2nd Week of July

Use it Up:

So far we've been doing well on the "use it up" front.  Other than a watermelon for immediate consumption, and 2 boxes of crackers and cereal for the pantry storage, we haven't done any grocery shopping.

Meals have included things like: baked potatoes topped with cheese and pepperoni, barbecued meatballs served over rice, pancakes, scrambled egg/bacon/cheese wraps, a hamburger helper type dish, fresh baked biscuits, lasagna, BBQ porkchops, etc.  We've had various fruits and veggies to round those out.  Snacks have been an assortment of chips, popcorn, crackers, etc. We also celebrated my daughter's birthday with a cheesecake made using food storage ingredients and cream cheese, which I try to buy in bulk because it holds up quite well in the refrigerator.  I baked a cake and used food storage items for that as well.


 On the frugal front -- 

 I've played with printing my own stationery.  I've yet to decide if it is more frugal, but I do like the process. 
I've done some light canning and saved the water for my plants.

 We've planned birthday meals and desserts from items on hand.

  I also bought two books on Amazon for 30 cents each, but I did have to pay shipping, which was still a great savings over buying them new.  

 I'm continuing to try to keep the a/c turned up during the day.  It is getting harder as the heat index hits triple digits.  I am also being quite diligent about only using the dryer for towels.  

 We've used up several odd bits of cleaners that were in bottles.

 We washed and detailed our cars. I checked out a book from the library.

 I've been working on a shawl using leftover yarn from a project completed more than 10 years ago, and I am down to finishing the edging.

 I harvested my basil and green onion.  (They're dried now and in my food storage.)

We had our annual eye exams and while we were out I doubled up on trips to pick up a few household items.  I'm currently looking into whether I can order my new glasses online or if I will need to head back to my usual place.