Making Cents Of It All

Tomatoes are coming in like crazy. I have been using them up as fast as I can.  I dehydrated a bunch. I put them in a jar I had and added olive oil. They went into the fridge.   I cooked the rest of the tomatoes that I had at the time. I made pasta for dinner that night and I still had 3 containers for future, easy meals. They all went into the freezer.  I went to Aldi for milk and pumpkins. Pumpkins are $2.99 each this week. I got 4. They kids don't care about going pumpkin picking anymore. As long as we go apple picking I am told. We have gone apple picking twice already and are hoping to get a third time in soon. I will cook the pumpkins after Halloween.  I made cinnamon apples one morning. We were out of apple syrup so I cooked up the cores and peels to make some. It is so easy.  I got a little over a jars worth. Hubby used some on his waffles the next morning.  I cleaned out the fridge. ...

I am doing really well on my Christmas shopping. I had $10 in Kohl's cash. I bought this(can't show you exactly because people look at this blog) and I spent 3¢ so I am calling it free since I found a dime by the register.  My girlfriend and I went out to lunch using gift cards. Can you guess where? I was given a free drink. I brought it home for Hubby. My friend had a bunch of coupons for free cookies. She gave me one and I passed it on to my son.  A friend gave me this nail kit that she had been given. It went into the gift pile.  She also gave me these sticker labels. They went with the Christmas stuff.  Did everyone get their coupon for tuna?  I helped the high school PTA out on Open School. I manned the snack table so that my friend's could go to their kid's classes. There was a bunch leftover so they gave me some donuts to bring home.  They garden keeps on giving.  P wanted to go to Friendl...

This time of year lots of canned goods go on sale. So I had to get some.  I stocked up on beans that were 2 for $1. It was a limit of 4 each so I got an assortment. We do use dried beans too. Canned are great for vacations or busy nights. I got 32 cans. I got a work out carrying them in and putting them away.  16 ounce bags were on sale too. I got 5 of the barley and 5 of the lentils. This will be great for soup all winter long.  Cases of dog food were 75% off. Oreo loves these so I got 3 cases.  Gala Apples were 88¢ a pound. You could only get 5 pounds.  Coffee was on the clearance rack.   These will be Christmas presents and go in baskets of food.  They were 75% off. Candy was marked down to 24¢. I would love to tell you that this is for Trick or Treaters but they are not. My son and I will eat them. I will also give some to P.  The garden is still giving...

Some weeks you get a few small freebies like last  week . I am happy with all of the free items I get. However the big freebies are amazing. This week we had 2.  Youngest Daughter was awarded a scholarship for this semester of college. She applied for it the first week of school and we were just notified. She was awarded $1,775. We are so proud of her. She would have to work a lot of hours at her job to make that kind of money. She spent less then an hour filling out a few scholarships back in August and it paid off for her. Since we already paid her tuition in full we can either leave it in her account for the spring or get a refund. We are opting for the refund.  Hubby's company had their annual free company picnic. They had a bounce house, sand art, crafts for the little kids, cotton candy machine, pinatas, and lots of food. They also do several raffles. Hubby won a $250 gift card. We also came home with a bunch of food, snacks and drinks. I shared...

We got 50 pounds of potatoes from a local farm for $15. We picked 13 pounds of apples.  18 count eggs were on sale for 99¢. It was a limit of 3.  Pasta was on sale for 88¢ I got the 2 kinds that we needed.  Olives were on sale for 99¢ I got 12.  OJ was on sale for $1.99 each. Ketchup for 39¢ I will always take. Chapstick 3 packs were on the clearance rack. They will be going into stockings for Christmas.  I added another bag of hot peppers to the freezer. More kale got added to the freezer too.  I need to make more sauce.  Cases of seltzer were on sale 5 for $10.  These granola bars went to work with Hubby for his snack drawer.  Lastly I got hot sauce 75% off for my son.  What did you add to your pantry this week?