Last Week's Thrifty Moves

We had a very interesting Easter Sunday last week.  Not at all like we had planned, but very good nonetheless.  I scored a FREE charcoal grill off Craigslist.  Our current grill is a little portable gas grill you take camping.  This one will be so nice for my daughter's graduation party.  We picked it up Sunday morning right after breakfast and it even had a partial bag of briquettes tucked inside.  It needed a little bit of work, but nothing I couldn't handle.

After we brought home the grill and got it unloaded the youngest and I went over to the FREE WOOD bin near my work to pick up some supplies for an upcoming project we have planned once school is out.  We will need to acquire as much as we can between now and then for free as we pretty much have a $0 budget for this project.

We filled up the truck and then headed over to Home Depot to return a bag of odds and ends leftover from our many projects we had going last year.  They refunded me on a gift card and I used part of that for a can of BBQ paint.

After we got home it was time to get cooking and we managed to cook up quite a storm.  It became a bit of a meal prep as well as a holiday dinner.  Lots of good leftovers to carry us throughout the week and well beyond. 

Monday evening I cooked up a couple of chicken breasts I had thawed.  This gave us a nice option over the ham and we were able to use it in some salads as well.  I also cooked a cup of rice for the girls and we were able to add that to the mix quite nicely.  Lots of variety and options for all our meals.

Our pretty Easter table

Tuesday my youngest woke me up in the middle of the night.  She had come down with a stomach bug and my poor little girl was sick.  Oh my goodness I've never seen her so sick.  I stayed home with her that day and while she slept I was able to get outside and work on the BBQ grill.  I spent three hours total on the transformation and I think you will be impressed.  I'm a bit surprised myself.  Check back tomorrow to see what I did.

My oldest is now a licensed driver!  She took her final drivers test on Tuesday and got her license at the DMV on Wednesday.  Hurray!  We finally got there!

By Thursday my youngest was back to school and determined although I felt she probably should've stayed home another day.  But she was concerned about falling behind in her classes and off she went.  We also had the parent's meeting at the high school for dance team and she didn't want to miss that either.  My girl is a trooper, I have to say.  She made it through and by Friday was feeling more like her old self.

With one girl out of commission and the other one either at school or work all of the chores were mine last week.  I managed it just fine and even got the yard mowed, trimmed and raked.  I started spring cleaning the front area of our house and along the driveway.  With all of the rain we've had our yard has been in desperate need of some cleanup and a good mowing.  With only 3 more weekends available until the graduation party (can you even believe that?!) I've got a fair bit of work to do.

Our poor deck is in desperate need of a refresh
So is our little fire pot

Saturday I managed to get a lot of things knocked off my list.  My neighbor let me use his city issued compost bin and I filled it up with leaves and debris from our trees that had accumulated over the winter.  I burned a big pile of scrap wood and tree branches in our firepot along with a bag of shreddables we had collected in the last month.  I mowed the lawn again and pulled up another nice pile of weeds.  I neatened up the backyard and our deck, did a load of laundry, washed dishes and unclogged our bathroom drains.  I felt much better after all that, tired, but better.

I popped into Dollar Tree and picked up a few items on my list which included some BBQ supplies and a can of oven cleaner to clean the portable grill and the "new" one.  I also grabbed a couple more party items and found a beautiful graduation card for my daughter that pretty much says everything I needed it to say.

A few supplies for the upcoming grilling season

I started stockpiling ice cubes for the party.  I want to be able to put ice in our cooler to keep the drinks chilled so I've been filling gallon Ziploc bags and putting them into our chest freezer out in the garage.  I don't like to pay $2 for a bag of frozen water so I am making my own.

I did not do any grocery shopping last week.

I rinsed out an empty bottle of laundry detergent and added the soapy liquid to the wash.  Used up every last bit in that bottle before I tossed it into the recycle bin.  I did the same thing with a fabric softener bottle as well.

Happy girls!

We finished up a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner that was sitting upside down in the shower for a couple of weeks.  We managed to get out every last bit before we tossed them into the recycle bin.  I replaced them with a partial bottle of shampoo and conditioner I had found underneath the sink.  I don't know how or why they ended up under there but we are using them up now.

Happy hens = lots of eggs

I washed out several Ziploc bags in various sizes to reuse.

I cleaned out some extra produce in our refrigerator and a bag of frozen corn muffins the girls were not going to eat and gave it all to the chickens.  They had a very happy Easter!

Easter flowers

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors, washed mirrors, scrubbed the sink.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed & spot mopped floor, dusted the light fixture.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped floor, cleaned microwave.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Scrubbed the sink, toilet & tub, vacuumed floor, washed the mirror.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - three loads of laundry, dusted & vacuumed living room, hallway & entry, cleaned the hearth, mantle and wiped down the stove, cleaned the TV.  Swept front porch.

How was your thrifty week?