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Stella, that's great that James is ready to relinquish his diapers! We had one of those seats for our big seat, and it worked pretty well. Nothing exciting here. Staying home today - yay! too hot to do anything much. I finished a cover for my very bright yellow footstool. It's now covered in a rather sedate tan and blue small stripe ticking. I have a large roll of the ticking, purchased for $5 at a yard sale. Two loads of laundry on the line. Ran our average food expenditures for the year so far. Groceries and meals out together still average less than $400 per month for 3 adults, which is less than the food stamp allotment here (based on what DH's friend got as a single adult).
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Today was a pretty spendy day for me, but I had expected that it would be. I went to a crafts fair with sister and a friend. I spent some significant change there, but I didn't buy anything stupid that I would wonder what I was thinking once I got home! :)
Then we went out to lunch and to TJ Maxx and an art supply store (these are two shopping machines that I was hanging with. They are nurses in a bone marrow transplant unit of a large hospital, so they deal with horrible disease and death for a living. When they're not at work, they're all about "can't take it with you!") So I had a good day with no real regrets. The shopping was all done with my saved allowance, so no guilt, and I enjoyed the fine company of these two delightful women, so while it might be a stretch to call it a frugal day, it was money pretty well spent. After all, I'm not saving up for a solid gold sarcophaghus when I die or anything!
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Sept 03
--lunch was out at our favourite and only fast food place we ever eat at--Harvry's--had a two can dine for $9.99 and we both enjoyed it.
--super was salad and french toast made with a half loaf of bread that needed to be used up
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My cash refund check from my Amazon Visa came in the mail today, and will be saved for the holidays. Found enough stuff in the fridge for burritos for dinner - with the aid of the microwave. I'm not turning the stove on if I can help it!
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normally dh goes out for a big mexican burrito on the weekend but because i made flour tortillas; he stayed home and created his own mexican meal and i used up veggies
tried to go to a open poetry reading; free but must have been an error in the paper; it was hot so we took a ride through our communities to see what everyone was up to and then back home for a movie rented from the library
realized and mentioned to dh how often we used to go to the video stores and now we haven't gonein such a long time
today willl be a hike at the local park; since the weather has cooled!
we are also putting together food, items for our next travel adventure; which will be a road trip to my home area and now ond of dh's favorite places for a color tour
also try to do the opposite of everyone; since its the holiday and many people are using it as a last time to go camping etc.; we are staying at home and being tourists in our own town!
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Yesterday Zach and the girls and I spent the day working on the laundry room/dressing room, putting up shelving and a few racks for drawers we had gotten last week, sorting things and decluttering. It was hard work, but I think in the end we have a plan that is going to make the space much more useable. I list this as a frugal because the better I am at keeping up with laundry, the more efficient I am with clothes buying. I am also going to see if this can help me "tame the laundry monster" (as referenced in another thread) without buying a higher capacity washer and dryer. As much as I want them, they really are expensive.
Zach has been taking each kid out for a Daddy Date this weekend, which I think is a good use of money, but I have been trying to do the same thing without spending money. Friday Cheyenne woke up really early and instead of sending her back to bed I made us scrambled eggs and toast and sat and had a conversation with her. Yesterday, while Zach was out with Bella, James woke up and I made us scrambled eggs and toast and actually kind of had a conversation with him too. He's two, so it was a simple conversation, but he's really starting to talk more. This morning Bella woke up with Cheyenne when she got up to go out for breakfast with Zach. I was planning to make us french toast for breakfast, but she wanted to play a game and eat graham crackers. We played Crazy Eights and Memory.
This morning with Bella made me think that we need to bring back game night. Last year during the school year Monday night was Karate, Wednesday night was Faith Formation, Thursday night was Game Night and Friday night was Movie Night. I think that was a good schedule. We all seemed to like it. This year I think we will occasionally invite other friends for movie and game night. I think my menu plan is going to be one-dish meals on Thursdays and soup and bread on Friday, which will make it easier to just relax and enjoy those nights.
I've been doing a lot of preserving this past week. I made two kinds of pasta sauce, one garden vegetable, the other roasted tomato and garlic. I also made roasted tomato, onion and thyme relish, which I like on bread and seven quarts of pickles.
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Due to renovations, I am having to use a different branch library than my usual. For whatever reason, this other branch has a much better stocked sale table for their fundraising used book sale. I found the first eight books in the Stephanie Plum series in great condition for 50 cents each. I love reading series in order and for some reason have never done Stephanie Plum although my mom loves them. Perfect for a hot sticky Labor Day weekend...
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Sept 4
--sorted out all my kitchen drawers,washed out and lined with nice drawer liner I had bought a year ago on sale. I usually use cheap rolls of wall paper but, this was such a good buy I thought I would love it all padded and washable, but had not got around to using it. Frugal is using what I have and sorting because I thought I needed storage containers because of missing lids. They had gone behind drawer to back of cupboard so I now know I have plenty.
--leftover french toast from last night supper for breakfast.
--beautiful supper of BBQ ribs I had previously frozen, new potatoes, and local fresh corn on the cob (not as sweet as early in the summer but still good)
--plenty of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch
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First month of paying increased rent (in exchange for reduced responsibilities for the apt. building), so I will be watching this thread closely. Need to cut about $300 out of our monthly budget. If I can keep going on my grocery plan, I think $200/mo. will come from groceries. The other $100 can come from eating out - over to the cook-at-home thread! :D
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Made up a giant pot of corn chowder yesterday to freeze in meal sized portions for the winter. Going to make up more pizza sauce to freeze either today or tomorrow. We've been doing a fairly good job of eating at home for the past week with the exception of one lunch out while in NYC over the weekend. Our bees have rewarded us with lots of honey this year, so I've been eating a lot of peanut butter and honey on toast for breakfast. It makes for an inexpensive and delicious breakfast that I, hopefully, won't get bored with easily!
Used up a gift card to Home Depot to buy some plants to finish a gardening project. Only thing Home Depot didn't have was a few ferns, so went to a locally owned nursery yesterday and bought those. While there picked up some garlic to plant this fall. It will be our first attempt at garlic, but I've read that it is very easy, and we use a lot of garlic at our house, so should be a worthwhile project! Also found a wrought iron plant holder on the sale table for $6. It will be a fun edition to the container plants on our deck next season!
I'll have to be in search of some larger frugals this month as the car needs to be repaired and we have vet appointments for 1 dog and 1 cat this month. We have the money to cover all of these expenses, but I like to challenge myself to keep the bank balance the same or growing from month-to-month!
