July Frugals

[Aqua Blue]

I thought I would try to write something on this thread every few days. Hopefully it will make me more mindful.

Yesterday was a no spend day. I actually stayed home all day. Spray painted a little table for outside with paint I had left over from a previous project. I also spay painted two plastic pipes that are for the furnace and water heater. They are right outside of my back door and were an eyesore. I had bought that paint sometime ago, so no money out. At a garage sale the other day I bought a kids wooden rocker for $1. I have all rockers on my deck and my 3yo niece always wants to sit alone on one so hopefully this will be satisfactory. It was pink with someone else's name on it, so it needs to be painted. I was thinking I would need to buy paint and probably primer. But when I was getting the other paint out, I saw I had spray primer and some little sample jars of paint from Lowes. That will work just fine. Score! (although I didn't get that painted-maybe tomorrow.)

Today I met a friend for birthday lunch, her treat. Afterwards she wanted ice cream so we stopped at a yogurt shop-so $2.50 out. Since I was on a side of town I don't get to very often I stopped at two thrift stores, but didn't buy anything, which is a good thing I think.....

I have been eating from the pantry. I like many others have had some interesting meals. I am thinking I will eat down the little freezer in the garage and unplug it for a while. It seems like I end up with a lot of waste, things fall to the bottom and are forgotten.

It has only been in the 80's here, so most days I don't use AC. The ceiling fans seem to be enough. That was a nice break on the electric bill.

[cdttmm]

Nice job on combining all of your errands into one trip, awakenedsoul -- I love when I can pull stuff like that off!!!

Your porch with the rocking chairs sounds so lovely, Aqua Blue. What color are you painting the chair for your niece?

I have lots to do today and most things can be counted as frugals, I think! First, a load of laundry. I realized that I haven't done laundry in 4 days, which might be a record around here!!! The weather is lovely so I'll be hanging most of it on the line to dry. Of course, I'll have to do a second load because I discovered that there are still tiny shards of glass in the bath mats from when the mirror fell and shattered earlier this week. Fortunately, they were due for a run through the washer any way as were the ones from the master bathroom. At least this way I can dry all of them outside and not have to also run them through the dryer, which I've discovered is essentially death to the rubber backing.

I've got homemade bread going in the breadmaker. I modified the recipe a bit and used half white flour and half Einkorn flour. Einkorn is type of wheat that was one of the earliest cultivated. So in our house we often jokingly refer to it as "ancient grain." We bought a bag back when I was testing out a gluten free diet because some people believe that the gluten found in Einkorn is better tolerated. But then we never used it because I read a lot of conflicting reports and decided that testing out gluten free meant doing it 100%. The gluten free trial period is over (hence my bread baking extravaganzas!) so I figured I would use up the Einkorn flour.

Next on my list is to make a huge pot of Spanish/Mexican rice. Usually this is my dearly beloved's task, but I'm taking it over because I suspect he'll have no interest in cooking when he gets home. Besides, this way I can add all kinds of extra stuff to it that he would otherwise complain about. So into the pot will go rice (obviously), vegetable broth, a huge can of tomatoes, a can of tomato paste, dehydrated onion (I'm out of fresh, sadly), a few cans of diced peppers, a can of corn, some frozen peas, and a whole lot of spices. The darling one will complain about the corn and peas, but I've noticed that he'll generally eat anything he doesn't have to cook himself. This batch of rice should last a few days and we'll eat it with the black beans I made earlier in the week (which are already in small batches in the freezer awaiting consumption). I suspect we'll be topping it off with some Colby/Jack cheese. Fortunately, we have about 4 lbs of it in the refrigerator. What can I say? We like cheese.

In case it's not obvious...if it's in my pantry, fridge, or freezer, it's getting eaten!!! Yesterday, I finished off a bag of blue corn and quinoa chips that were starting to go stale. And I'm down to just one cup of orange juice left to drink. So everyday something is getting polished off. And there's still so much left to eat!!!

My other frugal activities for the day will consist of doing some house cleaning, working in the yard/garden, pruning the remaining blueberry bushes, and whatever other little projects come up around the house. I'd like to claim that this will be a "no drive" day, but I've got a Tae Kwon Do class at the gym tonight.

I think that's all for the moment. Hope everyone enjoys a lovely and frugal day!!!

[cdttmm]

Finally had to break down and go to the grocery store for I feared a rebellion. But I kept it to the absolute essentials. Milk, cream, and some fresh corn on the cob. Last night we ate rice and beans topped with cheese. It was so delicious and I'm excited that there is enough for many more meals!!! Tried out some of the (ancient grain) homemade bread. It's definitely heartier than a typical white flour loaf, but still fairly light in texture and it tastes different than a whole wheat flour. We'll have that with soup this evening, since I'm assuming we'll be eating corn on the cob (grilled!) for lunch.

Picked a few more cherry and grape tomatoes from the garden yesterday. The other tomatoes are ripening and I'm looking forward to eating some soon. I think that will require another trip to the grocery store as we must have fresh mozzarella with our tomatoes! Of course, I do have a cheese-making kit in the pantry...I could just make homemade mozzarella...hmmm...

Spent some time yesterday decluttering a bunch of paperwork. Trying to get a system so that paperwork is more streamlined. I feel like being more organized with paperwork has its frugal benefits.

Not much else to report at the moment. But I suspect I'll be back soon with more updates. Because y'all help keep me honest when it comes my frugality (or lack thereof!).

[Aroha]

cdttmm, I love how creative you are about combining what you have as you eat your way through the pantry.

I love cheese too. Did you make your mozzarella?