Wrapping Up A Thrifty July

At the beginning of July I had half a tank of fuel in my car, a third of a tank in my truck and a total of $45 in my checking account and purse.  Not a bad way to end one month and begin another really.  When payday rolled around on the 5th I put the bulk of that check into savings and decided to top off my truck.  I kept a little bit out for other miscellaneous expenses.  On the 20th, when I got paid again, I made my mortgage payment with extra principal well ahead of schedule and paid my bills.  I also bought some groceries.

 

We managed a family road trip in spite of a pandemic by tossing some food and camp gear into our car, topping off the fuel tank and heading about two and a half hours north into the woods.  We spent $20 in campground fees for a five day, four night stay, went into town for ice cream and picked up a souvenior cup and decal for the motorhome as well as a bag of ice at the little store.  Total spending for that trip ended up at less than $60.

 

During the first half of the month I worked a lot on my motorhome renovation projects and kept those costs for supplies relatively low.  I used a lot of items I already had on hand and shopped around for best prices on the items I needed to purchase such as painters tape, a new license plate light and bulbs for the taillights.

 

I did most of my grocery shopping and prepper pantry shopping at the end of the month and stayed within my budget in doing so.  We also got my daughter ready to head off to school next month with an afternoon of back-to-school shopping.  By shopping sales, clearance racks, markdown bins, coupons, digital coupons and even a $50 gift card I was able to acquire quite a bit with not a lot of money out of pocket.

 

Making progress

Financially July was pretty amazing.  I majorly hit all of my savings goals, paid my bills ahead of schedule including the power bill for August which is already paid with extra money I had leftover at the end of the month.  We went on vacation and I worked on my motorhome ticking more items off my To-Do list.  July was a very good month and I am expecting August to be even better!

 

Easy Carne Asada

I am quite confident this is not authentic carne asada at all, but it is super easy to throw together and it tastes pretty darn good too.  I had picked up a nice hunk of meat already sliced and marked down for a quick sale.  At that price I couldn't pass it up.

 

I placed it in my slow cooker and covered it with a small can of red enchilada sauce.  I cooked it on high for four hours and it was done.  Tender, juicy and quite flavorful.

 

I made some rice so my girls could use that as the base for a burrito bowl.  I chopped up the meat and we topped it with queso fresca, sour cream, avocado and a squeeze of lime.  Fantastic!

 

This would also be wonderful as the meat for tacos or burritos.  I like to use the street taco size tortillas or corn tortillas for the tacos.  You can use some rice in the burritos too.  Tons of delicious possibilities.

 

Prepper Pantry - Non Food Items

You may have noticed that I'm including non food items in my prepper pantry in addition to food.  I started with toilet paper, the obvious choice for obvious reasons, and have since expanded to include dish soap, laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, feminine hygiene items and toiletries.

 

Once I acquired a pretty good inventory of those non food items I expanded once again to include other items we use regularly like batteries, windshield wiper fluid and motor oil.  Normally when I run out of those types of items I would just replace them as I needed to.  However, I've decided it might be prudent to keep a little extra on hand.  Just in case.

 

Along with our house I've also picked up some items for Laverne.  I'm not entirely certain how the factories that make items for RVs are doing presently.  I assume there may have been some shutdowns or supply issues so I went ahead and picked up extra RV toilet tissue, paper towels, propane cylinders, etc.  I also picked up a pocket stove so I can camp and cook without dependence on a fuel source other than the sticks and twigs I can find in the woods.  We tried it out on our last camp trip and it works really well.  It will heat up water and cook a meal in nothing flat.  I was actually quite impressed with it.

 

As I continue working on my prepper pantry I will be expanding once again to include other non food items too such as facial tissues, first aid supplies, more dehydrated items, herbs & spices, water filters, certain clothing items and so forth.  It is an interesting we find ourselves in and quite uncertain too.  While I prepare for the worst I'm praying and hoping for the best.  As I've said before I'd much rather have it and not need it then need it and not have it.

 

 

 

School Clothes Shopping Complete

My youngest gets a lot of hand me downs from her sister as well as friends of ours which we appreciate ever so much.  This year my daughter really didn't need much in the way of clothing as it quite often the case.  One thing she definitely did need was new shoes.  More socks and undies wouldn't hurt either as well as an extra pair of jeans if we could fine a pair on sale or clearance.

 

This year our back-to-school shopping experience was definitely not the norm.  Most stores have closed their dressing rooms, you have to mask up and there are a lot of other rules for safe shopping.  But we were determined to make the best of it and I was hopeful we could get everything she needed in one day so we could get it done and over.  I'm not much of a shopper under the best of conditions so I just made a list and prayed we could get it all in one afternoon.  Fortunately we did.

 

Our first stop was the Vanity Fair outlet store for undies and a couple bras that were on sale 40% OFF in addition to their already lowered retail price.  We were able to leave there with 2 Bebe bras for $4.19 for both, 8 pair of Nautica undies for $14.38, 10 pair of socks for $6 and a pair of pajamas for $5.97.  While there I found a pair of pajamas for myself for $5.97 plus a pair of leggings for $4 as well as a gift for my oldest daughter's birthday coming up in November - Love that!

 

I love this store for shoes

My daughter is extremely picky when it comes to shoes and we ended up going to five different shoe stores before finding her two pair of sneakers at Encore Shoe Dept. at the mall.  Both pairs cost less than a single pair at all the other stores plus she really liked these more than any others she had tried on.  Score!

I don't love their regular prices but I do love their sales and clearance prices

 

We spent an hour and a half at Aeropostle going through the clearance racks and bargain tables to find her an extra pair of jeans, which we did, along with a pair of black leggings and three really cute knit tops.  We used a $10 OFF a $50 purchase coupon I had as well as a gift card I'd earned at work doing a health challenge to take care of that purchase so no money spent out of pocket at that store.  Yes!

 

She and I were both impressed that not only did we get all of her shopping completed checking everything off the list, plus getting a few extra items like the tops and leggings, but we also managed to do it for less than $90.  And I picked up a couple items for myself as well as a birthday gift for an additional $16.  We also managed to have a pretty good time too.

 

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I awoke in a tent in the mountains.  It was our last day so we broke camp and headed for home.  By noon we had our car unloaded, taken hot showers and started the laundry.  As per my usual I had packed way more food than we needed so I had plenty left to put away.  I gave all of our camping equipment a good cleaning and washed the sleeping bags and blankets which I hung up on the clothesline to dry.  They smelled fresh and wonderful when we brought them inside.

 

I brought gifts home for Laverne

Monday I went to the grocery store to pick up two packages of toilet paper, 12 double rolls each, on sale for $3.99 each as well as two free items I had digital coupons for.  Free coffee and a free can of sparkling water made for some nice treats.  I also picked up two family packs of pork chops on sale for 99¢ a pound.

 

I installed the window A/C units upstairs in our bedrooms as we had a few 100° days expected.  Once we start hitting the high nineties our house heats up pretty good upstairs making it hard to sleep.  The two window units do a great job keeping our house cool without raising our electric bill too much.

 

I took an hour lunch break on Wednesday to go to Dollar Tree and see if they had some more of those fabric collapsible storage bins, which they did.  For the first time in a long time the store was fully stocked including the grocery aisle so I was able to pick up quite a few items, both food and non food, for my prepper pantry.

 

A $10 prep

And another $10 prep

I didn't do a $10 prep the week before so I did two $10 preps last week.  I know Pop Tarts aren't the most nutritious item I could have chosen, however they store nicely and every once in a while they do make for a nice treat.  I personally like the blueberry ones.  Definitely not Keto though.

 

My Cash & Carry haul, mostly for the prepper pantry

After work on Thursday I made a quick trip into Cash & Carry for meat they had on sale and cream.  I picked up #10 cans of crushed tomatoes as well as four bags of rice noodles for my youngest.

 

My Winco haul

Saturday was my busiest day of the week.  I began it with a hike and then stopped at Winco on my way home to pick up the last of the items on this month's shopping list.  Most of those items were prepping items as well as some fresh produce.  Before I left I had put on a huge batch of pasta sauce to be canned.  It took both my largest and medium sized slow cookers to get the job done.  When I got home and had put away the groceries I got nine pint jars of sauce into my pressure canner and processed.  Then my youngest and I headed out after she got home from work to do some back-to-school shopping.  I took coupons and a $50 gift card with me to shave off as much of the cost as I could and we ended up doing really well.  I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.

 

Keto Pizza Bake with a wonderful veggie loaded Caesar salad

My youngest daughter and I relaxed Saturday evening with dinner and a movie.  We pulled out a DVD we owned and enjoyed a nice evening together.

 

A couple more $10 preps for you!

I worked some more overtime last week.  That money will be used next month for more prepping and stocking up for winter.  I already used July's overtime money for the same thing.

 

I washed out several ziploc bags to reuse.  I used the quart sized bags to repackage some pork chops that ended up in the freezer.

 

Prepper Pantry = dehydrated apples & vacuum sealed Pop Tarts.  Pork chops, coffee, coffee filters, vanilla extract, minced garlic, laundry detergent & fabric softener, all purpose cleaner, toilet paper, windshield washer fluid.  Canned 9 pints of pasta sauce.

 

I picked up these three packages of marked down beef

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. 

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

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Daily swish & swipe. 

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

 

How was your thrifty week?

Christmas Update #4

I am beginning to get more serious about Christmas now after finding two items on eBay for the girls main gift this year.  I am super excited about them and now can hardly wait.  And to share those gifts with you too.  Much as I would like to tell you right now, because I am really that excited, I don't dare risk spoiling the surprise.  And they are going to be really surprised.

  

Along with picking up my first gifts in the last month I did start a draft of our annual Christmas letter, but ultimately stopped as the words just weren't flowing.  I'll take a look at it here in the next few weeks and see if I feel any more motivated to work on it.

 

And on top of the gifts I already picked up I also found a couple more my girls have expressed interest in so I will be picking those up soon to add to my stash and then getting busy soon at the sewing machine to add some items to their first gifts.  I think I've got some good ideas for gifts this year.  Finally.  Nothing was really coming to me this year.  Until I figured it out!  Yay!!

 

So some progress has been made and it has sparked my enthusiasm for the holiday season a little bit.  I'm in no rush for Christmas to arrive, but I'm not going to be stressed or anxious about it when it does.  Have any of you done any preparations for Christmas yet?

 

 

Skunk!

Tuesday morning I awoke to discover my oldest daughter's kitty had just been sprayed by a skunk.  Oh my heavens what a horrible smell and she was still wet with it as she dashed into the house, of course.  I was able to get her outdoors but not before she managed to stink up the place pretty good.  Thankfully she wasn't in the house long enough to completely foul it up.

 

But!  In case you are ever in this position I am happy to share that Gain dish soap is amazing at washing away skunk spray off of your kitty.  Or I suppose a dog as well.  It knocked it down to minimal odor.  We left her outside for twenty four hours and gave her another bath and it left her with a barely detectable odor.  Thank goodness!

 

Poor Stella.  Sprayed by a skunk, bathed more than once, shunned by her family and made to live outside.  She had a rough couple of days.

 

 

Laverne - Porch Light

One of the first things I did when I started working on the exterior of the motorhome was to give the porch light an overhaul.  It was dirty with years of debris collected inside of it as well as a very yellowed lens covering the bulb.

 

I completely disassembled it and cleaned it up before assessing what I had to work with.  Wiring looked good so it was mostly cosmetic at this point.  I decided to paint the back of the light with the Espresso brown spray paint I've been using and gave it a couple good coats.  Not only did it spruce that piece up quite a bit, but also gives some added protection from the elements.

 

I used wet dry automotive sandpaper to remove the yellowing and oxidation from the lens cover returning it back to its original color - white.  After cleaning it I gave it a couple coats of clear gloss to protect it and make it shiny.

 

Then I taped off the rest and gave the grab handle and trim piece a couple coats of metallic copper to tie in with some of the other details that will be a part of Laverne's new exterior.  Once reassembled it looked pretty darn good and at night when it is on it is much, much brighter.

 

Crossed that off the list!

 

Summer Road Trip 2020

The youngest and I were much in need of a break.  My oldest had to work so she house sat and we are grateful to her for that.  Knowing our home and our animals were in good hands makes it much easier to take off for a little road trip and relax.  Which is exactly what we did!

 

Loads of fresh air and sunshine.  We couldn't have asked for any better weather.  And those Sawtooth Mountains are absolutely breathtaking.

 

Since Laverne isn't quite ready for travel we decided to "rough it" and took our tent that I purchased 5 years ago and put it to use.  My daughter had never tent camped before, we've always had an RV so she was pretty excited to try it.  I am very proud of myself for giving it a go after all these years and I did just fine. ☺

 

We didn't rush, we relaxed, played board games, ate, went out for ice cream, rock climbed, hiked a bit, went to a ghost town, did some rock hunting, played in the river, had a couple picnics and of course roasted hot dogs and toasted marshmallows over the fire.

 

I didn't take a lot of pictures opting to put down the camera and just enjoy being there.  It was really, really nice.

 

In camp we had a chipmunk and boy was she ever sweet.  In fact she had a heart shaped coloration on her back so we knew she was a true sweetheart.  She really took a shine to my daughter and would eat right out of her hand.  I tried, but no way.  Not interested.  My daughter on the other hand, oh yeah.

 

One afternoon she fell asleep in her camp chair and when she woke up she was surprised to see little Miss Sweetheart sitting on her lap.  We couldn't believe it.  We took pictures of her little paw prints on my daughter's leg.  That chipmunk made our trip complete.

 

All too soon it was time to pack up and head for home.  The promise of a hot shower helped to ease our sadness at leaving that beautiful place and our new little friend.  We both agreed we need to do this again.  And very soon!