My Frugal Week: Beginning A Summer of Savings

Putting a fresh coat of paint or a new fabric seat upon a chair can be very inexpensive, and a good way to extend the life of a perfectly good piece of furniture once it begins to look shabby.

Saturday: We traveled up to see Katie and celebrate Taylor's first birthday. Mama was going with us and insisted we use her car.

I carried along a bag of things I'd been meaning to send to Katie.

On our way home, we stopped at a local grocery in the area and purchased supper from the deli and produce section.

Katie had tucked a zippered bag of coke points in my purse. 

She also gifted me with a bouquet of hydrangea.  I recalled reading that the stems needed to be seared to seal off the sap that prevented them taking in water.  I held the ends to the gas flame of the stove.  They perked up beautifully when I put them back in water.

Sunday:  We did two loads of laundry today, both full loads.

I hung sheets and towels and jeans to dry on the line.

Sam made pizza for lunch.  We did not need all of the meat (Chorizo) that we cooked.  I put it in the freezer for future use.

We ate late and didn't want a big supper, so we merely snacked at supper time.

I watered the plants heavily.  I was happy to see the plants on the steps were doing especially well.  They'd been a little sad looking when I planted them.

Monday:  I made a recipe for muffins I'd found on Pinterest.  It only half filled my muffin tin.  I didn't have more blueberries but decided I could easily mix up more of the same muffin batter to fill the rest of the tins.  This allotted me 12 large muffins for breakfast and snacking.

Samuel wanted to grill out and went out to purchase steaks.  I asked Bess to please bring home two of my favorite whole grain loaves from the same store.

John washed and hung to dry a full load of clothes.  I washed a full load of dishes on a short wash cycle.

I made Potatoes Au Gratin using fresh potatoes, onions and slices of cheese. 

I cut up all the odds and ends of bread in the freezer and made croutons.  This filled 1 quart jar and 1 1/2 quart jar.

I made fresh lemonade.  I squeezed all the lemons I'd purchased last week.  This netted me enough juice for two pitchers.  I made simple syrup to sweeten the lemonade.

I gave myself a fresh pedicure.  I used a Jamberry sample Bess had shared with me to do accent nails on each foot.

Tuesday:  Muffins or bagels were used for breakfast this morning.  We had plenty of both on hand and suited us all.  Josh is somewhat a picky eater but he did eat a bit of blueberry muffin.

Bess and I planned to shop today.  We went to Macon to the Aldi there for produce and a couple of dairy items then over to The Fresh Market.  I've visited this particular store before.  All their meats are organic and on Tuesday they have ground beef and boneless skinless chicken breasts for $2.99 a pound.  This is far less than we pay for the good beef we buy at the meat market 50 miles away, although this store is something like 45 miles from home.  They have also have a good variety of dairy items that are carrageenan free.   They play classical music while you shop, which is very soothing and relaxing.  I noted prices were average, not at all too high.  I'd love to visit this particular store a little more often, and that's truth.  I was happy to find a couple of items I haven't been able to find elsewhere, like the sweet chili sauce I looked for last week.  And a variety of whole wheat pasta shapes which is sometimes hard to find.  Yes, I enjoyed this trip!  

While I am spending a little more on groceries at the moment, I'm within the $110 range/per week which I think is just about right.  Today's trip was mostly about buying for the extra company at week's end.

John washed a full load of clothes.  This was a combination load of ours and the family's laundry.

I purchased a spearmint plant today at the grocery.  It was $2.50 and will go into the pot where the parsley is doing nothing much at all.  I looked for a sage plant but no luck.

We came home to eat lunch and start dinner in the crock pot.  I went to work on assembling the dinner while Bess unloaded groceries.  We heated leftover pizza for our meal.

I started a meal in the crock pot.  This was another 'keeper' of a recipe, called Alpine Chicken.  I'll share in June's recipe swap.

Wednesday:  John off to work this morning.  I went on outdoors to see him off then watered plants and did some ripping up of Spiderwort.  This made the border about the last mulched bed (the corner spot between deck and patio) look much neater.

Washed a load of bedding (Josh's) along with the few clothes that were in the basket.  I hung bedding and some of the clothing on the line.

Saw Bess off to visit her mom.

I figured this morning was my only quiet spot of time to tot up checkbook for bill paying next week so I went ahead and brought my check register up to date, prepared the bills and my ledger sheet for next pay period. 

I moved money into savings this morning since I am sure our short check will be more than generous after the holiday and John's working overtime last week.

I went out to run an errand.  Took off trash, picked up mail and mailed off items that needed to go out right away.

I went to Walmart to pick up sundry items that I'd had on a list and couldn't find elsewhere.  I resisted temptation...for the most part. The few things I allowed myself to stray from my list for were on sale (new place mats and a set of napkins which better suit our new color palette in dining area).

I purchased birthday gifts for the next two birthday toddlers (both turning two). I bought clothing that I knew was needed for both in their 'new' size or the next one up.  This came from gift fund as did cash for my oldest granddaughter's gift.

I bought landscape weed mat, a hydrangea and a small ivy but paid for those from my allowance.

The rest of the items purchased came from our general account.

Opted for a $5 lunch menu item.

Got my hair cut and then ran an errand here in town.  I went by the dollar store for an item I couldn't find at Walmart.

Was grateful for the hour long thunder shower we had this afternoon.  We needed the rain and to have a good steady rain for an hour was most welcome.

Ate leftovers for supper.

Went through the fridge and determined what needed to be moved to the freezer (two single serve entrees of food).  I put berries in glass jars to keep fresh longer.  Ate a half cup portion of watermelon chunks that had been pushed to back of fridge.  Organized items overall.  Threw out nothing.

Painted the Strawberry festival unfinished birdhouse I'd purchased.

Reset the AC to 77 before leaving home this morning and pulled curtains on the western sides o the house to keep heat from penetrating.

Gave Maddie a frozen chunk of beef fat to help her cool down.

Thursday:  Made hash browns for breakfast using leftover potatoes from Tuesday night's supper.  I also split and heated muffins that I'd made earlier this week.

Our oldest son texted they were on their way.  I made a pitcher of koolaid and a pan of brownies.  I kept in mind that John asked me to keep things simple and not do too much, so I left it at that.

Made sandwiches for our lunch.  I cooked turkey bacon.

We thawed hamburger.  I made up patties for adults.  I had slider sized burgers in the freezer that I thawed for the children.

Josh is a picky eater and often will go without more than a bite or two of food.  Not so today.  He was enthralled by the big boys and did just what they did, which included eating snacks and meal.  It pleased us to watch him eat so well and while you might ask what it has to do with being frugal it's more to do with how to solve a problem frugally: have bigger boys here as an example, lol.

John cooked the burgers on the grill outdoors.  This kept the house cooler than cooking indoors.

Friday:  I made waffles this morning for breakfast.  I mixed up a double batch and good thing.  Each of the little kids ate 3!  I put about a half dozen leftover waffles into the freezer.

I picked up the wrong package of sausage the other day, a pork and chicken blend.  I cooked these for the children and the big boys who don't care, just feed 'em.

I heated the enchiladas that Bess made and served with halved ears of corn on the cob, salad and apple slices.

We had enough enchiladas for a second meal leftover.  Those went into the fridge for a weekend meal.

We'll have leftover hamburgers for supper and thank goodness.  I'm exhausted but it was a lovely visit with my Kingsland grandchildren.  Bess and I have cleaned up the house one more time (#50?) and there's almost a third load of dishes.  John's done two loads of wash, one of which went out on the line. It's been a great week!