Five Frugal Things for the Week of 10/12 - 10/18/14

This past weeks five frugal things are...

1) Went through my fridge and made sure to put anything in the freezer that might be in danger of going bad soon. A couple of things I froze was pico de gallo in 1/2 cup containers (I figure I can use these in taco soup or something similar) & leftover ricotta cheese that didn't get used in the pasta dish I bought it for (I bought too much).

2) I took advantage of Randall's freebie deals & got a 22 oz Chili's frozen meal; a Dannon Creamery caramel flavored cheesecake dessert & chewable calcium 50 ct. Whoo hoo! I was so excited! (I gotta start watching for these...and for Kroger's Friday freebies too.)

3) I found some seed packets that were marked down to .20 each and bought a few varieties I didn't already have.

4) I got 2-2lb. packages of lunch meat and a 1 lb. package of breakfast sausage that were all marked down 50% to put in the freezer. The fam likes ham (:

5) Continued to use things I have on hand rather than giving in to the temptation to buy more. Such as drinking tea from my tea stash and putting blinders on when I'm going past the teas in the store (WHYYYYY am I so tempted by certain things???!!! Lipstick & fingernail polish, I'm lookin' at you!) 

I'd love to hear some of your frugal things! Have a frugalicious day!!!~TJ

Social Media Madness!

*Notice: links may take you to sites that serve to help me earn a few extra pennies to help support this blog and my family. Thanks for your support!~TJ

Well...not really...I'm not a social media maven but I post once in a while. I'm trying to get better, lol! On the bright side, I don't blow up anyone's account with oversharing!

I'd love for you to come on over to my Facebook page & give it a "like"! And let me know yours so I can get to know you too!

I'm also on Instagram & twitter: @AvonLadyTJ

Hope to "see" you there!!!~TJ

Dinner Menus

This past week we dined on:

>>>homemade salmon croquettes with dill sauce, sliced fresh tomatoes with cracked black pepper and pink Himalayan sea salt
>>>grilled ham & cheese sandwiches with chips
>>>pinto bean and sausage stew; corn on the cob & homemade corn bread

For a sweet treat I made Fantastic Cinnamon Raisin Bread! Winner!!!

Between the salmon croquettes recipe, which I doubled, and the pinto bean and sausage stew, which made enough for more than two meals, we were set for the week!

I'd love to hear some of your delicious meals! I need all the inspiration I can get, lol!

Here's to tasty treats & eats!~TJ

Everyone's "Frugal" is Different

I read money saving type blogs as often as my life allows. And I've noticed that ideas about frugality are all as varied as the people who write about them. And that's OK. Each person has a different set of circumstances and a millionaires idea of thrifty will likely be completely different than mine or yours. That's what I think makes each thrifty/frugal/money saving blog interesting. And educational. I learn something from each and every one.

My hubby always brags to people that I can stretch a penny so far that it cries for mercy. As flattered as I feel that he's proud enough of that fact to actually share with people he knows (and not embarrassed by it), I know that I, by no means can hold a candle to some of you. And there was a time that I had to be even more careful and thrifty with my money. But seasons change in our lives and with that the wiggle room with which we can spend.

I was reading a blogger the other day that was sheepishly telling her readers that she and her spouse had decided to raise their grocery budget. She felt she might be letting her readers down since she has a money saving blog. But there's no shame in that! (You go girl!) She/they have been blessed and possibly wouldn't be able to get to the point of spending more money now if they hadn't been more careful with their money up until this point. Even still, I remember reading long ago when they were having to be veeeerrry frugal, that they decided that her having her hair professionally done (colored & cut I think. Ohhh, my sad little memory!) was an expense they felt was worth it. Then and even today, I couldn't begin to be as "with it" as she budget wise and I prefer to color my own hair. (I tried twice to have a "professional" color and highlight my hair & figured I could do as well myself. I do have someone cut my hair though.) Anyway, I'm only bragging on this blogger-I think it's great! 

And I would wish prosperity for everyone. But sometimes we have situations beyond our control, and there's is no shame in that. We just have to do our best with what we have and pray for better times.

And thank goodness for a gazillion money saving websites to glean knowledge from! Because...

when we know better, then we can do better. 

 

Hey, when I started researching frugality, my "internet" was the public library. Amy Dacyzyn (The Tightwad Gazette) anyone? Yeah. I'm that old.

 

 

Here's wishing you all the prosperity you can bear!~TJ

 



Five Frugal Things for the Week of 10/5 - 10/11/14

I had started doing "Five Frugal Things" a long while back but I'm beginning to think I have a touch of ADD & it somehow got dropped along the way. In honor of my renewed desire to be better with da money that is entrusted to me, I thought I'd fire that baby back up! So without further ado...this past weeks (drumroll please, heheh)...

Five Frugal Things

 

 

1)  I went back to making my homemade laundry detergent. There's so many recipes for this around but I use an easy to remember 1 bar Ivory soap grated; 1 cup borax, 1 cup washing powder & 1 cup baking soda. Dump & stir, shake...whatever you gotta do to mix that stuff up. Then I use 1-2 tablespoons of it in my front loader, depending on how dirty our laundry is. I remove that little detergent cup thingy in the drawer so as not to clog it up with the powdered laundry detergent. I have also continued to use white vinegar for fabric softening but will occasionally use liquid Downy on the items that don't need to be absorbent (apparently towels & whatnot don't absorb as well when you use fabric softener on them).

 

2)  I continue to plant seeds in hopes of having more veggies  & herbs to help cut down on the grocery bill.


3)  I bought two dog toys marked down 50%. I always check the markdown & clearance areas in the stores I frequent. You just never know what you will find and when I find products I use anyway...SCORE!!!

4)  I've been keeping a large bowl in the kitchen sink to catch runoff water from washing our hands, rinsing veggies, etc. I use this water to water my plants. I've been surprised to realize that this is enough water to water ALL of my plants each day. The outdoor container plants usually need to be watered everyday so this is saving on our water bill!

5)  And speaking of water, I have been making a concerted effort to turn water off during times it might normally be running down the drain unused. For instance, when showering, after wetting my hair & body, I turn the water off, soap and shampoo up before turning the water back on to rinse off. Or while brushing my teeth, I turn the water off while brushing and then turn it back on again to rinse. 

These are all little things but they add up! And as I always say to my eye rolling family (usually while picking a penny up on the sidewalk), if you have enough pennies you can be a millionaire! Well, it's true.

Have a great day!~TJ 

Saving...It's a New Day

This past month we have had to adopt a new way of thinking. We knew it was coming. My hubby is now officially retired and with that comes a new level of budgeting. Even though he is in charge of finances and bill paying (because, really, he is so much better at it than I), I try to do my part in being frugal in the areas that I spend, mainly groceries, gift giving and personal spending such as clothing and beauty items.

Where groceries are concerned, I do prefer to spend more for organic milk, cream, sour cream and most cheeses, some organic produce (I go by the "dirty dozen" list when deciding how to spend on organic produce) and occasionally other organic food items. For whatever reason I haven't wrapped my head around yet, I still buy regular butter, cream cheese and American cheese slices. Mostly because I have to "pick my battles" so to speak moneywise and also because hubby is particular about his American cheese (: Anyway, I do what I can.

I also prefer to spend the extra money to purchase humanely raised chicken and eggs. I would love to buy organic, grass fed but again, money is not a limitless supply around here so I do the best I know how. We don't eat tons of beef although hubby loves him a good ribeye! When I buy fish it's wild caught.

All that being said, if it ever came down to spending the extra money for organics & higher priced items or going hungry, I will definitely make fillin' our tummies the priority!

But for now, in order to be able to continue to afford to buy these higher priced items, I will do my best to be as economical as possible in all other areas. For example, I've decided that I have enough makeup, lotions & potions to last until the cows come home (& I don't own any cows so they wont be comin' home any time soon!) so I have put myself on a "makeup starvation diet". I will stick to my favorite frugal motto which is...

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.
 

I am determined to continue to use what I have until I have used up the last little bit of any particular items until I am totally out and then I will go out and replenish the item. I started doing this in the past in order to try and declutter a bit. But I fell off the wagon. I'm only human...

Back to the grocery budget...a few things I am going to begin doing on a regular basis are

• making all our bread. We love our French bread recipe and having the luxury of having my bread maker, it wont be a sacrifice, it will be a pleasure! (note~I prefer to use the dough cycle only and bake breads off in the oven.)
• baking in general. Cakes & cookies are easy and economical enough, especially when I stick to tried & true recipes for basic sweet treats like oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate chip cookies. And to make things easy on myself, I've started making bar cookies to save the time of dropping each. little. cookie. tray. after. tray. It's one stop shopping! I also have favorite recipes for quick sweet breads (zucchini! and banana! Yum!) And muffins and cakes! Oh my! Biscuits and pancakes have become hubbys specialties.
• building up our stockpile/pantry with sale items.

For now, that is what I am really, really, really going to concentrate on. I know all these things. I've done all these things during lean years of being a single mom to three chirren. But more prosperous times led me in new directions. Well, it's time to tighten the belt a bit again so we will be able to continue to enjoy many things that we have for a good long time.

Little things I already do and have been doing in the kitchen (because I'm basically a frugal chick anyway) are:

• make my own broths from bones & veggie scraps.
• wash & reuse (fairly clean-no greasy, meaty ones) Ziploc bags & aluminum foil.
• look up recipes in order to be able to use ingredients I already have on hand. Online searches make this fairly easy.
• improvise a bit when cooking & following certain recipes. Sometimes I just don't have the ingredient called for so I do an online search for substitutions for the ingredient the recipe calls for. After years (and yeeeeeaaaars) of cooking, I feel a little more comfortable doing this.
• I save that bacon grease y'all. To season all kinds of good things mainly veggies/green beans. I'm not sure if that's just a southern thing or not.
• Meatless meals and simple meals. We don't always require a big production when it comes to meals. Sometimes a quick sandwich with chips or fries suit us just fine. Leftovers make for a quickie meal as well. And some days we just graze. I portion out a lot of meals that make too much for us and that serves for other meals in the future.
• I cook up dried beans and divide them up into two cup portions to freeze for future recipes.
• I try to buy in bulk when it will be economical. If I can store it safely for future use I'll buy it. But only if it's the better deal. Sometimes buying smaller sizes end up being cheaper. My calculator is my friend for figuring out price per ounce/pound etc. 

There are so many little things I do on a daily basis that have become second nature that I can't begin to think of and list them all right now, but this gives an idea of some of the things I do.

It's all about balance.

Thanks for stopping by!~TJ

Dinner Menus

This week we've enjoyed:

>>>leftover homemade mac & cheese, green beans

>>>homemade chili with beans (I halved the amount of meat, used ground turkey instead of beef and used crushed tomatoes instead of sauce [twice the amount called for] & also added about a half teaspoon of granulated garlic) rice, shredded Colby cheese and homemade cornbread

>>>a simple dinner of seasoned pinto beans (that I cook up from dried beans, portion & freeze), pico de gallo & corn tortillas

>>>"rotisserie" chicken in the slow cooker, Normandy style veggies

As I've probably mentioned before, since it's basically just the two of us (DD rarely eats at home), many meals stretch into two or more meals. If we get tired of eating them, I will portion them out and freeze them for future meals. So, that's why I only have four meals listed for this past seven day week!

I hope this inspires some ideas for anyone reading that might be wondering what to cook for dindin if your dinner makin' mojo has fallen into a rut!

Thanks for stopping in!~TJ

Still at It: Container Gardening

Lately, the temperature has been delightful!

The past couple of days I have ventured outside to plant some seeds and re-seed things that didn't sprout. I am no master gardener and am still learning as I go. I plant most things in containers as our soil is very sandy and riddled with clay. Gumbo. The soil, not the delicacy. 

Some things I've recently planted are: spinach mustard greens, mesclun, lettuces, kale, parsley, catnip, tarragon, radishes, assorted flowers (annuals and perennials), fennel, broccoli raab, small sugar pumpkin, chives and spearmint.

It has finally dawned on me that all my efforts of trying to garden in the relentless heat were based on info that's got totally different climates in mind. Yes, the seed packets and books may say to plant at certain times but I must take into consideration that many plants just can't take our heat. And neither can I. This realization has been such a relief since I have battled the heat and mosquitoes in dogged determination the past few "springs" *cough*SUMMER*cough* and summer *cough*hellonearth*cough* with little to no results. Now I feel relaxed knowing I can take the summer off, sipping my lemonade and iced tea in the comfort of my air conditioned oasis while dreaming of fall and winter gardening. Less mosquitoes, less heat, less humidity and more produce! (Have I mentioned how much I HATE our heat and humidity? I'm a delicate flower, I am.)

Anyway, my garden report is a good one: I was able to harvest a bit of Swiss chard, a carrot and a bean! One bean. And one carrot! It's something. And there are more beans on the bush, just not big enough yet. My morning glory vines are climbing and thriving and I feel very confident that soon, I will see some lovely flowers adorning our fence! Our Meyer lemon tree (is still alive) has lemons, still green and heavy, hanging from it's branches that I'm sure will be big, yella & juicy in their own good time! I have several tomato plants that have struggled through the summer that I'm hoping will perk up and produce some tomatoes once the weather continues to cool down. My sweet and opal basils, thyme, oregano, green onions and rosemary are thriving, and my dill and cilantro are hanging in there. And a beautiful, spidery white lily that was planted a couple of years ago recently bloomed, much to our delight!

I would love to add some pictures with this post but my camera is experiencing technical difficulties. (I think it needs a new battery). And my phone camera has been dropped one too many times to produce decent pictures, lol!

Thanks for checking in! I hope you are enjoying the cooler temps!~TJ 

 

This Life of Mine

sunny summertime days~blue skies, palm trees, warm breezes...pine trees too!

Today we have the plumber in fixing things we have put off for a while (since we were having a hard time finding a plumber we could count on and trust). New toilet fixtures, a new kitchen faucet, the bathtub faucet.  The closet is still torn up from the leak and that will have to be addressed by having someone replace the carpet and repair the drywall in the wall where it had to be removed in order for him to get to the leaky pipe. 

I feel like our house has had a small explosion within the walls since stuff is everywhere. Anyway, since life is like that at times, I'm just taking a step back from my usual "daily goal" list and am going to focus on getting my sewing/craft room in some sort of order.  It has gotten so out of control I've lost all interest in going in there and being creative.  I haven't sewn or worked on any scrapbook pages. The clutter and disorganization just overwhelm me! 

We are also making plans to get someone in to landscape the front yard and are in the process of researching companies. I'm hoping for something very low maintenance since I'm not a big outdoorsy girl when it comes to going out in our extremely humid, brutally hot weather and doing yard work.  Add in voraciously hungry mosquitos and...no thank you!  I do enjoy those rare days that are truly lovely to spend time out enjoying our backyard and I don't mind puttering around planting seeds for my container gardening efforts here and there. 

I've also decided, since our breakfasts are generally the same from day to day, and we don't often eat lunch, that I would just keep track of our dinner menus and post the weeks dinner menus only, at the end of the week.

Basically, this blog of mine will just evolve as I see ways to make it easier to journal this life of mine.  And I appreciate you coming along!

Thanks for stopping by!~TJ

 

 

 

Dinner Menus and Updates

pretty roses to brighten your day

 

The past few days have been spent trying to have dishwasher troubles, the leak in our bedroom closet and a new problem developed-cable tv issues-resolved.  The dishwasher showed up on Thursday, however, it was damaged out of the box before they even brought it into our home. So now, they are supposed to come back tomorrow, Saturday.

The cable guy came out and the cable worked for 24 hours before showing signs of the same troubles again. They are supposed to be out Monday.

Thankfully, we found a good plumber that came out right away and took care of the leak but there are still things related to the leak that need to be taken care of. (Imagine damp carpet we are in the process of cleaning and drying out and the closet contents all over our bedroom, office, and guest bedroom until the drywall can be repaired and carpeting issues resolved.  Yeah.) 

I share these happenings not to be a downer or to complain, but to encourage you, so that if you are going through some things as well, you know you are not alone.  It can sometimes feel that way.  And sometimes problems happen in a "when it rains it pours" fashion, magnifying the situation.

All we can do is try to laugh about it and keep a sense of humor and remember that "this too shall pass".  But in the meantime, I believe the stress has gotten to me.  My ongoing neck and shoulder issues seem to have flared up over these past three days as well. Pain.  In the neck. Literally.  And because of that, I have been taking it as easy as possible.  So, my daily goals have been set aside for the time being and I have only focused on taking care of those daily things that must be taken care of.  Plants and pets and the like.

Therefore, I'm only going to list our last couple of days dinner meals and then get back to nursing my aching neck and shoulder with tlc and gentle stretches.  

Dinner Menus 

Wednesday- we had Schlotzky sandwiches since the plumber was here and the water to the house was shut off.  I had a veggie, hubby had a fiesta chicken.

Thursday- Chicken enchilada casserole, made with some turkey I had in the freezer.  So, technically, turkey enchilada casserole. (low carb= no tortillas but hubby had Frito scoops with his)

Friday- Spicy black beans and rice  (made with beans that were in the freezer that I had cooked and divided and frozen for quick and easy meals such as this.)

Not ideal. I would like to have had salad or veggies with our meals but I just wasn't up for a big production, I felt happy to have just made the entrees and gotten a hot meal made.  I was trying to have as few dirty dishes to wash as possible, lol. 

Have a great day y'all!~TJ

Tuesday's Menu and Goals Update and Wednesday's Goals

sage (front) basil (behind)

Our meals today were kind of grab & go because we were

waiting on the dishwasher to be delivered and didn't want

to have a mess happening in the kitchen when they came.

BUT THEY NEVER SHOWED!!!  Thanks SEARS! I honestly

hope to never do business with them again UNLESS they

TOTALLY make this up to us. This isn't the first hiccup (to

put it mildly) we've experienced with them.

And to place a cherry on the top of our day, just as I had come to terms with the fact that we had been stood up, I decided to go ahead and go to the grocery store. When I stepped into our closet to get my shoes, the carpet was wet and there was a mighty funky odor. So we spent an hour emptying out the closet to save our stuff from whatever is leaking. I guess we'll add that to our "to do" list for tomorrow too. 

I never made it to the grocery store.  / ':   Oh well.

C'est la vie!

Enough venting. Moving on.

basil (front) sage (behind)

Tuesday's Menu

Breakfast~ hubby = scrambled eggs & American cheese

sandwich; I had a banana blueberry protein shake; coffee

Lunch~ I had an Atkins meal replacement bar

Dinner~ I had coleslaw; hubby had a bowl of cereal

***water for beverages unless noted. I'm also trying to

incorporate drinking a glass of water with 2 teaspoons of

 apple cider vinegar mixed in daily.

Tuesday's Goals

1.  Wait for dishwasher delivery/installers (thank the Lord!)

They never showed. We'll have to reschedule.

2.  go through seeds and choose next ones to plant

3.  harvest sage& amp; (since I didn't do it Sunday) basil to dry

4.  Pack modem for return and take to UPS (I didn't take it to

UPS since I was unable to go to the store (waiting on

Sears). UPS is in the same little shopping center as the

grocery store and I was going to kill two birds with one stone

to save time & gas.

5.  spend at least 15 minutes working on more misc.

sewing/mending

6.  Spend 15 minutes cleaning and organizing sewing/craft

room.

 



 

Wednesday's Goals

1.  call Sears to find out what happened with the delivery of the dishwasher. Reschedule.

2.  take hubby to doctors appointment.

3.  plant seeds that I chose yesterday. (parsley; tarragon; kale; four o'clocks;  johnny jump up's (also known as violas, which we prefer as that's my DD's best friends nickname  :D )

4.  take modem for return to UPS

5.  go to grocery store

6.  spend 15 minutes cleaning and organizing sewing/craft room.

7.  spend at least 15 minutes working on more misc. sewing/mending

 

 

~bonus (if I can get to it project(s)~

I'm not even going to worry about this one today, lol!

I would LOVE to hear about your day!

  

Have a great day y'all!~ TJ

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday's Menu and Goals Update and Tuesday's Goals

oregano and thyme from the garden~ready to dry!

 

I know posting my daily menus and goals may not

interest everyone but I, personally, enjoy having a peek into

other people's menus and the things that fill their days. It

often gives me motivation and inspiration when I'm feeling

"blah" as far as the "day in and day out" goes.  So...I thought

I might offer the same. Besides, it keeps me accountable

when I know others might be looking on.  And that, in itself,

keeps me motivated!

Monday's Menu

 

Breakfast~ scrambled eggs with American cheese; hubby

had toast; coffee 

Lunch~ I had an Atkins meal replacement bar

Dinner~ I had a shrimp salad with homemade creamy herb

 

dressing; hubby had a

blt & dinner salad with Thousand Island (both

homemade~trying to use up

what we have on hand before going grocery shopping)

 

***water for beverages unless noted. I'm also trying to

 

incorporate drinking a glass

of water with 2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar mixed in.

Since my Monday didn't go quite as planned, I only

 

accomplished the first three things on my list. So they will go

 

on my Tuesday list.

 

 

Monday's Goals (Update)

1.  take hubby to doctor appointment

2.  misc. sewing/mending~

3.  powder room windowsill hotspot~ clean it off & wipe it down

4.  spend 15 minutes in craft/sewing room cleaning and organizing

5.  go through seeds and choose next ones to plant

6.  harvest sage & (since I didn't do it Sunday) basil to dry

 

                             ~bonus (if I can get to it project(s):

* clean out cabinet under microwave

 

 

 

Tuesday's Goals

 

1.  Wait for dishwasher delivery/installers (thank the Lord!)

2.  go through seeds and choose next ones to plant

3.  harvest sage& (since I didn't do it Sunday) basil to dry

4.  Pack modem for return and take to UPS

5.  spend at least 15 minutes working on more misc. sewing/mending

6.  Spend 15 minutes cleaning and organizing sewing/craft room.

 

~bonus (if I can get to it project(s):

* clean out cabinet under microwave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturdays and Sundays Menu; Mondays Goals

Saturdays Menu

Breakfast~ I had plain yogurt with honey; hubby had fried eggs and toast

Lunch~ ****crickets chirping****

Dinner~ We had Taco Bell~~~hubby=2 Quesaritos; me= Chicken Cantina Bowl...nummy!

Sundays Menu

Breakfast~ I had a protein smoothie; hubby had cold cereal & milk

Lunch~  I had an Atkins bar; hubby wasn't hungry

Dinner~  homemade chicken, mushroom, wild rice soup

 

 

Monday's Goals

1.  take hubby to doctor appointment

2.  misc. sewing/mending~

3.  powder room windowsill hotspot~ clean it off & wipe it down

4.  spend 15 minutes in craft/sewing room cleaning and organizing

5.  go through seeds and choose next ones to plant

6.  harvest sage & (since I didn't do it Sunday) basil to dry

                             ~bonus (if I can get to it project(s)~

* clean out cabinet under microwave

  Have a great day y'all!~ TJ

 

 

 

Ebates~My New (Savings) Love!

Please note: This post contains affiliate or referral links.
I always seem to be a little late on any new bandwagons. Recently, after hearing about it, I discovered

Ebates. I did a bit of clothing shopping and a few weeks later got a check from them for $9 & change. Cool! Shopping with a money kickback? Yep. I'm sold! Last night, when ordering out regular coffee order, I remembered to check on Ebates for the online store (I'm still getting used to remembering to use it---can you imagine?!) and found they were giving 2.5% cash back plus 5% off any order. After getting on the coffee website, I found they were offering a back to school 6% off any order special that trumped the 5% on the Ebates site! Add in the free shipping on orders $45 or more, plus the $1 off I used from "Loyalty Points" earned from out last order and we saved a total of $11.18! I truly love saving money! It becomes addictive. I learned frugality during a time when it was a necessity for survival but now I can't see any reason not to be prudent with money. It makes it go further even in the abundant times (i.e. there's more money left over to buy other things!).
If you're interested in saving money when you shop online and haven't heard about Ebates yet, I encourage you to check them out by clicking any "Ebates" word in this post and it will take you to there website where you can sign up and begin earning cash back on your online purchases. 

*when you follow the link and sign up with Ebates through my blog, I will earn a small referral fee, and I thank you and very much appreciate it!