My Frugal List: Week of September 10, 2018

 My week has been crazy. I ended up with an emergency visit to the eye doctor. I woke up Friday in the middle of the night in extreme pain.  I though Hubby might have accidentally punched me in the eye with his elbow (he didn't). My eye wouldn't stop tearing and I was in a ton of pain. I woke hubby up and he tried looking at my eye.  The light was killing it.  He got me drops (they burned), a cold rag and pain meds. After an hour or so, I fell back to sleep, In the morning it was a little better but it was super itchy. I couldn't keep it open because any light was killing it. I have had a virus in my eye about 6 years ago that was pretty bad. I have had pink eye numerous times. This wasn't either of those. The doctor opened at 9 am and that's when I called. They had a 4:30 pm appointment. I said I couldn't wait that long. I will just go to the ER. They said they would squeeze me in at 11 am. So Hubby drove me since we thought they would dilate my eye. I was supposed to work, but I didn't.

Turns out I must have scratched my cornea on Thursday. I had no pain on Thursday. The scratch got a scab and attached to my eyelid while I was sleeping. When I opened my eye in the middle of the night, I ripped the scab off. The doctor put numbing drops and antibiotics in my eye. Then he put a contact lens bandage on my eye. By Friday night, I was 80% better. I had to get drops for my eye and I go back Tuesday. I was in the garden a bunch on Thursday so maybe that is when it happened. I am not a wimp when it comes to pain. I have had cavities done with no shots. This hurt like crazy!


I was canning a bunch this week. I burned one of my fingers. Not badly. I have a huge aloe plant. I cut a piece off and kept rubbing it on the burn. I have used it so many times over the years. 


I made salsa with tomatoes and peppers from my garden. I canned 4 pints and put a container in the fridge for snacks. This was my first time ever canning salsa. It came out really good.


I made relish with cucumbers and peppers from my garden. I have so many cucumbers. I figured I would try making some.  I canned 4 pints and put a small container in the fridge. 


Becky made some pickled peppers. I have so many right now and froze more then I will need for the year.  I asked Hubby if he would like to try them and he said go for it. I made a quart.  next week we will try them after they sit and if we like them I will make more. 


I canned the horseradish pickles that I made a few weeks ago. They came out good. I also canned 6 more quarts of sauce. All canning water went to my plants when it cooled off.


I have been drying herbs in the oven when I turn it off. I will use these all winter long. 


My garden is slowing down some. I am getting carrots now, which is nice. I chopped the tops and froze them to use in soups. This basket weighed in at just under 18 pounds. I am picking about every 2-3 days now. 


YD and I went to the outlets out on the Island. They had sent me some coupons for $10 off $10 purchase.  I am always willing to use other people's money. We got a few Christmas presents for free. 

Since we were out East, we went to few of the farm stands that we like.  We got a bushel of corn for $21. It had 53 huge ears. That is a little less then 40¢ an ear. I wouldn't pay that for the stuff in the stores but this corn is the best. They are huge and so sweet.  Now I need to process some for the winter. 


We had a friend over that is recently single. Hubby helped her move some furniture with his truck. She ate dinner at our house. I sent her home with leftovers. I also gave her some items that she didn't have. I am always picking up items cheap from yard sales, garbage piles and thrift stores. I gave her a big pot (she only took a small one), a spatula, a pair of tongs, and a brownie pan. I am going to go through what I have in the basement now that I know what she needs. I also sent her home with some veggies from the garden and some homemade pickles. 

I made dog food for the puppies. I had bought a chicken from BJ's earlier in the week and I don't like to make stock out of those bones. Oreo and Lip are happy to eat it. 


With the weather cooling down some I did some baking. Hubby and the kids were happy to eat the blueberry muffins. Hubby and I got Chinese one night when it was just us home. There was enough leftovers for my son to take some to work and my daughter to have lunch. Everything else (except the chicken from BJ's) was cooked at home. 


I got lots of  freebies this week. Some were from a  bunch of coupons we had gotten. 

I have a Bridal shower coming up. I used a $10 off $30 purchase coupon and a $25 gift card that I earned from Swagbucks. The gift cost me $18 OOP. The store has free wrapping so I did it there. The gift retails for $50. I was happy with what I paid and the bride gets something that she wanted. 


Hubby was offered 2 tickets to the Jets home opening game. I am not a football fan, so he brought YD who is. It was in a suite again. This vendor is the same one that gave us Billy Joel tickets. They had free food and drinks in the suite. They also met 2 cheerleaders for pictures. Hubby did have to pay for driving there and parking ($40) but they had a wonderful day. 

I signed up for several classes that are happening over the next few months at the library. YD also signed up for some. I rented movies and books. My son needed to read Beowulf for his English class. Instead of buying it we checked it out from the library. 

I did only full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine. Most of the laundry was hung outside. I washed baggies. I used the dog food bag as a kitchen bad. Lunches and dinners were brought to school/work. Reusable water bottles were taken everywhere. I listed more items on Craigslist and eBay. I sold 2 items this week. I sent them out in used boxes. We have used the AC only 2 days this week.

What did you do that was frugal this week? 







Comments

  1. Oh my goodness!!! Reading your description of your eye pain and what happened made me gasp out loud. You poor thing! That must have been awful. I'm glad you're on the mend, but WHEW!!! Thank goodness for modern medicine. The rest of your week looks pretty good. Hope you continue to mend quickly!

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  2. Hi Mcoia and you did so well with your freebies, preserving and bargains. I am glad you were able to sort out what the pain in your eye was and I agree scratching your eye hurts like the begeebers :( .

    Our savings added up to $407.35 this week :).

    Finances and listings -
    - Listed 15 items on eBay using a free listing promotion saving $24.75 over usual listing costs.

    Earnings-
    - Earned $12.91 from the sale of 100 g of thyme picked and dried from the gardens.

    Purchases -
    - With money earned from the sale of handmade items and herbs I purchased off eBay 2 parts of the tightwad gazette saving $59.62 on new prices, 2 wrist guards saving $3.90 and 2 knee guards saving $1.42 on usual prices.

    Groceries -
    - Did our last part of our 3 monthly shop and ended up being $172.30 under our grocery budget for the 3 months yay !. Buying only when things are on special is paying off and our pantry stockpile is growing steadily :).
    - I saved a further $19.70 by buying specials over and above the $40 saved using our $240 for $200 Woolworths e-voucher.
    - We topped up above our usual stocks on 12 tins of mango slices, 11 bottles of sarsparilla, 12 pkts of baking chocolate chips, 1 container of cottage cheese, 1 carton of wet cat food and 2 pkts of dry cat food.

    In the gardens -
    - Harvested 29 bunches of silver beet and 2 kg of broccoli from the gardens saving $112.75 over purchasing them in the shops. We blanched and froze these giving us 23 more double meals of silver beet and 2 more double meals of broccoli. Our silver beet is likely going to bolt with the heat so we try and stock the freezer in the cooler months for summer.
    - Started white onion, carrot, cucumber and capsicum seeds in pots on the veranda and the onions, carrot and cucumber seeds are already sprouting :). We started them in pots as our frosts here are just over and this gives us a head start for the vegetable gardens.

    Have a great week ahead everyone :).

    Sewingcreations15.

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    Replies
    1. That is pretty funny. You stock your freezers for the summer and I stock mine for the winter. Glad we are both able to stock them no matter when we need it. You did great with your shopping. You are really stretching out those vouchers. Glad you are getting so ahead with your pantry. Have a wonderful week.

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  3. I have sooooooooooooo much empathy. I have accidentally scratched my cornea before. I suffered for over 1 year (accidentally ripping the scab off). Finally, I wen to a specialist, who did minor cornea surgery, therapeutic contact lens. This was over 20 years ago and with the surgery, I still have 20/20 sight. Thank God for good doctors. Bless them all.

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  4. I go back to the doctor today after work. It feels much better. Not used to contact lens so that feels weird. We will see what the doctor says. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

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  5. I'm so sorry you hurt your eye. That's just awful! I'm glad you are feeling a little better now.

    I'm happy that you made the peppers. I hope you enjoy them. Today, I worked on more tomato products, and am happy with the Mexican and Italian sauces I made. I was super surprised to find more cucumbers when I looked in the garden. Like a quart, 2 pints and 1 tiny jar full of pickles worth, that are now cooling on the table on the covered porch. I found a couple of hot peppers hiding under leaves, so threw them in with the cucumbers. I love zesty pickles. There was one sad and sorry looking dill bush with enough heads left to make the pickles. My garden is winding down, too, but still giving me quite a bit!

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    Replies
    1. I love when you find surprise vegetables. They like to hide in my garden. Just found a huge cucumber. Don't know how I missed it.

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