We have been doing the same old things here. I won’t bore you with them. I have to admit that I am growing a little antsy with our section of our state still being shut down. I often wonder if our governor ever intends to let our county open up along with the rest of the counties here that are bundled into what he calls a region.
Is everyone’s hair as bad as mine is? It is half gray/white and the other half is dyed. It is getting very long and very unruly. I can’t wait until I can go to the salon. But we have at least another 6-8 weeks before that phase will open up. Ugh!
Well, enough whining already. Let’s get down to talking about what we have done to stay frugal during the past 10 days or so.
I have only gone out for a grocery pickup. We needed some dairy, produce, breakfast meats, snacks, etc. Is anyone eating a lot of snacks during all of this? I stayed away from snacks for well over a year and then I found myself reaching for them. I got on the scale and had gained a few pounds so I immediately worked to get those pounds gone. I am now back to where I was before all of this and have a lost a couple more pounds. But the temptation always seems to be there to reach for them. I am trying my hardest not to touch them again.
We are still working off the tank of gasoline that I purchased in February. Gas is so much cheaper than it was then but I can’t take advantage of that because of an almost full tank.
I continue to make all of our meals at home. No take out at all. Recently, we have had chicken Caesar salads, lamb chops, pizza, hamburgers, a chicken dinner with Green Giant mashed herbed cauliflower, Italian sausage sandwiches, omelettes, and homemade tomato soup, etc.
The mashed cauliflower price has been going up. So I have decided to make my own. I got 4 steamable bags of cauliflower on my last pickup for $ 1.00 each. That was the max that they would allow. I plan on steaming one each time I use one for dinner. Then I will mash up the cauliflower and add butter and my own herbs. For just a little over $1.00, I will have about 4-6 dinners from one bag. Hubby doesn’t like it so it is all for me! Yum. Around here I can’t get a head of cauliflower for the price of one or two bags.
I have also found myself reusing things. I have never been a saver of plastic bags that come inside boxes. However, Hubby loves those white cheddar Grooves. He had emptied the bag that was inside the box so I picked it up to dispose of it. I couldn’t believe how thick it was. So I washed it out and dried it and I will use it the next time I pound chicken breasts flatter to make them cook faster.
I have also been saving all kinds of containers that cold cuts come in because Hubby has been reusing them to corral things on his workbenches.
On one of our pick up orders, I had purchased a multi – pack of sugar free ready made jello. It seems like I was always making SF jello or pudding so I needed a little break. I was washing out the little cups to put in the recycle bin and I realized that I could reuse them. So I have saved them to put my homemade mashed avocados in to freeze it. The secret is to make sure that you get all the air out before freezing so that it doesn’t turn brown. So the next time I see a great price on them, I will be stocking up. I refuse to pay the regular price of $2.00 and more for each one here.
When I cleaned the basement, I found a huge bag of baby food jars that I had forgotten that I had saved. They were from the two months after my hiatal hernia repair when they had me on a “mush diet.” So I will be using them in the same way as the jello ones.
Our propane tank is empty. I didn’t realize it until I wanted to use the grill and Hubby said we needed propane. So I called two different places where I can get it to find out if they are doing it and how to go about getting it with minimum contact. They are doing curbside if you don’t want to go in the store. So most likely I will do that this weekend. Hubby hasn’t left the house since all of this “disease” started. I put myself in charge of doing any errands that need to be done. I remember so well how sick he was a few years ago so we are not taking any chances with this.
We have a bottle deposit in this state on sodas and sparkling waters. We have accumulated almost 6 bags of returns because there is no place to take them. I am wondering about just putting them in my recycle bin the next time they pick it up. I am getting tired of them being in my way in the garage. Since we have no idea when we will open up here in our county, I hate hanging onto them. A bag is usually worth $1.00 to about $1.50 when I bring them back. I think I will just chalk that up to convenience and let the state keep that money. When Fast Cash reopens for returns everyone will be crowding into this tiny little store to return bags and bags of them. I think I will avoid that.
I continue to do wash once a day to keep everything well sanitized. So I have been using warm water. Most of my clothing gets hung to dry. Sheets and towels I have been using the dryer for along with my wool balls so they dry faster.
I made some homemade shower cleaner yesterday and sprayed the shower before I went to bed. When I took my shower today, I washed down and scrubbed all of the walls which was really easy because the spray had done it’s job.
Some nights I have trouble sleeping so besides taking melatonin, I have been lightly spraying our sheets with lavender essential oil spray. It helps me sleep like a baby.
That is about it for the frugal things. What have you guys been doing frugally?
Before I end today’s post, I have to tell you that it looks like we will see our son, my daughter- in- law and grandson tomorrow. We have not seen them since February. They live about an hour and half from us. They are coming to visit and since it is supposed to finally be nice warm weather, we will socially distance on our patio in the backyard. My son has made Hubby and I each two cotton masks. He learned how to use my daughter in law’s sewing machine and has made all of their masks. Then he had trouble finding elastic. But since he got some this week, he is making us the masks. I am very grateful because I don’t have a sewing machine and they have both been working from home and taking care of West. He told me that because they don’t wash laundry every day, they boil their masks in water. That is a great idea!
Now if they would just open up the rest of the state, perhaps we can see our granddaughter, son and daughter in law in the next couple of months. I so love and miss all of them!
