Thrifty and Frugal Thursday

Thrifty and Frugal  

While this probably has not been the thriftiest or most frugal of weeks, we still managed a bit of savings.

1.  By purchasing the range before the tariffs we saved money.

2.  We have been eating from fridge, fridge freezer and pantry this week as usual.

3.  All meals have been made here at home.

4.  Back to baking bread once again, which considering how much bread now costs is a big savings. I do have two loaves of rye bread in the chest freezer that will need using over the next while.

5.  Leftovers being made into another meal, or eaten for our lunches.

6.  Hanging clothes to dry on the lines downstairs.

7.  Today I began another one of my goals/projects/plans for the month. I am reclaiming yarn from some vests I made while working. The ones I pulled today I know no longer fit. The yarn will be used for other projects during the course of the rest of the year. 

8. Came in under budget for groceries this month. Not as much under as I would have liked, but rising prices and purchasing Canadian does add a bit.

9.  Saved some plastic bags to use for kitty litter patrol when the grandcat is here over Easter.

10.  Saved the large elastic bands from the asparagus purchase. 

No mending this week, which is very strange. Can't believe I have managed to catch up on that.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Mid week Ramblings

 It was and still is another cloudy day. We did have some rain overnight and a bit of a drizzle around noon. I haven't looked at the forecast for the rest of the week, but I sure hope there is some sun in there.

I am definitely trying to keep calm. Canada and Mexico did not get hit with "reciprocal tariffs" this time around as far as I can gather. However those tariffs that had been postponed are now in effect. So glad we got the range before the steel and aluminum tariffs were started up once again. I do know that this is going to cause hardship for many companies in Canada. Hopefully not too much and we find other places to trade with. The hardest hit will be the automotive plants. 

If you all remember when we went to visit Kris we ordered some new chairs for the dining room as the old ones were just too dilapidated to repair, or if we could get them repaired the cost would have been more than new chairs. 

Well, they arrived today, a full two weeks before expected. Harvey says he hopes we are done spending for a length of time. I then reminded him of the partial plate payment coming up.

The big containers seen in the picture are Harvey's wine making. Yep my dining room sometimes becomes a distillery. This will continue for probably another 5 or 6 weeks. 

I baked bread today, and I think the oven bakes a bit cooler than the shown temperature so I may have to recalibrate it. I will try to bake a few other items to get a good reading and then decide what to do. 

Finished one project I carried over from last month. I got the recipes copied that I wanted and the two cookbooks are now residing in the box for this month's donations. Hope to add a great many more items to the box before the end of the month. I seem to be falling behind in the decluttering department. 

Off to visit with you all and then get the leftover casserole into the oven to warm up.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Tuesday Tidbits and Stuff

 

I want to thank all of you for the get well wishes, and I am feeling much better today. I am still aching body wise (hips and back) but am pretty sure it is because of the weather, rather than a viral or bacterial infection. 

Worked around the house and actually managed to get most of yesterday and today's tasks done. I got a bit tired out by mid afternoon, but for a good reason. 

Harvey dragged me out (well not really dragged) to shop for a new range. I was prepared to have to wait until after Easter for it's delivery. We priced out at the three places that sell appliances and not that there is much to choose from here in our small city. Prices in most cases are very close to each other. 

Our last visit was to a small personal business on our main street. There we found the range we had been looking at in the other stores and when we asked the price found out it was on sale, and for less than the other two stores sale prices. 

We purchased it expecting a wait. To our surprise the gentleman who runs the store had bought a stock of various washers, driers, ranges, fridges and freezers to beat the tariffs. Kept our fingers crossed that there was at least one of these ranges left.

So we brought home this....

I now have a new range and while I haven't tried the oven yet, I did the oven set up and am planning some baking tomorrow. Harvey said I couldn't seem to stop smiling as we got this set up. Now hopefully this will last us much longer than the last one.

We have also had snow off and on. Not a nice April Fool's joke at all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.