Frugal Happenings - The Beginning of August 2020

Our Anniversary dinner - salmon, pasta salad, and zucchini.

 

August has flown by so fast!  I am just amazed by how quickly it has gone.

We were so blessed to get away for our Anniversary weekend with the children to a rented cabin in Northern Wisconsin.  We spent 5 days relaxing, enjoying the sound of the loons singing, reading, hiking, drawing (the children), writing (John) and doing embroidery (me).  The children went swimming and/or paddle boarding every day while we were there.  We stopped to see my cousin and her husband on the way home; it was so nice to visit!  We stayed outside (socially distanced with masks) and enjoyed a picnic dinner of hamburgers, cut veggies and grilled beets (beetroot) straight from their garden. Wonderful!

Here are some other things we have done since the beginning of August that are frugal:

* We made most meals at home including soups, roasted meats and vegetables, eggs (scrambled, fried,  baked) and home-baked bread.

* John has brought home several bunches of tomatoes and zucchini from parishioners.  He also brought home several ears of corn.  A friend gave us spicy peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers.

* We harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, peas and peppers from the garden.

* I picked several bouquets of flowers from the garden.

* I sewed seven new masks for myself and our children.  We all need to wear masks all day at school and work this fall, so we each needed more masks.  Our schools are doing a hybrid model for school this fall, so we do not need masks all day everyday but we decided that we need more masks than we currently have.

* We assembled a new raised garden bead and prepared it for transplanting our strawberry plants. 

* We added rock to our fire-pit area in the back yard (garden). City code told us that we needed to expand the area, so we did.

* I did a lot of embroidery working on a gift.

* Our children enjoyed a water balloon/water pistol "fight" with friends followed by a bonfire and wiener roast at a friend's house.  This was a back-to-school event as several of their friends started back to school this week. 

* The children and I had appointments with the eye doctor and ordered new glasses for all three of us - we will be getting glasses and the exams for approximately 50% off.

* John officiated two funerals and burial and was paid extra for those.  

* I canned 5 jars of tomato salsa and blanched and froze 8 ears of corn for later use.

* The children banked most of their money from their summer jobs in anticipation of heading to University in a few years. 

* I mended two sheets and a pair of sweat pants. 

* I used material I already owned to sew two new table cloths for my kitchen table.

What have you done these last few weeks that count as frugal? (Note: I am still turning off the comments due to some very inappropriate comments I received.  Hopefully I will be able to turn them back on soon. Thanks for understanding!)