I
just wrapped up the first week of 2019 and I think it was a roaring
success! I sincerely hope it was a good
one for all of you as well.
I
had a nice four day weekend off from work and spent the majority of my time
cleaning, organizing, planning and preparing for the year ahead. Sunday morning we went to the grocery store
to pick up a few items we needed so I ended up adding another $26 to our
December grocery total.
Sunday
afternoon I went through my entire wardrobe, took out the items I no longer
want or need and made a short list of items to replace in 2019. Socks and one pair of black slacks for
work. Not bad!
Monday
I put away all of our Christmas decor and got our living room dusted and
vacuumed. The girls helped me with the
dining room, kitchen, entryway and utility room floors.
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| Taco soup & a green salad topped with marinated artichokes |
New
Year's Day we began our Month Of Soup. I took out my small and medium size slow
cookers and put a cup of red beans in one and a cup of black beans in the other
and allowed them to cook. I pulled out
items from our pantry as well as a package of ground beef from the freezer to
make Taco Soup. My kids love that and I made a pan of
cornbread for them to have with it along with a nice green salad.
I
pulled all kinds of odds and ends out of the freezer to make a turkey
soup. After supper I assembled it all
into my medium size slow cooker and set it in the refrigerator so my girls
could pull it out and get it going while I was at work on Wednesday. I had leftover dinner rolls in the freezer
from Thanksgiving to serve with the soup and leftover salad from the day before
to finish up. I made another green salad
on Thursday.
I
made a sugar free gelatin and berry salad using up half a bag of leftover
frozen berries I had in the freezer. It
was really good.
 |
| This was delicious |
Friday
I went into work early and left early so I could take the youngest in for an
orthodontist appointment. She is
progressing very well. Her teeth are
lining up nicely and slowly her palate is widening. It is going to be a long process still, but
so far she looks amazing. Next month
will mark two years since we began the journey.
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| Free salad and a free sports drink |
On
the way home from the orthodontist we stopped in at Fred Meyer and picked up
two bags of kitty litter on sale for $3.19 each plus I had downloaded two 75¢
OFF coupons making them only $2.44 each!
I also picked up a salad kit that I had a FREE ITEM coupon for and a
sports drink I had downloaded that morning as my Friday Freebie. So far in 2019 I have spent $0 on groceries
and $4.48 on nonfood items. I'm pretty
happy with that!
After
Fred Meyer we headed for home stopping at the gas station to fill up the fuel
tank on the car. The goal is to make
that tank of fuel last the entire month.
I think we can manage that.
 |
| It is getting better I think |
We
had plenty of leftovers from Sunday dinner and New Year's Eve to finish up and
leftover soup for meals through the end of the week. I ended up cooking at the beginning of the
week and reheating the remainder. By
Saturday it was time to make a new pot of soup and I actually had blank spaces
in the refrigerator. I can't tell that
the freezer looks much different yet, but the month is still young.
I
washed out two Ziploc bags to reuse.
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| Thai basil pork soup |
I
composted coffee grounds, tea bags, egg shells and onion skins. We added glass jars, paper and cardboard to
our recycle bins. We set out a trash bin
at the curb for collection that was only a third full. We gave our kitchen scraps to our chickens.
Some
of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished
to keep my home in order:
Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - straightened
the laundry room, super cleaned the washing machine. Washed the mirrors and light fixture in the
bathroom. Swished or swiped bathroom daily.
Dining Room - mopped the floor and wiped down the trim,
baseboards, windowsill and heater. Wiped
down chairs.
Kitchen - mopped floor, cleaned microwave
inside and out, cleaned coffeemaker.
Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - decluttered
and reorganized the closets. Vacuumed
floors. My oldest cleaned the main
bathroom.
Other - vacuumed and dusted living room,
home office area & hallway. Four
loads of laundry washed and put away.
Put away all of the Christmas decor and stored in our garage.
How
was your thrifty week?
What a wonderful week you had! We're having soup tonight as well; butternut squash tomato soup, with grilled cheese on homemade bread. Everything's already in the crockpot or breadmaker; all I'll have to do later is use the immersion blender and bake the bread in the oven. Super easy dinner, using up pantry ingredients, and all the work is done early in the morning. That's my favorite!
ReplyDeleteWe took down Christmas this week as well. I knitted hats for my son with yarn from my stash, sewed rice bag hand warmers for my husband's birthday gift, patched up two pair of my daughter's stretch pants, read library books, started reading a book from a Little Free Library to my daughter, did yoga with YouTube, and only replenished the things we were out of when I went grocery shopping (cheese and fruit and such). It was a pretty productive week at my place, so I'm happy. :)
Stephanie you had a fantastic week! You go girl. I want one of your grilled cheese sandwiches. Sounds delish. Here's to another productive and thrifty week! :)
DeleteI really enjoy your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Kate. I'm really happy to hear that. :o)
DeleteYou are doing so well! My week was not as thrifty as yours, but still not bad. I spent 39.81 this week out of a proposed 150-200 budget this month. I did not realize before I started this that I was out of olive oil, vinegar, mayonnaise and eggs. (How did I not realize I only had 2 eggs in the carton?) Other than that all I am buying is produce (hopefully)
ReplyDeleteAfter the holidays we all could use some restocking on certain things. I think you did fantastic spending less than $40. You go girl! ;0)
DeleteWe are making lots of sugar-free Jello with fruit here, too. I love orange with mandarin orange segments, and strawberry with sliced strawberries. I had high hopes for chopped white grapes in raspberry (as a way to use them up because they weren't getting eaten), but they were just too crunchy and aggressive. Maybe I'll have better luck with red grapes.
ReplyDelete'Fresh' strawberries were 8.99 in the grocery store this weekend! NEVER will I pay such an outlandish price!!
So it's great to know that the frozen fruits will work just as well as canned or fresh.
I really liked the frozen berries in the Jell-O and because you add them frozen your gelatin sets up really fast. A little dollop of whipped cream and its dessert. :)
DeleteP.S. I hope you'll be posting recipes from your "Month of Soup." That Thai Basil Pork soup looks great!
ReplyDeleteI am going to post that recipe soon. It is another favorite of ours and I hadn't made it in a long time. Very good though so I'm not quite sure why. LOL
Delete