Sunday, January 4, 2009

Sunday free crap Sunday

Today was OK.
Went shopping for flannel sheets for the boys. They like mine and have been asking for some. Found them at Target for $15 a set. Also found Bamboo sheets for me, for the summer on sale for $45.

On the forefront of Yankee Frugality, I made a 2 lb. meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner. This is one of the boy's favorites, and will be another dinner later in the week. I used to buy the meatloaf and potatoes ready-made in the deli section of the supermarket. That would have cost me $14.07 before, and only last one meal. I made it all by hand, and it cost me approximately $10. A savings of $4, but really a savings of $9 if you figure that it only cost $5 for the one meal. Not bad, but I think I can do better by buying larger quantities of ground meat and freezing what I don't use immediately. I also started buying frozen chicken breasts, as that is the only part of the chicken they eat.

Also filing this under frugal, I found the oldest's old Tae Kwon Do uniforms, that now fit the youngest. His name is on the lapels (if you can call them that) in Sharpie. I seriously think that is on purpose, so that they cannot be handed down. Well, I'm not into buying new uniforms when I already have the size I need. I got out my Bleach pen, and after 3 treatments with an old toothbrush the blue sharpie came out. the black sharpie is being a bit more stubborn, so it's on treatment #5, which should just about take care of it. I also bleached out the youngest's, so I can hand that down to a family who might need one.

I'm now a firm believer in freecycle. I cleaned closets and the toy room, and found new owners for a Duplo set, a couple boxes of toys, toddler towels, and boys clothes and jammies. Now they are being used by people locally, and I don't worry about some corporation making money off of something that was previously purchased, or about them sitting in some landfill. I've gotten some clothes for the boys that way too! I think of it as the modern day equivalent of a seriously large and local family. I have no nephews handing down clothes anymore, as my 8 year old is the same or larger clothing size as them.


Of course, not a day goes by that I don't wonder what kind of supervision the boys are under while I'm away. Tonight I found that the oldest cut a giant hole from the middle of a blanket that was folded in his closet. I think their father was playing too much WoW, and not listening to what was actually happening in the house. I'm no super mom by any stretch, but I can figure out when they are getting into mischief, and I know when to take them outside to burn off energy. I asked that they go out and ride scooters while I was gone, and since their father is studying, he could sit in a chair outside and study while they rode up and down the side walk. As soon as I got home they begged me to go riding. I guess their father could only take it for about 10 minutes before taking them back inside. I was out for 45 minutes with them. I guarantee there would be not a hole in a single blanket if they'd stayed outside.

5 comments:

iasa said...

I wish I could get by youngest to eat anything other than cereal and bagels right now. This phase has gone long enough.

When my boys were younger and alone in their fathers care,I came home to find they had invented a new game. It involved climbing on the bed, throwing a blanket around the blades of the ceiling fan, and being pushed in circles by your brother. Suffice to say they pulled that sucker right out of the ceiling.

J9 said...

Iasa,
You came up in conversation yesterday when talking about my sis' seperation. I was remarking on how there are people who can live in the same house after divorce, and I related how the parents and in-laws treat it.

I've had the oldest draw in sharpie on the top of the ceiling fan blades, but they haven't personally tried to ride it. They did try to get the cat on there, but she wasn't having any of that!

Barry said...

Being from a family with roots deep in Scotland, frugality comes naturally to me, or so I thought until I really started to take a look at my lifestyle.

I think I need to get back to the basics as well.

Enjoyed your post!

J9 said...

Thanks Barry, I just read your posts on War Brides and found them to be very touching. I'm looking forward to your next post on meeting your wife, and other posts as well!

High Power Rocketry said...

: )