Frugal first week.

We bought 2 games on sale for retirement

We bought 3 gifts for the great grandson on sale. We bought a puzzle Hubby wants to put together and frame for his dad.

We bought 8 bags of softener salt on sale . We usually wait for the 11 % rebate at Menards but this sale saved us $2 a bag which is more than the rebate. We will try to remember to go back before the sale is over and get enough for the truck to use as weight for this winter and that will be our softener salt in the spring.

I got $15 off a 101 oz can of olive oil.

I got cashews for the cheapest price I have found.

I dehydrated basil, the last of the sage, the last of the oregano and the last of the rosemary. I still have basil, and thyme and chives.

I harvested the last of the jalapeno peppers.

I dehydrated 20 lbs of onions for onion flakes and onion powder, the last 10 lbs that can't be stored is being caramelized as I sit here.

I harvested Roma tomatoes and started cooking them for sauce.

I harvested,cooked and froze the last of the eggplant.

Instead of going to the Golden corral as our standard after I have a doctor appt  about 2 hrs away one way, we went to China buffet at lunch time, Hubby got his potstickers and dumplings and we spent half of what we usually do at Golden corral. That was our eat out for last week. This week will be tonight as it's Hubby's birthday and that is part of the gift from me, I already gave his is colored tee shirts.

I pulled some of the garden plants as I harvested so Hubby doesn't have to worry about dealing with that this coming weeks.


I found some lotion in a pump bottle half price.

Hubby got his last free set of steel toe work boots . Company pays twice a year for his boots. This set won't see the inside of the plant as Hubby "breaks" his boots in for about 3-4 months before wearing them in plant to avoid blisters. These are $140 boots along with $25 sole inserts that will wear a good 2-3 years

Last year we got a membership for Sam's club through Living Social. It was the $100 membership and we got it for about half price and then a $20 gift card, and about $45 in food and when we went the first time we saved about $50 on things we bought. This year we "downsized" the membership to standard at $45...BUT we still had $30 cash rewards sitting there so I used it to pay on the membership so it only cost me $15 for the membership this year. We buy our frying oil (we deep fry 4 turkeys for our family dinner and 2 for SCARES Christmas dinner) We use around 14 gals but always want a little more as we have had issues of containers blowing a hole or splash over. Four containers of oil at 35 lbs each (est 4.5 gal.) is $28 less at Sam's than anywhere else we have priced. I always price the day we go just in case someone is cheaper.So we get 5 and consider the 5th one free for my cooking through the year.

I open curtains in morning, close them in evening. Not having to run heat or Central air or AC in bedroom. I have had to turn the fan (after the wind coming in the window isn't enough) on where I am working during the sunny days.  I have cooked from the pantry and when it's cooler I use the oven to help warm the kitchen. I've used my homemade laundry soap in laundry, quick cycle and the drying rack for about half the laundry.It takes a full 24 hrs to get things dry in the basement so I have to be careful that I don't have something start molding instead of drying. When using the dryer I wash and dry heaviest items first so it they need rebooted (I use auto dry) they can go in the next load instead of just rebooting the dryer.I've mended a couple shirts and pants.We used up ALL the leftovers from the week  :)  The electric will be up with all the canning and 5 dehydrators going.

We have figured out if we eat a "large" lunch instead of just a wrap sandwich we don't want to eat at dinner. SO using that for when Hubby retires in 7 weeks and 3 days. We decided the main meal of the day to be lunch as I can't eat a lot at breakfast. We will have soup or sandwich or chef salad for dinner instead.Not that will save us much as I have most of the pantry stocked but it will help on keeping the weight down as Hubby won't be putting in 150,000 plus steps a week when he retires.

Right now the forecast isn't calling for a frost for at least 7 days possible 10.Still with me having my back injections and now adding injections for the shoulder arm I will be down probably 7 - 10 days from this coming Friday. Hubby will be on 1st shift through the week due to EMT class so that means he won't be able to help in the mornings like he does on 3rd. SO the frugal part is working to get as much in from the gardens BEFORE the injections.

Joke of the day... Hubby yelled from the mudroom and scared the crap right out of me as he isn't one to yell... When I came running and asked what was wrong, he pointed at the small amt of white space in the freezer and told me we were in a crisis and needed to fill it back up... HA HA. That's the family's running joke about me, because any time I get white space in the freezers I fill it back up.