Last Week's Thrifty Moves

I am incredibly grateful these days.  I am considered an "essential" employee as a patient care coordinator so I go to work every day.  My girls both got jobs at our neighborhood grocery store so they are "essential" employees as well.  The three of us are more than fine financially.  We are also healthy and doing everything in our power to stay that way.  We are working safely and when not at work we are staying home and following the rules.

We are sticking to simple healthy meals

I keep any shopping to a minimum, once a week, and I go during the early morning hours when most stores have time set aside for senior citizens and the immune compromised.  I am in and out quickly.  My lists are short and my expectations low.  So far I've been able to find enough without breaking our budget and have been able to maintain our supplies.

I found these M&Ms 3 for $1 for my girl's Easter baskets

Fortunately we were very well set for a "what if" situation.  When the panic set in we stayed home.  I've heard about some behavior that I'm happy to have missed out on.  What I notice now in the stores while I'm shopping is people are much more considerate, kind, patient and polite.  We are buying what we need at the moment and keeping our distance, but still talking and smiling at each other.  Even popping off the occasional joke.  At least among my generation anyway.

Once home I wash my hands and put away my purchases, then wash my hands again.  Since I'm a compulsive hand washer anyway not much has changed for me in this regard.  Last week I made some more foaming hand soap refill solution and topped up the dispenser in our downstairs bathroom as well as the one next to the kitchen sink.  I change out the kitchen towel and dish cloth daily as I always do, more often if I'm really busy in the kitchen.  I change out the bathroom hand towels every other day and I've been able keep to my regular housekeeping and laundry schedule.

We saved more rendered bacon fat

The streets here are pretty much like Sunday morning every day.  I'm not using much fuel in my car right now since I'm only going to and from work and my weekly shopping trip.  I'm definitely saving some money on fuel right now.

I picked up some items for us to do some car maintenance

I had planned on going to the salon for a haircut this week, however with the salons closed right now I will wait.  Instead I trimmed my bangs last week and can now get by until they reopen.  Not a big deal.

I worked on some craft projects and a new planner

I filled a bag with groceries for a neighbor in need.  Single mom with two kids and not working at the moment due to the stay home order.  I gave her a half gallon of milk, a dozen eggs, a box of cereal, a big bag of pasta and two jars of pasta sauce.  Not a lot, but I hope it helps.  My daughter dropped it off for me on her way to work.  Another neighbor has directed her to a food pantry he volunteers at so she can get more assistance and a nearby school is offering curbside breakfast and lunch for her girls each day so she has resources available.

Saturday I taught my oldest how to change her own oil on her car.  She did a great job and will no longer need to take it in to be changed and can do it on her own schedule whenever she needs to rather than on someone else's.  Doing it herself also saved her about $20 which made her very happy.  We checked and topped up her fluids too.  We poured the used motor oil into an empty wiper fluid bottle and labeled it.  Our weekly trash pick up provides a service for recycling old motor oil.

Well done!

It is a crazy time at the moment, but I know we will get through it just fine and soon life will begin to get back to normal.  In the meantime we'll just hunker down and pray that all goes well.  I hope none of you get ill and stay healthy and strong.  I also hope everyone is able to weather this financially too.

Our post oil change beverages 😊

How was your thrifty week?