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Frugal Things

We had a wonderful day on Saturday. It was sunny and warm. My son and grandson came to visit. We were so happy to see them. I just wish I could have hugged them.

I actually placed an order on Friday night at Tim Horton’s for 20 TimBits and a dozen donuts to be picked up on Saturday morning. It was easy and it was ready when I got to the drive thru. The Tim Bits were to treat my neighbor’s(who have helped us so much) kids for breakfast. The donuts were for us. They made special red, white and blue donuts( United donuts) just for this weekend so we made sure to get 1/2 dozen of those because they were making donations to our local hospitals for each one purchased. It is the only food we have purchased out since this all started.

While we were social distancing on our patio, we got quite a treat. Here in western NY they had a WWII flyover to thank all of the heroes who are working in our hospitals. About noontime, they flew right over our backyard on their way to the hospital in the next town. They used two WWII planes which were flying quite low. It was beautiful and the meaning ever more so. Click to enlarge the picture. 

My son, while he was here, went to Niagara Produce for vegetables so Hubby asked him to bring back two hanging impatiens for our porch. He came back with these beauties. 

We have also been enjoying our flowering trees. Our purple plum had beautiful pink blossoms that didn’t last very long. This is our pear tree in bloom. Our cherry tree is about to bloom. 

I asked my son if he would go to Tractor Supply to get our propane tank filled. He did and we learned something new. They only charge for the actual propane that they put in the tank. The place where we have always gotten our tank filled charges for a full tank no matter how much is in it before they fill it. So the last time we had it filled there in 2018, they charged us $ 19.00. Tractor Supply only charged us $ 9.00 on Saturday. Hubby said it was almost empty. That is a huge difference plus Tractor Supply is much closer to us. So we saved on the cost and will save gasoline in the future. I did not know that they had propane until recently.  

I finally took note of how much gasoline we had in our car. I was surprised to see that we had only about 1/2 tank. I had thought we had almost a full tank. So I made a trip to the Top’s gas station and filled up using the $ .40 off a gallon that I had earned though grocery shopping. Yesterday was the last day to use those points.

I had roasted a chicken on Thursday which gave us a chicken dinner that night and on Friday night. Last night, we had the chicken cut up on Caesar salads. Today I used it to make chicken salad for lunches.

How is your weekend going? Do anything frugal? 

10 replies on “Frugal Things”

I was told that the tank had to be purged to fill it safely. So, of course, I paid for a full tank which is never full for safety sake. I wonder if someone lied to me? !!! I wonder.

We had a busy weekend. On Friday after work, I went to a friend's plant sale. I got 2 cherry tomatoes (already had 4 regular tomato plants at home), herbs & 2 homemade cinnamon rolls. *grin*
Saturday we worked cows and sorted out the ones that go to the Fall calving pasture.
I deep-cleaned my bathroom, did laundry & straightened the pantry. Now I can walk all the way to the far side. We are well-stocked. I was happy to find the flat of homemade peach jam in the back of one of the shelves. Also more home-canned tomatoes.
After the cattle working, we went to the city. We got the pickup's oil changed, then Sam's Club as I had to get TP and paper towels for my workplace. Plenty in stock. While there we stocked up on softener salt, canned beans (for Farmer), his salad dressing, some produce and dairy. We did a drive-through lunch and then ate it in the farm store parking lot. We got cat food and grass seed there and I was excited to get some more bedding plants. Another tomato pot (that had 2 plants in it…I always look for those); cucumbers, zuchini and more herbs.
I was rather dismayed to find, that despite all the people wearing masks, none of the businesses we went to, were sanitizing the keypad or carts or screens or scanners. We were sure to use my hand sanitizer when we got back to the pickup and especially before we ate.
When we got home, I planted the tomatoes and then got rained out. Chef/Cobb Salads (whatever you call a salad with lots of veggies and some cheese and eggs) for supper.
Today it's been more restful. I did finish the laundry, made blueberry muffins for breakfast and chocolate chip cookies for desserts this week. Farmer is mowing now and we'll have an easy supper tonight of fish sticks and fries.
Warmer temps this week will be great for my gardens. Looking forward to finishing my planting.

Hi Kay,

You certainly were busy! Peach jam is my very favorite. YUM!

That is a shame about the sanitizing. Our markets here are doing it. I don't know about the others. Keeping the hand sanitizer in the car is a necessity today. I always have a bottle in the cup holder to use.

You enjoy that produce when it comes in.

My kids tried Tim Bits when we were at the Vancouver airport in February, and fell in love! We're lucky they aren't closer to us 🙂

I've found a new use for the paper grocery bags we've been getting (you can't use your own right now, and the stores are required to give them to us to reduce contact). I've been turning them inside out & using them as packaging paper to cover boxes for my eBay sales. It makes me feel good to get a second use out of them. Otherwise, we may have just recycled them.

I was also able to sell a pair of shoes that we thought would work for a class trip to Yosemite (this was back in March), but weren't the right type & not allowed. I got about 1/2 my money back, which is a win, considering they were worn a few times.

I've also been keeping up my yard work projects, which will save us thousands over having it done by someone else. When we get the majority cleaned up, we'll hire someone for likely a monthly service.

Hi H.P.,

You are lucky. I don't know a kid that doesn't love them.

Nice job on recycling the bags asnd your score on the shoes.

You are saving a fortune on the clean up.

You and your family have a good week.

Hi AD, this is Chris. We had a good weekend. Hubby got a lot of his garden planted. He has not had much luck in years past, but is going to try again this year. He is ever hopeful, and has not tried to plant a garden at our house here since we moved. We had our little granddaughter for a few hours yesterday so her mommy could get some work done.

A win this weekend: our neighbors were getting rid of their kids' turtle sandbox, and said we could have it for our granddaughter. Not sure yet where we will put it in the yard, but with the playgrounds still closed, it will get a lot of good use here this summer.

Busy weekend here as well. I finally cleaned baseboards and a few windows along with the usual chores. 90's here this week so my flowers should be happy along with having the sprinklers now working. Chris spent the weekend helping a friend that should result in some free PT. Bartering is awesome when you have someone talented hanging around. He did the shopping again but I wandered to Costco for a prescription and some cleaning stuff so we are good for the week. Enjoy the week ahead!

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