2024 Frugal Friday File, March 29...

1.  Made the menu for the week, and placed grocery order.  I am very pleased that the new grocery plan for shopping more intentionally and using the grocery-specific credit card  has earned us back almost $50 in 5% back on store-brand items just since the first of the year!  I still prefer a name brand product for some things, but our grocery has awesome store-brand items in general, so the 5% back for those really adds up (plus 1.5% back on all other purchases).  I feel like I'm earning CD interest rate without tying up money in a CD.  :)

2.  I've been working on a couple of projects, and came to a point where finishing up required a trip to Hobby Lobby.  I needed some hardware for hanging some items, and I also needed some E6000 glue, a wooden clock base, and some white acrylic paint.  Some other items totaling about $35 found their way into my cart as well. Thankfully I came to my senses before I reached the checkout, and returned the impulsive wants to the shelves they came from, and kept only what I absolutely needed today.  I may go back for the rest at another time, but I will watch for them to go on sale first.  That's the thing about Hobby Lobby, they rotate items on sale regularly, so it is a rookie mistake to get something not on sale unless it is an immediate need.

3.  I continue to declutter and cycle decor items into use, into the seasonal decor closet, or into the donation box.  Easter decor will go back in the closet on Monday, and be replaced with non-holiday-specific items.

4.  I scored another newly-released book that has just been purchased by the library by watching their email about new library purchases.  It's not made it into circulation yet, but I am first on the reserve list, so expect to have it in my hot little hands within a few days.

5.  Having friends over for a meal next week instead of going out.  It will be comfortable and easier to visit.

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  takeout fried chicken

Sunday:  Sunday family dinner at Kasey & Beau's

Monday:  Pork Chow Mein

Tuesday:  Spanish Rice    

Wednesday:  takeout sandwiches

Thursday:  Carey had a meal from freezer, I had leftovers

Friday:  takeout baked potatoes w/ brisket

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts (edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.)

Just finished this book that is believed to be the first novel written by a black woman in the U.S.  It is a novelization of her experiences in the antebellum South during her slavery and escape.  (Dr. Gates purchased the manuscript through an auction; the manuscript had been previously owned by a prominent librarian who had researched the authenticity of the manuscript and its author, and Dr. Gates expanded that research after he obtained the manuscript.  He later published it.)

I am now reading:

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See

2024 Frugal Friday File, week of March 22,

1.  My daughter does our taxes for free.  She does her kids', her m-i-l's, ours, not to mention her own.  This is yet another way she is like my mother. Mom always kept up with tax law changes, and would call her friends when she knew something new could effect their returns.

2.  I went to Costco and didn't buy any snack foods (though I really wanted chocolate), baked goods, prepared foods, bath mats, or a printer to replace my non-working one...all of which I looked at, maybe even thought about, but managed to resist.  I bought spices, pecans, ribs, and...my one impulse purchase...a new laundry basket.

3.  I've been cleaning and decluttering.  While cleaning out a drawer, I found 2 sets of 100% cotton cloth napkins.  They were still in their packaging, never been used, and had been purchased in 2004 when I was in Ireland.

4.  Saturday I placed my only set of placemats in the donation box.  I wasn't a hundred percent sure I wouldn't get them back out again, but I continued cleaning while I thought about it.  My husband...the king of do-it-now philosophy...took the donation box to Goodwill before I decided.  Oops.

     So Monday I went to JoAnn's to buy some fabric to make new placemats.  I chose fabrics that will match my new...old...new napkins (see #3). While I was waiting for the selected fabrics to be cut, I updated my JoAnn's app, and downloaded the coupons.  I also needed some Command picture hanging strips, and found what I needed before heading to the checkout.  The coupons applied to my purchases equaled the exact cost of the Command strips give or take a few cents.

5.  I'm in the midst of (taking a little break from at the moment actually) extending the sofa covers to make them better fit our very long sofa.  I bought 3 readymade covers in the longest size I could find; and I'm using one to cut each end off to extend the length of the other two.  The first one is done and on the sofa.  The second one is on the sewing machine, and the break is due to language so blue that I'm letting the air clear.  :) 

I'll end up with two covers that fit, so I always have a clean one to put on the sofa while I'm laundering the other.  This is so Rudy can be on the sofa with us.  His shed hair is highly visible on the sofa's upholstery, and his nails may or may not leave scratches, but I'm not willing to find out.  

Being able to sew has saved me a mint over the years.  Of course, it wouldn't if I had to put money in a swear jar.  ;)

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  takeout hamburgers

Sunday:  Sunday family dinner at Kasey and Beau's

Monday:  Chicken & Veg Marinara over Spaghetti Squash

Tuesday:  Pork Boneless Ribs, Mac & Cheese, Baked Beans

Wednesday:  takeout Schlotzky sandwiches

Thursday:  Pork Fried Rice

Friday:  leftovers

**designates meatless meal 

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

The Sealed Letter by Emma Donoghue

Coffee table redoux...

This is the coffee table last week.  It was purchased about twenty years ago from an ad on Craigslist.  I'm sure I didn't pay more than $50 for it.  It was exactly what we needed at the time, and it was then in pristine condition.  It has suffered a lot of wear since it came to our house.

When we were ready to begin, Carey removed all the drawers and lifted the wooden part of the table off of it's metal base, and he took it to the workshop.  He then removed the drawer hardware and sanded all surfaces.  You may recall, from a previous post, that we tried three different stain colors on it, but it didn't take any of them well, so we chose a paint color that appeared to be a base tone of the new furniture in the room, and Carey painted all of the table's exterior surfaces.  

I then mixed a little of the base color with a little of the darkest stain (they were both latex) and added a little water to thin it out.  (Instructions said not to thin with water, but I had very little to lose, and so far it seems to have worked acceptably.)

The three tools above are what are used to apply a faux wood grain.  I tested using them on a piece of scrap wood that had been painted the base color.  You use a pulling and rocking motion with the handled semi-round tool.  When I felt comfortable using them on the scrap wood, I began on the actual table.

With the paint/stain mix, I painted each side of the table, one at a time, and used the tools to add the 'wood' texture.  Then I did the same to the drawer fronts.  Once I had gained some confidence on the smaller areas of sides and drawers, I painted and fauxed a strip running the length of the table.  I then painted a strip next to the first and repeated the process until the top was finished.  The picture above was taken after I completed all table surfaces.  I have no idea why the side at the bottom right corner of the photo looks so much lighter than the top; it must have had to do with the lighting in the workshop.  Carey was happy with it the way it was at this point, but I didn't like the distinct light and dark of the two colors.  We left it overnight to dry thoroughly.

In the morning I used a cloth to rub the surfaces, a section at a time, with the dark stain in the direction of the 'grain' then used a clean cloth to remove the extra stain until the light color was toned down somewhat.

In case you can't see the differences, here's a close up before and after this step.  The arrows point to  the same spot (a faux knot if you will) before and after applying the stain to blend the colors a little.  It's subtle, but I think it definitely makes a difference, but maybe it's an IRL thing.

These are the drawers, and again, the lighting in the workshop makes them look different than the table top, but they are very close in reality.

After letting everything dry overnight, we added a coat of polyurethane, and let it dry overnight again before bringing it in and putting it all back together.

Here is the before:

And here is the after:

Here is a different angle closer up, so you can see more of how the faux grain turned out:

We'll leave it for awhile to cure before setting anything on it.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  It's not perfect, but it blends much better in the room now, and it still holds all my memories of the kiddoes visits when they were little.  (Background story linked here if you missed it.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day...

A sweet friend gifted me her mother's collection of Belleek Pottery.  She knew that I would enjoy it, since March 17th has always been one of my favorite days of the year.  This year I just set out these few pieces.

And the reason it's always been a special day to me?  My father was half Irish, and my mother was a St. Patrick's Day baby.  This is my pretty mama about twenty years before I was born.  I am so grateful that I received many of her skills and qualities, but her self-motivation and career focus skipped a generation...she would be so proud, as am I, that Kasey inherited that from her.

Happy Birthday, Mama!

2024 Frugal Friday File, March 15...

1.  We made our monthly (approximately) pilgrimage to the recycling center.  Not a hugely exciting trip, but we always stop for ice cream on the way home.  Yesterday we took Rudy with us.  He had so much fun with the trip in the truck AND licking the ice cream cups.  Can we count this for date night?  :)

2.  We've been working on the coffee table.  I didn't get around to starting the faux painting technique until yesterday, and since the humidity is rising with spring, I left it to dry overnight.  Today we will decide about another step to add what we used to call 'antiquing' back in the day.  Really just trying to get close to the other wood tones in the room.  I'll show the process and end result in a post soon,

3.  I haven't made a grocery order in a month!  We have been eating out more than usual, as we've been pretty busy, so it was kind of necessary.  Even so, our grocery/meals-out total so far is pretty low.  When I do have time to cook, I've been able to pull meal ingredients together from pantry and fridge.  Carey has done small grocery shops for just bread, milk, etc.

4.  Jared was on vacation this week, and chose to stay-cation and catch up on car maintenance that has been somewhat put off to get through their busy season at work.  Carey helps/advises as asked.  I'm so impressed with what Jared can do on his own.  He never seemed terribly interested in it when he was younger, but has grown really adept.

5.  Beau called Carey about dark one evening this week when their electronic gate opener went on the fritz.  He is very able to fix things around the house on his own, but being that it was so late, and he would have kids trying to get through the gate as they came home, he needed another pair of hands.  I love that the 'boys' feel free to ask Carey for help, and I know he does too.

#4 and #5 aren't really frugal wins for us this week per se, except that it is so nice to have a little tribe of knowledgeable handymen in the family and all close by.  They can truly get things done!

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  leftovers

Sunday:  Sunday family supper at Kasey and Beau's

Monday:  out for Chinese food

Tuesday:  Tuna Sandwiches

Wednesday:  Sausage w/ Rice, onion, bell pepper

Thursday: Pasta Alfredo w/ Chicken

Friday:  leftovers?

**designates meatless meal 

Highs and Lows...

The hardest things for me to do with my bad knees and shoulder are climb up high on a ladder, and kneel or sit on the floor, to do cleaning tasks.  This week I have had a wonderful gift!

Caitlyn is home from school for Spring Break.  She had been hoping to work for her previous employer while she is home to bulk up her savings that have been helping pay for school expenses.  During Christmas break she was able to work quite a bit for them, but when she called before Spring Break to see if she could pick up some shifts, she was told that they had everything covered.

I told her I could use her help, and would be happy to gift her school money when she heads back after her break.  She was willing, and far more able than I, to do some of the jobs that I had put on the list I made recently of things I wanted to accomplish at home over the next few months.  

Things like emptying bookshelves, dusting them top to bottom, and helping me downsize the contents before refilling the shelves.  These days my knees just don't hold out for long when the job at hand calls for multiple trips up and down a ladder, so jobs take me longer. 

On Saturday she started in the playroom which contained the few toys and many, many books I've kept since my kids were little and the grandkids came along.  I texted all the kids and grandkids to ask if there were any books they especially remembered and would like to have.  Kasey took some that were favorites and that she will save for her future grandchildren.  Caitlyn took a few as she was working.  Bobby came and packed a boxful to use in his work with special-needs children.  The rest of the books are now boxed up to donate.

Once Caitlyn had those first shelves spic and span, she moved to the guest room and did the same in a similar sized bookshelf in there.  I didn't have a huge amount of books in that one, as they have been culled before, but there were quite a few photos and decorative items, and the tops and high shelves hadn't been dusted for far too long.  That was true of all the open shelving units in our house.  

On Sunday afternoon she took the ladder and vacuum to the laundry room.  I had already dusted and reorganized the shelves over the washer and dryer, but forgot to clean the top of the cabinet.  Caitlyn had that done in no time.  Then she moved on to floor-to-ceiling shelves that house bins of dog food, Rudy's replacement toys (I order some of his favorites in multiples so as his current ones wear out they can be quickly and easily replaced), tools, batteries, and cleaning supplies, etc.  She also cleaned out Rudy's kennel and his feeding mat.

Monday she started on the dining room's built-in shelves, and then emptied and dusted my great-grandmother's china cabinet.  Between the dining room and kitchen we have a large antique kitchen cabinet (bottom photo) that had originally been built into the kitchen of the house I grew up in.  Caitlyn cleaned it top to bottom, inside and out.  And finally the open shelving (top photo) on both sides of the window in the kitchen was also thoroughly dusted and restocked.

 

This has ticked lots of boxes from my to-do list, and jobs that would have taken me weeks have been done in a long weekend thanks to young muscles, joints, and energy! Now Caitlyn is off to the beach for a few days.  She has promised to come back for one more day of cleaning before she heads back to school.  Now that the hard jobs of ladder climbing and floor-level deep cleaning are done, my job is to get as much done as I can in the next few days to ready more projects that she can help me with.

I'm a lucky grandma.  I miss them being little, but I'm reaping the rewards of them being grown!

2024 Frugal Friday File, March 8...

 

1.  Today makes five days I've worked this week.  Money in.  And it was HARD!  :)

2.  I finished my library ebook, and picked up a just-out book (Hero) by a favorite author (Thomas Perry).  Man I love that the library sends out notices of new arrivals now, I can jump on the reserve list like a bird on a cricket!  This is about the 4th book in the last couple of months where I've been its very first reader at our library.

3.  I saw an Instagram post at lunch yesterday that said if you want to lose $10,000 all you have to do is mindlessly spend $27.40 a day for the next year.  I did the math; it actually does total $10,001.  Now, I don't spend $27 a day every single day, but I am guilty of this more often than I want to think about.  It's so easy to do.  

I bought several houseplants in the past week that we could have lived without.  On the other hand, I've had zero houseplants since I left the two I've been caring for over the past four years at the office when I left.  So I've gone quite awhile without replacing those...and they will improve our inside air quality at least a little...and they are aesthetically pleasing.   See how I can justify?

Guilty of buying meals out when we have groceries at home, though we're doing a lot better than pre-retirement.  And I can definitely cave on impulse craft supply purchases that I really, really need want.  

Heck I have filled my Amazon cart with half a dozen items over the past couple of days totaling $128.  After I started thinking about it, I realized we do need some of the items.  I deleted two items after checking supply closet and found virtually the exact items, only nicer, that have never been used.  I deleted another item when I got realistic about why I wanted it.  That brought the total down to $101.  I remembered that I had a $50 gift card that I had left from cashing in credit card rewards points late last year.  So with tax it came to $59 out of pocket.  At least now I'm sure it wasn't mindless or duplicate spending.

4.  Carey has been working on our coffee table.  It is a very sentimental piece that I wrote about here back in 2010.  (The preceding sentence is a link that you can click on if you are interested in reading about what is so sentimental about the coffee table.)  Its yellow pine color doesn't coordinate well with the new living room, so I was about ready to donate it...until Caitlyn asked, "Does this mean I won't get surprises in my drawer any more?!"  She's almost 20, but that's all it took.  

So Carey has now sanded the entire thing, drawers and all.  We bought three different colors of stain (one at a time), and it just didn't take any of them well.  So he sanded again.  Now we are trying a paint and faux finish.  (He's painted this week, I will try to do the faux finish in the next few days now that the work week is almost over.  Those stain rejects got expensive, but I will donate them (barely used) at the nearest Re-Store.  Fingers are crossed that the project will turn out well in the end.  Not exactly a frugal win, but cheaper than buying a new coffee table, and its special-ness is priceless...at least to me.

5.  I'm writing this on Thursday night, and it is getting late, and I have to work in the morning.  So I'm going to keep the list at four this week.

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  dinner out

Sunday:  Sunday supper at Kasey and Beau's

Monday:  subscription meal that has been languishing in the freezer

Tuesday:  homecooked meal from the freezer - Jambalaya

Wednesday:  takeout Barbecue Baked Potatoes with Brisket

Thursday:  homecooked meal from the freezer - Beef Stew

Friday:  out for favorite Tex-Mex

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales

Finished this one in a few days.  It reads as sort of a campy screenplay set in Edwardian England.  A little Jane Austen.  A little Miss Scarlet and the Duke.

Hero by Thomas Perry

From the description, it sounds like the protagonist may be the Jane Whitefield of the 21st century.  Jane Whitefield was the character that this author based a series on, and they were some of my favorite books ever.  She helped people in trouble to disappear, but it got harder and harder as the world started using facial recognition and security cameras everywhere.  I'm really excited and hopeful as I start this one to see how the new character overcomes these challenges.

On kitchen windows...

I do so love a kitchen window.  To me it is a luxury to be able to look outside while doing dishes or pulling a recipe together.

This is the view from my kitchen window currently.  It is not my favorite ever (my favorite looked over one hundred acres from the top of a hill), nor is it my least favorite one (which had a menacing view of twin communication towers with their red lights looking like glowing red eyes staring in at me from the dark...but that's what I get for reading The Amityville Horror).

The kitchen of the house I grew up in had a window, but the sink was not under it.  Well, it was when I was too young to remember, but my parents remodeled the kitchen in the 1960s, and plunked the sink down in the middle of the room.  Maybe that's why I have always appreciated a sink with a view.  It feeds my soul.

I was surprised when taking the photo above that there were no deer visible.  There are always deer visible in our front yard.  Sometimes a few, sometimes a couple dozen!  For the most part the deer and I coexist begrudgingly, though I admit to occasionally doing my best imitation of a yapping coyote to see if I can spook them; alas they have grown used to my tricks.  

2024 Frugal Friday File, March 1...

1.  Batched errands to save trips and gasoline.

2.  The credit card that we use solely for groceries and meals out is doing its job of making me more aware of what we spend for meals each month.  This month it totaled $690, which seems high to me.  But I Googled "monthly grocery spending for 2 person household", and it seems our spending falls between the low-cost and moderate-cost average grocery spend for those search parameters.  

     I was expecting a slightly higher spend this month, since we were out of town, and thus ate out, for several days, so I'm not going to worry about it too much.  But seeing that total makes me long to do better.

3.  I finished all my library books and returned them.

4.  I made a list by room of all the tasks I would like to accomplish in the coming months.  I can't do a marathon clean in a day or two like I used to.  But making this list is a way I can stay on task, and hopefully avoid having to pay someone to help me.

5.  The electric bill came, and after last month's I was a little afraid to open it.  Whew!  This month's was almost half of what last month's was!

On the menu this week:

Saturday:  Lentil Soup w/ Cornbread

**Sunday:  Sunday supper at Kasey & Beau's

Monday:  Tamale Casserole

Tuesday:  takeout Schlotzky sandwiches

Wednesday:  Spaghetti Pie

Thursday:  leftovers

Friday:  Spanish Rice

**designates meatless meal