Category Archives: Saving Money

Saving Money, Watching my pennies

Use-It-Up-April 30, 2016

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I pulled 2 bags marked “wings” out of the freezer and thawed them.  They were marked 2014 so I was hoping they were still good.  They were quite frosty and I was hoping that they were not freezer burned.  They weren’t, but imagine my surprise when I poured them into the crockpot and some were chicken wings and some were turkey wings!

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I made a sauce with the 2 little cans of orange juice I found on the shelf, soy sauce, green onions, and the last of the honey from the bear.  I then let it cook all day in the crock pot.  It turned out great.  We ate it for dinner that night, some on salads a couple of times, and today I made chicken and dumplings from the rest of the meat.

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I got some cream cheese that has been lingering in the refrigerator drawer and had expired last November.  It was perfectly fine.  I made a cheesecake with 3 packages of it for tomorrow’s family Sunday dinner.  I also thickened up some peaches with cornstarch and a little sugar for a sauce.

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For the last 2 years, the OSU Extension booth at the county fair has been giving away free lettuce seeds.  I got some both years, and also got a huge handful of the packets after the fair was over as they were not saving them for the next year.  I have been using them up as they are old seed, but am planting them thickly in case some don’t sprout.  As you can see, I am still getting a lot of them to come up.  This year, I have bought only a very few seeds.  My sister and I are both using up our old ones.  We will plant more things this coming weekend.

Honestly, it seems like the more I use from the shelves and freezers, the more shows up!  Kind of like my belongings–they keep multiplying, too:)  I will keep plugging away at it for the next few weeks before we move and hopefully won’t have as much to pack as I do right now, but there will still be a bunch left over.  That will come in handy when we get to our new place.  I am deliberately using the oldest items, and the odd ones, so what I pack will be good and desirable when it comes out of the storage unit.  That’s the plan, anyway.

Saving Money, Watching my pennies

Saving Money–April 23, 2016

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We had quite a bit of wood stacked up that we didn’t use this winter to heat our home.  We’ve been working all week to move that wood over to my sister’s house.  If our new house has a wood stove, we will use it.  If not, she and my brother-in-law will.  All of the wood we have was cut by us, split and stacked in places where we got a free permit, so it cost us labor and fuel to get.  It saved us a lot of money to heat with wood, so we are hoping we can do the same in our new home.  Time will tell, but at least we have some wood to use if we can.

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We just threw it on the trailer and unloaded it into a pile over there.  We have a lot of wood to cut on our property from the logging we did last fall, but won’t be able to get it cut before we move.  So, we have been letting friends cut, chop and split it, saving them money.

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We worked in the garden at my sister’s.  We got 4 large tomatoes for $2.50 each at a local garden store.  We took Walls of Water that we’ve had for years, and Rob and Ja’Ana cocooned them so they hopefully will survive.  I hoed, weeded and sprinkled slug bait around the plants that are growing and the baby lettuce, spinach, etc. that are coming up.

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Every time we went over there, we did at least 2 things.  We moved a load of wood or other items, worked in the garden, Rob had an electrician look at where we are going to park the camper and made arrangements for the correct wiring so we will have enough power, and a few more things.

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I’ve been slowly emptying the right hand compost bin into buckets and taking those buckets over to my sister’s.  We put scoops under the tomatoes we planted, under all the cabbage and broccoli and around the onion starts.  Any extra was put around raspberry plants or just dumped into the general garden to be tilled in.  I don’t know how much I’ll be able to carry over that way, but I love using the compost I’ve worked so hard to make.

Rob had filled several feed sacks with barn cleanings from the chickens.  We took them over and sprinkled them where we will plant winter squash to improve the soil.  I had 3 bags of old coffee grounds for gardeners from Starbucks that I sprinkled on the carrot row.  Coffee grounds are  said to help prevent wireworms and I did see improvements when we used the grounds here.  There were a few carrots coming up, so I crumbled the grounds carefully on the row because I know more will come up and I don’t want to make it hard for the tiny plants to pop through.IMG_2459

I had a friend from out of town visit.  We went to Costco together–fun!  I got my new glasses.  I’m delighted so far.  I can see great for 1/2 the price I paid last time.  I shopped for my sister, too, saving her gas.

I got some boneless skinless chicken.  We have been eating out too much, because things are so topsy-turvy here.  I hope it will help make fast lunches so we can eat at home more.  We ate all meals here today, which felt like a triumph.  Rob barbecued chicken and we have food prepared for tomorrow’s Sunday family dinner.  I still have a few gift cards to use when things get down to the wire with moving, but want to save them until near the end now.  Rob did bring a picnic one night when we were working in the garden, so that helped.  I made a roast in the crock pot one day and we will have the rest of that in the next couple of days.

Both younger girls had orthodontist appointments.  We were able to change things so they were both on the same day to save gas.  (It’s an hour away, one way)  They had an extra dance practice because a recital is coming up.  We were able to share a ride with a friend and save gas.They both had eye appointments this week, too.  They will both be getting new glasses.  Their glasses are covered by their medical cards.  Our children who we have adopted from the foster care system have always been given medical cards until they are 18 as part of the adoption assistance program.  We have supplemented that with personal insurance so they have been double covered in the past (except Patsy since she isn’t adopted yet, so only has medical card).  So, we don’t have to worry when our insurance ends, they will still be covered.  Lovana has insurance through her work, so no worries there, which is a relief.  Now, just us……but we’ll work it out.

I got a medical test done while I’m still covered.  I’ve almost got everything done that will catch me up and give me a breather until we figure the insurance thing out.

My visiting friend wanted to try some Chinese 5-spice, so instead of her buying a bottle, I gave her a bit from mine.  I’ve only used it one time in the recipe I bought it for, so I’m more than glad to share.  I also shared some fish sauce I had. Once again, she has a recipe to try.

 

Saving Money

How We Earned So Much Money At Our Barn Sale

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Recently, we had a huge barn/yard/tool sale.  We made a lot of money.  I wrote about all of the things we were able to buy with the money, and what a blessing it was to us here.

A reader asked me if I would write up some tips that helped us do so well.  So, I picked Rob’s brain, since he is actually the one who knows all of the tricks and tips for a successful sale and did most of the work for this, and most, sales we have.

  1.  Gather your items:  The more stuff you have, the more money you will make.  This seems obvious, but it’s common sense.  So, gather items from anyone–friends, family, from the side of the road–anywhere you can to get a good amount.  We have found that people often don’t want to have a yard sale of their own, but are very gracious to donate to ours, especially when it’s a sale to benefit 4H or another organization.  Sometimes they just want it out of their house and are glad to donate it for any reason, just to make it go away.  Clean out your cupboards, drawers, and outbuildings.   Rob and I spent a great deal of time doing this for the past several months, but most of what we sold this time came from outbuildings and his shop.  We had everything from the ends of rolls of wire, to fence posts, to chicken fencing for a pasture, to rabbit cages, to chicken waterers, a few large tools like a table saw, and many assorted nuts, bolts, screws, and other such things found in barns and shops.  Although those items were the main items, I did not hesitate to put out several boxes of household items I had weeded out, plus several boxes of homeschool books I no longer needed.IMG_2453
  2. Location:  Rob chose to have this sale at our house, in his shop.  There were too many things to move to another place, and people will drive a ways to a barn/shop sale because they want the useful items associated with that.  When we have had sales with mostly household items, we have usually taken it into town and held the sale at his mom’s house or a friend’s house so we can get more traffic.
  3. Timing:  We chose payday weekend, mid-month.  People have more money to spend at the beginning of the month, and mid-month then at the end of the month. We chose spring because we are moving soon, but that is a good time for a sale because it is not too hot, as long as it is not super cold or rainy.  It is also good because people are starting to get outside and do their farm work and may need supplies for new baby chickens, etc.  We had gorgeous, sunny days both Friday and Saturday.  That was a blessing from God- we could not control that, obviously:)  We have had sales in the past for ourselves and to benefit 4H where we did not do well because it was too cold or rainy, or too hot.
  4. Pricing:  We price everything.  People need a starting point.  Then, we bargain.  Rob’s advice is to ask yourself if you really want to get rid of the item.  If you don’t, take it back into the house.  If you do, price to sell.  It’s not worth as much as you think it is, with the exception of items that have great value for some reason.  Those might best be sold individually on Craig’s List, or E-bay.  Rob had a few things he put out that had prices he would not go below, but most of it he wanted gone, and he priced it accordingly.
  5. Cash box:   Of course, have plenty of change on hand.  People give you $100 bills and you need to be able to break them.  Take extra money into the house and put it away when your cash box gets loaded.  A cardboard box works fine, as long as you have a way to find your change.  Decide ahead of time if you are going to take checks or not.  If you do, cash them as soon as possible.  Have an adult man the cash register, not a child.  It’s too easy for them to get confused under pressure.  When you are very busy, people don’t want to wait for a child to have a money -counting lesson, as us homeschoolers are apt to give at times like this.
  6. Presentation:  The items should be laid out in a manner that the people can get a good look at them.  The floor should be swept and clutter free, as much as possible.  Things under the tables should not be sticking out because people might trip on them.  Rob put up lots of tables and we arranged things on the tops and underneath.  He had his men friends and our nephew help him bring things up from the barn to the shop and a lot of things were arranged outside the shop so they were very visible right away. Piles of fence posts were stacked where they could be easily loaded onto trailers.   People expect barn items to be somewhat dirty, but household items should be as clean as possible.  I washed a lot of dirt off of a lid of a container full of Duplo blocks, and we figure that act earned us $5-$10, since we sold the container full for $25.  If it had stayed dirty, people would have either walked away, or offered us much less.  During the sale, as places on the tables got emptied, one of us would re-arrange things so the gaps were filled in.  On Friday, we sold double what we sold on Saturday.  So, there were huge gaps to fill as time went on.  Rob and Steven (nephew) even went down to the barn and cleaned some more very early Saturday morning and found quite a few more items that could be sold.  That helped fill in the spaces nicely and gained us more money, and now we have less stuff left over to deal with.IMG_2449
  7. Be flexible:  One man came in and asked if the cupboard on the wall was for sale.  Rob said it could be.  The man offered $100 and Rob said for my nephew to get the screw gun and they emptied the cupboard and took it down.  If we were not moving, we would have kept the cupboard, but the point is to think outside the box as to what could be sold.  He sold piles of old wood that he had sitting around.  He sold tubs and waterers that were quite used, but still useful.  For the entire 2 days, he only got to sit down for a few minutes at a time, he was so busy wheeling and dealing with the hoard of people that came to the sale.  We are still selling things to people who decided to come back and see if “it” was still available.  We’ve earned another $20-30 at least, so far, plus an additional $350 for items that were pre-sold and just now delivered and paid for.
  8. Advertisement:  Rob made wonderful signs, which I wrote on.  He went out early the morning of the sale and put them around in strategic locations where people would be led to our sale.  He build sandwich boards to set up at intersections.  He advertised on Craig’s List both mornings.  He put it on his Facebook.  He took detailed pictures of the items for sale, and listed them out on his Craig’s List ads.  People did take notice and came for those items specifically.  He also listed contact information and people called or texted for more info, when they desired it.
  9. Adequate help:  We had lots of help lined up, both before the sale for set-up, and during the sale.  One day, my aunt ran the “cash register” for the morning, and a friend did it the other morning. After they went home, we took turns.  It was quieter in the afternoons.  My nephew helped load boxes, ladders, posts, wood, tools, and other items into people’s vehicles both days.  Rob’s mom and Lovana helped serve them lunch the day I was gone, and I did it the other day. I helped him price items for a couple of days ahead, and he worked on it for hours for several days.  Without all of this help, he never would have been able to set out as much stuff, and he IMG_2454needed the help with the amount of people that came.  As it was, he hardly got a bathroom break or lunch, both days.
  10. Clean up:  I will bundle the rest of the books into boxes and take them to a used homeschool bookstore to see what I can get for them.  The rest I will donate.  We are under a time crunch because we are moving.There is a horse rescue organization that is coming for the rest of the items so they can sell them for their fund raiser.  Rob had thought about taking the remaining shop items to an auction, but has decided to donate it all to the horse rescue place.  There are one or two things that he will try to sell on E-bay or Craig’s List, as they are collectible or valuable in some way.  He just thought he’d try to sell them here first, as it is easier than listing and shipping something.  Consider having another sale.  Last time we had a sale, we did it in town at Rob’s mom’s house.  We sold a few hundred dollars worth (you earn much less for household items than shop/barn items) but had some leftover.  I decided to put on a very short (1 Saturday morning only) yard sale at our house with the leftovers.  I actually earned around $70 just for that morning’s time.  Everything was already priced, the cash box was loaded, etc.  My oldest daughter came out, and we visited while we sold things.  Then I donated the rest.
  11. This sale was more lucrative than most, mainly because we had so much stuff to get rid of since we are downsizing so drastically. We have had good sales before, though.  We have also had disappointing, discouraging sales.   Some things you can’t control, such as the weather or amount of people that show up.  But, a lot of things are in your control.  Hopefully, these tips will get you on track for a productive sale soon.  We know we are thrilled with the results of ours.
Saving Money

Saving Money–April 16, 2016

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Rob had a huge barn/tool/shop sale yesterday and today.  He had this many and more cars both days, all day.  It was a big success.  We sold pile after pile, box after box, item after item.  It was a huge blessing to us in several ways.  First, we got a lot of money that covered some things we had to pay for.  Second, we do not have to move that stuff or find a place to store it. Third, several people took the opportunity to stop by that we have not seen for quite a while and we got to visit in-between customers.  The most exciting visitor we had was a childhood friend of Rob’s who he has not seen for years.

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We came to an agreement with the county and forestry department regarding the replanting of our hillside.  You can see the big piles in the picture.  There are 15 of them.  One of them is finally burned.  The other 14 are not.  We have put in probably 100 man hours or more to try to burn them.  They won’t burn.  They are too wet.  We have used several hundred dollars of diesel and every relative and friend who shows any interest in helping, and they still won’t burn.  So, the buyer wanted the hillside replanted to keep the forest tax deferral.  After talking to many people on the phone, and being told he HAD to burn them or else, he finally got to the right person. The “or else” was that we would have to pay the back taxes to get it out of forestry deferral.  That would be at least $5,000.   The agreement reached was:  Plant around the piles.  Plant 1,600 trees on the 4 acres.  We could plant 200 extra in an adjoining area to over-compensate so it would not lose the deferral for sure.  If they want the piles burned, they can do it later when they are dry, or leave them to compost in the new forest and be homes for animals, and enrich the soil.

Then, it was a job to find any trees because it is late in the season.  Rob found them, and a willing tree planting service.  They were planted yesterday.  For $1,300.  We are doing a happy dance.  This could have been a deal-breaker, and now it’s not.  It could have cost $5,000 and it didn’t.  We thought it would be $2,000 to re-plant and it wasn’t.  Praise the Lord.

I haven’t had new glasses or an eye exam for several years.  All of my doctors wanted me to have one, and have been “encouraging” (nagging) me to get it done.  I did yesterday.  I went to Costco.  It is about 1/2 the price I paid the last time I got it done.  Now, I’m hoping the glasses hold up as well.

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Our 4H club gave us beautiful flowers and other lovely gifts I mentioned last week in this post.  I just wanted to show how nicely the flowers are holding up, and how gorgeous they still look.

We checked out movies and books from the library.  I cooked a lot of meals at home.  I fed several extra people this week that came to help us with the sale.  I guess even one of the people who came to the sale ate here yesterday while I was gone:) (according to Patsy).  I’m guessing it was one of our friends:)  I’m working through a cardboard box of food items my sister and I picked out while cleaning that needed to be targeted for quick use.  We have one in the freezer and a basket so I know to grab and use those things up.

I combined errands and did 2 appointments yesterday, and we were able to get enough people to help Rob while I was gone.  We had double the business yesterday than we did today, as often happens at yard sales.

The transmission in the Rav4 is almost fixed.  There is one more switch that is bad.  Our mechanic friend did not charge us for labor, which was greatly appreciated, but the parts were costly.

We earned enough at the sale to pay for the car parts, my glasses, and the tree planting, and had $5 to spare.  We feel very blessed.

 

 

moving, Saving Money

Use Up Some More!

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I am getting more aggressive about using things up.  It seems that the more I use, the more I find.  In the past few days, I have been able to make some progress on this project.  I dug in the cupboard and found a bunch of assorted cupcake wrappers.  I made zucchini muffins with mini chocolate chips in them.  I didn’t use them all, but did use a bunch.  Some of those muffins are in the freezer for this weekend.

Another thing I made was a large crock pot of soup.  I used every vegetable I could lay my hands on, frozen broth, and some frozen turkey meat.  I even used a can of potatoes someone had given me maybe 8-10 years ago.  It was fine.  We had the soup for dinner one night, and will have it for lunch tomorrow.  I probably emptied 7-10 cartons from the freezer during this process and for dinner that night.

I also made pizza, using up several odds and ends of gluten-free flours for the crust. I used jars and cans up for toppings and sauce.

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Ja’Ana made home-made play dough for Jake when he was with us for a couple of days, recovering from a bad cold.  She used up a bunch of salt, and some regular white flour that has been around for several years, since I’ve cooked gluten-free for a while now.

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While cleaning, we found some Kool Aid.  I’ve had it for years.  I cannot remember the last time we made any.  Ja’Ana used it to color the play dough, and then has made up 2 packages during the last couple of days.

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Jake loved it!  He would not stop pounding it with that little rolling pin long enough for me to take this picture.  We have a few toys we kept when we were sorting.  He just got out some of those and used them for his play dough.

I have thawed out some chicken burger and some pinto beans that I cooked a while back and will made a small chili-type soup tomorrow or Saturday.  We have a few people helping us on those days, as we are having a big sale, so I want a little extra food prepared. I used up 2 brownie mixes I found on the shelves.  They were both very expired and tasted absolutely fine.

I threw out some frozen zucchini from 2011.  It’s not worth moving.  No matter where I live, zucchini from 2011 is not worth keeping.  There will be lots of fresher zucchini that people will be begging me to take.  Trust me.  People leave it on church and house doorsteps all summer around here:)  (Clearly, I am preaching to myself.  I hate throwing food away, but I have too much of some things)

I felt like I made a lot of progress in just a few days.  My next step is to empty the small freezer under the kitchen refrigerator in to the big freezers I have left, and that’s going to take some more freezer space……..That fridge is broken and won’t come with us to my new house.  Because the freezer below it is on it’s own motor, the freezer works fine, but the fridge doesn’t.

 

 

Menu plans, Saving Money

Menu Plans–Use It Up Project-April 12,2016

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I am going to combine the use-it-up post and the menu plan post, for the sake of time today.  Clearly, I am a bit behind in the game anyway.  Yesterday, we ate leftovers, and I packed a lunch for work.  The ones who were home, ate here for lunch.

Since we accepted the offer for the house on Saturday, and if all goes well we will be moving in about 6 weeks,  I am now feeling more urgency than ever to use up things off the stockpile shelf and freezers.  Rob had invited several men over on Saturday to help get ready for a sale he is having this weekend.  I was able to use macaroni, hamburger, a can of beans off the shelf, 2 small jars of tomato juice/drink that had been around forever and made chili mac.  I also made mac and cheese (homemade) while I was cooking for dinner and the week.  I used up several jars of home-canned goods in the last few days as well.  I took burger items, including home-made pickles to my sister’s on Sunday.  I’ve been using the bread from the freezers, as well as corn and a bunch of popsicles I found.  Of course, we continue to use frozen fruit in smoothies–my kids eat countless smoothies.

We ended up bringing Jake home with us on Sunday, as he has a bad cold and his mom and sister had important doctor appointments and his dad had to work.  So, his menu plan has been Cinnamon Toast Crunch (he’s eaten 1/2 of a box so far), bacon (his favorite), apple juice and a Happy Meal on Sunday night.  Pretty easy!  Our menu plan has been leftovers so far:)  I need a menu plan even more when I am so busy, so here goes!

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He’s feeling much better now, after being catered to for 2 days by everyone in this house, because we all adore him!

Tuesday:  Tacos, green beans (I will be driving Jake home, and picking up Lovana from work—not at all near each other–so will be gone for several hours around dinner time–so will cook it earlier and leave it for everyone or have some of them eat early)

Wednesday:  Crock pot  pork roast cooked with carrots and potatoes (working until 5:15-30 and then leaving for church immediately–Rob and I decided to do a 10 week Bible class together–loving that!)

Thursday:  Lovana has to work a lot of extra hours this week, so I don’t think she will cook.    We are gone until 6:30 doing dance with the  2 other girls, so I’m guessing leftovers again if we didn’t eat them for lunch.  Otherwise, sandwiches.

Friday:  Rob is having a sale and there are going to be lots of extra people helping.  I also have 2 appointments that I still need to take people to.  So–Chili in the crockpot.  Needs to be cooked Thursday, and just keep warm in there so people can dip out what then need at any time.  I also have some frozen cornbread from last week that I will thaw.  I want to make a large veggie tray and will do a large fruit crisp for both days.  We have a birth-mom visit for Patsy at a restaurant that evening, so we will eat there.

Saturday:  I will do sandwiches.  I bought a large package of lunchmeat at Cash and Carry and have frozen bread.  I will also do veggie tray and the leftover crisp.  Other than driving Lovana back and forth (total of 2 hours of driving), I will stay home and help Rob.  There will also be some extras that day, helping.  For dinner, we will do leftovers.

Sunday:  Family meal—we haven’t figured it out yet.  I will communicate with my sister via email and we will figure it out soon.

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I sure appreciate my right-hand helper during these busy times!

Saving Money, Uncategorized

Saving Money–Week ending April 7, 2016

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Today, we accepted an offer on our house!  Now, we just need to wait until things move along for a couple of weeks and then we will be packing in earnest.  The plan is to be moved by May 25th.  Although we have worked for many, many days pre-packing and organizing, I know it will be a big job.  As long as things go as planned, I will teach piano through April, have a recital, then stop teaching so I can pack fervently for the 3 weeks of May that I will have.  Everything will be put in storage, except things for our immediate needs, which will be in the camper.

In the meanwhile, my sister’s husband got the garden tilled up over at their place.  Patsy and I spent the afternoon with my sister, planting early vegetables.  We planted broccoli, onions and cabbage as plants.  We planted carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach, boc choi, and some basil and cilantro from seeds.  I took 4 buckets of good compost from my house and we put a scoop under each new transplant to encourage growth.  After watering in the seeds, I put slug bait around all of the newly planted areas and plants.  I’m so excited that I get to do a garden with my sister this year!

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It’s too early around here to plant things like tomatoes or peppers.  We will get going on those in a few weeks.  In the meanwhile, I plan to let the rain water these things and am going back over in a week or so to see if I need to weed.   They are predicting nicer weather then, after a few rainy days.  Rosalie will keep an eye on things in-between, since it’s at her house.

We had our last 4H club meeting.  It was not held at my house so mine would stay clean.  It was a lovely day, but full of emotion.  They gave us a basket of presents, including yummy things like chocolate and peanuts, as well as a big handful of gift cards for the movies and Subway.  There was a funny pillow that said, “The house was clean yesterday, sorry you missed it!”  I laughed over that.  I will say that after 30 people or so go through your house, it is a bit of a mess!  There is a possibility that we will continue next fall, it just won’t be at this house, so they were thanking us for having it here for so many years.  They gathered around us and prayed for us, as our future is still unknown to us.  (Everyone’s future is unknown, ours is just so obviously unknown right now!)

During the day at 4H, I received a text for another showing.  I had cleaned and spiffed up before leaving for 4H, but ran home and cleaned for another couple of hours and then we took off to use some of the Subway gift cards, together with coupons, for our dinner.  By 9 p.m., we had our offer, signed things electronically yesterday, and do not have to spiff up anything this morning before church!  I feel as free as a bird, for today, at least.

On Saturday, Rob invited several men over to help him continue cleaning up outside and in the shop and barn.  He has decided to hold a sale this coming weekend, as it was too much to get done before.  So, they moved things around, organized for the sale, and my nephew mowed the lawn.  Some of them sawed wood to take home with them from the leftover logs from last fall’s logging.  Rob gave several pick-up loads of items away to them, and they were hauled away yesterday, as well.

I have been collecting things from the house, which we will add to the sale.  I still don’t regret taking the things to the charity shop or Ja’Ana’s rummage sale, but I still have sorted out more in the meantime.  What doesn’t sell will be donated.  I cooked chili-mac, salad, a bowl of home-canned peaches, and bought a bag of chips and a $5, 1/2-price, day-old cake from Safeway to serve, as I did not have time to bake.  I didn’t taste it, as it was filled with wheat, but it looked very good.

We enjoyed watching a pileated woodpecker that loves to come to the dead log.  Patsy loves grabbing my phone and taking pictures with it.

 

 

Saving Money, Watching my pennies

Saving Money–Week Ending April 3, 2016

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Patsy took this picture of a Fawn Lily in a park where we took her and 2 cousins.  After we got home, we spent a bit of time identifying it, using books and the internet.  She photographed other flowers, too, and we’ve identified 3 so far.  She seems to be showing in interest in both flowers and photography.  Those would both be good, frugal, useful hobbies for her to pursue, I think, so I want to encourage her.

FullSizeRenderI was able to capture this photo of her in a field of Camas flowers.  There were many, many of these flowers growing wild.

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Jake spent a bit of time throwing rocks into a small stream at the extremely large park we went to. Patsy waded, but it was too cold for Jake.   This park  had several play-sets, a baseball diamond, a track for some kind of derby-car or other kind of racing, and trails criss-crossing  and surrounding it.  We were using up some time in a fun way while waiting for Ja’Ana and cousin Alissa to attend a church youth event.

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I air-dried some gluten-free bread that we found when my sister and I organized the freezers on Tuesday.  After it was dry, I was in a big hurry to get crumbs because I was cleaning frantically to get ready for a house showing.  I just put the bread into a Ziplock and pounded it with my meat mallet.  The first bag got holes punched into it–not from the spiky part of the mallet, but from the dry bread itself.  So, I just transferred it into another bag, and was done in a jiffy.

I cooked every chance I got this week and was able to eat at home most of the time, using the pre-cooked food when I was in a hurry. I packed my lunch for work. We took one picnic with us one time during a showing.  Good thing, too.  Those people stayed at our house for about 2-1/2 hours, so we would have either been forced into eating out or would have been very hungry.  We don’t want to discourage anyone from looking!  While we were waiting for them to leave, I was able to work on my crocheted dish cloth I am making from some cotton yarn I found when cleaning and sorting.

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I dug up about 10 raspberry plants and put them in a pot with compost.  My aunt has offered to keep them at her house under her automatic sprinkler while we are in transition.  This will be enough for a nice raspberry patch where ever we end up, and they will multiply over time.   There is also a little chive plant in a tiny pot that will hopefully make it, too.

I used many frozen items from our freezers and many items from my storage to make meals.  We bought Tillamook cheese for  $5.49/2 lbs. several times.  We bought butter for $1.99/lb last week, several times, as well.  Milk was 99c/1/2 gallon last week, so we got a few of those, too.  I bought lettuce in large packages from Cash and Carry today, a large bottle of ranch dressing and some lunchmeat. I used a $10/off $50 at Safeway and got produce, laundry soap, and a few other things.

We used the library more than usual the last couple of weeks.  It is  a handy, free place to go when the house is being shown.

The transmission has gone out on one of our cars.  Our mechanic friend is looking for a used one, which will help with the cost.  In the meanwhile, boy am I glad Patsy and I cleaned the Camry up so well last week!  I’m double glad my nephew fixed it up so it runs.  It is much more pleasant to drive than it was.  She really got into the project on one of these very warm days we have been having and washed it.  I’m sure it doesn’t know what hit it after being neglected for so long:)

 

 

Menu plans, Saving Money

Menu Plans–Week of April 3, 2016

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Yesterday, we took the cousins and Patsy to a park in Salem, Oregon.  She photographed this lovely yellow flower.  I thought it was a buttercup, and I was right.  What I did not know was that it is a Fig Buttercup and is on the invasive species list here in the United States.  And to think I wouldn’t let her pick any…………

The house showings have slowed down.  I got quite a bit of cooking and eating at home done last week, which is always better on my wallet and my stomach both!  It is so easy to get into some accidental wheat when I’m eating out or to feel very disappointed when I get my meal and compare it to what I would have cooked at home.  Hopefully, we can eat at home a lot this week, too.

Sunday:  Family dinner–chicken, salad, corn, rolls (purchased).  Leftovers for dinner.

Monday:  Chicken soup in the crock pot.  It is fully cooked from Friday, and just needs to be warmed while I am at work.

Tuesday:  I have a late haircut scheduled and a showing that will be held that day–just not sure when, plus many, many other things planned, such as the sewer being pumped and tested, my sister coming to clean some more……So, lunch will be leftovers if there are any or sandwiches or salad with my sister, and dinner will be beef stew in the crock pot, so it’s flexible.

Wednesday:  Barbecued beef steak, vegetable basket

Thursday:  Lovana cook.  She hasn’t for a while.

Friday:  Fish tacos

Saturday:  Sweet and sour chicken or pork

Sunday:  Family dinner:  hamburgers and relish tray (my part)  Potato salad, drinks, etc.–other people will bring.

 

 

Saving Money, Watching my pennies

Use-It-Up Project–March 31, 2016

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On Tuesday, one of my sisters came over and we organized and consolidated freezers and emptied 2 more.  Both were allowed to thaw and will be wiped out.  Then, this one will be re-loaded with items from one of the freezers that I have decided not to keep.  I felt very successful, because now I have 2 empty freezers that I am going to give away on Saturday.  I have explained that the freezers are not new, or energy efficient, but have worked well for me, and both families wanted one.  So, I’m hoping they are a blessing to them, but they are not out any money if these freezers don’t work out for them.

For those of you who are new readers, I have been working for a few months to reduce the number of freezers I have (5 uprights and 1 chest, plus the 2 in the refrigerators).  I have so many because we have been raising our own meat (pork, turkey, and chicken), plus preserving fruits and vegetables from our gardens and u-pick, and buying 1/2 beef each fall.  Now we have our house up for sale, and don’t want to move so many freezers.

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I found some frozen banana punch and a bottle of seltzer.  We drank that for dinner one night.  It was some I have made for parties, years ago, and needed to be used.

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I found something labeled “Chinese Chicken Morsels” that were so freezer-burned I had to throw them away.  Instead, I used some ground chicken that was very old, with some frozen home-made re-fried beans and some cheese, and some chips that were getting a bit stale to make a nacho.  I added some tomato sauce and LOTS of Mexican seasoning, and it turned out ok.

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I found some snow peas I had frozen last fall, about 7 water chestnuts left over from last week’s shish kabobs, and some pineapple from the kabobs, too.  I added celery, onion, and about 4 baby carrots that were in the fridge drawer.  I stir-fried it up with soy sauce, planning to add the chicken morsels.  Instead, it became our vegetable.

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I also cooked some home-frozen corn.  This was a very strange Chinese, Mexican and American International dinner, but everyone ate it up!  Who knew?

We also ate some frozen turkey from a while back in our enchiladas last night.  I had intended to have leftover pork, but that pork was really yummy, so…….turkey it was.  Some frozen chili got used at lunch Wednesday.

Today, our home was shown 2 times, once at noon and once at 3.  I packed some food in a cooler, after cleaning a tidying for a couple of hours and we went off to a near-by town to do errands.  Imagine our surprise when we returned an hour and a half later, and they were still here.  So, we drove on by and sat for quite a while looking at a lovely stream at the end of our dead-end road.  When we returned, they were still there:)  So, we drove on by the other way, and went for a drive.  At around 2 (2-1/2 hours after we had left our home),  we crept up our back driveway, put the warming groceries in the camper fridge, and hid out behind our shop.  They were still here.  Our realtor needed to speak with us about an offer we received (super low, we are countering–in fact, so low I’m not sure anything will come of it at all, but who knows?), so she showed up at 2:15 and told them good-bye and we had our meeting for a few minutes, at which point we needed to leave so the next prospective buyers could come in.  Whew!  What a day.  I think it’s great they came, though.  Hopefully, they loved it!  And, I was able to use up the rest of the lunchmeat, 2 sandwich buns that we found in the freezer, 2 crusts and 2 slices of bread, the last of the lettuce, and some other items.

I was able to get a load of home-canned items up from the basement and have been serving applesauce, peaches and green beans from that supply.

I’d like to take the freezers and cupboards down even more before we move.  On the other hand, I want to maintain a stockpile as well.  We worked hard to raise that meat and produce, and don’t think we are going to be able to raise any more for some time, especially since we are going to be living in the camper in-between this house and the one we buy.  So, it’s a balancing act.  We have places to put the full freezers and I will “shop” from my storage each week.  The camper freezer will hold quite a few items.