Savings and Goals Journal #10

We did several little things this week to help save money. None of them were a huge savings alone, but little bits of money add up. Mostly we are doing things to help our home be more efficient, more pretty and more enjoyable, while spending as little money as possible to do so.

In the Kitchen

We organized and inventoried our freezers. It has made meal planning so much easier. I now have a list of everything in the freezers. We have more meat than I originally thought, which is good considering how expensive it is right now.

Our 4th of July meal was simple, using ingredients bought on sale and things we had at home. I baked my husband’s favorite cake for dessert.

One of the things discovered in the freezer was a large block of frozen, cooked chicken. I had roasted two chickens and asked my daughter to take the meat off the bones and freeze it. I usually freeze it in 2-cup portions. But all of it was put in one bag and frozen. So, I will thaw it this week and make many chicken dishes from it.

I had several bags of chicken bones in the freezer, so I put them in my big cooker and made a batch of bone broth. I canned seven quarts for the pantry.

This week’s meal plan:

• Monday: Grilled chicken (from freezer), Stove Top stuffing, green beans and bacon
• Tuesday: BBQ Chicken over rice, glazed carrots
• Wednesday: Chicken Pot Pie, salad
• Thursday: Leftovers
• Friday: Ranch Taco Chicken Salad
• Saturday: Chicken/Cilantro-Lime Rice protein bowls
• Sunday: Leftovers

Yes, there are all chicken meals listed here. We will use up all of that block of frozen chicken! My family is pretty good about things like this. They just like food. 🙂

In the Garden

I still haven’t harvested anything from the vegetable gardens, but things are growing well. I am anxiously awaiting that first tomato!

The weather is just getting hotter and hotter, so I’ve increased the watering from twice a week to three times per week. Our temperatures are nearing 100 almost every day.

In my decluttering, I found some cute garden signs I’d gotten on clearance last year. I sprayed them with sealer to protect them from the weather and hung them up in the garden area.

I harvested another pint of raspberries and I gather a handful of strawberries almost every day. Last week I was complaining about the stickery raspberry bushes and looked into thornless varieties. They do exist, but it would be expensive to replace all of our bushes.

Home and Family

We continued working on painting our porch. We didn’t finish and will have to work on it again this weekend. I’d rather take our time and have it turn out nicely than rush and be unhappy with the end result. It’s one of the many projects we need to finish as time and finances allow.

I finally found some clothes at the thrift store. The dressing rooms were still closed, but I was able to return one pair of pants I bought that didn’t fit. I found a pair of shorts and two pairs of capris for under $20 total. With the clothes I have already, I now have enough clothes for the summer, with the exception of maybe a blouse or two to wear to church when we can go again. Our church is having services, but we are still watching online from home just to be safe. The number of new virus cases per day in our state is still high.

We took another load of items to the thrift store to donate. This one was mainly craft show displays and supplies, since I’m not doing craft shows anymore. The more unneeded stuff I get rid of, the better I feel. Our house can’t get any bigger, so I’m working on making our stuff smaller.

I made a simple game for my grandson to play while I’m working in the kitchen. I have a pair of large tweezers (like these). I put a medium-sized pompom in each compartment of an egg carton and put an empty egg carton to the side. He picks up a pompom with the tweezers and moves it to the other egg carton. It keeps him occupied while I am cooking and we can work on colors and counting as well.

My daughter shared some starts of a house plant she was given with me. The common name is wax plant (Hoya carnosa). It’s a very pretty vining plant. I had a pretty pot I wasn’t using, and my daughter shared her bag of potting soil with me. So far, my cats have left it alone. We will see if it survives. I’ve been wanting a couple of house plants to brighten up our living room and kitchen.

Have a great week!