I sure hope you’ve all had a great Thanksgiving. As the years fly by and things change, and people are no longer with us, more than anything, I am so thankful for the wonderful memories.~ Mandy @ Read Write Mom
My Frugal Week
I said last week that I would make up for the short blog post, so here goes…
This week was odd as Sunday felt like Monday and then Monday felt like Sunday. I was leisurely reading some of my favorite blogs on Monday morning, which made it feel like Sunday since I usually enjoy reading on the slower pace of the Lord’s day.
Thank you all very much for the sweet comments you left last week about Beaux Gatsby. We had him cremated and placed his ashes next to Big Kitty. The crematorium gave us a clipping of his fur and a print of his paw made into an ornament for Christmas.
Bailey and I went to town last Friday and stocked up at the grocery store. We also finished our Christmas shopping. We did that so we didn’t have to enter another store before Christmas as it gets very busy, as you know, at this time of year.
This year we bought a new Christmas tree as our old pre-lit one died last year. We spent the week decorating and making the house nice and cozy for Christmas time. On Tuesday I was able to finish wrapping presents, so now I feel like I can enjoy the holiday more.
One way to save money at Christmas time is to make it acceptable to receive second hand items for presents. Bailey knows that second hand gifts are perfectly acceptable to me. Let people off the hook and let them know this is OK.
Gary Chapman in his The 5 Love Languages book writes about five ways people feel loved, including acts of service, physical touch, quality time, words of affirmation and gifts. One of my favorite ways of showing someone I love them is through acts of service. Folding someone’s laundry for them, or making them their favorite meal or beverage costs less money and is usually always appreciated by that person.
The Driveway & Traffic Cones
Even though we recently had our driveway repaired, there is still some work that needs doing. We have traffic cones set up in some areas where we have tiles/culverts, which divert rainwater away from the new gravel. The UPS man accidentally drove over one of the traffic cones because I’m sure it was too dark for him to see.
The fix was a $5 can of spray paint, which was money well spent to protect a $3,000 driveway.
Here is a photo of the before and after:
New Washing Machine
Guess what we had to buy this week? A washer! 🤷♀️
We bought our last washer in the first year of the pandemic in the summer of 2020. It was a mid priced ($699) GE Brand washer. We decided to buy into the mid price range models to see if it would last longer, but due to planned obsolescence we should have known better.
We had trouble with it from the start, had multiple repairmen out to look at it to no avail and it finally quit working this week, so we went looking for a new one.
We looked at Lowes and Home Depot and then decided to stop in at a locally owned appliance center. The salesman wanted to sell us a couple of washers for $799, but we were a little gun shy that they wouldn’t last long.
We decided to buy a preowned washer for $250 from the locally owned store. It’s a Maytag washer and comes with a thirty day warranty and so far it’s been working well, no issues like we had with the last washer. Now we are all caught up on the laundry for the moment.
Time will tell as to how long this machine lasts. If it lasts two years like the last one we will have saved money in the long run. I’ll keep you all updated here like I usually do with our washers/dryers.
Freebies
Our local community has a Trading Post event where people bring stuff they no longer need, bring them to the event and set them down and then walk around and pick up things they do need.
We went to one this week and brought several articles of clothing, a lamp, a cat toy, and a Starbucks reusable cup.
Here are two photos of the items we were able to pick out:
Reynolds’s foil sheets, one green pepper, cucumber, and onion, two sweet potatoes, grape tomatoes, blueberries, chocolate chips, a bag of organic potatoes, two cabinet lights, and some Waverley fat quarters.
It’s a great way to declutter items you no longer need and then trade them for items you do need and no money changes hands.
Saving Money In My Frugal Kitchen
Doing all the usual things like avoiding food waste, using up what we have on hand, freezing leftovers for another meal another day.
One thing I do is to watch what my family leaves on their plate and adjust accordingly. If my daughter leaves her cucumber salad because I made too much other food, I will save her individual portion and serve it to her at another meal. It takes planning, but will save money.
Meals This Week
All of our meals are served with plenty of vegetables and/or salad.
- Homemade Vegetable Soup
- Chicken Teriyaki, Steamed Cabbage, Carrots, Onions, and Broccoli.
- Vegetable Plates (Potatoes, Carrots, Corn on the Cob, Cucumber Salad).
- Chicken & Dressing (recipe below), Green Beans with Onions, Carrots.
- Vegetable Stir Fry, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, and Kale Greens.
- Meatloaf, Sweet Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli.
* If you see a dinner in bold print that means we had it more than once this week.
Recipe of the Week
This one is definitely a favorite around here.
Chicken & Dressing Casserole
Ingredients:
4 cups cooked chicken 1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of chicken soup 1 - 10.5 ounce can cream of mushroom soup (I substituted using the recipe found below) 1 cup milk 1 stick butter 1 - 8 ounce package dry stuffing mix (Pepperidge Farm is my favorite as my grandmother worked there)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray Whisk together soup and milk and add chicken. Pour into casserole dish. In another bowl, melt butter and add dry dressing mix and mix well. Sprinkle over chicken mixture in pan. Cover dish with foil, but remove 5 minutes before taking the dish out of the oven.
Be careful and watch the top so it won’t get too dark. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
Ingredients:
6 Tbsp butter 2/3 cup flour 2/3 cup milk 2/3 cup chicken broth 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1/4 tsp onion powder Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions:
Melt butter in saucepan. Add flour and mix into a paste. Whisk in milk and chicken broth. Add onion & garlic powder, salt & pepper. Continue to whisk until smooth and creamy. I also added about one cup of sour cream to make it very creamy.
Use 1 & 1/3 cup to replace one 10 & 1/2 ounce can of cream of chicken soup in recipes. This recipe makes the equivalent of two cans.
Facebook has been showing me old Leave it to Beaver episodes recently. Some shows from that time period show the father/husband to be domineering, but this show didn’t do that, which I find refreshing. It’s free to watch on Facebook if you’re interested.
One of my favorite tv shows is American Dreams. The father/husband is domineering in this show, but I still enjoyed it, but it only lasted three seasons as the show didn’t really find an audience. Only the first season is available on DVD, but there are some shows on YouTube for free if you’re interested.
His son Rip Esselstyn is the one who created The Engine 2 Diet while his wife Ann and daughter Jane have a new book out called Be a Plant Based Woman Warrior. I have that last book on my Amazon wish list for Christmas.
Ann and Jane also have a YouTube channel, where they share many of their plant based recipes for free from several of their family’s books. If you’re interested in plant based eating you will want to check out this resource.
Thank you for dropping by my frugal blog, you are always welcome here. I love hearing from you! I always respond to comments, so please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. 💕
