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Friday, December 29, 2023

Fifth & Final Frugal Friday of December 2023



Welcome to Frugal Friday! 

My Frugal Week

Thank you for all the thoughts, prayers, and concern for my Dad. He is still in the hospital and has been for the last twelve days. He was completely independent and now cannot even feed himself, it is so sad. We are trying to get him transferred to a physical rehabilitation hospital at this time. 

The weather here has been warm and rainy this week. Bailey actually turned on the a/c on Christmas Eve and Day. Even I threw the blankets off in the middle of the night, which was so different from the cold Christmas of 2022. 


This is the gift I received at our family Christmas party. A set of Pioneer Women kitchen towels, potholders, and spatulas. I love how beautiful they are. 

Bailey gifted with me several embroidered items this year. 

Here are some photos:

Winnie the Pooh Dish Towels

Winnie the Pooh Dish Towels

Winnie the Pooh Tote Bag
(I say this regularly, so it was perfect!)

Winnie the Pooh Tote Bag

She also gifted me with a PhoneSoap, Lymphatic Brush & Gua Sha tool, a shirt she tie-died, and flannel sheets. It was a lovely Christmas. 

Now that Christmas 2023 is officially in the books, my thoughts have already turned to Christmas for 2024. What things can I do better, what didn't work? What do I want to include next year?

My niece told me that she loves the large casserole hot pads I made and gave to her last Christmas and uses them regularly. So, I definitely want to make more of those this year. I would also love to learn how to crochet edges on wash clothes as I think they are beautiful. I'm also looking into making desk calendars and some food gifts from my kitchen. 

Thrift Store Shopping

We went to the thrift store on Wednesday to take our minds off things. 

Here is what I was able to pick up:


Cute Christmas print curtains that I'm going to make gift bags out of for Christmas 2024. She only charged me 50 cents for the set. I also picked up one cloth diaper and six flannel baby blankets for 25 cents each. 


Blanket from MexicanBlankets.com, which sell on their website for $13.99 and up, but we got it for only $1.00. These are some of my favorite blankets as they are very warm. 


Three hand/dish towels, the two gray ones have hang tags, which I love. These were only $1.00 each. 


Books! You know I love books and paperbacks are only 50 cents while hardbacks are $1.00. One of them is for gifts from your kitchen, which I plan to use for Christmas 2024. 


And my kitchen stash, fresh from handwashing, included two bowls (35 cents each), two mugs (35 cents each) and a Santa plate for Christmas 2024 (55 cents), one large water bottle ($1.00), Kitchenaid measuring spoons and measuring cups (35 cents each), tomato slicer guide (25 cents), two pairs of tongs (35 cents each) with hands for taco night, and one mason jar (60 cents). 

Found Money

I found twelve cents when I pumped gas this week. Someone must have dropped this out of their pocket while they were pumping gas. 


Recycling

I saved this brown paper bag and cut it into squares to neatly store in the kitchen drawer for future use. When I fry sausage, bacon, or anything like that, I pull one of the drawer to place on the plate to soak up any oil. 



Freebies


Bailey won the Christmas Word Scramble game at the family get together and won this Penguin tin with with cookies as a reward. 

Photo of the Week

I saw this on Facebook and thought it was neat and would definitely work if you run out of Christmas wrapping paper.  



Avoiding Spending

We've did not avoid spending money this week as I've had to buy gas to get back and forth to the hospital and we did go to the thrift store. But I only spent $15 at the thrift store, which was inexpensive self-care therapy. 

Saving Money on Entertainment

This week we watched The Santa Clause movie over the course of a few days. Normally, we watch a few movies over the holidays, but that didn't happen this year.

We hope you have had a wonderful holiday season spent with those you love. We thank each and every one of you for your continued support this year. 


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.


Belinda
Homemaker at Heart
Mortgage & Debt Free
~ Living within our Means ~
My Linktree

~ She looketh well to the ways of her household ~
Proverbs 31:27








23 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you had a good Christmas. I too immediately thought how to do better for Christmas this year. I'll keep trying because it was a good Christmas I need to think ahead more!
    We also went to the Thrift store and your right it makes you happy.
    Hope your Dad is getting better.

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  2. Oh what thoughtful gifts! The Pooh bear embroidery is just adorable! Bailey did an amazing job; they are so cute!
    I'm so glad you were able to enjoy time with family, and I'm glad you were able to go to the thrift store. Some great finds. And I think the hot pads are great. I love mine that I bought from your etsy shop; it is so handy for large casserole dishes.
    Hope that the New Year will be full of blessings for you.
    Sending hugs to you and prayers for your Dad.
    I know it is so hard. My Daddy had a stroke that affected his speech and side, and he went to rehab in the hopes that he could bear weight so I could bring him to my house. It wasn't to be though.

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    1. Thank you, Kathy. I just love the Pooh Bear items Bailey made for me. I love those large casserole hot pads. Sometimes we put two different dishes on them. Oh, I'm sorry about your Dad too and I fear this is the case with my Dad too. I just don't know what the future holds for him. Thank you again and I hope you have a very good weekend.

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  3. Great gifts and finds. Continued prayers for your dad for complete healing.

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  4. Sending good thoughts for your dad!

    We always jot down our notes on Christmas night, recapping what we can do differently next year to make things easier.

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    1. Thank you for the good thoughts for my Dad. That is a great idea to write down what works for you this year to use for next year. I need to do that also.

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  5. I'm so sorry about your Dad. It is so hard to see parents unable to care for themselves. I pray he will make great progress in rehab.

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  6. Prayers for healing for your Dad I love. Your use of a brown bag for draining bacon! I am going to do that and stop wasting paper towels -Mary

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  7. So very sad to read that your dad has been poorly, and sending healing thoughts and prayers his way.
    It sounds like your Christmas was a lovely one, family get-togethers this time of the year are so special.
    Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes and "frugal" tips with us, I always look forward to your posts.
    Hugs,
    ~Jo

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  8. Hopefully, your father will make a full recovery. I agree about the therapy by shopping at the thrift store. You have some great things and received useful and cute gifts.

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  9. Belinda, I am so sorry about your Dad. This is a heartbreaking update. I hope rehab will be better. Don't lose hope. I know you are scared. We are all here for you.

    I love your Pioneer Woman gifts. I love her things. My favorites are Baileys embroidery towels. So proud of her learning her embroidery machine and becoming a pro. Look at her go! :) I have had my embroidery machine a zillion years and not even close to Bailey's level. :)

    I know you want that Christmas fabric to make gifts from. That material is worth a lot of money. I am meaning hundreds of dollars, just alone with the gingerbread man. In my paper crafting/mixed media communities women are snagging up that artist fabric and willing to pay top dollar. One of my friends paid $1,000 for a yard of fabric. That is not a typo. I was on a forum years ago with that artist. She would make the cutest little clip art for all of us on the forum. It was a small intimate forum. Now, her stuff is worth thousands of dollars. It is surreal.

    I loved that penny pinching cookbook.

    Those little hand tongs are selling in the paper crafting world for around $4.00. I think they are the Ranger hand tongs are something like that. Paper crafting world always "borrows/steals" ideas from other industries and then blows up the price 10,000 times. I always buy the original version from the other industry, lol.

    I went thrifting too and the library. Nothing makes me happier than thrifting and library. :)

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, DeeAnn. I will have to look into the fabric and price. I may not make gift bags out of it after reading that. OMG~! I am in shock!

      That is really something about the hand tongs too I had no idea the paper crafting world did that. You are so smart to buy them from the original industry. Such a great tip!

      Thank you. I hope you have a terrific weekend.

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    2. Do you know the name of the artist of the fabric, DeeAnn?

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    3. It does look like Debbie Mumm's. I recognize the gingerbread house. Also look up Dianna Marcum. Both have similar styles. I know both of the artists. I did look on Ebay to see what the bidding prices are right now. They are not very much. In my paper crafting groups they have a big Gingerbread challenge they do every year. You can find YouTube videos on this. Just type in Dianna Marcum Gingerbread. The ladies start in July with this Gingerbread challenge and that is when they start looking for fabric and other crafting things from Debbie & Dianna. They will spend hundreds of dollars on items, especially fabric. My friend spent a $1,000 on one yard of fabric. To this day she is still proud of that purchase.
      Paper crafter's spend a lot of money on this hobby. I am guilty too. I do fall in the group of paper crafter's who recycle, reuse and do the trash to treasure paper crafting. I also have nice tools like the electronic cutters. I only spend money on tools that will save me money.
      Hold on to the fabric and list it around August. I know you will get a bidding war on it.

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    4. That sounds perfect, DeeAnn. Thank you. We will definitely hold onto the fabric until then and see what happenes. It’s so exciting! 😂

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  10. Belinda, we didn't do too well the past week on not spending money either. Between Christmas, and my birthday it is not an inexpensive month, though we do try.

    You got some great deals on those items from the second hand store.

    God bless.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jackie. I totally understand spending more in December.

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