Putting on the frugal thinking hat

I had to really put on the frugal thinking cap this past week.

First I really really screwed up and left two of my computers and rolling brief case in my son's dining room. He lives an hour away....the good part of that is it was left in his dining room and not out on the front curb that I have feared I had done. More frugal to drive to pick them up than to replace them???? Still we had to go get them so I decided we would go ahead and run some other errands that wasn't suppose to be done until next month. SAVE GAS at least.

This is the garlic I harvest a week or so ago.It's cured so I can cut the stalks and trim the roots for storage . Then I will pull the next batch that is ready. Nice this year that it's ready a couple weeks apart instead of last year when I have over 100 heads come in at one time.I wasn't set up to cure that many at once and had to scramble to get it done.

I harvested and processed lemon balm, spearmint , peppermint, apple mint, choc.mint, basil, thyme, oregano,garlic chives, chives, cilantro, dill, rosemary, green onions, cucumbers, lettuce and the last of the rhubarb and strawberries(unless they bloom again, last year they did).

NOTE !!!!! I might have zucchini this year!!!! YES REALLY, it's okay you can laugh because I must be the only person that can't grow zucchini. I might get one or two off the plant and then it dies....BUT this year I planted it in the north garden in the straw bales(experiment garden) and it's got blooms and little, little zucchinis LOL!!!!

We have ate out a couple times, but did think about the price and getting the best deal when we did. About 4 times we were gone all day, we do take water with us and usually drink only water at meals eating out.Some places will let us share a meal without charging extra, the ones that don't we automatically ask for a box and immediately put half of the meal in the box to go home.We had one meal I made in to 3 more with the leftovers.

Our health ins has decided to no longer pay for the injections I get in my back (birth deformity and I don't take pain meds for several reasons). Our first thought was pay cash (not frugal at all but this was already the last resort for pain relief so I could walk, lay and sit without pain,doctor is willing to accept the same cash payment as our ins was paying.). Then we decided to run with the appeal system. My doctor is already appealing from his side. They say it's not medical problem and then would accept a new MRI but won't approve a new MRI.Seems like every 5 yrs I have this battle. BUT my Dad has told me to adjust that when you get 65 it's a common battle. This will be one that if denied I will have to pay cash for. It's the only thing that keeps me pain free enough to walk,sit and lay.SO we figured it in our "future budget" along with increases because we know it will only go up.


So the thoughts circled around...how can we afford to build our dream home on our dream land and pay this much out in health issues? What can we do NOW to provide for later? We had already planned $2000 (yes that high) for health based on what we were hearing from others that are retired and have some of the same issues, actually I doubled the amt, figuring on it going up.Which is the main reason Hubby hasn't retired out, No sense retiring out and then coming right back in part time as a temp to the same job to pay for ins.

So I started a list of things we can cut now and save more. Nonfood and Food was #1, using car,truck etc #2.Changing from what we use to what we can make do with #3. I would rather make do NOW then when we are in our 70s and 80s like my Mom and Pop was and having to go without.I am my Dad's child instead of Mom's. Dad is frugal, Mom and Pop were spendthrifts.

ANOTHER thought was transfer the money we save immediately to the savings and not letting it sit in the checking where it might get piddled away. We are very good at piddling away.

Dad gave me a new recipe that he has been cooking once a week for soup (cabbage,beans,corn, tomatoes and some times onion) that I haven't tried yet...I think it's because Nonna used to make bean soup, then add veggies the second day,pasta or rice the third and then serve what ever was left over stale bread the fourth. I ate that a lot during the summers since I pretty much stayed with her if I wasn't working.

We have a baby shower for that is for our upcoming great grandbaby  that is due in Aug. We decided to wait until William is born. Our grandkids are okay with that as this will be the first of  5th the generation and they figure they will get over loaded at the shower and at birth. Grandson mentioned diapers and wipes from Sam's club in a couple months, but the Mommy asked for a membership instead along with a breast pump.

I was having problems with my nose, still have sutures from surgery that was in March that was supposed to dissolved, could have told the doctor they wouldn't. He did tell me after checking the issue that if I used a saline spray or did a saline rinse at least at night and fluffing my bedding and pillows weekly I would be able cut back on the allergy meds. By doing that I haven't had to take an meds all week, that saved $10.I was already fluffing, sometimes in the dryer with no heat and sometimes just hang it on the clothes line. I like the clothes line better because of the fresh smell.I tr

I been more diligent in turning off lights and power cords. Second month in a row that our electric bill has been at $100 instead of the usually $150,(landlords was over $200 and has the same size house and everything) EVEN with running the Central Air.I try to run the dehydrator at night as much as possible but sometimes I'm pushing load after load and end up running it through the day.

Hubby is riding the motorcycle instead of driving the truck to work. That has saved almost $100 this month.He doesn't ride the bike when there is thunderstorms in the forecast.

We went to Sam's club. I wanted to do some pricing while picking up diapers for a friend that is having a baby. Made several notes of what I stock up for holidays and winter and bought POM toilet paper....45 big rolls for $19.98.that's around 0.444¢ per roll when Cottonelle (our favorite) and Charmin (second favorite) is around $1.00 a roll. Hubby said it was like work TP....which means very thin...not sure it will save us any money if we use more but with the thought we can use twice as much and still be saving.We got dog food cheaper at Sam's. Bigger bag and for the same price we pay for a lot smaller bag.

We also went to Jungle Jim's International market and I priced condiments and rice there. CHEAPER there even with the price of gas to driving there especially if we go after making a round to the kids. Everyone is an hour away and Jungle Jim's is only 30 min past the kids.I also got some peaches for 79¢ a pound there and now have them dehydrated.Found my favorite tea and got a couple boxes for my girlfriend and myself. It was about half the price I used to pay for it when I could get it locally. I usually buy it as a "gift" for myself at Christmas and birthday and haven't been able to find it in over  a year.

Hubby did ask, said he was afraid to but thought of it, how long can I go on this pantry (speaking of food and not the non-food)with buying only necessities/perishables...Last time he asked that I stretched a 6 month pantry for a year. I just told him we would find out.

We have case sales (frozen food not cans) next month. I need to figure out if I have the room and what I want to fill that up with to place the order in the next couple weeks.

Any Frugal thoughts?

Reading Brandi The Prudent Homemaker Saving Money

Once a month if not more often I reread through Brandi's site of The Prudent Homemaker.

Today I reread Saving Money. Brandi gives 41 suggestions of saving money. We do all but 7.

This afternoon I decide to really look at why we don't do that 7 and what do we do instead.

We have cell phones, we don't share a plan. Both plans are below $50 each. Hubby is a weather spotter and connected with Homeland security(unpaid both jobs), he needed a better phone than what he had for apps he needed and found a really good phone(made the grandkids green with envy because they paid 3 times as much for the same phone) at a provider and still was below $50 plan unlimited. I stayed with what I had and where I was...I keep a cell phone on me since I had a heart attack driving home to the boonies from the city....AND there was no houses around. I dry swallowed 3 aspirin that I do carry to get myself home to the phone.

We have a home phone because we can't have internet without it here AND the local fire dept/squad does home phones with their 911. Cell phones go through another trace. Already takes over 10 mins to get to us , don't need to add more.

1 car...we have a SUV, a truck and a motorcycle all paid off and over 10 yrs old(truck will be 20 yrs old next yr) We both can drive the bike. Hubby uses it for work weather permitting, the truck gets driven the most , good old work truck. we limit trips to town to no more than twice a week if that. The SUV is for when I can't walk right and can't climb in the truck or when we go to my Dad's because he no longer has a car and he can't get in the truck any more. We do acknowledge with age we will be giving up all 3 and getting a car that I can drop into.

We no longer resole shoes...ONLY because the nearest repair is 1 hr away from us 1 way. Cost is gas is more than the cost of replacing our shoes. When we move at retirement this will go back to being done as there is one within  10 miles of our son.

I don't go to the library. It's out of the way and an extra trip. I do borrow books from my one daughter as she is a reader like I am and enjoys the same type of books as me and I don't have to worry about an over due fine. That still saves money.

I stopped baking my own bread when it became the two of us...bread will mold faster when it's home made. I am looking at starting this back up since I have found a couple recipes that makes smaller loaves. We just aren't big bread eaters.

We don't unplug most appliances. I do unplug my laptop and the tv in the bedroom after Hubby gets out of bed (he goes to sleep watching the weather) ....but Hubby just refuses to work with me on this. I will have to say that our landlord's wife requires he unplug his alarm clock daily but she refuses to open the windows and turn off the AC...I really think this choice is weird LOL

We don't collect water from the shower....one is we turn it on and get in, our hot water tank is right below the shower., wait time is not there, two we don't live in town or I would probably insist on this even without a wait time since we are on a well here and would be paying for water in town. We do turn off the water while brushing teeth and have used rain barrels over the years for the gardens.I have a watering can that sits out also for rain.

Soup once a day, I'm lucky if I can get Hubby to eat soup once a month at this point. He does hard manual labor around furnaces that  have him in heat over 100° daily.We have talked about him eating soup instead of cold cereal before he lays down but he isn't willing at this point.I will say he used to farm, pigs and cattle and was raised with meat and potatoes 3 meals a day....he has adjusted a lot since we married to not having that. His favorite meal is what we call 123 pasta with very little meat at all in it.

What are your thoughts on saving?

The good, the bad and it always pours while staying frugal

When Hubby came home from work the other day and said "production is running every weekend until Jan."

We both knew GOD was letting us know we were going to need the extra income.

First, we got the refrigerator fixed, it is running fine and the rental one is going back tomorrow. We don't have a FB garage sale in this area nor is most of Craig's list for this area. We are the boonies LOL. I spent $33 including eggs for 69¢ a doz to replace the necessities that we lost in the frig and replaced nothing in the freezer.

THEN my back injections have been denied because the problems in a birth defect. Doctor's office is doing the appeals and told me it could take up to 4 months...mean time they advised me to get yoga (already do that at home for free), massage therapy and chiropractic care , neither that ins will pay for any more for me due to birth defect. Made a couple phone calls and found a Chiro that will accept cash payment equal to what he would get from our ins.Hubby's employer has a wellness (gym) center and they have massage therapy there that is about half the price of else where. I was trying to figure out where to rob Peter to pay this Paul when I went to refill my meds and found they are now generic and my doctor always marks that generic can be used so the price was 1/10th of the normal out go and actually the difference will pretty much pay for the chiro and massage.

Still appealing to get the other 2 bills paid, was told it might take 3-4 appeals including an outside appeal which is available through Hubby's employer for free.

I harvested thyme, oregano,basil, cilantro, garlic chives, chives, rosemary, lemon balm, choc. mint, spearmint, peppermint, apple mint,lavender, rose petals,flat parsley, curly parsley, strawberries, rhubarb, cucumbers, garlic scapes,lettuce and green onions.

We are eating from the pantry. Taking stuff we don't want (yard sales were we are at in the country doesn't do well enough to do anything) to our youngest.

AND why did I post the two pictures? We know we plan to move closer to the kids, grandkids, greatgrandson when Hubby retires. We plan to retire in 3-5 yrs...we decided after listening to other to start checking out house plans and houses because everyone said they looked of a couple of years.  We feel this is the model we want built. We will do some changes due to me being in a wheelchair before I die (wasn't suppose to ever walk to begin with). This really seemed to fit. We have talked to this builder about 20 yrs ago when we thought about building and they talked us into waiting, 5 kids in their teens, they didn't think we needed the size of house we were planning.

SO to stay frugal and stay on track, I took several pictures and a video of the model to look at and remember why we are going the extra mile to be frugal and save save save.

June 9th, frugal week with a refrigerator broke down

Our first "meal" mostly from the garden. A nice salad of home grown lettuce,cucumber, garlic scapes,green onions,and strawberries topped with diced grilled chicken breast. YUM

Strawberries are coming in about every 3 days, about 2 cups at a time. Nice amount for the two of us to eat up but not to put any in the freezer.

I had a shoe insole come loose, since I wear a size 3 it's hard to find replacement insoles, so I put the insole back in as best as I could and used a hair dryer to heat the insole up , hoping there is enough adhesive to warm up and attached the insole back in.

I sewed a button on Hubby's pants.

I've dried rose petals for rose petal tea.

I've dried lavender for lavender tea.

I've dried cilantro,dill,basil,thyme,oregano,flat parsley,curly parsley,garlic chives,and rosemary.

I run the dehydrator in the late evening so I don't heat up the house.

Our refrigerator went out and we lost over 2/3rd of the perishables (shredded cheese with poof up the bag when it's had too much heat) and  half of what was in the freezer by time we figured out it wasn't going to be fixed right away as the parts were hard to find and we got another (Thank you Rent a Center that allowed us to rent for 2 wks) frig to transfer to which was smaller, a lot smaller than we had.

Hard hit as I had to use June's grocery money to fix the frig (repair man warned us to save up because it's going to die probably within a year)and rent the other frig. I plan to limp us until July without robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Taking some advice from Brandi over at The Prudent Homemaker, I scrubbed out the frig while it was down while waiting for parts to come in . For what ever reason a nice clean frig even broke down made me feel better than one that was sitting there needing a wipe out and broke down.

I called a doctor's billing to find out what was going on, we haven't gotten the bill in 3 months and the office said it was still pending ins and ins said it's paid. Ins didn't pay all of it and the billing office was appealing the lack of payment instead of just charging us and then having us appeal it...NICE .

I also had to call another doctor to find out if my procedure was preapproved and the answer was NOT yet....sigh, the ins did say it's in the final round and the hold up is because the procedure is changed from what I've had done the last 4 yrs...last year I didn't have to have preapproval...change in all ins (not just mine) in this procedure.

Hope you all have a frugal week.

Frugal time

Rambling Rose is what my Dad calls this, I just wished whom ever planted it had not put it right against the corner of the house where the rain down spout is and no way to put a trellis or anything behind it. Still both dogs will walk between it and the bush and past it to walk through my just started perennial flower garden.Miss Kira will lay it the garden.I think she decided that instead of stopping to smell the roses she was stopping to lay in the flower garden on top of my irises. 

I picked Sweet Williams, irises (that someone smashed with her body) and lavender for flowers for my table. I dried some lavender to tea and sachets.

I harvested and dried basil,chives,garlic chives, rosemary, dill,flat parsley, curly parsley and spearmint.

I harvested 2 different lettuces,cucumbers,rhubarb and a few strawberries.

We have saved enough to no longer pay bank fee so that money goes to the savings now also.We paid off one bill in full so we are down to 6 (not counting possible medical bill if the ins doesn't pay any for my procedure for my back).IF we don't have replace a truck or car we are on task to be debt free before Hubby retires in 3 yrs

I have repaired and washed soaker hoses so they are working another year with Rascal's "help" which was "Mom bend over and throw this ball,okay, Mom wash the ball instead of the hoses" . SMILING

I transferred my earnings from surveys to gift to my grandson and his lady that are graduating.

We are running a room AC that my son gave us (newer and bigger than what we had) for the bedroom when Hubby sleeps days (get turned on when he goes to bed and off when he gets out of bed). I leave the windows open, close curtains against the sun and run one fan that is mainly for our 2 black dogs , they hog it even if I had it on for myself. We turned the central air on over the weekend as the landlord wanted to make sure it was running correctly. Dogs loved it. We hated the thought of what it was doing to the electric bill though when the humidity is up I know I will have to use it some.

We are using the grill most nights. Yesterday I used the charcoal side as a smoker, have been given lots of wood chips for smoking. Bought a pork butt . Took less time than I thought, glad a friend told me to check temp of meat at 3 hr mark no matter how long it said it would take.  We had it last night and will again for another meal and then the rest will be packaged and froze for those night neither of us wants to fix anything.

I have used the clothes line for the last 2 weeks solid.

My Dad is slowly clearing out his house so when he dies my brother and I won't have to deal with so much. He gave me a car load of canning jars, a water bath canner that can double as a stock pot, canning rings and lids he bought last year (he didn't even plant his 9 tomato plants this year),a corn jabber (how they planted corn in the old days) and an antique hand cultivator. We go back up this week to get a gas grill he no longer uses for our youngest daughter.

We went to Kroger's on the weekend ( I usually shop Thurs.) so we can get double fuel points for what little we do get now days as warm weather is eat from the pantry and garden time.

I put the button back on Hubby's pants.

We bought a beverage igloo (clearance) and now fill it with ice (we have to buy ice, no room for it in freezer since I "lent" the extra frig to son) and the filter pitcher water. Found we are drinking far less of anything else and just drinking the water. It's sitting on the corner of the kitchen table so we pass it when heading to the frig or coffee pot.

Have was your week?

Frugal week....some LOL

I planted the last of the sweet potato slips I had raised....only to have them hit by frost the last 2 days. I am hoping that dead leaves is the only thing that died on them. I think the eggplant got nailed also, but if that's all I lost, that's not bad.

I picked some rhubarb and added it a casserole we were having as there wasn't enough to really do anything else with.

I picked cucumbers and we had them for supper.

I repaired our trellises to the gardens with what I already had.I used red yarn I had from my yarn stash to tie the tomato plants to the bamboo poles and trellises.

Planted peppers,strawberries, onions, broccoli, cauliflower,basil,cilantro,rosemary, chocolate mint, peppermint, spearmint and more tomatoes in the gardens and pots..

We gave 4 flats of different plants to a friend who just had her 7th daughter.

We gave 5 flats of different plants to 3 of our kids that are trying  to garden and put fresh food on the table.

I went through my seeds and gathered what I want to plant this coming week/weekend.

I went through the produce that was in storage in the upstairs and brought it down to the kitchen to focus on using it up and looked up some new recipes for using it. One that will be tried is spaghetti squash as hash browns.

I set the big dehydrator up so I can deal with the last 4 pumpkins this week. I'll cut them into pieces , bake and then peel and then puree in the food processor and then dehydrate...THEN grind to powder in the blender and store in mason jars. I use it in powdered form a lot fast that way since it's just us and I don't want to open a pint of pumpkin. Easy to toss powdered into sauces and stews also for a bit more nutrition.

We ate from home, though I did buy some things from the deli at the local IGA  for over the weekend as we going to be gone 2 days most the day and I knew our habit to whine "we'll have to cook" would cause us to buy out.I chose things that were on sale and then got 5 cents off for bringing my own bags and fuel pts.  Good thing I did as Hubby got sick and I was asleep on my feet when we got back in both nights.Would have costs us 3 times as much to order out or get fast food than what I spent Helped us limp through the weekend into this afternoon (both of us still battling feeling ill) when we finished it for lunch instead of the order of pizza and chef salad we would have went with or fried chicken from the local restaurant.

I went to Aldi's for my fruits and vegetables. They have good food a lot cheaper than other stores.I got $3 off 2 different packages of refrigerated ravioli that they will no longer carry. They don't sale well here.

 I shopped Krogers for the sales and moved our grocery day from Thursday to Friday so we could get double fuel points. I had over $25 in coupons and clearance there.

Still about 1/4 under budget, we run mid-month to mid-month. WHICH was good as the printer DIED and that's not something we can go long without and we went to physically see the one I picked out to order on line at a store we were going by anyways between deliveries to the kids and found one like we used to have that was over $200 for $110(about $50 cheaper than the one I had planned to buy). So I paid for it out of the grocery money and STILL am under budget. That money now goes back for meat in the fall.

My older daughter gave me some skorts that a co-worker was getting rid of, they were big on my daughter so she knew they would fit me. Means the fabric I just bought can be saved for later or used for something else. A couple of the skorts still had tags on them.

I did/do have 2 stress fractures in my feet...I have tape and knew how to deal with that. Will have to get new shoes as these are definitely worn out and no longer supporting my feet. I try not to wait too long because I do get stress fractures easy (bones in ball of feet too close together) and KNOW better.SO buying a new set of every day shoes is on the to do list this week.

I'm still dealing with issues of my nose....see the ENT doctor on Friday and hopefully (probably wishful thinking) he can do something about the constant blockage on the left side and the bruising that turns even my right eye lids black and blue. I thought the first round of surgery had dealt with the issues, seems like it just transferred the problem to the other side of my nose even though BOTH sides were fixed. LOL  The BLESSING is I do NOT have nose bleeds any more...probably just jinxed myself.So the expense of tissues is WAY down.

I have cut the electric bill down again. Even the landlord was shocked as it's NEVER been this low in over 10 yrs. I think I just walk behind my Hubby and unplug and turn off things.

I continue to use the water filter pitcher for our drinking water and coffee makers instead of buying water.

I used the empty water jugs to fill for emergency water. Figured I wouldn't be making coffee in the coffee maker if there was no electric to run the pump.

I started putting back distilled water for the humidifier for this fall and winter. Figured I could pick up a case (3-1 gal jugs) a couple times a week I should have enough to get a good start this fall. It takes 21 galls a week during Dec - Feb. BUT by keeping the humidity up, we can keep the heat down and we don't have the sinus problems either.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Blessed be

2016 International Year of the Pulses

Which is dry peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas. Check this out for more information of eating Mediterranean.

http://oldwayspt.org/community/blog/8-ways-eat-mediterranean

A cook book my son suggested and I love is Italian Country Cooking  The Secrets of Cucina Povera by Loukie Werle. My favorite being Pancetta,red wine and radicchio risotto.

My Nonna (actually my great uncle's mother in law, my adopted by heart grandma) was from the old country...Italy...Northern Italy. They raised cattle so beef there and here. Meals are more "earthy" in the north than the south that has access to the sea and it's food. More cream and butter in the north with more tomatoes and salads in the south.

I loved and felt more at home at Nonna's than any where else. Looking back I know it was the lifestyle and the food that I was comfortable with.

My parents grew up eating beans, fried potatoes if they had it, bread....and if they had it,milk gravy and bread or oatmeal for breakfast. My Dad never saw a day that there wasn't something on the table to eat.My Mom wasn't so lucky. There was time neither of them got anything for Christmas or their birthdays but felt lucky because the family was together and could sing together. Other families during the Great Depression didn't have their families together.

In that, Mom wasn't much of a cook, Dad actually was better, being the only boy and the middle child he was taught by his sisters(his mom was disabled completely), Mom taught me to read a recipe, Dad taught me to cook without one.

Nonna....raised poor, married poor,  and lived a different way.I learned about frugal meals that were flavorful and healthy. How to grow vegetables that my parents had never heard of and how to preserve them.

Now that I'm older I understand that the convenience of our food has caused our health more harm than it has ever given with easy it was suppose to be.

Check out oldways

May 7th , my frugal week

Rascal My Garden buddy. He will stay with me even during the hottest part of the day so I set my timer to make sure he (and myself) get a break from the sun and get a good drink of water. I can toss his ball that he usually goes no where without into the shade and sometimes he will just lay there with it as long as he can see me

Volunteer garlic, ended up being 30 plants I transferred to another garden as we were digging that old one up completely and had moved what herbs were in it to another garden.Makes up for the garlic that didn't grow over the winter. I do better with fall planted garlic so we will see how this goes.

Kira, or Miss Kira as our daughter that talked me into going to the no kill shelter that thought it was closing its door to get her due to her being a black lab retriever like our daughter's late dog and being named Kira like her....She is her daddy's girl. IF he is sleeping she is either in the room beside the bed with him or at the bedroom door. She check on me but she prefers to be protecting her daddy.





 We went to auction and got most of the plants I wanted/needed. What we didn't get we got at an Amish green house (low priced), our local hardware store (had a sale) and Walmart (on Sale). We had to buy potting soil for straw bales and garden dirt for the sq ft gardens that needed redone . Kind of kicked our rears for not buying the garden dirt last fall when it goes on clearance but since we were buying so much the manager discounted it for us.STILL we came in under budget for the gardens compared to the last 3 yrs of about 1/3 rd.

 I stopped looking at the sales ads from the local grocery stores when they come in. If I don't NEED anything, I'm not going and seeing something on sale triggers the "might not find it cheaper and have to go without" even though there is no place for it...Hoarding is NOT good . Pantry and freezers are full.Frig isn't crowded.I am trying to use up some condiments that we don't use often to get them out of the frig and NOT restock them.

I did some ordering using coupons, sales, swagbucks... I got some patterns of clothes of the style I prefer to wear that was on clearance, saving 80%. I saved 50% off my order for nonfood pantry items and we saved 50% of getting our lawn mowers fixed and regular maintenance by having one of Hubby's coworkers do it instead of the local shop. Hubby doesn't do that type of thing.

We have to buy drinking water here as the well water even ran through a whole house filter system isn't fit to drink or even using in the coffee maker. I found my old water filter pitcher, got new filters for it and ran water through it. After figuring out the price of filters etc we will save about 50% using the filter. Since we don't drink cold water I don't have to deal with it taking up space in the frig.

We ate out twice, once with friends and the other while going to auction, both times using coupons and then got ice cream...not with coupon.

We didn't throw out any food...nothing. Usually something slips by but not this week.

What have you done frugal?

Blessed Be

May Goals

Strawberries 

Rhubarb

Vegetables

I plan to be harvesting strawberries and rhubarb. I plant to plant these vegetables and more (this is only about 1/3 of what I plant). Friday we will be going back to the Amish produce auction to hopefully be able to get the last of the vegetables we plant as it is a lot cheaper to buy it there than even the green house.

I plan to eat more from the pantry, eat 5 veggies and 3 fruit a day along drinking more water and walking the perimeter more often with the dogs. I plan to start back up on my yoga that I had to quit doing while dealing with the nose issues.I plan to be better organized about our meals. I don't think I can do the cook today, left over tomorrow as our one son does because Hubby takes leftovers for his lunch. I will have to make sure I prep as with the gardens going in and everything else, I won't want to walk in the house at 4 pm and wonder how to get dinner on the table by 5 pm when everything is frozen. I do have an Instantpot that two of my kids rave about their own. They forget to thaw and it seems to save them from eating out. One is single and the other is a family of 7 (or more depending on how many friends are at the table).

I plan to continue "decluttering/down sizing" what we have and deep cleaning and winterizing as I go.

I plan to finish getting stuff to start using the smoker that is attached to our grill and to use BOTH regularly.

I plan to create a picnic area close to the grill, an area for the portable fire pit and deal with a couple areas that we step off the front porch that is starting to be a mud spot instead of a grass area.

I plan to do my sewing on a regular bases. No sense having the fabric if I'm not going to use it.

I plan to start working on some afghans that the family needed mended and crafts for the Christmas gifts and new great grandson that is due in Aug.

I plan to paint the room I want to turn into my craft room.

I plan to get out of bed earlier as I think I am starting to over sleep...after of years of not sleeping well, the nose surgery side benefit was I can stay asleep. I didn't have sleep apena, was tested for that more than once.

I have a some classes I want to do that are available when I can work them in.

Have a Great May.

Blessed Be

Friday thoughts

I keep a copy of this picture (from somewhere on the internet) on my frig. WHY? because the kitchen looks close to the one I grew up in and loved (20 x 24) with a 40 inch range,(Mom's uncle built the house originally for the preacher). The woman looks like my Nonna and the apron in my favorite design of aprons.Mom had the dish drainer on the left  and Dad built a cabinet under the sink.

Mom passed about in Nov 2012 but I still have Dad, he has dementia but is doing well enough to still be living on his own.

I don't miss being a kid, life was very rough while I grew up. But I miss the routine of the home.Something I have struggled with since running a home when I turned 13 is getting my own routine of home care that I refer to as Home Blessing.

When the kids were little, no problem, when the kids were teens, no problem. When I worked out of state 2 wks out of every month for 8 yrs, no problem. When our grandson lived with us for a year, no problem.

Pushing 60, just the two of us and two dogs (four legged kids) BIG PROBLEM .

SO if you have the same problem, no matter what your age...you are not alone. NO PROBLEM

Frugal week and Amish produce auction

I got these on clearance for $4. The two red ones are my son's

I picked tulips for my kitchen window (in picture) and bathroom counter.

Dad let me dig these up in his yard last fall so I planted them.They didn't bloom well due to the weather. If I can get them growing better next year I will share them with my kids so they can have a part of their late grandmother and Dad.

My son gave us a pork loin since I had helped him do yard work at his home. He paid for my gas to come down (cheaper than hiring help) and bought me lunch which provided lunch for Hubby to take to work also. I made pork chops twice, a roast and cubed some for casserole. We have had 6 meals from it. Well worth the $8 he paid for the loin. He thought I would get 2 meals from it.

We cut the electric by 1/3 compared to the same time as last year.

We cut the heat by almost 1/2 of when we first moved in 5 yrs ago. I have 2 more rooms to deal with and it should come down farther.

I canned 4 pints of beef broth left over from a roast we had (bought on sale and put in freezer last fall).

I cut rhubarb from the garden and used it for a sauce for the pork roast and for dessert. This is the first from the gardens.

We went to the Amish produce auction for plants for the garden. Heavy turn out of people, not so much for the plants. The cold snap did a lot of harm in this area. We did get some lettuce, cabbage, bell and hot peppers, tomato plants and candy onion sets. The big tomato plants (3.5-4 inch pot that stood 2- 2.5 ft tall and had blooms cost us $3.50 average but we didn't pay over 25¢ per plant for the rest of them and most of them them was closer to 5¢ a plant, except the onions, that came out to being 1¢ a plant.  Candy onions are a sweet onion that store decent. I usually buy 100 lbs or more in the fall and put them in storage. They usually cost about $50 for 100 lbs. I got enough to grow that plus have green onions for the season and supply my kids (and probably their friends) for less than the cost of the 100 lbs...about half the price if not less than that as I estimated how many sets are in a flat.

I transplanted 4 sweet potato slips from the potato slip mother (as I call it) and  I have about 6 more to find places for.

I transplanted 2 "twigs" off the rose bush that Hubby dug out last fall and tossed in a pot of dirt. One looks good , the other not so much but it might be okay.

I transplanted a maple tree twig that I had started last year by seed in my one sq ft garden. It's about 5 -6 inch tall. I really hope it takes off well as it's from the tree the landlord's grandfather started and planted . That tree isn't going to last much longer and I've be trying to get a tree started from it the last 5 yrs.

I am to the point I can plant my straw bales, when this next weather system gets by. Tstorms and wind for the next few days.

I cleared a couple other sq ft gardens and will finish making the list of what still needs bought. I know I am going to need to get some garden dirt as I had a couple beds needed to be completely cleared due to an ant hill in them. I did that battle last year also.

I went to the store and got a few odds and ends, mostly fresh produce that won't be bought this summer. I spent less than $60 which keeps up in the budget of $300 every two weeks. Nonfood is coming down, since I started stocking up when I have coupons and sales instead of waiting until we need it.

Blessed be

Frugal week big time last week

I turned off the furnace during the day and a couple nights.

We went to a near by community that was having their yard sales. We were able to get a couple tools we needed to replace, some odds and ends for the kitchen that needed to be down sized since it's just the two of us and I found 3 skirts, 1 skort and 1 pr of cropped jeans for a total of $9. The one skirt is a favorite style so I will make a pattern from it also.

We had 2 coffee makers die but with luck we found another on clearance and was within the budget I had set for replacement, actually it was $25 less.

I used my coupons and got a shirt from Kohl's so I only had to pay taxes on it.

I used my coupon at Jo Ann fabric and got 50% off some sewing items I was out of.

There is a small grocery store that we shop at once a month for the sales...last week was a HUGE score. They had buy 2 get 3 free.... I got...

2-3 lbs of skinless, boneless chicken breast and got 3 free.. came to be 1.20/lb

2- 1 lb bacon and got 3 free ...came to be  $1.96/lb

2-1 lb kielbasa and got 3 free  came to be $ 2.11

2-14 oz smokey links and got 3 free ...came to be $1.60 ( I use this for entertaining in BBQ sauce or pigs in a blanket wrapped in homemade bread dough)

2- 12 oz smoke sausage links (like hotdogs) and got 3 free  ...came to $1.60( we take some to a friend's home when we do cook outs together, I cut 1 up for baked beans or 123 pasta I make)

2-8 oz shredded cheese and got 3 free ...came to $1.26

2- 12 oz light and fluffy noodles and got 3 free...came to 94¢ each

We also got...

5 lbs of russet potatoes, 5 lbs of red potatoes, 3 lbs of yellow onions, 2 lbs of baby carrots, and 1 lb of celery hearts in the buy 2 get 3 free so each was bought for $1.20

2 lbs of deli ham (chipped chopped) and got 3 sides free...$2.85 . We ate this for our lunch while checking yard sales since we had the coolers with us. Lot cheaper and healthier than the local fast food

I got 10 lbs of chicken leg quarts for 59¢ a lb I made 7 qrts of broth off this also

I got a turkey for 69¢ a lb (Half the price it was at Thanksgiving) I made 7 qrts of broth off this also

I got portibella mushrooms 2 for $4

I got pasta 10 for $10

and milk for $2.50 a gal

I got points for my fuel card ( 36¢ , kind of like Kroger's)

I got 30¢ off my total bill for having my own bags.

By time it was all done and over with I had saved 50% on what I bought, I had a few items that wasn't on sale.

Freezers are full, pantry is in good shape, staples are in good shape...


Blessed be

Nasty weather, my garden and it's affects on my budget

There is snow drifting (not a lot, just enough to see it) down from the sky and it's below freezing outside. Great during the winter, but it's April 9th 2016 and I have plants that were growing and started to bloom before this hit.

A couple weeks ago we had 5 tornadoes in 1 day. Last year we had 7 during the season. Makes the local weather people worried about what is coming...me to as Hubby is a weather spotter.

Our local weather station has forecasted that we will have a warmer than normal late spring and a strong thought of warmer summer with temps reaching 90-100s and possible drought.

 I have to change what I plant and where to deal with that possibility. That means it will be doubtful if I can get any fall crops either as they require the cool temps like spring crops to grow.

Hubby and I looked at each other and he asked what the battle plan is ....he used to farm and he knows what this type of weather can do to the budget. Due to my health issues I have to EAT my nutrition NOT swallow a pill or drink something that has been processed.The old fear of running out of food before the next season curdled in my stomach.Been here and done that. I know I can carry us at least one full year from today. Yes we would go without some veggies and fruit so I need to focus on those, but over all we would be okay. Can I take us into 2 years.... MAYBE...That is what I have to look at.

I'm not thrilled that the 200 plus spring bulb garden even though covered won't be blooming this year even though we covered them (wind blew cover off  repeatedly)...but that's part of spring flowers. Plus I didn't spend much money on them as most was what was some where else and I dug up and moved.My summer wild flowers a 35 ¢ package took the hit hard as they weren't covered. I doubt if the rose bush or the lilac tree blooms much if at all. I don't want to think of the apple trees that have budded at my favorite orchard.

My fall planted garlic, my rhubarb and my strawberries are still covered. I won't uncover until the temps stay above freezing. Still I know they won't produce as much or as well.IF I can get the covers off this week.

Horseradish was left uncovered. We had planned for this to be the final year of growing it. With Mom gone , there isn't enough of us to eat it to make it worth the garden space it takes.

With "winter" hitting again, by time it warms up it will be closer to our summer planting in May ...no spring crops means that won't be on the table or in the pantry. I can plant some green onions and lettuce and maybe some radishes in pots and put on the front porch where they will get the morning and early afternoon sun and I can move to the north side of the porch into the shade during the heat of the day.

Knowing the forecast for a drought possible...I know meat prices will rise...they need rain to grow the feed for the life stock and for the life stock. Some will sell now to try to get what they can and not take any losses.I have that part of my budget stretched.

I don't just grow what we eat fresh, I grow what we eat during the year until the next growing season and sometimes in to the following year. Example 2013 was a bumper year of everything , 2014 was good with beans but not at the norm for root veggies or tomatoes. Last year was even worse and it was everything. I also grow for my own seeds and last year I didn't get a lot of seeds.

The Amish produce auction I go to will be limited, I don't know how well they were able to protect the plants they grow and  they only sell their surplus produce AFTER they have canned or dried what they are going to eat as they live from year to year like we do.

Farmers that sell their produce or life stock for meat and orchards that I pick my apples from will be limited.

That's just the food.

That drought means we have to be more careful with how we water the gardens even though we are on a well. We are careful pretty much on how we use our water from years of being in the city ( we lived where it was expensive and I really wished I had been reading The Prudent Homemaker blog at that time). The last thing we need is to run the well dry.

With temps 90-100 °  I will have to refocus to make sure the house stays cool (electric is very expensive in this house) to limit the use of the central air which I will need if the house temp goes over 85 °. Hubby will use the window AC during the day while he sleeps (3rd shift worker) along with the ceiling fan, he only sleeps about 5 hrs a day. I don't use the central air often even though it's only for the first floor. I need to get the landlord to have it checked out before the heat hits.I will have to recheck my fans and make sure they are in good shape also.

Both of our dogs are pretty much all black fur, I'll put a baby pool (which means I have to replace the one we have had for the last 5 yrs) of water in the garage for them to lay in as that's Rascal's favorite way to cool off and when it's really hot Miss Kira will stand in it. Miss Kira takes to either laying with her face into the fan ( I keep on in the front room) or laying on the vent( when its blowing cool air, Rascal does it when it blows hot) in the front room (until we see her and then she moves like she wasn't doing anything she's been told not to do. He doesn't move until you nudge him).

Usually in the warmer months I have sheers and light weight curtains up because we usually have a nice breeze...10-15 mph. with 20 mph gusts. I use window fans in the east windows to blow in and window fans in the west winds to "blow(suck)" out to create a wind flow in the rooms we are in and that helps cool the house. I binder clip (friend gave me over 1000, when they shut down a plant and was going to throw everything in the dumpster at $500 a load. By time he was through they didn't even have a full load...negative side of that, he is now in charge of most of the closings they do) the top part of the curtains together so only the bottom half (if that much ) is open to let the air move through the house. Afternoons the south and west side curtains are closed completely until the sun isn't on that side. A couple years ago I put foil up on two of the south windows to keep the heat out.

I'll be using the grill more...to keep the heat out of the house including my canning (water bath canner works well on a gas grill).

I usually am in the gardens in late morning through the afternoons...with that kind of heat I will have to do the garden in the early mornings...big change to my summer routine.

This week I will spend looking at what to plant and what I need to prepare for the worst...and pray for the best.

Blessings be

What did I do this week?

Really I look around and wondered.Nose surgery recovery is going very slow but each day is better except when the low pressure triggers me...which is about every 3rd day right now.

I got the laundry done here at home in my wringer washer. SO we saved $80 from the laundromat.We went every 2 wks and had 14 loads. Regretfully our weather here in northwestern Ohio isn't being nice and I still can't use the clothes lines. I did dry some on the drying rack to help with running the dryer.

I ordered some fabric that was on sale at Joann's fabric. Most the time I prefer to not order online because I prefer be able to touch and see the fabric. BUT my recovery isn't up to driving 30 miles , shopping a couple hours and then driving back. SO I ordered online and found that I saved more than the shipping (or gas) would have cost me.I will be sewing skorts at least from this fabric. I still have aprons to make. I still have to primer and paint my sewing room. Everything is scattered in the other 2 rooms upstairs until I do.

I used baking soda to do some cleaning. Not sure if vinegar would trigger any issues yet and not willing to go backwards in recovery.

I pulled some of my sweet potato slips off the "mother" potato and put them in water to let the roots get bigger before planting them. The "mother" potato started growing more slips....GOOD because I had 3 "mother" sweet potatoes that didn't do anything but rot. The "mother" is from the sweet potatoes I grew last year.Type is unknown, the Amish gentleman that sold them to me didn't know, was what his grandpa (3-4 generations back) had raised.

I traded my son my small vacuum(comes apart to make a hand vacuum) that I was getting rid of for his dust mop that wasn't doing will with his grout in his kitchen. The dust mop has a washable head. He's happy also because he can use the hand held to defur his furniture from his cats.

We went out to eat with a couple that are close friends that are retired, they are frugal like us. We went to Hong Kong buffet (splurge). I had coupons for us and them to use. Even after tip it was less than a pizza from our local pizza shop. We go every 2-3 months during the cold seasons. During the summer when we are gardening it's more of eating at each other's house instead.

I reread Amy Dacyczyn's Tightwad Gazette...I have all 3 books, well really I have 3 copies of all 3 books. Thought my 3 kids could inherit them when I die and doubted if they would be in print when I did die.

We have a friend that burns old oil of any type in his shop heater. We gave him what we were holding for hazard disposal (we have to pay for it) from when we deep fried turkeys at Thanksgiving.

I have some volunteer flowers that have sprung up that I will dig and move later for either my own gardens or one of my kids. Might just put them in a pot to sit at the door on the front porch for next year.

Between sales and coupons I saved 30% at the grocery store, didn't get everything on my list even though I was under budget because of the store changing things around. Still we aren't going without anything. The money I saved is now in a savings account.

I wrapped my coins while down and took them to the bank. That money is for Christmas.

I started my Christmas shopping.... I started with the dogs since I had coupons and there was a sale on some things they love. Was lower than what I spent last year by half.

A friend that is living in Ireland right now , got me a discount on a nutrition class. It was $630 and she got it for me for $35. It's online and not as easy as I thought with the tests. Did you know that craving chocolate could be a sign of low iron? ME either.

We did realize that with me down,we don't nickle and dime the budget. AND we checked to see why that was...if I get hungry I have to eat immediately or I go down, if we are out and I say something about getting hungry Hubby immediately thinks buy food...I can't just eat anything with my Crohn's so it makes it harder. We have found since I've been pretty much in the house that I get hungry around 10 and again at 2 (tea time) and still eat dinner at 5. So for now on we know we need me to take something that I can eat (not protein bars)  if we are going to be gone during those hours. PLUS we have found that he will buy things for projects, not use all of it and forget to return it within the time of returns. He is going to bag it now and put it in his truck so he sees it and remembers to return it.

Blessed Be

Frugal April LOL

April 1st I went in for my debridgement (nice word for cleaning out my nose HA HA). WELL, that was an experience I wished I didn't have to do again but most likely when I GO BACK in 6 weeks , it will happen again, it's what the doctor warned me of. Just not as bad. I still have 2 stents (thanks for that freaking news) that I didn't know about that wasn't ready to be removed.

ON the frugal side. Between our ins and our flex spending acct, the costs are covered. Our ins will go back to paying 100% after about $500 more co pays( we already have this amt saved ) and we will only have to cover prescriptions, eye and dental but nothing MEDICAL.So we'll be checking with the doctor over any Big ticket tests etc that we can get down this year to save us money next yr.That is being frugal.

Yesterday we talked about me going back to work outside the home (Hubby's running joke is I do work outside the home because we can't fit 1400 sq ft of gardens IN the home). Bottom line with his income we would lose more than we gain especially if I work some where there is health ins because his company won't pay for me if I have the option for ins some where else.

We also figured out that I save us $200/ month on veggies and fruit with my gardening (after expenses) and I was able to cut the budget by $300 a month since I am home and can do somethings instead of paying for it to be done.   That is more than I would bring home part time. I do some surveys that I can increase some of my time for to see it that will do better.

We canceled the Directv awhile back and now are going to put that money directly into savings.

We are going to take rebates and coupon savings and put that in the savings instead of leaving it in the checking to spend on something else.

We will be eating from the pantry to clear out the freezers and clear some shelves in the pantry BEFORE the harvest starts coming in. I need to inventory everything to see what to plant and what needs built up in storage.

I will be taking the grocery money for the gardens and processing needs .I already have paid for all my seeds that I didn't save from my own plants last year. April 15th we go to Scioto Valley Amish produce auction to get spring plants for the gardens.

Our non-food budget is twice of our food budget. We are still working on cutting that down. I've cut down on printing, can scan and send some things or take picture of and send through my phone or email. That has cut that area almost down to 1/4 of what it was. But still there are areas that could do better.

One expense is going to be bug spray. Ortho Home defense is what we use here. It's the only thing that works to battle the spiders and ants we get so bad.I will use what ever is left from last yr on the outside and new on the inside.

I noticed inventory on paper goods is running low so I'll watch for coupons and sales for it.

I just got some fabric on sale online to make some skorts and shorts for myself. So sewing ...when I can wear my glasses for more than 10 min ( face still swells from surgery) I'll start my sewing and mending.

Blessed be

April Goals

I hope to be fully recovered from surgery before mid-April but did list things that I can do if I am not up and around much.

Daily: Flylady  habits: shine my sink, 15 mins decluttering, Get dressed with jewelry,and make the bed.All of these I do most days anyways.

Food:  Each of us eat 2 1/2 cups of veggies and 2 cups of fruit,eat from the pantry. I need to
inventory all 3 deep freezers, refrigerator freezer and pantries.I'll know if I need to get any staples in but at this point I don't think so.This will also let me know what we need to grow this year.

Gardens: condition straw bales(doing straw bale gardening as an experiment especially for growing potatoes)  refresh square foot gardens and till the in ground garden section. Prepare and plant pots.  Plan gardens based on what we need (which is why I need an updated inventory) for storage and what we are going to eat as fresh only. Armenian cucumbers for sure. Weed flower gardens and check on herb gardens Amish auction where we get most of our plants from is April 15th.

I will start picking up canning jar lids and supplies, for my vacuum bag sealer a little bit each time I go to the store.

Education: I have a nutrition class twice a week the month of April, taking a class of norm for me but this one has extra homework that I'm not used to so I will have to allow Homework Time also.I have down loaded a couple books on finances I want to read and a couple other "classes" that concern gardening and such.

I found a pattern for a skort which is what I prefer to wear in warm weather. I will have to get material for it this coming week. I need to catch up the mending I had planned to do while down now that I can wear my glasses so I can see what I am doing.I have an apron I prefer (based on 1940's canning apron) and will be making a pattern of it to sew more.I have worn out the aprons I have even though they aren't what I prefer.

My flowers are not coming in much yet, so I might if I find a good sale buy a couple more bouquets before May. We have a local florist that has sales pretty regular and has shown me how to make them last a couple weeks.Last batch I got from her lasted 3 wks. Not something frugal (she charges $15 and uses my vase) unless you count it's cheaper for me to be happy there is flowers on the table than depressed and back in for meds. I have S.A.D. so I save up through the "sunny" months to pay for "sunshine" items through the dreary ones.I was hoping my daffodils would be blooming before this bouquet died off.

I am still working on getting a good routine for the home blessing and garden work and food processing. I think the change is going to be me getting up earlier.

We have increased our savings and plan to pay off another bill with in the next 2 wks. Our goals of the last 5 yrs when we lost over 70% of our income for over 2 yrs(and our home) was to rebuild in 5 yrs. We had 28 debts and are down to 5. We decide to not buy a home in this area because when Hubby retires we won't need to live here and can move closer to the kids, grandkids and great grandson (due Aug). We are paying less here on the farm than if we were renting an apt.plus our landlord is okay with my gardening. He usually ends up with some of it anyways.

We have maintained the retirement even when we lost everything else. We could have borrowed against is but we wasn't willing. We can work and go without now instead of having to work in our 70s. We increase that amt every Jan.Better off than others our age but not where we want to be.

We have decided when we retire to living in about 1400 sq ft.with a 2  1/2 car garage or a 2 car garage with an 8 x 10 shed. SO we have chosen to start clearing this home(we rent 2200 sq ft, 2 1.2 car garage and about 20 x 30 storage) so a yr before we buy we are already living in that amt. We measured here and I know what rooms  have to be cleared.If I stacked what is in the storage up like I would a storage unit I could get by with a 10 x 10. This downsizing part will start be actively worked on  weekly starting the first week of April.

Have a blessed week.

Surgery update Celebrating

Why? First the surgery went very well and I didn't end up with the black eyes like I was warned I would have. Second after 2 wks I can wear my glasses. Even though my Doctor made a plastic bridge so I could, my face was too swollen for me to wear it.I can't read, drive or go outside in sunlight without glasses,I wear 4 pairs. I wasn't smiling in this picture because when I smile, my glasses slide down my nose, need to get those adjusted LOL. Recovery has been harder than I was prepared for and I still have the debridgement (final cleaning) for my nose on Friday. I was warned I would probably go backwards in recovery for 7-14 days.

On the frugal side, we didn't go anywhere except appts and one trip to the store to get more "quick" foods for Hubby to fix while I was down and to get more tissues as I had went through the first 10 boxes. For the month we remained on budget including the extra supplies needed due to the surgery and recovery.

We bought take out twice, both times fed us 4 meals for less than $5 a meal and I had actually figured on twice that amt in the food budget while I was down.

The car maintenance budget has taken a big hit, my son's car's front bearing is going out, he brought it to us for our mechanic to fix (his mechanic is having surgery) and I gave him my car and took his to our mechanic. The next day we had to call our mechanic and ask if we could drive it because our truck's fuel pump went out. So the mechanic brought us our son's car (can get back and forth to work last night but that's about it) and the fuel pump was ordered and should be in the truck today so we can once again get my son's car the to mechanic. MEANTIME my son calls and starts telling me things he found wasn't working right on MY car.Most of it Hubby can deal with if son doesn't go ahead and do on his own. I haven't been driving much since last fall and the car kind of sits. If Hubby didn't have to have a way to work I'd sell it but since his truck is a 1998 I'm not comfortable with it being the only thing here. Work is a bit too far away for him to be walking, let alone down a highway to get to work and he's the only one working 3rd in this area.

Blessed be

REALITY sigh

Feb 14th my reality became a sever nose bleeds  2-3 times a day with passing large clots...GROSS.

Got into on an emergency appt to primary doctor, who immediately scheduled me for ENT but that was 2 wk wait.SO now it's March

ENT doctor sends me to CT Scan which was a 1 wk wait.

Get CT scan and back to ENT doctor on same day and then schedule surgery...

First it was suppose to be March 24th (3 wk wait)...then the hospital blocked out that day so it got moved to the 29th ...meantime nose bleeds are starting to last about 30 min a couple times of day. ENT doctor is worrying that I am going to need to go through the ER to get surgery due to the stress it's causing with my heart failure.

THEN MIRACLE...someone canceled and I am going in the 17th...

Dealing with the bleeds and trying to get things done so I can be in recovery without a total mess on my hands or Hubby's as he get homeblessing and cheffing for 2 wks until I am recovered enough to do it. Has been hard with NO energy due to bleeding and not being able to breath right.

Main thing was the ENT doctor took one look and said we are fixing the problem right the first time (YES)...Reduction of turbinates (think filters for you nose) deviated septum straightened and rhinoplasty to fix the nose that has been broken and now turns black and blue when I wear my glasses because of how crooked it is. I wear glasses all the time now days. In fact I have 4 different pairs I have to wear depending on what I am trying to do. Sitting at the computer I can zoom if needed. He will be using a hard plastic bridge on my nose so I can wear my glasses while recovering.

MEANTIME trying to stay frugal.....Been eating at home mostly, not a lot as there is no appetite.
Did some decluttering so I won't be looking at it when I am down and can't deal with it. Helps with the depression.  Picked up some sour hard candy that is suppose to help with dry mouth and the taste of drainage. Had to buy some foods ...soft foods and medical supplies that was needed. Still we are in budget for the month since we know what we are eating while I am done.

Frugal also is the surgery was scheduled (17th) to reflect that Hubby wouldn't have to take off a whole week of work (lower paycheck as it doesn't include his shift pay or his EMT pay or his TL pay).

I already cooked a turkey and bagged the meat. Each bag will make 2 meals so it gives us 2 options of what we are eating. Tonight is ham, I will slice and dice leftovers and then but some back to grind for ham salad and scalloped potatoes and scrambled eggs. Bean soup also....I will be roasting a prime rib (in freezer, Christmas gift) for Monday(slice and dice it also) and having pork chops on Wed as that is the last night for 2 wks I can actually chew solid food and it's my favorite. Hubby might have to pick up some odds and ends and we have some friends that are willing to step in and help especially like laundry as I refuse to let him touch my wringer washer except to do maintenance.

I am going to gather a few things around that I can do that is sitting (and I don't have to wear glasses for) and I already down loaded books I want to read to my Fire Kindle. I have a list of things to do so when I whine I am bored Hubby can check it and remind me of what I wanted to get done.

I will do a good home blessing on Tuesday and Wednesday we will do the laundry and get the last of any groceries we need. Thursday morning I will do our finances (normal routine) and spend some time rubbing nuzzling my dogs as that won't happen for a bit.

I'm looking forward to getting this done as this is the 2nd time I've had surgery for my nose (31 yrs ago ) and I remember the pain of the packing, breathing through my mouth dryness and the pain of having the the packing removed...let alone my daughter that was 1 smacking me in the face pain....I am still ready to do this...hope the rest of my body agrees including my Crohns as usually stress triggers it big time and it's already complaining of the drainage with blood...

Blessed Be

Being Frugal when ill

It's very hard to do any kind of work when you spend 2-3 times a day with a sever nose bleed. Seeing ENT doctor today with hopefully a solution to the problem. Our humidity is at 45-50% so it's not dry air or blood thinners as I haven't been on them for a year.I am looking forward to answers, I am not looking forward to a very painful exam.

So in the last month what I have done to be frugal  is the following

Groceries came in $14.39 over budget.I need to focus on coupons and sales better for non food things. WHICH is pretty well stocked up except for the dogs stuff. I saved the average of 16.11% Goal is to be closer to 25% AND under budget.

We needed clothes...I've been hitting the thrift shops but not finding anything in our size or what we would wear. I'm looking at 60 and don't want to look like I am wearing something that belongs to my granddaughters.It's been almost 5 yrs since we bought new clothes beyond underclothes and socks and I wasn't looking forward to doing it. A friend clued me into retailmenot and freeshipping. Pretty much set for the next 3-5 yrs (HA HA) except for pants for Hubby (short legged) and pants/shorts/skorts for me. I got a lead on a pattern for skorts so I might end up making my own unless I take my favorite skort apart for a pattern. End savings for for clothes 76%...yes really I shopped clearances and sales, used discounts  and freeshipping. NOT only that but actually found tanks that I LOVE instead of just taking what I can find at the price I am willing to pay AND they were cheaper than what I usually spend. Kohls and Walmart online were the best I got. IT was even cheaper than the thrift store on some things.

I sorted the pantry, have one area yet to go through. Found I had things I needed to use up and some that needed to go on the list to buy when it goes on sale.

I saved a repair call , we have a frig that will freeze up a couple times a year, the repairman that is a friend said it's a character fault of the beast. Since I really like my frig and don't want to replace it , he showed me how to deal with it and save a $100 repair bill. While dealing with this I cleaned it very well and reorganized it so I had a place to put a container of fruit, a container of potatoes cooked for home fries and a half sheet with lid for when I make 1 sheet pan meals and want to prep in the morning.I put condiments together in bins also.

I decluttered 2 rooms (300 sq ft) and hauled it to the kids that wanted it. The plan is to only be using 1200 sq ft in this house by the end of summer so we can adjust to a smaller home when Hubby retires in 3 yrs.  I didn't have to pay for it to be hauled away AND I got to visit with the kids and grandkids.

We decided to try straw bale gardening this yr and give our north garden a rest. Plus with the way my health has been, it should be easier for Hubby to maintain if I go down,again, some more, what ever.
Bales were running around $4.25 so after putting it out we were looking for around 36 bales a friend offered to sell what he isn't going to use for $2 a bale.

Hope you are having a  Blessed Month

Frugal things I did this week 2.1.2016 thru2.7.2016

On the first, we went to the local store. Every few months they send out coupons that are good for certain weeks. I try to go on Monday when it starts.  While I was gathering the items with the coupons and checking sales on meat (frozen chicken breast was $2.33, cheapest I've seen in several months and we have been out for quite awhile now PLUS ground beef 80/20 was on sale for $2.88 where it's been running around $5.39)...anyways...Hubby always checks the discount carts...most time this is very good and being frugal...Monday not as much as it should have been as he picked up  11 different breads and 3 different cakes. Neither of us eat a lot of bread let cake. SINCE they were discounted they aren't going to last long and I specified we didn't have freezer room or frig room for much....SIGH. BUT I won't argue with him over such things in the store.

Still he saved me several hours of bread making and desserts and has came up with ideas and even a couple recipes to use it up. He saved $48.32 on all of it. We lost one loaf (so it's $46.33) savings. He had sat it on the dining table in the sun light and with being in plastic it produced moisture and then molded by the next afternoon.  Now he understand what I don't let much of any food sit on the dining table.I had moved it back to the kitchen twice and he moved it back.

We got gas for his truck using our fuel rewards from the store and saved 50¢ a gal.

I did our taxes online instead of going to the local office which saved us over $200. I was a bit  worried even though I used to work for H &R Block of doing it myself with all the new rules and such.

I found a cheaper place to get my printer ink (thanks to Jen),inkjetsuperstore.com and to check retailmenot.com  for the coupons first.

I made 1 lb of red beans into soup and made it last 3 meals. Soup,fried potatoes and onions and white corn bread. Beans and rice  and then beans and rice burritos for the last part. We ate odd and ends the rest of the week of things that needed used up ...like bacon (SMILE)

What did you do this past week to be frugal?

Blessed Be

February goals

To cut the non-food amt spent to 2/3 rds of what it is running now. I don't think we can get it any cheaper than that because of the softener salt and filter we have to buy being out in the boonies. Still I will try.

I am looking for a cheaper place to buy printer ink.

I will combine sales and coupons which I started this month.

We will eat from the pantry. January we ate out 4 times and I bought Chinese from the store (so I count that as eating out). We would like to bring that down to 3 ....as facing  Valentine's day  and our anniversary this month. I know we will eat at least once at the local restaurant for Lent as they have a great fish special on Fridays.

I put together a coupon book to keep better track of my coupons.I arranged it in the order of how I shop instead of alphabetical.

I downloaded a savings tracker http://thecouponproject.com/downloads/savings-tracker/

I am putting together a grocery price data workbook that will include my inventory. Goal is to buy at the cheapest and keep track of the inventory without going down and doing a count every month. Plus if possible (my friend that I call Guru) have place were it will let me know I should buy if on sale or a need now.

Hubby would like to retire in 3 yrs. So everything we do know needs to reflect that. Not only financially as in finishing off the last of the debt incurred when he went to 3 days a week for 2 yrs but in the home as of right now we rent a home of 2200 sq ft and use a 1 1/2 car garage, 2 stalls in the pig barn (no animals on the farm any more) and over half the farrowing house which would be 3 10x12 storage units. We want a  2-1/2 car garage and 1400 sq ft with a basement...lots to get rid off.

It's still too cold to plant here but I am hoping towards the end of the month I might be able to plant some lettuce and such in containers that I can cover when it's cold.

Blessed be

Frugal end of Jan

Looking back of the past month I see some improvement on being frugal.

I fixed a pair of pants.

I started 2 more sweet potatoes to make slips to plant this spring. The first two got nasty and had to be pitched. I've never had that happen before so I don't know what caused it.

I ordered the last of my seeds using coupons. I want to order candy onion sets from a local green house yet.I will most likely buy my spring plants from the Amish produce auction.

I combined sales with coupons to get a year's supply of vitamins and 6 mos supply of other vits that I have to take due to my Crohn's . Crohn's can stop you from getting nutrition from the food you eat.On top of I live in Ohio so my Vit D is low to begin with because we don't get the sunshine to keep it up.

I got my doctor to send my prescriptions to a mail order instead of the local pharmacy and saved there.

I baked bread so we didn't buy any.

I repaired my bread board that we use to cut the bread on.

I canned 7 quarts of applesauce and made 5-1/2 pints of apple butter out of the peelings and cores and then mixed the apple "juice" with the other juice we had in the frig.

We ate mostly from the pantry.

Blessed Be

End of Pantry Challenge 1.31.16

We didn't waste food and very little went to the compost also. We looked back and realized that we went from Dec 24th until today eating mostly from the pantry.

KEY WORD....MOSTLY...SIGH

Out of 5 weeks we ate out 4 times and I count the time I bought Chinese out of the freezer section as eating out since I normally make my own.

That's an average of once a week....

We ate once at Bob Evans as I had a coupon from them .Saved $9.47

We ate once at Perkins as I had a coupon from them for my bday .Saved $8.56

We bought take out at Davis meats (smoked rib lunch) that actually fed us 2 days.

We bought Al's pizza with a chef salad (and then I listened to my son lecture me about buying fast food that I can make at home) with the excuse we leaving the grocery store and very hungry and Hubby was going to already be  2 hrs late getting to bed so he could get his sleep in to go to work. That excuse didn't work with son HA HA.

I bought the Chinese at of the freezer section at store because I got sick while in the store and knew I wouldn't be cooking and I can eat Chinese when I am sick...

Two of the times we wouldn't have ate out if I hadn't had the coupons...

We were able to stock the staples back up because I wasn't buying much food beside perishables.

PLUS we were able to stock a lot of non-food up since "Food" money wasn't being used.

I also did a lot of use left overs for second and third round dishes that stretched the pantry...not that my pantry needs to stretch as I maintain a pantry to feed us at least a year if not pushing 18 months.

Blessed Be

Being frugal

We have been eating from the pantry mostly all this month.

I have changed my shopping to focus on using coupons with sales or mark downs. I have now started my routine "route" in the store at the clearance rack that is on the far side of the store.

I have a friend that is making me a grocery price sheet (he calls it a data base)that will also show me lowest paid and then will allow me to use it to make a running inventory of the pantry etc with a possible buy on sale and need to buy now spot on it for my grocery list. He is getting ready to retire in the next year and is looking at doing this kind of thing for individuals . Works for both of us.

I have dehydrated the last of the eggs except for what we will  use in the next month, if needed I will dehydrate more so we don't lose them. I used the dehydrated ones in my baking this week.

I've used mostly of what we have at home for fighting this sickies that we have been battling. I know I will have to be checking coupons and sales to replace what we have used up.

My doctor wanted me to see a specialist for nutrition other than the one that is local and Free for us, our ins would not pay it and the costs was hundreds. So the FREE nutritionist contacted the one the doctor wanted me to see and they suggested a study course. It usually runs around $500....that was on sale online for 50% off.Another nutritionist just happened to have the catalog with the code for 80% off and then I got additional 20% off the total because I ordered more than one course and it totaled over $100. I ordered courses (not covered by ins) that my two doctors have been wanting me to change my lifestyle to. Works better for me because now I don't have to drive 1 hr each way for the classes AND I have a DVD and book that I can use, not just a 4 week class of twice a week. I used the money we saved from eating from the pantry to pay for it.

I ordered the seeds I need for this year using sales and coupons. I have some of the lettuce seeds I gathered last year to replant this year.

Blessed Be

Day 25 of Pantry challenge

We have one more week from today of this challenge. I pretty much can say we will be eating out MAYBE tonight because we have a coupon for a free meal for one at the local restaurant due to my birthday last week and it expires tonight and we are next to nothing on the dog food. I think Rascal's ball is eating also since I find it in the bowl several times a day.

Other than that the menu is planned out.

Thoughts so far, I bought Chinese out of the grocery store freezer section when I first got sick (still am but getting better every day and I hope I didn't just jinx myself) I counted that the same as eating out because usually I make my own Chinese except egg rolls and pot stickers ...that's on my to learn list. We ate out after going to Sam's club to get baking supplies using a coupon for 50% off one meal , we used it at lunch and got the cheapest meals on the menu since we like everything there it wasn't a hardship at all. Last Friday we got take out after going to the store and running errands and found ourselves struggling to finish the errands...and BOTH of us was horribly sick. The local butcher shop smokes ribs on Friday for their lunch special, we got that and it fed us for 2 days, which we both spent covered up and hacking.

Lessons learned so far....when I am busy processing produce , we run for fast food, when I am sick we run for fast food, IF Hubby is sick, I make soup LOL....Taco Bells, Wendy's , Subway and pizza (with chef salad, we eat the salad BEFORE we eat the pizza)is our stand bys, sometimes it's fried chicken from a local restaurant (bets KFC ) though it doesn't beat Mel-O-Dee's in New Carlisle OH.

SO to combat that I now have sub buns and lunch meat in the freezer, taco supplies of assortment (Hubby is a crunch wrap and I am tostada,Mexican pizza, hard tacos, soft tacos, etc) Hamburger patties I formed and froze along with those buns. AND I dug out my Tightwad Gazette that has a  5 min pizza crust recipe. I can make the crusts in the morning and prebake( I prebake anyways) and just add the topping later that day.

For some reason we usually eat salad when out or ordering pizza but I struggle to put it on the table regularly. I think it's because we don't add the same ingredients to our salads. SO on that line I will be planning an area in the frig for "salad" toppings when the lettuce starts coming in a couple months from now.

What did I buy this month?

Dairy:Milk( on sale bought 2 times as much ), heavy cream( marked down), half and half (marked down), buttermilk (on sale),butter (OUCH), cottage cheese,yogurt,sour cream, some sliced cheese (that was half off for the freezer and frig).

Dry goods: tostadas(on sale),assorted sizes of tortilla wraps(coupons), Sub buns (coupon plus 50% off) hamburger buns (marked down, note this is now on my to make my own list).

Meat: bacon (coupons and marked down and on sale SCORE,) ground pork (coupon and marked down) bulk sausage( on sale and coupons).

Veggies: ice berg lettuce (cheapest), green onions, ( I use both green and white parts) celery, carrots, colored bell peppers (green one trigger my Crohn's)

Fruit: Avocados (on sale)

Stock up: 25 lbs of all purpose flour, 25 lbs of granulated sugar, 2 lbs of yeast, 13.5 lbs baking soda, 35 oz of corn starch, 60 oz of baking powder36 oz sea salt,2 gals of white vinegar, 1 gal of canola oil, 3 lts of olive oil, 5 lbs of yellow corn meal,25 lbs of parboiled rice, 8- 30.65 oz coffees (on sale and with coupon for each)4-6 lbs 9 oz (#10) cans of tomato sauce (on sale ...possible pasta sauce or pizza sauce), baker's special dry milk and easy roll dough improver.

What we saved on food , we spent of stocking up non food I now have enough laundry soap(well , the stuff to make the laundry soap) and dish soap to go a year. I have enough body soap, shampoo and conditioner, lotions, and dental items to go 6 mos.

There are things I see I need to be taking care of more (which being sick all winter and worse through this month isn't helping) and some things that just need to go away. I did quit buying Velveeta mac and cheese and Hubby has requested that it be stocked. He uses it like Hamburger helper when I am sick (NOW he tells me).

Blessed Be