This Week In My Home: Seasonal Savings

It's taking a little time to make, but I'm enjoying the handwork, all created from fabric remnants I've picked up over the years.

Saturday:  Blossom the Beagle has joined our family.  Bess brought her bed, food and leash with her as well as biscuits.  Blossom has been quite happy over all and she and Maddie have played a good bit.  She's done well today with Bess gone.  I've got my fingers crossed that the transition to country dog is so fascinating she doesn't have a period of adjustment.

Despite it being Sabbath I ran a full load of dishes.

John washed a full load of clothes and hung them out to dry.

Josh wet through his clothes last night.  We took the pack and play outdoors to dry in the sunlight.  I'll spray with Lysol too, but the sunshine should really help with any aroma.

Our meals consisted of leftovers.  Leftover bagels I found in the freezer.  Leftover chicken and dumplings for dinner.  A mix of leftovers for supper.  The only item made fresh today was popcorn for a snack.

Packed the non-perishables in John's lunchbag to save time in the morning.

Visited my Target shopping cart...I put several items in it a couple of weeks ago planning to place an order but decided to wait.  I found that I didn't really want the items after all and I emptied the cart.

It got a little warm  but we left the AC off until mid-afternoon.

State of the Union: In Answer to Kathy

Proverbs 27:23-27  23Be sure you know how your sheep are doing, and pay attention to the condition of your cattle.  24Riches do not go on forever, nor do governments go on forever. 25Bring in the hay, and let the new grass appear.  Gather the grass from the hills.  26Make clothes from the lamb's wool, and sell some goats to buy a field.  27 There will be plenty of goat's milk to feed you and your family and to make your servant girls healthy.


I have mentioned the desire to deepen my pantry, to stock up on things we might find ourselves needing in the future.  Someone asked if I 'foresee' something in the future since this seems to be a common theme on many blogs at present.

So some of my thinking is just about being prepared.  You'll note the Proverb at the head of this post is really about just that.  It doesn't mention a great war coming nor a disaster about to occur, but it does mention changes.   The verses do seem to  say to know the state of your assets and to use what you have to provide for your household needs with an eye towards the future as well as the present.

I don't think we can any of us be totally prepared for all the things that might happen...and unless we've heard a specific word from God (think of the Pharaoh's dream of the 7 fat cows and the 7 skinny cows), it's unlikely we will know just what we're preparing for.  I don't want to go about my life living in fear but I do want to have something to carry us along if the unforeseeable thing happens.

Our pantry/freezer were a bonus to us at the end of Spring/early Summer this year when I was too ill to shop for groceries.  It would have stood us in as good stead if for some reason John was out of work.  I've said before that in my mind, a full pantry and a filled freezer are like having an additional emergency savings account, only it's assets in nutrient rich foods.  If necessary  we could probably manage a good month and a hard month on what we have in the house.  I say a hard month because we're low on fruits and green vegetables and flours at the moment. I don't have quite enough powdered milk on hand to see us through a full month if I couldn't for some reason go buy even milk. Those 'holes' I've mentioned in my pantry are such as that.

Here's where I am at present:   I foresee challenging times ahead for my own personal economies at present and I suppose that is partially why I feel the urgency to stock up while I can.

This Week In My Home: A Well Seasoned Saver

As I tried to determine what my theme this week would be, I worked on menus.  "Well Seasoned" seemed to be a good term to describe the hearty sorts of meals that were filling my menu...and I realized that as a homemaker and a frugalite I am well seasoned, having stood the test of time over these years, honing my skills year in and year out  whatever season of year or life I found myself.

I was contemplating this as I worked on the menus and then Samuel called to chat.  I put aside my work and went to the chair in the kitchen sitting area and listened to him talk of the work he'd done in his yard this week, his hopes for the future provision of his family and his dreams.  Then

he started telling me of a class he'd had to attend for work.  "We were asked to tell the defining moment of our lives, when we realized who we were for the first time," he began.  He told me of the stories others had to share as he waited his turn.  " I told the class that my defining moment was when I went into the Navy and a group of us went out to eat at Olive Garden."  He said his whole group looked at him with complete puzzlement. He went on to explain," 'There were seven of us having dinner and I thought Olive Garden was the nicest restaurant I'd ever been in. I recalled that my family had only really eaten out in restaurants twice in all our years growing up and suddenly I understood why.  It was a defining life moment for me because I realized then that we'd been poor.  I never knew it because Mama and Dad were always so good at providing for us,'   But honestly, Mama, I never knew we were poor until that moment in the restaurant."

I put my phone down and cried, ladies.  I recall those years of feeling sick to my stomach that I had only $40 to spend on groceries for 7 people and part of that had to be allocated to diapers for Danny and Katie (she was in nursery, Danny attended Special Education school) each week.  I recall standing at the meat counter wondering how much meat I could buy and how well I could provide for the childrens' diets with what was left after putting those diapers in the buggy.  Oh how it hurt me!

But there were blessings, too.  My brother provided us with deer meat for a season or two.  He liked hunting but didn't like eating the meat.  He'd have the deer processed and bring it to us and fill the freezer.  Mama would show up now and then with a big brown grocery bag of fresh fruit.  I stocked up on items on sale even if it meant buying just one extra item a pay period and Mama and Granny would sometimes bring us staples that were  purchased on sale at their markets. I employed every single frugal method I knew to make things stretch, to insure that we put healthy foods on the table, albeit stretched to the limit with pasta, rice or potatoes.

This Week In My Home: Well Seasoned

When it comes to meals seasoning is everything, agreed?  We can eat very bland meals or we can spice (and herb) things up until they take on a new personality.  The trick with seasoning is balance and knowing what compliments what.  Certain flavors just go together naturally.  Others are surprises to the palate but work very well.  For instance, did you know that allspice adds a nice little something extra to a pot roast or stew or even cubed steak?  It has a knack for enriching the beefy flavor somehow and making it richer.  That is especially lovely in the autumn.

Now many people love the taste of pumpkin or at least, per Pinterest they do.  I'm not a huge pumpkin fan but I must say here and now that the Pumpkin, Bean and Chicken Enchiladas I made last week pretty much wowed me.  They will definitely be on  my future autumn (and possibly winter)  menu lists.  Today I found a recipe for a roast chicken that has nice rich autumn flavorings and combines with onions, sweet potatoes and cauliflower which sounds very good to me.  

Let's start planning.

What you need to know about this week:  John works two days.  Those two days I don't plan my own meals as typically I have leftovers.  This week our Saturday meals have all been leftovers as well, but I'll throw in a bonus menu for you all to consider.

Saturday:  Bagels and cereal for John and Bess, peanut butter toast for me, an assortment of things to tempt the baby.

Leftovers

Leftovers

Now on to planning the rest of the week.

Moroccan Spiced Chicken with Roast Autumn Vegetables, Hearty Green Salad, One Hour Bread

Even though I don't have a whole chicken in the house, I can use the same spice rub, change up the roasting times and make this dish for us.  I have all other needed ingredients on hand.  I'll be decreasing the recipe a bit anyway, since it's just John and I.

I Wonder As I Wander

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Autumn finally arrived here in a day of cool breezes, the bluest of skies and a flutter of leaves sailing through the air and falling to the ground.

My friend Susan came to spend the day with me Sunday, our first really cold morning.  I had on long sleeves and had put on socks, my concession to the cold.  She wore a thick hoodie.  At one point we stood at the kitchen window and I said "Oh look at the leaves!"  The Faith Tree had just let go of a spate of leaves, all of which sailed past the window.  "I just love fall!" Susan exclaimed next to me and sighed happily.

It was a nice reminder.  I've said in the last few years I feel a certain sadness when autumn days began to arrive.  Saturday I'd said to John that I felt a little reluctant to feel the cold...But somehow Susan's happiness was contagious.  She went to the living room and unpacked the projects she'd brought to work on.  I stayed at the window for another minute or two and admired the beauty of the day and the graceful flow of leaves on the breeze and embraced the season to come.

I've made it a point to stop each day at the window and admire the views.  They are fleeting in length. The turkey foot oak has gone copper and is lovely.  The Sweet Gums remain steadfastly green with a few yellow brown stars here and there.  But the leaves still flutter with each passing breeze.  It's worth a few minutes time to watch the season dwindle down.

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I've been having a bit of trouble writing of late.  I'd come here to write and look at the blank page and eventually close it and go away.  I decided this past week I needed to employ my journal once more. I have, for the past few months, either journaling daily or writing nothing for weeks on end.  I've noticed that when I use my journal I seem to have no trouble writing or finding inspiration.  It's not that I do anything special on those days except emptying my mind of the clutter of thoughts.  To do lists and thoughts about what happened the day before or the dream I had during the night are all I ever write about in my journal,  but it's beginning to work.

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There are times I simply long for places in my past.  Here of late it's the old church where I grew up.

I long to go sit in the old handmade pews and look out of the wavy glass in the windows at the field next door (or the graveyard on the opposite side which is usually where I sat).   I loved the hand made benches, the old kerosene stove, the plain white planked walls, the raised pulpit that was two steps above the rest of the floor.  I want to hear the old fashioned hymns and listen to an old fashioned preacher.

But most of all I want to see the old sweet faces of the dear old widow women I grew up knowing. Beautiful white haired ladies with ear bobs on the huge lobes of their ears and a pearl choker necklace about their necks.

I think about those ladies often.  Miss Callie with her lovely curling hair and that soft sweet face and her cat eye glasses.  I see her daughter Louise now and then in town and it's like seeing a ghost she is so similar to her mother.  Mrs. Waters who lived in a story book cottage behind her daughter's home. Aunt Ruth with her tight little top knot of hair on top of her head, adding height to her small stature. Oh how I miss those ladies!

Each of them meant something unique to me and each of them were as familiar to me as any childhood memory.  They are all long gone, as are the handmade pews and the little girl who loved it all.

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This Week In My Home: Practicing Thrift

I recently rejuvenated this broken pot.  It's now a unique vessel for my favorite little flower bed.  

We've tried to glue this pot back together before and it didn't hold up.  I suggested we use tape as well as the glue.  As long as the pot is sitting upright it stays together.  I really wanted it lie on it's side but this is the way it works.  I filled it with kale and a tiny seedling coleus that came up in front of the back steps.  

Saturday:  One of my favorite rituals on a Saturday morning is to take the pot of coffee, my pretty little cup and saucer from Katie last Christmas, a pretty creamer and put it all on a little tray.  Then I drink cup after cup of hot coffee.  In reality I am drinking no more coffee than I do on any week day but it feels like more because the cup doesn't hold as much as a mug.  With all the frou frou, it feels very indulgent and I like that feeling of plenty and extravagance for absolutely no cost to me at all.

Last night I toasted cheese sandwiches in a big skillet on the stove.  I didn't use oil or butter, simply let the heat of the pan toast the bread and melt the cheese.  I left the pan covered on the stove overnight and used it this morning with a bit of olive oil to sear my roast.  Then I decided to just go ahead and use the covered pan to simmer the pot roast I was planning to prepare.  I couldn't think of any good reason to mess up the crock pot, too.  I think I got a lot of mileage from that one pan and I had no fear of contamination since it was only used to toast bread.

I made a simple Apple Crisp for dessert. No sweetener or thickening agent in with the apples and a homemade streusel topping using oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour and butter as the topping. Golly but it taste good and rich.  I often will use brown sugar in place of white sugar as I make these desserts.  I find I can use far less and it tastes as sweet as if it were made with a full measure of sugar.

It's a cooler day than we've been having.  In honesty we are getting very near that "It's cold let's turn on the heater," conversation we have each October.  At which point, John always replies, "It's not even November yet!" lol.  It is an issue of economy because in reality the temperature indoors is just a few degrees less than when we run the Air Conditioner.  He's quite right we should hold off and wait.  At present the coolness is nothing that an extra layer or two, and perhaps socks on our feet, won't cure.

The coleus I pinched from a pot full of bronze colored plants at the meat market has started to root. I'll be potting them in soil this week.

As I made the bed yesterday, I noted that the fitted sheet is getting threadbare on both sets we presently rotate on our bed.  These are prints and I've determined the better economy is to purchase solid color sheets which I might easily pair with same color fitted sheets and pillowcases as they wear out.  And then I thought about all the preppers who are setting up food stores and recalled watching the BBC WWII series about rationing.  What if we were rationed where dry goods are concerned? Could we get sheets and blankets and pillows?  Would we not be wise to have a spare set or two for each bed in our homes?  In my early married years I had 14 sets of sheets given to me and thought they'd last forever.  You know they didn't.  They lasted a good ten or twelve years but they didn't by any means last forever.  I think I shall not only purchase fitted ivory sheets and new ivory pillowcases to go with the ivory flat sheets I have at present but I'll get a spare set or two to keep for future needs. I can keep my eye out at thrift and discount retail stores where quality goods aren't too expensive.  I will also reaccess my need of blankets and such.

This Week In My Home: Practice, Practice, Practice

Saturday as I prepared our meal I thought out my choices very carefully, not for dietary reasons alone, but for economy and overall appeal.  It was cool and breezy outdoors and cool indoors.   I wanted a hearty warming meal that was inexpensive but delicious.  It meant planning both that meal and the leftover meal that would result from making the planned meal.  The meal itself was moved from last week when we had no need of this menu.

I've been thinking hard this week.   I spent more than I meant to spend on groceries and I did not fill any gaps in my pantry at all.  I'm not in the least happy about that.  As well, John and I were talking over various things we want to do and we must plan for spending even small amounts these days.  I've decided that instead of planning to buy more groceries this next pay period, other than fresh dairy and produce, I'll plan to spend what I have (without spending ahead) on pantry supplies and fill in some of those gaps.  I won't by any meals fill them all, but I should make good headway if I spend carefully and thoughtfully.  So it shall be a sort of amended Pantry/Freezer Challenge, in that we'll eat from the freezer and work on filling up the pantry.

This Week In My Home: Practice Makes Perfect

I'm expanding the "This Week In My Home" post and adding in one that deals with the same theme. This week's theme is "Practice Makes Perfect" and the inspiration for this post is gravy.  Just plain old gravy.

I've shared before that in my Southern family each woman is known for a signature cake, or meal, and that is something they work to perfect and then present flawlessly every single time.  In my family Granny made the most beautiful little biscuits.  Mama's biscuits were cracked rough looking things and my first efforts were the worst of the family.  I soon discovered a recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook which I use to this day.  From my first batch, these biscuits were good, but I had to make them several times before I could honestly say they were perfect.  I could make them almost blindfolded at one point and Samuel learned to make them by watching me.  Now his biscuits easily rival my own as they tend to be super tender and light.

I perfected biscuits and then my dad challenged me to make gravy because the two went together in his opinion.  Here was an area where I had to work hard!  There is no real recipe for gravy and how you make it depends really upon your skill.  Roux didn't work too well for me, although I found it quite helpful when making a white sauce (which to my huge disappointment I discovered to be nothing more than a sort of milk gravy).  But gravy, thin and liquid yet with a certain weightiness to it that made it gravy and not broth, was a lot harder to figure out.

This Week In My Home: Fair Savings

Know what this is?  $8 worth of smiles that will last me months, from now until deep Spring.  

Saturday:  Rain woke me extra early this morning.  I turned on the light, took up my book and read in bed.  Gracious but that felt luxurious. And it cost me nothing but one hour of missed sleep.  No complaints over the rain.  It was a nice watering for my freshly planted things.

Made Apple Gingerbread waffles from Pancake mix, spices and one last wrinkly apple that was about three weeks old.  Boy were these good!

I put water in the pan I cooked sausage in and scraped it down good.  This went over Maddie and Misu's foods.  

I wanted a baked potato.  I'm allowed waxy potatoes but not Russets which have a higher starch content.   I decided to bake the Yukon gold potatoes I had.  I chose one about the size of what I'm allowed to have.  I wanted to dress up my potato so I sliced it, sliced onions thin, cut slices into the potatoes but not all the way through, and fit the thin onion pieces between the slices.  1 teaspoon of butter on each potato and salt and pepper.  I wrapped in  aluminum foil and baked.  

Coffee Chat: Isn't It Lovely To Have Fun?

My day yesterday didn't at all go as planned...For that matter, I struggled long and hard to remember what day it was!  In my head it was Wednesday all day long and if you think you can't possibly lose track of time in such a way believe me you can when your husband's day of work changes each week.  Every day he goes off to work feels like Monday and every day he's home after working it feels like Saturday, which is strange when you consider we've never had a proper routine weekend in years upon years.    It's not date that bumfuzzles me, it's the actual day.  Sometimes we sit here and flip channels and demand to know why some show or another isn't on...and then we realize that it's not the day for it after all, that we've gone through a whole day thinking it was another day entirely.

Well right now I am sure of what day it is, but only because I got sick of being confused and looked at a calendar.  Which means the weatherman was perfectly right in calling yesterday Tuesday and not Wednesday as I thought it ought to be.

Aside from my desire to get my head straight on the day yesterday, it was really just different all around.  I could not hold my head up this morning after eating breakfast.  I literally fell asleep three or four times and so I finally took myself off to bed where I slept the deepest and hardest three and half hours I've ever slept lately and I had to force myself to wake and crawl from bed.  Now I did lose a bit of sleep Monday night, was awake well before John arose at 4:15am and never went back to sleep after and then my blasted alarm went off a full 15 minutes early as well, so I was up at 4:45.

This Week In My Home: Fair Days

It is the week of the Georgia National Fair, something we look forward to and sometimes are able to attend.  This year the plans are to go...we'll see if our plans hold.  The weather at least will be very nice and pleasant all week long IF the forecasts are correct...but then again we only had a 30% chance of rain Saturday and guess what?  It was 100% raining from 5 until 7am that morning and after the skies cleared off it was clouding again by noon.  Pfft! Weather men.  The only sunshine I've seen today is on the televised football game.  I don't mind if it's cloudy when we go to the fair, but I will mind if it's rained out!

I did a lot of extra shopping this past week.  We purchased our quarterly bulk beef supplies at the meat market.  I stocked up on breakfast sausages (polska kielbasa, beef links and turkey sausage patties) and chicken breasts ($.88/pound and I'm figuring we'll get two servings from each breast as they are BIG).  So with the freezer fully stocked (I added bogo frozen cheese pizzas to the back freezer for easy meal days) I need purchase only eggs, bread, milk and produce this week.  Anything else is really and truly extra.  I suspect even with the spend ahead on the budget (not including the beef purchase but all the rest) I'll have money enough left to set a little aside and a little to indulge John's wants whatever they might be.  He's never unreasonable in splurges.

In My Home This Week: Settling into the New Budget Quarter

I often wish to renovate a space but renovations are not in my budget.  The creative side of me has to figure out how to make what I have work.  This is not a recent project, but it illustrates what a bit of  "Use what you have" can accomplish.  In this case  I had a cleaning closet without one item to help maximize the space was transformed with a $2 clearance key rack (that's where the broom and fly swatter is hanging) and four milk crates I'd used in my master closet but decided would best be re-purposed here.  Now  I have a space to hold cleaning supplies and the trash can, as well.


Saturday:  Last night before sundown I cashed in my Pinecone Rewards for $18 in Pay Pal credits.

Today I received my new purse in the mail.  I ordered it using Amazon credits earned through surveys and Swagbucks.  I am very pleased. The purse was a clearance item, formerly selling for $90 and I got it for $15.  It is the grey purse I kept saying I wished I could add to my wardrobe.  I love how God seems to listen to even my chatter at times and supplies wants as well as needs.

I dressed up a plain cheese pizza with some diced peppers and onion and a couple of pieces of chopped turkey sausage.

Went through the older magazines in my basket and culled out the recipes and articles I wanted to keep.

I was pleased with how streamlined dinner and dishes were today.  I don't like to work per se on my Sabbath day.  Today it really was easy.  Well worth the prep time I put in yesterday getting things prepared.  I had only to rinse a handful of dishes and stowed them right in the dishwasher.  Easy peasy and I liked it a lot!

Still in list making mode:  this week I'm thinking of those items we need only occasionally like first air and cold medicines.  Bandages, triple antibiotic, benadryl,   Vapor rub, Vitamin C tablets, Zinc, tissues.  I'm good on the Vitamin C and tissues but we need the other items.  I've put them on my watch list and hope to supply these items from sales.

Questions, Answers and Comments

Socks on my cold feet, Antiques Roadshow on the television, the dog barking outdoors at the dark. Maddie is likely barking at a possum or another night time critter after the Persimmons on the trees about the house.

I thought I'd try to catch up with comments from September before I get too absorbed by October. I'm kinda feeling funny about October this year.  In years past, it has been our vacation month.  This year, there's no vacation time left to take and no money to vacate with anyway.  I'm not complaining. This has been a year full of occurrences and special things already.  I am curious what the next three months shall bring  us. But it feels very odd not to be leisurely this month and have plans to travel hither and yon.

I did Fall Wardrobe posts in September.  I am truly amazed at how many of you comment on these posts with my humble wardrobe, but I get a huge kick out of hearing how many of you have changed your own wardrobes and give me the credit for helping.  The truth is that you don't have to have a huge clothing budget to be well dressed nor do you have to take hours to present yourself well.

Retirement Remedies: My CVS Shopping This Week

I earned $10 in ECB (Extra Cash Bucks) rewards a few weeks ago and I've been scanning ads ever since trying to determine how best to spend them.  I missed a golden opportunity last week but I just couldn't make it over to the store and so I decided I'd see what was coming up.  I knew I had a few more days to spend before they expired on October 15.

John and I discussed this yesterday as I looked over the Sunday paper.  I explained that if I didn't spend the ECBs I might just as well set fire to a $10 bill, because it was essentially earned store credit that I just let the store keep rather than get any value from it myself.  I'll just bet there are loads and loads of ECBs that don't get used by folks and I was determined to use mine.  I resolved this year to make my money work harder for me and letting rewards go unused is not making it work hard.  It's just a clear sign that I've grown lazy!

I knew added to my CVS card two high value EBCs this past week as well ($2 quarterly earnings and $5 off $50 beauty club purchases), so I planned to spend $17 in ECBs and numerous high value coupons on items.  I planned to purchase 1pkg of razors, a Powerade, a bottle of detergent and a toothpaste and left a question mark beside the deodorant I noted was on sale.  The ad didn't list price and I was unsure I could manage that within the funds I had to spend.  You'll note looking at the picture that I doubled up on the razors and bought two packages of soap and a doll.  Good reasons for all.

This Week In My Home: Settling Into a New Season

I had fun Friday evening watching a British video, "Back In Time for Dinner".  I watched the 1950's episode which is roughly an hour long.  It was so interesting how meals evolved in that era for the British.  It begins with rationed meals and then goes through a short period of even more stringent rations.  The protein allowance was 1 ounce per family member.

While this family lived in town I should think the ones who lived in the country had slightly better times, as they at least could hunt for rabbits or deer and likely had their own dairy and poultry stock to boost the family rations.

It made me think long and hard about how we utilize our foodstuffs today and it makes waste that much more abhorrent.

Well all that aside, the rainy cold/muggy warm weather is most undecided and frankly makes meal planning a bit of a hit and miss thing.  I have decided that it's supposed to be autumn, so I shall plan autumn meals and if they don't suit the day, oh well.  I'm just so ready to start 'eating fall'!

Random Musings: I Wonder as I Wander

I felt more like a rambling post this week than a coffee chat.  It's so humid outdoors that it's positively muggy even when the temperatures are below 60F. So muggy that we've still got the AC on in the house, set to come on if the temperature goes over 73 indoors and unbelievably it is still coming on! Appearances are completely deceiving, as it looks like autumn, complete with blooming golden rod and scattered leaves on the lovely green (and very wet) grass but it does not feel in the least autumnal. Ugh.  I'm hiding out until the really cooler air shows up!  With this hurricane/tropical storm slated to hit us with rain I don't know if that shall be any time soon.

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I've been trying to follow several long favored bloggers and I've decided to give up a few.  Want to know why?  Several are very popular blogs and I really like the individuals who write them but the mass advertising, the ad related content, and the bulletin point brief blog posts are just so impersonal and so bland and so lacking in the warmth and personality and charm that the blogs previously held.  It's a lot like enjoying the convenience of the ATM but deeply regretting the loss of the friendly hometown-ish banter with the bank clerk, you know?  And I'll go one step further and say that if you've invited me into your home in the past and shown me your creativity, to be pushed back to the front door now and not allowed in anymore...well it's a bit like being an unwelcome guest.

In My Home This Week: Listing MyWays to Save

How refreshing a simple coat of new paint can make things look!  This is my current work in progress but even unfinished it looks 100% better.

Saturday:  While my intent today is to rest, I will be jotting down brainstorming ideas for new savings.  I have an added incentive to save.  John and I have a bit over three years before our 25th wedding anniversary.  I want to do something bigger than the norm, like going on a cruise sometime during that 25th year.  I need to start saving now.

Used up the last of the grapes in a salad today.  There were only about ten but those ten left to wither still represent waste.  I want to stop waste in my kitchen that is related to my lack of usage.  I can't prevent things spoiling on their own, but I can avoid that waste that is based on this human!

Saved a mushroom container.  The ones at Aldi are plastic and just the right size to fit in my big shallow dresser drawer.  I've sorted necklaces by color and each color fits perfectly in this punnets.  It makes finding necklaces so much easier and has cut down on tangling as well. I am hoping to fit one or two more in the drawer and that will be all I need.

Made an all in one oven meal today.  The salad, of course, was refrigerated, but chicken, potatoes and Brussell Sprouts were all roasted in shallow aluminum pans on the same jelly roll pan.  All cooked the same amount of time at the same temperture and clean up was super easy.  I literally rolled up the foil pans and tossed them.  I didn't even have to rinse the pan I used to bake the foods on.

Made pudding for dessert.  While our dessert for today went into the antique sherbert glasses, I put the remaining half in two of the KFC cups I've saved.  They hold exactly one half cup of pudding, perfect for 'individual serving size'.

Cooked a few extra pieces of chicken for supper one night.

Rinsed and stacked dishes for easy dishwasher loading later.

After Shabat was over, I sat down with my October calendar and pencilled in appointments and dates we need to be mindful of.  I also worked on goals for October.  I then moved on and worked on the 4th quarter budget sheet.  I plan to check my figures a fourth time but I am cautiously optimistic at present.