Last Week's Thrifty Moves

I had planned a work filled three day weekend over the Labor Day holiday, but on Friday evening it was pretty evident we needed a weekend of rest and relaxation.  Every single one of us was worn out and exhausted.  Contrary to my nature, I conceded and boy am I glad I did.  We all feel a ton better.  On Monday we did a few things but kept it pretty low key.

We spent the weekend watching a couple movies on Amazon and indulged ourselves in a marathon of the miniseries The North And The South on YouTube.  I had never seen it before and we all enjoyed it.  I mean what’s not to love - Patrick Swayze.  Yummy.

I removed the fat from some chicken broth I had made and put it in freezer containers.  Now I have two containers of broth to use in future recipes.

From this...

to this...

On Labor Day I had a little of what I like to call "rattle can fever".  I bought a can of glass frost for $3.47 and coated the inside of our kitchen light fixtures.  After updating them awhile back with metallic silver paint to get rid of the dated brass I put them back up but wasn't happy with how you could clearly see the light bulbs, wires and ugly yellow insulation through the glass bowls.  The new frosted glass makes it much less visible and adds to the updated look I was after.  Now I am completely satisfied with them.  I'll be posting tomorrow on my other rattle can project.

to this.  Love that you can't see all the stuff inside anymore.

In preparation for winter the youngest and I pulled the electric fireplace apart and super duper cleaned it.  We washed the mirrors, replaced a burnt out bulb and removed all the dirt and accumulated fuzz from the heater.  Now it is ready for the cold weather ahead.

A light sanding and some touch up paint and it will look great.

I used a little warm water to rejuvenate a container of spackle that was trying to dry out along with a good stirring.  Then I patched a couple holes in the upstairs bathroom where the towel holder had come out.  Once that little chore was done I moved the bracket over and re-installed the holder.  I had an extra set of wall anchors in my coffee can of miscellaneous fasteners.  Now, once again, we have our hand towels properly hung up for drying hands.

I washed out three Ziploc bags to reuse.  When I packaged all of that meat to freeze a couple weeks ago I used up all of my recycled bags.  So handy to have extras.

We used a rubber spatula to clean out every last bit of mayonnaise in the jar.  We ended up with enough mayo for two sandwiches.  I put the empty jar in the recycle bin.

It has been a few weeks now since the girls made some homemade facial astringent using a cup of distilled water, a quarter cup of cider vinegar and a tablespoon of lemon juice.  They are finding it works much better than their store bought stuff and are really happy with it.  Their skin seems clearer and much less oily than before.  They aren't as impressed with the vinegar smell but they sure like the results.

I veered off my menu plan a little bit this week to use up some leftover items I had put away in the freezer.  I have quite a few things squirreled away in there and I'm going to get them used up so they don't freezer burn and go bad.

Saturday morning I had an eye appointment at ShopKo.  Afterward I looked at the clearance racks in hopes of finding a pair of capris to replace my worn out ones.  I found a denim pair for $7.19 and a bonus find of a pair of work pants for $10.98.

On the way home I filled my gas tank at Fred Meyer and used my rewards points to save an extra 10¢ a gallon.

Just as we were getting home we saw one of our neighbors was having a yard sale.  I haven't stopped at a yard sale in eons so I thought, why not?  I am so glad I did.  She had a vintage Pyrex coffee pot, new and still in the box, for $5.  It was perfect to replace the one I broke a few months ago.

I composted coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells and grape stems.  We gave our kitchen scraps and some leftover pancakes to the chickens.

I sold 4 dozen eggs last week at $3 each.  My girls made their first $$.  I put that money away to save up so I can stock the garage with chicken feed for winter.  I am also shopping around for a heated water feeder for them.

The chickens blessed us with 24 eggs last week.

How thrifty were you last week?