August groceries

I did a small shop today using cash on hand. I picked up a gallon of organic milk from BJ's wholesale club for $6.67

 

And for my second stop I dropped by Aldi and for $26.32 I brought home this bag of groceries:

Which when unpacked contained 1 dozen eggs, a bag of grapes, a pint of lowfat cottage cheese, a can of whipped cream, a half gallon of vanilla bean ice cream, a box of coconut fruit bars, a box of eskimo pies, 3 squash, a bag of spinach, two peppers, a bunch of bananas, a cantaloupe, an english cucumber, and two large tomatoes.

I'm expecting to do one more small shop mostly for fresh produce before the end of the month. The stand up freezer and drawer freezer remain packed almost full. The kids have been eating away from home quite a bit and when I find myself alone I've gone off menu and chosen things like scrambled eggs or an omelet or a salad or a simple pasta dish for myself, skipping the meat and fish. This means that September will also be a very light month for spending on groceries, continuing on with my 'summer plan' of using only the $250 made cleaning for groceries.  I plan to experiment with a slow-rise in the refrigerator bread dough tomorrow, looking ahead to being back to the 11 hour workday next week. This way we can continue to have homemade breads, rolls, and buns even though my hours to make these is limited.

 

 

Inching towards the finish line....

 This week starts my last full week of summer vacation. Although I did spend three hours at work one day last week getting September lunch packets ready for mailing and I will be going in to work this Wednesday to make sure my milk delivery arrives.
I am looking forward to getting back into the work routine and seeing some money coming back into the household coffers. Although September is still going to be a tight month.
This last week was yet another one where I was extremely satisfied with the number of $0 days. I babysat along with youngest daughter for newest grandbaby on both Monday and Tuesday. Oldest son insisted on paying us for that. I also cleaned GF's house on Saturday and got a full tank of gas for the SUV in exchange. So a little bit in and a little bit out.

Sunday 8/10: $0
Monday 8/11: $11 on lunch for youngest daughter and myself.  

Tuesday 8/11: $12 on lunch for yougnest daughter and myself.

Wednesday 8/12: $0

Thursday 8/13 $ 6 on lunch for myself at the zoo. Went to the zoo with middle daughter and grandsons. She drove to and from so my only expense was for lunch.

Friday 8/14: $0. Went to a local church festival but GF paid for that.

Saturday 8/15: $0. GF and I went to our final festival of the summer and he picked up the tab.

Finances and Life in General

 Summer vacation is starting to wind down with just under two weeks left before it is back to work. I actually did some work from home today getting prepared for the beginning of the school year.  I'm pretty pleased so far with the finances over the summer break. Even with very little money flowing in (middle son's rent/insurance and money earned from cleaning job) we still have money in the checking to cover upcoming bills this month as well as a small amount in the savings. September is going to continue to be a tight month for us though since my first paycheck will not roll in until the 12th and that one will have to be used for mortgage, car payment and car insurance. My health insurance benefits will also be taken out of this check to catch me up. Fortunately we continue to have plenty of food in the house and as I have done all summer the money earned from cleaning will cover those expenses for the first month I am back to work.
As far as last week's finances are concerned I have a very good week with very little money going out and some money coming in from cleaning on Saturday. Here is the breakdown:

Sunday 8/3: $50 (newest granddaughter E was baptized and we had a wonderful time at oldest son's home with family and friends, this was my half of the gift GF (her great uncle) and I gave her)

Monday 8/4: $0 day spent at home reading and doing minor housework, dinner was off the menu making 'slub glub/aka johnny marzetti for dinner with items in the house,  evening spent 'porch sitting' with friend/neighbor as we have been doing all summer

Tuesday 8/5: $0 day spent doing laundry and reading! Dinner was roast beef (my serving topped with some homemade chili sauce), evening spent watching tv

Wednesday 8/6: $0 yet another day at home with a good book! Not only am I not out spending money I am saving gas as well. GF filled up the tank over the weekend and barely any fuel has been used, evening spent at friend/neighbor's house divvying up the PC items from the catalog show we co-hosted

Thursday 8/7: $42 at the eye doctor on a 6 month supply of right eye contacts (these are for astigmatism so more expensive than the left eye lenses I had to buy last month). A stop at the library for books, dinner was  grilled applewood rubbed pork chops, evening spent with new book from library.

Friday 8/8: $0 went to GF's place, dinner was herb crusted pork roast, evening watching tv together

Saturday 8/9:$0 worked cleaning in the morning , afternoon running errands with GF then we had dinner out at a local favorite pizza spot!

This week in finances

  This week looks so sad compared to last week. For one thing I was out of town so some money naturally got spent on that. I did clean at GF's house over the weekend and got my tank of gas so I didn't have any expense getting to my BFF's house and back at all.  I had my granddaughter E's baptism so some more money got spent on that. In addition I went to the farmer's market and got produce and picked up a couple things I needed for that chili sauce project.

7/27: $0
7/28: $0
7/29: $2 at roadside stand on tomatoes $20 on treats at the matinee (BFF insisted on buying the tickets)
7/30:$ 0
7/31: $56 on dress for baptism, $5 on vinegar for chili sauce, $21.90 on produce at local farmer's market
8/1: $ 42 on gas (trip plus errands used up all my fuel so I fueled up for coming week) $1.50 on wooden back scratcher from vendor at a county fair we attended
8/2: $0

My canning project: Chili Sauce

 While I was up in PA my BFF and I stopped by a small roadside stand at an Amish farm not too far from her own. They had several baskets of tomato 'seconds' set out for sale, so for $2 I got what I estimate to be around 10 lbs of assorted tomatoes. I knew immediately that I would be making my mom's chili sauce! I am not a fan of bottled chili sauce from the store since to me the consistency is more like flavored ketchup. Not at all what I think of when mom's comes to mind with small pieces of tomato, pepper and onion clearly visible. While out and about with middle daughter and grandsons yesterday I used a gift card to Target that I'd been saving and picked up a dozen new pint size canning jars with lids and rings (I had given most of my jars to oldest daughter a few years ago when she was on a canning kick) and made a stop at a local farmer's market to get a small basket of reduced red bell peppers ($1) and three large sweet onions ($1.50). I also ended up having to run to the local grocery store this morning for more apple cider vinegar since I didn't have a backup bottle of this on the pantry shelf as I thought I did.
I boiled a pot of water and dipped the tomatoes in to peel them, once peeled, I seeded and chopped them roughly and put them in to my dutch oven. I added three seeded and finely chopped red & green bell peppers, two large chopped sweet onions, 2 cups vinegar, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, 1 tablespoons of ground allspice, 2 tablespoons pickling salt, 1 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg and 1 teaspoon celery seed.

I let this simmer on the stove, stirring frequently for 3 hours. Once the sauce thickened up I dished it into 6 hot sterile glass canning jars, put on lids and lightly put on the rings, and then processed them in a hot water bath for fifteen minutes. Once the jars were cool I tightened up the lids and voila, I now have 6 pints of homemade chili sauce:

Financial roundup 7/20-7/26

Due to my busy Sunday last week and my days away I am a bit behind on my accountability for spending from last week. It is a bit boring since I spent almost no money all week long. Yep SIX zero dollar days!!! And since I worked my cleaning job on Saturday I made money. ::Happy dance:: My only expense all week was when I  paid the balance of youngest son's first college semester. Since he commutes and got a terrific financial aide package even this cost was minimal.

Sunday 7/20: $0 (had a nice day at GF's house just putzing around)

Monday 7/21: $0 (worked on projects at home)

Tuesday 7/22: $0 (worked on projects at home)

Wednesday 7/23: $128 to pay the balance of youngest son's fall semester at his orientation.

Thursday 7/24: $0 (worked on projects at home)

Friday 7/25: $ 0 (GF & I went to a minor league ball game but he paid for food and drinks, tickets were already paid for)

Saturday 7/26: $0 (worked in the morning, went to grandson's 1st birthday party in the afteroon, gift had already been paid for)

A few days away

  I am blessed to have a couple of long time friends in my life. One became my friend in kindergarten, the other in junior high. The three of us have remained connected and even though they both live thousands of miles away whenever we get together we pick up the threads as if it has been hours instead of months or even years since we've been in the same room. One of these two women has a 1900 built farmhouse on 40 acres in a rural part of northeastern PA as a summer/vacation home. She invited me up to spend a couple of days with her and her spouse and her sister who was also staying  up there with them. As it is a drive of less than two hours from home I did not hesitate to accept. So off I drove on Monday morning!
This summer has not been very warm. We haven't even had a day over 90 in northeast Ohio/PA yet. Which is very unusual. This is not a complaint but merely an observation and we have had summers like this before but Monday's weather was odd by any standard. It appears that October broke out at the end of July here. Highs were in the low 60s and it was rainy, downright fall like in fact. Ugh. It didn't matter though since my welcome was warm and sunny. We 'visited' (i.e. talked the leg off a chair), grabbed lunch at a local diner, stopped by the grocery store, cooked together, and settled down in the evening with a dvd.
The next morning the sound of cows gently mooing from the farm across the road woke me up. So very different from my urban existance. Tuesday was at least sunny if not much warmer. My BFF's sister declined to join us at yet another local diner for breakfast so friend, spouse and I went off for a short jaunt. Us ladies did plan on a matinee in the afternoon so spouse went off after breakfast and did his thing. More 'visiting' before we went to the theatre. Then a quick stop at a huge grocery store in the suburban area we were in to pick up an array of different prepared foods for dinner before heading back to the farm. A smorgasbord dinner followed by a wonderful visit from BFF's stepmom as we all sat around the bonfire spouse had built. Once the sun went down we retired inside for more 'visiting'.
I was so refreshed and relaxed by Wednesday morning and it came time to say my goodbyes. No cell phone service at her place meant just lots of time for us to reconnect and enjoy each other doing simple things together.
I cannot imagine a more perfect break from the routine.