This Week's Frugal Accomplishments

Gayfeather plants grow wild on our property.
We have moved several to the terraces to the north of our home.

Has your week been busy?  Ours sure has.  Here are some things we did to spend less, save more and make do with what we have:

We had a few dwarf apple trees in our orchard that didn't survive last winter.  Husband dug them up, cut them into short lengths and split the pieces into chunks to use in the smoker on our grill.  He used some last Sunday when he made ribs for us.

Kohl's sent me another $10 off a $10 purchase gift card.  (They send these out periodically to people who do not have a Kohl's card, to encourage them to shop there.)  I got a small fondue pot and some kitchen towels, both on clearance.  The total was 9.99, so I thought I would have to purchase another item (I had mis-calculated in my head), but the cashier said it was fine, so the items were completely free.

I sold some items that we no longer needed on a local buy-sell-trade board.  It reduced the clutter and put a little money in the bank for a rainy (or maybe even a sunny) day.  While I was going through our things to sell, I came across two throw pillows that go very well with our new-to-us couch.

I picked green beans and zucchini from the garden, and a friend gave me a grocery sack of kale.   I canned four pints of 'dilly beans' from the green beans and dill in our garden.  One of my favorites.

Our green beans continue to bloom and produce!

I transferred a couple of prescriptions to K-mart and received two $25 gift cards.  I found 4.7 oz containers of pectin on clearance for 2.75 each - there were three, and I bought all three of them, along with some feminine products that were on sale, special toothpaste for sensitive teeth (also on sale), many boxes of facial tissue (on sale, of course!), two bed pillows for Husband and I (on sale), two very large bottles of fabric softener (on sale) and some items for Daughter's upcoming birthday party...which were, yes, all on sale.  I have five cents left on one of the cards..everything was, essentially, free.

We got books and media from the library.  I was able to watch the movie The Book Thief and read a novel, and Daughter got some books for school.  I also did some subbing for a few hours - every little bit helps!

We dug irises, divided them, and re-planted them on the terraces we built on the hill to the north of our home.  We also moved some other plants to the terraces, either divisions from other plantings or wild flowers from out in the field.  I found some bulbs that I forgot to plant last fall...oops...and put those in too.  I don't know if they will make it, but it is worth a try.  They are ones I dug last fall from our existing flower garden.

We did a fair amount of scratch cooking.  Husband grilled ribs on the weekend, and they were awesome!  During the course of the week I made teriyaki beef, macaroni salad, rice, did some fresh raw veggie prep, made baked beans, slaw, English muffin pizzas, garlic green beans, beef and grilled onion burritos, salsa, grilled chicken and zucchini, smoky pork, rice, sesame spinach and all sorts of leftovers re-mixes.  :)

We went swimming with friends, who took as their guests with no fee.

I picked flowers and a few tree branches to brighten our home.

We enjoyed sunny days outside, watching hawks, finding horned lizards in the field, chasing grasshoppers, and soaking up some late summer sunshine.

What sort of frugal things did you do this week?

Goals for the Week

Happy Monday!  First, a summary of last week's goals - what I did, and what I did not...and after that, goals for this week.  We had a fair amount of rain this week...and lots of rainbows!

Meals
Make a dinner menu to use items on hand in a way that is tasty.

Try new recipe for homemade sandwich pockets.  I was all excited about this a week ago, but now, I think this ship has sailed.  I'm sure it'll come back around another time, though!

Make and can sweet zucchini relish, if I have enough zucchini.  I did a half-recipe, yielding 7 half-pints and a little extra that we put in the fridge and we are using now.  This is actually how much I wanted to make, so yay!

Family
Have a date night (at home after the kidlet is in bed) with Husband.  Snacks and a movie - woot!

Develop a school routine for the week, based on this year's schedule. This is going well, I think.  We have Monday afternoons available for play, piano on Tuesdays, swimming on Wednesdays, which leaves me Thursdays and Fridays for errands and weekend prep.  We moved a couple of Daughter's classes to different days to make her days more evenly loaded, and it seems to be going well so far. 

Do an art project or other fun activity with Daughter.  We started a 'book club', taking turns reading each other a chapter of a book she loves.  We hope to continue this (with different books) for the next few years. 

Help choose music for Daughter's piano recital.  We have three songs chosen and we are looking at dates!

Homestead
Do more mowing as weather permits.  If it's too wet to mow, trim low branches on trees.  It has been raining fairly regularly, but I've trimmed a few more branches.

Shear Angora rabbits.  Mrs. Hughes is shorn, but Mrs. Patmore is actually not quite ready.  Perhaps she will be ready in the coming week.

Mrs. Patmore is almost ready for shearing.  Cute, yes?

Mrs. Hughes was shorn a couple days ago - her 'look' is proof that I'm no groomer!

Finish cleaning up area behind the barn.  With the rain, this remains an ongoing project.

Health
Exercise three times.  (It is a start!)

Drink two quarts of water daily, at least five days.

Get at least seven hours sleep each night.

Household
Wash five windows.  Oh.  Um....er...I kinda completely forgot about this.

Work on de-greasing new-to-us gas grill.  This took a lot more work than I expected, but we are done with the cooking parts - the burners, lid, grates, etc.  All that is left now is the storage cabinet area beneath the grill.

Dust ceiling fans.  Eep.  See 'Wash five windows.'  

Get 1-2 items for Daughter's birthday party, using regular grocery budget.  I picked up four nonperishable items that will be part of either a snack mix/trail mix or another food item.

Spirit
Write in prayer journal.  I prayed a lot this week, but didn't write prayers down.  

Listen to a sermon podcast.  I planned to do this, but spent the time reading one of Lauraine Snelling's newer titles instead...so at least it was God-focused.  :)

Finish Raising Great Kids by Henry Cloud.  I'm still reading, but made some progress this week!

And now...for this week's goals:

Meals
Make a dinner menu to use items on hand in a way that is tasty.  This would include Swiss chard, spinach, green beans and zucchini, along with side dishes we made, but did not finish, over the weekend.

Make blueberry-zucchini bread or muffins,  for snacks and breakfasts.  Basically, I just plan to shred some zucchini into my blueberry muffin recipe and cut back on the liquids to compensate.

Smoothies for breakfast, at least three times.  I need the freezer space!

Family
Write love note for Husband.

Go on a 'just us' mom-daughter outing.

Work on planning for upcoming family vacation.

Homestead
Do more mowing as weather permits.  If it's too wet to mow, trim low branches on trees.

Shear Angora rabbit.

Finish cleaning up area behind the barn.

Move plants to the terraces.

We built these terraces ourselves, with stones we had on hand.
The irises are from some we divided, and there are some other plants
we plan to divide and move to the empty terraces.  

Health
Exercise three times.

Drink two quarts of water daily, at least five days.

Get at least seven hours sleep each night.

Household
Wash five windows.

Finish up cleaning/de-greasing our new-to-us gas grill.

Dust ceiling fans.

Make 'save the date' cards/invites for Daughter's birthday party.

Spirit
Write in prayer journal.

Finish Raising Great Kids by Henry Cloud.

What are you up to this week?

This Week's Frugal Accomplishments

We have had many, many rainbows this past week.

We are back to school this week, and it has been a busy one.  We use a virtual school as the base for our home school, and then we supplement with activities, experiments, field trips, etc.  It has been a good, busy week.  I expect it will be another week, possibly two, before we find our rhythm for this school year, but so far, so good.

I was given a gift card for Olive Garden as a thank-you for working at VBS.  Last Friday, we did an online carryout order.  I had found a coupon for $5 off an online carryout order, and we used that in addition to the gift card.  We ordered late (3:45) from the lunch menu (we had a snack instead of lunch) and were able to purchase two adult entrees, a kid's meal, and a 'small plate' (think little appetizer).  The total was less than $2.50, and most of that was sales tax.  I brought everything home, we feasted and had leftovers for the following day.

We went into the mountains last weekend.  We packed water and a picnic from home, and had a lovely time.  We went to a wolf sanctuary - it was a complete surprise (and dream come true) for Daughter.  The weather was lovely and we have a really nice time.  There was a picnic area nearby, so we gathered there after the tour and had our lunch.  We don't know what set them off, but the wolves howled through much of our meal - for Daughter, it was magical.

At the wolf sanctuary.

We used some larger river stone that we had left from other projects to terrace the hill on the north side of our home.  I divided the irises that needed dividing and planted some there.  We have some other plants we plan to move to this area as well, mainly things in other flowerbeds where our perennials need dividing or even some 'wild' flowering plants from out in our field.  This cost us time and energy, but no cash outlay so far.  We will watch for sales on fall perennials and shrubs, and we will probably plant some bulbs as well.

We made a dinner menu to use things we had on hand.  When we went to the store, we just picked up a few things - some yogurt, a cucumber, a couple tomatoes, and chips for the mountain picnic (on clearance for .75).  Later in the week I picked up celery, a couple onions (I don't have any from the garden to make zucchini sweet relish) and a red pepper.

I did a good bit of scratch cooking this week - Aztec chicken, garlic green beans, baked potatoes, beef and vegetable curry, a pot of rice, kale chips, Cesar dressing, salad greens, marinated grilled chicken, croutons, tuna croquettes, sauteed zucchini and more.

I picked zucchini, green beans, chard, kale and lettuces from our garden.  There is a volunteer sunflower that is blooming, and the butternut squash and pumpkins are both setting fruit.  We also got some eggs from our hens, and I supplemented their feed with all the peelings, trims, etc. from the garden vegetables.  They love those items!

I bought one of Daughter's birthday presents with a 50% off coupon.  I also got Husband's Christmas present.  It was on sale, there was a rebate, and there was one 'open box' item.  Those three things combined saved about $60.  We pounced, and so he is having a very, very early Christmas gift.  Daughter, however, will have to wait until her birthday for her gift.

One of the other library substitutes I work with had thinned her irises and gave me a bag of cuttings.  Since we have put in a driveway and re-shaped our plantings around the house this year, they will really help fill in some empty spaces.  I will divide my irises soon and take some purple ones to her as a thank-you.  She said she didn't have dark purple - that is all that I have (until she gave me the new ones).  Irises do very well here, so they are somewhat low-maintenance and add a lot to our plantings.

My friend gave me a great big zucchini, which I used in a recipe for sweet relish.  My zucchini are growing, but this one put me full speed ahead for getting my relish made.  I made 7 half pints, and there was a little extra that I put into a jar and put into the fridge for immediate use.

Zucchini Sweet Relish

We went swimming with friends, as their guests.  We don't live in the neighborhood with the pool, but since we were their guests, it was free to swim.  We are going to do this every week, and take turns bringing snacks for everyone.

I cut a few flowers from our flower garden and brought them indoors.

Our green beans have been producing well.  I was able to pressure-can 8 pints this week.  This is a pleasant surprise, because I planted a fairly small space this year.

On Facebook, I belong to a local buy-sell-trade group.  It has been very good to us over the years!  It's where I got my free, new-to-us couch last week.  This week, Husband got a very nice (in-need of a cleaning!) gas grill for $30.  I am in the process of de-greasing and cleaning it.  :)

I decided to make a denim quilt to use as a coverlet/throw in our living room.  I put the word out that I was looking for unwanted denim jeans for the quilt and I think I have enough to get started!  I have some flannel on hand that I plan to use for the back side.

What did you do this week to spend less, save more and make do with what you had on hand?

This Week's Goals

The  'baby' chicks were large enough to move into the henhouse this week.  They are a
little skittish, but settling in just fine.  That's Lily looking toward us.
She is the bravest of the three.

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great week last week.  Mine was somewhat productive.  Some things I didn't have listed, like 'get new-to-us couch, move all furniture from living room and vacuum, wipe walls and clean windows' came up, so even though I didn't reach every goal I had for the week, I still got quite a lot done.  Here are the results of last week:

Meals
Make a dinner menu to use items on hand in a way that is tasty.

Try new recipe for homemade sandwich pockets.

Make peach jam.  thirteen half-pints! :)

Family
Go through hand-me-down clothes given to Daughter and put together back-to-school wardrobe.

Help choose songs for Daughter's piano recital.

Complete final preparations for back-to-(home)school.  We are ready to go!

Write a love note to Husband.

Homestead
Do more mowing as weather permits.  If it's too wet to mow, trim low branches on trees.  I trimmed a few branches on a few trees - there is still much to do!

Shear Angora rabbits.  It was cooler this week, and this got put off.  I will likely get them done this week.

Mrs. Hughes is very ready to be shorn - she is already losing little fur tufts!

Clean up area behind the barn.  I am probably half finished with this one.

Health
Exercise three times.  (It is a start!)  Hanging my exercise-resistant head in shame.....

Drink two quarts of water daily, at least five days.

Get at least seven hours sleep each night. While I made every effort to do this - going to bed at a reasonable hour and all, I was waking up early (say, 4:30) and unable to get back to sleep.  I will keep trying things until I have some improvement here. 

Household
Alter some clothing as needed.  Due to a most excellent deal on socks for Husband, this got back-burnered.  My plan was to take some socks and redo the tops on them - they are crew socks and he prefers the ankle socks.  I ended up getting him new socks, nearly free, which make this less of a priority.

Make one thing for an upcoming birthday party.

Improve organization of craft/sewing area.

Spirit
Write in prayer journal.  I will try again in the new week.

Give something away.  I have several bags of stuff ready to take to Goodwill, but I forgot to put them in the car when we went to town.  oops!

Read Raising Great Kids by Henry Cloud.  I'm about halfway through the book.

THIS WEEK'S GOALS:

Meals
Make a dinner menu to use items on hand in a way that is tasty.

Try new recipe for homemade sandwich pockets.

Make and can sweet zucchini relish, if I have enough zucchini.

My zucchini are growing nicely!  My friend gave me a great big one,
so I should be able to make the sweet relish this week.

Family
Have a date night (at home after the kidlet is in bed) with Husband.

Develop a school routine for the week, based on this year's schedule.

Do an art project or other fun activity with Daughter.

Help choose music for Daughter's piano recital.

Homestead
Do more mowing as weather permits.  If it's too wet to mow, trim low branches on trees.

Shear Angora rabbits.

Mrs. Patmore looks so fluffy - time for a late-summer trim!

Finish cleaning up area behind the barn.

Health
Exercise three times.  (It is a start!)

Drink two quarts of water daily, at least five days.

Get at least seven hours sleep each night.

Household
Wash five windows.

Work on de-greasing new-to-us gas grill.

Dust ceiling fans.

Get 1-2 items for Daughter's birthday party, using regular grocery budget.

Spirit
Write in prayer journal.

Listen to a sermon podcast.

Finish Raising Great Kids by Henry Cloud.

This Week's Frugal Accomplishments

Happy Friday!  I'm kicking off the weekend with some of our frugal accomplishments from this past week. Hopefully, they will give you ideas for ways to save more, spend less and make do with what is on hand.

I picked our first two zucchini and some green beans from our garden.  We had some hail this week, but most things were still OK.

We dug trenches and buried drain lines from our gutters to areas where trees are planted, so that the water will help water those trees.  We used large river stones that we had on hand to make rock runs and rock pools for water flow and drainage.  Doing the labor saved us a lot of money compared to hiring the work done.  The day after we completed the work we had a major downpour, and everything functioned just as we had hoped it would.

We made a supper menu for the week to help us use what we have on hand and be a little better organized.  On nacho night, I added a bit of leftover rice to the meat to stretch it a bit.  I did a fair amount of scratch cooking and we used items we had on hand combined with fresh foods we grew or got on sale.

I made peach-pecan granola on a cold, rainy day.  It helped warm the house a bit, plus it re-stocked our granola supply.  Yum!  I also made a batch of peach jam, some of which will be used for Christmas gifts.

I took a survey online.  As a thank-you for participating, they sent me a $15 Petco e-gift card.  Hello, cat food aisle!

We went to a library program called Lego Mania.  We met friends there for a fun, free afternoon.  The library has a large stock of Legos.  The children create with them, and those creations are on display in the children's area for the next week or two.

Kohl's sent me what is essentially a $10 gift card.  I found a 6-pack of socks for Husband, on sale for $10.50.  There was also a 15% off coupon, so even with tax, I only had to pay 45 cents for the six pairs of socks.

We went to a minor-league baseball game a week or so ago (thanks to our friends who gave us tickets!), and on the way out of the stadium we were given two scratch-to-win tickets for Garbanzo Mediterranean Grill.  We won falafel and pitas, so last Sunday, lunch after church was only $2 that I spent for a soda, mostly because I felt strange about not buying anything.  We ate our fill and had leftovers. The best part is that a family that we know from church came in right as we sat down.  We sat together and the children ate and played whilst the adults ate and visited.  It was so nice! :)

I have been avoiding the craft supply stores (because I have plenty at home to use) but I needed a certain type of earring post.  I used coupons to get what I needed for 40% off regular price.

Husband transferred a prescription to K-mart's pharmacy, which earned him a $25 gift card.  In our area, K-mart's prices are not as competitive as some other stores, but $25 in free merchandise is still great!  He stocked us up on toilet tissue and peanut butter.  Both were on sale, and we still have some money left on the gift card.

I've been casually looking for a couch.  I ended up with a clean, comfy couch that a lady needed gone so she could receive her new furniture she had ordered.  Feeling very blessed!  My dear friend Kelly came and helped me with room arrangement.  This couch is half-again larger than the love seat that we had in our living room, but now, the room feels larger than it did before!  Heartfelt thanks to Kelly for sharing her 'design eye' with me - heaven knows I need it!  Heartfelt thanks to my neighbor Terry as well - he saw my truck backed up to the front door with a couch in it (I couldn't unload it by myself) so he pulled in and asked if it was on the way in, or on the way out - then helped me get it into the house.  I'm surrounded by angels.

We stayed close to home this week - not a lot of running around, and the running around we did was close to home.

I hung sheets and larger items on the clotheslines outside, and dried the little stuff on a rack in the basement.  We use homemade laundry soap too.

Did you have a frugal week?  What sorts of things helped you spend less, save more and make do?

Goals for the Week

Welcome to A Quiet Country Life!  I'm SO glad you're here!  I'm going to jump right in with goals for the week.  If you stick around, I'll do my best to introduce us and our way of life over the next couple weeks.

These are the things I plan to accomplish this week:

We lost our peach crop this year to a late frost,
but there was a good sale on Palisade peaches.

Meals
Make a dinner menu to use items on hand in a way that is tasty.

Try new recipe for homemade sandwich pockets.

Make peach jam.

Family
Go through hand-me-down clothes given to Daughter and put together back-to-school wardrobe.

Help choose songs for Daughter's piano recital.

Complete final preparations for back-to-(home)school.

Write a love note to Husband.

Homestead
Do more mowing as weather permits.  If it's too wet to mow, trim low branches on trees.

Shear Angora rabbits.

Clean up area behind the barn.

Health
Exercise three times.  (It is a start!)

Drink two quarts of water daily, at least five days.

Get at least seven hours sleep each night.

Household
Alter some clothing as needed.

Make one thing for an upcoming birthday party.

Improve organization of craft/sewing area.

Spirit
Write in prayer journal.

Give something away.

Read Raising Great Kids by Henry Cloud.


What are your goals this week?