Frugal Friday

The end of what used to be our work week. Poor Harvey is getting a bit confused over what day it is lately. All day he thought it was Thursday and not Friday. 

The weather has improved greatly and along with my treadmill work out I managed two shorter walks outside today. It was getting pretty slushy out by the time I took my last one.

Now what have I done in a frugal manner this week.

1.  Used coupons to get one free meal the day I was at the hair stylists.

2.  Used up all leftovers in the fridge for our lunches. A bit of salad left tonight which I shall have for my lunch tomorrow.

3.  Solar heated the house for the past few days. Love not having the furnace running all day.

4.  Watching free old series on the television this past week as well as getting caught up on a few series I have missed episodes of.

5.  Downloaded free reading material again this week.

6.  Using up all the bits and bobs of hand and body lotions I have collected over the past.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thursday Tidbits

Really not that much has been happening around here.

Yesterday I cleaned and organized what was in the chest freezer. My goodness, after not so thrifty removal of items that were way too old to be used things look lots better. I should easily be able to find and use up items the rest of this month. 

Cold winds today, which made things a bit nippy out there, but the sun was shining and that did help with the winter blahs.

I got my package from the doctor in Regina for my appointment. Must remember that I can not have any product with ASA or acetylsalicylic acid in them for three days before the test. Headaches please stay away or be susceptible to Tylenol. I also was surprised to read that I could be staying for up to 2 hours in the Women's Health Care Centre. Hopefully the time spent will be much shorter.

Talked to both of our sons this week. They are both doing well and have told me they want to know immediately the outcome of the tests. I don't know how much, if anything, I will know but I did promise to phone or text them on the way home.

I am trying to come up with a 40 days of Lent Challenge to myself and really haven't been able to come up with anything. Harvey thinks that perhaps we both should put money aside to be given to our Food Bank at the end of Lent and I am leaning that way. Or perhaps picking up a few extra pantry items every time I shop and dropping them off at the Food Bank. I will think on which will do the most good at this point in time.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

And So It Begins

This begins our 40 days of Lent. 

I hope all have a fruitful journey.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

This hasn't been the most thrifty of weeks. More than likely due to me finding lots of items that needed to be tossed in that darn chest freezer. I am amazed at how I let it get away from me, but can place some of the blame on having broken my wrist last year. Surprising myself at how well it looks right now even without using a great deal from it. All those 3 and 4 year old frozen baked goods and frozen cherry pie filling (as well as some old veggies) have cleared out a great deal of space. Now just to defrost, reorganize and start using things up.

I had a hair stylist appointment today very late so Harvey decided that I wouldn't have to cook. He grabbed some coupons and got us some burgers and fries for our supper (so Shrove Tuesday was easy peasy). Tomorrow since it is Ash Wednesday I will be switching a few meals around. I will probably do the soup instead and since it makes a big batch well some will be going in the freezer. It will be joining the Cream of Mushroom soup already in there.

Paid for the cut and style with my allowance so no money out of the account. Cha Ching. 

I did do a bit of mending, just a seam or two. And decluttered a bit more.

I hope to have more thrifty happenings here next week.

Everyone have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

Ahhh, the first full week of the new month and perhaps a change in the weather situation arriving very soon (or not). I think that perhaps what is getting to most of us here on the prairies of Canada is the warm up slightly and then overnight almost back to well below the temperatures we are used to. Our usual winter weather consists of a week or so of these seriously cold days, and then a gradual warm up. Oh well, we will survive.

Monday

Time to do some clearing out of the freezer. I plan on bringing up a container of stew for our supper. Served over slices of homemade bread. Would make dumplings, but not sure if I really want to.

Tuesday

The leftover beef roast will be made into hot beef sandwiches and served with homemade fries and a salad.

Wednesday

Pulling a package of leftover chicken out of the fridge freezer and having it for supper. I might make Chicken a la King and serve it over toast points.

Thursday 

Lazy perogies (or if I want to be fancy deconstructed perogies). Served with sour cream and leftover salad.

Friday

Soup and sandwiches.... I might just make some Moroccan Lentil soup here. It makes a big batch so some will need to be frozen.

Saturday

Clean out the fridge night. Sure to be lots of leftovers to choose from.

Sunday

Baked Ham, rice, mixed veggies and salad.

I am hoping to use up a few items in that freezer during the week. I have some rhubarb and think a sponge pie would be just lovely. I also see some muffins that I might pull out for snacks during the week.

Everyone have a wonderful day.

God bless. 

Saturday Roundup

Well, this week is drawing to a close and the weather has turned cold once again. Heck one could say we are back in the Polar Vortex once again. Supposedly these temperatures will only last a few days and then perhaps a bit of a warm up is to occur. We shall see.

I have managed to notify most of the family (the ones I feel are important at any rate) that my next tests will be on the 15th of this month. I am hopeful that we will have an answer quickly on whether or not I have cervical cancer. If I do things should move along very quickly after the diagnosis.

Now on to showing you how last months challenge went. I do think I managed to make some headway on getting the fridge freezer in line and I promise myself to never let it get that unorganized again.

Top shelf before:

Top shelf after:

Bottom shelf before:

Bottom shelf after:

Really quite a difference. I can actually see what I have in both drawers as of today.

Now on to this months challenge. 

I have two freezers downstairs in the basement. The one upright that I keep meat in (which is actually pretty darn neat right now), and an old chest freezer that holds veggies from the garden, frozen fruits, baked goods and meats that don't fit in the other freezer easily.

It is very hard for me to share how messy I have allowed the chest freezer to become and so my challenge this month is to use up what I can during the month and try to get some semblance of neat going on.

Here is the before picture...

Today I pulled out some frozen onions and some apple pie filling. The pie filling was used to make a crumb topped pie and the onions put into the fridge to be used making supper on Monday. I am really going to make an effort to get this mess under control this month. It will be a challenge, but one I think I might just enjoy.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Frugal Friday and Goals

Friday, and the beginning of a new month. 

I am going to try and come up with 5 frugal things I did this week.

1.  Saved $16.52 on groceries this week.

2.  Came in under total budget for the second month in a row.

3.  Came in under budget for groceries this month.

4.  Opened the front drapes the last few days to take advantage of solar heating.

5.  Worked hard on using up everything that I cooked, or set aside for meals. This did change my menu plans but I can do a work around on most items.

Here are my goals for next month. There are a few that I am getting a bit tired of moving to the next month.

1.  Work on temperature blanket.

2.  Work on quilt and hopefully finish it this month.

3.  Knit cardigan sweater for myself.

4.  Knit one prayer shawl.

5. Work on unfinished embroidery projects.

6.  Continue to make meatless meals (at least 8).

7.  Continue project declutter.

8.  Sew another infinity scarf from knit fabric remnants.

9.  Sew three new projects for myself for both fall/winter and spring/summer.

10.  Plant starter plants.

11.  Income tax to the accountant. 

If you notice there are a few simpler ones that I hope to complete relatively easily.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.