Frugal Foodie

Here in Central Illinois it isn't exactly warm, but it isn't freezing either. When we don't have the usual gloomy winter days, it makes me think spring is around the corner and I'm getting excited.

We have this lovely sunporch on the back of the house. Although it is early to be planting a vegetable garden, I'm getting excited about doing so. Scratching around here, I found a metal pan and asked DH if I could use it to plant some seeds in it and have it on the porch. The porch seems warmer than the outside with the afternoon sun and the way it is built, it doesn't get super freezing cold when the weather is cool outside. So, I bit the bullet, put some potting soil in it and planted some radishes. Hopefully they will come up and we can enjoy some. I saw this dude on Facebook stating you could start strawberries by planting a small slice of a strawberry in dirt, so I did that as well in the plastic containers and those too are on the sunporch. 

We've been throwing out ideas on what we want to plant for this year. Last year we tried a few things and some where successful and some were a failure. DH had this wooden raised garden and the soil just wasn't deep enough to grow tomatoes or cucumbers because of the way it was made, the soil dried out so fast. We had some fierce, hot days so it made it tough to keep things alive. We bought one of those small raised metal garden rings too and planted tomatoes in that and they did really well. So, we bought a second one and that's the plan for this year -- 4 tomatoes in the two of them, two each. We are going to till up a spot and fence it in for other things like cucumbers, onions, and other things. I have garlic planted already and a small herb garden in a small area as well as strawberries. So hopefully we will get some good things this year. I'm hoping to preserve some of the things we have. With grocery prices we hope to have some fresh produce. I'm also hoping that the rhubarb and the black raspberries produce a lot too. 

Last fall I planted tulip bulbs and I'm looking forward to when they break through the soil. I plan to take a photo of the three spaces in case I need to fill in spots. I can plant things, but we have two dogs who like to dig so I think some of the bulbs have been moved. 

I seem to concentrate on food a lot, but since it is a necessity, I'll validate it that way. A few months ago I bit the bullet and bought a large toaster oven. I always had one to use for smaller things to bake, but when I moved out with the divorce, I didn't take the one that was at the house. I missed it. We have a perfectly good oven, but I know ovens are a big energy pull so unless I can bake more than one thing at the same time, I prefer to use a toaster oven to save on electricity. Lunch today was a casserole and heating up a vegetable, both fit in the toaster oven. As I have watched my retirement accounts decrease the past few weeks, I feel a little better knowing I'm saving a few cents here and there. It adds up as we go along. 

One thing that probably isn't frugal, but I have been crocheting little items and leaving them with a note that it is a free gift and if the person can, post a photo of it and where it was found. I crocheted bookmarks and left them in the Free Little Libraries in our small town and one person posted a photo on the Random Acts of Crochet Kindness so that was cool. I'm going to leave shamrocks this week around town. Most people who post talk about it being a day brightener. I hope it is. 

This has little to do with my post, but I can no longer post photos on my blog. Any ideas on how I can do that? I always get an HTTP 400 error. 

Today was the first time I heard the term, "Doom Spending." It is consumers spending more than they normally would for fear of rising prices due to the tariff threat. CNBC had an article about it and it said it was more than just stocking up, but people buying things they cannot afford because they fear the prices are going up. The issue is some of these people are already deep in debt and instead of working on paying down their debt, they are increasing it.

Things are uncertain and I think there is a fear that people won't be able to get things  if prices continue to rise. I can't imagine any of our SA folks succumbing to it, but I can see people rationalizing a big purchase saying they are saving money now by buying a big ticket item. 

Here is the URL for the story if you are interested: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/27/1-in-5-americans-are-doom-spending-heres-how-that-can-backfire.html

A friend shared this with me. Since many of you are commenting about how you are not happy with the current administration. As we know, money talks.

 

 

Hi,

 

The People's Union is calling for an Economic Blackout on February 28 to protest the Administration's attack on diversity in our country.

 

Here's a Newsweek article:

https://www.newsweek.com/will-nationwide-economic-blackout-work-2030187

 

Here's a summary of actions to NOT do on February 28:

 

WHEN:

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28TH. from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

• Do not make any purchases.

• Do not shop online, or in-store

• No Amazon

• No Walmart

• No Best Buy

   Nowhere!

• No McDonalds 

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON FOOD:

• Fast Food

• Gas

• Major Retailers

• Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO IF NECESSARY:

• Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary items such as 

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

•If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

• Talk about it. 

• Post about it.

• Document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS!

• Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

• If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

• If they don't listen we make the next blackout longer. 

• This is our first action.

• Our numbers are powerful. 

• This is our first action.

• This is how we make  history. 

AGAIN,

• FEBRUARY 28TH. ✊🏾

• The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins.

A friend shared this with me. Since many of you are commenting about how you are not happy with the current administration. As we know, money talks.

 

 

Hi,

 

The People's Union is calling for an Economic Blackout on February 28 to protest the Administration's attack on diversity in our country.

 

Here's a Newsweek article:

https://www.newsweek.com/will-nationwide-economic-blackout-work-2030187

 

Here's a summary of actions to NOT do on February 28:

 

WHEN:

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28TH. from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM.

WHAT NOT TO DO:

• Do not make any purchases.

• Do not shop online, or in-store

• No Amazon

• No Walmart

• No Best Buy

   Nowhere!

• No McDonalds 

DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON FOOD:

• Fast Food

• Gas

• Major Retailers

• Do not use Credit or Debit Cards for non essential spending. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO IF NECESSARY:

• Only buy essentials of absolutely necessary items such as 

(Food, Medicine, Emergency Supplies)

•If you must spend, ONLY support small, local businesses.

SPREAD THE MESSAGE

• Talk about it. 

• Post about it.

• Document your actions that day!

WHY THIS MATTERS!

• Corporations and banks only care about their bottom line.

• If we disrupt the economy for just ONE day, it sends a powerful message.

• If they don't listen we make the next blackout longer. 

• This is our first action.

• Our numbers are powerful. 

• This is our first action.

• This is how we make  history. 

AGAIN,

• FEBRUARY 28TH. ✊🏾

• The 24 Hour Economic Black Out Begins.

I am thinking of posting this on one of the Facebook frugal sites, so I thought I'd run this by all of you to get your feedback:

Pinterest -- I have a love-hate relationship with it. It's a good source for a lot of things, but sometimes the stuff isn't what it claims to be.

I like to read articles and blogs on ways to save in case I'm missing something. But  if they are true sites, they say the same thing, and mostly general stuff. I belong to a couple frugal groups on Facebook and there are people who post that they are new to this and want ideas on saving money. It makes me realize that there are newbies that some of these general statements are just that -- general and if one doesn't know how to do it to begin with, it could be overwhelming. I was thinking that perhaps things need to be explained more fully for those who don't know.

For example, there is almost always the topic of meal planning. That sounds great, but what if someone hasn't done that before, it could mean they don't know where to start. A frugal meal plan is going to look different than one from someone who isn't looking to save money. I think it should be better explained. Such as, figure out what you have in your fridge, freezer, and pantry, and  decide if you have to go to the grocery and supplement it. If so, what are things that are on sale that will go with whatever one has. Stick to your list and don't buy extra. Find deals like the loss leaders and digital coupons. If you have a little extra money and there are nonperishables on sale, stock up a little since grocery stores tend to have sales cycles, and try to build a small stockpile of things you like to eat. Most importantly, don't buy something you really have no desire to eat just because it is on sale. 

When you meal plan, try to fix enough of things for more than one meal. I know when I was working it meant some planning on my part, but I would figure out what I could fix ahead of time and then bake off when I got home from work. One of my coworkers asked me how I did it and I said I would often buy chicken on sale. If I got a whole chicken, I cooked it in the slow cooker. If it was a slow cooker I would add vegetables and spices so I could then have chicken broth.   If it was other stuff, I would brown in the pieces and depending on what I got, would then take it off the bones, then use the bones with some vegetables and spices to make broth. Then I would make casseroles, depending on what I had in my pantry and fridge or whatever I got on sale. I tried to change it up each week so we weren't eating the same casseroles, but it sure saved us a lot of money because I would then put these casseroles in the fridge and I could bake them when I got home from work, and if need be, add a vegetable and have our meal. I made a lot of soups and stews as well and would use whatever I had and since there was usually quite a bit, I could make more than one meal or freeze some for a day when I didn't feel like cooking. I bought cheaper meats and learned to love my slow cooker. It might mean prepping the stuff the night before and then putting it in the cooker that morning and turning it on, but what a relief to come home to a meal. I treated it like a challenge -- what can I make that is filling, nutritious, and cheap? 

Studying the sales is important. I read somewhere that grocery stores often do an 8 week cycle on stuff so putting away a little money and then stocking up on things that you like when it is on sale is smart. Plus, it is fun to shop your own cabinets knowing you are saving money. 

The next idea isn't really cooking and shopping, but planning is important. I admit I like looking through recipes and cookbooks and seeing different things. But in reality, I rarely made any of those fancy dishes. But I started with simple recipes that were good and then would tweak them. Then I would write them down. I have a love affair with index cards so I have a double recipe box with recipes that I use and have, in my opinion, improved upon. I learned that although I thought I'd remember a recipe, if I didn't make it for a while, I would forget all about it, then need a refresher. I went to the library and looked through cookbooks of simple recipes, not gourmet ones, and copied them on index cards for my try pile when I had the ingredients. If it was a good one, I kept the card. If not, I threw it away.

Figuring out what to do with things that are leftover is another way to save money. For example, if you make chili and don't have enought to have another full meal out of it, can you add some sauce and serve it over pasta and stretch it? A restaurant chain does this and calls it "chili mac" so if they can serve chili over spaghetti, why can't you? 

An important thing is use what you have. Even with egg prices on the rise, they are still a decent deal. My dear husband likes soft buns and I don't know why brat packages (bought on sale of course) have one less than the 6 buns, so what do we do with the bun? Of course one could use it for a sandwich, but then again, why not make an egg casserole? I often will do that -- tear up the bun into small pieces in a greased casserole dish, then do a fridge clean out of leftover cheese and vegetables  combined  with milk, and a two-three eggs (It makes a small casserole). I mix the egg and milk together, add the vegetables and cheese and pour over bread and refrigerate overnight. I bake at 350 for an hour or until a knife comes our clean in the middle. One can add meats or different cheeses to make this different. I like to add herbs to give it a different flavor, but it is a great way to use up what I have.

My other suggestion and personal goal  is to never have an oven that just has one thing in it. Ovens pull a lot of energy and baking one small thing isn't the most economical. Sometimes it can't be helped. But trying to fill the oven is always a good plan. For example, yesterday I  did a bunch of prep of stuff. I had our supper to bake at 350 and since I was going to put together dough for sourdough sandwich bread to be baked the next day, I had the flour out. So, I put together the ingredients to make cinnamon apple muffins. I also made dog treats. Each rack was full of stuff when I had the oven on. It doesn't always work out like that, but if it does, it is a good way to save money. 

My Papa always told me to never stop learning. He was a Depression Era kid and had me late in life. He said if someone wanted to teach me something, learn, even if I didn't think I'd use it, one never knew if it would come in handy. I'd say the same with cooking. I know the fancy chefs get all the publicity, but it is the person who can make a delicious meal out of what they have is a true gem. 

I learned a new word the other day: Grandmacore. If you aren't familiar with it, it's basically someone who does things grandmothers are usually known for like crocheting, knitting, baking, sewing, gardening, and stuff like that.  My DH looked at me and said that fit me to a "T."

I have a quirky sense of humor and read a columnist who has a webpage called Sean from the South. He wrote a column about  missing glass bottles amongst other things and I would have to agree. I remember all those wonderful glass bottles food and other items came in. Granted, shampoo probably shouldn't be in a glass bottle, but other stuff, well, in my opinion, should. I remember drinking soda pop and returning the bottles. My mom used glass mayo jars for canning because we had them. I know I latch onto glass jars of stuff I buy and reuse them because I like things in glass. You probably remember an email that was shared years ago about this lady at the checkout who was told by the young cashier she didn't understand recycling and the older lady talked about returning glass bottles so they could be refilled, reusing paper bags, and things like that. 

In my full grandmacore mode, I also have a button jar. I have cut off buttons off of clothes that are worn out or so badly damaged and kept the buttons. It is handy to have those extra buttons. I have been crocheting little gift card envelopes and I pulled buttons out of the jar today to sew on to them for the flap. I was thinking of a gal I worked with a number of years ago. The button on her khakis came off and I suggested we find a needle and thread to sew it back on and she said no, she'd just throw them away. I was shocked. I asked if she knew how to sew and she had no desire. I offered to sew the button on and was turned down. 

But many of these grandmacore things do save money. I reuse bottles and jars. I wash  my plastic bags and foil to reuse. I crochet and sew things. For example, I found some curtain panels at a thrift store for a room we are finishing in the basement. They are too long, but I will shorten and hem them so I will have curtains for around $5. 

Last year we planted tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and radishes and we enjoyed these fresh vegetables when they were available. We had a rhubarb plant and I used it to make a crumble as well as to make some jams and jellies, and we had both  mulberry trees and wild black raspberries and I picked those and made jam. We have a black walnut tree and I used those for some of my baking. I planted some herbs and dried them in the fall so I would have them to use this winter and spring.  Last fall I planned ahead, expanding our garden. We planted a couple of strawberry plants, two blueberry plants, some asparagus, and some garlic. Sure, these items cost money initially, but I'm hoping to be successful and getting some of this food in the coming years. I've concluded gardens are forward thinkers since blueberries and asparagus aren't supposed to yield a harvest right away. 

Since I mentioned baking with the nuts,  I've been baking our sandwich bread for over 7 months. My husband teases me how much please I get making a loaf of bread and then filling the house with the wonderul aroma of baking bread. Speaking of the oven, I went all out and bought a toaster oven so I could bake smaller things without heating up the big oven and having a large enery pull. I bake dog biscuits for our pups because they like them and it although we buy some commercial ones, the ones I bake are cheaper. I have to move the oven to the island to use it, but it is worth it. I'd like to explore making a solar oven this summer when the sun is overhead and hot. And we are discussing making a rain barrel to save money when we water the garden that we are increasing. 

I remember a friend talking about his mom and how she washed dishes in just a small amount of water in the sink. I asked him what he meant by a small amount of water and he said you know, less than half full of water. I'm thinking she was smart...didn't use a lot of the precious resource of water and still got things clean. She was frugal and as a result had a decent savings. Truly in grandmacore mode!

So, are you buying into the grandmacore? 

It seems like it is continous on groceries...But guess that is a given since we tend to eat.

Anyway, before Christmas it seemed like there were a few decent deals so we could stock up on a few things. Between the coupon savings, the sale prices, and the receipt apps, I'm hoping to save money. 

On social media different folks post about writing companies and asking for coupons. I've done so in the past so I decided to tackle that as well. I think of the ten companies I wrote, two kindly sent coupons. The rest said they don't send coupons and to check my local paper. Seriously? Our local paper doesn't do coupons anymore and a few years before, the coupons were pathetic. Seems newspapers could buy coupon inserts and there were different ones, some had a few coupons, and some had a lot of great ones. Our paper never did go for the really good ones. Anyway, I tried as far as the coupons and emailing companies.Land O' Lakes and Celestial Seasonings both responded and mailed me coupons.  I use digital coupons at our Kroger and County Market when it is for something I would pruchase anyway. I don't just buy something because I have a coupon. But the wins are becoming fewer and far between. 

DH and I are trying to eat at home and even then, with the price of groceries, it is expensive. We had bought some brats and buns and why these companies do no not communicate with each other is beyond me. There are fewer brats than buns. I refused to let the buns go to waste that were left over so I made tuna salad and we had them on the buns. We bought some bagels and same thing...we used each and every one of them. 

Today I had a small win at this grocery game...Kroger had smaller boxes of cereal on sale for $1.99. Ibotta was giving a $1 credit, so that box of cereal cost 99 cents and tax. Plus, I had 4 other grocery receipt apps, so hopefully a reasonable price. I used the Land O'Lakes coupon for 55 cents off and then got a credit of 65 cents on Ibotta. Not cheap butter, but saved money on something I was going to buy anyway. 

I have an Aeorgarden. It's a hydroponic garden for small plants. I had to bite the buttlet and buy replacements for my pods, and went ahead and got the lettuce ones, but now that I have them, I can reuse them and plant my own seeds. But, we had our first "harvest" of tender lettuce for a small salad this week. This first salad was a little pricey, but I figure as I use more of it and then replant, it will get more reasonable.

Since Lent is coming up, I'm counting on sales of tuna to continue. There was a sale today so I bought a few cans since DH likes tuna sandwiches. But I want to stock up so we have some on hand when the sales diminish after Lent. 

I continue to bake sourdough bread. I have a loaf in the oven as I type this. I used my starter and let it proof in the fridge overnight before baking. It's nice to be able to bake our own bread and be able to make it without yeast. Granted, yeast isn't super expensive, but one more thing we are saving on.

Last year we went to an orchard and bought apples. They had some that were not perfect and I bought them and made both applesauce and apple juice and canned both. With extra juice I made apple jelly and canned it. Between our eating it and some I gave away for Christmas, we got a decent deal. We've had some of the applesauce and it was nice treat with our lunch and it was great to be able to shop in our basement storage area. 

It is frustrating playing this game, because the deals seem to be less available. Are you finding the same?

The end of January is nearing and it's been what I'd call a typical winter for the Midwest, at least as it used to be: cold and snowy. We had some measurable snow and lots of cold temperatures. Previous years we had warmer temperatures so having a "cold spell" has been different. But I remember growing up to lots of snow and cold, so maybe we are reverting back to what it had been. The nice thing is we have had quite a bit of sunshine. A lot of times we have little to no sun and the days seem especially gloomy and depressing. 

DH and I have continued working on finishing a room in the basement. Fortunately he is a handy type guy and I'm willing to try and learn new things. The advantage is we don't have outside stuff to do so we have time to work on it. I have called Menards "my home away from home" since we have been there a lot. Fortunately they have had what we needed. I wonder if home improvement stuff will see a huge increase in prices as both the hurricane victims and the wildfire victims start to rebuild -- the whole supply and demand scenario. 

One good thing about winter is I don't mind running the oven. I have been trying to bake different things. I saw a recipe for making English muffins and tried it. I always thought they were baked, but this recipe called for cooking them on top of the stove in a cast iron skillet. They were pretty good for my first attempt. We had homemade cheese and egg sandwiches that night with them and even with the price of eggs, a reasonably priced meal. 

I have continued crocheting and some loom knitting. On Facebook is a site called "Random Acts of Crochet Kindness USA" where people crochet a little thing, put it in a plastic bag with a note saying it is a free gift to make one's day and then leave these items and suggest people post a pic and where they found it. I live in a small town that has some of those little free libraries so I thought I'd crochet some bookmarks since I had some crochet thread. I have them crocheted and hope to get them distributed soon. 

Speaking of crochet, a friend of ours is a woodworker and quite talented. I teased him and said I bet he had never made a crochet hook and he said he hadn't and so he did. He made the handle a little bigger so it is easier to hold. Wasn't that super cool? He said he likes a challenge. So, I crocheted a small basket for him and put some Hershey kisses in it as a "thank you."

For my birthday, DH gave me Kristin Hannah's book, "The Women." Talk about a powerful book. I was little during the Viet Nam war, but have read a lot about it and how the vets were treated after they returned. In this, it was even worse because the lady nurses weren't considered "vets" although they went through a lot as much as the men. 

I currently am using 6 of those receipt apps. I figure it is free money. On three of them, we donate the money for our mortgage reduction for church. Granted, it isn't a ton, but we figure every little bit helps. I continue to look for digital coupons and sales at grocery stores. One of the grandsons thinks I'm funny to do this. He's 20 and I just smile and think, "Wait until you get on your own." I wrote some companies to get some coupons. I'm tired of a lot of them saying they don't send out coupons and to check our local paper. I learned the hard way that newspapers can buy different coupon packages and the local paper we had bought the cheapest ones which were basically ads to mail order stuff, hardly any useable coupons at all. But Celestial Teas and Land O'Lakes did send me some coupons which was generous of them. My husband is good about wanting to save money and he is happy that I want to find ways to continue to do so. 

Life remains busy here at "Hummingbird Hills." That's what my husband's late wife named the property. Each day brings lots of things to do and more things to discover and winter is a nice time to do different things. 

Recycle and reuse has been something that we've heard over and over. And then news reports come out stating that a lot of the things we were encouraged to recycle weren't really recycled. One thing I miss living out in the country was the recycling program that the small city had. I'm trying to be more creative and reuse stuff.

We both drink coffee so we go through quite a bit. I miss those metal coffee cans, but am trying to reuse the plastic ones we get. I washed one and then put waxed paper in it to give DH's grandson some cookies when we visited him at college. A large one I  washed and decoupaged some scrap material on it and use it store my cookie cutters. I've been looking at Pinterest to find other ways to use them. 

This grandson stayed with us during part of his college break and he saw I had baked some cookies and had them in one of those clamshell containers. He asked if he could have a cookie and I told him to help himself and he did, and proceeded to head to the garbage with the container. A perfectly reusable container. I asked him nicely not to throw it away and said I'd wash it and reuse it and I could tell he thought I was nuts. I had some of these before Christmas and I used them to take cookies in for our church bazaar. It saved us a little money by not using plastic bags and I felt like I at least got another use for them. 

Years ago there was a Paula Deen show (before she became famous) where she and a camera crew would go to someone's house and use whatever the person had in their fridge, freezer, and pantry and make dinner. I imagine it was planned a head of time to make sure someone had something in their house beforehand, but after reading some of the frugal sites on Facebook, I'm wondering how many people keep some food on hand because one person posted about making biscuits with what she had and how some of her friends couldn't imagine how she did that. She said she always has flour, baking powder, some sort of butter or oil, and some time of milk whether it is refrigerated, condensed, or powdered and her friends seemed amazed. 

Last night it was cold and neither of us wants a super fancy meal. I had made chicken noodle soup from scratch a couple of days ago, I had baked bread that afternoon. I asked DH if he wanted a slice of bread with his soup and he said yes, if I put some jam or jelly on it. What a blessing to head to the basement and the storage room where I have some of the stuff I canned and choose a small jar of homemade jam. Not a fancy meal, but a cozy one on a cold night. 

Are you reusing or repurposing things around your house to save money? Are you fixing things to get a little more wear out of them? DH is quite handy so he has fixed and repaired a few things. Sadly there is something called planned obsolescence where manufacturers are making things harder to repair, get parts, so people are forced to replace instead of continuing to use after a repair. So, that is limiting; I get that selling is what they are all about, but even if you can find someone who can fix stuff, sometimes it is impossible to fix. 

Lots of and lots of that white stuff has fallen and even more is forecast this evening. We've had some warnings ahead of time and living in the country, we try to keep things stocked up and ready. DH has a small tractor (a little larger than a riding mower) and he put the plow on it and we bought diesel fuel. I had my first snow plow lesson this afternoon. I most certainly need more lessons and practice, but it was fun learning something different. I shoveled the walk and St. Bernadoodle Murphy thought it was a game, barking and biting the plastic shovel. The dogs frolicked in the snow, playing and running. It was a joy to watch them. 

We had been stocking up on things as they went on sale so other than picking up a few things like milk and fruit, we didn't have to do the big worry of panic shopping. We went Friday morning and casually bought our milk and fruit and got in and out. I guess by Friday evening the panic shopping had begun and I guess the shelves were ravaged by last night. I'd rather buy things on sale and stock up then being forced to buy stuff at regular price due to immediate need. I have a friend who does as we do and he was saying he was delighted he didn't have to fight crowds with a well stocked pantry and fridge. Another friend who is also retired decided to hit the stores yesterday and then complained about the shelves being empty and the bad attitudes of many of the other shoppers. I get it if someone has to work and has no choice to shop then, but a retiree with plenty of weather warnings really has no excuse.

Today is my 64th birthday. My husband said he wanted to bake me a birthday cake and since he didn't know how, would I help him? I said yes. I already had the ingredients and so we baked the cake yesterday and then frosted it last night. He's a good student and listened and asked questions. I let him do it all, just read him the recipe and gave him hints. I haven't had a homemade birthday cake since my mom died in 2006 and the fact he wanted to bake it for me although it wasn't in his original skill set means the world to me. 

My DH also fixed us our Sunday dinner. Growing up, I never had the family Sunday dinners. It was usually a baloney sandwich on white bread and maybe some chips. No family gathering or sitting down, just basically fending for yourself. A few weeks ago we had a grandson staying with us, so we did a Sunday dinner with turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, cheesy muffins, and brownies for dessert. So, DH decided with just the two of us, he would take care of our noon meal, setting the table, fixing it, and cleaning up. That was a special treat for me as well. It was warm and loving and cozy as the snow flies outside our dining room window. 

The best part is I am not fretting about this snow. I am content. I am blessed. I have a wonderful husband, a lovely home, two sweet pups, and the feeling of being safe. If you are in the path of this storm, hope you are safe and warm.

If you celebrate Christmas, did you have a ham? We did, complete with ham bone. We had multiple meals from that ham and I have saved the ham bone. We did a grocery run yesterday to pick up a few things to tide us over until the next major shop. I didn't have enough dry beans to make ham and beans so I bought a bag...97 cents. So, with the ham and ham bone, chicken broth I canned, some carrots, celery, and onion I already had, a reasonable meal. I imagine we will have enough for a couple of meals. The chicken broth was made with vegetables and the carcass of a rotisserie chicken. I have corn meal and flour and sour cream and other items, so I plan to make some cornbread to go with it. A reasonably priced meal all in all.

We debated on whether to go out to eat on New Year's Eve, and after looking at the prices of the special menus, decided to forget it. Instead we went to a local meat market, bought a couple decent steaks, and we will eat at home, using potatoes I bought on sale and fixing up some leftover green beans I had in the fridge. More expensive than most of our meals, but far less than going out. 

I'm a big fan of Pinterest. I like looking for recipes and craft ideas. Since I often look at their frugal pins too, I get some interesting ones suggested. One is about homesteading. I always thought homesteading was living off the land, but I guess the defintion is getting looser and if so, I guess I'm a homesteader. We had a garden and am planning for this spring, I can, I dry herbs, I mend clothes, and I make things by crocheting or sewing. Plus I make do with a lot of things instead of going out and buying new. DH was surprised the other day when I was mending some of my work jeans and I said there's nothing wrong with them a few stitches can't fix. 

One thing I normally do at least once a year is polish my leather shoes. I was thinking about them as I worked on them. I have 4 pairs of shoes and two pairs of ankle boots and I realize I have not bought leather shoes or boots in 8 years or more. Granted, none of them look new, but they are still servicable and comfortable. A number of years ago I started buying well made shoes because my feet hurt all the time and it made a difference. As I could afford them, I bought more pairs. And I wore these shoes often, so I have more than gotten my money out of them. My expense has been the shoe polish and a bottle usually lasts for a lot of applications. And taking care of these shoes has paid off. At least I think so. I can't see a reason to buy new shoes if these are still wearable. 

I have been baking our bread for the past few months and trying new recipes. Today was no different. DH was shocked the other day when we went to the grocery with a bakery to see how much a normal loaf of bread is that looked homemade. Not sure if it is frugal or not, but it seems like we are wasting less bread and using what we have. I've been working with a sourdough starter and have even made loaves that with a strong starter rise like those with yeast. I figure I'm learning a new skill as well as feeding us and sourdough is supposed to be good as far as gut health. 

I'm hoping I'm being frugal, not cheap, but at this point, it is my life. I take care of things I own, I use what I have. And I try to save money on many things so we can enjoy the things we like and have the money for it. 

Hope you have a wonderful and propserous 2025! Or should I saw a frugal new year? 

Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Christmas and is looking forward to 2025!

My Christmas season was very, very busy. Besides shopping and baking and sending cards, I also tackled the storage room with the many, many, many Christmas decorations of my new husband and his late wife. We went through every tote of stuff, and he chose a few items he wanted to keep, but the rest we boxed up and donated to our church bazaar.  A lot. Hopefully someone else will get some enjoyment out of this stuff. I just smile when I go into the storage room because it looks so much neater. My DH has some of his tools down there and he said he wanted to finish putting a piece of drywall on a wall that he's put off because he couldn't get to it with all the stuff there. I see a label maker in my future when we put away our decorations this year.

Sadly my bubble light tree died. It was over 50 years old. My electrical engineer husband looked at it, but it on one wiring circuit and since one of the bubble lights quit, they all quit. Unless we can find the lights with the small base, guess it's dead, but I've enjoyed it all these years. I shared it with a grandson when we were putting it out and he thought it was really cool -- kind of nice a 20 year old would think something so vintage was cool. 

We spent a lot, but all our bills are paid so no outstanding bills. I heard on the news that many people are still paying for Christmas 4 months after. That is just plain scary. We gave a lot of practical gifts or else money or gift cards. 

Hope your Christmas was amazing and hope the new year is as well!

It's the time of year when my oven gets a workout. We had our church bazaar and one of the big draws is the cookie walk. People line up early to get in to buy cookies by the pound. Prices have not been raised in a few years so it was $7 a pound. 

There is an insurance company that is sort of affiliated with our church synod, and I wrote for a grant to help cover the cost of some of the baking supplies. The insurance company was generous and gave us $250 to buy flour, sugar, butter, etc. I baked 21 dozen cookies, four loaves of sweet breads, and a dozen cupcakes to donate. We had a lot of stuff donated and a lot of it was purchased so that's good since the profits are used by our ladies guild to send to different missions.

But, I've been baking and cooking for gifts as well. Most of the people I know don't need more "stuff."  But they seem to like homemade stuff or jam or jelly I have made and canned. I have a fudge recipe that my grandmother used to use and would sell her fudge by the pound. One of my friends asked for it a couple of years ago and tried to make it and said it didn't set. The same thing happened last year. It's very simple so I have no idea why it didn't -- don't even need a candy thermometer. So, I stopped by their house last week and we made it together and it came out perfectly. I'm wondering if they interpreted the recipe differently than how it was written. I learned a long time ago people don't always connect to verbal or written directions the same way. But doing it with my friend seemed to help. 

I continue to experiment with bread and my sourdough starter and discard. I've been making our sandwich bread for months. I've successfully made a soft sandwich bread with no yeast, just the sourdough starter. It takes hours for it to rise, but if one isn't in any hurry, it is really good. 

My husband bought us tickets to a concert in St. Louis so that will be a great Christmas experience. Our little town has a festival of lights which just has a free will donation so we have gone through it at night and it is amazing. Most of our gifts are practical to each other and we aren't going into debt to get them.

I'm going to include the fudge recipe in case you are interested at the bottom.

So, are you watching what you are spending for Christmas? Are you doing more shopping or more of baking or crafting? 

Grandma Pannek’s Fudge

4 cups white sugar

1 12 oz can of Milnot or evaporated milk

8 ounces of semi sweet chocolate chips

1 stick butter or margarine

1 13 oz jar of marshmallow creme

1 tsp of vanilla

Chopped nuts (optional)

9 x 13 buttered pan. 

Have everything ready before you start because you cannot leave the stove. I have the chocolate chips ready to go and the marshmallow creme opened and ready to spoon out. Put these and the vanilla aside. Have the buttered pan ready.

In large pot, melt butter and add evaporated milk or Milnot. Then stir in sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 5 minutes. Take off fire, add chocolate chips, marshmallow creme, and vanilla. If you are using  nuts now is the time to put them in. Stir until everything is mixed in and pour into the greased pan. Cover with foil and put in a cool place. It will set up and be somewhat firm after a few hours. You can then cut it into pieces. 

Recently I watched the program on Netflix called "Buy It Now." It was touted as a way businesses encourage consumers to purchase things. It was both a frightening program and enlightening.

Sadly we do not have a recycling program in the county where I live. I try to reuse and repurpose as much stuff as I can and use a lot of containers and things over and over. But even so, the amount of stuff disposed of is considerable. One of the speakers went into a grocerty store and showed how so many products are encased in plastic, most of which is not recyclable -- although some claims to be.

I grew up in the 60s. My Papa worked for Coca-Cola Bottling and they actuall reused the glass bottles. He worked on the bottler, which contained machines that cleaned and sterilized bottles before filling and capping the bottles. I remember having to pay a deposit on the bottles of Coke when we bought them at the store, but these same bottles when returned would then have that deposit returned. Although not the most convenient, it sure was a better use of resources than all this plastic. In this video, it showed how much plastic isn't really recycled, but often said it is, then sent to third world countries for them to deal with. 

I've read articles which I'm sure most of you have on grocery stores put things on certain shelves to entice. I've seen the perusasion techniques about better get this now since there are so few and you don't want to miss out. 

As we face the biggest season of consumerism, I wish more people would pay attention to what this film said. I'm guilty of some of these items, but I try not to buy more than what I need or can use. I have been baking cookies for our bazaar and have been using some of the clam shell plastic cases to carry cookies to put in the freezer. I try to take my own cloth bags into the grocery. But I'm a long way from keeping from buying stuff that can't be recycled. I'm not really sure if that is at all possible unless one doesn't buy stuff at all -- the business world has made it almot impossible. We don't have any of those stores where you take your own jars to fill with stuff. And living in a small town, I don't have that many shopping choices. I try to make my big shopping when I got to a larger city where I can buy what I need and what is packaged, but that doesn't always work either. 

TV has advertised these great "bargains" as far as groceries for Thanksgiving dinner. However, there are certain things I'm picky on, so my price is more than what they are advertising.

But I play what I call the "Grocery Game" throughout the year. I check digital deals and then also check Ibotta to see if I can get a good deal. I use three other receipt apps too. My husband teases me about being frugal, but he has told me repeatedly how proud he is of me to save money.

Kroger recently has had turkeys on sale. Not name brand, but their brand. I got one for 69 cents a pound. I ahve limited amount of freezer space so I had to wait until this week to get a second one. I could only use that coupon for the 69 cents a pound for one, but did get the smaller turkey for 99 cents a pound. I waited and they put potatoes on sale. I had hoped to snag some green beans, but it seems they sell out of those quicker than anything else. So, I'm on the search for green beans that are reasonably priced. I have some in my stockpile, but hate to hit it. We are having more people for our meal than originally anticipated, so would like to buy what I need as far as our meal.

As I was rearranging the freezer, I noticed a pound of ground sausage. I thawed it and with some eggs, some leftover onion, a leftover Brat bun (why do Brats come in packs of 5 and buns in packs of 6), some leftover cheese, some milk, some herbs and spices, I made a breakfast casserole, It afforded us two  meals, and reasonably priced as well. The other day we had what I said was a free meal. We had met another couple for supper the other night and I brought home half of my chicken. So, I heated it up, had leftover risotto, and some leftover cooked carrots. It sort of balances out those times when we go out and spend money or have to use extra money for different meals.

My church has their Christmas bazaar coming up. We sell cookies by the pound so I will be baking soon. I normally get my sugar, flour, eggs, and butter at Aldi and have already bought some flour and sugar and butter. But there is this insurance company called Thrivent which offers grants for different church projects so I wrote a grant proposal to ask for some money for our church and they awarded the money, so we bought more baking supplies like vanilla as well as basics for everyone to share with so it will help alleviate the expense for those who might find it more difficult to buy these items but would like to bake. 

Are you finding any good ways to save money on groceries? 

I am going to make a confession here...I love looking through community/church cookbooks. I don't even have to know the folks involved in them. But I find them entertaining and informative. 

I have some of my own and some I've contributed to. It's nice to see recipes that people I know shared.

I've run across two that don't have covers on them, but I can tell they have some age to them. One has lots of recipes using oleo. Oleo was a term my mom and grandma used because it was cheaper than butter and butter was rationed during World War II here in the United States. They talked about how it was white and they would have a little color tube they would put in and then sit and mix it all together to get a more yellowish color. We don't think about that as we use the term "margarine" now. 

Also in one of these is canning and preserving recipes. I know for a number of years, people got away from canning and preserving as a whole -- there were still people who did it, but most would say it wasn't worth the work when you can buy a can of green beans from the store. I think these cookbooks are just time capsule treasures. 

One whole section is on rabbit, venison, and other game animals. Plus there are some recipe names that I think are local that I'm not familiar with. It's all a fun learning experience. I noticed that this one older one started with breads and rolls whereas some of the more current recipe book starts with appetizers. 

Do you ever use one of these cookbooks? Or do you have some recipes that you deem special?

I grew up in Central Illinois and we have our own little special terms for things such as cheese toastie for a grilled cheese. I ran across this recipe and I'm thinking it must be a Wisconsin term, but I think it is fun so here is the recipe:

Kamitch-Kamotch

1 lb hamburger

4 to 6 slices of bacon, cut up

1/2 small onion

1 cup peas and carrots

3/4 cup elbow macaroni

1 can tomato soup

1/2 can water

salt and pepper to taste

Boil macaroni and drain. Brown hamburger, bacon, and onion. Drain grease and add soup, water, veggies, and macaroni and ,amitch kamotch it together. Simmer 20 to 30 minutes. 

One thing I've inferred is that most of the folks who share these recipes must make them a lot and don't give specific details, such as the vegetables -- canned or fresh. I'd figure canned so they would be cooked. 

I saw this phrase on one of the pages and thought it was clever so I'm going to share it:

“A truer friend there cannot be, than one who shares her recipes.”

Near us is a John Boos showroom -- perhaps you have seen their cutting boards. I normally wouldn't be shopping there, but a local catering business combined with Boos and had a charcuterie board class. It was $60 and it included a small board, a very nice paring knife, and the food as well as instructions. I attended and it was a good class and it seemed like we got a lot for the money. My husband and I had two servings each of the food afterwards. I attended with my step daughter and she loved it as well. 

A friend of ours is a woodworker and he loves making things, so he said he'd make a personalized board. It is beautiful and such a kind gesture. He made one for our stepdaughter, personalizing hers as well. 

It was a nice splurge and I really enjoyed the time with my husband's daughter. Not a cost saving, but overall, I think we were ahead with the original board, the nice knife, and all the food. Plus, I learned something and one can never stop learning, right?

The local Ace hardware is going to have ladies' night to make some things (and demonstrate some tools) and we are planning on attending it. My husband already has the tool they are going to demonstrate so I will hopefully be learning how to use it. Since this evening is free, I figure if I only learn this tool is beyond my skill, at least I can say I've learned that. 

A few years ago I read about making a sourdough starter. It seemed easy enough...flour, water, and time. I named my starter Sammy and I've kept him going ever since. I've made sour dough loaves and used the extra or discard for other things and even given away discard. Then the bane of my existence...I was looking at Pinterest and it showed an easy recipe for sourdough sandwich bread that looked far less crusty than normal sourdough. I kept thinking, it won't rise without yeast, but figured I could try and if nothing else, redo the dough and add yeast. Much to my surprise, it did rise and made a beautiful loaf of bread. It just takes longer to rise and one has to make sure the starter is bubbly and ready to go. But it pleased me. My husband teases me and calls me his Prairie Woman since I'm baking bread and trying things like this.

Well, it goes beyond that as well...I'm always trying to figure out ways to reuse things. I tease about Pinterest being the banke of my existence, but I do get some good ideas from the stuff on there. Most work; a few do not. I'm working on making my own Pine Sol. We have pine trees and vinegar is cheap. Hope it works! 

I planted strawberries and blueberies  for next year and years beyond and I read where coffee grounds are good for the soil. Our soil is very clay like, so I have been adding it to other places as well as I have added sand, hoping it improves the quality of the soil. 

My husband's late wife was quite the crafter and in the basement are a lot of things. I've never mod podged stuff before, but a few YouTube videos showed me how, and I have been using material I have to decorate plastic containers of things. The other day I sent cookies with the grandson back to school in a coffee container. I save all the plastic things we get and reuse them. I sent cake home with my husband's daughter the other day in containers that were for something else and she laughed and said she liked my frugal ways. 

I had a doctor's appointment Friday and since we had to drive to town 40 minutes away, we decided to do some other errands to make it worth our while. We thought we'd get a quick lunch at a local chain restaurant. We were shocked...a sandwich, chips, and drink for each of us was over $30 before tip! So today after church we had vegetable soup I made the other day and put in the Crockpot to heat and some bread I had made for lunch. Far less than $30 and probably far better for us too. 

I was going to include a photo of the bread, but whenever I try to post a photo, I get an error message.

My post from last week asking about stocking up had some great replies. The sad thing is, I guess there was a run on toilet paper and paper towels because local stores had signs limiting these products. I wan't suggesting people hoard, just be prepared. 

Just curious if anyone else has been stocking up with the fear of the longshoreman's strike warning and then the actual strike coming about?

I always try to keep a few things on hand. I haven't been hoarding, but each time something comes on the news, my stomach clenches and hopes it isn't like the fiasco during the Pandemic as people go crazy and go for a hoarding frenzy. The media keeps claiming prices will go up and there will be shortages which makes me worry people will go crazy and start stripping shelves of stuff. 

I have always shopped sales and this continues. Yesterday I scored a great deal at Kroger. It was a digital coupon offer of Quilted Northern toilet paper for $4.99 for 6 rolls, normally $7.99. In addition, I had a $1 off digital coupon so I bought three packages to put back. 

I have canned some items -- I didn't have a huge garden, but hoping for a bigger and better one next year. A lot of changes this year so no time to put in a garden. But I'm planning for the future in my new home. I planted garlic yesterday. I've planted a few strawberry plants too earlier, hoping we get some next year.

So, the search has been on for reasonable priced canned goods. Dollar Tree here has had Del Monte vegetables for $1.25 plus tax. At Walmart they are $1.48 so I figured that was a decent deal. I have a few cans of stuff we'd eat. And a couple extra cans of tuna and things like that. 

Just wondering what's going on in your pantry!

There's a song from "Mame" that talks about opening a new window, opening a new door.

Well, not sure if it was a window or door in my life, but something wonderful has happened. I have married this wonderful man who treats me incredibly well. And our life together has been pretty miraculous. 

Fortunately he and I are on the same page as far as saving money, being frugal, and investing. I now have the opportunity to have the pleasure of loving his children and grandchildren. 

Our wedding was very small -- we went to the courthouse and had the judge do the ceremony -- just the two of us. We went out for breakfast and realized life is just good. I wanted to share my good news because so many of you have been so supportive of me. 

In other news, my dear husband was pleased I like to can things and suggested he build me some sturdy shelves to hold my full jars as well as storage for the empty ones. We are also finding some pantry stuff on sale and adding it to our shelves. We aren't hoarding by any means, but just finding things on sale so we have them to use in the next year. I have been baking our own bread for sandwiches and he suggested we go to an Amish bulk food store to stock up on some different flours so we did. So, we are having a variety of bread besides my sometimes using my sourdough starter, Sammy.

We plan to meet with our financial advisors to get everything figured as far as taxes so when 2025 comes, we know what we need to do. 

So, life has been pretty full and pretty exciting and I'm very happy!

Perhaps you remember John Denver's song, "Thank God I'm a Country Boy." The lyrics talk about the simple things in life and what pleasure they brought him.

I'm not a music artist, but I am learning to appreciate the simple things so much more. Good friendship is one of them when it is pure and deep. It's sad when people are so shallow that they use you for their own good, calling it "friendship." But those folks who are there when you are happy or sad, the ones who just are content with being, those are the diamonds in your life.

My vegetable garden has been hit or miss this year, but a good, homegrown tomato is a pleasure. There have been a few of them as well as some green onions and cucumbers. 

Wild black raspberries ripened and although they were sticky with those thorns and a pain to pick, what a pleasure it was to see them bubbling on the stove as I made jam. I love the look of seeing beautiful jams and jellies and vegetables in canning jars. 

My best friend is encouraging me to try new things. I have been looking at different Facebook groups for things of interest and one person posted some pictures of recipes for sweet breads from a 1941 cookbook. This one sounded interesting, although I'm wondering if there was an issue with World War II going on and rationing. 

Brown Sugar Bread

3/4 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons of butter

1 egg, well beaten

3/4 cup of milk

2 cups of flour, sifted

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

cinnamon for sprinkling

Cream sugar and 1 T of butter. Add egg, then milk. Add flour, baking powder, sand salt. Pour into well oiled pan and sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon and dot with butter. Bake at 425 degrees F for 25 minutes.

It wasn't too bad, not as moist is most sweet breads, but an interesting try. 

Speaking of old stuff, remember during the Depression in the 1930s (well, reading about it, I mean), how people were not going out and buying new and using up things? I had purchased two towels a few years ago that could be counted cross stitched. I did one to give away as a gift a couple of years ago, but still had the other one with the intention of working on it at some time. I saw it the other day and thought, I should do that. So, I found a simple pattern online that was free, and have been working on it during the day (as I age, my eyes need more light). I finished it today and hung it in the kitchen. I didn't buy anything new for it -- I used embroidery floss I already had and had to change the pattern colors, but it's for me, so it didn't matter. And I felt like it was being a good steward using something I had. I crocheted some scarves and had just little yarn leftover from the skein I had been using. I had enough to make myself a new dish cloth. So, not spending any money, I have two new kitchen things.

I saw there were some hydrangea blooms looking awfully pretty, so I went to cut some and put them in a Mason Jar. It just makes me smile! I am enjoying the simple things!

It's amazing that half of 2024 is passed and tomorrow is the 4th of July. Not a lot planned as far as celebrating, but will enjoy the freedom of living in the United States and having the benefits of that.

Glad the markets were good today and saw an increase in my retirement accounts.

Things are starting to even out as far as money and expenses. I'm living in a small town instead of a larger town and learning new places to shop. One store in a neighboring town gives 5% off on Wednesdays for senior citizens so I am often taking advantage of that. I still shop at Aldi, although I have to plan my trip since there isn't one nearby, the closest being between 35 miles away. But it makes me more mindful of what I'm buying. But I continue to cook a lot of things from scratch. I have made and canned chicken broth, and made rhubarb and berry jam and rhubarb jelly. It's kind of nice to see the jars starting to build up in the pantry.

Instead of buying store bought bread, I am baking bread to use. I feel like it is saving money since it isn't getting wasted. I had a little left of a loaf and made my own croutons for a salad and they were a lot better than one the store bought ones. 

My garden isn't going to town like I had hoped. We had extreme heat and although I water, since we have had little rain, it is surviving, but not thriving. We received a little rain this morning and we are supposed to receive some rain overnight. I hope it comes to pass. 

If you have big plans for July the 4th, hope you stay healthy! 

Hopefully I am saving money... I have planted a small garden, but am taking advantage of things that are already growing where I live. I've planted some radishes and green onions and have had the opporuntiy to enjoy both. There are also three tomato plants and two cucumbers that are under my tutelage.

But the ongoing joy is there is rhubarb and mulberry trees here. I know some think mulberry trees are "garbage" trees, but I'm living in the country and they are like a blessing. I've picked some mulberries and made some jam and I've been using the rhubarb for different things. I didn't plant the rhubarb and probably wouldn't have, but I'm all for using what's here. I've made a strawberry rhubarb pie and someone gave me some strawberries and I've made strawberry rhubarb jam and canned it. Supposedly there are wild black raspberries here so I hope when they ripen I can use them as well. There are two black walnut trees on the property too, so looking forward to that as well. 

One of the stores in a nearby small town offers a 5% discount on Wednesdays for folks who are 62 or older. You can probably guess I'm all over that as far as grocery shopping. I was telling a friend that and she said well, we are a generation that understands you have money because you learn to save it here and there. She didn't grow up rich, but learned to save and invest and take advantage of things like that.

The local electrical coop had an annual meeting last week and if you attended, you received a lunch and $15 off yoru power bill. The lunch was great -- two pork chops, potato salad, applesauce, and ice cream. It was an informative meeting and they even drew names for door prizes and won a $25 gift card to Walmart. Well worth a couple of hours and a filling meal to boot!

When I see on the news about folks who struggle to find enough to eat, I realize how awesomely blessed I am!

First of all, a big thank you for all the positive remarks on my last post. Life has changed quite a bit, but I can say lots of positives have happened. I think one of the hardest things is to tell friends of the changes and I consider you my friends although I've not ever met any of you.

I'm living about 40 minutes from where I used to live in a rural setting. Close enough to a small town, but very peaceful. One big change is there is not recycling so I'm working on figuring out how to reuse things that I normally would have put in the recycling bin. I looked to see if there was a recycling facility in any of the small towns near me, but sadly there is not. But having time to be creative is a gift so I've been doing that. I repurposed a dishwasher pod container that had a hinged lid into a car trash can with some Mod Podge and scrap material. 

I planted a small garden. I've already had a few radishes and green onions to supplement my meals. Hopefully there will be more to come! 

One thing was I went through a bunch of my stuff and donated a lot of it to area thrift stores. It was both difficult as well as freeing to get rid of a lot of things that I originally thought I had to have. Plus, all the stuff I left at the house when I moved out. There are some things I wish I had, but they aren't vital and maybe it's a good lesson in learning to live with things I don't need.

Again, thank you for the supportive, positive remarks! 

Life has been lots of changes. I haven't posted because I've been sort of overwhelmed, physically, emotionally, and financially.

After many years of marriage, my spouse and I divorced. Fortunately it was amiable and mutually agreed upon. We divided things as equally as possible, but these were big changes for both of us.

I have discovered a couple of things -- you find out who your real friends are when you do this. I have asked people not to take sides. We do not hate each other. You also get asked very personal questions by people who really have no business asking them. Because our financial picture changed, we decided to reassess our expenses and cancelled things. One person immediately asked me who gets the house? It wasn't any of her business. 

I also discovered who really cares. I had many offers of places to stay while I figured out where I would live. It was both generous and touching. I had offers of people to help me move or whatever I needed. And fortunately many people just wanted the best for both of us which is what one hopes when something like this happens.

Starting over is both scary and exciting. As we know, change brings lots of different things in one's life.

Yesterday we had an icy day here in Central Illinois and even if I had wanted to get out, I wouldn't have.  So, my reward was to go onto Pinterest (what a dangerous site for me) and look for bread recipes. I had certain ingredients like milk that was ready to expire that I wanted to use. I found this recipe for honey buttermilk bread. I did tweak it a bit, but it made two lovely loaves. I thought I'd use some for our supper to accompany spaghetti, again another pantry offering. 

Anyway, here's the recipe: https://www.restlesschipotle.com/buttermilk-bread/

My tweaks were I added some sourdough discard (I have quite a bit in the fridge) and I added some whole wheat flour since I had a little left in a bag in my pantry. 

Last night's supper was spaghetti with canned sauce I had made and the bread and some leftover vegetables that I heated up. I'm thinking for today's lunch I will make French toast since this bread had a little bit of sweetness to it. It is billed as a sandwich bread so I was thinking maybe it would make great peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too. 

I noticed there's some frozen soup in the freezer so I think that will be supper tonight. With the bread, of course!

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

For those of you who have read my blogs, you know I'm quite active in my church. For the past year, I've been working on ways to fundraise to try and pay more on the mortgage principal for our church. Our treasurer who shared this idea a year ago talked about how it would be a good idea without coming out and saying the way our church is aging and losing members, we might not have the money to make the mortgage payment when giving declines. 

He and I have brainstormed ideas because we are afraid that just asking people to give more would result in fatigue of those who listen. Plus, who wants to be hounded all the time for money? 

So, in the past year we've tried different ideas. Monicals gave us a community day in which we got a percentage back in either take out or eat in when our church's name was mentioned. We realized over $100 for that. Kroger gives us a small percentage back if people designate our church as part of the community rewards program. We have realized over $300 for that in the past year. I crocheted dish cloths and sold them and one lady took my bag of dish cloths to work and sold them for me. That raised over $100. Then I baked. I would take orders for items people wanted and my friends would then give me what they felt it was worth to them, knowing the money would go for the mortgage reduction opportunity. That was over $335. Another way was we asked for people to donate unused gift cards. Some had the full amount on them and some had just a few dollars, but I have been working on selling them to folks and we received over $700 for those. A local butcher shop was good enough to give us 10% back for 4 days of shopping and we received almost $200. All in all, in just small items like this, we realized over $1400. This is over and above what members have given throughout the year in their offering envelopes. It's been great how people have chipped in to try and help.

As we start 2024, we are trying different things -- again -- we want to keep people from being fatigued. We are having a chili/soup luncheon in February to raise money and our pastor and vicar and a member are going to do a chili cookoff and people can vote by putting $1 a vote in the buckets. We are doing a silent auction and I have asked people to donate items, especially homemade ones. I am just touched by some of the items that are starting to come in. One man hand turns pen and pencils and gave me a set for the silent auction. 

Another man who also enjoys woodworking has made two trays and a lazy Susan. They are all works of art. We have another lady who has donated some small quilts. A friend of mine who isn't a member of our congregation is going to crochet some items and her daughter is going to make potholders. 

And the list goes on...one lady is donating Valentine and Easter wreaths and another is donating a trifle bowl that will have a Valentine theme with the candy and goodies. I suggested a free will offering bake sale and people are telling me they will donate to that. Another lady is making themed gift baskets, one with kitchen items and one for a reader. 

Do they have to do these things? No, but they want to be abundant in giving. I think people like to be a part of something and do good. 

It is truly generosity at its best. 

Funny how things change. 

I never used to mind grocery shopping. Now I dread it.

It isn't the shopping per se, it is the check out that unnerves me. It seems like each week the cost goes up a little more. I know the experts claim inflation isn't as bad, but I know my grocery bills have risen. I'm not buying anything different. In fact, I'm trying to cut back. For example, I'm trying to use less meat. Kroger had a buy one, get one free as far as chicken this past week. The package had three chicken breasts. So instead of having one meal and a little left over, we are having two meals out of one package. And I put the second package in the freezer for another time.

I ran across this article and wondered how she could spent $124 a month on groceries. Granted, she's single, but there are a lot of things that factor into saving so much. I never worked any place that gave free meals. Up until my last school, I never worked at a school that provided coffee. You brought your own coffee from home or did without. And the only reason the last school had coffee was because the principal bought it. 

Anyway, here's the url for the article if you care to read it:

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/14/i-spent-124-dollars-on-groceries-in-a-month-what-i-bought.html?utm_content=Intl&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=facebook%7CIntl&fbclid=IwAR0p6S0CgGgvr5xdPwPG5_xDBIpCN4-uZ9UEP0KKKorr0QnSi1KxWL6W2b4

So, how about you? Are you dreading the grocery store?

It's been a few months since I've been able to post. I went to the forum and commented and the IT person made suggestions, but nothing worked. Once a week I would come and try and it wouldn't work. So, I'm hoping this goes through.

Life has been going on. I've been busy with church things as well as getting ready for Christmas. We spent over $39 in postage for Christmas cards and I'm thinking we need to cut down our list considerably, especially to those we see often or use social media. I like a nice card and I like sending them, but this is getting crazy.

Our landline went up to $95 a month. A friend suggested we get a cheap cell phone since someone didn't want to give up the number. We have Consumer Cellular and they have great to work with as far as cell service. AT & T wasn't very helpful, but Consumer Cellular said they would do a three way call if need to be to move the number over. So, for  an additional $14.95 to my cell bill, we have the number at quite a savings.

Sadly we gave up our newspaper subscription as well. It used to be a daily, then the paper started not delivering on holidays. Then no paper on Sundays and Mondays. I think they were having problems getting people to even deliver and the paper got thinner and thinner. As a person who likes having a newspaper in my hand I miss it, but my bank account looks a little healthier.

The group at my church was busy making over 800 hats as well as dish cloths and scarves and blankets. Hats were given to the school we adopted, four classrooms for the teachers in our congregation, a soup kitchen, and a cancer care center where the lap blankets also went. The dish cloths were given to a food pantry to hand out with the Christmas baskets. Our congregation also was asked to adopt 50 first graders and give them Christmas bags with some items to open. We gave them socks, gloves, a hat, a coloring book, crayons, a slinky type toy, and some candy. 

Hope your holidays are going well and you have family or friends to cherish. 

Merry Christmas!