For the past month I've been working a long term substitute job, which explains my absence here on the blog. The assignment, which started out being two weeks, has increased each week and right now I am on schedule to sub for at least five weeks. As you can imagine, I am thrilled for a variety of reasons.
Even though I am working everyday, I still take the time to cook dinners from scratch and take my lunch to work everyday. We have not eaten out dinner even one time since I started this job. We have goals that we want to reach (buying our own home) and eating out moves us farther away from that goal.
There are several projects on my to do list this weekend including repairing a couple of clothing items. I also have a three ring binder that needs some repairs with duct tape along with the usual weekend chores of hauling off garbage, laundry, cleaning, and cooking.
It's chilly here tonight and they are calling for snow flurries here this weekend, so I made chili for dinner tonight, which is the perfect thing for cold weather.
Frugal Things I've Done This Month...
1. Attempted to use a $10.00 reward certificate that was about to expire, but the item was put on back order and my account was credited with $10.00 instead, which works for me since it was about to expire.
2. I repaired two work shirts for my niece. Her boss gave her second hand shirts when she started working there and she had washed them so many times that the material in the armpit area needed to be repaired rather than just stitched along the seam. Her Dad does so many nice things for us that I was so happy to be able to do something so simple for her. She was thrilled that I did this for her.
3. As we were driving by Fresh & Low the other day while running errands I noticed a sign that said they had greens for 39¢. We make a quick stop inside to pick up this great deal.
4. We made one trip this month to Kroger to get in on some great yellow sticker items. I plan to do this at least once a month to get in on those good deals.
Our friend Linda came to visit us for five days after Christmas. We had a really good visit with her and other family members while she was here.
As is her usual spirit, she was very generous with us this year. She waited until she came here to decide what to get me for Christmas as she wanted to get me something that she felt we needed.
We have been getting along well without the microwave since it died last summer, and had gotten to the point where I thought about never replacing it because we had learned to live without one.
Linda felt like she could not live with a microwave and therefore she decided that she was going to buy me a new microwave for Christmas.
Here is a picture of the new microwave:
I have to admit it is really nice to be able to warm up the cream cheese danish we had on hand and to soften butter and heat up food quickly again.
She also noticed that the water filter on our sink had a red light on it, so she bought us a package of three new water filters to have on hand.
She also took us out to dinner several times this week and we also had dinner at my brother-in-laws home this past week for dinner twice.
I've been busy today in my frugal kitchen. I don't have any bread on hand, but I do have the ingredients to make bread from scratch, so that is what I did.
Here is a picture of the dough after kneading and ready to go in the oven with the oven light on to keep it warm for rising.
And after slicing...
A pork loin roast was set out of the freezer to thaw for dinner tonight. I will save a portion of this to make Pork Fried Rice for dinner Monday night.
I also cooked up some rice today, so that it will be chilled for tomorrow night's dinner. I kept the lid on the pan while cooking to keep all the heat and energy inside so the rice would cook faster, which saves money.
I am using the foods we have on hand here rather than going out and buying more food in my efforts to save money.
I also have 15 bean Cajun soup beans along with Chickpeas soaking for another night's dinner this week and for some mock tuna salad.
Finally, here is a photo of my Christmas cactus. It's not bloomed yet, but it is trying. :)
