Thrifty Tuesday

Today we got our power and gas bill and my questions on whether we are doing enough to lower our consumption have been answered.

After the over payments from November and December bills were added up and our consumption for the past little while actually read, our bill was only $12.38. I was expecting that they would owe us some money, but considering the boys were home and more heat used I am quite satisfied with the result. Seems making sure lights are off, line drying as much as possible, turning down the heat in our room during the day (when it is warm enough to do so) and all the timed thermostats we installed are working. Now just hoping we can keep this up.

Gas was low as well only $94.86. I think this is because of the warm December and the fact that when we have the front drapery open the heat coming from the sun into the south facing living room radiates through the older portion of the house keeping it nice and warm.

It has turned much colder now so I expect that the cost of heating the house will go up a bit, but as winter is slowly drawing to a close I am hopeful that we will be well under budget for the year.

I have also been having fun looking up recipes on the internet to use up our leftovers in wonderful new meals. Some of which will definitely be going into the menu rotation, others will need a bit of tweaking.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

We are already 1/4 the way through the month!! Pretty soon spring will be here and our trip to Portugal and Spain. Really looking forward to seeing those countries and trying their cuisine.

Monday

Meatballs in Mushroom Soup, mashed potatoes, green beans, and salad.

Tuesday

Leftover Chicken made into a casserole, served with the leftover salad.

Wednesday

Clean out the fridge Smorg.

Thursday

Honey Garlic Sausage, boiled potatoes, and carrots.

Friday

German noodles, fried onions and eggs (fattening, but easy to make and comfort food for the beginning of a very cold weekend).

Saturday

Hot dogs, baked beans and pasta.

Sunday

Beef Roast, roasted potatoes, roasted carrots, and mini cherry pies for dessert.

All lunches will be leftovers or sandwiches. I see some changes will need to be made in next weeks menu. I have some leftover pea soup which needs to be gotten out of the fridge freezer, and lots of packaged frozen bits and pieces. I will be reworking the menus this week. Harvey and I are really trying for a no waste year to see if the grocery budget really is affected by doing so. Costs are going up once again and we really do not want to up our budget line on groceries.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

40 Years

Today Harvey and I celebrated our 40th Wedding Anniversary.

He usually buys me yellow roses because that is what I carried the day we were married. This year there was not a yellow rose to be found in the city. To make up for the pink roses (something he really did not need to do), I got one rose for every year we have been married. My house is filled with beautiful colour and loving thoughts.

We have grown together over the years. Gotten grey hair, raised two wonderful boys into young men to be proud of, worked through the loss of our daughter and just plain lived life, and lived it well.

Here is hoping for many more years of love, laughter and joy for the two of us.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Saturday Roundup

The cold weather has settled in enabling me to work on projects and not want to head outdoors for a walk, or visit friends. Probably the only good thing about having this kind of weather.

You all know I finished two sewing projects this past week. I have left those alone for a bit (I have another 6 patterns cut out to sew this month) and have concentrated on finishing some of those bothersome unfinished projects.

My sweater is finished.

It needs another bit of pressing and then it will be put to good use. It drapes wonderfully and will hide those fluffy parts that I want hidden.

I am working on the embroidered quilt once again.

There is a great deal more stitching than I thought there was, but I will plug away on it for the next week or so. I am really hoping to get this done within this month. Well all except the blank square as I have to wait for a baby in the family so I can fill in the name. Wish me luck.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

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.