Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Our stay at home order in Idaho has been extended through to the end of the month.  I wasn't a bit surprised by that decision and I'm sure most of you are under the same.  We are hopeful that by May things will begin to return to a more normal state, however I'm quite sure things won't be the same as they once were.  We will need to develop a new normal and that's okay.  We can do it.

Turkey chili

Since this all began I have been bulk cooking simple meals for the three of us and it seems to be working out pretty well.  Although we do tend to get tired of the repetition we are grateful to have plenty of healthy food to eat while keeping our grocery costs as low as possible.  We are also working really hard not to waste anything around here.

Chile rellanos - click here for the recipe

Grocery prices are much higher now and since people are buying so much there is no reason or incentive at this time for grocery stores to do much in the way of bargains and sales.  This is making it really tricky for me to stay on budget, but I'm figuring some things out.

I had set these aside thinking I would donate them
I've since decided to keep them and use them

Thursday evening I pulled out some beautiful compost from our bin in the backyard and filled up our old trash can about three quarters with it.  This is the first year we've had compost from our bins so this is super exciting for us.  I mixed some of it with old potting soil we already had in pots and filled up seed pots so we could plant tomato seeds.

Regrowing our lettuce

I decided to take a much needed break and have a long weekend so I took a vacation day on Friday.  Instead of going to work I got up at my regular time, dressed and headed to Winco to see if I could actually get the items I had on my list for a while now.  As it turned out I was able to get the items I needed as well as some items on my new "prepper" list.  On the way home I stopped at Fred Meyer to pick up a ham for Easter and found a few more items on my "prepper" list.  Yay!  That made me happy.  I am actually getting excited about this new pantry idea because it gives me something new to focus on.

I did pretty well at Winco & Fred Meyer

My youngest and I went to the feed store to pick up a 50# bag of scratch grains, a bag of oyster shell, grass seed for our lawn and a few more packets of seeds to add to our current supply.  My youngest really wants to grow onions so I got her an onion set while we were there to plant next month.  While we were there we stopped in next door at the grocery outlet.  That morning the grocery stores were out of dish soap, but they had plenty.  I picked up a two pack of large bottles of concentrated soap for only $3.99.

Dish soap and dried beans have been difficult to find

Saturday morning I mixed up some old potting soil with some of our homemade compost and filled up some seed pots.  I planted tomato, pepper, pumpkin & squash seeds.  I'm not much of a gardener so we shall see how well I do.

I bought a ham for Easter

Friday evening I went outside and turned up the soil in one of our raised garden beds and left it overnight.  Saturday I added a bag of soil and some of our homemade compost and mixed it all in before raking it smooth.  I'm hoping to plant some strawberry starts in that bed.

I used leftover wood from making the outdoor grilling station to build a new planting bed in our backyard.  I had several heat treated 2"X4"s left from pulling a couple pallets apart that I'd picked up from the FREE WOOD bin last spring.  I used screws in our can of miscellaneous fasteners I keep in our garage and had just enough long screws to finish the job.  Talk about using stuff I already had on hand.  Yay!

Seeds planted

I sold an item on eBay.  As you can well imagine eBay sales have slowed quite a bit, but I keep trying.

I have two big projects going on right now

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

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

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, cleaned dining room chairs.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped the floor, cleaned microwave, scrubbed sink.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - washed pillows & mattress covers, vacuumed & dusted.  Scrubbed sink, scrubbed tub & cleaned mirror.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - three loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry.  Swept front porch.

How was your thrifty week?