Last Week's Thrifty Moves

 

I have been easing my way into Christmas.  Over the weekend I got all of the fall décor collected and placed back into the bin I keep in our garage.  Then I pulled out my Christmas themed coffee cups and my latte mug to swap out with the everyday ones, our holiday scented soap dispensers and a new scented candle.  We've also started watching our favorite Christmas movies.  I'm very excited for Christmas this year.  We have much to celebrate and be grateful for.

 

My gifts are all wrapped using items I already had on hand

All of the gifts I am giving this year are wrapped and ready using items I already had in my gift wrap organizer.  I love to use the long Thanksgiving weekend to finish up gifts and get them all wrapped up.  I also try to put the finishing touches on my annual letter I enclose with Christmas cards I send to family.  I was able to get that done too and printed off on some pretty linen resume paper I had in my paper stash.

 

A quick trip to Fred Meyer early Sunday morning provided me with some fresh produce that was on sale and markdown as well as allowed me to stock up on bread which I found on markdown too.  My daughter was down to the last two slices of bread when she made her last sandwich so the timing was perfect.  I refilled the bread drawer in our refrigerator and put the rest in the freezer.  I also picked her up a bag of one of her favorite cereals that was on sale for $1.99.  The chickens aren't laying currently so I grabbed a carton of eggs on sale for $1.27.  All in all, I didn't spend much, but I sure got a lot.

 

I had a good productive week overall.  In addition to a full work week I was able to get the gutters cleaned and a very large pile of leaves mulched and into the coop for the girls to spread around.  It keeps them busy and gives them a nice fresh layer of cover in the pen area for winter.  I still have leaves on the fruit trees as well as the maple tree so my work outside is not done quite yet.  I did manage to get all of the hoses drained, rolled up and put away so we are good to go until spring.  It felt really good to get outdoors, soak up some sunshine and fresh air and get some yard much needed work done.

 

After work on Tuesday I stopped by Home Depot on the way home and picked up some JB Weld.  When I got home I used some of it to repair a spot on our garbage disposal where a rivet had rusted and fallen out causing it to leak.  It worked great and seems to have stopped the leak.  Hopefully it will do the trick for a while and I can plan ahead to replace the disposal at some point.

 

This makes my heart very happy

On Wednesday I brought in our Christmas décor bin and the bin that holds our artificial tree and spent a leisurely evening decorating.  This year I did not purchase anything new and used only the items I already had.  Earlier in the day I picked up some pinecones near my work.  I have plans to use them along with some greenery to decorate our fireplace mantle which is still a work in progress.

 

Friday evening my youngest and I went out to dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant.  We go there more for the wonderful people that run the place than the food, although the food isn't bad at all.  We each had one of the daily specials and that saved us quite a bit.  I added that extra savings on to the tip.  Both of us were pretty tired from our busy week so we headed off to bed early and got some much needed rest.

 

Saturday was a super fun day for us.  We baked cookies, made fudge and took a little trip to the Antique Mall.  The place was loaded with goodies and lots of people.  I found a pretty poinsettia tablecloth for only $6 so I scooped that up.  I decided if I don't end up using it as a tablecloth the fabric can be used to make pillow covers or some other project  It is a lot of fabric.  I also canned applesauce.  It was a busy day.

 

THINGS WE ATE LAST WEEK:  Leftovers from the week before, turkey burgers & fries, ramen soup, tuna salad sandwiches, penne pasta & meat sauce.

 

THINGS I CLEANED IN 15 MINUTES OR LESS: 

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - Daily swish & swipe. 

Kitchen & Dining Room - Vacuumed floors. Daily swish & swipe. 

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

Other - two loads of laundry.  Vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & both entryways.

 

FREE French fries!

THINGS I DID TO SAVE A SMALL BUNDLE OF $$:  I repaired a string of lights for our Christmas tree.  I repaired our garbage disposal instead of replacing it.  We redeemed a couple digital coupons for two FREE bags of French fries. I kept our grocery shopping pretty minimal.

 

My daughter bought these from the markdown bin for $1

THINGS I DID TO EARN EXTRA $$:  I worked some overtime and I received my annual Christmas bonus which will go directly into savings.

 

I canned eight pints of applesauce

How was your thrifty week?