Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal

The snow arrived at about 6:35 am. At times it was so heavy I could not see clearly down the hill to the gas station in the valley right below. Poor Harvey couldn't check out gas prices today and I was in a bit of a rush while out so didn't check for him. The wind has picked up now and the snow is blowing around. Should be some lovely drifts tomorrow.

So what thrifty and frugal things have I been up to this week.

1.  Adding vegetable scraps to the bag in the freezer. Hope to make veggie stock very soon.

2.  Baked bread and have a loaf in the freezer.

3.  Working on projects to use up all those bits and bobs of fabric and yarn.

4.  Paid the bills online (including the extra car insurance, just had to make up a nickname so I could tell the difference between policies).

5.  Darned a pair of my socks.

6.  Continued the decluttering.

7.  Either using leftovers for another meal or freezing them for use later on.

8.  My exercise has been walking around the house.

9.  Used saved water to water the inside plants. 

10.  As usual hung two loads on the lines downstairs.

11.  Downloaded some more free reading material onto my ereader.

I did go out and do some errands today before the worst of the storm hit. I got our allowances which will be handed out on the 15th and picked up a few items at the grocery. I also picked up the mail and we got a few more necessary forms for our taxes. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening (or late afternoon).

God bless.

 

Midweek And Actually Staying Calm

Hello fellow bloggers. Here it is the middle of the second week of the month of March. Amazing. 

I think I should probably make something clear. In trying to clear up my fridge freezer, I am really not running low on food. I have an upright meat freezer downstairs, and a chest freezer which I use for baking, ready meals, broths, veggies and fruits. 

When I talk about trying to clear out my fridge freezer, it is to use up such items as leftover bags of roast chicken, roast beef, roast ham and roast pork. I usually package those roast leftovers up into meal sized bags to be used to make many more meals. I will be making a roast pork, a roast chicken and a roast beef this month and so will be bagging up the leftovers and putting those into the fridge freezer. I don't think the fridge freezer will ever be truly empty. 

I thought I would get two totes done today, but actually only managed one. Piecing together interfacing took much more time than I thought, and then cutting all the interfacing for all the totes took up a bit of time as well. 

Also, I had to spend some time on the phone getting back into my SaskEnergy account. For some reason I was not being allowed in and not getting notified as to what our bill for the past month is. Everything is great now there, if only I could get the pictures from my phone Gallery to the computer..... Sighs, will continue to work on that. 

I woke up to snow on the ground this morning, just a dusting, which melted away during the afternoon. Tonight the temperature will drop, and the forecast is calling for snow. 

Friday should be good so I will head out early and get the banking done and the one bill paid that needs to be paid in person for some odd reason. I first got this insurance online and paid for it online for two years so I can not for the life of me figure out what has changed. 

Off to visit you all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 While the sun is out, it really is not as warm as previous days, and of course snow will be coming. 

I spent most of today after tasks working on my projects. The rug is ready to be sewn, but I am making some knitted sides as the stripes are not matching up quite the way I would like and so the sewing together will be slightly different than I had hoped. 

My embroidered blocks are done and ready to be fashioned into a flimsy sometime very soon. 

I next got all the parts, except for the interfacing, ready to sew the totes together.

I will need to sew some of the pieces of interfacing together in order to use up the smaller bits of interfacing. There are 4 totes to be fashioned over the next few days. 

I never shared what I purchased for the pantry this past week. Mainly because my darn phone is not allowing me to upload the photos to my gallery on the computer. Meaning I had to find the old digital camera and get it up and running once again. 

This time I picked up some cans of pineapple and 2 bottles of sauce. One bottle is plum sauce and the other is honey garlic. 

Harvey has put together his grow lights, and is working on the shelving unit. Today we got our new doorbell, and that is installed now as well. 

Me, well I have been checking out Amazon for a wagon. I think I just might have found the one I will purchase. It is a bit expensive, but will carry enough from the grocery store that I would purchase. The only problem I can foresee is that one place I shop at is quite a distance away. But perhaps I can arrange it so that on that occasion I drive once a month to pick up all that I need. 

I have also been checking out a new mini computer for the television as the one I have on there now can not be updated any longer, and the software on it is not supported. Soon I may not be able to use it at all. Probably order this item first as there is still ice and snow on the ground, and then Kris can install it for me once he gets home for Easter. I will use the money in my savings envelope for this purpose as there is still time to save for our trip and for the family reunion. 

My fridge freezer is emptying nicely. However what with the pork roast this Sunday I will be adding to it once again. Most of what is in there now are carcasses for bone broth, a couple of stuffed chicken for a meal, two pieces of salmon fillets, a package of frozen brisket and some frozen chopped veggies. There are lots of frozen veggie packages as well. I would enjoy getting it totally empty and by the end of the next couple of weeks that will be within reach. 

Now I just need to remember to use things up in there in good order. The same can be said for the meals in the chest freezer as well. Having ready made meals is great and very frugal, but if you don't use them it can be a problem.

Now I am off to start supper where I will be using up some leftovers from the fridge. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 It is hard to know what type of meals to cook during this month of up and down temperatures. I still plan on trying to clear out the fridge freezer and perhaps some of the bone broths I have in the downstairs chest freezer. The more I can clear out the better. Our meat freezer is getting pretty low and I hope we can get some good meat sales very soon. I may break down and just purchase whatever as I don't think prices are going to be very good considering the cost to transport them.

Monday

Leftover chicken taco meat, tortillas, and the fixings to put on top.

Tuesday

Leftover chili, I think this time I will serve it over pasta with some cheese on top.

Wednesday

I brought up a container of leftover stew. Probably served over slices of bread, either sour dough (bought to see if we like it) or homemade.

Thursday

Mexican soup using up the last of the frozen brisket. The leftovers will be frozen and used at another time. With some kept out for another meal. Probably grilled cheese sandwiches will be served with.

Friday

Pancakes with syrup and/or jam from the canning cupboard.

Saturday

Leftover Mexican soup, and tuna melts.

Sunday

Pork roast, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots.

So there you have my meals. I will have cleared out a bit from the leftovers, I have lots of chicken and turkey carcasses that will need to be made into broth. Hopefully I can get those cleared out an upcoming week.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Melting, Rain, Snow Typical Spring

We are having typical prairie spring weather. Today we have had a bit of freezing in the morning, some sunshine this afternoon, and now the rain is starting to fall. Then later in the week we will be back to dropping temperatures and snow. Pretty much our usual start to spring, though many years we would be in the midst of a snow storm right now. I suppose this could be March coming in like a lamb, but I sure hope it doesn't go out like a lion.

I was looking out the window last night at about 7 and thought I would share one of our sunsets with you all. I am loving the longer days we are finally having. 

I am still having a terrible time trying to download pictures from the gallery on my phone to the gallery on the computer. Hmmm, perhaps it is time to make a visit up to Regina and get Kris to perhaps figure out what the heck is happening. Strange things for sure and I have made a couple of password changes, and I will have to phone one company in about a week to see why I can not log into my account. They changed things and have locked me out it seems.

There is a gas station just down the hill in the valley below us and Harvey has taken to using his binoculars to check out the price per liter of fuel each day. Today the price is $1.45.9 per liter so in the two weeks since the Iran bombing started our price has gone up $0.21 a liter. I am pretty sure things will get worse before they get better. I think we might be happy to have the grow lights for some veggie starters this spring, and fresh veggies in the winter. 

Laughingly (well perhaps not laughingly) I told Harvey I was thinking that having a wagon to pull my groceries home might be an excellent idea if the prices for fuel keep on going up. It would perhaps save a trip with the car. Probably, much more frugal and great exercise in the long run. I have mentioned that before and Harvey has just laughed it off. Not so this time. I really think some of my frugal ideas could actually be rubbing off on him.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

 

This Will Suit Me Perfectly

 

Thanks for posting this Juhli. I am a mystery/true crime nut for novels and this challenge will be loads of fun. I can actually get into this one.

The day has passed by and I am not even tired. Can it be that whatever virus or bacteria I managed to pick up has worked its way through my system? I certainly hope so. I do not like feeling so exhausted by midafternoon that I just can not function properly. 

Once again my movement towards simplicity has been one of decluttering and organizing. Perhaps more decluttering than organizing, and perhaps more using up than decluttering. 

One thing I am beginning to realize is that we collect more "stuff" then we really need or in fact want. Or perhaps that is the problem, at the time the items appeared in our homes we actually wanted them, but didn't need them. 

In a way I didn't realize at the time, we were actually trying to keep up with the neighbours... At times I believe we fall back into that mindset. Not as often now, but the urge is still there. One needs to remember that nothing is simple if it adds "stuff" to your life.

Harvey informed me today that he ordered grow lights and I wondered why..... Turns out he was thinking that we could possibly grow our own lettuce, radish and onion during the winter months and save a bit of cash doing so. Kris does this every year and in fact his set up even grows tomatoes and peppers. He says the cost of running the lights is minimal really, so perhaps things will work out and we will manage to save on produce over the those cold winter months. I don't think that is moving towards a simpler life, but perhaps towards a more frugal life. And having Harvey even thinking in a frugal manner is perhaps a big plus. I really think taking him shopping was a major eye opener for him. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Shopping and Realizing Prices Really Are Hitting Highs

 So I went shopping yesterday and could have cried over how much prices are going up over all. 

Definitely more than last time I went shopping and way more than last year at this time. Still I did manage to get lots on sale (though sale price was the regular price even just a few months ago).

So here is my shopping, and yes I did purchase a small roast beef which was on sale, but one of the reasons I almost cried.

One of two pictures of my shopping. It seems like getting pictures from my phone to blogger is getting a bit more difficult.

I think I might need Kris to get things working properly once again, or find my silly camera which seems to have disappeared in the house. 

Life seems to be getting slightly complicated rather than simplified. 

Off to get supper completed, a visit with all of you and then work on a project or two.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.