Sunday, January 31, 2016

Frugal happenings 1/31

Happy Sunday everyone.  It is so hard to believe that this is the last day of the month.  The winter seems to be going by quickly - which is fine with me.  Only bad thing about that is that means our lives are flying by as well.

Again it has been a very quiet week here at home.  I stayed in the house all but Friday, a day where I ran a few errands.
I also went digging in the craft room and pulled out some material for crafting, that must be 20-25 years old!  I had grand plans to start sewing, but didn't get it done.  At least I got it out - so it is in my line of sight!!!!

We are having a small taste of Spring.  It has been fairly warm for the past couple days.  It should get to about 58* or so today, as it did yesterday.  It was nice to air our the house yesterday.  As with all good things, it will come to an end shortly and we will be back to cold weather.  They way I see it, every warm day is just one more closer to spring!!!

  • Stayed home most of the week
  • Did go to Fresh Thyme and got cauliflower that was on sale for .99/head.   That is darn cheap!!  I got 4 heads.  I would have gotten more, but neither one of use really like it frozen.  I got a couple other fresh veggies while there.
  • All meals from home and from scratch
  • All my normal stuff, like making tea and filtering and bottling our own water, and doing laundry in cold water
  • No heat on since yesterday morning!
This week I made a couple food items that I don't make often.  I did make veggie/chicken lo-mein, and I did make a faux crab/veggie pasta salad.  We got to eat off both of those a couple times.
I also made an apple tart (I guess that's what it's called).  I always called it a poor man's pie, as it has only one crust and no pie pan - but the foodie people call them 'tarts'!  I guess that sounds better.  LOL
Whatever you call it, it sure was tasty.  I just threw a few things together and baked.  YUM



How was your week?  Did you do anything fun or frugal?  Let us know.  We learn new ideas from one another!
May God bless you in this coming week my friends.  Stay safe and healthy.

8 comments:

  1. It is going quickly for me too Cheryl! And February is a short month! Even with Leap Year, it is still the shortest month of the year. And oh my, 25 years ago! Not that I don’t have any such items in my stash, LOL! What do you think you will make? Valentine’s Day is upon us! And I envy you that cauliflower! That tart looks terrific – I call them apple flop pies. I couldn’t help noticing the plate too, very pretty!

    My frugals were many and energizing for me this weekend:

    1. Sewed new covers for our two heating pads. I pulled the wires from an old electric blanket and used that material.

    2. Claimed a turkey roaster AND stand from in-laws house. I will take a look at what rustoleum paint I have and fix it up as it stood in a dampish spot in their basement and I want it closer to my kitchen so as to be used more often! Online they cost about $100 or more with the stand.

    3. Grocery bill was way under the $50 weekly budget, came in at $35.05 and was able to please all of TGMan’s cola, oatmeal packet, and cereal fixes. I do need to make up more oatmeal packets for him.

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    1. Good re-use of items!
      Don't you just love making those oatmeal packets? So many options and so inexpensive.

      I am not sure what I will be making. I am thinking some patchwork items for gift giving at Christmas. Pillows, lap throws, etc. We'll see.

      I also have a couple vintage table cloths - linen with the big pink/green floral . They each have a stain that is very visable - so I am thinking dish cloths, napkins, cloth bags - something where I can cut and use the good parts.

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    2. Oh I am so glad you said all that because at the inlaws is a big pile of linens and old tablecloths that I need to get TGMan to bring home. We packed the sander with one, it has a big stain, and now I know just what to do with it, a green and white homespun.

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    3. Glad to be of help. I think you could do all kinds of things with them. I have a vest I was gifted years ago made from pieces of doilies, embroidered table scarfs, etc. It is a patchwork of sorts, and just adorable.

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  2. 4. Got the train sets from Christmas packed up … but am thinking to put the downstairs 2 x 4 furniture up for sale on Craig’s List and using that space for a more permanent train table set-up, it’s a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood, AND I found the skirt I made for it, a little more year round friendly than the red and green stripe that mil made years ago for the platform.

    5. Helped pack up an estate’s worth of unlabeled rocks except for one specimen given to us, a nice fluorite from a quarry with our last name. Imagine a rock named after oneself, LOL. TGMan collects fluorescent fluorites and this one does not disappoint.

    6. Made potato salad to go with a ham steak later this week. Made a beef shank to go with rotini and carrot celery onion sauce (stick blundered the vegetables simmered with the shank and then added a can of slice carrots along with the water to thin the sauce and tossed in the chunked meat). Made rolls and we had hamburgers. Have pork chops and venison kielbasa marinating for a cookout tonight! It is VERY mild weather outside!

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  3. 7. Took pictures of an old drill press with stand. TGMAn and I are putting that up on Craig’s List. If we can get $50 for it that will go to the savings account. Retrieved the belt sander from the in-laws to put in its place. And am one step closer to workshop organization, with the addition of two heavy duty poly shelving units from in-laws garage that I bought years ago for them. Will replace the rusty metal ones with these nicer and deeper shelved new ones.

    8. But the best part of the weekend was to also retrieve a brand new (used twenty times maybe) mattress and box spring from in-laws, value $990 (it is only rated at 5 years, but hey, that’s Five Comfortable Years!). Put our old one in its place for staging the house. A new mattress and a pillow top one at that! Free is always good and I am thankful for this wonderful addition to our lives. TGMan was sleeping in the guest room because the old mattress was painful to his back, now he can join me again, a very good thing for the cold winter nights still ahead, don’t you think?!

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    1. Fantastic on the new mattress and box springs - what a huge saving!!!!! We had a custom made mattress done over a year ago and it alone was $800. You are in for some GOOD SLEEPING!

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