Saving and Unplanned Spending

The unplanned spending was on more medicine.  I bought more cough syrup for W, acidophilus, and ginger gum.  I also opted to order dried elderberries for elderberry syrup.  I expect this will not be the last time W catches something so I am being proactive.






When I went to get W's medicine, I decided to run all of my errands for the week rather than make a separate trip into town.  This saved both time and gas as it is a 20 minute drive one way into town.


I took some pumpkins by my in-laws.  They gave me some a few bags of opened potato chips as they were about to start the Daniel Fast.  I also got some wet dog food their dog would not eat and scraps for the chickens. 


We cut off the water for about 36 hours due to the extreme cold.  Our plumbing was not made for temperatures as cold as we had Monday and Tuesday nights.  This prevented burst pipes which would have cost money, time, and aggravation. 


I stayed well within my grocery budget this week.  Most of our meals came from the freezer, and we still have plenty to get us through the rest of the month.  I want to eat up the freezer meals I already have before I add in many more.  We also ate salad with most meals.  Leftovers were on the menu for lunch twice this past week.


I dehydrated two pounds of carrots purchased on sale.  This was my first time dehydrating carrots so I only did a small amount.  It worked wonderfully so I will do more when I find a good sale again.  I love my dehydrator and am constantly looking for more things I can dehydrate.  It allows me to extend the life of garden or sale produce without taking up space in the freezers.


I baked two pumpkins from my parents' garden and put the puree in the freezer.  I will use these to make pumpkin cinnamon rolls throughout the year. 


We watched several shows on Hulu this week.  While we do have to wait to watch programs, this allows us to view some of our favorites without a satellite bill. We have been without satellite service for nearly 4 years, and I honestly do not miss it at all.  We also watched shows on Netflix.  I downloaded free books to my Kindle again and read a couple of them this week.


The rabbits ate lettuce from the garden which I had picked prior to the freeze.  They also got the peelings from the carrots I dehydrated.  The chickens got the pumpkin guts and shells.  Cooking with whole foods allows me to either compost the leftovers or pass them along to the outside animals.  This gives them a treat and cuts down on waste.


I talked myself out of buying several things this past week.  None of them were needs nor were they particularly great deals.  I am sticking to my January money saving goal of no frivolous spending. 


*I apologize for the odd formatting.  Blogger is still a bit wonky.*