Update on My Life This Week

Hi Friends,
I am pre-occupied this week. My father-in-law is on end-of-life care at the hospital right now. He is 97 years young and has lived his life to the fullest right up until this past October, when he had a bad fall. He lived in a nursing home near my family for a couple of months, providing so many opportunities for us to enjoy time together. He has read my blog from its inception and even linked to it from his own blog. His name is Dr. Robert H. Mounce, and he is primarily known as a New Testament scholar, although his career was expansive. My family has been blessed to know him and learn from his example.

I do have other things that I want to "talk" about with you all, but just don't have the time to type it all out right now. I'll be back very soon, though.
Take care,
Lili

Classy, Free Gift Wrap for a Small Gift

So this is not quite free, but very close. My cost was the printer ink and copy paper. I have figured this cost to be about 4 cents per page.  I didn't need a lot of gift wrap, just enough for one small package and one slightly larger package. I ended up using 4 sheets of printed paper, for about 16 cents for both gifts.

Those gifts that I bought at clearance and semi-annual sales now need wrapping. The above gift is part of a birthday package for someone who is special to me. Wanting a chic and classy look for this birthday gift, I decided on a black and white color scheme. (By the way, this is very inexpensive to do with home office supplies.)

Using free clip art, I made this pattern on my laptop for printing onto a sheet of paper. In my experience, Apple Pages seems to work better for cut and paste of images than MS Word, so it's what I have used here and with other printed images.

The small gift used 3/4 of a sheet, while the larger package used 3 sheets, with strategic piecing to minimize visible seams. The most obvious seam runs across the center of the package and shall be concealed with ribbon.

I did invest some time making the pattern, but I considered this fun, down time. In addition, I now have this pattern stored on my laptop for future use.

For a price comparison -- I could have bought some gift wrap. Even at the Dollar Store I would have spent $1 for wrap, and likely would have used about 1/3 of one of their small rolls, or 35-cents' worth. Printing gift wrap at home was about half of the price of the least expensive option for me, meant that I could skip a trip to the store, and was an outlet for my creative energy.  A win all around! And I don't have any leftovers lingering in a closet, as I printed only what I needed.

The Finished Towels

The project was definitely not for the impatient, perfectionistic, or those who give up easily. Trying to dye a group of differently-colored objects a single final color is tricky. A very close approximation of color for all items is possible with patience and multiple steps. However, I was able to get the batch close enough in color to satisfy me and my daughters.

In case you didn't know this about me, I have a bit of a perfectionistic streak in my disposition. So, when everything is not easy-peasy, or a project does not turn out exactly as I had planned, it takes a while for me to shake that "failure" feeling. It doesn't make any sense to me, as I can look at the towels and think they turned out beautifully, but my mind remembers the missteps along the road to get to the final outcome. Now, after a little time to relax, I can see that they turned out nicely. The bathmat is just a tad more intense in color than the towels, and the washcloths are slightly more peach than the rest of the batch. Despite this, the group looks great in the bathroom.

Old towels, new life. Final cost for a "new" set of bath linens -- $3.74, including sales tax (I forgot to add in tax in yesterday's post). I don't think that you can't buy a single bath towel at Target for that price.

Value Village Finds this Afternoon

I have great luck at Value Village this afternoon. I was searching for a bathmat to go with the towels that I am dyeing for my daughters' bathroom. My plan is to dye the whole lot a peachy-pink, using fabric dye that was leftover from previous projects. At Value Village I found a pale pink bathmat that almost exactly matches the pink towels that I already have, so the dye job should look pretty good. And get this, my cost was 99 cents!

My out of pocket cost for this revamped towel set will be the 99 cents for the bathmat, and $2.40 for the 4 washcloths that I bought last summer. The pink bath and hand towels were hand-me-downs from my in-laws 15 years ago, and as I mentioned, the dye is leftover from other projects. Therefore, my total cost for a "new" set of towels for this bathroom is $3.39! I've run the wash cloths and bathmat through the laundry to remove any sizing (new washcloths) or fabric softener (bathmat), as either of those substances could inhibit the dye job. I'll let you know how these look when they are dyed and dried.

One of my daughters came with me to Value Village, and she had a lot she wanted to look at, so I lingered for a bit while waiting for her. In the glassware section, I found 3 juice glasses that will go with the 4 we currently have. Super glad to have found these juice glasses. I prefer a small glass for juice, and as we only had 4 juice glasses, whenever the entire family was there for a family breakfast, we were short on these small glasses. I had been pricing replacements through Amazon, and the cost just didn't seem worth it.

Revamping Old Bath Towels

This afternoon I am dyeing a set of towels for my daughters' bathroom. Currently, we have light pink bath and hand towels and a set of 4 new, white washcloths. I bought the washcloths on clearance last summer in a set of 8 for $4.80, or 60 cents each ($2.40 for 4 of them).  (Story on the washcloths -- I was placing an order online and needed to spend a couple more dollars to get free shipping. As we wear out washcloths faster than other types of towels, I checked for sets of washcloths on markdown.)

I asked what color of finished towels would be preferable, and peachy-pink was the answer. So, I went through my craft supplies and found partials boxes of orange and light pink fabric dye. Now, I'm off to Value Village and Goodwill to find a bath mat in white, cream, pale pink, or pale yellow. I'll let you know how these turn out.

In Pursuit of the Hospitable Home: Upgrading the Appearance of Bagged Breakfast Cereal

Yesterday I had a dental appointment. It sort of knocked me off of my regular activities. I need more work done, unfortunately. Okay, back to regular life.

Keeping bagged breakfast cereal

I thought that I'd share this with you because I've been so pleased with how it looks and works in our household. This past fall I began buying bagged breakfast cereal. Up until this past year we haven't really been cereal eaters, but instead have opted for toast, muffins, and other highly portable breakfasts. For some reason I can't explain, one week I bought cereal at Dollar Tree. When I was shopping at WinCo later on, I discovered that WinCo's house brand of bagged cereal was less expensive per ounce than Dollar Tree's off-brand cereal. So I began buying bagged cereal. My family seems to really appreciate having this as an option at breakfast time, and it appears that we now have cereal about half of the time. (I still prefer cooked breakfasts, but will eat the cereal when I wake up tired.)

I know there are special plastic containers for storing cereal. I even have one, given to me by my sister-in-law. My container is currently in use holding paper grocery sacks in the trunk of my car, as it's the exact size to hold a stack of folded-up grocery bags to use at WinCo (where they give me 6 cents rebate for every bag that I reuse). So, I was looking around the kitchen to see what I could use for storing cereal and I came across my glass cookie jar, which I don't really use any longer. An image of the breakfast set-up at an inn at which I once stayed flashed through my mind.

The two glass containers just off-center on the buffet held cereal. I recall the breakfast buffet as being a very lovely way for the host to share the breakfast items with the guests. The glass jars were much more inviting than plastic dispensers. Although, I understand the practicality of plastic, and the need to keep food dispensers sanitary. But for home use, a large glass jar, such as a cookie jar, is a nice way to both store and display the cereal.

And here's our home cereal jar which has a permanent home on the kitchen counter. That's a shallow measuring scoop in the container for serving -- we leave it in there all of the time. This is just one of those little things in my kitchen that makes me smile.

Yesterday's Lunch: Letting Nothing Go to Waste

Since I don't plan to spend as much as usual on groceries for this month, I am making use of every leftover that is possible. For breakfast yesterday, I had the leftover serving of potato casserole that one daughter didn't finish. Usually, I won't eat someone else's leftovers. You know, germs and all of that. But hey, we are family, she did grow inside of me long ago. So, to get over the hurdle of "germs," I changed the casserole serving into a fried potato dish. Quite good. Lunch, though, is really where I excelled at using the leftovers.

This is what I used from our assortment of leftovers for my lunch yesterday. On New Year's day we had a ham dinner with asparagus (and that potato casserole). When I prepare asparagus, I break the bottom of the stems off at the tender point. This is the portion that many people discard. At almost $3 per pound, I was not about to throw these pieces away. So I saved the tough ends of the stems in a plastic container in the fridge.

Yesterday, I peeled the tough ends and was able to salvage all but the bottom half to one-inch of each stem after peeling. That bottom bit was still too tough to cut through easily, so those bits went into the compost, figuring their stringiness would be unappetizing.

Still, I had a nice pile of asparagus ends to steam and accompany my lunch. Going back further on the calendar, Christmas Day dinner was homemade pizza. I had mixed up a pizza sauce for the occasion, using herbs, seasonings, and tomato paste. There was a small container of this leftover sauce lingering in the fridge. Pushing the limits with how long to keep something, I wanted to use this up right away.

I took 3 whole English muffins from the freezer and made 6 mini pizzas for my week's lunches. I also used more of the wrinkly green pepper plus sliced olives that were lingering in the fridge to top the pizzas. There was also a bit of soft tofu leftover from our tofu and chocolate pie dessert on New Year's day. The tofu was bought on markdown and was past its expiration date, so I knew it was use it or lose it time. I melted a small amount of chocolate chips in the microwave and pureed the tofu with the chocolate, adding in some honey and vanilla extract for a creamy chocolate dessert.

My lunch made use of several of the lingering foods in our fridge, and it was very delicious, to boot!

Roasted Red Peppers for Half Price

A couple of weeks ago, my daughter was asking if we could buy roasted red peppers. I checked our local Fred Meyer and they wanted $4.69 for a 16 oz. jar (about 29 cents per ounce), while Walmart wanted $2.29 for a 10 oz jar (about 23 cents per ounce). I told my daughter that we'd make roasted red peppers when we find a good deal on the peppers in the produce section. Then, last week, I found a $1 bag of 2 green peppers and 1 red pepper on the markdown rack at FM. We used the green peppers on homemade pizza and in burritos. As promised to my daughter, I saved the red pepper for roasting. The pepper was getting a little wrinkly, but it was still okay for roasting.

I used my oven for the roasting, baking at 400 F degrees for 20 minutes, turning, then baking another 20 minutes. (Fortunately, I had other items in the oven baking along with the pepper.)

Immediately after removing the baking sheet from the oven I put a glass bowl over the pepper to steam it for 15 minutes.

When done with the steaming, the pepper's skin slipped off easily.

I sliced the skinned pepper into strips, put in a canning jar, and covered with a 50/50 blend of olive oil and vegetable oil. The jar of roasted red peppers will keep for 5 days or so in the fridge.

As a bag of peppers was $1 on markdown, the red pepper cost 34 cents. I used about 1/3 of a cup of oil to cover the peppers, for a cost of about 50 cents. I would estimate the my half-pint jar was about 5/6 full or about 6  3/4 ounces. My cost per ounce, then, is about 12 cents, about 1/2 price from the jarred red peppers. If I had wanted to use the peppers immediately, then I would not have needed the oil to cover, and my cost per ounce would have been around 5 or 6 cents. By the way, the oil will not be wasted but will be used in salad dressings and to saute meat and vegetables.

January Spending to Save Big Later in the Year

Although I am trying to keep a grip on spending this month, there is one kind of spending that I am allowing because it will save me big bucks later. That's gift spending. In the past 10 days, I have been stalking websites and brick and mortar stores for gift-ables to use for birthdays and Christmas 2019. This is how I can afford a few sort of high-end gifts for my family. In very early January, many retailers have not only their holiday clearance sales but also have their annual or semi-annual sales. Deals can be found both in-person and online. In addition, by shopping online, I also targeted department stores that are not even in my area. I upped my savings by signing up for email lists to get an introductory discount to combine with sales at various online retailers. On a variety of gift items, ranging from bath and body products to cashmere accessories, I saved between 40 and 75% off of the regular retail price for everything that I bought. I now have gifts for spring and fall birthdays, Easter, and Christmas for most of the people on my gift list. I will fill out my gift closet throughout the coming year and add items that become favorites as I hear about them.

I am careful to buy gifts that are versatile, in that they could change recipients if needed, avoiding sized items. For example, a cashmere wrap could be a gift for many of the women in my family, and it would fit any of them (although, for the time being, I have it earmarked for one specific female). In bath and body products, holiday gift sets, such as sets of travel-sized, assorted scents of hand cream or shower gel, are often deeply discounted. These can be given, as is, during 2019's holiday season, or they can be taken out of the holiday gift box and presented in a sheer fabric bag for a birthday gift. These gift sets can also be broken up for smaller gifts, such as for Easter, Valentine's Day, or a small birthday gift for a friend. While it may sound like my purchases are primarily female gifts, I have also bought several men's gifts, such as sweaters and men's grooming products, as well as some couples' gifts, such as household and holiday items.

In addition to gifts, I stocked up on gift wrap, tags, and boxed Christmas cards for 50 cents a package at Dollar Tree's clearance sale, and next year's Christmas candy for the family at 50-75% off retail price from several grocery stores. As a bonus, one of the candy items (truffles wrapped in red foil) will be used for Valentines Day treats for my family.

I think I mentioned this before, but I keep a log of all of the gifts that I have bought and who is to receive them. By shopping in advance, and tracking for whom things are intended, my gift-giving has less last-minute spending, which in my experience has always been the most expensive kind of gift spending. Plus, birthdays and holidays are less hectic, and I feel more organized going into any gift-giving season.

I know, by January, most of us just want to put Christmas behind us. For me, as our family continues to celebrate Christmas through Epiphany, the gift-shopping is just one extension of the holiday season, with the added perk of the charge that I get when I know that I am saving our family money. So, for me, this works.

Those Holiday Leftover Odds and Ends

I could not coax anybody to drink that last cup of eggnog. It sat and sat in the fridge for days and had developed a hint of a sour taste to it. So, what do you do with leftover eggnog or flavored coffee creamer? Two of our favorite uses for leftover eggnog are these Eggnog Scones and eggnog pancakes. As I was making dinner last night, I also cooked a batch of eggnog pancakes for today's breakfast. I used the last cup of eggnog in place of some of the milk and added a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a bit of butter flavoring in a regular pancake recipe. They turned out delicious and were a great use for that last bit of eggnog.

Pumpkin Spice coffee creamer can also be substituted for some of the milk in pancakes or waffles. The Peppermint Mocha coffee creamer is a little more difficult to use in recipes, as the main flavor notes are mint and cocoa. However, I think this creamer would be a tasty substitution for milk in a fudge frosting for brownies. We've also been using it in mugs of cocoa and may try the last of it in a pot of mint-chocolate pudding or freezing it in small single-serving containers for use some time in the future.

I don't normally buy flavored coffee creamers. However, having these at home kept my seasonal coffee drinking costs to a minimum. The creamers were on sale for $1.99 each. I used a couple of tablespoons in a cup of coffee, making my cost for a Pumpkin-Spice Latte or Peppermint Mocha Latte about 10-15 cents per cup. A single, green mermaid seasonal coffee cost more than the entire bottle of flavored creamer. I think it was a pretty good deal for me.

Welcome 2019!

Happy New Year, friends!

I love new beginnings. I feel optimistic about life, about my place in this world, and about my prospects for the next season. North American weather may indicate that it is winter. However, in my heart it is spring. Local grocery stores must agree, as two stores that I visited yesterday were selling tulips.

On the topic of grocery stores -- on my list of accomplishments for yesterday, the fourth item was sticking to a budget while grocery shopping. The 1st was Senior Discount day at Fred Meyer, so I turned the morning into my major grocery shopping day for the month. One daughter and I stopped into three stores to pick up deals. I was prepared. I had a list and coupons, and I had read the ads. In the grocery department, January is notorious for a lack of great deals on food items. I have found that  in the lean months of winter, the best way to combat this situation is to shop multiple stores and focus on loss leaders, clearance items, seasonal produce, and price-booking the staples. This is exactly how I tackled the stores yesterday. It's difficult to say what was my biggest score, as I did well on several items. On the list of my great deals: blocks of cheese for $2.24/lb, milk at 89 cents/half-gallon, eggs at 99 cents/dozen, flour tortillas at 89 cents/package, and hot dogs at 75 cents/package. I also bought some produce, bread, ground beef, coating chocolate, tofu, yogurt, peanut butter, and sparkling cider, spending just over $90.

While picking up groceries, I found some clearance items to use as gifts for the 2019 holiday season.
Yes, the holiday 2019 shopping season has begun. I shop year round for birthdays and holidays, keeping my stash of gift-ables in a closet. It would be easy for the gift stockpile to get out of hand, and it has in past years. In anticipation of such a situation, I have a couple of pages in my journal dedicated to how I intend to disperse this amass of gifts. As I pick up items, I enter them both in a general list, as well as in an index with the names of the intended recipients. With these two lists, I can readily see types of gifts that I have in abundance as well as types that I am lacking. I mention all of this as it is a system that works well for me, and could possibly be of assistance for you, too.

If this week's shopping is any indication, 2019 appears to be a promising year for my budget. Here's to new beginnings, budgets that will balance, and a year to be well-lived! Have a great day, friends!

The Finished Treat Tower

This is the finished treat tower. It turned out very nicely, if I do say so myself.  I had most of the ingredients and all of the decorative items on hand, needing to buy just a few items to complete some of the contents. And it is heavy! At least 5 pounds, maybe more. It should be a real pleaser for the recipient.

At the top of the tower, I attached an ornament that was in the free box that I picked up near the end of summer or beginning of fall.

My daughter helped me make the popcorn this afternoon (so it would be fresh, as the tower will be given tomorrow), and I wanted to show you how it looks. It's very delicious! She emphasized that the popcorn flavorings are about half the price at Walmart and WinCo, in comparison to other grocery stores, and she says that Walmart has more flavors. So, definitely do check around, if you're ever looking to buy the popcorn flavorings.

I also wanted to wish you all a very merry Christmas.  May you feel the blessings and joy of this special day.

Filling the Tins: Cookies and Candy

The last tin

This last tin is medium-sized and holds cookies, foil-wrapped chocolate candies, and candy canes. I only have half of the cookies ready -- the Nutty Caramel Bars, but I will finish the other cookies tomorrow -- Chocolate, Chocolate Chip, and Peppermint Drop Cookies. One daughter wanted to help with the baking, so I'm waiting until she can be home.

For the cookies, I put each one in a mini muffin paper. With the caramel bars, this keeps them from sticking together, but also improves the presentation, I think. I'll do the same with the drop cookies.

Here's how the Spiced Nuts turned out. I lined this tin with plastic wrap, then rolled the excess so that it fits neatly inside the tin.

I topped the nuts with a circle of waxed paper, to hold in freshness.

Those are the filled tins. There are 5 tins altogether, holding Nacho Cheese Popcorn, White Chocolate and Peppermint Pretzels, Drinking Chocolate, assortment of cookies and candies, and Spiced Nuts. When I get them stacked and held tight with a ribbon, I'll post the final picture. I think this is a very nice gift. I know that I would be very pleased to receive it, so I am hoping the recipient will feel the same. I took a couple of shortcuts, but by and large, the tin contents are homemade. My total cost was about $11 or $12, not including the leftovers which will become the holiday treats for my own family. A typical snack and treat tower of similar size and variety costs about $35 to $45, retail, if purchased through a company such as Harry & David.

Filling the Tins: Drinking Chocolate Mix

I took the easy way out on this one. I bought Nesquik in single serve packets. It is pre-measured for both the cocoa and sugar, and the cocoa in Nesquik does not clump at the bottom of the mug the way baking cocoa does. Other than the Nesquik, I used powdered instant milk, powdered non-dairy creamer, chocolate chips, and mini marshmallows, all of which I had on hand for our own cocoa mix in a jar. The Nesquik came from Dollar Tree. These cute cellophane cones were in my stash from a previous year.

The total hands on time was about 15-20 minutes, and my cost (including ingredients that I had on hand) was about $1.70 for two cones, each making 12 ounces of rich drinking chocolate.

I like the layered look, so I made up each cone separately. Working with the cone in a drinking glass (to keep it upright), I first scooped in 1/3 cup of instant milk. On top of that, I added 2 tablespoons of non-dairy coffee creamer. Then, I poured in a packet of Nesquik.

I chopped 3 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips for each cone, spooning in on top of the Nesquik.

I wrapped about 1/3 cup of mini marshmallows in a piece of plastic wrap and placed on top of the drinking chocolate mix. These cones are secured with a twist tie.

My goal with the tins is to average about $2.00 to $2.50 per each tin. So far, I'm under that goal, leaving some extra in the budget for tomorrow's tin. 

Cocoa mix in a jar or baggie is a great last-minute gift idea or stocking stuffer that doesn't take much time or expertise.