Our Frugal Week

Not a new lamp though it looks brand new.  John spray painted this lamp this week.  Formerly a navy blue with a '90's gold and white design on the front, this lamp is now a lovely oil rubbed bronze and looks like a 'modern' lamp instead of a leftover from another era.


In My Home:

The paintwork is pretty much complete.  This photo best shows off the new color and how well it matches my bench and shade material.

John carefully put back our things as a surprise for me last Friday afternoon.  He wanted the room to be complete by Sundown on Sabath and it very nearly was.  Complete enough at least to put back our things.
It took just 1 gallon of paint (with enough left for touch-ups) to transform this room from a floral stripe to a calming oasis.  I confess I spend time just standing in the doorway admiring it all, lol.

This room and the lamp above, as well as a towel hanger we've had for a very long time were our paint projects this week and I'm reminded yet again that a fresh coat of paint is one of the best ways to transform anything on a budget.

We shopped Monday for decorative items to go in the bath but nothing grabbed our attention.  We saw lots of pretty things, some were on sale but nothing we really felt was just perfect.  I came away with a $2.00 iron soap dish for the sink.  John bought small artists brushes to do touch ups with on some of the trimwork.  We spent less than $10 that day including tax.

I had paint on hand for the trim touch-ups.  I picked it up earlier this year from a clearance bin.

Saved water to put on the plants on the back porch.  Our weather this week has been increasingly warm and quite dry.  I was happy for the rain we got on Friday.

The petunia I dug up from a discarded pot of soil (not the little ones now growing on the front porch from the old rose bush planter) bloomed out a pale lavender which is lovely with the purple and white mums I planted two weeks ago.  Glad I rescued that plant...Now I wonder what color those on the front porch will turn out to be.

Washed and hung out a load of towels and tablecloth yesterday.

Stopped to drop off trash at the dump and discovered a stack of plates, bread and butter plates and saucers that were so cute.  They looked as though they'd been stored in a cardboard box.  I brought them home, bleached and washed them.  They are so cute and will mix well with my plain white dishes.

John continues to enjoy his Christmas gift. He watched football Monday night and again Saturday afternoon.  He plans to watch Sunday as well.

John watching football is far better than I've been this month with my single selection from Netflix.  I've sworn myself to watching the dvd and returning it now the end of September is here.  I must say that for our $10 worth of entertainment Netflix and local channels for football has been some of the best money spent despite my lack  of movie viewing this month.

Found my new set of napkins match well with three other tablecloths I have.  I was happy to pair them with a different cloth this weekend.

Did some shopping for myself this week.  I needed some new things to replace worn items from summer's wardrobe.  I was very happy to find a pair of black pants.  I have held onto several pretty tops that needed black pants and so I've just boosted my wardrobe big time.

Moved some of the shabby looking t-shirts and tops to the 'house clothes' drawer.  These are nice tops I'll hold onto until the current ones are too stained to look decent.  They then become rags and I will move on to the fresh lot of shirts.

I've had a problem with dry skin on my feet all year long.  I've tried this product and that one, some expensive and some moderate priced.  The best product to date has been Corn Huskers Lotion.  I apply it nightly, put on some knit slipper socks and let my feet absorb the lotion.  Corn Huskers Lotion is the least expensive option of all I've tried, less than $2.50 for the bottle.

In the Kitchen:
Made another entree and put half in the freezer.  I'm determined to fill my freezer with foodstuffs and to have a good supply of convenient to prepare meals on hand.

A few months ago I'd read a tip to keep just bought bananas in a plastic bag, removing only as many as you wanted to ripen right away.  I tried it with a produce bag from the grocery and it worked just okay...But this past pay period we bought bananas at Aldi, which come in a heavier plastic bag.  I removed half the bunch which ripened in two or three days and left the rest in the tightly closed bag.  I took them out Thursday, 1 week after purchase, and they were only just ripe.  I'm convinced now that I've had bananas to eat for two weeks without spoiling.

Opened the last packet of bone-in chicken breasts we bought.  Again these breasts were very large.  I cut them in half (debated cutting them into thirds) and prepared two separate meals from the two breasts.

I didn't buy pet foods this past pay period and know I'll be running low by end of this one.  I've been saving table scraps from our dinner plates in the freezer.  I'll thaw the day before they are needed to feed the dogs.  I might have enough for two days.

Saved leftover biscuit and corn breads for future pans of dressing.  I put them in a zippered bag in the freezer and need only crumble when I'm ready to make dressing or stuffing.

Washed full loads of dishes.

I am happy that I planned very well this pay period.  I ran out of milk and bread, coffee, mayonnaise, soy sauce...And all I had to do was walk to the back pantry and pick up a replacement from freezer or pantry shelf.

Made two pints of yogurt.

Made Chicken Potstickers from scratch.  Because my wonton wrappers were so big, they were larger than usual dumplings.  I put half of them in the freezer and flash froze for a future meal.

I had leftover wontons.  Not enough cabbage on hand to make egg rolls so I froze the remaining wontons for future use.