Jan....2017...Frugals

[Lainey]

I had a can of chili with beans, with a piece of potato bread on the side, and it lasted me 2 dinners. It was an old Weight Watcher's tip to eat chili or a bean type meal, but they advised doing it on the weekend instead of the work week and keeping any gassy side-effects at home....

[Tenngal]

we had some south Alabama friends who served homemade chili over rice with bread on the side.
It was good. Thankfully beans do not bother me. Lots of milk products do.

[danna]

Jan05/17 frugals over the last couple of day Irises Lily....I am happy if I get in 2-3 No spend No drive
so I am trying to keep that up...
--Dd made a pot of chili and shared with me between us we had 6 servings...very good
--took the last half of large bag of carrots bought for Christmas dinner and roasted them to use as a side
to the chili tonight, still lots left for tomorrow.
--used a $1.00 off coupon for canola oil 1.42 litre that was on sale for $1.99 final price $.99 Re. price $5.99,,gotta love that
--$.88 days at Food Basics today so stocked up on Tomatoes, beans and tomato sauce
---boiled up 8 eggs that were coming up to due date and had egg salad sandwich one night (on bread toasted from the freezer)
--pulled everything out of fridge and cleaned/organized/purged and inventory to use.
that is all for now

[ljevtich]

Today, it is raining and yucky. Normally I do the water aerobics at the campground, but not when the temperature is 59F and windy, it is not a place to be.

Instead, I decided to make more oatmeal/dried fruit/almonds for a total of six servings. That way I have it ready to just heat up during next week. Had my breakfast of that oatmeal mix, green tea & lemon, and already had a Liter of water. Feeling healthy AND productive!

[iris lilies]

I coveted a cast iron Dutch oven but I had forgotten about that desire until saw my friend's Dutch oven at Christmas time, hers is a flashy red enamal number!

Then I started pricing them out and I remembered that I did not want enamel, that is s unnecessary and it chips, I want plain cast iron.

Then at Goodwill yesterday there was a 5 quart Lodge cast-iron Dutch oven for $15. So I bought it. And it is big enough for most things we need to cook in it. Great timing! It is
not, however, an old Lodge piece. It is "new" and I am not sure how good are the new ones, but it will last my lifetime, that is for sure.

[early morning]

Noticed my lettuces were passed their prime, so prepped them for salad and ate most of them yesterday. Found some stale brownies I had frozen - thawed them out somewhat, chopped them up, and with ice cream and chocolate sauce they made a nice quick dessert. Our local gas station has been about 25 cents cheaper than any other place on my route for a few weeks now, so I've been filling up there when I get to half a tank (every other day, if not sooner - I drive a lot and my car's tank is small...) I don't like my tank to get very low in the winter. I'm still hanging most of my heavy laundry in the house and not overworking my decrepit dryer. I'd like to hang it all but at present, don't have the space. When the Christmas tree leaves, the drying rack will go back into the bay window, yay! Most of my frugals are the same old thing - taking lunch and coffee to work, not eating out much, keeping the heat lowish, buying groceries at Aldi, using my credit card for everything and spending the points for things we need, and for some small treats, from Amazon. Yay for free cat food!

[Selah]

Went to Goodwill yesterday and emerged very pleased with my haul. Before we left Bellingham, my stepfather gave me a bike he wasn't using after he upgraded his own. It took awhile to get it in shape, but then I needed a helmet. I priced them out, but the one I wanted cost $27. Too much! Found the same one at Goodwill, clearly rarely--if ever--used, for $3.99. Score! I also managed to get some stemware I'd been looking for, for a crazy low price of $0.69 each, plus a top and some other bits and pieces. Total cost: $14.85.

[iris lilies]

This is kinda/sorta frugal, in that I kinda saved a huge batch of lasagne that I made too dry. I cut it up into squares and froze them, but it wasnt very good. So, I froze cubes of tomato spaghetti sauce in ice cube trays so that when we eat the lasagne, we can put a cube of sauce on top. That has made it edible.

I remember back in the days of our black belt frugality I wouldn't even make lasagne, it was too expensive. Three kinds of cheese! Nope, we couldn't afford that.

[Tybee]

Just bought a new dining room table. Am very excited. Found it at Habitat for Humanity and the price was 65 dollars but it was half off table day, so got it for under 40 dollars. Crawling around underneath it, found an inspection date of May, 1928, so that is awesome. I love furniture from the 20's--it is veneered with quartersawn oak, on casters, and has a really cool sort of vibe. Unusual in that it is not round. I have been looking for years, and this one just jumped out at me. Only one leaf, so if it is not big enough, I can always use it as a library table, but it is certainly big enough for us and visitors, and I love the wood. Will post a photo when we get it back together and in the dining room--it is out of the cold, but it's too snowy to get the old table out right now.

[Selah]

What a find, Tybee! And Irish Lillies--that's so funny. "Three cheeses? THREE?! Oh, HECK no!" Definitely been there...and sometimes still do...that!