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2022 Frugal Challenge

81K views 2K replies 21 participants last post by  Contrary Housewife 
#1 ·
Happy New Year everyone!
 
#491 ·
Realized last night I had part of a tooth break off in the last few days. Of course on a Friday night. Oatmeal for breakfast and whatever soft foods I find to eat for the rest of the weekend. Hubby needs to fend for himself. Call the dentist on Monday. Sunny but still too cold for my liking. Both dogs will be getting baths and that means extra laundry. Stay warm.
 
#492 · (Edited)
Ouch Dlr. Hope you can get it fixed soon.

Sunny and windy today. Nice spring day. Had to cancel plans with friends to wait at home for pills. Supposed to arrive yesterday, and I have to sign for them. Meanwhile the other medication, the expensive one ins didn't want to pay for, got approved so that is one thing off my mind.

Lost a deck panel in the storm the other night. Pointed it out to DH so he can fix it this weekend.

Wasn't planning to be home today so I guess I have free time to do things that need to be done. Didn't have dinner plans either. Have challenged myself to use what is in the fridge and kitchen freezer. Lots of leftovers and single portions of this and that. Used up a pack of sausage links and a bag of hash browns for breakfast.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

ETA: dinner will be black bean vegetable soup with bacon, leftover corn bread, and a green salad.
 
#493 ·
Hope you find your rings soon! Ouch hope it is just a small dental problem. Sunny here but chilly too raining mostly at night. looking at long list of to do's but not much in a mood to do them so will just knock off the big ones. strip bed, fold laundry and pack up the stuff to go to post office since I put it in a eye catching place so gets done. of course always housework. Dh and I will finish Midnight at the Pera Palace on netflix this weekend.

Told dh about my river of rock plan..we have some big rocks boulders more like it lol in the yard already so ds can dig out the yard. DH was makes it harder to mow..said mostly moss anyways lol plus there is already a lot of stuff..and I don't care if mowed. front is not big and would just let it grow like a meadow.

haven't told him about my plans to switch stuff in the rooms downstairs either yet. easy enough for them to do it just manpower. will give me room to deal with stuff on the shelves back there and make a spot for games and crafting. now table get piled ..I will threaten the family not to do it. cus a flat surface in this house.... well you know.

have a grocery order for pickup tomorrow ..keep getting email from safeway about $15 order so did it but not as good other store ..took them until now to get online ordering going and system not as good so will do it the once for all the reg stuff. . I do shop there but didn't want to go shopping this week. You can't comment for allergies or subs. or get deli meat that isn't in a package. but hey why not get the deal. everything is getting $$$ more.

birds finished off the last suet seed block. have a box of suet seed crumbles to use up but then that is it for them. should get more bird seed but will see.
 
#494 ·
Sun is shining again! It always makes me happy. Warming up too. Going to meet dgds at the park later today.

Just cleaning the kitchen today. It is a mess. Made salsa for the weekend and strawberry shortcake. Opened a big can of tomatoes for the salsa. They are the san marzano tomatoes. Ds' wife bought them by mistake. Not good for making salsa, so made a big pot of spaghetti sauce for the freezer. It was too spicy. I think I put too much pepper in the spaghetti sauce. I'll make another batch later and combine the two when I need pasta sauce.

Not sure what we'll eat tonight. Probably stop and get something while we are out. Going to an Asian market we just discovered. Mostly filipino stuff, but still some good things. It's not as far as going downtown.

Hope y'all have a good weekend!
 
#495 ·
Jetts, Bisquick mix is very easy and quick to DIY and lots cheaper. I use Bisquick recipes a lot but haven't bought mix in at least 35 years. It's easy to scale this recipe down to make a trial batch or double it if you use a lot.

Bisquick Mix
8 cups all purpose flour
⅓ cup baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup shortning
Mix dry ingredients thoroughly, then cut in shortning.
 
#496 · (Edited)
I’m back. Food, electricity, and heating prices keeps rising here. My last electricity bill was up 30 % compared to same time last year. District heating is up 36 %, and even before the war in Ukraine they expected it to keep rising in 2022.

My grandpa (90) died from cancer in March, and my grandma (91) is downsizing from a three bedroom home to a one bedroom terraced house close to my mom’s home. My aunt and I helped her moved her kitchen and bathroom things yesterday, and I’m visiting her again tomorrow.
 
#497 ·
Tine, I am sorry to hear about your grandfather. Moving your grandma is a big job, I hope it goes well.
New washing machine lid arrived and replaced the one that rusted in just 4 years. Made in Thailand, extremely disappointed in Samsung. Dog1 received his bath. Still chilly outside but may attempt some outside work for an hour. Saw some recipes for cream cheese pasta sauce that are a possibility for supper. Going to get some charity knitting projects started - 1 straight needles and 1 circular needle. Will see if my shoulder complains about that. Found that my library carries the books that the "Shetland" TV series was based on. Author also wrote a reader's guide that I borrowed. Pretty interesting so far. I hope everyone is enjoying a quiet weekend.
 
#498 ·
Sunny and warm today although clouds have moved in, there was talk of rain later tonight. Have some yard and garden work to do. DH's power tools should be charged up today so we'll try and get that deck panel back up. Finishing up a quilt, too. Pills came yesterday, but I have another one to pick up at CVS.

Will get chicken wings out of the freezer for dinner. Not sure if I will do them on the smoker or in the oven. Have a barrel of wood to use up this season.
 
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#499 ·
Sunny! May rain later this evening. Dh went to work just in case it rains. There was something he had to replace and just didn't get to it. It's been a very busy week for him at work. Overtime is good.

Ds and family will come later for "dinner". I'm making some ham and cheese sliders and chips. Easy. Strawberry shortcake for dessert. I did find some bisquick at sams. Told dh we'd be eating a lot of biscuits and making pancakes, just to use it up. I should have just made my own, oh well, next time. I'm sure there is a muffin recipe somewhere too. I'm making some muffins from an old banana and any leftover strawberries from the shortcake.

Been a pretty quiet weekend. Didn't have the girls this time. Probably not next week either. Dgd has a gymnastics meet next weekend and her nana is supposedly coming up for it. We step back when they are around. Dgd would rather be with us than them.
 
#500 ·
Well, after looking for over a week, I found my rings on the top railing of our pool deck. I looked on the deck and around it, but not on the top. We had high winds and rain and they were still there. Cleaning the pool and getting all my plants out on the porch. My potatoes and peas are coming up, but nothing else yet. I separated all my aloe veras and repotted the big pieces. I’m exhausted! I made pork lo mein for lunch.
 
#501 ·
Glad you found your rings! I am going nuts trying to find some oatmeal packets that I had in a tin in the cupboard. They are no longer there. I think they joined the multiple packages of stroopwaffels that I lost a few years ago. Maybe there is a food portal in my kitchen and I am feeding someone in another dimension.
 
#503 ·
Figured out what happened to the oats. Some of the packs had stevia, which I don't like, so I opened them all and mixed them in a jar, which was right in the cupboard I was looking in. I don't know why it took me 12 hours to figure it out. AND I had already made a breakfast from the flavored oats mixed with plain oats, on Friday.
Still don't know what happened to the stroopwaffels.
 
#502 ·
GB- I'm so happy that you found your rings!! Yay!
Tine- I'm sorry to hear about your Grandpa. I hope you find peace during this time and your Grandma loves her new place.

I've been trying to get things done around here since we will have relatives visiting. Today, it started with going to the hardware store and then going home to do gardening/weed pulling/planting. I then picked up a hot water heater. I took DS1's toys/boxes into the garage and he said he would stop over this weekend to get them. I did a pathetic job of washing the dust off the car. I did some touch up painting as well. Still so much more to do......

I will make fried fish for dinner today. I've been dehydrating fruits and a co-worker wants to try them. Anything on clearance will be dehydrated to see how goes.
 
#504 ·
GB glad that mystery had a good ending.
Did not work in the yard yesterday, instead went with hubby when he took most of our LP albums to a reseller a few towns over. Then we took a short drive. Day turned cloudy, windy and cold. Down in the 30's last night. Cast on to knit 1 hat. I'm waiting for the dentist office to open. Should go to post office today. Can't really figure out a schedule until I talk to the dentist. I guess I can start laundry.
 
#505 ·
Tine, very sorry about your grandpa. I hope the move goes smoothly.
I am managing to pre-cook my lunches most days so I have something decent and handy at the office. Brought in some potatoes too because microwave potato is always good in a pinch.
Ruj: I used to dehydrate everything (not so much while living off grid, the heating season now is too wet for passive drying and not enough electric for active drying). I loved having my own non-sugary no preservative dried fruit and veg. Mom is still sending my stuff my father dried, mostly mushrooms, and he's been gone several years now.
 
#506 ·
GB, nice to hear you found your rings, right where you left them!

Sunny and clearing up. We had rain for about 5 minutes last night. Should have a couple days of nice weather. I have to run out to CVS for a prescription. Might pick up some milk for DH. Have the usual Monday things to do, round up trash for tomorrow's pick up, etc.

It's Ramen Noodle Day! A local restaurant is charging $16 for ramen with half an egg and a few shreds of chicken. I can do better for way way less.

Hope everyone gets off to a good start this week.
 
#508 ·
Sunny and warming up. Oldest dgd spent the night. Youngest came over for a couple of hours to play this morning. Dh took the day off work, but spent a couple of hours dealing with work stuff.

GB - Glad you found your rings.

CH - $16 for ramen. That's crazy. I was complaining when they raised the price to 28 cents for a package. Dh cooks his and then adds a raw egg and covers it. It poaches the egg. We found a new market and they carry different kinds of ramen. They cost more, but some are really good. Some come with different flavor/spice packets to add in. I remember one had like 4 different packets to add.

Dgd wanted to make a recipe. She likes to mix different things, add water and food coloring and call it soup. Today we sliced a zucchini, carrot and potato. Added a couple of bouillon cubes. It was really very tasty. Dh loved it. We are already tweaking the recipe. We'll get some turnips and celery for next time. Not so much zucchini. I made dgd taste it. She likes to make all this stuff, but won't eat it.

Not sure what we'll do for dinner. I'm not feeling like much. The soup hit the spot. I'm thinking maybe a salad for dinner.
 
#509 ·
Sorry to hear about your grandpa Tine. Glad you found your rings GB wow they were still there! a blessing. Yikes you can pay $16 for ramen here or other types of noodles bowls but they have a lot of stuff in it. Just had a Ahi Tuna poke bowl when I was out with friends that was more but had a lot in it.

Didn't get furniture moved or gardening but was nasty out yesterday. But got the stuff to post office finally though after realized I could have couriered off our taxes lol sign now even 5% fuel surcharge for mailing packages so that was an extra $9 on the bill. Car w home mechanic to look over and think dh now understands issue. did grocery pickup too. nice but think I would go to the next step and stick w delivery from other store..better website too. got my amazon delivery too so stocked up for the week. even stuff like detergent and trashbags.

Wind and rain storm moved on ..cherry blossoms still around. woke up motivated for some reason lol maybe pms trying to get stuff done but always issues. cats have put themselves to bed cus annoying in and out 2 in a min and a half when trying to do work and that is just one and then he didn't like I was stripping the bed lol. got the safety training..both versions didn't work well so did what I could and let them know. Had two surveys too but don't think they like the answers lol Not mean but truth. the saying meeting could have been an email has a lot of truth esp since covid! too many meetings. went to redo prc for volunteer but have to do app from govt now and get that set up.

ds had one of those bagel slides from the plate on to keyboard and then you clean that and then under desk etc and he was complaining about the dust etc that his food was cold...didn't laugh but just called being a mom lol do you see all the housework that gets done..no..well. did notice yesterday now that he has a dishwashing job not using as many dishes lol don't know if he noticed that or not. he just came home and vented too so now back to writing again lol said if he lets a cat out then he lets them in. said he didn't sleep cus cats bothering him all night. joys of spring fever and storms. 2 have been in and out in the last few minutes.

have been good making dinner at home but the urge to go out is strong lol but pasta and ham tonight. was going to do it yesterday but ds was out and since carless was going to be home. have a toupie ham .. going to use the turkducken for easter in the freezer.

dh can make the bed when home and don't know if garbage or recycling tomorrow so that needs dealing with plus all the recycling for money needs to go. bin overflowing. so dd can do that. off to the next paperwork task.
 
#510 ·
GB so happy you found your rings.....I know you were going crazy trying to find them.....
It's been beautiful here but the pollen is taking over.

My sister will be here in two weeks....I have to do a big grocery order but first I have to defrost the freezer..it's on my agenda for tomorrow....finally vacuumed....been putting it off......

Husband's test came back clear but she is sending him to a cardiologist and a neurologist. He has to watch his diet. He's always been picky and won't try new foods and eat the same thing so it's going to be a challenge to cook for him....he was eating at chick-fil-la everyday and doctor told him three times a week....I've been trying to get him to try different things but who am I....lol we will see how things work out......

Today we ran out of town and picked up a couple auctions....won a few lots of new clothing.....got about 20 new things to wear and giving away about ten that I just wouldn't wear....probably paid the price of one item....also got 100 WWJD bracelets and one hundred pieces of Target dollar spot items to use in my shoeboxes...paid a couple dollars for the lot. ..lots of little stuff for the shoeboxes....

It's drizzling out and just nasty.
Gave husband a leftover pork chop, mac and cheese and spinach....he only liked the spinach....I had half a turkey sandwich left from yesterday and a spoonful of coleslaw and some leftover dressing I had made with the porkchops....husband won't eat dressing...I love it....
 
#511 ·
More snow arriving and my brother will be here too. Not sure how much outdoor activities will get done. I hope we don't have to drive in it to see him. The weather is bad but the drivers are worse.

I got some free items with CC rewards- a folding saw and batteries.

I'll be creating more bucket planters and replanting the lemon tree. I may plant in the buckets and bring in the garage when the snow arrives.

I brought dehydrated bananas and pears to work for co-workers to try. They said they liked them. I currently have peppers and bananas in there now. Tomorrow, I hope to try oranges and bananas. Maybe half an onion that's in the fridge. I haven't packaged any of it because we eat them too fast.
 
#512 ·
Peg good luck with the cooking and freezer defrost.
Ruj if you put 2 different foods in the dehydrator together do the flavors get blended due to air circulating? 2 fruits might be OK but pepper and banana flavor does not sound good.
Dentist saw me at 11:30 and started working on the tooth, I'll be getting a permanent crown. There is a temporary on now. I was able to mail the items at the post office also. Did not do much else yesterday. Hubby understands I am not to eat sticky or chewy foods with the temporary crown, so we may eat separate meals. Rain coming and I sure would like to get a little bit done in the yard. Probably reach 50 degrees today. We have only had 2 or 3 sunny warmer days in weeks so nothing is getting done outside. :(
 
#513 ·
Warmish and cloudy today, might get rain tonight. Off to the hospital for routine blood test. Will get lunch downtown and hit some shops I don't usually get to.

Was able to get turkey sausage at our local butcher, for the first time in 2 years. Will make biscuits and gravy sometime this weekend. He said the bird flu isn't affecting his supply right now, but if farmers are holding off on hatching new hens, especially turkeys, there could be problems again this fall.

May have to get gas. It's in the 3.60-3.79 range here.

Burgers for dinner, on the grill. Should be a nice evening even if we get a little rain.
 
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#514 ·
Sunny and warm today. I want to get out. Stayed home yesterday. Dh was home and dgd was here most of the day. Took her to gymnastics and then home. We didn't spend any money. That's a first. Dgd is already trying to come over again. My stress levels rise when both are here. It's okay with just one.

Dh decided he wants to do a garage sale this weekend. Okay. I'm just going to pull my stuff out at the last minute. I think I'm going to pull some books out and try to sell them to 1/2 price books. Ds' wife said they don't pay much, but it's better than them sitting here collecting dust. If they don't take them, then I'll put them in the garage sale. Then donate. Dh has been going through all of the hotwheels we've been collecting. He's going to sell some of them. One ds said he doesn't want them. It's just stuff and it's too much.

Not sure what we'll do for dinner. Maybe go for taco tuesday. Maybe find something here to cook.
 
#515 ·
Another dreary rainy day. Exercise class and starting a lapghan. May do Bear Creek soup mix cheddar potato and add extra potatoes because I have a lot on hand. Had PBJ toast for breakfast and that seemed like a lot of chewing since I'm avoiding one side of my mouth. Back to oatmeal tomorrow, much easier. I hope everyone is well.
 
#516 ·
Sunny and breezy today, nice spring weather. I did all my running around yesterday so today's the day to sit home and catch up with the house. Had a good amount of rain last night, so everything outside looks green. Still a lot of bare branches, though.

Grocery shopped yesterday. $90 and I only bought one pack of bacon. It was mostly fruit and vegs, one loaf of bread, one jar spaghetti sauce, yogurt, half and half, one box of kleenex. The big ticket items were a huge bag of cat food, two packages of cheese, and DH's sucralose sweetener.

Dlr, a soft egg might be a good choice for breakfast. Hope you get the tooth fixed soon.

Some kind of chicken dish for dinner.
 
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