Last Week's Thrifty Moves

We had a delightfully busy week.  Let me tell you, when I feel good I really feel good!  I got so much accomplished and I'm just thrilled about it.

I had a lot to do on Sunday and I didn't want it to take all day so I made us a schedule so we could manage a lot of tasks in a short amount of time.  After a quick breakfast we left the house at 9:00 and headed off to Albertson's, Fred Meyer and then Zamzows.

Awesome store coupons!

In the past few weeks I hadn't done much in the way of grocery shopping and fortunately we haven't needed much.  So I decided to use the majority of our March grocery budget to stock up and Albertson's was the place to so this week.

Two hams and two packages of ground beef on markdown.
Bacon at $1.99 a package with store coupon.

Spaghetti sauce, canned veggies, breakfast sausage & tortillas.
Yes, that is a stack of TV dinners - don't judge me. LOL.

A few more items on sale.  I haven't bought Snapple in forever.
I have plans for those bottles when they are empty.

Fred Meyer had a few items on sale and I had a couple coupons to go with those items that expired Sunday.  Since the feed store is located next to Fred Meyer and Home Depot and we were planning to go there anyway I decided to make the stop and pick up those items.  I'm glad I did because near the milk they had set out three baskets of marked down items, mostly baking stuff and we had a lot of fun going through them.

On sale and I had coupons too!

Markdown items.  Baking cocoa and whipped topping mix.

Next we headed to Zamzows where I was able to get the information I needed regarding poultry feed and prices.  I picked up a 40# bag of chick start because it was on sale and much less expensive to purchase than the smaller 5# bags.  At that price I could afford to throw it away, not that I would.  We'll use it.

I got home, put the groceries away and emptied out two boxes of stuff we had brought in from the storage area.  A box of dishes and a box of my grandmother's stuff - two milk glass candy dishes (I love that chicken), her juicer, and a couple of bowls.  Now all of my dishes are finally washed and put away.

Next I took our big pet carrier and the chicken feed bin upstairs to the bathtub and washed them both out thoroughly.  When we first moved back in the house I had every intention of listing the carrier on Craigslist and getting rid of it but for some reason I just couldn't seem to do it.  I got it at a thrift store for $16 and it is in perfect shape.  A couple months ago I realized it would make the perfect chick brooder and chicken infirmary should one of our girls get sick.  Now it is ready to go and I am so very glad I didn't sell it.

Chick feeders.  Washed up and ready to go.

After some lunch and a break to watch an episode of the X Files we got the crazy idea to go outside and do some much needed work in the backyard.  This was completely unplanned and my daughter's idea.  They actually wanted to do this!

We started a fire in our chiminea pot and got out our new garden tools and set to work.  We cleaned up so much of the yard it was amazing.  I even put the composted chicken manure that had wintered over into the garden beds and turned it all in with my shovel.  The beds are already to go - two months early!  I rounded up the wire tomato cages and we raked up a ton of trash and leaves back there.  While raking we were lucky enough to find the missing glass to our porch light fixture underneath a pile of leaves.

The youngest and I cleaned up the chicken coop and repaired one of the wooden planter boxes.  We also fixed the clothesline so it is now fully functional and ready to be used.  We still have a lot of work to do but it is really coming along and we made a huge dent in this project already.  By the time we sat down for dinner we were all pooped but really happy with all that we got done that day.

After dinner I scrubbed the found light fixture clean, founds some screws for it in my coffee can of miscellaneous screws, grabbed a new bulb and put it all back together.  It works!  Now we have a functioning back porch light once again.

I cut the top off of a gallon milk jug to use for collecting compost material in the kitchen.  I also cut the bottom off of two plastic orange juice bottles to use for planting some seeds.

I made two whole wheat pizza crusts and baked a loaf of whole wheat bread and a pan of cornbread.  The girls enjoyed leftover cornbread with honey butter two mornings for breakfast.

After thinking it over I borrowed funds from April's grocery budget and I went back to Albertsons and picked up eight more cans of veggies and four more packages of bacon.  At that price I didn't want to pass it up, especially the bacon.

In order to motivate ourselves and get the rest of our stuff unpacked and put away the girls and I agreed to do a box a night all week and got it done.  Mostly this entailed books, photos and photo albums, canning supplies and a box of miscellaneous crap.  I have to tell you it feels really good to have all of our stuff put away.

I brought home an empty file folder box home from work to reuse as a gift box.  These boxes are the perfect size and are actually sturdier than the last package of gift boxes I purchased at the store.  Plus, these are free and we have a ton of them that get tossed in the recycle bin so I plan to bring home a few more as I need them.

In the evenings I worked on my embroidery while we watched TV.  I watched Downton Abbey on PBS online as well as a few more episodes of the X Files.

Friday evening we picked up four peeps at the feed store for $2.49.  We chose a Buff Orpington, a Rhode Island Red, a Silver Laced Wyandotte and an Ameraucana.  The Ameraucana is the one that lays the colored eggs.  They are so sweet and adorable.

I finally got to spend some quality time in my new sewing and craft area.  I actually sewed!  I finished two of the tea towels I plan to put up in my Etsy store this summer and I am tickled with how they turned out.  Slowly but surely my inventory is beginning to grow.

Remember how I was hoping to find time to make some cloth Christmas napkins in December?  Well I didn't find the extra time and my sewing area was a mess anyway so it was an easy project to put off.  After I finished the tea towels I dug out a large piece of Christmas fabric I had (and forgot I had until a couple weeks ago) and made myself a set of four cloth napkins.  I love the print on the fabric.  While I was at it I made myself a matching hanging dish towel.

I won this dish towel at Bunco in December and thought it would be perfect redone as a hanging dish towel.  A sweet friend just made me a beautiful set of crocheted lace snowflake ornaments for my tree and I thought I would make another one of these towels for her out of the other half of dish towel.

How thrifty were you last week?