Are you staying frugal?

Eats lately:
Few cheese selections from Aldi store, plain Greek yogurt w/blackberries & homemade low-carb granola, salad w/Ranch & Russian dressings and roasted asparagus and pork roast. tuna salad on lettuce salad.

                          

Frugal doings lately:
>Traded points for a $10 Olive Garden gift card that I used on my birthday when J and I went out for lunch. Also used an email from Olive Garden to take home a piece of Tiramisu for free.
>Won a new cozy book from an online giveaway. I chose the first in a series of three (I think) as I've been looking for another cozy series to dig into.
>Borrowed a new paleo cookbook from the library and made a homemade dressing from it, which was good enough to write down and make again.
>J picked up coffee grounds from the coffeehouse where I'd worked in the past. These went around the blueberry bushes.
>Printed a coupon for any coffee drink from an area coffee chain for free for my birthday and picked up a BIG blended drink.
>Added a cup of mini Nabisco cookies freebie coupon to a grocery loyalty card.
>Bought 4 (limit) pound containers of strawberries for $1 each at the same grocery store.
>Emailed an Indian foods company and requested a coupon. She sent me three $1 off ones.
>Picked up a Bath&Body Works mini lotion for free with a coupon they'd mailed A. Sadly, I'd forgot to use the other coupon before it'd expired which had been for a free full-sized product. Drats. But I also was able to make someone else's frugal day by giving her my $10 off $30 coupon that I wasn't going to use. She was so happy as she was scrounging around for some other coupon on her phone after presenting one to them for Bed Bath & Beyond by mistake.
>Signed up for a deal on a Sam's Club membership again through Ebates. Hopefully I will qualify for the $20gc and free food items with sign up. I'll know when I go there with the emailed voucher. (I had been a member already until a couple of months ago.)
>Came to the decision to have a garage sale again. I'd been donating to Goodwill. Thought I'd  like the money myself and will sell things for so much less than Goodwill does.
>Enjoyed a game day at a lady friend-of-a-friend's house. We spent several hours visiting, enjoyed a yummy lunch and several rounds of Mahjong.
>Bought a tube of shoe glue to repair J's work shoes. Nice investment as he tends to rip his shoes in the same place, so this will get more use.
>Received a $20gc from my employer for my birthday, along with two other $20gc for everyone for being a top performing store.
>For just under $6, purchased an 8pk of LED bulbs at Sam's Club.


Things I've seen lately:
Bald eagle far across the field, crocus from a few weeks ago, purple finch (I think), (downy?) woodpecker.

Are you staying frugal?

Eats lately: Cheddar and onion topped burger with slaw and an orange segment. Chopped salad and brat with leftover onions/mustard/relish topping. Chocolate dipped strawberries. Peanut butter protein bars. Fajita chicken salad.






Frugal doings:
>Found Charlie perfume on sale for under $7 at Walmart's site, whereas in store they wanted $25.
>Bought 4 for $1 flower seeds from Dollar Tree that I'll toss into the straw-bales from last summer's garden project. Hopefully it'll create a new flower bed for me!
>Found myself going out for overpriced coffees on average of once per week and have now scaled it back to only a special occasion such as out with a friend that I don't get to see too often anymore or when J and I are out on a "date". May even cut that out as I am switching to coffee with cream instead of espresso drinks with half and half. If I grind my beans just right it tastes better than the coffeeshops anyway.
>Have been clearing out frozen leftovers for meals. For instance, tonight, we are having taco seasoned rice (frozen leftover) that I will combine with hamburger I was able to purchase with an employee discount at work ($1.47 for 1.25lbs) and top it with shredded cheese (frozen leftover).
>Borrowed The Accountant and Deepwater Horizon from the library to enjoy during the next few days.
>Discovered that A, our adult daughter, has Netflix for herself on her laptop and suggested that her sharing it would be a nice way to "pay rent". So we've watched Bates Motel and a couple of other things that we'd been wanting to see.
>Went to the waste recovery center (place for stuff that people throw out that could be used still) and found a small roll of wire fencing, a roll of black gardening cloth/material still in its wrapper, a paperback book and a "waiting room" chair that looks to need only some wood glue and c-clamp to make it useful again. Most of the stuff there is pretty well used and I consider a lot of it garbage so this was a nice surprise.
> J and I stopped out to eat for a lunch date. We used a certificate that I'd purchased for 1/2 price.
>Went Goodwill-hopping in the nearby city. Found a couple of tops for myself and a couple lightweight jackets for A.
>With a Target cartwheel coupon and an in-store sale, as well as a coupon on each box, I was able to get two 19lbs boxes of cat litter for under $10. I then also used a $5gc from a previous purchase and the total was under $5! (Regular price would have been nearly $25 for the two.)
>Asked a friend to find out further info from her son's girlfriend about teeth whitening at the college where she's doing her dental training. My friend is getting a cleaning done for $20 there next week.
>Spent an evening at a friend's house, along with her husband and mine, for dinner (we brought salad) and a lesson in cribbage. Very fun!

Are You Staying Frugal?

Eats lately:
Coconut Curry Chicken over rice w/dark chocolate balsamic glazed veggies, Brussels Sprouts & Quinoa Turkey Salad w/cheddar slices, "fathead" style crusted Margarita Pizza, grilled chicken with bacon/3 Alarm Cheese/fried onions/sriracha mayo, grilled chuck eye steak w/crockpot cooked Brussels Sprouts and salad, coffee beans won from a favorite author (yum, yum).

Frugal Doings Lately:
**After roasting a turkey for supper, I simmered the carcass and scraps in the crockpot overnight to make a broth that I then froze. I love to have a container of broth in the freezer now and then to make a quick soup when I don't feel like cooking or want to go anywhere.
**Picked up several hours of work at the coffee shop which should net us about $45 and I made $20 in tips that went into my crazy-cash-stash. It had gotten pretty low as I haven't worked there for months.
**Attended a 2hr long cooking class through work and earned $50 more on my paycheck for doing so.
**My name was drawn on a facebook contest of a favorite author! I won a signed book and a couple other items related to her book series. LOVE this!
**Cashed in points at a survey site for $12.
**Read two new books, by two of my favorite authors, from the library.
**Made a baked spaghetti with leftover meat sauce and noodles that I'd frozen from the last spaghetti supper we'd had. I just dropped the frozen ball of spaghetti into a casserole pan, dumped in the slightly frozen meat sauce and added some chopped salami and shredded mozzarella. I think everyone liked it better this go round that the first! So glad to free up that space in the freezer and not have to throw out so much wasted food.
**Bought a Sam's Club membership through Groupon again. For $45 we get a year's membership, $20gc for in store, free dinner rolls, free scalloped potatoes, $10 off a $13 cheesecake, $10 off a spiral ham costing up to $20.
**Made turkey and dumplings with a leftover turkey breast and a few peas that I'd socked away in the freezer and we always have the rest of the ingredients on hand.
**Picked up a free jar of salsa that a nearby grocery store had a coupon for.
**Stocked up on cheese at 99cents per 8oz package. Limit of 3 per customer so "J" and I each went through the line and bought a total of 6.
**While digging to the bottom of our chest freezer for chicken I discovered 6, yes, 6 big pork roasts! I see pork carnitas and pork with roasted veggies in our near future, ha ha! I love home freezer shopping!
**Brought more used coffee grounds home from the coffeehouse for the blueberry bushes.
**Picked up a 3pk of microwave popcorn for free from a grocery store coupon.
**Spoke with a friend who mentioned that she will be doing her third annual garage sale in June and she welcomed me to bring some stuff over to sell, too. I've had garage sales before but have gotten too lazy to set up and we aren't in an ideal location. So this will work out perfectly.
**Received a lovely long black and white striped skirt from same friend mentioned above.
**J's mother gave him a large bag of dried cranberries that she couldn't use. He will use these, mixed with some nuts and chocolate bits, as a trail mix for snacking on while on the road for work.
**Received a gallon of 2% milk from one of my bosses leftover from an event we'd hosted. Oh, and a lemon from that same event. I also brought home some roasted garlic cloves, maybe a head's worth, from another work event! Yay - I love garlic!

What I've Seen Lately:

 That is smoke from the fires in Canada that blew through May 6. Oh, and a neighbor's horse.

These crocus came up middle of April.

Are you staying frugal?

What I've been eating lately:
Cashew crusted chicken w/veggies, chicken fajita salad, bbq ranch salad, maple walnut crusted salmon, pistachio crusted chicken salad, cauliflower crust for pizza.

Frugal doings lately:
> I've been rinsing and crushing all of our egg shells to use in my garden boxes in hope of deterring slugs.
> Brought home used espresso grounds from my second job to use in the blueberry bushes patch.
> Used a code several times to watch a few Redbox movies for free.
> Used up some bread that was nearing its end by making French Toast for J and D.
> Ordered a pair of prescription sunglasses for myself, as well as for J, from Zennioptical and spent only about $25 total.
> Was tempted several times to buy iced coffees but waited until I got home and made my own.
> Bought a two piece ice cube tray set that makes tiny cubes for $2.50 (was delighted to read they were made here in the USA). While this is $ spent, it beats buying bags of ice every couple of weeks.
> Bought 4 boxes of cat litter for half their normal price using manufacturer and store coupons.
> Was gifted a springtime scarf from one of my employers as a thank you for being present when the health inspector came through. She also gifted me a bottle of daiquiri mix and two mini bottles of rum.
> Bought a couple bags of dark chocolate M&M's for 50% off after Easter.
> Discovered how to use a grocery store rewards card at the gas station and saved an extra 15cents per gallon on top of the 5cents per gallon saved from a discount card.
> Arranged for my two personal days off from work. They are "use them or lose them". I will aim to go for a frugal lunch out with J the first day as he has an afternoon appointment in the nearby city. The second one I will aim to use to get my gardening rolling along.
> I swept and hand mopped the kitchen floor. Not really frugal, I guess. But it felt great to get it done! (Used a drop of $1 dish soap in the bucket of water - does that count as a frugal doing?)
> J and I bought my mother flowers for her birthday. Rather than spending an arm and leg at our local greenhouse, we were in the nearby city and stopped at a large grocery store and bought two bunches for $10 and used a vase that I already have at home.
> Doing walking videos several times per week for the past few months. It feels great to be able to do these free workouts.
> Picked up a 30 load bottle of OxiClean detergent with a "try me free" rebate sticker on it.
> Bought two 18oz boxes of Target brand Cheerios-type cereal for $1.12 ea. after coupon and cartwheel. Was sad to find the second of this coupon only after I'd returned home - half hour away from store.
> Was gifted about 2-3lbs of espresso beans from J's mom. She didn't like them. Me neither. But J does.
> Added a "Friday Freebie" coupon for a bottle of kefir to my store grocery card which I'll hopefully get to redeem in a couple of days. That particular grocer is in the nearby city. I did this for a free single serving bottle of milk about two weeks ago.

Are you staying frugal?

What I've been eating lately:

Grilled pork chop/zucchini & squash zoodles/Chinese 5-spice carrots. Paleo Sesame Chicken on zoodles w/tomato & mozzarella.  Thai Cucumber Salad. Chopped Salad.
(Can you tell I've discovered my Spirelli again?)

What I've Seen Lately:

The purple flowers are striped hollyhocks - they're beautiful. Dad planted them between the corn and zinnias. They're single stalks about 4-5ft tall. Second pic is of garlic in its second year that I'd planted from seed from an online friend. It was supposed to be ready for harvest this fall. I dug out three that look like this and left about 8 more in the ground. They look like somewhat small shallots though they smell like garlic. I'm giving them a third year in hopes of getting some large bulbs of cloves. If anyone raises garlic and is familiar with either the variety of garlic this would be or would know what may have happened so that I only got a single bulb, I'd love to hear from you. Flowers in photo below are a few I snipped from what came up out of a packet of mixed perennial flower seeds.

Frugal doings lately:
> started a second part-time job
> adding half the amount of coffee grounds to the previous used grounds to get a second pot for half the cost (our coffee maker only makes 2 & 1/2 mugs of coffee)
> signed up with the area extension office for a cooking and walking program - free exercise and free food
> made a list of another bag of items to drop at Goodwill and filed it away for tax time
> getting my recipe and ingredients together to pickle garden beets
> sold two of A's college texts

> brought home some more sandwich wrappers from work that would've been thrown out (they'll be used to wrap/make party crackers again for a game at Christmas)
> making more of an effort to include garden produce as the core of meals
> found white cotton ankle socks on clearance at Mendards for A and me, 10pk for $2, and they're nice quality
> picked basil, put it on a paper towel lined plate to dry and some is hung to dry
> picked a small amount of sugar snap peas & green beans, blanched, then froze into 3 bags for future stir-fry meals
> made up several individual meals and froze them for when A moved into her college apartment for fall semester (3 salmon patties, 2 chicken primavera, 1 teriyaki shrimp stir-fry)
> bought 6 green peppers on sale 2 for $1, chopped and froze in 3 meal size servings
> cashed in for a $5 Amazon card at Swagbucks
> it rained and refilled my nearly empty rain barrels
> received a Redbox code for a movie, watched Divergent for free
> came across another Redbox offer for a free game rental that J & D enjoyed for free entertainment
> used coupons to get 3 bottles of hairspray for about $4.25 out of pocket but also got a $5 Target gc for the purchase of 3 Tresemme products (I just ran out of hairspray, so this was perfect and will last me for at least the next year hopefully!)
> used Target Cartwheel printout and coupons to get 4 boxes of low-carb snackbars for just a bit over $1 each, normally $4.69 per box
> more a frugal for boychild, D, he spent $4 on an arcade game and won a PS4 (though it was technically my $4 and my $$ that paid for he and two friends' laser tag rounds...still a much better deal had we been really intending to buy a new system...)
> cut watermelon, saved the juice, made popsicles, which we only ate half of and tossed the rest as we didn't like them and they have too much sugar anyway (guess that's more of a frugal fail)
> made low-carb muffins with some blueberries that were nearly ready to be tossed into compost
> ordered an analog stick off of Amazon to replace a broken one on a videogame controller as opposed to buying a whole new controller - received two of them for under $3 shipped
> cut buttons from a shirt that was headed for the rag bag

Ginger Salad Dressing

Tried a new recipe (to me, anyway) for salad dressing. We've eaten at a Japanese steakhouse a couple of times in the past. They have this real unique and wonderfully refreshing salad of simple iceberg lettuce with a ginger dressing. Doing a quick search for the dressing brought up a bunch of results, of which I used loosely to make my own by using substitutes of what I already have in the fridge and pantry. Wow, it worked and it's so good!

Ginger Dressing  
1 small diced onion, about 1/4c
1/8c olive oil
1/8c canola oil
1/6c red wine vinegar
1T water
2T fresh ginger root, grated
1T chopped celery, heaped
1/2T ketchup
2tsp tamari sauce 
1tsp sugar
1tsp lime juice
1/2tsp minced garlic
pinch s&p

Blend all ingredients in smoothie blender cup and chill. Makes about 1c dressing.

Of course, you can replace the sugar with a substitute, as well as use low-carb ketchup or plain tomato paste. I'm not the only one eating the salad and I am not going to panic over that little bit of sugar when I don't use more than a drizzle of dressing, anyway. We used on a simple salad of chopped romaine lettuce and thinly sliced cucumber. Note: I would skip the water next time as this makes a somewhat thin dressing. Water could be added after blending first to check for preferred consistency.

Some of the frugal-going-ons around here:
Hemmed a pair of yoga style pants that I bought on clearance for $6 from Kohl's. While I had the sewing machine out, I also repaired the edges of a bath towel that had been fraying. "A" had a romper that she didn't like because it was uncomfortable in the crotch area and a pain to always have to take off to use the bathroom. I cut the crotch out and hemmed it so it's now a cute little summer top instead.

We've had rain so I haven't had to water the garden for a few days and the rain barrels are full again. Good thing, too, since yesterday and today it's been 80+ degrees. One of the lettuces in my raised bed isn't looking very impressive, so I think I will add in a row of Marvel of 4 Seasons lettuce that Dad had given me from his leftover seed stash. Also garden related, I picked some young rhubarb, cleaned and diced it and put 6 baggies in the freezer for muffin making in the winter. There's more out there but I'm really hoping to be able to empty the freezer soon and defrost it so I don't want to fill it up. Not real crazy about rhubarb either, but it sure is good mixed with berries in muffins. Oh, and I bought 3lbs. sweet red bell peppers that were on sale for $1.99/lb, which is as cheap as they get around here, and cleaned, halved and froze them for winter use.

I received a couple coffee samples in the mail in the past week. Each makes a full pot in our house, which is really just 2 & 1/2 mugs each. But free coffee's nice. Also got a coupon for a razor and shave gel which will make them free. Wasn't expecting that nice little surprise in my mailbox.

Couple of delicious eats!

This Cajun Jambalaya (to the left) is why I bought chicken thighs, shrimp and chorizo to begin with. Sub in cauli-rice if you like, though I limit my serving size instead. Since there was more of each of those meats than I needed, I cooked them on the grill anyway and figured that I'll decide what to make with them later. Fate had me paging through the most recent issue of Cooking Light the next day where I came across the recipe for Shrimp, Chorizo & Corn Salad, which left me with a couple of boneless/skinless grilled chicken thighs still. Coincidentally, I've been craving chicken salad and happened to have everything else on hand already, too! Yay!

You may notice my chicken salad's a little darker colored than typical. The spice used to season the chicken when I grilled it for the jambalaya blackened (No, not burnt!) and that's what affected the color. I did include some grapes... mostly because we had them in the fridge already, but also because I like a little sweet in my chicken salad - whether that be raisins, apple or pear bits. No recipe to link to, just tossed chicken, pecans, grapes, celery, green onion, mayo & sour cream together and plopped on top of chopped romaine. The grill seasoned chicken was enough seasoning.

This photo is not mine. (I scanned a part of the page in my magazine.) Though mine did look nearly the same. I did not have fresh basil or tiny tomatoes or lemon, and I only had one half-ear of corn on the cob leftover from Father's Day. Fortunately I was easily able to remedy this by using dried basil, a chopped whole tomato, a splash of lime juice and a little additional frozen corn. I'm not a big fan of shrimp so I had only two bites of this. It was good, but not good enough for me to justify eating more corn, which, of course, is a high sugar veggie. But the rest of my family thought it was fresh and good. "A" thought it probably would be extra good as a chilled salad, too.

If you set out to make one of these, the Cajun Jambalaya is awesome! (Also, it's easy to make desired substitutions, such as the sausage type/pepper variety/seasoning mix/rice...) I was thrilled to make a purchase for just the one meal I had in mind, only later to find that they easily slid into place for two more dishes. Does anyone actually set out to do this? What meals do you end up making this way?

Day 88, 89, 90 & 91

Thursday, Dec.8
Cheat day.  Though I didn't go all out crazy yet.  Just one cookie that I'd made last night for Christmas and about 1/4c coffee with regular creamer and two peanut butter M&M's.  At least, not all out crazy by my standards.  Ha ha.

Wednesday, Dec.7
Breakfast> blackberry whey protein shake (4/1)
Lunch> turkey roast, gravy, <2oz mashed potatoes, cottage cheese w/blackberries (5/2)
Snacks> coffee, licked the beaters from making a sugarfree lime cheesecake filling, cheese/meat/nuts/blackberries (3/1)
Supper> pork chop, Marinated Mozzarella Pasta Salad, 1/10th of a fresh pear (3/2)

Total s/c = 15/6

No recipe for the shake as I didn't do any measuring.  Just tossed some ice, almond milk, heavy whipping cream, Jay Robb vanilla whey protein powder and 5-6 blackberries into the blender.  Yummy, though a titch seedy near the bottom of the glass.

Tuesday, Dec.6
Breakfast> ham pieces, toast w/butter,jam, cheese, coffee (0/1)

Lunch> open-faced tuna sandwich, four fries (3/2)

Snacks> 1/4c blackberries, diet orange soda w/cream (4/1)

Supper> beef wieners, cottage cheese, 6 or 7 tator-tots, few bites coleslaw made with xylitol (2/2)
Total s/c = 9/6

If my lunches sound a bit repetitive, it's because they are.  I work in a school kitchen and it's hard to find something "okay" to eat for lunch in there, unfortunately.

Monday, Dec.5

Breakfast> 2 fried eggs w/<1/4c hashbrown leftovers, bacon (0/1) 
Lunch> open-faced tuna sandwich, four fries (3/2) 
Snacks> 1/4c blackberries, pumpkin seeds (4/1) 
Supper> Seaside Tacos (5/2)
Total s/c - 12/6
Felt much better today.


Sunday, Dec.4
Breakfast> 1 Ezekial toast w/pb, coffee (3/2)
Lunch> none, woke late 
Snacks> small slice cheese 
Supper> 3/4c hashbrowns, sausage, few bites unsw.applesauce, cottage cheese, 1 bite unsw.cranberry sauce (5/2)

Total s/c - 8/4

Felt yucky last night and off and on today.  Mostly I've had an awful headache and a little nausea off and on along with it.  The headache was enough to wake me at 5am this morning.  Grr.  Think it's a sugar hangover?

Saturday, Dec.3
Cheat day.  Mom and I went out of town where I proceeded to behave badly.  Don't know if it's coincidence or not.  But I felt horrible starting this afternoon...

Day 82 & 83

Sunday, Nov.27
Breakfast> eggs w/ham & cheese & dash hot sauce (0/0)
Lunch> bunless chicken fillet w/bacon, cheese, tomato, lettuce (7/2)
Supper> turkey soup, spinach salad w/blackberries & walnuts, cheese/meats/cheese nips (5/2)
Snacks> shelled peanuts, few mini Reese's pb cups (1/1)
Total s/c for today - 13/6

I looked up the McD's sandwich in several places.  It's hard to get an amount for this as they all say something different.  Plus, it is near impossible to find the sugar/carbs for the bun alone to see how many carbs to deduct.  So I did some averaging and borrowing to get the above amount.  I'm erring on the side of caution and gave it the higher amounts I got.

The dressing for the salad was made using 2Tbsp fresh lime juice, 2Tbsp light olive oil, 1Tbsp xylitol, 2 packets stevia, and 2tsp chia seeds. This was more than enough for two people as a little goes a long ways.  Tastes great with the blackberries.


Saturday, Nov.26
Breakfast> low-carb pita pb&j (3/2)
Lunch> few bits turkey, last piece cheesecake (1/1)
Supper> low-carb pita pizza w/pepperoni & cheese (2/1)
Snacks> 4 Burger King chicken tenders (0/1)
Total s/c for today - 6/5