Frugal Week Feb. 22 - Feb. 28

Saturday:  My favorite old fashioned alarm clock is acting up.  Sad face.  It is a non-electric/battery, old fashioned wind up alarm clock.  I've been babying it along until I can find another one similar to it.  Frankly we've had our new electric clock/radio/Cd player for months now and we've yet to figure out how to set the alarm.  No instructions in the manual which tells you how to turn the thing on and off.  Maybe they couldn't figure out how to make it work either.

Easy breakfast of bagels. I don't buy the whipped cream cheese, though it is easier to spread.  I bought the  block of cream cheese which was about half the cost of whipped cheese.

John felt the heater was coming on too much this morning.  It was set at 67F but he cut it back to 65F.  We didn't turn it up when we started feeling cool.  We put on a sweater.  We didn't turn it back up this evening.

We went out today to pick up a birthday gift.  I priced a few things that we need at home.  We will be budgeting for these items now that we know about what we're going to spend.

The Modern Home Economist: Good Grooming

One of the things you'd often find in old school Home Economics classes were a few books on 'Charm' which mostly translated as good posture and hygiene with an added emphasis on manners, modest dress and make-up.  I still look for these books when I'm out and about in antique shops or flea markets with copious older books.  I guess because I was that girl in high school, not quite popular, not quite fitting in...so I read any number of these books learning how to care for my nails and teeth and hair; how to stand, sit and walk; how to dress appropriately and choose a wardrobe.  Truth told, at 55 I am sure I owe the quality of my skin today to those forays into 'Charm' books when I was 12 (and 13 and 14 and 15 and 16...).

Why would this have been included in Home Ec classes?  Number 1: Good hygiene equals good health.  Number 2: Healthy hair, nails, teeth and skin, plus good posture truly adds immeasurably to overall health and attractiveness.  Number 3:  Home Ec truly taught that good basic self care equaled a good foundation to building excellence in self as well as skills that built home, family, etc.

Shabat Thoughts: Biblically Frugal

Several years ago, when the mailbox was filled with bills every day except Sunday, I wailed to John , "One day I want to walk to the mailbox and not find it full of bills!"  It seemed we were always struggling to keep up with what we owed.  Want and lack were always the order of the day, as was complaining and whining.

Eventually the verses in my Bible began to sink in.  God never meant for us to spend our days whining and complaining.  Instead we should spend them in gratitude and joy and praise...and coughing that up when you can't see your way through the day's needs is quite a stretch, let me tell you! 

As we paid bills one night, John told me that he had a vision of us being debt free and he was certain it was God's desire for us.  Nothing looked any more impossible to me than being debt free.  We'd spent years pinching and scraping and struggling just to keep up with the bills.  We began to study every Bible verse that seemed to relate to our financial lives.

End of February Meal Plan/Job Plan

Here we are in the last week of February and the old worn out phrase "Where did the month go?!" comes to mind yet again.  It went as all months go:  entirely too quickly!  Did I make it count?  Not really.  I lost time, I wasted time, I spent time working on one thing when I meant to be working on another.  That's all due to change.  I've got my lists started.  That's the  precursor to some hard work in several areas.

One of my major work areas this week will be the pantry/grocery budget.  A little waste, a few too many impulse buys, a lot of overage...Yes, the kitchen is under scrutiny this week.  I'll be looking over recipes and working up menus for the spring months: breakfast, dinner, supper, snacks.  I've grown bored with the winter choices, haven't you?

My Frugal Week: 15 - 21

Saturday:  Wanted to add a few items I'd forgotten from last week:  I picked up a dollar bill I found on the ground.  I do pick up coins anytime I see them, but was surprised to find this dollar bill and more than happy to pick it up!

When I made the pudding for the Boston Cream Cupcakes, I only used about 1/4 of the pudding, so I poured the rest of it up into individual containers.  I used saved containers from KFC meals side dishes.  We usually get KFC on vacations as a treat and those side dish containers are a bonus.

Coffee Chat - Oh Fickle February!

Do come in!  Don't be put off by the look of formality today.  This is my way of fighting the February doldrums.  The weather is so unpredictable and fickle.  Sunny and warm, rainy and cold, snow, ice, cloudy and muggy.  A girl has to keep her spirits up this time of year when it does seem winter is just never ending.  By the groundhog's calculations we've a few weeks to go yet and frankly my dears, I find early Spring is almost as fickle.  Mud and damp and cold do not make for a happy homemaker.  So let's put on something pretty and pull out the company china and have a bit of fun.  It's at this point that I really do play house.

I'm all ready to  rearrange accessories, switch curtains from one room to another, change out the quilts and comforters, even move pictures about but it's all done a little bit at the time.  It's a major 'shop at home' (or in the shed) experience.   Sometimes it leads to a few new purchases, but mostly it's a use what you have thing.  It's nice to combine what you already own and find  you've got a whole new look...something I did with my wardrobe this winter.

Weekly Meal and Jobs Plans

Weather all over the place. Honestly you don't know if you should wear the woolens or put on the summer weight sweaters for the day lately!  It makes meal planning equally as tough.  It's grocery week but the meals planned don't require but two additional ingredients.  I'll be making up another two weeks' worth of menus this week so I can purchase ahead.

I had plans for the day, since I'm alone, but not sure they will come to fruition.  I'm not sure I'm 100%.  I feel well enough to work, just iffy about leaving home.  Some days are like that.  I have just loads of things to choose from to do for fun and work if I do determine home is the best place to be and that is one thing I can honestly say.  I'm never bored, never unhappy to be home.  My problem is that once I start spending time at home, I can find more excuses for just being at home and fewer and fewer for why I should leave!