Monday, August 24, 2015

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?


14 comments:

  1. That's a beautiful state park!

    I downloaded free video games, used brown packaging paper to wrap my son's birthday present, threw some leftover bacon and hot dogs into some fried up cubed potatoes and made a pretty decent dinner, and hung laundry to dry.

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    1. Ooooh, your dinner sounds good. So do the other things but bacon and potatoes.... Yum! :)

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  2. Isn't great to get things better organized?! I am so into that.

    Love the matching outfit with Matilda, perhaps there are future coordinated outfits in the future with the others? :-D

    You struck a mother lode with the chicken eggs...I would be willing to borrow some of them and would try to guard them from the coyotes, foxes, and whatever else lurks around our place.

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    1. Ha, ha! Yes, she and I are quite the fashion statement. I am so happy about the eggs.

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  3. I just have to tell you what an inspiration that your blog has been to me. I came across it a few weeks ago. I haven't been able to stop reading since I've found it! I love the journey of you and your daughters and that you are teaching them such great things! I grew up with frugal values, but have really fallen off of the wagon lately. Please keep up the great work. I love this blog :)

    Tiffany

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    1. That is how I was when I found this blog. So inspiring.

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    2. Tiffany, thank you for your kind words. I'm so glad you found us. Comments like these always inspire me to keep at it too. So the road runs in both directions. :)

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    3. Theresa, you are awesome to say that as well. So glad to have you along for the ride. :)

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  4. Love the picture of you holding the chicken, lol it does look like you coordinated outfits :).

    Let us know how the facial astringent works. My daughter is all about trying new facial cleansers.

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    1. We do our best, ha, ha! My kids got the giggles when I said that. So far my daughters are saying the astringent seems to work just fine. They've used it a total of five days is all. We shall see how it holds up in the long run. Take care!

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  5. Dana, the photos of you and your daughters are so precious. The girls are beautiful young ladies and I know you are very proud of them. Love the matching "chick" outfits you and Matilda are wearing. I wonder if they a cat version ?? ;-) Can't believe you got 25 eggs !!! WOW
    Thanks for sharing your thriftiness. You really do inspire me to do better with my funds.
    Vanessa B

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    1. Thank you so much Vanessa. A cat version? Hmmmm. I was very proud of my girls That was a lot of eggs.

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  6. Sounds like you guys had a great day. I love picnics, need to make some friends so I can do that! lol! It's been very windy here the last couple of days too. Its nice to see some pictures of you three too! :o)

    Tania

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    1. Thanks Tania. We had fun and we need to do it more often too.

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