Tag Archives: Frugal Accomplishments

Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–October 7, 2019

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I can’t believe I found MORE veggies out in that garden! Every time I say, “This is the last zucchini, or whatever,” I find more. Still, I think I picked the last zucchini today. The beans were on a row covered with weeds, but these were down there. The tomato bushes are pulled now, so they really are gone, but there are a couple of cherry tomato plants that are still alive. We have been hit with a couple of light frosts and so things have been scorched slightly, and will die before long, I’m sure. We’ve been having the veggies daily, and when there are none, we’ve been eating canned and frozen. I had a 1/2 head of lettuce and a little spinach we ate as salads.

I roasted one of the 2 –79c/lb chickens I bought on sale this past week. I froze the other one. I made bone broth from the carcass and froze most of it. I made potato soup with the rest. The spots in the broth are herbs that I sprinkled on the chicken before I roasted it.

I went on part of a quilt shop hop. We will not choose to travel the entire route this time. Some of the shops are very far from my house, and I just don’t have enough time to do that. Still, I had a great time visiting the ones nearer to my house, getting some more free quilt block kits and buying some matching fabrics so I can make another quilt. It’s very fun to visit several quilt stores in one day:).

I worked on the quilt I’m currently making. I sewed up 2 of the new blocks I got, just for fun.

Also, Patsy chose some additional fabric for the project she is working on. She’s very new at quilting, so it’s taking her a while, but she’s making slow, but steady progress. Jake chose a Star Wars print, and I will glue a spaceship onto his blankie, using some of that double-sided iron-on interfacing and a zigzag stitch. I’m sure those circus animals will enjoy having a spaceship flying above their circus:)

I read library books. Jake listened to a Boxcar Children book on c.d., watched a Boxcar Children movie, and had me read aloud from …..you guessed it, A Boxcar Children book.

I was able to use up quite a few odds and ends from both my refrigerator and my sister’s, preventing food waste. I will finish cleaning mine out in the morning, I think. If I get time, I’d love to wash it out. It’s a good time to do that when it’s not very full.

I had my mom and niece over for lunch on Wednesday. I made an Asian chicken salad from some cabbage my sister gave me, and potato soup. Then, on the same day, we had friends over for dinner. I made ham, a refried bean and cheese nacho, guacamole and chips, salad and coleslaw. Patsy made double chocolate cookies. I have to admit, it was a bit of a strange mixture for dinner, but it all went down the hatches! Good thing I love to cook:).

My friend brought her 7 children and they moved Rob’s wood pile from where he and Patsy had thrown it out of the van into the woodshed. That was so nice of them to gift us their time to do something Rob simply cannot do right now. The wood was a gift from my sister and her husband as he took down some trees. It adds to the woodpile we have. We are always gathering wood and will be warm all winter with the large stack we have. (If we had room, we would store 3 years’ worth like we did at our other place, so we would always have plenty and we would always have very dry wood. Because this place is small, we only have a little over 1 year’s supply, but feel grateful for that.)

We received several other gifts during the past few weeks. We are extremely grateful for each and every one of them and feel very blessed. Thank you to each of you who blessed us with either a gift of time, or another kind of gift.

outdoor cooking, Quilting, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–September 30, 2019

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Rob made some great dinners this week. One of the things he did was barbecue up a large package of chicken drumsticks. At the same time, he made foil packets with chicken breast, beans and carrots. He always loves to cook a lot at once to save energy–both his energy and fuel for the BBQ:)

I spent most of my week over at my sister’s house, caring for the children, and at the hospital with a sick family member. In between those place, I kept track of Patsy and her schoolwork, giving directions to both her and Rob so she could stay on track. They also got to do the laundry, dishes, and cooking.

I read some library books. I played games on my iPad.

The first day at the hospital, since the whole occasion was unplanned (right?) I was without a lunch. After being graciously offered a couple of bland, tasteless bites of the patient’s lunch, I took a little walk and was able to buy a small trip through the salad bar for only $2.50. The patient immediately swiped a tiny bit of my cheese and a few olives for her tasteless meal, and we were both much happier:). The second day, I packed a gluten-free sandwich and some carrots.

By Saturday, I was very tired and did absolutely nothing except attend a short birthday party, which was held at a restaurant. I had nothing to do but show up. Otherwise, I rested. My brother-in-law ordered Chinese food for family Sunday dinner, so there were no dishes and no one had to cook. On Sunday afternoon, I was more than happy to join Jake on the couch and watch “Arthur” reruns on tv. He also asked me to work on a puzzle with him, which I did. Every Sunday afternoon, Jake comes home with us after lunch to spend the afternoon. Every Sunday night, Rob accompanies him to his Sunday night program at church, then takes him home, gets Patsy to her youth group, and so on. I putzed around a little while they were gone, doing a few little things around the house, but mostly rested. I still have not caught the cold that is running from family member to family member, and I’m hoping all that rest will keep it away from me. Only time will tell. I do feel rested up this morning, and plan to get right in and tackle this house and some of the other undone things!

I harvested a few tomatoes, the last of the beets, and a few cucumbers from the fast-waning garden.

I sewed a little bit on the quilt I started last winter. I had to set it aside all summer so I could work in the garden, but am glad to get it out again. I’m far from done, but can see real progress has been made in the past couple of weeks.

Field Trips, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–September 22, 2019

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Miss Patsy has been cooking again. This time, she made gluten-free calzones.

They were really good. She used a pizza crust mix from Bob’s Red Mill that had been given to us a while back. She made the crust as the package directed, added cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms and olives, folded them over and baked them. She made a dipping sauce with some tomato sauce thickened with a partial can of tomato paste she had opened last week, and some Italian seasoning. It was great, and I know Grandma enjoyed it along with us when she came to lunch this week. I’m pretty sure I won’t get such a nice lunch this week, as Grandma has other plans on Wednesday, but she’ll come back very soon:)

We spent a lot of time with Jake and Michaela this week. Their daddy and sister returned from Israel today. Rob picked them up at the airport. He says they are extremely tired, as would be expected, but it will be so nice to have them back.

My sister invited Patsy and I to accompany her, the kids, and some friends to Bauman Farms. It’s a farm that has many fall activities and a pumpkin patch. There are also animals, a garden store, and lots and lots of food booths. We ate many yummy, bad-for-us treats, the kids did lots of activities, and we all went home tired. It was a good homeschool field trip–we saw cider being pressed, along with the other activities.

They all went “mining” for rocks and gold with a bag of “pay dirt” my sister bought. They had a blast. Jake was convinced he had gotten enough “gold” to buy a lot of Legos. Once Rob convinced him what he had were pretty, but not expensive rocks, he reconciled himself to having the nice rocks.

Michaela loved shooting the apple cannon and she tried her best to shoot and knock down a pumpkin target, but….not this year!

She also loved the big swings.

My sister got all the kids wristbands for unlimited fun, and they all played laser tag, slid huge slides, rode trikes, jumped on bounce houses, swung on swings, and ran and ran and ran. They were all tired that night!

Patsy got a long turn holding baby Allie on Friday. It was her lucky day, because baby was good as gold, and slept for a long time in her arms:)(Baby’s daddy is doing some work over at my sister’s house, so we are getting to see more of her than usual—my sister lives on the river and there was extensive flooding this past spring–he’s tilling and re-seeding the area that got ruined. In time, it should get established and handle the seasonal floods better, at least my sister hopes so–the neighbor’s place does pretty well. We were able to loan them our biggest Troy-built tiller and it’s doing the job, but it’s a garden tiller and it takes some time.)

I picked a few veggies from the garden. There’s not much left out there, but I got a few tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, peppers and green beans. The rain has returned and things are cracking and getting rotten, but that’s what it does this time of year. I’m having trouble keeping up with all there is to do anyway, and am ready for the seasonal changes. I’d sure like a few more nice days to work outside, cleaning things up, but we will see what comes along.

We still have a flowers all over the place. Patsy took this picture of this rose somewhere. It’s lovely.

We have only been shopping for the groceries we absolutely need, so there’s not much to report from the grocery deals. We just don’t seem to need the things they put on super sale the past couple of weeks, so settled for 99c/1/2 gallon milk, celery, lettuce, and a couple of other things Rob bought.

He made some enchilada casserole, cooked a pork roast, made lots of salads, and generally kept things going at home this past week as I homeschooled, worked many, many hours over at my sister’s house with the kids, and had Jake over here quite a bit as he caught a cold and couldn’t go to school part of the week. My sister has not been well this week and needed extra help since her husband was away. She still had to work, of course. I was glad the family was there for her–we all pitched in–my sister, my mom, my aunt, my niece, and us. Now, I prefer not to catch the family cold they are passing around, but we will see how that goes. So far, so good!!

food preservation, Garden, kids, Saving Money

Thriving In My thrifty Week–September 15, 2019

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Rob was super blessed to hold not only 1 tiny baby, but 2 tiny babies today! I never stop marveling at tiny babies. So precious, and such a gift from God. This precious babe has been hanging around my sister’s house a lot while Mommy and Daddy crash on the couch for a little bit while everybody in the house takes turns holding her. That’s what life is all about, isn’t it? Her daddy is like a son to my sister and brother-in-law, but I just can’t wrap my brain around my sister as a….. grandma? But, I guess if I can be one, she can, too. I’m so glad she shares:). We feel blessed.

We canned chicken and broth. At 89c/lb, the price could not be beat. We canned more tuna than we needed last summer. We found that Rob likes canned chicken on his salads in addition to the tuna. We decided to just do a batch of chicken and use up the rest of the tuna, then can more tuna next summer. Tuna varies in price, but often is around $3.50/lb., so this a way to get him variety while saving money.

I bought approximately $13.50 of split chicken breasts and made broth and canned chicken. We got 17 or 18 little jars of assorted sized (most 1/2 pint) of chicken chunks, 7 quarts and 12 pints and a couple of tiny jars of broth.

Patsy decided to cook up a storm for the first time in a long time. I joined her. We made tamale pie.

She made Cashew Chicken with rice noodles. Twice. We made some blondies, and some chicken soup.

Then she went back to her regular favorites of tacos, quesadillas, and p.b.j. sandwiches with apples.

What brought this “cooking fit” on? Grandma and Auntie Jan were coming for lunch. She’s been waiting for years to be a part of the “make lunch for Grandma” team. I guess she thought Grandma and Auntie were starving:). The food came in handy. We did have a great lunch. They got to take little bits home for future meals. We had these things for our meals for a couple of days. I hauled little dishes over to my sister’s house for them to eat. Let’s hope she gets in a mood again:). She felt wonderful. All of our tummies felt wonderful! Win-Win!

Patsy is still plugging along on school, and finished week 6. We ran into some roadblocks due to information she had somehow missed over the years , but worked through a plan to correct the problem.

She joined the Christmas Choir at church and had her first practice. There is going to be a big program. This year, she felt confident enough to join in. Last year, she did not, but later confessed she had wanted to and helped with stage crew at the last minute. Grandma helped her work on her quilt block from the shop hop we took her on last winter/spring. None of these things cost money, but they all enrich all our lives and I have a great Christmas program to look forward to watching in December!

I was weeding during our sunny afternoon. Can you see what was under the weeds? I cleaned out all the old parsley and weeds, and propped the volunteer cherry tomato plant up on a wire cage–we may end up with a few more late cherry tomatoes. Not that we are out. I just hate to kill a plant with so much tenacity!

Can you see Alissa on the left? She is having the trip of a lifetime with her Daddy. They are in Israel, walking where Jesus walked, visiting Biblical places, and seeing for themselves what they have studied for years. In the meanwhile…..

Rob and I, my sister and older niece and Grandma and Auntie Jan and anyone else we can round up are all working together to keep the home fires burning for Jake and Michaela. It’s going well, but we will all welcome their return in a few days!

Garden, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–September 8, 2019

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It was Homeschool Days at the Oregon Gardens. Although the event was advertised for students slightly younger than Patsy, I decided to take her anyway. I’m glad I did. There was plenty for her to learn and see.

We did go to every learning center, but took plenty of time in-between to admire everything we wanted to see. It was lovely.

It was our anniversary. My “hopeless romantic” of a husband knows the way to my heart! Olives and tea. Cupid’s arrow knows how to strike, even after 37 years of marriage. I have been truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband and a best friend for so many years.

I finished canning the applesauce and all the tomatoes. I just kept picking, and picking, and picking. Believe it or not, we eat multiple tomatoes each day, I shared a lot with my sister, and there were still all these! The bushes are winding down, though. I will miss them when they do finally finish, but there are still plenty for fresh eating left on those bushes!

We pulled all the onions and I braided them in 5 braids. They are getting their final cleaning in the gentle rain that is falling today and we will either hang the ropes on hooks or put in a box to finish drying.

There were some logs left from last year that were too long for our stove. Rob got them cut off with a little help, and we stacked the newly-shortened logs in the woodshed. With all the free wood Rob has gathered, what our friends brought us last fall will last through this winter as well. Then, we will have to gather more, but it’s nice to know there’s so much left.

We had a nice birthday party for my aunt at my sister’s home. Different ones brought food, and we enjoyed our time with friends and family.

Rob got 8 boxes of cereal for $3 by using the Safeway app, and some coupons he cut out! I was amazed and proud of him. We have plenty of cereal for a while now.

How did your week go?

food preservation, Saving Money

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–September 2, 2019

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Well, I have to say I’ve done something this week that I’ve never done before. I took Patsy to join friends at a monster truck show at the Oregon State Fair.

She had a blast! I had no idea of what to expect. I had a lot of fun, too.

It was amazing what those drivers could do with their trucks. I was glad to be watching, not in the vehicles.

We were able to use a prize Patsy had received from her summer reading program to get us both into the fair for $8, total. The monster truck show was free. Her auntie gave her some snack money to spend for her and her friends, and she got cotton candy and an elephant ear. Our friends got her a corn dog. I was unable to eat any of the food, as it was filled with gluten, so I saved a lot of money that way (Trust me, I would have had a little fair food if I could have, though!)

Earlier in the week, while camping, a man came around the campground offering anyone who wanted them some extra red rock crab he had not only caught, but cooked. I took a bunch of them, and once home, cleaned them and picked the meat out and ate a crab salad one day for lunch. Red rocks don’t have much meat in them, but I do like a little crab now and then, so it was a treat for me.

Tomatoes are still prolific in the garden. I got some canned before I went camping and have some more in a bucket to work on soon.

I got another baggie of strawberries to freeze. There were more, but the slugs are totally ruining many of them.

I spent Saturday making applesauce. I got 14 quarts and 11 pints. Rob bought 2 boxes from a favorite farmer before we went camping. One box got ripe quickly, but the other one will not be ready for a few more days. I won’t get quite so many jars next time, since we are eating from the second box as it ripens.

And then there was the lonely jar of dill pickles. The cucumbers are not having a good year, but you win some and you lose some.

This week, we will be getting back into the school routine with Jake, which means my working hours will shift into the afternoon and evenings when he gets home. Rob will do early mornings Tuesday and Thursdays, and take Michaela all over on those days while I do school with Patsy. It will take a couple of weeks, but we will be back into the routine before we know it.

Saving Money

Thriving In My thrifty Week–August 20, 2019

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It’s hard to believe that summer is winding down! I’m enjoying my flowers very much. Patsy took this picture of one of our dahlias. She planted three last summer, and they all survived over the winter and are beautifully blooming again.

We worked quite a few hours with the kids last week. There were some extra appointments/work/etc. that caused their parents to be a bit more busy than normal. One afternoon, the kids decorated cut-out cookies. I pre-baked them in the shape of a train, and they put frosting and sprinkles on them. I made the dough from scratch, used sprinkles I had, made the frosting and got some red icing from the clearance rack. They had a blast. We had them for extra time on Friday, and this helped fill in the time with a fun activity.

Jake enjoyed the party for the end of the summer reading program at the library. There were crafts, games, a fire truck, and best of all…snow cones! He chose his free book as well.

He loved this game. He got to stomp on a pedal and it blasted the foam rocket up into the air.

Each child was given a little card and they could do 10 activities at the party. He did 9 and was done, so we went home and had lunch. It was just right for him, and really solidified the fact that he had completed the program.

Patsy plugged away on school, in-between activities. My goal is that we have a few weeks done by September 1, so we can have more time at Christmas and be done early. She’s doing great so far:)

On Saturday, my sister whisked us, the kids, and some friends off an a big adventure. I’m going to save the pictures of our trip for another day, because there is so much to tell, but I promise to get busy posting it very soon. One thing about my sister is that when she plans and orchestrates a trip, the agenda is full, to say the least! We had a blast, but when you see what we did in only 4 days and 3 nights, you will see why it needs a post of its own.

Right now, I’m winding down for a good night’s sleep since I need to be at Jake’s house bright and early in the morning for our next day of adventure together! I’ll be honest, I think we are going to keep it very quiet tomorrow. I envision lots of reading aloud, game playing and a bowl of noodles and a bagel for the boy. We will both be ready for that, I’m sure.

Saving Money

Thriving In My thrifty Week–August 11, 2019–Lots of Kid-Related Fun and Planning For Fall

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On Tuesday, our church had a huge event for National Neighborhood Night Out. Michaela, and our young friend, loved the fire truck. There was a classic car show and Michaela was especially interested in that, as well. So was Jake. Rob and I took the kids because they really wanted to attend! We took friends for the kids because it’s just more fun for everyone:)

There were bounce houses, a puppet show, hot dogs and chips, a dunk tank, many other games, unlimited snow cones (Go Jake!–he more than ate his share), and many, many other super fun things to do. We were blessed to be able to attend and the kids and their friends had a ball. It was fun to see so many of the neighborhood families turn out, as well.

Patsy was away at camp. I tried to come up with some fun for Jake so he wouldn’t miss her so much. On Wednesday, Rob took him to the $1 movies. They watched a cartoon about Penguins, then went to the library to turn in the final form for summer reading.

On Thursday, these kids, plus Jake and 2 more, all joined up at the Gilbert House Childrens’ Museum. My friend and I ran herd on all 8 of them, fed them a picnic lunch, and had a great day. We were able to use her pass, and my OMSI one ( reciprocal ), so admission was free for all 10 of us. Patsy and her friends returned home from camp that afternoon. Friday, we grocery shopped and then just chilled. She was SO tired.

Her camp involved camping in a field for several nights, and spending the days river rafting down the Deschutes River, plus the usual Bible studies, meals, group sings, etc. that are the norm at church camp. It was another wonderful opportunity for her.

I cooked up a lot of pink beans. They took a while, since they have been around a long time, but they turned out nicely. I’m going to make more frozen burritos and freeze some for quick meals for Patsy especially, as she loves, loves, loves them. My garden has been producing like crazy, so I’ve been picking and preserving that.

I used the rest of the container of beans to make refried beans. I need some for an upcoming event, and then will freeze the rest. This huge pot will be gone in an amazingly short period of time, and then I’ll make more from the traditional pinto beans. They all work!

These white carnations were in a bouquet I received last week. The rest of the flowers went bad, so I just got some zinnias from the garden and revived the bouquet. I love it! On my birthday, I was spoiled rotten by my sisters, nice, nephew and Mom taking me out for breakfast, then Rob took me for a drive to the coast. We just drove along, stopping where we wished and eating odds and ends when we wanted to. It was relaxing. After that, a friend dropped by with goodies….what more can I say? It was a great birthday.

I pulled up any beets that had any size to them and made several jars of pickled beets. I canned green beans, and most of my bushes are done. I’m ok with that. I’ve got quite a few jars now, and need to move on to other projects. I will likely freeze any odds and ends that still grow on the one remaining very short row as there won’t be enough to fill a canner.

Zucchini anyone? I’m running out of people willing to take it…….It’s like Bubba in Forest Gump, but with zucchini…..zucchini pickles, zucchini bread, zucchini relish, baked zucchini………….. All joking aside, it’s a huge blessing that the garden is doing so well.

We’ve been discussing a big change for Patsy for a long time now, and have finally come to a decision. She has asked to be homeschooled and we have decided to give it a year and see how it goes. So, I’ve been going through curriculum I already own, ordering used books to fill in the rest, and a few new ones when I couldn’t get them used. Everything is here now, and I’ve spent literally hours organizing it, laying out the plan, and we’ve actually done a little school already, since she is excited. After all, anything done while in a good mood is still done when cold season strikes and all she feels like is laying around….I like to plan my own schedule anyway and get done earlier than the schools around here do. I’m planning quite a few field trips for her, as that is something she has missed out on. They just don’t do many in the public schools around here anymore. Of course, there is a huge pile of books waiting for her as well!

I went through all my remaining school supplies and didn’t need anything except some tape and a couple of mechanical pencils. So, I passed up all the super good sales this time.

I got a lot of groceries this week, and shopped the loss leaders. There was butter for $1.99/lb, lunchmeat for $1.99/package, milk for 99c/1/2 gallon, tortillas for 99c/package, and many more. It took a lot of thinking, but I got a lot of groceries for my money.

How did your week go? Were you able to stay thrifty, even though you were busy?

Saving Money

Thriving In my thrifty Week–August 3, 2019

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We spent a day enjoying OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). The submarine tour was especially interesting to our crew, as we had never been on that before. Between a friend who had a reciprocal pass and my sister’s membership, Patsy and I were able to tag along.

My sister bought us all tickets to see the Science of Pixar exhibit at OMSI. The kids loved it because it showed how so many of their favorite characters were engineered and had hands-on activities for them to do.

It was a beautiful day. I enjoyed the river and the bridges. I don’t go to Portland very often, and I am seldom in a place where I can just gaze at this sight.

I worked like crazy before and after OMSI, because the peaches were going, going…..and soon would be rotten…….I did get 17 jars of jam made, froze some, and Rob froze the rest while Patsy and I were gone. I was so glad that I got to them before they went bad. Peach jam is one of our absolute favorite kinds. I will use the frozen ones for smoothies. I will can another kind later in the summer.

During the summer, Michaela usually only hangs around with Rob for one day a week, Thursday. He takes her to Horses of Hope first, then to volunteer at 50 +, and then brings her here for a bit, then home. We have declared Thursday to be “wash the dog day” because she so longs to wash dogs:). So, once again, she and Patsy gave the dog a good bath, making Michaela happy, and saving us money at the same time.

We returned lots of bottles and cans, most of which were given to us, to put in our vacation fund. To make it stretch even further, we put the money on the Bottle Drop account, removed that amount of money from my grocery envelope and put the cash into the vacation fund, and then use the Bottle Drop 20% extra feature at the grocery store to get a few more groceries each time. If you don’t have Bottle Drop where you live, this may not make sense, but basically if you leave the money on your card and use it at a participating store, you get 20% extra store credit.

In the garden, things continue to ripen, and a few new seeds have sprouted. These are green onions. I hope to have a row next to the edge that will overwinter as they did a couple of years ago. These seeds were saved from those green onions, so I’m not out anything if it doesn’t work. I have baby lettuce, a few green beans, and a few more pickling cucumbers coming up for fall eating.

I have been picking cucumbers, beans, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lettuce, zucchini, beets, broccoli side shoots, and herbs.

Patsy needed shorts. Rob found some jeans at a thrift store for $1 in her size. I took 2 pairs of them and cut them off. One I hemmed, and the other I just sewed around so she could fray them up to the sewed line.

It’s a busy time of year!

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Thriving In My Thrifty Week–July 29, 2019

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The last couple of days have been busy. A lot of produce has ripened up and we have been processing it like crazy. When Rob went up to my sister’s farm on Saturday to spend the day, she sent home peaches. These are New Havens and they will be frozen and made into jam.

This morning I picked an enormous bowl of zucchini. There were both yellow and green ones, and I also got some cucumbers. I made one pint of dill pickles and ground the rest of them for relish, because they were a little large. I ground the zucchini too, plus a bunch that were in the fridge. I got about 30 cups, so made a triple batch of relish. I had Rob buy some red peppers and I had onions from my sister’s garden. I used a very old hand-cranked meat grinder. I’ve had it for my entire marriage, and I’m sure it was old when I got it. It’s a handy tool and gives the vegetables a good consistency for relish.

We got 19 jars of relish. The beans needed picking, too, and Rob canned 7 quarts. It was nice to have his help today. I picked everything while he took Patsy to an appointment, then he canned the beans while I worked on the relish.

Patsy got to go to some lava tube caves called Ape Caves. It is in Washington state, and I was happy her youth group was going. It was an entirely new experience for her. It only cost $5 for gas, and the kids packed lunches, so it was also very economical.

Rob checked the Whoo-Hoo rack at Fred Meyers and found 2 boxes of Cheerios for 99c/each. He grabbed them. I didn’t shop for groceries except a very small handful of items we were out of. We ate a lot of garden produce, and I used some dried beans to make chili. Rob cooked a very small turkey we got for free or very inexpensively last Thanksgiving, and we used the meat on salads, a casserole and some soup, for ourselves and others.

We worked a lot this past week. We were able to finish making up the hours we needed from when the kids were gone with their parents on vacation.

I did a lot of deep cleaning and organizing. I filled my garbage can to the brim this week with things I don’t need anymore. I love filling it–after all, it’s the same price full or empty!

I also filled the yard debris bin this week. I’d love to fill it each week, but some weeks, I just can’t find the energy. And, I’m pleased because the front flowerbed (where I got the weeds from) was sorely needing to be cleaned out.

How was your week? Did you do anything frugal or fun?