First Frugal Friday August 2024

                                                       

Welcome to Frugal Friday! 
Quote of the Week

"While politics grows ridiculously toxic and the bar for acceptable behavior toward people that do not share your beliefs inches ever lower, my goal is to be the opposite.

It won’t be a perfect ride, nor a flawless life, but I won’t harm living things nor make someone feel bad about themselves, or the life they are living." ~ Tom Goose

My Frugal Week
Oh my gosh! We are so excited here. Walmart has expanded their delivery and they will now deliver to our back door! We are both so thrilled! We already pay for a Walmart Plus membership to get free, next day shipments, so this is just icing on the cake. Woo Hoo!
I had a grocery order delivered on Wednesday and I am just so happy. This was definitely one of my joys of the week.

On Monday I went to see my orthopedic doctor regarding my knees. They did more x rays, which stated...

3 views of bilateral knees show severe varus alignment with hypertrophic osteophytes diffusely around the femur tibia and patella. Severe medial wear of her proximal tibia bilaterally. Lateral tibial subluxation bilaterally.

I had to Google most of that to figure out what it meant. He is satisfied with my BMI & weight loss and is scheduling my first knee replacement in three months with the second one six weeks after that. I am very excited!

On Friday & Saturday I  measured & processed over seventy pieces of clothing for Bailey's online shops. My arm/shoulder was really sore after that, so I put some Voltaren cream on it for the pain. I've stopped steaming clothes for her for this reason. 
One of our UPS drivers dropped a package in the woods last week. I just cannot imagine what they were thinking, so I went out on Saturday and brought it up to the house. I drove around Dad's place to check on things there and brought two traffic cones over here with me and set them up in our driveway to alert drivers to one of the culverts.  I also pulled some weeds from around our picnic table and picked up some stuff that had fallen underneath it. I met our friend & garbage man in the driveway and was able to get his help to bring some items up the stairs for me and straighten up the picnic table.  
The Circle K Gas Stations here had a Back to School special on Thursday for savings of 40 cents off per gallon of gasoline. When we drove by the price was $2.70 per gallon, but I had also signed up for their reward card, which saves me 25 cents for the first five fillups. So, I ended up paying $2.51 per gallon and filled up my car for $37.33.
Stranger Danger
Bailey came home one day and found a strange man parked on the old driveway on our land. She stopped to talk to him, and he said he had a flat tire, but she was very concerned about him being on our land. I can't imagine why he would pull up that far onto our land if he had a flat tire? I got in my car and drove own there to investigate. 
Turns out the neighbor had a tree fall on our fence and I *think* he was removing it for them. The man with the "flat tire" didn't speak to me, but the neighbor did and so I don't really know, because this neighbor is a known thief and liar. I'm always pleasant to him though because I ensure our safety by keeping the peace. 
When Bailey left for book club on Wednesday she forgot her book, so came back home only to find this neighbor pulling into our driveway. There is no reason for him to be on our property. Bailey thinks he was coming up here to see if anyone was home. When I went out on Saturday I noticed someone has been using the driveway a great deal and has it really messed up with all the rain and mud. If my Dad were here he could help us fix this issue. ::sigh::
Freebies

 A friend gifted me with this package of Edamame Spaghetti and Lentil pack along with one jalapeño and one cucumber. 

Photo of the Week

This is a massive 91 pound watermelon grown by the Mennonites in our community and for sale at their farm stand on Needle Eye Lane in Delano, Tennessee. Bailey and I bought a thirty pound one a few years ago and we thought it was huge!

Saving Money in my Frugal Kitchen Happenings

Publix has Cabot & Frigo cheese on sale this week, so we picked up some of both on Thursday while we were out running errands. I also pick up the Siggi's yogurt at Publix since Walmart does not sell that brand and it has 18 grams of protein in it so I prefer it.

We stopped at Gordon Food Service Chattanooga and picked up two big cans of black olives as their price is much cheaper than Walmart. We also picked up two large containers of cottage cheese, which are good until later in September, so I stored them upside down in the refrigerator. That is a old Tightwad Gazette tip from back in th day.

What’s for Dinner

Monday ~ Salmon Patties, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and a Cucumber Bean type salad that I made using up several containers of similar items from the refrigerator. 

Tuesday ~ Chicken & Onions, October Beans, and Steamed Broccoli. 

Wednesday ~ Major frustration as I put pork steaks in the crockpot to cook for dinner, but the power went out after two hours and did not come back on until around midnight, so they had been in there for about 12 hours, so I had to toss those on Thursday. I need to work on having a back up cooking source for times when that happens. 

We didn't want to be home with the power out in this triple digit heat with no ac, so we ran errands most of the day. We ended up eating at our favorite Mexican restaurant. I had the Grilled Chicken with pico de gallo and Bailey had her favorite Nachos.  

Thursday ~ Fluffy Baked Omelet, October Beans, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and Cucumber & Bean Salad. Using up several leftovers from the refrigerator to complete dinner. 

I didn't have any ham to use in the Fluffy Baked Omelet, so I used a one pound package of sausage and browned it and used half of that. I put the other half in the freezer for another meal later in the month. 

I also made a batch of Sardinia Minestrone to have for lunches this week and some to freeze for later. 

Friday ~ Hamburgers, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and Cantaloupe. 

Saturday ~ Bailey was gone to book club, so I made a baked cottage cheese pizza bowl for dinner. 

Sunday ~ I put several varieties of beans on to soak for this week. I also put on a pot of dandelion tea to steep. Dan Buettner says that many centurions in the Blue Zones drink dandelion tea for the health benefits. My favorite brand of tea is Traditional Medicinals. 

Bailey went out with her book club friends for dinner, so I was on my own again. I made myself a vegetable sandwich using the Flat Out wraps. 

What’s been on the menu in your home this past week?

Savings of the Week
We had a lot of savings this week with the gas and cheese sale. Another one concerns Christmas. I tend to buy one Christmas present per month, so I'll have them when Christmas rolls around. I searched Google for a coupon code and found one for 10% off, which turned out to be $4.00 and paid for the shipping. 
What I've been Reading This Week
This week I finished reading the Blue Zones Dan Buettner book and started reading Strong Women Stay Young by Miriam E, Nelson. 
I read her Strong Women Stay Slim book years ago and wanted to pick up a copy of it, but could only find the Strong Women Stay Young book at McKays. That was OK with me as it also had the strength training exercises in it that I was looking for. 
I mentioned before that I ride my stationary bicycle for one hour every day (I rode over 2,000 minutes in July) and I read while doing this, as I want to strengthen my legs & knees as much as possible before my knee surgery. The ortho dr has ordered physical therapy for me to help with this. I want to build my strength, stamina, and balance, and strength training is supposed to help with that.
That's all the news to report from here this week. 
How are you doing and what have you been up to this week?

Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. 
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.

BelindaHomemaker at HeartMortgage & Debt Free~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree
~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~Proverbs 31:27