Frugal Friday: Money Saving Weekly Recap and Garden Update

This was a week where I saved money in some ways and ended up spending money in others.

For instance:

1.  I ended up spending some money on groceries this week.  It couldn't be helped really since I've been spending so little from week to week on groceries that eventually I just have to spend about 200.00 to make up for things that are just out and out gone.  I don't regret doing it as I was able to take advantage of sales to make the most of my money and stocked up on things that normally cost a lot that my son will eat.  For instance, Doritos are my son's newest culinary obsession.  Those things are normally REALLY expensive (like nearly 6.00 per bag expensive), but this week they are on sale cheap due to the Fourth of July holiday, so I bought six bags to see him through for a while.

I also splurged and bought hamburger.  I haven't bought beef in so long and have been just limping along on what I could find cheap and making it into stir fries or stews and such, so when I saw hamburger on sale for 4.99 lb I got six pounds of hamburger just to have some more in the freezer (and for hamburgers for the 4th of July).

2.  I went to Jo-Ann fabrics today and spent some money.  There was a 20% off your total shopping order coupon in the flyer through Monday, I believe, and a 40% off one regular priced item coupon.  I got things I needed such as white thread (I got 1000 meters worth of Gutterman thread.  I use white thread CONSTANTLY), quilt binding (which I use for a lot more than quilts), some fabric remnants (they are on sale cheap this weekend), some scrap booking paper (.20 per sheet on sale) and some scissors my husband wanted for fabric needs in the garage (10.00 about after coupons and sales).  I kind of hated to spend the money, but knew I'd regret it if I didn't later on (especially the thread).

3.  I filled up my gas tank for the first time in over a month.  I had .80 off per gallon on gas at Carrs due to a promotion where if you spend so much money in one trip you get .30 off per gallon.  I save my gas rewards anyway, but with all the promotions they've been doing lately I managed to get the .80 per gallon and couldn't pass up using it.

So, now onto the ways I saved money on the cheap *laugh*.

4.  The flower my son gave me for Mother's Day that they planted at school finally bloomed (seen up top).  I've never had a lot of luck with house plants (cats kill them), so I didn't hold out a lot of hope for the little geranium plant, but it made it!  Both little offshoots of the plant are now blooming and I'm enjoying them a lot.

5.  I got a free yogurt from Carrs with an E-Coupon (I'm thinking this might be available to most everybody, so check your E-Coupons on Safeway/Carrs folks!).  Coconut was the only flavor they had left, but I was shopping today, so I thought I'd get it.

6. I got a bobblehead doll for free that I'm going to give my daughter for Christmas.  It finally came in the mail today.  So not going to take it out of the packaging to take a picture though as my daughter was following me around for a good hour yesterday trying to get a look at what was in the box before I could slip it into storage *laugh*.

I've got one more code that is good for another bobblehead that I'm going to request and give to my son for Christmas as he does tend to like things that bob.

7.  We've played outside quite a bit and enjoyed the nice weather.

8.  I harvested a LOT of lettuce and kale from the garden this week.  The lettuce we're still eating (and it's ready to be harvested again *laugh*), but the kale I processed and put into the freezer for winter.  I got a good four side servings, for us, out of the kale so far.  Once I put all of the kale up for winter, combined with the spinach I put away earlier and the dandelion greens, we're going to be doing okay for greens this winter.  Good feeling, that.

9.  My old neighbor before we moved to our new house had given me some Johnny Jump Up seeds for my daughter and honestly I'd forgotten about them for the last three years.  I ran into them while unloading boxes from the 40' van and my daughter and I went out and spread them where we normally get a few Johnny Jump Ups that the previous owners of our house had planted.  Well, now we've got a nice little Johnny Jump Up patch that is coming up!  I was surprised that the seeds were still good, but my daughter is thrilled as they are spreading into our stone wall area and making it look pretty slowly but surely.  I think given a couple more years the stone wall (it's a loose stone retaining type wall on the side of our driveway) is going to look pretty cool.

10.  I repaired a few of my son's toys that had some loose switches or had some "hidden" batteries that needed to be replaced.

11.  I made all of our meals at home, which per saved us some money.

And now onto the garden update!

Garden Update:

The garden is continuing to produce lettuce and kale like mad, which is great.  The kale last year had done so-so, but not half as good as it is doing this year.

The garlic is continuing to grow well.  Whether or not I actually SEE garlic this year is still to be seen, but I at least feel good that I've gotten it this far.

The turnips are sprouting (seen up above there)!  I was thrilled to see them come up.  Another week, I bet and I'll be able to thin them.  Hopefully I'll be able to get a few turnips by the end of the summer.

The tomatoes are producing like mad.  At this point I'm enthusiastic.  Even if only half of them ripen, I'll be doing well and if I get a ton of green tomatoes I have recipes for all kinds of things, including green tomato relish that I plan on making with the leftover green tomatoes.  So, go little (well not so little actually...they keep growing I'm going to be trying to figure out taller tying up arrangements) tomato plants, go!!!

Look it's twins!!!

The onions are starting to bulb!  I had read online that the bulbs pretty much grow out of the ground, but was surprised to see the top of half of bulbs suddenly exposed above the dirt.  The green onion parts are starting to turn brown and fall over, which is a good sign that the plants will start to put all of their efforts into forming bulbs.  Once the upper part of the plant dies I'll be able to harvest the onions soon after that, so I'm thinking I'm going to have onions by the end of July.

The potato plant, typical of potato plants, is currently growing huge.  The rhubarb plant seems to be doing better this year than in previous years, but I've also been careful to fertilize it regularly and have been working on keeping it weeded as much as I can.

The herbs in the garden are finally starting to actively do well.  I will be able to start harvesting large amounts of sage, oregano, parsley (I have enough parsley juice for parsley honey now) and other herbs to dehydrate for my winter stores.

And so there you go folks.  The ways I've saved money this week and how my garden is doing.  How is everything going in your world?