Monday, December 16, 2019

Last Week's Thrifty Moves



I was hoping for a quiet and restful Sunday and it was somewhat.  I ended up baking two batches of cookies so I could do the next do cookie blog posts and then I put together a huge lasagna when we found out my oldest was coming home from college two days early and would be here in a couple of hours.  The lasagna worked well for Sunday dinner and leftovers kept several people well fed throughout the week for supper and lunches.

While everything baked I finished wrapping up Christmas gifts as well as a birthday gift for a friend.  I used all items I already had on hand to wrap the gifts and they turned out quite pretty.

It has been cookie baking central around here lately!

Another busy week was had with Tuesday as our marathon day beginning with me dropping my daughter off at school at 6:00 in the morning, home to work on my day planner project before a very full day of work and then home to pick my daughter up and take her to school again to cheer at a basket ball game.  While she did her thing I waited for her in the comfort of a nearby library with my laptop.  We got home just before 8:00 for a quick late supper of leftovers.

Did I also mention we were hosting a couple college students that evening too?  Since we live close to the airport my daughter offered them a safe haven (the floor of her bedroom) to crash until she ran them to the airport on Wednesday at 4:00 in the morning.  We just couldn't have two young girls sleeping in the airport overnight waiting to catch their plane.  Our airport is very nice and safe, but it wouldn't have been very comfortable.


Wednesday night things began to wind down a bit as we eased out way into the weekend.  Still a lot to do and get done, but not quite as hectic as the beginning of the week.

My oldest daughter signed up with a temp agency as well as Door Dash to earn some extra $$ while she is home on winter break.  She worked on a cleanup crew for a corporate Christmas party Wednesday night and even brought home some of the leftover food that was served.  She has Door Dashed every day this past week and made some fairly decent money too.  I'm really proud of her for getting these extra jobs to ease her finances as she heads into her second semester of college next month.

It wouldn't be Christmas around here without some old fashioned sugar cookies

I worked a lot of overtime last week with a 10 1/2 hour day on Thursday.  I'm not complaining at all as we have a few new doctor bills coming in that will need to be paid this month.  I think I earned enough last week to pay one of them too.

Friday my girls spent the evening doing Door Dash, her sister goes with her after dark as a safety precaution, and I stayed home to get caught up on chores as well as work on my little project I've been doing.


Saturday my youngest had her cheer and dance team Christmas party to attend.  We baked some naked sugar cookies for her to take as they were decorating cookies as one of the activities.  We also put together a sweet little exchange gift with items we already had on hand, pretty much leftover items from our gift box and a re-gifted gift card to a local coffee shop.  We used a cute bag from our gift tote and attached a Christmas ornament to the front of it too.  It turned out really nice.

While we waited for my youngest to finish up at her party I accompanied my oldest on a couple Door Dash runs.  She made a little money making wise use of the time we had to wait.  We even fit in a quick errand she wanted to run.


At home that evening we fixed some snacks and played a couple games making for a fun evening.  As we were wrapping things up my oldest got a Door Dash offer so the girls headed out while I cleaned up and got the house tidy and back in order.  I watched a couple Youtube videos and then they were home and we were all ready to call it a day and head to bed.


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

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors, cleaned sink.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped the floor, cleaned stove and microwave.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Cleaned sink & toilet.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - three large loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry.

How was your thrifty week?


10 comments:

  1. Busy, busy ladies, and very hospitable! Please, what is Door Dash.. I have never heard of that. We don't have it in my area. Merry Christmas to you and your family! Sharon D.

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    1. Door Dash is a service that picks up food for people and delivers it to them for a fee. It is crazy to me how many people use it regularly just for fast food deliveries, including a lot of my co-workers. The fees can be more than your food order! I think it is nuts personally, but I'm glad my daughter can have the part time job.

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  2. Busy week! Good for your oldest, I'm sure she can use the extra dollars. Smart to take someone along on her night drop-offs. And very good of her to take a couple of college friends to the airport.

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  3. Door Dash is such a foreign concept to us frugal people. lol. We eat out occasionally but use coupons / deals and it is a treat and not an every day thing. Glad your daughter is making some extra cash doing it and that you or your youngest goes out with her on evening runs. Too bad people don't think to keep a frozen pizza or burritos or something on hand. Scramble eggs or make a fried egg sandwich or baked (microwave) potato and steam some veggies. Jarred pasta sauce and noodles. Well I'm sure you get the idea and have quick meals or homemade freezer meals or components at your house. My son gets hungry for my cooking when he finds himself eating out too much because it's easier to pick something up on the way home from work. He then asks me questions like, "Hey Mom are you making any lasagna in the near future or other items." Moms still love to cook for their kids! I make a whole bunch of burritos with homemade spanish rice, refried beans and cheese and freeze them for him and me both or enchilada "kits" as I call them. Everything but the sauce for cheese or chicken enchiladas in the freezer in a pan. Just toss in the refrig in the morning and top with sauce and a small packet of shredded cheese I tape to the top of the pan. To me meals are easy and fun. Even when I worked two and three jobs while raising my boys I always cooked things like rice and beans, stew, burritos to have on hand for the coming week. And now I really prep most veggies for the week as this and a menu plan help tremendously. Well, I'm preaching to the choir as the saying goes. I love your blog (as you know) and always look forward to Monday's post. (it's one of my favorites!) Thank you for sharing a peek into your life with us. I feel as if I know you and if I lived next door I believe we would be good friends. Take care!

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    1. You and I are definitely two peas in a pod. Very like minded and yes I love to cook for my kids. Even my college student. I just can't imagine spending that kind of money for the convenience of a fast food meal delivered. If anything I'd order a pizza (with a coupon) before I'd do Door Dash. And I wouldn't order a pizza because I'm too thrifty and I know it wouldn't be good for me. Not opposed to keeping a Red Baron frozen pizza in the freezer though. Or a container of "burrito guts" as we like to call it, ha, ha, ha.

      Wish we were neighbors Crystal. We'd probably have a lot of fun. I'm really glad you like the blog. I guess I'll keep doing it! ;0)

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    2. I will have to remember the term "burrito guts" my boys would have gotten a kick out of me calling them that. When they were little I made fig jelly with some figs from a tree in the yard where we were renting. It turned the most disgusting green color if you could imagine green clear goo. My boys love it and I figured it was from the horrible way it looked. That was my last year of living there so no more green jelly.

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    3. Oh my gosh, that's hilarious. I bet they did love it.

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  4. Your daughter is an angel to help her friends out. I once spent the night on the floor of the Dallas Greyhound bus station. I was exhausted and managed to sleep! A clean carpeted floor close to a nice bathroom without hundreds of people walking past would have been heaven.
    Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry

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    1. I figured it had to be better than a cold hard floor and a public restroom. She is a great girl, I agree. :0)

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