Frugal Friday

Ahhh, the end of what used to be our work week. The days are whizzing by at an astonishing rate once again.

This week has been a very frugal one.

Using up those leftovers from the freezer and fridge kept our weekly grocery bill down. I only spent $128.41 and at the end of my receipt it says, "Today you saved....$15.22". That was without coupons as I had none for what I needed. For those of you in the UK I spent  £62.36. This should last awhile except for the fresh food and dairy, I will have to pick up more next week. However I did make a list and stick to it!!!

We have been making our way through all those leftovers. They are so yummy when you make a new meal out of them. I find myself planning for leftovers, so perhaps a better name would be "Planned overs".

Today while glancing over the sale fliers from our various grocery stores I came across an ad for meat pies being on sale.... Two meat pies for $7.99. I know for a fact that I made 11 meat pies using my machine for that price. Two versus eleven. I think I won in the savings category. Insert fist pump here.

I have been taking my walk every morning for exercise, however the weather is taking a turn for the colder and I have a feeling I will be using the treadmill downstairs for the next little while.

I have been watching free tv by using the android box that Kris got me for my birthday. I finished one series and have now started to watch those episodes of Little House on the Prairie that I do not have the DVD's for. My were they frugal back then.

A friend gave me a bag full of buttons that were in her father's apartment. As she said he will never sew and so I got them. I do not think I will need to buy buttons for a good long time.

Reading free books on my ereader and I plan on downloading a few more today. I like to have a great deal of reading material available. Lots of choice and free is wonderful.

Up until the last couple of days we have had loads of sunshine. That means solar heating for the front of the house!! This helps keep our electrical bill and our gas bill lower.

Today I started listing our camping items on our city's many garage sale sites. I am hoping to make a bit of extra cash, but even better things will be out of our home making me feel better about how much "stuff" we actually have. I am hoping by the end of this year to remove at least as much as last year from the house.

Harvey had wanted me to buy some new frying pans, not a chance as the ones we have can be used for a bit longer. Lo and behold, while cleaning up and getting the camping items cleaned I came across two lovely and heavy frying pans. I remember buying them as the one in the cheapo set we were using was just not cooking properly. Now we have heavy new frying pans and I won't be asked to please get new ones. The old ones will be scoured and I have an idea of what I would like to do with them...... It will be a surprise.

I have even started a free course on Spanish to sort of get a bit of understanding and some speech for our trip in a few months. I am surprised at how much my limited ability in the French language is helping.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Using My New Mini Pie Maker

Tonight for supper I used my new mini pie maker.

Kurt bought me this for Christmas because I really wanted one and just could not find one here in Estevan. Believe me it isn't too often that I actually want an appliance for a gift and I was over joyed to receive this.

I followed the recipe to make mini turkey (chicken) pot pies to use up some of the leftover turkey from Christmas. I always package up the leftovers and freeze them immediately once the meal is over.

The filling for the pot pies was made first.

The pie crust was made, rolled out and cut with the special cutters included with the machine. The bottom crust was placed in each mold and pressed down carefully with the special tool also included. Then the filling was added, the tops placed, some air vents added to the top and the lid of the machine closed.

In 8 minutes the bell went off and I could remove them. This is one still in its little mold.

Three of the pies on a plate waiting to head to the table for our meal.

I think I am really going to like playing around with this. It will be less costly than the oven to run, and because of the size of each pie there should be no more waste of food. I will still have to make a few pies in the oven, but tart shells, and two crust pies can easily be handled with the pie maker.

Tomorrow morning will see me making more pie crust and using up the filling that is left. Who knows this weekend could see me making mini apple and cherry pies for the freezer as well.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

Very thrifty day today.

Money coming in and no money going out. The best of all possible worlds right now after the excesses of last month.

Today I subbed the afternoon at one of the schools in our Catholic School Division.

This is our dual track school, meaning both English and French Immersion. I was on the English side, and had an enjoyable time. I got to stay in one class for the entire afternoon which was a pleasant change from running class to class.

I even celebrated a birthday for one of the children. Got a free doughnut..... Not that I really needed it considering the fluffiness I need to get rid of somehow.

My healthy snack for the afternoon was some cheese that had been cut for our Christmas celebration. One more leftover gone from the fridge.

My menu already changed this week. I had thought Harvey would eat the salmon patties for his lunch (he usually loves these heated, mashed and in a sandwich). Not this time, so we had them with the leftover mashed potatoes for supper last night. Guess the turkey pot pies will be made tomorrow and those leftovers consumed a couple of days later.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

Another week of menus coming right up.

Monday

Leftover turkey made into some pot pies. I am going to give my mini pie maker a go today. Hope everything works out.

Tuesday

Since I will be working the afternoon (or I hope to be working) I plan on pulling out some frozen stew.

Wednesday

Leftover Turkey pot pies, should be a few left, but if not I will use up some leftover ham from Sunday in a meal.

Thursday

Either clean out the fridge smorg, or Hot Dogs and baked beans.

Friday

Fish Fillets, homemade fries, and a salad.

Saturday

Cabbage bread from the freezer.

Sunday

Roast Chicken, roast potatoes, and green beans.

Hopefully there will be no changes, but it all depends on leftovers, no waste, and keeping the fridge cleaned out.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Sunday Roundup

I finally finished knitting all the pieces of my sweater. It is being blocked and hopefully I will be able to finish it tomorrow. I will post a picture when it is completed.

I did complete two simple sewing projects this week.

First was this plaid, rear kick pleat skirt. An easy sew.

An even easier sew was this.

A knit skirt. I messed up on the waistband but since said waist band will be covered by a shirt I am not going to worry too much about it.

I am hoping to spend some more time next week in the sewing room and continue getting those cut out patterns done. I plan on working on them until they are done and then moving on to another unfinished project or another of my goals for the month. Perhaps concentrating on one item at a time will enable me to clear more projects than the constant jumping between them.

Evenings will be spent doing other projects when I can't sew. Knitting and embroidery seem perfect for sitting and watching the television at night.

Other then a couple of extra cleaning jobs things have been very quiet. I haven't gone shopping this past week. This means I have three no spend days under my belt....Only a few more to go.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Feeling A Bit Lost

After all the hub bub of the holidays the quietness is getting to me.

Back to cooking for two instead of four is taking a bit of getting used to again. I find myself wanting to pull out more meat than we need. Take last night for instance. I pulled two cans of salmon out of the pantry

and proceeded to make 4 rather large salmon patties. Now the extra patties will not go to waste. We will either have then for another supper or perhaps lunch, but I do regret using more than was necessary.

I no longer have to fight for time with the computer.

I can play on it any time I want to, and the funny thing is it is working perfectly once again without Kris having to do anything to it. Mind you it did start once all on it's own in the middle of the night. Kind of spooky when a person goes into the bathroom to a dark computer and comes out to it flickering back to life. Almost thought we had a ghostly visitor.

I don't even have to fight for the television remote or search for it in the morning!! I found it in the oddest places when the boys were home. Harvey sometimes loses it in the couch cushions, never on the counter beside the door.

I am sure I will get used to our normal life again, but I sure miss having the give and take of more than two people in the house.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

The Start Of A New Year

It has been quiet around here today. I find myself looking out the front window for Kurt and Kris. They are gone now and won't be home for awhile. Kris will probably be home for some ice fishing later this month. Kurt.....perhaps not until the summer. I am not sure if he plans on traveling this summer or not.

Thought I would share my monthly goals with all of you.

1.     Sew those patterns I cut out last month.

2.     Finish knitting my sweater.

3.     Finish the embroidered quilt.

4.     Work on more quilt blocks.

5.     Download more free books for our trip to Spain and Portugal (the trip over is going to be a long one).

6.     Work on my rug.

7.     Work on knitting some more Monster leggings for the little ones.

8.     I am hoping for twenty no spend days this month (actually would love to hit 22 no spend days).

So there you have it my months goals. I am already working on the first one, and knitting my sweater is the way I spend most of my evenings. I am hoping to finish my sweater very soon.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

God bless.