Sunday, June 9, 2019

My Frugal Ways this Past Week 6/9/19!



The last few days have been just beautiful here in our part of Michigan.  So many flowers are blooming and I feel like summer might actually come!   




We are even in the vegetable garden!   Still kicking up some mud but not as much.  So far I've planted tomatoes, spaghetti squash, onions, potatoes, flowers (zinnias), zucchini, cucumbers, and peppers!   The bean tepees are coming together and I have a few more to do today.  I also need to buy cabbage and pumpkin plants.  I would never hear the end of it if I didn't plant pumpkins!  


If it sounds like we are in a hurry well we are.  Rain is in the forecast again for this afternoon and tonight.  Got to roll!  

Besides gardening, here are the ways I've saved this past week:  

I found a really nice pant outfit for $3.00 at a garage sale that was too long.  I decided to buy it anyway and hemmed up the pants.   I also found a princess dress for granddaughter for $2.00 (you can never have too many princess dresses).  I adjusted the waist and the straps for her.  Then the oldest daughter threw in a shirt to be repaired.  I proud to say the sewing repair basket is empty!  

I hung out 2 loads of laundry to dry on the line this past week while it was sunny.

Except for staples we didn't grocery shop.

I was able to go in to my gift pantry for teachers gifts this week.  


My goals for this next week:

My #1 goal is to finish putting in the vegetable garden.  Hopefully it will be today!  

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8 comments:

Cheryl Kimbley said...

We had a relatively dry week this week as well - but the rain is here again. Lots of rain today.
Glad you are able to get that garden in!!!!!
Have a good day

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

I'm taking a break right now Cheryl but I'm trying to beat the rain. It's coming in this afternoon and all day tomorrow I guess.
Have a great day!

Lana said...

Glad to hear the garden is going in today! We only bought a few necessary groceries plus 15 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast for .89 a pound. We have had three days of rain after weeks of hot dry weather so we are thankful. I thought we would have to replace our pizza stone but Hubby researched it and we baked it for two hours at 500 degrees and it baked off all the gunk.

Have a happy day in the garden!

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

What a good deal on chicken breasts Lana! I would have bought a lot too. I'm so glad you got some refreshing rain...that heat can be bad.
Have a great day

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

Jenny
I feel like this past week was a whirlwind even though there wasn't that much extra activity. DH had new employee orientation so super long days meant I had to do the 5 AM changeover with the baby three days instead of one....& one of those days I had to keep him all day.I totally crashed on Friday & did not move from bed all day long.

My list: At Walmart I bought some marked down meat: ribeye (I like to keep this in the freezer when I can) & chicken legs. We ate the steak & I divided & froze the chicken for future meals. I also took advantage of .25 avocados! I can't say how excited I was to find those. :)

I've been picking wild raspberries along the top of our ravine. Not enough to do more than snack on. My grandson enjoys them immensely & I make a grain-free raspberry muffin for myself this week that was delicious.

I used up some bananas that were about to go bad making grain-free muffins. I have one more to use & just am not too excited about eating it but it was free....my husband brought it home from work. He often brings food home that people will not eat because they think it's not good. He knows I can use things up.

I got a few free meals from my daughter-in-law (unless you consider I seriously earn them with free babysitting!). She sent lunch for me & the baby one day this week: pork loin, rice & green beans. It was so good. There was plenty for both of us with some leftover. I had rice leftover for two more meals. Something I really enjoyed because husband can't eat rice so I don't buy it.

I made quite a few more free flower arrangements for my home this week. I'm participating in a 10 one-bouquet-per-day Instagram challenge & I've been surprised at just how much fun it's been.

I used up a can of spray Cool whip on my daily homemade lattes. It was leftover from an ice cream day in my Sunday school class. I was able to add cool whip to my lattes for almost two weeks with it!

I harvested & hung to dry 200 stems of lavender. I hope to get at least that many more this week. I have at least triple that many left but I don't know if I can find time to process them before the blooms are too far gone. My house smells

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

Jenny, Sorry, I hit the delete button one too many times! Sounds like you stayed busy to me! Great deals at Walmart especially those avocados!
I feel for you on those 5 a.m. days whew that makes for a long day. I've done that crashing myself and you make me feel so much better by saying that you did too!
I just planted lavender and I can't wait to harvest some stems like yours. I would love to have that smell in my house.
Have a great day!

Anonymous said...

Hello Vickie and I am so glad you have been able to get most of your garden planted and more to come by the sounds of it before the rain sets in again. Fantastic you were able to find a pant suit for yourself so cheaply :).

Our goal this week is to dig the kangaroo garden enclosure 8 post holes a bit deeper with the post hole auger to install the posts. We hit a hard spot at 40 cm deep (probably clay) so we have soaked the holes with water and the rain helped too.

Our Vicky challenge added up to $1748.97 in savings last week :).

In the kitchen -
- Cooked all meals and bread from scratch.
- Made a batch of homemade chocolate fudge including the condensed milk saving $55.67 over purchasing it.

Finances and listings -
- Banked money for additional savings.
- Paid and extra $400 in payments off our home loan.
- Listed 10 items on eBay on a free listing promotion saving $16.50 on usual listing fees.

Purchases -
- Bought a gift card for future groceries and fuel from RACQ saving us 5% or $11.32 on the cost of groceries and fuel combined.
- On half price specials we purchased 11 tubes of toothpaste as we each use different ones and on 15 % off I purchased DH's favourite aftershave saving $49.72 on normal costs.
- At IGA we purchased 6 packets of french fry chips on half price special, 2 x 6 pks of croissants for $1 a packet on half price special and 4 pkts of bread rolls for 0.92c each or 60 % off saving $17.12 on usual costs. I can't make the bread rolls for that cost here and they are good to have in the freezer for quick snacks.

Home maintenance and improvements -
- Put our portable summer pool spa at the bank of the tank shed roof and collected about 200 lts of water in the recent storms. We will use the water for watering our potted fruit and herbs.
- Retrofitted 118 square metres of wool/glass ceiling insulation batts into our roof cavity saving $1559.95 in labour and parts costs from if we hired a tradesperson to do it for us. The house is so much warmer now with the fire on and cooler during the day when it is warm outside. Well worth doing as far as we are concerned. Being an older home too none of the insulation batts sold today fit the roof joists perfectly without spaces, so we had to cut quite a few to fit in the spaces left over. This is one job we are glad is over as crawling around in cramped spaces is hard on the knees and body.

Have a fantastic week ahead everyone.

Sewingcreations15 (Lorna).

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

Lorna sometimes your comments spark quite a conversation between the husband and I. We just finished the garden this afternoon...it was actually starting to rain as I was planting the last row. We were just discussing how many body parts hurt then I said to him, well what if you had to build a kangaroo enclosure to go around the garden. Ha ha if only you had been here.

I'm glad you got the insulation done..so much more comfortable for you guys. Well worth it ...hope the soreness gets over quick for you and us!

Have a good day!