Last Week's Thrifty Moves

 

I spent my Sunday crafting last week and it was a slice of heaven!  I made some Christmas cards, some small gift cards and more Christmas themed gift tags.  Fun, fun fun!  I used all items I had on hand in my stash and thoroughly enjoyed myself.  I watch free movies on Youtube while I crafted.

 

I recycled a peanut butter jar to store nuts in
I gave the lid a facelift with a little bit of copper paint

My beautiful and extremely thoughtful girls bought me a Sissix Big Shot die cutting tool for me for my birthday which they gave on Wednesday.  They found one for sale on Facebook Marketplace and it came with some dies as well.  I am absolutely thrilled to pieces.  I have wanted one of these for forever, but wouldn't consider purchasing one as they are expensive and it was far too frivolous of an item to buy for myself.  I was so incredibly surprised with this gift.

 

I have the best daughters ever!

After my birthday dinner of hamburger, potato chips and ice cream (not keto at all!) we sat down and I placed a $35 Amazon order for a few more die sets as well as a package of patterned card stock.  Because we ate at home rather than dining out this year I had the money set aside for dinner at a restaurant and was all too happy to spend that on craft supplies instead.

 

The youngest and I went to the grocery outlet store on Thursday after I got home from work and did a fair sized shop.  A lot of what we bought was to fill in gaps in our pantry as well as to stock up on chocolate chips they had for 99¢ a bag.  We will use those for our holiday baking and to make fudge this year.

 

I took the day off on Friday to be home and enjoy my lovely little house.  I sliced up pears from our tree and filled up the dehydrator.  I puttered around the house and pulled out all of my fall decor and decorated the house as well as our front porch.  I don't do a whole bunch of decorating, but enough to make it feel warm and cheery.  I pretty much have pumpkins everywhere.

 

On Friday afternoon I used the remainder of my dining out money at Hobby Lobby for a huge set of gel pens as well as some more card stock and four sheets of holiday themed 12" X 12" scrapbook paper.  I used a coupon to get 40% OFF on the cardstock and everything else was already on sale for 40%OFF.  I spent $15 at Hobby Lobby.

 

On the way home we stopped at the mall so I could go to Bath & Body Works and use some coupons and the tail end of a gift card I had.  I splurged!  It had been a long time since I had done any big shopping there to restock our shower gel, lotion and body cream and I did all of that plus treated myself to candles on sale as well as the cutest pumpkin themed candle holder.  We now have plenty of soaps and lotions for the next two years and I have plenty of wonderfully scented candles for this holiday season.  I decided this shopping spree was my reward for getting all of my debts paid off this year.

 

I made two batches of foaming hand soap to top up and refill all of our hand soap dispenser in our house.  I also refilled two of our empty pocket back hand sanitizer bottles by putting a little bit of shower gel in each one and then topping them up with rubbing alcohol.  That is a little experiment we are trying and it seems to work.

 

Saturday I reloaded the dehydrator with more sliced pears.  Next I filled up my medium sized slow cooker with ingredients to make crack chicken for supper.  Then I spent the day working with my Big Shot and my new craft supplies.  I had way too much fun and loved every minute of it.  It is all a learning process and I love to learn new things, especially when it involves hobbies.

 

Prepper Pantry = curry powder, black pepper, crushed tomatoes, dehydrated pears, rice.

 

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, dusted shelves & chair rail. 

Kitchen -  vacuumed & mopped floor, scrubbed & bleached sink, cleaned cabinetry. 

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Scrubbed toilet & tub.  Daily swish & swipe. 

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

 

How was your thrifty week?