Random Wondering

I was going to do another coffee chat but I don't have anything much to say that warrants a proper chat...so I thought I'd do one of my random thoughts posts instead.  I'll try to have a decent chat with you next week.

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We were sitting here this afternoon watching TV when the big platter on the wall fell.  I'd noticed it was slightly askew yesterday and had decided then to ask John to straighten it for me since it was 10 feet up on the wall.  We've examined the nail which is just fine and was actually in a stud (wonder of wonders on that!). The platter, in falling, smashed the little dogs figurine I'd picked up on a whim in the flea market because I found it oddly appealing.

When I recounted the incident later in the evening on facebook, a friend said "I'd have cried."  I may have sounded a bit hard when I said I didn't cry over flea market and antique store items, but it's truth.  I always feel I'm just a temporary keeper.  I've chosen to share whatever history is in one of those pieces unlike the true family heirlooms.

I don't mind saying I shall sincerely miss the little dogs.  I'm not usually one to buy dogs at all.  I lean more towards birds but the dogs had a look of age about them that seemed to be greater than perhaps than they actually were.  They were obviously oriental.  And there was just something sweet about them, the way the puppy leaned towards the mother dog.  I can easily replace the platter if I choose.  After all there were dozens like it listed on eBay at the time I bought that.  But the dogs will be irreplaceable, not unlike the real ones that came into my life and passed on.

Retirement Remedies: Fighting Back

  Grocery Savings, Part II

In Part I, I shared food savings.  In Part II I'd like to share how I hope to save money on the rest of the grocery budget.

#1.  On a roll. Toilet paper, paper towels, aluminum foil, waxed paper, parchment paper, plastic wrap...If it's on a roll it's probably in our homes.  I tried years ago to cut down on paper towel and it worked rather well, to the point that now a 2-3 roll  package of paper towel might well last us 6 months unless we have a really big messy mess.  I started weaning us away from paper towel by putting a big bowl (you could use a basket as well), on the counter, filled it with dishcloths and put the roll of paper towel under the counter.  It worked very well and later when I found the vintage paper dispenser (it says paper towel, waxed paper and foil on the front of each holder) I removed the dish cloths and hung that.  Again out of sight and mostly out of mind.  I highly recommend hiding the roll and offering up dish cloths unless you are blessed to find one these handy vintage paper dispensers. (which abound on eBay though none are quite like mine...nor half as well priced as mine was either!).

Tried and True: Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies

A few years ago I had an awesome chocolate cookie recipe and somewhere along the way it got lost. I found this one on Pinterest.  I think the link said it was a Martha Stewart recipe.  Reading through it reminded me a great deal of that lost recipe, with the exception that the dough is rolled in a spicy sugar mixture.

This Week: Menu and Job Plans

  The windows have been open each day and there is something about open windows that just connects one with nature.  Here in the South this time of year, there is a soft continuous trill that goes on all afternoon long, so the day is never truly quiet.  It's an aliveness of the air, perhaps a cricket or some insect that sings, but it's just part and parcel of Fall.  A week of lovely autumn weather just behind me and frankly I am loathsome to see warm days return.  But it is indeed returning, at least for a few days and then we'll go right back to being cool.  I'll go back to AC on in the afternoons and grateful for it.

The freezer challenge continues.  I've some breathing room after this past week.  Some of the space will fill right back up when we shop for groceries this week.  I'm thinking this whole freezer thing could go on quite a bit longer and I mean that sincerely.  I've barely made a dint.

Living Frugal, Living Well

 My frugal bit of autumn decorating.  Silk picks from years past (plus one new stem) a vase that didn't sell in the booth and is temporarily having a time out here at home and a pheasant I've had for years, another thrift store pick.


Saturday:  John made breakfast this morning.  I've determined that once a month I will splurge on a can of his favorite refrigerated biscuits.  I make awesome biscuits from scratch but he considers these a real treat.   He wanted to make biscuits this morning.  I suggested he save three of the uncooked biscuits to use for our supper.

Easy dinner for today: leftover fried chicken, warm potato salad, sliced tomatoes.  It was easy, tasty and there were no leftovers.

I boiled three eggs, 1 for the potato salad, 2 to use for salad later this week.

Coffee Chat: October Blue and Gray

Coffee anyone?  Never fear...It's not quite cool enough yet to hide indoors.  We can take it on the porch again if you'd like. There  are spice cookies too. Tempt you much?  Have a seat and join me.

We're having a lovely October and I don't mean the weather.  That has been weather, which means it's been changeable as weather usually is, and is often one thing or another.  No, the lovely parts have been non-weather related.

John worked  Friday a week ago so I'm going to start there...He worked and I went off to buy two more blinds while the $10 off $50 purchase card was still good for Lowes.  I don't know about now but Lowe's has/had clearance prices on their drapes and some of them were pretty good (50%) and some were Amazing.  I couldn't find 2-6 of any one type of panel I liked to do any window/room in my house, so I looked for naught, but it was fun to imagine getting such a great buy on curtains.

It was stinking hot and the air was heavy and humid.  Ugh. I'd thought I'd do a bit of thrifting but it was so unpleasant that the idea of getting in and out of the car half a dozen times  and wandering about in humid buildings (why is the air con always on the blitz in these places?), then getting in car just long enough for the air conditioning to start cooling before the next stop was not appealing in the least.  Instead, I headed back home and stopped off at the flea market.

Retirement Remedies: Budget Battles

It's been two years of struggling and trimming and cutting back, but it finally paid off.  The past two months I've spent less than $300 on groceries for each month.   Honestly, now that I can see I've made headway, I'm more than ready to hit it all a little harder.  I don't know about you but I'm about tired of being bossed around by my budget.  I want some wiggle room!

I sat down this weekend and wrote a long list of steps to implement (some of which I've recently started doing and want to continue).  I thought perhaps some of you might be interested to see where I'm planning to try to cut back a little more. There's nothing really new or earth shattering here, but perhaps it will be a good reminder of things you might do, can change, can adjust to suit your needs, etc.  And for anyone new to trimming the budget, perhaps it will truly be a revelation and a help!

I'll start with grocery savings because that is the biggest variable area of our budget.  There are other places to trim and cut and a few places to earn, and I'll share those with you as well over the next couple of weeks. In my home, the grocery budget includes food, pet foods, paper products, cleaning products and personal care items.  It all falls into the area of spending that I am solely responsible for so I'll break the grocery category down into those areas.

The More Frugal Kitchen