Frugal Friday: Savings Spring Up

Saturday:  I don't know if any of you follow the blog SimpleIsGood4U or not.  She has a small following at present.  I found her via Prudent Homemaker's frugal savings comments (where a lot of good frugal folks and bloggers report their weekly savings).  This week one of her posts was this quote:

If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way." ~ Napoleon Hill  I must say I think that's a mighty good quote and it fits right along side my own favorite quote of "Start where you are. Use what you have.  Do what you can."  I'll gather my inspiration where I can and this quote Mariana shared does it for me!

Food stayed simple today.  While I was tempted to take something else from the freezer there was plenty of that chicken in the fridge. I reheated the legs and wings and cooked green beans and potatoes.  We had a slice of cake to follow.  It was good.  It filled us up.

Noted that butter is awfully low in my food stock just now.  Well it ought to be.  I haven't purchased any in two months!  Fortunately I don't have a long list (it IS short paycheck week) for this pay period so I can stock up a little.   I wonder if we'll see any Easter baking sales this year?  It used to be that there were plenty near Easter (in April this year) but in the past few years all I see on sale are candies, cake mixes and pricey toys meant for bloated baskets from the Easter Bunny.  I'm not interested in giving children a second big gift giving experience to rival Christmas, but I would appreciate sales on butter and sugar and such.  In the meantime, I have started a 'need right now' grocery list and a 'watch for good sales' list.

We had to switch on the AC this evening only briefly.  So briefly it ran one cycle, but it was enough to push aside the heavy, too warm air in the house.  Air too full of pollen (it looks dusty outdoors!) to consider opening windows.

Made John's lunch items for tomorrow while I prepped supper sandwiches this evening. 

I used another portion of that chicken (gracious, I'm ready to cluck!) to make sandwiches tonight. 

As I restocked my pill boxes, I noted that I need to stock up once more on vitamins and supplements.  I'm going to do a thorough inventory of my stored stuff before I even think of  making any purchases though. Last time I didn't and ended up with still more of the very supplements which I  had in  good supply. 

Knowing we had the time change tonight, I went ahead and set all the clocks ahead by one hour.  This insures the coffee pot timer goes off at the right time in the morning, and that we aren't late rising for John's need to go to work.



Sunday:  Up too early this morning!  I missed that extra hour of sleep and loathe the so called savings that this supposedly brings.  I've never noticed it saved me anything.  How having lights on an hour longer in the morning makes a savings come evening time is beyond me. 

Made John breakfast of oatmeal. I needed to stretch milk to last a wee bit longer so I used a combination of evaporated milk, water and almond milk.  It was quite good.  After reading an article this week about Almond Milk not being the health boon it was thought to be (can't cite the source due to poor memory), I noted that the carton I'd bought at Aldi has NO sugar, NO carrageenan and does have a natural Vitamin E and D added.  This is a good thing.  Apparently the stuff the blogger who wrote the post was disappointed to find she was getting all of the bad things and none of the good in her almond milk.  Almond milk can be pricey to buy but I find that at Aldi is reasonable and has a long shelf life. 

John took a to go cup of coffee with him.  He insists on reusing the cups he gets at convenience stores which aren't really meant to be reused.  I've found I can't soak them, but I can wash quickly with hot soapy water and rinse well under hot running water and allow to air dry.  He gets two or three extra uses from them.  That's what he carried to work with him this morning.  He seems to prefer this over the truly reusable stainless ones we've an ample supply of or the disposable cups I'd bought at his insistence the last big family day we had.

Worked on Swagbucks.  Made today's goal.

Rain this morning.  It makes it easier for me to put the sheets and towels in the dryer.  I'd have been tempted to hang on the line despite the pollen, which of course would mean bringing them indoors to put through the dryer to get rid of the pollen.  So the savings here is labor on my part.

Availed myself of our satellite TV channels to listen to some uplifting sermons.

My microfiber dish drying mat is looking pretty tatty and not working as well as it did.  I've washed it often enough over the past three years.  I picked it up at Ross for pennies compared to what they cost elsewhere.   I shopped around and found a nice one in my favorite aqua color at Target. It was so low priced, I ordered three, which is still less than one at Amazon or Ebay.  I balked a bit at shipping costs which was more than the cost of the three dish mats.  I noted an option for a discount code which saved me 10% but not nearly enough to offset shipping.  I kept reading the screen and noted I could pick these up at my local store for FREE.  This suited me quite well.  I'll be in that town at least twice this week.  I've seen this process before.  You just go to the service desk, tell them you're there to pick up an order, they hand it off to you.  It's already paid for (in this case via a Paypal balance from Pinecone research...isn't that awesome?) and I don't even have to wander through the store. 

Inspiration can come from the silliest little things.  I decided to Spring clean our bath and bedroom today.  I know, I said I'd spring clean in the kitchen at the beginning of the week.  I started in the bedroom by way of a 'might as well' thought.  I took down the curtains and sheers to wash (did the bed cover and blankets last weekend).  I put the curtains in the dryer but the sheers have built in grommets They are metal and I didn't want the noise.  Besides, they are sheers, so they should dry well at room temperature. 

I had to think creatively for a place to hang them.  I decided the shower rod in the guest bath would be a good spot.  I hung them up and knew immediately I've found my new shower curtain.   I'd just been looking at new shower curtains at Target the other day.  I've had the gray one in that room for nearly 5 years now and I'm ready for a small change.  Since I often find them on clearance I'd figured one would show up sometime soon.  Well no need to look further.  Those sheer curtains are GORGEOUS in that bath and it makes it seem so much brighter!  I have a translucent liner in that bath already.  I just need to shorten and add buttonholes to the sheers, not a hard bit of sewing to do at all.

It turned off cold with the rain.  I think the temperature dropped about 15 degrees.  Enough that the heat has been on consistently all morning and into the afternoon.

Found a variety of leftovers to make up a meal for my dinner.

Remembered I had a banana nut bread in the freezer that would do nicely for a snack at our meeting tonight.  Much amused when another member walked in with a lovely warm banana bread.  We all had some of each and both were quite good, but truly a warm bread on a cold day is much the best.

Ran by Target to pick up the order item, then over to Kroger where I was able to score two of the Friday Free items, plus a loaf of bread and a lovely green fern that I put in the master bedroom.  It's just the fresh touch that room needed.

Monday:  Up far too early again today.  Never mind.  I got to chat back and forth with Katie for almost an hour before John came in and that made it worthwhile.

Worked on Swagbucks.  Earned today's goal.

I made French toast with frozen bread I'd put aside.  Mostly pieces of loaves that had dried out and weren't good for eating unless they were used for croutons.  I always have saved these pieces of bread.  I do make croutons for our salads and French toast.  This bread is also good for strata dishes or bread pudding.  They also make great fresh or dried bread crumbs.  And all this can be made from something you might have normally tossed in the trash.

I am beginning to plan ahead towards our Passover time.  I'll need to use up the bread pieces in the coming month (and not make croutons of which we have plenty!).  I'll pull out my recipes and see which seem most interesting to me.

I didn't have milk but I do have almond milk on hand.  This worked just as well as milk.  I was even able to scramble the custard mixture for John to eat on the side.  I think, with the long shelf life in the fridge that it's a good thing to keep a carton of the almond milk on hand.

We have leftover banana nut bread and I picked up a free package of cookies last night.  It does make  me feel I don't need quite so many groceries this pay period when we have snacks on hand.

I got involved in trying to finish up the spring cleaning I started in the bedroom and bath.  John hefted a chair out of the room for me.  I put in the chair I bought Friday at Peaches to Beaches.  I'll be able to set up my kitchen Bible Study station once more.  I've missed sitting in that spot to do my morning study.

My mind is running in thirty different directions at once.  I'm pretty pleased with the bedroom now that it's been deep cleaned.  After settling the new chair into place and making the bed, I did a quick declutter of the drawers and closet.  The lovely thing at this stage is that I had only a small piece of trash and one large boot box of things to donate and that was it.   That boot box just happens to have a pair of shoes in a shoe box inside, so not so many things went into the big box.  I do need to remove everything from the closet and wipe down the walls and dust the boxes that go on the shelves overhead the clothes rack.  I'd like to mop the floor in that closet as well.  I expect this will take about an hour since there is a lot of hefting of clothes to be done.

I moved a skirt and a shirt to the house drawer to get further use from those pieces in the coming months.  I don't know just why I won't wear them in public any more but I know I will wear them around the house because they are quite comfortable. 

I put the bathroom bench cover back on.  I cleared the cabinet where I keep toiletries and organized that space better.  Here I had more trash than I'd had from the bedroom declutter.  I tossed the partial box of hair color that I'm no longer using, emptied a couple of packages to make more room and less clutter.  I found a makeup pencil sharpener (yes!  I'd foregone buying one a couple of weeks ago because I just knew I had one somewhere).  I was able to determine what spa day items I have and what I need to use the last bits of.  I still want to wipe down the insides of the cabinets and I want to mop the floor, but other than those two jobs I'm done.  I can do either of those tasks in about a half hour tops.

Bleached the counter tops this afternoon.  I really didn't feel I wanted to do it but I'd set myself that task for this week and I meant to get it done.  I was able to reuse the paper toweling even though I don't buy a 'premium' brand of paper towels, so I was able to cut down on that.  It did make a difference in the counter tops. 

I know I was meant to make the chicken, rice and bean burritos...I know.  But I am so over eating chicken just now.  I put the components in the freezer.  I took out a beef steak and made a pan roasted steak with vegetables.  This used up the big onion I'd cut Friday, the last of the fresh green beans, the last of a bag of baby potatoes and the last of a bag of red bell pepper I had in the freezer.  I covered with foil and let it bake, which thawed the steak and steamed the vegetables nicely.  It was quite good.

Our supper tonight was more odds and ends from the snack cupboard and meat drawer. 

I packed John's work lunch for tomorrow.

I washed a full load of dishes.

John washed a full load of clothes and hung most to dry.  He hung a few outdoors but our weather was so cold and overcast that only one thin shirt dried.  The rest of his clothes remained damp.  He brought them inside to hang up to dry.

I gathered all the items I mean to give to Katie into one bag.  I seem to always have a bag started for her or Bess or a box for Amie or Virginia going.

Tuesday:  Packed John's lunch.  Made him breakfast and sent him off to do his overtime day with a to go cup of coffee.  He made me smile when he took this shift.  "Sometimes I just need to do a little extra to show I can keep up with you."  Silly man.  As if I have a life that is drudgery!

I have had the most fun today.  I puttered.  I wandered.  I splurged.  I didn't set out to do any of these things but oh it was so worth it!  I thought I'd share, because ordinary days come along far more often than these little  moments that make me just feel joyful.

I caught myself in a 'might as well' moment this morning very early, right after John left for work.  I wandered into the guest bathroom and decided to wash the rug in that room and "might as well" do the shower curtains, too, while I was at it.  Then I cleaned the walls in that little room.  Ha!  I'm fortunate that it is such a very small room or I could get all wound up in a whole major spring cleaning in another area. I turned out that sink cabinet in December and lined the bottom of it with pretty paper. It didn't need any further attention from me this month. The towels are all fresh.  I need to mop the floor in there but otherwise it's done.  I plan to mop all the floors on Thursday.  Now to turn those sheers into my new shower curtain for that room...

Painted two picture frames silver.   I just felt it was the right thing.  Mind you, I paid a pretty price for the framed set and I've liked them just fine for years now but I really wanted to change them up a tiny bit.  My instinct was right.  They are GORGEOUS. 

While sitting on the front porch this morning with the pets, shivering in the cold, I watched the robins.  Suddenly two bluebirds flew across my line of vision and lighted on a tree branch.  I love bluebirds best of all the birds simply because they are so fleet and so shy that it's unusual to get a good look at them.  They are actually Eastern Blue Robins and they have a red breast just like the regular old robins do but are much smaller.

Drove to Macon on an errand.  My route goes along old state highways and back roads to The Fresh Market.  I like the route very well as it's just a pleasant drive altogether.  Dogwood, red bud, maples, oaks and wisteria area all blooming.  Ever now and then I'd spy a bit of wild crabapple blooming.  At one point I opened the window and smelled  Sweet Shrub blooming.  Oh that brought back memories of spring childhood days!

At The Fresh Market, I walked the entire store and looked at every single thing on the shelves.  I mean I truly looked at it all which I've never taken the time to do before.  I found dried unsweetened coconut for $3.99 a pound.  A big two-cup package cost less than $2 which I thought was a very good price.  I haven't seen this item outside the Mennonite store.  I think this will go into my first homemade batch of granola.

I bought Ruby Tango Mandarins.  This store often has unusual varieties of some in season fruit and this was the pick this week.  It is a cross between blood orange and clementine.  They are HUGE.  Two came in at just over a pound and made them a real indulgence ($3.99/pound).  However, half one is a serving, so it's less than a single serve bag of chips and how much better for you!  That was my treat for me.

I picked up a pre-made sandwich (grilled chicken, pesto and goat cheese wrap) and a deli dish of chicken pot stickers.  The two items together cost less than a mid priced restaurant meal and again, I get two servings from each item.  I steamed the pot stickers for my dinner today, along with a healthy serving of Oriental stir fry vegetables ( from my freezer).  Served with half one of those mandarins and I feel positively virtuous, not to mention INDULGED.  I'll have half the sandwich for my supper tonight and give John the other half when he comes in.  Worth the effort to do more seasonal cleaning when I've spoiled myself so.  By the way these meals with half a mandarin come in at about $4 each.  A little high for a meal at home, true, but convenience and deliciousness abound.

I indulged in double dipped chocolate peanuts (John's favorite bulk candy), and a small slice of smoked Gouda (also for John).

Took a longer route than I'd intended home.  I wandered down  a country back road and ended up on another old state highway that went a bit further north than I'd thought.  No matter.  Have you ever smelled wisteria and wood smoke all mixed up on a spring gust of wind?  It could be perfume, masculine and feminine, woodsy and floral.  Mixing with that cold damp Spring air did add something to the mix, too. 

It's cold here.  Cold for us.  I wore a wool jacket all morning and never once felt I was uncomfortably warm. 

I turned the heat down when I left home.  Reminds me to go turn it back up and set the old coffee pot on the back burner of the stove to humidify the air a bit.

Cleaned the refrigerator.  I found a half package of Brussels Sprouts that I couldn't remember buying.  I thought back over the past month.  I've only shopped once in all that time and so they must have been at least six weeks old.  Too far past their time to even consider salvaging.  I tossed them.  I also found four won ton wrappers I'd meant to use 'for something' or so I kept telling myself.  I used them for nothing.  They expired in September which was six months ago.  Out they went.  Other than those two items I had no waste or spoilage which I consider pretty awesome considering I haven't really delved into that fridge in six weeks.

I rearranged things a little in the fridge.  I've had a corner plate rack on the bottom shelf for several months now. Something like this though mine was far less expensive.

I'd read that it made good use of space because most casseroles would fit in one and you could stack them up instead of having them taking up valuable fridge space.  I discovered recently I could lay the tall water bottles on the thing and fit about nine bottles in the same footage as I'd used to stand them up, but they wouldn't fall over as they usually do.  Well I'll buy another corner rack for the bottom shelf because it is very handy for pans and casseroles to be stacked upon, but I've moved water bottles up top once more where we can easily get to them, now that warmer weather is supposed to be near. (She says as the winds roar and freezing temperatures push in for the week.)

I spent time sewing this afternoon, working on those sheers turned shower curtain. I am up to the point of making button holes.  Here is where I wonder where my instruction manual is...or was it, just possibly, the book I tossed when clearing that back room for carpet, thinking it was the manual to my old machine?  Too tired to look for it tonight.  I sewed a quick little bag for drumsticks at John's request.  Enough is enough.

I stopped housework, errands, etc. today at 6:15pm.  Time for my supper, a cup of coffee and to put my feet up.  I've put in my 12 hours today!  I don't normally have a cup of coffee this late but if I put in plenty of milk it will work for me and I sure feel like I've earned a good hot cup!

Wednesday:  Y'all...I didn't do much to save money today but it's been awfully nice.  For one thing I really slept last night (yea!) and so I didn't arise until a bit before 8am this morning.  John and I got involved in a movie right away after I'd finished Bible study and we finished that.  A late breakfast of eggs and toast and then John announced that we had a date today.  We had a lovely long ride through  wooded land over an old Federal highway.  Then dinner in a lovely old building in a small historic town.  We took our time today and didn't hurry.  It was just plain nice.  When we got home, we didn't do anything but watch TV and read.  This is not at all usual for us, but it sure was nice. 

Oh, I guess we saved a little money today.  I did turn down the heat before we left home and I did make his meals for work tomorrow.

We were so very full from our big dinner that we opted for hot cocoa (me) and coffee (him) with bagels for supper. 

We'll work hard tomorrow.  It was nice to have this surprise leisure day in the middle of a hard work week!

Thursday:  I set up the oatmeal wet and dry ingredients last night before I went to bed.  It sure does make it easy for me when I'm groggy to just take the jar from the fridge, dump the wet ingredients into the dry ones in the pan, turn on the burner and stir.   Made John breakfast before he left for work.

Packed his work lunch.

Sent him off with a to go cup of coffee to help chase the morning chill.  And boy was it chilly.  The frosty yard glittered like a Christmas card this morning.  We had to run both the propane heater and the electric heater until well into the morning just to keep the indoor temperature at around 66F which is a tiny bit chilly, even if you are working.

After John left, and I'd done my Bible study, I hopped right to work.  I did some light routine housework and then I settled at the sewing machine to finish my new shower curtain.  It turned out really pretty!

Then I painted two picture frames black.  They will go back on the wall in my room once they dry completely. 

I cleared the bathrooms and kitchen and mopped floors. 

While the mop pre-soaked, I put together a quick Oriental style Chicken Soup.  It sure did smell good while I was working away!  I used some of the frozen leftover chicken, frozen broth, the partial bag of oriental vegetables from Aldi I used the other day, the last of a bag of spinach and some noodles.  I even added the sauce packet from the bag of vegetables.   Nice to know dinner was taken care of while I finished my work.    I moved some things, put back the rugs and other items once the floors were dry. 

Had a big bowl of soup for lunch with a slice of the banana bread I had left from snacks for Sunday night's group meeting.  There's enough soup to have it on Sunday after church.

Although I'd not planned to grocery shop today, I'd forgotten the need to go pick up prescriptions.  The pharmacy sent a reminder that they were ready.  Since the housework was pretty much done, I thought I'd just go on over this afternoon and do all I needed to do at once.  This means we can pick up a paper and come home Sunday after church, which really is the best thing.  Plus I can shop a little more carefully without John along, meaning I'll slap my own hand when I feel the urge to impulse spend and I won't have to worry about what he's putting in the cart.

later...I did slap my hand quite a few times and put back many an item I picked up that wasn't on the list or wasn't really needed.  I even stopped myself giving in to thirst and hunger and stopping at a drive-thru for even so much as a $5 lunch.  Truth is I've had a grand time doing my little bit of spending but there's a price to be paid for it and I mean to pay it. I'd heaps rather have spent my bits on the house than on fast food.

What I did buy: Pickles were a BOGO at Publix this week and they had all varieties of the Mt. Olive (my favorite) brand included.  Relishes and dills and sweet and bread and butter.  I bought four jars, mixing and matching my pickles.

I bought two bags of Harvest colored Hershey chocolate kisses that were on clearance as a buy one get one price.  I do not care what color wrapper the chocolate has on it.  I just want a piece of chocolate when I want one.  I can eat sale priced chocolate just fine, can't you?

John's soda brand was on sale for $2 a 6-pack of bottles.  Typically they only have 2 6packs in store and about half the time they have NONE.  It's one of the few places we can pick it up, though, so I watch hard for sales.  Today there were four 6-packs on the shelf.   I knew he occasionally would drink one other flavor so I got five of the sodas.  This will do for quite a while because he only drinks 1 every other day or so.

Went to Aldi and stuck to the perimeter of the store.  Even at Aldi that works just fine.  I picked up snack foods because we get awfully grumpy without grahams or the occasional serving of chips.  Eggs were just $.69 a dozen which is a great price.  I'd been planning to go across the street to Kroger where they were $.79/dozen, but cutting out that extra store suited me fine.

Packs of Roma tomatoes, weighing in at 1 pound were $1.49.  Not a bad price.  But loose Roma tomatoes were $.89/pound.  I got four which came up to a pound. 

Cream cheese was $.85 a package.  It didn't expire until July, so I picked up six.

I had promised to make lasagna.  It hasn't happened yet because I forgot to buy cottage cheese (we use that instead of ricotta in ours).  I noted that a pound bag of shredded mozzarella was $2.49.  8 ounce bars were $1.89.  I decided convenience AND savings was a big bonus.

Came home to put groceries away.  I put the berries in a glass jar and covered them with a lid.  These will keep in the fridge now for almost 2 weeks without any spoiling.

I made an executive decision to stop working.  It's 4:30 and I've been going since 6:15 this morning.  Time to do quiet work like writing.  Or mindless stuff like games and Pinterest.  Or follow a rabbit trail into the genealogy world.  Yep.

Friday: I had plans today which sort of got tossed up in the air about 7am this morning.  I decided to get up and hurry through household chores like vacuuming and get a shower and do another thing or two while I had time to do them.  I was able to get a good start on prepping my corned beef dinner for today's main meal, too.  I got ground beef browned to make meat sauce with for lasagnas I hope to make later today.

When we left home this morning we took off trash.  On our way back through town we stopped and filled John's car with gasoline and went by the local grocery so I could pick up a sale item I wanted to stock up on. 

I admired, but did not buy, any of the lovely plants displayed in front of the store.  The deep purple petunias caught my eye right away, though.

John washed clothes and hung several items outdoors to dry.  I suggested he not leave them there due to the pollen but he doesn't think it's that bad just yet.

Made my spaghetti sauce.  I added in a grated carrot and a grated zucchini.  I've always added extra vegetables to my spaghetti sauce and lasagna.  When my children were growing up meat was a seasoning for the vegetables in those dishes and I put in every sort of vegetable I had on hand.  I've made lasagna with broccoli, with spinach, and zucchini as well as eggplant slices between layers.  No one ever complained over it.  I don't have anything but carrots and zucchini besides the usual vegetables (tomatoes, bell peppers, onions) so that's all I'll add in today.

The pan of lasagna ended up so big and heavy I had to set it inside another pan to give it adequate support.  I'll cook the whole thing, then divide into portions to freeze.  This should serve us at least 4 meals and probably even more.

My father-in-law was famous in the family for his lasagna.  He learned to make it from an Italian woman in his childhood neighborhood.  She couldn't always get ricotta cheese so she used a block of cream cheese that she pinched off in little dabs and used here and there over the lasagna.  Then she used cottage cheese over that.  I've followed his example, especially since I got that great buy on cream cheese yesterday at Aldi.

Put the remaining shredded cheese into the freezer for use another day.  Handy to have for a pizza day.

While I waited on John this morning, I tended to my hand care.  I pushed back cuticles, filed nails, removed hang nails and rubbed in plenty of that thick rich lotion  Katie gave me for Christmas.  My hands are taking a beating with Spring Cleaning and it was nice to take time to do that small thing for self care.

I just washed a full load of dishes.  I happened to be in the kitchen when the timer on the dishwasher switched over to the heat dry stage.  Even though I have that cycle turned off, the switch usually works it's way through that cycle.  A lesser usage of electricity, but a usage just the same.  Today I went ahead and turned the machine to full off and then opened the door to allow the dishes to air dry.  I'll get them put away tonight before Shabat starts.

Well, it's early yet, but it's been a full day in my home.  I'm ready to rest for a bit, do some of my weekly blog reading and possibly even take a short nap.  I hope you all had a great week.  I loved having so many of you chime in with your Life Savors this week!  It was a joy to read them. 

Share what you did to save money this week.  I look forward to hearing from you.