Last Week's Thrifty Moves - The Final Week Of 2016!

Happy, Happy New Year!  We were snowed in over Christmas and that made me very happy!  I loved being at home!

Christmas morning was very nice in spite of the fact that my oldest was battling a terrible case of the flu.  We truly felt very sorry for her while we've been trying to keep our distance and not catch it ourselves.  Of course when she's crying and needs a hug from mom all bets are off.  Lots of hand washing and prayers have been said for the rest of us to remain healthy.

I did my usual Christmas morning thing as the gifts were unwrapped and collected all the reusable bows, tissue, gift bags and gift boxes for next year.  After taking the trash out to the garbage and recycle bins I got busy and re-organized the gift wrap tote in our hall closet.  Only took a few minutes and went a long way to quickly tidy up our little living room.  Plus, it made me happy. J

Our Christmas brunch was an easy and thrifty one.  I cooked up half a package of our free bacon from Winco (I got back in October) and made homemade gingerbread waffles served up with butter and homemade syrup.  My youngest said it really hit the spot.  Our Christmas supper was pretty thrifty as well.  I made four cheese manicotti and served up leftover salad and garlic cheddar biscuits from the night before to go along with.  It was delicious!

Messy and then I got the vacuum cord caught up in it

I recycled some denim jeans and made a mat for the floor near our front door to set boots and frozen chicken feeders on.  I needed something durable and washable to contain the mess that was getting tracked on the floor and driving me mad.  I cut the jeans up the inside leg seams and then cut out twelve 8 inch squares, which I sewed together.  To back it I used an old pair of my flannel pajama bottoms  I love the new floor mat.  It cost me nothing but my time, recycled some clothing that was beyond donating and now the mess is no longer.  Win-win! 

Much better!

Cute too!

I set up my ailing laptop on my desk with a keyboard and wireless mouse we already had.  I'll use it more like a desktop PC until I decide what exactly to do with it.  The technology is still relevant so it may be worth a repair.  I gave it a good cleaning and it is running cooler and I've been pricing replacement keyboards.  Right now it seems to be operating well and I want to work with it for a couple of weeks to make sure there isn't something else going on with it.  So we shall see if I end up ordering parts or not.  I really hate to toss it out if it can be fixed.

Somebody thought that I needed a hand

My oldest gave me two old calculators to use since she has upgraded this year to a graphing calculator for school.  I like that they have the bigger buttons and screen than my current one I got at the dollar store about ten years ago.  My youngest has now commandeered the dollar store calculator for herself.  It all works out.

In spite of having an extra two days off for Christmas I volunteered and worked several hours of overtime leading up to the end of the year.  I was able to work those hours from home which made it very nice.  I plan to put the extra income toward my debt elimination goal.

Christmas dinner - baked cheese manicotti with shrimp
It was so good!

I already began my Christmas planning for 2017.  I know...  I know…

I did not grocery shop or doing any other type of shopping, for that matter.  We just didn't need anything. J

I started a January shopping list for Cash & Carry.  They have some really good bargains on meat right now and I could stock up for the year quite easily.

In anticipation of next week's shopping I washed out and re-organized the refrigerator.  It is always nice to get that done ahead of time, I think.

Wednesday morning I impressed myself by using more of the old denim jeans I had saved to make my daughter a case for the Kindle she got for Christmas.  I even put one of the pockets on the front so she had a place to store the charger.  I lined it with the flannel from my old pajama bottoms so it is nice and soft inside.  She loves it!

I saved the rendered fat from frying bacon and put it in the jar I keep in the refrigerator.

I saved the rendered fat from browning ground beef and mixed it with some scratch grains to make the hens a suet cake.  I used a saved Cool Whip container to form it in.

I added a little water to the dish soap bottle and gave it a good shake.  I was able to wash two more loads of dishes.

I added a dab of milk to the mayonnaise jar and gave it a good shake.  I then used it in making up a batch of salad dressing.

How was your thrifty week?