My Frugal List: Week of January 1, 2019
It has been very different this week. I haven't worked at a job all week. It is going to take a while to get used to this. I don't have to rush to get the laundry hung before I leave for work. I can get used to that. Hubby is also enjoying it as I have made him breakfast every single day.
I made a batch of GF banana chocolate chip muffins for YD. I threw walnuts in 2 of them to see if she liked them that way. She preferred them plain. I froze most of them so that she can grab one when she wants.
I made more juice with apples I had gotten marked down. I put carrots and some grapes that were frozen in it too.
I hate to waste food, so I made apple cinnamon syrup with the cores.
I then made 2 apple cakes using the leftover pulp. Hubby was happy to take them to work.
It was my Dad's birthday so my sister had us over for dinner to celebrate. We brought a bunch of pastries from my son's job and dairy free chocolate chip cookies that I made for Hubby. YD asked me to bring a muffin for her. My sister sent me home with some leftovers. My mom gave me another container of homemade donuts. YUM!
I cooked potato corn chowder substituting GF flour for regular flour. It came out great. This is one of our favorites so I was a little worried.
Hubby can't eat that so I made him a pot of pasta fagioli, which is one of his favorites. I froze some of both soups to make for an easy dinner one night. Just because I don't work outside of the house anymore, doesn't mean I don't want a night off.
I made mouthwash out of my essential oils.
My friend and I went to a free painting class at the library. She drove. When it was done she came back and went through all of the free yarn that a co-worker had given me. She took a box worth. She is the friend that made me the beautiful blanket so I know she will put the yarn to good use.
I received this Email on New Years Day. My son and I have been picking them up everyday. Whatever we don't eat, I will give away. I gave my dad the one I picked up on the way to his party.
YD and I went to see Mary Poppins after school. We loved it. I have a bunch of free passes that I can use. Also several co-workers told me that I can use their free passes any time I want. I was also allowed the free popcorn, so YD enjoyed that too. While we were there. YD mentioned that she still wanted to see Aquaman. So on Sunday, YD, Hubby and I went to see it too. My son wasn't interested. We had a good time there too. I dread the day that I have to pay for a movie. They are not cheap.
My cousin had surgery. She asked if I could help with her 3 boys while she and her husband were at the hospital. Another cousin was going to get the 2 older ones on buses and then watch the little guy. I would come over after lunch. My one cousin works for the government and is not working right now because of the government shut down. She said if I had other things to do to not worry about it. She is single and doesn't have kids. I said I would still come over and help out. She ended up staying the whole time and we got to catch up. I don't get to see her often. I had a lot of fun with the boys too. I miss having little ones.
Hubby and I went out to lunch with a gift card we got for Christmas. There is still some left on the gift card.
I made Oreo more dog food.
I went grocery shopping with a gift card I got for Christmas. I splurged and got a few snacks. They were all on sale though. I also used coupons and Ibotta. There is still money left for next week.
I oiled my island in the kitchen. It helps to keep it looking nice.
Gas has been cheaper lately but I still watch where it is the cheapest. My Cumberland Farms was it the other day so I filled up there. They have a promo that you can get any fountain drink or hot drink free. I got a large hot chocolate. They have flavored creamers so I grabbed a few of them too.
YD is getting ready to go on her Senior trip. She needs snow gear. I put an SOS out to everyone because I don't want to have to buy everything for one weekend. My sister pulled out her old jacket and snow books. A friend of YD's that is a year older said she can borrow her pants. My parents gave her some money to use on the trip as everything isn't covered. We are looking good.
YD was informed that she won another scholarship to another college. We are very proud of her.
Hubby and I closed out the budget for the year. We did really well. Some categories came in a little over and some came in a little under but nothing crazy. We are working on our 2019 budget and goals.
All of our Christmas decorations are put away. My son did all of the outside lights by himself during the week. We did the rest on Sunday.
What did you do this week to stay frugal?
What a great week it sounds like you had.
ReplyDeleteIt really does take some time to get used to not working. We all think it would be easy, but it truly isn't. You will get into a flow eventually. Take time to just enjoy!
Thanks.
DeleteMcoia and glad you have been having wonderful times with your family and good on your daughter for getting another scholarship. With not working it will take a while but you will get used to it and probably get far more done as well with more time :).
ReplyDeleteOur savings last week added up to $239.06.
We have not purchased anything apart from a few soft drinks at the local RSL club, really reasonable prices, to celebrate us finding the floor with no boxes in the home anymore, yay, apart from a couple of small ones for storing some items :).
Finances -
- We have paid off 1.66% off the capital and are in advance in payments on our home loan since the start date being the 19th of December. I chose to pay all of the setup bank loan fees off straight away so we don't incur any interest on them.
Home Organisation -
- Finished unpacking & setting up the sewing, lounge and rumpus room in the home. I am ready now to sew some more and organised and rolled up my rolls of ribbons in a new box and reused an old tuppleware container to store all of my threads.
- We reused a pine shelf we had to create a wall shelf for all of our music CD's in the lounge room and mounted it with wall plugs and screws we already had.
- We replaced all of the tap washers in the home which were not changed in an eon and we had to persuade getting the taps off with a hammer to break up the calcification (just get a bigger hammer we always say :) ). It took a couple of hours saving us $103.80 over getting a plumber in to do it for us.
- Another trip to the tip to drop off all of the cardboard boxes (which we put in a charity bin for them to raise funds with) and the old TV antenna we had replaced with a new one.
- DH repaired the kitchen table by putting in more screws we had here as well.
Have a fantastic week ahead everyone :).
Sewingcreations15 (Lorna)
You deserve a drink to celebrate your new home. The hose sounds like it is coming along nicely.
DeleteCongrats to your daughter on the scholarship, that's wonderful!!!
DeleteAfter my son went to school (and I was no longer homeschooling him), I was like, "Oh my goodness, I'm going to be able to get so much done! It's going to be amazing!" And I did get a lot done, but not even a fraction of the stuff I *wanted* to get done. My to-do lists just grew longer and longer with the thought of how much free time I'd have. Turns out there are still only 24 hours in a day, and a decent portion of them need to be spent asleep, lol. But it was indeed nice to be able to get *some* of what I wanted accomplished, and I hope you find your groove at home quickly! :)
Thank you. YD has always worked very hard in school. My to do list is very long. I am taking it 1 day at a time right now. All of my family and friends want to get together so my days are filling up with that too.
DeleteYou will fill your days and find you are as busy as ever. I am so happy you are out of that mess you were in, although I am sure you loved it in some ways it is time for you.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I love some of my co-workers but I will keep in contact with them. It was a long time working there and I don't do that well with change.
DeleteI love your idea of making mouthwash with essential oils, could you elaborate? I use essential oil to make a bathroom spray but using essential oil to rinse my mouth just never occurred to me.
ReplyDeleteI have been making Christmas gifts for my grandsons day care teachers since my sil has not found a job yet and if he finds one before Christmas, they have a lot to catch up on so I'm starting to make the gifts she needs early and from my fabric stash.
I used a reusable water bottle I had. I used 10 oz. of water, 6 drops of lemongrass oil and 4 drops of peppermint oil. Shake well before using it. There are many versions out there. Lots of them call for sea salt but I left that out because I have to watch my sodium. The first 2 days my tongue tingled after using it. Do Not Swallow it. I hope your SIL is back to work soon. That is nice of you to make them gifts.
DeleteThank you. I will try this as soon as I see we are getting close to running out of the one we have. It would be a $9 savings. I have enjoyed reading your blog.
DeleteThank you. My son gave me a book on essential oils last year and I have been trying to use more oil solutions instead of store bought products.
DeleteI'm glad you are adjusting to not having a job. I'm sure you are going to feel unsettled for a while, though. Big changes are like that for me, as well. In fact, I remember a day, not so long ago, where I didn't have to go to work, and I was not homeschooling my niece. I found myself going around and around the kitchen in circles--from one activity to another, to another, simply not sure of what to do with myself, there were so many possibilities. Thankfully, I settled down, and started in on projects, and the day ended up well, but frankly, it took me a little while to know what to do with so much time to get "it all" done, and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my freedom:). So, give yourself some grace as you figure out your new normal.
ReplyDeleteI think it sounds like it will be very freeing for you to not have to adjust your schedule so often--1 week's notice of a schedule sounds like it would be difficult to have any kind of a planned life--my calendar already has appointments for months from now on it--such as 6-month dental check-ups and my daughter's camp, etc. I would dislike it very much to have to re-adjust my schedule daily.
I have been going through the kitchen, cabinet by cabinet. Scrubbing, condensing and organizing. I have a donate bag, a sell bag and a bags for several family and friends. It is long overdo and is looking great. When I am done with the kitchen I will start on a new room.
Delete