The Ways of My Household ... 8/7/2016

I AM DOING a HAPPY DANCE … okay, as much as an old woman can do with a broken toe!  Why am I doing a happy dance … because we are getting a reprieve from the excessive heat we’ve been having for the last 6 weeks.  The heat in our area has been brutal!

Before I share my pantry building … frugal living … Vicky challenge week though, let’s talk about rain checks.  Do you know what they are?  Do you take advantage of this great way to stretch your money?  I surely hope you do because they can be a great way to add to your pantry.  If a grocery store is out of an advertised item, ask for a rain check.  This means you can get the same item (often multiples of the same item) for the sale price after the advertised sale is over, on your time table. This means you have time to search for a coupon(s) for that item which makes it an even better bargain, or you have the option of waiting for a time when you have more money and can purchase multiples.  What have you been able to add to your pantry using rain checks?

Okay,  here’s how I ‘looked well to the ways of my household’ this past week …

Note:  My Vicky Challenge Savings are added in at the appropriate places.  

I picked up some CVS shopping tips HERE.  

Chickens laid 2 dozen eggs this week:  Saved $6

Made more kefir.  Saved: $4.08 ($2.04 per batch)

Got a couple of rain checks from Food Lion for shrimp they had on sale BOGO free. They were all out so my husband and I each got a rain check!  Love me some rain checks!

We had a day earlier in the week when the feel like temperature outside was only 99 so we headed out to the garden, cleaned it up and planted our fall garden!  We  gave the peas some nitrogen, the okra some fertilizer, pulled up the old squash plants and tomato plants then planted cabbage, collards and some more squash using seeds we had on hand. 

If you like having pantry mixes on hand this is a sight you will want to visit. I found several that will be useful to me. 

I harvested the overgrown squash before I removed the plants from the garden and placed them where they will continue to dry. When they are dry, I will harvest the seeds for next year’s planting.  Saved $20 for seeds … there is going to be a lot of seeds!

We’re also harvesting okra and the pods that have gotten too big are being placed in the same place as the squash to dry.  This will be our seeds for next year.  Saved $20 for seeds and another $10 for okra we've been eating this week.

I can’t leave out cucumbers.  We are no longer harvesting any from the garden but there are a few that we allowed to get BIG so we could save seeds for next year.  These cucumbers are keeping the okra and squash company in our drying area.  Saved $10 for seeds.

We are still saving seeds from tomatoes as well. Saved $10

Another thing that was ready for harvest this week was our elderberries.  They started out so good but I’m afraid all the rain, hot temperatures and humidity have taken their toll on them.  We were able to harvest some but, not near what we have in past years.  We are thankful for what we were able to harvest and have (after drying) set them aside for medicinal purposes.  Saved $5

Saved $.48 using coupons, shopping sales and loss leaders for pantry and non-pantry related items.  Yep, that reads 48 cents … I guess you can tell that we didn’t do much shopping this week!!!!

Added compost material to the compost bin. 

Yard work/gardening/landscaping (does not include mowing) (4 hour x $10 per hour for labor):  Saved $40 

I started watching ‘Tales from The Green Valley’ on Youtube Here.  Here is the trailer for the series …. In this BBC documentary series we get to follow a small group of historians and archeologists as they recreate farm life from the age of the Stuarts. They wear the clothes, eat the food and use the tools, skills and technology of the 1620's for one year.  I am a history buff and enjoy learning from the past.

Not working a job outside my home savings $100.

I began harvesting grapes from our grapevines this week.  I was able to harvest about half of a gallon … there are many more to ripen, but I want to beat the birds to them so I’m watching them closely.  (There are lots and lots of grapes, enough for us and the birds, but if I don’t beat them to them, I won’t get any!)  I am making juice using the steaming method and freezing it until I have enough to make jelly.  Saved $6

Book(s) I’ve read this week …… Wartime Farm.  I have watched the series on Youtube and am so happy that I now own this book. I learned a lot from watching the series and now I have all that knowledge to refer back to in the book.  I only paid $.96 for this huge book plus $3.99 shipping. (This is just one way I stretch the Swagbucks and Bing money that I earn!)   

Thus far this year my Vicky Challenge Savings  savings/earnings have been $10,009.69, add this week’s amount ($237.56) and I/we have saved $10,247.25.  

Now it’s your turn, what have you done to build up your pantry and live frugally this week?

Patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

Have you read this series, This is Why! and this free e-book, Yes, You Can Have a Well-Stocked Pantry?  And don’t forget to check out the ‘Free Downloads’ page.  You’ll find some helpful pantry building stuff available for free!

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