The Frugal Friday File 2021, week 4...

Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without

1.  In the use-it-up category this week:  the last couple of sweet potatoes and remaining couple of white potatoes are on the menu as hash (along with some other fridge residents like onions, mushrooms, and a little bacon).  I'll top it off with some fried eggs to round out the meal.

2.  In the wear-it-out category:  Where clothes are concerned, wearing them out may mean not wearing them out of the house.  LOL  Anybody else save a few really ratty, stained, or holey t-shirts and jeans for things like cleaning the oven, painting, or bathing the dog?

3.  For the make-it-do category:  It is time to go through my physical book shelf and my constantly growing inventory of Kindle book 'bargains' and make a list of which ones I want to get read this year.  Need a break from impulse purchases from BookBub or Kindle Deal of the Day.  

4.   And in the do-without category:  I am going to attempt a zero order (except for groceries) month in February.  I don't go to stores these days, but it's so easy to hop online and order something that catches my eye.  Was thinking I might put it off for awhile, but figured maybe the shortest month of the year would be the easiest.  ;)

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

It has been SO busy at work for two solid weeks.  Not sure why more than usual, but it makes the days go by fast.  And when I get home in the evening, it also makes me fall asleep before I finish a full page, which means I don't get much reading done lately.

The Frugal Friday File 2021, week 3...

 

Successes:
1.  I mended a pair of my work slacks.  A stitch in time.  :)

2.  I subscribe to Stampin' Up's Paper Pumpkin.  I finally got around to opening last month's kit and thought the card bases were way to sophisticated to pair with the somewhat cartoon-like animal images in the kit.  So I set the pretty paper aside for later cardmaking, and used scraps and leftovers and loved the cards that resulted.  I'll show this weekend probably.

3.  Enjoyed my paid holiday for Martin Luther King Jr Day, and I'm thankful for a job where I get 7 paid holidays a year as well as vacation.  But it has left me wondering; Is a holiday really worth it if the rest of the week is absolutely, exhaustingly crazy-busy?

4.  The rate of first-ounce stamps is not being raised, but the rate of additional ounce and postcard stamps is.  I was about to order more of both, but was gratified to realize that the ones I have are forever stamps.  They don't say forever, but as per usps.com the words  "additional ounce" and "postcard" printed on them mean that they will always be usable for those purposes.  Pays to research before purchasing.  :)

5.  For the meals I cooked this week, I just purchased the meat; I used recipes for which I had all the other ingredients in the pantry, fridge, or freezer.

Saturday:  pork chops/ rice & gravy/ squash casserole
Sunday:  shrimp scampi w/ linguini/ salad/ garlic bread
Monday:  we each ate a Freshly meal
Tuesday:  Beef Stroganoff in the slow cooker, salad, green beans
Wednesday:  *burgers
Thursday:  skipped supper, too tired to do anything!
Friday: planning on breakfast for supper

Number of individual servings made and frozen for work lunches this week:  8

(*not-frugal takeout or dinner out)

The Frugal Friday File 2021, week 2...

 Successes:

1.  I made a pot of Lentil Soup to welcome Carey home from work on Wednesday.  It was so good on a cold night, so economical, and used up bits from the fridge.  I made a pan of cornbread too, but it turned out a little flat, and dense.  I think the baking soda must have been out of date.  We joked about it being a cross between cornbread and a big cracker.  Oh, well, it was edible

2.  Library ebooks. Free to borrow and no fuel used to pick them up.  Nuff said.

3.  Boss picked up his dry cleaning today, and it reminded me that it is frugal to buy machine washable clothes only.

4.  Researching cleaning services for the office also a reminder how much we've saved over the years of doing our own cleaning.  My house may not pass any white-glove tests, but I haven't resorted to hiring out the cleaning yet.  Except for when my little Catiebug wants to earn some money by helping out.

5.  My hands always get really dry and cracked in the winter.  I'm using up a bottle of lotion at work that has been around for awhile.  Yesterday I was trying to remove some adhesive residue after peeling a sticker from the exterior glass door.  I pumped out a little lotion and rubbed it over the sticky residue, let it sit for awhile, and wiped it off with a paper towel.  No need for Goo-gone.

Thankful, grateful, blessed...

Thankful for friends, IRL and here on blog, who listen and encourage.  Thank you all!

 

The Frugal Friday File 2021, week 1...

 Bringing back the Frugal Friday File.  It feels like I've been letting some of my frugal habits slip, so thought it was time to get back some accountability.

Successes:
1.  I've been enjoying my oatmeal to-go which means that I haven't been stopping at McDonald's for their oatmeal.  That will add up.

2.  I sat down with a monthly budget sheet and made sure that every expenditure got included;  annual property taxes, insurance premiums, hoa fees, etc. got broken down from their annual total to exactly how much needs to be set aside each month to fully fund them at the end of the year.  I rounded up all the online subscriptions that I let auto renew and therefore forget about how much they add up to; I cancelled one that I wasn't using.

3.  I saved a jacket.  I had made the mistake of wearing a light colored jacket on a day I had to have a pint of blood drawn.  There was a little mishap with the valve on the vacuum bottle, and blood started splashing around and making a real mess.  When I got home I sprayed the jacket with stain remover and left it in the laundry pile.  I figured it was a lost cause, so I wasn't in a hurry to get to it.  Two weeks later it finally got washed, and the blood is gone...for my purposes...probably not for a crime scene investigator.  :)

4.  I've foregone a haircut way past needing one.  Trying to let it grow so that we can change up the style a bit.

5.  I cashed in my reward points on my credit card for Amazon gift cards.  

Seven random thoughts on the 7th...

1.  I left the office yesterday and heard on the car radio what had been happening in our nation's capital.  Eight hours later I am still sick to my stomach, and angry as hell.  

2.  I just went on a typewritten rant for 45 minutes.  Then I deleted it all.

3.  Then after sleeping on it, I deleted #3 also.

4.  Work has been crazy busy this week.  I wonder what the market is going to do today.

5.  I'm bringing back Frugal Friday File starting tomorrow.

6.  My tank's-almost-empty alarm came on while I was at lunch today, so I stopped for gasoline on my way back to work.  I have used this station and these pumps hundreds of times.  And yet.  I inserted my credit card in the slot where the receipts come out...and not just a little bit...I pushed it all the way in.  Argggg!  Luckily the attendant said it happens more often than you'd think, and it was an easy removal.  Whew!

7.  If I don't get some sleep, I'm going to be a wreck at work.  G'night.

 

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Here's a visual recap of my 2020 reads via my Goodreads bookshelf.  Only 24...down from 59 in 2019...that's what going back to full-time work does.

And the first read of 2021 is:

Things in Jars by Jess Kidd

I wasn't sure at the first chapter or two, but decided to read on, and I'm oh so glad I did.  Victorian London sights, sounds, smells at their best and worst.  Great cast of characters headed by a smart independent woman believable of the era, along with fanatical anatomists, curiosity collectors, diabolical doctors, and a ghost.  Loved it.  Started my reading year off with a bang, and I give it a rating of 10/10.

And I'm jut starting:

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg, PhD

This seemed like a good read to start off a New Year.  I haven't made any resolutions this year, but maybe reading this one will help me see a few small things that are sustainable.  I'll keep you posted.

Making it Monday - Oatmeal to go...

New Year's Day activity...made oatmeal...16 servings.  :)  

I am not, and never have been, an early morning breakfast eater.  But I do get hungry before lunch time.  Since it has been cold, I like to have something warm sometime after I arrive at work.  

I made my own single servings of oatmeal that I can take to work with me.  Actually I'm going to take them all to work and put them in the cupboard there.  If I don't, there will be mornings that I forget to take one with me.

I started with this recipe for KEURIG OATMEAL from Do It On A Dime.  Then I tweaked it.  I used:

1 42-ounce canister Quaker Old Fashioned Oatmeal                 (Removed 1 c oats and pulsed in blender till I had oat flour)

2 cups dried milk

In a BIG bowl, dump all of the oats from the canister, the 1 cup of oat flour, and 2 cups of dried milk.  Stir together to mix well.  (The blended oat flour gives a creamier consistency to the cooked oatmeal.)

I portioned this into lidded cardboard containers that I purchased last winter when I made portable oatmeal then.  In each of the cups I placed 2/3 cup of the oats/dry milk mix.  (At those ratios, it made 16 individual servings.)

I topped the dry oats in each container with a spoon of brown sugar, a spoon of dried coconut flakes, a spoon of dried cranberries, and a sprinkle of cinnamon.  (Those were my add-ins, because that was what I had on hand.  The spoon I used was somewhere between a teaspoon and a Tablespoon.  They can be added to the oats/dry milk and stirred together before portioning, but I wanted to be sure to get an equal amount of add-ins to each container.)

To prepare, I use 6 ounces of HOT water (either microwaved or from Keurig).  Then I cover the cup with lid and let sit a couple of minutes, stir well, put lid back on for another minute or two and it should be ready.  

I used Old-Fashioned Oats instead of instant.  Instant oats would probably 'cook' faster.

Also, the disposable cardboard containers are solely my preference for taking to my job.  I am lucky if I get time to make and eat at my desk, so I don't want to have to add time to rinse or wash a glass container.  But I would definitely go with reusable if I was making it for at home.