My Frugal Week

This week we had the last of our cats spayed at the clinic that utilizes a grant to help cover the cost and then only charges $25 for each spay or neuter. Now all of our cats are fixed, and hopefully no new ones show up here. 
I worked all five days last week and brought all food and drinks from home. Scratch that...we had snow last Wednesday and school was cancelled. Drat! Make that four days worked instead of five. 
On Wednesday I worked on hand warmers in my Etsy shop. I also made brownies and deep cleaned the kitchen, and folded laundry. 
Saturday we went to the annual Hallmark Christmas get together for work. We had the best time with friends and look forward to this fun event each year. 
Sunday we put up our Christmas tree, decorated for Christmas and listened to Christmas music. 
This week I redeemed several of my reward point programs towards Amazon gift certificates. 
I redeemed $10 from Microsoft Rewards, $15 from MyPoints, and $4 from Checkpoints. I also earned a $15 Amazon credit for using Amazon photos. 
This money went towards a gift I will be giving this year and I only ended up paying 21¢ for it in the end. Using reward programs are a great way to get presents inexpensively. 

This week I received a free calendar from Betty Crocker. 

This week I took the apples from our refrigerator and dehydrated them. The apples get eaten faster when I do this and make a great side with a sandwich for lunches.  
Aldi had butter and eggs on sale this week, so we stocked up. Butter was $1.99 per pound while eggs were 49¢ per dozen. 
Food Lion had Spam on sale last week priced at 2 for $3.00, but when you bought two you got one for free, so that made them $2.00 each. 
We've been busy getting ready for Christmas as I'm sure many of you are too. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree
Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living from Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday ~ November 15, 2019

Welcome to Friday, I hope you've had a great week. 

My daughter and I were out of town last weekend to attend the wedding of a friend. We stayed overnight two nights and used the trip to scour the thrift stores in Atlanta. We found several things we needed and a couple of things we wanted. 

We did eat out a couple of times while we were there. One day we came through Atlanta and saw the Secret Service while President Trump was in town. That night we ate at the Folk Art restaurant, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, so that was really fun and the food was great. 

This week I was back to work at school and worked three days, although the weather threatened two of those days. We did end up with a two hour delay one morning. 

This week I did some mending by reattaching two buttons that were safety pinned onto a blazer we picked up at the thrift store. I also sewed up one hole in a pillow created by one of the dogs we pet sit. Also, I've been working on and sewing some presents for Christmas. 

We've put off shopping for groceries and are using up what we have in our pantry and freezer. One day I even mixed up some powdered milk to have rather than go to the store for some. It always surprises me what meals we can come up with by using what we have on hand. 

I've been making an inventory of what food we do have on hand. It helps me to create meals when I can look at a list of the food available. This week in anticipation of grocery shopping, I perused the grocery store sale ads online. 

Cold weather arrived here this week and even though we dressed warmly and were covered up with blankets, we finally had to turn the heat on due to the cold weather. One morning it was 17 degrees outside, so definitely heater weather. That morning we had to salt the steps leading up to the house because they were icy. 

My plans for the weekend include laundry, grocery shopping, and sewing. I also have some computer work to do for my dd's business. 

Next week is our last week of school and then we have a week off for Thanksgiving. This year we will be going to my BIL's house, which we didn't think was going to happen as he had a house fire in October. They are living in a rented house for now and he wants us to come celebrate with them. Naturally I'll be bringing several dishes with us to share. 

I hope you have a great weekend! 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree
Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living from Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday ~ September 13, 2019

Last weekend we canned two dozen jars of green beans and two more jars of peppers. Jody bought a new pressure canner and we worked together to make this happen. We already have big plans for next year to do even more stuff now that we have a canner to use. 

This week I subbed four days and packed lunches and drinks all four days. One day was in the hot gym where I normally take my Bubba Keg with me, but something happened to it and the valve inside broke. 
I've already contacted the Bubba company and sent them photos. They'll let me know in a few weeks what they decide. These items have a lifetime warranty on them.
The hot weather continues to be an issue here, although it has cooled down a few degrees since the August heat wave. 
My daughter was able to get in on a good deal on Weber spices. Publix had them on sale and she combined them with a coupon, which made them 20¢ each. She stocked up on our favorite Garlic & Herb one and we were able to share with friends.

Yard Sale Saturday:

This notebook was priced at only 10¢, so I picked that up and put in my sub bag. I've already been using it this week. I also found three books. Two of them are older Southern Living cookbooks and one was a book to save money on electricity. 
We watched Aladdin and Manchester By The Sea for free online this week. 
So far this month I've bought four Christmas presents. Two of them were bought with Amazon gift cards. Christmas is only 103 days away from today. 
I want to have a frugal Christmas this year, paid in full and I'm starting early to do that as I only have four paychecks between now and Christmas. 
Planing ahead will help us have a debt free Christmas. All of these were shipped to my home for free, so no money spent on gas for them. 
This week I was running low on Ibuprofen, so rather than drive a forty mile round trip, I ordered some online and it was shipped for free to my home. That saves me time and gas money. 
In my Frugal Kitchen this week...
Tuesday was the day I was able to stay home this week and as usual I spent extra time in the kitchen. One of the things I made was apples in my Instant Pot. I had an abundance of apples and wanted to use them up before they went bad. 
We've been busy eating down our pantry and it's beginning to show. We're going grocery shopping on Saturday this week to replenish things. 
How was your week?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

The Day Before Christmas Eve

Saturday was special day for me and my daughter. On Wednesday my ex's aunt called and invited us to their family get together, which took place yesterday. 
It has been years since we've gotten together with them, but she told me she still considers me family too. 
They served finger foods, so I brought my Tuna Pate because I know she loves it. We had the best time with them and can't wait to do it again next year. 
Tomorrow we are going to spend Christmas Eve with my BIL who also still considers me family as well. 
Today I will be making several things to take with us there and also for home like sausage balls, pigs in a blanket, and cake pops. 
I've already made the cheeseball and chocolate chip pies yesterday.
Tomorrow I'm expecting two packages of last minute gifts, so those will need wrapping. 
What's on your agenda for today?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Frugal Friday 12-21-2018

We made it to Friday! I was able to work both days they had school this week and now students are off for Christmas break until next year. 
The eagle landed this week with payday and all the bills have been paid for the month, which is a good feeling. I know we are fortunate and so we count our blessings daily. 
Dinners this Week: Sunday Brunch: Broccoli & Cheese Soup with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches Dinner: Cheese Quesadillas, Cheesy Corn, Broccoli Monday Dinner: Homemade Pizza and Salad Tuesday Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie Wednesday Dinner: Tacos Salads Thursday Dinner: Hamburger Soup
Freebies This Week: Free Arby's Sandwich - Sign up on their website and they will email you a coupon for a free sandwich with a drink purchase.  Free Panera Bagel  Free Panera Drink Free 2 year subscription to Money magazine
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The Samaritan Center in Ooltewah had their annual sale on Monday this week. They open the doors at 9 a.m. and close them at 3 p.m. They let you fill a bag with clothes for $5 while everything else is 50% off. 
Towards the end of the day everything is free, furniture included. They then spend the next week restocking the store and have a grand reopening sale on December 27th. It is a lot of fun if you enjoy these kinds of things My daughter went and was able to pick up 37 pieces for $20.00, so 54¢ each. 
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On Wednesday we went to pick up a few last minutes things for Christmas. We went to Food City and I found three cans of fruit in the Crash & Burn section for 79¢ each. We also found two three pound packages of ground beef for $4.99. 
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I finished wrapping all of my Christmas presents on Thursday. We did not have to buy any supplies this year for wrapping since we bought supplies on clearance after Christmas last year. 
I was worried that we were going to run out of tape since the tape I was using was bought a few years ago. We didn't run out though, maybe we can make it through next Christmas too. LOL
****************************** This year I joined the My Frugal Home Secret Santa gift exchange 2018. Erin used Elfster.com to create the group and she drew names on December 9th. 
The object was to spend $10 on the gift. Erin said us frugal types could do a lot of with $10 and you know that Bailey & I coupon, so this was easy for us to do. 
The package I sent contained four brand new Christmas cloth napkins, a cookbook from our local radio station, several little notebooks, a new razor and shave cream, tea bags, and two bars of lavender soap. 
The package I sent has already been received and appreciated. Today a package came for me!  

Mine came from Canada and came with two homemade dishcloths, a homemade pair of socks, two infinity scarves, a keepsake Christmas book, and a lovely card. I loved everything in my package. :)
This was so much fun that I plan on doing it again next year!
I love Erin's website and especially her post on how she does Christmas on under $100. Here is a link if you'd like to read it. 
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That's all the frugal news from here this week. How was your week?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

My Frugal Week

Sunday was cold and rainy and the weather was calling for snow and/or ice, so school was called off on Monday. I was scheduled to work, but the day was transferred to Friday, so I'm happy about that. 
We went to a Christmas party Tuesday evening with some teachers from school. We ate at a local restaurant where we split a Blackened Chicken wrap and fried pickles. We had the best time and spent over three hours laughing and enjoying each other's company. 
The party was the only time we've been out of the house until Friday. Therefore, I still have a full tank of gas from when I filled my car up last week. Staying home has its advantages. 
For breakfast one day this week I tried a new recipe for Baked Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal from Budget Bytes.  In the process I used up a lurking can of pumpkin from my pantry. I expected the recipe to taste sweet, but it was more savory than sweet to me.
This week we didn't grocery shop and have been making meals out of what we have on hand in order to save our pennies for Christmas. 
Soup is one of the ways we save money on food. 
For lunch one day I made a package of Ramen noodles and added a can of mixed vegetables. It's good to use these things up and get the lurkers out of the pantry and saves money as well. 
Today I'll be making a Broccoli Cheese soup using some ingredients from my pantry. 
I made some Apple Cider muffins yesterday using up a mix that we bought at Kroger in the Crash & Burn section. They were a huge hit. 
If you have lurking ingredients, but no idea what to do with them, go to MyFridgeFood and enter them to come up with recipes to use the ingredients. 
There were two earthquakes here this week, which register 4.4 and 3.1 on the Richter scale, but no damages here. We are grateful. 
I hope you all have a great weekend!
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Christmas Recipe Series ~ Cheese Wafers Recipe

The first time I had cheese wafers was in Cleveland, Tennessee on Harle Avenue at a small hometown restaurant that has long since closed its doors. They offered these wafers on their salad bar. 
The restaurant would serve their iced tea with a little sprig of mint, which I thought was the neatest thing. We are going to include them in our finger food menu for Christmas Eve this year. 
Cheese Wafers
Ingredients:
12 ounces freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese 1 stick butter at room temperature 1 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper  1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
Grate cheese and blend it together with the butter.  Add flour, salt, and pepper and mix until dough comes together.  Roll into small balls and flatten slightly with your fingertips.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Christmas Recipe Series ~ Cheeseball

This is a recipe I found in a Ronald McDonald cookbook in the early 1990s. I bought the cookbook at the McDonalds in Dunlap, Tennessee. 
This too is a tried and true family favorite. I usually make it for Christmas Eve and serve it with other finger foods. 
Cheese Ball
Ingredients:
2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese  1 - 8 ounce cheddar cheese, grated 1 tablespoon minced onion 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
Directions:
Mix cream cheese and cheddar until well blended. Add onions and worcestershire sauce.  Refrigerate several hours.  Shape into a ball and serve with crackers. 

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Christmas Recipe Series ~ Spiced Cider

This month I'm going to share some of my favorite Christmas recipes from time to time just like I did with Thanksgiving recipes last month. 
I hope you enjoy this series. 
This is a very old recipe, which I learned from an elderly lady in the early 1990s. We were attending a shower for a mutual friend in Dayton, TN at the United Methodist church. 
Her and I discussed the 3/8 cup of brown sugar called for in the recipe. She and I both figured it's about 1/2 cup of brown sugar, which works well for this recipe.
This is another tried and true family favorite and fun to drink on Christmas Eve while celebrating with family. I hope you enjoy it. 
Spiced Cider
Ingredients
1 quart apple cider (I've used apple juice as well) 1 stick cinnamon 2 allspice cloves 2 whole cloves 3/8 cup brown sugar
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together Boil together for 5 minutes with the spices Enjoy!

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

My Frugal Weekend

I made $11.95 on an item I sold on Ebay this weekend. This was for an item I paid $10 for to use myself, but it ended up not working, so I was able to recoup my money for the item, which is good. 

We went thrift shopping on Saturday. I found a bag full of gift bags for 99¢. There were 10 gift bags in the lot, so they ended up being 10¢ each. 
Even with thrift stores you really have to watch the prices. I found these gift bags at the Salvation Army thrift store. The ones at the Provident thrift store were priced starting at 99¢ each, so it really pays to check prices even with thrift stores. 

I also found a Charles Panter Griscer Deluxe food grinder for $9.95. I love that this is non-electric. I have fond memories of a lady that I knew years ago who would make carrot salad with one of these. 

I also found a Roseville Robinson Ransbottom crock for $1.99. These are so beautiful to me and I find them very useful to store things. I have one on my desk that holds pens and scissors. 
One of the items I was looking for was flannel, but I didn't find any in the price range I was willing to pay, so I will keep looking for that item. 
My Mom requested flannel pajama bottoms for Christmas, so I am looking for a deal on them. In the meantime I found a pattern for them for 10¢ at the thrift store, so I picked that up. If I find flannel at a good price before Christmas, I will make her some. Otherwise, I am still looking for a good deal on them. 
We are staying home today as my daughter has school work and I have several things I want to do at home. I hope you are having a great weekend.  :)
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Happy New Year

Image Credit

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.  :)

I hope all of you have a wonderful 2017.
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Another Christmas Has Come and Gone...

Christmas 2016 is behind us now. I hope all of you had a wonderful time and spent it with the people you love. 
One of the gifts my daughter received was the Harry Potter Clue game. We spent part of Christmas day playing not only this game, but other games as well. 
Playing games is a fun way to spend time together and, as an added bonus, we are not spending money. 
Harry Potter Clue is different from the regular Clue board game as it has four circle pieces you connect on the bottom of the board that turn with certain plays, so the game is always changing. We really enjoyed  playing it. 
Other items I bought for her included a new wallet, Bath and Body Works Sweet Pea hand sanitizer, which she loves and is hard to find. Minion sheets, Taco Bell gift card, gloves, and the first season of Sherlock. She was very happy with everything I purchased for her. 

She bought me a new wallet as well along with a brand new clock, which I love. I love clocks and have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to them. My large one stopped working earlier this year and she replaced it as she knows how much I love them. She also bought me a new calendar from my favorite author, Susan Branch. 
Even though my income was much lower this month due to school being out for three weeks we did not overspend this holiday season. 
I did not go all out and buy a lot of things since we didn't have the money this year. All gifts were bought with cash we had on hand.
I did not buy some of the traditional food items we normally have at this time of year simple because the money was just not there and I did not want to dip into our savings. But you know what? We still had a wonderful holiday. I kept dinner simple and it was good and filling. I couldn't ask for more than that. 
We went to my brother-in-laws home for dinner Monday night. He served ham, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, green beans, deviled eggs, and rolls. We had a great time spent with good company. 
On Tuesday we will be welcoming my daughter's grandmother from Florida in for a five day visit. 
I hope you all have a wonderful week!
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Christmas

Graphic Credit

Before I began this blog post I read over Christmas blog posts from years past and I saw a recurring theme. We have kept Christmas both frugal and simple over the last few years and in 2016 will be following the same theme. 

Graphic Credit

Gifts
My Mom asked for a sweatshirt for Christmas because she likes to wear them to keep warm during this time of year. I stumbled across some on clearance at Walmart this week that were marked down to $5.00 each. That was such a good price I went ahead and picked up three for her. 
I also bought her a new frame a day calendar at McKay's Used Books. She loves the frame a day puzzles and since I bought it at McKay's, I didn't pay anything for it as we traded for it. 
I also picked her up a new pair of warm gloves as she has lost hers this past year. 
As for my daughter, I will refrain from saying anything as she may read my blog post before Christmas and I don't want to spoil any surprises for her. 

Food
The menu I have planned will be very simple and low key this year. 
For Christmas Eve I plan on making a Chicken Olive Dip with Crackers to snack on during the evening. 
And for Christmas Dinner I plan on the following:
Ham Dressing Broccoli Casserole Crescent Rolls Chocolate Chip Pie
I hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas this year and that you spend it with the people you love. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~