Frugal Week - Jan 11-17


Linking to Rebecca at Renaissance and Brandy at Prudent Homemaker


Jan 11:  Not the day planned.  I woke in pain again this morning.  John made breakfast and decided I was in no shape to attempt the long ride to synagogue nor to be left alone.  Sigh. I hate having my day spoiled.  Hate even more when it spoils the day for someone else.

Blessings come in all forms.  We had quite a bit of rain and later a real hard thunderstorm with some heavy winds.  I looked at and the wind was driving the rain almost horizontal.  The yard filled up with puddles in a big hurry and then the puddles turned into lakes and the lakes ran into one another.  It took about an hour to get from us to Macon, just about the time we'd have been driving home from synagogue.  I'm not at all sorry we were at home. Savings gasoline and a lot of tension.




Jan 12:  John started his 24 hour shift work.  I was up bright and early with him and just stayed up.  The coffee was made, the house warm.  Why un-do it all and start all over again?  No economy in that.  I started a load of clothes.  Decided not to go into town for a paper.  Instead I busied myself doing housework.

John's bedside lamp stopped working a couple of weeks ago.  I had three lamps that were just alike, two used as bedside and one in the laundry area.  I swapped lamps in the laundry, and took the bedside  and laundry lamps out to paint so they matched.



 I could have bought new lamps but these work perfectly fine.  And I think they look just lovely now they are painted.

Hung rugs to dry.  When I washed them the backing began to peel away.  I know the rugs have to be replaced very shortly but they will do until I purchase new ones.  I looked online but whoo boy!  Not planning to pay that much for rugs.  As often as I end up replacing them I'll likely buy more kitchen rugs.

Ate leftovers for my dinner.  It was convenient to just heat and eat rather than cook a meal.  When I realized the portion was a little small, I added a tablespoon or two of cottage cheese to it to extend and boost the protein.

I decided there were enough clothes to wash a second full load.  I put these in the dryer, since I waited too late in the afternoon to make this decision.

Jan 13:  Was up extra early one more morning.  I had time to feed Maddie, do Bible study, watch the sunrise. I really should return to getting up around 5:30 every morning. I  feel so much more energetic and get a great deal accomplished even when I feel bad.

Mixed up a breakfast casserole of sorts that used up a leftover portion of grits, a leftover portion of hash-brown casserole.  The two blended really well.  Not something I'd do as a rule but it was a fine way to use up those two items and stretch them to serve two.  I served with fried eggs and toast. 

John came in and did his laundry and hung it to dry.

I washed a full load of dishes in the dishwasher.

While getting ingredients out to make lasagna (a planned over using leftover spaghetti sauce), I found a package of chicken wings I'd forgotten I'd put in the fridge.  They were still good, thank goodness.  I made the chicken wings as my Bbq chicken from the menu.  I also pulled out a rutabaga that I'd bought at the local grocery.  I knew if I didn't cook that rutabaga I'd 'save' it until it was no good.  John will eat rutabaga but doesn't care for it, so I baked him a potato in the oven while the chicken was cooking.

Cooked lasagna in the crock-pot.  I was upset to find it slightly burnt after four hours on low.  I divided the lasagna in half.  One package went into the freezer for a future meal.  The other half went in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner.  I've put a new crock pot/slow cooker on my list of things to shop for...Any recommendations for models that don't cook too hot? 

Made Bbq sauce from a variety of items.  Some store bought sauce, some soy based marinade, some homemade sauce, some ketchup.  It tasted pretty good. These were end portions of bottles and made just enough sauce for the wings.

Packed up leftovers of wings and rutabagas and put in the freezer.  I packaged the rutabagas in serving sized portions for myself.

Jan 14:  Made two loaves of Challah.  We were very low on bread and I needed to keep what I had for John's work lunch.  I put one in the freezer for Shabat on Friday and told John to use the other loaf for meals and snacks.  I'm noting that this is typical lately, my running out of bread mid-grocery weeks.  I've got to adjust the number of loaves I'm buying each pay period to at least four.

Packed a work bag of food for John.  Working 24 hours has taken a little figuring for how much food to send with him.  He eats breakfast at home, so I figured enough for two meals and two snacks.

Jan 15:  Another early morning for us, John off to work. We have a new mattress coming this afternoon, so I asked John to help me remove the mattress set so I could clean under the bed.

Washed two loads of clothes and dried two loads in the dryer.  The two loads in the dryer were a split load from the second wash.  I hung the heavy quilt on the line to dry in the breeze.  It would have taken longer to dry than the two loads I did.

Scanned the grocery store ad that came out today before leaving the house to go to Mama's.

Mama and I discussed what we'd do before we left her home. I needed bread.  I also wanted to look for new pillows and to check out towels.  We decided to go to Target.  I brought along my coupon folder.

I scanned end caps and resisted a few items...but not all.  I couldn't resist the two 5# pounds of Gold Medal all purpose unbleached flour for $1.18 per bag, 5 bags of mini semi-sweet Ghiradelli chocolates for $1.46 each and 2 milk chocolate chips, same brand, for $1.24 each.  With my bread and the candles I bought, I spent just at $20.  I was a happy shopper.

My turn to pay for dinner...I had a coupon that saved $3 off our lunch entrees.

And then remembered I had a $10 off $50 bed and bath purchase at Target that I forgot to use.  I did a separate transaction from the grocery items and bought 2 pillows, 2 new towels and washcloths that...SIGH.

Came home after dinner, put the flour and chocolate chips in the freezer.  The flour stays in the freezer for 48 hours to kill off any pests that might be in it.

Was not particularly hungry after our dinner out but I knew I'd be hungry if I didn't eat something before bedtime.  I fixed peanut butter and graham crackers.

Made a small pot of coffee.  I should have made a single serve portion but forgot I had single serve packets.  Another frugal fail today.  Enjoyed the coffee anyway and found it hard to feel too bad over it.

Mattress set was delivered today.  The guys who delivered were very nice.  The young man gave me a very helpful hint.   The mattresses come with a 100 day guarantee of return...if the consumer tags are still intact, otherwise  they are not returnable!  Thank you thank you for some very good advice young man.

Jan 16:  Took out soup ingredients to thaw.  I'll put the soup together and cook in the crock-pot.  In this case I know there will be plenty of liquid so no harm in crock-pot cookery.

Made Butterscotch oatmeal for breakfast.  Just plain oatmeal this morning, no fruits to use up.

Used two ripe bananas that I knew John wouldn't touch (they were freckled) to make a new recipe for dessert.  Even though I halved the recipe, there was still too much struesel in my opinion, so I set half of it aside for muffins one morning soon.

Gave Maddie and the cat a few bites of oatmeal that were leftover.

John brought in his work lunch and put leftover sandwich halves in the fridge.  He ate those as snacks today.

I set up the bedside table and plugged in the lamp and clock radio.  I had John help me pull out the bed so I could put a baffle between the mattress and wall.  This is meant to keep the mattress from compressing the cords in that outlet.

Swapped lamps in the guest room and had John help me move bed for the baffle between that wall and the mattress.

Jan 17:  We had a long list of things to get done today.  John and I started the day with breakfast sandwiches.  I put the sausage patties on the cookie sheet to bake in the oven next to the sandwiches.  I added that to the sandwiches when all was done.

John repaired our bedroom wall where the curtain hangers pulled out of the wall.  We've had nothing but trouble with curtains pulling away from the wall here.  Thank goodness he's a dab hand with spackle and molly screws!

We gathered all the trash to take with us when we left home.

Took the Honda for an oil change.  We set aside a small portion of money each pay period to cover maintenance on our vehicles.  Not enough to cover those big higher mileage maintenance repairs but enough to cover oil changes and most minor repairs.

Stopped by the Pawn Shop to look for a couple of items we need that are just as good used as new and cost a lot less.  Sorry to say that today we didn't find them, but there are more pawn shops to visit.

John bought our dinner today, $5 specials at Dairy Queen that include a drink, sandwich, fries, and small sundae.  He paid for it with his allowance.

Came home and made coffee right away when we walked in, rather than buy it while we were out.

Started the pot of soup I'd meant to put in crock-pot tomorrow.  It was cool out this afternoon and the wind was hard and heavy from the northwest.  Soup seemed a good idea for supper tonight.  And it was!  It tasted very good indeed. No recipe. Just lots of leftovers, beef broth and a bit of hamburger meat.  I have a good portion leftover. It will make a fine dinner tomorrow when we come in from synagogue.  After that I'll portion it out into containers so I can freeze individual portions for myself.

And that is my frugal week!  How did yours go?

7 comments:

Rhonda said...

It's been a frugal week here, and we finally got the hospital bill and paid it so we know where our balances are. The surgery was almost 3 months ago.

I like the 2 blogs you linked up, Renesiance is fairly new to me but I always enjoy here posts and Brandy is amazing.

Rebecca said...

Sounds like a good week to me! Well done, especially on the LIKE NEW lamps (amazing what a coat of paint will do...).

Enjoy your new mattress!

Stephanie said...

Try Dollar General for cheap rugs. I have four dogs so I refuse to pay much for something they may mess up. Yes, the backing comes off eventually just like all other rugs. But when I spend $4 a piece on them, I don't feel quite as bad when I toss them.

American Dreamer said...

You have had a great week. Walmart also has some cheap remnant type rugs.

Courtney said...

Wow, you were on a frugal roll this week! Those were some great deals on that endcap!

Cindy L. said...

for rugs, I buy the non rubber backed ones at Freds for around 7.00 they last forever and are super in the washing machine. Love them.

Deanna said...

You may find it difficult to find a crockpot that doesn't cook as hot. Older ones did but it was discovered that it was potentially dangerous to cook at that low a temperature so newer ones are hotter. I find it helpful to add more liquid.