Last Week's Thrifty Moves

In preparation of back-to-school coming up soon I made 18 dozen mini muffins to put away in the freezer for quick breakfasts.

The cooler weather allowed me to plant the three azalea bushes I bought a couple weeks ago on clearance at ShopKo for $1.69 each.  When I brought them home they were a little spindly but I watered them a lot and they have filled in and leafed out nicely.  I think they might just make it.

My oldest and I cleaned up the yard.  All those wind storms we had last week had really littered the yard with sticks and debris.  We burned it all in the fire pot and I added our shreddables to the fire as well.  Everything looks neat and tidy once again.  We plan to compost the ashes.

Tuesday I took the girls and one of their friends to dollar movie night.  We saw The Young And Prodigious T.S. Spivet.  It was pretty good.  On the way home I treated them to a hamburger at one of our favorite diners.

The young one and I sliced up a handful of jalapeno peppers and filled up a half pint jar.  I covered them with pickle brine and put them in the refrigerator.

Thursday evening I took the two sets of plastic drawers that used to hold sewing supplies out of the garage and gave them a new purpose.  I was really glad I had put them in there and didn’t hurry up and get rid of them because now they are being used to hold all of our school supplies, colored paper, cardstock, construction paper and craft supplies.  One drawer holds all of my candles and Scentsy stuff.  I was able to eliminate several plastic bins in the hall closet and the big copy paper box that used to store our extra school supplies in our linen closet.

All of these bins are now empty

I am so glad I did this because it seemed like every time I needed something in one of the bins it was always the one on the bottom of the stack.  This new way makes it a lot less cluttered and much more streamlined and organized  So much nicer to get to the things I need and it also saves us on storage space.

I checked out two books from the library since my thrift store books have dwindled down to the final two.  I was having trouble getting into my current book and the other is written by the same other so for now I have set them aside and will read the library books.

Matilda and I appear to be wearing the same shirt

I took Friday off from work so I could enjoy a little longer weekend with my girls before they go back to school on Monday.  My oldest had an orthodontist appointment in the afternoon so we enjoyed a leisurely day until then.  I grouped our errands and banking so we could get everything we needed to do done on the way home.  We went to the dollar store, the grocery outlet, the bank and Albertsons.  No gas wasted as all of these places were en route for home.

My oldest ran out of facial astringent from the dollar store and they no longer have it in stock.  We looked up recipes for homemade astringents and she made a batch using items we already have on hand using distilled water, apple cider vinegar and lemon juice.  It actually smells pretty good and it also doesn’t taste too bad either.  We joked that if it doesn't work she can just drink it.  I think it will work just fine.

I sliced up a bunch of cucumbers and an onion for bread and butter pickles.  Since I am the only one who eats them I am making myself a small batch.  I ended up with 3 pints.

Saturday we packed a picnic lunch and headed to the state park for a fun afternoon.

We harvested jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers and one lone beet from the garden.  I composted coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells, banana peels, garlic skins, tomato stems and onion peels.

The chickens blessed us with 25 eggs.

How thrifty were you last week?