My Frugal List: Week of April 30, 2018


I hope everyone had a great week. We did . The weather is wonderful. We had 2 hot days in the 80's and now we are back to high 60's, low 70's for the next few days. This is the weather I love. I don't need the heat or air conditioner on. I can wear jeans and a t-shirt and be comfortable. I can work outside and not sweat to death. Spring, you finally arrived. 


We have been doing lots of outside work. My large garden had some wood rotting out so Hubby replaced it with treated cedar we kept from my sister's swing set when we tore it down for her. Hubby wanted to get it done before I planted so as not to disturb the plants. We have done several projects with the free wood and have enough wood to do several more. 


My son and I cleaned out the garden that has our blueberry bushes and fig trees. I received 2 of the bushes from OD for my anniversary and then Hubby and the kids got me 3 more for Mother's Day last year. They all look like they are doing well and survived their first winter.  We got a hand full of berries last year. I am hoping for a bunch this year. I dumped our coffee grinds around the bushes too. We bought 2 grape vines. Hubby planted them. Not expecting anything from them this year. We try to add more fruits to our yard every year. We started doing this about 4 years ago when we got our peach tree. We now have 4 fig trees, 5 blueberry bushes, 3 grape vines and a peach tree. We are trying to grow more of our own food every year. 


The kale is doing great. I have thinned it out some more. Baby kale plants keep popping up. I transplanted them into a new room. We will see if they take.


My peas have sprouted and are looking good. 


I worked 22 hours this week.  2 1/2 were a breakfast meeting on Saturday. I helped with the clean up. There was a ton of leftovers. We are allowed to take some home.  I set up some leftovers in the break room for people to have throughout the day. 


We ate very well this week. We had steal cut oats, bagels, egg sandwiches, egg souffles and leftover waffles for breakfasts.


For lunch we had leftovers, hard boiled eggs, green salads, cold cut sandwiches, and soup. A friend had surgery so I made a double batch of pasta fagioli. Some for us, some for her.

Dinners were pasta with meatballs, pork carnitas, homemade pizza bagels,  flank steak, fajitas, and leftovers. 


One of the car's had a recall on the airbags. Hubby made an appointment and we dropped it off. They always have bagels and coffee for customers so we each took a bagel when we dropped it off and picked it up. While the car was there, Hubby had them look at the sun roof since it was having a problem. They fixed it.  The airbags were covered. The car has been paid off for years. It is a 2006 Hyundai and my son drives it. It is still in great condition since Hubby and my son take great care of it. 

I went to the library and returned DVD's and books. I got another book that I had put on hold. I also signed up for another museum pass to use over the summer for a free day out. 

I sold an item on eBay. Used on old bubble envelope to mail it out.

I lost 3 pounds over the last 2 weeks. I forgot to put it in last weeks post. Sorry. All of the yard work and walks have been helping. I am not eating a snack before bed anymore. Just cutting out that one thing has really helped me lose some weight. 

I made bread crumbs with the Italian bread I was given last weekend. Used my parsley and basil that I dried from last year. Can't wait for the fresh herbs. 

I broke my clothes line where it connects to the house while trying to hang a comforter by myself. Hubby was able to fix it with items we already had.  Hung most of our laundry outside.


I had done a survey and received $5 for it. It took me about 5 minutes to do.

YD wanted iced coffee on one of the hot days. We went to DD because I had a gift card. We also got 2 containers of ice cream 2 for $10. A small cone is $3.49. I would not have bought the ice cream if I didn't have the gift card. We have been eating ice cream cones all week. I still have money left on the GC.

I got lots of marked down fruits and veggies from the reduced rack.


I also got London broils on sale for $1.99 a pound. I have gotten 4 packs so far and I am hoping to get more this week. The sale is until Thursday. You can only get 2 packs at a time and each pack has 2  in each. I cut 1 steak up for meat in stew or sauce and divided it into 3 baggies. I cut 3 in half as they are very large for 6 future meals. The rest I ground up. I have 8, 1 pound baggies of ground meat now. I always divide the meat up right away and cut it up how I want it. It saves me time in the future. I was very happy to add this to my freezer.


The Arm and Hammer was a money maker this week. It was on sale $1.99. I downloaded a $1 coupon limit 1. Then Ibotta had $1.20 rebate for the sensitive skin version. I have a decent stockpile of laundry detergent but I will always take it if they want to pay me for it. The strawberries were on sale too.  I also got the past 2 weeks of  Friday Freebies, dog food and cottage cheese. I don't like cottage cheese but my sister does. 


I found 18¢ this week. 

I did our usual stuff, washed Ziplocs, watched food waste, only ran full loads in the washing machine and dishwasher, paid bills online. I mended a pair of my son's jeans. We always try to use what we have, borrow it or fix it before buying it. We look for used before buying new. 

What did you do this week to save yourself some money? 


















Comments

  1. Hello everyone and I hope you have all had a frugal week :).

    Here is how we saved last week -

    Finances & free internet listings -
    - Banked more money into our home deposit savings account bringing us to 25.20% of the way there.
    - Made $21.21 from the sale of seeds and a homemade bread bag on eBay which I downloaded to top up the pantry stocking budget from a large stock up in February.
    - Took advantage of a free listing promotion on eBay and listed 16 homemade items saving $26.40 on usual listing fees.

    In the gardens -
    - Picked 3 cobs of corn from the gardens saving $5.50 over purchasing them and blanched and froze them for another meal for the two of us in the freezer.
    - Dug out spent corn plants out of the garden and put them in the bin as some had a fungal infection on them.
    - Used some Lucerne hay and mixed that with dried grass clippings and dried leaves raked from the yard which we ran over with the ride on lawn mower with catcher and mulched the equivalent of one 9 x 2mt vegetable garden bed with. This makes the Lucerne hay last much longer so we are not buying it so often as it is now getting expensive.
    - Weeded the 2 part garden beds as we went before mulching.

    Apart from that we stayed away from the shops as there was no bargains we needed and we washed out baggies, used dish rinsing, blanching and shower warm up water to water the seedlings in the gardens, used grey water to water the lawns and lily beds and only turned on the electric hot water system when needed to heat the water to save on power bills.

    Sewingcreations15.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You got a lot done. I was listing items this weekend on eBay also because of free listings. I love seeing you home deposit rising. You are doing wonderful. When are you planning on getting into your new home?

      Delete
    2. Thank you for your encouragement :) .

      We are hoping 2 years from about now but hoping for sooner we are pulling out all stops to get there and cutting back expenses where we can.

      Sewingcreations15.

      Delete
    3. It seems to me that when I set a goal I get to it sooner then I think I will. Enjoy the journey!

      Delete
  2. You had a great week! That looks like lots of nice breakfast goodies, and your other meals sound wonderful. It's always great when they will fix something on your car for free, and it is obviously safer, as well. A couple of years back, our Toyota RAV4 had a big recall, and they rebuilt the motor! So, it should work much longer for us.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That is great about your truck. We try to keep our cars as long as possible. We are not about getting a new car every few years. We bought my son's car a few years old for my husband. My son has been driving it the last 2 years. It is a good car that we hope gets him through college.

      Delete
  3. Wow, you did great! I wish I could find good markdowns on produce like you do. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have a lot of stores in a very close area. I am not very picky, I am willing to cut out bad spots. Most people I know just walk right by the shelf without even looking at it.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

First Garden Harvest 2020

Dirt

Welcome to my new blog