Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday I felt like I really needed a day in the kitchen so I cooked.  And then I cleaned up and cooked some more.  I love to get into my kitchen and really get my creative juices flowing.  The Basil Pork I made for Sunday dinner was a real hit as it had been quite some time since I last made it.  I really should make this more often.

Before I did any cooking, however, I did get myself dressed and off to Winco to pick up the week's groceries.  I needed to fill in a few gaps in the pantry and I find Winco is the perfect place to shop when I need to do that.  It was a quick trip and then I was home and cooking!

Monday was our busiest day with early morning practice and a basket ball game that evening.  A long day for both of us, however we had a much quieter week ahead to look forward to.  I made the most of our free mornings and evenings by getting caught up around the house, writing, financial planning, meal planning and loads of cooking.  We ate very well last week.

With Friday being Valentine's Day I treated myself to a well deserved day off from work.  My daughter had school so that left me with most of the day to myself and it was a little slice of heaven.  I took my time, didn't rush and thoroughly enjoyed my day.  I even took time to smell the flowers.

I used items I already had on hand to make Valentine gifts for my girls and our friends.  I made a batch of Confetti Cookies for the girls with items I already had in my pantry and used treat bags and ribbon I had in my gift wrap organizer to wrap them up.  I gave a dozen eggs to our friends as the hens haven't been laying much this winter and I knew how badly they wanted some farm fresh eggs.  I gave everyone one of my handmade Valentines.  It was a very nice no cost, no stress Valentine's Day.

Saturday morning I treated myself to a book on eBay.  It is another research book for doll collectors and I'm super excited to get it.  It is used and I paid $6.30 for it with free shipping.  I'd say that is a pretty darn good deal.  My little Valentine gift to myself.

Saturday afternoon the girls and I started going through their dolls and deciding what to keep and what to let go off.  Holy moly what a mess we made!  But, it is definitely time for us to go through all of these things and make some decisions.  Some of this stuff is going to go up on eBay in hopes we can make a little bit of cash.

I received my state income tax refund, added a little more to it to round it up a bit and transferred it into my savings account.  Every little bit really helps.

Bye bye Miche bag!

I spent 15 minutes de-cluttering and re-organizing my bedroom closet.  I decided to go ahead and donate my Miche bag and all the covers.  I used it for a month, kept knocking the covers off the bag and found I couldn't fit as much as I liked inside the bag.  With that being the case it is time to move it along to someone else.  I gathered it all up and put it in the donation pile along with a few other little items I found in the closet.

I washed out a couple Ziploc bags to reuse.

We gave our kitchen scraps to the chickens.  We did not contribute any trash to the landfill last week.  We added some items to the compost bin as well as the recycle bin.

Less clutter!

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

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - cleaned window inside & out, vacuumed floors, cleaned mirrors & light fixture, scrubbed floor, sink & toilet, washed rug.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, cleaned dining room window & sill, wiped down china cabinet, dusted chair rail, dusted light fixture.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & mopped the floor, cleaned base cabinets, cleaned window inside & out.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - cleaned closet & linen closet shelving, vacuumed & dusted, vacuumed trim & cobwebs.  Cleaned mirror & light fixture, mopped floor, washed bathmat.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - two large loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry, cleaned doors & switch plates in front entry.  Cleaned living room window inside & out, cleaned sill.  Swept front porch.

How was your thrifty week?