My Weekly Savings

A practice run Thanksgiving table possibility...using what I have had for years mixed with the Brockaway amber glass I bought this year.

Saturday:  Poured cereal into a glass jar for storage.  This keeps pests at bay and means that we are the ones who eat the food we bought and paid for.  I save jars but also have purchased 1/2 gallon sized canning jars just for this purpose.

Saved the cereal bag to use to wrap meats in.  I have determined I shall forgo using zippered bags for this purpose in the future as it is an unnecessary expense.  I also emptied out several bread sacks and saved those.  I rinsed well and hung to dry in the laundry area, using a hanger and some clothespins.

Reused an empty canister to store brown rice I'd bought this week.  I put a label on the canister and wrote instructions for cooking a standard measure of brown rice (1 cup).

I don't have very dressy clothes but I needed something to wear to my niece's wedding. This brought about another closet clean out.  Nearly all my things are just too big.  I have no dress trousers at all. Thankfully Katie came down for the wedding and put together a nice outfit for me but it really pointed up my need to actively shop for a few key items.  Fun part was her creative use of accessories to go with my outfit today.  I wouldn't have paired up the bracelets she did but I could see right away how sophisticated it looked.

Katie gifted me another lipstick.  I won't need to buy any new fall/winter colors courtesy of her generosity.

The roast beef I cooked today netted me lots of leftovers.  I've planned leftovers into one meal this week but shall also be packing some of this into the freezer for future meals.  I cooked the beef only to rare, which will make it possible to reheat and prevent drying out the meat.



Sunday:  Sent John off to work on this first frosty morning with a hot breakfast in his tummy and a packed lunch bag for work meals.  Added bonus was the sweet smiles of granddaughter Taylor to go with his morning coffee.  She decided 5am was a fine time to rise apparently!

I happily spent the morning rocking a sleepy baby to sleep and enjoying lots of cuddles.

Saw my family off to their home.  I do love family visits!  It was an added bonus this weekend to get to spend time with my littlest grand daughter and my littlest girl.

Washed a full load of laundry.  I did not try to hang to dry today.  Truth is, I just wanted to hurry through the laundry and get it done.

Ate leftovers for lunch and supper.  Re-purposed another mushroom punnet for my dresser drawer. I've now got all my jewelry nicely contained in color families.  Fewer tangles and easier to find my costume pieces.

Monday:  I began planning my next five weeks last night.  I have Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, a family day, Christmas and New Year's all to plan for.  All but the family day will be just John and I but holiday meals will still be cooked, gifts must be bought, supplies are wanted.  It seemed best to start the planning now.

I used a free code from MyCokeRewards to get one gift...I spent all afternoon working on that gift.  I hope that tomorrow I can finish it up and get it ordered.

Easy meals today for us.  I utilized leftovers from John's lunch for our supper.

Used a different medication on hand to treat this cold which seems determined to hang on.  It contains the same basic ingredients for the cough but has ingredients for the head cold I've now developed to go along with the cough.  I'd worry were it not for John who just went through this whole mess and it took him a month or more to overcome it.  It's a malingering sort of cold.

Opened windows this afternoon.

Worked hard on Swagbucks and was getting frustrated.  I finally qualified for a survey (near impossible to qualify for as a mid 50's white female) and that pushed me over the second goal

John made me a pineapple juice drink this evening.  The juice is really supposed to do a lot of good for congestion.

Tuesday:  I felt much better this morning over all.  Still congested but not quite so bad.  John decided his next 'cure' for my cold was to take me out for Hot and Sour Soup at the Chinese restaurant.  They must have tripled the pepper in that batch of soup but it sure did it's job relieving some of the congestion.

We went to CVS where I stocked up on toilet paper and tissues.  I spent $7 in ECBs today, earned another $5.  I saved about 46% or better with sales today.

While we were out we also stopped by the grocery in the next town that has such a good price on the turkey sausage patties we like.  Today they were on sale for almost $1 less than the usual cost.  I bought all three packages that were in the freezer case.  I noted that whole chickens were again $.88/pound and they had a store brand turkey for $.52/pound.  I have never before seen such low prices on turkey in our area.  Another store is offering them for $.29 a pound with a $50 purchase.  It's not a favorite store nor a known turkey brand but I'm mighty tempted...

We found a favorite candy bar in a snack size was 50% off.  We've really like the Reese's Nutrageous but don't always find them easily.  To see snack sized bags...well naturally we bought some of those for the candy jar.  One small candy bar has about 13 carbs, so it's a doable treat for me.

Again I worked hard with Swagbucks.  I am about half way to my next $25 gift card.  I really want to earn that card before the first of December if I possibly can.

Spoke with Mama this evening who has quite a few pieces of clothing she has un-grown.  I agreed to look them over and try on a few things to see if they might fit.

Wednesday:  Packed John's work lunch.  Made him a hot breakfast.  Made sure he took his jacket to work with him.  It was warm this morning but supposed to have cold weather in the night hours.

I ran a full load of dishes.  To help fill the gaps in the dishwasher I put in the coffee pot and other parts of the coffee maker that are washable.

I planted the last of the pansies this morning.  They were looking pretty wan and really needed a good watering.  I thought getting them in the ground before it rained would be a good thing.

Mama brought in a bag half full of clothes.  I was pleased to find that a pair of pants (part of a suit but I don't care for the jacket) fit me very well although they are a size smaller than I have been wearing. They are very nice pants, fully lined.  I will look for a couple of tops to go with them.

I tried on every single thing in the bag except one sweater.  Not all the things fit but many fit very well.  Several still had price tags intact, too.  New clothes for me!

Went into grocery while out with Mama.  I knew we needed grape juice for Shabat on Friday night, that John's sodas needed to be replenished.  I shopped very cautiously and bought the juices I needed, the soda and added only tomatoes that were very well priced and a jar of really good quality jam that was on sale to the buggy.  However, those few purchases easily totaled $25.  I took advantage of a shopper's special, spend $25 and get a known turkey brand for $.57/pound.  This was the same brand I'd meant to buy at Aldi this week for $.42 less per pound, plus the gas savings because I do not have to drive to Centerville to Aldi, a 65 mile round trip.

On thinking it out, I realized I have all the components of Thanksgiving dinner on hand.  Now all I need to do is the prep work.  I wrote out my menu plan this afternoon when I got home.

Did a trial run of a pretty Thanksgiving table setting.  I really liked it but am not sure I shall use the homespun type material for the table covering, much as I like it.  It will only cover a bit of the table.  I will likely use another table covering I have on hand.

Went into Cato while we were in that town.  I found the prettiest scarf for a mere $1.99 and I bought it and another costume necklace that I felt would enhance my current wardrobe.  I purchased a pair of black pants but I'm unsure of them.  I suspect they will go back to the store or move on to Katie.  I am pretty sure she will wear them.  I paid for the clothing items with a portion of my allowance.

Thursday:  It rained and poured last night.  At one point with high winds and heavy rain, I distinctly heard a pernicious dripping sound.  I finally located it and believe it came in around a vent or a loose bit of ridge cap.  It ran down between walls and was dripping onto the plastic housing where the washer hoses are connected.  Not a thing to do about it except wait.  John notified my brother (our roofer) this morning and it will be seen to this week.

I was glad of the nice fresh rainwater for the pansies I put out yesterday.  Now I shall make it a point to go visit the store and pick up another flat of them to put out in other pots and spots about the yard.
I think they are worth every penny, they are such happy flowers and do very well over winter here.

I was up very early this morning.  Too early!  Nevertheless, I got busy when I got up and had a load of laundry waiting to go on the line before daybreak.  I washed sheets and towels, remade our bed, showered and did Bible study before daylight this morning.

Made breakfast for John and I and then took myself off to an Estate Sale.  I won't go into raptures here about it but I found three or four items that I felt were very reasonable.  Bemoaned my lack of funds to purchase the lovely solid wood writing desk and the hardwood wing chairs and rockers that abounded in the home.  Oh my gracious!  I do wish I had a pick up truck or SUV so I might haul furniture home...and an unlimited wallet!

One or two items will make their way to the booth but I'll keep at least one and possibly two items for myself.  I am always on the look out for good bargains to go in the booth and beautiful bargain items to soothe my need for beauty in my home.

I pared and cut into slices a rutabaga I meant to have for lunch today.  It must have been leftover from turn of the 19th century!  Gracious it took forever to cook and there were still tough odd bits that simply would not break up.  I didn't get that with my meal for lunch today, but I did package it up into individual servings for future meal additions.

Stopped at Dollar General and purchased Christmas cards to send out.  I looked them over at CVS the other day but they were big name cards and cost a fortune.  I got mine (just as lovely really and with plenty of glitter upon them) for $1 a box today.  Made the cost of postage much easier to deal with.
Cards are addressed, signed by me and stamped.  John just needs to do his part and they will be ready to send.  One more item marked off my list.

Packed up roast beef into two containers for freezer after we made 'Steak' and Cheese Burritos for supper tonight.  I left out enough meat for sandwiches one more time this weekend.

Friday:  I've gotten more done this week than I'd anticipated I might.  Not all the items on my list are tended to but I've gotten several of the holiday items knocked out.  I did it in incremental segments and tackled them in order of need.

I finished my Shutterfly order last night.  I'd been working on a calendar as a gift and it was free with My Coke Rewards points.  I had an offer from Shutterfly in my email yesterday to get a free calendar with a 40% off order.  I bought a gift item and set up a second calendar.  I saved a LOT of money on these personalized gifts.   I have three more Shutterfly gift codes I must use, all for FREE items, but I have until January 2016 to do these.  One of the codes cost me 1 entry code (3 points).

Made oatmeal for our breakfast this morning.  It's always a hearty satisfying breakfast and yet is perfectly portioned.

I had the house picked up and straightened in no time today...I thought morning chores were going to be a snap but mid afternoon I'd still not managed to clean bathrooms nor clean floors.  I gave up idea of mopping but determined I would sweep and vacuum.

Why so late in housework?  I went into the kitchen and took every thing from fridge and a few items from the big freezer and my brain immediately started clicking on meal possibilities for today and the weekend ahead.  So I started my 'work ahead' on meals.

I used an Italian loaf we'd had for Shabat and just took a pinch each of bread from to make a couple of meals, one for dinner today and one for the freezer.  I cut the loaf in half and scraped up the crumbs and the piece that fell away from the loaf to make bread crumbs.  I pulled the bread from the shell of one half and put that bread in with the bread to be made into bread crumbs.  Right now they are inside a pan which I slipped into flour cloth and tied up around it to air dry.  They will keep this way for a day or two, but I will stir them about several times to insure they dry evenly.

I made one half of the loaf into a pepperoni pizza for today's meal.  The other half I cooked tri-color pepper (from the fridge) and onion with the slivered roast beef I left out last night.  I added some fat free Italian dressing.  I filled the hollow with the meat and vegetable mixture and topped with shredded Monterrey Jack and Parmesan cheeses.  I wrapped this one well and place in the freezer for a future meal.  It has plenty of meat and vegetable and should make four good servings.

Black beans and corn from the fridge (leftovers), the bulk of the tomato sauce left when I made pepperoni pizza, and the last of the garlic in the jar all went into one container for the freezer.  This will make a nice taco soup, chili etc. in some future time.

Took a loaf of bread, a quart of vegetable beef soup, 1 pound of cranberries, and three containers of broth (one was a broken jar, so it sat and thawed and the jar tossed into trash) from the freezer today.  I added in the Italian Pepper Steak pizza, and the black bean combination.

I moved jellying fruits into the back freezer with the rest of the rest of the fruits I'd frozen for same purpose.  I will be making a batch of jelly here shortly.  This time I shall read and read and read and read the instructions and not scan them as I did last time!  My last batch was syrupy but good.  I'd like to make perfectly jelled jelly this time around.

Had a bunch of baggies that I'd washed this week that were not getting dry enough to put away.  I hung them in the laundry area to finish drying well and will put them in the proper place when they are done.

Used the pound of cranberries, a large navel orange (rind and all) and a large apple (peel, core, flesh) to make up a quart of cranberry relish for holidays and future turkey sandwiches.  I really love this easy and simple sweet tart relish.  I use my blender to grind the fruits then mix them up.  I have four half pints in my fridge ripening right now.  I'll move three to the freezer next weekend where it will keep indefinitely.

I worked ahead and made John's PBJ sandwiches for Sunday's work lunch.  I have a basket filled with his foods and drinks so we just have to pull it out Sunday morning and pack his bag.

John is mowing grass for the last time this year.  He had to go into town to get gas for the mower.  He always takes his car and fills the tank at the same time.  He carried off trash and picked up mail while he was out.

I found my morning's work (and afternoon's, too, lol) had worn me out.  I decided some of the jobs I'd meant to do today could just wait.  I obviously am not going to tag and take items in to my booth today.  I might get them priced but that will be a work ahead task for next Friday morning instead.  I'll get the baths done, do the floors and plan and prep foods for meals tomorrow.  Shabat comes early these late autumn days, near 5pm and so I must hurry my way through things to be prepared.  I shall send this on and get right back to work and set my Shabat table ready for sundown.