Frugal Friday - On a Saturday - The Beginning of September 2019
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| Home canned tomato sauce - success at canning! |
This photo was my first attempt. It was successful - all four jars sealed right away! YAY! Jars were labeled and put into the pantry. Later in the week I canned 5 quarts and 3 pints of sweet cucumber pickles. All 5 quarts sealed and 1 of the pints. I put the other two pints in my refrigerator - we will eat those this week.
We have had an expensive end to August - our water heater broke and spilled a LOT of water all over the basement floor. Our basement is partially finished into living space - expanding our small living spaces - and partially unfinished utility/storage. Our water heater is in the unfinished part but, unfortunately, the floor of that portion of the basement slopes toward the finished part. We ended up with lots of water flowing under the wall studs and into the carpet. Thankfully, the walls were not effected but we did have to have the carpet professionally cleaned and dried (or we would have had to rip up the entire finished area, as it is one large piece) and have a new water heater professionally installed (city code here requires a license and a professional installer).
So, we have tried to be frugal in other ways! Here are our frugal accomplishments for the first week in September:
* Made and canned tomato sauce and sweet cucumber pickles for later use.
* Harvested tomatoes, peppers, beans and winter squash from the garden.
* Collected our CSA share this week. We received: potatoes, parsnips, cabbage, onions, beets (beet root), fennel, beans, zucchini, tomatillos, garlic, cucumbers, tomatoes, a lovely pumpkin, and decorative gourds. We will be taking bringing the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes to church on Sunday as our dish to share for our big kick-off meal.
* John brought home a large bag of pistachios that was leftover from an event at church.
* I picked flowers for the house from the garden twice this week.
* We made eggplant Parmesan, BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato) sandwiches, cole slaw, chicken pot pie, and stuffed zucchini for meals at home this week. We ate all meals at home.
* John officiated a wedding, earning a small extra amount for this.
* I picked up an extra class this week at Jazzercise, which I will be paid for.
* I have been cleaning out items from the storage area in the basement as we are putting them away. We have donated several items to our local thrift/second-hand shop. I am appreciating extra organization and storage space.
* Our daughter wanted new decor for her bedroom. She used her art supplies to create several paintings for her room and as a gift for a friend's birthday.
* We read books we already owned or from the library. We returned overdue books before we were charged a late fee.
* I baked bread for eating and sandwiches and dessert bars for snacking.
* I purchased extra school notebooks for my children at 25-cents per notebook with back-to-school after sales.
* John used a coupon to get free ice cream treats for the children after a really rough day at school.
* We worked on our outdoor fire pit to the point where it is now usable! It is not quite finished, but we can use it and we will finish it as the money is available.
* I worked on two different homemade Christmas gifts this week.
What have you done this week that may be considered frugal?
