Living Frugally and Well: Change of Perspective

Saturday:  I made up a batch of beef fajitas for our dinner today.  I used bell pepper strips from the freezer, some thin sliced sirloin I'd cut into strips and an onion.  My seasonings were all from the spice/herb cabinet.  It was tasty and filling.

I made 'yellow' rice, using some ground turmeric.

I used a free can of refried beans as a second side dish.



We had a really tough day on Friday and though I'd made lunch at home, we were wrung out by evening and supper time.  I had a second Burger King gift card that I'd purchased around Christmas time as a Kroger special.  It was nice to go out for dinner and not have to worry about giving up cash for the meal.  We took off trash, picked up mail and took mail into town as we drove about that evening.

Sunday:  We were off to visit our son.  Not a great morning but that was only partly due to befuddled minds.  We started off by leaving John's hot coffee on the counter when we left home.  14 hours later we returned and it was still just warm sitting in the Yeti container.  I told John I was duly impressed though I don't believe I want to drink coffee after 14 hours!

We stopped at a Burger King to get hot coffee and breakfast sandwiches.  Food arrived barely warm after we waited fifteen minutes for it.  Coffee we received right away and it was just barely warm, too.  We didn't want to spoil our day complaining but you can bet that we'll be filling out that online survey and voicing our displeasure.  That was not typical of service at this particular Burger King.  We paid for our meal with the last of the gift card by the way.

I brought along water and soda with us.  We didn't stop for anything more than bathroom breaks after this.

Spent a lovely day at church with my son and his family and then had dinner with them at their home and spent time with the grand boys.  Isaac's eyes have turned fully gray, from their previous blue gray.  It's such a joy to hear Josh's strides in language.  He chattered away to us all through the visit and made us chuckle several times.

We headed home about 4pm.  We stopped about 5:30 and had a simple supper, drinking water I'd refilled my water bottle with at Bess and Sam's.

Monday:  John got up quite early in the morning and started a load of clothes then came back to bed.  I was awake at the same time and much amused that he went right back to sleep.  I, on the other hand, did not, but I slept well enough during the night, so it was okay.  I got up and worked on Swagbuck points for a little while until coffee made.

When John got up he hung most of the load to dry indoors.  Too humid outdoors to even think clothes would dry!

Mixed up a big batch of fluffy homemade biscuits.  I put 9 large biscuits into the freezer.  In mixing up the batter, I used the custard mix from the French toast I made the other morning.  I happened to see it when I opened the door to grab buttermilk and I knew it would work as well in the dough I was preparing.  Lovely golden biscuits in that batch!

I had a full load of dishes for the dishwasher.  I wanted to take a shower, too. I opted to take my shower then wait a bit and then run the dishwasher.

I stripped the bed and refreshed the bath towels.  I will wash that load of clothes in the morning after John leaves for work.  No need to run too much hot water all in one day's time.

Prepped John's work lunch(es) for this week.  I made mac and cheese and put peaches into two containers each.  My husband doesn't ever complain about eating the same thing over for work meals.  He just asks that I give him plenty of grab and go options to go along with I'm if need be.  I do.

John works tomorrow, so he'll pick up his check then and deposit it, saving the gas of a round trip to his workplace and back today.

I drained the canned peaches which are lightly sweetened (Aldi in a blue label).  I set the syrup aside and used it to 'sweeten' my batch of tea for this week.  Truth:  Not so much sweet, which is fine, but not so much on the flavor either.  I'd hoped for more of a peach tea taste.  Nope.  No loss on either account, I'll drink it up just the same but I'll know in future that it does nothing much in the way of good nor harm in my tea.

Set up oatmeal fixings for the morning.  I'll set up the coffee for tomorrow morning later.

Here in a bit I'll set up the coffeemaker for John to have a single cup of coffee for the evening.  He went out to repair the mower and I guess he determined the grass needed cutting because he's doing that now.   He works two days this week and with two days to recover and a grocery day out that's pretty much this week gone, so I guess he's doing one of my favorite tasks: working ahead.

I cleaned out the icemaker tray and put the old ice in a pot to melt.  I'll use it to water plants with, but just the porch plants.  The pots in the yard seemed to have had more than enough watering in the past three weeks. So much so that I really ought to fertilize them and restore some of the nutrients to them, but I've been outdoors to the sauna twice today and that was more than enough.

I set the Purple petunia, ginger, and maidenhair fern in the wagon which filled with water over the weekend.  Why let that water go to waste?  They will get a good deep soaking and then I'll restore them to the porch...except for the petunia which I mean to set on the patio because it's just not been really happy on the front porch.  Too many aphids and then powdery mildew has attacked it there.  I think it just needs more full sun and less shade.

The AC is working hard to keep up with the high humidity and heat.  I turned it UP, which means that it will not need to work half so hard to keep the temperature down, then turned on the oscillating fans to circulate the air better.

I served up a soup today for our main meal which John  liked very well all winter long but when I pulled the jar from the freezer to thaw he wasn't so enthusiastic over it.  I know how to get round him, though.  I promised him a meal of baked corn dogs tonight.   He ate the soup without complaint, which he'd have done anyway, because he's not the complaining sort, but I know it made a difference to him to know we were having something he could look forward to tonight.  I served the Farro Kale soup with Challah bread left from our Friday Shabat and a salad that had pears and walnuts in it.  Nope it wasn't any of it on my menu for the week.  This soup was meant to be for supper one night at the end of the week and John didn't want it.  I wasn't going to let it go to waste and it was far too much for me to eat all on my own.

I went to the back pantry to look for a bottle of French dressing I knew I had on the shelf...Couldn't find it anywhere which puzzled me no end.  Later today I went back to the pantry to get a few items and there was the dressing on another section of the shelf where I'd apparently moved it a couple of days ago...I smiled, because NOT finding it earlier led me to finish off a bottle of Blue Cheese dressing in the fridge.  It hadn't looked like 'enough' but you know I had all the dressing I wanted, as did John and there was smidge left in the bottom of the jar when we were both served.  So I'm happy I didn't find the French dressing until later.   I put it back in it's proper spot on the shelf.

Tuesday:  Work day...You know the usual routine things occurred: breakfast, lunch, coffee.

I went by the peach shed in the next town today.  Closed up tight.  No more peaches for this season. I put three packages in the freezer and shared two with Katie.  Thankfully, I know canned peaches will make a decent cobbler when we simply must have peach cobbler.  And I am grateful as can be that I had the few peaches I had.

I followed in Annabel's footsteps today and 'went afield' to do some of my shopping.  I  have wanted for some time now to do some scouting for the pantry.  I'd been thinking of my shoe box meals and of things I haven't been able to find at all at Aldi.

Today's list included the absolute must have's from Dollar General.  Things I've done with out until the pay period rolled around once more.  I got frames for the  pictures above my desk space... Then discovered when the wrapping was off them that my pictures were not going to fit.  They were the right length but the width of the artwork is smaller than the opening.  So that shall wait for a bit longer...I bought vitamins and a $1 birthday card for my grandson's birthday at the end of this month.

I found that the Dollar General store in our area is not a good source for grocery products for us.  Yes, I've had some of their products and they are good products, but they don't carry things that are better priced or superior to Aldi brands.  Nor do they carry the varieties of things I can't purchase at Aldi.  And, in my field work today I actually discovered that spices and herbs, which I have on occasion purchased at Dollar General are much less expensive at Food Depot.  Even with the 10% mark up I can save an average of 5-10c over Dollar General prices.

The Food Depot in that town expanded their product lines in the last two years or so.  They have a wide variety of things available and also cater to the Hispanic population which is sizeable in the agriculture based counties in our area.

Here is where I typically buy the turkey breakfast sausage we like so well.  For $3.68 I got 18 pieces of sausage.  It was on sale this past week at Kroger at $3.00 for 8 pieces.  HUGE price benefit in purchasing this product here.

I walked up and down every single food aisle except for  bread and baby foods and soda/chips. I noted prices on products I cannot buy at Aldi or prefer not to buy there.

Today I purchased two cans of meat spaghetti sauce.  One went right into a shoe box meal when I got home.  I have a box of spaghetti in with it and mean to purchase a bottle of dry Parmesan Romano cheese to go in the box, as well.  I've included a box of Pistachio pudding in that shoe box as well, and mean to find a couple of more items to round out that shoe box meal.  Perhaps some Italian flat beans and a packet of  pizza dough mix or prepared bread sticks?  A little packet of onion flakes and dried bell peppers to add to the sauce, too.

I bought turkey Spam.  This is something that I like as sandwich meat but John prefers it sliced thin and fried as a breakfast meat.  To that end, I also bought two packages of  'just add milk or water' muffin mixes and I plan to make up two breakfast box meals with those.

There on the same aisle was deviled ham. We don't eat ham but did you know there is Underwood deviled Roast Beef and deviled Chicken?  Neither did I!  So I bought a can each of those to try.  They are pricey though and I doubt I'd do more than keep one of each on the shelf if they are any good.  I won't stock up big time on those.

I bought vegetarian baked beans.  Finding a baked bean without pork is nigh on impossible.  I got two cans of those.  I'll go back and get more later.  They aren't exactly expensive but I've seen brands on sale at other grocery that would vie the price paid today for the two I bought.  At least now when John asks 'Do we have any baked beans?' I can say "Why yes, dear, we do."

I found on the canned milk aisle a Nestle product produced for Mexico that has NO carrageenan in it.  I was thrilled to bits but puzzled when I picked up the can and shook it because it made no sloshy liquid sort of sound at all.  I put it back and tried another and heard it slosh about as it ought.  Then I glanced at the expiration date.  Oh my.  It expired nearly 1 year ago!  I wrote the name down on the product and came home to look it up but so far no luck.  It is called Nestle Ducle de Liete and it says it is a coffee cream on the can, but I can only get Dulce de Leche to come up in searches and that is not the same thing at all.  I am debating looking at a Mexican market next to see if I might find that item there.  I've been to the Nestle international website and found no mention of the product at all.  So close on that one!

I went down the dairy aisle and scanned products that closely for carrageenan free products.  Daisy sour cream and cottage cheese was all  I could purchase today.  Oh well.

Quite accidentally I stumbled into a web site about carrageenan and the quantities of products produced in the US with it.  It's not used in other countries as an additive,  at all. I found it rather interesting that one website not only claimed the typical digestive upsets that most sites proclaim but went on to say they'd found it may cause diabetes, which is an inflammatory disease.  And the site listed it in many organic products both meat and dairy items.  Well it is an organic substance, a red sea algae that is edible.  It makes me quite cautious though, with my respiratory response to the substance, and now this claim that it might be linked to onset of diabetes.  I've had normal blood sugars for quite some time with only one or two aberrant readings and both times those readings came after eating a product with carrageenan.  It may be just my body's personal response but it's well worth taking note of.

Wednesday:  John washed a full load of clothes and hung most pieces to dry.

I set aside another two shirts for Bess to try on.  They are just too short on me.  I wore both shirts this week and know they just don't suit me.

Reheated frozen biscuits for breakfast this morning.

I don't know why but I absolutely went blank with my meal plan today.  It was late and I was left scrambling to come up with a meal.  I used the meat I'd taken from the pan as I made sloppy joes and added tomato paste and cumin to it, along with a little water.  This made a taco meat filling.  We had tostadas for lunch and they were quite good.

Made an Armenian Nutmeg cake.  It's quite good but I won't share a recipe just yet.  It needs a little work yet.  There are lots of recipes online and this one just needs a bit of tweaking.

Washed a full load of dishes in the dishwasher.

We're back into the oppressive humidity and high temperatures.  I am keeping curtains and blinds closed on the sunny side of the house, east side in the morning, west side in the afternoons.  This reduces the temperature indoors and keeps the AC from working so hard.  I've also set the AC to 78.

Set up a few more outfits since I've used three or four since last week.

Thursday:  I made breakfast before we went out this morning.  I reheated some muffins I'd made last week and put in the freezer.  I sliced them in half and buttered them then toasted them butter side down.  This was delicious and I think I shall reheat them in this manner from now on for our breakfast.

The Armenian Cake I made yesterday is quite good.  I have read dozens of recipes online and I think my mistake was in patting the dry mixture firmly into the bottom of the pan when it should have been patted lightly.  Only one cook mentioned this in her recipe and stated that firmly packing the mixture would cause it to become quite hard in the baking.  This is exactly what happened to my cake.  I shall try this recipe again and will pat the dry mixture gently into the pan.

We went to do our grocery shopping today.  I had spent a portion of my money on Tuesday when I bought pantry items.  Today I came inline with my budget with the rest of my purchases. I looked in vain for cuts of meat large enough to make up as sandwich meat.  A whole frozen turkey, yes, but that is far too much meat for us and too many parts that we typically don't eat.  I'd hoped for a round roast or rump roast, a turkey breast.  I shall have to buy those elsewhere.

I did exactly what I said I oughtn't to do and looked over the household goods stuff and I'm so glad that I did.  For $12, I shall be able to double my shelf space in the pantry.  I found some wire shelves that have the sorts of horizontal legs that span the shelf.  I shall now be able to stack cans more than two high on those deep shelves.  I am so pleased to be able to rearrange my pantry so that it can now hold still more.

I found a lightweight folding stool that the children can use in the bathroom.  This will be easy for them to move from toilet to sink and back again.  When the little children aren't here this folding stool will store easily in the cabinet under the sink and doesn't consume much space at all.

My third splurge?  Don't laugh...But in the organic section there were baby carrots.  I now they are just cut up carrots that are trimmed up to look like baby carrots.  But these were special...they were yellow and purple and orange and red.  I got plum excited seeing them and nearly put them back but decided any time I'm excited over vegetables I shall purchase them!

John stopped in at our local diner and bought chicken for our meal today.  I put some in his lunch for tomorrow and have a piece left for my own meal tomorrow as well.  I sat in the car while he was in the diner and read the paper.  Much to my shock I discovered we're losing that little diner come September 1st!  Oh my!  I shall miss that place, though we don't go in more than once a month or so.  The food has always been so good and the service excellent.  The owner says she is just tired and since she's about my age I'd guess so... But boy will we miss that place!

On Pinterest this evening, I realized that I simply do not need to read those frugal living articles that deal with 'Poverty Level Cheap Meals', 'What to do when the paycheck doesn't stretch..." sorts of things...Why?  Because I do know all those tricks and because I am not living in those days any longer.  I'm not saying I am beyond the need to save or to be a good steward of my funds.  I think for me, at this stage in life, it promotes a poverty mindset and I don't want to live at that level!  I will continue to save and to be mindful of how I spend.  I proved earlier this year with my food challenges of Eating On a Tight Budget that I could do it if need be, but to live so hard focused upon money like that is not a balanced approach to life at all and that's what I really need.

Friday:  Listened to more music videos in my 'free' data hours this morning.

Two days this week I've managed a survey on Swagbucks.  I feel so often it's hardly worth while to attempt because I get disqualified, but I've found that if I attempt two or three a day I generally end up with one or two for the week which boosts my daily points rather nicely.

Usual work day morning: breakfast, coffee, lunch packed, man sent off to work with prayers and kisses.

Realized yesterday I'd forgotten a birthday card...I don't know why I forgot it.  I remembered the birthday coming up here at month's end and felt strongly I was missing another but didn't go look at my Reminder page.  How foolish of me!  I have promised myself that this next month I am going to buy every card I need for the next year.  I will address, stamp and have them ready for a personal message, then put them in my notebook in order of when they are meant to go out.

John's mower has worked hard these past five years.  We do mow a larger than usual lawn and we've had some rather nice summers with plenty of rain, save two years ago and late last summer when everything turned brown and died.  We have looked at and priced new mowers, some with larger blade spans but John felt strongly that his mower motor is just fine.  It's the deck that has needed a repair every single time he's mown grass this summer.  This week, after talking over the possibility of just buying a new mower he determined to buy a new deck instead.  The savings here is substantial.  The difference between $3500 and $500.  The new deck should arrive today.   He will keep the old mower deck to use as spare parts if needed.

Part of our discussion before making this decision was 'How do we pay for a new mower?'  We can use our line of credit but it's expiring shortly.  It spurred us to set a date to go renew that.  We also discussed where any repayment for the line of credit would come from.  It was agreed that we'd give up part of our recently increased allowances and we'd make other adjustments across the budget.  I think these sorts of discussions are very important before making a major purchase.  It keeps every one in the equation aware of where we are financially and what needs to be done if such a large purchase becomes necessary.  No nasty surprises in 'figuring it out' AFTER we've made the purchase.  I think this is the number one thing that leads to financial troubles for most folks.  They don't stop and consider how a new payment will fit their budget, nor what adjustments might be necessary and then they find themselves in a mighty struggle in trying to wrangle the budget to fit the increase.  Much better to discuss it before hand and KNOW what choices shall have to be made.

Opened the shades and let natural light come into the house.  As the morning heats up I will close those on the east side of the house but in the meantime, I'll appreciate the lack of need to use electric lighting.

Tuned up AC and remembered to turn off back porch light this morning.

I really have an itch to go shopping, but I shall stay at home today.  Why?  Because I have no hard plan of what I should like to purchase, no list of needs  since I've bought all that was on my most recent list, and I find that this year especially, my mindset in spending is vastly different than it was even a year ago.  What prompted this change?  The increased savings.  Seriously, seeing how those pennies and dollars added up to fill up the sub-accounts and the wiggle room it gave us in our budget once those were pre-filled...Well it's made a huge difference in my thinking.  I am now working on 2018 sub-account amounts and thinking of how we can increase our few small investment funds, get a larger return on our savings, etc.  These are thoughts that never came when we were living paycheck to paycheck!

Part of it is also a determination to not live as a minimalist so much but to just alter my thoughts period about enough.  And what is need and what is nice to have and want.  I don't want my house overflowing with things for which I have no use or which take up valuable storage space that I could well use for my pantry (a sort of emergency fund, that's what a pantry is!).  I don't want a lot of clothes I seldom wear.  I do want nicer things and I find I'm increasingly more willing to wait and buy quality rather than in quantity.

I've also re-discovered the power of wait.   It's surprising how often I think I need to rush right out to buy something and discover that if I wait, I can either find a reasonable substitute or the need truly could wait to be fulfilled because I had more than I'd perceived, or I found something in a place away from others of it's kind and it was enough to carry me a while longer, like that additional roll of foil I found under in the cabinet where I'd been keeping picnic supplies.  As well, when I wait I often find what is required at a great price, or is a gift I receive though I've not mentioned wanting it.

I plan to spend my day today cleaning house for Shabat weekend, preparing food ahead for weekend meals, moving a bit of furniture around from one room to another, fertilizing outdoor potted plants and various other things that shall keep me busy most all day long.  Not one of these things will cost me much time nor money but all will be productive and in some manner improve our life or beautify it.  That's the sort of day I like to spend at home.

What did you do to save this week?

Living Well

I stumbled upon homemaking quotes earlier this week in my effort to look for inspiration and several came from Louisa May Alcott books.  I was impressed to pick up a long time favorite of which I hear little mention, An Old Fashioned Girl.

This was a book I was given at age 4, long before I could read and no doubt it helped promote that burning desire to read.  It was also a book which shaped me in those early years because somewhere in my 8 year old soul was a born homemaker.  I knew it then as surely as I know it now.  It also spoke to me of what is mannerly and polite as opposed to what is 'in fashion'.

In reading this book this week, I marvel that good manners are never out of style, nor are good homemaking skills, or sensible thinking.  This book was written in the 1860's and published in 1870.  140 years later, the thoughts within it are sound and solid good ones, just as appropriate today as they were then.

Call me old fashioned...I'll be sure and take it as a compliment and thank you nicely!