I love this time of year. The weather is starting to warm up, gardening and yard-sale season is near. We submitted the house blueprints for building permits this week, so that's super exciting as well!
1. Groceries: We spent 37.03 at Kroger and an unspecified amount at Walmart... I'm thinking it was around $5.00. We bought a bag of potatoes, a Reese's bar and probably something else that I don't remember. 😕 So we'll call this week's total $42.03. My goal was to spend just $90.00 in March; right now we're at $87.51. I think that calls for a spending freeze! At Kroger I got 80/20 ground beef on sale for $2.00/lb, cheese on sale for $2.00/lb., and grapes for $1.00/lb. Those were some great prices for our area, so I was happy to sacrifice the next few weeks' grocery money.
2. Cooking: I made yogurt (with starter from a previous batch), cooked a bag of chicken thighs and made broth with the bones. I also made a number of bird suet patties from ground beef fat that I saved in the freezer. Our little girl loves watching the birds eat!
3. Gardening: most of the seeds I planted last week have germinated! All of the tomato seeds were a great success. The chives have also all germinated. The hot pepper seeds, eggplant and all but one pumpkin-on-a-stick seeds have not germinated yet, but those could take at least another week.
1. Groceries: We spent 37.03 at Kroger and an unspecified amount at Walmart... I'm thinking it was around $5.00. We bought a bag of potatoes, a Reese's bar and probably something else that I don't remember. 😕 So we'll call this week's total $42.03. My goal was to spend just $90.00 in March; right now we're at $87.51. I think that calls for a spending freeze! At Kroger I got 80/20 ground beef on sale for $2.00/lb, cheese on sale for $2.00/lb., and grapes for $1.00/lb. Those were some great prices for our area, so I was happy to sacrifice the next few weeks' grocery money.
2. Cooking: I made yogurt (with starter from a previous batch), cooked a bag of chicken thighs and made broth with the bones. I also made a number of bird suet patties from ground beef fat that I saved in the freezer. Our little girl loves watching the birds eat!
3. Gardening: most of the seeds I planted last week have germinated! All of the tomato seeds were a great success. The chives have also all germinated. The hot pepper seeds, eggplant and all but one pumpkin-on-a-stick seeds have not germinated yet, but those could take at least another week.
4. Crafts: I painted the rest of my mismatched jar lids.
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5. Thrifting: I went to TWO thrift stores this week! At the first store I bought two T-shirts for myself at $0.50 each and a dress for $3.50. The dress had a small tear, but I looked up the brand website and similar dresses sell for around $100.00 each. So I thought that was a steal! I also bought a plate for $0.79 (not a great deal, but it had sentimental value), a candlestick for $0.50 and a basket for Princess' books at $1.50. The basket wasn't cheap, but square baskets never are at thrift stores. It keeps the books contained, which frees up more of my time to do fun things.
The second store was a bit higher priced, but I did find a $2.00 cardigan for Princess to wear with her (free) Easter dress. But the BEST deal was a bunch of all-in-one diapers (BumGenius Freetime) diapers for $2.00 each. I bought ALL of them! LOL! Even though we're pretty much done with cloth diapers for Princess, I hope we're not done having babies. For the next baby I had considered buying more all-in-ones (they're less work than the other kinds). Not only that, but it's nice to have extras that you can loan out or give away to others who are interested in using cloth. Some of the diapers need minor repairs, but those won't be a big deal because I'm rehabbing some of our other diapers already (see below). I can always sell the diapers if I end up not using them.
6. Sewing: I worked on replacing the elastics in some used Fuzzibunz diapers. It was a surprisingly easy project—I just had to buy the proper sized elastic, which cost less than $2.00. One of my sisters-in-law is due with her first baby this summer, and she said she was interested in using cloth. I thought it would be nice to have some that she can try out while she's here (they live out of the country) and even take home if she likes them.
7. Toddler exercise: I brought a little plastic playhouse/gym inside for our daughter to play on when it's cold outside. I noticed that she enjoys climbing all over the furniture, so I thought the playhouse slide would be a better outlet for her energy. So far it's been great! Not only that, but it was free, left by the previous renters.
8. Cans: I picked up over $5.00 worth of cans to recycle while on walks. This time of year, the roads are LITTERED with cans! It's like a gold mine out there!
That's all, folks!
Til next time,
-Bethany
The second store was a bit higher priced, but I did find a $2.00 cardigan for Princess to wear with her (free) Easter dress. But the BEST deal was a bunch of all-in-one diapers (BumGenius Freetime) diapers for $2.00 each. I bought ALL of them! LOL! Even though we're pretty much done with cloth diapers for Princess, I hope we're not done having babies. For the next baby I had considered buying more all-in-ones (they're less work than the other kinds). Not only that, but it's nice to have extras that you can loan out or give away to others who are interested in using cloth. Some of the diapers need minor repairs, but those won't be a big deal because I'm rehabbing some of our other diapers already (see below). I can always sell the diapers if I end up not using them.
6. Sewing: I worked on replacing the elastics in some used Fuzzibunz diapers. It was a surprisingly easy project—I just had to buy the proper sized elastic, which cost less than $2.00. One of my sisters-in-law is due with her first baby this summer, and she said she was interested in using cloth. I thought it would be nice to have some that she can try out while she's here (they live out of the country) and even take home if she likes them.
7. Toddler exercise: I brought a little plastic playhouse/gym inside for our daughter to play on when it's cold outside. I noticed that she enjoys climbing all over the furniture, so I thought the playhouse slide would be a better outlet for her energy. So far it's been great! Not only that, but it was free, left by the previous renters.
8. Cans: I picked up over $5.00 worth of cans to recycle while on walks. This time of year, the roads are LITTERED with cans! It's like a gold mine out there!
That's all, folks!
Til next time,
-Bethany
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