We set up at the Flea Market again on Saturday this weekend. Doing so has really supplemented our income this summer and we will continue selling there this summer and into the fall months. I am very motivated by our success and plan to declutter relentlessly as a result.
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Our microwave died this week. It had been dying over the last few months whenever we cooked something for an extended amount of time, but on Thursday night there was a small fire inside of it, so I have it in the car ready to take to the recycling center.
Learning to do without the microwave will be a challenge, but we will be steadfast. I have no intentions of replacing it this summer. I did use the big oven this week, but do not want to heat up the house anymore than necessary, so I moved our toaster oven over to the counter area where it will be easier to use. We will do whatever it takes to avoid replacing it this summer.
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My car windshield was hit by a rock this week when a semi-truck was passing me. My deductible on my auto insurance is $500 and won't cover this since I've not met that this year. My plans are to wait until I am working again before I replace this unless the ding becomes a big crack.
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We continued to eat from home this week. Last night I took some Italian sausages from the freezer, cooked those, added leftover marinara sauce & pizza sauce, and combined those along with some penne pasta I cooked. I also added some mozzarella cheese, and served this with garlic bread.
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We found a great deal at Dollar General stores this past week. We found spices on clearance for one penny each! We bought nine bottles of cumin and I was able to refill my Cumin bottle from Sam's for 9¢. We also found Oregano and Bay Leaves for one penny each.
If you are interested in the penny items at Dollar General you will need to do your research. My daughter has done a lot of reading on the subject. I give her all of the credit for this great deal.
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She has also been experimenting with making fruit leather in the dehydrator. She used a mixture of strawberry applesauce and bananas.
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I've been working in the kitchen this morning making iced tea, squash casserole, bacon pasta salad, sandwiches for pool side later this afternoon, washing dishes, cleaning the kitchen, and all the other little details that are essential to living the frugal lifestyle and living within our means.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend! :)
Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
Sorry about the microwave. Do you have a freecycle network near you? Facebook, local town tagsale sites? I suggest posting, if you are comfortable, an In search of (ISO) for a free, working microwave. Around here, you won't believe what people give away. Worth a shot. Summer is when people move, myself included this year, and many need to lighten the load. RE: the chip in the windshield: do you have an auto parts store ? This is a do it yourself, $10 fix: Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjuWqBzO7qY If you can fill the chip ASAP, you may be able to avoid a crack and a possible $400 new windshield bill. HTH
ReplyDeleteOh wow, thanks for the windshield information, Carol. I will definitely be looking at that video.
ReplyDeleteAnd I will put the word out about the microwave. I hadn't even though about that, definitely worth a shot. :)
Thank you. :)
Hi Belinda, I had a glass company fill in the "ding" in my windshield. I think it cost $120. $10 sounds lots better, BTW. The pro job worked and the windshield did not crack further.
ReplyDeleteI live where there is lots of 18 wheeler traffic and the crack occurred when my vehicle was only 3 months old. I was SO happy to be able to have the chip filled as we have a $1000 deductible on our insurance. I hope you are able to fix the ding in your windshield yourself. :)
The toaster oven solution is a great idea for summer. You don't want to turn on the big oven & heat up the whole house during the summer.
Counter top microwaves can go on sale around the Fourth of July for less than $50 at Lowe's & Home Depot. Perhaps you'll be able to get one there or at the flea market for less.
Our built in microwave died when it was only 3 years and I was terribly annoyed. Things just aren't built to last or be repaired anymore. When we are supposed to be "green" in the little things, big appliances built to last only 5 years, and then going into landfills is awful! It's a bit like someone eating out all 3 meals every day being worried about how much money they spend on their laundry detergent.
Wishing you blessings this summer, Ellie
Oh wow, Ellie. That must have been upsetting to have your windshield cracked at only 3 months. I know I was upset when mine was cracked.
DeleteThanks for the heads up on the microwave sales around the 4th of July. I'm going to try and put the word out like Carol suggested and then we will go from there. I will definitely be looking at the sale ads around the 4th though.
Planned obsolescence is the absolute worst thing they could have come up with. It's going to make for some very full landfills, which is not what we want at all.
I hope you have a wonderful summer too. :)
Insurance is so different in every state. In MA, where I live, there is no deductible on glass. You usually never have to pay to get your windshield replaced here.
ReplyDeleteI love my toaster oven. I use that much more than the big oven. It handles so many of my daily needs. We never bake potatoes in the big oven unless we are cooking a meal that doesn't fit in the toaster oven. It's amazing what you can do with it.
Good luck doing without the microwave. I don't actually cook in it, but I do a good deal of heating and/or reheating. I hope you find a freebie or one that suits your budget.
Great deal on the spices.
Have a good week!
Mary Lou, that's great that you have no deductible on glass in MA. I wish we had that here.
DeleteWe've slowly been getting used to the toaster oven, so for now it's working out. Sounds like you use yours a great deal. I'm glad we won't be heating up the house with the big oven.
Thank you, and I hope you have a good week too. :)
Hi Belinda,
ReplyDeleteJust to let you know, we've done the windshield ding repair ourselves on two different cars, now. And the fix has held completely with no further cracking. You do need to do it sooner rather than later, from what I've heard.
And too bad about the microwave. We went without one for a few years, and got used to not having it. We just had to change our mind-set, and we found many ways to do the same thing that our microwave had done, but with the stove and with a toaster oven.
I'm sorry those things happened to you, though. The kind of things that just put a cloud over your day.
On the bright side, though, your flea market sales are going great, you got an awesome deal on spices and Bailey is making snack food for a faction of the cost of commercial fruit roll-ups! Good work on all of those!
Have a great week!
Thank you for letting me know about your having done the windshield repair. I have to stop and get a kit today and fix mine.
DeleteWe were able to get a microwave from someone but it did not work when we got it into the house, so we are still working on that. But, so far we are making do without ours though.
Yes, I am grateful our flea market sales are going well! Thanks so much, I hope you have a great week too. :)
My above the range microwave died after a mere two years and I refused to replace it. We went for 3 years without one until I found the exact one on a selling site(similar to craigslist) for $50. I had paid almost $300 for mine new. We discovered it is entirely possible to live microwave free. The only thing I hated was not being able to reheat my tea as I do that 20 times a day :). Oh and we missed microwavable popcorn.
ReplyDeleteIn Ontario, you can get pulled over and fined if you drive with a cracked windshield. Mine was going to be $325 to replace until the guy realized he had one with a small mark mid-windshield. He knocked off $100, buffed out the mark and voila...good as new. My deductable is $1000 so no way I was claiming it obviously :).
Love reading your blog.
Thank you, Theresa. I'm so glad you enjoy reading my blog. I really enjoy writing it. I bought a windshield repair kit today, so keeping my fingers crossed that it works. We are doing OK without the microwave for now, more dirty dishes I have noticed, lol.
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