Frugal February and thrift store Saturday

One thrift store visit this morning---

The Valentine stickers were 90% off so just 5 cents for both sheets.

My husband liked the $2 crystal frame.

The wood plaque was $1 and was something I was looking for so I can make a version of a Pinterest pin.

Remember last week I bought all that Farberware for a song? 

I thought this big covered skillet was Farberware, but when I washed it and saw the marks, it is really that waterless cookware that used to be so popular. It is also very expensive. When I looked last week on EBay, there were a numbers of listings for waterless cookware but only one cover 12.5 inch skillet. And it was $299!  I have shopped at thrift stores and yard sales for a long time but this is the best deal I have ever come across. 

I am cooking in it for the first time tonight and it cooks so nicely too.

My husband is having eye surgery soon and he had a prescription for Vigamox eye drops. With his insurance, at CVS, his cost $20.

A relative just came down with a corneal ulcer, from wearing contact lenses too long. That relative also got a prescription for the same Vigamox and filled it at a locally owned drug store. That relative has a different employer but the same medical insurance.  Unfortunately, that prescription cost $110. 

The prescriptions were filled 9 days apart. 

Needless to say, that relative will be going to CVS is future prescriptions are needed. 

Frugal tip- pharmacies are not all the same. Ask others, call about prices, asked for generics- hopefully you won't pay $90 more the same tiny bottle of eye drops.

Frugal February day 13 - the nut house

My husbands coworker, David,  had a very good pecan harvest,  he gave us some pecans and we also picked up a lot of pecans on halves at his orchard. I don't know how many pounds are already in our freezer, but lots, and there is going to be more.  Back in the fall
My husband cracked and picked all of ours out the old fashioned way, with hand crackers and a metal pick.

David had more pecans mechanically "cracked and blown"   The pecans are not ready to eat after that process but a lot of the shell has been removed.  He wants them picked out all the way and my husband is doing it for him, on thirds. David will get 2/3s of this batch and we will get 1/3.

This is what the cracked and blown pecans look like- there is very little shell left in. 

David brought us a big storage tub with 2 trash bags full of pecans. 

My husband has already cleaned half of them,  I think it yielded 6 gallon bags - each bag is almost 4 pounds of pecans, from just half of them. 

These pecans would be especially delicious in pecan pie but we are trying to not eat that many calories. 

We do like to snack on nuts so I tried roasting a few from the freezer. I stirred them in just a little melted butter and salt, then baked them at 350 for about 8 minutes. I think they taste really good. 

For portion control and convenience, I used a 1/4 measuring cup and divided them into small dishes. 

I expect some of our pecans will end up in pecan pies or chocolate chip cookies but for everyday eating, we will enjoy eating our pecans roasted and in small portions. 

My frugal tip- everyone isn't friends with a pecan grower but everyone knows busy people. If you are willing to do odd jobs, I think there are plenty of opportunities to do similar things, 

Rescued from the rag bag

Finishing this quilt top did not take too long. If you remember,the finished top was something my dad got at a yard sale or thrift store. It is all scraps and was not much to look at it. But my husband likes it, and since I want to make a bunch of quilts in 2014, I finished it.


Linking to the party at Green Willow Pond

Our bed is a queen and the new quilt is laying on top of the bedspread. I think the new quilt would cover a double bed just fine. It should be quite warm as the batting in it is a thick cotton one.m

Oh Sew Scrappy......

The back is scrappy too, I couldn't decide what the predominate color was so I used 4 scraps and pieced them to back a piece big enough.

Quilt Purists would think this is very primitive but that is OK with us. I like precise, perfectly made quilts but at this stage of my life, I can't fit that fussy sewing in. Sew- if I do finish 6 or 12 quilts in 2014 like I hope to- some of them will be more projects like this. 

Frugal February- day 11

I pack this little cooler for my husband before he goes to work. It is pretty much the same thing every day -

2 servings of fruit

1 serving of nuts

1 string cheese

A sandwich on a homemade bun with a few chips and pickles

Coffee and a bottle of water, an ice pack and a cloth napkin

This keeps him fed for lunch and breaks.

I like these Ziploc 3 compartment containers as they keep the sandwich and chips from getting squashed. 

The nuts are in a reused baby food container. 

I try not to use many sandwich bags -they only cost 2 cents at Aldi though.

All of his coworkers but 1 buy their breakfast and lunch at nearby fast food restaurants everyday. Those coworkers also complain about being broke too. They think my husband is spoiled because I pack his lunch too.  Silly men! 

Packing a lunch like this is not really any trouble, it just takes a little planning. 

When I was younger and living at home, I packed my dad's lunch pail. He did not care what was in it, he was just happy if I would fix it. He liked fruit and homemade cookies and crackers spread with peanut butter. I remember one time that we needed to buy groceries and all I could come up with for dad's entree was a stale hotdog bun with cheese and pickles. When he got home from work, he told me it was a delicious sandwich. 

When I was just a baby, my dad and his uncle worked at a petroleum refinery in west Texas.  All the men took lunches.  One man, a real creature of habit, always had the exact same lunch- a bologna sandwich, a banana and a Hershey bar. The men at this plant were jokesters, especially Uncle Jesse. One day, he convinced all the men to bring that same lunch and to eat it at the same time as the creature of habit man. Dad said all the men had a great time doing it but the guy did not realize he was being pranked until all the men were eating Hershey bars at the same time. 

The contents of my husband's cooler costs less than $2. 

If he ate fastfood, I am sure it would cost at least $10-$15 every day.

Sunday stitching

Linking up with Kathy's Quilts- Sunday slow stitching HERE

All the animal squeezums were finally finished today.
They are made with an old pattern from plastic canvas and yarn, with silly google eyes.

This quilt top is from This Crate full of WIPs and UFOs.
I felt so good about just finishing the string quilt that I went to this box and pulled out a couple of quilt tops. My husband voted to finish this scrappy one first. It is really scrappy, isn't it? Many of the sewing pieces in that crate were made by mom, but not this one. I think it must of been a thrift store find or something my dad got at a yard sale.
I can imagine a woman piecing it with just whatever small fabric scraps she came by. Did I mention it is really really scrappy?

 I plan on just tying this one.  I had to piece a backing and I will show it when I finish it.

 

I'll be siting here hand tying for much of the remainder of this Sunday. 

If you like to sew, I hope you have had some pleasurable sewing time this weekend too.