Thrifty Thursday: Lots of Wash, Rinse, Repeat

 

Friday:  A great deal of what we do to save money in our home involves repetition.  It reminds me of the old shampoo bottle instructions: Wash, Rinse, Repeat.  I always contemplated how often we were to do the 'repeat' part of the process.  When it comes to saving pennies, it's often necessary to repeat ad nauseum.  BUT it works!

Today we washed two loads of clothes and hung a portion of both loads to dry.  Were it up to me, I'd probably hang everything to dry, but John does laundry and our rules are that unless you want to do the task, hush and let the person attending to it do it their way.  I'm keeping quiet!

I made bread.  Caleb asked me "Do you make bread all the time?" "Twice a week just now, which feels like all the time," I told him.  "But why?"  He's hit the 'why' stage of conversation.  I could tell him it saves money, or that it tastes good or that in a matter of an hour and a half I can make a loaf of bread with what I have here at home, rather than waste time riding into town and paying for bread that is less than fresh.  I simply replied, "Because it's what I do."  And that satisfied him.

I had a rough night last night and didn't feel terrific today.  All I wanted was 'easy' when it came to meals, so we had a frozen chicken tenders, eggrolls and pot stickers.  I had a bottle of Orange Sauce in the cabinet, probably one of my clearance rack purchases at the local grocery store.  Lunch took 20 minutes to cook but less than 4 minutes to lay out on my baking sheet.  For an easy supper, I sliced freshly made bread, put frozen fries and pre-formed, thawed hamburger patties (from the ground meat purchase last week) in a pan and baked those.  Caleb didn't eat his hamburger, but Katie enjoyed it.  I'm reminded of my promise to myself to have a very easy supper on Friday evening when I'm worn out by the week already.

My new bathroom floor's care instructions: wash with vinegar and water.  Well, that's inexpensive!

This week for fun, I've pushed two romaine ends into a pot of soil along with a root end of a celery stalk.

I last filled bird feeders on Sunday.  I can tell the warmer weather has the birds hunting more insects because they aren't emptying the feeders as quickly.

Other little things we did that saved: turned off lights when we were going to be out of the room for lengths of time.  Opened windows for a bit to let the house air.  Fed the pets leftovers.  Sorted the fridge and planned to use the items found therein.  Made bread.  Used a tear off plastic bag from a roll rather than use a higher priced zippered storage bag.  Used paper towels twice (once to wipe a mouth or spill on a surface and then to wipe out a damp sink or a greasy pan) and composted those that we hadn't used to wipe a greasy pan.  Composted eggshells and coffee grounds and vegetable peels.  Put leftovers in the freezer and marked them so we'd know just what they were.

Saturday:  John was the one to sleep in this morning.  I rather enjoyed sitting here in the living room with the curtains open so I could see the bird feeder while I read my Bible and sipped my coffee.  

John surprised me today by telling me we were going to try something different, rather than go to one of our more usual restaurants to eat out.  We immediately said "No" to the first option which was higher in price than we'd typically pay.  Our second option was a Vietnamese Noodle House.  We don't care for Pho particularly, but we've eaten here before long ago, and we knew they had other entrees.  Our meal had lots of vegetables and we brought home more or less half of the food.

The restaurant had the bonus of being in the neighborhood where we like to get our haircut.  And that is next door to a grocery.  We ran in and picked up a few of the specials and skipped several other items entirely. I always say that I make a 'wish list' grocery list first and then when I've had time to think over what is on sale I generally go back and strike out those items that really are more of a wish and am practical with what I buy instead.  Today we bought some produce, ground beef, mayonnaise, orange juice and flowers.  That was it.  

Tomorrow we'll stop at another store where eggs are on sale and I'll also get milk, which I'd forgotten today.  At that point I will be officially done with grocery shopping for this month.  

I had said I'd make mayonnaise...and I haven't forgotten that promise to self, but ever since I made that statement, I've found some really good buys on mayonnaise once more.  I only buy it on sale, often as a buy one get one, and typically they are running me about $2.50 for 30 ounces.  

I got $1.60 back from Ibotta today with my shopping.  I hit my cash out mark and ordered a gift card to another restaurant we enjoy.

Sunday:  Rufus has completely ignored his food.  This brand is a mini chunk, not a kibble and he's not happy over it.  I mixed in a small scoop of cat food and when we'd returned, he'd eaten the entire pan of food.  Silly old dog!  It's always when we've just bought 50pounds of something that he's really picky.

Went into the grocery after church.  This is my final trip for this month to the store.  I bought eggs on sale (18 ct. $1.49), a gallon of milk, butter, and a spreadable butter (John can use up to half stick daily just buttering bread in a day's time.)  Enough I say!  We'll save the butter for cooking proper and he can use the spreadable stuff for general eating.  Bacon, broccoli, spinach, apples, carrots, an orange pepper simply because it was HUGE and without mar, discounted croissants, frozen peas, and 2 pieces of marked down meat, one a piece of round steak and the other a packet of 1/4 pound burger patties. 

Oh, and a packet of breaded fish pieces which I dithered over and over and finally just tossed into the buggy.  Truth I've been craving fish for weeks now.  John doesn't like it, I do.  I decided he could eat chicken instead.  Here's my thoughts: Next time I'll skip the frozen fillets (a good name brand) which I find are sub-par at best and just head right to Captain D's and get a plate.  Costs a bit more but the fish is better quality.  I'm done spending good money on less than good foodstuffs.  I only ever want fish now and then.

We went back to church this evening for the first of special evening services this week.  I'd planned to eat leftovers from lunch for supper, but John wasn't hungry when we were getting near time to leave, and it was gone 9pm when we got out of church.  I offered to pay for a fast-food meal on our way home, so we picked up takeout and ate on the way home.

I scored a few cents on Ibotta today and this brought my total up to the point where I typically cash out.  I opted to get a restaurant gift card for one of the places we visit routinely.

Monday:  I remembered this morning to check the half gallon or so of milk I had in the fridge to see if it was spoiled.  It wasn't off yet, but it was out of date by more than a week. I went ahead and made yogurt with it. I got four pints of yogurt.

Since I knew I didn't need the whole container of plain yogurt I had on hand for starter for my yogurt, I mixed the last tablespoon or so into a container of sour cream.  It will do no harm there and we'll use it this week in our meals.

We all ate leftovers of one sort or another today.  Well Caleb had the option at any rate.  His appetite has been low, so he ended up eating a slice of bacon and two slices of a mandarin orange.  John and I had leftovers from Saturday's lunch out.

Which made me rethink the food I'd set out for tonight.  I'd planned to make the Chili over rice meal, but our lunch was rice and chicken.  Instead, we'll be having Chicken Broccoli Alfredo for our supper tonight.  

later:  I am so pleased that the yogurt turned out.  I had the worst luck this morning with a thermometer with a stuck dial thingy...It would go just so far and then quit working.  I guessed the temperature and then set it to incubate in what I feared was too hot water.  I checked it after three hours and it was still liquid, but I decided to leave it and checked it again this evening when we got in from church. At that point it had been incubating for 9 hours. It was nice and thick!

Supper also turned out nicely.  I had a bit of broccoli, not quite enough but I chopped the stems, and it was enough, two partial boxes of two different shapes of pasta, a carton of half and half that neither I nor Katie cared for.  It wasn't spoiled but it just didn't taste good to either of us. I think it was the preservative they'd used.  It works great for cooking. I made my own Alfredo sauce with butter, garlic, parmesan and the half and half.  I used two chicken breasts.  It tasted good and Caleb actually ate some of his salad and part of the Alfredo.  There were plenty of leftovers, enough to fill a 9 x 9 pan.  I put that in the freezer as a future entree.

Tuesday:  I forgot my plan to shop for Christmas on the 25th of the month. I stumbled upon a really good deal for a set of blue tooth headphones that I think the kids will love using with their tablets.  They were less than half price on sale and had an additional savings coupon.  Each set ended up costing about $12.  These are sturdier than the typical headsets, too, with more flexibility and less opportunity to break wires.  That's one set of gifts done and for only a bit more than the $25 I'd planned to spend for the month.

When I was making the yogurt yesterday the milk scalded and left a residue on the bottom of my pan.  It was not scorched and didn't smell scorched, but it did leave behind a layer of whatever it is on the bottom of my pan that was immovable.  Neither soaking nor smearing with Dawn and soaking moved it.  I'd planned today to try boiling baking soda in the pan, to see if that would remove it but this morning, I decided I would try scraping it after it soaked all night. I recalled that I had a tool in my drawer that came with my pizza stone that is a scraper.  It's a tough piece of nylon plastic.  I used that and a little elbow grease and the bottom of the pan is perfectly clean once more.  Today I'm going to go ahead and put the link to that tool as my Amazon Affiliate link, so check the end of this week's post.  They are relatively inexpensive but boy are they handy!  They are also good for use on cast iron and any type of clay cookery items.  I would think they'd work equally well on enameled dishes.

Another of my 'Rinse and Repeat' savings: We decided after the heat pump fan went out to leave the thermostat at a lower level, especially at night.  Typically, I turn it back to 65f.  John gets up on really cool mornings and puts on the propane heater.  I generally turn the thermostat up to 68F as we move into the warming hours of the morning.

This morning, I used good old-fashioned work to keep me warm.  I headed outdoors to the shed and spent a happy morning sorting, organizing and tossing items.  John came out and hauled two huge, big trash bags of stuff to the car so we can put them in the dumpster this evening. I have easily a trunk load (and likely the back seat, too) in donations at present.  Then when those are out of the way I can look more deeply at what I have because the excess is out of the way.

Wednesday:  I have been using Thieves Oil and Zinc to fight off a scratchy throat.  It has turned into a cold despite my best efforts but I'm continuing to treat myself in an effort to avoid have a worse one.

Loaded up the car with donations this morning with the intention of combining errands while I was also out visiting Mama.  I remembered to go by the bank.  I forgot to drop off the donations.  Oh well.  They are loaded and waiting my next trip out in that direction.

My treat after a day out with Mama is a cup of fancy coffee.  Today I opted to go to Wendy's and get the Frosty Cold Brew which is about $3 for a medium brew.  That's less than half the price of a small one at Starbucks.

Picked up bread on the way home.  I didn't think I'd have time to make a loaf today and turns out I was right.  The contractor was here fixing the drip.  It wasn't a drip.  It was a cracked pipe.  Ugh.  Quite a bit of plumbing pipe had to be replaced.  It's frugal only in that we finally got him here to attend to it.

At the grocery, I grabbed two frozen dinners for supper.  It was cheaper than any from scratch options in the store, played into my need to use no water, and was less than take out might have been.  Time saver too because it took only 7.5 minutes to heat.  I stacked two in the microwave, crosswise of one another, rotated them halfway through and cooked for 10 minutes total.  Perfect!

I picked up only two other items: a can of tart cherry pie filling and a bottle of paprika.  These were both items needed in the week ahead.  I did not buy clearance priced items, meats or 'just look' to see what else I might want.  HUGE money saver right there.  I enjoy looking and shopping, but I knew I didn't need much of anything and I stuck hard to the very short list I had in mind when I went into the store.  

This week I have refused to even look at grocery ads.  That has been the biggest savings of all!

That's been my frugal week!  Was yours profitable?  Great bargains?  Great savings?

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