Third Frugal Friday of September 2022

Welcome to Friday! 
Quote of the Week

Slow and steady wins the race!

My Frugal Week
What started last Thursday was a whirlwind of activity that didn’t end until late Friday evening. The driveway crew came around 8 o’clock on Thursday morning and began excavating the driveway. 
They put two tiles under the driveway to keep rainwater from running down the hill and washing the driveway out. They sloped the rest of the driveway so rainwater would fall off to the side rather than down the middle of the driveway. Total cost of the driveway turned out to be $3,000. 
The driveway could still use a couple of more loads of gravel at $750 each and $300 to spread it, but we will save that money up for another day. 
On Monday the mailman came to our back porch and picked up packages! We were thrilled since they have refused to come up here due to the state of the driveway. This will save us both gas money and time. 
We hired movers to move two pieces of furniture we bought at the consignment sale. 
The first piece is this beautifully painted bookshelf. 

The second piece is this new to us desk at only $40.

While the men were here working on the driveway, I cleaned off the back porch from the cats. I threw away several of their blankets because raccoons like to come up there and mess with their stuff. The garbage man came on Saturday and hauled multiple bags off for this reason. 

September always brings the spiders out here and spider webs too. So, while I was cleaning the back porch I used my broom and knocked so many of them down including two spiders that were in a couple of them.
On Tuesday we had errands to run, so we decided to stop in the last day of the consignment sale. This was after the sellers who wanted to pick up their stuff on Monday did that. Everything left Tuesday was $1.00, cash only. 
We didn’t think there would be much left, but we were pleasantly surprised. This is a photo of our shopping cart while we were waiting to check out on dollar dash day. 
Bailey added multiple items to her inventory that now need to be steamed, processed, and listed for sale online. 
Who knew there would be so much stuff left? 

One of the things I bought was a comforter set, which included curtains and a cedar chest cover. Here is a picture of the tag from the sale:

She had $100 originally on the set, which was 50% and then 75% off on certain days of the sale, but we went on dollar dash day, so I got all of this for $1.00. Comforter, pillow shams, curtains for two windows, and a cedar chest cover. This was one of my sweetest deals this summer.
Here is a photo of what the comforter set looks like:

Another item we picked up was a brand new Pur water filter for the kitchen faucet. We buy these regularly and they easily cost $20. The seller had $16 on this one, but we only paid $1.00
We also stopped in the bread outlet where they had a fantastic deal on Dave’s Killer bread for $1.50 per loaf, so we got two of those along with hamburger buns and Hawaiian bread. 

And we stopped in at Walmart to replenish our mayonnaise, tea bags, sugar, onions, and cheese. While we were there I found a quarter in the parking lot. 😊 
Bailey went to Starbucks to get her a drink and I wanted an ice water. They will put strawberries in it for you for around 70 cents. It made for a nice little treat. 
The weather was so beautiful and we walked outside to a temperature of 53 degrees, which felt wonderful.
Savings of the Week
Hallelujah! I am thrilled that our electric bill is $125.62 lower this month over last month’s bill in our all electric house. The lower temperatures have certainly helped in this area of our finances. 
Joy of the Week
My Christmas cactus is confused for some reason and has multiple buds on it, which makes it the photo of the week. 
Photo of the Week

Question of the Week
What I do not understand is someone who prices an item for a consignment sale and states no discount on it and then when it doesn’t sell, they leave it to be donated rather than pick it up.
To me it would be better to offer a discount and sell it for half price than nothing at all. Of course, we benefited greatly from people who did this. They would mark an item for $40 no discount and it would not sell at that price, so we got it for $1.00 on dollar dash day.
It just seems to me that selling it for $20 (half price) would be better than not getting anything for it. 
What do you think?
Earning Money
There was a nice surprise deposit into my account of $50 this week. I love it when that happens. 
Helping Others
We gave away a small desk to a gentlemen from Facebook Marketplace as a porch pick up this week. He was happy to get it. 
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
I bought enough groceries last week to make do for this week when normally I buy for the whole month. So many of the items we normally buy have increased in price, unfortunately. One of the things I’ve done to combat this is getting creative in the kitchen and leaning even more towards cooking from scratch. 

Successful Leftover Wizardry Performed Here 

One of the things we’ve always done is to use what we have on hand to make meals. We have a lot of beans and rice on hand to incorporate into meals, which has helped us save money on groceries.
I’ve been using up my herbal teas and using those in place of regular tea for mealtimes. I’ve been enjoying hibiscus tea, which is a healthy tea, several days this week. 
Meals This Week
Friday: Burritos, Baked Beans, Mexican Rice. 
Saturday: Ham, Rice Pilaf, Green Beans with Onions. 
Sunday: Homemade version of Mexican style burritos/enchiladas dinner. I used sour cream, tomatoes, taco seasoning mix, rice, and beans. I scooped some onto tortillas, rolled them up and put them in a baking dish. Then I made a sauce out of sour cream and taco sauce to cover it. 
Monday: Tuna Salad, Green Beans with Potatoes & Onions, Rice & Vegetables.
 Tuesday: Repeat of Monday night or Pizza for movie night. 
Wednesday: Salmon Patties, Green Beans with Onions, Potato Salad. 
Thursday: Chicken with Rice & Broccoli, Potato Salad, October Beans. I used rice from two separate dinners and no one was the wiser. 😉 
Saving on Entertainment
We are still watching and enjoying Veronica Mars for the time being. 
What I've been Reading This Week
This week I’ve been reading a love story titled, God Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo. It’s the kind of love story that is supposed to change you, breaks and remakes you.
Here is a stack of books from the consignment sale that I’ll be reading soon…

Taste of Home magazine, Treasures of the Pharos, Get Together with Gooseberry Patch,  The Wellness Mama cookbook, and finally, Eat More of What You Love. I love getting stacks of new books to read. 
Freebies
We were given multiple food freebies this week including salmon, chicken, and green beans. 

That is our week in a nutshell. Thank you for dropping by my blog, you are always welcome here. 
We would love to hear all about your week in the comment section.
BelindaDebt Free & ~ Living within our Means ~My Linktree