Random Sunday Blog Post

I haven't posted much lately. I didn't purposely intend to take a break from blogging but life just seems to have gotten in the way.

My husband broke our laptop trying to "fix" it, which is what I used to type blog post. I am not crazy about typing things out on the iPad.  But I am thankful to have one :)

I have been flying by the seat of my pants with dinner plans this month. It is kinda stressful. I really like having a plan. Today I am going to plan at least a weeks worth of dinners and also start on Decembers meal plan. Hopefully we will be able to use up some of these leftovers. I've been lucky this month and been offered a lot of free food. I try to never turn down food that is offered us especially if it is just going to be thrown away. 

We had our Family Thanksgiving a few weeks ago. Other then the fact Kid #2 decided not to attend ( that is a whole other blog post for a different day) it was a wonderful day. Everyone brought something and we had a great time with visiting.

Have I told you all how much I just love being a Nana? My grandson is 5 months old and so cute. Kid # 1 and my daughter inlaw are struggling some. It is really hard not to want to bail them out. I help some if they ask but sometimes being in your 20's I believe is for being poor and figuring it out. I can tell you though they really could take some frugal lessons from me lol. 

I mentioned in a Friday post here a few weeks ago that we paid off our credit card debt we accorded over the summer. Woohoo! It is so freeing to be out from under that. Next up is to really begin attacking the car debt. My plan originally was to pay it off in 16 months. It is maybe possible to still accomplish that but I am not sure. I need to sit down and run the numbers.

I only have to work 2 days this week and I am looking forward to the break. I really need to sit down and make a plan for my days off. There are many things I am hoping to accomplish. The main two are to get some toys listed for sale on Facebook and to get my Christmas gifts made. We will see :)

Speaking of Christmas anyone done with their shopping yet? I am over halfway there and plan to be finished by December 1.

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. We sold our old car and cancelled the insurance on it. 

2. I picked up an extra 2 1/2 hours at work this week.

3. Paid an extra $200 towards are car payment.

4. Sold another scarf this week, made $12.

5. Repurposed many leftovers into new meals for dinner.

Please Think Of Us

As most of you know I live in Central Illinois. 

Today we had several Tornados hit not only my town, but also several neighboring towns, although my home and my family are ok. 

The worst hit was Washington ,Illinois, flatting many many homes.

Please think of these communities or pray for them or whatever it is your beliefs are as these people and families now have to figure out how to pick up the pieces and put their homes back together.

Sometimes Mother Nature is just not nice :(

So What Have I Been Up To???

It has been a busy few weeks. I am trying to prepare for the holiday season. For the most part I have been making these, nonstop :)

The animal print fleece boa scarves are new this year. I love them :) of course I am still making the solid color ones.

These are popular in school colors. I have sold several of these.

I also do sports themed ones. Here are some Chicago Bears ones. I am from Illinois ya know ;)

These are all for sale. If anyone is interested in some you can leave a comment with your email and I will get back to you :) I will gladly ship to you :)

Solid colors are $10 each plus shipping

Any scarf with a print ( animal, sports etc) is $12 each plus shipping :)

Ps: the animal print ones give you a sneak peak of my bathroom remodel I am just about done with. Post about it soon, I hope!

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Sold a scarf and made $12

2. Turned our turkey carcass from our "Family Thanksgiving" into homemade turkey and noodles

3.  Ate our leftovers

4. Froze the leftovers that were not going to be eaten soon

5. Paid off the last of our credit card debt!!!!! Woohoo!

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Saved my buttermilk. See last post :)

2. Sold an item and made $65.

3. Ordered a couple items from Amazon and got free shipping with my month long free trial of Amazon Prime :)

4. Hubby took in our aluminum cans to the recycle center which earned us $34.50

5. Did some testing for work earning me an extra hour in half pay :)

Buttermilk

This is a picture of how I save our buttermilk and keep it from spoiling before we can use it up. We frequently use buttermilk to make homemade ranch dressing and sometimes buscuits and pancakes. But we don't always use it up fast enough. 

I think I found this tip on Pinterest and have used it successfully for awhile now. I freeze the buttermilk in ice cube trays and once frozen transfer the cubes to a ziplock bag, which I store in the freezer. When I need buttermilk I take out the number of cubes I will use and let them defrost in a bowl. Each cube is 2 tablespoons of buttermilk.

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

I guess I took alittle bloggy break without even meaning too :(

1. Found a great sale online for fleece fabric thanks to my friend Tonia! Bought enough that will hopefully last me most of the holiday season. 

2. We ate our leftovers and used up little bits off food here and there

3. Bought Kid #5 a Christmas present using my Amazon gift codes I earned from Swagbucks. Paid $2.92 out of pocket :) 

4. Donated a good size bag of Kid #5's outgrown clothes to the school I work at. There are several children there who will benefit from them.

5. Cleaned and switched our ceiling fans to the winter settings to help save on heating costs