Sunday, October 6, 2019

My Frugal Ways this Past Week 10/6/19!

All fans are off, the windows are all closed tight, and you are not going to believe this but we have turned on the furnace, twice!    The furnace has been on just for short periods, like just before a shower is taken, but still it's a little chilly here.  Further up north, they have received their first frost and freezes.  It's coming our way soon, without a doubt!  

So, it's been a whirlwind getting things done that we feel can't wait till Spring.  The woodpile is finally done (the husband had to step in and take over) and I'm busy canning or storing the produce from the garden.   





This week I canned four more quarts of ripe tomatoes.  I also dried the skins again for tomato powder.  


Then, I picked every green tomato out there yesterday (one bushel total-ripe and green) and wrapped then stored them in a cool spot. These should last till Thanksgiving.  If you interested in storing your tomatoes like this you can read how I do that here.  

As I go along I've been saving my rattlesnake beans,  watermelon seeds (from the Amish), and Zinna seeds.
  

Cabbage and mustard greens the only things left out there in the garden now with a side show of the pretty Zinnias.  

We didn't get out to trash pick this week.  Our sump pump went out in the middle of two days of rain and we missed our day.  Thank goodness I heard it going crazy down there and we didn't flood. We purchased a brand new pump and all is good.  Life gets crazy!  

We actually didn't grocery shop either but I did pick up the Dollar General deals.  About once a month,  I love to watch One cute Couponer on you tube and just do what she says.   The brain doesn't have to work as hard then.  LOL


Goals for this week:

Pick cabbage and make sauerkraut.


How did you save money this past week?
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10 comments:

Cheryl Kimbley said...

Furnace? Oh my. We haven't been there yet here. It is cool and I love it. No chance of frost for a couple weeks at least.
Fall gets everyone in busy mode for sure. Sorry about the sump pump - but glad you caught it quickly.
Take care and have a good week.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I know feels wild having to turn on the furnace but we love the coolness too! No sure when the frost will come our weather is so unpredictable.
You take care too and have a wonderful week Cheryl!

Jenny said...

We had to turn the AC back on yesterday here. I tried so hard to make it without it but I am such a cream puff in the heat and humidity.

this morning we are flooded in, or at least I am. My husband went to work at 3 a.m. and was going to meet me at church but my road is so flooded I can't get out. he is at our son's house watching the baby while they work. We had planned to take him to church with us but it looks like we are all getting a day at home. I'm hoping the power stays on it keeps blinking.

Nothing amazing this week. I have stayed home quite a bit so no extra shopping and no eating out so that's a good thing.



Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I find that I'm a cream puff in all weather Jenny. Basically 70 degrees and sunny I'm good with.
Hope you can get out of your neighborhood soon! I bet that was a lot of rain.
Hope your day goes well.

Anonymous said...

Hello Vicky you had such a wonderful week of preserving garden produce and planning ahead to save seeds for growing in your gardens next growing season :). You are probably glad the woodpile is all sorted and ready to go with the cold weather just around the corner.

We are planning on having a bit of a rest week here this week as we are getting our new stove put in and some other electrical work done in the home. I will try and get out into the gardens to separate the newly sprouted vegetable seeds growing too close together and mulch. We are expecting weather of mid to late 30's oc days so anything done outside will have to be done late in the evening or early in the mornings.

Our savings last week added up to $1168.99 :).

Earnings -
- DH earned $90 less fuel and sprays for gardening and spraying jobs he did.

Blessings -
- The local RSL club was giving away bottled water from a organisation that creates veterans resorts to help our drought affected people in our town. We waited until we knew that those who were low on water got theirs in sufficient quantities and bought home 2 x 20 x 600ml bottles of spring water for our stockpile saving $26 over buying them.

Listings/Finances and purchases -
- Listed 25 items on a free listing and reduced final value auction fee through eBay saving $41.25 over paying usual listing fees.
- Paid an additional payment off our mortgage.
- Deposited more into our 3 month living expenses emergency fund and we are almost half way there. We figure this will give us further peace of mind and security whilst paying off our mortgage and beyond.
- Got slivered almonds and a 420g tin of peaches in juice as free samples for being a taste tester for a large supermarket saving $6 over purchasing them.
- Found lamb mince at just over half price on clearance in Woolworths for $8.13 kg (instead of $15 kg) and purchased 2 kg saving $13.74 on usual prices.
- Our recliners finally caved in so we had been saving for new ones and found them under half the price of others elsewhere saving $1082 on usual prices.

In the gardens -
- Used rainwater from a tank we put at the back of our tank stand shed to water potted herbs and fill up water for the kangaroos and wallabies so they have something to drink saving on town water usage. We have more to use for the coming days.
- Used cleanish dish rinsing water to water decorative flowers in one garden.
- Used grey water from the grey water tank to water fruit and berry trees and some of our back lawns and star jasmine bushes.
- Used shower warm up water to fill hand washing water bottles and to clean the bathrooms and toilets with.
- We continue to feed the kangaroos and wallabies our bread ends and any apple cores we have to supplement feed them. We now have more rednecks and 1 Mum with a baby in her pouch coming regularly for the water and food we put out.

We could really use so much more rain here to green up the grass and give the kangaroos and wallabies some more grass to eat and water in the creek for them to drink.

Have a fantastic week ahead everyone :).

Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I'm so glad that you were able to get your wster. Your so nice to let others go first Lorna. I hope you get some rain soon.
You got some greAt deals on groceries!
Sounds like it's hot there already. How do you keep your garden plants growing? They are having drought and heat in the South here and it seems like they are having a tough time with their gardens. Do you use a heat cloth?
Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Hi Vicky meant to say sorry you had some added expenditure in replacing your sump pump too and hope it is working well for you. At least you won't have to replace it for a while yet.

With the gardens we have 50% shade cloth over the garden beds which keeps the heat down so they grow really well with less water being evaporated. Need to mulch the beds shortly now the seeds have sprouted and got a bit bigger.

Today was 38 oc so a really warm one but with the roof insulation we put in it was a comfortable temperature of under 30 oc.

Have a great week ahead :) .

Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

Belinda said...

We once lived in a house with a sump pump. Those things are blessings for sure. Sounds like you have been very busy this week. Your cold weather sounds so nice. I have a 3/4 sleeve top on today and it feels so good. I'm ready for it. LOL I hope you have a great week, Vickie.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Thanks Lorna for letting me know -we had heat but their heat is lasting for quite awhile. Maybe I'll leave a comment someday and let them know they should use shade cloth. Well worth the expense.
The sump pump is guaranteed 5 years so we are good for awhile. I'm so glad we were here when that happened!
Have a great day Lorna and thanks for the reply.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

This week they have promised us 60 to 70 degrees till Friday. after that it sounds like a wild time but we will take a little warmer weather for sure. Wouldn't it be nice to switch weather every once in awhile? You have a great week too!