This is one of those weeks that just seemed like it didn't matter what I did or didn't do with money, it went out the door like crazy...
Clothing: Got a pair of navy pants. I’ve been looking for a nice pair for months, so there.
Food: Shredded some zucchini and put it in the freezer. Trying to get enough tomatoes to do a round of sauce or salsa. Hoping to can some beets and/or beet greens and some potatoes this week. I made some Mint Juelip liquor, some blackberry brandy, and decanted some Ratafia (mixed fruit cordial).
Canned: green beans, raspberry chipotle sauce, mustard, cherry tomato cinnamon jam.
Household: Uh…
Utilities: The A/C units are now in. It’s been really humid. BUT it probably won’t matter on the electric bill, dammit. I thought we were doing really well just using fans, but with the same amount of electrical use our electric bill was up $20 between May and June. The price per kilowatt hour went up.
Gifts: Took my dad out to breakfast for his birthday.
Home and Garden: See garden blog for garden info, it is doing well. We almost have the garage cleaned out, which means we can start demolition soon.
Weaknesses: We got some solar lights at Kmart. Then, we went and picked up two more packages of solar lights at Kmart.
Purging: I went through the canned goods and cupboards and gave two big bags of good food to a food drive, plus earmarked a bunch of other stuff to be thrown out.
Showing posts with label not buying it. Show all posts
Showing posts with label not buying it. Show all posts
Monday, August 03, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Not Buying It
Clothing: Got a top and a skirt (gasp!) at Eddie Bauer for 70% off.
Food: Foraged 2 gallons of raspberries/blackberries, so that’s free-to-us food. I made a cream cheese dip out of the Blackberry Chipotle sauce I canned last year, it was *fantastic* so I’m going to can another batch or two of that this year as well, probably mixed berries.
The refrigerator is getting full with small amounts of a large variety of veggies; not enough to really do anything with, but enough to make it hard to get anything else in there. Cooking steak this evening with sides of leeks and….not sure. Maybe grilled squash.
Household: I took the advice of a friend and started putting a pinch of corn meal in my face wash to use as a scrub, and you know it works just as well as the $40/bottle stuff I usually use, which I’m almost out of. Great tip.
Utilities: The A/C units are STILL not in, it has still been soooo cool. I don’t think I have ever seen, in my 34 years, a summer without air conditioning; it would be wonderful. Also, we installed a programmable thermostat for use during the heating season. We can set the temp for low during the day when we’re not home, and set it to come up shortly before we get home.
Gifts: Nada. I did have a younger cousin and his wife come visit my parents, and the 6 of us all went out to dinner but my parents paid.
Home and Garden: See garden blog for garden info, it is doing well. Matt maid 3 very nice benches and a table for the fire pit area, all out of the logs we had from the pines we cut down.
Weaknesses: Went to the beer mart, got beer. *7 six-packs* of beer. We were almost out, you see, and….well….
Purging: I purged about 4-5 inches of hair. Yup, got my hair cut. I also need to go through my clothes again, fall clothes too, because I’m apparently dropping a bit more weight.
Food: Foraged 2 gallons of raspberries/blackberries, so that’s free-to-us food. I made a cream cheese dip out of the Blackberry Chipotle sauce I canned last year, it was *fantastic* so I’m going to can another batch or two of that this year as well, probably mixed berries.
The refrigerator is getting full with small amounts of a large variety of veggies; not enough to really do anything with, but enough to make it hard to get anything else in there. Cooking steak this evening with sides of leeks and….not sure. Maybe grilled squash.
Household: I took the advice of a friend and started putting a pinch of corn meal in my face wash to use as a scrub, and you know it works just as well as the $40/bottle stuff I usually use, which I’m almost out of. Great tip.
Utilities: The A/C units are STILL not in, it has still been soooo cool. I don’t think I have ever seen, in my 34 years, a summer without air conditioning; it would be wonderful. Also, we installed a programmable thermostat for use during the heating season. We can set the temp for low during the day when we’re not home, and set it to come up shortly before we get home.
Gifts: Nada. I did have a younger cousin and his wife come visit my parents, and the 6 of us all went out to dinner but my parents paid.
Home and Garden: See garden blog for garden info, it is doing well. Matt maid 3 very nice benches and a table for the fire pit area, all out of the logs we had from the pines we cut down.
Weaknesses: Went to the beer mart, got beer. *7 six-packs* of beer. We were almost out, you see, and….well….
Purging: I purged about 4-5 inches of hair. Yup, got my hair cut. I also need to go through my clothes again, fall clothes too, because I’m apparently dropping a bit more weight.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Not Buying It
Clothing: Didn't buy any.
Food: I've been eating lunch almost entirely out of the garden, but the lettuce is starting to bolt and get a bit bitter, so I'm not sure how long that will last. We had for dinner last night leeks and potatoes out of the garden. Look for the leek recipe to show up on my garden blog sometime this week. It is Egyptian Korrat. I've also been parusing the local grocery store circulars online for good deals (found mangos $1/each, hello Mango Chutney).
Household: Still working on using use & wash containers instead of ziploc bags. Using baking soda as the prewash in the dishwasher instead of the much more expensive dishwashing liquid.
Utilities: It is the beginning of freaking JULY and it was 58* last night. A/Cs still not in. I'm ecstatic.
Gifts: Nada.
Home and Garden: Campfires in the fire pit for entertainment last weekend. See garden blog for garden info, it is doing well. Planting flower beds, look for a post on that, too.
Weaknesses: Put in an order to Penzey's spices, but most of the things we needed (peppercorns, mustard seed for mustard making) and the other stuff I just got samplers of (Turkish seasoning, Fenugreek, Szechuan Pepper Salt).
Purging: Nada.
Food: I've been eating lunch almost entirely out of the garden, but the lettuce is starting to bolt and get a bit bitter, so I'm not sure how long that will last. We had for dinner last night leeks and potatoes out of the garden. Look for the leek recipe to show up on my garden blog sometime this week. It is Egyptian Korrat. I've also been parusing the local grocery store circulars online for good deals (found mangos $1/each, hello Mango Chutney).
Household: Still working on using use & wash containers instead of ziploc bags. Using baking soda as the prewash in the dishwasher instead of the much more expensive dishwashing liquid.
Utilities: It is the beginning of freaking JULY and it was 58* last night. A/Cs still not in. I'm ecstatic.
Gifts: Nada.
Home and Garden: Campfires in the fire pit for entertainment last weekend. See garden blog for garden info, it is doing well. Planting flower beds, look for a post on that, too.
Weaknesses: Put in an order to Penzey's spices, but most of the things we needed (peppercorns, mustard seed for mustard making) and the other stuff I just got samplers of (Turkish seasoning, Fenugreek, Szechuan Pepper Salt).
Purging: Nada.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Not Buying It
I've decided to do this in 2-week updates instead of weekly. Feel free to play along!
Clothing: Did another Goodwill trip and wound up with a skirt (gasp!) and two tops for around $10. I’m still trying to fill out my summer wardrobe since the 20lb drop.
Food: Eating salad from the garden for lunch, along with homemade oil and vinegar dressing, so I’m not buying any lunch fixings for the foreseeable future. Making bread. Dried a batch of pineapple, OMG it is good, and 4 lemons worth of lemon peel for baking or zesting later. Had breakfast with some strawberries from the patch over the weekend, too.
Household: Still working on using use & wash containers instead of ziploc bags.
Utilities: A/C still not installed. Shocked as to how cool it has been.
Gifts: Took dad to lunch on Friday (for father’s day). Found a freebie lavender for my neighbor.
Home and Garden: Visit the garden blog for more info. Cherry tomatoes are slowly coming in. Peas in abundance, freezing those. Hugemongous radishes coming in (look for a garden blog post about those tonight). Pumpkin and beans blooming. A few of the regular tomatoes have green babies on them, including the hanging baskets. Also, we removed the sod, tilled up, raked and put straw down on 2/3 of the new flower bed, and did some minor prep on the teeny new flower bed (pictures this week in the garden blog).
Also, we went an bought a pickup truck-load of mushroom soil this weekend ($20, a steal). I could describe the stink to you, but you wouldn’t understand. We also scored a large trashbag of pheasant poo and hay from our neighbors, which got layered in the auxiliary back up compost bin with the weeds from the blueberry bush, so yay that. Both compost bins are in ‘cook’ mode.
Weaknesses: Went out to eat a few times these past two weeks, but this week we will not be doing so. I have meals planned out. Also, signed up for Netflix.
Purging: Took a box of stuff and bag of clothes to Goodwill.
Monday, June 08, 2009
Not Buying It
I've decided to do this in 2-week updates instead of weekly. Feel free to play along!
Clothing: Haven't bought any in 2 weeks. I did realize, though, that in the case of sudden-omg-last-minute job interviews (like last week) I am seriously lacking in wardrobe since the weight loss, so I will probably pick up some semi-nice clothes that I can fit in shortly.
Food: Harvesting radishes, but of course we don't eat much in the way of radishes. Dried some strawberries for the pantry. Still making bread. Still not buying much in the way of pre-processed junk.
Household: Nothing much to discuss here. I did score a free food dehydrator from my MIL, she had it packed up in the basement and told me just to take it when I asked.
Utilities: A/C still not installed. This has been a nice, cool May and (so-far) June. We close up the house, the blinds, etc, after it starts to warm up in the morning. The house stays about 70* all day!
Gifts: Nothing this week, but my grandma-in-law came over for dinner on Saturday.
Home and Garden: Visit the garden blog for more info. We have one semi-orange cherry tomato on the vine. VERY early this year. Also, squash is seeded. We had a major freebie score this weekend, too. Bamboo. I'll post a picture soon on the garden blog.
Weaknesses: Went to the liquor store for a couple things we were out of, wound up getting 4 things total instead. *sigh*
Purging: Cleaned some glassware out of the kitchen. Next up: old/unused food.
Clothing: Haven't bought any in 2 weeks. I did realize, though, that in the case of sudden-omg-last-minute job interviews (like last week) I am seriously lacking in wardrobe since the weight loss, so I will probably pick up some semi-nice clothes that I can fit in shortly.
Food: Harvesting radishes, but of course we don't eat much in the way of radishes. Dried some strawberries for the pantry. Still making bread. Still not buying much in the way of pre-processed junk.
Household: Nothing much to discuss here. I did score a free food dehydrator from my MIL, she had it packed up in the basement and told me just to take it when I asked.
Utilities: A/C still not installed. This has been a nice, cool May and (so-far) June. We close up the house, the blinds, etc, after it starts to warm up in the morning. The house stays about 70* all day!
Gifts: Nothing this week, but my grandma-in-law came over for dinner on Saturday.
Home and Garden: Visit the garden blog for more info. We have one semi-orange cherry tomato on the vine. VERY early this year. Also, squash is seeded. We had a major freebie score this weekend, too. Bamboo. I'll post a picture soon on the garden blog.
Weaknesses: Went to the liquor store for a couple things we were out of, wound up getting 4 things total instead. *sigh*
Purging: Cleaned some glassware out of the kitchen. Next up: old/unused food.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Not Buying It
I'm starting a new weekly update called Not Buying It. I 'stole' it from this blog, and I think she got it from someone else, etc etc. Please feel free to take it and run with it, and to add things that you aren't buying in the comments section.
Clothing: I have been losing weight, therefore some of my clothes don't fit. I hopped over to Goodwill and bought 3 pants, 1 dress and 1 skirt and a top for $27.
Food: Cooking has been minimal, for example: grilled chicken and a veggie. I have been making our own bread, the recipe I found on Mother Earth News is to DIE for.
Household: I've been trying to use the wash-and-reuse food storage containers more than the use-and-pitch ziplock bags.
Utilities: No heat and less electricity for summer. AC hasn't been installed yet, we're relying on the monster window fans.
Gifts: I bought a Wintergreen plant for a neighbor.
Exercises/Self-Improvement: Loads of garden work.
Home and Garden: Garden is going, see the garden blog. Broccoli is almost ready to harvest, as are some of the heads of lettuce. Spinach, too. Logs that were laying around have been cut up into **3000** board feet of lumber and timbers that we will use on the garage.
Weaknesses: We did go for takeout on Thursday.
Purging: While at Goodwill I also dropped off 3 Xerox boxes of stuff, 2 of clothes and 1 of housewares, miscellaneous stuff. I have a goal of cleaning out the kitchen cupboards by the end of May, and I only have 1 week left so I'd better get cracking.
Clothing: I have been losing weight, therefore some of my clothes don't fit. I hopped over to Goodwill and bought 3 pants, 1 dress and 1 skirt and a top for $27.
Food: Cooking has been minimal, for example: grilled chicken and a veggie. I have been making our own bread, the recipe I found on Mother Earth News is to DIE for.
Household: I've been trying to use the wash-and-reuse food storage containers more than the use-and-pitch ziplock bags.
Utilities: No heat and less electricity for summer. AC hasn't been installed yet, we're relying on the monster window fans.
Gifts: I bought a Wintergreen plant for a neighbor.
Exercises/Self-Improvement: Loads of garden work.
Home and Garden: Garden is going, see the garden blog. Broccoli is almost ready to harvest, as are some of the heads of lettuce. Spinach, too. Logs that were laying around have been cut up into **3000** board feet of lumber and timbers that we will use on the garage.
Weaknesses: We did go for takeout on Thursday.
Purging: While at Goodwill I also dropped off 3 Xerox boxes of stuff, 2 of clothes and 1 of housewares, miscellaneous stuff. I have a goal of cleaning out the kitchen cupboards by the end of May, and I only have 1 week left so I'd better get cracking.
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