Frugal Friday's With Marsha 7/1/11

Happy Friday!

This has been another week of not much grocery shopping and a lot of eating from what we already had in the house. Hey, we aren't out of food yet, but I'm sure hoping we can squeak out a little bit of grocery money after the bills are paid.

In the garden....the cantaloupe seems to be doing well, it's flowering now. The tomato plants are growing, but not producing. The peas I planted have sprouted, not sure if they will produce in this heat. The few potatoes seem to be growing fine.
I pulled what was left of the onions out of the garden and cooked them with a pork roast. The onions I planted otherwise didn't grow. I also used the chives that Steve's sister had brought me in the roast as well. I should say a little bit of those chives. She brought me a bunch that I clipped and dried and put them in a ziploc bag. Also for the roast I bought a bag of baby carrots at the store on quick sale for .79. And, I bought strawberries on sale for $3.98 for 2 lbs, using a .50 coupon doubled making them $2.98.
Here is a pic of the cantaloupe from the other day---ignore all the grass and weeds that should be taken out please:

I was able to pick up a bag of blankets from freecycle this week. I had hoped I could use them for the inside of quilts. One blanket I can use for the inside of a small quilt. The other 2 we will use. There was also a king size pillowcase in the bag.

We've had temps in the triple digits this week and no rain, so hanging clothes out on the line to dry hasn't been a problem. I took last week off from doing laundry, except putting away what I hadn't from the week before. Still, I only did 4 loads this week.

My other items are shared in my linky for this week. Please link up below.

Squidoo Blog Hopping 6/30/11

Happy Thursday! Sorry this is being posted later today that I wanted. Oops, I was sleeping way in after a migraine headache last night.

I didn't stay near as busy with squidoo this past week as I wanted to or should have. I had something I wanted to ask or discuss and it's left my brain right now. I should have made a note! LOL

I remember!! I built a lens last night and messing in the intro part I noticed tabs at the top I hadn't seen before. Oh gosh, I feel stupid. Related lenses....wow! What a way to back link to other lenses that have the same subject as the one you are in. Last night I built This Day in History June 29 and so related lenses are some of my other this day in history lenses, but I can see, say on my book review lenses finding other lenses on the book and sharing those links to help others. I'm excited, as I now have something I can do to each one of my lenses to make an update, and therefore get more views on them. Oh yes!! This lens marked my 100th lens as well!!

I also updated 2 lenses this past week--I had some suggestions last week on my My Book Reviews lens, so took the advice and changed it up a bit. Now if I could just get in all the book reviews I still have done to make in to lenses!

We had 27 bicyclists stop in at our church's bike hostel. They are one of 3 groups that are biking coast to coast to raise money for cancer research. I took a photo, not of the riders, but of all their bikes and bags in the basement of our church and added the photo, along with a link to the website on my Bike Hostel, Hutchinson, KS lens.

Awhile back I read a suggestion, I believe in the Rocketmom's ning board to take a calendar and mark on it important dates that have to do with your lenses. Then, each year on those dates, highlight your lens in some way. For example, on my calendar I put both the birth date and death date for Elvis. I'm slowly going through my lenses now to make notes. My plan on the this day in history lenses is to add one new bit of history each year.

Anyway, enough babbling on my part. I hope to continue to see more and more share in the linky below. It really keeps me motivated, and we can all support each other as lensmasters.

WIP Wednesday 6/29/11

Happy WIP Wednesday!

I'm happy to report that I made my goal and finished the double thick crocheted hot pads that I was making.  I ended up with 4 sets of 2 in my etsy shop and 13 single hot pads to donate to my church.

I've been working on baby bibs and I have one set in my etsy shop and another set to put snaps on to get listed.

I work on my sewing in kind of a funny way.  I only have 4 bobbins, and rarely have many colors of thread on hand to choose from.  I work with what thread I have, often times working through one color on a bobbin then switching colors and projects.  I have all 4 bobbins filled with a different color.  Yeah, I know, doesn't make much sense, but hey, it works for me, and project do eventually get completed.

I kept up my promise to myself to work on the toothbrush I am making for myself.  I didn't get as much done on it as I would have liked, but I hope to I will  have the rest of the strips I have set out for it worked in before next Wednesday.  Bitty Kitty (Molly) decided she wanted in on my photo of it:
 

I watched a video on someone's squidoo lens on making fabric bags. I liked how she did her handles so I'm going to do it that way on my own bags from now on. Not much different than the way I was doing the handles, but less steps. I have 2 ready to complete and 2 more ready to cut and pin.

I have all of the middle strips zig zagged on to the strip quilt that I am making for church. Now I have to figure out the edging. It's square so I know I am doing a thin strip down both sides and larger strips on the top and the bottom. That is waiting now for me to get that blue thread back on to a bobbin. We will meet again for sewing club at church July 12.

That's it for me this week. I hope you will click the buttons below and join along with WIP Wednesday and/or check out what others are up to.

Walgreen's Shopping 6/27/11

With less than $3 that I could spend, I was really hoping to be able to do the deal I wanted with my money.  I was afraid of getting to the store and finding the shelf empty.  Yay!  There was plenty on the shelf, along with the notice of limit 4 per customer per day.

I bought 4 of the Dove body and face wash on sale 4 for $15.
I used 2- buy 1 get one free coupons taking them down to 4 for $7.50.
I then used my 2 RR's from last week totaling $6 taking them down to just $1.50 plus sales tax.
I paid $2.17 OOP and walked out with a $5 RR for my next shopping.

Those of you who have gotten great at managing your family's tight budget may enjoy taking an online accounting class. Knowledge about money management is so valuable for our daily lives.

I'm happy!  And, I now have 4 bottle of body and face wash in my Christmas stash totes for men on my list. 

Mailbox Monday 6/27/11

Not a very exciting week....I got very little that wasn't hausernet mail.
Time magazine
Ok! Magazine ($2 subscription so not free)
Bloomsberg Businessweek magazine
Sports Illustrated magazine
People magazine
Several other pieces of hausernet mail
Spiffies sample
4 cat food coupons from recyclebank--each for 2 free cans.  2 coupons for Fancy Feast and 2 for Friskies (this was the best piece of mail for me this week since we were totally out of canned food for the animals!)

Prefense Winner!!

Sponsored by Tomoson.com

Sorry about being a couple days late getting this posted.

Using random.org, the winner is:

and comment 15 was:

kkenty said... 15

I read your articles on gather!

June 22, 2011 10:07 AM

 Congrats!  If she doesn't contact me within 48 hours, another winner will be drawn.


Thanks to all who entered.
Don't forget to click the reviews/giveaways pages to check out my other current giveaways....and the ongoing giveaways linky page to list your own giveaways.

Wal Mart Shopping--Spent $14.58, Saved $12.71

I'm getting more in to watching for the Wal Mart deals now that they are better about their coupon policy.  Still never fails that at least one of my coupons gives me (or the cashier I should say) trouble.

This trip I purchased:
*2-Nabisco cookie cups-$1 each, used $1/2 coupon making them .50 each  (great snack)
*1-Brach's bagged candy at $1.87, used .50 coupon making them $1.37 (splurge chocolate for myself)
*1 bag Wal Mart brand cat food at $1.50 (no coupon, we just needed it)
*4 can of Fancy Feast Gourmet cat food, .74 each.  I used 2 coupons each for 2 free cans(one that gave trouble as the register only took off .02!  Then the cashier tried to make up for it by putting in to take off another .72 but I had to point out they were for 2 free cans....which then got SCM called over)
*6 cans of Friskies Tasty Treasures canned cat food at .50 each.   Again, I had 2 coupons each for 2 free cans.  I also used a coupon for buy 1 get 1 free.
*Carnation Instant Breakfast at $4.96, used $1.25 coupon making it $3.71
*Vlasic Relish at .98, used .50 coupon making it .48
*1 lb ground beef roll for $2.68 (no coupon we need meat)
*1 lb ground turkey roll at $2.18 (same)
*UP2U gum at $1.28, used $1 making it .28 (I knew my daughter would love me for this)
*Pantene shampoo and conditioner travel sizes at .97 each, used $3 off 2 coupon ending up with $1.06 overage!

In total I spent $14.58 and saved $12.71 with coupons, so even with buying some items with no coupons, I still saved almost 50%.  I'm happy!

Shop Hop Saturday 6/25/11

Happy Saturday!

I'm happy to report that I've kept up with my goal of making it in to my craft room to sew some each day.  I don't stay in there long, but still feel like I've been productive.  I'm working on a few projects all at once.

These are the new items I listed in my etsy store:

Baby Bibs in Pink Set of 2  

Double Thick Crocheted Hot Pads Set of 2 in Christmas Colors  

I didn't get anything else done in my zazzle store, but I did save back a few of my better photos that I will turn in to products at some point.

I'm going to attempt to get back in to posting on redgage.  I started out again more or less messing around to show a friend how redgage works by copying over my Mary Bragg Tattoos and Bruises CD Review 

I put in the trackback url back to my blog post but it's not showing up in the redgage post.  For those of you who have done redgage, isn't the trackback link supposed to show up at the bottom of the post?   Any, click on over to that one if you want to help me earn a little more with views.

I have a ton of squidoo lenses to get backlinked through redgage....and a bunch of my reviews to get in there....and also lots of flower pics as well.    I also have 40 friend requests to take care of.  Yep, if I find the time, I can keep myself plenty busy.

I'm going to close for this week, but I encourage you to check out Ruthi's Shop Hop blog hop by clicking the button below.  List your own post or come and check out the others.

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 25 (Week 2 for Me)

Last week as I reported, I had good intentions but didn't get anything done.
Another kind blogger pointed out to me that starting with organizing my desk was just too large of a project to be first, and to start with something smaller.

I have been working on de-clutttering my desk over this past week here and there. It has a ways to go!
I decided to make the coffee table my first project. I love the coffee table, but why do they always become one of the places to just pile things??

Here is the before photo:

Ack! Those items are now in their proper places, or the recycle bin, or the trash! I hope to really work hard on keeping it cleaned off. Just having the one table cleaned is already making the living room look more inviting. Here is the after photo. Hubby's laptop will again sit on the end of the coffee table for now...at least until I can figure out some other place for him to work on it? He leaves it on and open 24/7 as he runs scripts to play his silly facebook game.
Here is what it looks like now (minus the laptop)

I'm not sure which of my chosen projects I will tackle for next week while I continue to work on my desk. Maybe one of the side tables is a good choice. I have taken before shots of all spots I want to work on. I will be kept busy for week.

Please click the button below to check out the challenge, get this week's hint, and click over to see how others are doing in their own organizing.

Frugal Friday's With Marsha 6/24/11

Good Friday morning to all!
It's Friday, and time to share your frugal type posts from the past week. I do hope you will join in.

This past week Steve and I found ourselves broke. There just wasn't money to buy much as far as groceries. We ate leftovers, and made due with what food we had most of the week. Saturday evenings is Mom's night at our house. Steve did spend a mere little fortune buying a huge pork loin and macaroni salad, potato salad and baked beans for our meal. Only a portion of the pork loin was used and we have 2 more sections cut into roasts in the deep freeze. We ate on those sides for 4 days. I sure admit to getting tired of them! Thursday evening we spent $5.25 at my church eating at the grill night fundraiser, and tonight we pick my teen up from Bible camp and get to eat supper with her.

I'm reading a book called Financial Recovery for review. It's a great book and I'm going to start today with her suggestions so that we can get this money thing in check.

I only made one small run to the store. I didn't buy much, and no big savings. I did use the 2 Suave .75 coupons that I printed from their facebook page to get them for .06 each plus sales tax. Half gallons of milk are on sale 3 for $5, so I picked up a couple of those. That doesn't make it much cheaper than buying a gallon, but every few cents adds up.
My Walgreens and Wal Mart shopping as well as my Mailbox Monday posts are in the linky.

Steve's sister brought over a bunch of chives from her garden. I chopped and dried those in the oven. I love to use them in soups and potatoes.

I've had 2 bags of powdered milk in my cabinet that I rec'd through commodities. I've started mixing it up and using it when I bake and cook. No one's known the difference and it's sure saved on buying milk!

Nothing else really to report--I didn't even do laundry this week, I've still been reeling putting away all the laundry that I did last week. With no kids here this week I've only had to run the dishwasher twice. The air conditioner is still set at 81 and we are most comfortable with that.