Sunday Ramblings

 Well, we have reached the end of this the first month of a new year. Really not much has changed so far. We are still wearing masks, limiting our trips to the grocery store, and hoping to have a jab sometime soon. Though the jab might not happen until much later. 

We still have anti-maskers, and anti-vaxxers roaming the streets causing problems. We had people calling for a lock down of our boarders and now that we have one, well they are yelling about that (recognise some of the names). These are the same people who were screaming that we should be doing what New Zealand is doing and now that we are, well they are screaming their rights are being trampled on. I feel sorry for those in government as they are never going to please these people no matter what they do.

Project declutter has gone very well this month, and hopefully will continue to do so next month. I rid our home of 376 items, and will be going through my closet once again. I am sure there are a few more things that can be donated.

Using up the various craft stashes as well. I am working on the 6th ball of yarn right now, and my bits and bobs that I use for the temperature blanket are slowly but surely going down. If I think there is enough I may make one for when our youngest was born. The more knit blankets and quilts we have the better prepared we are for a power outage. We had one of those during our wind storm this month and the power was out for 6 hours. Thank heavens most of it was during the night.

I am also busy using up those frozen packages of meat. I am hoping to get the fridge freezer cleaned out again during the month of February. Most of those frozen meat packages are ham so I will be interspersing other things between using them up. Most times I manage to cook once and eat twice lately. Guess I am still over cooking since the sons were home. 

Also I am making big salads and storing them in a Tupperware type container. We can nibble on that for a few meals and lunches. Saves me lots of time in the kitchen doing it this way. 

I did not get all my projects done this month, think I might be project fatigued. Hopefully more will be done over this coming month. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

 

Another work week gone by as well as almost the whole month of January. Not that we worry about work weeks as neither of us work anymore. Everyday could be considered part of the weekend I suppose.

What frugal things have been happening around here.

1.  This was the first day that Harvey used the snow blower, but he used the shovel much more.

2.  Used up some of those extra meals this week. Saved me cooking and cleaned out some of the fridge and freezer.

3.  Combined errands as usual, and paid bills online.

4.  Used up a couple of balls of yarn knitting on the temperature blanket. 

5.  And perhaps the best one of all since it took a great deal of my time, driving, and angst, finally handed in my resignation for my position on Parish Council. I have been on that for the last 28 years in one form or another. Time for someone else to share their time and talents.

I did the budget up today (I know there will be no spending the next two days) and while I was slightly over in groceries we were under in every other budget line (a couple like the car payment which drives me crazy we were right on) we were well under. That makes me happy. 

I was asked how long the grocery shopping I did would last. Some items will last a month or more (bought 2 large bags of coffee beans as they were on sale for half price and those will last at least 2 months or more). I will end up buying milk, fruit, and fresh veggies next week but hopefully not much else.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thursday Tidbits

 

I thought I would share with you all my stock up shopping trip from today. Next week I should only need produce, dairy and fruit.

I did buy a few treats as you might have noticed, but now am set for at least a month in that area. The paper towels will last us at least 3 months as I only use them for really messy clean ups.

Total for this trip was $240.00 Canadian, $187 American or 136.58 British pounds sterling. 

Seems like a lot when I read what the rest of you spend, but things here in the middle of Canada are very expensive this time of year. While most was bought on sale the cost of transportation adds a great deal to the price of our groceries. I did save over $25.00 though and managed to get enough to last us quite awhile. I also got free lentils!!! Being a small center we don't have yellow stickered food.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Brrr, But Warming Up

 It has been a cold few days here at the old homestead. Just hoping my car starts tomorrow as I need to go shopping. Perhaps we should have started it today at some point. I just did not feel like even sticking my head out the door. I did though to sweep off the front deck and steps, then scurried back into the warmth of the house.

One good thing about two days of brutal cold is that I managed to pretty much tidy and declutter the sewing/craft room. There are a few things left to do in there, and I need to find a bit of space or better organizing of certain sections, but I am happy so far. 

I found a cross stitch picture that I would like to frame and hang in the room so will be searching through my box of frames to see what I can find. I will be looking for some lids to a couple of plastic shoebox sized containers that seem to have gone missing, and working on getting some more scrap knit fabric ready to be fashioned into the rug that I have planned to do for a number of years. I may actually get a start on that very soon.

Our Covid-19 restrictions have been extended until the middle of February I believe. Not that it causes us undue stress, we don't go any where and the only place I do go is shopping or to the ATM at the bank. The savings on gas is amazing when I look at last years budget even with the traveling I did to Kris's to help him out. We were very much under budget. 

I have another two bags of donations to drop off at the Salvation Army as well as some food. I live in a coal and oil city and things are pretty bad right now. Many homes are empty because of the downturn in oil and the fact that they have shut down a coal mine over the last few years. Most houses were bought when the oil boom was on and people paid ridiculous prices for them. Once they lost their jobs or had hours cut, they could no longer afford the payments on them and in many cases just let the banks take them back. Pretty sure we don't have any homeless at this point, but we do have those who need a bit of help making ends meet. I will do what I can.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

 

What thrifty happenings on the old homestead this past week. 

1.  I did some mending on seams on a few pairs of Harvey's pj bottoms. It seems like more and more seams are pulling apart as his pj bottoms get older.

2.  Cut some old t-shirts up for rags.

3.  Darned a pair of socks.

4.  Cut up some bits and bobs of fabric into 4" squares for quilts later on.

5.  Using up bits and bobs from the fridge and freezer to make new meals. Also making up a few TV type meals for Kris, when and if he ever makes it home once again.

6.  Still walking inside as it has been very cold the last few days.

7.  Put aside some plastic bags for Kris to use when cleaning Eiko's litter box. Using the rest for my decluttering/recycling/donating.

It really seems as if I do the same thrifty things each and every week. I am sure there are many other smaller things I do but I can't seem to remember them. Perhaps I need to list them as well.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

I

Menu Monday

 

Sorry I have been missing in action the last few days, but I got caught up in my sewing/craft room decluttering and organizing. Still lots to do, but I am slowly getting it under control. That makes me very happy. Now if I can just keep it that way.

I had to do a bit of moving around and changing my menus for this week. Seems as if I am getting a build up once again of those bags of leftover roast meat in the fridge freezer. I hope to use at least a couple of those up this week and next week.

Monday

Leftover turkey made into turkey tetrazzini (I want to make one big enough that another days meal will only need to be heated up). Served with leftover salad.

Tuesday

Leftover roast beef, I will more than likely make the beef rolls as those seem to go over well...unless I can find another interesting use. Served with brussels sprouts on the side (if it is the beef rolls).

Wednesday

The leftover turkey meal from Monday. I think I will make some mixed veggies to go along with this.

Thursday

Leftover beef meal from Wednesday. I might make a bit of tossed salad to go along with this, though it may only have some lettuce, finely chopped red onion, and grated carrots.

Friday

Fish and chips. The chips will be made in my air fryer. I will either serve the leftover salad from last night or make some coleslaw.

Saturday

Soup and sandwiches. I will pull out a container of the veggie/turkey soup I made at Christmas. Probably grilled cheese sandwiches.

Sunday

Butter Chicken using some chicken breasts from the freezer. Served with rice and peas/carrots.

Everybody have a wonderful day. 

God bless.

PS

I do hope to get caught up with everyone at some point today.

Frugal Friday

 

Well another week in January almost gone. Really even though we are under restrictions and have been so for over a month time is zipping by.

Now what have I done that has been or can be classified as frugal this week.

1.  Used up some apples that were getting old by making a crisp for our desserts this week.

2.  Sticking to using the stashes rather than running out and buying new crafting items.

3.  Downloading free books onto my ereader, using BookBub to find them.

4.  Only driving the vehicle once this week to do all my errands.

5.  Saved $10.49 on my grocery bill buying sale items.

And of course decluttering, making room and finding things that have been missing for awhile. Almost like shopping when you find something you have not seen for awhile. One such find was my twinned rug book. It even has a simple loom pattern for making them. Now just to convince Harvey that making one would be a good thing.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.