Friday, February 4, 2022

First Frugal Friday of February 2022




Welcome to Friday! 

My Frugal Week

PayPal gave me $15.50 in cash back in January for using my PayPal debit card. I love getting free money.

Finally I received the refund from my eye surgery provider. That’s $74.60 back in my bank account. 

We found graham crackers at Food City on clearance for 50 cents per box. 

Walmart has been out of stock on canned vegetables we use like corn and green beans.  They charge 50 cents per can while Target charges 55 cents per can. I like to keep at least 12 on hand, so I went ahead and ordered the maximum Target allows, which is ten cans. I bought enough items (corn, green beans, diced green Chili’s, low sodium three beans, Rotel, and pickled beets) to get free shipping on the order ($35). 

The lock on our back door was getting harder and harder to open and lock, so we had both the door lock and the deadbolt replaced this week. These were the original locks from 1986 when the house was built, so it was time. Cost to repair was $144, which included both locks. 

We stopped at the bread outlet while we were in Chattanooga on Monday and picked up Dave’s Killer Bread for $3.00 per loaf, cinnamon raisin bread, hamburger buns, and carrot cakes. 

We received two free magazines in the mail this week. 

Joy of the Week

In April 2020 devastating tornadoes in this area leveled the East Brainard Goodwill store in Chattanooga. The store was rebuilt and reopened in April of 2021. On Monday we had an appointment in Chattanooga and made a visit to the new store. 


There was no crowd, we wore our masks and maintained good social distancing. It was so nice to thrift again. I found several useful items such as flannel baby blankets for 99 cents. Have you seen the price of these on eBay? I’m used to yard sale prices and the ones on eBay are too much for my budget, so I was thrilled to find these. 





I also found a new tortilla cooker, two small zipper pouches. I like to put items in these and then put them in my purse to keep it organized. 

Avoiding Spending

Frugal Queen had this to say on Facebook this week and I wanted to share for those who didn’t see it.
Years ago, when I heard Dave Ramsay say, when you write a budget you give yourself a pay rise and give yourself permission to spend. 

It’s brilliant being frugal, looking for bargains, cutting corners, home cooking, doing your own DIY but if you’re not on top of your budget, it can all seem a bit hit and miss. 

I know it sounds nerdy but I love our budget, if I want clothes, there’s a budget, if I want to buy paint, or household items, there’s a budget.

I also like watching our small savings pot get a little bigger each month
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen

Remember those extra groceries we got by mistake last week? I did my best to incorporate them into some of our meals this week so as to not waste them. Of course some of the items went straight to the Little Free Pantry like the baby food. 

Meals This Week

Friday: Bailey had a book club meeting and they serve snacks, so we just ate a light dinner of salad with cheese and crackers. 

Saturday: Polish Kielbasa, Broccoli Rice and Cheese, Mixed Vegetables, Beets

Sunday: Chicken Fajitas, Roasted Potatoes, Broccoli

Monday: Shrimp, Teriyaki Noodles, Broccoli, Cabbage, and Kale Greens

Tuesday: It’s movie night, so a late lunch and homemade pizzas. 

Wednesday: Better Cheddars, Scalloped Potatoes, Mixed Vegetables

Thursday: Hamburgers, Salad, Corn

Recipe of the Week

Part of the groceries we received last week included three pounds of potatoes, so this was the prefect recipe to use those. 

Scalloped Potatoes


Ingredients:


3 pounds potatoes, sliced 

¼ cup butter

1 large onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced

¼ cup flour

2 cups milk

1 cup chicken broth (I used vegetable broth)

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper


Directions:


Preheat the oven to 350˚F.

To make the sauce, melt butter, onion and garlic over medium low heat. Cook until onion is softened. 

Add flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. 

Reduce heat to low. 

Combine milk and broth. 

Add a small amount at a time,  and whisk to thicken until smooth.

Bring to a boil over medium heat while continuing to whisk.  

Stir in salt and pepper and let boil for 1 minute.

At this point you can add one cup of cheese to make Au Gratin Potatoes. 

Spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. 

Combine potatoes with sauce and place in pan.

Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes.

Uncover and bake for an additional 30 minutes until golden brown.



Saving on Entertainment

We’ve been catching up on This is Us this week. The show has such good writers. 

That is all the news to report on our frugal week in Tennessee. Thank you for dropping by, you are always welcome here. We would love to hear about your week in the comment section.

Belinda
~ Living within our Means ~
My Linktree



20 comments:

  1. Glad you got to order up on veggies. I bet the GW visit was. I haven't been in a thrift store for ages - except to drop off stuff.
    Have a good weekend

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Cheryl. We had a lot of fun that day. I hope you have a good weekend too.

      Delete
  2. The potatoes would have been a welcome freebie in my house and you put to good use. Have you ever had issues with Walmart corn? I bought two cans back in December when Aldi was out. It tasted like I imagine field corn would taste. Maybe it was just a bad lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I’ve not had any issues with Walmart corn, but I have eaten corn on the cob that tasted like dirt before. Every now and then I will get a potato that tastes that way. It’s odd.

      Delete
  3. Oh I just love Goodwill. That’s a pretty stack of flannel. I’ve been picking up the little cotton gauzy blankets with good intentions of making summer gowns for the little granddaughters. Glad you were able to use the nonordered grocery items!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Penny. That is a great way to up y le those blankets. They make such good fabric for other things.

      Delete
  4. Great job as always and nice scores from Goodwill too. Thanks for sharing the recipe - delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Martha. And you’re welcome for the recipe.

      Delete
  5. I just love your blog, so much insight and great ideas, plus I just like you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are so sweet, Kim. Thank you. I like you too!

      Delete
  6. Sounds like a good frugal week!
    I'm glad you were able to get the medical refund and cashback from paypal. Thanks for the scalloped potato recipe; sounds yummy. I bought potatoes from Kroger's weekly deal since I love taters in any shape or form.
    Great deals from thrifting. Glad you were able to get your locks replaced too.
    Hope you have a great weekend.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kathy. I was glad to get the refund too. I’m with you, I love potatoes any way they’re fixed. And also, I was so glad to get those locks fixed. That is one source of frustration that is now gone!

      I hope you have a great weekend too. :)

      Delete
  7. Looks like a delicious recipe. I printed it off. I've had a thrifty week, too.
    Blessings from Harvest Lane Cottage,
    Laura
    Doing what I can where I am on a shoestring budget

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Mrs. Laura. I’m glad you also had a thrifty week. I hope you have a wonderful Sunday as well.

      Delete
  8. Sounds like a good week! It's always nice to come into free food like that! I used to have a very picky neighbor who would give me all the food they tried and didn't like. I always appreciated that! We don't see my mom as often these days, because pandemic, but she does the same. She knows we'll always put whatever she doesn't enjoy to good use! :)

    I've had a pretty good week. Busy dealing with all the excess produce in the fridge, which is both a lot of work and makes me happy. Working on lots of little projects around the house and generally feeling content, despite everything the world is throwing at us. :) Have a great week! :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thank you, Stephannie. :) that was very nice of both your Mom and your neighbor to give you food they won’t use. My Mom does that for us too. When she worked in a grocery store she would buy us mark down meat regularly. It was great.

    The extra produce can be a lot of work, but very worth it. I have salad we need to be eating each day, but it’s kind of cold for salad right now.

    I hope you have a great week.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am so happy you were able to thrift again. Thrift stores in my area have been so busy. I would be thrilled if they were empty, lol.

    Not to much of a frugal week here. DH was off for over a week from being sick and the weather. Then he's thinking of leaving his job because working eighteen hours a day is making him ill. Plus, there is always a threat of violence now because people are getting angry about all the shortages & delays. They are taking it out on worker's like my DH. Then our truck broke down in brutal cold. We had to play the part game until we figured out what it was. Luckily your able to take parts back but it does a number on your checking account. Then I made an order from WalMart, they cancelled my date without telling me and gave me another date which was almost a week later. I am waiting for them to fix my account because I told them to cancel. They have not refunded me yet. It is almost $200 order. Stressful week, lol.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Thank you, Safyne. It was fun to thrift again. :)

    I hope your dh is feeling better. OMG on your truck breaking down and your Walmart order! That is terrible. Have you tried calling inside the store? I wonder if that would help any. I hope you can get that fixed ASAP. That is a lot of money to have tied up in an order.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Love scalloped potatoes. I have never used chicken broth in mine. Perhaps that is something I will try next time.

    Glad you got to go thrifting once again.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jackie. It was a lot of fun to go thrifting again.

      Delete

I’m so glad you’re here, taking time out of your day to comment on my blog.

Frugal Workshop is designed to be a source of information, encouragement and inspiration.

Negative comments will not be published. If you’re in the mood to troll, keep on scrolling.

Comments are moderated manually, and may take a few hours for them to appear. Thank you for understanding.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...