Sunday, March 1, 2020

My Frugal Ways this Past Week 3/1/20!



We have had a bit of winter with cold winds and snow here last week.  It's beautiful snow.  I may not like it so much, but it's just beautiful.  

We have had many red birds`come to visit our feeders.  I believe there are 6 of them and they swoop in from somewhere across the street every morning.  At times, it seems like they are peeking into our picture window to see what's going on.  

Here are the ways I've saved this past week:

I've been saving our leftovers in the freezer for my lazy crazy days. They are like little frozen TV dinners!  One of you nice ladies gave me the idea and I thank you!  I'm sorry I can't remember exactly who it was. This is an easy way to stop food waste around here and save money eating out.  

We have had both sick and snow days for the grand kids this past week.  I have enticed them with scary food (goulash) and yummy treats (my grocery deal of the week).   They loved them both.

We had a meatless meal (pinto beans, mustard greens, and cornbread) on Thursday.  



I planted more winter sown jugs.

I made yogurt.  I find that my batch is lasting me two weeks unless granddaughter comes by.  She loves it and asks for me to make it strawberry (I add 1 tsp of my strawberry jam).  

I've been so busy that I can't think of another single thing I did to be frugal, except to make dinner every day.  


My goals:

Make it through another week!  ha ha

No, really I need to clean the fridge and start going through the freezer in order to defrost it soon.  The freezer is in the garage. Lately, it's been too cold to stand there long to figure out what's in there (the weather is supposed to improve next week).

What are the ways you've saved this past week?  

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12 comments:

Jenny said...

Your goals sound like mine! We've all been sick here.

I got a free Starbuck's coffee earlier this week. I stopped to buy a coffee & pastry. They were out of the pastry I wanted so they gave my coffee to me for free...so a save during a weak moment.

I tried to save money on my lab work by having my blood drawn in my town through my husband's employee clinic. I went two days in a row & they could not get my blood either day...so I'll have to have it drawn through the lab at my dr's office & pay out of pocket this week. Super frustrating. I cannot seem to find answer to this dilemma...I've been dealing with it for a few years now.

We celebrated our son's 27th birthday this week. Our daughter-in-law cooked pork carnitas. She sent some leftovers home with me so a free meal for me since it's not my husband's favorite.

We used from our stash for our son's birthday...a boxed card with a well thought out note/joke written in it & a lechturn1918 pocket notebook. My husband had the notebook & I had the card. Plus we ordered a pair of Smartwool socks for him because he goes through socks so fast.

Belinda said...

Love the accomplished feeling of making homemade yogurt. And I like adding homemade jam to mine for the flavor. Strawberry would be so good.

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

They say Jenny I have twisted veins. After many painful tries I just tell them now to take it out of my hand.
Sounds like your son had a wonderful birthday..great presents.

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

It's funny how good that makes me feel. After making blueberry jam this morning she can try that next time. Have a great day!

Lana said...

TV dinners are a great idea! (It wasn't me.). We arrived in warm and sunny Florida today. Let the fun begin!

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

Oh have a great trip Lana!

Anonymous said...

Well done Vickie on your yoghurt making and we use our homemade strawberry jam for flavour too :). Good you got a few more seeds planted and making freezer meals for days when you don't feel like cooking.

Our goal this week is to get our lawns mowed again after all the rain and whipper snip around the vegetable garden beds.

Our savings added up to $513.61 last week :).

Finances and listings -
- Listed 12 items on an eBay free listing promotion saving $19.80 on usual listing fees.

Groceries and purchases -
- From IGA we purchased 6 blocks of chocolate on half price special, two bottles of shampoo on special and got 2 blocks of chocolate free using our IGA points on our card saving $20.58 on usual prices.
- I saved 5% or $6.05 or 5% by purchasing a RACQ Wish e-gift card from groceries
- We put in an online order with Woolworths and with specials, free supermarket samples and using a $15 off promotional code saved $62.18 on usual prices.

In the kitchen -
- Cooked all meals and bread from scratch.

In the gardens -
- Put in another 3 hours of work to finish laying our storm water pipe and filling in our storm water trench saving $231 over hiring a plumber to do the job for us.
- We saved $174 by getting a local with a trench digger to dig the rest of our storm water trench for us over hiring a machine for a day to do it ourselves from a local town.

Have a wonderful week ahead :).

Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

Peggy said...

I got boneless, skinless chicken breast for $.99 lb. and 73% hamburger for $1.99. I bought so much it was scary. The chicken is frozen in 2 piece meals sized packages so there is no waste. I cooked all 6 pounds of hamburger up and froze it it one pound packages. Now I can have meals in minutes without the mess of cooking the hamburger each time. I am set on chicken for a couple of months. We went to the flea market and got my husband a new baseball cap for $1. It is some tool brand and embroidered. He loves it. I cooked pinto beans to go in the chili. I cooked a double batch and froze the other half for a side dish next week.

Cozy Thyme Cottage said...

Hi Vickie, I am sowing a couple more winter jugs today too. So far I have sowed spinach, Lacinato Kale, Cilantro, Cleome, Cosmos, Arugula Yard Long Beans and Carrots and Marigolds. Sure hope they come up. First time doing this. Not sure what two I will do today yet but the jugs are ready. What did you sow today? Nancy

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

I took a chance and sowed tomato and peppers -the seeds were so cheap I thought it wouldn't hurt. I'm going to sow carrots now that you mentioned it and maybe spinach. Thanks for the ideas, Nancy!

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

Great deals and great meals Peggy! It's always good to cook ahead especially with the beans. They take a long time.

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

I love all your grocery savings -great deals! I also love the sound of rain at your place. Wonderful rain. I know your gardens will grow great now. Of course so will that lawn you'll need to mow. Have a great week Lorna.