Frugal Friday: Balance Beam

Saturday:  I'd planned bagels for breakfast but John decided he wanted to cook breakfast for me.  He made a really big meal.  That's fine.  I figured we could have a late dinner.

It may be Shabat but I didn't do any food prep yesterday.  I chopped vegetables to make spaghetti.  Why not double the batch?  It's really only just a matter of a few extra seconds of chopping.  I add lots of vegetables to my spaghetti.  Today's batch had carrot, zucchini, onion, bell pepper and tomatoes as well as tomato paste and tomato sauce.   I put this in the fridge overnight since we didn't eat spaghetti for dinner as I'd planned.

I'd left spaghetti sauce simmering when John mentioned wanting to try a new sandwich that is temporarily out at a sub shop.  He suggested we go picnic.  We went to a public park and had a lovely time. 

Wore a shirt I've had in my closet for some time though it is new.  I realized while away from home that I don't wear it because it is not comfortable for me.  If I lost a few pounds I'd like it a lot better.  I will pass it on to someone who can wear it more comfortably.



We had a light and late supper.  All of our meals were off schedule today.  We opted for cereal for supper since we'd had plenty of fruits and vegetables through the day with our other meals. 

Ran a full load of dishes.  Allowed to air dry.

Prepared a meal for John's work lunch tomorrow and set up oatmeal and coffee for easy prep in the motion.  I'm low on milk.  I mixed up powdered milk to use in the oatmeal.

Sunday:  Sent John off to work this morning he did so with breakfast eaten, a packed lunch and a cup of coffee to go.

I washed a full load of clothes and hung every last piece on the line or drying rack outdoors.  Lots of nice breezes today to blow them gently dry.

Packed up the spaghetti sauce to go into the freezer.  Left out a portion for dinner on Monday.  I put two 3 cup portions of sauce in the freezer.  Now won't that be nice when I'm just longing for a spaghetti dinner come hot weather but don't want to have sauce slow simmering in the kitchen?

Took all the chicken carcasses (and a lone turkey breast carcass) from the freezer and set them to boil for broth.  I took all the excess vegetables and started in another big pot to simmer for vegetable broth.  I had 3 pint and half containers of broth, 2 cups of meat, and 2 pint and a half containers of vegetable broth. 

I put one and a half cup portion of broth in the fridge to use to make gravy for chicken pot pie. 

I had a cup of hot chicken broth as a mid-morning pick me up.

I inventoried both freezers and noted what needed to be used up and what needed to go.  I have some broth from 2015 and 2016 that will become Maddie's popsicles.  I now have room to stock up a little more on meat which was my goal.

I worked hard today and was glad to sit down to work on checkbook.  I filled one sub-account annual fee more 3/4 way full.

I had leftovers for supper.

Ordered a gift for John for our anniversary later this month.

Went to a favorite store website to look at jewelry on clearance in the hope of finding some new pieces to help pull my newer tops into my wardrobe.  My anti-virus system would not let me proceed with a sale.  Oh well. I don't argue with my anti-virus program on this matter.  It works just fine with safe sites.  Apparently this one was not safe and I'll abide by that.  On the other hand, it saved me a small bit of money and from what might have truly been an impulse buy.

Made up my mind firmly to return the dress and yoga pants to the store.

Spent time on Pinterest looking for ways to use my newer pieces of clothing.  I found some good ideas and jotted down possible combinations for outfits.  Managed to pull together three more with what I have and used two of the newer pieces while doing it.

I am out of milk.  I dislike the milk at the local grocery.  I had buttermilk in the fridge and so I drank a glass of that this evening.

Monday:  Up a little late for a post work morning. I showered and dressed right away.  This is my new routine.  I want to be presentable for breakfast.  I also don't want to cook in my new nightgowns. 

I made buttermilk biscuits this morning.

John washed a full load of clothes this morning.  The bulk of them were hung to dry on the line or on hangers indoors.

Cut up one sundress and am trying to remake it. I have pinned the altered skirt to the top and will sew it up tomorrow.   Will see how this goes tomorrow. 

I cut two infinity scarves in half.  I love the colors, but infinity scarves and my short neck do not go well together.  I will have two new scarves when I'm done.  I will hem the edges tomorrow.

I have a nice pair of jeans that the hem has just not worked well for me.  It was constantly turning up.  I worked on those jeans this evening and think I have fixed the problem

Decided firmly to let go of another sundress that is just an ugly print.  I don't like it any time I've worn it and I refuse to wear something ugly even if it is just about the house.  I certainly wore it enough last year to get my value from it.

Culled the costume jewelry so I can see what I have.  I pulled pieces that I don't wear at all. 

Went out to the shop and found all the missing pieces I've been wanting.  I brought them indoors.  I did not feel like filling up a box for donations, however.

Clipped and filed coupons.  Went over sales papers.  Wrote out a grocery list.

Went down to pick up John's paycheck after lunch today.  We took off trash, did banking and stopped at post office to buy postage and drop off outgoing mail.  We picked up today's mail when we came back home.

John stopped at the local grocery and I went in.  I took my time today and picked up a few items I cannot buy  or cannot get the same quality of, at Aldi.  I purchased some flavored gelatins that were cheaper than Aldi, a good cornmeal, maraschino cherries, turkey Spam.  I got cubed steak in a family pack that was priced well and brought it home to divide into meals.  I picked up some petunias and fresh basil plants at the plant stands outside.  The petunias will replace the pansies in my strawberry pot.

I got chocolate milk for 99c that was on sale due to sell by date.  I should have read the label.  It has carrageenan in it.  However, I had a glass this evening in lieu of my usual glass of milk.

Tuesday:  I was up early this morning.  The coffee was still brewing so I went outdoors and planted all of the new petunias and the basil.  My little herb garden is doing so good!  The oregano, peppermint and sage all are growing big and bushy.

Made pancakes from scratch this morning.    I used more buttermilk.  So good!

John mentioned he'd much prefer fried turkey spam over turkey bacon which is often tough.  I agreed.  I picked up three cans on sale at the local grocery yesterday.

Today felt very spendy.  We are preparing for a road trip and while there are little things we'd normally not buy,  John wanted to in order to make things easier overall.  Not complaining.   We also determined to purchase several things we'd normally buy at our destination.  Extra today, yes, but we saved a TON over what we'd spend later.  I'm freezing what I can and we'll take it frozen with us.  I can thaw there just as well as anywhere else, right?  We bought a gas card to use for the trip so we don't have to worry about having our card skimmed at unfamiliar stations. 

John wanted a new pair of athletic shoes.  He came out of the store with two pairs for the price of one.  Good job!

We are always looking for a way to trim up what's in the trunk of my car.  We carry two coolers to keep cold stuff in when we're shopping, a necessity when we travel 40 miles to do our shopping in the heat of summer.  Today at Aldi we found a 36 can soft sided cold pack, guaranteed to keep things cold for 7 hours.  It was $12.  We liked it so well after seeing how many groceries it would hold that John sent me back to buy a second one while he loaded things in the grocery.  We were able to eliminate one the bulkier of the two coolers entirely and are well pleased with our new bags.

My attempt at remaking the sundress was a FAIL.  I'll scrap the original idea and go to plan B which is to make a skirt and be done with it.

Made two infinity scarves into regular scarves.

Ordered a replacement heat control for my old electric skillet.

Wednesday:  John out in the yard early doing some trimming, getting gas for the mower and generally readying the mower so he could cut the lawn today.  We had breakfast on the back porch.  Maddie was  lady dog and sat quietly on the rug behind me instead of begging at table.  She's not a beggar anyway, that girl, except for attention!

While John was working outdoors and before I made breakfast, I went right to work on that failed attempt to makeover the sundress. I cut away the top portion entirely and made myself a simple skirt.  It looks just fine, is comfortable and likely I'll get  couple of more summer's wear and feel far more modest as I wanted.   I need to buy more elastic but I'll cut the other two dresses into skirts as well.

Watered plants with the mop water this morning.

Made that yummy Mongolian Beef.  I set a portion aside for dinner tomorrow for myself.  I put the rest of the leftovers and sauce into the freezer for a meal later on.

John asked to take the leftover spaghetti entrée to work as part of his lunch for tomorrow.

I totted up the checkbook.  I had to shift some money around but no use of sub-account funds was required.  I treat those accounts as though they were savings and I won't touch them.

Thursday:  I've had one of those super frustrating sorts of days.  All to do with computer...I gave up in sheer frustration this morning.  This afternoon I began the rather gargantuan task of moving mail accounts to a new server.  I am already overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things that must be moved, changed, who has to be notified, settings that must be corrected.  Gah!!  Reminder to self Rome wasn't built in a day and I sure don't have to do all this at once either.

Had to make some hard decisions today involving past Penny Ann Poundwise posts.  I cannot afford to print them all off.  I've let them just sit in an archived place for YEARS now and it's just so much clutter to deal with.  Closing the mail account attached to the yahoogroups is part of my plan to simplify my life. I decided that while I did do some fine writing in those days, I cannot and need not hold onto them.  Like my old journals they served their time and place.  It was time to let go and move forward without the burdens of the past things tied to me.

Went out today to do a bundle of errands.  I picked up mail, took off trash, made a return, shopped for new accessories and found three necklaces and two pairs of earrings.  Now I feel I am done on that score.  I also bought a white and a navy tee-shirt.  Both are classic and will move from one season to another with ease.  Everything purchased today was bought at a very good price.  Two of the necklaces were just $2.99 and the shirts were mark downs as well.

I cleaned up the car at the car wash.  I went to the automated one that has free vacuuming service.  I chose the least expensive option which gave me everything except shiny tires.  I vacuumed the trunk and the interior and must have been at the vacuuming job a good half hour or more.  How past due was this cleaning?  I shared on facebook today that I stood in the parking lot looking for my car for a good five minutes after my haircut...I finally found it.  I'd honestly forgotten it's true color!

Picked up a four dollar lunch at Del Taco. 

Got my hair cut.  I was able to have the same stylist I chose last time and she corrected the only thing I didn't like about my last cut, which was a straight across the forehead bang. 

I decided at that point to just head home.  I was tired, it was getting hot and I'd been feeling anxious all morning long.  I was just ready to shelter at home for a bit.

Watered plants using water I'd saved for emergency.  I often do this in the summer so that I can keep our emergency water supply refreshed.

Used the blower to clear the patio of all the pecan blooms.  What a mess that was.  How easy it is to do the job with the blower!

It looks like our little bird successfully raised this batch of birdies.  I checked the nest this morning and it was empty.  Now we'll move that old metal cabinet off the back porch. 

Ate my leftovers for supper this evening.


Found room in the freezer for the two half gallons of milk I'd bought this week as extras.  I wanted one to leave when we go on vacation and one to take with us.

Poured some milk into my what was left of the buttermilk and started a new batch culturing.

Friday:  I'd prayed last night that I'd get up early enough to shower and have prayer and Bible study before John came in this morning from work.  I woke up and got out of bed before even glancing at the clock.  It was 6:25am.   I was so tempted to pop right back into bed but I didn't.  My reward was a most beautiful sunrise and I'm so glad I didn't miss it!

Made sausage gravy to serve over the leftover biscuits from Monday morning.  I used just three sausage patties.  I didn't add anything to the menu.  John had said he meant to go out to work on the lawnmower and I knew he wouldn't want to be over full.

John took the deck off the mower.  He had a large crack develop in it this week while mowing.  His plan was to replace it but he balked at the price of $800.  We really aren't quite ready to buy a new mower and that deck replacement was closer to the price of a new mower than not.  He decided to take the deck to our local body shop guy and ask if he could repair it with a weld.  He did.  $10.  I'll go for saving $790 any day, wouldn't you?  He's hoping to get through this mowing season with it.  I'm going to start a new sub-account for a new mower now that all the rest are pretty much full.

John washed a small load of clothes and hung to dry.

I washed a very full load of dishes and allowed to air dry.

I didn't make chicken pot pie as planned.  I made the Baked Chicken and Dumpling Casserole that I like so well. I knew it would make enough for two meals. Because of previous notes on the recipe I made two changes:  I increased the temperature of the oven and I added 1/2 cup extra flour to the recipe.  Perfect!

The house is Shabat ready.  I am working ahead on posts for Charm School next week.  It's been a lovely week.  What did you do to walk on the balance beam?