Monday Frugal Report

Earning Money
This week I sold two items in my Etsy shop for which I am very grateful. We've noticed that since the $600 weekly unemployment benefit ended on July 31st that my daughter's Poshmark sales have went way down. 
My daughter had a desk in the place where she recently installed a shelf, so she listed the desk on Facebook Marketplace and it sold for $40 this week.
Avoiding Spending
We did not buy any groceries this week. I've been continuing to make food we have here, which included beans and rice several times, but that is OK. 
These types of foods, which I do enjoy, may not always be what we want to eat, but the important thing is that we are fed and I'm grateful for that. 
My daughter gave herself a haircut this week. I've not needed one since I cut mine really short last time. 
In My Frugal Kitchen
This week I made hummus using my own dried beans. 
We've been enjoying the plums and apples that came in our Misfit Market box last week. 
We also enjoyed cucumbers that came in our MM box. I sliced them and sprinkled them with everything bagel seasoning and it made them stand out!
I threw out the onions we had here due to the recall, so will need to order more this week. 
This week I will use up the last of the Palmolive dish soap we bought a few years ago with coupons. Honestly, I'm glad it is gone because it does not clean as well as Dawn, which I will be buying this week. 
Saving on Entertainment

We played two classic board games this week, Monopoly and the Game of Life. Life was one of my favorite games when I was growing up. 
Have you installed Peacock TV on any of your devices yet? I installed mine and have been watching it this week. I love that it is free. 

I've been watching Mrs. Volfie on YouTube. She made some strawberry lemonade and some watermelon lemonade concentrate and canned it this week. She says it will taste great this winter and I agree with her. 

This week I'll be taking my Dad for cataract surgery on his other eye. We are also ordering groceries this week. What plans do you have for the upcoming week?

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 here at Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday ~ July 24, 2020

Welcome to Friday, our 19th week of staying home and avoiding crowds due to coronavirus. No grocery shopping, yard sales, or thrifting. Some days are hard mentally, some days are easier though. 
In other news this week, my daughter received her stimulus check this week. She planned ahead on how she would spend this and managed to save part of it while also treating herself at the same time.
We did go out one day this week to pick up an RX at Publix, which was made contactless (paid online) through the drive through. 
The last time I filled up my car was on July 6th. I still have almost a full tank since we are not driving as much. At that time I paid $1.79 per gallon.     This week I placed a Walmart.com order to be delivered free to our home. The order included freezer bags, probiotics, mayonnaise, tortilla chips, walnuts, and Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, which I've been wanting to try. 
This week I already received a call to sub for this upcoming school year. 
Our dryer wasn't working correctly, so we called a repairman out on Tuesday. 
Turns out the heating element burned out. Total cost of the service call and parts came to $189, which is cheaper than buying a new dryer. 
So I'm glad we decided to repair this one rather than buy a new dryer. We did ask the repairman to wear a mask and disinfected after he left. 
Entertainment:

Tuesday night movie we watched Bridge to Terabithia. My favorite parts of this movie involve Miss Edmunds, the music teacher. Wouldn't it be wonderful if every student had a music teacher like her?

In my Frugal Kitchen:
I emptied a spice container of Mrs. Dash and cleaned it up. I'm going to reuse it for another spice as I like the size of these bottles. 
I stocked up on Chinese/Japanese oils and sauces this month. This week I'll be using oyster sauce in Sticky Pineapple Chicken and hoisin sauce in Chow Mein Noodles. 
My mom had me order her 24 cans of Chef Boyardee Spaghetti & Meatballs, but turns out she didn't like them. So, she gave them to us and now we have 23 cans on our pantry shelves. 
How was your week?
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 here at Frugal Workshop.

Frugal Friday ~ April 9, 2020 ~ Chocolate Zucchini Bread Recipe Included!

Good Friday morning to all my readers. Fridays are normally exciting for me since they mark the end of the work week. Exactly four weeks ago today, on March 13, was the last day I worked.  
We have sheltered in place for the last 28 days due to COVID-19. 
We are not sure how long this new normal will last, but hopefully we will come out on the other side in a better position than when we started. 
I read an article today on the AP website about how we are revisiting forgotten household skills. 
For my own household that has been true. In fact, as long as I've been on my frugal journey, I've found ways to save money this week that I hadn't always realized before this started.

I'd say it has a lot to do with having to stay home, which forces us to use what we have here and to make do with what we have on hand. 

I can recall my grandfather telling me they ate cornbread made with water during the Great Depression. After staying home for four weeks, now I realize why they would do that, and have actually thought about what alternative we could use for our buttermilk in our cornbread. I hadn't really stopped to think that this generation would have to think about things like that.  

We normally buy our bread at the bread outlet inexpensively compared to the grocery store prices. But, we are not going to any stores, and although I've made bread several times over the years, I realize that now I'm going to have to make it for real if we want bread to eat. 

LOL, I am up to the challenge. :)

This new way of life has given me a lot to think about and a new mindset, a more frugal can-do attitude that is forcing me to be even more frugal. 

So this week we have eaten all of our meals from home and they were seriously cooked from scratch. These days I'm thinking about how I handle food in the kitchen. 

I believe I've used more flour these last four weeks than I have in the last year. Now I find myself thinking about having to ration what I have left. 

I'm cutting back and using less, so I can make our food stretch as far as possible. And even though I have done that in the past this time feels different. There is a real purpose/urgency  behind this more so than any other time I can recall. 

This week for the first time I put a container in my freezer to hold small amounts of leftovers to turn into soup in the future. I have never done the soup container in the freezer before this. 

I was creative in the kitchen before this started, but these days I find myself trying to think of and create meals like I've not done before. We are using everything we have and like Frugal Queen told me once, "now eat all of that and don't go to the grocery store again until it's all gone."

Non-Frugal Things We Did This Week

This week I switched one of my prescriptions to mail order via CVS. And although I ended up paying more for it, it was worth it to me since we are sheltering in place. 
Items We Bought This Week:

We purchased this box of 96 toilet paper rolls for 50¢ each, but now the company website has been taken down and is no longer available. 
We bought ten pounds of white popcorn from Blain's Farm & Fleet. At $1.99 for two pounds I considered this a good deal. 
How we Entertained Ourselves:
We played board games this week. One of them was Ticket to Ride. 

In My Frugal Kitchen this Week:

Ever since I moved to a more plant based diet I do not drink dairy milk, but rather use plant based milk. I was out this week, but realized that I had pecans in my freezer, so using my Vita-mix enabled me to make my own nut milk. 

On Tuesday I made a batch of Amy D's muffins, which you can read about here. 
I cleaned out all the Tupperware bowls and lids. I have done this before, but today I went thru all those lids that no longer fit the bowls. 
They should come with a disclaimer that Tupperware lids will shrink if not used for a long time. I've read that running one under hot water or leaving it in the sun will help it fit better. 
I've also read that apparently certain Tupperware is considered dangerous to store food now, but using them for other uses would be OK. 
When my daughter made homemade wipes this week she stored them in one of our old Tupperware bowls. If you missed that blog post you can read about it here. 

On Thursday I took the four zucchini I had from Misfits Market and grated them. I used some of it to make these two loaves of chocolate zucchini bread. I still have one cup left, so I saved it and will add it to something else I make this week. 
Here's the recipe in case you're interested:
Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients

2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 large eggs, room temperature
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups shredded peeled zucchini

Directions

In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until well blended. 

Combine the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder. 

Beat into sugar mixture until blended. 

Stir in zucchini. 

Transfer to two  loaf pans coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

That's all the news I can think of to report from here this week. How has your week been?

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 here at 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

Contentment & Frugality

As the first full week of summer vacation comes to an end I find myself happy and content. This week my daughter and I deep cleaned my bedroom and rearranged the furniture. There is more room available to me and I find myself content and satisfied with the changes. 
Other things I've done have been equally as satisfying. I placed a shelf in the cabinet where my pots and pans are stored. This allowed me to be able to place all my lids on the shelf and led to much better organization. Also, I placed a small shelf at the back on my pantry to hold the new popcorn maker and some other items that needed a new home. 
This morning I made bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast. I felt good because I enjoy being in the kitchen cooking, cleaning, organizing, putting dishes away, or even just puttering.  I know not everyone feels that way, but I do. I enjoy the little tasks that inevitable make life easier and more comforting for my family. And a big part of that is because at this time of year I have the time to slow down and enjoy these tasks.  
Even laundry has been a fulfilling task. I find myself enjoying washing the clothes, drying and folding, and putting away. It's so nice to be able to not have a schedule outside my home and stay here and take care of our home. I find doing simple tasks at home making our home more enjoyable feeds my soul. I miss that during the school year when I'm busier. I love these slow summer days in this season of my life.  
Frugal moves we made this week include saving an egg that broke in the carton. My first thought was to toss the carton, egg and all, but then I decided to save it in a bowl and used it for breakfast this morning. We paid 49¢ for these at Aldi this week, and even though the egg was only 4¢, it still saved money. 

We went to yard sales on Friday. The only thing I bought was one of those electric plug ins that allow you to plug in more than one thing at a time. I paid 50¢ for it and is money well spent. 
The only groceries we bought this week came from Aldi. Eggs for 49¢ per dozen, strawberries for $1.29 per pound, and cantaloupes for $1.49. Our total came to less than $10 and the cashier commented that she only buys her fruit from Aldi because of the savings versus other grocery stores. 
We're not buying much from the grocery store right now because we are eating down our stockpile. Using up what we have on hand and making do with what's here. Our meals have been a reflection of that. Organizing the freezer yesterday I realized we have enough meat to last for over a month of meals, which will last even longer as I stretch it and include meatless meals in our dinners. 
May was unseasonable hot and humid this year for some reason and our dehumidifier was working hard to keep the humidity out of the house. I've been emptying it several times during the day. My Dad, who was visiting from Illinois where the weather was cold, couldn't believe how hot and humid it already was here.  
One way we save money on electricity here is by using fans around the house rather than relying only on the air conditioner. After moving my bed I realized I needed a fan to circulate the air better, so I placed one close by and as a result slept very well that night. 
How was your week? Any good yard sale finds or great frugal wins? I'd love to hear about it in the comment section. 
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Frugal Friday ~ April 26, 2019

This week I was able to work four days and got to stay home on Wednesday, so I decided to make our Easter dinner then. 
One thing that the water problem did was soak through some of my Dad's clothes that he left here when he moved five years ago. 
There is normally red clay mud at the bottom of our water tank/heater, so if it leaks red clay comes with it and his clothes soaked up a bunch of the water and mud and I didn't think the red clay would come out. 
I asked him if he wanted me to wash them or get rid of them and he told me to trash them. So there is a section of the downstairs that has been cleaned out as a result. It looks so much better than it did before.  
Some of the items we dried outside in the sunshine. I kept all of the towels and will use those for the cat beds. I'm not going to wash them in my washer with the red clay. 
Some things I did to save money this week include...
- Cut my own hair. My bangs were getting too long and annoying me, so I decided to trim them and decided to cut my hair in the process.
- Earned another $5 from Microsoft Rewards

- Perused the grocery store sale ads online. Here are some good deals I plan on picking up:

Kroger

Peanut Butter 99¢

Cheddar Cheese 99¢

Both of these involve digital coupons and you can purchase up to five, so we both picked these up on Thursday. 

I just opened the  last jar of peanut butter from Kroger's last sale, so the timing worked out well. 

We now have ten jars of peanut butter in our pantry and ten blocks of cheddar cheese (blocks as I prefer to shred my own cheese) in our refrigerator. 

Food City

Food Club Tomatoes 50¢ Friday Only

Luck's Beans 50¢ Friday Only

Smuckers Grape Jam 99¢ Friday Only

Kroger regularly sells canned tomatoes for 50¢ per can, so we picked up two cases (24 cans/$12.00) on Thursday. I was down to one can, so we definitely needed them. 

In my Frugal Kitchen this week I made another batch of granola bars. My daughter bought some Hershey chocolate chips last week when Kroger had them for $1.00 a bag, so I put 1/2 bag in this batch along with some coconut we had in the pantry. 

My recipe calls for 1 & 1/2 cups of peanut butter, but since I was on my last jar when I made them, I only used 1 cup and then used 1/2 cup of peanut butter powder, which helped me stretch my peanut butter and helped me use up the pb powder at least until I bought more on Thursday. 

I've been saving my peanut butter jars to reuse for other things. 

Hershey's Chocolate Chips 

$1.00 @ Kroger

The ham bone from our Easter dinner was put into the crockpot to make ham stock. I used some of the ham stock to moisten the cornbread dressing I made to go with the ham and it really added good flavor to the dressing. 

Beans I had in the fridge were put into individual containers and placed in the freezer as we were not eating them this week because I made a big ham in the middle of the week. 

One thing that I made this week and no one like was a package of cheese sauce. which I doctored with taco sauce. No one liked it though, so I need to decide what to do with it. 

Stir fry has been served in our home more often since I bought the Breville wok a few weeks ago. It's a good and healthy dinner, which is filled with vegetables and one that we all enjoy. 

This was a cabbage stir fry I made:

Rice in my Rice Cooker to go with the Stir Fry.

One day for lunch we had a marked down pizza we picked up at Kroger for $2.99. We also picked up some marked down chicken and ground beef. 

On Tuesday evening I made cornbread in order to make cornbread dressing on Wednesday for our Easter dinner. 

Here it is broken up as I was trying to get it cooled off before I crumbled it. 

Freebies this week included multiple free magazines such as Newsweek, Southern Living, Better Homes & Gardens, etc. A free Nibbler (chicken sandwich) postcard from Zaxby's for my birthday next month. 

Yesterday I felt like Sluggy when I found a quarter in the girl's bathroom at school. :)

Another free juice from one of the students at school. I'm so glad they've started asking me rather than throwing these away. This one was a combination of citrus juices and not just orange juice. 

That's all the news from here this week. How was your week? I'd love to hear about it in the comment section. 

Stay frugal my friends. :)

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

In My Frugal Kitchen: Batch Cooking

My weeks tend to run more smoothly and I eat healthier when I spend some time over the weekend batch cooking. 
Batch cooking ensures that even when I'm tired there will still be delicious, healthy food made with loving care in my home. I won't have to spend money for a meal outside my home and I can ensure the food we are eating is healthy. 

This weekend I made a batch of Southwest Veggie Burgers, which is a recipe created by Whole Foods. I doubled the recipe and ended up with one dozen veggie burgers. 
If you're interested, here is a video on how to make the burgers:

I also baked a batch of sweet potatoes for the week, made a batch of brown rice, filled my Instant Pot with homemade soup for the week, and also prepped some salads. 
When I make soup I usually just use what vegetables I have in the house. If you would like a "recipe" to follow, here is Dr. Fuhrman's formula for soup chart. 

DrFuhrman.com

Here is a photo of the soup I made today. This week was more vegetable than last week's soup, which had more beans. 

Now I have plenty of food already cooked to take with me for lunches this week and for some dinners. This will help me as the week progresses by saving me time and money. So far I'm only working one day, but that can always change. 
I hope you have a great week!
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Frugal Friday ~ July 6, 2018

My daughter and I downloaded the Dairy Queen app on our phones and earned a free blizzard reward. We used it during the hottest part of the day on Yard Sale Saturday. 

The receipt they gave us even had a free Dilly bar for filling out the survey.

We picked up two free bottles of water while picking up an RX for my daughter.

I picked up packages of oranges, apples, and bananas for 99¢ on the reduced produce rack at Food City last week while I was in there picking up an RX for me. I always check the reduced racks when I go there. 

I received a free sample of Garnier Whole Blends shampoo and conditioner in a free magazine this week. 

. 

On Monday of this week I received my first call to sub in August! I'll be glad to start earning money from school once again, although this year will be different for me. 

This summer I was diagnosed with severe osteoarthritis, so I will be declining some jobs that require me to walk more than I feel capable of doing. 

This week we stayed home Sunday through Wednesday and spent no money. Thursday we went thrift shopping for their 99¢ sale. 

Other frugal activities this week include:

- Sold three items on Ebay for a total of $33.00/$25.54 after fees. 
- Took Navy showers all week. 
- We scheduled pickups with the post office this week rather than drive to the post office, which saved us gas money.  
- Made sure to check out the contents of my refrigerator each morning to ensure nothing goes to waste. We either eat the items for breakfast or lunch or I include them in our dinner plans. 
- Washed a one gallon Ziplock bag to reuse.
- I did not buy any groceries this week and used what we had on hand instead. 
- Cooked all meals at home this week. 
- Used my crockpot to cook some to keep the heat out of the house and the a/c from working so hard during the heatwave. 
- I perused the grocery store ads online this week and noted Food City is having a $5 sale on Friday. They have 32 ounce bags of cheese for $5, and 10 Powerades for $5 or 50¢ each. 
- We signed up for the new Verizon reward program about a month or so ago. Today we earned a free $5 Starbucks reward card. I let my daughter have it as she likes Starbucks. 

That's all the news for Frugal Friday around here. How was your week?


Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ ounce bag