Living Frugally and Well: Running Out of Track on the SpendyTrain

Saturday:  Today was our quarterly family day...I was so excited that I was up early this morning in anticipation but not before the sun!  It was lovely to know that I had all the main prep work done and I was down to chopping cilantro for the garnishes and making up the guacamole.  

I put the pit in the guacamole to keep it from turning brown then covered and put in the refrigerator.

I decided to add the Mexican Rice to the menu.  I used chicken bouillon and a single 8 ounce can of tomato sauce, half a chopped onion and brown rice.  This turned out rather nice and is something I'll attempt to make again.

It was easy peasy to put the enchilada sauce and cheese over the enchiladas then put them in the oven to bake.  I put two pans on the top shelf and one on the bottom then switched them about half way through the baking.  From frozen to piping hot took about an hour and a half.

The lovely mums were a gift from Katie's mother in law who came along to enjoy the day.  It was so nice having her here.

The food was a hit with all the family but you know what surprised me most of all?  That every one raved over the cookies!  Such an easy dessert to have on hand and it did make me smile to see that everyone from the very youngest to the very oldest felt it was perfectly acceptable to have a cookie in both hands.

I put a small pan of enchiladas back into the freezer (there were 8 in that pan) and though I'd made up a plate for my brother, we had leftovers enough of rice and enchiladas and salad and such for another meal for John and I for after church tomorrow.

The girls seemed pleased that I'd made up pans of sandwiches and tins of cookies for them to take home.  Bess and Sam were headed to Aldi and Target first, then back home.  I suspect they saved their sandwiches for after church on Sunday.

All in all, I'd say this day was a hit with the family.  My next task is to try to plan a Thanksgiving meal.  John will be off for the first time in years and I'm going to see what family will be available to join us.

John made us a supper of leftover steak and fried eggs with toast.  That was a good supper to me, namely because I didn't have to cook it and it was a one pan meal to clear up behind!

Sunday:  We emptied cereal jars this morning.  Though cereal is well priced at Aldi, I've decided that Bess and Sam's method of buying those big 2 pound bags of Malt O Meal cereals is truly the most economical way to go.  I've plenty of storage containers to hold it all and we eat enough cereal that it should do us for three months or so.

We did stop at the grocery on our way home after church.  John picked up just what was on my very short list: soda for the house and a paper.

We reheated leftover enchiladas when we came in.

We washed two full loads of laundry this afternoon.  We hung the sheets and towels on the line and drying rack outdoors.  We hung the bulk of the clothing to dry indoors.

I washed a full load of dishes in the dishwasher.

Monday:  John had one more day off this week.  He spent it mowing our lawn.  I'd not have said it needed it but I guess it did because boy did it look nice when he was finished.

Because he was outdoors and it is quite warm, I altered my menu and made up a bowl of tuna pasta salad.  I'll put some in his lunch and served him some when he came in from mowing later this afternoon.

I heated a pan of those hot sandwiches for our supper tonight.  We polished off the cookies in the cookie jar.

I culled books from the bookshelf.  I have about half a plastic bin filled and I don't belief just now I will cull any more though I do have one full shelf of books I mean to send to Amie a bit a bit at a time and a short stack of books I'm unsure about that I mean to try and read and if they don't grab me, then in they will go.

I finished doing the housework that was left undone from the weekend.  This mostly was setting the guest room to rights and recovering the sewing table which we'd used as secondary dining table.  

I did some Fall cleaning in the kitchen.  I don't mean to make a huge task of this but I did get all the drawers wiped out and neatened up and I cleaned both the island interior cupboard and the cupboard where I keep frying pans and appliances.  I also wiped down the bulk of the walls, though not that worst area about the stove.  I was surprised by how many smudges and streaks I found on the other walls.

I made good on my promise to me and watched one episode of 'Hazel' and two episodes of "The Pioneer Woman".   I'm afraid that's as much of my promised television I may get this week but I sure did enjoy both programs.

Sat down with the checkbook and finished up the bills.  I made sure John had a deposit slip to take to work with him so he could put his check in the bank.

Packed John's work lunch into the meat drawer of the fridge.  This way all is contained in the same spot and I will have ease in packing into his bag in the morning.  Set up oatmeal and coffee for morning.

Tuesday:  Sent John off to work with coffee, breakfast and lunch attended to.

Did a number of household tasks which mostly consisted of picking up, tidying and emptying trash cans.  Gathered trash and mail and deposit slip and such for my own use.  I planned my shopping while out of house and made sure I had the foundation makeup I wanted to return to CVS with my things.

Took time to do a full pantry inventory.  Instead of just counting what I had on hand, I also estimated what I think we use in 6 months.  I made note of how many I needed to purchase of each item in order to reach that total.  I would say, based upon my own figures we have about 3 months of MOST items in the pantry just now so this won't be nearly as overwhelming as it might be.   I put this comprehensive list in my purse.  I will use it when I shop.

Packed up car and got ready to leave home.  I planned to eat dinner out today.  I've been wanting fish and I suppose I must want it badly since we just ate tuna yesterday!  I paid for my dinner out of my pocket money.

At CVS I used coupons and extra cash bucks to pick up bagged Halloween snack candies and Dawn dish detergent.  I paid $4 out of pocket for three bags of candy and one small Dawn.  I also took advantage of their return policy on makeup to swap the foundation I purchased the other day which was way too dark for one more suited to my actual skin tone.

Decided I just didn't need to stop at the Dollar General which is almost always a financial drain for me.  It leads me to pick up sundry  items I did not go into purchase.

Stopped at our main bank and made a deposit to boost our bottom line.  When I can rebuild our sub accounts a bit I'll repay those funds to savings.  In the meantime it's less stressful to look at our balance (not the online balance but the balance in our checking account which does not include all the sub account balances).

I watered the outdoor plants when I got home.  I used water straight from the faucet which I don't typically do.  I hate to say that it's dry out there, but the heat and sun and lack of rain in the past week have left it looking a bit wilted despite most pots sitting near the drip line of the house eaves.

Decided to eat leftovers for supper.  Tonight's leftovers consisted of guacamole and pico de gallo with the whole grain rice and flax chips I like.  Noted that guacamole was fast getting too dark and the pico de gallo was tasting slightly over done.  The last bits of both went into the compost bucket.

Wednesday:  Used the last of the eggs and milk to make our breakfast this morning.  We really needed to go to the grocery!  However, those two items were our only outages.  I realized that this grocery trip was an excellent time to build the pantry stock.

After breakfast, fed the cat the leftover grits.  She absolutely loves them.  So much so that when she'd finished her portion, she went to Maddie's bowl and ate all of her portion as well.

Wiped down more walls, under the stove hood, cleaned the stove vent filter and the light plate cover for the hood.  I also managed to wipe down most of the wall surrounding the stove (still a little portion to go), but was stopped in my tracks by John's request to help him.

John laid out his plan for the morning: mow my niece's lawn and then we'd head out to buy groceries.  I realized that this also meant lunch was on my shoulders somewhere in between the two tasks so I planned accordingly. 

While I waited on John to head out I sat down and read the store ads on my computer.  I made notes of the items on sale which pertained to my pantry list.

Went with John up to my niece's to attend to a few simple tasks of moving things out of his path.  I came back home long before he did to make lunch for us and to ready myself for going out to shop.

Off menu once again but easy and economical enough:  Cabbage and Pierogi with Polska Kielbasa, a one pan meal.  I used only half a package of kielbasa.

Today we shopped only at Aldi.  I'll go by Kroger on Friday when I'm out (and pick up my FREE download items) and then we'll pick up two more items at Publix on Sunday when we go in for the paper and a prescription refill.

I did very well at Aldi.  The 'extras' this pay period were all pantry storage items.  It felt good to adjust my list and make such a large dent in it.  I was well within budget and have enough room to pick up the other items I mean to buy this pay period.

John asked if I'd like a cool drink.  It was pretty warm outdoors and the traffic was hectic and honestly the idea of a refreshing drink sounded good but what I wanted was coffee.  I felt the need of that boost to my system.

On our way home, John asked if I'd like to go on a date tomorrow.  I'm all for that!  However, he wanted a special meal for supper and so he stopped at a local restaurant and I purchased a single order which we shared at home.  I paid for this from my pocket money.

Put away all groceries after supper.

John washed a full load of clothes which I hung the greater amount of to dry.

I ran a full dishwasher of dishes.

Thursday:  John's open ended invitation for today proved to be our undoing this morning.  We didn't quarrel but we did point out one to the other that not planning didn't seem the most viable option for doing anything and that the tendency to need to plan was anathema to at least one party in the household.  Well we realized quickly enough that we were headed to an argument and we both changed the subject to less volatile matters.  In the end we more or less agreed where we'd go and the plan was simply to eat lunch and that was that.  Not quite the day out I'd thought it might be, but we neither of us wanted to do what the other thought sounded fun and I was against spending any money.  We've spent lots of late and it's time to curb that tendency and adjust ourselves once again.

John paid for lunch from HIS pocket money.  It was delicious and we both thoroughly enjoyed it.  We had extra time for genuine conversation and we enjoyed ourselves.

Housework was attended to mostly before we left home with work lunch making left for this afternoon.  

We have leftovers for supper.

When we came in from lunch, I made a pot of coffee.  I brought out the candy jar and assured John that two pieces was quite enough for us to have each.  It's not quite a whole candy bar but close enough.

Friday:  I'm going to finish this up early today and will just add anything extra to next week's post.  I've been up since 4:45 (that's what you do when you have an old old wind up alarm clock that just will run fast) and have sent John off with breakfast, lunch and coffee.

It is my plans this morning to run over to the next town to view an estate sale along about 9am.  That means I have to hurry and get a whole bunch of stuff done in the next couple of hours!  From there I'll go to Mama's.  It's my hope to run a number of errands after my lunch with her.  I'll pay for our lunch out of my pocket.  I want to run by Kroger and pick up the Free Friday download items and possibly get a haircut before I head home again.  I also need to purchase dog and cat foods.

I plan to carry off trash and drop off two items to mail while I'm out this morning.  I'll also carry out the compost as I head outdoors.

I've turned up the AC a few degrees and will turn off the ceiling fans while I'm out today.

Other tasks I mean to do this morning: plan meals for the weekend, clear the fridge of some things I haven't been able to use up as planned which are older.  A little of it can be fed to Maddie and Misu but mostly it's vegetables and will go into the compost.  I also want to do some light housework namely floors and swishing the bathrooms and loading the dishwasher before I leave.

As you can see, I've planned a very busy day for myself but it's Shabat this evening and nothing but rest ahead of me from about 7pm on, so I'm good with what must be done today.

What did you do to save this week?

Living Well

I stumbled upon this particular video yesterday.  I loved watching the orchestra members faces as Susan Boyle sang this song.  It was not the song I was trying to link up yesterday but it's rather lovely and I thought you all might enjoy it as well.