Five Frugal Things | apples, a frying pan, a coupon, and more
1. I promptly made applesauce with my bruised apples.
I left a few out for eating, but I turned the rest into applesauce.
(Here's how I make applesauce.)
The jars are all in the chest freezer now.
And since some of you have wondered: yes, you can certainly freeze stuff in jars. You just need to leave plenty of headspace for the food inside to expand upward as it freezes, and then you'll be good to go.
2. I bought a cheap frying pan for my costume.
I'm going as Rapunzel (post haircut, because I'm a brunette!), and I wanted a frying pan to go with my costume.
But cast iron like from the Tangled movie is way too heavy. So, I bought a cheap, very light Teflon pan from Goodwill and I'm spray painting it black.
(It should be noted that this is the only cheap part of my costume because my actual dress was kinda pricey. But we are not going to focus on that because this post is not called Five Expensive Things.)
(Of course, I am going to resell my costume, which will help a bit.)
3. I used up the corn and the corn tortillas from my freezer challenge.
I made a taco salad, and I cut up and pan-fried the tortillas into strips to go atop the salad.
Sooo, tomato paste is all that's left from this photo!
4. I spent almost exactly $50 to use a $10/$50 coupon.
Because this is what frugal people do. 😉
I had a $10/$50 grocery coupon, so I bought items that were on great sales and kept a running tally to make sure I got up to $50 but not much over.
My total after the coupon was $43, so, yay!
5. I used lots of misc. stuff to make my lunch.
It is a fabulous feeling, isn't it?
Salads are such a handy way to use up random stuff. And scrambled eggs are too, incidentally.
I absolutely love using up the bits and pieces in my fridge!! Great job. 🙂
1. My FIL is coming to visit from several provinces away. The extended family members we have drawn for this year's Christmas gift exchange live near him, so I'll send gifts back with him.
2. Said gifts for our extended family include a set of weights that were purchased second hand (and given to the recipient already because they were needed a few months ago!) plus a toy from our own children's collection that we are finished with for her toddler son.
3. I'm using this cold rainy day to make beef broth from the soup bones that were in our deep freeze. (We still have a lot of bones left, plus a ton of chicken carcasses... it's a good thing it's soup/stew season!) I'll be making beef/cabbage soup to use more of the green cabbage that came in our produce box this month. It will likely be frozen in single servings for lunches.
4. I visited the children's consignment store last weekend to pick up Halloween costume pieces. We had great luck with a whole bag of armour for one child's knight costume for $3.99, and a long hooded black cape with red lining and lace for another child's vampire costume... for $6.99. Plus a pair of Puma sneakers in great shape for $6.99. (Really needed!)
5. Reserved and picked up more library books. 🙂
Hmmm. How about an All Baby list in honor of Sole Girl's one-week birthday today? Okay.
1) Breastfeeding! Free! Mostly I breastfeed because, well, I know how and I'm lazy and can't imagine washing bottles and so on, but the free thing is a nice bonus. Though I must admit to being very irritated by the poster in my hospital room that showed a glowy picture of a mom and baby nursing and the slogan, "It's Free. It's Easy. Breastfeed." Free, I will give you. Easy? Debatable, to say the least.
2) Hand-me-down baby clothes! I don't think this girl has worn a single new item of apparel yet, and has very few in her future. When she isn't wearing something her brothers wore--which means at this very moment she's in pajamas declaring her "Mommy's Little Dude"--she's wearing something given to me by a friend/acquaintance/anyone who just wants all that baby stuff out of their house already. There are a lot of those people, especially if you decide to have one more kid when all the rest of your circle of parents is declaring themselves done.
3) Previously prepared food! I froze quite a few things in anticipation of the first week post-baby--many loaves of homemade bread, taco meat, pre-made hamburgers, etc.--which has now almost been depleted. Still a lot of lamb chili in the freezer, though . . .
4) Free mother's helper! My mom gets all the credit for this one, since she came out for two-and-a-half weeks to do my laundry, clean my house, cook, and entertain my three feral sons. She left today. I suspect it might take her awhile to recover from this trip.
5) Healthy baby! This girl is the first of my children to not have any trouble with jaundice. With my oldest son, we had not-good health insurance and the five days I had to spend at the hospital with him under the blue lights cost us thousands of dollars. I think my insurance now would have covered most of it, if not all, but I also wasn't driving back and forth to the village for tests and check-ups and whatever. Baby came home, and that's it. Hooray.
Congrats on the new bundle of joy!
My daughter is two and we just now are starting to understand why she wouldn't be breastfed (shape of her gums and stuff.) The amount of shame for bottle feeding my wife was subjected to was sickening.
Battra92, some people really need to get a hobby. They have entirely too much time to put into being opinionated jerks. In my opinion.
Aww, I'm so sorry that happened to you. People need to mind their own business and stop sharing opinions when they're not asked for.
And while I am a huge supporter of breastfeeding, I just think that sometimes, the importance of it is overblown. Compared to other parenting decisions, it's fairly small. Like, showing love to your kids, speaking to them kindly, disciplining calmly instead of out of anger...all that stuff has a far larger effect on your kid's life than whether they had formula or breastmilk.
People can be so unkind. My sis in law had so many people giving her a hard time because her son wouldn't breast feed. No issues with gum shape or anything...just wouldn't no matter how hard she tried.
Some babies can be real stinkers.
You know what though, he's a loved, content, curious, mischievous, healthy, very energetic little boy animal despite being bottle fed...that's what matters.
I agree with Kristen...being a parent is so much more than breastmilk or formula.
What's the saying...Love makes little things grow. Yep, my preemie girl is 14 and she's almost 5 ft 6 (!!) obviously the saying is true 🙂
So keep up the good work and love on your family.
Hugs to your wife, you, and your kiddo.
That treatment is a big negative. A friend of mine once said "A good bottle experience beats a bad breast experience." Yes, nursing is generally better than formula but you know what's better than that? Babies with full tummies.
I am trying hard to use some free veggies a friend gave us even if it takes extra work and planning. I erased a few used pages in a workbook to reuse for homeschooling.I returned something that didn't fit. I bought a used binder at Goodwill for an organizing project. I bought a few spring dresses for my daughter to stash away (for $1 each).
Woo! I love freezing applesauce in jars!
1. Repotted pepper plants from the garden to bring inside before the frost! Supposedly they can live for years, I'll find out soon!
2. I was craving Thai food, so I made some for dinner last night instead of grabbing take-out
3. I made homemade hot sauce using peppers from the garden!
4. I went to a free show at the planetarium for a free date night with my hubby!
5. We hosted friends last weekend for a fire! We had a tree fall down in our yard this spring! So we have a bunch more f free firewood!
I can't wait to see your costume! It's such an original and frugal to buy a frying pan from Goodwill and spray pain it. Mr. FAF and I don't have costumes this year, but our son will dress up as a little lion for our community Halloween event. I just can't wait to take pictures of him and send them to my family! ^.^
Your salad looks like a work of art. You definitely know how to put a salad together! 😉
You should do a 5 expensive things post for April Fool's. 😀 We did a fridge clean out on Monday, so that was our frugal thing. We also brewed beer instead of buying it, we didn't eat out this weekend, and I bought some baby clothes on sale, used TopCashBack and RetailMeNot for coupons and got free shipping!
1. made apples from a friend into applesauce.
2. switched the 2 1/2 year old back to cloth diapers
3. made a list of freezer foods and then a menu off of that to equal a month of freezer challenge meals, buying only fruits/veg/milk and possibly a few things to finish meals
4. babysat for 2 days of my daughter's music class which paid for 10% of what I pay for her and her brother's classes for a month
5. will be picking up some kefir grains and sourdough starter from a friend on Friday to make my own instead of buying the expensive store brand (friend had extra to get rid of so...)
I am older and probably at a different stage of life than many of your readers but here are my frugal plans.
1. Promise myself I will not buy/order any more clothes.
2. Really insist to myself I will not buy any more clothes.
3. Swear, with my right hand raised, I will not buy any more clothes.
Well, you get the picture. 🙂
I scored big at CVS. I had $10 Extra Bucks and a 30% off coupon. I purchased almost $20 worth of merchandise for less than $4. Love my frugal life. 🙂
On your point #1 freezing in glass jars. I'll add to your headspace hint that you also need to allow plenty of time to allow the contents to thaw. Avoid the urge to warm the frozen contents by putting the jar in hot water. You will shatter the jar. Ask me how I know this. That being said, I prefer to can my applesauce. Its an easy process using a cold pack canner. This conserves precious room in the freezer. I have a smallish freezer but plenty of storage room in the pantry.
I can vouch for that....
You can also prevent breaking jars by simply freezing with the lida off overnight and then adding the lids. This way the items in the jar can expand just fine without any pressure from the lid. I do this with homemade spaghetti sauce all the time and I've never had a broken jar. I reuse jars from store bought items this way also.
1. Grocery shopped at Aldi and didn't go over my limit. Amazed and grateful at how much good stuff I got for how much I spent.
2. Pulled the last remnants from the garden; cooked the kale, bundled the herbs to dry.
3. Went to Sam's Club for pajamas. I found some books I wanted and put them in my cart, and then I put them back and didn't get them. But I did get 2 pair of pajama pants for $10.
4. Cleaned the freezer out and found some really old stuff I had to throw out. But, I used what I could and made a mental note of what we won't eat in the future.
5. Got a corned beef brisket really reasonable at Aldi last week. Made it in the crock pot with carrots and potatoes and cabbage (from the freezer) and it was very good. Yesterday I put the leftover broth and veggies in the crockpot and it made a delicious soup. Going to make Reuben sandwiches for dinner tonight. So we are eating leftovers and got three meals from one piece of meat for about $13.
#1: that is so me every time I go to Aldi. It's always amazing how much you can get for so little there!
I think one reason for me that I don't overspend at Aldi is because it's such a compact store that I am limited in my impulse purchases.
How do you freeze your cabbage, please? It is so I expensive now I would like to try this!
It was red cabbage. I chopped it up and put it in a Ziploc and put it in the freezer. I had never done it before but I was pleased with the results.
You should blanch it first in boiling water. I researched it last year when we got cabbage after cabbage in our produce boxes. Blanching only takes a minute or 2 in boiling water and then dry and pack into freezer bags. We have some in the freezer from last summer still and it's just as good as when I froze it.
I will try that. Thanks, Athena!
1. I returned some black pants to the Old Navy retail store that I had bought online (they only had these pants online) and I found a pair of jeans that fit for less than the return. Why is it so hard to find jeans and why can't they have simpler descriptions? Boyfriend, skinny, super skinny, slim fit, curvy, bootcut, low rise, mid rise, HIGHRISE (haha) then add all the washes and short and tall and it is complicated for a 47 y.o. woman to not look ridiculous! The saleslady had me try on "rockstar" jeans, what could be further from my reality?! Being cheap probably doesn't help with this problem!
2. I cleaned and polished up my Danskos for my trip out of Florida to see the grandkids!
3. Bought some groceries for easy meals for my husband while I am away.
4. Planning on buying the grandkids' Christmas presents while I am in KC, so I don't have to ship them later and can buy exactly what they need/want.
5. Got my hair dyed at the beauty school for $18!
Lisey loves the Rockstar jeans! And yes, it's kind of complicated to find just the right jeans. So many options!
My point exactly, she is NOT 47 and a Grandma! 😉
Well said on the jeans. Yoga pants please!!!
Hey there...I hear you...finding jeans is no fun for this five foot nothing 44 year old...and the life i live is....well...im no Rockstar either...lol...BUT...I'll say that target has deizen jeans and they fit pretty well...they are just a basic no nonsense jean. Price is good to...just thought id give you a head's up.
Well, we have a sick kiddo at my place (Coxsakie virus) so life has been a bit hectic because of that.
1.) Broke my phone and was able to buy a kit on Amazon and replace the front glass. It was not a repair for the faint at heart and honestly, I'm not too satisfied with my final handiwork but it works again. It will last me until I get a new phone (eyeing the nice flagships of a few years ago that will work on Ting.)
2.) Been eating out of the freezer for a while as well. I've also been trying to get better about packing my wife's lunch since she doesn't have the luxury of going home for lunch like I do.
3.) Have a bunch of apples left from picking and we're debating either applesauce or freezing them for making pies later.
4.) I have been working on playing some older games that I already had instead of giving in to the temptation of buying a Nintendo Switch. I wouldn't really have a lot of time to play the Switch anyway (toddlers demand so much time) so it can wait.
5.) Work gave me a rewards certificate for being here 10 years. It could only be used at certain stores but I realized that those stores sell giftcards to places I'm going to spend money anyway (e.g. Netflix.) So no extra clutter and I don't forfeit the money.
My two little ones have Coxsackie right now as well. What a lovely souvenir from our vacation! I hope your kiddo gets well soon and doesn't pass it to anyone else!
Make and freeze unbaked apple pies. Wrap them well for the freezer and then they can go straight into the oven. You would never know they had been frozen.
1. Cleaned out fridge and freezer - got rid of the bio experiments in the back and didn't have to buy a haz mat suit to do it after all (Saved cost of haz mat suit.)
2. Made The Frugal Girl's Granola Bars for the umpteenth time, using up leftover walnuts, a few remaining mini-chocolate chips and whole wheat pastry flour bought on whim six months ago. Works as both breakfast and dessert.
3. Asked for physical therapy order from my doctor since we have finally met deductible for the year. Since I have ongoing arthritis problems, it's always a good idea to get stronger. I am going three times a week until the end of the year; doctor thinks it's a great idea.
4. Did it myself - saved cost of professional carpet cleaner after dog got very sick last week on light beige carpet.
5. Made Halloween care package for my son in college, making sure to keep costs low. Decorated container using craft materials I have on hand.
We're getting close to finally meeting our deductible...but I'm thinking it's going to happen awfully close to the end of the year! Which doesn't do us much good.
Hello, as someone who lives in the UK and has access to the NHS, I would be very grateful if you could explain what this means? I wonder every time ‘meeting a deductible’ is mentioned! Thank you so much, Zoe 🙂
Sure! So, a lot of medical plans in the US have a deductible, which is a set amount of money you have to pay toward your medical bills before the insurance starts kicking in.
If you have a $2000 deductible, for instance, then you have to pay the first $2000 of your medical bills that year, and then insurance will start covering bills after that.
And the premium that you pay each month for the medical plan varies based on how high the deductible is. The higher the deductible, the less the plan typically costs per month. So, you weigh the two factors against your typical spending and choose the plan that makes the most sense for you.
And then there's the co-pay, which is what we have to pay at each visit in addition to the above payments... and even after all that, the most our insurance will pay is 80% of the bill. This also does not include medicines. My husband and I pay thousands of dollars every month for our health care. My brother is in the UK and it must be amazing to not have to pay so much!
1.) Stopped at the library to return books that will be due during my conference this weekend. Avoiding a $0.10 fine on each of them was worth the stop.
2.) Bought inexpensive snacks for the roadtrip to the aforementioned conference.
3.) Checked out books on CD and audio books through Overdrive for the aforementioned roadtrip to the aforementioned conference.
4.) Figured out that if I take the aforementioned roadtrip to the aforementioned conference, it costs my university $20 less, I get reimbursed for mileage (woot!), AND I get to see my sister and my 11-month-old niece. WIN. WIN. WIN.
5.) I resisted McDonald's this morning. I wanted a $2 McCafe and a Sausage McMuffin SOOOOOOOO MUCH.
1. Actually put the coupons that came in the mail in my purse instead of leaving them in the "bill drawer" so I can actually use them when I am out and about. (I have missed out on some good coupons lately thanks to my laziness.)
2. Hand washed dishes for yet another week (it's been since June) until I can afford to get the some plumbing done. But I am close! I should have enough saved next month.
3. The usual suspects: packing a lunch, using the library, etc.
4. There was a creepy book I wanted to read for October and the hold list at the library was long so I decided to use a Barnes & Noble gift card I had to purchase the book. I chose the mass-market size paperback instead of the trade paperback, even though I prefer holding the larger trade paperback size when I read. But it was almost twice as expensive, and its not a book I will likely keep or read again. So I saved $7 bucks and am enjoying the story thoroughly.
5. I am remembering to eat up the yogurt leftover from the parfait bar we had at work. I brought in 2 big tubs and I don't want to waste them by forgetting and letting them go bad in the work fridge.
1. Our curtain rod broke, so I bought a new one and used a 65% off coupon code that made the purchase much less painful.
2. I ate leftover soup for lunch.
3. I picked up a book I reserved through interlibrary loan.
4. We *just* turned our heat on a day and a half ago. We live in the north.
5. Today I got 1.5 bushels of apples for $12 to make into applesauce tomorrow.
Ha, I just turned OFF my a/c. I live in central Florida!
I live in TX and turned ours off earlier this week but it had tom come back on the last day or 2 since the temps went back up to about the 90's. It's going back down over the weekend so it'll be off again.
1) Staying at an Airbnb while in Quebec City, which will cut my accommodations roughly in half.
2) Bringing my own lunch to the school where I am taking French lessons.
3) Not signing up for the really expensive private lessons at my school.
4) Eating most of my meals in my Airbnb instead of going to restaurants.
5) Using my feet and public transportation instead of renting a car.
Wow...it almost makes it sound like travel isn't ridiculously expensive.
If you still need to use up that tomato paste, I tried this recipe last week and it's really tasty!
https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/10/quick-pasta-and-chickpeas-pasta-e-ceci/
1) Bought some necessary stuff at Old Navy and realized they forgot to give me my ON Bucks.. Went back and they wrote it on my receipt.. that is 30 off 75.. and we still need cold weather stuff...
2) Packed my lunch for work even when I did not want to and was running late...
3) Bought stuff for work online and used Ebates...had other people pick it up at the store since it was closer to them.. Saved me on gas.. earned me points on my checking account, money back from ebates and of course I get reimbursed...
4) picked up Tulle for the daughters halloween costume.. normally 6.99/roll. on sale for 3.49.. rang up 2.00 per roll.. got money back on Ibotta
5) still cooking from the freezer..
1. I add 1 can of beans to 1/2 pound of ground turkey every time we do a taco/Mexican meal.
And then I divide that for 2 meals.
2. We're using a gift card for gas. Sometimes it's so hard to be practical, but this helps meet our budget needs.
3. Let's see, we're on day 3 of potty training. So outside of extra washing, we're about to save tons!
4. I bought one of my girl's gifts off a fb site for 1/3 of retail price. And bought from a friend, so double win!
5. For a splurge this tired am, I bought an iced house coffee (not a more expensive speciality drink) from my local coffee shop. Put hot cocoa mix in my girls milk at home & we had a fun morning with our special drinks:)
* still eating from the freezer (and doing well)
* Spent 5,72$ on Taco Bell at lunch. It would have been cheaper to eat at home, but I really didn't feel like it so it's still a decent price for a meal A sit down restaurant would have been at least 3-4 times this.
* Went to Goodwill and got an amazing dresd for Christmas! (It's coming people!!). I wear Plus Size, so a new dress doesn't come cheap for me... I got that one for 7,50$! Happy dance right here!
That's about it.
This week let's see
1) I made 5 pounds of tomatoes given to us from my mother-in-law's garden into spaghetti sauce and froze it.
2) Seeded, chopped and prepped bell peppers for the freezer as well (also from the mother-in-law!).
3) Clipped all the stems from our overgrown basil plant, picked off the leaves and made 3 big batches of almond pesto that I froze in ice cube trays and a mini-cupcake pan (I ran out of ice cube trays). I need to transfer the frozen pucks into a freezer bag but we have a TON of super yummy pesto now!
4) Shopped at Aldi and picked up several things inexpensively to give as a gift.
5) Found some clear glass plates and mugs at the dollar store to use as a Christmas gift of Santa cookie plates, milk mugs and reindeer food plates for family members with younger kids. I'll be using craft items I already own to finish up the plates.
6) Packed leftovers for hubby's lunches.
7) Cooked meals out of things we already have on hand in the freezer and pantry.
8) Sewed up the bottoms of curtains myself so they would be the right length for our living room rather than puddling on the floor, buying shorter ones or paying someone else to sew them.
9) Turned of the central air and opened the windows to keep the house a comfortable temperature when we had nice weather (I'm in Texas and it's getting hotter again today so the central air will go back on but it's supposed to cool off later in the week and I'll be turning it off again!).
That was more than 5! Once I got started thinking of them I couldn't stop 🙂
Trying especially hard to be frugal as possible, as we'll need the $$$ next month between a major house repair, birthdays, visiting family, and trying to get at least a little bit of a jump on holiday expenses.
1) Tonight I packed my breakfast and lunch for tomorrow and set up my coffeemaker so I can just take my own and not be tempted to buy it.
2) I fed us for the week almost exclusively on items from the pantry and freezer, buying only milk, bread, eggs, and produce.
3) I made a conscious effort to stick with the idea that if enough leftovers are in the house for smorgasbord, I delay what I was going to cook by a night. Rather than add to the leftovers and then have to eat them for days straight, I figure we can polish them off as we go, and it gives me a night off from cooking! (When my daughter was little (4? 5?) she turned her nose up at leftovers, so I dubbed a meal of them as "smorgasbord". Between the fancy sounding word delivered in my fanciest voice and the fact that you could choose *whatever you wanted* from the table, she was sold!)
4) I'm taking a sewing class, and while I'm still totally at beginner level, I've learned enough that I can make a few of our Christmas gifts this year.
5) I realized today that when my husband got his new glasses this summer we didn't take advantage of a free vision discount plan we get through my work . I called the office, and they agreed to retroactively give me the 25% off of the total cost as a credit on our account!
1) I forgot to eat breakfast this morning and luckily had to meet my husband at one of our vendors. This vendor is very sweet and keeps cold drinks and snacks for all of the guys coming in. And yeah, it is all guys except for me. We have a pest control company and I am the only female technician that EVER shows up there to buy chemicals, likely because there are only 2 female technicians in the entire state. LOL Women just don't go for this job. 😉 They are nuts. The hours are flexible, the customers chatty, we hardly work at all in the winter (so welcome because the warmer months ARE busy) and I am helping people. Also, since we own it ourselves the money is amazing. Anyway, I had a granola bar and a water and survived until lunch.
2) LUNCH...I wanted my new favorite salad from Noodles & Company but my practicality won out and I dropped by the house on the way to the next job and threw together a salad of odds and ends and used the last bit of hummus in the tub to whisk up a salad dressing. It was almost as good as the salad I really wanted and lots cheaper.
3) I didn't buy the milkshake I wanted after a hot and difficult job. Why is this all about food today???
4) I am gathering the coupons scattered out of the mail and my pockets all around the house and creating a grocery list based on them. Discarding the ones for things I wouldn't normally buy, of course.
5) The bills are stacked up to be paid today so that they are all early. I have a terrible habit of forgetting and paying late fees. They are all ready now to be paid online just before the due date. I feel like a real adult tonight. 😉
I second April's early commemts above re: Target Denizen Jeans..they are made by Levi Jeans. 27$ worth of AMAZING! I believe I have discussed this clothing item here before. I have 2 pairs of skinnys I wear for everything from weekend grocery shopping to after work hang out on the patio time. They are 4 yrs old and still going. I wear them often.
They fit well, launder well and are super comfy. My 'Go To' go out jean is WHBM,a much more expensive product. But should these denizens die...I would definitely go shopping for more!!!
I LOVE the Frugal Five posts. Here is mine:
1) Free item from supermarket every week by using the club card and downloading the item onto it. What we don't use gets donated to the food bank that I volunteer at.
2) I'm the main donations coordinator for the school fundraiser and have gotten 30 businesses to donate and I will behave and NOT bid on a single thing. There are hotel stays, restaurants, lego toys, kors purses, etc... Nice stuff! But nope, I have enough stuff.
3) I tried a online supermarket delivery service and got FREE delivery plus $20 off my order. Sales were great, too.
4) I get hand me down clothing from my kids. They're guys but I just wear it to the gym and it serves my purpose. It's not a fashion show, right?
5) I walk to school with our son (2 miles) and only drive if it's snowy or rainy. Misty days are still walkable.
Hello everyone!
Well I do lots frugal stuff as someome that had to learn being a frugal mother and wife.
First off I cut the cable 2 years ago only have Netflix now, got cheap deal on cell phone provider added another line with http://www.freedompop.com great phone service for free or cheap plans check the website for all the details.
Second eat out once every 2 weeks use to be 3 days a week not anymore.Using my coupons again.Only do cheap or free stuff with the family.
Third not shopping or impulse buying like I use to putting the $ would've spent in investment account.
Finally using hand me downs when possible and got reduction in the price of my car insurance with State Farm also my husband SUV too along with life insurance.Shop around for good co. and price for insurance you will save yourself 50 to 300 Cha ching!
Happy Savings everyone!
I use straight jars with plastic lids for freezing. We froze the pesto and applsauce that way. Freezer was full of blueberries, but with the larger 2nd freezer there was plenty of room. We did fall clean up in the yard and hubby prepped the snowblower and tractor for the winter. Garlic is planted in the raised beds as well. Hubby cut up peppers, bagged and froze them. He did keep some out to make home made pizza last night. Kids look forawrd to it, each of the boys like theirs different, so he made four separate pizzas. Youngest like just cheese, older will eat mushrooms and pepperoni, but won’t touch the onions and peppers. And there was plenty for lefovers to heat up for another meal. Was a busy week, had to clean the house and do laundry. Between loads of laundry I had hubby give me a haircut, I was overdue, had a lot of splits and my ends needed attention, I wanted him to do it last weekend, but I had alot going on, and just didn’t get to it then. So glad he can do it for me, he got the ends neat for me and it combs so much easier after a trim. I cannot imagine having to waste the time and money to run to the salon, I just don’t have the time for it. It saves me hundrds a year and hubby always does a great job. Had to turn the heat on as it got chilly a couple nights ago. The warm fall has saved on the heating bill, but we keep it at 60 in the house and wear warm socks, slippers and sweaters. Loved the fall colors, but now sadly most of the leaves are down.