The weather became very nice this week and I was able to spend several hours in the yard and garden. The huge pile of debris in the back of this picture is my secondary compost pile. I plan to let it rot down over the winter, rake the non-composted weeds off the top, and spread the nicely composted soil that is underneath since some of it’s been under there for over a year. I love having home-made compost to help fortify my soil. There is never enough!
Patsy clipped off her 3 dahlia plants. They had frosted, so were dead. She put tomato cages over them and piled leaves on them. We have fairly mild winters, so they should make it over the winter that way.
There was another picking of lettuce scattered throughout the garden. Surprise!
We got it really cleaned up. There are still more jobs to do, but I’m happy with what we got done.
I spent quite a bit of time this week helping my daughter, Lovana. She’s back from Hawaii, has a little place rented, and started back at her old job. She is staying with us until we get more things moved in over at the new place, as we only got part of what she has moved over. We went to a thrift store where she got a few things, and I grabbed 3 skirts for Patsy and a bowl, for a grand total of around $8. Some of the thrift stores in our area are expensive, but this one is not. It’s where Rob has been getting clothes in smaller sizes as he continues to lose weight.
We were able to take the kids to a very nice harvest party at church on Wednesday night. They had a lot of fun. Patsy helped run a game and Jake and Michaela enjoyed themselves. On Thursday, Michaela continued her tradition of riding up and down the street in the van with Rob while eating Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. She’s followed the same pattern for the past several years. She never gets out—just enjoys the ride and the candy and dressing up in her tiger pajamas. Patsy took Jake up to the doors to trick-or-treat. They lasted about 30-45 minutes, and then he was done.
I read a couple of library books.
I cooked some items that have been in the pantry for quite some time. I finally shopped for the first time in 2-1/2 weeks and got a few things, but not too many. Some items have lingered around the freezers and pantry for too long. I never seem to use them unless I put a little pressure on myself. A couple of the things I enjoyed were pizza from a home-made mix and some pepperoni that has been lost in the freezer and brown rice/dried cranberry/green onion salad from some frozen rice. Rob used some frozen chili up and Patsy worked on some frozen homemade refried beans. (I will go on record as saying that refried beans never get old at this house. That girl would eat them every day, but it’s nice to keep them fresh.)
What did you do this week to enjoy life while staying frugal?
I love that you’re still getting lettuce from the garden. What a treat!
*We went through household and pantry items to take stuff to our older daughter who just moved into her first apartment. It was a blessing to find stuff on hand that she can use right away and won’t have to purchase.
*We have been conserving gas and not really driving too much. This is a double blessing because the less I go to town and to stores, generally the less I spend.
*We’ve had a few small savings like a few dollars through Ibotta and Rakuten for items that were planned purchases. We also sold an item on ebay that was free to us so that went into savings.
*I have been much better at using up every last piece of food and whittling our grocery bill down to what I suspect is the lowest it will go with my new nutritious eating plan for the MS diagnosis. I am really loving the bone broth I’ve been making from the chicken bones and leftover bits of organic vegetables. It’s really good!
*We got the space heater for the large living area out of storage, and my husband used the Shop Vac to make sure it was clear of dust. We’re trying to only use it first thing in the morning to take the chill out of the living area while the fire in the wood stove gets hot enough to start heating the house.
*I started using the free version of the Every Dollar app by Dave Ramsey. We’ve had a written budget for a long time, but I have a hard time keeping up with the tracking of spending to see how close we come to the plan each month. I started this last month and it’s definitely helping me track the spending in the different categories so we can make better budgeting decisions.
I have a bit more on my blog! https://www.cozyhomemaking.com/frugal-fun-homemaking-for-end-of-october-2019/
It sounds like you had a great week. Thanks for sharing. I definitely relate to the chill first thing in the morning until the fire gets going. It’s been cold here the last few mornings, too!
My garden is in bad shape. We went from 75 degrees to 13 in one day and I was out of town, unable to get the hoop houses up. It was hit hard. We went from hot summer to cold winter in one day. Many of the smaller seedlings died. There is still enough out there now right but I have to hunt for the good leaves under the bad ones. We will probably run out of greens in January…unless we have a warm winter. (Not counting on the weather to cooperate)
My BIGGEST money saver is restoring and painting all of the windows in my house. It has been a huge, tedious job. Today the weather is finally warm enough that I can finish the last one (I hope). As soon as it warms up enough to paint, I am getting started. It will be $7,000 saved because that was what we were quoted for replacement windows.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
I think it’s amazing that you did your windows! I wouldn’t even know how to begin on a project like that, but I would learn quickly if it was $7,000! Go, you!!
Sorry about the garden. I guess you will just get to eat other veggies for a short time until some other ones get going. That’s how it is for us most winters–maybe a few green onions, or a few leaves of this or that, but mostly…mud, mud, mud and rain, rain, rain, bringing slugs, slugs….you get idea…they eat everything tender right off. So, not preferring slugs for dinner, I buy some lettuce.