Dear Reader,
It's been a long week at Harvest Lane Cottage. Various forms of cold and flu have been circulating. I've not been very productive. I've had a cold— not a bad one, but it was enough to slow me down. I didn't do my regular grocery shopping. A company I'd never used put through fraudulent charges on my bank account and took over a hundred dollars. That was my grocery money. In fact, my husband had to put extra money in the account to cover the charges. I'm still trying to get it back. Prayer appreciated— for the money to be returned and my attitude to be right. *Update, I have now received full repayment from the company that charged me. I also have a new debit card with a new number. Evidently the number was stolen during my on-line Christmas shopping. Thank you to everyone who prayed!
I did pick up a few items with money on hand, but I cooked out of the pantry. I'm so glad I could do that. This week in my little home I...
~ made a nice taco salad out of ground beef Dad gave me
~ bought little tomatoes on sale at Aldi $.99 box
~ used lettuce given to me
~ bought hams 7.38 lbs for $1.57, 8.29 lbs for $2.38, and 8.26 lbs for $2.35. That's over 18 pounds for just $6.30! Just $.35 a pound! God is so good to me!
~ made french toast with leftover buns and four slices of stale bread
~ put maple flavoring in Karo syrup left over from the cafe
~ returned my daughter's college textbook to college so that she wouldn't be charged
~ took kids to the library
~ bought my eldest son lunch for $1 at McDonalds
~ cooked from freezer and on-hand food
~ didn't go or do anything extra
~ I followed up with Amazon about a refund I was supposed to receive last week. As it turns out, they hadn't processed it. I had the money in my account by the end of the day. I think Amazon customer service has been pretty good to work with this Christmas season.
~ used leftover Christmas money, along with a bit from hubby, to buy two large totes to store the Christmas tree in. The previous box was destroyed when my basement flooded a couple of weeks ago. This is thrifty because our tree is big and beautiful. My husband bought it sight unseen from a friend moving out of state a couple of years ago for a thrifty $25. It fills a big part of our little living room!
~ sorted through Christmas decorations etc and gave away 3 bags of misc. You might wonder why decluttering is thrifty. Simply put, every bag of items given away clears about a cubic foot in my house. That's real estate investment! That's thrifty!
Well, that's about it. It's time to help my daughter with history.
What have you done this week in your home to be thrifty?
God bless you!
Laura
Blessed to be a Blessing
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| Featured at Good Morning Mondays |
{{{Laura}}} I hope you recover your money---when that happened to us, I pressed charges.
ReplyDeleteNo other news to report here...Aldi had spiral hams on sale for $5 off!! I got a 9 lb ham for less than $8. I thought that was pretty thrifty, as we are stil eating from it 2 days later. I am sorry to read about your basement, I wondered how you all faired from all that rain.
Regardless of the bad things going on, please try to have a beautiful Friday, my friend.
Hi Laura, I am sorry about the bank problem and hope it is cleared up soon.
ReplyDeleteYour cooking sounds good.
Talking about colds, this seems to just be a bad season for them. Husband and I have both had coughs and sinus ick for way too long! I've read so many bloggers also say they are having colds that are lasting weeks and even months-
I don't feel terrible though, just tired of coughing.
Hope your weekend is nice
Mrs. Laura,
ReplyDeleteYou had a busy thrifty week even with sickness. I hope you knock that cold out soon. I have found Amazon to be good about things like this as well.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend!!!
I'm sorry for your troubles...
ReplyDeleteThat sounds so difficult.
Prayers that it all gets worked out.
It sounds as if you are a pro at stretching your on hand items into good meals!
And I agree...Amazon has great customer service!
Have a cozy weekend.
Hi Linda,
ReplyDelete$5 off is a good sale for hams. Good for you! We got three meals out of one ham, too.
I am afraid I spent much of my Friday in bed sleeping. I feel better tonight.
Got to go....
Blessings,
Laura
Laura I am so sorry about the bank problem. I will pray for you to get your money
ReplyDeleterefunded. This is scary and sad.
You did a great job with your meals. and what a great buy on the hams.. God does bless His children.. so happy for you.
Big hugs.
I'm sorry to hear about your difficult issues with the fradulent company taking your grocery money, but it sounds like you have tried to make the best of it, and I do hope you can get things resolved!
ReplyDeleteI hope so too, Spicing Up! Have a good weekend. I think we may get snow! Yay! ~smile~
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Laura
Thank you, Judy. May God bless you as well. It is a little scary how easy it is for the bad guys these days. Where darkness abounds, light abounds more. Praise be to Jesus! Have a pleasant weekend.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Laura
I have been various stages of sick this week, culminating in really really sick today. The best thing about being sick is you spend very little money, well except for kleenex and cough syrup
ReplyDeleteOh Anne! I'm so sorry. Be blessed and be healed in Jesus' Name and by the power of his blood!
ReplyDeleteThank you Mrs. Chrissy T. I think I'll take some Nyquil again tonight. It will help me sleep and hopefully I'll be better tomorrow. My house definitely needs me to get well soon!
ReplyDeleteI've had lots of hard times in my life Billie Jo. Experience makes it easier. Thank you for your prayers.
ReplyDeleteHave an enjoyable weekend.
Laura
We had a bad flu last winter here in Australia after the US had a bad one as we usually seem to get the same viruses here. Thankfully I didn't get it even though I didn't get the flu shot. I do hope you get your money back. I think most times people can get it back but it does make you feel vulnerable doesn't it?
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to read about the charges, I do hope & pray! that you will be able to recoup your money.
ReplyDeleteThe taco salad sounded esp.appealing, we haven't had that in awhile. I got a good deal on a spiral ham this week, right off hand, I think, it was $9.67, originally about $15.00. I am glad you were able to get yours!!!!!!
I got a $5.00 e- gift card, and I got a really good buy on coconut .38 a bag. I bought 9, they will be here for months! They are stored in the freezer. I used two .35 off coupons, and I stayed home 3 days, and used no gas or bought anything. That's about it for me.
I hope the coming year will be a very good one for your family.
Great point about real estate being an investment! I like that concept! :) May your 2016 be blessed my friend!
ReplyDeleteThank you friend. My yours be prosperous and productive!
ReplyDeleteYes, Nanna, it made me feel very vulnerable. I'm still hoping for a refund. Strange that we would get the same flus when we are so far apart, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHi Annie,
ReplyDeleteStaying home is the best way to save money... unless you're an on-line shopper. ~smile~
You got some great deals. You may be tired of coconut before you use it all. Thanks to God for the freezer!
Have a wonderful weekend! I hope you get snow if you want it!
Blessings,
Laura of Harvest Lane Cottage
I love Aldi! We shopped there when we lived in Illinois, but no Aldi stores here in Arizona. I miss the bargains! Thanks for your thrifty example of making do when money is tight!
ReplyDeleteOh, dear friend! I am so sorry you have been sick and had to endure such trials! I am praying for you and trusting Jesus to work all things out for you. :) Sending you big hugs!
ReplyDeleteLove your thrifty ideas, Laura. Some of them are ones I wouldn't have thought of. Thanks for always sharing at My Flagstaff Home!
ReplyDeleteJennifer
Hi Laura, you did have a rough week. I've heard the bank will reimburse you for fraudulent charges, it just takes a while.
ReplyDeleteYou sound like you stayed pretty busy this week. I hope you get to have a restful week-end, and maybe play in the snow.lol!
I did say a prayer for you and your family.
Linda
Great job on finding all the deals.
ReplyDeleteMy husband just butchered and smoked a hog and our son got a venison the other afternoon so we re doing good for meat!
Life of a Plain Lady
Thank you, Cheryl. With all the prayers, things should turn around soon!
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Laura
Thanks Jennifer! We all need new ideas to save money. I always enjoy visiting your blog home. You do such neat things in your home.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you!
Laura
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteSorry to here about you and your family having to deal those nasty little bugs. It sounds like you saved a lot of money, so that's a blessing.
So sorry to hear about your monies being rudely taken...I hope you get your funds back. I had someone trying to use my debit card for hotel gift cards and thankfully my fraud service I paid for at the bank caught it, called me and declined the transaction.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get to feeling better. Thankfully we haven't caught anything as of now. I've up our vitamins and prayer.
Our fridge went out and thankfully my hubby is so handy, he managed to figure out what part was bad and order the new one for about $50. Much better than a 1,000 for a new fridge and he had a spare fridge in his shop we could use until the part comes in. Yay!
I've been cooking from the pantry as well as my little fridge doesn't hold much fresh stuff...on the positive side, I've been rotating my pantry as I cook.
Im praying for you and your family needs this week. God always provides!
Hugs to you my friend!
Amy
Thanks for talking back Trish.
ReplyDeleteThat's great Amy.
ReplyDeleteYou're very fortunate to have a handy hubby. That can save so much. Be blessed my friend!
Laura
Thanks Jennifer! We all need new ideas to save money. I always enjoy visiting your blog home. You do such neat things in your home.
ReplyDeleteBlessings to you!
Laura
You're welcome, Deb. Be blessed!
ReplyDeleteSo very sorry for your bank problems - it is always so frustrating dealing with such things. Prayers for you and the situation. I also have been under the weather - sinus infection. Not life threatening just not being able to breathe has slowed me down to a crawl this week. I so wish we had an Aldi's in Portland - I shopped at one all the time in Indiana - but we don't so we make do. I too cleaned out some things as we put the Christmas decorations away and piled them on the floor of a closet to sell in a yard sale this spring. We had one last fall and did well. Blessings.
ReplyDeleteHi Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteBe healed in Jesus' Name!
I'm thinking about a sale in March. It's just a lot of work, and I don't usually make much from yard sales.
Blessings,
Laura
Hi Laura,
ReplyDeleteI just popped over to your blog and saw the cute drawing of your house, at the top of the page. Do you mind me asking what kind of program you used? :0)
Just saw this...hopefully I'm not a no-reply :)
ReplyDeleteI went to the charity store today and bought a beautiful skirt and a top, $5 each. Hardly worn and will be perfect for work as they are very smart.mquite the bargain.
ReplyDeleteJo (Finding joy )
That's excellent Joy! Well done!
ReplyDeleteLaura What a great deal on Ham -meat for just 35 cents a pound! That's a great way to feed the family.
ReplyDeleteHere is a list of my frugal ways last week (we are doing a No Spend January)
http://www.vickieskitchenandgarden.com/2016/01/my-frugals-ways-this-past-week-and-no.html
Vmorgan
Praying that you recover what was lost! You make a good point about decluttering being thrifty. I never considered it being a real estate investment. And those ham prices?! Wow! That was a bargain! Thanks for sharing your thrifty ideas!
ReplyDeleteI was able to purchase a ham on clearance after Christmas. It was huge, so we had it for dinner and I froze leftovers (and the bones) for use later. I also got "Christmas" baking supplies on clearance (there's nothing special about chocolate chips and vanilla--they can be used all year!).
ReplyDeleteI hope you've been able to recover the money. We had that happen to us two years ago, thankfully it was a very small amount of money charged. After the bank researched it, it turn out to be the first step in the thieves trying to access our account, they had hit several other customer's account draining thousands. If we would not have caught it when we did, we could have lost everything. Thanks for sharing with Thankful Thursdays.
ReplyDeleteYes Lori, I have recovered the money now. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteThanks for "talking back". Do you know that your comments come through to my email as a "no reply blogger"? If you'd like to get direct responses to your comments more often, you might like to know how to change that. I wrote about it in this blog post.
http://harvestlanecottage.blogspot.com/2015/01/are-you-no-reply-blogger.html
If you're like me, you don't have time to go back and check on other blogs to see if you've gotten a response to your comment. I sometimes can take time to track down commenters, but I'm usually short on time.
ஐღLauraღஐ