Frugal Friday
Welcome to Friday! The weather here has really warmed up and has given me extra energy, which I love. I've had more energy and have been busy doing all sorts of little tasks around the house.
My Frugal Week
This week we had a grocery order delivered to our home on Wednesday. One of the things I bought was allergy medicine, and buying the generic version only cost me $4.00.
We stayed home all week and ate all of our meals here. We work hard to earn the money that we make, so we reserve eating out, or take away right now, for special occasions. That frees up more of our money to do the things that are important to us like saving money.
Earning Money
Each month I barter with Bailey, I steam and process clothes for her and she pays the Internet/cell phone bill. She gets work done that she needs and I don't have to pay the Internet/cell phone bill. A win-win situation.
Two eBay payouts posted to my checking account this week. One for $10 and one for $7, so that was good. A refund also came in the mail this week on an item that I returned for $19.
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
Meals This Week
Saturday ~ We had some of the salmon in pouches that no one was eating, so I took them and turned them into salmon patties. I had been sneaking them into the tuna salad, but this way I figured I could get a dinner out of them. I served them with roasted carrots, onions, potatoes, and radishes.
Sunday ~ Homemade Vegetable Chili with corn tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, and onions.
Monday ~ We were building our grocery order online and were getting towards the end of our last grocery order from February 17th. I had only intended for that order to last two weeks, so to stretch it to one month was pretty good. We still had frozen fries in the freezer along with some sausage and mixed vegetables, so that is what we had for dinner.
Tuesday ~ We put our grocery order in for Wednesday and needed to come up with something for dinner tonight. I had one can of salmon on hand, but we already had that this week, so I kept looking.
We had plenty of beans, tuna, spaghetti, tomatoes, soup vegetables, and corn on hand. It was just a matter of coming up with something for dinner. I found some mozzarella cheese and pepperoni, so I made a pizza crust that morning to let the dough rise all day and be yeasty tasting by dinner time. I realized later that I had all of the ingredients to make soup, and decided to save that idea for another day.
Wednesday ~ This was the day our groceries came and we had a late lunch of sandwiches, so we were not very hungry at dinner time. I ended up making each of us a small hamburger.
Thursday ~ French Dip Sandwiches, Celery & Carrot sticks
Friday ~ Today I will be making Deconstructed Eggrolls for dinner.
Saving on Entertainment
For movie night this week we watched Because of Winn Dixie, an older movie, but good to watch.
What I've been Reading This Week
The Iowa Housewife shared a recipe for Freezer Coleslaw this week. I really like her website because she is only feeding two people in her home and her recipes often reflect that.
Minority Mindset has an article on 5 Smarter Ways to Spend Your Stimulus Check.
Decluttering
This week I decided, for various reasons, to go through my pictures and photo albums. I tossed multiple pictures that were of no consequence to me. like landscape photos, dark photos, photos where people had their eyes closed or were not looking at the camera.
In the past, people would take more than one photo to make sure they "got it right". With digital photography you can know instantly if the photo is good or not, so there is no need for multiple photos of the same thing. Now the photos take up less space and I like that.
How was your week?
Belinda~ Living within our Means ~
If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site.
1. As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage that helps me to earn a living. Any items you place in your cart from one of my links means I will earn a small percentage from that sale.
2. My Frugal Workshop PayPal Tip Jar
Sounds like some great savings! Great job with stretching the grocery order to last a month!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were able to organize your pictures. I hate having my picture made, so I'm usually the one taking the picture...but then I realized that maybe I should be in a few of them...but not selfies since I cannot take a good selfie. :D
Have a great weekend.
I don't like looking a pictures of myself. LOL I am usually the one behind the camera.
DeleteI hope you have a great weekend too, Kathy.
This last week I had Tommy involved in searching for a can of salmon I KNOW I have. Salmon croquettes call for sweet potatoes, and turnip greens in my head...lol. I have spent little, less that $30 this week, so I suppose that is frugal. I want ice cream and that is not frugal. I like your barter with Bailey.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :) Your spending was really good this week, kudos to you. I hope you fond the can of salmon. I was looking for an ingredient I knew I had about a month ago and finally gave up, but found it about a week later. LOL
DeleteYour meals sound really tasty. It is funny to me how many meals you can make when you think you have nothing. I can get more creative when I have less, which sounds like a contradiction but it is true.
ReplyDeleteI have not been to the store this week, but TheHub stopped and picked up a cabbage. We spent about $1.50 this week on groceries. I still have a lot of food in storage, plus I have a good bit of produce remaining. I might be able to make it another week without buying anything.
Yes, Anne...it's funny how many meals you can make when you think there is nothing in there to eat.
DeleteYou did really well on groceries this week. You get the award for most frugal this week.
Sounds like another great week Belinda! It is amazing how far we can stretch things. I only spent $36 this week to restock on some fresh fruits and veggies. I always plan meals from what I have on hand first which really helps to keep the budget down. Here's to another frugal week!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Martha. You did really well this week. Kudos to you and here's to another frugal week!
DeleteI like your arrangement with Bailey. I usually do the reverse-I pay for something and they get a task off my plate. I don't like salmon, but you have me thinking tuna cakes-which we have had success with.
ReplyDeleteThe reverse works too, Sam. I love having something take off of my plate from time to time. And it's as easy way for the kids to implement as well.
DeleteI have not made tuna cakes, but I suspect they would be similar to salmon patties. They sound good.
You had a very frugal week. Good for you.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Thank you, Jackie. :)
DeleteWay to make those groceries stretch! Well done. We had a freezer dinner tonight (curry for two, and Keto chili for my husband, one son also had leftover pasta). It's always so nice to get things out of the freezer, and fill in menu planning gaps.
ReplyDeleteThank you. :) Yes, I love using up things from the freezer and getting it cleaned out every now and then. :)
DeleteGreat to have daughter you can work with. I tossed a load of old frames and photos when we were hanging things. Still have a huge box full in the garage.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kim. She is a big help to me for sure. It is so nice to get rid of things we no longer need, isn't it?
DeleteI love that you are gathering with each other. Makes good business sense that's for sure!
ReplyDeleteThank you,, Vickie. :)
DeleteI enjoy reading about your frugal week and gathering tidbits of useful ideas. I need to go through photos and a lot of other things in my garage! 🤦♀️
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Penny. That is very sweet of you to say. I think the need to go through things is never ending. LOL I hope you have great weekend.
DeleteI love your & Bailey's bartering system. I sure wish you lived closer to come help me too :)
ReplyDeleteI'm craving that French dip sandwich you made. It looks so good!