June Frugals

[razz]

Well, on Friday evening we tried a lake perch fish fry which was a fundraiser for a local church but had to walk away and leave most of it. It did not agree with either of us but we said, OK, we made a donation to a worthy cause.

Yesterday, I was able to get some sardines on sale for 47 cents a can which is about a third off the usual price so now DH and I are set for one of the fish dishes we should have twice a week. I also got some frozen imitation crab, leftover inventory from the low sale price earlier in the month, I think. We both enjoy this in chunks dipped into a homemade seafood sauce made of ketchup and horseradish with a dash of Worcestershire sauce. It is so much better than the sauce one can buy.

[rosarugosa]

Hey Razz, What do you do with the sardines? I feel like I should like them, but I never have. I expect that I could like them if we did something clever with them.

[Stella]

It's pretty incredible, though, Stella (as you well know) how those big goals CAN happen when everyone is invested and on board. Have to remember that for DH and I, too. I'd like to pay off the mortgages. But can we find the way to do this? Hmmmm . . .

Go for it Kelli! You could totally do it.

We are grilling steaks for Father's Day. Steaks for us, hot dogs for the kids.

Mom called last night and asked me what she is supposed to give James for his birthday, which was last week. I have thought about it and she is going to pay for us to take him on a train ride. That will be a Family Day activity, probably the week after next.

Next week is the National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard campout. We are trying to organize an event for a big group of kids. We are thinking we'd go fishing, do some swimming, hit the Parish picnic for dinner and in the evening and in the evening the older kids can go out and canoe and I will take the littler kids to the beach to play at the playground there.

I have some projects planned for the week relating to this. Zach is going to build a canoe carrier with some kids on Saturday morning. We got the wheels at AxMan today and we will use more of the old paneling for the wood. I also got some $1 t-shirts for my kids at AxMan. I am going to ask the other kids who want to participate to get a t-shirt and we can decorate them with my fabric markers for the event.

I got a handsaw for the teen I am watching as a birthday present. He was complaining about the lack of a handsaw last week and AxMan had them for $2. We'll go over some safety rules, but I think he'll like it.

Another cheap kid project for the week is something I found on Pinterest. Basically you microwave Ivory soap and then mix it with water and press it into molds to make soap shapes. It's dirt cheap and I think it will entertain everyone. I also made some playdough for my kids.

We went out for ice cream today and learned that if the kids can memorize the Pledge of Allegiance by July they can get a free ice cream cone from a local ice cream shop. They love to memorize stuff, so they are excited to try.

[razz]

Hey Razz, What do you do with the sardines? I feel like I should like them, but I never have. I expect that I could like them if we did something clever with them.

I always try to get the sardines that come in a tomato sauce which gives them a good flavour. I carefully take them out of the tin and remove the main bone down the back of each one as these bones and those in salmon make me gag.
I mash it up and place it on toast circles with a large mixed salad with sundried tomato dressing. It all seems to go together somehow and we both like it.
I have to confess that I am not keen on the plain sardines though - too bland, I think.

[fidgiegirl]

We had a great Father's Day. My brother, sister and her hubby took my dad golfing, and I went to my parents' house and got the patio all straightened up, put some potatoes in foil packets on the grill, then made some brownies and prepped the corn and put steaks on so that pretty much it was all ready when they came back from golfing. My contribution was the steaks and potato chips and a few brats. That wasn't cheap, but it wasn't more than eating our own food in a restaurant + treating my dad would have been, and it basically fed everyone. I used my parents' potatoes and my sister/BiL bought some of the food which I then prepared while they were on the course (I don't enjoy golfing very much, so it was really a win-win). It was a really pleasant afternoon. My dad really liked the whole day.

Off to the grocery store now on my bike! Going to prep some kind of cold salad for the next 3 days for lunches. I only have 3 days left of work for this school year and we have a big event going on for 2 of it, so I need something fast and easy and not have to worry about if I will be able to eat the catered food.

[rosarugosa]

Kelli & Stella: Glad your Father's Day celebrations were a success. We went to see DFIL at the nursing home which isn't fun exactly, but he seems quite contented, and it was nice to have 6 of us sitting around the table visiting with him in the dining area.
Razz: Thanks for the info; I didn't know they sold them in tomato sauce. I hate the bones too, so that is also useful information!

[bke]

Rosa-my husband, who is hispanic, likes to eat the sardines in tomato sauce on soft corn tortillas with cilantro and chopped onion. It might sound weird but its quite tasty.

Father's day was very quiet for us personally. Well, busy at work but quiet on the home front. We had dinner with my parents last night (they left town today and we won't see them again for possibly a year). I have mixed emotions about them leaving. I had a really nice visit with my father this time-lots of mutual respect for a change.

Anyways, frugals:

I won a free package of Nathan's hotdogs on a sweeps. Ds is looking forward to those!

I went to Riteaid last week to use some free candy bar coupons that I had left over from sweeps. THey were B1G1. Anyways I founds some others with coupons on them that made them free. There are now 20 free candy bars in our stockpile. Not exactly health food but the price was very good.

Ds and I have been using the library for lots of free entertainment this summer. Books, dvds, etc.

I bought 2 used bikes a few weeks ago for $20. The other day all three of us went on a nice bike ride together which is a first. We've never had enough bikes for all of us to go at once.

I watered the plants today and discovered the first of the tomato blossoms! Yeah! The cilantro is growing cute little cilantro leaves and the peppers are a few days ahead of the tomatoes. We're gonna have tons of pico de gallo this summer and even more pepper sauce this winter! This is our first year of growing our own.

We continue to stockpile sales items that we know will be used over time saving a few dollars wherever we can. Cereal and canned pasta like ravioli (ds likes this) to name a couple of items. I have no problem with buying 6-8 boxes of cereal at a time and/or a case of canned goods. I'm finding that ds is a bottemless pit these days and is eating groceries as quickly as I can buy them anyways!

[Stella]

I woke up this morning at 5AM with Miss Lottie and she went back to sleep, but I didn't. Instead I made some homemade granola bars for breakfast. They are quite simple, just oats, peanuts, honey, peanut butter and chocolate chips, but they are tasty and cheap.

I am feeling back in my frugal groove again. Newborn time always messes with me. Between the pre-birth nesting and the post-birth exhaustion it's never the most frugal of times. Charlotte has slept through the night four nights in a row now, so I am feeling a bit more like myself again.

Zach found out this weekend that OT is pretty much always available, but optional at his new job. Since we can plan for it, we are thinking we'll try doing some OT every other weekend for a while and put half of it in savings.

I got some free raspberries and blueberries from a friend of mine. About a pint of each. She picked them from her backyard.

[DarkStar]

I got free blueberries today from a friend. It was a no-car, no-spend day. I'm working on having more of those, because so far this month has been not at all frugal. There's a music festival coming up that I want to attend, but I may stick to the free acts, and skip the $20 wristband. I'll decide when I see the whole line-up in a couple of days. I'll try to take my own water and snacks, too, I think.

[rosarugosa]

Thanks BKE, I'm definitely going to have to give sardines another try.
Stella & DarkStar: Oh, free berries! The best I can claim is a good deal on blueberries at Market Basket.
I want to challenge myself to save up $1000 from my allowance. It seems I have psychological range in terms of what I'll save. For a while, any time I got much about $200, I would spend it down to $200. and then build it up again. I challenged myself to increase this threshhold, and for the past year, I've gotten so that $500. seems to be "the number." So I want to push it to $1000. First of all for the exercise in financial discipline, and secondly to see if I can save enough on my own to make a more meaningful type of purchase - maybe a home improvement, small trip, or something along those lines. So right now, I'm at $660.