget. We now know the final price for the work on our driveway. It will be started (hopefully) the last week of August. We have rearranged our budget so that we will have all of the money saved before the project starts. We will be paying for it in stages as work is completed but I wanted to have all of the money before it begins. 

Renewed library movies online, saving me gas and time.


We ended up buying a carpet cleaner. Hubby saw a great deal on Amazon. I had a $25 GC to Best Buy and they price match. It is $30 to rent it around here. If we use it 5 times it paid for itself. I also don't have to kill myself to do all the carpets in one day which is what I usually end up doing. I can do one room at a time. With Oreo getting older, she is having more accidents. This will help so much. We started in the living room. We were given money for our anniversary from my parents to buy something that we wanted. The money covered this and there is still some more left. 


Look at the before and after. GROSS!


It rained 3 times this week so I didn't have to water those days. The garden is doing great. I have been weeding like a maniac. Everyday I just keep going out there and trying to keep them at bay. I wish my veggies grew as fast as the weeds. I have picked several heads of lettuce, lots of peppers , a few peas, thyme, basil, parsley and my first few string beans. The kale has gone to seed so I have been collecting the seed pods for future use. I have so many that I am going to give some to OD.

I brought lunch, water and snacks to work all week. Hubby works very close to home so he goes home for lunch. It is very convenient because he can eat leftovers and can let the dogs out. His boss was overwhelmed one day and wasn't able to get lunch(he doesn't bring it). Hubby called me at work to see if it was alright if he brought the rest of the chicken noodle soup to work for him. He also brought some bread. His boss was very grateful and said how lucky hubby is to have a wife that likes to cook. It was sweet. 


I have been hanging most of my laundry to dry. If it rains I hang it inside on the clothes rack. While out walking, Hubby and I came across a pile of stuff in front of someone's house that was getting thrown away. There was a very nice folding clothes rack so we took it. I have been using it and there is nothing wrong with it. It will come in handy when the weather gets cold because the laundry takes so much longer to dry then. 

My friend invited me over after work one day since she knows my kids are away. We had a great time talking without spending any money. She even sent me home with some leftover coffee cake that she made. 


I went to breakfast with a friend on another morning. I used a GC that I got for my birthday so it cost me $0. She brought me coupons that she wasn't going to use. I was going there after we were done so I adjusted my shopping list. One of the coupons was for free waffles. We don't eat them so I offered to pick them up for her. She was delighted. If she didn't want them I would have picked them up and given them to someone else since they were free. There is a free item every week so that is always nice.

Several of the items I bought this week (poptarts and waffles) had a free book promotion on the packages through Kelloggs. After I added my receipts I was able to get credit for 4 free books. 

Hubby and I have been having lots of dates while the kids are away. One night we went to a nearby town that has lots of cute shops. We walked around looking. Hubby treated me to a chocolate malt. We have watched several movies from the library and we have gone on several walks together. 


Cherries were on sale for $1.67 this week so I got 5 pounds which was all I was allowed. My FIL loves cherries in grappa so we made 4 jars. Hubby likes Cherries in brandy so we made 5 jars. They are supposed to sit for at least 6 weeks but Hubby has already sampled a few. These will be gifts for upcoming birthdays. If I can get more cherries on sale I may make more. We already had the grappa and brandy on hand. They were gifts to us. 


We really miss the kids but we are keeping ourselves busy. It has been a sneak peak as to what  our lives will be like in a few more years. 

What did you do this week to save money? Are you doing any side gigs to make any extra money? 




Comments

  1. Hi Mcoia and so glad you and your husband have been having a few dates and spending quality time with each other :). The cherries were a fantastic deal.

    Here is how we saved our last week -

    Our Vicky challenge added up to $248.40 last week :).

    Earnings -
    - Earned $44.69 from the sale of thyme picked and dried from the gardens and saved capsicum seeds from the gardens through my eBay internet shop.

    Purchases -
    - Purchased 7 x 250 g of strawberries on special saving $4.38.

    Blessings -
    - After having a smashing good time with a couple of recycled jars I had here due to really cold sub zero temperatures here on jam making I texted 2 close friends living within a couple of blocks of me who supplied me with 12 washed out and recycled jars & lids they had saving $12 over purchasing them in the shops. We now have adopted a warm up jars with hot tap water and then putting the jars and lids in and filled with boiling water and emptying them out just before pouring the hot jam in them. Bingo no broken jars due to very low winter temperatures and another case of we live and learn new skills and techniques :).

    Trading -
    - Traded 46 g garden picked and dried French lavender, 28 g of English lavender, 21 g of marigold (calendula) flowers and 100 g of dried rubbed oregano and 26 g of dried tarragon from excess pantry stocks for 3 x 44 g lavender lip balms, 1 x 25 g of chocolate lip balm, 3 x 10 g lavender lip balms and 1 x 10 g of vanilla lip balm saving less postage $65.92 over purchasing them locally. Thank you lovely fellow bluebird :).

    Finances -
    - Banked more money into our home deposit savings account bringing us to 26.56% of the way there.

    In the kitchen -
    - Made 12 jars or 3.608 kg for $21.31 from some home grown and some purchased strawberries and free lemon juice given to us by a friend saving $38.58 over purchasing it in the supermarkets for an equivalent quality. 2 jars will go to the ladies that kindly supplied us with the jars as a thank you.
    - Made 2.8 kg of homemade honey,oat,coconut,almond and sultana granola from items in the pantry saving $28.69 less expenses over purchasing the same quality in the shops.

    In the gardens -
    - Picked 1.127 kg of cherry tomatoes saving $11.27 over purchasing them in the supermarkets.
    - Separated thyme picked and dried from the gardens making 319 g saving $42.87 over purchasing similar organic dried herbs in our local shops.
    - Picked another huge lot of thyme, English and French lavender from the gardens which we are drying for sale and home use.
    - Saved a lot of marigold seeds from the gardens to replant into another garden bed around the house.

    Hope everyone has had an equally wonderful week :).

    Sewingcreations15.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You had a very productive week. Sorry some of your jars broke. Glad that your friends were able to help you out with extra jars. You had some wonderful trades. Don't you love when you can get something you need just by getting rid of excess items that you have? Have a wonderful week.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds like a wonderfully frugal week. Nice on the carpet cleaner. That will be nice to have on hand.
    I bet the kids are having an absolute ball. What an adventure.
    Hope you have another great week.

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  4. Sounds like a nice, productive and fun week! I have never thought to put the cherries in brandy. They are currently on sale here so I will try it. I have some brandy that was a gift also.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The brandy cherries need to sit for at least 6 weeks. The grappa ones I let sit for 4 months. My FIL really likes to let them soak.

      2 1/2 lbs of pitted cherries
      2 cups brandy
      1/2 cup brown sugar
      1/2 cup white sugar
      1/2 teaspoon 5 spice

      mix all ingredients in a sauce pan until the sugar dissolves then put cherries in jars and pour the brandy mixture over the cherries. We keep them refrigerated. Enjoy.

      Delete
  5. Sounds like your kids are having a wonderful time and that you have been keeping busy! Great deal on that carpet cleaner!

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  6. We have been looking for one for a few months. Finally found one that we were willing to buy. The kids are having an amazing time. Have a great day. I hope you are doing alright with this heat.

    ReplyDelete

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